Deuteronomy
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
Chapter Twenty Four
Chapter Twenty Five
Chapter Twenty Six
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chapter Twenty Eight
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty One
Chapter Thirty Two
Chapter Thirty Three
Chapter Thirty Four
THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES,
CALLED
DEUTERONOMY
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THE ARGUMENT
Moses, in the two last months of his life, rehearseth what God had done for them, and their frequent murmurings, rebellions, and constant ingratitude. He begs to enter into the land, but is permitted only to see it. He forbiddeth any communion with the nations for several reasons, Deut 8. He gives a short repetition of those sundry laws, moral, ceremonial, judicial, and military, which he had given them, from whence this book is called Deuteronomy. Then, after many exhortations, he prophesieth of Christ; afterwards he shows how matters of war are to be managed, and, giving many other particular directions with reference to duties, conditions, and persons of both sexes, he pronounceth blessings on the obedient, and curses on the disobedient: he then gives a charge for laying up and reading of the law at certain times, and every seven years to be solemnly read before all the people; he composeth a song for common use, comprising the wonderful things here mentioned: he prophesieth of Christ’s coming, and the calling of the Gentiles, seeth the land, and dieth, leaving Joshua, after he had consecrated him, to succeed.
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Deut 1:1. These are the laws, counsels, and admonitions delivered by Moses from God to Israel, which are here repeated for the instruction and obligation of those who by reason of their tender years were uncapable either of understanding them, or of entering into covenant with God. Unto all Israel, to wit, by the heads or elders of the several tribes, or others, who were to communicate these discourses to all the people in several assemblies. In the plain; either. 1. In the vast desert of Arabia. But that is no where called a plain. Or rather, 2. In the plain of Moab, as may appear by comparing this with Deut 1:5; Num 22:1; Deut 34:8. Objection. That was far from the Red Sea here mentioned. Answer. The word suph here used doth not signify the Red Sea, which is commonly called jam suph, and which was at too great a distance; but some other place now unknown to us, (as also most of the following places are,) so called from the reeds, or flags, or rushes (which that word signifies) that grew in or near it; which reason of the name being common to other places with the Red Sea, it is not strange if they got the same name. Compare Num 21:14. Paran; not that Num 10:12, which there and elsewhere is called the wilderness of Paran, and which was too remote; but some other place called by the same name, than which nothing more usual. Tophel and Laban; places not mentioned elsewhere. Hazeroth; of which see Num 11:35; Num 33:17-18. And these places seem to be the several bounds and limits not of the whole country of Moab, but of the plain of Moab, where Moses now was, and spoke these words.
Deut 1:2. This is added to show that the reason why the Israelites in so many years were advanced no further from Horeb than to these plains, was not the great distance of the places or length of the way, which was but a journey of eleven days at most, but because of their rebellions, as is mentioned before and repeated in this book. Horeb, or Sinai, the place where the law was given, which is promiscuously called by both those names. Mount Seir, or Mount Edom, i.e. the mountainous country of Seir, which was first possessed by the Horims, and afterwards by the Edomites, Deut 2:12. Kadeshbarnea was not far from the borders of Canaan. See Gen 16:14; Num 13:26.
Deut 1:3. This was but a little before his death.
Deut 1:4. His palace or mansion-house was at Astaroth, and he was slain at Edrei, Num 21:33; of both these places, see Gen 14:5; Josh 13:31.
Deut 1:5-6. Of Horeb, where they continued about a year’s space, Exod 19:1; Num 10:11-12.
Deut 1:7. To the mount of the Amorite, i.e. to the mountainous country where the Amorites dwelt, which is opposed to the plain here following, where others of them dwelt. And this is the first mentioned, because it was in the borders of the land: see below, Deut 1:19-20. The divers parts or bounds of the land are here mentioned.
Deut 1:8. Before you, Heb. before your faces; it is open to your view, and to your possession; there is no impediment in the way. See of this phrase Gen 13:9; Gen 34:10.
Deut 1:9. At that time, i.e. about that time, to wit, a little before their coming to Horeb, Exod 18:18.
Deut 1:10-12. Your burden; the trouble of ruling and managing so perverse a people. Your strife; either your quarrellings with God; or rather your contentions among yourselves, for the determination whereof the elders were appointed.
Deut 1:13. Persons of knowledge, wisdom, and experience, men famous, and had in reputation, for ability and integrity; for to such they would more readily submit.
Deut 1:14-15. The chief, not in authority, which yet they had not, but in endowments for good government. And officers; inferior officers, that were to attend upon the superior magistrates, and to execute their decrees.
Deut 1:16. That converseth or dealeth with him. To such God would have justice equally administered as to his own people, partly for the honour of religion, and partly for the interest which every man hath in matters of common right.
Deut 1:17. Not respect persons, Heb. not know or acknowledge faces, i.e. not give sentence according to the outward qualities of the person as he is poor or rich, your friend or enemy, but purely according to the merits of the cause. For which reason some of the Grecian lawgivers ordered that the judges should give sentence in the dark, where they could not see men’s faces. See the same or the like phrase Deut 10:17; 2 Chron 19:6-7; Job 13:8; James 2:1,9. The small; persons of the meanest rank. The judgment is God’s, i.e. it is passed in the name of God, and by commission from him, by you as representing his person, and doing his work, who therefore will own and defend you therein against all your enemies, and to whom you must give an exact account.
Deut 1:18. I delivered unto you, and especially unto your judges, all the laws, statues, and judgments revealed unto me by the Lord in Horeb.
Deut 1:19-23. The saying pleased me well; for there seemed to be some prudence and good policy in it: but Moses could not see into their hearts, nor from what root this desire grew; but God saw it, and therefore in just judgment complied with their desire, and permitted them to do so for their trial and exercise, Num 13:1-3.
Deut 1:24. The valley, or, the brook: the word signifies both, for brooks commonly run in valleys. Of Eshcol, i.e. of grapes, so called from the goodly cluster of grapes which they brought from thence, Num 13:23.
Deut 1:25. The fruit; grapes, pomegranates, and figs, Num 13:23. It is a good land; which acknowledgment, coming from its enemies, should have prevailed with you to go in, more than their discouraging words should have beat you off, because the Lord who had given you this land, was unquestionably able to settle you in it in spite of all opposition.
Deut 1:26-27. Because the Lord hated us, and therefore designed to destroy us.
Deut 1:28. The people is greater, in number and strength and valour.
Up to heaven, i.e. to a great height. A common hyperbole, as Gen 11:4; Ps 107:26. The Anakims; the children of Anak or Enak. See Judg 1:10,20.
Deut 1:29-30. Where you were weak, dispirited, divided, raw, and unexperienced, and in a great measure unarmed, and able to do nothing against your numerous, potent, united enemies, but to stand still and see the salvation of God. And therefore now your distrust is highly unreasonable, when you have been hardened and fitted for military service by your travels, disciplined and experienced in some degree as to martial affairs, encouraged by frequent and glorious miracles for forty years together, and you are going into a country divided into several nations and kingdoms.
Deut 1:31. God bare thee, or, carried thee, as a father carries his weak and tender child in his arms, as Isa 49:22; or as upon eagles’ wings, as it is Exod 19:4, through difficulties and dangers, gently leading you according as you were able to go, and sustaining you by his power and goodness. See of this or the like phrase Num 11:12; Deut 32:10-11; Ps 91:12; Isa 46:3-4.
Deut 1:32. In this matter which God commanded and encouraged you to do, to wit, in going in confidently to possess the land. Or, in this word, whereby God promised to fight for you, and assured you of good success.
Deut 1:33-34. The voice of your words, to wit, your murmurings, your unthankful, impatient, distrustful, and rebellious speeches and carriages.
Deut 1:35-36. Caleb, under whom Joshua is comprehended, as is manifest from Deut 1:38; Num 14:30, though not here expressed, because he was not now to be one of the people, but to be set over them as chief governor. The land; that particular part of the land: compare Josh 14:9.
Deut 1:37. For your sakes; upon occasion of your wickedness and perverseness, by which you provoked me to speak unadvisedly, Ps 106:32-33.
Deut 1:38. Which standeth before thee, i.e. who is now thy minister and servant, for such are oft described by this phrase, as 1 Kings 1:2; Dan 1:5,19.
Deut 1:39. Had no knowledge between good and evil; a common description of the state of childhood, as Jon 4:11.
Deut 1:40-41. Or, ye offered yourselves, or you began, or you earnestly resolved and attempted.
Deut 1:42. I am not among you, with my powerful presence and assistance.
Deut 1:43-44. As bees do; as bees which being provoked come out of their hives in great numbers, and with great fury pursue and sting their adversary and disturber, Ps 118:12.
Deut 1:45-46. i.e. As you abode in Kadesh many, even forty days, until the spies which you sent returned to give you an account; so you also abode there many days, or a long time after, and were not now permitted to make any further progress towards Canaan.
DEUTERONOMY 2
Deut 2:1-3: Their march from Kadeshbarnea.
Deut 2:4-5: A charge that they trouble not the Edomites;
Deut 2:9: nor the Moabites;
Deut 2:19: nor the Ammonites.
Deut 2:24-37: But are encouraged to fight the Amorites: they put them to flight, and take possession of their lands.
Deut 2:1. The mountainous country of Seir or Edom. Many days, or, many years, even for thirty-eight years.
Deut 2:2-3. Towards the land of the Amorites and Canaanites.
Deut 2:4. Through the coast, or, by or near the coast or border; for they did not pass through their borders, as it is said, Num 20:21. And the particle beth doth oft signify by or near, as Gen 37:13; Josh 5:13; Judg 8:5; Jer 32:7. Thus that difference may be reconciled, which others reconcile thus, that they at first denied it, but afterwards granted it. Which dwell in Seir: these words restrain the prohibition to these particular children of Esau, for there were another sort or branch of Esau’s children, which were to be meddled with and destroyed, even the Amalekites, Exod 17:14; Deut 25:17, who were Esau’s posterity, Gen 36:12. They shall be afraid of you; but I charge you take no advantage of their fears, which you will be very apt to do.
Deut 2:5. Meddle not with them, to wit, in battle at this time.
Deut 2:6. Buy meat of them; for though the manna did yet rain upon them, they were not forbidden to buy other meats when they had opportunity, but only were forbidden greedily to hunger after them when they could not obtain them. Buy water of them; for water in those parts was scarce, and therefore private persons did severally dig pits for their particular use. See Gen 26:18; Num 21:18.
Deut 2:7. By God’s blessing thou art able to buy thy conveniences, and therefore thy theft and rapine will be inexcusable, because without any pretence of necessity. He knoweth, Heb. he hath known, i.e. observed, or regarded with care and kindness, which that word oft notes, as Ps 1:6; Ps 31:7; which experience of God’s singular goodness to thee, should make thee trust him still, and not use any indirect and unjust practices to procure what thou wantest or desirest.
Deut 2:8. Eziongaber; of which see Num 33:35, which may be either that place upon the Red Sea, 1 Kings 9:26, or another of the same name. We turned, to wit, from our direct road which lay through Edom’s land.
Deut 2:9. Ar, the chief city of the Moabites, Num 21:15,28, here put for the whole country, which depended upon it. The children of Lot; so called to signify that this preservation was not for their sakes, for they were a wicked people; but for Lot’s sake, whose memory God yet honours.
Deut 2:10. Emims; men terrible for stature and strength, as their very name imports; see Gen 14:5; whose expulsion by the Moabites is here noted as a great encouragement to the Israelites, for whose sake he would much more drive out the wicked and accursed Canaanites.
Deut 2:11-12. Objection. God had not yet given it unto them. Answer 1. The past tense is here put for the future, will give, after the manner of the prophets. 2. Things are oft said to be done when they are only resolved, or decreed, or attempted to be done, in which sense Reuben is said to deliver Joseph, Gen 37:21; Balak to fight against Israel, Josh 24:9; Abraham to have offered his son, Heb 11:17. 3. God may well be said to have given it, not only because he had purposed and promised to give it, but also because he was now about to give it, and had already given them some part of it, and that as an earnest of the whole. 4. This may be particularly understood of that part of Israel’s possession which was beyond Jordan, which God had actually given to them, that is, to some of them, for even the land of Canaan on this side Jordan was not given to all of them, but only to some of the tribes. Of the Horims, see Gen 14:6; Gen 36:20.
Deut 2:13-18. Or, to pass by the border of Moab, by Ar.
Deut 2:19-20. Which signifies men most wicked and abominable, or most presumptuous, or most crafty.
Deut 2:21. The Lord therefore will certainly do as much for his own people.
Deut 2:22-23. Caphtorims, a people akin to the Philistines, Gen 10:14, and confederate with them in this enterprise, and so dwelling together, and by degrees were probably united together by marriages or other ways, and became one people, the Caphtorims being at last swallowed up in the Philistines. See Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7. Caphtor is by the learned thought to be Cappadocia; whither these people might make an expedition out of Egypt, either because of the report of the great riches of part of that country, which drew others thither from places equally remote, or after the manner of those ancient times, or for some other reason now unknown.
Deut 2:24-25. Under the whole heaven; which is a synecdoche and an hyperbole, but is explained by the following words, which restrain the sentence to those nations that heard of them.
Deut 2:26. Kedemoth; so called from a city of that name, Josh 13:18; and called Jeshimon, Num 21:20. With words of peace; with offers of peace, which they refusing, their destruction was highly just and reasonable.
Deut 2:27. In my direct road to Canaan, from which I will not turn aside into thy fields, or vineyards, or houses;
Deut 2:28. Or, with my footmen, or with my company which are on foot; which is added significantly, because if their army had consisted as much of horsemen as many other armies did, their passage through his land might have been more mischievous and dangerous; but they were generally on foot.
Deut 2:29. Objection. The king of Edom, i.e. of the children of Esau, did not grant them passage, Num 20. Answer. They did permit them to pass quietly by the borders, though not through the heart of their land; and in their passage the people sold them meat and drink, being, it seems, more kind to them than their king would have had them; and therefore they here ascribe this favour not to the king, though they are now treating with a king, but to the people, the children of Esau.
Deut 2:30. By him, i.e. by his borders. Obstinate; unmovable and inexorable to our desires.
Deut 2:31-34. By God’s command, these being a part of those people who were devoted by the Lord of life and death to utter destruction for their abominable wickedness. See Deut 7:2; Deut 20:16.
Deut 2:35-36. Aroer was in the border of Moab, but now in the hands of the Amorites. By the river, Heb. in the river, wherewith it was encompassed, Num 21:15,28; Josh 12:2; Josh 13:9. He speaks exclusively, for this was Ar, which now was in the Moabites’ jurisdiction, above, Deut 2:9.
Deut 2:37. Of the river Jabbok, i.e. beyond Jabbok; for that was the border of the Ammonites, Josh 12:2. Objection. Half the land of the Ammonites is said to be given to the tribe of Gad, Josh 13:25. Answer. This is true of that half of it which the Amorites had taken from them, but not of the other half, which yet was in the possession of the Ammonites. In the mountains; the mountainous country of the Ammonites. Forbad us, Heb. commanded us: commanding is put for forbidding here, as Gen 2:16; Gen 3:11; Lev 4:2; Deut 4:23. The words may be thus rendered, concerning which the Lord gave us command or charge, to wit, that we should not meddle with them, as was said before. So it is only an ellipsis of the preposition, which is very frequent.
DEUTERONOMY 3
Deut 3:1: Their march to Bashan.
Deut 3:2-11: Og its king is put to flight; they possess his land;
Deut 3:12-17: which is distributed to two tribes and half;
Deut 3:18-20: who are commanded to assist their brethren to possess the land beyond Jordan.
Deut 3:21-22: Moses encourages Joshua.
Deut 3:23-25: His prayer to go into the promised land.
Deut 3:26: God grants not his request.
Deut 3:27: He gives him a prospect of it;
Deut 3:28: and bids him encourage Joshua.
Deut 3:2. Fear him not, though he be of so frightful a look and stature, Deut 3:11.
Deut 3:3-4. Argob; a province within Bashan, or at least subject and belonging to Bashan, as appears from Deut 3:13; 1 Kings 4:13; called Argob possibly from the name of a man, its former lord and owner.
Deut 3:5. High walls, gates, and bars; which may encourage you in your attempt upon Canaan, notwithstanding the fenced cities which the spies told you of, and you must expect to find.
Deut 3:6-8. On this side Jordan; so it was when Moses wrote this book, but afterward, when Israel passed over Jordan, it was called the land beyond Jordan.
Deut 3:9. Elsewhere called Mount Gilead, and Libanus or Lebanon, and here Shenir, and Sirion, and, by abbreviation, Sion, Deut 4:48; which several names are given to this one mountain, partly by several people, and partly in regard of several tops and parts of it, whence Shenir and Hermon are mentioned as distinct places, Song 4:8.
Deut 3:10. Gilead is sometimes taken largely for all the Israelites’ possessions beyond Jordan, and so it comprehends Bashan, but here more strictly for that part of it which lies in and near Mount Gilead, and so it is distinguished from Bashan and Argob.
Deut 3:11. The other giants of Bashan were destroyed before; and therefore when Og was killed, the Israelites’ work was done. In Rabbath of the children of Ammon; where it might now be, either because the Ammonites in some former battle with Og had taken it as a spoil; or because after Og’s death the Ammonites desired to have this monument of his greatness, and the Israelites permitted them to carry it away to their chief city. After the cubit of a man, to wit, of ordinary stature. So his bed was four yards and a half long, and two yards broad.
Deut 3:12-14. Geshuri, or Geshurites, a people towards the north of Canaan, 2 Sam 3:3; 2 Sam 15:8. See also Josh 13:13. Maachathi; of whom see 2 Sam 3:3; 2 Sam 10:6. Unto this day: this must be put among those other passages which were not written by Moses, but added by those holy men who digested the books of Moses into this order, and inserted some very few passages to accommodate things to their own time and people.
Deut 3:15. i.e. The half part of Gilead, as appears from Deut 3:12-13. See on Num 32:40. Unto Machir, i.e. unto the children of Machir son of Manasseh, for Machir was now dead.
Deut 3:16. Half the valley, or rather to the middle of the river; for the word rendered half signifies commonly middle; and the same Hebrew word signifying both a valley and a brook or river, it seems more reasonable to understand it of a river, as the same word is here rendered in the next foregoing clause of this verse, than of a valley, which was not mentioned before, especially seeing there is here an article added which seems to be emphatical, and to note that river, to wit, now mentioned. Add to this, that there was no such valley, much less any half valley, belonging both unto the Reubenites and Gadites. But according to the other translation the sense is plain and agreeable to the truth, that their land extended from Gilead unto Aroer, and, to speak exactly, to the middle of that river; for as that river was the border between them and others, so one half of it belonged to them, as the other half did to others. And that this is no subtle device, as some may think it, but the truth of the thing, and the real meaning of the place, will appear by comparing this place with two others: 1. With Josh 12:2, where the same thing is expressed in the same words in the Hebrew which are here, though our translators render the selfsame words there from the middle of the river, which here they render half of the valley; and where the bounds of Sihon’s kingdom, which was the same portion there mentioned as given to Reuben and Gad, are thus described, from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river of Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon. 2. With Deut 2:36, From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, in the river, i.e. from Ar, which was the chief city of the Moabites, and therefore denied to the Israelites, as is here implied, and more fitly expressed, Deut 2:9, which city was seated in an island in the middle of the river. So that here we have a just and full reason why the border of this land given to Reuben and Gad is so nicely and critically described there, even to the middle of a river, which although in truth and strictness it be the bound of those lands which are divided by a river, yet is not usually expressed in the description of borders, either in Scripture or other authors, because here was an eminent city of the Moabites in the middle of this river, which by this curious and exact description is excepted from their possession, as God would have it to be. And the border even unto the river Jabbok: the meaning seems to be this, and the border, to wit, of their land, was, which verb substantive is commonly understood, or went forth, (as the phrase is, Josh 15:6-7, etc.,) from thence, to wit, from the river Arnon, even unto the river Jabbok, for so indeed their border did proceed. Which is the border of the children of Ammon. Objection. This was the border between them and the Manassites, as is evident, and therefore not the border of the Ammonites. Answer. It bordered upon the Manassites in one part, and upon the Ammonites in another part, to wit, in that part which is remoter from Jordan, and so both are true.
Deut 3:17. The plain; the low country towards Jordan. Chinnereth; of which see on Num 34:11; Josh 12:3. The sea of the plain, i.e. that salt sea, as it here follows, which before that dreadful conflagration was a goodly plain, called the plain of Jordan, Gen 13:10. Ashdothpisgah; the proper name of a city, of which Josh 13:20.
Deut 3:18. I commanded you, to wit, the Reubenites and Gadites, mentioned Deut 3:16, to whom he now turns his speech by an apostrophe. Meet for the war; in such number as your brethren shall judge necessary. See Josh 1:14; Josh 4:13.
Deut 3:19-20. Rest; a peaceable and fixed possession.
Deut 3:21-25. For he supposed God’s threatening might be conditional and reversible, as many others were. That goodly mountain, or, that blessed mountain, which the Jews not improbably understand of that mountain on which the temple was to be built. For as Moses desired and determined to prepare an habitation for God, Exod 15:2, and knew very well that God would choose a certain place for his habitation, and to put his name there, Deut 12:5; so he also knew that it was the manner both of the true worshippers of God and of idolaters to worship their God in high places, and particularly that Abraham did worship God in the mount of Moriah, Gen 22:2, and therefore did either reasonably conjecture that God would choose some certain mountain for the place of his habitation, or possibly understood by revelation that in that very mount of Moriah, where Abraham performed that eminent and glorious act of worship, there also the children of Abraham should have their place of constant and settled worship. This he seems to call that mountain, emphatically and eminently, that which was much in Moses’s thoughts, though not in his eye, and the blessed (as the Hebrew tob oft signifies) or the goodly mountain. Or, the mountain may be here put for the mountainous countries, as that word is oft used, as Gen 36:9; Num 13:29; Num 23:7; Deut 1:7; Josh 10:6; Josh 11:16,21, etc. And it is known that a great part of the glory and beauty and profit of this country lay in its hills or mountains. See Deut 11:11; Deut 33:15. And that goodly mountain may by an enallage of the number be put for those goodly mountains in Canaan, which were many. Thus also he proceeds gradually in this desire and description, and prays that he may see in general the good land that is beyond Jordan, and then particularly the goodly mountains of it, and especially that famous mount of Lebanon, which was so celebrated for its tall and large cedars, and other trees and excellent plants. See Ps 29:5; Ps 104:16; Isa 2:13; Isa 14:8.
Deut 3:26. For your sakes; by occasion of your sins, which provoked me to unadvised words and carriages, Ps 106:32-33. See Num 20:12; Deut 31:2; Deut 34:4. Let it suffice thee that this is my pleasure and unalterable resolution. Compare 2 Cor 12:8-9.
Deut 3:27. Pisgah; of which see on Num 27:12. Lift up thine eyes towards the land of Canaan and its several quarters.
Deut 3:28. Charge Joshua; give him commission and authority, and a command to execute his trust, and conduct the people. Strengthen him with exhortations and promises, and assurances of my presence and help, and of good success. He shall go over: it was not Moses, but Joshua or Jesus, that was to give the people rest, Heb 4:8.
Deut 3:29. The house or temple of Peor, or of Baalpeor, of which see Num 25:3, whence this place or city had its name.
DEUTERONOMY 4
Deut 4:1-13: An exhortation to obey the law;
Deut 4:14-24: and warning against idolatry;
Deut 4:25-28: from the mischief of it upon themselves and children;
Deut 4:29-31: God’s promise upon their repentance;
Deut 4:32-40: and from God’s wonders towards them.
Deut 4:41-43: Cities of refuge are appointed.
Deut 4:1. The statutes; the laws which concern the worship and service of God. The judgments; the laws concerning your duties to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God.
Deut 4:2. Ye shall not add, by devising other doctrines or ways of worship than what I have taught or prescribed; see Num 15:39-40; Deut 12:8,32; 1 Kings 12:33; Prov 30:6; Matt 15:9; for this were to accuse me of want of wisdom or care or faithfulness in not giving you sufficient instructions for my own service. Neither shall ye diminish, by rejecting or neglecting any thing which I have commanded, though it seem never so small.
Deut 4:3-6. For though the generality of heathen people in the latter and degenerate ages of the world, did, through inveterate prejudices, and for their own lusts and interest, condemn the laws of the Hebrews as foolish and absurd, yet it is most certain that divers of the wisest heathens did highly approve of them, so far that they made use of divers of them, and translated them into their own laws and constitutions; and Moses, the giver of these laws, hath been mentioned with great honour for his wisdom and learning by many of them. And particularly the old heathen oracle expressly said, that the Chaldeans or Hebrews, who worshipped the uncreated God, were the only wise men.
Deut 4:7. God nigh unto them, by glorious miracles, by the pledges of his special presence, by the operations of his grace, and particularly, as it here follows, by his readiness to hear our prayers, and to give us those succours which we call upon him for.
Deut 4:8. Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp or power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws.
Deut 4:10. Some of them stood in Horeb in their own persons, though then they were but young; the rest stood then in the loins of their parents, in whom they may well be said to stand there, because they are said to have entered into covenant with God, because their parents did so in their name and for their use.
Deut 4:11. Flaming up into the air, which is oft called heaven; and the midst or the heart of it is not only that which is strictly and properly the middle part, but that which is within it, though but a little way, in which sense places or persons or things are said to be in the heart of the sea, Exod 15:8; Prov 23:34; Ezek 28:2; and Christ in the heart of the earth, Matt 12:40.
Deut 4:12. i.e. No resemblance or representation of God, whereby either his essence or properties or actions were represented, such as were usual among the heathens.
Deut 4:13-14. Statutes and judgments, i.e. the ceremonial and judicial laws, which are here distinguished from the moral, or the ten commandments, Deut 4:13.
Deut 4:15. By which caution he insinuates man’s great proneness to the worship of images.
God, who in other places and times did appear in a similitude, in the fashion of a man, now in this most solemn appearance, when he comes to give eternal laws for the regulation and direction of the Israelites in the worship of God, and in their duty to men, he purposely avoids all such representations, to show that he abhors all worship of images, or of himself by images of what kind soever, as it here follows, Deut 4:16-19, because he is the invisible God, and cannot be represented by any visible image. See Isa 40:18; Acts 17:29.
Deut 4:16. i.e. Lest ye corrupt your minds with mean and carnal thoughts of God. Or, corrupt your ways or courses, by worshipping God in a corrupt manner, or by falling into idolatry. A graven image, to wit, for worship, or for the representation of God, as it is explained Deut 4:19, for otherwise it was not simply unlawful to draw the picture or make a figure of a man or a beast.
Deut 4:17. Whereby the heathen nations did represent and worship God, some by an ox, some by a goat, or a hen, or a serpent, or a fish, etc.
Deut 4:18-19. Driven to worship them, i.e. strongly inclined, and in a manner constrained, partly by the glory of these heavenly bodies, which may seem to be made for higher purposes than to enlighten this lump of earth; partly from that natural propension which is in men to idolatry. Or, shouldest be driven or thrust, to wit, out of the way of the Lord, (as it is more fully expressed, Deut 13:5) or be seduced, or led aside, as silly sheep easily are, and worship them. Or, shouldest be cast down, or throw down thyself and worship them, i.e. worship them by falling down before them. Unto all nations, which are not gods, but creatures, made not for the worship, but for the use of men, yea, of the meanest and most barbarous people under heaven, and therefore cannot without great absurdity be worshipped, especially by you who are so much advanced above other nations in wisdom and knowledge, and in this, that you are my peculiar people.
Deut 4:20. i.e. The furnace wherein iron and other metals are melted, to which Egypt is fitly compared, not only for the torment and misery which they there endured, but also because they were thoroughly tried and purged thereby, as metals are by the fire. A people of inheritance; his peculiar possession from generation to generation. See Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; Titus 2:14. And therefore for you to forsake God, and worship idols, will be not only wickedness and madness, but most abominable ingratitude.
Deut 4:21. God hath granted you the favour which he denied to me, which greatly increaseth your obligation to God.
Deut 4:22-23. Or, commanded thee, to wit, not to do, which is easily understood by comparing this place with Exod 20:4-5, and with Gen 3:11, where this phrase is fully expressed. See more on Lev 4:2; Deut 2:37.
Deut 4:24. A consuming fire; a just and terrible God, who, notwithstanding his special relation to thee, will severely punish and destroy thee if thou provokest him by idolatry, or other ways. A jealous God, who being espoused to thee, will be highly incensed against thee, (if thou followest after other lovers, or committest whoredom with idols,) and will bear no rival or partner.
Deut 4:25. In the sight of the Lord: these words are here added, either, 1. As a caution. Your idolatry, though possibly secretly and cunningly managed, will not be hid from him; he sees it, and he will punish it. Or, 2. To aggravate their spiritual whoredom, as being committed in the sight and presence of their Lord and Husband, whose eye is alone peculiarly upon them in all their ways, than it is upon other people. Or, 3. By way of opposition unto men’s judgment. Idolatry ofttimes seems good, and reasonable, and religious in the eyes of men, but, saith he, it is evil in the eyes of the Lord, whose judgment is most considerable.
Deut 4:26. Heaven and earth; either, 1. Figuratively, i.e. God, and angels, and men. Or rather, 2. Properly; it being usual in Scripture to call in the senseless creatures as witnesses in such cases, as Deut 32:1; Isa 1:2; Jer 2:12.
Deut 4:27-28. i.e. Idols. You shall be compelled by men, and given up by me to idolatry. So that very thing which was your choice shall be your punishment; it being just and usual for God to punish one sin by giving them up to another, as is manifest from Rom 1:24-25.
Deut 4:29. If thou seek him; if thou desirest his help and favour. See Deut 30:2; Isa 45:6. With all thy heart, i.e. sincerely and fervently.
Deut 4:30. In the latter days; either in general, in succeeding ages and generations; or particularly, in the days of the Messias, which are commonly called in Scripture the latter, or last days, as Isa 2:2; Hos 3:5; Mic 4:1; Dan 2:44; Heb 1:2; Heb 9:26. And so this may respect the conversion and redemption of the Jewish nation even in those times when their case seems most desperate, when they have forsaken their God and rejected their Messias for many ages, to wit, towards the end of the world.
Deut 4:31. i.e. Made with thy fathers, including their posterity, as Gen 17:7.
Deut 4:32. From the one side of heaven, i.e. of the earth under heaven. Ask all the inhabitants of the world. Compare Matt 24:31, with Mark 13:27.
Deut 4:33. i.e. And was not overwhelmed and consumed by such a glorious appearance. See Exod 24:11; Exod 33:20
Deut 4:34. By temptations; by tribulations and persecutions, which are commonly called temptations, which are here fitly mentioned as one great occasion first of their cries unto God, and then of God’s coming for their rescue. Or, temptations is the general title, which is explained by the following particulars, signs and wonders, etc., which are called temptations, because they were trials both to the Egyptians and Israelites, whether thereby they would be induced to believe and obey God or no. Great terrors, raised in the minds of the Egyptians, as the history showeth; compare Deut 2:25; Deut 34:12; or by terrible things done among them.
Deut 4:35-36. Out of heaven, i.e. out of the air, above Mount Sinai. See Exod 19:9; Exod 20:18,22. Upon earth; at the top of Mount Sinai.
Deut 4:37. In his sight; keeping his eye fixed upon him, as the father doth on his beloved child. Or, with his presence, i.e. he did not send them forth by Moses, but he himself was present with them, and as it were marched along with them, in the pillar of cloud and fire.
Deut 4:38-41. As God had commanded him, Num 35:6,14
Deut 4:42-44. Which hath been generally intimated already, but is more particularly and punctually expressed in the following chapter, to which these words are a preface.
DEUTERONOMY 5
Deut 5:1-5: God, upon Mount Horeb, makes a covenant with Israel.
Deut 5:6-22: The covenant or ten commandments is delivered to Moses in two tables.
Deut 5:23-27: The Israelites desire that not God, but Moses, may speak to them;
Deut 5:28-31: which God approves of.
Deut 5:32-33: Moses exhorts them to obedience, with a promise of life.
Deut 5:1. Moses called all Israel, to wit, by their elders, who were to impart it to the rest.
Deut 5:2-3. With our fathers; either, 1. Not only with them, the word only being here understood, as it is Gen 32:28; Gen 35:10; 1 Sam 8:7; Jer 7:19; Jer 31:34; Matt 9:13. Or, 2. Not at all with them. But then the word covenant is not here to be taken for the covenant of grace in general, for so it was made with their fathers, Exod 2:24, but for this particular and mixed dispensation of the covenant at Sinai, as appears both by the foregoing and following words. All of us here alive this day: he saith not, that all who made that covenant at Sinai are now alive, for many of them were dead, but that this covenant was made with all that are now alive, which is most true, for it was made with the elder sort of them in their own persons, and with the rest in their parents, who did covenant for them; for this phrase, with us, is put exclusively as to their fathers, but not as to their posterity, as is evident from the nature of the covenant, Acts 2:39, and course of the story.
Deut 5:4. Not in a visible shape, which was utterly denied, Deut 4:12,15; but personally and immediately, not by the mouth or ministry of Moses; plainly and certainly, as when two men talk face to face; freely and familiarly, so as not to overwhelm and confound you. Compare Exod 33:11; Num 12:8.
Deut 5:5. As a mediator or messenger between you, according to your desire, below, Deut 5:27. Compare Exod 19:16, etc.; Exod 20:19; Gal 3:19. The word of the Lord; not the ten commandments, which God himself uttered, but the following statutes and judgments.
Deut 5:6. The ten commandments, delivered Exod 20, are here repeated with some small difference of words, but the sense is perfectly the same, and therefore the explication of them must be fetched thence.
Deut 5:7-12. Keep the sabbath day, to wit, in mind and memory, as it is Exod 20:8. As God hath commanded thee, to wit, in Exod 20, whither he directs them, and therefore he here omits the argument of the creation, which is urged there.
Deut 5:13-15. Remember that thou wast a servant, and therefore art highly obliged both to serve that God who redeemed thee, especially upon his own day, and not to grudge thy servants their rest upon that day.
Deut 5:16-21. In Exod 20, the order is contrary, and thy neighbour’s house is put before his wife, whereby it is evident that Moses intended this but for one commandment, wherein the order of the words was an inconsiderable circumstance; for if this were two commandments, as some would have it, it would be altogether uncertain which is the ninth, and which the tenth commandment, seeing the one is first, Exod 20, and the other here.
Deut 5:22. He added no more; he ceased for that time to speak immediately, and with that loud voice unto the people, for the rest were delivered to Moses, and by him communicated to the people. This he did to show the preeminence of that law above the rest, and its everlasting obligation.
Deut 5:23-25. Why should we die? for though God hath for this season kept us alive to our admiration, yet we shall never be able to endure any further discourse from him in such a terrible manner, but shall certainly sink under the burden of it. Compare Gen 16:13; Judg 6:22.
Deut 5:26. Flesh is here put for man in his frail, corruptible, and mortal state, as Matt 16:17; 1 Cor 15:50; Eph 6:12; Heb 2:14.
Deut 5:27-29. Heb. Who will give them such an heart? This is spoken of God after the manner of men, to show that such a heart is desirable to him, and required by him; otherwise it is certain that God can give such a heart, and hath promised to give it, Jer 32:40; Ezek 36:27. And if God will work, who can hinder him? Job 11:10.
Deut 5:30-32. Neither by superstitious additions to God’s commands, nor by a bold or profane rejection or contempt of any one of them.
DEUTERONOMY 6
Deut 6:1-2: The end of the commandment, obedience.
Deut 6:3: He exhorts them thereto.
Deut 6:4: The unity of the Divine essence asserted.
Deut 6:5: The duty required of the Israelites;
Deut 6:5-6: to love God;
Deut 6:7: and teach their children;
Deut 6:8-9: to use signs, as memorials of it.
Deut 6:10-12: Not to forget God in prosperity.
Deut 6:13-15: Not to worship other gods.
Deut 6:16: Not to tempt God;
Deut 6:17: but keep his commandments;
Deut 6:20-25: and to transmit the knowledge of God’s works to their posterity.
Deut 6:1-2. That thou mightest fear the Lord, which he hereby implies to be the first principle of true obedience.
Deut 6:3-4. One in essence, and the only object of our worship.
Deut 6:5. Now he shows another spring or principle of sincere obedience to God, even hearty love to God, which will make his work and service easy; and that the fear he mentioned before, Deut 6:2, was such as would consist with love to God, and not that slavish fear and honour which produceth hatred.
Deut 6:6. i.e. In thy mind to remember them, and meditate upon them, and in thy affection to love and pursue them.
Deut 6:7. Teach them diligently, Heb. whet, or sharpen them, so as they may pierce deep into their hearts. This metaphor signifies the manner of instructing them, that it is to be done diligently, earnestly, frequently, discreetly, and dexterously.
Deut 6:8. Thou shalt give all diligence, and use all means, to keep them in thy remembrance, as men ofttimes bind something upon their hands, or put it before their eyes, to prevent forgetfulness of a thing which they much desire to remember: compare Prov 3:3; Prov 6:21; Prov 7:3. See the notes on Exod 13:16.
Deut 6:9-13. When thou hast a call and just cause to swear. By his name, understand only, as Deut 5:2, not by idols, or any creatures.
Deut 6:14-15. Among you, Heb. in the midst of you, to see and observe all your ways and your turnings aside to other gods.
Deut 6:16. i.e. Not provoke him, as the following instance explains. Sinners, especially presumptuous sinners, are oft said to tempt God, i.e. to make a trial of God, whether he be what he pretends to be, so wise as to see their sins, so just and true and powerful as to take vengeance on them for their sins, concerning which they are very apt to doubt because of the present impunity and prosperity of many such persons. See Num 14:22; Ps 78:18; Matt 4:7; Acts 5:9.
Deut 6:17-18. Not that which is right in thine own eyes, as many superstitious and sinful practices seem right and good to evil-minded men. Let God’s will and word, and not thine own fancy or invention, be thy rule in God’s service. Good actions are oft said to be right in God’s sight, as Jer 34:15; Acts 4:19; and evil actions are oft said to be right in our own eyes, as Deut 12:8; Judg 17:6.
Deut 6:19-24. The benefit of obedience is ours, not God’s Job 35:7 and therefore our obedience is highly reasonable, and absolutely necessary.
Deut 6:25. Heb. righteousness shall be to us. We shall be owned and pronounced by God to be truly righteous and holy persons, if we sincerely obey him, otherwise we shall be declared to be unrighteous and ungodly persons, and all our profession of religion will appear to be in hypocrisy. Or, mercy shall be to us, or with us. For as the Hebrew word rendered righteousness is very oft put for mercy, as Ps 24:5; Ps 36:10; Ps 51:14; Prov 10:2; Prov 11:4; Dan 9:16, etc.; so this sense seems best to agree both with the Scripture use of this phrase, in which righteousness, seldom or never, to my remembrance, but grace or mercy frequently, is said to be to us or with us, as 2 Sam 15:20; Ps 89:24; Prov 14:22; Gal 6:16; 2 John 3; and with the foregoing verse and argument, God, saith he, Deut 6:24, commanded these things for our good, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day. And, saith he in this verse, this is not all; for as he hath done us good, so he will go on to do us more and more good, and God’s mercy shall be to us, or with us, in the remainder of our lives, and for ever, if we observe, etc.
DEUTERONOMY 7
Deut 7:1: Israel is commanded to cast out the Hittites, the Perizzites, etc.
Deut 7:2-3: All communion with them forbidden,
Deut 7:4: for fear of idolatry.
Deut 7:5: They must ruin the places of idolatry.
Deut 7:6: The Israelites’ holiness and relation to God.
Deut 7:9: His faithfulness to the obedient;
Deut 7:10: and vengeance on them that hate him.
Deut 7:12-16: The advantages of obedience.
Deut 7:17-24: God encourages them, and promises to drive out the nations before there.
Deut 7:25: They are commanded to destroy their images;
Deut 7:26: and keep themselves clean from their cursed things.
Deut 7:1. There were ten in Gen 15:19-21; but this being some hundreds of years after that, it is not strange if three of them were either destroyed by foreign or domestic wars, or by cohabitation and marriage united with and swallowed up in some of the rest.
Deut 7:2. No covenant with them, to spare them, or permit them to dwell with thee in the land. Other nations had more favour, but these were for their great wickedness, and for the good of Israel, devoted to utter destruction.
Deut 7:3-4. i.e. There is manifest danger of apostacy and idolatry from such matches; which reason doth both limit the law to such of these as were unconverted, otherwise Salmon married Rahab, Matt 1:5, and enlarge it to other idolatrous nations, as appears from 1 Kings 11:2; Ezra 9:2; Neh 13:23.
Deut 7:5. Idolaters planted groves about the temples and altars of their gods. Hereby God designed to take away whatsoever might bring their idolatry to remembrance, or occasion the reviving of it.
Deut 7:6-7. To wit, at that time when God first declared his love to you, and choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, to wit, Isaac, and that was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then they had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time ere they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them till after Joseph’s death, Exod 1:6-7.
Deut 7:8. Because the Lord loved you, i.e. because it pleased him to love you; it was his free choice, without any cause or motive on your part. Compare Deut 10:15; 1 Sam 12:22; Ps 44:3.
Deut 7:9. The faithful God; true to his word, and constant in performing all his promises.
Deut 7:10. Them that hate him; not only those who hate him directly and properly, (for so did few or none of the Israelites, to whom he here speaks,) but those who hate him by construction and consequence; those who hate and oppose his people, and word, and image, those who presumptuously and wilfully persist in the breach of God’s commandments, as appears from Deut 7:9, where the love of God, to which this hatred is opposite, is described and expressed by the keeping of his commandments. To their face, i.e. openly, and so as they shall see it, and not be able to avoid it. He will not be slack, to wit, so as some men count slackness, 2 Pet 3:9, so as to delay it beyond the fit time or season for vengeance; yet withal he is longsuffering, and slow to anger, as that and other places inform us.
Deut 7:11-12. i.e. The covenant of mercy or grace, which he out of his own mere grace made with them. A figure called hendiaduo.
Deut 7:13. He will love thee; he will continue to love thee, and to manifest his love to thee, he will not repent of his love to thee.
Deut 7:14-15. The evil diseases of Egypt; such as the Egyptians were infested with, either commonly, as that botch, Deut 28:27; or miraculously and extraordinarily, from the hand of the Lord, as Exod 9:10,15. Compare Exod 23:25; Ps 105:37.
Deut 7:16. An occasion of sin and utter destruction. See Exod 23:33; Exod 34:12; Judg 2:3.
Deut 7:17-18. Well remember, Heb. remembering remember, i.e. remember it frequently, considerately, practically, and for thy encouragement; for men are said to forget those things which they do not remember to good purpose.
Deut 7:19. The great temptations; the trials and exercises of thy faith and obedience to my call and commands. So shall the Lord do; so as he did to Pharaoh and his people, mentioned Deut 7:18.
Deut 7:20. The hornet; of which see on Exod 23:28.
Deut 7:21-22. Or, thou shalt not be able to consume them at once, i.e. in an instant. I will not assist thee with my omnipotency, to crush them in a moment, but will bless thee in the use of ordinary means, and destroy them successively by several battles.
Deut 7:23-24. This promise is made upon condition of their performance of their duty, which they neglecting, they justly lose the benefit of it, as we see, Judg 2:1-3.
Deut 7:25. That is on them, wherewith the idols are covered or adorned, nor consequently any other of their ornaments. This he commands to show his utter detestation of idolatry, and to cut off all occasions of it.
Deut 7:26. A cursed thing, i.e. devoted to utter destruction, as that was. See Josh 7:11,21,24, etc.
DEUTERONOMY 8
Deut 8:1: Israel is exhorted to obedience,
Deut 8:2-6: and to remember God’s judgments and mercies.
Deut 8:7-9: The excellency of the land they were going into.
Deut 8:10-16: Not to forget the Lord in their fulness and prosperity;
Deut 8:17: nor ascribe their wealth to their own power,
Deut 8:18: but to God.
Deut 8:19-20: God threatens to destroy idolaters.
Deut 8:1. That ye may live, i.e. live comfortably and happily, as life is oft taken, as Gen 17:18; Prov 3:2; as, on the contrary, troubles or afflictions are called death, Exod 10:17; 2 Cor 11:23.
Deut 8:2. All the way, i.e. all the events which befell thee in the way, the miraculous protections, deliverances, provisions, instructions which God gave thee; and withal the frequent and severe punishments of thy disobedience. To know what was in thine heart, i.e. that thou mightest discover to thyself and others that infidelity, inconstancy, hypocrisy, apostacy, rebellion, and perverseness, which lay hid in thy heart; the discovery whereof was of singular use, both to them and to the church of God, in all succeeding ages.
Deut 8:3. i.e. By every or any thing which God appoints for this end, how unlikely soever it may seem to be for nourishment, as appears in the manna; seeing it is not the creature, but only God’s command and blessing upon it, that makes it sufficient for the support of life.
Deut 8:4. Thy raiment did not wear away through age, which they must needs have done without a miracle; neither did thy foot swell, notwithstanding thy long and hard travels, which also was miraculous.
Deut 8:5. i.e. Unwillingly, being constrained by thy necessity; moderately, in judgment remembering mercy; and for thy reformation, not for thy destruction. Compare Prov 3:11-12; Heb 12:5, etc.
Deut 8:6-7. Depths, i.e. deep wells, or springs, or lakes, which were divers and large.
Deut 8:8. Of olive oil, Heb. of the olive tree of oil, i.e. not of wild and barren, but of fruitful olive trees, which yield plenty of oil.
Deut 8:9. Where are mines of iron in a manner as plentiful as stones, and upon which travellers must tread, as in other parts they do upon stones; and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass, to wit, in great plenty. These are mentioned, because they had none such in Egypt whence they came.
Deut 8:10. i.e. Solemnly praise him for thy food; which is a debt both of gratitude and justice, because it is from his providence and favour that thou receivest both thy food and refreshment and strength by it. The more unworthy and absurd is that too common profaneness of them, who, professing to believe a God and his providence, from whom all their comforts come, grudge to own him at their meals, either by desiring his blessing before them, or by offering due praise to God after them.
Deut 8:11-14. Thine heart be lifted up; as if thou didst receive and enjoy these things either by thy own wisdom, and valour, and industry, Deut 8:17, or for thy own merit, Deut 9:4. See Hos 13:6; 1 Cor 4:7.
Deut 8:15-16. That he night humble thee, by keeping thee in a constant dependence upon him for every day’s food, and convincing thee what an impotent, helpless, and beggarly creature thou art in thyself, having nothing whereon to subsist, but from hand to mouth, and being supported wholly by the alms of Divine goodness given to thee from day to day. The mercies of God, if duly considered, are as powerful an argument or mean to humble us as the greatest afflictions, because they increase our debts to God, and manifest our dependence upon him, and insufficiency without him; and by making God great, they make us little in our own eyes; though this clause, as well as that which follows, may have respect to their afflictions, mentioned Deut 8:15. At thy latter end, i.e. that after he hath purged and prepared thee by afflictions, he may give thee, and thou mayst receive and enjoy, his blessings with less disadvantage, whilst by the remembrance of former afflictions thou art made thankful for them, and more cautious not to abuse and forfeit them again.
Deut 8:17-18. To get wealth; so this word is used, Num 24:18; Job 20:18; Prov 31:29.
DEUTERONOMY 9
Deut 9:1-3: Israel’s march over Jordan to possess Canaan.
Deut 9:4-6: But must not ascribe it to their own righteousness.
Deut 9:8: A rehearsal of their manifold provocations at Horeb,
Deut 9:22: at Taberah,
Deut 9:23: and at Kadeshbarnea.
Deut 9:1. This day, i.e. shortly, within a little time, the word day being oft put for time, as John 8:56; 1 Cor 4:5; Rev 16:14, within two months; for Moses spake this on the first day of the eleventh month, Deut 1:3, and they passed over Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, Josh 4:19. Nations, i.e. the land of those nations; for that only they were to possess, but as for the nations or people they were not to possess, but to destroy them. Thus they are said to inherit Gad, Jer 49:1, i.e. the country and cities of Gad, as it is there explained. Greater and mightier than thyself: this he adds, partly that they might not be surprised when they find them to be such; partly that they might not trust to their own strength, but wholly rely upon God’s help, for the destroying of them, and, after the work was done, might ascribe the praise and glory of it to God alone, and not to themselves. Fenced up to heaven, as the spies reported, Deut 1:28. See on Gen 11:4.
Deut 9:2. Either from the spies, or rather from common fame, for this seems to be a proverb used in those times.
Deut 9:3. Quickly; without great difficulty or long wars.
Deut 9:4-5. Neither for thy upright heart, nor holy life, which are the two things which God above all things regards, 1 Chron 29:17; Ps 15:1-2; and consequently he excludes all merit. And surely they who did not deserve this earthly Canaan, could not merit the kingdom of glory. That he may perform the word which he sware; to show my faithfulness in accomplishing that promise which I graciously made and confirmed with my oath. By which words it is implied, that this land was not given to them for the righteousness of their fathers, though they were righteous and holy persons, and much less for their own righteousness, which they had not, as it follows.
Deut 9:6. Rebellious and perverse, and so destitute of all pretence of righteousness; such were the people, but there were divers particular persons amongst them truly righteous and holy, and yet even their righteousness is denied to be the procuring cause of this land.
Deut 9:7-8. When your miraculous deliverance out of Egypt was fresh in memory; when God had but newly manifested himself to you in so stupendous and dreadful a manner, and had taken you into covenant with himself; when God was actually conferring further mercies upon you.
Deut 9:9. i.e. I wholly abstained from all meat and drink. Compare 1 Kings 13:8-9,17; 2 Kings 6:22.
Deut 9:10. Immediately and miraculously, which was done not only to procure the greater reverence to the law, but also to signify that it was the work of God alone to write this law upon the tables of men’s hearts. See Jer 31:33; 2 Cor 3:3,7. In the day of the assembly, i.e. when the people were gathered by God’s command to the bottom of Mount Sinai, to hear and receive God’s ten commandments from his own mouth.
Deut 9:11-14. Let me alone; stop not the course of my fury by thy intercession.
Deut 9:15-17. Not by an unbridled passion, but in zeal for God’s honour, and by the direction of God’s Spirit, to signify to the people, that the covenant between God and them contained in those tables was broken and made void, and they were now quite cast out of God’s favour, and could expect nothing from him but fiery indignation and severe justice. See on Exod 32:19.
Deut 9:18. I fell down, in way of humiliation and supplication, on your behalf.
Deut 9:19-20. The Lord was very angry with Aaron, though he was only accessory, as being persuaded, and in a manner compelled, to comply with your desire.
Deut 9:21. Your sin, i.e. the object and matter of your sin, as sin is taken Isa 31:7. I cast the dust thereof into the brook, that there might be no monument or remembrance of it left.
Deut 9:22-25. Forty days and forty nights; the same mentioned before, Deut 9:18, as appears, 1. By comparing this with Exodus, where this history is more fully related, and where this is said to be done twice only. 2. By the occasion and matter of Moses’s prayer here following, which is the same with the former. 3. By the words here following, as I fell down at first, which show that this was the second time of his so doing.
Deut 9:26. Through thy greatness, i.e. through the greatness of thy power, which appeared most eminently in that work, as is noted, Deut 9:29.
Deut 9:27. Thy servants, i.e. the promise made and sworn to thy servants, which was mentioned above, Deut 9:5.
Deut 9:28-29. Thy people, whom thou hast chosen to thyself out of all mankind, and publicly owned them for thine, and hast purchased and redeemed them from the Egyptians.
DEUTERONOMY 10
Deut 10:1-5: Moses repeats God’s mercies in restoring the two tables.
Deut 10:6: Aaron’s death. Eleazar his son officiates in his stead.
Deut 10:8-9: The tribe of Levi is separated for the priesthood.
Deut 10:10: God hearkening to Moses not to destroy them;
Deut 10:11: he is commanded to lead them towards Canaan.
Deut 10:12-15: God requires their obedience.
Deut 10:16-17: To circumcise their hearts.
Deut 10:18: To help the fatherless and widow.
Deut 10:19: To love strangers.
Deut 10:20-22: To fear and serve the Lord for his mercies towards them.
Deut 10:1. At that time, When God was newly appeased by my intercession. An ark of wood; either a temporary ark for this use, till the other was finished; or the famous ark, as may seem by comparing this with Deut 10:5. It is not evident in what order these things were done, nor is it strange if Moses in this short and general relation neglect the order of time, as being nothing to his present purpose.
Deut 10:2-6. This following history comes in manifestly by way of parenthesis, as may appear from Deut 10:10, where he returns to his former discourse; and it seems to be here inserted, either, 1. Because the priests and Levites here mentioned were the guardians and keepers of the ark and tables here mentioned. Or rather, 2. As an evidence of God’s gracious answer to Moses’s prayers, and of his reconciliation to the people, notwithstanding their late and great provocation. For, saith he, after this they proceeded by God’s guidance in their journeys, some eminent stages whereof he names for all; and though Aaron died in one of them, yet God made up that breach, and Eleazar came in his place, and ministered as priest, one branch of which office was to intercede for the people. Then, saith he, God brought them from the barren parts of the wilderness to a land of rivers of waters, Deut 10:7, a pleasant and fruitful soil. Then he adds, God separated the Levites, etc., Deut 10:8. Mosera. Objection. This place seems directly contrary to that, Num 33:31, where their journey is quite contrary to this, even from Moseroth to Benejaakan. This indeed is a great difficulty, and profane wits take occasion to cavil. And if a satisfactory answer be not yet given to it by interpreters, it ought not therefore to be concluded unanswerable, because many things formerly thought unanswerable have been since fully cleared, and therefore the like may be presumed concerning other doubts yet remaining. And it were much more reasonable to acknowledge here a transposition of the words through the scribe’s mistake, than upon such a pretence to reject the Divine authority of those sacred books, which hath been confirmed by such irresistible arguments. But there is no need of these general pleas, seeing particular answers are and may be given to this difficulty sufficient to satisfy modest and impartial inquirers. Answer 1. The places here mentioned are differing from those, Num 33, it being very frequent in Scripture for diverse persons and places to be called by the same names, and yet the names are not wholly the same; for there it is Benejaakan, and here Beeroth Benejaakan, or Beeroth of the children of Jaakan; there Moseroth, here Mosera; there Horhagidgad, here Gudgodah; there Jotbathah, here Jotbath. If the places were the same, it may justly seem strange why Moses should so industriously make a change in every one of the names. And therefore these may be other stations, which being omitted in Num 33, are supplied here, it being usual in sacred Scripture to supply the defects of one place out of another. Answer 2. Admitting these two places to be the same with those Num 33:31, yet the journeys are diverse. They went from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera, which is omitted in Numbers, and therefore here supplied; and then back again from Mosera or Moseroth to Benejaakan, as is there said; for which return there might then be some sufficient reason, though now unknown to us, as the reasons of many such like things are: or God might order it so for his own pleasure, and it is not impossible he might do it for this reason, that by this seeming contradiction, as well as some others, he might in just judgment do what he threatened to the Jews, Jer 6:21, even lay stumblingblocks before profane and proud wits, and give them that occasion of deceiving and ruining themselves, which they so greedily seek and gladly embrace; which is the reason given by some of the ancients why God hath left so many difficulties in Scripture. Answer 3. The words may be otherwise rendered, from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan, and from Mosera; where the order of the places is not observed, as was noted before of the order of time, Deut 10:1, because it was nothing to the purpose here, and because that might be easily fetched from Num 33, where those journeys are more particularly and exactly described. For the conjunction and, that may be here wanting, and to be supplied, as it is Exod 6:23; 1 Sam 4:7; Ps 133:3; Isa 63:11; Hab 3:11. And the preposition from is easily supplied from the foregoing words, as is most usual. Nor seems there to be any more reason to render it to Mosera, than from Mosera, seeing the Hebrew letter he in the end is made a part of the proper name, and therefore is not local. There Aaron died. Quest. How is this true? when Aaron died not in Mosera, but in Mount Hor, Num 33:38. Answer 1. Mosera may be a different place from Moseroth, and that may be the name of a town or region in which Mount Hor was, or to which it belonged. Or, the same mountain, in respect of diverse parts and opposite sides of it, might be called by diverse names, here Mosera, and there Hor. And it is possible they might go several journeys, and pass to divers stations, and by fetching a compass (which they oft did in their wilderness travels) come to the other side of the same mountain. Answer 2. The Hebrew particle scham may here note the time, and not the place of Aaron’s death, and may be rendered then, as it is taken, Gen 49:24; Ps 14:5; Eccles 3:17; Zeph 1:14. And then is not to be taken precisely, but with some latitude, as it is oft used in Scripture; that is, about that time, after a few removes more; as the words, at that time, Deut 10:8, must necessarily be understood.
Deut 10:7. Either, 1. From that place, and that either from Mosera, last mentioned, or from Benejaakan; for relatives many times in Scripture belong to the remoter antecedent. Or, 2. From that time; for this particle sometimes notes not place, but time, as 2 Kings 2:21; Isa 65:20. So the meaning is, at, or about that time, as it is Deut 10:8, which being considered, may serve to clear the great difficulty discoursed upon the last verse concerning the seeming contradiction of this place and Num 33:31-32.
Deut 10:8. At that time, about that time, i.e. when I was come down from the mount, as was said Deut 10:5; for these words manifestly look to that verse, the sixth and seventh verses being put in by way of parenthesis, as was said before. Or, if it relate to the words immediately foregoing, this may be meant of a second separation of them upon Aaron’s death; and having mentioned the separation of Eleazar to the office of the high priest in his father’s stead, Deut 10:6, he now repeats it, that the Levites who were his, as they had been his father’s servants, were separated as before, or were confirmed in their office. To stand before the Lord; a phrase used concerning the prophets, 1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:15, this being the posture of ministers. Hence the angels are said to stand, 2 Chron 18:18; Luke 1:19. To bless in his name; either, 1. Particularly, to pronounce the solemn blessing of God upon the congregation, which was done in God’s name, of which see Lev 9:23; Num 6:23, etc. But that work was peculiar to the priests, not common to all the Levites. Or, more generally, to bless, either, 1. God, i.e. to praise him, which being a considerable part of the Levites’ work, 1 Chron 16, it is not probable it would be omitted here, where their office is so particularly described. Or, 2. The people, whom they did bless by performance of those holy ministrations for the people, and giving those instructions to them, to which God’s blessing was promised and usually given; and this they did in God’s name, i.e. by command and commission from him.
Deut 10:9. The Lord is his inheritance, i.e. the Lord’s portion, to wit, tithes and offerings, which belong to God, are given by him to the Levites for their subsistence from generation to generation, as inheritances run.
Deut 10:10-11. That they may go in: this shows that God was appeased and reconciled to the people, whom therefore he led forwards towards Canaan.
Deut 10:12. What doth the Lord thy God require, by way of duty and gratitude to God for such amazing mercies?
Deut 10:13-14. The heaven; the airy and starry heaven. The heaven of heavens; the highest or third heaven, 1 Kings 8:27; 2 Cor 12:2, called the heaven of heavens for its eminency, as the song of songs, king of kings, holy of holies, etc. The earth also, with all creatures and all men, which being all his, he might have chosen what nation he pleased to be his people.
Deut 10:15. He shows that God had no particular reason nor obligation to their fathers any more than to other persons or people, all being equally his creatures, and that his choice of them out of and above all others proceeded only from God’s good pleasure and free love.
Deut 10:16. Rest not in your bodily circumcision, but seriously set upon that substantial work which is signified and designed thereby: cleanse your hearts from all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, which is fitly compared to the foreskin, which if not cut off, made persons profane, unclean, and odious in the sight of God. Compare Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; Jer 9:25; Rom 2:28-29; Col 2:11.
Deut 10:17. Regardeth not persons, whether Jews or Gentiles, but deals justly and equally with all sorts of men; and as whosoever fears and obeys him shall be accepted of him, so all incorrigible transgressors shall be severely punished, and you no less than other people; therefore do not flatter yourselves as if God would bear with your sins because of his particular kindness to you or to your fathers.
Deut 10:18. Execute the judgment, i.e. plead their cause, and give them right against their more potent adversaries, and therefore he expects you should do so too.
Deut 10:19-20. To him shalt thou cleave, with firm confidence, true affection, and constant attendance and obedience.
Deut 10:21. Thy praise; either, 1. The object and matter of thy praise, as Exod 15:2, whom thou shouldst ever praise. Or rather, 2. The ground of thy praise, i.e. of thy praiseworthiness; he who makes thee honourable and glorious above those people whose God he is not.
DEUTERONOMY 11
Deut 11:1-9: Moses exhorts them to obedience by rehearsing God’s works,
Deut 11:10-12: and by the excellency of the land they were to possess.
Deut 11:13-15: A promise of blessings to their obedience.
Deut 11:16-17: They are warned against idolatry.
Deut 11:19: To teach it their children;
Deut 11:20: and keep memorials of it,
Deut 11:21: for their own benefit.
Deut 11:22-25: God promises again, upon their obedience, to drive out the nations.
Deut 11:26-28: A blessing and a curse is set before them.
Deut 11:29: They are bid to bless on Mount Gerizim, but curse on Mount Ebal.
Deut 11:1-2. Know ye, i.e. acknowledge and consider it with diligence and thankfulness.
Deut 11:3-4. The effect of which destruction continueth to this day, in their weakness and fear, and our safety from all their further attempts against us.
Deut 11:5-6. In their possession, Heb. at their feet, i.e. under their power, Ps 8:6, which followed them, or belonged to them.
Deut 11:7. All of them had seen some, and some of them had seen all the great things done in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness.
Deut 11:8-10. i.e. With great pains and labour of thy feet, partly by going up and down to fetch water and disperse it, and partly by digging furrows with thy foot, and using engines for distributing the water, which engines they thrust with their feet. For though the river Nilus did once in a year overflow the grounds, and made them fruitful, yet ofttimes it failed or scanted them, and then they were put to great pains about their ground; and when it did overflow sufficiently, and left its mud upon the earth, yet that mud was in a little time hardened, and needed another watering and much digging and labour both of the hands and feet, especially in places something higher or more remote from that river; which inconvenience Canaan was free from.
Deut 11:11. A land of hills and valleys; and therefore much more healthful than Egypt was, which as it was enriched, so it was annoyed with Nilus, which overflowed the land in summer time, and thereby made the country both unpleasant and, which is much worse, unhealthful. And health being the greatest of all outward blessings, Canaan must therefore needs be a more desirable habitation than Egypt, which is the thing here implied. Drinketh water of the rain of heaven which is more honourable, because this comes not from man’s art or industry, but immediately from God’s power and goodness; more easy, being given thee without thy charge or pains; more sweet and pleasant, not hindering thy going abroad upon thy occasions, as the overflow of Nilus did, whereby the Egyptians were confined in a great measure to their several houses; more safe and healthful, being free from that mud which attends upon the waters of Nilus; and more certain too, the former and the latter rain being promised to be given to them in their several seasons, upon condition of their obedience, which condition, though it may seem a clog and inconvenience, yet indeed was a great benefit, that by their own necessities and worldly interest they should be obliged to that obedience, upon which their happiness depended both for this life and for the next.
Deut 11:12. Land which the Lord careth for, to wit, in a special manner, watering it immediately as it were by his own hand, without man’s help, and giving peculiar blessings to it, which Egypt enjoys not. The eyes of the Lord are always upon us, to give it the rain and other blessings proper to the several seasons. But all these mercies, and the fruitfulness of the land consequent; upon them, were suspended upon their disobedience, as it here follows. And therefore it is not at all strange that some later writers decry the land of Canaan as in great part a barren soil, which is so far from affording any ground to question the Divine authority of the Holy Scriptures, in which its fruitfulness is declared, that it doth much more confirm it, this being but an effect of that threatening that God would turn a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell in it, Ps 107:34, and elsewhere; and the wickedness of the Israelites in succeeding ages being notorious, it is but just and fit that the barrenness of their land should be as evident and infamous.
Deut 11:13-14. The rain of your land, i.e. which is needful and sufficient for your land; or which is proper to your land, not common to Egypt, where, as all authors agree, there is little or no rain. The first rain and the latter rain; the first fell in seed time, to make the corn spring, the other a little before harvest, to ripen it. See Jer 5:24; Joel 2:23; Amos 4:7; James 5:7.
Deut 11:15-16. That your heart be not deceived by the specious pretenses of idolaters, who will plead the general consent of all nations, except yours, in the worship of creatures, and that they worship the creatures only for God’s sake, and as they are glorious works of God, whom they worship in and by them; which, and the like arguments, being commonly alleged by heathens for their idolatries, as their own writers declare, might possibly seduce an unwary Israelite; and therefore they are here cautioned against such deceit, and withal it is implied, that if a man’s mind be corrupted and deceived, so as he believes idolatry to be lawful, this will not excuse him in the sight of God.
Deut 11:17. Heaven is compared sometimes to a bottle, Job 38:37, which may be either stopped or opened; sometimes to a great storehouse, wherein God lays up his treasures of rain, Job 38:22; Ps 33:7, the doors whereof God is said to open when he gives rain, and to shut when he withholds it. See 1 Kings 8:35; 2 Chron 6:26; 2 Chron 7:13.
Deut 11:18-21. i.e. As long as this visible world lasts, whilst the heaven keeps its place and continues its influences upon earth, until all these things be dissolved. Compare Ps 72:5; Ps 81:15; Ps 89:29; Jer 33:25.
Deut 11:22-24. Every place; not absolutely, as if the Jews should be lords of all the world, as the rabbins fondly conceit; but in the Promised Land, as it is restrained in the following words. Shall be yours, either by possession, or by dominion, to wit, upon condition of your obedience. From the wilderness, to wit, of Sin, on the south side. And Lebanon; and from Lebanon; or, and to Lebanon, which was the northern border. The river Euphrates on the east. So far their right of dominion extended, but that their sins cut them short; and so far Solomon extended his dominion. Unto the uttermost sea; the western or midland sea; Heb. the hindermost sea; for the eastern part of the world being generally esteemed the foremost, and the southern on the right hand, Ps 89:12, and consequently the northern on the left hand, the western part must needs be behind. Of these bounds of the land see Gen 10:19; Gen 15:18; Exod 23:31; Josh 1:3-4.
Deut 11:25-26. I propose them to your minds and to your choice.
Deut 11:27-28. Which you have no acquaintance with, nor experience of their power or wisdom or goodness, as you have had of mine.
Deut 11:29. Thou shalt put the blessing, Heb. thou shalt give, i.e. speak or pronounce, or cause to be pronounced. So the word to give is used, Deut 13:1-2; Job 36:3; Prov 9:9. This is more particularly expressed Deut 27:12-13; Josh 8:33, whither I refer the reader.
Deut 11:30. Over against Gilgal; looking towards Gilgal, though at some considerable distance from it, as this particle is sometimes used.
DEUTERONOMY 12
Deut 12:1-3: They are commanded to destroy all the places of idolatry;
Deut 12:4-15: and must worship God in his own place, and after his will.
Deut 12:16: The eating of blood prohibited.
Deut 12:17-18: Where and how they should eat the tithe.
Deut 12:19: The Levite not to be forsaken.
Deut 12:20-22: They may eat flesh clean or unclean any where;
Deut 12:23-25: but not the blood.
Deut 12:26-28: Holy things to be eaten at the altar of the Lord.
Deut 12:29-30: They are forbidden to inquire after the heathen worship;
Deut 12:31: or to worship the true God as they;
Deut 12:32: but to keep to the law in their worship.
Deut 12:1-2. All the places; temples, chapels, altars, groves, as appears from other scriptures. The Gentiles used to employ the high mountains for their idolatry; (see Isa 57:5,7; Ezek 6:13; Hos 4:13 
and as they consecrated divers trees to their false gods, so they worshipped these under them:
Deut 12:3. Their pillars, upon which their images were set. The names of them, i.e. all the memorials of them, and the very names given to the places from the idols.
Deut 12:4. i.e. Not worship him in several places, mountains, groves, etc., which sense is evident from the following opposition.
Deut 12:5. To put his name there, i.e. to set up his worship there, or which he shall call by his name, as his house, or dwellingplace, etc., to wit, where the ark should be, the tabernacle, or temple; which was first Shiloh, Josh 18:1, next and especially Jerusalem.
Deut 12:6. The sacrifices were wisely appropriated to that one and public place, partly for the security of the true religion, and for the prevention of idolatry and superstition, which otherwise might more easily have crept in; and partly to signify that their sacrifices were not accepted for their own worth, but by God’s gracious appointment, and for the sake of God’s altar, by which they were sanctified, and for the sake of Christ, whom the altar did manifestly represent. Of tithes, see below on Deut 12:17. Heave-offerings, i.e. your firstfruits, to wit, of the earth, as of corn and wine and oil and other fruits, as plainly appears by comparing this place with Deut 18:4; Deut 26:2, where these are commanded to be brought thither; and seeing here is an exact and particular enumeration of all such things, and these cannot be put under any of the other branches, these must needs be intended here, the rather because the other kind of firstfruits, to wit, of the herds and flocks, are here expressly mentioned. And these are called here the heave-offerings of their hand, because the offerer was first to take these into his hands, and to heave them before the Lord, (as other places tell us,) and then to give them to the priest, as appears from Deut 18:3-4; Deut 26:4. Your freewill offerings; even for your voluntary oblations, which were not due by my prescription, but only by your own choice and voluntary engagement: you may choose what kind of offering you please to vow and offer, but not the place where you shall offer them. The firstlings of your herds and of your flocks; either, 1. The holy firstlings or firstborn, as appears by Num 18, where they are commanded to be brought to this one place here designed, and to be offered upon God’s altar, Deut 12:17. It is objected by some, that those were given to the priests, Num 18:18, but these were to be eaten by the people here, Deut 12:7. But that the next verse doth not say, but only in general, there shall ye eat, to wit, such of the offerings mentioned Deut 12:6 as they were allowed to eat, but not such as were the priest’s peculiar, for these they might not eat, nor all there expressed; for it is evident they might not eat any of the burnt-offerings, nor some parts of the other sacrifices, which are here mentioned. Or, 2. The second births, which were the people’s firstborn, or the first which they could eat of, which they were to eat before the Lord by way of acknowledgment of his favour in giving them to them and all their succeeding births. See more on Deut 12:17.
Deut 12:7. There; not in the most holy place, wherein only the priests might eat, Num 18:10, but more generally in places allowed to the people for this end in the holy city. Ye shall eat, to wit, your part of the things mentioned Deut 12:6. Before the Lord, i.e. in the place of God’s presence, where God’s sanctuary shall be. All that ye put your hand unto; either to bestow your pains and labour upon it; or, to take and use or enjoy it. The sense is, You thus doing shall be blessed and enabled to rejoice, or to take comfort in all your labours and enjoyments, which otherwise would be accursed to you. We have the same phrase below, Deut 12:18; Deut 15:10.
Deut 12:8. Here; where the inconveniency of the place, and the uncertainty of our abode in and removal from several places, would not permit exact order in sacrifices, and feasts, and ceremonies, which therefore God was pleased then to dispense with; but, saith he, he will not do so there. Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes; not that universal liberty was given to all persons to worship whom and how they listed, but that in many things their unsettled condition gave every one opportunity to do so if he thought good.
Deut 12:9-11. His name, i.e. his majesty and glory, his worship and service, his special and gracious presence, and the tokens of it. All your choice vows, Heb. the choice of your vows. i.e. your select or chosen vows were to be perfect, whereas superfluous or deflective creatures were accepted in freewill offerings, as appears from Lev 22:21-23.
Deut 12:12. Hence it appears, that though the males only were obliged to appear before God in their solemn feasts, Exod 23:17, yet the women also were permitted to come, as they did. See Judg 21:19,21; 1 Sam 1:3,7,21-23.
Deut 12:13. Nor the other things mentioned above, this one and most eminent kind being put for all the rest, as is usual; for being all expressed before, it was needless to repeat them again. In every place that thou seest, to wit, with complacency and approbation, which thou thinkest very fit and proper for such a work, as one might possibly judge of some high places, or groves, or gardens.
Deut 12:14-15. Thou mayest kill and eat flesh, to wit, for thy common use and food. In all thy gates, i.e. thy cities or dwellings. Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after; what you shall desire either for quantity or quality, provided always you observe the laws given you elsewhere about avoiding excess and uncleanness in the things you eat. Which he hath given thee, according to thy quality and estate; whereby he manifestly condemns those who profusely and riotously spend other men’s money, and live at a rate which their consciences know to be much above their ability; which certainly is an ungodly and unrighteous, though too common, practice. The unclean, who is forbidden to eat of holy meats, Lev 7:20. May eat thereof, to wit, of any sort of creatures, even of those sorts which are offered to God in sacrifices, which are as free to your use as the roebuck and the hart, which were not accepted in sacrifice, Lev 22:19; yet were clean beasts, Deut 14:5; and therefore here is a tacit exception of unclean beasts.
Deut 12:16-17. Thou; either, 1. Thou, O Levite; or rather, 2. Thou, O Israelite, whom he distinguisheth from the Levite, Deut 12:18, accordingly as the following particulars agree to the one or to the other of you. Within thy gates, i.e. in your private habitations, here opposed to the place of God’s worship, Deut 12:18. The tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil. Here seems to be a great difficulty, not yet sufficiently observed nor cleared by interpreters. There were divers kinds of tithes: 1. The tithes given to the Levites out of all, of which Num 18:21,24; Deut 14:22; Neh 10:31. 2. The tithe of those tithes, which were to be given by the Levites to the priests, of which Num 18:21,24; Deut 14:29; Neh 10:37. 3. The third year’s tithe, of which Deut 14:28. To which some add another tithe, which they call the second tithe, which they say was taken after the Levites’ tithe was laid by. Now each of these hath its difficulty. It seems this place cannot be understood, 1. Of the Levites’ tithe; partly, because it might seem a great and wholly superfluous trouble to carry all their tithes up to Jerusalem, and to carry them back to their several habitations for their use; partly, because those were holy to the Lord, Lev 27:30, and not to be eaten by the people, Lev 27:31; whereas these belonged principally to the people, the Levites being only taken in as accessories to eat with them, as it is here, Deut 12:18; and partly, because those might be eaten in every place, as it is expressly affirmed, Num 18:31 Nor, 2. Of the tithe of the tithe, which was the priest’s; and neither Levites nor others might eat of it, except they were of or in the priest’s household. Nor, 3. Of the third year’s tithe, because that was to be eaten within their gates, Deut 14:28-29, as this was not. I do therefore humbly conceive that this is meant of the second tithe, spoken of Deut 14:22; and that this was the very same tithe with that third year’s tithe, with this only difference, that in the third year they were to eat them together with the Levites within their gates, Deut 14:28-29, but in the two first years they were to eat them, together with the Levites also, in the place of God’s worship, as it is prescribed here and Deut 14:23. And that it is one land the same tithe which is spoken of Deut 14:22, and Deut 12:28, seems more than probable, both because they are called by the same name, all the tithe of their increase, and because that Deut 12:28 manifestly looks back to that Deut 12:22, and because otherwise every third year the Israelites were to pay three several tithes one after another, which Scripture no where affirms, and it seems to make the people’s burdens and the Levites’ provisions too great. For the objection taken from Deut 26:12-13, it shall be considered in its place. And the reason of that difference of place, and why the same tithes were eaten for two years together in Jerusalem, and the third in their own gates, seems to be this, that in the two first years there was a more special regard had to the Levites, who were very much conversant in Jerusalem, where those tithes were then eaten, and in the third year there is a respect had to the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are mentioned as joint sharers with the Levites in this third year’s tithe, whose occasions and obligations of coming to Jerusalem were not so many nor strong as those of the Levites, and therefore they were to be found generally within their gates, where these were to be eaten. And whereas the objection made before against the chargeable and useless carrying of the first tithes to Jerusalem might be applied here, it is answered there, and it is provided, that when they lived at a great distance from Jerusalem they might turn it into money and bestow it there, Deut 14-26, which both confirms the objection as to the first tithe, for which no such provision was made, and answers it as to this, where such a remedy is expressed. And whereas it may be pleaded on the behalf of the first, or the Levitical tithe, that those tithes were brought to Jerusalem, and that there were storehouses or chambers in the temple appointed for the receiving of the tithes, 2 Chron 31:5-6,11-12; Neh 10:37-38; Neh 12:44, it may be answered, that those chambers, being only thirty-eight in number, and each of them, except two, but six cubits broad and twelve cubits long, were altogether incapable of all those tithes, and seem principally, if not solely, appointed for the priests’ tithes, and not for all them neither, but only for so much of them as would serve for the use and necessity of those priests and Levites too that were in the actual ministration. The firstlings of thy herds, or of thy flock. As the tithes now mentioned were not the Levitical, but second tithes, as hath been discoursed; so these firstlings do not seem to be the first firstlings, which being appropriated to the Levites were not to be eaten by any of the people, except those of or in the Levites’ families, but the second firstlings, which were the first which the owner could dispose of, and which, in conformity to the second tithes, he is required to set apart for this use.
Deut 12:18-19. Take heed lest a worldly mind and self-love make thee rob the Levites of their dues, as afterwards the ungodly Jews did. See Mal 3:8.
Deut 12:20. When the Lord shall enlarge thy border, which will make it inconvenient and impossible to do what now thou dost, and because of the narrow bounds of thy camp canst conveniently do, to wit, to bring all the cattle thou usest to the tabernacle, which it seems probable they did, to prevent their eating of blood. Compare Lev 17:3; 1 Sam 14:34.
Deut 12:21. Be too far from thee; in which case, being obliged to carry their sacrifice to the place of worship, that the blood might be there poured forth, etc., they might think themselves obliged, for the same reason, to carry their other cattle thither to be killed. They are therefore released from all such obligations, and left at liberty to kill them at home, whether they lived nearer to that place, or further from it; only the latter is here mentioned, as being the matter of the scruple, and as containing the former in it. As I have commanded thee; in such manner as the blood may be poured forth, as above, Deut 12:16, and below, Deut 12:24.
Deut 12:22. As the roebuck and the hart; as common or unhallowed food, though they be of the same kind with the sacrifices which are offered to God. The unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike, because there was no holiness in such meat for which the unclean might be excluded from it.
Deut 12:23. The blood is the life; of which see on Gen 9:4; Lev 17:11. The animal life depends upon the blood.
Deut 12:24-26. The holy things, mentioned before, Deut 12:6,11,17, which thou hast consecrated to God.
Deut 12:27. Excepting what shall be burned to God’s honour, and given to the priest according to his appointment.
Deut 12:29. Whither thou goest to possess them; of which phrase see Deut 9:1; Deut 11:23
Deut 12:30. Snared; drawn into their sin and ruin. After that they be destroyed; i.e. by following the example they left, when their persons are destroyed. That thou inquire not after their gods, through curiosity to know their gods, and the manner of the worship, lest thy vain and foolish mind be seduced by its speciousness or newness.
Deut 12:31. Shalt not do so unto the Lord; either, 1. Not offer him that indignity and injury to worship other gods together with him. Or rather, 2. Not worship him in such manner as they worshipped their gods, to wit, by offering thy children to him, as they did to their gods, as it here follows, or by their own devices or superstitions, as is implied, Deut 12:32.
DEUTERONOMY 13
Deut 13:1-5: Enticers to idolatry, being permitted by God to try Israel, were to be stoned to death,
Deut 13:6-11: though near of kin.
Deut 13:12-16: A city found guilty of idolatry to be burnt and utterly destroyed.
Deut 13:17-18: They were not to take any of its cursed things, but to obey God’s command, that his mercy might be upon them.
Deut 13:1. Among you, i.e. one of your nation, for such might be both seduced and afterwards seducers. A dreamer of dreams; one that pretends himself to be one to whom God hath revealed himself, either by visions or dreams. See Num 12:6. Giveth thee a sign or a wonder, i.e. shall foretell some strange and wonderful thing to come, as appears from Deut 13:2, as the true prophets used to do, as 1 Sam 10.
Deut 13:2. And the sign or the wonder come to pass; which God may suffer for the reason after mentioned. Saying: this word is to be joined with the beginning of Deut 13:1, If there arise among you a prophet, or dreamer of dreams, saying, what there follows, and giveth thee a sign, etc., to confirm his doctrine; such transpositions are frequent.
Deut 13:3. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet; not receive his doctrine, though the sign come to pass. For although when such a sign or wonder foretold did not follow or come to pass, it was a sign of a false prophet, as is said, Deut 18:22, yet when it did come to pass, it was no sufficient or infallible sign of a true one, especially in such a case when he brings in new gods. The reason of the difference is, because many causes must concur to make a thing good and true, but any one failure is sufficient to make a thing bad or false. And particularly there are many signs, yea, such as men may think to be wonders, which may be wrought by evil spirits, God so permitting it for divers wise and just reasons, not only for the trial of the good, as it here follows, but also for the punishment of ungodly men, who would not receive Divine truths, though attested by many evident and unquestionable miracles, and therefore are most justly exposed to these temptations to believe lies. Proveth you, i.e. trieth your faith, and love, and obedience, examineth your sincerity by your constancy. See Matt 24:24; 2 Thess 2:11; Rev 13:14. See on Gen 21:1; Deut 8:2,7. To know; that he may know it, to wit, judicially, or in a public manner, so as both you and others may know and see it, that so the justice of his judgments upon you may be more evident and glorious.
Deut 13:4. Ye shall serve him, to wit, only, as appears from the opposition. Compare Deut 6:13, with Matt 4:10.
Deut 13:5. He hath spoken, i.e. taught or persuaded you. To turn you away from the Lord; to forsake God and his worship. He shows that the chiefest and most certain character of a true prophet, is to be taken from his doctrine rather than from his miracles. To thrust thee out of the way: this phrase denotes the great force and power of seducers to corrupt men’s minds. Compare Deut 4:19; 2 Kings 17:21; Matt 24:2,14. The evil; either 1. That evil thing, that wicked doctrine and practice. Or, 2. That wicked and scandalous man, that idolater and seducer.
Deut 13:6. The son of thy mother: this is added to restrain the signification of the word brother, which is oft used generally for one near akin, and to express the nearness of the relation, the mother’s side being the surest, and usually the ground of the truest and most fervent affection. See Gen 20:12. Or thy daughter; thy piety must overcome both thy affection to thy nearest relation, and thy compassion to the weaker sex. The wife of thy bosom; either, 1. That is near to thy heart, that hath thy dearest love. Or rather, 2. That lieth in thy bosom, as it is expressed, Mic 7:5. Compare Gen 16:5; Prov 5:20; Deut 28:54. So we read of the husband of her bosom, Deut 28:56. As thine own soul; as dear to thee as thyself. The father and mother are here omitted, not, as some fancy, because children might not in this nor in any case accuse their parents, for certainly they owe more reverence and duty to God, who is injured in this case, than to their parents, and Levi is commended for neglecting his father and mother in this case; but because they are sufficiently contained in the former examples; for since men’s love doth usually descend more strongly than it ascends, and thee relation of a with is and ought to be nearer and dearer than of a parent, that favour which is denied to wives and children cannot be thought fit to be allowed to parents. Entice thee, though it be without success, because the very attempt of such all abominable crime deserved death, as it is judged in case of treason. Other gods; unknown and obscure and new gods; which greatly aggravates the crime, to forsake a God whom thou and thy fathers have long known, and had great and good experience of, for such upstarts.
Deut 13:7. He arms against the preference of the universality of this idol worship, wherewith they were like to be oft assaulted.
Deut 13:8. i.e. Smother his fault, hide or protect his person, but shalt accuse him to the magistrate, and demand justice upon him, which was not to be done in most other criminal causes; and no wonder, this crime being of a far higher nature than others.
Deut 13:9. Thou shalt surely kill him; not privately, which pretence would have opened the door to innumerable murders, but by procuring his death by the sentence of the magistrate; and thou shalt cast the first stone at him, as the witness was to do. See Deut 17:7; Acts 7:58.
Deut 13:10-13. The children of Belial; a title oft used in Scripture, as Judg 19:22; 1 Sam 1:16; 1 Sam 25:25; 2 Sam 16:7. It signifies properly persons without yoke, vile and wretched miscreants, lawless and rebellious, that will suffer no restraint, that neither fear God nor reverence man. From among you, i.e. from your church and religion. It notes a separation or departure from them, not in place, (as appears by their partnership with their fellow citizens both in the sin and punishment, as it here follows,) but in heart, doctrine, and worship, as the same phrase is used, 1 John 2:19.
Deut 13:14. Then shalt thou inquire: this is meant of the magistrate, to whose office this properly belongs, and of whom he continues to speak in the same manner, thou, Deut 13:15-16.
Deut 13:15. The inhabitants of that city, to wit, all that are guilty, not the innocent part, such as disowned this apostacy, who doubtless by choice and interest, at least upon warning, would come out of so wicked and cursed a place. Destroying it utterly; the very same punishment which was inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but fit and just that God should equal them in punishment.
Deut 13:16. For the Lord thy God, i.e. for the satisfaction of God’s justice, the maintenance of his honour and authority and laws, and the pacification of his offended majesty. It shall be an heap for ever; it shall be an eternal monument of God’s justice, and terror to after-ages, who may be tempted to like practices.
Deut 13:17. Of the cursed thing, i.e. of the goods of that accursed city. And multiply thee; so thou shalt have no loss of thy numbers by cutting off so many people.
DEUTERONOMY 14
Deut 14:1-2: Heathenish rites of mourning prohibited;
Deut 14:3: and the eating of any abominable thing.
Deut 14:4-8: All unclean beasts,
Deut 14:9-10: fish,
Deut 14:11-20: and birds, prohibited.
Deut 14:22: True tithing commanded;
Deut 14:23-27: and where it was to be eaten.
Deut 14:28: A command about the third year’s tithing;
Deut 14:29: and who should eat it.
Deut 14:1. Of the Lord your God; whom therefore you must not disparage by unworthy or unbecoming practices, such as here follow, and whom you must not disobey. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes, which were the practices of idolaters, both in the worship of their idols, as 1 Kings 18:28; or in their funerals, as here, and Jer 16:6; or upon occasion of public calamities, as Jer 41:5; Jer 47:5. See more on Lev 19:27-28; Lev 21:5. For the dead; through excessive sorrow for your dead friends, as if you had no hope of their happiness after death, 1 Thess 4:13.
Deut 14:2-3. i.e. Unclean and forbidden by me, which therefore should be abominable to you.
Deut 14:4. Of which see on Lev 11. The small differences between some of their names here and there are not proper for this work. The learned reader may find them cleared in my
Latin Synopsis. For others, they may well enough want the knowledge of them, both because these are the smaller matters of the law, and because this distinction of clean and unclean beasts is now out of date.
Deut 14:5-21. Unto the stranger; not to the proselyte, for such were obliged by this law, Lev 17:15, but to such as were strangers in religion as well as in nation.
Deut 14:22. This is to be understood of the second tithes, which seem to be the same with the tithes of the third year, mentioned here below, Deut 14:28; Deut 26:12, on which see above, on Deut 12:17. And to confirm this opinion, (though I would not lay too great a stress upon criticisms,) yet I cannot but observe that this tithing is spoken of only as the people’s act here, and Deut 26:12, and the Levites are not at all mentioned in either place as receivers or takers of them, but only as partakers of them together with the owners, and therefore they are so severely charged here upon their consciences, thou shalt truly tithe all thine increase, because the execution of this was left wholly to themselves, whereas the first tithes were received by the Levites, who therefore are said to take or receive those tithes, Num 18:26; Neh 10:38; Heb 7:5.
Deut 14:23. See on Deut 12:6,17.
Deut 14:24-25. Bind up the money in thine hand, i.e. in a bag to be taken into thy hand and carried with thee.
Deut 14:26-27. Thou shalt not forsake him; thou shalt give him a share in such tithes, or in the product of them.
Deut 14:28. At the end of three years, i.e. in the third year, as it is expressed, Deut 26:12. So, in the end of three years, or of seven years, is the same with in the third or seventh year, as appears by comparing Deut 31:10; Josh 9:16-17; 2 Kings 18:9-10; 2 Kings 17:6. All the tithe of thine increase. I join with those expositors who make this the same tithe with the former, Deut 14:22, as being called by the same title without any distinction between them, save only as to the place of eating them. See above on Deut 14:22, and Deut 12:17. The same year: this is added to show that he speaks of the third year, and not of the fourth year, as some might conjecture from the phrase, at the end of three years.
DEUTERONOMY 15
Deut 15:1: The seventh year a year of release,
Deut 15:2-3: to their brethren only.
Deut 15:4-6: God promiseth to bless them in the land of Canaan;
Deut 15:7-18: and commandeth them to lend freely to the poor.
Deut 15:19-23: The firstlings to be sanctified and eaten before the Lord.
Deut 15:1. i.e. In the last year of the seven, as is most evident from Deut 15:9; Exod 21:2; Jer 34:14. So the like phrase is oft used, as Deut 14:28; Josh 3:2; Jer 25:12; Luke 2:21; Acts 2:1. And this year of release, as it is called below, Deut 15:9, is the same with the sabbatical year, Exod 23:11; Lev 25:4.
Deut 15:2. Shall release it; not absolutely and finally forgive it, but forbear it for that year, as may appear, 1. Because the word doth not signify a total dismission or acquitting, but an intermission for a time, as Exod 23:11. He shall not exact it, as it here follows, i.e. force it from him by course of law or otherwise, to wit, that year, which is easily understood out of the whole context. 2. Because the person releasing is called a creditor, and his communicating to him what he desires and needs is called lending here and Deut 15:8; whereas it were giving, and the person giving it were no creditor, but a donor, if it were to be wholly forgiven to him. 3. Because the reason of this law is temporary and peculiar to that year, wherein there being no sowing nor reaping, they were not in a capacity to pay their debts. 4. Because it seems unjust and unreasonable, and contrary to other scriptures, which require men to pay what they borrow, as Ps 37:21. Yet I deny not that in case of poverty the debt was to be forgiven; but that was not by virtue of this law, but of other commands of God. Or of his brother: this is added to explain and limit the word neighbour, which is more general, unto a brother, to wit, in nation and religion; to an Israelite, who is opposed to a foreigner, Deut 15:3, Heb. and a brother, for that is a brother, the particle and being oft so used, as Gen 13:15, etc. The Lord’s release; or, a release to or for the Lord, in obedience to his command, for his honour, and as an acknowledgment of his right in your estates, and of his kindness in giving and continuing them to you. If you are unwilling to release this for your brother’s sake, yet do it for God’s sake, your Lord and the chief Creditor.
Deut 15:3. A foreigner, or stranger, yea, though a proselyte. For, 1. They are oft called by this name, as Gen 17:12; Ruth 2:10. 2. Though proselytes were admitted to the church privileges of the Israelites, yet they were not admitted to all their civil immunities or privileges. See 1 Chron 22:2; 2 Chron 2:17. 3. Such were not then freed from their personal debt, to wit, of their service, Lev 25:44; Deut 15:12; Jer 34:14, therefore not from their real debt. That which is thine, to wit, by right, though lent to him.
Deut 15:4. When there shall be no poor: so the words are an exception to the foregoing clause, which they restrain to the poor, and imply that if his brother was rich, he might exact his debt of him in that year. And indeed this law seems to be chiefly, if not wholly, designed and given in favour to the poor and to the borrower, as is manifest from Deut 15:6-11. But the words are and may be rendered thus, as in the margin of our Bibles, To the end that there be no poor among you. And so they contain a reason of this law, to wit, that none be impoverished and ruined by a rigid and unseasonable exaction of debts. They may also be translated thus, Nevertheless of a truth, or assuredly, (as the particle chi is oft used,) there shall be no poor along you; and the sense may be this, Though I impose this law upon you, which may seem hard and grievous, yet the truth is, supposing your performance of the conditions of God’s covenant, you shall not have any great occasion to exercise your charity and kindness in this matter, for God will greatly bless you, etc., so as you shall be in a capacity of lending, and few or none of you will have need to borrow, and thereby to expose his brethren to the inconvenience and burden of this law. Thus the connexion is plain and easy, both with the foregoing and following words. Objection. It is said, the poor should never cease, Deut 15:11. Answer. That also is true, and affirmed by God, because he foresaw they would not perform their duty, and therefore would bereave themselves of the promised blessing. The Lord shall greatly bless thee; and therefore this will be no great inconvenience nor burden to thee.
Deut 15:5-6. Thou shalt lend unto many; thou shalt be rich and able to lend not only to thy poor brother, but even to strangers of other nations, yea, to many of them.
Deut 15:7-8. Open thine hand wide unto him, i.e. deal bountifully and liberally with him, giving him as it were by handfuls.
Deut 15:9. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart; suppress the first risings and inward motions of such uncharitableness. Thine eye be evil, i.e. envious, unmerciful, unkind, as this phrase is used, Prov 23:6; Matt 20:15; as a good eye notes the contrary disposition, Prov 22:9. It be sin, i.e. it be charged upon thee as a sin, and as a great sin, as the word sin sometimes signifies, as Prov 24:9; John 15:24; James 4:17.
Deut 15:10. Thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him, i.e. thou shalt give not only with an open hand, but with a willing and cheerful mind and heart, Rom 12:8; 2 Cor 9:9, without which thy very charity is uncharitable, and not accepted by God, who requires the heart in all his services. In all that thou puttest thine hand unto, i.e. in all thy works, as before, for the hand is the great instrument of action.
Deut 15:11. The poor shall never cease out of the land; God by his providence will so order it, partly for the punishment of your disobedience, and partly for the trial and exercise of your obedience to me, and charity to your brother, both which are best discovered by your performance of costly duties.
Deut 15:12. If thy brother be sold unto thee. See on Exod 22:3. Six years; to be computed, either, 1. From the year of release; as they gather from hence that personal and real debts were both released together. But that seems to be supposed rather than proved; nay, there is a manifest difference between them, for the release of real debts is expressly mentioned and required in the year of release, but so is not the release of the personal debt of servitude, either here or elsewhere. Or rather, 2. From the beginning of this servitude, which is every where limited unto the space of six years, as here and below, Deut 15:18; Exod 21:2; Jer 34:14. And it seems a strange and forced exposition, to take these six years for so much of the six years as remains until the year of release, which possibly might not be one quarter of a year, whereas a hired servant serves for a far longer time, and this is said to be worth a double-hired servant, in regard of the longer time of his service, Deut 15:18. Add to this, that it is mentioned as the peculiar privilege of the year of jubilee, that such servants were then freed, though their six years of service were not expired.
Deut 15:15. And the Lord thy God redeemed thee, and brought thee out with triumph and with riches, which because they would not, God did, give to thee as a just recompence for thy service, and therefore thou shalt follow his example, and send out thy servant furnished with all convenient provisions.
Deut 15:16. Because he is sensible that he fares well with thee. Or, because it is good, i.e. acceptable in his eyes, or pleasing to him, to be with thee.
Deut 15:17. For ever, i.e. all the time of his life, or, at least, till the year of jubilee. See on Exod 21:6. Unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise, i.e. either dismiss her honourably, and with plenty of provisions; or engage her to perpetual servitude in the same manner, and by the same rites; whence it appears that this case differs from that Exod 21:7, and that the maidservant there was taken in upon other and better terms than this here.
Deut 15:18. He hath been worth a double-hired servant to thee; or, he deserves double wages to an hired servant, because he served thee upon better terms, both without wages, which hired servants require, and for a longer time, even for six years, as it here follows, whereas servants were ordinarily hired but from year to year, Lev 25:53, or at most but for three years, as they gather from this place and Isa 16:14.
Deut 15:19. With the firstling of thy bullock: this is meant, either, 1. Of the male firstlings; which, they say, is forbidden here, because some did plough with the firstlings of their oxen, and shear the firstlings of their sheep, before they were offered. But this seems absurd and incredible, because they were to be offered on the eighth day, Exod 22:30, when they were very unfit for such uses. Or rather, 2. The second firstlings, of which see on Deut 12:17.
Deut 15:20. Thou shalt eat; either, 1. Thou, O priest. Or rather, 2. Thou, O Israelite. For it is evident that the same person who was forbidden to work with these, Deut 15:19, is here commanded to eat them, etc. Thou shalt eat it, together with the Levites, as it is to be understood from Deut 12:18; Deut 14:27,29, where that is expressed in like cases. Year by year, to wit, in the solemn feasts which returned upon them every year. See Deut 16:11,14.
DEUTERONOMY 16
Deut 16:1-7: Their feast of the passover to be kept,
Deut 16:8: and to eat unleavened bread.
Deut 16:9-12: The seven weeks and their feasts.
Deut 16:13-15: The feast of tabernacles to be observed by them, and their family, seven days.
Deut 16:16-17: All the males to appear before the Lord three times a year, and at these three feasts.
Deut 16:18-20: Judges and officers are appointed,
Deut 16:21-22: and are prohibited to set up idolatry.
Deut 16:1. Objection. They came out of Egypt by day, and in the morning, as appears from Exod 12:22; Exod 13:3; Num 33:3. Answer. They are said to be brought out by night, because in the night Pharaoh was forced to give them leave to depart, and accordingly they made preparation for their departure, and in the morning they perfected the work.
Deut 16:2. The passover, i.e. either, 1. Properly and strictly so called, which was the paschal lamb, and so the sheep and oxen, which here follow, are mentioned only as additional sacrifices, which were to be offered in the seven days of the paschal solemnity, Num 28:18-19, etc. Or, 2. Largely, to wit, for the passover-offerings, to wit, which were offered after the lamb in the seven days, and so this very word is used 2 Chron 35:8-9. And this signification seems necessary here, partly because it is here said to consist of the flock and of the herd, or of sheep and oxen, and partly because it follows, Deut 16:3, Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it, seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, i.e. with the passover, which could not be done with the passover strictly so called, which was to be wholly spent in one day. Or, 3. The feast of the passover, and so the place may be rendered, Thou shalt therefore observe or keep the feast of the passover (as those same Hebrew words are taken, Num 9:5; Josh 5:10; 2 Chron 35:1,17-19) unto the Lord thy God, with sheep and with oxen, as is prescribed, Num 28:18, etc.
Deut 16:3. With it, to wit, with the passover, in the sense delivered; or, in it, i.e. during the time of the feast of the passover. The bread of affliction, i.e. bread which is not usual nor pleasant, but unsavoury and unwholesome, to put thee in mind both of thy miseries endured in Egypt, and of thy hasty coming out of it, which allowed thee no time to leaven or to prepare thy bread.
Deut 16:4. At even, i.e. of the passover properly so called, and by these words plainly described; which circumlocution may seem to insinuate that the word passover, Deut 16:1, was improperly used, and therefore he chose rather to describe it than to name it, lest the ambiguity of the word should occasion some mistake.
Deut 16:5. Within any of thy gates, i.e. of thy cities, as that word is oft used, as Gen 22:17; Gen 24:60; Deut 17:2; Ruth 4:10.
Deut 16:6. There thou shalt sacrifice the passover, to wit, in the court of the tabernacle or temple. This he prescribed, partly, that this great work might be done with more solemnity and care, in such manner as God required; partly, because it was not only a sacrament, but also a sacrifice, as appears because it is so called, Exod 12:27; Exod 23:18; Exod 34:25; Num 9:7, and because here was the sprinkling of blood, which is the essential part and character of a sacrifice; and partly, to design the place where Christ, the true Passover or Lamb of God, was to be slain. At the season; understand this with some latitude, as such phrases are commonly taken, about that season, when you had received command from me to go out of Egypt, and were preparing yourselves for the journey.
Deut 16:7. Thou shalt roast; so that word is used also 2 Chron 35:13. In the morning; either, 1. The morning after the seventh day, as appears, partly, by the following verse, which is added to explain and limit this ambiguous word; partly, by the express command of God that the people should come to Jerusalem to keep this feast, which by God’s appointment lasted for seven days; partly, from the examples of the people staying there the whole time of the feast, 2 Chron 30:21; 2 Chron 35:17; and partly, from the nature and business of this feast, wherein there being so many extraordinary sacrifices to be offered, and feasts made by the people upon the sacrifices, and two days of solemn assemblies, it is not probable that they would absent themselves from these solemn services, for the performance whereof they came purposely to Jerusalem. Or, 2. The morning after the first day, and so they were permitted to go then, and possibly some that lived near Jerusalem might go and return again to the last day of the solemn assembly. But the former seems more probable. Thy tents, i.e. thy dwellings, which he calls tents, as respecting their present state, and withal to put them in mind afterwards when they were settled in better habitations, that there was a time when they dwelt in tents.
Deut 16:8. Six days, to wit, besides the first day, on which the passover was killed; or rather besides the seventh and the last day, which is here mentioned apart, not as if leavened bread might be eaten then, for the contrary was evident from many places, but because there was something more to be done, to wit, a solemn assembly to be kept. So in all there were seven days, as it is said, Exod 12:15; Lev 23:6; Num 28:17.
Deut 16:9. Seven weeks; of which see on Exod 34:22; Lev 23:10,15. To put the sickle to the corn, i.e. to reap thy corn, thy barley, when the firstfruits were offered, Lev 23:10-11.
Deut 16:10. The feast of weeks, i.e. of Pentecost, Acts 2:1. Which thou shalt give, over and besides what was appointed, Lev 23:17-20; Num 28:27-31.
Deut 16:11-13. Of the feast of tabernacles, see on Exod 23:16; Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.
Deut 16:14-15. To wit, in God and the effects of his favour, praising him with glad heart.
Deut 16:16. All thy males; not the women, partly, because of their infirmity and unfitness for many journeys; partly, because the care of their children and families lay upon them; and partly, because they were sufficiently represented in the men.
Deut 16:17-18. Judges; chief magistrates to examine and determine causes and differences. Officers, who were inferior and subordinate to the other, to bring causes and persons before them, to acquaint people with the mind and sentence of the judges, and to execute their sentence, Deut 20:5,9; Josh 1:10-11; Josh 3:2-3. In all thy gates, i.e. thy cities, which he here calls gates, because there were seats of judgment set. Compare 1 Chron 23:4.
Deut 16:19. Not wrest judgment, i.e. not give a perverse, forced, and unjust sentence. See on Exod 23:8. Not respect persons, i.e. not give sentence according to the quality of the person, his riches or poverty, friendship or enmity, but according to the justice of the cause. A gift doth blind the eyes of the wise; corrupts and biasseth his mind, that as he will not, so ofttimes he cannot, discern between right and wrong. The words of the righteous; either, 1. The words, i.e. the sentence, of those judges who are inclined and used to do righteous things, and have the repute of righteous men, it makes them give wrong judgment. Or, 2. The words, i.e. the matters, or causes, (as word oft signifies,) of righteous persons, or of them whose cause is just.
Deut 16:20. That which is altogether just, Heb. righteousness, righteousness, i.e. nothing but righteousness in all causes and times, and to all persons equally. Compare Isa 26:7.
Deut 16:21. Because this was the practice of idolaters, 1 Kings 15:13, and might be an occasion of reviving idolatry. See Judg 3:7; 1 Kings 14:23; 1 Kings 16:33; 1 Kings 18:19.
Deut 16:22. Heb. statue, whether with a picture or representation, or without it, as the idolaters used to worship smoothed and polished stones or pillars without any image upon them.
DEUTERONOMY 17
Deut 17:1: They are not to offer blemished sacrifices.
Deut 17:2-7: Idolaters are to be put to death.
Deut 17:8-13: Doubts in difficult matters to be resolved by priests and judges.
Deut 17:14-15: To choose a king of their own brethren, and not a stranger.
Deut 17:16-20: The duty of their king.
Deut 17:1. Any bullock or sheep, i.e. either greater or smaller sacrifices, all being comprehended under the two most eminent kinds. See Lev 22:20-21. An abomination, i.e. abominable, as Deut 18:12.
Deut 17:2. Man or woman; the weakness and tenderness of that sex shall not excuse her sin, nor prevent her punishment. In transgressing his covenant, i.e. in idolatry, as it is explained Deut 17:3,