'l'IIE
PULPIT COMM EN '!1 AIl Y, EDITED BY THI:
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., l>EAN 011' GLOUCEBTEB 0
AND BY THB
UEV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
WITH
INTRODUCTIONS BY THE
VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY, RlGH'l' REV. H. CO'l"l'ERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. 'l'ULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWLINSON, M.A. REV. A. PLUMMER, M.A., D.D.
NEW EDITION.
'.JL011~011 :
FUNK AND WAGNALLS CO~IPc\.NY. HI05 PRINTIU) BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND S0:0.S1 LlNIT£D. LONIION AND BECCLES. THE
EDITED DY TI11!
VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUOESTEB;
AND DY THE
REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A.
DEUTERONOMY. Q!xposition DY REV. W. L. ALEXANDER, D.D., 11:DlTOR OF KlTTO'S 'BIBLICAL CYCLOP lEDlA.'
~omilttfcs BY REV. C. CLEMANCE, B.A., D.D.
~omilfcs b11 Fatious ~utbots. REV. J. ORR, M.A., B.D. REV. R. M. ElJGAl~, M A. REV. J. D. DAVIES, M.A.
'.JL011i:10n, FUNK AND W AGNALLS COl>IPc\.NY. 1!105 THE
BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.
INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. T1TLE AND GENERAL CHARACTER.
Tms book, which ranks as the closing book of the Pentatench, the Fifth of the Fifths of the Law (n)il'l 'i:it?in rdt?,ii), as the Jews designate it, is in the Hebrew canon named from its two initial words, 'Elleh Had-debharim c1:i:n;:i i1?~). or simply Debharim, according to an ancient usage with the Jews (Origen on Ps. i. ap. Huetii 'Origeniana,' tom. i. p. 47; Jerome,' Prol. Gal.'). The name Deuteronomy it received from the Greek translators, whom the Vulgate follows (Aruupovoµ.tov, Deuteronomium). Probably this was the name in use among the Hellenistic Jews, for this may be regarded as a fair rendering of the phrase, Mishneh Hat-torah (i1)il'li! n.~,tr;,), "Iteration of the Law,'! by which some of the rabbins designate this book-a phrase taken from oh. xvi. 18, though there having a different sense (see note on the passage). The name "Deuteronomy" is thus somewhat misleading, as it is apt to suggest that there is in this book either a second code of laws or a recapitulation of laws already delivered, whereas it is rather a summary, in a hortatory manner, of what it most concerned the people to keep in mind, both of the Lord's doings on their behalf, and of what it was his will they should specially observe and do when settled in the promised land. Many parts of the Law, as already promulgated, are not so much as alluded to; very few new laws are enunciated; and in general it is the civil and social rather. than the ceremonial institute, the personal and ethical rather than the political and official aspect of the Law, that is dwelt upon. This oharacter of the book some of the rabbins have signalized by the title Sepher Tolcdhoth, "Book of Admonitions or Reproofs," with special reference to oh. xxviii. The unsuitableness of such a title to the book as" Deuteronomy," was long ago pointed out by Theodoret, who asserts (' Quoost. I. in Deut.') that it is not a second Law that Moses here gives, but that he only recalls to memory what had been already given. DEUTERONOMY. u INTRODUCTION TO
'l'hc l,ook is thus neither properly historical nor properly logislative, thonc;b in B measure it is both. It is historioal, inasmuch as it records cC'rt11,in thinµ:s said and done at a pat·ticular time in tho history of Israel; and it is legislative, inasmuoh as it enunciates certain statutes, ordinances, and rulps which the people were bound to observe. But properly it ii:i a hortak,ry book-a. book of orations or discourses (c 1:,;i,), in whioh tho ,rnhjectiYity of the author is t~roughout prominent. In this respect it is markedly different from the earlier books of the Pentateuch, in which the objective element prevails. "In Deuteronomy it is the parmnetio clement that is especially predominant; in place of the objective rigorous injunction, there is hero the most impressive exhortation; in place of the letter, legally imperative and averse from development, which finds the ground of its highest necessity in itself, there prevails here reflection on the Law, and on this line the latter is brought nearer to the feelings. The book has thus a prophetic colouring, the germ of which we have already seen in the close of Leviticus, but which has here a wider C()mpass and authoritative significance. The book is a foretype of the prophetic dis- course; and from this peculiarity may be ex.plained how, for instance, a later prophetism (Jeremiah and Ezekiel) connects itself with this type" (Havernick, • Einlcit,' i 522; cf. 'Introd. to the Pentateuch,' translated by 'l'homson, p. 338).
§ 2. CoNTENTS OF THE Bo01i:. The book consists chiefly of three lengthened addresses, delivered by Moses to the people on the easwrn side of tho Jordan, after they had obtained possession by conquest of the region stretching northwards from the borders of Moab towards those of Aram. After a brief 'notice of tho circumstances of time and place when the addresses were uttered ( eh. i. 1-5), the first address begins. Moses first of all recalls to the recollection of the J)eople certain important particulars in their past history, with the view apparently of preparing them for the admonitions and injunctions he is about to lay upon them (eh. i. 6-iii. 29). This recapitulation is followed liy a series of earnest exhortations to obedience to t~e Divine ordinances, and warnings agaim;t idolatry and the forsaking of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and the ocly true God (ch._iv. 1-40). To this address is appended a short historical notice of the appointment of three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan (vers. 41-43). The rncond address, which is also introduced by a brief notice of the circumstances under which it was delivered (eh.iv. 44-49), extends over twenty-one chapters (eh. v.-xxvi.). In it Moses goes over the leading ethical precepts of the Law which he, as the servant of God, had already declared to the people. He begins by reminding them how God had made a cove11ant with them in Horeb, and then, having repeated the "ten words" of the covenant-the ten commandments which Jehovah spake to tho THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. Iii