Old Testament Commentary - Deuteronomy 1

It may seem a bit muddled in the first two verses' of chapter 1 in that first introduction obviously written by a later compiler/editor of the Bible as to just where Moses did deliver his concluding sermons of Deuteronomy unto the children of Isreal. Clearly stated it was upon the upper plains of Moab with Moses speaking from an elevated position and the children of Israel assembled down toward the backdrop of the Dead Sea not the Red Sea. Shittim is the local site from which Israel would next depart as led by Joshua across the Jordan river towards Jericho and into the land of promise The small map section at the left depicts generally this location and its particular sites of the Plains of Moab, the Dead Sea, Shittim, Jericho and Mount Nebo, all of which relate to the stage upon which Moses' 'Sermon Conference' and last events of Moses' life as recorded in Deuteronomy are played out upon.

As stated in verse 3, Moses convened his conference on the first day of the 11th Hebrew calendar month of Shevat or Shebat [Shevat occurs in January-February of the Gregorian calendar although the 'Law of Moses' is actually read during the feast of tabernacles' year of release]. According to Jewish tradition Moses' 'review of the Torah' lasts 37 days, yet the volume of the text of the 33 chapters of Deuteronomy of Moses' three sermons match well with the volume and number of traditional LDS conference talks accomplished in the older 3 day six or seven conference session talks and their printed amount of similar textual material. Thus as far as the book of Deuteronomy itself and the three sermons of Moses contained therein, it can easily be covered in a three day time table with plenty of time to spare for normal daily activities of meals and such. In other words, the supposed Rabbi 37 days runs out of printed material to be read, preached and studied, contained in Deuteronomy is just three days.