The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 262

III. THE rnomDITION OF OUR LORD AGAINST COVETOUSNESS IS VERT STERN AND !;TRONG. (See Luke xii. 13-21.) At every stage of that paragraph there is some new and slnrtling light in which the evil of covetousness is seen, 1. It cherishes a totally rnist.nken ,iew of life (Luke xii. 15). 2. It is perilous (Luke xii, 20). Hence: 3. It is fo0I ish (Luke xii. 20, 21 ). Strong checks these! Far stronger than Israel's. IY. THERE IS A Drnim STIGMA UPON COVETOUSNESS. (SefJ Eph. v. 6; Col. iii. 6,) 11 is idolatry. It is gh·ing to creature objects the regard which is duo only to God. He would have us "in his light see light," and regard the greed of gain as an abomi- nable thing. V. THERE Is A DrvrKE RULE FOR LABOUR. It is given us in Eph. iv. 28. The obserrance of this precept would prevent the social evil arising from covetousness on the one hand, and would create the good accruing from benevolence on the other. "Let him In hour in orde1· that he may liave the wherewith to give I " How truly sublime! lL is like the benevolence of God, YI. THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER HAS SPECIAL INJUNC'l."IONS FOR TIIE RICH, with the gi,·ing of which he is charged. (1 Tim. vi, 17-HJ.) Thus the Christian code is by no means less comprehensive than the Mosaic. On the contrary, it is far more so. It is equally stringent in allowing no one to think of his property as his own. YJI. Oun GOD WOULD WIN AS WELL AS WARN. See Heh. xiii. 5, "Let your turn of mind be free from the love of money (~•Acf.pyupos)." Why? "Because himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee" (see also 2 Pet. i. 4). ,,e are permitted, in Christ, to call God "ours," to find in his love our joy, in his wisdom and strength our stay, in his wealth our supply. Hence we ought to be lifted up above any consuming racking care, and to be loyally obedient to God's will in the sanctified use of all that we have (Matt. vi. 33). Let any one set side by side the Mosaic regulations in the paragraph we have just been considering, with the seven considerations adduced from New Testament teach- ing. Let him compare them with one another. And, if we mistake not, he will find more than ample mate1ial for other Homilies on the height, the breadth, the depth, and the length of Christian ethics, as covering the entire ground of the relations of man to man a:id of man to God, and as requiring no less exactitude in detail through less detail being specified. It is said (and we fear it is said truly) that the great hindrance to God's work in the world is that the Christian name does not carry with it Christian morality. Ah! if it did, how luminous would such morality appear! Let but the above considerations be universally acted out, on all sides, and no more strifes between capital and labour would ever be known. The rich would neither oppress, nor despise, nor neglect tbe poor ; the poor would no longer be jealous of the rich. Both would recognize their mutual relation to and need of each other. While, with universal righteousness and kindness, mendicancy would be a thing unknown, And never, never, till there is a new principle of love infused through the va.tious classes of society, will such a consummation he attained! Still, ho;wever sad our hearts may be as we consider how far we are off from the mutual regard between owner and labourer which even Moses enjoined, let each of us feel his personal responsibility for fidelity to the Divine Law. Only as this is felt and discharged by each, can it be felt and discharged bv all. The Lord make us and all men to abound in good will, and may the supreme b~oevoleoce which has its source in heaven flow o'er the world as a pure river of water of life! Vers. 7-11.-T,lie duty of kindness to the poor. There seems to be at first sight a discrepancy between the phrase in ver. 4 and that in ver, 11. The former is, "Save when there shall be no poor among you ; " the latter, "The poor shall never cease out of the land." The first phrase is, however, a reason a$signed for the injunction which had been given : it is equivalent to, "Simply, that there be no poor among you," i.e. this or tbat was an appointment in Israel, in order that the number of the p~or might be reduced to a minimum, and that those who were poor might not become abjectly so. But no such external law could ever prevent some from falling back in the race. As lung as men's constitutions, capacities, and characters were widely different, so would their measure of success be, A levelling of circumstances could be brought about only through a levelling of men, after all had been brought to a uniform starting-poii.t, 011, xv. 1-23.] 'rIIE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 257