PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Notes on the Book of Deuteronomy, Volume II
Mackintosh, Charles Henry, 1820-1896 · 130,587 words · 175 reading sections
Part 121
Many seem to find considerable difficulty in Luke xvi. 9, but its teaching is as clear and forcible as it is practically important. We find very similar instruction in 1 Timothy vi.--"Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth …
647 wordsSECTION 122CHAPTER XXI.
"If one be found 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; then thy _elders_ and thy _judges_"--the guardians of the claims of truth and righteousness--"shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities that are round about him…
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Thus it is that God will deal with Israel by and by. We must not attempt to interfere with the primary application of all those striking institutions which come under our notice in this profound and marvelous book of Deuteronomy. No doubt there are lessons for us--precious lessons, but we may rest perfectly assured tha…
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This must never, for a moment, be lost sight of or interfered with. It runs like a brilliant golden line through the prophetic scriptures, from Isaiah to Malachi, and the lovely theme is resumed and carried on in the New Testament. Take the following glowing passage, which is only one of a hundred: "For Zion's sake wil…
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Striking contrast! In Deuteronomy xxi, we see _the hand of God_, in righteous government, executing judgment upon the rebellious; in Luke xv, we see _the heart of God_ pouring itself out, in soul-subduing tenderness, upon the poor repentant one, giving him the sweet assurance that it is His own deep joy to get back His…
342 wordsSECTION 126CHAPTERS XXII.-XXV.
The portion of our book on which we now enter, though not calling for elaborate exposition, yet teaches us two very important practical lessons. In the first place, many of the institutions and ordinances here set forth prove and illustrate, in a most striking way, the terrible depravity of the human heart. They show u…
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But we have said there is another valuable lesson furnished by this section of our book which now lies open before us. It teaches us, in a manner peculiar to itself, the marvelous way in which God provided for every thing connected with His people. Nothing escaped His gracious notice; nothing was too trivial for His te…
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We shall now proceed to quote a few passages from the section of our book which now lies open before us strikingly illustrative of the wisdom, goodness, tenderness, holiness, and righteousness which marked all the dealings of God with His people of old. Take, for example, the very opening paragraph. "Thou shalt not see…
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We must now ask the reader to turn for a moment to the following very important practical instructions--full of suggestive power for all Christian workers: "Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with _divers seeds_, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled." (Chap. xxii. 9.) W…
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Here, however, we must close this section. We have elsewhere sought to handle the subject of "The Unequal Yoke," and shall not therefore dwell upon it here.[23] The Israelite was not to plow with an ox and an ass together; neither was he to wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen. The spiritual applicati…
145 wordsSECTION 131CHAPTER XXVI
"And it shall be, _when thou art come_ in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and _possessest it_, and _dwellest_ therein; 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,…
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Such was the immediate response of Jehovah to the cry of His people. "I am come down to deliver them." Yes, blessed be His name, He came down, in the exercise of His own free and sovereign grace, to deliver His people; and no power of men or devils--earth or hell could hold them for a moment beyond the appointed time. …
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But our object is not to write a treatise on worship, but simply to unfold to our readers the instructive and beautiful ordinance of the basket of first-fruits. And having shown that worship was the first thing with an Israelite who found himself in possession of the land--and further, that we now must know our place a…
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"But to do good and to communicate _forget not_." There is singular interest attaching to the mode in which this is put. He does not say, But to offer the sacrifice of praise forget not. No; but lest, in the full and happy enjoyment of our own place and portion in Christ, we should "forget" that we are passing through …
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Truly, there is an urgent need of a more powerful, practical ministry amongst us. There is a deplorable lack of the prophetic and pastoral element in our ministrations. By the prophetic element, we mean that character of ministry that deals with the conscience, and brings it into the immediate presence of God. This is …
371 wordsSECTION 136CHAPTER XXVII.
"And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, 'Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster; and thou shal…
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What a sad change! what a striking contrast! It reminds us of what passed before us in our study of Exodus xix. There could not be a more impressive commentary on the words of the inspired apostle in Galatians iii. 10.--"For as many as are of the works of the law"--as many as are on that ground--"are under the curse; f…
451 wordsSECTION 138CHAPTER XXVIII.
In approaching the study of this remarkable section of our book, the reader must bear in mind that it is by no means to be confounded with chapter xxvii. Some expositors, in seeking to account for the absence of the blessings in the latter, have sought for them here; but it is a grand mistake--a mistake absolutely fata…
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All this is blessedly true, but it affords no warrant whatever for transferring the promises made to Israel to New-Testament believers. God has pledged Himself by an oath to bless the seed of Abraham His friend--to bless them with all earthly blessings, in the land of Canaan. This promise holds good, and is absolutely …
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This, no doubt, refers to Israel as a nation. They are destined to be the head of all the nations of the earth. Such is the sure and settled purpose and counsel of God respecting them. Low as they are now sunk, scattered and lost amongst the nations, suffering the terrible consequences of their persistent disobedience,…
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Here, then, was Mordecai's authority for refusing a single nod of his head to the Agagite. How could a faithful member of the house of Israel bow to a member of a house with which Jehovah was at war? Impossible. He could clothe himself in sackcloth, fast and weep for his people, but he could not, he would not, he dare …
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Nor was this all. The effect of Mordecai's marvelous victory was felt far and wide over the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the empire. "In every province, and in every city whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many people of the land…
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How refreshing, in the face of so much heartless indifference, to read of the faithfulness of Daniel! He, with unflinching decision, persisted in his holy habit of praying three times a day, with his window open toward Jerusalem, although he knew that the den of lions was the penalty of his act. He might have closed hi…
889 wordsSECTION 144CHAPTER XXIX
This chapter closes the second grand division of our book. In it we have a most solemn appeal to the conscience of the congregation. It is what we may term the summing up and practical application of all that has gone before in this most profound, practical, and hortatory section of the five books of Moses. "These are…
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Now, the reader must carefully guard against a system of interpretation that would apply this precious and beautiful passage to the Church. It involves a threefold wrong, namely, a wrong to the truth of God, a wrong to the Church, and a wrong to Israel. We have raised a warning note on this subject again and again in t…
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"And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot."--Wonderful clothes! wonderful shoes! God took care of them and made them last, blessed forever be His great and holy name!--"Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or st…
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"Ye stand this day, _all of you_, before the Lord your God; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, _your little ones_"--touching and interesting fact!--"your wives, and _thy stranger_ that is in thy camp." How exquisite, how deeply affecting, the expression, "_thy_ str…
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We must now proceed with the lawgiver's solemn appeal. He warns the people to take heed, "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 _a root_ that beareth gall and wormw…
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"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 drunkenness to thirst." Fatal delusion! Crying, Peace, peace! when there is no peace, but imminent wrath and judgment. "The Lord will no…
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Tremendous words! May they ring in the ears and sink down into the hearts of thousands who are going on from day to day, week to week, and year to year, content with a mere name to live, a form of godliness, but denying the power, "_lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God_." What an awfully graphic picture of so-c…
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Beloved Christian reader, let us seriously ponder these things in the divine presence. Let us honestly search out the root of all this lamentable failure, and have it judged and put away, that so we may more faithfully and unmistakably declare whose we are and whom we serve. May it be more thoroughly manifest that Chri…
61 wordsSECTION 152CHAPTER XXX.
This chapter is one of very deep interest and importance. It is prophetic, and presents to us some of "the secret things" referred to at the close of the preceding chapter. It unfolds some of those most precious resources of grace treasured up in the heart of God, to be unfolded when Israel, having utterly failed to ke…
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"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 rejoice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers: if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to …
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How blessedly simple! "Calling"--"believing"--"confessing"! Nothing can exceed the transcendent grace that shines in these words. No doubt it is assumed that the soul is really in earnest--that the _heart_ is engaged. God deals in moral realities. It is not a nominal, notional head-belief; but divine faith wrought in t…
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"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; in that I command thee this day 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 live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goes…
356 wordsSECTION 156CHAPTER XXXI.
The heart of Moses still lingers, with deep tenderness and affectionate solicitude, over the congregation. It seems as though he could never weary of pouring into their ears his earnest exhortations. He felt their need, he foresaw their danger, and, like a true and faithful shepherd, he sought, with all the deep and te…
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Let us hearken to his encouraging words addressed to the man who was to succeed him. "And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, '_Be strong and 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 …
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Thank God, there are a few, here and there, who really love the Word of God, and delight to meet, in holy fellowship, for the study of its precious truths. May the Lord increase the number of such, and bless them abundantly. May our lot be cast with them, "till traveling days are done." They are but an obscure and feeb…
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"Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, '_Be strong, and of a good courage_; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them; and _I will be with thee_.'" Joshua was not to be discouraged…
850 wordsSECTION 160CHAPTER XXXII.
"And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended." It is not too much to say that one of the very grandest and most comprehensive sections in the divine volume now lies open before us and claims our prayerful attention. It takes in the whole range of God's dea…
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True, He has to execute judgment upon man's ways. He is constrained to take down the rod of discipline and use it, at times, with terrible severity upon His own people. He is perfectly intolerant of evil in those who bear His holy name. All this comes out, with special solemnity in the song before us. Israel's ways are…
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We cannot attempt to dwell upon this most important and suggestive fact, but we would ask the reader to give it his serious consideration. He will find it fully developed and strikingly illustrated in the prophetic scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. "The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inhe…
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But there is the human side, and here, alas! all is failure and disappointment. Thus at the fifteenth verse of our chapter we read, "But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked"--what a very full and suggestive statement! How vividly it presents, in its brief compass, the moral history of Israel!--"thou art waxen fat, thou art g…
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Here we have a most solemn record of God's governmental dealings with His people--a record eminently calculated to set forth the awful truth of Hebrews x. 31--"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The history of Israel in the past, their condition at present, and what they are yet to pass th…
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This is a truth of unspeakable preciousness. It is the fixed purpose of Jehovah to teach all the nations of the earth that Israel has a special place in His heart, and a destined place of pre-eminence on the earth. This is beyond all question. The pages of the prophets furnish a body of evidence perfectly unanswerable …
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He may also turn to Joel iii, which opens with words of balm and consolation for the Israel of the future.--"For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead…
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Thus, from first to last, through every section of this precious book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses, that beloved and most honored servant of God, urging upon the people the solemn duty of implicit, unqualified, hearty obedience to the Word of God. In this lay the precious secret of life, peace, progress, prosperity--a…
544 wordsSECTION 168CHAPTER XXXIII
"And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death." It is full of interest and comfort to find that the last words of the lawgiver were words of unmingled blessing. We have dwelt upon his various discourses--those solemn, searching, and deeply affecting homilies…
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"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 sufficient for him; and be Thou a help to him from his enemies.'" Judah is the royal line. "Our Lord sprang out of Judah," thus illustrating, in a truly marvelous manner, how divine grace ri…
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Now, when we compare Genesis xlix, with Deuteronomy xxxiii, we observe two things, namely, human responsibility on the one hand, and divine sovereignty on the other. Moreover, we see nature and its actings; grace and its fruits. Jacob looks at Simeon and Levi linked together in nature, and displaying nature's tempers a…
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"And of Joseph he said, 'Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precio…
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"And of Gad he said, 'Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head. And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the Lord, and His ju…
745 wordsSECTION 173CHAPTER XXXIV.
This brief chapter forms an inspired postscript to the book of Deuteronomy. We are not told who was employed as the instrument in the hand of the inspiring Spirit, but this is a matter of no moment to the devout student of holy Scripture. We are fully persuaded that the postscript is as truly inspired as the book, and …
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To use an illustration drawn from human affairs, her majesty's children should, above all others, just because they are her children, respect her government; and were they in any way to transgress her laws, the dignity of government would be strikingly illustrated by their being made to pay the penalty. If they, becaus…
648 wordsSECTION 175_C. H. M._
[Illustration: decorative] * * * * * Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed in +Greek+ indicates Greek transliteration. Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been r…
44 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.