Devarim - Deut. 1:1-3:22

The text of Deut. 1:1 begins as follows:

...אֵ֣לֶּה הַדְּבָרִ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּעֵ֖בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן

These are the words/things that Moses spoke to all of Israel on the other side/beyond the Jordan;

If someone has been studying Torah, then this first sentence should hit him/her right between the  eyes.

The first problem is, of course, that it would be impossible for Moses to speak to all of Israel, especially without loudspeakers and a series of giant screens that spread around the wilderness for miles. It is likely a simple hyperbolic statement, that word got out to the 2-million+ people who were with him.

But the other part of this statement is incredible.

The author of this text is indicating that he resides in the land of Israel, because, from his point of view, Moses was on the other side of the Jordan along with his audience who had not yet crossed it. Furthermore, even though much of the later part of Deuteronomy is all in the first-person form, this introduction is in the third-person past-tense form.

In other words, the author is saying, "Moses didn't write this, and I am chronicling what has been reported that he had said, so long ago."

And what do I mean by so long ago?

After Moses dies, which is several verses prior, Deuteronomy 34:10 tells us:

...וְלֹֽא־קָ֨ם נָבִ֥יא ע֛וֹד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל כְּמֹשֶׁ֑ה

And there never arose another prophet in Israel like Moses... 

This tells us that the author(s) of this text lived long after Moses, and long after the end of the prophets, where he could write with confidence, that no other prophet in Israel that followed was like Moses.

In other words, the Mishneh Torah, or in Greek, the book of "Deuteronomy", is a late product that was joined to the other four books, none of which claim to have been written by Moses, and one which never mentions him, around the period of the writing of the Septuagint. And this is is one reason why Deuteronomy has some moments of monotheism which the other four books are lacking.

And it's the first line of this book which is rarely cited, but should be, in all religious schools that teach it.

The "5 books of Moses" is not a valid expression. If he existed, he certainly did not write these 5 books, and as a character, he only appears in 4.

It's an interesting tidbit to notice.