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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
D E U T E R O N O M Y
CHAP. XVII.
The charge of this chapter is,
I. Concerning the purity and perfection of all those animals that were
offered in sacrifice,
II. Concerning the punishment of those that worshipped idols,
III. Concerning appeals from the inferior courts to the great
sanhedrim,
IV. Concerning the choice and duty of a king,
&c.
| The Punishment of Idolatry. | B. C. 1451. |
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1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock,
or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that
is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which
the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought
wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his
covenant,
3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them,
either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I
have not commanded;
4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and
enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing
certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:
5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which
have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man
or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.
6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he
that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of
one witness he shall not be put to death.
7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him
to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou
shalt put the evil away from among you.
Here is,
I. A law for preserving the honour of God’s worship, by providing that
no creature that had any blemish should be offered in sacrifice to him,
v. 1.
This caveat we have often met with: Thou shalt not sacrifice that
which has any blemish, which renders it unsightly, or any evil
matter or thing (as the following word night better be rendered),
any sickness or weakness, though not discernible at first view; it is
an abomination to God. God is the best of beings, and therefore
whatsoever he is served with ought to be the best in its kind. And the
Old-Testament sacrifices in a special manner must be so, because they
were types of Christ, who is a Lamb without blemish or spot
(1 Pet. i. 19),
perfectly pure from all sin and all appearance of it. In the latter
times of the Jewish church, when by the captivity in Babylon they were
cured of idolatry, yet they were charged with profaneness in the breach
of this law, with offering the blind, and the lame, and the sick for
sacrifice,
Mal. i. 8.
II. A law for the punishing of those that worshipped false gods. It was
made a capital crime to seduce others to idolatry
(ch. xiii.),
here it is made no less to be seduced. If the blind thus mislead the
blind, both must fall into the ditch. Thus God would possess them
with a dread of that sin, which they must conclude exceedingly sinful
when so many sanguinary laws were made against it, and would deter
those from it that would not otherwise be persuaded against it; and yet
the law, which works death, proved ineffectual. See here,
1. What the crime was against which this law was levelled, serving or
worshipping other gods,
v. 3.
That which was the most ancient and plausible idolatry is specified,
worshipping the sun, moon, and stars; and, if that was so detestable a
thing, much more was it so to worship stocks and stones, or the
representations of mean and contemptible animals. Of this it is said,
(1.) That it is what God had not commanded. He had again and again
forbidden it; but it is thus expressed to intimate that, if there had
been no more against it, this had been enough (for in the worship of
God his institution and appointment must be our rule and warrant), and
that God never commanded his worshippers to debase themselves so far as
to do homage to their fellow-creatures: had God commanded them to do
it, they might justly have complained of it as a reproach and
disparagement to them; yet, when he has forbidden it, they will, from a
spirit of contradiction, put this indignity upon themselves.
(2.) That it is wickedness in the sight of God,
v. 2.
Be it ever so industriously concealed, he sees it, and, be it ever so
ingeniously palliated, he hates it: it is a sin in itself exceedingly
heinous, and the highest affront that can be offered to Almighty God.
(3.) That it is a transgression of the covenant. It was on this
condition that God took them to be his peculiar people, that they
should serve and worship him only as their God, so that if they gave to
any other the honour which was due to him alone that covenant was void,
and all the benefit of it forfeited. Other sins were transgressions of
the command, but this was a transgression of the covenant. It was
spiritual adultery, which breaks them marriage bond.
(4.) That it is abomination in Israel,
v. 4.
Idolatry was bad enough in any, but it was particularly abominable in
Israel, a people so blessed with peculiar discoveries of the will and
favour of the only true and living God.
2. How it must be tried. Upon information given of it, or any ground of
suspicion that any person whatsoever, man or woman, had served other
gods,
(1.) Enquiry must be made,
v. 4.
Though it appears not certain at first, it may afterwards upon search
appear so; and, if it can possibly be discovered, it must not be
unpunished; if not, yet the very enquiry concerning it would possess
the country with a dread of it.
(2.) Evidence must be given in,
v. 6.
How heinous and dangerous soever the crime is, yet they must not punish
any for it, unless there were good proof against them, by two witnesses
at least. They must not, under pretence of honouring God, wrong an
innocent man. This law, which requires two witnesses in case of life,
we had before,
it is quoted,
3. What sentence must be passed and executed. So great a punishment as
death, so great a death as stoning, must be inflicted on the idolater,
whether man or woman, for the infirmity of the weaker sex would be no
excuse,
v. 5.
The place of execution must be the gate of the city, that the shame
might be the greater to the criminal and the warning the more public to
all others. The hands of the witnesses, in this as in other cases, must
be first upon him, that is, they must cast the first stone at him,
thereby avowing their testimony, and solemnly imprecating the guilt of
his blood upon themselves if their evidence were false. This custom
might be of use to deter men from false-witness bearing. The witnesses
are really, and therefore it was required that they should be actually,
the death of the malefactor. But they must be followed, and the
execution completed, by the hands of all the people, who were thus to
testify their detestation of the crime and to put the evil away from
among them, as before,
| The Authority of the Judges. | B. C. 1451. |
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8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment,
between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between
stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy
gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place
which the LORD thy God shall choose;
9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto
the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they
shall show thee the sentence of judgment:
10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of
that place which the LORD shall choose shall show thee; and thou
shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:
11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach
thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee,
thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which
they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.
12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not
hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before
the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and
thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
13 And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more
presumptuously.
Courts of judgment were ordered to be erected in every city
(ch. xvi. 18),
and they were empowered to hear and determine causes according to law,
both those which we call pleas of the crown and those between party and
party; and we may suppose that ordinarily they ended the matters that
were brought before them, and their sentence was definitive; but,
1. It is here taken for granted that sometimes a case might come into
their court too difficult for those inferior judges to determine, who
could not be thought to be so learned in the laws as those that
presided in the higher courts; so that (to speak in the language of our
law) they must find a special verdict, and take time to advise before
the giving of judgment
(v. 8):
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, which it
would be no dishonour to the judges to own the difficulty of,–suppose
it between blood and blood, the blood of a person which cried
and the blood of him that was charged with the murder which was
demanded, when it was doubtful upon the evidence whether it was wilful
or casual,–or between plea and plea, the plea (that is, the
bill or declaration) of the plaintiff and the plea of the
defendant,–or between stroke and stroke, in actions of assault
and battery; in these and similar cases, thought the evidence were
plain, yet doubts might arise about the sense and meaning of the law
and the application of it to the particular case.
2. These difficult cases, which hitherto had been brought to Moses,
according to Jethro’s advice, were, after his death, to be brought to
the supreme power, wherever it was lodged, whether in a judge (when
there was such an extraordinary person raised up and qualified for that
great service, as Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, &c.) or in the high-priest
(when he was by the eminency of his gifts called of God to preside in
public affairs, as Eli), or, if no single person were marked by heaven
for this honour, then in the priests and Levites (or in the priests,
who were Levites of course), who not only attended the sanctuary, but
met in council to receive appeals from the inferior courts, who might
reasonably be supposed, not only to be best qualified by their learning
and experience, but to have the best assistance of the divine Spirit
for the deciding of doubts,
They are not appointed to consult the urim and thummim, for it is
supposed that these were to be consulted only in cases relating to the
public, either the body of the people or the prince; but in ordinary
cases the wisdom and integrity of those that sat at the stern must be
relied on, their judgment had not the divine authority of an oracle,
yet besides the moral certainty it had, as the judgment of knowing,
prudent, and experienced men, it had the advantage of a divine promise,
implied in those words
(v. 9),
They shall show thee the sentence of judgment; it had also the
support of a divine institution, by which they were made the supreme
judicature of the nation.
3. The definitive sentence given by the judge, priest, or great
council, must be obeyed by the parties concerned, upon pain of death:
Thou shalt do according to their sentence
(v. 10);
thou shalt observe to do it, thou shalt not decline from it
(v. 11),
to the right hand nor to the left. Note, It is for the honour of
God and the welfare of a people that the authority of the higher power
be supported and the due order of government observed, that those be
obeyed who are appointed to rule, and that every soul be subject to
them in all those things that fall within their commission. Though the
party thought himself injured by the sentence (as every man is apt to
be partial in is own cause), yet he must needs be subject, must stand
to the award, how unpleasing soever, and bear, or lose, or pay,
according to it, not only for wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. But
if an inferior judge contradict the sentence of the higher court and
will not execute the orders of it, or a private person refuse to
conform to their sentence, the contumacy must be punished with death,
though the matter were ever so small in which the opposition was made:
That man shall die, and all the people shall hear and fear,
v. 12, 13.
See here,
(1.) The evil of disobedience. Rebellion and stubbornness, from a
spirit of contradiction and opposition of God, or those in authority
under him, from a principle of contempt and self-willedness, are as
witchcraft and idolatry. To differ in opinion from weakness and
infirmity may be excused and must be borne with; but to do so
presumptuously, in pride and wickedness (as the ancient translations
explain it), this is to take up arms against the government, and is an
affront to him by whom the powers that be are ordained.
(2.) The design of punishment: that others may hear and fear, and not
do the like. Some would be so considerate as to infer the heinousness
of the offence from the grievousness of the penalty, and therefore
would detest it; and others would so far consult their own safety as to
cross their humours by conforming to the sentence rather than to sin
against their own heads, and forfeit their lives by going contrary to
it. From this law the apostle infers the greatness of the punishment of
which those will be thought worthy that trample on the authority of the
Son of God,
| The Choice of a King. | B. C. 1451. |
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14 When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and
shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations
that are about me;
15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the
LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt
thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over
thee, which is not thy brother.
16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the
people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply
horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall
henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart
turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself
silver and gold.
18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his
kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out
of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the
days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to
keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that
he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or
to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his
kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.
After the laws which concerned subjects fitly followed the laws which
concern kings; for those that rule others must themselves remember that
they are under command. Here are laws given,
I. To the electors of the empire, what rules they must go by in making
their choice,
1. It is here supposed that the people would, in process of time, be
desirous of a king, whose royal pomp and power would be thought to make
their nation look great among their neighbours. Their having a king is
neither promised as a mercy nor commanded as a duty (nothing could be
better for them than the divine regimen they were under), but it is
permitted them if they desired it. If they would but take care to have
the ends of government answered, and God’s laws duly observed and put
in execution, they should not be tied to any one form of government,
but should be welcome to have a king. Though something irregular is
supposed to be the principle of the desire, that they might be like the
nations (whereas God in many ways distinguished them from the nations),
yet God would indulge them in it, because he intended to serve his own
purposes by it, in making the regal government typical of the kingdom
of the Messiah.
2. They are directed in their choice. If they will have a king over
them, as God foresaw they would (though it does not appear that ever
the motion was made till almost 400 years after), then they must,
(1.) Ask counsel at God’s mouth, and make him king whom God shall
choose; and happy it was for them that they had an oracle to consult in
so weighty an affair, and a God to choose for them who knows infallibly
what every man is and will be. Kings are God’s vicegerents, and
therefore it is fit that he should have the choosing of them: God had
himself been in a particular manner Israel’s King, and if they set
another over them, under him, it was necessary that he should nominate
the person. Accordingly, when the people desired a king, they applied
to Samuel a prophet of the Lord; and afterwards David, Solomon,
Jeroboam, Jehu, and others, were chosen by the prophets; and the people
are reproved for not observing this law,
They have set up kings but not by me. In all cases God’s choice,
if we can but know it, should direct, determine, and overrule ours.
(2.) They must not choose a foreigner under pretence of strengthening
their alliances, or of the extraordinary fitness of the person, lest a
strange king should introduce strange customs of usages, contrary to
those that were established by the divine law; but he must be one
from among thy brethren, that he may be a type of Christ, who is
bone of our bone,
II. Laws are here given to the prince that should be elected for the
due administration of the government.
1. He must carefully avoid every thing that would divert him from God
and religion. Riches, honours, and pleasures are the three great
hindrances of godliness (the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the
eye, and the pride of life), especially to those in high stations:
against these therefore the king is here warned.
(1.) He must not gratify the love of honour by multiplying horses,
He that rode upon a horse (a stately creature) in a country where asses
and mules were generally used looked very great; and therefore though
he might have horses for his own saddle, and chariots, yet he must not
set servants on horseback
nor have many horses for his officers and guards (when God was their
King, his judges rode on asses,
nor must he multiply horses for war, lest he should trust too much to
them,
Ps. xx. 7; xxxiii. 17; Hos. xiv. 3.
The reason here given against his multiplying horses is because it
would produce a greater correspondence with Egypt (which furnished
Canaan with horses,
than it was fit the Israel of God should have, who were brought thence
with such a high hand: You shall return no more that way, for
fear of being infected with the idolatries of Egypt
to which they were very prone. Note, We should take heed of that
commerce or conversation by which we are in danger of being drawn into
sin. If Israel must not return to Egypt, they must not trade with
Egypt; Solomon got no good by it.
(2.) He must not gratify the love of pleasure by multiplying wives
(v. 17),
as Solomon did to his undoing
that his heart, being set upon them, turn not away from business, and
every thing that is serious, and especially from the exercise of piety
and devotion, to which nothing is a greater enemy than the indulgence
of the flesh.
(3.) He must not gratify the love of riches by greatly multiplying
silver and gold. A competent treasure is allowed him, and he is not
forbidden to be good husband of it, but,
[1.] He must not greatly multiply money, so as to oppress his people by
raising it (as Solomon seems to have done,
nor so as to deceive himself, by trusting to it, and setting his heart
upon it,
[2.] He must not multiply it to himself. David multiplied silver and
gold, but it was for the service of God
not for himself; for his people, not for his own family.
2. He must carefully apply himself to the law of God, and make that his
rule. This must be to him better than all riches, honours, and
pleasures, than many horses or many wives, better than thousands of
gold and silver.
(1.) He must write himself a copy of the law out of the original, which
was in the custody of the priests that attended the sanctuary,
Some think that he was to write only this book of Deuteronomy, which is
an abstract of the law, and the precepts of which, being mostly moral
and judicial, concerned the king more than the laws in Leviticus and
Numbers, which, being ceremonial, concerned chiefly the priests. Others
think that he was to transcribe all the five books of Moses, which are
called the law, and which were preserved together as the
foundation of their religion. Now,
[1.] Though the king might be presumed to have very fair copies by him
from his ancestors, yet, besides those, he must have one of his own: it
might be presumed that theirs were worn with constant use; he must have
a fresh one to begin the world with.
[2.] Though he had secretaries about him whom he might employ to write
this copy, and who perhaps could write a better hand than he, yet he
must do it himself, with his own hand, for the honour of the law, and
that he might think no act of religion below him, to inure himself to
labour and study, and especially that he might thereby be obliged to
take particular notice of every part of the law and by writing it might
imprint it in his mind. Note, It is of great use for each of us to
write down what we observe as most affecting and edifying to us, out of
the scriptures and good books, and out of the sermons we hear. A
prudent pen may go far towards making up the deficiencies of the
memory, and the furnishing of the treasures of the good householder
with things new and old.
[3.] He must do this even when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom,
provided that he had not done it before. When he begins to apply
himself to business, he must apply himself to this in the first place.
He that sits upon the throne of a kingdom cannot but have his hands
full. The affairs of his kingdom both at home and abroad call for a
large share of his time and thoughts, and yet he must write himself a
copy of the law. Let not those who call themselves men of business
think that this will excuse them from making religion their business;
nor let great men think it any disparagement to them to write for
themselves those great things of God’s law which he hath written to
them,
Hos. viii. 12.
(2.) Having a Bible by him of his own writing, he must not think it
enough to keep it in his cabinet, but he must read therein all the
days of his life,
v. 19.
It is not enough to have Bibles, but we must use them, use them daily,
as the duty and necessity of everyday require: our souls must have
their constant meals of that manna; and, if well digested, it will be
true nourishment and strength to them. As the body is receiving benefit
by its food continually, and not only when it is eating, so is the
soul, by the word of God, if it meditate therein day and night,
Ps. i. 2.
And we must persevere in the use of the written word of God as long as
we live. Christ’s scholars never learn above their Bibles, but will
have a constant occasion for them till they come to that world where
knowledge and love will both be made perfect.
(3.) His writing and reading were all nothing if he did not reduce to
practice what he wrote and read,
The word of God is not designed merely to be and entertaining subject
of speculation, but to be a commanding rule of conversation. Let him
know,
[1.] What dominion his religion must have over him, and what influence
it must have upon him. First, It must possess him with a very
reverent and awful regard to the divine majesty and authority. He must
learn (and thus the most learned must by ever learning) to fear the
Lord his God; and, as high as he is, he must remember that God is
above him, and, whatever fear his subjects owe to him, that, and much
more, he owes to God as his King. Secondly, It must engage him
to a constant observance of the law of God, and a conscientious
obedience to it, as the effect of that fear. He must keep all the
words of this law (he is custos utriusque tabulae–the keeper of
both tables), not only take care that others do them, but do them
himself as a humble servant to the God of heaven and a good example to
his inferiors. Thirdly, It must keep him humble. How much
soever he is advanced, let him keep his spirit low, and let the fear
of his God prevent the contempt of his brethren; and let not his
heart be lifted up above them, so as to carry himself haughtily
or disdainfully towards them, and to trample upon them. Let him not
conceit himself better than they because he is greater and makes a
fairer show; but let him remember that he is the minister of God to
them for good (major singulis, but minor
universis—greater than any one, but less than the
whole). It must prevent his errors, either on he right hand or
on the left (for there are errors on both hands), and keep him
right, in all instances, to his God and to his duty.
[2.] What advantage his religion would be of to him. Those that fear
God and keep his commandments will certainly fare the better for it in
this world. The greatest monarch in the world may receive more benefit
by religion than by all the wealth and power of his monarchy. It will
be of advantage, First, To his person: He shall prolong his
days in his kingdom. We find in the history of the kings of Judah
that, generally, the best reigns were the longest, except when God
shortened them for the punishment of the people, as Josiah’s.
Secondly, To his family: his children shall also prosper. Entail
religion upon posterity, and God will entail a blessing upon it.
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