This address, which is described in the heading as the law which Moses set before the Israehtes, commences with a repetition of the decalogue, and a notice of the powerful impression which was made, through the proclamation of it by God Himself, upon the people who were assembled round Him at Horeb (chap. v.). In the first and more general part, it shows that the true essence of the law, and of that righteousness which the Israelites were to strive after, consisted in loving Jehovah their God with all their heart (chap, vi.); that the people were bound, by virtue of their election as the Lord's people of possession, to exterminate the Canaanites with their idolatrous worship, in order to rejoice in the blessing of God (chap, vii.); but more especially that, having regard on the one hand to the divine chastisement and humiliation which they had experienced in the desert (chap, viii.), and on the other hand to the frequency with which they had rebelled against their God (chap. ix. 1-:l 11), they were to beware of self-exaltation and selfrighteousness, that in the land of Canaan, of which they were about to take possession, they might not forget their God when enjoying the rich productions of the land, but might retain the blessings of their God for ever by a faithful observance of the covenant (chap. x. 12-xi. 32). Then after this there follows an exposition of the different commandments of the law (chap, xii.-xxvi.).
Chap. iv. 44-49. Announcement of the Discourse upon THE Law. — First of all, in ver. 44, we have the general notice in the form of a heading: '^ This is the Thorah which Moses set before the children of Israel;^'' and then, in vers. 45, 46, a fuller description of the Thorah according to its leading features, " testimonies, statutes, and rights " (see at ver. 1), together with a notice of the place and time at which Moses delivered this address. " On their coming out of Egypt^^ i.e. not " after they had come out," but during the march, before they had reached the goal of their journey ings, viz. (ver. 46) when they were still on the other side of the Jordan, "//i the valley ^^ as in chap. iii. 29. "/w the land of Sihon^^ and therefore already upon ground which the Lord had given them for a possession. The importance of this possession as the first-fruit and pledge of the fulfilment of the further promises of God, led Moses to mention again, though briefly, the defeat of the two kini^s of the Amorites, together with the conquest of their land, just as he had done before in chap. ii. 32-36 and iii. 1-17. On ver. 48, cf. chap, iii. 9, 12-17. Siouy for Hermon (see at chap. iii. 9).
Exposition of the Decalogue, and its Promulgation, — Chap. v.
The exposition of the law commences with a repetition of the ten words of the covenant, which were spoken to all Israel directly hy the Lord Himself. — Vers. 1-5 form the introduction, and point out the importance and great significance of the exposition which follows. Hence, instead of the simple sentence ''And Moses said,^ we have the more formal statement " And Moses called all Israel, and said to them.''^ The great significance of the laws and rio-hts about to be set before them, consisted in the fact that they contained the covenant of Jehovah with Israel. — Vers. 2, 3. " Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeh; not with oui^ fathers, hut with ourselves^ who are all of us here alive this dayP The " fathers " are neither those who died in the wilderness, as Augustine supposed, nor the forefathers in Egypt, as Calvin imagined; but the patriarchs, as in chap. iv. 37. Moses refers to the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, which w^as essentially distinct from the covenant made with Abraham (Gen. xv. 18), though the latter laid the foundation for the Sinaitic covenant. But Moses passed over this, as it was not his intention to trace the historical development of the covenant relation, but simply to impress upon the hearts of the existing generation the significance of its entrance into covenant with the Lord. The generation, it is true, with which God made the covenant at Horeb, had all died out by that time, with the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and only lived in the children, who, though in part born in Egypt, were all under twenty years of age at the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, and therefore were not among the persons with wiiom the Lord concluded the covenant. But the covenant was made not with the particular individuals who w^ere then alive, but rather with the nation as an organic whole. Hence Moses could with perfect justice identify those who constituted the nation at that time, with those who had entered into covenant with the Lord at Sinai. The separate pronoun (ive) Is added to the pronominal suffix f(^^ the sake of emphasis, just as in Gen. iv. 26, etc.; and n^« again is so connected with ^^n^«, as to include the relative in itself.— Ver.^ 4. " JeJiovah talked ivith you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire;' i.e. He came as near to you as one person to another. D^^Dn U':b is not perfectly synonymous with ^""35 b^ D'-^S, which is used in Ex. xxxiii. 11 with reference to God's speaking to Moses (cf. chap, xxxiv. 10, and Gen. xxxii. 31), and expresses the very confidential relation in which the Lord spoke to Moses as one friend to another; whereas the former simply denotes the directness with which Jehovah spoke to the people.— Before repeating the ten words which the Lord addressed directly to the people, Moses introduces the following remark in ver, 5—" / stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to announce to you the word of Jehovah; because ye were afraid of the fire, and went not up into the mount''— for the pur)Ose of showing the mediatorial position which he occupied betwe. n the Lord and the people, not so much at the proclamation of the en words of the covenant, as in connection with the conclusion of the covenant generally, which alone in fact rendered the conclusion of the covenant possible at all, on account of the alarm of the people at the awful manifestation of the majesty of the Lord. The word of Jehovah, which Moses as mediator had to announce to the people, had reference not to the instructions which preceded the promulgation of the decalogue (Ex. xix. 11 sqq.), but, as is evident from vers. 22-31, primarily to the further communications which the Lord was about to address to the nation in connection with the conclusion of the covenant, besides the ten words (viz. Ex. xx. 18, 22-xxiii. 33), to which in fact the whole of the Sinaitic legislation really belongs, as being the further development of the covenant laws. The alarm of the people at the fire is more fully described in vers. 25 sqq. The word " saying" at the end of ver. 5 is dependent upon the word " talked" in ver. 4; ver. 5 simply containing a parenthetical remark.
In vers. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex. xx., with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Ex. xx. 1-14.— In vers. 22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Ex. XX. 18-21, viz. that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (vers. 23-31). His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vers. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. " A great voice^^ (ver. 22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying " with a great voice" (cf. Ges, § 118, 3). " And He added no more:" as in Num. xi. 25. God spoke the ten words directly to the people, and then no more; i.e. everything further He addressed to Moses alone, and through his mediation to the people. As mediator He gave him the two tables of stone, upon which He had written the decalogue (cf. Ex. xxxi. 18). This statement somewhat forestalls the historical course; and in chap. ix. 10, 11, it is repeated again in its proper historical connection. — Vers. 24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Ex. XX. 18-20 (15-17), and already expounded in vol. ii. p. 125. rixi (ver. 24), a contraction of ^^^\ as in Num. xi. 15 (cf. Ewald, § 184, a.). Jehovah's reply to the words of the people (vers. 28-31) is passed over in Ex. xx. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, " Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me/' i.e. would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. chap, iv. 5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (vers. 32, 33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.e. not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. chap. xvii. 11, 20, xxviii. 14; Josh. i. 7, etc.), that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. chap. iv. 40). ^^t31, perfect with) rel. instead of the imperfect.
On loving Jehovah, the one God, with all the Heart. — Chap. vi.
Vers. 1—3. Announcement of the commandments which follow, with a statement of the reason for communicating them, and the beneficent results of their observance, ni^'isn that which is commanded, i.e, the substance of all that Jehovah had commanded, synonymous therefore with the Thorah (chap. iv. 44). The words, " the statutes and the rights,'^ are explanatory of and in apposition to " the commandment.^^ These commandments Moses was to teach the Israelites to keep in the land which they were preparing to possess (cf. chap. iv. 1). — Ver. 2. The reason for communicating the law was to awaken the fear of God (cf. chap. iv. 10, v. 26), and, in fact, such fear of Jehovah as would show itself at all times in the observance of every commandment. " Thou and thy son;" this forms the subject to " thou mightest fear^^ and is placed at the end for the sake of emphasis. The Hiphil Tl^'?. has not the transitive meaning, " to make long," as in chap. v. 30, but the intransitive, to last longy as in chap. v. 16, Ex. xx. 12, etc. — Yer. 3. The maintenance of the fear of God would bring prosperity, and the increase of the nation promised to the fathers. In form this thought is not connected with ver. 3 as the apodosis, but it is appended to the leading thought in ver. 1 by the words, ''Hear therefore^ 0 Israel T^ which correspond to the expression " to teach you'^ in ver. 1. "it^*^^^ thatj in order that (as in chap. ii. 25, iv. 10, etc.). The increase of the nation had been promised to the patriarchs from the very first (Gen. xii. 1; see vol. i. p. 193; cf. Lev. xxvi. 9). — On " milk and honey ^"^ see at Ex. iii. 8.
Vers. 4-9. With ver. 4 the burden of the law commences, which is not a new law added to the ten commandments, but simply the development and unfolding of the covenant laws and rights enclosed as a germ in the decalogue, simply an exposition of the law, as had already been announced in chap. i. 5. The exposition commences with an explanation and enforcing of the first commandment. There are two things contained in it: (1) that Jehovah is the one absolute God; (2) that He requires love with all the heart, all the soul, and all the strength. "Jehovah our God is one JehovahV^ This does not mean Jehovah is one God, Jehovah alone (Ahenezra)^ for in that case n^^' nin'' would be used instead of "inx nirr* • still less Jehovah our God, namely, Jehovah is one {J. H. Michaelis).
"It is possible to confess one God with the mouth, although the heart is far from Him, For this reason y and 1 are majuscula, from which with tse7'e subscribed the word iy, ' a witness,' is formed, that every one may know, when he professes the unity of God, that his heart ought to be engaged, and free from every other thought, because God is a ivitiiess and knows all things" (/. H. Mich. Bibl. Hebr.).
in^ r\Y^\ together form the predicate of the sentence. The idea is not, Jehovah our God is one (the only) God, but " one (or the only) Jehovah:'' not in this sense, however, that " He has not adopted one mode of revelation or appearance here and another there, but one mode only, viz. the revelation which Israel had received" (^Schultz); for Jehovah never denotes merely a mode in which the true God is revealed or appears, but God as the absolute, unconditioned, or God according to the absolute independence and constancy of His actions (see vol. i. pp. 72-5). Hence what is predicated here of Jehovah {Jehovah one) does not relate to the unity of God, but simply states that it is to Him alone that the name Jehovah rightfully belongs, that He is the one absolute God, to whom no other Elohim can be compared. This is also the meaning of the same expression in Zech. xiv. 9, where the words added, " and His name one," can only signify that in the future Jehovah would be acknowledged as the one absolute God, as King over all the earth. This clause not merely precludes polytheism, but also syncretism, which reduces the one absolute God to a national deity, a Baal (Hos. ii. 18), and in fact every form of theism and deism, which creates for itself a supreme God according to philosophical abstractions and ideas. For Jehovah, although the absolute One, is not an abstract notion like "absolute being" or "the absolute idea," but the absolutely living God, as He made Himself known in His deeds in Israel for the salvation of the whole world. — Ver. 5. As the one God, therefore, Israel was to love Jehovah its God with all its heart, with all its soul, and with all its strength. The motive for this is to be found in the words " thy God," in the fact t^hat Jehovah was Israel's God, and had manifested Himself to it as one God. The demand " with all the heart" excludes all half-heartedness, all division of the heart in its love. The heart is mentioned first, as the seat of the emotions generally and of love in particular; then follows the soul (nephesh) as the centre of personality in man, to depict the love as pervading the entire self-consciousness; and to this is added, "with all the strength," sc. of body and soul. Loving the Lord with all the heart and soul and strength is placed at the head, ae the spiritual principle from which the observance of the commandments was to flow (see also chap. xi. 1, xxx. 6). It was in love that the fear of the Lord (chap. x. 12), hearkening to His commandments (chap. xi. 13), and the observance of the whole law (chap. xi. 22), were to be manifested; but love itself was to be shown by walking in all the ways of the Lord (chap. xi. 22, xix.
9, XXX. 16). Christ therefore calls the command to love God with all the heart " the first and great commandment," and places on a par with this the commandment contained in Lev. xix. 8 to love one's neighbour as oneself, and then observes that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. xxii. 37-40; Mark xii. 29-31; Luke x. 27).^ Even the gospel knows no higher commandment than this. The distinction between the new covenant and the old consists simply in this, that the love of God which the gospel demands of its professors, is more intensive and cordial than that which the law of Moses demanded of the Israelites, according to the gradual unfolding of the love of God Himself, which was displayed in a much grander and more glorious form in the gift of His only begotten Son for our redemption, than in the redemption of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. — Vers. 6 sqq. But for the love of God to be of the right kind, the commandments of God must be laid to heart, and be the constant subject of thought and conversation. " Upon thine heart:^' i.e. the commandments of God were to be an affair of the heart, and not merely of the memory (cf. chap. xi. 18). They were to be enforced upon the children, talked of at home and by the way, in the evening on lying down and in the morning on rising up, i.e. everywhere and at all times; they were to be bound upon the hand for a sign, and worn as bands (frontlets) between the eyes (see ^t Ex. xiii. 16). As these words are figurative, and denote an undeviating observance of the divine com.mands, so also the commandment which follows, viz. to write the words upon the door-posts of the house, and also upon the gates, are to be understood spiritually; and the literal fulfilment of such a command could only be a praiseworthy custom or well-pleasing to God when resorted to as the means of keeping the commandments of God constantly before the eye. The precept itself, however, presupposes the existence of this custom, which is not only met with in the Mahometan countries of the East at the
1 In quoting this commandment, Matthew (xxii. 37) has substituted huvoix, " thy mind," for " thy strength," as being of especial importance to spiritual love, whereas in the LXX. the mind {^ixvotot) is substituted for the heart. Mark (xii. 30) gives the triad of Deuteronomy (hearty soul, and strength); but he has inserted " mind'' {Itxuotx) before strength (la^i^g)^ whilst in ver. 33 the understanding (cvueats) is mentioned between the heart and the soul. Lastly, liuke has given the three ideas of the original passage quite correctly, but has added at the end, " and with all thy mind" (hidiuoioc). Although the term lixuotcc (mind) originated with the Septuagint, not one of the Evangelists has adhered strictly to this version.
Vers. 10-19. To the positlv^e statement of the command there is attached, in the next place, the negative side, or a warning against the danger to which prosperity and an abundance of earthly goods so certainly expose, viz. of forgetting the Lord and His manifestations of mercy. The Israelites were all the more exposed to this danger, as their entrance into Canaan brought them into the possession of all the things conducive to well-being, in which the land abounded, without being under the necessity of procuring these things by the labour of their own hands; — into the possession, namely, of great and beautiful towns which they had not built, of houses full of all kinds of good things which they had not filled, of wells ready made which they had not dug, of vineyards and oliveplantations which they had not planted. — The nouns ^^1i^, etc. are formally dependent upon ^^ ^n?^ and serve as a detailed description of the land into which the Lord was about to lead His people. — Yer. 12. ''House of bondage,^ as in Ex. xiii. 3. '' Not forgetting"** is described from a positive point of view', as fearing God, serving Him, and sioearing by His name. Fear is placed first, as the fundamental characteristic of the Israelitish worship of God; it was no slavish fear, but simply the holy awe of a sinner before the holy God, which includes love rather than excludes it. " Fearing " is a matter of the heart; " serving," a matter of working and striving; and " swearing in His name," the practical manifestation of the worship of God in word and conversation. It refers not merely to a solemn oath before a judicial court, but rather to asseverations on oath in the ordinary intercourse of life, by which the religious attitude of a man involuntarily reveals itself. — Vers. 14 sqq. The worship of Jehovah not only precludes all idolatry, which the Lord, as a jealous God, will not endure (see at Ex. xx. 5), but will punish with destruction from the earth (" the face of the ground," as in Ex. xxxii. 12); but it also excludes tempting the Lord by an
^ The Jewish custom of the Medusah is nothing but a formal and outward observance founded upon this command. It consists in writing the words of Dent. vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-20 upon a piece of parchment, which is then placed upon the top of the doorway of houses and rooms, enclosed in a wooden box: this box they touch with the finger and then kiss the finger on going either out or in. S. Buxtorf^ ^IP^f^i)' J^d- PP- 582 sqq.; and Bodcnscliatz^ Kirchl. Verfassung der Jiiden^ iv. pp. 19 sqq.
unbelieving murmuring against God, if He does not remove anykind of distress immediately, as the people had already sinned at Massah, {,e, at Rephidim (Ex. xvii. 1-7). — Vers. 17-19. They were rather to observe all His commandments diligently, and do what was right and good in His eyes. The infinitive '1^1 n^Hc contains the further development of '1^1 HD''^ ]Vu?: '' so that He (Jehovah) thrust out all thine enemies before thee, as He hath spoken " (viz. Ex. xxiii. 27 sqq., xxxiv. 11).
In vers. 20—25, the teaching to the children, which is only briefly hinted at in ver. 7, is more fully explained. The Israelites were to instruct their children and descendants as to the nature, meaning, and object of the commandments of the Lord; and in reply to the inqijiries of their sons, to teach them what the Lord had done for the redemption of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, and how He had brought them into the promised land, and thus to awaken in the younger generation love to the Lord and to His commandments. The " great and sore miracles " (ver. 22) were the Egyptian plagues, like ^'T't^'^j in chap. iv. 34. — " To fear^^ etc., Le, that we might fear the Lord. — Ver. 25. " And righteousness will he to us, if we observe to do: " i.e. our righteousness will consist in the observance of the law; we shall be regarded and treated by God as righteous, if we are diligent in the observance of the law. " Before Jehovah " refers primarily, no doubt, to the expression, " to do all these commandments; " but, as we may see from chap. xxiv. 13, this does not prevent the further reference to the " righteousness " also. This righteousness before Jehovah, it is true, is not really the gospel " righteousness of faith; " but there is no opposition between the two, as the righteousness mentioned here is not founded upon the outward (pharisaic) righteousness of works, but upon an earnest striving after the fulfilment of the law, to love God with all the heart; and this love is altogether impossible without living faith.
Vers. 1-11. As the Israelites were warned against idolatry in chap. vi. 14, so here are they exhorted to beware of the false tolerance of sparing the Canaanites and enduring their idolatry. — Vers. 1 5. When the Lord drove out the tribes of Canaan before the Israelites, and gave them up to them and smote them, they were to put them under the ban (see at Lev. xxvii. 28), to make no treaty with them, and to contract no marriage with them. ^^J, to draw out, to cast away, e.g. the sandals (Ex. iii. 5); here and ver. 22 it signifies to draw out, or drive out a nation from its country and possessions: it occurs in this sense in the Piel in 2 Kings xvi. 6. On the Canaanitish tribes, see at Gen. x. 15 sqq. and xv. 20, 21. There are seven of them mentioned here, as in Josh. iii. 10 and xxiv. 11; on the other hand, there are only six in chap. xx. 17, as in Ex. iii. 8, 17, xxiii. 23, and xxxiii. 2, the Girgashites being omitted. The prohibition against making a covenant, as in Ex. xxiii. 32 and xxxiv. 12, and that against marrying, as in Ex. xxxiv. 16, where the danger of the Israelites being drawn away to idolatry is mentioned as a still further reason for these commands. 'T'D'' ''3, ''for he (the Canaanite) will cause thy son to turn away from behind r?26," i.e. tempt him away from following me, " to serve other godsT Moses says " from following mg," because he is speaking in the name of Jehovah. The consequences of idolatry, as in chap. vi. 15, iv. 26, etc. — Yer. 5. The Israelites were rather to destroy the altars and idols of the Canaanites, according to the command in Ex. xxxiv. 13, xxiii. 24. — Vers. 6-8. They were bound to do this by virtue of their election as a holy nation, the nation of possession, which Jehovah had singled out from all other nations, and brought out of the bondage of Egypt, not because of its greatness, but from love to them, and for the sake of the oath given to the fathers. This exalted honour Israel was not to cast away by apostasy from the Lord. It was founded upon the word of the Lord in Ex. xix. 5, 6, which Moses brought to the recollection of the people, and expressly and emphatically developed. " Not because of your multitude before all nations (because ye were more numerous than all other nations) hath Jehovah turned to you in love (P^(^, to bind oneself with, to hang upon a person, out of love), for ye are the littleness of all nations^^ (the least numerous). Moses could say this to Israel with reference to its descent from Abraham, whom God chose as the one man out of all the world, whilst nations, states, and kingdoms had already been formed all around (Baumgarten). " But because Jehovah loved you, and kept His oath which He had sworn to the fathers. He hath brought you out,^ etc. Instead of saying. He hath chosen you out of love to your fathers, as in chap. iv. 37, Moses brings out in this place love to the people of Israel as the divine motive, not for choosing Israel, but for leading it out and delivering it from the slave-house of Egypt, by which God had practically carried out the election of the people, that lie might thereby allure the Israelites to a reciprocity of love. — Vers. 9-11. Bv this was Israel to know that Jehovah their God was the true
God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant, showing mercy to those who love Him, even to the thousandth generation, but repaying those who hate Him to the face. This development of the nature of God Moses introduces from Ex. xx. 5, 6, as a light warning not to forfeit the mercy of God, or draw upon themselves His holy wrath by falling into idolatry. To this end He emphatically carries out still further the thought of retribution, by adding il^^xnPj " to destroy him " (the hater), and '131 '^nx'' ^^■), " He delays not to His hater (sc, to repay him); He will repay him to his facer '-' To the face of every one of them^^ i.e. that they may see and feel that they are smitten by God (Rosenmiiller). — Yer. 11. This energy of the grace and hoHness of the faithful covenant God was a powerful admonition to keep the divine commandments.
Vers. 12-26. The observance of these commandments would also bring great blessings (vers. 12-16). " If ye hearken to these demands of right^^ (mishpatim) of the covenant Lord upon His covenant people, and keep them and do them, " Jehovah will keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He hath sworn to thy fathers^ In ^\>Vj for "lt?^^5 ^\>V (Gen. xxii. 18), there is involved not only the idea of reciprocity, but everywhere also an allusion to reward or punishment (cf. chap. viii. 20; Num. xiv. 24). IDH was the favour displayed in the promises given to the patriarchs on oath (Gen. xxii, 16). — Yer. 13. This mercy flowed from the love of God to Israel, and the love was manifested in blessing and multiplying the people. The blessing is then particularized, by a further expansion of Ex. xxiii. 25-27, as a blessing upon the fruit of the body, the fruits of the field and soil, and the rearing of cattle, "^^ti^, see Ex. xiii. 12. |^?^ rt\7\'^V only occurs again in Deut. xxviii. 4, 18, 51, and certainly signifies the young increase of the flocks. It is probably a Canaanitish word, derived from Ashtoreth (Astharte), the female deity of the Canaanites, which was regarded as the conceiving and birth-giving principle of nature, literally Veneres, i.e, amores gregis, hence soboles {Ges.); just as the Latin poets employ the name Ceres to signify the corn, Venus for love and sexual intercourse, and Lucina for birth. On vers. 14 and 15, see Ex. xxiii. 26. In ver. 15, the promise of the preservation of Israel from all diseases (Ex. xv. 26, and xxiii. 25) is strengthened by the addition of the clause, " all the evil diseases of Egypt^^ by which, according to chap, xxviii. 27, we are probably to understand chiefly the malignant species of leprosy called elephantiasis, and possibly also the plague and other malignant forms of disease. In Egypt, diseases for the most part readily assume a very dangerous character. Pliny (A. n. xxvi. 1) calls Egypt the genitrix of contagious pestilence, and modern naturalists have confirmed this (see Hengstenherg, Egypt and the Books of ]Moses, p. 215; and Primer j Krankheiten des Orients, pp. 460 sqq.). Diseases of this kind the Lord would rather bring upon the enemies of Israel. The Israelites, on the other hand, should be so strong and vigorous, that they would devour, i.e. exterminate, all the nations which their God would give into their hands (cf. Num. xiv. 9). With this thought Moses reverts with emphasis to the command to root out the Canaanites without reserve, and not to serve their gods, because they would become a snare to them (see Ex. X. 7); and then in vers. 17-26 he carries out still further the promise in Ex. xxiii. 27—30 of the successful subjugation of the Canaanites through the assistance of the Lord, and sweeps away all the objections that a weak faith might raise to the execution of the divine command. — Vers. 17-26. To suppress the thought that was rising up in their heart, how could it be possible for them to destroy these nations which were more numerous than they, the Israelites were to remember what the Lord had done in Egypt and to Pharaoh, namely, the great temptations, signs, and wonders connected with their deliverance from Egypt (cf. chap. iv. 34 and vi. 22). He would do just the same to the Canaanites. — Ver. 20. He would also send hornets against them, as He had already promised in Ex. xxiii. 28 (see the passage), until all that were left and had hidden themselves should have utterly perished. — Vers. 21 sqq. Israel had no need to be afraid of them, as Jehovah was in the midst of it a mighty God and terrible. He would drive out the nations, but only gradually, as He had already declared to Moses in Ex. xxiii. 30, 31, and would smite them with great confusion, till they were destroyed, as was the case for example at Gibeon (Josh. x. 10; cf. Ex. xxiii. 27, where the form S^n is used instead of D^n), and would also deliver their kings into the hand of Israel, so that their names should vanish under the heaven (cf. chap. ix. 14, xxv. 19; and for the fulfilment. Josh. x. 22 sqq., xi. 12, xii. 7-24). No one would be able to stand before Israel. — Ver. 24. " To stand before thee:" lit. to put oneself in the face of a person, so as to withstand him. nwn for ^'^m^ as in Lev. xiv. 43, etc.— Vers. 25, 26. Trusting to this promise, the Israelites were to burn up the idols of the Canaanites, and not to desire the silver and gold upon them (with which the statues were overlaid: see vol. ii. p. 222), or take it to them^lves, lest they should be snared in it, i.e. lest the silver and gold should become a snare to them. It would become so, not from any danger lest they should practise idolatry with it, but because silver and gold which had been used in connection with idolatrous worship was an abomination to Jehovah, which the Israelites were not to bring into their houses, lest they themselves should fall under the ban, to which all the objects connected with idolatry were devoted, as the history of Achan in Josh. vii. clearly proves. For this reason, any such abomination was to be abhorred, and destroyed by burning or grinding to powder (cf. Ex. xxxii. 20; 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 5; 2 Chron. xv. 16).
Heview of the Guidance of God, and their Humiliation in the Desert^ as a Warning against Highmindedness and Forgetfulness of God, — Chap. viii.
Vers. 1-6. In addition to the danger of being drawn aside to transgress the covenant, by sparing the Canaanites and their idols out of pusillanimous compassion and false tolerance, the Israelites would be especially in danger, after their settlement in Canaan, of falling into pride and forgetfulness of God, w^hen enjoying the abundant productions of that land. To guard against this danger, Moses set before them how the Lord had sought to lead and train them to obedience by temptations and humiliations during their journey through the desert. In order that his purpose in doing this might be clearly seen, he commenced (ver. 1) with the renewed admonition to keep the whole law which he commanded them that day, that they might live and multiply and attain to the possession of the promised land (cf. chap. iv. 1, vi. 3). — Ver. 2. To this end they were to remember the forty years' guidance through the wilderness (chap. i. 31, ii. 7), by which God desired to humble them, and to prove the state of their heart and their obedience. Humiliation was the way to prove their attitude towards God. n^y, to humble, i.e, to bring them by means of distress and privations to feel their need of help and their dependence upon God. HDJ^ to prove, by placing them in such positions in life as would drive them to reveal what was in their heart, viz. whether they believed in the omnipotence, love, and righteousness of God, or not. — Ver. 3. The humiliation in the desert consisted not merely in the fact that God let the people hunger, i.e. be in want of bread and their ordinary food, but also in the fact that He fed them with manna, which was unknown to them and their fathers (cf. Ex. xvi. 16 sqq.). Feeding with manna is called a humiliation, inasmuch as God intended to show to the people through this food, which had previously been altogether unknown to them, that man does not live by bread alone, that the power to sustain life does not rest upon bread only (Isa. xxxviii. 16; Gen. xxvii. 40), or belong simply to it, but to all that goeth forth out of the mouth of Jehovah. That which "proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovdi^ is not the word of the law, as the Kabbins suppose, but, as the word h'3 (all, every) shows, " the ivord^^ generally, the revealed will of God to preserve the life of man in whatever way (Schultz): hence all means designed and appointed by the Lord for the sustenance of life. In this sense Christ quotes these words in reply to the tempter (Matt. iv. 4), not to say to him, The Messiah lives not by (material) bread only, but by the fulfilment of the will of God ( Usteri, Ullmann), or by trusting in the sustaining word of God (^Olshausen); but that He left it to God to care for the sustenance of His life, as God could sustain His life in extraordinary ways, even w^ithout the common supplies of food, by the power of His almighty word and will. — Ver. 4. As the Lord provided for their nourishment, so did He also in a marvellous way for the clothing of His people during these forty years. " Thy garment did not fall off thee through age, and tliy foot did not swelV n?2i with p, to fall off from age. P^^ only occurs again in Neh. ix. 21, where this passage is repeated. The meaning is doubtful. The w^ord. is certainly connected with P^*n (dough), and probably signifies to become soft or to swell, although P^^ is also used for unleavened dough. The Septuagint rendering here is irvXcoOrjaav, to get hard skin; on the other hand, in Neh. ix. 21, we find the rendering vTTohrjfxaTa avTcov ov Bteppdyrjo-av, " their sandals were not worn out," from the parallel passage in Deut. xxix. 5. These words affirm something more than " clothes and shoes never failed you," inasmuch as ye always had wool, hides, leather, and other kinds of material in sufficient quantities for clothes and shoes, as not only J. D. Michaelis and others suppose, but Calmety and even Kurtz, Knohel is quite correct in observing, that " this would be altogether too trivial a matter by the side of the miraculous supply of manna, and moreover that it is not involved in the expression itself, which rather affirms that their clothes did not wear out upon them, or fall in tatters from their backs, because God gave them a miraculous durability" (^Luther, Calvin, Baumgarten, Schultz, etc.). At the same time, there is no necessity to follow some of the Rabbins and Justin Martyr (dial. c. Tryph, c. 131), who so magnify the miracle of divine providence, as to maintain not only that the clothes of the Israelites did not get old, but that as the younger generation grew up their clothes also grew upon their backs, like the shells of snails. Nor is it necessary to shut out the different natural resources which the people had at their command for providing clothes and sandals, any more than the gift of manna precluded the use of such ordinary provisions as they were able to procure. — Yer. 5. In this way Jehovah humbled and tempted His people, that they might learn in their heart, i.e. convince themselves by experience, that their God was educating them as a father does his son. "lE^, to admonish, chasten, educate; like iraiheveLv. "It includes everything belonging to a proper education" (^Calvin). — Ver. 6. The design of this education was to train them to keep His commandments, that they might walk in His ways and fear Him (chap. vi. 24).
Vers. 7—20. The Israelites were to continue mindful of this paternal discipline on the part of their God, when the Lord should bring them into the good land of Canaan. This land Moses describes in vers. 8, 9, in contrast with the dry unfruitful desert, as a well-watered and very fruitful land, which yielded abundance of support to its inhabitants; a land of water-brooks, fountains, and floods (niDinrij see Gen. i. 2), which had their source (took their rise) in valleys and on mountains; a land of wheat and barley, of the vine, fig, and pomegranate, and full of oil and honey (see at Ex. iii. 8); lastly, a land " in which thou shalt not eat (support thyself) in scarcity J and shalt not he in want of anything; a land lohose stones are iro7i, and out of whose mountains thou hewest brass." The stones are iron, i.e. ferruginous. This statement is confirmed by modern travellers, although the Israelites did not carry on mining, and do not appear to have obtained either iron or brass from their own land. The iron and brass which David collected such quantities for the building of the temple (1 Chron. xxii. 3, 14), he procured from Betach and Berotai (2 Sam. viii. 8), or Tihchat and Kun (1 Chron. xviii. 8), towns of Hadadezer, that is to say, from Syria. According to Ezek. xxvii. 19, however, the Danites brought iron-work to the market of Tyre. Not only do the springs near Tiberias contain iron (y. Schubert^ R. iii. p. 239), whilst the soil at Hasbeya and the springs in the neighbourhood are also strongly impregnated with iron (Burckhardt, Syrien, p. 83), but in the southern mountains as well there are probably strata of iron between Jerusalem and Jericho (Russegger, R. iii. p. 250). But Lebanon especially abounds in iron-stone; iron mines and smelting furnaces being found there in many places ( Volneyj Travels; Burckhardt, p. 73; Seetzen, i. pp. 145, 187 sqq., 237 sqq.). The basalt also, which occurs in great masses in northern Canaan by the side of the limestone, from the plain of Jezreel onwards {Robinson, iii. p. 313), and is very predominant in Bashan, is a ferruginous stone. Traces of extinct copper-works are also found upon Lebanon (Volnei/, Travels; Ritters Erdkunde, xvii. p. 1063). — Vers. 10-18. But if the Israelites were to eat there and be satisfied, i.e. to live in the midst of plenty, they w^ere to beware of forgetting their God; that when their prosperity — their possessions, in the form of lofty houses, cattle, gold and silver, and other good things — increased, their heart might not be lifted up, i.e, they might not become proud, and, forgetting their deliverance from Egypt and their miraculous preservation and guidance in the desert, ascribe the property they had acquired to their own strength and the work of their own hands. To keep the people from this danger of forgetting God, which follows so easily from the pride of wealth, Moses once more enumerates in vers. 14^-16 the manifestations of divine grace, their deliverance from Egypt the slave-house, their being led through the great and terrible desert, whose terrors he depicts by mentioning a series of noxious and even fatal things, such as snakes, burning snakes (saraph, see at Num. xxi. 6), scorpions, and the thirsty land where there was no water. The words from tJ^n: onwards, are attached rhetorically to what precedes by simple apposition, without any logically connecting particle; though it will not do to overlook entirely the rhetorical form of the enumeration, and supply the preposition ^ before t^nj and the words which follow, to say nothing of the fact that it would be quite out of character before these nouns in the singular, as a whole people could not go through one serpent, etc. In this parched land the Lord brought the people water out of the flinty rock, the hardest stone, and fed them with manna, to humble them and tempt them (cf. ver. 2), in order (this was the ultimate intention of all the humiliation and trial) " to do thee good at thy latter endV The " latter end" of any one is " the time which follows some distinct point in his life, particularly an important epoch-making point, and which may be regarded as the end by contrast, the time before that epoch being considered as the beginning" (Schuitz). In this instance Moses refers to the period of their life in Canaan, in contrast with which the period of their sojourn in Egypt and their wandering in the desert is regarded as the beginning; consequently the expression does not relate to death as the end of life, as in Num. xxiii. 10, although this allusion is not to be altogether excluded, as a blessed death is only the completion of a blessed life. — Like all the guidance of Israel by the Lord, what is stated here is applicable to all believers. It is through humiliations and trials that the Lord leads His people to blessedness. Through the desert of tribulation, anxiety, distress, and merciful interposition. He conducts them to Canaan, into the land of rest, where they are refreshed and satisfied in the full enjoyment of the blessings of His grace and salvation; but those alone who continue humble, not attributing the good fortune and prosperity to which they attain at last, to their own exertion, strength, perseverance, and wisdom, but gratefully enjoying this good as a gift of the grace of God. ^^n nt^y^ to create property, to prosper in wealth (as in Num. xxiv. 18). God gave strength for this (ver. 18), not because of Israel's merit and worthiness, but to fulfil His promises which He had made on oath to the patriarchs. ^' As this day" as was quite evident then, when the establishment of the covenant had already commenced, and Israel had come through the desert to the border of Canaan (see chap. iv. 20). — Vers. 19, 20. To strengthen his admonition, Moses pointed again in conclusion, as he had already done in chap. vi. 14 (cf. chap. iv. 25 sqq.), to the destruction which would come upon Israel through apostasy from its God.
Warning against Self-righteousness, founded upon the recital of their previous Sins, — Chap, ix.-x. 11.
Besides the more vulgar pride w^hich entirely forgets God, and attributes success and prosperity to its own power and exertion, there is one of a more refined character, which very easily spreads — namely, pride which acknowledges the blessings of God; but instead of receiving them gratefully, as unmerited gifts of the grace of the Lord, sees in them nothing but proofs of its own righteousness and virtue. Moses therefore warned the Israelites more particularly of this dangerous enemy of the soul, by first of all declaring without reserve, that the Lord was not about to give them Canaan because of their own righteousness, but that He would exterminate the Canaanites for their own wickedness (vers. 1-6); and then showing them for their humiliation, by proofs drawn from the immediate past, how they had brought upon themselves the anger of the Lord, by their apostasy and rebellion against their God, directly after the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai; and that in such a way, that it was only by his earnest intercession that he had been able to prevent the destruction of the people (vers. 7-24), and to secure a further renewal of the ])led<^es of the covenant (vcr. 25-chap. x. 11).
Vers. 1-0. Warning against a conceit of riglitepusness, with the occasion for the warning. As the IsraeHtes were now about to cross over the Jordan (" this day," to indicate tliat the time was close at hand), to take possession of nations that were superior to them in size and strength (the tribes of Canaan mentioned in chap, vii. 1), and great fortified cities reaching to the heavens (cf. chap, i. 28), namely, tlie great and tall nation of the Enakites (chap. i. 28), before which, as was well known, no one could stand (^^fl^ii, as in chap. vii. 24); and as they also knew that Jehovah their God was going before them to destroy and humble these nations, they were not to say in their heart, when this was done. For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. In ver. 3, J^y^l] Qi^n is not to be taken in an imperative sense, but as expressive of the actual fact, and corresponding to ver. 1, " thou art to pass." Israel now knew for certain — namely, by the fact, which spoke so powerfully, of its having been successful against foes which it could never have conquered by itself, especially against Sihon and Og — that the Lord was going before it, as the leader and captain of His people (Schultz: see chap. i. 30). The threefold repetition of fc^^n in ver. 3. is peculiarly emphatic. " A consuming fire:" as in chap. iv. 24. Dn'CL^^^_ Sin is more particularly defined by 'IJT ^T^^l ^'^'^\ which follows: not, however, as implying that ^^^f '7 does not signify complete destruction in this passage, but rather as explaining ho\v the destruction would take place. Jehovah would destroy the Canaanites, by bringing them down, humbling them before Israel, so that they would be able to drive them out and destroy them quickly. " "^n^? quickly, is no more opposed to chap. vii. 22, ' thou mayest not destroy them quickly,' than God's not delaying to requite (chap. vii. 10) is opposed to His long-suffering" (Schultz). So far as the almighty assistance of God was concerned, the Israelites w^ould quickly overthrow the Canaanites; but for the sake of the well-being of Israel, the destruction would only take place by decrees. ''As Jehovah hath said unto thee;" viz. Ex. xxiii. 23, 27 sqq., and at the beginning of the conflict, chap. ii. 24 sqq. — Ver. 4. When therefore Jehovah thrust out these nations before them (^nn, as in chap. vi. 19), the Israelites were not to say within themselves, '' By (for, on account of) mi/ righteousness Jehovah hath brought me (led me hither) to possess this land J' The following word, ny^'nai, is adversative: " but because of the wickedness of these nations,'^ etc.
— To impress this truth deeply upon the people, Moses repeats the thought once more in ver. 5. At the same time he mentions, in addition to righteousness, stralghtness or uprightness of heart, to indicate briefly that outward works do not constitute true righteousness, but that an upright state of heart is indispensable, and then enters more fully into the positive reasons. The wickedness of the Oanaanites was no doubt a sufficient reason for destroying them^ but not for giving their land to the people of Israel, since they could lay no claim to it on account of their own righteousness. The reason for giving Canaan to the Israelites was simply the promise of God, the word which the Lord had spoken to the patriarchs on oath (cf. chap. vii. 8), and therefore nothing but the free grace of God, — not any merit on the part of the Israelites who were then living, for they were a people " of a hard neck," Le. a stubborn, untractable generation. With these words, which the Lord Himself had applied to Israel in Ex. xxxii. 9, xxxiii. 3, 5, Moses prepares the way for passing to the reasons for his warning against self-righteous pride, namely, the grievous sins of the Israelites against the Lord.
Vers. 7-24. He reminded the people how they had provoked the Lord in the desert, and had shown themselves rebellious against God, from the day of their departure from Egypt till their arrival in the steppes of Moab. "•^f^^^'^w^, for *^C^^5, is the object to ^^t^•*n {Ewald, § 333, a.): " how thou hast provoked." ^"^^^y generally with ''BTiX (cf. chap. i. 26), to be rebellious against the commandment of the Lord: here with DP, construed with a person, to deal rebelliously with God, to act rebelliously in relation to Him (cf. chap. xxxi. 27). The words, ^^ from the. day that thou earnest out,^ etc., are not to be pressed. It is to be observed, however, that the rebellion against the guidance of God commenced before they passed through the Red Sea (Ex. xiv. 11). This general statement Moses then followed up with facts, first of all describing the worship of the calf at Horeb, according to its leading features (vers. 8-21), and then briefly pointing to the other rebellions of the people in the desert (vers. 22, 23). — Yer. 8. " And indeed even in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wraths By the vav explic. this sin is brought into prominence, as having been a specially grievous one. It was so because of the circumstances under which it was committed. — Vers. 9—12. When Moses went up the mountain, and stayed there forty days, entirely occupied with the holiest things, so that he neither ate nor drank, having 'gone up to receive the tables of the law, upon which the words were written with the finger of God, just as the Lord had spoken them directly to the people out of the midst of the fire, — at a time, therefore, when the Israelites should also have been meditating deeply upon the words of the Lord which they had but just heard, — they acted so corruptly, as to depart at once from the way that had been pointed out, and make themselves a molten image (comp. Ex. xxxi. 18-xxxii. 6, with chaps, xxiv. 12— xxxi. 17). " The day of the assembly ^^ i.e. the day on which Moses gathered the people together before God (chap. iv. 10), calling them out of the camp, and bringing them to the Lord to the foot of Sinai (Ex. xix. 17). The construction of the sentence is this: the apodosis to " when I was gone up^' commences with " the Lord delivered unto itiCj^ in ver. 10; and the clause, " then I abode^' etc., in ver. 9, is a parenthesis. — The words of God in vers. 12-14 are taken almost word for word from Ex. xxxii. 7-10. ^7.n (ver. 14), the imperative Iliphil of ns'i, desist from me, that I may destroy them, for 7 •^'^^^n, in Ex. xxxii. 10. But notwithstanding the apostasy of the people, the Lord gave Moses the tables of the covenant, not only that they might be a testimony of His holiness before the faithless nation, but still more as a testimony that, in spite of His resolution to destroy the rebellious nation, without leaving a trace behind. He would still uphold His covenant, and make of Moses a greater people. There is nothing at all to favour the opinion, that handing over the tables (ver. 11) was the first beginning of the manifestations of divine wrath (Schultz); and this is also at variance with the preterite, jriJ, in ver. 11, from which it is very evident that the Lord had already given the tables to Moses, when He commanded him to go down quickly, not only to declare to the people the holiness of God, but to stop the apostasy, and by his mediatorial intervention to avert from the people the execution of the divine purpose. It is true, that when Moses came down and saw the idolatrous conduct of the people, he threw the two tables from his hands, and broke them in pieces before the eyes of the people (vers. 15-17; comp. with Ex. xxxii. 15-19), as a practical declaration that the covenant of the Lord was broken by their apostasy. But this act of Moses furnishes no proof that the Lord had given him the tables to declare His holy wrath in the sight of the people. And even if the tables of the covenant were " in a certain sense the indictments in Moses' hands, accusing them of a capital crime" (^Schultz), this was not the purpose for which God had given them to him. For if it had been, Moses would not have broken them in pieces, destroying, as it were, the indictments themselves, before the people had been tried. Moses passed over the fact, that even before coming down from the mountain he endeavoured to mitigate the wrath of the Lord by his intercession (Ex. xxxii. 11-14), and simply mentioned (in vers. 15-17) how, as soon as he came down, he charged the people with their great sin; and then, in vers. 18, 19, how he spent another forty days upon the mountain fasting before God, on account of this sin, until he had averted the destructive wrath of the Lord from Israel, through his earnest intercession. The forty days that Moses spent upon the mountain, " as at the Jirst,^' in prayer before the Lord, are the days mentioned in Ex. xxxiv. 28 as having been passed upon Sinai for the perfect restoration of the covenant, and for the purpose of procuring the second tables (cf. chap. x. 1 sqq.). — Ver. 20. It w^as not from the people only, but from Aaron also, that Moses averted the wrath of God through his intercession, when it was about to destroy him. In the historical account in Ex. xxxii., there is no special reference to this intercession, as it is included in the intercession for the whole nation. On the present occasion, however, Moses gave especial prominence to this particular feature, not only that he might make the people thoroughly aware that at that time Israel could not even boast of the righteousness of its eminent men (cf. Isa. xliii. 27), but also to bring out the fact, which is described still more fully in chap. x. 6 sqq., that Aaron's investiture with the priesthood, and the maintenance of this institution, was purely a work of divine grace. It is true that at that time Aaron was not yet high priest; but he had been placed at the head of the nation in connection with Hu?', as the representative of Moses (Ex. xxiv. 14), and was already designated by God for the high-priesthood (Ex. xxviii. 1). The fact, however, that Aaron had drawn upon himself the wrath of God in a very high degree, was intimated plainly enough in what Moses told him in Ex. xxxii. 21. — In ver. 21, Moses mentions again how he destroyed that manifested sin of the nation, namely, the molten calf (see at Ex. xxxii. 20). — Vers. 22-24. And it was not on this occasion only, viz. at Horeb, that Israel aroused the anger of the Lord its God by its sin, but it did so again and again at other places: at Tabeerah, by discontent at the guidance of God (Num. xi. 1-3); at Massah, by murmuring on account of the want of water (Ex. xvii. 1 sqq.); at the graves of lust, by longing for flesh (Num. xi. 4 sqq.); and at Kadesh-Barnea by unbelief, of which they had already been reminded at chap. i. 26 sqq. The list is not arranged chronologically, but advances gradually from the smaller to tlie more serious forms of i'liilt. For Closes was seckiiifT to sharpen the consciences of the people, and to impress upon them the fact that they had been rebellious against the Lord (see at ver. 7) from the very beginning, " from the day that I knew you." Vers. 25-29. After vindicating in this way the tliought expressed in ver. 7, by enumerating the princi])al rebellions of the people against their God, Moses returns in vers. 25 sqq. to the apostasy at Sinai, for the purpose of showing still further how Israel had no righteousness or ground for boasting before God, and owed its preservation, with all the saving blessings of the covenant, solely to the mercy of God and His covenant faithfulness. To this end he repeats in vers. 2G-29 the essential points in his intercession for the people after their sin at Sinai, and then proceeds to explain still further, in chap. x. 1-11, how the Lord had not only renewed the tables of the covenant in consequence of this intercession (vers. 1-5), but had also established the gracious institution of the priesthood for the time to come by appointing Eleazar ii. Aaron's stead as soon as his father died, and setting apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant and attend to the holy service, and liad commanded them to continue their march to Canaan, and take possession of the land promised to the fathers (vers. 6-11). With the words " thus I fell down," in ver. 25, Moses returns to the intercession already briefly mentioned in ver. 18, and recalls to the recollection of the people the essential features of his plea at that time. For the w^ords " the forty days and nights that I fell dowuj^ see at chap. i. 46. The substance of the intercession in vers. 26-29 is essentially the same as that in Ex. xxxii. 11-13; but given with such freedom as any other than Moses would hardly have allowed himself (Schulfz), and in such a manner as to bring it into the most obvious relation to the words of God in vers. 12, 13. ^D^^'^'^j " Destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance^^ says Moses, with reference to the words of the Lord to him: " thy people have corrupted themselves " (ver. 12). Israel was not Moses' nation, but the nation and inheritance of Jehovah; it was not Moses, but Jehovah, who had brought it out of Egypt. True, the people were stiff necked (cf. ver. 13); but let the Lord remember the fathers, the oath given to Abraham, which is expressly mentioned in Ex. xxxii. 13 (see at chap. vii. 8), and not turn to the stiffneckedness of the people (^^\> equivalent to K}V ^^?y vers. 13 and 6), and to their wickedness and sin {i.e» not regard them and punish them). The honour of the Lord before the nations was concerned in this
(ver. 28). The land whence Israel came out (" the land " = the people of the land, as in Gen. x. 25, etc., viz. the Egyptians; the word is construed as a collective with a plural verb) must not have occasion to say, that Jehovah had not led His people into the promised land from incapacity or hatred, ripb^ v3p recalls Num. xiv. 16. Just as " inabiHty " would be opposed to the nature of the absolute God, so " hatred " would be opposed to the choice of Israel as the inheritance of Jehovah, which He had brought out of Egypt by His divine and almighty power (cf. Ex. vi. 6).
Chap. X. 1—11. In vers. 1—5 Moses briefly relates the success of his earnest intercession. '^ At that time^^ of his intercession, God commanded liim to hew out new tables, and prepare an ark in which to keep them (cf. Ex. xxxiv. 1 sqq.). Here again Moses links together such things as were substantially connected, without strictly confining himself to the chronological order, which was already well known from the historical account, inasmuch as this was not required by the general object of his address. God had already given directions for the preparation of the ark of the covenant, before the apostasy of the nation (Ex. xxv. 10 sqq.); but it was not made till after the tabernacle had been built, and the tables were only deposited in the ark when the tabernacle was consecrated (Ex. xl. 20). — Vers. 6 and 7. And the Israelites owed to the grace of their God, which was turned towards them once more, through the intercession of Moses, not only the restoration of the tables of the. covenant as a pledge that the covenant itself was restored, but also "the institution and maintenance of the highpriesthood and priesthood generally for the purpose of mediation between them and the Lord»^ Moses reminds the people of this
^ Even Clfincus pointed otit this connection, and paraphrased vers. 6 and 7
as follows: "But when, as I have said, God forgave the Hebrew people, He pardoned my brother Aaron also, who did not die till the fortieth year after we had come out of Egypt, and when we were coming round the borders of the Edomites to come hither. God also showed that He was reconciled towards him by conferring the priesthood upon him, which is now borne by his son
Eleazar according to the will of God." Clericus has also correctly brought out the fact that Moses referred to what he had stated in chap. ix. 20 as to the wrath of God against Aaron and his intercession on his behalf, or rather that he mentioned his intercession on behalf of Aaron in that passage, because he intended to call more particular attention to the successful result of it in this. Hengsteriberg (Dissertations, vol. ii. pp. 351-2) has since 'pointed out briefly, but very conclusively, the connection of thought between vei's. 6, 7, and what goes before and follows after. ** Moses," he says, ** points out to the people how the
Lord had continued unchangeable in His mercy notwithstanding all their sins.
gracious gift on the part of their God, by recalling to their memory the time when Aaron died and his son Eleazar was invested with the high-priesthood in his stead. That he may transport his hearers the more distinctly to the period in questi(m, he lets the history itself speak, and quotes from the account of their journeys the passage which supphed the practical proof of what he desires to say. Instead of saying: And the high-priesthood also, with which Aaron was invested by the grace of God notwithstanding his sin at Sinai, the Lord has still preserved to you; for when Aaron died. He invested his son with the same honour,^ and also directed you to continue your journey, — he proceeds in the following historical style: " And the children of Israel took their journey from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son became priest in his stead. And from thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of water-broohsT The allusion to these marches, together with the events which had taken place at Mosera, taught in very few words " not only that Aaron was forgiven at the intercession of Moses, and even honoured with the high-priesthood, the medium of grace and blessing to the people of God (e.g. at the w^ells of Bene-Ja^kan) until the time of his death; but also that through this same intercession the high-priesthood was maintained in perpetuity, so that when Aaron had to die in the wilderness in consequence of a fresh sin (Num. xx. 12), it continued notwith-
Although they had rendered themselves unworthy of such goodness by their worship of the calf, He gave them the ark of the covenant with the new tables of the law in it (chap. x. 1-5). He followed up this gift of His grace by instituting the high-priesthood, and when Aaron died He caused it to be transferred to his son Eleazar (vers. 6, 7). He set apart the tribe of Levi to serve Him and bless the people in His name, and thus to be the mediators of His mercy (vers. 8, 9). In short, He omitted nothing that was requisite to place Israel in full possession of the dignity of a people of God." There is no ground
for regarding vers. 6, 7, as a gloss, as Capellus^ Dathe^ and Rosenmiiller do, or vers. 6-9 as " an interpolation of a historical statement concerning the bearers of the ark of the covenant and the holy persons generally, which has no connection with Moses' address," as Knobel maintains. The want of any formal connection is quite in keeping with the spirit of simplicity which characterizes the early Hebrew diction and historical writings. " The style of the Hebrews is not to be tried by the rules of rhetoricians " (Clericus).
* " In the death of Aaron they might discern the punishment of their rebellion. But the fact that Eleazar was appointed in his place, was a sign of the paternal grace of God, who did not suffer them to be forsaken on that account" {Calvin).
standing, and by no means diminished in strength, as might have been feared, since it led the way from the wells to water-brooks, helped on the journey to Canaan, which was now the object of their immediate aim, and still sustained their courage and their faith" (^Schultz), The earlier commentators observed the inward connection between the continuation of the high-priesthood and the water-brooks. J, Gerhard, for example, observes: " God generally associates material blessings with spiritual; as long as the ministry of the word and the observance of divine worship flourish among us, God will also provide for our temporal necessities." On the places mentioned, see pp. 244—5.
In ver. 8, Moses returns to the form of an address again, and refers to the separation of the tribe of Levi for the holy service, as a manifestation of mercy on the part of the Lord towards Israel. The expression " at that time " is not to be understood as relating to the time of Aaron's death in the fortieth year of the march, in which Knohel finds a contradiction to the other books. It refers quite generally, as in chap. ix. 20 and x. 1, to the time of which Moses is speaking here, viz. the time when the covenant was restored at Sinai. The appointment of the tribe of Levi for service at the sanctuary took place in connection with the election of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood (Ex. xxviii. and xxix.), although their call to this service, instead of the first-born of Israel, was not carried out till the numbering and mustering of the people (Num. i. 49 sqq., iv. 17 sqq., viii. 6 sqq.). Moses is speaking here of the election of the whole of the tribe of Levi, including the priests (Aaron and his sons), as is very evident from the account of their service. It is true that the carrying of the ark upon the march through the desert was the business of the (non-priestly) Levites, viz. the Kohathites (Num. iv. 4 sqq.); but on solemn occasions the priests had to carry it (cf. Josh. iii. 3, 6, 8, vi. 6; 1 Kings viii. 3 sqq.). " Standing before the Lord, to serve Him, and to bless in His name," was exclusively the business of the priests (cf. chap, xviii. 5, xxi. 5, and Num. vi. 23 sqq.), whereas the Levites were only assistants of the priests in their service (see at chap, xviii. 7). This tribe therefore received no share and possession with the other tribes, as was already laid down in Num. xviii. 20 with reference to the priests, and in ver. 24 with regard to all the Levites; to which passages the words "as the Lord thy God promised him" refer. — Lastly, in vers. lOy 11, Moses sums up the result of his intercession in the words, "And I stood upon the mount as the first daj/s, forty days (a resumption of cluip. ix. 18 and 25); and the Lord hearkened to me this time also (word for word, as in chap. ix. 19). Jehovah would not destroy thee (Israel)." Therefore lie commanded Moses to arise to depart before the people, i.e. as leader of the people to command and superintend their removal and march. In form, this command is connected with Ex. xxxiv. 1; but Moses refers here not only to that word of the Lord with the limitation added there in ver. 2, but to the ultimate, full, and unconditional assurance of God, in which the Lord Himself promised to go with His people and bring them to Canaan (Ex. xxxiv. 14 sqq.).
Admonition to fear and love God. The Blessing or Curse consequent upon the Fulfilment or Transgression of the Law. — Chap. X. 12-xi. 32.
Vers. 12-15. The proof that Israel had no righteousness before God is followed on the positive side by an expansion of the main law laid down in chap. vi. 4 sqq., to love God with all the heart, which is introduced by the words, " and now Israel," sc. now that thou hast everything without desert or worthiness, purely from forgiving grace. " What doth the Lord thy God require of theeV Nothing further than that thou fearest Him, " to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Him with all the heart and all the soul." C]^^ ^3j unless^ or except that, presupposes a negative clause (cf. Gen. xxxix. 9), which is implied here in the previous question, or else to be supplied as the answer. The demand for fear, love, and reverence towards the Lord, is no doubt very hard for the natural man to fulfil, and all the harder the deeper it goes into the heart; but after such manifestations of the love and grace of God, it only follows as a matter of course. " Fear, love, and obedience would naturally have taken root of themselves within the heart, if man had not corrupted his own heart." Love, which is the only thing demanded in chap. vi. 5, is here preceded by fear, which is the only thing mentioned in chap. v. 26 and vi. 24.^ The fear of the Lord, which springs from the knowledge of one's own unholiness in the presence of the holy God, ought to form the one leading emotion in the heart prompting to walk in all the ways of the Lord, and to maintain morality of conduct in its strictest form.
^ The fear of God is to be united with the love of God; for love without fear makes men remiss, and fear without love makes them servile and desperate {J. Gerhard).
This fear, which first enables us to comprehend the mercy of God, awakens love, the fruit of which is manifested in serving God with all the heart and all the soul (see chap. vi. 5). " For thy good,'^ as in chap. v. 30 and vi. 24. — ^Vers. 14, 15. This obligation the Lord had laid upon Israel by the love with which He, to whom all the heavens and the earth, with everything upon it, belong, had chosen the patriarchs and their seed out of all nations. By " the heavens of the heavens," the idea of heaven is perfectly exhausted. This God, who might have chosen any other nation as well as Israel, or in fact all nations together, had directed His special love to Israel alone.
Vers. 16-22. Above all, therefore, they were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, i.e. to lay aside all insensibility of heart to impressions from the love of God (cf. Lev. xxvi. 41; and on the spiritual signification of circumcision, see vol. i. p. 227), and not stiffen their necks any more, i.e. not persist in their obstinacy, or obstinate resistance to God (cf. chap. ix. 6, 13). Without circumcision of heart, true fear of God and true love of God are both impossible. As a reason for this admonition, Moses adduces in vers. 17 sqq. the nature and acts of God. Jehovah as the absolute God and Lord is mighty and terrible towards all, without respect of person, and at the same time a just Judge and loving Protector of the helpless and oppressed. From this it follows that the true God will not tolerate haughtiness and stiffness of neck either towards Himself or towards other men, but will punish it without reserve. To set forth emphatically the infinite greatness and might of God, Moses describes Jehovah the God of Israel as the " God of gods^^ i.e. the supreme God, the essence of all that is divine, of all divine power and might (cf. Ps. cxxxvi. 2), — and as the " Lord of lordsj^ i.e. the supreme, unrestricted Ruler (" the only Potentate," 1 Tim. vi. 15), above all powers in heaven and on earth, " a great King above all gods" (Ps. xcv. 3). Compare Rev. xvii. 14 and xix. 16, where these predicates are transferred to the exalted Son of God, as the Judge and Conqueror of all dominions and powers that are hostile to God. The predicates which follow describe the unfolding of the omnipotence of God in the government of the world, in which Jehovah manifests Himself as the great, mighty, and terrible God (Ps. Ixxxix. 8), who does not regard the person (cf. Lev. xix. 15), or accept presents (cf. chap. xvi. 19), like a human judge. — Vers. 18, 19. As such, Jehovah does justice to the defenceless (orphan and widow), and exercises a loving care towards the stranger ill his oppression. For this reason the IsraeHtes were not to close their hearts egotistically against the stranger (cf. Ex. xxii. 20). This woulil show whether they possessed any love to God, and had circumcised their hearts (cf. 1 John iii. 10, 17). — Vers. 20 sqq. After laying down the fundamental condition of a proper relation towards God, Moses describes the fear of God, i.e. true reverence of God, in its threefold manifestation, in deed (serving God), in heart (cleaving to Ilim; cf. chap. iv. 4), and with the mouth (swearing by His n.une; cf. chap. vi. 13). Such reverence as this Israel owed to its God; for " He is thy praise, and He is thij God '* (ver. 21). lie has given thee strong inducements to praise. By the great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen, lie has manifested Himself as God to thee. " Terrible things^^ are those acts of divine omnipotence, which fill men with fear and trembling at the majesty of the Almighty (cf. Ex. xv. 11). in« nb'y, "done with thee," i,e. shown to thee (riX in the sense of practical help). — Ver. 22. One marvel among these great and terrible acts of the Lord was to be seen in Israel itself, which had gone down to Egypt in the persons of its fathers as a family consisting of seventy souls, and now, notwithstanding the oppression it suffered there, had grown into an innumerable nation. So marvellously had the Lord fulfilled His promise in Gen. xv. 5. By referring to this promise, Moses intended no doubt to recall to the recollection of the people the fact that the bondage of Israel in a foreign land for 400 years had also been foretold (Gen. xv. 13 sqq.). On the seventy souls, see at Gen. xlvi. 26, 27.
Chap. xi. In vers. 1-12 the other feature in the divine requirements (chap. X. 12), viz. love to the Lord their God, is still more fully developed. Love was to show itself in the distinct perception of what had to be observed towards Jehovah (to " keep His charge,^ see at Lev. viii. 35), i,e. in the perpetual observance of His commandments and rights. The words, " and His statutes/^ etc., serve to explain the general notion, "His charge." ''All days" as in chap. iv. 10. — Vers. 2 sqq. To awaken this love they were now to know, i,e, to ponder and lay to heart, the discipline of the Lord their God. The words from ''for (I speak) not" to " have not seen " are a parenthetical clause, by which Moses would impress his words most strongly upon the hearts of the older generation, which had witnessed the acts of the Lord. The clause is without any verb or predicate, but this can easily be supplied from the sense. The best suggestion is that of Schultz, viz. i<'^^\} '^^'^^, " for it is not with your children that I have to do," not to them that this admonition apphes. Moses refers to the children who had been born in the desert, as distinguished from those who, though not twenty years old when the Israelites came out of Egypt, had nevertheless seen with their own eyes the plagues inflicted upon Egypt, and who were now of mature age, viz. between forty and sixty years old, and formed, as the older and more experienced generation, the stock and kernel of the congregation assembled round him now. To the words, " which have not known and have not seen^'' it is easy to supply from the context, " what ye have known and seen." The accusatives from "the chastisement" onwards belong to the verb of the principal sentence, " know ye this day." The accusatives which follow show what we are to understand by " the chastisement of the Lord," viz. the mighty acts of the Lord to Egypt and to Israel in the desert. The object of them all was to educate Israel in the fear and love of God. In this sense Moses calls them "ID^^ (Eng. Ver, chastisement), TratBeta, i.e, not punishment only, but education by the manifestation of love as well as punishment (like "is^ in chap. iv. 36; cf. Prov. i. 2, 8, iv. 1, etc.). " His greatness^^ etc., as in chap. iii. 24 and iv. 34. On the signs and acts in Egypt, see at chap. iv. 34, vi. 22; and on those at the Ked Sea, at Ex. xiv. Dn'':Q-5'y_si"'yn n^K, " over whose face He made the waters of the Red Sea to flow;" cf. Ex. xiv. 26 sqq. — By the acts of God in the desert (ver. 5) we are not to understand the chastenings in Num. xi.— xv. either solely or pre-eminently, but all the manifestations of the omnipotence of God in the guidance of Israel, proofs of love as well as the penal wonders. Of the latter, the miraculous destruction of the company of Korah is specially mentioned in ver. 6 (cf. Num. xvi. 31-33). Here Moses only mentions Dathan and Abiram, the followers of Korah, and not Korah himself, probably from regard to his sons, who were not swallowed up by the earth along with their father, but had lived to perpetuate the family of Korah. " Everything existing, which was in their following^^ (see Ex. xi. 8), does not mean their possessions, but their servants, and corresponds to " all the men who belonged to Korah" in Num. xvi. 32, whereas the possessions mentioned there are included here in the " tents." t^'^P^n is only applied to living beings, as in Gen. vii. 4 and 23. — In ver. 7 the reason is given for the admonition in ver. 2: the elders were to know (discern) the educational purpose of God in those mighty acts of the Lord, because they had seen them with their own eyes. — Vers. 8, 9. And this knowledge was to impel them to keep the law, that they might be strong, Le. spiritually strong (chap. i. 38), and not only go into the promised land, but also live long therein (of. chap. iv. 26, vi. 3). — In vers. 10-12 Moses adduces a fresh motive for his admonition to keep the law with fidelity, founded upon the peculiar nature of the land. Canaan was a land the fertility of which was not dependent, like that of Egypt, upon its being watered by the hand of man, but was kept up by the rain of heaven which was sent down by God the Lord, so that it depended entirely upon the Lord how long its inhabitants should live therein. Egypt is described by Moses as a land which Israel sowed with seed, and watered with its foot like a garden of herbs. In Egypt there is hardly any rain at all (cf. Herod, ii. 4, Diod. Sic. i. 41, and other evidence in Hengstenherg s Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 217 sqq.). The watering of the land, which produces its fertility, is dependent upon the annual overflowing of the Nile, and, as this only lasts for about 100 days, upon the way in which this is made available for the whole year, namely, by the construction of canals and ponds throughout the land, to which the water is conducted from the Nile by forcing machines, or by actually carrying it in vessels up to the fields and plantations.^ The expression, " with thy foot," probably refers to the large pumping wheels still in use there, which are worked by the feet, and over which a long endless rope passes with pails attached, for drawing up the water (cf. NiehuliVj Beise, i. 149), the identity of which with the eXc^ described by Philo as vSprjXov opyavov {de confus. ling. i. 410) cannot possibly be called in question; provided, that is to say, we do not confound this ekL^ with the Archimedean water-screw mentioned by Diod. Sic. i.. 34, and described more minutely at v. 37, the construction of which was entirely different (see my Archaeology, ii. pp. 111-2). — The Egyptians, as genuine heathen, were so thoroughly conscious of this peculiar characteristic of their land, which made its fertility far more dependent upon the labour of human hands than upon the rain of heaven or divine providence, that Herodotus (ii. 13) represents them as saying, " The Greeks, with their dependence upon the gods, might be disappointed in their brightest hopes and
^ Upon the ancient monnments we find not only the draw-well with the long rope, which is now called Shaduf, depicted in various ways (see Wilkinson^ i. p. 35, ii. 4); but at Beni-Hassan there is a representation of two men carrying a water-vessel upon a pole on their shoulders, which they fill from a drawwell or pond, and then carry to the field (cf. Hevgstenberg, Egypt and the Books of Moses, pp. 220-1).
suffer dreadfully from famine." The land of Canaan yielded no support to such godless self-exaltation, for it was "a land of mountains and valleys, and drank water of the rain of heaven" (? before ntDD, to denote the external cause; see Ewald, § 217, d.); i.e. it received its watering, the main condition of all fertility, from the rain, by the way of the rain, and therefore through the providential care of God.— Yer. 12. It was a land which Jehovah inquired after, i.e, for which He cared {^Tl, as in Prov. xxxi. 13, Job iii. 4); His eyes were always directed towards it from the beginning of the year to the end; a land, therefore, which was dependent upon God, and in this dependence upon God peculiarly adapted to Israel, which was to live entirely to its God, and upon His grace alone.
Vers. 13-32. This peculiarity in the land of Canaan led Moses to close the first part of his discourse on the law, his exhortation to fear and love the Lord, with a reference to the blessing that would follow the faithful fulfilment of the law, and a threat of the curse which would attend apostasy to idolatry. — ^Yers. 13-15. If Israel would serve its God in love and faithfulness. He would give the land early and latter rain in its season, and therewith a plentiful supply of food for man and beast (see Lev. xxvi. 3 and 5; and for and 17. But if, on the other hand, their heart was foolish to turn away from the Lord and serve other gods, the wrath of the Lord would burn against them, and God would shut up the heaven, that no rain should fall and the earth should yield no produce, and they
,23, 24). Let them therefore impress the words now set before them very deeply upon themselves and their children (vers. 18-21, in which there is in part a verbal repetition of chap. vi. 6-9). The words, '^as the days of the heaven above the earth,'' i.e. as long as the heaven continues above the earth, — in other words, to all eternity
" that your days may he multiplied,'' etc. (ver. 21). " The promise to give the land to Israel for ever was not made unconditionally; an unconditional promise is precluded by the words, ' that your days may be multiplied'" (Schidtz). (For further remarks, see at chap.
xxx. 3-5.) For (vers. 22-25) if they adhered faithfully to the
Lord, He would drive out before them all the nations that dwelt in the land, and would give them the land upon which they trod in all its length and breadth, and so fill the Canaanites with fear and terror before them, that no one should be able to stand against them. (On ver. 23, cf. chap. vii. 1, 2, ix. 1, and i. 28.) The words, " every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours," are defined more precisely, and restricted to the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan by the boundaries which follow: ^'from the desert (of Arabia on the south), and Lebanon (on the north), and from the river Euphrates (on the east) to the hinder sea " (the Mediterranean on the west; see Num. xxxiv. 6). The Euphrates is given as the eastern boundary, as in chap. i. 7, according to the promise in Gren. xv. 18. (On ver. 25, cf. chap. vii. 24, ii. 25, and Ex. xxiii. 27.) — Vers. 26-28. Concluding summary. " / set before you this day the blessing and the curseP The blessing, if ("iK^K, orej as in Lev. iv. 22) ye hearken to the commandments of your God; the curse, if ye do not give heed to them, but turn aside from the way pointed out to you, to go after other gods. To this there are added instructions in vers. 29 and 30, that when they took possession of the land they should give the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal, i,e. should give utterance to them there, and as it were transfer them to the land to be apportioned to its inhabitants according to their attitude towards the Lord their God. (For further comment, see at chap. xxvii. 14.) The two mountains mentioned were selected for this act, no doubt because they were opposite to one another, and stood, each about 2500 feet high, in the very centre of the land not only from west to east, but also from north to south. Ebal stands upon the north side, Gerizim upon the south; between the two is Sichem, the present Nabulus, in a tolerably elevated valley, fertile, attractive, and watered by many springs, which runs from the south-east to the north-west from the foot of Gerizim to that of Ebal, and is about 1600 feet in breadth. The blessing was to be uttered upon Gerizim, and the curse upon Ebal; though not, as the earlier commentators supposed, because the peculiarities of these mountains, viz. the fertility of Gerizim and the barrenness of Ebal, appeared to accord with this arrangement: for when seen from the valley between, " the sides of both these mountains are equally naked and sterile;" and "the only exception in favour of the former is a small ravine coming down, opposite the west end of the town, which is indeed full of fountains and trees" (Rob, Pal. iii. 96, 97). The reason for selecting Gerizim for the blessings was probably, as Schultz supposes, the fact that it was situated on the south, towards the region of the light. "Light and blessing are essentially one. From the llglit-giving face of God there come blessing and life (Ps. xvi. 11)." — In ver. 30 the situation of these mountains is more clearly defined: they were " on the other side of the Jordan^'' i.e. in the land to the west of the Jordan, " behind the way of the suiiset,^^ i.e. on the other side of the road of the west, which runs through the land on the west of the Jordan, just as another such road runs through the land on the east (Knohel). The reference is to the main road which ran from Upper Asia through Canaan to Egypt, as was shown by the journeys of Abraham and Jacob (Gen. xii. 6, xxxiii. 17, 18). Even at the present day the main road leads from Beisan to Jerusalem round the east side of Ebal into the valley of Sichem, and then again eastwards from Gerizim through the Mukra valley on towards the south (cf. Rob. iii. 94; Hitter ^ Erdku7idej xvi. pp. 658-9). "/?i the land of the Canaanite icho dwells in the Arabah.^^ By the Arabah, Knobel understands the plain of Nabulus, which is not much less than four hours' journey long, and on an average from a half to three-quarters broad, " the largest of all upon the elevated tract of land between the western plain and the valley of the Jordan " (Rob. iii. p. 101). This is decidedly wrong, however, as it is opposed to the fixed use of the word, and irreconcilable with the character of this plain, which, Robinson says, " is cultivated throughout and covered with the rich green of millet intermingled with the yellow of the ripe corn, which the country people were just reaping" (Pal. iii. 93). The Arabah is the western portion of the Ghor (see at chap. i. 1), and is mentioned here as that portion of the land on the west of the Jordan which lay stretched out before the eyes of the Israelites who were encamped in the steppes of Moab. " Over against Gilgal^^ i.e. not the southern Gilgal between Jericho and the Jordan, which received its name for the first time in Josh. iv. 20 and v. 9; but probably the Gilgal mentioned in Josh. ix. 6, x. 6 sqq., and very frequently in the history of Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, which is only about twelve and a half miles from Gerizim in a southern direction, and has been preserved in the large village of Jiljilia to the south-vrest of Sinjil, and wdiich stands in such an elevated position, " close to the western brow of the high mountain tract," that you " have liere a very extensive prospect over the great lower plain, and also over the sea, whilst the mountains of Gilead are seen in the east" (Rob. Pal. iii. 81). Judging from this description of the situation. Mount Gerizim must be visible from this Gilgal, so that Gerizim and Ebal might very well be described as over against
Gilgal.^ The last definition, " beside the terebinths of Moreh,'^ is intended no doubt to call to mind the consecration of that locality even from the times of the patriarchs (Schultz: see at Gen. xii. 6, and XXXV. 4). — Vers. 31-2 contain the reason for these instructions, founded upon the assurance that the Israelites were going over the Jordan and would take possession of the promised land, and should therefore take care to keep the commandments of the Lord (cf. chap. iv. 5, 6).
The statutes and rights which follow in the second or special half of this address, and which consist in part of rules having regard to circumstances not contemplated by the Sinaitic laws, and partly of repetitions of laws already given, were designed as a whole to regulate the ecclesiastical, civil, and domestic life of Israel in the land of Canaan, in harmony with its calling to be the holy nation of the Lord. Moses first of all describes the religious and ei-clesiastical life of the nation, in its various relations to the Lord (chap, xii.-xvi. 17); and then the political organization of the congregation, or the rights and duties of the civil and spiritual leaders of the nation (chap. xvi. 18-xviii. 22); and lastly, seeks to establish upon a permanent basis the civil and domestic well-being of the whole congregation and its individual members, by a multiplicity of precepts, intended to set before the people, as a conscientious obligation on their part, reverence and holy awe in relation to human life, to property, and to personal rights; a pious regard for the fundamental laws of the world; sanctification of domestic life and of the social bond; practical brotherly love towards the poor, the oppressed, and the needy; and righteousness of walk and conversation (chap, xix.-xxvi.). — So far as the arrangement of this address is concerned, the first two series of these laws may be easily regarded
^ There is much less ground for the opinion of Winer^ Knobel^ and SchultZy that Gilgal is the Jiljule mentioned by Robinson (PaZ. iii. 47; and Bibl Researches, p. 138), which evidently corresponds to the Galgula placed by Eusebius and Jerome six Roman mUes from Antipatris^ and is si uated to the south-east of Kefr Saba (Antipatris)^ on the road from Egypt to Damascus. For this place is not only farther from Gerizim and Ebal, viz. about seventeen miles, but from its ix)sition in the lowland by the sea-shore it presents no salient point for determining the situation of the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal. Still less can we agree with Knobel, who speaks of the village of Kilkilia, to the north-east of Kefr Saba^ as the name itself has nothing in common with Gilgal.
as expositions, expansions, and completions of the commandments in the decalogue in relation to the Sabbath, and to the duty of honouring parents; and in the third series also there are unquestionably many allusions to the commandments in the second table of the decalogue. But the order in which the different laws and precepts in this last series are arranged, does not follow the order of the decalogue, so as to warrant us in looking there for the leading principle of the arrangement, as Schultz has done. Moses allows himself to be guided much more by analogies and the free association of ideas than by any strict regard to the decalogue; although, no doubt, the whole of the book of Deuteronomy may be described, as Luther says, as " a very copious and lucid explanation of the decalogue, an acquaintance with which will supply all that is requisite to a full understanding of the ten commandments."
The one Place for the Worshij:) of God, and the right Mode of worshipping Him. — Chap, xii^
[?he laws relating to the worship of the Israelites commence with a CO nmand to destroy and annihilate all places and memorials of the Canaanitish worship (vers. 2-4), and then lay it down as an established rule, that the Israelites were to worship the Lord their God with sacrifices and gifts, only in the place which He Himself should choose (vers. 5—14). On the other hand, in the land of Canaan cattle might be slain for eating and the flesh itself be consumed in any place; though sacrificial meals could only be celebrated in the place of the sanctuary appointed by the Lord (vers. 15—19). Moreover, on the extension of the borders of the land, oxen, and sheep, and goats could be slaughtered for food in any place; but the blood was not to be eaten, and consecrated gifts and votive sacrifices were not to be prepared as meals anywhere, except at the altar of the Lord (vers. 20-28). Lastly, the Israelites were not to be drawn aside by the Canaanites, to imitate them in their worship (vers. 29—31).
Vers. 1-14. On the heading in ver. 1, see chaps, vi. 1 and iv. 1. " A II the days that ye liv^"* relates to the more distant clause, " which ye shall observe," etc. (cf. chap. iv. 10). — Vers. 2, 3. Ye shall destroy all the places where the Canaanites worship their gods, upon the high mountains, upon the hills, and under every green tree (cf. Jer. ii. 20, iii. 6, xvii. 2; 2 Kings xvi. 4, xvii. 10). The choice of mountains and hills for places of worship by most of the heathen nations, had its origin in the wide-spread belief, that men were nearer to the Deity and to heaven there. The green trees are connected with the holy groves, of which the heathen nations were so fond, and the shady gloom of which filled the soul with holy awe at the nearness of the Deity. In the absence of groves, they chose green trees with thick foliage (Ezek. vi. 13, xx. 28), such as the vigorous oak, which attains a great age, the evergreen terebinth (Isa. i. 29, 30, Ivii. 5), and the poplar or osier, which continues green even in the heat of summer (Hos. iv. 13), and whose deep shade is adapted to dispose the mind to devotion. — Ver. 3. Beside the places of worship, they were also to destroy all the idols of the Canaanitish worship, as had already been commanded in chap. vii. 5, and to blot out even their names, Le. every trace of their existence (cf, chap, vii. 24). — Yer. 4. " Ye shall not do so to Jehovah your God" i.e. not build altars and offer sacrifices to Him in any place you choose, but (vers. 5 sqq.) shall only keep yourselves (/^ Kn*n) to the pjace " which He shall choose out of all the tribes to put His name there for His dwelling.^^ Whereas the heathen seeks and worships his naturegods, wherever he thinks he can discern in nature any trace of Divinity, the true God has not only revealed His eternal power and Godhead in the works of creation, but His personal being, which unfolds itself to the world in love and holiness, in grace and righteousness. He has made known to man, who was created in His image, in the words and works of salvation; and in these testimonies of His saving presence He has fixed for Himself a name, in which He dwells among His people. This name presents His personality, as comprehended in the word Jehovah, in a visible sign, the tangible pledge of His essential presence. During the journeying of the Israelites this was effected by the pillar of cloud and fire; and after the erection of the tabernacle, by the cloud in the most holy place, above the ark of the covenant, with the cherubim upon it, in which Jehovah had promised to appear to the high priest as the representative of the covenant nation. Through this, the tabernacle, and afterwards Solomon's temple, which took its place, became the dwelling-place of the name of the Lord. But if the knowledge of the true God rested upon direct manifestations of the divine nature,— and the Lord God had for that very reason made Himself known to His people in words and deeds as their God, — then as a matter of course the mode of His worship could not be dependent upon any appointment of men, but must be determined exclusively by God Himself. The place of His worship depended upon the choice which God Himself should make, and which would be made known by the fact that He " put His name/' i.e. actually manifested His own immediate presence, in one definite spot. By the building of the tabernacle, whicli the Lord Himself prescribed as the true spot for the revelation of His presence among His people, the place where His name was to dwell among the Israelites was already so far determined, that only the particular town or locality among the tribes of Israel where the tabernacle w^as to be set up after the conquest of Canaan remained to be decided. At the same time, Moses not only speaks of the Lord choosing the place among all the tribes for the erection of His sanctuary, but also of His choosing the place where He would put His. name, that He might dwell there (i^?^^ from jSty, for i:i3^ from pp). For the presence of the Lord was not, and was not intended, to be exclusively confined to the tabernacle (or the temple). As God of the whole earth, wherever it might be necessary, for the preservation and promotion of His kingdom, He could make known His presence, and accept the sacrifices of His people in other places, independently of this sanctuary; and there were times when this was really done. The unity of tlie worship, therefore, which Moses here enjoined, was not to consist in the fact that the people of Israel brought all their sacrificial offerings to the tabernacle, but in their offering them only in the spot where the Lord made His name (that is to say, His presence) known.
What Moses commanded here, was only an explanation and more emphatic repetition of the divine command in Ex. xx. 23, 24 (21 and 22); and to understand "the place which Jehovah would choose" as relating exclusively to Jerusalem or the temple-hill, is a perfectly arbitrary assumption. Shiloh, the place where the tabernacle was set up after the conquest of the land (Josh, xviii. 1), and where it stood during the whole of the times of the judges, was also chosen by the Lord (cf. Jer. vii. 12). It was not till after David had set up a tent for the ark of the covenant upon Zion, in the city of Jerusalem, which he had chosen as the capital of his kingdom, and had erected an altar for sacrifice there (2 Sam. vi. 17; 1 Chron. xvi.), that the will of the Lord was made known to him by the prophet Gad, that he should build an altar upon the threshing-floor of Araunah, where the angel of the Lord had appeared to him; and through this command the place was fixed for the future temple (2 Sam. xxiv. 18; 1 Chron. xxi. 18). t^^^ with pi<, to turn in a certain direction, to inquire or to seek. ^DD'"n^f D^C^, " to put His name," i.e. to make known His presence, is still further defined by the following word i^^^v, as signifying that His presence was to bo of permanent duration. It is true that this word is separated by an athnach from the previous clause; but it certainly cannot be connected with ^^If} (i/e shall seek), not only because of the standing phrase, D^ i^^ I?^? (" to cause His name to dwell there,^* ver.
11, chap. xiv. 23, xvi. 2, 6, etc.), but also because this connection would give no fitting sense, as the infinitive |2^ does not mean " a dwelling-place." — Vers. 6, 7. Thither they were to take all their sacrificial gifts, and there they were to celebrate their sacrificial meals. The gifts are classified in four pairs: (1) the sacrifices intended for the altar, burnt-offerings and slain-offerings being particularly mentioned as the two principal kinds, with which, according to Num. xv. 4 sqq., meat-offerings and drink-offerings were to be associated; (2) " your tithes and every heave-offering of your hand." By the tithes we are to understand the tithes of fieldproduce and cattle, commanded in Lev. xxvii. 30-33 and Num. xviii. 21-24, which were to be brought to the sanctuary because they were to be offered to the Lord, as was the case under Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxxi. 5-7). That the tithes mentioned here should be restricted to vegetable tithes (of corn, new wine, and oil), is neither allowed by the general character of the expression, nor required by the context. For instance, although, according to vers. 7 and 11,