Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
16. Circumcise the foreskin of your heart ] The same metaphor in Jer 4:4 (cp. Deu 9:25); whether it is original to the prophet or to D is impossible to determine. In view of the style of Jeremiah’s earlier discourses, in which abrupt and unrelated metaphors are frequently conjoined, and of the secondary character of these verses before us, the presumption is that the metaphor is here derived from Jeremiah. ‘Wohl bei Jeremias ursprnglich,’ Wellh. Comp. Hex. 193. Steuernagel states the converse opinion.
stiffnecked ] See Deu 9:6 Sg. and 13 Pl.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 19. The form of address changes to Pl., and a qualification is made of the great statement just given. Though God has elected (for reasons of His own) to love Israel’s fathers and to choose their posterity after them out of all peoples to be His peculiar people, He is not one that regards persons, but as He takes the part of the helpless within Israel so He loves also the foreigner resident among them, and therefore Israel must love the foreign sojourner, having themselves been sojourners in Egypt. No doubt all this is more or less relevant to the main theme of the discourse, but it is outside it, and as its introduction is coincident with the change to the Pl. address, the passage must be considered as a later addition, or additions (for Deu 10:18-19 is still a further departure from Deu 10:16-17). The same idea, that Israel cannot count on God’s partiality for them if they continue to be stiffnecked, had been already put by Amos in a more striking form, Amo 3:2, you only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit on you all your iniquities. Cp. Joh 8:31-45; and Act 10:34; Rom 2:11; Gal 2:6, in which the argument of this passage is developed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
On circumcision see Gen 17:10. This verse points to the spiritual import of circumcision. Man is by nature very far gone from original righteousness, and in a state of enmity to God; by circumcision, as the sacrament of admission to the privileges of the chosen people, this opposition must be taken away ere man could enter into covenant with God. It was through the flesh that man first sinned; as it is also in the flesh, its functions, lusts, etc., that mans rebellion against God chiefly manifests itself still. It was fitting therefore that the symbol which should denote the removal of this estrangement from God should be worked in the body. Moses then fitly follows up the command to circumcise the heart, with the warning to be no more stiff-necked. His meaning is that they should lay aside that obduracy and perverseness toward God for which he had been reproving them, which had led them into so many transgressions of the covenant and revolts from God, and which was especially the very contrary of that love and fear of God required by the first two of the Ten Commandments. The language associated with circumcision in the Bible distinguishes the use made of this rite in the Jewish religion from that found among certain pagan nations. Circumcision was practiced by some of them as a religious rite, designed (e. g.) to appease the deity of death who was supposed to delight in human suffering; but not by any, the Egyptians probably excepted, at all in the Jewish sense and meaning.
The grounds on which circumcision was imposed as essential by the Law are the same as those on which Baptism is required in the Gospel. The latter in the New Testament is strictly analogous to the former under the Old; compare Col 2:11-12.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. Circumcise – the foreskin of your heart] A plain proof from God himself that this precept pointed out spiritual things, and that it was not the cutting away a part of the flesh that was the object of the Divine commandment, but the purification of the soul, without which all forms and ceremonies are of no avail. Loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, the heart being circumcised to enable them to do it, was, from the beginning, the end, design, and fulfilment of the whole law.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Rest not in your bodily circumcision, but seriously set upon that substantial work which is signified and designed thereby: cleanse your hearts from all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, which is fitly compared to the foreskin, which if not cut off, made persons profane, unclean, and odious in the sight of God. Compare Deu 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:25; Rom 2:28,29; Col 2:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Circumcise therefore theforeskin of your heartHere he teaches them the true andspiritual meaning of that rite, as was afterwards more strongly urgedby Paul (Rom 2:25; Rom 2:29),and should be applied by us to our baptism, which is “not theputting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a goodconscience toward God” [1Pe3:21].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart,…. Content not yourselves with, nor put your confidence in outward circumcision of the flesh, but be concerned for the circumcision of the heart; for removing from that whatever is disagreeable to the Lord, even all carnality, sensuality, hypocrisy, and superfluity of naughtiness, and for having that put there which is well pleasing in his sight; and which though it is the work of God, and he only can do it and has promised it, yet such an exhortation is made to bring men to a sense of their need of it, and of the importance of it, and to show how agreeable it is to the Lord, and so to stir them up to seek unto him for it; see De 30:6
and be no more stiffnecked; froward, obstinate, and disobedient, as they had been hitherto; De 9:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Above all, therefore, they were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, i.e., to lay aside all insensibility of heart to impressions from the love of God (cf. Lev 26:41; and on the spiritual signification of circumcision, see Gen 17:15-21), and not stiffen their necks any more, i.e., not persist in their obstinacy, or obstinate resistance to God (cf. Deu 9:6, Deu 9:13). Without circumcision of heart, true fear of God and true love of God are both impossible. As a reason for this admonition, Moses adduces in Deu 10:17. the nature and acts of God. Jehovah as the absolute God and Lord is mighty and terrible towards all, without respect of person, and at the same time a just Judge and loving Protector of the helpless and oppressed. From this it follows that the true God will not tolerate haughtiness and stiffness of neck either towards Himself or towards other men, but will punish it without reserve. To set forth emphatically the infinite greatness and might of God, Moses describes Jehovah the God of Israel as the “ God of gods,” i.e., the supreme God, the essence of all that is divine, of all divine power and might (cf. Psa 136:2), – and as the “ Lord of lords,” i.e., the supreme, unrestricted Ruler (“the only Potentate,” 1Ti 6:15), above all powers in heaven and on earth, “ a great King above all gods ” (Psa 95:3). Compare Rev 17:14 and Rev 19:16, where these predicates are transferred to the exalted Son of God, as the Judge and Conqueror of all dominions and powers that are hostile to God. The predicates which follow describe the unfolding of the omnipotence of God in the government of the world, in which Jehovah manifests Himself as the great, mighty, and terrible God (Psa 89:8), who does not regard the person (cf. Lev 19:15), or accept presents (cf. Deu 16:19), like a human judge.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
16. Circumcise, therefore. From this inference it appears wherefore mention was made of this adoption,. viz., that the Jews should more earnestly and solemnly serve God, whom they had known from experience to be so gracious. He requires, then, a reciprocal love; for nothing could be more base than not to testify their gratitude by a pious and righteous life. But, because men are by no means inclined or disposed to obey God, Moses exhorts them to self-renunciation, and to subdue and correct their carnal affections; for to circumcise the heart is equivalent to cleansing it from wicked lusts. Meanwhile, he reproves their former perverseness, when he desires them to be no more stiff-necked; as much as to say, that now at last they should put off that depravity of mind, wherein they had too long hardened themselves. We now perceive the design of Moses. He would have his fellow-Israelites submissive and obedient to God, who, by His great goodness, had furnished them with the motive. But, because hitherto they had repaid His kindnesses with ingratitude, at the same time, he enjoins them to amend their conduct. In the first clause, he alludes to the rite appointed by the Law; for circumcision is, as it were, the solemn consecration, whereby the children of Abraham were initiated unto the worship of God and true piety, and at the same time were separated from heathen nations, to be His holy and peculiar people; and they were to be admitted to this elementary rite in their infancy, that by its visible sign they might learn that the defilements of the flesh and the world were to be renounced. There were also other objects in circumcision, but here reference is only made to newness of life, or repentance (resipiscentia). Wherefore, the conclusion is, that since God had chosen them as His people, and by an external sign had devoted them to the cultivation of holiness, they ought sincerely and really to prove that they differed from heathen nations, and that they were circumcised in spirit, no less than in the flesh. For Paul declares, that they alone are truly Jews who are circumcised “inwardly,” as he says, and not those who only have to boast of “the letter” of circumcision. (Rom 2:28.) Wherefore, the Prophets frequently taunt the transgressors of the Law by calling them uncircumcised, although they bore the visible sign in their flesh. In fine, when he desires to exhort them to sanctify themselves to God, he reasons from the nature and use of the sign, whereby they professed themselves to be His chosen people. In the second clause, there is an elegant metaphor, of frequent occurrence, taken from oxen; for, since the oxen which quietly offer their necks to the yoke are easily subdued to obedience, those are said to be “stiff-necked” (durae cervicis) which are fierce and obstinate in their nature.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Circumcise . . . your heart.For circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter (Rom. 2:29). The verse literally runs thus: Circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and ye will harden your neck no more. It is the same line of thought as St. Pauls (Gal. 5:16) Walk in the Spirit, and (then) ye will not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
(17,18) A great God, a mighty, and a terrible . . . he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow.Behold (says Rashi) His might! And close beside His might thou mayest find His humility. It is not otherwise in later passages of Scripture: He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Circumcise your heart This verse suggests the spiritual significance of the rite of circumcision. Comp. Rom 2:29: “Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Their Required Response In The Light of What He Is, Is Now Expanded On ( Deu 10:16-22 ).
Deu 10:16
‘ Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your (of ye) heart, and be no more stiffnecked.’
In lieu of this, therefore, they, as a gathering of people, were all to circumcise the foreskins of their hearts, putting aside their obstinacy and stubbornness. They had to cast it from them. In other words just as the covering of their foreskin was removed in circumcision, so their obstinacy was to be seen as a covering that had to be cut out and removed, so that they no more hid behind it. All barriers that separated their hearts from God and from their fellowmen must be incisively removed. Thus they must also love the resident alien (Deu 10:19).
Alternately he may be referring to the fact that circumcision would soon be required as a seal of the covenant (Gen 17:9-12), but that what they must do even more importantly was ensure that the covenant was cut into their hearts. The making of a covenant was often spoken of as ‘cutting a covenant’, for it was sealed by blood, and circumcision involved the shedding of blood (compare Exo 4:24-26 where this is stressed). Either way the idea is the same. They must become responsive to the covenant from their hearts.
Deu 10:17
‘ For Yahweh your God, he is the God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, who does not regard people with favouritism (literally ‘does not lift up faces’), nor takes reward.’
And this was because they must recognise Who they were dealing with. They must acknowledge Who Yahweh is, that He is their God. But not only is He their God, they must recognise that He is more than that. They must recognise that He is the God of all gods, God over all spiritual beings (the elohim), and He is the Lord of all lords. All gods and all lords, whether superhuman or human, are therefore under His rule and judgment. He is the great God, the mighty, the terrible. Note the threefoldness, great, mighty and terrible; great on behalf of the righteous, mighty on behalf of His own people, a terror to the sinful. The picture gains added significance in the light of their experiences of His power in Egypt. Their God is over all.
Alternately we may take ‘God of Gods’ and ‘Lord of Lords’ as expressing the superlative. Compare ‘Holy of Holies’, which mean the ‘most Holy’, the Holiest of All. In the same way God of Gods can mean ‘Supremely God’, ‘uniquely God above all’. And similarly Lord of Lords can mean ‘the Supreme Lord’. The latter is especially significant in the terms of the covenant where He is the Supreme Overlord.
“Who does not regard people with favouritism (literally ‘does not lift up faces”), nor takes reward.’ He is the One Who judges all equally. He does not regard anyone with favouritism or accept bribes and softeners, putting one in a favoured position against another. He is absolutely just and fair, for He is the One Who is above all. Having spoke of the superlative greatness of God, this now emphasises that as such He is so great that He has dealings with men, with all men, on a totally fair basis. He is the Judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25). And in those dealings all His judgments are based on His commandment, His statutes and ordinances as they were revealed to His people, and as they were to be fulfilled by them in love and godly fear. There is no varying from truth with Him.
“The great God, the mighty, and the terrible.” In ancient days the supreme ruler was often called ‘the Great King’ (compare this of Yahweh in Psa 48:2; see also Eze 26:7; Ezr 7:12. It was a title known at Ugarit and in Akkadian records). But Yahweh is even greater, He is ‘the Great God’. What is more He is the Mighty One (see Psa 24:8; Isa 42:13), the great warrior (compare 1Sa 2:4; 2Sa 10:7), and the terrible One, feared by His opponents. The point that is being stressed is that He is invincible and far above all.
Deu 10:18
‘ He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the resident alien, in giving him food and clothing.’
And this comes out in that He especially ensures that justice is found for those who are the least important in society, those who are unable to help themselves and have no one to defend them, those who have no fathers, those who are widows and those who are resident aliens, those who have no one to protect them (Deu 24:17; Deu 27:19; Exo 22:22). But He watches over such. As we will see later, among other things He demonstrates His love for orphans, widows and resident aliens by the way He seeks to ensure for them sufficient food and clothing (Deu 14:29; Deu 16:14; Deu 24:19-21; Deu 26:12-13).
This trait was often spoken of as being the sign of a great king in ancient records, including the law code of Hammurabi and at Ugarit in the second millennium BC. No king was greater than the one who could even watch over the weak because all was completely under his control and he did not need favours (compare Psa 72:11-15; Psa 146:7-10).
Deu 10:19
‘ You, therefore, love the resident alien, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.’
And He not only does this but He exhorts His people to do as He does and be the same as He is. Let them bring to mind in this regard that they had been resident aliens in Egypt, and remember how it was then, how they had been treated as strangers, and subjected to forced labour, and how they had groaned. And they must remember how He had loved them and delivered them And with that to spur them on they are to love the resident aliens, both those among them now and when they are in their own land, His land, and act towards them with compassion (compare Lev 19:34).
Deu 10:20
‘ You shall fear Yahweh your God; him shall you serve; and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear.’
They were also to fear Yahweh their God, ‘for the fear of Yahweh, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil that is understanding’ (Job 28:28). And as a result of fearing Him with a godly fear and love they must serve Him, must cleave to Him faithfully, and swear by His name. For it is how men respond that reveals what they see to be real. Note the threefold ‘serve — cleave — swear’. Serving includes both worship and obedience. Cleaving involves loyalty, commitment and integrity. Swearing by His name means acknowledging Him above all. Swearing was done in the name of the highest sole authority. This latter may refer to dedication to the covenant, or it may indicate a determination to be as true as He is in matters of justice. So He requires dedication, love and submission to His authority, and true justice in all things.
The word ‘cleave’ is a powerful one. It is used of a man ‘cleaving’ to his wife when they become one flesh (Gen 2:24), and of bones cleaving to the skin (Job 19:20).
Deu 10:21-22
‘ He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and terrible things, which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of heaven for multitude.’
But He is also the One fitted for praise. He is totally praiseworthy, and is to be the object of their worship. And the reason that they should praise Him is because He is their God, the very God Who has done great and terrible things for them which their eyes have seen. Many of the oldest had been in Egypt as small children and had seen His power revealed there, and the great and terrible things that He had done, and even more of them had seen what He had done since in the wilderness, including especially the defeat of the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og, and their territories.
Their fathers had gone down into Egypt few in number, and here they now were as the result of His watch over them, as the stars of heaven for multitude, just as Yahweh had promised. It is hard to believe, he says, that when they went down into Egypt they had been comparatively few, seventy males with their households (and thus a few hundred, or even one or two thousands). It demonstrated how Yahweh had blessed them in spite of all attempts to decimate them. And it was mind-boggling to consider that they had all almost been destroyed.
“Seventy” indicates divine perfection intensified. An examination of the seventy described in Gen 46:8-27 makes clear that the number has been artificially made up to seventy in order to bring out this point. This was one way in which the ancients used numbers. Their question was not ‘how many’, but ‘of what quality?’ Joseph and his sons, for example, were already in Egypt. It is saying that the party that went down to Egypt in one way or another (Joseph’s sons ‘in his loins’) was the perfect group from which Yahweh would produce His holy people. And now here they were, multiplied in numbers because of His working.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Ver. 16, 17. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart The Targum of Jonathan renders this, Cast away, therefore, the folly of your heart; and the LXX, the hardness of your heart. Circumcision was an emblem of sanctification. See Gen 17:11 and the Reflections at the end of that chapter. The exhortation of Moses may be thus paraphrased: “Think not that, to please God, external circumcision and observance of the ceremonies of the law will suffice. It is essentially necessary, that you should reform what is vicious in your affections, that you should cut off and cast away whatever may render your hearts ungrateful to the benefits, insensible of the chastisements, and disobedient to the laws of your God; who, though peculiarly your God, (ver. 17.) is still the God of all mankind: a most righteous judge; who will not connive at your sins because you are circumcised, nor be bribed by any sacrifices to overlook your wickedness: nor, on the contrary, will he reject those who serve him in sincerity, though they may not be Jews; for he regardeth not persons.” See Act 10:34. In one word, the sacred writer means to inculcate the necessity of that internal circumcision which St. Paul so strongly recommends, Rom 2:28-29. In the words, nor taketh reward, Moses seems to allude to the gifts which were offered by the princes for the building of the tabernacle; perhaps also to the victims and gifts of the sacrifices, which were never acceptable to him without love in the heart of the giver.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Paul explains the gospel circumcision, to which the Jewish rite all along had a reference, see Rom 2:29 ; Col 2:11 ; Gal 6:15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart.” Deu 10:16
What God wants is moral purity. We cannot live in rites and ceremonies. It was well to begin with the outward, but the meaning was that we should go forward to the inward and spiritual. Nor was this revelation of the spiritual purpose long delayed; even in the Old Testament we read, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah.” Nothing would be more convenient or more pleasant to the carnal man than to merely observe some outward laws and regulations; but the word of the Lord is sharper than any two-edged sword, and its business is done in the innermost heart of man. “He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh…. Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.” There is, therefore, an evangelical or spiritual circumcision. “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” If we have escaped that which is physically painful, we have come into that which is spiritually disciplinary. “Rend your heart, and not your garments.” Man himself is called upon to do this, not that he has the ability to complete the circumcision, but any desire which he shows to begin it will call the almightiness of God to his aid.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Deu 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Ver. 16. Circumcise therefore. ] Deus iubendo iuvat. Set about this work in God’s strength, and pray that the heaven may answer the earth. Hos 2:21 For it is a work that must be done “without hands.” Col 2:11 Beg of God to thrust his holy hand into our bosom, and to pull off that filthy foreskin; urge him with his promise; Deu 30:6 doubt not of his power: lex iubet, gratia iuvat, a &c.
a August, in Exod., quaest. 55.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Circumcise. Here charged as a duty. in Deu 30:6 promised as a future blessing. Compare Lev 26:41. Jer 6:10. Act 7:51. Circumcision mentioned after Exo 12:48 only in Jos 5:3-7 and Jer 9:25. Uncircumcision of Gentiles shows that circumcision was practiced. Compare Isa 52:1. Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26. Eze 31:18.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Circumcise: Deu 30:6, Lev 26:41, Jer 4:4, Jer 4:14, Rom 2:28, Rom 2:29, Col 2:11
stiffnecked: Deu 9:6, Deu 9:13, Deu 31:27, Jam 4:6, Jam 4:7
Reciprocal: Gen 17:10 – Every Exo 32:9 – a stiffnecked Jos 5:2 – circumcise 2Ch 30:8 – be ye not stiffnecked Isa 48:4 – obstinate Eze 2:4 – they Eze 44:7 – uncircumcised in heart Joh 3:10 – and knowest Act 7:51 – uncircumcised Phi 3:3 – we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Deu 10:16. Circumcise, therefore, your heart Rest not in your bodily circumcision, or in any mere external observances or duties; but seriously set upon that substantial and most important circumcision of the heart and of the spirit which is signified by that of the flesh, and intended to be inculcated thereby: see Rom 2:28-29. Cleanse your hearts from all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness; fitly compared to the foreskin, which, under the Jewish law, if not cut off, made persons profane, unclean, and odious in the sight of God.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:16 {h} Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
(h) Cut off all your evil affections, Jer 4:4.