AND KNOW ... - Render it: And own ye this day (for I have not to do with your children which have not known and which have not seen) the chastisement of the Lord, his greatness, etc. The “chastisement” consisted in the many mighty acts, both of punishment and mercy, through which God had guided the... [ Continue Reading ]
See the margin. literally, “every living thing at their feet.” The expression does not mean their goods, which would be included in their “households and tents,” but their followers Numbers 16:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
Another motive for fidelity is added, namely, the entire dependence of the promised land upon God for its fertility. It was “a land flowing with milk and honey;” yet this its richness was not, as was that of Egypt, the reward of truman skill and labor, but was, on the contrary, the gift of God simpl... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIRST RAIN AND THE LATTER RAIN - The former is the proper term for the autumn rain, falling about the time of sowing, and which may be named “the former,” as occurring in the early part of the Hebrew civil year, namely, in October and November. The other word is applied to the spring rain, which... [ Continue Reading ]
The sense is: “Keep the covenant faithfully, and so shall your own and your children’s days be multiplied as long as the heaven covers the earth.” The promise of Canaan to Israel was thus a perpetual promise, but also a conditional one.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT PUT THE BLESSING UPON MOUNT GERIZIM - literally, thou shalt give, i. e., “give” utterance to it. On the ceremony see Deuteronomy 27:14 ff. Mount Gerizim, barren like Ebal, was probably selected as the hill of benediction because it was the southernmost of the two, the south being the regi... [ Continue Reading ]