The concluding chapters of Deuteronomy (31–4) contain Moses’ final blessing, his going up the mountain to see the land which the people would possess, and his eventual death. Matthew, I suggest, had the entire scene in mind as he arranged his material into its eventual form. The theme of the whole passage in Deuteronomy is thoroughly germane to the complex theme of his first chapter: Israel has indeed fallen into the curse of exile because of her sins, and now the story of Abraham’s people is to be brought back on course by a new exodus, by the renewal of the covenant.
