Deuteronomy 6 - Introduction
_MOSES INFORMS THEM, THAT THE END OF THE LAW IS OBEDIENCE AND LOVE; TO WHICH HE STRONGLY AND ELEGANTLY EXHORTS THEM._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_MOSES INFORMS THEM, THAT THE END OF THE LAW IS OBEDIENCE AND LOVE; TO WHICH HE STRONGLY AND ELEGANTLY EXHORTS THEM._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 3. _HEAR, THEREFORE, O ISRAEL,_ &C.— The Jews have a very particular regard for these, and the following words, to the 10th verse exclusively: they write them upon vellum, made of the skin of a pure animal; they carry them about them, and recite them every day; and they are one of the four pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4, 5. _THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD,_ &C.— As polytheism was the great error of the world, the Jewish religion and laws were calculated to strike at the root of that epidemical evil. Therefore, the first and fundamental article of their creed is, that, as there is but one supreme God, Jehovah... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 8. _THOU SHALT BIND THEN, FOR A SIGN_— The Lord is pleased to take every method most likely to preserve in the minds of the Israelites a conscientious regard to the precepts which he enjoined. He not only commands, that their children be early and diligently instructed in them, but that they... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 12. _THEN BEWARE LEST THOU FORGET THE LORD_— It is well known, how prone men are in prosperity to forget their benefactors, but especially their supreme One, and their dependance upon him. See Proverbs 30:8. Hence it was proverbial among the Greeks, that "satiety begets insolence; and power,... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _THOU SHALT—SWEAR BY HIS NAME_— An oath is a solemn act of religious worship; so, to swear by any other name than that of the true God, is to recognize another god as the true one, and to fall into a polytheism. Hence it follows, that the words, _thou shalt swear by his name,_ are synonym... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16-19. _YE SHALL NOT TEMPT THE LORD,_ &C.— He had warned them, ver. 12 against the sin of ingratitude, and forgetfulness of God, to which they might be tempted by prosperity: here he cautions them against the vice that they were liable to from the other extreme, adversity; namely, distrust of... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 20-24. _AND WHEN THY SON ASKETH THEE,_ &C.— What Moses says in this place principally concerns the observation of the solemnities established to keep up a perpetual memory of God's mercies towards the Israelites, particularly the observation of the sabbath, and the passover. Compare Exodus 13... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 25. _IT SHALL BE OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS_— Houbigant renders this, _for a just reward shall not be wanting to us,_ if, &c. that is, says he, the promised reward mentioned in the foregoing verse. The word צדק _zedek_ is often so used, as well as the Chaldee וזכותא _uzekutha,_ which the Latin interpr... [ Continue Reading ]