mltted to future generations. — Ver. 3. Upon the stones there were to be written " all the words of tJiis law: " obviously, therefore, not only the blessings and curses in vers. 15-26 (as Josephus, Ant iv. 8, 44, Masiusj Clericus, and others maintain), nor only Deuteronomy (*/. Gerhard, A. Osiander, Vater, etc.), since this contained no independent " second law," but the whole of the Mosaic law; not, indeed, the entire Pentateuch, with its historical narratives, its geographical, ethnographical, and other notices, but simply the legal part of it, — the commandments, statutes, and rights of the Thorah. But whether all the 613 commandments contained in the Pentateuch, according to the Jewish reckoning (vid. Bertheau, die 7 Gruppen Mos. Ges. p. 12), or only the quintessence of them, with the omission of the numerous repetitions of different commands, cannot be decided, and is of no importance to the matter in hand. The object aimed at would be attained by wTiting the essential kernel of the whole law; though the possibility of all the commandments being written, of course without the reasons and exhortations connected with them, cannot be denied, since it is not stated how many stones were set up, but simply that large stones were to be taken, which would therefore contain a great deal. In the clause, " that thou mayest come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth theCj'' etc., the coming involves the permanent possession of the land. Not only the treading or conquest of Canaan, but the maintenance of the conquered land as a permanent hereditary possession, was promised to Israel; but it would only permanently rejoice in the fulfilment of this promise, if it set up the law of its God in the land, and observed it. — Vers. 4-8. In the further expansion of this command, Moses first of all fixes the place where the stones were to be set up, namely, upon Mount Ebal (see at chap. xi. 29), — not upon Gerizim, according to the reading of the Samaritan Pentateuch; for since the discussion of the question b}^ Verschuir (dissertt. phil, exeg. diss. 3) and Gesenius (de Pent. Samar. p. 61), it may be regarded as an established fact, that this reading is an arbitrary alteration. The following clause, " thou shalt plaister" etc., is a repetition in the earliest form of historical writing among the Hebrews. To this there are appended in vers. 5-7 the new and further instructions, that an altar was to be built upon Ebal, and burnt-offerings and slain-offerings to be sacrificed upon it. The notion that this altar was to be built of the stones with the law written upon them, or even with a portion of them, needs no refutation, as it has not the slightest support in the words of the text. For according to these the altar was to be built of unhewn stones (therefore not of the stones covered with cement), in obedience to the law in Ex. xx. 22 (see the exposition of this passage, where the reason for this is discussed). The spot selected for the setting up of the stones with the law written upon it, as well as for the altar and the offering of sacrifice, was Ebal, the mountain upon which the curses were to be proclaimed; not Gerizim, which was appointed for the publication of the blessings, for the very same reason for which only the curses to be proclaimed are given in vers. 14 sqq. and not the blessings, — not, as Schultz supposes, because the law in connection with the curse speaks more forcibly to sinful man than in connection with the blessing, or because the curse, which manifests itself on every hand in human life, sounds more credible than the promise; but, as the Berleburger Bible expresses it, " to show how the law and economy of the Old Testament would denounce the curse which rests upon the whole human race because of sin, to awaken a desire for the Messiah, who was to take away the curse and bring the true blessing instead." For however remote the allusion to the Messiah may be here, the truth is unquestionably pointed out in these instructions, that the law primarily and chiefly brings a curse upon man because of the sinfulness of his nature, as Moses himself announces to the people in chap, xxxi. 16, 17. And for this very reason the book of the law was to be laid by the side of the ark of the covenant as a " testimony against Israel" (chap. xxxi. 26). But the altar was built for the offering of sacrifices, to mould and consecrate the setting up of the law upon the stones into a renew^al of the covenant. In the burntofferings Israel gave itself up to the Lord with all its life and labour, and in the sacrificial meal it entered into the enjoyment of the blessings of divine grace, to taste of the blessedness of vital communion with its God. By connecting the sacrificial ceremony with the setting up of the law, Israel gave a practical testimony to the fact that its life and blessedness were founded upon its observance of the law. The sacrifices and the sacrificial meal have the same signification here as at the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai (Ex. xxiv. 11). — In ver. 8 the writing of the law upon the stones is commanded once more, and the further injunction is added, " very plainly^ — The writing of the law is mentioned last, as being the most important, and not because it was to take place after the sacrificial ceremony. The different instructions are arranged according to their character, and not in chronological order.
The words of Moses which follow in vers. 9 and 10, " Be silent, and hearkeuy 0 Israel; To-day thou hast become the people of the Lord thy God,^* show the significance of the act enjoined; although primarily they simply summon the Israelites to listen attentively to the still further commands. When Israel renewed the covenant with the Lord, by solemnly setting up the law in Canaan, it became thereby the nation of God, and bound itself, at the same time, to hearken to the voice of the Lord and keep His commandments, as it had already done (cf. chap. xxvi. 17, 18).
Vers. 11-26. With the solemn erection of the stones with the law written upon them, Israel was to transfer to the land the blessing and curse of the law, as was already commanded in chap. xi. 29; that is to say, according to the more minute explanation of the command which is given here, the people themselves were solemnly to give expression to the blessing and the curse: to the former upon Mount Gerizim, and to the latter upon Ebal. On the situation of these mountains, see at chap. xi. 29. To this end six tribes were to station themselves upon the top or side of- Gerizim, and six upon the top or side of Ebal. The blessing was to be uttered by the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin, who sprang from the two wives of Jacob; and the curse by Keuben, with the two sons of Leah's maid Zilpah, and by Zebulun, with Dan and Naphtali, the sons of Rachel's maid Bilhah. It was natural that the utterance of the blessing should be assigned to the tribes which sprang from Jacob's proper wives, since the sons of the wives occupied a higher position than the sons of the maids, — just as the blessing had pre-eminence over the curse. But in order to secure the division into two sixes, it was necessary that two of the eight 'Sons of the wives should be associated with those who pronounced the curses. The choice fell upon Reuben, because he had forfeited his right of primogeniture by his incest (Gen. xlix. 4), and upon Zebulun, as the youngest son of Leah. " They shall stand there upon the curse:" i.e, to pronounce the curse. — Yer. 14. " And the Levites shall lift up and speak to all the men of Israel with a high (loud) voice:^^ i.e. they shall pronounce the different formularies of blessing and cursing, turning towards the tribes to whom these utterances apply; and all the men of Israel sliall answer " Amen,^^ to take to themselves the blessing and the curse, as uttered by them; just as in the case of the priestly blessing in Num. V. 22, and in connection with every oath, in which the person swearing took upon himself the oath that was pronounced, by replying " Amen.*' " The Levites " are not all the members of the tribe of Levi, but those ^^ in whom the spiritual character of Levi was most decidedly manifested" (Baumgarten), i.e. the Levitical priests, as the guardians and teachers of the law, and those who carried the ark of the covenant (Josh. viii. 33). From the passage in Joshua, where the fulfilment of the Mosaic injunctions is recorded, we learn that the Levitical priests stationed themselves in the centre between the two mountains, with the ark of the covenant, and that the people took up their position, on both sides, opposite to the ark, viz. six tribes on Gerizim, and six on Ebal. The priests, who stood in the midst, by the ark of the covenant, then pronounced the different formularies of blessing and cursing, to which the six tribes answered " Amen." From the expression " all the men of Israel," it is perfectly evident that in this particular ceremony the people were not represented by their elders or heads, but were present in the persons of all their adult men who were over twenty years of age; and with this Josh. viii. 33, when rightly interpreted, fully harmonizes.
In vers. 15—26 there follow twelve curses, answering to the number of the tribes of Israel. The first is directed against those who make graven or molten images of Jehovah, and set them up in secret, that is to say, against secret breaches of the second commandment (Ex. XX. 4); the second against contempt of, or want of reverence towards, parents (Ex. xxi. 17); the third against those who remove boundaries (chap. xix. 14); the fourth against the man who leads the blind astray (Lev. xix. 14); the fifth against those who pervert the right of orphans and widows (chap, xxi v. 17); the sixth against incest with a mother (chap, xxiii. 1; Lev. xviii. 8); the seventh against unnatural vices (Lev. xviii. 23); the eighth and ninth against incest with a sister or a mother-in-law (Lev. xviii. 9 and 17); the tenth against secret murder (Ex. xx. 13; Num. xxxv. 16 sqq.); the eleventh against judicial murder (" he that taketh reward to slay a soul, namely, innocent blood:" Ex. xxiii. 7, 8); the twelfth against the man who does not set up the words of this law to do them, who does not make the laws the model and standard of his life and conduct. From this last curse, which applied to every breach of the law, it evidently follows, that the different sins and transgressions already mentioned were only selected by way of example, and for the most part were such as could easily be concealed from the judicial authorities. At the same time, " the office of the law is shown in this last utterance.
the summing up of all the rest, to have been pre-eminently to proclaim condemnation. Every conscious act of transgression subjects the sinner to the curse of God, from which none but He who has become a curse for us can possibly deliver us" (Gal. iii. 10, 13. 0. V. Gerlach). — On the reason why the blessings are not given, see the remarks on ver. 4. As the curses against particular transgressions of the law simply mention some peculiarly grievous sins by way of example, it would be easy to single out corresponding blessings from the general contents of the law: e.g, " Blessed be he who faithfully follows the Lord his God, or loves Him with the heart, who honours his father and his mother," etc.; and lastly, all the blessings of the law could be summed up in the words, " Blessed be he who setteth up the words of this law, to do them."
For the purpose of impressing upon the hearts of all the people in the most emphatic manner both the blessing which Israel was to proclaim upon Gerizim, and the curse which it was to proclaim upon Ebal, Moses now unfolds the blessing of fidelity to the law and the curse of transgression in a longer address, in which he once more resumes, sums up, and expands still further the promises and threats of the law in Ex. xxiii. 20—33, and Lev. xxvi.
Vers. 1-14. The Blessing. — Ver. 1. If Israel would hearken to the voice of the Lord its God, the Lord would make it the highest of all the nations of the earth. This thought, with which the discourse on the law in chap. xxvi. 19 terminated, forms the theme, and in a certain sense the heading, of the following description of the blessing, through which the Lord, according to the more distinct declaration in ver. 2, would glorify His people above all the nations of the earth. The indispensable condition for obtaining this blessing, was obedience to the word of the Lord, or keeping His commandments. To impress this conditio sine qua non thoroughly upon the people, Moses not only repeats it at the commencement (ver. 2), and in the middle (ver. 9), but also at the close (vers. 13, 14), in both a positive and a negative fonii. In ver. 2, " the way in which Israel was to be exalted is pointed out" [Schultz); and thus the theme is more precisely indicated, and the elaboration of it is introduced. " All these blessings (those mentioned singly in what follows) will come upon thee and reach thee." The blessings are represented as actual powers, which follow the footsteps of the nation, and overtake it. In vers. 3-6, the fulness of the blessing of God in all the relations of life is depicted in a sixfold repetition of the word " blessed." Israel will be blessed in the town and in the field, the two spheres in which its life moves (ver. 3); blessed will be the fruit of the body, of the earth, and of the cattle, i.e. in all its productions (ver. 4; for each one, see chap. vii. 13, 14); blessed will be the basket (chap. xxvi. 2) in which the fruits are kept, and the kneading-trough (Ex. xii. 34) in which the daily bread is prepared (ver. 5); blessed will the nation be in all its undertakings (" coming in and going out;" vid. Num. xxvii. 17).- — Vers. 7-14 describe the influence and effect of the blessing upon all the circumstances and situations in which the nation might be placed: in vers. 7-10, with reference (a) to the attitude of Israel towards its enemies (ver. 7); (6) to its trade and handicraft (ver. 8); (c) to its attitude towards all the nations of the earth (vers. 9, 10). The optative forms, \^\ and 1V^. (in vers. 7 and 8), are worthy of notice. They show that Moses not only proclaimed the blessing to the people, but desired it for them, because he knew that Israel would not always or perfectly fulfil the condition upon which it was to be bestowed. " ilia?/ the Lord he pleased to give thine enemies... smitten before thee^^ i.e. give them up to thee as smitten (\^S? |ri^, to give up before a person, to deliver up to him: cf. chap. i. 8), so that they shall come out against thee by one way, and flee from thee by seven ways, i.e. in wild dispersion (cf. Lev. xxvi. 7, 8). — Ver. 8. " May the Lord command the blessing with thee (put it at thy disposal) in thy barns (granaries, store-rooms) and in all thy business^^ (" to set the hand;" see chap. xii. 7). — Vers. 9, 10. " ^he Lord will exalt thee for a holy nation to Himself... so that all the nations of the earth shall see that the name of Jehovah is named upon thee, and shall fear before theeP The Lord had called Israel as a holy nation, when He concluded the covenant with it (Ex. xix. 5, 6). This promise, to which the words " as He hath sworn unto thee" point back, and which is called an oath, because it was founded upon the promises given to the patriarchs on oath (Gen. xxii. 16), and was given implicite in them, the Lord would fulfil to His people, and cause the holiness and glory of Israel to be so clearly manifested, that all nations should perceive or see " that the name of the Lord is named upon IsraeU^ The name of the Lord is the revelation of His glorious nature. It is named upon Israel, when Israel is transformed into the glory of the divine nature (cf. Isa. Ixiii. 19; Jer. xiv. 9). It was only in feeble commencements that this blessing was fulfilled upon Israel under the Old Tes- lament; and it is not till the restoration of Israel, which is to take place in the future according to Eom. xi. 25 sqq., that its complete fulfilment will be attained. In vers. 11 and 12, Moses returns to the earthly blessing, for the purpose of unfolding this still further. " Superabundance will the Lord give jthee for good (i.e. for happiness and prosperity; vid. chap. xxx. 9), in fruit of thy hody^^ etc. (cf. ver. 4). He w^ould open His good treasure-house, the heaven, to give rain to the land in its season (cf. chap. xi. 14; Lev. xxvi. 4, 5), and bless the work of the hands, i.e. the cultivation of the soil, so that Israel would be able to lend to many, according to the prospect already set before it in chap. xv. 6. — Vers. 13, 14. By such blessings He would " make Israel the head, and not the tail,^^ — a figure taken from life (vid. Isa. ix. 13), the meaning of which is obvious, and is given literally in the next sentence, " thou wilt be above only, and not beneath,^^ i.e. thou wilt rise more and more, and increase in wealth, power, and dignity. With this the discourse returns to its commencement; and the promise of blessing closes with another emphatic repetition of the condition on which the fulfilment depended (vers. X2)b and 14. On ver. 14, see chap. v. 29, xi. 28).
Vers. 15-68. The Curse, in case Israel should not hearken to the voice of its God, to keep His commandments. After the announcement that all these (the following) curses would come upon the disobedient nation (ver. 15), the curse is proclaimed in all its extent, as covering all the relations of life, in a sixfold repetition of the word ^^ cursed" (vers. 16-19, as above in vers. 3-6); and the fulfilment of this threat in plagues and diseases, drought and famine, war, devastation of the land, and captivity of the people, is so depicted, that the infliction of these punishments stands out to view in ever increasing extent and fearf ulness. We are not to record this, however, as a gradual heightening of the judgments of God, in proportion to the increasing rebellion of Israel, as in Lev. xxvi. 14 sqq., although it is obvious that the punishments threatened did not fall upon the naXion all at once. — Vers. 16-19 correspond precisely to vers. 3-6, so as to set forth the curse as the counterpart of the blessing, except that the basket and kneading-trough are mentioned before the fruit of the body.
Vers. 20-26. The ^r.s^ view, in which the bursting of the threatened curse upon the disobedient people is proclaimed in all its forms. First of all, quite generally in ver. 20. " The Lord will send the curse agahist thee, consternation and threatening in every undertaking of thy hand which thou carriest out (see chap. xii. 7), till thou be destroyed^ till thou perish quickly, because of the wickedness of thy doings, because thou hast forsaken MeV The three words, "T^^P, nDinpj and ^IV^p, are synonymous, and are connected together to strengthen the thought. ^"^^^P, curse or malediction; HD^npn^ the consternation produced by the curse of God, namely, the confusion with which God smites His foes (see at chap. vii. 23); ^"^y^P"] is the threatening word of the divine wrath. — Then vers. 21 sqq. in detail. " The Lord will make the pestilence fasten upon (cleave to) thee, till He hath destroyed thee out of the land.,. to smite thee with giddiness and fever (cf. Lev. xxvi. 16), inflammation, burning, and sword, blasting of corn, and mildew (of the seed);" seven diseases therefore (seven as the stamp of the works of God), whilst pestilence in particular is mentioned first, as the most terrible enemy of life. rip?"!, from P?'^ to burn, and "'^1'!}, from "i']n to glow, signify inflammatory diseases, burning fevers; the distinction between these and nrnp cannot be determined. Instead of ^^n, the sword as the instrument of death, used to designate slaughter and death, the Vulgate, Arabic, and Samaritan have adopted the reading y^p, cestus, heat (Gen. xxxi. 40), or drought, according to which there would be four evils mentioned by which human life is attacked, and three which are injurious to the corn. But as the LXX., Jon., Syr,, and others read ^'^n, this alteration is very questionable, especially as the reading can be fully defended in this connection; and one objection to the alteration is, that drought is threatened for the first time in vers. 23, 24. f^^'^^, from ^1^^ to singe or blacken, and f^py,, from P']J to be yellowish, refer to two diseases which attack the corn: the former to the withering or burning of the ears, caused by the east wind (Gen. xli. 23); the other to the effect produced by a warm wind in Arabia, by which the green ears are turned yellow, so that they bear no grains of corn. — Vers. 23, 24. To this should be added terrible drought, without a drop of rain from heaven (cf. Lev. xxvi. 19). Instead of rain, dust and ashes should fall from heaven. |n: construed with a double accusative: to make the rain of the land into dust and ashes, to give it in the form of dust and ashes. When the heat is very great, the air in Palestine is often full of dust and sand, the wind assuming the form of a burning sirocco, so that the air resembles the glowing heat at the mouth of a furnace (Robinson, ii. 504). — Vers. 25, 2G. Defeat in battle, the very opposite of the blessing promised in ver. 7. Israel should become *^)V.l?, '^ a moving to and fro^^ i,e» so to speak, " a ball for all the kingdoms of the earth to play with" (Schultz). njVT, here and at Ezek. xxiii. 46, is not a transposed and later form of ni;jT, which has a different meaning in Isa. xxviii. 19, but the original, uncontracted form, which was afterwards condensed into nvit; for this, and not Hint, is the way in which the Chethib should be read in Jer. xv. 4, xxiv. 9, xxix. 18, xxxiv. 17, and 2 Chron. xxix. 8, where this threat is repeated (vid. Ewald, § 53, b.). The corpses of those who were slain by the foe should serve as food for the birds of prey and wild beasts — the greatest ignominy that could fall upon the dead, and therefore frequently held out as a threat against the ungodly (Jer. vii. 33, xvi. 4; 1 Kings xiv. 11, etc.).
Vers. 27-34. The second view depicts still further the visitation of God both by diseases of body and soul, and also by plunder and oppression on the part of their enemies. — In ver. 27 four incurable diseases of the body are threatened: the ulcer of Egypt (see at Ex. ix. 9), i.e. the form of leprosy peculiar to Egypt, elephantiasis {Aegypti peculiare malum: Plin. xxvi. c. 1, s. 5), which differed from lepra tuberosa, however, or tubercular leprosy (ver. 35; cf. Job ii. 7), in degree only, and not in its essential characteristics (see Tobler, mediz. Topogr. v. Jerus. p. 51). '^Y^V, from p^^, sl swelling, rising, signifies a tumour, and according to the Rabbins a disease of the anus: in men, tumor in posticis partibus; in women, durius quoddam oihr^fia in utero. It was with this disease that the Philistines were smitten (1 Sam. v.). y]\ (see Lev. xxi. 20) and Din, from Dirij to scrape or scratch, also a kind of itch, of which there are several forms in Syria and Egypt. — Vers. 28, 29. In addition to this, there would come idiocy, blindness, and confusion of mind, — three psychical maladies; for although jl'^JV signifies primarily bodily blindness, the position of the word between idiocy and confusion of heart, i.e. of the understanding, points to mental blindness here. — Ver. 29 leads to the same conclusion, where it is stated that Israel would grope in the bright noon-day, like a blind man in the dark, and not make his ways prosper, i.e. not hit upon the right road which led to the goal and to salvation, would have no good fortune or success in its undertakings (cf. Ps. xxxvii. 7). Being thus smitten in body and soul, it would be only (^^ as in chap. xvi. 15), i.e. utterly, oppressed and spoiled evermore. These words introduce the picture of the other calamity, viz. the plundering of the nation and the land by enemies (vers. 30-33). Wife, house, vineyard, ox, ass, and sheep would be taken away by the foe; sons and daughters would bo carried away into captivity before the eyes of the people, who would see it and pine after the children, i.e. with sorrow and longing after them; " and thy hand shall not be to thee toivards God^^ i.e. all power and help will fail thee. (On this proverbial expression, see Gen. xxxi. 29; and on <f n, in ver. 30, see at chap. xx. 6.) — In vers. 33, 34, this threat is summed up in the following manner: the fruit of the field and all their productions would be devoured by a strange nation, and Israel would be only oppressed and crushed to pieces all its days, and become mad on account of what its eyes would be compelled to see. Yers. 35-46. The third view. — With the words, 'Hhe Lord ivill smite theej'^ Moses resumes in ver> 35 the threat of ver. 27, to set forth the calamities already threatened under a new aspect, namely, as signs of the rejection of Israel from covenant fellowship with the Lord. — Yer. 35. The Lord would smite the people with grievous abscesses in the knees and thighs, that should be incurable, even from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head, in ]'^r]\^ is the so-called joint-leprosy, a form of the lepra tuber osa (vid. Pruner, p. 167). From the clause, however, ''from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head,^"* it is evident that the threat is not to be restricted to this species of leprosy, since " the upper parts of the body often remain in a perfectly normal state in cases of leprosy in the joints; and after the diseased parts have fallen off, the patients recover their previous health to a certain degree" (JPruner). Moses mentions this as being a disease of such a nature, that it would render it utterly impossible for those who were afflicted with it either to stand or walk, and then heightens the threat by adding the words, " from the sole of the foot to the top of the head." Leprosy excluded from fellowship with the Lord, and deprived the nation of the character of a nation of God. — Yers. 36, 37. The loss of their spiritual character would be followed by the dissolution of the covenant fellowship. This thought connects ver. 36 with ver. 35, and not the thought that Israel being afflicted with leprosy would be obliged to go into captivity, and in this state would become an object of abhorrence to the heathen (^Schultz). Th« Lord would bring the nation and its king to a foreign nation that it did not know, and thrust them into bondage, so that it would be obliged to serve other gods, — wood and stone (vid, chap, iv. 28), — and would become an object of disgust, a proverb, and a byword to all nations whither God should drive it (vid. 1 Kings ix. 7; Jer. xxiv. 9). — Yers. 38 sqq. Even in their own land the curse would fall upon every kind of labour and enterprise. Much seed would give little to reap, because the locust would devour the seed; the planting and dressing of the vineyard would furnish no wine to drink, because the worm would devour the vine, riypin is probably the lylr or l^ of the Greeks, the convolvulus of the Romans, our vine-weevil. — Yer. 40. They would have many olive-trees in the land, but not anoint themselves with oil, because the olive-tree would be rooted out or plundered (/^\ Niphal of 7p^, as in chap. xix. 5, not the Kal of i'^J? which cannot be shown to have the intransitive meaning elahi), — Yer. 41. Sons and daughters would they beget, but not keep, because -they would have to go into captivity. — Yer. 42. All the trees and fruits of the land would the buzzer take possession of. ^^^V, from 7?^ to huzz^ a rhetorical epithet applied to locusts J not the grasshopper, which does not injure the fruits of the tree or ground sufficiently for the term Kn^ ^ " to take possession of," to be applicable to it. — Yer. 43. Israel would be utterly impoverished, and would sink lower and lower, whilst the stranger in the midst of it would, on the contrary, get above it very high; not indeed " because he had no possession, but was dependent upon resources of other kinds " (^Schultz), but rather because he would be exempted with all his possessions from the curse of God, just as the Israelites had been exempted from the plagues which came upon the Egyptians (Ex. ix. 6, 7, 26). — Yer. 44. The opposite of vers. 12 and 13 would come to pass. — In ver. 46 the address returns to its commencement in ver. 15, with the terrible threat, " These curses shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder^ and upon thy seed for ever," for the purpose of making a pause, if not of bringing the w^hole to a close. The curses were for a sign and wonder (nsiD, that which excites astonishment and terror), inasmuch as their magnitude and terrible character manifested most clearly the supernatural interposition of God {yid, chap. xxix. 23). ''For ever'^ applies to the generation smitten by the curse, which would remain for ever rejected, though without involving the perpetual rejection of the whole nation, or the impossibility of the conversion and restoration of a remnant, or of a holy seed (Isa. x. 22, vi. 13; Eom. ix. 27, xi. 5).
Yers. 47-57. The fourth view. — Although in what precedes every side of the national life has been brought under the curse, yet love to his people, and the desire to preserve them from the curse, by holding up before them tlie dreadful severity of the wrath of God, impel the faithful servant of the Lord to go still further, and depict more ihinutely still the dreadful horrors consequent upon
Israel being given up to the power of the heathen, and first of all in vers. 47-57 the horrible calamities which would burst upon Israel on the conquest of the land and its fortresses by its foes. — Vers. 47, 48. Because it had not served the Lord its God with joy and gladness of heart, "/or the abundance of ally'' i.e. for the abundance of all the blessings bestowed upon it by its God, it would serve its enemies in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and want of everything, and wear an iron yoke, i.e. be obliged to perform the hardest tributary service till it was destroyed ("'''P^n for 'T'ptJ^L', as in chap, vii. 24). — Vers. 49, 50. The Lord would bring against it from afar a barbarous, hardhearted nation, which knew no pity. '^ From afar''* is still further strengthened by the addition of the words, '''from the end of the earthr The greater the distance off, the more terrible does the foe appear. He flies thence like an eagle, which plunges with violence upon its prey, and carries it off with its claws; and Israel does not understand its language, so as to be able to soften its barbarity, or come to any terms. A people "yirrw, hard of face^"* i.e. upon whom nothing makes an impression (vid. Isa. 1. 7), — a description of the audacity and shamelessness of its appearance (Dan. viii. 23; cf. Pro v. vii. 13, xxi. 29), which spares neither old men nor boys. This description no doubt applies to the Chaldeans, who are described as flying eagles in Hab. i. 6 sqq., Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. 22, Ezek. xvii. 3, 7, as in the verses before us; but it applies to other enemies of Israel beside these, namely to the great imperial powers generally, the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, whom the Lord raised up as the executors of His curse upon His rebellious people. Isaiah therefore depicts the Assyrians in a similar manner, namely, as a people with an unintelligible language (chap. V. 26, xxviii. 11, xxxiii. 19), and describes the cruelty of the Medes in chap. xiii. 17, 18, with an unmistakeable allusion to ver. 50 of the present threat. — Vers. 51 sqq. This foe would consume all the fruit of the cattle and the land, i.e. everything which the nation had acquired through agriculture and the breeding of stock, without leaving it anything, until it was utterly destroyed (see chap. vii. 13), and would oppress, i.e. besiege it in all its gates (towns, vid. chap. xii. 12), till the lofty and strong walls upon which they relied should fall (^T^ as in chap. xx. 20). — Ver. 53. It would so distress Israel, that in their distress and siege they would be driven to eat the fruit of their body, and the flesh of their own children (with regard to the fulfilment of this, see the remarks on Lev. xxvi. 29). — This horrible distress is depicted still more fully in vers. 54—57, where the words, " in the siege and in the straitness^^ etc. (ver. 53^), are repeated as a refrain^ with their appaUing sound, in vers. 55 and 57. — Vers. 54, 55. The effeminate and luxurious man would look with ill-favour upon his brother, the wife of his bosom, and his remaining children, " to give*^ (so that he would not give) to one of them of the flesh of his children which he was consuming, because there was nothing left to him in the siege. " His eye shall he evil" i.e. look with envy or ill-favour (cf. chap. xv. 9). 'T'fc^K^n '•730, on account of there not being anything left for himself. /3 with v3 signifies literally " all not" i.e. nothing at all. "'''^5^'7j an infinitive, as in chap. iii. 3 (see at ver. 48). — Vers. 56, 57. The delicate and luxurious woman, who had not attempted to poit her feet to the ground (had always been carried therefore either upon a litter or an ass: cf. Judg. v. 10, and Arvieux, Sitten der Beduinen Ar. p. 143), from tenderness and delicacy — her eye would look with envy upon the husband of her bosom and her children, and that (yav expl.) because of (for) her after-birth, which cometh out from between her feet, and because of her children which she bears (^sc. during the siege); ^'for she will eat them secretly in the want of evejything" that is to say, first of all attempt to appease her hunger with the after-birth, and then, when there was no more left, with her own children. To such an awful height would the famine rise I Vers. 58—68. The fifth and last view. — And yet these horrible calamities would not be the end of the distress. The full measure of the divine curse would be poured out upon Israel, when its disobedience had become hardened into disregard of the glorious and fearful name of the Lord its God. To point this out, Moses describes the resistance of the people in ver. 58; not, as in vers. 15 and 45, as not hearkening to the voice of the Lord to keep all His commandments, which he (Moses) had commanded this day, or which Jehovah had commanded (ver. 45), but as " not observing to do all the words which are written in this book, to fear the glorified and fearful name," (viz.) Jehovah its God. " This book" is not Deuteronomy, even if we should assume that Moses had not first of all delivered the discourses in this book to the people and then written them down, but had first of all written them down and then read them to the people (see at chap. xxxi. 9), but the book of the law, i.e. the Pentateuch, so far as it was already written. This is evident from vers. 60, 61, according to which the grievous diseases of Egypt were written in this book of the law, which points to the book of Exodus, where grievous diseases occur among the Egyptian plagues. In fact, Moses could not have thought of merely laying the people under the obligation to keep the laws of the book of Deuteronomy, since this book does not contain all the essential laws of the covenant, and was never intended to form an independent book of the law. The infinitive clause, " to fear^^ etc., serves to explain the previous clause, " to do^^ etc., whether we regard the two clauses as co-ordinate, or the second as subordinate to the first. Doing all the commandments of the law must show and prove itself in fearing the revealed name of the Lord. Where this fear is wanting, the outward observance of the commandments can only be a pharisaic work-righteousness, which is equivalent to a transgression of the law. But the object of this fear was not to be a God, according to human ideas, of the nature and working of God; it was to be " this glorified and fearful name,^ i.e. Jehovah the absolute God, as He glorifies Himself and shows Himself to be fearful in His doings upon earth. " The namej^ as in Lev. xxiv. 11. 13^3 in a reflective sense, as in Ex. xiv. 4, 17, 18; Lev. x. 3. — Yer. 59. If Israel should not do this, the Lord would make its strokes and the strokes of its seed wonderful, i.e. would visit the people and their descendants with extraordinary strokes, with great and lasting strokes, and with evil and lasting diseases (ver. 60), and would bring all the pestilences of Egypt upon it. ^"'^'l? to turn back, inasmuch as Israel was set free from them by the deliverance out of Egypt, nn^ is construed with the plural as a collective noun. — Yer. 61. Also every disease and every stroke that was not written in this book of the law, — not only those that were written in the book of the law, but those also that did not stand therein. The diseases of Egypt that were written in the book of the law include the murrain of cattle, the boils and blains, and the death of the first-born (Ex. ix. 1—10, xii. 29); and the strokes ip'^'^) the rest of the plagues, viz. the frogs, gnats, dog-flies, hail, locusts, and darkness (Ex. viii.-x.). D?y^, an uncommon and harder form of ^)?T. (Judg. xvi. 3; cf. Ewald, § 138, a.).— Yer. 62. Israel would be almost annihilated thereby. " Ye vjill he left in few people (a small number; cf. chap. xxvi. 5), whereas ye were as numerous as the stars of heaven.^^
Yers. 63 sqq. Yea, the Lord would find His pleasure in the destruction and annihilation of Israel, as He had previously rejoiced in blessing and multiplying it. With this bold anthropomorphic expression Moses seeks to remove from the nation the last prop of false confidence in the mercy of God. Greatly as the sin of man troubles God, and little as the pleasure may be which He has in the death of the wicked, yet the holiness of His love demands the punishment and destruction of those who despise the riches of His goodness and long-suffering; so that He displays His glory in the judgment and destruction of the wicked no less than in blessing and prospering the righteous. — Vers. 636 and 64. Those who had not succumbed to the plagues and strokes of God, would be torn from the land of their inheritance, and scattered among all nations to the end of the earth, and there be compelled to serve other gods, which are wood and stone, which have no life and no sensation, and therefore can hear no prayer, and cannot deliver out of any distress (cf. chap. iv. 27 sqq.). — Vers. 65, 66. When banished thus among all nations, Israel would find no ease or rest, not even rest for the sole of its foot, i.e. no place where it could quietly set its foot, and remain and have peace in its heart. To this extreme distress of homeless banishment there would be added " a trembling heart, failing of the eyes (the light of life), and despair of soul " (vid. Lev. xxvi. 36 sqq.). — Ver. 66. " Thi/ life will be hung up before thee,^^ i.e. will be like some valued object, hanging by a thin thread before thine eyes, which any moment might tear down (Knobel), that is to say, will be ever hanging in the greatest danger. " Thou wilt 7iot believe in thy life^"* i.e. thou wilt despair of its preservation (cf. Job xxiv. 22).^ — Ver. 67. In the morning they would wish it were evening, and. in the evening would wish it were morning, from perpetual dread of what each day or night would bring. — Ver. 68. Last of all, Moses mentions the worst, namely, their being taken back to Egypt into ignominious slavery. "If the exodus was the birth of the nation of God as such, return would be its death" (^Schultz). "In ships:^^ i.e. in a way which would cut off every possibility of escape. The clause, " by the way whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again^^ is not a more precise explanation of the expression " in ships," for it was not in ships that Israel came out of Egypt, but by land, through the desert; on the contrary, it simply serves to strengthen the announcement, " The Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again," namely, in the sense that God would cause them to take a road which they would never have seen again if they had continued in faithful dependence upon the Lord.
1 " I have never seen a passage which describes more clearly the misery of a guilty conscience, in words and thoughts so fitting and appropriate. For this is just the way in which a man is affected, who knows that God is offended, i.e. who is harassed with the consciousness of sin " (Luther).
This was the way to Egypt, in reality such a return to this land as Israel ought never to have experienced, namely, a return to slavery. ^' There shall ye he sold to your enemies as servants and maids, and there shall he no huyer^^ i.e. no one will buy you as slaves. This clause, which indicates the utmost contempt, is quite sufficient to overthrow the opinion of Ewald, JRiehm, and others, already referred to at pp. 385-6, namely, that this verse refers to Psammetichus, who procured some Israelitish infantry from Manasseh. Egypt is simply mentioned as a land where Israel had lived in ignominious
bondage. " As a fulfilment of a certain kind, we might no doubt adduce the fact that Titus sent 17,000 adult Jews to Egypt to perform hard labour there, and had those who were under 17 years of age publicly sold (Josephus, de hell, Jud. vi. 9, 2), and also that under Hadrian Jews without number were sold at RacheFs grave {Jerome, ad Jer. 31). But the word of God is not so contracted, that it can be limited to one single fact. The curses were fulfilled in the time of the Romans in Egypt {vid. Philo in Flacc, and leg. ad Caium), but they were also fulfilled in a horrible manner during the middle ages {vid. Depping, die Juden im Mittelalter); and they are still in course of fulfilment, even though they are frequently less
sensibly felt" [Schtdtz). — Ver. 69 (or chap. xxix. 1) is not the close of the address in chap, v.-xxviii., as Schultz, Knohel, and others suppose; but the heading to chap. xxix. xxx., which relate to the making of the covenant mentioned in this verse (vid. chap. xxix. 12, 14).
The addresses which follow in chap. xxix. and xxx. are announced in the heading in chap. xxix. 1 as " words (addresses) of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel, heside the covenant which He made with them in Horeh^^ and consist, according to vers. 10 sqq., in a solemn appeal to all the people to enter into the covenant which the Lord made with them that day; that is to say, it consisted literally in a renewed declaration of the covenant which the Lord had concluded with the nation at Horeb, or in a fresh obligation imposed upon the nation to keep the covenant which had been concluded at Horeb, by the offering of sacrifices and the sprinkling of the people with the sacrificial blood (Ex. xxiv.). There was no necessity for any repetition of this actp because, notwithstanding the frequent transgressions on the part of the nation, it had not been abrogated on the part of God, but still remained in full validity and force. The obligation binding upon the people to fulfil the covenant is introduced by Moses with an appeal to all that the Lord had done for Israel (chap. xxix. 2-9); and this is followed by a summons to enter into the covenant which the Lord was concluding with them now, that He might be their God, and fulfil Ilis promises concerning them (vers. 10-15), with a repeated allusion to the punishment which threatened them in case of apostasy (vers. 16-29), and the eventual restoration on the ground of sincere repentance and return to the Lord (chap. XXX. 1-14), and finally another solemn adjuration, with a blessing and a curse before them, to make choice of the blessing (vers. 15-20).
Chap. xxix. 2-9. The introduction in ver. 2a resembles that in chap. v. 1. " All IsraeV^ is the nation in all its members (see vers. 10, 11). — Israel had no doubt seen the mighty acts of the Lord in Egypt (vers. 2h and 3; cf. chap. iv. 34, vii. 19), but Jehovah had not given them a heart, i.e. understanding, to perceive, eyes to see, and ears to hear, until this day. With this complaint, Moses does not intend to excuse the previous want of susceptibility on the part of the nation to the manifestations of grace on the part of the Lord, but simply to explain the necessity for the repeated allusion to the gracious acts of God, and to urge the people to lay them truly to heart. " By reproving the dulness of the past, he w^ould stimulate them to a desire to understand: just as if he had said, that for a long time they had been insensible to so many miracles, and therefore they ought not to delay any longer, but to arouse themselves to hearken better unto God" (^Calvin). The Lord had not yet given the people an understanding heart, because the people had not yet asked for it, simply because the need of it was not felt (cf. chap. v. 26). — Vers. 5 sqq. With the appeal to the gracious guidance of Israel by God through the desert, the address of Moses passes imperceptibly into an address from the Lord, just as in chap. xi. 14. (On vers. 5, 6, vid. chap. viii. 3, 4; on ver. 7, vid. chap. ii. 26 sqq., and chap. iii. 1 sqq. and 12 sqq.). — Yer. 9. These benefits from the Lord demanded obedience and fidelity. " Keep the words of this covenant,'* etc. (cf. chap. viii. 18). ^^^^^*}, to act wisely (as in chap. xxxii. 29), bearing in mind, however, that Jehovah Himself is the wisdom of Israel ' (chap. iv. 6)^ and the search for this wisdom brings prosperity and salvation (cf. Josh. i. 7, 8).
Vers. 10-15. Summons to enter into the covenant of the Lord, namely, to enter inwardly, to make the covenant an affair of the heart and life.— Vers. 10 sqq. " To-day^'' when the covenant-law and covenant-right were laid before them, the whole nation stood before the Lord without a single exception — the heads and the tribes, the elders and the officers, all the men of Israel. The two members are parallel. The heads of the people are the elders and officers, and the tribes consist of all the men. The rendering given by the LXX. and Syriac (also in the English version: TV.), " heads (captains) of your tribes,"' is at variance with the language. — Yer. 11. The covenant of the Lord embraced, however, not only the men of Israel, but also the wives and children, and the stranger who had attached himself to Israel, such as the Egyptians who came out with Israel (Ex. xii. 38; Num. xi. 4), and the Midianites who joined the Israelites with Hobab (Num. x. 29), down to the very lowest servant, " from thy hewer of wood to thy draver of water'' (cf. Josh. ix. 21, 27).— Yer. 12. " That thou shoddest enter into the covenant of the Lord thy God, and the engagemer t on oath, which the Lord thy God concludeth with thee to-day J' iny with 3, as in Job xxxiii. 28, " to enter into," expresses entire entrance, "which goes completely through the territory entered, and is more emphatic than nnni Ni3 (2 Chron. xv. 12). " Into the oath:" the covenant confirmed with an oath, covenants being always accompanied with oaths (yid. Gen. xxvi. 28).— Yer. 13. " That He may set thee up (exalt thee) to-day into a people for Hiniself and that He may he (become) unto thee a God'' (yid, chap, xxviii. 9, xxvii. 9; Ex. xix. 5, 6).— Yers. 14, 15. This covenant Moses made not only with those who are present, but with all whether present or not; for it was to embrace not only those who were living then, but their descendants also, to become a covenant of blessing for all nations (cf. Acts ii. 39, and the intercession of Christ in John xvii. 20).
Yers. 16-29. The summons to enter into the covenant of the Lord is explained by Moses first of all by an exposition of the evil results which would follow from apostasy from the Lord, or the breach of His covenant. This exposition he introduces with an allusion to the experience of the people with reference to the worthlessness of idols, both in Egypt itself, and upon their march through the nations, whose territory thev passed through (vers. 16, 17). The words, " for ye have learned how we dwelt in Egypt, and passed through the nations.... and have seen their abominations and their idols" {gillulim: lit. clods, see Lev. xxvi. 30), have this significa- tion: In our abode in Egypt, and upon our march through different lands, ye have become acquainted with the idols of these nations, that they are not gods, but only wood and stone (see at chap. iv. 28), silver and gold. "itf^XTli^j as in chap. ix. 7 literally " ye know that which we dwelt,*' i.e. know what our dwelling there showed, what experience we gained there of the nature of heathen idols. — Ver. 18. " That there may not he among you^^ etc.: this sentence may be easily explained by introducing a thought which may be easily supplied, such as " consider this," or " do not forget what ye have seen, that no one, either man or woman, family or tribe, may turn away from Jehovah our God." — " That there may not he a root among you which hears poison and wormwood as fruits A striking image of the destructive fruit borne by idolatry (cf. Heb. xii. 15). Rosh stands for a plant of a very bitter taste, as we may see from the frequency with which it is combined with njjp, wormwood: it is not, strictly speaking, a poisonous plant, although the word is used in Job XX. 16 to denote the poison of serpents, because, in the estimation of a Hebrew, bitterness and poison were kindred terms. There is no other passage in which it can be shown to have the meaning " poison." The sense of the figure is given in plain terms in ver. 19, " that no one when he hears the words of this oath may hless himself in his heart, saying, It will prosper with me, for I walk in the firmness of my heart.^"" To bless himself in his heart is to congratulate himself. ri^"i''"|K^, firmness, a vox media; in Syidac, firmness, in a good sense, equivalent to truth; in Hebrew, generally in a bad sense, denoting hardness of heart; and this is the sense in which Moses uses it here. — " To sweep away that which is saturated with the thirsty: " a proverbial expression, of which very different interpretations have been given (see Eosenmicller ad h. I.), taken no doubt from the land and transferred to persons or souls; so that we might supply Nephesh in this sense, " to destroy all, both those who have drunk its poison, and those also who are still thirsting for it" (Knohel). But even if we were to supply p.^ (the land), we should not have to think of the land itself, but simply of its inhabitants, so that the thought would still remain the same. — Vers. 20, 21. ^^ For the Lord will not forgive him (who thinks or speaks in this w^ay); hut then will His anger smoke (break forth in fire; vid, Ps. Ixxiv. 1), and His jealousy against that man, and the whole curse of the law will lie upon him, that his name may he hlotted out under heaven (yid. chap. xxv. 19; Ex. xvii. 14). The Lord will separate him unto evil from all Vie trihesp — so that he will be shut out from the covenant nation, and from its salvation, and be exposed to destruction,— according to all the curses of the covenant^ Although the pronominal suffix refers primarily to the man, it also applies, according to ver. 18, to the woman, the family, and the tribe. " That is written," etc., as in chap, xxviii. 58, 61. — Vers. 22-24. How thoroughly Moses was filled with the thought, that not only individuals, but whole families, and in fact the greater portion of the nation, would fall into idolatry, is evident from the further expansion of the threat which follows, and in which he foresees in the Spirit, and foretells, the extermination of whole families, and the devastation of the land by distant nations; as in Lev. xxvi. 31, 32. Future generations of Israel, and the stranger from a distant land, when they saw the strokes of the Lord which burst upon the land, and the utter desolation of the land, would ask whence this devastation, and receive the reply, The Lord had smitten the land thus in His anger, because its inhabitants (the Israelites) had forsaken His covenant. With regard to the construction, observe that "^^^1, in ver. 22, is resumed in '>"ip^'!, in ver. 24, the subject of ver. 22 being expanded into the general notion, " all nations" (ver. 24). With ifc^'i'), in ver. 226, a parenthetical clause is inserted, giving the reason for the main thought, in the form of a circumstantial clause; and to this there is attached, by a loose apposition in ver. 23, a still further picture of the divine strokes according to their effect upon the land. The nouns in ver. 23, " brimstone and salt bwning^^^ are in apposition to the strokes (plagues), and so far depend upon " they see." The description is borrowed from the character of the Dead Sea and its vicinity, to which there is an express allusion in the words, " like the overthrow of Sodom^^ etc., i.e, of the towns of the vale of Siddim (see at Gen. xiv. 2), which resembled paradise, the garden of Jehovah, before their destruction {vid. Gen. xiii. 10 and xix. 24 sqq.). — Yer. 24. " What is this great burning of wrath? " Le. what does it mean — whence does it come? The reply to such a question would be (vers. 25—29): The inhabitants of the land have forsaken the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers; therefore has the wrath of the Lord burned over the land. — Ver. 26. " Gods which God had not assigned them" (vid, chap. iv. 19). " All the curses," etc., are the curses contained in chap, xxviii. 15-68, Lev. xxvi. 14-38. — Those who give the answer close their address in ver. 29 with an expression of pious submission and solemn admonition. " That which is hidden belongs to the Lord our God (is His affair), and that which is revealed belongs to us and our chiU dren for ever, to do (that we may do) all the words of this lawJ^ That which is revealed includes the law with its promises and threats; consequently that which is hidden can only refer to the mode in which God will carry out in the future His counsel and will, which He has revealed in the law, and complete His work of salvation notwithstanding the apostasy of the people.^
Chap. XXX. 1-10. Nevertheless the rejection of Israel and its dispersion among the heathen were not to be the close. If the people should return to the Lord their God in their exile. He would turn His favour towards them again, and gather them again out of their dispersion, as had already been proclaimed in chap. iv. 29 sqq. and Lev. xxvi. 40 sqq., where it was also observed that the extremity of their distress would bring the people to reflection and induce them to return. — Vers. 1-3. " When all these words, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, shall corned The allusion to the blessing in this connection may be explained on the ground that Moses was surveying the future generally, in which not only a curse but a blessing also would come upon the nation, according to its attitude towards the Lord as a whole and in its several members, since even in times of the greatest apostasy on the part of the nation there would always be a holy seed which could not die out; because otherwise the nation would necessarily have been utterly and for ever rejected, whereby the promises of God would have beeR brought to nought, — a result which was absolutely impossible. " And thou takest to heart among all nations," etc., sc, what has befallen thee,— not only the curse which presses upon thee, but also the blessing which accompanies obedience to the commands of God, — *^ and returnest to the Lord thy God, and hearkenest to His voice with all the heart,^^ etc. (cf. chap. iv. 29); " the Lord will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and gather thee again." m^B^riK 2W does not mean to bring back the prisoners, as the more modem lexicographers erroneously suppose (the Kal y\\:} never has the force of the Hiphil), but to turn the imprisonment, and that
^ What the puncta extraordinaria above (l)y IJ^ilij^i Ijf' mean, is uncertain. Hiller^s conjecture is the most probable, " that they are intended to indicate a various reading, formed by the omission of eleven consonants, and the transposition of the rest 0/\V Hliplilini (at magnalia sasciili sunt); " whereas there is no foundation for LightfooV s notion, that " they served as a warning, that we should not wish to pry with curiosity into the secret things of God, but should be content with His revealed will," — a notion which rests upon the supposition that the points are inspired.
in a figurative sense, viz. to put an end to the distress (Job xlii. 10; Jer. XXX. 8; Ezek. xvi. 53; Ps. xiv. 7; also Ps. Ixxxv. 2, cxxvi. 2, 4), except that in many passages the misery of exile in which the people pined is represented as imprisonment. The passage before us is fully decisive against the meaning to bring back the prisoners, since the gathering out of the heathen is spoken of as being itself the consequence of the " turning of the captivity; " so also is Jer. xxix. 14, where the bringing back (^''^•7) is expressly distinguished from it. But especially is this the case with Jer. xxx. 18, where "turning the captivity of Jacob's tents" is synonymous with having mercy on his dwelling-places, and building up the city again, so that the city lying in ruins is represented as nilK^j an imprisonment.^ — Vers. 4, 5. The gathering of Israel out of all the countries of the earth would then follow. Even though the rejected people should be at the end of heaven, the Lord would fetch them thence, and bring them back into the land of their fathers, and do good to the nation, and multiply them above their fathers. These last words show that the promise neither points directly to the gathering of Israel from dispersion on its ultimate conversion to Christ, nor furnishes any proof that the Jews will then be brought back to Palestine. It is true that even these words have some reference to the final redemption of Israel. This is evident from the curse of dispersion, which cannot be restricted to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, but includes the Roman dispersion also, in which the nation continues still; and it is still more apparent from the renewal of this promise in Jer. xxxii. 37 and other prophetic passages. But this application is to be found in the spirit, and not in the letter. For if there is to be an increase in the number of the Jews, when gathered out of their dispersion into all the world, above the number of their fathers, and therefore above the number of the Israelites in the time of Solomon and the first monarchs of the two kingdoms, Palestine will never furnish room enough for a nation multiplied like this. The multiplication promised here, so far as it falls within the Messianic age, will consist in the realiza-
^ Hup/eld (on Ps. xiv. 7) has endeavoured to sustain the assertion that DI^K^ is a later form for the older and simpler forms, '•ItJ', rT'^tJ^, by citing one single passage of the Old Testament. The abstract form of >2\^ is JT'^tJ^, imprisonment (Num. xxi. 29), then prisoners. This form has been substituted by Jeremiah for ^\^2^ in one passage, viz. chap, xxxii. 44; and the Masoretic punctuators were the first to overlook the difference in the two words, and point them promiscuously.
tion of the promise given to Abraham, that his seed should grow into nations (Gen. xvii. 6 and 16), i.e, in the innumerable multiplication, not of the "Israel according to the flesh," but of the "Israel according to the spirit," whose land is not restricted to the boundaries of the earthly Canaan or Palestine (see vol. i, p. 226). The possession of the earthly Canaan for all time is nowhere promised to the Israelitish nation in the law (see at chap. xi. 21). — Ver. 6. The Lord will then circumcise their heart, and the heart of their children (see chap. x. 16), so that they will love Him with all their heart. When Israel should turn with true humility to the Lord, He would be found of them, — would lead them to true repentance, and sanctify them through the power of His grace, — would take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, a new heart and a new spirit, — so that they should truly know Him and keep His commandments (yid. Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 26; Jer. xxxi. 33 sqq. and xxxii. 39 sqq.). '^Because of thy life^^ Le. that thou mayest live, sc. attain to true life. The fulfilment of this promise does not take place all at once. It commenced with small beginnings at the deliverance from the Babylonian exile, and in a still higher degree at the appearance of Christ in the case of all the Israelites who received Him as their Saviour. Since then it has been carried on through all ages in the conversion of individual children of Abraham to Christ; and it will be realized in the future in a still more glorious manner in the nation at large (Rom. xi. 25 sqq.). The words of Moses do not relate to any particular age, but comprehend all times. For Israel has never been hardened and rejected in all its members, although the mass of the nation lives under the curse even to the present day. — Ver. 7. But after its conversion, the curses, which had hitherto rested upon it, would fall upon its enemies and haters, according to the promise in Gen. xii. 3. — Vers. 8 sqq. Israel would then hearken again to the voice of the Lord and keep His commandments, and would rejoice in consequence in the richest blessing of its God. In the expression, riy^^'l n^tJ^n r\m {''thou shalt return and hearken"), 2^m (''thou shalt return ") has an adverbial signification. This is evident from the corresponding expression in ver. 9 J, " for Jehovah will again rejoice over thee" {lit, "will return and rejoice"), in which the adverbial signification is placed beyond all doubt. — Vers. 8-10 contain the general thought, that Israel would then come again into its normal relation to its God, would enter into true and perfect coveriant fellowship with the Lord, and enjoy all the blessings of the covenant. — Ver. 9a is a repetition of chap, xxviii. 11. The Lord will rejoice again over Israel, to do them good (yid. chap, xxviii. 63), as He had rejoiced ovef their fathers. The fathers are not the patriarchs alone, but all the pious ancestors of the people. — Ver. 10. A renewed enforcement of the indispensable condition of salvation. Vers. 11-20. The fulfilment of this condition is not impossible, nor really very difficult. This natural thought leads to the motive, which Moses impresses upon the hearts of the people in vers. 11-14, viz. that He might turn the blessing to them. God had done everything to render the observance of His commandments possible to Israel. " This commandment " (used as in chap. vi. 1 to denote the whole law) is " not too iconderful for thee,* i.e. is not too hard to grasp, or unintelligible (yid. chap. xvii. 8), nor is it too far off: it is neither in heaven, i.e. at an inaccessible height; nor beyond the sea, i.e. at an unattainable distance, at the end of the world, so that any one could say. Who is able to fetch it thence? but it is very near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart to do it. It not only lay before the people in writing, but it was also preached to them by word of mouth, and thus brought to their knowledge, so that it had become a subject of conversation as well as of reflection and careful examination. But however near the law had thus been brought to man, sin had so estranged the human heart from the word of God, that doing and keeping the law had become invariably difficult, and in fact impossible; so that the declaration, " the word is in thy heart," only attains its full realization through the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God, and the righteousness that is by faith; and to this the Apostle Paul applies the passage in Rom. x. 25 sqq. — Vers. 15—20. In conclusion, Moses sums up the contents of the whole of this preaching of the law in the words, " life and good, and death and evil," as he had already done at chap. xi. 26, 27, in the first part of this address, to lay the people by a solemn adjuration under the obligation to be faithful to the Lord, and through this obligation to conclude the covenant afresh. He had set before them this day life and good {^'good" — prosperity and salvation), as well as death and evil (V^, adversity and destruction), by commanding them to love the Lord and walk in His ways. Love is placed first, as in chap. vi. 5, as being the essential principle of the fulfilment of the commandments. Expounding the law was setting before them life and death, salvation and destruction, because the law, as the word of God, was living and powerful, and proved itself in every man a power of life or of death, according to the attitude which he assumed towards it (vid, chap, xxxii. 47). Tn^, to permit oneself to be torn away to idolatry (as in chap. iv. 19). — Yer. 18, as chap. iv. 26, viii. 19. He calls upon heaven and earth as witnesses (ver. 19, as in chap. iv. 26), namely, that he had set before them life and death. ^'^J]^'^, in ver. 19, is the apodosis: " therefore choose life'' — Ver. 20. T*n t<^n "^3^ for that (namely, to love the Lord) is thy life, that is, the condition of life, and of long life, in the promised land (vid, chap. iv. 40).
With the renewal of the covenant, by the choice set before the people betw-een blessing and curse, life and death, Moses had finished the interpretation and enforcement of the law (chap. i. 5), and brought the work of legislation to a close. But in order that the work to which the Lord had called him might be thoroughly completed, it still remained for him, before his approaching death, to hand over the task of leading the people into Canaan to Joshua, who had been appointed as his successor, to finish writing out the laws, and to hand over the book of the law to the priests. The Lord also directed him to write an ode, as a witness against the people, on account of their obstinacy, and teach it to the Israelites. To these last arrangements and acts of Moses, which are narrated in chap. xxxi. and xxxii., there are added in chap, xxxiii. the blessing with which this man of God bade farewell to the tribes of Israel, and in chap, xxxi v. the account of his death, with which the Pentateuch closes.
MOSES' FINAL ARRANGEMENTS. COMPLETION AND HANDING OVER OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW. — CHAP. XXXI.
The final arrangements which Moses made before his departure, partly of his own accord, and partly by tlie command of God, relate to the introduction of the Israelites into the promised land, and the confirmation of tlieir fidelity towards the Lord their God. — Vers. 1-13 describe how Moses promised the help of the Lord in the conquest of the land, both to the people generally, and ylso to Joshua, their leader into Canaan (vers. 2-8), and commanded the priests to keep the book of the law, and read it publicly every seventh year (vers. 9-13); and vers. 14-23, how the Lord appeared to Moses before the tabernacle, and directed him to compose an ode as a testimony against the apostasy of the people, and promised Joshua His assistance. And lastly, vers. 24-27 relate how the book of the law, when brought to completion, was handed over to the Levites; and vers. 28-30 describe the reading of the ode to the people.
Vers. 1—8. In ver. 1 Moses' final arrangements are announced. "n?*l does not mean " he went away" (into his tent), which does not tally with what follows (" and spake"); nor is it merely equivalent to porro^ amplius. It serves, as in Ex. ii. 1 and Gen. xxxv. 22, as a pictorial description of what he was about to do, in the sense of " he prepared himself," or rose up. After closing the exposition of the law, Moses had either withdrawn, or at any rate made a pause, before he proceeded to make his final arrangements for laying down his office, and taking leave of the people. — Ver. 2. These last arrangements he commences with the declaration, that he must now bid them farewell, as he is 120 years old (which agrees with Ex. vii. 7), and can no more go out and in, i.e. no longer work in the nation and for it (see at Num. xxvii. 17); and the Lord has forbidden him to cross over the Jordan and enter Canaan (see Num. xx. 24). The first of these reasons is not at variance with the statement in chap. xxxiv. 7, that up to the time of his death his eyes were not dim, nor his strength abated. For this is merely an affirmation, that he retained the ability to see and to work to the last moment of his life, which by no means precludes his noticing the decline of his strength, and feeling the approach of his death. — Vers. 3-5. But although Moses could not, and was not to lead his people into Canaan, the Lord would fulfil His promise, to go before Israel and destroy the Canaanites, like the two kings of the Amorites; only they (the Israelites) were to do to them as the Lord had commanded them, i.e, to root out the Canaanites {yid. chap. vii. 2 sqq.; Num. xxxiii. 51 sqq.; Ex. xxxiv. 11 sqq.). — Ver. 6. Israel was therefore to be of good courage, and not to be afraid of them {vid. chap. i. 21, XX. 3). — Vers. 7, 8. Moses then encourages Joshua in the same way in the presence of all the people, on the strength of the promise of God in chap. i. 38 and Num. xxvii. 18 sqq. DV^^TlS snn^ " thou wilt come vnth this people into the land^ These words are quite appropriate; and the alteration of N^n into t^"*^, according to ver. 23 {Samar.j Si/r.y Vuhj.)^ is a perfectly unnecessary conjecture; for
Joshua was not appointed leader of the people here, but simply promised an entrance with all the people into Canaan.
Vers. 9-13. Moses then handed over the law which- he had written to the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant, and to all the elders of Israel, with instructions to read it to the people at the end of every seven years, during the festal season of the year of release (" at the end," as in chap. xv. 1), viz. at the feast of Tabernacles (see Lev. xxiii. 34), when they appeared before the Lord. It is evident from the context and contents of these verses, apart from ver. 24, that the ninth verse is to be understood in the way described, i.e, that the two clauses, which are connected together by vav. relat, (" and Moses wrote this law,'' " and delivered zf *), are not logically co-ordinate, but that the handing over of the written law was the main thing to be recorded here. With regard to the handing over of the law, the fact that Moses not only gave the written law to the priests, that they might place it by the ark of the covenant, but also " to all the elders of Israel,' proves clearly enough that Moses did not intend at this time to give the law-book entirely out of his own hands, but that this handing over was merely an assignment of the law to the persons who were to take care, that in the future the written law should be kept before the people, as the rule of their life and conduct, and publicly read to them. The explanation which J, H. Mich, gives is perfectly correct, " He gave it for them to teach and keep." The law-book would only have been given to the priests, if the object had been simply that it should be placed by the ark of the covenant, or at the most, in the presence of the elders, but certainly not to all the elders, since they were not allowed to touch the ark. The correctness of this view is placed beyond all doubt by the contents of vers. 10 sqq. The main point in hand was not the writing out of the law, or the transfer of it to the priests and elders of the nation, but the command to read the law in the presence of the people at the feast of Tabernacles of the year of release. The writinrr out and handintr over simply formed the substratum for this command, so that we cannot infer from them, that by tliis act Moses formally irave the law out of his own hands. He entrusted the reading to the priesthood and the college of elders, as the spiritual and secular rulers of the congregation; and hence the singular, " Thou shalt read this law to all Israel." The regulations as to the persons who were to undertake the reading, and also as to the particular time during the seven days* feast, and the portions that were to be read, he left to the rulers of the congregation. We learn from Neh. viil. 18, that in Ezra's time they read in the book of the law every day from the first to the last day of the feast, from which we may see on the one hand, that the whole of the Thorah (or Pentateuch), from beginning to end, was not read; and on the other hand, by comparing the expression in ver. 18, " the book of the law of God," with " the law," in ver. 14, that the reading was not restricted to Deuteronomy: for, according to ver. 14, they had already been reading in Leviticus (chap, xxiii.) before the feast was held, — an evident proof that Ezra the scribe did not regard the book of Deuteronomy like the critics of our day, as the true national law-book, an acquaintance with which was all that the people required. Moses did not fix upon the feast of Tabernacles of the sabbatical year as the time for reading the law, because it fell at the beginning of the year,^ as Schultz wrongly supposes, that the people might thereby be incited to occupy this year of entire rest in holy employment with the word and works of God. And the reading itself was neither intended to promote a more general acquaintance with the law on the part of the people, — an object which could not possibly have been secured by reading it once in seven years; nor was it merely to be a solemn promulgation and restoration of the law as the rule for the national life, for the purpose of removing any irregularities that might have found their way in the course of time into either the religious or the political life of the nation (Bdhr, Symbol, ii. p. 603). To answer this end, it should have been connected with the Passover, the festival of Israel's birth. The reading stood rather in close connection with the idea of the festival itself; it was intended to quicken the soul with the law of the Lord, to refresh the heart, to enlighten the eyes, — in short, to offer the congregation the blessing of the law, which David celebrated from his own experience in Ps. xix. 8-15,
^ It by no means follows, that because the sabbatical year commenced with the omission of the usual sowing, i.e. began in the autumn with the civil year, it therefore commenced with the feast of Tabernacles, and the order of the feasts was reversed in the sabbatical year. According to Ex. xxiii. IG, the feast of Tabernacles did not fall at the beginning, but at the end of the civil year. The commencement of the year Mith the first of Tisri was an arrangement introduced after the captivity, which the Jews had probably adopted from the Syrians (see my hihl. Archasol. i. § 74, note 15). Kor does it follow, that because the year of jubilee was to be proclaimed on the day of atonement in the sabbatical year with a blast of trumpets (l-icv. xxv. 9), therefore the year of jubilee must have begun with the fejist of Tabernacles. The proclamation of festivals is generally made some time before they commence.
to make the law beloved and prized by the whole nation, as a precious gift of the grace of God. Consequently (vers. 12, 13), not only the men, but the women and children also, were to be gathered together for this purpose, that they might hear the word of God, and learn to fear the Lord their God, as long as they should live in the land which He gave them for a possession. On ver. 11, see Ex. xxiii. 17, and xxxiv. 23, 24, where we also find f^^^^'J? for ^^^'J'?.'! (ver. 24).
Yers. 14-23. After handing over the office to Joshua, and the law to the priests and elders, Moses was called by the Lord to come to the tabernacle with Joshua, to command him ('"'JV), i.e. to appoint him, confirm him in his office. To this end the Lord appeared in the tabernacle (ver. 15), in a pillar of cloud, which remained standing before it, as in Num. xii. 5 (see the exposition of Num. xi. 25). But before appointing Joshua, He announced to Moses that after his death the nation would go a whoring after other gods, and would break the covenant, for which it would be visited with severe afflictions, and directed him to write an ode and teach it to the children of Israel, that when the apostasy should take place, and punishment from God be felt in consequence, it might speak as a witness against the people, as it would not vanish from their memory. The Lord communicated this commission to Moses in the presence of Joshua, that he also might hear from the mouth of God that the Lord foreknew the future apostasy of the people, and yet nevertheless would bring them into the promised land. In this there was also implied an admonition to Joshua, not only to take care that the Israelites learned the ode and kept it in their memories, but also to strive with all his might to prevent the apostasy, so long as he was leader of Israel; which Joshua did most faithfully to the very end of his life (vid. Josh, xxiii. and xxiv.). — The announcement of the falling away of the Israelites from the Lord into idolatry, and the burning of the wrath of God in consequence (vers. 16-18), serves as a basis for the command in vers. 19 sqq. In this announcement the different points are simply linked together with "and," whereas in their actual signification they are subordinate to one another: When thou shalt lie with thy fathers, and the people shall rise up, and go a whoring after other gods: My anger will burn against them, etc. D^P, to rise up, to prepare, serves to bring out distinctly the course which the thing would take. The expression, ''• foreign gods of the landj^ indicates that in the land which Jehovah gave His people, He (Jehovah)
alone was God and Lord, and that He alone was to be worshipped there. i3")ip3 is in apposition to n^^, " whither thou comest, in the midst of ity The punishment announced in ver. 17 corresponds most closely to the sin of the nation. For going a whoring after strange gods, the anger of the Lord would burn against them; for forsaking Him, He would forsake them; and for breaking His covenant, He would hide His face from them, i.e, withdraw His favour from them, so that they would be destroyed. 7b5<^ r\'r^^ it (the nation) will be for devouring, i.e. will be devoured or destroyed (see Ewald, § 237, c; and on h^^ in this sense, see chap. vii. 16, and Num. xiv. 9). ''And many evils and troubles icill befall it; and it will say in that day, Do not these evils befall me, because my God is not in the midst of me?'' When the evils and troubles broke in upon the nation, the people would inquire the cause, and would find it in the fact that they were forsaken by their God; but the Lord (" but I " in ver. 18 forms the antithesis to " they '* in ver. 17) would still hide His face, namely, because simply missing God is not true repentance.— Ver. 19. ''And now,'' so. because what was announced in vers. 16-18 would take place, "write you this song." "This" refers to the song which follows in chap, xxxii. Moses and Joshua were to write the song, because they were both of them to strive to prevent the apostasy of the people; and Moses, as the author, was to teach it to the children of Israel, to make them learn it, that it might be a witness for the Lord (for Me) against the cliildren of Israel. "This" is defined still further in vers. 20, 21: if Israel, through growing satisfied and fat in its land, which was so rich in costly good, should turn to other gods, and the Lord should visit it in consequence with grievous evils and troubles, the song was to answer before Israel as a witness; i.e. not only serve the Lord as a witness to the people that He had foretold all the evil consequences of apostasy, and had given Israel proper warning (Knobel), but to serve, as we may see from vers. 20, 21, and from the contents of the song, as a witness, on the one hand, that the Lord had conferred upon the people so many benefits and bestowed upon them such abundant blessings of His grace, that apostasy from Him was the basest ingratitude, for which they would justly be punished; and, on the other hand, that the Lord had not rejected His people in spite of the punishments inflicted upon them, but would once more have compassion uj)on them and requite their foes, and thus would sanctify and glorify Himself as the only true God by His judgments upon Israel and the nations.
The law, with its commandments, promises, and threats, was already a witness of this kind against Israel (of. ver. 26); but just as in every other instance the appearance of a plurality of unanimous witnesses raises the matter into an indisputable truth, so the Lord would set up another witness against the Israelites besides the law, in the form of this song, which was adapted to give all the louder warning, " because the song would not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed'' (ver. 21). The song, when once it had passed into the mouths of the people, would not very readily vanish from their memory, but would be transmitted from generation to generation, and be heard from the mouths of their descendants, as a perpetual warning voice, as it would be used by Israel; for God knew the invention of the people, i,e» the thoughts and purposes of their heart, which they cherished (J^^V used to denote the doing of the heart, as in Isa. xxxii. 6) even then before He had brought them into Canaan. (On ver. 20a, vid. chap. vii. 5, ix. 5, and Ex. iii. 8.) — In ver. 22 the result is anticipated, and the command of God is followed immediately by an account of its completion by Moses (just as in Ex. xii. 50; Lev. xvi. 34, etc.). — After this command with reference to the song, the Lord appointed Joshua to the office which he had been commanded to take, urging him at the same time to be courageous, and promising him His help in the conquest of Canaan. That the subject to 1^)1 is not Moses, but Jehovah, is evident partly from the context, the retrospective glance at ver. 14, and partly from the words themselves, " I will be with thee" {vid, Ex. iii. 12).^
Vers. 24-27. With the installation of Joshua on the part of God, the official life of Moses was brought to a close. Having returned from the tabernacle, he finished the writing out of the laws, and then gave the book of the law to the Levites, with a command to put it by the side of the ark of the covenant, that it might be there for a witness against the people, as He knew its rebellion and stiffneckedness (vers. 24-27). "'Sp'^'V ^r'?, to write upon a book, equivalent to write down, commit to writing. Dtsri ly^ till their being finished, i.e. complete. By the ^^ Levites who hare the ark of the covenant'^ we are not to understand ordinary Levites, but the
^ KnulxVs aKScrtion (on Num. xxvii. 23) that tlic aj (point iiiciit of Joshua on the part of Moses by the imposition of hands, as described in that passa^^c, is at variance with this verse, Bcarcely needs any refutation. Or is it really the case, that the installation of Joshua on the part of God is irreconcilable with his ordination by Moses?
Levitical prieste, who were entrusted with the ark. "The Levites" is simply a contraction for th,e full expression, " the priests the sons of Levi " (ver. 9). It is true that, according to Num. iv. 4 sqq., the Kohathites were appointed to carry the holy vessels, which included the ark of the covenant, on the journey through the desert; but it was the priests, and not they, who were the true bearers and guardians of the holy things, as we may see from the fact that the priests had first of all to wrap up these holy things in a careful manner, before they handed them over to the Kohathites, that they might not touch the holy things and die (Num. iv. 15). Hence we find that on solemn occasions, when the ark was to be brought out in all its full significance and glory, — as, for example, in the crossing of the Jordan (Josh. iii. 3 sqq., iv. 9, 10), when encompassing Jericho (Josh. vi. 6, 12), at the setting up of the law on Ebal and Gerizim (Josh. viii. 33), and at the consecration of Solomon's temple (1 Kings viii. 3), — it was not by the Levites, but by the priests, that the ark of the covenant was borne. In fact the Levites were, strictly speaking, only their (the priests') servants, who relieved them of this and the other labour, so that what they did was done in a certain sense through them. If the (nonpriestly) Levites were not to touch the ark of the covenant, and not even to put in the poles' (Num. iv. 6), Moses would not have handed over the law-book, to be kept by the ark of the covenant, to them, but to the priests, pij ^^'P, at the side of the ark, or, according to the paraphrase of Jonathan^ " in a case on the right side of the ark of the covenant," which may be correct, although we must not think of this case, as many of the early theologians do, as a secondary ark attached to the ark of the covenant (see Lundius, Jiid. Heiligth. pp. 73, 74). The tables of the law were deposited in the ark (Ex. xxv. 16, xl. 20), and the book of the law was to be kept by its side. As it formed, from its very nature, simply an elaborate commentary upon the decalogue, it was also to have its place outwardly as an accompaniment to the tables of the law, for a witness against the people, in the same manner as the song in the mouth of the people (ver. 21). For, as Moses adds in ver. 27, in explanation of his instructions, "/ know thy rebelliousness, and thy stiff neck: behold, ivhile I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the Lord (yid. chap. ix. 7); and hoio much more after my death. ^^
With these words Moses handed over the complete book of the law to the Levitical priests. For although the handing over is not expressly mentioned, it is unquestionably implied in the words, " Take this book, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant," as the finishing of the writing of the laws is mentioned immediately before. But if Moses finished the writing of the law after he had received instructions from the Lord to compose the ode, what he wrote will reach to ver. 23; and what follows from ver. 24 onwards will form the appendix to his work by a different hand.^ The supposition that Moses himself inserted his instructions concerning the preservation of the book of the law, and the ode which follows, is certainly possible, but not probable. The decision as to the place where it should be kept was not of such importance as to need insertion in the book of the law, since sufficient provision for its safe keeping had been made by the directions in vers. 9 sqq.; and although God had commanded him to write the ode, it was not for the purpose of inserting it in the Thorah as an essential portion of it, but to let the people learn it, to put it in the mouth of the people. The allusion to this ode in vers. 19 sqq. furnishes no conclusive evidence, either that Moses himself included it in the law-book which he had written with the account of his oration in vers. 28-30 and chap, xxxii. 1-43, or that the appendix which Moses did not write commences at ver. 14 of this chapter. For all that follows with certainty from the expression "this song" (vers. 19 and 22), which certainly points to the song in chap, xxxii., is that Moses himself handed over the ode to the priests with the complete book of the law, as a supplement to the law, and that this ode was then inserted by the writer of the appendix in the appendix itself.
Vers. 28-30. Directly after handing over the book of the law, Moses directed the elders of all the tribes, together with the official persons, to gather round him, that he might rehearse to them the ode which he had written for the people. The summons, " gather unto me," was addressed to the persons to whom he had given the book of the law. The elders and officers, as the civil authorities of the congregation, were collected together by him to hear the ode, because they were to put it in the mouth of the people, i.e. to take care that
^ The objection brouf,dit against tliis view by Richni^ namely, that " it founders on the fact that the style and lan<;uagc in chap. xxxi. 24-30 and xxxii. 44-47 are just the same as in the earlier portion of the book," simply shows that he has not taken into consideration that, with the simple style adopted in Hebrew narrative, we could hardly expect in eleven verses, which contain for the most part simply words and sayings of Moses, to find any very striking difference of language or of style. This objection, therefore, merely provea that no valid arguments can bo adduced against the view in question.
all the nation should learn it. The words, " / will call heaven and earth as witnesses against you,^^ refer to the substance of the ode about to be rehearsed, which begins with an appeal to the heaven and the earth (chap, xxxii. 1). The reason assigned for this in ver. 29 is a brief summary of what the Lord had said to Moses in vers. 16—21, and Moses thought it necessary to communicate to the representatives of the nation. " The work of your hands^^ refers to the idols {vid, chap. iv. 28). — Ver. 30 forms the introduction to the rehearsal of the ode.
Vers. 1-43. The Song of Moses. — In accordance with the object announced in chap. xxxi. 19, this song contrasts the unchangeable fidelity of the Lord with the perversity of His faithless people. After a solemn introduction pointing out the importance of the instruction about to be given (vers. 1-3), this thought is placed in the foreground as the theme of the whole: the Lord is blameless and righteous in His doings, but Israel acts corruptly and perversely; and this is carried out in tha first place by showing the folly of the Israelites in rebelling against the Lord (vers. 6-18); secondly, by unfolding the purpose of God to reject and punish the rebellious generation (vers. 19-23); and lastly, by announcing and depicting the fulfilment of this purpose, and the judgment in which the Lord would have mercy upon His servants and annihilate His foes (vers. 34-43).
The song embraces the whole of the future history of Israel, and bears all the marks of a prophetic testimony from the mouth of Moses, in the perfectly ideal picture which it draws, on the one hand, of the benefits and blessings conferred by the Lord upon His people; and on the other hand, of the ingratitude with which Israel repaid its God for them all. " This song, soaring as it does to the
loftiest heights, moving amidst the richest abundance of pictures of both present and future, with its concise, compressed, and pictorial style, rough, penetrating, and sharp, but full of the holiest solemnity, a witness against the disobedient nation, a celebration of the covenant God, sets before us in miniature a picture of the whole life and conduct of the great man of God, whose office it pre-emi-
nently was to preach condemnation" (0. v. Gerlach). — It is true that the persons addressed in this ode are not the contemporaries of
Moses, but the Israelites in Canaan, when they had grown haughty in the midst of the rich abundance of its blessings, and had fallen away from the Lord, so that the times when God led the people through the wilderness to Canaan are represented as days long past away. But this, the stand-point of the ode, is not to be identified with the poet's own time. It is rather a prophetic anticipation of the future, which has an analogon in a poet's absorption in an ideal future, and differs from this merely in the certainty and distinctness with which the future is foreseen and proclaimed. The assertion that the entire ode moves within the epoch of the kings who lived many centuries after the time of Moses, rests upon a total misapprehension of the nature of prophecy, and a mistaken attempt to turn figurative language into prosaic history. In the whole of the song there is not a single word to indicate that the persons addressed were " already sighing under the oppression of a wild and hostile people, the barbarous hordes of Assyrians or Chaldeans" (Ewald, Kamphausen, etc.).^ The Lord had indeed determined to reject the idolatrous nation, and excite it to jealousy through those that were "no people," and to heap up all evils upon it, famine, pestilence, and sword; but the execution of this purpose had not yet taken place, and, although absolutely certain, was in the future still. Moreover, the benefits which God had conferred upon His people, were not of such a character as to render it impossible that they should have been alluded to by Moses. All that the Lord had done for Israel, by delivering it from bondage and guiding it miraculously through the wilderness, had been already witnessed by Moses himself; and the description in vers. 13 and 14, which goes beyond that time, is in reality nothing more than a pictorial expansion of the thought that Israel was most bountifully provided with the
* How little firm ground there is for this assertion in the contents of the ode, is indirectly admitted even by Kamphausen himself in the following remarks: " The words of the ode leave us quite in- the dark as to the author;" and " if it were really certain that Deuteronomy was composed by Moses himself, the question as to the authenticity of the ode would naturally be decided in the traditional way." Consequently, the solution of the whole is to be found in the dictum^ that "the circumstances which are assumed in any prophecy jis already existing, and to which tlie prophetic utterances arc appended as to something well known (?), really determine the time of the projihct himself;" and, according to this canon, which is held up as " certain and infallible," but which is really thoroughly uncritical, and founded upon the purely dogmatic assumption that any actual foreknowledge of the future is impossible, the dde before us is to be assigned to a date somewhere about 700 years before Christ.
richest productions of the land of Canaan, which flowed with milk and honey. It is true, the satisfaction of Israel with these blessings had not actually taken place in the time of Moses, but was still only an object of hope; but it was hope of such a kind, that Moses could not cherish a moment's doubt concerning it. Throughout the whole we find no allusions to peculiar circumstances or historical events belonging to a later age. — On the other hand, the whole circle of ideas, figures, and words in the ode points decidedly to Moses as the author. Even if we leave out of sight the number of peculiarities of style (aTT. Xeyofieva), which is by no means inconsiderable, and such bold original composite words as ^^'^^ (not- God, ver. 21; of. ver. 17) and D^'N/ (not-people, ver. 21), which point to a very remote antiquity, and furnish evidence of the vigour of the earhest poetry, — the figure of the eagle in ver. 11 points back to Ex. xix. 4; the description of God as a rock in vet's. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 37, recalls Gen. xlix. 24; the fire of the wrath of God, burning even to the world beneath (ver. 22), points to the representation of God in chap, iv. 24 as a consuming fire; the expression " to move to jealousy,^ in vers. 16 and 21, recalls the "jealous God" in chap. iv. 24, vi. 15, Ex. XX. 5, xxxiv. 14; the description of Israel as children (sons) in ver. 5, and " children without faithfulness " in ver. 20, suggests chap. xiv. 1; and the words, " O that they were wise^^ in ver. 29, recall chap. iv. 6, " a wise people." Again, it is only in the Pentateuch that the word?^} (greatness, ver. 3) is used to denote the greatness of God (yid. Deut. iii. 24, v. 21, ix. 26, xi. 2; Num. xiv. 19); the name of honour given to Israel in ver. 15, viz. Jeshurun, only occurs again in chap, xxxiii. 5 and 26, with the exception of Isa. xliv. 2, where it is borrowed from these passages; and the plural form riio^, in ver. 7, is only met with again in the prayer of Moses, viz. Ps. xc. 15.
Vers. 1—5. Introduction and TJieme, — In the introduction (vers. 1—3), — " Give ear, 0 ye heavens, I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. Let my doctrine drop as the rain, let my speech fall as the dew; as showers upon green, and rain-drops upon herb. for 1 will publish the name of the Lord; give ye greatness to our Godj^ — Moses summons heaven and earth to hearken to his words, because the instruction which he was about to proclaim concerned both heaven and earth, i.e. the whole universe. It did so, however, not merely as treating of the honour of its Creator, which was disregarded by the nmrnmring people (Kamphauseti), or to justify God, as the witness of the righteousness of His doings, in opposition to the faithless nation, when He punished it for its apostasy (just as in chap. iv. 26, xxx. 19, xxxi. 28, 29, heaven and earth are appealed to as witnesses against rebellious Israel), but also inasmuch as heaven and earth would be affected by the judgment which God poured out upon faithless Israel and the nations, to avenge the blood of His servants (ver. 43); since the faithfulness and righteousness of God would thus become manifest in heaven and on earth, and the universe be sanctified and glorified thereby. The vav consec. before nnniK expresses the desired or intended sequel: so that I may then speak, or "so will I then speak" (vid, Kohler on Hogg, p. 44, note). — Ver. 2. But because what was about to be announced was of such importance throughout, he desired that the words should trickle down like rain and dew upon grass and herb. The point of comparison lies in the refreshing, fertilizing, and enlivening power of the dew and rain. Might the song exert the same upon the hearts of the hearers, nj^p^ accepting, then, in a passive sense, that which is accepted, inHruction (doctrine. Pro v. xvi. 21, 23; Isa. xxix. 24). To "publish the name of the Lord:" lit, call, i.e, proclaim (not " call upon"), or 'praise. It was not by himself alone that Moses desired to praise the name of the Lord; the hearers of his song were also to join in this praise. The second clause requires this: " give ye (i.e. ascribe by word and conduct) greatness to our God^ P'li, applied here to God (as in chap. iii. 24, v. 21, ix. 26, xi. 2), which is only repeated again in Ps. cl. 2, is the greatness manifested by God in His acts of omnipotence; it is similar in meaning to the term " g^ory" in Ps. xxix. 1, 2, xcvi. 7, 8.
Vers. 4, 5. " The Rock — blameless is His work; for all His ways are right: a God of faithfulness, and without injustice; just and righteous is He. Corruptly acts towards Him, not His children; their spot, a perverse and crooked generations^ "i^Jfn is placed first absolutely, to give it the greater prominence. God is called " the rock," as the unchangeable refuge, who grants a firm defence and secure resort to His people, by virtue of His unchangeableness or impregnable firmness (see the synonym, " the Stone of Israel," in Gen. xlix. 24). This epithet points to the Mosaic age; and this is clearly shown by the use made of this title of God {Zur) in the construction of surnames in the Mosaic era; such, for example, as Pedahzur (Num. i. 10), which is equivalent to Pedahel (" Godredeemed," Num. xxxiv. 28), Elizur (Num. i. 5), Zuriel (Num. iii. 35), and Zuiishaddai (Num. i. 6, ii. 12). David, who had so often experienced the rock-like protection of his God, adopted it in his
Psalms (2 Sam. xxii. 3, 32 = Ps. xviii. 3, 32; also Ps. xix. 15, xxxi. 3, 4, Ixxi. 3). Perfect (i.e, blameless, without fault or blemish) is His work; for His ways, which He adopts in His government of the world, are right. As the rock. He is " a God of faithfulness," upon which men may rely and build in all the storms of life, and " without iniquity," i,e. anything crooked or false in His nature. — Ver. 5. His people Israel, on the contrary, had acted corruptly towards Him. The subject of " acted corruptly" is the rebellious generation of the people; but before this subject there is introduced parenthetically, and in apposition, " not his children, but their spot." Spot (mum) is used here in a moral sense, as in Prov. ix. 7, Job xi. 15, xxxi. 7, equivalent to stain. The rebellious and ungodly were not children of the Lord, but a stain upon them. If these words had stood after the actual subject, instead of before them, they would have presented no difficulty. This verse is the original of the expression, " children that are corrupters," in Isa. i. 4.