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The Conquest of the Land

DEUTERONOMY, III.

Beyond the Jordan.

the Sidonians call Sirion; and the a Num. 32.33; Josh. unto the river Arnon half the valley,

Amorites call it Shenir;) (10) All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

13.8, &c.

(11) For only Og king of Bashan remained Num. 32. 41.
of the remnant of giants; behold, his
bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it
not in Rabbath of the children of
Ammon? nine cubits was the length
thereof, and four cubits the breadth of
it, after the cubit of a man.

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(12) And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. (13) And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the

or, under the gah, or, the hill.

springs of Pis

c Num. 32. 20.

and the border even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon; (17) The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, 'under Ashdothpisgah eastward.

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(18) And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that 2 meet for the war. (19) But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; (20) until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren,

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half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of 2 Heb., sons of as well as unto you, and until they also

Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. (14) Jair the son of Manasseh took all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi; and called them after his own name, Bashan-'havoth-jair, unto this day. (15) And I gave Gilead unto Machir. (16) And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even

power.

d Josh. 22. 4.

e Num. 27. 18.

praise of the land of Israel, which had four kingdoms glorifying themselves in it, and each of them saying, It is called after my name!"" But there are several notes of this kind in the Pentateuch. (See Gen. xxiii. 2, xxxi. 47; Num. xiii. 22; also Joshua xiv. 15.)

(10) Salchah.-"The present large town Salkhad, east of Bashan" (Conder). (See also Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 75.)

(11) Of the remnant of giants—i.e., of the nation of Rephaim in these parts. (See Note on Gen. xiv. 5.)

His bedstead.-The word may mean either bedstead or coffin. Both the word for "bedstead" and the word for "iron "have given rise to some discussion and difficulty. An iron bedstead and an iron coffin are almost equally improbable. Basalt has been suggested as an alternative. But though there is basalt in Argob, there is none in Rabbath-Ammon. Conder, who has recently explored Rabbath, has discovered a remarkable throne of stone on the side of a hill there, and he suggests that the Hebrew word rendered "bedstead," which properly signifies a couch with a canopy, may apply to this. The word for "iron" (barzil) in Talmudical language means also "a prince," and this meaning has been suggested for the name Barzillai, which we find in the same district in later times. His canopied throne was a princely one, and yet remains in Rabbath of the Ammonites," would be the meaning of the passage, on this hypothesis. The dimensions of the throne recently discovered are said to be nearly those given in this verse.

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After the cubit of a man.-Ish (not adam), the distinctive and emphatic word for a man. Some

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think that the cubit of any man is meant; others that the man himself for whom it was made, viz., Og, is intended. (Comp. Rev. xxi. 17, "according to the measure of a man-i.e., of an angel.")

(13-17) Comp. Num. xxxii. 33-42, and Notes thereon. (13) The land of giants-i.e., of Rephaim. (14) Jair took unto this day. The last words of this chapter seem to point to a later hand, as of Joshua, describing the completion of the conquest. The expression "unto this day" is characteristically common in Joshua, or in the editorial notes inserted throughout that book. (See Introduction to Joshua, "On the Style of the Book.")

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Geshuri and Maachathi-i.e., the Geshurite and the Maachathite, the inhabitants of Geshur and Maachah. "The Maachathites, near the Jordan springs (comp. Abel-Beth-maachah, 2 Sam. xx. 14, 15), and the Geshurites, rather farther east (Conder, Bible Handbook, p. 254). Talmai, king of Geshur, was the grandfather of Absalom (2 Sam. iii. 3), who took refuge with him after he killed Ammon (2 Sam. xiii. 37). "Argob, Trachonitis, or El-Lejja, has been an asylum for all malefactors and refugees ever since" (Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 92).

(16, 17) And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave.-The circumstances are detailed in Num. xxxii. They desired the land for their cattle.

(18, 19) This is a summary of the agreement made and described in Num. xxxii. 20-32. (See also Note on Josh. i. 12.)

(21, 22) I commanded Joshua at that time Thine eyes have seen.-"Thine

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do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. (22) Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.

(23) And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, (24) O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? (25) I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. (26) But the

LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. (27) Get thee up into the top of 1 Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and

Judgments of the Lord.

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eyes are the witnesses of all," &c. The conquest of Sihon and Og, as well as that of Amalek, was to be impressed upon Joshua (comp. Exod. xvii. 14) as a precedent for his encouragement, and also for his instruction. It is remarkable that no details are given us of the battles against Sihon and Og, or of the capture of the cities, except in Josh. xii. 6, "Them did Moses the servant of the Lord smite." We see the reflection of Moses' campaign, which is unwritten, in the recorded campaigns of Joshua. The peculiar form of the sentence, Thine eyes are they that see," may also serve to remind us of the fact, that though the Law was given by Moses, no eye saw its full breadth and grasp until it came into the hand of Jesus, the antitype of Joshua.

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(23-28) And I besought the Lord at that time. -Two things Moses is recorded to have asked for himself in the story of the exodus. The first is written in Exod. xxxiii. 18, "I beseech thee shew me thy glory;" the second is before us here. "O Lord GOD (Adonai Jehovah), thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand pray thee let me go over and see the good land beyond Jordan." It would seem that Moses desired not so much to view the land (which, indeed, was granted him), but to see the greatness of Jehovah manifested in the conquest, as he had seen it in the victories over Og and Sihon. While we cannot allow for a moment that "the old fathers looked only for transitory promises" (see Notes on chaps. v. 16, xxii. 7), yet it is impossible not to feel in this prayer of Moses the pressure of the veil which hung over the unseen world before the coming of our Saviour, who brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.' Moses evidently did not realise that he might see the works of Jehovah and His glory still more clearly in the other world.

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(26) For your sakes.-Because "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified" (Lev. x. 3; Num. xx. 12, 13); and also because the death of Moses and the succession of Joshua were "for a testimony of things to

Moses,

be spoken after," a figure of things to come.
like Ezekiel (chap. xxiv. 15-24), was made a sign.

(26) Let it suffice thee.-Literally, enough for thee, or, as it is paraphrased by Rashi from older commentators," Far more than this is reserved for thee; plentiful goodness is hidden for thee." And so indeed it proved. For on some "goodly mountain" (Hermon or "Lebanon,") Moses and Elias stood with the Saviour of the world, and spake of a far more glorious conquest than Joshua's, even "His exodus, which He should fulfil at Jerusalem" (St. Luke ix. 31).

(27) Northward, and southward.- Southward, literally, Teman-ward. The negeb, or "south" of Palestine, is not named here.

(28) For he shall go over.-Emphatic, he it is that shall go over, and he it is that shall make them to inherit; not Moses.

(29) So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.-Moses' burial-place, as appears by chap. xxxiv. 6. It is a significant finishing touch to the scene described above. This verse also concludes the recapitulation of Israel's journey from Horeb (chap. i. 6) to the banks of Jordan, with which this first discourse of Moses begins. The remainder, contained in chap. iv., is the practical part of the discourse, which now begins.

IV.

(1) Now therefore hearken.-The whole point of the exhortation in this chapter is the same which we find in Joshua's address to the people (Josh. xxiv.), that they should serve Jehovah. And the ground of the exhortation is His revelation of Himself in Horeb as their God.

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The statutes and the judgments.— Perhaps we should say “institutions and requirements" in modern language. For "judgments," see Exod. xxi. -xxiii.

That ye may live, and go in.-Life is put before possession. The penalty of the broken law is death. (2) Ye shall not add unto the word.-The word, not "the words." The word is the substance of the Law. The words in which it is expressed may be more or less. The law of Moses contains in it the germ of all revelation to the very end.

The Israelites especially

DEUTERONOMY, IV.

the People of the Lord.

LORD your God which I command_you. Ja Num. 25. 4, &c. | thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the

(3) Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of a Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. (4) But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

b Ex. 19. 18.

(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. (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. (7) For what 1 Heb., heart. 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? (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?

things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thine heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; (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. (11) And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the 'mountain burned with fire unto the 1 midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. (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; 2 only ye heard a voice. (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. (14) And the LORD commanded me at

(9) Only take heed to thyself, and keep 2 Heb., save a voice. that time to teach you statutes and

(3) Your eyes have seen.-Literally, your eyes are they that see―i.e., you are witnesses of these things. The men who perished by the plague because of the iniquity of Beth-peor-to the number of 24,000-seem to have been all members of the younger generation; for they had already passed the brook Zered. (See on chap. ii. 13.) (5) That ye should do so in the land.-It should never be forgotten that there is a special connection between the law of Moses and the land of Canaan. It cannot be kept in many of its precepts, except by a chosen people in a protected land.

(6) This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations.-The laws of Jehovah in Israel, and the constant presence of Jehovah with Israel, would make an impression upon the world that it would not be easy to resist. For, he adds, "what nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them?"

(8) What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous ?-These words direct our attention to the law of Moses, as distinctly in advance of the time when it was given.

(9) Only take heed to thyself.-The exhortation contained in the following verses lays special emphasis on one point-the worship of the invisible Jehovah without images. This more than anything else would tend to separate the religion of Israel from that of all other nations.

Teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons.A command which Israel evidently failed to obey. For a generation speedily rose up" which knew not Jehovah nor yet the works which he had done for Israel" (Judg. ii. 10). It is worth while to observe that we cannot find any trace of a system of national education in Israel until many years later. When education is purely parental, it is likely to be neglected in many

instances. It is not every parent who finds himself able to "teach his sons, and his sons' sons."

(10) The day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb.-The Church of Israel dated from Sinai, as the Church of Christ does from Pentecost. It is noticeable that the giving of the Law appears to have taken place about fifty days after the Passover in Egypt. Jewish writers associate the Feast of Pentecost with the memory of the event. A similar association, and a contrast between the first and last Pentecost, appears to have been present to St. Paul's mind in 2 Cor. iii. The law given at Sinai is the "ministration of death," and is contrasted with the "ministration of the Spirit"-the letter that killeth with the Spirit that giveth life. (Comp. also Gal. iv. 24-26, and Heb. xii. 18-24.) The word "specially " is not in the Hebrew of this verse. The day. in Horeb is not only to be regarded as a special subject of instruction; it is the root of the whole matter.

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Gather me the people together.-The Greek here is ekkλnσíaσov, which might be paraphrased according to New Testament language," Form a Church of this people." The "day of the assembly" alluded to in this and other passages (as chap. x. 4) may be similarly paraphrased as "the day of the Church." It seems to be the source of the expression used by St. Stephen, "the Church in the wilderness" (Acts vii. 38). Thus the analogy between Israel's receiving the letter of the law at Sinai, and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem is still further brought out.

(11) Darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.The "blackness, and darkness, and tempest" of Heb. xii. 18.

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judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

(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: (16) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (17) the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, (18) the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: (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. (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. (21) Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should

He wrote them.-See on chap. x. 2.

1 Or, imparted.

a ch.9.3; Heb. 12.

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(15) Ye saw no manner of similitude.-The worship of the invisible Jehovah is here specially insisted on. The difficulty of learning to worship one whom we cannot see is, happily, one which our education does not enable us to realise in its relation to Israel of old. All nations had their visible symbols of deity. Centuries afterwards the world described the followers of Christ as Atheists, because they had no visible God. It is especially recorded in praise of Moses that "he endured as seeing Him who is invisible" (Heb. xi. 27).

(16) Lest ye corrupt. and make.-The connection between idolatry and corruption is twofold. First, it changes "the glory of the incorruptible God" into an image of His corruptible creatures. Secondly, it always ends in corrupting the idolater. Man was made to have dominion over the works of God's hands. cannot worship anything in creation, which he was not intended to rule. He can only fulfil his destiny when he strives after the Divine likeness, rising to that which is above him, instead of stooping to that which is below.

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(17, 18) Likeness of any beast... fowl There may be an allusion to the animal idolatry of Egypt here.

(19) The sun, and the moon, and the stars.The purest worship of antiquity-that which we find among the Persians-hardly escaped this snare.

Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations.-The heavenly bodies could never be regarded as special protectors of any one nation. But

Make Graven Images.

not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: (22) but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. (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. (24) For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

(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: (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. (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. (28) And there ye shall serve gods, the

Jehovah was pledged to be the God of Israel. This appears to be the argument of verses 19 and 20.

(21-23) The Lord was angry with me for your sakes . . I must die in this land... but ye shall go over . . . Take heed unto yourselves.-The argument appears to be this: "I cannot go with you to warn you; therefore take the more heed when you are alone." The same line of thought appears in St. Paul's last appeal to Timothy: "Fulfil thy ministry; for I am now ready to be offered " (2 Tim. iv. 6).

(24) The Lord thy God is a consuming fire.— The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews makes use of this in chap. xii. 29, to enforce the lessons not of Sinai, but of Pentecost, and of the voice of "Him that speaketh from heaven" by the Spirit whom He has sent.

(25) Shall have remained long.-Literally, shall slumber-a very suggestive expression. Prosperity often sends true religion to sleep, and brings conventional, or fashionable, religion in its stead.

(27) And the Lord shall scatter you.-Our familiarity with this fact in history must not blind us to its force when uttered as a prophecy. The fact that the Jews were taken captive for idolatry, and dispersed for the rejection of JESUS, is a remarkable proof that the real reason why they were brought into Canaan, and kept there, was to be witnesses for Jehovah.

(28) And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands.-That is, "you shall be in bondage to them," being ruled by their worshippers. And so

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work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. (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. (30) When thou art in tribulation, and all these things 1are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (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.

thee.

Lord to Israel.

LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (35) Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. (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. (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; (38) to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than

their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

(32) For ask now of the days that are 1 Heb, have found thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee 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? (33) Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? (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

Rashi explains it. Captivity was the means of eradicating idolatry from Israel rather than encouraging it. But the cause of a people and its idols is so constantly identified in the Old Testament, that those who are in bondage to a nation may naturally be described as in bondage to its gods. The gods were even held to be sharers in the captivity of the nation. It is said of Bel and Nebo, in Isa. xlvi. 2, "They could not deliver . . . but themselves are gone into captivity."

(29, 30, 31) Comp. chap. xxx. 1-5 for a more ex. plicit promise and prophecy of the same thing, and see Note on that passage.

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(32) For ask now whether there hath been any such thing.-The same argument is afterwards employed by St. Paul (Rom. xi. 29) for the restoration of Israel: "for the gifts and calling_of God are without repentance," i.e., irrevocable. did not go and take Him a nation out of the midst of another nation in order to abandon them at last. He never did so much in the way of personal and visible interposition for any people; and He will not forsake the work of His own hands. Moses had proved the truth of what he says here in many scenes of sin and peril averted by his own intercession. (See especially Num. xiv. 11-21, and comp. 1 Sam. xii. 22.)

(37) Because he loved thy fathers.-The reasons for God's choice of Israel are frequently stated in this book; and they are always stated in such a

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(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. (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.

(41) Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising;

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way as to enforce the doctrine of God's sovereignty,
and to show the Israelites that their own merit was
in no way the ground of God's choice.
(39) Know therefore .
and consider.-
Consider," i.e., reckon (the word for “
"impute "and
"account" in St. Paul's argument to the Romans).
Do not indulge any polytheistic notions regarding the
Deity. "To us there is but One God.'
If every
nation has its separate deity, how is it that Jehovah
controls them all? His various dealings with Egyp-
tians, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Amorites, as
well as with Israelites and Canaanites, mark Him as
Lord of all. "There is none else." There are no
more gods; if you desire to leave Him behind, there
is no one else to serve. Compare Isa. xliv. 8: Is
there a God beside me? yea, there is no Rock. I
know not any."

THE APPOINTMENT OF THREE CITIES OF
REFUGE.

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(41) Then Moses severed.-The word "then" appears to be a note of time. It would seem that the appointment of the three cities of refuge on the eastern side of Jordan actually followed this discourse.

On this side Jordan.-Heb., b' 'éber hay-yardên. The expression is here defined by the words that follow, "toward the sun-rising," and it need not, therefore, be taken to fix the writer's point of view. By itself, the expression would naturally mean, on the other side of Jordan.

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