After having restrained the Israelites from the strange delusions of the Gentiles, Moses now forbids them from being too credulous if false teachers should arise from among themselves, and warns them diligently to beware of all novel inventions, and not to turn aside in the very least degree from th... [ Continue Reading ]
3._For the Lord your God proveth you. _(Latin, _tentat vos.) _Whenever this word, which means _to tempt, _is applied to God, it is not used in a bad sense, for “to take by guile,” or, “to lay snares of deceit to entrap the unwary,” but only for “to prove or examine.” Now, God proves men’s hearts, no... [ Continue Reading ]
5._And that prophet. _Since the ministers of Satan deceive men by their plausible exterior, when they vaunt themselves to be the prophets of God, Moses had already admonished them, that all. teachers were not to be listened to indifferently, but that the true were to be distinguished from the false,... [ Continue Reading ]
6_If thy brother, the son of thy mother. _The punishment which he had commanded to be inflicted on false teachers, is now extended to each one of the people. For although it is a lighter offense in a private individual to draw others with him into error, both because his ignorance is excusable, and... [ Continue Reading ]
7_Namely, of the gods of the people. _The sum of the matter is to this effect, that we should so acquiesce in the known truth, as that our ears may be closed to all the falsehoods by which it is opposed. Men’s neighborhood to each other commonly produces, by their intercommunication, a conformity of... [ Continue Reading ]
9_But thou shalt surely kill him. _He would not that every one should privately execute vengeance without a public trial; but he referred to the ordinary custom, that the witnesses should throw the first stone at condemned criminals, as we shall see elsewhere. For it was an admirable provision, that... [ Continue Reading ]
12._If thou shalt hear say. _If impiety and rebellion should more widely prevail, Moses declares that whole cities, together with their inhabitants, should rather be destroyed, than that so great a crime should remain unpunished. Hence we may better infer how unholy is the tenderness of those who wo... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Certain men, the children of Belial. _Moses puts a case, which very often is wont to occur. For all do not break forth into impiety together at the same moment, but Satan stirs up some who are like fans to excite others; and by their instigations the multitude is led to imitate them. Moses calls... [ Continue Reading ]
15_Thou shalt surely smite. _Lest the severity of the punishment should occasion surprise, let us first observe that the error was unpardonable, because its authors, being educated in the doctrines of the Law, could not be deceived involuntarily, nor unless they had grown weary of religion, and set... [ Continue Reading ]
16._And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it. _They are commanded to burn all the furniture, and whatever is found in the city; and the reason is subjoined, because it is accursed (_anathema_) If any city was taken in war, all that God here commands to be burnt was to be counted as spoil, for the J... [ Continue Reading ]
18._When thou shalt hearken. _Although this sentence depends on something else, (as may be seen by referring to it,) yet is it general, and extends to the commendation of the whole Law. Moses teaches first, that the rule of a holy life must be sought from the mouth of God; and then adds that He must... [ Continue Reading ]