The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 244

, crs. 1, 2.-The people of God when death is in the home. If God chose out a people for himself, with the view of planting in the world a new and nobler faith, it is no wonder if he would have the people superadd to that a new at!d higher life. But if the life is to be higher in any sense which could be acceptable to Jehovah, it must be one based on the new faith and manifesting itself to others in a new deportment, i.e. it must be both an outer and inner life. But if the people are just emerging from a semi- barbaric condition, it is not at all improbable that they may need to be dealt with as we deal with children. We give them technical rules first, and they have to learn reasons afterwards. Possibly, as the child grows up and gets beyond the rules which bound him once, he may smile at them, or rather at the childishness which needed them in earlier years; while at the same time he would, or at any rate he should, feel thankful to those who stooped to teach him so that he could understand them. In this chapter, we have se\"eral illustrations of God's thus dealing with Israel. We now take the one in the first two verses. It is well known that heathen nations were very violent in their shows of grief over their dead, tearing the hair, cutting the face, beating the breast, etc., while the cutting of the flesh was likewise submitted to in honour of their gods (see Exposition, in loc.). Now, it was of vast importanco to give Israel to understand bow entirfly they were to be the Lord's, how fully be was theirs, and how the blest mutual relation changed the very aspect of that frequent anu certain family sorrow-de::.th. \Ve have not here any full opening up of that, but there is scarcely any room to doubt that it formed a very important part of Hebrew teaching; for the fact that all these heathen rites and orgies over the dead were entirely forbidden would be sure to lead many, especially of the young, to ask for the reason of such pro- hibition. And when we remember bow careful was the preparation for meeting the inquisitiveness of childhood in other matters, we cannot imagine that this was an txception to the general rule. 'l'be prohibition of old customs would clear the way for teaching a new doctrine. And, as applied to Israel of old, the following six posi- tions may be asserted and maintained. 1. They were to be a separate people to the Lord their Gud, not only in all the varied relations of life, but' also in the presence of death. 2. Old customs of surrounding nations, at the death of their friends, were to be done away, as a sign of the different meaning and aspect of death, to the people of the Lord. 3. This changed aspect of death followed from their blessed relationship to God, aud from God's blessed relationship to them. 4. 'l'his relationship involved and assured Israel of the continued life of their holy dead in God. Surely it was scarcely possible for them to think of Enoch, Noah, Abraham, as extinct. True, the light on the unseen ~[e iu the grave was dim, and the gloom of the grave was deep. But still, it was very OH. XIV, 1-29.] THE BOOK 0]' DEUTERONOMY. 239