Deuteronomy 1 - Introduction
_MOSES, IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB, BRIEFLY RELATES WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN THE WILDERNESS, AS WELL TO HIMSELF, AS TO THE ISRAELITES FROM THE TIME THEY LEFT MOUNT HOREB._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_MOSES, IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB, BRIEFLY RELATES WHAT HAD HAPPENED IN THE WILDERNESS, AS WELL TO HIMSELF, AS TO THE ISRAELITES FROM THE TIME THEY LEFT MOUNT HOREB._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _ON THIS SIDE JORDAN—IN THE PLAIN, OVER AGAINST THE RED SEA_— Houbigant well observes, that the original here should properly be rendered, _on the bank of Jordan,_ בעבר _beeber:_ and that the word ףּסו _suph,_ when used without ים _iam,_ never signifies the _Red Sea;_ and therefore, here, i... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _ELEVEN DAYS JOURNEY FROM HOREB_— This verse seems to have been thrown in to shew, that though the direct way from mount Horeb to the plains of Moab is but a few days' journey, even to those who make a circuit about by _Kadesh-barnea,_ yet it was so ordered by the Divine Providence, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 5. _BEGAN MOSES TO DECLARE,_ &C.— Houbigant very properly renders this, _It seemed good to Moses, when on the bank of Jordan, in the land of Moab, fully to explain this law:_ he makes use of the word באר _beer,_ to explain (a word he has never before used), because he does not now establish f... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 6. _THE LORD OUR GOD SPAKE UNTO US IN HOREB,_ &C.— Rather _by,_ or _near Horeb._ In this first speech, which ends at the 43rd verse of the fourth chapter, Moses reminds the Israelites of the travels of their fathers towards Canaan; dating his account from the transactions at mount _Sinai_ or... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7. _GO TO THE MOUNT OF THE AMORITES_— This mountain, situated on the south of Canaan, was inhabited by the Canaanites and Amalekites, but principally by the Amorites, (see the 19th, 20th, and 44th verses following;) and it was to this mountain that Moses sent the spies, Numbers 13:17. We have... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9-11. _AND I SPAKE UNTO YOU_— That is, _to your fathers,_ as being alive at the time here referred to. We may observe here, once for all, that Moses, throughout this book, frequently speaks of the fathers of this generation as if they were now living; which is the common style of all writers... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _TAKE YE WISE MEN, AND UNDERSTANDING, AND KNOWN AMONG YOUR TRIBES_— Houbigant renders this, _Take from among your tribes, men endued with wisdom, understanding, and experience: wise men,_ says he, signifies those who had obtained knowledge by study and labour, as Moses was _learned in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _SO I TOOK THE CHIEF—AND MADE THEM HEADS_— Persons of the first rank, and who consequently were least liable to bribery and corruption, were appointed by Moses to their respective offices, and by him _charged_ to a faithful and conscientious discharge of them. It is probable, that these o... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16, 17. _I CHARGED YOUR JUDGES,_ &C.— It was ordered by Solon, that all the Athenian judges should take this oath, "I will hear the plaintiff and defendant both alike." The Jews understand the words in the 16th verse as enjoining, that a judge was not to hear any man when the adversary was ab... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19. _THAT GREAT AND TERRIBLE WILDERNESS_— So called on account of its vast extent, and because it had few other inhabitants than the wild beasts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 27. _BECAUSE THE LORD HATED US_— One cannot conceive a greater degree of corruption, than that which could accuse the great and good God in such a manner; and which could suppose him to have done that from sentiments of hatred, which proceeded only from a principle of love. See chap. Deuteron... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 28. _WALLED UP TO HEAVEN_— A strong hyperbole, usual with the very best writers, to express the height and strength of their enemies' walls. See Genesis 11:4 and Bochart's Phaleg. lib. 1: cap. 13. The author of the _Observations_ remarks, that, "anciently if they raised up the walls of their... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 29-31. _THEN I SAID UNTO YOU,_ &C.— This is omitted in the Book of Numbers. Moses here employed two arguments, the strongest possible to persuade the Israelites: the one taken from the promises of protection which God had made them; the second, from the happy proof which they themselves had s... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 34. _THE LORD—WAS, AND SWARE_— Moses makes God speak in the manner of the kings of the earth; and that, to accommodate himself to the feeble reach of our understanding. That God cannot be in a passion, is certain; when the Scripture represents him in this light, it is the better to make us co... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 37. _THE LORD WAS ANGRY WITH ME FOR YOUR SAKES_— This might be rendered more agreeably to the original, and more consistently with the history, _through,_ or _by means of you; i.e._ "You were the cause of that offence in me, which raised the Lord's anger against me.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 39. _WHICH IN THAT DAY HAD NO KNOWLEDGE,_ &C.— As the Lord is here speaking of things present, Houbigant with great propriety renders this clause in the present tense; _et filii vestri, qui nunc sunt rerum omnium ignari: your children, who now have no knowledge of good and evil._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 44. _CHASED YOU, AS BEES DO_— The Syriac, Onkelos, and an Arabic MS. which Bochart saw in Sweden, have it, _as bees do when irritated by smoke._ It is well known, that smoke is applied to drive these insects from their hives; and as then the bees, being enraged, unite, and fall with impetuosi... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 46. _IN KADESH—ACCORDING UNTO THE DAYS THAT YE ABODE THERE_— This should rather be _at_ or _near Kadesh,_ which gave name to that part of the desart southward of Kadesh. By the phrase _according unto the days that ye abode there,_ some understand to mean, _as long as ye abode at mount Sinai,... [ Continue Reading ]