The First Speech of Moses Deu 1:3 to Deu 4:49 contains the first speech of Moses to the children of Israel in order to prepare them to enter the Promised Land. The purpose of this speech is to exhort Israel to obey the Law that has been delivered to them in order that they prosper in their new land. In this speech Moses gives an historical overview of Israel’s relationship with the Lord since they made a covenant with Him at Mount Sinai. Moses rehearses Israel’s forty-year wilderness journey in order to show them God’s faithfulness in watching over His people.

1. Charge to Depart Mount Sinai & Go Possess the Promised Land Deu 1:3-8

2. Moses Appoints Judges Over the Children of Israel Deu 1:9-18

3. Israel’s Failure to Possess the Promised Land at Kadeshbarnea Deu 1:19-46

4. The Children of Israel Pass Through Edom Deu 2:1-7

5. The Children of Israel Pass Through Moab Deu 2:8-12

6. The Children of Israel Journey Forty Years in the Wilderness Deu 2:13-15

7. The Children of Israel Pass Through the Ammonites Deu 2:16-23

8. Israel Defeats Sihon King of the Amorites Deu 2:24-37

9. The Children of Israel Defeat Og King of Bashan Deu 3:1-7

10. The Lord Gives Israel the Land of the Two Amorite Kings Deu 3:8-22

11. God Raises Up Joshua to Lead Israel into the Promised Land Deu 3:23-29

12. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hearken Unto the Law Deu 4:1-40

13. Moses Appoints Three Cities of Refuge East of Jordan Deu 4:41-43

14. Conclusion to Moses’ First Speech Deu 4:44-49

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Moses Reminds the People of the Law-Giving.

v. 1. Now, therefore, hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you, they were to heed carefully both the moral precepts which fixed their covenant relation toward Jehovah and the special obligations which rested upon them with regard to both God and men, for to do them, that ye may live, namely, in the enjoyment of a long and happy life, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

v. 2. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, for in either case the force of the commandment would be weakened and the Word of God changed into the precepts of men, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I command you. This does not merely mean keeping the wording intact and handing it down unchanged to posterity, but observing and doing what they enjoined. Cf Mat 5:7.

v. 3. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, when the Midianites succeeded in introducing whoredom and idolatry into the ranks of Israel, Numbers 25; for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord, thy God, hath destroyed them from among you.

v. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord, your God, are alive, every one of you, this day. The reward of faithfulness and the punishment of unfaithfulness were thus plainly before their eyes.

v. 5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord, my God, commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

v. 6. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, a matter of ordinary sound common sense, which shall hear all these statutes, the precepts as they governed the covenant relations of Israel, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. It is an Old Testament form of the New Testament injunction that believers should let their light shine before men, Mat 5:16, These facts cause Moses to exclaim in a fervent, ecstatic appeal.

v. 7. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, in whose midst God has revealed Himself in so open and definite a manner, as the Lord, our God, is in all things that we call upon Him for? Israel was the only nation with which Jehovah had entered into such a covenant relation, which was sure at all times of His almighty assistance, Psa 34:19; Psa 145:18.

v. 8. And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this day? All true righteousness of life has its roots in God, and the more the knowledge of the true God is darkened, the more is the foundation of all true law and order shaken to its very depths.

v. 9. Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, the miracles and the many evidences of God’s presence during the years of the wilderness journey, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, that is, for so much as one minute; but teach them thy sons, thy children, and thy sons’ sons, thy grandchildren, the command thus including three points: to remember, to observe, and to transmit in its integrity;

v. 10. specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord, thy God, in Horeb, when the Law was given from Mount Sinai, when the Lord said unto me, Gather Me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

v. 11. And ye came near and stood under the mountain, at its foot; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, so that the fire and the smoke rose up into the sky as far as the eye could reach, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness, for the happenings on the mountain were screened from the eyes of the people by a heavy screen of dark clouds.

v. 12. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice, the sound, of the words, but saw no similitude, no form of God; only ye heard a voice. God did not manifest Himself in any outline or shape which was visible to human eyes.

v. 13. And he declared unto you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, Exo 20:1-17; Exo 34:28; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone. The covenant consisted essentially in this, that the doing on the part of the people corresponded to the command on the part of the Lord. As the memory of God’s goodness and of the covenant was to induce Israel to be faithful to Him, so we Christians should ever keep His kindness and His mercy before our eyes as a spur to a life of sanctification.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Deu 4:1-40

ADMONITIONS AND EXHORTATIONS. Moses, having presented to the people certain facts in their recent history which had in them a specially animating and encouraging tendency, proceeds to direct his discourse to the inculcation of duties and exhortations to obedience to the Divine enactments. This portion also of his address is of an introductory character as well as what precedes.

Deu 4:1-8

Exhortation to the observance of the Law generally. The Law was to be kept as a complete whole; nothing was to be taken from it or added to it; it comprised the commandments of Jehovah, and therefore they were not only to do it as what Moses, their leader and lawgiver, had enjoined, bat to keep it as a sacred deposit, not to be altered or tampered with, and to observe it as what God their Sovereign had enacted for them. The dignity and worth of the Law are here asserted, and also its completeness as given by Moses. Any addition to it, no less than any subtraction from it, would mar its integrity and affect its perfection. Altered circumstances in process of time might, indeed, lead to the desuetude of some parts of the Mosaic enactments, and new institutions or laws might be required to meet a new condition of things, or even in that new condition to fence and sustain the primitive code; but that cede was to remain intact in the Statute-Book, and no alterations were to be made upon it that should affect its substance or nullify any of its principles. New laws and institutions appointed by God would, of course, have the same authority as those originally ordained by Moses; and such, it can hardly be doubted, were in point of fact under the Hebrew monarchy introduced by the prophets speaking in the name of God. The Law, nevertheless, was kept substantially entire. Even under the new dispensation, the Law has not been abolished. Christ, as he himself declared, came not to destroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Mat 5:17). The sin of the Pharisees, for which they were censured by our Lord, lay in this, that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men (Mat 15:9), and had “made the commandments of God of none effect by their traditions” (Mat 15:6).

Deu 4:1, Deu 4:2

Now therefore; rather And now. With this Moses passes from referring to what God had done for Israel to admonish Israel as to what they had to do as the subjects of God and the recipients of his favor. They were to give heed to all the statutes and judgments which Moses, as the servant of God, had taught them, in order that they might do them. Statutes (), the things prescribed or enacted by law, whether moral, ritual, or civil; judgments (), rights, whether public or private, all that each could claim as his due, and all he was bound to render to God or to his fellow-men as their due. These two comprehend the whole Law as binding on Israel. On the doing of these by the people depended life; these had been made known to them, not merely for their information, but specifically that they might do them, and thereby have life; not long life in the Promised Land alone, though this also is included (Deu 4:40; Deu 5:33; Deu 6:2, etc.), but that higher life, that life which man lives “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deu 8:3; cf. Le Deu 18:5; Eze 20:11; Mat 4:4), that spiritual life which is in God’s favor (Psa 30:5). Enjoying this life as the fruit of obedience, they should also possess as their inheritance the laud promised to their fathers.

Deu 4:3, Deu 4:4

The people had had personal experience of the danger, on the one hand, of transgressing, and the benefit, on the other, of keeping God’s Law; they had seen how those who sinned in worshipping Baal-peer were destroyed (Num 25:3, Num 25:9), whilst those who remained faithful to the Lord were kept alive. This experience the people had had only lately before, so that a reference to it would be all the more impressive. Baal-peor, the idol whose cultus was observed at Peor. Baal (Bal, Beel, Bel, Lord) was the common name of the supreme deity among the northern of the Semitic-speaking people, the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Aramaeans, and the Assyrians. There were thus many Baals. Followed: walked after; a common Biblical expression for religious adherence and service (cf. Jer 8:2; Jer 9:14; and with a different formula, Num 32:12; Deu 1:36; Jos 14:8; Jdg 2:12, etc.). Ye that did cleave unto Jehovah your God. “To cleave unto one” is expressive of the closest, most intimate attachment and communion (cf. Gen 2:24; Isa 14:1). The phrase is frequently used of devotion to the service and worship of the true God (cf. Deu 10:20; Jos 22:5; Jos 23:8; Act 2:23, etc.); here it expresses the contrast between the conduct of those who remained faithful to Jehovah and those who forsook him to worship Baal. Are alive every one of you this day. “Thus they that keep themselves pure in general defections, are saved from the common destruction (Eze 9:4-6; 2Ti 2:19; Rev 20:4)” (Ainsworth).

Deu 4:5, Deu 4:6

The institutes of Moses were the commandments of Jehovah, and therefore obedience to them was imperative. By this was conditioned the enjoyment by Israel of the Promised Land; and this would be their wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations; to themselves it would be life, and to the nations it would convey an impression of their being the depositories of true wisdom and knowledge, so that they should be constrained to say, Surely a wise and understanding people is this great nation. “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that is wise winneth souls” (Pro 11:30). God’s statutes make wise the simple (Psa 19:8; Psa 119:98, Psa 119:99); and they who are thus made wise attract the attention of others by the fame of their wisdom. Thus the Queen of Sheba heard in her distant country of the wisdom of Solomon, and came to him to commune with him of all that was in her heart (1Ki 10:1, etc.); and many throughout the ages who were seeking after truth among the heathen, were drawn to Israel by seeing how with them was the true knowledge of God. Israel was thus exalted because God was nigh to them, ready to hear their cry and to give them what they needed; which none of the gods of the nations were or could be to their votaries; and because, in the Law which God had given them, they had such instruction and direction as no heathen nation possessed.

Deu 4:7, Deu 4:8

Translate, For what great nation is there that hath gods that draft near to it, as Jehovah our God whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances like this whole Law which I am giving before you this day? (comp. Deu 33:29; Psa 34:17-20; Psa 145:18; 1Sa 14:36; I Kings 1Sa 18:26-29, 37; Jas 4:8). “True right has its roots in God; and with the obscuration of the knowledge of God, law and right, with their divinely established foundations, are also shaken and obscured (cf. Rom 1:26-32)” (Keil).

Deu 4:9-14

The possession of the oracles of God by Israel was a benefit to them only as these were kept in mind and reverently obeyed. Therefore they were to take heed and diligently beware of forgetting the circumstances under which the Law had been received at Horeb. God had then commanded the people to be gathered together, so that they stood before the Lord, were in his manifested presence, and were made to hear his voice speaking to them from amidst the fire and the clouds that covered the mount. They had thus actual evidence and guarantee that the Law they had received was Divine; and this they were to keep in mind as long as they lived, and to communicate to their children in all coming time, that so they might fear the Lord; for on this rested that covenant which God had made with Israel, and which they were to keep as the condition of their continuing to enjoy privilege and life.

Deu 4:9

Keep thy soul diligently; i.e. Be very careful to preserve thy life (cf. Job 2:6; Pro 13:3; Pro 16:17; Pro 19:16; in all which passages the same formula is used as here). The Hebrew () means primarily breath, then vital principle, natural life (anima), then soul life, the soul or mind (animus). The forgetting of the wonders they had seen would lead to their forgetting God, and so to their departing from him, and this would mar and ultimately destroy their life (cf. Jos 23:11-16). The things which thine eyes have seen (see Exo 19:10, etc.).

Deu 4:10

Specially the day. The word “specially,” introduced by the translators into the Authorized Version, is a needless interpolation. With this verse begins a new sentence, which is continued in Deu 4:11 on to the end of Deu 4:13. Render, On the day [i.e. at the time, the , is an adverbial accusative] when ye stood before Jehovah your God in Horeb when ye came near and stood, then Jehovah spake to you, etc.

Deu 4:11

The mountain burned with fire unto the midst [unto the heart] of heaven; i.e. up to the Very skies; a rhetorical description of the mighty pillar of fire that blazed on Sinai, and betokened the presence of him whose symbol is fire. With darkness, clouds [cloud], and thick darkness; underneath the fire was a cloud of deep darkness, out of which it blazed, the “thick cloud” of Exo 19:9, Exo 19:16, and the “smoke” out of which the lightnings flashed, and over which the glory of the Lord, like devouring fire, rested on the top of the mountain (Exo 19:18; Exo 20:18; Exo 24:16, Exo 24:17).

Deu 4:12

On this occasion the people heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; there was no form or shape apparent to the eye. No man can see God’s face (Exo 33:20, Exo 33:23); “no man hath seen God at any time” (Joh 1:18); and though the nobles or elders of Israel who went up with Moses into the mount are said to have seen God, it is evident that what they saw was only some luminous manifestation of his glory, and not a form or shape of which a similitude could be made (Exo 24:9-17). Even Moses, with whom God said that he would speak mouth to month, and who should behold the similitude of God (Num 12:8), was told that he could not see his face, his essential personality, but only his back, the reflection of his glory (Exo 33:18-23).

Deu 4:13

His covenant; God’s gracious engagement with Israel for their good, and by which they were bound to observe all his commandments. God declared this at Sinai when he uttered the ten commandments (words, ), “the words of the covenant, the ten words” (Exo 34:28), which he afterwards gave to Moses on two tables of stone, written with the finger of God (Exo 24:12; Exo 31:18). Besides these, there were other statutes and ordinances which Moses was commanded to teach the people, and which, with them, comprised the Law given at Sinai (see Exo 21:1-36. and following chapters).

Deu 4:15-20

As the people had seen no form or figure when God spake to them, so they were to beware for their very lives (cf. Deu 4:9) of acting corruptly by making any kind of image, whether of man or of beast, for the purpose of worshipping God as represented by it; they were also to beware of being so attracted by the splendor of the heavenly bodies as to be forcibly seduced to worship them and offer them religious service. They were not in this respect to imitate the heathen; for God, who had delivered them out of the furnace of Egyptian bondage, had taken them for himself to be his special possession; and therefore they were to take heed not to forget the covenant of Jehovah their God, nor to offend him by making any image or representation of him as the object of worship. Among the heathen, and especially in Egypt, images were the very pillar and support of religion; but in Israel, as God had revealed himself to them without form, it was as a spirit he was to be worshipped, and not under any outward representation.

Deu 4:16

Graven image (), carved work or sculpture, whether of wood, or metal, or stonethe similitude of any figurethe form of any idol (, form, statue, idol)the likenessfigure (, a building, a model, a form, or figure)of male or femalein apposition to graven image, and illustrative of it.

Deu 4:17, Deu 4:18

The likenessthe figureof any beast, etc. A warning against the animal-worship of Egypt.

Deu 4:19

Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, etc. The worship of the heavenly bodies, especially star-worship, prevailed among the Canaanites and many of the Semitic tribes, but was not confined to them; the Egyptians also reverenced the sun as Re, the moon as Isis, and the stars as the symbols of deities. The Israelites were thus, both from past associations and from what they might encounter in Canaan, exposed to the danger of being seduced into idolatry. Shouldest be driven: shouldest be urged on, drawn, or constrained (cf. Deu 13:13). Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven, God had allotted () to all mankind the heavenly bodies for their advantage (Gen 1:14-18; Psa 104:19; Jer 31:35); it was, therefore, not competent for any one nation to seek to appropriate them as specially theirs, and it was absurd for any to offer religious service to objects intended for the service of man. Targum: Which the Lord thy God prepared for all peoples under heaven; Vulgate: Quae creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus. This seems better than the interpretation that God had “allotted them for worship, i.e. had permitted them [the nations] to choose them as the objects of their worship” (Keil, etc.); for:

1. There is no distinction here between the Hebrews and the other nations of the earth; “all nations” includes them as well as the heathen.

2. Though God permitted the heathen to worship the heavenly bodies, he never allotted these to men in order that they might worship them. “It noteth God’s bounty in giving all people the use of those creatures, and the base mind of man to worship such things as are given for servants unto men” (Ainsworth).

Deu 4:20

Iron furnacefurnace for smelting iron: “figure of burning torment in Egypt” (Herxheimer). This reference to the smelting of iron shows that, though the implements of the ancient Egyptians were mostly of copper, iron must also have been in extensive use among them. Other references to the use of iron are to be found in the Pentateuch; see Gen 4:22; Le Gen 26:19; Num 35:16; Deu 3:11; Deu 8:9; Deu 19:5; Deu 27:5 (Goguet, ‘Origine des Lois,’ 1.172; Wilkinson, ‘Ancient Egypt,’ 1.169; 2.155). To be unto him a people, etc. (cf. Exo 19:4-6; Deu 7:6).

Deu 4:21-24

Moses, after again referring to his being not permitted to enter Canaan, takes occasion anew to warn the people against forgetting the covenant of Jehovah and making any image of God, seeing he is a jealous God, and a consuming fire.

Deu 4:21

The Lord was angry with me and swore, etc. Neither in Num 20:12, nor in Num 27:12-14, is there any mention of God’s having sworn that Moses should not enter Canaan with the people; but it is absurd to suppose, as some have done, that the writer here has confounded this with what is recorded in Num 14:21, Num 14:28,that is inconceivable; and it certainly does not follow, because no mention is made in Numbers of God’s having sworn, that he did not swear on this occasion; if he confirmed with an oath his decree that the generation that rebelled at Kadesh should not enter Canaan, the probability surely is that he would do the same when he announced to Moses the decree that he should not conduct Israel into the promised laud. “It is perfectly obvious, from Deu 3:23, sqq; that all the details are not given in the historical account of the event referred “(Keil).

Deu 4:23

A graven image, or the likeness of any thing, etc.literally, a graven (sculptured) image of a form of all that Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; s.c. not to make (cf. Deuteronomy 16-18 and Deu 2:37).

Deu 4:24

A consuming fire. When God spoke to Israel at Sinai, his glory appeared “like devouring (consuming) fire on the top of the mount” (Exo 24:17); and in allusion to this Moses here calls God “a consuming fire.” He is so to all his enemies, and to all who disobey him; by severe inflictions he will punish, and, if they persist in their hostility and rebellion, will ultimately destroy them (comp. Deu 9:3; Isa 10:16-18; Amo 5:6; Zep 1:18; Heb 12:29). A jealous God; LXX; God has a burning zeal for his own glory; he guards it with jealous care; and he will not spare those who do him dishonor, especially those who are guilty of idolatry, whereby they “change the truth of God into a lie” (Rom 1:25; cf. Exo 20:5; Deu 6:14, Deu 6:15; Deu 32:16, etc.; Psa 78:58, etc.; Nah 1:2). He is jealous also over his people, because he loves them, and will not endure any rival in their affection and devotion.

HOMILETICS

Deu 4:1-4

Life and prosperity dependent on obedience to God.

In this paragraph Moses indicates, by the word “therefore,” the purpose he has had in the review in which he had been indulging. It was not for the mere rehearsal’s sake that the varied incidents in Israel’s career were thus recalled to memory, but to stimulate the people anew to obedience, by reminding them how strong was the reason for it, and how great would be the blessedness of it. It was then, as it is now, “godliness is profitable for all things;” and though that would be a low standard of virtue attained by a man who served God merely for what he could get by it, yet, on the other hand, if no good came of it, the reason for it would certainly be seriously affected in the influence it had on a man. There is a mean and selfish form of utilitarianism. But if, when a man contends for utility as the foundation of virtue, he means by utility “a tendency to promote the highest good, on the largest scale, for the longest period,” there is nothing selfish or mean about the theory then, whether we accept it as sound philosophy or no. And it is certain that our Lord Jesus Christ meant considerations of profit to weigh with men (see Mat 16:25, Mat 16:26). Observe

I. GOD‘S STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS ARE THE BEST MORAL AND SPIRITUAL FURNITURE WITH WHICH A PEOPLE CAN BE ENRICHED. The word “statutes” includes “the moral commandments and statutory covenant laws.” “Judgments” are precepts enjoining what is due from men to man or to God. Sometimes we get the word “commandments,” including both the former; at other times we have the word “testimonies; in which duty is looked at as that concerning which God bears testimony to man Now, men will rise or fall according as the moral nature is cultured or neglected. And it is because the Divine precepts constitute a directory for our highest selves, that they are so invaluable to us. Doubtless, to some extent, the Law of God is still graven in the hearts and consciences of men; and if men were perfect, the Law written on the heart would be clear enough. But as men neglect God’s Law, they come to fail in discerning it. The characters written inwardly are more and more faint, and, lest it should cease from among men, our God has had his will graciously recorded in a Book, our constant standard of appeal, our unvarying directory of right!

II. THESE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS ARE TO BE PRESERVED INTACT. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.” The manifestation of the tendency of men to do one or the other, yea both, is one of the saddest chapters in human history (see Homily on Deu 12:32). (Cf. Jer 26:2; Pro 30:6; Rev 22:18, Rev 22:19; Mat 5:19; Mat 15:1-13.) Skepticism violates God’s Law by subtracting from it; superstition, by adding to it. Our appeal must ever be “to the Law and to the testimony,” and the appeal will only be valid, nay, will only be possible, as both are preserved intact and kept free from the tampering of men.

III. THEY ARE TO BE PRESERVED IN THEIR ENTIRETY, IN ORDER THAT THEY MAY BE OBEYED IS THEIR ENTIRETY. Hearken, for to do them (see Joh 13:17; Jas 1:22). A mere reverence for the letter, without obedience to the spirit, is displeasing to God. Jesus Christ complained of this among the Jews (Joh 5:38-40). A written law, honored as to its preservation, but yet neglected in life, is a silent witness against us (Joh 5:45). Men may rest in having the oracles of God, and may cherish even up to the last, vain hopes of acceptance on the ground of privilege, but they will be undeceived (Mat 7:21-27). Obedience to the Law of God includes the two great duties of trust in a great salvation and loyalty to moral precepts. No man was allowed to trifle with the sacrificial code any more than with the ethical: both formed parts of the Law; both were to be observed with equal exactitude.

IV. OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW WOULD BE FOR ISRAEL‘S WEAL, AND WAS THE CONDITION OF THEIR CONTINUANCE IN THE LAND.

Deu 4:1

“That ye may live,” etc. The word “life” is very far from being a mere synonym for “existence.” It is equivalent to “healthful existence,” a state of being in which all his powers and functions are in harmonious exercise, and directed to their proper objects and ends. Nor can any one doubt that obedience to the laws of God has a tendency to promote true comfort and success in this life, while it is certainly the truest, yea, the only, preparation for the next. Besides, the blessing of God is promised to the obedient. If a man’s life accords with the laws of God, he will find out how conducive obedience is to good. But if he “strives with his Maker,” his life-course will bristle up with prickles everywhere.

V. AS WE LOOK ROUND, WE MAY SEE SAD EXAMPLES OF THE REVERSE, FROM WHICH WE MAY TAKE WARMING. (See the sad history of Baal-peor, referred to in Deu 4:3.) Surely we should take warning from that, and from too many similar instances. The prevalence of lust will be destructive of life’s beauty, peace, power, and hope.

VI. THE EXPERIENCE OF THE PEACE AND JOY, ATTENDANT UPON A LIFE OF LOYALTY TO GOD, IS A STRONG ARGUMENT FOR CONTINUANCE THEREIN.

Deu 4:4, “Ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” What would the victims of lust and greed and passion give if they could but have the calm peacefulness of one who follows the Lord fully I But that cannot he. The test of a life for God is God’s own seal to its worth in his eye (cf. Psa 91:1-16.); while (coet. par.) long life is ensured by the healthy state of body which a righteous life induces. And the hopethe good hope through gracewhich gilds the outlook, oh, the unutterable joy of that!

IN CONCLUSION.

1. It is just as imperative, in a Christian point of view, for us to combine obedience to the sacrificial and ethical law of the gospel, as it was for the Hebrews to obey both parts of their Law. No outside virtues performed in a legal, self-righteous spirit will save us. Nor will any trust in the sacrifice of Christ, apart; from holiness, be accepted. Both faith in Christ and holy living, form inseparable parts of a true obedience to God.

2. The rich fullness of peace which those enjoy who trust, love, and obey, is far greater under the gospel than it could have been under the Law of Moses, because, in Christ, the revelation of Divine love is so much clearer, and the “blessed hope” is so much brighter. Christ gives us a rest in himself, and the life he quickens and sustains in believers is a restful life (see Rom 5:1-11; Php 4:4-7). “Though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” This is life indeed!

Deu 4:5-9

National greatness dependent on obedience to God.

In these verses we have a continuation of the address of Moses to the people. He had previously reminded them of incidents which had occurred. He here points out to them the advantageous position they are privileged to occupy, and shows them how to maintain and perpetuate it. He reminds them of the following points:

1. That theirs was the very special privilege of having God nigh unto them as the Lord their God (see also Deu 4:32-34).

2. That they would occupy a prominent place among the nations round about (cf. Exo 9:16; Exo 15:14; Num 14:13-21; Deu 28:10).

3. That the cornerstone of their national life and honor was the worship of God and the practice of righteousness. Their” statutes and judgments” were characterized by this special markthey were righteous above those of any other nation (Deu 4:8).

4. That the carrying out into action of these precepts was their only wise course (Deu 4:6).

5. That such wisdom would be their true greatness, and such greatness would win them regard and honor from surrounding peoples (Deu 4:6). [This was actually the case to a very large extent. Our space will not allow us even to touch on the matter here; but careful research will show the student how Israel’s greatness has manifested itself in the influence exerted by them in modifying the religion, philosophy, literature, politics, institutions, and moral judgments of the world. First, among the Egyptians, Canaanites, and Phoenicians; and then among the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, See Wines, Gale, Stillingfleet, and others.]

6. That it behooves them to “keep and do” these precepts, to retain them in their heart, to hand them down to their children, and to take constant care of themselves. In turning all this to pulpit use for modern times, observe

I. THERE ARE CERTAIN PRINCIPLES, THE APPLICATION OF WHICH WILL SECURE THE TRUE GREATNESS OF A PEOPLE. It is becoming to a true patriot to think of his country as being renowned among the nations of the earth, Jehovah evidently meant the people to be moved by such an ambition. It is far more healthful to direct natural desires into a right channel than to try to suppress them. Let a man cherish the most fervent wish to see his country unsurpassed among the people. God promises this as the result of his blessing. Thou shalt be “the head, and not the tail.” But observe: No conspicuousness is so much to be desired as that arising from wisdom and understanding. The prominence which arises from moral influence is that alone which is worth striving after. Any influence by which we help to lift up other nations in virtue and power, is worth infinitely more than that which comes of martial valor, or diplomatic tactics, or such supremacy over a people as shall simply make them stand amazed at the length of our purse, or the precision and deadly fire of out arms. To be known as the wisest people, so that others seek in friendly emulation to learn from usthis is an eminence any patriot well may desire for the land he loves. But observe: This will depend on the amount of moral culture in a people, i.e. on the degree of clearness with which a people see what is right, on the measure of force they put forth in the pursuit of it, and on the firmness with which they insist on the right being paramount to any considerations of power, expediency, or gain. “The throne shall be established in righteousness.” “Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people.” Not only in the individual, the family, and the social life must righteousness be the chief corner-stone of a common weal, but in those acts in which a man has to play the part of a citizen, and in which a nation has to do with other nations. Righteousness may not be eliminated from politics, nor may it play a subordinate part. Universal, eternal, unchangeable, are the laws of righteousness, and by whomsoever they are violatedby individuals, families, Churches, or nationssuch violation will surely be followed by remorse and shame. The truest form of moral culture is loyalty to the Divine Being and his commands. No nation ever has or ever can thrive without the recognition of a Great Supreme. It is only the fool, the “nabal,” the withered one, who says there is no God. And no nation which ignores the duty of loyalty to God will ever be great. But then in the Book, as the world’s grandest moral text-book, there are statutes, precepts, testimonies, judgments, for the regulation of life, both individually and collectively. The appeal of verse 8 is still valid, “What nation is there that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law, which I set before you this day?” We know how the Law may be summed up: “All the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.” And this principle of love to all, carried out in loyalty to God, will ensure that greatness which is most worth having. The Egyptians were at one time renowned for learning, the Phoenicians for their commerce; the men of Bashan for their giant strength; Greece for its philosophy; Rome for her “imperium et libertas.” Their sway has gone. But the Hebrew race, by whom first and alone this law of love was proclaimed as the one guiding principle of a nation’s life, is living in its literature the grandest of all lives, and swaying, with the scepter of its one Perfect Man, men of different nations, tribes, and tongues in every quarter of the globe. Yes, this one law of love has given to the Hebrew race a greatness it will never lose. The brightest streaks of light on the globe now are to be discerned only where the law of love is known and obeyed; that law given by Moses, brought in by Jesus Christ. And in proportion as nations follow and act out this law, will they attain to the only greatness on which heaven smiles. “The world passeth away and the lusts thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” This righteousness is in itself an armor of lighta nation’s best defense. For on “the righteous nation which keepeth the truth” will God’s blessing rest, and, next to the Divine blessing, the good will of the nations is our surest and happiest guard.

II. HERE IS AN APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE AS INDIVIDUALS TO TAKE HEED TO THESE PRINCIPLES. The appeal is fourfold in this paragraph.

1. “Keep therefore and do them.” There is as much obedience to God in the nation as is rendered to him by individual souls, and no more. Hence it is the part of the true patriot who desires his nation’s greatness to see that he is living the life which will help to make the nation great.

2. This is not to be superficial work, but the Law is to be in the heart. Not an accidental, surface life, but an intelligent and designed direction of the inner and outer life according to God’s ways and Word.

3. This law of righteousness, truth, and love is to be handed down from sire to son, and so on to generation after generation. The parent is to be the true depositor, conservator, teacher, and transmitter of God’s Law. He is to live after he has gone in the truth he has taught, and, when he is dead, his speech is to be molding the young hearts of a nation.

4. Each one is to put a careful guard around himself, lest any of the baneful influences around him should destroy or weaken his loyalty to God and the right. “Take care of thyself;”such is the meaning of the phrase in verse 9 (cf. Pro 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”). It is easy to gather from the Book of Deuteronomy against what influences the ancient Hebrews would have to guard. These influences, hostile to unswerving loyalty, vary with each land and race and age. A careful observation and knowledge of the times will show us against what foes we have at all points to be armed. Let us take the whole armor of God. Let us save ourselves from this untoward generation. Let us play the man and the citizen, with hearts loyal to our Savior, jealous for the right and the true, fearing God, but having no fear beside!

Deu 4:11-20

Israel’s peculiar relation to God.

This paragraph sets forth in earnest appeal the peculiar and distinctive relation to God in which Israel was placed. (For the precise details of the point in their history here referred to, see Exo 19:1-25.; and for the application of several of the expressions used both here and there to believers in Christ under the Christian dispensation, see 1Pe 2:9.) Here is a noble theme for the preacherIsrael‘s special relation to God, typical of and fulfilled in the present relation of Christian people to him.

I. LET US STUDY THE PECULIAR RELATION OF ISRAEL TO GOD. “The Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace to be unto him a people of inheritance,” i.e. a purchased or acquired people. So in Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6. The Lord had called Abraham, had made promises to him and to his seed. These promises ran down through Isaac and Jacob and the twelve patriarchs. Now their descendants had become numerous enough to form a nation; as such they had been duly constituted, with this peculiar featurethey were to be God’s nation. They had been freed by him, they were consecrated to him, and were being trained by and for him. Hence, as Kalisch remarks, every subject is as it were a priest, and every civil action assumes the sanctity of a religious function: idolatry was an offence against his sovereignty, and therefore punishable with death; so blasphemy, false prophecy, Sabbath-breaking, were visited with the like punishment. Disrespect to elders, disobedience to parents (they being the representatives of God), were visited with sore penalties. Hence, too, the whole land belonged to God. The people were but tenants, and in the year of jubilee land reverted to its former owner or his heirs. The Israelites were the subjects and servants of God alone. Slavery, therefore, though not peremptorily put down, was so regulated that the slave went out free in the seventh year; and if he did not desire the freedom, he was branded with an ignominious mark because he refused the immediate sovereignty of God. Now, this expression, “God’s nation,” is the key wherewith to interpret many of the enactments which seem to us unintelligible, and many of the punishments which seem unusually severe. This truth, that Israel is the Lord’s people, runs through the Old Testament Scriptures, as will be seen if we note the varied names by which they are distinguished.

1. God’s son, his firstborn (Exo 4:22, Exo 4:23; Jer 3:4, Jer 3:9; Hos 11:1).

2. Firstfruits (Jer 2:3).

3. The people of God (Psa 81:8-11; 2Sa 7:23, 2Sa 7:24).

4. God’s inheritance (Deu 32:9).

5. The people (Deu 33:29).

6. The chosen ones (Psa 33:12; Deu 7:6).

7. His flock (Jer 13:17; Psa 100:3).

8. The holy people (Deu 7:6; Jer 7:1-34 :44).

9. The righteous people (Num 23:10; Exo 19:6).

10. The house or the family of God (Isa 1:2).

11. A kingdom (Psa 89:18).

Thus all Israelites were subjects of the same eternal, perfect King, all equal in dignity, rights, and duties. There was among them no institution resembling caste. All were equal in Heaven’s eye; all enjoyed scope for the development of their spiritual nature. The poorest herdsman might become a prophet, if filled with the Spirit of God. And the intended differential feature of the whole nation was given to it by the revealed character of its King, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” It is no wonder that a people, selected thus for such a close relationship to God, should be called in the text, “a people of inheritance.” Not, indeed, in Israel alone, was there a theocratic form of government. The kings of Egypt, the monarchs of Persia and Thibet, pretended to rule as the representatives of the gods. Minos among the Cretans, Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian, Numa of Rome, and Mohammed, all pretended to have in some sort Divine authority; but these were only the mimicry of the true, and were all lacking in the supreme point to and for which Jehovah was educating Israel, even for “righteousness and true holiness.” It is easy enough to win converts by a certain mimicry of the Divine. The early history of many a nation is laden with mythology, but the early history of Israel stands out in clear and startling distinction from that of other peoples, in the clearness with which they witness for the one living and true God, the accordance of their early records with known life and manners, and the clear and striking demand in their precepts for love and goodness, holiness and truth. This was at the time, and ever will be in the history of that age, the one bright spot amid the surrounding gloom. The people were “a peculiar treasure to God above all people.”

II. WHAT ISRAEL WAS DESIGNED TO BE AMONG THE NATIONS, CHRISTIAN PEOPLE ARE TO BE WHEREVER THEY ARE: a holy people unto the Lord their God. The Apostle Peter intimates this in the verse to which we referred at the outset (see also Tit 2:14; Eph 2:10; 1Pe 1:15, 1Pe 1:16). There are many more passages in which believers are spoken of not only individually but collectively, as making up a family, a household, a city, a commonwealth (Eph 2:12, Eph 2:19; Php 3:20, Greek). And there are four features which mark this new commonwealth, which correspond to those which marked that of the Hebrews.

1. The members of this Christian commonwealth are redeemed (cf. 1Pe 1:18, 1Pe 1:19). From the curse of the Law, from the bondage of sin, believers have been redeemed by an offering of unspeakable value, even the precious blood of Christ.

2. Thus redeemed, they come to have such a knowledge of God as their God as the world has not and cannot have (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5-7). They are redeemed out of a state of servitude into a state of sonship (cf. Joh 8:34-36).

3. They are redeemed to a life of close fellowship with God (cf. Deu 4:7; 1Jn 1:1-3). They are at home in God.

4. They are redeemed to this close fellowship with God, that thereby they may become pure; and that in this life of purity they may “show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Not one of these four stages must be lost sight of; redeemed out of sin and servitude, into sonship, to fellowship, for holiness. Not one of these features must be left out; nor can the order in which we have put them be reversed or even transposed. The only mark by which the world can know God’s people istheir holiness (Heb 12:14). It is not for naught that Scripture speaks of a great redemption. And no preacher preaches the gospel fully, who does not insist on its side of ethics as well as on its side of grace. And no professing Christian is worthy of the name he bears, who loses sight of holiness as the end to be attained, any more than he would be if he were to lose sight of the grace of God as that by which alone he can attain the end. How many of the controversies in the Church of God have arisen from an unequal perception of the varied truths of God’s holy gospel! Out of an inadequate view of the evil of sin and of its affront to God’s honor and government, many have felt but feebly the need of the Great Atoning Sacrifice, whereby the injured honor of the Law was vindicated and a redemption for man made possible! And then, on the other hand, through dwelling all but exclusively on the evil from which man is rescued, others have failed to insist sufficiently on the holiness for the sake of enabling him to attain which his rescue was effected at such a cost. Perhaps few preachers present in perfection an exactly balanced gospel. It is a doctrine according to godliness. Some decry doctrine because they see around them such a lack of godliness. But if we would have the godliness which is to illustrate the doctrine, we shall never secure the end by weakening the exhibition of the doctrine which, rightly used, will certainly lead to it. And not only do preachers need to take heed to both doctrine and practice, but private professors also. If we want the world to understand the value of the Christian religion as an object of revelation, we must show its power in a holy, personal life. If we want others to believe its doctrines to be superior to any other doctrines, we must show that the life it secures is superior to any other life. Thus must we be, like Israel, a peculiar people; showing to others that we have not been redeemed in vain. Be it ours to let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. Thus shall we show we are his people indeed.

Deu 4:21-24

God a consuming fire.

“The Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” This is no obsolete sentence. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes it, and urges the truth it expresses as a reason for serving God “with reverence and godly fear; for,” he adds, even “our God is a consuming fire.” Perhaps the first impression which these words would convey to the earnest and thoughtful mind would be that of terror. Perhaps, too, some may even almost shudder at such a representation of God, and may at once declare that it belongs to a past age, and to a decaying order of ideas. But others who are more cautious would be likely to say, “We must be quite sure that we understand the phrase before we say that.” Doubtless we say with pleasure, “God is light,” “God is love,” but who can delight in saying, “God is fire?” Is it possible that any one can go even further, and delight in saying, “Our Godthe God who is in covenant relation to usis a consuming fire”? Does not the phrase act as a repellent force, and inspire one with dread? No doubt it may have that effect in many cases, specially if men have carelessly fastened on one aspect of things, or where they have been misled by a popular misquotation, “God out of Christ is a consuming fire.” For whatever the phrase means, it is just as true that God in Christ is a consuming fire, as that God out of Christ is so. The phrase is one which should be thoughtfully and devoutly studied in the general light of Scripture teaching, in order that in God’s light we may see light. It may be, if thus we try to feel our way to its meaning, that it opens up views of God with which we would not willingly part.

I. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE IN THE TEXT? It must have often struck an attentive reader of the Bible how frequently the figure of” fire” is found therein, both in connection with man’s offerings to God, and with God’s manifestations of himself to man (cf. Gen 3:24; Gen 8:20; Gen 15:17; Exo 3:1-22.; 19.; Isa 4:1-6.; Isa 31:9). Now, whatever may be the attribute of God here set forth under the figure of fire, it, like all God’s attributes, must he twofold in its action in a sinful world. The action of fire is according to the object on which it acts.

1. There is a terrific action of fire. It tries what is bad (1Co 3:13). It consumes (Le Deu 10:2). It appalls (Num 11:1-3; Isa 33:14). It destroys (2Ki 1:12; Luk 3:17; Joh 15:6; Psa 98:3; Heb 6:8).

2. There is a kindly action of flame. It enkindles (Le Deu 9:24). It tries (1Pe 1:7; Isa 48:10). It purifies (Psa 12:6). It guards (Zec 2:5; 2Ki 6:17; Deu 9:3). It escorts (2Ki 2:11). It guides (Exo 40:38). It enlightens (Psa 78:14). It is as a pavilion of glory (Exo 3:2; Isa 33:14-17). Now, widely different as is the action or the meaning of flaming fire from heaven in all these cases, the difference is not in the flame, but in the material on which it acts. The same fire that melts the wax will bake the clay. So the very same attribute of God in which the righteous may glory will be a terror to his enemies.

3. Fire, when spoken of in reference to God, is an emblem of:

(1) Purity. In Exo 3:2-5, God would signify that in his redeeming love he, the holy God, would dwell with men, and that men might dwell in the midst of his blazing holiness, and yet be perfectly at home.

(2) Power (Deu 9:3; Deu 7:8). Power exerting itself on behalf of those who love him.

(3) Jealousy (Deu 4:23, Deu 4:24).

(4) Anger (Deu 6:15). Thus there are these four conceptions to be attached to the use of the phrase “a consuming fire,” viz. a pavilion of purity in which Israel might dwell unharmed; a jealousy which could brook no rival; an anger which would go forth against sin; a power which would guard its own as with tongues, yea, with walls of flame.

4. But we may take another step, and reduce this fourfold conception to a twofold one. There is anger against sin because of spotless purity. There is jealousy which will brook no rival, and a power, that will guard its own because of intensest love. Thus the consuming fire is purity, in which righteousness may dwell, and in which sin is consumed; and love, which is mighty in its active care, and jealous of any rival in the human heart.

5. We may simplify yet again, and reduce the twofold conception to a unity, and say that God is a consuming fire, inasmuch as he is perfect lovepure love, active love, jealous love; so that oar text is but another way of saying, “God is light, God is love.” Let us now

II. LOOK AT THESE THREE FORMS OF THE EXPRESSION “PERFECT LOVE,” AND SEE WHAT THEY INVOLVE.

1. Pure love. God is a flaming fire of infinite purity, and yet a burning flame of tenderest love. He receives the sinner on a basis of righteousness. He makes men who are in covenant relation to him perfectly pure. They are to be tried and purified and made white, till they are without fault before the throne of God. Would we have it otherwise? God’s love without its purity would be worthless to us!

2. Active love. God castles his saints in a wall of fire (Isa 4:6), while he also destroys their foes as with a tongue of fire.

3. Jealous love. There is a hateful jealousy. There is a rightful one. The first it would be unworthy of a man to possess; the second, a man would be unworthy of himself if he did not. A father would be worth little if he were not jealous for the purity of his child; so would a husband if not jealous for the honor of his wife; or an Englishman, if not jealous for the honor of his queen! Even so, it would be unworthy of God if he were not jealous, in the scriptural sense. Note:

(1) God’s love is jealous for the first place in our hearts.

(2) God is jealous for his own purity, holiness, and truth.

(3) He is jealous for the honor of his Son.

He will not let one be lost who receives him, nor will he let one be saved who trifles with him. To go against Christ is to rush into the consuming flame!

III. WHAT ARE THE PRACTICAL USES TO RE MADE OF THIS SUBLIME ATTRIBUTE OF GOD? (See the use made of it in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Deu 12:1-32; the last three or four verses.)

1. Is God thus a consuming fire? Then let us never attempt to draw nigh unto him without a recognition both of his purity and of our sinfulness. No service is accepted before God which does not take account of sin, and in connection with which there is not “reverence and godly fear.”

2. Do not let us think of any mode of recognition of sin which ignores God’s own way, viz. that of an atoning sacrifice. God will jealously guard the honor of his dear Son. “If they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.”

3. If thus we are penitently making use of the atoning sacrifice of Christ as our only means of approach to and ground of hope in God, then let us glory in this holy, jealous love, which guards us as with a wall of fire, and is our everlasting guarantee that we shall not be put to shame.

4. Let us remember that it depends on ourselves whether the “consuming fire” is a flame at which we tremble, or a pavilion in which we can hide. God cannot deny himself. He will not deal with the sinner on any principle which ignores the great atonement which his Son has effected, or which admits of his accepting the service of a divided heart. It is for us to say whether the great redeeming work of Jesus shall be the means by which we are raised to fellowship in infinite holiness, or whether it shall be to us the savor of death unto death. It must be one or the other. If we receive it, it will bring us to eternal rest in God; if we reject it, it will deepen our condemnation more terribly than if no Savior had been provided! Our God is a consuming fire. If, in Jesus, we draw near to him, that burning, blazing holiness shall be the secret place of his tabernacle in which we are safely hidden. If we neglect this great salvation, as men unpardoned and unsaved, we shall remain, and at the flame of Jehovah’s purity we shall tremble forever! Sinner, say, oh say, shall this fire of God’s perfect love surround you ever as a wall of protection, or shall it terrify and consume you as devouring flame?

HOMILIES BY D. DAVIES

Deu 4:1-13

The sacredness of the Divine Law.

Law, being the utterance of righteousness, is unalterable as righteousness itself, permanent amid all the mutations of human affairs. Its requirements are statutes, stable as the everlasting hills.

I. LAW IS THE VERITABLE VOICE OF GOD; the manifestation of his thought; the mirror of his mind. “The Lord spake unto you.” “Out of the midst of the fire” the flame of holiness and zealissues every command. If man’s moral nature has an open ear, it may often detect the imperial voice of Heaven. ‘Tis not to sight God reveals himself, but to the ear. His messengers are emphatically “a voice.” “Faith comes by hearing.”

II. LAW, IN ITS SPHERE, IS PERFECT. Over every work of his hands God pronounces the verdict “Very good;” and Law, being the instrument with which he works, is “holy, just, and good.” For unrighteous man there may be something more precious than Law; but when restored to God, Law is his delight. In the domain of belief we cannot augment or diminish God’s Law without self-injury. Perfection cannot be improved upon. In the sphere of practice, to halt short of the line of duty, or to go beyond the line, is alike an offence. Self-mutilation, or blemish, is the effect.

III. THE VERACITY OF LAW ATTESTED BY ACTUAL EXPERIENCE. Every honest minded man may discover whether or not the written Word embodies a Divine Law. If a genuine Law, its authority is ratified by an honest conscience; as sanctions, whether of commendation or curse, are witnessed by every clear-sighted eye. Every truthful man is a witness that God’s laws (whether written in external nature, in man’s constitution, or in Scripture) bring life to the obedient, death to the transgressor. Not a Law is revealed in the Scriptures, but it tends to righteousness, happiness, life!

IV. DIVINE LAW ASSERTS ITS AUTHORITY OVER THE WHOLE MAN.

1. Over the intellect, for it demands attention, investigation, comparison, and discrimination.

2. Authority over the affections, for it demands reverence, esteem, choice, and love.

3. Authority over the moral faculty; for it demands assent, response, and loyalty.

4. Over the active powers, for it requires watchfulness, self-restraint, uninterrupted deference, and uncompromising service.

V. LAW IS THE PATHWAY TO TRUE EMINENCE. Every successful application of science to practical life is simply a treading of the pathway of law. So long as man finds the footprints of God’s Law, he moves onward. There is no real progress in any department of human life, except along the line of God’s Law. To find that, and to follow it, is success. This is equally true in the spiritual province. This is the quintessence of wisdomthe stepping-stone to eminence! What menwhat nationhave ever reached to permanent greatness, save they who have trodden the path of Divine Law?

VI. LOYALTY TO GOD‘S LAW BRINGS US NEAR TO GOD. As when we follow up the footprints of a man rapidly enough, we at length come up with the man himself; so, as we pursue the pathway of Law, we come soon without the hallowed precincts of God’s presence. We see the working of the heavenly machinery, the movements of God’s thought and purpose. We move with it, and ever come nearer to the central light and love. It is a narrow path, and few they are who find it.

VII. A SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE IS SELF–PROPAGATING. Like plants in the garden, every righteous man bears seed after his own kind. Without formal teaching, the beauty of his life will be a living lessonthe fragrance of his deeds will be contagious. They who love God’s Law will be zealous to teach God’s Law, and to commend it to others. A fine trait in Abraham’s character comes into view when God said, “I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him.” Every man bequeaths to posterity a large legacy of blessing or of bane.

VIII. THE LAW OF GOD B DESTINED TO HAVE PERMANENCE IN HUMAN LIFE. There was high significance in the fact that the Decalogue was written, not in rays of light upon the sapphire firmament, nor in legible characters upon parchment, but on stone. The stone of Sinai is said to belong to one of the oldest formationsthe granite period. The forms and modes of law may undergo change to meet the growing necessities of men; but the inner sensethe kernelof every law still abides. “Heaven and earth may pass away,” all material stricture may undergo radical changebut the words of God can undergo no change. What is true once is true always! What was right a myriad of ages since, retains all its authority today, and will be obligatory world without end. The sum and substance of moral law is writ by the finger of God, and graven on the solid rock!D.

Deu 4:1-28

The curse of idolatry.

Idolatry is the general bias of fallen humanity, the perversion of an innate principle, the misgrowth of the religious instinct. Men everywhere “feel after God, if haply they may find him.” Absolute atheism cannot long endure anywhere. If men reject a personal Deity, they invent an inferior God, and practically worship that. The wildest atheist which the world has seen, must admit that there is some power or force in the world superior to himself. There is no resting-place for reason, short of a spiritual God.

I. IDOLATRY WAS THE PREVALENT DANGER OF THE PATRIARCHAL AGE. During the childhood of men, they are under the domination of the bodily senses. They demand a god whom they can see and handle and hear. The kindred of Abraham were addicted to idolatry. The wife of Jacob furtively abstracted the teraphim of her father, and held them in a measure of reverence. Even Moses yearned for a visible Deity. “I beseech thee, show me thy glory!” The absence of Moses from the camp for forty days sufficed for the people to relapse into idolatry. Throughout their history, every decline in relic, ions feeling showed itself in a fresh lapse towards idolatry.

II. IDOLATRY GROSSLY CORRUPTS ITS VOTARIES. The object which is at first selected to be a symbol of the Deity, soon detains on itself the homage of the worshipper, and becomes his Deity. Matter is at the antipodes from spirit. The laws and forces working in material nature may help us to understand the Divine Being, but matter itself never. Apart from a written revelation, we best rise to the knowledge of God through the contemplation of our own minds and consciences. The object of our worship molds us after itself. The worshipper of beasts becomes bestial. “They that make them become like unto them.” This is God’s law.

III. MATERIAL IMAGES DEGRADE THE GODHEAD. For God is a Spirit, and cannot be represented by material images. For matter can convey no impressions of omnipresence, or of eternity, or of moral qualities, or of emotions, affections, or joys! Representation by material images strips our God of all that is noblest in his nature, cf. all that is distinctive in the Godhead. It cloaks his perfections and eclipses his glory.

IV. IDOLATRY ANNULLED THE COVENANT BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL. That gracious compact required upon the part of the Israelites the honest recognition and worship of the One Jehovah. Unfaithfulness on this vital point invalidated the entire covenant; God had pledged himself specially to be their God, on condition that they were his loyal people. All the resources of God’s kingdom were pledged to Israel in that covenant. It was an act of mercy that God should bind himself in any form to his creatures, and this superabundant grace ought to have held their homage by closest and tenderest ties. His part of the covenant, God had conspicuously observed in the release of his people from the “iron furnace.” Was not every sign and wonder wrought in Egypt a fresh seal upon the heavenly bond? This covenant, between a gracious God and undeserving men, idolatry destroyed.

V. OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS DESIGNED AS A REGULATIVE FORCE. There are limitations to our knowledge of God imposed by our constitution, and further limitations imposed by our sin. These latter can be removed at once by the redemptive power of Christ; and the first named shall gradually be relaxed in the resurrection state. Fire does not represent God, except so far as it consumes, and this illustration is meant to check our presumption; ’tis not for the satisfaction of a curious intellect, but to restrain a wayward life. Knowledge of God, which is honestly reduced to practice, becomes larger and clearer knowledge. “Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord.”

VI. INIQUITY BECOMES ITS OWN PUNISHMENT. Throughout the Scriptures this doctrine is taught, that sin ripens and culminates in punishment. The penalty threatened upon the idolatry of the Jews was this, that they should be driven into a heathen land, and be compelled to serve the senseless blocks of wood and stone. The punishment of avarice is this, that the sensibilities become as hard as gold. The penalty of drunkenness is this, that the morbid appetite grows into an uncontrollable passion! The voice of doom says, “He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.”

VII. PRESENT PUNISHMENTS ARE THE TYPE OF FUTURE PUNISHMENTS. The penalty to be imposed on the Jews for disloyalty, was banishment from Canaandefeat, scattering, death. So the final penalties revealed for reprobate men are exclusion from the heavenly Canaan; banishment to the darkness they have preferred; utter destruction. Each man “goes to his own place.”

VIII. SUFFERING FOR OTHERS, A PATHWAY TO HUMAN HEARTS. In connection with these fatherly counsels, Moses again reminds the people of his privation on account of their sins. The blame of his exclusion from Canaan he attributes to them. He who aforetime had prayed that, for the sake of Israel, his own name might be blotted out of God’s book, now submits to this chastisement for the people’s good. But Moses would not throw away the advantage which this fact might bring. In his desire for the people’s good, he converts it into a persuasive argument, by which to confirm their loyalty to God. As if, should every other appeal fail, this appeal to their sensibility might succeed. It is as if he had said, “Remember what I am called to endure for you! Let your requital be unswerving obedience to my God.” Here he serves as a feeble type of Jesus.D.

HOMILIES BY J. ORR

Deu 4:1, Deu 4:2

Acceptable obedience.

I. ITS BASISthe Divine command. “Statutes and judgments.” Action originating in self-will, however correct in moral form, is not obedience. It is God’s command which is the rule and starting-point. Recognition of his authority is essential. Kant distinguishes religion from morality thus” Religion is the doing of all duties as if they were Divine commandments.” The objective rule is found in the inspired Scriptures.

II. ITS CHARACTER. It must be:

1. Entire, not partial. Having respect to all that God reveals.

2. Honest, neither altering, mutilating, adding to, nor subtracting from (cf. Mat 5:19; Mat 15:6, Mat 15:9).

3. Persevering.

III. ITS REWARD. “Life,” possession of blessings. This reward not legal, but of grace through Christ, as on the legal basis no one can attain to it (Rom 3:20). But though, as sinful, we cannot have life through obedience, we still have it in obedience. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21; Rom 2:7).J.O.

Deu 4:6-10

A nation’s glory.

I. A NATION POSSESSING GOD‘S WORD IS SUPREMELY FAVORED. (Deu 4:8.) Even to have such a Law as Israel possessed exalted her to a position of unique greatness. The knowledge of the true Godlight on the great principles of conduct-equitable statutes-institutions adapted to promote material, moral, and spiritual well-being. Our own nation is exceptionally favored in the plentiful enjoyment of religious privilegesBibles, churches, Sabbath schools, evangelistic agencies, Christian literature, etc; bringing the highest knowledge within the reach of the humblest; while the laws, institutions, etc; under which we live, as the fruit of a Christian civilization, are not surpassed by any on the earth. God has indeed, favored us to an unexampled degree in every religious respect.

II. A NATION ENLIGHTENED BY GOD‘S WORD IS SUPREMELY WISE. To have is much, but to be truly “a wise and understanding people,” we must “keep and do” (Deu 4:6). It is not in knowing, but in adopting, the wise course that we show ourselves truly wise. Wisdom is the course that conduces to the formation of a brave, noble, resolute, happy, and contented people; and the nation that loves God’s Word, fears God himself, and applies the teaching he has given it in the various spheres of domestic, social, commercial, and political existence, is indubitably in possession of that wisdom. It is to be regretted that the nations most peculiarly privileged do not always set that store upon their privileges which they should do, or make a good use of them. The amount of irreligion, infidelity, and general indifference to the Word of God in our own land is a startling omen for the future. Britain’s greatness will soon wane if she abandons her respect for the Bible, the Sabbath, and the guiding principles of revelation,

III. A NATION ORDERING ITSELF BY GOD‘S WORD IS SUPREMELY EMINENT. (Deu 4:7.) Its prosperity:

1. Rests on a solid foundation.

2. Is built up under conditions that ensure its permanence.

3. Is secured by a special blessing of God. And this is a matter admitting of ample historical verification.

Compare:

1. Pagan nations with Christian.

2. Unbelieving nations with believing (France: Britain).

3. Roman Catholic nations with Protestant (see Laveleye on ‘Protestantism and Catholicism in their bearing upon the Liberty and Prosperity of Nations’).

4. Sabbath-desecrating nations with Sabbath-keeping. It will be found that the Bible-loving, Bible-obeying, Sabbath-keeping nations exhibit:

(1) an intellectual superiority;

(2) an ethical superiority;

(3) a superiority in political institutions;

(4) a superiority in material respects (trade, commerce, wealth, etc.).

IV. A NATION OBEYING GOD‘S WORD WILL HAVE THE SOURCE OF ITS GREATNESS ACKNOWLEDGED BY OTHERS. (Deu 4:6.) They will not only own to its eminence, but they will discern its true cause, and acknowledge that it springs from its religious faithfulness. Numerous testimonies of this kind exist to the source of the national greatness of our own country.

Lessons

1. Value our religious privileges.

2. Seek the furtherance of religion in the community.

3. Be diligent in the training of our children (Deu 4:9).

4. Extend our blessings to others.J.O.

Deu 4:9

The religious education of children.

1. God’s way of handing down the fruits of present privilege.

2. God’s way of maintaining his witness in the world.

3. God’s way of extending his Church.

The natural law of the increase of population leads, where parents are faithful, to a constant increase in the number of the godly.J.O.

Deu 4:10-14

The revelation at Horeb.

A revelation

I. OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD‘S NATURE. “Ye saw no similitude” (Deu 4:12). A wonderful truth to be impressed on the minds of a people fresh from contact with the debasing idolatries of Egypt. A truth:

1. Difficult to grasp.

2. Elevating in its influence.

3. The apprehension of which is necessary for spiritual worship (Joh 4:24).

II. OF THE HOLINESS OF GOD‘S CHARACTER. The lightnings that played about the mountain, the fire burning in the midst of it (Deu 4:11), the fiery law that was given,all bespoke the awful and terrible holiness of him whose voice was uttering words of dreadful import to transgressors.

III. OF THE VERITIES OF GOD‘S LAW. Then were spoken the ten commandments (Deu 4:10, Deu 4:12)the sum and substance of moral dutythe rule of life to believersthe Law which condemns and slays transgressors. Christ is “the end of the Law of righteousness to every one that believeth,” and only in him can we escape from its condemning power (Rom 8:1; Rom 10:4).

IV. OF THE TERRORS OF GOD‘S MAJESTY, God surrounded himself with these signs of his greatness, power, wrath, and holiness:

1. That we may reverence and fear him.

2. That we may be kept from presumption in our approaches to him.

3. That we may feel the awfulness of his Word. Recalling this scene, the Israelites should have been preserved from ever trifling with it. God’s Word should be handled and read with a deep feeling of reverence.

4. These terrors suggested that the Law, in itself considered, is not a saving, but a destroying power. The whole manifestation was overcast with threatening.J.O.

Deu 4:15-20

Warning against heathenish idolatry.

I. THE ORIGIN OF HEATHEN IDOLATRY. The result of a “corruption” (Per. 16). Not a stage in the advance upwards from fetishism, etc.; but, as inquiries are tending more and more to show, the consequence:

1. Of a depravation of the idea of God.

2. Of a corruption of the worship of God.

3. Arising in turn from the substitution of the creature for God in the affections (cf. Rom 1:20-26).

II. THE FORMS OF HEATHEN IDOLATRY.

1. Hero-worship (Deu 4:16).

2. Animal-worship (Deu 4:17, Deu 4:18).

3. Nature-worship (Deu 4:19).

Greek idolatry furnishes conspicuous instances of the first; Egypt was notorious for the second, so Hinduism; while Parseeism, and the early Vedic worship illustrates the third (cf. Job 31:21).

III. THE FRUITS OF HEATHEN IDOLATRY.

1. A degraded intellect.

2. Degraded affections.

3. Degraded morals (Rom 1:1-32.).

Therefore Israel must not “corrupt” themselves.J.O.

Deu 4:20

The iron furnace.

God had passed his people through a hot furnace in the terrible sufferings they endured in Egypt, but with the gracious purpose of ultimately delivering them, and giving them an inheritance in Canaan. We learn

I. THAT GOD‘S PEOPLE ARE SOMETIMES SUBJECTED TO SUFFERINGS OF INCREDIBLE SEVERITY. The expression an ‘iron furnace,” i.e. a furnace for smelting iron, conveys no weaker an idea. We know that in fact it sometimes is so. Bodily anguishmental anguishstroke after stroke of heaviest trial. An instance in the history of Job. Shakes faith to its foundationsseems to argue that God has utterly forsaken them.

II. THAT THESE SUFFERINGS ARE APPOINTED, AND SERVE DISCIPLINARY ENDS. The use of the figure of a furnace implies a purpose in the sufferings. Iron is put into the furnace deliberately, and with a design. Trials, difficult enough to bear in the faith that God sends them, would ofttimes be absolutely intolerable without that faith. The furnace acts on the tough, hard, impure iron to separate it from dross, and make it soft and workable. The severe sufferings through which God passes believers:

1. Purify character.

2. Make the nature plastic to God’s will, and subdue it to meekness.

3. Fit the man thus sanctified for new and higher uses.

III. GOD HAS AN INHERITANCE IN STORE FOR THOSE WHO ENDURE THE FURNACE SUCCESSFULLY.

1. Their sufferings fit them to be God’s inheritance. “To be unto him a people of inheritance.” He has to melt, mold, and spiritually prepare for his own indwelling those whom he chooses.

2. Their sufferings fit them for the inheritance which God gives them (1Pe 1:3-10). By creating a pure, chastened, heavenly disposition. By strengthening faith, brightening hope, and increasing love. By subduing pride, rebellion, and impatience; and making the will absolutely pliant in the hands of the Divine.J.O.

HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR

Deu 4:1-14

Obedience the secret of success.

Moses here reminds Israel of the privilege it possesses as a nation in having the oracles of God committed unto it (Rom 3:2). He urges obedience upon them as the one purpose for which they are to be introduced into the Promised Land. National prosperity depends upon this. And here we have to notice

I. DISOBEDIENCE HAS ALREADY PROVED FATAL. He recalls the terrible experience in connection with Dual-peerhow the people in large numbers became lewd idolaters with the Israelites (Num 25:1-18.), and how fierce anger from the Lord visited the people. In Canaan they shall be exposed to similar temptations, but the chastisement at Baal-peor must not be lost upon them. Past judgments are to secure more complete obedience.

II. GOD‘S NEARNESS TO THEM SHOULD PROVE A HALLOWING PRIVILEGE. How gracious is God to dwell among them, always near at hand to be inquired of, a most serviceable King! He dwelt in their midst as a Pilgrim with his people. Upon his accessibility and wisdom they could always calculate. This distinguished Israel from the other nations. Such a privilege should of itself hallow them, and make them to abide under his shadow. Equally near is God still to all of us who seek him.

III. HIS LAW IS WISER THAN ALL MAN‘S DEVELOPED LEGISLATION. The surrounding nations had their laws and customs, but the superiority of the Mosaic code was admitted by all acquainted with it. It was an immense moral advance for Israel, as great an advance as in that rude age they could take in. Similarly, the morality of the gospel is ahead of all jurisprudence. Indeed, enlightened legislation and reform tend towards the scriptural ideal. God is wiser than man, and the Bible better than all acts of parliament.

IV. THE LAW WAS GIVEN AS A RULE OF LIFE FOR A COVENANT PEOPLE. They were redeemed from bondage, and then received the Law at Sinai to guide their redeemed lives. Obedience should be a matter of gratitude for deliverance, and would prove the secret of success. It is so still. “Christ redeems us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us.” But as grateful and saved people, we feel that we are “under the Law to Christ” (1Co 9:21). And this grateful obedience proves the secret of comfort and success. It is the meat of life to do the wilt of him who hath sent us, and to finish his work (Joh 4:34). Palestine becomes “paradise regained” to the grateful and obedient souls. We find a Promised Land where God’s precepts are gratefully observed by redeemed souls. It is the attitude within, rather than the circumstances without, which constitutes life a blessed country and an antepast of heaven.R.M.E.

Deu 4:15-24

The Divine jealousy of graven images.

The great temptation of Israel was to idolatry. Images were worshipped by all those nations among whom they came, and they were in constant danger of conforming to the sinful practice. Hence this warning and statement about the Divine jealousy. Let us observe

I. THAT JEALOUSY PRESUPPOSES LOVE. Love must be strong as death, else jealousy will not be cruel as the grave; nor will its coals prove coals of fire, having a most vehement flame (So Deu 8:6). The God who proves so jealous is he whose essence is love. If God did not love men so much, he would not be so jealous when they turn away from him. He knows that, as a wife cannot be happy separated from her loving husband, no more can the human spirit be, away from him. Israel then and we now have to deal with a God of love.

II. GOD IS JEALOUS WHEN MEN GIVE HIM VISIBILITY. Idolatry is trying to help worship through the aid of the senses. The image is not regarded as the god, but his likeness. Man embodies his ideas of God in outward forms. But imagination is not creative; it combines in new relations what has already been given to it. Hence idolatry has never done more than place the creatures, whether beast, or bird, or fish, or reptile, or the heavenly bodies, in new relations to the invisible Divinity. God resents this visibility as degradation. He knows that man becomes degraded by such associations. Hence his deserved wrath against idolatry.

III. IF GOD BE NOT OUR KINDLING FLAME, HE WILL IN JEALOUSY BE OUR CONSUMING FIRE. It is at the torch of the Divine that the human soul becomes enkindled. The flaming fires of Pentecost sublimate the soul and fit it for primeval powers. It is this warning, elevating influence that is love’s natural action. But when rebellious man turns the grace of God into lasciviousness; when love is ignored instead of returned, and the soul seeks in the things of sense what God only cad give,then love begins to burn as jealousy with a vehement, consuming flame.

IV. IT BECOMES US CONSEQUENTLY TO WORSHIP GOD IN THE SPIRIT. We must keep upon the serene heights of faith, and not fall into the degradation of superstition. We are made for better things than weakly to associate in our minds the invisible and eternal God with the creatures of sense. Let us give faith proper scope, and the worship of God will prove both possible and delightful. But the worship of God through images makes stocks and stones of men. “They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them” (Psa 115:8). May our worship raise us and not degrade us! Superstition degrades, but worship of the invisible God in the Spirit elevates and ennobles our souls.R.M.E.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Ver. 1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel Having laid before them a long train of divine dispensations towards their nation, Moses now calls upon the whole assembly, in the most serious and solemn manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct; and exhorts them to strict obedience; to an exact observance of the statutes, i.e. the laws which concerned the worship of their God; and of the judgments, i.e. all the moral precepts of religion which have man for their object. That ye may live, evidently means, as the next clause shews, may enjoy national peace and prosperity, and not perish, as your fathers have done, in their rebellion. See ver. 3 and chap. Deu 13:1. Moses, says St. Paul, Rom 10:5 describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who doeth these things shall live by them; and this life was a type of the eternal life which Jesus Christ hath merited for true faith, Joh 1:17. Rom 13:14; Rom 6:23.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

The separation of the Cities of Refuge as a pause to the first discourse.

Deu 4:41-43

41Then [After that] Moses severed three cities on this [that] side Jordan, toward the sun-rising; 42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares [without design] and hated him not in times past [yesterday, the third day]; 43and that fleeing [and flee] unto one of these cities he might live: Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of [for] the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of [for] the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of [for] the Manassites.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Through the whole fourth chapter down to the fortieth verse, life has been the thought insisted upon. If in the connection the relations to God have been made prominent, the preservation of life in our relations to our fellow-men, our neighbors, is still a very obvious, supplementary realization of the same thought. Then there is no more effective form of the fundamental idea of the whole law, which should be carried out, than that Moses, while he takes breath, should immediately use the pause, to follow the word with the deed, and therewith show his hearers what was also expected from them. See the divine command in question, Num 35:6; Num 35:14. Lastly, Baumgarten says correctly, that the East Jordan land thus first received its full consecration, and the assumption in the preceding discourse of Moses, of the conquest and possession of the two Amoritic kingdoms on the further side of Jordan, was thus fully grounded. Moreover the historical conclusion here is just as appropriate as the historical beginning, Deu 1:1-5. [These verses are clearly in place. They narrate an occurrence which took place between the close of the first and beginning of the second discourse, and therefore are inserted here. Aside from the connection in thought, and the moral lesson they teach, they belong historically here and no where else.A. G.]. For the later mention, and perhaps first full completion of the Mosaic separation, comp. on Joshua 20. The closer limitation, Deu 4:41, toward the sun-rising explains on this side Jordan, as the East Jordanic cities in distinction from the Canaanitic cities of refuge in chap. 19. Comp. that chap. The separation by Moses, as it rested upon a divine command, raises the free cities to sacred places (Exo 21:14; 1Ki 2:28 sq.; 1Ki 1:50 sq). The regulation, Deu 4:42 (Num 35:15 sq.), prevents or restrains blood revenge; for the life of man is not merely precious to the slain, so that his murder must be revenged, but is alike costly to the slayer, who indeed as the murderer must pay with his own life that which he has violently taken, but whose life, even on that account, as he has simply given the fatal stroke (without foreknowledge, without any premeditated hostility) must be preserved. Deu 4:43. Bezer, probably Bosor, 1Ma 5:36, but not yet certainly ascertained (Keil). The plain country (Deu 3:10) is the Amoritic: thus the wilderness is used for the steppes of the Euphrates wilderness (1Ch 5:9-10) to which Reuben lay open on the east. If the six places of refuge, on the west and east side of Jordan, were arranged at equal distances, we should look for Bezer over against Hebron. Ramoth in Gilead, is identical with Ramoth Mizpeh, a border city of Gad, now Salt, the only inhabited city in Belka, whose castle, surrounded by steep mountains, rises in a narrow rocky valley, the houses rising as terraces. Golan, east of the sea of Galilee, but not certainly discovered, although the district Gaulanitis bears its name.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Calvin: Athough he was not able to fulfil in every part, the divine command to select six cities, he did not delay until the three other cities could be added, from whence we may learn that although we may not immediately complete what God commands, we should not delay, and still we are not to be over anxious since He may intend to complete it through others. Wurt. Bib.: Sins are not all of the same dye, Mat 12:31-32. The refuge cities east of Jordan; 1) their significant number (three, the number of the divine life); 2) their typical position (toward the sun-rising) in reference to their chief significance, the preserving of life; in reference to Mal. [Deu 4:2]; Luk 1:78; 2Pe 1:19; 2 Peter 3) their significance, over against the custom of blood revenge, and for the law of God. The sacredness of human life. [The whole law is unto life. Obedience to it is not only the path to life hereafter, but to life here, Deu 4:1; Deu 4:40; Pro 3:2; Pro 4:4. This provision of the cities of refuge, with all the arrangements as to ease of access, shows how sacredly the law guards human life. It claims indeed life for life, thus lays its restraints upon human passion and violence, but still protects the unintentional and therefore guiltless man slayer.A. G.].

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

I. THE FIRST DISCOURSE

Deu 1:6 to Deu 4:40

1. The command of God for the breaking up from Horeband the promise. (Deu 1:6-8).

6The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: 7Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all [his neighborssee marg.] the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea-side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. 8Behold, I have [given] set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

2. The corresponding precautions which Moses took. (Deu 1:9-18.)

9And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: 10The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!) 12How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? 13Take2 you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. 14And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. 15So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made [gave] them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. 16And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. 17Ye shall not respect persons [regard faces] in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is Gods: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it. 18And I commanded you at that time all the things [words] which ye should do.

3. The actual breaking up from Horeb, and arrival in Kadesh-barnea; the encouragement to the promise. (Deu 1:19-21.)

19And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God doth give unto us. 21Behold, the Lord thy God hath set [given] the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

4. The Spies. (Deu 1:22-25.)

22And ye came near unto me every one of you [all ye], and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. 23And the saying pleased me well:3 and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: 24And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. 25And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.

5. The unbelief notwithstanding all assurances and experiences. (Deu 1:26-33.)

26Notwithstanding, ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God: 27And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver [give] us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged [melted] our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakims [sons of the giants] there. 29Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. 30The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for [with] you in Egypt before your eyes; 31And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way [the whole way] that ye went, until ye came into this place. 32Yet in this thing [word] ye did not believe the Lord your God, 33Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day.

6. The judgment of God. (Deu 1:34-40.)

34And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, 36Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath4 wholly followed the Lord. 37Also the Lord was angry 38with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But [om. But] Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither. Encourage 39him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover, your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, 40and they shall possess it. But [And] as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

7. Fruitless attempts. (Deu 1:41-46.)

41Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready [made light]5 to go up into the hill. 42And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither 43fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So [And] I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment [mouth] of the Lord, and went presumptuously [were presumptuous and went] up into the hill. 44And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. 45And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. 46So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

8. The new beginning. (Deu 2:1-3.)

1Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days. 2And the Lord spake unto me, saying, 3Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.

9. The exceptions (Deu 2:4-23): Edom (Deu 2:4-8): Moab (Deu 2:9-15): Amnion (Deu 2:16-23)

4And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot-breadth [the treading of the sole of the foot]; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6Ye shall buy meat [food] of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water6 of them for money, that ye may drink. 7For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth [careth for] thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing. 8And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9And the Lord said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle:7 for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. (10The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims;11Which also were 12accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. The Ho-rims also dwelt in Seir before-time, but the children of Esau succeeded them [dislodged and], when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them.) 13Now rise up, said I,8 and get you over the brook Zered: and we went over the brook Zered. 14And the space in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware 15unto them. For [And] indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy 16them from among the host, until they were consumed. So [And] it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17That the Lord spake unto me, saying, 18Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of 19Moab, this day: And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20(That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time: and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; 21A people great, and many, and tall as the Anakims; but the Lord destroyed them before them; and they succeeded [dislodged] them, and dwelt in their stead: 22As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded [dislodged] them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: 23And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim [villages] even unto Azzah [Gaza], the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)

10. The first victory and possession. (Deu 3:24Deu 3:22.)

a. The promise of victory (Deu 3:24-25)

24Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to 25[om. to] possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put [give] the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

b. The victory over King Sihon. (Deu 3:26-29.)

26And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of 27Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me [I will] pass through thy land: I will go along by the highway, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. 28Thou shalt sell me meat [food] for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; 29(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us. 30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate [firm], that he might deliver [give] him into thy hand, as appeareth this day. 31And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to 32[om. to] possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33And the Lord our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed [banned]9 the men, and the women, and the little ones of every city; we left none to remain: 35Only the cattle we took for a 36prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took. From Aroer which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the Lord our God delivered 37[gave up] all unto us: Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place [the whole side] of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the Lord our God forbade us.

c. The victory over King Og. (Deu 3:1-11.)

1Then [And] we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not; for I will deliver [I have given] him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 3So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. 4And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5All these cities were fenced [fortified] with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many. 6And we utterly destroyed [laid them under ban] them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men,10 women, and children of every city. 7But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 8And we took at that [this] time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this [that] side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto Mount Hermon;9(Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) 10All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine-cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

d. The first possession. (Deu 3:12-22.)

12And this land, which we possessed at that [this] time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 13And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half-tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob [with respect to the whole Bashan], with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. 14Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob, unto the coasts of Geshuri, and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this day. 15And I gave Gilead unto Machir. And unto the Reubenites 16and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even [both] unto the river Arnon, half the valley, and the border, even [and] unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon: 17The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah [cliffs of Pisgah] eastward. 18And I commanded you at that [in this] time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it; ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet 19for the war [the strong ones].11 But [only] your wives, and your little ones, and four cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; 20Until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until [thus] they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession which I have given you. 21And I commanded Joshua at that [this] time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. 22Ye shall not fear them: for the Lord your God he shall fight for you.

11. Moses prayer not heard. (Deu 3:23-29.)

23And I besought the Lord at that [in this] time, saying, 24O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for [om. for] what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. 26But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. 27Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. 29So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.

12. Moses exhortations. (Deu 4:1-40.)

a. To the consideration of the law generally. (Deu 4:1-8.)

1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach [am teaching] you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. 2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen [see still] what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men [every man] that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive every one of you this day. 5Behold, I have taught you statutes, and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them: for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely [only] this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day.

b. To a remembrance of the law-giving at Horeb. (Deu 4:9-14.)

9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy 10life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons sons: Specially [om. Specially] the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and 11that they may teach their children. And [Then] ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst [the heart] of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice [a form ye saw not beside the voice]. 13And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

c. That they should lay to heart the nature and method of the law-giver. (Deu 4:15-31.)

15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves [for the sake of your souls]; (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire;) 16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image 17[idol image], the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air [heaven], 18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to [shouldest become alienated, and] worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations 20under the whole heaven. But [And] the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance 21[for a possession], as ye are this day. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: 22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over and possess that good land. 23Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. 24For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. 25When thou shalt beget children, and childrens children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image [idol image], or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly [certainly] be destroyed. 27And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead [drive] you. 28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of mens hands, wood and stone, which neither 29see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But [And] if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart [thy whole heart], and with all thy soul. 30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things [words are found] are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient [hearken] unto his voice; 31(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them.

d. The consideration of the superiority of Israel through its law. (Deu 4:32-40.)

32For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been 33heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God: there is none else beside him. 36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their [his] seed after them [him], and brought thee out in his sight [with his face] with his mighty power out of Egypt; 38To drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. 39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the 40earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt [And] keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Deu 1:6-8. As Moses spake according to all that the Lord commanded him (Deu 1:3), so here we have at the very first the word and command of the Lord, Deu 1:6 sq.The standpoint at Horeb, is the most fitting for Deuteronomy in its popular reference, since Israel itself received its national form as a people through the Sinaitic law-giving. Jehovah our God, in the mouth of Moses, who stands in connection with both generations of Israel, expresses with respect to God what the words: spake unto us express with respect to Israel. Comp. Deu 5:2 sq. Israel is one whole, the old with the new, but so also Jehovah is the one and the same covenant God. The succeeding words of the Lord complete the narrative, Num 1:1 sq.; Deu 10:11 sq.Enough.Nearly a year was long enough for the legal preparation of Israel. The abode at Horeb is emphasized as long () rather, because that which was necessary for Israel could not be secured in any briefer time.

Deu 1:7. Turn you (Deu 1:40; Deu 2:3, with ), the direction of the face; take your journey, the breaking up and departure; and go, the arriving at the goal. The three imperatives are used to impress the strong desire of the Lord to give Canaan to the people.As the land of the Canaanites shows, these condensed descriptive terms serve to give the peculiar features, and indeed a very complete and attractive picture of the promised land, as the goal of the journey. The mount of the Amorites, afterwards the mountains of Judah and Ephraim, is the first feature of Canaan which greets the eye of one coming from the south, and is indeed as a highland (comp. Doct. and Ethical, 2, Deu 1:1-5), with the addition: all its neighbors, the backbone (Keil) of the whole land. For the Amorites, comp. Deu 1:1-4. For the plain, Deu 1:1. If the Arabah following the eye includes the valley of the Dead Sea and the Jordan (Schultz) throughout, we can scarcely take the hills as the Mount: of the Amorites, but rather as the remaining mountains, especially as the hill region of Galilee, the second member of the mountain system of Palestine, to which follows appropriately in order the vale (Schephelah) from Carmel down to Gaza, and the south (the Negeb) the district stretching from the wilderness to the cultivated and fertile land, from the south end of the Dead Sea over to the region below Gaza; so that and by the sea side (Gen 49:13; Luk 6:17) must include the entire Mediterranean Coast up to Tyre, and at the same time, after the now following comprehensive description as the land of the Canaanites, Lebanon (white mountain from the snow), the last member of the mountain system of Palestine, gives the characteristic finish to the description. The special mention of Lebanon and the extension of the eastern limit to the Euphrates are not to be taken as an oratorical fulness of expression (Keil), but as the gleaming out of the divine promise. Gen 15:18; Exo 23:31; Deu 11:24. Unto the great river, the river Euphrates (from the sweet water, or the rapid flow). But the people were led captive to the very land to which as free and rightful possessors they should have gradually advanced (Schultz). Comp. Deu 12:20 and also 2Sa 8:3; 2Sa 8:6; 1Ki 5:1; 1Ki 5:4. To such a wide outlook, Deu 1:7, corresponds the lo or behold of Deu 1:8.They have only to possess the land already given by God (, perf.).I have set the land before you.The possession of it should therefore be both certain and easy (Herxheimer). Jehovah is the God of Israel not first since Horeb (Deu 1:6), but already through the patriarchs. References Gen 12:7; Gen 13:16; Gen 15:18; Gen 17:8; Gen 24:7; Gen 26:3-4; Gen 28:13; Gen 48:4. A sacred objectivity appears here, where God speaks of Himself in the third person. So also Moses speaks of himself in the Pentateuch.Since the giving is one already completed by God, so it makes no essential distinction between unto them and their seed after them.The distinction is only one of time; to them, in the promise, hence sworn, to their seed in the actual gift. The legal title of the successors to Canaan, depended upon the patriarchs. It was legally, validly given to them, their seed inherited it from them.

2. Deu 1:9-18. It belongs to God to go before; the part of Moses now follows. This is an order of arrangement, not a chronological order. At that time, Deu 1:9, is the same as at Horeb, Deu 1:6 (comp. Deu 1:18 with Exo 18:5; Exo 17:6). And I spake in no way excludes the counsel of Jethro (Exo 18:17 sq.), but rather pre-supposes his very words ( 4, Deu 1:9).[It is probable that Moses received Jethros suggestion, took it to God, received the divine approval, and then proposed it to the people, which was specially suited to his purpose in this address. At that time, in Moses view, includes the years residence at Horeb. And hence there is no inconsistency between the narrative in Exodus and the statement here. The transaction may have been commenced before the law was given, and concluded afterwards.A. G.]Compare the with Exo 18:18; Deu 1:12; with , Exo 18:22.As Deu 1:6 to us, so here: to you.In Genesis 12 the promise of the land was closely connected with and dependent upon the promise of a great people. Moses here makes prominent the fulfilment of this promise, and that the promise of the land had thus received a visible pledge, Deu 1:10 sq. Hence the literal reference in Deu 1:10 to Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Gen 15:5; Gen 17:2. Hence also in Deu 1:11 the wish for a thousand-fold increase, with which was connected the wish for a blessing according to Gen 12:2. With this agrees the God of your fathers. This fulfilment obviously renders some arrangement necessary, through which the physical enlargement may become moral also, may be formed into a legal organism, so that as in connection with the divine law-giving, so also in and through this human arrangement or institution, all that which is needful for Israels journey to Canaan, especially for its possession of the same, and as a consequence its settlement therein may be provided. Deu 1:12. A resumption of Deu 1:9. For bear, comp. Heb 1:3. The fact that occurs also in Num 11:17 does not justify the inference, that the appointment of the Judges here must be connected with the appointment of the Seventy elders there.[The time and place are both different, and although there is a resemblance in the expressions which Moses uses, it is entirely natural that he should use them on both occasions. We are constantly doing the same with all the variety and flexibility of modern languages. It would be strange indeed if they should not occur in the narratives of entirely different events.A. G.](V. Gerlach), your cumbrance is the people itself; burden, their concerns which they laid upon Moses; your strifes, , with a vivid recollection of Exo 18:13 sq., the litigated questions and interests.

Deu 1:13. Take (give) for you men.Those who should in this trust act for their good must proceed from themselves. Or they should themselves give what they need (Jdg 1:15). The fuller description of these men corresponds to Exo 18:21 sq. While Jethro dwells more upon the moral qualities, Moses brings out into prominence the technical qualifications for the office. Wise, in reference to the fear of God; understanding for the definite peculiar cases; known, with respect to the whole people; their good report among them. (Vulg.: quorum conversatio sit probata. Comp. Act 6:3; 1Ti 3:7.) Among your tribes belongs to the whole clause, the entire demand.Rulers, comp. Deu 1:15; Exo 18:25. [Shebet, the word used in Deuteronomy for tribe, designates the tribe as a political corporation; Matteh, which occurs frequently in the other parts of the Pentateuch, but never in Deuteronomy, is used in reference to its genealogical stems and branches. Wordsworth.A. G.]

Deu 1:14. A recognition of the proposal of Moses on the part of the people, and Deu 1:15 a recognition of the natural relations of the people on the part of Moses. The chief of your tribes, i. e. those who were found at the heads of the several tribes. Since the tribal institution thus lay at the foundation, the arrangement into 1,000, 100, 50, 10, aids only in cases where unusual numbers are concerned. Because there will be insight or understanding wherever there is true wisdom, the second requisite is here omitted in the enumeration.Judges, from , connected with to press together, with = to rank, to dispose in order, so that shoter signifies one who sets in order, and connected with this, a writer, as Schnell says: one who is to keep the tribe register, and who appears in everything where reading and writing give occasion, and especially in all financial transactions. It belongs to those entrusted with the office of Judges, that they should order all for the legal transactions, should see that the judgment in each case is recorded, and should provide for its execution; a scripture guide in every position high or low. Sept. Exo 5:15; Exo 5:19. , here . It belongs to the judicial function, Deu 1:16, especially first to hear, then to judge. For the first he should act and move as between his brethren. For the last he has to execute righteousness (Deu 16:18; Joh 7:24). The brotherly open ear must be associated with the incorruptibly closed hand, and indeed before him each one is and remains only a man, whether he deals with his brother or with a stranger. includes settlement, residence in itself, whether temporary or permanent, as e. g., the one who works for wages. As in this relation justice allows no distinction, so neither between the small and the great, i. e., poor and rich, the lowly and the exalted. No face, no person is to be regarded in judgment; in Hiph. looked upon with partiality, neither in the hearing nor the judging; and thus especially fear, the most spiritual and yet the most natural and human form of corruption is repudiated. The completion to Exo 18:21. (Self-seeking to the thirst for gain). All human reverence and respect disappears when the judgment is set forth with such emphasis as of God (Rom 2:11), when the Judge acts for him and is responsible to him (2Ch 19:6). Hence Exo 18:15; Exo 18:19, inquire of God, and bring before God. The judicial summons of the Arabs to-day is, thou art cited before the judgment of God; so also in the Koran. The cause that is too hard looks back to Exo 18:26. A hint of the chief judicial authority (Schultz), as for the present of Moses, so perhaps in a general way already an intimation of the kingdom, chap. 17. The hardness or difficulty depends upon the nature of the cause; the solution should be given to the judges (for you) and could also be made known to the parties in the case appealed. (It is interesting to notice here the fifty-eight times occurring termination in Deuteteronomy used only in the older books). Deu 1:18. The transition from right-speaking in judgment to right-doing in life, from the judges to the people (you). Either because Moses points to Exodus 21 sq., or else gives here a summary conclusion to the passage from Deu 1:9 sq. The Divine law-giving, the decalogue, is not mentioned in the whole paragraph. But comp. upon Deu 4:13.

3. Deu 1:19-21. And we departed, Deu 1:19. Thus, so far as God and Moses were concerned, everything was ready for the journey to Canaan, but alas! it was not so on the part of the people. Comp. Num 11:12. All that wilderness here embraces the whole desert generally considered as lying over against Canaan. The demonstrative and the addition which ye saw rest upon the same vivid representation, which lies at the foundation of the peculiar local determinations in Deu 1:1-2. (Schultz). Because all therefore also great and terrible, comp. Deu 8:15; Deu 32:10. Stretching from Cairo to the Euphrates, and divided into eastern and western by the Mountains of Edom, it is the western part, the Arabia petra which is here spoken of. From Horeb northwards, especially in the desert Et-Tih, the region is characterized by fruitlessness, scarcity of water, black chalk hills, boundless plains of blinding white sand, the sport of suffocating west winds, and lying under the heavens glowing as metal. The journey from Horeb to Kadesh, which in Deu 1:2 is described as the way of Mount Seir, is here laid down as the way of the mountain of the Amorites. The former is characteristic in the East, the latter in the North, and is moreover expressly pointed out in Deu 1:7, as the divinely announced goal. As the Lord our God commanded us. Moses, Deu 1:20, refers to this goal, Deu 1:7, as now attained, and repeats, Deu 1:21, the promise (Deu 1:8). Go up, possessasyndeton emphaticum. Comp. Deu 2:24; Deu 2:31.J. H. Mich.

4. Deu 1:22-25. As these words of Moses complete the narrative, Num 13:20, what follows down to Deu 1:46 appears as the completion made by an eye-witness like Moses; so pervading, and at the same time so undesigned and natural is the reference to Numbers 13, 14 ( 4, 1. 10). While Moses passes over the preceding events recorded, Num 11:12, he dwells expressly upon that which introduced the catastrophe. in Num 13:21 differs from here as a mere passing through, differs from the most careful and thorough exploration. Jehovah speaks for the believer, the people speak from a weak or small faith. And bring us word (answer) again, (Deu 1:25) as a parenthesis, so that specializes the object nempe viam, or de via. What way to take, and what fortified places to possess. Deu 1:23. Moses approves the desire of the people because it was not unreasonable, and because the divine help never dispenses with the wise, careful, and zealous use of all human means and strength, but rather demands it. (Kurtz). In Num. it is represented as a command of God, and the more so because God wills that the deep purposes of the heart should come into the light, and be overcome or controlled. (Kurtz). Canaan was to be conquered and possessed by faith, otherwise the reproach of failure would rest upon Jehovah and His covenant with Israel. Twelve men, according to Numbers 13; none for Levi, but two for Joseph, one each for Ephraim and Manasseh. Deu 1:24, comp. Num 13:23 sq. The valley of Eshcol (from , dense, interwoven), grape clusters, grapes from near Hebron, whose clusters are said sometimes to weigh from eight to twelve pounds. Piel; to discover, because going often here and there, thus corresponding to in Num 13:21. The feminine refers to the land (Deu 1:26 or Deu 1:22) as the suffix Deu 1:38. Deu 1:25, literally, as Num 13:20. And brought, sq. between two, bearing the cluster upon a pole, in order to carry it without injury, Num 13:23. What they brought vouches for their report as to the goodness of the land. Deu 1:28 brings out the rest of the report. [It shows upon what slight grounds objections are raised, that the narratives in regard to the spies, which are plainly subsidiary, should be urged as instances of discrepancy. The obvious order here is: the plan originated with the people, was approved by Moses, was submitted to God, and carried out under His express sanction. Wordsworth well remarks, A forger who personates Moses, would have taken good care that his own statements should be seen to be in perfect harmony with the records of Moses himself. The semblances of discrepancies are not marks of spuriousness, but rather of genuineness.A. G.].

5. Deu 1:26-33. This subsequent report corresponds throughout with the narrative in Num 13:27-28 sq. Ye would not, precisely as Mat 23:37! The inward negative of men to the goodness of God, which then came to a decision in outward act, becomes in experience a rejection by God. Our paragraph relates the decision in act, that in experience, the rejection on the part of God is related in Deu 1:34 sq. Moses dwells long at Kadesh, because the prolonging of that preparatory condition in which Israel was still, arose here. The natural corruption even of the chosen people is here shown, and proved a fact of importance for the whole future, since Israel even in the fields of Moab was not yet redeemed therefrom. Thus Moses addresses the Israelites around him, as if they were the authors of the apostacy at Kadesh and the rejected race, while in fact they were the new generation who were preserved in contrast to those rejected (Deu 1:35-39). Baumgarten. Deu 1:27 : murmuring, to wit, against the command and promise of the Lord, Deu 1:7. Comp. with Deu 1:21. to chide, mock, Niphal to be peevish, morose. In your tents points back to the night, Num 14:1. Because the Lord hated us, they said, and think of the leading out from Egypt, as Num 14:2, and look upon the Canaanites also, as Num 14:3. In regard to the first, directly contrary to Exo 20:2, but comp. Deu 9:28. With this reviling of the very fundamental act of benevolence, this generation yielded up its own existence. Whither, sq., to what region of the well-occupied and fortified land shall we turn? Our brethren, viz., the spies, who give us brotherly counsel while Jehovah hates us, Num 13:31 sq. Discouraged, melted. Greater in number, and taller in size, and thus stronger. Great cities in extent, and walled up to heaven. High walls and towers, and mountain fastnesses. Comp. Deu 9:1, where Moses ironically appropriates the exaggerated utterances of their cowardice. Cowardice and pride go together (Gen 11:4), but never faith, to which God in heaven is all (Psa 73:25), and nothing on earth reaches to heaven. The living vivid representation, moreover, vouches for its originality. Sons of the Anakim, are the descendants of a peculiarly tall, giant-like race. Thus the statement concerning the three sons of Anak, Num 13:22-23, is completed. Comp. Deu 2:10. The encouragement and assurance of Moses, Deu 1:29 completes the narrative, Num 13:30; Num 14:6 sq., and after Deu 1:5 was to have been expected. There the narrative treats of Caleb and Joshua, the exceptions among the people, here it treats of Moses in his relation to the people. Comp. Deu 7:21; Deu 1:21. With Deu 1:30 comp. Deu 1:33. A verbal reference to Exo 14:14; Exo 14:25 for an introduction to what follows. Your own past experience should be that which is most assuring, is Moses encouragement. Deu 1:31 comp. with Deu 1:19. As a man doth bear (is wont to bear and will ever bear). The points of comparison are: the mercy which takes up the faint and perishing; the care which bears them upon the arm, and goes with them through every danger; the wisdom and power which bring them home. Comp. Exo 19:4; Isa 46:3-4; Act 13:18; Num 11:12. Deu 1:32 : And with (in) this word. The peculiar position of the pause accent intimates so much as this, surely: in spite of, notwithstanding this assurance, or directly, is it credible! Not believing in Jehovah. The participle represents the faithless conduct of the people as an enduring, permanent condition; as Jehovah Deu 1:33 (Deu 1:30) is represented as going before them. Comp. Exo 13:21 sq., . Comp. Num 10:33.

6. Deu 1:34-40. The long break in the narrative intimated here Deu 1:34, by the words And Jehovah heard, sq., as in Deu 1:32, by the pause accent, serves to set the disposition of Israel at its full measure and value, and at the same time shows how slow to wrath God was (Gen 6:11; Gen 6:5; Jam 1:19). The oath in the rejection (Psa 95:11; Heb 3:18; Heb 4:3) as in the promise (Deu 1:8; Deu 1:35). Deu 1:35. ifbecause in the formula of the oath the second clause is generally wanting, it being clear of itselfhere stands for: surely not; No one, because the whole body (the generation) is evil, in opposition to the good land. Comp. Num 14:23; Num 14:28. Deu 1:36. Caleb is named first (Deu 1:38) as also in Num 13:30. Upon which he hath trodden. Comp. Jos 14:9 : Because he hath wholly followed the Lord[lit., fulfilled to go after, E. V. Marg.]. The perfect following is that which holds on when the other falls away. Deu 1:37. Also against me. Moses certainly distinguishes between the wrath breaking out upon Israel (Deu 1:34) and the displeasure, the growing anger of Jehovah (hithpael from ), letting loose upon him also the excluding judgment as it concerned the people. But that he excepts himself from the exception of Caleb, and feels himself to be included under the wrath of Jehovah in a general sense; this genuine Mosaic classing of himself with the people still beloved by him, although in the rejection, can only be intimated. The incident alluded to, Num 20:12, falls historically during the second coming of Israel to the borders of the promised land, and with the new generation. In his love for the people, and in the result, Moses connects it with the great catastrophe, Numbers 14. This connection moreover was even then referred to, if not designed, since Moses name was not mentioned, Num 14:24; Num 14:30; Num 14:38. The offer of a new people, sprung from himself, was indeed made to him, Num 14:12, but by so much the more was it obligatory upon him, that in his own person, included in the punishment with Israel, as in the grace of Jehovah it was illustrious for all Israel, he should sanctify the Lord in the eyes of the new generation. Comp. 1. Where the rock was, 1Co 10:4, there was the anointed.For your sakes, , from , to separate, to disjoin; hence a movement like the rolling, breaking waves of the sea, and so here signifies your rebellion, falling away, uproar, and thus expresses the occasion, the cause of Moses offence, entirely in accordance with Num 20:2 sq. Comp. Deu 3:26; Deu 4:21 ( 4, Deu 1:11); Psa 106:32-33. It is, however, clear from this how correctly the new generation in the discourses of Moses hitherto has been embraced with the old. The present rejection of the leader, Moses, forms the only difference here between the generations. With Caleb (Deu 1:36) Joshua also belongs among the exceptionsbut his name occurs here (Deu 1:38) first in this connection, because he at the same time fills the place of Moses.Which standeth before thee.[A phrase which, as the Bib. Com. says, as it alludes to a leader of the people in the place of Moses, shows how naturally Moses came to speak of his own rejection and its cause here, although it actually occurred long years after, and in connection with another sin of the people.A. G.]For the daily humiliation of Moses, but still also in his loving care for Israel, for his daily consolation. But comp. Num 11:28; Exo 24:13; Exo 33:11; Deu 10:8; Deu 18:7.Encourage him.Comp. Deu 3:21-22. If in (Deu 1:8; Deu 1:21) the signification, to take possession by conquest, is the prominent thought, so in the possession by inheritance. Joshua the executor of the inheritance. Deu 1:39. Moreover, your little ones.Comp. Num 14:3; Num 14:31. from , not to trip, to take short, quick steps, but as in Isa 3:16, to turn back or around here and there, a harsh depreciating expression, to which agrees well the which in that day had no knowledge.While ye know so well what is good, and what is evil for yourselves, let alone for them. Ironically. The way of the Red Sea, Deu 1:40; comp. Deu 2:1; Num 14:25. Contrast to Deu 1:7, by the sea-side.

7. Deu 1:41-46. For Deu 1:41 comp. Num 14:40. It was merely saying, for ye act after as before, directly against Jehovahs command. They saw the loss, from which they would now relieve themselves.That we will go up and fight, etc., borders closely upon the ye would not go up, Deu 1:26. What is said is done as quickly as possible. Each one girds upon himself his weapons of warthose which he was wont to wear in battle, especially his sword upon the left thigh (1Sa 25:13). So lightly did they regard what had occurred. (The Rabbins connect with the of the people, Num 14:40.)[See Textual Note.A. G.]The Lord had only to keep pace therewith (comp. Num 14:44). Jehovah warned them to no purpose, Deu 1:42. Comp. Num 14:42; Deu 7:21; Deu 31:17 (Exo 13:15). His declared will meets the same perverse treatment as in Deu 1:26. There they refused to go up and murmured; here they will not hear, and presumptuously (Exo 21:14) ascend into the hill. Deu 1:44. The Amorites are taken for the Canaanites as a whole, but specially for those who inhabited the southern mountain slope, Deu 1:19 sq.And chased you.The Amalekites as the first enemy of Israel formerly conquered (Gen 14:7; Exo 17:8 sq.) from revenge, and from their vicinity had joined the Amorites. They are not expressly named here, but are characteristically pointed out, in that violence of their excited revengeful feelings illustrated by the comparison of the bees (Psa 118:12; Isa 7:18). With the violence of their defence and pursuit corresponds the destructive character of the result.In Seir unto Hormah, thus to the Edomitic region (1 Chron. 5:42, 43), as the Amalekites were then of Edomitic descent (Gen 36:12; Gen 36:16; 1Ch 1:36). A predatory, roving tribe of Bedouins, having their residence between the Egyptians, Philistines, Amorites, Edomites and Midianites. The Ban-place (Hormah) used here as also (Num 14:45) by anticipation, according to Num 21:1 sq., caused by the conduct of Amalek there recorded, intimates the thought that as those formerly overcome were now victors over Israel, so the later Ban-place for the Canaanites was first a Ban-place for Israel. Hormah, originally Zephath, Jdg 1:17, Rowland identifies with Sebata, while Robinson locates it at the pass Es Safah. They thus returned, Deu 1:45, to the place where the ark had remained, and there wept before Jehovah. Comp. Pro 1:24 sq.After this occurs the nearly thirty-eight years of the divine penal period, for which the double expression: The Lord would not hearkennor give ear, are moreover expressive, portraying all the eventually fruitless attempts and the still enduring, protracted period. A part of the people as Fries (Stud. und Krit., 1854, I.), Kurtz (II., p. 402 sq.) and Schultz think, may have remained in and around Kadesh, and many may have died there, and indeed in order to the re-assembling of Israel, there may have occurred after the lapse of the period fixed by the Lord a second march to Kadesh, where moreover all the paths of the desert meet. But this is not the abode intended in Deu 1:46; but just as in the narrative of Moses, Num 14:45, the thread is dropped, and first resumed again in chap. 20; so in the discourse of Moses here we have to regard as equal to , as of a residence of the second generation in Kadesh. Comp. Num 20:16; Jdg 11:17. Kadesh forms a concluding point, which is at the same time a point of union and a beginning point, to which belongs also the verification of the name (the self-sanctification of Jehovah in the judgment), through all which there occurred. Hence the time announcement: many daysaccording unto the days which, designedly commits any more precise determination of the remembrance to the conscience of those addressed.

8. Deu 2:1-3. If Moses then, (Deu 1:26 sq.) immediately after his encouragement to the people to hold fast the promise of God (Deu 2:20-21) against all fear and terror, distinguishes between himself and the people (comp. Num 14:44), he now (chap. 2, Deu 2:1) again includes himself with them as in Deu 1:6-19. The departure is that of the new Israel from Kadesh, after the fruitless message to Edom (Num 20:14 sq.). Although this departure is not defined in Num 20:22, as it is here, as by the way of the Red Sea, because there Hor is regarded as the termination, it is so defined in Num 21:4, and since the journey of Israel to Canaan is ever a journey through the wilderness (comp. Deu 1:1), even for the second generation, so in the literal resumption of the command, Deu 1:40, the death sentence upon the old, is significantly here seen again at the beginning of the new generation, but with the wilderness also, the Red Sea, the redemptive passage through it.As Jehovah spake unto me, while the command Deu 1:40 is still addressed to the people, this direction in connection with Numbers 14, 25, 11, teaches that even now they still went under that judgment, because Israel would not go according to the promise Deu 1:7 sq. The direction to Canaan even now was into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea. This thorough deuteronomic conception (Deu 1:1 sq.) alone suits the immediate addition as to the compassing of the Edomite mountains; which compassing, according to Deu 2:2-3 (comp. Deu 2:8), can only be regarded as at last the march once more through the Arabah to the Ailanitic gulf, upon the western side of the mountains.The many days (Deu 5:1) prepare for the utterance and direction, Deu 2:3; introduce it, and give the motives to it. Comp. Num 21:4. Deu 2:3. A literal reference to Deu 1:6. It is again a beginning, a new beginning; even at a mountain, but much nearer to Canaan, and hence this is not described again (Deu 2:7); but the simple direction to it is given.Turn you northward, i. e. around the southern limits of Seir, to the eastern side of the mountain northwards (Deu 3:27).[The people were at Kadesh in the second year of the Exodus, and now again at the close of the thirty-eight years wandering. The command of Deu 2:2-3 relates to their journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and so around the south extremity of Mount Seir, and then northwards towards the Arnon. Bib. Com. The refusal of Edom to grant them a direct passagea passage which they were unable to force, Num 20:14-21compelled them to take this circuitous route.A. G.]

9. Deu 2:4-23. They shall be afraid of you.

Deu 2:4. The Edomites are the same as Num 20:18 sq. (Jdg 11:17); but their attitude is entirely different. In the refusal of a passage to Israel a half year before, it relied upon the westerly, lofty, precipitous mountains, 3,000 feet high; but now when Israel came upon the other less precipitous side, rather marching around them, or at least only crossing the even now, very indefinite southerly and easterly limits of their land, prudence counsels a different miento turn even an evil chance to their own advantage, just as in our own time the mountain dwellers along the caravan route make their gains in supplying the caravans from Mecca with the means of life (Deu 2:6; Deu 2:29). Still while the narrative, Numbers 20, brings out clearly the want of regard and consideration on the part of Edom, the discourse here brings into view especially the thoughtfulness of Israel, and thus the two accounts complete each other. The considerate course Israel was enjoined to observe towards his brother pre-supposes throughout his brothers regardlessness of all such ties.Ye are to pass (participle) through the Coasts, without their permission (Num 20:21). Therefore take good heed, etc. The disregard of the tie of blood by the Edomites, and indeed the recollection of the Edomitic Amalekites might stir up the Israelites to hostility. Deu 2:5. With them, fear with an evil conscience, and here anger with justice, was a spark which might easily be blown into a flame. But Israel takes nothing at the hands of men; it receives all from the Lord. What it takes from them is first given to it by Him (Deu 1:8; Deu 1:21). The occupation of Canaan is a rule for all time; but even the possessions of other nations (comp. Deu 2:9; Deu 2:19) become a pledge to Israel of its own possessions. The two-fold reason: forbecause; although it stands fast for the present, is still truly merely provisional or temporary (Num 24:18; 1Sa 14:47). Edom appears in the prophets as the hereditary enemy of Israel, e. g., Amo 1:11-12; Isaiah 63. There is thus an entire historical development between the Pentateuch and the prophets in reference to Edom.Not so much as a foot-breadth. Comp. Psa 60:9; Psa 108:10 (Act 7:5). Deu 2:6. Here the regardlessness of the Edomites appears in another light. They not only refused a passage, but when they were constrained to allow it, they did not hospitably offer food and drink to their brethren, but the Israelites were instructed rather to buy from them. , corn, as that which was gathered from the field, so here, to buy food, bread; or , to make fast,, points to the fixed price, which was determined so that the purchaser has simply to take it at the fixed pricean admirable arrangement here to prevent any strife in the transaction (Num 20:19), , literally to dig, i. e. purchase permission to dig for water. The reason, Deu 2:7, is parallel to the two-fold reason in Deu 2:5. There it is to give; here, to bless. It corresponds to this higher inward idea, that Israel (Deu 2:6) should not bargain [or higgle], but pay; it must show itself to Edom as the blessed of the Lord (Gen 27:27 sq.; Deu 28:3), and needs not therefore to take anything by violence.In all the works of thy hand, i. e. in the grazing which they had carried on in the desert (Exo 19:13; Exo 34:3; Num 20:19; Num 32:1 sq), and when they had sown and reaped during the longer residences at different stations or traded the products of their skins and arts with the Arabs of the desert (Keil). not merely he knew thy going, etc. The special knowledge of God is not a mere vapid theory, nor simply the interest of the momentary perception, but involves care and protection, Psa 1:6; comp. Deu 1:31; Deu 1:19; Deu 8:4 sq.These forty years, as Num 14:33; comp. Psa 23:1 sq. Deu 2:8 (comp. Deu 2:4): from their dwelling-places, the chief region; while in Num 20:21 we have , away from him, his ascents.Elath (Ailah Hle), a port on the northern extremity of the gulf, at present the castle Akaba, taking its name from the palm groves in the neighborhood.Ezion-Gaber, also a port at the northern end of the gulf, once great and beautiful, but now lost beyond any trace. Since in their march avoiding Edom, they kept away from the cities just named, they passed, turning from the path through the Arabah, through the wady Getum, and along the path which, turning northwards, defines the wilderness of Moab, so that they probably followed the usual caravan route to Damascus, between the eastern bounds of the cultivated region and the western limits of Arabia deserta. With the more distantly related Moabites also (children of Lot) they were to avoid any oppression or contention in battle; Ar (archaic form for city) lying on the limits and standing for the land, not the chief city (Deu 2:18) (Num 21:15; Num 21:28). Should they not take Ar, then much less the cities lying farther inward (Schultz). Deu 2:10-12 is a Mosaic parenthesis, and does not belong to the words of Jehovah, as the closing sentence, Deu 2:12, compared with Deu 3:20-21, shows. Moses, indeed, states here historically and more fully the of God; but as he mentions the former inhabitants of the land of Moab, and of Seir, the recollection serves the important purpose of encouraging Israel, and so much the more as the possession of Moab and Seir was denied them. The Emims, i. e., terrible, fearful. The description a people, sq., as well as the comparison as the, sq., agrees with the explanation of the name. For the Anakim comp. Deu 1:28. This comparison with a people well known presupposes other contemporaries than, e. g., those under Josiah or Hezekiah. There is no necessity for supposing a gloss, in antiquarian interests, since all agrees so well with the object and method of Moses discourse, to whom also we should ascribe rather than to any other so accurate an acquaintance with the most ancient history Rephaim [accounted giantsE. V.] i. e., tall, giants, Deu 2:11, the common name for this giant race, of Hamitic or Semitic descent, and who were regarded as the original inhabitants of the land. The Horims, Deu 2:12, are the cave-dwellers of the habitable grottoes of the Edomitic mountains, and of the rock city Petra. [The Bib. Com. holds that Deu 2:10-12; Deu 2:20-23, and Deu 2:34, are additions by a later hand, at first standing as foot-notes, and then adopted into the text by some reviser, perhaps Ezra. It urges in favor of this supposition that the removal of these verses does not interrupt or impair the narrative and the clause as Israel did unto the land of his possession. The latter, however, is the only argument of any weight, since the mere fact that they may be left out of the narrative without injury to it, in no way proves that they do not belong to it. They are obviously parenthetical, but arise naturally out of the statements of the discourse, and are very pertinent to the authors purpose, which was both to humble and to encourage Israel. The fact that God gave these places to the children of Lot, suggested to Moses the important fact that these children of Lot had dispossessed the race of giants, whose existence in Canaan had filled the minds of the unbelieving Israelites with fears, and in regard to whom the present generation of Israel needed encouragement. But if the children of Lot had been successful, how much more the children of Israel? These are not antiquarian details, but historical facts, having the most important moral bearing. The clause, As Israel did, sq., may be explained as prophetical, or as referring simply to the East Jordan possessions. In favor of the prophetic preterite (GreensGram., 263, 5 a), may be urged, 1) that the construction is certainly admissible; 2) the general prophetic attitude of Moses in these discourses; 3) and chiefly that it well accords with the purpose of this discourse. Moses sees the land as already in the possession of the children of Israel, their strongest enemies dispossessed, and so describes it. To his faith it was as if already done, and his faith would serve to animate and encourage the children of Israel.A. G.]. As Israel, sq., comp. 4, I., 13. The reference throughout to the land east of the Jordan lies near at hand; Deu 1:4; Deu 2:24 sq. (Schultz says, as he has done or will have done, when he has come into the land of his possession). The perfect as the fut. exactum. (Hengstenberg: The preterite is only in part prophetic. It could not stand unless the transjordanic lands were already taken), comp. Deu 2:22. Since the words of God do not end with Deu 2:9 (as Deu 2:4-5 with Deu 2:6-7) the command to rise up and depart, which marks clearly the Mosaic interpolation, forms the conclusion. The host encamped on the east of Moab now cross the brook Zered by the wady El Ahsy, or the wady Kerek, Num 21:11-12. From the heights on the other side of the valley Kerek there is a lovely view stretching to the Dead Sea, and even to Jerusalem. Hence the statements Deu 2:14-15 completing those in Deu 2:7 are here added. The oath of the Lord, Num 14:23; Num 14:29, is literally fulfilled. Comp. Deu 1:34 sq. The divine sentence of death, however, was not fulfilled, surely, in the ordinary method, but also by the extraordinary judgments sent upon them, Num 16:31 sq.; Deu 17:12-14; Deu 21:6; Deu 25:9.

Deu 2:16. A once more repeated closing with the old Israel. The men of war are those who at that time were twenty years old and upward (Num 14:29) the mustered hosts; (Num 1:3), as the responsible sinners. Knobel. It is mentioned here still, not so much in relation to the past to show that the punishment had been executed, as to show that it was completed and ended, and thus with reference to the first victory and possession now about to follow. Ammon must first be excepted, and hence Ar, limits of Moab, appears again, called also, Ar of Moab (Areopolis) which lay upon the northeastern boundary, formed by the Arnon (Num 22:36; Num 21:14) and was the point of departure for the conquering Israel. Deu 2:19. Over against, because Israel would thus have before itself the Ammonites dwelling in the wilderness on the farther side of the Arnon, and eastwards from Moab. Distress them not, as in Deu 2:9, and although the clause in battle is there made prominent, its absence here does not place Ammon precisely like Edom. Deu 2:20-23 similar to Deu 2:10-12. Zamzummims (the evil thinking, or the humming, noisy people) perhaps the same as the Zusim, a kindred to them, Gen 14:5. Deu 2:21. And the Lord destroyed, an explanation at the same time of Deu 2:12. The here throws light upon the statement there. And the Avim.This race described further, after the kind and extent of their dwellings (villages), is scarcely to be regarded, as Keil remarks, as one noticed here only on account of a substantial analogy, but is added by Moses with reference to the Caphtorim (Gen 16:14) who are expressly said to have been emigrants or foreigners, and thus stood in similar relations with those Israel now held. This seems to be all the more the ground of this allusion, since it is not here, as commonly elsewhere (Jer 47:4; Amo 9:7), the Philistines; and since also Out of Caphtor (Crete, or the Nile delta, or the Pontian Cappadocia) designates the place of the exodus, and with it marks this idea, as the explanation of the name of the people. That these villagers dwelling south from Gaza were eventually in the same position with the tribes related to Israel, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, and were therefore to be spared as they were, does not lie in the text as Schultz supposes. Comp. Joshua 13.

10. Deu 2:24Deu 3:22. The Arnon, now the wady Mdjeb, forming the boundary between the Moabites and the Amorites, is the Rubicon for Israel, Num 21:13. But the command to depart expands into a promise reaching far beyond the Amorites. First of all comes the recollection of the former command as spoken in Deu 1:7 sq., 20 sq. Comp. also Deu 1:4. But the beginning of Israel has as its escort the certain and all-assuring beginning of Jehovah, Deu 2:25. Comp. Php 1:6. The tone and style of the discourse is inspiriting, so that we think, Num 21:14 sq., of an original poetic elevation. Comp. Deu 11:25, and Gen 9:2, where there is also a new beginning. Comp. Exo 15:14 sq.; Exo 23:27. The trembling and woe of the people even when the mere report only of Israel came, answers as the echo to the dread and fear which were connected with Israel. In other passages, e. g., Gen 49:10; Isa 2:2; comp. Deu 4:6, the resistless march and gathering of the people to Israel is announced. Both open the way for the prophetic fulfilling of the blessing of Abraham, Gen 12:2-3, and because a blessing, so although it must be prepared in the flesh, yet fulfilled in the spirit, and indeed in the Messiah, who is the Lord of the spirit, i. e., in Christ. Under the whole heaven is not therefore an hyperbole (Keil), but used in accordance with the eternal idea of the people and kingdom of God, and so here in this ideal and Christological sense.From the historical presentation of the kingdom of God in the flesh, and indeed in the Israel of the law, the idea wears necessarily a corporeal form, as in Deu 2:25, which must correspond to the carnal powers of the world, here of Canaan, Deu 2:10; Deu 2:20, where indeed these are mentioned as parallel to the giant races of the earlier time. Although the end of the way of God is spirit, (not corporeal or carnal, which is rather its beginning, as we see in the creation of the world, and also of Israel) yet the spirit of the end breaks through at the very beginning, and the message of Moses, Deu 2:26, is with words of peace (comp. Deu 20:10) Luk 10:5. The wilderness of Kedemoth is that lying easterly from the region of the Amorites defined by this Amorite city (Num 21:13; Num 21:23) where there was also a passage over the Arnon which avoided all the dangers of the deep valley. Moses knew well (Deu 2:24) that God had given Sihon into the hand of Israel, indeed that Sihon had armed himself for the war, but in this divine arrangement, which is at the same time the closing act of the guilt of the Amorites, Israel has only to carry out the judicial sentence of God upon it. Sihon on his own part must enter with entire freedom (Deu 2:30) which was still his own, in his offence against God. Since the firmest conviction of the self-chosen destruction of a man, need not prevent us from offering peace to him here, much less is Moses to be blamed here, where it is merely the dominion of Sihon which is at stake, and not the soul. I will go along. With respect to its end, which was Canaan, (Deu 2:19), Israel could say this with truth, and it is part of such a passage that they should keep themselves ever upon the way, i. e., upon the public highways. Num 20:19; Num 20:17; Num 21:22. Comp. Deu 2:28 with Deu 2:6. On my feet, i. e., without any delay. Did unto me, Deu 2:29, refers not to the will, but to the acts of Moab and Edom, who could not prevent the passage of Israel. Comp. Deu 2:12 (Deu 23:3). [All that is said here is that the Edomites and Moabites sold them bread and water. There is no denial, express or implied, of their hostility to Israel, and their desire for his destruction. The passage is in entire harmony with Num 20:17; Num 20:21, and Deu 23:3-4.A. G.].The perfect freedom of Sihon in his offence against God, appears from the would not, Deu 2:30. here as in Num 20:18. There was an inward judgment going before the outward execution of the penalty, for the Lord thy God hardened, etc., in order that He might deliver. The historical event or destiny develops itself out of the moral. (Pharaoh, Exo 4:21; Exo 7:3). Comp. Deu 15:7; 2Ch 36:13. As it is this day, as it actually appears at the present moment. The event already foretold, as it was determined in the Divine will (Deu 2:24), is still once more brought out (Deu 2:31) in its divine causality, and directly with respect to Sihon, in order to take away every ground of glory. The divine purpose begins to complete itself in his unwillingness. In Deu 2:24 it is begin to possess, I will begin to put the dread, etc., but now it is I have begun to give. The possession, indeed, is so certain, so determined, that instead of the usually simple possess, Deu 2:24, we have now (Deu 2:31) in addition and without the possession by battle. That which comes distinctly into view, Deu 2:24, now falls into the background. Deu 2:32. Comp. Num 21:23. Deu 2:33. Comp. Num 21:24; Amo 2:9. His sons. A completion of the narrative, since they are not mentioned in Numbers. Deu 2:34. Comp. Num 21:24-25.And utterly destroyed, (in Hiph. separate, set apart from any further use, hence to devote to God, and indeed through destruction). The whole population was put to death. Comp. Deu 7:2 sq. Deu 2:36. From Aroer, the point of departure and the most southern point. This as well as the description by the brink of the river Arnon, i. e., upon the edge of the northern precipice of the valley in question, agrees well with the present ruins, Araayr. For a fuller description of the borders formed by the Arnon, the city (comp. Deu 2:9) which is by the river ( in the valley, in the Arnon gorge), thus situated as Ar, is here referred to. Ruins are still found upon a hill in a beautiful meadow-ground in the valley, near the junction of the Ledschum, coming down from the north-east, with the Arnon. Ar, as the boundary, is already sufficiently known from Deu 2:18, and as to its name (the city simply) nothing further could be added here to define it. This easterly excluding limit of departure answers well, too, as a transition to the Ammonites lying eastward, also to be excluded or excepted (Deu 2:37). Unto Gilead, here used in the narrowest and original sense, (Gen 31:33) for the mountain on the north side of the Jabbok (the present Zerka). Deu 2:37. Comp. Deu 2:19.

Deu 3:1. Comp. Deu 1:4. The Amorites, to revenge perhaps the slaughter of their kindred giant race by Moab and Amnion, had driven the latter back easterly from the upper Jabbok (Jdg 11:12; Jos 13:25) and Moab southerly behind the Arnon (Num 21:26). The two Amorite kingdoms which the Jabbok divided, were of Sihon on the South, and of Og on the North, Num 21:33. Comp. Deu 3:2, with Num 21:34; Num 2:24. The fearful appearance of the king, as well as his fearless awaiting Israel, not far from his strong cities, might cause them to fear. Deu 3:3. Comp. with Deu 2:34; Num 21:35. As the sons are mentioned there, they are omitted here. Deu 3:4 celebrates the greatness of the victory. Hence All his cities expressed first positively and then negatively. Then follows, thus anticipating Deu 3:14, the given number (sixty cities) and a fuller description of the district in question. band, rope, cord; not here what is measured with a measuring line, but what is bound together, forms a whole. so called probably from the nature of the district ( earth-heaps, stone-heaps). Comp. Arkub. , Rgib (Ritter, XV. 2, p. 1041 sq.). The kingdom of Og in Bashan, is not his whole kingdom, but only so far as Bashan comes into view. But since Bashan, Deu 3:14, and indeed all Bashan, Deu 3:13, appears to be identical with the whole region of Argob, so in Bashan here must be taken for the sixty cities which represent, if they do not constitute the whole region of Argob (1Ki 4:13). Those cities are to be viewed therefore as the original, or essential, peculiar heart of all Bashan, of which Og is said to be king (Deu 3:1; Deu 3:3). But since the kingdom of Og, Deu 3:13, is not all included within these bounds, in Bashan is added here that the wider portions of that kingdom may not be excluded. It corresponds to this established relation of Argob to Bashan, that as in Argob there is a reference to the rough, stony stretch of land in (from the black basaltic rock), so also the still existing numerous ruins of cities are another characteristic feature. (Comp. Ritter XV. 2, p. 796). In Deu 3:5 these Argob cities are described as by an eye-witness. Recent travellers speak of the dark color of the building materials standing in contrast with the heavens, and the green of the surrounding region, of the high walls, and of the strong overtopping towers, etc., etc. [The Argob is described by Porter, Travels, pp. 241, 242, As presenting the most singular phenomena I have ever witnessed. Wholly composed of black basaltic rock, which appears to have issued from innumerable pores in the earth, in a liquid state, and to have flowed out on every side until the plain was almost covered. This forbidding region is thickly studded with deserted cities and villages. C. G. Graham, Cambridge Essays, 1858, describes these cities. The streets are perfect, the walls perfect, and what seems most astonishing the stone doors are still hanging on their hinges. The doors and cities are such that travellers are forced to the conclusion that the people who constructed and inhabited these cities were not only a powerful nation, but individuals of greater strength than ourselves. This marvellous barrier, rising abruptly from the plain to the height of from twenty to thirty feet, and measuring sixty miles by twenty, amidst which Edrei and the others of the sixty cities were perched, opposed the progress of the Israelites. The victory over a power so apparently impregnably entrenched was signal and impressive.A. G.]. The doors, in part double doors, of stone slabs, are set by means of sockets deep in the lintel and threshold. The unfortified open cities, without walls, of which a great number are still found, are in Deu 3:5 cities of (from to break through, to spread out), i. e., of the level or flat land. Deu 3:6, comp. with Deu 2:34. Deu 3:7, comp. Deu 2:35. Deu 3:8, as Deu 2:36, a survey of the victory. is used here where Moses is still speaking, as in Deu 1:1; Deu 1:5, of the East Jordan lands, and is not the mere art of an assumed narrator. From the river of Arnon unto Mount Hermon. Moses thus includes the whole trans-jordanic country, and to put it beyond all doubt, signalizes the southern point of Anti-Lebanon, the northern limit of Canaan, which with its lofty snow-covered summit is seen from afar, by all the names that it wears, well known names indeed which must at that time have come to the ears of Israel. In Hermon the reference to Bann () is so clear, so characteristic, and agrees so well with the connection, that we cannot accept the Arabic derivation (lofty peak or ridge). The name Sion (high, upraised, Deu 4:48), formed from the appearance of the mountain, is descriptive of its lofty height. Between Hermon and Hormah (comp. upon Deu 1:44), the beginning and the ending of the promised land, there is an impressive parallelism. Sirion (Sirjon)=breast-plate, both from the resemblance in form and from the gleam of the ice. Shenirof like significance. [Hermon is both physically and politically a grand central point in the geography of Syria and Palestine. From it are derived all the most noted riversthe Jordan, Abana, and Pharpar, the Orontes and the Leontes. All the great ancient kingdoms converged at HermonBashan, Damascus, Syria, Israel. It was also the religious centre of primval Syria. Porter. Hence the careful specification of the names by which the mountain was known, all of which are descriptive. Bib. Com.: Stanley, Syria and Palestine.A.G.] Deu 3:10 presents in their order the individual parts of this remarkable region. The (from ) is the elevated plain (Sept.: ) from Mount Gilead southerly to the Arnon. All Gilead is the region between the north and south plain, extending southerly (to Heshbon, belonging to Sihon), and northerly from the Jabbok (to Bashan, belonging to Og). All Bashan is defined as reaching to Salchah, located upon the eastern border, with a strong castle placed upon a basaltic hill (Jos 12:6), and north-westwards unto Edrei (comp. Deu 1:4), not the modern Dera, but Edrah, or Zorah. These cities (as in Deu 3:4) belonged to the kingdom of Og in Bashan. The design and tendency of the previous mention of the Rephaim (comp. Deu 2:10; Deu 2:20 sq.) was to encourage the new Israel with reference to the old (Deu 1:27), and thus now the fitting remark that with Og all is over with the Rephaim generally, wins its true vividness through the genuine Mosaic allusionbehold his bedstead, etc. Comp. 4, I. 14. Hengstenberg: Og is to some extent a symbolical figure, in whom we have presented to us the Amorite, who is the representative of the entire Canaanitish race, upon whose neck Israel, by the grace of God, should put its feet. If the previous encouragement not to fear was essentially to guard against the unbelief or feeble faith of the first Israel, now that the victory is completed, the exhortation rises to exultant thanks. Behold is here so much the more in place with reference to the bedstead, since Og himself had been seen only by a few. The reference is simply for the contemporaries of Moses, and not in any antiquarian interest. Ritter: The bedstead is unquestionably his bier, the stately vault of his catacomb, with the more exact statement of the niche for the body of the Rephaite, or of his basalt sarcophagus. It is only one of the numerous sarcophagi in this land of Bashan, in which there remain more monuments of the dead than recollections of the living. But , literally curving, is a bed upon which one reclines for rest, Amo 3:12; Amo 6:4; Psa 6:6. Rabbath, afterwards Philadelphia, now ruins, was the chief city of the Ammonites. It might have remained there, either as a trophy on the part of the Ammonites of some unsuccessful inroad of Og against them (Deu 2:21), or which he had left behind him as a humiliating reminder of a successful assault. In either case, occurring long enough before, that it might be well known to Moses. [The Bib. Com. supposes that after the defeat and death of Og at Edrei, the remnant of his army fled into the territory of the friendly Ammonites, and took with them the corpse of the giant king.A. G.] The bed, which was, moreover, designedly made larger than Og, that it might make the impression that he was larger than he really was, was thirteen and a half feet long and six feet broad, if not smaller, since it is the common Hebrew cubit from the elbow downwards which is here meant. It is an interesting fact that Alexander the Great, in his march to India, arranged his camp grounds and cavalry cribs in double number and of unusual size, that he might produce in the inhabitants of the land strange ideas of the size of his army. Iron beds (corresponding to the whole statement here) were no less frequent among the ancients than giant families and individual giants among some of the savage tribes to-day (Australia). (The Rabbins see in the bed of Og his cradle rather than his coffin.) Since the discourse now turns from the double victory, over Sihon and Og, to the first occupation of Israel, the conquered land is now (Deu 3:12) described, for the purpose of the division, for the first time, as a possession. ( no more , as in Deu 3:4, or , as in Deu 3:8.) Comp. Deu 2:36. Half of Mount Gilead (comp. Deu 3:10) is, according to Deu 3:16 and Deu 3:13, the southern half, which the tribes of Reuben and Gad bad asked (Numbers 32). The rest of Gilead is the other northern part, the hilly region. All Bashan (Hauran and Dschaulan) is included with the rest of Gilead, as together forming the kingdom of Og (comp. Deu 3:4). The fine contrast between the repeated and introduces the still more significant (Deu 3:14 sq.), since the half tribe of Manasseh had distinguished itself in a marked way in the conquest. Argob. Comp. with Deu 3:4. belongs to what follows. Knobel. With all Bashan.[Schroeder renders as to.A. G.] It includes designedly once more the whole land of Argob under this name. The emphatic addition which was called the land of giants permits, if it does not suggest, the idea that the remaining Rephaite Og, as king of Bashan, still actually possessed upon the one Amoritic throne the old supremacy of the Rephaim. Jairhe whom God enlightensis marked as the one who obtained all Argob, Deu 3:14. The soni. e., descendant. Machir, the son of Manasseh, had a daughter, whose bastard son by Segub, a descendant of Judah, was the father of Jair (1Ch 2:21 sq.). The descent from Judah is thus clear, but here the descent on the mothers side from Manasseh alone comes into view, since the discourse treats of this tribe here. The limits, Unto the coasts of the Geshurites and Maachathitesthe inhabitants of two small kingdoms, still

independent at the time of David (2Sa 3:3; 2Sa 10:6), and both lying on the skirts of Mount Hermon. Geshur (bridge), perhaps upon the upper Jordan, at a bridge, or passage, or ford (Keil); or upon the easterly plain (Djedur), as Knobel thinks. It escaped the con. quest. Comp. Jos 13:13. Indeed the Geshurites with the Syrians (1Ch 2:23), later in the history (in the disorders of the period of the JudgesKeil), took the successors of Havoth Jair, and besides Kenath, the entire sixty cities. [The Geshurites and Maachathites probably occupied some part of the impregnable district of Argob, and were not expelled by the Israelites, but dwelt among them. They may have risen up and taken a part or the whole of these cities during the period of the judges, although 1Ch 2:23 does not necessarily bear any such interpretation.A. G.] The second Jair, a grandson (Jdg 10:3), in whom the courage of faith and victory lived again, was only able to regain the one half (30) for the family. While in Num 32:42 Nobah appears by the side of Jair, as taking Kenath and its daughters (cities) and naming them after himself, Nobah; here Jair alone is spoken of, because the whole land of Argob, in whose conquest Nobah truly played a second part, fell to his lot. Havoth Jair, i. e., Jairs life, Jairs home (from , the antique or Aramaic form for , life). Nobah continued only in the one city Kenath, and even this name appears in Jdg 10:1 to have been forgotten already (1Ki 4:13; Jos 13:30). For the same reason it is a matter of no importance that the number of the cities of Jair in the land of Gilead (in later usage including Bashan also), is given 1Ch 2:22, as 23, since Kenath with its dependencies, with its connected cities (37), completes the larger number. It is the name for the whole which is here in view; hence also and called them (, Num 32:41; ), viz., not this or that place, but after his own name. Unto this day. (Comp. 4, I. 15.) The expression simply says, until now. It cannot be maintained that this mode of expression is out of place, when only a brief period of time is spoken of. We say of a friend who has lately arrived, and whose departure is possible, he is here until this day. Schultz. It is generally and in its nature a relative expression, with reference to a longer or shorter period (Jos 22:3; Jos 23:9), according to the subject in regard to which it is used. In Genesis it embraces centuries. In Deu 11:4 it may be rendered as equivalent with all time. The conquest of Jair, with which the name-giving in question is connected, is unquestionably historically cotemporaneous with the conquest of the kingdom of Og. Deuteronomy does not complete or explain the Book of Numbers, but as Num 32:39 sq. connects the particularizing of the general (Num 21:35) with the division of the conquered land, so precisely here in Deuteronomy (Deu 3:12 sq.), and also in the prominence of the conquest on the part of Jair (Deu 3:14), as Num 32:39 on the part of Machir; which was necessary if the division to these persons should not want a historical right or basis. Just as in Num 32:41-42, so also here in Deuteronomy it is only the name-giving by Jair of the place conquered by him which comes into view. Hengstenberg therefore says very finely that this addition, until this day, which is wanting in Numbers 32, is illuminated by the , of Deu 3:15. It is certainly in the mouth of Moses no mere time limitation, but intimates that amidst the fleeting and transitory things of men, as in this particular case, even with the names effaced, the name-giving by Jair, and with it the actual fact, continued even to the present hour, and Jair held his ground; but this fact mast not be denied its weighty sanction. While Deu 3:15 expressly says, I gave unto Machir, it comes to Jair more by the way, as it were, more in the assent to the name, and the possession in question. It sounds a little too strong, perhaps, when Hengstenberg says, Every grant of a possession proceeds from Moses, with the full authorization of the supreme liege Lord. Through His until this day He utters His fiat, and imparts to the acts originally completed by Jair the authentic approbation. Until this day finally belongs to those numerous which meet us in Deuteronomy. See Deu 1:9; Deu 1:16; Deu 1:18; Deu 3:4; Deu 3:8; Deu 3:12; Deu 3:18. The time is made prominentthe old and the new time. Moses, too, would mark the status quo in a testamentary way at the time while he was still there. [Hengstenberg, in his admirable discussion of this phrase, calls attention to the fact that a considerable time had elapsed between the conquest and the utterance of this discourse by Moses,from Numbers 21, to the eleventh month of the 40th year; that the phrase is used with reference to a shorter or longer period, according to circumstances, both in profane writers and in the Scriptures; that the objectively brief period here is a very important and critical period; and to the fact that Deuteronomy generally places a wide distinction between itself and the earlier books. It begins a new section, to which all that precedes is past. At this time occurs repeatedly, without regard to whether it was months, years, or even decades. And so until this day. The phrase is not a gloss of a later writer, but a genuine Mosaic phrase, falling in with the whole position of things, and with the spirit of the book.A. G.] Machir (Deu 3:15) stands naturally for his family, as in Num 32:40 it is the children of Machir. See Num 26:29. For Gilead comp. Deu 3:13. Moses passes from this individualizing of the half tribe of Manasseh to the particular description of the common possession of Reuben and Gad. Deu 3:16-17. The description of the land proceeds from Gilead (as Deu 2:36) as the highest part of this region. The Arnon limits are defined more exactly by half the valley and the border. Schroeder: the middle of the river and the borderi. e., either reaching to the middle of the river and including half the water, a very important possession for the herdsman, the border being the adjacent region of the valley, the pasture ground in the valley, and not merely the brink of the valley, as in Deu 2:36; or to the middle of the valley which the river Arnon forms, and at the same time is the boundary. The immediately following border of the children of Ammon is in favor of the latter view, although both interpretations are essentially alike. This was the southern limit. The river Jabbok, i. e., Wady Zerka, a narrow, deep gorge, through which this foaming stream chafes its way to the Jordan, forms the north-eastern boundary, separating these tribes from the Ammonites, as the Ar does from the Moabites. Deu 3:17. The plain also [Schroeder: the Arabah] gave I to these shepherd tribes, i. e., the Ghor, the upper part of the present Wady El Arabah (comp. Deu 1:1), as is evident from the succeeding and Jordan and the coast thereofeither Jordan with its easterly margin or valley setting, or, what is decidedly preferable, the Jordan as the boundary. Thus the Jordan depression or valley from Chinnereth onwardsthe city (Jos 19:35) from which the Sea of Gennessaret takes its name. Num 34:11. The derivation from Chinnor, or the harp, the ten-stringed Greek (originating in Asia and spread by the Phnicians), as that by Kurtz from the rushing water-falls, must be abandoned, since from the root (genu, knee), to bend, curve, agrees well both with the arched or oval stringed instrument, and, alluding to the depression, with the most probable position of the city Chinnereth. Knobel says: A beautiful and fruitful depressed plain about an hour long and twenty minutes broad, called according to Josephus , gave its name to the sea. The name cleaves to this depression, and especially to its chief town, which appears to have been situated at the place. Khan. Minyeh. Gennessaret is certainly formed from Chinnereth, and not derived, as Kurtz thinks probable, from a garden. Since Chinnereth here corresponds to the Salt Sea, it must be taken for the sea with its surroundings (as the sea of the Arabah designates the Dead Sea), as it lies enclosed northerly and southerly by the Arabah, or as it closes it (the Ghor) on the north. The further definition: under Ashdoth Pisgah eastwards, agrees well with this view, since we are thereby directed north-eastwards above and away from the Salt Sea. Ashdoth, under the slopes (, literally, closing together), hence the place where the torrents meet, their confluence (Num 21:15; , plural ) at the foot of the mountain. Pisgah, from , to separate, the mountain range east of the Dead Sea, perhaps to the Wady Hesban, but especially the northern part.To this first occupation follows now, Deu 3:18, the obligation of the two and a half tribes who inherit it, who are here addressed with the others: you, just as the present generation is always taken together with the first. Moreover, all Israel is the possessor of the East Jordan land, Deu 2:12. are the people which the strong have conceived and born, the sons of strength; thus not all fitted for war (not , as in Deu 2:14; Deu 2:16), but from these the specially brave, a selection armed before the Lord, Num 32:20 sq. In Jos 4:12-13 they are 40,000 men, and thus 60,000 were left for the protection of their herds and the women and children, Comp. Deu 3:19 with Num 32:1. The connection of the words: as you, so () also they, makes it clear that the possession beyond Jordan is for both parts of the people. Since is always on that side, never this side, the case stands alike both for the two and a half tribes and for the others. Moses appears to intimate that those shall in no respect have the preference over these. Even in this point there is one Israel. If the two tribes and a half have objectively their possession on that side of Jordan, so also the other tribes not less, to wit, from the standpoint of the two tribes and a half, for they also are on that side of Jordan. This subjective stand-point determines the use of this designation in the case before us. As the two and a half tribes were addressed, Deu 3:18, with reference to all Israel, so this same reference appears in the address to Joshua, Deu 3:21, who then comes into prominence, and is indeed emphatically named. Comp. Num 27:18 sq.And I commanded.Here as there both appointments are for the time after his death.Thine eyes have seen, are seeing. I need only refer thee to thyself, and what is still before thine eyes (Deu 4:3; Deu 11:7). Since the conquered lands of the two kings were still lying before the sight, the discourse passes from the kings to the kingdoms. Comp. Deu 3:22 with Deu 1:29-30.

11. Deu 3:23-29. As the command, the prediction, the encouragement to Joshua, Deu 3:21, are no mere repetition of Deu 1:38, but rather its execution, so neither is Deu 3:23 a mere repetition of Deu 1:37. The very brief allusion there is now completed in the most express and hearty way, and this fuller statement connects itself here with the previous mention of Joshua, as inversely the introduction of Joshua there connects itself with the divine judgment upon Moses. But the prayer of Moses pre-supposes the judgment of God. The following verses even have a wider theme than Deu 1:37. The divine judgment was for Moses the thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12). The prayer of Moses belongs to Deuteronomy first according to its subjective character, and then from its importance for the new generation, and the impression it makes upon them (comp. Exodus 32; Numbers 16; Num 27:15 sq.). With Deu 3:24, comp. Deu 2:25; Deu 2:31. He holds before Him the beginning, since he longs to see the completion. Thy greatness and mighty hand; so also thy works and thy might.

Deu 3:25. The goodness of the land, , as the mountainous district of Canaan rises into vision, passes over into the idea of the beautiful. The style reveals the genuine Mosaic directness of perception. We would have brought the terms together, and said: the glorious land, this glorious mountain!Beyond, on that side of Jordan; used here as in Deu 3:20, from the subjective stand-point, and in full accordance with the subjective character of this whole paragraph.And Lebanon, of which the Arabic poets say: Winter sits upon its head; spring plays around its shoulders; and summer sleeps at its feet. Comp. upon Deu 1:7 (Deu 11:11)

Deu 3:26. The in connection with and in Deu 3:25, seems like a play upon words. (Let me go over, over the Jordan, I prayed to Him, but He came over me.) The hithpael denotes the ebullition, and thus does not, any more than , Deu 1:37, set forth the aspect of feeling. While the energy of the will lies in the , it comes out here first in the would not hear me. Indeed this latter is the peculiar and main thing here, behind which, as merely explanatory, the anger is kept back. Hence also it is not so full and expressive as Deu 1:37, but is simply for your sakes. He does not hearken to me, and I must hearken to him. (Gen 45:28; Num 16:3; Deu 1:6; Deu 2:3) in the sense of 2Co 12:9. Let what I have said to thee be sufficient for thee. , in this uttered, and therefore settled matter. The command, Deu 3:27, reminds us typically of the ecstasy of Paul into Paradise, 2Co 12:4. Comp. also Deu 4:21. The top of Pisgah, according to Deu 34:1, is Nebo. , seawards, because the Mediterranean was westwards. , where the night gathers and darkens, with paragogic northward. , just as (from =, to shine), the day (), the light side of the day, southwards. with , paragogic, from , to break forth, the breaking forth of the light, eastwards. For the rest, comp. Num 27:12 sq. Comp. Deu 3:28 with Deu 1:38; Deu 3:21; Deu 31:7. In Deu 3:29, which closes the foregoing historical introduction, and forms the transition to what follows, we hare a more precise observation of the locality of Deuteronomy. In the valley over against Beth-Peor, i. e. in the plains of Moab (Deu 4:46; Deu 34:6). The of the Sept. is a mountain (Deu 4:3) nearly northward along the Abarim heights. The city in question was located on this mountain, perhaps about six miles easterly from Libias over against Jericho. Comp. Deu 1:5.

12. Deu 4:1-40. The general introduction, Deu 1:1-5, was followed by the historically introductory portion. That which now follows shares in this introductory character, but has a prevailing dogmatic nature. Chap. 4, Deu 4:1. The law generally according to its contents, , the firmly fixed, designates the statutes, the definition of the law in all its aspects, as moral, ecclesiastical and civil; designates what according to these statutes in all relations is right; thus that by the judge directed and pronounced right. These two general designations in their conjunction here, as they are joined in Lev 19:37, include the whole law.To do them, that, etc.The object of the law, and hence of instruction in the statutes and judgments, is practice, the yielding of fruit unto life.Live.This is the practical goal, viewed in reference to Canaan, and then to the fathers, who failed to inherit it through their disobedience, although it was promised to the patriarchs. [This general entreaty is pointed by special mention and enforcement of the fundamental principles of the whole covenant (Deu 4:9-40), the spiritual nature of the Deity, His exclusive right to their allegiance, His abhorrence of idolatry in every form, His choice of them for His elect people. For a fuller elaboration of these topics, see chaps. 2730. They follow, however, so naturally in the history just narrated, that the Orator could not, so to say, pass from it, even for a time, without pausing to urge them briefly here. Bib. Com. The discourses are closely connected, of one spirit, and from the same author.A. G.] (Deu 2:14 sq.; comp. Deu 4:38 sq.) Deu 4:2. The dignity and honor of the law (the word which I command you.because Moses spake unto the children of Israel according to all, etc.; Deu 1:3; Deu 4:5) forbid, first of all, any addition, as a false orthodoxy usually precedes Rationalism and Nihilism, and a false pietism, unbelief. Herxheimer: The later allowed enlargements or diminution of the law, however, happened according to the traditional exposition, for the preservation of the Mosaic law, through enclosing and precautionary statutes, or at times necessary abrogations, for the purpose of saving them in their true or higher sense. Other traditional expounders refer the prohibited enlargement or diminution here merely to the number and form of the commands by Moses, as they were put into practice, e. g. they should not divide the priestly blessing into four utterances. Comp. Deu 12:32 (Deu 13:1).That ye may keep; parallel with the to do them, Deu 4:1, but not the same. Keep, since what I command you are the commandments of Jehovah. It is not merely the keeping, preserving them which is spoken of (Deu 33:9), Schultz, but the keeping of them in their integrity and completeness.

Deu 4:3. Demonstratio ad oculos, with respect to what was said, especially as to the life-giving fruits of obedience to God. Deu 4:1. Your eyes have seen [lit. seeing]. Comp. Deu 3:21. The participle retains its present signification, since the breach in Israel, made by the divine destruction, still continued, and the seeing are those standing the test. Deu 4:4. At Baal-peor.What Jehovah did there is sufficiently explained through the following: for all the men, etc.Comp. Numbers 25.Baal.The Phnician male divinity (the sun in its fructifying power). The surname Peor, at which this Moabitic idolatrous service was observed (derived according to the Rabbins from an allusion to the licentious rites connected with this service, or from the wide, open, lustful mouth which the image of this divinity wore), is in this case the explanation of the name of the mountain and city at which this cultus was established (Deu 3:29), or the mountain, as is frequently the case, has given its name to the city and the idolatrous cultus. (Exo 23:2; Gen 24:5; Gen 24:8) marks in a striking way the fact that the Israelites going out from their own camp were deserters. (A general biblical expression of the religious service as following; the profession of idolatrous service as a turning away from the ark of Jehovah. God the teacher, man the disciple. The walk, the religious profession.), as in Deu 2:14-15.

Deu 4:4. Ye that did cleave. , to fasten, cleave to; used of the closest, most intimate communion (Gen 2:24): here in distinction from those who went after Baal, Deu 4:3 (even the fathers, perhaps the mothers, whom they left, and joined themselves to Jehovah), but in a significant distinction from Num 25:3. Jehovah, etc., points to the kernel of all fulfilling of the law, as a living union (Deu 10:20) with the Lawgiver Himself, from which springs, as here, its fruit, life, Deu 4:1, and life enduring (). Comp. Deu 5:3

Deu 4:5. A new beginning, with behold, because it points to the experience of Deu 4:1. But I have, etc., points at the same time to the earlier law-giving (Lev 19:37), which indeed is only clearly explained in Deuteronomy (Deu 1:5).Commanded me, etc., Deu 1:3. The takes up again the point presented in Deu 4:1, but mainly for the sake of the connection, and hence without the mention of life, but simply the possession of Canaan as the goal, for God has another end in view in the law, which appears in Deu 4:6. ( , Deu 4:5, points back to in Deu 4:3.) The prominent thought, hence stands before , leads us back to Deu 4:2, to that ye may keep, sq. Israel, when through the possession of Canaan it should have localized itself in the midst of the land, must hold fast the law in its integrity, and therewith its own dignity, in its practice truly, but especially over against other nations with their human laws. Since this practical keeping is the thing of chief importance here, this is the purport of the reason for this, sq. For themselves life, for others the impression of wisdom and understanding. This is the second goal or end of the law. Wisdom and understanding, or insight for the higher and lower life, as in Deu 1:13. In the sight of. Schroeder, for the eyes of the nations. A demonstratio ad oculos, as in Deu 4:3. A complete parallelism. Comp. Deu 2:25. The transition from to , like that from to , is worthy of notice. Through the terms people and nation, the heathen declare that Israel as a people is of like birth and privileges with themselves. And in this comparison from the heathen side the form is used in Deu 4:7, who hath God. Schroeder: gods, so nigh, sq. The plural, pointing to the polytheism of heathenism, and really comprising all that is named God in the Elohim of Israel, who is Jehovah his God. The origin of the law, the law-giving, to which we pass in Deu 4:9 sq., presupposes such a nearness of God to Israel, i. e., such a relation of revelation. This relation is a covenant relation, and hence the illustrative clause, which embraces not only the peculiar exigencies, but the general position of Israel to God, sounds like the N. T. Abba cry in Romans 8. The parallel clause, Deu 4:9, closes what is said concerning the law in general, (righteous as all this law, sq.); for a great people, even in an external sense, should it remain (and the fundamental meaning of is to be firm) requires the rule of righteousness. Israels greatness is now essentially the spiritual, that of the divine covenant in the law. The transition to the law-giving at Horeb is effected by the finally commanded keeping of the law, in this case a self-keeping in a doubled form or expression. As in Deu 4:1, so here, it is the life, ( the breathing) which is concerned. What was seen at Horeb was essentially words () Deu 4:10; Deu 4:12-13. All that was visible at Horeb served to make it unquestionable that these were spoken by God. Thus the seeing these words is the vivid conviction that the law-giving truly proceeded from God Himself; and this conviction thou must hold fast, (lest thou forget) and indeed cherish with love (lest they depart from thy heart) and so transmit it to their descendants (teach them thy sons) Deu 6:7; Deu 11:19. It is not the nature and state of the heavenly Law-giver which is here spoken of, as Schultz supposes, but after the previous description of the law in general, he now emphasizes the experienced divine origin of the law, and with it the origin and ground of Israel as a people. Deu 4:10. As the Redeemer came in the fulness of the time, so the day for the law-giving at Horeb deserves notice. When the Lord said, sq. They stand there by virtue of a divine call. Comp., moreover, Exodus 19. The particular individual mountain, Deu 4:11, probably Jebel Musa (Kurtz II., p. 256) is distinguished from Horeb, the range as a whole. [The particular mountain is now thought to be Ras. Sufsafeh. The recent surveys of the peninsular all tend to identify this peak as that from which the law was given. For the arguments see Stanley, Sinai and Palestine. SmithsDict. Art. Sinai.A. G.]. Deu 4:11. Exo 19:17. A continuing (partic.) fire symbolizes the act. To the midst (heart) of heaven, the heavenly (Exo 20:19), the sublimity, with respect to those standing under the mountain, and upon the earth Deu 4:10. The fire lifting itself from the black ground of the dark clouds, (Exo 19:18) is the expression of revelation, of a knowledge (a light) in the darkness of this fallen world, which knowledge embraces in itself at the same time the consuming (fire) judgment of the self-condemnation unto the salvation, and of the condemnation by God to the destruction, of the sinner. The great energy of this law-giving in its two-sided results. The darkness was there, but Jehovah spake only out of the midst of the fire, Deu 4:12 (Deu 4:15; Deu 5:22). The additional remark Ye heard the voice, sq., prepares the way for the following paragraph. How fitly also the words remain as the expression of the Spirit. Comp. on the other hand with regard to Moses himself, Num 12:8. It is not a general revelation of God, but that revelation of God made to Israel, and indeed to the whole people, which is here spoken of. This fact renders it clear that there is no theory of revelation given here. Deu 4:13. The covenant is designated as his, and as such every idea of reciprocity is removed. In (from to divide, to separate (to choose, to decide, to create, to fix, appoint) we have the pure act of the will of God. Hence the explanation through the Ten, (Commandments) words, Exo 34:28, in which also we have the more exact definition of the words, Deu 4:12. Such an announcement includes, naturally, the commands on the part of God, and must have, on the other side, the doing of the people as its result. This is the purpose of God, and hence the written, fixed form, on two tables of stone: Deu 10:5; Deu 10:19; Exodus 34. Israel does not contract with Jehovah, but it is the will of God, in this way to provide for his coming into communion with Himself. Deu 4:14 throws light upon Deu 1:18, since the decalogue law-giving was even there presupposed, although there truly, as here, it is the mediation of Moses in the inculcating and expounding of particular statutes and judgments, which comes into view (Exodus 21 sq.). Even there, but especially here, the deuteronomic procedure of Moses is intimated as one at that time already prepared. At that (in this) time, the same as in Deu 1:18. That ye might do them in the land, sq., confirms the translation of Deu 1:18, which ye shall do (Schroeder), not should [as in A. V.].

Deu 4:15. Comp. Deu 4:9. for your good, etc. That which follows now as to the nature of the Most High Law-giver, and the mode of His worship, is simply a Mosaic deduction from what has gone before, through which Israel is made certain beyond any doubt of the divine origin of the law. Comp. Deu 4:12; Exo 20:4. Deu 4:16. from in Piel, and of like signification with the here (Deu 4:25; Deu 4:31) used Hiphil (as is often the case, e. g., periit Piel, and Hiphil perdidit) to slay, destroy, corrupt (Exo 32:7; Deu 9:12) to be supplemented here not by walk, conduct, but by yourselves. Ye should not corrupt, destroy your life (Deu 4:1) from (), to hew, especially the idol-image, because the heathen carved them in wood, stone, and the like. (Sharpe calls the art of the sculptor the true pillar of religion among the Egyptians). The multiplying of similar expressions in the following particulars is to prevent any uncertainty, to cut off any possible exception. from , signifies that which distinguishes, form, shape, appearance. Deu 4:12; Deu 4:15. like is perhaps an overlaid gilded image. Any figure, sq., figures, namely, of any kind which represent the carving of idols, whether a likeness of man or of beast, in order to represent the appearance of God. from to bend together, model, pattern, image. It is the image worship which is spoken of. The specification, Deu 4:16-19, passes from Egypt (animal worship) to Canaan (star worship), in an entirely historical way, but without even hinting at a history of idolatry. Heathenism comes into view, not as to its gods, the objects of worship, but after the form of its cultus, which was an image service, and to which Israel could not conform itself with respect to Jehovah. Thus the sun, moon, and stars, Deu 4:19, appear not as divinities, but because, as they unfold upon the deep blue heaven all the charm of their lights, beside the representation through men first mentioned, they seem themselves peculiarly enticing, as if an image cultus, established by God Himself. from () to separate signifies to remove, to turn away. The ceremonial homage, farther, the entire service, rendered to the stars as the representations of Jehovah, was thus an apostacy from Jehovah (who had given the stars that they should serve men, not that men should serve them, Deu 18:14), and would also conform Israel to all the nations (heathen) under the whole heaven, while through its very leading out of Egypt (Deu 4:20) it occupied a peculiar position with respect to Jehovah. (The Egyptians worshipped the stars as sense images of the gods, the sun as Ra, the moon as Joh. or Isis. Sharpe). The meaning of the clause, which the Lord thy God hath divided, sq., cannot be as Schultz and Keil hold, for veneration, i. e., to permit that they should choose the same for their objects of worship; for 1) the question is not here of strange gods, as Deu 29:25; Deuteronomy 2) if this was the question, still it would not be always true that the sun, moon, and stars, were given to all nations under the whole heaven for their veneration; 3) it is not said in Deu 29:25, nor in Rom 1:21 sq., that God has arranged and distributed the idolatrous heathen service, but in the first only that Israel should not go after strange gods, because Jehovah was their portion, and in the last, that the moral corruption of the heathen is the Divine judgment upon their religious errors and wanderings. The designedly chosen expression brings out into a suggestive contrast the Lord of heaven, which was divided unto all the nations, with the Lord of hosts which was the portion of Israel (Jehovah thy God). Comp. Psa 16:4-6. [The great Legislator may be regarded as taking, in the passage before us, a complete and comprehensive survey of the various forms of idolatrous and corrupt worship practiced by the surrounding Oriental nations, and as particularly and successively forbidding them every one. The chosen people of God are not to regard with superstitious reverence one of their own race, male or female; nor to fall into the low nature worship of which they had seen so much in Egypt, and to which they had once since, in the sin of the Golden Calf, shown a bias; nor yet to be beguiled by the more subtle cosmic religionism of some of the Syrian tribes. Bib. Com.A. G.]. Deu 4:20. The opposition between Israel and the other nations is here made apparent still more by what Jehovah had done, and His purpose in doing it, in delivering Israel out of Egypt as an iron furnace, i. e., a furnace for the smelting of iron, a striking image of the hardship suffered there, and of its moral import, (Isa 48:10). For a people of inheritance. As Jehovah was the inheritance of Israel from the fathers, so Israel of Jehovah, Exo 19:5. The possession of Canaan as an inheritance forms the third period. As ye are [Schroeder, as it is] this day (comp. Deu 2:30) refers to what Jehovah had done in the purpose designated, according to which the passage into Canaan was viewed as already accomplished. Deu 4:21. The grief of Moses appears again on this occasion, and for the third time. Comp. Deu 1:37; Deu 3:26 (and 2Co 12:8). Here as in the first passage we have and the same definiteness, namely, here , while there, for your tumult and rebellion. The oath is added here after the analogy of Deu 1:34, almost indeed as if Moses would include himself entirely in the divine judgment there uttered. Comp. upon Deu 1:37. (Herxheimer: I must warn you against idolatrous service in Canaan, all the more since I cannot enter there. Abarb.: As he was disciplined, so much more must they be. The conclusion of Deu 4:21, on the other hand, comprises or sums up the method both of Deu 1:37 and Deu 3:25 sq. Comp. Deu 4:22 with Gen 48:21; Gen 1:24. Comp. Deu 4:23 with Deu 4:9; Deu 4:13; Deu 4:16 (Deu 2:37). Comp. Deu 4:24 with Deu 4:11, and Exo 24:17; Deu 9:3 (Heb 12:29). (Deu 5:9; Deu 6:15) gives the ethical explanation of the previous figure (Exo 20:5). The farther exhibition of this way and nature of the Most High Law-giver, appears in two aspects, in Deu 4:25-28, and Deu 4:29-31. Deu 4:25 : Here as elsewhere in Deuteronomy, the eye of Moses, undimmed by age, is clearly seen. Israel on the contrary, when it grows old, will also become cold to the zealous love of Jehovah, and so provoke His equally zealous anger. The address changes from thou to ye; regards Israel as this people of Jehovah (Deu 4:20) to whom He is his God (Deu 4:24), or directs itself to particular individuals among the people, the men concerned here, fathers and children, and grandchildren. In the land which ye shall then possess, and as to which ye shall forget how ye came to possess it. Comp. upon Deu 4:16 (23). Deu 4:26. Begins the conclusion. Comp. Deu 8:19; Deu 30:19; Deu 32:1. Heaven and Earth. Not with reference to Lev 26:19, for it is not an avenger, but witnesses, which are here in question; not to angels and men, since the latter especially could scarcely come into view as witnesses, but because the heavens and earth had alike heard the discourse of Moses and were everywhere, and thus were witnesses continually at hand. Knobel: He speaks in the name of the Lord of the world. For the rest comp. Deu 5:1; Deu 5:9; Deu 5:15; Deu 7:4; The certainty and the suddenness of the destruction are made prominent. Comp. Deu 4:40; Deu 30:18; Exo 20:12. Deu 4:27. It is only as near Jehovah, and as this definitely gathered people, that Israel can remain in the land. With its forsaking of its God, is involved the loss of the promised land, and its dispersion among the nations, and since such dispersion is the dissolution of its distinct nationality, so it explains the extermination and destruction denounced in Deu 4:26. The discourse speaks of people and nations, as Assyrians and Chaldeans, but not of any particular dispersion. And ye shall be left few in number. (Gen 34:30). Not that they should so far perish through want and suffering, Keil, but in their dispersion reckoned as few over against the numbers of the heathen. (Comp. upon Deu 4:7-8), Deu 28:64; Jer 42:2. The threatening here is different from that in Leviticus 26. Piel, indicates both from the significance of the word, and from the connection, not a gentle leading, but a driving and urgent pressure (Exo 14:25) Deu 28:36; Gen 31:26. Deu 4:28. Their sin their punishment. The punishment with respect to Jehovah, whom they have forsaken, is that they shall serve gods who, because after the work of mens hands (Psa 115:4);for God Himself is formless, and has given His word, but no image of Himselfcan neither exercise the sacred attributes of Jehovah (neither see nor hear) nor the common functions of poor man (nor eat, nor smell, with an allusion to the food and incense worship of the heathen) Psalms 135. Deu 4:29. If Deu 4:25-28 declare the method of Jehovah as the jealous God with respect to His anger, the energy of His holiness, so now we have the other side, the energy of His love which does not forsake Israel. The seeking does not intimate any abject begging, Schultz, but rather the working of grace, which cannot leave itself without a witness, and utters its testimony through this necessity of the heart. He who permits himself to be found also works efficiently that they shall seek Him. The seeking is the promise of the finding. Not in vain does Moses intimate to Israel that Jehovah remains thy God. , Deu 4:29, and Deu 4:28, correspond the one with the other. Thy, namely the God of Israel, so that the people attain again a self-consciousness as a people, and as the people of Jehovah, and can be addressed as thou, sq. Thou shalt find, according to the connection, Jehovah, but placed here designedly, without an object, since Deu 4:31 declares what they shall find in Jehovah. Necessity teaches the remnant, the holy seed (Isa 6:13) the prayer, for the necessity, external and internal sorrow, will come upon him (). As explains the preceding , so with the we come to the latter days [Schroeder, the end of days]. here corresponds to the in the beginning. Deu 31:29. In the kingdom of God last times are ever times of need. (See Matthew 24; Luke 21; 2Ti 3:1). The is the counterpart to the (Deu 11:12). As now in the beginning of days the Sabbath was the end (Gen 2:1-3) so here also by the end of days is meant the Sabbath solemnity, Heb 4:9, the Messianic time of completion, Keil. Comp. Hos 3:5; Isa 2:2; Act 2:17; Heb 1:1-2; 1Jn 2:18. The expression (Num 24:14; Genesis 49) has indeed according to the prophetic time-period of the speaker, a more or less Messianic form. The entire fitness of the words to the connection, to the time relations following, without any intimation of the idea of the Messiah or of His kingdom, is characteristically Mosaic. It would not have been so fitting at the time of the prophets. It utters only the idea of Israel. And as the idolatrous service merely was included in Deu 4:28, so in Deu 4:30 simply the returning to Jehovah, and the hearkening to His voice (Deu 4:12). Come upon thee, find thee, looking back to the thou findest (Deu 4:29); thou the help, the need, the tribulation, thee. The condition and the time for the return of Israel are arranged in parallel clauses, (Deu 4:30), i. e., when the distress, the curse of the law, is completed, then also will the time of Israel be completed, then will be the end of days, and as the threatening will be fulfilled, so also the promise, the return to the Lord. Thus there is revealed a future of Israel, when through its returning obedience to the law, (and hearkening to his voice, Deu 4:30, Mat 5:17; Mat 7:24 sq.) it makes effective in humanity, the peculiar idea of its nationality, see Deu 4:6 sq. (comp. upon Deu 2:25). Since salvation comes from the Jews, (Joh 4:22), the national Israel may be considered a spiritual, which in that respect is the completion of Israel, when through the ingrafted fulness of the Gentiles in the place of the hardened portion, which takes place more and more, all Israel shall so (in this way) be saved, Rom 11:26. (Moreover as Deu 4:28 is fulfilled according to Jeremiah 44, so also Deu 4:29 indeed, according to Jeremiah 24, in the better part, the selection, of Israel in the exile. The latter gave the key to the exile, so that under the Maccabean princes, the heathen spirit was generally rejected by the people as anti-national). The foundation for such a future is given in Deu 4:31, with a reference to Exo 34:6, where an analogous apostacy of Israel had previously occurred. to be tender, graciously inclined, parallel to , Deu 4:24, according to the other side, of his being, of the jealousy as love. permit to sink or fall, Deu 31:6, Comp. on Deu 4:16. He will not, as thou wouldest thyself, (Hos 11:8-9). Comp. Deu 4:23. The covenant of Jehovah there spoken of is here the covenant with the fathers, as the explanation which he, sq., shows. Lev 26:42; Lev 26:45; Genesis 17, and Gen 26:3-4. As the eye has been turned by Deu 4:6 to the other nations, so should (Deu 4:32), the time since their creation, and the space in which their history moves, be inquired of with respect to Israel. Comp. Deu 32:7. Deu 4:33 relates especially to the revelation of God at Horeb. Elohim is not here any more than in Deu 4:32, any particular deity, but God in the general, (Deu 4:12). It is not the superiority of God over the gods which is spoken of, but of Israel in the wide humanity under the whole heaven. The hearing was already something perhaps unheard of, now also the living after the hearing. Deu 4:34. Or hath God assayed, sq., only made the attempt (Schultz, Keil) now even to do with temptations what God did to Pharaoh in order to lead out Israel, Deu 7:18-19; Deu 29:1-2; Deu 6:22. [The temptations are obviously the plagues miraculously sent upon the Egyptians as the following clause shows.A. G.]. To go and take him, sq., the most personal forth-stepping and in-bringing. Nation from the midst of nation. As Deu 4:32 goes back to the universal humanity, so here the conformity of Israel to the generality of nations. Egypt is intended. By signs and wonders (Haevernick on Ezekiel, p. 160 sq.). Comp. Exo 7:3; by war, Exo 14:14; Exo 15:3; by a mighty hand, and stretched-out arms (Deu 5:15), Exo 6:6 (Deu 14:8); by great terrors, Exo 11:6; Exo 12:30 sq.; Deu 14:20; Deu 14:24 sq. The redemption from Egypt even to its completion in the march through the Red Sea is thus specifically described. Comp. Deu 1:30. In all this which Jehovah had done for Israel, before their eyes, so that they have seen it, the people have the advantage of an experience (Deu 4:35) upon which even an advanced knowledge rests as upon its foundation, that his God, ha-Elohim, i. e., God simply, not merely the highest, but the one exclusive God, is the only one, there is none beside Him. (The fundamental truth of Genesis meets us again in Deuteronomy). But as was said above, Moses does not here prove this position, as over against the idols, but proves the glory of Israel above other nations and men, which it possesses through such a knowledge of revelation, especially through the law-giving at Horeb, to which all that happened in and upon Egypt, was merely of secondary moment; and thus even again, as from the beginning of this first discourse, Deu 1:6 sq., so now here at its very close, Deu 4:36, the revelation at Horeb stands out prominent. (made to see), comp. upon Deu 4:9. The revelation of Jehovah to Israel in order to make more apparent the superiority of the people, is here characterized (Deu 4:36) by its super-earthly exaltation (out of heaven), with which the rendering of to discipline, i. e., to take under sacred training, by Keil and Knobel [also Sept., Luther,A. G.] will not agree, as indeed it does not with Deu 4:35. This idea does not lie in the connection here (comp. Deu 8:5). The usual and practical meaning of the word also is to teach, to instruct, figuratively applied (Isa 28:26), to the preparation of the field, but absolutely never signifies to admonish, set right, as in Isa 8:11, when used with . Comp. on Deu 4:11-12. The symbol of the fire so emphasized, also according to the prominent aspect of that love energy of God in the rescuing of the sinner, presented in the foregoing section, leads to Deu 4:37, where the love however is portrayed as the electing faithfulness or truth. Thy fathers here as in Deu 4:31. The covenant with them has here its root in God. However humbling this may be for Israel, it is necessary here, where such a superiority of Israel upon the earth is made conspicuous. As Israel should not represent God, nor make an image of Him, so it has nothing in itself over which to cherish conceited imaginations (Deu 9:4-5). Indeed even the fathers has God simply loved. The choice is rooted thus in the love of God. The () essentially to desire, wish, becomes a choice, so considered with reference to its object. The humiliation encloses in itself the highest encouragement, the greatest blessedness for Israel. What is more blessed than to know that one is the object of the love of God from childhood, and what more encouraging than such love, which is such faithfulness. This faithfulness of the divine love, has its very noticeable characteristic in the singular suffix: his [not their, A. V.] seed after him, which as it discovers a living and thorough acquaintance on the part of the speaker with Genesis, pre-supposes also a familiarity on the part of the hearers with the beginning of Israels history. For only in this faithfulness can Abraham, who is the person referred to, be the friend of God (Gen 18:17 sq.; James 2:33). At the same time this marks the true personal nature of the divine love. Abraham is the father of all believers (Rom 4:11) throughout the Scripture, and hence the father, , of Israel. Isa 51:2; Gen 17:4-5; Mat 3:9. For his seed comp. further Gen 21:12; Rom 9:7; Psa 105:6, and Deu 4:20.In his sight [Schroeder: by his face, presence.A. G.], i. e. in His own person, in His self-revelation (Exo 13:21; Exo 14:19; Exo 14:24; Exo 33:14-15; Isa 63:9). Deu 4:37 stands related to Deu 4:36, as Deu 4:34 to Deu 4:33. The is the simple conjunction; but , as , Deu 10:15, has the whole emphasis of the connected new motives. The expulsion of the nations, as of the people of Sihon and Og was a pledge to Israel that even wider room would be made for him. Comp. Deu 1:28; Deu 2:30; Deu 4:20. An exhortation or inference parallel to Deu 4:35 follows now in Deu 4:39. The , Deu 4:38, stands instead of of Deu 4:35, and so here resumes the of that verse. It is not however bare knowledge, but a matter of the heart (worth taking to heart). Comp. upon Deu 4:35. In connection with this, Deu 4:40 returns to Deu 4:1 sq. Instead of , we have here , because the reference is altogether to God. Comp. besides upon Deu 4:26.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Chap., Deu 1:6-8. The departure from Horeb for the realization of the promise of Jehovah is the world-historical advance of Israel. A step at the same time for humanity, for the anointed in Spirit, is the of the conscience, as of the law (Rom 10:4). As this universal human truth has its solemn festive expression in the Sabbath of Israel (quia feeisti nos ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te.Augustine), so it finds its historical expression in the possession of the promised land (Heb 3:7 to Heb 4:10). Advancing therein, as equally in the case of their ancestor (Genesis 12), the elect people appears as humanity in its God-placed desires, as Moses himself the head of this people is a man of desire (Exo 33:18; Exo 33:13; Deu 3:25). Canaan is the localized promise of God, the pledge that the whole earth shall be full of His glory (Num 14:21). In this land, assured to the fathers by an oath (Deu 1:8), Israel realizes for the time the grace and truth (Joh 1:17), which indeed were not given by Moses, for the law was given through Moses, but which should historically come into existence (become) in the people of this land, and thus they become a blessing for all people. While Hellas seeks the true and the beautiful, and Rome law and dominion, Israels desire reaches after the reality of God and Jerusalem (Psa 42:2-4; Psa 137:5).

2. Deu 1:9-18. The natural jurisdiction, as it existed in the patriarchal institution, had already fallen into decay in Egypt. It was the policy of the oppressor to destroy the internal organization (Exo 2:11 sq.). With the exodus, the stream had returned to its old channel. But religious zeal concentrates the entire judicial authority in Moses. Aid must soon be thought of. The arrangement is proposed by the people in order that it may strike its roots among them more easily. The people choose, probably with reference to the advice of Moses, judges, according to the gradation of tribes and families great and small. There was a natural subordination among these judges. The heads of the tribes were the presidents, the heads of the larger or smaller families the co-assessors, with a more or less weighty voice in the decision. Those who were chosen were then confirmed by Moses. We are not to think of a crude decimal division. The arrangement was precisely destined for the residence in Canaan. Hengstenberg. The law of Jehovah is the rule of life for Israel. The princes and judges are called to introduce and put in practice this life-regulation as national. The general instruction which Moses gave to the officers of the community was thus, through the law of Jehovah, intended for the individual, and thus that whole organization of the people began at the advice of Jethro,was established. Baumgarten. Jethros counsel (Exodus 18) and the act of Moses, as he here speaks of it, unite to form a beautiful picture of the judge, what he should be, and how he should act. signifies to make ready, to finish; and thus the judge is one who is to deal with strifes, and remove them out of the world. Thus the oath makes an end of all strife (Heb 6:16). On the other hand this is the charge and burden (Deu 1:12) of the judicial office. The will against the will of man, only the will of God can give a decisive settlement. The first judicial qualification therefore is the fear of God (Luk 18:2) which is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 1:7; Pro 3:7; Pro 9:10; Psa 111:10). Where there is this internal support there is also fidelity and faith (confidence), and hence the second more outward qualification, men of truth, with which the judge has to do, and at the same time understanding, insight into even the most intricate cases. Lastly, as the most exterior qualification, with the good report among the people, is connected the hating covetousness, unselfishness which recommends itself to every man as an attribute of the judge. With the divine character of the court agrees the position of the judge with respect to his duties between the parties; and thus impartiality, and since they are all brethren before God, a brotherly disposition is requisite. Reconciliation therefore of those whom the strife had separated, was the act which corresponded most nearly to the idea of the Shophet, a judge. But when this could not be secured, then righteousness should determine the judicial act; i.e. as the fixed, the right () of God, his law should decide the case. As Israel is before God a nation of brethren, so the Israelite in himself before God, and over against the stranger, is still only a man. (, abbreviated form of ,, an adherent, associate, man as a social being, living in communities.) With the brotherliness connects itself the universal humanity (2Pe 1:7). See the following thoughts. When God only is adhered to, and one is established in His law, there the (as , to hold fast with the eye) coincides with , to fear, namely, God, through which the man does not become timid, servile, cowardly, but feels himself lifted up with infinite power, since he knows the divine strength and freedom, as his own. The fear of God has this significance from the Old Testament stand-point in opposition to all nature-religion (Meier).[We have too here all the elements of a true popular government. The authority comes from God; but the people select their rulers freely from among themselves. Once clothed with their office, the rulers become so far the representatives of God, are so to be regarded by the people, and are held responsible by Him for the discharge of their trusts.A. G.]

3. The humanity of the Mosaic law appears with respect to the stranger. He comes into view, assembling himself with Israel, in his own right, not however as one roving around, but as intimates, as one who sojourns for a shorter or longer time. As such has equal part with the Israelite in the Courts (judge, justice, duty, punishment), Lev 24:22. How thoroughly in this law the religious point of view determines and bounds the moral. Not merely because Israel also had been a stranger (Exo 22:21), but this other motive, because Canaan belonged to Jehovah, and thus the native dweller is only a guest (Lev 25:23), co-operates to the same end. Any exclusiveness towards the stranger enters only when the religious and moral relations out of which such humanity flows would be endangered (Exo 23:32-33). How entirely different stands the people of justice, the people of Rome, in this regard! In the twelve tables (hostis) enemy is synonymous with stranger, which Cicero calls (de off. I. 12) a milder expression. Comp. on the contrary, e.g., Lev 19:34.

4. The movement at Kadesh running through the whole history of the people of God, as Goethe (Works VI., p. 159) expresses it: The peculiar and the profoundest theme of the world and human history, to which all others are subordinate, is the conflict of faith and unbelief. All the epochs in which faith rules, under whatever form, are glorious, heart-stirring and fruitful for the present and the future. On the other hand all epochs in which unbelief in any form claims a sorrowful victory, and although it may shine in apparent splendor for a time, vanishes before the after ages, because no one will harass himself with the knowledge of the unfruitful. While the first book of Moses records the triumph of faith, the last four have for their theme the unbelief which does not in a bold way attack and contend with faith, but which also does not show itself in its whole fulness, however, crowds forth from step to step in the way, and often through kindness, but more often still through severe punishments, is never healed, never destroyed, but only silenced for the moment; and hence so continues its subtle course that it threatens to wreck at the beginning a great and noble purpose undertaken upon the most glorious promises of a credible national God, and prevents its ever being completed in its whole fulness.

5. That the period of the thirty-seven years curse, which lies between Kadesh and Kadesh, is not brought within the compass of the narrative, is not due only to the express theocratic historic style, as Kurtz asserts, but meets us also in the rhetorical recollections in Deuteronomy, and this silence, as over the grave or the dead, is an intentional death-silence. It is altogether proper. One should be silent, at best, over those under the judgment of rejection. There is a moral consideration, as also a liturgical act of the historical writer and speaker. Kurtz rejects the supposed reason: that, in a general way, nothing remarkable occurred during this period, as if this was the rejection of the only reason for that silence. But that which is communicated of law and history, Numbers 15 sq., does not concern the rejected Israel, but the Israel of the future (e. g. Deu 15:2; Deu 15:13; Deu 15:18). In reference to this, there was nothing further memorable to communicate until Numbers 20, as in reference to that the long silence prevails. The reticence of Moses over the coffins and sepulchres of Israel, is similar to that in regard to the four hundred years in Egypt, the cradle of the people. What Kurtz says of the thirty-seven years as years of dispersion, and that only the whole Israel, the organic completion of all the essential parts of the people, etc., is the subject of the recorded history, rests upon a still questionable view of the real relations and condition of Israel at this time. On the contrary his fine remark: the advance only, not the standing still, or the retrograde steps into the wilderness, is the subject of the recorded history, hits the case perfectly. The way from Sinai to Kadesh was a progress; only one step further and thenBut during the thirty-seven years the history of Israel did not come even one step nearer its goal. It remained as it was. It is different in the fortieth year with the journeyings from Kadesh to the plains of Moab. Under the unfavorable relations of this time, the nearest way from Kadesh to Canaan was by Mount Seir, around through the plains of Moab, and across the Jordan. Even the geographical return from Kadesh to the Red Sea is an historical progress.

6. Among the three exceptions which Israel must respect, Edom holds the first place. It has it in consequence of the prominent part which Amalek, the branch people of Edom, had already taken, Num 24:20. It shares with them also the hostility with which Amalek was the first people who maliciously fell upon the rear of the wearied Israelites (Deu 25:18), and vindictively went to the front before the Canaanites, Num 14:45. Israel had avoided the armed hostility with which Edom met him, Num 20:18-21. The conflict between Edom and Israel exists historically, as it had displayed itself before in their mutual ancestors, Esau and Jacob. But with this distinction, that now the fear is on the side of Esau (comp. Deu 2:4 with Gen 32:8). This fear introduces at the same time with the command here, the promise, Num 24:18. Edom, although the first-born, is an apostacy from the chosen seed, a degeneration to heathenism. Just because it is so closely related to Israel, it removes to the widest distance from the people of God (Mat 10:36). His fear of the Divine, in Israel, throws light upon the hatred and character of Edom, usually fearless, and much more feared, by Israel when punished by his God. Thus it gains those stereotype features which it bears in the prophets. Comp. e. g., Eze 35:15; Eze 36:6. Oba 1:10 sq. It must be conceded that the relations which Israel sustains to Edom, according to Deuteronomy, in no way correspond to the days of the prophets, but only to the time of Moses. [We can scarcely conceive of a later Jew giving the directions which Moses here gives. They are opposed in their whole spirit to the feeling which filled the minds of the Jewish people, and find expression in the prophets. And the feeling which ultimately gained such strength grew up in the relations and intercourse of these nations, so that there is no period which so well accords with these directions as that of Moses. They would not have been so appropriate to the time of Samuel even.A. G.]. For Moab and Amnion comp. upon Deu 23:4-5, and the Doctrinal and Ethical remarks.

7. Although it is not expressly said that Moab drove out the Emim, which would have agreed well with the description, so that Schultz conjectures they were not a bold people, and that we must think of a gradual extinction by death, still it may be inferred from what is said in regard to Edom. In any case, even without a warlike expulsion of the earlier inhabitants, the possession, as in the case of Edom and Ammon, so also by Moab, appears as the providence and ordering of God. He raises up and removes kings, Dan 2:21, and defines their times and the bounds of the people (Act 17:26) upon the earth. This was an appropriate instruction for Israel when, by localizing itself in Canaan, it was about to take its place among the nations and lands. It follows from this, that although the removal of a neighbors landmark is a crime (Deu 19:14; Deu 27:17) so it is not only true that kingdoms and lands are entailed, but also that both inward distractions and external conquests may be the ways of God. The character of the instruments he uses to collect the debt which is due, remains a question of secondary moment. This exalted view of the history of nations should not be denied, even in respect to Italy, especially by believers. [But this view of the hand of God in ordering the limits and condition of nations, does not interfere of course with any efforts on the part of the people to change their condition, provided there is a reasonable ground for them. Such attempts, immediately successful or otherwise, may be among the instruments which God uses.A. G.].

8. That Moses speaks of Israel according to its idea (Deu 2:25; Deu 4:6 sq., 30) corresponds to his prophetic character and stand-point, belongs to that preparation and introduction to the full prophetic order which was to be effected by him, and preserves, at the same time, the point of union for the New Testament fulfilling of this idea in the kingdom of God. The exclusiveness of Israel is for its universal ends.

9. The investiture of Israel with Canaan is to be viewed with respect to the chosen people as a gracious gift of God to the fathers, and with respect to the Canaanites as a divine righteous judgment, as Hengstenberg (Beit. III., 471 sq.) has shown in opposition to other interpretations. But since now Seir, as well as the land of Moab and Ammon, are held before Israel as expressly given to their present occupants by Jehovah (Deu 2:5; Deu 2:9; Deu 2:19), the destruction of their earlier occupants appears, in part at least, as the act of Jehovah, and hence also as a judgment of God (Deu 2:21-22). The region therefore upon which Israel should dwell, not merely as to Sodom and Gomorrah, but throughout, and even in its surroundings is an extended scene of divine judgments and destruction, which must involuntarily warn, most impressively, its occupants as to the deep seriousness of their life. The cheering enjoyment of the mercy and truth of God is not without a recollection of the solemn background of His holiness. Schultz. The successors of Abraham are the executors of the divine sentence of death upon the many-tribed nation. Hence the bann, as in reference to Sihon and Og, the constrained consecration of those to God who stubbornly refused freely to consecrate themselves to Him, in general directed only against persons; but now in order to show that Israel does not enjoy its land and its possession as a mere conquest, reaches in the first conquered city Jericho, to all its possessions. Hengstenberg. As the Israelites were first qualified for such a banning, who themselves had grown up a new generation under the bann, so also the iniquity of the Canaanites was full (Gen 15:16). There was open to them the alternative of flight from the land, or of conversion to the faith of Israel. Lange. But that this latter case occurs only with Rahab, shows the complete dehumanizing of the dwellers in Canaan, (Deu 9:4-5) as they sanction and observe only its bestial cultus, especially the Moloch worship (Cterum censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam).

10. When Schultz, in distinction from Keil, who refers to 1Ki 10:4 sq. and the therein ever significant type of proselytism in the self-dissolution of heathen religions, remarks upon the recognition of the Old Testament revelation on the part of the heathen, that the actual facts have been almost an irony, he says nothing more than that Israel has in its actual history, very poorly answered to its idea, according to which Moses speaks of it. It is only when Israels light shines before men, and they see its good works, that men can praise it. (Matthew 5). But it is true, further, that the idea of Israel finds its fulfilment only in Christ and Christianity; the subjection of the nations to it, and still more their transition into it, is the realizing of what was said regarding Israel according to its idea, (Deu 4:6 sq.).

11. While the spiritual (super-sensible) nature if God in the law-giving is elsewhere described by the statement, the law was spoken by angels, (Heb 2:2; Act 7:38; Act 7:53; Gal 3:19), referring back to Deu 33:2 (Psa 68:17; Psa 104:4); here however this mediation of the spiritual and super-creaturely divine nature, is not mentioned, but only the word, that spoken, and indeed in opposition to any form whatever. Since he fire on the mountain was clearly alluded to (Deu 4:11) so is it, in opposition to Knobel, precisely with respect to the people, as Exo 24:17. It is different with the selection Exo 24:11, for they saw ( Deu 1:10, Deu 1:11, although this seeing was an intuitive seeing, beholding, vision) the God of Israel, and this seeing must have distinguished itself from what all the people saw continually by something else than this, that in their eyes the fire token was separate from the cloud, (Hofmann, Schriftbew. I.). What is further said, Deu 1:10, that there was under his feet, and that the elders of Israel suffered no harm, presupposes an attested revelation of God beyond or above that to the whole people. We must think certainly upon the very same human form which Isaiah 6 imagines upon the throne, and of which Eze 1:7; Eze 1:9; Eze 1:13, expressly speaks. (Dan 7:9; Dan 7:13). On the other hand it cannot be said, with V. Gerlach, that Deu 4:12 must be applicable also to the elders, at least not for their own case, for the revelation to them is different from that to the whole people, as again the revelation of God to Moses is different from that to the elders. Exodus 33.; Num 12:8; Deu 34:10. But Exo 33:11 points also to the manifest human form, and this form must have been the similitude, form of Jehovah (Num 12:8) in which God throughout held intercourse with Moses. The distinction will thus be as to the one experience of the elders, and that the revelation of God to them was as from a distance, not face to face, not from mouth to mouth. The people saw the glory of God through the medium of the fire (comp. Exo 16:7; Exo 16:10); a nearer approach was not permitted, Exo 19:21; Exo 24:2. Even the elders must keep at a distance, Exo 24:2. Moses remains alone in the presence of God. What Moses therefore, Exo 33:18, desires in reference to the divine glory, the whole fulness of His being in the more fitting revelation, must reach beyond that which he had already enjoyed. With reference to this we are to understand Exo 33:20, as on the other hand Exo 24:11 is spoken in reference to the people who were warned away with the penalty of destruction. What would have brought ruin upon the people did not harm the elders, but no mortal may see the face of His glory. Thus the face is in general the person, but with reference to the glory, the exact expression of the whole Divine being revealed absolutely and without any limitation, while the back, Exo 33:23, is only the after splendor of that which has passed by (Deu 1:22). The human appearing form in these revelations of God to the favored individuals, already to the patriarchs, was the preparatory symbolism to the brightness of the glory and the express image of his person in the incarnation of the Son. (Heb 1:3; Joh 1:14). With this the Psalmist comforts himself, Psa 17:15, and we learn, that even until Christ, the spirituality of the divine being does not in itself exclude relative forms, when He would reveal Himself to man. But this relative form is not commonly for Israel the human form, although it has place in a human way through the Word. The fire and the cloud-darkness were truly conspicuous, but no form as little as the voice, (the sound) of the words which the people perceived. It is not given us of God to know intuitively His being in itself (Beck, Christ Lerhw. I., p. 41 sq.) but only in some form or representation, made visible and become inward to us. In His own essential majesty invisible to man (Joh 1:18; 1Jn 4:12) and as such dwelling in light inaccessible (1Ti 6:16) He remains for our conception and expression transcendent and unsearchable, even in His revelation also (Rom 11:33 sq.; Eph 3:8; Isa 40:28; Psa 145:3; Psa 147:5; Job 11:7-9), and we know Him in His nature, therefore, only as coming forth from His inaccessible light, He descends to earthly representations, but not in His own , Php 2:6. Hence there comes to us, through the Son, the only one initiated into these profoundest intuitions of the Divine nature, by virtue of His most intimate communion with the Father, only such knowledge of the divine nature or essence as He unfolds to us through words and works. Joh 6:46; Joh 1:18; Mat 11:27.

12. At this point, as in Exo 24:10 sq., nothing is said as to the form of God (even Isaiah 6. is silent upon this topic) but in reference to the fundamental revelation in the giving of the law, it is emphatically repeated to the people, that it was entirely by the word. The word truly in itself, as the fittest spiritual expression of the Spirit (Joh 1:1), opposes every image of Jehovah which Israel might make. But now the people have heard the ten commands, and see them remaining upon the two tables; the revelation by God (according to the significance of the number ten) is fixed for Israel as perfect. Thus there is nothing which can go beyond the word heard by the people and seen by them. Israel stands upon the summit, and should be conscious that it is so placed, so that every image which it might form of God appears as a descent to heathenism, as idolatry. Heathenism sprang out of the apostacy from the primitive religion, and through the corruption, and especially the secularization of the consciousness of God. The divine numen did not as in Israel become nomen, which presupposes knowledge, thus revelation, but that which is and should remain spirit, became nature. Pantheism is unknown at the beginning, but known as the end of the heathen way. In its progress pantheism realizes itself in polytheism, i. e., this or that, many and various representations of the Deity, according to the land, time, history, civilization, explained by the words of priests (mythology) because there was no clear word of God. Thus the images, although at first sense images of the Deity, become at last gods, idols of the heathen way, upon which Israel must not tread, since idolatry was rather its enemy and punishment, (Deu 4:28). The stand-point of Deuteronomy is purely principial, which is altogether unfavorable to the later time of the historical criticism.

13. The covenant of God is no social contract between equals, so that the human factor could annul or abrogate the other, the divine (Rom 3:3; Gal 3:17; 2Ti 2:13). Although there should be no religiousness, religion would still exist. God has revealed Himself, and this sun shines even upon the blind. The covenant of God is the formulating of His revelation in promise and command, so that the demand rests upon the promise, and both rest upon what God has already done. In this way of salvation, which is indeed for humanity, man neither helps nor acts. The covenant is sure and finished as of God, and so also the signs and seals of the covenant require not the help of men. God is one, Gal 3:20. The Mediator of the covenant only has to do with men; for since the covenant of God is the way of salvation, it is so for humanity, and it can only be so for mankind, when man gives the promising and commanding God, faith and obedience. But this condition of the realization of the covenant for mankind need not be conceived of as a condition of the realization of the covenant itself.

14. Since God has concluded a covenant with men (Deu 4:23), has thus revealed in the promise and command His essential strength of will in the world, it does not touch in the least His transcendency, disturbs not the inward rest and blessedness of God, when He is said to be angry. Nor is this a mere anthropomorphism, for what appears with respect to anger, after the flesh among men, does not belong to it after the spirit, is not that which is essential and necessary, as human nature, in its primitive divine resemblance, presents it (Mar 3:5; Eph 4:26). designates the immanent energy of the divine life [love?] in the world. The Hebrew expression, according to its radical elements, refers to division, signifies fundamentally a dissension, since jealousy only corresponds to love, when it is real or true. God, in His efficient strength (Beck, p. 162), out of His own holy will, even in love as a holy one, i. e., as one in the complacent communication of good, preserving the same, and indeed fitting it for a perfect life, determines to work, then holds Himself not only free from the authorship and nurture of all evil, but opposes it rather as a godless nature with the innermost energy of His consuming anger; but, on the other hand, over all and everywhere originates, cherishes and strengthens the good, and that with a faithfulness and truth which no unbelief or falsehood can destroy, agreeably to which His wise and holy determination, together with word and work, through all the developments of time, in a living unity, asserts itself as the most constant life-regulation of love.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Deu 1:6-8. Everything has its time with God: 1) delay and 2) departure. Long enough the watchword 1) of holy Wisdom , 2) of a gracious leading; 3) of a defensive keeping (comp. Luk 22:38).The turning points in life: 1) how they should become blessings to us (and the command and promise of God, Deu 1:7); 2) why on the other hand, they turn to a curse for us. Because in unbelief and disobedience (ver 8) we fail to improve them.The promise of God opens the widest prospects: 1) the directory in Deu 1:7; Deuteronomy 2) the use of it (1Ti 4:8).The hand of God makes an open land, as 1) in the old, Song of Solomon 2) in the new covenant (Mat 25:34).The blessing of the fathers builds the home of the children, if the children do not prevent the blessing of the fathers, Deu 1:8.

Deu 1:9-18. Moses and Christ as to their power to bear: 1) While Moses alone is unable to bear, Christ bears all things (Heb 1:3). 2) Christ has borne what Moses was not able to bear, even our sicknesses (Isa 53:4).The indispensable qualities in a judge: 1) wisdom (the fear of God); 2) prudence (by the side of truth, faithfulness); 3) good report.The judgment is of God: 1) a consolation to the righteous Judges 2) a terror to all the unrighteous.The judicial model in Deu 1:16; Deu 17:1) the open ear; 2) the impartial mind; 3) justice for every one; 4) fear of no one.

Deu 1:19-21. The way of the children of God still from mountain to mountain: 1) from Sinai to Golgotha; 2) from Golgotha to the Jerusalem above (Mat 5:14; Rev 21:10).The bride of the Song comes up out of the wilderness: 1) the war-times of the Church (Son 3:6 sq.); 2) but also its times of peace and victory, Son 8:5How should we look back upon the wilderness: 1) as upon a school-time which has been entirely finished; 2) as upon many and serious occasions for gratitude to God. We must not fear: 1) the high prerogative, 2) nor the sacred duty of the Church.

Deu 1:22-25. The Spies: 1) in their two-fold relation to the wish of the people and to the purpose of God; 2) in their two-fold result: that Canaan is a good land, but Israel a wicked people.Gods promises stand the test, 1) but faith must investigate, and 2) doubt not sit in judgment.Even for the heavenly Canaan the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9) prove the goodness of the land.

Deu 1:26-33. Unbelief 1) in its grounds, a would not; 2) in its nature, no going up; 3) in its utterances, rebellion, disobedience to the command and promise of God, murmurs by themselves, and outspoken ingratitude (Deu 1:26-27).The exaggerations of perverse and craven hearts, of an excited and depressed, a haughty and faint-hearted spirit (Deu 1:28).Means against fear and terror: 1) the Lord is our leader: 2) the Lord fights for us (Deu 1:29-30).How God bears His people: 1) He raises them from the dust; 2) He holds them in His arms; 3) He brings them to His home (Deu 1:31).The care of God over His own at evening, during the night, and the day (Deu 1:33).

Deu 1:34-40. The wrath of God Isaiah 1) certain, 2) just, 3) consuming (Heb 10:27).The blessed exceptions in the judgments represented in Caleb and Joshua.The steadfast faith as of Caleb: 1) in the apostacy, 2) to the end. Again 1) as to its reward; 2) as to its work.What is the perfect following of the Lord? When one follows Him in every condition and at all times.A mediator is not a mediator only as Moses proves: 1) in his love which identifies him with the people; 2) in the judgment of God upon him which excludes him from the promised land.Even thou! how solemn it sounds, 1) for the unbelievers (Luk 23:31); 2) even for believers (Job 4:18)!Like the lightning, the judgments of God, 1) strike the heights, 2) that those in the low-grounds should fear. The nearer to the Lord, the nearer to His judgmenta truth for us even, and for others.It is not Moses, but Joshua, who should introduce Israel into the inheritance of Canaan: 1) observe His name (Jesus); 2) mark His preparation, as a servant, disciple of Moses (Exo 17:9 sq.; Deu 24:13 sq.); 3) consider his qualification for the work, strengthen Him, and 4) the promise of God concerning Him. The importance of Joshua 1) with Moses, 2) beyond Moses.Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, both in wrath and in love. How the wisdom of the flesh is foolishness with God, 1) in its anxious care; 2) in its final issue.

Deu 1:41-46. The sorrow of the world (2Co 7:10) 1) repents indeed, but how? 2) acts indeed, but against what? 3) works death at the end. Three-fold repentance of Cain (Gen 4:13), of Israel, of Judas (Mat 27:4 sq.)The Lord is ever more thoughtful for us than we for others, indeed than for ourselves even.If God is not with us, there Isaiah 1) no victory with us; 2) the contest is in vain (Psa 127:1 sq.); 3) even our own strength is against us (Deu 1:43).By the bees we are not to understand their own strength (Deu 1:44), not even as armed (Deu 1:41), but rather their weakness against the strength of God (Psa 118:12).Hormah, the bann place for the first, through the second Israel. There is a return, and even a weeping, before the Lord, to which He grants nothing, to wit, 1) the return from vain attempts in our own strength; 2) our tears from obstinacy and despair.

Deu 2:1-3 Kadesh an ending which is at the same time a beginning.The past and present departures in their similarity and in their differences.The way of Israel: 1) no retreat, although back to the Red Sea; 2) no residence, although many days at the mountain (Doct. and Ethical, 5).

Deu 2:4-23. The passage of Israel along the borders of Edom, to these for terror (Deu 2:4), to those in love (Deu 2:5-6).We should not overcome evil with evil, but with good (Rom 12:17; Rom 12:21 :1Pe 3:9).The blessings of God in the march through the wilderness: in the work of the hand, in the way of the feet, in the necessities of life. To the divine blessing (Pro 10:22) there Isaiah 1) nothing too much, 2) nothing too difficult, 3) nothing too long, 4) nothing too great. (Indeed, the greater the need, so much the quicker the aid.)God is a ruler over the people and all kingdoms (2Ch 20:6). The hoariest antiquity shows this; history is ever showing it; in the kingdom of God at last all people and kingdoms will show it. The times as well as the bounds of the people are of the Lord (Doct. 7). What God gives, He only can take away, but often through human agency (Dan 4:24; Dan 2:21). God preserves His word in judgments as well as promises: the old Israel a glass for the one case, and the new for the other (1Co 10:6; Rom 15:4). Who is great? God only, and He only confirms it in His doings (Psa 77:14; Jer 10:6).

Deu 2:24 to Deu 3:22. Israel against Sihon, a type of the Church Militant. It is given to it to conquer; it is told to fight. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of God; in the great day of the Lord there is terror before it under the whole heaven (Rev.).A true Church in certain circles is ever an object of fear.In the hardened heart much good precedes the inward judgment, and its outward execution; the greeting of peace goes before the rejection (Luk 10:6-7).If God is for us (Deu 2:31), who can resist us (Deu 2:32)? We shall conquer widely (Deu 2:33), and the sight shall correspond to the faith (Deu 2:34 sq).Upon what does the inheritance depend? upon courage, the people, the flesh? (Psa 20:7).When ought we to fear? When even the whole world is for us, but not the Lord.As God gave Og and Sihon unto the armed power of Israel, so now He gives his and our enemies into the power of our prayers.(For the celebration of victory.) Victory is of the Lord, but so also the contest (2Sa 22:35).A man can himself do nothing, except it is given him from heaven (Joh 3:27).The best watcher of a city (Psa 127:1), and even the true keeper (Pro 14:26) is the Lord.We also have fortifications to destroy, but with the weapons of God, scarcely with any others (2Co 10:4 sq.).Tyrants, conquerors, the natural man, the world: in their might (Og was the only one remaining), in their glory. (Behold his bed!) Jer 9:22 sq. The last bed is ever the grave, and it cannot be said of any one, as of the risen one, Mar 16:6.The strong fall to the Lord for a spoil, Deu 2:12-13, in the members, and still differently in the head, Isa 53:12.The heroes of eternity (as Jair): their contests and victories in faith, their testimony of faith (and called them, sq.)Be one; common the victory, common the battle.Brotherly love: in its divine ground (God has given you), in its cheerful march, in its equipments and strength.Let us not forsake our assembling! Heb 10:25.Separation leads, 1) to a corrupt enjoyment of the gifts of God; 2) to a carnal self-exaltation (rejoicing in the armament, in the very nails); 3) to an unlovely forsaking and censorious inspection (judging, not going before) our brother; 4) to a self-consuming of strength, to a peculiar exhaustion.God knows well how to guard these left behind, to lead the pilgrim to rest, to bring the exiles home. Faith also has eyes, and indeed looks backwards, forwards, upwards: to the wonderful works, the promises, of God, to God Himself, who takes away all fear, who constantly fights for us.

Deu 3:23-29. Moses, a servant of God, and indeed one approved or faithful, but only at the beginning (Heb 3:5; Joh 15:15; 1Jn 3:2).The desire of Moses compared with that of Paul, 2 Corinthians 12; Php 1:23.There are fruitless prayers even in the kingdom of God, and precisely in cases like those of Moses and Paul, when we do not ask according to the counsel and will of God (Mat 26:39). [But are such prayers fruitless? They are in truth fruitful, never vain. See the results with Moses, Paul, and especially our Saviour.A. G.]. With this also we must take into view the regard to the kingdom of God and the world. What possible falls we might be kept from were it not for others.Still God does not deny His own, without also granting their request. (If He cannot make me happy in the way which I desire, He will still press upon my heart loving consolation in prayer).Humbled (Deu 3:26) we may go up (Deu 3:27): I know whom Thou wilt gloriously adorn, those whom Thou hast first brought low.I have seen, O Lord, Thy throne from afar, sq.The humble may be exalted, the weak may be strong in the strength of God. (2Co 12:9; Php 4:13).

Deu 4:1-40. To the law and the testimony! To do and be true is the duty, life, and glory of the people of God.But be doers of the word, and not hearers only (Jam 1:22). The doing justifies (does it) (Rom 2:13) but neither doing with respect to it, nor flowing from it.The true orthodoxy is this: the righteous, not the followers of Baal, believe, and faith proves itself right, through word and walk. The right service of God is the following Him and communion with Him, the open confession and the hidden converse.The glory of the people of God: 1) Outwardly to appear as the keepers of the treasure of God, and therefore to be highly prized; 2) inwardly the gracious and powerful nearness of God, the joyful access in prayer of individual members to God, and the certain knowledge of the divine will.They are true parents who are not forgetful hearers themselves, and who know how to make intelligent hearers of their children (Deu 4:9-10).The day at Horeb, in its threefold import: 1) as the day of the people (Deu 4:10): 2) as the day of God in His majesty and exaltation (Deu 4:11-12); 3) as the day of the covenant of God, and of the law for the people (Deu 4:13).Corruption in religion, 1) has its beginning in this, that God (His being and will) has been changed into nature, the Creator into the creature (Rom 1:18 sq.); but 2) it passes over, not barely into gross heathenism, but first and directly into the less gross, in which God (counsel and work) is confounded with reason, the redeemer with self-righteousness and self-redemption.Redemption is the choice and leading of the child of God as in the case of Israel (Deu 4:20; Isa 43:1 sq.).The grief of Moses: His thorn in the flesh, a sign for Israel.Self-preservation is secured, 1) through a recollection of the covenant grace of God; 2) in obedience to the word of God. His commands.The Lord is a consuming fire; thus, His nature being love, which works with consuming energy.Holiness the attribute of that nature, is a fire (consuming not merely the dross from His own, but the perverse also. The wrath expressing itself in chastisement, and in punishment).Not only Israel, but the sinner generally, has the witness in the heaven above, and in the earth at his feet, as in Sinai, and much more in Golgotha.Sin is a corruption of the people, and an injury to the land, and sins are punished through sins.The true seeking has the sure promise of finding, and is a concern of the whole man.Times of need are times of blessing, for temptation teaches us to mark the word (Isa 28:19), and trial leads to prayer (Isa 26:16). The true seeking is the godly sorrow (2Co 7:10) promised by God, wrought by God, and leads to God.The promise of the conversion of Israel begins in the exile, fulfilled in Christ, still remains open. (For missions to the Jews.) This is the mercy of God, that He preserves, saves us, and preserves the word.Inquiry into the uses of the world-history: 1) Leads to God as the origin of all; 2) teaches us to recognize the greatness of His thoughts towards men; 3) shows the sacredness and intimacy of His revelation to His people; 4) declares the wonders of His way; 5) is, in fine, a theodicee.The national greatness of Israel, 1) measured by that which is humanly and earthly great; 2) confirmed by the grand revelation of God at Horeb, and through the grand redemption from Egypt.The seeing-eye, to what it extends: It gives the sight, but not the insight (Isa 6:9 sq.) hence open thou mine eyes, that I, sq., Psa 119:18.The living God distinguishes Himself from idols generally, by His wonderful works, but specially by the law and redemption. The most wonderful thing is His being, because God is love, which transcends all nature and all reason (Eph 3:19). The fathers were flesh and blood, and what is Abrahams seed, in the light of reason, and in comparison with the other nations? (Deu 4:38). The thankful knowledge of the Lord is a concern of the heart, and that only, and is eternal life.

Chap. 1. Deu 1:6-7. Calvin: Lest the people should delay who were already far too slow, he adds in the facility stated, a stimulus, saying that they had barely to move the feet to enjoy the promised rest. (So Jesus had even greater haste than Judas himself, Joh 13:27). Schultz: With the readiness of the Lord to fulfil His covenant promises. He joins closely His holiness, which shows itself only upon the occasion of sins, but as punishing unreservedly, comes into so much clearer light. A beautiful title, with which he opens his discourse: the Lord our God. The Lord does not intend, indeed, any immediate transition from bondage to dominion, but an unimpeded advance to the goal. In following Him he gives no special residence. Richter: The Amorites were especially named to intimate that their iniquity was full (Gen 15:16) and the time for the occupation (of Canaan) had come. Berl. B.: The law cannot make perfect. But we must not stand still. The true light beckons us onward. Zinzendorf: The possessing of the land at our day is nothing but a bringing of the kingdom of God in this or that region.

Deu 1:9. Starke: No Christian should assume a heavier burden than he is able to bear. Deu 1:11. Schultz: Moses is so much more impelled to his wish, as it touches the life of a nation, called to be the bearer of the honor of the Lord. Spake for promise (Num 10:29); Israel throughout relegated to the word of God, had no special word for promise; what God spake He began to do in that He spake it. To the believer all that God has spoken is assured. Deu 1:13. Calvin: This liberty [election by the peopleA. G.] is very desirable, so that we should not be compelled to obey any one, whoever may be placed over us, but that the choice should be given so that no one should rule us who may not have been approved. The highest integrity and diligence are not enough for the ruler, if skill and sagacity are wanting. Luther: It is dangerous and shameful that one should force himself into power, against the will of the people. Many artifices mislead the wise, if they are not prudent, and will deceive them if they are not experienced and skillful. If a prince cannot have both, it is better that he should be a man of great foresight and wanting in piety, than pious and imprudent. Starke: In the appointment of officers the choice should not proceed upon favor, but upon experience and the fear of God, Act 2:23 sq.; Deu 6:1 sq.; 2Ch 19:5 sq. Deu 1:14. Osiander: Subjects should not reject the useful plans of their rulers, nor resist the same in any arbitrary manner, Rom 13:1; Tit 3:1. Deu 1:16. The word of one party is not enough, they should have both. Deu 1:17. Luther: This is the highest and most difficult virtue in a prince. To judge the poor and unknown is easy, but to condemn the powerful, the rich, and friends, without regard to blood, honor, fear or favor, according to the clear view of the case, that is a divine virtue. No prince does this, unless made strong and courageous by the Holy Spirit. Calvin: They should not fear any mortal, because the judgment is of God, by which He not only reminds them of the account to be rendered to God, but shows how absurd it is to prostitute the majesty of God in that manner, since they, standing rather in His place, should look as from above upon all men. Were this deeply impressed upon magistrates and pastors, they would not. vacillate, but stand firm against all terrors [Moses, 1) appointed men of good character; 2) gave them a good charge: to be diligent and patient, just and impartial, resolute and courageous; 3) a good reason to enforce the charge, for the judgment is Gods. Matt. Henry.A. G.]. Deu 1:19. Schultz: The greater and more fearful the wilderness through which they went, led and borne by the Lord, the more blameable is their unbelief which was active even then. Piscator: The Church of God is a stranger in this world, walks continually in a wilderness in which it meets rough ways, storms and faithless nomads, but in all has one true support and protector. [So the way to the heavenly Canaan is beset with difficulties and dangers, Act 14:23. Wordsworth.A. G.]. Deu 1:20. Schultz: The high grounds of Canaan correspond to the most high God, who would have His dwelling therein. Deu 1:21. Schultz: The demand fear not, sq., our Lord gives in the N. T. to His disciples, Joh 14:27.

Deu 1:23. Calvin: If they had all been taken from one tribe their faithfulness might have been suspected; but if each possessed its own witness, all jealousy and suspicion would be removed. Then, too, God chose men of renown, whose testimony would command respect. But there is nothing which the wickedness of men cannot pervert. Deu 1:26. Luther: Thus those whom God has trusted in great things are faithless to Him in small things; for thou knowest that faith is not a work of the free will, but only of the grace of God. Schultz: There are, in the history of the kingdom of God, deciding points, when even wickedness rises to its highest distinction, for the perfecting of grace. Israel, similar to the pilgrim in his holiest moments. Deu 1:27. Schultz: All the prophets point to this redemptive work. Some refuse the gifts of the Son in the N. T., and become like the old Israel. Deu 1:27-28. Luther: Unbelief raves because the word of God is lost. That is the fruit of human prudence in divine things. Unbelief makes the dangers more and greater than they are, but faith counts all for nothing, and the word as the strength of God, Deu 1:29 sq. [All our disobedience and failures flow from a want of faith in the word of God. Unbelief is disobedience, and the spring from which it issues.A. G.]. J. Gerhard: If we turn our eyes from the promise of the gospel, Satan tries to persuade us that we are unable to stand against such mighty foes. Krummacher: Is it not thus with many in Christendom? No, we can never do that. Glad to have it off their hands, they will not make the least attempt nor even give to the Lord one good word for it, because He might strengthen them, and they will not come to Him.Starke: Our brethren. Through this the spies become partakers in the sins of many. Deu 1:29. Cramer: Those who are strong in faith should comfort and help the weak, Gal 6:1. Schultz: It is precisely with this demand as with that to Ahaz, Isa 7:10 sq. The last attempt. It must at all events appear, what was desired. Deu 1:30. Schultz: Jehovah your God.Can it be that His relation to them is still not destroyed, even if it were as Gen 6:6. Moses can point for the answer to a present experience, Deu 1:33. Deu 1:31. Schultz: Incomprehensible condescension of God, and still more incomprehensible exaltation of the Church. The true Shepherd. Deu 1:32. Luther: Thus they put no faith in Moses, who was prepared with so many words, and so many miraculous signs. But why should we wonder when to-day there is so little faith, and the whole world raves in unbelief? If only two men from the great mass cleave to Moses, he will not intermit his office-work with respect to the word, and preaches in vain to the unbelievers. Deu 1:33. Schultz: The divine activity in its energy cannot be represented in any more fitting way than in light and fire, with which the smoke cloud itself appears, Isa 4:5. The living energy of men comes appropriately and early to light in the smoking breath. The animating and consuming, the refreshing and wearying potencies in their unity. The caravans in the wilderness raise an artificial smoke-cloud to go before them. Since the Lord sought out the camping places, the inconsistency is the more remarkable, in that they have hitherto trusted to Him for rest, followed Him through the darkest paths; but now when so near the peculiar resting-place they despair.

Deu 1:34 sq. Schultz: The judgment upon the old Israel, a prediction of that upon the new, when it should become an old. It tended to check the external, false particularism.Luther: The Jewish people fails when it was upon the very neck of the Amorites. Thus the forbearance of God gives space for repentance to the heathen before they should be destroyed. Rom 3:29. Their blindness is their snare, sq. Deu 1:36. So also Noah in his evil generation, Gen 6:7. Schultz: The old Israel, to a certain extent, entered Canaan with Caleb and Joshua. Caleb not only saw the land, but possessed it. He asked for Hebron (Joshua 14), because in his old age he had still living faith in the face of the sons of Anak, who had plunged the others, for the most part, into fear. His more glorious reward. The statement why he was spared removes every suspicion of partiality on the part of God. The problem of humanity, especially of Israel, is to be faithful unto death and in death; solved only in the true Caleb. Deu 1:37. Starke Moses confessed his own sin, but, also that it was not intentional with him. Luther: For our instruction and comfort, lest we should despair in our sins, for in this temptation not only many of the people, but even men of excellence, even the greatest prince Moses, with his holy brother Aaron, fell. We should fear the Lord, and despair in ourselves, since we are what we are only by His grace and power. Deu 1:38. In the kingdom of God it is first true, le roi ne meurt pas. Starke: Joshua here typifies a higher one than Moses[Matt. Henry: Mercy is mixed with wrath, 1) though Moses might not bring them into Canaan, Joshua should; 2) though this generation should not enter, the next should.A. G.]

Deu 1:39. Wurt. Bib.: Although we do not believe God, He remains true and faithful to His promises. Schultz: What you will not believe, that I will bring to pass, that I may make known my strength in the weak, and better aid your helpless ones than yourselves. Through the whole history of His kingdom, He knows how to find himself in the form of a servant, Deu 1:40. Schultz: But it is different with you older than with the younger; you to punishment and death, they to preservation and strength. If Israel has not Canaan, then the desert. Either heaven or hell, no intermediate place.

Deu 1:41. Starke: Our nature is so depraved, that it knows no restraints. What God forbids, we do; what He commands, we neglect.Krummacher: They add: as the Lord commanded us. But indeed had He said: The Lord will fight for you. Your plan was partly too late, partly not properly arranged. Psa 44:5; Psa 33:16 sq. Your obedience must now consist in this, that you lay aside your own will. Starke: Plans undertaken against God and His word come to a bad end. [Henry: Thus when the door is shut and the day of grace is over, there will be found those that stand without and knock. Cowardice and presumption are not far apart.A. G.] Luther: The unsearchable judgments of God! His people who presume upon their own strength, He permits to be overcome, as if He were not their God. But the enemy, who rely upon their own strength, He allows to conquer. Know that as there is that which is more to be feared than the manifest signs of the anger of God, so the unbeliever is sometimes successful in his way, Deu 1:45. It happens to Israel as to Esau, Heb 12:17.

Chap. 2, Deu 2:3. Schultz: The Lord waits again only to a certain extent to call out His it is enough, and to lead the desert-wanderers into Canaan. Deu 2:4 sq. Luther: In the history of the heathen we see the greatness or smallness of works; but in the history of the Jews it is only the word of God, through whose leading and will all things come to pass. Richter: Before God brought the Israelites to punish His enemies in Canaan, He taught them to forgive their enemies in Edom. Deu 2:7. In all the providence of God with respect to other people, and in all his consideration of them, Israel still appears as the one especially blessed, as bodily so spiritually. Psa 147:20. As (Deu 1:31) all false steps, falls and contingencies are taken up in the divine bearing, so all wants in the divine providence which always helps him (Luk 22:35). They end in love and blessing, if they are from the ways of God. Deu 2:15. The hand of God finds His enemies. He rules in the midst of His enemies. Deu 2:23. Richter: How impressively the true history of the world teaches the righteousness of the Judge of the world. Deu 2:24. Krummacher: What may we not do if we believe, and how should not all things be possible to those whom Christ makes strong? The true beginning to take possession is made in the blessed dying hour. The full possession follows at doomsday. [Henry: Observe in the commission given to Israel, 1) though God assured them the land should be their own, yet they must bestir themselves, and contend with Sihon in battle; 2) when they fight, God will fight for them.A. G.] Deu 2:25. Schultz: Israel enters into the same relation to the heathen as man generally to the rest of creation, as the representative of communion with God, of the higher life of the Spirit. Deu 2:31. Richter: Thus oftentimes gifts come to the children of God beyond their expectation. Schultz: To the divine beginning in love, the beginning on the part of His people in zeal and confidence must correspond (Isa 40:31), and thus always when the call is given by God, there must be a cheerful response. His saints are also His mighty jubilant ones, Isa 13:3.

Chap. 3, Deu 3:1. Luther: Og must have been a bold king to contend with Israel alone, and not have come to the help of Sihon. At the time of Saul all Israel fled before a single giant; it would have been so here if the faith of the people and the truth of the promise of God had not wrought wonders. Deu 3:2. Schultz: If the demands upon Israels faith, made stronger by the first victory, were greater, so the Lord comes to their aid with cheering and impressive encouragement, Deu 1:29. Deu 3:14. Richter: Moses, surprised, says of Jair, stretching widely to the north, he maintained his name. Thus what would be an obstacle to unbelief or weak faith becomes a source of strength to the believer. Deu 3:18. Schultz: Moses laboring against any isolation of the East Jordanic tribes not only in the present war, but for the long future, ventures to hope that the special exertions for their brethren could easily strengthen the community of feeling, and make it permanent. In case of isolation the East Jordan tribes would suffer the most. Tub. Bib.: We should interest ourselves in the brethren in faith, Rom 12:14; Gen 14:13 sq. Cramer: If we have planted our feet firmly in spiritual things, we should help the weak and unconverted. Gal 6:1; Php 2:12. Luther: They enter the work of God with their strength, but do not presume upon their strength. Blessed are they who thus serve God with their weapons and members. Deu 3:21. Schultz: The contest in the service of God may for the first be the more severe, the longer it lasts; but out of the localities in which we have fought for and with God, there rise up loud-speaking witnesses to kindle anew our courage and faith. Deu 3:23 sq. Richter: Through this open confession of his hearts desire he in part wakens or strengthens a similar desire in Israel, and in part in opposition to Num 20:12 sanctifies again the name of God. Schultz: Moses truly in the first word betrays his thoughts of his own guilt. Above all he makes the impression that the law introduced by him had reached in his case its most peculiar object, the knowledge of sin. Deu 3:24. J. Gerhardt: When one asks a favor from an avaricious person, he is wont to present before him the kindness he would have performed; but when from a generous person, the kindness he has already received. Deu 3:25. Schultz: Canaan presents itself to him as a highland by the side of Horeb, where he lived the best days of his life, and in contrast to the desert. Deu 3:26. Tub. Bib.: If this is done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry (1Pe 4:18). Wurth. B: If we sin with the godless, we must suffer punishment with them. Deu 3:27. Schultz: Viewing Canaan from Pisgah, a true representative of the Old Covenant. Though he must content himself with the distant view, his life has not been an aimless one. However much or little of perfection may pass before the eye of the individual, if it concerns a work of God, there is a progress and completion indeed endless, in which at last the individual shall be included in the finished work of God. [Wordsworth: The law had a far-off vision of the gospel and its heavenly revelations, and yearned for it and them, but could not go in and possess them; but Moses after his death was brought into Canaan to see the glory of Christ (Mat 17:3). Not Moses, but Jesus, brings us to our Canaan.A. G.]

Chap. 4, Deu 4:1. Schultz: And now, i.e. since He has first loved us, He permits us again to love Him. As Rom 10:17, first, etc. Starke: Beside the hearing, the reading, the devout contemplation, the careful preservation, the actual fulfilling. [From Gods doing to ours. We should use Gods providences to quicken us in duty.A. G.] Richter: Deu 4:2 places the limits to men, not to the Spirit of God. Starke: Thus the sacred Scriptures contain perfectly all that is necessary to salvation. Deu 4:6. Schultz: There lies throughout at the foundation the truth, that man by himself is deficient in wisdom. Deu 4:7. Michaelis: God shows Himself the lawgiver and judge of His people, as He answers their law-questions. Deu 4:8. Schultz: No heathen nation was able to establish justly the rights of men between each other, however great it might be. All justice has at last its roots in God. Richter: Paulalso, Romans 3, 9, celebrates the advantage of Israel (Deu 4:6-9). Ziegl: What are all the political systems of Machiavelli, Helvetius, Haller, etc., against the Republic of Plato, which every one who in this day will be a politician admires above all? And still this last, in comparison with the Israelitish constitutional law, is nothing more than an abstraction in a mythological dream. Deu 4:9. Calvin: Thus the tardiness of our flesh must be aroused, and at the same time its weakness fortified, its inconstancy prevented, since nothing is more easy than that the whole zeal should collapse in a sudden forgetfulness, or grow languid by degrees. Deu 4:11. Schultz: The appearance upon Sinai, and the sacred night. Both foundations of a covenant of Godbut how different! Deu 4:29. The sinner never binds himself to seek God, unless when he conceives Him to be placable. Sincere conversion is that of the whole heart, and the opposite to that which is feigned or hypocritical. Deu 4:30. Calvin: Sorrow in its uses and fruits, Heb 12:11. We should not be exasperated by the rod of God. [Deu 4:31. Wordsworth: He will not forsake thee. There is mercy then in store for the Jews.A. G.] Deu 4:34. ziegl: In fact (beyond Christ, where the miracle appears as nature) there is no other point in history, about which such a fulness of miracles are massed, as the exodus of Israel, in what precedes and follows it. Indeed the supernatural in nature, which is a proof of the constant latent existence of a higher order of things, is only introduced through the divine freedom, but on the other hand is closely connected as a sign with the following revelation. Deu 4:37. Schultz: True faith must grow, and be one with the feeling of unworthiness; will it be strong, it must have some other ground for the divine love than itself; a fundamental truth which touches the central point of Christendom.[For further homiletical hints see the admirable and practical summing up of this chapter in Henry.A. G.].

Footnotes:

[1]1 Deu 1:5. [, to dig, to inscribe upon stone, as Deu 27:8. Hence Haevernick and Wordsworth understand here, to write down. But as the idea is, to bring to light, to make clear, our word, explain, seems to meet all the necessities of the case.A. G.]

[2][Deu 1:13. , give, place, set.A. G.]

[3][Deu 1:23. It, the word, was good in mine eyes.A. G.]

[4][Deu 1:36. Margin: lit. fulfilled, to go after Jehovah.A. G.]

[5][Deu 1:41. . Most modern commentators adopt the rendering of Schrder, connecting it with the Arabic word of the same sense. It is merely a conjecture, however, and the context would seem to favor the rendering in our version.A. G.]

[6][Deu 2:6. Lit. dig water, buy permission to dig water. Bib. Comm.A. G.]

[7] Deu 2:9. [Margin: use not hostility against them; but the text is better here.A. G.]

[8][Deu 2:13. Omit said I. The words are still the words of God to Moses, and connect it with Deu 2:9.A. G.]

[9][Deut 3:34. . The meaning and construction of this word are doubtful; but the weight of authority and the absence of the article are both in favor of connecting it with , and of rendering mortals, men generally. We took all his cities, and laid under ban every city of mortals. What was laid under ban was of course destroyed.A. G.]

[10][Deu 4:6. See Deu 2:36.A. G.]

[11][Deu 4:18. Sons of strength.A. G.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

This Chapter concludes the first part of Moses’ Sermon, and a most pathetic and practical conclusion it is: in which he earnestly urgeth the people to the love and obedience of the LORD GOD of their fathers. In the close of the chapter Moses appoints certain cities of refuge for the manslayer on that side Jordan.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Remembering the Past (for the Last Sunday of the Year)

Deu 4:9

I. How far ought we to Remember the Past, and how far ought we to Forget it? It may indeed be said that remembrance and forgetfulness are largely independent of our control. We are naturally endowed with strong or with weak memories, and ardent or placid temperaments, and our fortunes in life are only to a small extent within our own determination. Whether we shall pass through experiences which cut deeply into the mind, or whether our years shall flow on smoothly without anything happening in them which stirs the depths of our memory, is an alternative which is not within our choice. We enter into life as soldiers into a battle. What the day will bring to the several combatants none of them can tell till night falls on the stricken field. It is not less true that we have a very large power of directing our own thoughts, and can determine for ourselves whether we will cherish memories or banish them, brood over experiences of life, or lift our minds off them. We are concerned together with the treatment of memory which does lie within our own competence.

II. What, then, of Experiences? It is the grand principle to remember them by virtue of the lessons they taught us, or at least were able to teach us. ‘Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life.’ Two great facts stood out in that reminiscence: on the one hand the favour of Jehovah, on the other the folly of deserting His service. Everything depends on the purpose with which, and the spirit in which, we read that volume of personal experience which carries the record of what we have done, what we have not done, what we have been, what we have endured, and what we have suffered. The recollection of past achievement may stir in us nothing more than an indolent complacence, and we may live in our own view on the limitless credit of our own record, but none of us can thus live on credit Past achievement must stir us to the honourable resolve not to fall below a standard already reached.

III. In the same Way, there is a Right and a Wrong Way of Remembering our Faults. There is no moral advantage, there may be great moral danger, in continually remembering every particular sin, for such melancholy concentration of thought on failure induces the depression of spirit which takes the heart out of the spiritual conflict, and may even lead to a miserable acceptation of failure. Despondency and despair are close relatives, and when the one establishes itself in the mind, the other is on the way to follow. Such morbid dwelling upon sin is altogether contrary to the drift and spirit of Christ’s religion. The forgiveness of sins is an article of the Christian Creed, and it stands in the forefront of the Apostolic teaching; but if sins, though forgiven, are still to hold dark dominion over the imagination, and destroy the peace of the mind, it is all one with their not being forgiven at all. The essence of forgiveness is no change in the disposition of the ‘Father of lights, with Whom can be no variableness, neither shadow that is cast by turning,’ but a change in the disposition of the sinner, which makes him renounce that which he indulged in. The moral invigoration which comes from the consciousness of being forgiven is weakened, if not altogether destroyed, when the dolorous remembrance of the failure is allowed to dominate the mind. We are to remember our faults for modesty and watchfulness. We are to learn, through them, what sins we ought most to guard against.

References. IV. 9. T. Arnold, Christian Life, p. 297. H. Woodcock, Sermon Outlines, p. 1. IV. 9, 10. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. ii. p. 329. IV. 21, 22. R. Winterbotham, Sermons, p. 460. R. C. Trench, Sermons New and Old, p. 152.

The Judgment on Moses

Deu 4:21

We cannot consider the close of the great prophet’s life without feeling that there are manifold lessons of instruction presented by it.

I. A Life may Appear in some Leading Point of it to have been a Failure, and may for all this have been a life most acceptable to God, and consummated with a death very precious in His sight.

The lives of few men are rounded and complete; there is something wanting in almost all, and this quite as much in the lives of God’s saints as in the lives of other men.

God writes His sentence of vanity upon all things here.

II. We see here an Example of the Strictness with which God will call even His own to Account, and while His judgments are in all the world, will cause them to begin at His own house.

Moses’ sin seems to us to have been a comparatively small one, a momentary outbreak of impatience or unbelief, and yet it entailed this penalty upon him, this baffling of the dearest hopes of his life.

III. We are Wont to Regard the Death of Moses as Something Unlike the deaths of other men, and so in a sense it was.

Yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every deathbed? Je mourrai seul , said the great Pascal, and the words are true of every man.

We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves.

IV. Observe the Way in which God so often Overrules the Lives of the Saints of the Elder Covenant that by them He may, in type and shadow, set forth to us the eternal verities of the Gospel.

Think not of Moses that he can ever be more than a schoolmaster to Christ; that he can bring thee a foot further than to the borders of the land of thine inheritance.

Another must lead thee in, if ever that good land shall be thine. Jesus, our Joshua, our Saviour He must do this.

The Address of Moses to Israel

Deu 4:23

This address by Moses was given ‘on this side Jordan in the wilderness’ (v. 46). He felt it was exceedingly necessary to remind the people of some of the mighty things the Lord had done for them in the land of Ham and other parts since they left it; and the place where they had now pitched their tents for a little while was well fitted for this important end. More: privileged with a brief rest, they were in a meet state for calm and holy thought; and hence it was both wise and good of their great leader to bring the past before them, to excite their spirit of steadfastness and diligence in the future. His address was long and loving; but God and His Law are the leading topics of the whole.

I. The Spirituality of the Divine Nature. When God gave Israel His covenant, they heard His voice, but saw no form or figure of Him, so that they could have no ground for attempting to make any kind of image for the purpose of worshipping Him as exhibited by it. The truth is God is without body or parts; yet the Bible speaks of ‘the face,’ ‘the eyes,’ ‘the arms,’ ‘the feet’ of God; these, however, are metaphors only, and represent the truth relating to Him as seen from a human standpoint.

1. God is a Spirit. Hence no form of materialism can represent His nature. Matter cannot possibly convey any right idea of the Divine attributes, such as eternity, omnipresence, wisdom, purity, love, joy. It is obviously inferior to spirit, and inseparable from imperfection; it consists of separate and ceaselessly reacting atoms, and therefore cannot be one, nor immutable, nor infinite. To say, then, that matter is united with spirit in God as in man, is to degrade Him, and bind Him fast under the limitations of time and space. Yet some men have attempted the impossible (Isa 40:19-25 ).

2. Belief in the spirituality of God is indispensable to real worship. An idol god is thought to be satisfied with the bended knee and the uplifted hand; but God, being a Spirit, will accept of no worship but that of the mind and heart a pure, a holy, a spiritual worship. To offer merely the service of the body with a sapless spirit is a sacrilege of the same nature as that of the Israelites when they presented dead beasts to the Lord. ‘God is a Spirit,’ said Jesus to the woman of Samaria, ‘and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth’. Such worship is enlightened; it perceives and rejoices in its object; it is the evidence of faith; and it is the fire kindled by the Holy Ghost on the altar of the heart.

II. The Perfection of the Divine Law Taken in connexion with the state of morals at the time of its publication, it is certainly Divine. No man or angel could have invented it: ‘the finger of God’ alone could write it.

1. Its perfection is apparent from its order. It consists of ‘ten words,’ and this number denotes the entire being; so that the law includes not only all that should be done, but all that should be left undone. Furthermore: God is first in it, as He should be; then His worship; then His name; then His day; and then those who stand next to Him. These things were engraven on the first table, according to Josephus and Philo; while the things on the second table relate to moralities of the highest and purest character.

2. Its perfection is apparent from its teaching. The Law not only gives instruction about outward conduct, but also about inward principle. No wrong is to be done to anyone either in thought, or word, or deed. And the Law recognizes love as the root of obedience, and the want of love as the cause of disobedience. How strongly the Great Teacher spoke on these points! (St. Mat 22:35-40 ; Mat 5:17-48 ). Love is verily the fulfilling of the Law.

3. Its perfection is apparent from its permanency. It was written on durable material, and was given to Israel for their observance alway. As the utterance of righteousness, Law is as unalterable as righteousness itself, and while everything human is perpetually changing, it remains as God’s finger wrote it. The Gospel, therefore, has not set its obligations aside; nay, it has rather rendered them still more imperative. The Holy Spirit works and sanctifies in harmony with it. And the final judgment will be conducted by it as the standard of Divine approval or condemnation.

Encouragement to Return to God

Deu 4:29

I. The State Supposed. This is a state of deep apostasy and backsliding in a people who are professedly the people of God; and that aggravated by every circumstance increasing guilt, which can be found in the abundance of mercies which have formed the subjects of the rich experience of former years. On a survey of the particular case, you will find it to import

( a ) Apostasy and backsliding under circumstances of long experience of abundant mercies.

( b ) A separation from all former privileges.

( c ) A conformity to the world who know not God.

( d ) An increase of tribulation.

II. The Return Anticipated. The inspired writer anticipates a return unto God even from all the depths of apostasy which he had specified, when the Lord should visit His people with sanctified afflictions, and thus make manifest in them the spirit of adoption, while He caused them to turn to Him who had smitten them. Even previously to their fall, their recovery is predicted of sinners. This was particularly the case with Peter. The return of backsliding professors of godliness, if they be partakers of grace, is anticipated, expected, declared; the Lord has promised to heal all their backslidings, however great, or manifold, or aggravated they may be.

Even From Thence

Deu 4:29

The book of Deuteronomy was designed not purely for those to whom it was first addressed by Moses, but for all the Jews of all after times. In the subsequent history of the Jewish nation, this promise was not unfrequently the only light that shone upon them in the cheerless night of their calamity, and guided by it they returned to the God of their fathers and obtained deliverance. Particularly was this the case in the time of their captivity in Babylon. But this book was not written for Jews alone, and the promise before us is not to be restricted to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. It contains within it the principles of God’s merciful procedure with men yet, and assures them that they shall find God if they seek Him with all their hearts. I. Look at the Case Specified. It is not that of the sinner who is hearing of God and of His mercy for the first time. The first reference of this promise is to the Jews who had been brought up in the knowledge of the oracles of God, but who, in spite of manifold privileges, had become idolaters. Now where shall we find the parallels of these sinners under the New Testament dispensation? Not in the heathen abroad, not in the heathen at home; but this promise speaks to those whose guilt is of deeper dye than theirs, because they have been favoured with far higher privileges and have disregarded them. It appeals to those who have been taught to pray beside a parent’s knee, who have been members of the Church, but who have lapsed into one or other of the many forms of idolatry that have been set up in the land as the worship of mammon, of fame, of power, of self, of pleasure yet even to them this promise comes, the assurance that if they return God will pardon.

II. The Blessing Promised ‘Thou shalt find Him’. To many this promise would read very like a threatening, inasmuch as they know that they have sinned against God, and their guilty consciences associate Him with vengeance. But when it is said that the contrite souls shall find God, the meaning is not that He will reveal Himself to them in their punishment, but rather that He will make Himself known to them as He would have done if they had never wandered away from Him. They shall find the God whom they had lost, and they shall find Him toward them precisely as He was before they lost Him. Nor is this all: the contrite sinner shall find God restoring to him the title to the heavenly inheritance which he had forfeited.

III. The Qualification Annexed to the Promise. ‘If thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.’ Now what is it to seek God? It cannot be a mere outward search. We need not look for Him in outward forms or ceremonies of worship; we need not seek Him in fasting, or in prayer or in almsgiving. We need not seek Him in mere external reformation of conduct. The search we make must be spiritual. Now God has told us that He is to be found in Jesus Christ, when we come to Jesus in simple confiding faith. Christ is the meeting-place of the sinner and his God. Jehovah has come in Christ seeking to reconcile us to Himself, and if we wish reconciliation we must go for it to God in Christ. There must be no half-heartedness in the search, no mental reservations; nothing but our unqualified submission of the soul to be saved on God’s terms, and in God’s way. This is seeking God with all the heart and soul.

IV. The Grounds Warranted that the Promise is to be Believed. ‘Whereby shall I Know that I shall Inherit it?’ Remember that this is God’s promise. But we have something more than the Word of God to rest on here, for He has made this promise over sacrifice. Go to Calvary and behold the confirmation given there to this precious promise. Then God has performed this promise in numberless instances. Manasseh, the penitent thief, Saul of Tarsus, the Philippian Jailer, all found God by seeking Him with all their heart. God is faithful who hath promised, and His word is as stable as His throne.

W. M. Taylor, The Clerical Library, vol. II. p. 48.

References. IV. 29. Parker, Old Testament Outlines, p. 43. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii. No. 1283.

Days That Are Past

Deu 4:32

I. Looking Back to the Sanctuary of the Past we gain strength for the future.

a. So it is that the past is our sanctuary;

b. the present our opportunity;

c. the future our hope.

II. Never Despair of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. There may be a temptation to you, knowing as you do the attacks which are made upon the foundations of the faith, to think, as men will tell you, that Christianity is fairly played out, and that the twentieth century will see the end of it. Let us, living in the sanctuary of the past, see God’s hand for the future, and know that whenever and wherever and however Christ is lifted up men will come to Him. Wherever he is lifted up He will draw all men unto Him.

III. Do not Despair of the Future. You who know that God has helped you ever since you drew breath, who see the golden thread of His love and providence all through your life till today, you can trust Him, you can die in His arms. It is true that you and I know nothing of the future. No man hath gone that way hitherto. It is unknown; but we may step out into the unknown bravely and boldly because we have seen God’s goodness to us in the days that are past.

IV. If this is True of us Individually it is True of this Church. We do not know what God is going to do with this Church. We do not know. We abandon it into His hands, and say plainly that He Who has been so good to this place and has held it up through all its vicissitudes and brought it to this day, can take care of His own. We abandon the future into His hands.

The Religious Aspect of History

Deu 4:32

The word Deuteronomy means ‘the second Law’. And much of the book which we are now reading is in effect a republication of the older law. But Deuteronomy is not a law book in the ordinary sense of the term. The voice that speaks to us in chapter after chapter is not so much the voice of a lawgiver formulating a code of rules as it is the voice of a prophet or preacher. The author of Deuteronomy was one who had thought deeply on that most serious of questions, What really makes for the permanent good of the people? And if there was one conviction that was dearer to him than others, it was that no people and no commonwealth can be in a state of well-being unless it is grounded on a great moral belief.

I. The groundwork of all obedience to human laws is knowledge of the fact, dwelt upon so emphatically all through this book, that God, in placing men under a Divine law and making them conscious of His invisible guidance, has bestowed upon them the greatest possible good? To know this, knew the prophet, was everything. This is why we are reminded all through this book of the uninterrupted continuity between what God is doing now and what He had done in the days of old.

II. We can never apprehend God’s dealing with the nations and families in the present unless we study them in the light shed on them by the accumulated experience of the past. If we want to know man, and what causes make for his welfare or for his ruin, we must study man in history. We must ask of the ages that have gone before, and be guided by their verdict. Further, we must do this in a religious spirit, with our minds prepossessed with the belief in a righteous God, who has discovered Himself to man. In the Bible we have not the dry bones of history. We have its living principles illustrated and enforced. In God’s moral government of the world there is no caprice, no room for accident.

III. The special lesson of the book of Deuteronomy is the religious use of history or, what is much the same thing, the paramount need of studying history in a religious spirit. Apart from the illuminating idea of an orderly movement in human affairs, and of God as presiding over that movement, the whole past becomes a bewildering dream. The Bible is a record of moral progress, a record of the gradual triumph of spiritual over material forces, of reason and conscience and the sense of moral obligation over mere animal instinct, and the desire of every man to be a law to himself. ‘In the unreasoning movements of the world a wiser spirit is at work for us.’ Thus history is the study which shows a man the whole, of which he is a part, and throws a clear light on the great process of which his own life is but a brief moment.

J. W. Shepard, Light and Life, p. 49.

References. IV. 32. H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Sunday Lessons, vol. i. p. 382. IV 39. C Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 222.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Divine Foundation

Deu 4

This book is a book of speeches. The man who delivered the speeches three in number said he could not speak. Aaron was chosen because he could deliver public messages and take charge of the appeals and commandments of God to mighty men. But, as in life, the first is last and the last is first. Who can quote anything that Aaron ever said? Who does not know that the whole of the Pentateuch is alive with the eloquence of Moses from the very time of his coming into it? Yet Moses said he could not speak: he was “of a slow tongue,” and his lips did not move easily to music or eloquence. How God turns the counsels of men upside down! How the slow mouth might become most eloquent, could the man but accept the will of God! making his very weakness a reason for accepting, that God might be the more magnified and honoured and glorified. When did God choose a man for his ministry without intending to qualify him for it? He does not accept the mighty man who says he is all but omnipotent. He accepts the trembling man, brokenhearted, his eyes full of tears, his tongue stammering because it cannot carry the burden of his thought and his emotion. Whom God has called to his ministry be he a dumb man he will qualify and he will crown. A book of speeches should have extraordinary fascination for us. There is a literature of speech as well as a literature of mechanical and exact composition. The difference is easily discernible and is often quickly felt. The world will surely never wholly dismiss its speaker. The speaker is so much nearer to us than the writer can ever be. He brings so much to his work which cannot be reported or reproduced all the sympathy of presence, voice, tears, encouragement. The very utterance is itself an annotation; the speech is made alive by the man. Let us encourage one another in this ministry of speech often broken, sometimes all but incoherent, yet singular in fascination because singular in sympathy and reality, not a lesson recited, but an appeal delivered; and not an effort accomplished with great outlay of strength and patience, but a new breathing of a wind from heaven. Moses appears, therefore, as a speaker in this book of Deuteronomy. His speech is solid with instruction, tremulous with appeal, grand with character. Yet Aaron was to have been the speaker. Aaron is dead, Moses is quoted by Christ and is sung in heaven. Moses called upon Israel to “hearken” ( Deu 4:1 ). Who can hear? Who has ever met a man, in any congregation, that could listen? What is wanted today may be described as good hearers. It is not given to man to rush away from his business, place himself down suddenly in the sanctuary, and call for revelations that he can appreciate. Men must be prepared to hear as well as prepared to preach. To “hearken” is not a mechanical exercise. The word “hearken”is charged with profound meaning; it represents the act of acute, vital, profound, fervent attention. He who “hearkens” is in an attitude of eagerness as if he would complete the speech, anticipate it, or elicit from the speaker a broader eloquence by the gratitude and expectancy of his own attention. Would that they who say much about speaking would learn the elements of good listening! so learned, they would be dispossessed of themselves, their ears would be purged of all noises and tumults and rival competitions, and importunity being dismissed, anxiety being suspended, and the soul set in a posture of expectation, would receive even from slow-speaking Moses statutes and precepts solemn as eternity, and rich as the thought of God. “He that hath ears to hear,” not for noises to please, “let him hear.” Such hearing is almost equal to praying; such listening never was disappointed. Moses had such grasp of his ministry and understanding of his holy function that he was strong even within supposed limitations. It is when men have no boundaries that they are vague in intellectual conception and indefinite in religious speech. Moses should be the teacher of teachers. Moses was under the impression, which is fast being got rid of, that God has begun the ministry, has actually pointed out the starting-place, has gone further, and prepared the speech, so that man now has only to deliver it, incarnate it, represent it. It is not the word of man, but the word of God. About what other word could Moses have said “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you”? ( Deu 4:2 ). Certainly, this puts human genius upon a severe trial. Men, having “sought out many inventions,” would like to invent a Bible. What a Bible man could invent! There should be in it no dust of the ground answering to the breath of God, no trial-tree, no tempting serpent, no tragedy; but a kind of minor heaven, a dull blue and pale light, and mechanical virtue, and regulation enjoyments, no devil, no hell. Men are not compelled to accept the Bible ministry, but if they do accept it, they are bound by the record. Men may invent bibles, but they ought also to invent churches to preach them in, and invent the sacrifice which could bear the disappointment which always follows the criticism of disapproving Heaven. We are not forced into the pulpit, but being in the pulpit by the highest force namely, the inspiration of the Holy Ghost the one thing we have not to do is to invent either law or gospel. That is what is meant by limitation. The centre is given and the circumference is described, and within the circumference we have large liberty. We have no right of trespass or violation. Who can describe the moral contemptibleness of the man who invents bibles and gospels whilst he is standing on professedly Christian ground and surrounded by Christian sanctions and is enjoying the comfort of Christian recognition? What is wanted is more Bible; a fuller reading of the Bible, following a profounder understanding of the Bible. Who has exhausted all the truth of God’s Word? Who can get to the end of these five loaves and a few small fishes? The feast grows with the appetite that enjoys it: the light increases upon the vision that can receive it; until, at last, the Christian student says, lifting up his eyes: I see heaven opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Add nothing, take away nothing, but give the Word opportunity of natural and proper development. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard-seed, the least of all seeds; but when it is sown and grown, how ample its branches! how hospitable its shelter! So the Book is more than a letter; it is a letter to begin with, but it must be sown, planted, watered from the clouds of heaven, shone upon by the light of the God who wrote it; and then it is not a Bible projected by the invention of man, but a revelation fully expanded, blooming with immortal summer, grand an rich with the joy of God.

But does not this require great faith? Most certainly it does; but that faith itself is sustained by vision. The law of God is confirmed by experience. It is not all faith, a merely intellectual or spiritual effort. It is marvellous how this inner action is sustained by outward facts; how God re-writes the Bible in human history and annotates it with a thousand facts day by day. So Moses said, “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day” ( Deu 4:3-4 ). Marvellous is this interplay of faith and fact, consciousness and experience, prayer and realisation. The world is an outside representation of many a sanctuary mystery. The book of Proverbs is not a book of apophthegms, of guesses at possibilities: every proverb is a history expressed in a proposition. The way, therefore, to read the proverbs is to select one, and say, What does human history reply to that proposition? and a fair analysis of human nature and a fair induction of human facts will end in the confession that the proverb has anticipated in a marvellous manner, and generalised with massive eloquence, all that has been proved by human history. When the Sanhedrim laughed at Peter and John and said bitter things about them, they were merry up to the point of victory, but, “beholding the man,” a sudden cloud fell upon their joy, and troubled them exceedingly; there is the man who was lame standing up, looking in the face the accusers of the Christian healers. A written miracle they could have smiled down they had a gracious smile; but “beholding the man!” That is the proof to which Moses refers; that is the proof to which Christian teachers may always refer. “Beholding” the temper, the charity, the nobleness, the purity; “beholding” the miracle of the Holy Ghost, eloquence is dumb, and criticism commits suicide. But, if we have nothing to show, we may at once surrender. We must be able to refer to experience, and fact, and reality, and call up the witnesses a thousand at a time to bear testimony. All men cannot bear that testimony in logical terms or in high theological expressions: it is not given to every man to confuse the Word of God by terms which no other man can understand; but who cannot take part in the testimony which is indicated by the words, “Once I was blind, now I see”? In the last grand “Hallelujah!” there is emotion as well as argument. The great thinkers and the great teachers say, “Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth: the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” That is argument; that is history; that is eloquence. Now some can only take part in the emotion, and they say, “Hallelujah! hallelujah!” Do they contribute to the testimony? Certainly. The testimony of God is a testimony that must have fire, emotion, soul. Great leaders, mighty sons of the morning, may speak about the kingdoms of this world having become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ may speak statesmen’s language and utter imperial sentences; but the mothers, and the broken hearts, and they who have had small chance in literary life can take part in the final testimony, saying, “Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah!” a mere declamation to those who have never been touched by the emotion, but an argument in fire to those who know the mystery of the peace and joy of God in the soul.

This grand argument of experience is sustained by the grand argument of public criticism and public recognition. Thus, we read in the sixth and seventh verses, “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for”? It would seem as if Moses represented the heathen nations as forming their estimate of what we now call Christian people and kingdoms. The picture is a vivid one, full of graphic suggestion. The heathen are looking on, observing the temper of so-called Christian communities and nationalities; they see there what they can see nowhere else, and, gathering up all the evidence, they say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people”. We always have that great possibility in front of us. There may be those who could sneer at a nation praying in the face of imminent war. There is no need to sneer at such an act. Sneering men never did anything for the world; it is not in the power of a sneering man to help any noble cause. Impressions are made upon observing peoples by religious acts, by religious consecration, by Christian charity; and it may be who can tell? that even heathen nations may fear to approach in deadly hostility a nation that can truly pray. There is a wondrous power in innocence. Men have gone up to it at midnight to challenge and arrest it, and they have been struck to the ground by an arm unseen.

The appeal of Moses is the eternal appeal of the Bible: “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?” ( Deu 4:8 ). That is the appeal to common sense and to common honesty. The commandments are not described as eloquent, marvellous intellectual conceptions, great advances in ethical thinking. Moses asks, What other nation can produce a Bible so righteous? Any Bible must go down that is not righteous above all other things, how high soever the varied attributes by which any book may be characterised. What is the moral tone of the Bible? Pure, righteous, true, holy. What are the great commandments of the Book? “Love,” “love,” twice love. The first object? “God;” the second, “Thy neighbour.” This is the strength of the Bible; and we can all begin at this point to inquire into the remainder of the Book. The difficulty with many students is that they begin at the wrong point. The great duty of every reader of the Bible is to begin at any point he can. He may say, I understand the beautiful word, “Honour thy father and thy mother.” Keep there: watch at that gate, for many an angel comes through it from heaven. Another reader says, Whatever there may be in the Bible which I cannot understand, I feel my whole heart going out towards the man who said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” and all the music of the twenty-third Psalm. That is your Bible: stand there; blessed is that servant who is found standing by that door, for out of it the Lord comes. Men may ask bewildering questions about the archaeology and the so-called science of the Bible, and may even puzzle the uncultured reader with many a question relating to spiritual mysteries; but taken from end to end the Bible is charged with righteousness: it will have the neighbour loved as the man himself; it will have the harvest like the seed-time; it will insist upon right balances and full weights; it will have no concealed iniquities: it carries its candle of flame with fire never kindled upon earth into the secrets of the mind and the chambers of the soul and the hidden places of motive and purpose and ultimate, but unexpressed, intent The Word of God is sharp, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow. It is a righteous Word. The Bible has a thousand weapons in its armoury: not the lightest, not the weakest is its magnificent morality, its heavenly righteousness, its incorruptible integrity. It shakes off the wicked man; it will have no communion with darkness; it strikes the liar on the mouth; it avoids the unholy follower. This is let us repeat the argument of Moses, and it is the eternal argument of Christianity.

Selected Note

The Lawgiver here stands amidst Israel, warning and consoling, commanding and exhorting, surveying and proclaiming the future with marvellous discernment. The speeches begin with the enumeration of the wonderful dealings of God with the chosen people in the early period of their existence. Moses clearly proves to them the punishment of unbelief, the obduracy of Israel, and the faithfulness of Jehovah with regard to his promises, which were now on the point of being accomplished. Fully aware of the tendencies of the people, and foreseeing their alienations, Moses conjures them most impressively to hold fast the commands of the Lord, and not to forget his revelations, lest curses should befall them instead of blessings. The Lawgiver then expatiates on the spirit of the law and its reception into the hearts of men, both in a positive and negative way. Fear, he says, is the primary effect of the law, as also its aim. As Israel had once listened to the announcement of the fundamental laws of the theocracy with a sacred fear, in like manner should man also receive, through the whole system of the law, a lively and awful impression of the holiness and majesty of God. But as the essence and sum of the law is love to Jehovah, the only and true God, man shall by the law be reminded of the divine mercy, so variously manifested in deeds; and this reflection is calculated to rouse in man’s heart love for God. This love is the only and true source from which proper respect and obedience to the law can proceed.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Memory and Duty

Deu 4

In the ninth verse we have a very solemn possibility indicated. The words of Moses are: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.” The solemn possibility is the possibility of forgetting God and God’s providence in human life. We fail not always through sin or vulgar crime, as if with both hands we would smite the sceptre of God and the throne of righteousness: we may be far enough from any such exhibition of a rebellious kind; but what is of equal fatality as to spiritual loss and consequent exposedness to every temptation of the enemy is the possibility of forgetting all that is worth remembering. We may not have endeavoured to expunge, as by an express and malicious effort; but memory is treacherous: the faculty of recollection is otherwise than religiously employed, and before we are quite aware of what has been done, a complete wreck has been wrought in the memory of the soul. The accusation will not found itself upon the thought that we have learned a lesson and have allowed the lines to slip, but our attention will be called to the fact that we who were eye-witnesses can no longer bear testimony because of the vacuity of our minds. There will settle upon the intellectual faculties themselves, and upon the senses of the body, a stupidity amounting to sinfulness. We may have no memory for words: had we committed the lesson to an intellectual recollection we might have been excused for forgetting somewhat of its continuity and exactness; the point is that we are called to remember things which our eyes have seen. The eye is meant to be the ally of the memory. Many men can only remember through the vision; they have no memory for things abstract, but once let them see clearly an object or a writing, and they say they can hold the vision evermore. God’s providence appeals to the eye; God’s witnesses are eyewitnesses not inventors, but men who can speak to transactions which have come under their immediate and personal observation: they have seen and tasted and handled of the Word of life. What a loss it is to forget the noble past! How treacherous is the memory of Ingratitude! All favours have gone for nothing; all kind words, all stimulating exhortations, all great and ennobling prayers, forgotten in one criminal act. To empty the memory is to silence the tongue of praise; not to cherish the recollection is to lose the keenest stimulus which can be applied to the excitement and progress of the soul. On the other hand, he whose memory is rich has a song for every day; he who recollects the past in all its deliverances, in all its sudden brightnesses, in all its revelations and appearances, cannot be terrified or chased by the spirit of fear: he lives a quiet life, deep as the peace of God. Can Moses suggest any way of keeping the memory of God’s providences quick and fresh? He lays down the true way of accomplishing this purpose: “Teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons” in other words, speak about them, dwell upon them, magnify them, be grateful for them; put down the day, the date, the punctual time, when the great deliverances occurred, and when the splendid revelations were granted; and go over the history line by line and page by page, and thus keep the recollection verdant, quick as life, bright as light. What a reproach to those Christians who are dumb! How much they lose who never speak about God! “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written… And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels.” To speak of the mercies of God is to increase the power of witness at another point. We first see, then we teach. The teaching of others is not to come until there has been clear perception on our own part. The eye-witness is doubly strong in whatever testimony he may make: not only can he tell a clear story from end to end, he can sign it with both hands, he can attest it with the certainty and precision of a man who has seen the things to which he sets his signature. Our Christianity amounts to nothing if it is not a personal experience. We cannot preach Christ until we have seen Christ. To preach salvation should mean that we ourselves have been saved.

Were all days alike, then, to the ancient Israelites a great monotony of light: for even the summer may become a burden, and men may long for cloud and pouring rain? The days were not all alike: the monotony was broken in upon. So we read in the tenth verse: “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” There are “special” days even in the highest experiences; there are great high-tides in the soul’s emotion; there are times of transfiguration, seasons when we see things as we never saw them before, glimpses of day, shootings, first, scarcely discernible, of bright lights across the whole firmament, which may be received by the soul as pledges of a whole heaven full of glory. Such moments may be few in number, but such is their quality that they require whole pages of our life-book for their clear and explicit writing. In all life there are “special” days: the birthday, the wedding day, the funeral day, the day when the letter came that brought a gospel of release from manifold and intolerable anxiety, the day when the epistle came from a hand which we thought would never write again. What is the day which Moses specialises? It is the day that ought to be the most memorable in every man’s experience: the day when the divine Word was heard revelation day, conversion day, salvation day, say broadly resurrection day. The day when the soul first became conscious of its true relation to God, and answered the appeal of heaven, ought to be the all-absorbing day; it should be as the day when the ear heard music for the first time. Can the man cured of almost total blindness forget the moment when he first saw the blue sky and the beflowered earth under his feet? No more can the soul forget the time when it first saw through the letter the meaning of the Spirit when it first caught the music of heaven, when it first realised the meaning of life and duty and sacrifice. Whilst Moses would have nothing forgotten he would have a special remembrance made of the day when the word of the Lord was heard in the mount that “burned with fire.”

A singular expression directly follows in the eleventh verse. Moses says: “And ye came near and stood under the mountain.” This is a new view of humanity. Probably the people themselves to whom Moses immediately spoke this word did not come near the mountain: most of them may have been born after the promulgation of the law from Sinai; because, indeed, of their not having heard that law in its original promulgation these great Deuteronomic speeches were spoken by Moses: it was a repetition of the law to men who had not themselves actually heard it in the first instance; yet the people are spoken to as if they themselves in their own personality had been present, had come “near and stood under the mountain,” and had felt the scorching of the fire which made that mountain unapproachable. This is the right view of human history. Human nature is one; humanity is a solid. We were at Horeb, and we heard the law. There is no recognition of such time as separates ages and races and revelations in the matter of devolving the responsibility of witness wholly upon dead men. We who now live crucified the Son of God. When the world believes that, it will rise to a new conception of its relations to the whole race and to all the ages of time. We were not born and shall not die, in any sense that shall insulate us from all the currents and significations of human history. We are the poorest of the city: we are the richest of the land; we who now live are great as kings, and are unknown as suppliants who hide themselves in darkness and speak their muffled prayers from obscurity. God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” We belong to one another. The child born yesterday was at Horeb, and will be present at the last great scene. Realise this thought, and instantaneously the true democracy is appreciated and valued in no pedantic or narrow sense, but in the holy sense that all nations are one, that whether we be conventionally and socially high or low, rich or poor, is a matter of mere detail: we are alive with the same blood, and are hastening to the same arbitrament. There are narrow and partial and transitory senses in which men differ from one another, and are separated and classified; but sinking down to proper depths we come upon a vital line which unites and consolidates the human family.

An extraordinary caution was addressed to the Israelites by Moses in the fifteenth verse: “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.” The people were not to make any image of God “the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth” ( Deu 4:16-18 ). We must not touch God in the matter of making similitudes of him at any point. It is quite true that God fills his creation, and that any pebble taken up from the sea-shore might be made a symbol of his presence; but, seeing that no object can represent him in his totality, there must be no attempt to engrave the image of the Eternal. He is without shape, without gender; he is in the beast of the earth; he is in the winged fowl that flieth in the air; he is not ashamed of any worm he ever made to wriggle in the meanest soil; he is not ashamed to hear the young lions when they cry, or to entertain the insects at his bountiful table; they are his: every pulse is his, every drop of blood is his; but he will not be figured, represented, or monumentalised in fragments and in detail. “God is a Spirit,” a marvellous revelation of that which cannot be revealed! We seem to have heard something, but we have heard nothing; the soul is enchanted by the music of a new expression, but not helped by the carving of a new symbol. The soul delights in the meaning, seizes the purpose of the revelation, and in repeating the holy words brings itself into a sweet rhythm and harmony with all the movement of creation, saying, again and again, as if uttering the refrain of an eternal song, “God is a Spirit.”

Why forbid the creation of a similitude? The answer is given in the sixteenth verse: “Lest ye corrupt yourselves.” The answer is also given in the nineteenth verse: “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven” and begin to worship sun and moon and stars, and all the hosts of light. There is a reason for the invisibleness of God. There is a reason for all the denials which God has addressed to human curiosity. Who would not know more of the future not the mere future of time, but the great future which we have learned to know by the name “eternity”? The answer is, “lest” and there the curtain falls. Who would not know more of the dead the holy, sainted crowned dead? Why this eternal silence? Why not an occasional glimpse of the outline of the soul’s figure? Why not an occasional note of the individual voice to assure those who are upon the earth that the loved one is uniting in the songs of light? The answer is, “lest” meaning that it is for our good, that this denial is part of our education, that by the trial of our patience we might rise to some higher perfectness of faith. Who would not wish to have one moment’s glimpse of heaven one opening of the cloud? If we could see the green land of paradise unblighted, unsullied, bearing upon it the light of an infinite blessing, responding to the smile of its Creator we never could be unhappy any more. So we think; it may be but mere supposition on our part. No good thing will God withhold from them that walk uprightly; if anything, therefore, is withheld, it is because the granting of it would interfere with the divine cultivation and perfecting of the soul. We are thus called to the rest of faith. We are educated by silence, as well as by speech. To have our liberty bounded may be to have our liberty perfected. There is an in tension of spiritual life as well as an ex tension; in the one case, the spiritual life is deepened, enriched in every quality, ennobled in all thought; in the other case, information is widened, multiplied, and so rapidly and unexpectedly that the soul is almost affrighted out of the most solid and enduring peace. The growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ is not always ostentatious that is to say, an appeal to vision, to sense of any kind; much may be proceeding which no observer can discern and of which the subject himself may be to some extent uncertain. We are too much inclined to go by what we can measure and totalise in augmenting figures, saying, with the tone of a statistical inquirer, We have grown thus and so much, within a given period of time. How long shall we take that childish way of measuring our soul’s progress? Let us remember for our comfort that there is a deepening process going on in silence, that providences may be so interpreted as to enter the soul with new vitalising forces, which are not yet ripe for expression; and when we open our whole being to the highest influences of heaven, and keep earnestly holding ourselves in readiness for light upon light and truth upon truth, instead of being able to measure the increments, we shall know that they have taken place in the soul, by some day, suddenly to ourselves, breaking forth into new songs, surprising the soul by a music within itself which it had not hitherto realised. Our duty is plain; our duty is simple; our duty is to keep our minds and hearts open to the inspiration of God, to read the law of the Lord, and meditate therein day and night, to gather richly of the word divine, letting it dwell in the soul like roots planted in good ground by the Husbandman of the Church. The great thing is to keep a clean heart towards God, never to invite the Most High into a complete and furnished heart, the very elegance of which involves a subtle compliment to the heart itself and a subtle patronage to the God who is invited, but to ask God to come into a broken heart, a contrite, helpless heart, a sighing, self-complaining, sin-confessing, sin-detesting heart, then the meeting will be a glad one, because it will be founded upon right relations; there will be no mockery on the part of the man, and there will be no interception of the whole almightiness of the living and redeeming God. Let us beware of materialising the spiritual. We must have the material, because we ourselves are not wholly spiritual. The senses need to be assisted that the forces which they represent may be sanctified; but it is one thing to have the house, and another to mistake the house for the tenant: it is one thing to keep the dead body in the house for a day or two before interment, another to keep it there as if the laws of nature could be set aside and a new economy established by the utter weakness of man. We must fall under the grand ideals which are everywhere brought to our attention in the Holy Book. The ladder we see is a ladder into heaven; the opened heaven is an opportunity of seeing the Son of man; and the written Book itself is God’s nearest way of bringing his hand close to our life. We do not worship the built house, or the piled altar, or the living teacher, or the sculptured monument; in so far as we have these, we use them as lenses through which to see the furthest stars, the more distant lights, the very Shekinah of heaven.

In the twenty-fifth verse we find not only the possibility, but the disastrous influence of corruption in religious thinking. “When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” Out of what origin or fountain does this cataract of denunciation proceed? Moses sets before the children of Israel the possibility of their religion becoming irreligious, than which no greater curse can befall the human mind, or pervert the way of human progress. Wrong in your religion, you are wrong everywhere. Man is profoundly religious in senses that have not been altogether fully realised and applied. He not only worships instinctively that is to say, turns up his eyes to the heavens to find an object greater than himself, or falls down before an object which he supposes to be greater than himself; but he is so religious that when he becomes wrong or mistaken wilfully or unwilfully in his religious conception, the influence is felt in every point of the circumference of his conduct. Men soon turn away from the right religious thought. It is a painful thought in some aspects; it must be so, because it imposes discipline; it educates a man by humbling him; it will accept nothing of his patronage; it will insist continually upon the doctrine that without Christ he can do nothing; that all he is and has and does that is good is really a manifestation of the Son of God within him. Other religions might give him importance, might assign him a kind of superiority, might even deign to consult him, or to accept some addition from his hands; but the religion of the Bible is as unapproachable as the sun, and yet as friendly as the light. There is always a point gleaming in the infinite heights which can never be touched: a mystery in the clouds and above the clouds; and yet there is always a beautiful blessing round about the poorest life an hospitable, reinvigorating and hopeful light beating upon the poorest man’s one-paned window, calling him to hope and energy and renewed prayer, and promising him still broader glory. It might suit our vanity to lay our hand upon the sun himself, but that is not permitted unto man; it is enough that he see the light, receive the light, walk in the light, toil in the light. His concern is not with the mysterious body out of which the light descends, but with the light itself. Jesus Christ teaches this doctrine in words characteristically his own; he says, “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” in other terms, If the religion that is in thee be wrong, if thy piety be impious, if thy prayers be profane, how profound the iniquity! how unutterable the blasphemy! How false is the supposition that religion will take care of itself in the human mind, that it will accept any course of conduct and be equally at home with the drunkard and with the pious man, with the thief and with the honest citizen; that it resides almost exclusively in the intellect, and in the imagination, and never descends into all the practical walks and relations of life! Say religion is a sensitive angel, shocked by evil conduct, affrighted by temper not sweet or gracious, turned away in great pale fear from all things unholy, unclean, undivine, that would be a right representation. We cannot keep our prayer and our profanity in the same heart. The final choice must be made. Allow the mind a false conception of God, and what follows? Necessarily a false conception of all life, all duty, all sacrifice. Given a profound and true conception of God, and what follows? Elevation of the whole character, an ennobling of the whole circuit and range of the mind, out of which will come the testimony of good temper, beautiful feeling, responsive sympathy, eternal charity. So, rightly understood, in no narrow or pedantic sense, everything really turns upon a true theology, by which is not meant a formal science, a shaped and articulated doctrine, but a right conception of the spirituality of God, the fatherhood of God, the invisibleness and mysteriousness of God ideas so received into the mind as to create reverence, and never to debase intellectual action into mere superstition. What becomes of those who corrupt religion and turn away from the light? Is God indifferent? Never do we find human conduct treated with divine unconcern. Our conduct seems to make a kind of other heaven for God when it is right. He loves to be with the soul when it prays, when it looks up with expectancy, when it claims, how mutely soever, its kinship with the Infinite and its association with the Eternal. “To this man will I look, to the man that is of a humble and contrite heart, and who trembleth at my word.” In the heart of such a man God finds an under-heaven, a sanctuary he delights to dwell in, a place sacred to his presence. By so much as this is true on the one side there is a completing truth on the other. Let a graven image be set up instead of the spiritual Deity, and God will wither the life of the worshipper: “ye shall soon utterly perish.” As the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, so a man cannot bear fruit except he abide in the true God, and he can only abide in the true God by a true spirit a spirit of simplicity, trustfulness, burning sincerity, saying, in every look of his eye and every action of his hand: I would be like my Father in heaven. Let us never suppose that we can safely trifle with religious conceptions, thoughts, and disciplines; we are only safe as we are in the sanctuary; the outside seems inviting, the paths are full of flowers, the air trembles with the music of birds, and a thousand seductions endeavour to draw us forth into the open spaces and the boundless liberties, but we are soon taught that law alone is liberty, and that the sanctuary of right thinking and right conduct is alone exempt from the lightning and the tempest of judgment. No religion that is not true has ever come to anything in the world, viewed in the largest relations and in the amplest and clearest light of things. Great nations have had false religions, but what have the nations been great in? great in number, great in contemplation, great in poetry that never embodies itself in energetic and beneficent action. Only they account for it as you will who love the Lord God of heaven and earth, as revealed in the Bible, are found east, west, north, south, preaching gospels, seeking to reclaim human nature, to evangelise the world, and are prepared to suffer and to die for their faith. We are not unaware of the existence of stupendous idolatries and of great nationalities associated with false altars; but judging religion by the spirit of sacrifice, by the desire to do good, by the inspiration of beneficence, by practical conduct of every kind, no religion can stand beside the religion of the Bible. God will soon cause those to pass away who displease him by graven images. Moses said in effect: You shall have enough of them, you shall be humbled amongst the heathen; you, who have begun with speciality of name and function and destiny, shall dwindle away among the heathen whither the Lord shall lead you “And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell” if you will have idolatry, you shall have it in fulness, yea, to repletion; yea, until the soul mocks the divinity it began to adore. The way of wrong-doing is always downwards. Wrong has no radiant stairway up into heaven, its ways downward are more than a thousand in number, and easy is the descent of the way to the pit. It is easy to go downhill. There is something in wrong-doing that suits the complex nature of man: he goes to it so easily, as if he loved it; when the iniquity is cleansed out of his hands and his countenance is purified from its more obvious stains, so cunning is he that he rolls iniquity under his tongue as a sweet morsel: but he lives a life of decay; the sentence of death is upon him; though he spread himself like a green bay tree he will pass away so that he cannot be found yea, when men seek for him they shall obtain no intelligence of his destiny. Whom God wipes out who can find? Hence the point of the exhortation and the value of the warning. We should take heed unto ourselves and unto the written Book which we hold, so that we depart not from the simplicity of spiritual worship. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” often in silence golden, precious, expressive silence; the speechlessness which means that the thing cannot be spoken because of its majesty and sacredness and heavenliness. Do not trifle with religious convictions; do not play with religious institutions. Everything that is solid and useful and beneficent in life springs out of a right sound, true conception of the nature of God and the purpose of his kingdom.

In the twenty-ninth verse we have what may be described as the eternal Gospel. Hear the sweet words; say if in sweetness they do not make you forget the honey and the honeycomb: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto His voice….. He will not forsake thee.” We may go back to God. He will not look at our blushing shame. He will interpret the set of our countenance, saying, Behold, they who went away have returned: their hunger shall plead with me: their necessity shall be their vindication; having come back they shall come home. What a proposal is this! Verily, human life needs it, and is the better for it. To hear that we may go home again and tell the tale of our sins, and have it interrupted by the very tears of God whoever dreamed that dream knew as no other man ever did know the deepest necessities of the human heart. The Old Testament is full of the word “return,” “come,” and other terms of welcome, and hailings, as of friendly expectation and assurance of hospitality. The Old Testament would almost seem to outrun the New in its broad welcomes and assurances of divine love. Nothing can stand against the Old Testament but Christ’s own words. When the Apostles come to speak of these things, they seem to speak in a sterner language than did the ancient Hebrew prophets, psalmists, and leaders, as if the Greek tongue were edged, and sharp, and poignant, and the old Hebrew music were round and redundant in the amplitude of its love, having upon it no keenness, no hidden judgment concealed in all the harmonious roll of its musical thunder. Let us enter by some door. The Old Testament speeches may touch some hearts, the New Testament invitations may touch others, both mean the same thing; all came from the same Fountain. Jesus Christ’s words are very simple “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Jesus Christ knew all about this departure from the Father’s house, and he represented the exodus by the parable of the prodigal son, who said, “I will arise and go to my father, and tell him I have sinned;” and he who painted the prodigal in colours so true represented God in love infinite and ineffable, interrupting the penitential speech, and thrusting heaven upon the man whilst the prayer was yet trembling on his lips. Let us return unto the Lord. “Rend your hearts, and not your garments.” We have to rid ourselves of many a corrupt thought, of many a debased course of conduct, and to return to simplicity, to the child’s conceptions of God and to the child’s sweet way of praying. Say, is there any picture known to the human imagination so expressive and tender as a little child upon its knees, with clasped hands, and eyes searching heaven with all the expectation of unsophisticated love? Except we be converted and become as that little child we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven We must not have a theology which the people cannot understand; religion must not be one of the fine arts or the most recondite of the sciences. It must be a gospel, a piece of music, a heart-welcome, a cry outrunning the sinner, and sounding upon his ears in the wilderness, telling him of home and sacrifice, of the Cross and of forgiveness. These are words which never can be displaced by the enticing words of man’s wisdom.

A wonderful pathos is given to the whole speech of Moses by the words of the thirty-first verse: “For the Lord thy God is a merciful God.” Who speaks this? A man who is about to die. This is a dying testimony. The man is old; no man of his time ever had such variety and range of experience; he is the principal man of his age; in many respects he is the principal man who has yet risen in all the ages up to the date of his birth; now his course is closing; he is to see the promised land from afar, but is not to cross the river; he is making a valedictory address, and this line comes into it “The Lord thy God is a merciful God.” How nobly the old man said it! How his grand voice trembled under the emotion! Moses was not a sentimentalist: Moses was a legislator, a leader, the very captain of the Lord’s hosts; a man that could break the tables of stone, grind the golden calf into powder and scatter it upon the water and make offending Israel drink the water so empoisoned; and he prince, king, mightiest man of his day closes his course by saying, “The Lord thy God is a merciful God” I know him; I have lived with him; I have been closeted with him in the secrecy of the mountain girded by light and by tempest; I know him; he has denied my desire to go and see the land flowing with milk and honey; all this is before me, and yet my dying testimony is “The Lord thy God is a merciful God;” he gave the commandments, and I brought them to you; but, though Legislator, I have seen his tears; though he speaks commandments, I have been close to his heart; though one hand is judgment, yet in another is mercy; the Lord thy God is no mechanical deity, no infinite Jove, seated upon a throne of ivory, without sentient response to all the tragedy of life, lifted high upon the circle of eternity, he “is a merciful God.” Give me a man’s dying testimony. We shall know the man’s religion by what he says in the last extremity. When speculation can do nothing for him, when genius has blown out its flickering lamp, when the earth recedes, when time closes its dull days, when the cold river plashes suddenly against the approaching feet tell me what the man said then, and I may touch the reality of his conviction and his hope. Blessed are they, with heaven upon heaven, who are enabled to say, when life is closing and heaven is nearing, “The Lord our God is a merciful God.”

Prayer

Almighty God, thy mercy endureth for ever. We have read of it: our fathers have told us concerning it; but, blessed be thy name, we ourselves have tasted and felt and handled the word of life. We know somewhat of its power in the soul; we know what the Holy Spirit hath done for us. Once we were blind: now we see; once this world was enough: now it is too small. We look up: we look beyond; we search the distant lines of the sky to see if any opening reveal itself to tell of further spaces. Once we knew not God, and our life was dark and very cold, without sympathy, without hope, a great riddle without an answer; but now, having seen the Saviour with the eyes of our love, having been accepted in the Beloved, behold, all things are new, all nature is larger, written all over with messages full of holy suggestion; creation itself is an infinite altar at which we bow in holy, tender prayer. Behold, thou hast made all things new to us. If any man be in Christ Jesus, all things are new: old things have passed away; new heavens and a new earth, and a new future these are the gifts of God in Christ Jesus our Lord; then the promise of heaven heavenly study, heavenly service, heavenly progress. Our mind cannot follow the line of fatherly promise: we know not what it is in all its meaning; eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared, laid up in store for them that love him Truly, by the Spirit, we now see in part: we see through a glass darkly; but still thou dost hold before us the solemn truth that we have not yet begun to see or hear or comprehend as compared with our enjoyments of thy presence and thy light in the world to come. Help us to read thy Book with an understanding mind, with an acute and reverent attention; and may we hear all the tones of thy voice, and see in thy word some outline of thy shape, thine image, thy glory. Let thy mercy be extended unto us according to our need. We are the children of necessity: our life is one continual want; our eyes are unto the hills whence cometh our help. We bless thee for answered prayer and for prayer denied. We pray, and leave our prayers at the throne, sprinkled with atoning blood, made eloquent by the intercession of the Son of God; and thine answer, whatsoever it be, shall make us glad or content, or quiet us with the assurance that a denial is the most beneficent of answers. In this faith we stand; in this confidence we live It gives us strength and light and hope evermore. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

(See the Deuteronomy Book Comments for Introductory content and Homiletic suggestions).

XII

FIRST AND SECOND ORATION, PART I

Deu 1:6-11:32

FIRST ORATION

The occasion is great and awe inspiring. Death is just ahead of the speaker, about one month off, and yet the old man stands before us in the vigor of youth. He does not die from decay of either mental or physical power but simply because God is going to take him. He has carried these people in his heart eighty years and has borne them in fact for forty marvelous years of eventful history; has suffered unspeakably in their behalf, and now is burdened with the spirit of prophecy which unfolds to his eagle eye their disastrous future for thousands of years, brightened for a time by the coming of the Prophet, like himself but infinitely greater, and the prospect of their final restoration. He starts out with a reference to Horeb where they entered into covenant relations with God, and where he himself sat, with the chiefs of the tribes, of thousands, of hundreds, of tens, to hear all minor causes, appealing to him only in great matters. The qualifications of these judges are set forth in Exo 18:21 , and “they were able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness,” and here, as “wise men, well-known chiefs of the tribes, full of understanding.” He rehearses his original charge to these judges: they must fairly hear all cases, must judge righteously, must be impartial, must fear no face of man, must remember that the judgment is Jehovah’s. The object of the reference is to show that they left Sinai thoroughly organized and equipped; left there in numbers more than the stars shown to Abraham and with their leader praying, “The Lord of your fathers make you a thousand times as many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you.”

They left there at God’s command to go at once to take possession of their long promised country. But alas, on account of their sins they lost thirty-seven days in getting to Kadesh-barnea and then with the imperative command ringing in their ears, the Lord said as before, “Come and take possession”; they again are delayed forty days in order to get a report from spies, and after that report and an awful breach of the covenant they lost thirty-eight years more of weary wandering, then when again assembled at Kadesh-barnea sinned again and caused Moses himself to sin, and so debarred him from the Promised Land. Then, through unbelief in God, through fear of man, through presumption toward God, through fleshly lusts, they had utterly failed to enter in.

Moreover, they had lied in attributing their attitude of rebellion to parental concern for their children, which God rebuked by showing that he could lead those helpless children into the Promised Land without the loss of one, while the bones of the parents whitened in the wilderness. And now, though at Kadesh-barnea again, when entrance was no more than stepping over a line drawn in the sand, they must turn down toward the Red Sea, and by a long, weary and circuitous march approach the country on the other side; a path must compass Mountain Seir, skirt Edom, Moab, and Ammon and bring them into deadly conflict with Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the hosts of Midian. That circuitous march was marked by some great sins and made memorable by some great deliverances. Aaron died at Mountain Hor. Moses is about to die, without passing over into the Promised Land.

Now, this oration, having thus briefly reviewed the legislation, makes that survey the basis of his exhortation by way of application. Learn from this model, O preachers, how to revive the lost art of exhortation. That used to be the custom for men that were called to exhort who could not preach. They could not preach a sermon but they could sit down and listen to a preacher preach and then move people mightily by exhortation. I have heard men, ignorant as they were in books, give exhortations that would make the stars sparkle.

Dr. Burleson preached a sermon at Huntsville and at the close of the sermon J. W. D. Creath got up and commenced by slapping his thigh and you could have heard him a hundred yards. He said, “The spirit of God is here, and the devil is fighting hard.” The people were converted by the hundreds and the biggest man was Sam Houston. A Negro boy on the outside was convicted of sin and came to the front, not understanding but feeling the power of God, he knelt at Sam Houston’s feet saying, “Massa Houston, save me.” Sam Houston said to the boy, “Ask the clergy, I am just a poor lost sinner myself.” We bad Deacon Pruitt; he never preached but Judge Baylor never held a meeting but he got Brother Pruitt to help him. He always wanted him to exhort after he preached. Moses determined to exhort these people, and in order to exhort them, he takes up the survery. They keep forgetting the times of his exhortation. The points are stated thus:

(1) Hearken unto God’s word and do it.

(2) Do not add to his law nor diminish it. “Heaven and earth,” says our Lord, “must pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”

(3) Be warned by your own history. History teaches lessons and imposes obligations. Preachers especially should be students of history in order to understand God’s government over nations and the way of his providence.

(4) In view of its impression on other nations obedience will be your highest wisdom. They will thereby recognize your relations with Jehovah and marvel at your prosperity and fear your power.

(5) Do not forget. Teach this law diligently to your children.

(6) Remember that you yourselves and your nation alone heard God’s own awful voice pronounce your Decalogue and that you have his autograph copy preserved as a witness.

(7) Remember that when you heard his voice you saw no likeness of him and beware that you make no graven image of anything that is in heaven above, nor earth below; do not fall down and worship it. We should all become iconoclasts, breakers of images. “Icon,” the image; “Iconoclast,” the breaker of images.

(8) Remember that Jehovah is a jealous God and will look upon sin with no degree of allowance, and be sure that he will find out your sins and be sure that he will punish your sins. Don’t you become so sweetly sentimental that you will think it impolite to say the word “hell.” Let us remember the awful words of our Lord, greater than Moses, who said, “Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,” who said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” So this is the first exhortation of Moses.

SECOND ORATION, PART I

The scripture of this part is Deu 4:44 , to the end of the eleventh chapter. Like the first oration, the second has an introduction giving the time, place, and circumstances of delivery. The closing: paragraph of Deu 4 gives this introduction in verses Deu 4:44-49 . There is nothing in it calling for additional comment beyond the fact that it marks an interval of undetermined time between the two Orations.

This part of the oration consists of a rehearsal of the whole Decalogue, stated in an offhand, oratorical form, without attempting the exact verbal quotations, and of an exposition of the first table, that is, the four commandments embodying our relation to God) and then an earnest exhortation by way of application. Note the verbal differences between this offhand rehearsal of the Decalogue by Moses and the Exodus record of it as spoken in the very words of Jehovah himself, and written by him on tablets of stone. From Revised Version, read Exo 20:2-17 , and then read the corresponding Commandments in the same version from Deu 5:6-21 . You must consider the Exodus form as the true original, and the Deuteronomy form as a substantial restatement by a public speaker, and note that Deu 5:15 , is not an attempt to quote the Fourth Commandment as originally given, but merely a passing exhortation, assigning an additional motive for remembering the sabbath day. The reader will also note that Romanists combine the first and the second according to our division, to make their first, and then divide our tenth to make their ninth and tenth. This does not affect the matter, only the numbering of the parts.

I asked you to read the Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy alternately because enemies of the Bible have made so much of the fact that there is not an exact verbal agreement, and hence they have denied the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. The reply to it is that the divine original in God’s own handwriting is the Commandments as they were delivered; second, in this case there is an inspired substantial restatement of the original in oratorical form and this restatement is just as much inspired as the original. Remember the sabbath because God rested on that day and it is prophetic, in an indirect way, of the New Testament sabbath. As God rested from creation when he had finished the work and the day commemorated an historical fact, so Jesus, having accomplished the great redemption (so that the Jewish sabbath is nailed to the cross of Christ), rested from his work and there remaineth a sabbath-keeping to the people of God. Jesus entered into this rest, as God did his.

Here I pause to commend, first, the exposition of the Decalogue in the Catechism of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith. This catechetical exposition has been taught to more children than perhaps any other in the world. Let us always commend the Presbyterians for their fidelity in family instruction, and always confess and lament Baptist delinquency on this line until we repent and do better. Second, it now gratifies me to be able to commend a Baptist exposition of the Decalogue, which, in my judgment, is the best in all literature. Not very long ago, a venerable man, soon to pass away, was helped upon the platform and introduced at the Southern Baptist Convention, and he received the Chautauqua salute. It was George Dana Boardman of missionary fame. He is the author of University Lectures on the Ten Commandments. The lectures were delivered before the students of Pennsylvania University, and the book was issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. Study it carefully and assimilate it into your very life. On the Fourth Commandment, perhaps without immodesty, I may ask you to read the three sermons on the sabbath in my first published volume of sermons.

My reason for speaking of these books is that Moses himself is now to devote eight chapters to an exposition of the Decalogue in the oration under consideration. You will make special note that Moses emphasizes the fact that the Decalogue was the only part of the covenant actually voiced by Jehovah, and that this divine autograph was then filed away in the ark as an eternal witness. The fact is also emphasized that no other people had even heard God’s voice or possessed his autograph. Thousands of the younger generation now addressed by Moses were present that awful day when Sinai smoked and trembled and was crested with fire, and the loud and ever louder trumpet smote their ears as no other trumpet will smite the ears of men until the great judgment day. They might well recall their terror when from the fires of Sinai this awful penetrating voice solemnly pronounced in thunder tones those Commandments one after another. They themselves could recall how they begged not to hear that voice any more and implored Moses to hear for them as mediator and to repeat to them in human voice any other words of God. I have already sought to impress you that Deuteronomy is an exposition of the law rather than a giving of the law. The orator and expositor not only shows that these Commandments of God are exceedingly broad, but he attempts to show their depths and reveal their heights, yea, to lay bare their very heart and spirit.

This heart and spirit he finds in the word “love.” “Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy might.” He compresses the first four Commandments into “Thou shalt love Jehovah,” as later in this book he compresses the last six into “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” When our Lord answers the question, “Which is the first commandment of the law?” He quotes Deuteronomy in his answer: “This is the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy mind, and all thy strength, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

And as the second is impossible without the first, a New Testament writer may well say, “All the law is fulfilled in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” And another says, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Or as Paul to Timothy declares its widest scope, “Now the end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, out of faith unfeigned.” In one word then, that grandest thing in the world, LOVE, Moses expounds the Decalogue. On this matter he founds his exhortation thus:

(1) “Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of thine house, and on thy gates.” What a course of family instruction! What a theme of family conversation! What a safeguard at home, at the gate, at the door, at the hearth, at the bed! As the Jew awoke in the morning, the Law greeted him; as he passed the door, it saluted him; as he passed through the gate, it hailed him; in all his walking beyond the gate it accompanied him. It governed the words of his tongue; it remained between his eyes to regulate sight; it dwelt in his heart to regulate emotion; and remained in his mind to prescribe and proscribe thought, purpose and scheme. Its hand of authority touched the scales and yardstick and restrained within its bounds all his business. His fruit, his grain, his flock, and all other treasures acknowledged its supremacy. It provoked the questions of children by its object lessons and supplied the answers to the questions.

(2) When prosperity comes with its fulness of blessings) do not forget God, (Deu 6:10-15 ).

(3) When adversity and trial overtake you do not tempt God as you tempted him at Massah, saying, “Is God among us?” (Deu 6:16 ). Just here the psalmist says, “My feet had well nigh slipped, for I was envious of the prosperity of the wicked and said, In vain have I washed my hands in innocency and compassed thine altars, O Lord of Hosts.” How often have we been bitter in heart and counted God our adversary and ourselves the target of his arrows and lightning.

(4) “Remember that the destruction of the Canaanites is essential to your fidelity to this law. They will corrupt you if you spare them. You shall not pity them, for the measure of their iniquity is full.” You are God’s sheriff executing his will, not yours, mercilessly as a pestilence, a cyclone, an earthquake, or a flood, indiscriminatingly obey his will. Make no covenant with these doomed and incorrigible nations. Do not intermarry with them. Covet none of their possessions devoted to God’s curse. Ah, if only Achan later had remembered this and had not brought defeat upon his people and ruin to himself and house!

(5) Remember the bearing of this law on Self:

(a) When walls crumble before you and the sun and moon stand still to complete your victory, beware lest you attribute your victories to your own strength.

(b) Or to your numbers.

(c) And especially beware of self-righteousness. All your history avouches you to be a stiff-necked and rebellious people. There was no good in your origin. “A Syrian ready to perish was your father.” At the Red Sea, at the waters of Marah, when you thirsted, when you hungered, in all the wilderness, and at Kadesh-barnea, through the cunning of Balaam even until now you have sinned and kept sinning, and will continue to sin, existing as monuments of grace and mercy. Who are you, to be puffed up with conceit and pride of selfrighteousness?

(6) Consider how reasonable all of Jehovah’s commandments are: “And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy heart, to keep the commandments of Jehovah and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” (Deu 10:12 ).

A later prophet shall re-echo the thought: “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee but to do justly and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God.”

(7) Finally, blessings crown your obedience and curses follow your disobedience. The inexorable alternative is set forth before you. Obey and live; disobey and die. And ye yourselves, over yonder, shall stand on opposing mountains while this law is read in a valley between, and those on Gerizirn shall call out the blessings, and those on Ebal shall pronounce the curses. And you will in one loud Bounding voice say, “Amen, so let it be.”

QUESTIONS

1. What briefly the occasion of the first oration?

2. What the substance, appeal and application of the first oration?

3. What lost art here referred to, and what examples of this art cited?

4. What the several points of his exhortation?

5. Where do you find introduction to the second oration and what the time, place and circumstances of its delivery?

6. Of what does Part 2 of the second oration consist?

7. What are the verbal differences between the Exodus form and the Deuteronomy form of the Decalogue and how account for them?

8. Which is the true, original form?

9. What of Moses’ statement here of the Fourth Commandment?

10. How do the Romanists number the commandments?

11. What charge is sometimes brought against the Bible because of these verbal differences and the reply thereto?

12. What books on the Ten Commandments commended?

13. What facts in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments especially emphasized by Moses?

14. What was Moses’ summary of the Ten Commandments and what Christ’s use of it?

15. Kame the points of his exhortation.

16. How was the importance of teaching the law emphasized?

17. What exhortation relating to prosperity?

18. What one relating to adversity?

19. What charge concerning the Canaanites, and why?

20. What the bearing of this Law on self?

21. How does he show the reasonableness of God’s law?

22. What alternative set before them, and what prophecy concerning blessings and curses here given by Moses?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Deu 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Ver. 1. The statutes and the judgments. ] By “statutes” we may understand the moral law, by “judgments” the judicial, which was fitted to the Jews: Like, as Solon being asked whether he had given the best laws to the Athenians, answered, The best that they could suffer. As for the ceremonial law, it is called “statutes that were not good,” because they commanded neither virtue nor vice in themselves, as one a gives the reason.

a Mr Weems.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 4:1-4

1Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you. 4But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.

Deu 4:1 listen This VERB (BDB 1033, KB 1570, Qal IMPERATIVE) is used often in Deuteronomy (e.g., Deu 1:16; Deu 4:1; Deu 5:1; Deu 6:3-4; Deu 9:1; Deu 20:3; Deu 27:10; Deu 33:7). Its basic meaning is to hear so as to do. It focuses on action, not just hearing (cf. Jas 1:22-25). This chapter has several warnings, Deuteronomy 4 :l, 2, 6, 9, 13, 14, 15, 19, 23, and 26 (cf. Mic 1:2; Mic 3:1; Mic 6:1).

the statutes and the judgments These include the collective revelations of God. It is all that God has revealed about Himself and His covenant requirements. It is similar in meaning to the word Torah (lit. teachings, i.e., Mosaic legislation).

SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS FOR GOD’S REVELATION (using DEUTERONOMY and PSALMS)

which I am teaching you Moses served as YHWH’s agent of deliverance and revelation (i.e., prophet, cf. Deu 3:14; Deu 4:1-17; Deu 18:15-18; Deu 34:10-12).

to perform The INFINITIVE (BDB 793, KB 889, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) encourages the people to hear God’s law and then obey it (cf. Deu 16:12; Deu 30:8).

so that they may go in and take possession of the land Notice the conditional nature of God’s covenant (e.g., Deu 5:33; Deu 8:1; Deu 16:20; Deu 30:16; Deu 30:19). All of thee VERBS are Qal PERFECTS. The last VERB in Deu 4:1 (giving) is a Qal PARTICIPLE. God’s gift depends on Israel’s actions!

the God of your fathers This refers to the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, cf. Deu 1:11; Deu 1:21; Deu 4:1; Deu 4:31; Deu 4:37; Deu 6:3; Deu 12:1; Deu 26:7; Deu 27:3). All of the covenants with the Patriarchs involved conditions (except Genesis 6-9 and Gen 15:12-21).

Deu 4:2 you shall not add to the word. . .nor take away from it This does not refer to scribes updating the text of the Law, but rather that you cannot add to the essence of the Law (cf. Deu 12:32; Pro 30:5-6; Ecc 3:14; Jer 26:2). These bans on adding to or subtracting from are characteristic of ancient Near Eastern literature. There is a slight difference between the Ten Words as recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

Deu 4:3 Baal-peor This refers to the place where Israelites turned from following YHWH and went after the fertility gods of Moab (cf. Num 25:1-9).

Deu 4:4 you who held fast to the LORD The Hebrew word hold, cleave (BDB 180) is translated as a VERB in NASB. It is the opposite of follow after in Deu 4:3 (i.e., Ba’al). The VERB form of this word is used:

1. of cleaving to one’s wife in Gen 2:24

2. of Ruth clinging to Naomi in Rth 1:14.

It denotes an attitude of loyalty or commitment. It is used in parallel with love in Gen 34:3; 1Ki 11:2; Pro 18:24 (see NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 911).

Even in the election of God, humans had to respond appropriately. Even as God chose Israel to be His priestly nation (cf. Exo 19:5-6), each individual had to choose God. This is a balance between God’s sovereignty and human freewill. It is also the balance of corporality (you PLURAL) versus individual (everyone of you) response.

These is no VERB in Deu 4:4; the VERBAL idea is conveyed by two ADJECTIVES (BDB 180, 311).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

statutes = ordinances: Godward. Exo 12:24, Exo 12:43; Exo 30:21. Heb 9:1.

judgments = duties and punishments, manward. First occurrence in plural in Exo 21:1. The two often united. See Deu 5:1; Deu 6:1; Deu 12:1. Mal 4:4, &c.

teach. Hebrew. lamad (whence “Talmud”) = to cause to learn. First occurrence.

for to do. Old English idiom: modern idiom = to do.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 4

NOW therefore ( Deu 4:1 )

Moses is now making application.

NOW therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, to do them, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD the God of your fathers is given to you. For ye shall not add unto the word which I commanded, neither shall ye diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you ( Deu 4:1-2 ).

So the forbidden to add or take away from the commandments, from the word that God had spoken through Moses. When we get to the book of Revelation, again there is a prohibition to adding to or taking away from the words of that prophecy.

It is interesting how people like to mess around with the word of God, adding or taking away. But that is something that we have been forbidden to do, not to add or to diminish from that which God has declared.

Behold, [he said] I have taught you the statutes the judgments, the LORD commanded me. Now keep them and do them: for this is your wisdom and understanding. For what nation is there that is so great, who had the God that is so near to them, as the LORD our God is in all of the things which we call upon him for? For what nation is there so great, that has the statutes and judgments that are so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, and to keep thy soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them to your sons, and to your sons’ sons ( Deu 4:5-9 );

Teach them to your children, to your grandchildren these commandments, these statutes. There’s no nation in all the world that has had the privileges that we have had. God being so near to them and giving them such a righteous law. And then he speaks about how that the law came there on Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai-Horeb and how that the people were fearful because of the thunder and the lightning.

[And Moses said,] Now you heard the words, but you did not see any similitude; only you heard a voice. And the voice declared unto you the covenant, and he commanded you to perform, the ten commandments; he wrote them on two tables of stones. [verse fifteen] Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for you saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb in the midst of the fire: Lest you would corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of any male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flies in the air, The likeness of any thing that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes into heaven, when you see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the host of heaven, and you be driven to worship them ( Deu 4:12-13 , Deu 4:15-19 ),

Now, he points out the fact that when they heard the voice of God they didn’t see any form at all, deliberately so. For God did not want them making any kind of a representative likeness of God. Now in all of the nations around them they had all of their little carvings, all of their little idols that were representing their gods. Some of them were female idols with multi-breasts, some of them were male-type idols. Some of them were weird, wings. Some of them looked like fish. Some of them looked monstrous, gargoyle kind. This is God. This is what God looks like. He said, “not so”. God doesn’t want you making any graven image. God doesn’t want you making any kind of a representative likeness of Him. It’s not to be done.

Now there is a compelling force within man to worship. It’s a part of human nature. And here he has said,

Lest when you look at the stars, and the moon, and the host of

heaven, that you’d be driven to worship heaven” ( Deu 4:19 )

There is something within man that drives him to worship. You’ve gotta worship something. It’s like Bob Dylan said, “You’ve gotta serve somebody” and that’s true. You’re driven to serve somebody. There’s a driving, compelling force for you to serve somebody and it is always tragic when men leave the worship and serving of the true and the living God, the creator and the sustainer of the universe of all life and life forms. And they begin to make a likeness of God like a man or like a woman or like an animal and they begin to bow down and worship these little likenesses. They begin to offer their prayers before these likenesses. There’s something within man that compels him to worship but God doesn’t want you worshiping before any altar.

When the woman of Samaria said unto Jesus, “Our fathers say that we’re to worship God in this mountain. You say that we are to worship Him in Jerusalem. Where do we worship God?”( Joh 4:20 ). Jesus said, “The day is coming and now is when they that worship God will neither worship in this mountain nor in Jerusalem for God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth and God is seeking such to worship Him”( Joh 4:23-24 ).

God cannot be localized. Nor should we try to make any kind of a representation of God. I personally have great problems with any pictures of Christ. I really don’t care for them. That’s personal, that’s with me, that’s something personal. I’m not telling you to go home and get rid of all the pictures. It’s just something personal within me. I don’t care for any pictures of Christ. God didn’t want man making any kind of representation of Himself.

So they heard the voice but they didn’t see any likeness, they didn’t see any form lest they would create some form and begin to worship it. Men are driven to worship.

Furthermore the LORD was angry with me [He said] for your sakes, and he sware that I should not go over Jordan, that I should not go over into the good land, which the LORD God gives to you for an inheritance: But I must die in this land, and I must not go over Jordan: but you shall go over, and possess the good land ( Deu 4:21-22 )

“For your sakes.” You see, Moses recognizes that it was for their sakes that God was sticking to his word.

For the LORD thy God-well before,

Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant ( Deu 4:23 )

Now the danger of forgetting, the peril of forgetting.

which God made with you, and you make a graven image, or a likeness of any thing, that the LORD thy God has forbidden you. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God ( Deu 4:23-24 ).

And people say, “Oh, there we go. The Old Testament concept of God; a consuming fire, a jealous God”. Look at Hebrews in the New Testament, declares, “For our God is a consuming fire”( Heb 12:29 ).

It is interesting that fire is used as a figure for God. Because what can you say about fire? It’s everywhere. The scientists have a word, Eremacausis, which refers to the slow burning fire of nature and it’s everywhere. It’s in all of the material universe. There is that slow burning fire which is gradually destroying everything. We no long-we no sooner put this building up, before we got the last nail in, the slow-burning fire had begun to deteriorate it. Before we could cover the roof with the roofing materials, some of the nail heads began to oxidize. What was it? Slow burning fire of nature; it’s everywhere.

Isaiah records how that at one time the Assyrians had invaded the land and the people called upon the Lord and an angel of the Lord went through the camp of the Assyrians and in one night destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand front line fighting troops. And when the children of Israel woke up in the morning and looked out upon the camp of the Assyrians there were nothing but corpses and it said, “And fear gripped the hearts of the sinners in Zion”( Isa 33:14 ).

Terror took hold on the hypocrites and they said, “Who among us could dwell in the devouring fire?” ( Isa 33:14 ). They saw the fire of God and its effect upon their enemies and a fear gripped their hearts, and they said, “Who amongst us” and the word dwell can also be translated approach or flee “from the devouring fire”. And in reality there is no place that you can flee from the presence of God. “If I ascend into heaven thou art there. If I descend into hell thou art there”. And the same fire of God that burns in heaven is the same fire of God that burns in hell.

It isn’t who can escape, but who can flee from it. In reality you are in the fire of God. You can’t escape it. The question is what is it doing to you? And that all depends on what you are. For you see, fire can, in the case of steel, transmit into permanency as it is forged in the fire, tempered by the fire, transmitting it into permanency. But that same fire can absolutely destroy and consume a piece of wood. The Bible says that our works are one day gonna be tried by fire. And some of our works like wood, hay and stubble are just gonna go up in smoke. Those that can endure, those that are last through the fire, you’ll be rewarded for. “Our God is a consuming fire, our God is a jealous God.” A very interesting figure that is used of God.

But let’s jump down for a moment to verse thirty-one.

(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) and he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them ( Deu 4:31 ).

Yes, He’s a consuming fire and those enemies of God shall be destroyed by that consuming fire. Consuming is just a qualifying word and that is a word that qualifies really the enemies of God; that which the fire will do to enemies of God. But that same fire transmits us into permanency because from us it consumes the dross and the impurities of our life. It’s the refining fire of God burning within our hearts, consuming dross transmitting into permanency.

And so when you beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained a long time in the land, and corrupt yourselves ( Deu 4:25 ),

Now this is almost a prophecy. He lapses into a prophetic thing here. So in generations to come, your children’s children and all, you’re in the land; they’re gonna start making graven images.

You shall do evil in the sight of the LORD your God, and you’ll provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you’re going over to Jordan to possess it; and ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you ( Deu 4:25-27 ).

And so here He is prophesying the failure of the nation and of the fact that they would be driven out of the land and dispersed into all the world and yet you will be left, though few in number; the remnant.

Now the interesting miracle of history is that even though the Jews were driven from the land as was prophesied here, yet they were left a nation. They were left an ethnic group of people and this is unparalleled in history. No other ethnic group has been able to maintain a national identity without a homeland, outside of the Jew. And yet they have maintained that national identity.

And then there you will serve the gods, the work of men’s hands, of wood and stone and so forth. And when you are in tribulation, and these things come upon you, even in the latter days, if thou shalt turn to the LORD, and thou shalt be obedient to his voice; (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers. For ask now of the days that are past ( Deu 4:28 , Deu 4:30-32 ),

Look back in your history books He is saying, and see.

Since God created man upon the earth, whether there has been any such thing as this great thing, or has been heard like it? Did ever the people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as you have heard, and still lived? Or has God ever taken a nation like he has taken you, from another nation, by the great signs and all, that he brought against the Egyptians and make you to hear his voice. And because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them ( Deu 4:28-37 ),

Now, He said he didn’t do this because of your greatness or because of your goodness but because of His love for your fathers.

To drive out the nations, and to give you a land. Know therefore this day, consider it in your heart, that the LORD he is the God of heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else ( Deu 4:38-39 ).

And so again the exhortation to keep the statutes and the commandments.

Now, they appointed the three cities of refuge that should be on the east bank of the Jordan River where those who were guilty of manslaughter could slay, could flee and be protected from the manslayer. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

On the ground of this survey Moser exhorted the people to be obedient, His appeal was based on the greatness of their God and the perfection of His law. Their whole existence as a nation centered around a spiritual ideal. Therefore, he reemphasized the importance of their attempting to make no likeness to God.

Looking on into the future, he uttered words which in the light of subsequent history are seen to have been prophetic. He actually foretold the story of the corruption of the people in the land and their ultimate exclusion from it. Nevertheless, he also declared that when they would turn to Him again with a full heart, He would still have mercy on them and restore them.

Finally, he urged them to make comparison of the facts of their national existence with all other history. Their God had spoken to them. Their God had acted for them. Therefore Moses urged them to how that He was God and to keep His commandments.

The end of the chapter briefly records, first, the appointment of three cities of refuge, and then constitutes the beginning of an introduction to the second discourse. This beginning carefully marks the place, time, and subject.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Take Heed to Thyself

Deu 3:23-29; Deu 4:1-14

Strong faith was required by the two and a half tribes to leave their wives and children while they went to succor their brethren. But Gods commands and assurances foreclosed all arguments. Whenever we are summoned to special service, we may consign the care of our personal interests to God. Seek first the kingdom, and all other things will be added.

Notice that Moses referred to the wondrous acts of the Exodus as only the beginning of Gods wondrous works, Deu 3:24. Probably in the countless ages of eternity we shall always feel that we are witnessing only the beginning of Gods self-revelation.

Moses, like Paul afterward, tried to reverse the divine decision. Compare Deu 3:23-25 and 2Co 12:8-9. Do not pray against Gods will, but with it, 1Jn 5:14. When God says No, there are always tender compensations, such as this Pisgah-vision.

Israels tenure of Canaan depended on obedience to Gods will, in statutes, including the ordinances of religion, and in judgments relating to civil matters.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Deu 4:9

In the business of life there are three parties concerned, three parties of whose existence it behoves us to be equally and intensely conscious. These three are God on the one hand, and our own individual souls on the other, and the one Mediator, Jesus Christ; who alone can join the two into one.

I. There is all the difference in the world between saying, Bear yourselves in mind, and saying, Bear in mind always the three, God and Christ and yourselves, whom Christ unites to God. For then there is no risk of selfishness, nor of idolatry, whether of ourselves or of anything else; we do but desire to keep alive and vigorous, not any false or evil life in us, but our true and most precious life, the life of God in and through His Son. But what we see happen very often is just the opposite to this. The life in ourselves, of which we are keenly conscious, never for an instant forgetting it, is but the life of our appetites and passions, and this life is quite distinct from God and from Christ. But while this life is very vigorous, our better life slumbers; we have our own desires, and they are evil, but we take our neighbour’s knowledge and faith and call them our own, and we live and believe according to our neighbour’s notions; so our nobler life shrinks up to nothing, and our sense of truth perishes from want of exercise.

II. In combining a keen sense of our own soul’s life with the sense of God and of Christ, there is no room for pride or presumption, but the very contrary. We hold our knowledge and our faith but as God’s gifts, and are sure of them only so far as His power, and wisdom, and goodness are our warrant. Our knowledge, in fact, is but faith; we have no grounds for knowing as of ourselves, but great grounds for believing that God’s appointed evidence is true, and that in believing it we are trusting Him.

T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 297.

References: Deu 4:12, Deu 4:13.-S. Leathes, Foundations of Morality, p. 26. Deu 4:20.-Parker, vol. v., p. 4.

Deu 4:21-22

We cannot consider this solemn, mysterious close of the great prophet’s life without feeling that there are lessons of instruction the most manifold which are presented by it.

Notice:-

I. A life may appear in some leading point of it to have been a failure, to have been defeated of that crowning success which in our short-sighted vision it had almost a right to claim, and may for all this have been a life most acceptable to God, and consummated with a death very precious in His sight. The lives of few men are rounded and complete; there is something wanting, something fragmentary, in almost all, and this quite as much in the lives of God’s saints as in the lives of other men. God writes His sentence of vanity upon all things here.

II. We see here an example of the strictness with which God will call even His own to account, and while His judgments are in all the world, will cause them to begin at His own house. Moses’ sin seems to us to have been a comparatively small one, a momentary outbreak of impatience or unbelief, and yet it entailed this penalty upon him, this baffling of the dearest hopes of his life.

III. We are wont to regard the death of Moses as something unlike the deaths of other men, and so in a sense it was. Yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every deathbed? “Je mourrai seul,” said the great Pascal, and the words are true of every man. We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves.

IV. Observe and admire the way in which God so often overrules the lives of the saints of the elder covenant that by them He may, in type and shadow, set forth to us the eternal verities of the Gospel. Think not of Moses that he can ever be more than a schoolmaster to Christ; that he can bring thee a foot further than to the borders of the land of thine inheritance. Another must lead thee in if ever that good land shall be thine. Jesus, our Joshua, our Saviour-He must do this.

R. C. Trench, Sermons Preached in Ireland, p. 238 (see also Sermons New and Old, p. 152).

References: Deu 4:21, Deu 4:22.-J. A. Sellar, Church Doctrine and Practice, p. 287. Deu 4:22.-Parker, vol. v., p. 5. Deu 4:29.-Old Testament Outlines, p. 43; Parker, Christian Chronicle, May 7th, 1885. Deu 4:29-31.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1283. Deu 4:36.-Parker, Fountain, March 8th, 1877.

Deu 4:39-40

Moses promised the Jews that if they trusted in God, they would be a strong, happy, and prosperous people. On the other hand, he warned them that if they forgot the Lord their God, poverty, misery, and ruin would surely fall upon them.

That this last was no empty threat is proved by the plain facts of the sacred history. For they did forget God, and worshipped Baalim, the sun, moon, and stars; and ruin of every kind did come upon them, till they were carried away captive to Babylon.

I. The thought that the God whom they worshipped was the one true God must have made His worship a very different, a much holier and deeper, matter to the Jews than the miserable, selfish thing which is miscalled religion by too many people nowadays, by which a man hopes to creep out of this world into heaven all by himself, without any real care or love for his fellow-creatures or those he leaves behind him.

An old Jew’s faith in God and obedience to God was part of his family life, part of his politics, part of his patriotism. The duty he owed to God was not merely a duty which he owed his own conscience or his own soul; it was a duty which he owed to his family, to his kindred, to his country. It was not merely an opinion that there was one God, and not two; it was a belief that the one and only true God was protecting him, teaching him, inspiring him and all his nation.

II. God’s purpose has come to pass. The little nation of the Jews, without seaport towns and commerce, without colonies or conquests, has taught the whole civilised world, has influenced all the good and all the wise unto this day so enormously, that the world has actually gone beyond them and become Christian by fully understanding their teaching and their Bible, while they have remained mere Jews by not understanding it. God’s revelation to the Jews was His boundless message, and not any narrow message of man’s invention.

C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 184.

References: Deu 4:32-40.-Parker, vol. iv., p. 118. Deu 4:39.-Ibid., p. 126; C. Kingsley, Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 222. Deu 4:40.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. viii., p. 220. Deu 4:41, Deu 4:42.-E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons, 2nd series, p. 305. Deut 4-Parker, vol. iv., pp. 97, 104. Deu 5:1-21.-J. Hamilton, Works, vol. v., p. 214. Deu 5:3.-Parker, vol. v., p. 5. Deu 5:6, Deu 5:7.-J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 19. Deu 5:8-10.-Ibid., p. 53. Deu 5:11.-Ibid., p. 71. Deu 5:12.-Ibid.: Old Testament Outlines, p. 45. Deu 5:12-15.-R. Lee, Sermons, pp. 399, 411, 421; J. Oswald Dykes, The Law of the Ten Words, p. 87; S. Leathes, Foundations of Morality, p. 128. Deu 5:13, Deu 5:14.-A. C. Tait, Lessons for School Life, p. 258.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

3. Hearken, O Israel!

CHAPTER 4

1. Obedience demanded (Deu 4:1-8)

2. The covenant to be observed (Deu 4:9-14)

3. Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget (Deu 4:15-24)

4. The warning (Deu 4:25-31)

5. Israel, the chosen nation (Deu 4:32-40)

Now therefore hearken, O Israel marks the beginning of the exhortation to keep the law of the Lord. First he had shown the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord and upon that Moses admonishes them to be true to Jehovah and to the covenant. The same order is followed in our great New Testament Epistles. What the Lord has done for us, His grace and faithfulness, always occupies the first place; this is followed by our responsibilities to walk worthy of the Lord. The first great discourse of Moses in its two main features, the retrospect of what Jehovah had done and Israels obligation to keep the law to enjoy the blessings of the covenant, is the key to the entire book.

They were to hearken and to do. Hearing and doing stand in the foreground of this section. The result of obedience is life and possession of the land. That ye may live does not mean the possession of eternal life, but a long earthly life in the promised land. See chapters 5:33; 6:2; 8:1; 11:21; 16:20; 25:15; 30:6, 16; 32:47. Nothing was to be added to the law and nothing to be taken from it. Alas! this warning has not been heeded. The elders with their traditions and commandments of men, added to the law and put the word of man above the Word of God, while later the Sadducees took away from the law and reduced the Word of God to the level of the word of man. The same is done today in ritualistic and rationalistic Christendom.

His voice had spoken to them; they had heard His words. They were privileged above all other nations. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes, and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Therefore, they had great responsibility. Three times Moses told them to take heed (verses 9, 15 and 23). He warned them to beware of idolatry. They were to serve only Jehovah for He had brought them forth out of the iron furnace, to be unto Him a people of inheritance. He had delivered them and made them His own people, therefore, they were to obey Him. Solemnly Moses said, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,1 that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. Moses in speaking these words had the first prophetic glimpse of their coming history of idolatry, followed by national ruin. This vision widens and he beheld them scattered among the nations.

Verses 30 and 31 refer not only to past history, but they are yet to find a fulfilment in the latter days. It is the first prophetic note we hear in Deuteronomy from the lips of Moses. More fully he speaks of it towards the end of his farewell message to the people he loved so well.

Especially beautiful are the closing verses of this section (verses 33-40). What a display of what Jehovah had done for them, how He had revealed Himself and His power in their behalf! Therefore, He was entitled to a wholehearted obedience from His people. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. And what greater works He has made unto us His people, that great salvation in His blessed Son, our Lord! He has the right to claim our full obedience. May we consider constantly, who He is and what He has done for us and we shall yield to Him the obedience He looks for in His people.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

unto the statutes: Statutes, every thing that concerned morals and the rites and ceremonies of religion; judgments, all matters of civil right and wrong. Deu 4:8, Deu 4:45, Deu 5:1, Deu 6:1, Deu 6:2, Deu 8:1, Deu 11:1, Deu 11:32, Lev 19:37, Lev 20:8, Lev 22:31, Psa 105:45, Psa 119:4, Eze 11:20, Eze 36:27, Eze 37:24, Mat 28:20, Luk 1:6, Joh 15:14

that ye may: Lev 18:5, Eze 20:11, Eze 20:21, Rom 10:5

Reciprocal: Exo 3:15 – The Lord Exo 12:50 – as the Lord Exo 18:20 – teach Exo 24:3 – all the judgments Exo 34:11 – Observe Exo 40:16 – according Lev 18:4 – General Lev 18:26 – keep Deu 2:29 – into the land Deu 4:5 – General Deu 4:40 – keep Deu 5:31 – General Deu 5:32 – ye shall not Deu 6:24 – he might Deu 7:1 – greater Deu 7:11 – General Deu 12:1 – the statutes Deu 16:20 – live Deu 26:16 – This day Deu 27:1 – Keep all Jos 3:9 – Hear the words Jos 22:5 – take Jdg 6:27 – and did Jdg 18:10 – God hath 1Ki 2:3 – statutes 1Ki 8:58 – his commandments 2Ki 9:1 – Ramothgilead 1Ch 28:8 – that ye may Neh 1:7 – the commandments Job 22:22 – receive Psa 147:19 – his statutes Eze 18:9 – walked Eze 20:19 – walk Mar 4:3 – Hearken Rom 2:13 – For not

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Parting Words

Deu 4:1-49

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

It is, perhaps, strange to some that we speak of the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy as “Parting words,” yet the whole Book of Deuteronomy centers in the final message which Moses gave to the Children of Israel. You remember in Deu 3:27 God had told Moses of his being permitted to ascend to the top of Pisgah and behold the promised land. The actual ascent is described in chapter 34, Deu 34:1.

Moses was 120 years of age. He had had many testings by the way, and yet in the last moments there is nothing spoken by way of complaint. He does, however, speak much of the way God had led the people.

Inasmuch as we are thinking of Moses in his mature, old age, we think it would be well for the student to sum up the life of this wonderful man in a few concise and comprehensive statements.

1. Moses, the man of faith. When God sought to enroll the names of His heroes, He made special mention of Moses. The record to which we refer is found in Heb 11:1-40. Of Moses it is written there: “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.”

This quotation gives us ample room to consider Moses as a man of faith. It was by faith that he lived, and it was in faith that he died. He never wavered in his trust and confidence in God.

He knew what God had promised He would fulfill. He had faith, however, not only concerning the things which were immediately his, or those things which concerned his people.

His faith had a far-flung vision. It reached on to the very hour of Christ’s glorious Return. It was there that Moses knew that God would be the hope of His people. It was then that he realized that God would fulfill every promise He had made. God make us men and women of faith, for apart from faith, it is impossible to please Him.

2. Moses, a man of decision. In Heb 11:1-40 we also read that when Moses came to years he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” He rather chose to “suffer affliction with the people of God.”

He was a man who met the issues of life with conviction and courage. Knowing that his path was ordered of God, he did not hesitate. He stepped out not knowing what lay before him, but knowing that God would undertake in his behalf.

May our young people be more than mollycoddles; may they not have a wishbone, in place of a backbone. We need men who have the power to say, “No.” We need women of the same class. He who hesitates between the right and the wrong, between the call of God and the call of the world, will find himself a failure. He who is unstable as water will never succeed.

3. Moses was a man of implicit obedience. In Exo 39:1-43 we read seven times this statement: “As the Lord commanded Moses,” so did he. No matter what it was God asked of him, he did as the Lord desired. Would to God that we had more believers who would obey the voice of their God.

I. GOD’S STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS (Deu 4:1-2)

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the Word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”

1. Nothing must be added to God’s Statutes and Commandments. This we read in our key text. In after years the Children of Israel were very prone to do this very thing. They were continually making additions to what the Lord had said. We read something of this in Mat 23:1-39.

In our day we are just as much in danger of this sin, as were they. Let us not make void the Word of God by our traditions. When God says a thing, let us stand by it; never deviate from it. Beware lest we add to His statements.

The church of today is divided, into many varied sects, more, perhaps, than for any other reason, because saints have been followers of men and of the doctrines of men instead of the plain, positive Word of God.

2. Nothing must be subtracted. We have no right to lessen the full scope of the Word of God, any more than we have a right to add to it. Against this addition and subtraction to and from the Bible, and particularly to and from the words of Prophetic Scripture, there is a tremendous warning at the close of the New Testament. We read, “If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this Book: and if any man shall take away from the Words of the Book of this Prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life.”

God means everything that He says, and we must not penknife anything which He has written. This was done by one of the Old Testament kings to his sorrow. We want no “shorter Bible.” We want a whole Bible; not the Bible plus, nor the Bible less. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and no words of any man may by any means be added unto God’s holy revelation.

II. THE CALL TO OBEDIENCE VINDICATED (Deu 4:3-4)

1. The bane of disobedience. In Deu 4:3 we read, “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” These men turned from God and followed after man. Disobedience always brings disaster.

2. The blessing of obedience. Deu 4:4 reads: “But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.” The bones of the disobedient were strewn through the wilderness, but the obedient, who did cleave unto the Lord, did live. Not only did they live, but they went in to possess the land. God gives His best in life and in possessions to those who faithfully follow Him and wholly obey Him.

That day Caleb and Joshua rejoiced because they had followed the Lord fully. When Peter said to Christ, “We have left all, and have followed Thee” the Lord spoke to them about thrones and about a hundredfold reward.

To whom does God give the Holy Spirit? It is even to those who obey Him. Who is it who knows the Lord and knows His will and way? It is those who follow on to know Him.

We asked a great soldier one day, the colonel of his regiment, “What is the chief asset of a soldier?” Immediately he said, “Obedience.” “To obey is better than sacrifice.”

III. THE STATUTES AND THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD (Deu 4:6-8)

1. The pathway to wisdom and understanding. Here is something about God’s Word, His Laws, His Statutes, and His Judgments which we need to consider. Deu 4:6 reads concerning God’s commands, “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations.”

God’s Laws and Statutes are altogether righteous. They are more than that. They are marvelously illuminating. Do we not remember how David said that he was wiser than all the ancients because he kept all God’s Statutes? Do ye not know that the entrance of His Word gives light? It also gives understanding to the simple. David said, also, “Through Thy precepts I get understanding.” Here is another statement, “Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies.”

Have you ever wondered how Moses, Joshua, Daniel, and others, have stood out in such marvelous colors of wisdom and understanding? It was because God’s Statutes were their meditation and their joy.

2. The pathway to greatness. In Deu 4:8 we read, “And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this Law?” Not only, therefore, are those who seek to know God’s Statutes and Words made wise, but they are also made great.

When Paul sought a young man to travel with him, he chose the youth, Timothy, because from childhood he had known the Holy Scriptures which made him wise unto salvation. If we would be great before God and men, we should let the Word of God dwell richly in us in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

IV. LEST WE FORGET (Deu 4:9-10)

1. We should diligently watch ourselves. Deu 4:9 says, “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently.” When God wrote through Paul to Timothy, he said these very words: “Take heed unto thyself.” Then he added, “And unto the doctrine.”

What use is a pure creed when it is environed with bad conduct? Some of us live so carelessly that no one will pay attention to what we say. In the Epistles God first of all sets forth the duty, the conduct, the life; afterward He sets forth the doctrine, the creed, the faith.

We have just been emphasizing somewhat the need of fidelity to the Statutes which the Lord commands. However, it is not the knowing of them, but the doing of them that must hold the first place. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

2. Faithful teaching to our children. We cannot pass by the last statement of Deu 4:10 : “That they may teach their children.” The generation to whom Moses was speaking would soon pass, and he knew it. Therefore, he gave abundant warnings that they should tell their children of all that God had written, had done, and had said. This is emphasized a little further over in chapter 6 where we read: “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

The only way that the faith is to be transmitted to succeeding generations is by its faithful proclamation in word and deed to each child of the present generation. Remember that the faith that was in Timothy was first in his grandmother and his mother.

V. THE GIVING OF THE LAW (Deu 4:11-13)

Moses now brings before his listeners the memory of the day when God gave the Ten Commandments. He said, “And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of Heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire.” It was then that God delivered unto them commands to perform. They were written upon two tables of stone, and they were ten in number.

The Book of Hebrews describes the giving of the Ten Commandments somewhat in the same way as given in our key verses. See Heb 12:18-21. It was a terrible sight, indeed. The people were afraid and even Moses did fear and quake. The reason for the blackness, the darkness, and the fire was because the Law of God is holy, just, and good, revealing unto man his own sinful heart and evil ways.

The Commandments, which we may rightly call the Law of God is a sword which slays. When the Law came sin revived, and we died. That is, we were brought under condemnation. We had not known sin except by the Law.

How thankful we should be that we are not under the Law for salvation, but under Grace. If we were under Law, we would be under judgment and condemnation.

However, what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His own Son to do. His own Son kept the Law. He was the spotless, sinless, impeccable Christ. He suffered, the Just, for the unjust. Our sins were upon Him. His life and righteousness were given to us. This is what we call Grace.

However, Grace is never a permit or a license to lewdness and licentiousness. “For the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” Thus, Grace not only fulfills the Law for us, but it made it possible for Christ to fulfill it in us.

VI. A DUAL RESPONSIBILITY (Deu 4:15; Deu 4:23)

The 15th verse says, “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you.” Deu 4:23 says once more, “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you.”

The warning in Deu 4:15 is concerning idol creations. In Deu 4:16 the word “similitude” is thus explained: “Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female. The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air.”

Moses knew a personal God who could not be symbolized or made like unto any graven image.

One of the greatest sins of the nations has been idol-worship.

In Rom 1:1-32 we read, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”

As we dictate these words we are reminded that in our land there is but little of image-making, but there is a great effort on the part of many to humanize God.

The second warning in Deu 4:23 is against forgetting the covenant which God made to them. Lord, let us not forget.

“O the love that sought us,

O the Blood that bought us,

O the Grace that brought us to the fold.”

VII. A JEALOUS GOD (Deu 4:24-26)

1. God wants His people to be wholly to Himself. The word “jealous” carries with it the thought of the Divine love of God for His people. God bought us back from sin, and He brought us into His own fellowship. For this cause He wants us to be wholly His.

God saved Israel out of Egypt in order that He might bring her unto Himself. God is never jealous in the sense that He is envious. He is jealous in the sense of a sacred, hallowed longing to possess the whole heart, the whole affections of His people.

If we share our love with the world, the flesh, and the devil, God will not be satisfied. We are not our own; we are bought with a price, therefore, we must glorify God with our bodies and spirits which are His.

2. God wants His people to live in righteousness. if we make unto ourselves graven images, we corrupt ourselves. We wander away from God. Our Lord wants us to be transformed into His own image. He wants us to become strong in righteousness. He wants us to put off “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”

3. God is angry with us when we wander from His side. This anger is not a quick, hasty flaring-up and cooling-down kind of anger. It is the anger of condemnation and of judgment. When we provoke Him to anger by our sins, He pours out upon us His holy wrath.

“What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?” We may neglect the use of the rod upon our child. God does not forget to use it upon us. Israel was scattered among the nations because Israel sinned. Oh, what sorrow and what anguish does she reap even now, because of her iniquity. Let us beware lest we also follow after the same example of unbelief.

AN ILLUSTRATION

“When Whittier was breathing his last in his little village home up in Massachusetts the nurse pulled down the blinds. It was in the early morning, and the rising sun was in the dying man’s eyes. But the last thing the great Quaker poet did was to wave his hand to have the curtain lifted. He wanted to depart in the full splendor of the morning and in the warm glory of its pure white beams. And is not this a parable of human nature everywhere? The cry of the dying is the cry of Balaam. ‘Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.’

‘The last words of great men have always been prized and cherished. How beautiful Cookman’s note of triumph: ‘I am sweeping through the gates.’ The poet Schiller looks up and says, ‘Many things are growing plain to me now.’ Goethe cries, ‘More Light!’ ‘The best of all is God is with us,’ was the quiet remark of John Wesley. Webster exclaims, ‘I still live.’ Beethoven whispers, ‘I shall hear in Heaven.’ Jacob Behmen lisps, ‘Open the door and let in some of that music.’ He was hearing the Heavenly choir already. The last words of Christmas Evans were, ‘Drive on!’ He was finishing his earthly race and was in a hurry for the chariot to take him home to God. A dear friend said not more than ten minutes before he closed his eyes forever, ‘My trunk is all packed and I am just waiting for the expressman.’ Among the closing words of Sir Walter Scott are these magnificently noble ones: ‘I have been perhaps the most voluminous author of my day, and it is a comfort now to me to think that I have never tried to unsettle any man’s faith; and that I have written nothing which on my deathbed I would want blotted out.'”

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

REVIEW OF THE LAWS

THE LESSONS OF SINAI (Deuteronomy 4)

What makes a nation wise and understanding (Deu 4:6)? What makes a nation great (Deu 4:7-8)? What obligation does one generation owe the next (Deu 4:9)? Of all the divine commandments, which are the most important (Deu 4:10-13)? Of these ten, which one is particularly emphasized (Deu 4:15-28)? How is Gods merciful character illustrated in one connection with these commandments (Deu 4:29-31)? What expression in verse 31 gives a peculiar interest to this promise just now? On what divine action does the hope of Israel rest (Deu 4:31, last clause)?

THE MOSAIC COVENANT (Deuteronomy 5-6)

By all Israel (Deu 5:1) may be meant a general assembly of the people, or possibly only the elders, as their representatives. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us (Deu 5:3) means not with our fathers only, but also with us, their successors. The Lord talketh with you face to face (Deu 5:4) means not in a corporeal or visible form, but in a free and familiar manner.

What comment is added to the fourth commandment in this review (Deu 5:15) ? What expression of mingled desire and disappointment is attributed to God in connection with the original giving of the law (Deu 5:29)? What is the sum of the commandments (Deu 6:4-5)? How do these words testify specifically to the divine nature? How do Deu 6:6-9 amplify the thought in Deu 4:9 previously referred to? As suggested by the verses following, how were the people to keep their religion in mind through the avenue of their eye? What provision was made for its inculcation in the young?

JEWISH PHYLACTERIES

With regard to Jewish phylacteries, Moses probably used the phraseology in Deu 6:7 in a figurative way, to signify earnest and frequent instruction; and perhaps the eighth verse is to be taken in the same sense also. But as the Israelites interpreted it literally, many suppose that a reference was made to a superstitious custom of the Egyptians, who wore jewels and trinkets on the forehead and arm, inscribed with words and sentences, as amulets to protect them from danger.

These, it has been conjectured, Moses intended to supersede by substituting sentences of the law; and so the Hebrews understood him, for they have always considered the wearing of the tephilim or frontlets a permanent obligation.

The form was as follows: Four pieces of parchment, inscribed the first with Exo 13:2-10, the second with Exo 13:11-16, the third with Deu 6:1-8, and the fourth with Deu 11:18-21 were enclosed in a square case or box of tough skin, on the side of which was placed the Hebrew letter shin, and bound round the forehead with a thong or ribbon. When designed for the arms, these four texts were written on one slip of parchment, which, as well as the ink, was carefully prepared for the purpose.

With regard to the other usage supposed to be alluded to, the Egyptians had the lintels and imposts of their door and gates inscribed with sentences indicative of a favorable omen, which is still the case; the front doors of houses in Cairo, for instance are painted red, white and green, bearing inscribed upon them sentences from the Koran, the Mohammedan bible.

Moses designed to turn this custom to a better account, and ordered that, instead of the former superstitious inscriptions, should be written the words of God.

QUESTIONS

1. What three allusions are explained under the Mosaic Covenant?

2. What is the history of the Jewish phylacteries?

3. Describe the phylacteries.

4. What was the Mosaic design in their use?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Deu 4:1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel Having called to their remembrance the extraordinary dispensations of Divine Providence toward them, both in the way of mercy and judgment, he now calls upon their whole assembly, in the most serious and earnest manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct, answerable to the design of such mercies and judgments; namely, to render them punctually obedient to the laws of God, and cautions of offending him; this being the very intent for which they were conducted to the promised land, and the absolute condition of their peaceful and happy enjoyment of it. We may observe Moses here to speak with all possible energy of language. The greatness of the subject he is upon inspires him with more than usual warmth, and he cannot take a view of the extraordinary privilege and happiness bestowed upon his people, in having divine statutes and judgments to direct them, without rapture and admiration. He sees the happiness of their condition therein, and bestows all his zeal and spirit to make them sensible of it. He regards nothing but this only, as knowing this would be every thing to them, to make them great and happy. The statutes The laws which concerned the worship and service of God. The judgments The laws concerning their duty to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Deu 4:2. Ye shall not add unto the word. This would be to debase revelation, and treat the divine law as a defective production of man, that needed additions and retrenchments. Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, obtained an oath from the principal officers of the senate to observe his laws inviolate for ten years, till he should return from his travels. Besides, the tabernacle being a type of heaven, would utterly be gaited and marred by the fanciful rituals devised by men. Yet many things were added, as the feast of purim, in Esther, and additional altars when Solomon dedicated the temple.

Deu 4:7. What nationhath God so nigh? Moses here reaches the true sublime of instruction. Will the Lord indeed dwell with man, in all the promised glory and grace of his covenant? The gentile mythology can bear no comparison with the glory of the Hebrew ritual.

Deu 4:15. Ye saw nosimilitude. It is not a statue, nor even the glory of the heavens, that can adequately represent the Theotes or Divinity. Yet the fine paintings of scripture histories hung up in churches, did very much contribute to instruct the ignorant, and impress the heart.

Deu 4:19. Lest when thou seest the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is the Sabian worship, strongly abhorred by Job, in Job 31:26; a worship which overspread the world, and still subsists in the east. The sun is called the king of heaven, or Baal, the lord or ruler of the day. The moon (Juno, or the queen of heaven, Jer 7:18) is called Baala, or lady, ruling the night; which Baala is called by Abedenus, . In Philo, we find the word Baaltis. The Jews worship the moon with baking cakes, and by consequence with fire.

General Vallancey has written on the antiquities of the Irish language; and supposes Ireland to be the ancient Thule, and to have derived their worship from the Carthaginians, whose presiding deity was Baal. He supports his theory by the fires which they used to kindle, mi Baal tienne, in Baals month; that is, on the first of May. On that day, the children scatter fire in the fields, and cry, Baal tienne fires. See on Job 1:5.

Herodotus gives us, book 7., an example how Xerxes worshipped the rising sun, before he set out on his most unfortunate expedition against the Greeks. Awaiting the rising of the sun, they poured on the bridge all kinds of sweet odours, and scattered on all the road, branches of myrtle. Immediately when it was day, Xerxes with a golden phial poured a libation into the sea, and prayed the sun to turn away whatever might obstruct his subjugation of all Europe. In this disastrous expedition, the stars did not hear him.

REFLECTIONS.

Moses, now commencing the improvements of the preseding history, stands, so to speak, on the high mountains of vast age, and looks back on the wilderness of life, with all the advantages of wisdom and experience. Hence all his words are weighty, all his conclusions just, and all his injunctions worthy of the spirit which inspired the venerable ruler. The leading fact he adduces to enforce future obedience is, that all the daring men who had followed Baal were destroyed; but that all those who had stedfastly adhered to the covenant of God were alive to that day. Surely here is a particular providence; surely from the beginning God had realized the blessings and curses of the covenant. What a school is the theocracy of Israel for the christian church; what a school of terror for the infidel age.

From the presence and glory of God resident in Israel; from the purity of his precepts, and the glory of the ceremonial service, he infers the duties of gratitude and fidelity. And how much more forcible is this inference, when applied to the christian church. For God who spake to the fathers from the cloud, and by the prophets, hath in these last days familiarly spoken to us face to face, the Son being veiled in human flesh. He has made us his sons and daughters, and called us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Let us charge ourselves and our children to devote our whole heart and life a grateful sacrifice, entirely to his glory.

The grand object of the strong and impressive language in this chapter is, a firm caution against idolatry; a caution it was needful often to repeat; for the idolatrous priests, daily availing themselves of the errors of superstition, and rendering the devotion of their altars almost enchanting to the carnal crowd, a firm barrier was requisite to stem the torrent. And oh that the christian world were properly apprized of the snares which the enemy, in this view, lays for their feet. Oh that they knew that by idolizing giddy pleasures, by indulging voluptuous habits, or devoting themselves to sordid gain, they leave the Lord and do homage to Satan. All these, he says, will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. All inordinate attachments to the riches and pleasures of the age are as fatal to the soul as the worship of Baal.

From the divine fervour with which Moses addressed the Israelites; from the vast variety of arguments and motives here urged; and in particular, from his calling heaven and earth to witness the vengeance which should follow, if either they or their children departed from the covenant of the Lord, when they stood before Sinai;in him, christian ministers have a model of the wisdom and unction which should distinguish their sermons. What, have we frequently one or two thousand people listening to our voice? Have they every one an immortal soul? Have all these people neighbours, children, and connections at home? And are they all in danger of idols? Are we all in danger of losing the gospel candlestick by apostasy from the essentials of christianity, and the spirit of our religion? What an eloquence should inspire our hearts; what language should distinguish our addresses; what tears should water our words, divinely to impress the people with the importance of what we urge! But seeing like Moses we are about to die, the old and worthy saints are about to follow, and a worse generation may ensue, let us make our final appeal to God. Let us take heaven and earth to record; they shall survive; they shall tell our sermons to a future age, and attest that apostates from the christian faith shall be afflicted with greater calamities than those which have repeatedly fallen on the apostate Hebrews. It is enoughlet all men fear. God hath said, I will avenge the quarrel of any covenant.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Deuteronomy 4

Now therefore hearken O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.”

Here we have, very prominently before us, the special characteristic of the entire book of Deuteronomy. “Hearken,” and “do;” that ye may “live” and “possess.” This is a universal and abiding principle. It was true for Israel, and it is true for us. The pathway of life and the true secret of possession is simple obedience to the holy commandments of God. We see this all through the inspired volume, from cover to cover. God has given us His word, not to speculate upon it, or discuss it; but that we may obey it. And it is as we, through grace, yield a hearty and happy obedience to our Father’s statutes and judgements, that we tread the bright pathway of life, and enter into the reality of all that God has treasured up for us in Christ. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

How Precious is this! Indeed it is unspeakable. It is something quite peculiar. It would be a very serious mistake to suppose that the privilege here spoken of is enjoyed by all believers. It is not. It is only enjoyed by such as; yield a loving obedience to the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. It lies within the reach of all, but all do not enjoy it, because all are not obedient. It is one thing to be a child, and quite another to be an obedient child. It is one thing to be saved, and quite another thing to love the Saviour, and delight in all His most precious precepts.

We may see this continually illustrated in our family circles. There, for example, are two sons, and one of them only thinks of pleasing himself, doing his will, gratifying his own desires. He takes no pleasure in his father’s society; does not take any pains to carry out his father’s wishes; knows hardly anything of his mind, and what he does know he utterly neglects or despises. He is ready enough to avail himself of all the benefits which accrue to him from the relationship in which he stands to his father; ready enough to accept clothes, books, money – all, in short, that the father gives; but he never seeks to gratify the father’s heart by a loving attention to his will, even in the smallest matters. The other son is the direct opposite to all this. He delights in being with his father; he loves his society, loves his ways, loves his words; he is constantly taking occasion to carry out his father’s wishes, to get him something that he knows will be agreeable to him. He loves his father, not for his gifts, but for himself; and he finds his richest enjoyment in being in his father’s company, and in doing his will.

Now, can we have any difficulty in seeing how very differently the father will feel towards those two sons? True, they are both his sons, and he loves them both, with a love grounded upon the relationship in which they stand to him. But, beside the love of relationship common to both, there is the love of complacency peculiar to the obedient child. It is impossible that a father can find pleasure in the society of a wilful, self-indulgent, careless son: such a son may occupy much of his thoughts; he may spend many a sleepless night thinking about him, and praying for him; he would gladly spend and be spent for him: but he is not agreeable to him; does not possess his confidence; cannot be the depository of his thoughts.

All this demands the serious consideration of those who really desire to be acceptable or agreeable to the heart of our heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We may rest assured of this, that obedience is grateful to God; and ” His commandments are not grievous;” nay, they are the sweet and precious expression of His love, and the fruit and evidence of the relationship, in which He stands to us. And not only so, but He graciously rewards our obedience by a fuller manifestation of Himself to our souls, and His dwelling with us. This comes out, with great fullness and beauty, in our Lord’s reply to Judas not Iscariot, for whose question we may be thankful, “Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14.)

Here we are taught that it is not a question of the difference between “the world” and “us,” inasmuch as the world knows nothing either of relationship or obedience, and is therefore, in no way, contemplated in our Lord’s words. The world hates Christ, because it does not know Him. Its language is, “Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” “We will not have this man to reign over us.”

Such is the world, even when polished by civilization, and gilded with the profession of Christianity. There is, underneath all the gilding, all the polish, a deep-seated hatred of the Person and authority of Christ. His sacred, peerless Name is tacked on to the world’s religion, at least throughout baptised Christendom; but behind the drapery of religious profession, there lurks a heart at enmity with God and His Christ.

But our Lord is not speaking of the world in John 14. He is shut in with “his own,” and it is of them He is speaking Were He to manifest Himself to the world, it could only be for judgement and eternal destruction. But, blessed be His Name, He does manifest Himself to His own obedient children, to those who have His commandments, and keep them, to those who love Him and keep His words.

And, let the reader thoroughly understand that when our Lord speaks of His commandments, His words, and His sayings, He does not mean the ten commandments, or law of Moses. No doubt, those ten commandments form a part of the whole canon of scripture, the inspired word of God; but, to confound the law of Moses with the commandments of Christ, would be simply turning things upside down; it would be to confound Judaism with Christianity, law and grace. The two things are as distinct as any two things can be; and must be so maintained by all who would be found in the current of the mind of God.

We are sometimes led astray by the mere sound of words; and hence, when we meet with the word “commandments,” we instantly conclude that it must needs refer to the law of Moses. But this is a very great and mischievous mistake. If the reader is not clear and established as to this, let him close this volume, and turn to the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, and the whole of the Epistle to the Galatians, and read them calmly and prayerfully, as in the very presence of God, with a mind freed from all theological bias and the influence of all previous religious training There he will learn, in the fullest and clearest manner, that the Christian is not under law in any way, or for any object whatsoever, either for life, for righteousness, for holiness, for walk, or for anything else. In short, the teaching of the entire New Testament goes to establish, beyond all question, that the Christian is not under law, not of the world, not in the flesh, not in his sins. The solid ground of all this is the accomplished redemption which we have in Christ Jesus, in virtue of which we are sealed by the Holy Ghost, and thus indissolubly united to, and inseparably identified with a risen and glorified Christ; so that the apostle John can say of all believers, all God’s dear children, “As he [Christ] is so are we in this world” This settles the whole question, for all who are content to be governed by holy scripture. And as to all beside, discussion is worse than useless.

We have digressed from our immediate subject, in order to meet any difficulty arising from a misunderstanding of the word “commandments.” The reader cannot too carefully guard against the tendency to confound the commandments spoken of in John 14 with the commandments of Moses, given in Exodus 20. And yet we reverently believe that Exodus 20 is as truly inspired as John 14. And now, ere we finally turn from the subject which has been engaging us, we would ask the reader to refer, for a few moments, to a piece of inspired history which illustrates, in a very striking way, the difference between an obedient and disobedient child of God. He will find it in Genesis 18, 19. It is a profoundly interesting study, presenting a contrast instructive, suggestive and practical, beyond expression. We are not going to dwell upon it, having, in some measure, done so, in our “Notes on the Book of Genesis:” but we would merely remind the reader that he has before him, in these two chapters, the history of two saints of God. Lot was just as much a child of God as Abraham. We have no more doubt that Lot is amongst “the spirits of just men made perfect,” than that Abraham is there. This, we think, cannot be called in question, inasmuch as the inspired apostle Peter tells us that Lot’s “righteous soul was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”

But mark the grave difference between the two men! The Lord Himself visited Abraham, sat with him, and partook, readily, of his hospitality. This was a high honour indeed, a rare privilege – a privilege which Lot never knew, an honour to which he never attained. The Lord never visited him in Sodom. He merely sent His angels, His ministers of power, the agents of His government. And even they, at first, sternly refused to enter Lot’s house or to partake of his proffered hospitality. Their withering reply was, “Nay, but we will abide in the street all night.” And, when they did enter his house, it was only to protect him from the lawless violence with which he was surrounded, and to drag him out of the wretched circumstances into which, for worldly gain and position, he had plunged himself. Could contrast be more vivid?

But, further, The Lord delighted in Abraham, manifested Himself to him; opened His mind to him; told him of his plans and purposes; what He was about to do with Sodom. “Shall I,” said He, “hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”

We could hardly have a more telling illustration of John 14: 21, 23, although the scene occurred two thousand years before the words were uttered. Have we ought like this in the history of Lot? Alas! no. It could not be. He had no nearness to God, no knowledge of His mind, no insight into His plans and Purposes. How could he? Sunk, as he was in the low moral depths of Sodom, how could he know the mind of God? Blinded by the murky atmosphere which enwrapped the guilty cities of the plain, how could he see into the future? Utterly impossible. If a man is mixed up with the world, he can only see things from the world’s standpoint; he can only measure things by the world’s standard, and think of them with the world’s thoughts. Hence it is that the church, in its Sardis condition, is threatened with the coming of the Lord as a thief, instead of being cheered with the hope of His coming as the bright and morning star. If the professing church has sunk to the world’s level – as alas! she has – she can only contemplate the future from the world’s point of view. This accounts for the feeling of dread with which the great majority of professing Christians look at the subject of the Lord’s coming. They are looking for Him, as a thief, instead of the blessed Bridegroom of their hearts. How few there are, comparatively, who love His appearing. The great majority of professors – we grieve to have to pen the words – find their type in Lot rather than in Abraham. The church has departed from her proper ground; she has gone down from her true moral elevation, and mingled herself with that world which hates and despises her absent Lord.

Still, thank God, there are “a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments” – a few living stones, amid the smouldering ashes of lifeless profession – a few lights twinkling amid the moral gloom of cold, nominal, heartless, worldly Christianity. And not only so, but in the Laodicean phase of the church’s history, which presents a still lower and more hopeless condition of things, when the whole professing body is about to be spued out of the mouth of “the faithful and true witness” – even at this advanced stage of failure and departure, those gracious words fall, with soul-stirring power, on the attentive ear, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with him.”* Thus, in the days of professing Christianity, as in the days of the Patriarchs, in the times of the New Testament, as in those of the Old, we see the same value and importance attached to a hearing ear and an obedient heart. Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, the pilgrim and the stranger, the faithful and obedient child of God, tasted the rare privilege of entertaining the Lord of glory – a privilege which could not be known by one who had chosen his place and his portion in a sphere doomed to destruction. So also, in the days of Laodicean indifference and boastful pretension, the truly obedient heart is cheered with the sweet promise of sitting down to sup with Him who is “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” In a word, let the condition of things be what it may, there is no limit to the blessing of the individual soul who will only hearken to the voice of Christ, and keep His commandments.

{*To apply the solemn address of Christ to the church of Laodicea, as we sometimes find it done in modern evangelical preaching, to the case of the sinner, is a great mistake. No doubt, what the preacher means is right enough; but it is not presented here. It is not Christ knocking at the door of a sinner’s heart, but knocking at the door of the professing church. What a fact is this! How full of deep and, awful solemnity, as regards the church! What an end to come to! Christ outside! But what grace, as regards Christ, for He is knocking! He wants to come in! He is still lingering, in patient grace and changeless love, ready to come in to any faithful individual heart that will only open to Him. “If any man” – even one! In Sardis He could speak positively of “a few” in Laodicea He can only speak doubtfully as to finding one. But Should there be even one, He will come into him, and sup with him. Precious Saviour! Faithful Lover of our souls! “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever.

Reader, need we wonder that the enemy should seek to mutilate and misapply the solemn and searching address to the church of Laodicea – the professing body in the last dreary stage of its history? We have no hesitation in saying that to apply it MERELY to the case of an unconverted soul is to deprive the professing church of one of the most pertinent, pungent and powerful appeals within the covers of the New Testament.}

Let us remember this. Let it sink down into the very deepest depths of our moral being. Nothing can rob us of the blessings and privileges flowing from obedience. The truth of this shines out before our eyes, in every section and on every page of the volume of God. At all times, in all places, and under all circumstances, the obedient soul was happy in God, and God was happy in him. It always holds good, whatever be the character of the dispensation, that, “To this man will I look, even to him who is of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.” Nothing can ever alter or touch this. It meets us in the fourth chapter of our blessed Book of Deuteronomy, in the words with which this section opens, “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgements which I teach you, for to do, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you” It meets us in those precious words of our Lord, in John 14., on which we have been dwelling: “He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me,” &c. And again, “If a man love me, he will keep my sayings.”* It shines with peculiar brightness, in the words of the inspired apostle John, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.” (1 John 3: 21-24.)

{*There is an interesting difference between the Lord’s “commandments” and “sayings.” The former set forth, distinctly and definitely, what we ought to do; the latter are the expression of His mind. If I give my child a command, it is the statement of his duty; and if he loves me, he will delight to do it. But if he has heard me say I like to see such a, thing done, although I have not actually told him to do it, it will touch my heart much more deeply to see him go and do that thing, in order to gratify me, than if I had given him a positive command. Now, ought we not to try and please the heart of Christ? Should we not “labour to be agreeable to him?” He has made us accepted; surely we ought to seek, in every possible way, to be acceptable to Him. He delights in a loving obedience; it was what He Himself rendered to the Father. “I delight to do thy will; yes, thy law is within my heart.” “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” Oh! that we may drink more deeply into the spirit of Jesus, walk in His blessed footsteps, and render him a more loving, devoted and whole-hearted obedience, in all things. Let us earnestly seek after these things, beloved Christian reader, that His heart may be gratified, and His Name glorified in us, and in our entire practical career from day to day.}

Passages might easily be multiplied, but there is no need. Those which we have quoted set before us, in the clearest and fullest way possible, the very highest motive for obedience, namely, its being agreeable to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ – well pleasing to God. True, we owe a hearty obedience on every ground. “We are not our own; we are bought with a price.” We owe our life, our peace, our righteousness, our salvation, our everlasting felicity and glory, all to Him; so that nothing can exceed the moral weight of His claims upon us for a life of whole-hearted obedience. But, above and beyond His moral claims stands the marvellous fact that His heart is gratified, His spirit refreshed by our keeping His commandments, and doing those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Beloved Christian reader, can anything exceed the moral power of such a motive as this? Only think of our being privileged to give pleasure to the heart of our beloved Lord! What sweetness, what interest, what preciousness, what holy dignity it imparts to every little act of obedience, to know that it is grateful to the heart of our Father! How far beyond the legal system is this! It is a most perfect contrast, in its every phase and every feature. The difference between the legal system and Christianity is the difference between death and life, bondage and liberty, condemnation and righteousness, distance and nearness, doubt and certainty. How monstrous the attempt to amalgamate these two things – to work them up into one system, as though they were but two branches from the one stem! What hopeless confusion must be the result of any such effort! How terrible the effect of seeking to place souls under the influence of the two things! As well might we attempt to combine the sun’s meridian beams with the profound darkness of midnight. Looked at from a divine and heavenly standpoint, judged in the light of the New Testament, measured by the standard of the heart of God, the mind of Christ, there could not be a more hideous anomaly than that which presents itself to our view in Christendom’s effort to combine law and grace. And as to the dishonour done to God; the wound inflicted on the heart of Christ, the grief and despite offered to the Holy Ghost, the damage done to the truth of God, the grievous wrong perpetrated upon the beloved lambs and sheep of the flock of Christ, the terrible stumbling-block thrown in the way of both Jew and Gentile, and, in short, the serious injury done to the entire testimony of God, during the last eighteen centuries, the judgement-seat of Christ can alone declare it; and oh! what an awful declaration that will be! It is too tremendous to contemplate.

But there are many pious souls, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church, who conscientiously believe that the only possible way to produce obedience, to attain to practical holiness, to secure a godly walk, to keep our evil nature in order, is to put people under the law. They seem to fear that if souls are taken from under the schoolmaster, with his rod and rudiments, there is an end to all moral order. In the absence of the authority of law, they look for nothing but hopeless confusion. To take away the ten commandments, as a rule of life, is, in their judgement, to remove those grand moral embankments which the hand of God has erected to stem the tide of human lawlessness.

We can fully understand their difficulty. Most of us have had to encounter it, in one shape or another. But we must seek to meet it in God’s way. It is of no possible use to cling, with fond tenacity, to our own notions, in the face of the plainest and most direct teaching of holy scripture. We must, sooner or later, give up all such notions. Nothing will-nothing can stand but the word of our God – the voice of the Holy Ghost the authority of scripture – the imperishable teachings of that peerless Revelation which our Father has, in His infinite grace, put into our hands. To that we must listen, with profound and reverent attention; to it we must bow down, with unquestioning and unqualified obedience. We must not presume to hold a single opinion of our own. God’s opinion must be ours. We must clear out all the rubbish which, by the influence of mere human teaching, has accumulated in our minds, and have every chamber thoroughly cleansed by the action of the word and Spirit of God, and thoroughly ventilated by the pure and bracing air of the new creation.

Furthermore, we must learn to confide implicitly in every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. We must not reason; we must not judge; we must not discuss; we must simply believe. If man speaks, if it be a mere question of human authority, then indeed we must judge, because man has no right to command. We must judge what he says, not by our own opinions, or by any human standard, creed, or confession of faith, but by the word of God. But when scripture speaks, all discussion is closed.

This is an unspeakable consolation. It is not within the compass of human language to set forth, adequately, the value or the moral importance of this great fact. It delivers the soul completely from the blinding power of self-will on the one hand, and of mere subjection to human authority, on the other. It brings us into direct, personal, living contact with the authority of God, and this is life, peace, liberty, moral power, true elevation, divine certainty, and holy stability. It puts an end to doubts and fears, to all the fluctuations of mere human opinion so perplexing to the mind, so torturing to the heart. We are no longer tossed about with every wind of doctrine, every wave of human thought. God has spoken. This is quite enough. Here the heart finds its deep and settled repose. It has made its escape from the stormy ocean of theological controversy, and cast anchor in the blessed haven of divine revelation.

Hence, therefore, we would say to the pious reader of these lines, if you would know the mind of God on the subject before us – if you would know the ground, character and object of Christian obedience, you must simply listen to the voice of holy scripture.. And what does it say? Does it send as back to Moses to teach us how to live? Does it send us back “to the palpable mount in order to secure holy living Does it put us under the law to keep the flesh in order? Hear what it says. Yes; hearken and ponder. Take the following words from Romans 6 – words of emancipating, holy power. “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace.”

Now, we most earnestly entreat the reader to let these words enter into the very depths of his soul. The Holy Ghost declares, in the simplest and most emphatic manner, that Christians are not under law. If we were under lam, sin would have dominion over us. Indeed we invariably find, in scripture, that “sin,” “law,” and “flesh” are linked together. A soul under law cannot possibly enjoy full deliverance from the dominion of sin; and in this we can see, at a glance, the fallacy of the whole legal system; and the utter delusion of seeking to produce holy living by putting souls under the law. It is simply putting them into the very place where sin can lord it over them, and rule them with absolute sway. How is it possible, then, to produce holiness by law? It is absolutely hopeless.

But let us turn, for a moment to Romans 7 “wherefore, my brethren, ye also” – and all true believers, all God’s people – “are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” Now it is Perfectly plain that we cannot be “dead to the Law” and “under the law” at the same time. It may, perhaps, be argued that the expression, “dead to the law is merely a figure. Well, supposing it be so, we ask, “A figure of what?” Surely it cannot be a figure of persons under the law. Nay, it is a figure of the very opposite.

And let us mark particularly, the apostle does not say, the law is dead. Nothing of the kind. The law is not dead, but we are dead to it. We have passed, by the death of Christ, out of the sphere to which the law belongs. Christ took our place; He was made under the law; and, on the cross, He was made sin for us. But He died for us, and we died in Him; and He has thus taken us clean out of the position in which we were under the dominion of sin, and under law, and introduced us into an entirely new position, in living association and union with Himself, so that it can be said, “As he is, so are we, in this world.” Is He under law? Assuredly not. Well, neither are we. Has sin any claim upon Him? None whatever. Neither has it any upon us. We are, as to our standing, as He is in the presence of God; and therefore to put us back under law would be a complete overturning of the entire Christian position, and a most positive and flagrant contradiction of the very plainest statements of holy scripture.

Now, we would, in all simplicity and godly sincerity ask, how could holy living be promoted by removing the very foundation of Christianity How could indwelling sin be subdued by putting us under the very system that gave sin power over us? How could true Christian obedience ever be produced by flying in the face of holy scripture? We confess we cannot conceive anything more thoroughly preposterous. Surely a divine end can only be gained by pursuing a divine way. Now God’s way of giving us deliverance from the dominion of sin is by delivering us from under law; and hence all those who teach that Christians are under law are plainly at issue with God. Tremendous consideration for all who desire to be teachers of the law!

But let us hear further words from Romans 7. The apostle goes on to say, “For when we were in the Flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members, to bring forth unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, being dead [or having died] to that wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”*

{*The rendering of Romans 7.6 in our Authorised Version is manifestly erroneous, inasmuch as it teaches that the law is dead, which is not true. “The law is good, if a man use it lawfully.” (1 Tim. 1.) And again, “The law is holy.” (Rom. 7) Scripture never teaches that the law is dead, but it teaches that the believer is dead to the law – a totally different thing. But, further, [apothanontes] cannot possibly apply to the law, as any well-taught school boy can see at a glance; it applies to us – believers. Were it the law, the word would be [apothanontos]}

Here, again, all is as clear as a sunbeam. What means the expression, “When we were in the flesh?” Does it, can it mean that we are still in that condition? Clearly not. If I were to say, “When I was in London,” would any one understand that I am in London still! The thought is absurd.

But what does the apostle mean by the expression, “When we were in the flesh?” He simply refers to a thing of the past – to a condition that no longer obtains. Are believers, then, not in the flesh? So scripture emphatically declares. But does this mean that they are not in the body? Assuredly not. They are in the body, as to the fact of their existence; but not in the flesh, as to the ground of their standing before God.

In Romans 8 we have the most distinct statement of this point. “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Here we have the statement of a most solemn fact; and the setting forth of a most precious, glorious privilege. “They that are in the flesh cannot please God.” They may be very moral, very admirable, very religious, very benevolent; but they cannot please God. Their entire position is false. The source whence all the streams flow is corrupt; the root and stem whence all the branches emanate are rotten – hopelessly bad. They cannot produce a single atom of good fruit – fruit that God can accept. “They cannot please God.” They must get into an entirely new position; they must have a new life, new motives, new objects; in a word, they must be a new creation. How solemn is all this! Let us weigh it thoroughly, and see if we understand the apostle’s words.

But, on the other hand, mark the glorious privilege of all true believers. “Ye are not in the flesh.” Believers are no longer in a position in which they cannot please God. They have a new nature, a new life, every movement, every outflow of which is agreeable to God. The very feeblest breathing of the divine life is precious to God. Of this life, the Holy Ghost is the power, Christ the object, glory the goal, heaven the home. All is divine, and therefore perfect. True, the believer is liable to err, prone in himself to wander, capable of sinning. In him, that is in his flesh, dwelleth no good thing. But his standing is based on the eternal stability of the grace of God, and his state is met by the divine provision which that grace has made for him, in the precious atonement and all-prevailing advocacy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus he is for ever delivered from that terrible system in which the prominent figures are, “Flesh” – “Law” – “Sin” – “Death” – melancholy group! most surely. And he is brought into that glorious scene in which the prominent figures are, “Life” – “Liberty” – ”Grace” – “Peace” – “Righteousness” – “Holiness” – “Glory” – “Christ.” “For ye are not come to the mount that might be touched” – that is the palpable mount – “and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. (For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart. And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, the general assembly, the church of the firstborn [ones] which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than Abel.” (Heb. 12.)

Thus we have endeavoured to meet the difficulty of any conscientious reader who, up to the moment in which he opened this volume, had cherished the conviction that it is only by putting believers under the law that practical holiness and true obedience can be attained. We trust he has followed us through the line of scripture evidence which we have laid before him. If so, he will see that to place believers in such a position is to do away with the very foundations of Christianity – to abandon grace – to give up Christ – to go back to the flesh, in which we cannot please God, and to place ourselves under the curse. In short, the legal system of men is diametrically opposed to the teaching of the entire New Testament. It was against this system and its upholders that the blessed apostle Paul, during his whole life, ever testified. He absolutely abhorred it, and continually denounced it. The law teachers were ever seeking to sap and undermine his blessed labours, and subvert the souls of his beloved children in the faith. It is impossible to read his burning sentences in the epistle to the Galatians, his withering references, in his epistle to the Philippians, or his solemn warnings in the epistle to the Hebrews, and not see how intense was His abhorrence of the whole legal system of the law-teachers, and how bitterly he wept over the ruins of the testimony so dear to his large, loving, devoted heart.

But it is possible that, after all we have written, and notwithstanding the full tide of scripture evidence to which we have called the readers attention, he may still feel disposed to ask, “Is there not a danger of unholy laxity and levity if the restraining power of the law be removed?” To this we reply, God is wiser than we are. He knows best how to cure laxity and levity, and how to produce the right sort of obedience. He tried the law, and what did it do? It worked wrath. It caused the offence to abound. It developed “the motions of sins.” It brought in death. It was the strength of sin. It deprived the sinner of all power. It slew him. It was condemnation. It cursed all who had to do with it. “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” And all this, not because of any defect in the law, but because of man’s total inability to keep it.

Is it not plain to the reader that neither life, nor righteousness, nor holiness, nor true Christian obedience could ever be attained under law? Is it possible, after all that has passed in review before us, that he can have a single question, a single doubt, a single difficulty We trust not. No one who is willing to bow down to the teaching and authority of the New Testament can adhere to the legal system, for an hour.

However, ere we turn from this weighty and all important subject, we shall place before the reader a passage or two of scripture in which the moral glories of Christianity shine forth with peculiar lustre, in vivid contrast to the entire Mosaic economy.

First of all, let us take that familiar passage at the opening of the eighth of Romans, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness [dikaioma] of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Vv. 1-4.)

Now, we must bear in mind that verse 1 sets forth the standing of every Christian – his position before God. He is “in Christ Jesus.” This settles everything. He is not in the flesh; he is not under law; he is absolutely and eternally ” in Christ Jesus.” there is – there can be, no condemnation. The apostle is not speaking of, or referring to, our walk: or our state. If he were, he could not possibly speak of “no condemnation.” The most perfect Christian walk that ever was exhibited, the most perfect Christian state that ever was attained, would afford some ground for judgement and condemnation. There is not a Christian on the face of the earth who has not, daily, to judge his state and his walk – -his moral condition and his practical ways. How then could “no condemnation” ever stand connected with, or be based upon, Christian walk? Utterly impossible. In order to be free from all condemnation, we must have what is divinely perfect, and no Christian walk is, or ever was that. Even a Paul had to withdraw his words. (Acts 23: 5.) He repented of having written a letter. (2 Cor. 7: 8.) A perfect walk and a perfect state were only found in One. In all beside – even the holiest and best, failure is found. Hence, therefore, the second clause of Romans 8. must be rejected. It is not scripture. This, we think, would be seen by any one really taught of God, apart from all question of mere criticism. Any spiritual mind would detect the incongruity between the words ” no condemnation” and “walk” The two things cannot be made to harmonise. And here, we doubt not, is just where thousands of pious souls have been plunged into difficulty as to this really magnificent and emancipating passage. The joyful sound, “No condemnation” has been robbed of its deep full, and blessed significance, by a clause introduced by some scribe or copyist whose feeble vision was, doubtless, dazzled by the brightness of that free, absolute, sovereign grace which shines in the opening statement of the chapter. How often have we heard such words as these, “Oh! yes; I know there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. But that is if they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now I cannot say that I walk thus. I long to do so; and I mourn over my failure. I would give worlds to be able to walk more perfectly; but alas! alas! I have to judge myself – my state, my walk, my ways, each day, each hour. This being so, I dare not apply to myself the precious words, ‘no condemnation.’ I hope to be able to do so, some day, when I have made more progress in personal holiness; but, in my present state, I should deem it the very height of presumption to appropriate to myself the precious truth contained in the first clause of Romans 8.”

Such thoughts as these have passed through the minds of most of us, if they have not been clothed in words. But the simple and conclusive answer to all such legal reasonings is found in the fact that the second clause of Romans 8: 1 is not scripture at all; but a very misleading interpolation, foreign to the spirit and genius of Christianity; opposed to the whole line of argument in the context where it occurs; and utterly subversive of the solid peace of the Christian. It is a fact well known to all who are conversant with Biblical criticism, that all the leading authorities are agreed in rejecting the second clause of Romans 8: 1.* And, in this it is simply a matter of criticism confirming, as all sound criticism must do, the conclusion at which a really spiritual mind would arrive, without any knowledge of criticism at all.

{*It may be that the reader feels a little jealous of any interference with our excellent English Bible. He may, like many others, feel disposed to say, “How is an uneducated man to know what is scripture and what is not? Must he depend upon scholars and critics to give him certainty on so grave and important a question? If so, is it not the same old story of looking to human authority to confirm the word of God?” By no means. It is a totally different thing. We all know that all copies and translations must be, in some points, imperfect, as being human; but we believe that the same grace which gave the word in the original Hebrew and Greek languages, has, most marvellously, watched over our English translation, so that a poor man, at the back of a mountain, may rest assured that he possesses in his common English Bible, the revelation of the mind of God. It is wonderful, after all the labours of scholars and critics, how few passages, comparatively have had to be touched; and not one affecting any foundation doctrine of Christianity. God who graciously gave us the holy scriptures, at the first, has watched over them and preserved them to His church in the most wonderful manner. Moreover, He has seen fit to make use of the labours of scholars and critics, from age to age, to clear the sacred text of errors which, through the infirmity attaching to all human agency, had crept into it. Should these corrections shake our confidence in the integrity of scripture as a whole, or lead us to doubt that we possess, in very deed, the word of God? Nay, rather should they lead us to bless God for His goodness in watching over His word in order to preserve it in its integrity for His church.}

But, in addition to all that has been advanced, in reference to this question, we cannot but think that the occurrence of the clause, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, in verse 4, affords abundant evidence of its misplacement in verse 1. We cannot, for a moment, admit the thought of redundancy in holy scripture. Now, in verse 4, it is a question of walk – a question of our fulfilling “the righteousness [mark the word – dikaioma] of the law, and hence the clause is in its right, because divinely fitted place. A person who walks in the Spirit – as every Christian ought – fulfils the righteousness of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law; and love will lead us to do what the ten commandments could never effect, namely, to love our enemies. No lover of holiness, no advocate of practical righteousness, need ever be the least afraid of losing ought by abandoning the legal ground, and taking his place on the elevated platform of true Christianity – by turning from mount Sinai to mount Zion – by passing from Moses to Christ. No; he only reaches a higher source, a deeper spring, a wider sphere of holiness, righteousness and practical obedience.

And then, if any one should feel disposed to ask, “Does not the line of argument which we have been pursuing tend to rob the law of its characteristic glory?” We reply, most assuredly not. So far from this, the law was never so magnified, never so vindicated, never so established, never so glorified, as by that precious work which forms the imperishable foundation of all the privileges, the blessings, the dignities and the glories of Christianity. The blessed apostle anticipates, and answers this very question, in the earlier part of his epistle to the Romans. “Do we then,” he says, “make void the law through faith. Far be the thought; yea, we establish the law. How could the law be more gloriously vindicated, honoured and magnified than in the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Will any one seek, for a moment, to maintain the extravagant notion that it is magnifying the law to put Christians under it? We fondly trust the reader will not. Ah! no; all this line of things must be completely abandoned by those whose privilege it is to walk in the light of the new creation; who know Christ as their life, and Christ as their righteousness – Christ, their sanctification, Christ, their great Exemplar, Christ, their model, Christ their all and in all; who find their motive for obedience not in the fear of the curses of a broken law, but in the love of Christ, according to those exquisitely beautiful words, “The love of Christ” – not the law of Moses – “constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” (2 Cor. 5.)

Could the law ever produce ought like this? Impossible. But, blessed for ever he the God of all grace, “What the law could not do” – not because it was not holy, just and good, but “in that it was weak through the flesh” – the workman was all right, but the material was rotten and nothing could be made of it; but – “God sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who – as risen with Christ, linked with Him by the Holy Ghost, in the power of a new and everlasting life – “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”

This, and only this, is true, practical Christianity; and if the reader will turn to the second of Galatians, he will find another of those fine, glowing utterances of the blessed apostle, setting forth, with divine force and fullness, the special glory of Christian life and walk. It is in connection with his faithful rebuke of the apostle Peter, at Antioch, when that beloved and honoured servant of Christ, through his characteristic weakness, had been led to step down, for a moment, from the elevated moral ground on which the gospel of the grace of God places the soul. We cannot do better than quote the entire paragraph for the reader. Every sentence of it is pregnant with spiritual power.

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face” – He did not go behind his back to disparage and depreciate him in the view of others, even though – “He was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by works of law; for by works of law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid [or far be the thought, [me genoito] For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor” – For, if the things were right, why destroy them? And, if they were wrong, why build them again? – “For I, through law, am dead to law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live” not by the law, as a rule of life, but – “by the faith of the Son, of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by law, then Christ is dead in vain” – or has died for nothing, [dorean] (Gal. 2: 11-21)

Here, then, we have one of the very finest statements of the truth as to practical Christianity, anywhere to be found. But, what specially claims our attention, just now, is the very marked and beautiful way in which the gospel of God opens up the path of the true believer between the two fatal errors of legality, on the one side, and carnal laxity, on the other. Ver. 19 in the passage just quoted, contains the divine remedy for both these deadly evils. To all – whoever, or wherever they be who would seek to put the Christian under the law, in any shape, or for any object whatsoever, our apostle exclaims in the ears of dissembling Jews with Peter at their head, and as an answer to all the law-teachers of every age – “I am dead to law.”

What can the law have to say to a dead man: Nothing. The law applies to a living man, to curse him and kill him, because he has not kept it. It is a very grave mistake indeed to teach that the law is dead or abolished. It is nothing of the sort. It is alive in all its force, in all its stringency, in all its majesty, in all its; unbending dignity. It would be a very serious mistake to say that the Law of England, against murder, is dead. But if a man is dead, the law no longer applies to him, inasmuch as he has passed entirely out of its range.

But how is the believer dead to law? the apostle replies, “I through law am dead to law. The law had brought the sentence of death into his conscience; as we read in Romans 7. “I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.”

But there is more than this. The apostle goes on to say, “I am Crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” And, here is the triumphant answer of the Christian to those who say that, inasmuch as the Mosaic law is abrogated, there is no longer any demand for the legal restraint under which the Jews were called to live. To all who would seek liberty for self-indulgence, the answer is, “I am dead to law,” not that I might give a loose rein to the flesh, but ” that I might live unto God.”

Thus nothing can be more complete, nothing more morally beautiful than the answer of true Christianity to legality on the one hand, and licentiousness on the other. Self crucified; sin condemned; new life in Christ; a life to be lived to God; a life of faith in the Son of God; the motive spring of that life, the constraining love of Christ. What can exceed this? Will any one, in view of the moral glories of Christianity contend for putting believers under the law, putting them back into the flesh – back into the old creation – back to the sentence of death in the conscience – back to bondage, darkness, distance, fear of death, condemnation?

Is it possible that any one who has ever tasted, even in the very feeblest measure, the heavenly sweetness of God’s most blessed gospel, can accept the wretched mongrel system, composed of half law and half grace, which Christendom offers to the soul? How terrible to find the children of God, members of the body of Christ, temples of the Holy Ghost, robbed of their glorious privileges and burdened with a heavy yoke which, as Peter says, “Neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” We earnestly entreat the Christian reader to consider what has been placed before him. Search the scriptures; and if you find these things to be so, then fling aside for ever the grave clothes in which Christendom enwraps its deluded votaries, and walk in the liberty wherewith Christ makes His people free; tear off the bandage with which it covers the eyes of men, and gaze on the moral glories which shine with such heavenly brilliancy, in the gospel of the grace of God.

And then let us prove, by a holy, happy, gracious walk and conversation, that grace can do what law never could. Let our practical ways from day to day, in the midst of the scenes, circumstances, relationships and associations in which we are called to live, be the most convincing reply to all who contend for the law as a rule of life.

Finally, let it be our earnest, loving desire and aim to seek, in so far as in us lies, to lead all the dear children of God into a clearer knowledge of their standing and privileges in a risen and glorified Christ. May the Lord send out His light and His truth, in the power of the Holy Ghost, and gather His beloved people round Himself to walk in the joy of His salvation, in the purity and light of His presence, and to wait for His coming!

We do not attempt to offer any apology for what may, perhaps, appear to some of our readers to be a very lengthened digression from the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. The fact is we have been led into what we judge to be a very needed line of practical truth by the very first verse of the chapter, as quoted at the opening of this section. We felt it absolutely necessary, in speaking of the weighty question of obedience, to seek to place it on its true basis. If Israel was called to “hearken and do,” how much more are we who are so richly blessed – yea “blessed with all spiritual blessings, in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.” We are called to obedience, even to the obedience of Jesus Christ, as we have it in? Peter 1 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” We are called to the very same character of obedience as that which marked the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Of course, in Him, there was no hindering influence, as alas! there is in us. But as to the character of the obedience it is the same.

This is an immense privilege. We are called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. “He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.” Now, in pondering the path of our Lord, in considering His marvellous life, there is one point which demands our profound and reverent attention – a point which connects itself, in a very special manner, with the book of Deuteronomy; and that is the way in which He ever used the word of God – the place which He ever gave to the holy scriptures. This we consider to be a subject of the last possible importance, at the present moment. It holds a prominent place throughout the lovely book with which we are at present engaged. Indeed, as we have already remarked, it characterises the book, and marks it off from the three books which precede it in the divine canon. We shall find proofs and illustrations of this, in abundance, as we pass along. Everywhere, the word of God gets its own paramount Place, as the only rule, the only standard, the only authority for man. It meets him in every position, in every relationship, in every sphere of action, and in every stage of his moral and spiritual history. It tells him what he ought to do, and what he ought not. It furnishes him with ample guidance in every difficulty. It descends, as we shall see, to the most minute details – such details, indeed, as fill as with amazement to think that the High and Mighty One that inhabiteth eternity could occupy Himself with them – to think that the Omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the vast universe could stoop to legislate about a bird’s nest. (Deut. 22: 6.)

Such is the word of God, that peerless Revelation, that perfect and inimitable volume which stands alone in the history of literature. And, we may say that one special charm of the book of Deuteronomy, one peculiar feature of interest is the way in which it exalts the word of God, and enforces upon us the holy and happy duty of unqualified and unhesitating obedience.

Yes; we repeat, and would fervently emphasise the words – unqualified and unhesitating obedience. We would have these wholesome words sounded in the ears of Christian professors throughout the length and breadth of the earth. We live in a day specially marked by the setting up of man’s reason, man’s judgement, man’s will. In short, we live in what the inspired apostle calls, “man’s day.” On all hands we are encountered by lofty and boastful words about human reason, and the right of every man to judge and reason and think for himself. The thought of being absolutely and completely governed by the authority of holy scripture is treated with sovereign contempt by thousands of men who are the religious guides and teachers of the professing church. For any one to assert his reverent belief in the plenary inspiration, the all-sufficiency, and the absolute authority of scripture, is quite sufficient to stamp him as an ignorant, narrow-minded man, if not a semi-lunatic, in the judgement of some who occupy the very highest position in the professing church. In our universities, our colleges and our schools, the moral glory of the Divine Volume is fast fading away, and instead thereof our young people are led and taught to walk in the light of science, the light of human reason. The word of God itself is impiously placed at the bar of man’s judgement, and reduced to the level of the human understanding. Everything is rejected which soars beyond man’s feeble vision.

Thus the word of God is virtually set aside. For, clearly if scripture is to be submitted to human judgement, it ceases to be the word of God. It is the very height of folly to think of submitting a divine and therefore perfect revelation to any tribunal whatsoever. Either God has given us a revelation, or He has not. If He has, that revelation must be paramount, supreme, above and beyond all question, absolutely unquestionable, unerring, divine. To its authority all must bow down, without a single question. To suppose, for a moment, that man is competent to judge the word of God, able to pronounce upon what is, or what is not worthy of God to say, or to write, is simply to put man in God’s place. And this is precisely what the devil is aiming at, although many of his instruments are not aware that they are helping on his designs.

But the question is continually cropping up before us, “How can we be sure that we have, in our English Bible, the bona fide revelation of God?” We reply, God can make us sure of it. If He does not, no one can. If He does, no one need. This is our ground; and we deem it unassailable. We should like to ask all those who start this infidel question – for such we must honestly call it – supposing that God cannot give us the absolute certainty that, in our common English Bible, we do actually possess His own most precious, priceless revelation, then whither are we to turn? Of course in such a weighty matter, on which momentous and eternal consequences hang, a single doubt is torture and misery. If I am not sure of possessing a revelation from God, I am left without a single ray of light for my path. I am plunged in darkness, gloom and mental misery. What am I to do? Can man help me by his learning, his wisdom or his reason? Can he satisfy my soul by his decision? Can he solve my difficulty, answer my question, remove my doubt, dissipate my fear? Is man better able than God to Give me the assurance that God has spoken?

The idea is absolutely monstrous – monstrous in the very highest degree. The plain fact is this, reader, if God cannot give us the certainty that He has spoken, we are left without His word altogether. If we must turn to human authority, call it what you please, in order to guarantee the word of God to our souls, then that authority is higher and greater, safer and more trustworthy than the word which it guarantees. Blessed be God, it is not so. He has spoken to our hearts. He has given us His word, and that word carries its own credentials with it. It stands in no need of letters of commendation from a human hand. What! Turn to man to accredit the word of the living God! apply to a worm to give us the assurance that our God has spoken to us in His word! Away for ever with the blasphemous notion, and let our whole moral being – all our ransomed powers adore the matchless grace, the sovereign mercy that has not left us to grope in the darkness of our own minds, or to be bewildered by the conflicting opinions of men; but has given us His own perfect and most precious revelation, the divine light of His word to guide our feet into the path of certainty and peace; to enlighten our understandings and comfort our hearts, to preserve us from every form of doctrinal error and moral pravity, and finally, to conduct us into the rest, blessedness and glory of His own heavenly kingdom. All praise to His Name, throughout the everlasting ages!

But we must bear in mind that the marvellous privilege of which we have spoken – and truly it is most marvellous – is the basis of a most solemn responsibility. If it be true that God has, in His infinite goodness, given us a perfect revelation of His mind, then what should be our attitude in reference to it? Are we to sit in judgement upon it? Are we to discuss, argue or reason? Alas! for all who do so. They will find themselves on terribly dangerous ground. The only true, the only proper, the only safe attitude for man in the presence of God’s revelation is obedience – simple, unqualified, hearty obedience. This is the only right thing for us; and this is the thing which is pleasing to God. The path of obedience is the path of sweetest privilege, rest and blessing This path can be trodden by the merest babe in Christ, as well as by the ” young men and the “fathers.” There is the one straight and blessed path for all. Narrow it is, no doubt; but oh! it is safe, bright and elevated. The light of our Fathers approving countenance ever shines upon it; and in this blessed light the obedient soul finds the most triumphant answer to all the reproaches of those who talk, in high sounding words, about breadth of mind, liberality of thought, freedom of opinion, progress, development, and such-like. The obedient child of God can afford to put up with all this, because he feels and knows, he believes and is sure that he is treading a path indicated for him by the precious word of God. He is not careful to explain or apologise, feeling assured that those who object, oppose, and reproach are utterly incapable of understanding or appreciating his explanation. And, moreover, he feels that it is no part of his duty to explain or defend. He has but to obey; and as for objectors and opposers, he has but to refer them to his Master.

This makes it all so simple, so plain, so certain. It delivers the heart from a thousand difficulties and perplexities. If we were to set about replying to all who undertake to raise questions or start difficulties, our whole life would be spent in the profitless task. We may rest assured the best possible answer to all infidel objectors, is the steady, earnest, onward path of unqualified obedience. Let us leave infidels, sceptics and rationalists to their own worthless theories, while we, with unswerving purpose, and firm step, pursue that blessed path of childlike obedience which, like the shining light, shineth more and more, unto the perfect day. Thus shall our minds be kept tranquil, for the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall garrison our hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus. When the word of God which is settled for ever in heaven is hidden deep down in our hearts, there will be a calm certainty, a holy stability, and a marked progress in our Christian career which will afford the best possible answer to the gainsayer, the most effectual testimony to the truth of God; and the most convincing evidence and solid confirmation to every wavering heart.

The chapter before us abounds in the most solemn exhortation to Israel, grounded upon the fact of their having heard the word of God. Thus in the second verse, we have a sentence or two which should be deeply engraved on the tablets of every Christian’s heart. “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it.”

These words involve two grand facts with regard to the word of God. It is not to be added to, for the simplest of all reasons, because there is nothing lacking. It is not to be diminished, because there is nothing superfluous. Everything we want is there; and nothing that is there can be done without. “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” To suppose that ought can be added to God’s word is, upon the very face of it, to deny that it is God’s word; and, on the other hand, if we admit that it is the word of God, then it follows of necessity – blessed necessity, that we could not afford to do without a single sentence of it. There would be a blank in the volume which no human hand could fill up, if a single clause were dropped from its place in the canon. We have all we want; and hence, we must not add. We want it all; and, must not diminish.

How deeply important is all this, in this day of human tampering with the word of God! How blessed to know that we have in our possession a book so divinely perfect that not a sentence, not a clause, not a word can be added to it. We speak not, of course, of translations or versions, but of the scriptures as originally given of God – His own perfect revelation. To this not a touch can be given As well might a human finger have dared to touch the creation of God, on the morning when all the sons of God sang together, as to add a jot or a tittle to the inspired word of God. And, on the other hand, to take away a jot or a tittle from it, is to say that the Holy Ghost has penned what was unnecessary. Thus the holy volume is divinely guarded at both ends. It is securely fenced round about so that no rude hand should touch its sacred contents.

“What!” It may be said in reply, “Do you mean to say that every sentence from the opening lines of Genesis, to the close of Revelation, is divinely inspired” Yes; that is, precisely, the ground we take. We claim, for every line between the covers of the volume, a divine origin. To question this is to attack the very pillars of the Christian faith. A single flaw in the canon would be sufficient to prove it not of God. To touch a single stone in the arch is to bring down the whole fabric in ruins around us. “All scripture is divinely inspired; and” – being so, must be – “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect [artios], throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3.)

This stronghold must, on no account, be surrendered. Nay, it must be tenaciously held, in the face of every infidel assault. If it be given up, all is hopelessly lost. We have nothing to lean upon. Either the word of God is perfect, or we are left without any divine foundation for our faith. If there be a word too much or a word too little in the revelation which God has given us, then verily we are left like a ship without compass, rudder or chart, to be drifted about on the wild, tumultuous ocean of infidel thought. In short, if we have not an absolutely perfect revelation, we are of all men most miserable.

But, we may still be challenged with such a question as this, “Do you believe that the long string of names, in the opening Chapters of 1 Chronicles – those genealogical tables are divinely inspired? were they written for our learning? and, if so, what are we to learn from them?” We unhesitatingly declare our reverent belief in the divine inspiration of all these; and we have no doubt whatever but that their value, interest and importance will be fully proved, by-and by, in the history of that people to whom they specially apply.

And, then, as to what we are to learn from those genealogical records, we believe they teach us a most precious lesson as to Jehovah’s faithful care of His people Israel, and His loving interest in them and in all that concerns them. He watches over them, from generation to generation, even though they are scattered and lost to human view. He knows all about “the twelve tribes,” and He will manifest them in due time, and plant them in their destined inheritance, in the land of Canaan, according to His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now, is not all this full of blessed instruction for us? Is it not full of comfort for our souls? Is it not most confirmatory of our faith to mark the gracious pains-taking of our God, His minute care and vigilance, in reference to His earthly people? Most assuredly it is. And ought not our hearts to be interested in all that interests the heart of our Father? Are we not to take an interest in anything save what directly concerns ourselves? Where is there a loving child who would not take an interest in all his father’s concerns, and delight to read every line that drops from his father’s pen?

Let us not be misunderstood. We do not, by any means, attempt to imply that all portions of the word of God are of like interest and importance to us. We do not presume to assert that we are to hang with equal interest over the first chapter of First Chronicles and the seventeenth chapter of John or the eighth chapter of Romans. It seems hardly necessary to make such a statement, inasmuch as no such question is raised. But what we assert is that each of the above scriptures is divinely inspired, one just as much as another. And not only so, but we further assert, that? 1 Chronicles 1 and such-like passages fill a niche which John 17 cannot fill; and do a work which Romans 8 cannot do.

And, finally, above and beyond all, we must remember that we are not competent to judge what is, and what is not worthy of a place in the inspired canon We are ignorant and short-sighted; and the very portion which we might deem beneath the dignity of inspiration may have some very important bearing upon the history of God’s ways with the world at large, or with His people in particular.

In short, it simply resolves itself into this, with every truly pious soul, every really spiritual mind, we reverently believe in the divine inspiration of every line in our precious Bible, from beginning to end. And we believe this not on the ground of any human authority whatsoever. To believe in holy scripture because it comes to us accredited by any authority upon earth, would be to set that authority above holy scripture, inasmuch as that which guarantees has more weight, more value than the thing guaranteed. Hence, we should no more think of looking to human authority to confirm the word of God, than we should of bringing out a rush-light to prove that the sun was shining.

No, reader, we must be clear and decided as to this. It must be, in the judgement of our souls, s great cardinal truth which we hold dearer than life itself – the plenary inspiration of holy scripture. Thus shall we have wherewithal to answer the cool audacity of modern scepticism, rationalism and infidelity. We do not mean to say that we shall be able to convince infidels. God will deal with them in His own way, and convince them with His own unanswerable arguments, in His own time. It is labour and time lost to argue with such men. But we feel persuaded that the most dignified and effective answer to infidelity, in its every phase, will be found in the calm repose of the heart that rests in the blessed assurance that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” And again, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” The former of these precious quotations proves that scripture has come from God; the latter, that it has come to us. both together. So to prove that we must neither add to nor take from the word of God. There is nothing lacking, and nothing superfluous. The Lord be praised for this solid foundation truth, and for all the comfort and consolation that flows from it to every true believer!

We shall now proceed to quote for the reader a few of the passages in this fourth chapter of Deuteronomy which so emphatically set forth the value, importance and authority of the word of God. In them, as in the whole of this book, we shall see that it is not so much a question of any particular ordinance, rite or ceremony, but of the weight, solemnity and dignity of the word of God itself, whatever that word may set before us.

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.” – Their conduct was to be ruled and formed, in all things, by the divine commandments. Immense principle for them, for us, for all! – “Keep, therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Let us specially weigh these words. Their wisdom and their understanding were to consist in their simply keeping and doing the divine statutes and judgements. It was not by learned discussion or arguments that their wisdom was to be displayed; but by child-like unquestioning obedience. All the wisdom was in the statutes and judgements, not in their thoughts and reasonings respecting them. The profound and marvellous wisdom of God was seen in His word, and this was what the nations were to see and admire. The light of the divine judgements shining in the conduct and character of the people of God was to draw forth the admiring testimony of the nations around.

Alas! alas! how differently it turned out! How little did the nations of the earth learn, from the actings of Israel, about God and His word! Yea, His Name was blasphemed continually through their ways. Instead of occupying the high and holy and happy ground of loving obedience to the divine commandments, they descended to the level of the nations around them, adopted their habits, worshipped their gods, and walked in their ways; so that those nations instead of seeing the lofty wisdom, purity, and moral glory of the divine statutes, saw only the weakness, folly, and moral degradation of a people who made their boast in being the depository of those oracles which condemned themselves.(Rom. 2: 3)

Still, blessed be God, His word must stand for ever, however His people may fail to carry it out. His standard is perfect, and therefore must never be lowered; and if the power of His word be not seen in the ways of His people, it will shine in the condemnation of those ways, and ever abide for the guidance, comfort, strength and blessing of any who desire, however feebly or falteringly to tread the path of obedience.

However, in the chapter with which we are at present occupied, the lawgiver seeks to set the divine standard faithfully before the people, in all its dignity and moral glory. He fails not to unfold to them the true effect of obedience; while he solemnly warns them against the danger of turning away from the holy commandments of God. Hear his powerful pleadings with their hearts. “What nation is there so great,” he says, “who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgements so righteous, as all this law, which I set before you this day?”

Here is true moral greatness, at all times and in all places, for a nation, for a people, for a household, or for an individual. To have the living God nigh unto us; to have the sweet privilege of calling upon Him, in all things; to have His power and His mercy ever exercised toward us; to have the light of His blessed countenance shining approvingly upon us, in all our ways; to have the moral effect of His righteous statutes and holy commandments seen in our practical career, from day to day; to have Him manifesting Himself to us, and making His abode with us.

What human language can adequately set forth the deep blessedness of such privileges as these? And yet they are placed by infinite grace, within the reach of every child of God on the face of the earth. We do not mean to assert that every child of God enjoys them. Far from it. They are reserved, as we have already seen, for those who, through grace, are enabled to render a loving, hearty, reverent obedience to the divine word. Here lies the precious secret of the whole matter. It was true for Israel of old; and it is true for the church now; it was true for the individual soul then; and it is true for the individual soul now that divine complacency is the priceless reward of human obedience. And, we may further add that obedience is the bounden duty and high privilege of all God’s people, and of each in particular. Come what may, implicit obedience is our privilege and our duty, divine complacency our present sweet reward.

But the poor human heart is prone to wander; and manifold influences are at work around us to draw us off from the narrow path of obedience. We need not marvel, therefore, at the solemn and oft-repeated admonitions addressed by Moses, to the hearts and consciences of his hearers. He pours his large loving heart out to the congregation so dear to him, in glowing, earnest, soul-stirring accents. “Only take heed to thyself,” he says, “and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”

These are weighty words for all of us. They set before us two things of unspeakable importance, namely, individual and domestic responsibility – personal and household testimony. God’s people of old were responsible to keep the heart with all diligence, lest it should let slip the precious word of God. And not only so, but they were solemnly responsible to instruct their children and their grandchildren in the same. Are we, with all our light and privilege, less responsible than Israel of old? Surely not. We are imperatively called upon to give ourselves to the careful study of the word of God. To apply our hearts to it. It is not enough that we hurry over a few verses or a chapter, as a piece of daily religious routine. This will not meet the case at all. We want to make the Bible our supreme and absorbing study; that in which we delight, in which we find our refreshment and recreation.

It is to be feared that some of us read the Bible as a matter of duty, while we find our delight and refreshment in the newspaper and light literature. Need we wonder at our shallow knowledge of scripture? How could we know ought of the living depths or the moral glories of a volume which we merely take up as a cold matter of duty, and read a few verses with a yawning indifference, while, at the same time, the newspaper or the sensational novel is literally devoured?

It will, perhaps, be said in reply, “We cannot be always reading the Bible.” Would those who thus speak say, “We cannot be always reading the newspaper or the novel”? And, we would further inquire, what must be the actual state of a person who can say, “We cannot be always reading the Bible”? Can he be in a healthy condition of soul? Can he really love the word of God? Can he have any just sense of its preciousness, its excellence, its moral glories? Impossible.

What mean the following words to Israel, “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes!” The “heart” – the “soul” – the” hand” – the “eyes” – all engaged about the precious word of God. This was real work. It was to be no empty formality, no barren routine. The whole man was to be given up, in holy devotion, to the statutes and judgements of God.

“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates” Do we, Christians, enter into such words as these? Has the word of God such a place, in our hearts, in our homes, and in our habits? Do those who enter our houses, or come in contact with us in daily life, see that the word of God is paramount with us? Do those with; whom we do business see that we are governed by the precepts of holy scripture? Do our servants and our children see that we live in the very atmosphere of scripture, and that our whole character is formed and our conduct governed by it?

These are searching questions for our hearts, beloved Christian reader. Let us not put them away from us. We may rest assured there is no more correct indicator of our moral and spiritual condition than that afforded by our treatment of the word of God. If we do not love it – love to study it – thirst after it – delight in – long for the quiet hour in the which we can hang over its sacred page, and drink in its most precious teaching – meditate upon it, in the closet, in the family, in the street; in short, if we do not breathe its holy atmosphere – if we could ever give utterance to such a sentiment as that Given above, that “We cannot be always reading the Bible,” then, verily, we have urgent need to look well to our spiritual state, for we are sadly out of health The new nature loves the word of God – earnestly desires it; as we read in? Peter 2. “As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”

This is the true idea. If the sincere milk of the word be not sought after, diligently used and eagerly fed upon, we must be in a low, unhealthy, dangerous condition of soul. There may not be anything outwardly wrong in our conduct; we may not be publicly dishonouring the Lord, in our ways; but we are grieving His loving heart by our gross neglect of His word, which is but another term for the neglect of Himself. It is the very height of folly to talk of loving Christ, if we do not love, and live upon His word. It is a delusion to imagine that the new life can be in a healthy prosperous condition where the word of God is habitually neglected in the closet and the family.

We do not, of course, mean that no other book but the Bible should be read – or we should not pen these “Notes” – but nothing demands greater watchfulness than the matter of reading. All things are to be done, in the Name of Jesus, and to the glory of God; and this is amongst the “all things.” We should read no book that we cannot read to the glory of God, and on which we cannot ask God’s blessing.

We feel that this entire subject demands the most serious consideration of all God’s people; and we trust that the Spirit of God may use our meditation on the chapter before us to stir up our hearts and consciences in reference to what is due to the word of God, both in our hearts and in our houses.

No doubt, if it has its right place in the heart, it will have its right place also in the house. But if there be no acknowledgment of the word of God in the bosom of the family, it is hard to believe that it has its right place in the heart. Heads of houses should ponder this matter seriously. We are most fully persuaded that there ought to be, in every Christian household, a daily acknowledgment of God and His word. Some may, perhaps, look upon it as bondage, as legality, as religious routine to have regular family worship. We would ask such objectors, is it bondage for the family to assemble at meals? Are the family reunions round the social board ever regarded as a wearisome duty – a piece of dull routine? Certainly not, if the family be a well ordered and happy one. Why then should it be regarded as a burdensome thing for the head of a Christian household to gather his children and his servants around him and read a few verses of the precious word of God, and breathe a few words of prayer before the throne of grace? We believe it to be a habit in perfect accordance with the teaching of both the Old and the New Testaments – a habit grateful to the heart of God – a holy, blessed, edifying habit.

What should we think of a professing Christian who never prayed, never read the word of God, in private? Could we possibly regard him as a happy, healthy, true Christian? Assuredly not. Indeed we should seriously question the existence of divine life in such a soul. Prayer and the word of God are absolutely essential to healthy vigorous Christian life: so that a man who habitually neglects these must be in an utterly dead state.

Now, if it be thus, in reference to an individual, how can a family be regarded as in a right state where there is no family reading, no family prayer, no family acknowledgment of God or His word? Can we conceive a God-fearing household going on from Lord’s day morning to Saturday night, without any collective recognition of the One to whom they owe everything? Day after day rolls on – domestic duties are attended to – the family assemble regularly at meals, but there is no thought of summoning the household round the word of God, or round the mercy-seat. We ask where is the difference between such a family and any poor heathen household? Is it not most sad, most deplorable to find those who make the very highest profession, and who take their places at the Lord’s Table, yet living in the gross neglect of family reading, family worship?

Reader, are you the head of a household If so, what are your thoughts on this subject? And what is your line of action? Have you family reading and family prayer, daily in your house? If not bear with us when we ask you – why not? Search and see what is the real root of this matter. Has your heart declined from God, from His word and His ways? Do you read and pray in private? Do you love the word and prayer? Do you find delight in them? If so, how is it you neglect them in your household? Perhaps you seek to excuse yourself on the ground of nervousness and timidity. If so, look to the Lord to enable you to overcome the weakness. Just cast yourself on His unfailing grace, and gather your household around you, at a certain hour, each day, read a few verses of scripture and breathe half-a-dozen words of prayer; or if you cannot do this at first, just let the family kneel for a few moments, in silence, before the throne.

Anything, in short, like a family acknowledgment a family testimony – anything but a godless, careless, prayerless life in your household. Do, dear friend, suffer the word of exhortation in this matter. Let us entreat you to begin at once, looking to God to help you, as He most assuredly will, for He never fails a really trusting, dependent heart. Do not, any longer, go on neglecting God and His word in your family circle. It is really terrible. Let no arguments about bondage, legality, or formalism weigh with you, for a moment. We almost feel disposed to exclaim, “Blessed bondage!” If indeed it be bondage to read the word, we cordially welcome it, and fearlessly glory in it.

But, no; we cannot for a moment, regard it in any such light. We believe it to be a most delightful privilege for every one whom God has set at the head of a household to gather all the members of that household around him and read a portion of the blessed book, and pour out his heart in prayer to God. We believe it is specially the duty of the head so to do. It is by no means necessary to make it a long wearisome service. As a rule, both in our houses and in our public assemblies, short, fresh, fervent exercises are by far the most edifying.

But this, of course, is an open question as to which we merely give our judgement which must go for what it is worth. The length and character of the service must, in every case, be left to the person who conducts it. But we do, most earnestly, trust that if these lines should be scanned by any one who is the head of a household, and if he has hitherto neglected the holy privilege of family worship-family reading, he will, henceforth, do so no more. May he be enabled to say, with Joshua, “Let others do as they will, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” It is not, surely, that we would lead any to imagine that the mere act of family reading takes in all that is comprehended in that weighty sentence, “We will serve the Lord.” Far from it. That blessed service takes in everything belonging to our private and domestic history. It takes in the most minute details of practical daily life. All this is most true and invaluable. But we are most thoroughly persuaded that nothing can go right in any household in which family reading and family prayer are habitually neglected.

It may be said that there are many families who seem very particular about their morning and evening reading and prayer, and yet their whole domestic history, from morning till night, is a flagrant contradiction of their so-called religious service. It may be that the head of the house, instead of shedding sunlight upon the family circle, is morose in his temper, rude and coarse in his manners, rough and contradictory to his wife, arbitrary and severe to his children, unreasonable and exacting to his servants, finding fault with what is laid on the table, after having asked God’s blessing upon it; and, in short, in every way giving the lie to his reading and his prayer in the family. So also as to the wife and the mother; and the children and the servants. The whole domestic economy is out of order. There is disorder and confusion; meals are unpunctual; there is a want of kindly consideration one of another; the children are rude, selfish and wilful; the servants are thoughtless, wasteful and disobedient, if not much worse. The tone, atmosphere, and style of the entire establishment are unchristian, ungodly, utterly unbecoming.

And then when you travel outside the domestic circle, and mark the conduct of the heads and members of the family toward those outside – mark their business, if they be in business; hear the testimony of those who deal with them, as to the quality of their goods, the style and character of their work; the spirit and temper in which they carry on their business; such grasping and griping, such covetousness, such commercial trickery; nothing of God, nothing of Christ, nothing to distinguish them from the most thorough worldling around; yea, the conduct of those very worldlings, of those who would never think of such a thing as family worship, would put them to shame.

Under such painful and humiliating circumstances, what of the family worship-the family reading – the family altar? Alas! it is an empty formality, a powerless, worthless, unseemly proceeding – in place of being a morning and evening sacrifice, it is a morning and evening lie – a solemn mockery – an insult to God.

All this is sadly true. There is a terrible lack of household testimony – of common practical righteousness in our families and in the entire economy of our houses. There is but little of the white raiment-the fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints. We seem to forget those weighty words of the inspired apostle, in Romans 14. “The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Some of us seem to think that, whenever we meet with the word “righteousness,” it must needs mean the righteousness of God in which we stand, or righteousness imputed to us. This is a very great mistake indeed. We must remember there is a practical and human side of this question. There is the subjective as well as the objective – the walk as well as the standing – the condition as well as the position.

These things must never be separated. It is of little use to set up, or seek to maintain a family altar amid the ruins of family testimony. It is nothing short of a hideous caricature to begin and end with so-called family worship a day characterised throughout by ungodliness and unrighteousness, levity, folly and vanity. Can ought be more unsightly or more miserably inconsistent than an evening spent in song singing, charades and other light games, closed up with a contemptible bit of religion in the shape of reading and prayer?

All this line of things is most deplorable. It ought not to be found in connection with the Holy Name of Christ, with His assembly, or the holy exercises of His Table. We must measure everything in our private life, in our domestic economy, in our daily history, in all our intercourse, and in all our business transactions, with that one standard, namely, the glory of Christ. Our one grand question, in reference to everything that comes before us, or solicits our attention must be, “Is this worthy of the Holy Name which is called upon me?” If not, let us not touch it; yea, let us turn our back upon it with stern decision, and flee from it with holy energy Let us not listen, for a moment, to the contemptible question, “What harm is there in it?” Nothing but harm, if Christ be not in it. No truly devoted heart would ever entertain – much less put such a question. Whenever you hear any one speaking thus, you may, at once, conclude that Christ is not the governing object of the heart.

We trust the reader is not weary of all this homely, practical truth. We believe it is loudly called for in this day of high profession. We have all of us much need to consider our ways, to look well to the real state of our hearts as to Christ; for here lies the true secret of the whole matter. If the heart be not true to Him, nothing can be right – nothing in the private life, nothing in the family, nothing in the business, nothing in the assembly, nothing anywhere. But if the heart be true to Him all will be – must be right.

No marvel, therefore, if the blessed apostle, when he reaches the close of that wonderful epistle to the Corinthians, sums all up with this solemn declaration, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha” In the course of his letter he deals with various forms of doctrinal error and moral pravity; but when he comes to the close, instead of pronouncing his solemn sentence upon any particular error or evil, he hurls it with holy indignation against any one, no matter who or what, who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ. Love to Christ is the grand safe-guard against every form of error and evil. A heart filled with Christ has no room for ought beside; but if there be no love to Him, there is no security against the wildest error, or the worst form of moral evil.

We must now return to our chapter.

The attention of the people is specially called to the solemn scenes at Mount Horeb – scenes which should surely have deeply and abidingly impressed their hearts. “Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words” – the grand and all important point for Israel of old, for the church now – for each, for all, at all times and in all places, is to be brought into direct, living contact with the eternal word of the living God, to the end – “that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children”

It is very beautiful to note the intimate connection between hearing God’s word and fearing His Name. It is one of those great root principles which never change, never lose their power or their intrinsic value. The word and the Name go together; and the heart that loves the one will reverence the other, and bow down to its holy authority, in all things. “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.” “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.” (John 14; 1 John 2.) Every true lover of God will treasure up His word in the heart, and where the word is thus lovingly treasured in the heart, its hallowed influence will be seen in the whole life, character and conduct. God’s object in giving His word is that it may govern our conduct, form our character and shape our way; and if His word has not this practical effect upon us it is utterly vain for us to speak of loving Him; yea, it is nothing short of positive mockery which He must, sooner or later, resent.

And let us note particularly the solemn responsibility of Israel as to their children. They were not only to “hear” and “learn” for themselves; but they were also to teach their children. This is a universal and abiding duty which cannot be neglected with impunity. God attaches very great importance to this matter. We hear Him saying as to Abraham, “I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgement; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” (Gen. 18)

These words are most important, as setting before us the divine estimate of domestic training, and family piety. In all ages, and under all dispensations, God has been pleased to give expression to His approbation of the proper education of the children of His people – their faithful training according to His holy word. We find no such thing sanctioned in scripture, as children being allowed to grow up in ignorance, and carelessness, and wilfulness. Some professing Christians, under the baneful influence of a certain school of theology, seem to think that it is, in some way, an interference with the sovereignty of God, with His purposes and counsels, to instruct their children in the truth of the gospel and the letter of holy scripture. They Consider that the children ought to be left to the action of the Holy Ghost which they are sure to experience in God’s own time, if indeed they are of God’s elect; and, if not, all human effort is perfectly useless.

Now, we must, in all faithfulness to the truth of God, and to the souls of our readers, bear the clearest and strongest testimony against this one-sided view of the great practical subject before us. There is nothing more mischievous, nothing more pernicious in its effect upon the conscience, the heart, the life, the whole practical career and moral character, than one-sided theology. It does not matter what side you take, so long as you only take one. It is sure to produce what we must term a spiritual malformation. We feel we cannot too strongly and earnestly warn the reader against this sore evil. It can only lead to the most disastrous results; and, as to its effect in reference to the training of our children, and the management of our households – the subject now before us – it is mischievous in the extreme. Indeed we have seen the most deplorable consequences follow the carrying out of this line of thought. We have known the children of Christian parents to grow up in utter ignorance of divine things, in carelessness, recklessness, and open infidelity. And if a word of admonition were offered, it has been met by arguments based upon the dogmas of a one-sided divinity – and the one side turned the wrong way. It has been said, “We cannot make Christians of our children, and we must not make them formalists or hypocrites. It must be a divine work or nothing. When God’s time comes, He will effectually call them, if indeed they are among the number of His elect. If not, all our efforts are perfectly useless.”

To all this we reply that this line of argument, if carried to its fullest extent, would prevent the farmer from ploughing his ground or sowing his seed. It is very plain that he cannot make the seed to germinate or fructify. He could no more cause a solitary grain of wheat to grow, than he could create the universe. Does this prevent his ploughing and sowing? Does it cause him to fold his arms and say, “I can do nothing. I cannot, by any effort of mine, make corn grow. It is a divine operation; and therefore I must wait God’s time” Does any farmer reason and act like this? Surely not, unless he be a lunatic. Every sound-minded person knows that ploughing and sowing must go before the reaping; and if the former be neglected, it is the height of extravagant folly to look for the latter.

Nor is it otherwise in the matter of training our children We know God is sovereign. We believe in His eternal counsels and purposes. We fully recognise the grand doctrines of election and predestination; yea, we are as thoroughly persuaded of them, as of the truth that God is, or that Christ died and rose again. Moreover, we believe that the new birth must take place, in every instance – in the case of our children as of all beside; we are convinced that this new birth is entirely a divine operation, effected by the Holy Ghost, through the word, as we are distinctly taught in our Lord’s discourse with Nicodemus, in John 3, and also in James 1: 18; and 1 Peter 1: 23.

But does all this touch, in the most remote way, the solemn responsibility of Christian parents to teach and train their children, diligently and faithfully, from their earliest moments? Most certainly not. Woe be to the parents who, on any plea or on any ground whatsoever, be it one-sided theology, misapplied scripture, or anything else, deny their responsibility, or neglect their plain, bounden duty, in this holy business. True, we cannot make our children Christians; and we ought not to make them formalists or hypocrites. But we are not called to make them anything We are simply called to do our duty by them, and leave results to God. We are instructed and commanded to bring up our children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” When is this “bringing up” to commence? When are we to begin the sacred work of training our little ones? Surely at the beginning. The very moment we enter upon a relationship, we enter also upon the responsibility which that relationship entails. We cannot deny this. We cannot shake it off. We may neglect it, and have to reap the sad consequences of our neglect, in various ways. It is a very serious thing to stand in the sacred relationship of a parent – very interesting and very delightful, no doubt; but most serious because of the responsibility involved. True it is, blessed be God, His grace is sufficient for us, in this, as in all beside; and “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” “We are not sufficient of ourselves,” in this weighty matter, to think or to do anything, as ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; and He will meet our every need. We have simply to draw upon Him, for exigency of every hour.

But we must do our duty. Some do not like the homely word “duty.” They think it has a legal ring about it. We trust the reader does not think so, for it is a very great mistake indeed. We look upon the word as a very sound and morally wholesome one; and we believe that every true Christian loves it. One thing is certain, it is only in the path of duty we can count on God. To talk of trusting God, when out of the path of duty, is a miserable conceit, and a delusion. And, in the matter of our relationship, as parents, to neglect our duty is to bring down upon us the most disastrous consequences.

We believe the whole business of Christian education is summed up in two brief sentences, namely, count on God for your children; and train your children for God. To take the first without the second, is antinomianism; to take the second without the first is legality; to take both together is sound practical Christianity – true religion in the sight of God and man.

It is the sweet privilege of every Christian parent to count, with all possible confidence, upon God, for his children. But, then, we must remember that there is, in the government of God, an inseparable link connecting this privilege with the most solemn responsibility as to training For a Christian parent to speak of counting on God for the salvation of his children, and for the moral integrity of their future career, in this world, while the duty of training is neglected, is simply a miserable delusion.

We press this, most solemnly, upon all Christian parents, but especially upon those who have just entered upon the relationship. There is great danger of shirking our duty to our children, of shifting it over upon others, or neglecting it altogether. We do not like the trouble of it; we shrink from the constant worry as it seems to us. But we shall find that the trouble, and the worry, and the sorrow, and the heart-scalding arising from the neglect of our duty will be a thousand times worse than all that can be involved in the discharge of it. To every true lover of God there is deep delight in treading the path of duty. Every step taken in that path strengthens our confidence to go on. And then we can always count upon the infinite resources that we have in God, when we are keeping His commandments. We have simply to betake ourselves, morning by morning, yea, hour by hour, to our Father’s exhaustless treasury, and there get all we want, in the way of grace and wisdom, and moral power to enable us to discharge aright the holy functions of our relationship. “He giveth more grace.” This always holds good. But if we, instead of seeking grace to discharge our duty, seek ease in neglecting it, we are simply laying up a store of sorrow which will accumulate rapidly and fall upon us heavily at a future day. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6.)

This is the condensed statement of a great principle of God’s moral government – a principle of universal application, and one which applies, with singular force to the subject before us. As we sow, in the matter of the education of our children, so we shall, most assuredly, reap: There is no getting out of this.

But let not any dear Christian parent whose eye may scan these lines, be at all discouraged or fainthearted. There is no reason whatever for this; but, on the contrary, every reason for the most joyful confidence in God. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Let us tread, with a firm step, the path of duty; and then we can count, with unwavering confidence, upon our ever faithful and gracious God, for the need of each day, as it rolls along. and, in due time, we shall reap the precious fruit of our labour, according to the appointment of God, and in pursuance of the enactments of His moral government.

We do not attempt to lay down any rules or regulations for the training. We do not believe in such. Children cannot be trained by dry rules. Who could attempt to embody in rules all that is wrapped up in that one sentence, “Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”!

Here we have, indeed, a golden rule which takes in everything from the cradle to matured manhood. Yes, we repeat, “from the cradle;” for we are most fully persuaded that all true Christian training begins at the very beginning. Some of us have little idea of how soon and how sharply children begin to observe; and how much they take in as they gaze at us through their dear expressive eyes.

And then how marvellously susceptible they are of the word atmosphere which surrounds them! Yes; and it is this very moral atmosphere that constitutes the grand secret of training our families. Our children should be permitted to breathe, from day to day, the atmosphere of love and peace, purity, holiness and true practical righteousness. This has an amazing effect in forming the character. It is a great thing for our children to see their parents walking in love, in harmony, in tender care one for the other; in kind consideration for the servants; in love and sympathy for the poor. Who can measure the moral effect upon a child of the very first angry look, or unkind word between father and mother And in cases where the daily history is one of unsightly strife and contention, the father contradicting the mother, and the mother disparaging the father; how are children to grow in such an atmosphere as this?

The fact is, it is not within the compass of human language to set forth all that is involved in the moral tone of the entire family circle – the spirit, style, and atmosphere of the whole household, the drawing room, the dining-room, the nursery, the kitchen, where circumstances admit of such distinctions, or where the family have to confine themselves to two rooms. It is not a question of rank, position or wealth, but of the beauteous grace of God shining out in all. There may be the stalled ox, or the dinner of herbs; these are not, at present, in question But what we press on all fathers and mothers, all heads of households, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, is the necessity of training their children in an atmosphere of love and peace, truth and holiness, purity and kindness. Thus will their households be the practical exhibition of the character of God; and all who come in contact with them will, a least, have before their eyes a practical witness to the truth of Christianity.

But, ere we turn from the subject of domestic government, there is one special point to which we desire to call the attention of Christian parents – a point of the utmost possible moment, yet too much neglected amongst us, and that is the need of inculcating upon our children the duty of implicit obedience. This cannot be too strongly insisted upon, inasmuch as it not only affects the order and comfort of our households; but, what is infinitely more important, it concerns the glory of God, and the practical carrying out of His truth. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.” And again, “Children, obey your parents in all Things; for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” (Eph. 6; Col. 3.)

This is absolutely essential, and must be firmly insisted upon, from the very outset. The child must be taught to obey, from his earliest moments. He must be trained to submit himself to divinely appointed authority, and that, as the apostle puts it, “in all things.” If this be not attended to from the very first, it will be found almost impossible to attend to it afterwards. If the will be allowed to act, it grows, with terrible rapidity, and each day’s growth increases the difficulty of bringing it under control. Hence, the parent should begin at once, to establish his authority, on a basis of moral strength and firmness; and, when this is done, he may be as gentle and tender as the most loving heart could desire. We do not believe in sternness, harshness or severity. They are, by no means, necessary, and are generally the accompaniments of bad training and the proofs of bad temper. God has put into the parent’s hand the reins of government, and the rod of authority; but it is not needful – if we may so express it – to be continually chucking the reins and brandishing the rod, which are the sure proofs of moral weakness. Whenever you hear a man continually talking about his authority, you may be sure his authority is not properly established. There is a quiet dignity about true moral power which is perfectly unmistakable.

Furthermore, we judge it to be a mistake for a parent to be perpetually crossing a child’s will, in matters of no moment. Such a line of action tends to break the child’s spirit, whereas the object of all sound training is to break the will. The child should ever be impressed with the idea that the parent seeks only his real good; and that if he has to refuse or prohibit anything, it is not for the purpose of curtailing the child’s enjoyment, but simply for the promotion of his true interests.

One grand object of domestic government is to protect each member of the household in the enjoyment of his privileges, and in the proper discharge of his relative duties. Now, inasmuch as it is the divinely appointed duty of a child to obey, the parent is responsible to see this duty discharged, for if it be neglected, some other members of the domestic circle must suffer.

There can be no greater nuisance in a house than a naughty wilful child; and, as a general rule, wherever you find such, it is to be traced to bad training. We are aware, of course, that children differ in temper and disposition; that some children have peculiarly strong wills and sturdy tempers, and are therefore specially hard to manage.

All this we quite understand; but it leaves wholly untouched the question of the parent’s responsibility to insist upon implicit obedience. He can always count on God for the needed grace and power to carry out this point. Even in the case of a widowed mother, we believe, most assuredly, she can look to God to enable her to command her children and her household. In no case, therefore, should parental authority be surrendered, for a moment.

It sometimes happens that, through injudicious fondness, the parent is tempted to pamper the will of the child; but it is sowing to the flesh, and must yield corruption. It is not true love, at all, to indulge a child’s will; neither can it possibly minister to his true happiness or legitimate enjoyment. An overindulged, self-willed child is miserable himself, and a grievous infliction on all who have to do with him. Children should be taught to think of others; and to seek to promote their comfort and happiness in every way. How very unseemly it is, for example, for a child to enter the house and ascend the stairs whistling, singing and shouting, in total disregard of other members of the household who may be seriously disturbed and annoyed by such conduct! No properly trained child would think of acting in such a way; and where such unsubdued, unruly, inconsiderate conduct is allowed, there is a serious defect in the domestic government.

It is essential to family peace, harmony and comfort, that all the members should “consider one another.” We are responsible to seek the good and the happiness of those around us, and not our own. If all would but remember this, what different households we should have; and what a different tale would families have to tell! Every Christian household should be the reflection of the divine character. The atmosphere should just be the very atmosphere of heaven. How is this to be? Simply by each one, parent, child, master and servant seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, and manifest His Spirit. He never pleased Himself; never sought His own interest, in anything. He did always the thing that pleased the Father. He came to serve and to give. He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil. Thus it was ever with that most blessed One – the gracious, loving, sympathising Friend of all the sons and daughters of want, weakness and sorrow; and if only the various members of each Christian family were formed on this perfect model, we should, at least, realise something of the power and efficacy of personal and domestic Christianity, which, blessed be God, can ever be maintained and exhibited, notwithstanding the hopeless ruin of the professing church. “Thou and thy house” suggests a great golden principle which runs through the volume of God, from beginning to end. In every age, under every dispensation, in the days of the Patriarchs, in the days of the Law, and in the days of Christianity, we find, to our exceeding comfort and encouragement, that personal and domestic godliness has its place as something grateful to the heart of God and to the glory of His holy Name.

This we consider to be most consolatory, at all times, but more particularly at a time, like the Present, when the professing church seems so rapidly sinking into gross worldliness and open infidelity; and not this only, but when those who most earnestly desire to walk in obedience to the word of God, and to act on the grand foundation truth of the unity of the body, find it so difficult to maintain a corporate testimony. In view of all this, we may well bless God, with overflowing hearts, that personal and family piety can always be maintained, and that from the heart and the home of every Christian a constant stream of praise may ascend to the throne of God, and a stream of active benevolence flow out to a needy, sorrowful, sin-stricken world. May it be so, more and more, through the mighty ministry of God the Holy Ghost, that God, in all things, may be glorified, in the hearts and homes of His beloved people!

We have now to consider the very solemn warning addressed to the congregation of Israel, against the terrible sin of idolatry – a sin to which alas! the poor human heart is ever prone in one way or another. It is quite possible to be guilty of the sin of idolatry without bowing down before a graven image; wherefore it behoves us to weigh well the words of warning which fell from the lips of Israel’s venerable lawgiver. They are, most assuredly, written for our learning.

“And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness” – solemn and suited accompaniments of the occasion! – “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire” – Oh, how differently He speaks in the gospel of His grace! – “Ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude” – important fact for them to ponder! – “only a voice” – And “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” – “And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded me, at that time, to teach you statutes and judgements” – not that they might discuss them, sit in judgement upon them, or argue about them, but – “that ye might do them” – the grand old story, the Deuteronomic theme of obedience, most precious! whether out of or – “in the land whither ye go over to possess it.”

Here lies the solid ground of the appeal against idolatry. They saw nothing. God did not show Himself to them. He did not assume any bodily shape of which they might form an image. He gave them His word, His holy commandments, so plain that a child could understand them, and the wayfaring men though fools need not err therein. There was no need for them therefore to set about imagining what God was like; nay, this was the very sin against which they were so faithfully warned. They were called to hear God’s voice, not to see His shape – to obey His commandments, not to make an image of Him. Superstition vainly seeks to do honour to God by forming and worshipping an image. Faith, on the contrary, lovingly receives and reverently obeys His holy commandments. “If a man love me,” says our blessed Lord, “he will” – what? make an image of me, and worship it? Nay, but “he will keep my words.” This makes it so simple, so safe, so certain. We are not called to work up our minds to form any conception of God. We have simply to hear His word and keep His commandments. We can have no idea whatever of God, but as He has been pleased to reveal Himself. ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is declared to be the brightness of God’s Glory and the exact impression of His substance. He could say, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Thus the Son reveals the Father; and it is by the word, through the power of the Holy Ghost, that we know anything of the Son; and therefore for any one to attempt, by any efforts of his mind or workings of his imagination to conceive an image of God, or of Christ, is simply idolatry. To endeavour to arrive at any knowledge of God or of Christ, save by scripture, is simply mysticism and confusion; nay more, it is to put ourselves directly into the hands of the devil, to be led by him into the wildest, darkest, and deadliest delusion.

Hence, therefore, as Israel, at mount Horeb, was shut up to the “voice” of God, and warned against any similitude; so we are shut up to holy scripture, and warned against everything which would draw us away, the breadth of a hair, from that holy and all-sufficient standard. We must not listen to the suggestions of our own minds, nor to those of any other human mind. We must absolutely and sternly refuse to listen to anything but the voice of God – the voice of holy scripture. Here is true security, true rest. Here we have absolute certainty, so that we can say, “I know whom” – not merely what – “I have believed; and am persuaded that he,” &c.

“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth; and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

There is a very weighty truth set before us here. The people are expressly taught that in making any image and bowing down thereto, they, in reality, lowered and corrupted themselves. Hence, when they made the golden calf, the Lord said unto Moses, “Go, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.” It could not be otherwise. The worshipper must be inferior to the object of his worship; and therefore, in worshipping a calf, they actually put themselves below the level of the beasts that perish. Well, therefore, might He say, They “have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”

What a spectacle! A whole congregation, led by Aaron the high priest, bowing in worship before a thing formed by a graving tool out of the ear-rings which had just been taken from the ears of their wives and daughters! Only conceive a number of intelligent beings, people endowed with reason, understanding and conscience, saying of a molten calf, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!” They actually displaced Jehovah by an image graven by art and man’s device! And these were the people who had seen the mighty works of Jehovah, in the land of Egypt. They had seen plague after plague falling upon Egypt and its obdurate king. They had seen the land, as it were, shaken to its very centre, by the successive strokes of Jehovah’s governmental rod. They had seen Egypt’s first-born laid in death by the sword of the-destroying angel. They had seen the Red Sea divided by one stroke of Jehovah’s rod, and they had passed through upon dry ground between those crystal walls which afterwards fell, in crushing power, upon their enemies.

All these things had passed before their eyes; and yet they could, so soon, forget all, and say, of a molten calf, “These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Did they really believe that a molten image had made the land of Egypt to tremble, humbled its proud monarch, and brought them forth victoriously? Had a calf divided the sea for them, and led them majestically through its depths? So, at least, they said; for what will people not say when the eye and the heart are turned away from God and His word?

But, we may, perhaps, be asked, “Has all this a voice for us? Are Christians to learn anything from Israel’s molten calf? And do the warnings addressed to Israel against idolatry convey any voice to the ear of the church? Are we in danger of bowing down to a graven image? Is it possible, that we, whose high privilege it is to walk in the full-orbed light of New Testament Christianity, could ever worship a molten calf? “

To all this we reply, first of all, in the language of Romans 15: 4, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime” – Exodus 32 and Deuteronomy 4 included – “were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” This brief passage contains our chartered right to range through the wide field of Old Testament scripture and gather up and appropriate its golden lessons, to feed upon its “exceeding great and precious promises;” to drink in its deep and varied consolation; and to profit by its solemn warnings, and wholesome admonitions.

And then, as to our being capable of, or liable to, the gross sin of idolatry, we have a striking answer in? 1 Corinthians 10 where the inspired apostle uses the very scene at mount Horeb, as a warning to the church of God. We cannot do better than quote the entire passage for the reader. There is nothing like the word of God May we love, prize and reverence it more and more, each day!

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud,” – those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, as well as those who reached the land of promise – “and all passed through the sea; and were all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ” – how strong, how solemn, and how searching is this for all professors! – “But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our ensamples” – let us carefully mark this – “to the intent we should not lust after evil things” – things in any way contrary to the mind of Christ – “as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters” – so that professing Christians may be idolaters – “as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are met. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Here we learn, in the plainest manner, that there is no depth of sin and folly, no form of moral pravity into which we are not capable of plunging, at any moment, if not kept by the mighty power of God. There is no security for us save in the moral shelter of the divine presence. We know that the Spirit of God does not warn us against things to which we are not liable. He would not say to us, “Neither be ye idolaters,” if we were not capable of being such. Idolatry takes various shapes. It is not therefore a question of the shape of the thing, but of the thing itself; not the outward form, but the root or principle of the thing. We read that, “covetousness is idolatry;” and that a covetous man is an idolater. That is, a man desiring to possess himself of more than God has given him is an idolater – is actually guilty of the sin of Israel when they made the golden calf and worshipped it. Well might the blessed apostle say to the Corinthians – say to us, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” Why be warned to flee from a thing to which we are not liable? Are there any idle words in the volume of God ? What mean those closing words of the first epistle of John, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols”? Do they not tell us that we are in danger of worshipping idols? Assuredly they do. Our treacherous hearts are capable of departing from the living God, and setting up, some other object beside Him; and what is this but idolatry? whatever commands the heart is the heart’s idol, be it what it may, money, pleasure, power or ought else; so that we may well see the urgent need for the many warnings given us by the Holy Ghost against the sin of idolatry.

But we have, in Galatians 4, a very remarkable passage, and one which speaks, in most impressive accents, to the professing church. The Galatians had, like all other Gentiles, worshipped idols; but, on the reception of the gospel, had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. The Judaising teachers, however, had come among them, and taught them that unless they were circumcised and kept the law, they could not be saved.

Now this the blessed apostle unhesitatingly pronounces to be idolatry – a going back to the grossness and moral degradation of their former days, and all this after having professed to receive the glorious gospel of Christ. Hence the moral force of the apostle’s inquiry, “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God [or rather are known of God], how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”

This is peculiarly striking. The Galatians were not outwardly going back to the worship of idols. Is it not improbable that they would have indignantly repudiated any such idea. But, for all that, the inspired apostle asks them, “How turn ye again?” What does this inquiry mean, if they were not going back to idolatry? And what are we, now, to learn from the whole passage? Simply this, that circumcision, and getting under the law, and observing days, and months, and times, and years – that all this, though apparently so different, was nothing, more or less, than going back to their old idolatry. The observance of days and the worship of false gods were both a turning away from the living and true God; from His Son Jesus Christ; from the Holy Ghost; from that brilliant cluster of dignities and glories which belong to Christianity.

All this is peculiarly solemn for professing Christians. We question if the full import of Galatians 4: 8-10 is really apprehended by the great majority of those who profess to believe the Bible. We solemnly press this whole subject upon the attention of all whom it may concern. We pray God to use it for the purpose of stirring up the hearts and consciences of His people everywhere to consider their position, their habits, ways, and associations; and to inquire how far they are really following the example of the assemblies of Galatia; in the observance of saints’ days and such-like, which can only lead away from Christ and His glorious salvation. There is a day coming which will open the eyes of thousands to the reality of these things; and then they will see what they now refuse to see, that the very darkest and grossest forms of paganism may be reproduced under the name of Christianity, and in connection with the very highest truths that ever shone on the human understanding.

But, however slow we may be to admit our tendency to fall into the sin of idolatry, it is very plain, in Israel’s case, that Moses, as taught and inspired of God, felt the deep need of warning them against it, in the most solemn and affecting terms. He appeals to them on every possible ground, and reiterates his counsels and admonitions in a manner so impressive as to leave them, assuredly, without any excuse. They never could say that they fell into idolatry from want of warning, or of the most gracious and affectionate entreaty. Take such words as the following, “But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” (Ver. 20.)

Could anything be more affecting than this? Jehovah, in His rich and sovereign grace, and by His mighty hand brought them forth from the land of death and darkness, a redeemed and delivered people. He had brought them to Himself, that they might be to Him a peculiar treasure, above all the people upon earth. How then could they turn away from Him, from His holy covenant, and from His precious commandments?

Alas! alas! they could and did. They made a calf; and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Think of this! A calf, made by their own hands – an image, graven by art and man’s device, had brought them up out of Egypt! A thing made out of the women’s earrings, had redeemed and delivered them! And this has been written for our admonition. But why should it be written for us, if we are not capable of, and liable to, the very same sin! We must either admit that God the Holy Ghost has penned an unnecessary sentence, or admit our need of an admonition against the sin of idolatry; and, assuredly, our needing the admonition proves our tendency to the sin

Are we Better than Israel? In no wise. We have brighter light and higher privileges; but, so far as we are concerned, we are made of the same material, have the same capabilities, and the same tendencies as they. Our idolatry may take a different shape from theirs; but idolatry is idolatry, be the shape what it may; and the higher our privileges, the greater our sin. We may, perhaps, feel disposed to wonder how a rational people could be guilty of such egregious folly as to make a calf and bow down to it, and this, too, after having had such a display of the majesty, power and glory of God. Let us remember that their folly is recorded for our admonition; and that we, with all our light, all our knowledge, all our privileges, are warned to “flee from idolatry.”

Let us deeply ponder all this and seek to profit by it. May every chamber of our hearts be filled with Christ, and then we shall have no room for idols. This is our only safeguard. If we slip away, the breadth of a hair, from our precious Saviour and Shepherd, we are capable of plunging into the darkest forms of error and moral evil. Light, knowledge, spiritual privileges, church position, sacramental benefits are no security for the soul. They are very good, in their right place, and if rightly used; but, in themselves, they only increase our moral danger.

Nothing can keep us safe, right and happy, but having Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. Abiding in Him and He in us, the wicked one toucheth us not. But if personal communion he not diligently maintained, the higher our position, the greater our danger and the more disastrous our fall. There was not a nation beneath the canopy of heaven more favoured and exalted than Israel, when they gathered round mount Horeb to hear the word of God. There was not a nation on the face of the earth more degraded or more guilty than they when they bowed before the golden calf, an image of their own formation.

We must now give our attention to a fact of very deep interest, presented at verse 21 of our chapter, and that is that Moses, for the third time, reminds the congregation of God’s judicial dealing with himself. He had spoken of it, as we have seen, in Deut. 1: 37; and again at Deut. 3: 26; and here, again, he says to them, “Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan; but ye shall go over and possess that good land.”

Now, we may ask, why this threefold reference to the same fact? And why the special mention, in each instance, of the circumstance that Jehovah was angry with him on their account? One thing is certain, it was not for the purpose of throwing the blame over upon the people, or of exculpating himself. No one but an infidel could think this. We believe the simple object was to give increased word force to his appeal, more solemnity to his warning voice. If Jehovah was angry with such a one as Moses; if he, for his unadvised speaking at the waters of Meribah, was forbidden to enter the promised land – much as he desired it – how needful for them to take heed! It is a serious thing to have to do with God – blessed, no doubt, beyond all human expression or thought; but most serious, as the lawgiver himself was called to prove in his own person.

That this is the correct view of this interesting question seems evident from the following words, “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

This is peculiarly solemn. We must allow this statement to have its full moral weight with our souls. We must not attempt to turn aside its sharp edge by any false notions about grace. We sometimes hear it said that ” God is a consuming fire to the world.” By-and-by He will be so, no doubt; but now He is dealing in grace, patience, and long-suffering mercy with the world. He is not dealing in judgement with the world now. But, as the apostle Peter tells us, “The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God” So also, in Hebrews 12. we read, “For our God is a consuming fire.” He is not speaking of what God will be to the world, but of what He is to us. Neither is it, as some put it, “God is a consuming fire out of Christ.” We know nothing of God out of Christ. He could not be “our God” out of Christ.

No, reader; scripture does not need such twistings and turnings. It must be taken as it stands. It is clear and distinct; and all we have to do is to hearken and obey. “Our God is a consuming fire,” “a jealous God,” not to consume us, blessed be His holy Name; but to consume the evil in us and in our ways. He is intolerant of everything in us that is contrary to Himself – contrary to His holiness; and, therefore contrary to our true happiness, our real, solid blessing. As the “Holy Father” He keeps us, in a way worthy of Himself; and He chastens us, in order to make us partakers of His holiness. He allows the world to go on its way for the present, not interfering publicly with it. But He judges His house, and He chastens His children in order that they may more fully answer to His mind, and be the expression of His moral image.

And is not this an immense privilege? Yes, verily, it is a privilege of the very highest order – a privilege flowing from the infinite grace of our God who condescends to interest Himself in us, and occupy Himself even with Our infirmities, our failures and our sins, in order to deliver us from them, and to make us partakers of His holiness.

There is a very fine passage bearing upon this subject, in the opening of Hebrews 12 which, because of its immense practical importance, we must quote for the reader. “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.”

There are three ways of meeting divine chastening: we may “despise” it, as something common-place, something that may happen to any one. We do not see the hand of God in it; Again, we may “faint” under it, as something too heavy for us to bear, something entirely beyond endurance. We do not see the Father’s heart in it, or recognise His gracious object in it, namely, to make us partakers of His holiness. Lastly, we may be “exercised by it.” This is the way to reap “the peaceable fruit of righteousness, afterward;” We dare not “despise” a thing in which we trace the hand of God. We need not “faint” under a trial in which we plainly discern the heart of a loving Father who will not suffer us to be tried above what we are able; but will with the trial make an issue, that we may be able to bear it; and who also graciously explains to us His object in the discipline, and assures us that every stroke of His rod is a proof of His love, and a direct response to the prayer of Christ, in John 17: 11, wherein He commends us to the care of the “Holy Father,” to be kept according to that name and all that name involves.

Furthermore, there are three distinct attitudes of heart in reference to divine chastening, namely, subjection, acquiescence and rejoicing. When the will is broken, there is subjection when the understanding is enlightened as to the object of the chastening, there is calm acquiescence. And when the affections are engaged with the Father’s heart, there is rejoicing, and we can go forth with glad hearts to reap a golden harvest of the peaceable fruit of righteousness to the praise of Him who, in His painstaking love, undertakes to care for us and to deal with us in holy government, and concentrate His care upon each one as though there were but that one to attend to.

How wonderful is all this! Grand how the thought of it should help us in all our trials and exercises! we are in the hands of One whose love is infinite, whose wisdom is unerring, whose power is omnipotent, whose resources are inexhaustible. Why then should we ever be cast down If He chastens us, it is because He loves us and seeks our real good. We may think the chastening grievous. We may feel disposed to wonder, at times, how love can inflict pain and sickness upon us; but we must remember that divine love is wise and faithful, and only inflicts the pain, the sickness or the sorrow for our profit and blessing. We must not always judge of love by the form in which it clothes itself. Look at that fond and tender mother applying a blister to her child whom she loves as her own soul. She knows full well that the blister will cause her child real pain and suffering; and yet she unhesitatingly applies it, though her heart feels keenly at having to do it. But she knows it is absolutely necessary; she believes that, humanly and medically speaking, the child’s life depends upon it. She feels that a few moments’ pain may, with the blessing of God, restore the health of her precious child. Thus, while the child is only occupied with the transient suffering, the mother is thinking of the permanent good; and if the child could but think with the mother, the blister would not seem so hard to bear.

Now it is just thus in the matter of our Father’s disciplinary dealings with us; and the remembrance of this would greatly help us to endure whatever His chastening hand may lay upon us. It may perhaps be said that there is a very wide difference between a blister laid on for a few minutes, and years of intense bodily suffering. No doubt there is; but there is also a very wide difference between the result reached in each case. It is only with the principle of the thing we have to do. When we see a beloved child of God, or servant of Christ, called to pass through years of intense suffering, we may feel disposed to wonder why it is; and perhaps the beloved sufferer may also feel disposed to wonder; and, as times, be ready to faint under the weight of his long protracted affliction He may feel led to cry out “Why am I thus? Can this be love? Can this be the expression of a Father’s tender care?” “Yes, verily,” is faith’s bright and decided reply. “It is all love – all divinely right. I would not have it otherwise for worlds. I know this transient suffering is working out eternal blessing. I know my loving Father has put me into this furnace to purge away my dross, and bring out in me the expression of His own image. I know that divine love will always do the very best for its object, and therefore this intense suffering is the very best thing for me. Of course, I feel it, for I am not a stick or a stone. My Father means me to feel it, just as the mother means the blister to rise, for it would do no good otherwise. But I bless Him, with my whole heart, for the grace that shines in the wondrous fact of His occupying Himself with me, in this way, to correct what He sees to be wrong in me. I praise Him for putting me into the furnace; and how can I but praise Him, when I see Himself, in infinite grace and patience, sitting over the furnace to watch the process, and lift me out the moment the work is done!”

This, beloved Christian reader, is the true way, and this the right spirit in which to pass through chastening of any kind, be it bodily affliction, sore bereavement, loss of property, or pressure of circumstances. We have to trace the hand of God, to read a Father’s heart, to recognise the divine object in it all. This will enable us to vindicate, justify and glorify God, in the furnace of affliction. It will correct every murmuring thought, and hush every fretful utterance. It will fill our hearts with sweetest peace and our mouths with praise.

We must now turn, for a few moments, to the remaining verses of our chapter, in which we shall find some most touching and powerful appeals to the heart and conscience of the congregation. The lawgiver, in the deep, true and fervent love of his heart, makes use of the most solemn warnings, the most earnest admonition, and the most tender entreaties, in order to move the people to the one grand and all-important point of obedience. If he speaks to them of the iron furnace of Egypt, out of which Jehovah, in His sovereign grace, had delivered them; if he dwells upon the mighty signs and wonders wrought on their behalf; if he holds up to their view the glories of that land on which they were about to plant their foot; or if he recounts the marvellous dealings of God with them in the wilderness – it is all for the purpose of strengthening the moral basis of Jehovah’s claim upon their loving and reverent obedience. The past, the present, and the future are all brought to bear upon them – all made to furnish powerful arguments in favour of their whole-hearted consecration of themselves to the service of their gracious and Almighty Deliverer. In short, there was every reason why they should obey; and no possible excuse for disobedience. All the facts of their history, from first to last, were eminently calculated to give moral force to the exhortation and warning of the following passage.

“Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly Perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.”

How solemn is all this! What faithful warnings are here! Heaven and earth are summoned to witness. Alas! how soon and how completely all this was forgotten! And how literally all those heavy denunciations have been fulfilled in the history of the nation!

But, thank God, there is a bright side of the picture. There is mercy as well as judgement; and our God, blessed for ever be His holy Name, is something more than “a consuming fire and a jealous God.” True, He is a consuming fire, because He is holy. He is intolerant of evil, and must consume our dross. Moreover, He is jealous because He cannot suffer any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, as He alone can fill and satisfy it for ever. And if His people turn away from Him, and go after idols of their own making, they must be left to reap the bitter fruit of their own doings, and to prove, by sad and terrible experience, the truth of these words, “their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another.”

But mark how touchingly Moses presents to the people the bright side of things – a brightness springing from the eternal stability of the grace of God, and the perfect provision which that grace has made for all His people’s need, from first to last. “But,” he says – and oh! how lovely are some of the “buts” of holy scripture! – “if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul” – exquisite grace! – “when thou art in tribulation” – that is the time to find what our God is – “and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice.” – What then? “A consuming fire?” Nay; but “the Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them.”

Here we have a remarkable onlook into Israel’s future, their departure from God, and consequent dispersion among the nations; the complete breaking up of their polity, and the passing away of their national glory. But, blessed for ever be the God of all grace, there is something beyond all this failure, and sin, and ruin and judgement. When we get to the far end of Israel’s melancholy history – a history which my truly be summed up in that one brief but comprehensive sentence, “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself,” we are met by the magnificent display of the grace, mercy and faithfulness of Jehovah, the God of their fathers whose heart of love tells itself out in that added sentence, “In me is thy help.” Yes; the whole matter is wrapped up in these two vigorous sentences, “Thou hast destroyed thyself” – “But in me is thy help.” In the former, we have the sharp arrow for Israel’s conscience; in the latter, the soothing balm for Israel’s broken heart.

In thinking of the nation of Israel, there are two pages which we have to study, namely, the historic and the prophetic. The page of history records, with unerring faithfulness, their utter ruin. The page of prophecy unfolds in accents of matchless grace, God’s remedy. Israel’s past has been dark and gloomy. Israel’s future will be bright and glorious. In the former, we see the miserable actings of man; in the latter, the blessed ways of God. That gives the forcible illustration of what man is; this, the bright display of what God is. We must look at both, if we would understand aright the history of this remarkable people – “a people terrible from their beginning hitherto” – and we may truly add, a people wonderful to the end of time.

We do not, of course, attempt to adduce, in this place, proofs of our statement as to Israel’s past and Israel’s future. To do so would, we may say, without any exaggeration, demand a volume, inasmuch as it would simply be to quote a very large portion of the historical books of the Bible, on the one hand; and of the prophetic books, on the other. This, we need hardly say, is out of the question; but we feel bound to press upon the reader’s attention the precious teaching contained in the quotation given above. It embodies, in its brief compass, the whole truth as to Israel’s past, present and future. Mark how their past is vividly portrayed in these few words, “When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger.

Is not this precisely what they have done? Is it not here, as it were, in a nutshell? They have done evil in the sight of Jehovah their God, to provoke Him to anger. That one word, “evil” takes all in, from the calf at Horeb to the cross at Calvary. Such is Israel’s past.

And, now, what of their present. Are they not a standing monument of the imperishable truth of God? Has a single jot or tittle failed of all that God has spoken Hearken to these glowing words: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.”

Has not all this been fulfilled to the letter? Who can question it! Israel’s past and Israel’s present alike attest the truth of God’s word. And, are we not justified in declaring that, inasmuch as the past and present are a literal accomplishment of the truth of God, so shall the future assuredly. The page of history and the page of prophecy were both indited by the same Spirit; and therefore they are both alike true; and as the history records Israel’s sin and Israel’s dispersion, so doth the prophecy predict Israel’s repentance and Israel’s restoration. The one is as true to faith as the other. As surely as Israel sinned in the past, and are scattered at the present, so surely shall they repent and be restored in the future.

This, we conceive, is beyond all question; and we rejoice to think of it. There is not one of the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi, that does not, most distinctly, set forth, in accents of sweetest grace and most tender mercy, the future blessing, pre-eminence and glory of the seed of Abraham.* It would be simply delightful to quote some of the sublime passages bearing upon this most interesting subject; but we must leave the reader to search them out for himself, specially commending to his notice the precious passages contained in the closing chapters of Isaiah, in which he will find a perfect feast, as well as the fullest confirmation of the apostle’s statement that “All Israel shall be saved.” All the prophets, “from Samuel and those that follow after” agree as to this. The teachings of the New Testament harmonise with the voices of the prophets; and hence to call in question the truth of Israel’s restoration to their own land, and final blessing there, under the rule of their own Messiah, is simply to ignore or deny the testimony of Prophets and apostles, speaking and writing by the direct inspiration of God the Holy Ghost; it is to set aside a body of scripture evidence perfectly overwhelming.

{*Jonah, of course, is an exception, his mission was to Nineveh. He is the only prophet whose commission had exclusive reference to the Gentiles.}

It seems passing strange that any true lover of Christ should seek to do this; yet so it is, and so it has been, through religious prejudice, theological bias, and various other causes. But, notwithstanding all this, the glorious truth of Israel’s restoration and pre-eminence in the earth shines with undimmed lustre on the prophetic page, and all who seek to set it aside, or interfere with it, in any way, are not only flying in the face of holy scripture-contradicting the unanimous voice of apostles and prophets, but also seeking to tamper – ignorantly and unwittingly, no doubt-with the counsel, purpose and promise of the Lord God of Israel, and to nullify His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

This is serious work for any one to engage in; and we believe many are doing it without being aware of it; for we must understand that any one who applies the promises made to the Old Testament fathers to the New Testament church is, in reality, doing the serious work of which we speak. We maintain that no one has the slightest warrant to alienate the promises made to the fathers. We may learn from those promises; delight in them; draw comfort and encouragement from their eternal stability and direct literal application. All this is blessedly true; but it is another thing altogether for men, under the influence of a system of interpretation falsely called “spiritualism,” to apply to the church or to believers of New Testament times, prophecies which, as simply and plainly as words can indicate, apply to Israel – to the literal seed of Abraham.

This is what we consider so very serious. We believe we have very little idea of how thoroughly opposed all this is to the mind and heart of God. He loves Israel – loves them for the fathers’ sake; and we may rest assured He will not sanction our interference with their place, their portion, or their prospect. We are all familiar with the words of the inspired apostle, in Romans 11, however we may have missed or forgotten their true import and moral force.

Speaking of Israel, in connection with the olive tree of promise, he says, ” And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in; for” – the most simple, solid and blessed of all reasons – “God is able” – as He is most surely willing – “to graff them in again. For if thou were cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.* And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed in your mercy (or mercy to you. See Greek] that they also may obtain mercy.” That is, that instead of coming in on the ground of law, or fleshly descent, they should come in simply on the ground of sovereign mercy, just as the Gentiles-“For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”

{*The reader must seize the difference between “The fullness of the Gentiles” in Romans 11, and “The times of the Gentiles” in Luke 21. The former refers to those who are now being gathered into the church. The latter, on the contrary, refers to the times of Gentile supremacy which began with Nebuchadnezzar, and runs on to the time when “the stone cut out without hands” shall fall, in crushing power, upon the great image of Daniel 2.}

Here ends the section bearing upon our immediate subject; but we cannot refrain from quoting the splendid doxology which bursts forth from the overflowing heart of the inspired apostle as he closes the grand dispensational division of his epistle: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! For who hath know the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, – as the source – “and through him” – as the channel – “and to him” – as the object – “are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

The foregoing splendid passage, as indeed all scripture, is in perfect keeping with the teaching of the fourth chapter of our book. Israel’s present condition is the fruit of their dark unbelief. Israel’s future glory will be the fruit of God’s rich sovereign mercy. “The Lord thy God is a merciful God, he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he sware unto them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other” – The utmost bounds of time and space were to be appealed to, to see – “whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and lived Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee, and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.”

Here we have set forth, with singular moral power, the grand object of all the divine actings on Israel’s behalf. It was that they might know that Jehovah was the one true and living God; and that there was, and could be none beside Him. In a word, it was the purpose of God that Israel should be a witness for Him on the earth; and so they, most assuredly, shall; though hitherto they have signally failed, and caused His great and holy Name to be blasphemed among the nations. Nothing can hinder the purpose of God. His covenant shall stand for ever. Israel shall yet be a blessed and effective witness for God on the earth, and a channel of rich and everlasting blessing to all nations. Jehovah has pledged His word as to this; and not all the powers of earth and hell, men and devils combined, can hinder the full accomplishment of all that He has spoken. His glory is involved in Israel’s future; and if a single jot or tittle of His word were to fail, it would be a dishonour cast upon His great Name, and an occasion for the enemy, which is utterly impossible. Israel’s future blessing and Jehovah’s glory are bound together by a link which can never be snapped. If this be not clearly seen, we can neither understand Israel’s past nor Israel’s future. Nay more, we may assert, with all possible confidence, that unless this blessed fact be fully grasped, our system of prophetic interpretation must be utterly false.

But there is another truth set forth in our chapter – a truth of peculiar interest and preciousness. It is not merely that the glory of Jehovah is involved in Israel’s future restoration and blessedness; the love of His heart is also engaged. This comes out with touching sweetness, in the following words: “And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.”

Thus the truth of God’s word, the glory of His great Name, and the love of His heart are all involved in His dealings with the seed of Abraham His friend; and albeit they have broken the law, dishonoured His Name, despised His mercy, rejected His prophets, crucified His Son, and resisted His Spirit – although they have done all this, and, in consequence thereof, are scattered and peeled and broken, and shall yet pass through unexampled tribulation – yet will the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob glorify His Name, make good His word, and manifest the changeless love of His heart, in the future history of His earthly people. “Nothing changeth God’s affection.” Whom He loves, and as He loves, He loves unto the end.

If we deny this, in reference to Israel, we have not so much as a single inch of solid standing ground for ourselves, If we touch the truth of God in one department, we have no security as to anything. “Scripture cannot be broken.” “All the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen, unto the glory of God.” God has pledged Himself to the seed of Abraham. He has promised to give them the land of Canaan, for ever: “His gifts and calling are without repentance.” He never repents of His gift or His call; and therefore for any one to attempt to alienate His promises and His gifts, or to interfere, in any way, with their application to their true and proper object, must be a grievous offence to Him. It mars the integrity of divine truth, deprives us of all certainty in the interpretation of holy scripture, and plunges the soul in darkness, doubt and perplexity.

The teaching of scripture is clear, definite and distinct. The Holy Ghost who indited the sacred Volume, means what He says, and says what He means. If He speaks of Israel, He means Israel – of Zion, He means Zion – of Jerusalem, He means Jerusalem. To apply any one of these names to the New Testament church, is to confound things that differ, and introduce a method of interpreting scripture which, from its vagueness and looseness, can only lead to the most disastrous consequences. If we handle the word of God in such a loose and careless manner, it is utterly impossible to realise its divine authority over our conscience, or exhibit its formative power, in our course, conduct and character.

We must now look, for a moment, at the powerful appeal with which Moses sums up his address in our chapter. It demands our profound and reverent attention. “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever.” (Vers. 39, 40.)

Here we see that the moral claim upon their hearty obedience is grounded upon the revealed character of God, and His marvellous actings on their behalf. In a word, they were bound to obey-bound by every argument that could possibly act on the heart, the conscience, and the understanding. The One who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; who had made that land to tremble to its very centre, by stroke after stroke of His judicial rod; who had opened up a pathway for them through the sea; who had sent them bread from heaven, and brought forth water for them out of the flinty rock; and all this for the glory of His great Name, and because He loved their fathers – surely He was entitled to their whole-hearted obedience.

This is the grand argument, so eminently characteristic of this blessed book of Deuteronomy. And, surely, this is full of instruction for Christians now. If Israel were morally bound to obey, how much more are we! If their motives and objects were powerful, how much more so are ours! Do we feel their power? Do we consider them in our hearts? Do we ponder the claims of Christ upon us? Do we remember that we are not our own, but bought with a price, even the infinitely precious price of the blood of Christ? Do we realise this? Are we seeking: to live for Him. Is His glory our ruling object, His love our constraining motive? Or, are we living for ourselves? Are we seeking to get on in the world-that world that crucified our blessed Lord and Saviour? Are we seeking to make money? Do we love it in our hearts, either for its own sake or for the sake of what it can procure? Does money govern us? Are we seeking a place in the world, either for ourselves or for our children? Let us honestly challenge our hearts, as in the divine presence, in the light of God’s truth, what is our object – our real, governing, cherished, heart-sought object?

Reader, these are searching questions. Let us not put them aside. Let us really weigh them in the very light of the judgement-seat of Christ. We believe they are wholesome, much needed questions. We live in very solemn times. There is a fearful amount of sham on every side; and in nothing is this sham so awfully apparent as in so-called religion. The very days in which our lot is cast have been sketched by a pen that never colours, never exaggerates, but always presents men and things precisely as they are. “This know also, that in the last days” – quite distinct from “The latter times” of 1 Timothy 4, – far in advance, more pronounced, more closely defined, more strongly marked, these last days in which – “perilous [or difficult] times shall come. For men shall be lovers of there own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection truce-breakers, false accusers incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more [or rather] than lovers of God.” And, then, mark the crown which the inspired apostle puts upon this appalling superstructure! – “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”(2 Tim. 3: 1-5)

What a terrible picture! We have here, in a few glowing, weighty sentences, infidel Christendom; just as in 1 Timothy 4, we have superstitious Christendom. In the latter, we see popery; in the former, infidelity. Both elements are at work around us; but the latter will yet rise into prominence; indeed, even now, it is advancing with rapid strides. The very leaders and teachers of Christendom are not ashamed or afraid to attack the foundations of Christianity. A so-called Christian bishop is not ashamed or afraid to call in question the integrity of the five books of Moses, and, with them, of the whole Bible; for, most assuredly, if Moses was not the inspired writer of the Pentateuch, the entire edifice of holy scripture is swept from beneath our feet. The writings of Moses are so intimately bound up with all the other grand divisions of the divine Volume, that, if they are touched, all is gone. We boldly affirm, that if the Holy Ghost did not inspire Moses, the servant of God, to write the first five books of our English Bible, we have not an inch of solid ground to stand upon. We are positively left without a single atom of divine authority on which to rest our souls. The very pillars of our glorious Christianity are swept away, and we are left to grope our way, in hopeless perplexity, amid the conflicting opinions and theories of infidel doctors, without so much as a single ray from inspiration’s heavenly lamp.

Does this appear too strong for the reader? Does he believe that we can listen, for a moment, to the infidel denier of Moses, and yet believe in the inspiration of the Psalms, the Prophets, and the New Testament? If he does, let him be well assured he is under the power of a fatal delusion. Let him take such passages as the following, and ask himself, what do they mean, and what is wrapped up in them? Our Lord, in speaking to the Jews – who, by the way, would not have agreed with a Christian bishop in denying the authenticity of Moses – says, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” (John 5: 45-47.)

Think of this. The man that does not believe in the writings of Moses – does not receive every line of his, as divinely inspired, does not believe in Christ’s words, and therefore cannot have any divinely wrought faith in Christ Himself, cannot be a Christian at all. This makes it a very serious matter for any one to deny the divine inspiration of the Pentateuch; and equally serious for any one to listen to him, or sympathise with him. It is all very well to talk of Christian charity and liberality of spirit. But we have yet to learn that it is charity or liberality to sanction, in any way, a man who has the audacity to sweep from beneath our feet the very foundations of our faith. To speak of him as a Christian bishop or a Christian minister of any kind, is only to make the matter a thousand times worse. We can understand a Voltaire or a Paine attacking the Bible. We do not look for anything else from them; but when those who assume to be the recognised and ordained ministers of religion, and the guardians of the faith of God’s elect, those who consider themselves alone entitled to teach and preach Jesus Christ, and feed and tend the church of God – when they actually call in question the inspiration of the five books of Moses, may we not well ask, where are we? What has the professing church come to?

But let us take another passage. It is the powerful appeal of the risen Saviour to the two bewildered disciples on their way to Emmaus: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” And, again, to the eleven and others with them, He says, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me.” (Luke 24: 25-27, 44.)

Here we find that our Lord, in the most distinct and positive manner, recognises the law of Moses as an integral part of the canon of inspiration, and binds it up with all the other grand divisions of the divine Volume, in such a way that it is utterly impossible to touch one without destroying the integrity of the whole. If Moses is not to be trusted, neither are the prophets nor the Psalms. They stand or fall together. And not only so; but we must either admit the divine authenticity of the Pentateuch or draw the blasphemous inference that our adorable Lord and Saviour gave the sanction of His authority to a set of spurious documents, by quoting as the writings of Moses what Moses never wrote at all! There is, positively, not a single inch of consistent standing ground between these two conclusions.

Again, take the following most weighty and important passage at the close of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.” (Luke 16: 29-31.)

Finally, if we add to all this the fact that our Lord, in His conflict with Satan in the wilderness, quotes only from the writings of Moses, we have a body of evidence quite sufficient, not only to establish, beyond all question, the divine inspiration of Moses, but also to prove that the man who calls in question the authenticity of the first five books of the Bible, can really have no Bible, no divine revelation, no authority, no solid foundation for his faith. He may call himself, or be called by others, a Christian bishop or a Christian minister; but in solemn fact, he is a sceptic, and should be treated as such by all who believe and know the truth. We cannot understand how any one with a spark of divine life in his soul could be guilty of the awful sin of denying the inspiration of a large portion of the word of God, or asserting that our Lord Christ could quote from spurious documents.

We may be deemed severe in thus writing. It seems the fashion, now-a-days, to own as Christians those who deny the very foundations of Christianity. It is a very popular notion that, provided people are moral, amiable, benevolent, charitable and philanthropic, it is of very small consequence what they believe. Life is better than creed or dogma, we are told. All this sounds very plausible; but the reader may rest assured that the direct tendency of all this manner of speech and line of argument is to get rid of the Bible – rid of the Holy Ghost rid of Christ – rid of God – rid of all that the Bible reveals to our souls. Let him bear this in mind, and seek to keep close to the precious word of God. Let him treasure that word in his heart; and give himself, more and more, to the prayerful study of it. Thus he will be preserved from the withering influence of scepticism and infidelity, in every shape and form; his soul will be fed and nourished by the sincere milk of the word, and his whole moral being be kept in the shelter of the divine presence continually. This is what is needed. Nothing else will do.

We must now close our meditation on this marvellous chapter which has been engaging our attention; but, ere doing so, we would glance, for a moment, at the remarkable notice of the three cities of refuge. It might, to a cursory reader, seem abrupt; but, so far from that, it is, as we might expect, in Perfect and beautiful moral order. Scripture is always divinely perfect; and, if we do not see and appreciate its beauties and moral glories, it is simply owing to our blindness and insensibility.

“Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; that the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of those cities he might live. Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.”

Here we have a lovely display of the grace of God rising, as it ever does, above human weakness and failure. The two tribes and a half, in choosing their inheritance on this side Jordan, were manifestly stopping short of the proper portion of the Israel of God which lay on the other side of the river of death. But, notwithstanding this failure, God, in His abounding grace, would not leave the poor slayer without a refuge, in the day of his distress. If man cannot come up to the height of God’s thoughts, God can come down to the depths of man’s need; and so blessedly does He do so, in this case, that the two tribes and a half were to have as many cities of refuge, on this side Jordan, as the nine tribes and a half had in the land of Canaan.

This truly was grace abounding. How unlike the manner of man! How far above mere law or legal righteousness! It might, in a legal way, have been said to the two tribes and a half, “If you are going to choose your inheritance short of the divine mark, if you are content with less than Canaan, the land of promise, you must not expect to enjoy the privileges and blessings of that land. The institutions of Canaan must be confined to Canaan; and hence your manslayer must try and make his way across the Jordan and find refuge there.”

Law might speak thus, but grace spoke differently God’s thoughts are not ours, nor His ways as ours. We might deem it marvellous grace to provide even one city for the two tribes and a half. But our God does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think; and hence the comparatively small district on this side Jordan was furnished with as full a provision of grace as the entire land of Canaan.

Does this prove that the two and a half tribes were right? Nay; but it proves that God was good; and that He must ever act like Himself, spite of all our weakness and folly. Could he leave a poor slayer without a place of refuge in the land of Gilead, though Gilead was not Canaan? Surely not. This would not be worthy of the One who says, “I bring near my righteousness.” He took care to bring the city of refuge “near” to the slayer. He would cause His rich and precious grace to flow over and meet the needy one just where he was. Such is the way of our God, blessed be His holy Name, for evermore!

“And this is the law which Moses see before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, on this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: and they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon; even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, and all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.”

Here closes this marvellous discourse. The Spirit of God delights to trace the boundaries of the people, and to dwell on the most minute details connected with their history. He takes a lively and loving interest in all that concerns them – their conflicts, their victories, their possessions, all their landmarks, everything about them is dwelt upon with a minuteness which, by its touching grace and condescension, fills the heart with wonder, love and praise. Man, in his contemptible self-importance, thinks it beneath his dignity to enter upon minute details; but our God counts the hairs of our heads; puts our tears into His bottle; takes knowledge of our every care, our every sorrow, our every need. There is nothing too small for His love, as there is nothing too great for His power. He concentrates His loving care upon each one of His people as though He had only that one to attend to; and there is not a single circumstance in our private history, from day to day, however trivial, in which He does not take a loving interest.

Let us ever remember this, for our comfort; and may we learn to trust Him better, and use, with a more artless faith, His fatherly love and care. He tells us to cast all our care upon Him, in the assurance that He careth for us. He would have our hearts as free from care as our conscience is free from guilt. “Be careful for nothing; but, in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4: 6, 7.)

It is to be feared that the great majority of us know but little of the real depth, meaning and power of such words as these. We read them, and hear them; but we do not take them in, and make our own of them. We do not digest them and reduce them to practice. How little do we really enter into the blessed truth that our Father is interested in all our little cares and sorrows; and that we may go to Him with all our little wants and difficulties. We imagine that such things are beneath the notice of the High and Mighty One who inhabiteth eternity, and sitteth upon the circle of the earth. This is a, serious mistake, and one that robs us of incalculable blessing, in our daily history. We should ever remember that there is nothing great or small with our God. All things are alike to Him who sustains the vast universe by the word of His power, and takes notice of a falling sparrow. It is quite as easy to Him to create a world as to provide a breakfast for some poor widow. The greatness of His power, the moral grandeur of His government, and the minuteness of His tender care do, all alike, command the wonder and the worship of our hearts.

Christian reader, see that you make your own of all these things. Seek to live nearer to God in your daily walk. Lean more upon Him. Use Him more. Go to Him in all your need, and you will never have to tell your need to a poor fellow mortal. “My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What a source! – “God.” What a standard! – “His riches in glory.” What a channel! – “Christ Jesus.” It is your sweet privilege to place all your need over against His riches, and lose sight of the former in the presence of the latter. His exhaustless treasury is thrown open to you, in all the love of His heart; go and draw upon it, in the artless simplicity of faith, and you will never have occasion to look to a creature stream, or lean on a creature prop.

Fuente: Mackintosh’s Notes on the Pentateuch

Deu 4:1-40. Second Part of Moses First Address.This contains exhortations to obedience from motives of self-interest and of gratitude to Yahweh, and forms an apparent logical unity with Deu 1:6 to Deu 3:29 : but the two pieces had probably a separate origin. The lessons in Deu 4:1-40 are not drawn immediately from chs. 13. The writer of 13 has in mind the events which followed the departure from Horeb: that of Deu 4:1-40 concentrates attention upon the theophany on Horeb.

Deu 4:27-31 seems to imply that the exile has taken place. Yet the editor of Dt. evidently regarded Deu 1:6 to Deu 4:40 as a unity, and the characteristic language and spirit of D runs through the whole.

Deu 4:1-4. Long life and possession of Canaan are often mentioned in Dt. as rewards of obedience.statutes and judgments: Deu 4:45*. The principle of a fixed Canon of Scripture is involved in 2. At the close of his Code Hammurabi pronounces a blessing upon the man who will not deface or alter his law, and a curse upon anyone who will change it in the least degree.

Deu 4:3. because of: read, in (see Num 25:1-5).

Deu 4:4. The idea of cleaving to Yahweh is peculiar to Dt.

Deu 4:5. Render, I teach, etc.

Deu 4:7. a god: render, gods.

Deu 4:9. thy soul: Hebraism = thyself (emphatic), Deu 2:30*.thy children: Dt. lays stress on the duty of training children (Deu 6:7, etc.).

Deu 4:10 f. Cf. Exo 19:9 f., Ex. 1917f.

Deu 4:10. in Horeb: i.e. in the space in front of Horeb, so Deu 9:8, Deu 18:16. The duty of fearing Yahweh (Job 1:1) is often insisted upon in Dt.

Deu 4:13. The idea of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel holds a conspicuous place in Dt. and in allied writings of the OT, especially in Jer. Dt. mentions three covenants: (a) That made with the fathers in which Yahweh promises a numerous posterity (Deu 13:17) and the possession of the land of Canaan (Deu 6:18, cf. Gen 15:18 (JE), etc.). (b) The covenant made at Horeb based upon the Decalogue (see Deu 5:7 ff., Deu 9:9 f., cf. Deu 4:23). (c) That made in the land of Moab, sharply distinguished from that of Mount Horeb in Deu 29:1 (Heb. rightly 28:69), see Deu 29:9; Deu 29:12; Deu 29:14; Deu 29:21, Deu 26:17-19. It is not strictly true that the conception of a covenant between Yahweh and Israel occurs first in D (see Hos 2:18; Hos 6:7 f., Gen 15:18 (J), Deu 26:1-4 (J), and Deu 28:13 f. (J).ten commandments: Heb. ten words (Exo 34:28), hence the technical term Decalogue from the Gr. (LXX) rendering (deka logoi).two tables of stone: in P the two tables of the testimony (Exo 31:18).

Deu 4:15-24 gives reasons why Israel should not worship idols.

Deu 4:16. corrupt yourselves: render, act corruptly.graven image: Exo 20:4*. The specific forms follow (cf. molten image, Deu 9:12).

Deu 4:18. the water under the earth: the abyss of waters on which the earth was supposed to rest; see Gen 1:6-8*, Gen 49:25. Exo 20:4, and Cent.B, Psalms, vol. ii. p. 174f.

Deu 4:20. iron furnace: one heated sufficiently to melt iron (see Jer 11:4, etc.).a people of inheritance: a Hebraism, meaning a possessed people (see Deu 7:6).

Deu 4:21. for your sakes: Deu 1:37*, cf. Deu 3:26.sware: Yahwehs oath to exclude Moses from Canaan is not mentioned elsewhere. Some omit the clause.giveth: better here and elsewhere in the same connexion, is about to give.

Deu 4:25-31 seems to presuppose the Exile if not also the Restoration.

Deu 4:25. provoke: the Heb. word, common in Dt., Jer., etc. means, to annoy, bother, not to make angry (so Deu 9:18, Deu 31:29, Deu 32:16; Deu 32:21; cf. Deu 9:7 a*).

Deu 4:26. Heaven and earth are summoned as abiding witnesses; see Deu 30:19, Deu 31:28, Deuteronomy 32; Isa 1:2, Jer 2:12; Jer 6:19.

Deu 4:31. merciful: better, compassionate.

Deu 4:33 f. God: render in both verses a god.

Deu 4:34. temptations: better, testings (see Deu 6:16). These and also the signs and wonders (lit. outstanding acts) refer all of them to the plagues of Egypt viewed on different sides.by a mighty hand, etc.: a frequent expression in Dt. (Deu 5:15, etc.), cf. Jer 32:21.

Deu 4:35; Deu 4:39 teach absolute monotheism.

Deu 4:36. instruct: in the moral and religious sense (see Deu 8:5, chasten, same verb).Add to Deu 4:36 and didst live (see Deu 4:33), and omit the first word of Deu 4:37. The difference in the Heb. is slight.

Deu 4:37. loved; Dt. dwells much on Yahwehs love (Deu 7:8; Deu 7:13, etc.) and also on Israels duty to love Yahweh.with his presence: Hebraism for Himself; my presence (lit. face) in Heb. means, I myself (see Exo 33:14 (J), and cf. Deu 2:30*, Deu 4:9*).

Deu 4:40. Obedience pays, so Dt. constantly teaches (see Deu 5:16; Deu 5:33, etc.).

Deu 4:41-43 (three cities of refuge E. of the Jordan) is an interpolation, and has no connexion here with the preceding or succeeding verses. The sites are unknown (see Deu 19:1 ff.*, where the subject is introduced as if for the first time.

Deu 4:45-49 is the proper introduction to Deuteronomy 6-11 as Deu 4:44 is that to Deuteronomy 12-26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Deu 4:44. law: Deu 1:5*.

Deu 4:45. Render these are the admonitions (lit. commands given in the presence of witnesses) and the statutes (lit. what is engraved on wood or stone, cf. CH) and the ordinances (lit. judicial decisions, then precedent laws).Moses . . . Egypt: Moses could not have written so.

Deu 4:48. Sion: a clerical slip for Sirion (Deu 3:9*).

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

MOSES INSISTS ON OBEDIENCE

(vs.1-14)

Because God had already blessed Israel and intended to bless them more greatly still. Moses urges them to “listen to the statutes and judgments” he is teaching them, for these are their very life and the basis for their possessing the land God had given them (v.1). How vitally true this is for us today also. It is the Word of God by which we live (Mat 4:4), and it is that Word by which we enter into the blessings “in heavenly places” that are given us “in Christ Jesus” (Eph 1:3).

Well may we therefore take to heart the warning of verse 2, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it.” This is found in a book of history (Deuteronomy). A similar warning is given in Scripture poetry, “Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar” (Pro 30:6), and another such warning in the prophecy of Scripture, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone take away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev 22:11-19).

Moses reminds Israel also of the corruption that led to judgment at Baal-Peor (Num 25:1-9). This sinful association was a violation of the Word of God, and the Lord God destroyed those Israelites who mixed with the women of Moab (v.3). Compromise with the enemy will ruin a testimony for God. “But you,” Moses says, “who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today” (v.4). This is an encouragement. Moses tells them he has taught them statutes and judgments just as the Lord had commanded him. This brings to mind Paul’s address to the elders of Ephesus in Act 20:1-38, where he tells them, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (v.27). This was in his last message to them.

To obey the Word of God would be Israel’s wisdom and their understanding in the sight of other peoples who would hear of these statutes (v.5). When they would see the effect God’s Word had on Israel, others would recognize that Israel was a wise and understanding nation. And Moses asks the question, “What great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is for us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?” (v.7). For the Church today too. how wonderful is the emptiness of the world around us!

The statutes and judgment God had given Israel also were far superior in truth and righteousness to those of any other nation (v.8). This was true of the law as God gave it. How much more superior are the provisions of God’s grace to the Church today — grace that brings out a response of godly devotion and faithful action on the part of believers (Tit 2:11-12).

Just as Timothy was told, “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine” (1Ti 4:16), so Israel is told, “Take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen” (v.9). We may too easily forget things that have at one time greatly impressed us, so that we need constant reminders. As they were told to teach these things that have at one time greatly impressed us, so that their children and grandchildren, so we need the same admonition. It is too often the case that the passing of only one or two generations the truth has been so let slip that there appears hardly a shadow of it left. This happened in Israel too.

Moses reminds Israel of the day of the giving of the law in Horeb (v.10), when He had sought to impress them with the law’s impotence, so that by this Israel would learn to fear God in practical life and they would teach their children. None of those to whom he spoke now had been over 20 years of age at that time, so that most of them had not witnessed the sight at Mount Horeb, though they would have been told about it. Still, Moses says, “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud and thick darkness” (v.11). Whether it was the same people or not, it was the same nation.

The Lord spoke out of the midst of the fire. Israel saw no form, but they heard His voice (v.12). God declared His covenant and accompanied it by writing the ten commandments on two tables of stone (v.13). At the same time He commanded Moses to teach Israel His statutes and judgments, not only for the wilderness journey, but in view of their crossing into the land of Canaan (v.14). The passing of forty years in the wilderness made no difference as to Israel’s responsibility to keep the law, and keep it consistently in the land of Canaan.

WARNING AS TO IDOLATRY AND ITS RESULTS

(vs.15-28)

Again Moses insists that Israel saw no form when the Lord spoke to them at Horeb, for the danger was present that they might corrupt themselves by making a carved image, whether in the form of a male or female or any animal, bird, reptile or fish (vs.16-18). Israel’s history had illustrated the need for such a warning, for immediately after the law had been given they made the golden calf, breaking the first law they had promised to keep (Exo 32:1-4).

Also, if they lifted their eyes up to heaven, beyond the level of earthly creatures, let them be sure to look above the sun, moon and stars (v.9), to the One who had created all these things, rather than to worship these visible works of God’s hands. Faith believers in the One “whom no man has seen or can see” (1Ti 6:16). Though God has created these wonderful heavenly bodies, they are there only to direct our attention to their unseen Maker. Yet Israel later turned again to worship idols of every sort (Eze 8:9-12), as well as the sun (Eze 8:16). Then Isa 47:13 speaks of the multitude of Israel’s counsels by “the astrologers, the stargazers and the monthly prognosticators.” Thus there were star worshipers and moon worshipers (true of monthly prognosticators). These same evils are prevalent in the knowledge of the Word of God.

Again Moses reminds them that the Lord had brought them “out of the iron furnace” of Egypt’s bondage and persecution, that they should be His people, a special inheritance for Him (v.20). Yet God was teaching Israel that He was indeed a God of true holiness when He denied Moses permission to enter the land of Canaan with them, telling him he would die in the land east of Jordan, while Israel would cross over to inherit the land of Canaan (vs.21-22).

Earnestly Moses repeats his warning to Israel not to forget the covenant the Lord had made with them (v.23), and degrade themselves by making any carved image, whatever form it might take. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (v.24). Fire is the most evident single element in the universe. Every star, our own sun included, is a ball of intense hot fire. The earth is stored with fire, covered by a crust only 30 miles thick, broken through periodically by volanic action, often with startling suddenness, spreading grim death and desolation in their wake. Our very atmosphere, scientists tell us, if changed a little in the measure of its components, would provide fuel for an earth-encircling holocaust. So fire is a striking witness to the awesome holiness of God in judgment. Let Israel, and all people, beware of insulting a God of such burning power and majesty!

Yet the fire of the sun is wonderful in the warmth it provides for mankind. This tells us also that God is a God of love, and all who submit to His authority will find the warmth of His love a marvelous blessing, a pleasant fire rather than a consuming fire. Jealousy in God’s case is perfectly right, just as it is right for a man or woman to be jealous of the affections of his or her spouse. The measure of God’s love to Israel in the same measure of His hatred against all that causes people harm to Israel. Since God loves people. He must hate sin which causes people harm and damage. If people take sides with their sin against God, then they must suffer the same judgment that their sin incurs.

The same government of God was to continue through Israel’s history. When children and grandchildren replaced the present generation, the same danger would be there of corrupting themselves with idolatry to provoke God to anger (v.25). If they did this, then both heaven and earth would bear witness against them to cause them to “utterly perish from the land” (v.26). We know that this was not only a warning, but a prophecy of what actually happen. For they would then be scattered among the people of other countries and left few in number (v.27). There they would serve idols, the work of men’s hands, “which neither see nor hear nor eat or smell” (v.28). God who has done this is certainly not mere image with no life in it!

GOD’S RESTORING MERCY

(vs.29-40)

Yet God would not give Israel up indefinitely to the folly of idolatry. Moses tells them that in the area where they have been scattered they will eventually again seek the Lord God and will find Him in seeking with all their heart and soul. We know they will not do this of their own volition, but God will work in their hearts to drive them back to Him, as is illustrated in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones (Eze 37:1-14). It will be the Lord Himself speaking who causes these bones of the whole house of Israel to come together and have flesh put on them, a figure of God’s raising Israel from their state of helpless, inanimate ruin.

God will make Israel feel the distance of their condition “in the latter days,” to cause them to turn to the Lord and obey His voice in contrast to their former rebellion (v.30). “For the Lord your God is a merciful God” (v.31). Though He will allow Israel to suffer the painful results of their disobedience, He will not forsake nor destroy them. In spite of their breaking of the covenant of law, God will not forget or break His covenant established with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long before the covenant of law was introduced.

When Moses appealed to Israel to consider that in all their past history God had proven Himself wonderfully gracious and faithful. They were urged to inquire if, from the beginning of the history of mankind, there had been any great thing like the way God had dealt with Israel (v.32). What nation had ever heard God Himself speaking out of the midst of a fire such as at Horeb (v.33)? Or, did God ever take any other nation out of the midst of a nation by means of trials, signs and wonders, by a hand of mighty power, inflicting great terror on the oppressing nation (v.34)? This was an amazing thing that ought to have bowed people’s hearts in adoration of One so great, so powerful, so faithful and gracious. There was every evidence to prove to them that the Lord Himself is God, the only true God (v.35).

God had spoken out of heaven, showing His great glory in the consuming fire, from the midst of which He spoke (v.36). Because He loved their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, therefore He blessed not only them but their descendants also, and brought them out of Egypt (v.37). Believers also today should be constantly reminded that God has delivered us from the miserable bondage of our sins, so that we should never be inclined to return to such bondage.

Besides this the Lord was driving out from before Israel nations greater and mightier than they in order to give Israel their proper inheritance (v.38). This pictures the defeat of satanic forces by the power of God, that believers might enjoy their inheritance “in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Since God has so worked by His grace and power on behalf of Israel, every evidence was before Israel’s eyes that “the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. There is no other” (v.39). This being so, it was only right that Israel should keep God’s statutes and commandment’s (v.40). Such obedience was the means by which things would go well with them and with their children, to give them longer days in the land. He does not say that this would keep them interminably in their land, for he knew that eventually they would disobey and be scattered out of their land.

THREE CITIES OF REFUGE

(vs.41-43)

As Moses had before been instructed (Num 35:9-15), he now begins the work of setting apart certain cities of refuge. The three cities to the west of the Jordan would have to wait (Jos 20:1-9) till that land was conquered, but the three east of the Jordan were appointed by Moses — Bezer, Ramoth and Golan. Bezer means fortification. a place enclosed and safe from outside attack. This speaks of Christ, the only true safety for one who had before been linked with those who crucified Him, but has no attitude of hatred toward Him. Such an one is welcome if he flees to the Lord Jesus, but if he hated him he would not flee to Him. Ramoth means height, speaking of the place of exaltation to which every believer is brought through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, raised up and seated in heavenly places (Eph 2:6). What a contrast to the place of lowest shame and humiliation that was ours because being guilty of the death of Christ! God provides such a refuge for all who have judged themselves in view if the cross of Christ.

Golan means Joy or exultation, for when the Lord receives one into the refuge if His presence, then we find more than protection, more than a high position, but “joy inexpressible and full of glory ” (1Pe 1:8). It would be a joy for a manslayer to reach the protection of the city, but for a believer today our joy is not only in our safety, but we “rejoice in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:3) who is personally the refuge of our souls. This is an exulting joy that lifts us high above the level of our circumstances.

A REVIEW OF THE LAW

(vs.44-49)

Verse 44 begins a second major division of Deuteronomy, in which the law is reviewed and expanded. Moses speaks from the viewpoint of Israel’s having already conquered the land of Sihon and that of Og king of Bashan, which included a large amount of territory. The fact of Israel’s conquest of this eastern land by the power of God is intended to add emphasis to the responsibility of Israel to closely observe God’s commandments. He had already greatly blessed them, therefore He was certainly entitled to their respect and obedience. These verses introduced the subject began in chapter 5.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to {a} do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

(a) For this doctrine stands not in bare knowledge, but in practice of life.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

B. An exhortation to observe the law faithfully 4:1-40

Moses turned in his address from contemplating the past to an exhortation for the future. This section is the climax of his first speech.

"The parallel between the literary structure of this chapter and that of the Near Eastern treaty is noteworthy. The author of the treaty is named (1, 2, 5, 10), reference is made to the preceding historical acts, the treaty stipulations are mentioned, the appeal is made for Israel to obey, the treaty sanctions, blessing and cursing, are referred to, witnesses are mentioned (26), and the obligation to transmit the knowledge of the treaty to the next generation is stated (10). While these elements in the Near Eastern treaty are not set out in a rigid legal form, but are woven into a speech without regard for strict formality, they can be clearly discerned." [Note: Thompson, p. 102. Cf. Merrill, Deuteronomy, p. 113.]

"Moses stresses the uniqueness of God’s revelation to them and their responsibility." [Note: Samuel J. Schultz, Deuteronomy, p. 30.]

"He [Moses] would not enter the land and guide the people in God’s Law, so he now gives them his explanation of the Law to use in his absence. His central purpose in this section is to draw out the chief ideas of the Sinai narratives, Exodus 19-33." [Note: Sailhamer, p. 433.]

These chief ideas are the Torah as wisdom (Deu 4:1-14), warning against idolatry (Deu 4:15-24), the possibility of exile (Deu 4:25-31), and God’s presence with Israel (Deu 4:32-40).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

1. The appeal to hearken and obey 4:1-8

Moses urged the Israelites to "listen to" (Deu 4:1) and to "obey" (Deu 4:2; Deu 4:5-6) the Mosaic Law. "Statutes" (Deu 4:1) were the permanent basic rules of conduct whereas "judgments" (ordinances, Deu 4:1) were decisions God revealed in answer to specific needs. The judgments set precedent for future action (e.g., the case of Zelophehad’s daughters).

Moses used the illustration of the recent seduction of the Israelites by the Midianites and God’s consequent plague (Num 25:1-9) to warn the people of the danger of disregarding God’s Law (Deu 4:3-4).

Moses’ appeal rested on the promises of life (Deu 4:1) and possession of the land (Deu 4:1). He also referred to the praise that would come on the Israelites from other peoples for the Israelites’ obedience (Deu 4:6), their relationship of intimacy with God (Deu 4:7), and the intrinsic superiority of their laws (Deu 4:8).

"The theology of the nations at large taught that the supreme gods were remote and inaccessible. Though they were perceived in highly anthropomorphic terms, they also were thought to be so busy and preoccupied with their own affairs that they could scarcely take notice of their devotees except when they needed them. [Note: M. Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, pp. 27-31.] It was in contrast to these notions, then, that Moses drew attention to the Lord, God of Israel, who, though utterly transcendent and wholly different from humankind, paradoxically lives and moves among them." [Note: Merrill, Deuteronomy, p. 117.]

"In this exposition of the way of the covenant as the way of wisdom, the foundation was laid in the Torah for the Wisdom literature which was afterwards to find its place in the sacred canon." [Note: Kline, "Deuteronomy," p. 161.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

MOSES FAREWELL SPEECHES

Deu 4:1-40, Deu 27:1-26; Deu 28:1-68; Deu 29:1-29; Deu 30:1-20.

WITH the twenty-sixth chapter the entirely homogeneous central portion of the Book of Deuteronomy ends, and it concludes it most worthily. It prescribes two ceremonies which are meant to give solemn expression to the feeling of thankfulness which the love of God, manifested in so many laws and precepts, covering the commonest details of life, should have made the predominant feeling. The first is the utterance of what we have called the “liturgy of gratitude” at the time of the feast of first fruits; and the second is the solemn dedication of the third years tithe to the poor and the fatherless, and the disclaimer of any misuse of it. Further notice of either after what has already been said in reference to them would be superfluous. The closing verses (Deu 26:16-19) of the chapter are a solemn reminder that all these transactions with God had bound the people to Yahweh in a covenant. “Thou hast avouched Yahweh this day to be thy God” and, “Yahweh hath avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people (am segullah) unto Himself.” By this they were bound to keep Yahwehs statutes and judgments, and do them with all their heart and with all their soul, while He, on His part, undertakes on these terms to set them “high above all nations which He hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor,” and to make them a holy people unto Himself.

But the original Deuteronomy as read to King Josiah cannot have ended with chapter 26, for the thing that awed him most was the threat of evil and desolation which were to follow the non-observance of this covenant. Now though there are indications of such dangers in the first twenty-six chapters of Deuteronomy, yet threats are not, so far, a prominent part of this book. The book as read must consequently have contained some additional chapters, which, in part at least, must have contained threats. Now this is what we have in our Biblical Deuteronomy. But in chapters 27 and 28 there are reduplications which can hardly have formed part of the original authors work. An examination of these has led every one who admits composite authorship in the Pentateuch to see that from chapter 27 onwards the original work has been broken up and dovetailed again with the works of JE and P; so that component parts of the first four books of the Hexateuch appear along with elements which the author of Deuteronomy has supplied. We have, in fact, before us, from this point, the work of the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the framework of the Pentateuch; and it is of importance, from an expository point of view even, to endeavor to restore Deuteronomy to its original form, and to follow out the traces of it that are left.

As we have said, we must look for the threats and promises which undoubtedly formed part of it. These are contained in chapters 27 and 28. But a careful reader will feel at once that chapter 27 disturbs the connection, and that 28 should follow 26. In Deu 27:9-10 alone seem necessary to give a transition to chapter 28; and if all the rest were omitted we should have exactly what the narrative in Kings would lead us to expect, a coherent, natural sequence of blessings and curses, which should follow faithfulness to the covenant, or unfaithfulness. The rest of chapter 27 is not consistent either with itself or with Jos 8:30, where the accomplishment of that which is commanded here is recorded. In Deu 27:1-3 Moses and the elders command the people to set up great stones and plaster them with plaster and write upon them all the words of this law, on the day when they shall pass over Jordan, that they may go in unto the land. In Deu 27:4 it is said that these stones are to be set up in Mount Ebal, and there an altar of unhewn stones is to be built, and sacrifices offered, “and thou shalt write upon the stones very plainly.” From the position of this last clause and the mention of Mount Ebal, the course of events would be quite different from that which Deu 27:1-3 suggest. The stones were, according to Deu 27:4 ff., to be set up in Mount Ebal; out of these an altar of unhewn stones was to be built; and on them the law was to be inscribed, and this is what Joshua says was done. But if we take all the verses, Deu 27:1-8, together, we can reconcile them only by the hypothesis that the stones were set up as soon as Jordan was crossed, plastered, and inscribed with the law; that afterwards they were removed to Mount Ebal and built into an altar “of unhewn stone,” upon which sacrifices were offered. But that surely is in the highest degree improbable; and since we know that in other cases two narratives have been combined in the sacred text, that would seem the most probable solution here. Deu 27:4-8 will in that case be a later insertion, probably from J. In the same connection Deu 27:15-26 contain a list of crimes which are visited with a curse and no blessings; this cannot be the proclamation of blessing and cursing which is here required. Further, this list must be by a different author, for it affixes curses to some crimes which are not mentioned in Deuteronomy, and omits such sins as idolatry, which are continually mentioned there. This section must consequently have been inserted here by some later hand. It must probably have been later even than the time of the writer of Jos 8:33 ff., since the arrangement as reported there differs from what is prescribed here. Moreover, as there is nothing new in these sections, and all they say is repeated substantially in chapter 28, we may give our attention wholly to Deu 28:1-68, as being the original proclamation of blessing and curse.

But other entanglements follow. Chapters 29 and 30 manifestly contained an adieu on the part of Moses, who turns finally to the people with an affecting and solemn speech of farewell. That appears m chapters 29 and 30. But for many reasons it is impossible to believe that these chapters as they stand are the original speech of Deuteronomy. The language is in large part different, and there are references to the Book of the Law as being already written out. {Deu 29:19 f. 26, and Deu 30:10} It is probably therefore an editors rewriting of the original speech, and from the fact that “it contains many points of contact with Jeremiah in thoughts and words,” it is probably to be dated in the Exile. But there is another noticeable thing in connection with it. It has a remarkable resemblance in these and other respects to Deu 4:1-40. That passage can hardly have originally followed chapters 1-3, if as is most probable these were at first a historic introduction to Deuteronomy. The hortative character of Deu 4:1-40 shows that it must have been placed where it is by a reviser. But the language, though not altogether that of Deuteronomy, is like it, and the thought is also Deuteronomic. Probably the passage must have been transferred from some other part of Deuteronomy and adapted by the editor. A clue to its true place may perhaps be found in Deu 4:8, where “all this law” is spoken of as if it were already given, and in Deu 4:5, where we read, “Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments.” These passages imply that the law of Deuteronomy had been given, and in that case chapter 4 must belong to a closing speech. We probably shall not be in error, therefore, in thinking Deu 4:1-40 ; Deu 29:29 are all founded on an original farewell speech which stood in Deuteronomy after the blessing and the curse.

But it may be asked, if that be so, why did an editor make these changes? The answer is to be found in two passages in chapters 31 and 32 which cannot be harmonized as they stand. In Deu 31:19 we are told that Yahweh commanded Moses to write “this song” and teach it to the children of Israel, “that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel,” and Deu 31:22, “So Moses wrote this song.” But in Deu 31:28 f. we read that “Moses said, Assemble unto me all the elders of the tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.” Obviously “these words” are different from “this song,” and are meant for a different purpose. The same ambiguity occurs at the end of the song in Deu 32:44 ff., where we first read of Moses ending “this song,” and in the next verse we read, “And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel.” Now what has become of “these words”? In all probability they were the substance of chapters 4 and 29 and 30, and were separated and amplified, because the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the Pentateuch took over the song in chapter 32, as well as those passages of 31 and 32, that speak of this song, from JE. He accepted them as a fitting conclusion for the career of Moses, and transferred the original speech, which we suppose to have been the last great utterance of the original Deuteronomy, putting the main part of it immediately before the song, but taking parts out of it to form a hortatory ending (such as the other Moses speeches have) to that first one which he had formed out of the historic introduction. This may seem a very complicated process and an unlikely one; but after the foundation had been built by Dillmann, Westphal has elaborated the whole matter with such luminous force that it seems hardly possible to doubt that the facts can be accounted for only in this way. By piecing together 4, 30, and 31 he produces a speech so thoroughly coherent and consistent that the mere reading of it becomes the most cogent proof of the substantial truth of his argument.

An analysis of it will show this.

(1) There is the introduction; up till now the people have understood neither the commands nor the love of Yahweh. {Deu 29:1-9}

(2) There is the explanation of the Covenant; {Deu 29:10-15}

(3) A command to observe the Covenant; {Deu 4:1-2}

(4) Warning against individual transgression, which will be punished by the destruction of the rebel; {Deu 29:16-21; Deu 4:3-4}

(5) Warning against collective transgression, which will be punished by the ruin of the people. {Deu 4:5-26} The author, from this point regarding the transgression as an accomplished fact, announces:

(6) The dispersion and exile of the people; {Deu 4:27-28}

(7) The impression produced on future generations by the horror of this dispersion Deuteronomy (Deu 29:22-28);

(8) The conversion of the exiles to God; {Deu 4:30-31}

(9) Their return to the land of their fathers. {Deu 30:1-10}

(10) In conclusion, it is stated that the power of Yahweh to sustain the faith of His people and to save them is guaranteed by the past; {Deu 4:32-40} and there is no reason therefore that the people should shrink from obeying the commandment prescribed.to them. It is a matter of will. Life and death are before them; let them choose. {Deu 30:11-20}

The analysis of the remaining chapters is not difficult. Deu 31:14-23; Deu 31:30, form the introduction to the song, Deu 32:1-43, just as Deu 32:44 is the conclusion of it. Both introduction and song are extracted probably from J and E. Deu 32:48-52 are after P. Then follows the blessing of Moses, chapter 33. Finally, chapter 34 contains an account of Moses death and a final eulogy of him, in which all the sources JE, P, and D have been called into requisition. The threefold cord which runs through the other books of the Pentateuch was untwisted to receive Deuteronomy, and has been re-twisted so as to bind the Pentateuch into one coherent whole. That is the result of the microscopic examination which the text as it stands has undergone, and we may pretty certainly accept it as correct. But we should not lose sight of the fact that, as the book is now arranged, it has a notable coherence of its own, and the impression of unity which it conveys is in itself a result of great literary skill. Not only has the editor combined Deuteronomy into the other narratives most successfully, but he has done so not only without falsifying, but so as to confirm and enhance the impression which the original book was meant to convey.

We turn now to the substance of the two speeches-the proclamation of the blessing and the curse, and the great farewell address. As we have seen, the first is contained in chapter 28. If any evidence were now needed that this chapter was written later than the Mosaic time, it might be found in the space given to the curses, and the much heavier emphasis laid upon them than upon the blessings. Not that Moses might not have prophetically foretold Israels disregard of warnings. But if the heights to which Israel was actually to rise had been before the authors mind as still future, instead of being wrapped in the mists of the past, he could not but have dwelt more equally upon both sides of the picture. Whatever supernatural gifts a prophet might have, he was still and in all things a man. He was subject to moods like others, and the determination of these depended upon his surroundings. He was not kept by the power of God beyond the shadows which the clouds in his sky might cast; and we may safely say that if the curses which are to follow disobedience are elaborated and dwelt upon much more than the blessings which are to reward obedience, it is because the author lived at a time of unfaithfulness and revolt. Obviously his contemporaries were going far in the evil way, and he warns them with intense and eager earnestness against the dangers they are so recklessly incurring.

But after all we have seen of the spirituality of the Deuteronomic teaching, and its insistence upon love as the true bond between men and God and the true motive to all right action, it is perhaps disappointing to some to find how entirely these promises and threats have their center in the material world. Probably nowhere else will the truth of Bacons famous saying that “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament” be more conspicuously seen than here. If Israel be faithful she is promised productivity, riches, success in war. Even when it is promised that she shall be established by Yahweh as a holy people unto Himself, the meaning seems to be that the people shall be separated from others by these earthly favors, rather than that they shall have the moral and spiritual qualities which the word “holy” now connotes. Other nations shall fear Israel because of the Divine favor. Israel shall be raised above them all. If it become unfaithful, on the other hand, it is to be visited with pestilence, consumption, fever, inflammation, sword, blasting, mildew. The earth is to be iron beneath them, and the heaven above them brass. Instead of rain they are to have dust; they are to be visited with more than Egyptian plagues. Their minds are to refuse to serve them; they are to be defeated in war; their country is to be overrun by marauders; their wives and children, their cattle and their crops, are to fall into the enemys hands. Locusts and all known pests are to fall upon their fields; and they themselves are to be carried away captive, after having endured the worst horrors of siege, and been compelled by hunger to devour their own children. And in exile they shall be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, and shall be ruled by oppressive aliens. Worst of all, they shall there lose hope in God and “shall serve other gods, even wood and stone.” Their lives shall hang in doubt before them. In the morning they shall say, “Would God it were evening,” and at even they shall say, “Would God it were morning.” All the deliverance Yahweh had wrought for them by bringing them out of Egypt would be undone, and once more they should go back into Egyptian bondage.

All that is materialistic enough; but there is no need to make apology for Deuteronomy, nevertheless. The prophet has taught the higher law; he has rooted all human duty, both to God and man, in love to God, and now he tries to enlist mans natural fear and hope as allies of his highest principle. How justifiable that is we have already seen in chapter 12.

But a more serious question is raised when it is asked, does Nature, in definite sober truth, lend itself, in the manner implied throughout this chapter, to the support of religious and moral fidelity? At a time when imaginative literature is largely devoting itself to an angry or querulous denial Of any righteous force working for the unfortunate and the faithful, there can be no question what the popular answer to such a question would be. But from the ranks of literature itself we may summon testimony on the other side. Mr. Hall Caine, in his address at the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, maintains in a wider and more general way the essence of the Deuteronomic thesis when he says, “I count him the greatest genius who touches the magnetic and Divine chord in humanity which is always waiting to vibrate to the sublime hope of recompense; I count him the greatest man who teaches men that the world is ruled in righteousness.” And his justification of that position is too admirable not to be quoted: “Life is made up of a multitude of fragments, a sea of many currents, often coming into collision and throwing up breakers: We look around and see wrong-doing victorious, and right-doing in the dust; the evil man growing rich and dying in his bed, the good man becoming poor and dying in the street; and our hearts sink and we say, What is God doing after all in this world of His children? But our days are few, our view is limited, we cannot watch the event long enough to see the end which Providence sees.” “It is the very province of imaginative genius,” he goes on to say, “to see that which the common mind cannot see, to offer to it at least suggestions of how these triumphs of unrighteousness may be accounted for in accordance with the law that righteousness rules in the world.” We would go further. It is one of the main purposes of inspiration to go beyond even imaginative genius, to point out in history not only how right may perhaps ultimately triumph, but how it has been in reality and must be victorious. For it will not do to shut off the world of material things from the working of this great and universal law. Owing to the narrow fanaticism of science, modern men have become skeptical, not only of miracle, but even of the fundamental truth that righteousness is profitable for the life that now is, that in following righteousness men are co-operating with the deepest law of the universe. But it remains a truth for all that. It is written deep in the heart of man; and in more wavering lines perhaps, but still most legibly, it is written on the face of things. With the limitations of his time and place, this is what the Deuteronomist preaches. Doubtless he has not faced, as Job does, the whole of the problem; still less has he attained to the final insight exhibited in the New Testament, that temporal gifts may be curses in disguise, that the highest region of recompense Is in the eternal life, in the domain of things which are invisible but eternal. He does not yet know, though he has perhaps a presentiment of it, that being completely stripped of all earthly good may be the path to the highest victory-the victory which makes men more than conquerors through Christ. Nevertheless he is, making these allowances, right, and the moderns are wrong. In many ways obedience to spiritual inspirations does bring worldly prosperity. The absence of moral and spiritual faithfulness does affect even the fruitfulness of the soil, the fecundity of animals, the prevalence of disease, the stability of ordered life, and success in war. This was visible to the ancient world generally in a dim way; but by the inspired men of the Old Covenant it was clearly seen, for they were enlightened for the very purpose of seeing the hand of God where others saw it not. But they never thought of tracing out the chain of intermediate causes by which such results were connected with mens spiritual state. They saw the facts, they recognized the truth, and they threw themselves back at once upon the will of God as the sufficient explanation.

We, on the other hand, have been so diligent in tracing out the immediately preceding links of natural causation that, for the most part, we have been fatigued before we reached God. We consequently have lost view of Him; and it is wholesome for us to be brought sharply into contact with the ancient Oriental mind as we are here, in order that we may be forced to go the whole way back to Him. For the fact is that much of that very process of decay and destruction from moral causes is going on before us in countries like Turkey and Morocco, where social righteousness is all but unknown, and private morality is low. A truly modern mind scorns the idea that the fertility of the soil can be affected by immorality. Yet there is the whole of Mesopotamia to show that misgovernment can make a garden into a desert. Where teeming populations once covered the country with fruitful gardens and luxurious cities, there are now in the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates a few handfuls of people, and all the fertility of the country has disappeared. Irrigation channels which made all things live have been choked up and have been gradually filled with drifting sand, and one of the most populous and fertile countries of the world has become a desert. In Palestine the same thing may be seen. Under Turkish domination the character of the soil has been entirely changed. In many places where in ancient days the hills were terraced to the top the sweeping rains have had their way, and the very soil has been carried off, leaving only rocks to blister in the pitiless sun. Even in the less likely sphere of animal fecundity modern science shows that peace and good government and righteous order are causes of extraordinary power. And the movements which are going on around us at this day in the elevation and depression of nations and races have a visible connection with fidelity or lack of fidelity to known principles of order and justice. This can be said without concealing how scanty and partial in most cases such attainments are. Prevailing principles can be discerned in the providence which rules the world. And these are of such a kind that the connection which obedience to the highest known rules of life has with fertility, success, and prosperity, is constant and intimate. It is, too, far wider reaching than at first sight would seem possible. To this extent, even modern knowledge justifies these blessings and curses of Deuteronomy.

But it may be asked, is this all the Old Testament means by such threats and promises? Does it recognize any even self-imposed limitations to the direct action of Divine power? Most probably it does not. Though always keeping clear of Pantheism, the Old Testament is so filled and possessed by the Divine Presence that all second causes are ignored, and the action of God upon nature was conceived, as it could not fail to be, on the analogy of a workman using tools. Now that the methods of Divine action in nature have been studied in the light of science, they have been found to be more fixed and regular than was supposed. The extent of their operation, too, has been found to be immeasurably wider, and the purposes which have to be cared for at every moment are now seen to be infinitely various. As a result, human thought has fallen back discouraged, and takes refuge more and more in a conception of nature which practically deifies it, or at least entirely separates it from any intimate relation to the will of God. It is even denied that there is any purpose in the world at all, or any goal, and to chance or fate all the vicissitudes of life and the mechanical changes of nature are attributed. But though we must recognize, as the Old Testament does not, that ordinary Divine action flows out in perfectly well-defined channels, and is so stable in its movement that results in the sphere of physical nature may be predicted with certainty; and though we see, as was not seen in ancient days, that even God does not always approach His ends by direct and short-cut paths, -these considerations only make the Old Testament view more inspiring and more healthful for us. We may gather from it the inference that if the fertility of a land, the frequency of disease, and success in war are so powerfully affected by the moral and spiritual quality of a people, it is very likely that in subtler and less palpable ways the same influences produce similar effects, even in regions where they cannot be traced. If so, whatever allowance may be required for the inevitable simplicity of Old Testament conceptions on this subject, however much we miss the limitations we have learned to regard as necessary, the Deuteronomic view as to the effects of moral and spiritual declension upon the material fortunes of a people is much nearer the truth than our timorous and hesitating half-belief. To find these effects emphasized and affirmed as they are here, therefore, acts as a much needed tonic in our spiritual life. Coming too from a man who possessed, if ever man did, Divinely inspired insight into the process of the world and the ideal of human life, these promises and warnings bring God near. They dissipate the mists which obscure the workings of Gods Providence, and keep before us aspects of truth which it is the present tendency of thought to ignore too much. They declare in accents which carry conviction that, even in material things, the Lord reigneth; and for that the world has reason to be supremely glad.

Certainly Christians now know that prosperity in material things is by no means Gods best gift. That great principle must be held to firmly, as well as the legitimacy of the vivid hopes and fears of Old Testament times regarding the material rewards of right-doing. In many ways the new principle must overrule and modify for us those hopes and fears. But with this limitation we are justified in occupying the Deuteronomic standpoint and in repeating the Deuteronomic warnings. For to its very core the world is Gods; and those who find His working everywhere are those whose eyes have been opened to the inmost truth of things.

With regard to the farewell speech contained in chapters 29 and 30 and the related parts of chapter 4 and chapter 31 there is not much to be said. Taken as a whole, it develops the promises and threats of the previous chapters, and repeats again with affectionate hortatory purpose much of the history. But there is not a great deal that is new; most of the underlying principles of the address have been already dealt with. Taken according to the reconstruction of the speech and its reinsertion in its original framework, the course of things would seem to have been this. After the threats and promises had been concluded, Moses, carrying on the injunction of Deu 3:28, addressed {Deu 32:8} all the people and appointed Joshua to be his successor; then he wrote out “this law,” and produced it before the priests and elders of the people, with the instruction that at the end of every seven years, at the feast of release, in the feast of tabernacles, it should be read before all Israel, men, women, and children. {Deu 31:9-13} Then he gave the book to the Levites, that they might “lay it up” by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh their God, that it might be there for a witness against them when they became unfaithful, as he foresaw they would. He next summons all Israel to him, and delivers the farewell address contained in chapters 4, 29, and 30, an outline of which has already been given, according to Westphals recombination. This would seem to indicate that Moses himself inaugurated the custom of reading the law and giving instruction to all the people, which he prescribed for the feast of tabernacles in the year of release. After the law had been given he addressed the whole people in this farewell speech.

But though on the whole there is no need for detailed exposition here, there are one or two things which ought to be noticed, things which express the spirit of Deuteronomy so directly and so sincerely that they can be identified as forming part of the original Deuteronomic speech. One of these is unquestionably Deu 30:11-20. At the end of the farewell address a return is made to the core of the whole Deuteronomic teaching: “Thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This was announced with unique emphasis at the beginning; it has lain behind all the special commands which have been insisted upon since; and now it emerges again into view as the conclusion of the whole matter. For beyond doubt this, and not the whole series of legal precepts, is what is meant by “this commandment” in Deu 30:2. Both before it, in the sixth and tenth verses {Deu 30:6, Deu 30:10}, and after it, in the sixteenth and twentieth verses {Deu 30:16, Deu 30:20}, this precept is repeated and insisted on as the Divine command. Had the individual commands or the whole mass of them together been meant, the phrase used would have been different. It would have been that in Deu 30:10, where they are called “His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law,” or something analogous. No, it is the central command of love to God, without which all external obedience is vain, which is the theme of this last great paragraph; and a clear perception of this will carry us through both the obscurities of it, and the difficulties of St. Pauls application of it in the Romans.

Of this then the author of Deuteronomy says: “It is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” That is to say, there is no mystery or difficulty about this commandment of love. Neither have you to go to the uttermost parts of the sea to hear it, nor need you search into the mysteries of heaven. It has been brought near to you by all the mercy and forgiveness and kindness of Yahweh; it has been made known to you now by my mouth, even in its pettiest applications. But that is not all; it is graven on your own heart, which leaps up in glad response to this demand, and in answer to the manifestation of Gods love for you. It is really the fundamental principle of your own nature that is appealed to. You should clearly feel that life in the love of God and man is the only fit life for you who are made in the image of God. If you do, then the fulfillment of all the Divine precepts will be easy, and your lives will lighten more and more unto the perfect day.

Now, for an Oriental of the pre-Christian era such teaching is most marvelous. How marvelous it is Christians perhaps find it difficult to see. In point of fact, many have denied that Old Testament teaching ever had this character. Misled by the doctrines of Islam, the great Semitic religion of today, many assert that the religion of ancient Israel called upon men to submit to mere power in submitting to God. But the appeal of our text to the heart of man shows that this is an error. No such appeal has ever been made to Mohammedans. Their state of mind in regard to God is represented by the remark of a recent traveler in Persia. Speaking of the Persian Babis, who may be described roughly as a heretical sect whose minds have been formed by Mohammedanism, he says: “They seemed to have no conception of absolute good, or absolute truth; to them good was merely what God chose to ordain, and truth what He chose to reveal, so that they could not understand how any one could attempt to test the truth of a religion by an ethical and moral standard.” Now that is precisely the opposite of the Deuteronomic attitude. Israel is encouraged and incited to right action by having it pointed out that not only experience, not only Divinely given statutes and judgments, but the very nature of man itself guarantees the truth of this supreme law of love. The law laid upon men is nothing strange to, or incongruous with, their own better selves. It is the very thing which their hearts have cried out for; when it is proclaimed the higher nature in man recognizes it and bows before it. It is not received because of fear, nor is it bowed before because it is backed by power which can smite men to the dust. No; even in its ruins human nature is nobler than that; and Deuteronomy everywhere teaches with burning conviction that God is too ethical and spiritual in nature to accept the submission of a slave.

This reading of our passage is plainly that which St. Paul takes in Rom 10:5-6. He perceives, what so many fail to do, that the spirit and scope of the Deuteronomic teaching are different from that of the purely legal sections of the Pentateuch. Paul therefore quotes the Pentateuch as having already made the distinction between works and faith which he wishes to emphasize, and as having distinctly given preference to the latter. Leviticus keeps men at the level of the worker for wages, while Deuteronomy in this passage, by making love to God the essence of all true observance of the law, raises them almost to the level of sons. And just as in those ancient days the highest manifestations of God had not to be labored for and sought by impotent strivings, but had plainly been made known to them and had found an echo in their hearts, so now the highest revelation had been brought near to men in Christ, and had found a similar response. They did not need to seek it in heaven, for it had been brought to earth in the Incarnation. They did not need to descend into the abyss, for all that was needed had been brought thence by Christ at His resurrection. And in the New Testament as in the Old, the simplicity of the entrance into true relations with God is emphasized. Love and faith are the fundamental conditions. From them obedience will naturally issue, since “to faith all things are possible, and to love all things are easy.”

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary