Song of Moses
The Song of Moses is the name sometimes given to the
Most scholars hold that it was composed between the tenth and eighth centuries BCE,[3] although dates as early as the twelfth century[2] or as late as the fifth have been proposed.[4]
Biblical narrative
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According to verses 16–18 of Deuteronomy 31,
The Song opens with an
In a
Critical view
The parallelism is unusually regular.
The general plan of the poem resembles that of Psalm 78, 105, and 106, and the prose of Ezekiel 29, as well as the allegories of Ezekiel 26 and 33.
The poem opening verse is also echoed in the opening of Isaiah.
Scholarly views
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According to the modern documentary hypothesis the poem was an originally separate text that was inserted by the deuteronomist into the second edition (of 2), of the text which became Deuteronomy (i.e., was an addition in 'Dtr2').
The poem, cast partly in the
Though both Jewish and Christian sources have traditionally attributed the Song to Moses, the conditions presupposed by the poem render the Mosaic authorship of it impossible according to critical commentary. The Exodus and the wilderness wanderings lie in the distant past. The writer's contemporaries may learn of them from their fathers (verse 7). The Israelites are settled in Canaan (verses 13–14); sufficient time has passed for them not only to fall into idolatry (verses 15–19), but to be brought to the verge of ruin. They are pressed hard by heathen foes (verse 30); but Yahweh promises to interpose and rescue his people (verses 34–43).
Dating the Song
There are differences of opinion as to precisely when and by whom the song was written.
- "The poem cannot have originated at any time than after the destruction of Shiloh" and "... there is an impressive number of linguistic correlations in this text with the language and idioms of the syllabic texts from Byblos; those correlations also cluster around Exodus 15, Judges 5, Deuteronomy 33, and Genesis 49".
When all of Deuteronomy 31:14–23 was referred to JE, the poem was believed to be anterior thereto, and was believed to be contemporary with the Assyrian wars under
Similarity to other places in the Old Testament
Psalm 50 in Psalm 50:1 and Psalm 50:4 will also begin the same as Deuteronomy 32:1, making that Psalm poetically also in the style of the Song of Moses.[10]
Musical settings
- Disambiguation; for Cantemus Domino see Song of the Sea.
- Audite cæli quæ loquor, grand motet, S.7 by Michel Richard Delalande.
- Audite caeli by Francesco Provenzale.
Both Songs of Moses, as with Habakkuk 3 (Domine Audivi), and 1 Samuel 2 (Exultavit Cor Meum) are counted as canticles in church use.
See also
References
- ^ Deuteronomy 32:1–43
- ^ ISBN 90-04-10648-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4514-1013-6.
- ISBN 978-0-89900-879-0.
- ^ Deuteronomy 31:16–18
- ^ Deuteronomy 31:19
- ^ Deuteronomy 31:22
- ^ Deuteronomy 31:30
- ^ Hans Wildberger, Isaiah: Isaiah 1-12, Fortress Press, 1991, p. 9
- ^ Psalms for Preaching and Worship, A Lectionary Commentary, 2009, editor: Roger Van Harn, p. 167
Further reading
- Mendenhall, George E. (1973). The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-1267-4.
- Mendenhall, George E., Samuel's "Broken Rîb": Deuteronomy 32, 1975, Reprint from No Famine in the Land Studies in Honor of John L. McKenzie. Scholar's Press for The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity - Claremont
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the George A. Barton (1901–1906). "Song of Moses". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- Jewish Encyclopedia bibliography:
- Kamphausen, A., Das Lied Moses: Deut. 32, 1–43, 1862; Leipzig: Brockhaus
- Klostermann, A., in Studien und Kritiken, 1871, pp. 249 et seq.; 1872, pp. 230 et seq., 450 et seq.;
- Stade's Zeitschrift, 1885, pp. 297 et seq.;
- Cornill, C. H., Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 1891, pp. 70 et seq.,
- Driver, S. R., Deuteronomy, in International Critical Commentary, 1895, pp. 344 et seq.;
- Steuernagel, Deuteronomium, in Nowack's Handkommentar, 1900, pp. 114 et seq.;
- Bertholet, Deuteronomium, in K. H. C. 1899, pp. 94 et seq.;