Notes on Deuteronomy
From the 1599 Geneva Bible Notes

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De 1:1

1:1 These [be] the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on {a} this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain {b} over against the Red [sea], between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. The Argument - The wonderful love of God toward his Church is actively set forth in this book. Even through their ingratitude and many rebellions against God, for the space forty years. De 9:7 they deserved to have been cut off from the number of his people, and forever to have been deprived of the use of his holy word and ordinances: yet he ever preserved his Church even for his own mercy's sake, and would still have his name called upon among them. Wherefore he brings them into the land of Canaan, destroys their enemies, gives them their country, towns and goods, and exhorts them by the example of their fathers (whose infidelity, idolatry, adulteries, complaining and rebellions, he had most severely punished) to fear and obey the Lord, to embrace and keep his law without adding to it or diminishing from it. For by his word he would be known to be their God, and they his people, by his word he would govern his Church, and by the same they would learn to obey him: by his word he would discern the false prophet from the true, light form darkness, ignorance from knowledge, and his own people from all the other nations and infidels: teaching them by it to refuse and detest, destroy and abolish whatever is not agreeable to his holy will, seem it otherwise never so good or precious in the eyes of man. For this cause God promised to raise up kings and governors, for the setting forth of his word and preservation of his Church: giving to them a special charge for the executing of it: whom therefore he wills to exercise themselves diligently in the continual study and meditation of the same: that they might learn to fear the Lord, love their subjects, abhor covetousness and vices, and whatever offends the majesty of God. As he had before instructed their fathers in all things belonging both to his spiritual service and also for the maintenance of that society which is between men: so he prescribes here anew all such laws and ordinances, which either concern his divine service, or else are necessary for a common good: appointing to every estate and degree their charge and duty: as well, how to rule and live in the fear of God, as to nourish friendship toward their neighbours, and to preserve the order which God has established among men: threatening most horrible plagues to them that transgress his commandments, and promising blessings and happiness to those who observe and obey them.

(a) In the country of Moab.
(b) So that the wilderness was between the sea and the plain of Moab.

De 1:2

1:2
([There are] eleven days' [journey] from {c} Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)

(c) In Horeb, or Sinai, forty years before the law was given: but because all that were then of age and judgment were now dead, Moses repeats the same to the youth who either then were not born, or had not judgment.

De 1:4

1:4 After he had slain {d} Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:

(d) By these examples of God's favour, their minds are prepared to receive the law.

De 1:5

1:5 On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, {e} began Moses to declare this law, saying,

(e) The second time.

De 1:6

1:6 The LORD our God spake unto us in {f} Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:

(f) In the second year and second month, Nu 10:11.

De 1:9

1:9 And I spake {g} unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone:

(g) By the counsel of Jethro my father-in-law, Ex 18:19.

De 1:10

1:10 The LORD your God hath {h} multiplied you, and, behold, ye [are] this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.

(h) Not so much by the course of nature, as miraculously.

De 1:12

1:12 How can I myself alone {i} bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

(i) Signifying how great a burden it is, to govern the people.

De 1:13

1:13 Take you wise men, and understanding, and {k} known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you.

(k) Whose godliness and uprightness is known.

De 1:15

1:15 So I took the chief of your tribes, {l} wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

(l) Declaring what sort of men ought to have a public charge, read Ex 18:21.

De 1:17

1:17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] {m} God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me, and I will hear it.

(m) You are his Lieutenants.

De 1:20

1:20 And {n} I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us.

(n) So that the fault was in themselves, that they did not sooner possess the inheritance promised.

De 1:22

1:22 {o} And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.

(o) Read Nu 13:3.

De 1:25

1:25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought [it] down unto us, and brought us word again, and {p} said, [It is] a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.

(p) That is, Caleb, and Joshua; Moses prefers the better part to the greater, that is, two to ten.

De 1:27

1:27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD {q} hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

(q) Such was the Jews unthankfulness, that they counted God's special love, hatred.

De 1:28

1:28 Whither shall we go up? our {r} brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people [is] greater and taller than we; the cities [are] great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.

(r) The other ten, not Caleb and Joshua.

De 1:30

1:30 The LORD your God {s} which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;

(s) Declaring that to renounce our own force, and constantly to follow our calling, and depend on the Lord, is true boldness, and agreeable to God.

De 1:38

1:38 [But] Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth {t} before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

(t) Who minister to you.

De 1:39

1:39 Moreover your {u} little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.

(u) Who were under twenty years of age, Nu 14:31.

De 1:41

1:41 Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, {x} we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

(x) This declares man's nature, who will do that which God forbids, and will not do that which he commands.

De 1:42

1:42 And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I [am] {y} not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.

(y) Signifying that man has no strength, but when God is at hand to help him.

De 1:45

1:45 And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not {z} hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.

(z) Because you rather showed your hypocrisy, than true repentance; rather lamenting the loss of your brethren, than repenting for your sins.

De 2:1

2:1 Then {a} we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir {b} many days.

(a) They obeyed, after God had chastised them.
(b) Eight and thirty years, as in De 2:14.

De 2:4

2:4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye [are] to pass through the {c} coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:

(c) This was the second time, before they had caused the Israelites to return, Nu 20:21.

De 2:7

2:7 For the LORD thy God hath {d} blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God [hath been] with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

(d) And given you means, with which you may make recompence: also God will direct you by his providence, as he has done.

De 2:9

2:9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land [for] a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children {e} of Lot [for] a possession.

(e) Which were the Moabites and Ammonites.

De 2:10

2:10 The {f} Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;

(f) Signifying that as these giants were driven out for their sins: so the wicked when their sins are ripe, cannot avoid God's plagues.

De 2:14

2:14 And the {g} space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, [was] thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.

(g) He shows by this, that as God is true in his promise, so his threatenings are not in vain.

De 2:15

2:15 For indeed the {h} hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

(h) His plague and punishment to destroy all that were twenty years old and above.

De 2:20

2:20
(That also was accounted a land {i} of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;

(i) Who called themselves Rephaims: that is, preservers, or physicians to heal and reform vices: but were indeed Zamzummims, that is, wicked and abominable.

De 2:24

2:24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the {k} Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess [it], and contend with him in battle.

(k) According to his promise made to Abraham, Ge 15:16.

De 2:25

2:25 This day will I {l} begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations [that are] under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

(l) This declares that the hearts of men are in God's hands either to be made faint, or bold.

De 2:29

2:29
(As the {m} children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

(m) Because neither intreaty nor examples or others could move him, he could not complain of his just destruction.

De 2:30

2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God {n} hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as [appeareth] this day.

(n) God in his election and reprobation not only appoints the ends, but the means tending to the same.

De 2:34

2:34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the {o} women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:

(o) God had cursed Canaan, and therefore he did not want any of the wicked race to be preserved.

De 3:1

3:1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan {a} came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei.

(a) Therefore aside from the commandment of the Lord, they had just cause to fight against him.

De 3:5

3:5 All these cities [were] fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside {b} unwalled towns a great many.

(b) As villages and small towns.

De 3:6

3:6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, {c} women, and children, of every city.

(c) Because this was God's appointment, therefore it may not be judged cruel.

De 3:11

3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his {d} bedstead [was] a bedstead of iron; [is] it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits [was] the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

(d) The more terrible this giant was, the greater reason they had to glorify God for the victory.

De 3:14

3:14 Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashanhavothjair, unto {e} this day.

(e) Meaning, when he wrote this history.

De 3:16

3:16 And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river {f} Jabbok, [which is] the border of the children of Ammon;

(f) Which separates the Ammonites from the Amorites.

De 3:18

3:18 And I commanded {g} you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all [that are] meet for the war.

(g) That is, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half Manasseh, as in Nu 32:32.

De 3:21

3:21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the {h} LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest.

(h) So that the victories did not come by your own wisdom, strength or multitude.

De 3:24

3:24 O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God [is there] in heaven or in earth, that can {i} do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

(i) He speaks according to the common and corrupt speech of those who attribute power to idols that only belongs to God.

De 3:25

3:25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that [is] beyond Jordan, that goodly {k} mountain, and Lebanon.

(k) He means Zion, where the Temple should be built, and God honoured.

De 3:27

3:27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and {l} lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold [it] with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

(l) As before he saw by the spirits of prophecy the good mountain which was Zion: so here his eyes were lifted up above the order of nature to behold all the plentiful land of Canaan.

De 4:1

4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to {a} do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

(a) For this doctrine stands not in bare knowledge, but in practice of life.

De 4:2

4:2 Ye shall {b} not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye {c} diminish [ought] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

(b) Think not to be more wise than I am.
(c) God will not be served by halves, but will have full obedience.

De 4:3

4:3 Your {d} eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

(d) God's judgments executed on other idolaters ought to serve for our instruction, read Nu 25:3,4.

De 4:4

4:4 But ye that did {e} cleave unto the LORD your God [are] alive every one of you this day.

(e) And were not idolaters.

De 4:6

4:6 Keep therefore and do [them]; for this [is] your {f} 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.

(f) Because all men naturally desire wisdom, he shows how to attain it.

De 4:7

4:7 For what nation [is there so] great, who [hath] God [so] {g} nigh unto them, as the LORD our God [is] in all [things that] we call upon him [for]?

(g) Helping us, and delivering us out of all dangers, as in 2Sa 7:23.

De 4:9

4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and {h} 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;

(h) He adds all these words, to show that we can never be careful enough to keep the law of God and to teach it to our posterity.

De 4:11

4:11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain {i} burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

(i) The law was given with fearful miracles, to declare both that God was the author of it, and also that no flesh was able to abide the rigour of the same.

De 4:13

4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to {k} perform, [even] ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

(k) God joins this condition to his covenant.

De 4:15

4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no {l} manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

(l) Signifying, that destruction is prepared for all who make any image to represent God.

De 4:19

4:19 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 {m} divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

(m) He has appointed them to serve man.

De 4:20

4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the {n} iron furnace, [even] out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.

(n) He has delivered you out of most miserable slavery and freely chosen you for his.

De 4:22

4:22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but {o} ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

(o) Moses good affection appears in that while he himself is deprived of such an excellent treasure, he does not envy those who must enjoy it.

De 4:24

4:24 For the LORD thy God [is] a {p} consuming fire, [even] a jealous God.

(p) To those that come not to him with love and reverence, but rebel against him.

De 4:25

4:25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall {q} 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:

(q) Meaning by this all superstition and corruption of the true service of God.

De 4:26

4:26 I {r} 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.

(r) Though men would abuse you, yet the insensible creatures will be witnesses of your disobedience.

De 4:27

4:27 And the LORD shall {s} scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

(s) So that his curse will make his former blessings ineffectual.

De 4:29

4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy {t} heart and with all thy soul.

(t) Not with outward show or ceremony, but with a true confession of your faults.

De 4:31

4:31
(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 {u} sware unto them.

(u) To certify to them even more the assurance of their salvation.

De 4:32

4:32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and {x} [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?

(x) Man's negligence is partially the cause for his ignorance of God.

De 4:34

4:34 Or hath God assayed to go [and] take him a nation from the midst of [another] nation, by {y} 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?

(y) By so manifest proofs that none could doubt of it.

De 4:35

4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest {z} know that the LORD he [is] God; [there is] none else beside him.

(z) He shows the reason why God did these miracles.

De 4:37

4:37 And because {a} 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;

(a) Freely, and not because they deserved it.

De 4:40

4:40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may {b} 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.

(b) God promises reward not for our merits, but to encourage us, and to assure us that our labour will not be lost.

De 4:45

4:45 These [are] the {c} testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

(c) The articles and points of the covenant.

De 4:49

4:49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto {d} the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.

(d) That is, the salt sea.

De 5:3

5:3 The LORD {a} made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, [even] us, who [are] all of us here alive this day.

(a) Some read, God made not this covenant, that is, in such ample forth and with such signs and wonders.

De 5:4

5:4 The LORD talked with you {b} face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

(b) So plainly that you do not need to doubt it.

De 5:7

5:7 Thou shalt have none {c} other gods before me.

(c) God binds us to serve him only without superstition and idolatry.

De 5:9

5:9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a {d} jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me,

(d) That is, of his honour, not permitting it to be given to others.

De 5:10

5:10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that {e} love me and keep my commandments.

(e) The first degree to keep the commandments, is to love God.

De 5:13

5:13 Six days {f} thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

(f) Meaning, since God permits six days for our labours, we should willingly dedicate the seventh to serve him wholly.

De 5:16

5:16 {g} Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(g) Not for a show, but with true obedience, and due reverence.

De 5:21

5:21 Neither shalt {h} thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or any [thing] that [is] thy neighbour's.

(h) He not only speaks of that resolute will, but that there should be no motion or affection.

De 5:22

5:22 These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly on the mount from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he {i} added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them to me.

(i) Teaching us by his example to be content with his word, and add nothing to it.

De 5:29

5:29 O {k} that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

(k) He requires nothing but obedience from us, showing also that we ourselves are the unveiling of it.

De 5:32

5:32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not {l} turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

(l) You shall neither add nor take away, De 4:2.

De 5:33

5:33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may {m} live, and [that it may be] well with you, and [that] ye may prolong [your] days in the land which ye shall possess.

(m) In the same way that God, by way of our obedience, gives us all happiness: so from disobeying God proceed all our miseries.

De 6:2

6:2 That thou mayest {a} fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

(a) A reverent face and love for God is the first beginning to keeping God's commandments.

De 6:3

6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do [it]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, {b} in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

(b) Which has an abundance of all things needed for man's life.

De 6:7

6:7 And thou shalt {c} teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. {teach: Heb. whet, or, sharpen}

(c) Some read, "You shall whet them upon your children": that is, that they may imprint them more deeply in their memory.

De 6:9

6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the {d} posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

(d) That when you enter in you may remember them.

De 6:12

6:12 {e} [Then] beware lest thou shouldest forget the LORD, who brought thee forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. {bondage: Heb. bondmen or, servants}

(e) Do not let wealth and ease cause you to forget God's mercies, by which you were delivered out of misery.

De 6:13

6:13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt {f} swear by his name.

(f) We must fear God, serve him only and confess his Name, which is done by swearing lawfully.

De 6:16

6:16 Ye shall not {g} tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted [him] in Massah.

(g) By doubting his power, refusing lawful means, and abusing his graces.

De 6:18

6:18 And thou shalt do [that which is] right and good in the {h} sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to thy fathers,

(h) Here he condemns all of man's good intentions.

De 6:20

6:20 [And] when {i} thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

(i) God not only requires that we serve him all our lives, but also that we see that our posterity sets forth his glory.

De 6:23

6:23 And he {k} brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

(k) Nothing should move us more to true obedience than the great benefits which we have received from God.

De 6:25

6:25 And it shall be our {l} righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

(l) Because no one can fully obey the law, we must turn to Christ to be justified by faith.

De 7:2

7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them {a} before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and] utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

(a) Into thy power.

De 7:5

7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; {b} ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.

(b) God would have his service pure without idolatrous ceremonies and superstitions. De 12:3.

De 7:8

7:8 But because the LORD {c} loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

(c) Freely, finding no cause in you more than in others so to do.

De 7:9

7:9 Know therefore {d} that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

(d) And so put difference between him and idols.

De 7:10

7:10 And repayeth {e} them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

(e) Meaning revealed, or in this life.

De 7:12

7:12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the {f} mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:

(f) This covenant is grounded in his free grace: therefore in recompensing their obedience, he respects his mercy and not their merits.

De 7:16

7:16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; {g} thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee.

(g) We should not be merciful when God commands severity.

De 7:20

7:20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the {h} hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.

(h) There is not a creature so small, that I will not arm it to fight on your side against them.

De 7:22

7:22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the {i} beasts of the field increase upon thee.

(i) It is to your advantage that God does not accomplish his promise as soon as you would wish.

De 7:25

7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold [that is] on them, nor take [it] unto thee, lest thou {k} be snared therein: for it [is] an abomination to the LORD thy God.

(k) And be enticed to idolatry.

De 8:1

8:1 All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe {a} to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.

(a) Showing that it is not enough to hear the word, unless we express it by the example of our lives.

De 8:2

8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to {b} prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

(b) Which is declared in afflictions, either by patience, or by grudging against God's visitation.

De 8:3

8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by {c} bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

(c) Man does not live by meat only, but by the power of God, who gives it strength to nourish us.

De 8:4

8:4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot {d} swell, these forty years.

(d) As those that go barefoot.

De 8:5

8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, [so] the LORD thy God {e} chasteneth thee.

(e) So that his affliction are signs of his fatherly love toward us.

De 8:9

8:9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any [thing] in it; a land {f} whose stones [are] iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.

(f) Where there are mines of metal.

De 8:10

8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt {g} bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

(g) To receive God's benefits and not be thankful, is to despise God in them.

De 8:14

8:14 Then thine heart {h} be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

(h) By attributing God's benefits to your own wisdom and labour, or to good fortune.

De 8:18

8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for [it is] he that {i} giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as [it is] this day.

(i) If things concerning this life proceed only from God's mercy, how much more do spiritual gifts and everlasting life.

De 8:19

8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I {k} testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

(k) Or take to witness the heaven and the earth, as in De 4:26.

De 9:1

9:1 Hear, O Israel: Thou [art] to pass over Jordan {a} this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

(a) Meaning shortly.

De 9:2

9:2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and [of whom] thou hast {b} heard [say], Who can stand before the children of Anak!

(b) By the report of the spies. Nu 13:26.

De 9:3

9:3 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God [is] he which {c} goeth over before thee; [as] a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

(c) To guide you and govern you.

De 9:4

9:4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my {d} righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

(d) Man by himself deserves nothing but God's anger, and if God spares anyone it comes from his great mercy.

De 9:6

9:6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou [art] a {e} stiffnecked people.

(e) Like stubborn oxen who will not endure their masters yoke.

De 9:7

9:7 Remember, [and] forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: {f} from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

(f) He proves by the length of time, that their rebellion was great and intolerable.

De 9:10

9:10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the {g} finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

(g) That is, miraculously, and not by the hand of men.

De 9:12

9:12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have {h} corrupted [themselves]; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

(h) As soon as man declines from the obedience of God, his ways are corrupt.

De 9:14

9:14 {i} Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

(i) Demonstrating that the prayers of the faithful are a bar to restrain God's anger so that he does not consume all.

De 9:16

9:16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, [and] had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the {k} way which the LORD had commanded you.

(k) That is, from the Law: in which he declares what the cause of our punishment is.

De 9:20

9:20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have {l} destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

(l) By which he shows the danger they are in who have authority and do not resist wickedness.

De 9:21

9:21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, [and] ground [it] very small, [even] until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the {m} mount.

(m) Horeb, or Sinai.

De 9:23

9:23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadeshbarnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye {n} rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

(n) At the return of the spies.

De 9:25

9:25 Thus I fell down before the LORD {o} forty days and forty nights, as I fell down [at the first]; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

(o) By which is signified that God requires earnest continuance in prayer.

De 9:27

9:27 {p} Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

(p) The godly in their prayers ground on God's promise, and confess their sins.

De 10:3

10:3 And I made an ark [of] {a} shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

(a) Which is a wood of long endurance.

De 10:4

10:4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the {b} assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

(b) When you were assembled to receive the Law.

De 10:6

10:6 And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to {c} Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

(c) This mountain was also called Hor, Nu 20:28.

De 10:8

10:8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to {d} minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

(d) That is, to offer sacrifice, and to declare the Law to the people.

De 10:9

10:9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor {e} inheritance with his brethren; the LORD [is] his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

(e) So God turned the curse of Jacob to a blessing Ge 49:7.

De 10:12

10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God {f} require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

(f) For all our sins and transgressions God requires nothing but to turn to him and obey him.

De 10:15

10:15 {g} Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, [even] you above all people, as [it is] this day.

(g) Although he was Lord of heaven and earth, he chose no one but you.

De 10:16

10:16 {h} Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

(h) Cut off all your evil affections, Jer 4:4.

De 10:20

10:20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and {i} swear by his name.

(i) Read De 6:13.

De 11:2

11:2 And {a} know ye this day: for [I speak] not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

(a) You who have seen God's graces with your eyes should be moved, rather than your children who have only heard of them.

De 11:5

11:5 And {b} what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

(b) As well concerning his benefits, as his corrections.

De 11:8

11:8 Therefore shall ye keep {c} all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

(c) Because you have felt both his chastisement and his benefits.

De 11:10

11:10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, [is] not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst [it] with thy {d} foot, as a garden of herbs:

(d) By making gutters for the water to come out of the Nile river to water the land.

De 11:14

11:14 That I will give [you] the rain of your land in his due season, {e} the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

(e) In the seed time, and toward harvest.

De 11:16

11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not {f} deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

(f) By devising foolish devotions according to your own fantasies.

De 11:21

11:21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as {g} the days of heaven upon the earth.

(g) As long as the heavens and earth endure, 2Pe 3:10,12.

De 11:24

11:24 Every place whereon the soles of {h} your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost {i} sea shall your coast be.

(h) This was accomplished in David and Solomon's time.
(i) The Mediterranean.

De 11:28

11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not {k} known.

(k) He reproves the malice of men who leave that which is certain to follow that which is uncertain.

De 11:30

11:30 [Are] they not on the other side Jordan, by the way {l} where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

(l) Meaning, in Samaria.

De 12:1

12:1 These [are] the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God {a} of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.

(a) By which they are admonished to seek no other God.

De 12:3

12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their {b} groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

(b) In which they sacrificed to their idols.

De 12:4

12:4 Ye shall {c} not do so unto the LORD your God.

(c) You shall not serve the Lord with superstitions.

De 12:6

12:6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave {d} offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

(d) Meaning, the first fruits.

De 12:7

12:7 And there ye shall eat {e} before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.

(e) Where his Ark shall be.

De 12:8

12:8 Ye shall not do after all [the things] that we do {f} here this day, every man whatsoever [is] right in his own eyes.

(f) Not that they sacrificed after their fantasies, but that God would be served more purely in the land of Canaan.

De 12:10

12:10 But [when] ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and [when] he giveth you {g} rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

(g) It was not enough to conquer unless God maintained them in rest under his protection.

De 12:14

12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall {h} choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

(h) As was declared ever by the placing of the ark in Shiloh 243 years, or as some write more that 300 years, and in other places till the temple was built.

De 12:15

12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the {i} blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, {k} as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.

(i) As God has given you power and ability.
(k) Everyone may eat equally at home the beast appointed for sacrifice and the other.

De 12:17

12:17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the {l} tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:

(l) Meaning, whatever was offered to the Lord, may not be eaten, except where he had appointed.

De 12:23

12:23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood {m} [is] the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

(m) Because the life of beasts is in their blood.

De 12:26

12:26 Only thy {n} holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the LORD shall choose:

(n) That which you will offer in sacrifice.

De 12:28

12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go {o} well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest [that which is] good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.

(o) God by promise binds himself to do good to those who obey his word.

De 12:30

12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not {p} snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.

(p) By following their superstitions and idolatries, and thinking to serve me by it.

De 12:31

12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have {q} burnt in the fire to their gods.

(q) They held nothing too dear to offer to their idols.

De 13:1

13:1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of {a} dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,

(a) Who says that he has things revealed to him in dreams.

De 13:2

13:2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, {b} Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;

(b) He shows that to which the false prophets tend.

De 13:3

13:3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God {c} proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

(c) God ordains all these things that his may be known.

De 13:5

13:5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be {d} put to death; because he hath spoken to turn [you] away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

(d) Being convicted by testimonies, and condemned by the judge.

De 13:6

13:6 If {e} thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own {f} soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;

(e) All natural affection must give place to God's honour.
(f) Whom you love as your life.

De 13:9

13:9 But thou shalt surely kill him; {g} thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

(g) As the witness is charged.

De 13:14

13:14 Then shalt {h} thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, [if it be] truth, [and] the thing certain, [that] such abomination is wrought among you;

(h) Which are appointed to see faults punished.

De 13:16

13:16 And {i} thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

(i) Signifying that no idolatry is so detestable, nor more grievously to be punished, than of those who once professed God.

De 13:17

13:17 And there shall cleave nought of the {k} cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

(k) Of the spoil of that idolatrous and cursed city, read De 7:26, Jos 7:11.

De 14:2

14:2 For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a {a} peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that [are] upon the earth.

(a) Therefore you should not follow the superstition of the Gentiles.

De 14:4

14:4 {b} These [are] the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

(b) This ceremonial Law instructed the Jews to seek a spiritual pureness, even in their meat and drink.

De 14:21

14:21 Ye shall not eat [of] any thing that {c} dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the {d} stranger that [is] in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

(c) Because their blood was not shed, but remains in them.
(d) Who is not of your religion.

De 14:22

14:22 Thou shalt truly {e} tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

(e) The tithes were ordained for the maintenance of the Levites, who had no inheritance.

De 14:24

14:24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; [or] if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, {f} when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee:

(f) When he shall give thee abilities.

De 14:26

14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: {g} and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,

(g) After the Priest has received the Lord's part.

De 14:28

14:28 At the end of three years thou shalt {h} bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay [it] up within thy gates:

(h) Besides the yearly tithes that were given to the Levites, these were laid up in store for the poor.

De 15:2

15:2 And this [is] the manner of the release: Every {a} creditor that lendeth [ought] unto his neighbour shall release [it]; he shall not exact [it] of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release.

(a) He shall only release his debtors, who are not able to pay for that year.

De 15:4

15:4 {b} Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it:

(b) For if your debtor is rich, he may be forced to pay.

De 15:11

15:11 {c} For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt {d} open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

(c) To try your charity, Mt 26:11.
(d) You shall be liberal.

De 15:14

15:14 Thou shalt {e} furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: [of that] wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.

(e) In token that you acknowledge the benefit which God has given you by his labours.

De 15:17

15:17 Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust [it] through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant {f} for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise.

(f) To the year of Jubile, Le 25:40.

De 15:18

15:18 It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double {g} hired servant [to thee], in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

(g) For the hired servant served but three years, and he six.

De 15:19

15:19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: {h} thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.

(h) For they are the Lords.

De 15:22

15:22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean [person shall eat it] alike, {i} as the roebuck, and as the hart.

(i) You will eat them, as well as the roe buck and other wild beasts.

De 16:1

16:1 Observe the month of {a} Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.

(a) Read Ex 13:4.

De 16:2

16:2 Thou shalt therefore {b} sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.

(b) You shall eat the Easter lamb.

De 16:3

16:3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, [even] the bread of {c} affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

(c) Which signified the affliction which you had in Egypt.

De 16:5

16:5 Thou mayest {d} not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:

(d) This was chiefly accomplished, when the temple was built.

De 16:6

16:6 But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the {e} passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.

(e) Which was instituted to remind them of their deliverance our of Egypt and to encourage them in the hope of Jesus Christ, of whom this lamb was a figure.

De 16:9

16:9 Seven weeks shalt thou {f} number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from [such time as] thou beginnest [to put] the sickle to the corn.

(f) Beginning the next morning after the Passover, Le 23:15, Ex 13:4.

De 16:13

16:13 Thou shalt {g} observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:

(g) That is, the 15th day of the seventh month, Le 23:34.

De 16:17

16:17 Every man [shall give] as he is {h} able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

(h) According to the ability that God has given him.

De 16:18

16:18 {i} Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

(i) He gave temporary authority to the people to choose magistrates for themselves.

De 16:20

16:20 That which {k} is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(k) The magistrate must constantly follow the tenor of the law, and in noting decline from justice.

De 17:1

17:1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God [any] bullock, or sheep, wherein is {a} blemish, [or] any evilfavouredness: for that [is] an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

(a) You shall not serve God for selfish means as the hypocrites do.

De 17:2

17:2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or {b} woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

(b) Showing that the crime cannot be excused by the frailty of the person.

De 17:3

17:3 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 {c} commanded;

(c) By which he condemns all religion and serving of God which God has not commanded.

De 17:7

17:7 The hands of the {d} witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the {e} people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

(d) By which they declared that they testify the truth.
(e) To signify a common consent to maintain God's honour and true religion.

De 17:9

17:9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the {f} judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

(f) Who will sentence as the priests counsel him by the Law of God.

De 17:11

17:11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, {g} thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, [to] the right hand, nor [to] the left.

(g) You shall obey their sentence that the controversy may have an end.

De 17:12

17:12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to {h} 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.

(h) So long as he is the true minister of God, and pronounces according to his word.

De 17:15

17:15 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 {i} stranger over thee, which [is] not thy brother.

(i) Who is not from your nation, lest he change true religion into idolatry, and bring you to slavery.

De 17:16

17:16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to {k} 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.

(k) To avenge their injuries and to take their best horses from them; 1Ki 10:28.

De 17:17

17:17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart {l} turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

(l) From the Law of God.

De 17:18

17:18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this {m} law in a book out of [that which is] before the {n} priests the Levites:

(m) Meaning, Deuteronomy.
(n) He shall cause it to be written by them, or he shall write it by their example.

De 17:20

17:20 That his heart be not lifted up above his {o} 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.

(o) By which is meant that kings should love their subjects as nature causes one brother to love another.

De 18:1

18:1 The priests the Levites, [and] all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his {a} inheritance.

(a) That is, the Lord's part of his inheritance.

De 18:3

18:3 And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether [it be] ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the {b} shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

(b) The right shoulder, Nu 18:18.

De 18:6

18:6 And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with {c} all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;

(c) Meaning, to serve God whole heartedly, and not to seek ease.

De 18:8

18:8 They shall have like portions to eat, {d} beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

(d) Not forced to live from himself.

De 18:10

18:10 There shall not be found among you [any one] that maketh his son or his daughter to {e} pass through the fire, [or] that useth divination, [or] an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

(e) Signifying they were purged by this ceremony of passing between two fires.

De 18:13

18:13 Thou shalt be {f} perfect with the LORD thy God.

(f) Without hypocrisy or mixture or false religion.

De 18:15

18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a {g} Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

(g) Meaning, a continual succession of prophets, till Christ, the end of all prophets, comes.

De 18:18

18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his {h} mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

(h) A promise not only made to Christ, but to all that teach in his name, Isa 59:21.

De 18:19

18:19 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will {i} require [it] of him.

(i) By executing punishment on him.

De 18:22

18:22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing {k} follow not, nor come to pass, that [is] the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, [but] the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

(k) Under this sure note he comprises all the other tokens.

De 19:3

19:3 Thou shalt {a} prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every {b} slayer may flee thither.

(a) Make an open and ready way.
(b) Who killed against his will, and bore no hatred in his heart.

De 19:5

19:5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he {c} shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

(c) That murder not be committed on murder.

De 19:8

19:8 And if the LORD thy God {d} enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;

(d) When you go over Jordan to possess the whole land of Canaan.

De 19:10

19:10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance, and {e} [so] blood be upon thee.

(e) Lest you be punished for innocent blood.

De 19:12

19:12 Then the {f} elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

(f) The magistrates.

De 19:13

19:13 Thine {g} eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away [the guilt of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.

(g) Then whoever pardons murder, goes against the word of God.

De 19:17

19:17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy [is], shall stand before the {h} LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;

(h) God's presence where his true ministers are assembled.

De 20:1

20:1 When {a} thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

(a) Meaning, upon just occasion: for God does not permit his people to fight every time it seems good to them.

De 20:4

20:4 For the LORD your God [is] he that {b} goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

(b) Is present to defend you with his grace and power.

De 20:5

20:5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man [is there] that hath built a new house, and hath not {c} dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

(c) For when they first entered to dwell in a house, they gave thanks to God, acknowledging that they had that benefit by his grace.

De 20:6

20:6 And what man [is he] that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not [yet] {d} eaten of it? let him [also] go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

(d) The Hebrew word signifies to make common or profane, Le 19:25
 
 

De 20:11

20:11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of {e} peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, [that] all the people [that is] found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

(e) If it accept peace.

De 20:15

20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities [which are] very far off from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these {f} nations.

(f) For God had appointed the Canaanites to be destroyed, and made the Israelites the executers of his will, De 7:1.

De 20:19

20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down
(for the {g} tree of the field [is] man's [life]) to employ [them] in the siege:

(g) Some read: For man shall be instead of the tree of the field, to come out in the siege against you.

De 21:1

21:1 If [one] be found {a} slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, [and] it be not known who hath slain him:

(a) This law declares how horrible murder is, seeing that because of one man a whole country will be punished, unless remedy is found.

De 21:4

21:4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough {b} valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley:

(b) That the blood shed of the innocent beasts in a solitary place, might make them abhor the fact.

De 21:8

21:8 Be merciful, {c} O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

(c) This was the prayer, which the priests made in the audience of the people.

De 21:12

21:12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; {d} and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;

(d) Signifying that her former life must be changed before she could be joined to the people of God.

De 21:13

21:13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, {e} and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy {f} wife.

(e) As having renounced parents and country.
(f) This was only allowed in the wars, otherwise the Israelites could not marry strangers.

De 21:15

21:15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another {g} hated, and they have born him children, [both] the beloved and the hated; and [if] the firstborn son be hers that was hated:

(g) This declares that the plurality of wives came from a corrupt affection.

De 21:17

21:17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated [for] the firstborn, by giving him a {h} double portion of all that he hath: for he [is] the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn [is] {i} his.

(h) As much as to two of the others.
(i) Unless he is unworthy, as Reuben, Jacob's son, was.

De 21:18

21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his {k} mother, and [that], when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

(k) For it is the mother's duty also to instruct her children.

De 21:21

21:21 And all the men of his city shall {l} stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

(l) A death which was also appointed for blasphemers and idolaters: so that to disobey the parents is most horrible.

De 21:23

21:23 His body shall not remain {m} all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day;
(for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

(m) For God's law is satisfied by his death, and nature abhors cruelty.

De 22:1

22:1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and {a} hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

(a) As though your did not see it.

De 22:2

22:2 And if thy brother [be] not {b} nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

(b) Showing that brotherly affection must be shown, not only to those who dwell near to us, but also to those who are far off.

De 22:3

22:3 In like manner shalt thou do with his {c} ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.

(c) You are bound to do much more for your neighbour.

De 22:5

22:5 The {d} woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.

(d) For that alters the order of nature, and shows that you despise God.

De 22:6

22:6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, [whether they be] young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, {e} thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

(e) If God detests cruelty done to little birds, how much more to man, made according to his image?
 
 

De 22:9

22:9 Thou shalt not {f} sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.

(f) The tenor of this law is to walk in simplicity and not to be curious about new fads.

De 22:14

22:14 And give {g} occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:

(g) That is, be an occasion that she is slandered.

De 22:17

22:17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech [against her], saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these [are the tokens of] my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the {h} cloth before the elders of the city.

(h) Meaning, the sheet, in which the signs of her virginity were.

De 22:19

22:19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred [shekels] of silver, and give [them] unto the father {i} of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

(i) For the fault of the child becomes the shame of the parents: therefore he was recompensed when she was faultless.

De 22:26

22:26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; [there is] in the damsel no sin [worthy] of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so {k} [is] this matter:

(k) Meaning, that the innocent cannot be punished.

De 22:30

22:30 A man shall not {l} take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.

(l) He shall not lie with his stepmother, meaning by this all other variations forbidden in Le 18:1-30.

De 23:1

23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, {a} shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

(a) Either to bear office, or to marry a wife.

De 23:2

23:2 {b} A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

(b) This was to cause them to live chastely, that their posterity might not be rejected.

De 23:4

23:4 Because they {c} met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

(c) By this he condemns all who do not aid the children of God in their calling.

De 23:6

23:6 Thou {d} shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.

(d) You shall have nothing to do with them.

De 23:8

23:8 The children that are begotten {e} of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

(e) If the fathers have renounced their idolatry, and received circumcision.

De 23:12

23:12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt
(f) go forth abroad:

(f) For the necessities of nature.

De 23:13

23:13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and {g} cover that which cometh from thee:

(g) Meaning by this that his people should be pure both in body and soul.

De 23:15

23:15 Thou shalt not {h} deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:

(h) This is meant of the heathen , who fled because of their masters' cruelty, and embrace the true religion.

De 23:18

23:18 Thou shalt not bring the {i} hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.

(i) Forbidding that any income gained from evil things should be applied to the service of God, Mic 2:7.

De 23:20

23:20 Unto a {k} stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the LORD thy God may {l} bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

(k) This was permitted for a time because of the hardness of their hearts.
(l) If you show charity to your brother, God will declare his love toward you.

De 23:23

23:23 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt {m} keep and perform; [even] a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.

(m) If the vow is lawful and godly.

De 23:24

23:24 When thou comest into {n} thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put [any] in thy {o} vessel.

(n) Being hired for labour.
(o) To bring home to your house.

De 24:1

24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: {a} then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give [it] in her hand, and send her out of his house.

(a) By this God does not approve light divorcement, but permits it to avoid further inconvenience; Mt 19:7.

De 24:4

24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is {b} defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

(b) Seeing that by divorcing her he judged her to be unclean and defiled.

De 24:5

24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, {c} neither shall he be charged with any business: [but] he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

(c) That they might learn to know one another's conditions, and so afterward live in godly peace.

De 24:6

24:6 No man shall take the nether or the upper {d} millstone to pledge: for he taketh [a man's] life to pledge.

(d) Not anything by which a man gets his living.

De 24:10

24:10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go {e} into his house to fetch his pledge.

(e) As though you would appoint what to have, but shall receive what be may spare.

De 24:13

24:13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee {f} before the LORD thy God.

(f) Though he would be unthankful, yet God will not forget it.

De 24:17

24:17 Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the {g} stranger, [nor] of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:

(g) Because the world valued these people least, therefore God has most care over them.

De 24:22

24:22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast {h} a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

(h) God judged them not mindful of his beasts, unless they were beneficial to others.

De 25:1

25:1 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, {a} that [the judges] may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.

(a) Whether there is a plaintiff or not, the magistrates should try our faults, and punish according to the crime.

De 25:2

25:2 And it shall be, if the wicked man [be] worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, {b} and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.

(b) When the crime does not deserve death.

De 25:3

25:3 {c} Forty stripes he may give him, [and] not exceed: lest, [if] he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

(c) The superstition Jews later removed one, 2Co 11:24.

De 25:5

25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her {d} husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.

(d) Because the Hebrew word does not signify the natural brother, and the word that signifies a brother, is taken also for a kinsman: it seems that it does not mean that the natural brother should marry his brothers wife, but some other kindred that was in the degree that might marry.

De 25:11

25:11 {e} When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:

(e) This law imputes that godly shamefacedness is preferred: for it is a horrible thing to see a woman past shame.

De 25:19

25:19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance to possess it, [that] thou shalt blot out the {f} remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget [it].

(f) This was partly accomplished by Saul, about 450 years later.

De 26:2

26:2 {a} That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put [it] in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to {b} place his name there.

(a) By this ceremony they acknowledged that they received the land of Canaan as a free gift from God.
(b) To be called upon, served and worshipped spiritually, De 12:5.

De 26:5

26:5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A {c} Syrian ready to perish [was] my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, {d} and populous:

(c) Meaning, Jacob, who served 20 years in Syria.
(d) Only by God's mercy, and not by their father's deserving.
De 26:7

26:7 And when we {e} cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:

(e) Alleging the promises made to our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
De 26:10

26:10 And now, behold, I have {f} brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:

(f) In token of a thankful heart, and mindful of this benefit.
De 26:11

26:11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good [thing] which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine {g} house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that [is] among you.

(g) Signifying that God does not give us goods for ourselves only, but to be used also by those who are committed to our charge.
De 26:13

26:13 Then thou shalt {h} say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of [mine] house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not {i} transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten [them]:

(h) Without hypocrisy.
(i) Of malice and contempt.
De 26:14

26:14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away [ought] thereof for [any] unclean [use], nor given [ought] thereof for the dead: [but] I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, [and] have done {m} according to all that thou hast commanded me.

(m) As far as my sinful nature would allow: or else as David and Paul say, there is not one just, Ps 14:3, Ro 3:10.
De 26:16

26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with {n} all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

(n) With a good and simple conscience.
De 26:18

26:18 {o} And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that [thou] shouldest keep all his commandments;

(o) Signifying that there is a mutual bond between God and his people.
De 27:1

27:1 And Moses with the elders of Israel {a} commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.

(a) As God's minister and charged with the same.
De 27:3

27:3 {b} And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

(b) God would have his law set up in the borders of the land of Canaan, that all that looked on it might know that the land was dedicated to his service.
De 27:5

27:5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the LORD thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up [any] {c} iron [tool] upon them.

(c) The altar should not be curiously wrought, because it would continue but for a time: for God would have only one altar in Judah.
De 27:8

27:8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law {d} very plainly.

(d) That everyone may well read it, and understand it.
De 27:10

27:10 Thou {e} shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

(e) This condition has bound you to it, that if you will be his people, you must keep his laws.
De 27:12

27:12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and {f} Joseph, and Benjamin:

(f) Meaning, Ephraim and Manasseh.
De 27:13

27:13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to {g} curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

(g) Signifying, that if they would not obey God out of love, they would be made to obey out of fear.
De 27:15

27:15 Cursed [be] the man that maketh [any] graven or molten {h} image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth [it] in [a] secret [place]. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

(h) Under this he contains all the corruptions of God's service, and the transgression of the first table.
De 27:16

27:16 Cursed [be] he that {i} setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(i) Or, condemns; and this applies to the second table.
De 27:17

27:17 Cursed [be] he that removeth his neighbour's {k} landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(k) He condemns all injuries and extortions.
De 27:18

27:18 Cursed [be] he that maketh the {l} blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(l) Meaning, that does not help and counsel his neighbour.
De 27:20

27:20 Cursed [be] he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's {m} skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(m) In committing wickedness against him, Le 20:11, De 22:30, Eze 22:10
 
 
De 27:23

27:23 Cursed [be] he that lieth with his {n} mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(n) Meaning, his wife's mother.
De 27:24

27:24 Cursed [be] he that smiteth his neighbour {o} secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

(o) For God that sees in secret, will avenge it.
De 28:1

28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will {a} set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

(a) He will make you the most excellent of all people.
De 28:2

28:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and {b} overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

(b) When you think you are forsaken.
De 28:3

28:3 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the {c} city, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the field.

(c) You will live richly.
De 28:4

28:4 Blessed [shall be] the fruit {d} of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

(d) Your children and succession.
De 28:6

28:6 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou {e} comest in, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou goest out.

(e) All your enterprises will have good success.
De 28:7

28:7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee {f} seven ways.

(f) Meaning many ways.
De 28:8

28:8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine {g} hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

(g) God will bless us, if we do our duty and are not idle.
De 28:10

28:10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art {h} called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

(h) In that he is your God, and you are his people.
De 28:12

28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the {i} heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

(i) For nothing in the earth is profitable but when God sends his blessings from heaven.
De 28:23

28:23 And thy heaven that [is] over thy head shall be {k} brass, and the earth that is under thee [shall be] iron.

(k) It will give you no more moisture than if it were of brass.
De 28:25

28:25 The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be {l} removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

(i) Some read, you shall be a terror and fear, when they hear how God has plagued you.
De 28:26

28:26 And thy {m} carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray [them] away.

(m) You will be cursed both in your life and in your death: for the burial is a testimony of the resurrection a sign you will lack because of your wickedness.
De 28:29

28:29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the {n} blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save [thee].

(n) In things most evident and clear you will lack discretion and judgment.
De 28:32

28:32 Thy sons and thy daughters [shall be] given unto another people, and thine eyes {o} shall look, and fail [with longing] for them all the day long: and [there shall be] no might in thine hand.

(o) When they will return from their captivity.
De 28:36

28:36 The LORD shall bring thee, and thy {p} king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.

(p) As he did Manasseh, Joiakim, Zedekiah and others.
De 28:42

28:42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land {q} shall the locust consume. {q} Under one kind he contains all the vermin, which destroy the fruit of the land: and this is an evident token of God's curse.

De 28:56

28:56 The tender and delicate {s} woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

{s} As came to pass in the days of Joram king of Israel, 2Ki 6:28 and when the Romans besieged Jerusalem.
De 28:57

28:57 And toward her {t} young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all [things] secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

(t) Hunger will so bite her, that she will be ready to eat her child before it is delivered.

De 28:58

28:58 If thou wilt not observe to do {u} all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;

(u) For he that offends in one, is guilty of all, Jas 2:10
 
 

De 28:61

28:61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which [is] not {x} written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

(x) Declaring, that God has infinite means to plague the wicked, besides those that are ordinary or written.

De 28:64

28:64 And the LORD shall {y} scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, [even] wood and stone.

(y) Signifying that it is a singular gift from God to be in a place where we may worship God purely and declare our faith and religion.

De 28:68

28:68 And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with {z} ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy [you].

(z) Because they were unmindful of that miracle, when the sea made room for them to pass through.

De 29:1

29:1 These [are] the {a} words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in {b} Horeb.

(a) That is, the articles, or conditions.
(b) At the first giving of the law, which was forty years earlier.

De 29:3

29:3 The {c} great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:

(c) The proofs of my power.

De 29:4

29:4 Yet the LORD hath not {d} given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

(d) He shows that it is not in man's power to understand the mysteries of God if it is not given to him from above.

De 29:6

29:6 Ye have not eaten {e} bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I [am] the LORD your God.

(e) Made by man's art, but manna, which is called the bread of angels.

De 29:10

29:10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your {f} God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, [with] all the men of Israel,

(f) Who knows your hearts, and therefore you may not think to conceal from him.

De 29:12

29:12 That thou shouldest {g} enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:

(g) Alluding to them, that when they made a sure covenant, divided a beast in two, and past between the parts divided, Ge 15:10.

De 29:15

29:15 But with [him] that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with [him] {h} that [is] not here with us this day:

(h) Meaning, their posterity.

De 29:18

29:18 Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go [and] serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you {i} a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

(i) Such sin, as the bitter fruit of it might choke and destroy you.

De 29:19

29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add {k} drunkenness to thirst:

(k) For as he that is thirsty desires to drink much so he that follows his appetites seeks by all means and yet cannot be satisfied.

De 29:22

29:22 So that the {l} generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it;

(l) God's plagues on those who rebel against him will be so strong, that all ages will be astonished.

De 29:29

29:29 The {m} secret [things belong] unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law.

(m) Moses by this proves their curiosity, who seek those things that are only known to God: and their negligence who do not regard that which God has revealed to them, as the law.

De 30:1

30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt {a} call [them] to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,

(a) By calling to mind both his mercies and his plagues.

De 30:2

30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine {b} heart, and with all thy soul;

(b) In true repentance there is no hypocrisy.

De 30:4

30:4 If [any] of thine be driven out unto the outmost [parts] of {c} heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he {d} fetch thee:

(c) Even to the worlds end.
(d) And bring you into your country.

De 30:6

30:6 And the LORD thy God will {e} circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

(e) God will purge all your wicked affections, a thing that is not in your own power to do.

De 30:8

30:8 {f} And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

(f) If we will have God work in us with his Holy Spirit, we must turn again to him by repentance.

De 30:9

30:9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again {g} rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

(g) He does not mean that God is subject to these passions, to rejoice, or to be sad: but he uses this manner of speech to declare the love that he has for us.

De 30:11

30:11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it [is] {h} not hidden from thee, neither [is] it far off.

(h) The law is so evident that no one can pretend ignorance.

De 30:13

30:13 Neither [is] it beyond the {i} sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

(i) By heaven and the sea he means places most far distant.

De 30:14

30:14 But the {k} word [is] very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest {l} do it.

(k) Even the law and the gospel.
(l) By faith in Christ.

De 30:16

30:16 In that I command thee this day {m} to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest {n} live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

(m) So that to love and obey God, is only life and happiness.
(n) He adds these promises to signify that it is for our profit that we love him, and not for his.

De 30:19

30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore {o} choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

(o) That is, love and obey God; which is not in man's power, but only God's Spirit works it in his elect.

De 31:2

31:2 And he said unto them, I [am] an hundred and twenty years old this day; I {a} can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

(a) I can no longer execute my office.

De 31:5

31:5 And the LORD shall give them up {b} before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.

(b) Into your hands.

De 31:7

31:7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and {c} of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

(c) For he that must govern the people, must be valiant to repress evil, and constant to maintain virtue.

De 31:8

31:8 And the LORD, he [it is] that doth {d} go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

(d) Signifying that man can never be of good courage, unless he is persuaded of God's favour and assistance.

De 31:11

31:11 When all Israel is come to appear {e} before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

(e) Before the Ark of the covenant, which was the sign of God's presence, and the figure of Christ.

De 31:13

31:13 And [that] their children, which {f} have not known [any thing], may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

(f) Who were not born when the law was given.

De 31:15

31:15 And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a {g} cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.

(g) In a cloud that was fashioned like a pillar.

De 31:17

31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will {h} hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God [is] not among us?

(h) That is, I will take my favour from them; as turning his face toward us shows his favour.

De 31:19

31:19 Now therefore write ye this {i} song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

(i) To preserve you and your children from idolatry, by remembering God's benefits.

De 31:20

31:20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; {k} then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

(k) For this is the nature of flesh, no longer to obey God, than it is under the rod.

De 31:21

31:21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall {l} testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.

(l) That these evils are come upon them, because they have forsaken me.

De 31:26

31:26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a {m} witness against thee.

(m) Of your infidelity, when you turn away from the doctrine contained in it.

De 31:28

31:28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your {n} officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.

(n) As governors, judges and magistrates.

De 31:29

31:29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt [yourselves], and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the {o} work of your hands.

(o) By idolatry, and worshipping images, which are the work of your hands.

De 32:1

32:1 Give ear, O ye {a} heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

(a) As witness of this people's ingratitude.

De 32:2

32:2 My {b} doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

(b) He desires that he may speak to God's glory and that the people, as the green grass, may receive the dew of his doctrine.

De 32:4

32:4 [He is] the {c} Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.

(c) Or mighty God; noting that only God is mighty, faithful and constant in his promise.

De 32:6

32:6 Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? [is] not he thy father [that] hath bought thee? hath he not {d} made thee, and established thee?

(d) Not according to the common creation, but he has made you a new creature by his Spirit.

De 32:8

32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the {e} people according to the number of the children of Israel.

(e) When God by his providence divided the world, he lent for a time that portion to the Canaanites, which would later be an inheritance for all his people Israel.

De 32:11

32:11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, {f} fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

(f) To teach them to fly.

De 32:13

32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the {g} earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck {h} honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

(g) Meaning, of the land of Canaan, which was high in respect to Egypt.
(h) That is, abundance of all things even in the very rocks.

De 32:15

32:15 {i} But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered [with fatness]; then he forsook God [which] made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

(i) He shows what is the principal end of our vocation.

De 32:16

32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with {k} strange [gods], with abominations provoked they him to anger.

(k) By changing his service for their superstitions.

De 32:17

32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to {l} new [gods that] came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

(l) Scripture calls new, whatever man invents, be the error ever so old.

De 32:19

32:19 And when the LORD saw [it], he abhorred [them], because of the provoking of his {m} sons, and of his daughters.

(m) He calls them God's children, not to honour them, but to show them from what dignity they are fallen.

De 32:21

32:21 They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with [those which are] not a {n} people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

(n) Which I have not favoured, nor given my law to them.

De 32:25

32:25 The sword {o} without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs.

(o) They shall be slain both in the field and at home.

De 32:27

32:27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should {p} behave themselves strangely, [and] lest they should say, Our hand [is] high, and the LORD hath not done all this. {p} Rejoicing to see the godly afflicted, and attributing to themselves that which is wrought by God's hand.
De 32:29

32:29 O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would {q} consider their latter end!

(q) They would consider the happiness that was prepared for them, if they had obeyed God.

De 32:33

32:33 Their {r} wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

(r) The fruit of the wicked are as poison, detestable to God, and dangerous for man.

De 32:36

32:36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that [their] power is gone, and [there is] none {s} shut up, or left.

(s) When neither strong nor weak in a manner remain.

De 32:40

32:40 For I {t} lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

(t) That is, I swear, read Ge 14:22.

De 32:43

32:43 Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the {u} blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people.

(u) Where the blood of God's people is shed for their sins or trial of their faith, he promises to avenge it.

De 32:47

32:47 For it [is] not a {x} vain thing for you; because it [is] your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong [your] days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

(x) For I will perform my promise to you, Isa 55:10.

De 32:51

32:51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye {y} sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

(y) You were not earnest and constant to maintain my honour.

De 33:1

33:1 And this [is] the {a} blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.

(a) This blessing contains not only a simple prayer, but an assurance of the effect of it.

De 33:2

33:2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten {b} thousands of saints: from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them.

(b) Meaning, infinite angels.

De 33:3

33:3 Yea, he loved the people; {c} all his saints [are] in thy hand: and they sat down at {d} thy feet; [every one] shall receive of thy words.

(c) Hebrew, his saints, that is, the children of Israel.
(d) As thy disciples.

De 33:4

33:4 Moses commanded us a law, [even] the {e} inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.

(e) To us and our successors.

De 33:6

33:6 Let {f} Reuben live, and not die; and let [not] his men be few.

(f) Reuben will be one of the tribes of God's people, though for his sin his honour is diminished, and his family but small.

De 33:7

33:7 And this [is the blessing] of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be {g} sufficient for him; and be thou an help [to him] from his enemies.

(g) Signifying, that he would barely obtain Jacob's promise, Ge 49:8.

De 33:9

33:9 Who said unto his father and to his mother, {h} I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.

(h) He preferred God's glory to all natural affection, Ex 28:30.

De 33:11

33:11 Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite {i} through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.

(i) He declares that the ministers of God have many enemies, and therefore need to be prayed for.

De 33:12

33:12 [And] of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall {k} dwell in safety by him; [and the LORD] shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.

(k) Because the temple would be built in Zion, which was in the tribe of Benjamin, he shows that God would dwell with him there.

De 33:16

33:16 And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and [for] the good will of him that dwelt in the {l} bush: let [the blessing] come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him [that was] separated from his brethren.

(l) Which was God appearing to Moses, Ex 3:2.

De 33:18

33:18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy {m} going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.

(m) In thy prosperous voyages on the sea, Ge 49:13.

De 33:19

33:19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for {n} they shall suck [of] the abundance of the seas, and [of] treasures hid in the sand.

(n) The tribe of Zebulun.

De 33:21

33:21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, [in] a portion of the {o} lawgiver, [was he] seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.

(o) So the portion of the Gadites, and others on this side of the Jordan was God's, though it was not so known.

De 33:23

33:23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess thou {p} the west and the south.

(p) Meaning, near the sea.

De 33:25

33:25 Thy shoes [shall be] {q} iron and brass; and as thy days, [so shall] thy strength [be].

(q) You will be strong or, your country full of metal. It seems that Simeon is left out, because he was under Judah, and his portion of his inheritance, Jos 19:9.

De 33:28

33:28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: {r} the fountain of Jacob [shall be] upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.

(r) Who was plentiful in issue as a fountain.

De 33:29

33:29 Happy [art] thou, O Israel: who [is] like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who [is] the sword of thy excellency! and {s} thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

(s) Your enemies for fear shall lie and pretend to be in subjection.

De 34:1

34:1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of {a} Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that [is] over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,

(a) Which was a part of mount Abarim, Nu 27:12.

De 34:2

34:2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost {b} sea,

(b) Called Mediterranean.

De 34:6

34:6 And {c} he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto {d} this day.

(c) That is, the angel of the Lord, Jude 1:9.
(d) That the Jews might not have opportunity to commit idolatry by it.

De 34:9

34:9 And {e} Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.

(e) By this the favour of God is demonstrated, in that he does not leave his Church destitute of a governor.

De 34:10

34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew {f} face to face,

(f) To whom the Lord revealed himself so plainly as in Ex 33:11.

De 34:12

34:12 And in all that mighty {g} hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

(g) Meaning, the power of God working by Moses in the wilderness.