This chapter contains an exhortation to Israel to keep the commands, statutes, and judgments of God, urged from the superior excellency of them to those of all other nations, Deut.

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments The laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which they are exhorted to attend to and obey, in consideration of the great and good things the Lord had done for them, ever since they came from Horeb, where they were given…

Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, nether shall you diminish ought from it Neither make new laws of their own, and join them to the law of God, and set them upon a level with it, or prefer them before it; as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Christ’s time, who by their traditions made…

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor, &c.] Because of the idolatry the people of Israel fell into by worshipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of Moab and Midian, through the counsel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them to the other…

But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God To the worship of the Lord your God, as the Targum of Jonathan; attended the service of the sanctuary, were observant of the laws of God, and walked in his statutes and judgments; did not apostatize from him by idolatry or otherwise, but kept close unto…

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me He had faithfully delivered them, without adding them, or diminishing from them, and had diligently instructed the Israelites in them, had taken pains to lead them into a thorough knowledge and understanding…

Keep therefore and do them . Observe them, take notice of what is expressed by them, and perform them, both as to matter and manner, as they require: for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations; that is, their wisdom and understanding would appear to other nations by…

For what nation is there so great Not so much for their number, for they were the fewest of all people; nor for the largeness of their territories, for the land they were going to possess was but a small country; nor for their wealth and riches, and warlike exploits, though they were not…

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous Founded in justice and equity, and so agreeable to right reason, and so well calculated and adapted to lead persons in the ways of righteousness and truth, and keep them from doing any injury to each other’s persons…

Only take heed to thyself To walk according to this law, and not swerve from it: and keep thy soul diligently; from the transgressions and breaches of it: lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen; either the statutes and judgments set before them, and the circumstances of the delivery…

Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord in Horeb, &c.] Above all things Moses would have them take care not to forget the day the law was given from Mount Sinai, which was so awful and solemn, when they saw the fire, the smoke, the lightning, and heard the thunder and the sound of the…

And ye came near and stood under the mountain At the foot of it, in the lower part of the mountain, as the Targum of Jonathan, and agrees with and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven; the flame and smoke went up into the middle of the air: with darkness, clouds, and thick…

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire For the Lord descended on Mount Sinai in a cloud, in fire, and was in the thick darkness, from whence he delivered out the ten commands: ye heard the voice of the words; distinctly and plainly, not only the sound of them, but the words…

And he declared unto you his covenant So the law was called, because it contained, on the part of God, things which he would have done or avoided, to which were annexed promises of long life and happiness in the land he gave them; and they, on their part, agreed to hearken to it, and obey it, (Ex.

And the Lord commanded me at that time When the ten commandments were delivered on Mount Sinai, and Moses was ordered to come up to God in the mount: to teach you statutes and judgments; laws ceremonial and judicial, besides the ten commands given them: that ye may do them in the land whither ye go…

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves As to keep all the laws given them, so particularly to avoid idolatry: for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; and therefore, as they had nothing that directed and led them, so they had…

Lest ye corrupt yourselves And not themselves only, but the word and worship of God, by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupting and defiling, nor more abominable to God: and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure; a graven image, in the likeness of any figure, an idea of…

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth As there are scarce any but the likeness of them has been made and worshipped, or the creatures themselves, as the ox by the Egyptians, the sheep by the Thebans, the goat by the Mendesians, and others by different people: the likeness of any winged…

The likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground As serpents by many; and indeed that creature is introduced into almost all the idolatries of the Heathens, which seems to take its rise from the serpent Satan made use of to deceive our first parents: the likeness of any fish that is in the…

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven The starry heaven, which to do in itself is not sinful; and may be lawfully and commendably done, to raise admiration at the wonderful works of God in them, and lead to adore the author of them: but if not guarded against may be ensnaring: and when thou…

But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace The allusion is to the trying and melting of metals, and fleeing them from dross, by putting them into furnaces strongly heated, some of which are of earth, others of iron; the word, as the Jewish writers [[6]] observe,…

Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes See : and sware that I should not go over Jordan; this circumstance of swearing is nowhere else expressed: and that I should not go in unto that good land; the land of Canaan; he might see it, as he did from Pisgah, but not enter into it: which…

But I must die in this land The land of Moab, in a mountain in it he died, and in a valley there he was buried, (Deut. 34:5, Deut. 34:6) , I must not go over Jordan; this he repeats, as lying near his heart; he had earnestly solicited to go over, but was denied it: but ye shall go over, and possess…

Take heed unto yourselves Since he should not be long with them, to advise, instruct, and caution them: lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you; what that required of them, and what was promised unto them on the performance of it, and what they must expect should…

For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire To his enemies; his wrath is like fire to burn up and destroy all that oppose him and break his commands, and especially idolaters; whose sin of all others is the most provoking to him, since it strikes at his being, his honour and glory; wherefore it…

When thou shall beget children, and children’s children Children and grandchildren, and several ages and generations have passed: and shalt have remained long in the land; many years and even ages, or have grown old [[7]] in it: now they were in their infancy, and as such they were about to enter…

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day Should they be guilty of such a sin, since they were so strongly and publicly cautioned against it; and even the heaven and the earth were called upon as witnesses of the law being set before them, which so expressly forbids it, that ye shall…

And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations As they were by both captivities; the ten tribes were dispersed among the cities of the Medes, and the two tribes throughout the empire of Babylon: and ye shall be left few in number among the Heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you; or be “men of…

And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone Idols made by men, cut out of wood and stone; these they should be enticed into the service of, or compelled to serve; which was still more brutish and stupid than to worship the sun, moon, and stars, which were not the works of…

But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God By prayer and supplication, acknowledging and confessing sin, and desiring that God would be gracious and forgive it, and bring them out of their miserable condition; even if out of those depths of affliction and distress, and though scattered…

When thou art in tribulation In a strange land, in the power of a foreign enemy, and used ill: and all these things are come upon thee; captivity, thraldom, hard labour, and want of the necessaries of life: even in the latter days: in their present captivity for the rejection of the Messiah: if…

For the Lord thy God is a merciful God In Christ, in whom he has proclaimed his name as such, of which Moses had a comfortable view, and therefore could attest it from his own knowledge and experience: he will not forsake thee; though in a strange country, but bring them from thence into their own…

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, &c.] Inquire into and consult the annals of former times, of ages past: since the day that God created man upon the earth; trace them quite up to the creation of the world, and men in it: and ask from the one side of heaven to the…

Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire None ever heard the voice of God as they did, much less speaking such words as they heard, and still less out of the midst of fire, which was their case, (Deut. 4:12, Deut.

Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation As he now had done, namely, the nation of Israel out of the nation of the Egyptians; this he not only had assayed to do, but had actually done it; whereas no such instance like it could be produced, and especially as…

Unto thee it was showed What the Lord did in Egypt: that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, there is none else besides him; that he is the one only living and true God, and there is no other: this phrase is often used by the Prophet Isaiah, to express the same great article of faith.

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee Thunder is the voice of God, and by which he instructs men in the greatness of his power, , &c.

And because he loved thy fathers Not their immediate fathers, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness, and entered not into the good land because of their unbelief, but their more remote fathers or ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had some singular testimonies of the love of God to them,…

To drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art The seven nations of the land of Canaan, which were more in number and mightier in power and strength than they, and particularly the Amorites, who were already driven out and dispossessed of their country, even the kingdoms…

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart Own and acknowledge it now with thy mouth, and lay it up and consider it in thine heart hereafter, as a truth of the greatest importance to be professed and held fast, and to be thought of and meditated upon continually, and never to be…

Thou shall keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, &c.] All his laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, partly being under obligation to him for all the great and good things done by him for them before enumerated, and partly and chiefly because he is the Lord God in heaven and in earth,…

Then Moses severed three cities To be cities of refuge, according to the command of God, this he did when he had conquered the two kingdoms of the Amorites, that God had given them for an inheritance to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, though Jarchi says, and so other…

That the slayer might flee thither For refuge; the slayer of a man, but not any slayer, but which should kill his neighbour unawares; by accident to him, without any design and intention to kill him; ignorantly, as the Septuagint version; and so Onkelos: and hated him not in times past; it having…

Namely, Bezer in the wilderness In , it is added “upon the plain”; this perhaps was the wilderness of Moab, in the plains of it, the same with Bozrah, see and in the Apocrypha: “Hereupon Judas and his host turned suddenly by the way of the wilderness unto Bosora; and when he had won the city, he…

And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. ] Not the law concerning the cities of refuge, but the law of the ten commands repeated in the following chapter; so Jarchi remarks, “this which he should set in order after this section;” as he does in the next chapter, where he…

These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments The laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, delivered in the following chapters; which are renewed, repeated, and explained: which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt; in the third month after they…

On this side Jordan, in the valley, over against Bethpeor, &c.] Where the Israelites abode some time; see , in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon; which was now conquered, and in the hands of the Israelites: whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they came out…

And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan Seized upon them, and took them as their own, and divided them for an inheritance among two of their tribes and half another: two kings of the Amorites; which is more than once observed, that it might be taken notice of that these were…

From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon A city of Moab, which was situated on the bank of the river Arnon, that was on the border of Moab, , even unto Mount Sion, which is Hermon; the meaning is, that the lands of these two kings conquered by Israel reached from the city Aroer on the…

And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward The plains of Moab, on that side of Jordan to the east: even unto the sea of the plain; the sea of Sodom, the salt sea: under the springs of Pisgah; that rose from Mount Pisgah, the same with Ashdothpisgah, .