Ernest W. Nicholson (1938–2013)

This brief book (the actual text is 124 pages) is a well written and very useful discussion of the origins and authorship of Deuteronomy. As it was written in 1967 it displays its age somewhat. However Nicholson provides a clear and lucid account of the sate of the question at the time it was written, engaging with all the key scholars of that period, and presents his own conclusions in a systematic way.

Nicholson concludes that Deuteronomy has its roots in traditions prior to the Monarchy which were preserved by prophetic circles in the North. These ideas travelled with the members of the circle to Judah when the northern Kingdom fell in 721, and formed a basis for the reform of Hezekiah. Following the failure of that reform, the circle composed the original version at the time of Manasseh inn the hope of better days, and concealed the book in the temple. This was discovered in the temple at the time of Josiah, and gave extra impetus to a reform which had already begun. Following the death of Josiah and the eventual fall of Judah, descendants of the circle expanded it to something akin to our current Deuteronomy, using it as the 'prologue' of the history of Israel (Joshua - 2 Kings) which explains the decline of Israel to exile. Minor additions were made when Deuteronomy was integrated into the Pentateuch.

The broad outline of this theory is still fairly widely accepted - with some modifications - by many scholars today, and so the book retains its relevance, not only in the history of interpretation, but as a useful resource for contemporary discussion.… (mehr)