Deuteronomy 1 · a question people ask
Moses "began to declare this law" (1:5), and then tells the story of the journey from Horeb. Is the story part of "this law"?
Every reading starts from the same verse: "Moses began to declare this law, saying" (1:5), and the next words are "The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb" (1:6). The word for law here is torah (H8451), which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "direction, instruction, law". Every reading agrees that the story comes first in Deuteronomy, and that the commands rest on what the LORD did: the commands given at Horeb open, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (5:6). The verse doesn't say how far "this law" reaches, and readers differ. The two main readings below each rest on verses.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
The story is part of the instruction
Those who hold this view start from 1:5 itself: Moses "began to declare this law, saying" (1:5), and what he says next is the story (1:6-8). They note that Brown-Driver-Briggs gives torah as "direction, instruction" as well as law, and that Deuteronomy answers a question about the law with a story. When a son asks, "What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?" (6:20), the answer begins, "We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt" (6:21). On this reading, the retelling is itself part of what Moses declares.
Deuteronomy 1:5-8 · Deuteronomy 6:20-24
The story prepares for the law
Those who hold this view start from where Deuteronomy names its law. After the story, Moses turns: "Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you" (4:1). Later comes "This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel" (4:44), with "the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances" (4:45), and "These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land" (12:1). On this reading, 1:5 names what Moses set out to do, and the story prepares the people to hear it, as Moses later recalls "what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place" (11:5) before "Therefore you shall keep the entire commandment which I command you today" (11:8).
Deuteronomy 4:1 · Deuteronomy 4:44-45 · Deuteronomy 12:1 · Deuteronomy 11:2-8
The verses
“Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, “The LORD our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain.”
““I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”