With
this chapter Moses concludes his preface to the repetition of the statutes
and judgments which they must observe to do. He repeats the general charge
(ver. 1), and, having in the close of the foregoing chapter begun to mention
the great things God had done among them, in this, I. He specifies several
of the great works God had done before their eyes, ver. 2-7. II. He sets
before them, for the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse,
according as they did, or did not, keep God's commandments, that they should
certainly prosper if they were obedient, should be blessed with plenty of
all good things (ver. 8-15), and with victory over their enemies, and the
enlargement of their coast thereby, ver. 22-25. But their disobedience would
undoubtedly be their ruin, ver. 16, 17. III. He directs them what means to
use that they might keep in mind the law of God, ver. 18-21. And, IV.
Concludes all with solemnly charging them to choose which they would have,
the blessing or the curse, ver. 26, &c.
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Persuasives
to Obedience.
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B.
C. 1451.
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1 Therefore thou shalt
love the LORD
thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his
commandments, alway. 2 And 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,
3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto
Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; 4 And what he
did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he
made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you,
and how the LORD
hath destroyed them unto this day; 5 And what he did unto you in
the wilderness, until ye came into this place; 6 And what he did
unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth
opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their
tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the
midst of all Israel: 7 But your eyes have seen all the great
acts of the LORD
which he did.
Because God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude (so
the preceding chapter concludes), therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy
God (so this begins). Those whom God has built up into families, whose
beginning was small, but whose latter end greatly increases, should use that
as an argument with themselves why they should serve God. Thou shalt keep
his charge, that is, the oracles of his word and ordinances of his
worship, with which they were entrusted and for which they were accountable.
It is a phrase often used concerning the office of the priests and Levites,
for all Israel was a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Observe the
connection of these two: Thou shalt love the Lord and keep his
charge, since love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable
obedience which flows from a principle of love. 1 John v. 3.
Mention is made of the great and terrible works of God which their eyes
had seen, v. 7. This part of his discourse Moses addresses to the
seniors among the people, the elders in age; and probably the elders
in office were so, and were now his immediate auditors: there were some
among them that could remember their deliverance out of Egypt, all above
fifty, and to them he speaks this, not to the children, who knew it by
hearsay only, v. 2. Note, God's mercies to us when we were young we
should remember and retain the impressions of when we are old; what our eyes
have seen, especially in our early days, has affected us, and should be
improved by us long after. They had seen what terrible judgments God had
executed upon the enemies of Israel's peace, 1. Upon Pharaoh and the
Egyptians that enslaved them. What a fine country was ruined and laid waste
by one plague after another, to force Israel's enlargement! v. 3.
What a fine army was entirely drowned in the Red Sea, to prevent Israel's
being re-enslaved! v. 4. Thus did he give Egypt for their ransom,
Isa. xliii. 3. Rather shall that famous kingdom be destroyed than that
Israel shall not be delivered. 2. Upon Dathan and Abiram that embroiled
them. Remember what he did in the wilderness (v. 5), by how
many necessary chastisements (as they are called, v. 2) they
were kept from ruining themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites
defied the authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against God
himself, which threatened the ruin of a whole nation, and might have ended
in that if the divine power had not immediately crushed the rebellion by
burying the rebels alive, them and all that was in their possession, v.
6. What was done against them, though misinterpreted by the disaffected
party (Num. xvi. 41), was really done in mercy to Israel. To be saved from
the mischiefs of insurrections at home is as great a kindness to a people,
and therefore lays them under as strong obligations, as protection from the
invasion of enemies abroad.
8 Therefore shall ye
keep 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;
9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD
sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that
floweth with milk and honey. 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 foot, as
a garden of herbs: 11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it,
is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain
of heaven: 12 A land which the LORD
thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD
thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto
the end of the year. 13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall
hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to
love the LORD
your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the
first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy
wine, and thine oil. 15 And I will send grass in thy fields for
thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. 16 Take heed to
yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve
other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the LORD's
wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no
rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish
quickly from off the good land which the LORD
giveth you.
Still Moses urges the same subject, as loth to conclude till he had gained
his point. "If thou wilt enter into life, if thou wilt enter
into Canaan, a type of that life, and find it a good land indeed to thee, keep
the commandments: Keep all the commandments which I command you this day;
love God, and serve him with all your heart."
I. Because this was the way to get and keep possession of the promised land.
1. It was the way to get possession (v. 8): That you may be strong
for war, and so go in and possess it. So little did they know either
of hardship or hazard in the wars of Canaan that he does not say they should
go in and fight for it; no, they had nothing in effect to do but go in and
possess it. He does not go about to teach them the art of war, how to draw
the bow, and use the sword, and keep ranks, that they might be strong, and
go in and possess the land; no, but let them keep God's commandments, and
their religion, while they are true to it, will be their strength, and
secure their success. (2.) It was the way to keep possession (v. 9): That
you may prolong your days in this land that your eye is upon. Sin tends
to the shortening of the days of particular persons and to the shortening of
the days of a people's prosperity; but obedience will be a lengthening out
of their tranquillity.
II. Because the land of Canaan, into which they were going, had a more
sensible dependence upon the blessing of heaven than the land of Egypt had, v.
10-12. Egypt was a country fruitful enough, but it was all flat, and was
watered, not as other countries with rain (it is said of Egypt, Zech. xiv.
18, that it has no rain), but by the overflowing of the river Nile at
a certain season of the year, to the improving of which there was necessary
a great deal of the art and labour of the husbandman, so that in Egypt a man
must bestow as much cost and pains upon a field as upon a garden of herbs.
And this made them the more apt to imagine that the power of their own hands
got them this wealth. But the land of Canaan was an uneven country, a land
of hills and valleys, which not only gave a more pleasing prospect to the
eye, but yielded a greater variety of soils for the several purposes of the
husbandman. It was a land that had no great rivers in it, except Jordan, but
drank water of the rain of heaven, and so, 1. Saved them a great deal
of labour. While the Egyptians were ditching and guttering in the fields, up
to the knees in mud, to bring water to their land, which otherwise would
soon become like the heath in the wilderness, the Israelites could sit in
their houses, warm and easy, and leave it to God to water their land with
the former and the latter rain, which is called the river of God (Ps.
lxv. 9), perhaps in allusion to, and contempt of, the river of Egypt, which
that nation was so proud of. Note, The better God has provided, by our
outward condition, for our ease and convenience, the more we should abound
in his service: the less we have to do for our bodies the more we should do
for God and our souls. 2. So he directed them to look upwards to God, who giveth
us rain form heaven and fruitful seasons (Acts xiv. 17), and promised to
be himself as the dew unto Israel, Hos. xiv. 5. Note, (1.) Mercies
bring with them the greatest comfort and sweetness when we see them coming
from heaven, the immediate gifts of divine Providence. (2.) The closer
dependence we have upon God the more cheerful we should be in our obedience
to him. See how Moses here magnifies the land of Canaan above all other
lands, that the eyes of God were always upon it, that is, they should
be so, to see that nothing was wanting, while they kept close to God and
duty; its fruitfulness should be not so much the happy effect of its soil as
the immediate fruit of the divine blessing; this may be inferred from its
present state, for it is said to be at this day, now that God has departed
from it, as barren a spot of ground as perhaps any under heaven. Call it not
Naomi: call it Marah.
III. Because God would certainly bless them with an abundance of all good
things if they would love him and serve him (v. 13-15): I will
give you the rain of your land in due season, so that they should
neither want it when the ground called for it nor have it in excess; but
they should have the former rain, which fell at seed-time, and the latter
rain, which fell before the harvest, Amos iv. 7. This represented all the
seasonable blessings which God would bestow upon them, especially spiritual
comforts, which should come as the latter and former, rain, Hos. vi.
3. And the earth thus watered produced, 1. Fruits for the service of man, corn
and wine, and oil, Ps. civ. 13-15. 2. Grass for the cattle, that they
also might be serviceable to man, that he might eat of them and be full,
v. 15. Godliness hath here the promise of the life that now is;
but the favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the
increase of corn, and wine, and oil will.
IV. Because their revolt from God to idols. would certainly be their ruin: Take
heed that your hearts be not deceived, v. 16, 17. All that
forsake God to set their affection upon, or pay their devotion to, any
creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived to their own destruction;
and this will aggravate it that it was purely for want of taking heed. A
little care would have prevented their being imposed upon by the great
deceiver. To awaken them to take heed, Moses here tells them plainly that if
they should turn aside to other gods, 1. They would provoke the wrath
of God against them; and who knows the power of that anger? 2. Good
things would be turned away from them; the heaven would withhold its rain,
and then of course the earth would not yield its fruit. 3. Evil things would
come upon them; they would perish quickly form off this good land. And the
better the land was the more grievous it would be to perish from it. The
goodness of the land would not be their security, when the badness of the
inhabitants had made them ripe for ruin.
18 Therefore shall ye
lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a
sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and
when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door
posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: 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 the days of heaven upon the
earth. 22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments
which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD
your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23
Then will the LORD
drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater
nations and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the
soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and
Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea
shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand
before you: 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.
Here, I. Moses repeats the directions he had given for the guidance and
assistance of the people in their obedience, and for the keeping up of
religion among them (v. 18-20), which is much to the same purport
with what we had before, ch. vi. 6, &c. Let us all be directed by
the three rules here given:-- 1. Let our hearts be filled with the word of
God: Lay up these words in your heart and in your soul. The heart
must be the treasury or store-house in which the word of God must be laid
up, to be used upon all occasions. We cannot expect good practices in the
conversation, unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good
principles, in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of God.
"Bind these words for a sign upon your hand, which is always in
view (Isa. xlix. 16), and as frontlets between your eyes, which you
cannot avoid the sight of; let them be as ready and familiar to you, and
have your eye as constantly upon them, as if they were written upon your
door-posts, and could not be overlooked either when you go out or when
you come in." Thus we must lay God's judgments before us, having
a constant regard to them, as the guide of our way, as the rule of our work,
Ps. cxix. 30. 3. Let our tongues be employed about the word of God. Let it
be the subject of our familiar discourse, wherever we are; especially with
our children, who must be taught the service of God, as the one thing
needful, much more needful than either the rules of decency or the calling
they must live by in this world. Great care and pains must be taken to
acquaint children betimes, and to affect them, with the word of God and the
wondrous things of his law. Nor will any thing contribute more to the
prosperity and perpetuity of religion in a nation than the good education of
children: if the seed be holy, it is the substance of a land.
II. He repeats the assurances he had before given them, in God's name, of
prosperity and success if they were obedient. 1. They should have a happy
settlement, v. 21. Their days should be multiplied; and, when they
were fulfilled, the days of their children likewise should be many, as the
days of heaven, that is, Canaan should be sure to them and their heirs for
ever, as long as the world stands, if they did not by their own sin throw
themselves out of it. 2. It should not be in the power of their enemies to
give them any disturbance, nor make them upon any account uneasy. "If
you will keep God's commandments, and be careful to do your duty (v.
22), God will not only crown the labours of the husbandman with plenty of
the fruits of the earth, but he will own and succeed the more glorious
undertakings of the men of war. Victory shall attend your arms; which way
soever they turn, God will drive out these nations, and put you in
possession of their land," v. 23, 24. Their territories should
be enlarged to the utmost extent of the promise, Gen. xv. 18. And all their
neighbours should stand in awe of them, v. 25. Nothing contributes
more to the making of a nation considerable abroad, valuable to its friends
and formidable to its enemies, than religion reigning in it; for who can be
against those that have God for them? And he is certainly for those that are
sincerely for him, Prov. xiv. 34.
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The
Blessing and the Curse.
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B.
C. 1451.
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26 Behold, I set before
you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if ye obey
the commandments of the LORD
your God, which I command you this day: 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 known. 29 And it shall come
to pass, when the LORD
thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it,
that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon
mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by
the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell
in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?
31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD
your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.
32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set
before you this day.
Here Moses concludes his general exhortations to obedience; and his
management is very affecting, and such as, one would think, should have
engaged them for ever to God, and should have left impressions upon them
never to be worn out.
I. He sums up all his arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing
and the curse (v. 26), that is, the rewards and the punishments,
as they stand in the promises and the threatenings, which are the great
sanctions of the law, taking hold of hope and fear, those two handles of the
soul, by which it is caught, held, and managed. These two, the blessing and
the curse, he set before them, that is, 1. He explained them, that they
might know them; he enumerated the particulars contained both in the
blessing and in the curse, that they might see the more fully how desirable
the blessing was, and how dreadful the curse. 2. He confirmed them, that
they might believe them, made it evident to them, by the proofs he produced
of his own commission, that the blessing was not a fool's paradise, nor the
curse a bugbear, but that both were real declarations of the purpose of God
concerning them. 3. He charged them to choose which of these they would
have, so fairly does he deal with them, and so far is he from putting out
the eyes of these men, as he was charged, Num. xvi. 14. They and we are
plainly told on what terms we stand with Almighty God. (1.) If we be
obedient to his laws, we may be sure of a blessing, v. 27. But, (2.)
If we be disobedient, we may be as sure of a curse, v. 28. Say you
to the righteous (for God has said it, and all the world cannot unsay
it) that it shall be well with them: but woe to the wicked, it shall be
ill with them.
II. He appoints a public and solemn proclamation to be made of the blessing
and curse which he had set before them, upon the two mountains of Gerizim
and Ebal, v. 29, 30. We have more particular directions for this
solemnity in ch. xxvii. 11, &c., and an account of the
performance of it, Josh. viii. 33, &c. It was to be done, and was done,
immediately upon their coming into Canaan, that when they first took
possession of that land they might know upon what terms they stood. The
place where this was to be done is particularly described by Moses, though
he never saw it, which is one circumstance among many that evidences his
divine instructions. It is said be near the plain, or oaks, or
meadows, of Moreh, which was one of the first places that
Abraham came to in Canaan; so that in sending them thither, to hear the
blessing and the curse, God reminded them of the promise he made to Abraham
in that very place, Gen. xii. 6, 7. The mention of this appointment here
serves, 1. For the encouragement of their faith in the promise of God, that
they should be masters of Canaan quickly. Do it (says Moses) on the other
side Jordan (v. 30), for you may be confident you shall pass over
Jordan, v. 31. The institution of this service to be done in
Canaan was an assurance to them that they should be brought into possession
of it, and a token like that which God gave to Moses (Exod. iii. 12): You
shall serve God upon this mountain. And, 2. It serves for an engagement
upon them to be obedient, that they might escape that curse, and obtain that
blessing, which, besides what they had already heard, they must shortly be
witnesses to the solemn publication of (v. 32): "You shall
observe to do the statutes and judgements, that you may not in that
solemnity be witnesses against yourselves."
