When it is read as a narrative, Deuteronomy turns out to be the book about the rise of «the book», which enables the crossing from foundational time to modernity. Moses does not cross the Jordan, yet he dies after having crossed the threshold between oral and written communication. The steps of the passage - the mention of divine writing at Horeb and of the people's future writing in the land, the writing down of the Torah and of Moses' song - underlie Deuteronomy's overall plot. A new economy, the economy of «the book», stands out against the background of the genealogical economy of the Patriarchs. The Pentateuch ends with the theme of the «book within the book» - Deuteronomy's most specific contribution.
