Against Blemished Sacrifices This law against the use of blemished victims for sacrifice comes naturally after those forbidding the _"Asherah_and _Maṣṣeba_, and that against child-sacrifice, Deuteronomy 12:31, for the blemished victim is not merely an irregularity but an abomination to Israel's God... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 16:21 to Deuteronomy 17:7. Isolated Group of Laws on Worship This group of laws against heathen symbols and blemished sacrifices and the worship of other gods all of them abominations to, or hated by, Jehovah is quite isolated, between two sets of laws on judicial procedure, Deuteronomy... [ Continue Reading ]
_If there be found in the midst of thee_ Deuteronomy 13:1 (2): _if there arise_, etc.; _q.v._ within any of thy gates Deuteronomy 13:12 (13): _one of thy cities; q.v._ doeth that which is evil, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 4:25. _in transgressing his covenant_ Joshua 7:11; Joshua 7:15; Joshua 23:16 (a... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Worshippers of Other Gods If such be found in any of thy gates, and their crime established, they shall be stoned (Deuteronomy 17:2-5); only at the mouth of two witnesses shall any one be put to death: so shalt thou burn out the evil from the midst of thee (Deuteronomy 17:6 f.). The evil co... [ Continue Reading ]
_gone and served other gods_ So Deuteronomy 13:6; Deuteronomy 13:13 (7, 14); and 2 (3) with slight variation. _sun, moon_, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 4:19. _which I have not commanded_ Cp. Deuteronomy 4:19: _which thy God hath assigned unto the peoples_. The use of the first person here is remarkable... [ Continue Reading ]
_and it be told thee, and thou hast heard_ Similarly Deuteronomy 13:12 (13). _shalt thou inquire_, etc.] So, but with additions, Deuteronomy 13:14 (15), _q.v._... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou shalt bring forth … unto thy gates_ Cp. Deuteronomy 22:24: the usual place for stoning was without the gate, so that the city might not be polluted (cp. Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:36); where also Stephen was stoned, Acts 7:58, under this law. On _stoning_see on Deuteronomy 13:10 (11). _even... [ Continue Reading ]
_At the mouth of two witnesses or_ AT THE MOUTH _of three witnesses_ So Sam. and LXX, as in Deuteronomy 19:15, where the law, here applied to a particular case, is more generally stated. Cp. P, Numbers 35:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The hand of the witnesses shall be first_, etc.] Cp. Deuteronomy 13:9 (10): so they would feel more seriously the responsibility of their testimony! _so thou shalt put away the evil_) BURN OUT. See on Deuteronomy 13:5 (6).... [ Continue Reading ]
_If there arise a matter too hard for thee_ Heb. _if a matter be too wonderful_(or _extraordinary) for thee_; cp. Deuteronomy 22:11. In Deuteronomy 1:17, and Exodus 18:22; Exodus 18:26 (E), _hard_translates other Heb. words. _between blood and blood_ i.e. between accidental manslaughter and wilful m... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the Judges of Final Appeal Local cases too hard for the local courts (see Deuteronomy 16:18-20, on which this passage immediately follows) are to be taken before the Priests, the Levites at the Sanctuary, and the Judge of the time (Deuteronomy 17:8 f.), whose decisions must be strictly obeyed (D... [ Continue Reading ]
_unto the priests the Levites_ See on Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 18:1. The omission of these words by LXX B is due to careless copying, and in no way supports Steuernagel's analysis of the text into two laws (see introd. note). _unto the judge that shall be in those days_ That is of course either... [ Continue Reading ]
_tenor_ Heb. _mouth_; see on Deuteronomy 1:26; Deuteronomy 1:43; Deuteronomy 9:23. _observe to do_ See on Deuteronomy 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_law_ Heb. _torah_, usually of the _directions_given by priests in questions of ritual, covers here their decisions in civil cases as well. _Teach_, rather _direct_, is the vb from which _Torah_is derived.... [ Continue Reading ]
_presumptuously_ See on Deuteronomy 1:43 and cp. Deuteronomy 18:20. _unto the priest … or unto the judge_ Again no information is given as to how the cases are to be divided between the two. D's sole interest is to accommodate the procedure of law to the fact of the One Altar. _that standeth to mi... [ Continue Reading ]
_hear, and fear_ Deuteronomy 13:11 (12).... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou art come_, etc.] Similarly Deuteronomy 18:9; Deuteronomy 26:1; cp. Deuteronomy 6:10; Deuteronomy 7:1. _I will set a king … like as all the nations_, etc.] 1 Samuel 8:5: _make us_(the same verb) _a king to judge us like all the nations_. Cp. 1 Samuel 12:12, where the example of the Ammonit... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the King When Israel elect to have a King like other nations, he must be chosen of God, an Israelite and no foreigner (Deuteronomy 17:14 f.). He must not multiply horses, wives nor silver and gold (Deuteronomy 17:16 f.). He shall write a copy of the Law and always study it, that he may fear God,... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou shalt in any wise set_ The emphatic Heb. means either _thou mayest certainly_, or _thou shalt only, set_. _thy God shall choose_ So of Saul and David, 1 Samuel 9:15 f., 1Sa 10:24, 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:12; 2 Samuel 6:21, on which precedents D's law seems based. _one from among thy breth... [ Continue Reading ]
_Only_ Heb. _raḳ_, see on Deuteronomy 10:15. _he shall not multiply horses_, etc.] On the horse in Israel, see _Jerusalem_i. 324 f. Horses came from N. to S. in W. Asia, probably from Asia Minor. Brought into Egypt by the Hyksos after 1800 b.c. they were never very common there, but the breed was ex... [ Continue Reading ]
_multiply wives … silver and gold_ Solomon notoriously did so. His marriages with foreign princesses were for political ends, but introduced heathen cults into Israel (1 Kings 11:1, cp. 1 Kings 16:31).... [ Continue Reading ]
_a copy of this law_ Lit. a _duplicate_of what was _before_, or _in charge of, the priests_(Deuteronomy 31:9; Deuteronomy 31:26). Here we have the beginning of that confidence in written revelation and the canon which brought so much good and evil to the religious life of Israel. On the mistranslati... [ Continue Reading ]
_it shall be with him_ Joshua 1:8. _that he may learn to fear_, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 14:23. _to keep … to do_ See on Deuteronomy 5:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_that his heart_, etc.] Cp. Deuteronomy 8:2. _Turn not aside_, Deuteronomy 5:32, _Prolong days_, Deuteronomy 4:40. Cullen (140) thinks that in mentioning _Torah_and _Miṣwah_separately in Deuteronomy 17:19 the writer refers to two distinct works. This is by no means clear; he may be using them here a... [ Continue Reading ]