In Critical Analysis
Some secular scholars who follow the Documentary Hypothesis find evidence of three separate sources in the parshah. Thus some scholars consider the account of the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5–7 to have been composed by the Jahwist (sometimes abbreviated J) who wrote possibly as early as the 10th century BCE. Some scholars attribute the account of mourning for Moses in Deuteronomy 34:8–9 to the Priestly source who wrote in the 6th or 5th century BCE. And then these scholars attribute the balance of the parshah, Deuteronomy 33:1–34:4 and Deuteronomy 34:10–12 to the first Deuteronomistic historian (sometimes abbreviated Dtr 1) who wrote shortly before the time of King Josiah. These scholars surmise that this first Deuteronomistic historian took the Blessing of Moses, Deuteronomy 33, from an old, separate source and inserted it here.
Read more about this topic: V'Zot Ha Berachah
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