Guide to Deuteronomy

From RationalWiki

Deuteronomy isn't really a story - it's sort of a list of silly laws (along with Leviticus that some Hebrews wrote back in the day. It ties with The Book of Revelation and Genesis as the craziest shizznit in the whole Bible. It is also the oldest book in the Torah, having been first compiled in abbreviated form under King Josiah, and one of the oldest parts of the Bible (though the Song of Deborah in Judges is older).

Deuteronomy comes from Greek deuteronomium ("second"), which came from the Hebrew דְּבָרִים ("things").

Deuteronomy has some pretty interesting laws. Among these are;

The death penalty as a punishment for apostasy from Yahwism.
A limit of six years on holding people as slaves (but only if other person is a Hebrew)
A call for genocide against the Amalekites.
The restriction against wearing fabric that is interwoven with wool and linen.
Telling women not to kick men in the balls.
Not letting castrated men enter Israel.

In summary, Deuteronomy contains a lot of the crazy stuff that makes modern, sensible humans want to slap a baby out of frustration.

Spoiler alert: Moses dies at the end.

Moses (who fundies insist is the sole author of all five books in the Penteteuch) writes all about his own passing in chapter 34: '"So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.