The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 412

wh~n it drowns other th?ughts in adm!ration of the finish, injuring worship by that wl11ch draws away the mmd from worship. 3. 'lhe burnt offerings and peace offerin~s testified-the one to the entire consecration of heart and life which is the condition ~f acceptable service; the other, to the peace and fellowship with God which, on tl,e ground of eacrifice, are attained through consecration and obedience.-J. O. Vers. 9, 10.-A people of God. I. A PEOPLE BOUND TO Goo BY MANY TIES. Both by what God had done for them, and by the vows which, on different occflsions, they had taken on themselves. They were his by covenant with the fathers. He had made them his by redemption from Egypt. He had covenanted with them at Sinai. The covenant being broken, he had, at Moses' intercession, gracio11sly renewed it. He ha,l kept covenant with the children, even when rejecting the fathers Thirty-eiaht years he had led them in the wilderness, and once more had gathered them togethe7", to hear them renew their vows of obedience. Which things are a figure. They remind us of the many bonds by which numbers of Christ's people are bound to his covenant. By redemption, by dedication of parents, by personal choice of the Saviour, by public profession, by repeatf.d visits to his table, by special vows, etc. JI. A PEOPLE REAFFIRMED TO BE Goo's BY RENEWAL OF COVENANT. We" become" the Lord's by revival and renewal of profession, as well as by original entrance into grace. As Christ's Sonship is from eternity, yet is dated from successive epochs-hi~ birth (Luke i. 32, 35), his resurrection (Acts xiv. 33; Rom. i. 4)-so each new act of self-dedication, each new approach of God to the soul, each renewal of covenant, may be taken by the Christian as a new date from which to reckon his acceptance. III. A PEOPLJ;; UNDER WEIGHTY RESPONSIBILITIES. The believer's relation to God entails a solemn obligation to obedience. The very name, "people of God," remind~ us of our "holy calling "-of the oLligation resting on us to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. ii. 15, 16); exhibiting to the world a pattern of good works, and proving our discipleship by likeness of character to him whose Name we bear.-J. 0. Vers. 11-26.-Ebal and Gerizim. This ceremony turns on the idea of the Law as primarily entailing a curse. Blessings and curses were both to be recited (vers. 12, 13). But the curse seews to have been first pronounced, and it only is given in the record. It has the lead in the transaction. The explanation is obvious. Ver. 2li shows that, in strictness, none can escape the curse (Ps. cxxx. 3; Gal. iii. 10). A bless- ing is pronounced from Gerizim, but it is abortive, as depending on a. condition which no sinner can fulfil. Hence: 1. The stones are all placed on Ebal. 2. All the sons of the bondwomen are placed on that mount (cf. Gal. iv. 21-31). This is preferable to supposing that prominence is given to the curse, inasmuch as, under law, fear rather than love is the motive relied 011 to secure obedience. The appeal to fear is itself an evidence that "the law is not made for a righteous man" (1 Tim. i. 9). It brin~s strikingly to light the inherent weakness of the economy (Rom. viii. 3). When a Law, the essence of which is love, requires to lean on curses to enforce it, the uu- Jikelihood of getting it obeyed is tolerably manifest. As an actually working system, the Mosaic economy, while availing itself of the Law to awaken consciousness of sin and to keep men in the path of virtue, drew its strength for holiness, not from the Law, but from the revelations of love and grace which lay within and behind it. We learn- I. THAT THE LAW IS COMPREHENSIVE OF EVERY PART OF OUR DUTY. A variety of sins are mentioned as examples. They relate to all departments of duty-duty to God and duty to man. The list is avowedly representative (ver. 26). Note: 1. That it covers a large part of the Decalogue. The first table is fairly represented by the second commandment., and a curse is pronounced on the making and worshipping of images (ver. 15). The precepts of the second table are involved iu the other verses- the fifth commandment in the curse on filial disrespect (ver.16), the sixth in the curse on murder (ver. 24), the seventh in the curses on the grosser forms of W1clc:mness (vers. 20-23); the eighth in the curse on removing the landmark (ver.17); lLc ninth iu  'l'RE BOOK OF DI<;UTERONOM\', [err. xxvu. 1--26,