- DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS (Hag. 2:7), usually interpreted as a title of
the Messiah. The Revised Version, however, more correctly renders “the
desirable things of all nations;” i.e., the choicest treasures of the Gentiles
shall be consecrated to the Lord. - DESOLATION, ABOMINATION OF (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14;
comp. Luke 21:20), is interpreted of the eagles, the standards of the
Roman army, which were an abomination to the Jews. These standards,
rising over the site of the temple, were a sign that the holy place had fallen
under the idolatrous Romans. The references are to Daniel 9:27. (See
ABOMINATION.) - DESTROYER (Exodus 12:23), the agent employed in the killing of the
first-born; the destroying angel or messenger of God. (Comp. 2 Kings
19:35; 2 Samuel 24:15, 16; Psalm 78:49; Acts 12:23.) - DESTRUCTION in Job 26:6, 28:22 (Hebrews abaddon) is sheol, the
realm of the dead. - DESTRUCTION, CITY OF (Isaiah 19:18; Hebrews Ir-ha-Heres, “city of
overthrow,” because of the evidence it would present of the overthrow of
heathenism), the ideal title of On or Heliopolis (q.v.). - DEUTERONOMY In all the Hebrew manuscripts the Pentateuch (q.v.)
forms one roll or volume divided into larger and smaller sections called
parshioth and sedarim. It is not easy to say when it was divided into five
books. This was probably first done by the Greek translators of the book,
whom the Vulgate follows. The fifth of these books was called by the
Greeks Deuteronomion, i.e., the second law, hence our name
Deuteronomy, or a second statement of the laws already promulgated. The
Jews designated the book by the two first Hebrew words that occur, ’Elle
haddabharim, i.e., “These are the words.” They divided it into eleven
parshioth. In the English Bible it contains thirty-four chapters.
It consists chiefly of three discourses delivered by Moses a short time
before his death. They were spoken to all Israel in the plains of Moab, in
the eleventh month of the last year of their wanderings.
The first discourse (1-4:40) recapitulates the chief events of the last forty
years in the wilderness, with earnest exhortations to obedience to the
divine ordinances, and warnings against the danger of forsaking the God of
their fathers.