The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 165

ing or flowing; o.rnl the meo.ning hero vntod; the olive requirerl littlo cultivation ecc:ne tll be, "'fby foot rlid not get into R being o.lmost e. spontaneous !!fowth nnd bruised o.nd wounrlerl stnte "-which would forming one of the most valn;ble p;odnc- hnvo boon the cnee ho.rl their enndo.ls not tions of the country; the fi.,. WM :ilRo 0 been preserved from breo.king or being worn imlig·enous in Palestine, and stil\ !!fnws out. there, both wild and cultivated, in ~bnn- Ver. 6.-'l'hus God oduco.ted, disciplined, clance; tho.t the pomegraunto ( rimmnn) also a.ml tro.ined hie peoplo RB o. f~tber docs bis was very abundant may be inferre,! from child. Chaateneth. The idea is not so much the number of places named from this tlrnt of punishment or chastisement, properly (cf. Josh. xv. 32; xix. 7, 13; Juclg. xx. 45, eo co.lied, ne tha.t of severe discipline and 47; xxi. 13; 1 Cbron. iv. 32, etc.). Honey. training. God made them feel hie ha,nd The word so renderecl (d'ba.~h) is used both upon them, but ever for their good; the of the honey of bees (Lev. ii. 11 ; eh. xxxii. end of the discipline to which they were 11; l Sam. xiv. 26, etc.; Ps. lxxxi. 17; subjected wa.e that they might keep his Prov. xvi. 24, etc.), ancI of the honey of comma.ndmente o.ncl wo.lk in hie wa.ye, so o.s grapes, a. syrup obtained by boiling down to enjoy hie favour (cf. Heh. xii. 5, etc.). the newly expressed juice of the grape t() Vers. 7-20.-The land on which they a half or third part of its bulk, and still were a.bout to enter is described as a good known among the Arabs by the name of dibs (Robinson, 'Bib. Res.,' ii. p. H2; land, fertile and well wo.tered, a.nd yielding Smith, 'Bib. Diet.,' s.11. 'Honey'). In the o.bundo.nt produce to its cultintore; and wildernP.ss, the people had murmnred that they are cautioned against forgetting, in they had been bronght into an evil place, their enjoyment of the gift, the bounty of no place of figs, or of vines, or of pome- the Giver, .or congratulating themselves on grano.tes; and where there was no water having achieved the conquest of such e. to drink (Numb. n:. 5). Moses here tells them that the land they were a.bout to lnnrl, instead of gra.tefully acknowledging occnpy was not such a place, but one the grace which he.d susto.ined them during abounding in all those things of which their prot.rncted wandering in the wilder- they had found the wilderness so destitute. ness, nnd by which a.lone they he.d been Ver. 0.-A. land whose stones are iron. enabled to take possession of the.t favoured Minerals do not abonnd in Po.L,stine; tile hills are for the most part calcareous ; but land. by the side of the limestone in the north of Vers. 7, 8.-Brooka of water, running Cano.an ferruginons basalt appears in large streams, mounta.in torrents, and wo.ter- masses, and on Lebanon ironstone abounds. courses in the narrow valleys or wadys; Near Tiberias are springs largely impreg- fountains, perennial springs ; depths, " the nated with iron, as are also those at Has- fathomless pools from whicll such streams as beija, on the Hermon range, o.s well e.s the the Abo.no. (now Baroda), near Dnmascus, soil around that place. Traces of extinct spring up full-grown rivers, almost o.s broad copper works are also to be found on Lebo.- at their sources as at their mouths" (Conder, non (cf. art.• Metals,' in Kitto and Smith; 'Handbook to the Bible,' p. 214), or this Ritter, ' Geography of Palestine,' i. 2-1S). may include nlso the inland sens or lakes, The Ismelites, however, do not seem to such 11s the sea of Galilee and Lake have carried on mining operations them- HO.lch. Palestine is in the present dny, eel ves, but to have been content to obtain on tho whole, well supplied with wnter, supplies of the useful metals from their t,hough the distribution is very unequal, neighbours (2 Sam. viii. 8; 1 Chron. xviii. many parts being e.lmost wholly destitute 8; xxii. 3, H). of supply, except from whnt mny bo col- Ver. 10.-When thou hast eaten and a.rt lected from rain in t1rnks or cistorns; and full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God. tbcro is no reason to si1pposo it wns clifferent "From this pluce the Jews ha'.e made _it a in tho ancient times. As compared, how- general rule, or, as they call 1t, au nffirm- ever, with tho desert to which the Israelites o.tivo precept, tht1t every one bless God o.t ho.cl bc~n so long nccustomed, nnd even with their meals, that is, gi,e him thanks for Egypt from which they had escapocl, the his benefits; for he blesses us when he country on which they were about to enter bestows good things on us, and we ble~s was well watered. him when we thankfully acknowledge his Ver. 8.-" P11lestine lms been celebrated goodness therein" (Pntrick). in o.11 11ges for three products: corn, wine, Vers. 11-H.-Wealth is npt to engender uncl oil, which still continue to ho its most in the possessor of it a. spirit of self-gratu- vnlu11blc crops" (lbitl., p. 180). Tllo prin- lMion and pride, a.nd abnU<lance of good cipnl com crops were whe11t 11ml barley. thin"'S to induce men to be luxurious, "to Tho vine was la.rgely and carefully culti- trust in uncertain riches," l\nd to be for-  154 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [en. \"111. 1--20,