Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land. Deuteronomy 4:1-40 Moses' discourse 1. In general it is the use and application of the foregoing history. It comes in by way of inference from it (ver. 1). This use we should make of the review of God's providences, we should by them be quickened to duty and obedience. The histories of ancient times should, in like manner, be improved by us. 2. The scope of his discourse is to persuade them to keep close to God, and to His service, and not to forsake Him for any other god, nor in any instance to decline from their duty to Him. Now, observe what he saith to them with a great deal of Divine rhetoric: First, by way of exhortation and direction; secondly, by way of motive and argument, to enforce his exhortations. I. See here HOW HE CHARGES AND COMMANDS THEM, AND SHOWS THEM WHAT IS GOOD, AND WHAT THE LORD REQUIRED OF THEM. 1. He demands their diligent attention to the Word of God, and to the statutes and judgments that were taught them. "Hearken, O Israel." He means not only that they must now give him the hearing, but that whenever the book of the law was read to them, or read by them, they should be attentive to it. 2. He charges them to preserve the Divine law pure and entire among them (ver. 2). Keep it pure, and do not add to it; keep it entire, and do not diminish from it. Not in practice; so some: Ye shall not add, by committing the evil which the law forbids; nor diminish, by omitting the good which the law requires. Not in opinion; so others: Ye shall not add your own inventions, as if the Divine institution were defective; nor introduce, much less impose, any rites of religious worship other than what God has appointed; nor shall ye diminish, or set aside, anything that is appointed as needless or superfluous God's work is perfect; nothing can be put to it, or taken from it, but it makes it the worse ( Ecclesiastes 3:14 ). 3. He charges them to keep God's commandments (ver. 2), to do them (vers. 5, 14), to keep and do them (ver. 16), to perform the covenant (ver. 13). Hearing must be in order to doing; knowing in order to practice. God's commandments were the way they must walk in, the rule they must keep to. What are laws made for but to be observed and obeyed? 4. He charges them to be very strict and careful in their observance of the law (vers. 9, 15, 23). Those that would be religious must be very cautious, and walk circumspectly. Consider how many temptations we are compassed about with, and what corrupt inclinations we have in our own bosoms. 5. He charges them particularly to take heed of the sin of idolatry, which of all other they would be most tempted to by the customs of the nations, were most addicted to by the corruption of their hearts, and would be most provoking to God, and of most pernicious consequence to themselves (vers. 15, 16). Two sorts of idolatry he cautions them against.(1) The worship of images, however by them they might intend to worship the true God, as they had done in the golden calf; so changing the truth of God into a lie, and His glory into shame. Let this be a caution to us to take heed of making images of God in our fancy and imagination when we are worshipping Him, lest thereby we corrupt ourselves. There may be idols in the heart where there are none in the sanctuary.(2) The worship of the sun, moon, and stars is another sort of idolatry they are here cautioned against (ver. 14). This was the first and most ancient idolatry of all other, and the most plausible, drawing the adoration to those creatures that not only are in a situation above us, but are most sensibly glorious in themselves, and most generally serviceable to the world. It is intimated hero how strong the temptation is to sense; for the caution is. "Lest thou shouldst be driven to worship them" by the strong impulse of a vain imagination, and the impetuous torrent of the customs of the nations. Yet he shows how weak the temptation would be to those that would use their reason; for these pretended deities, the sun, the moon, and stars, were only blessings which the Lord their God, whom they were obliged to worship, had imparted to all nations. It is absurd to worship them, for — They are man's servants, were ordained to give light on the earth; and shall we serve those that were made to serve us? They are God's gifts; He has imparted them. Whatever benefit we have by them we owe it to Him. It is therefore highly injurious to Him to give that honour to them which is due to Him only. 6. He charges them to teach their children to observe the law of God (vers. 9, 10).(1) Care must be taken in general to preserve the entail of religion among them, and to transmit the knowledge and worship of God to posterity; for the kingdom of God in Israel was designed to be perpetual, if they did not forfeit the privilege of it.(2) Parents must, in order hereunto, particularly take care to teach their own children the fear of God, and to train them up in an observance of all His commandments. 7. He charges them never to forget their duty (ver. 23). Though God is ever mindful of the covenant, we are apt to forget it; and that is at the bottom of all our departures from God. Care and holy watchfulness are the best helps against a bad memory. These are the directions and commands he gives them. II. Let us see now WHAT ARE MOTIVES OR ARGUMENTS WITH WHICH HE BACKS THESE EXHORTATIONS. How doth he order the cause before them, and fill his mouth with arguments? And a great deal he has to say on God's behalf. Some of his topics are indeed peculiar to that people, yet applicable to us. But upon the whole it is evident that religion has reason on its side, the powerful charms of which all that are irreligious wilfully stop their ears to. 1. He urges the greatness, glory, and goodness of God. Did we consider what a God He is with whom we have to do, we would surely make conscience of our duty to Him, and would not dare to sin against Him. He reminds them here that the Lord Jehovah is the one only living and true God. That He is a consuming fire, a jealous God (ver. 24). That yet He is a merciful God (ver. 31). It comes in here as an encouragement to repentance, but might serve as an inducement to obedience, and a consideration proper to prevent their apostasy. Shall we forsake a merciful God who will never forsake us, as it follows here, if we be faithful unto Him? Whither can we go to mend ourselves? 2. He urges their relation to this God, His authority over them, and their obligations to Him. The commandments you are to keep and do are not mine, saith Moses, not my inventions, not my injunctions, but they are the commandments of the Lord, framed by infinite wisdom, enacted by sovereign power. 3. He urges the wisdom of being religious (ver. 6). "For this is your wisdom in the sight of the nations." In keeping God's commandments they would act wisely for themselves. This is your wisdom. It is not only agreeable to right reason, but highly conducive to our true interest ( Job 28:28 ). They would answer the expectations of their neighbours, who, upon reading or hearing the precepts of the law that was given them, would conclude that certainly the people that were governed by this law were a wise and understanding people. 4. He urges the singular advantages they enjoyed by virtue of the happy establishment they were under (vers. 7, 8).(1) Never was any people so privileged in speaking to God (ver. 7). It is the character of God's Israel, that on all occasions they call upon Him, in everything they make their requests known to God. They do nothing but what they consult Him in; they desire nothing but what they come to Him for. Those that call upon God shall certainly find Him within call, and ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer of faith ( Isaiah 58:9 ). This is a privilege which makes the Israel of God truly great and honourable. What can go further than this to magnify a people or person?(2) Never was any people so privileged in hearing from God by the statutes and judgments which were set before them (ver. 8). Observe that all the statutes and judgments of the Divine law are infinitely just and righteous, above the statutes and judgments of any of the nations. The having of these statutes and judgments set before them is the true and transcendent greatness of any nation or people ( Psalm 147:19, 20 ). It is an honour to us that we have the Bible in reputation and power among us; it is an evidence of a people's being high in the favour of God, and a means of making them high among the nations. They that magnify the law shall be magnified by it. 5. He urges God's glorious appearances to them at Mount Sinai when He gave them this law.(1) What they saw at Mount Sinai (ver. 11). They saw a strange composition of fire and darkness, both dreadful and very awful. He tells them again (ver. 36) what they saw, for he would have them never to forget it. He showed thee His great fire. It gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which the Lord Jesus shall be revealed in flaming fire. As he reminds them of what they saw, so he tells them what they saw not; no manner of similitude from which they might form either an idea of God in their fancies, or an image of God in their high places.(2) What they heard at Mount Sinai (ver. 12). The Lord spake unto you with an intelligible voice, in your own language, and you heard it. This he enlargeth upon towards the close of his discourse (vers. 32, 33, 36). They heard the voice of God speaking from heaven. God manifests Himself to all the world in the works of creation, without speech or language, and yet their voice is heard ( Psalm 19:2 ). But to Israel He made Himself known by speech and language, condescending to the weakness of the Church's infant state. They heard it out of the midst of the fire, which showed that it was God Himself that spoke to them; for who else could dwell with devouring fire? They heard it, and yet lived (ver. 33). It was a wonder of mercy that the fire did not devour them, or that they did not die for fear, when Moses himself trembled.(3) Never any people heard the like. He bids them inquire of former days, and distant places, and they will find this favour of God to Israel without precedent or parallel (ver. 32). This singular honour done them called for singular obedience. 6. He urges God's gracious appearances for them in bringing them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace, where they laboured in the fire, forming them into a people, and then taking them to be His own people, a people of inheritance (ver. 20). This he mentions again (vers. 84, 37, 38). Never did God do such a thing for any people.(1) They were thus dignified and distinguished; not for anything in them that was deserving or inviting, but because God had a kindness for their fathers, He chose them. 7. He urges God's righteous appearance against them, sometimes for their sins. He instanceth particularly in the matter of Peor (ver. 34). He also takes notice again of God's displeasure against himself (vers. 12, 22). "The Lord was angry with me for your sakes." Others suffering for our sakes should grieve us more than our own. 8. He urges the certain benefit and advantage of obedience. This argument he begins with, That ye may live, and go in and possess the land (ver. 1). And this he concludes with, "That it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee" (ver. 40). He reminds them that they were upon their good behaviour, their prosperity would depend upon their piety. If they kept God's precepts He would undoubtedly fulfil His promises. 9. He urges the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, that it would undoubtedly be the ruin of their nation. This he enlarges upon (vers. 25-31), where God's faithfulness to His covenant encourageth us to hope that He will not reject us though we are driven to Him by affliction. If we at length remember the covenant, we shall find that He has not forgotten it. Now let all these arguments be laid together, and then say whether religion has not reason on its side. None cast off the government of their God but those that have first abandoned the understanding of a man. ( Matthew Henry, D. D. . ) God's dealings with His people H. J. Hastings, M. A. I. In reviewing the gracious dealings of God towards us, THE GREAT DIFFICULTY IS TO KNOW AT WHAT POINT TO BEGIN. As a people, and as individuals, to God alone are we indebted for the multiplied sources of hope and enjoyment. We live under a mild and well-balanced constitution, and under the shadow of equitable laws. We possess a fruitful soil and temperate seasons. We enjoy an open Bible, and therefore have the full light of Divine revelation. We are favoured likewise with a pure faith and the reformed religion. II. "HEARKEN THEREFORE, O ISRAEL," WAS THE INFERENCE OF MOSES ON A REVIEW OF THE DEALINGS OF GOD TOWARDS THE JEWS: "Hearken, therefore, to His statutes and judgments so as to do them." The Scriptures, both of the Old and New Testament, contain the records of God's will, and His statutes for us. To hearken to these precepts we are bound both by duty and by gratitude. These are the strongest forces which can be applied to the mind of man. III. BY OBEDIENCE ONLY CAN WE SECURE MERCIES YET TO COME. Of this Moses warned the Israelites: "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you." The promises vouchsafed to them had reference to temporal things. These could only be secured by obedience. The promises granted to us in the Gospel relate both to time and to eternity, for "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." ( H. J. Hastings, M. A. ) Hearken J. Parker, D. D. ! — Moses called upon Israel to "hearken." Who can hear? Who has ever met a man, in any congregation, that could listen? What is wanted today may be described as good hearers. It is not given to man to rush away from his business, place himself down suddenly in the sanctuary, and call for revelations that he can appreciate. Men must be prepared to hear as well as prepared to preach. To "hearken" is not a mechanical exercise. The word "hearken" is charged with profound meaning; it represents the act of acute, ritual, profound, fervent attention. He who "hearkens" is in an attitude of eagerness — as if he would complete the speech, anticipate it, or elicit from the speaker a broader eloquence by the gratitude and expectancy of his own attention. Would that they who say much about speaking would learn the elements of good listening! — so learned, they would be dispossessed of themselves, their ears would be purged of all noises and tumults and rival competitions; and importunity being dismissed, anxiety being suspended, and the soul set in a posture of expectation, would receive even from slow-speaking Moses statutes and precepts ,solemn as eternity, and rich as the thought of God. "He that hath ears to hear," — not for noises to please, — "let him hear." Such hearing is almost equal to praying; such listening never was disappointed. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) The Bible the wisdom of nation S. Hayman, B. A. Consider — I. THAT THE BIBLE BRINGS GREATNESS TO A NATION; because — 1. When received and obeyed, it brings God's blessing with it. 2. It elevates the national character. II. THAT IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL TO HAVE A PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES, AND TO INSTRUCT THE YOUNG IN THEM. ( S. Hayman, B. A. ) But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 4:4 The blessedness of cleaving to the Lord J. C. Blumhardt. Moses spoke like a father during the closing days of his life to those who "were then alive." There is a reference here to the multitudes who had fallen in the desert because they did not cleave, etc. They cared not for Him who had delivered them. Moses reminds them of the declension of many to the idolatry of Baal Peor, to which they were tempted by those who wished to bring a curse on Israel. He recalls the terrible punishment which overtook the sinners ( Numbers 25 ). But those who cleaved to the Lord remained in life. This was to be an example to the people to whom Moses spoke, when they realised in this how truly the Lord is a jealous God. I. THE SPECIAL REGARD OF JEHOVAH FOR THOSE WHO CLEAVE TO HIM. 1. He watches over their temporal existence, and does not permit it to be snatched away like that of many stoners, unexpectedly and before the times. 2. True, we do not now think that an early death is a punishment for falling away from God. With us it is not the same as with Israel. Their reward was first the earthly Canaan. To us is the promise of a heavenly inheritance. Then to die was to lose the promised land; now it is the way of entrance to the heavenly country. Therefore the Lord often takes some of those who cleave to Him early from earth, as if they were His specially favoured ones. 3. Still, one has often the impression that some are called hence sooner than should have been. And this may seem either a mark of favour or the reverse — of favour, since the poor sinner is saved from further sinning, and may be brought to himself before death's solemn advent; or of unfavour, since it seems as if it ought to have been otherwise. II. THE SPECIAL HELP AND DELIVERANCE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO CLEAVE TO GOD. 1. Those who cleave to Him experience deliverance from sickness, from trouble and death; in war and pestilence, so that they are not suddenly snatched away; whilst many others — although we dare not judge who — who are accustomed to live according to their lusts, have little safeguard. 2. At all events, what Moses says in regard to this life applies to us in regard to the future life. There It will be declared, None is lost who have cleaved to the Lord, 'they are alive every one this day.'" 3. Whereas those will not be found who have never sought after God or His Son Jesus. 4. If we would live in time and eternity, then we must cleave to the Lord, "flee from idolatry" and all the abominations that cleave to it. ( J. C. Blumhardt. ) Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding. Deuteronomy 4:5, 6 The wisdom of being holy Moses, the man of God, having, by the appointment of heaven, delivered to the Israelites most excellent laws and commandments, pathetically exhorts them in this chapter to keep those laws and observe those commandments. 1. That these laws and statutes, which God gave the Israelites, contained in them an inestimable treasure of wisdom, for those words, "This is your wisdom," may refer to the statutes and judgments, the wise and well-ordered laws which were given to the people. Or, secondly, these words may be applied to the keeping of those laws and statutes, "Keep them and do them, for this," i.e. this keeping and doing of them, "is your wisdom and your understanding." Your diligent observing and practising of these laws and statutes are an eminent part of wisdom. The best and chiefest wisdom is to be religious, and to live in the fear of God. And this is the sense of the great Lawgiver in my text, "Keep and do the statutes and judgments which I have taught you," saith he, "for this is your wisdom and understanding." As much as to say, he that lives a holy and godly life, he that walks innocently and uprightly, and conscientiously observes the Divine laws, doth truly deserve the name of a wise man. I will show you that a virtuous and righteous man is master of the greatest understanding and highest prudence, and that to be good and wise are one and the same thing. I premise this, then, that there are two essential parts of true wisdom. The first is to understand and judge aright of things, to think of them as indeed they are; the second is to act according to the appreciation and judgment of things, to shun the evil which we discover to be such, and to choose and embrace what we know to be right and good. This I offer as an exact idea of true wisdom; and accordingly you shall see that the person who leads a virtuous and holy life is the only wise man. First, then, he hath the truest notions and conceptions of things, he hath arrived unto a right discerning of what is just and good. His understanding (which is the basis of all religion) is duly informed, and his principles are the best and truest. Error and a depraved judgment being the source of the greatest immoralities in the world, a wise man first of all endeavours to lay aside all vitiated opinions. His care is therefore to remove all wrong opinions and mistakes about things. He labours to think aright, and to bring himself as soon as may be to true apprehensions. New, then, holy and righteous men may be believed to have attained to this first part of true wisdom, because they have right notions of themselves, their souls and bodies, of the things of this world, and of God the Supreme Governor of all. The other essential part of wisdom is to act according to this apprehension and judgment of things, to live according to these excellent notions and maxims. And here I shall further demonstrate to you that piety and wisdom are terms convertible, and that it is impossible to be wise unless we be religious. In general, then, I say this, for a man to act according to his knowledge, to live according to what he possesseth, is all argument of a wise man, and the contrary is great folly and weakness. Certainly, the Author of the Christian religion would not institute anything that is contradictory and inconsistent with itself; and yet such should Christianity be after the rate of some men's behaviour, who, glorying in the name of Christians, act in opposition to the laws and rules of Christianity. That is the best religion, and worthy of its heavenly Author, which displays itself in the actions and deportments of men, which restrains them from beloved vices, checks their most pleasurable lusts, and is ever visible and operative in their lives. Most men know and every day experience the world to be vain, vice to be dangerous, and integrity and honesty to be the choicest possessions; and yet herein they betray their prodigious folly, that their lives and practices are no ways suitable to those notions; for they inordinately love the world, and prosecute its vanities; they live as if there were no danger at all in the commission of sin, and they act as if honesty were the blemish of a man's life. Thus they walk antipodes to themselves, they run counter to their own persuasions, they baffle their own judgments, they contradict their own apprehensions. This is the guide of the world, and it savours of the highest imprudence and folly imaginable. It must be an act, then, of great wisdom to walk accurately and circumspectly. 1. He must needs be voted for a wise man who makes choice of the greatest good, and pitcheth on the chief and best end, and minds the things of the highest concernment. This no sober and intelligent person can deny; and by this it is that a godly man proves himself to be the possessor of true wisdom ( Psalm 4:6 ). The folly of men is seen in nothing more than in their huge mistakes about their chief good; and therefore here every good man is exceeding cautious, and with great deliberation chooseth that which he knows to be absolutely good and indispensably necessary. And what is that? Happiness. And what is that happiness? It is briefly this, to live in the enjoyment of God, to love Him and to be loved by Him, to partake of His favour here and of His glory hereafter. 2. He that is truly wise after he hath propounded to himself and chosen the chiefest good, will find out, and then use the best and fittest means for the attaining of that end. And on this account likewise, holiness is the best wisdom. The Christian man sits down and seriously considers the method which is prescribed him, in order to his happiness, recollecting that peremptory decision of St. Peter, "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby they must be saved." This is the method which the Gospel prescribes, this is the plain road to heaven, and he resolves to continue in it to the end of his days. 3. True wisdom teacheth us to regard this end and these means in the first place, and to employ ourselves about them betimes. Where delays and demurs may prove exceedingly dangerous a wise man counts it his interest to make haste, and to make sure of his happiness the first thing he doth. No prudent person will trust to that which is uncertain, frail, and flitting. 4. It is approved wisdom to part with a lesser good that we may make ourselves sure of a far greater, and to undergo some lighter evils to put ourselves out of danger of falling into those which are more heavy and grievous. The fencer receives a blow on his arm to save his head. In a great tempest the richest lading is cast into the sea, to secure the vessel and the passengers' lives. We are willing to recover health and prolong life by abstinence and great severity on the body. We are contented to be sick that we may be well. We submit, to save our life, to the loss of a limb; we let a part go to save the whole. All these actions are thought to be regulated by right reason, and were ever recorded as instances of human prudence. And on the same score must he that is truly religious be concluded to be the owner of singular prudence and discretion. He denieth himself the sinful pleasures of the world, and by that means assures to himself those pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore. 5. It is certain, and it will hardly meet with any gainsayer, that that person proves himself to be wise and prudent who, seeing the uncertainty and changeableness of this present state, makes certain provision for the future.This is the wisdom of a godly man; he takes a prospect of the other world whilst he stands upon this. 1. The poor pretenders to wisdom are baffled, and the mere shows and semblances of it in the world are utterly disgraced. You must know, then, that there is a seeming counterfeit wisdom; and there is a real and substantial wisdom, which justly deserves that name. 2. From what hath been said there is a plain discovery of true and substantial wisdom. I have let you see that it is a very large and comprehensive thing: it consists both in knowledge and practice. It is not only a right judgment of those things which are Divine, and appertain to faith and obedience, but it is acting according to that knowledge and judgment of those Divine matters. 3. That hence we have a demonstration of the excellency of religion and a holy life, and consequently a prevalent motive to the embracing of them. There cannot be a greater incentive to godliness than this, that it is the greatest wisdom. This doctrine concerns us all. Seeing the fear of the Lord is the beginning, the head, the main part of wisdom, let it be our chief study how we may fear and worship God aright, and walk uprightly in the whole course of our lives, and let us be afraid of nothing so much as offending God and doing that which is sinful. ( J. Edwards , D. D. ) The influence of revealed truth upon a nation R. Watson. I. THAT THE POSSESSION OF THE REVEALED TRUTH OF GOD IS THE MOST DISTINGUISHED PRIVILEGE OF A NATION. 1. It is the duty of every man thus possessing the revelation which God has given to acquaint himself with it. 2. As God has thus made it the duty of every individual to inquire and to learn, so has He secured to them the means of instruction, by raising up an order of men whose business it is to teach; to make known the statutes and judgments which He has given. 3. We see this, likewise, in the solemn duty, binding on every parent, to teach these statutes and judgments to his children. II. THAT FROM THE GENERAL DIFFUSION OF THIS TRUTH THOSE PRACTICAL RESULTS CAN ALONE BE EXPECTED WHICH SHALL MAKE THESE SOLEMN WORDS APPLICABLE: "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." 1. You will all allow, that in proportion as a nation is made righteous, in that proportion it becomes wise and great. 2. We may calculate with certainty on another effect. Whenever the truth of God is extensively diffused through a nation its morality will be improved. 3. A nation will be thus made wise and understanding, because it will be preserved from dangerous errors, and especially from wasting infidelity. 4. Another great effect of the general diffusion of the truth of God is the establishment of civil order and peace. 5. The greatest happiness will result from this general diffusion of the revealed truth of God. ( R. Watson. ) Britain's privileges and obligations Dr. Parsons. I. AS A NATION WE ENJOY VALUABLE ADVANTAGES AND BLESSINGS. 1. Liberty. 2. Political power and eminence. 3. Diffusion of God's Word. Number and influence of pious and holy men. II. THAT OUR VALUABLE ADVANTAGES AND BLESSINGS AS A NATION PLACE US UNDER MOMENTOUS OBLIGATIONS TO THE GOD BY WHOM THEY WERE BESTOWED. 1. An obligation to gratitude. 2. An obligation to repentance. 3. An obligation to the maintenance and diffusion of Divine truth. ( Dr. Parsons. ) The Bible the wisdom of a nation S. Hayman, B. A. Parting words are generally impressive words. In this, the last of the books of the Pentateuch, Moses delivered to the people of Israel his parting counsels. He sets before them, in words of expostulation and warning, good and evil — life and death. And not only does he give them these impressive exhortations, but, foreseeing — for God was pleased to give him a revelation of it ( Deuteronomy 31:16 ) — that their deceitful hearts would turn aside, he utters the plainest predictions of the judgments which have since overtaken them. We see, then, that Israel's safety was identified with her adherence to pure and undefiled religion. At the time when all the nations of the earth beside were in darkness, she was made the depository of the knowledge of the true and only God. Still, while these things are so, and while we cannot admit the idea of a peculiar people in the sense in which Israel was, it is impossible for those who acknowledge that "the Lord is King," and that He is "Judge of all the earth," to doubt that, as with individuals, so with nations, a high measure of Divine favour involves of necessity a proportionate degree of national responsibility. Holding those feelings, we shall be brought to acknowledge that, nationally, we have ourselves much in the sight of God to answer for. I. In the first place, then, THE BIBLE BRINGS GREATNESS TO A NATION, BECAUSE, WHEN RECEIVED AND OBEYED, IT BRINGS GOD'S BLESSING WITH IT. The glory of Israel was the presence of Jehovah amongst them. There was no nation — to use the words of Moses in the text — that had God so nigh them as had they. In their journeys through the wilderness He was visibly present in the pillar of cloud; and afterwards, in the temple which was founded on Mount Moriah to His praise, the Holy of holies sufficiently indicated to them His special abode with them. When He departed from them their safeguard was withdrawn: the enemy made Jerusalem, hitherto invincible, a heap of stones. Similarly, our own land, at the period of the Reformation, received the Holy Scriptures, and since then, in their possession and use, has obtained from God innumerable blessings: religion has extended itself in renewed vitality amongst us; and this great nation has become a wise and understanding people. But, apart from the security which the fear of the Lord brings with it, we shall see that — II. THE BIBLE BRINGS GREATNESS TO A NATION BECAUSE IT ELEVATES THE NATIONAL CHARACTER. I do not seek to palliate our multitudinous sins. Still, even now, Britain I do believe to be the stronghold of pure, because scriptural, religion. The Bible is not yet dethroned from the affections of her people; and, for tiffs reason, the basis of the national character is yet sound. III. THE DUTY OF PERSONAL ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES AND OF INSTRUCTING THE YOUNG OUT OF THEM. ( S. Hayman, B. A. ) Security of the established religion the wisdom of the nation John Savage, M. A. I. THE EXERCISE OF RELIGION IS THE PRINCIPAL END OF EVERY GOVERNMENT AND CONSEQUENTLY AN ACT OF THE TRUEST WISDOM. 1. It is of no small advantage to the mutual correspondence of the members of a community that religion is agreeable both to the natural tendency of every particular man's mind, and the general consent of all nations interweaving it in their sev

Benson Commentary Deuteronomy 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them , that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Deuteronomy 4:1 . Now therefore hearken, O Israel — Having called to their remembrance the extraordinary dispensations of Divine Providence toward them, both in the way of mercy and judgment, he now calls upon their whole assembly, in the most serious and earnest manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct, answerable to the design of such mercies and judgments; namely, to render them punctually obedient to the laws of God, and cautions of offending him; this being the very intent for which they were conducted to the promised land, and the absolute condition of their peaceful and happy enjoyment of it. We may observe Moses here to speak with all possible energy of language. The greatness of the subject he is upon inspires him with more than usual warmth, and he cannot take a view of the extraordinary privilege and happiness bestowed upon his people, in having divine statutes and judgments to direct them, without rapture and admiration. He sees the happiness of their condition therein, and bestows all his zeal and spirit to make them sensible of it. He regards nothing but this only, as knowing this would be every thing to them, to make them great and happy. The statutes — The laws which concerned the worship and service of God. The judgments — The laws concerning their duty to men. So these two comprehend both tables, and the whole law of God. Deuteronomy 4:2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2 . Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you — By desiring other doctrines, or ways of worship, than what I have taught or prescribed. For this were to accuse me of want of wisdom, or care, or faithfulness, in not giving you sufficient instructions for God’s service. Neither shall ye diminish aught from it — By rejecting or neglecting any thing which I have commanded, though it seem ever so small; but take my word, as it is, for your sole rule and guide in things temporal and eternal. Deuteronomy 4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. Deuteronomy 4:3-4 . Are alive every one of you this day — A singular providence watched over them, to preserve them in such good healthy that not one of so many thousands was dead since that time. Nor, in the war with the Midianites, did they lose so much as one man, Numbers 31:7-49 . Deuteronomy 4:4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them ; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Deuteronomy 4:6 . In the sight of the nations — For though the generality of heathen, in the latter ages, did, through inveterate prejudices, condemn the laws of the Hebrews, yet it is certain the wisest heathen did highly approve of them, so that they made use of divers of them, and translated them into their own laws and constitutions; and Moses, the giver of these laws, hath been mentioned with great honour for his wisdom and learning by many of them. And particularly the old heathen oracle expressly said, “That the Chaldeans, or Hebrews, who worshipped the uncreated God, were the only wise men.” Deuteronomy 4:7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for ? Deuteronomy 4:7-8 . So nigh — By glorious miracles, by the pledges of his special presence, by the operations of his grace, and particularly by his readiness to hear our prayers, and to give us those succours which we call upon him for. So righteous — Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp and power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws. Deuteronomy 4:8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Deuteronomy 4:9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; Deuteronomy 4:9-10 . Only take heed — Their only danger was, lest they should grow careless and unmindful of all the wonderful things that God had done for them; for which reason he would have every Israelite to make these weighty concerns the subject of his most frequent study and intense meditation. Especially the day — When God delivered the law from mount Sinai to them, with such awful appearances of divine majesty. Thou stoodest — S ome of them stood there in their own persons, though then they were but young; the rest in the loins of their parents. Deuteronomy 4:10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. Deuteronomy 4:11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. Deuteronomy 4:11-12 . The midst of heaven — Flaming up into the air, which is often called heaven. No similitude — No resemblance or representation of God, whereby either his essence, or properties, or actions were represented, such as were usual among the heathen. Deuteronomy 4:12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. Deuteronomy 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Deuteronomy 4:14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. Deuteronomy 4:14 . To teach you statutes and judgments — This relates to the rest of the laws which God gave to Moses, immediately after he himself had delivered to them the ten commandments, (Exodus 21.,) it being the people’s desire that God would communicate to them the rest of his will by Moses. Deuteronomy 4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Deuteronomy 4:15 . Ye saw no similitude in Horeb — God, who, in some other places and times, did appear in a human form, now in this most solemn appearance, when he came to give eternal laws for the direction of the Israelites in the worship of himself, and in their duty to their fellow- creatures, purposely avoided all such representations, to show that he abhors all worship by images, of what kind soever, because he is the invisible God, and cannot be represented by any visible image. Deuteronomy 4:16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves , and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, Deuteronomy 4:16-17 . Lest ye corrupt yourselves — Corrupt your minds with mean thoughts of God, your hearts by suffering any creature to alienate your affections from him, or your ways by worshipping him in a corrupt manner, or by falling into idolatry. And make you a graven image — For worship, or for the representation of God; which he forbids under the penalty of his displeasure. The likeness of any beast, &c. — Dr. Chandler observes, that “this is the very picture of Egypt, which had gods of all sorts; dead persons deified, male and female, and numerous images of them; who worshipped as deities bulls, cows, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, the ibis and hawk, serpents, crocodiles, river-horses, together with the sun, moon, and stars of heaven.” Deuteronomy 4:17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, Deuteronomy 4:18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: Deuteronomy 4:19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. Deuteronomy 4:19 . Lest thou shouldest be driven — Strongly inclined; to worship them. Which the Lord hath divided unto all nations — Which are not gods, but creatures, made not for worship, but for the use of men; yea, of the meanest and most barbarous people under heaven, and therefore cannot, without great absurdity, be worshipped, especially by you, who are so much advanced above other nations in wisdom and in knowledge, and in this, that you are my peculiar people. Deuteronomy 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. Deuteronomy 4:20 . The Lord hath taken you — Of his own free mercy, unmerited by you; and brought you forth out of the iron furnace — The furnace wherein iron and other metals are melted, to which Egypt is compared, from the torment and misery which the Israelites there endured. To be unto him a people of inheritance — His peculiar possession from generation to generation; and therefore for you to forsake God, and worship idols, would be wickedness and ingratitude to the highest degree. Deuteronomy 4:21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: Deuteronomy 4:21 . That I should not go over Jordan — And as God has granted you the favour which he has denied me, your obligation to him is greatly increased. Deuteronomy 4:22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing , which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. Deuteronomy 4:23 . Lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God — Lest you either disregard the knowledge of God’s law, or wilfully disobey it, now it is declared to you, and thereby bring misery and destruction upon yourselves. Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24 . A consuming fire — A just and terrible God, who, notwithstanding his special relation to you, will severely punish you, if you provoke him. A jealous God — Who, being espoused to you, will be highly incensed against you if you follow after other lovers, or commit whoredom (so to speak) with idols, and will bear no rival or partner. Deuteronomy 4:25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves , and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing , and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: Deuteronomy 4:25 . And shall corrupt yourselves — This seems to be evidently a prediction of what Moses foresaw would take place; which that he did is still more manifest in Deuteronomy 4:30 . Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. Deuteronomy 4:27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you. Deuteronomy 4:28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Deuteronomy 4:28-29 . Ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands — You shall be compelled by men, and given up by me, to idolatry. So that very thing which was your choice, shall be your punishment: it being just and usual for God to punish one sin by giving men up to another. If from thence thou seek the Lord — Whatever place we are in, we may from thence seek him. There is no part of the earth which has a gulf fixed between it and heaven. Deuteronomy 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him , if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Deuteronomy 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; Deuteronomy 4:30-31 . In the latter days — Either in general in succeeding ages and generations, or particularly in the days of the Messiah, commonly called in Scripture, the latter, or last days. Here the apostacy and misery of the Jewish nation in the latter days is clearly foretold, as it is more at large in chap 28. But the passage also gives encouragement to hope for their conversion and redemption; and that even in those times when their case should seem most desperate; when they should have forsaken God and rejected the Messiah, toward the end of the world. Deuteronomy 4:31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them. Deuteronomy 4:32 For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is , or hath been heard like it? Deuteronomy 4:32-34 . The one side of heaven — That is, of the earth under heaven. Ask all the inhabitants of the world. And live — And was not overwhelmed and consumed by such a glorious appearance. By temptations — Temptations is the general title, which is explained by the following particulars, signs, and wonders, &c., which are called temptations, because they were trials both to the Egyptians and Israelites, whether they would be induced to believe and obey God or not. By terrors — Raised in the minds of the Egyptians, or, by terrible things done among them. Deuteronomy 4:33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Deuteronomy 4:34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Deuteronomy 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. Deuteronomy 4:36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4:37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; Deuteronomy 4:37 . Brought thee out in his sight — Keeping his eye fixed on thee, as a father doth on his beloved child. He himself was present with thee, and marched along with thee in the pillar of cloud and fire. With his mighty power — And not by any natural strength of thy own, thou wast delivered from that bondage in which all the thousands of Israel so long lived in Egypt. Deuteronomy 4:38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art , to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Deuteronomy 4:39 . Know and consider it in thy heart — From all that thou hast seen, heard, and experienced. That the Lord he is God, &c. — Settle it in thy heart that none but the Creator of all things could perform those mighty acts. Deuteronomy 4:40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever. Deuteronomy 4:41 Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; Deuteronomy 4:42 That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: Deuteronomy 4:43 Namely , Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites. Deuteronomy 4:44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: Deuteronomy 4:44 . This is the law — More particularly and fully expressed in the following chapter, to which these words are an introduction. Deuteronomy 4:45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, Deuteronomy 4:46 On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt: Deuteronomy 4:47 And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; Deuteronomy 4:48 From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, Deuteronomy 4:49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Deuteronomy 4:1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them , that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. MOSES’ FAREWELL SPEECHES Deuteronomy 4:1-40 , Deuteronomy 27:1-26 ; Deuteronomy 28:1-68 ; Deuteronomy 29:1-29 ; Deuteronomy 30:1-20 . WITH the twenty-sixth chapter the entirely homogeneous central portion of the Book of Deuteronomy ends, and it concludes it most worthily. It prescribes two ceremonies which are meant to give solemn expression to the feeling of thankfulness which the love of God, manifested in so many laws and precepts, covering the commonest details of life, should have made the predominant feeling. The first is the utterance of what we have called the "liturgy of gratitude" at the time of the feast of first fruits; and the second is the solemn dedication of the third year’s tithe to the poor and the fatherless, and the disclaimer of any misuse of it. Further notice of either after what has already been said in reference to them would be superfluous. The closing verses ( Deuteronomy 26:16-19 ) of the chapter are a solemn reminder that all these transactions with God had bound the people to Yahweh in a covenant. "Thou hast avouched Yahweh this day to be thy God" and, "Yahweh hath avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people ( ‘am segullah ) unto Himself." By this they were bound to keep Yahweh’s statutes and judgments, and do them with all their heart and with all their soul, while He, on His part, undertakes on these terms to set them "high above all nations which He hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor," and to make them a holy people unto Himself. But the original Deuteronomy as read to King Josiah cannot have ended with chapter 26, for the thing that awed him most was the threat of evil and desolation which were to follow the non-observance of this covenant. Now though there are indications of such dangers in the first twenty-six chapters of Deuteronomy, yet threats are not, so far, a prominent part of this book. The book as read must consequently have contained some additional chapters, which, in part at least, must have contained threats. Now this is what we have in our Biblical Deuteronomy. But in chapters 27 and 28 there are reduplications which can hardly have formed part of the original author’s work. An examination of these has led every one who admits composite authorship in the Pentateuch to see that from chapter 27 onwards the original work has been broken up and dovetailed again with the works of JE and P; so that component parts of the first four books of the Hexateuch appear along with elements which the author of Deuteronomy has supplied. We have, in fact, before us, from this point, the work of the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the framework of the Pentateuch; and it is of importance, from an expository point of view even, to endeavor to restore Deuteronomy to its original form, and to follow out the traces of it that are left. As we have said, we must look for the threats and promises which undoubtedly formed part of it. These are contained in chapters 27 and 28. But a careful reader will feel at once that chapter 27 disturbs the connection, and that 28 should follow 26. In Deuteronomy 27:9-10 alone seem necessary to give a transition to chapter 28; and if all the rest were omitted we should have exactly what the narrative in Kings would lead us to expect, a coherent, natural sequence of blessings and curses, which should follow faithfulness to the covenant, or unfaithfulness. The rest of chapter 27 is not consistent either with itself or with Joshua 8:30 , where the accomplishment of that which is commanded here is recorded. In Deuteronomy 27:1-3 Moses and the elders command the people to set up great stones and plaster them with plaster and write upon them all the words of this law, on the day when they shall pass over Jordan, that they may go in unto the land. In Deuteronomy 27:4 it is said that these stones are to be set up in Mount Ebal, and there an altar of unhewn stones is to be built, and sacrifices offered, "and thou shalt write upon the stones very plainly." From the position of this last clause and the mention of Mount Ebal, the course of events would be quite different from that which Deuteronomy 27:1-3 suggest. The stones were, according to Deuteronomy 27:4 ff., to be set up in Mount Ebal; out of these an altar of unhewn stones was to be built; and on them the law was to be inscribed, and this is what Joshua says was done. But if we take all the verses, Deuteronomy 27:1-8 , together, we can reconcile them only by the hypothesis that the stones were set up as soon as Jordan was crossed, plastered, and inscribed with the law; that afterwards they were removed to Mount Ebal and built into an altar "of unhewn stone," upon which sacrifices were offered. But that surely is in the highest degree improbable; and since we know that in other cases two narratives have been combined in the sacred text, that would seem the most probable solution here. Deuteronomy 27:4-8 will in that case be a later insertion, probably from J. In the same connection Deuteronomy 27:15-26 contain a list of crimes which are visited with a curse and no blessings; this cannot be the proclamation of blessing and cursing which is here required. Further, this list must be by a different author, for it affixes curses to some crimes which are not mentioned in Deuteronomy, and omits such sins as idolatry, which are continually mentioned there. This section must consequently have been inserted here by some later hand. It must probably have been later even than the time of the writer of Joshua 8:33 ff., since the arrangement as reported there differs from what is prescribed here. Moreover, as there is nothing new in these sections, and all they say is repeated substantially in chapter 28, we may give our attention wholly to Deuteronomy 28:1-68 , as being the original proclamation of blessing and curse. But other entanglements follow. Chapters 29 and 30 manifestly contained an adieu on the part of Moses, who turns finally to the people with an affecting and solemn speech of farewell. That appears m chapters 29 and 30. But for many reasons it is impossible to believe that these chapters as they stand are the original speech of Deuteronomy. The language is in large part different, and there are references to the Book of the Law as being already written out. {Deu 29:19 f. 26, and Deu 30:10} It is probably therefore an editor’s rewriting of the original speech, and from the fact that "it contains many points of contact with Jeremiah in thoughts and words," it is probably to be dated in the Exile. But there is another noticeable thing in connection with it. It has a remarkable resemblance in these and other respects to Deuteronomy 4:1-40 . That passage can hardly have originally followed chapters 1-3, if as is most probable these were at first a historic introduction to Deuteronomy. The hortative character of Deuteronomy 4:1-40 shows that it must have been placed where it is by a reviser. But the language, though not altogether that of Deuteronomy, is like it, and the thought is also Deuteronomic. Probably the passage must have been transferred from some other part of Deuteronomy and adapted by the editor. A clue to its true place may perhaps be found in Deuteronomy 4:8 , where "all this law" is spoken of as if it were already given, and in Deuteronomy 4:5 , where we read, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments." These passages imply that the law of Deuteronomy had been given, and in that case chapter 4 must belong to a closing speech. We probably shall not be in error, therefore, in thinking Deuteronomy 4:1-40 ; Deuteronomy 29:29 are all founded on an original farewell speech which stood in Deuteronomy after the blessing and the curse. But it may be asked, if that be so, why did an editor make these changes? The answer is to be found in two passages in chapters 31 and 32 which cannot be harmonized as they stand. In Deuteronomy 31:19 we are told that Yahweh commanded Moses to write "this song" and teach it to the children of Israel, "that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel," and Deuteronomy 31:22 , "So Moses wrote this song." But in Deuteronomy 31:28 f. we read that "Moses said, Assemble unto me all the elders of the tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them." Obviously "these words" are different from "this song," and are meant for a different purpose. The same ambiguity occurs at the end of the song in Deuteronomy 32:44 ff., where we first read of Moses ending "this song," and in the next verse we read, "And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel." Now what has become of "these words"? In all probability they were the substance of chapters 4 and 29 and 30, and were separated and amplified, because the editor who fitted Deuteronomy into the Pentateuch took over the song in chapter 32, as well as those passages of 31 and 32, that speak of this song, from JE. He accepted them as a fitting conclusion for the career of Moses, and transferred the original speech, which we suppose to have been the last great utterance of the original Deuteronomy, putting the main part of it immediately before the song, but taking parts out of it to form a hortatory ending (such as the other Moses’ speeches have) to that first one which he had formed out of the historic introduction. This may seem a very complicated process and an unlikely one; but after the foundation had been built by Dillmann, Westphal has elaborated the whole matter with such luminous force that it seems hardly possible to doubt that the facts can be accounted for only in this way. By piecing together 4, 30, and 31 he produces a speech so thoroughly coherent and consistent that the mere reading of it becomes the most cogent proof of the substantial truth of his argument. An analysis of it will show this. (1) There is the introduction; up till now the people have understood neither the commands nor the love of Yahweh. {Deu 29:1-9} (2) There is the explanation of the Covenant; {Deu 29:10-15} (3) A command to observe the Covenant; {Deu 4:1-2} (4) Warning against individual transgression, which will be punished by the destruction of the rebel; {Deu 29:16-21; Deu 4:3-4} (5) Warning against collective transgression, which will be punished by the ruin of the people. {Deu 4:5-26} The author, from this point regarding the transgression as an accomplished fact, announces: (6) The dispersion and exile of the people; {Deu 4:27-28} (7) The impression produced on future generations by the horror of this dispersion Deuteronomy ( Deuteronomy 29:22-28 ); (8) The conversion of the exiles to God; {Deu 4:30-31} (9) Their return to the land of their fathers. {Deu 30:1-10} (10) In conclusion, it is stated that the power of Yahweh to sustain the faith of His people and to save them is guaranteed by the past; {Deu 4:32-40} and there is no reason therefore that the people should shrink from obeying the commandment prescribed.to them. It is a matter of will. Life and death are before them; let them choose. {Deu 30:11-20} The analysis of the remaining chapters is not difficult. Deuteronomy 31:14-23 ; Deuteronomy 31:30 , form the introduction to the song, Deuteronomy 32:1-43 , just as Deuteronomy 32:44 is the conclusion of it. Both introduction and song are extracted probably from J and E. Deuteronomy 32:48-52 are after P. Then follows the blessing of Moses, chapter 33. Finally, chapter 34 contains an account of Moses’ death and a final eulogy of him, in which all the sources JE, P, and D have been called into requisition. The threefold cord which runs through the other books of the Pentateuch was untwisted to receive Deuteronomy, and has been re-twisted so as to bind the Pentateuch into one coherent whole. That is the result of the microscopic examination which the text as it stands has undergone, and we may pretty certainly accept it as correct. But we should not lose sight of the fact that, as the book is now arranged, it has a notable coherence of its own, and the impression of unity which it conveys is in itself a result of great literary skill. Not only has the editor combined Deuteronomy into the other narratives most successfully, but he has done so not only without falsifying, but so as to confirm and enhance the impression which the original book was meant to convey. We turn now to the substance of the two speeches-the proclamation of the blessing and the curse, and the great farewell address. As we have seen, the first is contained in chapter 28. If any evidence were now needed that this chapter was written later than the Mosaic time, it might be found in the space given to the curses, and the much heavier emphasis laid upon them than upon the blessings. Not that Moses might not have prophetically foretold Israel’s disregard of warnings. But if the heights to which Israel was actually to rise had been before the author’s mind as still future, instead of being wrapped in the mists of the past, he could not but have dwelt more equally upon both sides of the picture. Whatever supernatural gifts a prophet might have, he was still and in all things a man. He was subject to moods like others, and the determination of these depended upon his surroundings. He was not kept by the power of God beyond the shadows which the clouds in his sky might cast; and we may safely say that if the curses which are to follow disobedience are elaborated and dwelt upon much more than the blessings which are to reward obedience, it is because the author lived at a time of unfaithfulness and revolt. Obviously his contemporaries were going far in the evil way, and he warns them with intense and eager earnestness against the dangers they are so recklessly incurring. But after all we have seen of the spirituality of the Deuteronomic teaching, and its insistence upon love as the true bond between men and God and the true motive to all right action, it is perhaps disappointing to some to find how entirely these promises and threats have their center in the material world. Probably nowhere else will the truth of Bacon’s famous saying that "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament" be more conspicuously seen than here. If Israel be faithful she is promised productivity, riches, success in war. Even when it is promised that she shall be established by Yahweh as a holy people unto Himself, the meaning seems to be that the people shall be separated from others by these earthly favors, rather than that they shall have the moral and spiritual qualities which the word "holy" now connotes. Other nations shall fear Israel because of the Divine favor. Israel shall be raised above them all. If it become unfaithful, on the other hand, it is to be visited with pestilence, consumption, fever, inflammation, sword, blasting, mildew. The earth is to be iron beneath them, and the heaven above them brass. Instead of rain they are to have dust; they are to be visited with more than Egyptian plagues. Their minds are to refuse to serve them; they are to be defeated in war; their country is to be overrun by marauders; their wives and children, their cattle and their crops, are to fall into the enemy’s hands. Locusts and all known pests are to fall upon their fields; and they themselves are to be carried away captive, after having endured the worst horrors of siege, and been compelled by hunger to devour their own children. And in exile they shall be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, and shall be ruled by oppressive aliens. Worst of all, they shall there lose hope in God and "shall serve other gods, even wood and stone." Their lives shall hang in doubt before them. In the morning they shall say, "Would God it were evening," and at even they shall say, "Would God it were morning." All the deliverance Yahweh had wrought for them by bringing them out of Egypt would be undone, and once more they should go back into Egyptian bondage. All that is materialistic enough; but there is no need to make apology for Deuteronomy, nevertheless. The prophet has taught the higher law; he has rooted all human duty, both to God and man, in love to God, and now he tries to enlist man’s natural fear and hope as allies of his highest principle. How justifiable that is we have already seen in chapter 12. But a more serious question is raised when it is asked, does Nature, in definite sober truth, lend itself, in the manner implied throughout this chapter, to the support of religious and moral fidelity? At a time when imaginative literature is largely devoting itself to an angry or querulous denial Of any righteous force working for the unfortunate and the faithful, there can be no question what the popular answer to such a question would be. But from the ranks of literature itself we may summon testimony on the other side. Mr. Hall Caine, in his address at the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, maintains in a wider and more general way the essence of the Deuteronomic thesis when he says, "I count him the greatest genius who touches the magnetic and Divine chord in humanity which is always waiting to vibrate to the sublime hope of recompense; I count him the greatest man who teaches men that the world is ruled in righteousness." And his justification of that position is too admirable not to be quoted: "Life is made up of a multitude of fragments, a sea of many currents, often coming into collision and throwing up breakers: We look around and see wrong-doing victorious, and right-doing in the dust; the evil man growing rich and dying in his bed, the good man becoming poor and dying in the street; and our hearts sink and we say, What is God doing after all in this world of His children? But our days are few, our view is limited, we cannot watch the event long enough to see the end which Providence sees." "It is the very province of imaginative genius," he goes on to say, "to see that which the common mind cannot see, to offer to it at least suggestions of how these triumphs of unrighteousness may be accounted for in accordance with the law that righteousness rules in the world." We would go further. It is one of the main purposes of inspiration to go beyond even imaginative genius, to point out in history not only how right may perhaps ultimately triumph, but how it has been in reality and must be victorious. For it will not do to shut off the world of material things from the working of this great and universal law. Owing to the narrow fanaticism of science, modern men have become skeptical, not only of miracle, but even of the fundamental truth that righteousness is profitable for the life that now is, that in following righteousness men are co-operating with the deepest law of the universe. But it remains a truth for all that. It is written deep in the heart of man; and in more wavering lines perhaps, but still most legibly, it is written on the face of things. With the limitations of his time and place, this is what the Deuteronomist preaches. Doubtless he has not faced, as Job does, the whole of the problem; still less has he attained to the final insight exhibited in the New Testament, that temporal gifts may be curses in disguise, that the highest region of recompense Is in the eternal life, in the domain of things which are invisible but eternal. He does not yet know, though he has perhaps a presentiment of it, that being completely stripped of all earthly good may be the path to the highest victory-the victory which makes men more than conquerors through Christ. Nevertheless he is, making these allowances, right, and the moderns are wrong. In many ways obedience to spiritual inspirations does bring worldly prosperity. The absence of moral and spiritual faithfulness does affect even the fruitfulness of the soil, the fecundity of animals, the prevalence of disease, the stability of ordered life, and success in war. This was visible to the ancient world generally in a dim way; but by the inspired men of the Old Covenant it was clearly seen, for they were enlightened for the very purpose of seeing the hand of God where others saw it not. But they never thought of tracing out the chain of intermediate causes by which such results were connected with men’s spiritual state. They saw the facts, they recognized the truth, and they threw themselves back at once upon the will of God as the sufficient explanation. We, on the other hand, have been so diligent in tracing out the immediately preceding links of natural causation that, for the most part, we have been fatigued before we reached God. We consequently have lost view of Him; and it is wholesome for us to be brought sharply into contact with the ancient Oriental mind as we are here, in order that we may be forced to go the whole way back to Him. For the fact is that much of that very process of decay and destruction from moral causes is going on before us in countries like Turkey and Morocco, where social righteousness is all but unknown, and private morality is low. A truly modern mind scorns the idea that the fertility of the soil can be affected by immorality. Yet there is the whole of Mesopotamia to show that misgovernment can make a garden into a desert. Where teeming populations once covered the country with fruitful gardens and luxurious cities, there are now in the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates a few handfuls of people, and all the fertility of the country has disappeared. Irrigation channels which made all things live have been choked up and have been gradually filled with drifting sand, and one of the most populous and fertile countries of the world has become a desert. In Palestine the same thing may be seen. Under Turkish domination the character of the soil has been entirely changed. In many places where in ancient days the hills were terraced to the top the sweeping rains have had their way, and the very soil has been carried off, leaving only rocks to blister in the pitiless sun. Even in the less likely sphere of animal fecundity modern science shows that peace and good government and righteous order are causes of extraordinary power. And the movements which are going on around us at this day in the elevation and depression of nations and races have a visible connection with fidelity or lack of fidelity to known principles of order and justice. This can be said without concealing how scanty and partial in most cases such attainments are. Prevailing principles can be discerned in the providence which rules the world. And these are of such a kind that the connection which obedience to the highest known rules of life has with fertility, success, and prosperity, is constant and intimate. It is, too, far wider reaching than at first sight would seem possible. To this extent, even modern knowledge justifies these blessings and curses of Deuteronomy. But it may be asked, is this all the Old Testament means by such threats and promises? Does it recognize any even self-imposed limitations to the direct action of Divine power? Most probably it does not. Though always keeping clear of Pantheism, the Old Testament is so filled and possessed by the Divine Presence that all second causes are ignored, and the action of God upon nature was conceived, as it could not fail to be, on the analogy of a workman using tools. Now that the methods of Divine action in nature have been studied in the light of science, they have been found to be more fixed and regular than was supposed. The extent of their operation, too, has been found to be immeasurably wider, and the purposes which have to be cared for at every moment are now seen to be infinitely various. As a result, human thought has fallen back discouraged, and takes refuge more and more in a conception of nature which practically deifies it, or at least entirely separates it from any intimate relation to the will of God. It is even denied that there is any purpose in the world at all, or any goal, and to chance or fate all the vicissitudes of life and the mechanical changes of nature are attributed. But though we must recognize, as the Old Testament does not, that ordinary Divine action flows out in perfectly well-defined channels, and is so stable in its movement that results in the sphere of physical nature may be predicted with certainty; and though we see, as was not seen in ancient days, that even God does not always approach His ends by direct and short-cut paths, -these considerations only make the Old Testament view more inspiring and more healthful for us. We may gather from it the inference that if the fertility of a land, the frequency of disease, and success in war are so powerfully affected by the moral and spiritual quality of a people, it is very likely that in subtler and less palpable ways the same influences produce similar effects, even in regions where they cannot be traced. If so, whatever allowance may be required for the inevitable simplicity of Old Testament conceptions on this subject, however much we miss the limitations we have learned to regard as necessary, the Deuteronomic view as to the effects of moral and spiritual declension upon the material fortunes of a people is much nearer the truth than our timorous and hesitating half-belief. To find these effects emphasized and affirmed as they are here, therefore, acts as a much needed tonic in our spiritual life. Coming too from a man who possessed, if ever man did, Divinely inspired insight into the process of the world and the ideal of human life, these promises and warnings bring God near. They dissipate the mists which obscure the workings of God’s Providence, and keep before us aspects of truth which it is the present tendency of thought to ignore too much. They declare in accents which carry conviction that, even in material things, the Lord reigneth; and for that the world has reason to be supremely glad. Certainly Christians now know that prosperity in material things is by no means God’s best gift. That great principle must be held to firmly, as well as the legitimacy of the vivid hopes and fears of Old Testament times regarding the material rewards of right-doing. In many ways the new principle must overrule and modify for us those hopes and fears. But with this limitation we are justified in occupying the Deuteronomic standpoint and in repeating the Deuteronomic warnings. For to its very core the world is God’s; and those who find His working everywhere are those whose eyes have been opened to the inmost truth of things. With regard to the farewell speech contained in chapters 29 and 30 and the related parts of chapter 4 and chapter 31 there is not much to be said. Taken as a whole, it develops the promises and threats of the previous chapters, and repeats again with affectionate hortatory purpose much of the history. But there is not a great deal that is new; most of the underlying principles of the address have been already dealt with. Taken according to the reconstruction of the speech and its reinsertion in its original framework, the course of things would seem to have been this. After the threats and promises had been concluded, Moses, carrying on the injunction of Deuteronomy 3:28 , addressed {Deu 32:8} all the people and appointed Joshua to be his successor; then he wrote out "this law," and produced it before the priests and elders of the people, with the instruction that at the end of every seven years, at the feast of release, in the feast of tabernacles, it should be read before all Israel, men, women, and children. {Deu 31:9-13} Then he gave the book to the Levites, that they might "lay it up" by the side of the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh their God, that it might be there for a witness against them when they became unfaithful, as he foresaw they would. He next summons all Israel to him, and delivers the farewell address contained in chapters 4, 29, and 30, an outline of which has already been given, according to Westphal’s recombination. This would seem to indicate that Moses himself inaugurated the custom of reading the law and giving instruction to all the people, which he prescribed for the feast of tabernacles in the year of release. After the law had been given he addressed the whole people in this farewell speech. But though on the whole there is no need for detailed exposition here, there are one or two things which ought to be noticed, things which express the spirit of Deuteronomy so directly and so sincerely that they can be identified as forming part of the original Deuteronomic speech. One of these is unquestionably Deuteronomy 30:11-20 . At the end of the farewell address a return is made to the core of the whole Deuteronomic teaching: "Thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." This was announced with unique emphasis at the beginning; it has lain behind all the special commands which have been insisted upon since; and now it emerges again into view as the conclusion of the whole matter. For beyond doubt this, and not the whole series of legal precepts, is what is meant by "this commandment" in Deuteronomy 30:2 . Both before it, in the sixth and tenth verses {Deu 30:6, Deu 30:10}, and after it, in the sixteenth and twentieth verses {Deu 30:16, Deu 30:20}, this precept is repeated and insisted on as the Divine command. Had the individual commands or the whole mass of them together been meant, the phrase used would have been different. It would have been that in Deuteronomy 30:10 , where they are called "His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law," or something analogous. No, it is the central command of love to God, without which all external obedience is vain, which is the theme of this last great paragraph; and a clear perception of this will carry us through both the obscurities of it, and the difficulties of St. Paul’s application of it in the Romans. Of this then the author of Deuteronomy says: "It is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." That is to say, there is no mystery or difficulty about this commandment of love. Neither have you to go to the uttermost parts of the sea to hear it, nor need you search into the mysteries of heaven. It has been brought near to you by all the mercy and forgiveness and kindness of Yahweh; it has been made known to you now by my mouth, even in its pettiest applications. But that is not all; it is graven on your own heart, which leaps up in glad response to this demand, and in answer to the manifestation of God’s love for you. It is really the fundamental principle of your own nature that is appealed to. You should clearly feel that life in the love of God and man is the only fit life for you who are made in the image of God. If you do, then the fulfillment of all the Divine precepts will be easy, and your lives will lighten more and more unto the perfect day. Now, for an Oriental of the pre-Christian era such teaching is most marvelous. How marvelous it is Christians perhaps find it difficult to see. In point of fact, many have denied that Old Testament teaching ever had this character. Misled by the doctrines of Islam, the great Semitic religion of today, many assert that the religion of ancient Israel called upon men to submit to mere power in submitting to God. But the appeal of our text to the heart of man shows that this is an error. No such appeal has ever been made to Mohammedans. Their state of mind in regard to God is represented by the remark of a recent traveler in Persia. Speaking of the Persian Babis, who may be described roughly as a heretical sect whose minds have been formed by Mohammedanism, he says: "They seemed to have no conception of absolute good, or absolute truth; to them good was merely what God chose to ordain, and truth what He chose to reveal, so that they could not understand how any one could attempt to test the truth of a religion by an ethical and moral standard." Now that is precisely the opposite of the Deuteronomic attitude. Israel is encouraged and incited to right action by having it pointed