_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ An exhortation to obedience, Deuteronomy 4:1. A warning against idolatry, Deuteronomy 4:14. A promise upon repentance, Deuteronomy 4:29. Cities of refuge appointed, Deuteronomy 4:41. The place where Moses repeated the law, Deuteronomy 4:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now therefore hearken, O Israel_ Having called to their remembrance the extraordinary dispensations of Divine Providence toward them, both in the way of mercy and judgment, he now calls upon their whole assembly, in the most serious and earnest manner, to consider what influence these things ought... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you_ By desiring other doctrines, or ways of worship, than what I have taught or prescribed. For this were to accuse me of want of wisdom, or care, or faithfulness, in not giving you sufficient instructions for God's service. _Neither shall ye diminish... [ Continue Reading ]
_Are alive every one of you this day_ A singular providence watched over them, to preserve them in such good healthy that not one of so many thousands was dead since that time. Nor, in the war with the Midianites, did they lose so much as one man, Numbers 31:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the sight of the nations_ For though the generality of heathen, in the latter ages, did, through inveterate prejudices, condemn the laws of the Hebrews, yet it is certain the wisest heathen did highly approve of them, so that they made use of divers of them, and translated them into their own la... [ Continue Reading ]
_So nigh_ By glorious miracles, by the pledges of his special presence, by the operations of his grace, and particularly by his readiness to hear our prayers, and to give us those succours which we call upon him for. _So righteous_ Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not cons... [ Continue Reading ]
_Only take heed_ Their only danger was, lest they should grow careless and unmindful of all the wonderful things that God had done for them; for which reason he would have every Israelite to make these weighty concerns the subject of his most frequent study and intense meditation. _Especially the da... [ Continue Reading ]
_The midst of heaven_ Flaming up into the air, which is often called heaven. _No similitude_ No resemblance or representation of God, whereby either his essence, or properties, or actions were represented, such as were usual among the heathen.... [ Continue Reading ]
_To teach you statutes and judgments_ This relates to the rest of the laws which God gave to Moses, immediately after he himself had delivered to them the ten commandments, (Exodus 21.,) it being the people's desire that God would communicate to them the rest of his will by Moses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye saw no similitude in Horeb_ God, who, in some other places and times, did appear in a human form, now in this most solemn appearance, when he came to give eternal laws for the direction of the Israelites in the worship of himself, and in their duty to their fellow- creatures, purposely avoided a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lest ye corrupt yourselves_ Corrupt your minds with mean thoughts of God, your hearts by suffering any creature to alienate your affections from him, or your ways by worshipping him in a corrupt manner, or by falling into idolatry. _And make you a graven image_ For worship, or for the representatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lest thou shouldest be driven_ Strongly inclined; _to worship them. Which the Lord hath divided unto all nations_ Which are not gods, but creatures, made not for worship, but for the use of men; yea, of the meanest and most barbarous people under heaven, and therefore cannot, without great absurdit... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath taken you_ Of his own free mercy, unmerited by you; and _brought you forth out of the iron furnace_ The furnace wherein iron and other metals are melted, to which Egypt is compared, from the torment and misery which the Israelites there endured. _To be unto him a people of inheritance... [ Continue Reading ]
_That I should not go over Jordan_ And as God has granted you the favour which he has denied me, your obligation to him is greatly increased.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God_ Lest you either disregard the knowledge of God's law, or wilfully disobey it, now it is declared to you, and thereby bring misery and destruction upon yourselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A consuming fire_ A just and terrible God, who, notwithstanding his special relation to you, will severely punish you, if you provoke him. _A jealous God_ Who, being espoused to you, will be highly incensed against you if you follow after other lovers, or commit whoredom (so to speak) with idols, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_And shall corrupt yourselves_ This seems to be evidently a prediction of what Moses foresaw would take place; which that he did is still more manifest in Deuteronomy 4:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands_ 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 men up to another. _If from thence thou seek the Lord_ Whatev... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the latter days_ Either in general in succeeding ages and generations, or particularly in the days of the Messiah, commonly called in Scripture, _the latter_, or _last days._ Here the apostacy and misery of the Jewish nation in the latter days is clearly foretold, as it is more at large in chap... [ Continue Reading ]
_The one side of heaven_ That is, of the earth under heaven. Ask all the inhabitants of the world. _And live_ And was not overwhelmed and consumed by such a glorious appearance. _By temptations Temptations_ is the general title, which is explained by the following particulars, _signs_, and _wonders_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Brought thee out in his sight_ Keeping his eye fixed on thee, as a father doth on his beloved child. He himself was present with thee, and marched along with thee in the pillar of cloud and fire. _With his mighty power_ And not by any natural strength of thy own, thou wast delivered from that bonda... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know and consider it in thy heart_ From all that thou hast seen, heard, and experienced. _That the Lord he is God_, &c. Settle it in thy heart that none but the Creator of all things could perform those mighty acts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_This is the law_ More particularly and fully expressed in the following chapter, to which these words are an introduction.... [ Continue Reading ]