Chxuxxvt+6 DEUTERONOMYS i2g
furnifh out a very great truth:
God’s love, of his council and covenant, are re- * vealed unto his. people, as well as many of his providences, and the myfteries of his grace; fee for the fecrets ofjcbildren; which are defigned to point out the remarkable and wonderful condefeenfion and goodnefs of God, in making a revelation of his mind and will, both with refpe& to dostrine and duty,
Pf. xxv. 14. in the Hebrew text on the words, to us and to our
There are fotme extraordinary pricks|to the fons of men.
XXX.
A Bik chapter contains fome gracious promifes forth: and will return and gather thee from allthé of the converfion of the Fews in the latter day, of their calling things to mind that have befallen them, of their repentance, and the circumcifion of their hearts to love the Lord, of the return of them to their own land, and of the great increafe of them, and of their enjoyment of plenty of good things, ¥. 1—10. in it is an account of the gofpel, or word of faith, which at this time fhould be brought near to the ews, and be received by them, ¥. 11—14. and for the prefent Mojfes defires them to confider what he now fet before them, and what would be the confequences of receiving or rejecting it, and fo what it would be moft proper for thera to make cheice of, ¥. 15—20.
x. 1. And it fhall come topafs when all thefe things are come upow.thee, &c.| Declared, pronounced, foretold, and prophefied of in the three preceding chapters, efpecially in ch. xxviii. the dleffing and the curfe which I bave fet before thee, the bleffings promifed to thofe that pay a regard to the will of
God, and obey his voice, and curfes threatened to the difobedient; fee ch. xxviii. 1—20. and thou nations whither the Lord thy Ged fcattered thee; ot, will again gather thee*; as he had gathered them out of all places where they had been {cattered, on: their return from the Badylonifh captivity; fo will he again gather them from all the nations of the earth, eaft, weft, north, and fouth, where they are now difperfed; when they fhall turn to the
Lord, and feek David their king; the true Mefiab.
Maimonides’ underftands this paflage of their prefent captivity, and deliverance from it by the Mef- fab. ¥. 4. If any of thine be driven out unto the outmoft arts of heaven, &c.] As many of them are in this remote ifland of our’s Great Britain, reckoned formerly the uttermoft part of the earth, as Thule, fuppofed to be Schetland, an ifle belonging to Séotland, is {aid to be ™; fee the note on ch. xxviii. 4g. and as fome of them are thought to be in America, which Manaffeh Ben Ifrael* had a firm belief of: om thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and rom thence will he fetch thee; whofe eye is omnifcient, and reaches every part of the world; and whofe arm is omnipotent, and none can ftay it, or foalt call them to mind among all thenations whither the Lord thy God bath driven thee recollect the promifes and the threatenings, and obferve the exact accomplifhment of them in their feveral captivities, and efpecially in this their laft and prefent captiturn itback. ‘The Targum of Jonathan is, ‘* from thence will he bring you near by the hands of the king Meffiab.”
y¥. 5. And the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers poffeffed, and thou foalt
vity. poffe/s it, &c.] That the Zews upon their conver-
¥.2. And fhalt return unto the Lord thy God,| &c.] By repentance, acknowledging their manifold fins and tranfgreffions, particularly their difbelief, and rejection of the Mefiab, now feeking him and falvation by him; fee Hof. iii. 5. and foalt obey his voice; in the gofpel, yielding the obedience of faith to that; embracing the gofpel, and fubmitting to the ordinances of it:
command thee this day, thou, and thy children; which was to love the Lord, and walk in his ways, dire¢ted toin the gofpel, and which were to be regarded from a principle of love to God, and the bleffed redeemer; fee ver. 6, 16. with all thine heart and with all thy foul; that is, both their return unto the Lord, and their obedience to his voice or word, fhould be hearty and fincere; which being the cafe, fion in the latter day will return to the land of Fudea again, and poffefs it, is the fenfe of many paffages of fcripture; among others, fee Fer. xxxi 18. Ezek. xxviii. 25, 26. and xxxvii. 21, 22, 25. Zech.x.10. the above Targum is, “ the Word of the Lord will bring thee, &c.” and be will do theé good; both in things temporal and fpiritual; fee according to all that 1) Ezek. xxxiv. 24—31. and multiply thee above thy fathers; increafe their number more than ever they were in any age; for they fhall be as the fand of the fea, which eannot be numbered, Hof i. 10, 11.
¥.6. And the Lord thy God will circumcife thine beart, and the heart of thy feed, &c.] No mention is made of circumcifion of the flefh, which will now be out of ufe with the ews; they being fully con- the following things would be done for them.
¥. 3. That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compaffion on thee, Sec.) Return them from theircaptivity, or bring them out of it, both in a temporal and fpiritual fenfe; free them from their prefent exile, and deliver them from the bondage ar fin, fatan, and the law; and all this as the effect of his grace and mercy towards them, andcompaffion on them; fee Fer. xxx. 18. The Targum of Fonatban is, ‘¢ his Word fhall receive with good-will your repentance;” it being cordial vinced of the abrogation of the ceremonial law by the Meffiah, whom they will now receive. It is fpiritual circumcifion only that is here fpoken' of, with which the Fews will be circumcifed, when they fhall be pricked and cut to the heart, and be thoroughly convinced of fin; when the iniquity of their hearts will be laid opento them, and they put to pain, and filled with fhame and lothing for it;° when the hardnefs of their hearts will be removed, and the foolifhnefs of them will be expofed and taken’ away, and they will be made willing to part with and unfeigned, and fruits meet for it brought)their fins, and with their own righteoufnefs; when the graces of the fpirit will be implanted in them, and the blood of Crift applied to them for pardon and cleanfing. This is the circumcifion made without hands, which is not of men, but of God; what'he calls for, and exhorts unto, as being neceffary, ch. ¥. 16. he here promifes to do; and indeed none but himfelf can doit; for he only can come at the hearts of men, to take any thing out of them, or put any thing into them; it is he that opens the heart, foftens, quickens, enlightens, and purifies it: Baal Hatturim fays this refpects the times of the Mefiab: to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy foul; which though the duty of every man, is performed by none, but thofe that have the grace of God; there is no love to God in the heart, before this inward and fpiritual circumcifion of it: it is a fruit of the fpirit in converfion; when the affections are taken off of other things, and fet on Chrif; when a man fees his fin and his faviour, and the one is odious, and the other precious; when the bleffings of grace are applied, and the love of God is fhed abroad in the heart, which caufe love to God, and Chri again: that thou mayeft five; fpiritually and eéternally; for there is no fpiritual life in the foul, till the heart is circumcifed, or'in other words regenerated and renewed; then it is quickened; then a man lives a life of faith on Chri, of holinefs from him, of communion with him, and has both an open right unto, and meetnefs for eternal life.
¥.7. And the Lord thy God will put all thefe curfes upon thine enemies, &c.| Recorded in ch. xxviii. that is, the Word of the Lord, as the Zargum of Jonathan; for he being now fought unto, and embraced, will be their king and their faviour, and revenge their enemies: ond on them that bate thee, which perfecuted thee, the Turks and Papifts, the former having taken poffeffion of their land, and the latter being violent perfecutors of them in alltheir countries. This will be fulfilled when the vials of God’s wrath will be poured on the Anéiehriftian ftates, Rev. xvi.
¥. 8. And thou foalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, &c.] In the gofpel; obey the form of doétrine delivered to them, embrace the truth of the gofpel cordially, and yield a chearful fubjection to the ordinances of it; or receive the Word of the Lord, as the Yargum of Fouathan, Chrift, the effential Word, by faith, as the faviour and re- \ deemer, mediator, prophet, prieft, and king: azd ‘do all bis commandments which I command thee this day; the commandment nigh unto them, in their mouths and hearts, even the word of faith, the minifters of Chri preach, ¥. 11. befides, all the moral precepts and ‘commands of the law, which will. then be in force, being eternal and invariable; which faith in ChriZ, and love tohim, willinfluence and conftrain them to obferve.
« ¥. 9. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine band, &c.] In every manufacture, trade, or bufinefs of life in which they fhould be employed; the meaning is, that theyLord will, greatly. blefs them in all that they fhall fet their ‘hands to.in a lawful way; fo that they fhall abound in good things, and have enough’ and to fpare, a redundancy of the good things of life, great plentyofthem: in the fruit of thy body; abundance of children: and in the fruit of thy catile; -a large increafe of oxen and fheep: aud in.the Seuit of thy land for good, it being by the bleffing that there is no need: of ‘his: coming of God on their labours reftored to its former fertility, though now barren through want of inhabitants, and the flothfulnefs of thofe that are poffeffed of it; for travellers obferve°, the ioil is fill good, was it properly manured)and cultivated: or the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers; particularly in the days of Solomon and David, when the people of J/- rael enjoyed plenty of all good things, and fo they will hereafter; fee Hof: ii. 15, 21,22. The Zargum ot Fonathan is, the Word of the Lord will return to rejoice, cc.” See Fer. xxii! 41. 9 y¥. 10. If thou foalt bearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, &c.} Or rather, for thou fhalt bearken?; feeing it is before promifed, that the Lord would circumcife their hearts to love him, and they fhould obey his voice, ¥. 6,°8. The Yargum is, *¢ receive the Word of the Lord:” to keep bis commandments and bis fiatutes, which are written in this book of the law particularly in this chapter, and all that are of a moral nature: and if thow return unto the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy foul; or, for thou fhalt return, 8c. as it is promifed they fhould, y. 8.
y¥. 11. For this commandment which 1 command thee this day, &c ]; Which the Yews underftand of the law, but the apoftle Paui has taught us to interpret it of the word of faith, the gofpel preached by him and other minifters, Rom. x. 6, 7, 8. which better fuits with the context, and the prophecies before delivered concerning the converfion of the Jews, their reception of the Mefiab, and his go- {pel; it is not hidden from thee, being clearly revealed, plainly and fully preached: if hidden from any, it is from them that are loft; from the wife and prudent, while it is revealed to babes, and given to them to know the myferies of it: or too wonderfult; hard, difficult, and impoffible; its doctrines arenot beyond the underftanding of an enlightened perfon; they are all plain to them that underftand and find the knowledge of them; and the ordinances of it'‘are not toohard and difficult to be kept; the commandments of: Chri? are not grievous: neither is it far off; for though it is good news from a far country, from heaven, it is come down from thence.; it is brought nigh in ‘the miniftry of the word to the ears and hearts of men. Wat y.12. It is not in heaven, &c.| The feheme of it was formed in heaven, it was hid inthe heart of God there, before revealed; it was ordained before the world was for our glory; it was brought down from thence by: Chri, and committed to his a {tles. and minifters of the word to preach it ee and has been ever fince continued on ‘earth, Sand will be at the time of the converfion of the Fews't that thou fhouldef fay, that there fhould be any oe cafion of faying’; it forbids any fuch kind of fpeech as follows: wha Jhall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may bear it, anddo it? there is no need of that, for it is brought from thence als for to put fuch a queftion would be the fame afk to bring Chrift down from above, who is come down already by ‘the affumption of human naturej to preach the gofpel, give thefenfe of the law, and fulfil it, to do.the will of his Father, bring in “ant everlafting rightéoufnefs, and: fave:his peo
‘on the fame errand, fince he has obtained eternal redemp-
P, Q <i amy. 3 _- ‘4: ~~;: > = Choixxx: 21g3—20. DEOUTERONOMY i2H his tommandinent3, and bis ftatutes, and bis judgments; his laws moral, ceremonial, and judicial, Mofes shady been repeating and reciting: that thou mayeft live ‘and multiply, live in the land of Canaan, and have a numerous offspring and pofterity to fueceed and continue in ‘it, which is confirmed by what follows: and the Lord thy God hall ble/s thee in the land whither thou xoeft to poffe/s it, with health and happinefs, with an affluence of all good things, in the land of Canaan they were juft entering into to take pofléffion of.
¥.17. Butif thine beart turn away, &c.] From the true God, and the richt worthip of him, and from his commands, ftatutes, and judgments: /o that thou wilt not bear; the voice of the Lord and obey it, or hearken to his laws, and’ do them: but foalt be drawn away; by an evil heart, and by the clared to be the Son of God with power, and is charged as the furety of his people, having done 4 compleatly what he engaged to do; and is rifen for ‘their juftification, and become the firft-fruits of the refurrection of the dead; wherefore whoever confefiés with his mouth, and believes with his heart, that God has raifed him from the dead, that is “enough, he fhall be faved:
ESAT: being not afhamed to own it, and profefs “it before men; and in the heart, where it is come wach power, has a place, and works effectually, -and is cordially believed, and comfortably expe- ‘rienced; and when this is the cafe, its ewill be faithfully kept as delivered, and dif- jill examples of others: and worfbip other gods and Jerve them; the gods of the Gentiles, the idols of the people, befides the one living and true God, the God of [rael. r ¥Y. 18. I denounce unto Jou. this day that ye fhall /wrely peri/h, &c.] By one judgment or another; this he moft folemnly averred, and it might be dewhat a fublime fenfe of pended upon that it would certainly be their cafe; jejune fee ch.iv. 26. and that ye fhall not proiong your days “poz the land, whither thou paffeft over Fordan to £0 but be cut fhort by death, of one kind or another, by fword, or famine, or peftiplain- lence, or be carried into captivity; one or other of application whieh were frequently their cafe.;
ige sate is this the apoftle gives, and how is that of the Chaldee paraphraft’ in comparifon of it! fee the note on Rom. x. 6, 7. to poffefs it;, y¥. 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, &c “In the miniftration of it by thofe who clearly, Ny," and faithfully preach it, and in the of it by the Spirit of God tothe heart; andinthe gracious experience converted perfons have of the “power and efficacy of it in them, and of the Mi they receive from it: in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayeft do it;
¥.19. I call heaven and earth to record this day 4gainfi you, &c.] Either literally underftood the com- heavens above him, and the earth on which he tood, thofe inanimate bodies, which are frequently in the mouth by con- called upon as witneffes to. matters of moment_and importance; fee ch. iv. 26. and xxxil. 1. J/. i.2. Of figuratively, the inhabitants of both, angels and men: that I have fet before you life and death, blefing and curfing; had plainly told them in exordinances prefs words what would be the confequence of obechearfully dience and difobedience to the law of God; long
*oGinteed to! life, and the bleffings of it in the land of Canaan, yh. 1g. See, I have fet before thee this day, 8¢¢. “Mojes here returns to prefs the J/raelites to “fent obfervance of the laws, ftatutes, and judg- “ments of one fort and another, he had been deli- “yerino to them; as being of great moment and im- & no other than Jife and good, and\confequence of | 0 thofe that obey it; death, by various means, the pre- and: dreadful curfes, to thofe that difobey it; of Which fee at large ch. xxvii. therefore chufe life, *4a¢ thou and thy feed may lve 5 that is, prefer obedience to the law, and chufe to perform that, the which is life; that they and their pofterity might live comfortably and happily, quietly and fafely, and conftantly even to the lateft ages in the land of Canaam.
¥.20. That thou mayef love the Lord thy God, &c.] And thew it by keeping his commands: and that thou mayeft obey bis voice; in his word, and by his prophets: and that thou mayeft cleave unto bim; and to’ his worfhip, and not follow after, and ferve other gods: for be is thy life, and the length of thy days; the God of their lives, and the father of tion, and is the author of everlafting falvation, which is the fum and fubftance of the gofpel.
y. 13. Neither is it beyond the fea, dc.|- There is no need to travel into foreign parts, into tranfmarine.countries for it, as the heathen philofophers did to get knowledge; for the gofpel is ordered to be preached to all the world, and fent into all nations; and at the time of the converfion of the Fews the earth will be filled with the knowledge of it, as the waters Cover the fea; fo that there will be no need to go into diftant countries for it; nor any occafion that thou fhouldft fay, who fhall go over the fea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may bear it, and do it? which would be all oneas to defire io bring up Chrift again from the dead; when he is already rifen, and is gone to heaven, where he ever lives to make interceflion for us; is thereby de-
“portance to them, ath and evil; which are the effects and confe-
“quences of obedience and difobedience to them; a “happy temporal life, and a continuance of it in the ‘good land of Canaan, and an enjoyment ‘of the -Fleffings and good things thereof to them that are “obedient; for not fpiritual and eternal life, or fpiritual bleffings and everlafting happinefs, are to “be had by: man’s obedience to the law of works, ‘only through Chri, through his obedience, _righ- “teoufnefs, fufferings, and death; fee Gal. iii. 21, “fo temporal death, or’a cutting fhort’ of natural life in the promifed land, and evil things, calamities, ‘and diftreffes, or a deprivation of all the: good ‘things of it to the difobedient; fee J/. i. 5 16. In that 1 command thee this day to love the -Piyd thy God, &c.} Which is the fum-and fub and ftance of the firft table of the Jaw, andincludes the ‘whole worfhip of God, the contrary to which are "idolatry, fuperftition, and will-worthip, from which Mofes had been diffuading and deterring them: * walk in his ways; which he has prefcribed, "will to walk in,’ and his jaw diredts to: and to keep 44ys ae id ae their mercies; the giver’ of long life, and all the bleflings of it 3 and which he had promifed to thofe that were obedient to him, and which they might 19, 20. expect: that thon mayeft dwell in the land which the Lord fware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to lfaac, to Jacob, fo give them the land of Canaan, often thas defcribed; this was the grand promile made to obedience | to the law, and was typical of eternal life and happinefs;_which is had, not thro fo) man’s obedience to the law, but thro’ the obedience as_his'and righteoufnels ot Chriff, |
MOSES being old, and knowing he fhould|to quickly dye, and muft not go over Yordan|alfo the with the people of J/rael, acquaints them with it, and encourages them and Fo/hua to go over notwithftanding, and not be afraid of their enemies, fince the Lord would go with them, and deliver them into their hands, ¥. 1-8. and having written the law, he delivered it to the priefts, and ordered that it fhould be read at the end of every feven years before all the people, that they and theirs might learn it, and fear the Lord, ¥. g—13. and whereas the death of Mo/es was very near, and the Lord forefeeing the people would quickly fall into idolatry, which would bring great calamities upon them, he directed Mo/es to write a fong, which fhould be a witnefs for him, and againft|J them, in ages to come; which Mo/es accordingly did, ¥. 14—22. and, Mo/es having given a charge to Fofoua, and finifhed the writing of the law in a book, gave it to the Levites to put it inthe fide the ark, ¥.23—27. and then ordered the chief of the tribes to be gathered together, that he might deliver the fong, which by the direction and under the infpiration of God he had written, ¥. 30. which fong, is recorded in the following chapexercife fuch an office, power, and authoriry: Lord hath faid unto me, or for the Lord bas, /aid", and fo is a reafon of the foregoing 5 the Targum is, “ the Word of the Lord faid:” shou /balt not go over this Fordan, to which he and the people of J/rael were nigh, and lay between them and the land of Canaan, over which it was néceffary to pafs in order to go into it; but Mo/es muft not lead them there, this work was referved for Jo/bua, a type of Chrift; not AMoj/es and his law, or obedience to it, is what introduces any into the heavenly Canaan, only Fe/usand his righteouinefs; fee ch. iii. 27.
¥. 3. The Lord thy God he will go over before thee, &c.] This he faid to encourage the people of rae/, that though he fhould die, and not go over with them, their ever-living and true God, the great Febovah, the Lord of hofts, he would go be-. fore them, and fight their battles for them > fo that of they had nothing to fear from their enemies: and be will deftroy thofe nations from before thee, the fe~ ven nations which then inhabited the land: end thou fhalt poffe/s them their countries, cities, and 28, 29, houfes, fields, and vineyards: and Fofbua be fall go over before thee; as. their general to fight for ter. them, fubdue their enemies, and put them into the poffeffion of the land, and divide it to them; as the Lord hath faid; ch. iii. 28,
¥. 4. And hefball do unto them as.be did unto Sihon, and to Og, kings of the Amorites, &c.| De-~ ° liver them up into. their hands; fee the hiftory of this in Numb. xxi. and unto the land of them whom he deftroyed 5 put them into the poffeffion of the land of Canaan, as they were now in poffeffion of the land of thofe two kings he deftroyed by them. This inftance is given to encourage their faith, affuring them that what had been done to them, would be done to the Canaamitifo kings, and their fubjects, and their lands. ¥. 5. And the Lord fhall give them up before your ace, &c.| To ruin and deftruction; the Targum of Fonathan is, ** the Word of the Lord fhall des liver them up:” that ye may do unto them accord= ing to all the commandments which I have commanded o#; that is, utterly deftroy them, make no coves nant with them, enter into no alliances, nor con tract any marriages with them; but demolith their altars, cut down their groves, and break their images in pieces; of which laft den Ezra inter= prets the words; but they are not to be reftrained to that fingle inftance; fee ch. vii. 1—5.
¥. 6. Be ftrong and of a good courage, &c.] The eptuagint verfion is, ‘* play the men, and be ftrong;” be ftrong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, trutting and relying on him that goes before you; and fo take heart, and be of good courage, and act the manly part; the apoftle feems to refer to this paflage, 1 Cor. xvi. 13. fear not, nor be afraid of them, their enemies, though fo numerous, fo mighty, and fome of them of a gigantic ftature, and their cities ftrong and well fenced: or the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee, in comparifen of whom numbers of men, their ftrength of body, and fortified places, fignify nothing: be will not fail thee, nor forfake thee; not fail to fulfil his promifes to them, not leave them till he had given them gampleat victory over their y.1. And Mofes went and fpake thefe words unto all Ifrael;| The following words, even to the whole body of the people fummoned together on this occafion. It feems that after Mo/es had made the covenant with them he was directed to, he difmiffed the people to their tents, and went to his own, and now returned, having ordered them to meet him again, very probably at the tabernacle; with which agrees the Targum of Fonathan, he “© went tothe tabernacle of the houfe of doctrine;”’ though, according to ben Ezra, he went tothe feveral tribes feparately, as they lay encamped; his words are thefe, ‘* he went to every tribe and tribe, to acquaint them that he was about to dye, and that they might not be afraid, and to ftrengthen their hearts;”—he adds, ‘* in my opinion he then blefled them, though their bleffings are afterwards written;” which is not improbable.
¥. 2. And he faid unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day, &c.] Whether the'meaning is, that that day precifely was his birth-day, is a queftion; it may be the fenfe is only this, that he was now arrived to fuch an age; though Yarchi takes it in the firft fenfe, to which are objected his words in ¥. 14. yet it feems by ch. xxxii. 48. that having delivered to the children of J/rael the fong he was ordered this day to write, on the felf-fame day he was bid to go up to mount Nedo and dye: and it is a commonly received tradition with the Jews, that Mojes died on the fame day of the month he was born; fee the notes on ch. xxxiv. 7. I can xo more go out and come in; not that he could no longer go out-of his tent and return without great trouble and difficulty, being fodecrepit; bur that he could not perform his office as their ruler and governer, or go out to battle and return as their general; and this not through any incapacity of body or mind, both being vigorous, found, and well, as is clear from ch. xxxiv. 7. but becaufe xt was the will of God that he fhould live no longer
Chxxxnx7—-r1n DEUTERONOMY 129% enemi¢s, put thent into the poffeffion of their and fettled them in it.”
was a man of courage and valour, as well as had military fkill, as appears by his fight with Exod. xvii. g—13. yet fuch an exhortation was not needlefs, feeing he had fo much work to do, and fo many enemies tocontend with: for thou mujt go with this people unto the land which the Lard hath fworn unto their fathers to give them; of Jonathan is, ‘*- which the Word of the Lord hath {worn to give;” the land of Canaan, he muft go with them; this was the will and determination of God, and he muft go alone without him, Mo/es, which would be a trial of his couland, feveral things which belonged to the priefts to pers This promife, tho’ made)form, and all of them they were to inftruct in, {0 of|there were others which were to be the rule of judement to judges, and all civil magiftrates, and which Ithey were to take care were put in execution; and’ therefore it was proper that they fhould have a copy of this law, and which mutt be here underftood; for it can’t be thotight that one and the » fame copy fhould be giveri both to the priefts and to all the elders.. The Fews fay Mojes. wrote 13 copies of the law, 12 for the 12 tribes, and one ta be put into the ark, to convié of fraud or cor: ruption, fhouldany be made*.
to literal J/rae/, belongs to the {piritual J/rae God, and is made good to every true believer in the Lord; fee Hed. xiii. 5... _..
¥. 7. And Mofes called unto Fofoua, &c.], Who might be at fome diftance from him, with the tribe to which he belonged. The Targum of Fonathan adds, ** out of the midft of the people:” and faid unio him in the fight of all Ijrael 5 now affembled together, and what follows was faid in their hearing, tomake himthe more refpectabletothem: be flrong and of a good courage; the fame that-is faid to the people in the preceding verfe, and which was ftill more neceflary in him, who was to be their general, and to go at the head of them, and lead them on to battle;
y. 10. And Mofes commanded them, &c.] The priefts and the elders, to whom the Jaw was delivered: Saying; a8 follows + at the end of every /even and though Fahualyears; every feventh year wasa year of reft to the: land, and of remiffion of debts to poor debtors: Amalek,jat the clofe of this year, or going out-of it, according to the Mifzab*t, even on the eighth year’ coming in, the following was to be done, natnely, the reading of the law; and fo Yarchi interprets it of the firlt year of releafe, the eighth, that is, the the Targum)firlt year after the year of releafe; but ben Ezra better. interprets it of the beginning of the feventh thitherjyear; for as he elfewhere obferves on ch: xv. 1: the word: fignifies the extremity of the year; and there are two extremities of it, the beginning and the end, and the firft extremity is meant; which is rage. -; more likely than that the reading of the law fhould
- ¥. 8. And the Lord, be it is'that doth go before|be put off to the end of the year, and which feems thee, &ce.] The Word of the Lord, his /hekinah,'to be confirmed by what follows: in the Jolemnity of according to the above Targum, and {fo in the next the year of releafe, in the feaft of tabernacles, or in chapter; the fame that brought J/rae/ out of Egypt,'the appointed time*; of the year of releafe; of the had gone before them in the wildernefs, and now releafe of debtors from their debts; ch. xv. 1, 2: would go before o/hua and them into the landof when the time or. feafon appointed and fixed was Ganaan.: be will be with thee; to guide and direct, come: moreover, what -is here directed to being to afift and ftrengthen, to proteét and defend, toto be done at the feaft of tabernacles, fhews it to be give fuccefs to his arms, and victory over his ene-!at the beginning of the year, fince that feaft was in’ mies: be will not fail. thee, neither forfake thee; the month Tif/ri, which was originally the beginnot fail to give him counfel and direction, to af-|ning of the year, before the coming of the chilford him itrength, and to fill him with courage,'dren of J/rael out of Egypt, and ftill continued fo and to deliver his enemies into his hands; nor for-|for many things, and particularly for the years of fake him till he had finifhed the work he was to do,jreleafe “; and this was a very proper time for the had made a compleat conqueft of the Canaanites,!reading of the law, when all the increafe of the and fettled the people of J/rae/in their land: fearjearth and fruits thereof. were gathered in; and fo not, neither be difmayed, at the number anditheir hearts filled, or at leaft fhould be, with elad-= ftrength of the enemy, nor at any difficulties that|nefs and gratitude; and when there was no tillage might lie in the way of finifhing fo great an under-Jof the land, being the feventh year, and fo were taking, fince the Lord would be with him; feejat leifure for fuch fervice; and when all poor Rom, viii. 3. debtors were releafed from their debts; and fo were
¥.9. And Mojes wrote this law, &c.] The book _ot Deuteronomy, or the Pentateuch, the five books of Mofes, which he had now finifhed, and which all of them together are fometimes called the law, Gal. iv. 21. and delivered it unto the priefis, the fons of Levi; who were the teachers of the law, as Aben Ezra oblerves; fee Mal. ii. 7. and therefore it was proper to put it into their hands, to inftruct the people in it, and that the people might apply to them in any matter of difficulty, or when they wanted to have any particular law explained to them: which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord; for though they were the Levites, and the Kobathites, who in journeying carried the ark fee Numb. iv. 5—15. and x. 21. yet fometimes it was bore by the priefts; fee 7o/. iil. 13-17. vi. 6. 1 Sam.iv. 4. and unto all the elders of Lfrael; the judges and civil magiftrates in the refpective tribes; for as there were in the book of the law freed from all cares and troubles, ‘and could better attend unto it.
y. 11. When all Irael is come to appear before the Lord thy God, &c.] As all the males were obliged.to do three times in the year, and one of thole times was the feaft of tabernacles, and fo a proper feafon for the reading of the law; fee Exod: xxiii. 1417. in the place which the Lord Jeall chu/e; thecity of Feru/alem, and the temple there: ¢hou jhalt read this law before all lfrael in their hearling; the book of Deuteronomy, as Farchi, or it may be the whole Pentateuch: who were to read it particularly jis not exprefly faid; the fpeech feems to be direct-;Jed to the priefts and elders, to whom the law written by Ado/es was delivered, y. g. and who were andjeither to read it themfelves, or take care that it fhould be read. Jofepbus* alcribes this fervice to the high-prieft; he fays, “* ftanding in an high pulpit (or on an high bench) from whence he may