<P> The prophet Isaiah, active in Jerusalem about a century before Josiah, makes no mention of the Exodus, covenants with God, or disobedience to God's laws; in contrast Isaiah's contemporary Hosea, active in the northern kingdom of Israel, makes frequent reference to the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, a covenant, the danger of foreign gods and the need to worship Yahweh alone; this has led scholars to the view that these traditions behind Deuteronomy have a northern origin . Whether the Deuteronomic code--the set of laws at chapters 12--26 which form the original core of the book--was written in Josiah's time (late 7th century) or earlier is subject to debate, but many of the individual laws are older than the collection itself . The two poems at chapters 32--33--the Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses were probably originally independent . </P> <P> Deuteronomy occupies a puzzling position in the Bible, linking the story of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to the story of their history in Canaan without quite belonging totally to either . The wilderness story could end quite easily with Numbers, and the story of Joshua's conquests could exist without it, at least at the level of the plot; but in both cases there would be a thematic (theological) element missing . Scholars have given various answers to the problem . The Deuteronomistic history theory is currently the most popular (Deuteronomy was originally just the law code and covenant, written to cement the religious reforms of Josiah, and later expanded to stand as the introduction to the full history); but there is an older theory which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it . This idea still has supporters, but the mainstream understanding is that Deuteronomy, after becoming the introduction to the history, was later detached from it and included with Genesis - Exodus - Leviticus - Numbers because it already had Moses as its central character . According to this hypothesis, the death of Moses was originally the ending of Numbers, and was simply moved from there to the end of Deuteronomy . </P> <P> Deuteronomy stresses the uniqueness of God, the need for drastic centralisation of worship, and a concern for the position of the poor and disadvantaged . Its many themes can be organised around the three poles of Israel, Israel's God, and the covenant which binds them together . </P> <P> The themes of Deuteronomy in relation to Israel are election, faithfulness, obedience, and God's promise of blessings, all expressed through the covenant: "obedience is not primarily a duty imposed by one party on another, but an expression of covenantal relationship ." Yahweh has chosen ("elected") Israel as his special property (Deuteronomy 7: 6 and elsewhere), and Moses stresses to the Israelites the need for obedience to God and covenant, and the consequences of unfaithfulness and disobedience . Yet the first several chapters of Deuteronomy are a long retelling of Israel's past disobedience--but also God's gracious care, leading to a long call to Israel to choose life over death and blessing over curse (chapters 7--11). </P>

What is the meaning of the book of deuteronomy