The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 471

t.he rC'rC'iYcr, transcriber, and guardian of the Law. As the nntion bec&mc consolid&tcd, 1h1s d1 111hlc work wonld certainly become too heavy for one man to discharge. Hence he conunissions one man to be the leader of an army, and another set of men to be tho conserrntors of the truth. Joshua is leader. 'l'he priests arc to be the keepers and teachers of the La11·. It is one remarkilble feature of the constitution of the Hebrew common- wealth, thnt such stress is laid upon popular education. This was again and again 1•1ade mntter of Divine prC'ccpt. And about this there were two main regulations: one, thnt it wns to begin at home; another, that it was to have e.s its ono golden thread numiog through all, that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of wisdom. Over and nh,Ye, howe,er, the home teaching from childhood, there was to be at stated times a public rcailing and enforcement of the Law. At this public reading, the people were to be ;.:at hercd together. "Young men and maidens, old men and children;" the strnn~er that was within their gates was not to be forgotten. All, all were to hear the '\Yord of God, that they might learn, fear, love, and obey. It is to secure this most desirable end that llfoscs, hilving written the Law, delivers H to the pri_csts, tbe sons of Levi, a~d gives them the charge of which the paragraph before us 1s the sum. Our theme is-The value of the Word of God as an educating pow,,r in l10me and nation. The points to be noted in the wo:ds of Moses here given are these: 1. 'l'hat both young and old were to have ever before them the truth that their life was for God, was to be permeated by Divine influence, and regulated by the Divine will. 2. That the will of God, so revealed as to be the true and sufficient regulator cf life, was to be found in the Book of the Law. 3. That all classes of the people, borne-born e.od alien, freemen and slaves, were to be taught what was the Di,inc will concerning them. 4. 'l'bat tbe object of the teaching was that they might gro"· up with an intelligent apprehension of the deep meaning of life. 5, That intelligence was intended and expected to blossom into piety. Men were to "fear" the Lord their God, and to "observe to do all the words of this Law." Our purpose in this Homily is to inquire, How far docs all this hold good at the present day? Vi'hen Moses wrote the Law, it served, as it did for ages after, as the people's literature. It would take a like place with the people that our histories of England do now, and would, moreover, serve them as the story-book for children, and the statute-book for all. And there was a time when to large masses of our people the Bible constituted the chief literary treasure of the home. Aud ere the people coulcl read, the exposition and enforcement of its truths from the pulpit formecl the ·staple of their education. But things arc changed now. 'fhe increase of literary material in every direction is amazing. The vastly wider field of natural knowledge takes so much time and energy for its exploration, that the Bible is in danger of being "crowded out." And what may be called in an intelligible sense the literary rivals of foe Dible are "legion." We propose to suggest a few lines of thought which tho Christian preacher may work out, with the view of showing that an intelligent acquaintance with the \V'ord of God is, if possible, more important now than ever it was. l\I:rny reasons may be urged for this. J. LET US CONSIDER THE VARIOUS ASPECTS IN WHICH THE BIBLE MAY BE RE• GAI:DED. "\Ve need scarcely observe (save for the sake of completeness of setting) that our I3iLle is much larger than Israel's was, and that therefore by so much as this is the case there is much more to be affirmed of it now than could be of the old Book of the Law. 1. In the Bible we have a trustworthy history of Judaism and Christianity, ill their origin and me!l.ning. Of the first we have an outline during the main pet_. JUS uf its constitutional history; of the second, during the first.generation after its planLing• .A]J(l so important are these features of history, that apart from them the history of the world cannot be understood. 2. We have the noblest ethical standard in the world. The moral law cannot, even in conception, be surpassed. 3. We have a revelation of a great redeemiog plan steadily unfolded from Genesis to Revelation. 4. We have a disclosure of God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. 5. We have the manifesta- ti0n of power from heaven to begin a new creation of grace. 6. We have a body of <luctrine for the life that now is. 7. We have glorious glimpses of the life which is to c:ullle. In all these respects the Book is unique. It has no compeer in any literature in the world! lL As THE OONTENTS OF THE BlBLE ABE UNIQUE, BO ALBO IB 1TB OBJEOT DEl"INITB. OIi, XXXI. 1-30.] TIIE DOOK OF DEUTF,ll.ONOMY. 483