Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Ver. 1. _Thou shalt not raise._] Neither raise nor receive it; neither be the tale bearer nor talehearer: the one carries the devil in his tongue, the other in his ear. Not only those that "make a... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to [do] evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest [judgment]: Ver. 2. _Thou shalt not follow a multitude._] The way to hell is broad and well beaten. _Per viam publicam ne ingredere,_ was one of Pythagoras's precepts. Do not as the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. Ver. 3. _Neither shalt thou countenance._] Spare not the great for their might, nor the mean for their misery.... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. Ver. 4. _Ox or his ass going astray._] How much more his soul. _See Trapp on "_ Jam 5:20 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Jdg 1:22 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Jdg 1:23 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. Ver. 5. _Thou shalt surely help with him._] So the Spirit helps with us; or lifts over against us. _ουναντιλαμβανεται_ _, _ Rom 8:26 He looks _ut acti agamus._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause._ Ver. 6. _The judgment of thy poor._] I have seen, saith one, _a_ the king of Persia many times to alight from his horse, only to do justice to a poor body. Causes are to be heard, and not persons: the Athenian judges passed sentence in t... [ Continue Reading ]
Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. Ver. 7. _Keep thee far from a false matter._] Stand aloof off; keep at a distance. See Isaiah 33:15. A public man should be above all price or sale: and every man should carefully kee... [ Continue Reading ]
And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous. Ver. 8. _And thou shalt take no gift._] Rain is good, and ground is good; yet _Ex eorum coniunctione fit lutum,_ saith Stapleton. So giving is kind, and taking is courteous, yet the mixing of the... [ Continue Reading ]
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ver. 9. _Thou shalt not oppress, &c._] _See Trapp on "_ Exo 22:21 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: Ver. 10. _Thou shalt sow thy land._] Here the wise man's counsel would be remembered, _Laudato ingentia rura, exiguum colito._ To be called a good husbandman, was of old a high praise.... [ Continue Reading ]
But the seventh [year] thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, [and] with thy oliveyard. Ver. 11. _But the seventh year._] That they might learn to live by fai... [ Continue Reading ]
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed. Ver. 12. _Six days._] _See Trapp on "_ Exo 20:8 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And in all [things] that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. Ver. 13. _Be circumspect._] Or wary; keep you close to the rule, and up to your principles. _See Trapp on "_ Eph 5:15 _"_ Of the name of other gods... [ Continue Reading ]
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. Ver. 14. _Three times._] See Deuteronomy 16:16. The Hebrew hath it _three feet,_ because the most went up to those three feasts every year afoot, saith Aben Ezra.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) Ver. 15. _Thou shalt keep the feast._] Let us also keep the feast,... [ Continue Reading ]
And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, [which is] in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Ver. 16. _And the feast of harvest._] Pentecost, when their wheat harvest came in.... [ Continue Reading ]
Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD. Ver. 17. _All thy males._] The females are not required to appear, because they were weak, and not so fit for travel. They were also the housekeepers, and sanctified in their husbands. Howbeit many of them came up to these feas... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning. Ver. 18. _Of my sacrifice._] Especially of the passover. See Exo 34:25 Leviticus 2:1,3 .... [ Continue Reading ]
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. Ver. 19. _The first of the firstfruits._] The best of the best is not to be held too good for God. His "soul hath desired the first ripe fruits." Mic 7:1... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Ver. 20. _Behold, I send an Angel,_] i.e., Christ. Immediately after God had given the law, - by the rule and threats whereof God the Father in his government was to proceed, saith... [ Continue Reading ]
Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name [is] in him. Ver. 21. _My name is in him,_] i.e., He is of the same nature with myself. See Php 2:6 Hebrews 1:3. _See Trapp on "_ Php 2:6 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Heb 1:3 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. Ver. 22. _An enemy unto thine enemies._] There is a covenant offensive and defensive betwixt God and his people. _Tua causa erit mea causa,_ said th... [ Continue Reading ]
For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. Ver. 23. _For mine angel._] Heb., Malachi; which is by transposition of letters Michael, as some Rabbis have o... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. Ver. 24. _Thou shalt utterly overthrow them._] As Henry VIII began here to do in demolishing the monasteries, and saying, _Corvorum nidos esse p... [ Continue Reading ]
And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. Ver. 25. _Bless thy bread._] God's blessing is the staff of bread, and strength of water. _See Trapp on "_ Mat 4:4 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. Ver. 26. _The number of thy days._] Thou shalt die, as Abraham did, with a good hoary head; be _satur dierum,_ as Job; fall as a full ripe apple into the hands of God, the gatherer.... [ Continue Reading ]
I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. Ver. 27. _My fear before thee._] Strike a panic fear into the hearts of thine enemies, so that they shall flee at the noise of a driven leaf; they... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. Ver. 28. _Hornets before thee._] Understand it either literally, as in Joshua 24:12; or figuratively, of the stinging terrors of their self-condemning consciences.... [ Continue Reading ]
I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. Ver. 29. _In one year._] God's time is best: and to prescribe to him is to set the sun by our dial. His help seems long, because we are short. Wait upon him, who... [ Continue Reading ]
By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. Ver. 30. _By little and little_] God crumbles his mercies to us; we have his blessings by retail. So the cloud empties not itself at a sudden burst, but dissolves upon the earth drop after dr... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Ver. 31. _The sea of the Philistines,_] i.e., The Mediterranean.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. Ver. 32. _No covenant with them._] Because devoted to destruction; and they will be drawing thee to idolatry, as it also happened in Jdg 1:1-36 Judges 2:1,23 .... [ Continue Reading ]
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Ver. 33. _A snare._] See Deu 7:16 Joshua 23:13 Judges 2:3 .... [ Continue Reading ]