The  distinctive  feature  of  Deuteronomy  is
the  evident  preparation  for  the  settlement  in
Canaan.  1.  It  affects  the  language.  For  ex
ample,  the  people  are  about  to  live  a  settled
life ;  hence  the  camp  which  figures  so  largely,
though  of  course  not  exclusively,  in  the
former  legislation  disappears  from  Deuter
onomy,  except  where  reference  is  made  to
future  war  or  to  the  encampment  at  Shittim
where  they  then  are.  The  speaker  mentions
houses,  towns,  city  gates.  2.  It  leads  to
minor  modifications  of  existing  laws  to  adapt
them  to  the  new  mode  of  life.  For  example,
the  law  which  required  animals  that  were
slain  for  food  to  be  brought  to  the  door  of  the
tabernacle  is  changed  to  permit  the  people  to
slay  for  food  in  the  town  where  they  reside
(xii.  15,  21 ;  Lev.  xvii.  3,  4).  3.  It  leads  to
insistence  upon  one  altar  for  th«  nation  in
the  place  where  Jehovah  shall  record  his
name.  The  unity  of  the  altar  was  intended
to  counteract  the  tendency  to  lapse  into  idol
atry,  by  preventing  the  people  from  worship
ing  at  the  numerous  local  sanctuaries  of  the
Canaanites ;  to  render  the  worship  of  Jehovah
a  grander  spectacle  and  of  greater  pomp  than
the  rites  of  the  idols  of  the  Cauaaiiites  by
uniting  the  numbers  and  the  wealth  of  the
Hebrews ;  and  to  give  strength  to  the  com
munal  feeling  and  aid  in  binding  the  nation
together.  The  spirit  of  jealousy  between
individuals  and  between  tribes,  the  popular
proneness  to  idolatry,  and  the  willingness  of
large  sections  of  the  people  to  separate  from
their  brethren  and  settle  in  attractive  pas


toral  regions  had  already  become  manifest.
