Secrets of the Bible Revealed, Part 5: Deuteronomy / D’varim: Creating Israelite Religion

What’s the difference between history and historiography? Between reality and religion? In Moses’ last words to the Israelites, he recounts the long history of the people in a manner that orients their consciousness (or perhaps brainwashes them) into understanding the events of their history—events that, in the original telling, simply occurred—as filled with theological import. In doing so, he creates a religion, and we, the readers of the Book of Deuteronomy, are treated to a rare opportunity to glimpse the methods and motivation of the “man behind the curtain,” and to see how such a thing is done.