(5-1) INTRODUCTION. (1) THESE BE THE WORDS WHICH MOSES SPAKE UNTO ALL ISRAEL. — The first two verses and the three that follow form a kind of double introduction to the book, and perhaps more especially to the first portion of it, which ends with Deuteronomy 4:40. ON THIS SIDE JORDAN. — Literally,... [ Continue Reading ]
ELEVEN DAYS’ JOURNEY FROM HOREB... — In our English Version this verse forms a separate sentence; but there seems nothing to prevent our taking it as completing the first verse. The route between Paran on the one side and the line from Tophel to Hazeroth on the other is still further defined as “a d... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES SPAKE UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL... AFTER HE HAD SLAIN SIHON... AND OG. — The conquest of these two kings and their territories was one of the exploits of the fortieth year. (See Numbers 21:21.) Before the eleventh month of that year, not only Sihon and Og, but also the five princes of Midian... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE FORTIETH YEAR, IN THE ELEVENTH MONTH. — The “and” is the real beginning of Deuteronomy, and connects it with the previous books. The moral of these words has been well pointed out by Jewish writers. It was but eleven days’ journey from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea — the place fr... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THIS SIDE JORDAN, IN THE LAND OF MOAB. — This would be _on the other side of Jordan_ from the stand-point of the writer, or of the readers for whom the book was intended, which is Palestine. BEGAN MOSES. — “Began,” i.e., “determined” or “assayed.” TO DECLARE. — The emphatic reiteration of what h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD OUR GOD SPAKE UNTO US IN HOREB. — The “Lord our God,” “Jehovah our Elohim,” is the watchword of the whole book. YE HAVE DWELT LONG ENOUGH IN THIS MOUNT. — From the beginning of the second month of the first year of the exodus (Exodus 19:1) to the twentieth day of the second month of the se... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTER THE MOUNT OF THE AMORITES — _i.e.,_ the southern part of Judah, from which the five kings of the Amorites, the southern confederacy of Joshua 10 (which see), arose to attack Gibeon. Israel would have marched into the heart of this territory had they entered from Kadesh, “by the way of the spie... [ Continue Reading ]
TO GIVE UNTO THEM. — Note that the land is promised _to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob,_ not only to their seed. The promise is not forgotten, though the three patriarchs are in another world. (Comp. Acts 7:5, and Hebrews 11:16. See also Note. on Deuteronomy 11:21.)... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM NOT ABLE TO BEAR YOU MYSELF ALONE. — Repeated almost exactly from Numbers 11:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-18) In these words Moses appears to combine the recollection of two distinct things: (1) the advice of Jethro (Exodus 18), by following which he would be relieved from the ordinary pressure of litigation; (2) the still further relief afforded him by the appointment of the seventy elders. These la... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD GOD OF YOUR FATHERS... BLESS YOU. — This appears to belong distinctly to the Book of Deuteronomy. It can hardly be a record of what was spoken long before. It brings the living speaker before us in a way that precludes imitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR CUMBRANCE. — The original word is found only here and in Isaiah 1:14 : “They are a _trouble_ unto me, I am weary to bear them.” Deuteronomy 1:13 recall very exactly what is said in Exodus 18... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I CHARGED YOUR JUDGES... SAYING. — These instructions given by Moses are an admirable expansion, but only an expansion, of those of Jethro(Exodus 18:21), that the judges must be “able men, such as fear God, _men of truth, hating covetousness_” — a sentence older than the Decalogue itself.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JUDGMENT IS GOD’S. — Comp. St. Paul in Romans 13:1, which is, again, only an expansion of this sentence. For the latter part of this verse comp. Exodus 18:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I COMMANDED YOU AT THAT TIME ALL THE THINGS WHICH YE SHOULD DO. — “At that time,” _i.e.,_ after your departure from Horeb. This is as much as to say that the exhortations given in Deuteronomy had already been given on the way from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. (Comp. what has been said above on the tw... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE WAY OF THE MOUNTAIN OF THE AMORITES. — Rather, _in the direction of the mount._ They did not _pass_ the Mount of the Amorites, but went through the “great and terrible wilderness” from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. So Moses says in Deuteronomy 1:20, “Ye _are come_ unto the mount of the Amorites.”... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, NEITHER BE DISCOURAGED. — The last clause of this verse reappears in St. John 14:27, “Let not your heart be troubled, _neither let it be afraid.” _... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE CAME NEAR... AND SAID, WE WILL SEND. — A new aspect is here given to the sending of the twelve spies. In Numbers 13:1 the incident is introduced thus: “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men.” We learn here that the proposal in the first instance came from the people. Moses woul... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VALLEY OF ESHCOL. — See Numbers 13:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS A GOOD LAND. — In Numbers 13:27 they all say, “Surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.” In Numbers 14:7 Joshua and Caleb describe it as an “exceeding good land.”... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE LORD HATED US. — A most astounding commentary on the events of the exodus up to that date. It is a stronger expression than any recorded, even in Numbers 14:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHITHER SHALL WE GO UP? OUR BRETHREN HAVE DISCOURAGED OUR HEART. — So Caleb says in Joshua 14:8, “My brethren made the heart of the people melt.” For the rest of the verse see Numbers 13:28.... [ Continue Reading ]
DREAD NOT, NEITHER BE AFRAID OF THEM... — The reminder that “Jehovah went before them” did not avail, for they had already chosen _men_ to go before them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD... BARE THEE, AS A MAN DOTH BEAR HIS SON. — From this comes the expression in Acts 13:18, “He bare them as a nursing father in the wilderness.” — Rev. N. T., _margin. _... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO WENT IN THE WAY BEFORE YOU, TO SEARCH YOU OUT A PLACE. — Comp. Numbers 10:33, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them... to search out a resting place for them;” and St. John 14:2, “I go to prepare a place for you;” and Hebrews 6:20, “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS WROTH, AND SWARE. — See Psalms 95:11, “I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY... Comp. St. Luke 14:24, “None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SAVE CALEB. — Caleb is here placed by himself, as the one exception _among the people._ Joshua, as Moses’ substitute, the exception among the recognised leaders, is named separately.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO THE LORD WAS ANGRY WITH ME FOR YOUR SAKES. — Here, again, Moses combines his own rejection. an event of the fortieth year of the exodus, with the rejection of the people in the second year. The reason was the same — _unbelief._ “Because ye believed me not” was the reason given to Moses in Numbe... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER YOUR LITTLE ONES. — This continues the sentence of Jehovah from Deuteronomy 1:36. Which ye said should be a prey. — In Numbers 14:3, “that our wives and children should be a prey.” (See also Deuteronomy 1:31.)... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS FOR YOU, TURN YOU, AND TAKE YOUR JOURNEY INTO THE WILDERNESS BY THE WAY (IN THE DIRECTION) OF THE RED SEA. — In Numbers 14:32 the parallel sentence is, “As for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.”... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE SINNED... WE WILL GO UP AND FIGHT. — The emphatic _we_ of this verse may be compared with the “we” of Deuteronomy 1:28. In both instances it was _we,_ without _Jehovah._ It was a change from cowardice to presumption, not from unbelief to faith. YE WERE READY TO GO UP INTO THE HILL. — Some r... [ Continue Reading ]
The last clause comes from Numbers 14:44.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS BEES DO. — This should be observed as illustrating what is said of the hornet in Exodus 23:28, and further on in Deuteronomy 7:20; Joshua 24:12. The incidental mention of the bees in this place shows that the writer of Deuteronomy was familiar with the spectacle of a company of men pursued by bee... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE RETURNED AND WEPT BEFORE THE LORD. — This fact is not related in Numbers 14. It shows the personal knowledge of the writer, and that the narrative is not simply drawn from the earlier books.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO YE ABODE IN KADESH MANY DAYS. — Better, _and._ In Numbers 14:25 the command was, _“Tomorrow_ turn you, and get you into the wilderness.” This command was broken by the attack on the Canaanites, made on the morrow after the command. We cannot be certain that the many days spent in Kadesh were spen... [ Continue Reading ]