nc,t n<'<'C'ss:irily n wicked mrm (rf. eh. xiii. Exod. xxii. 20; xxiii. 9; Lev. xix. 34). Aa 13). And it be ein unto thee; i.e. entail God had dealt by them, eo it behoved thorn gui11 upon thee, and BO expose thee to the to denl by othcre in like condition and Di,·inc displcnsure. need. Ver. 10.-Shall not be grieved; literally, Vers. 16, 17.-It might happen, however, ,hnll 110( 1,crome evil, i.e. shnll not entertain thnt the elave chose mther to remnin with n grudge. They wore to gin•, not grudgingly his master than to be manumitted, and in or of necessity, merely through drcnd of that case he wae not to be forced to go free, God's displeasure, but chcorfu lly and spon- which would be a hardship to him, but Willi tnneotrnly (cf. 2 Oor. ix. 'i). For thie God to be, by a formal process of nailing his ca1 would bless them in all their works, so that to the door of his master's house, conetitutcd the, should not on!, be no losers, but sllould his slave for life (cf. Exod. xxi. 5). 'l'his be g11incrs, by their generosity. was not a painful oporo.tion, eepeoially a.a Ver. 11.-Thcy were to open their hand the serrnnt's car wae probably already wide to their poorer brethren, for tllero pierced for a ring; nor does any info.my should always be such in the land. This appear to have beeu attached to the benring statement is not inconsistent with that in of this badge of perpetual servitude. There 'l'er. 4, for there it is the pre'l'ention of is no mention here, as in Exodus, of the pornrty by not dealing hnrshly with the matter being referred to the judges; and poor that is spoken of; here it is the con- this has led some to suppose tllat, by the tinuance of occasion for the relief of the timo. this later prescription was given, the poor that is referred to. earlier usage he.d passed aw,iy; but it is Vers. 12-18.-From injunctions regard- more nature.I to suppose that this uea.ge ing the treatment of the poor and of debtors was so regular and well known the.t it we.a needless formally to announce it. the transition is easy to the law concerning Ver. 18.-Where a. slave determined to slams, inasmuch as it was through the have hie freedom, the maeter was to set him stress of poverty that any became such from free w-ithout grudge; for he hath been worth among their brethren. The law, as here a donble hired servant to thee, in eerving laid down, is the same as that in Exod. thee six years; literally, double the hire of a hireling he hJLth served thee si:r, years, i.e. he xxi. 2-6, somewhat expanded ; the most ho.th saved to thee as much again as it important addition being that the slave is would have cost thee to pay a hired labourer not only to go free after six years of service, to do the same amount of work. but is to be furnished by his master with Vers. 19-23.-In eh. xii. 6, 17 and in the means of setting up a home for himself. eh. xiv. 23, reference is made to sacrificial meals, and to the approprintion of the The six years here specified are not to be firstlings of the herds and flocke thereto ; confounded 'llith the years ending o.t the llioses here reverts to this, and gives o. sabbatical year; they are any six years fuller exposition of it. It is enjoined that, during which the individual has been in as all the firstborn were to be sanctified .to bondage. the Lord (Exod. xiii. 2-13), they were not to work with the firstborn of their cattle, Ver. 14.-Thon shalt funtish him liber- either by yoking the bullock to the plough ally; literally, shalt l,ay on his neck, i.e. thou or waggon or by shenring the sheep : theee shalt load him. The meaning is well ex- belonged to God, and were not to be put to pressed in the Authorized Version. This any vulgar uses of men; year by year they is the new prescription added to the earlier were to be brought to the sanctuary, offered law. a.a sacrifices, e.nd eaten before the Lord. If Ver. 15.-Compliance is enforced by the any of the firstborn animals were blind, or consideration that the Israelites had been lame, or in any way blemished, such was thewselrns bondmen in Egypt, and had not to be offered to the Lord, bnt might been redeemed out of that bondage by God be used e.s food in their ordine.ry places of {cf. eh. v. 15; x. 19; ni 12; xxiv. 18, 22; residence ( cf. Lev. xxii. 19, eto.),
HOMILETICS.
Vers. 1-6.-Divine checks on human greed. In this paragraph the institutioD: of the sabbatical. year is presupposed (cf. Exod. xxiii. 9-13; Le~. xxv. 2-7) .. J?urmg this year the land was to rest, and it would doubtless be conducive to after-fru1t!ul~ess to gi.ve the soil this respite, by letting it lie fallow every seventh year, for at this t1mo on. xv. 1-23.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 255