Deuteronomy 8 - Introduction
_MOSES EXHORTS THEM TO OBEDIENCE, FROM THE RECOLLECTION OF GOD'S SINGULAR BLESSINGS TOWARDS THEM._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_MOSES EXHORTS THEM TO OBEDIENCE, FROM THE RECOLLECTION OF GOD'S SINGULAR BLESSINGS TOWARDS THEM._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THINE HEART_— Man's life is a state of probation. The wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness afford us a lively resemblance of the human pilgrimage through this world. God, who knows the hearts of all men, needs not to be informed how they are disposed... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 3. _THAT HE MIGHT MAKE THEE KNOW_— See Matthew 4:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _THY RAIMENT WAXED NOT OLD UPON THEE,_ &C.— See Deuteronomy 29:5 and Nehemiah 9:21. Houbigant renders this, _tuae vestes non sunt attritae; thy garments are not worn out,_ which is preferable to _waxed old._ With respect to this matter, we observe, first, that some interpreters, not conten... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _A LAND WHOSE STONES ARE IRON_— i.e. Where the iron mines are as plentiful as quarries of stone in other places. _Out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass; i.e._ copper, of which brass is made. See chap. Deuteronomy 33:25. REFLECTIONS.—Repeated injunctions were given to urge their obedien... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 10. _WHEN THOU HAST EATEN,_ &C. _THOU SHALT BLESS THE LORD_— The Jews upon these words ground one of their positive precepts, that every one should bless God at his meals; a precept, not more commendable than reasonable: for what can be more reasonable than thankfully to acknowledge God, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14. _THEN THINE HEART BE LIFTED UP_— An usual effect of prosperity and great riches, as Euripides observes: υβριν δε τικτει πλουτος; _wealth breeds pride and contempt of others;_ for when men are elated by their distinguished circumstances, they easily fancy themselves to be very important pe... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _SCORPIONS_— The _scorpion_ is a small insect, which has a bladder full of poison: the belly is divided into seven rings, from the last of which the tail proceeds, which tail is armed with one, and sometimes with two stings, whence it darts a dangerous poison; it fixes violently with its... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 16. _WHO FED THEE—WITH MANNA,—THAT HE MIGHT HUMBLE THEE,_ &C.— God fed the Israelites with manna forty years; 1st, To _humble_ them, by making them continually and experimentally sensible that they owed their subsistence, their life and being, to him, every moment. 2nd, To put their faith and... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 17. _THOU SAY IN THINE HEART, MY POWER,_ &C.— See Isaiah 10:13.... [ Continue Reading ]