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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. IV.
In this chapter we have,
I. A most earnest and pathetic exhortation to obedience, both in
general, and in some particular instances, backed with a great variety
of very pressing arguments, repeated again and again, and set before
them in the most moving and affectionate manner imaginable,
II. The appointing of the cities of refuge on that side Jordan,
III. The particular description of the place where Moses delivered the
following repetition of the law,
&c.
| Exhortations and Arguments. | B. C. 1451. |
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1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto
the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may
live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your
fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the
commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor:
for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath
destroyed them from among you.
4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive
every one of you this day.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the
LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land
whither ye go to possess it.
6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and
your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear
all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise
and understanding people.
7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh
unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call
upon him for?
8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and
judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you
this day?
9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they
depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them
thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy
God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people
together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn
to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and
that they may teach their children.
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with
darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye
heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye
heard a voice.
13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded
you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon
two tables of stone.
14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes
and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go
over to possess it.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no
manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in
Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image,
the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the
likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou
seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host
of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them,
which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the
whole heaven.
20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of
the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of
inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and
sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go
in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for
an inheritance:
22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but
ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of
the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven
image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God
hath forbidden thee.
24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous
God.
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and
ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt
yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any
thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to
provoke him to anger:
26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day,
that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye
go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days
upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye
shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD
shall lead you.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood
and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou
shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with
all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come
upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD
thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not
forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of
thy fathers which he sware unto them.
32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before
thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and
ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there
hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been
heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the
midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the
midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by
wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out
arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your
God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the
LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might
instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and
thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their
seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his
mighty power out of Egypt;
38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier
than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for
an inheritance, as it is this day.
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart,
that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth
beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his
commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well
with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest
prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth
thee, for ever.
This most lively and excellent discourse is so entire, and the
particulars of it are so often repeated, that we must take it
altogether in the exposition of it, and endeavour to digest it into
proper heads, for we cannot divide it into paragraphs.
I. In general, it is the use and application of the foregoing history;
it comes in by way of inference from it: Now therefore harken, O
Israel,
v. 1.
This use we should make of the review of God’s providences concerning
us, we should by them be quickened and engaged to duty and obedience.
The histories of the years of ancient times should in like manner be
improved by us.
II. The scope and drift of his discourse is to persuade them to keep
close to God and to his service, and not to forsake him for any other
god, nor in any instance to decline from their duty to him. Now observe
what he says to them, with a great deal of divine rhetoric, both by way
of exhortation and direction, and also by way of motive and argument to
enforce his exhortations.
1. See here how he charges and commands them, and shows them what is
good, and what the Lord requires of them.
(1.) He demands their diligent attention to the word of God, and to the
statutes and judgments that were taught them: Hearken, O Israel.
He means, not only that they must now give him the hearing, but that
whenever the book of the law was read to them, or read by them, they
should be attentive to it. “Hearken to the statutes, as containing the
great commands of God and the great concerns of your own souls, and
therefore challenging your utmost attention.” At Horeb God had made
them hear his words
(v. 10),
hear them with a witness; the attention which was then constrained by
the circumstances of the delivery ought ever after to be engaged by the
excellency of the things themselves. What God so spoke once, we
should hear twice, hear often.
(2.) He charges them to preserve the divine law pure and entire among
them,
v. 2.
Keep it pure, and do not add to it; keep it entire, and do not diminish
from it. Not in practice, so some: “You shall not add by committing the
evil which the law forbids, nor diminish by omitting the good which the
law requires.” Not in opinion, so others: “You shall not add your own
inventions, as if the divine institutions were defective, nor
introduce, much less impose, any rites of religious worship other than
what God has appointed; nor shall you diminish, or set aside, any thing
that is appointed, as needless or superfluous.” God’s work is perfect,
nothing can be put to it, nor taken from it, without making it the
worse. See
The Jews understand it as prohibiting the alteration of the text or
letter of the law, even in the least jot or tittle; and to their great
care and exactness herein we are very much indebted, under God, for the
purity and integrity of the Hebrew code. We find a fence like this
made about the New Testament in the close of it,
(3.) He charges them to keep God’s commandments
(v. 2),
to do them
(v. 5, 14),
to keep and do them
(v. 6),
to perform the covenant,
v. 13.
Hearing must be in order to doing, knowledge in order to practice.
God’s commandments were the way they must keep in, the rule they must
keep to; they must govern themselves by the moral precepts, perform
their devotion according to the divine ritual, and administer justice
according to the judicial law. He concludes his discourse
(v. 40)
with this repeated charge: Thou shalt keep his statutes and his
commandments which I command thee. What are laws made for but to be
observed and obeyed?
(4.) He charges them to be very strict and careful in their observance
of the law
(v. 9):
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently; and
(v. 15),
Take you therefore good heed unto yourselves; and again
(v. 23),
Take heed to yourselves. Those that would be religious must be
very cautious, and walk circumspectly. Considering how many temptations
we are compassed about with, and what corrupt inclinations we have in
our own bosoms, we have great need to look about us and to keep our
hearts with all diligence. Those cannot walk aright that walk
carelessly and at all adventures.
(5.) He charges them particularly to take heed of the sin of idolatry,
that sin which of all others they would be most tempted to by the
customs of the nations, which they were most addicted to by the
corruption of their hearts, and which would be most provoking to God
and of the most pernicious consequences to themselves: Take good
heed, lest in this matter you corrupt yourselves,
v. 15, 16.
Two sorts of idolatry he cautions them against:–
[1.] The worship of images, however by them they might intend to
worship the true God, as they had done in the golden calf, so changing
the truth of God into a lie and his glory into shame. The
second commandment is expressly directed against this, and is here
enlarged upon,
“Take heed lest you corrupt yourselves,” that is, “lest you
debauch yourselves;” for those that think to make images of God form in
their minds such notions of him as must needs be an inlet to all
impieties; and it is intimated that it is a spiritual adultery. “And
take heed lest you destroy yourselves. If any thing ruin you, this will
be it. Whatever you do, make no similitude of God, either in a human
shape, male of female, or in the shape of any beast or fowl,
serpent or fish;” for the heathen worshipped their gods by images
of all these kinds, being either not able to form, or not willing to
admit, that plain demonstration which we find,
The workman made it, therefore it is not God. To represent an
infinite Spirit by an image, and the great Creator by the image of a
creature, is the greatest affront we can put upon God and the greatest
cheat we can put upon ourselves. As an argument against their making
images of God, he urges it very much upon them that when God made
himself known to them at Horeb he did it by a voice of words which
sounded in their ears, to teach them that faith comes by
hearing, and God in the word is nigh us; but no image was presented
to their eye, for to see God as he is is reserved for our happiness in
the other world, and to see him as he is not will do us hurt and no
good in this world. You saw no similitude
(v. 12),
no manner of similitude,
v. 15.
Probably they expected to have seen some similitude, for they were
ready to break through unto the Lord to gaze,
Exod. xix. 21.
But all they saw was light and fire, and nothing that
they could make an image of, God an infinite wisdom so ordering his
manifestation of himself because of the peril of idolatry. It is
said indeed of Moses that he beheld the similitude of the Lord
(Num. xii. 8),
God allowing him that favour because he was above the temptation of
idolatry; but for the people who had lately come from admiring the
idols of Egypt, they must see no resemblance of God, lest they should
have pretended to copy it, and so should have received the second
commandment in vain; “for” (says bishop Patrick) “they would have
thought that this forbade them only to make any representation of God
besides that wherein he showed himself to them, in which they would
have concluded it lawful to represent him.” Let this be a caution to us
to take heed of making images of God in our fancy and imagination when
we are worshipping him, lest thereby we corrupt ourselves. There may be
idols in the heart, where there are none in the sanctuary.
[2.] The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is another sort of
idolatry which they were cautioned against,
This was the most ancient species of idolatry and the most plausible,
drawing the adoration to those creatures that not only are in a
situation above us, but are most sensibly glorious in themselves and
most generally serviceable to the world. And the plausibleness of it
made it the more dangerous. It is intimated here, First, How
strong the temptation is to sense; for the caution is, Lest thou
shouldest be driven to worship them by the strong impulse of a vain
imagination and the impetuous torrent of the customs of the nations.
The heart is supposed to walk after the eye, which, in our
corrupt and degenerate state, it is very apt to do. “When thou seest
the sun, moon, and stars, thou wilt so admire their height and
brightness, their regular motion and powerful influence, that thou wilt
be strongly tempted to give that glory to them which is due to him that
made them, and made them what they are to us–gave them their beings,
and made them blessings to the world.” It seems there was need of a
great deal of resolution to arm them against this temptation, so weak
was their faith in an invisible God and an invisible world.
Secondly, Yet he shows how weak the temptation would be to those
that would use their reason; for these pretended deities, the sun,
moon, and stars, were only blessings which the Lord their God, whom
they were obliged to worship, had imparted to all nations. It is absurd
to worship them, for they are man’s servants, were made and ordained to
give light on earth; and shall we serve those that were made to serve
us? The sun, in Hebrew is called shemesh, which signifies a
servant, for it is the minister-general of this visible world,
and holds the candle to all mankind; let it not then be worshipped as a
lord. Moreover, they are God’s gifts; he has imparted them; whatever
benefit we have by them, we owe it to him; it is therefore highly
injurious to him to give that honour and praise to them which is due to
him only.
(6.) He charges them to teach their children to observe the laws of
God: Teach them to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons
(v. 9),
that they may teach their children,
v. 10.
[1.] Care must be taken in general to preserve the entail of religion
among them, and to transmit the knowledge and worship of God to
posterity; for the kingdom of God in Israel was designed to be
perpetual, if they did not forfeit the privilege of it.
[2.] Parents must, in order hereunto, particularly take care to teach
their own children the fear of God, and to train them up in an
observance of all his commandments.
(7.) He charges them never to forget their duty: Take heed lest you
forget the covenant of the Lord your God,
v. 23.
Though God is ever mindful of the covenant, we are apt to forget it;
and this is at the bottom of all our departures from God. We have need
therefore to watch against all those things which would put the
covenant out of our minds, and to watch over our own hearts, lest at
any time we let it slip; and so we must take heed lest at any time we
forget our religion, lest we lose it or leave it off. Care and caution,
and holy watchfulness, are the best helps against a bad memory. These
are the directions and commands he gives them.
2. Let us see now what are the motives or arguments with which he backs
these exhortations. How does he order the cause before them, and fill
his mouth with arguments! He has a great deal to say on God’s behalf.
Some of his topics are indeed peculiar to that people, yet applicable
to us. But, upon the whole, it is evident that religion has reason on
its side, the powerful charms of which all that are irreligious
wilfully stop their ears against.
(1.) He urges the greatness, glory, and goodness, of God. Did we
consider what a God he is with whom we have to do, we should surely
make conscience of our duty to him and not dare to sin against him. He
reminds them here,
[1.] That the Lord Jehovah is the one and only living and true
God. This they must know and consider,
v. 39.
There are many things which we know, but are not the better for,
because we do not consider them, we do not apply them to ourselves, nor
draw proper inferences from them. This is a truth so evident that it
cannot but be known, and so influential that, if it were duly
considered, it would effectually reform the world, That the Lord
Jehovah he is God, an infinite and eternal Being, self-existent and
self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being, power, and motion–that
he is God in heaven above, clothed with all the glory and Lord
of all the hosts of the upper world, and that he is God upon earth
beneath, which, though distant from the throne of his glory, is not
out of the reach of his sight or power, and though despicable and mean
is not below his care and cognizance. And there is none else, no
true and living God but himself. All the deities of the heathen were
counterfeits and usurpers; nor did any of them so much as pretend to be
universal monarchs in heaven and earth, but only local deities. The
Israelites, who worshipped no other than the supreme
Numen–Divinity, were for ever inexcusable if they either
changed their God or neglected him.
[2.] That he is a consuming fire, a jealous God,
v. 24.
Take heed of offending him, for, First, He has a jealous eye to
discern an affront; he must have your entire affection and adoration,
and will by no means endure a rival. God’s jealousy over us is a good
reason for our godly jealousy over ourselves. Secondly, He has a
heavy hand to punish an affront, especially in his worship, for therein
he is in a special manner jealous. He is a consuming fire; his
wrath against sinners is so; it is dreadful and destroying, it is a
fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries,
Heb. x. 27.
Fire consumes that only which is fuel for it, so the wrath of God
fastens upon those only who, by their own sin, have fitted themselves
for destruction,
1 Cor. iii. 13; Isa. xxvii. 4.
Even in the New Testament we find the same argument urged upon us as a
reason why we should serve God with reverence
because though he is our God, and a rejoicing light to those that serve
him faithfully, yet he is a consuming fire to those that trifle with
him. Thirdly, That yet he is a merciful God,
v. 31.
It comes in here as an encouragement to repentance, but might serve as
an inducement to obedience, and a consideration proper to prevent their
apostasy. Shall we forsake a merciful God, who will never forsake us,
as it follows here, if we be faithful unto him? Whither can we go to
better ourselves? Shall we forget the covenant of our God, who will not
forget the covenant of our fathers? Let us be held to our duty
by the bonds of love, and prevailed with by the mercies of God to
cleave to him.
(2.) He urges their relation to this God, his authority over them and
their obligations to him. “The commandments you are to keep and do are
not mine,” says Moses, “not my inventions, not my injunctions, but they
are the commandments of the Lord, framed by infinite wisdom, enacted by
sovereign power. He is the Lord God of your fathers
(v. 1),
so that you are his by inheritance: your fathers were his, and you were
born in his house. He is the Lord your God
(v. 2),
so that you are his by your own consent. He is the Lord my God
(v. 5),
so that I treat with you as his agent and ambassador;” and in his name
Moses delivered unto them all that, and that only, which he had
received from the Lord.
(3.) He urges the wisdom of being religious: For this is your wisdom
in the sight of the nations,
v. 6.
In keeping God’s commandments,
[1.] They would act wisely for themselves; This is your wisdom.
It is not only agreeable to right reason, but highly conducive to our
true interest; this is one of the first and most ancient maxims of
divine revelation. The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
Job xxviii. 28.
[2.] They would answer the expectations of their neighbours, who, upon
reading or hearing the precepts of the law that was given them, would
conclude that certainly the people that were governed by this law were
a wise and understanding people. Great things may justly be looked for
from those who are guided by divine revelation, and unto whom are
committed the oracles of God. They must needs be wiser and better than
other people; and so they are if they are ruled by the rules that are
given them; and if they are not, though reproach may for their sakes be
cast upon the religion they profess, yet it will in the end certainly
return upon themselves to their eternal confusion. Those that enjoy the
benefit of divine light and laws ought to conduct themselves so as to
support their own reputation for wisdom and honour (see
that God may be glorified thereby.
(4.) He urges the singular advantages which they enjoyed by virtue of
the happy establishment they were under,
Our communion with God (which is the highest honour and happiness we
are capable of in this world) is kept up by the word and prayer; in
both these Israel were happy above any people under heaven.
[1.] Never were any people so privileged in speaking to God,
v. 7.
He was nigh unto them in all that they called upon him for, ready to
answer their enquiries and resolve them by his oracle, ready to answer
their requests and to grant them by a particular providence. When they
had cried unto God for bread, for water, for healing, they had found
him near them, to succour and relieve them, a very present help, and in
the midst of them
his ear open to their prayers. Observe, First, It is the
character of God’s Israel that on all occasions they call upon him, in
every thing they make their requests known to God. They do nothing but
what they consult him in, they desire nothing but what they come to him
for. Secondly, Those that call upon God shall certainly find him
within call, and ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of
faith; see
“Thou shalt cry, as the child for a nurse, and he shall say,
Here I am, what does my dear child cry for?” Thirdly, This
is a privilege which makes the Israel of God truly great and
honourable. What can go further than this to magnify a people or a
person? Is any name more illustrious than that of Israel, a prince
with God? What nation is there so great? Other nations might boast
of greater numbers, larger territories, and more ancient
incorporations; but none could boast of such an interest in heaven as
Israel had. They had their gods, but not so nigh to them as Israel’s
God was; they could not help them in a time of need, as
[2.] Never were any people so privileged in hearing from God, by the
statutes and judgments which were set before them,
v. 8.
This also was the grandeur of Israel above any people. What nation
is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous?
Observe, First, That all these statutes and judgments of the
divine law are infinitely just and righteous, above the statutes and
judgments of any of the nations. The law of God is far more excellent
that the law of nations. No law so consonant to natural equity and the
unprejudiced dictates of right reason, so consistent with itself in all
the parts of it, and so conducive to the welfare and interest of
mankind, as the scripture-law is,
Secondly, The having of these statutes and judgments set before
them is the true and transcendent greatness of any nation or people.
See
It is an honour to us that we have the Bible in reputation and power
among us. It is an evidence of a people’s being high in the favour of
God, and a means of making them high among the nations. Those that
magnify the law shall be magnified by it.
(5.) He urges God’s glorious appearances to them at Mount Sinai, when
he gave them this law. This he insists much upon. Take heed lest
thou forget the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in
Horeb,
v. 10.
Some of them were now alive that could remember it, though they were
then under twenty years of age, and the rest of them might be said to
stand there in the loins of their fathers, who received the law and
entered into covenant there, not for themselves only, but for their
children, to whom God had an eye particularly in giving the law, that
they might teach it to their children. Two things they must remember,
and, one would think, they could never forget them:–
[1.] What they saw at Mount Sinai,
They saw a strange composition of fire and darkness, both dreadful and
very awful; and they must needs be a striking foil to each other; the
darkness made the fire in the midst of it look the more dreadful. Fires
in the night are the most frightful, and the fire made the darkness
that surrounded it look the more awful; for it must needs be a strong
darkness which such a fire did not disperse. In allusion to this
appearance upon Mount Sinai, God is said to show himself for his
people, and against his and their enemies, in fire and darkness
together,
He tells them again
(v. 36)
what they saw, for he would have them never forget it: He showed
thee his great fire. One flash of lightning, that fire from heaven,
strikes an awe upon us; and some have observed that most creatures
naturally turn their faces towards the lightning, as ready to receive
the impressions of it; but how dreadful then must a constant fire from
heaven be! It gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which the
Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire. As he reminds them of
what they saw, so he tells them what they saw not; no manner of
similitude, from which they might form either an idea of God in their
fancies or an image of God in their high places. By what we see of God
sufficient ground is given us to believe him to be a Being of infinite
power and perfection, but no occasion given us to suspect him to have a
body such as we have.
[2.] What they heard at Mount Sinai
(v. 12):
“The Lord spoke unto you with an intelligible voice, in your own
language, and you heard it.” This he enlarges upon towards the close of
his discourse,
First, They heard the voice of God, speaking out of heaven. God
manifests himself to all the world in the works of creation, without
speech or language, and yet their voice is heard
(Ps. xix. 1-3);
but to Israel he made himself known by speech and language,
condescending to the weakness of the church’s infant state. Here was
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, to prepare the way of the
Lord. Secondly, They heard it out of the midst of the fire,
which showed that it was God himself that spoke to them, for who else
could dwell with devouring fire? God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind,
which was terrible; but to Israel out of the fire, which was more
terrible. We have reason to be thankful that he does not thus speak to
us, but by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us
afraid,
Job xxxiii. 6, 7.
Thirdly, They heard it and yet lived,
It was a wonder of mercy that the fire did not devour them, or that
they did not die for fear, when Moses himself trembled.
Fourthly, Never any people heard the like. He bids them enquire
of former days and distant places, and they would find this favour of
God to Israel without precedent or parallel,
This singular honour done them called for singular obedience from them.
It might justly be expected that they should do more for God than other
people, since God had done so much more for them.
(6.) He urges God’s gracious appearances for them, in bringing them out
of Egypt, from the iron furnace, where they laboured in the fire,
forming them into a people, and then taking them to be his own people,
a people of inheritance
(v. 20);
this he mentions again,
Never did God do such a thing for any people; the rise of this nation
was quite different from that of all other nations.
[1.] They were thus dignified and distinguished, not for any thing in
them that was deserving or inviting, but because God had a kindness for
their fathers: he chose them. See the reasons of free grace; we are not
beloved for our own sakes, but for his sake who is the great trustee of
the covenant.
[2.] They were delivered out of Egypt by miracles and signs, in mercy
to them and in judgment upon the Egyptians, against whom God stretched
out his arm, which was signified by Moses’s stretching out his hand in
summoning the plagues.
[3.] They were designed for a happy settlement in Canaan,
Nations must be driven out from before them, to make room for them, to
show how much dearer they were to God than any other people were.
Egyptians and Canaanites must both be sacrificed to Israel’s honour and
interest. Those that stand in Israel’s light, in Israel’s way, shall
find it is at their peril.
(7.) He urges God’s righteous appearance against them sometimes for
their sins. He specifies particularly the matter of Peor,
This had happened very lately: their eyes had seen but the other day
the sudden destruction of those that joined themselves to Baal-peor and
the preservation of those that clave to the Lord, from which they might
easily infer the danger of apostasy from God and the benefit of
adherence to him. He also takes notice again of God’s displeasure
against himself: The Lord was angry with me for your sakes,
v. 21, 22.
He mentions this to try their ingenuousness, whether they would really
be troubled for the great prejudice which they had occasioned to their
faithful friend and leader. Others’ sufferings for our sakes should
grieve us more than our own.
(8.) He urges the certain advantage of obedience. This argument he
begins with
(v. 1):
That you may live, and go in and possess the land; and this he
concludes with
(v. 40):
That it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee.
He reminds them that they were upon their good behaviour, that their
prosperity would depend upon their piety. If they kept God’s precepts,
he would undoubtedly fulfil his promises.
(9.) He urges the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, that
it would undoubtedly be the ruin of their nation. This he enlarges
upon,
Here,
[1.] He foresees their revolt from God to idols, that in process of
time, when they had remained long in the land and were settled upon
their lees, they would corrupt themselves, and make a graven
image; this was the sin that would most easily beset them,
[2.] He foretels the judgments of God upon them for this: You shall
utterly be destroyed
(v. 26),
scattered among the nations,
v. 27.
And their sin should be made their punishment
(v. 28):
“There shall you serve gods, the work of men’s hands, be
compelled to serve them, whether you will or no, or, through your own
sottishness and stupidity, you will find no better succours to apply
yourselves in your captivity.” Those that cast off the duties of
religion in their prosperity cannot expect the comforts of it when they
come to be in distress. Justly are they then sent to the gods whom
they have served,
Judg. x. 14.
[3.] Yet he encourages them to hope that God would reserve mercy for
them in the latter days, that he would by his judgments upon them bring
them to repentance, and take them again into covenant with himself,
Here observe, First, That whatever place we are in we may
thence seek the Lord our God, though ever so remote from our own
land or from his holy temple. There is no part of this earth that has a
gulf fixed between it and heaven. Secondly, Those, and those
only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek him with all their
heart, that is, who are entirely devoted to him, earnestly desirous of
his favour and solicitous to obtain it. Thirdly, Afflictions are
sent to engage and quicken us to see God, and, by the grace of God
working with them, many are thus reduced to their right mind, “When
these things shall come upon thee, it is to be hoped that thou wilt
turn to the Lord they God, for thou seest what comes of turning
from him;” see
Fourthly, God’s faithfulness to his covenant encourages us to
hope that he will not reject us, though we be driven to him by
affliction. If we at length remember the covenant, we shall find that
he has not forgotten it.
Now let all these arguments be laid together, and then say whether
religion has not reason on its side. None cast off the government of
their God but those that have first abandoned the understanding of a
man.
41 Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward
the sunrising;
42 That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his
neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that
fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
43 Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of
the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan
in Bashan, of the Manassites.
44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of
Israel:
45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the
judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after
they came forth out of Egypt,
46 On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in
the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon,
whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come
forth out of Egypt:
47 And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of
Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side
Jordan toward the sunrising;
48 From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even
unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto
the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.
Here is,
1. The nomination of the cities of refuge on that side Jordan where
Israel now lay encamped. Three cities were appointed for that purpose,
one in the lot of Reuben, another in that of Gad, and another in that
of the half tribe of Manasseh,
What Moses could do for that people while he was yet with them he did,
to give example to the rulers who were settled that they might observe
them the better when he was gone.
2. The introduction to another sermon that Moses preached to Israel,
which we have in the following chapters. Probably it was preached the
next sabbath day after, when the congregation attended to receive
instruction. He had in general exhorted them to obedience in the former
chapter; here he comes to repeat the law which they were to observe,
for he demands a universal but not an implicit obedience. How can we do
our duty if we do not know it? Here therefore he sets the law before
them as the rule they were to work by, the way they were to walk in,
sets it before them as the glass in which they were to see their
natural face, that, looking into this perfect law of liberty, they
might continue therein. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and
the judgments, the moral, ceremonial, and judicial laws, which had
been enacted before, when Israel had newly come out of Egypt, and were
now repeated, on this side Jordan,
v. 44-46.
The place where Moses gave them these laws in charge is here
particularly described.
(1.) It was over-against Beth-peor, an idol-temple of the Moabites,
which perhaps Moses sometimes looked towards, with a particular caution
to them against the infection of that and other such like dangerous
places.
(2.) It was upon their new conquests, in the very land which they had
got out of the hands of Sihon and Og, and were now actually in
possession of,
Their present triumphs herein were a powerful argument for
obedience.
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