At the Boundary: 1:1 The opening words of the book give it a prophetic flavor from the start—These are the words Moses spoke (cf. Isa. 1:1; Amos 1:1; etc.). This is reinforced by the repeated emphasis on the role of Moses in verses 3 and 5. His task was to proclaim all that the LORD commanded him, a task in which he was also a model for all future prophets (cf. 18:17f.). The relationship between the words of Moses and the words of God in Deuteronomy is sometimes so close that they merge imperceptibly, making exegetical separation quite difficult. “To claim . . . that the Bible nowhere claims to be the ‘Word of God’ is to fail to hear a central claim of Deuteronomy” (D. Christensen, Deuteronomy, p. 9). He was also to expound the law (cf. Deut. 27:8 and Hab. 2:2). Deuteronomy is thus “preach…