and make them the Rule of their Lives Chapter VI. That ye may live and that it may be well with you and that ye way prolong your Days in the Land which ye shall possess Universal Obedience he would have them sensible was the only way to make them live happy and long in that good Land which he was about to bestow upon them This he inculcates again in the next Chapter VI. 3. For all Mankind thought long Life a very great Blessing as appears by Callimachus's Hymn to Diana Ver. 132 133. when he promises to those whom she favours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They shall not come into their Grave till they have reached a great old Age. CHAP. VI. Verse 1 Verse 1. NOW these are the Commandments the Statutes and the Judgments Which God promised to deliver to him in the foregoing Chapter v. 31. and Commandments are thought commonly to relate unto the Moral Laws Statutes to Rites and Ceremonies which have no natural Reason for them and Judgments to Civil Government Which the LORD your God commanded to teach you that ye may do them in the Land whither ye go to possess it They are the Words of God himself in the place before named v. 31. This I suppose was spoken by Moses to them a little time after he had delivered what is contained in the foregoing Chapter being a Preface to the rest of the Laws which he received from God in Mount Sinai as they desired Ver. 2. That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God Verse 2 to keep all his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee c. The prime Intention of God's speaking to them by himself and by Moses was to implant his Fear in their Hearts as the true Principle of Obedience Which so certainly flows from it if it be preserved in its power and force that it frequently in Scripture signifies the whole Duty we owe to God But here more particularly it seems to signifie their adhering to him as the only God So it is used 1 Kings XVIII 3 12. and in the New Testament most plainly X Act. 2 35. Ver. 3. Hear therefore O Israel and observe to do Verse 3 it Mark therefore so well what I say as to do accordingly That it may be well with thee c. As the only way to be happy and to grow a mighty Nation and in short enjoy all that God had promised to their pious Ancestors Ver. 4. Hear O Israel He repeats it again because Verse 4 what he was going to say is of the highest Importance The LORD our God is one LORD Being to remind them of all the Laws which God delivered to them by him and to endeavour to beget an holy Fear of him as the Principle of Obedience he most earnestly presses upon them before he proceed further the First of the Ten Commandments Which is that there is but One God who alone is to be worshipped and that he is their God Whose Laws therefore could not be controuled by the Authority of any other pretended God Many of the ancient Fathers particularly Theodoret and Greg. Nyssen think there is a plain intimation of the Blessed Trinity in these words The LORD our God is one LORD And some of the Jews themselves have thought there was something extraordinary in it that the Name of God should be thrice mentioned as it is in this Sentence Which signifies three Midoth or Properties they confess which they sometimes call three Faces or Emanations or Sanctifications or Numerations tho' they will not call them three Persons as Joseph de Voysin observes in his Book against an Anonymus Antitrinitarian p. 58 63 71 72. And the Cabbalists say as much who asserting ten Sephiroth in God which they take to be something different from the Essence of God and yet not Creatures but Emanations from it as Manasseh Ben Israel explains their Words they make the Three First of them to be more than the other Seven and call them Primordial The First of which they call the Wonderful Intelligence and the First Intellectual Light as St. James calls God the Father of Lights and the First Glory The Second they call among other Names the Illuminating Intelligence just as St. John saith the Eternal WORD enlightens every one that cometh into the World and the Second Glory And the Third they call the Sanctified Intelligence so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in Pual must be translated not Sanctifying as Rittangelius takes it or they may mean no more than the Holy Intelligence which is the very same with the Holy Spirit All this we find in the Book Jetzira which they fancy was made by Abraham From whence we cannot but learn that they had an obscure Notion of the Blessed Trinity and that the Apostles used no other Language about it than what was among the Jews The best of which are so sensible of such things as I have mentioned that they think we Christians are not Idolaters tho' we believe Three Persons in the Godhead which they fancy inclines to Polytheism because we believe the Unity of God and therefore may be saved as well as they So J. Wagenseil shews in his Annotations upon Sota Cap. VII p. 751 c. And Arnoldus in his Spicilegia after him p. 1218. Ver. 5. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with Verse 5 all thine Heart c. Our blessed Saviour alledging these two Verses XII Mark 29 50. looks upon these Words as a part of the First Commandment For after he had said The first of all the Commandments is Hear O Israel the LORD our God is one LORD and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul c. he thus concludes This is the first Commandment For to own him to be the only God the Author of our being and of all things doth necessarily include in it a love of him above all things whatsoever which requires us to love him who hath made them so lovely This is another Principle or Spring of Obedience inseparable from the Fear of God before-mentioned Which doth not drive us away from him but draw us to him being such a Reverence towards him as Children have to their kind Parents which is ever mixed with Love to them With all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might For there being no other God but he alone none else could have any Right to their Love and Service but he only Whose Nature is so excellent that it requires the utmost we can do to testifie our regard to him This one of the Jewish Writers hath admirably expressed in this manner Whosoever serves God out of love he gives himself to the Study of his Laws and unto Good Works c. which excite him to love God with the most flagrant Affection not for the sake of any thing in this World nor for the fear of any
so much of our Religion when they are Men and Women as the Jews do of theirs when they are meer Children From the Hebrew word limmathtem in this Verse ye shall teach them the Jews have framed a Conceit that their Talmud hath its Name signifying teaching and instruction as R. Jechiel saith in his Disputation with Nicolaus pag. 9. Speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way c. Taking all occasions to inculcate these Precepts upon them See VI. 7. and upon their Daughters as well as their Sons though the Jewish Doctors commonly fancy there is no command to instruct their Daughters in the Law See Mischna Sota Cap. III. Sect. IV. with Wagenseil's Annotations and the Gamara there p. 471 501. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And thou shalt write them upon the Door-posts of thy House and upon thy Gates See VI. 9. By this means God's Word being so rooted in the hearts of the Parents to use the words of Dr. Jackson as to bring forth this good Fruit in their Practice the Seed of it might be sown in the tender Hearts of their Children and be propagated from one Generation to another Verse 21 Ver. 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 Nothing is wont to move Men more than Love to themselves and Love to their Children whom they Love next to themselves As the days of Heaven upon the Earth As long as this World shall last Which the Psalmist speaking of David expresses in this manner His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven LXXXIX Psal 29. Which doth not signifie absolutely for ever but a long time For thus Baruch says the Jews in Babylon were commanded to pray for the Life of Nebuchadnezzar and the Life of Baltasar his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their days might be as the days of Heaven upon Earth Which is the very Phrase of Moses here in this place importing a very long Life And such Hyperbolical Expressions every one knows are used by the Heathen particularly by Virgil. Aeneid 1. Convexa polus dum sidera pascet Ver. 22. For if ye shall diligently keep all these Commandments Verse 22 c. To love the LORD your God This is still made the Condition of all their Happiness See v. 13. X. 20. To walk in all his ways In observance of his Laws which was the Fruit of true love to him And to cleave unto him So as to serve no other God but to persevere in the Worship of the LORD their God alone The Jews make this one of the DCXIII Precepts of the Law as they count them distinct by it self but they interpret it foolishly of sticking to the CABALA of their wise Men whereby they fancy themselves united unto God Ver. 23. Then will the LORD drive out all these Verse 23 Nations from before you As he had often promised VII 23. XXIII Exod. 27. And ye shall possess Nations greater and mightier than your selves VII 1. Ver. 24. Every place wherein the soles of your feet Verse 24 shall tread shall be yours That is every place of the promised Land as it is explained in the next words From the Wilderness Viz. of Sin which was on the South of Canaan And Lebanon Which was its Bounds on the North. From the River the River Euphrates Which was the Eastern Limits when in the days of Solomon their Empire reached hither according to the Promise unto Abraham in XV Gen. 18. Even unto the uttermost Sea shall your Coast be Which is now called the Mediterranean or the Midland Sea which bounded it on the West See XXXIV Numb 6. where it is called the Great Sea and in that Chapter the Bounds of their Country round about are described Verse 25 Ver. 25. There shall no Man be able to stand before you See VII 24. For the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the Land that ye shall tread upon as he hath said unto you For God had promised to terrifie the Inhabitants of Canaan and take away their Courage XXIII Exod. 27. And accordingly the Spies whom Joshua sent brought him an account of the great Consternation wherein the whole Country was when they were about to enter into it II Josh 9 24. Verse 26 Ver. 26. Behold I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse That is he proposed them to their choice Verse 27 Ver. 27. A Blessing if you obey the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day Which he more largely explains XXVIII 2 3 4 c. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandment of the LORD your God Which is also more particularly laid before them XXVIII 15 16 17 c. The whole Historical Part of the Old Testament witnesses the Truth of this that God blessed or cursed them according as they observed or broke his Laws And if the People of Israel had diligently marked considered and laid to heart that their Happiness or Misery were always correspondent to their good and bad Behaviour towards God it would have confirmed their Belief of their Law as much as if they had seen all the Miracles done before their Fore-fathers and supplied the want or the rarity of them in after Ages Nay this would have done more than all the Miracles did which were forgotten in a short time whereas their own daily Experience of the happy Fruits of Obedience and the Mischief of Disobedience would have sealed these Truths unto their Conscience But turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known It was not every sin that turned God's favour from them but their Idolatry and Apostacy from him against which he principally warns them throughout all these Chapters IV. 3 4 15 16 23. V. 32. VI. 4 14. VII 4 5 25. VIII 19. IX 12. X. 20. Ver. 29. And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy Verse 26 God hath brought thee into the Land whither thou goest to possess it that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal To quicken them unto a strict care in their Obedience Blessings and Cursings were to be pronounced with great Solemnity at their first entrance into the Land of Canaan as is more fully ordered XXVII 11 12 c. and performed by Joshua VIII 33 34 35. And Moses seems to enjoyn them the like Solemnity every Seventh Year XXXI 10 11 12 13. Ver. 30. Are they not on the other side Jordan Verse 30 With respect to the place where Moses now was the Mountains he mentions were on the other side of Jordan in the Land of Canaan In which they had no sooner got footing but Joshua took care to execute this Command that their
no long time XXVI Numb 15 16 17 23 24 35 38 39 c. And from Gudgodah to Jotbath And so to the rest of the Places mentioned XXXIII Numb 34 35 36. till they came to Mount Hor. A Land of Rivers of Waters A place where there was plenty of Water which he mentions I suppose that they might reflect upon their foul distrust of God's Providence a little after when they murmured for want of Water at Kadesh XX Numb 3 4 c. Verse 8 Ver. 8. At that time Not long after Moses came down from the Mount the second time of which he had been speaking v. 5. The LORD separated the Tribe of Levi. To his own special Service as we read III Numb Some think that God renewed his Choice of them to the Employment here mentioned after Aaron's death when he confirm'd them in their Office But we read of no such thing and it cannot be inferred meerly from these words at that time which may well relate to the time mentioned v. 5. To bear the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Here are three parts of their Office mentioned in these and the following words The first of which was to carry the Ark which peculiarly belonged to the Kohathites III Numb 27 31. when the Camp removed from one place to another Who were good Witnesses that the same Ark still remained at that day wherein Moses first placed the Tables of the Covenant for it never stirred but by their means To stand before the LORD This is a Phrase used of Servants that wait upon their Masters before whom they are said to stand Thus Gehazi attended the Prophet Elisha 2 Kings V. 25. And the Prophets tnemselves are thus said to stand before the LORD 1 Kings XVII 1. XVIII 15. Therefore here signifies that the Levites were separated to be God's Ministers as it follows To minister unto him As Assistants to the Priests in the Tabernacle III Numb 6. and as a guard to the Tabernacle v. 7 8. Which was the second part of their Office And to bless in his Name unto this day This was the greatest thing of all and was peculiar to the Priests who were a part of the Tribe of Levi but had the sole Priviledge among them to bless in the Name of the Lord as we read expresly VI Numb 23 24. If indeed it could be made out that by blessing in the Name of the LORD is meant only to bless the Name of the LORD that was common to all the Levites who sang Praises and gave Thanks continually to him in the Temple as I suppose they did in the Tabernacle But I find no Example of the use of this Expression in this sence And therefore it must be restrained to the Priests who were Sons of Levi as well as the rest and are so called when Moses mentions this part of their Office XXI Deut. 5. Verse 9 Ver. 9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his Brethren Because God would have them only attend to this Service and not look after other Affairs Particularly of guarding the Sanctuary and keeping constant watch there to secure all the Holy Things especially the Ark which they took care none should meddle withal And therefore the People might be sure it remained as Moses left it when he put it into the Tabernacle with the Tables of the Covenant in it The LORD if his Inheritance according as the LORD thy God promised him He took care to provide for the Levites without having any Land to plough or sow c. See XVIII Numb 20. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And I stayed in the Mount according to the first time forty days and forty nights This doth not signifie that after the separation of the Levites he went up again into the Mount but having confirmed what he said concerning his putting the Tables of Stone in the Ark which he made after he came the second time down from the Mount v. 5. he returns to what he was speaking of in the beginning of the Chapter and had begun to say before IX 25. how he prayed to God for them when he went to carry the Tables he had hewn up unto God in the Mount that now he might relate to them the Success of his Prayers which follows in the next words And the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also and the LORD would not destroy thee As he feared he would because he had so threatned IX 15. Ver. 11. And the LORD said unto me Arise take Verse 11 thy journey before the People that they may go in and possess the Land c. This cannot refer to what he said unto him after the making the Golden Calf as I find some take it from XXXIII Exod. 1. for that was before he went up into the Mount again But to what he said at the Conclusion of their Removals from place to place some of which he mentions here v. 6 7. for then he orders them what to do when they entred into Canaan which he saith I have given you to possess it XXXIII Numb 51 52 53. Ver. 12. And now Israel what doth the LORD thy Verse 12 God require of thee Unto whom he hath given Tables wherein he himself hath wrote his Will with his own Hand v. 4 5. and hath graciously pardoned your foul Breach of his Covenant upon my Intercession v. 10. But to fear the LORD thy God The Fear of God sometimes includes in it all Religion but here seems to signifie one of the great Principles of Obedience See VI. 2. And to walk in all his ways Unto which the Fear of God inclines Men when their Hearts are possessed with it And to love him Especially if the Love of God be in them which is still a stronger Principle of Obedience VI. 1. And to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Being constant in his Worship and Service and worshipping him alone VI. 13. XIII 3. For loving him with all the Heart and Soul seems here to have particular respect to their having no inclination to serve other Gods 1 Kings VIII 23 48. Which the Jews after they had smarted for their Idolatry understood to be the great Commandment As their Father Jacob they say taught his Twelve Sons when they came about him on his Death-bed saying to them Ye perhaps worship the Idols which Terah the Father of Abraham worshipped or those which Laban my Mother's Brother worshipped or ye worship the God of Jacob. To whom they all made this Answer with a perfect Fear Hear O Israel our Father THE LORD OVR GOD IS ONE LORD Whereupon Jacob said LET HIS GREAT NAME BE BLESSED FOR EVER Thus the Hierusalem Targum upon VI. 4. of this Book Verse 13 Ver. 13. To keep the Commandments of the LORD and his Statutes which I command this day for thy good Self-love should have inclined them to obedience to God's Commands which he gave them for their good though he
before-mentioned Plainly importing That Men could not pretend ignorance of their Duty nor had any reason to desire that some Body would go to Heaven again for those things which Moses had already brought from thence And thus the Apostle most justly accommodates these words to the new Revelation from Heaven by the Son of God which was not abstruse and difficult but as plain and perspicuous as this now made by Moses Ver. 13. Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldst Verse 13 say Who shall go over the Sea for us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of Philo in his Book concerning Rewards and Punishments so as to need long and tedious Voyages laborious and wearisom Travels to fetch it from foreign Countries Such as the Greek Philosophers took who travelled into Egypt and the Eastern part of the World to learn Wisdom which God now taught his People in the Wilderness without any pains to attain it Ver. 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee Being Verse 14 brought to their very Doors by Moses the Servant of God who now delivered to them the Mind of God as the Son of God himself did afterwards when he came and dwelt among them In thy mouth and in thy heart Made so familiar to them that they might always have it in their common Discourse to teach it their Children and had now been so often repeated that it might well be laid up in their Memory never to be forgotten by them VI. 6 7 8 9. XI 18 19 20. It was also in the mouth of their Priests who were to teach them Knowledge II Malachi 7. and press it upon their hearts Here the forenamed R. Isaac in both the places forenamed observes That Repentance depends on the confession of the mouth and grief of the heart but the largest Confession and the sorest Grief will not avail them till they repent of their Crucifying the LORD Jesus and shall confess him with their mouth and believe in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead c. as St. Paul speaks X Rom. 9 10. That thou mayest do it That they might have nothing to do but to put it in practice and in order thereunto continually read it and keep it in mind In which the Jews were so diligent that as Josephus tells the Gentiles Lib. II. contra Apionem they could as easily recite all the Laws of God as tell their Names But here was their Error that they were not careful to do what they knew to be the Will of God and so when he sent his Son among them who plainly declared to them more fully the meaning of their holy Books they could not understand and receive that which they read every day And indeed this is the common Error as Dr. Jackson well observes of all corrupt Minds to seek that afar off as if they were Strangers to it which is really in their Mouth and in their Heart so that they would but be doers and not only hearers of the Word as St. James speaks alluding perhaps to these words of Moses As St. Paul applies this whole passage to the Gospel which is that Word of Faith so preached and published by the Apostles that it may be in all our Mouths and Hearts without going to seek for any other infallible Teacher Ver. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and Verse 15 good death and evil Life and Good Death and Evil may be but two words for the same thing viz. all manner of Happiness and all manner of Misery both which he had at large set before them in the Twenty eighth Chapter Or by Life may be meant long Life in the Land God had promised them and Good all the Prosperity they could wish for there as on the other side Death may signifie their being cut off from the Land of the Living before their time and Evil all the Calamities he had threatned while they lived And so the next Verse seems to interpret it Maimonides from these words observes that the wills of Men are under no force nor coaction but are free Agents and therefore have Precepts imposed upon them with a Punishment threatned to the Disobedient and a Reward promised to those who keep God's Commandments Of which he treats at large in his Preface to his Commentary upon Pirke Avoth Cap. VIII Ver. 16. In that I command thee this day to love the Verse 16 LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes and Judgments This includes their intire Obedience to all God's Laws which are comprehended under these three Names See VI. 1 5. VII 11. X. 12 13. That thou mayest live and multiply and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it This is the Explication of the Life and Good which he set before them if they observed God's Laws with sincere affection to them v. 15. Ver. 17. But if thine heart turn away so that thou Verse 17 wilt not hear Want of Love to God and of a due Esteem of his wonderful Love to them made their Heart turn away to other things and not regard what he had revealed to them from Heaven And worship other gods and serve them This was the principal Breach of the Covenant of God Verse 18 Ver. 18. I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the Land whither ye go c. This is the Explication of the Death and Evil he set before them v. 15. Verse 19 Ver. 19. I call Heaven and Earth to record this day aginst you that I have set before you life and death God Angels and Men were Witnesses that he had done his duty See IV. 26. VIII 19. and therefore is owned by God himself to be faithful in all his house XII Numb 7. Blessing and cursing They are the same with Life and Death but he uses several words to make them sensible that both proceeded from God the one being the Effect of his Love and Favour and the other of his Anger and high Displeasure Therefore chuse life that thou and thy seed may live That is chuse to be Obedient without which they could not be happy Or he wishes them to set their hearts on the happiness God had promised them that it might incline them to do as follows Verse 20 Ver. 20. That thou mayest love the LORD thy God and obey his voice Love is the noblest and the strongest Spring of Obedience And that thou mayest cleave unto him Obedience to God is the surest Preservative from Apostasy For he is thy life and the length of thy days Chapter XXXI The Author and Giver of Life which he preserves and prolongs unto those who are obedient That thou mayest dwell in the Land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them Which Promise confirmed
rewarded their Obedience to them as if he had received the Benefit thereof Verse 14 Ver. 14. Behold the Heaven Where the Sun Moon and Stars shine And the Heaven of Heavens And all the glorious Regions beyond them Is the LORD 's thy God Are all his Possession as they are his Work The Earth also with all that therein is As well as this Earth and all the Creatures that are in it Ver. 15. Only the LORD had a delight in thy Fathers to love them and he chose their Seed after them Verse 15 even you above all People c. He would have them sensible therefore that the Possessor of Heaven and of Earth could have no need of them or of their Services who were a very inconsiderable Part of his Creatures But it was his own meer good Will and Pleasure which moved him to show such Love to Abraham as he had done and to his Posterity for his sake above all other Nations on Earth Ver. 16. Circumcise therefore the fore-skin of your Verse 16 heart Do not satisfie your selves therefore with the bare Circumcision of your Flesh and the Observance of such External Rites and Ceremonies but cut off and cast away all your naughty Affections which make you insensible both of God's Mercies and Corrections and disobedient to his Commands And be no more stiff-necked As he had often before complained they were particularly XXXII Exod. 9. and see IX 6. of this Book It is a Metaphor as I observed from Oxen who when they are to draw in a Yoke and go forward pull back their Neck and their Shoulder to withdraw themselves from the Yoke To both which the Scripture alludes IX Nehem. 29. And sometime severally we find mention of them as in the place before-named in Exodus he speaks of their stiff-neck and in VII Zachar. 11. he saith They pull'd away the shoulder St. Stephen puts both these together in his Character of the wicked Jews that killed our blessed Saviour VII Acts 51. that they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart Therefore the contrary disposition God promises towards the Conclusion of this Book as the greatest Blessing he could bestow on them XXX 6. Ver. 17. For the LORD thy God is God of gods and Verse 17 Lord of lords Superiour to all other Beings whether Kings on Earth or Angels in Heaven A great God a mighty and a terrible Who can do what he pleases every where and therefore is to be greatly dreaded Which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward The most righteous Judge of Men who will not connive at your Sins because you are Circumcised nor be bribed by any Sacrifices to overlook your Wickedness XXIII Exod. 8. XIX Lev. 15. I Deut. 17. Nor on the contrary reject those that uprightly obey him though they be not Jews So St. Peter learnt to understand these words X Acts 34. Verse 18 Ver. 18. He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and Widow Takes their part as we speak and defends them against those that would oppress them And loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment Provideth for those who are driven unjustly out of their own Country or travelling on their honest Occasions fall into want For he seems here to speak of those who were neither Proselytes of Justice nor of the Gate as the Jews speak but were meer Gentiles Verse 19 Ver. 19. Love ye therefore the Stranger Be kind and hospitable to such distressed Persons which is a Vertue that flows from the Love of God v. 12. to which it is in vain to pretend if we love not all Mankind This Love consists in imitating God's Care of such Persons whereof he speaks in the foregoing Verse viz. doing them Justice equally with others and affording them Food and Raiment For ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt This Vertue was peculiarly required of the Jews who had been in that Condition which he commanded them to pity See XXIII Exod. 9. XIX Levit. 33 34. And if they had sincerely practised this Duty towards Aliens the Grace of God shown to the Gentiles in our blessed Saviour would not have seemed so strange to them as it did Ver. 20. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God him Verse 20 shalt thou serve This was explained before v. 12. To him shalt thou cleave Serve that is and Worship none but him And swear by his Name See VI. 13. Ver. 21. He is thy praise Whom thou oughtest Verse 21 therefore to praise Or rather in whose Love and Favour thou oughtest to glory and to think it the highest honour to be his Servant and to have him for thy God as it here follows He is thy God Who hath bestowed upon thee all the good things which thou enjoyest That hath done for thee all these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen In bringing them out of Egypt destroying Pharaoh in the Red-sea leading them through the Wilderness giving them the Country of Sihon and Og c. Whom therefore they were bound to Love and Serve and to confide in his Mercy and not in their own Power or Righteousness VIII 17 18. IX 4 5 6. Ver. 22. Thy Fathers went down into Egypt with Verse 22 threescore and ten persons See XLVI Gen. 27. I Exod. 5. Their Family he would have them remember was very small Chapter XI about Two hundred Years ago And now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Vastly increased them according to his Promise unto Abraham XV Gen. 5. XII Exod. 37. XXVI Numb 51 62. Which alone as Conradus Pellicanus here notes was sufficient to fill their Hearts with his Love and their Mouths with his Praise CHAP. XI Verse 1 Verse 1. THerefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God Who of so small hath made thee so great a Nation And keep his charge A Phrase used frequently concerning the Levites III Numb 7 8 c. But here comprehends all the Particulars following His Statutes and his Judgments and Commandments which he had charged them to observe See VI. 1. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And know you this day Consider seriously what I have said to you till you be sensible of it VIII 5. IX 6. For I speak not with your Children which have not known and which have not seen The words I speak are not in the Hebrew and they may as well be supplied thus For not with your Children have these things been done c. Which agrees well with v. 7. The Chastisement of the LORD your God The Plagues he sent upon the Egyptians His greatness Which appeared by the many great things he did only upon the stretching out of Moses his Rod. His mighty hand and stretched out arm These are more words to express the same thing Ver. 3. And his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt Or His miraculous Acts c. Verse 3 He uses so many words to make them sensible how much they were
any such Jurisdiction which the Sanhedrim had over their Kings but all this may well be lookt upon as a meer invention of the Jewish Doctors to magnifie the Power of their great Council That his heart turn not away From all serious Business and Employment whilst he was caressing and studying to please a multitude of Women Some understand it lest they turned his heart away from God and the Duties of Piety of which there was great danger if he married Worshippers of strange gods as Solomon did Otherwise I should think it might be interpreted of turning his Thoughts from minding his People and their good and welfare which must needs suffer much when they were burdened with a great company of Wives who were to be richly maintained and provided for Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold No more saith the Sanhedrim Cap. II. than would pay Stipends to his Servants c. Others of them scan the words more nicely and observe That first he is forbidden to multiply Gold and Silver greatly That is to content himself with moderate Riches and not set himself to heap up Treasure which could not be done commonly without great Oppression of his Subjects And secondly he is forbidden to multiply them to himself But for the Publick Benefit he might lay up Money in the Treasury at the Temple though in his own Coffers for his private Interest he might not See Schickard in his Mischpat Hammelech Cap. III. Theorem XI where he produces their Answer to this Question How should the King be able to manage a War or do any other great thing if he did not furnish himself with good store of Gold and Silver He might say they fill the Publick Exchequer though not his own private Bags And that for two Reasons First Lest he should wax proud and haughty when his Purse swelled And secondly Lest he should be tempted to squeeze his Subjects and exact more from them than they were able to bear as Solomon seems to have done whose Treasurer the People stoned 1 Kings XII 18. Verse 18 Ver. 18. And it shall be when he sitteth on the Throne of the Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book Not only of this Book of Deuteronomy but of the whole Law and that with his own hand as a means to fix it more in his mind Insomuch that though a Copy was left him by his Father he was notwithstanding to transcribe one himself as the Jews say in the Gemara Sanhedrim Cap. II. Sect. XIII All this is very agreeable to these words but whether he was bound if he had not written a Copy before he was King as every private Israelite they say was bound to do to write two when he sate on the Throne may be doubted for it cannot without violence be drawn from these words and their authority is not sufficient to warrant it They give indeed a plausible reason for it That the one he was to carry about with him whithersoever he went and to read in the other at home but why one Copy might not serve for both these purposes I do not see Out of that which is before the Priests the Levites He was not to write one word of it out of his memory meerly or any private Man's Copy but out of the Book which was in the Sanctuary where the original and uncorrupted Copy was in the Custody of God's Ministers There are a great many Rules the Jews give about the right writing of this Copy Which may be seen in Guil. Schickardi Mischpat Hammelech Cap. II. Theorem V. Ver. 19. And it shall be with him Wheresoever Verse 19 he was either in the Camp or at home or in any other place provided it was pure and free from filth as the Jews limit it See there Theor. VI. And he shall read therein all the days of his life Diligently study it not spending his time as Maimonides glosses in drinking and making merry but in learning the Law of God See there p. 53. From the neglect of this Precept their Kings became so ignorant of the Laws of God and of their Obligation to observe them that in the days of the good King Josiah he was strangely startled at what he heard read out of this Book of the Law when it was found in the Temple where it had long lain without any knowledge of it That he may learn to fear the LORD his God Be preserved in the true Religion To keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them Be acquainted with his whole Duty and perform it constantly See I Joshua 8. Ver. 20. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren Verse 20 Not imagining himself to be above all Laws nor slighting his Subjects as unworthy of his notice but taking a due care to promote their happiness For as the Scriptures saith Maimonides provided the King should have great honour done him obliging all to reverence him so it commands him to be lowly in heart and not to carry himself insolently Let him be gracious and full of clemency to little and great so shall he go out and come in with the love and good wishes of them all Unto which Nachmanides adds this pious Reflection If the Scripture deters Kings from pride and haughtiness of heart how unbecoming is it in other Men who are far inferiour to them c. And that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or the left Neither by changing the Laws on pretence of making better nor by abrogating them on pretence of their inconveniency But where the Divine Law was not clear or where nothing was there defined he might by his Authority make new Constitutions as David and Solomon did as well in Sacred as in Civil Matters To the end that he may prolong his days in his Kingdom he and his Children in the midst of Israel This shows that God intended to establish a successive Right in that Family to which he chose to give the Kingdom if they continued in a constant Observation of his Laws And indeed there is no way to establish and perpetuate a Family in the Throne like the due observation of Laws though they be but Humane not Divine Laws For as Aristotle truly said He that commands the Law should govern all i. e. all things be ordered according to Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to command that God should rule and the Laws But he that bids a Man to rule without Laws according to his own will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets up a Beast to govern Chapter XVIII And above all things he ought to endeavour to win the love of his Subjects by Humility and Clemency as the same Aristotle taught Alexander if we may believe R. Jedaja in his Book called Mibâ—har Happeninim where he reports a Letter of his to that great Prince advising him to gain the Affection of
to Circumcise their hearts themselves XVI 10. by laying to heart his Benefits and following the Motions of his Grace and Holy Spirit which thereby he put into their hearts And their neglect of this and resting meerly in the Circumcision of the Flesh was that which ruined them again And the heart of thy seed Accordingly we find they were freed from Idolatry after their return from Babylon though still they continued in other sins Which brought this present Captivity as they call it upon them another Banishment being necessary saith R. Isaac in the Book before mentioned Perek VII to purge them from their sins by the severe Afflictions which they now endure and have long suffered because their manifold sins as he expresses it needs much scouring by contusions and pressures After which he saith they shall sin no more but that shall be fulfilled which is written in the Law the LORD thy God shall circumcise thine heart c. quoting these very words of Moses But alas they are not sensible for what sin they suffer See p. 96 97. of Wagenseils Edition To love the LORD thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest live See VI. 5. This Prophecy the Jews say shall be fulfilled in the days of the Messiah according to what Ezekiel saith XXXVI 26. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put into you c. So R. Isaac in the place above-named and in p. 83. Verse 7 Ver. 7. And the LORD thy God will put all these Curses upon thine enemies and on them that hate thee which persecute thee Their very Restoration created them many Enemies whose hatred increased with their prosperity in their own Land and made them when they had power to persecute them Whom God remarkably plagued particularly Antiochus Epiphanes who died in miserable Torments Verse 8 Ver. 8. And thou shalt return This may relate as well to their return unto their own Land as to their turning unto God of both which he had spoken before And now having mentioned their Persecution whereby many of them might be driven out of their Country I suppose he here promises their Restoration to it again when he had cursed their Enemies And obey the voice of the LORD thy God and do all his Commandments which I command thee this day Continue stedfast in their love to him by a strict observance of all his Commandments Verse 9 Ver. 9. And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand and in the fruit of thy body c. The effect of their constant and sincere obedience he promises should be still greater prosperity in all their undertakings and in all their enjoyments See XXVIII 4 5 c. For good To encourage them to continue faithful in the Service of God For the LORD will again rejoyce over thee for good Delight only in blessing them and not send any Curses upon them See XXVIII 63. and XXXII Jerem 41. As he rejoyced over thy fathers In whose obedience he delighted X Deut. 15. Ver. 10. If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Verse 10 LORD thy God to keep his Commandments c. Persist in obedience to him And if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul With a sincere love to all his Commands v. 2. who had planted them assuredly in their Land with his whole heart and his whole soul as Jeremiah speaks XXXII 41. But herein they were defective after they came out of the Captivity of Babylon For though they never returned again to Idolatry but kept close to the Worship of God alone yet they rested meerly in the outward Rites of Religion and had not an hearty love to God and to all Goodness which made them reject the Son of God when he came among them and fall under those long Calamities which will not end till they turn to him with all their hearts and souls Ver. 11. For this Commandment which I command Verse 11 thee this day Of hearty love to God and sincere obedience to all his Commands v. 2 6.8 16. It is not hidden from thee Or it may be translated out of the Hebrew It is not too wonderful above thee That is abstruse and hard to be understood because above their reach but easie to be known and acquainted withal because plainly revealed Which is as true of the Gospel unto which St. Paul applies these words X Rom. 6 c. as it was of the Law of Moses for therein our Saviour hath declared the Mind and Will of God to us in such familiar words that the most simple People may understand their Duty Nor is it far off So that they should go to seek it and learn it in some distant Nation R. Isaac in his Chissuk Emuna Cap. XLV had his thoughts so fixed upon what is said v. 4. that he fancies these words belong to that matter and that Moses still speaks to them of Repentance which is of greater value than any other thing and yet most easily acquired Which cannot but make one wonder at their blindness for if Repentance be so very easie how comes it to pass that they remain impenitent for so many Ages and thereby as they confess prolong their Miseries And yet he repeats the same words in the Second Part of his Work Perek LXXX where he hath the confidence to say St. Paul misapplies this place Verse 12 Ver. 12. It is not in heaven that thou shouldst say Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it R. Jacob Hacsaei in his Preface to that part of the Misna called Seder Nesim as Guil. Vorstius observes upon Abarbinel about the Articles of their Faith hath very fairly expounded this which he takes to be a Proverbial Speech to show that there is no need of hard or rather impossible labour to come at the knowledge of God's Will as there is in many Humane Sciences where the Mind of Man is tired by several Propositions and Deductions c. before he arrive at what he seeks But all things are plain and easie to be understood and not hard to be performed For God had revealed his Mind clearly by Moses from Heaven and therefore none had need to go thither to desire God to acquaint them with it which he had done of his own accord out of his good will towards them And thus Grotius observes upon X Rom. 6. out of several Greek Authors that they expressed things very difficult by going up to heaven Maimonides indeed in Jesodehatorah Cap. IX and Abarbinel in Rosh Amana Cap. XIII make these words an Argument for the eternity and unchangeableness of their Law and that there should be no new Revelation from Heaven But there is no colour for this from these words the Particle hu being of the Feminine Gender and therefore doth not refer to God but to the Command
Evil but he serves God truly because he is the Truth and the chiefest Good that he may be admitted to Communion with him And a Man ought to love him with the most vehement and intense Affection so that he languish with love to him just as a Man that is in love with one he desires to make his Wife Wheresoever he is at home or abroad when he eats and drinks when he lies down and rises up he thinks of her To which Solomon compares the Love of the Spouse who saith I am sick of Love 2 Cant. 5. To this purpose Baal Chasidim mentioned by Wagenseil upon Sota Cap. V. p. 611. By the Heart may be here meant the Will which is the Original of all that a Man doth as the Jews speak whether Good or Evil By the Soul the Affections to which St. Mark adds the Mind i. e. the Understanding or Rational Faculty and by Might or Strength is meant the Power of the Body for Action which four all together make up the whole Man And the word ALL added to each of these doth not exclude all other things from any share in our Thoughts and Affections but only from an equal Interest in them The Love of God ought to be superiour and direct all our other Motions to serve him as Maimonides expresses it in his Preface to Pirke Avoth Ver. 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children In the Hebrew the words are as our Margin observes shall whet or sharpen them signifying Verse 7 as some think that they should endeavour to make them pierce their Hearts But De Dieu rather thinks it signifies Beat them into them as things are hammered on an Anvil with repeated Strokes Which the famous Bochartus doth not so well approve who observes that the word Sanan which in Arabick signifies in the first place to sharpen or whet signifies also Exquisitè docere c. to teach exquisitely so that he who is taught be made thereby more acute and perspicacious Which is the intention he thinks of the Hebrew word here L. 2. Canaan Cap. XVII However it be expounded it imports the Diligence they should use as we translate it to instil this Principle into their Children's Minds that there is but One God and to work in them a fear and love of his Divine Majesty For to that which goes before v. 4 5 6. these words have a particular respect By which it appears that Moses thought his Law was so plain that every Father might be able to instruct his Sons in it and every Mother her Daughters And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine House and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up As much as to say they should take all occasions to inculcate this great thing at home and abroad Night and Day never ceasing their most earnest Endeavours to perswade their Children not to worship any other God nor to fail to worship the LORD their God with sincere Affection The Jews have made from hence one of their affirmative Precepts That twice a Day at least they should recite these words Hear O Israel c. which is a very dilute Sence of this Precept Wherein Moses requires not meerly their saying these words in which there might be a great deal of Superstition but taking all opportunities to imprint them upon the Minds and Hearts of their Children Verse 8 Ver. 8. And thou shalt bind them for a Sign upon thine Hand and they shall be as Frontlets between thine Eyes Just thus he commands them to preserve the Memory of their Deliverance out of the Land of Egypt almost in the same words See XIII Exod. 9 16. where this is sufficiently explained And it appears to be a Proverbial Speech from XLIX Isa 16. There are some learned Men indeed who take these words literally notwithstanding St. Hierom hath delivered his Opinion to the contrary that there is no Command for Phylacteries which are grounded upon these words particularly Jos Scaliger in his Elench Trihaeres Nic. Serarii Cap. 7. 8. Where he thinks God gave this Command to the Israelites to prevent their following the Rites of other Nations who armed themselves against Dangers with superstitious Amulets in their Foreheads which the Egyptians he thinks called Totaphot But since neither here nor in Exodus there are any such words as thou shalt make thee Frontlets but Moses only saith the things he is speaking of shall be for Frontlets between their Eyes I take it not to be meant literally Tho' it 's likely they intended well who so understood it For our blessed Saviour doth not seem to reprove the Jews for wearing Phylacteries but for their Ostentation in making them broader than ordinary Ver. 9. And thou shalt write them upon the Posts of thy House and on thy Gates This looks more like a literal Command than the former and it might Verse 9 have been very useful to them when they went in and out of their House to read these words Hear O Israel the LORD thy God is one LORD c. But the Jews are too scrupulous about the Words they should write and upon what part of the Posts and Gates they were to put them c. as Mr. Selden observes Lib. III. De Synedr Cap. XIII N. 2. Tho' after all it may be this was not intended but only that they should never let this Principle slip out of their Mind but think of it when they went out and came in as well as when they were in their Houses and by the Way when they rose up and when they lay down Yet it must be observed that other Nations used to write their Laws upon their Gates as Huetius notes in his Demonstratio Evangelica p. 58. which it 's likely they did in imitation of the Jews who to this Day have written in a Parchment these Words from v. 4. to the end of this Verse with that other passage Chap. XI from v. 13. to v. 20. which they roll up and writing on it the Name of Shaddai put it into a piece of Cane or other hollow Wood and fasten it to the Doors of their Houses and of each particular Room in them and as often as they go in and out they make it a part of their Devotion to touch this Parchment and kiss it As Leo Modena tells us in his History of the Jews P. 1. Cap. 2. Ver. 10. And it shall be when the LORD thy God Verse 10 shall have brought thee into the Land which he sware c. Of this he speaks with the greatest assurance there being no doubt to be made that God would immediately give them possession of the good Land promised to them The only danger was lest they should be thrown out of it for their Disobedience Great and goodly Cities which thou buildedst not For they did not lay all waste as they did Jericho for which there was a particular Reason but dwelt in them