nn lnng-,,r be so; 11 certain order and fixed were animals that could not be offered in lncnlity sl,nuld be determined for their sacrifice, the distinction between clean o.nd worshir nn<l scn-ice; when they had passed unclean, on the pnrt of the caters, did not 0Y0r ,forrhn the Lord would gfre them rest come into considoration. from all their enemies, nnd then all irrregu- Vere. 17-19.-(Cf. vers. 6, 7, 12.) Thou ln ri!y nnd arbitrariness in the matter of mayeat not ee.t; Ii terally, thou art not able worship must cense, nn<l nil their gifts 11nd to eat; i.e. there is e. legal inability to this. offeringi; must be brought to the place whirh So the verb to be able (S!i;) is frequently Jehornh tlwir God should choose. Ye dwell used (cf. Gen. xliii.; Numb. iL 6; oh. in ae.fety; rather, dwell semrely, not only xvi. 5; X\'ii. 15, etc.). i.afe from assault, but without fear or Ver. 20.-When the Lord thy God ahe.11 anxiety (cf. Judg. YLi. ll; uiii. 7). enlarge thy border. These laws were to Yer. 11.-All your choice vows; i.e. all contiu?e in for~e even. when God should,. the vows of your ohoice, all that ye choose accordrng to hlB promise (Gen. • xv. 18; to make; the vow was purely voluntary; Exod. xxiii. 27-31), extend the boundaries it became obligatory only after it was made. of their land. Ver. 12.-0f their offerings they should make a festive me.n.l for themselves and Vers. 21-23.-If the ple.oe ... be too te.r their household; and of this the Levite who from thee; this supplies the reason for the might happen at the time to be resident alteration _of the law in Lev. xvii. 8. Only nmong them was to partake. Rejoice before be sure; literally, only be strong; i.e. be firm the Lord. Tliis phrase occurs frequently in and resolute, steadfastly resisting the this book (eh. xiv. 26; xvi. ll, l4; nvi. temptation to eat it. The blood is the life 11; xx.ii. 7); elsewhere it appears only (cf. Gen. ix; 4; Lev. xi. I; xvii. 11). The once-Le,·. xxiii. 40, where it is used with word used lS nephesh (~\).)), By this word reference to the Feast of 'fabernacles. Moses the Hebrews designated the animal life- now enjoins this festinty to be observed in principle in men and in beasts· and ns connection with all the sacrificial meals. without this the body was a :rr{ere inert The Levite that is within your gates. The mass, the word came to be used for "life " LeYites bad no share in the land as the generally. Of this life the blood was property of their tribe; but they bad towns believed to be the seat, and was regarded as allotted to them among the different tribes the symbol, so that to ehed blood was (Numb. xxH.), so that in this way they were tantamount to the taking a.way of life. dispersed through the nation. Hence, As the blood, moreover, was the life, in it perhaps, they are described as " within the was supposed to lie the propitiatory power- gates " of the rest of the people. Or, as the the power, when shed, of atoniug for sin, as LeYites seem to ba.e itinerated in tl1e dis- the giving of life for life. The prohibition charge of varioWl offices among the people, of eating it doubtless had respect to this. It the phrase may designate them as on this was not merely to prevent ferocity in men account occasionally resident among others towards the lqwer animals (as Rosenmiiller in their community·; just as;" the stranger suggests) that the eating of blood was that is within thy gates" means the person interdicted, but specially because there was of some other nation who for the time being in this a sort of profanation, n putting to a was resident in any of the towns of Israel common use of what appertained to a sacred Vers. 13-16.-Tbey were to beware of rite. offering sacrifice in any place that might Vers. 26, 27.-The holy things; i.e. the seem to them best; their offerings were to offerings prescribed by the Law; "hallowed be presented only in that place which God things" (Numb. xviii. 8; cf. Lev. xxi. 22). should clwose. But this did not imply Which thou hast; literally, which are to thee; that thev were not to kill and eat in their i.e. which are binding on thee. Thy burnt own auodes whatever they desired for food, offerings, the :fl.esh and the blood ; i.e. the nccordin::( to tl,e blessing of Jehovah their flesh and the blood of the burnt offerings God. Only they were to abstain from which were to be laid upon the altar (Lev. eating of Llood (cf. Gen. ix. 4; Lev. vii. i. 5-9). The blood of thy se.crifioea 26); that they were to pour on the earth as (zeuachim) she.ll be poured out upon the if it were water. Eumt offering; this is e.lte.r. This refers to the ritual of the named instar omnium, as the principal ehelamim, or peace offering (Lev. iii. 2, 8, offering. Whatsoever thy soul lusteth after. 13). The word zeuach (n::i_)) is never used To•• ]usl," in c,]d English, means simply to in the Pentateuch of an atoning sacrifice w1l L cl10ose, desire; it is the same word as (Oehler,' Theology of the-Old Testo.meut,' ~ list," or, as it is sometimes spelt, "Jest," ii. 2); it is used only of such offerings as and does not, as now, imply nnything evil. furnished a sacrificial meo.l; hence it is As of the roebuck, and as of the hart ; pro- added here, and thou aha.It ee.t the fieah. bably 1.he gnzellc o.ud fallow deer. As these Vera. 29, 80.-liere the speaker revert• 01:l, XII, 1-112.) THE nooK OF DEUTERONOMY. 21i
to the admonition with which he began this This has led some to mclintain tho.t tlio pnrt of his address (ver. 2); and warns the ceremon;r described was merely a februo.tion, pcoplo ngainst hn.ving any intercourse with a lustrat10n by fire, and not an a.ctual burnin" the Cn.no.o.nites in their idolatrous practices. alive of these victims; but there can be n~ That thou enquire not after their gods.· It doubt that both among the Ammonites and wos o. generol belief o.mong the hen.then the Phcenicia.ns, o.nd indeed wherever the t111.1t to ignore or ~eglect the deities of a. worship of Ba.al or Molech was followed, the country was sure to bring ca.lo.mity (cf. offering of children in sacrifice by burnin" 2 Kings xvii. 26) ; hence tho need of prevailed (Miinter,' Religion der Karthager; cautioning the Iero.elites ogainst inquiring p. 18, 2nd edit. ; Selden, 'De Diis Syri,i o.fter the gods of the Co.naanites when they Synta.g,' i. c. 6, pp. 93, 257, edit. Beyer, should be settled in their land. Amst., 1680). Ver. 31.-l'or even their aone and their Ver. 32.-Theadmonition in this verse is daughters ha.ve they burnt in the lire to best regarded as forming an intermediate their gods. El sew here the phrase used is link between this chapter and the followin"', 0 "make to pa.as through the fire " ( eh. xviii. "closing wl1at goes before and introducto, y 10), or simply " make to Jl8SS through to to what follows" (Keil). Molech" (Lev. xviii. 21; Jer. xxx.il. 35).
HOMILETICS.