_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ Moses exhorts them to obedience, by rehearsing God's works, Deuteronomy 11:1; by describing the goodness of the land, Deuteronomy 11:8; by promises and threats, Deuteronomy 11:13. An exhortation to teach their children, closed with a promise, Deuteronomy 11:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know ye this day_ That is, acknowledge and consider it with diligence and thankfulness; for that is the sense of the original word here, and in a multitude of other places. _Your children, who have not known_ But your eyes have seen, Deuteronomy 11:7. _The chastisement of the Lord_ His judgments ex... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hath destroyed them unto this day_ Brought them so low that they have not yet recovered their strength. Or, the effect of which destruction continueth to this day, in their weakness and fear, and our safety from their further attempts against us. _What he did in the wilderness _ Both in a way of ju... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your eyes have seen_ Some of them had seen all the great things done for them in Egypt, and at the Red sea, and in the wilderness; and all of them had seen some of his mighty acts in their behalf. As if he had said, You yourselves have had experience of God's goodness and power, and therefore you s... [ Continue Reading ]
_The land is not as the land of Egypt_ The fruitfulness of it depends more especially on the divine providence, and therefore you should be careful to serve the Lord, and secure his favour and blessing. _Wateredst it with thy foot_ That is, with great pains and labour of thy feet; partly by fetching... [ Continue Reading ]
_A land of hills and valleys_ Which could not be made fruitful but by rain from heaven, which seldom fell in Egypt, whose fruitfulness depended on the overflowing of the Nile. Thus he informs them that the promised land was of such a condition as would keep them in a constant dependance upon God for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Which the Lord careth for_ In a special manner, watering it immediately, as it were, by his own hand, without man's help, and giving peculiar blessings to it, which Egypt enjoyed not. _To the end of the year_ To give it the rain, and other blessings proper to the several seasons. But all these merc... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will give you_ Moses here personates God; or, rather, God speaks by him. _The rain of your land_ Which is proper to your land, and not common to Egypt, where there is little rain. _The first rain and the latter rain_ In Judea and the neighbouring countries there is seldom any rain, save at two se... [ Continue Reading ]
_That your heart be not deceived_ By the specious pretence of idolaters, persuading you that they enjoy fruitful seasons, and other temporal blessings, as a reward for their worship. _And he shut up the heaven_ Withhold rain from you, which will be a sore judgment, quickly bringing a famine, whereby... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lay up these my words_ Let us all observe these three rules: 1st, Let our hearts be filled with the word of God; let it _dwell in us richly, in all wisdom_, (Colossians 3:16,) and be laid up within us as in a store- house, to be used upon all occasions. 2d, Let our eyes be fixed upon it: _Bind thes... [ Continue Reading ]
_As the days of heaven_ As long as the heaven keeps its place, and continues its influences upon the earth. Thus the psalmist says of the son of David, the Messiah, _His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every place_ Not absolutely, as the Jewish rabbis fondly imagine, but in the promised land, as the sense is restrained in the following words; either by possession or by dominion, namely, upon condition of your obedience. _From the wilderness_ Of Sin, on the south of Canaan, _and Lebanon_ On the no... [ Continue Reading ]
_I set before you_ I propose them to your consideration and your choice. So that if a curse should be your portion, instead of a blessing, and you should be in a calamitous and miserable, and not in a prosperous and happy condition, you must thank yourselves for it. This he explains more at large in... [ Continue Reading ]
_Other gods which ye have not known_ With which you have no acquaintance, and of whose power, and wisdom, and goodness, you have no experience, as you have had of mine.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Put_ Hebrew, _Thou shalt give;_ that is, speak, or pronounce, or cause to be pronounced. This is more particularly expressed Deuteronomy 27:12. _Over against_ Looking toward Gilgal, though at some considerable distance from it. _Beside the plains of Moreh _ This was one of the first places that Abr... [ Continue Reading ]