touch wlmt wns ho.llowecl (Lov. xxii. 2::1). Ver. 15.-(Cf. Ion. !xiii. 15; lxvi. I.) Nor given ought thereof for the dead; i.e. Vere. lG-19.-Moses winds up his rirlrlrcs~ on nccount or tho clencl; ho l,nd not sent by a solemn admonition to the people to nny pnrt of it to where there was one dencl, according to the custom for friends o.nd keep and observe the lnwa nnd commo.nd- relations to send to a house of mourning mente which the Lord by him ho.d le.id provisions for tho mourners (2 Sam. iii. 35 ; upon them, reminding them that they ho.cl Jer. xvi, 7: Hos. ix. 4: Tobit iv. 17). Or entered into covenant with God, o.nd ha.d tho reference mo.y be here to the expenses thereby pledged themeel ves to obedience to incurred by the clenth or one for whose funeral the indivicl no.I ho.d to provide. This all that he had enjoinerl, as he on his part view is o.dopted by Dr. Thomson, who, re- had pledged himself to he their Benefactor, mo.rking on this p11.sso.ge, says, "This was who wonld fulfil to them all hia graciom the strongest possible protestation that he promises, and would exalt them above all had de11lt faithfully in the matter of tithing the nations of the earth. 11ncl consecrated things a_nd in charities to Ver. 16.-This day. This refel'3 gene- the poor. He had not allowed himself to rally to the time when this discourse was divert anything to other uses, not even by delivered. the most pressing o.nd unforeseen emergen- Ver. 17.-Thou hast avouched, etc.; lite- cies. It ie here assumed, or rather implied, rally, Th-Ou hast caused Jeh-Ouah thi8 day to tho.t times of mourning for the dead were say to be a God unto thee ; i.e. thou hast expansive, o.nd o.lso tho.t the stern law of given occasion to him to declare himself to custom obliged the bereaved to defray be thy God, and (as a consequence of this) those expenses, however onerous. . . . The that thou ehouldest walk in his ways and tempto.tion, therefore, to devote o. part of keep hie commandments. In declaring the tithes, hallowed things, and charities that he was their God, he virtually declared to defro.y these enormous, unforeseen, and also. that they were to he wholly obedient providential expenses would be very urgent, to him. and he who stood faithful at such times Ver. 18.-So, on the other hand, God might safely be trusted on e.ll nther occa- he.d given Israel occasion to £ay that they sions " (' Land o.nd the Book,' i. I '19). The were hie special people, his treasured pos- LXX. rendering, Tf TE8vfi1<0T1 1 "to the dead," session (cf. Exod. xix. 5, 6), whose it was, has led some to suppose that the reference as such, to keep all his commandments, he1·e is to the placing of articles or food in and to whom he would be faithful to fulfil the tomb along with the corpse; but though all that he he.d promised. this custom prevailed among the Jews in later Ver. 19.-(Cf. Jer. xiii. 11; nxiii. 9; times, as well e.s among other peoples, there Zepb. iii. 19, 20.) An holy people (cf. Exod. is no ground for supposing it to be referred xix. 5, 6). "The sanctification of Israel to here. As all connected with e. dead body was the design and end of its election or was held to be unclean, as well as the body God, and would be o.ccomplished in the itself, a house of mourning with its inhabit- glory to which the people of God were to ants we.s held to be unclean, and into it, be ODlted" (Keil). therefore, nothing that had been hallowed might be lawfully carried.
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-11.-Joy in the use of temporal mercies ; or, sanctification ef our possessions to God warrants a holy J°oy in the use of them. The order of thought is this: 1. In due time Israel would be in possession of the land which the Lord promised to give them. 2. Of this comfortable possession the gathering of the fruits thereof would be the proof and sign. 3. In accordance with a well-understood law, the firstfruits were to be offered to God (see reference). 4. In thus offering the firstfruit.s, the offerers were to go up to the house of the Lord, and present them to the priest, who was to lay them before the altar as offerings to the Lord. 5. This being done, there was to be an oral avowal of Divine mercy in pitying "the perishing Aramrean" from whom they were descended, in watching over the growth of their natiori, in delivering them from Egypt, in giving them the good land, nnd in permitting it to yield them its fruit. 6. This being done, they could then rejoice before the Lord their God in the sacrificial meal which followed, in the companionship of friends invited to share with them the joy of h11rvest, and in the after use of the bounties of God's providence. For tb.ey 408 THE DOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. (011. Xlt.Vt, 1-10.