Barrick, The Authorship of Deuteronomy 34
ETS Annual Meeting, November 14-16, 2001
6
;}×fD-da(
{éyÙar:pe) jerÛe)-te)ºw
hÕe<án:mU
hêfdUhºy jerØe)-lfK üt")ºw
;}O×rAxa)fh {ÛfYah dÙa(
rîfKiKah-te)×:w
21
}fD-da( is found only here and at Gen 14:14. "Though the Dan mentioned here is almost universally
thought to be the Dan north of the Waters of Merom, which was so named after the Danite conquest of
Laish during the period of the judges, it seems more likely that the Dan of Gen 14:14 and here (and
possibly in 2 Sam 24:6) was a place in the north of Gilead. While such a place called Dan is not known
from other sources, it would not be alone in that category. The Genesis narrative does not fit well at all with
the Dan that had been Laish. ... A Dan in Gilead better fits the description here, since the Dan north of the
Waters of Merom could not be seen from Nebo" (Earl S. Kalland, "Deuteronomy," in The Expositor's
Bible Commentary, ed. by Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992),
3:235.
22
This phrase occurs only here. Presumably due to their birth order, Naphtali follows Dan (as here) in Gen
30:7, 8; 35:25; 46:23, 24; Exod 1:4; Deut 27:13; 33:22, 23. In Gen 49:16-21 and Num 1:12-15 Gad and
Asher interrupt this order. However, only Asher interrupts the order in Num 1:38-42; 2:25-29; 7:66-78;
10:25-27; 13:12-14; 26:42-48. In Num 34:22-28 the order is Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Issachar,
Asher, and Naphtali.
23
This phrase occurs only here.
24
With the exception of Deut 34:2, the earliest employment of
hfdUhºy jerØe) is in Ruth 1:7. Many of the
later uses, however, are not limited to just the tribal territory of Judah--the usual reference is to the entire
southern kingdom.
25
The same phrase is utilized in Deut 11:24. Elsewhere,
}OrAxa)fh {fYah occurs only in Joel 2:20 and Zech
14:8.
26
begeNah is also employed in Gen 20:1; 24:62; Num 13:29; and 21:1. hfB:g×eNah, with the directive, is found
in Gen 12:9 and 13:1.
27
Aside from Deut 34:2,
rfKiKah as a geographical designation in the Pentateuch occurs only in the
narrative about Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 13:12; 19:17, 25, 28, 29).
28
{yÙirfm:Tah ryÛi( as a name for Jericho is found elsewhere only in Judg 1:16; 3:13; and 2 Chr 28:15. Only
in 2 Chr 28:17 is it in apposition to
Ox"rºy as in Deut 34:3.
29
Although the word
hf(:qiB is found in the Pentateuch (Gen 11:2; Deut 8:7; 11:11), OÖx"rºy tÓa(:qiB occurs
only here in the entire Hebrew Bible.
30
ra(×oc-da( is employed only here and Isa 15:5 in the Hebrew Bible. However, out of 10 references to the
city of Zoar, all but two (Isa 15:5 and Jer 48:34) are in the Pentateuch (Gen 13:10; 14:2, 8; 19:22, 23, 30
[2x]; Deut 34:3).