'.^'
LIBRARY
iiMVERsiry Of
V CAUFOKNIA
DEUTERONOMY
Rev. S. R. driver, D.D.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BT
UORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED
FOR
t. & T. CLARK, EDINBURGH
MEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
The rights of Translation and of Reproduction are reserved.
The International Critical Commentary.
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL
COMMENTARY
ON
DEUTERONOMY.
Rev. S. R. DRIVER, D.D.,
REKIUS PROFESSOR OP HEBREW, AND CANON OF CHRIST CHCI
OXFORD ;
FORMERLY FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFOKIX
THIRD EDITION.
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK. 38 GEORGE STREET.
XrOFFTTT - 1_1C?I,
First Printed . . May iSgs
Latest Impression . Feb. 1973
BS/'27-f
.3
PREFACE.
Thb aim of the present volume (in accordance with the plas
of the series, of which it forms part) is to supply the English
reader with a Commentary which, so far as the writer's powers
permit it, may be abreast of the best scholarship and know-
ledge of the day. Deuteronomy is one of the most attractive,
as it is also one of the most important, books of the Old
Testament ; and a Commentary which may render even
approximate justice to its many-sided contents has for long
been a desideratum in English theological literature. Certainly
the Hebrew text (except in parts of c. 32. 33) is not, as a rule,
difficult ; nevertheless, even this has frequently afforded me
the opportunity of illustrating delicacies of Hebrew usage,
which might escape the attention of some readers. On the
other hand, the contents of Deuteronomy call for much ex-
planation and discussion : they raise many difficult and con-
troverted questions ; and they afford frequent scope for
interesting and sometimes far-reaching inquiry. Deuteronomy
stands out conspicuously in the literature of the Old Testa-
ment : it has important relations, literary, theological, and
historical, with other parts of the Old Testament ; it pos-
sesses itself a profound moral and spiritual significance; it is
an epoch-making expression of the life and feeling of the
prophetic nation. I have done my best to give due prominence
to these and similar characteristic features ; and by pointing
out both the spiritual and other factors which Deuteronomy
presupposes, and the spiritual and other influences which
either originated with it, or received from it a fresh impulse,
to define the position which it occupies in the national and
religious history of Israel. Deuteronomy, moreover, by many
XII PREFACE
of the observances which it enjoins, bears witness to the fact
that Israel's civilization, though permeated by a different
spirit from that of other ancient nations, was nevertheless
reared upon the same material basis ; and much light may
often be thrown, both upon the institutions and customs to
which it alludes, and upon the manner in which they are
treated by the Hebrew legislator, from the archaeological
researches of recent years. Nor is this all. The study of
Deuteronomy carries the reader into the very heart of the
critical problems which arise in connexion with the Old
Testament. At almost every step, especially in the central,
legislative part (c. 12-26), the question of the relation of
Deuteronomy to other parts of the Pentateuch forces itself
upon the student's attention. In dealing with the passages
where this is the case, I have stated the facts as clearly and
completely as was possible within the limits of space at my dis-
posal, adding, where necessary, references to authorities who
treat them at greater length. As a work of the Mosaic age,
Deuteronomy, I must own, though intelligible, if it stood
perfectly aloncy — i.e. if the history of Israel had been other
than it was, — does not seem to me to be intelligible, when
viewed in the light shed upon it by other parts of the Old
Testament: a study of it in that light reveals too many
features which are inconsistent with such a supposition. The
entire secret of its composition, and the full nature of the
sources of which its author availed himself, we cannot hope to
discover ; but enough is clear to show that, however regret-
fully we may abandon it, the traditional view of its origin and
authorship cannot be maintained. The adoption of this
verdict of criticism implies no detraction either from the
inspired authority of Deuteronomy, or from its ethical and
religious value. Deuteronomy marks a stage in the Divine
education of the chosen people: but the methods of God's
spiritual providence are analogous to those of His natural
providence: the revelation of Himself to man was accom-
plished not once for all, but through many diverse channels
(Heb. i^), and by a gradual historical process; and the stage
in that process to which Deuteronomy belongs is not the age
PREFACE XIII
of Moses, but a later age. Deuteronomy gathers up the
spiritual lessons and experiences not of a single lifetime, but
of many generations of God-inspired men. It is a nobly-
conceived endeavour to stir the conscience of the individual
Israelite, and to infuse Israel's whole national life with new
spiritual and moral energy. And in virtue of the wonderful
combination of the national with the universal, which char-
acterizes the higher teaching of the Old Testament, it fulfils a
yet wider mission : it speaks in accents which all can still
understand ; it appeals to motives and principles, which can
never lose their validity and truth, so long as human nature
remains what it is : it is the bearer of a message to all time.*
It is the first duty of a Commentator to explain his text;
and this I have striven to do to the best of my ability, partly
by summaries of the argument, partly by exegetical annota-
tions. Homiletical comments, it will be borne in mind, are
purposely excluded from the plan of the series ; but I hope
that I have not shown myself neglectful of the more distinctive
features of Biblical theology, which called for explanation. The
translations have for their aim exactness, rather than elegance
or literary finish : they are intended to express as fully as pos-
sible the force of the original Hebrew, which is sometimes very
inadequately represented by the conventional rendering adopted
in the English versions.! The illustrative references may in
some instances appear to be unnecessarily numerous : but the
force and significance of words, and the motives prompting
their selection, — especially when they are nearly or entirely
restricted to a particular group of writings, — can often be only
properly estimated by copious, or even exhaustive, particulars ;
and the literary affinities, and influence, of Deuteronomy
have seemed to me to call for somewhat full illustration.
Subordinate illustrative matter — such as the discussion of
special difficulties, archaeological or topographical notes, &c.
— has been generally distinguished from the Commentary as
such by being thrown into smaller type. The explanations
of various technical expressions, legal or theological, occur*
• Comp. below, pp, xix ff,, xxv f. , xxviii, xxxiv, &c.
t See conspicuous examples in ^-^•^•^ 6" 12^ 20" 22" ^a"' "•*"•" 33**.
XIV PREFACE
ring in the English versions, will, it is hoped, be found
useful.
I have not deemed it desirable to exclude entirely Hebrew
words from the text of the Commentary; but I have en-
deavoured usually to meet the needs of those not conversant
with Hebrew, by adding translations, or otherwise so framing
my notes as to render them intelligible to such readers.
Philological matter of a technical kind has been thrown
regularly into the notes. Only, sometimes, in citations, where
I was tempted, by its superior brevity, to quote the Hebrew
text, and in the Tables of parallel passages (pp. lo, 19, 24, &c.)
— in using which the reader is supposed to have the Hebrew
text of Deuteronomy open before him — will the Hebraist have
an advantage over the non-Hebraist, of which the latter, I trust,
will not be envious ; in the case of the Tables, had I felt that
the space at my disposal would permit it, I should have tran-
scribed both texts in English, as I have done in other instances
(pp. 157 f., 181 f., &c.). The Tetragrammaton — not without
hesitation — has been represented by its popular, though
undoubtedly incorrect, ioxm Jehovah', this, it was felt, marked
sufficiently the fact that the name was a personal one ; and
Yahwehy in a volume not designed solely for the use of
specialists, might be to some readers a distasteful innovation.
For typographical reasons, Arabic words have usually been
transliterated in Roman characters,* and Syriac words in
square Hebrew characters. Distinctions between Hebrew
sounds, where they can be represented by a breathing, or a
diacritic point {h, t, k, s or s), I have thought worth pre-
serving, though I have shrunk from carrying this principle
out in the case of one or two words 01 very common occurrence
(such as Canaa?i), in which its application might seem to
savour of pedantry.
The authorities to which I am principally indebted will be
usually apparent from the names quoted. A special acknow-
•j = dh! J)=d; ]p = l; ^ =h: ^ =chi c,=gh. An occasional over.
sight, or irregularity, in the transliteration of a proper name, the onginaJ
of which I may not have seen, will, I hope, be pardoned.
PREFACE XV
ledgment is, however, due to the great philologist and exegete
of Berlin, August Dillmann, whose death, after a few days'
illness, in July 1894, cut short a career of exceptional literary
energy, which even advancing years seemed powerless to
cripple or impair. Having in his younger and middle life won
his laurels as an Orientalist by reviving, and placing upon a
scientific basis, the study of Ethiopic,* he had, since 1869,
devoted himself largely to the exegesis of the Old Testament,
and produced commentaries upon Job,t the Hexateuch,t and
Isaiah, § which for thoroughness, fine scholarship, and critical
yet sober judgment, rank among the best that have ever been
written. Knobel, 30-40 years ago, did much for the exegesis
of the Hexateuch ; but a comparison of Dillmann's volumes
is sufficient to show how materially he has contributed to the
advance of Biblical learning, and how greatly by his labours
he has raised the ideal of a Biblical Commentary. At the
same time, the needs of English and German readers are not
quite the same ; and hence, while I have not felt it incumbent
upon me to notice all the points touched upon by Dillmann,
there are others which 1 have deemed it necessary to treat at
greater length.
Deuteronomy, as remarked above, opens many topics of
archaeological interest ; and when commencmg my prepara-
tions for the present Commentary, I wrote to my friend.
Professor Robertson Smith (who, as is well known, possessed
an almost unique knowledge of these subjects), to inquire
whether there were any particular points on which he could
supply me with illustration. Unhappily his strength was
already undermined by the fatal malady to which ere long he
• His Ethiopic Grammar appeared in 1857, his Ethiopia Lexicon—^
mag^nificent folio volume of nearly 800 pages — in 1865 ; he also edited
the Ethiopic Octateuch (Gn.-Kings), as well as many other Ethiopic texts.
At the time of his death he had just completed an edition of the Ethiopic
Apocrj'pha, which appeared about a month afterwards. See a complete
list of his publications in the Expository Times, May 1895, P* 35° '^•
t 1869 ; ed. 2, 1891.
X Genesis, 1875; ed. 4, 1892: Exodus and Leviticus, 1880; Numbers,
Deuteronomy, and Joshua, 1886. An English translation of the Corn-
mentary on C^we^zs appeared in 1897 (T. & T. Clark),
§ 1890.
XVI PREFACE
was destined to succumb; and he was not able to furnish
me with more than a few isolated notes (see the Index,
p. 434). A year has now passed since this most brilliant and
accomplished scholar was taken to his rest ; but in his Ola
Testament in the Jewish Chttrch, his Prophets of Israel, and his
lectures on the Religion of the Semites (not to mention scattered
articles in the Encyclopcedia Britannica and elsewhere), he has
bequeathed a legacy to posterity, which will for long continue
to be prized by students, and to stimulate reflexion and
research.
The reader is requested, before using the volume, to notice
the Addenda and Corrigenda (pp. xviii— xxiv), and the list of
principal abbreviations employed (pp. xxv-xxviii).
S. R. D.
April 1895.
The present edition differs from the first only by the cor-
rection of a few slight errata, and by the introduction of
some additional notes in the Addenda and Corrigenda (pp.
XVIII-XXIIl).
S. R. D.
October 1896.
The third edition differs from the second only by the
introduction of a few additions and corrections, which are
incorporated partly in the text, and partly in the Addenda and
Corrigenda, pp. xviii-xxiv.
S. R. D.
December 1901.
CONTENTS.
Addenda and Corrigenda . •
Principal Abbreviations employed .
Introduction ....
§ I. Introductory. Outline of Contents
% 2. Relation of Deuteronomy to the preceding Books of the
Pentateuch . .
5 3. Scope and Character of Deuteronomy : its dominant
Ideas , .
§4. Authorship, Date, and Structure
% 5. Language and Style
Commentary . . .
Additional Note on -^j (21* 32**)
Indbjc ....
rAGi
XVIII
XXV
5-xcv
XIX
xxxiv
Ixxvii
4-425
425
427
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA.
P. xlii ff. Professor G. A. Smith, in an appreciative and instructive
notice of the present work (Critical Review, Oct. 1895, p. 339ff.)> supporta
also very strongly the post-Mosaic origin of Deuteronomy, pointing in
particular to the facts " that it nowhere avers to be by Moses ; that its
standpoint is Western Palestine, and that its whole perspective is so
plainly that of some centuries after the events it describes," and also
endorsing the argument deduced (p. xlii) from such passages as 23'(*'.
He thinks, however, that if it had been written under either Manasseh or
Josiah, it would have contained traces of the distinction between the
persecuted servants of Jehovah and the tyrannical powers of the nation,
and is inclined consequently to assign it to the close of the reign of
Hezekiah (cf. p. liv, note). Certainly it is easier to feel satisfied that
Deuteronomy is not the work of Moses than it is to fix the decade, or
even the generation, in which it was actually written.
P. xliii. The *' mountain(s) of the 'AbSrim," or "of the parts across"
(cf. G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 262), Dt 32*^ Nu. 2^^^ 2>2,"'*^f of the range East
of Jordan, is another not less significant indication of the country in which
the Pentateuch was written.
P. xliv, note. For a detailed criticism of van Hoonacker's position, see
Kosters in the Th, Tijdschr. Mar. 1896, p. igofF.
P. 8, 1. 8-13. The other 'Ashtaroth of Eusebius, the 'Ashteroth-kamaim
of Gn. 14", is most probably Tell 'Ashterd, a hill about 15 miles NW. ol
Derat, with traces of ancient fortifications (Schumacher, Across Jordan,
p. 209 f.). El-Muzeirlb {ibid. 157-166) is a large village, on an island in
a small lake, which seems to have been once a strongly fortified place
Tell el- Ash'arl is a long mound, situated on a projecting headland, over*
hanging the deep gorge of the Jarmuk, with many remains of ancient
walls, built of roughly-hewn blocks of basalt (ibid. 203-g ; G. A. Smith,
PEFQuSt. 1901, pp. 351-9). Tell esh-Shihab is a strongly situated place,
standing on a promontory formed by the junction of two wadys (Schum.
199 f. ; Smith, 344-350, who thinks, p. 360, that 'Og's 'Ashtaroth must
have been at or near it). The supposition that there were two 'Ashtaroths
depends, it will be noticed, upon Eusebius : so far as the Biblical data go,
'Ashtaroth, the capital of 'Og, might be identical with 'Ashteroth-kamaim,
the name being merely abbreviated from it. See more fully the writer's
art. Ashtaroth, in Hastings' Dictionary of the BibU (T. & T. Clark) ;
G. A. Smith, Ashtaroth in the Encyclop. Biblica, and, most recently,
PEFOuSt. 1901, pp. 340-361, with the map mentioned below, p. xxiv.
P. 1 1 f. Professor J. F. McCurdy, in History, Prophecy, and the Montt'
ments (iSg^), pp. 159-161, 406-408, arrives independently at the same con-
clusion that Amorite and Canaanite (though each may be used generally
of the pre-Israelitish population of Canaan) are properly the names of two
distinct peoples.
P. 12 top. From the terms in which the "Land Amurri" is mentioned
in the Tell el-Amama letters {c. B.C. 1400), it appears that it was in fact
simply a district or "canton," in the N. of Palestine, in the neighbour-
hood of Phoenicia. It was at this time, like Phoenicia and Palestine in
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA XIX
general, tinder Egyptian rule ; and Us governor, Aziru, addresses many
letters to the Pharaoh, Amenophis IV. (see Winckler's translation of the
letters in Schrader's KeUinschriftliche Bibliothek, v. p. 104 ff.)- The
district bears the same name as late as the 9th cent. B.C. ; for Asshiir-
nisir-abal (B.C. 885-860) speaks of receiving the tribute of the kings of
"Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, Machallat, Mais, Kai?, the land of Amiirrai, and
Arvad, on the great sea of the West-land" [ib. i. log). See Schrader's
discussion of the name in the Berichte of the Berlin Academy, 20 Dec.
1894, p. 1302 fF.
P. 12, I. 14. See also W. Max Miiller, Asien und Europa nacli allagypU
ischen Denkmiilem, pp. 205-233.
P. 34, phil. note on ii. 5 "ib-t : see also p. Ixxi, note *.
P. 38. On Edom, see further F. Buhl, Gesch. der Edomiter, 1893.
P. 38, 1. 8-7 from bottom. According to the map and description
given by Mr, Bliss, PEFQuSt. July 1895, pp. 204, 215, the Sail es-Sa'ideh
flows into the Mojib from the East, the Sail Lejjfin flovi'ing into it from
S. by E., and a shorter stream, the Wady Balu'a, from the S. The three
deep gorges formed by these streams unite to form the Wady Mojib, at
a point slightly to the E. of 'Ara'ir (below, p. 45).
P. 41, 1. 9. Professor Sayce has since abandoned this view of Caplitor,
on the ground that a place of that name (Kaptar) is mentioned among
the places conquered by Ptolemy Auletes (Hastings' DB, art. Caphtor).
P. 45. 'Ara'ir " crowns one of the natural buttresses that round out
from the cliffs, and affords a capital bird's-eye view of the upper waters
of the Arnon" (Bliss in PEFQuSt. July 1895, p. 215).
P. 47, 1. 4 from bottom. The oaks, it should have been stated, are
found only on the slopes of the Jebel Hauran, or on the West, in Jolan :
the plain of Hauran is destitute either of oaks or of other trees.
P. 4S-49. The identification of the Leja with Argob is rejected also
(independently), I am glad to see, by G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 551,
P. 49, 1. II from bottom, and p. 56, 1. 6-7. Although Kenath is very
commonly identified with Kanawat, the identification is not, however,
certain : see Moore on Jud. 8" ; and comp. Wright, Palmyra and Zenobia
(1895), p. 313^-
P. 50-51. See further, on the region here in question, the writer's
articles Argob in Hastings' DB. and Bashan in the Encyclop. Biblica.
P. 54, 1. 5. The Arabs on the east of Jordan still call basalt iron
(G. A. Smith).
P. 57. On Machir and the other clans of Manasseh see now more fully
Machir and Manasseh in Hastings' DB.
P. 63-64. On Baal, see further the articles by G. F. Moore and A. S.
Peake, in the Encyclop. Biblica and Hastings' DB. respectively.
P. 64, on 4': to possess it (nncnS). On the very common Deut. word
xrv (p. Ixxviii ff., Nos. 4, 22, 46), it should have been stated that, though
(for distinction from '?n:, n^qj) it is commonly rendered to possess, it denotes
properly to take possession of as heir, to succeed to (cf. 2^^'^^-^ ; 'niN te-\v Gn.
15*; E'^^^^ the heir, 2 S. 14'; n^-j; the right of inheritance, Jer. 32*); and
that this sense of the word gives point to most of the passages in which
it is used, not only in Dt. (1***' &c.), but also elsewhere, as i K. 2i**nnnn
rWT c:i, iMic. i>» Jer. 8" 49'-'» Hab. i« &c. Cf. p. Ixxi, note *.
XX ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA
P. 67, 1. 5 from bottom : " is found first in JE." See, however, Dt. 33*
P. 68. On the " covenant," see also Smend, Alttest. Religionsgesch,
p. 294 fF.; and R. Kraetzschmar, Die Biindesvorstellung im AT., i8q6.
P. 70 top. See also J. Jacobs, Studies in Biblical Archceology (1894),
pp. xix, 64-103 (where the question whether there are Totem-Clans in the
OT. is discussed with discrimination).
P. 79. The Boffo/) of i Mace. 5^^^*, as Professor G. A. Smith points out,
must have been considerably to the N. of Moab, and cannot therefore be
the same place as the Moabite Bezer.
P. 79, 1. II. On the claims of es-Salt to represent the ancient Ramoth
of Gile'ad, my friend, the Rev. G. A. Cooke, Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, who visited the site in 1894, writes : "A survey of the references
to Ramoth in the OT., shows that it must have been a place of admini-
strative and strategic importance with respect to Bashan on the one hand
(1 K. 4'"*), and Syria and N. Israel on the other (i K. 22^^'), accessible from
Samaria and Jezreel by road (1 K. 22^ 2 K. S^'* 9^^) ; it must have lain
consequently N., and indeed considerably N., of the Jabbok : its environs,
also, were convenient for chariot warfare (i K. 22*''^'). It is difficult under
these circumstances to understand how it can have been identified with
es-Salt, the physical features of which present none of the conditions which
the Biblical passag'es require for Ramoth. Any one who has visited
es-Salt must have been convinced of the impossibility of approaching it
with chariots. The town hangs on the steep sides of a narrow gorge,
entirely shut in on the N., and opening out on a narrow flat of garden-land
at the other end ; and even this open extremity of the ravine is blocked by
a high ridge at right angles to the town, closing up the only outlet. The
descent into the town, and the streets on the two sides of the ravine, are
so .steep that a rider is almost compelled to dismount and lead his horse.
Es-Salt is, moreover, far too South, — only 18 miles N. of the Dead Sea,
and 12 miles South of the Jabbok : it is quite off the road to Bashan, while
there is no line of natural highway between it and Samaria or Jezreel.
El-jal'ad, Dillmann's site, is hardly more suitable : it is still S. of the
Jabbok. Merrill, East 0/ Jordan , p. 284 ff., proposes Jerash, about 22
miles N.W. of es-Salt, in nearly the same parallel of latitude as Samaria ;
and it is true that the rolling plateau on which Jerash stands would be
suitable enough for chariots, and in Grseco-Roman times, at any rate,
there must have been easy communication between Jerash (Gerasa) and
W. Palestine." This suggestion must be admitled to be a plausible one:
though Mr. Cooke himself (with G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 587) would prefer a
site still further North, and nearer to Edre'i (Derat), whence access would
be easy to either Jezreel or Samaria, up the broad valley now called the
Wady Jal'ud, leading up from the Jordan to Jezreel {ib. p. 3S4 f.). Der'at is
about 25 m. NNE. of Jerash, and 30 m. ESE. of the Lake of Gennesareth.
P. 102, footnote. Add Jer. 8^ i6'3i"''44». On the difficult verse Jud.
i", see Moore, ad loc, in i" the sufiix (though the pi. would be far more
natural) might perhaps be taken as referring to p, as in 7* to Dj?n, and in
20'* to the collective ps*33 cn of v.*' (wliere notice vSv, and the sing, verbs).
P. 103, 1. 5. Wine, here (7"), and 11" 12" i^^ iS* 28« ^Z^, should
have been new wine, or must, rn'n is distinguished from }", and ought
to be represented by a different word. It is the freshly es'sressed juice oi
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA XXI
the grape (cf. Pr. 3'* Joel 2-^), capable, as Hos. 4*' shows, of "taking
away the understanding," and therefore fermented, but probably with
the fermentation arrested at an earlier stage than was the case with
"wine" ([") properly so called (comp. Smith's Diet, of Classical An-
tiquities, s.v. ViNUM, towards the beginning, where it is sliown that the
ancients in making the best wines allowed the fermentation of the grape-
juice to run its full course of nine days, but that sweet wines were often
manufactured by its being arrested after two or three daj's). In view of
Pr. 3''' Joel a-'', however, it is difficult to feel sure whether ciTn ahvays
denoted a fermented beverage. See more fully, on Tirosh, A. iM. Wilson,
The Wines of the Bible, 1877, p. 301 ff. ; and the note in the writer's Joel
and Amos (\\\ the Camb. Bible for Schools), p. 79 f.
In lines 9-10 of the same page, "if not absolutely " is hardly correct.
pT is not the raw produce of the fields, but corn which has been threshed
out (Nu. iS-') ; and nn:»', analogously to CTi'n, is the freshly expressed juice
of the olive. The last-named word (7'* 11'* 12" 14^ iS'* 28^'), for distinction
from I'zu (8* 2S'*'' 32'^ 33"^), would have been better rendered yV^^A oil; ci'.
the denom. nMiJ' " make fresh oil " in Job 24''.
P. 103, on 7^'. The reference is probably, in particular, to epidemics
such as the plague, which, starting from the NE. corner of the Delta
were apt to pass up the avenues of trade, through Philistia and the Mari-
time Plain, into Israel (cf. G. A. Smith, Geogr. pp. 157-160).
P. 129, 1. 6 from bottom. The last-named explanation is probably the
correct one. For purposes of irrigation, each plot of land is divided into
small squares by ridges of earth a few inches in height; and the water,
after it has been raised from the Nile by the Shadilf or the Sakieh, is
conducted into these squares by means of small trenches. The cultivator
uses his feet to regulate the flow of water to each part, by a dexterous
movement of the toes raising or breaking down small embankments in
the trenches, and opening or closing apertures in the ridges (Manning,
The Land of the Pharaohs, 1887, p. 31).
P. 133 f. Moses being represented as speaking in the plains of Moab,
just opposite to Gilgal, G. A. Smith points out the great difficulty involved
in the supposition that the words in front of Gilgal are intended to define
the position of mountains so far distant as 'Ebal and Gerizim, and adopts
(in his review) the punctuation and rendering of Colenso, as given on p.
134. But attention has been called recently to the fact that there is a
place Juleijil (Arab, dimin. of "Gilgal"), with "traces of ruins" (PEF.
Memoirs, ii. 238) in the plain Makhna, i mile E. of Gerizim : and Buhl
{Geogr. 202 f.) and G. A. Smith (art. Gilgal in the Encyclop. Biblica) both
accept Schlatter's identification of this place with the Gilgal oi" Dt. 11**.
The discovery of the name so close to 'Ebal and Gerizim justifies Dill-
mann's hypothesis (below, p. 134), and meets the objections to it there
mentioned : while, if Giigal was simply an ancient sacred place, the
absence of more extensive ruins would be accounted for. The Gilgal
(G ra\7aXa) of I Mace. <)^ is also very probably the same place (G. A.
Smith, ibid.).
P. 140, xii. 3: Gratz {Emendd, in plerosque V.T. libros, Fasc. iii. 1894,
p. 10) may be right in supposing that the verbs jisnu'n and jiynjn have
accidentally changed places ; cf. (S and 7''**.
XXII ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA
P. 142, 1. 2 from bottom : comp. also the D'ayn \j-)j> of Neh. 10" 13''!.
P. 161. About the Cape, an allied species of the Hyrax (the Hyrax
Capensis) is called the rock-rabbit, which would be as convenient an
Eng-lish name for the shaphdn as could readily be found.
P. 162, piiil. note on v. 15, I. 5 : '■ij'? Ps. 68^ was accidentally over-
looked. After "besides," in 1. 4, "except with nouns formed from n"'?
verbs, as i.iryn," should have been added.
P. 163, 1. 7-8: add {after reptiles), "and small quadrupeds, as the
weasel and the mouse (Lev. 11^")."
P. 180, XY. 9: '7V''?3 131 nia'? DV .T,T js should perhaps be read (cf. Gratz).
P. 181, 1. 2. So in S (cf. also ffi) of Sir. i4»-i" iS'^ 31^3 37-« ; and, con-
versely, \s\\-\\ good, 31^ 35*'^*. Cf. the Heb. in \^-'^^ ^iisi*:^) ^-lo^
P. 196, xvi. 10: for the strange nro, Gratz sug-gests nn? (better, per-
haps, nrip? ; notice the preceding 3); cf. v.^'', and Ez. 46^-^^ (it nno nn:D),
Tribute (AV., RV.) comes from a very improbable etymological connexion
with D? task-ivork (20^').
P. 206, 1. 4 of note on v. 5: add " Dt. 2ii» 2Z^'^-^ i K. 2ii"i3 Hos. g'*."
P. 232, xix. 5: on '?e':, see on 7^ (phil. n.); and Levy, NHWB. iii. 451
(used in post-Bibl. Heb. of the falling off of limbs). Gratz, however,
suggests Ss3 (ffi iK-mabv : cf. 2 K. 6').
P. 234 f., on 19'''. A high importance was attached in ancient Baby-
lonia also to the landmark ; and many of the stone pillars which once
served as landmarks still exist, inscribed with terrible imprecations
directed against any who should disturb them : see Maspero, Dawn oj
Civilization, p. 762 f., with the references, where also there is a repre-
sentation of the so-called " Michaux stone," now in the Biblioth^que
Nationale at Paris ; the inscription on this is translated in Trumbull,
The Threshold Covenant, 1896, pp. 167-9.
P. 255, note *. See also Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 245 fF.
P. 257, on 22^^. Adultery, in either sex, is still in Palestine liable to be
punished with death, whether inflicted by the husband, or by the next-of-
kin : SG.Q PEFOuSt. 1897, pp. 125-7.
P. 269, xxiii. 25 : is ipnc a gloss on iB'Ena ?
P. 276, xxiv. 14: -i2-^ for t^c ffiSH Gratz (cf. Mai. 3'); and om. ^<i^^{3
ffi«. Gratz (cf. then 5"3ii-).
P. 283, on 25''. 'D3: is for 'JC?;, as twice besides ('nn? Nu. 22'' ; '21:^ '^i^k
I Ch. 4^"): Konig, iii. 124; cf. G-K. § ws,' end.
P. 291, on 26^'*. On JIN, and the various meanings attached to it, see
more fully the Glossary in the writer's Parallel Psalter (1898), p. 449 f.
P. 297, on 27''. The combination D'dSb'i niViv (not D'nnn ni':>ii?) agrees with
the usage of E, Ex. 20^^ 32". cf. 24^ (Budde, ZATW. 1891, p. 228).
P. 310, phil. note on v. 27, 1. 5 : In Syriac (PS. 1456) "inp means tenesmo
laboravit, and N^nia and N"inp mean dysentery ; and hence it might have
been supposed that the Heb. o'lina meant similarly oy^^w/^'r)' (lit. tenesmi):
but in I S. 6^'-" it is used of something of which images could be made;
and in the Pesh. of i S. 6-7, and in Ephr. Syrus, Niina means the anus (it
also, ace. to Bar-Sarvashvi, ap. PS., denotes parts of the intestine pro-
truding in dysentery). But whatever onina may signify, its only bearing
upon D'Vsy is that, as a gloss upon it, it supports the general tradition
(already found in ffi ?5pa) that this word denotes either the anus, or some
ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA XXIII
afr.rtinn of it, not plasfue-boils (which appear in the armpit or groin).
(The rend, drsenferic tumours, proposed for omna in ed. 2, seems to be
open to objection upon pathological grounds : see Hastings' DB. iii. 325.)
P. 326, xxix. 19 (20) : Gratz also adopts npam for nsmi.
P. 329, phil. note on xxx. 3: It should have been explained that nip
(Pr. 4^t) from n*? is irregular ; and that even nin"i (from en) is a form only
once found from a verb i"v, in a passage (Ez. 32') where the text is (upon
other grounds) doubtful, while both these forms are common from verbs
n"'? (ni'rj, nc;, &c.). Preuschen, in a long study on the expression {ZATW,
1895, p. I ff.)> returns to the old explanation of it, pointing in particular to
the support which this derives from Jer. 48^^'-, comp. with Nu. 21^: the
more general, metaphorical sense, he finds beginning in Lam. 2^* Ps. 85'
126'', and completed in Job 42'".
P. 2,Z'^ footnote. Add Ez. ii***.
P. 346 f. G. A. Smith supports Dillmann's date for the Song in c. 32,
observing, among other things, that, if it had been a work of the
Chaldaean age, some allusion to exile might naturally have been expected
among the threatened judgments.
P. 356, 1. 6. So also Oort (in a review of the present work), Th.
Tijdschr, 1896, p. 300.
P. 362, 1. 7-5 from bottom. See the Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, ii.
141, 1. 52-56 (Esarhaddon), Cf. p. 78, 1. 189, "may the protecting shidu
(sludu n^siru) rule therein " ; 113. 1. 52-54 ; 137, 1. 41-47, &c.
P. 368. On the Egyptian god Resoup (or Rashouf), cf. Maspero,
Struggle of the Nations, p. 155 f.
P. 389. On Dt. 33, see also A. van der Flier, Deuteronomium 33. Een
exegetisch-hisforische studie (Leiden, 1895) ; and C. J. Ball in the Proceed-
ings of the Soc. of Bibl. Arch., April, 1896, p. ii8ff.
P. 398, on 33^. © has here Aore Aeuei dr]\ous aiiroO, kcU d\i]6€iai' avrov
Tifi dvBpl Tij} 6ai<i!, which points to the reading —
"I'Dn 'iS"? in
f\^:::r. vah •^^'-i^\H^
which much improves the poetical symmetry of the verse (comp. the Abb^
Loisy in the Bulletin Critique, 1896, No. 15, p. 284; Ball, p. i23f.).
P. 404, on 33^^. Boklen (Stud. u. Krit. 1S94, p. 365 f.) and Oort {I.e.
p. 298 ff.) argue that the reference here is to the great North-Israelitish
sanctuary of Bethel (Am. 7i»- 1* &c.), which also, as it happens, lay on the
"shoulder" of a hill (Jos. 18'').
P. 404 f., on 33'^"'^. Lagarde [Agafhangelus, 1SS7, p. 156, cf. p. 162 f.)
prints this passage, and Gen. 49'^'-'', line by line, in parallel columns. The
comparison is instructive; it shows that the text of Dt., though not free
from corruption, is more correct than that of Gen. IJD, it may be noticed,
takes in Dt. the place of n3ia in Gen.
P. 409, on 33^*. ':i£!:' must at least be either an error of transcription
for 'JiSi, or an anomalous variation for it (cf. pna by the side of pns, and
pnty' 4 times for pns'). ffic koL iinrdpia irapoKiov KaToiKovvrtiiv appears (Ball,
p. 130) to have read '•,'in 'j;e' 'Jinm (see Gen. 49'^, where Za^ovXwv napdXiot
ncaroi/cTjcret stands for pts" D'D' '■pn'? ]hui).
P. 411, on 2'V'^- The difficulties of clauses '"> " of this verse — especially
XXIV ADDENDA AND CORRIGENDA
of clause^ — where reserved is a most questionable paraphrase, since psa
everywhere else means panelled (i K. 7^-'' Jer. 22^'* Hag^. i* ; cf. i K.
69'i6) — are removed — if the means adopted are not thought too violent —
by an ingenious suggestion of Giesebrecht's (ZATW 18S7, p. 292 f.).
ffi for Nn'i psD has crwrjy/x^i'uii' d/xa, whence Giesebrecht infers that the letters
have been transposed through some accident from [1£d.sti'i : the words
DV 'CNT jiED.xn'i, as they connect indifferent!}' with what precedes, he then
supposes to have been originally a gloss, intended as an allusion to the
incidents recorded in Nu. 32, and formulated on the basis of the phrase
in v.* oy 'cnt tic.xmn.
P. 416, on 23'^- For '■'^I'O Lagarde (I.e. p. 163) proposes n'7i'-'"2 ; Ball,
7'j^t?, which is poeticall}' preferable. Either of these words would form a
good antithesis to nnno in the following clause (cf. Ex. 20'').
P. 422. On the palm-groves of Jericho, see also the numerous quota-
tions, principally from the classical writers, given by Schiirer, Kzg.^ i.
311-313. At present they have all but disappeared; Robinson (/.c.) saw
in 1838 but one, which in 1888 had become a stump {ZDPV. xi. 98).
It may be convenient to mention here some works and articles bearing
on Deuteronomy, which have appeared since the first edition ot the present
Commentary was published in 1895 : the Commentaries of Steuernagel
(in Nowack's series), 1898, and of Bertholet (in Warti's series), 1899;
Deuteronomy in vol. ii. of Addis, The Documents of the Hexateuch (1898),
pp 1-165; Carpenter and Harford-Battersby, The Hexateuch, according
to the Revised Version, arranged in its constituent docunieiits, ivith Intro-
duction, Notes, Marginal References, and Synoptical Tables {\<)oo), esp. i.
85-96, 161-4, 200-7, 222 ff., and ii. 246-302 (the text of the book); H. G.
Mitchell, 7 he Use of the Second Person in Deuteronomy, in JBLit. 1S99,
pp. 61-109 (a consideration of the question whether the varying use of the
sing, and plur. of the 2nd pers. in Deut. is an indication of different
authors. The same distinction had been made the basis of (divergent)
analyses of Deut. by Stark, Das Deut., sein Itihalt und seine literarische
Form, 1894, and by Steuernagel, both in previous studies and in his
Commentary. Steuernagel's theory is criticized by Bertholet in the Theol.
Lit.-zeit. Aug. 19, 1899 ; cf. also Addis, pp. 15-19, and Carpenter, ii.
246 f.); G. L. Robinson in the Expositor, 1898 Oct., Nov., 1899 Feb.,
April, May (seeks to maintain the Mosaic authorship) ; the articles on
Deuteronomy in the Ejicyclop. Biblica, by G. F. Moore, and Hastings'
Diet, of the Bible, by H. E. Ryle, as well as many other articles in these
two works illustrative of the geographical and other antiquities of the
book. Many of the Aramaic and Phcenician Inscriptions referred to in
the notes (see the Index, p. 432) are also now accessible in the selection
contained in G. A. Cooke's excellent Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscrip-
tions ( 1903), with translations and explanatory notes ; see also Lidzbarski's
very valuable Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik, 1898, p. 415 ff.
For the topography of the book, the large Topographical and Physical Map
of Palestine (including the region E. ot Jordan), by J. G. Bartiiolomew and
G. A. Smith (T. & T. Clark), should be consulted.
PRINCIPA L A BE RE VIA TIONS EM PL O YE D.
Beiizini^er . . Benzinger, J., Hebr, Archdolog;ie, 1894.
An eminently readable, ably-written survey of the
antiquities of the Old Testament.
BR. • . . Robinson, Edw., Biblical Researches in Palestine,
&c., ed. 2 (London, 1856).
CIS. , , , Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, Paris, 1881 ff.
Dav. . . . A. B. Davidson, Ilebretv S}'7iiax (V.d\n. 1894).
An excellent work, which may be warmly com-
mended to English Hebraists. It only reached vc.f.
in time to be referred to on c. 29 ff.
DB. or DB.'^ . A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by W. Smith, ed. i
(1863); or ed. 2 (Aaron-Juttah), 1893.
Dr. . . . Driver, S. R., ^ Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in
Hebrew (ed. 3, Oxford, 1892).
Dillm. (or Di.) . UWUnann, Aug., A'umeri, Deuteronomium undJosua,m
the Kuregefasstes Exegetisches Handbuch sum AT.,
1886 (re-written, on the basis of Knobel's Com-
mentary [Knob, or Kn.] in the same series, 1861 i.
Ew. . , . Ewald, H., Lehrbuch der Hebr. Sprache, ed. 7, 1863 ;
ed. 8, 1870.
The Syntax has been translated by J. Kennedy,
Edin. 1 88 1.
G.-K. . • , Wilhelm Gesenius' Hebraische Gramniatik, vollig
umgearbeitet von Ed. Kautzsch, ed. 25, 1889.
The best grammar for ordinary purposes, the
present edition being greatly improved, especially
in the syntax. An English translation (of ed. 26,
1896) was published in 1898 (Clarendon Press).
HWB. or HWB.- Ha?idwurterbuch des Bibl. Altertums, ed. by Edw.
Riehm, ed. i, 1884; or ed. 2, 1893-1894.
Holzinger , . Holz'inger, H., Einleitung tn den Hexateuch, iSg^-
A comprehensive discussion of the problems pre-
sented by the Hexateuch, with a survey of the prin-
cipal solutions that have been offered of them. The
tabular synopses of the literary usages of the various
sources are the most complete, and critical, that
have been hitherto constructed.
XXVI
PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED
JBLit. .
JPh. .
Kleinert
Koa. •
Kuen. .
Lex. .
L.O.T.
NHB. .
Nowack
Oettii .
Ols. .
OTJC or
OTJC:
Journal of Biblical Literature (Mass. U.S.A.).
Journal of Philology (Cambridge and London).
Kleinert, P., Das Deuteronomium und der Deuterono-
tniker, 1872.
Konig, F. E., Historisch-kritisches Lehrgebciude det
Hebr. Sprache, vol. i. 1881 ; vol. ii. 1895; vol. iii. 1897.
Remarkably comprehensive and complete. The
special value of the work consists in the careful dis-
cussion of all difficult or anomalous forms, and the
copious references to other authorities, both ancient
and modern. Vol. i. comprises the "Lautlehre,"
and the " Formenlehre " of verbs; vol. ii. deals
principally with the " Formenlehre" of nouns ; and
contains, both on that and on other subjects {e.g.
p. 207 ff., the order of numerals, classified and
tabulated ; p. 234fF., the usage of advs., preps., and
interjections), an abundance of useful and interest-
ing- information. Vol. iii. contains the syntax.
Kuenen, A., The Hexateuch (Engl, trans, of the
corresponding part of the author's Hist.-crit. inquiry
into the origin of the books of the OT.), 1886.
A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the OT., based on
the Lexicon and Thesaurus of Gesenius, by F.
Brown, C. A. Briggs, and S. R. Driver, Oxford,
1891 ff. (parts i-io, reaching as far as ]"ip, at present
1906.
An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament,
by S. R. Driver (Edinburgh, 1891 ; ed. 5, 1894 ;
ed. 7, 1898).
The references are to the pages of edd. 1-5, which
are indicated in edd. 6 and 7 by figures in heavy
type inserted in square brackets in the text.
Natural History of the Bible, by H. B. Tristram,
ed. 2, London, 1868.
Nowack, W., Lehrbuch der Hebr. Archdologie, 1894.
A manual, similar to that of Benzinger, noted
above, but larger, and offering more explanation
and discussion of the subjects dealt with. Both
these works are valuable aids to the study of the
OT. ; and from the time when they reached me, I
have referred to them frequently.
Oettii, S., Das Deuteronotnium u. die Bb. Josua u.
Richter (in Strack and Zockler's " Kurzgefasster
Kommentar "), 1893.
Less elaborate and complete than the Commentarj
of Dillmann, but sensible, moderate, and critical.
Olshausen, Justus, Lehrbuch der Heb. Sprache, i.
1 86 1. (No syntax.) A masterly work.
The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, by W.
Robertson Smith, ed. i, 1881 ; ed. 2, 1892.
PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED XX VII
FEE. .
PEFQitSl. .
PRE.'^ .
PS. . . .
S. &P.
Schultz
Samuel, Nofes on
(or "on Sam.")
Stade .
ThT. .
Valeton, Siudien
Wellh. Comp.
NZg.* . . . Gesch. dcs Jild. Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, by
Emil Schiirer. 1886, 1890. The pag-es of ed. 2 aie
indicated on the margins of ed. 3 (1898, 1901).
Palestine Exploration Fund.
Quarterly Stuiement of do.
H.erzoef's Keal-Encyklop'ddie fur Protest antischt
Theologie und Kirche, ed. 2, 1877-1888.
Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus.
Sinai and Palestine in con?iection ivi/h their History,
by A. P. Stanley, ed. 1864.
Schultz, F". W. , Das Deuteronomijim erkldrt, 1859.
Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuely
•with an Infroducfioti on Hebrew Palceography and
the Ancient Versions, and Facsimiles of Inscriptions,
by S. R. Driver (Oxford, 1890).
Stade, Bernhard, Lehrbuch der Hebr. Gratninatik, t.
1879. (No syntax.) Very convenient and useful.
Theologisch Tijdschrift (Leiden).
V^aleton, J. J. P., six articles on the contents and
structure of Dt., in the Studien, published in con-
nexion with the Theol. Tijdschrift {"Lexden), v. (1879),
parts 2, 3-4; vt. (1880), parts 2-3, 4; vii. (1881),
parts I, 3.
Wellhausen, J., Die Composition des Hexateuchs und
der historischen Bilcher des AT.s, 1889.
A reprint of the important articles on the com-
position of the Hexateuch, published by the author
to the Jahrb. fit r Deutsche Theologie, 1876, p. 392 ff.,
p. 531 ff., 1877, p. 407 ff. ; and of the matter con-
tributed by him to the 4th edition of Bleek's Ein-
leitung in das AT. (1878), on the composition of
Jud. Sam. and Kings.
Westphal . . Westphal, Al., Les Sources du Pentateuque, Etude de
critique et d'histoire. i. (i888)Leprobl^melitt(^raire;
ii. (1892) Le problime historique.
Extremely well-written, the author often rising
to real eloquence. Vol. i. contains an historical
account of the rise and progress of the critical
study of the Hexateuch ; vol. ii. a comparative
study, literary and historical, of the documents of
which the Hexateuch is composed.
ZATW. • . Zi'itschrift fiir die Alttestamentliche Wissetischaft, ^d.
by B. Stade.
ZDMG. , , Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen GeselU
schaft,
ZDPV. . . Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina-Vereins.
ZKWL. . . Zeitschrift fiir Kirchliche Wissenschaft und Kirch-
liches Leben.
MT. =Massoretic text.
XXVIII PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS EMPLOYED
ffi = the Greek V^ersion of the OT. (the LXX) ; lL = Lucian's recension of
the LXX; © = Onkelos; 5' = the Syriac Version (Peshitto); (21 =
Targum ; H = Vulgate.
AV. = Authorized Version ; RV. = Revised Version.
D = the Deuteronomist ; D^::= Deuteronomic sections of Joshua, or some-
times (as p. Ixxvif.) secondary parts of Deuteronomy; "Deut.,"
attached to citations from Jud. or Kings, indicates that the passages
referred to are the work of the Deuteronomic compilers of the boolis
in question (see p. xci f.).
The signs JE, H, and P — denoting the other Pentateuchal sources — are
explained in the Introduction, p. iii f.
Biblical passages are quoted according to the Hebrew enumeration of
chapters and verses : where this differs in the English (as in Dt. 13.
23. 29) the reference to the latter has been (usually) appended in a
parenthesis ; as Dt. 2316 <15) ; 2869 (29I) ; i Ch. 665 (801 ; Joel 4 (3)5.
The sign f following a series of references, indicates that all examples of
the word or form in question, occurring in the OT., have been quoted.
INTRODUCTION
§ I . Introductory. Outline of Contents,
Deuteronomy, the name of the fifth book of the Pentateuch,
is derived from ro Aein-cpovo/xtov tovto^ the (ungrammatical)
LXX. rendering of nx^n niinn njra in 17I8.* Although, how-
ever, based upon a grammatical error, the name is not an
inappropriate one ; for Deuteronomy (see 28^^ [AV. 29^]) does
embody the terms of a second legislative "covenant," and
includes (by the side of much fresh matter) a repetition of a
large part of the laws contained in what is sometimes called
the " First Legislation" of Exodus. t The period covered by
it is the last month of the wanderings of the Israelites (of. i''
34^). The book consists chiefly of three discourses, purportinj,^
to have been delivered by Moses in the "Steppes" (34^) ol
Moab, setting forth the laws which the Israelites are to obe\ ,
and the spirit in which they are to obey them, when they art-
settled in the land of promise. More particularly the contents
of the Book may be exhibited as follows : —
i'"* Introduction, specifying the place and time at which the following
discourses were delivered.
i*-4** Moses' first, or introductory, discourse, comprising (a) a historical
retrospect, reviewing the principal incidents of the Israelites' journey from
Horeb, and exemplifying the providence which had brought them through
the desert, and past the territory of envious or hostile neighbours to the
* The Heb. words can only mean "a repetition {i.e. copy) of this
law," not " this repetition of the law" (which would require Twn for ^l^i^i^,
besides being inconsistent with the meaning of n:cD). The same mis-
rendering of n:B'D recurs Tos. q' LXX. ( = Heb. 8^-). By the Jews the
book is called, from its onening words, onain hVk, or, more briefly, D'nai
{Debarim).
t Ex. 2o22-23*s. See p. iii ; W. R. Smith, OTJC^ pp. 31S, 340!!.
A
ii INTRODUCTION
border of the Prointsed I.nnd f'*-';®); and (b) the practical conclusion of
the preceding retrospect, vie. an appeal to the nation, reminding it of its
obligations to its Benefactor, and urging it not to forget the great truths
of the spirituality and sole Godhead of Jehovah, impressed upon it at
Horeb (4i-«»).
^41-43 Account of the appointment by Moses of three Cities of refuge in
the trans-Jordanic territory.
^44-49 Superscription to Moses' second discourse, containing the Exposi-
tion of the Law (c. 5-26. 28).
C. 5-26. 28 The Exposition of the Law, the central and principal part
of the book, falling naturally into two parts : (a) c. 5-1 1, consisting of a
hortatory introduction, developing the first commandment of the Deca-
logue, and inculcating the general theocratic principles by which Israel,
as a nation, is to be governed ; (6) c. 12-26. 28, comprising the code of
special laws, which it is the object of the legislator to "expound" (i'),
and encourage Israel to obey.
C. 28, connected closely with 26^', and declaring impressively the bless-
ings and curses which Israel may expect to follow, according as it observes,
or neglects, the Deuteronomic law, forms the peroration of the central
discourse (c. 5-26).
C. 27 Instructions (interrupting the discourse of Moses, and narrated
in the 3rd person) relative to a symbolical acceptance by the nation of the
Deuteronomic Code, after its entrance into Canaan.
29^ (2)-3o2'* Moses' third d\scourse, of the nature of a supplement, insisting
afresh upon the fundamental duty of loyalty to Jehovah, and embracing (i)
an appeal to Israel to accept the terms of the Deuteronomic covenant, with
a renewed warning of the disastrous consequences of a lapse into idolatry
^2gi-28 (2-29)^ , ^2) a promisc of restoration, even after the abandonment
threatened in c. 28, provided the nation then sincerely repents (30^'^") ;
(3) the choice now set before Israel (30""-").
31^"^ Moses' last words of encouragement to the people and Joshua.
2i9-i3 Moses' delivery of the Deuteronomic law to the Levitical priests,
with instructions for it to be read publicly every seven years.
21I4-15. 2) Commission of Joshua by Jehovah.
21I6-22. 24-30 22i-'»3-'" The Song of Moses, with accompanying notices.
22«-47 Moses' final commendation of the Deuteronomic law to Israel.
32''8-34i2 Conclusion of the whole book, containing the Blessing of
Moses (c. 23)t ^nd narrating the circumstances of his death.
The legislation of Dt., properly so called, is thus included
in c. 12-26, to which c. 5-1 1 form an introduction, and c. 28
a conclusion. Even here, however, not less than in every
other part of his discourses, the author's aim is still essentially
pareneiic) he does not merely collect, or repeat, a series of
laws; he "expounds" them (i^), i.e. he develops them with
reference to the moral purposes which they subserve, and
the motives by which the Israelite should feel prompted to
OUTLINE OF CONTENTS 111
obey them. In Dt. itself, the expression this law frequently
occurs, denoting either the Code of laws, of which it is the
"exposition" (i*, with the note), or (more usually) the exposi-
tion itself (i5 48 (cf. v.") 17IS.19 273-8.26 2858-61 2928(29)
319.11.12.243246; cf, tJiis book of the law 2920(21) 30IO 3126; so
Jos. 18). That t*iis expression refers to Dt , and not to the
entire Pent., appears (i) from the wording- of i^ 4^- ^*, which
points to a law on the point of being set forth ; (2) from the
parallel expressions this co77ima7idment, these statutes, these
judgments^ which are often spoken of as inculcated to-day (7^2
[see v.i^] 155 19^ 26^6 30II).
§ 2. Relation of Deuteronomy to the preceding Books of the
Pentateuch.
In order to gain a right estimate of Deuteronomy, it is
necessary to compare it carefully with the books of Genesis to
Numbers, upon which, in its legislative and historical parts
alike, it is largely based. In conducting this comparison, it
must be borne in mind that these books are not homogeneous,
but are composed of distinct documents, each marked by
definite literary and other features, peculiar to itself. Of these
documents, one bears a prophetical character, and, showing
itself marks of being in turn composed of two sources, in one
of which the nsime. fehovah is preferred, while the other uses
generally Elohim, is commonly denoted by the symbol JE ; the
other bears a priestly character, and may be referred to
accordingly by the letter P.* Each of these documents con-
sists in part of laws, which fall into three groups or Codes,
differing considerably from each other in character and scope.
The first of these Codes is that contained in JE, viz. Ex.
20-23, comprising the Decalogue (Ex. 2oi-i'''), and the laws in
Ex. 2022-2333 — commonly known as the "Book of the
Covenant " (see Ex. 24^) — consisting chiefly of civil enact-
ments, designed for the use of a community living under
simple conditions of society, but partly also of rudimentary
* See more fully the writer's Introduction to the Literature of the Old
Testament (cited afterwards as L.O.T.), pp. 6-8, 11-12, 109 ff., iiSfil
IV
INTRODUCTION
religious regulations (2o22-2« 2 2i7- i^ds- 20). 28-30(29-31) 23IO-10), to
which must be added the repetition of many of the latter
enactments in Ex. t,^^^'^^, and the kindred regulations (on the
Feast of Unleavened Cakes, and the Dedication of the First-
born) in Ex, 13^-'^, The second Code consists of the laws
contained in P, and relating' in particular to the sacrificial
system, and other ceremonial institutions of the Hebrews ;
these occupy the greater part of Ex. 25-31. 35-40. Lev. 1-16. 27.
Nu. i^-io28. 15. i8-ig. 25^'>-36, now frequently termed, from
the predominant character of its contents, the " Priests'
Code." The ^/ii'rd Code, also now incorporated in P, but
once distinct from it, and marked by many special features of
its own, is the group of laws — partly moral (c. 18. 19 (largely).
20), partly ceremonial — contained in Lev. 17-26, often called
by modern scholars (from the principle which it strives mainly
to enforce) the " Law of Holiness," and denoted for brevity
by the symbol H.*
It will be convenient to consider first the legislative parts
of Dt. The following synopsis will show immediately which
of the laws in Dt. relate to subjects not dealt with in the other
Codes, and which are parallel to provisions there contained.
SYNOPSIS OF LAWS IN DEUTERONOMY.
JE.
Deuteronomy.
P (including H).
Ex. 202-"
202**
g6-i8 (21) The Decalogue
12^'^ (place of sacrifice)
Lev. lyi-a*
cf. 23-^ 3412- '"•
J229-S1 ^piqj ^q imitate Canaanite
Nu. 33»2
Cf. 22l»<»»
rites)
c. 13 (cases of seduction
to
2230 (SI)
2319b 3426b
idolatry)
14^'^ (disfigurement in mourning)
14^"-" (clean and unclean animals)
14-'" (food improperly killed)
14-''' (kid in mother's milk)
i4"-^-29 (tithes)
Lev. 19^**
„ 171* ii«
„ 2730-33 Nu.
,821-S2»
2310...
15^"^' (year of Release)
.. 25^-'*
L.O.T. pp. 43-55, 141-144.
RELATION OF DT. TO CODES OF JE, H, AND P
IE.
Deuteronomy.
P (including H).
Ex. 2i2-"*
1 5.12-18 (Hebrew slaves)
Lev.
2cS9-46«
2229(30) 1312^^19
,^19-23 (firstling-s of ox and sheep :
Nu.
i8'"-* (cf. Ex.
cf. i2«-»^-i8 1423)
i3"-Lev.272«
Nu. 3'3 8i-)
2,14-17 ,.18. 20 end.
16''^ (the three annual Pilgrim-
Lev.
23* Nu, iS-
22-24
ages)
16" (appointment of judges)
29*
2,1-3. •-8
J519-20 (just judgment)
II
i9«
J521-22 (Ash^rahs and "pillars"
II
261
prohibited)
17^ (sacrifices to be without
II
2217-24
blemish : cf. 15-')
2219(20)20^23'=' 341^
17-"^ (worship of "other gods,"
or of the host of heaven)
,y8-i3 (supreme tribunal)
i7"-20(lawof the king)
i8''^ (rights and revenues of the
11
f2-:'i* Nu
tribe of Levi)
,81-7.8-20.
1 89-22 (law of the prophet)
i8i»» (Molech-worship : cf. 12=")
II
iS-' 202-0
2217(18) (sorceress
igiob-u (different kinds of divina-
II
,g>l,.3i2o^-27
aloHp)
tion and magic)
2jl2-U«
19^-^ (asylum for manslayer :
Nu.
359-3^ Lev.
murder)
2417. 21
ig^* (the landmark)
23»
jgis-21 (law of witness)
c. 20 (military service and war :
cf. 246)
3i'"9 (expiation of an untraced
murder)
21IO-14 (treatment of female cap-
tives)
2 J 15-17 (primogeniture)
Lev.
,gir.b
Cf. 2I»"
2 J 18-21 (undutiful son)
2i22-23 (body of malefactor)
cf. L
ev. 20"
23«
22^"* (animals straying or fallen :
lost property)
22" (sexes not to interchange
garments)
22^-^ (bird's nest)
22^ (battlement)
22^-" (against non-natural mix-
Lev.
19"
tures)
2212 (law of "tassels")
Nu.
J5S7.41
VI
INTRODUCTION
JE.
Deuteronomy.
P (iNCLUDiNG H).
22I3-21 (slander against a newly-
married maiden)
Ex. 20!"
2222-27 (adultery)
Lev. 1 820 20I0
j,2l6(16)'-
22-^'- (seduction)
23^(22^") (incest with stepmother)
,. 18° 2oi»
23'J-9(i-8) (conditions of admittance
into the theocratic com-
munity)
23I0-IB (9-u) (cleanliness in the
Nu. s'-**
camp)
23i6(i5)f. (humanity to escaped
slave)
23^8 (i7)f. (against religious prosti-
tution)
22'*<»»
2320(18)'. (usury)
Lev. 25'»-"
2322-24(21-23) (vows)
Nu. 30^
2325 (34)f. (regard for neighbour's
crops)
24I"' (divorce)
^228 '26)«.
246. 10-13 (pledges)
2jl«
24^ (man-stealing)
24^^- (leprosy)
Lev. 13-U
24i**" (wages of hired servant not
II 19"
to be detained)
24!^ (the family of a criminal not
to suffer with him)
2220-23 (21-:M) 239
241"- (justice towards stranger,
widow, and orphan)
II i9'3'-
2^19-23 (gleanings)
„ 19*" 2323
25!'^ (moderation in infliction of
the bastinado)
25* (threshing ox not to be
muzzled)
25'''io (levirate-marriage)
25ii'i2 (modesty in women)
25I3-18 (just weights)
II ig^*-
17"
2c"-i» ('Amalek !)
Cf. 2228a (»») 2319*
26I"" (thanksgiving at the offer-
cf. Nu. iSi"-
34'*^
ing of firstfruits)
2613-15 (thanksgiving at the pay-
ment of the triennial tithe)
2320.»
c. 28 (peroration, presenting
motives for the observance
of the Code)
Lev. 263-«
RELATION OF DT. TO CODES OF JE, H, AND P Vll
JE.
Deuteronomy.
P (including H).
Ex. 20*-23 34"
4I6-18. 23 y28 (against images)
Lev. 19*" 2&
2313b
S''"' (philanthropic object of
Sabbath)
cf. la'-i*
6^ n^* (law of frontlets)
20' 23" 34"
514 , J 16 (against "other gods ")
.. 19**
13"
6^'- (instruction to children)
2324*. 32f. 3,12, 15f.
^2-4. 16 (pQ compact with Canaan-
ites)
Nu. 33»
2324b 3^13
7^ 1 2^(Canaanite altars, " pillars "
&c. to be destroyed)
-- 33'*'
19* 22^® P°)
7« 142-21 2618 289 (Israel a "holy
Lev. ii^*- 19a 2o''
people ") (in different con-
2« Nu. i5«
nexions)
2220(21) 23«
lo^' (to love the " stranger")
M 19**
J2I6. 23 1^23 (blood not to be eaten)
„ I7l»-"l926a(cf.
3I7 726«. Gn.
9^)
2318a 3426.
16^ (leavened bread not to be
eaten with Passover)
Ex. 12^
1 3"'- 23" 34^'
j53b.4a. 8 (unleavened cakes for
„ 12I5. 18-20 Lev,
seven days afterwards)
236
23181. 3425b
iS**" (flesh of Passover not to
remain till morning)
•• 12I" Nu. 9I2
1 61'- 1' (feast of " booths " ; " seven
Lev. 2334- 39. •u-*3
days ")
17' 19I* ("two or three wit-
Nu. 35«>
nesses ")
2I»-»
1921 [lex talionis) (but in a differ-
ent application in each case)
Lev. 24^"-
20»
27*'* (altars of unhewn stones)
There are also in Ex. 20-23 and Lev. 17-26 prohibitions corresponding
to most of the imprecations in 2"]^^'-^; see the Table, p. 299.*
The passages should in all cases be examined individually ;
for sometimes, especially in the case of those cited from P, the
parallelism extends only to the subject-matter, the details
being different, or even actually discrepant. The instances in
which the divergence is most marked are indicated by an
asterisk (*) ; for a discussion of the differences the reader is
referred to the Commentary.
* On the principle, so far as it is systematic, on which the laws in
c. 12-26 are arranged, see p. 135 f.
viil INTRODUCTION
A detailed study of these parallels leads at once to an im-
portant result : it makes it apparent, viz. that the legislation
of Dt. is differently related to each of the three other Codes.
(i) The laws of JEyb?7« the foundation of the Deuteronomic
legislation. This is evident as well from the numerous verbal
coincidences,* as from the fact, which is plain from the left-
hand column, that nearly the whole ground covered by Ex.
2022-23^3 is included in it, almost the only exception being the
special compensations to be paid for various injuries (Ex. 2X^^-
2216(15)^^ which would be less necessary in a manual intended
for the people.! In a few cases the entire law is repeated
verbatim,X or nearly so; § elsewhere only particular clauses : ||
in other cases the older law is expanded, fresh definitions
being added, or its principle extended, or parenetic comments
attached, or the law is virtually recast in the Deuteronomic
phraseology.
Thus c. 13 and 17^"' may be regfarded as expansions, with reference to
particular cases, of the law against idolatry in Ex. 22^^ W; 15'* a new
institution is attached to the fallow seventh year of Ex. 23^'"'; 1512-18 ^^jjg
law of slavery) is based upon Ex. 21^'^, but with considerable modifications,
and with parenetic additions (v.^''^'* ^*) ; 15I9-23 (firstlings) specializes, and
at the same time modifies, Ex. 13^"* 22^ W 34^* ; i6^'^'^ (the three Pilgrim-
ages) expands Ex. 23^*"^^ ^ _ ^^.is. 20b. 22-25^^ jjy jj^g addition of regulations
partly new, partly derived from Ex. i^-^, and of parenetic comments;
i6'*'" (just judgment) partly repeats, partly expands, Ex. z^^-^; iS^"**
(against divination and sorcery) extends the principle of Ex. 22^' f^"'
(sorceress alone) to analogous cases ; 19^"'* (asylum for manslaughter ;
and murder) is a new and extended application of the principles laid down
* Specimens may be seen transcribed in the notes on 1512. 16-17 i63-*. ». 10.
IS. U. 16 22^"^.
t The other exceptions are Ex. 2o'»'- 22^(»)-^('^)\
X " Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk" (14^1''= Ex. 23"* =
Ex. 3426»>).
§ 7* But thus shall ye do to them : Ex. 34^^ But
their altars ye shall pull down, and their altars ye shall pull down, and
their obelisks ye shall break in pieces, their obelisks ye shall break in pieces,
and their Asln^rahs ye shall hew and their AsMrahs ye shall cut
down, and their graven images ye down,
shall burn with fire (cf. 12^).
See also i6*-8-'6-i9 2519b (pp. ix, 192, 194, 198, 288).
II E.g. 6* (" for a sign upon thine hand, and ... for frontlets between thine
eyes ") ; 7- (" thou shalt not make a covenant with them " : see Ex. 23^^^) ;
also 15^2 ^«-'' i6*-'» 22I-* (pp. i8i f., 192, 196, 249).
REI.ATION OF DT. TO LAWS OF JE IX
in Ex. 2i"""; ig'^-^i (the law of witness) of those of Ex. 23' 21^; 22^*'
while agreeing substantially with Ex. 23* (a lost ox or ass to be restored
to its owner), extends in v.'^* "'' the principle of the older law to cases of
other lost property ; 22-'"^ (seduction) defines with greater precision (v.'-^'-)
the law of Ex. 22^"' <""■', and adds provisions (v.^^'^) for two other cases of
the same crime ; 23^'- (interest) accentuates, and impresses with a new
motive, Ex. 22^ W, as 24"- '"'^^ (pledges) does similarly for Ex. 22^'- 1^'-);
the general regard for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, incul-
cated in Ex. 22^"^ P'"-^', determines in Dt. the form of an entire series of
philanthropic regulations (i6"-" 2417- 19. 20. 21 2612.13 2719; cf. lo^*).
The style of the Book of the Covenant is concise, the laws being usually
formulated in as few words as possible, and parenetic additions being
rare (2220b- 22-23b. 26b (2ib.23-24b. 27b) 238). In Dt., on the other hand, even
where the substance is the same, the law is usually expanded ; and the
parenetic element is considerable.
The following parallels will illustrate the manner in which a thought,
or command, expressed briefly in Ex., is expanded in Dt. : —
7^* Blessed shalt thou be above all
peoples : there shalt not be in thee Ex. 23^ There shall not be a
male or female barren, or in thy female casting her young, or barren,
cattle. ^' And Jehovah will remove in thy land. Ex. 15'^" If thou
from thee all sickness; and mom« of hearkenest &c none of the
the evil diseases of Egypt, which sicknesses, which I have laid upon
thou knowest, ■will he lay upon thee, the Egyptians, wiV/ I lav upon thee.
but he will put them upon all them
that hate thee. "« And thou shalt Ex. 2f^ They shall
devour all the peoples which Jehovah not dwell in thy land, lest they make
thy God is giving to thee ; thine thee sin against me ;
eye shall not pity them ; neither for thou
shalt thou serve their gods, for that -wilt (then) serve their gods, for it
(will be) a snare to thee. will be a snare to thee.
16^* Thou shalt not -wrest judg- Ex. 23® Thou shall not -wrest the
m.ent : thou shalt not acknowledge judgment of thy poor in his cause,
persons : thou shalt not take a bribe ; ^ And a bribe thou shalt not take ;
for a bribe blindeth the eyes of the for a bribe blindeth the open-eyed,
wise, and subverteth the cause of the and subverteth the cause of the just,
just. *• Justice, justice shalt thou
pursue ; that thou mayest live, and
inherit the land which Jehovah thy
God is giving thee.
In these additions, the strongly-marked Deuteronomic style (§ 5) is
nearly always observable (on \&^^, cf. also p. xxxiii, note\
In some cases the law of Ex. is so modified in Dt. as to
necessitate the conclusion (p. xxxviii) that in its Deuteronomic
form it springs from a considerably later, and more developed,
state of society; but these modifications do not affect the
X INTRODUCTION
truth of the general position that the legislation of Dt. is
essentiaWy based upon that of JE in Exodus. Dt. 5-1 1 is a
parenetic expansion of the First Commandment of the
Decalogue ; Dt. 12-26 is an enlarged edition of the ** Book of
the Covenant" (Ex. 2022-2333), and the kindred laws in Ex.
i^s-ie 3410-26^ characterized by a considerable increase in the
parenetic element, and containing many new civil and social
enactments, designed (like the modifications just noted) to
provide for cases likely to arise in a more complex and highly-
organized community than is contemplated in the legislation
of JE in Exodus.
(2) In the right-hand column, the great majority of
parallels are with the *' Law of Holiness."* If the cases are
examined individually, it will be found that they are less
systematic and complete than those with JE, and that in
particular, even where the substance is similar, the expression
is nearly always different, and is decidedly less marked than
in the case of the parallels with JE (where the nucleus of the
law, however much expanded in Dt., is often to be found
verbatim in Exodus).
The following^ are specimens : the resemblances, It will be observed,
never extend beyond one or two common terms, which so belong to the
subject-matter of the law, that their occurrence in both could hardly be
avoided : —
Dt. 14^ Sons are ye to Jehovah Lev. ig*® And lacerations for a
your God : ye shall not cut your- (dead) soul ye shall not make in
selves, nor put baldness between your flesh ; neither shall ye make
your eyes, for the dead. tattooings in you : I am Jehovah.
16^® Thou shalt not wrest judg- 19I* Ye shall not do unrighteous-
wen/: thou shalt not acknowledge ness in judgment; thou shalt not
(TDn) persons : thou shalt not take a accept (Nrn) the person of the poor,
bribe ; for a bribe blindeth the eyes nor honour the person of the great :
of the wise, and subverteth the
cause of the just [see Ex. 23^].
"^^ Justice, justice shalt thou pursue ; injustice shalt thou judge thy fellow-
that thou mayest live, and inherit kinsman (in'oy).
the land which Jehovah thy God is
giving thee.
24'* When thou reapest thine har- 19' And when ye reap the harvest
vest in the field, and forgettest a of your land, thou shalt not wholly
* Which includes, not only the greater part of Lev. 17-26, but also,
probably. Lev. ii*-23 Nu. i^"'*^ SS"''"**'- {L.O.T. p. 54).
RELATION OF DT. TO LAWS OF H XI
sheaf in the Jield, thou shalt not reap the comer of thy _/ff/<f; neithet
return to take it : it shall be for the shalt thou pick up the pickings of
strang-er, for the fatherless, and for thine harvest (ap'^n vh iTsp op"?!),
the widow ; that Jehovah thy God
may bless thee in all the work of
thy hands. ^ When thou beatest
thine oli\ e-tree, thou shalt not do the
boughs (again) after thee : it shall
be for the stranger, for the father-
less, and for the widow. "^ When
thou gatherest thy vineyard, thou w And thy vineyard thou shalt not
shalt not glean (VVivn) it after thee: glean (ySvjn) ; neither shalt thou pick
it shall be for the stranger, for the up the fallings of thy vineyard (tSTBl
fatherless, and for the widow, ep'jn n'? -;d-id) ; thou shalt leave them
" And thou shalt remember that for the poor, and for the stranger :
thou wast a bondman in the land of \ am Jehovah thy God.
Egypt [5'' 15*^ 16'^^ 24^^]; therefore
I command thee to do this thing
[v. 18; cf. 15"].
See also Dt. 22^'ii and Lev. 19^^, transcribed on p. 252,
It follows that the leg-islation of Dt. cannot be said to be
based upon this Code, or connected with it organically, as it
is with the code of JE : the laws of Dt. and H are frequently
parallel in substance, they must therefore be derived ultimately
from some common source, but they are formulated without
reference to each other. There is only one exception to what
has been stated, viz. the law of clean and unclean animals in
Dt. 143-20, which presents undoubtedly, in the main (see
pp. 157-159), a remarkable verbal parallel with Lev. 112-23
(if this be referred rightly to H, rather than to P) : the section,
it is plain, must have been derived directly either from H, or
from an older collection of priestly Toroth (pp. 208, 275, 401 f.),
the immediate source (in this case) of both H and Dt.
(3) With the other parts of Ex.-Nu., the " Priests' Code"
properly so called, the parallelism of Dt. is both much less
frequent, and (where it is present) much less complete, even
than with the ** Law of Holiness." There are no verbal
parallels between Dt. and P ; much that is of central signifi-
cance in the system of P is ignored in Dt., while in the laws
which touch common ground, great, and indeed irreconcilable,
discrepancies often display themselves : hence the legislation
xii INTRODUCTION
of P cannot be considered in any degree to have been one of
the sources employed by the author of Dt.
Several of the institutions, or observances, codified in P
are, it is true, mentioned in Dt. ; but the allusions are of a
kind resembling those in JE and other early Heb. writers : *
they seldom, if ever, presuppose the distinctive regulations of
P, or, in the light of the silence, or contradiction, observable in
other cases, are such as to establish the writer's use of P, as
we now have it. The following are the instances which
should be noted : —
Aaron, the founder of a hereditary priesthood (lo^) ; burnt- and peace-
offerings (i2«-"-i'-i<-27 i8' 27«-7: so Ex. 20^ 24^ i S. IO^ and constantly in
the eariy historical books), with a brief notice of the ritual accompanying
them {xz" : see note); tithes (i2«-"-i' i^^-"^ 26^*: Am. 4*); " heave "-
offerings ( 1 2« [see note] "•!'': ? 2 S. i^i) ; vows {128- "• i7-2« 2319-22-24 (is. 21-23) .
2 S. \^-^al.); free-will offerings (12*- '^ 16'"; ? 232* : Am. 4^); sanctity of
firstlings (i2''-i' 142=* 1519; Ex. 2229(30)); and of firstfruits (18* 262- »»: Ex.
23^9); the distinction of "clean" and "unclean," in persons (i2i''* 22 1522;
I S. ao-**), in food (i4^"2'': Gn. 72 [JE] Jud. 13* Hos. 9^), produced by par-
ticular causes (2i23 [Nu. 353*], 23" <"»'• [Lev. 15'"], 24'' [Lev. i8-» Nu. ^%
26" [Nu. ig'i-'*: Hos. 9^]); the prohibition to eat blood (i223: i S. h^^'-) ;
and to eat nebeldh, the flesh of an animal dying of itself {1421); holy, or
dedicated, things (122^ [see note], 26'^); animals offered in sacrifice to be
without blemish (152^ 17') ; the 'asdreth or " solemn assembly " (16* : cf. Am.
52^ Is. i'*; and see note); priestly rights of the tribe of Levi (18^"* a/.);
" fire-sacrifices " (18': i S. 22^); the "avenger of blood" (i9®"i2. 2 S.
14") ; the atoning efficacy of a sacrificial rite, though not of one prescribed
in P (2i^''t : cf. I S. 3''* Is. 22''*) ; a torah for leprosy (24^).
Notice also the expressions, to hold (ntry) the sabbath (5" : so Ex.
31^^ H), or a feast (16' [see note] ^''- '^) ; to do {^^^\ in a sacrificial sense
(12*^ : I K. 8''* 2 K. io2^) ; to profane ('?'j'n) or treat as common, a. vineyard,
of first enjoying its fruit (20^ 28™: so Jer. 31* ; the word, however, is not
found, in this application, in P or H, but cf. the opp. holy in Lev. 19-'' H) ;
to be forfeited, lit. to become holy (22* : Lev. 2-]^*'- 21 ; but cf. in JE Jos. 6^^) .
24^ nJ;^^■■' Va ; 25^^ '7iy nry to do unrighteousness (an unusual phrase : see
note): imacD noc to keep his charge (ii^), hdnSd n-a)j to do work (16*), and
utterance of the lips (232^(23))^ ^pg jggg distinctive (see notes). Perhaps also
Dillm. is right (pp. 605, 608 f.) in seeing in 122^ ("to eat the soul with the
flesh), 14I ("cut yourselves," and "for the dead"), 14* ("abomination"),
1 4'*'" 1* ("unclean "), 1 6^- "(" in the evening," — P "between the two even-
ings "), explanations of more technical priestly terms.
• See L.O.T. p. 135^
t In 21^* (see note ; also p. 425 f.), 32^^ the subject of isa ("clear") is
not (as in P) the priest (annulling the sin by means of an atoning rite) but
Jehovah : hence a sacrificial rite is not here denoted by the term.
RELATION OF DT. TO LAWS OF P Xlll
On the other side, there must be remembered the serious
contradictions between many of these provisions (especially
those relating to the position and privileges of the priestly
tribe), and the regulations of P (p. xxxix), and the complete
silence of Dt. respecting some of the principles and institutions,
which are of fundamental importance in the system of P.
The "Tent of Meeting," with its appurtenances, which figures
so largely in P (Ex. 25-31. 35-40, — together with many
allusions elsewhere) ; the distinction between the priests, the
sons of Aaron, and the common " Levites," so often and
emphatically insisted on in the same source ; the Levitical
cities, and the year of Jubile ; the elaborately developed
sacrificial system of P ; the meal-oflfering (nn:G), the guilt-
offering (dC'S), and especially the sin-offering (riMon) — all
these are never mentioned in Dt. : * the atoning efiicacy of
sacrifice, on which such stress is laid in the sacrificial laws of
P, is alluded to Oftce in Dt. (21^^ t), and that in a law for
which which there is in P no parallel ; the great Day of
Atonement (Lev. 16), in which the Levitical system of sacrifice
and purification (Lev. 1-15) culminates, is in Dt. passed by
in silence. Of course, in a discourse addressed to the people,
and representing the prophetical and spiritual, rather than
the priestly and ceremonial point of view, detailed references to
such institutions, or a repetition of the directions for their
observance, would not be expected : but, even if the document
describing them existed at the time when Dt. was written,
— a question with which we are not here concerned, — it is
clear that the writer did not attach any great importance to it,
or treat it practically as one of his sources. Had he so treated
it, and especially if it had possessed in his eyes a recognized
authority and importance, it is incredible that his references
* The Tent of Meeting is mentioned in Dt. 3i'^'*, but in a passage
belonging not to D, but to JE (p. 337 f.). Nor, even there, does it appear as
the centre of a great sacrificial organization. The non-mention of the sin-
offering beside the burnt- and peace-offering in 12^-*^ is very remarkable.
(That it is not included in the term eebah, " sacrifice," is clear from 12^'' ;
cf. on V.'.) It is also singular that Jordan, P's very common, and most
g^eneral term for offering (including sacrifices), never occurs in Dt.
t On 21* 32**, see p. xii, note.
Xiv INTRODUCTION
to it should not have been more systematic and exact. As it
is, he moves on, without displaying the smallest concern or
regard for the system of P : such institutions of P as he refers
to are mentioned almost incidentally, without any sense of
the significance attaching to them in the system of which they
form part ; and many of P's most characteristic and funda-
mental institutions, if they are not contradicted in Dt., are
simply ignored in it. There can be no doubt that the author
of Dt. was acquainted with priestly laws and institutions ;
but the nature of his allusions shows that his knowledge of
them was derived, not from the systematic exposition of them
contained in P, but from his practical acquaintance with the
form in which they were operative in Israel in his own day ;
and this in many particulars differed materially from the regu-
lations laid down in P.*
The different relation in which Dt. thus stands to the three
Codes of JE, H, and P, may be described generally as follows :
it is an expansion of the laws in JE (Ex. 20-^-23^^ ^^^'^^ 13^"^^) ;
it is, in several features, parallel to the Law of Holiness ; it
contains allusions to laws — not, indeed, always the same as,
but — similar to the ceremonial institutions and observances
codified in the rest of P.f
The dependence of Dt. upon JE, on the one hand, and its
/^dependence of P, on the other, which is thus established for
the legislative sections of the book, is maintained, in exactly
the same manner, through the historical sections. Dt. con-
tains two retrospects of the earlier stages of the Israelites'
wanderings, one (I'^-s^^) embracing the period from their
departure from Horeb to their arrival in the land of Moab ;
the other (9^-10^^), the episode of the Golden Calf, and the
* In 24*, it may be observed, the reference is not to any ii'vitten regula-
tions on leprosy, but to the oral — though authorized (D'n'ii; ityxa : p. 275)
— "direction" of the priests. (Of course, the ceremonial usages alluded
to by D must not be imagined to be the only ones current in his day.)
t The real explanation of this apparently anomalous peculiarity in
the relation of Dt. to the preceding books of the Pent. — its dependence
upon one set of passages, while it ignores another — is of course to be
found in the fact that, at the time when Dt. was composed, the two sets of
passages (JE and P) were not yet combined into a single -work, and the
author only made use of JE.
RELATION OF DT. TO NARRATIVE OF JE XV
events immediately following it (Ex. 32-34) ; there are also
several incidental allusions to other occurrences narrated in
Gn.-Nu. In the retrospects, the narrative of Ex. Nu. is
followed step by step, and clauses, or sometimes entire verses,
are transcribed from it verbatim, placing beyond the possibility
of doubt the use by the writer of the earlier narrative of the
Pent. All the passages thus followed, or transcribed, belong
to parts of Ex. Nu. which are referred (upon independent
grounds) to JE; even where (as is sometimes the case) JE
and P cross each other repeatedly in the course of a few
verses, the retrospect in Dt. follows uniformly the parts
belonging to JE, and avoids those belonging to P.* The case
is similar with the other historical allusions in Dt.
Of these the principal are —
I* (and frequently) the oath to the patri- Gn. 15^' 22^"* 24^ 26'
archs
4MBa'al Pe'or) Nu. 251-0
^loff. ^2ff. ,816 (delivery of Decalog:ue &c.) Ex. 193-20^1
6^^(Massah) Ex. 17^
6^^'* and elsewhere (deliverance from Egypt) Ex. 13^* 14^
83-'«(the manna) Ex. \6*-^
8^" (fiery serpents ; and rock (lis) of flint) Nu. 21® and Ex. ly^t
922(Taberah, Massah, Kibroth-hatti'ivah) Nu. ii^-^ Ex. if Nu. ii="
1 1* (passage of the Red Sea) Ex. 14^
1 1« (Dathan and Abiram) Nu. i6i''- ^^b. so. 32,
23»'-(«-) (Balaam) Nu. 22^-2425
24^ (Miriam's leprosy) Nu. 12^'*
25^'''' (opposition of 'Amalek) Ex. lyS-"
26'-* (affliction and deliverance from Ex. i*'"3'''&c.
Egypt)
292a (23) (Qyg^hrow of Sodom and Go- Gn. 19'^'
morrha)
Notice also the use of the name Horeb (not Sinai), !-• ^' '* ^''' " 5' 9^ iS^*
* The Tables in the notes (pp. 10, 19, 24, 29, 33, 42, 46, 51, 112), and
the extracts printed on pp. ii3f., 117, will, it is hoped, assist the reader
to appreciate the manner in which the retrospects of Dt. are dependent
upon JE in Ex. Nu. In order properly to realize the nature and extent of
the coincidences, he should mark in the margin of his copy of Dt. the
references, and underline (or, if he uses the Hebrew text, overVxne.) the
words in common : he will then be able to see at a glance both the
passages of Ex. Nu. passed over in Dt., and the variations and additions
in Dt. On a clause in i-*^, which has been supposed to be an exception to
the statement in the text, see the note ad loc.
t In Nu. 20*'^^ (P) the term for " rock " is i'^c, not nix.
Xvi INTRODUCTION
28*® (29'), as Ex. 3* 17" 33' (E) ; i^ the valley of Eshcol as the limit of the
spies' reconnoitring ; i^ the exemption of Caleb alone (without Joshua,
who is not mentioned as one of the spies) from the sentence passed on the
spies; ii** the name Terebinths of Moreh (Gn. 12'). The numerous
passages referred to by the words As Jehovah spake (p. Ixxxi), where
they are not earlier passages of Dt. itself, are also regularly to be found
in JE, not in P. (That 18*^ cannot refer to Nu. 18^ is shown on 10*.
The reference is occasionally to a passage not preserved in our existing
Pent. : cf. lo®** 17^* 28^^) On 33*'*, see the notes adloc.
Of the incidents here enumerated, all are narrated in JE ;
while in the case of some which are narrated in P as well, the
terms of the allusion in Dt. are such as to show that the
Writer followed JE, and not P. Thus, while the promise of
18 is found in both JE and P, the oath is peculiar to JE ; the
name Horeh is used by E, but not by P (who always prefers
Sinai) ; the spies, as in JE (Nu. i3^^*^'), journey only as far as
Eshcol (near Hebron), whereas in P (Nu. 1321) they go as far
as Re^ob (in the extreme north of Canaan) ; the exemption of
Caleb alone (i^*') agrees with the representation of JE (Nu.
1424) against that of P (Nu. 146.30.38^^ where Joshua is men-
tioned at the same time ; the mention of Dathan and Abiram
(without Korah) is in agreement with JE's narrative in Nu. 16,
which also names Dathan and Abiram only (the passages
which speak of Korab belonging to P). There are only three
facts mentioned in Dt. for which no parallel is to be found in
JE: 1 23 the number (twelve) of the spies (Nu. 132-16P); 1022
the number of souls (seventy) with which Jacob came down into
Egypt (Gn. 462^ Ex. i^ P) ; and lo^ acacia- wood as the material
of the Ark (Ex. 25!'* P). These coincidences, however, in view
of the constancy with which the historical parts of Dt. are
dependent upon JE, are not sufficient to establish the use of
P : the three facts mentioned would not be invented by P,
but would be elements of tradition, which though they happen
to be recorded (apart from Dt.) only by P, would naturally be
known independently to the Writer of Dt. And as regards
Dt. lo^, in particular, a comparison of Dt. lo^-^ with Ex.
24I. 2. 4 makes it highly probable that the latter passage, at
the time when Dt. was composed, still cont-ained a notice ol
the ark of acacia-wood (see p. ii'ji.).*
• lo"'" the names are (substantially) the same as those in P's itinerary,
RELATION OF DT. TO NARRATIVES OF JE AND P XVll
The author's method in treating the history of JE is
analogous to that followed by him in dealing with the laws.
His references to it have mostly a didactic aim : hence they are
accompanied usually by parenetic comments, designed to bring
home to the Israelite reader the theocratic significance of
the history, and to arouse in him emotions of becoming grati-
tude towards the divine Leader and Benefactor of his nation.
Of the two retrospects, the first illustrates Jehovah's goodness
in bringing Israel safely from Egypt to the borders of the
Promised Land ; the second exemplifies His forbearance and
mercy in restoring it to favour after the sin of the Golden
Calf. Accordingly, while numerous passages, longer or
shorter, as the case may be, are incorporated verbatim, as a
rule the substance of the earlier narrative is reproduced freely,
with amplificatory additions calculated (in most cases) to
suggest to the reader the lessons which the author desired it
to teach.* Of this kind are the comments, summaries, or
short speeches (such as i^-s- is. 20. 21. 27. 29-33. 43a. 45 27. 24-25. 30b. 31.
33. 3G-37 ^sa- 4-7^^ which havc the effect in different ways of calling
attention to Jehovah's purposes, or dealings, with Israel, and
to the manner in which Israel responded to them. But in
other cases the additions are of a more substantial character,
and mention incidents of some interest or importance, not
noticed in the narrative of JE. Thus (including two or three
from other parts of Dt.) we find of the latter kind —
j9-]3 (^]^oses sug-g-ests the appointment of assistant judges) ; ii^-i^
(Moses* counsel to tlie judges) ; i^ (the proposal to send out spies
emanates from the people) ; i-''^ (Moses punished for the people's fault ; so
3^^ 4"0 ; 2^'^'*"^*'^^ (Israel forbidden to make war with Edom, Moab, and
Nu. 33"'*^ ; but they are mentioned in a different order, and the form of
the itinerary differs from that of P (see the notes) : hence the notice (from
whatever source it may have been taken) will certainly not have been
derived from P. In \i*-^ host {^^n), horses and chariots, and pursued after
them, are points of contact with P's narrative of the passage of the Red
Sea in Ex. 14 (see v.''-»-i^-i8''--'b-28a) . comp. 16^ trepidation (Ex. 12"), 26*
hard bondage (see note), 26** stretched out arm (Ex. 6'' : cf. on 4**), to be to
thee for a God (26''' 29'-'^^') and to be to Jehovah for a people (27® ; see on
2(p- 18)^ and the words from c. 4, cited on p. Ixxi : but it may be questioned
whether these expressions are not too isolated, and too little distinctive,
to establish dependence upon P (cf. also L.O.T. pp. 138, 143).
* Notice a?id, now, 4^ (after the retrospect, c. 1-3), 10'^ (after q"-io'M.
B
XVlll INTRODUCTION
the 'Ammonites) ; a^o-i^- 20-23 ^9. 11, i3b (archaeolog-ical notices) ; 2^ (mes-
sengers to Sihon sent out from the wilderness of Kedemoth) ; 2^ (how the
Edomites and Moabites had furnished the Israelites with food) ; 2*^^
(slaughter of Sihon's sons) ; 2*^'^ (description of the region of Argob, taken
from "Og) ; 321-22 (Moses encouragement of Joshua) ; 323-28 (Moses' entreaty
to be permitted to enter Canaan) ; cf^ (Moses' intercession for Aaron, after
his sin in making the Golden Calf) ; 9^^ (the dust of the Golden Calf cast
into the stream that descended from the mount); lo" (death of Aaron at
MoseraK) ; lo^'* (separation of the tribe of Levi for priestly functions) ; \c?
i8^ (statement that Jehovah is the " inheritance " of the tribe of Levi) ; 17^*
aS*"^ (promise that Israel should no more return to Eg^pt) ; 25^^ (the fact
that 'Amalek, when it met Israel at Rephidim, Ex. 17^"^', cut oif helpless
stragglers in the rear).*
The graphic minor touches in i^ "murmured in your tents," i*^ "girded
on every one his weapons," i*^ "and pursued you as bees do," i*" "wept
before Jehovah," &c., are presumably merely elements in the author's
picturesque presentation of the history.
The number of cases is also remarkable, in which a phrase,
originally used in the description of one incident, is applied
in Dt. to the description of another ; in the Tables (pp. 10,
24, &c.) these are indicated by the passage quoted being
enclosed in a parenthesis. The cases are —
Dt. i'* ("turn you and take your journey," borrowed from Nu. 14'^,
though the occasion is quite a different one) ; \^^ (" I cannot bear you
alone," borrowed, not from Ex. 18, the occasion which is being described,
but from Nu. ii^* "/cannot bear all this people alone" : cf. v.^^ with Nu.
ijiTb). jsoa (from Ex. 13^1 14I*) ; i33 (from Ex. 13*1 Nu. I4"») ; i»3a (fj-om
Nu. lo^*''); i«»(Nu. 20^); Dt. 2^"° (from Nu. 21*); z^''^-'^^ (phrases in the
message to Sihon, borrowed from Nu. 20^^'^'"' the message to Edom)',
232.33b (description of Israel's encounter with Sihon, borrowed from Nu.
2iS3. 88 tijg description of the encounter with 'Og : in this case, while Nu.
mentions only the slaughter of 'Og's sons, Dt. mentions only the slaughter
of those of Sihon) ; g^^ (Moses' fasting on the occasion of his Jirst ascent
of the mountain, from Ex. 34^^ his fasting on the occasion of his third
ascent; the fasting on the first occasion is not mentioned in Ex.);
^26. 27a 29b (from Ex. 32ii'>- ^^ ; though the occasion actually referred to is
Ex. 34') ; 9^ (from Ex. 32"^ Nu. 14^^) ; 10" (cf. Ex. 23^)- — In some instances,
the passages do not agree throughout verbatim ; but the resemblance is
always sufficiently close to leave no doubt that the passage quoted is the
source of the terms used in Dt.
The bearing of the facts just noted on the authorship of
the book will be considered subsequently ; see p. xlviii.
The general result of the preceding examination of the
relation of Dt. to the preceding books of the Pentateuch, has
• Cf. Dillm. p. 610; Westphal, pp. 89 f., 119.
RELATION OF DT. TO NARRATIVE OF JE XIX
been to establish this fact : in neither its historical nor its
legislative sections can Dt. be shown to be dependent upon the
source which has been termed P; in both, it is demonstrably
dependent upon JE. The historical matter being- of secondary
importance in Dt., and c. 5-1 1 being a parenetic introduction,
the legislative kernel of the book (c. 12-26. 28) may be
described broadly as a revised and enlarged edition of the
^' Book of the Covenant." Why such a revision and enlarge-
ment of the Book of the Covenant was undertaken, and why
the laws of Israel were thus embedded by the author in a
homiletic comment, is a question which can only be fully
answered in § 4, when the date and origin of the book have
been approximately determined.
§ 3. Scope and Character of Deuteronomy ; its dominant Ideas.
The Deuteronomic discourses may be said to comprise
three elements, an historical, a legislative, and a parenetic.
Of these the parenetic element is both the most characteristic
and the most important ; it is directed to the inculcation of
certain fundamental religious and moral principles upon which
the Writer lays great stress : the historical element is all but
entirely subservient to it (the references to the history, as
said before, having nearly always a didactic aim) : the legis-
lative element, though naturally, as the condition of national
well-being, possessing an independent value of its own, is here
viewed primarily by the Writer as a vehicle for exemplifying
the principles which it is the main object of his book to enforce.
The author wrote, it is evident, under a keen sense of the
perils of idolatry ; and to guard Israel against this by insisting
earnestly on the debt of gratitude and obedience which it owes
to its Sovereign Lord, is the fundamental teaching of the
book. Accordingly, the truths on which he loves to dwell are
the sole Godhead of Jehovah, His spirituality (c. 4), His
choice of Israel, and the love and faithfulness which He has
shown towards it, by redeeming it from its servitude in Egypt,
by leading it safely through the desert, and by planting it in
a land abundantly blessed by nature's bounty; from which
XX INTRODUCTION
are deduced the great practical duties of loj^al and loving
devotion to Him, an absolute and uncompromising repudia-
tion of all false gods, a cheerful and ready obedience to His
will, a warm-hearted and generous attitude towards man, in
all the various relations of life in which the Israelite is likely
to be brought into contact with his neighbour. Jehovah alone
is God ; there is none beside Him {^^^- ^^) ; He is the Almighty
ruler of heaven and earth, "the God of gods and Lord of
lords" (lo^*-!'^), who rewards both the righteous and the evil-
doer as he deserves, and who governs all men with absolute
impartiality and justice (7^° lo^'"'^-). The central and principal
discourse (c. 5-26. 28) opens with the Decalogue ; and the
First Commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before
me," may be said to be the text, which in the rest of c. 5-1 1
is eloquently and movingly expanded. Jehovah is, moreover, a
spiHtiial Being, dissimilar in kind to any and every material
form : hence no sensible representation can be framed of Him ;
i^till less should Israel worship any other material object,
whether some representation of the human or animal form, or
even the host of heaven (412. 15-24 j^ And Jehovah has chosen
Israel. He has given to other nations the sun, moon, and
stars to adore (4^^, cf. 2923(26)^; He has reserved Israel for
Himself; He has chosen it out of all peoples of the earth to
be His own peculiar possession (4^^ 7^ lo^^ 14^ 26^^), the unique
recipient of His self-revealing grace. And He has done this,
not on account of Israel's merits, for neither its numbers nor
its righteousness would constitute any claim upon Him for
His regard (7^9*''^); but from His love for Israel (7^ 23^ (^)),
and from the faithfulness with which, in spite of all its back-
slidings. He would nevertheless be true to the promise sworn
to its forefathers (7^ ; cf. i^ 4^^- s"- 712 gis ^1.), and forbear from
destroying it (9''^-io^^). In fulfilment of that promise, Jehovah
has wonderfully delivered Israel from its bondage in Egypt
(^32-38 621-23 ^isf. g^T- n2-6^ and frequently). He has led it safely
through the great and terrible wilderness (i^^ 2^ 8^^), He has
assigned it a home in a bounteous and fertile land, which it is
now on the point of crossing Jordan to take possession of
(6iot. 87-10. 121. al.). Jehovah has, in fact, dealt with Israel in
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXI
the manner of a loving father (S^- 3. i6) : if He has withheld
aught from it, or subjected it to privations, it has been with a
view to its ultimate welfare, " As a man disciplines his son, so
doth Jehovah thy God discipline thee" (8^). In return for all
these benefits, it is the Israelite's duty to fear and love Jehovah,
—to fear Him (410326(20) 52. 13. 24 ge 1012.20 135(4) 1^23 ,719 (of
the king), 28''^ 31^^* ^^), as the great and mighty God (10^'^),
whose awe-inspiring manifestations strike terror into all be-
holders (432-36 io2i ii2-7 268) ; and to love Him (6^ 10I2 11I.13.22
134(3) jg9 3q6. 10. 20j^ on account of the affection and constancy
with which He has condescended to deal with Israel, and the
privileges, undeserved on its part, which He has vouchsafed
to confer upon it. The love of God, an all-absorbing sense
of personal devotion to Him, is propounded in Dt, as the
primary spring of human action (6^) ; it is the duty which is
the direct corollary of the character of God, and of Israel's
relation to Him ; the Israelite is to love Him with undivided
affection,* to "cleave" to Him (lo^o 1122 135(4) 3020^^ to re-
nounce everything that is in any degree inconsistent with
loyalty to Him. This brings with it, on the one hand, an
earnest and emphatic repudiation of all false gods, and of
every rite or practice connected with idolatry ; and, on the
other hand, a cheerful and willing acquiescence in the positive
commandments which He has laid down. Again and again is
the Israelite warned, upon peril of the consequences, not to
follow after «« other gods" (614-1574 819-20 uie-u. 28 3017-18. cf.
2924-27(25-28) 3ii6f.20f. 423f. 25-28)^ not to be tempted, even by the
most specious representations, to the practice of idolatry
(13212(1-11)). death is the penalty — and it is to be enforced,
without hesitation or compunction, against even a nearest
relative or a trusted friend (137-12(6-11)) — fo,- any one who either
practises idolatry himself, or seeks to induce others to do so
(136(5). 11(10) J 75^ cf. 1 820) ; even though it be a whole city that
has sinned by serving strange gods, it is not to be spared
(J3i3-i9(i2i8))_ T\\Q heathen populations of Canaan are to be
* "With all the heart and all the soul" (with love 6-' 13* (^' 30*, serve
10'* 11^^, keep and do cornmandments 26'^, listen to His voice 30", turn to
Him 30'^, search after in true penitence 4**).
XXll INTRODUCTION
laid under the "ban" (see on 7'), and exterminated (72-4. i«
20I6-18) : no truce is to be made with them ; no intermarriage,
or other intercourse with them, is to be permitted (72^) ; their
places of worship and religious symbols are to be ruthlessly
destroyed (7^ la^^) ; even the metal which formed part of their
idols is not to be put to any use by Israel (7^^^). Nor is any
attempt to be made to resuscitate the abolished religious rites
(1229-31), or to introduce features from them into the worship
of Jehovah (i62i'-). Canaanitish forms of divination and
magic are not to be tolerated (iS^-^^) ; an authorized order of
prophets is to supply in Israel, so far as Jehovah permits it,
the information and counsel for which other nations resorted
to augurs and soothsayers (iS^^-^^). Local shrines and altars,
even though ostensibly dedicated to the worship of the true
God, were liable to contamination, on the part of the unspiritual
Israelites, by the admixture of heathen rites: accordingly, the
three great annual feasts are to be observed, and all sacrifices
and other religious dues are to be rendered, it is repeatedly
and strongly insisted, at a single central sanctuary, "the
place which Jehovah shall choose to set His name there"
(125.11.14.18.21.26^ and elsewhere). The Writer is, however,
conscious of the danger lest, in the enjoyment of the good
things of Canaan, Israel should be tempted to forget the
Giver, and yield on this ground, through thoughtlessness and
neglect, to the seductions of idolatry: to guard therefore
against this danger. He earnestly and emphatically forewarns
them of the suicidal consequences of disobedience, assuring
them that it will only end in national ruin and disgrace (6^0-15
gii-20 ijief. 3 1 29), Obedience to Jehovah's commands, on the
other hand, if it come from the heart and be sincere, will
be the sure avenue to national prosperity; it will bring
with it Jehovah's blessing, and be the unfailing guarantee
of "life," and "length of days," in the long - continued
possession of the land of Canaan.* The consequences of
obedience and disobedience respectively, besides being often
referred to elsewhere, are developed, with great rhetori-
cal power, in the fine peroration which forms a worthy ter-
* See the passages quoted on p. xxxiii.
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXlll
mination of the Deuteronomic Code (c. 28; comp. also ii26-3S
30I520).
The practical form which devotion to Jehovah is to take
is not, however, to be confined to religious duties, strictly so
called. It is to embrace also the Israelite's social and domestic
life ; and it is to determine his attitude towards the moral and
civil ordinances prescribed for his observance. The individual
laws contained in c. 12-26 are designed for the moral and
social welfare of the nation ; and it is the Israelite's duty to
obey them accordingly. Love of God involves the love of
one's neighbour, and the avoidance of any act which may be
detrimental to a neighbour's welfare. The Israelite must
therefore accommodate himself to the constitution under which
he lives ; and, where occasion arises, observe cheerfully the
various civil ordinances which, in Israel, as in every well-
ordered community, are necessary for protection against evil-
doers, and for regulating intercourse between members of the
same society. The moral purification of the community,
effected by the punishment of wrong-doers, and its deterrent
effect upon others, are both vividly realized by the Writer :
two of his standing phrases in this part of his book are " So
shalt thou exterminate the evil from thy midst (or from Israel)"
(136(5) 177.12 jgi9 2i2i 2221-22.24 247); and "And all Israel {or
the people, or those that remain) shall hear and fear" (1312(11)
iyi3 ig2o 2i2i). Dutics involving directly the application of a
moral principle are especially insisted on, particularly justice,
integrity, equity, philanthropy, and generosity ; and the laws
embodying such principles are manifestly of paramount import-
ance in the Writer's eyes. Judges are to be appointed in every
city, who are to administer justice with the strictest imparti-
ality (16IS-20; cf. ii6f. 27i9-25j_ Fathers are not to be con-
demned judicially for the crimes of their children, nor children
for the crimes of their fathers (24^^). Just weights and
measures are to be used in all commercial transactions [t.s^^''^^).
Grave moral offences are visited severely: the malicious witness
is to be punished according to the lex lalionis (ig^^-^^) ; and
death is the penalty, not only for murder (igii-i^), but also for
incorrigible behaviour in a son, unchastity, adultery, man-
XXIV INTRODUCTION
stealing [21'^^--^ 2220^-22 24'^), But Juimanity is the author's
ruling motive, wherever considerations of religion or morality
do not force him to repress it. Accordingly great emphasis
is laid upon the exercise of philanthropy, promptitude, and
liberality towards those in difficulty or want, as the indigent
in need of a loan (15'^"^^ 2'^'^^-^^'^^-y), a slave at the time of his
manumission (15^^"^^), a neighbour who has lost any of his
property (22^-*), a poor man obliged to borrow on pledge
(246- ^2f-)j a fugitive slave {24'^), a hired servant (24I**'), and in
the law for the disposition of the triennial tithe (1428^-): the
landless Levite ( 1 212. isf. 1 427. 29 1 611. u 2611- i2f.) , and the ' ' stranger
— i.e. the unprotected foreigner settled in Israel — the father-
less and the widow," are repeatedly commended to the Israelite's
charity or regard (1429 i6ii-i* 2417- w- 20. 21 2612^- 2718; the
stranger alone lo^^ 26^^), especially at the time of the great
annual pilgrimages (12^2.18 ^^ i6^^- ^* 26^1), when he and his
household partook together before God of the bounty of the
soil, and might the more readily respond to an appeal for
benevolence. Gratitude, and a sense of sympathy, evoked by
the recollection of Israel's own past, are frequently appealed
to as the motives by which the Israelite should in such cases
be actuated (lo^^ **For ye were strangers in the land of
Egypt," cf. 238(7); 1515 1 6^2 24I8. 22 '« And thou shalt remember
that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt "). A spirit
of forbearance, equity, and regard for the feelings or welfare
of others underlies the regulations of 5^^^ (the slave to enjoy
the rest of the sabbath), 2o5-^ and 24^ (cases in which exemp-
tion from military service is to be granted), 20^'^^- (offer of
peace to be formally made before attacking a hostile city),
2oi9f- (fruit-trees in hostile territory not to be cut down), 2iio-^*
(regard for feelings of a woman taken captive in war), 2i^5-^7
(firstborn not to be disinherited in favour of son of favourite
wife), 22^ (battlement on roof), 2325f(24f.) (regard for neigh-
bour's crops), 2419-22 (gleanings to be left for the poor), 25^
(moderation in infliction of corporal punishment) : humanity
towards animals prompts those in 22^'- 25*. Several of these
provisions are prompted in particular by the endeavour to
ameliorate the condition of dependents, and to mitigate the
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXV
cruelties of war. Not indeed that similar considerations are
absent from the older leg-islation (see e.g. Ex. 2220-23(21-24). 26f.(27f.)
2^6. 9. 11. i2j^ and (as the Table, p. ivff., will have shown) some
of the enactments that have been cited are even borrowed
from it : but they are developed in Dt. with an emphasis and
distinctness which give a character to the entire work. The
author speaks out of a warm heart himself; and he strives to
kindle a warm response in the heart of every one whom he
addresses. Nowhere else in the OT. do we breathe such an
atmosphere of generous devotion to God, and of large-hearted
benevolence towards man ; nowhere else are duties and motives
set forth with greater depth and tenderness of feeling, or with
more winning and persuasive eloquence ; and nowhere else is
it shown with the same fulness of detail how high and noble
principles may be applied so as to elevate and refine the entire
life of the community.
If after this review of the general scope of Dt., we ask
which are its fundamental ideas, we shall find them to be the
following : — *
1. Jehovah is the only God, a pure and spiritual Being,
who has loved Israel, and is worthy to receive Israel's un-
divided love in return. It follows as an immediate corollary
from this, that all false gods, and even all material representa-
tions of Jehovah, are to be unconditionally discarded.
2. Israel is to be a holy nation : its members are to recol-
lect, in every action and moment (6^^) of their lives, that they
are the servants of a holy and loving God ; and love is to be
the determining principle of their conduct, whether towards
God or man.
3. There is to be only one legitimate place of public
worship : the local shrines, which were seats of either un-
spiritual, or of actually heathen worship, are to be not merely
reformed, but abolished.
4. The tribe of Levi is confirmed in its possession of
priestly rights ; and it alone is to supply ministers for the
sanctuary.
Deuteronomy, it is evident, is far more than a mere code
* Comp. Duhm, Theologie der Propheten {\%l^, p. igyff.
XXVI INTRODUCTION
of laws. It is the expression of a profound ethical and re«
ligious spirit, which determines its character in every part,
and invests the laws contained in it with the significance that
they possess in the Writer's eyes. They are means which
may help Israel to realize its ideal. The author would fain
see his people exhibit to the world the spectacle of a nation
wisely obeying" a just and beneficently designed constitution
(46-8J . this, he is assured, will bring with it national prosperity
and greatness. But it is not enough for him that the law is
obeyed : it must be obeyed also from the right motives.
Hence the stress which he lays upon the theocratic premises of
Israel's national character, the earnestness with which, in c.
5-1 1, he develops and applies every motive which may touch
Israel's heart or win its allegiance, and the frequency with
which, while expounding the laws which Israel is to observe
(c. 12-26. 28), he dwells upon the moral purposes which they
subserve, or the temper in which they should be obeyed. To
fear God is the Israelite's primary duty (6^3 iq12. 20 28^8) ; and
to generate, and keep alive, in Israel's heart the true religious
spirit is the aim, not less of the statutes embodied in Dt. (4^"
52. 24 J cf. 14^^), and of many particular usages prescribed in
it {e.£^. 6^^- 11^^^- 31^2*), than of the exhortations with which
the author accompanies them. In so far, however, as Dt. is
a law-book, it may be described as a manual, addressed to the
people, and intended for popular use, which, without as a rule
entering into technical details, would instruct the Israelite in
the ordinary duties of life. It does not embrace a complete
corpus of either the civil or the ceremonial statutes that were
in force when it was written : it excerpts such as were, in the
author's judgment, most generally necessary for the Israelite
to know, and best adapted to exemplify the moral and spiritual
principles which it was his main anxiety to see practically
recognized by Israel. Dt. thus combines the spirit of the
prophet and the spirit of the legislator: it is a prophetical
law-book, a law-book in which civil and ceremonial statutes
become the expression of a great spiritual and moral ideal,
* Notice also the importance attached to the education of children, 4*
ff.X ijl9 3,13 32«.
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXVll
which is designed to comprehend and govern the entire life of
the community.
The true significance of Dt. cannot, however, be properly
understood, until it is viewed in the light of the age which
called it forth : in the following remarks therefore it will be
necessary in some respects to anticipate the conclusions of
§ 4, and to assume that Dt. was composed in the 7th cent. B.C.,
during the reign of either Manasseh or Josiah. If this may
be here assumed, it will be seen that the author builds upon
the foundation of the prophets, and that his primary aim is to
create an effectual moral stimulus for realizing the ideals
which they had propounded. The prophets had held up
before their people high conceptions of life and duty ; they
had taught that Jehovah's favour was conditioned by the
fulfilment of His moral demands ; they had declared, one after
another,* that the claims of civil and social justice were
paramount in His eyes : Isaiah had reaffirmed, with fresh
emphasis, the old truth (Ex. 19^) that it was Israel's vocation
to be a "holy nation"; Hosea had traced back both the
moral and material deterioration of the Northern Kingdom to
its abandonment of Jehovah, and had forewarned it of the
bitter consequences which devotion to idolatry would bring in
its train. These are the truths which, brought home to the
author, with fresh vividness, by the recent experiences of
Manasseh's reign, become the informing principles of his
teaching ; he absorbs them into his own spiritual nature ; he
shows how they may be systematically applied so as not merely
to correct palpable abuses, but also to deepen the spiritual life
of individuals, and to penetrate and transform the whole
national organization of Israel ; while at the same time he so
stimulates the individual conscience by new and powerful
motives, as to provide an effectual moral and spiritual agency,
capable — if any agency were capable — of moulding the nation
into conformity with the prophetic ideal.
In a special degree the author of Dt. is the spiritual heir
of Hosea. Not only does he join with him in the emphatic
repudiation of nature-worship, and in acknowledging Jehovah
• E.g. 2 S. i2i-« I K. 2ii'ff- Am. 41- 5>2ff- Hos. 4I-8 Is. i^"- Mic. 31-*.
XXVlll INTRODUCTION
as the true Giver of nature's bounty,* he agrees with him also
in the prominence which he assigns to the emotional side of
religion. With Hosea, love, affection, sympathy are the
immediate, and most natural, fruits of the religious temper.
Jehovah first '* loved " Israel ; and the true Israelite is he who
is infused with the same spirit, and who loves, with the same
spontaneity, and the same ungrudging affection, both Jehovah
and his fellow-Israelites. **This truth is equally set forth in
Deuteronomy, and in the Deuteronomist's great spiritual pre-
decessor, Hosea. The primal love of Jehovah to Israel fills
the foreground of each writer's discourse, and all human
relationships within the Israelitish community are rooted in
this."t The passages have been already quoted in which
Deuteronomy emphasizes Jehovah's love of Israel, and in-
culcates a responsive love of Jehovah upon Israel's part as the
first of human duties. And in his conduct towards his neigh-
bour, the Israelite is to be actuated not only by what strict
justice or equity demands ; he is repeatedly exhorted to exercise
towards him offices of affection and kindness. Love is to be
the presiding genius of his life. And thus Dt. teaches the
great truth that religion is concerned not merely with the
intellect and the will, but that it involves equally the exercise
and right direction of the affections. Of course, however,
this love, both in Jehovah and in Israel, is a moral love ; it
must be limited, where the necessity arises, by the demands
of righteousness : hence idolatry and immorality cannot be
tolerated or condoned by it : the author is conscious of no
inconsistency in propounding the most rigorous repressive
measures against the former ; and he finds no occasion for
mitigating the severity which ancient usage prescribed for
dealing with the latter (p. xxiii, bottom).
The monotheistic creed of Dt. is another development of the
teaching of the prophets. The original '* monolatry " of Israel
became indeed, in the hands of the older prophets (cf. p. 90 f.),
almost, if not quite, monotheism: nevertheless, this truth is
• Hos. 2i«<8)«'- i3«-8; Dt. 8''»- iii^f. 26'".
t Cheyne, Jererniah, his Life and Times, p. 66. See Hos. 3' 9'* ii*'*
146 W ; 4I 6*** 12^ C*) (Acitfc? demanded by God : see p. 102).
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXIX
taught more formally and explicitly in Dt. (4^5- ^^ 6* 7' lo*^) *
than by earlier writers ; and its vivid realization by the author
finds expression in the insistence with which he urg-es Jehovah's
claim to be the exclusive object of the Israelite's reverence.
The limitation of the public worship of Jehovah to Jerusalem,
which Dt. inculcates so strongly (c. 12, &c.), may seem indeed
to us to be a retrograde step, and inconsistent with the author's
lofty conception of the Divine nature (10^*): but partly it was
a result of the national feeling of Israel, to which the prophets,
even in their most exalted moments,! were hardly ever wholly
superior, and which looked up to the national Temple on Zion
as specially honoured by Jehovah's presence ; partly it arose
out of the circumstances of the age, which made the local
sanctuaries centres of impure or unspiritual rites. Under the
conditions of the time, the single sanctuary was a corollary of
the monotheistic idea. Worship at different places would
tend (as in the case of Ba'al, and many other ancient deities)
to generate different conceptions of the god worshipped, and
might even lead to the syncretistic confusion of Jehovah with
other deities. The concentration of worship in a single spot
was thus a necessary providential stage in the purification of
the popular idea of God. In the end, it is true, this exclusive-
ness, maintained with blind one-sidedness and exaggeration,
brought with it its own nemesis. The unspiritual Israelites,
in spite of the warnings of the prophets (comp. Jer. 7^-i5 Is.
66^-*), viewed the material sanctuary on Zion as the palladium
of their security, operating irrespectively of their own moral
worthiness ; and in a later age attachment to the Temple, as
such, was one of the causes which incapacitated the Jews from
appropriating the more spiritual teaching of Christ. | But
long before then, the victory over polytheism had been won ;
and even the destruction of the Temple brought with it no
danger of a lapse into the idolatries of the past.
The ethical qualities of Jehovah are frequently dwelt upon
in Dt. He is emphatically a righteous God ; a hater of sin
• Note also 4^' (where the heathen religions are attributed to the
supreme providence of Israel's God) ; and (in the Song) 32^.
t E.g. Is. 2*-* 25« Jer. 3!^ Is. 56^ 662o-m. % Comp. Acts 6""".
XXX INTRODUCTION
and wrono"; ignoble practices are an "abomination" to
Him ; * yet He is ready to forgive the penitent, and shows mercv
and compassion towards those who deserve it : He has watched
over, and cherished Israel, with the tenderness and affection
of a father ; if He has also disciplined it, it has been for its
ultimate good. Especially does the author emphasize Jehovah's
fidelity to His promises ; the oath sworn to the patriarchs He
will never break ; even towards a heathen nation He does not
rescind what He has once decreed (2^).
Jehovah's relation to Israel originated in His own free
clioice', Israel becomes in consequence His special possession
(p. xx) and inheritance, and the constant object of His
regard. More particularly. His relation to it is represented
under the figure of a covenant — one of the characteristic ideas
both of Dt. and of the Deuteronomic school (p. 68) — involving
mutual duties and obligations, binding Jehovah to faithfulness,
and Israel to obedience. The nature of the duties devolving
hence upon Israel, and the motives (especially ^rrt;/zV«^^£? and
love) which should prompt Israel to respond accordingly, have
been indicated above (pp. xxi, xxiv).
With priestly institutions the author has greater sympathy
than the prophets generally. He evinces a warm regard for
the priestly tribe; he guards its privileges (iS^-^), demands
obedience for its decisions (24^; cf. ly^o-^^), and earnestly
commends its members to the Israelite's benevolence (i2i8- ^^
x^'-i- 29 &c.). The ceremonial observances current at the time
he has no desire to see abolished ; the custom of sacrifice,
though he does not emphasize it in the manner of the Priests'
Code, he takes for granted, and upon occasion regulates. A
right heart, instinct with true affections towards God and
man, is indeed the only religion which has value in his eyes :
but he is aware that external forms, if properly observed,
may exercise and keep alive a religious spirit (14^^), may guard
Israel's "holiness" from profanation, and preserve it from
contamination with heathen influences (cf. 6^ ii^^ i4^'^M also
225.12 23i5(i4)j_ The offerings on which he lays the greatest
• Idolatrous rites (725- 2« 12^1 i3i»(i«) i;-* 20^* 27'^); magic and divination
(18"^); immoral customs (22^ 23^® f^*' 24*); commercial injustice (25").
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXXI
stress are those expressive of gratitude to God as the Giver of
the good things of Canaan {1422-27 1519-23 1510. is. 17 26^0): and
the religious feasts, especially those held in connexion with
the great annual pilgrimages, he desires to be occasions of
gladness before Jehovah, and of the display of generous
hospitality towards the destitute (la^- 12. is i^^26f. 1511. u 2611).
In its attitude towards other nations, Dt. shows consider-
able exclusiveness and '* particularism." Jehovah owns indeed
the entire world ; but His favourable regard is limited to the
people of His choice. The prophetic truth that Jehovah has
also a care for other nations, and will one day receive them
into His fold, does not find expression in Dt. (once, perhaps,
indirectly, in the Song, 32*^). The reason is not far to seek :
Dt. is a law-book, designed to provide Israel with instruction
in the duties of life ; and the circumstances of the age natur-
ally led the author to discourage, rather than to promote, a
friendly attitude towards the heathen. The Ger, who has
placed himself under the protection of Israel (p. 126), is indeed
treated naturally with consideration : but the "foreigner," as
such, stands upon a different level, and is excluded from
pecuniary advantages permitted to the Israelite (15^2321(20)).
Religious motives * sufficiently explain the strongly hostile
attitude adopted towards the Canaanites ; but only an anti-
quarian reason is assigned for the antipathy displayed towards
the 'Ammonites and Moabites (23*-'^(3-*^)), and for the injunction
to exterminate 'Amaiek {z^"^-"^^). A more friendly attitude,
based upon the recollections of the past, is inculcated towards
the Edomite and the Egyptian (23^^- ("^•)). It is probable that
all these regulations, as Ex. 1714-16 shows to be the case with
that relating to 'Amalek, rest upon an ancient traditional
basis,! and that the author's part in them is limited to the
form in which they are cast, and the motives with which he
has enforced them.
The encroachments of heathenism formed the pressing
danger of the age ; and these the author strove to resist by
every means in his power. Not only does he repeatedly
• See 7^'- 20I8 (cf. in D^ Jos. 2312'-).
+ Comp. Delitzsch, ZKWL. 1880, p. 561 ; Dillm. p. 605.
XXXll INTRODUCTION
declare, in solemn terms, that if allowed to prevail, they wiH
Ultimately involve Israel in national ruin ; but a large number
of provisions — much larger than in the Book of the Covenant
— are aimed directly against them ; and the need of enforcing
these overrides even those considerations of forbearance and
humanity, which usually rule supreme in the author's mind.*
Foremost among these provisions stand the injunctions for
the extirpation of the Canaanites. These are included in Dt.,
partly, no doubt, because they formed an element in the older
legislation (Ex. 2;^^'^-^^), and were ascribed traditionally to
Moses, but chiefly because by the drastic completeness with
which they sought to secure Israel against pernicious religious
influences, they were a significant protest against the fashions
of the age, and afforded the author a means of expressing
indirectly his profound abhorrence of practices which he knew
to be subversive of holiness (cf. i23i). In estimating these
injunctions, it must, of course, be remembered that in the age
when Dt. was written, the time when they could be enforced had
long passed away ; they had consequently only an zdeal value ;
they bear witness by their severity to the intensity of the author's
convictions on the subject, and to the reality of the dangers
which he felt threatened Israel's religion from this quarter.!
It is probable also that many more prohibitive ordinances of
Dt. than appears on the surface, are directed against the
encroachments of heathenism, or the assimilation of undesir-
able foreign customs. "The essential object of the short law
of the kingdom (i7^*-20) is to guard against admixture with
foreigners, and participation in foreign policy." I And other
precepts are directed either against popular heathen super-
stitions, or against the immoralities of Phoenician nature-
worship, which, as the Books of Kings and the prophets show,
had deeply tainted the worship of Jehovah. §
The truth that virtue is rewarded with temporal bless-
ings, and vice punished with temporal misfortunes, — a truth
• See especially c. 13.
t Cf. Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 67 ; Montefiore, Hibhert Lectures, p. 185.
:: OTJC.-' p. 365.
S Comp. the notes on i2'-«-=" 141- » (p. 164), ^ib ,621- » lyi-s igs" 22' 23^8'-.
SCOPE AND CHARACTER OF DEUTERONOMY XXXlll
tenaciously held by the ancient Hebrews, and (as the book of
Job shows) even treated by them as a universal law of God's
providence, — is an important paedagog-ic principle, and, as
such, is frequently emphasized by the author. The doctrine
that "righteousness exalteth a nation," while wickedness is
the sure prelude to national disaster, has been said truly to
form the essence of his "philosophy of history," as it is also
one of the motives to obedience on which he most frequently
insists: "that thou mayest live," "that it may be well for
thee," "that thou mayest prolong thy days," "that Jehovah
may bless thee," or similar phrases, are the recurring formulae,
which show how assured he was of the general validity of the
truth which they express.* The same conviction finds hyper-
bolical expression in the promise that, in the event of
obedience, Israel will be "set high" above all nations (26^^
28^), and enjoy material superiority over them (15^^ 2812b. 13^,
The other aspect of the same doctrine is taught less frequently,
but not less forcibly.! Retribution, it is said emphatically
(710), overtakes the evil-doer in person; it is not reserved (as
was sometimes thought |) for his descendants.
The religious value of Deuteronomy is very great. True,
"it is a book of national religion," with the limitations
incident to age and place stamped upon it; " but it is withal
a book of personal religion, and so of universal religion."
The power which gave Israel its cohesion and strength was its
religion ; if it was untrue to this, as its prophets unanimously
saw, it must fall in pieces. Religion becomes thus the real
ground of all moral and social order ; and the aim of Dt. is to
establish for religion a deeper basis than that of public ritual,
* The promise is annexed both to the general observance of the Deut.
law, 4*« 526 (23). 3U (83) 62.3.18.24 jqIS „9 y^\6.m. ^^^ (^f. alsO 7I2-IO ,,18-16.20-26.27
26^*'* 28^"^* 29^0 30'), and to particular commands, viz. 5^' (honour to
parents), 12^^-'^ (prohibition to eat blood), i^^^^ (application of triennial
tithe to relief of the poor), 1510-18 (liberality in lending- to needy, and in
treatment of slave), 16^ (impartiality in judgment), ^']'^ (king's obedience
to Deut. law), 19" (justice on murderer), 22^ (humane treatment ot bird),
2321 (2«) (not demanding interest of Israelite), 24^* (leaving forgotten sheaf
for the "stranger, the fatherless, and the widow"), 25" (commercial
honesty). Comp. Am. 5^* Is. i"'- s^*"- 58S-" &c.
t 428 2,^^ ; fi'**- 81S'- I ii«- 28 28i5ff- 2917 (i8)ff. 3i» J Job 2I».
C
XXXIV INTRODUCTION
or legal rules. The author addresses himself, more directly
and effectively than any previous teacher of Israel had done, to
the individual soul ; he labours, by appealing to the most
powerful and generous emotions, to quicken and intensify
the religious life of the individual. "Hosea had already
perceived that in our religious life, it is not so much we who
find God, as God who finds us. Deuteronomy accepted this
truth, and sought to show what forms the religious life thus
quickened would assume among Yahveh's people. It dis-
cerned that that life must be a life of loyal obedience and of
holy affection ; and inasmuch as these are not outward acts
but inward states, it took the first steps towards transferring
the stress of religion from national observance to individual
consciousness, and proposed as its ultimate ideal a community
which should collectively realize a relationship of reverence
and love to its heavenly Lord. These great sentiments
could only be comprehended and expressed by the community,
when they had first been deeply felt by each single soul ; and
in enunciating its principles for the government of the
traditional Israel, Deuteronomy was therefore, in fact, enunci-
ating them for the whole human race in every age. It was
reserved for the greatest of Israel's sons to discern this com-
pletely, and to proclaim its highest word as the first law, no
longer for Judah but for the world (Mark 1 228-30; Dt. 6*-^).
And so the teaching of Deuteronomy leads direct to the
supreme thought of Christ."*
§ 4. Authorships Date, and Structure.
The relation of Dt. to the preceding books of the Pent., as
indicated in § 2, gives rise to two questions, the consideration
of which will conveniently open this part of our subject. It
will be proper, in order to make our ground secure, to start
with the assumption that the traditional view of the authorship
of the first four books of the Pent, is correct. The questions,
* J. E. Carpenter, "The Book of Deuteronomy," in the Modem
Review, April 1883, p. 281. — In parts of the preceding pages I ana
indebted to Holzinger, Einleitung in den Hexateuch (1893), p. 313 ff-
AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY XXXV
then, which suggest themselves are: (i) Do the variations
between the narratives of Dt. and Gn.-Nu. ever assume the
character of discrepancies which cannot be reconciled ? (2) Is
the relation between them such as to be incompatible with the
traditional view that the author of both is Moses ? That the
author of Dt., supposing him to be identical with the author
of Ex.-Nu., should mention, either in the retrospects (c. 1-3 ;
g7_ioii) or allusively elsewhere, incidents not recorded by him
in his previous narrative, would, of course, not in itself excite
surprise ; accordingly additions such as those in i^-^- ^^^- ^o^- 29-3i
22if. 23-28 cause no difficulty, they relate to details of a personal
character, a notice of which would be conformable to the plan
of the retrospect, but which might well have been passed over
in the history. There are, however, some other variations,
which deserve closer consideration.
1. In i*'^'* the plan of appointing judges to assist Moses is represented
as originating with Moses himself, complaining to the people of the diffi-
culty that he found in dealing personally with the number of cases that
arose ; the people assent to the proposal, and Moses selects the judges
accordingly. In Ex. 18''*-'' the plan is referred entirely to the advice of
Jethro ; no allusion is made to the difficulty felt by Moses ; and Moses
takes action without at all consulting the people. It might be replied that
the two accounts are mutually supplementary : what is narrated in Dt. i'"'-*
would fall very naturally between Ex. 18^ and Ex. 18^ : the narrative and
the retrospect are written from different points of view ; and some notice
of the motives by which Moses was inwardly influenced, and of the manner
in which the people responded to them, though unnecessary in the narra-
tive, would be in harmony with the general plan of the retrospect.
2. i22-23 Here the mission of the spies is represented as due entirely to
a suggestion made by the people : in Nu. 13^'* it is referred to a command
received directly by Moses from Jehovah. No doubt the two representa-
tions are capable, in the abstract, of being harmonized : Moses, it might
be supposed, approving personally of the proposal (Dt. i^**), desired to
know if it had Jehovah's sanction ; and the command in Nu. 13^"^ is really
the answer to his inquiry. But in this case, if not in the former as well,
it remains remarkable, if the two accounts were written by one and the
same person, that they should be so worded as to suggest to the reader
two different ideas of what had taken place ; and (especially) that Moses,
while mentioning (Dt. i^)that the proposal had his own approval, should
not mention that it had Jehovah's also.
3. i"-38. In Nu. 20^ (cf. 27^**- Dt 32'<"-) Moses is prohibited to enter
Canaan on account of his presumption in striking the rock at Kadesh, in
the 39th year of the Exodus : here the ground of the prohibition is Jehovah's
anger with him on account of the people (so 3^4*'), upon an occasion which
YXXVl INTRODUCTION
(see the note ad he.) is plainly fixed by the context for the 2nd year of the
Exodus, 37 years previously. The supposition that Moses, speaking in the
jfoth year, should have passed, in v.'*'', from the 2nd to the 39th year,
returning^ in v.*^ to the 2nd year, is highly improbable.
4. i^ 2^'^*. As shown in the notes on pp. 31-33, it seems impossible
to harmonize the representation contained in these passages with that of
Numbers ; according to Nu. 14, &c., the 38 years in the wilderness were
spent at Kadesh : according to Dt. they were spent a-way from Kadesh
(2'*), in wandering about Edom (2^).
5. 9*. According to Ex. 32-34 Moses was three times in the mount
(32'*" ; 32^' ; 34*) ; but it is only on the third occasion that he is recorded
to have fasted (34^) : Dt., in the very words of Ex., describes him as doing
so on i\\e. first occasion. Obviously, Dt. may relate what is passed by in
silence in Ex. ; but the variation is remarkable.
6. 9^*"^. This, it is plain, must refer either to Ex. 32^^'' (Moses' second
visit to the mountain), or (more probably) to Ex. 34'*" ^^ (his third visit to
it). It is singular, now, that the terms of Moses' own intercession, as here
reproduced, are borrowed, not from either of these passages, but from
32'^'^^, at the close of hxs first forty days upon the mountain.
7. lo^"*. This passage (see p. ii7f.) agrees — to a large extent verbally
— with Ex. 34^"*"'^, with the difference that in Dt. Moses is directed to
make, and actually does make, an ark of acacia-wood before ascending
the mount the third time, to receive the Ten Commandments. That
Moses should describe as made by himself what was in fact made by
Bezal'el, acting on his behalf, is, no doubt, natural enough ; but in the
narrative of Ex. (as it now stands) the command is both given to Bezal'el,
and executed by him, after Moses' return from the mountain (36-'' 37').
The discrepancy in two narratives, so circumstantial as each of these is, is
difficult to explain, if both are the work of one and the same writer,
describing incidents in which he was personally concerned.
8. 10^"^. Cf. Nu. 33^^"^-* (in P's itinerary of the journeyings in the wilder-
ness), relating, however, to a period long subsequent to the episode of the
Golden Calf. In Nu., moreover, the stations Beeroth and Bene-ja'akan
are mentioned in the inverse order ; and (v.^^) the death of Aaron is stated
to have taken place, not at Moserah, but at Mount Hor, four stations
beyond Jotbathah. As shown in the notes on p. ii9f., there is a possible
formal reconciliation, though not one that can be called probable. All
things considered, it seems, however, likely (p. 120) that lo*'^ is not part
of the original text of Dt. ; if this be the case, Dt. vvill be relieved of the
contradiction with Nu. 33*'"^, though the contradiction will still attach to
the source from which the notice is derived, and bear witness to the exist-
ence of divergent traditions in our present Pentateuch.
9. lo^'". If lo®'^ be an integral part of Dt., as at that timf can in that
case refer only to the period indicated in those verses, 10^"' will assign the
consecration of the tribe of Levi to a much later date than is done in Ex.
28-29 Lev. 8 Nu. 3°'^". If, however, lo"'' be not original in Dt., at that
time will refer to the period of the sojourn at lioreb, 10'"^ ; in this case,
there ceases to be a contradiction with Ex., but the reference seems to be
(see p. 121) to some incident not mentioned in the existing text of Ex.
AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY XXXVII
Of these discrepancies, i and 2, thoug-h they cannot
be said to be favourable to Moses' authorship, are never-
theless not absolutely incompatible with it ; 5 and 6
awaken graver doubts — it is surprising that the retrospects
should afford so many cases (see p. xviii), from the inter-
cession of Moses to the slaughter of the sons of Sihon (or
'Og), in which the reconciliation can only be effected by a
duplication of the event recorded in the earlier narrative ; 3, 4,
and 7 cannot be fairly explained upon the hypothesis of Mosaic
authorship.
We may pass now to the consideration of the laws in Dt.,
in their relation to those of Ex.-Nu. Let us first compare
the laws in Ex. 21-23 (JE)- Here we observe in certain cases
modifications which cannot be reasonably accounted for,
except upon the supposition that the laws of Dt. originated
in a later stage of society than the laws of Ex. Even the
greater detail and development (p. viiif.) points in this direc-
tion, though not, of course, so decisively as the cases of
modification.
1. In Ex. ai'^'" a Hebrew bondman is to serve for six years, and to
receive his freedom in the seventh year (v.*) ; a bondwoman who comes into
servitude with her husband is to ret eive her freedom at the same time (v.*).
But a daughter sold by her father as a bondwoman is on a different foot-
ing ; she is not to go free as the bondmen do (v.^). In Dt. i5'''^ the law of
Ex., by the addition of "or an Bebrewess," is pointedly extended so as
to include bondwomen ; and in v.^^ it is expressly prescribed that the
bondwoman (without any limitation) is to be subject to the same law of
manumission as bondmen. Both laws are designed for the land of Canaan,
as appears from the reference to the door and doorpost. If both laws,
however, were given in the wilderness for a time of future settlement in
Canaan, the variation just noted appears arbitrary. It is, however, at
once explicable upon the supposition that the law of Dt. springs from a
more advanced stage of society than the law of Ex., and regulates usage
for an age in which the father's power over his daughter was less absolute
than it had been in more primitive times, and when it was no longer the
custom (see Ex. 21*'*) for a Hebrew girl to be bought to be the wife of her
master or his son. Contrast also Dt. 15" and Ex. 21® (p. 184).
2. In Ex. 21^'* the asylum for manslaughter (as the connexion with v.'*
appears to show) is Jehovah's altar {ci. i K. i* 2^) ; in Dt. (c. 19) definite
cities are set apart for the purpose.
3. In Ex. 22'*'- (">'•• the law of seduction stands at the close of a list of
cases of pecuniary compensations for injury to property : the offence is
consequently treated as one of pecuniary loss to the father, who must be
XXXVlll INTRODUCTION
compensated by the seducer purchasing the damsel as wife for the full
price {mohar) of a virg-in. In Dt. the corresponding law (22^^'") appears
not among laws of property, but among laws of moral purity ; and though
it is still provided that the offender shall marry the damsel and make com-
pensation to the father, a fixed fine takes the place of the variable mohar. *
4. In Ex. 23**"' the provisions of the sabbatical year have a purely
agricultural reference ; in Dt, 15^"* the institution is applied so as to form
a check on the power of the creditor. Had both laws been framed by
Moses, it is difficult not to think that in formulating Dt. 15^"® he would have
made some allusion to the law of Ex. 23i'"', and mentioned that, in addi-
tion to the provisions there laid down, the sabbatical year was to receive
also this new application.
Modifications such as these cannot reasonably be attributed
to the altered circumstances or prospects of the nation at the
close of the 40 years' wanderings: the provisions of Ex., as
is plain both from the tenor of 232°^-, and from the various
laws implying- the existence of houses, and the possession of
separate holdings of land, are equally designed for the use of
the people when settled in Canaan. Those of Dt. differ just
in being adapted to meet the needs of a more developed state
of society, for which the provisions of Ex. were no longer
adequate.
If, however, it is thus difficult to attribute the laws of Dt.
and JE (Ex. 21-23) to the same legislator, it is altogether
impossible to do this in the case of the laws of P ; for not only
are the variations which the regulations of Dt. present much
graver, but, as shown above (p. xiiif.), it cannot be supposed
that P was one of the sources employed by the author of Dt. :
laws and institutions of fundamental importance in P are
treated in Dt. as if they were either non-existent, or matters
of no concern to the Writer ; they are sometimes contradicted,
sometimes ignored. Instances of their being ignored were
cited above, p. xiii ; the following are instances of contra-
diction : —
I. In Lev. Nu. a sharp distinction is drawn — and enforced under
stringent penalties (Nu. iSi"- '*• *") — between the priests and the common
Levites: in Dt. it is implied (18^) that all members of the tribe of Levi are
qualified to exercise priestly functions ; and regulations are laid down
• Comp. W. R. Smith, Addit. Answer to the Libel (Edin. 1878), p. 56 f.;
OTJC?^. 368 f.
AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY XXXIX
(i8*'*) to meet the case of any member coming- from the country to the
central sanctuary, and claiming to officiate there as priest.
2. In P particular provision is made for the maintenance of both priests
and Levites, and in Nu. 35^'* (cf. Jos. 21) 48 cities are appointed for their
residence. In Dt., under both heads, the regulations are very different,
and allow considerably less ample provision for the maintenance of the
tribe. Thus Dt. 18^ (the shoulder, the cheeks, and the maw to be the
priest's perquisite in a peace-offering) is in direct contradiction with Lev.
^32-34 ^{}^g breast and the right thigh to be the priest's due in a peace-
offering).
3. Dt. 18^ is inconsistent with the institution of Levitical cities (Nu.
35^*'*) ; it implies that the Levite has no settled residence, but is a
"sojourner" in one of the cities ("gates," see p. Ixxix) of Israel. As
remarked on p. 218, the provision of Dt. 18® is not incompatible with such
an institution, supposing it to have been imperfectly put in force ; but its
terms are quite general, they are not limited to any such future con-
tingency as this, and (what is especiallj' noticeable) they harmonize with
other passages of Dt. in which the country Levite is represented as desti-
tute of adequate maintenance, and is placed in the same category with
the "stranger, the fatherless, and the widow" (i2^2>i8.w j^27. 29 jgii. u
26U.12f.),
4. In Dt. 12®' ^'* I5^"* the firstlings of oxen and sheep are to be
eaten by the owner himself at a sacred feast to be held at the central
sanctuary : in Nu. 18^* they are assigned absolutely and expressly to the
priest.
5. In Nu. 18^^"^ the tithe is assigTied entirely to the Levites, who in
their turn (v.-^"^) pay a tenth to the priests : in Dt. it is, in two years out
of three, to be consumed by the offerer and his household at a sacred feast
(14^^), and in the third year to be applied to the relief of the poor (i4^''),
— in both cases the members of the priestly tribe sharing only together
with other destitute persons in the offerer's bounty.
6. While Lev. 25*''*^ enjoins the release of the Hebrew slave in the year
of jubile, in Dt. 15I2-I8 jhe legislator, -without bringing his new law into
relation with the different one of Lev. , prescribes the release of the Hebrew
slave in the seventh year of his service.
7. In Lev. 17^' the flesh of an animal dying of itself {nebeldh) is not to
be eaten either by the Israelite or by the "stranger": in Dt. 14-^ it is
prohibited for the Israelite, but permitted to the "stranger."
8. In Ex. 12^"* the paschal sacrifice is limited to a lamb : in Dt. 16' it
may be either a sheep or an ox (see also the note on 16^).*
These difTerences between the laws of Dt. and those of P
are greater than could arise, were the legislator the same in
* For attempts that have been made to harmonize these discrepancies,
see the notes on the passages quoted. The explanations offered by
Principal Douglas — whose name I mention with all respect — in Lex
Mosaica (pp. 80-96) must be regretfully pronounced to be not less strained
and unsuccessful than those of his predecessors.
Xl INTRODUCTION
both : they can only be explained by the supposition that the
two systems of law reflect the usage of two distinct periods
of the national life. Of course there is no difficulty in
supposing- that Moses may have foreseen the neglect of his own
institutions and provided for it accordingly : but not one of
the regulations that have been referred to betrays any indi-
cation whatever that this was the intention of the legislator
in framing it ; in every case the terms of the provision are
as unqualified and absolute as are those of P. It is also
undoubtedly true that the aim of Dt. is very diff"erent from
that of P : the one is intended (chiefly) for the guidance of
the priests, the other is addressed to the people ; the one
represents the priestly point of view, the other that of the
prophets ; the one lays down a complete code of ritual observ-
ances, which certainly does not fall within the scope of the
other. Still, if P were written by Moses, — or even compiled
by another hand under his direction, — it is inconceivable that
in recapitulating at the close of his life the laws which he
desired the Israelites to observe, he should have thus held
himself aloof from a body of law, in the compilation of which
he had {ex hyp.) been so intimately concerned, ignormg
institutions which he had represented as of central signifi-
cance in his system,* and contradicting regulations which
he had declared to be invested with the highest sanctions.!
Not only does Dt. not contain (in any sense of the
word) a rdstone or "recapitulation" of the laws of P, but
the author does not even do what, supposing him to have
been interested in a great ceremonial system, would have
been consonant with the general plan of his work, and at
the same time of the utmost value to future generations of
Israelites : he does not, even in general terms, refer to the
system which {ex hyp.) he had prescribed, for the purpose
of summarizing its leading principles, or of defining the
place which ceremonial institutions should hold in a spiritual
* See p. xiii. The Day of Atonement, it is enjoined in P (Lev. 23'»'-). >s
to be observed by all under penalty of death.
t The rights and revenues of the tribe of Levi do fall within the scope
of Dt. (see iS^''^), not less than within that of P, and yet the provisions are
altogether different.
AUTHORSHIP OF DEUTERONOMY xll
religion.* On the contrary, his attitude towards it shows that
its most characteristic ideas are alien to his mind, and have no
place in his scheme of religion.
The study of the legal sections of Dt. leads thus to the
same conclusion which resulted from the study of the his-
torical sections : each, when compared with the corresponding
sections of Ex.-Nu., presents inconsistencies incompatible with
the supposition of both being the work of the same author.
This conclusion follows, even if (as has up to this point been
assumed) Moses be the author of the preceding books of the
Pentateuch. It is confirmed by the independent evidence of
style. The literary styles of Dt. and P, while each has a strongly
individual character, are cast in two entirely different moulds ;
if Moses was the author of the one, he cannot have so far
disowned his own individuality as to be also the author of the
other. Nor can the Mosaic authorship of Dt. be maintained
in face of a comparison with JE. That a composite narrative
of the Exodus should have arisen in the lifetime of Moses,
and that Moses himself should have drawn upon it in Dt.,
cannot be considered probable. But waiving this point, and
treating J E as the work of a single hand, the style, though
not so different from the style of Dt. as P's style is, neverthe-
less differs from it more than would be consonant with the
tenacious literary habits of Hebrew authors, were the writer
in both cases the same : the discourses of Dt. are pervaded
throughout by a uniform colouring and tone, which are absent
from JE (comp. p. Ixxvii), and are an indication that we have
before us the work of another hand.f
In point of fact, however, — though the proof cannot be
stated here, and must be sought in the Commentaries on the
books in question, — the Mosaic authorship of the first four
books of the Pent, cannot be sustained. JE and P were
composed at two widely different periods of Israelitish history,
* He does this, to some extent, for the laws of JE (i6^'^^), but not for
those of P. — Comp., also, Westphal, pp. 172 ff., 231 ff., 241 fF.
t Similarly Dean (now Bishop) Perowne (Contemp. Rev. Jan. 1888, p.
144) : " The book is in style quite unlike the other books of the Hexateuch :
it stands absolutely alone. If it is the work of Moses, the other books
cannot claim his authorship." On P's style, cf. L.O.T. pp. 122-128.
xlii INTRODUCTION
and both, there are the strongest reasons for supposing, long
subsequent to Moses. Of course, for those who admit this,
the post-Mosaic authorship of Dt. follows at once ; for, as
was shown above (pp. viiif., xvf.), it is dependent upon, and
consequently later than, JE.
This conclusion, to which different lines of argument
independently converge, is supported by other indications.
There are passages, for instance, in Dt., showing that the
author lived at a distance from the period which he describes.
Thus, if i^ ("eleventh month") be compared with Nu. 33^8
(*' fifth month"), which fixes the date of Nu. 2022-28^ it appears
that the whole of the events reviewed in 22-329 had taken
place during the six months preceding the time when, if Moses
be the author, the discourse must have been delivered. In
such a situation, however, the repeated at that time {2^
^4. 8. 12. 18. 21. 23^^ as also unto this day in 3^*, though suitable
when a longer interval had elapsed, appears inappropriate.
C. 5^ and ii^-^ point in the same direction. The writer,
though aware as a fact (82- ■*) of the 40 years' wanderings,
does not appear fully to realize the length of the interval, and
identifies those whom he addresses with the generation that
came out of Egypt in a manner which betrays that he is not
speaking as a contemporary. In 2^2b («» as Israel did unto the
land of his possession, which Jehovah gave him ") there is an
evident anachronism : however, some writers have treated the
antiquarian notices 2^^-^^' 20-23 (though otherwise in the style of
Dt. and similar to 3«'ii'i3b ijso) as glosses. The expression,
'•when ye came forth out of Egypt," not merely in 24^ 251^,
but also in 23^ W, of an incident quite at the end of the 40
years' wanderings (cf. 446b. 46bj^ could not have been used
naturally by Moses, speaking less than six months afterwards,
but testifies to the writer of a later age, in which the 40 years
had dwindled to a point.
That Dt. is of later origin than the age of Moses may be
inferred, further, from two other considerations, (i) The use
of the phrase " beyond Jordan " (HITlI l^)/?) for the country East
of Jordan, in Dt. i^- ^ 38 441- 4«- 47. 49 (as elsewhere in the Pent. :
comp. Nu. 22^ 34^^), exactly as in Jos. 2^0 'f 9^^ &c. Jud. 5^'
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY xliii
lo®, shows that the author was a resident in Western Palestine.
It is indeed sometimes alleged that the expression had a fixed
geographical sense (like Gallia Transalpina, &c.), and was
used as a standing designation of the trans-Jordanic territory,
irrespectively of the actual position of the speaker or writer ;
but Dt, 320.25 ii3o and Jos. 5^ 9^ xz^ (where it is used of
Western Palestine), show that this assumption is incorrect.
If, now, its meaning was not thus fixed, its employment by a
writer, whether in E. or W. Palestine, of the side on which he
himself stood, is difficult to understand, unless the habit had
arisen of viewing the regions on the two sides of Jordan as
contrasted with each other ; * and this of itself implies residence
in Palestine. It is, of course, conceivable that this was a habit
of the Canaanites ; but it can hardly be considered likely that
the usage suggested by it passed from them to the Israelites,
before the latter had set foot in the land, and experienced the
conditions adapted to naturalize it among them. The use of
the expression in Dt. (as in the Pent, generally) exactly as in
Jos. 2^^ 8ic. creates a very strong presumption that the passages
in question were all written under similar local conditions, t
(2) The law respecting the place of sacrifice, as formulated
in Dt., must have arisen at a much later age than that of
Moses. As shown in the notes on c. 12 (pp. 136-138), while
Dt. insists with great emphasis that all sacrifices are to be
ofi'ered only at a single sanctuary, the spot chosen by Jehovah
"out of all the tribes to set His name there," the law of Ex.
2o24 permits altars to be built, and sacrifice to be off'ered upon
them, in any part of the land without distinction ; and with
• Hence its use in Jos. 5^ 9^ 12', written (presumably) in W. Palestine.
t So Dean (now Bishop) Perowne, Contemp. Rev. Jan. 1888, p. 143 f.
In Dt. ^' ^ the (assumed) position of the speaker is naturally maintained.
In V.*, on the contrary, in a phrase of common occurrence (4'*'' Jos. 2^' 9^"),
as in Jos. i^**^', the point of view of the wrzV^r unconsciously betrays itself.
Nu. 32" nmiD jTi'n 13VD . . . n^m jit'? nayo, where the expression is used
of both sides of Jordan, though it has been referred to, has no bearing on
the present question : the usage here falls into the category of passages
in which, in accordance with Heb. idiom, the same expression repeated
acquires a contrasted meaning in virtue of the juxtaposition (cf. i S. 14*
2o2i. 22 232*). From the use of the term in Nu. 32^" nothing can conse-
quently be inferred as to its force, when used absolutely, as in Dt. i^"' &c.
xliv INTRODUCTION
the principle thus laid down the practice of the age from
Joshua to Solomon (and even later) conforms : during this
period mention is frequently made of altars being built, or
sacrifice offered, at places other than that at which the
Ark was stationed, without any indication (and this is the
important point), on the part of either the actors or the
narrator, that an irregularity is being committed (see esp.
I S. 9^2'^* lo^' ^ ; I K. 18^''). It is, of course, true that the non-
observance of a law does not of necessity imply its non-
existence ; nevertheless, when men who might fairly be
presumed to know of it, if it existed, not only make no attempt
to put it in force, but disregard it without explanation or
excuse, such an inference cannot be deemed an extravagant
one.*
The composition of Dt. must thus be placed at a period long
subsequent to the age of Moses. Is fc possible to determine
its date more precisely ? The terminus ad quern is not difficult
to fix; it must have been written previously to the i8th year
of King Josiah (b.c. 621), the year in which Hilkiah made his
memorable discovery of the " book of the law " in the Temple
* A. van Hoonacker {^Le lieu du culte dans la Legislation rituelle des
Hdbreux, 1894) interprets Ex. 20^ of private altars, and seeks to show
that the laws of Ex. 21-23 recognise only one legitimate public sanctuary,
so that the law of Dt. 12 is not the innovation that it is commonly sup-
posed to be. It is true, no doubt, that critics have sometimes unduly
minimized the importance of the sanctuary at which the Ark was stationed
— whether at Shiloh or elsewhere, or afterwards at Jerusalem — before the
Deuteronomic legislation : de facto, the sanctuary which, in a special
sense, was Jehovah's dwelling-place must always have had the pre-
eminence (cf. Ex. 23^^) ; and the Temple of Solomon, by its splendour, and
the associations of veneration and regard with which time naturally in-
vested it, must have tended more and more to throw into the shade the
minor local sanctuaries ; still, in face of the evidence of the historical
books, it is difficult to think that sacrifice at other spots was regarded as
actually illegitimate. The truth seems rather to be that centralizing
tendencies had manifested themselves long before the age of either
Manasseh or Josiah ; in Dt. they are brought to a head, the preference,
or pre-eminence, which the Temple had long enjoyed de facto is confirmed
to it de jure, and that in such a manner as to secure for it at the same
time exclusive rights, as against all other sanctuaries. The law of Dt.
remains an innovation ; but it is an innovation for which the soil had long
been preparing.
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY xlv
(2 K. 22^*'^'). For the narrative of 2 K. 22-23 makes it plain
that the book so found must have embraced Deuteronomy ; *
for although the bare description of its contents, and of the
effect produced by it upon those who heard it (2211- ^^- ^^) might
suit Lev. 26 equally with Dt. 28, yet the allusions to the
covenant contained in it (232' 3. 21^^ which refer evidently to Dt.
(28^9 (29I) : cf. 298- 20. 24(9. 21. 25)^^ and the fact that in the reforma-
tion based upon it, Josiah carries out, step by step, the funda-
mental principles of Dt.,t leave no doubt upon the matter.
How much earlier than B.C. 621 Dt. may be, is more
difficult to determine. The following considerations, how-
* Or, at least, c. 5-26. 28 (p. Ixv). It cannot be shown to have included
more than Dt. (see Schrader, Einl. § 206 i, c ; Dillm. p. 613 ; OTJC.^^. 258 ;
Westphal, p. 289 ft'. ; &c.) ; but that is immaterial to the present argument.
t Viz. the abolition of all heathen rites and superstitions, and the
centralization of Jehovah's worship at Jerusalem: comp. 2 K. 23^- '*'''^'
(worship of the host of heaven put down) with Dt. 17^; 23^*^* (priests and
sanctuaries of various "other gods") with Dt. 6^^ 11^* 17^ &c.; 23** '^- ^*'
•^•''(the high-places, with their altars, "pillars," and Ash^rim) with Dt.
12^'- ; 23® (the Ash^rah in the Temple) with Dt. 16^' ; 23^ (the Kedeshim) with
Dt. 23^^ (^^*; 23^** (provision made for the support of the disestablished
priests out of the Temple dues) with Dt. 18®* ; 23^" (Molech-worship) with
Dt, 18^*^*; 23^^-^ (the passover m Jerusalem) with Dt. i6"-; 23-* (consulters
of ghosts and familiar spirits) with Dt. 18^'; v.-^ (Josiah's piety) with Dt.
6^. If the reader will peruse consecutively (cf. Cheyne, Jeremiah, his
Life and Times, p. 50 f.) Dt. 6^-6- i^-is 122-7 1621-22 j^-is 28, he will have an
idea of the passages which may have principally impressed Josiah. The
covenant which the king and nation solemnly enter into, to observe the
newly discovered code, is also described in terms which point unmistak-
ably to Dt. (2 K. 23' "to keep his commandments, and his testimonies,
and his statutes, with all the heart and with all the soul " : see p. Ixxxi f.,
Nos. 37, 51). The title book of the laiv (2 K. 238- 1') recalls Dt. 28'''i 29-0(21)
30'" 31-* Jos. \^ 8^ (all of the Deut. code). Whether any weight is to be
attached to the reminiscence in 221** of Dt. 28^ is less certain ; for though
in substance I^uldah's prophecy is no doubt authentic, it is pretty clear
that it owes its form to the Deuteronomic compiler of Kings, so that the
reminiscence may be due to him rather than to Huldah herself. The
expression "confirm the words," &c. (2 K. 22^"^), recalls Dt. -7^; but it
is doubtful whether this verse is part of the original Dt. (p. 300). The
law of Dt. 18^"* was not, however, fully carried out : the disestablished
priests of the high-places, though they were received by their "brethren"
at Jerusalem, and allow*^ a share in the Temple dues, were not permitted
to minister at the altar (2 K. 23'), — whether Josiah was not able to enforce
this provision on account of the opposition of Hilkiah and the other
Zadokite priests, or whether they were felt to be disqualified for such
sacred duties by the part they had taken in idolatrous rites.
xlvi INTRODUCTION
ever, tend to fix its date more closely, and to show that it
belongs, most probably, either to the reigfn of Manassen, or to
the early years of the reign of Josiah.
1. The differences between the laws of Dt. and those of
Ex. 21-23 t^"^ ^o show that the two Codes are separated from
each other by a considerable interval of time, in the course of
which the social and political organization of the community
had materially developed, and the Code of Ex. had ceased to
be adequate to the nation's needs.*
2. The law of the kingdom (ly^^-^o) is coloured by reminis-
cences of the monarchy of Solomon. The argument does not
deny that Moses may have made provision for the establish-
ment of a monarchy in Israel, but affirms that the form in
which the provision is here cast bears the stamp of a later age.
3. The terms of Dt. 178-is (cf. 19^'^), in which the con-
stitution of the supreme tribunal is not prescribed, but repre-
sented as already known (cf. p. 207), appear to presuppose the
existence of the judicature, instituted (according to 2 Ch.
198-11) by Jehoshaphat.
4. The forms of idolatry alluded to, especially the worship
of the " Host of heaven" (4!^ 17^), point to a date not earlier
than the 2nd half of the 8th cent. B.C. It is true, the worship
of the sun and moon is ancient, as is attested even by the
names of places in Canaan : but in the notices (which are
frequent) of idolatrous practices in the historical books from
Judges to Kings, no mention of the " Host of heaven" occurs
until the reign of Ahaz ; and in the 7th cent, it is alluded to
frequently.! The temptation to worship "other gods " is the
pressing danger of the age, both in Dt. and in Jeremiah.
5. The influence of Dt. upon subsequent writers is clear
* Cf. Ch^yne, Jeremiah, p. 71 : "The Israel of Dt. is separated from
the Israel of the Exodus by a complete social revolution. The nomad
tribes have grown into a settled and wealthy community (notice the phrase
'the elders of the city,' 19" &c.), whose organisation needs no longer to
be constituted, but only to be reformed." Why the new features in the
legislation of Dt. cannot be accounted for by the altered circumstances of
the nation at the close of the 40 years' wanderings, is shown on p. xxxviii.
t2 K. 23" (Ahaz); 2 K. 218- », cf. as*-"-"-" (Manasseh) ; 2 K. 17"
(Deut.) the reference is vague : Zeph. i» Jer. 8* 19" ; f^ 44!^ ; Ez. 8i« refer
to a later period. It was introduced, in all probability, from Babylonia.
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY xlvii
aiid indisputable. It is remarkable, now, that the early
prophets, Amos, Hosea, and the undisputed portions of Isaiah,
show no certain traces of this influence; Jeremiah exhibits
marks of it on nearly every page ; Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah
are also evidently influenced by it. If Dt. were composed
between Isaiah and Jeremiah, these facts would be exactly
accounted for.
6. The language and style of Dt., clear and flowing, free
from archaisms (see § 5), but purer than that of Jeremiah,
would suit the same period. Dillm. (p. 611) remarks justly
that the style of Dt., especially in its rhetorical fulness and
breadth of diction, implies a long development of the art of
public oratory, and is not of a character to belong to the first
age of Hebrew literature.
7. The prophetic teaching of Dt., the dominant theological
ideas, the points of view under which the laws are presented,
the principles by which conduct is estimated, presuppose a
relatively advanced stage of theological reflexion, as they also
approximate to what is found in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
8. In Dt. i622 we read, "Thou shalt not set thee up a
mazzehah (obelisk), which Jehovah thy God hateth." Would
Isaiah, it is asked, if he had known of such a law, have
adopted the mazzehah (19^®) as a symbol of the future con-
version of Egypt to the true faith ? * Or, if he had known of
* Cf. OTJC- p. 355 ; Ryle, Canon of the OT. p. 56 : and comp. below,
p. 204. The supposition that obelisks connected with heathen places of
worship are meant in Dt. 16^^ is not favoured by the context (v.^^'') ; the
use of these has, moreover, been proscribed before, 7^ 12^ (repeated from
Ex. 23^ 34^^)' The older legislation enjoins the destruction of heathen
altars and obelisks ; but contains no prohibition corresponding to Dt. 16^:
in Ex. 24'' obelisks are erected beside an altar by Moses. The argument
is sometimes met by the answer that the obelisk spoken of by Isaiah was
a commemorative one, intended merely to indicate to the traveller entering
Egypt, that it was a country sacred to Jehovah. But it could not have
served this purpose, without possessing some religious associations ; and
these, according to Dt. 16", were of a character which Jehovah "hated."
At the same time, the argument does not possess the cogency of those of
a broader and more general character : for a single, isolated law, in the
face of opposing custom, might drop out of notice ; and the prophet's
figure would in that case have been merely suggested to him by prevalent
popular usage.
xlviii INTRODUCTION
Dt. 14^ would he have said (22^2) that /ehovah ** calleA'* to
a practice which is there prohibited ?
9. The law of Dt. 1820-22 presupposes an age in which the
true prophets found themselves in conflict with numerous and
influential false prophets, and it became necessary to supply
Israel with the means of distinguishing them, i.e. the period
from the 8th cent, onwards (Dillm. pp. 331, 612).
ID. In general, as Oettli (p. 16) remarks, both the religious
and the national experiences presupposed by Dt. are much
wider than those of the Mosaic age can have been.
So soon as Dt. is recognized as a work of the 7th cent. B.C.,
the phenomena which were so perplexing, upon the hypothesis
of its Mosaic authorship, are at once readily explicable. For
history, it was dependent (in the main) upon JE : that was the
popular narrative of the oHgines of Israel : the narrative of P
(if indeed it already existed) had not yet been combined with
JE, and was little known. The author, however, not being
the author of J E as well, follows it freely, sometimes perhaps
interweaving reminiscences from memory ; hence he now and
then inadvertently places a clause in a new setting (p. xviii),
or is guilty of a slight inconsistency. The incidents mentioned
by him without the authority of JE (p. xviif.) may have been
derived by him in some cases from an independent source,
oral or written : for others, notably those narrated in the
earlier books at points of juncture between the narratives of
JE and P, his source was far more probably JE itself, in parts
which the last compiler of the Hexateuch sacrificed when he
combined JE with P, but which, at the time when Dt. was
written, were still read by the author in their integrity. In the
legal parts of his work, the modifications and additions which
the legislation of Dt. presents, when compared with that of
JE, are simply a consequence of the more varied needs of the
society for which it was designed. The sparseness of refer-
ences to priestly institutions, and the discrepancies with P
(p. xxxix), are explained at once, when it is remembered that
many of these institutions had not yet reached the form in
which they are systematized in *:he Priests' Code, and that the
author, while free from any desire to depreciate ceremonial
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY xHx
observances (p. xxx), was nevertheless a man whose interests
were chiefly centred in the prophetical aspects of religion.
The question whether Dt. is to be assigned to the reign oi
Manasseh or Josiah is a more difficult one. Let us consider
the historical conditions of the 7th cent. B.C., and the motives,
or influences, under which Dt. may have been composed.
Throughout his long prophetic career, Isaiah had pro-
claimed the advent, so soon as Syrian or Assyrian troubles
were over, and Judah was able again to breathe freely, of an
ideal state of purity and blessedness; Judah was then to
realize its ideal character of a "holy nation"; her citizens,
from the king downwards, were to exhibit ideal excellences ;
a great moral and spiritual regeneration was to be effected,
and the national character was to be radically transformed.*
Publicly and privately, this was the teaching which Isaiah
reiterated : and upon all spiritually minded Israelites, we may
be sure, his powerful personality, and noble ideas, made a
profound impression. At the time, one of the chief obstacles
to purity of religion appears to have been the local shrines,
or " high-places " (p. 139) : here the worship of Jehovah could
be despiritualized, and even contaminated with heathen rites,
more readily than was possible — except under a distinctly
idolatrous king — at the Temple of Jerusalem. Isaiah, how-
ever, though he speaks of images with reprobation and dis-
paragement,! does not (in his extant prophecies) wage war
against the local sanctuaries as such,| and hardly even alludes
to the worship of " other gods." § It is the moral shortcomings
of his contemporaries which stir him most deeply, and fill a
more prominent place in his writings than the denunciation of
heathen rites. As yet, notwithstanding the patronage of
Ahaz (2 K. 16^, of. 23^2^^ distinctively heathen influences were
not apparently so aggressive in Judah as they were destined
to become shortly afterwards. Hezekiah, however, appears
to have seen that any serious religious reform must begin at
* Is. i26'- 43-6 29^8-24 3020-22 3,7 32I-8.W-17 336-8, See the writer's Isaiah,
his Life and Times, pp. 22, 26, 58, 62, iiof.
t 28- 18. 20 ,^8 302:! 3 J 7. + cf. however, i»
§ Cf. \'f^^. This term, so common in Dt., Jen, and other Deutero-
nomic writers (p. Ixxviii), is not found in Isaiah.
D
I INTRODUCTION
the local sanctuaries ; and hence (though the description may
attribute to him more than he actually accomplished *) he
removed, it is said, the high-places, and commanded all men
to worship before the altar in Jerusalem {2 K. i8*-^^ 21^).
This, we may conclude, was the practical form in which Isaiah's
teaching took shape in Hezekiah's mind, and in which he
sought to give effect to Isaiah's ideals.
But whatever Hezekiah effected by this measure, was very
soon undone. Under his successor, Manasseh, who occupied
the throne for nearly 50 years, a violent and determined
reaction in favour of heathenism set in. Not only were the
high-places re-established ; but distinctively heathen cults
were so patronized by the king that they threatened to super-
sede altogether the service of Jehovah. The worship of Ba'al,
of the Ash^rah, and of the "host of heaven," was carried on
in the courts of the Temple itself; the odious rites of Molech
(p. 222 f.) were revived; various other superstitious or
immoral practices also became fashionable.! Nor would
Manasseh brook opposition : the loyal servants of Jehovah,
who resisted his innovations, were relentlessly persecuted and
slain; the "innocent blood," which he shed in Jerusalem, is a
standing charge against his memory. J The prophecy Mic.
6I-76 is an interesting and instructive monument of this reign :
for, on the one hand, it presents a vivid picture of the moral
corruption of the age (G^o-^^ yi-6)^ and of the infatuated eager-
ness with which the people pressed forward to propitiate the
deity even with the sacrifice of their dearest {6^) ; and, on the
other hand, it supplies evidence that the voice of the prophets
was not silenced, but that they could still proclaim, in accents
of calm resignation and trust, that what Jehovah demanded
of His worshippers was not material offerings, however costly,
but "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God" (68).
With the accession of Josiah (b.c. 639), there came no
doubt a change. The readiness with which Josiah yielded
himself to the principles of Deuteronomy, and the terms in
• Cf. OTJC.^ pp. 355, 357 ; Montefiore, Nibb. Led. p. 164.
t 2 K. zx^-"^ I cf 23^-'- ^'•'^\ 5: 2 K. 2ii« 24* ; cf. Jer. 2«».
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY U
which Jeremiah aUudes to him (Jer. 22i5t>-i«), combine to show
that his character was that of a religiously-minded, amiable
prince, who would be the last to follow in the footsteps of
Manasseh, or willingly be disloyal to Israel's creed. The
prophetical party, and their adherents, could now therefore
lift up their heads in peace ; and active persecution ceased.
But a child of eight could not be expected to inaugurate at
once a new policy : nor, as a matter of fact, for some i8 years
was any material alteration effected ; the syncretistic and
idolatrous worship continued ; even the Temple was not
purged of its heathen disfigurements. These and other
reforms were only carried out in consequence of the effect
wrought upon Josiah by Deuteronomy, after its discovery in
the Temple, in his i8th year (2 K. 22-23).
Our information respecting the 55 years of Manasseh's
reign, and the first 17 of Josiah's, is fragmentary: it is only
by conjecture that we can either picture to ourselves the con-
dition to which the prophetical party was reduced by the
persecuting measures of Manasseh, or imagine the steps
which they may have taken for the purpose of arresting, if
possible, the downward movement of the nation. But the
7th century, it is evident, marked a crisis in the religious
history of Judah : the longer Manasseh's reign continued, the
more critical must the times have seemed to the true wor-
shippers of Jehovah: nor, even after Josiah's accession, could
the crisis have been considered to be past, so long as the
heathen practices sanctioned by his grandfather maintained
their hold upon the nation. Deuteronomy represents the first
serious attempt made to counteract the tendencies of the age.
It may have been in the dark days of Manasseh, when the
spiritual energy of prophecy, no longer able, as of yore, to
make its voice heard openly among the people, nevertheless
refused to be suppressed, and, hopeful of better times, pro-
vided in anticipation a spiritual rallying-point, round which
the disorganized forces of the national religion might under
happier auspices one day range themselves again. Or it may
have been later, when the character of the young King Josiah
allorded promise of speedier success, that the needful stimulus
Hi INTRODUCTION
was found, and that the prophets, encouraged by the brightei
prospect, resolved upon putting forward the spiritual require-
ments of the age, in a shape which, if circumstances favoured,
might serve more immediately as a basis of reform.
Such, at any rate, whichever the age to which it belongs,
was the aim which the prophetic author of Dt. set himself.
The means which he adopted for giving it practical effect were
well chosen. His object was to quicken the national con-
science, and at the same time to bring it into touch with the
principles which regulated the national life. Accordingly he
comes forward neither solely as a prophet, nor solely as a
legalist. The prophet, as such, though he asserted with
noble eloquence the claims of a spiritual religion and a pure
morality, was apt to be too abstract and ideal in his teaching
to influence the masses of his countrymen ; and the mere
promulgation of a collection of laws would obviously be
valueless as a stimulus to moral action. The author adopted
accordingly a method for which, on a smaller scale, there was
already a precedent in the "Book of the Covenant"; he
selected such laws as he deemed most important for his
people to observe, he presented them in a popular dress, and
he so combined them with homiletic introductions and com-
ments as to make them the vehicle of a powerful appeal in the
interests of spiritual religion. If the religious life of the
nation was to be successfully reformed, there was need, he
saw, of a reaffirmation in emphatic terms of the old national
creed, and of the practical consequences which followed
logically from it ; the principles which Moses had long ago
proclaimed, as the foundation of national well-being, must be
reasserted ; the exclusive claims of Jehovah upon the Israel-
ite's loyalty, and the repudiation of every practice and observ-
ance inconsistent with them, must be again insisted on ; an
effort must be made to reinfuse the national life, in the more
complex form which it had now assumed, with the spirit of
Moses; the old laws must (where necessary) be so adjusted to
the needs of the times, as to constitute an efTicient safeguard
against the dangers which threatened the religion of Israel.
This was the aim of Deuteronomy, viewed in the light of the
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY IHl
age which gave it birth. It was a great manifesto against
the dominant tendencies of the time. It was an endeavour to
realize in practice the ideals of the prophets, especially of
Hosea and Isaiah, to transform the Judah demoralized by
Manasseh into the "holy nation " pictured in Isaiah's vision,
and to awaken in it that devotion to God, and love for man,
which Hosea had declared to be the first of human duties
(p. xxvii f.). The author exhausts all his eloquence in setting
forth, as impressively as possible, the truths which he desires
Israel to lay to heart : in noble and melodious periods he
dilates upon the goodness of Jehovah, and the claims which
He has in consequence upon Israel's allegiance ; warm-hearted
and generous himself, he strives, in works aglow with fervour
and affection, to evoke corresponding emotions in Israel's
breast; while now and again, adopting a graver mood, he
points ominously to the dark background of warning, such as
the fate of the Northern kingdom brought only too conspicuously
before him. "Thus were the old laws presented in a popular
form, as the 'people's book,' combining creed and law, ex-
hortation and denunciation. It was a prophet's formulation
of 'the law of Moses,' adapted to the requirements of that
later time. 'The law,' in the guise of prophecy, this might
become a spiritual rallying-point for Judah and Jerusalem ; it
might be the means of upholding spiritual life even in the
overthrow of national hopes." *
If Dt. were written under Manasseh, t it is easy to under-
stand how, after having been deposited for safety in the
Temple, or taken there by some priest, it might, in the neglect
and disorder into which during that reign the arrangements
of the Temple were suffered to fall, have been mislaid and lost ;
and the surprise occasioned by its discovery, during some
repairs, by the high priest Hilkiah, is thus readily accounted for.
By others, on the contrary, the calm and hopeful spirit which
the author displays, and the absence even of any covert allusion
• Ryle, Canon of the OT. p. 60.
t So Ewald, Hist. i. 127, iv. 221 ; Bleek, Introd, § 126; W. R. Smith,
Add. Answer, p. 78 ; Kittel, Gesch. der Hebr. \. 57-59 ; Ryle, Canon, pp.
54 f., 56, 60; Wildeboer, Letterkunde des Ouden Verbonds (1893), p. 220.
Hv INTRODUCTION
to the special troubles of Manasseh's time, are considered to
be objections to that date : the book, it is argued, is better
understood as the direct outcome of the reforming tendencies
which the early years of Josiah must have called forth, and as
designed from the first with the view of promoting the ends
which its author labours to attain.* Those who assign Dt.
to this date sometimes suppose, moreover, that the party of
reform not only designed Dt. with this practical aim in view,
but also devised the means by which it should be brought
under the notice of the king, whose friendly co-operation was
essential to the success of their plans. Hilkiah undertook the
responsibility of doing this. He seems, it is said by those
who adopt this view, to have so acted as to give the appear-
ance of accident to a long preconcerted design. Shaphan,
the "scribe," or chancellor, having been sent to the Temple
with a message from Josiah, relating to some repairs that
were being executed there, Hilkiah declared that he had
"found" it in the Temple; he handed it to Shaphan, who in
his turn laid it before the king. The sequel is well known.
The king, when he heard it read, was amazed to find how
its fundamental principles had been disregarded ; he hastened
to secure the co-operation of the people of the land, and at
once took active steps to give them practical effect (2 K.
22-23).
The grounds for referring the composition of Dt. to the
reign of Josiah in preference to that of Manasseh are not
decisive : from the nature of the case, an exhortation placed
in Moses' mouth could not be expected to contain allusions to
the special circumstances either of Manasseh's or of Josiah's
reign ; and the narrative of the discovery certainly supports
the view that the book which was found was one which had
* So Reuss, La Bible, Traduction nouvelle, &c. (1879) i. i56fF.; Gesch.
der Heil. Schr. AT.s, §§ 286-288; Kuenen, Hex. p. 214; Dillm. (less con-
fidently) p. 613 f.; Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 75 ff.; Founders of OT. Crit.
p. 267 ff.; Stade, Gesch. i. 650 ff.; Cornill, Einl. § 9. 3 ; Holzinger, Einl.
p. 327 f.; Montefiore, Hibb. Led. p. 177 ff. ; &c. Delitzsch {ZKWL. 1880,
p. 509) treats Dt. as anterior to Isaiah: VVestphal (p. 269 ff.) and Oettii
(p. 19 f.) both argue that it must have given the impulse to Hezekiah's
reform (2 K. iS''-^-'). Konig, Einl. p. 217, places it "shortly after 722."
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY Iv
been lost for some time, not one which had just been written.
Nor, even if Dt. were composed under Josiah, is there sufficient
reason for supposing- that Hilkiah acted as the agent of the
reformers in the manner suggested. The book, even though
intended to promote a reform, might well have been written
while Josiah was yet a child, and placed at once in the Temple
— perhaps by the side of other legal documents — in hopes that
the time might come when some practical use could be made
of it : Hilkiah need have known nothing about it ; his dis-
covery of it would then have been (as it purports to be) purely
accidental.*
To this conclusion, that Dt. was written in the age of
either Manasseh or Josiah, it is objected that the book plainly
produced its effect on account of the authority which it was
believed to possess, in other words, on account of its claiming,
and being supposed, to be the work of Moses : if Josiah had
not believed the ancient law-book of Israel to have been dis-
covered, W'Ould he have attached any weight to its words ?
An attempt is indeed made, it is said, to parry this objection by
the allegation that the authority which lay behind Dt. was the
power of the prophetic teaching, and that the eflfect which it
produced was due to its throwing into a more practical form
the ends aimed at by Hezekiah and Isaiah ; but if this be the
case, it is replied, seeing that the prophets themselves were
the accredited ministers of Jehovah, why was not the appeal
made directly to the Divine teaching upon their lips ? Why
should the mere fact of this teaching being presented in the
form of a Code give it a force which no prophetic utterances
had ever possessed ? Its force must have been due principally
to the name of Moses, which it bore ; and if the prophets were
aware that it did not really possess his authority, then not only
• That Hilkiah had a hand in the composition of Dt. is not probable :
for Dt. (as has been often remarked) does not emphasize the interests of
the Jerusalem priesthood (cf. OTJCJ^ p. 363; Dillm. p. 614), but tends
(18^"®) to place the country Levites, coming to officiate at the central
sanctuary, upon the same footing as the priests already resident there.
It was Hilkiah's merit that he perceived at once the importance of Dt., and
co-operated readily with Josiah in carrying out the reformation upon the
'ines which it laid down.
Ivi INTRODUCTION
are they guilty of an act questionable morally, but the course
taken by them is a confession of moral impotence and failure :
they resort to an external name to accomplish what centuries
of their own teaching had failed to effect.*
In estimating these objections, it must be remembered,
firstly, that what is essentially new in Dt. is not the matter,
but th& form. Dt,, says Dillmann truly, t " is anything but an
original law-book." The laws which agree with those of the
Book of the Covenant can be demonstrated to be old : those
which agree with H have (p. xi) the presumption of being based
upon some common older source ; the priestly usages alluded
to are evidently not innovations : the laws peculiar to Dt.
have, with very few exceptions, the appearance either of being
taken directly, with unessential modifications of form, from
older law-books, J or else of being accepted applications of
long established principles, § or the formulation of ancient
customs, II expressed in Deuteronomic phraseology. And such
laws as are really new in Dt., are but the logical and consistent
development of Mosaic principles. U Even the law for the
centralization of worship, it is probable (p. xliv), is only
relatively an innovation : it accentuated, with limitations
demanded by the dangers of the age, the ancient pre-eminence
of "Jehovah's house" (Ex. 23^^), focalizing, at the same time,
tendencies which had long been operative, and which the
prophets themselves had adopted and approved. All Hebrew
legislation, both civil and ceremonial, however, was (as a fact)
derived ultimately from Moses, though a comparison of the
• Dean (now Bishop) Perowne, Contetnp. Rev. Feb. 1888, p. 255 fF.
t Pref. to Ex. Lev. p. viii.
X Especially many of those in 21 ^"-25** (cf. p. 244).
§ As 178-13 i9'6-2i (Dillm. p. 604).
II As 21^-* 22i^-" 25«-i<' (Dillm.) : cf. Oettli, p. 16 ; also Reuss, La Bible,
&c. i. 160 : " La seule innovation veritable, que nous sachions, c'^tait la
defense absolue du culte hors de Jt^rusalem." It is this fact which explains
the ready acceptance of Dt. by the king- and nation : it was not sprung
upon the people as a code of laws unheard of before ; it was felt, as soon
as it was discovered, to be (in the main) merely the reaffirmation of laws
and usages which had been long familiar to the nation, though in particular
cases they might have fallen into neglect.
H Oettli, p. 17.
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY Ivii
different Codes in the Pentateuch shows that the laws cannot
all in their present form be Mosaic : the Mosaic nucleus was
expanded and developed in various directions, as national life
became more complex, and religious ideas matured. Never-
theless, all Hebrew laws are formulated under Moses' name, —
a fact which shows that there was a continuous Mosaic tradition^
embracing a moral, a ceremonial, and a civil element: the
new laws, or extensions of old laws, which as time went on
were seen to be desirable, were accommodated to this tradition,
and incorporated into it, being afterwards enforced by the
priestly or civil authority as the case might be.* Those who
concede the existence of such a practice, on the part of
Hebrew legislators, will find it remove difficulties which the
critical view of Dt. may otherwise present. If it was the
habit thus to identify the stream with the source, and to con-
nect old laws, extended or modified, or even new laws, with
the name of the original lawgiver, then the attribution of the
laws in Dt. to Moses ceases to be a proceeding out of harmony
with the ideas and practice of the Hebrew nation. It is no
fraudulent invocation of the legislator's name : it is simply
another application of an established custom.
Nor, in judging of the yo?7?i of Dt., should it be forgotten
that ancient writers permitted themselves much freedom in
ascribing to historical characters speeches which they could
not have actually delivered in the shape in which they are
now assigned to them. The similarity, in many cases, of
the speeches to the narrative in the OT. is an indication that
* Comp. Ryle, Canon of the OT. p. 31 : " The fact, now so clearly estab-
lished, that the laws of Israel, as of other nations, only reached their final
literary form by development through gradual stages, must show conclus-
ively that Moses was not the writer of them in the form in which they have
come down to us, and in which they were certainly known after the exile.
But just as, in Dt. si*""*, Moses himself is said to have committed to
writing the law, which formed the nucleus of the Deuteronomic legislation,
so we understand the legislation which was initiated by Moses to have
become expanded into the complex system of laws included in the Penta-
teuch" (cf. also p. 22 ff.). The laws of JE, Dt., H, and P, are codifica-
tions of the legislative material thus expanded from a Mosaic nucleus,
which differ from one another partly in the age at which they were made,
partly in the purposes for which they were designed.
Ivill INTRODUCTION
the Biblical writers followed the same practice : the books of
Joshua, Kings, and Chronicles, for instance, afford particu-
larly clear examples of speeches either entirely composed, or
enlarged, by the respective compilers, — in the Chronicles,
David, Solomon, and various early prophets even express
ideas and use idioms which are distinctively late, and are
mostly peculiar to the compiler of the Chronicles himself.* In
cases where the narrators are nearly contemporary with the
events which they describe they may have had information as
to what was actually said, which they may merely have re-cast
in their own words ; but very often this was certainly not the
case, and the speeches simply give imaginative expression to
thoughts or feelings appropriate to the character and occasion
to which they are referred. Deuteronomy, upon the critical
view of its authorship, is merely an example, upon an
extended scale, of the same practice, which has many and
admirable precedents in the literature of the world. The
imaginative revivification of the past, by means of discourses,
conversations, and even of actions, attributed dramatically to
characters who have figured upon the stage of history, has
been abundantly exemplified in literature : the educational
influence, and moral value, of such creations of human art
have been universally allowed : the dialogues of Plato, the
epic of Dante, the tragedies of Shakespeare, the Paradise Lost,
and even the poem of Job, to name but a few of the great
imaginative creations of genius, have never been condemned
as immoral frauds, because the characters introduced in them
did not always — or ever — use the actual words attributed to
them. But the author, in each case, having a message to
deliver, or a lesson to teach, placed it in the mouth of the
person to whose character it was appropriate, or whose per-
sonality would give it force, and so presented it to the world.
Mutatis mutandis, the procedure of the Deuteronomist was
similar. No elaborate literary machinery was needed by him : a
single character would suffice. He places Moses on the stage,
and exhibits him pleading his case with the degenerate Israel
of Josiah's day. In doing this, he assumes no unjustifiable
* See, for illustrations, the Expositor, April, 1895, p. 241 ff.
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY lix
lib«?rty, and makes no unfair use of Moses' name : he does not
invest him with a fictitious character ; he does not claim his
authority for ends which he would have disavowed ; he merely
develops, with great moral energy and rhetorical power, and
in a form adapted to the age in which he lived himself, prin-
ciples which (as will appear immediately) Moses had beyond
all question advocated, and arguments which he would have
cordially accepted as his own.
Secondly, as regards the motives which induced Josiah to
carry out his reformation : if Josiah would not have instituted
his reforms, unless he had believed Dt. to be written by
Moses, was he led to act as he did act, under false pretences ?
Here it must be observed that the point of capital importance
in Dt. is the attitude of the nation to Jehovah : loyalty to Him
is the basis of the promises, disloyalty to Him brings in its
train the terrible consequences in which Josiah, when he heard
them, deemed his people to be already involved. Now, if theie
is one thing which (even upon the most strictly critical
premises) is certain about Moses, it is that he laid the greatest
stress upon Jehovah's being Israel's only God, who tolerated
no other god beside Him, and who claimed to be the sole
object of the Israelite's allegiance.* But these are just the
fundamental principles of Deuteronomy, They are expanded
and emphasized in it with great eloquence and power : but in
substance they are Mosaic ; all that belongs to the post-
Mosaic author, is the rhetorical form in which they are
presented. In yielding therefore to the effect which the
denunciations of Dt. produced upon him, Josiah was not being
won to the cause of truth by false pretences : he was obeying
principles and motives v/hich, in the strictest sense of the
words, were those of Moses. Josiah's reformation was essen-
tially a religious one : its aim was to purify the worship of
Jehovah from heathen elements, which, in principle, Moses
had altogether condemned, though he had not (probably) repro-
bated in words the precise forms which they assumed in the age
of losiah. The law of the single sanctuary is not an end in
itself, it is but a means, propounded (i2'^''^") for the purpose of
* Cornill, Der Israelitische Prophetismus (1894), p. 25 f.
Ix INTRODUCTION
securingf the same end. The denunciations in Dt. ate not
attached to the neglect either of this or of any other particular
enactment : they are attached to the neglect of the Deuteronomic
law generally, and especially to the neglect of its primary
principle, loyalty to Jehovah (425-28 (^\%-\h sisf. iji6f.28 2&\hfi.
3oi''^). The fundamental teaching of Dt., especially that
which exerted the greatest influence over Josiah, thus did
possess Mosaic authority ; nor was the legislator's name
invoked in support of principles which he had not sanctioned,
and would not have approved.
Undoubtedly prophetic sanction underlay Deuteronomy.
The prophetic teaching of the preceding centuries was the
dominant influence under which it was written : its own pro-
phetic authority it bears upon its face ; and, as if that might
not be sufficient, its claims are approved by the prophetess
Huldah. If, then, it be asked why, if the prophets were thus
influential, they were not content to appeal directly to the
Divine word upon their lips, instead of having recourse to
Moses' name, the answer must be that it was because they
were desirous of effecting a systematic reform in the observ-
ance and administration of the la-m. The prophets, as such,
were preachers, not practical reformers : they strove by their
words to win the people to the broad principles of morality and
civil justice ; but when it became necessary to bring these
principles into relation with the statutes of the civil and cere-
monial law, and to show how they should supply motives for
their observance, then the legal form was the natural one to
be adopted, and the prophetic teaching was cast into the form
of a legislative discourse of Moses. Already in the legislation
of JE, moral and religious motives are suggested for the
observance of the laws, though not, of course, so copiously as
in Dt. But the considerations advanced above show that
Moses' name was not resorted to in any improper or unfair
way: it was invoked in accordance with a custom sanctioned
by precedent, and in defence of principles which were no recent
innovation, but had been promulgated by Moses himself.
It will now be apparent how little foundation there is for
the objection, which is not unfrequently heard, that if the
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY Ixi
critical view of Dt. be correct, the book is a '•forgery,' the
author of which sought to shelter himself under a great name,
and to secure by a fiction recognition or authority tor a
number of laws "invented" by himself. The idea that the
laws are the author's "inventions" is entirely out ot the
question : not only would the fact, if true, have been immedi-
ately discovered, and have proved fatal to their acceptance by
the nation ; but (p. Ivi) it is inconsistent with the evidence
supplied by Dt. itself. Certainly, in particular cases, the
author may have taken upon himself to give a new application
to an old established principle : but upon the whole the laws
of Dt. are unquestionably derived from pre-existent usage.
Even what has been deemed the Utopian character of some of
the laws cannot be regarded as sufficient evidence that they
are the author's own creation : in c. 20, for instance, though
the form is Deuteronomic, the substance is certainly earlier :
the law of military service implies a simpler state of society
than the age of the later kings ; the author of Dt. has merely
cast into his own phraseology some old usages which had
perhaps been allowed to fall into neglect, and which, being in
harmony with his philanthropic nature, he desired to see
revived. The new element in Dt. is thus not the laws, but
their pareneiic setting. The author did not seek, by the
fraudulent use of a great name, either to gain reputation for
himself, or to obtain recognition for enactments of his own
creation : his aim was to win obedience to laws, or truths,
which were already known, but were in danger of being for-
gotten. His own position, as towards the Code, is thus
essentially subordinate : he is not an originator, but expounds
anew old principles. Deuteronomy may be described as the
prophetic reformulation, and adaptation to new needs, of an
older legislation. It is probable that there was a tradition, if
not a written record, of a final legislative address delivered by
Moses in the Steppes of Moab : the plan followed by the
author would rest upon a more obvious motive, if he thus
worked upon a traditional basis.* But be that as it may. the
bulk of the laws contained in Dt. is undoubtedly tar more
• So Delitzsch, ZKWL. i88o, p. 505 ; Westphal, pp. 278-281 ; Oettli, p. 17.
Ixii INTRODUCTION
ancient than the time of the author himself; and in dealing
with them as he has done, in combining them into a manual
adapted for popular use, and bringing them into close relation
with moral and religious principle, he cannot, in the light of
the considerations that have been adduced, be held guilty of
dishonesty or literary fraud. There is nothing in Dt. implying
an interested or dishonest motive on the part of the (post-
Mosaic) author : and this being so, its moral and spiritual
greatness remains unimpaired ; its inspired authority is in no
respect less than that of any other part of the Old Testament
Scriptures which happens to be anonymous.
It may be worth while here to notice briefly some other objections to
the critical date of Dt.
1. Dt. contains, it is said, provisions that would be nugatory and unin-
telligible in the 7th cent. B.C.; for instance, the injunction to give no
quarter to the inhabitants of Canaan (7^''' 20'*"'*). Of course, as the
creation of that age, such an injunction would be absurd : but it is
repeated from Ex. 23^^''"^ ; in a recapitulation of Mosaic principles,
addressed ex hypothesi to the people when they were about to enter
Canaan, it would be naturally included ; and so far from being nugatory
in the age of Manasseh or Josiah, it would (as remarked above, p. xxxii)
have indirectly a great value as a protest, in the name of the Founder,
against the idolatrous tendencies of the age. The injunction against
'Amalek (20"''") is also not original in Dt. : it is repeated from Ex. 17I*,
and would be suitable in Moses* mouth at the time when the discourses of
Dt. are represented as having been delivered. The law of the kingdom
^jyi4-20j ig also, in all probability, the Deuteronomic expansion of an older
nucleus : as a reaffirmation of the fundamental theocratic principles, which
the monarchy in Israel should maintain (cf. p. 210), it is in no degree
inappropriate to the 7th cent, B.C., and contains nothing that would have
sounded "absurd " to an Israelite reading it then for the first time.
2. Passages in the early prophets and historical books have been
pointed to, exhibiting, it is alleged, acquaintance with Dt. These resolve
themselves into three cases, (i) Passages in which a law codified in Dt.
is referred to (2 K. 14* : Dt. 24^'^), or may be presupposed, as Am. 3^ 4^
oppress (Dt. 241^); 8=" (25") ; Hos. 4I* (23I8 W) ; 5I0 (19U); g4 (26"); Nah.
2I (,15) (23'22(2i)); 1 S. 28^(18"); I K. 211" (igi5)^ ^s pointed out above,
however, Dt. embodies laws of much greater antiquity than itself: a
statement harmonizing with a law of Dt. is therefore no evidence of the
existence of Deuteronomy itself.* (2) Passages in which the expression —
• Censures on practices forbidden in Ex., as well as in Dt. — as Am. 2**
Ex. 2226 W Dt. 241-'- ; Am. 5'* Is. lo* 29*' (unjust judgment) Ex. 23* Dt. \e^ ;
Is. i"'23 10'^ (fatherless and widow) Ex. 22** (^2) Dt. 24'' ; Is. i*' 5** (bribery)
Ex. 23» Dt. i6i»; Nah. .a* Csorceries) Ex. 22" W £)t_ i8'<»— naturally prove
DATE OF DKUTEKONOMV Ixill
or soir<>**n^s only the llioii<jlit — more or less resembles one ocrnrring' in
Dt., as Am. 4" blasting and mildeiv (Dt, aS''*'-) ; 4'" (28-'^) ; 4" overthro7v oj
Stiit-m and Gomorrha (29"'"'); 5" 6'- -.vormwood (29" ('*'); 5" have built
houKts &c. (28-"'-^); 9''* tttrn the captivity (30''); Hos. 5" oppressed,
crushed in judgment (zS**) ; 7'" returned, sought (4^^*^"); 7'^ ransom (7*
&c.; ; 81 eagle {1%*") ; S^* they shall return to Egypt (28«8) ; 9'^ (28^' 31") ;
w^ Admah and Zeboim{2<^--^^^')\ Is. r''(32'; 1^^ 2^^- ^^ children); \* forsaken
J. <28-'" 31'*), despised (TfX'^") ; &c. These are not sufficient to establish an
acquaintance with Dt. on the part of the author quoted : most of the
expressions are not peculiar to the passages cited, but are found else-
where : few, if examined, will be found to be so distinctive that they might
not readily occur to different writers independently ; * and if now and then
the case should seem to be otherwise, and to require a fundamental
passage on which the others are based, there is no reason (apart from
the assumption that Dt. is the earlier) why this should not be the passage
in the prophet, with which the author of Dt. (if he lived subsequently)
would natural!}' be familiar. Given merely two similar passages, nothing
is more difficult than to determine, on internal grounds only, which is the
original and which is the imitation, or reminiscence, of the other; and
there is nothing in the parallels quoted from Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, &c. —
even wheie dependence, on one side or the other, may be reasonably
assumed — to make it more probable that they depend upon Dt. than that
Dt. depends upon them. Jeremiah is the earliest prophet who can be
demonstrated to have been acquainted with Deuteronomy. (3) There are
numerous passages in Jos., Jud., Kings, in which the phraseology is
palpably moulded upon that of Dt., and which, therefore, undoubtedly
presuppose it.f The literary analysis of the books in question shows, how-
ever, that these passages do not belong to the original sources of which the
books are composed, but are additions made by the compilers, who cannot
be shown to have lived before the age in which Dt. wa^ promulgated.
3. The acquaintance displayed in Dt. with Egj'ptian customs is said
to be an indication that the author is Moses. But the references are far
too insignificant and slight to prove this. Even though it be true — as, at
least in some of the instances, it probably is true — that the customs alluded
to in 6** 25'^- * 26''' 27'^'' (see the notes) are derived from Egypt, there is no
evidence that they were introduced in Moses' time ; and if they were, the
mention of a custom by a particular author is obviously no proof that he was
a contetnporary of its introduction. The allusions to Egyptian peculiarities
in 11'" and 7^^ 28'-"'^*' are not more marked than the one in Amos 8^, and
not so minute as those in Is. 19: intercourse with Egypt, as many indica-
nothing as to the existence of Dt. In some cases, also, — where, viz. (as
Am. 3^ 4I 8^ Hos. 4'''), the prophet's words could be reason;ibly accounted
for by his own moral enlightenment, — it is far from clear that a particular
law is either alluded to or presupposed at all.
* IVomi-.vood, for instance, occurs also Jer. 9'"* 2^^^ Lam. ^i^^-"^^ Pr. 5*;
/Mm (he captivity repeatedly (see note ad loc.) ; oppress and crush (pirj
ana fsi) are coupled together in i S. I2'** Am. 4^ (cf. Jer. 22").
+ 1.-O.T. pp. 97flF., 154-158, 17s, i8of., 190-193.
Uiv INTRODUCTION
tions show, did not cease immediately after the Exodus (comp. e.g. during
the period of the monarchy, i K. 3^ lo^'- n^" ; Hos. 7^' I2'*' 2 K. ly'*; and
the many allusions in Isaiah to friendly relations between Judah and
Egypt, 20«- 301-6-6-V 3 1 1-3 366 &c.).
Deuteronomy did not complete its work at once. The
reformation of Josiah, as Jeremiah witnesses, could not change
the habits of the people ; under the subsequent kings, the
old idolatries again prevailed. But on all the spiritually-
minded Israelites Deuteronomy had laid its hold : Jeremiah,
on nearly every page, bears testimony to its influence ; * the
compilers of Judges and Kings (who wrote at about the same
time) show that by the contemporary prophets it was accepted
as the religious standard of the age. The exile, sealing as it
did the prophetical verdict on Israel's history, confirmed still
further the authority of Deuteronomy. An official, written
document now existed, accessible to all, regulating the life of
the community, and determining the public standard of belief
and practice. From the day when Dt. was accepted by king
and people, Israel became — to borrow Mohammed's expression
— the "people of a book." In this book the rights of the
sanctuary and of the priesthood were defined ; the conditions
which members of the "holy people" must satisfy were pre-
scribed ; the foundations of a church were thus outlined. The
movement of which Dt. was the outcome ended, however, in
consequences which were not foreseen by those who had
initiated it. It was the intention of Dt. to deepen and
spiritualize the religious life : but the necessity (p. xxix) of
centralizing religious rites tended to formalize them, and to
substitute a fixed routine for spontaneity. Sacrifices, pilgrim-
ages, and other religious offices, hitherto often performed, as
occasion required, at the village Bamah, were now all trans-
ferred to the central sanctuary : the Temple and its priesthood
rose accordingly in importance. Highly as Dt. ranked the
prophet (1820-22), the step had been taken which in time would
supersede the need of his living voice : a sacred book, of
'Ahich the priests soon became the natural guardians and
• Comp. 11^"*, where he undertakes a mission "in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem," with the object of securing: obedience to
a "covenant," which is evidently that of Dt. {Cheyne, yerem. p. 56).
DATE OF DEUTERONOMY IxV
exponents, was now there, to become the rule of Israel's life.
The promulgation of Dt. thus promoted indirectly that
development of priestly aims and principles which ended in
the legislation of P, and was one of the steps by which the
religion of the prophets was transformed gradually into
Judaism.*
The question arises. Is the existing book of Dt. identical
with the law-book found by Hilkiah? Or has it undergone
subsequent expansion, in the manner of many other ancient
Hebrew writings ? And if there are reasons to suppose the
latter to have been the case, is it possible to determine how
much the "original Deuteronomy" may have comprised?
The central and principal discourse of Dt. consists, as
explained above (p. ii), of c. 5-26. 28 (with perhaps 2'j^-^'^ as
a connecting link),! — c. 5-1 1 being a parenetic introduction,
c. 12-26 containing the exposition of the law, c. 28 forming
the peroration and conclusion. There is no sufficient reason
for doubting that the whole of these chapters formed part of
the law-book found by Hilkiah : all are written in the same
style, and all breathe the same spirit, the only material differ-
ence being that, from the nature of the case, the parenetic
phraseology is not so exclusively predominant in c. 1 2-26. 28
as it is in c. 5-1 1.
It is true, Wellh. [Comp. p. 193 f. : so Cornill, Einl. § 9.
2 end, 6) would limit the original Dt. to c. 12-26; but upon
grounds which cannot be deemed cogent. The frequent
inculcation, for instance, in c. 5-1 1 of statutes, the contents
of which are not stated, but which are referred to as if they
were familiar to the reader, does not show that c. 12-26
already lay before the author in a written form ; it is suffi-
ciently accounted for by the fact that the author ex hypothesi
has throughout in mind the second part of his discourse,
which is to follow, and bring with it the requisite explanations.
* On the historical significance of Deuteronomy, comp. further Wellh.
Hist. pp. 32 ff., 76 fF., 402 ff., 487 f. ; Stade, Gesch. i. 661-670; Smend,
Alttest. Rel.-gesch. pp. 284-292, 303; Westphal, pp. 157 f., 244-246;
Cornill, Der Isr. Prophetismus, pp. 84-91. See also Ryle, Canon, p. 63 ff.
t The rest of c. 27 is admittedly misplaced (see p. 294 f.).
E
Ixvi INTRODUCTION
Nor can it be said that c. 5-1 1 is disproportionately long as
an introduction to c. 12-26, or that the promise of 5I 6^ is
separated by an undue interval from its redemption in c. 12-26 :
as has been pointed out before (p. xix), it is the grounds and
motives of obedience which are of paramount value in the
Writer's eye; even in c. 12-26 he constantly reverts to them ;
and hence it is not more than consistent with his sense of
their importance that he should develop them systematically
in a special introduction. In language and style there is
nothing in c. 5-11 to suggest a different author from 12-26:
as Kuenen has remarked, the two groups of chapters ** present
just that degree of agreement and difference which we should
be justified in expecting, on the hypothesis of a common
origin": naturally, the legislative terminology of c. 12-26
does not occur in c. 5-1 1 ; but in other respects, while c. 5-1 1
shows no traces of servile imitation, in tone and style it
resembles entirely the parenetic parts of c. 12-26, and nearly
all the distinctive expressions occurring in the latter are found
in it likewise (see the list, p. Ixxviii ff.).* It is more difficult to
demonsiraie th3it c. 28 is by the same author as c. 12-26, as
the argument from phraseology, though strong, is not so cogent
as in the case of c. 5-1 1 ; but the deviations from the normal
Deuteronomic style may be safely said to be not greater than
can be naturally accounted for by the special character of the
contents, t
• The common origin of c. 5-1 1 and c. 12-26 is strong-ly defended by
Kuenen, Hex. § 7. 5-1 1 ; Dillm. p. 263; Westphal, p. 105 ff. One of
KueneR's notes (n. 9), on account of the delicate literary feeling- which it
displays, is worthy of transcription : " Especially noteworthy, I think,
is the resemblance between 18^®'-" and the hortatory introduction. In v.^'
anna as 5** 9^ ; Snpn dv3 as g^" 10*, cf. 5^®*^^'; IOK »'?, cf. 5^*^'; 'this great
fire,' as 5^2 P), cf. e'nh iwd 54-23(26) ^lo io4 . n,nN uSi, cf. 522(25). y\7 a.^-n as
g25(28)_ Yet it cannot be said that the author of c. 5-1 1 is simply borrow-
ing from i8'^^", for he moves quite freelj', and never touches upon the
thesis of the latter passage about prophecy as a substitute for Yahw^'s
immediate revelation. It is the same author who describes the assembly
at Horeb in c. 5, mentions it incidentally in c. 9-10, and makes an inde-
pendent use of it in c. 18."
t Comp. Kuenen, § 7. 21 (2), who observes that he "cannot discover a
single indication of diverse authorship in the chap.," though he allows the
contents to be of a nature inviting expansion. Dillm. (p. 370), on the
UNITY OF DEUTERONOMY Ixvil
The following are passages of c. 12-26, which have heen clepmed by
some scholars, on various grounds, to be later additions (cf. Wellh. Comp.
pp. 194 f., 3S3; Cornill, Einl. § 9. 2) :— 12'>-7- 1»-» ,41-2- 4-20 (the detailed
enumeration not in the general style of D)^^*" ("for . . . God") i5'*-' 16^"*
(in conflict with v.*, and a correction of it introduced on the basis of Ex.
,215-20 i^ef. Lev. 23' Nu. 28I8), 178-is (the priests)""'* (v.i^, it is said, pre-
supposes Dt. to be already written, and in the custody of the priests, 3i'" ^)
jgi4-22 20 21* 23*"' f*'*). But the grounds cannot be considered cogent ; and
the passages demurred to (esp. 17"'^), with the single exception of 14*"*,
which explains itself, harmonize entirely in style and character with the
rest of Dt. (cf. Kuen. §§7. 11; 14. i). See more fully Holzinger, pp. 262-265,
292-295 ; also Piepenbring, Revue de THist. des Religions, xxix. (1894) p.
i23ff. (a criticism of an allied theory of L. Horst's).
C. 5-26 may thus be concluded, without hesitation, to be
the work of a single author ; and c. 28 may be included with-
out serious misgivings. The question becomes more difficult
when we proceed to consider c. 1-4, and c. 29-34.
(i) c. 1-4. The majority of recent critics attribute these
chaps, to a different hand from the body of Dt. (c. 5-26. 28),
supposing them to have been prefixed, as an introduction,
shortly after that was completed, by a writer belonging to the
same school, for the purpose of providing the reader with an
account of the historical antecedents of the Deut. legislation
(c. 1-3), and at the same time of inculcating fresh motives for
obedience [^^■^^).* The question was made, a few years ago,
the subject of a rather interesting discussion. A. van
Hoonacker (Professor at Louvain) in three articles in Le
Musdon, vii. (1888) pp. 464-482, viii. (i88g) pp. 67-85, 141-
149,1 subjected the arguments of Reuss and Kuenen to a
searching criticism, with the view of showing that c. 1-4 were
by the same author as c. 5-26. 28 ; and his articles were in
ground of its literary character (repetitions, and points of contact with
Jer.), considers that this has certainly taken place ; but he admits that it
is not possible to distinguish now what the additions are. The rhetorical
completeness and force, and the unity of treatment, which m.ark the chap.,
as a whole, make it difficult to think that the additions, if any, can extend
beyond two or three isolated verses (cf. below, p. 303 f.).
* Klostermann, Stud. u. Kr. 1871, p. 253fF. { = Der Pent. p. 228ff.);
Wellh. Comp. pp. 191, 193, 195 ; Reuss, La Bible (1879), i. 207 ; Valeton,
Studien, vi. 303 f., vii. 225; Kuenen, Hex. § 7. 12-17; Westphal (1892),
ii. 66-68, 80-90 ; Konig, Einl. p. 212 f. ; Cornill, § 9. 5 ; Wildeboer, § n. 3.
t Published since separately under the title, L'origine des quatrt
premiers chapitres du DeutSronome, Louvain, 1889.
Ixviii INTRODUCTION
their turn criticized from the opposite point of view by L
Horst in the Revue de CHistoire des Religions, xxiii. {1891)
p. 184 ff. The fairness and good temper of both writers are not
more conspicuous than their ability : the following' is an out-
line of the arguments alleged.
1. The two superscriptions ii-*-*-'* and 4**-**, each statingf with some
circumstantiality the place and occasion of the delivery of the following
discourse, are mutually exclusive, and cannot both be the work of the
same author : would the author of ii-2-4-5 have repeated substantially the
same particulars in ^**-^ ? or does ^'^-^ read like the words of one who
had already written the previous title ii-2-*-6, and just related at length
(c. 2-3) the details summarized in it ? Van Hoonacker, in reply, contends
that, if 1^-4*^ were the work of a later author than 4'"-c. 26, he would, if
he had felt 4**-*9 to be injurious to the unity of the entire book, either
have cancelled it, or (preferably) have preserved it, as the original title,
inserting his own introduction (i'-4*'') after it ; and urges that the new
heading, 4*^"**, is rendered necessary by the interruption occasioned by
^41-43 (cities of refuge) ; its circumstantiality is due to the love of repetition
(especially on the conquest of the trans-Jordanic territory) which charac-
terizes the author of Dt. Horst replies that it is more than doubtful if
^41-43 jg a,n original part of Dt. ; f and that if it were, the opening words of
5', "And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them," would be a
sufficient introduction to what follows, after the interruption. — It does not
seem that any definite conclusion as to the authorship of 1^-4*** can be
drawn from the occurrence of the double title. As the two headings stand,
in spite of what van Hoonacker urges, they cannot well be both the work
of the same writer ; but a heading lends itself readily to expansion ; and
if, as seems to be the case, 4** is based upon 3^^, which forms (see note)
part of an insertion in the original text of c. 1-3, 4'"'**, in its present form,
must be of later origin than c. 1-3. There is nothing unreasonable in the
supposition that, as formulated by the original author (whether preceded
by 4*^"** or not), this title was considerably briefer than it now is, and not
longer than was sufficient to mark the commencement of the actual
" exposition " of the law, promised in i', as opposed to the introductory
matter contained in 1^-4'*".
2. Inconsistencies alleged to exist between c. 1-4 and c. 5-26 : —
(a) In 2^^'^® it is said that all the generation which rebelled at Kadesh
had perished in the wilderness ; but in 5^* 11^"^ stress is laid on the fact
that those whom Moses is addressing are witnesses of the Exodus, and
• v.* belongs to P (p. 7).
t See below, p. 78. Van Hoonacker argues that in c. 19 the Writer
confines himself to the three cities of refuge to be instituted in Canaan,
those appointed on the E. of Jordan having been already noticed bj' him
in 4'*i"^^ ; but it remains strange, as Horst remarks, that when contem-
plating their possible future augmentation by three more (v.^'*), he should
make no allusion to those which be had mentioned in 4^'^.
UNITY OF DEUTERONOMY Ixix
belong to the same generation with which Jehovah had made a covenant
at Horeb. Kuenen argues, "The author of c. 5-1 1 is aware that the
recipients of the Deut. legislation are not in fact identical with the
witnesses of the theophany at Horeb (seeS"^" 11* &c.), but nevertheless
he wishes to identify them with them. The author of c. 1-4, on the other
hand, is particularly anxious to distinguish them. Is it not clear that he
cannot be also the author of c. 5-1 1 ? " It is replied : (i) the terms of 2""'*
are limited to the "men of war," i.e. to the adult males ; and a fair pro-
portion of those under twenty in the 2nd year of the Exodus, would be
alive still, 38 years afterwards. (2) It is admittedly the practice of Dt.
to comprehend the past, the present, and the future generations of Israel
in an ideal unity, and so to treat, for instance, the Israelites addressed by
Moses as morally identical with those who came out of Egypt, or rebelled
in the wilderness (e.g. 5^ (^' 7" 9"- ^"^- 25"'* : comp. before your eyes, 4^''
6^ 9^' 29^ (-') : the point of 5' is to insist on the fact that the covenant con-
cluded at Horeb is not an ancient covenant, made with " our fathers," i.e.
with the patriarchs, but is one binding on the Israel of to-day, the Israel
whose separate national existence, and national consciousness, began at
the Exodus; and in 11^ the allusion to "your children who have not
known," &c., is merely intended rhetorically, for the purpose of emphasiz-
ing the appeal to those who stood nearer to the events described, and the
younger of whom, in the conception of the writer, had actually witnessed
them. The author of c. 1-4 is not more anxious than the author of c. 5-1 1
to distinguish the two generations : in 2^^"^^, speaking historically, he
states that the generation which rebelled at Kadesh had perished ; but
elsewhere he expresses himself in terms similar to those of 5* 11^: so, for
instance, not only in the appeal of 4*'^^' ^^' ^''" ^'•, but also in i* ("unto
you") '''■^•^•^^•**. One who assigns (as Kuenen does) c. 1-4 to a single
author, cannot therefore (on this ground) argue logically that c. 1-3 is by
a different hand from c. 5-1 1.
{b) The Moabites and Edomites, who are placed on the same footing in
2-^, are placed on a different footing in 23**' *'• l^'- ''•' : in 2^ they are both
praised for having sold the Israelites bread and water, when they were
journeying past their territory ; in 23'"" l^'-' the Moabites are said not to
have met the Israelites with bread and water, and while the Edomites
(v.*'' ("•') are commended to the Israelites' favourable regard, the Moabites
(v.*- '' ('• ^)) are expressly excluded from it.
Van Hoonacker replies that 23' W* refers only to the Ammonites (v.*(^))
— v.'^'''* (*''"°' referring to the Moabites, — an interpretation which Horst (p.
197) allows may be right. He points out further that the occasion of
2^*i. (31.) cannot have been the one alluded to in 2^® : the unfriendly action of
*he Moabites in hiring Balaam (Nu. 22-24) must have been after the
message to Sihon (Dt. 2^: Nu. 21-^), and ii fortiori after the friendliness
alluded to in Dt. 2^, which must have been at the time of Nu. 21"'^ And
the injunctions in 23^' t^'*' are based, not upon Edom's treatment of Israel
in the wilderness, but upon its being Israel's "brother," — a relationship
not subsisting in the case of Moab.
3. As regards 4^"^, it is urged that the connexion with c. 1-3 is loose •
4"'" is in no way the sequel of c. 3 : " rien, dans la partie historique [c. 1-3],
Ixx INTRODUCTION
qui prepare au discours [4^'*"] ; rien, dans le discours, qui rappelle la partia
historique. Celui-ci tire bien plQtot ses d^veloppements des portions du
Deut^ronome qui viennent apr^s lui."* C. 1-3 are historical, and not
parenetic : c. 4 is parenetic ; and the motives appealed to, in so far as
they are drawn from the history (v.^'- ^- 23. 24ff.)^ ^re derived, not from the
retrospect of c. 1-3, but from incidents not there noticed. The main theme
of c. 4 is an expansion of the second commandment of the Decalogue (with
4'"^^^, cf. 5*'* ; with 432'^*, 5^) : the author thus takes a special point in c. 5,
which he develops in the form of an introduction to it. He thus wrote with
c. 5 ff. before him (as is shown also by the expression have taught in v.^).
C. 4, however (as van Hoonacker points out), does begin just where
c. 3 breaks off (cf. 4* with 3^^) ; and the statement that c. 1-3 is not
parenetic is exaggerated : indirectly, and so far as is consistent with the
character of a retrospect, it is parenetic (p. xvii). If, as is probable, the
Deut. legislation was published originally as a separate manual, it would
not be more than natural for it to be provided with an historical introduc-
tion, recapitulating the events which brought Israel to the spot (3'^) at
which its promulgation by Moses is located, and setting before the people
the lessons and warnings which the history suggested (cf. Oettli, p. 10).
It is true that the historical incidents noticed in c. 1-3 are not utilized in
4^'^*; but is it necessary that they should be? The writer, in view of
Israel's having been led safely by Jehovah to the borders of the Promised
Land, exhorts the people to lay to heart the practical duties devolving in
consequence upon them ("And now," 4^: cf. 10'^); and imperfect con-
ceptions of the spiritual nature of God being the obstacle most likely to
impede Israel in doing this, he dwells upon such incidents of the history —
notably the theophanyat Horeb — as seemed to him best adapted to correct
them. No doubt this is an expansion of 5*''* ; but it does not show that
c. 5 ff. lay before him in a written form : the Decalogue he would of course
be acquainted with independently, and the fact that it follows immediately
afterwards may be taken as an indication that it was already in his mind
as he wrote.
As regards have taught in 4', van Hoonacker adopts the same view
that is taken in the present commentary (p. 64 : so Kon. Einl. p. 213 «.),
that the reference is to prior, less formal and systematic announcements
of the Deut. laws, which (in the conception of the writer) Moses had made
from time to time to the people ; Dt. being the final and comprehensive
summary of them. Horst (p. 187 f.) indeed objects (cf. Reuss, i. 165 f., ii.
289 n. ; Kuen. §§3. 11 ; 13. 32, i) that Dt. never mentions or implies that
anything beyond the Decalogue had been previously communicated by
Moses to the people : the aim of 5^®(^-)*" is to show that the laws received
by Israel through Moses came with the same authority as those spoken
by God Himself; these laws, however, are intended only to come into
force in Canaan (4^- '* 5^(^*1) 6^ 12^) ; and 5^8 (3i) gi imply that they are now,
* Westphal, p. 67, who cites, as illustrations (amongst other passages),
v.i ("Hear, O Israel"), cf. 5' 6* &c.; v.^, alluding to 131(123*); v." ("/
have taught you," &c.), alluding to c. 5-26; v.^", cf. 6'*i** 11^*; v.", cf. 9*
&c.; v.* ("with all thy heart," &c.), cf. 6^ 10'- &c.
UNITY OF DEUTERONOMY Ixxi
when the people are on the point of entering- Canaan, placed before them
for the first time. It may be doubted whether this interpretation does not
unduly strain the terms of 5^1^^' 6' : the alternative view, which is not un-
reasonable in itself, can hardly be said to be excluded by the language of
Dt., while 5-'^i27)b ^j,f^ ,i8^ — ^q say nothing of Ex. 24^ — supports it
4. While the general similarity of style between c. 1-4 (esp. c. 4) and
c. 5-26. 28, is not denied, there are expressions in c. 1-4 not occurring
elsewhere in Dt., which, it is said, confirm the view that it is the work of
a different hand. Kuen. (§ 7. 15) instances n^-j; possession 2^- ^^ **• 12. i9. i9 ^20
(hence Jos. i^'. The word occurs also Jos. 12^'^ Jud. 21^'' Jer. 32^ Ps. 61*
2 Ch. 20^'t) ; mjnn to provoke 2^-®-^8-^ (not elsewhere in the Hex.) ; pnm to
supplicate 3^3 (also i Ki. 8^-*''-=^ [Deut.] al.); ini-nn to be enraged 3*« ; no
Snan iron-furnace 4-" ; rhm Dj? people of inheritance 4^ ; a^ for aa'? (the
usual Deut. word: p. Ixxxvii) 4'^: there are also some points of contact with
the phraseology of Ez. and P {ib. § 16. 12 a), viz. '?dd 4'®, napoi idi 4", mas
i:3 4"', n-jan ^'^•^^, tyon 4^^ t"?!:! 42^, jtyij 428^ u-rh^ xna 4^2. Amorite in i^-^^-
ao.27. 44 ^9 is said also to be used in a different application from 7^ 20".
The literary features thus noted as distinguishing c. 1-4 from c 5-26,
are, it must be owned, relatively slight. The most remarkable one is
certainly n^h;, — the more so, as the verb w is particularly frequent in
c. 5-26 (p. Ixxviiiff., Nos. 4, 22, 46).* In the case of the rest, it may be
reasonably said of some that there was no occasion for their use in c. 5-26,
and of others (notably those in 4I7-18) that they occur in connexion with the
subject-matter: while others again are not more indicative of the separate
authorship of c. 1-4 than those found only in c. 5-1 1 (as \iv) 6^, pi'3 8\ ^in
6^^ 9^) are — as Kuen. also allows (above, p. Ixix) — of the separate authorship
of these chapters, t On the other hand, the general style of ^'^ is indis-
tinguishable from that of c. 5-26 ; and it includes, not merely the broader
features of the Deuteronomic style J (which, it is true, lend themselves
readily to adoption by different writers), but also minuter features : notice,
for example :—ii^ nu (18^2) ; i27 nx;!:- (928) ; i29 Q-OB-a nniia (9I) ; i29 py (721
20^ 31*) ; I'*!'"'' even unto (nj;) this place {g' ii" ; cf. with Sk to 26* 29®) ; i*^
Tin (17I3 i82«); 2" '?n 13 imo (cf. ii=«); 2" toj changed to niD, the Deut.
* ncT may, however, have been chosen as suggesting (agreeably with
the context) more distinctly than rhni (which is rather an inheritance as
held) the idea of an inheritance as succeeded to (Jer. 32* : cf. B-nrn the heir).
t With nhn^ cv, cf. Tn'^nji IDV f)"^-"^. It is true (p. Ixxxvii), Dt. greatly
prefers anS to oh : but aV is generally used by preference in the metaph.
sense of 4" (2 S. 18^* ; and in the phrase D' 2^2 Ex. 15* Pr. 23*^ 30^*, or a'^a
D«D' Ez. 27*- 25- 26- 27 282-8 Ps. 46^; D<D' zzhz only Jon. 2*). And aa"? occurs
Dt. 23»4»-29-» It is not clear that the use oi Amorite in i' &c. is incon-
sistent with its use in the rhetorical enumerations 7^ 20^' : see pp. iif.,97.
X In the list, p. Ixxviiiff., see (for c. 1-3) Nos. 17, 19, 25, 29, 47, 52, 53,
55 ; (for c. 4) Nos. ib, 3b, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 22, 23, 28, 37, 41, 42, 45, 49, 51,
62, 686, 69; (for both) Nos. 4, 11, 13, 15, 16, 21, 38, 40, 46, 58, 60, 65.— In
4**, six of these are found together, forming almost the entire verse. In
4^"*<* the sustained oratorical style — notice esp. v.'"** """• "*"* — is also
thoroughly Deuteronomic (comp. p. Ixxxvii).
Ixxii INTRODUCTION
word (p. Ixxxii, No. 53) ; 2^° aaS jT3n (15') ; 3^ Sil (5'" 9" 1 1») ; 4* TJ'V )Ht IVH
(p. Ixxxiii, No. 59) ; 4»«'' (cf. I2i») ; 419 m: (i3«- "• " 30" ; and cf. if) ; 427b (cf.
28""): 4*" (cf. 138 28*^) ; 4^ niDD and D'niid {f^ 268). The combination oi
minuter and broader features constitutes an arg'ument of some weight, in
favour of the unity of authorship.*
Except for those who hold that Dt. is the work of Moses,
the question of the authorship of i'^-^'^ is of subordinate
importance. Even if it be rightly assigned to a different hand
from c. 5-26. 28, the conclusion does not rest upon a multitude
of convergent indications, such as give cogency to all the
broader and important results of the critical study of the Old
Testament. Nor, in any case, can it have been written more
than a few years after the body of Dt. To the present writer
there appears to be no conclusive reason why c. 1-3 should
not be by the same hand as c. 5 ff. ; and the only reason of
any weight for doubting whether ^^-^^ is by the same hand also,
seems to him to be one which after all may not be conclusive
either, viz. that the author of c. 5-26, desiring to say what
now forms 4^*^, might have been expected, instead of inserting
it between c. 1-3 and the body of his discourse (c. 5ff.), to
have incorporated it, with his other similar exhortations, in
the latter.
Dillm., for the purpose of explaining the phenomena presented by these
chapters, makes the clever and original suggestion that i*-3^ was in the
first instance written as an historical introduction to c. 5-26. 28 by the
author himself (in the third person) : this introduction the redactor who
incorporated Dt. in the Pent, was unable to retain in that shape (for it
• H. G. Mitchell {JBLit. 1888, p. 156 fF.) adds, as characteristic of the
Deut. style, and found also in c. 1-4 : n2N perish (esp. with the inf. abs.*),
^26* ^20 8i»-«20 „i7 (Jos. 23"- 1« D"), 282"- 22 30I8* ; "jni great, either alone or
with other attributives, for rhetorical effect ; alone — 2^ 4*' '• *• '2* ^*- ^- ^"^ 5^® (^2).
22 (26) yi9. 23 g29 „7 ,816 268 292- 2- 23. 27 3^12. j^ gu^h phrases as great and tall (or
many, &c.), ii»- 28 2i»- 21 488 gio- « 721 8'" g^- ^- 2 lo^^- 21 1 123 26* 286* ; o^ynx ni
n:B' 2' 82- * ; Horeb (p. xv bottom) ; ijiyi.'i introducing a solemn declaration, 4**
7» 8» 93- « ; so DnyTi ii2 (Jos. 23" D2) ; ino adv. 426 f- 22 93. 12a. 12b (from Ex.
328 ; so v."), 282» ; K'nn nya at that time i»- "• ^8 2»* 3*- 8- ^ 18. 21. 2s ^w ^5 ^20
io»- 8 : axT see I as an excl., i8- » 2^- »i 40 1 12« 301^ (but also in D2 Jos. 6* S^ ;
Ex. f ah); '» 'B DN .T1D.T i2«.«92S(but cf. Jos. 1I8 D2; i S. 12" Deut.), sq.
Dj? 9''" 2* 3 1 27. Some other expressions cited ibid., as nnx 1*7.14*, d'v^.t (42*
9^8; but see 2 K. i?*'), are too little distinctive to be really evidence of a
single author. And, in general, expressions used by other Deuteronontit
writers have not the full cogency of those confined to Dt. 5-26. 28 itself.
UNITY OF DEUTERONOMY Ixxiii
would then have read too much like a repetition of parts of Ex. Nu.), but
being- unwillingf to sacrifice it (for it contained many notices not to be found
in the existing Ex. Nu.), he altered its form, changing the third person
into the first, or second, and so preserved it as a discourse of Moses.
This hypothesis accounts for both the resemblances between 1^-3^ and
c. 5-26, and the differences : the resemblances are due to the fact that the
original author is the same ; the differences are due to additions, or
changes, introduced by the redactor, in the process of transforming the
narrative into a discourse. As regards 4^"'"* Dillm. considers that this
resembles (in style and tone) c. 5-26 too closely to be the work of a
different hand ; he conjectures therefore that it is the work of D, but that
it formed originally (with portions of c. 29-30 : p. Ixxiv) part of a closing
hortatory discourse (following c. 5-26. 28 : hence have taught in v.^), and
was transferred here, as a conclusion to c. 1-3, by the same redactor who
incorporated Dt. in the Pent.
Westphal (pp. 87-103) adopts a similar view; but he thinks (on the
ground of the double introduction iI-^-^-b and ^-^^^ that the author of i*-
3^ in its original form was not the author of c. 5-26, but a somewhat later
Deuteronomic writer, who composed a separate, independent narrative,
describing briefly the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan ; the final
redactor of the Hexateuch, sacrificing the individuality of his sources to
chronological order, transferred the first part of this narrative (changing
at the same time the 3rd person into the first) to its proper chronological
position, before c. 5-26. 28, and worked up the second part into c. 27. 31.
34, and the Book of Joshua (the Deuteronomic sections).
It may be doubted whether such complicated hypotheses are required
by the facts ; that of Dillm. is criticized by van Hoonacker in Le Musdon,
viii. (1889) p. 141 ff. Both, in the view taken of 4^"*", are connected with
theories of the original arrangement of c. 29-31, which will be considered
directly. The proper position of 4^"* — with its allusions to Horeb, and its
treatment of a. /undamental principle of Dt., viz. the spirituality of God —
seems certainly to be before c. 5-26. 28, rather than after it.
(2) c. 29-34. The parts of these chapters which have
chiefly to be considered are c. 29-30. 31 1-13.24-30 ^a^^-'^" — the
rest being admittedly derived from other sources. The follow-
ing are the principal grounds upon which it is questioned
whether these passages formed part of the original Deuter-
onomy : —
1. Though Deuteronomic words and phrases abound,* the tone on the
whole (except in 30'''*") is not quite that of Dt. itself, and several expres-
sions occur, which are not found elsewhere in Dt. (see p. 320).
2. The connexion is sometimes imperfect, not only between ag'^"-" i^*'^''
(an individual), and zg'^^*^")^' (the entire nation), but especially between
30'''" and 3o^''^" (see p. 331), making it next to impossible that 30^'^* can
have stood originally in its present place.
* See the citations from these chapters, p. Ixxviii f^
Ixxiv INTRODUCTION
3. 29"' *(*•"' 30^" speak of Dt. as already "written," anticipating
thereby 31'.*
4. The standpoint is in parts of c. 29-30 different from what it is in
the body of Dt. In the body of Dt. (c. 5-26. 28), the two alternatives —
obedience, resulting in national prosperity, and disobedience, resulting in
national disaster — are balanced one against the other ; one is not repre-
sented as more likely to follow than the other (cf. zS^^- ^^^•) ; in 29-^ (2-)_3o'''
the latter is tacitly assumed to have been realized, and the fulfilment of
the curse (2921-28(22-29)^ jg made the point of departure for the hopes of
penitence and promise of restoration afterwards (30^'^"). This is the
capital difference which distinguishes c. 29-30 from c. 28. What en-
couragement, then, or inducement to obedience, it is asked, would it be
to the people, " to assure it thus distinctly that its apostasy was inevitable,
to hold out to it beforehand the picture of its ruin, and to announce to it,
before even it has deserved the punishment, the conditions upon which it
might be again received into God's favour?" t
5. From the terms of 32*^"^'', taken in conjunction with 3128-29 (jn both of
which, it is said, the Song 32^-'*' is ignored, and the expression " (all) these
words," at least in 32'*', must refer to some commendation of the Deut.
law), it is argued by Dillm. that there followed originally in Dt., after the
account of Moses' writing the Deuteronomic law, and delivering it to the
priests (31®'^^), a final hortatory discourse, addressed to the people, and
commending it to their observance. This discourse Dillm. considers is to
be found in parts of c. 29-30, and c. 4 (which has several points of contact
with c. 29-30 : Westphal, pp. 69-73) ; the redactor, who combined Dt. with
JE and the Song (32^'*^), having before him both this final discourse and
the Song, conceived the idea of treating the two as parallel ; hence he
remodelled the discourse, with such changes and additions as to transform
it into a " witness " (31^'') against Israel in the event of its future apostasy.
Upon Dillm. 's view, the main discourse of Dt. (c. 5-26. 28) was followed
originally, first by giS-is. 2i-26a ^jjjg writing of Dt., and its delivery to the
priests), then by the directions contained in 2^^'* and ii^s-^O; after this by
the final hortatory address, comprising 3128-29 (as an introduction), parts
of c. 4 and c. 29, 3oii'2*,J and ^2*^'*' (as a conclusion) ; and by the notices
321-28 31I-8, ending with D's account of Moses' death, contained in parts of
c. 34. The additions introduced by the redactor into Moses' final discourse
were especially 30^"^", and parts of 4^'*°, which harmonize imperfectly with
D's usual style (as expressions in v.^*''^'*2, and v.25'28.3i).§
Westphal, developing this theory in greater detail, reconstructs the
supposed final discourse as follows :— ag^-i^l^-") 4I-2 2916-21(17-22) ^s-so. 2922-28
* Strictly, of course, "which I have spoken" should have been said.
But the argument is hardly cogent ; for, if Dt. was, from the first, a
written book, the Writer, forgetful of his role (cf. 2I2 38 [p. xliii]), might
easily have used the expression. Cf. 28*^- ®i, which there is thus no need,
with Dillm., to consider altered by the redactor.
t Westphal, p. 71 f. : cf. Wellh. Comp. p. 191 ; Kuen. § 7. 22 (4).
X 30I' being the appeal to heaven and earth, announced in 312*.
§ Cf. Dillm. pp. 230 f. 251, 379, 386, 387, 390, 600 f.
UNITY OF DEUTERONOMY IxxV
(M-w) ^80b-n 30I-10 ^83-40 2o"-«> 32*^-*'' ; hc attributes it, however, not to D
himself, but to a follower, who he thinks attached it (with ji9-i3- 24-29 ^g ^^^
introduction) to c. 5-26. 28, for the purpose of commending the Deut. law
to the observance of Israel (pp. 60 f., 6g).
Octtli (pp. U-12) thinks that the original arrangement may have
been :— c. 5-26. 28. 27i-»-"-i3 giS-is.w-a 28«9-2927 (291-28) go'-'* 2928(28) ^o^i-M
32«-47 311-8^ with 31"- ">• 23 (the parallel, from JE, to v.^"*), and 3ii«-22 32i-«-**.
The transpositions and alterations, postulated by the
theories of Dillm. and Westphal, are intrinsically improbable ;
and it is impossible to think that sufficient cause has been
shown for having recourse to them. The explanation of 31^8
32*^, suggested in the Commentary, is surely easier: it is
hardly likely that a prose passage, such as 30^^, would be
specially announced by the words 31^^; and a reference in 31^8
to the Song 321*3 is after all more probable. 30I1-20 has the
genuine Deuteronomic ring; but 30I-10 (the passage which
speaks of Israel's penitence after apostasy) connects so
imperfectly with 3011*^-, that no doubt it is either (if written by
D) misplaced, or is to be attributed to a different hand. As
regards c. 29, it is in any case of the nature of a supplement
— for the " Exposition of the Law," promised in i^ (cf. 5^ 12^)
is completed in c. 5-26. 28; v. 21-28 (22-29) appear to go with
3oi-i'' . and as even in the rest of the chapter the phraseology
is not altogether the same as in the body of Dt., it is not
impossible that it is the work of a later Deuteronomic writer.
This writer, it may be conjectured, partly with the view of
insisting afresh upon the duty of observing the Deuteronomic
law, partly for the purpose of completing the history of
Moses, combined into a whole, with such additions as
seemed to him to be needful, whatever concluding notices the
author himself had attached to c. 5-26. 28, together with the
excerpts from the narrative of JE, which belonged here.*
The structure of Dt. may be exhibited in a tabular form as
follows : —
* The line dividing D and D' in c. 29-34 cannot be fixed with con-
fidence : Jos. I. 23 show how closely the style of Dt. may be imitated ;
and possibly most, or even all, of the Deut. parts of c. 29-34 should be
assigned to D*. The Deuteronomic sections of Joshua, it is observable
(Hollenberg, Stud. u. Krit. 1874, pp. 472-506), display specially close
affinities with Dt. 1-4, and the Deut. parts of c. 29-34. Cf. on 29***-^"3i •■*.
Ixxvi INTRODUCTION
rJE 21*-''^
\ D !>-• i*-3»» 3'*-4'* 4*""** 5I-26"
[j32 ^14-17« 429-31-|- -41-43.44-49 27^''* ■"""'.
P ^3
rJE 31'*-"
] D 279-10 c. 28(281-29') 29^-8 (2-«) 3011-2" 3ii-i3
_
r JE 3i23 (c. 33II) II34"
I D 3,a4-aT 3245-47
I DM 3 1 ''-"§) 3i''-'"(32^"''-'''§)
32*
fJE 34'"-''
Id2
p 1134'"
* On the grounds for assigning this to D^, see p. 54 fF.
t 429-31 and 30^-i'* are the only two passages of Dt. in which the ultimate
repentance and restoration of Israel after its apostasy and exile are con-
templated. They are assigned here — not without hesitation — to D^, not on
account of the incompatibility of such a prospect with the general point of
view of Dt., — for the author writes not merely as a legislator, but also as a
prophet, announcing like other prophets {e.g. Jer. 29'''-") Jehovah's counsels
for His people's welfare ; and the promise of ultimate restoration would
not neutralize the motive to obedience which the prospect of such a disaster
as antecedent exile would bring with it, — but on account of their imperfect
connexion with the context : in each case, the paragraph which follows
(^32-40 . 3o"-20) introduces the motive for a present duty (see 4*8-** ;
3q14. i6b.20j . jn each case also it is introduced by " For," which accordingly
must assign the ground, not for Jehovah's mercy in a distant future (4*^ ;
3o'-9), but for His claims upon Israel's obedience in the present. Unless
therefore it may be supposed that the For of 4^* introduces the motive, not
for v.^'^^, but for listening in general to the preceding exhortations and
warnings, v. "'•2*, and that 30^ "i", though written by D, has been misplaced,
it seems that the promises contained in these two passages must be
insertions in the original text of Dt., parallel in thought to Jer. 2^^"-'^*
336-13 &c., introduced by a later Deuteronomic hand (cf. Konig, Einl.
p. 213. The explanation of For in 4^^, attempted in the Commentary,
conceals the difficulty, and is not satisfactory).
X On the analysis of this chapter, see p. 294 ff.
§ Incorporated from an independent source. See pp. 338, 347.
II Incorporated into Dt. at an uncertain stage in the history of the text.
IT On the grounds for the analysis of c. 34, see the notes ad loc. In
v.^' the part belonging to JE is "And Moses went up to the top of
Pisgah " ; the rest {io Jericho) is inserted from P.
** On the distinction of D and D^ in c. 29-34, see p. Ixxv, note. Tho
style of 29'-8 31'* is rather that of D- in Jos. than of Dt. itself.
STRUCTURE OF DEUTERONOMY IxXVli
The stages by which Dt. assumed its present form will
thus have been (approximately) as follows : — Chronologically,
the parts first written were the Blessing (c. 33), and the
excerpts from JE (of course, in the original form of this
document, with intermediate passages, completing the narra-
tive, which have now been superseded by, or absorbed in,
Dt.). The kernel of Dt. consists undoubtedly of c. 5-26. 28;
and this, with short historical notices at the beginning (viz.
^44-49 in a briefer form) and end, constituted the law-book of
Josiah. It was probably preceded by the parts of c. 1-4 noted
in the Table ; though most recent critics are of opinion that
these chapters were prefixed to it afterwards. Some little
time after the kernel of Dt. was composed, it was enlarged
by a second Deuteronomic writer (or writers), D^, who (i)
supplemented the work of D by adding the passages indicated ;
(2) incorporated, with additions of his (or their) own, the
excerpts from JE, and (taking it probably from a separate
source) the Song ^2^'*^, with the historical notices belonging
to it, 3 1 16-22 22*4. Finally, at a still later date, the whole thus
constituted was brought formally into relation with the literary
framework of the Hexateuch as a whole by the addition of the
extracts from P.
§ 5. Language and Style.
The literary style of Dt. is very marked and individual.
In vocabulary, indeed, it presents comparatively few exceptional
words (p. Ixxxiv) ; but particular words, and phrases, consist-
ing sometimes of entire clauses, recur with extraordinary
frequency, giving a distinctive colotiring to every part of
the work. In its predominant features, the style of Dt. is
strongly original, entirely unlike that of P, and very dis-
similar to the normal style of JE. There are, however,
certain sections of JE (in particular, Gn, 26^ Ex. 133-16 1^26
193-6, parts of 202-17, 2320-33 3410-26), in ^hich the author
(or compiler) adopts a parenetic tone, and where his style
displays what may be termed an approximation to the
style of Dt. ; and these sections appear to have been the
Ixxviii INTRODUCTION
source from which the author of Dt. adopted some of the
expressions currently used by him.*
In the following list of the most noticeable words or
phrases characteristic of Dt., the first i6 may have been
suggested to the author by these sections of JE ; t those
which follow are original in Dt., or occur so rarely in JE, that
there is no ground for supposing them to have been borrowed
thence. The occurrences in the Deuteronomic sections of
Joshua are also noted (for the purpose of illustrating their
affinity with Dt.); as well as, where necessary, those in other
parts of the OT. (especially those written under the influence
of Dt.).
1. anx to love:— (a) with God as obj. ; 6» f lo" hLM-m 134(3) igS
30«.i6.2u jos^ 22» 23". So Ex. 2o« ( = Dt. s^"). Also Jud. ^ (Deborah);
I K. f (Deut.), of Solomon ; Ne. i^ Dan. 9* (both from Dt. f)\ Ps. si^*
(A) Of God's love to His people : 4^^ 10^" (the patriarchs), 10^* (the na),
^8. 13 23*1''). Not so elsewhere in the Hex. Otherwise first in Hos. (3* 9^'
111-* 148(4))^ in whose theology it is a fundamental and (apparently) original
element (cf. the note on 7*). Also i K. 10®, once in Jer. (31^), and in later
writers. Cf. the syn. pB^n in the same connexion, Dt. "f lo^* (otherwise
21"); and 33n 33'.
2. onnx D<nVN other gods: G''* 7* S^' ii^e-^s 133.7.14(2.6.13) ,^8 ,320 28"-3«-«
2^25(26) 2q17 (always, except 18^", with either serve, or go after) ; 31I8. 20 (^ot
D; see p. 337) with turn to (Vk .i:b) ; Jos. 23^*. So Ex. 20' ( = Dt. 5''),
23I* ; cf. 34" ("inN "jn). Otherwise first in E (Jos. 24^* ^*, and perh. Jud.
10" 1 S. S^J), I S. 2619 2 K. 5!^ and (with Vn n:B) Hos. 3I. Very frequent
in Jer. and compilers of Jud. Kings (but not usually with the same verbs
as in Dt. itself): Jud. 2i2.i7.i» , K. 98- » ( = 2 Ch. f^-"^-), ii*-^» 14^ 2 K. 177-
S6.S7.88 22" ( = 2 Ch. 3425), Jer. 1I676.9.18 „io ,310 ifiiLis 194.13 228 25* 32"
35I5 44'- »• 8- " 2 Ch. 282»t.
3. inxn to be long, or to prolong, of days (the Deut. promise upon
obedience; cf. p. xxxiii) : — (a) to be long 5" (=Ex. 20'^), 6"^ 25"; (b) to
prolong 42«-*' 58" W nS 1720 22' 30^8 z^"- Elsewhere, only {b) i K. 3"
(Deut.) Is. 53'» Pr. 28'* Eccl. 8^»; and differently (nnn D'D' I'-iNn) Jos. 24*1 =
Jud. 2'.
4. Which Jehovah thy {our, &c.) God is giving thee {us, &c.), attached
• Some of the expressions in Ex. 20'^'" are, however, so strikingly
Deuteronomic as to suggest another explanation, viz. that the text of the
Decalogue was originally briefer than it now is, and that it has been
amplified with explanatory additions by an author dependent upon Dt.,
and using the Deuteronomic style. Comp. p. Ixxxvi, note.
t On Nos. I, 3, 4, 5, b, comp., however, the last note.
XL.O.T. pp. 156 f., 167 f.
STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY IxxiX
mostly to the land (pun), sometimes to the ground (nc":Nn). the gates, the
cities, &c : i'^-'^ 2»3»'4»-*» ii'^-^i 128 is^^fi^) 15? ,6»-i8.!» ,72.14 ,39 25" 26'
27'-* 288. So Ex. 2o'2 (=:Dt. 5'«); cf. Jos. i^-"-". With the addition of
as an inheritance 4*' 19'" 20^^ 21-^ 24* 26^ ; of to possess it 5'*(^^) ig-* '* 21^ ;
of oj a« inheritance to possess it 15'' 25^^.
5. D'-iav n'2 Aot^5f 0/ bondage (lit. 0/ slaves) : 6^- 7* 8" 13^"" l*-'<*' Jos.
24" (E). So Jud. 68 (prob. E*) Mic. 6* Jar. 34'^ From Ex. i3»-" 20"
( = Dt.5'')t.
6. Thjy {your) gates (of the cities of Israel) : 1 2^^' i"- "• '«• 21 i^^^- ^- ^- ^
1 57. K 1 65- U- ". 18 I j2. 8 1 8« 23'^ (1«) 24" 26I2 2852- 55. S7 2 1 12. So Ex. 20'" ( = Dt.
S"). Hence i K. 8^^ (Deut.) = 2 Ch. 6^. Cf. (perhaps) Jer. 142.
7a. rihiD DV a people of special possession : 7^ 14- 26^8!. Cf. Ex. 19*
nSjo '*? Dn".Ti.
7^. mp cy a holypeopU : 7* 142- ^i 26'* 28^. Varied from Ex. 19" a holy
nation (cf. 22**).
8. The covenant (n'la), either with the patriarchs, or with Israel (ex-
pressing- a fundamental theological idea of Dt. : see on 4'^) : 4^^- ^s- 3i ^2. s
-2.9.12 gl3 q9. 11. 16 jq8 5^2 28^9 (29I) 298- "• 1^- 20. 2J (9. 12. 14. 21. 25) ^,9. 25. 26. ^JgQ
33* (with Levi). Cf. in JE Ex. 19^ 24''-8 3410.27.28 . ^iso Dt. 3116- -'» (p. 337).
9. Which I am commanding thee this day : 4'*o 6« 7" 8i-" lo^^ ii* 12,'^ m
155 198 27"> 281- 13- IS 3o2- 8- 11- 16 (and without to-day 6» 12"- ^). So Ex. 34".
\N\Xh you {or thee i\^^-'^''-'^ 2f-* 2S^*; and without to-day ^^^ 1122 12" 13I
(r232).
ic. P*"iin ^ cause (others) to possess, i.e. to dispossess (Jehovah the
Canaanites from before Israel): 43994-5 n^ iS^* Jos. 31* 13* 235- 9- 13 jud.
221.23 1,23.24 I K_ 1^24 2,26 2 K. i6» 178 21^ (mostly, if not all, Deut.). So
Ex. 34** Nu. 3221. Hence Ps. 443<2).
11. "^ TCB".! (03*? TCC.-i) take heed to thyself (yourselves), lest &c. : 42^ 6'2
gii 1,16 J2IS. 19. 30 ,^9 . sq. iKo -053 •\c^'^, 4": cf. iND DmDB'ji 2* 4'* Jos. 23''.
So Ex. 34^2. (Also Gn. 24* 312*, and absolutely Ex. 10'-*, but without any
special force.)
12. A mighty hand and a stretched out arm: 4^ 5^^ 7^* ii^ 26^; hence
Jer. 21^ (in inverted order), 3221 (vniN), i K. 8^2 (^2 Ch. 6*^), Ez. 2o33-34
Ps. 136^2. The combination occurs first in Dt. Mighty hand alone Dt.
324 6=1 78 ^26 24I2 (cf, Jos. 4-^). So Ex. 3'9 6' i^^^ (cf. r pin might of hand
v.»-"-"), 32ii; and (of Edom) Nu. 2020. Hence Neh. ii" Dan. 9i\
Stretched out arm alone Dt. g-^. So Ex. 6MP or H). Hence Jer. 27' 32^'
2 K. 17361.
13. i'lcj to swear, of Jehovah's oath to the patriarchs : i*'^* 4^1 S^"-^^-^
^.12.13 81.18 95 iqU ii9-21 1318(17) J98 263-16 28" 29^2 (13( 3020 31? Jos. I« ^'>
2i«'-(«M, So in JE, Gn. 502^ Ex. 135-" 32^^ 33I j^-^^ ,,12 j^ie. -33211 Dt. 3122
34^ alsoDt. 31 -'^•''(P- 337)-
14. To hearken to His [Jehovah's) voice (iVip2 vets') : 4** (see note) 82" 92^
,36.19 ,^5 26"- 17 2710 281- 2- 16- -IS- 62 302-8.10. 20. So Ex. 1526 (S), 195 232'- «
Nu. 1422.
15. Jehovah, thy {our, your) God, very freq. (esp. with thy), altogether
more than 300 times (i«- 19-20.21 &(,.). So Ex. 3^* s* S"--*-** io25-2« {our);
• Budde, ZATW. 1S88, p. 2V { = Richter u. Sam. pp. 107 f., 181 n.).
IXXX INTRODUCTION
J 526 20='- »•'•'<'■ '2 ( = Dt. 56.9. 11.14. 16) 23i» 342^- 2« (fhj>); 82* To8-»«-" 23"
(jyour). Also in other books, thoug-h far less frequently than in Dt. : cf.
pp. II, 21. In the formula " I ('jk, not '3:k [p. Ixxxvii]) am Jehovah your
God," occasionally also in P, and frequently in H : viz. Ex. 6^ 16^- Lev. 11''^
Nu. 10" 15"- *S and esp. in Lev. 17-26 (see L.O.T. pp. 45, 54, 143).
16. Jehovah, the God of thy {our, your, their) fathers : i"- 21 4! 6^ 12^ 26'
273 29«*(25). So in E, Ex. ■^^•^^ \w\\hoM\. Jehovah, v.« {thy father\, ") 48.
17. nax to be willing: (sq. inf.) i^ 2^" 10^" 23* 2^ 29^*; (sq. "h) 13*.
18. [iJiB-s: niN V^a -with all the desire of his {thy) soul: la^'-^o-^i jge.
So with S for 3 I S. 23^ ; and 'i r^m Jer. 2^\.
19. na'N how? 1^^ 7^' 12^ i8^^ Not elsewhere in the Hex. ; and rare in
other books, T'^ being generally preferred.
20. To eat before Jehovah : i2''-i* 14-^-26 1520,
21. fjiNnn to be angered: 1^ 4^^ g^-^ i K. 11* 2 K. 17^* (both Deut.)t.
22. The land whither thou goest in to possess it : 4" {ye), 7^ 1 1^"- ""*
2321(20) 2821- *3 30I8; cf. (without a rel.) 9* 122*. Similarly the land whither
thou passest {ye pass) over {Jordan) to possess it: 4^'*-2'* 6^ ii*-" 30'* 31'^
32*7 : cf. (without a rel.) 4^2 9I ii^i Jos. i" ; also Dt. 3*1.
23. nna to choose (with God as subj., in a theocratic sense): of Israel
43778.7 ,oi5 142; of the Levitical priests 18* 2i« [i S. 2^8]; of the future
king 17I* ; and esp. in the phrase " the place which Jehovah shall choose to
place {or set) His name there," 12*- "-^i 1423-24 i62«-ii 26*, or "the place
which Jehovah shall choose" 12"- is- 26 142= 1520 ,67- is. is j^s.io ^ge ^^n Jqs. 927.
the latter phrase, also, with a human subj., 23!^^. Very characteristic
of Dt. : not applied before to God's choice of Israel ; often used by the
Deut. compiler of Kings, of Jerusalem, 1 K. iii3.32.36 844.48 (^-f. v.i«), 14^1
2 K. 21' 23*7; in Jer. once, 33^*, of Israel. Also charact. of II Isaiah
(418- 9 4310 44i'2; cf. my chosen one, also of Israel, 43^0 45*. Of God's
again favouring Israel by restoring it to Palestine, Is. 14* ; my chosen
ones, of the true Israelites of the future, 65'- 1'*-^^. And applied to
Jehovah's ideal servant, the individualized nation, 42^ 49^). Twice in P
(of the priests, to the exclusion of the common Levites), Nu. 16"- ^
24. ('juniT'D) "l3ipD jnn my3i so thou shall exterminate the evil from- thy
midst {from Israel), at the end of the description of a judicial procedure :
138(6) 177- w 19I9 21^1 2221-22.24 24^ This phrase is peculiar to Dt. ; but
"and we will exterminate evil (^y^) from Israel" occurs Jud. 20^^ ■ij;3 to
exterminate occurs also Dt. ig^ 2\^ 26i»-" ; 2 S. 4" i K. 141" 22« 2 K. 232^
2 Ch. 19^ ; and in the pregn. constr. nnx lya i K. 14!" 16^ (Tyzo) 2121.
25. In order that Jehovah tnay bless thee : 142* 2321 (2«) 241* ; with because,
since, &c. 12'' 142* 15*- *• i"- " 16'^"- 1* ; for the emph. laid on Jehovah's blessitig,
comp. also i" 2^ (see note), 7^ 15I8 288- ^ 3oi« ; cf. 26i». Cf. in JE, Ex. 202*
23^.
26. ^-yi greatness (of God): 3** 521 g'^ ii*. So elsewhere only 32* Ps.
1502.
27. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow {rMuhiim Din*ni -iJ.n), as
types of the needy and unprotected: lo^* 24"' i^- 2"- 21 271"; and, with the
Levite, 142" i&^-^* 26'^^-^. Cf. Ex. 222»'-(2"-) (in two different sentences).
Hence Jer. 7* 22^ Ez. 22'.
28. 3 py^ to cleave to, of devotion to God : io2« n2» 130(4) 302" Jos. aa»
STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY Ixxxi
23* ; the corresponding adj. 4^ So 2 K. 18* (of Hezekiah) ; of devotion to
false gods i K. 11', to sin 2 K. 3* (all Dcut.). Not elsewhere in this
application.
29. ni.T nm "WKD as Jehovah hath spoken (i.e. promised) : 6^' 26" 31' ;
+ to me, thee, &c. (iV, oaS : not D3''7k, "Sk) : i"-" 6» <f ; 10' (of Levi: so
i82 ; cf. in D» Jos. 13"- "») ; 1 1» I2*> I5« 26" 27" 29" ("). Cf. Jos. I4»»- 1!* 22*
23"- 1" ; Jud. 2" I K. 52* (^2) 820- M (all Deut.). Comp. above, p. xvi.
30. Thy com, atid thy new wine, and thine oil: 7" ii" 12^^ 14'* 18^ 28".
31. To walk in Jehovah's ways: 8® 10" 11** 19' 26^' 28^ 30" Jos. 22"; so
Tud. 2^ I K. 2^ 3" S^s ii88-88 (all Deut.). Cf. 58" (^' Ex. 18^" (E).
32. ]Vho shall be in those days : 17* 19" 26^ Jos. 2o*'t.
33. And remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt :
S" i5« 1 6^2 2418- a.
34. Sj; -ry mnn n't M/«^ eye shall not pity him {them) : 7^* i3»(8) 1913-21
25". The same idiom Gn. 45^ Is. 13^^ ; and frequently in Ez. (5" 7**® al.).
35. j'DNi pin (liiDNi ipin) 6^ (_j/^) courageous and strong: ^i*-'. 23 jQg_ j6. 7.
•.18 io26j cf. Dt. 3^ insBNi inp?n. The expression may seem to be an
ordinary one ; but it occurs besides only 1 Ch. 2212 282** 2 Ch. 32'' (reminis-
cences from Dt. : notice the following nnn hu^ ktb Sn, comp. with Dt. i'^^
318, and in D^ Jos. i» 8I lo^*).
36. KBn ^a HMi and it be sin in thee: 15' 23^ W 24", cf. 21^ : with not,
2^28 (22|| jn H and P the phrase used is to bear sin. Lev. 19" 22* Nu. i8^- ^^.
37. Statutes and judgments (d'bse'DI D'pn) : 4i-B.8. w 5I w^ 12^ 26^' i K.
9* 2 K. 17" ; + commandment{s) 5'»<»i) 6I 7" 26" i K. 8*8 ; + testimonies 4^
6*** ; cf. commandments and statutes 6" { + testimonies), 27" Ex. 15**, in the
opp. order 4** i K, 3" 8«i ; statutes alone 4« 6« 16", cf. 17^*. And with
nipn, commandments and statutes 10" 281'***'* 30^° i K. 9' 11^ 2 K. 17I' ;
statutes and commandments (i^ i K. ii*®; -ir judgments 8^^ 11^ 30I* i K. 2'
{ + testimonies) : cf. i K. 3*6^ 11^ 2 K. 17** 23*. The passages from Kings
are all Deuteronomic
38. naian yixn the good land, of Canaan : i» 3'* 421- =« 6" 8^» (v.^ a good
land), <f 1 1" Jos. 23" (v."- 1" a good ground). So i Ch. 28^ (a reminiscence).
Cf. Ex. 38 (JE) a good and broad land ; also Nu. 14'' (P) ; Dt. i».
39. Which thou {ye) knowest (or knewest) not : (a) of the manna, 8^- " ;
{b) of strange gods, 11^ i-j8-7. i4(a. e. is) 28** 29^ W ; (c) of a foreign people
2833- 38. (b) also 32!^ (the Song), Jer. f 19* 448 ; and {c) Jer. 91" (I8) : in Jen,
also, of a land (in the threat of exile), 14^8 {JiV. m., reading «h for K^i),
15I* 16I8 17* 22'*8.
40. ni.T 0V3 as at this day : 2'" t^^-^ 6^ (njn DvnD), 8" lo" 29" W. See
the note on 2^, where the other occurrences of the phrase are quoted, and
it is shown that it gives expression to a favourite Deuteronomic thought.
41. D'D^rt-h2 = continually (lit. all the days) : 4*° s^^'^^ ^ "^ '4^ i8» 19*
282S. 33 Jos, ^24. Cf. on 4« ; and add i K. 5«m 8*« 9^ 1 13«- «• 12^ i4«o 2 K. 8"
13* 17^ (nearly all Deut.).
42. -^ an" (■ib'k) ivdV /Aa^ iV wa>' J^ well for thee : 4*' 5i»- 26 W e'- 1* 1 2^- "^
22^. Similarly (do'?) i'? aim 530(33) jgis. (^jij) -^t, -y^^ g** io'3. A character-
istic Deuteronomic principle (p. xxxiii).
43. a'B'n inf. abs., used adverbially = Moroz/^A/v ; 9*' ij"*"' 17* 19**
278. Elsewhere, in this application, only 2 K. iii8f.
F
Ixxxii INTRODUCTION
44. (Vav) Vain mV thou {he) canst not, in the sense of mayest not : 7^" 1 2"
16" 17^® 21^® 22*' i'-*^ 24*. A very uncommon use : cf. Gn. 43*^.
45. The duty oi fearing God inculcated: 6^"^* 10^ is"**' 31^; esp. in
the inf. nuT"?, often with that they may learn prefixed, 410 5^* W (y^ 8» 10"
1423 17I9 28'>8 3 1 18.
46. B'T to possess, esp. in the inf. T\v!'h, nnnV to possess it, at the end of
a sentence, sometimes even pleonastically : see above Nos. 4, 22, and add
jSi 2^8 ^6 J2I, Followed by a personal obj. (peoples), see 9^ (phil. n.).
47. All Israel: i^ (see note), 5' 13" 2i» 27* 29^ 31I.V.11.U gj* 34" Jos.
3' 4" 23* al.
48. To do that which is right (nr'n) in the eyes of Jehovah : 12^ 13W W
21*; +'2'\vir(\ and that which is good 6^^ 12^. So Ex. 15^^ (JE) Jer. 34!" ; and
in the estimates of the kings (all due to the compiler), i K. uss.ss j^^s i^s.u
22*»( = 2 Ch. 20*2), 2 K. lO*" I2»(2) ( = 2 Ch. 24"), I48 ( = 2 Ch. 25"), 158 ( =
2 Ch. 26*), 3* (=2 Ch. 27!"), i6» ( = 2 Ch. 28I), i8« (=2 Ch. 29^), 22^ (=2 Ch.
34»).
49. To do that which is evil (yin) in the eyes of Jehovah : 4"* 9^^* 17'
31^*. So Nu. 3213 ; often in the Deut. framework of Judges (2" 3'- "• " 4^ 6^
10' 13^) and Kings (e.g. 1 K. 11' 14^2 1526) . jg^^ ySo jgio ^^^ • and occasionally
elsewhere (as i S. 15^* 2 S. 12* Is. 65" 66^). Both this and No. 48 gained
currency through Dt., and are rare, except in passages written under its
influence.
50. The priests the Levites {i.e. the Levitical priests) : I7'' 1* 18^ 24' 27*
Jos. 3' 8^; the priests the sons 0/ Levi Dt. 21^ 31^. So Jer. 33^8 Ez. 43"
44" 2 Ch. 5^ [prob. also in the || i K. 8^], 231^30^!. P's expression, "sons
of Aaron," is never used in Dt. (see pp. 214, 219). Cf. Jer. 3321.
51. With all thy {your) heart and with all thy {your) soul, i.e. with the
devotion of the whole being (cf. p. xxi) : 429 6» iqI" ii^^ 13^ f^) ^6^6 302.6.11
Jos. 22^ 23". Only besides (in the third person) i K. 2* 8« ( = 2 Ch. 6*8)
2 K. 238 ( = 2 Ch, 34") 26 2 Ch. 15" ; and (in the first person, of God) Jer.
32''t.
52. 'JsS \r\i to give {deliver) up before (of a conquered land 01 foe) : i*- ^^
281.83.86^2.23 2316(14) 316, and (with ^32 smitten) 28'- ^6. So Jos. iqI^ ii«.
Elsewhere, only Jud. ii» i K. 8^ (Deut.) Is. 41". The usual syn. is give
into the hand of, which also occurs several times in Dt. : see on 3'.
53. To turn (iid) neither to the right hand nor to the left : 2^ lit. (altered
from Nu. 20", which has noj to incline) : so i S. 6I' (of the kine). Metaph.
^29(32) i^u. 20 2814 Jos. i^ 23« ; so 2 K. 22^ ( = 2 Ch. 34^).
54. fny to be affrighted: i^^ 7^1 20* 31' Jos. i*. Not elsewhere in prose.
55. DT ne'^D the work of the hands { = enterprise) : 2' 14^ 161*241^281230*;
in a bad sense, 31**. In the neutral sense of enterprise, not very common
elsewhere, Hag. 2^^-'^ Ps. 90" Job ii" Eccl. s"**** ; in a bad sense, i K. 16^
2 K. 22" (both Deut., and in both + ^ vex with, as Dt. 2^^), Jer. 2^''' 32*'
(also + ^ vex with), Ps. 28* La. 3*».
56. mfi to ransom, fig. of the deliverance from Egypt : 7* (with from
the house of bondage, as Mic. 6'*), 9*8 i3«W 151* 218 24I8. Not so elsewhere
• +iD'j;3nV to vex him (viz. by the undeserved dishonour, involved to
idolatry), as i K. 16^ 2 K. 17" 2i« (=2 Ch. 33').
STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY Ixxxiu
in the Hax. : Ex. 15" (the Song of Moses) uses Skj {to reclaim : see the
note on 7*).
57. . . . iisD •3:k J3 h]} therefore J command thee . . . : 15"-" \g^ 20^^^-^.
58. 3-ip midst, in various connexions, esp. in or from thy (or IsraeTs)
midst: 1^2 (Nu. 14^^) ^6 6is 721 ,,6 ,32.i3.i6(i.ii.i4) 16" if-^ 1?? ig'a-^o 218
2^15. 17 (14. 16) 26" 28" aql"- "("•"' ; 2"'^''" 4*'" i3«.M(B. 13) ,^11 177. 15 iglS. 18
,gi9 2i9. 21 22'^'*^ 24''. The word is a common one, and naturally occurs in
JE (as also elsewhere), though with nothing like the same frequency as in
Dt. P, with not less frequency, uses the syn. ^iin {e.g. of Israel, 32" Ex.
258 29'*' Nu. 3^* 4^-'* &c.), which occurs also in Dt., but only in the phrase
noted below. No. 69 (cf. 5-"), in the combination iin '?« into the midst 13"
21I- 22^ 23"-^ (as 2 S. 3^ al.'. aip '?« is not generally said, in Gn. 41*^ anp
denoting specially the interior oi a.n animal), and in 3'* 5**»<^) 11' 19'.
59. Which thine eyes have seen (emph. for the normal thou hast seen) :
4»7l» lO^l 293<3)(cf. 21'').
60. Thy {your) eyes are those that have seen (another emph. formula) i
61. To eat and be satisfied: 6" (see note), S^"- n , ,»» 1429 26^2 ; also ji*
(P- 337)'
62. The caution not to forget : 4,^- "-^ 6" 8"- "• ^^ 9^ 25"" ; cf. 26"".
63. cty iDB* [22''?, pvi to make His name dn^e/I there (viz. in the central
sanctuary): 12" 14^3 ,62-6.n 262. Only besides Jer. f"^ Ezr. 6^2 Ngh. i»t.
With □lb'? {to set) 12' (see note)'" 142*. This occurs also in Kings,* viz.
I K. 93 ii38 1421 2 K. 2i«-T ( = 2 Ch. 33^) ; also 2 Ch. &" (varied from i K.
^"^ shall be) \2>'^\.
64. (d3t) T' n'^E'D that to -which thou puttest thine {ye put your) hand
( = enterprise): 12'- " 15'" 23^1 288- i^t.
65. TDcn to destroy, noes to be destroyed : 1^ 2^^ "• »• ^ 4" 6^^ f- « g'- «• "•
U.S0.25 aS-'^-ss 31S.* Jos. g^ ii"-=» 231*: Dt. 426 723 i2«« zS'"- 2->- «• "• si. The
word is not an uncommon one ; but it occurs elsewhere in the Hex. only
Gn. 3430 (J) Jos. 7" (JE) 248 (E) ; Lev. 26«> Nu. 33*2 (H) ; and Dt. 33^7 (the
Blessing).
66. Vk-w' hdv Hear, O Israel : 5^ 6* 9^ 20* ; cf. 27®, also 4^.
67. And . . . shall hear and fear (of the deterrent effects of punish-
ment) ; i3"(") 17" I92« 21".
68«. niB-y^ notr to observe to do : 51-29(32) ff. 25 gi ii32 ,21 13I (i23^) 15^ 17'"
248b 28115-58 31I2 32^6 Jos. i''-8 22»: SO 2 K. 173' 2i8 ( = 2 Ch. 33^; hence also
1 Ch. 2213). Cf. (with accus. intervening) 7" ii^^ if^ 198 ; also 13^8(18).
686. To observe and do : 4* 7" 16" 23** (^3) 248* 26i« 28^3 (cf. 298 W) Jos. 23*.
69. B'Kn lino out of the midst of the fire : 4^- 1«- 33- 36 54. i». 21. 23 gio ,o4.
70. (a) '' n2]ivt Jehovah's abomination, esp. as the final ground of a pro-
hibition : 7*' 1231 1^1 1 812a 220 23I8 25i« 27^6 ; cf. 24* : {b) navw alone, chiefly
of heathen or idolatrous customs, ^^ (an idol, or idolatrous relic) 131* 14*
(forbidden kinds of food), 17*; of customs of the Canaanites, i89-^''2o"
(cf. I K. 14^2 K. 163 21*-"). So 32"; and often in Jer., and (esp.) Ez.
♦ Together with nrnS to be, .t.t shall be, which are not in Dt. : viz. i K.
8" ( = 2 Ch. 6")™ 2 K. 23" : so 2 Ch. 6« 33* (varied from i K. 9* 2 K. ai<
set); cf. 20*.
Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION
a is an expression that occurs often in the Proverbs (as ii'*** la"
,g8.i».W). with b comp. in H Lev. ,822- m. 27, 29. so 20" (but onl_y of sins of
unchastity). — Cf. p. Ixxi f. Other expressions, recurring less frequently,
are noted in the Commentary.
The following is a list of noticeable words or expressions
found only in Dt. (c. 32. 33 excluded ; see pp. 348, 389) : —
W 23" ; TDNrt 26"- 18 ; o'efuD 25" ; myJD 282" ; pann 28^5 . n„o ^le 28«« ;
nphi 28^2 ; ynn i" ; Vpi;i 28^ ; pcnn 16^ 23^8 ; iiriri 28^2 ; D^^ 28" ; hvn {o^hxpni)
25I8 ; KJB basket 2(P" * 28"- " ; nb 28^2 . pL, ^^t'. ^^'Vd 2326 ; nop 16I" ; dtid i'V
2^ 3' (but read so in Jud. 20*^ as well) ; Vcj ( = Arab. nasala) 19" 28*" (see
onyi); nuDDD 8*; nan (ngpn) 27"; Bay, B'3j;n i59-8 24i<'; Buy 24i''-i* (cf. O'eay
Hab. 2«); onm ni'?''?v 22"-"; iDynn 21" 24'; p'jyn 15" (cf. pjj; Ps. 73*); npyo
22^ ; IJNs nnntyy 7^' 28*- ^^' " ; nm nii;; 231* 24^ ; "IK? 242" (denom. from T^^}^) ;
Sii'?s 28^2 (as name of insect) ; 'vp g^ ; ip. 28** ; Tb'^n 'UB' f^ 28'*- 1^- ^^ [nona iic
Ex. 13^'^]; ■tVb' 2857; n^ppi ^^/^fl5^ 1^1. S. 9 21IO. J3;p) ff; alsO ipN, [fc^n, TDT,
and nxn (but read nNn, as Lev. ii^^), i4'>-".
The following is a list of unusual words or expressions,
occurring in Dt. (creatures named in c. 14 excluded ; also
c. 32. 33) ; fuller particulars respecting most of them will be
found in the notes : —
3'3Nn t^nn /he month of Abib 16^ ; ddk 28^ Pr. 3i*'t ; f"^^^ slopes (of
Pisgah) 3" 4*" ; ixa i» 278 Hab. 22t ; p;(3 8^ (cited Neh. 921)! ; D''?na 22^* ;
■nj i" i822 (of. 3227), and ii; g^^ 28^", to be in dread (sq. "JSD); mj 282''; 'ba
nyn 4*2 ig^ Jos. 20«-'> ; f]nn 6»3 9'' Jos. 23' ; Tin i*^ 1713 jgao ; Taj i6i« 20^3 ; aai
25I8 Jos. lo^'t; "^n 2921 ; 'a prn 7' lo^' 21"; mSBiB 6^ ii^* Ex. 13^®!; Dip;
I !« ; Snj KiiD (D'^nj D^Nmo) 4^ 268 3412 (Jer. 3221) ; jci: 42^ ; "^nan nia 420 ; o'sSa
22* Lev. 191*1 ; iv'?a 28^ ; nxa (as ^fwfc^.) 6" 2 K. 2326! ; nnxo aS^" ; ^IDD 23^ ;
mn^D 28'''"; mj /o impel (of an axe, or hand wielding one) 19*201*; of
being driven into idolatry 4I* 30I'' ; so nnn 138- "•» 2 K. 1721 Qre, 2 Ch. 21"
(not elsewhere in this sense); D'^fl ran i" i6i'; noj 288*; hm ( = Arab.
nashala) f- ^ ; hoo 4I8 ; mo defection \f 19" ; jniy 282« ; rj'sn 11* ; nmp 2822
t]Bp 2328 (Job, Ez.); p-u i"; nijnB' 2822; jaByj? 22" Lev. 191*1; P™" zS^** ; nj>
DDn2l'>3l2*-*».
The following expressions, occurring mostly once only in
Dt., are more or less frequent in subsequent writers, esp.
those of the Deuteronomic school (see notes) : —
D'"?i'?i and D'sipc 29I8 OT ; myi 288" ; D'yan to vex (esp. by idolatry) 42* gi"
3|2* 32I8 (cf. oy? V.21) ; o'irt to expel (from Canaan) 30I, cf. v.* ; the name to
be called over 281* ; I'S'jyo T\ 282" ; nDtr, r\yyo 28*'' ; r\\yva 29I8 (i*) ; erij 29*^.
The general literary style of Dt. is singularly pure and
beautiful; with the fewest possible exceptions,* the diction is
• Comp. on i22 3" ii« 12' 24*.
STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY IxxXV
classical, and the syntax idiomatic and regular. Dt. abounds,
for instance, with classical examples for the construction, in
different connexions, of the perfect with Waw consecutive.
The parenetic tone of Dt. bears a superficial resemblance
to that of H (^.^. Lev. 26) ; but when the two styles are
compared more closely, numerous differences at once reveal
themselves, that of Dt. presenting affinities with Jeremiah,
while H displays affinities with Ezekiel. The only noticeable
point of contact in the style of Dt. with that of H is the use
of the term thy brother (see the passages quoted in the note on
152), With P, Dt. shows no phraseological resemblance
whatever. In the laws touching common ground (whether
with H or P) identical terms occur (as c. 14 po ; 22^ D\s^D ; 22"
fJDi'ti' ; 248 nyi^'n y:^) ; but these either (as those in c. 14) form
part of a quotation, or are technical expressions (cf. p. xii) ;
they are not recurrent m Dt., and do not therefore constitute
any real phraseological similarity between the two writings.
The majority of the expressions noted above (p. Ixxviiiff.)
occur seldom or never besides ; others occur only in passages
modelled upon the style of Dt., and representing the same
point of view. Of course a tabulated list of idioms cannot
adequately characterize the style of an author ; there is an
effect produced by the manner in which phrases are combined,
and by the structure and rhythm of sentences, which defies
tabulation, or even description, and which can only be properly
appreciated by repeated perusal of the work in question.
Those who have by this course familiarized themselves with
the style of the Deuteronomic discourses, will be conscious
how greatly it differs from that of any other part of the Pent,,
— even the parenetic sections of JE (p. Ixxvii), which show a
tendency to approach it, not exhibiting the cornplcte Deutero-
nomic rhythm or expression.* The style of Dt. could not
• Thus in Gn. 26' the rhythm is not that of Dt., nor the plural ffiTin. In
Ex. 15^* D would say Sipa for ^ip*?, and would not use 'JK, and hardly I'm.T
(1*) ; nor would vmsD and vpn be distributed into two clauses. By some
scholars [e.g. Bacon, Triple Tradition), large parts of these sections, as
also various other passag^es in Ex. Nu. (as Ex. 3''' g'^'^^i lo^''"^ i2^'^
22aob-23.26(2ib.24.27, 238. lib. 12b 3,13)^ ^re thought to be additions due to a
Deuteronomic hand. It is true, they are largely didactic in tone, and
Ixxxvi INTRODUCTION
have been formed without precedents ; and it is probable that
these parts of JE (and perhaps other writings not now extant,
the style of which was similar) formed the basis upon which
the Deuteronomist developed his own literary style, and
supplied elements which, in moulding it, he assimilated.
Another of his literary models may have been the hortatory,
or prophetic, sections of E, or (in Judges and Sam.) of a
document (or documents) allied to E.* It is evident, however,
that the original features of his style preponderate decidedly
above those that are derived. The strong individuality of the
author colours everything that he writes ; and even a sentence,
borrowed from elsewhere, assumes by the new setting in
which it is placed a fresh character, and impresses the reader
differently.
This may often be observed in the retrospects, c. 1-3. 9'- 10". Notice,
for instance, the fine effect of ah? in i^" 10"^ 28"*, and how by its addition
D'Dtfn '33123 of Gn. 22'^ is adapted to the oratorical style of Dt. The varia-
tions in i^, as compared with Ex. 13^^, have a similar effect (observe esp.
the sustained rhythm, produced by connecting- v.^ with v.^^ by iSinn). In
1*2 notice the force of the addition of mnSn kVi (as in 9^ of in'^nji and tvtt
nSij3 nns), and in i** of Dn3nn nyienn icns D3nK isnTi ; in 2^ {'n-ieri fjoaa S-dn
''7jn3 ,ti3j;n pn 'n'nB'i '"? inn f)D33 d'Di 'n'?3Ki) the superior rhythm to Nu. 20''
(m3i'K '"jna ^3^ px pn m3D 'nnji 'jpni 'jk nncj td'D dni n'jyj nVooa). Nu. 13^
nuD ni'rnj nms3 nnvii px3 3^^ dv^ 'V '3 dbn is ordinary prose ; Dt. 1^ djj
o'Dwa nnis3i ni'?n3 any i:dd oni SnJ is oratory. Comp. similarly Nu. 142^-2*-
81. «b ^ith Dt. i**"^^- ^^••" (in v.*® notice n3 im for noB' k3).
In Deuteronomy, a new style of flowing and impressive
have, as Wellh. recognized {Comp. pp. 76, 81, 88, gy n., 208), points of
contact with Dt. ; but the later Deuteronomic writers usually display the
Deut. phraseology as decidedly as Dt. itself, if not more so ; and the fact
that in these passages of JE it is less marked than in Dt. is a reason for
referring them — except perhaps parts of Ex. 20^"" (p. Ixxviii «.) — to a. pre-
Deuteronomic hand (either J, or the compiler of JE : comp. L.O.T. p.
116). Cf. Kuan. ^e.r. §§ 9 «. 2, 4; 13^. 21, 29, 31, 32 (5), who takes an
intermediate view.
* Compare the /re-Deuteronomic parts of Jos. 24^^^ {L.O.T. p. 106),
of Jud. 6^-»» io«-i« {ib. pp. 156, 158) ; i S. 2"-36, parts of i S. 7-8 io"-2'» 12
{ib. p. 167 f.; and below, p. 213), 2 S. 7. All these passages show some
affinity in thought and expression to Dt. ; and all (except i S. 2"-^^ —
which ought probably to be included, — and a few isolated phrases in the
other passages) are characterized rightly by Budde {Richter u. Samuel,
1890, pp. 108, 128, 180 ff. 244 f.; and in 77!^ Books of Samxul, in Haupt's
Sacred Books of the Old Testament) as pre-Deuteronomic.
STYLE OF DEUTERONOMY Ixxxvii
oratory was introduced into Hebrew literature, by means of
which the author strove to move and influence his readers.
Hence (quite apart from the matter of his discourse) he differs
from the most classical writers of historical narrative, by
developing- his thought into long and rolling periods, which
have the effect of bearing the reader with them, and holding
him enthralled by their oratorical power. The beauty and
effectiveness of Dt. are indeed chiefly due to the skill with
which the author amplifies his thoughts, and casts them into
well-balanced clauses, varied individually in expression and
form,* but all bound together by a sustained rhythmical flow.f
The author's fondness for the pathetic reflexive dative | may
mark his sympathy with the people whom he is addressing;
but his love of asyndeta,^ and of the emphatic form p- in the
2nd and 3rd persons plural of the impf., as also his preference
for 33? {47 times) above 37, || and for ^3J>^ (56 times) above ''^^,%
are probably due to his sense of what harmonized best with
the oratorical rhythm of his discourse. It is another char-
acteristic of the elevated prose of Dt., that it not unfrequently
uses rare or choice words, not found in ordinary prose.** The
rhetorical breadth and fulness of the Deuteronomic style, and
the copiousness of its diction, are manifest even in a trans-
lation. The practical aims of the author, and the parenetic
treatment, which as a rule his subject demands, oblige him
* Notice, as one mode of expansion, which adds a measured dignity
to the Deuteronomic style, the clauses attached aa-t/vJeTw;, 426b. se (after
Y^Sfi\ e80(SS) (after V.^(^^)) ^2b. Sb. lOb. 22b. 24b. 38b q7b J J lib. 12b j |-19b i^lBb 2g7b. 24b
t E.g. 4"-^*- ^2-^« e^"-!" 7"-i» 8"-" 1 1^-'- 10-12 i2''-7- 10-12 137-H 28-'0fl'-. Comp.
the series of clauses introduced aVyvStTo;; by n'J3fl <^i6b-i8^ ]^y pj^ gn-a^ jjy
IJ 28^^''-^ • also 4''-*- 32b-34 gUb-19 jg^O-SS. 88-42^
X See the phil. notes on I'-i^. § Cf. on 17^ i8^
II Which occurs only 4I1 (see p. Ixxi n.), 28®" 29^* 1^.
IT Only 12^ 29* (for the reason of these exceptions, see the notes). The
other occurrences of 'jk in Dt. — ^a-i- ^*' *^- ^*- ^' in the Song-, and 32**' " in P
— are not from the pen of the author of the discourses.
** Kg: TiJ i" 18^^; nnn in the phrase nnn Ski kth Sk (i^i 318; hence in
D* Jos. I* 81 io2*, and as a reminiscence i Ch. 22I* 2820 2 Ch. 2oi'' " 32' ;
otherwise only i S. 17I1, and in the prophets); pv (p. Ixxxii); ^1i (i^ ii2*'25;
cf. Jos. i^ 14*: in 2i purely literal sense, i S. 5' Jud. 92^: otherwise poet.);
»)3nnn (p. Ixxx) ; pmn (i**) ; in (2": see note); Sin be in anguish {2^'. i S.
3i» lit.); i^a be lofty {2^)', layn.T (32*); nmn (8") ; |;?t(8")j ni; (g"* 38")j
DDI (19I9); HKT {28*9) ; bnir (28«s 30*) ; yuin (28«>).
Ixxxviil INTRODUCTION
naturally to expand and reiterate more than is usually the
case with Hebrew writers ; nevertheless, his discourse, while
never (in the bad sense of the term) rhetorical, always main-
tains its freshness, and is never monotonous or prolix. The
oratory of the prophets is frequently more ornate and diversi-
fied : in his command of a chaste, yet warm and persuasive
eloquence, the author of Deuteronomy stands unique among
the writers of the Old Testament.
The linguistic character of Dt. is entirely consistent with
the date assigned to it by critics (cf. p. xlvii, No. 6) : on the
one hand, it contains nothing rugged, or otherwise suggestive
of antiquity ; on the other hand, it exhibits none of those
marks of a deteriorated style which begin to show themselves
in Hebrew shortly afterwards. In its broader literary features
Dt. resembles closely the^ prose parts of Jeremiah (p. xcii f.).
There are no "archaisms," either in Dt., or in the Pentateuch gener-
ally, of a character to establish its antiquity, (i) The epicene Nin is not
an archaism : for the fact that Arab. Eth. Aram. — to say nothing- of
Assyrian — all have a fem. with yod, is proof that the distinction between
the two genders must have existed already in the original language
spoken by the Semitic nations, when they lived together in a common
home, and that Hebrew consequently, even in its earliest stage, must have
possessed a fem. hi' * In Phoen. Moab. and old Aramaic Inscriptions
the pron. of the 3rd pers. sing, is written regularly Hn,\ which, as the
evidence of the cogfnate languages just referred to shows, will have been
pronounced hu or hi', as the sense required. (& shows that in the older
Heb. MSS. the scriptio plena was not generally introduced ; and in the
light of the facts just adduced, it may be safely inferred that the 1 of Nin in
the Pent., and the 1 and ' of wn and k'.t in other parts of the OT. (except
possibly in the very latest), formed no part of the original autographs. The
epicene Kin will thus not have been introduced into the Pent, until a com-
paratively late epoch in the transmission of the text — perhaps in connexion
with the assumption, which is partly borne out by facts (Del. ZKWL.
1880, p. 396 f.), that in the older language fem. forms were used more
• Noldeke, ZDMG. 1866, p. 458 f., 1878, p. 594; Delitzsch, ZKWL.
1880, p. 395 f., and Conim. on Gen. (Engl, tr.) i. 42 f., 50; Wright,
Compar. Gramm. pp. 103-105.
t As CIS. I. i. 1® K.T pns iVd, i^* xn nsN^D, 322 n.t nsSoen, and frequently;
in Mesha"s Inscription, line 6 k.t dj nDN'i, line 27 k.t [i.e. o-\n] mi 'd ; and
in the recently discovered Aramaic (Nold. ZDMG. 1893, p. 99) inscriptions
of Zinjirli, near Antioch in Syria (8 cent. B.C.), as Panammu, line n Vya
xn r|D3 (D. H. Miiller, Die altsem. Inschriften von Sendschirli, 1893, pp. 6,
18, 44). Comp. Notes on Samuel, p. xxxiii.
SUPPOSED ARCHAISMS IN DEUTERONOMY Ixxxix
Bparingfly than subsequently. The peculiarity is not, in fact, confined to
the Pent. It is found in the MS. of the " Later Prophets," exhibiting- the
Oriental text, and superlinear punctuation, now at St. Petersburg, and
dated a.d. 916 : see the passages cited on Ez. 30'^ in the Adnotationes
CriticcE prefixed to Strack's facsimile edition.
(2) On '?Nn for nVxri (3 times in Dt., 8 in the Pent., and '?x i Ch. 20*) see
the note on 4*^. Dr. Sinker, in his note on this form {Lex Mosaica, p. 472),
omits to mention — what surely is an element in judging of these 8 exceptional
passages — that the usual forms in the Pent, (some 260 times) are n'ynn and
nVn, exactly as in other books.
(3) On the epicene ly: {young person, — the sex being indicated bj' the
context), see on 22^" (p. 255); comp. Kuen. Hex. pp. 3i8f., 321 f., 342,
G.-K. § 2. 5 (who are inclined to regard the distinction as merely ortho-
graphical : see, however, Konig, Einl. p. 152 f.). No doubt, this is the
older usage ; but we possess no independent knowledge how long it con-
tinued, or when the distinctive form for the fem. came into use ; and it is
unreasonable to allow a single phenomenon, of which the explanation is
doubtful, to outweigh the evidence of a multitude of indications pointing
convergently in an opposite direction. Hence until the supposition made
on p. 225 can be shown to be an improbable one, the epicene "lyj cannot be
used in proof of the antiquity of the Pentateuch. Both this distinction and
No. I imply that, when they arose, the Pent, had heen formally separated
from Joshua (in spite of the fact that the same documents are continued in
it) and the following historical books, and stood (in some respects) upon a
different footing from them ; but nothing obliges us to suppose that this
separation was effected until considerably after the return of the Jews
from Babylon.
(4) On the term, p-, in the 2nd and 3rd pers. pi. of the impf. (56 times),
see the note on i^'' (p. 19); and on the same form — very anomalously — in the
per/. Jijn' (twice), see on 8^
(5) On 'jsr Dt. 33^', see the note ad loc.
(6) The 3 fem. sing. perf. has its original form (preserved also in
Aram.) with n Dt. 32'* (the only case with the strong \&r:\i), 31^®, as in On.
33" Ex. 5^* Lev. 25^^^ 26**. But the same form is found also 2 K. 9^^ Kt.
Is. 7^^ Jer. 13^8 44^3 Ez. 24" 46" Ps. 118^, — none of which can be said
exactly to be early passages.
(7) inoi in 16'* is derived from the older law of Ex. 23^^ = 34^; fmsi
occurs independently in 20". Elsewhere (including more than 50 times in
the Pent.) nsj is always used : why noi occurs these four times we do not
know ; — it may be an isolated collective form — corresponding to the Arabic
"broken plural" dhukur"" (Konig, Lehrgeb. ii. i. 436) — preserved before a
suffix ("131 never occurs with a suffix).
(8) "Jericho" is spelt in Dt. 32** 341- » as uniformly (12 times) in the
Pent, 'ini; (" Yer^cho") : it is spelt in Jos. (28 times) inn' (so 2 K. z*-*-'^-
lo-iS; -irn; (Baer) Jos. 18" 2 S. io» Jer. 39* ^2^\ ; nrrt; i K. i6"t) ; and Mr.
Girdlestone {Lex Mas. p. 119) thinks that the variation is only naturally to
be explained by the supposition that " Israel picked up a new pronunciation,
after they came to the place." How comes it, then, that the supposed
older pronunciation {Yerecho) recurs 2 K. 25* Ezr. 2** Neh. 3* 7^ i Ch.
XC INTRODUCTION
663(78) igB 2 ch. 28^"*!? Were these books also written by Moses? The
same writer's statement {Foundations of the Bible, p. 177), that "the
Chronicler gives an extract from a document which retains the oldest
spelling," is incorrect; i Ch. 6***''^' corresponds to Jos. 21^*, where the
clause with Jericho has fallen out ; but throughout Jos. the word is spelt
with i (comp., in the same phrase, Jos. 20®) ; and i Ch. 19" is from 2 S. lo",
where it is also spelt with i. Even if the distinction were original, there-
fore, no argument could be founded upon it for the antiquity of the Pent. :
but in point of fact — comp. esp. 2 K. 25' with Jer. 39' 52^, where in one
and the same sentence it is pointed differently in the two books — it can
scarcely be doubted that it is one which grew up arbitrarily at a very late
date.
(9) Other words peculiar to Dt. (or the Pent.), collected by Keil and
others — most recently in Lex Mosaica, p. 473 f. — as evidence of its
antiquity, are altogether inconclusive : there is nothing connected with the
words themselves suggestive of antiquity, except their occurrence in books
reputed to be ancient : the argument founded upon them is consequently
circular. Every book of the OT. has words and expressions peculiar to
itself; and it would be as reasonable to collect those occurring in Sam. or
Isaiah, and to argue from them that they belong to the Mosaic age. — Nos.
4 (in the impf.), 5, 6 are no doubt genuine examples of older forms ; but
(i) they are too isolated, and (2) they occur too frequently in books other
than the Pent., to be any evidence of the superior antiquity of the latter.
Were the occurrence of these — and of two or three similar forms (see
L.O.T. ed. 5, p. 527 f., ed. 6, p. 125) — really due to antiquity, it would be
more uniform, and the general literary style of the Pent, would display a
perceptibly archaic flavour, instead of being (as it is) virtually indis-
tinguishable from that of books written confessedly under the monarchy.
Particular words or forms (apart from more general literary
features), harmonizing with a date in the 7th cent. B.C., are —
the Nithp. conj. 123? 21^ (see note); the Aramaism riDO i6^° ;
the form ni33DO 8^ (derived from an adj. Hiipf? poor, which is
not found in classical Hebrew, though common in Aram., and
hence in late Heb., Eccl. 4^^ 9^*- ^<') ; perhaps also yoJD? lo^ (see
note). The form PX^V S^* (so prsn 16^; ])Z}1^, ppi* 2822; pyjc>,
Imv, pnon 282^ ; jv^a 28^^) is not very common in early writings
(though instances occur: see Konig, Leiirgeh. ii. i. 129 f.).
The fem. form of the inf. — viz. nxT' and nariN 4^^ 7^ 10^2 ^nd
frequently; nsjb' i27g28. npST 1 122^020 (so Jos. 22^) — has also
been cited in the same connexion ; and it is true that most
examples of this belong to the later language {Journal of
Philol. xi. 235 f.): but nx"i^ and n^HN can both be shown
independently to have been in use early (2 S. 3^^ Is. 29^^ . Qq^
2920 2 S. iS^ 19'^ 20^7) ; so that only two are added by Dt.
LITERARY INFLUENCE OF DEUTERONOMY XCl
(Hos. 5^ — if the text be sound (cf. Wellh. Die Kleinen Propheten,
adioc.)—hsLS nont:', and 7* nvon : Is. 30^9 r^v^^).
The influence of Dt. is very perceptible in the literature of
the OT. Upon its promulgation, it speedily became the book
which both gave the religious ideal of the age, and moulded
the phraseology in which it was expressed. The style of
Deuteronomy, when once it had been formed, lent itself
readily to adoption ; and thus a school of writers, imbued with
its spirit, quickly arose, who have stamped their mark upon
many parts of the OT. Even the original Deuteronomy
appears (p. Ixxv) in places to have received expansion at the
hands of a Deuteronomic editor (or editors). In the historical
books, long sections of Joshua — e.^. c. i 22^-^ 23 — besides
many shorter passages elsewhere,* are constructed all but
entirely of Deuteronomic phrases : in the books of Judges and
Kings, passages constantly occur, distinguished from the
general current of the narrative by their strongly marked
Deuteronomic style, and evidently either entirely composed,
or (in some cases) expanded from a narrative originally briefer,
by a distinct writer, viz. the compiler or editor.! The Deutero-
nomic passages in the historical books do not usually contain
much incident ; they consist mostly either of speeches (or
additions to speeches), placed in the mouths of prominent
historical characters, and reflecting in various ways the
Deuteronomic point of view, or else of comments passed by
the compiler upon the religious aspects of the history : in the
book of Joshua, for instance, the Deuteronomic additions (in
harmony with the spirit of Dt. 31^'^) have chiefly the aim of
illustrating the zeal shown by Joshua in fulfilling Mosaic
* Insertions in, or expansions of, the original narrative ; as 2**'"^^ 3' 4"'
31-24 ^i gi-a (jjj parts), ^'^ &c. ; and the generalizing summaries lo^'*'
1,10-15 ,31.12 &c. {L.O.T. p. 97 fr.).
t As Jud, 2"-23 3''-6; and (in their present form) 37-n.ia-w» ^i-s gi jge-w
(L.O.T. p. 154 flF.) ; I K. 2^-^ f-^-^* 8^'^ gi-s iii-'^ (in its present form), '^'^
,^19-20.21-24 ,^3-5 &c., zi^^'^ ; 2 K. g''^'^ ,77-23. 34b-40 ,gl5-19 &£.. (ib. pp. 175 fF.,
190-193). The references in Kings to the "law" (with or without the
name of Moses) are all, as either the context or the phraseology shows,
specifically to Dt. : see i K. 2^ 8^ (Dt. lo" 29') ; S*' (^^ f) ; 8^ (la*'- 25^";
cf. also Jos. 2i*2.«(«-46) 23I4 in D2) ; 2 K. io»> ; 14* (Dt. 24") ; i8«- ^ 218 22*
23"' ^ ; and comp. the passages cited p. Ixxxi, No. 37.
XCll INTRODUCTION
ordinances ; in the books of Kings, they are largely estimates
of the character of the kings, or reflexions on the national
history,* Differences should, however, be noted, as well as
resemblances : many of these passages, for instance, contain
new phrases not found in Dt. itself; t and it is interesting to
note what is on the whole an increasing accumulation of
deviations from the original Deuteronomic type, till in {e.£:)
2 K. 17 it is mingled with phrases derived from the Book of
Kings itself, Judges, and Jer. It is but seldom, moreover,
that the writers who thus fell under the Deuteronomic spell
show the same delicate sense of symmetry and balance ; Jer.,
especially, instead of rounding off his sentences at the right
point, is apt to throw into them more than the rhythm will
properly bear. The prayers in Neh. i^-n 98^- Dan. q^^^ are
likevv'ise largely moulded in the Deuteronomic phraseology —
under its influence even the author of Daniel (whose Hebrew,
as a rule, is laboured and uncouth) becomes fluent. The
Chronicler, also, though his general style is as unlike that of
Dt. as can well be imagined, sometimes lets his thoughts run
in Deuteronomic phrases. J Among the prophets, Jeremiah,
as is well known, especially in his prose passages, shows most
prominently the influence of Dt. : reminiscences from Dt.,
consisting often of whole clauses, are interwoven with phrases
peculiar to Jer. himself; and even where the words are not
actually the same, the thought, and the oratorical form —
the copious diction, and sustained periods — are frequently
similar.
* In the books of Samuel there are no parts with the same strongly
marked character. On passages in these books which display a partial
affinity to Dt., see p. Ixxxvi, note.
t As I K. 2* observe their way, and -walk before me in faithfulness (cf. 3'
2 K. 20') ; a whole (or perfect) heart, i K. 8«i 1 1* 15'- " 2 K. 20' ; to dismiss
(nW), cast away (ySvn), or remove (tdh), from before my {his) face, i K. 9' ;
2 K. \f^ 17^ 242"; 2 K. 1718-28 23" 24* (also in Jer.); to bring evil upon,
I K. 9' 14^" 2i2i-2» 2 K. 21^1 22i«-'^ (and often in Jer.); to turn from one's
evil way (ways) i K. 13S3 2 K. if^ Jer. i8» 25' 26^ 35IS 363-7 (cf. 2322), Ez.
33" (cf. 13^^), Zech. I* Jon. 3^ ; dnd to reject (Jehovah, His people) 2 K. 17**
2327 Jer. 729 1419 31S7 . 130 to sell (fig.) Jud. 2'^ f 4- 10'' (so only in the Song,
Dt. 32*'*) ; B-tsJ of Jehovah's forsaking His people, Jud. 6^' i S. 12^* ( = Ps,
94"), 1 K. 8" 2 K. 211" (also Is. 28 Jer. i^ 12' 2^^-^'^).
X Comp. p. Ixxxi, Nos. 35, 38 ; p. Ixxxiii, No. 68 a ; i Ch. 29".
LITERARY INFLUENCE OF DEUTERONOMY XClll
Comp., for instance. Jer. 7'* ii'« i6*-" 2T»-" 26 27'
2gB-» ^2'
348-ffl 44. Zunz {ZDMG. 1873, pp. STi-^^—Gesammelte Schriften, i.
219-222) has transcribed in parallel columns 66 passages of Dt., of which
there are echoes in not less than 86 of Jer.; and he certainly has not
exhausted all that could be found. A few specimens are here given : —
Jeremiah
Deuteronomy
6^" D'D'n Sa uS 2ib'? irnVx '' nx hxt"?
420 onsDD Snan iidd D3nK Ksn
32'
■noD oni-D fiKD oniN
4** *3 DNSDi i'hVk '• nn CCD □ne'pai
irsj '7331 "laaV '?Dn umn
4** npjn T31 nDn'7D3i D'nsioai rinN3
D'Snj D'KmD3i .TiBj j/nm
5** oariK D3'n^K '' nis ncx Tnn V33
03"? 31B1 |vnn ivdV is'^n
52* DnS 30" ij.'d'?
8'* Dm3jn D'nnK d'h^k nnN naVm
en*? n'lnntrni
18* vt^'^^i kS ttk riK 'DB'3 ^3^ •i3nV
n3n^
28* px.T ma'^DD Sa'? myiV n"m
3826 Q<oern r)ij; '73'? '?3ND^ Tn'^aJ •ti'-"'!
Tnno pKi pxn rDn3'?i
28''' Tni3Ki rmN njn' kS ib-k 'u hn
28" (cf. 4") D'oyn ^33 ni.T is'sjni
28** nxT "iK-KD pKH nspD pniD 'u T^y
28*2 nB3 nn« tck nniM.Ti mn3Jn TniDin
ina
28*2 . . . Tn33i Tja ^1S'3 1203 'TiJ n'^axi
13'1K ^^ p'S' TCK piSD31 -I1SD3
28** aTS'nS DS'Sy mrr e-B- •ib'N3 .Tm
oanK
29** BKin pk"? .133 '' nv]i TO Sy*
29^* "733 ':imn 'a onKsDi tik cne'p3i
0333'?
32^^ -Tie: yii(«3i npin Tai D'nsiDai niriNa
Snj xniDm
72s nanK mxK "wm iiin Saa onaSm
03^ 3B" \yth
2$' may'? onnK n'riVK nnK i3'?n Vm
(cf. 13^" 16") dhS mnriB'n'?!
29^ D'nns KiS iPK npr 'DB-a nai nai'i
15* 24' 29" y\Hn niaVoD '?3'7 nyi?'? o-nnji
(similarly 34")
7*5 qiyV ^3x0"? njn oyn n'?3a nn'.-;i
nnno j'ki pKn nonaSi d'dbti
(similarly 16* 19^)
16^ D3'niaKi DHK Dnyr k*? ick pxH "jp
nV'^1 DDV DnnK D'n'?j« hk db' Dm3vi
9" TOn lyr kV ib-k d'ij3 D'nis'Bni
DmaKi
5" i:rS yin k"? 'u . . . pmcD 'u dd'Sv
131' no yocn nVi
5" iiMa naa nnK ib-n Tisao nv
19* D.Tnn Tca tiki Dn'33 nB'3 nx □•n'^ax.ii
□.T31N on'? ip'S' IPK piiD31 ni;03 . . ,
32" Dmx 3'B'n'7 D.TVy 'ns-iyi
HB'y no "yy
22* nxTH nSnan TyV naa
(cf. 1 610 I K. 98)
Such parallels (the number of which mig-ht be readily
increased t) are remarkable. They are to be explained, how-
• Comp. also v.^ » with Jer. i6"- " 22^ i K. 9*.
t JS.g-. 10" (Jer. 3222) ; ii28 (79) . ,22 pyT j-y ^j pnn (2» 3'-^) ; 12" iDr jaB-S
D»(7l2); ,2«1(7S1). i^e ', t,y niO 121 (281« 2932); 1318(4212). j5U.12(3^9f.l4).
268t. (322".); 2619 (13" 338); 2918(23" 1310 118); 2927 (12I*); 2927 nonai rjKa
Vni f]spai (2I» ; cf. 32") ; 30^- » (29" 30^ 332«i') . 30" (2I»).
XCIV INTRODUCTION
ever, by the influence, theological and h'terary, which (as has
been remarked above) Dt., after its promulgation, speedily
acquired. The opinion that Jer. was the author oi Dt., though
advocated formerly by Colenso,* rests upon a superficial com-
parison of style, and has been rightly rejected by all subsequent
critics. For when the style of the prophet is compared closely
with that of Dt., differences disclose themselves, which more
than outweigh the similarities, and place identity of authorship
out of the question. On the one hand, terms and expressions
which are characteristic of Dt., occur rarely in Jer. — e.g. to
love (Jehovah His people), once only, Jer. 31^, (Israel Jehovah)
only Jer. 2* (in a fig., never found in Dt.) ; to choose (Jer. 332*
only); to possess (of Canaan), only 30^ 32^3; to observe ("lOC^)
the law, &c., only 16^^ 35^*; or never, as "i^nxn {prolong or be
long, of days), to observe to do, to observe and do, gates, repre-
senting cities (possibly once, Jer. 14^) : Dt. moreover has
characteristic epithets of God, which Jer. avoids, as ^?3p 4^* 5^
6^^ dim 4^^ |»N3 7^, N-)13 721 iqI'^, xh'2^ B>X 42* 98. Further,
in Dt. 23f> is greatly preferred to a^ (p. Ixxxvii) ; Jer. prefers 3^
(57 times +Jer. 51^) to 33^ (7 times); in Dt. the term, p- of
the 2nd and 3rd pi. impf. is very frequent (56 times), in Jer. it is
rare (5 times) : in Dt. ""a^j? preponderates almost to the ex-
clusion of ''3i« (p. Ixxxvii), in Jer. '<:x (54 times) is more frequent
than ^33N (37 times). On the other hand, Jer. shows a fondness
for many expressions not found in Dt., as 7j; *ipQ to visit upon
{punish), incline the ear {L.O.T. p. 258), Jehovah of Hosts, the
sword, the pestilence, and the famine {ib. ; not so even in Dt.
28), &c. Jeremiah's style is moreover less chaste and correct
than that of Dt. : he also frequently adopts a lyric strain,
which is never the case in Dt. As Jer.'s authorship of Dt. is
not maintained by critics, further illustrations of the difference
of his style will be superfluous : the reader who is interested in
the subject may refer to Kleinert, pp. 185-190, 235 ; Cheyne,
Jeremiah, p. 81 f. ; and esp. to J. L. Konig's Alttest. Studien
(ii), 1839 (whose painstaking collection of materials contains,
however, much that is irrelevant, and needs careful sifting).
• The Pentateuch, &c., iii. 618, vii. 225-227, and App. pp. 85-110
(where a large number of parallels are transcribed).
LITERARY INFLUENCE OF DEUTERONOMY XCV
The text of Deuteronomy, except in a few passae"es of
c. 32. 33, has been preserved in remarkable purity, and
presents none of the problems which arise, for instance, in
connexion with the books of Samuel, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.
It admits, however, occasionally of correction by the aid of
the Ancient Versions : the passages in which this is the case
will be found noted in the Commentary.
COMMENTARY.
I. 1-5. Historical Introduction.
1. 1-5. Introduction, specifying the place and time at which
the discourses following were delivered. — 1. All Israel] an
expression much used in Dt., and the Deuteronomic sections
of Joshua. It occurs, as here, after a verb of addressing, 5^
27^ 29^ 31^ 32*5 Jos. 232 ; with before the eyes of (or before)
3i7. 11 24^2 Jqs_ ^ ^^14. a.s subject of a verb 13^2 2121 31I1 Jos.
317 y24. 25 815. 21. 24. 33 jqIS. 29. 31. 34. 36. 38. 43 . rather differently (with
from or hi the midst of) Dt. 1 1^ i8'\ It is not so used besides
in the Hex., Ex. iS^^ [vj'iih from) Nu. iS^* (followed by the
limiting clause Dn^nTaD "i*J\s') being both different. — Beyond
Jordan] i.e. on the E. side of Jordan, from the standpoint of
W. Palestine. So i^ 38 4«. 46. 47. 49, ggg more fully on this
expression in the Introduction, § 4. — In the ivilderness, in the
'Ardbah, in front of Stiph, between Paran (on the one hand)
and Tophel and Laban and Hasdroth and Di-zahab (on the
other)] these words occasion diflficulty. On the one hand,
from the position which they occupy, it seems natural to sup-
pose that they are intended to define more particularly the
exact spot "beyond Jordan" where Moses delivered the dis-
courses which follow ; on the other hand, the names are other-
I. 1. Vid] only here, for the normal "^ic, perhaps for the sake of dissimila-
tion from the following fj^D. — . . . 1 . . . i . . . i '^sn pn pNS ['3] the rend, g-iven
above is the only one which accords with Hebrew usage, "between . . .
and " being- expressed regularly by pm . . . ]'3 (or "? . . . pi), but not by
1 . , . p3. The supposition that 3 in is to be carried on in thought from
nanya, and understood before nnrm mniini p'? is not probable ; Hebrew
idiom, in such cases, repeats the preposition.
I
2 DEUTERONOMY
wise unknown as those of places situated in that locality,
while at least three of them occur in connexion with the earlier
period of the Israelites' wanderings (Suph in the Heb. name
of the Red Sea, " Sea of Suph," Paran Nu. id^'^al., Haz^roth
Nu. 11^5 33^'^'^)' Accordingly many efforts have been made by
commentators to refer the names to the earlier period of the
forty years' journeyings.
Knobel supposed that the verse was retrospective, referring to the various
communications made by Moses to the people, and recorded in Ex.-Nu.
This interpretation is possible, so far as the usage of rha these is concerned
(which may point indifferently backwards, Nu. 36", or forwards, Dt. 12^),
but improbable, in view of the position which the verse occupies at the
beginning of a new book, and in view also of the fact that none of the
places mentioned are named in the preceding narrative in connexion w^ith
the promulgation of laws to the people. It is indeed insisted by Klost.
{Pent. p. 131) that Knobel's view of n'^N is the only one consistent with the
context ; but this opinion depends upon a very questionable explanation
of the V. as a whole {ib. p. 130). Schultz and Keil, treating likewise the
names as those of places passed by the Israelites in the earlier stages of
their wanderings, supposed that the words were meant to describe the
country on the opposite side of Jordan, in contrast to the land of promise,
as/>«r/of the same great wilderness, conceived as a kind of ideal unity,
which the Israelites entered after crossing the Red Sea (Ex. 15"") ; but
this explanation is very forced and artificial : it is not credible that the
writer, if such a thought had been in his mind, would have so expressed him-
self as to identify localities altogether distinct. Nor was Hengstenberg's
explanation {Bileam, p. 221 ff.) more probable. Di. conjectures that v.^***^
is a fragment of D's itinerary of the Israelites, prefixed by the compiler of
Dt. to the discourses of Moses, and afterwards, as further changes were
introduced into the text, abbreviated by the omission of what was already
known from the narrative of Ex.-Nu. But it does not seem probable that
the description of a route would be so altered as to become (what v.**"
manifestly is) the description of a locality. None of these explanations
can therefore be said to be satisfactory.
In the •wilc'emess\ an indeterminate expression, which may
denote either the wilderness of the wanderings, between the
Sinaitic peninsula and the South of Canaan, or the wilderness
on the East of Moab (Nu. 21I113 Dt. 2^'° cf. 4«). But the
term must be used somewhat inexactly, if it be applied to
a locality in the "'Ardbah" (see the next note) on the West
of Moab. — The 'Ardbah] this geographical term occurs here in
the OT. for the first time. It denotes (cf. RV. marg.) the deep
depression through which the Jordan flows, in which the Dead
I' 3
Sea is situate, and which is prolong^ed S. of this to the Gulf
of 'Akabah, At present the northern part of this valley is
called el-Ghor (,.i]\), i.e. the Hollow or Depression; but the
southern part, from a line of chalk cliffs which sweep across it
about 6 miles S. of the lower end of the Dead Sea, still retains
the ancient name of the whole, the Wady (or I'd I ley : see on
2^8) el-Ardbah (c^j •]!). Those who refer v.'^ to the earlier
stages of the Israelites' wandering's, suppose naturally this
southern part of the 'Ardbah to be here meant (as is
certainly the case in 2^) ; but the term may denote with
equal propriety the Jordan-valley North of the Dead Sea
(as i7 nso I s. 2324 a/.).
See further on the 'Aribah, Robinson, BE. ii. ii3ff., i83ff., iii. 333-5 :
Ges. Thes. s.v. nnj? ; Smith, DB. s.v. ; S. & P. pp. 84^, 487f.; Tristran;,
Land of Israel (ed. 4), pp. 217 f., 234, 320-4, 446; J. W. Dawson, Egypl
and Syria, chap, v.; and esp. Prof. Edvv. Hull's Motint Seir, Sinai, ami
W. Palestine (1889), pp. 75!?., 104 ff., 108 ff., 178 ff. The Ghor is a valley,
the floor of which consists largely of alluvial deposit, flanked on each side
by rang-es of hills, 2000 feet or more in elevation, and varying in breadth
from 2-3 to 14 miles across (Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, chap. xiv.).
The floor of the Gh6r, in the plain of Jericho, consists of a series of
plateaux, descending by stages to the Jordan, which can only have been
deposited by the agency of water; they are thus an indication that the
Jordan was once a much larger and deeper stream than it is at present,
and, in fact, that during the glacial period it formed a great inland sea,
extending from Lake Huleh on the N. to the ridge of Samrat Fiddan
(Hull, pp. 100 f., 180-3), which crosses the present Wady-el-'Arabah about
30 miles S. of the Dead Sea (but not communicating with the Red Sea).
The general character of the Wady-el-'Arabah is that of a desolate and
arid valley, from 4 to 15 miles across, bounded on the E. by ranges of
porphyry and granite (in the midst of which are nestled the fertile glens
and valleys which formed the ancient Edom), and on the W. by the sterile
cliff's of sandstone and limestone, rising to a height of some 1500 feet above
the floor of the depression, which form the abrupt margin of the Tih (pp.
4, 20) plateau. See the excellent geological map in Prof. Hull's Geology
and Geography of Palestine {VaX. Expl. Society), 18S6.
In front of Suph] perhaps the same as Suphah Nu. 2Il^
which must have been in the neighbourhood of Moab, though
the exact site is unknown. ffiU© treat Suph as abbreviated
for "the Sea of Suph," i.e. the Red Sea; but this abbreviation
is not found elsewhere; nor, as the name "Sea of Suph"
appears to be derived, not from a locality "Suph," but frcn*
4 DEUTERONOMY
the reedy g^rowth, called by the Hebrews snph^ with which the
Red Sea abounded, can it be said to be a probable one. The
pass, Nakb-es-Safa, some 25 miles WSW. of the Dead Sea,
suggested by Knob., is unsuitably situated; nor does the
name agree phonetically (for ^ corresponds to V, not to d). —
Between Paran and Tophel, (S^c] the "wilderness of Paran"
(Gn. 2i2i Nu. 1012 12I6 133.26 I s. 25I [MT.]t), so far as can
be judged, corresponds generally with what is now called the
wilderness o{ et-Tih, the bare and elevated table-land of lime-
stone, bounded on the S. by the mountains of the Sinaitic
peninsula, on the E. by the 'Arabah and the north end of the
Gulf of 'Akabah, on the W. by the wilderness of Shur, and on
the N. by the wilderness of Zin (lY) and the south of Judah
{S. & P. p. 7); Rob. BP. u 177 f.; Palmer, Desert of the
Exodus, p. 284 ff.). The site of Paran (i K. \\^^\ cf. psD in
Dt. 332 Hab. 3^), from which this wilderness derives its name,
is, however, unknown : the Wady Feiran, near Jebel Serbal,
which has been suggested, seems to be too much secluded by
intervening mountains from the great plateau itself to have
given it its name. From i K. 11 ^'^^ it may be inferred that
Paran lay between Midian and Egypt. If, however, the
present verse describes the scene of Moses' discourse in the
territory of Moab, a different Paran altogether, not otherwise
known, will, of course, be intended. — Tophel\ this has been
generally identified with et-Tafile, a large village situated in
a well-watered valley on the route from Kerak to Petra, about
15 miles SSE. of the Dead Sea (Rob. BR. ii. 167; Bad. 191).
But the t (Is) does not correspond phonetically ; and the identi-
fication depends upon the assumption that some halting-place
belonging to the period of the forty years' wanderings is
referred to. — Laban and Haz^roth] if places in the Israelites'
wanderings are meant, these may be identical with Libnah and
Haz^roth, Nu. 3320- 17. The site of Libnah is not known.
Hazdroth (also Nu. ii^^) jg usually identified with 'Ain-el-
Hudra, about half-way between Sinai and 'Akabah (Rob. i.
151 ; Ew. ii. igi ; &c.). Otherwise the names will denote
localities, not elsewhere mentioned, in Moab. — Di-3ahab\
the name suggests some place productive of gold (hence dt
!•« 5
KaTaxpva-eay It has been identified by Burckhardt, Syria
(1822), p. 523, Knobel, and others with Mina-ed-Dhahab, "as
Vollers tells me from local information, the third of seven
boat-harbours between the Ras Muhammad and 'Akaba" (W.
R. Smith, MS. note), nearly due E. of Jebel Mflsa. It is
objected by Keil that Mina-ed-Dhahab is too inaccessible on
the side of Sinai for the Israelites to have made it one of their
halting-places ; he consequently considers the name to be that
of a place, otherwise unknown, in the desert of the wanderings.
Upon the view that the verse is descriptive of a locality in Moab,
the name will, of course, be that of an undetermined site in
that neighbourhood. — It results from what has been said that
v.^*" presents difficulties which, in the present state of our
knowledge, do not admit of a satisfactory solution. Inter-
preted in their obvious sense, the words define (otherwise than
is done in 3^9 44'j) the locality East of Jordan in which the
following discourses were delivered. It is some objection to
this view that, as has been said, the names are not otherwise
known as belonging to this neighbourhood, while at least
some of them do occur as those of places passed by the
Israelites during their wanderings. But in the position in
which the clause now stands it seems impossible, if the latter
reference be adopted, to interpret it, as a whole, in any
satisfactory or intelligible sense. It is not improbable that
the words, from some cause or other, have been transplanted
from their original context.
2. // is eleven days, <Sr'c.] the words convey an approxim-
ate idea of the distance from Horeb, the scene of the delivery
of the Law, to Kadesh-barnea', on the S. border of the
Promised Land. The time specified agrees with the narra-
tives of modern travellers : Robinson, for instance, travelling
in 1838 from Jebel Musa to 'Akabah, and hence across the
desert to the neighbourhood of 'Ain Kadis, occupied exactly
2. 3ni n] the name is curious. The "1 (if correct) suggests at once the
oblique case of ,J possessor of (ohen in names of both persons and places);
but it is not apparent how an Arabic l - ,^^ , J should be expressed in
Hebrew by anj n, the j being represented differently in the two parts of
the name.
6 DEUTERONOMY
II days on the journey [BR. ii. 565-7). The distance would
be about 160-70 miles. — Horeh\ the name given uniformly in
Dt. (except in the Blessings 33^) to Sinai (Dt. 1 2. 6. 19 ^10. 15 5^2
9^ 18^^ 28''^; comp. I K. 8^=2 Ch. '^^^ in a Deuteronomic
passage) : elsewhere only Ex. 3^ 17^ 33* (all apparently E) ;
I K. 198 Mai. 3^2 Ps. 106^^1. No topographical distinction
is traceable between Horeb and Sinai; they are "different
names of the same locality, interchanging only according to
different writers, or, as in Sir. 48"^, in the parallel members of
the same verse " (Dillm. on Ex. 3^). — by way of Mount Seir\
or, perhaps, by the Mount Se'ir Road. The words define the
particular route from Horeb to Kadesh intended by the writer.
There are three main roads leading from Sinai to Palestine ;
and the easternmost of these, passing by el-'Ain and the well
el-Themed, and approaching the mountains of Se'ir, might
well be called the "Mount Se'ir Road " (Trumbull, Kadesh-
barnca, 76 ff.; Rob. BR. i. igSf., 601 ff.). The expression
Mount Se'ir — or rather (collectively) the Mountaitts 0/ Se'ir — is
a common one {2^-^ Gn. 32^ ^^^al.)'. it denotes the moun-
tainous region, E. of the 'Ardbah, in which Edom proper lay
[DB. S.V.). — Kadesh-hamed\ v.^^ 2>^ (f^ Nu. 32^ 34* Jos. 10"
1^0. 7 i^sj. ti^g fuller name of the place elsewhere called simply
Kadesh (v.*** 32^1 Nu. 13^6 20^- 1*- ^^- ^^ al.). Kadesh-barnea' was
placed by Rob. (ii. 175, 194) at 'Ain-el-Weibeh, on the W.
edge of the 'Ardbah, 35 miles S. of the Dead Sea, and 22-3
miles NW. of Mount Hor; the Rev. J. Rowlands, how-
ever, in 1842 (Williams, Holy City, i. 464 ff.), identified it
with 'Ain-Kadi's, about 45 miles W. of 'Ain-el-Weibeh, and
50 miles S. of Beer-sheba'. The site was lost for many
years, till it was rediscovered by Trumbull in 1881 [Kadesh-
barnea, pp. 238-275), and the identification is now generally
accepted.
The spring (cf. Nu. 20") lies in a recess of a low limestone hill-range, in
the midst of the arid stone-covered waste. At the foot of a large mass of
rock standing out from this range, flows an abundant stream, fertilising
the soil around, and forming a veritable oasis in the desert, until after
running 300-400 yards it loses itself in the sand. About the stream
fig-trees, shrubs, and flowers flourish in profusion ; and a carpet of grass
covers the ground (Trumbull, 272-5).
I. 3-4 7
3. In the fortieth year, <fr'<;.] this verse fixes Uie date when the
following discourses were delivered. Originally, as can hardly
be doubted, it formed part of the narrative of P (who alone,
of the Pentateuchal writers, reckons by months and days, or
uses the expression iL*'y \"iL"y [see below]), being designed as
an introduction to the summary account which that narrative
appears once to have contained of Moses' final communications
to the people, and being followed, almost immediately, by
Dt. 32''s-52 (notice "on this self-same day," v.'*^ i.e. on the day
specified in i^). It will have been adapted here, by the final
redactor of the Pent., for the purpose of adjusting Dt. to the
scheme of P (Wellh. Hist. 384 f.). For the general reference
of the Deut. legislation to Jehovah, cf. 528(31)61. — 4. After he had
smitten Sihon, &-'c.\ Nu. 21^^-22^ (JE). The victories of Israel
over Sihon and 'Og are a favourite subject of reference with
the Deuteronomic writers : cf. not only 2^^^- 2,^^-, but also 4^^'^'
297f 31* Jos. 210 910 122-6 1310-12 (all D2). The phrase l^D pn'D
|Ul'~3 nti'V "iC'N ""I'^xn (so 32 4*6), as Nu. 213*. Heshbon,thecapital
of Sihon (now Hesban), was about 14 miles E. of the north end
of the Dead Sea : it was afterwards one of the cities assigned
to Reuben (Jos. 13^^). See further on 2"^^. 'Og in Nu. 21^3
is styled simply the "king of Bashan " ; but in Jos. 12* (D2)
he is described further as ^ynx31 n'nnB'J?3 2^'^T\, "who dwelt
in 'Ashtaroth a?id in Edre'i " (cf. 13^2 "who reigned in 'A. and
E."; 13^0' As the text stands, in Edre' i must be construed
with smote (in"i3n), and the sense thus obtained would be in
agreement with the fact (Nu. 2i^^'' = Dt. s^*") : at the same
time, in view of Jos. 12^, it is very possible that GU are right
in reading "who dwelt in 'A. and in E." Edre'i appears to
have been the second royal city of Bashan ; 'Ashtaroth is
named also as the residence of 'Og in Jos. 9I*'.
3. "iB'V "HB'y (not ncj; nnx, as v.'*) for "eleven," as Ex. 26^'* ( = 36^*-'*)
Nu. 1''^ 29-" (all P). 'nB-j; is a word used chiefly in the later Hebrew :
2 K. 252 ( = Jer. S2») Jer. i» 39^ Ez. 26' 4o'»» Zech. i^ i Ch. i2>^ 24'- 25"
2^14. 14|_ — ^riK '» r\-\-i -iB-N "jDa] as Ex. 393--« ^o'" ; and without "^a Nu. 3''^
i7=« 27-2, and often with n-j'a nx for inN, as Nu. i'^ 2^^ 3" S^-^^ &c. (all T).
For the addition DiSx laito them, cf. Ex. 6'' 25-''' (both P). — 4. 'ui '■ln^ I
it is best to understand a colon at the end of v.^, and to construe v."
with v.*.
8 DEUTERONOMY
The modem name of Edre'i is Edre'at — abbreviated to Dei'at and Der'a
— on the Southern border of Bashan (3'* ^''), about 30 miles E. of the Sea of
Tiberias, and 30 miles W. of the Hauran range (the Jebel Hauran). For a
description of the ruins, and of the remarkable underground dwellings
beneath them, see Wetzstein, Reisebericht iiber Hauran und die Trachonen,
i860, p. 47 f.; Schumacher, Across the Jordan, pp. 121-147. 'Ashtaroth (in
form, the plural of 'Ashtoreth, the name of the Canaanitish goddess) was
no doubt an ancient and prominent seat of 'Ashtoreth worship. Its site is
uncertain. According to Eusebius (Ofiom. 209, 213, 268), there were two
'Ashtaroths in Bashan, 9 miles apart, between Adara (Edre'i) and Abila,
the 'Ashtaroth of 'Og being 6 miles from Adara : if this statement is
correct, it would be best placed at el-Miizeirib (6^ miles NW. of Der'at),
though Tell el-'Ash'arf, 3 miles N. of el-Muzeirib, and Tell esh-Shihab,
3 miles W. of it, have also been suggested. See further p. xviii.
5. In the land of Moab] so 286'' 32*9 34^-^. P says always
3t<10 nmy (see on 34^). — Se^ himself to expound p?<3 ''"'5<i'"i)] on
both these words see below. Declare (AV., RV.) is used in the
old and etymological sense of the word, to make clear, i.e. to
explain or expound (ffic 8tao-a<^^(rat, H explanare\ "The title
of Pilkington's Commentary on Hag"gai (1560) is 'Aggeus
the Prophete, declared by a large Commentarye ' " (W. A.
Wright, Bible Word-Book, s.v.^. — This law^ the supposition
that this expression refers to the laws contained in Ex.-Nu.
stands on the same footing with the false idea that Dt. is a
"recapitulation" of the three preceding books of the Penta-
teuch. In point of fact, not only cannot the greater part of
the laws contained in these books be said, in any sense, to be
"declared" or "expounded" in Dt., but the legislation of Dt.
includes many provisions not found in these books at all. The
expression recurs 48 (cf. ^^) 17I8.19 273.8.26 aS^s-ei 2928(29) 319.11.
12.24 32-'6 (cf. this book of the law 2920(21) 30IO 3126 Jqs. 18), and
regularly denotes the code of law embodied in Dt., the exposition
of which is the primary object of the discourses which follow.
The laws of which this code consists are not, as a rule, stated
with abstract, naked brevity ; they are accompanied with
5. ''■nit] the idea expressed by the word is to resolve, take upon oneself,
fet oneself , — whether as opposed to internal reluctance or diffidence (Gn.
iS-"-*'), or to external opposition (Jud. i'-"**^). The rend. " began "(AV.,
RV. ) is weak and inadequate. The constr. iX3 S'Nin, exactly as Hos. 5^^ :
see G-K. § 120. 2^, Ew. § 285'', or the writer's note on i S. 2*. — "in 5] cf. 27'
Hab. 2- (to "make plain," of writing). In post-Biblical Hebrew, 1X3 is
common in the sense explain, t?n'3 being an exposition, or commentary.
I
I. 5 9
hortatory introductions and comments; i.e. they are **ex.
pounded" or "explained."
I. 6-1 V. 40. Moses First Discourse.
This discourse consist of two parts, the first (I'^-s^^) com-
prising a review of the principal incidents which had taken
place between the Israelites' departure from Horeb and their
arrival at "the ravine in front of Beth-Pe'or," in the land of
Moab ; and the second (4^"^") consisting of an eloquent practical
appeal addressed to the nation, urging it, as the condition of
its prosperity, not to forget the great truths of the spirituality
of Jehovah, and of His sole and exclusive Godhead, impressed
upon it at Horeb. — On the question whether this discourse
is by the same hand as the body of Dt. (c. 5-26. 28), see the
Introduction, § 4.
(i.) I. 6-III. 29. Introductory Retrospect. — The retrospect
begins by recalling to the Israelites' memory how they had
been divinely commanded to break up from Horeb, and
advance to take possession of the Promised Land (i^-^) ; how
thereupon, the arrangements for the administration of justice
having been first of all, at Moses' suggestion, remodelled and
miproved (i^^^), the nation crossed the desert and arrived at
Kadesh-barnea' (i^^); and how, in consequence of the events
which there took place, the Israelites were condemned to
wander for an entire generation in the wilderness (i^o-'"').
After this, the narrative recounts the Israelites' circuit of the
lands of Edom and Moab (2^-25), their conquest of Sihon and
'Og, and the division of their territory among the 2% tribes
(2^6-317^^ the obligation laid upon these tribes to assist their
brethren in the conquest of Canaan (3^^"^^), and the confirma-
tion of Joshua's nomination (i^s) as Moses' successor in the
leadership of the people (3^^'2®). The narrative is so told as
to explain, in particular, how it happened (i) that Israel did
not effect an entrance into Canaan from the South ; (2) that
Edom, Moab, and the 'Ammonites remained as neighbours of
the Israelites, while the territory of Sihon and 'Og was occupied
by them. In this retrospect the narrative is throughout
lO DEUTERONOMY
dependent upon that of JE in Exodus and Numbers, and
phrases are frequently borrowed verbatim from it. The follow-
ing tables will, it is hoped, assist the reader to understand the
relation in which the retrospect of Dt. stands to the earlier
narrative of JE. The number of cases is remarkable in which,
while there is a coincidence in language, the passage quoted
does not describe the same event, but is borrowed yrow another
part of the narrative ; these are indicated in the tables by a
parenthesis. In the passages to which "Cf," is prefixed, the
correspondence is not verbal.
Dt. i^* . . . . (Nu. 14='' ddV 1VD1 us.)
^^ . . . . (Nu. II'*.^t.^ DV'T ^"^ ^^ riNC'S na^ '3:n "jdin nS.)
" .... (Nil. n'^ina'? nnx xm nSi dv"i Nrnn ins ine':!.)
"».... Cf. Ex. i82i».
" .... Ex. 18^* D'can ^-\io niNO nts' d'dSn nty djj.t '^v d'cnt dhx jm
*">.... Ex. i8'"***.ie'D Vn iin>3' .icpn lain nx.
w . . . . Cf. Ex. 24'- ^
6-8. How the Israelites, having completed the purpose of
their sojourn at Horeb, were commanded to advance and take
possession of the land promised to their fathers. — 6. Jehovah^
our God] 23 times in Dt. (c. 1-6, and c. 29) ; elsewhere in the
Pent, only Ex. 3^8 58 86-22.23 iqZs. 26 (all JE). The same ex-
pression with other pronouns {thy, your) is still more frequent
in Dt. (on i2i). It is intended to emphasize the close relation-
ship subsisting between Israel and its God, — a relationship
sealed by the covenant concluded at Horeb (52), and forming
the ground on which the claim to Israel's obedience is specially
rested. — 7. TuTmyou, and take your journey^e.y.diCtlya.s'i^u. 142^,
though there in a different connexion, viz. in the command
to turn back from Kadesh, and re-enter the wilderness. — The
hill -country of the A?/iorites] v.i9- 20 (comp. v.** Nu. 1329).
Amorite is here used as the general designation in D (as
in E) of the pre-Israelitish population of Canaan, and of the
6. nin ai3 n^B* dsS an] lit. "the dwelling- in this mountain is much for you,"
idiom, for " is too much, is enough " ; so 2*. Elsewhere an inf. with ]D follows
{"than that ye should . . .") i K. 12^8, cf. Ez. 44^ (in both these cases,
however, the D after ddS is possibly due to dittography) Ex. g^. Comp.
oaS 3T (absolutely) 3''* Nu. i6^-^ Ez. 45"; and 3t alone 2 S. 24" (=1 Ch.
21'*) I K. 19*. — 7. 03^ lyoi ubJ v.** lyoi 03"? i:s, 2' 5'^ az^ I3i8'. The reflexive
I. 6-7 II
territory E. of Jordan occupied by the Israelites. The "hill-
country" meant (as v.-'* shows) is more particularly the S. part
of the high ground of Canaan.
Amorite is used (i) Nu. 2i^'"*^, and frequently, of the peoples ruled
by Sihon and 'Og:, E. of Jordan, conquered by the Israelites ; (2) as the
general desij^^nation of the pre-Israelitish population of the territory W. of
Jordan, especially in the Pent, writers, E and D, and occasionally besides:
as thus applied, the term, though possessing a general connotation, may
naturally be used with reference to the inhabitants of a particular district :
Gn. 15I6 48^^ Dt. i^* (• nnn) i9*. 20«. w. 44' Jqs. f ('Ai) lo" (Jerusalem, Hebron,
Jarmuth, Lachish, 'Eglon) •'•^^ 24^^ (read with (& twelve for two, of the
kings W. of Jordan) ^^-^^ (cf. Am. 2®-^'*) Jud. i^^f-as (unless '"Ox be here an
error for 'mx) 6^* i S. 7^* 2 S. 21^ ('iDNn in% of the Gibe'onites) i K. 21^'
2 K. 21^' ; cf. Gn. 14^* ^^ ; and beside the Canaanites, in passages where the
latter term seems used specially of the inhabitants of the sea-coast, or the
Jordan-valley, Nu. 13^°* Jos. 5^ 13* (text dub.; see Di.), perhaps also here ;
(3) in enumerations of the nations of Canaan (W. of Jordan) dispossessed
by the Israelites, by the side of the Canaanite, Hittite, &c. (see on 7^).
Canaanite, on the other hand, is the general designation of the prc-
Israelitish population of the territory W. of Jordan preferred by J : D and
D^ (in Jos.), using "Amorite" in the wider sense noticed above, show
a tendency to limit " Canaanite " to the inhabitants of the sea-coast
and of the Jordan-valley : (1) Gn. 10^^ (extending from ^idon on the N. to
Gaza on the S\V., and to Lesha' — i.e. ace. to tradition, Kallirrhoe, E. of
the Dead Sea — on the SE. : comp. the tribes named as "sons" of
Canaan, in v.^""'*) 12* 24''-3^5o'^ Ex. 13" Nu. 13-^ 14-^ (near Kadesh) *'^-^
2iJ** { = 23*"'' in the Negeb) Dt. i^ (see p. 13 f.) u^" (in the 'Aribah) Jos. 5'
n'("on the east," i.e. in the 'Ardbah ; "on the west," i.e. on the Medit.
Sea) if-* 161" (jn Gezer, of Ephraim : so Jud. i^^ i K. g^^) if-«-'^^-i}n the
"land of the vale" pcyn pxn, about Beth-Shean and Jezreel) ^^ Jud. i^-s-S'
io.i7.27f.29.3o.s2.33 ^3 . ^f. 2 S. 24^ Nch. 9^* ; (2) it occurs, together with
Amorite, Hittite, &c., in enumerations of the nations of Canaan (on 7'),
If the passages here cited be examined in detail, they will be found, it is
believed, to support the distinction laid down above, which is accepted
generally by modern writers (cf. Wellh. Comp. p. 341 f. ; E. Meyer, ZATW.
1881, 121 ff., i39flF.; Budde, Bihl. Urgesch. pp. 344-8; Dillm. on Gn. 10^*
Dt. i' and pp. 617 f., 626 ; Delitzsch on Gn. 48^^).
S, throwing back the action denoted by the verb upon the subject, and
referring it, as it were, to the pleasure or option of the agent, gives more
or less pathetic expression to the personal feelings — the satisfaction, or the
interest, or the promptitude — with which the action in question is (or is to
be) accomplished. The idiom is most common with the ist or 2nd person
(esp. in the imper.), but is found also with the 3rd pers. It is used not
only with verbs of motion (Gn. 12' 22* 27''^), but also with trans, verbs (see
on v.": cf. Lex. "? 5 h ; G-K. § 1 19. 3c'''). vo: is properly to pluck up (the pegs
0/ a tent), hence to journey by stages: cf. ycp stage (of a jouiney), Gn. 13'
Ex. 17' al. —mis' Sd] all his neighbours, viz. of 'tdk.t
12 DEUTERONOMY
According to Sayce {Races of the OT. 1891, pp. 55 f., loi f. : cf. 110-117),
the Tel-el-Amarna tablets show, that in the 15th cent. B.C. Amurra {i.e.
Amorite) denotes exclusively the inhabitants on the North of Canaan
(including Kadesh on the Orontes), while Kinakhkhi, which is said to
correspond to jv^s, denotes the reg-ion between Gebal on the N. and the
Philistines on the S. This, however, relates to a period long anterior to
that at which the Biblical records were composed ; and in the interval, the
Amorites, it seems, must have extended themselves Southwards, and
secured a footing in " Canaan" beside the Canaanites, as also on the E.
of Jordan, in the territory ruled by Sihon and 'Og. From the Inscriptions
of Seti I. and Ramses III. (Brugsch, Hist, of Eg.'- ii. 14 f., 154), it may even
perhaps be inferred (Budde, I.e. p. 346 f.) that in the 14th cent. B.C. (see
on the date RP.'^ vi. 148) the names land of Amar and land of Kanana
were already used interchangeably as designations of Palestine.
It would thus seem, so far as can be judged from the
Biblical and other data at present at our disposal, that
" Canaan," before it came into the possession of the Israelites,
must have been occupied principally by two tribes, the
Amorites and the Canaanites, each sufficiently numerous
and prominent to supply a designation of the entire country ;
the former, it may perhaps be inferred, resident chiefly in the
high central ground of Palestine, the latter chiefly in the lower
districts on the W. and E.* From a survey of the passages
quoted, it appears, further, that, as Wellh. {Comp. p. 341)
remarks, while the Canaanites are often alluded to as still
resident in the land in the age of the Biblical writers, especially
in the cities of the plains not conquered by the Israelites, the
Amorites are usually referred to as the past population of
Canaan, expelled by the Israelites, and as such are invested
with semi-mythical attributes, and described as giants (cf.
Am. 2^ Dt. i28). — The ' Ardbah\ see on v.^ The northern
part, the modern Ghor, the depression containing the Jordan
and the Dead Sea, is, of course, here meant. — The hill-cowttr\'\
the elevated ground in the centre of Palestine, especially
Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah (cf. 325). — The lowland\ the
Shephelah (fem. of PS"^ low), the technical designation of the
low hills and flat valley land (G. A. Smith, Historical Geography
* The idea, however, which is often put forward, tliat "Canaan" means
t-l\ iiiologically " lowlander," is destitute of philological support, in either
Hebrew or Arabic ; see G. F. Moore American Or. Soc. Proc. 1890, pp.
Ixvii-lxx.
I. 7 13
of the Holy Land, p. 201 ff.), which formed the W. and SW.
portion of Judah, sloping down towards the Mediterranean
Sea, and extending from Ajalon and Gimzo (near Lydda) on
the N. to Lachish (Tell-el-Hesy) on the S. The extent of the
Shephdlah may be inferred from the cities of Judah enumerated
as belonging to it, Jos. i5^^**^. The soil is fertile; and it has
been called "the corn-field of Palestine." The term is found,
as here, in descriptive summaries of Palestine (or Judah), Jos.
9I 10*0 128 Jer. 1726 3244 al. Cf. S. &•> P. pp. 255 f., 485 f.,
DB. s.v. Judah. — And in the South] Heb. the " Negeb," i.e.
the southern tract of Judah, which the term always denotes
when printed in RV. with a capital S (see Gn. 12^ RV. marg.) ;
this is another technical geographical designation, denoting
"the undulating pasture country, which intervened between
the hills ("'v''7)> and the deserts which encompass the lower
part of Palestine" (^S*. &> P. isgf. ; DB. s.v. Judah).
The Heb. word Negeb is derived from a root preserved in Aram, and
signifying to be dry ; and the district so named, though not entirely
unprovided with water, has, speaking generally, that character. The
" negeb " or " dry land " of Palestine being on the South, the term acquired
(comp. W. R. Smith, OTJC."^ p. 326) the general sense of "south" (Gn.
13'^, &c.); but when provided with the art. it always (except Dan. 8'
I !*''•) denotes the special locality just described. The cities reckoned as
belonging to the Negeb are enumerated in Jos. 15-1-32 (comp. the expression
•' cities of the South," Jer. 13^* 32" 33'^ Ob.^"). The sites of many of these
cities are uncertain, or unknown ; but it is difficult not to think that
Palmer, Desert of the Exodits, p. 359 ff., is disposed unduly to extend the
Southern limits of the Negeb. The term in its geographical sense occurs
frequently, e.g. Gn. 20^ 24®^ Nu. 131^- ^-- -^ Jos. lo*" 1 1^'^ 15'^ ('Achsah's request
of Caleb, illustrating the general aridity of the region).
And on the seashore] cf. Jos. 9^. The term is added for the
purpose of embracing in the description the whole of the
country between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. But,
no doubt, the part of the coast specially intended is that
extending from the N. end of the Sheph^lah towards *Acco
and the Ladder of Tyre. — TJie lafid of the Canaanite] 1 1^° Jos.
5^ 11^ 13'* appear to show that D and D^ limited the term
"Canaanite" to the inhabitants of the 'Ardbah, and of the N.
part of the Mediterranean coast : it seems probable, therefore,
that the "land of the Canaanite " is intended here not to be
14 DEUTERONOMY
synonymous with the "land of Canaan" generally, but to be
epexegetical of the preceding "sea-shore" (cf. Jos. 13*).—
Lebanon^ included similarly, ii^^ Jos. i* (D^). — Even unto the
great river, the river Euphrates^ : the same ideal limit is
assigned to the territory of Israel in ii^* Jos. i*, as also
Gn. 15I8 Ex. 2331 (both JE) I K. 5^ (421), cf. Is. 2712.-8. See,
I have set the land before you] to set before (^3sb IHi), in this
connexion, means to place at tJie disposal of, to give over to ; it
is a favourite expression in Dt., being used often of the
delivering up of foes before any one (see below). The land is
free for the occupation of the Israelites ; and they are bidden
to enter and take possession of it. Which Jehovah sware,
&c.] the oath to the forefathers is referred to often in JE
(Gn. 5024 Ex. 135. 11 3213 33I Nu. 1112 14I6. 23 3211 c. 3i20f- 23 3^4)^
and with particular frequency by D (i-''^ ^10.1^.23 ^13 31 ^5 jqH
ii9.2i ig8 263-15 2811 3020 3i7: cf. in D2 Jos. i^ 5^ 2i«(43)f. ;
also Jud. 2^). The promise is recorded Gn. 12'^ 13^^^" 151^*^-
(Abraham) ; 26^^- 2* (Isaac) ; 28'"^- (Jacob) ; the oath is speci-
fied expressly only Gn. 221^^-, cf. 26^*^- (both JE). — And to their
seed after them] so 4^^ lo^^, and often in P (Gn. 9^ j *^r. 8. 9. 10. 19
3512 48* Ex. 28^3 Nu. 2513) ; also i S. 2422 2 S. 712 (= i Ch. 17")
The addition emphasizes the perpetuity of a promise or
injunction.
9-18. The appointment of officers to assist Moses in the
labour of judging the people (see Ex. 18). The numbers of the
Israelites were so great as to render it impossible for Moses
to adjudicate personally upon all the differences arising among
them : hence, at his suggestion, they consented to the selection
of competent men out of all their tribes, who should relieve
him as far as possible of this burden. In instituting these men
to their office, he had impressed upon them the duty of equity
and impartiality in the discharge of it. Moses' action in the
8. nN"i] see/ slightly more emphatic than the more common ."ijt: cf. !-'• '^ '*
30" Jos. 6'^ 8' (D^); also Gn. 27-'' 41^1 Ez. 4^'' a/. As the imper., by long
usage, came to be employed as a mere exclamation, it is here treated as
indeclinable (in spite of dd'jsS) : so 4" ii'^ (the pi. in"), however, occurs
similarly; e.g. Gn. 39I*).— 'as'? ]r\i] so i^i 2^^-^-^^ f-*^ 23'^ 28^-25 31"; else-
where (in the sense of delivering- up before) only Jos. 10'* 11' (D-) Jud. 1 1'
I K. 8««(Deut.) Is. 41'': cf. 'js"? alone in Gn. i3»2o">34*»47"; also 24" J er. 40*
I. 8-IO 15
appointment of these oflliccrs is attributed in Ex. (18''' -■'') to
the advice of Jethro, who, however, is not referred to here, as
the stress lies less on the originator of the suggestion than
on the fact of the organization having been established by
Moses, and on the need for it in the numbers of the people.
9. And I spake] the tense in the Heb. (">'?'"<}) suggests rather
strongly a date subsequent to the command described v.^"^ — or
at least a date at the close of the sojourn at Horeb — instead of
(as required by the existing narrative of Ex.) a date prior to
it, and indeed prior to the arrival at Horeb (Ex. 18: cf. 19^-2) ;
either, therefore, the retrospect was written at a time when
the interval between Jethro's visit (Ex. 18) and the departure
from Horeb (Nu. ic^^) had so dwindled that both could be
included in the expression "at that time," or, as is not im-
probable even on independent grounds (cf. Dillm. on Ex. 18;
Klost. Pent. 138, 143; Bdizon, JBLiL xii. 24), Ex. 18 stood once
in JE beside Nu.io^^-^o, and was still read there by the author
of Dt. — At thai time] the same expression occurs frequently in
the retrospects, i^e. is 234 3*. «. 12. is. 21. 23 ^u ^20 iQ^.i (rather
differently 5^), — in c. 2-^^ even with reference to occasions,
which, if the discourse was delivered by Moses, must have
happened less than six months previously (i^ compared with
Nu. 2o22ff- 3338). — I am not able to bear you a lo7ie]ih& reference
is to the appointment of judicial assessors to assist Moses,
Ex. 18^*; but the expression is borrowed from the terms of
Moses' complaint in the narrative of the 70 elders, Nu. 11'*
(nrn X:i'^r\ ba ns nxt'^ ■'lab ''33X SsiX ^)' As has already been
remarked, the same rather peculiar phenomenon may be noticed
frequently in the retrospects. — 10. As the stars of heaven] ro^^
9. noKJ can only be interpreted naturally as stating, if not the sequel to
v.*"8 (Dr. § 67), yet something- either really or, from the point of view of
the speaker, substantially contemporaneous with it {ib. § 75). Had the
author intended to disconnect the incident here narrated from what pre-
cedes, so as to leave scope for its being anterior, we should have expected
him to avoid the construction with 1 (see ib. § 76 Obs.}, and to say N'nn nya
'nnON or x'nn nj?3 'mcx 'd:ki. The cases in which \ expresses a sequence in
thought, not in time (Koil), are different {ib. § 75, 76), and do not afford a
precedent for the interpretation of the present passage. — 10. 3^7] " /»
respect q/'multitude " : Anglic^, "ybr multitude." The \ defines the tertium
comparationis ; so often, as Jud. 7^* Gn. 3*- njnS in respect 0/ knowing
16 DEUTERONOMy
28*^2 : so in the promise (JE) Gn. 22^^ 26* Ex. 32IS (each time
with " multiply") : cf. Gn. 15^. — 11—12. In order to remove any
misapprehension as to the motive of his protestation (v.'*^^),
Moses adds that it w^as not the increase of the people which
prompted it (for this his only desire was to see continued
indefinitely), but simply his inability to cope with the practical
difficulties which their numbers occasioned. — 11. /ehova/i, the
God of your fathers, add to you the like of you a thousand times^^
Moses' wish is expressed with characteristic generosity and
largeness of heart (cf. Nu. ii^s). For the phrase employed, cf.
2 S. 248. — The God of your fathers^ the title gives expression to
the continuity of the relationship subsisting between Jehovah
and His people : the God who now takes Israel under His
care is the same who formerly showed His faithfulness to
their ancestors, and was known of them. So Ex. 313. le Dt. 4^
Jos. 18^: and with thy Dt. i^i & 12^ 27^, our 26^, their 2(f^
Jud. 2i2_ — ^_y ji(, promised (lit. spake) to you] a standing formula
in Dt. (i2i 6393 (cf. 28) io9 ii25 1220 156 i82 26I8 273 29I2 ; cf. with-
out ^ 619 2619318), as of D2 in Jos. (1314-33 22* 235-10). The refer-
ence is to Gn. 122 22!''^ 263- 2-i. — 12. //o7v ca?i / dear alone P] the
verse repeats more emphatically the thought of v.^, for the pur-
pose of stating more distinctly the ground of Moses' proposal.
— Your cumbrance (D3n"iD)] cf. Is. ii* nib? 71; \^T[, — Your burden
(DDsro)] cf. Nu. II11-17 "the burden of this (the) people."— 13.
Get you men (that are) -wise, and understanding, and known]
41^^ Ti'-\h, Ex. 24'" "inb?. Notice the fine rhythmical close produced here
by the addition of 2ih (which is not in itself necessary, and in a sentence
such as Gn. 22^^ would have been heavy and inelegant). — 11. dd'? lai] /o
promise is the general sense of "la'n with 7 ; comp., besides the passages
quoted above, i K. 8^"- ^s- 26 Qn. 24^ 28^= Ex. 32^^ a/.— 13. ddV nn] lit. giv.^
for yotirselveSy i.e. provide for yourselves, get you ; so Jos. iS*. The 7 is
the reflexive or "ethical" ?, explained on v. ^, and used also (as there
mentioned) with trans, verbs ; comp. 027 up Ex. 7^ Jos. 20^. Similarly
1^ ^P'J.,, 1/" np, D?^ 'np, d;^ ID';:', ?i) njp, &c., Gn. 6"- 2' Ex. 5^^ Jud.
19^" Jer. 32^, and often, esp. in the imp. : in other tenses, Dt. 2** 3^ 7-^ 9^'
(from Ex. 32^: often also elsewhere with nti'y) ^® lo^*" 15^, and in injunctions
,59.13.18.21.22 1^16.17.18 ,g2.3.7.9 jo^^ 22^2 27^ : cf. LeX. S 5 h, — D^'Q^B''?]
the 7 has a distributive force, according to your tribes, tribe by tribe : cf.
Jos. 7'^-^« iS** I ?. 10'' &c.— n;'rN-i3] the d is the " Beth essentiae,"— " will
appoint them a.y your heads" : cf. Nu. 36^ rhm2 [nj to give as an inherit-
ance, Jos. 23* Ps. 78** ; and see Lex. 3 I. 7. The expression in v. *' is
I. II-I5 17
"known," i.e. of proved character and ability (F quorum
conversatio sit probata). In Ex. iS^i the choice is to be
determined by the moral qualities of the men to be selected
("men of worth, fearers of God, men of faithfulness, hating
unjust gain"): here, though the terms used (esp. "known")
imply moral qualifications, the emphasis rests rather on their in-
tellectual fitness for the post to which they are to be appointed.
— 15. Moses took action accordingly, and selected men suit-
able for the purpose. — The heads of your trihes\ 520. The words
are, however, omitted in (5 (which has in place of them simply
ef v/Awv) ; and as they agree indifferently with v. ^^- ^^ (accord-
ing to which, not heads of the tribes, as such, but men of
discretion selected from each tribe indiscriminately, were to
be chosen), Dillm. may be right in supposing them to be a
gloss. Otherwise it must be supposed that the men who
approved themselves to Moses' choice were also those who
were already distinguished as the leading representatives of
their tribes. — And made them heads over you, captains of
thousands, (S^c] exactly as Ex. iS^s (see the Table, p. 10). — And
officers according to your tribes\ the duties and position of the
"officers" {Shoterim) are not distinctly indicated.
In Arab, satara is to rule (a book), to li^rite ; satr is a row (of buildings,
trees, &c.), a line (of writing). The primary sense of the root seems thus
to have been to range in order (Noldeke, Gesch. d. Oorans, p. 13) ; and
Shoter \s'\\\ have denoted properly arranger, organizer {ci "iBV'P Job 38'*^t,
ordered arra7igemenf, i.e. rule). Shoferitn are named immediately after
the "elders" of the people in Nu. ii*^ Dt. 298(10) 31-'' Jos. 8*^ 23- 24', by
the side of the "judges" in Jos. 8^' 23^^ 24^ Dt. 16'*; of. Pr. 6' (the ant
has no Wdi nab' psp) : the duty of making proclamations or conveying orders
to the people in time of war is assigned to them (Dt. 20^- *• ^ Jos. i^" 3") : in
Egypt the officials appointed by Pharaoh's taskmasters for the purpose
of superintending the labour of the Israelites bear the same name (Ex.
5«- 1»- ". 15. 19), In the late passages i Ch. 23'» 26-9 27I 2 Ch. 19" 26" 34"
the term appears likewise to be used of subordinate military or judicial
officials, who once (2 Ch. 34") took part in superintending the repairs of the
Temple. G in Ex. iS-^- -'' Dt. i^" 16'* 29*'!"' 31^ renders by the curious term
— perhaps the title of some law-officer at Alexandria — yfa.fi,i/.%Toii<ra.yuyivi.
The Shoierirti, it thus seems, were subordinate officials, who
were employed partly in the administration of justice, partly in
the maintenance of civil order and of military discipline, and
different. — 14. nmn 31b] the same formula of approval (though without a
2
DEUTERONOMY
virhose duty it was to put in force the mandates issued by their
superiors. Except here and Ex. iS^^ the "captain of ten" is
not mentioned in the OT.: the captains of 50, 100, and 1000
are mentioned frequently in connexion with the army {e.g.
I S. 8^2 1^18 22^ 2 K. i9'ii-i8 Is, 2^), though not elsewhere as
concerned with the administration of justice. The passage
does not state that the whole people was divided systematically
into thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, but only that chiefs
commanding these numbers were appointed, who exercised
judicial authority, not necessarily over those only who were
under their immediate command, but over the people at large.
Men were appointed with military rank, and entrusted for the
time with a share in the administration of justice. The
arrangements in later days seem to have been out of relation
with this institution. See more fully on Ex. 18.
16. And I charged your judges, (Sr'c] Moses availed himself
of the occasion for the purpose of impressing upon the judges
the duties of their office, viz. to hear all impartially, to decide
fearlessly, and to refer cases too hard for themselves to him.
— Hear between your brethren] i. e. listen patiently to all that is
said on both sides. — And judge righteously {or righteousness)]
cf. i6^^-20. — And his stra?iger] i.e. the stranger who has to deal
with him. The "stranger" (Ger), or foreigner settled in
Israel (see on 10^^ and 14^^), is to have equal rights, in such
matters, with the native Israelite (24^'' 271^, and elsewhere). —
17. Ve shall not respect persons in judgment] cf. 16^^, where see
note. — For the judgment is Gods] it belongs to Him ; you are
acting in His name, and as His representatives (cf. Ex. iS^^-^^
21^2 Ch. \cf)\ and you must accordingly be superior to worldly
considerations. And the matter which is too hard for you ye
shall bring unto me] Ex. i826 (cf.22) nC'D ^N jlX^T nt^'pn -)3in DN.
The reference is probably to cases which were not provided
for by existing regulations or precedents, or which were in some
rel. clause following) i K. 2^*** 18^. — 16. yb^'] the inf. abs. with the force
of the imperative: see G-K. § 113. 4'' (a). —17. D'3£3 iT3n nS] d'js Tsn, lit-
to recognise the presence or person of any one {sc. unjustly), as 16'^ Pr. 2^^
2&^\. The more usual expression is d':s ncj. — pyocn hmo lepj] ^nJD japa
is (implicitly) an accus. of manner (G-K. § 118. 5), defining the circum-
stances under which the hearing is to take place: lit. "ye shall hear
L 16-19 *9
respect complicated, as opposed to such as could be decided
readily by existing laws. — 18. And 1 commanded you at that
time all the things which ye should do] the reference (cf. 4'^
528(31)) appears to be to Ex. 24^ (cf. v.^^-sb 21I ; also iS'O). The
repeated at that time (cf. v. ^- ^^) seems intended to emphasize
the fact that Moses, before the departure of the people from
Horeb (v.^^), had done all that was in his power to provide
for their civic welfare.
19-28. Departure of the Israelites from Horeb, and journey
to Kadesh-barnea'. Mission of the spies. Disappointment of
the people upon receiving their report.
Dt. i23 .... Cf. Nu. i3">.
. Nu. 13^^ inn •?« Dn'Sjn, ^ h^vn Snj nv inan.
. Nu. 13^° pxn 'nsD onnp'?).
. Nu. 13-^ nm DHK la'tT'i.
. Cf. Nu. i4«>-3«.
. Nu. 13^^ Dtp irxT p:i;n 'tS' dji nun mSnj nnisi onym.
19. That great and terrible •wilderness] so S^^^ where it Is
further described as the abode of fiery serpents and scorpions,
(them), the like of the small (being) the like of the great " = " ye shall hear
^them), w /Aa/ the small be as the great"; in English idiom, "Ye shall
hear the small and the great alike." On ? (properly, an undeveloped
subst.) see more fully the luminous explanation of Fleischer, Kleinere
Schriften, i. p. 376 ff., or ap. Bottcher, Lehrbuch der Hebr. Spr. ii. p. 64 f. ;
more briefly G-K. § 1 18. 6 ; and Lex. s.v. 9, at the beginning, and 3. — Jiyoer]
the more original form of the termination of the 2nd and 3rd pi. impf.,
preserved in classical Arabic (in the indicative mood), in Aramaic (usually),
Ethiopic, and Phoenician, but in Hebrew only occurring sporadically
(altogether 305 times in the OT. ; the passages are enumerated by J. L.
Konig, Alttest. Studien, i. (1839) P* 165 ff., and Bottcher, § 930), not,
however, as an archaism (for those books in which it is most frequent are
not, upon any view of their authorship, the most ancient), but as a more
emphatic form than that in ordinary use, adapted to round off a sentence,
and accordingly sometimes preferred in an elevated or rhetorical style.
It is peculiarly frequent in Dt., occurring in it 56 times. In other books it
occurs {e.g.) 12 times in Gn., 28 times in Ex. (9 times in the Laws,
c. 20-23), never in Lev., 7 times in Nu., 9 times in Jos., 8 times each in
Jud. and i S., 15 times in 1-2 K., 21 times in Is. 1-39, 16 times in Is.
40-66, 53 times in the Psalms (of which 15 are in Ps. 104), 23 times in Job.
— man] 18^-. The word is rare, and mostly poetical, occurring besides in
prose only Nu. 22' (JE) i S. 18". — ki.t D'hSn"? BSCDn -2] lit. " For the
judgment, it Is God's " = (AngHc&) "For the judgment is God's." See
Dr. § 198 ; Lex. tan 3 b. — 19. nanDn-nx] nx is used (very exceptionally) with
iVn to denote the space traversed : so 2' ; cf. Nu. 13^' {^^V)'
\
20 DEUTERONOMY
and as waterless (cf. also 32I0 Jer. 2^). The wilderness meant
is the desert of et-Tih (cf. p. 4), between the Peninsula of
Sinai and the S. border of Palestine. Modern travellers
describe its barrenness and ** blanched desolation."
Thus E. H. Palmer, Desert of the Exodus (1871), pp. 284-288, writes :
" The desert of et-Tih is a limestone plateau of irregfular surface, the
southern portion of which projects wedge-wise into the Sinaitic peninsula."
The distance across from Suez to'Akabah is about 150 miles, and from
the southernmost part of the wedge just mentioned to Beersheba', about
170 miles. "The surface of the plateau is an arid featureless waste, its
monotony relieved only by a few isolated mountain groups, amongst which
the most conspicuous are Jebels Yeleg, Ikhrimm, and Heidi. It is drained
for the most part by the WAdy-el-'arish, which takes its rise in the highest
portion of the southern cliff [where the plateau approaches the mountains of
the Sinaitic peninsula], and f^ows northwards towards the Mediterranean.
. . . The country is nearly waterless, with the exception of a few springs
situated in the larger wadys ; but even here water can only be obtained
by scraping small holes or pits (called themdil) in the ground, and baling
it out with the hand. All that is obtained by the process is a yellowish
solution which baffles all attempts at filtering. . . . The ground is for the
most part hard and unyielding, and is covered in many places with a
carpet of small flints. ... In spite of the utterly arid nature of the soil,
a quantity of brown parched herbage is scattered over the surface, and
affords excellent fuel for the camp-fire. During the greater part of the
year this remains to all appearance burnt up and dead, but it bursts into
sudden life with the spring and winter rains. ... In the larger wadys,
draining as they do so extensive an area, a very considerable amount of
moisture infiltrates through the soil, producing much more vegetation than
in the plains, and even here and there permitting cultivation."
As the Northern part of the plateau is reached, the char-
acter of the country changes, the soil becomes more fertile,
the fields and terraces are covered with corn and vines, until
finally the wilderness gives place to the " Neg-eb " (see p. 13)
of Judah. "Waterless" (8^^), provided the expression be not
interpreted with prosaic literalness, is substantially accurate ;
for though wells and springs (as stated above) are met with,
the water is mostly scanty and poor, except after rain (cf.
Robinson, i. pp. 179, 180, 182, 184, 189, &c.; Palmer, pp. 304,
319, 326, 342, 345): in the Wady Lussdn, however, and
especially to the N. of 'Ain Kadis, as the Negeb is approached,
water becomes more abundant, and the remains of dams
and other devices for irrigation are discernible in the wadys
(Palmer, pp. 347, 350, 354, &c.). — Which ye sa'w\ and so gained
I, 20— 21 21
a practical acquaintance with its character. — By the way to the
hill-country of the Amori'tes] i.e. by the route leading" across the
desert to the S. of Palestine (on v.'^) : if a definite road be meant,
perhaps one branching off from the Mount Se'ir Road (v. 2) a
little NW. of 'Akabah, and circling round the base of Jebel 'Araif
en-Nakah (Trumbull, K.-B. pp. 80-3). — Commanded us\ vJ.
20-21. Upon their arrival at Kadesh, Moses bade the people
proceed to take possession of their promised inheritance. —
20. Which Jehovah our God is giving to us\ i.e. is in course of
giving us (viz. at the present moment). AV. givcth obscures
the true force of the original. The phrase (attached mostly to
land or ground) is extremely common in Dt.: i^s 2^9 320 4*0 ^le
( = Ex. 20^2^, &c. (some 25 times) ; and followed by nS"i3 4^^ iS*
20" 2i23 244 2519 261. Comp. in D2 Jos. i2- h- is.— 21. Jehovah
thy God] so upwards of 200 times in Dt. ; in Jos. (D2) i^- 17 g9. 24 j
in earlier books of the Pent., only Ex. i52'5 2o2- 5. 7. 10. 12 2319
( = 342'') 342-* (all parts of JE showing affinity with Dt. : Intr.
§ 5). So Jehovah your God{v.^^) occurs nearly 50 times in Dt.,
and 28 times in Jos., mostly, if not entirely, in passages
belonging to D2 (e.g. 13 times in c. 23). Both expressions
occur occasionally in the other hist, books and the prophets,
but very much less frequently than in Dt. and D2. Cf. on v.^
("J. our God"). Thy . . . thee] Israel is addressed in Dt.
(i) in the 2nd pers. plur. (as in the preceding verses) ; (2) as a
whole, collectively, in the 2nd pers. singular, as here, v.^^ 2"^'
i8f. 24 a.nd frequently ; (3) in the persons of its individual
members, also in the 2nd pers. sing., 4^^ ("thy children") ^
66f. 136(7). 9(10) i^Tff. 12. 16 22iff-6 &c. In particular cases it may
sometimes be uncertain whether the 2nd pers. sing, is to be
understood as (2) or (3) ; but there seem to be clear instances
in which it is intended as an appeal to the individual Israelite.
The change (as here) from the plural to the singular (or vice
versa) is very frequent, sometimes taking place even within
the limits of a single sentence (i^i 27-24 ^g-ii. 19. 20. 23b. 25. 29. 34
6if. 8if- 125-7.9 Sic). —Neither be dismayed (tnnn h^\)] a word
confined mostly to poetry, and the higher prose style ; see below.
21. .-iNn] V.8.— nnn Ski] so 31* Jos. S^ io^* Jer. 30^»( = 4627) Ez. 2^^(16) Is. 51^
(in all, II (i)NTn (n'?)':**) ; Jos. i^ (|| pyn Sk). In Hex. used only by D and D* ;
22 DEUTERONOMY
— 22—25. The people, however, in the first instance proposed
that spies should be sent out to reconnoitre the land, and
report upon the best way of approaching it ; and Moses agreed
to the proposal. — 22. And yc catyie near unto me and said]
in Nu. 1 3 If- Moses sends out the spies in consequence of a
command received by him from God: here the initiative
appears to be taken wholly by the people. The two repre-
sentatives are capable of at least a formal reconciliation : the
people, it might be supposed, having (as Dt. states) preferred
their request, Moses refers it to God, who then gives it
His sanction, at which point the narrative in Numbers opens.
At the same time, the variation is a remarkable one ; and in
view of the fact that the retrospect follows consistently the
narrative of JE, which is defective in Numbers for the
beginning of the episode of the spies (for Nu. i3i-i7a belongs
to P), it is highly probable that it follows it here also, and
that the representation referring the proposal to the people
(v.22f) is based upon the narrative of JE, which the writer of
Dt. had still before him intact. — 23. Twelve men, one man
for every tribe] Nu. 13^'^^ (P). In the existing narrative of
Nu. 13, the appointment of one spy from each of the tribes is
recorded only in P ; but it is probable that JE, when complete,
described the selection similarly, and that this, as in other
cases, is the source of the representation in Dt. Tribe is
denoted in Dt. by 035?', which is used also by JE, not by P's
characteristic term nt2D (Nu. 132; L.O.T. p. 127). — 24. And
went up ifito the mountain] or hill-country, i.e. the high ground
of Judah (v.7-19). Cf. Nu. X'^'^.—Unto the torrent-valley {2^^)
of Eshcol] near Hebron (Nu. i322.23)._25. And they took of the
fruit of the land, &€.] Nu. i323f. 26b. 27._26-28. But in spite of
the favourable report of the spies, the people refused to move,
and murmured discontentedly in their tents. — 26. But ye would
elsewhere, in prose, only i S. 17", and, as reminiscences of Dt., i Ch. 2a"
28* 2 Ch. 2o"'*^ 32' (in all, || (i)xTn Ski).— 22, ^^^.^ nx] most probably tne
accus. is attached loosely to nm unx u'c'i, nark cv^iini : cf. G-K. § 1 17. 1 R.' ;
Lex. I nx 1 c, 3 <*■. — 26. nn'aK vhS) a favourite word in Dt. : 2*" 10'" 23*
(Jos. 241") 25^ 29'^; 13^1':' n^Nn nS).— " 'S nw nom) 1" 9^3 Jos. ii*(D-) i S.
\2>^ (Deut.)t ; the same idiom, in Qal, Nu. 20^* (P) 27^* (P) i S. \2^^ i K.
ijZi. 2« Lam. i*t ; '' DV °""'"' d'ido Dt. 9^* -* 3i''t. The word signifies to resist
1. 22-a8 23
not go up, and defied the mouth {commandment) of Jehovah your
God\ cf. Nu. 14^"*; and see below. — 27. And ye m.urmured in
^'<?«r/^«^.y (D3''f5ns3)] hence Ps, 106". Geiger, Urschrift [iSi^'j),
p. 290 f., supposed that DD^^ns3 was an intentional alteration
of DD'nPND against your God, made for the purpose of removing
a statement disparaging to Israel : but the supposition is
unnecessary; in your tents means "among yourselves," and
suggests at the same time the reproach that the people refused
to bestir themselves, and advance to the conquest of Canaan.
— Through Jehovah's hating us, &c.] cf. g^^^. — To deliver us,
elr'c.] Jos. 7^. — The Amorite\ wJ. — 28. IVJiither are we going
up?\ i.e. to a land full of what unknown perils? — Our brethren
have caused our heart to melt] the idiom as 20^ Jos. 2^^ 5^ 7^
(all D2) ; also, with reference to the same incident, Jos. 14^
(Caleb speaks) Dyn a^-ns Vppn ^oy h]} '\uh ^nxi. The expres-
sion in Jos. 148 may be borrowed from here; but it is possible
that in both passages it is derived from a part of JE's original
narrative of the spies, not retained in Nu. 13. — A people
greater and taller than we (iJDO Dni bnJ DJ?)] rhetorically varied
from Nu. i328a.3i: the phrasing is that of D (cf. 2io- 21 488 7I
end gi- 2a ii23)_ — Cities great and fenced hito heaven] so 9^^.
Varied from Nu. 1328 iso ni^nj n"niV3 D''"iyni. Cf. Sayce, Monu-
ments, p. 288 (Lachish). — And, moreover, we have seen sons of
the *Anakim there] as Nu. 13^8, except that \>\VJ) ^7^ "children
of the 'Anak" (collect.) is changed into D''pjy ^J3 (so 92a).
The three p:j;n 't'?', Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, who dwelt in Hebron,
and were expelled by Caleb, are named in JE, Nu. 13^^ Jos. \^^^ ; pay '3^
are mentioned in Nu. 13^ ("of the Nephilim"), Dt. 9^" ; p:j;n 'J3 ("sons
of the 'Anak") in Jos. I5'*"( = jud. i^o") ; o'pjy 'J3 in Dt. 1^9-'; the more
general designation D'p:v('') occurs Dt. 2^"'^^"^^ (in a comparison), and
Jos. ii2i-22 (D^), where it is stated that they were cut off by Joshua out of
Hebron, Debir, '.\nak, and all the hill-country of Judah and Israel, and
left only in the Philistine cities of Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (cf. Jer. 47'^'' tS
(see Graf) ; also the Philistine nsin 'tS' 2 S. 2ii«-i8 (cf. v.^o-a^), and Goliath,
the giant of Gath). In Jos. 14'" (JE or D-) Arba' (whence the old name of
contumaciously, to defy or (intrans.) be defiant. — 27. iinx '' nxjB'n] G-K.
§ 115. 2 R.* : cf. 7^ 9^* Gn. 29^". — in'OB-n*?] Totyn idb'J is a favourite word
with D (27 times) ; elsewhere in the Hex only Gn. 34** (J) Lev. 26^" Nu.
33» (both H) Dt. zf (the Blessing-); Jos. f^ ^^ ii^^-^o 2^'^ (mostly D^)
24' (E). — 28. 0'DC3] in heaven: so 9', cf. Gn. 11* d'DB'3 wvrw d'Oc, nut of
any far distant region, but of the heights of the air, in which, for instance,
24
DEUTERONOMY
Hebron, Kiriath (city of) Arba*) is described as D'p:j;3 "jn^n mKn ; and in
Jos. 15" 21'' (P) he is called the father of the 'Anak. Most of these
passages (including the oldest) connect the 'Anakim only with Hebron :
that they were spread generally over the hill-country of Judah and Israel
is stated only in Jos. 1 1^"", which belongs to D'', and may be one of th«
generalizations to which this Deuteronomic author is prone (L.O.T. pp.
97, loi). It is, however, implied that there were more " giants " in Hebron
than the three, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai ; and perhaps indeed these
three names are meant as those, not of individuals, but of families or clans.
29-40. Moses' vain endeavour to reassure the people.
Jehovah's oath that none of that generation, save Caleb,
should enter the Promised Land. Designation of Joshua, as
Moses' successor.
I)t. r*"" .... (Ex. 13-' D.TjaV i?^n ni,Ti ; 14'* ddS anh' nm\)
r'i .... Cf. Nu. i4'">.
!■■'' .... (Ex. ij'" Tioya nS'Si innn onh)^ py nicio ddv d.tjsV ^b1n mm
Dn'7 THnh ex.
Nu. 14"'' nS'*? CK 110V31 DDV c.tje'? iSin nnn py nisyai.)
i'^' .... (Nu. lo*^*" nm:D onS ^^nS.)
,38-36 _ _ _ j^u. 142s-'''* apy a'^a nnyi , . . ddidn'? 'nyatj'] icn pNn nn int dn
net? K3 iifK pNH "jK vnn'ani nnx nVd'i loy mnx nn .in'n
I*'-** ...» * •
,;i!>a (o,„_ (jjj) isiii. ,4:" n\T i:;*? crn::.s- ick □3Dbi ; cf. Nu. 14' UBOi U'W
I*" .... Nu. 14"*'' 11D D' -pi "lanon dd'? lyoi i:s nno.
29-33. Moses encouraged the people by reminding them
Who it was that went before them, and what He had done for
them in the past. — 29. Dnad noi\ \-\v, as 721 20^ si"* Jos. i»
(D2). Not elsewhere in prose, and not frequent even in
poetry. — 30. WJw goelh before you] 316b. 8 j gge Ex. 1321 (JE).
— Will fight for you\ Ex. 14^* (JE); also Ex. 1425 Dt. 322 Jos.
,oi4b. 42 238. 10 ^all D2). — Before your eyes] a point which the
Writer loves to emphasize (in different connexions) 4^- ^* 6-"^ 9^^
258.9 2831 29I 3i7 3412: cf. Jos. 10^2 2417 (both D2) I S. 12".
(The expression is also charact. of Ezek.) " Omitted here by
(Oi, evidently because Moses is addressing the new generation ;
but in v.22ff, and indeed through the entire discourse, the
present generation is conceived by the speaker as identical
with the past" (Dillm.). — 31. PVh/ch thou sawest]vy^. — Asa
the birds fly (4" Pr. 30'*). — 30. 03^ onV' Kin] on the emphatic resumptive
Kin, see Dr. § 123 Obs. ; Lex. ni.i 2 a.— osnn n:;'y] for "to do -with" cf. 10*'
I S. 12'*; Jud. 11".— 31. IKB-i -wk] ''-where J. bare thee." After a word
denoting place, time, or manner, the pron. or adv. complement of -\vv. ("la.
I. 29-35 25
man doth bear his son\ comp. for the simile i^* 8* (iD^^ iCtO
1:3 ns {i'"'S) 2829- *®. The use of similes is not unfrequent in the
more picturesque style of Hebrew prose {e.g. Ex. 33" Nu. ii^*
224 2717 jud. 66 712 146 1514 i69 2 S. 1417.20 178.10.11.18 &c.):
those occurring in Dt. have been strangely supposed to be a
mark of the Mosaic authorship of the book. For the thought
of Jehovah's "bearing" His people, comp. Ex. 19* ("on
eagles' wrings ") ; Dt. 32^1 (the Song); also Hos. ii^ Is. 46^'-.
—Even unto this place] 9^ ii^; (!?n) 26^ 296.-32-33. But in
spite of this word of encouragement the Israelites remained
disbelieving (cf. Nu. 14^^). — In this thing (RV.)] rather in spite
of this word {i.e. of Moses' speech, just ended) : the 3 as Lev.
26-7 Nu. 14I1 mniNH S'yifor (i.e. in spite of) all the signs, Ps.
273. — Ye continued not believing {u'^'i'^'O^'O DS^n)] the ptcp. with
px indicates the endurance of the state of unbelief (cf. C^l^p
^r""!! 9^*)- — 33. Wliich went before you, &'c.\ resumed from
v.3oa, and further developed (•* to spy out for you a place," &c.)
for the purpose of marking more emphatically the gravity of
the unbelief. — To spy outforyou, &c. ('J1 D3^ tin!?)] apparently
a reminiscence of Nu. lo^^ (of the ark) nm^O DH^ "iin"?. The
rest of the verse consists of reminiscences, with slight varia-
tions, of Ex. 1321 and Nu. 14I* (quoted in the Table), D^nbn^
being perhaps suggested by Dnh:p (Ex. 13^^), and '^"^^ D3niX"l?
("to cause you to look upon the way ") being seemingly a para-
phrase of DH^ ~i''!?5^^ ("to give them light").
34-36. Jehovah's wrath ; and His oath sentencing all the
men of that generation, with the exception of Caleb, to exclu-
sion from the Promised Land. Cf. Nu. 1422-24. — 34. Was wroth
(c]^-p)] Gn. 402 Ex. i62o i S. 2C)'^al.\ of God, c. 97.8.19.22 jg. 476
^716.17^/. — 35_ Surely there shall not one of these men, (even)
this evil generation, see, ^c] a terse and forcible condensation
of the terms of the oath contained in Nu. 1422'- (comp. esp.
v.23a). — (Even) this evil generation] these words correspond to
or arf) is often dispensed with, so that "ipk alone becomes equivalent to
where, when, how {Lex. nt^-N 4 b; or on i S. 24"*). — k^' ib-nd] the impf.,
denoting custom or habit, is the tense regularly used in comparisons ; cf.
V." Is. 298 658 &c. (Dr. § 33*; G-K. § 107. 26).— 33. oaniN-)^] contracted
for DomxinS (G-K. § 53. 3 R.' ; or on 1 S. 2"*). The contraction is, however^
anusual ; and perhaps DDniN")^ Ihnt ye might look was meant by the writer
26 DEUTERONOMY
nothing in Nu. 14, they are not expressed in ffi, and, by the
somewhat awkward apposition which they form, they impede
the flow of the sentence ; hence they are perhaps a gloss, added
(as DiUm, suggests) for the purpose of precluding the mis-
conception that "these men" referred solely to the spies. —
The good land\ so often in Dt.: 325 421.22 518 gio g6 niT; jos.
23^^ (D2), and with ground {r^'o'V^t ib. v.^^-^^r cf. a good land,
c. 8"^ Ex. 3^ (JE). — 36. Save Caleb, the son of Jephtinneh^ only
in favour of Caleb was an exception made : see Nu. 142*.
The representation, according to which Caleb alone is directly
mentioned as exempted from the sentence, agrees with that of
JE (Nu. 142^), as against that of P (Nu. 14^^), according to
which Joshua is named together with Caleb (cf. Z. O. T. pp. 58,
77, 103). — Which he hath trodden upon (^"}'^)] Nu. 14-^ has
simply "whither he came"; Dt., in harmony with its more
elevated style, uses the choicer and more expressive word
^jj24. 25 Jos. i3 149). The reference is specially to Hebron
(Jos. 1412a. 13. 14), — Hath gone fully after Jehovah'\ so '^n. 142*.
37-38. Also with me 'was Jehovah angered on your account,
saying, Thou also shall not go in thither\ Moses also (as well as
the rest) incurred God's anger, and was included consequently
in the same sentence : another leader, Joshua, should bring
Israel into its promised inheritance. The reference is generally
supposed to be to Moses' act of presumption in striking the
rock, Nu. 2oio-ii (P), which, according to P (both ib. v.12 and
a^isf. Dt. 325of.), was the occasion of his exclusion from Canaan.
Two independent grounds, however, each confirming the other,
combine to render this view improbable.
(i) The position of the two verses, in the midst of a continuous narrative of
what happened at Kadesh in the second year of the Exodus. Moses' act of
presumption, narrated in Nu. 20, took place in the 39th year of the Exodus,
some 37 years after the incident of the spies ; and though it is true, as
Keil observes, that the object of the retrospect is not to teach the people
chronology and history, still the order followed in it is chronological, v.^'
carries on the thread of v.^^"^, and v.^'"^* are in no way marked, either by
— 36. 'nSii) 4'^* Jos. 11". Not elsewhere in the Hex. — vja'?!] on the position
of this word, see Samuel, p. 292, and on i S. 6^^. — 'nnx nVd] lit. to fill up
after, pregn. for to go fully after, to follow with undivided allegiance.
Repeated from Nu. 14^ (JE), here and Nu. 32"- ^^ Jos. 14"- '• '*. Only once
oesides, 1 K. 11' V3k ins '' nnx k'?d «S.
1. 36-37 27
their form or by their contents, as parenthetical, or as referring to an
occasion that took place 37 jears subsequently ; hence a strong pre-
sumption arises that they allude, like the context, to what occurred
immediately after the return of the spies. (2) The expression " was angrj'
^v\th n\e on ^our account" (comp. the synonyms in the parallel notices 3^^
4^^^) is very insufficiently explained, if the allusion be to the incident narrated
in Nu. 20"^'^. By those who suppose this to be the case, the expression is
accounted for by the fact that the sin of Moses was occasioned by the
unbelief of the people ; but the terms used imply naturally that Gods
anger with Moses was an immediate consequence of the people's mis-
behaviour, not that it only resulted from it, accidentally and indirectly,
through the inter\'ening cause of Moses' own sin : it is singular, if Nu.
20W-12 be the occasion referred to, that Moses' own fault should be
unnoticed, and that each time, 3-* 4^^ as well as here, it should be emphatic-
ally said that Moses incurred Jehovah's displeasure on account of the
people. But this expression would be exactly explained if it could be
supposed to describe how Moses had been implicated in the consequences
of the people's disobedience after the return of the spies, — for instance,
through his being included formall}-, in spite of the fact that he was
personally innocent, in the terms of the sentence passed upon the dis-
obedient Israelites.
Dillm., observing that v.^ is the natural sequel of v.^* (rather than of
v.^*), and considering that the direction for Joshuas appointment is first
given, according to Dt., in 3-*, supposes the verses to be an insertion in
the original text of Dt., made by the Redactor, on the basis of ^^'^y for
the purpose of supplying a notice, which seemed to be here desiderated, of
Joshua's exemption from the sentence of exclusion from Canaan. This
hypothesis meets the first of the two difficulties mentioned above, but
leaves the second as it was.
It thus appears that, as they stand, neither the position of
these two verses, nor their contents, can be properly explained
unless they are held to refer to some incident which took place
immediately after the return of the spies. If that be the case
they will present another (cf. \.^'°) of the many examples which
the Pent, contains of a double tradition : according to Dt. Moses
was forbidden to enter Canaan in consequence of the people's
disobedience at Kadesh in the second year of the Exodus ;
according to P (Nu. 20^2 27i3f. Dt. 325of.) it was on account of
his presumption at the same spot, but on a different occasion,
37 years afterwards. — 37. Was angered (^3^?^'?)] 4^^ 9®' ^ i K.
n^ 2 K. 17^8 (both Deut.).t An uncommon and forcible word.
— Ott your account (D3pp33)] the force of ^^'2 may be learnt from
Gn. 12I8 3027 396: cf. the synonyms in 326 (CDn'of)) 421 pv
D3'"i2"n). — Thou also] mcluding Moses in the same sentence with
28 DEUTERONOMY
the rest.— 38. Who standeth before thee (I'Jsf' 1!?^^)] to stand
before^ in Heb. idiom, is to laait or attend upon, as a servant,
courtier, &c. (i K. lo^; cf. on lo^). The phrase employed
here is a synonym of the term used elsewhere of Joshua, ^nrp
HB'D "Moses' minister" (Ex. 2413 33I1 Nu. ii2s Jos. iH).—
He shall go in thither, ^fc. ] in accordance with the representa-
tion which connected Moses' exclusion from Canaan with the
people's disobedience after the return of the spies, the nomina-
tion of Joshua as his successor is assigned to the same time :
in P this is referred consistently to an occasion (Nu. ay^^-^s)
arising directly out of Moses' presumption at the waters of
Meribah (Nu. 2712-14), 37-38 years afterwards.
39-40. Only the next generation of Israelites shall enter the
Promised Land. — 39. And your little ones, which ye said should
be a prey\ in verbal agreement with Nu. 14^^, which in its turn
is based upon Nu. 14^ (JE) "our wives and our little ones
shall be a prey," with the omission (from the nature of the
case) of "our wives." The clause cannot be cited as an
example of the retrospect presupposing the narrative of P ; for
the verses Nu. 1431-32 (cf. b, w. Bacon, The Triple Tradition
of the Exodus, p. 188) are referred most probably to JE
(attaching originally to v.^*) : it is, moreover, remarkable
that it is not expressed by ffi, and as "little ones" is almost
tautologous by the side of "children" following, it is very
possible that it is a comparatively late insertion from Nu. 1431
(so Kuen. Theol. T. xi. 557 f., Dillm.). — Who this day know
not good or evil] cf. Is. 715- 1^. Here the meaning is, who are
morally irresponsible, and consequently no parties in the guilt
of their fathers. — 40. But as for you, turn you, and take your
journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea] almost
exactly as Nu. 142^ (see the Table). Whether a definite road
is meant, is uncertain; Trumbull identifies the "Red Sea
Road " with the modern pilgrim track across the Tih from
Suez to 'Akabah {Kadesh-Bamea, pp. 8i, 134, 360 f.).
38a. Nin) as v.**. So v.^ nsn. — pjn "inN] notice the emph. position of
the pron. ; cf. 10-" v^^r\ m navn in.x Jos. 5^ Gn. 37^ 42^^ Jud. 14' i S.
15* 18^^; and similarly with preps., as Gn. 15' 30^® 43^^ Ex. 21^ i S. 19**
2 K, 5''. — p}n] strengthen, encourage : ^^, cf. Is. 41^. — iO. ddV ms] v.^ —
1. 38-44 29
41-46. Ineffectual attempt of the people to force a way into
the mountains of the Amorites. Their subsequent sojourn at
Kadesh.
Dt. i*^» .... Nu. 14'""' i:KBn o '' -ex -icn cipcn bn irSjn ujn.
• . Nu. 14** D3'3'1K 'as"? i2J:n n'?i CDanpa '• pK '3 I'^vn Sk.
. . Nu. 14*^ '' '£3 riK Dnnj; cnx nt no*?, ■•■* nnn tnt Vk m'^v'? I'j'BV'i.
. . Nu. 14'*' HD-inn ny mns'i oian Kinn nna ^K'vn 'jyjsm 'pVoi'.n m'l.
. . (Nu. 2o^ npa ovn 3b"1.)
41. IVe have sinned against Jehovah : we (emph.) will go up
and fight, &'c.\ we (unjx) will go up — not our descendants —
and perform all that Jehovah requires of us. Cf. Nu. i4<^b.
Notice how the retrospect passes from Nu. 142^ to Nu. 14*°,
without any reference to v. 26-39, which belongs, in the main,
to P. — Go up\ as V.21. — Deemed it a light thing to go iip\ i.e.
went up heedlessly, attempted it as something to be lightly
undertaken. — 42. Go not up, iSrc] the terms of the prohibition
are taken nearly verbally from Nu. 14*2 (see the Table), though
it is not there expressly described as proceeding from God. —
Among you (onnipn)] cf. Ex. 17'' 34^ Nu. Ii20 14I4. 42 Dt. 31"
Jos. 310. The same thought also in P, but always there ex-
pressed by the syn. "jinn Ex. 29*^ Lev. 26^^- ^2 (h) Nu. 5^ 16^
3534. — 43. But ye defied the mouth 0/ Jehovah, &€.] Nu. 1441-4*.
— 44. And the Amorite, who dwelt in that hill-country, came
forth . . . ajid beat you down in Se'ir even unto Hormah\ the
italicised words, as Nu. 1445. — The Amorite] in Nu. the foe is
termed "the 'Amalekite and the Canaanite": the change is
probably to be attributed to D's use of " Amorite " in v.'^- ^^- 20- 27.
— As bees do] Ps. 118^25 jg. ^18, ^n effective comparison:
swarming about you, as pertinaciously, as ferociously, and as
numerously as bees. — Even unto HoT^nah] the former name of
41. irnpii] a a.r. Xiy., to be explained from the Arab, hana, to he light
or easy, conj. iv to slight (Qor. 22^') ; hence in Hif. to deal lightly or heed-
lessly in respect of going- up (constr. exactly as Nu. 14** m'?v'' iV'SV'i ; G-K.
§ 114. 2 R.^). The meaning of the word was unknown to the ancient
translators, who accordingly merely conjectured from the context ; C
ruMaSpoifffnTif, Aq. i/iivcr,(ra»ris, U instruct! armis, C began (jinnc), S incited
yourselves ([inJiJnN). The Rabb. Commentators derived it fancifully from
jn, as though it meant to say Lot (cf. Nu. 14*"^ ^3\n = here we are); and
Rashi paraphrases accordingly Dn^e-n];, whence AV. "were ready."
30 DEUTERONOMY
Hormah was Zephath (Jud. i^'^): the orig-in of the aarrie
Hormah is related ih., and Nu. 21^. According to one tradi-
tion it was so called because the Israelites under Moses, in
fulfilment of a vow, devoted it to the herem or ban (on 7^) ;
according to another tradition, it received its name somewhat
later, when the tribes of Judah and Simeon devoted it similarly
in the course of their conquests. Hormah is mentioned besides
Jos. 12* 153" (a city of Judah, in the Negeb, on the border of
Edom) I S. 30^*': Jos. 19* I Ch. ^^^ it is reckoned to Simeon.
The site is uncertain. Es-Sebaita (Seetzen, iii. 44; Palmer,
Desert of the Exodus, 374-380, cf. 512 f.), in a plain in the
Wady-el-Abyad, about 25 miles NNE. of 'Ain-Kadis (Kadesh),
has been suggested. As Dillm. remarks, the situation would
be suitable, though Sehaita does not correspond phonetically
to Zephath (^PV), as it should do. The existing ruins of es-
Sebaita date from Christian times. The town lay in the centre
of a well-cultivated district ; and the hills around show traces
of former orchards, and terraces of vineyards. If this be the
site of Hormah, the Israelites, on the occasion in question,
will have attempted to force their way into Canaan by one of
the passes about 30 miles N. of Kadesh, — probably, if the
view of Se'ir taken below be the true one, the Wady Murreh,
which runs from SW. to NE., and which would bring
them towards es-Seer. — In Seir\ cf. Jos. 11^^ 12'^, where
"mount Halak [or the bare mountain], that goeth up to
Se'ir," is mentioned as part of the Southern limit of Canaan.
Trumbull [K.-B. pp. 91-102) has made it probable that this is
the elevated plain of es-Seer, N. of the Wady Fekreh, which
runs in a South-Westerly direction SW. of the Dead Sea, and
forms the natural boundary line between Canaan and the
mountains W. of the Wady-el-'Arabah (the Jebel Mukrah). As
Kadesh is described (Nu. 20^^) as on the border of Edom
(Se'ir), if it be rightly placed at 'Ain-Kadis, the Edomite
territory will not have been confined to the region E. of the
'Ardbah, but will have embraced more or less of the moun-
tainous district on the other side, to the S. and SE. of
Judah. ffiSlJ express '■^from Se'ir to Hormah" (-i''ytJ*D for
TyB'a), which, if the locality just suggested for "Se'ir"
I. 45-46 3'
De right, is probably the true rearling^: for, thoug^h the
sense is not materially different, the combination "from
. . . to " is common and natural (see below). — 45. And
-iioept before Jehovah^ in penitence: Jud. 20^3 (cf. 21 2) 2 K.
22^^. — Nor gave ear (pTSn)] the word is common in poetry ;
but in prose it occurs besides only Ex. 15^6 (|| ^ jnotr), and in
late authors (Ne. 9^° 2 Ch. 24^^). — 46. And ye abode in
Kadesh\ the phrase refers here to the period immediately
following the defeat at Hormah ; but in Nu. 20^ (JE) it is
used of the period just before the message sent by Israel to
the Edomites, 38 years subsequently, craving permission to
cross their territory, in order to reach the E. side of the Dead
Sea. See further the next note but one. — According to the
days that ye abode there] an example of the * ' idem per idem "
idiom, often employed in the Semitic languages, when a writer
is either unable or has no occasion to speak explicitly. Comp.
2gi5(i6) <<how we passed through the midst of the nations
through which ye passed," i S. 23^2 "and they went about
where they went about," 2 S. 1520 2 K. 8^ Zech. lo^. The
idiom is copiously illustrated, especially from Arabic, by
Lagarde in a note at the end of the Psalterium Hieronymi
(1874), p. i56f., from whose examples some specimens are
cited in the writer's note on i S. 23^3, — Many days] the same
expression, applied here to the sojourn at Kadesh, is applied
in 2^ to the wanderings about Edom. The expression is, how-
ever, a vague one, and need not necessarily in both passages
designate a period of similar length. In 2^ (see note) it must
denote a period of 37-38 years, so that, unless the present
passage be inconsistent (Wellh. Comp. 1 10, 200) with 2^- 1*, it
cannot here embrace more than a few months. In point of fact,
however, two different representations of the course taken by
the Israelites after the incident of the spies at Kadesh are to be
44. Ti'ca] the substitution of 3 for D is palaeographically easy ; for the
Heb. alphabet passed through a stage in which the two letters resembled
each other far more closely than they do either in the archaic or in the
modern square character, and the versions supply many instances of
their being confused ; Samuel, p. Ixviii. ny . . . p, as Jud. 11** :i 3. 5* a<.
Tyro is accepted by Kn., Kosters {De Hist.-Beschouwing van den Deut.
p. •^, Kohler {Bibl. Gesch. AT.s i. 305), Dillm., Oettli.
32 DEUTERONOMY^
found in the OT., which it seems impossible in somti resptcls
to harmonize.
According' to JE in Numbers, the Israelites, after the incident of tlie
spies, are commanded to "turn back into the wilderness by the way to the
Red Sea " (Nu. 14^^). Whether they did this, is not stated : after the
defeat at Hormah (Nu. i4'*''-^5) we next read of them that they "abode in
Kadesh " on the [western] border of Edom (Nu. 20'*^^), — as seems clear,
in the fortieth year of the Exodus ; hence they send to crave permission to
pass throug-h the Edomite territory, which being refused, they turn aside,
and proceed "by the way to the Red Sea," in order to "compass" the
land of Edom on the south (20'^'-^ 21*), and so to reach the wilderness on
the E. of Moab (21'^). (Similarly Jud. ii'^"'^, which is based evidently
upon JE.) In Dt., after the repulse at Hormah (i'*'"'^), the Israelites, it is
said, " abode in Kadesh " many days (i'*") : after this, in obedience to the
injunction of i'"' (Nu. 14"''''), they " turn back to the wilderness by the way
to the Red Sea," and "compass Mount Se'ir many days" (2^), until at
length they are told (2') that they have done this long enough, and are to
" turn northward" : accordingly, proceeding in this direction along the E.
border of Edom, they arrive, 38 years after leaving Kadesh-barnea', at the
iorrent Zered, on the border of Moab (2^* '*• ^'').
These two narratives imply two different conceptions of Israel's wander-
ings. The rather remarkable use of the same phrases " abode in Kadesh,"
and "compassing" the land of Edom, to denote in the two narratives
different periods of the 38 years (cf. p. 31, and on 2'), is indeed, in itself,
a literary peculiarity, which may be explained as before (pp. 10, 15, &c.);
but in the present case the difference is more than a merely literary
one. In estimating it, two alternatives have to be considered, (i) If
the present narrative of JE in Numbers be complete, the 38 years
in the wilderness will have been spent at Kadesh : nothing is said of
the Israelites moving elsewhere; and the circuit round Edom (Nu. 21')
will have taken place at the close of this period, merely in order to
enable the Israelites to reach the E. side of Jordan. In this case the
representation in Dt. 2''^*, according to which the 38 years of the
wanderings are occupied entirely with circling about Mount Se'ir, will be
irreconcilable with JE. (2) If it could be assumed that the narrative of
JE between Nu. 14 and Nu. 20 is inco?nplete, and that it once told how
the Israelites, after remaining— perhaps a few months — at Kadesh,
afterwards wandered southwards, in obedience to the command, Nu. 14^^,
then the sojourn at Kadesh, related by JE in Nu. 20^, would be a second
visit of the Israelites to the same place, after the wanderings in the
wilderness had been completed, some 38 )'ears after the first. The
supposition that JE's narrative in Numbers has been preserved incom-
pletely is not in the abstract an unreasonable one ; and the assumption
that Nu. 20^ speaks of a second visit of the Israelites to ^adesh has been
generally made by commentators : but even so the two narratives do not
harmonize ; for although the silence of Dt. (in 2^) would not in itself be
conclusive against a second visit to Kadesh, such a visit appears to be
inconsistent with 2'*, which alludes to the Israelites' departure from
II. I
33
Kadesh-Bamea', 38 years previously, in terms implying that they had
not visited it since. Dt. 2'''^ thus supports the view that the Israelites
visited Kadesh once only, and that Nu. 13-14 and Nu. 20 relate,
respectively, the beginning and the close of one and the same sojourn
there.
The discrepancy is acknowledged by Dillm., not less than
by Wellh., and is attributed by him, no doubt rightly, to the
fact that no fixed or distinct tradition existed respecting the
journeyings of the Israelites in the wilderness. According to
JE the 38 years in the wilderness were spent at Kadesh;
according to Dt. they were spent away from Kadesh (2^^), in
wandering about Edom {2^). The discrepancy is lessened,
though not removed, by the consideration that Kadesh was
situated on the border of Edom (Nu. 20^^). The endeavour to
solve it by the hypothesis that part of the Israelites remained
in Kadesh, while the rest wandered in the wilderness with
Moses (Schultz and others), as Dillm. observes, is inconsistent
with the text of Dt.; in the Hebrew the pronouns are unex-
pressed, so that there is no antithesis between ^ye of i** and
we of 2^ (cf. 29^5(1^)^, quoted on p. 31).
Dt. 2i»
2lh
28b
2»-12
2"
ol4b
(Resumption of i''*.)
(Nu. 21'' ciiN px nx nao"? ''{^s D" ttt.)
* * *
Cf. Nu. 21".
* « •
Cf. Nu. 21'^.
Nu. 32^^'' "inn Sd on iv.
Cf. Nu. 2i>»(the Arnon).
11. 1-8*. How the Israelites, having turned back into the
wilderness, and having spent much time in circling about
Mount Se'ir, were at length directed to turn Northwards, so
as to skirt the Eastern border of Edom. — As Jehovah spake unto
me] i*° Nu. 1425. — And we compassed the mountains of Se'ir
(i2) tnany days] cf. Nu. 21* (JE) " . . . by the way to the Red
Sea, to compass the land of Edom. " (viz. after permission to
pass through the Edomite territory had been refused). There
the expression is applied in its natural sense to the final
passage of the Israelites round the S. of Edom ; in Dt. it is
applied differently to their wanderings during 37-38 years —
for v.^-^* show that this is what the "many days" must
34 DEUTERONOMY
embrace — about the W. and SW. borders of Edom (cf. Wellh.
Comp. p. 200). (The supposition that the journey into the
wilderness, 2^^, includes the 37-38 years, and that the circuit of
Mount Se'ir, 2^^, is the same final stage that is referred to in
Nu. 21*, is hardly probable ; for then the longer period would
be passed by without any hint of its duration, while the few
months at its beginning and end would each be characterized
as "many days," i*^ 2^.) — 3. Tumyoti north'Mards\ the Israel-
ites must be imagined by this time to hctve made their way
along the SW. and S. border of Edom, as far as the SE. end
of the 'Ardbah, so that a turn northwards would at once lead
them along the E. border of Edom in the direction of Moab.
— 4-7. The Israelites, in crossing the Eastern frontier of
the Edomites, were not to molest them in any way. The
passage stands in no connexion with Nu. 20^^-'^^, which narrates
the application made by Israel from Kadesh, on the Western
border of Edom, for permission to pass through the Edomite
territory, which was refused. That incident belongs to an
earlier stage of the Israelites' wanderings, and is not noticed in
Dt.— 4. Your brethren\ cf. 23^(7) Am. i^i Ob. 10.12 Mai. i2.—
IVJiich dwell in Seir\ i^. — Will be afraid of yon\ the intentions
of the Israelites being imperfectly known: cf. Nu. 20^^-'^^. — So
tiike good heed {^)A):i DmD::'3l)] on 4^. — 5. ^-i rj^ ~\'^'^'^\ cf. ii^^Jos.
v'-. — 6. Ye shall purchase food^ d^'c] the same spirit had been
shown by the Israelites previously (Nu. 20^'^- 1^) ; but it had
failed to evoke a favourable response on the part of Edom. —
7. They are able to treat Edom on these terms, inasmuch as
God has abundantly blessed them, and even in the wilderness
II. 3. dd'j 3i] I*. — crS i3s] i^ — 3. onnj;] are passing, — are on the point to
pass. The ptcp. expresses the imminent future (the so-called fut.
insfans), as frequently, esp. in this book: cf. |rii ts giving, j-"-'^ 2^ 3"'''
^1.8 ^k; ^(,_ (I3p_ g ,^. ^Y — h^2i2] through, not by ('^l', or n.x v.'*): 3 naj; as
Nu. 20'* '3 invn .v'7 thou shalt not pass through me {i.e. through my
territory), 2i'-'''^ i S. g* &c. — 5. 03 nann Sn] .ti3 (Piel), with j'liD, is to excite
•"irife (Pr. 15'*); hence in the Hithp., with 3, to excite oneself a.gzi\nst,
engage in strife with, provoke: cf. v.^-^^*'''' 2 K. 14'" fig. (see RV. ?narg.).
— ills'";;] an uncommon word, mostly confined to D and D-' (v_9. 9. 12. 19. i«
3**" Jos. i" 12*-''): only besides Jud. 21" Jer. 32* Ps. 61^ 2 Ch. 20''. The
usual synon. is n^nj, or (in I') njnK. — 6. crixp] idiom, with verbs of buj'ing' :
Gn. 17^ Jos. 24"*^ &i.c. — 7. ni] used as a.n indeclin. adv. " tiow, already, forty
I
n. 3-8 35
permitted them to lack nothinj^. — I lath blessed thee\ the bless-
ing' of God, as resting upon His people, or promised to it, is
frequently emphasized in Dt. (iii 713 \2' 1424. 29 154.6. 10. 14. i>
1610. 15 2321 2419 288- 12 30I6, cf. 2615) ; it is here affirmed, even
for the years spent in the wilderness. — The work of thy hand]
thy undertakings, enterprises, — a common Deut. expression
(with "bless," as here, 14^9 16^^ 24^^28^25 also 30^). Usually,
as the context of the passages quoted shows, it has reference
to the operations of agriculture (cf. Is. 6522 Hag. 2^^ Job
1^0), but it is also used more generally (Hag. 2^* Ps. 90'''),
and even in a bad sense (see on 42s 3129). (Differently, of the
works of God, Ps. 192 28^ al.) — Hath known thy walking, &c.\
i.e. hath taken notice of it, concerned Himself about it: cf. the
same verb in Gn. 39^ Ps. i^ 31^ Pr. 2723.
8*. Accordingly, the Israelites passed by from the vicinity of
(DXD) their brethren the children of 'Esau, away from the way oj
the 'Ardbah, away from Elath and from, ' Esion-Geber, towards
the wilderness of Moab. The 'Ardbah is here, of course, the
modern Wady-el-'Arabah (p. 3), S. of the Dead Sea; and the
" way of the 'Ardbah " is no doubt the road leading through
it — still the route from 'Akabah to Hebron [BR. i. 198 ; cf.
Hull, Mount Seir, pp. 75, 79, &c.), the part here particularly
meant being its S. end, where, starting from 'Akabah
on the Red Sea, it would (probably) pass shortly afterwards
by 'Ezion-Geber. The Israelites, turning off from the neigh-
bourhood of 'Akabah, in a North-easterly direction, would
naturally leave this " way of the 'Ardbah," as well as Elath
and 'Ezion-Geber, behind them. The precise site of 'Ezion-
Geber is uncertain ; but it must have lain on the Red Sea,
very near (nx) to Elath (i K. 92^, cf. 22^^): upon the supposi-
tion that the "mud flats," which now appear to constitute
the lower end of the Wady-el-'Arabah [DB.'^ i. 854a), were
formerly covered by the sea, it was identified by Robinson (i.
i69f.), not improbably, with 'Ain-el-Ghudyan, some 15 miles
years : so 8*-* Gn. 27^® &c. {Lex. rii 5h). — 8. nxc] frotn beside, from
proximity lo, Jos. 22* Jer. 9'. —9. nonVDJ ace, defining- the manni'r in which
the action of njnn takes place : "excite not thyst-ll ag-ainst Iheni as regards
(or in) battU- (G-K. § 118. 5). So v.-«.
36 DEUTERONOMY
N. of the present extremity of the Gulf. Elath, called by the
Greeks and Romans AiAava, Aelana, is frequently mentioned
by classical writers: it is the modern 'Akabah (Rob. i. 171).
The Israelites, after leaving Elath, may have ascended by the
large and steep Wady-el-Ithm (Rob. i. 174; Palmer, Desert of
the Exodus, p. 523), which runs through the mountains in a
NE. direction, and forms the main passage from 'Akabah to
the Eastern desert ; they would then join the road, correspond-
ing to the route of the modern Syrian Haj (pilgrimage) from
Damascus to Mecca, at Ma'an, a little E. of Petra, and so
would be on the way to their destination in the steppes of
Moab.
8^-15. How the Israelites, upon approaching the Moabite
territory, were warned not to encroach upon it, and how they
reached the torrent of Zered. — 8^. The way to the -wilderness oj
Moab\ i.e. to the great rolling plains of grass or scrub
(Tristram, Land of Moab, pp. 148, 169), stretching out
"before"— z.e. to the East of— "Moab" (Nu. 21II) Midbdr,
"wilderness," — properly a driving-place (for cattle), — denotes
often an expanse of uncultivated pasture-ground, not neces-
sarily a desert. — 9. The children of Lot] Gn. 19^7 Ps. 83^. — 'Ar\
V.18. 29 Nu. 2x15.28 (cf. 22^6) Is. 15I. The capital city of Moab,
situate on its N. or NE. border (cf. v.^^j, in the valley of
the Arnon. Its exact site is uncertain : for a conjecture, see on
V.36. 'Ar is perhaps specified here, as being the point at
which the Israelites would approach most closely the Moabite
territory on their left (Dillm.) : comp. on v.^^^
It is sometimes wrongly identified with Rabbah (probably through a
confusion arising from the fact that 'Apto'roXis, the name given by Jerome to
'Ar, is given to Rabbah by Eusebius). Rabbah, however, which lies
almost in the centre of Moab, some 10 miles S. of the Arnon, does not
answer to the Biblical description of 'Ar as situate on the "border" of
Moab, and (cf. Nu. 22^*) on the Arnon (see Dietrich, in Merx' Archiv, i.
1869, p. 325 fF., Delitzsch on Is. 15S Dillm. on Nu. ai"*, and HWB.- s.v.).
10-12. An antiquarian notice, relating to the previous
occupants of the lands of Moab and Edom. — 10. The Einim
dwelt therein aforetime] cf. v.^^ Gn. i/^\, where the Emim are
mentioned as dwelling in Shaveh-Kiriathaim, i.e. (probably)
the plain of Kiriathaim, a city 5-6 miles N. of the Arnon (Nu.
II. 8-12 37
32" Jos. 13*^). The territory of Moab once extended N. of
the Arnon (Nu. 21 2") ; and the Emim must have been the pre-
historic population of this region, reputed to have been a
powerful race, of gfiant stature, who were afterwards expelled
by the immigrant Moabites, as the Horites were expelled from
Edom and the Canaanites from Palestine. — As the 'Anakz'm]
cited as the most familiar example of a giant race (i^^). — 11.
77iey also, like the 'Anakim, are counted as Rephaiin\ i.e. the
Emim were popularly spoken of as "Rephaim"; but the
Moabites gave them the special name of "Emim." The
Rephaim were a giant aboriginal race, inhabiting parts of
Palestine, from whom (presumably) the names of certain
localities were derived, and whose descendants — or reputed
descendants — are alluded to in historical times.
They are named beside the PerizzUes, Gn. 15^ Jos. 17^' (the pre-
cise region here meant is, however, uncertain): the "vale (pji!) of
Rephaim," near Jerusalem, is mentioned Jos. 15' 18^® 2 S. g'^. 21!
23^^ Is. 17'; 2 S. 2i'^* ^^- -"• *^ various doughty warriors of Gath are
described as "children of the Rapha " (KSnn 'tS'), or as "born to the
Rapha" ("the Rapha " being meant collectively=" the Rephaim"); here
and v.^ they are said to have dwelt once in the territory E. of the Dead
Sea, occupied afterwards by the Moabites and the 'Ammonites : 3'' (cf. '^)
Jos. 12* 13'^ 'Og, king of Bashan, is described as " of the remnant of the
Rephaim " (o'NS-in in'o) ; and Gn. 14' the Rephaim in 'Ashteroth-Kamaim
are stated to have been smitten by Chedorla'omer. From these notices,
it would seem that the Rephaim were specially associated with the region
E. of Jordan, though traces of their former presence were also to be found
here and there in Canaan as well.
12. And in Seir dwelt the Horites aforetiine, &c.\ the
Horites were the primitive population of the hill-country of
Se'ir, but were dispossessed by the descendants of 'Esau. The
note, though attached to the similar remark about the Moab-
ites, is really intended as an antiquarian illustration of v.*.
The Horites are mentioned besides v. 22 Gn. 14^ 3620-30.
11. inBTi'] are counted : tlie impf. with a frequentative force, of a custom :
cf. v.^* Gn. 10® 22'^ ION! it is said (i.e. it is common/y said), Ex. 13'* 18"
&c. (Dr. § 33a ; G-K. § 107. 2).— ct qN] so v.^ (x'n '•,x) : cf. 15", and (poet.)
22».2o. 28^ Except in the sense of how much more (or less), in is very rare
in ordinary prose (d: lieing the usual syn- ; cf. 3-'") : v. Lex. — 12. OicT'] the
impf. is unusual, but hardly (Dillm.) " iniptissible " : cf. 2 S. 15'" 1 K. 7"*
2o** 2 K. 13'-'*' (Dr. §§ 27 y, 85 ».). Lit. ^^ proceeded to possess them."
38 DEUTERONOMY
The name "^h means probably cave-dweller, Troglodyte (from iftn hole,
Arab. Ifawr, cave : for another view, see Sayce, Monuments, p. 204) ; and
high up in the rocks (cf. Ob.^'*), both those forming- the amphitheatre in
which Petra lies, and those lining the defiles by which it is approached,
there are still to be seen innumerable caves and grottoes, hewn in the soft
sandstone strata, the form and arrangements of which show that in most
cases they were originally intended for habitations {DB.^ s.v. Edomites).
Jerome {Comm. on Ob.^) attests the habit of living in caves as prevalent in
Edom in his da)'. The custom, originated by the primitive inhabitants of
Edom, was suited no doubt to the physical character and climate (" propter
nimios calores solis," Jerome) of the countr}', and was accordingly adhered
to by those who succeeded them. For a description of the remarkable situa-
tion and antiquities of Petra, the ancient capital of Edom (the Heb. Sela',
Jud. i^« 2 K. 147 Is. 16I), see Rob. BR. ii. 128 ff. ; 5. & P. p. 87 ff. ; Bad.
p. 183 ff. ; Palmer, Desert of the Ex. p. 429 ff. ; or Hull, Mount Seir, p. 85 ff.
As Israel did unto the la7id of his possession] the words could
clearly not have been penned until after the Israelites had
taken possession of Canaan. They cannot be referred (Keil
al.) to the occupation of the trans-Jordanic territory by the
2\ tribes (Nu. 32); for the subject of the verb is "Israel,"
without qualification or restriction, so that the limitation
suggested is not admissible.
13. No7V rise up, and get you over the torrent Zered] the
verse connects directly with v.^. The torrent Zered is named
also in the fragment of E's itinerary preserved in Nu. 2ii2ff-, as
marking the station of the Israelites immediately before their
passage of the Arnon. It has been often identified with the
Wady-el-Ahsa, which runs from the SE. into the S. end of the
Dead Sea (Wetzstein in Del. Gen.^ p. 567 f. ; Tristram, Moab,
p. 49 f.) ; but inasmuch as this must have formed the S. border
of Moab on the side of Edom, and 'lye-'abarim, the station
prior to the torrent Zered, is described in Nu. 21^^ as being in
the wilderness on the E. of Moab, some Wady further to the
N. appears to be denoted by it, — either the Sail Sa'ideh (Kn.),
the principal confluent of the Arnon from the SE. (Fischer
and Guthe's Map), or more probably, perhaps, the Wady
Kerak (Ges. Hitz. Keil, Di.) — in the upper part of its course
called the Wady-el-Franji — a deep and narrow gorge (Tristram,
pp. 65-69) running past Kerak in a NW. direction into the
Dead Sea. Arrived at this spot, the Israelites are directed to
cross the Wady — with the implication, probably (cf. v.i^f.), that
II. I3-I8 39
they are to advance straight forwards, without trespassing on
the Moabite territory upon their left. — Torrent \>\l})\ "brook"
is not an adequate rendering ; but PH? has, in fact, no proper
English equivalent. The term which really corresponds is
the Arabic Wcidy, so frequently occurring in descriptions of
travel in Palestine. pn3 "signifies the hollow or valley of a
mountain-torrent, which, while in rainy seasons it may fill the
whole width of the depression, in summer is reduced to a mere
brook, or thread of water, and is often entirely dry " {S. & P.
App. § 38). Nahal denotes indifferently the "torrent" or
the "torrent-valley": thus i K. 17^ Elijah hides "in" the
"torrent-valley" of Kerith, and v.* drinks of the "torrent"
(the word in both verses being the same). — 14. The journey
from Kadesh-barnea' to the- torrent Zered had been protracted
for 38 years, until all the generation which had rebelled at
Kadesh had passed away. The oath, as i^^ Nu. 1421-23 (JE). —
Until all the generation, (even) the men of war, were constmied]
cf. v.i6.35Nu. 3213 (JE) Jos. 56 (D2). By the addition "the
men of war" the terms of the sentence are limited somewhat
more distinctly than in i^^ Nu. 1421-23 to the adult males :
comp. the still more precise limitation of P, Nu. 142^ 32"
(middle clause) "from 20 years old and upwards." — 15. More-
over Jehovah's hand was against them, cSr'c.] cf. Ex. 9^ Jud. 2^^
I S. 5^ 71^ 1 2^5. Not natural causes only, but the special
action of God's hand as well, co-operated to accomplish their
destruction (cf. Nu. 16^1*^- 21^ 25^-^ in JE). — To discomfit them
{^i^\0) from the midst of the ca7np\ or rout them in cottfusion :
Ex. 1424 2327 Dt. 723 I S. 710 Ps. i8i5<i*).
16-25. How the Israelites, upon finding themselves in front
of the 'Ammonites, were commanded not to molest them, but
to cross the Arnon, and pass on to the territory of Sihon. — To
these verses nothing corresponds in the narrative of Numbers.
— 18. To pass by the border of Moab, (even) ' Ar\ it would seem,
then, that 'Ar lay in the NE. corner of Moab, near the route
15. QQn-iy] 3i**-^Jos. 8^ io'"Jer. 24'", 'isn-iy I K. i4i''(not all in the same
application). — 16. niD*? . . . inn] lit. "had ended . . . in respect o/" dying " =
had finished dyins? (cf. Nu. i"]'^ Jos. 3" al.) : constr. as 1*^. — 18. Tjy] the
ptcp., as V.*; cf. 3-' 4'^-22 6» &c., 9"- ''.
40 DEUTERONOMY
along which the Israelites would pass. — 19. In front of ^'^i::^ the
children of ' Ammon\ the 'Ammonites occupied the territory
between the Arnon on the S. and the Jabbok on the N., on
the East of the district which was allotted afterwards to
Reuben and Gad, but which, at the time of the Exodus, formed
the dominion of Sihon king of the Amorites (cf. Nu. 2i24 [see
Dillm.] Jud. 11^3 [where the addition unto fordan expresses the
false claim preferred by the 'Ammonites against Jephthalj]).
The Israelites, upon reaching the Arnon, would thus have
the land of the 'Ammonites immediately in front of them :
they were not, however, to trespass upon it, but, leaving it
on their right, to pass on through the territory of Sihon, king
of Heshbon.
20-23. An antiquarian notice (cf. v.^o-iaj^ respecting the
former occupants of the 'Ammonite territory. This also, like
the land of Moab (v.^^), had once been inhabited by Rephaim,
who were called, however, by the 'Ammonites Zamzummim.
Of the Zamzummim (ffi Zoxoftfuv, cod. F. Zo/x/xctv) nothing is
known beyond what is here stated, viz. that they were reputed
to have been a giant race, dispossessed by the 'Ammonites :
they have been supposed to be the same as the "Zuzim in
Ham," who are mentioned (Gn. 14'') between the " Rephaim in
'Ashteroth-Karnaim " and the " Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim,"
and who therefore, apparently, had their home in a corre-
sponding locality. For the expressions in v.20-22j cf. v.^'*-^^.
The names Rephaim, Emim, and Zamzummim are all somewhat
curious, and provoke speculation as to their possible origin and signifi-
cance. Rephaim is also the Heb. (Is. 14® a/.) and Phoenician {CIS. I. i. 3^)
name for the shades, or ghosts of the departed ; no'N is a Heb. word mean-
ing terror; the Arab, zamzamah is a distant, confused sound ; stzim is the
low or faint sound of the Jinn, heard by night in the deserts (Lane, Arab.
Lex. 1248-49). Prof. W. R. Smith writes (MS. note): "Antioch and the
country about it also claimed to have been inhabited of old by giants
(Malalas, ed. Bonn, p. 202). The giant-legends no doubt arose in part
from the contemplation of ancient ruins of great works and supposed
gigantic tombs ; but I think that Schwally, Das Leben nach dent Tode ( 1 892),
p. 64 f., is not wrong in supposing a connexion between d'ksi ghosts, and
O'xsn extinct giants, and also in connecting D'DN with nO'N terro*-- So again
Zamzummim are doubtless, as he says, whisperers, murniurers , and the
name might have been illustrated by him from the Arabic 'azff the eerie
sound of the Jinn in the wilderness (Wellh. Reste Arab. Heidenfumes.
11. 19-25 4*
p. 136). I take it that the old giants were still thought to haunt the ruins
and deserts of East Canaan."
21. Destroyed them from before them] cf. Jos. 248 Am. 2^'
(where the same phrase is used of the Amorites destroyed
before Israel). — Even unto this day] cf. on 3^*. — 23. A further
illustration of the manner in which, under God, an immigrant
race might expel the previous possessors of a country. The
'Awim are mentioned elsewhere only Jos. i'^^'^ (beside the
Philistines) ; Cuphtor, i.e. Crete, — or (Ebers, Sayce, Races, p.
53: see on Gn. lo''') the coast-land of the Delta, — was the
home of the Philistines (Am. 9'^ Jer. 47*). The verse thus states
that the 'Awim, the original occupants of SW. Palestine, were
expelled from their homes by Philistine immigrants from
Caphtor.
24. Rise ye up, take your journey , and pass over the torrent
Amon] the continuation, after the parenthesis, of v.^^, as v.^^
of v.*. The Israelites, standing on the S. bank of the Arnon,
were thereupon commanded to cross it, and received permis-
sion to commence hostilities with the Amorites, who occupied
the territory between the 'Ammonites and the Jordan. The
Amorites, unlike Edom, Moab, and 'Ammon, were not allied by
blood with the Israelites. The Southern part of the Amorite
territory, according to Nu. 2\'^^, had formerly been in the
occupation of the Moabites, but Sihon wrested it from them,
and forced them to withdraw S. of the Arnon. — 25. This day]
the day, viz. on which the Arnon is crossed, and the territory
to be conquered entered. — To piit the fear of thee and the
dread of thee] cf. ii^^. — That are under the whole heaven]
a rhetorical hyperbole (4^^ Job 37^ 41^); in 11^^ Ex. 1514-16
23. 'J1 D'acn o'lym] the casus pendens, as 7'* 14^ Gn. 28" Is. 9^ &c.
(G-K. § 143 ; Dr. § 197. i). — 24. ?yp 5D?j3] the daghesh in d is "euphonic,"
being probably designed to secure the distinct articulation of the con-
sonant : cf. Gn. 19' Ex. 12^^ 5NV 'D'i?, I S. 15® n^ no, Jer. 49^* Hos. 8'".
On this and similar exceptional uses of daghesh forte, see further Baer,
Preface to Liber Proverbioriau, p. xiv, G-K. § 20. 2rt(2)R., Delitzsch on
Ps. 94^^; most fully Konig, i. p. 54 fF. — 25. 'J£3 ^y] ii'^'' Ex. 2o-"^ — -«J'k] = 5o
that, as 4"*-*' 6' al. (Lex. ib-k 8 b).— IVDC' jiyoB"] the same idiom, Gn. 29"
Nu. 14^' Na. 2^* al. — '^ni] from V^n (with tone milra', on account of the '
consec), to be in ang-uish (used often of a woman in travail), — a strong
word, rare in prose (1 S. 31^) ; with "JED, as Jer. 5-' Ps. 96^* nl., cf. Is. 23'.
42 DEUTERONOMY
23''^ only the Canaanites, or other neig-hbours of Israel, are
mentioned.
26-37. Refusal of Sihon to permit Israel to pass throug^h
his land. His defeat ; and the seizure of his territory by the
Israelites.
Dt. a-*** .... Nu. 21" tok"? "laxn l'?D pn'o Sn d'dn'^d Snib" n'?B''i.
. . . Nu. 2i^"i'?3 ihan yrtz . . . Dn33i msj-a aa: n"? i^in3 m^vx.
. . . (Nu. 20^^ SiNDci I'D' ncj n"?.)
. . . (Nu. 20'^'' .Tiny!< ''7J13 13T px pn.)
. . . Nu. 21'''^ 1*73^3 nnv htCiO/' nu [n'o jn: nSi.
. . . (Nu. 21^'' 'VfiK non'^o'? iDj; '731 Kin onKipS is?an iSo l^v teal.)
. . . Nu. 21^^'' ns.T.
. . . (Nu. 21^5* icy '73 nxi na nxi wn i3'i [of 'Og].)
. . . Nu. 21"-'^* nVx.! cnyn "73 ns Vnne" np'i.
227a
,27b
236-=^ . . . Cf. Nu. 2l2^-^^
26. And I sent messengers, &€.] Nu. 2121. — From the wilder-
ness of Kcdetnotli\ Kedemoth is mentioned as belonging- to
Reuben, and as a Levitical city (Jos. 13I8; i Ch. 66*(79))_ x^e
precise site is unknown; but from a comparison of Nu. 21^1
it seems probable that it lay somewhere on or near the upper
course of the Arnon, perhaps on the N. edge of the "wilder-
ness " on the East of Moab (Nu. 21I1, cf. Dt. 28b) : had it been
much to the West of the position here indicated, it would have
been within the territory of Moab, which the Israelites did not
enter. Heshbon is frequently mentioned as the capital of
Sihon (Nu. 2i26-34 j^^j^ jjIq &c.): it was situate on a low hill
rising out of the elevated table-land (3!*') about 16 miles E. of
the Jordan, where its ruins (of the Roman period) are still
visible. Though assigned by the Israelites to Reuben (Jos.
13^7)^ it was afterwards occupied by the Moabites (who re-
gained their territory N. of the Arnon), and is alluded to as
being in their possession (Is. is"* i6*-^ Jer. 48^). Comp.
Tristram, Latid of Israel, p. 528 f.; more fully, Survey of E.
26. Di'78' 'ist] appended loosely, as an apposition Kara trvaa-i*, to D'3«<7D. —
27-29. 'Ji "i^N . . . m3j;N] the first person singular, the nation being- conceived
as a unity, and the words being spoken accordingly in the name of the people
as a whole. So frequently, as Ex. 14'^ 178 Nu. 2o'»- '"' 21*'^ Jos. 9' 17"
&c. : in the prophets, Is. 12I 25> 26* Jer. lo's-'-o &c. ; cf. L.O.T. p. 366 f.
In the English version the Hebrew idiom is sometimes concealed, by the
plural being substituted {e.g. Ex. 14'-^). The 2nd and 3rd persons singular
n. 26-30 43
Palestine^ pp. 104-9. — 27. Let me pass through thy land\ exactlji
as Nu. 21^-''. — In the way, in the way, will I go\ varied from
Nu. 21**^ (in the king^'s way will we g"o). — I will not turn either
to the right hand or to the left] from Nu. 20^^, in the application
to Edam, with "i^DX / will turn, the word used elsewhere in the
same phrase by D (5^^), for ntpj we will incline. — 28. Thou shall
sell me food, <5^•c.] cf. v.^. — Only let nie pass through on my feet]
as Nu. 20^* (in the application to Edom). — 29. As the children
of 'Esau . . . and the Moabites . . . did unto me] it is not dis-
tinctly stated in v.^-s whether the Edomites acceded to the
request of the Israelites, though there is nothing- to sug-gest
that they did not do so. The statement here is not incom-
patible with what is related Nu. 201^-21 : though the Edomites
may have opposed the proposal of the Israelites, when on
their Western border, to pass through their territory, they may
not have regarded them with the same unfriendliness, or have
been unwilling to assist them, while journeying Northwards,
away from them, on their Eastern border. The Moabites, in
236(4), are censured for ttot having" "met Israel with bread or
water on the way " : the expression used, however, suggests
that the Moabites were not forward in offering them food in a
friendly spirit (cf. Is. 21^*), and is not necessarily inconsistent
with their having sold it to them, perhaps under compulsion,
in return for money payment. — 30. But Siho?t, &c.] varied
from Nu. 2i23 (see the Table).— ^j at this day {J'\^J} Di»2)] i.e. as
is now the case. The phrase is mostly used for the purpose
of calling attention to the fulfilment of a promise (or threat) in
are used analogously. — 27. iVn i"n3 ima] the repetition expresses emphasis,
"in the "way (and nowhere else) will I gfo": comp. 16^ i S. 2^ (Ew.
§ 313*; G-K. § \22,d'-''). — 28. fixe u» the tone is mifel, with 1 consec, on
account of the disj. ace. (Dr. § 104). — 30. 13 m^yn] " to let us pass through
him," i.e. through his dominion: cf. Nu. 20'* '3 ini'n nS. — inn nx r^e/^^r:]
the usual phrase is 3'? n;vprt, Ex. 7^ (P), 13^* (JE), Ps. 95* Pr. 28'''. — j'SKi
laaS nx] aS {'ax has usually a good sense, to strengthen the heart=to
encourage : as here, only 15' 2 Ch. 36^^. On 1 (not consec.) used to connect
synonyms, see Dr. § 132. — nin ova] as (at) this day. So 4-"- ■'* 8'* 10'* 29-^ Gn.
5o2» I S. 22«-i» I K. 3« 82^ ( = 2 Ch. 6">) «' Jer. ii» 251s 322" 446-23 o^n. 9'
(from Ezr. 9^) " (from Jer. 32=«) 1 Ch. 28^t : in the "form nin ovna Dt. 6«
Jer. 4422 Ezr. 9^- 1» Neh. 9'" (Jer. 3220), and (differently) Gn. 39"t. In Jer.
25" it is not expressed by ffi, and mu!>l, as the context shows, be a gloss,
inserted after the fulfilment of the prophecy : see, against Grat's view of
44 DEUTERONOMY
the event : as the occurrences (see below) show, it gives ex-
pression to a thought which is particularly common in Dt.,
and in writers reflecting the Deuteronomic point of view : the
prayers in i K. 8, Ezr. Neh. Dan. are all moulded largely in
the Deut. phraseology. — 31. Behold, I have begun, &c.^ with
Sihon's refusal to accede to Israel's request, Jehovah has
already "begun" the execution of His purpose, and Israel
is now free to invade his territory. — Deliver up hefore\ comp.
on I®. — Begin, possess\ ^^ ^TP:, as v.24, but strengthened by the
addition of 1^~1N n^< Twh- — 32. Arid Sihon came forth to meet us,
he and all his people, for battle untojahaz] Nu. 21^. The phras-
ing, however, agrees with that used Nu. 2i^^^of'0^. fnhas
is often mentioned as a city in the territory N, of the Arnon,
belonging to Reuben (Jos. 13^^^ beside Dibon, Beth-ba'al-me'on,
and Kedemoth), or as in the possession of the Moabites (Is. 15*
Jer. 48^4 : cf. the Moabite stone, 1. 18-21), situated (Jer. 48^1) on
the "Mishor," or high table-land (310), and (Nu. 2i23) in the
direction of the "wilderness," i.e. the open plains on the East
(28b). Euseb. {Onom. ed. Lag. p. 264) states that it was
shown between Dibon and Medabah — a situation which satisfies
the conditions of the narrative, according to which Sihon
sallied forth from his capital, Heshbon, to meet the advancing
Israelites. The site has not, however, been recovered. — 33.
Arid we smote him, and his sons, and all his people\ as Nu.
2i35a (of 'C^), "And they smote him, and his sons, and all his
people."* The expression used of Sihon's defeat in Nu. 212* is
different; and neither there nor in Jud. ii^i is any mention
made of the slaughter of Sihon's sons. — 34. And we took all his
cities at that time (i^)] cf. Nu. 21'^^^. — And we devoted, <Sr'c.] or
the meaning of the expression, Kuenen, Onderzoek, ii. § 56. i. — 34. "I'j;
D'np] city of men, i.e. a city so far as it consisted of men, nearly^
city male-population. So 3®, and (though not so pointed by the Massorites)
Jud. 20''*, where it is opposed to cattle and property generally (cf. here
v.^ 3'). — D'Od] chiefly poetical, the only prose-phrases being D'ro Tp,
19PP 'OD Gn.' 34»» (J) Dt. 4^" Jer. 44-« Ps. losi'' (=1 Ch. 16'% and
BSP 'OP Dt. 26* 28®^t- The word is also preserved in the ancient pr.
• If the view stated on 3'"* be adopted, the phrasing of v.*' (which
corresponds to that of 3'*>) will of course be original in Dt., and the relation
of 2^'' to Nu. 21"** will be reversed.
II. 3J-36 45
treated as h^rcm (on 7^), the inhabitants beinp- slain, and th«»
cattle and property retained as spoil. This tact is not men-
tioned in Nu. 21. The observance of the hcrem, in the con-
quests of the Israelites, is often noted specially by D and D^
(see lb.). — Every city of men] see below. — Le/i no survivor]
inK' TSC'n is a phrase esp. used by Deut. writers 3^ ( = Nu.
2i35: see on 31-3) Jos. 822 iqSS. ao. 33. 37. 39. 40 ^s (all D2) 2 K.
lo^if. — 36. Fro7n 'Aro'er, which is on the edge of the torrent-
valley ofArno?i] the same description in 3^2 ^48 Jqj^ 12^ i^^-io
2 K. lo^^ (without nsL") : 'Aro'er, alone, also Nu. 32=^-* Jud. ii2«
3 S. 245 (see 3L) Jer. 4819 i Ch. 58 (on Is. 172 see Dillm.), and
on the Moabite stone, line 26 (as built by Mesha').
The Amon, which formed the N. border of Moab (Nu. 21'*), now the
Wady Mojib, is a remarkably clearly-defined boundary line. The country
N. and S. of it is a far-reaching plain : it is suddenly broken by a deep rift,
with precipitous sides, — at a point some 10 miles E. of the Dead Sea,
about 3 miles broad and 2000 feet deep ; at the bottom of this valley the
Amon flows, amid rich tropical vegetation, — for the air at such a great
depth has a genial warmth ; at the point where it enters the Dead Sea,
the current has a width of some 80 feet, and is 4 feet in depth (Tristram,
Moab, pp. 125-130). A desolate heap of ruins, 'Ara'ir, on the N. edge of
this ravine, "just overhanging the brow," and about a mile from the stream
(ib. pp. 129-131), marks the site of the ancient 'Aro'er.
The city which is in the torrent (or torrent-valley)] so Jos.
I3»- 16 2 S. 245 (read with 3L : '* and they began from 'Aro'er, and
from [tpi for ip^] the city that is in the middle of the torrent-
valley, towards Gad, and on to Ja'zer"), — each time immedi-
ately after 'Aro'er. The city meant is not altogether certain ;
but it is a reasonable conjecture that it may be 'Ar (Knob.,
Dietrich, in M-^vx! Archiv, i. 3348"., Keil, Dillm.). Nor is it
certain in what part of the course of the Arnon the city
referred to lay; a site at its confluence with the Lejjun, where
there is "a piece of pasture ground, in the midst of which stands
a hill with ruins on it," has been suggested (Sir G. Grove,
DB.^ 1862, s.v. Arnon ; Dietrich, p. 335 f.). — Even unto Gile'ad]
names ^Nti'ino and nScino. Otherwise, it fell out of use in Hebrew. In
Ethiopic, it is an ordinary word for man, husband {e.g. Mark 10'* Luke
2^). Of course it has no etym. connexion with n-D, no, O'nc. — ttJ?]
fugitive, survivor (from a defeat) : Arab, sharada is to take /right and run
away (of an animal).— 35. i:V wna] 3^ 20" Jos. S^-^ ii" ; S, as 1'=*.— 86.
n3]b] only here in prose; and only once besides at all in Qal,
46 DEUTERONOMY
Silion's territory was bounded on the N. by the Jabbok (Nu
2i2* Jos. 122), which separated the N. "half of Gile'ad
from the S. "half" (on ^^^). The limit assigned is therefore
a vagtie one : it cannot be said definitely that either the S.
half (inclusively) or the N. half (exclusively) is in the writer's
mind. — 37. Only the land of the 'Ammonites they did not
encroach upon (v,^^), even the whole side of the torrent of
fahbok, and the cities of the hill-country — i.e. the region lying
along the upper course of the Jabbok (the Wady Zerka) on
the East, and the neighbouring hill-country inhabited by the
'Ammonites. The country taken by the Israelites from the
Amorites, and occupied afterwards by Reuben and Gad, lay
wholly to the West of this. Cf. Nu. 212* ("And Israel
possessed the land of Sihon, from Arnon to Jabbok, even \sc.
eastwards] unto the children of 'Ammon ") ; Jud. 1122. In
Dt. 3^^ Jos. 12^ the Jabbok is called the "border of the
children of 'Ammon " : in the upper part of its course, the
Jabbok runs S. to N. in a semicircle, passing Rabbath-
'Ammon ; and the 'Ammonite territory, according to tbese
passages, lay to the East of this.
With the description of tlie territory taken by the Israelites, and of its
limits, in 2^^' 3*'' w- '--" 4^-"' should be compared those in Jos. 13, — viz. a.
(generally) v.*''- (supplying-, in v.* at the beginning, after ffi \For the half-
tribe 0/ Manasseh, and] with it the Reubenites, &c.) ; b. (Reuben) v. •''"-!»
(to Heshbon) ^ ; c. (Gad) v.^s--"? ; d. (half of Manasseh) v.^^'^K Cf. also
Jos. 12''*. The passages quoted appear all to belong to D- (or to a Deut.
hand) ; many of the expressions used are similar to those occurring here
in Dt.
III. 1-7. Defeat of 'Og, the king of Bashan, and conquest of
his territory.
Dt. 3'"' .... Nu. 21®"^ (the entire verses).
3^'* .... Nu. 21^** inc 1*? TiXCT 'nSi ny loy Va nt»i V33 riNi v.x 131.
3*"' . . . . Cf. Nu. 2 r*''*' (i!;nK nx wti).
1-3. V.i-2 agrees verbally with Nu. 2i23-34 — the only differ-
ence being the substitution of the first person for the third.
Job 5". — 37. t] fig. =^ side: cf. Nu. 13''® prn t hv ; Jud. ii-"^ -m-x D-iyn
p:iK T hi!. — ':i "iB'N '?3i] and all that J. commanded us {sc. not to approach) •
cf. 4^. But (S {xafcTt) expresses 'Ji t;^n-'??3 according to nil that ^,
commanded us, which may be the true reading.
II. 37— in. I 47
v.* iilso agrees in substance with Nu. 21^*, the characteristic
phrase in ^b -1^1^. <)^ tX'J'H "Tl^a n> being common to both.
The prima facie view of the three verses in Dt. would be that they were
based upon the passage in Numbers. Several of the expressions common
to the two passages are, however, Deuteronomic (see the notes), while
they are alien to the general style of JE's narrative in Numbers: it is
remarkable also that in Nu. 22^ while the conquest of Sihon (Nu. 21*^""') is
referred to, that of 'Og is unnoticed ; hence Dillm. may be right in suppos-
ing that the passage belonged originally to Dt., and that Nu. 2i*^"'''' is an
insertion, based upon Dt. 3^"* (or in v.^** upon Dt. 2^**), and introduced
into the text of Numbers for the purpose of supplying what seemed to be
an omission. So also Bacon, Triple Tradition of the Exodus {\i(^), p. 211.
1. And -we turned (|S31)J cf. i^. 24. 40 ^^■'^•'^.—By the -way to
Bashan\\r\ the Heb. usually with the article, "the Bashan,"
— not improbably (see Wetzstein in Del. Hiob,'^ pp. 556-558)
corresponding to <iJu.>, and signifying properly soft and fertile
ground. From the notices contained in the OT., it appears
that Bashan embraced the region lying N. and NE. of "Gile'ad"
(see on v.i°), and bounded on the S. by the Jarmuk, and a line
passing through Edre'i to Salchah, on the W. by Geshur and
Ma'acah, on the N. stretching out towards Hermon (cf. Jos.
I21''-*), and on the E. extending as far as the great range of
extinct volcanoes called the Jebel Hauran [i.e. mountain of
the Hauran), about 40 miles ESE. of the Sea of Galilee. From
the fact that Salchah (v.^^) is mentioned as a frontier city of
Bashan, it seems that the eastern and southern declivities of
Jebel Hauran were not included in it (cf. Wetzstein, Hauran,
pp. 39-42, 83-86; Guthe, ZDPV. 1890, p. 230 ff.).
Bashan was noted in antiquity for its rich pastures and its extensive
forests of oak, especially abundant on the W. slopes of Jebel Hauran
(conip. the allusions to its pastures Mic. 7" Jer. 50^*, to its herds of cattle
Dt. 32'* Ps. 22'* Ez. 39^* Am. 4^ to its oaks Is. 2'^ Zech. 11^ Ez. 27^, cf.
Is. 33® Nah. I*). With the exception of the Leja (see on v.*'*), the soil of
the corresponding region is described still as being singularly fertile — the
Hauran has been called the granary of Damascus ; and its oak forests are
frequently alluded to b}' travellers (J. L. Porter, Five Years in Damascus,
chap. xi. ed. 2, pp. 186, 190, 200, 202 ; chap. xii. pp. 218, 227; chap, xiii,
pp. 260, 261, &c. ; Tristram, Land of Israel, pp. 448, 453, &c.).
III. 1. 'ynw] to Edre'i, after the verb of motion ks'. ; not at turci
(RV.), except as an accommodation to English idiom (similarly i S. i**
48 DEUTERONOMY
Edre*i\ on his S. frontier i*.— 2. Fear not] i2i-2« 322; Jos. 8'
10^ (D2). Both this and ;S31 are more in the Deut. style than
in that of j'E.— Given into thy hand] v.» i27 224-30 724 26^^ 21^^
Ex. 2331 NU. 2l2-34 Jos. 224 62 77 81-7.18 iqS. 19. 30. 82 ^S 2142(44)
248. 11^ — Unto Sihon] 2^^-. — 3. JVo survivor] on 234. — 4^ ^/ /^^/
time] so c.s. 12. 21. 23. ^f^ q^ jO, — 4_5. Threescore cities^ all the
region of Argob, the kingdom of'Og in Bashan : all these (being-)
fenced cities^ (with) high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many
cities of the country-folk] the * * region of Argob " (23"!>? ^?D) 's
mentioned also v. ^3. 14 j k_ ^i3 ("the region of Argob, which is
in Bashan, even threescore great cities, (with) walls and brazen
bars "). What locality, however, is denoted by it is uncertain.
The Targfums represent "Arg^ob" by t<:i3"iB, i.e. Trachonitis, now el-
Lej'a, a district about 30 miles S. of Damascus, and 40 miles E. of the Sea of
Galilee ; and this identification has been acquiesced in by many modem
commentators. The Leja is a remarkable volcanic formation, of irregfular
2 S. 20' &c.). Comp. on i S. 2^. — 2. 'nn:] the pf., of an act which, in the
intention of the speaker, is completed (G-K. § 106. 3' ; Dr. § 13). — 3. 'nVn ly
TIC iV Tx^n] so Nu. 21^ Jos. 8-^ 10^ ii** 2 K. 10". It is disputed whether
TNiyn be (a) a perfect (G-K. §53 R.* ; W. R. Sm\i\i, Joum. of Phil, xvi 72),
the subject being- the implicit TNy'En (cf. on i S. 16''), or {b) the inf. const,
with anomalous hireq (Ols. § 191'-; Ew. § 238'* ; Konig, p. 276, cf. 212).
Against (a) is the fact that 'nSa is not used elsewhere with a finite verb to
express a categorical neg-ative, except in the doubtful passages Ez. 13^
Dan. II** (cf. Dr. § 41 Obs.^ and Lex. s.v.); (i) has according-ly pre-
sumption in its favour. The hireq in the inf. is however very much opposed
to analogy (comp. on 7^) ; and it may be legitimately doubted whether
the Massorites have preserved truly the original pronunciation, and
whether Txtpn should not be read. — 4. aJix] the supposition that this
signifies stony is a mere conjecture, based upon the questionable assumption
that the root nan is cognate with DJn. anx would be more naturally con-
nected with a:-i clods of earth, Job 21'' 38^ ; in which case it would denote
a rich and earthy soil, rather than a stony one (nanN i S. 20*^-^' ffi will
mean correspondingly, not a cairn of stones, but a tnound of earth). Van is
a cord {]os. 2"), or measuring-line {Am. 7^^ Mic. 2*), used fig. of a measured
portion, or allotment (Jos. 17" 19^) : there is no reason whatever for
supposing it either to have been specially adapted to denote, or to have
actually denoted, the rocky border of the Leja. — 5. n"i3i D'nVn nna: noin] in
loose appos. with mx3 O'ny (the sing, having a collective force) : cf. i K.
4^ 2 Ch. 8* ; also, for the combin. '31 'i, i S. 23^ nnai o'n'?! tj; Ez. 38I'
Job 38'" Jer. 49^* 2 Ch. 14^. — ^^Sin] countryman {coW. = country-folk), i S. 6^'
Est. 9"t ; cf. nhi-ia open country-districts, Ez. 38" Zech. 2« Est. g'^'t- Ez.
38**^ shows how the nHi"J9ri '1;; were opposed to cities protected by
and barred gates.
III. 2-5 49
oval shape, about 22 miles from N. to S., and 14 miles from W. to E., the
rug'ged surface of which consists of innumerable rocks or boulders of
black basalt, interniingled with fissures and crevices in every direction
{DB. s.v. Argob). In point of fact it owes its origin (Wetzstein, Hauran,
p. 25 f.) to streams of lava emitted from the volcanoes — the "conical
peaks" of which (Porter, Damascus, pp. 183, 186, 190, 227, &c.) are alluded
to in Ps. 68^*'- (see KV.m.) — forming the range of Jebel Hauran, a little
SE. of the Leja. The surface of the Leja is elevated some 20-30 feet
above the surrounding plain, and " its border is as clearly defined as a
rocky coast, which it very much resembles " (Porter, p. 282). The Leja
contains the remains of several ancient cities ; and the labyrinthine gullies
and ravines, with lofty overhanging rocks, form a natural fortress,
which a small body of defenders can hold against even a determined
invader (hence the name Leja, i.e. laja'ah, refuge, retreat) : in 1838, 6ooc
Druses defended it successfully against Ibrahim Pasha, who lost 20,000
men in the attempt to force it. The natural border of the Leja, just
referred to, is regarded, by those who identify it with the ancient Argob,
as being denoted by the term ?an (i.e. cord, or boundary-line) ; and
"Argob" itself has been supposed to signify stony. The identification is
however extremely doubtful. Not only (see p. 48) is its philological basis
highly questionable ; but, though the apparent identification of Argob in
V 4. 13 with the entire kingdom of Bashan ought not perhaps to be pressed
(the terms of the description being rhetorical rather than scientific, and in
I K. 4^' the region being mentioned as a district in Bashan), in v.^* it is
described as extending, like Bashan itself in Jos. 12', as far W. as Geshur
and Ma'acah, which must have been considerably beyond the limits of
the Leja. Moreover, as Wetzstein remarks (p. 83), the physical character
of the Leja, while presenting formidable obstacles to an assailant, could
have had little to attract a people in need of rich pasture for its flocks and
herds.
Nor does this identification derive any support from the notice of the
"threescore cities," with "high walls, gates, and bars," belonging to the
region of Argob (Dt. 3^ i K. 4''). The remains of ancient cities are by no
means confined to the Leja : indeed, they are much more numerous on the
slopes of the Jebel Hauran itself and in the country to the S. and E. of it,
— the latter forming no part of the ancient Bashan : according to Wetzstein
(p. 42), " the E. and S. slopes of the Jebel Hauran contain some 300
deserted cities and villages." (Comp. the notice in i Ch. 2^'^ of the 60
dependent towns of KSnith [Nu. 32^^], i.e. Kanawat, on the W. declivity
of the Jebel Hauran, Porter, pp. 204-216.) The dwellings in these deserted
cities are of a remarkable character (see Wetzstein, pp. 44-62). Some are
the habitations of Troglodytes, being caverns hollowed out in the rock,
and so arranged within as to form two, three, or more chambers (for cattle,
stores, &c.) : others are for purposes of concealment in warfare, being pits
sunk in the earth, with shafts, invisible from above, leading horizontally
into subterranean chambers — a large underground residence at Edre'i of
this kind was explored by Wetzstein (p. 47) ; others consist of dwelling-
houses, built solidly of massive blocks of basalt, with heavy doors of the
same material, moving on pivots, the cities themselves being protected by
4
50 DEUTERONOMY
walls and lofty towers, and in such good preservation that it is difficult foi
the traveller not to believe that they must still be inhabited (p. 49).
(Comp. the descriptions by Porter of the ruins of Burak, p. 164 f.,
Sauwarah, p. 169, Bathaniyeh, p. 184 f., Shuka, p. 188 f., Shiihba, pp. 194-
196, Kanavvat, pp. 204-215, Suweideh, pp. 220-226, Bosra, pp. 231-239,
Salchad, pp. 248-250, &c.) To what extent, however, these remains are
those of the ancient cities of 'Og', must be considered doubtful. As
Wetzstein points out (p. 103), the architecture, the sculptures, and the
Greek inscriptions (which are original, and not later additions to the stones
on which they are found) show that in the majority of cases these trans-
Jordanic towns arose in post-Christian times : but in some instances the
remains are more ancient ; the Troglodyte dwellings are of remote
antiquity; the ruins of Hibikke (p. 48 f.) are also ancient; and very old
building materials have probably been preserved in such cities as Bosra
and Salchad. On the whole it may be concluded that among the numerous
remains of villages and cities in the Hauran are some which may, at least
in part, be reasonably referred to the ancient kingdom of 'Og, though it is
difficult to determine definitely which these are, and there are no sufficient
grounds for limiting them to those contained in the Leja.
The precise locality denoted by the "region of Argob" can
thus be determined only by conjecture. Wetzstein concluded
(p. 82) in favour of the district between Jordan and the Zumleh
range, about 15 miles to the East ; Dillmann thinks it may have
lain more to the E. than this, between Gerasa Edre'i and 'Ash-
taroth on the W., and Jebel Hauran on the E.; Guthe {ZDPV.
1890, p. 237 f.) places it in the E. of the present Jolan (cf.
v.i*, where Geshur and Ma'acah are mentioned as forming its
W. border), between Edre'i and Nawa.
"Whether the name Argob be connected with'E^yas, a village 15 miles
W. of Gerasa, which the Ononiasticon (ed. Lagarde, pp. 88 f., 216) identifies
with 'Apyofi, or with the 'Fxyalia of Josephus (Ant. xiii. 15. 5), or with the
modern Rajib, a place on the Wady R4jib, which enters the Jordan
between W. Zerka and W. 'Ajlun, cannot be determined" (Dillm.).
For further particulars regarding the Leja, the Hauran range, and
surrounding neighbourhood, see Burckhardt, Travels in Syria (1822),
p. 51 fF. ; Porter, Damascus, chaps, xi.-xiv. ; Cyril C. Graham, " Explora-
tions in the Desert East of the Hauran, and in the ancient Land of
Bashan," in the Journal 0/ the Royal Geogr. Soc. 1858, p. 226 ff. ; more
briefly, in the Cambridge Essays, 1858, pp. 155-162 ; Burton and Drake,
Unexplored Syria (1871), i. 159-196; and especially J. G. Wetzstein (for
many years Prussian Consul at Damascus), Reisebericht iiber Hauran und
die Trachonen (i860). Porter hardly did more than skirt the E. and W.
sides of the Leja, visiting only a few towns quite on the border ;
Burckhardt and Wetzstein explored the interior more fully, the latter in
particular reachmg Dama (p. 25 f.), the highest point of the Leja, whence
III. 6-IO 51
its geological formation became at once apparent to him. Graham also
penetrated as far as Dama, but his narrative {Journal, p. 260) is brief.
Comp. the description of Trachonitis ( = the Leja) in Josephus, Ant. xv. i,
and Strabo xvi. 2 (cf. Wetzstein, pp. 36-38). The best and most recent
map of the district is that published in the ZDPV. Heft 4, 1890, on the
basis of Dr. A. Stiibel's observations and measurements in 1882, accom-
panied by copious bibliographical and topographical notes, by Guthe and
others, pp. 225-302. See also Noldeke, ZDMG. 1875, p. 4i9ff.
6-7. And toe devoted them, &'c.\ the cities of 'Og were
tteated in the same manner as those of Silpon (2"^-^^).
Dt. G^-i" . . . . Cf. Nu. 2i2*-2-'-35(""0.
3'--'3 . . . . Cf. Nu. 32^3.
3*^ .... Nu. 32'*' TN' rtn innN Nip'i cTrtn nx n^Si i'?.! nj^JD p tn'i.
3'* .... Nu. 32*" r\vya \i tsd'? nySjn nx n^'a jn'i.
3'^*' .... Nu. 32^^^ m.T ■'■^■h pTH riN pSn "73 z-h -iijn.
3'*» .... Nu. 32-^ ny'^j.T -\'ii uv v.t i:nDnD '7:1 iJjpD ircj i:BO.
3"*' .... Nu. 32' nj 'oa'?! pixi 'i^S .rn an njpci.
3-'--'
8-13. Particulars respecting the country taken from Sihon
^232-36-j ^j^^ 'og (3^-''), and its allotment to the tribes of
Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. — 8. Beyond
Jordan] on i^ — From the torrent-valley of Arnon unto Moinit
Herman] the same limits that are specified Jos. 12^''. — 9.
77!^ Zidonians call Hermon Sirion ; and the Amorites call it
Senlr] a parenthetic notice, like those in 2^^- 20. The name
Sirion (P*T^") for Hermon occurs also poetically in Ps. 2<J' :
Senir (-'3b') is found Ez. 2f Song 48 i Ch. 523; from the last
two passages (where it is named beside Hermon) it appears
that it must have been the designation of a particular part of
the Hermon-range, probably the part N. of Damascus between
Ba'albek and Horns [Emesa], known to the Arabs by the
same name, -xjuj (Abulfeda, Tab. Syrice, p. 68, quoted b)
Ges. ; Mardsid (Juynb.), ii. 61, iii. 5, quoted by Knob.; Ibn
Haukal, ed. de Goeje, p. 114, quoted by Dillm.). The name
Sgnir was also known to the Assyrians {KAT.^ p. 159), if not
to the Egyptians as well (Sayce, I^P.^ vi. 41, MonuTnents,
p. 341). For a fourth name of Hermon {'M''^), see 4^8.— 10. All
6. m.qn] Evir, § 280% G-K. § 113. 2; cf. 9^1 12,^^ 278.— D'nD Ty] 2^.—
9. 1K''P'] the impf. as 2". — -TDNn] with a collective force, such as is peculiarly
frequent with gentile adjectives, or patronymics {e.£^. v.'"^^), and hence
joined with a pi. verb. The pi. □"tdn or d'tdn does not occur.
52 DEUTERONOMY
the cities of the table-land] RV. plain or plain-country^ with
marg. Or, table-land. The term ~iiK'''p means smooth or /^T^ei
/a»^, and is sometimes used generally (Is. 40* 42^^), or in a
figurative application (Ps. 26^2 27^^) ; but when provided with
the art., and used in connexion with the East of Jordan, it
has a special geographical sense, and denotes the elevated
plateau, or table-land, on which the territory of Moab (or
Reuben) lay ; cf. 4*3 (of Bezer) Jos. 139- 1«- ". 21 jgr. 488- 21.
" The uplands of Moab consist of a rolling plateau, about 3200 feet
above the sea-level \i.e. 4500 feet above the Dead Sea], the western edge
being cut up into deep valleys, and descending by a series of sloping hills,
at angles of 45 and 50 degrees, into the Dead Sea. These uplands are
naturally divided into two districts by the great chasm of Wady Mojib,
the Arnon of Scripture ; of these the northern portion is called by the
modern Arabs El Belga [spelt Belka, but pronounced by the Bedawin,
Belga], and extends as far north as the mountains of Gilead ; while the
southern part is known as El Kerek, and reaches southward to the VVady
of that name " (Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 472). " The uplands are
very fertile and productive, and although the soil is badly tended by the
few and scattered Arab tribes who inhabit it, large tracts of pasture-land
and extensive corn-fields meet the eye at every turn. Ruined villages and
towns, broken walls that once enclosed gardens and vineyards, remains of
ancient roads — everything in Moab tells of the immense wealth and
population which that country must have once enjoyed" {ib. p. 473 f. ;
comp. Sir. G. Grove, DB.^ s.v. Moab).
And all Gile'ad\ Gile'ad was the rough and rugged, yet
picturesque, hill-country, bounded on the W. by the Jordan,
on the N. by the deep glen of the Jarmuk (Hieromax), on the
S. by the valley of Heshbon, on the E. melting away gradually
into the high plateau of Arabia. It is divided naturally into
two parts by the Jabbok, the N. part corresponding generally
to the modern Jebel 'Ajlun, and the S. part to the northern
half of el-Belga (which extends from the Arnon to the Jabbok).
The two halves of Gile'ad are sometimes spoken of separately
in the OT. ; cf. v.12 Jos. 122-5 (the S. half), Jos. \f^ (the N.
half); and the term "Gile'ad" itself may be used, according
to the context, to designate one of these halves alone, to the
exclusion of the other. — And all Bashan] on v.^ Here Salchah
and Edrei are indicated as two points marking its southern
frontier. Salchah is named besides Jos. 12^, and (as a border
city of Bashan) 13^^ i Ch. 5^^ It is usually identified with the
iiL II 53
place called irfyi by the Nabataeans, in an Inscription of a.d.
66 (De Vogu6, Syn'e Centrales p. 107, cf. p. inf.), and by the
modern Arabs, jcU-* by the Arabic geographers. Salchad
is situated on what must have been the extreme SE. corner of
Bashan, on an eminence forming one of the southernmost
heights of the Jebel Hauran. It occupies a commanding
position, and is well adapted to form a frontier fortress. The
ruins include a castle, situated on the top of a conical hill,
the crater of an extinct volcano, from 300 to 400 feet above
the city (Porter, Damascus, pp. 248-253). On Edre'i, see on
I*. The view (Knob., Keil, Porter, p. 271 f.) that here a
different Edre'i is intended, the .Zora'of the Arabic geographers,
is not a probable one, being opposed by philological as well as
other considerations ; and it is now generally abandoned. —
11. For only 'Og, the king of Bashan, was left of the remnant
of the Rephaint\ the verse states the reason why the Israelites
were able (v.^o) to take possession of Bashan and the country
just named : after the defeat of 'Og, none of his race remained
to contest with them the possession of his domain. — Of the
remnant of the Rephaim\ ]os. 12* 13^2, also of 'Og: cf. on 2^^
In proof of 'Og's giant stature, the Writer appeals to his Bny,
still to be seen in Rabbah the capital city of the 'Ammonites.
Whether by this term is meant a bedot a sarcophagus, is disputed.
Elsewhere in Hebrew )ins means always a couch : in Aram, it sigfnifies
also a bier{\.n\i.e 7" & ; Levy, NHWB. p. 703) ; and as aoe'D, usually bed, is
used likewise of a resting-place in a tomb (2 Ch. 16^*), it is thought by
many that iny may have been similarly applied, and that it denotes here a
sarcophagus (J. D, Mich., Knob., Riehm, HWB} p. 1109, Dillm., Oettli).
jnK {ark or chest) is however the word which is so used in Heb. (Gn. 50^),
as in Phoenician (CIS. I. i. S"^-"); so also the Aram, nnx (CIS. II. i. iii ;
De Vogut^, Syrie Cetitrale, p. 102, in the inscription on a sarcophagus of
black basalt found at Bosra), so that the supposed meaning of lyiV is little
more than conjectural. At the same time, it is true that ancient sarcophagi of
black basalt are found in great numbers in the country E. of Jordan, — Knob,
refers to Seetzen, Reisen (1854), i. 360 f., 364, 368 f.; Burckhardt, Syria
(1822), pp. 269, 271 ; Buckingham, Travels in Palestine {1821), pp. 359, 411,
416 f. (nearly 200 perfect ones), &c., — and are often used now as drinking-
troughs : they are sometimes of large size, — Robinson, for instance (ii. 456),
saw a large one near Tyre, 12 feet long by 6 feet broad and high, with a
11. nSn a scribe's error for rfSq.
54 DEUTERONOMY
massive lid, commonly known as the "Tomb of Hiram." Thus it is not
impossible that the g-iant relic shown at Rabbah was a sarcophagus ;
though, as this meaning- of lffti> is uncertain, it is better to suppose that
what was really a sarcophagus was popularly called a " bed."
By iron is meant probably the black basalt of the country,
which actually contains a proportion of iron (about 20 per
cent.), and, as Pliny remarked, has the colour and hardness
of iron. — The cubit of a man\ i.e. an ordinary cubit, of full
measure (cf. Is. 8^ Rev. 21^'^). Rabbah^ the capital city of the
'Ammonites, afterward called Philadelphia, now 'Amman, is
mentioned Jos. 1325 2 S. ii^ (i Ch. 20^) 1226.27.29 i72rjer. 492.3
Ez. 2i25(20) 25^ Am. ii4; it lay on the upper course of the
Jabbok, about 25 miles NE. of the upper end of the Dead Sea:
for a fuller description of its site, see Bad. p. 196 ff. ; Survey
of Eastern Palesiine^ pp. 19-64. — 12-13. The land thus con-
quered was afterwards assigned by Moses to the 2| tribes. —
From 'Aro'er, which is by the torrent-valley of Artion (2^^), and
half the hill-country of Gilead [i.e. the half S. of the Jabbok,
cf. on v.i<>), and the cities thereof being allotted to the Reiibenites
and to the Gadites ; the rest of Gilead (i.e. the half N. of the
Jabbok), and all Bashan, to the half -tribe of Manasseh, (even)
all the region of the Argob, — the last words being epexegetical
of "all Bashan " (cf. on v.*). — All that Bashan is called a land
of the Rephaim] i.e. the kingdom of 'Og, just mentioned, is
considered a land where Rephaim (2"- 20) once dwelt ; a notice
analogous to those in 2^^- 20. On the rendering, see below.
14-17. A supplementary notice of the territory allotted to
the half-tribe of Manasseh, Reuben, and Gad. — These verses
repeat (in part) what has been said before, in a manner which
13. HB-JDn] with the article, as Jos. i>2 412 128 137 18' 227- »• i»- "• ^'f.
The article with the name of a tribe (not its gentile adjective) is very
unusual : 'aaiNin, njn, &c. are said regularly, but not pixnn, un. nVn is
used similarly {e.g. Ex. 6^* Ps. 135-") ; but this is to be regarded as a
patronymic (for "i/'n). "Wi"^^ occurs only c. 4'*^ 29^ 2 K. lo'^ i Ch. 26'-. —
Knp' Ninn jiynn h^h] the Massorites, by placing the chief break after the
athnaJf. at Its'an, imply the rend, of RV. But Ni.nn without a preceding
subst. is unparalleled : the athnah must be placed at 3:nNn, and the zaqej
at Kinn, "all that Bashan is called," &c. (RV.w.). *? Nip: "there is called
to . . ." = ". . . is called," as regularly (Gn. z^ 2 S. 18^8 ig, i» &c. ; cf.
S wnp' v.«).
III. 12-14 55
appears to show that they are not an original part of the text
of Dt., but have been inserted by a later hand, partly (v.^*^)
for the purpose of harmonizing it with statements in the Book
of Numbers and elsewhere, partly (v.i^f) to supplement it with
fuller particulars. — 14. Jair the son of Manasseh took all the
region of Argoh unto the border of the Geshiirites and the
Ma acathites ; and called them, (even) Bashan, Hawoth-j air unto
this day] it has just been said that the Israelites under Moses
conquered the territory here specified (v.**^), and that Moses
had given it to the half-tribe of Manasseh (v. ^3). The state-
ment about Jair, therefore, to say the least, is in an unsuitable
place. It is based evidently upon Nu. 32*^ "And Jair, the
son of Manasseh, went and took their tent-villages (the tent-
villages of the Amorites in Gile'ad, named in v.^^), and called
them Havvoth-jair." Whereas, however, there, as in i K. 4^^
(where they are expressly distinguished from the 60 cities of
the Argob) — to say nothing of Jud. 10* — the " Hawoth-jair "
are stated to have been in Gile'ad, they are here localized in
Bashan. The intention of v.^* appears to have been to
harmonize v.^^ (which mentions Bashan) with Nu. '7^2^^-^^
(which is silent as to Bashan) by the assumption that the
district stated in Nu. 32^^ to have been conquered by Jair was
in Bashan. This incorrect localization of Jair's conquest in
Bashan, instead of in Gile'ad, is followed by D^ in Jos. 13^^.
That the verse represents an attempt to harmonize, appears further
from the terms in which it is expressed, "and called them, (even) Bashan,
Havvoth-jair :" the pronoun "them" has no antecedent, and is explained
very awkwardly by "Bashan" ; in Nu.32*^ "them" hasitsproperantecedent,
"their tent-villages," occurring- just before: it seems therefore that the
clause, in being transferred here, has been accommodated to its present
position by this addition ; the result being that just stated, viz. that what
14. 1D» Sy] Vy here is on the model of after; Gn. 48^ Ex. 28^1 2 S. 18"
I K. 16^. — Jcan nx] epexeg. of dhk. There are parallels for the con-
struction, though it is not genuinely idiomatic in Hebrew (as it is in
Aramaic) : e.g. Lev. 6^ Nu. 32" Jos. i-*" ('^nic' '33'? not in <&), Jud. 21'' Jer.
41^ (.t">i3 n.^ not in ffi), 48** 51*^ i Ch. 4*2 ; see also on 1 S. 21" (and p. 291 f.).
Here, however, the sg. [B'Dn after the pi. cniK renders it peculiarly harsh ;
and probably (as in some of the other instances) the explicit object (jtra.TnK)
is not original, but has been added as a gloss on the pronoun : of. the note
above.
56 DEUTERONOMY
referred properly to a conquest made by Jair in GiJe'ad, is applied
incorrectly to one made by him in Bashan. Keil harmonizes the passages
by taking "Gile'ad" in Nu. 32** i Ch. a**^ in the wider sense of the trans-
Jordanic territory generally (and so as including Bashan), and by identify-
ing the 60 strong cities of the Argob mentioned in v.*, with the 23 " cities"
of Jair, and the 37 (?) "daughters" (t.e. dependent towns) of Kenath (in
the Hauran-range), mentioned in i Ch. 2^^'*, the colonization of which by
Nobah is narrated Nu. 2i2*''^' This view saves the accuracy of one passage
at the expense of another; for not only is the wider sense of "Gile'ad"
improbable in a geographical description, but whereas Nu. 32*^ expressly
says that Kenath and its dependent towns were called by the name of
Nobah, this argument implies that they were called by the name of Jair.
In the expression "Jair, the son of Manasseh," son is used
in the sense of descetidaiit '. Jair, even if he lived in the Mosaic
age, could not be literally a " son " of Manasseh. In i Ch. 222^-
he is made the great-grandson of Manasseh's son Machir, the
" father of Gile'ad " (cf. Jos. 17I) : and it is further stated that
he had 23 cities in Gile'ad, which are apparently identified (v.23)
with the "tent-villages of Jair."
In Jud. 10'"* mention is made of Jair, a Gile'adite, one of the Judges,
whose thirty sons had thirty cities, " which are called the tent-villages of
Jair unto this day, in the land of Gile'ad." Though the notices of the
"tent-villages of Jair " are not all perfectly clear or consistent, it is evident,
in view of the amount of resemblance between them, that the same group
of villages is throughout referred to. Nor is it open to reasonable doubt
that it is one and the same Jair after whom they are named, and who was
localized by one tradition in the age of Moses, and by another (Jud. lo^'')
in the age of the Judges : had the author of Jud. 10^ intended to imply
(Keil) that the old name of Hawoth-jair was merely revived in the days
of Jair the judge, he surely would have indicated this more distinctly than
he has done.
Unto the border of the Geshurites and the Md acathites\
named also as forming the (Western) border of Bashan Jos.
125 12" (both D2). Geshur and Ma'acah were two Aramaean
tribes (Gn. 22^^; 2 S. 15^; i Ch. 19^), which continued to be ruled
by independent kings in David's time (2 S. 3^ 10^ i-^a?. 38 j comp.
Jos. 13^^) : I Ch. 2^3 Geshur and Aram are mentioned as having
taken the " tent- villages " of Jair from the Israelites. Their
territory appears to have been on the W. of Bashan, between
Gile'ad and Hermon, so that it will nearly have corresponded
to the present yi^/aw: in Fischer and Guthe's Map of Palestine
(Leipzig, i8go) Geshur is placed immediately on the E. of the
III. 15-17 57
Sea of Gennesareth, and Ma'acah to the N. of Geshur (cf. Guthe,
ZDPV. 1890, p. 233). — The tent-villages of J air\ Nu. 32*^ (cited
O" P- 55) Jos. 13^'' Jud. 10* I K. 4^3 I Ch. 223f. The precise
meaning of D'ln is uncertain. z\^ means a collection of tents
near together (Lane) ; and upon the assumption that n^in is
connected with this word, it is usually rendered tent-villages.
The term occurs only in this expression. — Unto this day] 2^2
IQS II* 293(4) 346 (also Jos. 49 59 625 ^26 828. 29 g27 ,318 j^U j -63
1610 223 239 Jud. 121-26 624 ^q* j^io i8i2 jgSO al.). The expres-
sion, as used in this and similar passages, implies a much
longer interval of time from the event recorded than a few
months (i^ comp. with Nu. 33^^). — 15. And unto Machir I gave
Gilead] Nu. 32«. The "Gile'ad" meant is the Northern half
(on v.i"). The verse must be, like v.i*, an insertion in the
original narrative: as Dillm. remarks, "the same narrator
who in V. 12-13 represents Moses as giving half- Gilead to
Reuben and Gad, and the rest of Gile'ad to half-Manasseh,
cannot immediately afterwards have said that he gave Gilead
(absolutely) to Machir, whether by Machir be meant the whole
of Manasseh (Nu. 262^), or only a part of it (Jos. 171-2)."
16-17. These verses repeat the substance of v. 12 with closer
definitions. — To the Retibenites and the Gadites Moses gave froTn
Gile'ad, i.e. from Northern Gile'ad (exclusively), even unto the
torrent of Amon, the middle of the torrent-valley (being) also a
border [i.e. the stream itself forming the dividing line), and
unto fabbok the torrent, the border of the children of 'Ammon,
i.e. to the upper part of the Jabbok, where circling round (on
2^7) it formed the W. border of the 'Ammonites, and the
'Ardbah, with the Jordan as a border, i.e. the Eastern half of
the Ghor (ii), as far as the }orda.n, from Kinndreth unto the
Sea of the 'Ardbah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah, i.e.
along its whole course, from Kinndreth, the city (Jos. ii2 1935)
which gave its name to the Sea of Kinn^reth (Nu. 34"), better
known as the Lake of Gennesareth, to the North end of the
16. Vi3:i] cf. V." Nu. 34^ Jos. 1323-27 i^i-'-^? ^ peculiar use of 1, a[)par-
ently = a/ the same time izugleich), also (Lex. lid). — Snan P3'l the same
unusual ordei jos. iz- [\r\ the same pnrase). May v.^*"'^ have been inserted
here on the basis of Jos. iz^-'? — 17. pT.-n] the 1 introduces a circ. clause
58 DEUTERONOMY
Dead Sea, where it is overlooked by Pisgah, eastward^ i.e. on
the Eastern side of the Jordan. Kinndreth (spelt sometimes
Kinaroth or Kineroth) was called by the later Jews Vewqa-ap
(i Mace. 1 1*7 a/.) or Fcn/T^o-apeT (Mt. 14^* «/.) : it lay probably
in the fertile and beautiful plain of Tcwqaap (cf. i K. 15^°), on
the NW. of the lake, described by J osephus {B.J. iii. 10. 8), now
el-Ghuwer. — The Sea of the 'Ardbah, the Salt Sea\ the Biblical
names of what is now known as the Dead Sea : for the former,
see 4*9 2 K. 1425; for the latter. Gen. 14^ Nu. 34^- ^^ jos. 152.5
18^^; the two in combination, as here, Jos. 3^^ 12^. (For a
third name, see ii^*.) The name *' Dead Sea" is not a Jewish
appellation ; it appears to have been first used by the classical
authors of 1-2 cent. a.d. (cf. DB.^ iii. 1173^). — The slopes oj
Pisgah (i^2Dsn niTJ'N')] the same expression 4*^ Jos. 12^ 1320 ;
nntrsn absolutely Jos. 10*0 128: comp. "'K'X Nu. 2\'^^. On
the rendering, see below. The term is applied specially to
the slopes of Pisgah overlooking the Dead Sea. — Pisgah (in
Heb. always with the art. niiDan ; see below), with " slopes," as
here, 4*9 Jos. 128 13201 ; the "top of Pisgah " Nu. 2120 231* Dt.
327 34^1. The name, as a geographical term, has not sur-
(Dr. § 157-9), — " the Jordan beingf at the same time a border." — n:Dsn nnctt]
there is no derivation for ntfN in Heb. ; but ^B'^« to pour out (a liquid), is
common in Aramaic ; in ST also Nri'n?'^ (i K. 7''^* 10^^) are supports (the axle-
tree of a wheel, or the stay of a throne). Upon the assumption that the
root is "iOH to pour, the word is g-enerally explained as meaning a place
where water is poured down, i.e. either a declivity or sloping side of a
mountain (Ew. Kn. Ke. Di.), or the bottom, foot of a mountain (Ges. : cf.
Ar. safh, id., from safaha, to pour). Tff (in Dt.) radices. By others the word
has been held to signify torrents ; and the reference has been supposed to
be to the 'Ayun Afusd, or " springs of Moses," a series of cascades, burst-
ing out of the limestone rock in the ravine forming the northern boundary
of Mt. Neba (Conder, //etk and Moab^ p. 131 f. ; Survey of E. Palestine,
p. 89 f. ; Wilson, DB.'- s.v.). The former explanation is preferable ; in an
enumeration like those of Jos. 10'** 1 2*, cascades, however picturesque, are
less likely to have been specified than natural features of a more general
kind. As between the two renderings of slope and foot, Dillm. remarks
that the terms of Nu. 21'^ (notice IVf^) favour the former. — naosn] the art.
shows that the appellative sense of the word was still felt. In the Aram,
of the Jerus. Targums, JDS is to cleave, and kjds is a cleft piece {e.g. Gn.
15^") : the ridge may have been called the cloven on account of the natural
features by which it was marked (ffi in 3^ Nu. 21^ 23" (<roZ) XiXaJjy/tbau,
4^* Tj)* X«|n/T»)» : elsewhere *a.irya.).
III. 18-22 59
vived ; but it is plain that it must have denoted some part of
the rang-e of hills to which Nebo (32*^) belong-ed, and which,
broken by numerous wadys, slopes down into the Southern
part of the 'Ardbah, E. and NE. of the Dead Sea (cf. on 34^).
18-22. How Moses had, at the same time, bound the 2|
trans-Jordanic tribes to assist their brethren in the conquest
of Canaan, and had also encouraged Joshua in view of the
office devolving upon him. — 18. / commanded you] "you" is
said here inexactly for "the 2^ tribes amongst you." — At that
time] v.*. — Ye shall pass over armed, ^c.] see Nu. 32I' 20b. 21.
26'- (JE), 28-32 (P); also Jos. 1 1* 4^2 (both D2).— 19. Only your
wives, &c.] Nu. 32I6. ivb.24.26 (JE); Jos. \^^<'.—Much cattle]
Nu. 32^— Which I have given you] v.i2f. . Nu. 32I6. 17. 24. 34-38. 89.
•*i-42, — 20. Until Jehovah give rest unto] the same expression,
1210 2519 Jos. ii3-i5 21*2 22* 23I (all D^).— Beyond /ordan] of
the territory W. of Jordan, the standpoint of the speaker being
maintained, as v.^^. Comp. the Introd. § 4. — 21-22. Mosps
bids Joshua take courage for the future (cf. the direction given
in 1^8) by the thought of Israel's recent successes. This en-
couragement of Joshua is not mentioned in Nu. 32. — 21. Thine
eyes are those that saw (nxhn T^^}})] cf. 4^ 1 1 7.-22. Ve shall not
fear them] cf. v. 2 : the Writer's thought passes from Joshua to
the people generally. — That Jighteth for you] i^o. — Dillm. feels
a difficulty in regard to v.21-22 on the ground that they unduly
anticipate V. 28 317.23 ; but — at least if 1^8 be allowed to belong
to the original text of Dt. — they do but exemplify how the
injunction there given might have been carried out, when a
suitable occasion arose ; and v. 28 the formal institution of
18. iiDpn D'si'7n] on the constr. of C'isiSn (an implicit accus.), see Dr.
§ 161. 2, 3; G-K. 118. 5: cf. 42793 Ex. 13I8 Is. 33'.— 19. D3ipD] for DS'jpD
(Gn. 47^® al.) : the form may be either sgf. (the ^beingf contr. from the orig.
-ai of '■'Jpo), for the usual D3^pD (cf. Is. 30^ TJpD with a sg. verb), or pi. (cf.
the pi. verb, i Ch. 5^) ; G-K. § 93. 3 R.^ The term being a collective one,
the former view is the more probable. — 20. dhde'i . . . itri'i] pfF. with 1
consec. in contin. of n'V irx ij; : Dr. § 115 {s.v. njj).— 21. mxaT yyy]
emphatic : " thine eyes have seen " (RV.) would correspond to the ordinary
rrv 1K1 (4' 7^' al.) : cf. 4^ ii^ : similarly S'* 20^ Is. 1^^ al. (Dr. § 135. 7) —
22. oaS DnSa.T Kin na'n'jN ''] "J. your God, he is the one that fighteth for
you" : cnSin with the art., as niNin v.*^. On the emph. Kin, v. Dr. § 199,
Lex. S.V.: cf. 9^ 3i''- " ; 4^ (c'n^i<~ .v" nm-) ; lo' (^n'?n; mn nin>) 18= ; 12== (xin Dtri
60 DEUTERONOMY
Joshua is enjoined, to which a renewed command for his
encouragement is not more than naturally attached.
23-29. Moses' entreaty to be permitted to enter Canaan
refused by Jehovah. He is directed to institute Joshua formally
as his successor. — This supplication of Moses is mentioned
only here. — Ai that time] i.e. immediately after the successes
against Sihon and'Og: so v. ^s. 21. — 24_ Q Lord Jehovah (*31K
niiT)] 9^6; not very common in the historical books (Gn. is^-'
Jos. r^Jud. 622 i628 2 S. 7I8. 19. 19. 20. 28. 2» , K. 226 853); mOrC
frequent in the prophets, especially Amos and Ezekiel. — Thou
(emph.) hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, (Sr'c] the
ground of Moses' petition : he has been permitted to see the
beginning of Jehovah's mighty acts on behalf of His people ;
may he not also, in view of Jehovah's power, be allowed to
witness their continuation? — Begun] 224-25.31^ — Thy greatness
(l5'"'3)] 521 926 I i^.—And thy mighty ha7id] 621 78 926 3412, cf. Jos.
424 (02) ; comp. in JE Ex. 319 6^ 138 32I1 Nu. 2020 (of Edom) :
see also on 4H — What god is there, &€.] Ex. 15^^ (the Song).
— 25. The good land] i^s. — Beyond Jordan] v. 20. — This goodly
tnountain] rather hill-country, the reference being generally to
the elevated land, of which the territory W. of Jordan largely
consists (i'^- 20), — 26. But Jehovah was enraged with me for your
sakes (D33yD^)] see on i^^ (03^^:2); and cf. 421 (aanan bv)- —
Was enraged (")3yn''"l)] the word is an uncommon one, and
stronger even than the fj^xrin of 1^7 421, expressing properly, it
seems, the idea oi going beyond due bounds : Ps. 7821- ^9. 62 gg39
Pr. 14^^ (see Delitzsch) 202 26^71. Cf. the cognate subst.
r\'y^V, used often of God (Hos. 5W Is. gis^^^) &c.).— 27. Moses
may only view the Promised Land from afar. This permission
is not mentioned in JE. To judge, however, from the notice
in 34^- * (JE) of Moses having acted in accordance with it, it
may well have been contained in the original narrative of JE,
before this was curtailed in parts in the process of combination
rsirt).— IJnirixj] G-K. § 29. 4 (Dr. § io3),and § 54. 3 R.' — 21. -wk\= since
{Lex. icN, 8c). — irni33] defect, for ?i'rni33: cf. sj^it^ (Ex. 33^ Jos. i"),
^hn'H (Jud. 19*). — 26. inyn-i] SchrSder and Di. conjecture that the un-
common word may have been sugfgested to the writer by his use of m^VN
v.^*. — iS 3i] on i^ — ip"i9-^n] miVel, on account of Sn : cl. 2^ nsip-'jN, Ex.
23I 2 S. 171^ (Dr. § 70)!— I3n3] 3 = about (6^ ii^» i S. 19^) : Lex. il^ 4c.
III. 23-29 61
with P. — Go up unto the top 0/ Pisgah] on 34*. — Lift up thine
eyes, (Sr'c] cf. Gen. 131^ {}'^).—This Jordun\ 312 Jos. jZ-n 4"
Gn. 32^^. — 28. But command iy4) Joshua] i.e. commission him,
appoint him to his office: n^V, as Is. 10^; i S. 13^* 25^'' (RV.
"appoint"). The formal execution of the present direction is
not narrated in Dt. (unless 31^'^-, where Moses "encourages"
Joshua, be intended as such) : in 311*- ^3 (which belongs, more-
over, to JE) it is Jehovah, not Moses, who "appoints " him to
his office. — Encourage him (i^^), and strengthen him] cf. 31^
" Be courageous and strong" (addressed by Moses to Joshua) ;
also 3123 Jos. 16. 7. 9. 18 io26 (all D^).— Cause to inherit] cf. (of
Joshua) 1^8 31^ Jos. i^; also c. 12^0 19^ 21^^ 32^ (the Song).
In P, Nu. 27'*-^* is parallel to v.^ here, and Nu. 27""^^ to v.^. The two
narratives are, however, in the case of each incident, very differently con-
ceived ; and it is manifest that the one in Dt. is written without reference
to that of Nu., the only word of any note common to both being
"command" (v.** Nu. 271s- -^). P also— at least if Dt. 318.21. 23. 29 ^e
interpreted, in what seems to be their intended sense, as describing a
series of events in chronological sequence — assigns both incidents to a
different occasion, placing them, viz. before Nu. 32 (which corresponds to
v.12-20 here), instead of after it. It is true, in view of the somewhat vague
expression at that time in v.^, v.23-2« might (in spite of the tense prwxi ; see
phil. n. on i®) be referred not unreasonably to an occasion a month or two
3arlier (i^ comp. with Nu. 20^^'^ 33**) than v.i*"^^ gut considering the
relation which prevails in other cases between the narrative of P and those
of Dt. and JE, a difference both in representation and occasion is not
improbable. Comp. on 31".
29. And we abode in the ravine in front of (710) Beth-Peor]
the verse closes the retrospect which began with i**, and
specifies, more closely than had been done in i*, the spot which
the Israelites had now reached, and at which the discourses of
Dt. were delivered (cf. 4^6). On "ravine" (k;?), see S. & P.
App. § 2. The "ravine" intended can hardly be the broad
Jordan-valley (p. 3) : it must rather have been one of the glens
or defiles of the *Abarim-range (32*^). Exactly the same terms
are used in 34^ to describe the locality of Moses' grave. —
Beth-Peor] 4^ 34^ Jos. 1320, cf. Nu. 2328.
The site is uncertain. Euseb. {Onom. p. 233) states that Bii^aytf [on
y=i), see below] was near mount *»yof, opposite to Jericho, 6 miles above
28. Kin '3] Lex. Kin la (Jud. 14' &c.).— 29. 11V2] (5 *tyf: cf. TthtittK,
rajd, Tat ( ='yn), rai/3«x ( =S3'V), &c. (see on i S. 16=^).
62 DEUTERONOMY
Livias ( = TelI-el-Rameh : Survey of East. Pal. p. 238) ; and mount *'>yvt
iOnom. p. 213) is placed opposite to Jericho, on the road leading up iVom
Livias to Heshbon. If these statements are correct, Pe'or will have been
one of the summits of the 'Abarim range, very near to the Wady Hesban.
Conder {PEFSt. 1882, p. 85 f.; cf. Heth and Moab,^ p. 146 f.) suggests a
site further to the south, viz. the crest of a hill above 'Ain-el-Minyeh, 8 miles
SW. of Nebo, commanding an extensive view of the lower valley of the
Jordan (cf Nu. 23** 24^ 25'). But Jos. 13'^", and Nu. 23-^ compared with
v.^*, both favour a site nearer Pisgah ; and Nu. 25^"^ makes it probable
that Pe'or was more readily accessible from the plain of Sliittim (the Gh6r
es-Seiseban) than ■Ain-el-Minyeh would be. Cf. on 34'.
(2.) IV. 1-40. Second part of Moses' first discourse. —
Exhortation to Israel, as the condition of its prosperity and
national greatness, not to forget the great truths impressed
upon it at Horeb, especially the spirituality of Jehovah, and
His sole and exclusive Godhead.
1-8. Exhortation to Israel to observe diligently the law
now about to be set before it, as the condition of its greatness
and wisdom in the eyes of the world. — 1. And now] intro-
ducing the practical conclusion which the Writer desires to be
drawn from the preceding retrospect : Israel, having been
brought by Jehovah through the wilderness to the borders of
the Promised Land (i^-s^^), must now, on its part, respond to
the duties laid upon it, if success and happiness are to attend
it in its future home. — Statutes and judgments] the same com-
bination (occasionally with testimonies or commandments pre-
fixed), V,6- 8. 14. 45 5I. 28 (31) 51. 20 7II j i32 j 3! 26^6. 17 (also, with nipH
for D^pn, 8^^ 11^ 30^^), as well as sometimes in other books,
especially those dependent on Dt., as i K. 8^^ 9* 2 K. ly^'^,
and (with nipn for D"'pn) i K. 2^ ii^^. It is found also (with
nipn) in H and Ez., but usually otherwise construed: Lev,
l84. 6. 26 ig37 2o22 2^^ 2615- 43 Ez. ^6. 7 , i20 jga &c.
The idea in pn is properly that of a statute, fixed by being engraven
(ppn : Ez. 23" Is. 49^^ Job 19-^ ; Is. 10'), or inscribed, on some durable
surface ; the idea in bdi^d is i\\a.ioi a. judicial decision, made authoritatively
once, and constituting a rule, or precedent, applicable to other similar
cases in the future (cf. Ex. 21' ; Baentsch, Das Bundesbuch, 1892, pp. 29-
34). "Judgments" being thus a term denoting primarily the provisions
of the civil and criminal law, "statutes" may be taken to refer more par-
ticularly to positive institutions or enactments, whether moral, cerenioni— .,
or civil for instance, 7'"*; c. 12 ; c. 14 : c 16; c. 17; &c.).
IV. 1-3 63
/sraet\ as a vocative ; comp. on 5^. — Teach i^V^^)] lit. am
teaching, viz. in the present series of discourses. For the
term, cf. v."- lo- 1* 528(31)61 \i^'^.— That ye may live, &'c.\ life,
coupled with the secure possession of the Promised Land, is
constantly held out in Dt. as the reward for obedience to God's
commandments: cf. s^o 62^ 3o«- i^-ia 2,^^'^^ esp. 81 1620 ; also 4^"
52 ii2i 25I6 3247b. — Which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, is
giving you] on i^^- 20. — 2. Ye shall not add imto the word which
I am commanding you, neither shall ye diminish from it] so 13^
(12^2): cf. Jer. 26^ Prov. 30^ Rev. 22i8f-. The faithful observ-
ance of a body of precepts implies, on the one hand, that
nothing is added to it, such as might for instance possess
inferior authority, or have the effect of weakening or neutral-
izing any of the provisions contained in it ; and, on the other,
that nothing is taken from it for the purpose of accommodating
it to the wilfulness, or infirmity, of human nature. — Am com-
manding] so v.^o 6" 7II 811 jqIs and often. — 3-4. In proof of the
assertion that obedience brings with it life, the Writer appeals
to Israel's recent experience at Ba'al-Pe'or.— 3. I'oi/r eyes are
those that saw] 321. — In Bdal-Pe'or] Nu. 251-5 (JE). On the
rendering see below ; and cf. Hos. 91". — That went after Ba'al
of Peor] named besides Nu. 253-5 (hence Ps. 1062^); cf. Nu.
25I* 3ii«5 Jos. 22I7 (all P). As there was a mountain named
Pe'or (Nu. 2328), and a locality Beth-Pe'or (on 329), Baal of
Pe'or was no doubt the Ba'al worshipped on Pe'or with
local rites.
Ba'als with local or other special attributes (cf. the pi. "theBa'als," i S. 7^
Hos. 2!') are often mentioned, both on Phoenician inscriptions (Ba'al of
Zidon, Ba'al of Lebanon, Ba'al of Tarsus, Ba'al of heaven, jsn S)}Z the solar
Ba'al, &c. : vid. on i S. 7^ ; W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. i. 93) and in the OT.
(as Ba'al-zebub= Ba'al of flies, n"i3 Syn Jud. 8^ 9^), sometimes even forming
names of places (as Ba*al-Gad= Ba'al of fortune, Ba'al-Zephon, Ba'al-Me'on,
Ba'al-Tamar). Ba'al of Pe'or appears to have been a deity worshipped by
the Moabites (cf. Nu. 25'-^) : but of the special attributes belonging to him,
lY. 1. DnK3i . . . vnn [vc'?] Dr. § 115(5.7;. jvcV) ; G-K. § 112. 3r, a.— onp-i'i]
G-K. § 44. 2 R.*— 3. iij;3 '?y33] "m" rather than "because o/B." (the cases
Lex. 3 HI. 5 being hardly parallel): "did because of" would have been
rather 'i^o he'V (Jer. 7^^ <f al.). Hos. 9'* the syntax shows that niVB Vya
(after a verb of motion) must be likewise tiie name ol a locality. — vvn ^3J
a casus pendens : cf. on 2^, and G-K. § 1 16. 5 R.', Dr. § 121 n.
64 DEUTERONOMY
or the natui e of the rites observed in his honour, nothinjj is really known
It is possible that he was a god of fruitfulness and fertihty, thoiigfh the
terms of Nu. 25^'^ are hardly such as to authorize the definite conclu-
sion that the whoredom with the daughters of Moab was connected with
his rites (v.^ "For," RV., should be simply "And"). The Christian
Fathers and Jewish Rabbis have both much to say respecting the repuls-
ive character of his worship (see the passages collected by Selden, De Dis
Syriis, i. 5) ; their statements, however, do not appear to rest upon independ-
ent tradition, but are based upon questionable etymologies of the name
Pe'or, or uncertain inferences either from the text of Nu. 25^*^* or from ffi'g
rendering iTixiffir) for nos: Nu. 25^. The idea that Ba'al of Pe'or was the
Priapus of Moab is thus very insufficiently established (so Selden). The
derivation of "iiys is unknown : in Hebrew, lys means to open wide (of the
mouth, Is. 5'* Job 16'" 2()^ Ps. 119'^^t) ; N"!];? in Syriac is a hollow or cavern
of the earth (Heb. w'^^'o-rai); and the place iij'3 may have received its
name from some circumstance connected with its position or geographical
character (note iivsn CKn, with the art., Nu. 23'-^). See further Kautzsch
und Socin, Die Aechtheit der Moab. Alterthiinier gepriifl (1876), pp. 71-75 ;
Baethgen, Sent. Rel.-gesch, p. 14 f. ; Dillm. on Nu. 25^.
4. But ye that did cleave^ &c.\ the duty of " cleaving- " to
God, in loyal and close devotion, is elsewhere insisted on in
Dt. : io20 ii22 135(4)3020; hence in D2Jos. 22^ 238 : cf. 2 K. iS^
(of devotion to idolatry, ib. 3^). — 5-6. The statutes which
Moses has taug-ht the people have God as their author : hence,
if they are followed obediently, the heathen themselves will be
constrained to confess that Israel is a nation of singular insig-ht
and wisdom. — 5. See (^?*"!)] i®. — / have taught you, &c.\ the
systematic "exposition" (i^) of the body of law contained in
Dt. was not the beginning- of Moses' legislative work ; already
at Horeb he had received "statutes and judgments," which,
during the years that had since elapsed, he had, as occasion
arose, impressed upon his people (cf. v.^*, and on 529(32)j_ —
Whither ye are going i?i to possess it] 7^ nio. 29 2321(20) 2821-63
30I6, cf. 1229.— 6. Observe and do] 712 1612 2324(23) 248 26^6 2812,
cf. 298(9) Jos. 23^ (D") ; the more usual expression in Dt. is
" observe to do " ; see Intr. § 5. — For that is yottr wisdom,, dr'c]
obedience to such laws will be public evidence of your wisdom
in the eyes of the world. — IVhich shall heat of all these stattites,
and say, Surely this great nation is a ivise and utiderstanding
people!] the sight of Israel's national greatness will attract the
attention of heathen nations, and combined with a knowledge
of the laws to which it is due, will evoke their admiration of
I
IV. 4-9 65
the wisdom which has secured Israel's cheerful obedience to
them. — 7-8. Israel's wisdom in obeying its laws, and at the
same time the admiration of the nations, are further justified
by two additional considerations: (i) no other great nation
has so nearly risen to the religious ideal of humanity, no other
nation has the consciousness which Israel enjoys, of having its
God ever nigh at hand, and ready to succour it ; (2) no other
great nation possesses a body of law in itself so righteous, i.e.
so conformable to the requirements of justice and right, and
consequently so adapted to command the admiration of man-
kind at large, as Israel has. — 7. TJiat hath gods (or God) so nigh
unto itt &c.\ the Heb. is ambiguous: but the rendering ^oaJs
appears to be the most probable : comp. below. — Nigh unto
it] cf. Ps. 34^9 I45^®- — 8. All this law] on i^. — Set before you
(D3^:D7 inj)] i.e. offer for your acceptance or choice; so ii26. 32
2oi-i6-i9: in a different sense from i^. — 8. To-day] of the day
on which the Deut. legislation is expounded : so v.^o 5^ 6^ 7^'
81-11 „8^ and often.
9-24. The primary and fundamental principle of the entire
law, viz. the spirituality of Jehovah and His transcendence
above all created objects ; and the correlative duty of resisting
steadily every temptation to idolatry. — 9-12. The spirituality
of Jehovah. — 9. Only] the restrictive particle introduces with
emphasis the particular precept of the law on which the legis-
lator desires to lay especial stress. — Take heed to thyself]
(^P"~ipB'n)] a favourite Deuteronomic expression, v.^^ 61^ S^
I1I6 12I3. 19. 30 1^9 (cf. 248); comp. 1N!p Dn-lOCbl 2^ 41^ JoS. 23"
(D2). So in JE, in a similar connexion, Ex. 3412 (also, though
7. d'^ip] cn^N, construed with a plur. adj. (or verb) may (i) be a true
numerical plural, sig^nifying' gods (6^* and often) ; or (2) may (chiefly in
the mouth of, or in conversation with, heathen) be a vague designation
->i supernatural beings — whether the true God be meant by the speaker or
not (as Gen. 201^ Ex. 32^ {v. DiUm.] i S. 48 i K. ig" ; Ew. § 318* ; G-K. § 145.
3 R.) ; or (3) may denote Jehovah, the pi. being a "plural of majesty"
(G-K. § 124. I" R.), as 5^ (2 and 3 are both rare). There is nothing to
suggest the use of the plur. of majesty here ; hence (the reference being to
heathen nations) gods is probably the correct rendering (though, naturally,
the proximity to a nation of a deity other than Jehovah would, in the eyes
of the Writer, have had no significance, or indeed reality). — i:Knp Vaa] ^3
with the inf. is rare : i K. 8" (Deut.) t'?«< dki? ^^^ \ Gen. 30*^ i Ch. 23".
S
66 DEUTERONOMY
less characteristically, Gn. 24^ 3124.29 Ex. lo^s 19^^). — Keep thy
sout\ pathetically for keep thyself, with the implication of
avoiding some personal danger or misfortune : cf. Pr. 13^ iG^^
19I6 where the ^ti'Qp "lOB', << he that keepeth his soul," is opposed
to one who incurs ruin or even death. — Which thine eyes sa'w\
the same emphatic expression 7^^ lo^i 292. — Depart from thy
heart\ i.e. vanish from thy mind and memory. The heart, in
Hebrew psychology, is the seat of intelligence (on v.^^) ; here,
in particular, of intelligent memory. — All the days of thy life]
6^ 16^ 17^®. — And make them, known unto thy children, &c.\ cf.
67.20f. 11193113 32*6 ; also Ex. i226f. 138. 14 Jqs. 42"-.— 10. The day
that thou stoodest, &€.] in loose apposition to the things, v.^:
the memory of that eventful occasion is to be kept alive
through successive generations. — That they may learn to fear
me] comp. Ex. 19^ 2020 (JE) : for the phrase, cf. 142^* 17I8 31^8^
— All the days, &fc.] 12^ 31^^. — And that they may teach their
children] viz. to fear me likewise. — 11. And ye came near, &€.]
Ex. 19^'^''. — And the mountain burned with fire, Gt'c] Ex. 19^^
2oi8.2ib (E). cf. 24i6f- (P)._12. And Jehovah spake] Ex. 1919
2oM9; also Dt. 5**^-. — Out of the midst of the fire] the same
fact is emphasized, in the same words, v.^^. 33. 36 ^4. 21. 23 gio
10*. — Ve saw 7to form, save (that there was) a voice] the stress
lies on the fact that, though God revealed Himself by the
sound of words, no form, no material, or even quasi-material,
figure was seen : there was nothing to suggest a material
presence of the Almighty, njion (see below) is form, semblance,
shape, even one of the most impalpable kind. Men of spiritual
mind, who are under no temptation to conceive, or represent,
10. iB'N Dv] on i^*. — jncS' -wh] see on v.**. — pio'?' D.T:n hki] the change of
order introduces variety, and forms a more forcible termination to the
sentence than the plain d.tj3 nn njp^]: cf. Lev. 25^^'' 26'*". — 11. D'or.T nV nv]
zh heart, fig. for centre, midst: Ex. 15* Ez. 27-'' 2 S. 18^*. — Ssnv pv 'pn\
" (With) darkness, cloud," &c. Implicit accusatives, defining the manner,
or attendant circumstances, of the mountain's burning : cf. Ew. § 300"', Ges.
§ 118. 5«. — 12. D'KT D3:'« . . . D'por Dnx] the participles represent the scene
as continuing-, and depict it more graphically and vividly than the mere
perfects would have done (Dr. § 135. i). — njinn] form, semblance, iR«,
species (the root is preserved apparently in the Arab, mdna, mentitus fuit,
Eth. mena, dolo uti, prop, falsam speciem pras se ferre) ; as here, v.";
Job 4^* of a nocturnal apparition, whose presence could be felt, but whose
IV. IO-I3 67
the Deity as material, may enjoy (Nu. 12''), or hope to enjoj
(Ps. i7^'*), the privilege of beholding Jehovah's "form": but
no "form" was seen by the Israelites at Horeb ; there was
nothing, therefore, as is drawn out more fully v.^^"-, to justify
them in constructing a material representation of the Godhead.
13-14. A brief notice of the commands then laid upon
the people by Jehovah. These verses, speaking strictly, are
of the nature of a digression : for the subject of this part of
the chapter is not the substance^ but the niodcy of the revelation
at Horeb. — 13. His covenatit] the most formal and, so to say,
official expression of the gracious relation subsisting between
Jehovah and His people Israel.
The term is borrowed from the popular language. The maintenance
of friendly relations between nations, or individuals, is guaranteed by the
establishment of a solemn compact, or agreement between them, called
technically a covenant (Gn. 21"^ i S. i8^'* 20* i K. 20^). The conclusion
of a covenant, at least on important occasions, was accompanied by
religious ceremonies : a sacrificial feast was held (Gn. 26'^*' ^*' ^i'*^-^*) ; and
a calf or other animal having been slain, and its divided parts placed
opposite to each other, the contracting parties passed between them,
invoking upon themselves, in case either should violate the terms of the
agreement, a fate similar to that of the slaughtered victim (Gn, i^^-'i-i''.
Jer. 34^*'* : cf. //. iii. 298) : hence the idiom, common to Hebrew with the
classical languages, to cut or strike a covenant (nna mD ; opKia tj^vwv ; icere
faedus). The terms, or conditions, on the basis of which the covenant is
concluded, consist naturally of mutual promises and obligations : these
are called in Ex. 24* 34^'- " the words of the covenant," the document
reciting them being "the book of the covenant," Ex. 24''. The theocratic
appHcation of the term is found first in JE (Ex. 19** 24'-*; cf. 34^*'''"),
where the thought is expressed that if Israel, on its part, observes the
conditions laid down in the terms of the covenant, Jehovah, on His part,
will bestow certain specified blessings (Ex. ig^**'* ; 23-''"^) upon it. This
theological sense is rare in early writers (Hos. (P 8^ : never in Amos or
contour could not be distinctly descried (inxTD TDK nSi) ; Nu. 12* (m.T wiDm
B'D"), of the intangible, yet quasi-sensual manifestation of the Godhead
vouchsafed to Moses, as contrasted with the less distinct manifestation by
the vision, or the dream (v.*), which might need interpretation (cf. nn'na nV
V.*), granted to other prophets ; Ps. 17" (-n:iDn i"pnD r\^ivvC) of the
immaterial, yet real and objectively perceptible, presence of Jehovah, to
which the Psalmist aspires to be admitted (|| I'la mnK). In Dt. ^i^-^^'-^o ^8
(= Ex. 20'*) 'n denotes that in which the copy of an object resembles the
original, i.e. Its shape, Jig^i re \. — 12. "nVit] 1 K. 3I8 ; -v. Lcx.—iZ. DMax mm'?]
the same double plural s>» (f- '"• " lo'- » (= Ex 34'- ■^) i K. S'-* Ex. 34'"' : v.
G-K. § 124. 2b.
68 DEUTERONOMY
Isaiah); but it is prominent in Dt. and writers influenced by it (D* in
Jos. ; compilers of Judges and Kingfs ; Jeremiah) ; r* occurs also not
unfrequently in later prophets (e.^. Ezek. and II Isaiah) ; and it is used
characteristically in several special applications by P. In references to
the covenant, the stress may naturally lie, according to the context and
the purpose of the writer, either on the Divine promise, or the human
obligation, of which it is the guarantee. In JE Jehovah concludes a
solemn covenant with Abraham (Gn. 15^*), promising his descendants the
possession of Canaan. The covenant most frequently referred to in the
OT. is, however, that concluded with Israel at Sinai (Ex. 24''" * 34^"" ").
The terms of this covenant, in so far as they are obligatory upon Israel, are
embodied most succinctly in the Decalogue, which is accordingly in the
present passage (and perhaps already in Ex. 34^) identified with it ; the
stones on which the Decalogue was engraved are "the tables of the
covenant" (Dt. gS-"-!" i K. 8' ffi) ; and the ark which contained them is
"the ark of Jehovah's covenant," lo** (see note), cf. i K. 8^'^ (Deut.).
The other references in Dt. to the covenant of Horeb are : (as imposing
obligations upon Israel) 4^ ^^-^ (followed by the Decalogue) 17^ ag^*"
2|i6. 20^ cf. 33'; (as involving on Jehovah's part the observance of His
promise) 7' ; in 4*^ 7^* 8^* the covenant with Abraham (Gn. 15^*), extended,
on the basis of Gn. 22^®'- 26^'- &c., to the other patriarchs, is appealed to
as a guarantee of God's faithfulness. In 29^*- '• ^^- ^*- ^^ the legislation of
Dt. is made the basis of a covenant, entered into by Jehovah with Israel
in the land of Moab, a renewal, as it were, of that concluded at ^oreb.
The particular duty on which the observance or neglect of the covenant is
in Dt. principally made to turn, is (in accordance with what is a primary
aim of the book) loyalty to Jehovah, as opposed to all false gods (notice
the context of the passages cited). Later prophets and historical writers
(esp. those influenced by Dt.) often recall Israel to the duty of observing
the covenant, and declare the consequences of neglecting it ; as Jos. 71'' i'
23"' Jud- 2*0 I K. 11" igi"-'" 2 K. 1715.35.88 1812 232- 3-^1 (the basis of Josiah's
reformation), Jer. ii-'^" 22* 3132b -j^isf. (see Dt. 15''^) ; as a motive of God's
favour or clemency, i K. 8-'' 2 K. ly^ Jer. 14". And in pictures of the
ideal, or Messianic, future, the establishment of a new covenant between
Jehovah and His people is promised, Jer. ^i^^'^ 32*" 50' Ez. i6***** 342* 372*
Is. 54^" 55' 59*" 61* (cf. 42* 49®). In the Priests' Code, the idea of the
covenant is extended, and it is applied to many particular institutions of
the theocracy ; but a further discussion of this subject would be out of
place here, and it must suffice to refer to Schultz, OT. Theology, p. 401 ff'.
(E.T. ii. I ff".) ; and J. J. P. Valeton's elaborate study on the usage of nnn
in diff'erent parts of the OT., ZATW. 1892, pp. i IF,, 224 ff., 1893, p. 245 ff.
(Even) the ten words] i.e. the " Decalogue" (Ex. 20^"^). So
lo*, and (perhaps) Ex. 34^^**. — Upon two tables 0/ stone] Ex. 24^*
2ji8b. (,f^ Y^^ gio jo4. — 14. And me (emph.) did Jehovah com-
mand, ^c] Moses was commissioned further at the same time
14. "HNi] and me (emph.), opp. to you, v.". Cf. for the position DoriK'
v.*" (opp. to the nations, v."), 6^ Lev. 1 1^^ (opp. to wma ttk "ya), 26^3 Ez.
IV. 14-17 69
to instruct the people in the laws which were to regfulate their
life in Canaan: cf. v.* i^^ ^28(31)^ 'j'j^g reference, it seems, is
partly to the body of law comprised in the "Book of the
Covenant," Ex. 2022-2388 (cf. Ex, 24'- "^^ 8), partly (above, v.^)
to the laws constituting the code of Dt. — Whither ye are going
over to possess it] 6^ 1 1^- 11 : cf. on v.^^.
15-19. Let Israel, then, take to heart the lesson of
Horeb, and resist strenuously the temptation to worship any
material or created object, in particular either (a) any repre-
sentation of the human or animal form, or (b) the host of
heaven. — 15. Take good heed, then, to yourselves {la^ DmoCJi
DD*n!i'D:^)] so Jos. 23^^ (D2) : comp. on v.^. — For ye saw no
manner of for7n, <5r'c.] resumption of v. 12 (after the digression
of v.i8-i4j^ as the foundation of the following exhortation.—
16. Lest ye deal corruptly (ponu'ri)] v.25 3129; cf. nriK' 9I2 (from
Ex. 32'^). — A graven image, (even) a form of- — i.e. constituted
by — any statue ('?^?)] ^^D Ez. S^- 5 2 Ch. 33^! : in Phoenician
(see below) = dvSptas, statue. — The likeness (O^Jiri) of m.ale or
female] with allusion to male and female deities. n'33n model
or likeness (lit. construction, from nja to build), as Ps. 10620, and
esp. Ez. 8^0. — 17-18. The likeness of any beast that is in the
earth, &c.] the prohibition is worded as generally as possible :
no representation of beast, bird, reptile, or fish is to be made
for purposes of worship (comp. Ez. 8^").
,2i3b 23I0 nniNi(opp. to .Tni:3i noa) ; cf. on i^. — 15. Dmop:!] the pf. with the
waw consec. with the force of an imper., "take heed, then," "so take
heed" (Dr. § iigS), as often in this book, e.g. 7* 8* lo'^-i^ 11* 30^'. — tz^] a
rel. clause, with ib-n unexpressed, after DV3 (in the st. c); so Ex. 6^ Lev.
73* Nu. 3' 2 S. 22I ( = Ps. 18^), cf. Hos. js (. . . nn n^np) ; G-K. § 130. 4.
The supposition (Konig, i. 191, 212, 309) that Tg^ &c. are anomalous fornix
of the inf. c, is not necessary or probable, in view of passages such as Ps.
90^^ 138^ Job 29^, where this explanation is evidently not admissible. At
the same time, as DV3 is construed far more frequently with an inf. (Gn. 2'*
5^ Lev. 7I8. 36. 38 &c.), it is very possible that the Mass. punctuation is not
correct, and that the original pronunciation was 13^, ^'TpO, '?'¥'!'• Comp.
on 3^ 72^.-16. cn-ryi pn-ncn |b] so v.i^ 8i=-" 158 &c. (Dr. § 1 15, s.v. ]S ; G-K.
§ 112. 3c«).— 'Ji '?DS] cf. on 5*.— Vdd] in Phcen. cf. CIS. I. i. 41^ 88" » 9i>
'no -\hD jn'oSo [n* vk ik Sdd this statue, which Milkyathon, king of Kiti
(Kition, in Cyprus), gave, 93'' Sn.i ahozTi these statues (cSa^n) ; and rhoz
(fern.) ii2.— 17. 133 ni£3s] "fowl of wing" : so Gn. 7I* (P) Ps. 148"': cf. '^i)
H33 "73 niss Ez. 17*^ 39*" "• — Ti'"] t^® impf. as 2*.
JO DEUTEROXOMY
On the worship of animals, comp. Ez. S^*"* ; W. R. Smith, " Animal
Worship and Animal Tribes among' the Arabs and in the OT. " in the
Journcd of Philology, ix. (1880), p. 75 ff-, and Kinship and Marriage in
Early Arabia (1885), chap. vii. (on Totemism, and tribes named from
animals), with the criticisms of Noldeke, ZDMG. 1886, pp. 157-169, and
Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidentumes, p. I76f. ; the same writer's
Religion of the Semites, i. pp. 160, 270-293; J. G. Frazer, Totemism (1887).
18. Of anything thai crcepeth in the groicnd\ i.e. reptiles,
quadrupeds being denoted by nonn (cf. Gn. 6^ 8^^ i K. c^^).
So Gn. 1 30 T^'^r\ bv cph b, i26 ^^.—That is in the imter under
the earth\ so Ex. 20^ ( = Dt. 5^). The subterranean waters, on
which the land was supposed to rest, the source of springs
and rivers, are intended : Gn. 7^^ Ez. 31* Ps. 24^ 136^. — 19. The
sun and the moon and the stars, (even) all the host of heaven\ cf.
178. Next to image-worship, the veneration of the host of
heaven is mentioned as that form of idolatry into which the
Israelite of the Writer's day might most readily fall. It is
alluded to frequently in the period of the later kings : 2 K. 17^^
2i3.5 234-5.12 Zeph. I* Jer. 82 19I8 ; 7I84417; Ez. S^e. "The
seductive character of this worship, the influence exerted upon
the ancient mind by the beauty of the heavenly bodies, by
their wonderful but inexplicable movements, and by their
varied effects upon the world, is picturesquely indicated by the
phrase employed by the Writer, ' Lest thou lift up thine eyes to
heaven^ and see the sun, &c., and be drawn away, and worship
them ': cf. Job 3126^- " (Dillm.). — Drawn away CT^?)] so 30^^ ; and
(actively) 136- n- 1* (5.10.13) 2 K. 1721 Qre 2 Ch. 2iii.— ^ow down
{worship) and serve] 5^ ( = Ex. 20*) 30^'' ; (in inverted order) 8^^ 1 1 1*"'
178 2925. — Which fehovah thy God hath allotted to all the peoples]
viz. to be worshipped by them; cf. 292^(26) «< other gods. . . .
vj\\ovs\ He had not allotted to them (the Israelites)." So Just.
Mart. c. Tryph. §§ 55, 121; Clem. Al. Sfro?7i. vi. 14, iiof. ;
Schultz, Keil, Dillm. &c. The God of Israel is supreme : He
assigns to every nation its objects of worship ; and the venera-
tion of the heavenly bodies by the nations (other than Israel)
forms part of His providential order of the world. Natural
religion, though it may become depraved (Rom. i2i^), is a
witness to some of the deepest needs and instincts of humanity :
in default of a purer and higher faith, the yearnings of mankind
IV. i8-23 71
after a power higher than themselves find legitimate satis-
faction in it. Clem. Al. {I.e.) even views the worship of the
heavenly bodies as granted to the nations Iva fj-rj reXeov aOtoi
yerojuevoi TcXecus *cai 8ia(f>6apCj(riv \ and as the appointed means of
enabling them to rise ultimately to something better (080? yap
aZri] SoOeia-a rot? eOvecriv avaKvij/ai irpo^ Oeov). The explanation
(U; Rashi, al. ; cf. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 444), according to
which the heavenly bodies were "allotted" to the nations, to
minister to their needs and comforts, is inconsistent with the
context, besides being inapplicable to the parallel passage
2g25(26)^ — Under the whole )ieaven\ 2"^^. — 20. But yon (emph.)
hath Jehovah taken^ &'c.\ Israel, however, unlike the heathen
nations, has no share in such deities : it has been chosen by
Jehovah as His peculiar possession ; and it is accordingly
bound to render Him exclusive service. — Iron-fumace\ i.e.
furnace for smelting iron, fig. of a severe and searching ordeal
(cf. V^ ""^^ furnace of affliction. Is. 48^°) : of Egypt, as here,
I K. 8^1 (Deut.) Jer. ii^f. — A people of inheritance] cf. "to be
a people of special possession," 7^ 142, where, as here, the
special relation subsisting between Israel and Jehovah is made
a ground for Israel's discarding all heathen rites and practices,
and reserving its exclusive allegiance for Jehovah. — As at this
day] 2^^. — 21. But Jehovah was angered with me, (Stt.] i^"^ [g-v.)
326. Moses himself, however, had incurred Jehovah's dis-
pleasure, and had been forbidden in consequence to enter the
Promised Land, so that he could not participate fully in the
privileges of the npra DJ?: let Israel, then, take heed, lest by
lapsing into idolatry they kindle God's wrath against them,
and move Him to withdraw His favour. — The good land] i^^.
— Which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee as an inheritance]
i5< 1910 20I6 2i23 24* 25^9 261.— 23. The exhortation of v.^^^- is
reiterated, after the fresh considerations advanced in v.20-22.
21. Na 'nSaSi] perh. (in view of nny just before) 'Ki should be restored ;
yet cf. 17^. Other isolated cases occur of the omission of a sufF. with
the inf., where it might be expected, not only where the subj. is indef.
(as I S. ii2), but also besides, as Gn. \<f^^ 24^0 252" Ex. is'^"" Jos. 8i» i K.
20^2 Jer. 722 Kt. 2710 (contrast 1*) 4i^-«*' i Ch. 2i»5.— 22. no «33n] idiom., as
Gn. 48"' 5o"*-'-^, nn« no Is. 38*. The ptcp., as 2* &c., of the imminent future
(G-K. § 116. 5c; Dr. § 135. 3) : so laij? 'ira (cf. Ex. 5" ; Gn. 20^ 43^).
72 DEUTERONOMY
— A graven image, (even) the form of anything -which Jehovah
thy God hath commanded thee (not to make)] cf. v.^^'^s^ nj^
commanded, in a negative sense, as 2^^. — 24. An emphatic
declaration of the ultimate ground of the preceding warnings :
Jehovah is a devoitritig fire, consuming and destroying those
who set themselves to dishonour Him or thwart His will (g^ ;
cf. Is. 296 20^'^-^°; also Ex. 24!'') ; He is \\\i&\i\s% a jealous God,
who will not endure that the honour which is His due should
be rendered to a false god (cf. 32-^ Is. 42^), and who visits
those who slight Him with the fire of His vengeance (cf. Zeph.
lis 38 Ez. 365 Ps. 795).— yi jealous God {^l\> ^^), as 5^ ( = Ex. 20^)
616 Ex. 34"t : of. Nini^ ^X Jos. 24" Nah. \^.
25-31. Israel, in after-times, if it lapses into idolatry, will
find itself exiled from its land ; though even then God's mercy
will not forsake His people, if it turns to Him in true peni-
tence. — 25. And ye be grown old (DnrL.'ii'!) in the land] the word
(which is a rare one) implies "the loss of spiritual freshness,
and the blunting of original impressions, produced by force of
custom, or long residence in the same spot" (Dillm.): comp.
the use of the root. Lev. 13^1 25^2 26^^. — A graven itnage, (even)
the form of anything] v.^^. — And do that which is evil in the eyes
of Jehovah\ 9^^ 17^ 3128: cf. on 6^8. — To vex him (iD'y^nS)] so
gis 3129 32I6. 2ia (Di'p). Not "to provoke Him to anger'' (AV.,
RV.): D'^yDH, and the cognate substantive Di"3 (in Job K'ys),
express always the idea, not of anger, but of chagrin, or
vexation (Job 52 6^), caused by some unmerited treatment, —
here, by deserting Jehovah, after the gracious and condescend-
ing regard which He had manifested towards Israel (v. 20), in
favour of other gods. The word is used frequently In the same
connexion by Deut. writers, as Jud. 2^'^, and especially by the
compiler of Kings (i K. 149- ^s 1530 i62-7. 13.26.33 2122 225* 2 K.
,yii. 17 216. 15 2217 2319-26) and Jeremiah (7I8. 19 319 1117256.73229.
30. 32 ^^3. 8) J and occurs occasionally besides. — 26. I call heaven
and earth to witness, cSt'c.] heaven and earth, representing the
unchangeable and ever-present fabric of the universe, are
solemnly appealed to (301^ 312^) as witnesses of the fact that the
24. Nin nV^.x c». ■j'n'?K '" 'a] contrast the diffcrtnt position of ki.t 3'-'-'; ami
see on i". — 27. iSJon 'no] constr. as D'siVn 3'". — jnr] 28-" Gn. sr-**.
IV. 04-29 73
consequences of Israel's disobedience have thus been foretold to
it (cf. 819 20^'^).— Perish guicklj'] cf. 7* ii^^ 2820 Jos. 2316 (D2).
— IV hereunto, cSr'c.] 31^^ 32*'^, cf. 30^^. — Ye shall not prolong
days (d^C pnxn xb) vpo7i it] a favourite Deuteronomic expres-
sion : v.*o ^30 (33) J i9 jy2o 22^ 30^8 32^^ (rare besides) : cf, that thy
days may he prolonged (l^iD^ (|)l3nN^ \irh) 5^^ ( = Ex. 20^2) 62
25^^!. — 27-28. They will be scattered among the nations,
and dwindle in numbers ; there also they will sink deeper in
heathenism, until they become abandoned entirely to the
worship of dumb idols. — 28. The work of Tnen^ s hands\ 2 K. 19^^
{ = Is. 3719, cf. 2 Ch. 32^9) Ps. 115* 135!^; similarly c. 27^^ jg^,
lo^ (tnn n" HB'yo) ; Hos. 14* (2> Is. 28 178 Mic. 512(13). Wood and
stone, as 28^^- ^* 29^^ Ez. 20^2 : as here, both phrases together,
2 K. 19^^ (Deut.) = Is. 37^^. — Which see not, and hear not, &c.\
hence (with variations) Ps. 115*''^ i35^^'^^' The same sarcasm on
idols, made by the hands of men, and not even capable of the
functions of animal life, also Hos. 8^ 132 Is. 2*- 20 lyS ^022 Hab.
2i8f- Jer. iQi-io- 14-15 ( = 5ii7-i8) Is. 449-20 ^e^^f- (cf. 40^ 417 48-'"):
elsewhere in the Pent, only Lev. 26^° (the CD"'S^J ''i:d).
29-31. But Israel's alienation from its God will not be
permanent. Tribulation will work a change in the heart of
the nation ; it will turn sincerely to Jehovah, and its penitence
being accepted, will receive again the tokens of His favour. —
29. But from thence ye will seek fehovah thy God; and thou shall
find hhn\ i.e. experience again His grace and help: cf. Ps.
32^ Is. 556 65I I Ch. 28^*^ 2 Ch. 152- ■*, and esp. Jer. 29!^ (where
the agreement is almost verbal). — Provided thou search after
him with all thy heart, &^c.\ the words express the condition
of Jehovah's being "found," His being sought for, viz. not
from superficial or interested motives, such as the desire to
escape from misfortune, but with a radical change of heart (v.^^
"return"), and the devotion of the whole being. The phrase
"with all the heart, and with all the soul," is characteristic of
Dt. (see on 6^), and a genuine expression of the spirit which
animates the Writer. It denotes (substantially) the entire
spiritual being of man, the " heart " being, in the psychology of
the ancient Hebrews, the organ of intellect (see Jer. 521 Hos. 7^^
28. Ni.lice t!ic fourfold emphatic p- (i'").
74 DEUTERONOMY
RV.m.; Job 122*, &c.), and the "soul" being the organ of
the desires or affections (on 24^^). — 30. All these things\i.e. the
tribulation just referred to, and implied v.^^'-. — In the latter
days\ lit. in the end of the days (D"'D^^ nnnsa), an expression of
rather frequent occurrence in the prophetical books, and
denoting the final period of the future so far as it falls within
the range of the speaker's perspective. The sense attaching
to it is thus relative, not absolute, varying with the context.
Here it is used of the period of Israel's return to God, forming
the close of its history so far as contemplated by the writer ;
3129 it is used of the antecedent period of Israel's rebellion : in
Gn. 49^ of the period of Israel's possession of Canaan ; in Nu.
24^* of the period of Israel's future conquest of Moab and
Edom (see v.^'-^^j ; in Ez. 38^^ of the imagined period of Gog's
attack upon restored Israel ; in Dan. 10^* of the age of Antiochus
Epiphanes. Elsewhere it is used of the ideal, or Messianic
age, conceived as following at the close of the existing order of
things, Hos. 3^ Is. 2^ ( = Mic. 4I) ; comp. Jer. 2320 ( = 302^)
48*7 49^^ Dan. 2287. — Return even unto (ly) Jehovah] 302 Hos.
142O) Am. 4« Is. 912(13) ig22 al.; with bs i S. 7^ i K. 8^3.48«/._
And hearken to his voice ("i^lpa nyoKn)] so 82'* 92^ 136.19 i^s
2614.17 27IO 281- 2- 15. 46. 62 ^q2. i. IQ. 20 .^ Qn. 2218 2&> Ex. $2 I52tt
(?) 195 2321-22 Nu. 1422 (all JE); Jos. 56 222 (Joshua's) 242*:
elsewhere chiefly in Jer., and other writers influenced by Dt.
(not Is. or Ez.). — 31. For Jehovah thy God is a compassionate
God] who is ready, therefore, to accept Israel's penitence, pro-
vided it be sincere {30^). Qin"] ?N*, as Ex. 34^ (JE). — I/e will
not let thee drop (^S"?! Nv)] or, leave thee to sink down slack
30. 1^ TV3] f' "IS, \ "^T. are both frequent ; but this phrase recurs only
Hos. 5'« Is. 25^ Ps. i87 ( = 2 S. 22^) 661* ^^^^ ,0-^6.13.19. as 2 Ch. 15*.
No doubt originally ixa was intended as the infinitive of nj(, and pro-
nounced therefore n»? (cf. ilP Jer. 5=^) or ni? (cf. \ ai?, h aha? Hos. io\
) 3^B^ Dt. 62* a/., ^ p^^ Jer. f al., ) n^3? Neh. 9*8, ^ DhS Hag. i«) ; but
as pointed (with the art.), it can hardly be anything but the subst. -\%,
•^ n¥3 being regarded as a poetical variation of the more prosaic '"l^f?
(cf. the late expressions Ps. 120^ 'V 1^1-3^3, Jon. 2* '^ m,vP)-— T<^Di] the
pf. with 1 consec, carrying on ^S ns3 (G-K. § 112. 301; Dr. § 118). —
T\im D'D'.n nnnxa] here the ) consec. introduces the pred., nasyi being the
syntactical equivalent of awn : Gn. 3* Ex. 16* onvTi any at even — then y«
shall know, i K. 13^* 'HK omapi 'nioa, &.c. (G-K. § 112. 5c; Dr. § 123 /S).
IV. 30-34 75
and feeble (cf. of the hands, Jer. 6^* ai.), opp. to holdfast (Job
27« Song 3* al.)\ so 316- ^ Jos. i"^ i Ch. z^i^'^.— Nor forget the
covenant tohich he sware, &€.] see on v.^^ and i^; and comp.
Lev. 26*^^-^ (in the peroration of the " Law of Holiness ").
32-40. Israel has grounds for knowing that Jehovah is
God alone, who will not permanently abandon His people
^^32-36^^ and who has a claim upon Israel for its obedience
^y 37-40^ — 32. For] introducing the considerations, tending to
show that Jehovah will not forget His covenant (v.") : nothing
so marvellous has ever happened at any time, or in any place,
since man appeared upon earth, as the wonders which Israel
has witnessed at Horeb (v.^^) and in Egypt (v.^^). — 33. Did
ever people hear the voice of GodP] rather a god. The point is
not whether any other nation ever so heard the voice of (the
true) God, but whether any other god had ever given such evi-
dence of his existence as Jehovah had done. — Out of the midst
of the fire] \.^^. — And live] in accordance with the thought,
often expressed, that no man can "see God and live" (523(26)
Gn. 1613 3231 Ex. 2oi9 3320 Jud. 622f- 1322; cf. Ex. 36 i92i)._34.
Or hath a god attempted (HDp) &€.?] has a god ever even
attempted, or ventured (28^), to come and take to himself a
nation out of the midst of another nation, as Jehovah has done
in the case of Israel? — Trials (nbp)] ox provings (on 61^), i.e.
testings of the character and disposition of Phara'oh, effected
by the display of Jehovah's might (7^^ 292). — War] Ex. \/^^- 25.
— With signs and with portents] Ex. 48.9.17.28.30 iq\.2 {jyS^)-^
421 79 1 19. 10 (ncio) ; both, as here, Ex. 78 Dt. 622 719 26^ 292 34"
(all with allusion to the marvels wrought in Egypt), 132.3
(as well as in other books). ^121)0 is a portent y an occurrence
regarded merely as something extraordinary : nis is a sign, i.e.
something, ordinary (Ex. 12^^ 31^3 jg^ 20^ &c.) or extraordinary,
as the case may be, regarded as significant of a truth beyond
itself, or impressed with a Divine purpose. — A mighty hand]
on 324. — A stretched out arm] 92^ (with "great power," as
32. jdS] a syn. of jp, used esp. in designations of the terminus a quo,
whether of time or place: e.g. 9' 2 S. 7®- ", d-dci :^\-^r:h just below, Jud. 20^ ;
Ex. \\' 2S.(>^^{Lex.s.v. JD, sub fin.).— n-n:] the nif., as i K. i'»i2*«Jud. \^
(II nnxnj) 20^ al., in the sense oi come to pass, happen.
76 DEUTERONOMY
2 K. 1736 [compiler] Jer. 2f 32^7); Ex. 6« (P or H). The
combination with mighty ha7id, first in Dt. 4^* 5^^ 7^^ ii* 20^;
and (derived hence) Jer. 3221 (cf. 2i5) i K. 8*2 ( = 2 Ch. 6^2) Ez.
20^3. 34 Ps^ 136^21, — And with great /grro/'i' (CS'iiO)], i.e. awe-
inspiring manifestations. So 26^ 34^^' ® renders opd/jLara (as
though D"'i<ip), which is weaker, though the reading is
defended by Geiger, Urschrifty p. 339 f. — Before thine eyes\ on
i30_ — 35_ Thou (emph.) wast made to see, so as to know that
Jehovahy he is God: there is none else beside him] this was the
ultimate aim of the wonders wrought in Egypt: cf. Ex. io2.
The truth, that Jehovah is not only God, but sole God, is
emphasized again, v.3», cf. 7^ lo^'^: see on 6*. — 36. Jehovah's
manifestations had been made alike from heaven and upon
earth, with the intention of impressing vividly upon Israel
the truth and reality of His words. Out of heaven had Israel
heard the thunderings of God (Ex. 19^^), that he might discipline
thee, i.e. that the people might be brought to a temper of
becoming reverence; and upon earth (Ex. 19^^) had they seen
his great fire, and heard his words out of the midst of the fire,
embodying (cf. v.^^^) the fear of Him in a concrete form. — To
discipline thee (^?S.?)] comp. 8\ and the cognate subst. "ip^O 1 12.
"Instruct" (RV.) is not an adequate renderingf. "15; denotes not
the instruction of the intellect (a*lin, 15^), but the discipline or education of
the moral nature : the spectacle was one adapted to quell waywardness
and pride, and to generate in Israel's heart a temper of submissiveness
and reverence, ip' is the word used to denote the discipline with which
a parent trains his child (8' Pr. 19'* 29") ; it is used also of other corrective
dealing's, sometimes severe ones, whether on the part of God or man
{e.g. I K. 12"-" Lev. 26^8 Jer. lo^^ 3o'» Ps. 6^ ag'^).
37-40. And because he loved thy fathers, and chose, &c. . . .,
(39) Know this day, and call to mind, that, ^c. . . ., {^) And
keep, &"€.] becatise is lit. in place of, i.e. in retiiim for (the fact)
that ('3 nnri ; cf. 21" 2229 28*7), which shows (Dillm.) that the
construction here given is the correct one, and that the
apodosis cannot be (RV.) at chose. — Loved thy fathers] God's
love of the patriarchs is emphasized again in 10^^: comp. His
33. □'nSxri «i.t m.T] v.^^ f 1 K. 88" i8'8-=*8: Kin as 322,-37-39. . . . o nnni
inyi'i] the pf. with 1 consec, as 2 K. 22'' Is. 60^', and in response to ]]i^ Is.
jioi. 2^M 3PJ, Nu. ,^24 &c^ (Dr. § i23y ; G-K. § 112. 5A).
IV. 35-40 77
love of Israel, 7^ (where see note)^^ 23«. Neither is taught
elsewhere in the Pent, Jehovah's regard for the patriarchs is,
of course, frequently exemplified in the narratives of Genesis
(both JE and P) ; comp. Ex. 36. is. 15. 16 (<« the God of you?
fathers") 32^^ 33^ : and it is also referred to often elsewhere in
Dt., as the ground of His care for their descendants (on i^) ;
but His love of them is mentioned only in the passages quoted.
— A7id chose his seed after him] if the text be correct, the
reference will be specially to Abraham. The parallel passage
iqIs has, however, their and them, which here also would
harmonize better with the context, and which is expressed by all
the ancient versions. — And brought thee out with his presence
(V;D2)] cf. Ex. 33I4 ^'hl \JB, Is. 639 "and the angel of his
presence (VJD IX^o)] saved them " ; also, for the general sense
of D*?Q, 2 S. 17^' (of a human person). — With his great powe?
(hijn iriDa)] 9^^ Neh. 1^0 ; Jer. 27^ 32^7 (both of creation) ; Ex.
32II (hnj n33), 2 K. 1736: cf. Nu. 14i3.17._38. To dispossess
(cninb) . . . from before thee] g^-^ ii23 1812 (cf. 717 gS) gx.
3424 (JE). — Greater and mightier than thou] cf. 7I ^"'^ 9I ii^^. —
As at this day] 2^^. The reference may be either to the
territory East of Jordan, or (by an anachronism) to Palestine
generally: the similar language of 7!"'^ gi ii23 favours the
latter interpretation. — 39. The thought of v.^^ repeated. — And
call to mind] i.e. consider, reflect ; see below. — I/e is God in
heaven above, &c.]]os. 2" (D2) i K. 823 (Deut.).— Tiy px] Is.
4^5. 6. 14. 18. 21. 22 459. Comp. on 64.— 40. That it may be well
for thee {-[h 20'^)] S^^- 26 (2y) &■ is 1225. 28 22^; cf. 520(33) igis (V nioi).
— After thee] cf. on i^. — Prolong days (□'D'' T'INH)] on v. 26. —
For ever] lit. all the days, a Heb. expression for continually,
esp. frequent in Dt. (52662^ ii^ 1423 18^ 19^ 2829-33 Jqs. 4**[D2]);
though found also elsewhere, as Gen. 43^44^2 i S. 232-36 jg29
Jer. 3i36 2239 ^^^1% ^^is al.
39. inaS hn n^Bni] lit. "bring- back to thy heart," i.e. recall to mind,
consider: so 30' i K. 8" Is. 44'" 46* (Sy) Lam. 3^^. "Bethink themselves'
(AV. I K. 8*') is a good paraphrase. — 40. lS 3B" ib'n] ncK, as often (cf. on
3^ 11^®), a link relating two sentences to each other; here resolvable into
M tlmt: so v.*" 63 (cf. the || jyoS s-« 6^8), 28=^-" Gn. u^ al. {Lex. tb-k 8 b.).
78 DEUTERONOMY
IV. 41 43. The Appointment by Moses of three Cities
of Refuge in the trans fordanic Territory.
41-43. Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan appointed as Cities of
Refugee. — The Deuteronomic law respecting the Cities of Refuge
is contained In iq^-^^ (to the notes on which the reader is
referred for fuller explanations) ; and all the characteristic
expressions in v.*^*^ here agree with those found there.
The verses mark a pause in the narrative, and seem designed to
separate the introductory discourse i^-i^ from c. 5 if. (Di. Oe.). Their
origin is uncertain. It is possible, no doubt, that they may have formed
an original part of Dt. (Di.). In 19^*', however, the Cities of Refuge
appear to be introduced for the first time, as a new institution : had the
writer of ig^'^-* already described the appointment of three cities for the
same purpose, it is difficult not to think that he would have framed his
law so as to contain some allusion to the fact. It seems more probable,
therefore (esp, if i'-4'"' be not by the same hand as c. 5-26. 28), that 4'*i-'»*
was added by a later Deut. writer (perhaps R"*), who desiderated an
express notice in EH. of the trans-Jordanic Cities of Refuge, and, in
accordance with a tradition which referred their appointment to Moses,
supplied the omission by the insertion of these verses (Konig, Einl. p. 213 ;
Oettli, adloc. comp. Kuen. § 7. lyrf; Wellh. Comp. 207 ; Westphal, ii. 83>.
The phraseology is throughout Deuteronomic (like that of the additions
in Jos. 20^"''; L.O.T. p. 105), and has no affinity with that of P's law in
Nu. 35®-*'**. According to P, also (Jos. 2o^ cf. Nu. 35'""'^), the Cities of
Refuge on the East of Jordan, as well as those on the West, were
appointed, not by Moses, but hy Joshua.
Separated i^^^^y)] so 192- 7. The word implies not so much
physical separation, as separation for a particular purpose or
object, lo^ 2920(21); cl. JPh. xi. p. 219. — Beyond Jordan\ on i^.
— 42. That the manslayer . . . in time past] agreeing nearly
41. Sna' tk] Dr.§27/3; G-K.§ 107. i^ R.'. — 42. 'm. , , dj) . . . nsn noc oih]
nsV' DJ^ is corrected, as the sentence proceeds, by the more precise nnK h»
Sk.t D'lyn }D, and this necessitates the repetition of the idea of fleeing: 037
is accordingly resumed by DJ] — "That he might flee thither . . . , and
(=^ea) that he might flee . . . and live." The inf. o\h, with a final conj.,
is continued by the pff". i'pi . . . DJ], with -waw consec, as regularly {e.g.
On. i8'" ; Dr. § 118) ; for the resumptive D}}, cf. 18^ k31, 20" n'm, 29** itdki
(Dr. § 118 ».). On :'cii, see G-K. § 104. 2e.—-h kjc nV nihi] lit. ''and he
being a not-hater to him aforetime " : so 19*' * Jos. 20'' ; Nu. 35** 3'1k nS mm
1'? (Dr. § 135. 7 Obs.\ The ptcp. with »b is unusual (ih. § 162 «.); and Kiir
is best construed as a subst. — "jNn] as 7^ 19" (but not ') Gd. \<^-^ 26^'*
Lev. iS''*' (against nSun some 80 times in the Pent., and dSk 180 times),
IV. 41-43 79
verbally with jg^^- *^- "b. — 43. Beeer (i^in) in the table-land] Bcyt
is mentioned besides Jos. 20^ 21^^ [see RV. m.\ (=1 Ch. 6''*
(^8)) ; also on the Moabite Stone, 1. 27, as one of the cities
which Mesha* rebuilt after his revolt. Its site is unknown ;
but being in the "wilderness" (2^^), it was probably situ-
ated towards the eastern border of the Moabite table-land
{2^<i).—Ramoth in Gilead\ Jos. 208 2iS8(36){=i Ch. 6«6 («<»), or
Ramoth of Gilead, i K. 4^^ 22^^- 2 K. S^s giff, according to
Eusebius {Onom., ed. Lag. p. 287) 15 Roman miles W. of
Philadelphia (Rabbath BnS 'Ammon). It is generally identified
with es-Salt (see Bad. p. 287); but Dillmann (on Gn. 31^*),
following Hitzig and Langer {Avsland, 1882, p. 181), prefers
a site 6 miles to the North of es-Salt, at the ruins of el-Jal'fid.
— Golan\ Jos. 20^ 2i27 (=1 Ch. 6*6(")), named by Eusebius
{Onom. p. 242) as a KWfiyj jLieyio-r?;, but not at present known.
Golan gave its name to the province Gaulanitis, often men-
tioned by Josephus (cf. Schiirer, A^. Zg:^ i. 354). On the
modern district Jolan (or /auldn), see Bad. p. 285 ; and
Schumacher, Survey of the Jaiilan, \\
IV. 44-49. Superscription to the Exposition of the
Law, contained in c. 5-26. 28.
IV. 44-49. This superscription first (v.'*'**^-) characterizes the
substance of the following discourse ; it then specifies the
place (v.^^'^), and (indirectly) the time (v.^^^-*^), at which it was
delivered.
More than one difficulty arises in connexion with it. Not only does it
appear to be superfluous after i'"*, which is plainly intended to refer, not
to c. 1-4 only, but to the Deut. discourses generally (v." : "to expound
this law "), but even supposing that a special superscription were deemed
and I Ch. 20^ (^><)t. The word is written similarly in Phoen. {CIS. I. i. 3^
Sv. D'npn c:'?K "these holy gods," 14' 93^ [cited on v.'*^]), though it was
pronounced prob. as a dissyllable (Schroder, Phon. Gr. § 61). The kindred
dialects have generally a dissyllabic form (cf. DB."^ i. 774 n. ; Wright,
Comp. Gramm. of Sem. Lang. p. 108 f.), which is an indication that th«
pron. terminated originally in a vowel sound. The variation is thus not
an "archaism," but is purely orthographical: no doubt '7.xn should be
vocalized ^Kn (cf. Phcen. t, i.e. j), just as nK, r\y, when they occur fof
nnK, nny, are vocalized i?n, r;.
8o DEUTERONOMY
desirable for c. 5-26, the minute particulars contained in v.*"** seem to
be unnecessary when the circumstances there noted have been alrtaJy
described in detail in c. 2-3 ; moreover, v.** is itself tautologfous by the
side of V.**. The circumstantiality of the heading- appears, in particular, to
point to its being- the work of a writer who either (a) was not acquainted
with 1^-4*® or (b) disregarded it. By those (a) who hold the original Dt.
to have been limited to c. 5-26. 28, 4^"*^ — or (Konig, who thinks v.*'''**
added subsequently) 4*^-** — is accordingly considered to have been the
superscription to that discourse, to which 1^-4''* was prefixed afterwards
as an introduction, whether by the original writer (Graf, Gesch. Biicher,
pp. 6, 13 ; Kleinert, pp. 33, 168), or by a somewhat later hand (VVellh.
Comp. p. 192 ; Kuenen, § 7, n. 12 ; Valeton, Studien, vi. p. 225 ; Westphal,
pp. 82, 87 ; Konig, Einl. p. 212 f.), v.'" being inserted at the same time as
a connecting link. Dillmann (6) on the contrary, who observes that the
verses include slight phraseological traits which are not those of D (see
the notes), and that v.** appears to be borrowed from 3", which forms
(see note) part of an insertion in the original narrative of c. 3, considers
the superscription not to be original, but to have been added here by the
Redactor of Dt. on the basis of material derived from c. 1-3, for the pur-
pose of marking the distinctive character of the discourse which follows
(c. S-26), and declaring that the "exposition" of "the law," promised in
i', now begins. Dillm.'s attempt, however, to show that v.^'^ is not tauto-
logous with v.** cannot be pronounced successful : the supposition that the
"law" of v.*-* refers to c. 5-1 1, and the "testimonies, statutes, and judg-
ments" of v.*" to c. 12-26, implying a forced distinction between the two
expressions, which is not sustained by usage (see v.*).
44. And this] ffiH5» omit and. — The law] i^. — Laid be/ore {l±>
'js'?)] Ex. 197 21I: elsewhere Dt. has ^JD^ p: (on v.^). — The
children of Israel] sufficiently common hi most books of the
OT., but contrary to the general usage of Dt., which, even in
the narrative parts, prefers "all Israel" (on i^) ; for i^ 3251
348 are derived from P, 3119-22.23 from JE, lo^ from E: else-
where in the book only 3I8 23^8 ("sons" as distinguished from
daughters), 24^, the heading 4"- 45. 46^ and the subscription
28''9 (29I).— 45. Testimonies] 617.20; cf. i K. 2^ 2 K. lyi^ 23^ (all
Deut.) ; and see below. The idea of a "testimony" (or
"witness") is that of an attestation, or formal affirmation:
hence, as referred to God, a solemn declaration of His will on
43. mj!] 6"-2«. Elsewhere (in this form) only Ps. 251" 78^ 93» 99'' 132",
and 14 times in Ps. 119. When written plena (nnv), the word is usually
pointed n-iny (i K. 2» 2 K. \f^ zf Jer. 44^ i Ch. 29I9 2 Ch. 34^1 Ne. 9*», and
8 times in Ps. 119!), which would be the pi. cstr. of nrvi (Stade, § 320^).
A comparison of the two groups of passages {e.g. of i K. 2' with Dt. 6^')
makes it evident, however, that the words, though differently vocalized,
do not differ in meaning.
I
IV. 44-49 81
points (especially) of moral or religious duty, or a protest
against human propensity to deviate from it (cf. 3 T]}n to testify
or protest against [not unto\y 2 K. 17^5 Jer, 11''^ Ps. 50^^ 81^ Neh.
g26. 29. 30)^ The word came thus to be used, primarily through
the influence of Dt., and writers of the same school, as a
general designation of moral and religious ordinances, con-
ceived as a Divinely instituted standard of conduct. Else-
where, particularly in P, the term (in the singular) is applied
specially to the Decalogue (Ex. 25^^' 21 31I8 ^429; comp. the
expressions, "Ark, Tabernacle, of the testimony," 2522 3821
rt/.), as a concise and forcible statement of God's will and
human duty. — The statutes and the jtidg7yients\ 4^. — When they
caine forth out of Egypt\ so v.*^. The phrase, descriptive of a
date at the very end of the 40 years' wanderings, could not
have been written by a contemporary ; it must spring from a
time when the 40 years in the wilderness had dwindled to a
point. — 46*. Beyond Jordati\ i^. — In the ravine, &c.\ 32^, —
Sihon . . . Heshbon\ i* 32. — 46^-49. The writer takes occa-
sion, from the mention of the "land of Sihon," to introduce,
in the manner of the Deut. writers (on i^), a notice of Sihon's
defeat, and of the territory taken from him and 'Og. The
verses, esp. v. ^''■49, are connected loosely with v.*^"*", and may
be an addition by a later hand (Kon. p. 212). — Smote\ 2^3. — 47.
A7id they took, &c.\ 2^^ 3^. — Beyotid Jordan, toward the sun-
rising] V.41 Jos. 1^5 1211- (both D2). — 48-49. From ' Arder, (Sr-c]
slightly abridged, and altered, from 2^^* 38b- 17. Xhe only re-
markable variation is the fresh name Sion (|N^i^') for Hermon,
which is not found elsewhere. S reads |^'^i^', as 3^ ; but this
is no doubt a correction of the Hebrew text : there is no
apparent reason why the Sidonian name of Hermon should
have been used here.
V.-XXVI. XXVIII. The Exposition of the Law.
This consists of two parts, clearly distinguished from each
other, both by their contents, and by the opening words of
12^. 'Y\it. first part (c. 5-1 1) consists of a hortatory introduc-
tion, inculcating the general theocratic principles by which
6
82 DEUTERONOMY
Israel, as a nation, is to be gfoverned. The second part (c.
12-26. 28) includes the code of special laws, which it is the
object of the legislator to "expound" (i^), with reference, in
particular, to the purposes which they subserve, and to the
motives which should prompt their observance.
V.-XI. Hortatory Introduction.
C. 5-1 1 consists essentially of a development of the first
Commandment of the Decalogue. With warm and persuasive
eloquence, the legislator sets before Israel its primary duty of
loyalty to Jehovah, urging upon it the motives to obedience
by which it ought to be impelled, and warning it against the
manifold temptations to neglectfulness by which it might be
assailed. He begins by reminding Israel of the covenant
concluded with it at Horeb on the basis of the Decalogue, and
of the promise which the nation had then given that it would
obey whatever future commands Jehovah might lay upon it
(c. 5). The Israelite's fundamental duty is to love Jehovah, to
be devoted to Him with intense and undivided affection, not
to forget Him in the enjoyment of material prosperity, or to
forsake Him for false gods, but to serve Him loyally himself,
and to teach his children to serve Him loyally afterwards (c.
6). Upon entering Canaan, no truce is to be made with the
Canaanites, no intercourse with them is to be tolerated : Israel
is holy to Jehovah ; and motives of fear, not less than of grati-
tude, should prompt it to give effect to His will : in its crusade
against heathenism, it may rest assured of His ever present
aid and succour (c. 7). Let Israel recollect the lessons of the
wilderness, and take to heart its dependence upon Jehovah,
lest it be tempted, in the midst of the good things of Canaan,
to forget the Giver, and perish like the nations whom God is
casting out before it (c. 8). Let Israel, further, beware of self-
righteousness ; let it remember how from the beginning it
has shown a wilful and rebellious nature, and how its present
existence as a nation is due solely to Jehovah's forbearance
(9^-10^1). For these and other mercies, the only return which
Jehovah demands is loving and ready obedience (lo^^^). And
this obedience should be prompted by the thought of the favour
V. i-s
83
with which the Lord of heaven and earth had visited Israel
(10^^-22), of the deeds wrought by Him on its behalf at the
Exodus (ii^-^), and of its dependence upon Him for its future
prosperity in Canaan (ii^o-ss). The Writer ends this part of
his discourse by solemnly reminding Israel of the two
alternatives, the blessing and the curse, now offered for its
acceptance (ii^^-ss).
V. 1-18. The covenant concluded by Jehovah with Israel
at Horeb, on the basis of the Decalogue. — 1. The aim of the
discourse (c. 5-26. 28) here beginning, viz. that Israel may
learn, and obey, Jehovah's commands. — All Israel] i^ — Hear,
O Israel] 6" 9^ 2cfi : cf. 4I 6^.—This day] ^"^^ .—Observe to do]
on 46. — 2-18 (21). The Writer begins by reminding Israel of the
fundamental principles of the covenant, as embodied in the
Decalogue (4^8), — 3_ yvW with our fathers] this covenant was
made not with our forefathers, the patriarchs (431-37 78. 12 gis)^
but with us (423), who are here alive to-day (cf. 4*) : it is ive,
therefore, who are bound by the terms of it. The fact that
the greater part of those who stood at Horeb, 40 years before,
had passed away, is disregarded : cf. ii^-^, and on 1^0. — 4. Face
to face spake Jehovah] thus solemnly and impressively was the
covenant inaugurated. — CJCa D-'is] cf. D''JD bs C":;: 34^° Ex. 33"
(both of Moses), Gn. 3231 Jud. 622; pyn ]>-!i Nu. 141* Is. 528.—
Out of the midst of the fire] on 412.— 5. Islanding between Jehovah
and you, &c.] the words, to mount, are parenthetical (see RV.),
describing the part taken by Moses as mediator between God
and the people — of course, as the terms used imply, at the
time when the Decalogue was promulgated, not in the com-
munication of commands received by him subsequently, 520-28
(23-31) ^^14, The representation of Moses as mediator, for the
purpose of "declaring" or "reporting" (see below) the words
of the Decalogue, is apparently at variance with v.*- 1^. 21 (22. 24)
412. 15. 16 io4j in which Jehovah seems to be described as having
spoken them audibly to the people. It appears, however,
Y. 3. wnjK] emphasizing: the suff. in unx (G-K. § 135. 2<! ; i S. i<f^ 25"),
and then further strengthened by 'J1 ns n'^N, in appos.— "but with us, us,
these here to-day," &c. — i. d':s3 d>3S] "(with) face in face," — an implicit
accus. of closer definition (G-K. § 156. 2).— 5. iDy '3:n] a circ. cl. (Dr.
I 161).— Tin"?] to declare. "Show" (AV. RV.) is used here in the old sens*
84 DEUTERONOMY
that according" to the conception of D, the people heard the
"voice" of God, but not distinct words: the latter Moses
declared p'^i^) to them afterwards. And in fact this repre-
sentation is not inconsistent with Ex. ig^- ^^ — both verses
belonging" to E, and followed originally by 20^^^^ (the inter-
mediate verses 1920-25 forming part of the parallel narrative of
J) : according- to these passages God speaks txiith Moses, and
the people overhear the thunder of His voice, but they do not
necessarily hear distinctly the actual words spoken. — The
word of Jehovah] ffiS^TF, "words": so Kuen. Th. T. 1881,
p. 180.
6-18 (21). The Decalogue, repeated from Ex. 20^*^^, with
verbal differences, sometimes slight, in other cases more con-
siderable. The longer variations are mostly in agreement
with the style of Dt., and the Writer's hand is recognizable in
them. On the Decalogue in general, see the notes on Ex.
20^-^'^ : only the variations which the text of Dt. exhibits will be
noticed here. — 8. A graven image, (even) any fortriy &fc.\ Ex.
20* **a g-raven image, or (1) any form, &c." Comp. 4I6. 2s. 25j
and see below. — 9. D''B'bK' ^yi] Ex. D^K'r'C ^J?. — 12. Observe
of the word, to report or tell : see AV. Gn. 46^^ Ex. 13* i S. 9* &c. (RV.
tell), RV. Dt. I79-W-" 32' I S. 3" a/.— 8. 'Ji itfN ■■"ion Vd '?ds] the con-
struction is difficult, and uncertain. In view of Ex. 20-* (as it stands), and
of the fondness of D for apposition (on 18^), the rend, adopted above is
at least the most obvious (so e^^- ^" ^). It is true, nron denotes nothing
material ; and hence it might be objected that a nnon could not be
"made": but the direct obj. of ntryn is 'jds ; and ri:iDn may signify not
only "that in an object which may be imitated," but also "that wherein
an object made resembles its model " : in making a "jDB, therefore, a njion is
at the same time produced. This " form " is then, by an inexactness of
language, identified with the corresponding "form" ("that is in heaven,"
&c.) upon which it was modelled (RV. eases the sentence by inserting
"the likeness of"). Ewald {Hist. ii. 160), W. A. Wright, /PA. iv. 156,
Di., divide the verses Dt. 5*"* ( = Ex. 20''"^) differently, treating 'n Vs as a
casus pendens, and construing : " Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven
image : (and) every form that is in heaven above, &c., thou shalt not bow
down to them, or worship them." Others assimilate the text of Ex, to
that of Dt., omitting 1 in n:iDn "731, and rendering, "a graven image of any
form," &c. (so also ^^•^- ^) ; but the combination njiDn Sds seems a doubt-
ful one, and it is peculiarly hard when followed, as in 4^*, by another
genitive. — 9. dt3j;o] so Ex. 20* 23^"; Dt. 13^ ^I'^^ih The impf. Qal is
ordinarily "li;^: 'JT?y: (Ex. 4^ &c.) ; and it is a question how these four
anomalous forms are to be explained. Ols. § 261, Stade, §§ 549^, 588*,
V. 6-15 85
ptoK')] i6*. In Ex. 20^ "remember." — As Jehovah thy Goa
C07nmanded thee\ so v.^^ 20^^; cf. 6^^ 24^, and the t'requent
♦*As Jehovah spake unto thee" (on i^i). A comment on
the words spoken, which is of course not stpctly appropriate
in what purports to be a report of them. — 14. And thy man-
servant] Ex. 20^*> without "and." — And thine ox, and thine
ass, and all thy cattle\ Ex. 20^*' has for these words simply
" and thy cattle." — That thy man-servant and thy jnaid-servant
may rest as well as thoti\ this clause is not found in Ex. 20^°,
though it expresses the thought of Ex. 23^-^ (in the ** Book of
the Covenant "). The philanthropic motive assigned for the
observance of the sabbath is in accordance with the spirit
which prevails elsewhere in Dt. [e.g. 12^2.18 i^^26b i6ii). — 15.
And thou shall retnember that thou zvast a servaiit in the land
of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence, &'c.\
this verse is not in Ex., the corresponding place (Ex. 20^^)
being occupied by the words, " For in six days Jehovah made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested
on the seventh day: therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath
day, and hallowed it." The recollection of the servitude in
Egypt is made a motive for kindliness towards others placed
in a similar position in 15^^ 16^2 24^^-22 (each time in almost
the same words), — in 15^^ 24I8 coupled, as here, with the in-
junction to remember gratefully the deliverance thence. It
might accordingly seem (cf. v.^^^) as if the observance of the
sabbath were inculcated upon a similar ground ; but the
words which follow, "Therefore Jehovah thy God commanded
thee to hold the sabbath day," show that the sabbath is viewed
here as a periodical memorial of Israel's deliverance from Egypt,
Kon. i. p. 259 f., treat them as Hofal forms, as though the meaning were,
"Thou shall not be made to serve them" (pass, of Tayn to make to serve,
Jer. 17*); Ew. §§ 66°, Sg'^, 251* regards them as irregular forms of Qal,
but fails to explain satisfactorily the two o sounds. If the forms are Hof.,
the idea of compulsory idolatry, whether resulting (Ges.) from external
pressure, or (Konig) from an irresistible inward impulse, is artificial, and
not favoured by the context ; if they are Qal, the o sounds are unaccounted
for. Under the circumstances, the most probable view is that of G-K.
(§ 60 R. i), that the punctuators intended the forms to be understood
as Hof., but that the original pronunciation was (as regularly elsewhere,
e.g. Jer. i&^) Diayp, OT?yj.— 12. -^Sdv] on i".
86 DEUTERONOMY
and of its relation to Jehovah, which was sealed thereby (4*'- **
76-8 &c.). — To hold (^'\^y>)\ rather a technical expression, used of
the sabbath only once besides, in Ex. 31^^ (P). Comp. on i6^
— 16. Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God
commanded thee ; that thy days may be long-, and that it may
he well for thee, upon the land which Jehovah thy God is giving
thee] the two italicized clauses are not in Ex. 20^2, With the
first clause, comp. v.^^j the second clause as v. 2^(29) 6^^ 1225-28
227.-17 (AV. 17-20). In Ex. 20I3-16 the 6th to the 9th Com-
mandments form each an independent sentence: in Dt. they
are connected by the conjunction (^^^l), producing a more
flowing period. Similarly in v.^^^^i), — 17(20). And thou shall
not answer against (19^^) thy neighbour, as a vain 'witness\ *1J^
SIK' i.e. a. hollow, insincere witness: in Ex. 20^^ "'pt^' IV i.e.
definitely a false witness, the more common expression (Dt.
19I8 Ps. 2712 Pr. 6^9 145 25I8).— 18 (21). And thou shalt not
desire thy neighbour's wife, and thou shalt not long for thy
thy neighbour's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his
maid-servant, his ox, &c.] in Ex. 20^^ <«Thou shalt not desire
thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's
wife, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, o^-his ox," &c.
In Ex. ** house " appears to be used in a comprehensive sense,
embracing not only the actual dwelling, but also wife, servant,
ox, ass, and other possessions constituting a domestic estab-
lishment (cf. Gn. 152 Job 8^5), examples of which are after-
wards specified separately ; in Dt. the wife, as the dearest and
closest of a man's possessions, is named separately in the first
place, and "house" is limited to ordinary domestic property,
land, servant, ox, and ass being the illustrations chosen. For
"desire" (*1?I7) in the second place, Dt. has n)ixnri, apparently
merely as a rhetorical variation ; for "J^^n"?, though a some-
what stronger term than ^o^, and rarer, especially in prose,
does not express a substantially diflFerent idea. Hon, express-
ing in itself a perfectly lawful affection (Is. 53^ Ps. 68^7(16)^^
acquires from the context the sense of sinful coveting (cf. Mic.
22 Ex. 3424): for nixnn, comp. 2 S. 23" (RV. "longed") Pr.
,34 233 Ps. 45H(").
19-30 (22-33). Request of the people that Jehovah's future
V. i6-as(28) 87
Bommands might be conveyed to them by Moses. — 19 (22). pyn
^DiymJ 4^^ — And he added no more (tp-^ sh)] as we should say,
** and he then stopped " : cf. Nu. 1 1^*. — And he wrote them, <2^c.]
the statement anticipates what, according to 9®-" Ex. 32^^^,
only took place subsequently : it is introduced here for the
purpose of completing the narrative respecting the Decalogue.
—20-24 (23-27). The people request (comp. Ex. 20I8-21) that
in future Moses may speak with them as God's representative.
—20 (23). ^^x pnpni] i^^.—The heads of your tribes] i" (cf. on
2(f).—Eld€rs] cf. 27I 299 3i«-2«.— 21 (24). His greatness] 324.—
IVe have heard his voice, &'€.] 4^2. 33_ — That God doth speak with
man, and he liveth] contrary to general experience : comp. 4^8,
with note. — 22-24 (25-27). Nevertheless the spectacle is such
a terrible one, and it can so little be expected that the verdict
of experience will again be reversed, that they dread to witness
it any further. — 23 (26). — All fie sh] the expression sometimes
embraces all living beings (as Gn. 6i^- ^^ Nu. 18^^) : more
commonly it denotes mankind alone (Gn. 6^2.18 '^■^^ 1522=^27^^
Is. 4o'^'^fl/.): cf. Lex. "lj^'^3 6. The expression characterizes
living creatures, in tacit contrast to God, as frail, unsub-
stantial, and dependent (Is. 3i3Jer. ly^Job 10*). — That hath
heard, &'c. and lived] cf. 4^3. — The living God {w^n D\nbx)] this
"significant and moving name" (Sanday, Bampt. Lect. 1893, p.
124, cf. 153) recurs i S. 1726-36 jer, \o^^ 233^!; (^n 'n) 2 K. 19*-^^
( = Is.37*-i7)t; (^n^N)Jos.3iOHos.2i(iio)Ps.423 843t; Dan.62i-27t.
— 24 (27). And thou (emph.) shall speak unto us, &c.; and we
will hear, and do] comp. Ex. 2oi9 ^V^^;}\ "^V ^^'^ ""S"^..— 25 f.
(28 f.). Jehovah declares Himself graciously pleased to accede
to the entreaty of the people ; and gives warm expression to the
hope that their present obedient frame of mind may be main-
tained perpetually. — And Jehovah heard the voice of your words]
19. Snj "jip] "(with) a loud voice" (2 S. 19* i K. 8%— the accus.,
as v.*. — 20. VIV.1 lyi nnni]=" wAi'/e the mount burned with fire," — a circ.
clause (G-K. § 141. 2 ; Dr. § 159).— 21. :'m . . . •\yv\ Dr. §§ 38*; 113.
4 a; G-K. § 112. 36a. — 22. wnjN d'ED' dk] Dr. § 135. 4. — ijnni] introducing
the apod. (ib. § 137a; G-K. § 112. 5*). — 24. nijN anp] "draw thou near"
(emph.): cf. Ex. 20^' (above), Jud. S'^^ nijiN Dip, i S. 17°* nriK Sk;;*, 20* 22''
nriN 3b, Is. 43-^ r\T^\^. isp. — fiN)] so (in the masc.) Nu. ii" Ez. 28'^!^
(G-K. § 32 R.^), as in the Aram, of 21. No doubt 9*1 should be read (as
Ps. 6* I S. 24^* al. : v. Lex. p. 61).
88 DEUTERONOMY
SO I**. The words addressed to Moses, as in i** those spoken
in the privacy of Israel's tents, were (so to speak) overheard
by Jehovah. — They have well said, &c.] so i8^". — 26 (29). O
that this their heart were theirs continually, to fear 7ne, &fc.\ O
that their present temper might continue, and not pass away,
when the impressions to which it is due have been obHterated
and forgotten. — That it inay be well for theni\ 4*0 5I6, cf. v.20(83).
27 f. (30 f.). Moses is to receive from God, and afterwards to
communicate to Israel, the commandments to be observed by
them, when they are settled in Canaan. — 28 (31). All the com-
mandment, <5r»c.] "the {or this) commandment" recurs &■ •f^^
30^^; with "all," 6^5 8^ 118-22 j-5 jg9 27I (of a special injunc-
tion, 31^). As 11^2 ig9 show, it denotes the Deut. legislation
generally (esp. on its moral and religious side), viewed as the
expression of a single principle, the fundamental duty of 6^
Westphal (pp. 36, iii) supposes that here it refers particularly
to the development of 6^ contained in c. 6-1 1 (cf. 6^ 7^^), while
the "statutes and judgments " (on 4^) embrace the laws com-
prehended in c. 12-26 (cf. 12^ 261^). — Which thou shall teach
them, that they may do them,, (^c.^ cf. 4^- 5- ^^ (see note), 6^ 12^. —
WJiich I am, giving them to possess it] cf. 12^ (103) 15* ig^-i* 21^
25^^. — The verse, as a whole, appears to be parallel with Ex.
24^2 E (where "which I have written," it is probable, origin-
ally followed "tables of stone"; see Kuenen, Th. T. 1881, p.
194 f.; Budde, ZATW. 1891, p. 225; ^Sicon, JB Lit. 1893, pp.
Z'^y 33)' — 29 f. (32 f.). Upon Jehovah's gracious response Moses
founds an exhortation to obedience. — 29 (32). Observe, then,
to do] on 4^. — Hath commanded] the past tense as v. so (33) 517,
According to these passages (cf. 4^) the laws received by
Moses on Horeb had already been made known to the people ;
the aim of the discourses in Dt. is to recapitulate and re-
inforce them, immediately before the Israelites' entrance into
the land in which they are designed to come into operation
(v. 28 (31) ^^5. u 51 12I). — Ye shall not turn aside, ^c] so (metaph.)
1711-20 2814 Jos. i7 23« (both D2) 2 K. 222 (Deut.) = 2 Ch. 342;
26. n\Ti )B' 'd] Dr. § 115 {s.v. 'p). — m oaaV] n? (not run) in accordance
with rule, after a noun defined by a suffix {Lex. s.v. n» 2 b ; Dr. § 209 Obs.) %
2i» Jud. 6" al. So with t6h, ii" Ex. lo^ ii* &c.— 27. 03"? ^y\v] on I^
V. 26(29)— VI. 4 S9
(lit.) Dt. 227 (see note) i S. 6^21.-30 (33). The way which
Jehovah your God hath commanded you] g'^ (from Ex. 32^) ^*
ii28 136(6) 21^^.— Live] a^^.— Prolong days, &'c\ 426.40.
VI. 1-3. The benefits which Israel may hope to receive, if it
is obedient to the commandments now about to be laid before
it. — 1. And this is the commandment, ^fc] promised in 528(31).
cf. ^^^.—To teach you, <5r'c.]4i-i* 528(31): cf. on 529(32)._2. Thai
thou mightest fear, <5rc.] cf. 4^° 526(29). "Jq implant in Israel the
spirit of true religion and dutiful obedience to Jehovah's will,
is the aim and scope of Moses' instruction. — Which I am com-
munding thee] 42. — Thou, and thy son, Gt'c] the Writer's thought
passes from the nation to the individual Israelite: cf. on i2i,—
All the days of thy life] 4^ 16^, cf. 17^^. — Be prolonged] cf. on
426. — 3. That it may be well for thee] on 4**'. — As fehovah spake
{promised) unto thee] Gn. 15^ 22^^ 26* 28^* Ex. 32^2 ^^11 JE) ; cf.
on i^^. — A land flowing with m,ilk and honey] Ex. 3^- ^^ i^s ^^^
Nu. 1327 148 1613.14 (all JE), Lev. 2024 (H), Dt. ii^ 26^-'^^ zf
3120 Jos. 56 (D2), Jer. 11^3222 Ez. 206- i^f. The words, how-
ever, stand here out of construction, the rendering " /;/ a
land " being illegitimate. It seems either that the clause has
been misplaced, perhaps (Dillm.) from the end of v.^, or that
words have dropped out after "unto thee," such as "in the
land which Jehovah thy God is giving thee" (cf. 27^).
4-5. The fundamental truth of Israel's religion, the unique-
ness and unity of Jehovah ; and the fundamental duty founded
upon it, viz. the devotion to Him of the Israelite's entire being.
— 4. Hear, O Israel] 5I. — Jehovah our God is one Jehovah] the
question here is in what sense the pred. "one " is to be under-
30. D3^ s'lB]] 3'iB is here not the adj., but the 3 pers. perf. of the
verb to be -well, with 1 consec. (constr. as 4'). So 19" i S. 16^*" ^ : cf. Nu.
11^*. For the impf., 3b'! (from [2©;], cf. TB'n) is used : 4** 5" &c. — YI. 3.
■wn] 4''*'. — i. inn mn' ij'n'?N mn*] the words have been variously rendered.
(a) "J. our God, (even) J., is one" (Ew. Bibl. Theol. ii. i. 243; Oehler,
OT. TkeoL § 43 ; RV. ist m.) ; (4) •' J. is our God, J. is one " (RV. 2nd m.) ;
(c) "J. is our God, J. alone" (Ibn 'Ezra, RV. 3rd w.) ; {d) "J. our God is
one J." (Schultz, Keil, Baudissin, Sem. Reh-Gesch. i. 167, Di. Oe. AV.
RV., and most). In meaning-, a and b do not differ materially from d;
but as against a, no sufficient reason appears for the resumption of the
subject by the second "Jehovah"; b is less forcible rhetorically than d\
c assig^ns a dub. sense to mn ("alone" is i"i3^ 2 K. 19^' Ps. 86'*); d thus
90 DEUTERONOMY
stood. Does it express the unity of Jehovah, declaring that
He is in His essence indivisible, cannot — like Ba'al and
'Ashtoreth, for instance, who are often spoken of in the plural
number {e.g. i S. 7*: comp. on 4^) — assume different phases
or attributes, as presiding over different localities, or different
departments of nature, and cannot further be united syn-
cretistically (as was done sometimes by the less spiritual
Israelites) with heathen deities ; but is only known under
the one character by which He has revealed Himself to
Israel (Ewald, F. W. Schultz)? Or does it denote the unique-
ness of Jehovah (see for this sense of "one " Zech. 14^ Song 6^
Job 33^^), representing Him as God in a unique sense, as the
God with whom no other ** Elohim" can be compared, as the
only Deity to whom the true attributes of the Godhead really
belong (Keil, Oehler, Baudissin, E. Konig, Hauptprohleme., p.
38, Oettli) ? The second interpretation gives the higher and
fuller meaning to the term, and forms also a more adequate
basis for the practical duty inculcated in v.^ (for a God, who
was "one," but not at the same time "unique," might not
necessarily be a worthy object of human love). The first inter-
pretation is not however excluded by it : for the unity of
Jehovah is almost a necessary corollary of His uniqueness.
The verse is thus a great declaration of Monotheism (in the
sense both that there is only one God, and also that the God
who exists is truly one). Comp. Zech. 14^.
The truth is one which in its full significance was only gradually
brought home to the Israelites ; and it can hardly be said to be explicitly
enunciated much before the age of Dt. and Jer. It is often indeed implied
that Jehovah is superior to " other gods," or that " other gods " cannot be
compared to Him {e.g. Ex. 15'* Ps. 18*-^ (^^) Dt. 3-'^); and expressions
remains the most prob. rend. — In the Mas. text of this verse, the first and
last words (inx . . . ^•Of) each end with a litera majuscula. Various explana-
tions of the peculiarity have been proposed (see Buxtorf, Tiberias, eh. xiv. ;
or C. Taylor, Sayings of the Je-wish Fathers (nuK 'pis), p. 131). Of course
it did not originate with the author of Dt. ; the intention of the scribes who
introduced it may have been to mark the importance of the verse, as
embodying the fundamental article of the Jewish faith, or to warn the
scribe (or reader) that the words must be distinctly written (or pronounced).
It is said in the Talmud {Berachoth i^) that " Gehenna is cooled for who-
ever pronounces the Shima distinctly" (pjJsD .TnvniKa pnpiD) »"p tnp Va
Djn'i iV).
VI. 5 9'
respecting flis supremacy over nature or the heathen world, and His
relation to "other gods," are used (as by Amos), which logically leave no
room for heathen gods beside Him: still, the real existence of "other
gods " does not seem to be actually denied ; and it is only gradually seen
distinctly, and taught explicitly, not only that Jehovah is unique among
"other gods," but that "other gods" have no real existence whatever
beside Him (Dt. a,^-^ 32^ (the Song), Is. 44* 455- «. u. is. ai ^g* : cf. ''the
God" (D'n'jKn) Dt. ^^-^ f 2 S. ;=» 1 K. 8«> al.). The truth is emphasized
and illustrated with the greatest eloquence and power by H Isaiah (esp.
c. 40-48). See further on this subject, Baudissin, Rel.-Gesch. 150-177 ;
Kuenen, TheoL Rev. 1874, p. 329 fF. ; Hibbert Lectures, 1882, pp. 119,
317 ff.; Onderzoek, % 71.6; Komg, Hauptprobleme, 38 ff. ; Schultz, AT.
TheoL* 159 ff., 205-207, 275-277 (E.T. i. 175-184, 226-229, 304) ; Montef5ore,
Hibbert Lectures, 1892, pp. 134-137, 214-216, 268ff. ; Smend, AT. Theol.
1893, pp. 356-360.
5. And thou shall love Jehovah thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy force\ the primary duty
of the Israelite, not to serve different gods indiscriminately,
but to devote himself, with undivided allegiance, and with the
pure and intense affection denoted by the term "love," to the
service of the one Jehovah. The love of God, while alluded to
as characterizing Jehovah's true worshippers in the Decalogue
(Ex. 20^ = Dt. 5I'', cf. 7^), is set forth in Dt. with peculiar
emphasis as the fundamental motive of human action (10^2 jji.
13.22 ,34(3) ig9 306- 16- 20; so Jos. 226 23!! (both D2) : not elsc-
where in the Hex.): comp. in other books Jud. 5^1 i K. 3^
Neh. i5 Dan. g^ (both from Dt. f), Ps. 312* 9710 14520. «' It is
a duty which follows naturally as the grateful response to
Jehovah for the many undeserved mercies received at His
hands (v. 12 ioi2ff) ; it involves the fear and the service of God
(v. 13 10^2 iii3)j it impels those who are filled with it to the
conscientious observance of all God's commands (iii-22 igS
30^^) : it thus appears as the most inward and the most com-
prehensive of all religious duties, and as the chief command-
ment of all (Mk. i229f-)" {J)\\\m.).— With all thy heart, and
with all thy soul] a. specially Deuteronomic expression, imply-
ing the devotion of the whole being to God (see on 42*). It
occurs besides 429 ig12 nis 134 26'^ 302.6.10. Jqs, 22* 23^* (both
D2); I K. 2*8« ( = 2 Ch. 638) 2 K. 233 (=2 Ch. 34SI) 25 (all
Deut.); 2 Ch. 15^2; Jer. uses it once, of God, 32*^. It is
strengthened here by the addition of and with all thy force
92 DEUTERONOMY
{-pan bDl)) ; hence 2 K. 232^ (of Josiah)t, — the only passages
in which 1X0 occurs in this sense (elsewhere always in adv.
phrases, wtih force = greatly). — The passage, Dt. 6**^, is a
great one; and it was a true instinct which led the Jews of a
later time to select it for recitation twice daily by every Israelite
(the ShSma). It is further significant that our Lord, when
questioned as to the ** first commandment of all" (Mt. 22S7f- ;
Mk. 1 229'-), and as to the primary condition for the inheritance
of eternal life (Lk. id^^), should have referred both His ques-
tioners to the same text, with which daily use must have
already made them familiar.
6-9. The words embodying this truth, and this duty, are
to be ever in the Israelite's memory, and to be visibly in-
scribed before his eyes. — 6. These words] i.e. v.*-^, regarded as
the quintessence of the entire teaching of the book. — Shall be
upon thy heart] as it were, imprinted there (Jer. 31^^) : cf. ii^*»
("And ye shall lay these my words upon your heart and upon
your soul "), where the reference seems to be in particular to
the truths expressed in io^2_j ji7 (gee esp. ii^^, which is parallel
to 65 here, as i i^sb is to 6^ and i i^^f. to 6^- 9).— 7. And thou shall
impress them upon thy children] ff)K' (only here) is properly, as it
seems, to prick in, inculcate, impress. Comp. ii^^ (teach);
also 4^*» 620-25. — And shall talk 0/ them when thou sittest, ^c] in
order that they may not be forgotten, they are to be a subject
of conversation at all times (cf. 11^^). — 8. And thou shall bind
them for a sign (niX?) upon thy hand, and they shall be for
frontlets (hiDDId!?) between thine eyes] so ii^^; see Ex. 13^, and
esp. 13^^, where the dedication of the first-born is to be " for a
sign upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes,"
i.e. it is to serve as an ever-present memorial to the Israelite
of his relationship to Jehovah and of the debt of gratitude
which he owes Him. In Ex., the reference being to sacred
7. 03 man] on 3**. — 8. mstsio] ii^^ g^. I3*t. The form is generally
supposed to be abbreviated for mfjoao (cf. Ew. § \^'^\ Stade, § 116. 3).
The etym. is uncertain. The Arab, tafa is to walk round about, make a
circuit ; so perhaps ni£3BiB may have denoted properlj' bands going round
the head, a circle, or head-tire. In 2 S. i'" 2D KnetDits denotes a bracelet { =
Heb. .Tiy^K) ; Ez. 24^'- ^ 2t it has its tev.bn. sense of phylactery (n«B being
interpreted in *hsX sei.se) ; so Est. ff* JJT.
VI. 6-9 93
observances, the expressions are evidently meant figxiratively
(cf. Pr. i^ 3^ 6^1 78) : here, where the reference is to words only
(v.*-6), though the parallelism of Ex. 13^-16 would favour the
same interpretation, it seems on the whole to be more probable
that the injunction is intended to be carried out literally, and
that some material, visible expression of the Israelite's creed
is referred to; comp. v.^, the terms of which support some
what strongly the literal interpretation of v.^. — Between thine
ej'es] i.e. on thy forehead : cf. 14^. — 9. And thou shalt write
them upon the door-posts of thy housCy and on thy g-ates] so
ii^o. Probably an Egyptian custom, accommodated to the
religious creed of the Hebrews.
" The ancient Egyptians sometimes wrote a lucky sentence over the
entrance of the house, for a favourable omen, as ' the good abode,' the
mu7izel mobdrak of the modern Arabs, or something- similar; and the
lintels and imposts of the doors, in the royal mansions, were frequently
covered with hieroglyphics, containing the ovals and titles of the monarch."
. . . We find " even the store-rooms, vineyards, and g-ardens, placed
under the protection of a tutelary deity " (Wilkinson-Birch, Anc. Egyptians^
187S, i. p. 361 f.). Similarly it is a common practice to the present day,
in Mohammedan countries, to inscribe verses from the Qoran, or pious
invocations, upon (or over) the door (Lane, Mod. Egypt.^ i. pp. 7f., Sigf.).
The later Jews carried out the injunction in v.* by inscribing Ex. ij^'**"
""" and Dt. 6*'® ui^-si on small scrolls of parchment, which were then
enclosed in cases, with leathern thongs attached, and bound on the forehead
and left arm, at the time when the Sh^md was recited. These are the
(fuXanTripia of the NT., called pV?P by the Jews : cf. Edersheim, Life and
Times of Jesus, i. 76. The antiquity of this custom is attested by the
references to it in the Mishnah {e.g. Berachoth i. ; Pesahim iv. 8 ;
Tdanith iv. 3 : Schiirer, NZg.^ ii. p. 383) : it can hardly be doubted also
that it is alluded to by Josephus, Ant. iv. 8. 13 (quoted ib.). Its observance
is still regarded as obligatory by all orthodox Jews. V.' gave rise to the
institution of the Meztizah {Berachoth iii. 3 ; Megillah i. 8, &c. ; Jos.
Ant. iv. 8. 13; Buxtorf, Synag. Jud.'^ p. 581 ff. ; Edersheim, I.e. p. 76).
"Mezuzah" properly signifies a. door-post ; but among the Jews it is the
name given to the small metal cylinder enclosing a square piece of parch-
ment, inscribed with Dt. 6*'® and ii^^'^, which is affixed to the upper
part of the right hand door-post in every Jewish house, and regarded as an
amulet ; the pious Jew, as he passes it, touches it, or kisses his finger,
recitin|^ at the same time Ps. 121" (Kitto's Cydopcedia, s.v. Mezuza. See
further Hastings' Diet, of the Bible, s.v. Phylacteries).
10-15. Let Israel beware lest, in the enjoyment of material
blessings, provided without exertion on its part, it forget
Jehovah, its Deliverer, and desert Him for other gods. — The
94 DFUTERoNOMY
same thought is drawn out more fully in S^*^^ : cf. 32^3-^'^ Hos
13^. — 10. IVhich he sware, ^c.^i^. — 11. Cisterns heian out\v\7..
for the storage of water during the hot season, such as are
still common in Palestine: cf. Neh. g^s (a quotation), 2 Ch.
2^^ Is. 36^^, and Mesha"s inscription, 1. 24-25, "And there
was no cistern in Kereho : and I said to all the people. Make
you each a cistern (13) in his own house." — Eat and be fulL\
810.12 11I5 1429 26I2 3120 Joel 226 Ps. 2227 7828 Ru. 2^^ 2 Ch. 31IO
Neh. 9^*, — sometimes referred to purely as a blessing, some-
times as tending to elation of heart, and consequently a source
of spiritual danger (6ii 8^2 nis 3120 Ngh. 925), — 12. Beware
(l^'^OB'n)] 4^. — The house of bondage (D''13j; n''3)] lit. house of
slaves, i.e. place where slaves were kept in confinement, like
the Latin ergastulum. So 7^ 8^* 13^- ^^ Jos. 24^^ (D2) jud. 6^
(Deut.) Mic. 6* Jer. 34^^. The expression occurs first in Ex.
133-14 (JE), 2o2 ( = Dt. 5^)t. It is always used with reference
to Egypt. — 13-15. Israel's duty is to cleave steadfastly to
Jehovah ; and not to forsake Him for other gods, lest His
jealousy be roused, and He be moved to destroy His people. —
13. Jehovah thy God shalt thou fear] the fundamental element
of the religious temper and the basis of other religious
emotions [e.g. of devotion and love, 10^^), often inculcated in
Dt. (4I0 526(29) 62. 24 86 1012. 20 135 1423 1719 2858 31 12. 13), ««The
fear of Jehovah " and " one that feareth Jehovah "or ** God "
(ni,T nxT; (D-n^x) mn^ j^T; job i^ 2828 Ex. 1821 &c.) are thus
the Hebrew equivalents of '• religion," and "religious." — And
him shalt thou serve] viz. in acts of public devotion, the
spontaneous outcome, and the natural expression, of religious
reverence (1012.20 nis 135(4) 28*7 Ex. 2325 Is. 1923 &c).
No doubt the word was also used more widely, so as to include the
performance of other duties belonging to a religious life ; but its primary
sense of executing definite and formal acts of worship is apparent from
such passages as Ex. 3'* 4** 7'^ lo** 13* ("to serve this service," of the
Feast of Unleavened Cakes): cf. c. i2''*^*. In the Priests' Code, both the
verb and the subst. {n3V> '^l^U) are used technically of the performance of
sacred duties by priests and Levites (e.g^. Nu. 4*' 16*).
And by his name shalt thou swear] so io2*>. A person taking
11. i?''3?i] in contin. of in'3' '3 (v.'") : Dr. § 115.— nyaen] Dr. § 104 ; G-K.
§ 49. 3f. — 13. Notice (thrice) the emph. position of the obj. (cf. i^").
VI. to-t'?
9S
an oath invokes naturally the name of the God whom he
reveres ; an oath is accordingly a peculiarly solemn confession
of faith. The Israelite is to swear by Jehovah Himself, not
by Ba'al (Jer. 12^^) or even by idolatrous representations of
Jehovah (Am. 8") : a blessing is promised by Jeremiah to
those who swear by Him faithfully (Jer. 42 12^^). "He that
sweareth by Jehovah" (Ps. 63^2(^^)) is thus a synonym of
Jehovah's true worshipper: cf. Is. 48^ — 14. Go after] 4^ 8^^
ii28 1^3 (of following Jehovah, v.^) 28^*. — Other gods] Ex. 20^*
( = Dt. 57) 23I3 Dt. 7* 81» I1I6.28 138.7.14 173 i820 2814-36.64
2925(26) 30^^ 31I8. 20j Jos. 23^^ 242- 16. The expression, though
found occasionally elsewhere, is specially characteristic of
writers of the Deuteronomic school (in particular, compiler of
Kings, and Jer. : not in Is., or other prophets. Comp. the
Introd. § 5). — 15. A jealous God] on 42*. — In the midst of thee]
on 1*2: cf. 721 2315(14) Jos. 310 Hos. ii» Jer. 148 ah— Destroy
(n^oB'n)J i27.
16-19. Israel is not to put Jehovah to the test, but rather
to obey His commandments, in order that prosperity may
attend it. — 16. Ye shall not put Jehovah to the proof y ^'c] by
calling in question, for instance, His presence amongst them,
as they had done formerly at Massah (Ex. 172-7; cf. Dt. 922 338
Ps. 95^), or by doubting His word.
Tempt is a misleading rendering- ; for to tempt has, in modem English,
acquired the sense oi provoking or enticing a. person in order that he may
act in a particular way (=Heb. n'pri) : np^ is a neutral word, and means to
test or prove a person, to see whether he will act in a particular way (Ex.
16^ Jud. 2^ 3*), or -whether the character he bears is well established (i K.
lo'). God thus proves a person, or puts him to the test, to see if his fidelity
or affection is sincere, Gn. 22^ Ex. 20^" Dt. 8* {q-v.), ij*'**, cf. Ps. 26*; and
men test, or prove, Jehovah when they act as if doubting whether His
promise be true, or whether He is faithful to His revealed character,
Ex. 172-7 Nu. i4*» Ps. 78I8 (see v.")-«-«'' 95* 106", cf. Is. fK So massoth
^34 ^19 2g2(3) g^pg jjqj "temptations," but trials, provings (see note on 4^).
MassaK] i.e. Proving {^-x.. I'j^). — 17. Testimonies] 4*^. — Hath
commanded thee] on 4^ 529(32). — jg. Shalt do that which is right
and good in Jehovah's eyes] so 1228 2 Ch. 14I 3120. Usually
without "and good " ; and in that form, a phrase used frequently
by Deut. writers, esp. the compiler of Kings: see 1225 1318(18)
15. T'lM'-'n . . . mn' |b] on 4". — 18. ^inp nK2i] on 4^ ; and Dr. § i la 4.
96 DEUTERONOMY
2i» Ex. 152* I K. ii33. 38 &c. (Introd. § 5). The correlative,
To do that which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah^ is yet more
frequent in writers of the same school: Dt. 4^^ 9^^ 17^ 31^^
Jud. 2^^ 3'^- 12 &c. (see ibid.). — That it ?nay be well for thee] 5'*^.
--That thou may est go in, &c.] 4^. — The good laiid\ i^^. — 19.
To thrust out (ei"in)] a rare word, occurring- besides in this
application only 9* Jos. 23^ (D^). — As Jehovah hath spoken] cf.
Ex. 2327 ff..
20-25. The children of successive generations are to be
instructed in the origin and scope of the law now set before
Israel. — 20. When thy son asketh thee in time to come (lit. to-
morrow), saying] verbatim as Ex. 13^*, in a similar inquiry.
— Testimonies] 4*^. — 21. Brought 11s forth, &c.] cf. Ex. 13I*.
Afighty hand] 32*. — 22. Signs and port etits] ^^^. — Before our eyes]
434._23. But us (emph.) hg brought out] cf. 420.— 24. To fear,
(jyc] Jehovah, that He might complete His redemptive work
towards Israel, gave it this law, to keep alive in it the spirit
of true religion, and to secure in perpetuity its national welfare.
— For good to us continually] lo^^ (cf. on 4*"). — To keep us alive]
cf. on 4^. — As at this day] on 2^". — 25. And if we are careful
to observe this law, we shall have done all that we are re-
quired to do, and shall be accounted righteous before Him. —
It shall be righteotisness tinto us] cf. 24^^ (which makes it not
improbable that the words "before Jehovah our God" have
here been accidentally misplaced, and that they ought to follow
" unto us ") ; also Gn. 15^ Ps. 106^^
VII. 1-5. In the land of Canaan, the Israelites are not to
mingle with the native inhabitants, but to extirpate them
completely, and to destroy all their religious symbols. — 1.
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land] so S^''
11^. — And shall clear away] see below. — The Hittite (i), and
20. ■inD] = «n time to coTtie, as Ex. 13" Jos. 4*-2i a/.— 23. i:nixi] emph. :
^i4.2o__24. ijV aitjS] 10" Jer. 32«9 ; cf. ) yi^ Jer. 78 25'.— nin dimd] the art.,
exceptionally, not elided after 3, as happens 6 times (on 2**) in this
phrase, and occasionally besides (see on 2 S. 21^; G-K. § 35. 2 R.^).
YII. 1. Sb-j] so V.22 ; 2 K. i6« (Piel) ; in Ex. 3* Jos. s^^t of drawing off a
sandal. Arab, nashala is extra.xit{e.g. camem ex lebete) : in Ex. 2"^ Saad.
= Heb. vn'CD. Wj in 19* 28^" is a different word, corresponding to the
Arab, nasala, to drop off (pi a. hair, feathers, &c.).
VI. 19— VII. I 97
the Girgashite (2), and the Amorite (3), a7id the Canaayiite (4),
and the Perizzite (5), and the Hivite (6), and the Jebusite (7)]
such enumerations of the nations of Canaan are common, esp.
in JE (in many cases probably — Jos. 24^^ is one that is very
clear — introduced by the compiler) and Deut. writers.
Thus (representing' the several nations, for brevity, by the figures just
attached to them) we have Ex. 3^ and '''(413567). 13^ (4 i 3 6 7). 23'^'
(315467). 2328 (6 4 1). 33- (4 3 I 5 6 7)- 34" (341567)- Dt- 20" (134s
6 7). Jos. 310 (4 I 6 5 2 3 7). 9I and 128 (i 3 4 5 6 7). ii^ (4 3 i 5 7 6). 24"
(3541267). Jud. 3' (4 I 3 5 6 7)- I K. 9-« (3156 7)=2 Ch. 8^ (1356 7).
See also Ezr. 9' Neh. 9^ The fullest enumeration is Gn. 15'^'-' (153427,
-j-the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, and the Rephaim). Nu. 13^
is somewhat different, on account of the topographical character of the
notices contained in it (cf. p. 11). Seven nations are enumerated only
Dt. 7* Jos. 3'" 24" (both D^) : but (5 often completes the same number by
inserting 2 before 6 7. In Gn. 13'' 34'^ (both J) Jud. i'''*(also perhaps J)
4 5 are specified alone. Five of the nations here named (viz. 173 26),
together with some others, are also included in J's ethnographical table in
Gn. io'^"'8, where they are described as "begotten" by Canaan; i.e.
being tribes inhabiting in common the country of Canaan, their relationship
to each other is expressed by their being represented as the children of an
eponymous ancestor, "Canaan." Cf. Budde, Die Bihl. Urgesch. p. 344 ff.
The intention of these enumerations is obviously rhetorical,
rather than geographical or historical ; they are designed for
the purpose of presenting an impressive picture of the number
and variety of the nations dispossessed by the Israelites.
Elsewhere (see p. 11) the Amorite and Canaanite, the two
principal tribes which once occupied Palestine, stand alone as
representing the pre-Israelitish population : in the present lists,
the minor tribes, living beside them in particular localities, are
included as well.
The Hittites will have been a branch or offshoot of the great nation
of Hatti, whose capital city was Kadesh on the Orontes, N. of Canaan
(cf. 2 S. 24® IL XiTTiiift. KaSjif for "Tahtim Hodshi), and the extent of
whose empire (cf. i K. 10^ 11' 2 K. 7®) is attested by notices in the
Assyrian and Egyptian Inscriptions, and by their own monuments (at
present undecyphered) ; the reference is probably in particular to parts
in the extreme N. of Canaan, under Lebanon and Hermon, which are
alluded to elsewhere as having been in their occupation ; coiiip. Jud. i-® 3*
{Hittite for Hivite) Jos. 11* (5 {Hivite for pittite, and then "the Hittite
under Hermon "). The Girgashites are named besides only in the lists Gn.
10'^ (=1 Ch. i") 15*' Jos. 3'" 24" Neh. ^^\, without any indication of the
locality which they inhabited. On the Amorite, and the Canaanite, see
p. II. The Perizzites are mentioned (apart from the lists quoted above) io
7
98 DEUTERONOMY
Gn. 13^ 34*' Jud. !*•• (in each case beside the Canaanite), Jos. 17" (beside
the Rephaim), apparently as living in the centre of Palestine, in the
neighbourhood of Bethel and Shechem. The name is derived possibly
from the same root as "na (on 3*), in which case it will signify properly
dwellers in the open country. From the Perizzites not being named among
the descendants of Canaan in Gn. lo'^'^*, it has been conjectured (Riehm,
HWB.^ p. 1 193; Dillm. on Gn. 10^') that they were the survivors of the
pre-Canaanitish population of Palestine, expelled from their strongholds
by the Canaanite invaders, but maintaining themselves beside their
conquerors in the open country. The Hivites appear in Shechem and
Gibe'on (Gn. 34'' Jos. ^ 1 1^^ ; cf. 2 S. 24') : ihejebusites are well known as
the tribe whose stronghold was the fortress of Jerusalem (Jos. 18^ Jud. i^^
2 S. 5" a/.).
Greater and mightier than thoii\ cf. v.^'^ 4'^^ 9' ii^^. — 2.
Deliver up be/ore] i*. — Thou shall devote them] or ban them.
An archaic institution often alluded to in the OT. As Arabic
shows, the term used means properly to separate or seclude ;
in Heb. (as in Moabitish) it was applied in particular to denote
separation to a deity. Mesha' in his Inscription, 1, 16-18, tells
how, after he had succeeded in carrying off the "vessels of
Yahweh " from Nebo (Nu. 32"^^), and "dragged" them before
Chemosh, he "devoted" 7000 Israelitish prisoners to 'Ashtor-
Chemosh (*no"inn CD3 ~\T\^'h '3). In Israel, the usage was
utilized so as to harmonize with the principles of their religion
and to satisfy its needs. It became a mode of secluding, or
rendering harmless, anything imperilling the religious life of
the nation, such objects being withdrawn from society at
large, and presented to the sanctuary, which had power, if
necessary, to authorize their destruction. It was thus applied,
in particular, for the purpose of checking idolatry. It is
mentioned first in the Book of the Covenant, Ex. 22^^'^°), of
the disloyal Israelite, i^?^ r\)r\h ^nb D^n; D^n'^Jx!' ri2f. More
commonly the Q^.Q is prescribed for the case of those outside
the community of Israel : here and v.^-^*^- 2oi6-^^ for the idola-
trous Canaanites : in 1313-19(12-18) t}^g idolatrous Israelite city
is to be treated similarly. The "devotion " of a city involved
the death of all human beings resident in it : the cattle and
spoil were destroyed, or not, at the same time, according to
the gravity of the occasion (contrast Dt. 2^^^- and i S. 15^).
Instances of the h^rem being put in force (which is referred to with
esp. frequency by D and D*) are : Nu. 21"^' (JE), after a vow ; Dt. 2**'* 3*'"
VII. 2-6 99
Jos. z'o io>- «•»••'"•»• « ,,ii.i2-a'-'^i (all D^). e'^"-:" (cf. 7" ''') S''-^; Jud.
2i""-; I S. I s'* *•'•" (the whole spoil was here ma.de hi'rem, or "devoted":
a part of it was afterwards reserved by Saul, as it was secreted by 'Achan
on a similar occasion, Jos. 7'* ""''). In AV. □*^nn is usually rendered
"utterly destroy," and Din "accursed thing-"; but these terms both
express secondary ideas, besides being- apparently unrelated to each
other; in RV. "utterly destroy" has been mostly retained for onnn, with
" Heb. devote" on the margin, and onn being rendered "devoted thing,"
the connexion between the two cognate terms is preserved. For fig. uses
of both, see Is. ii'"* (unless annn should here be read) 34^ Jer. 25* Mic. 4'*
Mai. 3-^(4*); I K. 20^- ('mn r'x) Is. 34" ("Din ny), — The root is the Arab.
}tarama, to shut off, prohibit, whence the harim or sacred Ti^itot of the
Temple at Mecca, and the harim, the secluded apartment of the women,
applied also to its occupants, i.e. the "harem."
Thou shalt make no covenant ivith them] so Ex. 23^2^ q{^ ^^u
(both JE). — 3. A^or join thyself in marriage •with theni\ lit.
make thyself inn, or son-in-law : so Jos. 23^2 ^i^ j cf. Gn. 34''
I S. 1 821. — ^'•^^ /j^ daughter shalt thou take unto thy son] cf.
Ex. 34^**. — 4. For he will turn away thy son from following me]
Ex. 34 1®^. — Me] the discourse of Moses passing insensibly
into that of God, as very often in the prophets: so ii^*^- 17^
2820 2^'^^-.— Quickly] cf. 426 2820.— 5. All objects worshipped, or
held sacred, by the Canaanites are to be destroyed. — Their
altars ye shall break down, and their pillars ye shall dash in
pieces, and their Asherim ye shall hew dowti] repeated verbally
from Ex. 34^2 ^cf. 232*), with the single change oi cut into hew.
cf. Dt. 123. On the "pillars" or •'obelisks" ("13!^), and
"Asherim" (D^^^'N), see on 1621-22.
6-11. The ground of the preceding prohibitions : Israel is
sacred to Jehovah, and motives of gratitude, not less than of
fear, should impel it to obedience. — 6. For thou art an holy
people, ^c] based, with rhetorical variations, upon Ex. ig^-^
("ye shall be unto me a peculiar possession out of all the
peoples, ... an holy 7iation "), the classical passage defining
the terms of the covenant between Jehovah and His people. —
An holy people] so 142- 21 2619, cf. 28^. Comp. Ex. 223° mp ^CJNI
4. '-inxD . . . TD'] cf. " 'inxD to i S. 12^. — 5. Iiynj.? . . . ^ihR] notice the
emphatic pausal form, with the smaller distinctive accent Zaqef, at points
at which the voice would naturally rest: cf. Gn. 15" niiy:, Jer. 35''
iVen . . ivjin, Hos. 4^' 'ipp;, 8' ?yir!; and frequently. — d.ttk'n] with
', as Mic. 5" 3 K. 17'^t. — 6. '• nnn 12] for the position of la, cf. 14' 18'
21" ; also Gn. 2» Ex. 23!" 2 K. 5^ Ps. 28^ 33*1 63^ 91" I042'>.
lOO DEUTERONOMY
"h ^^^n (see on 14^*^). The holiness of Israel, partly ceremonial,
partly moral, as a quality demanded of Israel by Jehovah the
Holy One, is insisted on with great emphasis in the Code of
laws contained in Lev. 17-26, often now termed, in conse-
quence of this characteristic, the " Law of Holiness" {L.O.T.
p. 43 ff.) — C/ioscn] first used as a theological term, denoting
God's choice of Israel (though the idea, expressed more gener-
ally, occurs before, 6'.^, Am. 3^ Ex. 19^"''), in Dt. (4^^ 7'^ lo^^
142) : so Jer. 33^*, and in II Isaiah, Is. 418-9 ^^^o- 20 44!- 2 454^ ^Iso
(of the future) Is. 14^ 65^- ^^- 22, and of Jehovah's ideal servant,
42^49^. Comp. on 12^. — A peculiar people] >^^^P ^V, i.e. "a
people of special possession," a people specially treasured, and
prized, by Jehovah (" peculiar" being used in the sense of the
Lat. pectilians, from peciiWim, a technical term denoting the
private property which a child or slave was allowed by parent
or master to possess) : so 14^ 26^^. The force of ^^'Jp appears
from I Ch. 29^ Eccl. 2^, where it is used of a private treasure
(of gold, silver, &c.) belonging to kings. It is applied to
Israel in the fundamental passage Ex. 19^ (npJD 'h DJT'N'T)) ;
whence also Ps. 135*, and (of the faithful Israelites in the future)
Mai. 3^^ (see RV.). — 7-8. Jehovah has thus chosen and re-
deemed Israel, not on account of its numbers, but because He
loved it and would not forget His promise to its forefathers. —
7. The smallest of all the peoples] cf. v.i 4^8 9I iiSS; contrast
jio io22 ("as the stars of heaven"), 4^ 26^ ("great nation").
The representation of Israel's numbers and power appears to
vary, in different passages, according to the thought which
the Writer at the time desires to impress. — 8. Loved you] so
v_i3 236 (cf. the love for the patriarchs 4^7 lo^^). The doctrine of
Jehovah's love of Israel is not expressed elsewhere in the Pent. ;
and if the date assigned to Dt. by critics be correct, it is first
taught by the prophet Hosea, who conceives the relation of
Jehovah to His people as a moral unioiiy marked by love and
affection on the one side, and demanding a corresponding love
and affection on the other. In Hos. 1-3 the figure of the
7. ptJ-n] lo^" 21". Rare (Gn. 348 Ps. 91"; Is. 38^^ i K. 919=2 Ch. 8«|).
— BVOn] the art. gives to bvd the force of a superlative, — "the fewest'
{Ux. n 1 b).— 8. coHN '' nanxD] cf. x"". p as v.' 9^8 Ez. 35".
VII. 7-9 lOl
marrJag'e tie is effectively applied for the purpose of symboliz-
ing tnis : in Hos. ii^-* Jehovah is represented as cherishing
towards His people the love and affection of a father ; comp.
3^ 9^5, and (in the promise for the future) 14'^ (^). In later
prophets the idea recurs Jer. 31^ Is. 43'* 63^ Mai. 1^, and (of
the future) Zeph. 3^^. See further W. R. Smith, Prophets of
Israel^ p. I54ff.; Cheyne's Hosea (in the Cambridge Bible for
Schools), pp. 15 ff., 22 ff.; and the author's Sermons on the O.T.
(1892), p. 222 f. — The oath which he siaare, &'c.\ of. 9^^ ; see on
i^. — A mighty hand] 32^. — Ransomed thee (inS)'''!)] here used fig.
of deliverance from the "house of bondage" (6^2j_
In its technical sense ms means to ransom a person, or animal, from
death, either by a substitute, or by payment of a sum of money (Ex.
•3^^' ^^34"" Nu. i8^^-'®*", of ransoming the firstborn), comp. Ex. 21* Lev.
19™ of ransoming- a woman, who has been betrothed : it is then often
applied figfuratively to deliverance from trouble, danger, death, &c. (2 S.
49 I K. 1-^9 Is. 2922 Hos. 131^ Ps. 26" 78^- Job 52" al.); as here, of the
deliverance from Egypt, g^*" 13* 15^* 21^ 24^^ (not so elsewhere in the Pent.) ;
comp. 2 S. i'^, and esp. Mic. 6'* (Tnns onny n'3Di). The primary sense of
thf synonym "jnj, Ex. 6" (P), 15^^ (the Song), is different : '7NI is properly to
resume a claiyn or right which has lapsed, to reclaim, re-vindicate ; it is
thus used Lev. 2^^- of the redemption of a house or field, after it has been
sold (cf. Jer. 32'-^); Dt. 19*' al. (see note), in the expression D'jri ^NJ, it
denotes the person who vindicates the rights of a murdered man, i.e. the
"avenger of blood." Like m£3, '^nj is then also used metaphorically of
release from trouble of various kinds {e.g. Gn. 48'^ Hos. 13" || ms, Jer. 31"
II id., Ps. 69'^ 72^^ 103* ; and esp. in II Isaiah, of Jehovah's reclaiming His
people from exile in Babylon, Is. 41'^ 43^ 44— &c.). The fig. use of the
two words varies, however, in diff'erent books ; thus in the Psalms ma is
more common than Sk:, in II Isaiah "tkj is the usual term.
9-10. And Israel's God is one Who rewardeth with equal
justice both those who love Him, and those that hate Him.
Vv. 9-10 are an exposition of the 2nd Commandment of the
Decalogue.— 9. He is the GoaT (a^n^sn)] 435.39; cf. 10^^.— The
faithful God] cf. v.s Is. 49^: also Ex. 34^ (n?2X1 non m). f^0^«
faithfulness (not truth) — i.e. fidelity to His promise, or revealed
character — is an attribute which is frequently mentioned as
characterizing Jehovah, Gn. 24^^ Ps. 301'' 31^ 43^ al. — Which
keepeth the covena7it and the loving-kindness] i.e. the covenant
and the loving-kindness, which He has promised before, and
which are familiarly known.
9. nVT.M] on 4". So v.".— rn] 3-. — cnl^Nn] i^ 2 K. \<^^ Is. 45'* (p. 91).
I02 DEUTERONOMY
ion is a wider and more comprehensive term than "mercy*': "mercy"
is properly the quality by which a person renounces, out of motives of
benevolence or compassion, his legfitimate rights against one, for instance,
who has offended or injured him ; but ion is a quality exercised mutually
amongst equals ; it is the kindliness of feeling', consideration, and courtesy,
which adds a grace and softness to the relations subsisting between
members of the same society (comp. the common expression, "to do ion
and faithfulness with a person," Gn. 24''^ 47^^* Jos. 2" &c., i.e. to show
towards one the kindness and faithfulness of a true friend). The force
of non is most adequately represented by kindness (Hos. 4^ 6'''® i2''(*')i or
when applied to God — for the term is too strong to be used generally of
men — loving-kindness. Cf. W. R. Smith, Prophets, pp. i6ofF., 406 f.
To them that love him (6^), drr., to a thousand generations]
Ex. 20® "doing' loving-kindness unto thousands, related to
(^) them that love me, and keep my commandments." The
"thousands" of the 2nd Commandment does not mean
definitely to the thousandth descendant of the godly man, but,
in virtue of the solidarity of the family or the tribe (which was
much more strongly felt in antiquity than in modern times :
comp. e.g. Jos. 72*^- 2 S. 21^-^^ c. 24), it denotes thousands
of those belonging to, or connected with, him, whether by
domestic, or social, or national ties : those who love God, and
in virtue of that love, experience the tokens of His favour,
form, as it were, centres, whence, upon thousands brought
within range of their influence, the blessings of His mercy are
diffused abroad. The in t^^x of Dt. 7^ is thus a rhetorical
amplification, rather than an exact interpretation, of the CD^x
of Ex. 20^. — 10. Repaying them that hate him to their face ; he
deferreth (it) not, cSr'c.] stress is laid on the fact that the evil-
doer, whether or not his descendants suffer likewise (Ex. 20^),
is requited in person for h:s misdeeds: cf. 24^** (see note). Job
21I9 j?T1 V^X D-'C'^ (Job's wish: see RV.).— 11. The practical
duty based upon Jehovah's moral dealings with men, the
obligation, viz. upon Israel's part, of obeying the command-
ments now laid before it. — The conimandmenty (Sr'c] 528(31) 51,
12-16. The reward of Israel's obedience will be prosperity
and health. — The passage in general character resembles the
exhortation, Ex. 2325-27^ at the end of the "Book of the
10. i':s Sn] cf. Job 13'*. lL\\&sing. sufF. (cf. n'aNn"?), after VKwS, individual-
izing : cf. (if the text be always sound) 7^'' Lev. zi' 25^1 Jud. i^^^-'^"^ 7* i.'^
2032". 43 pg. ,28 ,7i2«. (see w'-) 358 41^ 552". 736b jgr. zz^i'^G-K. § 145. 5 R.).
VII. IO-I6 I03
Covenant," and contains reminiscences from it. — 12. Because]
see below. — Will keep for thee] v.^-*. — The covenant, &€.]
4^^ — 13. And bless thee and multiply thee] Gn. 22^'^ 26^'- 2*. —
The fruit of thy wo?nb (i:on)] 28*- ^i- 1^- ^i- ^^ 30^: cf. Gn. 30^
Mic. 6'' Is. 13^*^ Ps. 127^ 132^^1. — Corn . . ., wine . . ., oil] the
three chief products of the soil of Palestine, often named
together in similar passages: 11^^ is^^^ 1422 18* 28^1 Hos.
2 10. 24(8. '22) J g J. 2 1 12 al. The terms used denote these pro-
ducts in an unmanufactured state, — relatively (t-'ii'ri), if not
absolutely (IJ"n, -inv*)_pT not cn^, K'ii'n not r:, ^ny> not I'p:;'.
cnTD, though not entirely unfermented, or harmless (Hos. 4'!),
was nevertheless a much fresher extract of the grape than p^
(cf. Mic. 6^^ Is. 65^ Jud. 9^^). — Increase . . .young-] on the
rare words thus rendered, see below. — Upon the grou7id which
he sware, (SrT.j ii^- ^^ 28^^ 30^0 31^°. — 14. Or female barren] Ex.
2326. — In thee] on 15*. — 15. Will remove from thee all sickness]
Ex. 2325 "]a"ipD nSriD ^niTDnv — Will ptU none, ^fc] cf. Ex. 1526
(JE) -yhii □"'t:'x xS Dnv»3 'njoe* ik'x n^nr^n ^3. — Evil diseases of
Egypt] cf. 2827- 35 (the Dnvo p^t^•) ^^. — Which thou knowest] cf.
n'i<"i lE'X i^^. The climate of Egypt is unhealthy, especially
at certain seasons of the year, elephantiasis and other skin
complaints, dysentery, and ophthalmia being particularly
prevalent (cf. Hengstenberg, Die Bb. Mose'svnd Aeg. p. 225 f.;
and Pruner, Krankheiten des Orients, p. 460 ff., referred to
by Dillm.). All such diseases, it is promised, if Israel be
obedient, will be laid by Jehovah upon its foes. — 16. The para-
graph ends (cf. Ex. 2322^-) with a renewed inculcation of what
12. pvoi^n 3py] in re-ward for (the fact) that ye hearken = because ye
hearken : so 8-". Cf. Am. 4^'' ("3 apy). More often of past time, Gn. 22^*
al. — Dnnon] with a frequent, force : Dr. § 1 15 (5.7;. npv). — lS] /or thee, on thy
behoof: so V idi Lev. 26« a/.— 13. TsSk -\y^\ so 28^- 1*-"" ; nona ije* Ex. i-^
(JE)t. The root is preserved in the Aram. "iJtf* to drop, e.g. tears Jer. 13",
"13P to cast forth (a corpse) c. 28-"*, to drop (young) Ex. 13^- Ps.-Jon. On
the St. c. TJif', V. G-K. § 93 R.i B ; Stade, § igi".— "pKX mncy] so 28^- '8- "t.
The expression is peculiar (lit. '^^ Wi^'Ashtoreths of thy flock"); it must
have its origin in the name of the goddess ' Ashtoreth, and appears to
show that this deity, under one of her types, had the form of a sheep (v.
W. R. Smith, Ret. Sent. 457 f., cf. 292).— 14. -inonaai mpyi ipy -[Z .TJr vh\
'yi 'y "incnaai ^3 ri%T vh might seem to be a neater and more logical sentence ;
but there are many examples of a similar order in Heb. : e.g. i^ (see
note), 28^»* Gn. 28" 12"' 281*" 41* 43"- ^^ Ex. yi;"\—li. mo] 28«t.
I04 DEUTERONOMY
is here foremost in the Writer's thought (v.^*^), the destruction
of the Canaanites. — Shalt devour\ Ht. eat (^3N), a semi-poetical
usage, Jer. lo^^ 30^6 tp' \ cf. "our bread," Nu. 14^. — Thine
eye shalt not pity theni\ 139(8) igis. 21 25^2; the same idiom
also Gn. 4520 Is. 13I8, and often in Ez. Cf. v.2 DSnn ^.—
Neither shalt thou serve their gods, &'c.'\ varied from Ex. 23^
{j'piD^ "b n\-i> ^3 Dn-'n^s nnyn o : cf. 3412.
17-24. In its struggle with the nations of Canaan, let
Israel rest assured that Jehovah will still be present with
His aid. — 17. If thou shalt say in thine heart] 182^ ; cf. 9*. — 18.
What Jehovah thy God did, &'c.\ cf. 43* 62if-.— 19. Provings\ 43*.
— WJiich thine eyes saw\ 4^. — 20. And the hornet als6\ Ex. 232*
"I^3D^ ny-ivn-ns ^nn^cn, cf. Jos. 24^2 (E or D^). The hornet is
named ("and also") as a specially terrible plague, by which
Israel was to be aided in the expulsion of the Canaanites ; it
would penetrate even into the hiding-places in which "those
who were left " of the Canaanites had taken refuge, and force
them to relinquish them. Two of the four species of hornet
found in Palestine construct their nests underground or in
cavities of rocks : and should a horse tread on a nest, it is
necessary to fly with all speed ; for the combined attack from
such a swarm has been known to be fatal [DB."^ s.v.). — 21. ///
the midst of thee] 6^^.— Terrible] iqI^, cf. 2858.-22. Shall clear
away (v.^) these nations by little and little, &c.] varied from
Ex. 2330. 29b_ Quickly is of course a relative term, and must
be understood here of a shorter period than in 9^ (cf. a similar
divergence of representation in the note on v.'^) : it corresponds
to "in one year" in Ex. 2329. — 23-24. The destruction of the
Canaanites will be complete. — 23. Deliver up before thee]
19. "i.x'iiin nu'N] an extreme case ot ncN used as a mere link of con-
nexion between two sentences : = wherewith ; cf. 28-" i S. 2^ Jud.
8'* (^Lex. ncK 4c).— 21. pj?n «'?] i^.— 22. Sxn] 4'*2._b5;d eyo] so Ex.
23^" ; cf. c. 28*^. The repetition expresses gradual progress ; G-K. § 133.
3 R.3 — Vdw n*?] expressing a ynoral possibility = " thou mayest not,"
—a usage of Sv almost confined to Dt. (121' 16* \f^ 21I8 223-19-29 24*;
Gen. 43^^). — 23. Don]] "pointed as though from Dirt on account of naino"
(Dillm.). Elsewhere the verb in use is Dcn {■2}'^ ah), of which, however, in
the pf. only the uncontracted form occurs before suffixes (Je. 51** '????;
2 Ch. 15' DCcn); perhaps csn was avoided as a soloecism (cf. Konig, i.
p. 486).— mDtf.T ny] cf. tdct ip 28-''- '-^- ■"• ^^- ".— T3S3 «i"« ^^'n' k*?) so 11^;
VII. 17-26 I05
varied from Ex. 23^^ : see on i*. — Discomfit\ Ex. 23^^*. — A
great discomjinire] i S. 5^ 1420. — 24. Their kings] Jos. lo^^ff- 1 1I2
12^*^-. — Make their name to perish from under heaven] cf. with
blot out (nno) 9^* 2519 29^9^ — 6"/«w^ z» thy face] 1 1^^ ; see below.
25-26. But in the hour of victory, let not Israel be
tempted to make truce with the idolatry of Canaan. — 25.
Their graven images ye shall bjirn with fire] repeated from v.^.
— The silver and the gold upon them] i.e. the precious metal
with which the wooden core, or framework of the idol, was
overlaid : cf. Is. 30^2 40^9 Hab. 2^^. — Lest thou be snared
by it] i.e. (the reference being- not to the images, but to the
precious metal upon them) not "be seduced into idolatry,"
but "be brought into misfortune," through God's judgment
being provoked by the idolatrous relic. — An abomination of
fehovah thy God {yrhvi. mn" nnyin)] similarly, as the final
ground of a prohibition, 17I iS^^ 22^ 231^ 24* 25^^: cf. 7^6 12^1
13^5 1^3 j^4 2715 22^^. Never so in JE; in the "Law of
Holiness" (Lev. 17-26), comp. Lev. 1822.26.27.29.30 2013 (but
only of sins of unchastity). The expression JehovaKs abomina-
tion also occurs frequently in the Book of Proverbs (ii20 12^2
158 al.). — 26. And become a devoted thing (D'^n) like it] the
with noy Jos. 10* 21^ 23^!: cf. 'js"? 3^'n.T 9^ Jos. i*. "333 is stronger than
'JsV, expressing; not merely before, but in the face of against, in a hostile
sense: cf. 'J33 njy to answer against, Job 16* Hos. 5^; ':S3 pT to spit
against or in one's face, c. 25'. — DHN "[-GVn ny] similarly 28^^ Jos. 11'*. Of
course in these passages, and most probably also in i K. 15^^ 2 K. 10^^,
the suffix, as in Lev. i4''^'' (niiipn nnt<) the form, and in Jer. 50^ (V'Jin ]V^^
rJTHi . . .) the syntax, shows that the punctuators must have recognized
an inf. Hif. with fyireq (cf. on 3^). Such a form of the inf. is however
highly anomalous, and very insufficiently explained by the suggestion
(Konig, p. 212) that it is due to the analogy of the perfect ; for though it is
true (Ew. § 23S') that it is usually found after a noun or a nounal prep,
(not 3, 3, h), and so in a position which would readily admit of a finite verb,
yet the syntax could not in such cases have actually permitted it ; the
motive, therefore, though it is one which might have influenced the
punctuators, is hardly one that could have determined the pronunciation
in the living language. In all probability the punctuation, in these cases,
does not represent an original and true tradition ; and -n should be
throughout restored for -n. Comp. on 3^ 28'^ In Lev. 14*®'' Tjon 'D' Va
iriN, Jer. 51^^ n^'Tin nj?, the syntax will permit Tion and I'Tin to be treated,
as they stand, as perfects (see i S. 25^* Jer. 49^ 50^^) : so also Lev. 14''^ tpih
yin (see Jer. 40'). — 25. 1*7 nnpSi] under the government of vh in icnn xS (Dr.
§ 115, ^.w. kS). So v.26 igio 22i'* 23I'. On l"?, see on i^^.
I06 DEUTERONOMY
tainted metal is to be "devoted" (v.^) : the Israelite is to
abstain even from bringing- it into his house, lest he contract
the same taint himself (Jos. 6^8^ 712 ; cf. Jos. 6^^- 2* 711- 21. 24),_
Thou shall ullerly detesl il\ Ki?r'> here rendered *' detest," is
used specially with reference to prohibited kinds of food (Lev.
ijii. 18. 43 2o25) ; and the subst. Ki?^ is used similarly (Lev. 721
1 1 10-13. 20. 23. 41. 42 Ez. S^o Is. 66171). )*^P'V' delesluMe Ihing often
denotes false gods or idols (29^^, with the note). Both these
words are commonly represented in AV., RV., by abominalion,
though this rather corresponds to the more general and
ordinary word ^'^V)'^ (v.25). It is to be regretted that in the
English versions the distinction between the two roots has
not been more uniformly preserved.
VIIL The lessons of the wilderness. — 1-5. Let Israel
remember how their life in the wilderness had been a period
of discipline, in which God had taught the infant nation its
dependence upon Him. — L All the conutiandment, which, ^c.^
118.22 1^5 jg9 27I, cf. 625; comp. on 528(31). f^g whole of the
Deut. law — the principle of ii^"^^, together with all that is
involved in it — is to be obeyed by the Israelite. The ex-
hortation of 529f- (32f.) 62f 17-19 yii. 12 js repeated, for the purpose
of enforcing it by a fresh motive, \.^^-. — Observe to do] 5^. —
That ye 7nay live, &'c.\ cf. 4^ 530(33) 53. — Qq {f^ and possess,
&cJ\ i^. — 2-6. The new motive: the recollection of the years
spent in the wilderness, and the evidence which they afforded
of the loving, yet searching and testing, providence of God.
— 2. Led thee forty years in the wilderness] Am. 2^°. — To
humble thee] by teaching thee, viz., thy dependence upon
Him ; cf. v.^- ^^. — To prove thee] cf. on 6^^. Hunger (v.^), or
other privations, according to the spirit in which they are
received, are a test of the temper of those who experience
them. — To know what was in thine heart] i.e. to discover thy
real purposes and disposition : cf. i S. 14^ 2 K. io^° 2 Ch.
32^1 (133^3 ^3 T\Th \T\\yh). — Whether thou wouldest keep, &€.]
cf. esp. Ex. 16* JE (of the manna); Jud. 3*. — 3. In particAilar
the manna is pointed to, as illustrating the discipline of the
YIII. 1. nn'^m] pf., as 4I.— 2. nt] 2^.— kS on ... n] Ex. 16* Nu. ii*^ at.
[Lex. n 2 b). — 3. pV];] so v. "f. The J- in the 3rd pi. per/.— unlike the J- in
VIII. 1-3 lo;
wilderness: Israel's self-sufficiency was "humbled," first by
its being suffered to feel a want, and afterwards by the manner
in which its want was supplied ; it was thus taught how, for
its very existence, it was daily (Ex. i6*) dependent on the
(creative) word of God. On the manna, see Ex. i6 (JE and
P), Nu. 11*-^ 21^ (both JE); and comp. Bacon, /i/Z/A 1892,
p. 185 fF.; Triple Tradition^ pp. 83-86. Further, the manna
"proved" Israel (v.^^: Ex. 16*), by showiag, viz. whether or
not Israel would accommodate itself, trustfully and con-
tentedly (Nu. 21*), to this state of continued dependence upon
God, and whether therefore it could be trusted to obey
properly any other laws which might in future be laid upon
it. Thus the manna (i) taught Israel its dependence upon
Jehovah, and (2) operated as a test of Israel's disposition.
— Which thou knenaest not, &c.\ cf. 13^(6) 283^*"'*. It was a
food unknown before (Ex. iS^^) ; and consequently a signal
evidence of God's sustaining providence. — That man doth not
live on bread alone, but on every utterance of JehovaKs mouth
doth man live] the didactic treatment of the history continues,
a further lesson being based on the narrative of the manna.
The narrative showed that the natural products of the earth
are not uniformly sufficient for the support of life : the creative
will of God, in whatever other way it may, upon occasion, speci-
ally exert itself, is also a sustaining power, on which man may
find himself obliged to rely. But the words, though originally
suggested by the history of the manna, are not limited in their
import to that particular occasion : they are of wider appli-
cation ; and they are accordingly quoted by our Lord, in His
answer to the tempter (Mt. 4^), for the purpose of showing
that needs of sense do not exhaust the requirements of human
nature, that man leads a spiritual life as well as a physical
the 2nd and 3rd ps. pi. iwp/. (on i^^) — is both anomalous, and philolog-ically
questionable. The only other example in the OT. is Is. 26^^ I'py. The
form is met with occasionally in Syriac and other late dialects (as the
Palest. Targums and the Jerus. Talmud) ; but it is difficult to think that
the three isolated cases in the OT. are original : had the form been in
actual use in ancient Hebrew, the occasions for its employment would
surely have been more numerous {v. Dr. § 6 Obs. 2, p. 6f., with the refil).
—3. Vy] Gen. z?'*" Is. sS'".
I08 DEUTERONOMY
iife, and that by yielding inopportunely to physical necessity,
higher spiritual needs may be neglected or frustrated. —
Utterance (N^io)] on 23^^. — 4. Thy raiment wore not away from
off thee y neither did thy foot Mister^ these forty years] a further
illustration of God's sustaining providence during the years
passed in the wilderness. The terms of the description are
rhetorical, and are not of course to be understood literally, as
was done, for instance, by the Jews, who even fabled [v.
Rashi: cf. Just. c. Tryph. § 131) that the clothes of the
Israelite children grew with their bodies, "like the shell of
a snail"! Cf. ag*^^) Neh. 921 (a quotation).— 5. Know (439),
then, with thine heart, that like as a man disciplines his son,
fehovah thy God is disciplining thee] in the wilderness,
Jehovah had been as a father disciplining- his child (see on 4^^ ;
and cf. Pr. 4^ iq^^ 29^^), and educating him with a view to his
ultimate good (v.^^). Cf. Hos. 2^6(14) ^ti^g wilderness a place
of discipline for renegade Ephraim). — 6. Let Israel, then,
respond with filial obedience. — A7id keep] see below. — To
walk in his ^vays] i.e. in the ways which He approves, and
which He directs men to follow (Ex. iS^o) : so 19^ 26^'^ 28^ 30^^,
with all 10I2 ii22 Jos. 225 (D2) I K. 23 3I4 858 1 133. 38 (all Dcut.),
and occasionally be«'des. With other verbs, both way and
ways are frequent in the same moral application : e.g. Gen.
i8i9 (JE) Ps. i822(2i); cf. on c^^^.— To fear him] 613-24.
7-20. Let Israel take heed lest, in the enjoyment of the
good things of Canaan, it be tempted to forget the Giver, and
ascribe its prosperity to its own natural powers. — 7. For]
the preceding admonition is needful : for Israel is about to
enter into conditions of life in which the lessons of the past
may be only too readily forgotten. The Writer begins by an
eloquent and glowing description of the richly-blessed soil of
Canaan. — A good land] v^^. — A land of streams — properly
Wadys (on 2^3^ — ^ water, of springs and deeps, issuing forth
in vale and hill] an attractive and faithful description of the
4. t'^J'O 'TiSa] a pregnant constr., "wear away (and drop) from upon
thee": so 29\ cf. Job 3o'''- 3".— npx3 Neh. g^if. — 5. nVT;i] know, then,
as 7*. — 5. 133*? oy] for this idiom, use of cy, cf. 15* Jos. 14' i K. S"- "
ioM=i Ch. 67-8 2 Ch. 9I) I Ch. 22> 282 2 Ch. i" 24* 291".— no"] the impf.,
as I**. — 6. niDfi] and keep (as an imper.), carrying on nvT\,
VIII. 4-IO log
Palestinian landscape. For "deeps" (nb'nn), i.e. the "waters
under the earth," see on 4^^ i^ypa is a vale, or plain, — pro-
perly a wide valley (different from X"'3 a ravine), or plain
between mountains (from yp3 to cleave or rend), level (Is. 40*)
and broad (as Jos. ii^^ the ^V?^ of Lebanon, i.e. Ccele-Syria,
the broad sweep between Lebanon and Hermon) : cf. ii^^ 34^.
— 8. A land of ivheat, and barley, &'€.] the various products
are enumerated, for which the soil of Palestine was principally
celebrated, and which contributed to make it an object of envy
to its neighbours. — Oil-olivcs\ l^ti* JT'I lit. the olive of oil, i.e.
the cultivated olive (Tristram, NHB. 375, 377) as opposed to
the wild olive: cf. 2 K. 18^2 nny^ n'f. — 9. A land whose stones
are irojt] i.e. whose stones contain iron.
The hot springs at Tiberias contain iron ; and further north, at
Hasbeyah, "the ground and springs are strongly impregnated with iron"
(Burckh. p. 33 f.). Iron-works, and iron-mines, are frequently mentioned
in the Lebanon, at Zahle and other places (Seetzen, i. 145, 187-190, 237) ;
and horse-shoes made at Der-el-Kamar are used throughout Palestine
(Schwarz, Das Ileil. Land, 1852, p. 323) ; but it seems doubtful whether
iron was ever obtained in Canaan itself. Perhaps, however, what is
meant is the hard iron-like basalt, a volcanic product, which contains
about \ of iron (p. 54), and which was used for various domestic pur-
poses (p. 49) : this extends over a large area E. and NE. of the Sea of
Tiberias (including the Leja, p. 49), it occurs also about Safed, NW. of the
same sea, in parts of Woab (cf. the a!ir,fi>Zi epos of Jos. B/. iv. 8. 2), and
here and there W. of Jordan : see Ritter, Erdkiinde, xv. 294-300= G^cig-;-.
of Pal. (transl.) ii. 241-246; Rob. ii. 388, 409, 411, 4i6f. (about Tiberias);
and esp. Hull, Geology and Geography of Pal. 1886, pp. 93-99, with the
geological map at the beginning. (The refF. are partly from Kn.)
And out of "whose hills thou may est dig copper^ according" to
Schwarz {I.e.) copper is not found nearer to Palestine than at
Aleppo, though he adds that it is said to occur in N. Galilee
and Lebanon. Ritter, xvii. 1063 (Kn.), mentions traces of
former copper-works near Hama (Hamath). Copper-mines
were also formerly worked at Punon (Gn. 32*^) in Edom. — 10.
And tJiou shall eat and be full (6^^), and shall bless Jehovah, &c.\
it will be Israel's duty to praise God, with a grateful heart,
9. njsppn vh\ notice the emph. position in which this idea is placed, im-
mediately after "ii^K. — noDOo] only here : [spp/oor (common in Aram.) is not
found till Eccl. 4^* 9"'i6; cf. jicp Is. 40*. — .T-nn] this plur. is elsewhere
only poet. 33'* Nu. 23^, &c. (9 times). — 10. nyan] G-K. § 4g. 3°. So. v.".
I lO DEUTERONOMY
for the abundance of good thing^s which He has provided foi
it. — 11-17. The caution lest, elated by such affluence and
prosperity, Israel forgets its Benefactor and Deliverer. — 11.
Bewarey &c.\ so 6^'^. — 14. Thiiie heart be lifted up] 1720:
Hos. 13^ 03? D'J>nynb>, — Which brought thee forth . . . bondage]
6^2; cf. 13®. The descriptive clauses, v i^b-iB^ each introduced
by a participle with the art. (as often in II Isaiah, e.g. Is.
43^^" ^^ 44^^' ^^ 63!^"^^), are effectively designed to remind the
Israelite of the benefits which he had successively received
at Jehovah's hands. — 15. The great and terrible wilderness] i^^
(with note). — Fiery serpents and scorpions] cf. Is. 30^ (of the
same region) ; Nu. 21^. — Out of the rock of flint] cf. 32^^ : Ex.
17*. — 16. With manna^ ^c] v.'- ^''. — To do thee good (28^2
30'') in thy latter end] i.e. in the later period of Israel's history,
— here, of the period of the occupation of Canaan. Israel is
represented as an individual (Hos. 11^ Jer. 2^ Ez. 16 Ps. 129^
&c.), whose training in early life has been severe for the pur-
pose of fitting him better for the position which he has to fill
in riper years (jTinx as Job 8^ 42'^). — 18. But Israel must
remember that Jehovah is the author of their prosperity, —
though He grants it to them, not for any merit on their part,
but in order that He may be faithful to the promises given to
the fathers (4^'^ 78). — His coveiiant, &'c.]^^\ cf. i^. — As at this
day] 2^*. — 19-20. If Israel neglects the warning, and follows
after "other gods," its fate will be that of the nations which
12-17. i33'?3 n-iD^i (") . . . nnsf 1 ^3a'7 mi . . . n3E''i , , . nvna-i Vdkd |b]
an example, of a kind not very frequent in Heb., of a long- sentence
under the gfovernment of a single conjunction : cf. Ex. 34'"*. The
principal verbs are those in v.^^-^^, those in v.'^'* being subordinate:
English idiom (which expresses such distinctions more readily than
Hebrew), instead of " Lest thou eat and be full .... and thine heart be
lifted up," has accordingly " Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full . . .,
then thine heart be lifted up." But . . . it'.x3 ]s or ... '3 |B would in
Hebrew be thoroughly unidiomatic. — 14. in'^idi] the sufF., as the art.
shows, is an accus. (G-K. § 127 R. 4''): so v.^"*-" 13®-". — 15. pNOi] Is.
35^ Ps. 107*^. — -\e'K] = where (i^'). — 16. pVT] v.*. — 17. 'T D^y] cf. Job 30^^
(in bad sense). — 17. ntn S'n.T nx 'V nt^-y] Ez. 28^ will illustrate both nc'V {to
make, achieve , gain '. Gn. 12') and S'n {substance, -wealth'. Is. 8* al.). So
v.i^ Elsewhere ^n 7\vy (without the reflexive h) means to make might, i.e.
to exhibit prowess, do valiantly, Nu. 24'* i S. 14*^ Ps. 60^* iiS'^-'*. —
18. 5"i3p] remember, then (v.").— pin t«in] on 3-^—19. nvn nzv dk] the inf
VIII. 11— IX. 5 II T
Jehovah is now expellingf before it (cf. 42*'- 6^*'). — Go after
otntr goai, ^c] 6^*. — I testify against you ^ cStT.] cf. 4^^.
IX. x-X. 11. A warning against self-righteousness. Israel's
successes against the Canaanites are to be attributed not to
any exceptional virtue or merit of its own, but to the wicked-
ness of those nations (9^"*). Proof, from the history, of Israel's
rebellious disposition (9'-10"). — IX. 1-2. The formidable char-
acter of the inhabitants of Canaan. — 1. Hear, O Israel] 5^. —
Thou art passing over this day] 2^^: cf. 11 2^. — Greater and
mightier than thyself] 4^^ 7^ 11 23 (also with possess). — Cities
great . . . 'Anakim] i^^. — 2. Whom thozi (emph.) knowest {y^^),
and of whom thou (emph.) hast heard, <5r'c.] viz. from the report
of the spies, i^s (Nu. 13^^). — 3. Nevertheless, with Jehovah's
aid, Israel will be victorious against them : cf. i^o 318. — Is he
which goeth over before thee] 31 3. — A devouring fire] 4^*. — He
shall destroy them, and he shall subdue them] both the pronouns
are emphatic, — he (and not another). Cf. 721-24, ^.-ij^n (sub-
due), as Jud. 330 423 828 ii33 I s. 713 2 S. 8^.— Quickly] comp.
on 722. — As fehovah hath spoken unto thee] Ex. 2323- 27. 31b ^^f
i^i). — 4-6. But it is not for any merit on Israel's part that
Jehovah thus gives victory to its hosts : He drives out these
nations on account of their wickedness, and that He may be
faithful to the promise given to the patriarchs. — 4. Say not in
thine heart] cf. 7^^. — Whereas for the wickedness . . . before
thee] the clause is not expressed in fflc ; and is very probably
a gloss borrowed from v.^, and improperly anticipating it
(Valeton, vi. 166; Dillm. ; Oettli). — 5. For the wickedness of
these nations] cf. Gn. 15I6 Lev. 1 83-24-30 2023 Dt. 1812 20I8 i K.
1424 21^6 2 K. 16^ 178 2 1 2. — Is dispossessing them (::t:'nio) from
before thee] Ex. 3424 -[ojq^o q-i-ij ^h-i^x "3 (JE) : so also Dt. 438 ii23
Jos. 310 235- 9 (all D2) Jud. 221- 23 (Deut.) ; and in the passages of
Kings (all Deut.) just quoted. — That he may establish, €t'c.] the
abs. emphasizing the terms of a condition, as Ex. 15^ 19* 21* 22''^^ Nu. 21*
I S. i" \2^ 14^ 2o«-7-9-2i &c.— :py] 712.
IX. 1. r^v\S\ B-T, with a personal object, as 2^2.21.22 ji23 ,22.29 ,gi4 ,gi
3i»: cf, Nu. 21^2 Kt. Jud. \\^-^. The obj. is usu. a place.— 3. nSsN ck]
an implicit accus. (G-K. § 118. 5; Dr. § 161. 3). — 4. fpn] 6^^. — ccniD] the
ptcp.. as 2*. — 5. imn nx D'pn] lit. to raise up, i.e. to maintain, confirm,
fulf'l so 1 K. 8-» 12" al. ; opp. S'sn to let fall i S. 3'* (cf. ^B) Jos. 2i<*
112
DEU lERONOMY
same motive as 7^, cf. 8^^. — 6. Israel has never yielded itself
readily to God's will. — A stiff {hard)-necked people (^I'V '^^i?)]
Ex. 32^ 33^- ^ 34^1 (all from the narrative which the Writer is
about to recapitulate): cf. hard neck Dt. 3127, to harden the
7ieck Dt. iqI^, and hence Jer. 7^6 1723 igi5 2 K. 171* (Deut.)
Neh. 9^^- 1^- 29 (by the side of other reminiscences from Dt.),
2 Ch. 30^ 36^^. The figure underlying- the expression is of
course the unyielding neck of an obstinate, intractable animal
(cf. Is. 48* iD-iy bn3 n^Ji).
IX. 7-X. 11. Proof, from the history, and especially from
the episode of the Golden Calf, of Israel's rebellious temper,
which, but for Moses' intercession, and Jehovah's forbearance,
had cost them their national existence. — The proof is given in
the form of a retrospect, similar in general style to c. 1-3, and
based like that upon the narrative of JE, of which it is a free
reproduction, many passages being repeated verbatim, while
others are expanded or otherwise varied, in accordance with
the Writer's manner, as exemplified in c. 1-3. The following
Table will show how the two narratives run parallel to each
other (in explanation of the parentheses, see p. 10): —
Dt. 9* (to nights) . Ex. zi^'^- "^
9*" (Ex. 34-8»).
9>*>» Ex. 31^8".
9I2 Ex. 327-8».
9i^'> Ex. 32'«i'(cf. Nu.
9IS Ex. 32l^
9I6 Cf. Ex. 3219^.
9" Ex. 32I9''.
918-19 Ex. 342« (cf. »).
io"'^''"*''(the «/-/^) * » I
lo^'' Ex. 34'*.
10* Ex. 34-^''.
lo'-*-* » * <
ioio(=9i8».ii>b) Cf. Ex. 34«'-2
10" (Cf. Ex. 33').
7. Remember, forget not] comp. 2^^"^-^^^^'^.—
921 Ex. 322«.
9^2 See Nu. iii-^ Ex.
177 Nu. I !«-*».
9-!3 [See iia-26.3aj_
Dt. gr-" [Resumption of
V.I8].
9^6 (Ex. 32"").
9^^* ...
9^
9-
iqI'
iqI" (the ark)
(Ex
3213).
(Nu
14I6;
cf. Ex
32
12).
(Ex
32"")
Ex.
34^
Ex.
34=^.
*
*
•
Ex.
34^".
-Madest wroth]
vr.8. i».22. cf. i^*.—From the day, e^c] cf. Ex. 1524 172-7 Nu.
I K. 8** al.). — 7. IdS] 4**. — Dn".n d'tdd] the ptcp. with .t.t emphasizes the
continuance of the action: cf. v.^s-** 3127 2 S. 31^ (Dr. § 135. 5; G-K.
IX. 6-n 113
II. 142-4- "-25. 41f. 2o3a-5 2l4f- 2=y^-^. — UlUo thtS pluce] I^l. BeCfl
defiant with] on i^'^, — 8. And (in particular) in Horeb, dr'c]
Ex. 32-34. — Was avgered\ v. 2" i^''. — 9. When 1 went up, &r'c.\
Ex. 2412- 18b. *_7'/;^ tables of the covenant] v."- is i K. 8^ ffi
(Deut.). Cf. 4!^ (see note), 52''''-. — Fo?'ty days and forty nights]
Ex. 24^^^.* — / neither ate bread nor drank water] this clause
agrees with Ex. 342^, which relates, however, to a different
occasion, viz. Moses' third ascent of the mountain. Unless it
may be supposed that such a clause, describing- Moses' fast-
ing, once stood in E after Ex. 24!^^, and was still read there by
the author of Dt. (being afterwards omitted when the narrative
of E was combined with that of P), it will be another example of
the peculiarity which was several times referred to in the notes
on c. 1-3, and which will meet us again in the retrospect here,
an expression, viz., used in the description of one incident, or
occasion, in Ex., being applied somewhat singularly in the
description of another in Dt. — 10. Tables of stone, written with
the finger of God] exactly as Ex. 3118b (j^y — Spake with you in
the mount out of the midst of the fire] 5* 10*. — In the day of the
assembly] (^npn)] 10* iS^^: comp. the verb in 410. This desig-
nation of the day on which the law was given at Horeb is
peculiar to Dt. — 11. The v. repeats v.^^^, with the additional
statement that it was at the end of the 40 days that the tables
were given to Moses.
" Afid Jehovah said unto me, Ex. 32'' And Jehovah spake unto
saying, Arise, get thee down quickly Moses, saying, Go, get thee down ;
irom\\ere; for thy people, which thou for thy people, which thou
hast hrou^hi forth out of Egypt, hath hast brought up out of Egypt, hath
done corruptly : they are quickly done corruptly : * they are quickly
turned aside out of the way which I turned aside out of the way which I
commanded thetn : they have made commanded them : they have made
theTn a molten image. them a molten image ; they have
§ 116. 5 R.2 — ny] i.e. in dealing with ; so v.^ 2i^^ : cf. oy 3'B'n Nu. 11^ al.\
Dv nu'v Ps. 86^^ al. — 9. arxi . . . -n'^ya] either (a) as G-K. § 114. 3, Dr. § 117,
defining the occasion of v.*; or {h) as G-K. § in. 1, Dr. § 127/3, — prob.
the latter (so RV.) : cf. Gn. 22^ 27** Is. 6' &c.— D':3Nn nim"?] 4i3._'ji onS] a
circumst. clause (Dr. § 163).
* Ex. 24^*-"* ^^^ (from and he went up) belong closely to Ex. 31^*
"[And J. gave him] the tables of stone," &c., forming a continuous narra-
tive of E : the intermediate passages, Ex. 24"-^®^ 31'^* (to iesit/nuny) belong
to P, and are not referred to in Dt.
TI4 DEUTERONOMY
bowed down to it, and sacrificed to
it, and have said, These be thy
gods, &c.
'^ And Jehovah said unto me, ® And Jehovah said unto Moses,
aying, I have seen this people, and I have seen this people, and
hehold it is a stiff-iiecked people. behold it is a stiff-necked people.
1* Desist from me ("^in '" And now, let me alone (nn'jn
■300), that I may destroy them, and '•?), that mine anger may kindle
blot out their name from under against them, and that I may con-
heaven ; and I will make thee into same them ; and I will make thee into
a nation mightier and larger (di) a great {hm) nation
than it. ^^ And I turned, and came ^' And Moses turned, and
down from the mount, and the came down from the mount,
mount burned with fire ; and the and the
two tables of the covenant were on two tables of the testimony were in
my two hands his hand
" And I took hold of the two ^'"' And Moses' anger kindled ;
tables, and \Jliing{.\\em from on my and he flung the tables yro/w
two hands, and I brake them before his hand, and he brake them under
your eyes the mount.
*' And your sin, -which ye had ^o And he took the calf which they
made, even the calf, I took, and I had made, and he
burnt it with fire, and beat it in burnt it with fire, and
pieces, grinding it well, until it was he ground it, until it was
crushed fine into dust ; and I cast crushed fine ; and he strewed
Its dust into the stream (wady) that it upon the water, and made the
descended out of the mount. children of Israel drink of it.
The variations will be apparent from the synopsis : as in
other cases, they generally exhibit the characteristic style of
D.— 14. Destroy (n^D^n) v.s- 19. 20. 25 . see on i27 (phil. n.).—Blot
out, &€.] 291^(20) . also 72* 25I9 (Ex. 17^'*). — Mightier and larger
{2-') than it] Nu. 14^2 '«And I will make thee into a nation
greater (Snj) and mightier than it": cf. c. 7^ ("nations larger
and mightier than thou"). — 15. And the mount, &'c.\ as 4^^
^20 (23)^ — Of the covenant] v.^. — Ex. 321^-^*, describing Moses'
first intercession for the people while he was still on the mount,
and Jehovah's consequent repentance, it will be seen, is passed
over in Dt. — 16. As Moses came down, he perceived what
Israel had done : substantially, but not verbally, as Ex. 32!^*,
"ye had turned aside," &c. being repeated from v.^^, — 17.
Before your eyes\ one of D's phrases (on i^o). — 18-20. Moses'
12. onS icy] on i'*. — 14. "JDO ■-pn] lit. " relax, slacken (sc. thy hand) from
me " : Jud. 1 1^ ODD nsin, i S. 11^ n^ inn (for us, — the dat. commodi), i S.
15'* iin alone, Ps. 46'^ iBin. — 17. T •ne' Syp] the correlative of T 'nr VjJ
v.ie. Cf. Lev, 8^8 d3'B3 Vao (v.^^ Vy).
IX. 13-23 115
intercession : for 40 days he tell down fasting before God, on
oehalf of the people and Aaron, and obtained their forgiveness.
The reference is not, as might appear at first sight, to Ex.
2231-33^ but to the same 40 days mentioned in lo^'* (comp. esp.
lo^oa with gisa, and lo^o^ with 9^^^), i.e. with the second period
of 40 days spent by Moses on the mount (Ex. 34^'^^), when,
according to Ex. 34^, he also interceded for the people. No
doubt this intercession is mentioned here, in anticipation of its
true chronological position (for v.21 corresponds to Ex. 3220),
on account of its significance in the argument : it signally
illustrated how much the people owed to the merciful forbear-
ance of Jehovah. — 18. As at the first] so lo^^ The reference
can be only to the forty days mentioned in 9®. The compari-
son (unless y^// down be used of fasting and humiliation gener-
ally) must relate to the period of time only. — That which was
evil, (Sr'c.] on 6^^. — To vex him (iD'y^n^)] viz. by requiting Him
with ingratitude. Not ** to provoke him to anger " ; see on 425.
— 19. For I was in dread {'''r\'\y')] a rare word : 28^0 Job 3^5 928 Ps.
iig39_ — That time also] the other occasions, implicitly alluded
to, on which Jehovah listened to Moses' intercession may (as
the whole period of the 40 years is in the Writer's mind, v.''^- 22f-,
and the occasion of the Golden Calf seems to be specially dwelt
upon as being the gravest of all) be subsequent ones, as Nu.
ii2 i2i3f- 1^13-20 2i7-9: Ex. 1 5^5 i-r^f- are instanccs of rcsponse to
petitions for help, not to intercessory prayer. — 20. And I inter-
ceded for Aaron also at that time] the intercession for Aaron
is not mentioned in Ex. — 21. See the synopsis above. This, of
course, according to Ex., was before the intercession of v.^^'^O;
and the Heb. idiom employed (see below) perfectly admits this.
— The stream that descended, &fc.] cf. (of Jebel Musa) Ordnance
Survey of Sinai {iS6g), pp. 113, 115, 148; (of Serbal) p. 144,
and Ebers, Gosen, p. 388. — 22-23. Other instances of Israel's
disobedience.— 22. Tab'erah] Nu. \\^-^ .—Massah] e^^ Ex. 172-7.
—Kibroth-hatta avah] Nu. ii*-^*.— 23. Kadesh-bamea] iH>b-«i
18. hsmn] v.'^-^ Ezr. 10^; differently, Gn. 43>8t.— 21. 'nnpS . . . •»] not
npxi; see on 10'". — pnn] inf. abs., as 3®. — 2a'n] "doing it wen" =
thoroughly (the inf. abs. used adverbially : G-K. § 113. 2 R.^) : so 13^' iq*
19^* 27^ Elsewhere, in this application, only 2 K. ii^^ — 22. cfn c'S'-^pd\ye
were making wroth (on v.^). — 23. noni . . . n'^c^ij constr. as v.* {b).
I l6 DEUTERONOMY
('-'}. ^W), '" ("defied Jehovah's mouth"), ^2 ("believed him not").
— 24. The indictment of v.''', repeated in terms of keener reproach
(" from the day that I knew you"). For " I," Sam. ffi have
•' he" (Injn for ^ny^J, le. Jehovah (Hos. 135).
25-29. The Writer revert? here to the occasion mentioned
V.18 [i.e. Ex. 34^- 2^^), for the purpose of emphasizing (in accord-
ance with the general design of the retrospect) the indebted-
ness of Israel to Moses' intercession. It is remarkable however
that the terms of the intercession, as here quoted, do not
agree with those of Ex. 34^, but include many reminiscences
of the earlier intercession in Ex. 32^^"^^ (as also some from
Nu. 14^^): comp. p. 10. (Vv. 25-29 cannot refer actually to Ex.
3211-13, because the intercession there recorded was made before
Moses' first descent from the mount (see v.i5 = Dt. gi^), whereas
v. 25, in virtue of the terms used, points back to v.i^, which
clearly narrates what took place after it, and is parallel with
Ex. 349-^sa_) — 25. The forty days and the forty nights, which I
fell down] v.i^ : for the form of sentence, cf. i"*^ 291^(1^). — That
he would destroy you\ v.i*. 26-29. Moses' intercession. — 26.
Lord Jehovah] 3^*. — Which thou hast brought forth out of
Egypt with a mighty hand] Ex. 32"^ " which thou hast brought
forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a
mighty hand." The preceding clause, " which thou hast re-
deemed through thy greatness," contains two Deut. expres-
sions ; see on 32^ 78^ — 27_ Reme^nber thy servants, Abraham, &'c.]
cf. Ex. 3213. — 28. Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say ,
From Jehovah! s not being able to bring them itito the land which
he promised to them, and from his hating thetn, he hath brought
them, out to put thetn to death (on^Dri^) in the wilderness] based
on Ex. 3212 ("Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying,
25. Di'n D'yaiN nx] r\i<, marking- duration of time, is very rare (Ex. 13'
Lev. 25^). Dvn, nh-h7\ (with the art.), because " the 40 days" are intended :
so Jud. 17* fjODn nNDi ^^k. i K. h^^ D'EDB-n mcy "the ten tribes," &c. —
27. \ n3J] so Ex. 32". Otherwise "? 131 is rare (Jer. 31^^ Ps. 2^ 13622 2 Ch.
6*2). — Vk mt] turn to, i.e. regard, usu. in a favourable sense, as Lev. 26'
1 K. 8**. — ^V^i\ not elsewhere. — 28. i••l^f■^ nn.x' js] the plur. xara <ry'£<r<v, as
a S. 1523 : so with Yii< = earth, Gn. 41" i S. 17^'', and in late Psalms, as
551.4 g5i.9 ioqI. But (as Di. remarks) Sam. has px.i oy ; and (Si&EV
express px-T ^2av. — 'Sno] lit. from want of, in the orig^inal passage Nu.
i4'« 'nS^D : cf. 28=5 (see note) ; also Is. s" Hos. 4" Ez. 34^— "i'^;] Nu. \^^^s
IX. 24— X. 3 117
In mischief did he brinq; them forth, to slay (j'^H^) them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth "),
with reminiscences of Nu. 14^*5 (" From Jehovah's not being
able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto
them, therefore he hath slaughtered them (Dt2n{;""i) in the
wilderness"). — 29. Thy people ajid thy inheritance^ i K. 8^^
(Deut.); cf. c. 4^°^. — Which thoti brought est forth, &c.\ Ex. 32^1.
X. 1-5. Moses narrates how, at Jehovah's direction, he
hewed out two other tables of stone, like the first, and prepared
an ark of acacia-wood in which to deposit them ; Jehovah having
rewritten upon these tables the ten commandments, they were
placed by Moses in the ark, or chest, prepared for their
reception. The intention of this part of the retrospect is
doubtless to show how the people were finally restored com-
pletely to Jehovah's favour ; the rewriting of the ten com-
mandments, on which the "covenant" was based (g^), and
the formal order for their permanent preservation, sealed, as
it were, Israel's forgiveness, and was an assurance that the
breach between Jehovah and His people was healed.
' At that time Jehovah said unto Ex. 34^ And Jehovah said unto
me, Hew thee two tables of stone Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone
like unto the first, and come up unto like unto the first ;
me to the ?nount, and make thee
an ark of wood ; * that I may and I will
write upon the tables the words that write upon the tables the words that
were on the first tables, which thou were on the first tables, which thou
brakest, and thou shalt put them in brakest. ^ And be ready by the
the ark. * And I made an ark of morning-, and thou shalt come up in
acacia-wood ; the morning into mount Sinai, and
present thyself there unto me on
and I the top of the mount. * And he
hewed two tables of stone like unto hewed two tables of stone like unto
the first, the first ; and Moses rose up early
and I went up to the in the morning", and he went up into
mount ; mount Sinai, as Jehovah commanded
and the two him, and took in his hand two tables
tables were in my hand. of stone.
It is evident that v.^-^ is based upon Ex. 34^'''*. There
is only one material difference between the two accounts, but it
is an important one : in Ex. 34^'* there is no mention of the
ark, which according to Dt. Moses made at this time for the
Il8 DEUTERONOMY
reception of the two tables, and in which (v.*^) he placed them
after comingf down from the mount. This difference between
Dt. and Ex. does not admit of reconciliation. In Ex. in-
structions respecting the ark are given in 25^<^2i j and
Bezalel, having been commissioned to execute the work of the
sanctuary (31^*^- 35^''-36^), makes the ark, 37^"^ There is of
course no difficulty in supposing that Moses may have been
described as making himself what was in fact made, under his
direction, by Bezalel : but in Dt. Moses is instructed to make,
and actually does make, the ark of acacia-wood, before ascend-
ing the mount the third time to receive the tables of stone ;
whereas in Ex. the command to make the ark is both given to
Bezalel, and executed by him, after Moses' return from the
mountain (35^"'^ 36^ 37^). Ex. 25-31 and 3429-40^8, however,
belong to P, while Ex. 32^-34^8 belong to JE. The consistency
with which the retrospects of Dt. are based upon JE's narra-
tive in Ex. Nu., renders it highly probable that the text of Ex.
341-5 once told how Moses made the ark of acacia-wood, and
deposited the tables in it, agreeably with Dt. lo^^- 2b-3a. 5 j but
that when JE was combined (after the composition of Dt.) with
P, the passages containing these statements were omitted by
the compiler, as inconsistent with the more detailed particulars,
which he preferred, contained in the narrative of P (Ex. 25-
31 ; 342^-40^^). Comp. above, on 1^2 327. — 4. And he wrote,
&c.\ cf. Ex. 34^^^, — at least, as understood by the author of
Ex. 34 in its present form (cf. v.^**; and see ad loc). — In the
mount, S^c] exactly as <^^. — 5. And I turned, &'c.\ as 9^^
(after \y\Q first sojourn in the mount). — And I put, &fc.\ see on
w.^-^.— And there they are] cf. i K. 8^^. — Commanded me] v. 2.
6-7. A fragment of an itinerary, narrating the journeyings
of the Israelites from Beeroth Bene-ja'akan to Moserah (where
Aaron died), Gudgodah, and Jotbathah. — The passage occasions
difficulty. It interrupts the discourse of Moses (the 3rd person
being used instead of the 2nd, as uniformly elsewhere in
the retrospects) ; it interrupts the chronology (relating the
death of Aaron, which — see Nu. 208-10 20222^ (both P) — cannot
have taken place till long after the sojourn at Horeb) ; and it
disagrees with at least P's account of the journeyings of the
X. 4-5 119
Israelites, contained in Nu. 33. In Nu. 33 there occur foui
names differing so slightly that it cannot be doubted that they
are the same, viz. v.^o Moscroth (pi. of Moserah), v.^i Bene-
ja'akan, v.32 Hor-hag-Gidgad ("the Hollow of Gidgad"), v.^s
Jotbathah (followed, v.°* by 'Abronah, v. 35 'Ezion-Geber, v.^^
the Wilderness of Zin (PV), or Kadesh, v.s7 Mount Hor, where
Aaron dies, v.^^ Zalmonah, &c.). The order is, however,
different ; and Aaron dies on Mount Hor (cf. Nu. 2022-29 P), not
at Moserah. It is most in accordance with other phenomena
presented by the Pent, to suppose that this difference between
the two itineraries is due to their expressing divergent tradi-
tions respecting the order of the stations passed by the Israelites.
By Keil and other harmonists the assumption usually made is that Dt.
10®"' is parallel, not with Nu. 33*'"® but with Nu. 33^ : the Israelites, it is
supposed, towards the close of their wanderings, journeying- Southwards,
passed successively (Nu. 33^'"^) Moseroth, Bene-ja'akan, Hor-hag-Gidgad,
Jotbathah, 'Abronah, and 'Ezion-Geber (at the N. end of the Gulf of
"Akabah), hence, turning back, they revisit Kadesh (Nu. 33*"), without
making any formal stoppage on the route, after which, retracing theii
steps Southwards (Nu. 33'"-^^), in order to accomplish the journey round
the S. border of Edom, they pass some of the same stations as before,
though not in the same order (Beeroth Bene-ja'akan, Moserah, Gudgodah,
Jotbathah), their second visits to the same spots not being mentioned in
the itinerary in Nu. 33, and being only recorded in Dt. lo*"'' ; the variation
as regards the place of Aaron's death is further explained by the assump-
tion (which in our entire ignorance of the actual position of Moserah may
not be illegitimate) that Moserah was in the immediate neighbourhood of
Mount Hor, perhaps the desert at its foot. The explanation, though
formally possible, is artificial ; and the reason assigned for the omission
in Numbers of the four stations in Dt., viz. because their names had been
given before, seems a very insufficient one. The discrepancy is diminished,
but not removed, by the conjecture of Ewald, Gesch. ii. 285 (ET. ii. 201),
that in Nu. 33, v.^^'''^!' has been transposed from its original position,
and that it once stood after v.^"*. If this conjecture be correct, the
original order of the stations will have been Wilderness of Zin (Kadesh),
Mount Hor, Moseroth, Beng-ja'akan, Hor-hag-Gidgad, Jotbathah,
'Abronah, 'Ezion-Geber, Zalmonah, &c. : Moserah will now be actually
the next station to Mount Hor ; and 'Ezion-Geber (see Dt. 2^) will come
in a more natural place, 4 stages before the border of Moab is reached
(v.**), instead of being followed by the long march back across the desert
to Kadesh (with no mention of any intermediate stations) : the variations
in the order of Bene-ja'akan and Moserah, and of Gudgodah and Jotbathah,
remain, however, still as before.
The source of the itinerary in Dt. is probably E. The discrepancy,
just noticed, is conclusive against its being borrowed from P ; moreover
I20 DEUTERONOMY
it differs in form from the stereotyped formula of P (" And they journeyed
from . . ., and pitched in . • ." : Nu. 2i'*''^^, Nu. 33 passim), but
resembles that of E (cf, Nu. aii^-is.ie. i8b-20j , the note in v.«^ also, is
analog'ous (Bacon) to that of E in Jos. 24^.
The purport of the notice remains to be considered. By some (Heng-
stenberg, Keil), its aim has been supposed to be to show that Aaron was
not only forgiven at Moses' intercession, but was even honoured by the
priesthood being confirmed to his descendants. It is true, as has been
already observed, that the general design of the retrospect in c. 9-10 is to
illustrate the grace of Jehovah in bestowing anew upon His disobedient
people the tokens of His favour ; but it is difficult to think that, had such
been the aim of the present notice, it would have been expressed so
indirectly : Aaron's own institution to the priesthood, which would be the
important point, is passed over in silence. If it forms an integral part of
the narrative (so Graf, Gesch. B. 112, Kayser, p. 131, Kuen. Th. T. 1881,
201 f., Delitzsch, ZKWL. 1880, 565), it cannot be reasonably explained,
except as introductory to v.^'-, and as intended to specify the occasion, viz.
the sojourn at Jotbathah or at least the period of Aaron's death, at which
the tribe of Levi were set apart for sacred purposes. But the introduction
here of a piece of the itinerary, belonging to almost the close of the 40
years' wanderings, while the people, both before and after (v.^"""), are
represented as still at Horeb, and the late period in the 40 years, which
in opposition to the other sources it would assign for the consecration
of the tribe of Levi, constitute serious objections to this view.
The interruption, both in the chronology and in the dis.
course of Moses, must be admitted to make it probable that
the notice is no original part of the text of Dt., but either a
subsequent insertion (Wellh. Hist. 371 ; Reuss, La Bible, ii.
297 (with v.^^) ; Cornill, Einl. § 9. 8 ; Dillm.), introduced from a
part of E, which still survived independently, perhaps with the
view of illustrating (v.'^'^) the manner in which priestly duties
(v.8f) were provided for after Aaron's death ; or (Bacon, Triple
Tradition, 207 f., 257 f., 343 f.) a fragment of E's original
narrative of Israel's final journeyings, and of Moses' final dis-
course, which retained its position after the latter (as a whole)
was replaced by our present Dt. — Beeroth Bene-ja akan\ i.e.
the " Wells of the children of Ja'akan." The site is unknown :
but, as Gn. 36^7 mentions 'Akan as the name of a Horite
family or clan, for which i Ch. 1*2 h^g Ja'akan (and ffi in Gen.
lou/ca/A), it is not improbable that the two are to be identified,
in which case the site of the "wells" referred to would be in
or near the 'Ardbah (i^), not far from Edom. The sites of
the other three places named are also unknown : the addition
X. 6-8 12 1
"a land of streams (wadys) of water" to Jotbathah would
seem to characterize it as some specially fertile spot in one of
Wadys leading down into the 'Ardbah. The identification ot
Gudgodah with the Wady Ghudaghid (^^iiLii), which runs
down from the Tih plateau (p. 20) into the Wady Jerafeh,
and so into the 'Ardbah, nearly opposite to Petra (Rob. i. 181),
is not probable on phonetic grounds : for c does not corre-
spond to the Heb. 3, nor ^ to 1. — And Ele asar his son was
priest in his stead\ Ele'azar is mentioned frequently in P (Ex.
623 Nu. 2o25-28 ^2^-^^ Jos. 14^ &c.), but not elsewhere in JE,
except Jos. 24^^ ^gj^ T\\t. passage is important, as showing
that in the tradition of JE, not less than in P, Aaron was the
founder of a hereditary priesthood.
8-9. Separation of the tribe of Levi for the exercise of
priestly functions. — As the contents and phraseology show
(see the references, and note "thy God" in v.^), these two
verses are a genuine continuation of the discourse of Moses,
which was interrupted by v.^-''. — 8. At that time] if v.^-' be
an original part of the text of Dt., the reference must be to
the period indicated in these verses, i.e. to the period immedi-
ately following the death of Aaron, towards the close of the
40 years' wanderings. If, on the other hand, v.^^'^ be a later
addition, the words will refer, of course, to the occasion
described in v.^"^, during the sojourn at Horeb. In the
existing Pent, the institution of the priesthood is narrated in
Ex. 28-29, Lev. 8 (both P), and the Levites (the inferior
members of the tribe, as distinguished from the priests) are
consecrated to their duties in Nu. 3^^- (also P) : but the
expression at that time is much more significant, if the view
of Dillmann (Ex. -Lev. p. 342) and others be accepted, that
JE's narrative in Ex. 32-34 contained originally an account of
the consecration of the tribe of Levi — in connexion, presumably,
with their display of zeal on Jehovah's behalf, narrated in Ex.
2226-29 — to which reference is here made, but which the com-
piler of Exodus did not deem it necessary to retain by the side
of the more detailed particulars of P (Ex. 28-29, Lev. 8; Nu
X. 8. Snan] 4^ 192- ■> 292* (nynS).— "I'jn] collect. =/A^ Levites (on s"- ").
122 DEUTERONOMY
3). — 75? hear the ark of fehovalis covenant^ to stand before
fehovah to minister to him, and to bless in his name unto this
day] three principal functions of the tribe of Levi, all, properly
speaking, priestly ones, are described in these words, (i) To
bear the ark. In P (Nu. 3^1 4^^) the duty of carrying the ark
is assigned to the " Levites," in the narrower sense of the
word (as distinguished from the priests), in particular to the
family of the Kohathites ; and the same view is expressed in
the Chronicles (i Ch. 152.1s. 26 &c.). But in Dt., as in other
earlier books, this is consistently represented as the duty of
the priests. Dt. 31^ (on v.25 see note) Jos. 8^3 "the priests
the Levites," i.e. the Levitical priests (see on 18^), receive the
title '* bearers of the ark of Jehovah's covenant " ; and in Jos.
^sfif. 56. 12 J K._ 83. 6 tiie priests are represented as bearing it :
see also i K. 226.* (In 2 Ch. 5*, which corresponds to i K. 8^,
"Levites" is substituted for "priests," to bring the passage
into conformity with later usage: 2 Ch. 5* has "the priests
the Levites," where i K. 8* has "the priests and the Levites,"
preserving probably the original reading of Kings : 2 Ch. 5'
( = 1 K. 8*) "priests" has been permitted to remain.) — The
ark of fehovaK s covena7ii\ i.e. the ark containing the Decalogue,
the embodiment of Jehovah's covenant (on 412). The desig-
nation is one which gives prominence to one of the leading
Deuteronomic ideas (41^) ; and it is accordingly frequently used
by writers belonging to the Deuteronomic school, or influenced
by its phraseology.
It occurs besides 3i9-2s.2« Jos. s^."-" 4?. is 58 8^, and without "of
Jehovah" (mnn jiik) 3®-* (cf.") 4' 6' (mostly Deut. passages) ; also (some-
times with God ior Jehovah) Nu. 10^ 14** (both JE), Jud. 20" (in an ex-
planatory gloss) I S. 43.4.4.6 2 s. 1524a I K. 3!* 619 8'-6 (= 2 Ch. 52-7) Jer.
3'" I Ch. 1525.26.28.29 J66.37 1^1 22i» 28-18. The usual expression in the
earlier hist, books is, however, simply "the ark of Jehovah (or of God)" :
as Jos. 313 45. " 6 «• ">• "-'3 76 I S. 3» 4«- "• "-22, c. 5-6 passim, f (bis), 2 S. 6
passim, \^^^- =^' ^. The fuller title " ark of the covenant of Jehovah," even
if, in view of Nu. 10^^ 14**, it be too much to maintain that it actually
originated with Dt., certainly acquired increased currency through its
influence (cf. p. 68) ; and it is probable that there are passages in the
Massoretic text in which the expression originally used has been sub-
* Which shows that the part taken by tlie " Levites" in 2 S. 15-'* (unless
meant in D's sense: cf. on iS**) must have been either a subordinate one
(cf. v.'"'- ^), or exceptional. (Baudissin, Priesterthum, 209, reads ephod.)
X. 9 123
sequently expanded by the addition of "the covenant of" : thus it is plain
that nna did not stand in ffi's text of i S. 4^"' ; and a comparison of i Ch.
,^25, 26. 28. 29 with 2 S. 6'-- ':'• J"- 1«, and of I Ch. 17I with 2 S. f sufficiently
shows what the tendency of a later age was. In Jos. 3'^'" the extra-
ordinary syntax {]f\Hn with the art. in the sf. c.) makes it all but certain
that the original text had simply ihe ark (as 3'* 4^*) : Jos. 3" nnan (see
Dillm.) appears to have usurped the place of an original m.T (as v.'^).
1 K. 3" 6'^ 8^*^ (cf. ^^) the expression may well be due to the Deut.
compiler of Kings. See further the ^^2" IF. 1891, p. ii4ff.
(2) To statid before Jehovah, to minister unto him (cf. 18*
"to stand to minister in Jehovah's name"). To stand before
(i^s) is a Heb. idiom meaning- to wait upon, to serve (i K. 10^ of
Solomon's courtiers, 12^ Jer. 52^2 j j j^^ j^i jgis 2 K. 3I* 5^^ of
Elijah and Elisha, as the servants of God), and is used dis-
tinctively of the priest, as God's minister, Dt. 17^2 jgr (see
note) Jud. 2028 Ez. 4415 2 Ch. 29I1 (cf. v.*- 16 "priests").
The Levites, as distinguished from the priests, "stand before" the
congregation, i.e. perform menial offices for the worshippers, Nu. 16' (P)
Ez. 44^^''. To minister (nil?) is a less distinctive term, being used not only
of priests, but also of Levites (Nu. 8^^) and other subordinate attendants,
as I S. 2^'' '^ 3^ (of Samuel) : at the same time, " to minister to Jehovah " is
an expression used regularly of priests (21* Ez. 40^^ 43^* 44'^' '® 45* Joel i^- ^'
2" I Ch. 23I3 2 Ch. 13" 29" : cf. before J. Dt. 1712, in the name off. i8»-0 ;
the Levites are said rather "to minister to the priests" (Nu. 3* 18^, cf.
2 Ch. 8^^), or to the people (Nu. 16^ Ez. 44'^*"), i.e. to discharge menial
services for them (see e.g. i Ch. 927-29.31-2 . ^ Ch. 35").
(3) To bless in his name: so (of priests) 21^, and (repeated
from the present passage, but limited expressly to the de-
scendants of Aaron) i Ch. 23!^, — a priestly duty, Nu. 6^3 Lev.
9^2, though performed sometimes, on solemn occasions, by
kings (2 S. 618 . cf. i K. &-^- ^s). A fourth duty of the priestly
tribe, that of burning incense, is mentioned 331*' {v. note).
See more fully, on the position assigned in Dt. to the tribe of
Levi, the notes on iS^'^. — Unto this day] 2^^. — 9. Therefore
Levi hath no portion nor inheritance with his brethren : Jehovah
is his inheritance] so 1212b i^2"b. 29 jgi (^iq portion, &c.), cf. Jos.
13U.33 i87 (all D2); Dt. i82 Jos. 1314- 33 (jehovah his inherit-
ance) : by the latter expression is meant that the inheritance
by which the tribe of Levi was maintained was its share in
the sacred dues and other offerings made to Jehovah by the
people (cf. on iS^-*). — As Jehovah thy God spake unto hivi] this is
not recorded in our present Pent.: Nu. iS^" (P), which is
124 DEUTERONOMY
usually quoted, cannot be referred to, for there the promise is
made expressly to the priests {Aa.ron) alone, as disting-uishedfrom
the Levites (v. 21-24), whose "inheritance" is specified separately,
V.24 ; here it is given to the whole tribe, without distinction.
The words may well have been contained in a part of JE —
probably the same (see on v.^) that narrated the consecration of
the tribe of Levi — which was still read by the author of Dt., but
not retained by the compiler, when JE was combined with P.
10-11. Conclusion of the narrative of Moses' intercession
for the people. Jehovah finally gave still more substantial
proof of His complete forgiveness of the nation, by bidding
Moses arise, and conduct Israel to the land which He had
promised to the patriarchs. — 10. And I stayed in the mount., as
at the first time, forty days and forty nights\ the verse (see
below) does not describe the sequel of v. 5, but something con-
temporaneous with the transactions of which v.^ narrates the
close : it repeats in fact what had been stated before in 9^^
(cf. 9^5), emphasizing again the earnestness of Moses' interces-
sion, and the success which attended it, with the view of
showing that the present existence of the nation was due to
Jehovah's grace. — Hearkened unto me that time als6\ repeated
from 9^9 : cf. 925-29. — w Arise, go to journey , &c.\ varied from
Ex. 33I (though the occasion is not the same).
12-22. Such, then, having been Jehovah's gracious dealings
with His people, gratitude, not less than awe, should prompt
Israel to yield ready and loving obedience to His holy will. —
12. And, now] introducing, as 4^, the practical inference to
be deduced from the preceding retrospect. — Wliat is Jehovah
thy God asking of thee, &c.?\ no arduous or complex task is
laid upon Israel : only obedience, which though it may be
difficult in view of the sinful propensities of human nature,
nevertheless involves the observance of no intricate or burden-
10. 'may 'd:ki] permitting- (as idj;n) would not have done) a refer-
ence to an occasion prior to v.* (Dr. § 76 Obs.). — 11. vsoh] for journey-
ing, — one of the rare instances in Heb. of a subst. formed with D having
(as in certain cases in Aram, and Arabic) the force of an inf. : cf. Nu. 10'
niJnon nx i'sn^? (with trans, force), ib. mV'T v.-^^'rh, Gen. 30-'''' li^ns, and
DID nx dmVn n3£3TOD Am. 4" al. (cf. Ew. § 239*; G-K. §45. 1° 115. 1 R.^).
— 12. "cyD VKty) Ex. 22^^ i S. i'^-^.
X. IO-I7 125
some rules, and should be facilitated In the case of Israel
by the recollection of Jehovah's gracious assistance and
presence in its midst. Comp. Mic. 6^. — But to fear Jehovah
thy God, &'c.\ as in 6^^^ t^g foundation of the religious temper
is the /ear of God ; this brings with it a natural disposition to
walk in all his ways {8^), and ends with the devotion of the
entire being to His love and service (see, on the expressions
used, 6^- 1^). — 13. To keep, &€.] 7^1. — For good to thee] this is
the ultimate scope of the duties imposed by Jehovah upon
Israel. So 62* ; cf. 530(33)._14_15, The/^-^r of God should be
promoted by the thought that He is the Sovereign of heaven
and earth ; the love of Him by the reflection that this august,
all-sufficient Being has nevertheless, of His own free love, chosen
first the patriarchs and afterwards their descendants, for the
purpose of manifesting Himself to them. — The heaven oj
heavens] i.e. the highest heavens ; so (a reminiscence from this
passage) i K. 8^7 ( = 2 Ch. 6^8) 2 Ch. 2^ Neh. 96 Ps. 683" 148"!.
— 15. Set his love (pt^'^)] 7^. — Chose their seed after them, &c.\
y7. 6b_ — jis at this day] 2^^. — 16. Let Israel therefore exert itself
to acquire an open and receptive heart, and yield itself cheer-
fully to the guidance of its God. — Circumcise, then, the foreskin
of your heart] 30"; and similarly Jer. 4*: cf. uncircutncised
(^■^i?), of the heart, Lev. 26^1 Jer. 9^^ Ez. 44^-^. An uncircum-
cised heart is one which is, as it were, closed in, and so
impervious to good influences and good impressions, just as
an uncircumcised ear (Jer. 6^°) is an ear which, from the same
cause, hears imperfectly, and uncircumcised lips (cf. Ex. 6^2.
30) are lips which open and speak with difficulty. The Israelite's
heart is not to be unreceptive of godlike affections, just as he
is not to be any longer (see 9^- ^3. 27) stiff"-necked, or unamen-
able to guidance. 17-19. The majesty, and awful justice, of
Jehovah should constitute further motives to obedience. — 17.
Titles are accumulated, for the purpose of expressing the
absolute sovereignty and supremacy of Jehovah. — God of gods,
and Lord of lords] hence Ps. 1362-3; cf. Dan. 2'^'^. — The great,
the m.ighty, and the terrible\ hence Neh. 932. Mighty ("1123)
13. -t> 3in'7] 62^.-14. D'Dtyn 'db-] G-K. § 133. 3 R.^— 17. Kin] j--'.— 'ni«] the
"plur. of majesty," as Gn. 42«> (G-K. § 124. i R.e).
126 DEUTERONOMY
suggests one who possesses might such as that of a warriof
(cf. Ps. 24* Is. 42^^ Jer. 20^^ ; also Is. g^^^) lo^i). — IV/w regardeth
not persons, nor taketh a bribe\ i.e. whom no consideration will
deter from taking vengeance on the wrong-doer : cf. 2%^^, also
ii7 i6i9; and 16^^ 27^^ Ex. 23*. — 18. Who executeth the judg-
ment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger\
i.e. who does not permit the helpless to be oppressed; for the
combination, see on 142^, and cf. 24!^. Justice, often so tardy
and uncertain in the East, and hence inculcated so earnestly
by Hebrew legislators and prophets, is meted out by Jehovah
with absolute impartiality and strictness. — 19. Love, then, the
stranger (sojourner) : for ye were strangers [sojourners) in the
la7id of Egypt\ in your attitude towards the dependent foreigner
imitate Jehovah, by not only treating him with justice (i^^),
but also befriending him with the warmer affection of love
*' Stranger" is the conventional rendering of 12 ; but the sense
of the Hebrew word would be better represented by "so-
journer," which would also preserve the connexion with the
corresponding verb in such passages as Gn. 12^*^ 19^ 47* Is.
52*. The term is really a technical one, and denotes the pro-
tected or dependent foreigner, settled for the time in Israel.
The social position of the Hebrew ger may be illustrated from that
enjoyed by the corresponding- Arabic jar (pi. jiran). " From an early
date, the Semitic communities embraced, in addition to the free tribesmen
of pure blood (Heb. ezrah, Arab, sarih) with their families and slaves, a
class of men who were personally free, but had no political rig-hts, viz. the
protected strang-ers, of whom mention is so often made in the OT. and in
early Arabic literature. The ger was a man of another tribe or district
who, coming to sojourn in a place where he was not strengthened by the
presence of his own kin, put himself under the protection of a clan or of a
powerful chief" (Smith, Rel. Sem. 75 f. ; ci. Kinship, i^i-^2)- I" Israel,
as is apparent from numerous allusions, ihe ger was liable to be the victim
of injustice and oppression; in JE the injunction not to oppress him is
repeated twice, Ex. 22^^ 23^ ; he is to enjoy the rest of the Sabbath, 23^^
as he is also to observe it, 20'*. In Dt., it is again insisted, kindness and
justice are to be dealt out to him (i^® 10'^ 24^^" " 27^*) ; and he is repeatedly
commended, by the side of the fatherless and the widow, to the Israelite's
charity (14*9 i6"- '* 2419- 20. 21 2e^\.\2.\zy^ }„ 29^0(11)^ ^.f. Jos. S^-^" (D"), and
31", he is included with the Israelites generally among those who enter
into Jehovah's covenant, and are under the obligation of observing the
Deut. law; i6'^' ^* 26'^ he may share in the joy of a sacred meal at a festival ;
28** if Israel is disobedient, he will increase in importance, and acquire
supremacy over it. See further on 14*^
X. i8— XI. 2 127
The motive of the injunction, the recollection of the feelings
of a sojourner, derived from the experiences of Egypt, agrees
verbatim with Ex. 2220(21' 23^ (J E), Lev. i(f* (H).— 20f. A God
owning such august attributes it is Israel's duty to regard with
reverence, devotion, and praise. — Jehovah thy God thou shalt
fear, &c.\ repeated from 6^^ : the duty of "cleaving" to Him,
as 1 1^2 135(4) 2o2o (cf. on 4^). — 21. He is thy praise^ i.e. the object
of thy praise: cf. Jer. 171* (nns Tiisnn -d). — Who hath done with
thee, &c.\ the relative clause suggests the reason why Jehovah
is worthily Israel's praise and Israel's God. Cf. Ex. 15^^
(poet.) npnn S^iJ ; and the expansion of the theme in Dt. ii^-^.
— Which thine eyes have seen] 4^ 7^^ 292(3). — 22. The crowning
evidence of Jehovah's claim for Israel's gratitude and regard
(cf. 26^). — Threescore and ten persons] so Gn. 462''^ Ex. i^ (P).
— As the stars of heaven for multitude] 1^°.
XI. 1-9. Appeal to Israel to call to mind the wonders
wrought by Jehovah on its behalf, as a motive to love and
obedience. — Love, therefore] the enclitic "therefore" (Heb. "I),
not the emphatic "therefore" (i| -'V or I?p) : so v.^- is 415 (z,.
phil. note) 6^ and often. Motives for the fear of God have
been sufficiently indicated io^'*-2i : the Writer now proceeds to
emphasize more particularly the duty of loving Him (cf. on 6^).
— And keep his charge] (imoK'D mr^ti'l)] only here in Dt.: often
in P (esp. Numbers), but usually in a technical sense, with
genitive of the object to be kept, as Nu. i^^ ^ss; "Jehovah's
charge " (of a specific duty). Lev. 8^5 iS^o 22^ Nu. gis- 23 ; Jn a
more general sense, as here, Gn. 26^ (JE), Jos. 22^ (D^), i K. 2^
(Deut.). — 2-7. Let Israel (who has seen it) know, and take to
heart, the discipline of Jehovah, i.e. (as v.^^-^ explains) His
great deeds in Egypt and the wilderness. — 2. And know ye
this day {for (I speak) not with your children which have not
known, and which have not seen) the discipline of Jehovah your
God] '^^^'O denotes neither instruction (see on 4^8), nor chastise-
21. ipn] cf. on i^O; and cv 9''. — 22. D'yae'n] the a is the Beth essentice —
••as": cf. 26''-'M«'':En) 28"- 33-'«, and on i'^— diS] ii".
XI. 2. The words int . . . nS '3 are treated above (with Keil, Di., OettH)
as a parenth. : but possibly AV., RV., are right ; after the series of
clauses (v.*'"'*) dependent on 'ji ijn' »<'^ ib'n, the words at the beginning
D3'J3 rK kS '3 being forgotten, and left without a verb. Understand in
128 DEUTERONOMY
mcnt (though this may be included), but moral edi^catton, or
disciplme (ffi iratSta), attended with greater (Pr. 3^1 Job 5^^) or
less severity (Pr. 1^-841), as the case may be: the sight of
Jehovah's wonders, it is meant, ought to have exerted upon
the IsraeHtes a disciphnary influence, subduing waywardness
and pride, promoting humihty and reverence, and educating
generally their moral and religious nature. — His greatness] 3^4.
— His mighty hand, cSr'c] 4^*. — 3. Sigiis\ 4^*. — His works, &€.]
cf. 4^* 6^2 yisf- : the thought of these passages is here drawn
out in greater detail. — 4. The passage of the Red Sea (Ex.
14). — Utito this day] 2^2, — 5. The acts of mingled judgment
and mercy wrought for Israel in the wilderness. — Unto this
place] i^^. — 6. In particular, the Writer reminds Israel of the
judgment upon Dathan and Abiram (Nu. 16). — How the earth
opened her mouth, a7id swallowed them up, and their households]
almost verbally as Nu. iS^^a ^5^^- nn^'s, not nnns, as Nu. 16^°, for
" opened '').—And their tents] cf. Nu. i626- ^"^^.—All the (living)
substance that followed them] cf. Nu. 1 630-33 anb "iC'N ^:3 (nN)l.
The silence respecting Korah, and the fate of his companions
and sympathizers (Nu. iG^^-so)^ Js remarkable and significant.
Nu. 16 is of composite authorship, JE mentioning only Dathan
and Abiram, P only Korah. The passages referred to all
belong to JE; and the fact is a fresh corroboration of what
has been said before, that the historical references of Dt. are
based uniformly upon the narrative of JE, and do not pre-
suppose that of P. — 7. Yo2ir eyes are those that saw] 3^1. — All
the great work of Jehovah] Jud. 2^ (Deut.). — 8-9. The practical
inference founded upon the preceding description of Jehovah's
"ID^^, the duty, viz. of obedience to His commands. — 8. That
ye may be stro7ig, and go in, &€.] cf. 4^. — Whither ye are pass-
ing over, &c.]6^. — 9. And that ye may prolong days, ^c] cf.
4*". — Flowing with m.ilk and honey] 63.
10-17. A new motive to obedience : Canaan, unlike Egypt,
either case "do I speak." — 6. on'nn nxi Dj/VDm] Nu. i6''- on'na riNi criK yV^ni,
which is more elegant and classical : the present type of sentence does not
occur more than 11 or 12 times in the OT., as Dt. 15^* i S. 5'" nxi ':n'DnS
'DV (see note), 2 K. 20*. — D'P;] Gn. ^*^'^ (])\. A rare and peculiar word,
denoting- properly that which subsists, (living) substance. — DS'Vjia] at their
feet, idiom, ior following them : Ex. 11* i S. 25^ al.
XI. 3-»o 129
is dependent for its fertility upon the rain of heaven, which
God will g^ant or withhold according as Israel is faithful or
the reverse. — 10. Is not as the land of Egypt, ivhcnce ye came
out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it ivith thy fool\
the allusion is to the method by which the soil of Eg-ypt was
cultivated. In Egypt, as is well known, rain is exceedingly
rare ; and the crops are dependent, for their necessary
moisture, upon the annual inundation of the Nile, and the
system of artificial irrigation by which the waters of the river
are stored, and distributed by canals, as occasion arises, over
the fields. At present machines of various kinds are in use in
Egypt for the purpose of raising water from the river or canals
(Lane, Modem Egyptians^ chap, xiv., ed. 1871, ii. pp. 25-27),
though none (according to Robinson, BR. i. 581 f.) which illus-
trates the practice of " watering with the foot " here alluded to.
One of the commonest of these machines is the Sakiek, or water-wheel ;
this is usually turned by an ox, and raises the water by means of jars
fastened to a circular or endless rope, which hangs over the wheel.
" Possibly," writes Robinson, " in more ancient times the water-wheel
may have been smaller, and turned, not by oxen, but by men pressing- upon
it with the foot, in the same way that water is still often drawn from wells
in Palestine, as we afterwards saw [see ii. pp. 22, 226]. Niebuhr
describes one such machine in Cairo, where it was called Sakieh tedur bir-
rijl, ' a wateringf-machine that turns by the foot,' a view of which he also
subjoins [Reisebeschreibung, 1774, i. p. 149, with plate xv., reproduced
in Riehm, HWB. p. 19]. The labourer sits on a level with the axis of the
wheel or reel, and turns it by drawing the upper part towards him with
his hands, pushing- the rounds of the under part at the same time with his
feet one after another. In Palestine the wheel or reel is more rude ; and
a single rope is used, which is wound up around it by the same process."
It is possible, however, that the reference may be to the mode of dis-
tributing water from the canals over a field, by making or breaking down
with the foot the small ridges which regulate its flow (see, of Egypt,
Shaw, Travels in Barbary, Algiers, &c., 1738, p. 431), or by using the foot
for the purpose of opening and closing sluices. Conder {Tent Work, 1877,
p. 328) speaks of vegetable gardens in Palestine as irrigated "by means
of small ditches trodden by the foot."
Asa garden of herbs] i K. 21^ Pr. 15'. The comparison
seems intended to suggest that Egypt generally was irrigated
by a method which in Palestine would be applied only to a
IC. •^VH] = where (i*^). — nT\'par^^ . . . y-iin] '^ usedst to sow . . . and
water" ; Gn. 2« 6* 292-3 Ex. 33^-" &c. (Dr. § 113. 4/3 ; G-K. § 112. yta).
9
130 DEUTERONOMY
small g-arden of vegetables. — 11. According to the rain of
heaven it drinketh water] i.e. the supply of water is regulated
by the rain. It is true that Canaan is also " a land of streams
of water, of springs and deeps, issuing forth in vale and
hill " (8^) ; but water from these sources would be far from
sufficient for the general irrigation of the country ; and the
crops are essentially dependent for their proper growth upon
the two annual periods of rain referred to in v.^*. — 12. Careth
/or] lit. seeketh after (tjm), viz. with interest and care : cf. Job
3^ Jer. 30^^ Is. 62^2 £2^ 24^. — The eyes of Jehovah are continu-
ally upon it] it is ever the object of His protecting regard : cf.
(with ^k) Ps. 33^^ 34^^. — 13-17. The enjoyment of this natural
bounty of Palestine is dependent, however, upon the fidelity
with which Israel remains devoted to the service of its God. —
To love and to serve, &€.] io^2_ — 14_ / ^^7/ gi-ug] on the first
pers., see on 7*. — The former rain ^"iT)] i-e. the autumnal
rains, which begin in Oct. -Nov., at first intermittently, and
allowing the husbandman time to sow his crops of wheat or
barley, afterwards, till the end of December, falling heavily,
and continuing at intervals through the winter. — The latter
rain (K'ippo)] i.e. the showers of March-April, which refresh
and advance the ripening crops (the wheat-harvest beginning,
in the plains, during the first half of May, and on the
mountains in the first weeks of June : barley is ripe, in each
case, a week or a fortnight earlier than the wheat). Upon the
regularity of the autumnal and vernal rains the proper ripen-
ing of the crops depends. Comp. Jer. 5^* Joel 2^3; and for
allusions, in particular, to the refreshing nature of the "latter
rain," see Pr. i6i5Job 2923 Hos. 6^ ; Jer. 3^ (withheld).— TViy
com and thy wine arid thine oil] 7^^, — 15_ £fit and be full] as
6^^ (see note) 8^2 3120^ g. source of spiritual danger, and pro-
vocative of idolatry. — 16 f. The admonition not to follow false
gods is repeated (see 6^^^- 8^^'^), accompanied by a warning
suited to the present connexion, viz. that, if the temptation be
11. D'Dcn ntJcS] rather an extreme case of the V of norm, or rule : comp.
32' (. . . isddS) ; Is. 11' 32* (pisS, bbcdS) ; I S. 23^ 2 S. 15" ; Job 42' Ez.
12^2 ]»yS {i.e. "as the eye sees it " ; so here, " as the rain of heaven permits
il ). See Lex. •? I. b. — p'i'rt pa] the art. after 3 is generic : Lex. n f. — 15.
nv^B-i] on 8'*. — 16-17. 'Ji omoi] the tenses as 4^^— nVn' t\h inn] Lev. 26*'"
XI. 11-25 13*
indulged in, drought and famine may be expected as the con-
sequences. — Les/ your heart be deceived^ ]oh 31^^ (in a similar
connexion). — And JehovaUs anger be kindled against you\ 6^^.
And he shut up the heavens., and there be no rain] cf. 28^^'-
Lev. 2619^-; also i K. 8^5 (Deut.).— Perish quickly, <5r'c.] 428,
cf. 2820 : also, with v.i«''- i^b, Jos. 23^6 [W^).— The good land] i^^.
18-25. Let Israel have these commandments in perpetual
remembrance : the observance of them will be rewarded by
national prosperity. — V.^^-^o are repeated, with slight varia-
tions of expression, from 6^-^ (where see notes). — 18. Lay,
then, upon your heart, i^c.] cf. 6^ "shall be upon thy heart."
— 21. That your days, &c.] comp. 4*<' 6^ 11 9. — As the days of
the heavens above the earth] i.e. as long as the heaven endures
above (or resting on : Job 26^^) the earth, in other words,
perpetually: cf. Ps. 89^0 Job 1412; also Ps. 725- 7- 17._22. All
this coTnmandment, &fc.] cf. 8^. — To love, &€.] v.^^. — To walk
in all his ways] 8^ 10^2. — yj, cleave to him] lo^". — 23. Dispossess
(K'mni)] 9^^-^^ (Ex. 34^^). — Ye shall possess natiotis greater, &'c.]
cf. 9I. — 24-25. Israel's reward shall be the complete and
undisputed possession of the land of promise. — 24. Whereon
the sole of your feet shall tread] cf. 2^ Jos. i^ (D^) 14^. — From
the wilderness, and Lebanon] i.e. from the wilderness of et-Tih
(p. 20), on the South of Palestine, and from Lebanon on the
North. "One might be tempted to conjecture ^ even unto
Lebanon' (p:3^n nyi) ; see, however, Jos. i^" (Dillm.). — The
river Euphrates] this is named as the ideal limit of Israel's
dominion on the East : see on i^. — The hinder sea\ i.e. the
Mediterranean Sea, as 34^ Zech. 14* Joel 220t. Opp. is "the
front sea" ("'JDlpn D'n), i.e. the Dead Sea (Ez. 47I8 Zech. 148
Joel 220). On the ground of the designation, see on v.^^. — 25.
There shall not a man stand in your face (d3''333)] 7^*. — The
fear of you, and the dread of you shall Jehovah put, &'c.] cf. ^^.
Whereon ye shall tread (lamn)] cf. on i^^. — As he spake unto
you] Ex. 2327 (■j^3^)^ n^K^x ^riD'N nx) : of. Jos. 2».
26-32. The alternatives offered for Israel's choice : a bless-
Ez. 34" Zech. 81" Ps. 67' Ssi^f.— 18. hSk] so (not n^Nn), as regularly after
a noun with a suff,, 1 K. S'^^ lo^ al. (Dr. § 209) ; cf. ^ (ni).— 19. D3] &.—
Dipon Va] collect. = " every place" : Ex. 20=" Lev. i5»-*« &c.— 25. '« Sy] 2».
132 DEUTERONOMY
ing if it obeys the commandments of Jehovah, and a curse if it
refuses them. — The verses form a suitable conclusion to the
first part of Moses' discourse (c. 5-1 1), stating more concisely
and emphatically than before the two alternatives set before
Israel. The contents of both the blessing and the curse are
draw^n out at length in c. 28, which forms the solemn close ot
the entire Deuteronomic legislation. — 26. See ('"i?^"!)] i^- — I set
before you\ for your choice (on 4^): so v.32. — 27. WJiich I am
commanding y &c.\ 4*°. — 28. A7id turn aside from the way] 9^^- ^^
31^^. — To go after other gods\&^. — Wliich ye have not kjtown]
of which ye have had no experience, and which have conse-
quently no claims upon your regard: so 133.7.14 28'^* 29^5(26)
3217 (the Song). — 29-32. When Israel has entered into Canaan,
the blessing and the curse are, respectively, to be set symbolic-
ally upon Mount Gerizim, and Mount 'Ebal, in the heart of the
country (cf. 27^2^ . and see Jos. 8^^^). — 29. When Jehovah thy
God shall bring thee into the land\&^ "T^'. cf. Ex. 13^-^^. — The
blessing upon Mount Gerizim^ and the curse upon Mount 'Ebal\
Gerizim and 'Ebal are, respectively, on the S. and the N. side
of the fertile valley in which Shechem (the modern Nabulus)
lay : they were thus in the very centre of the land, close to an
ancient sanctuary (Gn. 12^ 33^^^)> the burial-place of Joshua
(Jos. 2432), often mentioned as a place of national gathering
and political importance (Jos. 24^; Jud. 9; i K. 12^-25). The
ground why Gerizim is selected for the blessing, and 'Ebal for
the curse, is probably (Schultz, Keil, Dillm.) that, from the
point of view of the Hebrews, who conceived themselves as
naturally looking Eastwards, in fixing the quarters of the
heavens (cf. l^'ri, PP', the right hand, of the South, D'l.i' and
"•39 ?y, in fronty of the East), Gerizim was on the right-hand
side, which was regarded as the side of good fortune (cf. Gn.
35I8; Mt. 2533). On the manner in which the ceremony is
conceived by the Writer, see 27^2f.. — 39. The position of the
two mountains more closely defined. — Beyond Jordan] from the
standpoint of the speaker, as 320- 25. — Behind the -way of the
going down of the sun] i.e. on the other side of the great
27. tb'n] nearly = //" (cf. ok \.-'^\. A rare usage (Lex. "w* 8d): Lev.
4^^ Jos. 4".— 30. '?1D] in front (// (3^ £x. 34' 1 S^ if^ a/.),— the position
XI. 26-30 133
westerly road, leading- through Palestine from N. to S., which
must have passed formerly, as it passes still, through the
plain E. of Shechem : cf. Ritter, Erdkunde, xvi. 658 f. (Knob.)
= Geogr. of Palestine (transl.) iv. 293 ff. In the land of the
Canaanite, that dwcllcih in the'Ardbah] the 'Ardbah, or Jordan-
valley (p. 3), is at a considerable distance from 'Ebal and
Gerizim : but it seems that it is named here, partly as being a
district of Palestine specially associated with the " Canaanite "
(Nu. 1329 Jos. 11^: cf. pp. II, 13 f.), partly as being immedi-
ately in view of "the ravine in front of Beth-Pe'or" (3^^),
the assumed position of the speaker. — In front of Gilgal (^v:
^j':^jn)] the words are difficult ; and the locality intended is uncer-
tain. From its being named for the purpose of defining the
position of 'Ebal and Gerizim, it would seem to be some well-
known place ; and hence it is natural, in the first instance, to
think of the Gilgal near Jericho (Jos. 4"^- s^f- i S. 7^'"' &c.). In
spite of the objection that this lies too far from 'Ebal and
Gerizim — some 28 miles to the SSE. — to be chosen as a land-
mark, it seems most probable, on the whole, that it is the
place intended ; the words, it may be supposed, being meant
to indicate, that, speaking loosely and generally, from the
point of view of one looking Westwards, from a site at the
foot of Nebo, 'Ebal and Gerizim would be "in front of" this
well-known spot in the Jordan-valley opposite (see p. xxi).
The word Gilgal (cf. ^373 wheel) means a round or circle, viz. of stones,
or (in modern parlance) a cromlech : the art. (''J^in) shows (see Lex. n 2)
that the appellative sense of the word was still felt. The popular etymolog-y
in Jos. 5', connecting it with ^\i to roll (a-way), does not express the real
origin of the word. Such stone-circles (which were no doubt esteemed
sacred) might naturally be found in different parts of the country, though
the most celebrated was the one near Jericho ; and one or other of these
has been thought by some commentators to be intended here.
Thus Knob, supposes that the place meant is either the TaXyouXn of Euseb.
{Ononi. p. 245), 6 miles W. of Antipatris (which he identifies with Kilkilia,
a village a little E.-NE. of Kefr Saba, about 18 miles W. of 'Ebal and
Gerizim), or a village still called Jiljuleh, some 2 miles to the S. of
Kilkilia. Keil (and so HWB., and Schenkel, BL. s.v.) thinks of Jiljilia,
a large village lying on a ridge 2441 feet above the level of the sea, and
commanding an extensive prospect towards both the Mediterranean and
indicated in any particular case depending, of course, upon the direction
in which the determining object is viewed or approached.
134 DEUTERONOMY
the mountains of Gile'ad (Rob. ii. 265), about 13 miles S. of Gerizim, and
3 miles to the W. of the great road leading from Jerusalem through Bethel
to the North of Palestine, in the latitude of Sinjil (perhaps the "Gilgal"
meant in 2 K. 2' 4^8). Though the present writer understood on the spot
that Jiljilia was visible on a clear day from the top of Gerizim, yet the
heights of the intervening mountains (as exhibited in the large map of the
Palestine Exploration Society) show that it can have formed no particularly
conspicuous landmark ; and as it is certainly not visible from the plain at
the foot of 'Ebal and Gerizim, it is not easy to understand why it should
have been selected for the purpose of defining the position of these
mountains, nor is it clear in what sense two mountains, situated 13 miles
N. of Jiljilia, should be described, especially from a standpoint E. of
Jordan, as "in front of it." Knobel's and Keil's proposed sites have also
the disadvantage of being (so far as appears) places of no importance or
note. Others have sought to relieve the difficulty of the verse by
punctuating differently: thus (i) "the Canaanite that dwelleth in the
'Ardbah in front of Gilgal" (Colenso, The New Bible Comm. [the
"Speaker's Comm."] critically examined, 1873, v. 67), the words being
taken to define the part of the 'Ardbah inhabited by the "Canaanites"
(2) "in front of the stone-circle beside the terebinths of Moreh" (suggested
by Dillm.), the words being supposed to denote a spot close to Shechem.
If this " stone-circle beside the terebinths of Moreh " could be supposed to
have been located in the plain E. of "Ebal and Gerizim, through which
the highway mentioned just before still runs, the words would define very
suitably the position of the two mountains. But it is an objection to this
view, that it makes the defining landmark, not the well-known "terebinths
of Moreh " itself, but an otherwise unmentioned stone-circle beside it.
Beside the terebinths of Moreh (miD >:i^J< ^^fS)] or '■^ of (the)
director,^' mentioned also (with terebinth, for terebinths, as is
read also by Sam. ffi here) in Gen. 12^ as close to Shechem
(cf. also 35* ['^^??!^]). The name, it is probable, is that of
an oracular tree (or grove) ; and if Moreh be rightly taken not
as a proper name, but as an appellative, as the verb min is
used of the authoritative "direction" given by priests (on
lyi*'), it will denote the priest (or company of priests) who
gave answers to those who came to consult the oracle.
Perhaps the same tree is meant by the "Soothsayers' Terebinth" (p'^N
Q'jjyD) of Jud. 9^, likewise near Shechem, if not also by the n^N — as it is now
pointed, though the original pronunciation may have been rhii — "in the
sanctuary of Jehovah," at Shechem, mentioned Jos. 24^. On sacred trees
among Semitic peoples (who in some cases treated them as actual gods,
and paid them divine honours), and on the methods of divination from
them, see W. R. Smith, Rel. Setn. pp. 169 ff., 178 f. ; and Baudissin, Sent.
Rel.-Gesch. 1878, ii. p. 184 ff. (among tlic Hebrews, pp. 223-330).
31. The reason why this injunction has now been given to
All. 135
them : the Israelites are about to enter upon the permanent
occupation of Canaan. — 32. Concluding exhortation to obedi-
ence. — Observe to do] on 4®.
XII.-XXVI. XXVIII. The Code of special Laws.
These chapters form the second part of the principal dis-
course of Deuteronomy (c. 5-26. 28), embracing-, under its
more practical aspects, the exposition of Israelitish law,
promised in i^, and particularizing- in detail the "statutes and
judgments" (4^ 5^), ceremonial, civil, and criminal, by which
the daily life of the Israelite was to be regulated. So far as
the more technical nature of the subject admits, the treatment
and style continue the same as in c. 5-1 1 ; the same theocratic
principles are insisted on, the same parenetic tone prevails,
the same stress is laid upon the motives of devotion to God,
and large-hearted benevolence towards man, by which the
Israelite is to be actuated. The laws, as a rule, are not (as
is mostly the case, for instance, in Ex. 21-23) promulgated,
merely as such : they are generally enforced by hortatory com-
ments and explanations, and sometimes they are developed
at considerable length. The arrangement is not throughout
entirely systematic, and here and there some displacement
may have occurred : but on the whole the principles determin-
ing the order followed by the Writer are tolerably plain. The
following is an outline of the subjects embraced*: —
I. Sacred observances ( 12^-1 6'') : —
a. Law of the single sanctuary (12^"-*).
b. Repression of idolatry (i2'-^-i3^^('8)).
c. Holiness of the laity (14^"-').
d. Sacred dues and sacred seasons (14*^-16").
a. Office-bearers of the theocracy:—
a. Judges ( 1 618-20 178-13).+
b. King{i7"-»>).
c. Priests ( 1 8i-»).
d. Prophets ( 1 89-22).
3. Criminal law (c. 19; 2i^'"'J); —
a. Homicide and murder (19*"^').
• Comp. Wellh. Conip. p. 205 f. ; W'cstphal, p. 38 f.
t 16^1-17' belong to No. ib. J C. 20 belongs to No. 4.
136 DEUTERONOMY
b. Encroachment on property (19''*).
c. False witness (19^*"^^).
d. Expiation of an uncertain murder (21'"').
4. Miscellaneous laws, relating (mostly) to civil and domestic life (21"-
c. 25), not systematically arranged, but embracing such subjects as — the
conduct of war 2i^''"i* (with c. 20); family law (primogeniture, seduction,
divorce, &c.), 2i**-2i aa^-^" 24I-5 255-^*^ ; interest and loans 2320'- P»f-) 246- ^o-'^;
just weights 25'^"'®.
5. Parenetic conclusion (c. 26), and peroration (c. 28).
C. 27 interrupts the discourse of Moses with a piece of narrative,
containing injunctions foreign to the context on both sides (see
the notes ad loc).
For a detailed synopsis of the laws, arranged in tabular
form, with the parallels in Ex.-Nu., as well as for a discussion
of the relation in which the Deuteronomic legislation, viewed
generally, stands to the other Codes of the Pentateuch, the
reader is referred to the Introduction (§§ i, 2).
XII.-XIII. Laws designed to secure the Purity of
Religious Worship,
XII. In Canaan, the places at which the native Canaanites
served their gods are to be destroyed, and Jehovah is to be
worshipped publicly at one place only, to be selected by Him-
self. — The Code of special laws (c. 12-26) begins, like the
"Book of the Covenant" and the "Law of Holiness" (Ex.
2o23-26j Lev. 17^'^), with injunctions respecting the place, and
the character, of the public worship of Jehovah, — Of the two
main topics dealt with in c. 12, viz. (i) the destruction of the
Canaanitish places of worship, (2) the limitation of the public
worship of Jehovah to a single sanctuary, the parallels in
the other Codes are, for (i) — though with reference only to
the religious symbols of the Canaanites, not to the places, as
such, at which their rites were observed — Ex. 2324- 32f. 3412-16
(JE), comp. also (more generally) 20^3 22^9(-*') 34^'^; Nu. 33^2f.
(H); and for (2) Ex. 2o24f. (JE), Lev. 171-0 (H). The relation
of the last two passages to the law of Dt. gives rise, however,
to difficulty, and needs discussion. Ex. 2o2^f- lays no stress
upon sacrifice being confined to a single spot, but directs it to
be offered upon an altar built, in simple fashion, of earth or
unhewn stone, and attaches to such worship the promise, " In
XIL 137
whatever place I cause my name to be remembered (or com-
memorated), I will come unto thee, and bless thee." The
reference here cannot, for many reasons (see ad loc), be to the
altar of burnt-offering before the Tabernacle, as described in
P (Ex. 27^-8 &c.): not only, for instance, is a far simpler
structure manifestly in the writer's mind, but the alternatives
offered (earth or unhewn stone) are an indication that the law
is meant quite generally, and that its intention is to authorize
the erection of altars, built in the manner prescribed, in any
part of the land. With the plurality of altars, thus sanctioned,
agrees not merely, in pre-Mosaic times, the practice of the
patriarchs, who are often in JE stated to have built altars,
and worshipped, especially at spots where Jehovah had mani-
fested Himself to them (Gn. i 2'^- 8 134. is 229- is 2625 3320 3^1. 3. 7
46I: cf. Ex. 171^), but also the usage of the Israelites generally,
between the ages of Moses and Solomon.
During- this period the historical books imply the existence of
sanctuaries (other than that at which the Ark was stationed), and speak
frequently of the erection of altars, and of sacrifice, not only on occasion
of a theophany, or in obedience to an express command (as Jos. S^**** Jud.
2»6'« i3'«-'9 2 S. 24-*), but also independently, Jos. 24!- -« i S. f^-^'' g'^-"
(at a high-place), to'- ''• ^ if^- 1 1^' 14''^ {i\\Q first of the altars built by Saul to
Jehovah), 20^ 2 S. i5''M2. 32 ("where men used to ivorship God"), i K. 3^
("the great high-place" at Gibe'on, at which Solomon was accustomed
(n"?!;') to sacrifice). In none of these notices is there any mark of dis-
approval, or any intimation, on the part of either the actors or the
narrator, that a law such as that of Dt. is being- infringed : in i S. 9^2-14
10^"" it is especially evident that ordinary and regular customs are
described. Although, therefore, in the earlier centuries of Israelitish
history, the sanctuary at which the Ark was stationed had naturally the
pre-eminence, and was the centre to which annual pilgrimages were made
(cf. Ex. 23i<-i7-i9 [first-fruits to be brought to "the house of Jehovah"];
Jud. 2i'*; I S. i'-''--^), it cannot be doubted that other local sanctuaries
existed in different parts of the land, and that sacrifice offered at them was
considered perfectly legitimate. (Cf. Ex. 22^ W, which also presupposes
local sanctuaries : see on 15^.)
The local sanctuaries, in spite of the splendour and iclat of
the Temple built by Solomon, retained their popularity through
the period of the Kings : the Deuteronomic compiler of the
Books of Kings notes repeatedly how the people continued to
sacrifice at them, and even the good kings did not remove
them (i K. 32.3 1423 ,514 2213 2 K. 12^3) 14* 154- 35 16*). Comp.
138 DEUTERONOMY
also I K. 18^°'' ig^***^*. Time however showed how impossible
it was to secure them against abuse, and to preserve the
worship conducted at them from contamination with Canaan-
itish idolatry (cf. i K. 1423^-; ii^ 2 K. 23^3 ; Jer. 7^1 178 iqS) ;
the abolition of them was attempted, though with only tem-
porary success, by Hezekiah (2 K. i8*-22 2i3): in Dt. they are
formally declared illegal, legitimate sacrifice being expressly
restricted to the single sanctuary ; and to the Deuteronomic
ideal Josiah gave practical effect in his reforms (2 K. 235- 8).
The law of Dt. thus marks an epoch in the history of Israelitish
religion : it springs from an age when the old law (Ex. 202*),
sanctioning an indefinite number of local sanctuaries, had been
proved to be incompatible with purity of worship ; it marks
the final, and most systematic, effort made by the prophets to
free the public worship of Jehovah from heathen accretions.
The gist of Lev. 17^'* is (i) to prohibit the slaughter, even for purposes
of food, of any animal of a kind that might be offered in sacrifice, without
its being presented to Jehovah at the Tabernacle, in the manner of a
peace-offering, v.^'^; and (2) to forbid burnt-offering or sacrifice being
offered except at the same place, v.*'*. The principle on which the first
of these prohibitions depends is explained below, on v.^"* : the aim of the
second is to insure sacrifice in general being offered exclusively to Jehovah.
In view of Ex. 20**, and of the other passages, just quoted, illustrating the
practice of the period from Moses to Solomon, it is extremely difficult to
think that Lev. 17^"' (accepting it, in substance, as pre-Deuteronomic) can
still be in its original form. The full discussion of this subject belongs to
a Commentary on Leviticus ; but the most probable opinion is that, as
originally formulated (as part of the " Law of Holiness"), Lev. 17^"* had
no reference to a central sanctuary (the "Tent of Meeting"), but pre-
supposed z. plurality of legitimate sanctuaries, and was only accommodated
to the single sanctuary, by a modification in its phraseology, when it was
incorporated in P. In its more original form, the law will have harmonized
of course with Ex. 20^ ; and its special aim will have been to insist on
sacrifices being offered to Jehovah alone instead of to the imaginary
demons of the desert, to whom (v.^) the Israelites were prone to offer them.
This view of the passage is taken by Kittel, Theol. Studien aus Wiirttem-
berg, 1881, p. 42 ff., Gesch. d. Hebrder, i. 99; Dillm. on Lev. 17*; Baudis-
sin, Gesch. des AT.lichen Prtesterthurttes, p. 47 : comp. W. R. Smith, Addit.
Answ. to the Libel, Edinb. 1878, pp. 61-64 ; ^"d Leviticus, by H. A. White
and the present writer, in Haupt's " Sacred Books of the OT." (1894).
1. These are the statutes, &t'c.\ the words are of the nature
of a superscription to c. 12-26: cf. 5^ 6^. — All the days, &'c.\
Xn. 1. fnj] hath given, viz. in effect (3'-'). Usu. in Dt. |oi; but the
XII. i-a 139
410 -^I's. — 2-3. All Canaanitisb ptaces of worship are to be
destroyed. — a tundamental and necessary condition for the
pure and uncontaminated worship of Jehovah (v.*^"). — Upon
the high mountains^ and upon ihe hills, and under every spread-
ing Iree] the favourite sites chosen by the Canaanites for their
idolatrous observances. Worship at these spots, accompanied
often by licentious rites, is frequently alluded to in the period
of the Kings. Thus Hosea (c. 750) writes (41^) : "They sacri-
fice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon
the hills, under the oak, and the poplar, and the terebinth,
because the shade thereof is good : therefore your daughters
commit whoredom, and your brides commit adultery" : Isaiah,
shortly afterwards, speaks of the terebinths, and gardens, in
which the idolatrous Judahites delighted (i^^) ; in the age of
Jeremiah, the standing phrase, in connexion with idolatrous
observances, is " upon every high hill, and under every spread-
ing tree," Jer. 220 (cf. 36 172); i K. 1423 2 K. if^ cf. 16* (all
Deut.) ; Ez. 6^3 (cf. 2028) ; " upon the mountains," Ez. iS^- n- 1^
22^ Is. 65^; ** under every spreading tree," Is. 57^ Jer. 3I2. The
fact that such spots were selected by the Canaanites for their
idolatrous rites, and often, it is probable, adopted from them
by the immigrant Israelites, caused them naturally to be re-
garded with strong disfavour by Hebrew legislators and
prophets. The *' places " alluded to are no doubt the J"ii03, or
artificial mounds (AV. "high-places"), with accompanying
shrine, or chapel (n"'3 : i K. 12^1 13^2, cf. Ez. 16^^), altar, &c.,
erected ("built" 2 K. 21^ al.; "made," ib. 2;^^^ al.) in such
localities {e.g. i K. 11'^ 142^ Ez. 6^^ 2o2'^f) : see more fully on
Nu. 33^2 (H) n^Di^'n Dmoa ^3 nxv
Why the sites referred to were chosen for religious purposes, is not
definitely stated, and can only be inferred by conjecture. Trees may have
position (before the subj.) shows that the punct. is correct. — 2. mDipDn]
the word may possibly, like the Arab, makdm, have acquired in Heb.
the sense of ** sacred place" ; Gn. 12* 28" i S. 7" (cf. ffi) Jer. 7'^. — D'ct]
on 9*. — pyn] not green, but spreading, luxuriant, — always, except Ps. 92'^
(pyn pis') ^' (of the righteous, under the fig. of a tree), Dan. 4' (Aram.), of
trees or leaves. The etym. is not certain. Arab, ra'una is /o be (mentally)
lax, flaccid, weak: possibly, therefore, the primary meaning of the root
may have been to fall abroad loosely, in Heb. used lit. of trees, in Arab.
applied fig. to the mind. ffi Jari/f, aXruins, turKieg, Ka.-airxioi, rvtxmt.
140 DEUTERONOMY
been selected, partly for the reason assigned by Hosea, viz. on account of
their shade, but partly also because they were often regarded as sacred
(on 11^); and hill tops, it is generally supposed, were chosen as being
open to heaven, and nearer than other points of earth to the heavenly
gods (for another conjecture, see W. R. Smith, Rel. Sent, pp. 352, 356,
358, 470 f.). Among the Israelites, also, sacred associations gathered
round the same spots ; and both religious ceremonies, and theophanies,
are described as taking place on mountain-tops, or other eminences {e.g.
Gn. 222 Jud. 6-« I S. 9W-14.19 iqS 2 S. is^^ i K. iS'^-^O; cf. the "mount of
God," of Horeb, Ex. 3^ 4^ 24'^ i K. 19*), and under sacred trees (Gn. 12^'*
13^* 18^ 21^^ Jos. 24-^ Jud. 6"'^^*2*). — See further, on sacred trees, on 11^®;
and on sacred hills, Baudissin, Sent. Rel.-Gesch. ii. 231 ff., 252 fF.
3. Ye shall break down, &'c.\ nearly as 7^ (Ex. 232* 341^).
The command is naturally repeated here, as giving complete-
ness to the injunction of v. 2. On the "pillars" (obelisks)
and "Ash^rim," see on i62i-22. — Cause their name to perish
(724) out of that place] the very names of the deities once
venerated at it are to be forgotten (Zeph. i* Zech. 132).
4-7. Only at one spot, to be chosen by Himself, are sacri-
fices, and other sacred dues, to be presented to Jehovah. —
4. Ye shall not do so, &c.] i.e. not worship Him, at every spot
without distinction, and with idolatrous rites. — 5. U?ito the
place -which Jehovah your God shall choose] the standing phrase
in Dt. for the central sanctuary 121*- ^s. 26 ^^25 1^20 157. 15. le jys.
10 188 3111 Jos. 927 (D2), with the addition (as here) "to set
(DVw'p) his name there" 1221 142*, and "to cause his name to
dwell {]'i?'^?) there " 12^^ 142^ i62- ^- ^^ 262. The expression occurs
nowhere else in the Hex., though the idea that the place of
sacrifice is to be appointed by God, not by man, agrees with
Ex. 2o24b. Of course the place tacitly designated by the ex-
pression is Jerusalem, which is described similarly in passages
of Kings due to the Deut. compiler, as the city which Jehovah
has "chosen," i K. 8^4.48 (cf. v.is) nis. 32.36 1^21 2 K. 21^ 2327.
3. DDB' nx Drn3Ni] cf. Is. 26^* ; c. 7^ (t^kh).— 5. . . . icx Dipcn Sn ck '3
noef nN3i w\in "i las' 7] the construction is uncertain, (i) The Massorites,
by placing the athnah at Dtr, perh. also by vocalizing p* (not v*, as Ex.
29**: yet cf. DTjp, 'iVca by the side of fiipc, \'7?^, Ols. § 245'', G-K. §61.
R.^) show that they treat ust? as a subst., dwelling, connecting ii^cS
with wnin, and regarding it as resumptive of Cipon 7X : in this case
there will be an anacoluthon, hn at the beginning being governed
by the verb of motion, which is implicitly in the writer's mind, but the
construction being broken by the insertion of irim u^c''. A subst. ]2V)
XII. 3-6 141
On the theological application of the word choose, see further
on 4^7 : the idea is a favourite one with writers of the Deut.
school. — Out of all your tribes] comp. i K. 8'*^ ii^^ 1^21 2 K.
21"^ (all Deut.). — To set his name there] so v.^^ 14-'' i K. 9* ii^s
2 K. 21*' '^; comp. the parallel phrases "to cause his name to
dwell (Pt;'^) there," v." 1423 i62-6.ii 262 Jer. f^ (of Shiloh)
Ezra 6'2 Neh. i^f (cf. Ps. 74'^), and "that my name may be
there " i K. 8i<5- 29 2 K. 2327.
The name, with the Hebrews, is the expression of the nature — hence
the prophets, when they wish to describe a person or place by its real
character, often say that it will be called or named according^ly, Is. i^® 4^
30^ 62^- '- Ez. 48^* &c. : "the 'name of Jehovah' is thus the compendious
expression of His character and attributes, as He has revealed them to
men" (Kirkpatrick on Ps. 5^') : to act "for His name's sake" (Ps. 23^ 31*
143'^ Is. 48^ Jer. 14^' "^ al.) is to act in such a manner as not to belie His
revealed nature. Jehovah's revealed nature is specially associated with
His people, Israel, and with His sanctuary in its midst : hence He will not
forsake His people ; for when Israel suffers contumely or reproach, it is His
own name which is profaned (i S. 12^^ Is. 48^^ Ez. 20®' "-^^ 36-"'-'*) ; and the
sanctuary is the place of Jehovah's "name," because He there vouchsafes
the special tokens of His presence and graciously responds to His servants*
devotions (comp. Oehler, OT. Theol. § 56; Schultz, OT. Theol. p. 514 f.
[ii. 123 f.]). The term is first found in connexion with a sanctuary in the
Book of the Covenant, Ex. 20^* "in every place where I will cause my
name to be remembered (or commemorated) (cc 'DB' T3IK it^K cipon Vd3) "
— viz. in consequence of some manifestation of my presence — " I will come
unto thee, and bless thee." Isaiah (18^) calls the Temple "the place of
Jehovah's name" (cf. Jer. 3'^); and the expression "to build an house to
Jehovah's name" is found 2 S. f'^ \ K. 3^ 5".i9(3.b) 817-20. 44. 48 (^U Deut.).
(Even) to his dwelling shall ye seek (iK'iin)] i.e. resort thither
for religious purposes ; comp. Am. 56 h^TC^I \^'r\T\ bxi, and with
God as obj. Gn. 2522 i S. 9» al. (cf. on i8^i).— 6. Thither all
sacrifices, and other sacred dues, are to be brought: viz. (i) and
(2) bunit-offerings and sacrifices (dtiiit), the two commonest
does not, however, occur elsewhere: hence (2) Knob., Keil, Oettli,
and others, disregarding the athnah, render as an inf., "that he (0/
it) may dwell (there)," i.e. that His presence there may be an abiding
one. The objection to (2) is that UDtyS is then somewhat otiose (for
uv iDt? riK Die'? — see above — is a synonym of ca' ^ao pe/h), and comes
in lamely at the end of the sentence, nor is vn construed elsewhere
with "jK of the place resorted to ; the sentence also is decidedly more
forcible, if DipDn hn be resumed, after the long intervening relative clause,
by a synonym such as ij:b'7. — nN3i] Sam. (& cnxai ; cf. however v.^**, and
see on H'.
142 DEUTERONOMY
kinds of sacrifice, often mentioned together, especially in
general designations of sacrifice (Ex. lo-' iS'^ Jos. 22'^'^-^^ i S.
515 1^22 2 K. 517 (Na'aman) Jer. 722), the "sacrifice" specially
intended in such cases by DTiar being doubtless the thank-
offering (a''JD^*i;')> which in other similar passages seems to be
combined with m^iy as a parallel to D'nnt [e.^: Ex. 20^* 24^ 32^
I S. 10* 13^). On these forms of sacrifice, see more fully on Lev.
I. 3; cf. Wellh. His^. p. 69 ff.; (3) tithes, see on 1422; (4) the
contribution {heave-offering) of your hatid, i.e. "what the hand
lifts off {a'-]P\) from the produce of the soil, Nu. is^^" (Oettli),
as a contributiofi to the service of the Deity. The usage of the
term makes it probable that the reference is partly to the first-
fruits, a regular and ancient offering (Ex. 23^^- ^^ in JE; Dt.
262; cf. Nu. 18^2 in pj^ which would otherwise not be alluded
to in the enumeration, partly to other voluntary offerings,
taken from the produce of the soil, such as were presented at
the three annual pilgrimages (see 16^0*"- 1*- i6b-i7),
" Heave-offering: " (ferumdh) is a term belongfing- to the priestly termin-
ology, being used principally by P and the priestly prophet Ezekiel. An
examination of the passages in which aoTin, and the cognate verb onn,
occur, shows that it does not imply any rite of " elevation," but that it
denotes properly what is lifted off z. larger mass, or separated from it, for
sacred purposes (ffi often a.ipa.',piij.a. ; % NnwiflN, — both expressing the idea
oi separation : so also Ges. s.v.. Knob, and Di. on Lev. 7'^, Keil on Lev.
2*, Oehler, OT. Theol. § 133, &c.). TOiin is thus used of contributions of
money, spoil, &c., offered for sacred purposes, Ex. 25"^'' Nu. 18* (of the
sacrifices named in v.", treated generally as contributions to the sanctuary)
2i29.4i E2. 45'^* '* Ezr. 8-*; Ez. 45'- ®-^ al. of land reserved for the priests
and Levites. In connexion with sacrifices noTin is only used specially
of portions "taken off" from the rest, and forming the priest's due (e.g.
Lev. 7^*, and esp. the " heave-thigh," which, with the "wave-breast," was
the priest's share of the thank-offering, ib. 'f^-'^ al.). For onn, see Lev,
29 ^19 68(16) . and for nmin onn combined, Ex. 35" Nu. 15"- "» i8i9-24 Ez. 45!
(of land). Used absolutely, ncnn commonly denotes gifts taken from the
produce of the land, whether the tithe, or first-fruits and firstlings ; so
not only 2 S. i" (if the text be sound), Nu. is^S'^i 18" (see v.'^'-) =4.26.28.29^
but also 2 Ch. 3110. '-'•i-' (see v."- «) Neh. lo^s-wF-ss) ja" i^^ Ez. 2o*» 44**
Mai. 3* ("tithe and teramS,h" as here). noTVi is sometimes in AV. RV.
represented by offering, oblation, the usual rendering of \:r^y! ; but in
Hebrew the two words differ in their application considerably. pnjJ
denotes an offering as "brought near," or "presented," and is applied
especially to sacrifices, Lev. i* 2* 3^ and frequently [79 times : except Ez.
20'-* 40*^. always in P (or H)] : nonn corresponds rather to "contribution,"
and is only used exceptionally in connexion with sacrifices.
XII. 7-8 143
The addition " of your hand " (so v. ^^: cf. 15^ 16'"- '''') marks
the teriandh as the worshipper's personal offering-, rendered by
him deliberately and willingly. — (5) and (6) Your vows and your
free-will offerings^ i.e. extraordinary sacrifices, offered either
in performance of a vow, or from a spontaneous impulse on
the part of the giver. Such sacrifices might take the form of
either thank-offerings (d'd^K') or burnt-offerings (Lev. 22^^- 21),
though the former appears to have been the more usual (Lev.
7I6) : see on these passages. — (7) The firstlings of your oxen
and of your sheep: see 1519-23; Ex. 132. m. 2229(30) 3419^ (JE);
Nu. i8i*-^8 (p)^ — 7^ And there ye shall eat, cSrc] in the case of
such offerings (notably the thank-offerings) as were accom-
panied by a sacrificial meal, the worshipper's family and house-
hold were to share it with him: so v.^^ 1423.26 (tithes), 1520
(firstlings), cf. 27^. For other allusions to "eating," as an
act of worship, or communion, accompanying sacrifice, see Gn.
3146.64 Ex. 1812 24I1 I S. 9I3 Ps. 2230(29); }„ the scrvicc of false
gods Ex. 3415 Nu. 252. — Before Jehovah] i.e. at the sanctuary,
as V. 12. 18 1423.26^ and frequently (i S. 112. isLev. i^- n&c.).—
And ye shall rejoice on account of all that ye put your hand to]
T nptJ'p (peculiar to Dt.) denotes an undertaking, enterprise,
especially one connected with agriculture (synon. 1^ ^^)^ : see
on 2^) v. ^8 igio 2321 288- 20t, The Israelite, when he brings his
offerings to the sanctuary, and partakes of the sacrificial meal
which a bounteous year has enabled him to provide, is to thank
Jehovah with a joyous heart for the success with which his
labours have been blessed. — Hath blessed thee] 2^.
8-14. This centralization of public worship is to come into
operation as soon as Israel is secure in Canaan. — 8. The irregu-
lar, arbitrary worship of the wilderness is not to continue in-
definitely. Comp. Am. 525, where it is implied that sacrifices
were not offered in the wilderness. — Every man whatsoever is
right in his own eyes] comp. Jud. 17^ 21 25 (of the period when
there was no king in Israel to preserve discipline and order).
By here and to-day is meant the period of the people's sojourn
in the field of Moab. At the same time, as Oettli remarks.
the terms of the description are no doubt coloured by the cir .
7. -\vti] = wherein ; cf. on "j^*.
144 DEUTERONOMY
cumstances of the writer's own day, when sacrifice was ofiFered,
with probably a lax ritual, at the local sanctuaries. — 9. The
excuse for such irregularities : Israel has not yet entered into
the secure and undisturbed possession of its own land. — To the
rest (nm^p)] i.e. to the place of rest : cf. i K. 8^6 Ps. 95I1.— 10.
And he shall give you rest, &c.\ so 25^^ Jos. 23^ cf. 21*2(44) (both
D2) 2 S. 7^ cf. V." I K. 5^8 W. In all probability the reference
is to the peace secured by David and Solomon (2 S. 7^ i K.
5^8(4)jj yf\\ containing a covert allusion to the Temple in Jeru-
salem, the city so often described in the Kings (see on v.^), in
corresponding terms, as "chosen" by Jehovah for His abode. —
11. See v.5'^,from which the expressions used are mostly repeated.
— And all your choice vows^ the expression seems to imply that
the vow being something exceptional, the sacrifice oflfered in
fulfilment of it was of a superior kind. — 12. And ye shall rejoice
before Jehovah your God] the holy joy with which a sacrificial
feast (which is here meant, see v.''') is to be celebrated, is else-
where also the object of a special injunction in Dt. (v.^^ i^^26
i6^^-^* 261^ 277; cf. Lev. 23^0 (H) of rejoicing during the Feast
of Booths). — And the Levite\ here the Levite, who has no
territorial possession of his own (lo^), and is accordingly
dependent for his subsistence upon what he receives from
others, is included also among those who are to be invited to
the sacrificial feast (so v.is 1427 i6ii- 1* 26"). Cf. v.^^ 1429 2612,
which likewise illustrate the Writer's regard for the Levite ;
and see on 18^"^. — That is within your gate s\ i.e. resident in
your various cities. This use of "gates" is peculiarly charac-
teristic of Dt. (see the Introd. § 5), occurring in it some 25
times, and being found besides only Ex. 20^0 ("thy stranger
10-11. .T.ii . . . nmayi] AV. "and isihen . . . then" ; cf. on 8". — 10.
*? n'jn] there is a tendency in Heb. for Hif'ils to be construed with ^,
apparently as a dat. com?nodi% Gn. 45^ V n'n.T to give life to, Ps. 4* 7 a'mn
to give width to, Hos. 10^ '? nmn, Is. 53" *? p^-iri to give righteousness to;
cf. Ew. § 282°, Lex. h 3.— nan onaif^] so i S. 12" (Deut.), cf. nai pef 33^8
(poet.) Pr. i^', naa being- an accus. of manner (G-K. § 118. 5) ; but noaS 3U"
is more usual, both in poetry and prose, Lev. 25^^* ^* 26^ al. — 11. Lit. it
shall be, as regards the place, &c. The accents (which connect DipD.T with
n'ni, and separate it from what follows) must be disregarded : Dipcn is
the absolute case, such as occurs constantly after n'.n (18'^ 21^ Nu. 17*
2i8'» &c.) ; V. Dr. § 121 Obs. i, 2.— 11. mza] cf. Ex. 15* Is. 225^ 37^* al.
XII. 9-i6 145
that is within thy gates"), i K. 837 (Deut.) = 2 Ch. 628.— 13 f
The injunction is repeated, with special reference to the burnt*
offering, as though the temptation to offer this (cf. on v.^) at
other places might be peculiarly strong. — 13. In every place
that thou seest] and which, by the advantages of its site (cf.
V.2), might attract thee to make it a place of sacrifice. — 14.
All l/iat I am commanding thee] viz. in the precepts of v.^*^- ^'^^■.
15-16. Animals, however, that are intended for food, and
not for sacrifice, may be slain and eaten freely in any part ol
the land, provided only that their blood be not consumed. — 15.
Thou may est slaughter (nam)] see below. — After all the desire
of thy sout\ n*fS.i n^J^'bps) v.20.21 igti I S. 2320 (^): n^X besides
Hos. io^<^ Jer. 2^*1. — According to the blessifig, &c.\t.e. accord-
mg as thy means, through God's blessing, permit thee; so
16^7. — The unclean and the clean may eat thereof as of the
gazelle^ and as of the hart\ so v.'^^'- 15-^. On the animals named,
see on 14^. The meaning is that animals so slain, even though
of a kind that could be offered in sacrifice, might be eaten
freely, like game (which was allowed to be eaten as food — see
14^ — though not accepted for sacrifice) ; the meal was not a
sacrificial one, and therefore those partaking in it need not
even be ceremonially " clean " (Lev. 7-°^). — 16. Oiily ye shall not
eat the blood] to eat the blood — or " with the blood " (onn hv)—
was a practice prohibited to the Hebrews : the antiquity of the
feeling against it (cf. in other nations, Frazer, The Golden Bough,
i. 178 f.) is shown by i S. 14^2.34. and it is strictly and repeatedly
prohibited in Hebrew legislation, — both in Dt. (12I6. 23. 25 1523^^
and in the other Codes, viz. (H) Lev. 1710-14 ^^g here, immedi-
ately following a law on the place of sacrifice) ig^^, and (P) Gn.
94 Lev. 317 726f. (cf. Ez. 3325). See further on v.23._The per-
mission expressed in v.^^ ^as a necessary consequence of the
limitation of all offerings to a single sanctuary. By ancient
custom in Israel, slaughter and sacrifice were identical (cf. phil.
note, below) : the flesh of domestic animals, such as the ox, the
15. nam] in old Israel, as stated above, all slaughter was sacrifice ;
hence nai naturally expressed not to s/aitghfer simply, but to slaughter /or
sacrifice : here, however, though the same word is used, the context
shows that it is stripped of its usual associations, and denotes to slaughte?
simply. So. v.21 i S. 28** i K. 19".
10
146 DEUTERONOMY
sheep, and the goat (as is still the case among- the Arabs) was not
eaten habitually ; when it was eaten, the slaughter of the animal
was a sacrificial act, and its flesh could not be lawfully partaken
of, unless the fat and blood were first presented at an altar.
Compare in this connexion i S. 14^2-35^ where the sin of the
people in eating " with the blood" is rectified by the erection
of an altar at which the blood can be properly presented to
Jehovah : also Hos. 9^- * Amos 7^'', where it is implied that in
exile all the food of the people will be unclean, because sacri-
fice acceptable to Jehovah cannot be offered beyond the land
of Israel, and animals slain for food cannot consequently
be presented at an altar (cf. OTJC.^ p. 249 f.). So long as
local altars were legal in Canaan (Ex. 20^4), domestic animals
slain for food in the country districts could be presented at
one of them : with the limitation of all sacrifice to a central
sanctuary, the old rule had necessarily to be relaxed ; a dis-
tinction had to be drawn between slaughtering for food and
slaughtering for sacrifice ; the former was permitted freely in
all places (with the one restriction, that the blood, which could
no longer be presented at an altar, was still not to be eaten,
but to be poured away upon the ground), the latter was pro-
hibited, except at the one sanctuary.
A different view of the ground of the permission in v.^* is naturally
taken by those who regard Lev. 17'"' as (in its present form) Mosaic.
Lev. 17^"' requires every ox, lamb, or goat, slain for food by the Israelites,
to be presented at the sanctuary (the " Tent of Meeting"): as this law,
though practicable in the wilderness, was evidently impracticable when
the people were settled in their homes in different parts of Canaan, Dt.
12^' is supposed to be a formal abrogation of it, promulgated immediately
before the Israelites' entrance into the Promised Land. This explanation
is however inconsistent with the terms of Lev. 17^ ; how could a law, which
from the nature of the case could not continue in force when the joumey-
ings in the wilderness were over, be described (v.^) as " a statute for ever
unto them throughout their generations," as a statute, that is, intended to
be permanently valid? But upon the hypothesis, indicated p. 138, that
Lev. 17''^, m its original form, had reference to a plurality of altars, it
falls into its proper place as a law parallel to Ex. 20**, the relaxation of
which, as just explained, was a natural corollary of the centralization of
sacrifice introduced by Deuteronomy.
17-18. But while flesh, not intended for sacrifice, may be
eaten in any part of the land, tithes, firstlings, and other sacred
XII. I7-20 147
dues may be partaken of only at the central sanctuary. The
injunction of v.", respecting the place of the sacrificial meal, is
repeated here, in more definite and explicit terms, in order to
preclude any possible misapplication of the permission granted
in v.^5. On the eating of the tithe, see on 14^2^ ; on that of
the firstlings, 15^°; on the sacrificial meal accompanying vows
and free-will offerings (in so far as these were not burnt-offer-
ings : above on v.^), Lev. 7^^^^ (P) ; the gifts designated by the
♦* heave-offering of thy hand" (v.^ : cf. i6iof. h^ must also, it
appears, have afforded occasion for a sacred meal, though the
first-fruits (if these are included) were the perquisite of the
priests (18^ 262- *• 10: comp., however, on 26^^). — 18. See on v.^-
7' 12. — 19. The Levite^ the command just given (v.^^) is repeated,
in more general terms, in accordance with the stress which the
Writer lays upon it (on v.^^).
20-28. Repetition of the permission of v.", and the restric-
tion of v.^^, with fuller explanations. — 20-21. The conditions
under which the permission of v.^^ may become necessary, viz.
the enlargement of Israel's border, and the consequent remote-
ness of many parts of the country from the central sanctuary.
— 20. Shall enlarge thy border, as he hath said {promised) to
thee (1^1)] cf. 19^; and see Ex. 342'* (JE). — And thou shall say,
I will eat flesK\ viz. at a feast, or on some other exceptional
occasion. " Except at a feast, or to entertain a guest, or in
sacrifice before a local shrine, the Bedouin tastes no meat but
the flesh of the gazelle or other game. This throws light on
Dt. i2i^-22j which shows that in old Israel game v^^as the only
meat not eaten sacrificially. That flesh was not eaten every
day even by wealthy people, appears very clearly from Nathan's
parable and from the Book of Ruth" [OTJC.^ p. 249«.). —
17. '73W nS] 722.— 18. -p' nScD] that to ii'hich thy hand is put forth , a kind of
compound subst. formed from T rhv) : so Is. 7^ tic- nScD, nc cdtd that to -which
the ox is sent forth, that which the sheep tramples down ; Is. 11' vry nj<-iD,
VJIK i'Ci7D that -which his eyes see, that -ivhich his ears hear ; '■* DT niVK-D that
upon -which their hand is put forth = their dominion, Ez. 24** CTrv nono, KtrD
Drso that -which their eyes long for, that to -which they Hft up their soul,
Ps. 44'* B-N-i TjD that at -which the head is shaken, 90* -|"3B "iikd that -which
thy face illumines. — 20. 'Ji "icB: niNn ';] ^^ because or -when thy soul," &c.
•3 expresses here rather more than dn ; it enunciates the circumstances
(which are conceived to have arrived) under which the action denoted by
148 DEUTERONOMY
Because thy soul desiret]i\ the " soul " in Heb. psychologfy (cf. on
V.23) is the sentient principle in a living- organism, and as such
is treated as the organ of feeling or emotion : hence (i) it is used
in the higher prose style and in poetry, as a pathetic periphrasis
for the personal pron,, e.g. Gn. 12'^ 27^- 19 (" that my soul may
bless thee") Nu. 2210 (see RV. w.: so Jud. 1630 V?? "'^J?) Ps.
6* 11^ 359 Lev. 26*3 Is. i^* {^^^-^ ns3K') 42^ (iti'Dj nn:>'i) 6110 66'^
Jer. 5^- -•' 6^ (notice in the last 8 passages that it is an alterna-
tive for the simple pron. in the parallel clause) ; (2) it is men-
tioned often as the seat of desire {24^^) or appetite (2325), These
two usages explain the employment of the term here (cf. 14-'^).
— 21. Have conujiajided thee] v.^^. — 22. Repeated, with slight
expansion, from v.^^**. — 23-25. A repetition of the injunction
not to eat blood (v.^''), with a statement of the ground on
which it is based, and a motive commending it. — 23. Only be
firm not to eat^ &yc.\ lit. "be strong" (Plf), i.e. resist firmly
the temptation (i S. i4'^-') to eat it. — Fur the blood is the life
(lit. the soul) ; and tho7i shall not eat the soul with the flesh\
similarly in P, Gn. 9^ "only flesh with the soul thereof, even
its blood, shall ye not eat"; and in H, Lev. 17^^ "for the soul
of the flesh is in the blood," and hence "the blood atoneth by
means of the soul," v.^* " for as regards the soul of all flesh,
its blood is with its soul [i.e. it contains its soul)," and "the
soul of all flesh is its blood" (cf. Hamasa, 522; Wellh. Arab.
Held. 217). As the blood flows from a wounded animal, so its
life ebbs away ; hence the blood was regarded as the seat of
the vital principle, or "soul" (Heb. t;'2:) ; in virtue of this it
possessed an atoning- efficacy (for it contained the pure and
innocent life of the animal, which could be accepted by God as
a substitute for the sin-stained soul of a man: see Lev. 17'*,
where it is expressly described as reserved for this purpose) ;
but, further, it was also too sacred to be applied to ordinary
human uses, or employed as food: it was to be "poured out
on the earth as water," that so the "soul" which it contained
might be restored, as directly as possible, to God who gave it.
the principal verb in the sentence takes place (Germ, indem); so v.*"*- *"
;3^» 14** 16'" 19"-* 2i9 28''-»- '^ 301" 3I■-'*^— IK'S: niKn] so 14-8, With n;x the
use of b-sj: is idiom. : v. Lex.— 21. '3sn nu Vjn:] G-K. § 121. i.— 23. Kin] 3"*.
XII. 21-27 149
See further Oehler, OT. Theol. § 127; Schultz, OT. Theol. pp. 351-361
[i. 384-396]; Dillm. on Lev. pp. 392f., 416, 538 f. ; Siiiith, Rel. Sem, pp.
215-217, 220, 319-327. Whatever may have been the primitive idea under-
lying- the prohibition — whether it was a mere superstition, or whether it
was that the blood, having been once the special share of the deity, was
deemed too sacred to be used as ordinary food (Smith, I.e. pp. 215 f., 220) :
amongf the Hebrews a ground partly physiological, partly theological, as
stated above, came ultimately to be assigned for it. — The Hcb. nephesh,
it should be explained, is a wider term than the English "soul," denoting
the sentient principle possessed by animals generally ; the same phrase
"living soul" is thus used, not only of man (Gn. 2^), but also of the
humblest marine or terrestrial organisms (Gn. 120.24.30 ^lo. 12. ib. 16 Lev. 11
10.46 £2. 47S, — "creature" (AV.), in these passages, being lit. "soul").
See Oehler, I.e. § 70 ; and comp. the Aristotelian idea of •^"jx,^'
25, Thou shalt not eat it\ repeated a third time for emphasis,
and in order to annex the promise that follows. — That it may
be well, (f^c] the same motive, as 4*0 526(29) 518, cf. ^^^.—That
which is right, &'c.] 6^^. — 26-27. Nevertheless the permission
thus granted is not to be extended to the case of animals slain
for sacrifice : the flesh and blood of these must be presented
at the central sanctuary, and there disposed of according te
the prescribed ritual. A caution, attached to v. 20-25, just as
v.i'f- is attached to v.^^f.. — 26. Thy holy things (l^np)] a general
designation of sacred gifts, whether such as were dedicated on
a special occasion (i K. 7^1 1515 2 K. la^^: cf. 2 S. 8^^), or recog-
nized dues, as tithes (26^3), sacrifices, &c. (cf. in P, Ex. 28^^
Lev. 222-3 Nu. 188 al.). In the Priests' Code, the term has a
special sense, being distinguished from the D''l^'^p *5^*7P, or
"most holy things" (see on Lev. 2122); but no account is
taken of this distinction here. — Thy V0'ws\ v.^- ^^- ^"^ . — 27. Offer\
lit. do (jT'^yi), in a sacrificial sense, as often in P {e.g. Ex. 29^8-
39) ; and occasionally besides. There follows a brief descrip-
tion of the ritual of the burnt- and thank-oflfering ("iTiat : see on
v.^), in so far as concerns the disposal of the flesh and the
blood : of the former, the flesh and the blood alike are to come
upon the altar (strictly the blood of both these off'enngs was
thrown in a volurne (pil) against the altar) : see on Lev. i^ ; of
the latter, only the blood is to be poured out against the altar
(comp. Lev. 32- 8. is y^y^ r\1\QT\ !?j; . . . Ipnn), the flesh is to be
eaten, at a sacrificial feast, by the worshipper and his family
(Lev. 715-21). — Poured out against (bv ^3^^.)] not the technical
150 DEUTERONOMY
term, which is PIT to throw in a volume (cf. P^TD a bowl, pro-
perly a vessel for throwing- or tossing-), 2 K. 16^^^, and in P,
Lev. 32.8.13 and often. — 28. A closing promise, commending
the present injunctions to the Israelite's observance. — That it
may be well, dr'c] v.^^^. — Good and right] 6^^.
29-31. Israel, after it has taken possession of the Promised
Land, is not to imitate the unholy rites practised by the
previous inhabitants. — 29. When Jehovah thy God shall cut off
the nations] so 19^, cf. Jos. 23* (D^). — Whither thou goest in,
^c.\ cf. on 4^. — To possess them] v. 2. — 30. Lest thou be ensnared
after them] cf. y^^- ^^. — And lest thou inquire after (2 S. 1 1^) their
gods, saying-. How used these natio7is to serve their gods?] let
the Israelites beware lest, after the occasion of temptation
appears to have passed away, the desire arise in their breast to
serve the gods of the country with the same rites which their
predecessors had observed. The inquiry would be prompted
by the feeling, not uncommon in antiquity, that the gods in-
digenous to a country may not be neglected with impunity (cf.
2 K. 1725-28; I S. 2619).— 3L Thou shall not do so to Jehovah thy
God] the rites by which these gods were worshipped are not
to be transferred, in whole or in part, to the service of Jehovah.
The injunction is aimed against the syncretistic admixture of
heathen rites with the service of Jehovah, such as the un-
spiritual Israelites were specially prone to. The reason follows:
the rites in question are of a kind which Jehovah cannot
tolerate. For the expressions, cf. 72^ 2318(18) (naj^m) ; i622t>. —
For even their sons and their daughters do they bum in the fire
to their gods] an extreme example ("for even") of the enor-
mities practised by the Canaanites : cf. Jer. 7^1 19^, and (of
the Sepharvites) 2 K. 1731 ; and see on i8i°.
XIIL 1-19 (AV. XII. 32-XIII. 18). All solicitations to
idolatry are to be met at once by the sternest repressive
80. nav] used to serve : the impf. as 1 1^*. — 'JH CJ] in the discourses of Dt.
the fuller and more emph. form of the 1 pers. pron. is uniformly employed
(56 times), except here and 29* (see note). ':n here is in accordance with
usage, which, when the pron. is appended to a verb for emph., prefers
nearly always the lighter form (Jud. i' 8^* 2 S. i8"'^'* &c. : v. Lex., and
JPh. xi. 223, 226). The other cases of -jn in Dt. are 32.!'.39.a!..3».39 (the
Soog), and 32**- " (P, who prefers '3N just as D prefers '33N : L.O. T. p. 127).
XII. 28— XIII. 5(4) 151
measures. — The chapter continues the subject of i229-8i. j^
the other Codes there is no parallel. The worship of ** other
gods" is indeed rigorously proscribed {e.g. Ex. 20^ 22^^(20)
23^8) ; but no provision is made for the special cases of
seduction into idolatry, here contemplated. — XIII. 1 (XII. 32).
The Heb. division appears to be preferable to the English ;
for this verse is taken most naturally as a preface to the
ordinances following. — The whole word (or thing) which 1
command you y that shall ye observe to do, <5r'c.] a repetition of
4^, in a slightly modified form, with particular reference to the
three ordinances following. — 2-6 (1-5). No invitation to go
and serve other gods, even though it proceed from a prophet,
possessing, as it seems, irrefragable credentials, is to over-
rule the fundamental article of Israel's creed, that Jehovah is
the sole object of the Israelite's reverence : the prophet, who
comes forward with such a doctrine, is to be put to death. —
2(1). Arise] 34^° 18^*. — Or a dreamer of drearns] comp. Jer.
2225.27.28.32 37^ 29^ Zcch. lo^. The dream might be the
channel of a genuine revelation (Nu. 12^ Joel 3^: cf. Gn. 20^
31^^ &c.); but it might readily become a source of self-
deception ; and in the passages quoted, dreams are referred
to, as here, in terms of disparagement. — And he give to thee
a sign or a portent] viz. in attestation of the truth of his
affirmations ; comp. Ex. 4^- 9- 30 ^9 ^<* show," lit. give V-^) i K.
13^* *• — A sign or a portent] on 4^4. — 3(2). Come to pass (N3)]
I S. lO'^' ^. — Go after other gods, which thou hast not known] 6^* ;
1 1 2^. — 4(3). Is putting you to the test [S^-^^) to know whether
you do (emph.) love, ^c] ^"^ always asserts existence with
emphasis {e.g. Ps. 5812(11) <'that there is a god judging the
earth ") : hence D"'anx DD'J'M is more than D^N □'nnxn (which
might have been said ; see Jud. 2^2), and is exactly ex-
pressed by "whether you do love." Jehovah's claim upon
the Israelites' love and obedience (6^) is a paramount and
fundamental principle of their religion : hence the fulfilment
of the false prophet's affirmation is a searching test of the
sincerity with which Israel holds it. — 5 (4). After fehovah you f
XIII. 1. itn] resuming emphatically the obj., as Jud. ii"'* Is. 8^^ 2 K.
17'* (cf. Dr. § 123 OAs.).— 2-3. »oi . . . |mi . . . oip' 'j] on 4**.— 0135/^1] on 5».
152 DEUTERONOMY
God shall ye walk, frr.] an emphatic reaffirmation of the
fundamental duty, binding upon every Israelite : comp. 6^^
io20; also 8*5 10^2 j 113.22^ — 6(5). The prophet who has so
misled his countrymen is to be put to death, because he has
been disloyal to Israel's Divine deliverer, and in order that the
evil which he secretly meditates may be checked in the bud. —
Spoken defection (^"^D ~ini) against Jehovah\ the same expres-
sion Jer. 281^ (^x) 2cf''' (likewise of untrue prophets), cf. Is. 59^^ :
for "TiD {turning aside [comp. the verb e.g. i S. la^o], defection',
AV. rebellion or revolt), see also 19^^ Is. i^ 31^. — Which brought
yoii out, &c.\ cf. 8^*; also 7^ 926 &c. : here the addition of the
two relative clauses emphasizes the fact that defection from
Jehovah is also ingratitude. — To draw thee aside (''in^'^L'r)] v.^^
(10). 14(13). cf. ^^^.— Out of the way, &c.] 912- lo ii28; also 530(33),
— And thou shall extertninate the evil from thy midst (yin myai
impo)] so 177 19^^ 2i2i 2221-24 34^; and with "from Israel"
1712 2 2^2 (cf. 1 9^3 21 9), — always at the close of instructions for
the punishment of a wrong-doer, and always, except 19^^,
with reference to capital punishment. A formula peculiar to
Dt., whereby the duty is laid upon the community of clearing
itself from complicity in a crime committed in its midst, and
of preventing, as far as possible, an evil example from spread-
ing (cf. the same expression, in Israel's mouth, Jud. 20^3)_
7-12 (6-11). No invitation to idolatry is to be listened
to, even though it emanate from a man's most intimate
relative, or his most trusted friend : the author of such a pro-
posal is to be put to death. — 7 (6). Entice thee] with induce-
ments such as an intimate relation or friend can apply (Jud.
i^* I K. 2x25). — The son of thy mother] i.e. thy own brother
(Gn. 2729 Ps. 5020) : ffit Sam. read "IDX p IK T-nx p, including
expressly the half-brother (comp. Lev. 18^). — The wife of thy
bosom] 28^*- 5^ ; cf. ^i^^n DDDb' Mic. 7^. The term significant of
affection is chosen intentionally. — Thy friend, which is as thine
own soul] I S. 181 ("And Jonathan loved him ^'233 ") a,— Z^/
us go, drr'c.] as v.3(2), — 8(7). Of the gods of the peoples, &c.]
6^*. — Or far off from thee] the danger therefore might threaten
not only from Israel's neighbours (i K. 1 1"- ''), but from nations
6. myai] for the verb, cf. also 26"- 1" i K. i4'» 21" 22" 2 K. 23-* (Deut.).
XIII. 6^14(5-13) 153
at a distance (e.^. from Syria, or Assyria). — nvp iyi )mir\ nvp^
\'~\iii^] 28''^. — 9-12 (8-11). The sternest measures must at once
be adopted to check the evil : not only is the tempter not to
be listened to, but even though the temptation have only been
expressed by him in secret (vJ), he is to be treated without
mercy or compunction ; for his attempt to seduce a brother
Israelite from his loyalty to Jehovah, he is to be stoned
to death. — 9 (8). Neither shall thine eye pity him\ 7^^. —
10(9). Thine hand shall he first y &c.\ so 17^ (of the wit-
nesses against a man convicted of idolatry) : in spite of thy
relationship to him, thou art both to denounce him (v.^W**),
and also to be the first to carry out the sentence against him.
The severity with which the Writer seeks to check every
encouragement to idolatry, shows that he was sensible of it as
the pressing danger of the time. — 12 (11). And all Israel shall
hear and fear\ similarly 17" 1920 zv^^: the example, the legis-
lator trusts, will have a deterrent effect upon others, and tend
to prevent a repetition of the same offence.
13-19 (12-18). Any Israelitish city, which has permitted itself
to be seduced into idolatry, is to be treated with the utmost
rigour, its inhabitants being put to the sword, its spoil burnt,
and its site abandoned. — 13 (12). If thou hearest in one of thy
cities which fehovah thy God is ^ving thee (i^o) to dwell there,
saying, Men have gone forth, dr'c.J apparently an inversion for
** If thou hearest, saying, In one of thy cities which J. thy God
is giving thee to dwell there, men have gone forth, &c.," nnN3
'i1 T'lj; being brought up from the subordinate into the prin-
cipal clause (like "•niJO """inx 31^9, compared by Dillmann), for
the purpose of giving it, as the most important part of the
sentence, a more emphatic position. For " to hear, saying,"
cf. Jos. 22^1 I S. 134 I K. 16I6.— 14 (13). Base fellows] so RV.
rightly; comp. the rend, of hvh^ in the RV. of 15" Ps. loi''
Pr. 612 1 627.
Lit. sons of unprofitableness, i.e. good-for-nothing, -worthless fellows.
Sv'Va is not a proper name (in spite of 2 Cor. 6'*) ; though the expression
9. h nan] Pr. i^.— 11. Vyo] idiom. =/rotn attachment to : Jer. 2» 32^"
Ez. 69 86 iii» 145 44i»->«, cf. Hos. 9I Is. 568. — 14. hy^zi 'j3 dwk] for
the seemingly pleonastic D'rjK, comp. Gn. 13^ Nu. 13^ Jud. 18' i K
1 54 DEUTERONOMY
"sons of Belial" has become so naturalized in English that it has been
sometimes retained even in RV. Except 15', the word does not occur
besides in the Hex. ; but VyS-a (x'jn) v'k, or Sy^a (":3) p, is common
elsewhere as a designation of unprincipled, low-minded characters {e.g.
Jud. ig^^ I S. 10^ 2525 30^2 , K. 2ii"-''').
Are gone out from the midst of thee] the suggestion is repre-
sented as emanating from native Israelites, who have succeeded
in leading astray their fellow-citizens. — Let us go, &c.\ v. 3(2)-
7(6), — 15(14). And, behold, the thing is true (and) certain, this
abomination hath been done\ the same words in 17*. — Abomina-
tion (nayin), of idolatrous practices, as 17* 18^ 20^^ Jer. -^2^^ al. :
cf. on 726.— 16 (15). With the edge of tJie sword (mn "D^)] lit.
according to the mouth of the S7mrd, i.e. as the sword can devour
(2 S. 2^6 ii25), without quarter. The phrase is a common one.
— Devoting it] see on 72. Devotion to the ban, in which (as
here) the spoil also was destroyed, was of the most severe and
rigorous type (Jos. 6-7, of Jericho; i S. 15^): more commonly
the spoil was retained by the Israelites for their own use {2^^-
Jos. 82- 26f- aL). — And all that is in it] the expression is an in-
definite one ; but probably human beings are intended : cf.
Jos. 621, and see below. — 17 (16). Into the midst of its broad place]
not its street: the 3rn was the broad, open space in an Eastern
city, something like a modern market-place, where public
gatherings were held, and justice was sometimes administered
21^* (the same phrase: cf. v.^^) 2 K. 2^*; used without a defining ad-
junct, such as a numeral, it imparts to the expression the sense of some
or certain, Gn. 37^ (cf. Ex. 16^" i K. 20"^).— 15. 3B'n] 9=1. —;i3: ton n:ni
lann] render as above. n:n, as 17* 19'* al. nea.r\y = if {Lex. nan d). The
second clause ('ji .Tncvj), aawVirm, ]\ist as 17* 19^^ {r\yj ipt^'), 22^*: that in
AV., RV., is gratuitous and wrong. — n:2i<] faithfulness, the subst. or pred.
(in lieu of the ad], faithful, true) : so 17*, cf. Mtri n-n mn 22^" i K. 10* (Dr.
§ 189. 2).— psj] lit. established: cf. Gn. 4122.— 16. oinn] on 3".— ick ^3 nxi
na] the expression may denote only the spoil {i.e. the domestic property of
various kinds), as 20^*, or it may include human beings and cattle (Jos. 6-')
as well: as the spoil would hardly be "devoted" with the sword, it is
probably to be understood here of the human beings resident in the city :
observe also that the emphatic position of " spoil " in v.^'' ('^) ['3pn nhhv Ss n.vi
implies a tacit contrast with something different which has been named in
V.i* ('">). It is true, the words ^^^ 's'? nnon^ nwi are not represented in ffi;
and Dillm. would omit them as a gloss : but the omission makes the
verse rather short ; and, if nn ncK ho be understood as explained above,
there is no difficulty in connecting it with Dnnn : for ann 'bV rnnn of cattle,
see Jos. 6'^^.
XIII. i5(m)~xiv. 155
(cf. 2 Ch. 32« Ezr. io» Neh. 8^-^ Is. 59^* Job 29').— ^j a wA<?/«-
offering (^V^) w'^/o Jehovah] b'^3, used of the priest's nmo,
appears elsewhere mostly (33^*' 1 S. 7^ r\'\7\-h ^'b n^y nfsy"^, Ps.
51^^ ii'b^l n^iy) as a term either descriptive of, or synonymous
with, n^iiy (burnt-oflfering) : here it is applied figuratively
to denote a sacrifice of another kind, the characteristic of
which was likewise to be that it should be rendered wholly to
Jehovah. Cf. Jud. 20^0 (ntD'f^cn i^yn h'h^ rb]} nirW), where the
same sense of the word is at least alluded to. — Unto Jehovah]
comp. Nu. 25* Jos. 6^'^ 2 S. 21^; "before Jehovah" 2 S. 21^.
An heap for ever (D^iy bn)] only a desolate mound shall mark
its site; so Jos. 8-^ (of 'Ai); Jer. 49^ nCD'J' bn (of Rabbah). —
18-19 (17-18). The instructions close with an express injunction
that none of the "devoted" spoil (the D")!?) is to be reserved
by Israel (cf. y^^f-), lest Jehovah in His anger be moved to
withhold the blessing which He has promised. — 18 (17). There
shall not cleave aught of the devoted thing to thy hand] the
words may be illustrated from Jos. 6^^ 7^ (though Jericho, of
course, did not fall within the class of cases contemplated in
the present law). — Tnrn frofn the heat of his anger] Ex. 32^2
Jos. 726 (at the close of the narrative of 'Achan's offence with
the Cin), 2 K. 2:^-^ Jon. ■^. — And multiply thee, Cr'c.] cf. 7^3;
V. Gn. 22^7 26* Ex. 32^3^ — 19 ^i8j. Because (or -when) thou shall
hearken, &c.] the condition, conceived to be satisfied, of the
promise taking effect (see phil. note on 1220). For the expres-
sions, cf. 42- 30b 618.
XIV. 1-22. Holiness of the Laity,
The place of public worship having been fixed (12^-28), and
the encroachments of heathendom guarded against (i229-
1319(18)), the subject of the present section follows naturally.
XIV. 1-2. The Israelites, being Jehovah's children, are not
to disfigure their persons in passionate or extravagant grief.
— The Israelites, being specially dedicated to Jehovah, must
not imitate the heathen in yielding to excessive grief, and
17. Wd) SSa occurs as the name of a species of sacrifice in Fhounician,
CIS. I. i. 1653- *•'•»•" 167*.— 18. 'Ji jmi. . . 31B" ivdS] 4I.— o'om i'? \r\T\ Gn.
431^ Jer. 42I2 ; Is. 47* (dw).
156 DEUTERONOMY
mutilate the body which He has given them, or imprint upon
their person the visible tokens of death. The prohibition is
grounded upon the relation subsisting between Israel and
Jehovah, with which the heathenish character of the practices
prohibited is regarded as incompatible. There is no law on
this subject in JE or P : in H, Lev. ig^^a is parallel. — Sons are
ye to Jehovah yotir God\ what is affirmed in Ex. 422f- (JE) of
Israel as a nation ("Israel is my son, my firstborn") is here
transferred to the individual Israelites : they are Jehovah's
children ; and while on the one hand they are the objects of
His paternal care and regard (i^^ 8^), they owe to Him on the
other hand filial love and obedience, they should conform
their character to His, and do nothing that is unworthy of the
close and intimate relation in which they stand towards Him.
Comp. Hos. 11^"* Is. i^; and on 32^. — Ye shall not cut your-
selves (mjnn x!?), nor make haldiiess (nnip) between your eyes,
for the dead] two common practices significant of grief, and
especially resorted to in mourning, which prevailed among the
Israelites down to at least the time of Jeremiah: for the
former, see Jer. 16^ 41^ 47^ (among the Philistines), prob. also
Hos. 7I* (MSS. (B imi::!'); for the latter. Am. S^o Is. 32* 152
(in Moab), 22^2 (where, in spite of the present prohibition, it is
said that "Jehovah called to weeping, and to mourning, and
to baldness"), Mic. i^e Jer. 16^ Ez. 7I8.
Both practices were, and still are, common among' semi-civilized races :
one or other, if not both, are attested, for instance (see Knob, or Dillm.
on Lev. 19^), for the Armenians and Assyrians (Xenoph. Cyrop. iii. i. 13 ;
3. 67), for the Scythians (Hdt. 4. 71 : at the burial of a king tou uth
a'Toraf/.tovraty <rpi^as Tipixiifovrcei, fipa^iovas TipiTaf/.yovra.i), the Romans (the
Twelve Tables forbade the Roman women genas radere, Cic. de Leg. 2. 23),
for the modem Persians (Morier, Second Journey, p. 176), and Abyssinians
(Riippell, Abyss, ii. 57), for various other savage races {Encycl. Brit.^ ix.
825; H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i. 180 fF., 290 f.). Among the
Arabs, it was customary, in particular, for the women, in mourning, both
to scratch their faces till the blood flowed, and to shave their hair (Wellh.
Reste Arab. Heidentunies, p. 160: Labid, xxi. 4 (ed. Huber and Brockel-
niann) says to his daughters, "When I die, do not scratch your faces, or
shave oflF your hair" (W. R. Smith, MS. note). In some cases, the hair
shaved off is deposited in the tomb, or on the funeral pyre, as an offering
to the dead ; sometimes, also, the blood is made to fall upon the corpse,
as though for the purpose of concluding a covenant with the departed
(Smith, Rel. Sent. pp. 304-306). See further Hastings' DB. i. 537-9.
XIV. 1-2
157
Both practices had thus heathen associations, even if they
were not definitely connected with heathen superstitions;
comp. the use of Tii:nn to denote the ritual of the Ba'al-
worshippers in i K. i8'-^. The custom of lacerating- the person
in grief for the dead is prohibited also in Lev. 19-^ (H), though
the same term is not used (DD-iC'^a i:nn S^ C'D3^ tDi:^^) : that of
making baldness on the head is forbidden in Lev. 21^ (H), but
only for the priests. — Between your eyes] i.e. on the forehead
(6^). The Hebrews, it appears, did not on such occasions
shave the entire head, but only the front of it. — 2. The ground
of the prohibition is stated more explicitly : Israel is holy to
Jehovah, and stands towards Him in a unique relation among
the peoples of the earth. The verse is an all but verbal repeti-
tion of 7^.
3-20. The Israelites are not to defile themselves by eating'
the flesh of prohibited animals. — JE has no law on this subject;
in P the parallel is Lev. 112-23 ^^lot improbably an extract from
H : cf. more briefly 202''), a passage with which the law of Dt.
is in large measure verbally identical. In order to facilitate
comparison, the two passages are here printed side by side in
parallel columns : —
Deut. 14.
' Thou shalt not eat any abomin-
able thing (n^:,'!!?). * These are the
beasts which ye shall eat :
the ox, the sheep, and the goat,
* the hart, and the gazelle, and the
roebuck, and the wild goat, and the
addax, and the antelope, and the
mountain-sheep. ® And every beast
that parteth the hoof and cleaveth
the cleft of the two hoofs, that
bringeth up the cud among beasts,
that ye shall eat. '' Nevertheless
these ye shall not eat of those that
oring up the cud, and of those that
part the cleft hoof; the camel,
and the hare,
Lev. II.
* Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying : These are the
living things which ye shall eat
among all the beasts that are on the
earth.
• Every (thing)
that parteth the hoot and cleaveth
the cleft of the hoofs, that
bringeth up the cud among beasts,
that ye shall eat. * Nevertheless
these ye shall not eat of those that
bring up the cud, and of those that
part the hoof; the camel,
because he bringeth up the cud,
but doth not part the hoof; he is
unclean to you. ^ And the rock-
»58
DEUTERONOMY
and the rock-badger ;
because they bring up the cud, but
have not the hoof parted ; they are
unclean to you. ^ And the swine,
because he parteth the hoof,
but . .
not the cud : he is unclean
to you. Of their flesh ye shall not
eat, and their carcases ye shall not
touch.
• These ye shall eat of all that are
in the waters : whatsoever hath
scales and fins,
shall
ye eat. ^' And whatsoever hath not
fins and scales
jre shall not eat :
It is
unclean to you.
'^ Of all clean birds ye may eat,
^2 But this is that of which
ye shall not
eat:
the g-riffon-vulture, and the bearded
vulture, and the osprey ; " [and the
. . .,] and the falcon, and the kite
after its kind ; " and every raven
after its kind ; ^* and the ostrich,
and the night-hawk, and the sea-
mew, and the hawk after its kind ;
" the little owl,
and the great owl, and
the water-hen ; " and the pelican,
and the carrion -vulture, and the
cormorant ; ** and the stork, and
the heron after its kind, and the
hoopoe, and the bat.
"* And all winged swarming things
are un-
clean to you : they shall not be eaten.
badger, because he bringeth up tha
cud, but parteth not the hoof, he is
unclean to you ; ® and the hare,
because she bringeth up the cud, but
hath not the hoof parted ; she is
unclean to you. ' And the swine,
because he parteth the hoof, and
cleaveth the cleft of the hoof, but he
cheweth not the cud ; he is unclean
to you. * Of their flesh ye shall not
eat, and their carcases ye shall not
touch : they are unclean to 5'ou.
* These ye shall eat of all that are
in the waters : whatsoever hath
scales and fins, in the waters, in the
seas, and in the torrents, them shall
ye eat. '" And whatsoever hath not
fins and scales, in the seas and in
the torrents, of all the swarming
things of the waters, and of all the
living souls that are in the waters,
they are a detestation (j'i^y) to you.
" And they shall be a detestation to
you : of their flesh ye shall not eat,
and their carcases ye shall have in
detestation. *^ Whatsoever hath not
fins and scales in the waters, it is
a detestation to you.
^' And these ye shall hold in de-
testation of fowl ; they shall not be
eaten ; they are a detestation to you :
the griffon-vulture, and the bearded
vulture, and the osprey ;
'* and the kite, and the falcon
after its kind ; '* every raven
after its kind ; ^* and the ostrich,
and the night-hawk, and the sea-
mew, and the hawk after its kind ;
'^ and the little owl, and the cor-
morant, and the great owl ; '^ and
the water-hen, and the pelican,
and the carrion-vulture,
^* and the stork,
the heron after its kind, and ttie
hoopoe, and the bat.
*" All winged swarming things
that go upon all four are a detesta*
tion to you.
XIV. 3-5 159
•^ Of all clean winged things ye =' Yet theseyemayeatofallwinged
in*> eat. swarming things that go upon all
four, which have bending legs above
their feet to leap withal upon the
earth : ** even these of them ye may
eat : the locust after its kind, and
the bald locust after its kind, and
the cricket after its kind, and the
grasshopper after its kind. ** But
all (other) winged swarming things,
which have four feet, are a detesta-
tion to you.
Here v.^ is introductory, the various kinds of prohibited
food being- classed under the category of abomination (n3yin),
one of D's characteristic expressions (on 7*5). There follow
provisions respecting clean and unclean quadrupeds, v.*-^,
aquatic creatures, v.^-^°, birds, s?-^'^^, flying insects, v.'^^-. On
the general subject of these provisions, the reader is referred
to the commentary on Lev, ii: here, only the differences in
Dt., or other points of particular interest, will be noticed. —
4''-5. There is nothing in Lev. corresponding to these words.
The difference between the two texts is this, that in Lev. (v. 3)
the clean animals are only defined, while in Dt. they are both
defined (v.**) and exemplified (v.*-^). The ox, the sheep, and
the goat are, of course, well known, and frequently mentioned ;
the hart (b*X : fem. np'X hind) is also often named, especially
in poetry, as a figure of affection, surefootedness, and rapidity
{e.g. Is. 356 Song 28; in the fem. Pr. 51^ Ps. iS^*) ; the gase/le
('3V) is alluded to similarly for its swiftness and beauty {e.g.
2 S. 2^8 Is. 13^* Song 2^), — the hart and the gazelle are also
mentioned together as common kinds of game, Dt. 12^5-22 1522^
The roebuck pl'^O^) is named i K. 5-^ (4^^)t, by the side of the hart
and the gazelle, among the delicacies provided for Solomon's
royal table : according to Conder [Tent Work, ed. 1887, p. 91),
an animal bearing among the Arabs the same name Vahnmr
is found now in the thickets on the sides of Carmel, and gives
XIY. 5. '3s] gazelle =■ Aram. k'3B, Arab. gj]s. The word (as Arab.
Aram, show) has no etym. connexion with '3i attractiveness, beauty, the
root of which = Aram. K^y to desire, will, Arab. \x,a to incline towards,
yearn ^or {com^. Dr. § 178, p. 225 f.). — iDi] the etym. is unknown. Arab.
l6o DEUTERONOMY
Its name to a larj^e valley, the IVady Va/itnt'ir, in the wooded
district south of Carmel : a specimen sent to Prof. Newton at
Cambridge was pronounced by him to be the true Cerviis
ctipreolus, or roebuck [Proc. Zoolog: Soc. of London^ May 2,
1876). Cf. Bochart, Hieroz. i. 910 ff., ii. 280 ff. (5r (codd. A,
F) )8ou/3aXo?. The loild goat (^p^5) is not named elsewhere :
dS ^y the ibex (or wild goat), which is common in Palestine
(i S. 24^, near 'En-g-edi), and some species of which may well
be meant (Tristram, NHB. 97; DB.'^'i. 1202). ffi (codd. A,
F) TpayiX(L(jio%. The addax (it^"''^), also, is named only here ;
the identification is that of Tristram, who states that the
Antilope addax is common in Abyssinia, Egypt, and Arabia,
and is well known in the 'Arabah, S. of the Dead Sea {NHB.
i2y). ffl TTuyupyo? (whence AV., RV.), a white-rumped species
of antelope (of which there are several), found in N. Africa {ib.
126). The antelope (i^^Jil), Is. 51^*^1: ffir opv^, a large kind of
antelope, "very beautiful and graceful, with long slender
recurved horns " {ib. 57 f. ; DB.^ i. 464). The mountain-sheep
(~'P!) is mentioned only here. The animal meant is uncertain,
but some kind of wild mountain-sheep (Col. H. Smith ; Tris-
tram, DB.^ i, 556 f.) may well be intended. ST N^'n (in Pr. 5^"-*
= Heb. rhv^ wild goat); % W)S mountain-goat, ffi KafirjXoirdp-
8aXi9, a native of Africa, and not probable. AV., RV.
"chamois," which, Tristram objects, cannot be right; as the
chamoi* is an antelope of Central Europe, unknown to any
Bible lands.
A singular argument has been founded (Tristram, at the Hull Church
Congress, Guardiati, Oct. 15, 1890, p. 1623; Pal. Expl. Soc, The City and
the Land, p. 80 ; and elsewhere) on the animals mentioned in Dt. !4^'', in
favour of the Mosaic authorship of the Pent. It is said, " Nine animals
are mentioned in Dt. which do not appear in Lev. Of these 5 or 6 at least
never lived in the Nile valley or in wooded and hilly Palestine : they are
inhabitants of desert open plains, or of bare rocky heights. They are not
mentioned in Lev., because immediately after the Exodus they would be
strange to the Israelites ; but after 39 years had been passed in their
haunts they would be familiar to them all." A little reflection will show
how inconclusive this argument is. Had there been — as the PEFQuSt.
1894, p. 103, very inaccurately says there is — a list of clean animals in
samara, to spririg, quoted by Tristram, does not exist : the meaning is
ronjectured by Ges. in the Thes., merely for the sake of explaining this
word.--i. iSsKB noJ<] see on i^ : cf. 20** i S. 15*''.
XIV. 7-1 1 l6l
Lev., to which in I)t. others, having the character referred to, were
added, it would indeed possess plausibility : but that is not the case ; no
clean animals are named in Lev. ; they are only defined (Lev. ii*) ; in Dt.
they are bo/h defined (v.') oTid named (v.*'-). But, except by assuming
what the argument is constructed to prove, there is no reason for supposing
that the writer of Lev. 1 1, if he had been asked to na?ne the animals defined
by him in v.*, would not have mentioned just those enumerated in Dt.
I4*'*. And the further objection, that the animals in question could not be
known to a writer living in Palestine, is open to the retort that, if so, there
would be no occasion to forbid the Israelites to eat them. But in view of
I K. 5' (4^), the allegation itself is questionable.
7. The particulars respecting- the camel, the rock-badger,
and the hare, which are repeated in each case in Lev., are
condensed into a single clause. The \^'^ is named besides Ps.
104^8 Pr. 20^6 : it is the Arab, wabr, the Hyrax Syriacus of
naturalists. "Rock-badger" is a rendering of the German
name Klippdachs; but there is, in fact, no perfectly suitable
English name available. "Coney "is the old English word
for a rabbit ; but being now practically obsolete in that sense,
it has been retained in RV. as the rendering- of the Heb. JD'J*,
the animal which this term properly denotes being indicated
in the margin. As the hyrax syriacus is in appearance and
habits not unlike a rabbit (Tristram, NHB. 75 ff.), though be-
longing to a different family, the retention of "coney" in a
popular version may, under the circumstances, be excusable.
— 8. ffif Sam. supply the missing words, reading exactly as in
Lev. ii7. Whether the first clause be necessary or not, "he
cheweth " must certainly be restored : see below. — 9-10. The
description of the lawful and prohibited aquatic animals seems
plainly to be abbreviated from the more circumstantial particu-
lars contained in Lev. In the last clause, Dt. has ^<P9
unclean, where Lev. has the technical term, used of prohibited
animals (see on 7^'^), Ti?^' detestation. — 11-18. The paragraph
on birds does not differ materially from the corresponding'
paragraph in Lev. V.^^ is an introductory addition : in v.^^
7. nt] with a collective force: so v." ( = Lev. ii**^) Jud. 20^^*^^; Job
19^. — ii^yn] a rare orthographic variation for '^j;D ; cf. Gn. 47^ ny'i, i Ch.
23** nfe*j? (Ew. § 16''). — 8. n-ij ^}'?]] .tjj is elsewhere always a siibst. ; and
Tj; (Lev. 11^) is from 1T3, not .Tij. Read mj Ti; ^}'7l, or (cf. Sam. G) k-'T]
Tj: rfS .T]3, as in Lev. '\\\ will be Qal, in pause either for -\\\ (Koii. p. 337 f.),
or better (as this is an intrans. form) for iS; (Sam. m:'), cf. G-K. § 29. 4c*.
II
l62 DEUTERONOMY
the words Y^^ and Ti?.^ are avoided, and it is merely said, O/
which ye shall noi eat. — 12. The griffon-vtdttcre i^'^^}^ not the
eagle, which, though adequate (in a popular version) as a
poetical equivalent of ~ii:>3, is not really the bird meant.
As Tristram {I.e. p. 172 ff.) shows, the Arab, nisr, which corresponds to
the Hebrew nesher, is not the Eagle, but the Griffon- Vulture, or Great
Vulture (distinct from the ordinary, or carrion-vulture, v.^"), with which
also the Biblical allusions to the itr: agree : the eagle, for example, does
not congregate around carrion (Job 39^^* Mt. 24^), nor has it the neck and
head "destitute of true feathers, and either naked, or thinly covered with
a powdery down," in agreement with the allusion in Mic. i^^(" enlarge
thy baldness, as the nesher"), whereas both these characteristics suit the
Griffon-Vulture. The Griffon- Vulture " is a majestic bird, most abundant
and never out of sight, whether on the mountains or the plains of Palestine.
Everywhere it is a feature in the sky, as it circles higher and higher, till
lost to all but the keenest sight, and then rapidly swoops down again "
{DB.-^ \. p. 815).
The bearded vulture (D15)] or Ldmmer-geier, the "largest
and most magnificent of the vulture tribe" {NHB. 171). The
osprey ip^)^)\ or short-toed eagle, "by far the most abundant
of all the eagle-tribe in Palestine" {ib. 184). — 13. And the . . .
(nt^ini)] Lev. ii^* has nothing corresponding. The word is
certainly a vox nihili: see below. — 15. The night-hawk (DOnn)]
or screech-owl {ib. 191 f.). — The sea-mew {^^^)] or petrel, perhaps
including gulls {DB.^l 679 f.).— 16. The water-hen ("O^W)] so
ffi {Tropcl>vpL<j}v) ; NUB. 249 f. water-hen or ibis; Knob, al., a
13. •nro'? nnni .tkh nm nNTii] Lev. 11'^ has rwxh rrxn nxi ,nKnn nm ; and
so Sam. ffi here. The text of Dt. is certainly corrupt. nj<"3, as the name
of a bird, is not otherwise known, nxm was miswritten T\\r<!\ : this, being
a vox nihili, was corrected t\--\7\ (Is. 34^*) on the margin ; and the correction
afterwards found its way into the text beside the corrigendum. On the
form nn, cf. Ew. § 45^ ; and rn i S. 22^'^' ^ for mi.
13. ^TPr'] I'° otherwise occurs only in P (16 times in Gn. i. 6. 7 ; 7
times in Lev. 11), and Ez. 47'", 13 of the occurrences in P (Gn. i^*'"! al.,
including the parallel. Lev. 11^*) being with the same peculiar form of the
suffix as here. This form of the suff. occurs besides (with a sing, noun)
only Jud. ig^* intrjS'B, Nah. i" inaiD, Job 25^ imiN : Wright, Compar.
Grammar of the Semitic Languages, p. 155, compares the Aram, njpp,
and traces both to an ancient genitive form, malki-hu or malki-hi, the
usual form fS^P, ^3^P originating in an old accus. malka-hu (otherwise
Stade, § 345*=). — I'd] in Palest. Syriac (Payne Smith, col. 2094) nation-,
in the Mishn. species, as here ; in the Talm. it also means heretic, schis-
matic. The root may be the Arab. 7nana (med. »), to split (the earth, in
ploughing): see Fleischer, NHWB. iii. 310.
XIV. I2-20 163
species of owl. — 17. The carrion-vulture (^9p"^)J NHB. 179 f.-— i
19. Unclean again corresponds, as in v.^", to the J'i!!^" of Lev.
By "winged swarming things" (^iV^ pt^') are meant winged
insects. X'yi^ denotes creatures which appear in swarms,
whether such as teem in the waters (Gn. i^o Lev. ii^°), or
those which swarm on the ground (Gn. 7^1 Lev. i i^i-^s <« swarm-
ing things that swarm upon the earth "), i.e. creeping insects,
and reptiles. Cjiy are flying things generally, not birds only ;
hence ^iVn K^if' denotes those swarming creatures which also
fly, i.e. "winged swarming things," or flying insects. — 20. OJ
all clean 'winged things ye may eat] unless the verse is to be a
mere repetition of v.^^, cjiy must be understood, not (as in AV.,
RV.) of "fowls," but in the sense just noticed, of winged
insects : it will then correspond to, and be an abbreviation of.
Lev. ii2i-22. Xhe "clean" insects referred to are in particular
(as Lev. 1121-22 shows) certain species of "leaping" locusts
(Saltatoria) — a group possessing two posterior legs (Q^y^?, Lev.
ii^i) of great strength and length (shown very distinctly in the
illustrations in Tristram, NHB. 309, 311), which enable them
to move on the ground by leaps, as opposed to the " running"
locusts (Cursoria), which would fall under the category of " un-
clean " insects, mentioned in v.^^ {id. 307 ff".). The locusts,
permitted in Lev. 1121-22^ are accordingly alluded to in Dt., but
not named expressly.
That v.^'^ is not, as a whole, the composition of D, but borrowed by him
(with slight additions, as v.*-^^, and other unessential modifications) from
some independent source, cannot be doubted : not only is the general style
unlike that of D, but yo kind v.^^- "• ^* (v." with a peculiar suffix : see
below), is a term characteristic of P, and is not likely to have been adopted
independently by D. Kuenen {//ex. § 14. 5) argues that the provisions, as
17. niyrjTn] with unusual tone (miVel): Lev. has DQ^^. The toneless
ending n-^ is not the mark of the fern, (which always has the tone), but
an obsolete accus. (G-K. § 90. 2 R. ^•*) : the niiVel tone here may therefore
have been intended by the Massorites to preclude the word being treated
as a fern., whether on the ground that this would be in conflict with Lev.,
or that it was improbable that the female bird alone would be prohibited.
The Massorites have occasionally done the same elsewhere, partly, as it
seems, for the sake of uniformity, as 2 K. 15"* n^'^an (elsewhere ^^jn : the
fem. would be nS'^^p), Ez. 8* n^D;f'o (i* '?0^n), partly on syntactical
grounds, as Hos. 7* .tjv.\3, Ez. 7^ -TJ?? (the masc. 10 follows). Cf. Ew.
S 173" note ; Stade, § 308'.
164 DEUTERONOMY
tliey stand in Lev. 11, are a later and amplified edition of those in Dt.
(though he allows that the latter are themselves borrowed from a priestly
source) : but v.^' ^"^''- '^' ^* ^^ wear rather the appearance of being abridged
from the more circumstantial parallels in Lev.
The point of view under which these prohibitions are here
introduced, thoug^h not expressly stated, may be inferred from
the context (v. 2- 21b) to be that of holiness (so, expHcitly, Lev.
ii44f. 2o26) ; Israel is a holy people, and is therefore to avoid
everything- that is "unclean."
The principle, however, determining the line of demarcation between
clean animals and unclean, is not stated ; and what it is, has been much
debated. No single principle, embracing satisfactorily all the cases, seems
yet to have been found ; and not improbably more principles than one co-
operated. Some animals may have been prohibited originally on account
of their repulsive appearance or uncleanly habits, others upon sanitary
grounds ; in other cases, again, the motive of the prohibition may very
probably have been a religious one, — particular animals may have been
supposed, like the serpent in Arabia {Rel. Sent. p. 122 ; Wellh. I.e. 137), to
be animated by superhuman or demoniac beings, or they may have had a
sacramental significance in the heathen rites of neighbouring nations; and
the prohibition may have been intended as a protest against these beliefs.
Sacred animals were a common feature in many ancient religions {Rel.
Sem. 272 ff., 446 ff.) ; Ez. S^"'- mentions the superstitious worship of various
creeping things and quadrupeds — described as \i>^ "detestations," the
same word used in Lev. 11 ; and Is. 65^" 66^' allude to the flesh of the
swifte, the mouse, and other "detestations" (again fi^i^'n), as eaten sacra-
mentally (cf. OTJC.^p. 366 f.). — Analogous prohibitions are found in many
other Eastern lands, as Egypt, India, &c. See further on Lev. 11.
21*. The Israelites are not to eat the flesh of any animal
dying of itself.
2i». Ye shall not eat anything Ex. 22^MS<') (JE). And holy men
thai dieth of itself (nVnrSs) : thou shall ye be unto me ; and flesh in
mayest give it to the stranger ("u) the field that has been torn of beasts
that is within thy gates, and he shall (nsia) ye shall not eat ; ye shall cast
eat it, or thou mayest sell it to a it unto the dogs,
foreigner : for thou art a holy people
unto Jehovah thy God.
Lev. 17^"* (H or P). And every soul which eateth that -which dteth of
itself (jhzi), or that which is torn of beasts (■"iS-ib), of the home-bom or of
the strangers (ij) — he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and
be unclean until the evening ; and then he shall be clean. But if he wash
them not, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.
n?33, lit. a carcase, is used technically of animals that have
died a natural death, without being properly slaughtered: the
21. 1^9 "ik] cf. Lev. 25^* Nu. 30^ (G-K. § 113. 4*).
XIV. 21 1 65
ground upon which their flesh was prohibited being-, doubtless,
partly because it might be unwholesome, but principally because
it would not be thoroughly drained of blood (see on 12^^; and
note the position of the corresponding law in Lev. 17^^^, im-
mediately after the prohibition to eat blood, v.^^-^'*). The law
of Dt., it is evident, is closely related to that of Ex. ; it
does not, however, directly conflict with it, for the one relates
to n733, the other to '^^'}P. But it is in conflict with the law
of Lev. ; for in Dt. what is prohibited to the Israelite is
allowed to be given to the "stranger," or foreigner resident
in Israel (on 10^^), whereas in Lev. it is forbidden to both alike
(except under the condition of a subsequent purification) ; the
Israelite and the stranger are thus placed on different footings
in Dt., they are placed on the same footing in Lev. The law
of Lev. must certainly therefore belong- to a different age from
the law of Dt. : the only open question being, which is the
earlier?
The difference is in harmony with the distinction which prevails gener-
ally, between Dt. and P, as regards the status of the Ger. In Dt. the G&r
does not stand formally on an equality with Jehovah's people : he is de-
pendent (p. 126) upon the Israelite's forbearance and charity (cf. in H,
Lev. ig^"" ^'•) ; and though some conformity with Israel's religion is ex-
pected of him (29^" (1''), the only command laid expressly upon him is the
observance of the sabbath (5'*). In P the Ger is placed practically on the
same footing as the native Israelite : he enjoys the same rights (Nu. 35'^,
cf. Ez. 47"), and is bound by the same laws, whether civil (Lev. 24^-),
moral and religious (18-^ 20^ 24^^ cf. Ez. 14^), or ceremonial (Ex 12'^ Lev.
,629 1^8.10.12.13.15 22" Nu. 1514. 26. 30 ,giOj . the principle, "One law shall
there be for the home-born and for the stranger," is repeatedly affirmed
(Ex. 12^^ Lev. 24^ Nu. 9'^ ,^15.16.29^^ — the only specified distinctions being
that the Ger, if he would keep the Passover, must be circumcised (Ex. 12^),
and that an Israelite in servitude with him may be redeemed before the
jubile (Lev. 25^^''), a privilege not granted in the case of the master's being
an Israelite (v.*"-). Indeed, in P the term is already on the way to assume
the later technical sense of irfuffnXvTos, the foreigner who, being circum-
cised and observing the law generall}', is in full religious communion with
Israel (Schiirer, NZg." ii. § 31, esp. p. 566 f.). The analogy of other cases
makes it probable that the law of Dt. is the earlier, that of P reflecting the
greater strictness of a later age, when the Ger, who desired to share the
advantages which residence in Israel might offer, must, it was held more
strongly than before, subject himself to the same laws. Dillm. is only
able to maintain the opposite view {EL. p. 540 ; NDJ. pp. 304, 606), by the
not very natural supposition that the law of Lev. is part of an ideal consti-
tution constructed by P, not, like that of Dt., basetl upon actual practice,
I 66 DEUTERONOMY
and lience not necessarily the creation of an age subsequent to Dt. Cf.
further, Kuenen, Hihh. Lect. pp. 182-187; Smend, AT. Theol. p. 333;
Benzinger, Hehr. Archdol. (1894), p. 340 f. ; Nowack, Hebr. Archciol. § 62.
Foreigner\ on 15^. — An holy people] v.^: the law in v.^^* is
referred to the same general principle as the law in v.^^.
SI**. A kid not to be seethed in its mother's milk. — This
law is repeated verbatim from Ex. 23^^^ 34^^''. The prohibition
may have been aimed against the practice of using milk thus
prepared as a charm for rendering fields and orchards more
productive. See more fully on Ex. 23^^^
XIV. 22-29. Tithes.
XIV. 22-29. The law of tithe. — Israel is to show its devotion
to Jehovah by rendering Him a tithe of all the produce of the
soil, to be eaten by the offerer, with his household, at the
central sanctuary, at a sacred feast, to which the Levite is to
be invited as a guest : those resident at a distance may take
with them the value of the tithe in money, and expend it at
the sanctuary in such food as they desire, to be consumed
similarly at a sacred feast, v. 22-27. Every third year, however,
the tithe is not to be consumed at the central sanctuary, but
to be stored up in the Israelite's native place, as a charitable
fund for the relief of the landless and the destitute, v. 28-29. In
the legislation of JE there is no mention of tithe. On the
relation of Nu. 1 821-32 Lev. 2730-33 (p) to the law of Dt., see p.
iSgf. — 22. All the increase of thy seed] the tithe is exacted
only on the produce of the soil, in v. 23 corn and wine and oil
(713) being particularized : nothing is said of the tithe of cattle,
referred to in one passage of P (Lev. 2732). — 23. This tithe is
to be brought to the central sanctuary (as had already been
prescribed incidentally in another connexion, 12^11), and con-
sumed there at a sacred feast. For the expressions used, see
on 12'-^. From the stress laid, both here and v.26 12^^-11, on
this provision, it would seem that the custom had prevailed
(cf. Am. 4*) of presenting the tithe at the local sanctuaries. —
22. niiffn Ksvn] nis', of plants, as i K. 5'^ ; the art. in Nsvn shows that
mm is construed not as a gen. but as an accus. (on 8'^) : cf. nt« h^' Gn. 44*
Ex. 9™-»».— nj» njB'l GK. § 123d, i.
XIV. 21-28 1 67
The firstlings of thine oxen and of thy sheep] these are mentioned
here, only because their disposal was similar to that of the
tithe, perhaps also because it was usual to offer them at the
same time (Dillm., Keil). The law relating properly to first-
lings follows in 15^^-23. — That thou mayest learn to fear ^ &'c.\
cf. 4^°. The regular observance of the duties just prescribed
is to be the means of keeping alive and exercising the religious
feeling of the Israelite. — 24-27. Facilities granted in the case
of the offerer's home being too distant from the central sanctu-
ary to allow of the tithe being conveniently carried there in
kind. — 24. When fehovah thy God shall bless thee] cf. y^^. The
difficulty is likely to be the greater, when Jehovah's blessing
increases the productiveness of the soil, and augments in con-
sequence the bulk of the tithe. — 26. Thy soul desireth . . .
asketh] ' * soul " is here nearly synonymous with appetite : cf.
Nu. 1 1^ (the *' soul " dry) Is. 29^ (the " soul " empty, and eager
for food) 32^ Pr. 23^ (ti'S3 7i?3 lit. "a possessor of a soul," i.e.
♦*a man given to appetite"). Comp. on 1220 23^5. — Shalt eat
there before Jehovah, and rejoice] I'i'. — 27. The Levite that is
within thy gates] the Levites resident in the various cities of
Israel (12^2) are not to be forgotten on the occasion of sacred
festivity (cf. on 12^2), — 28-29. But in every third year — called
in 26^2 the "tithe-year" — a different disposition of the tithe
is prescribed : it is to be devoted to the relief of the necessitous
in the Israelite's native place. — 28. Thou shall bring forth . . .
and deposit "within thy gates] i.e. the tithe of the third year is
to be "brought forth" from the owner's granaries — the verb
may suggest the collateral idea of its being brought forth
publicly, cf. N^Vin 17^ 2ii^ 2215- 21- 24 (Dillm.) — and "deposited"
— perhaps in some public storehouse — in his native city. Lay
up (AV., RV.) is an old English expression, often used where
we should now rather say lay do-von, or deposit : see (also for
n^2n) Ex. 1623-33.34 Nu. 1722(7) 1^9,— All the tithe] a//,— as though
to guard against the possibility of the tithe in this year being
24. •^^^^ Idd nar 'd] 19" ^^^.^ nav '3; i K. ig^im.n -pn m 'd ; Jos. 9'^ Is.
57'". — 25. 1033 nnnjij give it for money (the Beih pretii), i.e. exchange it
for money: not "turn it into (S)," R.V. So v. 28.-26. db* nSjm] G-K. §§
49. 3 R.o ; 20. 2.
I 68 DEUTERONOMY
in part diverted to other purposes. So 26^2. — 29. And the
Levtie, &c. , shall come, and they shall eat and be satisfied (6^^)]
cf. 26^2 •< a.nd they shall eat it within thy gates" i.e. not at the
central sanctuary, but in the various cities in which they dwell.
In what manner this was to take place is not stated : it may
have been in public feasts provided from time to time by the
local authorities, or the tithe thus reserved may have been
dispensed in doles to individuals who came and showed that
they were in need of a meal. The ordinary tithe was in part
(v. 27) applied to the maintenance of the landless Levite ; the
triennial tithe was applied entirely, something in the manner
of a poor-rate, to relieve the needs of the landless and desti-
tute classes, whose sufferings so often excite the compassion,
or indignation, of the prophets (cf. OTJC.^ p. 362). — The
stranger, the fatherless, arid the widow] these, not less than
the Levite (on 12I2), ^re constantly the objects of the Writer's
philanthropic regard: see iqIS i6ii-" 2417. is- 20. 21 2612.13 2718:
comp. before (in JE) Ex. 2220- 21 (21. 22)^ ^^^j jj^ w (of the stranger)
Lev. 19^^-^*; so in the prophets, as Is. i^''^ Jer. 7^ 22^ Zech.
710 : comp. allusions to their oppression. Is. i^^ lo^Jer. 528 Ez.
227 Mai. 35; also Job 627 22^ 243-9 29I2. i3 2,\^^-^-T.i^^.— That Jehovah
may bless thee, (f^c] so 241^, cf. 2321 (20): comp. the same promise
on Israel's obedience 71^ 151828^30!^; and see on 27. The
tithe mentioned in these two verses was called by the later
Jews ""py ""'^'y^ "the tithe of the poor." The importance attached
to it by the legislator appears from 2&'^^-, where the Israelite is
commanded to acknowledge solemnly before Jehovah the due
payment of it. From the subject of the law next following,
151^-, it may be conjectured that this triennial tithe fell due
every third and sixth year in each sabbatical period : in the 7th
year (in which the land lay fallow) it would naturally not be
exacted.
A sacred tithe, especially one exacted on the produce of
the soil, was a common institution of antiquity. Of the Greeks,
for instance, it is often stated that they rendered a tithe to the
gods of spoil taken in war, of the annual crops, of the profits of
mines and commercial industries, of confiscated property, &c.
{PRE."^ xvii. 429; Hermann, Gottesdienstl. Alterth. d. Griechen,
XIV. 29 169
§ 2o. 4). Originally the tithe will have been rendered volun-
tarily, as an expression of gratitude to God, the giver of all
good things : and no doubt with religious minds the same
feeling will have continued throughout to operate at its pay-
ment ; but it was often exacted, whether by the priesthood
or the community generally, as a fixed impost, payable by the
landowners in a particular district, for the purpose of main-
taining public worship at a sanctuary. In the East it was more-
over not unusual for the revenues of the sovereign to be derived
in part from tithes, e.g. in Babylonia and Persia (Arist. Oecon.
pp. 1345^, 1352''): comp. I S. 8^*- ^'^. The oldest Hebrew legisla-
tion (Ex. 21-23) requires the payment of first-fruits (22^8 (29))^
but makes no mention of tithes : it may be either that the
scale on which in old times public worship was conducted was
not such as to require this impost, or, so far as the Temple at
Jerusalem is concerned, that the expenses of its maintenance
were defrayed largely out of the king's revenue. The Deutero-
nomic law of tithe is, however, in serious, and indeed irrecon-
cilable, conflict with the law of P on the same subject. In Nu.
igei'-js ti^e tithe is appropriated entirely to the maintenance of the
priestly tribe, being paid in the first instance to the Levites,
who in their turn pay a tenth of what they receive to the
priests ; in Dt. it is spent partly at sacred feasts (partaken in
by the offerer and his household), partly in the relief of the
poor, — in both cases the Levite (by which in Dt. are meant the
members of the tribe generally, including priests [see on 18^])
sharing only in company with others (v.-'^''- 2^)^ as the recipient
of the Israelite's benevolence. Further, in Dt. the tithe is
exacted only on the vegetable produce: in Nu. 18, though it
is not expressly so stated, the impression produced by the
terms employed (note the similes in v.^^-soj^ Js that here also
only a vegetable tithe is intended : if, however. Lev. 2732f- be
rightly regarded as an original part of the legislation of P,
so that it may be legitimately used in the interpretation of
Nu. 18, the tithe levied on the annual increase of cattle will
be included as well.* But in either case, a large proportion
* Except in so far as it may be included in the "all" of Gn. 28^*, the
only other allusion in the OT. to a tithe on cattle is in the late passage
1 70 DEUTERONOMY
of what in Numbers is devoted exclusively to the support of
the priestly tribe, remains in Dt. the property of the lay
Israelite.
From an early date, endeavours have been made to har-
monize this discrepancy. The supposition most commonly
made, which is found as early as Tob. i'^ (cf. Dt. 26^2^5^ ^^ee
note]), and Jos. Aiitiq. iv. 8. 22, and is adopted generally by
Jewish legalists, is that the reference in Dt. is not to the tithe
named in Lev.-Nu. at all, but to a second or additional tithe,
levied (after the deduction of the Levitical tithe) on the remain-
ing- nine-tenths of the vegetable produce only, and appropriated,
not, like the first tithe, to the support of the priestly tribe, but
to public feasts celebrated at the sanctuary, and to charity.*
It must be frankly owned, however, that this interpretation
is not consistent with the language of Dt., or with the terms
in which the tithe is there spoken of. Were it the intention
of Dt. to introduce a seco7id tithe, in the manner supposed, the
fact must surely have been indicated expressly by the terms
used : it is incredible that a second tithe should have been
instituted in X^t. for the first time, without a word to indicate
2 Ch. 31® (i S. 8^^ referring- only to the secular tithe, exacted by the king) :
indeed, even in post-Biblical notices (except in the expanded text [cod. h\
of Tob. i^), including those in Philo and Josephus, there is no reference to
such a tithe prior to the treatises of the Mishnah {c. 200 A.D.). Lev. 27^,
it seems, must represent a claim asserted on the part of the priests, which
deviated too widely from prevalent usage to be, as a rule, successfully
enforced. It is, however, remarkable that the only express notice of a
tithe on cattle in the law should be found, not in the primary and constitut-
ive enactments of Nu. 18 and Dt. 14, but in a chapter (Lev. 27) dealing
only with the subordinate subject of the co?nmtitation of sacred dues ;
and hence the suspicion may not be ill-founded that Lev. 27^-'- is a late
insertion in P (Baudissin, Priestcrthum, p. 173; and others. Cf. Nowack,
Hebr. Arch. ii. 258, n. 3).
* The ^^ third tithe," of which mention is made in Tob. i® and in Jos.
Antiq. iv. 8. 22, is that prescribed in Dt. i4"^'* (cf. 26^-'-) for payment in
the third year, which was held by many of the Jews to be not the same
tithe as that of v.^^'-^, differently applied, but an additional, or (from their
point of view) a "third" tithe, levied triennially for the relief of the poor.
This interpretation was, however, not universal even among the lews ;
and it is generally allowed by modern commentators (including those who,
as Keil, still treat v.'-^'"' as referring to a "second" tithe) to be incorrect ;
it may thus be taken for granted that the charity-tithe of Dt. i4-^'" is simply
the festival-tithe of v.'""'^, applied to a diflercnt purpose.
XIV. 29 17'
that, it was an innovation, or anything different from what
would be ordinarily understood by the word "tithe." The
language of 26^2f.^ also, makes it exceedingly difficult to sup-
pose that the tithe referred to in Dt. is a "second" tithe:
had a tithe been paid regularly every year to the Levites (Nu.
iS^^"^), it is inexplicable that every third year should have been
called, Kar i$ox-^v, " the year of the tithing" ; and when in this
same year the whole tithe of the produce has been stored, and
the Hebrew makes a solemn profession that it has been pro-
perly disposed of by him, it is not less inexplicable that there
should be no allusion to his disposition of the first and principal
tithe, supposing this to have been really due from him. The
two laws, it is impossible to doubt, speak of one and the same
tithe ; and the discrepancy between them arises simply from
the fact that they represent different stages in the history of
the institution. The only question remaining open is, which
of the two stages is the older ? *
Riehm, who holds the legislation of P to be older than that of Dt.
(though not, in its existing form, Mosaic), supposes {HWB.^ p. 1793 f.)
the custom of spending the tithe upon sacred feasts, of a joyous character,
to be an old one, and so firmly established among the people, that the legis-
lation of P failed to supersede it ; the legislator of Dt. therefore, abandon-
ing the endeavour to enforce the provisions of P, was content to leave the
custom as far as possible as he found it, merely accommodating it to the
general scope of his legislation by insisting that these feasts shall only be
held at Jerusalem, and by making the institution conducive at the same
time to the ends of philanthropy and charity (i4*^"^"*'). Dillmann (on
Lev. 27^ ; and following him, Ryssel in PRE."^ xvii. 442 f.) argues that the
tithe being an offering rendered to the Deity, its being paid directly to
His ministers would be a more natural and primary disposal of it, than its
being appropriated either to a feast, in which the offerer himself would of
course retain the lion's share, or (as in every third year) to the relief of the
poor. It may have been the custom, he conjectures, for the payment of
the tithes to be accompanied by sacred feasts, which P however ignores :
the Deuteronomic appropriation of the tithe, in two out of every three
years, to such meals exclusively, and only once in three years to the
support of the Levites and other destitute persons, is most easily under-
stood as a diversion from its original purpose, introduced at a time when
altered circumstances rendered the older system impracticable : the laity,
* That the " second " tithe is no genuine element of Hebrew law, but a
harmonistic device of the Jewish legalists, is admitted by the most moderate
critics {e.g. by Ewald, Antiq. p. 346 (E. T. 301) w.; Dillm. on Lev. 27 '^j
Riehm, HWB.^ p. i794>' ; Ryssel in PRE.^ xvii. 440).
172 DEUTERONOMY
when not impelled by gfenuine religious feeling, would naturally seek ac
far as possible to relieve themselves of a burdensome impost (comp. Mai.
3^"^ ; Neh, 13'"'^^), and would readily acquiesce in an arrangement by
which the tithe was reserved largely for their own consumption, but which
at the same time was so far in harmony with the spirit of the age that it
did not leave the destitute altogether unprovided for.
It may be doubted whether either of these theories is satisfactory.
Both, for instance, are open to the objection that they assume a "latent"
existence of P for many centuries, during which its provisions remained a
dead letter, no attempt to put them in force being made even by the
reforming legislation of Dt. Dillmann's theory is open to the further
objection, that it does not adequately account either for the prominence
given in Dt. to the sacred meal, or for the fact that the third year is called
Mar il<>x»*, "the year of tithing." The diversion of the tithe from its
original purpose, which the same theory presupposes, is also violent and
improbable : if the priesthood, from whatever cause, had been unable to
enforce their claims, to which (by the law of P) they were justly entitled,
the tithe, it is easy to understand, might have fallen into desuetude
altogether ; but is the Deuteronomic disposition of it a probable substitute
for its original application ? and would the legislator have inculcated so
earnestly this disposition of the tithe, had it been the case that he was
thereby supporting the Israelites in depriving the priestly tribe of its
legitimate due ?
The data at our disposal do not enable us to write a history
of Hebrew tithe : but the disposition of the tithe in Dt. wears
the appearance of being more primitive than that of P ; and
the transition from the prescriptions of Dt. to those of P seems
easier to understand than one in the contrary direction. The
earliest historical notice of the payment of tithes in Israel is in
connexion with the Ephraimite sanctuary of Bethel (Am. 4*) ;
and the custom of paying tithes here seems in Gn. 28^2 to be
referred to the example of Jacob, the patriarch to whose
experiences Bethel owed its sanctity. The tithes paid to
ancient sanctuaries were not necessarily appropriated to the
maintenance of a priesthood ; they might be employed for any
purpose connected with the public exercises of religion. In
Amos the tithe seems to be mentioned not as a due paid under
compulsion to the priests, but by the side of thank-offerings,
freewill offerings, and vows, as something offered spontan-
eously, and forming probably, like these, the occasion of
a festal meal at the sanctuary (cf. Riehm, p. 1793^). To
such a practice the law of tithe in Dt. might naturally be
understood as attaching itself, though the exact manner in
XIV. 29 173
which it may have arisen out of it must remain matter of
conjecture.
Prof. Smith {Rel. Sem. 226-236) supposes that the tithe-feasts at the
Northern sanctuaries were public ones, maintained by the tithes paid by
the community generally, and intended for rich and poor alike, but that
owing' to the power possessed by the great nobles, which they used in
aggrandizing themselves (cf. Amos 2*'^** 5^' 8^"^), the poor held a very
subordinate position at them, and they were monopolized chiefly by the
ruling classes. A similar application of the tithe, accompanied by similar
abuses, prevailed also, it is not unreasonable to suppose, in Judah. The
law of Dt. , Prof. Smith thinks, was intended to remedy these abuses. It
did this, by leaving the offerer free, in two out of every three years, to
organize his tithe-feast himself at the central sanctuary, for his household
and the destitute Levite, and in the third year, as a substitute for the
abolition of the communal fund (which theoretically maintained a public
table), by appropriating the tithe entirely to the support of the dependent
classes, viz. the landless poor and the landless Levite.
Dt. 26^2 ^cf. Am. 4**) seems to authorize the inference that
some ancient custom, connected with the payment of the tithe,
must have led to every third year being called, Kar Hoxyr, the
"tithe-year." It maybe noticed that it is only in the third
year that, according- to Dt., the whole tithe is actually paid
away by the Israelite ; in the other two years it is consumed
principally by the offerer and his family. The Levite is specially
mentioned as entitled to a share of the tithe in every year ; and
on the basis of this provision it is not difficult to understand how
in process of time the claims of the priestly tribe could be ex-
tended until at last (as in the legislation of P) the entire tithe
was appropriated to its maintenance, and the sacred feasts
disappeared altogether.
The other references to tithe in the OT. are— Gn. 14*' 2 Ch. 31B.12 Neh.
,o88f.(S7f.) i2« ,3». 10-12 Mai. 38-10: cf. also Sir. 32(35)" Judith iii^ (hxccra,
r*v t'i/ou Kcii rav iXalau), Tob. 5^* (codd. BA), I Macc. 3*^. See further,
especially for some account of the minuter regulations contained in the
Mishnah, Ryssel, s.v. Zehnfen, PREJ^ xvii. 428 ff.; also W. R. Smith,
Proph. 382 f., Rel. Sem. 226 ff.
•At least, as usually understood ("every three days" an ironical
exaggeration of "every three years," as "every morning" of "every
year"). But see Wellh. Die Klein. Proph. p. 78; Nowack, Ilebr. Arch. ii.
258; and cf the writer's note ad loc. \n Joel and Amos (in the Camb. Bible
for Schools).
1 74 DEUTERONOMY
XV. 1-18. Three Laws designed to ameliorate the Condition
of the Poor,
XV. 1-6. The year of Release. — Every seventh year is to be
a "year of release," i.e. a year during which the rights of a
lender are to be in abeyance, and repayment of a loan is not to
be exacted by him of a brother Israelite, v?-'^. This privilege,
however, is not to be extended to foreigners, v.^. The law
concludes with a promise, v.*-^, that in the event of Israel's
obedience, the relief afforded by the present law will not be
required. On the relation of this law to Ex. t."^^^- (JE) Lev.
25^-''^ (H), see p. 177 f. — At the end of (every) seven years] the
word "end," it seems, is not to be pressed, the meaning being,
apparently, not "at the end of every seventh year" (though
this rendering could be defended by the supposition that it was
at the e7id of the year that debts were called in), but "at the
end of every period of seven years," which was understood by
usage to mean "when the seventh year has arrived" (ffi 81*
eiTTa €Ta)v) : 8031^°; comp. especially Jer. 34^*, where "at the
endofs&v&n years" corresponds to " z« the seventh year" of
Dt. 1512^ and where the period thus denoted is plainly con-
ceived to have begun as soon as the six years are terminated.
— Thou shalt make a release (n^ipL*')] t^DK' is to fling down (2 K.
933 nSDpK'), let drop, let fall', it is applied fig. Ex. 23" (n^y»3B'ni
rintrtaJl rwoocn) to letting the land drop, i.e. leaving it unculti-
vated, every seventh year : comp. Jer. 17* (read prob. I"]""^ for
^2^) "and thou shalt let thy hand fall from thy inheritance"
{i.e. shalt have to desist from its cultivation, with allusion to
the law of Ex. 23^^) : v.^ it is applied to letting loans drop, i.e.
allowing them to remain in the hands of the debtor ; and the
year in which this was done is called (v.» 3i^°t) H^CE^n T\yf " the
year oi dropping," or "of release." On the question whether
the intention of the law is that loans were to be cancelled, or
whether it is merely that the power of calling them in was to
be suspended during that year, see p. 179 f. — 2. The nature of
the "release": every creditor is to "let drop," i.e. renounce
XY. 2. noDtyn •\z^ nn] cf. 19'' i K. 9^*, and the Siloam Inscr. 1. i (Samuel,
pp. XV, xvi) napan nan n-n nn; also . . . ib-k "lann ni Jos. 5* i K. ii'": ^n^
XV. 1-3 175
— whether for the time, or permanently — his claim upon
that which he has lent to his neighbour : it is the season of
"Jehovah's release," which must be observed with the for-
malities which He has prescribed. On the constructions in
this verse, see below. — His brother^ a synonym of " his fellow-
countryman," which has the effect of bringing- strongly before
the Israelite the claims of kinship. So. v. 3- 7. ». n. 12 jyi&b jgis. 19
22i- 2. s. 4 2320. 21 253, and in H, Lev. 19I7 2525. S5. se. 39. 47 ; but the
usage does not occur in the laws of JE or of P. In the pi. the
corresponding application is more common, and not so dis-
tinctive; comp. e.g. 10® 1^153.20 igis. is 247. u ^^nd often in other
books). — Pror/«?me^] by a formal proclamation : cf. Lev. 232' 4.27
Is. 6ii-2 Jer. 348 36^; also Lev. 25^ (of the jubile year). — Unto
Jehovah] i.e. in His honour, as Ex. 12"- 1*' *2 Lev. 252, and often.
— 3. A foreigner thou may est press for payment; but whatsoever of
thine is with thy brother, let thine hand release (T]^''^ ^^P^^)] the
** foreigner" [nokhri) — to be distinguished from the Ger {id^^)
— is the foreigner who merely visits Canaan temporarily, for
trade, &c.: he is not, like the Israelite (Ex. 23^0^), under the
obligation of surrendering the produce of his land every seventh
year: there is no reason, therefore, in his case, for any relaxa-
tion of his creditor's claims. — 4-6. Reflections of the Writer.
There will, however, be no poor in Israel, and consequently
nearly = the Lat. ratio, account, nature, reckon. — BDiy] the inf. abs. (G-K.
§ 113. 4*"), with the subj. (exceptionally) attached (ib. R.) : cf. Lev. 6' Ps.
17' Pr. 17". Construe (with Ges., Schultz, Ke.) "Every possessor of a
loan of his hand shall let drop that which he lendeth to his neighbour" :
for Sya in a forensic application, cf. Ex. 24^0^31 '?ya="one who has a
cause" ; Is. 50* 'tJSSfD Spa "my litigant." For ntyp loan, cf. 24'*' Neh. 5^
The suff. in it can hardly refer to anything but ^]12 : the meaning, there-
fore, will be "the loan which his own hand has given," and which, there-
fore, it has a right to call in (v.^^) : cf. Neh. lo^'' t;-S? n^9' (see other
views in Ges. Thes. p. 920 f.). — 3 nB*:] 24^"; in Qal, 24" al. — bJa] prop, to
press hard upon, by exacting repayment of a loan (so v.*) : cf. 2 K. 23^
Is. 58^ — NTij] the implicit subj. is the cognate ptcp. Kijjn, as always in
such cases, e.g. Gn. 48^ IDV*? tdk'i, sc. idin.i, Is. 8^ ku-?, sc. HVMn : see on
I S. 16^; G-K. § 144. 3» R. Cf. I7«, with note. English idiom often
requires a change of form ; and the passive voice has to be employed (as
RV. here).- 3. hk] with, in the possession of: Lev. 5^ Jud. 17^ — -[V bd^b]
notice the jussive form. The punctuators prob. intended Boen to be ths
2nd person, "cause thine hand to let drop." But perh. obif'p "thine hand
shall let drop " should be read (cf. v.^).
1 76 DEUTERONOMY
no occasion for the present law to come into operation, if only
the nation so comports itself as to merit Jehovah's blessing;
then the Israelite, so far from having" occasion to borrow of his
neighbour, will be in a position to lend to men of other nations.
— Howbeit there shall be no poor in thee {for Jehovah will surely
bless thee in the land^ &c.\ if ojily thou diligently hearken,
cSr'c] so RV., limiting the promise to the event of Israel's
obedience, and treating the intermediate clause as parenthetic.
This rendering seems to be the best.
Schultz, Keil, and Dillm. render, " Howbeit there should be no poor in
thee ; for Jehovah will surely bless thee, &c., if only thou hearken," &c.,
supposing the meaning to be either (Schultz, Keil) that Israel should exert
itself to prevent the pauperization of its members, or (Dillm.) as express-
ing the abstract truth that poverty ought not to exist in the nation, if it be
obedient, after Jehovah has promised His blessing upon it. But "should
be " is not (in this context) a very natural sense of n'.T.
In whatever sense, however, the words are understood,
v. 7- ^^ show that the prospect held out in them is an ideal one,
which the Writer did not contemplate as likely to be realized
in practice. — In thee] of Israel collectively {i^^) = in thy midst:
so V.7 714 (Heb.), 1810 2311- 15 (10. 14) 25I8 285*. With thee (AV.) is
not correct: this would express ^ns (Lev. 25^9), not ^3. — For
Jehovah will sia-ely bless thee] cf. on 2^. — "j^ jn: yrhn '^ "IC'X
nbm] 421 (cf. 38) 1910 20I6 2i23 244 2519 ( + nnt:'^^, as here), 261.—
5. '> ^ipa lyotTi yoK' ds] 28I; in JE, Ex. 1526 (?) 195 2322. — All
this com?fia?idmefit, tSr'c.] on 8^. — 6. Will have blessed thee] viz. in
the case contemplated : so v.^* 12'^. — As he spake unto (i^^) thee]
Ex. 2325 Dt. 713. — And thou shall ride over many nations, &c.]
thou shalt enjoy a position of financial and material superiority
to them. Cf. 281.
The law embodies a new application of the institution of
4. DDk] save that, howbeit, introducing a qualification, Nu. I3'''* Jud. 4*
Am. 9^ — 5. c.\ ^-^ — if only, pn being prefixed to the clause introduced by
DM for emphasis. So i K. 8-' 2 K. 21*. — 6. B3V (24'"!) is properly to give a
pledge (sc. on the occasion of borrowing), hence to borro7v on pledge. B'3vrt
(here and v.*t) is thus lit. to cause to give pledges=to lend on pledge to.
Cf. Buy a pledge 24^'''^^t ; b'bdj; Hb. 2^t. ''^n (24^-') is the more usual
word. Perh. onv is an Aram, loan-word (Wellh. Kleiti. Proph. p. 207),
introduced in conmierce : if so, it would = Arab. LjUJ to hold Jirrnly—WtAi.
VM to hold out (with the regular phonetic change: Dr. § 178).
XV. 4-« 177
the fallow year of Ex. 23^°'- (JE), and of the "Sabbatical
year " of Lev. 251-7- 20-22 (h).
The law of Dt. is connected with that of Ex. by the common verb aatr
(though in Ex. the object is the land [or its produce], while in Dt. it is the
debt) ; but the name " year of release " is peculiar to Dt. (15^ 31^°) '• in Ex.
the year bears no special name. The term " sabbatical year " is based
upon Lev. as*"**" (cf. 26''^'^), where the fallow year is called a "sabbath,"
or rest, for the land. The three laws, as will appear immediately, present
different aspects, or applications, of the institution.
In Ex. 23 it is provided that in every seventh year the
fields, vineyards, and olive-gardens are to remain uncultivated,
such produce as they bear naturally being not gathered by the
owners, but left to the poor. The terms of this provision do
not leave it perfectly clear whether (as is generally supposed)
a year common to the whole land is intended, or (Riehm,
HWB.^ p. 1314^; Wellh. Hist. p. iiyf.) one varying for the
different properties ; but even if it be the latter, the year must
afterwards have become a fixed one, for in Lev. z^"^-"^- 20-22^
where substantially the same regulation is repeated (with
variations, chiefly of form, accommodating it to the aims, and
literary style, of H), the institution is described as "a
sabbath of rest for the land," and is clearly designed to be
operative through the whole country simultaneously.
A discussion of the grounds upon which the custom arose of allowing
the land to remain untilled once in 7 years belongs more properly to a
commentary on Exodus or Leviticus than to one on Deuteronomy : here
it must suffice to say that analogous usages in other countries (see Sir H.
S. Maine, Village Communities in the East and West, pp. 77-99, 107-113,
&c. ; J. Fenton, Early Hebrew Life, 1880, pp. 24-26, 29-32, 64-70) make it
probable that it is a relic of communistic agriculture, i.e. of a stage of
society in which the fields belonging to a village are the property of the
villagers collectively, individuals only acquiring the use of a certain
portion for a limited period, and the rights of the community being recog-
nized by the individual landowners being obliged, at stated intervals, to
renounce their claims to the use, or produce, of the soil, in favour of the
body of villagers generally. The "sabbatical year" of Ex. and Lev. is
similarly an institution limiting the rights of individual ownership in the
interests of the community at large. Such a limitation, it is evident, might
readily be adapted so as to minister to the needs of the poorer classes ;
and this is the point of view under which the institution is regarded in Ex.
2jiof. -j-jjg land would at the same time benefit by being allowed to
remain periodically uncultivated ; and it is this aspect of the institution
which is prominent in Lev. 2s}'''
12
1 78 DEUTERONOMY
In the law of Dt. the same institution is made the basis of
a provision designed for the relief of the distressed debtor. In
so far as the cultivation of the land viras actually suspended
during the 7th year, the landowner and his dependents would
be deprived largely of their usual means of obtaining a liveli-
hood : associated trades would also probably be slack : hence
it would be a time when borrowers would be less able than
usually to meet their liabilities ; and it would be not more than
reasonable that the more wealthy creditor should be restrained
from pressing them for payment. The principle of the law of
Ex. {" and the poor of thy people shall eat ") is thus expanded,
and applied so as to meet the requirements of a more de-
veloped state of society than that contemplated in Ex. 21-23,
its benefits being extended to a class, who, in the more highly
organized civic life, and the increasing opposition between rich
and poor, which prevailed under Solomon and his successors,
were, it may be, even more in need of relief than those origin-
ally benefited by the law of Ex. Comp. other laws designed in
the interests of debtors, Dt. 2320^- a^'-) 2410-13.
The present law — or at least the feeling which still prevailed when it
origfinated — dates from a time when commercial relations were much
simpler than they are now, and when, it is probable, the system of com-
mercial loans, as practised in modern times, had not yet sprung- up, and
all loans were virtually charitable ones (comp. on 23-'"-). The loans which
it contemplates appear thus to be not advances of money, such as mig-ht
be needed by a trader to enable him to carry on, or extend, his busi-
ness, but advances intended for the relief of some temporary difliculty
or impoverishment (cf. the reference to the poor in v."*) : no interest
could be demanded on them {23-"'^^'); they fall accordingly, as the
context and the terms of v.*"® show, under the category of deeds of
philanthropy and charity. Whether any security was offered by the
debtor for such loans, and if so, what, is not stated : but Neh. 5'"* (cf. 2 K.
4^ Is. 50^) shows that the lands and family of a debtor might constitute
the security for a debt ; and Lev. 25^''* ■" suggest at least the possibility
that (as at Athens before Solon, and in Rome, practically, till the time of
Justinian) even the debtor's own person might form the security. The
need of protective legislation on the subject is well illustrated by the dis-
tressed condition to which the people of Attica were reduced in the 6th
cent. B.C., and by the reforming- measures which Solon found it necessary
to introduce (see Grote, Hist, of Greece^ Part II. ch. xi., whose comments
on the subject of debt in the ancient world are instructive).
Opinions have differed as to whether the ntS'pi:' was an
XV. 6 179
actual remission of loans, or merely the suspension, for one year,
of the creditor's right to demand payment. The former inter-
pretation is found as early as Philo, de septenario, § 8 (Mangey,
ii. 284), Kara yovi' t/S^ofjiov iviavTOv ad )(p€(DKOTriav eio-r^yetTai : it
is adopted also in the Mishnah {Shebiith 10, i), and by Jewish
authorities generally, as well as by some Christian scholars
{e.g. Ges. ; Wellh. Hist. 117 ; Benzinger, Hebr. Archdol. (1894)
p. 350 f.; Nowack, Hebr. Archdol. (1894) i. 356); but most
modern commentators agree in favour of the latter alternative
(Biihr, Synibolik, ii. 570 f. ; Saalschutz, Mas. Rccht, i. 162 f.,
Schultz, Knob., Keil, Dillm., Riehm, HWB.^ 1315^; Oehler,
OT. Theol. § 151. 10; OrelH in /»i?-£'.2 xiii. 168; &c.).
The modern interpretation has all h priori considerations in its favour ;
but we are not, perhaps, sufficiently acquainted with the circumstances
which the law was orig'inally designed to meet, or under which it was
carried out in practice, to be able to feel perfectly confident that it is cor-
rect. The cancelling of debts — x.f^^'i arcKo-Trri, as the Greeks called it — was
a revolutionary measure (cf. Plato, Hep. 566 A, Legg. 736 C ; Demosth.
c. Titnokr. p. 746), adopted sometimes, as under Solon, at Athens (Grote,
I.e.), under circumstances of extreme necessity, but not one likely to be
enforced periodically by law in a well-ordered community. A law, more-
over, contemplating-, not to say (v.®) encouraging loans, but at the same
time cancelling the debts thus contracted every seven years, regardless of
the fact that the debtor might in the interim have recovered his prosperity,
would seem calculated to defeat itself; for upon such conditions it is
difficult to understand how any would have been found ready to lend.
The analogy of the landowner surrendering for one year in seven the
produce of the land, and of the creditor surrendering, likewise for one year
in seven, his claim upon his loan, is also attractive, and appears to offer a
plausible rationale of the law. On the other hand, the term t>ac> seems to
favour, though not perhaps decisively, the opinion that a remission of
loans is intended : it is remarkable, also, if the creditor's rights were only
suspended for a year, and afterwards resumed, that this is not more dis-
tinctly indicated in the terms employed : the consideration in v.* is also
evidently more forcible upon the same supposition. On the whole, while
as a law regulating commercial loans generally it can have been a
practicable one only upon the modem interpretation, it is possible that in
its original intention its application was so limited by circumstances that
the ancient interpretation may be the correct one.
Nevertheless, in view of our imperfect knowledge of Hebrew commerce
and finance, it must be admitted that an uncertainty still rests upon the
real scope of the law. Others accordingly think that interest on money
lent for commercial purposes was permitted between Israelites, and that
the prohibition of interest (23'^*"' ; cf. Ez. i8*'i^-'' 22^* Ps. 15^) applies only
to the money-lender's dealings with the poor (Neh. 5). If this were so,
I 80 DEUTERONOMY
the effect of the present law will have been to prevent the creditor from
recovering-, in eveiy seventh year, either the interest or the principal of
financial loans, or the principal of charitable loans. The analogy of the
field suffered to lie fallow for a year is urged in support of this view : the
interest, or annual produce (to«o?) of money, corresponds to the harvest,
the annual produce of the land : money, like land, was to be unproductive
every seventh year. The terms of 23^"'" Ez. 18^ &c. are, however, quite
g-eneral : can they be limited in the manner proposed? And it is remark-
able, if the reference here be primarily to interest, that this is not in some
way indicated : the language both of v.'^ and of v.^ seems naturally to
describe merely the loan itself. — The only notice in the OT. bearing on the
observance of the law is the obligation undertaken by the Jews in Neb.
jq32(31). (]3(-_ i^2j ^, I,-, jj.^iQ, ri'y'HK'.T nwn nx (Ex. 23") e'tsji.
In later times, when commercial relations became more extended and
complex, the law, which was then held to apply not merely to charitable
loans, but also to loans contracted in commerce, was found impracticable ;
and expedients were resorted to for the purpose of evading its provisions.
Thus debts contracted upon security of a pledge were considered to be
exempted from its operation ; the debtor, when the year of Release arrived,
would offer repayment of his loan, which the creditor, while going through
a form of refusal, would end by accepting; and Hillel (ist cent. B.C.),
finding that many were deterred from lending by the consideration Dt.
15*, instituted the "^ums {TpofjioXri), i.e. a formal document, signed before a
judge, in which the creditor reserved the right to call in his loan whenever
he pleased, irrespectively of the year of Release (see Shebnth 10, i f. ;
3f., 8f., — the latter explained in Geiger, Lesestucke aus der Mischnah,
pp. 4f., 77f. ; cf. Levy, Neuhebr. WB. s.v. Vi3Jn£3 ; Schiirer, Nzg.^ ii. 299).
7-11. The year of Release is not to check liberality : the
Israelite, when called upon to do so, is to assist cheerfully
his brother in need. — A caution, rendered necessary, in the
Writer's judgment, by the law of v.^-^: the benefits afforded
by the year of Release are not to be neutralized by the thought
of its near approach deterring the wealthy Israelite from
coming forward to assist his less prosperous brother in his
need. The spirit in which these verses are conceived is in
harmony with the philanthropic motive conspicuous elsewhere
in Dt. {e.ff. v.^"- 2410-13. i«)._7. /« ^Aee] as v.^.—In one of thy
gates\ i.e. in one of thy cities (12^2)^ — /y giving thee] i^o. — 9.
Take heed to thy self \/^. — A base thought] on 131*03). — Thine
7. Tnn inND] any one of\h.y brethren. For this peculiar use of jD, comp.
Lev. 4* if he doeth njno nnxD any one of these things, Ez. iS^" i S. 14*" mvro
iCKT any single hair of his head (see ad loc, or Lex. [p lb 2, where an
analogous Arab, usage is referred to). — {'Dun] as 2^". — 9. ^33'? Dv] on
8®. — 'jySa] in appos. with nan, "a word, baseness "=a base word (Dr.
§ 189. I ; G-K. § 131. 2''). — V'^v/n mv] cf. Nu. 33^^ i Ch. 26^*'; and often
XV. 7-" lol
eye be evil against] i.e. be envious or grudging towards: so
2854. 56-j-^ Comp. Tob. 4^ (quoted by Ges.) ft^ (jiOoveaaTO} aov 6
6(f>6a\fj.o<; €v Tw TToiciv ere lX(r]fx.o(Tvvqv. — And he cry against thee
unto Jehovah] Ex. 22^^(^^\—And it he sin in thee (ndh 13 n^ni)]
so 2322(21)2415, cf. 2 1 22; with not 2323(22). The expression is
not found elsewhere. Lev, ig^^ (cf. 22^ Nu. 18=^2) has xi*'n K^l
XDH V^jy. — 10. And thine heart shall not he sad\ Ht. he evil (in."!) :
so I S. 18; cf. the J?"; 3^' (sad heart) of Pr. 2520. It is the cor-
relative of 310 {good), 20", 310, said also of the heart, and im-
plying cheerfulness: e.g. Jud. ig^-^ i S. 2536 2 S. 1328 i K. S^^
Dt. 28^7 3^ 3^D. — Gi'-ye^/'] understood usually (in view of v.^-^)
as = lendest. But possibly v.^-n is meant generally : the pro-
spect of a reduced income in the near future is not to check
the Israelite's liberality towards any who solicit from him
pecuniary aid. — Shall hless thee, &fc.] cf. on 2^ 12^. For the
thought, cf. Pr. igi'^ 282^. — 11. The ground of the preceding
injunction : the poor will never cease out of the land, and
hence it will never become superfluous.
12-18. The law of slavery. — Hebrew slaves, male or female,
unless they elect to remain with their master, are to receive
their freedom in the seventh year of service. — The condition
of a Hebrew slave, it is probable, was relatively favourable
(cf. Ex. 2i20-26f. Lev. 2539f- 43.53 Dt. 5^*^ 12I8 1611) : v.i^ contem-
plates the case of his " loving" his master as of likely occur-
rence ; and the law (Ex. 21*) that, if his master gave him a
wife, the wife and her children were not to receive their liberty
with him, would often act as an inducement to him to renounce
his right of freedom after 6 years of service. The present law
is based upon the corresponding one in JE (Ex. 212-6), ^ith
parenetic additions (v.i3-i5. is^^ j^ the manner of Dt., and with
two not unimportant modifications (see on v.^^. 17).
^- If thy brother, an Hehreiv, or Ex. zv^ If thou buy an Hebrew
an Hebrewess, be sold unto thee, he bondman,
shall serve thee six years ; and in six years shall he serve; and in
the seventh year, thou shalt send the seventh year, he shall go out
him ayva.y free from thee. . . . free for nothing. *'* If
without the art. {e.g. i K. 152*).— 10. SVoa] i^^ iS^^.— 11. ;i'ij;_^] "is sing.,
the — being for the purpose of avoiding shwa' after the double yod'
(Dillm.).
1 82 DEUTERONOMY
he came in by himself he shall go
" And it shall out by himself, &c. . . . " But if the
be, if he saj/ unto thee, bondman sa^, I love my master,
my wife, and my children,
/ will not go out from thee, because / viill not go out free,
he/b7;^^Athee,and thy house, because
it is well for him with thee ; " Then • Then
thou shalt take an aw/, and put it his master shall bring- him unto God,
into his ear and into the door {i.e. and he {or one) shall bring him to
pin them together), and he shall the door or to the door-post, and his
be a bondman to thee master shall bore his ear with an
for ever, awl, and he shall serve h\m for ever.
' And if a man sell his daughter to
And also unto thy bondwoman thou be a bondwoman, she shall not go
shalt do likewise. out as the bondmen do.
12. Or an Hebrewess] this addition marks a significant
difference from the law of Ex. ; for in Ex. (v.^), although a
woman who comes into service with her husband is to receive
her freedom when he does, a daughter sold by her father as a
bondwoman is on a different footing, she is not to go free as
bondmen do (v.^).
Various attempts have been made to harmonize the two laws. Thus
one supposition is (i) that the law of Ex. 21* is intended tacitly to include
women; (2) that the law of Dt. does not abrogate Ex. 21^, but enforces
the extension thus tacitly implied in v.^. But the notice of the special case
in v.^, and the law v.*, that even a female slave married to a bondman,
during his period of service, is not to go free with her husband, render it
improbable that this tacit extension of Ex. 21' can be designed. The
addition "or an Hebrewess" in Dt. 15^* is also a pointed one, which
would hardly have been made, unless some material modification of the
law of Ex. had been intended by it. According to another supposition
(Hengst. Beitrage, iii. 439), Ex. 21^"^* relates only to the case of a woman
sold to be a concubine, while Dt. igi**- contemplates the case of a woman
who enters servitude for purposes other than that of concubinage. But the
terms of Dt. I5^-" ^^ are perfectly general ; so that the case of a woman sold
for concubinage must be included in them, — unless (which is just the con-
clusion that the harmonistic supposition is designed to avoid) the law of
Dt. belongs to an age so far removed from that of Ex. that the case no
longer practically occurred of a woman being sold into slavery for that
purpose.
No doubt the true explanation of the variation is that the
law of Dt. springs from a more advanced stage of society than
12. li^vi] Ex. 21° makes it probable that the apod, begins here
(Dr. § 136 a): it might begin at n'yacm, but this would be unusual {ib
Obs. I, and § 124). — 14. 'Ji 1313 "wk] -\a'n=ias, in cases where it cannot
XV. I2-I6 183
the law of Ex. ; it thus reg-ulates usai,'-e for an age in which
the power of a father over his daughter was no longer so
absolute as it had been in more primitive times, and places the
two sexes on a position of equality. — Whether any further
difference is intended by the substitution of be sold, or (as "t?^".
might also be rendered ; see Lev. 2589) selleth himself, for hvy
is uncertain ; taken in its natural sense, the phrase in Ex.
would imply that the purchase of a Hebrew slave was a matter
of ordinary occurrence : the phrase in Dt. (cf. Lev. 2539) might
imply that the case was exceptional, and arose only when a
man was reduced, by misfortune or other cause, to penury
(cf. 2 K. 4I ; Is. 50I).— The verse is quoted (slightly varied) in
Jer. 34I* (cf. v.«- 10^), upon the occasion of the prophet's rebuk-
ing the people for rescinding their agreement to put the law
into force under Zedekiah.— 13-15. The slave at the time of
leaving his master's service is to be dealt with handsomely :
he is not to be thrown (so to say) penniless upon the world ;
he is to receive presents of cattle, grain, and wine, according
to the prosperity which has attended his master. The regula-
tions in Ex. 2i3-4 respecting the wife and family of a slave
are disregarded in Dt. ; and their place is taken by the present
provision, which breathes the philanthropic spirit of the Deut.
legislation. — 13. Thou shall not send him away empty (Dpn)] i.e.
without some present (cf. Gn. 3i'»2 i S. 6^ Job 22^; and on
i6i6)._14. Thou shall furnish him liberally] so the AV. excel-
lently paraphrases the Heb. 'h p^iVn \i^:vr^ \>}V, is a necklace
(Jud. 82<5 Pr. i^ Ct. 4^1) ; hence p^y is to surround as a necklace
(Ps. 73^'), and b P7yi7 to make a necklace for, fig. for to load
honourably or liberally.— From thy threshing-floor, and from thy
wine-press] i6^3. cf. 2 K. 627 Hos. g'^.— As Jehovah thy God
hath blessed thee] cf. i2^5 i6i7._15. The motive for such liber-
ality is to be the thankful recollection of the deliverance from
the servitude in Egypt. Similarly (almost in the same words)
1612 2418-22; also 515 (see note): cf. loi^.— 16-17. If, however,
properly be rendered that which (as Jer. 488 Ps. io6="), which is evidently
here not the case, is so doubtful (see on i S. 16^ ; Lex. irx 8 e) that le-Ka
should most probably be restored : d might easily have fallen out after
inp'D, at a time when the final letter had as yet no distinctive form.— 16.
IDVD] V." I S. 14^^ i8»».— ^n'3 nKi i^nii 'd] on ii«.— iV 31B '=] Nu. 11" Hos.
184 DEUTERONOMY
the slave, through affection for his master, prefer to continue
in his service, he may do so ; but his servitude must hence-
forth be for life ; and this is to be formally ratified by the
ceremony of nailing his ear to the door of his master's house.
V.i^ is slightly varied from Ex. 21^, "because it is well for
him with thee" being an explanatory addition, like **and that
it may be well for thee " in 5^^. — 17. In Ex. 21^ (see above) the
slave is to be brought "unto God," i.e. to the sanctuary at
which judgment is administered, and then led (probably by
the judge) to the door or the door-post (whether of the sanctu-
ary, or of his master's house, is not clearly expressed), where
the ceremony symbolizing his perpetual servitude is performed
by his master. This is the second material modification of the
earlier regulations which the law of Dt. contains. In Ex. the
ceremony prescribed is a public and official one : in Dt. it is of
a purely domestic character, being transacted entirely at the
master's own home. It seems that the law of Dt. reflects the
usage of a time at which the judicial ceremony, enjoined in Ex.,
had fallen into disuse, and when the ceremony was performed
entirely at the master's house.
It is argued indeed by Keil that this conclusion is a mere argumentutn
e silentio, the legislator in Dt. meaning, though he does not say so, the
same ceremony as that prescribed in Ex. But the absence of any terms
to indicate this, makes the transaction in reality a different one ; the argu-
ment is consequently more than one e silentio ; and the Writer of Dt., had
he contemplated a ceremony transacted at a sanctuary, would assuredly
have felt it incumbent upon him to state (cf. 17^'- 19") at -what sanctuary
it was to take place (comp. Kleinert, pp. 58-59).
A slave for ever (obiy 131?)] i S. 2712 Job 4028 (41*). — And
also unto thy bondwoman thou shalt do likewise] i.e. perform
with her, if she elects to remain in servitude, the same cere-
mony. — 18. A consolatory thought, addressed to the Israelite,
in case the duty of letting his slave go free should seem hard
to him. Jer. 348^- shows how apt the present law was to be
disregarded by the Israelites, and how difficult it was to
enforce in practice the manumission of slaves required by it. —
To the double of the hire of an hireling hath he served thee six
2^ Jer. 22"' '* ; c. 5'" 19". — 17. ysnon m\ — an awl (G-K. § 126. 4 ; or on i S.
igi3),_n'?n3i 1JJN3 nnmi] the idiom as i S. 18" 19I".— ^Ki] on 2".
XV. 17-18 185
y^ears] because, viz. his work has been such that, had a hired
labourer been engaged in his stead, he would, at the rate of
wages then current, have cost his master twice as much
(Schultz). — Jehovah will bless thee, <5r'c.] viz. if thou lettest him
go cheerfully (cf. v.i°).
There is a third law of slavery in Lev. 25**"*' (H and P). By this law
(i) only foreigners are to be held by Israelites as slaves for life; (2)
Hebrew slaves are to receive their liberty, not, as in Ex. and Dt., in the
7th year of servitude, but in the year of Jubile. The usual mode of har-
monizing" these discrepant provisions, is by the assumption that the law of
Lev. is intended to provide that, if the Jubile year arrives before a Hebrew
slave's 7th j'ear of service, he is to receive his liberty in it. But if this had
been the true explanation of the discrepancy, a law so circumstantial as
that of Lev. would surely have contained some explicit reference to the
earlier law, and the case in which it was intended to supersede it would
have been distinctly stated. In point of fact, however, the legislator of
Lev. betrays as little consciousness of the law of Ex. (or Dt.) as the legis-
lator of Dt. (if this be the later) betrays of that of Lev. Dillmann supposes
that the law of Lev. contemplates the case of those Israelites only who,
being completely impoverished, could not maintain themselves in independ-
ence, and hence would not be benefited by a release in the 7th year of
service, which was not accompanied, as that in the Jubile was, by a return
(at least on the part of those who had been landowners) to their hereditary
possession. But, since obviously no man would be a slave if he could help
it, can it be said that the impoverishment expressed in Lev. 25^* is greater
than that implied in Ex. 21*? The discrepancy between the laws of Ex.,
Dt., and the law of Lev. can be satisfactorily explained only by the
supposition that the latter is a provision for the mitigation of the servitude
of Israelites, designed without reference to the former, and originating at
a time when experience had shown (cf. Jer. 34^^* i**"-!') that the limit of
service fixed by Ex. and Dt. could not be enforced. The law of Lev.
lengthens the legal period of service, but offers, in some measure, com-
pensation for this by insisting (in phrases borrowed from H) that the
Israelite slave is to be treated, whilst in servitude, as humanely as if he
were a free man (cf. Riehm, HWB.^ 1503*; Ryle on Neh. 5*; Nowack,
Hebr. Arch. i. 178 f.). (On the analysis of Lev. as^®"", see L. O. T.^ p. 526 f.)
XV. 19-23. Firstlings.
19-23. The law of firstlings.— The firstling males of oxen
and of sheep are to be dedicated to Jehovah, and to be eaten
annually by the owner and his household, at a sacrificial feast,
at the central sanctuary (v. 1^^). If, however, the firstling have
any blemish, Jehovah cannot accept it in sacrifice ; but it may
be used by the owner as ordinary food, provided care be taken
to eat none of the blood (v.2i-23). The parallels in the other
l86 DEUTERONOMY
Codes are Ex. I3ii-i« aa^sf- (29f.) 3419^ in JE, Ex. 13' Nu. iSi^-u
(cf. Lev. 2726f) in P. In general principle the three Codes
agree : but there are some variations in detail ; and the dis-
position of the firstlings, prescribed in v.20, is altogether
different from that which is laid down in Nu. iS^^-^^ (^^ee p. 187).
The treatment of the subject in Dt. is not exhaustive ; nothing
is said, for instance (as in both JE and P), of the first-born
of men, or of unclean animals : the aim of the Writer is to
insist upon the firstlings of the most common domestic animals
being presented properly at the central sanctuary, and to pro-
vide for the case of such firstlings as could not, on account of
some natural defect, be accepted in sacrifice. In the former
connexion, the subject has been already noticed incidentally in
126. i7f. 1423 — 12. Thou shall sanctify unlo J ehova}{\ in agree-
ment with Ex. 132 (P),i2. 16 (JE), 3419 (JE).— 20. Thou shall eat
it before Jehovah^ &rc.\ for the expressions, see on 12^- ^. From
\2y^^- it would seem that the Levite (as in the case of the tithe-
feast, 1427) was to be invited also as a guest. — Year by year]
in Ex. 2229 (Sfi) the firstlings are to be presented to Jehovah on
the eighth day from birth ("seven days it shall be with its
dam ; on the eighth day thou shalt give it to me ") ; according
to the provision here, they are to be presented annually. The
change is a necessary corollary of the substitution of a central
place of sacrifice (v. 20) for the local sanctuaries : the law of
Ex. implies that an altar was everywhere near at hand at
which the firstlings could be presented on the eighth day. The
law of Dt. is an accommodation of the older usage to the
institution of annual pilgrimages to the central sanctuary.
Most probably the firstlings were offered at the great spring
festival, the Passover. For another similar modification of
older usage, see on i2i^^-. — 21-23. Bui if there be in it a
blemish, cStt.] the general rule that animals offered in sacrifice
must be free from defects (17^) is here applied to the special case
of the firstlings. — 22-23. As iz^^-'^^, in the law prescribing how
animals, slaughtered merely as food, may be eaten.
In the Priests' Code, an entirely different disposition of the
19. niaan Szi\ collect, (on ii**). — 20. nisyn naty] Idiom. =yearly (i S. i'a/.)i
cf. Lex. 3 III. 3 b. — 21. J?T mo Vd] a generalizing apposition : cf. on 18'.
XV. 17-23 ^^7
firstlings is prescribed. Instead of being eaten by the owner
and his household at the central sanctuary, they are assigned
(Nu. iS^'-i*) to Aaron {i.e. to the priests) with these words
(v.is): <<And their flesh shall be thine; as the wave-breast
and the heave-thigh [the parts of the peace-offering which
were the perquisite of the priest who offered it, to be eaten by
himself and his family. Lev. 7^*] it shall be thine."
Two explanations of the discrepancy are offered. According to one
(Hengst. Beitrage, ii. 406 f.), it is argued that the words in Numbers do
not mean that the -whole of the firsthng was the priest's, but only the parts
specified in the comparison ; the rest, therefore, would belong to the
offerer, and might be consumed by him in the manner prescribed in Dt.
But the text says distinctly " their flesh " without any limitation ; and this
solution of the difficulty, though once accepted by Keil (Havernick, Einl.^
i. 2 (1856), p. 430), was subsequently seen by him to be untenable, and
abandoned {Comm. on Dt. 12*). According to another explanation, though
the firstlings, it is allowed, were given wholly to the priest, he may not, it
is supposed, have consumed the flesh of them himself, but may have been
at liberty to invite the offerer to share this with him at a sacrificial meal
(Keil ; Green, Moses and the Prophets, p. 84 ; Bissell, The Pentateuch, p.
127 f.). Whether such an invitation, not prescribed, is likely to have been
given, may be doubted : it is singular, if this explanation be correct, that
Dt. should emphasize so strongly the secondary, rather than the primary,
disposition of the firstlings ; it is singular also, if it was the intention of
the legislation that the offerer, as well as the priest — and as a duty — should
partake in the firstlings, that, so far from this being at all implied in the
terms of the original institution, the firstlings are assigned absolutely,
with peculiar emphasis (Nu. \&^^ \ see v." Lev. 7"), to the priest and his
family.
The only consistent solution of the discrepancy is that which we have
already had occasion to resort to before (comp. on 14-^ 15'^) : the two laws
regulate the practice of different periods of the history. Either the law
of Numbers is the older, and it must be concluded (Riehm, HWB? p.
397 f.) that the priests being unable to maintain their claim to the
dues which the law gave them, and the custom having arisen of dedi-
cating the firstlings to Jehovah by consuming them at a sacred feast, the
Deut. legislation acquiesced in this custom, making no attempt to reinstate
the priests in their rights, and merely providing that the sacred feasts
should be held exclusively at the central sanctuary : or the law of Dt. is
the older, and it must be supposed that when the revenues of the priest-
hood were more distinctly and definitely formulated than is the case in Dt.
(i8''*), a change of custom had supervened, and the firstlings were now
included amongst them (cf. Wellh. Hist. 155 f.; W. R. Smith, OTJC.^ 2,^1,^
Rel. Sent. 445). The latter alternative is the preferable one, the change
of custom which it implies being in itself more probable than that which
is involved in the alternative theory, and also better supported by
analogy.
l88 DEUTERONOMY
XVI. I-17. The three annual Pilgrimages.
The three " Pilgrimages " (Q^?0)» viz. Passover and Mazeoth
(Unleavened Cakes), the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast ol
Booths (Ex. 23I* r\Wl 'h ann D^^JI K>!5tr), at which all males
were to present themselves at Jehovah's sanctuary {ib. v.^^ ^^w
nin'' pxn ""JD ^S Tnar ^3 nNT" rm^l D^DJ?d) with appropriate offer-
ings {ib. V.15 |-jp^-, ^32 1ST' xVl), were one of the principal and
most ancient religious institutions of Israel ; and each of the
great Codes in the Pent, has its regulations respecting them.
The oldest and simplest are those contained in JE, viz.
Ex. 2314-18 34I8. 20 end. 22-23 (generally); 1221-27 (Passover), 133-10
{MazzotK) ; next come the regulations in Dt. i6i-i^ ; more
elaborate provisions are laid down in Lev. 23 (H and P) ; the
most elaborate of all are those of P, Nu. 28-29 (add, on the
Passover and Mazzoth in particular, Ex. 121-13.14-20.43-49 jsju.
gi-i^). Lev. 23 and Nu. 28-29 are two priestly Calendars,
dealing not only with the three Pilgrimages (CSH), but with
other sacred seasons (□''"lyiD) as well (viz. the Sabbath, New
Moons, New Year, and Day of Atonement), and prescribing
considerably more minutely than is done in either JE or Dt.
the details of their observance : the stress in Lev. 23 resting
chiefly on the part to be taken in them by the people, and Nu.
28-29 regulating the public sacrifices by which they are to be
marked. Of the md'adim, or sacred seasons, specified in Lev.
23 and Nu. 28-29, New Year's Day, the Day of Atonement,
and the New Moons are neither mentioned nor alluded to
in Dt.
in is usually represented by "feast" in AV., RV.; but this rendering
loses sight of a distinctive element in the idea. The in was not merely a
religious festival, such as our Christmas or Easter, but — like the Haj
(same word), or great annual pilgrimage to Mecca, in which it is the duty
of every Moslem, once in his life, to take part— a festival consisting of a
pilgrimage to a sanctuary. (On the Mohammedan HaJ, see esp. Wellh.
Reste Arab. Heidentu?ues, pp. 66, 75-89, more briefly the Enc. Brit.^,s.v.
Mecca : the days during which the pilgrims are expected to be present at
Mecca, or (more strictly) the sacred spots in the neighbourhood, are the
9th to the 13th of Dhu-lHijja, the last month of the Mohammedan year,
particular ceremonies being prescribed for each of the five days.) The in
was of a joyous character, being accompanied by inusic and dances (Is.
XVI. 1 89
30* Jiid. 2i'»-»' : cf. Lev. 23^'"', Dt. |6"- "• "w"*)- One may be permitted to
wonder whether the old Hebrew Hag was marked also, in any appreciable
degree, by the same secular accompaniments — markets and fairs, the
formation of friendships and other alliances, displays of poetical talent,
the interchange of wit and repartee, &c. — which attended the Arabian
H(ij (see Wellh. pp. 83-86). Only three o'Jn were observed by the
Hebrews, those, viz., mentioned in this chapter of Dt. "ly'iD o, fixed or
stated season (from ni'' to fix or appoint a time), is a wider term (RV.
usually set feasts, or appointed seasons), and may include (see Lev. 23) the
Sabbath, the New Year, and the Day of Atonement. For other examples
of mSed, see Is. i^* Nu. 10^" 15* 29^* Ez. 44^ 45" ; and, more generally, Gn.
i" Ps. 104^* (fixed by the movements of the heavenly bodies). In AV.
nyiD was often rendered "solemn feasts," or "solemn assemblies" (where
"solemn" had the sense of the Lat. solemnis, i.e. "stated"): in the RV.
this, being liable in modern English to be misunderstood, has been usually
changed, or, if the old rendering has been retained in the text, the true
sense has been indicated on the margin (Hos. 2'*('') Is. 33-" Lam. i* 2*).
The three D^SH appear in their orig-in to have possessed
agricultural significance : they are an acknowledgment of
Jehovah's goodness at the chief seasons of the year, an expres-
sion of thankfulness, on the part of the people of the land, to
the God Who is its Owner, and Who blesses it with fruitful-
ness. Passover and Massoth, held in the month of "young
ears " (Abib), when the sickle was first put to the corn (Dt.
16*), and accompanied by the presentation of a sheaf of the
first ears of barley at the sanctuary (Lev. 23^"" [H]), marked
the appearance of the ripening crops in spring ; the other two
feasts, by the very names which in the older legislation they bear,
the Feast of Harvest^ or of First-fruits (Ex. 23^^, cf. 34^2 j also
Lev. 2315-17 [H], Nu. 2826 [P]), and the Feast oi Ingathering {E-x..
23^6 34^2; cf. Lev. 23^3 [H]), mark respectively the completion
of the wheat-harvest, and the close of the vintage, when all
the agricultural operations of the year are ended (Dt. 16^^). In
time, however, they acquired in addition a historical signifi-
cance : the yearly blessings yielded by the soil reminded Israel
of the continual goodness of Him who had brought His people
out of Egypt, and set them in a fruitful and pleasant land
(comp. Dt. 265-^<') ; and so the feasts, in virtue of the season,
or the manner, of their observance, were treated as com-
memorative of stages of Israel's deliverance. The Passover
commemorated the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites^
IQO DEUTERONOMY
and the night of the exodus (Ex. 1 2I8P; la^^JE; Dt. i6^«»>);
Mazsoth, the Unleavened Cakes made by the Israelites at the
time of their flight (Ex. 12^^-^^ ]'E.), and the morning after ^he
exodus (Ex. 133- sf-; 23^^ = 2^18 jgj Dt. 16^) ; and the Feast of
Booths, the years spent by them in the wilderness (Lev. 23*^
H). No historical significance is attached in the OT. to the
Feast of Weeks ; the later Jews, computing, or conjecturing,
the date mentioned in Ex. 19^ to be 50 days after the exodus,
regarded it as commemorating the delivery of the Law on
Sinai. Comp. further, on the subject of this section, Nowack,
Heb. Archdol. §§ 99-100.
The characteristic features in their observance on which
Dt. insists are their localization at the central sanctuary,
and, in the case of Weeks and Booths, the joyousness and
hospitality to be shown at the sacred meals accompanying
them. As in other cases, the provisions of Dt. are an ampli-
fication of those contained in JE; and in several instances
phrases from JE are transferred entire.
XVL 1-8. The Passover, and Feast of Mazzoth. — These are
to be observed at their appointed season in the month of Abib :
the Passover is to be celebrated, not at the Israelite's own
home, or at any local shrine, but only at the central sanctuary ;
the animal offered is to be wholly consumed on the night on
which it is slain ; it is to be eaten without leavened bread ; and
Unleavened Cakes alone are to be eaten during the seven days
which follow. In the other Codes, comp. (for the Passover)
in JE Ex. 1221-27 23I8 3425^ in P Ex. i2i-i3- 43-49 Lev. 2f Nu. 91"
28i«: (for Mazzoth) in JE Ex. 133-10 231^ 34I8, in H Lev. 238-14
(the "wave-sheaf," presented during Mazzoth), in P Ex.
1214-20 Lev. 236-8 Nu. 2817-25. In these Codes, Passover and
Mazzoth are distinct ; in Dt. there is a tendency to combine
the two institutions, and to treat them as parts of a single
whole, — L Observe (512) the month of Abib] the month of Abib
[i.e. the month of the fresh, youn^- ears', see Ex. 9^1 Lev. 2I*)
is otherwise mentioned only in JE, viz. Ex. 13* and 23^ (nearly
= 3418), each time as the period of the departure from Egypt,
and the season for the observance of Mazzoth. In P, agree-
ably with the writer's custom to designate the months by
I
XVI. i-a IQl
numerals, the month in which the Passover was celebrated is
termed (Ex. 12^ &c.) the "first month" (viz. of the priestly
year, as opposed to the ordinary or civil year, which began in
the autumn, Ex. 23^*^) ; it corresponds to the post-exilic Nisan
(Neh. 2I Est. 3'^t). — And /wld {n''l^'V'\) the passover unto Jehovah
thy God] riDD ncy (lit. make, i.e. organize, hold) is a technical
expression, used chiefly by priestly writers: 2 K. 2321-22.23.
Ex. 12^7.48 Nu. 92-8- 10-14 Jos. 510 (all P); 2 Ch. 30I-3. 5 35I. 16-19
Ezr. 6i9t : cf. with pilgrimage v.io- " Ex. 3422 i K. 8'=5 Ezr.
3* al. ; with sabbath c. 51^ Ex. 3ii8t. — For in the month of Abih
Jehtyoah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt] Ex. 34I8 '* For
in the month of Abib thou camest forth out of Egypt." — By
night] Ex. 12^1. — 2. Thou shalt sacHfice the passover unto
Jehovah thy God, (even) sheep and oxen] in P (Ex. 1 2^-^) the
paschal sacrifice is a lamb. The two laws, it is evident, repre-
sent the usage of two different stages in the history of the
feast: when Dt. was written the victim might be either a bullock
or a sheep ; when P was written, the choice was limited to a
lamb (cf. Nowack, Hebr. Archiiol. ii. pp. 147, 153, n. i).
The supposition commonly made by harmonists is that the passover
alluded to in Dt. is not the "passover" properly so called, but the private
itacrifices offered during the 7 days of Maf zoth (which immediately followed
the nig-ht of the Passover), alluded to in the Chronicler's description of the
passovers of Hezekiah and Josiah {2 Ch. 30-*"''^ including bjiUocks ; 35^'*
called, in the plural, D'nps "passovers"), and analogous to the peace-
offerings, termed in the Mishnah {Pesdhim&-*) the Hagigah (nrjn), which,
at least in later times, it was usual to offer on the same day as the pass-
over, or on the following day (the former were voluntary, the latter were
treated as obligatory : Edersheim, The Temple, its Ministry, &c. pp.
186 f., 217). But even thougli the authority of the Chronicler were decisive
as to the usage of the age of Hezekiah or Josiah, — for it is his habit to
attribute to the period of the kings the ceremonial which was usual in his
own days, — this explanation must be regarded as highly questionable : is
it credible that in prescribing directions for the observance of an important
institution, the Writer should be silent on its central and crucial element,
and notice only a subordinate and secondarj' feature? The opinion that
some particular and special sacrifice is the subject of v.*, is supported
further by the sing. pron. (" with it") in v.*.
In the place •which Jehovah shall choose, ^fc] 12^. That
the three annual Pilgrimages are to be performed exclusively
to the one sanctuary is a point of central importance to the
legislator ; and the formula expressing it is repeated by him
192
DEUTERONOMY
not less than six times (v.2- 0. 7. 11. is. i6j^ Tj^g Passover loses
consequently, in some degree, its old character (Ex. 1221-27 in
j E) of a domestic rite
3 Thou shalt not eat
Leavened bread with it :
seven days shalt thou eat
with it unleavened cakes, the bread
of affliction: ybr in trepidation thou
earnest forth outo/ihe land oi Egypt;
in order that
thou mayest remember the day of thy
coming forth out of the. land of Egypt
all the days of thy life.
* And leaven shall not be seen bv
thee in all thy border seven days :
and aught of the flesh which thou
sacrificest in the evening on the first
day
shall not
remain all night (j'V') unto the morn-
ing.
Ex. 23'^ Thou shalt not sacrifice
the blood of my sacrifice with
leavened bread.
Ex. 34''®* Thou shalt not slaughter
the blood of my sacrifice with
leavened bread. (Cf. in P Ex. 12*.)
Ex. 23^' Seven days shalt thou eat
unleavened cakes, according as I
have commanded thee, at the fixed
time of the month of Abib ; for in it
thou earnest forth out of Egypt.
Ex. 34^* Seven days shalt thou eat
unleavened cakes, &c. (nearly as
231=).
Ex. 13^ Remember this day when
ye came forth out of Egypt . . . :
leavened bread shall not be eaten.
Ex. 13® Seven days shalt thou eat
unleavened cakes ; and on the seventh
day shall be a pilgrimage unto
Jehuvah. ' Unleavened cakes shall
be eaten the seven days ; and
leavened bread shall not be seen by
thee, and leaven shall not be seen by
thee, in all thy border, (Cf. in P Ex.
1218-18-20 Lev. 23«.)
Ex. 231^'' And the fat of my feast
('jn) shall not remain all night (]'?')
until morning.
Ex. 34-^1^ And the sacrifice of the
feast (an) of the passover shall not
remain all night (l'?') unto the morn-
ing. (Cf. in P Ex. i2i» Nu. 9".)
The prohibition to eat leavened bread either with the Pass-
over, or during the 7 days following, is common to JE, Dt.,
and P. Leavened bread was forbidden also as the material
of any meal-offering (Lev. 2^1 G^''^^'^)), the ground of the pro-
hibition no doubt being that, as inducing a species of fermenta-
tion, leaven was regarded as a source of putrefaction and
corruption (cf. on Ex. 12^^ 23I8 Lev. 2^^ ; and OTJC.^ ^. 345,
Rel. Sent. p. 203 f.). Unleavened cakes (nijfO) alone were, as
a rule, presented as oflFeripirs (Lev. 2*- ^ 8^ a/.). Their use
XVI. 3-7 193
was not, however, confined to sacred purposes ; as they could
be prepared quickly, they were made in ordinary life when a
meal was required speedily (i S. 28^^; cf. Gn. 19^ Jud. i6i^-2i).
— Seven days shall thou eat with it, &r'c.\ lit. upon it (see
below), the whole period of abstinence from leaven being
treated as conditioned by the sacrifice of the Passover im-
mediately preceding, and regulated by the same principle
established in the first instance for the Passover. As remarked
above, the Writer shows a tendency to treat Passover and
Mazzoth in combination. — The bread of affliction (^^V ^^)j\ so
called, because, according to tradition (Ex. la^*-^^ in JE), it
was, in the first instance, food prepared by the Israelites, at
the close of a long period of servitude, during the anxious
moments of a hurried flight : it was accordingly adapted both
to remind Israel of the "affliction" (Ex. -^ \ cf. i^^j endured
by their forefathers in Egypt, and to lead them to a grateful
recollection of their deliverance. — In trepidation (|iT2n3)] cf.
Ex. 12^1 (P or H) "ye shall eat it in trepidation"; and the
allusion in Is. 52^2, "Haste" is not an adequate rendering:
the word denotes hurry mingled with alarm ; cf. the verb in Dt.
2o3 1 S. 2326 2 S. 4* Ps. 486(5).—^// the days of thy life] 4^ 6^.
5-7. The principle is again emphasized that the Passover
is not to be sacrificed at the Israelite's own home, but at the
sanctuary chosen by Jehovah. — Within any of the gates] 15'^.
— 6. In the evening] the technical phrase used by P is "be-
tween the two evenings"; see on Ex. 12^. — {riSBTl N133] 23^2
2413J0S. 829 (D2) I K. 2536!.—^/ the fixed time (nyio) of thy
coming forth from Egypt] the " fixed time" (Ex. 9^ i S. 92* 138)
of the departure from Egypt determines the hour of its annual
commemoration by the Passover, lyio denotes here not the
period in the month (Ex. 13^0 23^^), but the hour of the day, at
which the Passover was to be kept. — 7. And thou shalt boil] or
perhaps cook. b^*2 means regularly to boil (142^ i S. 2^^- ^^
XYI. 3. v'?y] upon \i = with it, used idiomatically with Van, as in ^au
Din Sy Lev. ig'^* i S. 14^ al., Ex. 12* ini'73N' omo Sy, 23'* 34-'' al. — i. iS]
with the passive \erh=by : Gn. 31^' Ex. 12^' i S. 2* Is. 65' [Lex. ^ 5 d).
— S. Vain vh] as 7**. — 7. nWai] cf. also Nowack, Hehr. Arch. ii. 153, n. 3.
ffi (sc< i^iitui KcCi ixTritui) exhibits side by side the original translation, and
the correction in accordance with Ex. 12*.
13
194 DEUTERONOMY
&c.): hence it is difficult to feel assured that it can be fairly
translated otherwise here ; and it is in any case remarkable
that the term employed in Dt. is the one which is used in P
(Ex. 12^) to denote the process that is not to be applied to the
paschal sacrifice ("eat not of it raw, or boiled in "water y^."^
D^p3 h^'yo), but roast with fire"). Still h^i does not in itself,
it seems, express more than to mature or make Jit for eating
(hence, of fruit or corn, to ripen^ Gn. 40^" Joel 4^^), and at
least in 2 Ch. 35^^ (at a time when it is reasonable to suppose
that the law of Ex. 12^ was in operation, and the Passover
consequently roasted) K'J^S PK'a is used of the Passover (^^:^'T1
tDQK'DD L"X3 nosn) : it is possible therefore that, though g-ener-
ally applied to boiling, it may have possessed the wider, more
general sense of cooking, and may thus have been applicable to
what, properly speaking, was roasted. But the case is one
in which it is difficult to speak confidently ; in view of Ex.
12^, it must be admitted that a different usage may here be
prescribed, belonging to an age when the Passover was not
roast {p^ yV), but " boiled." — Thou shalt turn in the morning,
and go to thy tents] the Israelite is at liberty to return home,
on the morning after the Passover has been eaten. — Turti
(n:3, not 3VJ') is rather a favourite word with D (on 3^). — To
thy tents] i.e. to thy home. The expression is a survival from
the time when Israel was a nomadic people, and actually lived
in tents; it remained in use long after the " tents" had given
place to permanent "houses" (see e.g. Jud. 7^ 19^ i S. 13^
2 S. 199 2o22 I K. 12I6).
* S\x days shalt thou Ex. 12,^ (]E) Seven days shalt thou
eat unleavened cakes; and on the eat unleavened cakes; and on the
seventh day shall be a solemn seventh day shall be a pilgrimage
assembly {'asereth) to Jehovah thy (ha^-) to Jehovah.
God ; thou shalt not do work.
The six days meant are the first six of the seven specified
in v.^. The seventh day is to be marked by a religious gather-
ing, and abstention from labour. In JE the first day is par-
ticularized as specially commemorating the Exodus (Ex. 13^^) ;
but the seventh day (though nothing is said respecting absten-
tion from work) appears, as in Dt., to be the principal day
of the feast : it is marked, viz., by a hag to Jehovah. If hag
XVI. 8 195
has here its proper sense of pilgrimage, it must be supposed
(Riehm, HWB.^ 432^ ; Dillm. on Ex. 13'') that this is assigned to
the seventh day of the feast, on account of many of the pilgrims,
at a time when the Passover was celebrated as a domestic rite,
being only able to reach the sanctuary towards the close of
the seven days oi Mazzoth : possibly, however, //«^ denotes here
a festal gathering of pilgrims (analogous to the 'asereth of
Dt.). In P the first is represented as the principal day (Ex.
12^*, cf. Lev. 23^ Nu. 28^^); and a "holy convocation" (xipD
K'np) is appointed both for that and for the seventh day (Ex.
12^^ Lev. 23^- 8 Nu. 2818-25), all work, except the preparation
of food, being forbidden on both. The differences between the
three representations are not very important : that of P, being
the stricter and the more precise, has the presumption of
being the later (Delitzsch in Riehm, HWB.^ 1142^).
^"Xi'i. (or n-jvif.) means a gathering or assembly (Jer. 9^ (-'), from I^V to hold
in, conJi7ie, enclose, esp. one held for a religious purpose, 'va^inyupn, as 2 K.
io-'^{\n honour of Ba'al), Is. i^^ Joel i'"" 2'* (all n-iii-), Am. 5^' : used specially
(fl) of the gathering of pilgrims on the eighth or supernumerary day of the
Feast of Booths, Lev. 2^^ Nu. 29^5 (both P) Neh. S'^ . Ch. f\ ; {b) in the
present passage, of the gathering on the seventh day of Mazzoth (not so
elsewhere) ; (c) by the later Jews, of the Feast of Weeks, Jos. Ant. iii. 10. 6
{'Arapia), in the Mishnah, Hagigah, ii. 4, &c., Nu. 28-® C, and in the Talm.
(Levy, Chald. Lex. s.v. v.rp^-j^'). The miij; mentioned here, as also that at
the Feast of Booths, was held as a fact on the last day of the festival ; but
the etymology implied in the rendering "closing festival" (Lev. 23^^ RV.
marg. ; cf. G j|oJji>w) is not a probable one, on account of the more general
meaning which the word has (see esp. Jer. 9^(^')-
Thou shall not do work (nsx^D rwV^ X^)] similarly Ex. I2i«
(nL;T N^ n2N^D b) in P. The phrase nDX^D ^l^'y to do work or
business is a common one {e.g. Jud. 1611 2 K. 225-9); Jn the
prohibition respecting the Sabbath, Ex. 2oi*> 311^-15 a/., ^^d
other sacred seasons. Lev. iS^^ 23^1 al.
9-12. The Feast of Weeks. — In the other Codes, the refer-
ences to this feast are — in JE, Ex. 23^6 34^^^; in H (with
additions from P in v.^^- 19- 20)^ Lev. 23^5-20 (the two loaves to be
presented to Jehovah, prepared with leaven, and implying, in
contrast to the barley-sheaf, offered during Maszoth, the com-
pletion of the year's harvest) ; in P, Lev. 23^1 Nu. 2^'^'^-'^^. The
name " Feast of Weeks" (v.^o-^^) agrees with Ex. 34^2 2 Ch.
196 DEUTERONOMY
813 (cf. Nu. 282« D3^riV3^*3) : in Ex. 23I6 it is called the " Feast
of Harvest" {-\^^pr\ an); and in Nu, 2826 the "Day of First-
fruits" (D''"il33ri DV). In making no allusion to the firstfruits,
Dt. differs from all the other Codes ; in the calculation which
it prescribes for fixing- the date of the festival (which in Ex.
23^^ is left undetermined, and in Ex. 34^2 is simply presupposed
by the use of the term ** weeks ") it agrees with Lev. 23^^^- (ex-
cept that there, instead of the beginning of harvest, which
might vary from year to year, a particular day is specified as
that from which the computation is to commence) ; in the
emphasis laid upon the social meals, and the feelings with
which they should be attended, it manifests the same interests
which predominate in Dt. elsewhere. — 9. Seven weeks shall
thou number unto thee : from the begirming of the sickle in the
standing-corn shall thou begin to nu?nber seven wceks\ cf. Lev.
23I5 ^Hj << And ye shall number unto you from the morrow after
the sabbath, from the day that ye bring the wave-sheaf [men-
tioned v.ii] : seven sabbaths shall there be complete " : the
more precise date follows in the next verse, DV D'''J'Dn (whence
the Rabb. name of the Festival, DV D"'C^Dn DV, NT. TnvTrjKoaTrj).
^^ And thou shalt hold (n'B'Vi) fhe Ex. 34^2 (J E) And the Pilgrimage
Pilgrimage of Weeks unto Jehovah 0/ IVeeks thou shalt hold thee (ncvn
thy God. 1*?), the firstfruits of wheat-harvest.
Ex. 23^'' And the Pilgrimage of
harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours,
which thou sovvest in the field.
//old] v.i. — After the measure of the free-will offering of
thine hand {12^), which thou shalt give; according as fehovah
thy God shall bless thee] the off'ering which each is to make
is to be fixed by himself, according to the degree in which
Jehovah has blessed him in the year's harvest (cf. v.^''', where
the same rule is extended to the other two feasts). On the
word rendered measure., see below. — IL And thou shalt rejoice,
&•€.] for the expressions, see I2''- ^^ (*> the Levite ") ^^ 14'-^
(•'the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow"). — 12. The
motive for such hospitality towards the poor, as before (15^^)
9. iS ison] so v.12-^8- '2i-22(on i*"). — 10. nop] only here in Heb. : in Aram.
comm>or in the sense of sufficiency, and as adv. ace. =pro ratione, according
to. e.g. Ob." KS (=Heb. n); Dt. 158 ST ngp? (='i), Ex. 12* 16^1 S:{ = 'th).
XVI. 9-13 ^97
towards the manumitted slave: the recollection, viz., of the
bondage in Egypt, from which, by Jehovah's mercy, Israel's
forefathers had been redeemed.
13-15. The Feast of Booths. — In the other Codes, comp.
(JE) Ex. 23"^ 3422; (H) Lev. 233!'b. 40. 4ia. 12. 43 ; (p) Lev. 2333-86
Bya.c. 41b Nu_ 2912-38. This feast was held, according to JE, at
the end of the year: according to Dt. (v. ^3. 15) ^p^] jj (Lev.
2339-41. 42j^ it was to extend over seven days, which are fixed
more precisely in P for the 15th to the 21st of the seventh
month (Lev. 2333-3<>), a supernumerary day (not noticed in Dt.),
marked by an 'asereih (above, on v.^), being observed on the
22nd {ib. v.sG.sob Nu. 2935-38). In JE, this festival is called the
"Feast of Ingathering" (^"D^^n 3n) ; "Feast of Booths"
(v_i3. 16 3 1 10) js thg name used also in P (Lev. 233*), and genet
ally in the later books of the OT. (Zech. 14I6. is. 19 g^r. 3^
2 Ch. 8i3|) ; being, as it seems, the most popular, and widely
observed, of the three festivals, it is also sometimes called
"the Feast " (or " Pilgrimage "), Kar e^ox-Qv, 1 K. 82- *55 ( = 2 Ch
53 7«) Ez. 4525 Neh. 81*, cf. Lev. 2339 (H) i K. 1232.
The name "Feast of Booths" is adopted in Dt., as already known,
without explanation : it is explained in the law of H, Lev. 2^*'*'*^, where
the Israelites are commanded to take "the fruit of goodly trees, fronds of
palm-trees, and botij^hs of thick trees, and poplars of the wady [above on
2'-']," and to dwell in booths (niap) for seven days (cf. Neh. 8'*"^^), to remind
them how their ancestors had dwelt in tents during- their passage through
the wilderness. No doubt the real origin of this feature of the festival is to
be found in the custom of the villagers during the vintage taking up their
abode in the vineyards in temporary booths and huts : comp. Robinson,
ii. 81, who, speaking of Hebron, says, " The vintage is a season of hilarity
fcf. Is. 16'" Jer. 25^"''] and rejoicing to all ; the town is then deserted, and
the people live among the vineyards in the lodges and in tents " ; and see
further on Lev. 2^'^"-'*-.
^^ The Pilgrimage of Booths thou Ex. 23'* And the Pilgrimage of /«-
slialt hold thee (v.^") seven days, gaifiering {T\-CHr\ Jn) at the going out
ii'heii thou gatherest in (iscnd) from of the year, "when thou galherest in
thy threshing-floor and from thy (iejdni) thy labours from the field,
wine-press. Ex. 34^'^ And the Pilgrimage of
Ingathering, at the coming round
(change) of the year.
Lev. 23''^ (H) When ye gather in
'^ Seven days thou shalt ieefi (DrEJCN^) the produce of the earth, ye
filgrtmage\\n\ci Jehovah your God. s\vjA\ keep Jehovah's Pilgrimage seven
days.
198 DEUTERONOMY
The vintage in Palestine falls about September, some foui
months after wheat-harvest, — 14. And tho^^ shall rejoice, &^c.\
cf. v.^^ ; also Lev. 23^*^^ (H). — Because (or when) Jehovah Ihy
God shall bless Ihee] 14^^^. — The work of thy hands\ on 2^. — And
thou shall be altogether joyful] the festival is to be an occasion
of unalloyed joy for the blessing" of Jehovah resting upon the
produce of the soil.
16-17. Concluding summary. Every male is to appear
annually, at each of the three Pilgrimages, at the Central
Sanctuary, with an offering such as his means enable him to
bring. — This rule of old Israel is repeated from JE, with
additions accommodating it to the spirit and plan of Dt.
^^ Three times in the year Ex. 23^' Three times in the year
shall all thy males appear iti the shall all thy males appear in the
presence of Jehovah thy God in the presence of the Lord Jehovah (re-
place which he shall choose . . .; peated342', with the addition of "the
God of Israel," at the end).
and none shall Ex. 23'^'' = 34-'"' ^nc? none shall
appear in Jehovah's presence empty, appear in my presence empty
(specially of Mazzoth).
Appear in the presence of] the standing phrase for visiting
the sanctuary as a worshipper, esp. at the great pilgrimages
(Ex. 3423.24 Dt. 3111 I S. i22), but also besides (Is. 112). It is
however held by many (see below) that the existing punctuation
does not represent the original vocalization, and that the true
sense of the phrase is "see the face of" Jehovah, i.e. visit
Him as a Sovereign. The phrase see the face of is used else-
where of courtiers or others enjoying access to the royal
presence (2 S. 313 1428.32 2 K. 2519 Est. i^*). Cf. Ps. ii^ 1715
15, noc 1k] only rejoicing, i.e. nought hut rejoicing-, altogether rejoicing :
so 28^ Is. 16' 19" Jer. 32^" Job 19'^. — 16, {bis) 'JS nx] in presence of, as i K.
i2«Ps. i6">2i'fl/. So with nN-j: Ex. 34^3, ni.vi^ Ex. 342-* Dt. 31", nx^i
I S. i^ : cf. ':2 ni.'<i,'? Is. i'-, 'jd int: Ex. 23'^ 34-", i":s ^n-ix Ps. 42^; '?« nK-i;
'• '30 Ex, 23"; □'n'jN *?« nxi: Ps. 84^ But the constr. without nx is diffi-
cult : n'lKT^ is more naturally vocalized n"iN"i^; and hence many scholars
{e.g. Ges. ; Di. on Ex. 23^''; Nowack on Ps. 42^; Cheyne, crit. n. on Is. 1'^)
think that the original vocalization in all these cases was Qal, for which in
process of time the Nif. came to be substituted (with n^nj in i S. i-- for ."iNn,
and ^N for nx in Ex. 23^^) on account of the objection felt to the expression
" seeing God." The possibility of this view being correct must be recog-
nized (cf. Del.* on Is. i'*) : more can hardly be said ; nxia (alone) = /o appear
XVI. 14-17 199
(nrn) ; ej^O*. — Thy God] I'^^.—ll/. Eve?y man shall give
according to the gift of his hand, &c.] the words explain the
last clause of v.^^ : every man is to bring- with him an offering
such as his ** hand " (v.^o 12^) can afford to give (cf. Ez. ^6^-'^^).
XVI. 18-XVIII. 22. The Office-Bearers of the Theocracy.
The above is a convenient title for the section here begin-
ning, the subjects dealt with h^\n^ Judges {\Q^''^'^ 17^'^^), King
(1714.20)^ Priests (181-8), and Prophets (iS9-22); but 1621-177 (on
the purity of religious worship) forms an intrusive element,
vvhich originally perhaps stood elsewhere.
XVI. 18-20. Judges are to be appointed in the various
towns of Israel, who are to administer justice with purity
and singleness of motive. — The other Codes in the Pent, pre-
suppose the existence of judges, and inculcate the duty of
administering justice impartially (Ex. z"^'^-^-^ Lev. ig^s. 35a^.
but they contain no provisions respecting the authority in
which these functions are to reside.
In a patriarchal society, the natural guardians of justice are the men
of judgment and experience in a tribe, the heads of families, or "elders"
(see on 19^^) ; thus in a modern Arab community the head man of the
place, the village Kadi ( ^l* = j'xij), assisted by two or three of the
principal inhabitants, judges local cases, appeal to a higher tribunal being
granted when necessary (Palgrave, Arabia, i. 228 f.). From Ex. 21®
227f. (Sf.) ^Qf_ J s_ 2^5) it may be inferred that in ancient Israel judgment,
especially in difficult or crucial cases, was regarded as a divine decision,
and delivered at a sanctuary: comp. Ex. ig'^'-i^--^, where seeking a
decision at law is called " inquiring of God," and civil decisions are styled
the "statutes and laws of God." (Cf. the Homeric conception of fifuff-rtf,
as judgments divinely dictated to a judge (//. i. 238 f.), Maine, Ancient
Law, chap. i.). The body of judges whose appointment to assist Moses
is narrated in Ex. 18 do not, however, appear to have been a permanent
institution : we hear later of Samuel and his sons possessing local authority
as judges (i S. ^'b-it gif. 12'--^): after the establishment of the monarchy,
the king naturally became the supreme judicial authority, though probably
only special cases were adjudicated by him in person (cf. 2 S. 8'' i4'*''* is,"^'
''•' I K. 39'i6ff. ^7 jgp_ 22'^'- ; Is. 16'' Jer. 23*'') ; " princes," and members of
the royal house, are also alluded to as exercising judicial functions, Is. i"
at a sanctuary occurs Is. 16'^. — ll'Oj] so Ex. 23^=34^ Dt. 20^^ (n-ini)!.
The usual form is t?; (but never with a suffix). Whether the abs. form
was nni (Bo. § 664<i) or n'nj (Ew. § 255c), or whether indeed it was in use
at all, must remain undetermined.
200 DEUTERONOMY
3'* Mic. 3»-9 Jer. 21"'- 22-'- Ez. 45' al. (cf. 2 S. 15'); and "judges'
in Hos. 7' 13'" Is. i^ :^ Mic. 7' Zeph. 3^ According to 2 Ch. 19'""
Jehoshaphat established a more highly organized judicial system,
appointing, viz. judges in the cities of Judah, and constituting in
Jerusalem a tribunal consisting of Levites, priests, and heads of families,
possessing supreme authority in both ecclesiastical and civil cases. In
its broader features, the judicature thus established by Jehoshaphat agrees
remarkably with the system prescribed — or rather presupposed — in Dt.
17®'^^ {,q.v.). The details, however, of the judicial institutions of the
Hebrews are not known to us : it is thus uncertain, for instance, whether
the "judges," whose appointment is prescribed here, were independ-
ent deputies appointed by the king, or whether they were presidents,
or assessors, of the local councils of "elders," qualified by their superior
technical knowledge to direct, or assist, the latter. The two are mentioned
as acting together in 21^.
18. Judges and officers shall thou appoint thee in all thy
g-ates [12^^), which Jehovah thy God is giving thee (i65), accord-
ing to thy tribes (i^^-^^)] no attempt is made to regulate the
details of the institution, such as the method by which the
judges are to be selected, their numbers, the organization of
the courts, &c. ; the Writer contents himself with affirming
the broad principle that provision is to be made for the
administration of justice, and that this is to be done by the
appointment of judges possessing local jurisdiction. The
course to be adopted in the treatment of a difficult case is,
however, prescribed in i7^-^3. Elsewhere in Dt. "judges" are
alluded to 179-12 (^t the central court), ig^"^- 212 252 (and in
the Mosaic age i^^ 29!' ao) ffi; cf, in D2 Jos. 833 232 24I) : but
usually (see on 19^^) the " elders " of a city appear as the local
guardians of justice. — Officers (D''"ipK')] i.e. in all probability,
subordinate officials, whose duties would be analogous to
those of the modern clerk, warder, police-sergeant, &c. ; see
on i^^. — And they shall judge the people ivith righteous judg-
ment] this is their primary and paramount duty (cf. i^^); the
obligations which it involves are stated more fully in the two
following verses, v.^^ being repeated largely from the "Book
of the Covenant " (and agreeing also in thought with Lev.
igi5. 35a pi^^ y 20 being the Writer's own parenetic addition. — 19.
Thou shall net wrest judgmeftt] Ex. 23^ "Thou shalt not wrest
18. pnx beed] cogn. ace, as Ez. 23** Zc. 7'' 8'^. — 19. I^P'i] Ex. 23^ Pr.
'3* ^9* 21'^ 22^'^ (with 'i3n) Job i2^®t ; tJ"? Pr. 11" is*t. The precise mean-
XVI. 18-23 201
the judgment of the poor in his suit " : cf. Dt. 24" 27^8 ; i S.
& Am. 512 Is. io2. — Tho7i shall nol respecl persons] the prin-
ciple, as Ex. 233 (JE) Lev. 1915 (H), cf. Ps. 822 Pr. iS^ Mai. 2»
2 Ch. 19'': the expression (D'?Si "I'sn), as i^'^ {g-'v-)- — A7id Ihou
shall lake no bribe ; for a bribe blindelh Ihe eyes of the "wise,
and subverleth Ihe cause of Ihe righleotis] repeated verbally
from Ex. 238, except that for the *' open-eyed" (Q'T'Pr') is sub-
stituted the " eyes of the wise." An epigrammatic description
of the fatal effects of a bribe. For allusions to this most
common source of corrupt justice in the East, see lo^^ 2725
Is. i23 523 Mic. 3" Ez. 22^2 Pr. 172s ; Ps. 155 Is. 3315.— Caz^^e]
lit. words, i.e. statements, arguments, pleas, which in the
aggregate are tantamount to a man's "case" or "cause";
cf. Ex. 24^^ 2 S. 153 Jos. 20*. — 20. Juslice, justice, shall thou
follow] the repetition expresses emphasis (cf. 22^): *^ Justice,
and only justice — justice without intermlttence — is to be thy
constant aim in judgment." — That thou mayest live, &'c.]the.
same promise as 4^, cf. 5^° (^^^ 8^
XVI. 2I-XVII. 7. Four Enactments designed to preserve the
Religion of Jehovah from Corruption or Dishonour.
XVI. 21-22. No Asherah, or pillar (obelisk), to be erected
beside Jehovah's altar. — These two prohibitions are entirely
unrelated to the subject of v.^^^o^ the connexion w^hich Schultz
and Keil seek to establish, that they are meant as illustrations
of the offences to be taken cognizance of by the "judges,"
being too forced to be probable, as well as destitute of support
in the terms of the text. As the subject of 178-13 is closely
connected with i6i8-20^ jt is more reasonable to suppose that
(unless the Writer attached little importance to order) the in-
termediate verses 1621-177 have from some cause been displaced
from their original position, — perhaps (Dillm.) before 13^ (^). —
The destruction of the Asherahs and "pillars " of the Canaan-
ites has been enjoined in 7^ 12^: here the introduction of
similar symbols into the worship of Jehovah is prohibited. In
the other Codes, the only parallel is the more generally worded
ing is uncertain ; prob. to twist, pervert, figf. to subvert, ruin. — 20. pns pix]
G-K. §i23rf».
202 DEUTERONOMY
enactment Lev. 26^ (H) D3^ •iD''pn i6 n3Vt31 ^DQI. Both the
Ash^rah and the "pillar" (^9?fo) are frequently mentioned in
the OT. ; and the nature of each is tolerably clear from the
terms applied to them. Here, the Ashdrah is expressly de-
scribed as a kind of "tree," "planted" (j?t:3) in the g^round ;
Jud. 62" it is said to be of "wood"; elsewhere one is said to be
"set up" (TVn) 2 K. 1710, "made" (ncy) i K. 1415^/. ; when
one is destroyed, the verbs used are to "cut down" (n"i3)
Ex. 34^^ "hew down" (y^3) c. 7% "pluck up" (t:>nj) Mic. 5^^
"pull down" (I'DJ) 2 Ch. 34''^, "break in pieces" p?^') ib- v.*,
"burn with fire" c. 12^. Some of these references would
be compatible with the rendering of ffi aAcros (whence AV.
"grove"); but others are plainly inconsistent with it. From
a survey of all the passages in which the word is used, it
appears that the Ash^rah was a post or pole, planted in the
ground, like an English Maypole, beside an altar, whether of
Ba'al (Jud. 625-30) or of Jehovah, especially on the "high-
places" (i K. 1423 2 K. 17IO: cf. Jer. 172), and venerated as a
sacred symbol. By the ancient Semites trees were often
revered, as the abode of a deity (on 11^"), and altars were
built beside them ; and (so far as can be judged) the Ashdrah
appears to have been the representative of the sacred tree,
used where an actual tree was not available, first by the
Canaanites, and then, in imitation of them, by the unspiritual
Israelites (cf. W. R. Smith, I^el. Sent. p. 171 f.). A famous
Ash^rah, which "stood" in Samaria, under Jehoahaz, is
alluded to 2 K, 13^, — probably the one " made" by Ahab, i K.
16^3. Manasseh erected one in the Temple of Jerusalem (2 K.
21^), which was destroyed by Josiah {ib. 23"-'^).
The 'Ashdrah (mrN) must be carefully disting^uished from ' Ashtoreth
(mncj;), tlie Phcenician consort of Ba'al : in the Heb. the two names are
quite different ; and it is not even known that the Ash^rah was a symbol of
'Ashtoreth. Whether the Ash^rah was solely a sacred symbol, or whether
there was also a deity bearing the same name, is disputed. In most of the
passages where the term occurs, it certainly denotes simply the former,
but there are a few (Jud. 3^ i K. \^'^ 18^^ 2 K. 21'' 23*) which appear to
support the latter view, though not, perhaps, quite conclusively. The
Tell-el-Amarna inscriptions contain a name Abad-Ashratu {RP." v. 97, vi.
50; Schrader, Z. f. Ass. iii. 363 f.), which is considered to show that there
21. yy ^3 nnB'N] an Ash^rah, (even) any tree (cf. on 18^).
XVI, 21-22 203
was a Semitic goddess Ashdrali ; but the bearing of this fact upon the
Ash^rah of the OT. cannot as yet be said to be perfectly clear (cf. DB.^
S.V.; Smith, I.e. p. 173 w.). The name Ashdrah has (hitherto) been found
only twice in Plioenician ; in an inscription from Kition (ZDMG. 1881, p.
424) a person dedicates a statue (if read correctly) " to his lady, the mother
of the Ashe^rah " (read differently in the CIS. I. i. 13); and one from
Ma'zub, near Ptolemais, speaks of the portico of a temple built mntry'?
mrND " for 'Ashtorcth in the Ashi^rah " (Clermont-Ganneau, Rec. d Archdol.
Orient. \. 81), which is explained by Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, Cyprus, the
Bible, and Homer, pp. 165, 168, as referring to an image of 'Ashtoreth
standing in a small niche in an Asherah (comp. Plate xvii. 2, an image of
Artemis similarly placed). In the same elaborate, but not very critical,
work, the author gives numerous representations from gems, &c., partly
of Assyrian or Babylonian, partly of Phoenician origin, of what he con-
siders to correspond to both the Asherah, and (see the next note) the
Massebah of the OT. (pp. 142-179, with the Plates there referred to) : the
former sometimes having the appearance of a tree, but generally being
little more than a pole, and both standing often beside an altar, with an
officiating priest, and sometimes with a divine being seated in front. (One
of these representations, from Khorsabad, in which a priest appears to
be anointing the sacred emblem, may be seen also in Rawlinson, Anc.
Mon.* ii. 37.) This explanation seems to be not improbable ; but it must
be remembered it is not more than a conjecture : the emblems in question
being nowhere actually styled either Asht^rahs or Mazzcbahs. For a repre-
sentation of a Phoenician Mazzebah, as well as (apparently) of a sacred
pole, see Benzinger, Hebr. Arch. p. 380 f., or Nowack, Hebr. Arch. ii. 18 f.
Whatever the precise nature of the symbolism of the
Ashdrah may have been, the heathen associations attaching
to it were amply sufficient to explain its prohibition in con-
nexion with the worship of Jehovah (cf. Is. 17^ 27^ Mic. 5^^).
The prohibition, as it here stands, may be borrowed from an
earlier statute-book : as Dillmann observes, it presupposes
by its wording ("beside the altar of Jehovah thy God, which
thou shalt make thee ") the law of Ex. ao^* : had it been first
formulated by D, it would probably have contained some ex-
press reference to " the place which Jehovah should choose."
The pillar (n25fa, lit, something set upy cf, with Tlfn Gn,
35^*) is mentioned as a heathen symbol of the Canaanites (Ex,
2324 Dt, 75 12^); it is alluded to as erected in, or near, a
temple of Ba'al (2 K, 32 lo^^- 27), and in proximity to
Ash^rim (i K. 1423 2 K. 1710 18* 23^4). Originally, it is
probable, the mazzebah corresponded to what now would be
called a menhir \ consisting, viz, of a natural boulder or block
of stone (Gen, 2811- ^^- 22 3i«, 51 f.)^ broader at one end than the
204 DEUTERONOMY
Other, erected perpendicularly, which was regarded by the
heathen Semites as the abode of a deity (cf. Smith, Rel. Sent.
183-188: the Phoenicians are said to have venerated c/xt/'uxo*
\i6ot), and honoured by them with libations of milk, honey, oil,
&c. In process of time, however, an artificial obelisk took
the place of the natural boulder : the term occurs in this sense
in Phoenician and Palmyrene (see below) ; and the lofty stone
obelisks in front of the temple of Tum (the sun) at Heliopolis
— one of which is the so-called "Cleopatra's Needle" — are
referred to by Jeremiah (43^^) under the same name. An
"obelisk" was the distinguishing- mark of a holy place, and
often stood beside an altar (cf. Hos. 3* lo^-^). At one time,
it seems, the 77ia3zebah was employed freely as a religious
symbol in the worship of Jehovah (cf. Gn. 28^8-22 ^i^s. 5if Ex.
24* Is. 19^^) ; but ultimately, like the Ash^rah, it came to be
proscribed on account of its heathen associations (cf. Mic. 5^^^.
— Which Jehovah thy God hateth] 1 281.
XVII. 1. All animals offered in sacrifice to Jehovah to be
Arithout blemish. — From the context (which, on both sides, is
directed against the practices of idolatry), and the use of the
term "abomination" (comp. on 72^), it may perhaps be in-
ferred (Dillm.) that in the idolatrous sacrifices with which the
author was familiar, no importance was attached to this point.
There is no corresponding law in JE. In H, the parallel is
Lev. 22i''-25, where the physical conditions that must be satis-
fied in order that a sacrifice may be accepted (P^"^?) are par-
ticularized, and an enumeration of disqualifying faults is given.
22. naiD] naxD occurs oft. in Phcen. {CIS. I. i. 44' 46^ 57' 58^ [all from Kition
in Cyprus], 116^ [Athens] al,), mostly of a commemorative obelisk (na^iO
cn^, i.e. "cippus inter vivos," Nos. 58, 59), erected over a tomb (cf. Gn.
35^ 2 S. 18^*), but once (No. 44), probably, of an obelisk erected to a deity.
No. 44 shows what a nnsD was : for it is inscribed on the pedestal of an
actual obelisk, made of marble, about 5 feet in height (see the photogfraph
in the volume of plates in the CIS.). In an Inscription from Palmyra, now
in the British Museum {Vtenria Orient. Journ. 1894, p. 11 fF.), a xniD, about
i^ ft. high by i ft. broad, with a bearded warrior, holding a spear and
shield, figured upon it, is described as erected by the donor n3Q ni'^k KB^^t5•7
jn'jD nn'3 'oai irr na tj xn' n "to the good god Shadrapa (Pausan. vi. 25. 6
iarpaTnf. scejoum. As. 1877, x. 157 ff.), that he might be a guest (Cheyne
on Ps. 15') witli him, he and all the members of his family."
XVII. 1-2 205
In P there is no explicit regulation on the subject; but it is a
standing principle (Lev. i^-i° &c.) that the animal offered in
sacrifice is to be "perfect" (Q''pi^), i.e. unblemished. From a
mere comparison of the two parallel laws, it is impossible to
determine whether the law of Dt., or that of H, is the earlier :
the former, regarded in itself, might, for instance, be a sum-
mary of the more detailed provisions of Lev. 22^'^-25, or the
latter might be an expansion in detail of the principle stated
generally in Dt. ; the question of the relative priority of the
two laws can thus be argued only upon independent considera-
tions. The phrasing of the law here is Deuteronomic
("Jehovah thy God"" (i^^); the generalizing asyndeton "any
evil thing," see on i8^; "abomination," 725). — Wherein is a
blemish (did)] cf. Lev. 2220 (^^^ ^ -.3 unpn sfj DID U nE^N ^3
□3^ n\n^). The same restriction has already been laid down
in the case of firstlings, 1521, where lameness and blindness
are instanced as examples of disqualifying " blemish " : here it
is extended to sacrifices in general. — (Even) any evil thing\
generalizing the idea of "blemish " : cf. 1521 jn DIO h^.
2-7. An Israelite, convicted of idolatry, to be stoned to
death. — In JE there is the more categorical, but less explicit,
enactment (Ex. 22^^(20)) ^^^7 r\)r\'h ^ri^3 D-in; D'n^N^ n3t. The
punishment of death has already been decreed [}y^-) for the
bare attempt to seduce into idolatry ; hence it is not more than
consistent for it to be imposed in the case when idolatry has
been actually practised. Both in subject-matter and phrase-
ology, the present section is closely allied to c. 13 ; and perhaps
(as suggested on 1621) once immediately preceded it. In any
case, its position here cannot be naturally explained as afford-
ing an example of a capital offence likely to come for trial before
the "judges" of i6i*-20. — 2. If there be found in thy 7nidsi\ cf.
132(1) 21^; 1 8^° 2222 24^. — In one of thy gates, <5r'c.] as 16^: see
on 12^2, — That which is evil in the eyes of Jehovah\ on 42^. — /;/
trarisgressitig- (^3yi?) his covena?it] Jos. y^^- ^^ ; and (followed as
XYII. 1. jn nan] "evil things," of a physical disfigurement, as c. 23'" cjf
something conventionally unbecoming ; 2 K. 4*^ Ps. 41', of what is physic-
ally harmful : Ps. 64^ 141'' of what is morally harmful. — 2-i. . . . .ncv n^N
-\in] . . . ^^m] " who doeth . . . and hath gone . . . , and it be told" (Dv.
% 115, s.v. -OPH Obs.).
206 DEUTERONOMY
here by go and serve other gods) Jos. 23^^ (D^). — 3. Goyte and
served other gods, &c.\ the same phrase as 137.14(6.13)2^25(26)
Jos. 23^6 (D2) : so I S. 2619 I K. 96 (Deut.).— 7%^ sun, or the
moon, or the host of heaven] 4I8. — Which I have not commanded]
the first person, of God, as 7*. For the litotes, "have not
commanded," cf. Jer. 7^1 igS 32^5, also 722, — 4. And it be told
thee, and thou hear it, and inquire, <Sr'f.] the expressions as
I2i5(i4)^ in a similar connexion. — 5. Then thou shalt bring forth
. . . unto thy gates . . . and thou shalt stone them, ^fc.] simi-
larly 222*. The offender, when convicted, is to be brought out
(viz. for execution : Gn. 382^) to the g-ates of his city, in order
that the execution may take place outside its precincts (comp.
in P Lev. 241* Nu. 1536; also Acts 7^8 Heb. 13^2), Por the
penalty of stoning, comp. in H Lev. 2o2 (for Molech-worship).
— 6. No accused person is, however, to be put to death on the
testimony of a sing-le witness. The provision secures the
application to a particular case of the same safeguard against
the disastrous effects of dishonest or mistaken testimony,
which is enunciated more generally in 19^^; in Nu. 352*' (P)
the same protection is accorded to the person charged with
murder. — 7. It is to be the duty of the witnesses to take the
lead in carrying the sentence into effect : cf. i3^'*(''). — So thou
shalt exterminate the evil fro7n thy midst] as 13*^^^^ where see
note.
XVII. 8-XVIII. 22. The Office-Bearers of the Theocracy
{}'esu)ned from \G^'"'^\
8-13. On the jurisdiction of the supreme central tribunal.
— When a case arises, whether in criminal or civil law, too
difficult to be adjudicated by the local courts (16^^), it is to be
referred to the tribunal of the central sanctuary, whose decision
is to be final, and whose verdict, under penalty of death, is to
be obeyed implicitly by all. The paragraph, it is evident,
connects immediately with i6i8-20_ From v.^, compared with
19I7, it appears that the supreme tribunal here contemplated
is conceived by the Writer as composed partly of Levitical
4. au'n] 9"^ — 'ji ncx nj.ii] 13^^. — 6. non nov] with the cognate ptcp. (on
15''') expressed : so 22' 2 S. 17® Is. 28* Ez. 18^- 33*.
xvri. 4-8 207
priests (i8^), partly of lay "jud<^es"; it was thus similar in
constitution to the court appointed, according- to 2 Ch. ig^- ^^,
by Jehoshaphat at Jerusalem (p. 200). It is to be observed,
however, that this supreme tribunal is not here instituted for
the first time : it is represented as already existing-, and its
constitution is supposed to be known : the law of Dt. is limited
to defining- its powers, and specifying- the class of cases of
which it is to take cognizance. The g-eneral principle of refer-
ring- serious or complicated cases to a hig-her authority is in
harmony with the provision made in the case of the judicature
instituted by Moses, Ex. 1822-20 (j)t. ji7b)^ jgie-is supplies an
example of a case so referred to the central tribunal, viz. a
charg-e of false witness.
For priests taking part in the administration of justice, comp. 21' Is.
28' Ez. 44"^. As remarked on 16'^, judgment in ancient Israel, even on
secular issues, seems often to have been administered at a sanctuary : the
priests would thus possess an hereditary knowledge of civil and criminal
law not less than of ceremonial law, which, especially at a time when Hebrew
law was still imperfectly codified, would naturally give them an advantage
over either the local " elders," or the ordinary lay judges. Hence they
would be properly represented on a tribunal, appointed expressly for the
purpose of dealing with difficult or serious cases.
%. If a viatter be too difficult for thee (T^P ^.<S^) in jndg7nent\
lit. too exceptio7ial (or ivonderful) for thee., i.e. beyond thy
power to unravel or decide ; comp. 30^1 (beyond one's power
to master) ; Gn. 18^^ Jer. 32!'^ (beyond one's power to effect) ;
Job 42^ (beyond one's power to comprehend). Not the word
used in Ex. 1822- 26 Dt. i^^ (^y^p, ''\iZ.xdi'').~Between blood and
blood, and between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke,
(even) the subjects of pleadings\ i.e. if the difficulty be to deter-
mine under what law a particular case is to be judged, whether,
for example ("between blood and blood"), a man be guilty of
murder or only of manslaughter (Ex. 21^2-14^^ q^ whether a
man charged with theft or embezzlement, or with having
caused some personal injury (Ex. 2\^^^ \ 22^^), has been
culpably negligent or not, and, if so, in what degree, and
to what penalty he is liable, — whatever the nature of the
pleadings (on both sides) may be (cf. 2 Ch. 19^**). — Within thy
8. nun nan] in loose appos. with "i3t, a constr. which D often has: 2**
3» i(» 6i'"> 8i» 9i»> 1 1" 20I 22« 27"> 28^«- " 2916- 22 ; cf. on i8».
208 DEUTERONOMY
o-a/es] 12^2, — T/iou shall arise, &'c.\ the persons implicitlj'
addressed (as appears from the words "too difficult for thee
in judgrnent ") are the local judges, who, in such a contingency,
are to refer the case to the tribunal at the central sanctuary. —
Go up\ the expression used of visiting Shiloh (i S. i3. 7. 21. 22j^
or Jerusalem (i K. la^^-ss^ ^nd often). — 9. Unto the priests the
Levites\ i.e. to the Levitical priests (on 18^). — And unto the
judge that shall be in those dajys] for the expression, comp.
1917 26^ Jos. 20^ (D^). It seems evident that the "judge" is
not identical with any of the "priests"; and as in 19^'^ "the
priests and the judges " are mentioned together in a similar
connexion, it appears reasonable to infer that priests and
laymen sat together on the tribunal referred to: the "judge"
mentioned here being- the foreman, or president, of the body
of lay "judges" mentioned in 19^^, just as the "priest" in
17^2 must be the president of the "priests" mentioned in v.^.
The court instituted by Jehoshaphat had similarly a double
presidency, the high priest acting- as head in ecclesiastical cases,
and a secular prince in civil cases (2 Ch. 19^- 1^). — And thou
shall inqttire, &€.] i.e. examine the case (19'*), — Israel, acting
in the persons of its representatives for the time being-, i.e.
here the members of the central tribunal, being" addressed.
Sam. ffit, however, have " and they shall inquire (lEJmi)," which
(as in the context the 2nd person denotes the local judg-es) is
easier, and may be correct. — And they shall declare to thee the
word of judgment\ i.e. the sentence (2 Ch. 19^). For shew (AV.,
RV.), here and v.^^-^^, in the sense of declare, see on 5^. —
10-13. The decision of the central tribunal is to be implicitly
obeyed. — 10. Observe to do] 5^. — According to all that they
direct thee ('Tnl'')] so v.^^ "according to the direction where-
with they direct thee." nnin is to direct (Ex. 4^2-^*), torah
(" law") is properly direction, — both words being used especi-
ally, in a technical sense, of the authoritative direction given
by the priests to the laity on matters of ceremonial observance
(see e.g. 248 3310 Lev. lo^^ Ez. 22^6 4423 Mic. 3^^ ; Jer. 2^ iS^^
Lev. 11*^ 12,^^ 145* 15=^2 Nu. 529 621 &c.). In a somewhat wider
sense, tdrah is then applied, in Dt. (on i^), and Deut. writers
(as Jos. i7 236 I K. 23 2 K. io3i 146 [Dt. 24I6] 1713 21^ 228-"
XVII. 9-13 209
*3'** " J^*** '6^*)» **^ ^^^ exposition of an Israelite's duty con-
tained in Dt. : finally, still more generalized, it becomes the
name of the Pentateuch generally (cf. Neh. 8^^ i3f. iq^s- 87(34. 86)
2 Ch. 3i3). See further OTJC^ pp. 299 ff., 372 ff., 382 f.,
4.25 f. ; Kuenen, Hex. § 10. 4. Here it refers (unusually) to
decisions on points of secular law (comp. Ex. iS^^- -^), being
used, probably, on account of the fact that the verdict of the
supreme tribunal came with the authority of priests as well as
of lay judges. — Turn aside, &c.\ on 2^7. — 12. The p7iest\ the
ecclesiastical president of the tribunal; comp. on v. 9. — That
standeth to minister there to Jehovah\ see on 10^. — Or tcnto the
judge] v.*. By or it seems to be implied that the verdict was
delivered sometimes by the ecclesiastical president of the
board, sometimes by its civil president ; the procedure may
have varied according to the nature of the case under con-
sideration. — And thou shalt exterminate the evil frotn Israel] the
same formula as i36(^) 17^. — 13. And all the people shall hear
and fear, &c.\ comp. 1312(11)^ where see note.
14-20. The character and duties of the King. — The king,
if one be elected by Israel, is to be a man who has Jehovah's
approval; he is to be a native Israelite; he is not, in his
court-establishment, to imitate the great despots of the East ;
and he is to rule in accordance with the principles of Israel's
religion. — The king, in spite of his obviously superior dignity,
follows the judges (i 6^^-20)^ — ^q doubt, on account of the
monarchy being an institution not essential to the theocracy
(which as a matter of history subsisted long without it) :
accordingly, as the terms of v.^* show, his appointment is not
enjoined by the legislator, but only permitted. The monarchy
became ultimately a necessity in Israel, for the better adminis-
tration and consolidation of the nation (i S. 8^- ^- 20 [contrast
Jud. 17* 2 1 25] 9I6J : it was David's great merit to have placed
it upon a religious basis, and to have shown how its power
could be wielded so as to promote the truest interests of the
people ; hence he became to later ages the ideal of a pious and
noble-minded theocratic king (Hos. 3^ Is. 55* i K. 11^ 14^ &c.).
The present law is peculiar to Dt. In estimating it, it is
12. *^n7^ v'»n nci . . . ne-K cxni] Dr. §§ 123a; 197 Obs. 2.
210 DEUTERONOMY
important to notice that its provisions are entirely theocratic :
they do not define a political constitution, or limit the autocracy
of the king in civil matters. It thus stands entirely out of
relation with the ^^^n tsacvp, or r\f>m DSpp, of i S. S^- ii \d^^.
The aim of the law is to show how the monarchy, if estab-
lished, is to conform to the same theocratic principles which
govern other departments of the community ; and how the
dangers with which it may threaten Israel's national character
and Israel's faith, may be most effectually averted. At the
same time, though the nucleus of the law may be ancient
(v. ^5), in its present form it is doubtless designed as an attempt
to check the moral and religious degeneracy which the mon-
archy, as a fact, too often displayed. — 14. When thou art
come into the land, &c.\ 26^; cf. 18^ (also 610). — And shall
say (1220), I -will set over me a king like all the nations that are
round about fne] comp. i S. 8^ " now set us a king to judge us,
like all the nations " (cf. v. 20 io^9) : see further p. 213. — Round
about me\6^^ 12,^^"'^ — 15. The two conditions which the king
is to satisfy : he is to be one whom Jehovah approves, and he
Is not to be a foreigner. — Whom Jehovah thy God shall choose]
cf. (of Saul) I S. io2* "whom Jehovah hath chosen"; (of
David) I S. 168-10 (implicitly), 2 S. 6^1 : for the general thought,
also, I S. 9^^^- lo^ 2 S. 78 &c. Both Saul and David were
appointed under the authority of the prophet Samuel : for the
N. kingdom, cf. i K. ii29ff- i^"«- i6i-4-7 19I6 2i2if- 2 K. g^-K—
Thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee] the prohibition is a
remarkable one, as it is difficult to imagine what attractions
the rule of a foreigner can have possessed for Israel, and there
are no traces in the history of either kingdom of a desire to
establish it (the supposition that the project to make Tab'e)
king in place of Ahaz, Is. 7^, met with support in Judah, being
an uncertain inference from Is. 8^). Possibly there may have
been examples of foreigners rising to despotic power among
Israel's neighbours (? Gn. 36^7 Dillm.). Not improbably,
however, the motive of the provision is a religious one, A
foreigner would not only be deficient in national feeling, and
14. na n3f m] on 14^*.— 15. ^:3in nV] as 7**.— kw thn n*? -htk] so 20" (Dr.
§ 198 Obs. I ; Lex. mn 3 0).
XVII. I4-I6 21 I
be liable to rule tyrannically, but he would be likely to endanger
Israel's distinctive nationality, by introducing a heathen element
into this most important dignity. The prohibition may well
be an old one (Dillm. ; Del., ZKWL. 1880, p. 565), repeated
by D from one of his sources. — 16-17. Even, however, when a
king has been appointed, who satisfies the conditions pre-
scribed in v.i^, his liberty is not absolute ; and there follow
now three limitations of it, v.^^^- : he is not to multiply horses,
or wives, or riches. — 16. Seeing that Jehovah hath said, Ye
shall henceforth return no more that way] the same saying is
referred to again 28^^; it is not to be found in our present
Pentateuch, but the thought of Ex. 13^^ 14^^ is similar; and
the proposal of the people to return to Egypt, Nu. 14^* (cf.
ii^o), is plainly represented in the context as contrary to the
Divine intention. It is probable that, as in other cases (cf.
on 1^2 ioi-3-8-9), the actual words were still read in some part
of the narrative of JE, extant at the time when Dt. was com-
posed. The horses, which the Israelitish king is forbidden to
multiply, are, of course, such as were intended for use in war.
The Israelites were deficient in cavalry, and were consequently often
unable to hold their own beside the nations of Canaan (Jos. 17^® Jud. i^* 4*
I S. 13*'*) ; nevertheless, prior to the age of Solomon, they do not appear
to have made any attempt to supply the deficiency, and are even recorded,
more than once, to have houghed the horses, and burnt the chariots,
captured by them in war (Jos. ji*-^-o 2 S. 8^). Egypt, however, at least
from the i8th dynasty (Wilkinson-Birch, Anc. Eg,"^ ii. loi ; Rawlinson,
Hist, of Eg. 1881, i. 74, ii. 206, 215), was celebrated for its horses (cf. Ex.
14^ 15*; //. ix. 383 f.); and Solomon procured cavalry thence on a largfe
scale (1 K. 5* [4-''] lo'^^-'^'') ; horses and chariots are often mentioned sub-
sequently as a standing component of the army in both kingdoms ; in the
time of Hezektah (so*'*^' 31^ 36^), as afterwards in that of Zedekiah (Ez.
17**), the cavalry of Egypt was an important factor in the calculations of
the politicians of Judah.
The legislator, like the prophets, esp. Isaiah, discounten-
ances both dealings with Egypt (Is. 3oi-5- 7 31I-3; jer. 2^8.36)^
and the multiplication of horses and chariots (Is. 2^31^: cf.
Hos. 14* (3) Mic. 510(9) &c.). It is difficult not to think that
there is in his words a covert reference to the policy inaugur-
ated by Solomon. — Nor cause the people to return to Egypt]
16. "ON m,Ti] " when (or seeing that) J. hath said " : a circumstantial
clause (Dr. § 159).
212 DEUTERONOMY
not to be understood literally (as Nu. 14*): the meaning is
that the king is not to act counter to Jehovah's intention in
forbidding the people to return to Egypt, by sending his mer-
chants (i K. io28), or his ambassadors (Is. 30'-^), thither in
quest of cavalry. — 17. Neither shall he mtiltiply -wives to him-
self ^ that his heart turn not aside (Jer. 17^); neither shall he
greatly multiply to himself silver and gold\ two other practices,
calculated to impart a sensual and worldly tone to the char-
acter of the king, in which likewise an evil precedent was set
by Solomon (i K. ii^-S; iqI^-ss. 27^; t^g influence of a harem
was likely in other ways also to be pernicious to the State. —
18-20. The king, when established upon his throne, is to
transcribe for himself a copy of the Deuteronomic law, which
he is to study daily, in order that its principles may become the
rule of his life, and that he may govern his subjects in the just
and equitable spirit which it everywhere commends. — 18. This
law] i.e., as uniformly in this book (on i^), the Deuteronomic
legislation, from the standard copy of which, in the custody of
the Levitical priests, at the central sanctuary (31^-26), the
king's transcript was to be made. — 19. It shall be with him,
&r'c.\ i.e. it is to be ever at his side, and he is to study it
habitually (comp. Jos. i^). — That he may learn to fear, 6"^.] 4!*^
1423b . ^26 (29) 62.— 20. That his heart he not lifted up (S^^) above
his brethren] the same principles of loyalty towards God, and
of sympathetic regard for men, which Dt. ever inculcates so
warmly, are to rule the life both of the king and of his
subjects ; he is not therefore to treat those who after all are
his "brethren" (v.i^) with arrogance, or to forget the obli-
gations towards them which his office involves (comp. e.g.
Jehoiakim's abuse of his position, denounced by Jeremiah,
2213-19). _71?/m not aside, (^c.\ v." ^'^'^<^'^'^\— Prolong days] 42«- «
It remains to consider briefly the relation of Dt. 1 714-20 jq jj^g account
in I Sam. of the estabUshment of the monarch}' in Israel. This is told in
^0 narratives. In one, the older narrative (9'- lo'"-^'' ni-i'-'' 13-14), the
18. 'JsVd i'? 2nDi] 'jb"? might sig-nify "under the eye of, in the keeping of"
(cf. I S. 3I Is. 65*^) ; and 'jsVd ariD is said on the analogy of 'aa'jD npS Ex.
36*, 'JbSd Vij Dt. 28*' : cf. Jer. 31'".— n:B'D] copy, lit. repetition, duplicate
(cf. Jos. 8^). ffii TO 'iiuTipoiiifji.iat TovTn (whence the name of the Book), which
would require n\n for nNin. — 20. iio] on 4^1. — ^y] cf. Is. 9" 2 Ch. i' Dan. 4^.
XVII. 17— XVIII. I 213
proposal to appoint a kingf is viewed without the smallest disapproval or
censure; in the other (7^'^ 8. io""*^» 12) it is treated as a grave offence
against Jehovah, and fraught with danger for the nation's future (8""'*).
The second of these narratives (which alone has points of contact with Dt.)
cannot, on various grounds (cf. L.O.T. pp. 166-168), be regarded as con-
taining the ipstssima verba of either Samuel or the people ; it rather gives
expression to the fears and doubts which Samuel, no doubt, in view of a
great constitutional innovation, actually felt, in a form moulded by the
experiences of a later age, when the evils which the monarchy had
brought with it — its encroachments on the liberties of the people (8"''*),
its tendencies to idolatry, and its reluctance to listen to the warnings of
the prophets (cf. the ominous anticipations in 12^''"^') — had made them-
selves keenly felt. This narrative, now, shows no indications of the law
of Dt. having been known \nfact, either to Samuel, or to the people who
demanded of him a king : had such been the case, it is incredible either
that Samuel should have resisted the application of the people as he is
represented as doing, or — if per impossibile he did this — that the people
should not have appealed to the law, as a sufficient justification of their
request ; the supposition (which would admit of the law not being unknown
to him) that Samuel condemned not the request, as such, but the temper
in which it was made, being not borne out by the terms of the narrative.
On the other hand, the resemblance of Dt. \f*^'^^»' with i S. 8* 10^ (cited
above) seems too great to be accidental : the law of Dt. will therefore
have been known to the author of the narrative of Sam., and the two
phrases referred to will be reminiscences from it ; unless, indeed, the other
alternative be adopted, and the author of Dt. ly"'*** be supposed to have
been influenced, as he wrote, by his recollections of the narrative of Sam.
(so Budde, Richter und Samuel, p. 183 f.; Cornill, Einl, § 17. 4). As the
nucleus of i S. 8 ; lo^^'^' 12 appears to be pre-Deuteronomic {L.O.T. I.e.),
the latter alternative is not the least probable one.
XVIII. 1-8. The revenues of the Priests.— The priestly
tribe is to receive no territorial inheritance in Israel ; its
inheritance is to consist of the altar-dues, and of the first-fruits
offered by the Israelites to Jehovah, v.^-^. A member of the
tribe coming voluntarily from the country to officiate at the
central sanctuary, shall share in these dues equally with those
already on the spot, v.^-^. In JE, priests, and "sons of
Levi," are alluded to (Ex. 1922.24 ^a^^-ssj; but no provisions
are laid down respecting their duties or rights. In P they are
the subject of very precise regulations, which in some respects
differ widely from those of Dt. ; see p. 219 f. — 1. The priests
the Levttes] i.e. the priests of the tribe of Levi, the Levitical
priests, the standing designation of the priests in Dt. (17^- ^^
248 27^: cf. " the priests the sons of Levi," 21^ 310), occurring
214 DEUTERONOMY
besides Jos. 3' S^s (both D2), Jer. 33I8 (cf. v.21), Ez. 43" 44"
2 Ch. 5^ (preserving probably the true reading of i K. 8* ;
p. 122), 23I8 3o27t (Is. 6621 I Ch. 92 Ezr. lo^ Neh. io29- 35(28- 84)
ii20 are different, the conj. and being omitted). In P the
priesthood is limited strictly to the descendants of Aaron, and
priests are accordingly always styled "the sons of Aaron,"
Lev. i5. 8. 11 22 32.3.5 gjc^ — (Even) all the tribe of Levi] an
explanatory apposition to "the priests the Levites." Such
explanatory appositions are frequent in Dt. {2^"^^ 3'*^- ^^- ^8 418
58 1521 1 621 lyi 2014 2320(19) 25I6 299(10) [in neg. sentences the
Heb. all becomes in Engl, any; and 1621 there is no of in the
Heb.]), and denote regularly the entire group, of which one or
more representative items have been specified in the preceding
words. The wording of the verse implies (what is consonant
with the language used elsewhere) that in Dt. the priestly
office is not confined to the descendants of Aaron, but may
be exercised by members of the tribe without distinction (see
p. 220). — Shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel] i.e.
no territorial possession, like the rest of Israel ; similarly lo®
I2i2b 1427b. 29^ cf. Jos. 1314a. 83a jgT (aU D2) ; and in P, Nu. 1820
(of the priests), 23. 24 (of the Levites), 26^2 Jos. 148 (of the
whole tribe). — Jehovah's fire-offerings, and his inheritance,
shall they eat] i.e. live upon ; this is their substitute for a
landed inheritance: comp. Jos. 13I* i S. 228. Fire-offering \s
a technical term of the priestly legislation, occurring 62 times
in P, otherwise only here, Jos. 13I*, and 1 S. 228; it is thus
used of the burnt-offering (Lev. i^), the meal-offering (28), the
thank-offering (38), the guilt-offering (7^), in all of which
specified parts were the perquisite of the priests (Lev. 28 76-10 j
Nu. i8^f). By "and his {i.e. Jehovah's) inheritance" must
be meant other sacred dues, not included in the "fire-offer-
ings," rendered to God, in the persons of His representatives,
the priestly tribe, e.g. first-fruits (v.8). — 2. The principle of v. 1
repeated more emphatically. — In the midst of his brethren] cf.
10^. — Jehovah is his inheritance, as he spake unto him] Jehovah
is here said to be the "inheritance" (see on lo^) of the entire
tribe (cf. in D2 Jos. 131*- 83 i87) ; in P (Nu. iS'^ob; so Ez. 4428)
He is said to be the inheritance of " Aaron," i.e. of the priests
XVIII. 2-3 2 15
alone. The passage referred to, as shown on lo^, does not
occur in our existing Pentateuch. — 3-4. A specification of the
principal items included in the "fire-offerings" and "inherit-
ance" of v.^, viz. the priests' share in the peace-offerings and
first-fruits, the two kinds of offering most frequently and
regularly rendered by the people at large. — 3. And this shall
be the right of the priests from the people, [tvQn) fro7n them that
sacrifice the sacrifice, whether ox or sheep : he shall give to the
priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the maw] the first part
of the V. may be illustrated from i S. 2^2f. (reading with CrSdT
and many moderns, DJ?n nxo tn^n) "the sons of 'Eli . . . knew
not Jehovah, nor the right [i.e. the rightful due) of the priest
from the people : when any man sacrificed a sacrifice, the
priest's servant used to come," &c. By the sacrifice is meant
the most ordinary and usual kind of sacrifice, accompanied
(i2^) by a religious feast, and called, where distinction is
needed, the peace- or thank-ofi^ering (on 12^). The shoulder
(lit. arm) is mentioned Nu. 6^^ (of the ram offered by the
Nazirite) ; the cheeks, and the maw (not elsewhere : G Iw^npov,
the fourth stomach of ruminants — a favourite dish at Athens,
Aristoph. Eq. 356, 1179), ^''^ ^^^^ otherwise mentioned in con-
nexion with sacrifice. The passage is in direct contradiction
with Lev. 732-34 (p^^ which prescribes the breast and the right
thigh as the priest's due of the peace-offerings.
Various attempts have been made to remove the discrepancy, (i)
According to the Jews (Jos. Ant. iv. 4. 4 ; Philo, prcem. sacerd. § 3, Mangey,
ii. 235 ; Mishnah, Hullin 10. i ; so Curtiss, Lev. Priests, p. 43 f.) the refer-
ence in Dt. is not to sacrifices at all, but to animals slaughtered at home
for domestic use (i2^"'). This, however, is an incredible explanation of
nam 'nat : njj occurs some 160 times in the OT,, and o/woy^ (including the
fig. passages Is. 34' Jer. 46^" Ez. 39^') signifies a sacrifice (cf. also i S. 2^',
cited above ; and note the art. in nzn) ; the sing., ^^ the priest," points to
the particular priest in attendance on the sacrificer (cf. Lev. 7^), — to say
nothing of the fact that a law requiring portions of everj- animal slain, in
whatever part of the country, to be sent to the central sanctuarj' for the
consumption of the priests, would evidently be impracticable. (2) Schultz
XYIII. 3. nK3] = 'ra^a with a gen. : used idiomatically (in preference to
jD alone) to express on the part of, in reference to the granting of rights,
or payment of dues : Gn. 47^ Ex. i-f^ &c. {Lex. n. nx 4 b). — in:i] lit. "50
(viz. under the conditions implied in the preceding sentence) he shall
give " ; but in our idiom simply " he shall give " ; cf. Nu. 4*''.
2 1 6 DEUTERONOMY
(p. 59) and Espin consider that the dues here prescribed are not in lieu of
those assigned in Lev. 7^^^"^* (which, it is said, are included in the "fire-
offerings" of V.'), but in addition to them, and perhaps intended as a com-
pensation for the loss sustained by the permission granted in 12" to
slaughter for food without sacrifice. But had it been the intention of v.*
to prescribe something additional to what had been usual, this would surely
have been indicated more distinctly : as the verse stands ("and this" not
"and this also") it can only be legitimately understood, like v,*, as ex-
planatory of v."". (3) Keil, adopting a modification of (i), supposes the
reference to be, not to the peace-offerings properly so called, but to the
festal meals held at the central sanctuary, at which firstlings (12'^'- 15-"), or
the substitute for the tithe (14^*), were eaten. But the expression " sacrifice
the sacrifice" is too general and distinctive to be legitimately limited to such
subordinate species of sacrifice as these.
The verse must refer to the commonest kind of the "fire-
offerings " named in v.^, and specify for the people's instruction
what parts of these are due to the priest. The only reason-
able interpretation is to treat it as parallel to Lev. 732-34^ a.nd
consequently as fixing- the priests' dues at a time when the
regulation there laid down was not in force.
I S. 2"''® shows that in old times the priests received a share of the
flesh offered as a "sacrifice" : and it is mentioned as an abuse that they
(i) claimed whatever pieces their servant, while the sacrifice was boiling,
could lift out of the pot with his prong, and (2) demanded further their
share of the flesh raw, before the fat was burned and the sacrifice properly
completed, in order that they might roast it (which was esteemed a choicer
mode of preparing food : cf. Wellh. Hist. p. 68). The exact nature of the
first abuse is not clear : treated in itself, it might be a demand for some-
thing in excess of what was allowed by law — whether the law of Dt. 18',
or of Lev. 7^^'**. But it is not improbable that the passage of Sam. relates
to an early stage in the history of sacrifice, when the priest had no legal
claim to definite dues of flesh, and the custom was for the worshipper to
offer him what he himself chose, or to invite him to the sacrificial feast
which, as a matter of course, followed : Eli's sons claimed more than this,
and claimed, moreover, to have it when, and as, they pleased. The law of
Dt. fixes the priests' dues definitely : at a still later date, they were again
fixed upon a new footing (Lev. 7^^'**), and a larger and choicer share was
allotted to them, viz. the right leg and the breast (cf. Wellh. I.e. p. 153 f.).
4. The first (fruits) of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil
{']^^), and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shall thou give unto
him] "i.e. to the priest, the sing, being retained from v.',
though here, from the nature of the case, it must be meant
collectively " (Di.). The first three items form also part of the
revenue of the priests in P (Nu. 18^2 j cf. 2 Ch. 31*); the
fourth is mentioned only here (so " the first (fruits) of honey"
XVIII. 4-8 2 17
are mentioned only 2 Ch. 31* [yet cf. Lev. 2^^, see v.^^]). The
offering of first-fruits is an ancient and widely-spread custom :
in Israel it is prescribed already in Ex. 23^^ 34^6 (JE). Like
the tithe, it was a mode of acknowledging Jehovah's bounty
in blessing the increase of the earth ; and until it had been
offered, it was not considered proper to eat of the new fruit of
the year. Lev. 23^'^ (cf. further Jiel. Sent. p. 222 f.). For other
allusions to the reshith {y\\.. first \ G airapyi]) of the year's pro-
duce, see 262- *• 10 (where a liturgical form is prescribed, to
accompany its presentation); Lev. 23^°; Nu. \^^^- (Rom.
11^^), Ez. 44^° Neh. io''8(5"^ (of coarse meal) ; Jer. 2^ (alluded to
as sacred), Pr. 3^ 2 Ch. 3i5 Neh. iqSSOT); Ez. 20^0 481^ Neh.
1 2^*. On the distinction from bikkiiriin, see Wellh. Hist.
p. 157 f. — 5, The reason why the priest is to receive these
dues : he is God's specially appointed minister and representa-
tive. — For him hath Jehovah chosen, &c,\ similarly 21^ i S.
2^'; cf. also ID*. The sing, (as v.*) is meant collectively: cf.
the plur. in the parallel passage, 21^. — Out of all thy tribes]
12^ (see note) : also 2g^^^^^^ 1 S. 2^8 (just quoted). — To stand to
minister] see on 10® (p. 123); and cf. i K. 8^^. — Him and his
sons continually (4^°)] the expression points plainly to an
hereditary priesthood, though as "priest," the antecedent of
the pron., is used collectively (see above), it does not imply
necessarily that the priesthood, in the conception of the
Writer, is restricted to a particular family in the tribe.
6-8. Provision made for the rights of a Levite coming
from, the country to officiate at the central sanctuary. — And ij
a Levite — i.e. any member of the tribe of Levi — come from, one
of thy gates (15^ 16^ 17^ 23^^ (^®)) out of all Israel — i.e. from any
one of the cities (12^2. is 1^27 1611) of Israel — where he sojoumeth
(Jud. 17^ 19^), not possessing (v.^*-^) a permanent inheritance,
and come with all the desire of his soul (12^*) to the place which
Jehovah shall choose (12^), and ministers in the name of Jehovah
his God (v. 5), like all his brethren the Levites, which stand there
before Jehovah (10^), they shall eat (v.^*>) like portions — he shall
not be at a disadvantage as compared with those already on
the spot, he and they shall share alike in the dues received
from the people. — Besides his sellings according to the fathers]
2l8 DEUTERONOMY
or ^'•fathers' (houses)," i.e. families, Pi"i3Sn being an abbrevia-
tion for nusn n"'3 (Ex. 6^5 al.). The words are very obscure :
they are usually understood to mean " apart from what he has
realized by selling the possessions belonging to him in virtue
of his family descent" (paraphrased in AV., RV. by "beside
that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony ") — possessions
which, it is supposed, he would part with at the time of leaving
the country for the central sanctuary. Dillm. (after J. D.
Mich., Schultz) explains, ** besides what he has realized by
selling the dues (tithe, &c.) rendered to him at his home by
particular families." Either explanation is questionable: all
that can be said is that the words describe some private source
of income possessed by the Levite, distinct from what he
receives as a priest officiating at the central sanctuary.
In P, 48 cities are allotted to the tribe for residence (Nu. 35^"' Jos. 21) ;
and the terms of v.^ are difficult to reconcile with that institution. The
" Levites" are represented in this verse, not as resident in their appointed
cities, but as "sojourning" — the word (nij) is used of temporary, not of
permanent residence — in the cities of Israel without distinction. Hence
the institution of Levitical cities cannot well have formed an elem,int in
the condition of things contemplated by the present law. To refer v.*
(Curtiss, Lev. Priests, p. 48 f.) to those Levites who have sold their houses
and wandered to other cities, involves the improbable regulation that a
Levite is not to go directly from a Levitical city to the central sanctuary :
he must become a " sojourner " elsewhere first! V." and the allusion in
v.*** to property owned by Levites, are in no respect incompatible with such
an institution, supposing it to have been imperfectly put in force ; but the
provisions of the law are absolute, they are not limited to the contingency
of the regulations of Nu. 35^"* being disobeyed ; and it is incredible that,
worded as they are, they can have been framed by one who, if the received
view of the Pentateuch be correct, had only six months previously assigned
to the Levites permanent dwelling-places. Surely, had this been the case,
v.^ would have run, "from one of the cities which I have appointed them
(o;- which thou shalt give them)." On the other hand, the representation
of v.* harmonizes completely with other passages of Dt., in which the
country Levites appear (beside the "stranger, the fatherless, and the
widow") in a more or less penurious condition, without fixed habitations,
and are earnestly commended to the Israelite's charitable benevolence
(,212.18.19 1^-37.29 j 611. 14 26^^- '^'^•).
The truth is, in P and Dt. the tribe of Levi stands upon
8. nuN.T '?V 1'T?9P ''2''] ^'■3?'?'? must come from a subst. "iIPP; but since
apart fro?n, besides, \s jp tj^ (not t 3 'p alone)— <r.^. 3'*— it is clear that we must
vocalize v•^^•^"> (from lao).
XVIII. 8 2 19
two fundamentally different footings, (i) Their revenues are
different : as has been shown in the notes on 1429 1523 ig^ they
receive in Dt., as compared with P, materially smaller dues in
tithes, firstlings, and sacrifices ; and, as just said, instead of
having cities specially allotted to them, they are represented as
homeless and destitute. (2) Their organization is different.
The term " Levite," it must always be remembered, has in Dt.
a different meaning from " Levite" in P. In P it denotes the
members of the tribe, exclusive of the priests, the descendants
of Aaron ; in Dt. it denotes all members of the tribe, without
distinction. The ** Levites " of P are inferior members of the
tribe, who are assigned various subordinate duties in connexion
with the Tabernacle (Nu. 3-4; iS^-'^), but are peremptorily
forbidden to intrude upon the office of priest (Nu. 420 i6'^^"- *o
18^). In Dt. this sharp distinction between priests and the
common Levites is not recognized ; it is implied (iS^a) that
all members of the tribe are qualified to exercise priestly
functions: i8i^'-2b assign to the whole tribe the altar-dues
reserved in Nu. iS^o for the priests alone ; and 18^-^, relating
to the "Levite" coming from the country to reside at the
central sanctuary, describes his services there in terms which
elsewhere, when used in a ritual connexion, denote regularly
priestly duties. Thus, though there is a difference in Dt.
between "priest" and " Levite," it is not the difference recog-
nized in P : in P the priests constitute a fixed minority of the
entire tribe, viz. the descendants of Aaron ; in Dt. they are a
fluctuating minority, viz. those members of the tribe who are
officiating for the time at the central sanctuary. Accordingly,
in Dt. the distinctive title of the priests is not "sons of
Aaron" but "sons of Levi" or *■'■ Leviiical priests" (see on
v.i). Naturally the eldest of the families descended directly
from Aaron, which had the custody of the Ark, enjoyed the
pre-eminence, and this is recognized in 10^ ; allied families,
also, which had secured a position at the central sanctuary,
would doubtless rank above their less fortunate brethren ; but
no exclusive right is recognized in Dt. as belonging to the
descendants of Aaron, in contradistinction to other members
of the tribe.
2 20 DEUTERONOMY
The position thus assigned to the tribe in Dt. agrees with
allusions in the earlier literature; e.g. with i K. \2^^, where
it is Jerobo'am's offence — not as, according to P, it ought to
have been, that he made priests who were not of the sons of
Aaron, but — that he made priests who were not of the sons of
Levi; and especially with Ez. 44^o-^^, which implies unambigu-
ously {see L.O.T. p. 132 f,), that prior to the age of Ez. the
" Levites" generally {i.e. Levites in the sense of Dt.) enjoyed
the priestly right of sacrificing. Comp. also Ex. 4^* (where
'* the Levite " appears as an official title) ; and the other occur-
rences of " Levitical priests," cited on v.^. Dt. lo^ 21^ 33S-10,
though they would not in themselves establish this view (for it
might be said that the tribe, as a whole, was chosen to dis-
charge priestly offices in the persons of a fixed minority who
were set apart for the purpose), are, it is plain, perfectly con-
sistent with it. We must, in fact, picture the members of the
tribe as scattered in different parts of the land (cf. Gn. 49^) ;
the most prosperous, forming a tolerably close corporation at
the Temple of Jerusalem ; others, " sojourning" in the country,
or finding a home where they could, exactly as is represented
in Jud. ly^'S j^i^ some acting as priests to private families or
individuals {ib. 1 710-13 i8i^), others officiating at the local
sanctuaries {ib. i820-27. soj and esp. 2 K. 23^), but all dependent
for their livelihood, in one way or another, upon what they
received from the people. The aim of Dt. iS^-^ is to limit the
exclusiveness of the Jerusalem priests : it provides that a
country Levite, coming to officiate at the central sanctuary, is
to share in the dues received there equally with the priests
resident on the spot. How far this provision was acted upon
by the Jerusalem priests, we do not know : 2 K. 23^ shows
that, at least after the abolition of the high places by Josiah, the
disestablished priests (who yet are styled the "brethren" of
those at Jerusalem), though they were allowed the mainten-
ance due to them as priests by the law of Dt. iS'', were not
admitted to the exercise of priestly functions at the Temple
(cf. Ez. 446-14; and see L.O.T. p. 146 f.).
Treated by themselves, the regulations of Dt. might be
attributed to the relaxation or neglect of a system once stricter;
XVIII. 9 22 1
but in the light of allusions occurring in other books, it is
decidedly more probable that, as compared with those of P,
they represent the usage of an earlier age ; the system of P
corresponds to the greater privileges which the priests after-
wards acquired, and to the exclusive pre-eminence which the
family of Aaron ultimately secured for itself. See, further,
W. R. Smith, 07/C.2 pp. 358-361, 383 f., more fully Addit.
Answ. to the Libel (Edinb. 1878), pp. 29-51 ; Wellh. Hist. p.
121 fF.; Baudissin, AT. Priesterthum, pp. 78-96, 280-284;
Nowack, Arch. ii. §§ 88, 89, 94; Kuenen, Abhandl. p. 465 ff.
9-22. The position and authority of the Prophet. — All forms
of divination and magic are to be eschewed by Israel: the
prophet is to take in Israel the place of the heathen sooth-
sayer ; and implicit obedience is to be rendered to him. The
position assigned in this law to the prophet is a noticeable one.
He appears in it as the representative in Israel of the heathen
diviner ; he is presented as the appointed agent for satisfying,
in so far as they are legitimate, those cravings of humanity to
unlock the secrets of the future, or to discover in some critical
situation — as, for instance, that of Saul before the battle of
Gilboa' (i S. 28''*^^) — the purpose of Heaven, which gave birth
in other nations to the arts of the diviner, and kindred super-
stitions. The prophet, as conceived by the Writer, becomes
thus a bulwark against the encroachments of heathenism.
The other Codes have nothing on the subject of the prophet ;
but they contain laws which are parallel in part to the pro-
hibitions of v.io*^-, viz. (in JE) Ex. 22^"^^^^^ the sorceress, (in H)
Lev. 18^1 2o2-5 Molech-worship, 192^ observation of omens and
soothsaying, 1931 20®- ^7 consultation of ghosts and familiar
spirits. Here the enumeration is fuller, and seems designed
to be practically exhaustive, not less than nine superstitious
usages being separately specified. How prevalent these
practices were in Israel, especially during the period of the
Kings, will be apparent from the passages referred to in the
notes. A law prohibiting them in detail, and at the same tims
placing the prophet in his true position in regard to them,
would be in entire harmony with the scope of the Deuteronomic
le§^islation. — 9. When thou art come into the land, &c.\ as
222 DEUTERONOMY
17^*. — The abominations of those nations] cf. 12^^. — 10. The
enumeration of forbidden practices follows, (i) There shall
not be found in thee (17^) any one that maketh his son or his
daughter to pass through the fire] viz. to Molech. The allusions
in the OT. are not sufficient to show distinctly either the
nature, or the object, of the practice referred to ; but it is
mentioned here, as the context indicates, not as a form of
idolatry, but specifically as a superstition, either (Ewald)
because it was used for the purpose of obtaining- an oracle, or
because it was supposed — like the sacrifice of children to
Kronos, resorted to by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians at
times of grave national danger or calamity (Porphyry ap.
Euseb. Proep. Ev. iv. 16. 4, 7; Diod. Sic. xx. 14) — to possess
extraordinary efficacy in averting- calamity (comp. 2 K. 3^^).
The practice is prohibited in emphatic terms in H, Lev. 18^^
2o2-5; it is alluded to, c. 12^1, as a climax of Canaanite
enormity ; and mention is frequently made of it as prevalent,
esp. in Judah, from the time of Ahaz, 2 K. 16^ (in imitation of
the Canaanites), 17^'^ (in Israel, in the compiler's summary of
the history of the N. kingdom), 21^ (Manasseh : cf. Mic. 6^)
2310 (put down by Josiah), Jer. 32^^ (cf. 7^1 19^ [omit "for
burnt-off"erings to Ba'al," with ffir ; Smith, Rel. Se?n. p. 353]),
Ez. 20^^ 2337 (cf, i620''- Is. 57^). The standing expression used
to describe it is "to cause to pass through the fire" (l^ayn
tj'sa), 2 K. i63 1717 21^ 23IO Ez. 20^1, with tJ'Na omitted Lev.
i82i Jer. 3285 Ez. 1621 2337, cf. 2026, with "to Molech" added
Lev. i82i 2 K. 2310 Jer. 3235.
It must have been more than a mere ceremony of lustration, or conse-
cration by fire, to Molech, for the word "burn" is used in Jer. 7^' 19'', cf.
Dt. 12^^ ; on the other hand, the view, adopted by many modern writers,
on the strength of the term "slain" (Ez. i6-i 23^^, cf. Is. 57' Ps. 106^*),
that the victims were put to death first, and burnt upon a pyre or altar
afterwards, hardly accounts for the use of the peculiar and characteristic
expression "to cause to pass through the fire." It would be in better
agreement with this expression to suppose that the rite in question was
a kind oi ordeal, in which, for instance, an omen was derived from observ-
ing whether the victim passed through the flames unscathed or not, or
which was resorted to for the purpose of securing good fortune. The spot
at which the rite was principally carried on was the "valley (x';;) of the
son of Hinnom," on the S. side of Jerusalem (2 K. 23^" Jer. 7^* 19* 32^)*
XVIII. lo 223
the horrible associations connected with it (cf. the allusion in Is. 66-*) gave
rise to that application of the name which meets us in the Djn'J of the later
Jews, the yiiv>a, of the NT.
The name Molech (Lev. 18^1 zo"-" i K. ii' 2 K. 23»» Jer. 32=«t— always,
except 1 K. 1 1^, with the art. T^bbn : ffi usu. MoXox) is properly an appellative
(hence the art., as in Si'rri) meaning the King: Very probably it ought to
be vocalized Aftlk. It is true, the name, as that of a god, has not hitherto
been found in Inscriptions ; but it forms part of many proper names,
which, when transliterated into Greek or Latin exhibit this form {e.g. [noSD,
"Milk has given, "= M(X»/a^iu»-ef, C/S. I. i. 89; see more fully Baethgen,
Sem. ReJ. p. 37). It is thought by many that the vowels of ^Sb are
intended to suggest the Heb. word rs'ii shameful thing (Geiger, Urschrift,
p. 301; ZATW. 1883, p. 124; Smith, Rel. Sem. 353; Baethgen, I.e. p.
38 n, ; Stade, Gesch. i. 610 ; Konig, Einl. 85). The many Phoenician
names compounded with Milk show that the god was worshipped par-
ticularly by the Phoenicians, both in their mother-country and in their
colonies, Cyprus, Carthage, &c. (Baethgen, pp. 37-40). Cf. the similar
worship of Adrammelech and 'Anammelech (2 K. 17^'). The name of the
'Ammonite god Milcom (i K. ii"* ^ al.) is derived from the same root, but
the form is different ; and the two deities are probably not to be identified :
at Jerusalem they were worshipped at different spots (2 K. 23^* ^•'); and
I K. 1 1^ ^'?D (without the art. ; see above) is probably a mere clerical error
for DD^D [da ra (iaffiXu auTu»=D3)Q, as v.^^] ; cf. v.^'^. See, further, W. R.
Smith, Encycl. Brit.^ s.v. ; Rel. Sem. pp. 352-357, 375 f. ; PRE.^ s.v. (with
the reff., p. 177); Stade, Gesch. i. 609 f. ; Baethgen, I.e. pp. 15, 37-40, 84,
237; Montefiore, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 16S-170.
There follow three terms descriptive of various methods o!
divination, two denoting different forms of magic, and three
relating to various modes of consulting the world of spirits.
On the terms employed see especially the study of W. R.
Smith on "The forms of divination and magic in Dt. iS^o-i^"
in theyP/i. xiii. 273 ff., xiv. iisff. ; and on analogous super-
stitions in ancient Arabia, Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen
Heidentumes^ pp. 135-153- {2) Or 07ie that obtaineth oracles
(D^DDp DDp)] properly, as Arabic shows, the term means to
obtain an oracle from a god by some method of drawing lots.
In Heb. it is the word most commonly used to express the idea
of divining in general.
In Arabic (Ges. Thes. s.v. ; Smith, yPA. xiii. 273 ff. ; Wellh. Arab. Heid.
pp. 126-128, 167) qasama, to divide, distribute (Gn. 32'' Saad.), has in conj.
X {'istaqsama) the sense of to get a part allotted to oneself, and is used in
particular of procuring a divine decision, or award, by drawing lots at a
sanctuary, with headless arrows {'azldm, Qor 5*) ; the arrows, inscribed
with the possible alternatives contemplated, were placed in a quiver, and
whirled about, and the one which first fell out was supposed to express
224 DEUTERONOMY
the decision of the god. The heathen Arabs often resorted to this mode
of divination before any important or uncertain undertaking, and especially
before a campaign. In the OT. an extremely similar procedure is ascribed
poetically by Ez. to Nebuchadnezzar, who is represented (2 !**'•<''"•') as
standing where the roads to Jerusalem and Rabbah of the 'Ammonites
diverge, and consulting the idol (o'sina '^nc) by shaking the arrows to and
fro (D'sn^ ^p'yp), for the purpose of determining which he shall attack first :
he holds in his right hand the result of his inquiry dScit Dopn, "the oracle
'Jerusalem,'" i.e. the arrow marked "Jerusalem," The passage sup-
ports the conjecture that the Teraphim were employed in this form of
divination: the two are also mentioned together in i S. 15^ Zech. 10*.
Elsewhere in the OT. the word (verb or subst.) occurs v." Nu. 22^ 23**
(both JE), Jos. 13^"^ (P : of Balaam), i S. 6^ (among the Philistines), 288 (of
divination 3*1X3; see below. No. 7), 2 K. 17^^ Pr. 16^" osB'Dn iSo 'nsB' '?v ddjj
VD SvD' nS {i.e. the king's decisions have the character and value of a
divine oracle), Is. 3^ Mic. 3«-7-" Jer. 141* 27* 298 Ez. i2« i3«- 7.9-23 2iM(!»)
22^* Is. 44"^*t. In most of the passages from the prophets, it is used dis-
paragingly of the oracles given by "false" prophets, ffi usu. representa
by the general terms fiuvTn, fia)iTiuaf/.ai, //.Kfrtia, fAayriTa*.
(3) Or a soothsayer (Ip.iyp)] this species of divination is
alluded to besides in v.^* Lev. 19^^ Jud. 9^7 (o^iJiyo p^K the
•'Soothsayers' Terebinth"), 2 K. 21**= 2 Ch. 33^ (practised by
Manasseh), Is. 2^ (the Philistines noted for it), Mic. 5^^ Jer. 27*
Is. 57^t- The etymolog-y is obscure ; and the precise kind of
divination intended is uncertain. (4) Or one that observeth
omens (C'n3*p)] Gn. 44^- ^^ (of Joseph's divination with the
"cup," i.e. probably by hydromancy, or watching the play of
light in a cup of liquid). Lev. 19^° 2 K. 17^7 216 ( = 2 Ch. 33^):
10. piyo] At. ghanna is to emit a hoarse nasal sound; whence Smith
supposes that jju'D may have denoted properly the murmurer, or hoarsely
humming soothsayer : "the characteristic utterance of the Arabic sooth-
sayer is the monotonous rhythmical croon called saj", properly the cooing
of a dove ; and a low murmur, zamzamah, or whisper, ivaswasah, is simi-
larly ascribed to the Kahin" or seer. — vnvi\ the meaning hiss, or -whisper
(Ges.) for i^nj is very insufficiently supported : more prob. (Bochart) the
word is a denom. from trni serpent, the belief being a widespread one in
antiquity that the power of divination, or of understanding the prophetic
speech of birds, was obtained by the aid of serpents, though it is some
objection to this view that "while rnj to divine seems to be common to
all the Sem. languages, btij serpent is peculiar to Heb." (Smith). In Arab,
the root is applied in a bad sense (cf. ominous): nahisa, to be inauspicious
or unlucky. — 'JB'Dd] the deriv. is uncertain. One meaning of Ar. kasafa is
io cut ; kis/ IS a. piece or fragment {Qor. 17**52*^0/.); whence Smith con-
jectures that D'SCD may have denoted primarily the " herbs or other drug^
shredded into a magic brew."
XVIII. II 225
the verb is also used in the derived sense of take or observe as
an omen, augur, Gn. 30^7 i K. ao^^j, T\\& cognate subst. KTi:
occurs Nu. 2323 ; 24^ (of the omens which Bala'am sought on
the hill tops). In Syriac the word means divination "from
signs that consist in words, or actions, or the cries of birds,
or fire, or atmospheric changes, or rain, or the [astrological]
complexion of the times, and the like, from which it is inferred
that one thing is good and another bad, and that a man should
push on or desist accordingly" (Smith, p. 114; PS. col. 2340,
2341), Probably the Heb. term denoted similarly all those
species of divination from natural omens, of which the most
familiar example is divination by the flight of birds (oiWos,
ol(i}VL^ofj.aL ; augurium, auspicium : cf. Ar. ta'ayya/a, tatayyara,
Wellh. Arab. Heid. 148 f.).
We pass now from methods of divination to those of magic
or sorcery. (5) Or a sorcerer (fltfDp)] this species of magic is
mentioned Ex. 7^^ (in Egypt), 22^7 (the sorceress [fern.] not to
be permitted to live), Mai. 3^ 2 Ch. 33^ Dan. 2^1 : D'^pB'p
sorcerers are named Jer. 27^! ; the subst. D'SK'S 2 K. 9^2 Mic.
5II ("And I will cut off sorceries out of thy hand "), Nah. 3* (in
Nineveh), Is. 475- 12 (in Babylon)!. Mic. 5^1 appears to show
that D''DK'3 were something material, such as drugs, herbs,
spells, &c., used superstitiously for the purpose of producing
magical effects (ffit usually cfidpixaKo). ^tp^D will mean accord-
ingly enchanter or sorcerer. — 11, (6) Or a chamier {"^^^^ "'?'^)] so
Ps. ^8^ (O^np 2^"!?^ "i^il^) in parallelism with D'^n^rp -whisperers,
i.e. serpent-charmers : Q'*"}3n, also (by the side of D'Dti'a), Is.
479- 12 (of Babylon)!. The expression may signify properly
one -who ties magic knots, or binds by a spell (cf. K-araSca)), or
(Smith) one who co7nposes spells or incantations. (7) and (8)
Or one that constilteth a ghost or a familiar spirit (3iX PXb'
^aiyTl)] the 3iN (pi. ninx) is mentioned besides in Lev. 1931*
2o6*.2T* J s 28^*-^'' (put down by Saul),'^ (31X n^y3 DtTX "a
woman commanding ghosts "),8 Is. 8^^" 19^* (in Egypt), 29*
2 K. 2 1 ^'=2 Ch. 336" (D>3ijnii 21X ntj'yi, of Manasseh, "and
instituted ghosts and familiar spirits," i.e. persons professing
to deal with them), 23-^' (put down by Josiah), i Ch. \o^^\ ; the
'•Jjns always by the side of the mx, in the passages marked *.
"5
226 DEUTERONOMY
From Lev. 20" (" a man or a woman, when there is in them an 06 or a
^'«fcfe'o»t") it appears that an ob was considered to declare itself »n the
body of the person who had to do with it : Is. 29* shows further that the
oracles of an ob were uttered in a twittering voice, which seemed to rise
from the g-round : the narrative of the witch of 'Endor shows (i S. aS^**'")
that those who followed the art professed the power of calling up from the
underworld the ghosts of the dead. & renders by zakkuro, i.e. a ghost,
speaking ostensibly either from the underworld, or from the stomach of the
soothsayer (see PS. col. 1122; Nold. ZDMG. 1874, p. 667). <&. nearly
always represents a'lR by (yya<rT^/^t/^»i = ventriloquists. This rendering no
doubt contains the true explanation of the operation of *he 21k : the nSya
31K " pretends to see a ghost which she describes, but her dupes only hear
a voice which by ventriloquism seems to come from the ground." The
21N may be fairly represented by the English ghost. In what respect the
yidde'oni differed from the oh is uncertain. The word is usually understood
to signify knower {^.&. wise spirit: Ewald, vielwisserisch) ; but W. R. Smith
suggests the meaning acquaintance. Whether this etymology be accepted
or not, the yidde'oni may be not unreasonably understood of a " familiar"
spirit, i.e. a spirit which is at the beck and call of a particular person
(cf. Acts 16'^), and imparts to him of its superior knowledge. By the
Arabs such a spirit is called raiyy, the "jinn" who shows himself to a sooth-
sayer, guiding him in the practice of his art, his companion and attendant.
There is thus a distinction between the 3IK and the i3ijn^ :
those who divine by the former profess (i S. 2811) to call up
any ghost ; those who divine by the latter consult only the
particular spirit which is their "familiar." (The AV. of *3iyT
"wizard" appears to be incorrect: see Lev. 20^7, quoted
above. Here 6h and yidde 0711 are both the objects of "con-
sulteth," as in Is. 8^9 of "inquire of.") (9) Or me thai
inquireth of the dead (Q^^fp^ b^ ^'^"^)] "to inquire of the dead"
is in Is. 8^^ either synonymous with, or at least includes, the
consultation of ni3X and D^jyi^ Whether any particular
method of necromancy is denoted by it, is doubtful : more
probably it is a comprehensive term, intended to bring" within
the terms of the prohibition whatever other forms of the same
superstition, not already mentioned, were in vogue : for
instance, the practice of "incubation," or passing the night in
tombs (cf. Is. 65*), or the establishment, at particular spots,
of oracles of the dead (viKvofxavTila). — 12. An abomination unto
JehovaK\ on 7^5. — Because of these abominations is Jehovah
dispossessing {d^^ 9*), &'c.\ cf. Lev. 182*^- 20^3, where, however,
the "abominations," on account of which the Canaanites are
XVIII. 12-15 227
expelled, are, all but entirely, various forms of immorality,
not, as here, superstitious practices. — 13-14. Israel's duty, on
the contrary, is to be blameless and without reproach in its
converse with its God : it is not to adopt practices which are
heathenish in their tendency, and which would be a blemish
upon the character which Jehovah demands of it. — 13. Thou
shalt he perfect with Jehovah thy God] perfect (Q^^^^), as Gn.
17^ Ps. i826(25) fl/^^ implying without blemish (comp. the
physical application of the same word, noticed on 17I), dis-
figured by no imperfection or unsoundness. The idea ex-
pressed by n^on is not quite the same as that of D?!^ (i K. 8^^
II* fl/.), though this is represented in AV. RV. by the same
English equivalent: Con denotes a person without moral
blemish, obii' (always in this connexion used with reference to
the heart) implies one whose heart is devoted wholly to a
single object. — With (oy)] i.e. in dealing or in converse with,
almost towards', comp. Ps, i82'*(28) (loy D''lon n\nNl) ^^^- ^^^^-^ ; so
with D.^K> I K. 8" II* &c.— 14. Possess] \2^.— But as for thee, not
so hath Jehovah thy God granted unto thee] i.e. such practices
are not in accordance with His appointment, or intention, so
far as Israel is concerned. — 15-18. Israel is to be provided, as
occasion may arise, with a prophet, who will act on God's
behalf, and communicate to them, so far as may be needful,
His will. — 15. A prophet will Jehovah thy God raise up unto
thee] viz. as occasion may demand (cf. Jud. 2\^- 1^), the sing,
denoting Moses' representative for the time being. The con-
text shows that no single, or particular, prophet can be
intended : it was a constantly recurring need which prompted
the heathen to resort to diviners for the purpose of unlocking
the secrets of the future ; and as the prophet is to supply the
place of such diviners in Israel, it must be a similarly recurring
need which (so far as Jehovah permits it) he is designed to
satisfy. It follows that the reference here is to a permanent
institution, not to a particular individual prophet (see p. 229).
— From, the midst of thee, from thy brethren] in contrast to the
diviners, who were often of foreign origin (comp. v.^* Nu.
22^'- Is. 2^). Sam. fflr read **from the midst of thy brethren"
(^ns 3"ipD)i as v.^8. — Like unto me] the context limits the sense
228 DEUTERONOMY
in which this expression is intended. It is not that the
promised prophet is to be "like" Moses in every respect, or
in other words to be equal with him : he is to be like him, as
Y^i6-i8 show, in the/ac/ of being Jehovah's representative with
the people, but not necessarily in being His representative in
the same degree in which Moses was : as Keil points out, the
terms of his commission in v.^^ ("I will put my words in his
mouth," &c.) do not express the special form of revelation
which, according to Nu. iz^'^ Dt. 34^°, distinguished Moses
from other prophets, but only the form which was common to
prophets generally (Jer. i^-^: cf. on v.^^). — To him shall ye
hearken] unlike the nations of Canaan, who (v.^*) "hearkened "
to soothsayers and oracle-mongers. — 16-18. In appointing the
prophet as the authorized exponent of His will, Jehovah is but
responding to the people's own request, preferred by them at
Horeb (520-28 (23.31)), _ 7-^^ day of the assembly] 9^0 id^.— I will no
more hear, &c.] cf. 52if.(24f.). Not '' let me not hear" (RV.),
which would require ?^. — 17. Tliey have well said that which
they liavc spoken] as 525 (28)^ — the first part of Jehovah's answer
being here omitted. — 18. The answer in 528(31) jg worded
differently, the commission being limited to Moses himself:
the two declarations are not, however, contradictory, but
mutually supplement each other ; there it is Moses who is to
speak on God's behalf, here it is Moses' representative in
the future. — And I will put (Tiriil) my words in his mouth]
Jer. i^ 5^* (comp. 2328^- Ez. 34- lof- &c.): more commonly with
D^b', Nu. 2238 235-12.16 (of Balaam); Is. 51I6 5921 (both of
Israel, under its ideal character, as the organ of divine revela-
tion) ; comp. also, for the idiom, Ex. 4^^ 2 S. 143- 1^ Ezr. 8^^.
The idea is of course not substantially different from that
expressed by such phrases as nVT DX3, "Thus saith Jehovah,"
"The word of Jehovah came unto . . .," so frequent in the
writings of the canonical prophets. — And he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command hint] comp. Ex. 72 Jer. i^- 1^.
The exclusively Messianic reference of v.""^*, adopted by many of the
older expositors (cf. Acts 3^- 7^), is inconsistent with the context ; and
has been deservedly abandoned by the great majority of modem com-
16. dvd] io*'. —17. nai -wk u'o'n] 52" : cf. Gn. 44' cn'ts-y ncK Dwyvi, Jer. 38^.
XVIII. I6-20 229
mentators and theologians (including, for instance, Hengst. Christology, L
112 ff., Keil, Espin, Oehler, OT. Theol. § i6i, Orelli, OT. Proph. p. 132 f.,
Konig, Offenb. des AT.s, ii. 131). The promised prophet is to meet a con-
tinuous and permanent need of the people, after they are settled in Canaan
(v.*) : he is to supersede the necessity either of God's addressing Israel
directly Himself (v.^*"^*), or of Israel's having recourse, like their neigh-
bours, to the arts of divination (v.'*^-); and a criterion is even added
enabling the Israelite to distinguish the true prophet from the false (v.^^'-)*
The argument of the passage shows that the "prophet" contemplated is
not a single individual, belonging to a distant future, but Moses repre-
sentative for the time being, whose office it would be to supply Israel,
whenever in its history occasion should arise, with needful guidance and
advice : in other words, that the reference is not to an individual prophet,
but to a prophetical order. The existence of such an order in Israel, form-
ing a permanent channel of revelation, was, of course, a signal mark of
distinction between Israel and other nations of antiquity. At the same
time the terms of the description are such that it may be reasonably
understood as including a reference to the ideal prophet. Who should be
"like" Moses in a pre-eminent degree, in Whom the line of individual
prophets should culminate, and Who should exhibit the characteristics of
♦he prophet in their fullest perfection (so Hengst., Keil, Espin, al.).
19-20. The office of the prophet, as Jehovah's representative,
is a high one, which claims obedience on the part of those
who hear him, but which, if abused or exercised wrongfully,
entails a strict retribution upon the offender. — Hearken unto
my words] Jer. 29^^ 35^^. — /(emph.) will require it of him] i.e.
1 will exact punishment of him for it (see below). — 20. The
prophet who shall act presumptuously (17^^) in speaking a word
in mv name, (even) that which I have not commanded him to
speak] the sin of *' speaking falsely in Jehovah's name" may
be readily illustrated from the book of Jeremiah : e.g. Jer.
1^^14-16 2316- 21-27. 30-83 279^- H-16 28^5-17 298^- 21-32 ^yl9 . gee alsO I K.
22i"- 23 Ez. 1224 j 21-23 Lam. 2I* (Jer.'s phrase in this connexion
is usually "^P^ N3?, Ez.'s NIC' (Jirn) ntn). To judge from the
passages quoted, such prophecies were mostly prompted by
the desire for popularity (cf. Is. 30^0 Mic. 2" 3II) : the prophets
whom Jer. opposed preached "peace when there was no
peace" (6^^^"^*), they led the people on to false tracks by
elating them with vain hopes of affluence, freedom from
invasion, a speedy return from exile, &c. — Or who sJiall speak in
19. 1DVD tmK] will require, or exact, it of him (23^-): herewith the coUat,
idea of punishing ; so with 'b i:p Gn. 9' Ez, 33^ 34'".— 20. DK 'De-3 n3T naiS
'ji •\vv.\ render as above. The indef. "OT is at once more closely defined
230 DEUTERONOMY
the name of other go ds\ two classes of false prophets are thus
distinguished, those who falsely (and deliberately, not through
self-deception) claim to speak in Jehovah's name, and those
who claim to speak in the name of " other gods " : both agree
in that they affirm a divine origin for the imaginations of their
own heart. — 21-22. The prophet who comes forward in the
name of other gods is condemned ipso facto (cf. i36(^)): for
distinguishing the false from the true prophet of Jehovah, a
criterion is given ; the prediction which does not come to
pass has not Jehovah for its author. — 21. And if thou say in
thy heart, How {r\yii) , . . ?] 7^7. — 22. If the thing follow not,
nor come to pass\ the cases contemplated are therefore such as
belong to the near future, the failure, or accomplishment, of
which can be ascertained without material difficulty or delay.
Cf. Jer. 28^. — Thou shall not stand in awe (i^^) of him] in
strong contrast to the attitude demanded in presence of the
true prophet (v.^^). There is no occasion either to regard
him with deference, or to shrink from pronouncing sentence
against him (v. 20).
The statement of the criteria for distinguishing^ true and false prophecy,
contained in these verses, is manifestly incomplete. The case of the fulfil-
ment of a prediction uttered in the interest of " other g-ods " has, it is true,
been dealt with previously (i 3*'* f^'*)) ; but the case of the fulfilment of a
prediction alleged falsely to have been uttered in the name of Jehovah is
not noticed. Nor is any consideration given to the still more important
case, which nevertheless, as Jeremiah expressly teaches (iS^"!"), is liable
to occur, of the non-fulfilment of a prediction uttered truly in Jehovah's
name, in consequence of a moral change in the character of those to whom
it is addressed, or even as the result of an effectual intercession, addressed
to Jehovah on their behalf (comp, Jer. 26^* ; also Ex. 32^* Am. 5^* 7^* ' Joel
jisf. 18 Jonah 3*''). Probably, however, the occurrence of cases such as
these would be otherwise made apparent. The law contemplates a case
both more likely to occur and more difficult to detect. Cf. Schultz, OT.
Theol. u 257-263.
XIX., XXI. 1-9. Criminal Law.
XIX. 1-13. The Cities of Refuge. In Canaan three cities
are to he set apart as a refuge for any one who has killed his
by the definite obj., with riK: Gn. 26^* Jud. 3'" (iinx nx T^ya onV '' op'i) 1 K.
, ,u. 19 1531 is_ ^6 ga ^c_ — ^1,^., ^,3j,T ;,j5,j jjje sentence is formulated exactly as
17'% — 22. ^B'K] either "when" (Ges.), as Jos. 4'^' {I^x. -w». 8d); or "that
which . . " (Dillm.)
XVIII. 21— XIX. 5 231
neighbour accidentally, and three more, if Israel's border be
extended to the full limits promised. — The law is the expansion,
and at the same time the accommodation to a later historical
situation, of the briefer law contained in the "Book of the
Covenant," Ex. 21^2-14^ There it is said that Jehovah will
appoint an asylum for him who has slain a man by accident,
but that the wilful murderer is to be taken from His altar that
he may die. From the context it appears to follow that the
asylum of v.^^ is the altar of v.^* (in agreement with i K. i^
2^8) ; but in Dt. fixed cities are appointed for the purpose, and
regulations for their use are laid down. P has a law on the
same subject, Nu. 35^'^*, the provisions of which, while con-
siderably fuller and more minute than those in Dt., and
differing remarkably in expression, agree (so far as they
cover common ground) in substance. The technical term
"Cities of Refuge" (t^/i?'? '^V), used in Numbers, is not found
in Dt. The actual appointment of the Cities of Refuge is
ascribed by P to Joshua (Jos. 20), though according to the
present text of Dt. the three trans-Jordanic cities had been
appointed by Moses, 4*^-43 (cf. p. 78). — 1. When Jehovah thy
God cutteth off the nations\ verbatim as 12^^*. — Aiid thou pos-
sessest them, cSr'c.] cf. \2^^^ ; also 6^^^-. — 2. Separate] 4*^. — Three
cities] see Jos. 20^ (P). — 3. Thou shalt prepare thee the way]
in order, namely, that the cities may be safely and rapidly
reached from all parts of the land. — Divide . . . into three
parts] so that each city may form the centre of a correspond-
ing district. — 4-6. The circumstances under which the cities
thus appointed may be applied for the benefit of the man-
slayer. — 4. Unawares (Hjn v3Zl)] lit. without knowledge: so
4*2 Jos. 2o3- 6 (D2) ; not so elsewhere. In the law of P, the
idea is expressed by a different word, viz. '^■'Jt^'3 lit. in error,
i.e. inadvertently (RV. unwittingly), Nu. 35^^-^* Jos. 2o3-9 (the
technical expression used regularly by P, as Lev. a^- 22 Nu.
1^24. 26-29 ^/_), — j\^-fid he hated him not in time past] cf. Nu. 352^^.
— 5. The case of accidental homicide illustrated by an example
(cf. Nu. 352-^). — And whoso goeth] ^'as when one goeth " is a
probable emendation, but the text cannot be so rendered :
XIX. 4. . . . 13T iin] 15-.— i"? Mib kS mm] on 4".
232 DEUTERONOMY
see below. — Fetcheth a stroke] a very idiomatic rendering of
nmi (lit. is driven, impelled)', cf. the active "impel "in 20^^
(AV. wield). — And live] ace. to the Deut. insertion (L.O.T.
p. 105) in Jos. 20 (v.*^) he is to state his case at the gate of
the city to its elders, who are then formally to receive him into
it. — 6. Lesl the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, "while
his heart is hot] i.e. lest the nearest kinsman of the person who
has been killed (in whom, according to ancient usage, was
vested the right, and the duty, of avenging his blood) pursue
the manslayer, while his feelings are aroused (cf. Ps. 39*) and
he is not sufficiently calm to reflect that it was an accident.
The "avenger of blood" (D"nn Pi<3) is named also 2 S. 14^^
(cf. ^•'^) Nu. 35^^-'^'' Jos. 2o3- 6- ^ b^i, as said above (on 78), is
lo enforce a claim : blood shed wrongfully calls for justice
(Gn. 4^*^) ; and the D"nn pNi is the one who enforces this claim
upon the murderer, and so vindicates the rights of the
murdered man, i.e. he is the "avenger of blood." — 8-10. If
Israel's territory be enlarged to the ideal limits promised (1'^
ii^^f), three additional cities are to be set apart for the same
purpose. — 8. Enlarge thy border, dfc] 1220. — As he sware,
<5r'c.] cf. Ex. 23^^ 34^*' — All the land which he promised, &c.]
see on i7««i ("to the Euphrates"). — 9. The condition of this
expansion of Israel's territory, viz. Israel's devotion to the
service of its God. Comp. 1 122-24^ The first part of the verse,
introduced by ''3, enunciates a condition subordinate to v.^:
then thou shall add is the apodosis to And if i^^"^), v.^. See
phil. note on 1220. — To love] 6^. — To walk in his ways] 8^. —
10. That innocent blood be not shed, djr'c.] as it would be, if a
man, not guilty of deliberate murder, were slain by the avenger
of blood. "Innocent blood," as 21^ 2725 Jer. 7^ al.'. comp.
4»>-5. " He that smiteth . . ., and he that goeth . . ., he shall flee," &c.
But prob. •\^»'S as when should be read for iitki and he that in v." ; for v.**
seems clearly intended not to annex a fresh case, but to illustrate v.*^. —
8. 'Ji nmji . . . K3' lE'Ni] Gn. 24"''*''&c. (Dr. § 115, s.v. ib'x). — 6. Tin nar 'a]
cf. 14^. — vSi inDni] lit. "and smite him as regards (the) soul" {i.e. the life :
on 12^)'. so v.^i Gn. 37'-^' Jer. 40"-'^ (paraphrased in A.V. "take his (thy)
life"); cf. Dt. 22^^ csj: in^ni (G-K. § 117. 5<i). — mo bsb-o ['n 'h'i\ lit. "and he
had no case of death," i.e. he was guilty of no capital offence : so Jer.
26'*'^^. Cf. Dt. 21-2 lit. "when there is in a man a sin, a case 0/ death
(i.e. a capital crinu")." — 10. iMi . . . is::" n^i] as 7-''. — 11. Snh] 4*=*.
XIX. 6-ia 233
V.**. — Is giving thee, <5^c.] 4^^ — And blood he upon thee\
cf. 2 S. 21^ (reading, with G, "upon Saul and upon his house
there is blood [Q^Dl nh^3 bsi]"); also 2 S. 168 Hos. 12".
The meaning- of these verses will depend upon the view taken of 4''^"*^.
jf^^4i-43 ^^g placed where it now stands by the author of Dt., the three
trans-Jordanic Cities of Refuge will be presupposed here ; and, v.*'^ refer-
ring to the three cities in Canaan, v.^"^** will contemplate three others
(making- nijie in all), to be added in case Israel's territory reach the limits
promised in i'' ii^'-. If, on the contrary, ^^^-^ is a subsequent insertion in
Dt., and the appointment of the three trans-Jordanic cities by Moses is
antedated (cf. p. 78), then only six cities in all will be contemplated by D,
three in Canaan v.^"', and three on the E. of Jordan v.^'*" (Wellh. Comp.
207 ; Benzinger, Heb. Arch. 337). The terms of v.^ favour the first of
these alternatives ; at the same time it is remarkable, if it be correct, that
no allusion is made, even in v.*"*, to the three cities E, of Jordan, already
(according- to Dt 4^^"'*3) appointed.
11-13. But the privilege of asylum is not to be extended to
the murderer, who, if he flees to one of these cities, is to be
delivered up, without compunction, to justice. Comp. Ex.
21^*; and more fully (P) Nu. 35^^"^^ (where different cases of
intentional homicide are illustrated). — 11. Rise up against him]
Gn. 48.— 12. The elders of his city] cf. 2i2-*-6-i9f- 22"-i8 257-8;
and in D^ Jos. 20*.
The "elders" figure in almost every period of Israelitish history.
Thus they appear sometimes as the official representatives of the people
generally, acting- on their behalf on important occasions, accompanying- or
conferring with Moses, Joshua, or the king, &c. {e.g. Ex. ^^^'^s ^29 2^^-^*;
Dt. 520 (23; 2f 299(10) 3i9-»8 Jos. 7« 24I I S. 4=* 8^ 2 S. 31^ 5* i K. S^-* 20"-) ;
sometimes as the leading inhabitants or representatives of a particular
district or city, as Jud. 8^^ (Succoth), 11"-" (Gile'ad), i S. ii» (Jabesh), le*
(Bethlehem), 302' and 2 S. i^'^^W (Judah), 1 K. 218-" (Jezreel), 2 K. 10^' '
(Samaria), who constitute the local authority, by whom, for instance, a
royal commission is executed, or public business affecting- the locality is
transacted. In Dt. they are represented as exercising judicial functions
(cf. on i6'8), especially in the trial of capital charges, and cases aff'ecting
the rights of the family: comp. Ru. t^^-*-^ i K. 218- " Ezr. 10*. Is. 3^'^*
9" (16) also illustrate their official status, and the duties expected of them.
And deliver him, &€.] the avenger of blood is specified in
Nu. 35^^"^^ as the person authorized to put the murderer to
death : but the particular case of the murderer, after he has
fled to a city of refuge, being fetched thence and delivered up to
him by the elders of his own city, is not there contemplated.
234 DEUTERONOMY
13. Thine eye shall not pity him] y^^. — Thou shall exterminate
(13* (5)) innocent blood from Israel] blood innocently shed, so
long as it is unavenged, is a stain upon a land (Nu. 3533) ; by
the death of the murderer the stain is removed (cf. 21'). — And
it shall be •vaellfor thee (lis 31L31)] 5^° (^^>.
In many countries a money-compensation (a a-ajnj, or wergild) is accepted
by the relatives of a murdered man, as a satisfaction for his life (see e.g.
Hom. n. i8*^^^' ; Tac. Germ. 21 ; among the Saxons, Freeman, Compar.
Politics, 275-278). But in Hebrew law no such compromise is permitted :
murder can be atoned for only by the blood of the murderer (Ex. 21" in
JE; Lev. 24" in H ; Dt. ig^i^; Gn. 9"- Nu. ZS^^'^ »« P): a nsa, or "ransom,"
is permitted only in the case of a man being killed by an animal (Ex. 21*").
The "avenger of blood" figures in many primitive or semi-primitive
societies. In a completely civilized society, the right of punishment is
assumed by the State : for the revenge that might be inflicted in haste or
passion (Dt. 19') by one immediately interested, is substituted the judg-
ment of a cool and impartial tribunal. But in a primitive society the case
is different : here what a manslayer has to fear is not public prosecution,
but the personal vengeance of the relatives of the slain man (comp. in
Arabia, W. R. Smith, Kinship, pp. 22 f., 53). Hebrew law is still in a
relatively primitive stage ; the Go' el, and not the State, executes justice on
the murderer (v.^* 2 S. i4''""; Nu. ss^*'*^) : but his authority is limited;
restrictions are placed in the way of his acting hastily or in passion (v.'* ');
according to Jos. 20^* (D^) the manslayer is under the protection of the
elders of the city of refuge ; in Nu. 35^' (P) the case between him and the
avenger of blood is subject to the decision of the " congregation " ; and
the murderer is to be put to death only on the evidence of more than one
witness (Nu. 35^" : comp. the general rule in Dt. 19^*). — See further, in
illustration of the custom of blood-revenge, A. H. Post, Entwicklungsgesch-
ichte des Familienrechts, pp. 1 13-137.
14. The landmark of a neighbour not to be removed. — A
species of encroachment w^hich, to judge from allusions else-
where, was not uncommon in ancient Israel : comp. 27^^ Hos.
510 Pr. 2228 (•^■^nnx iK'y -ik^k D^iy ^na jon ^x), 23^0 (d^ij? ^33 ion ^x
K3n ^X D^OW ntJ'ni), Job 242 (named here, as in Dt. 271^ — see
v^i8. 19 — by the side of other acts of aggression perpetrated
upon the unprotected). Among other nations, also, as Knobel
reminds us, boundaries were treated as inviolable : among the
Greeks, for instance, they were under the protection of Zevs
o/jtos; Plato {Legg. viii. 842 E), probably repeating an older law,
ordains /x^ Kimro) yijs opta /nT^Sfts /a^tc oIkuov ttoXltov yciTOvos fi-tp't
ifioT€p[iovo^, K.T.X. ; and the Romans even deemed it allowable
18. '^jn D-\] 2 K. 24* Jer. 22^71 : see Ew. § 287" ; G-K. § 128. 2 R».
XIX. 13-19 235
to slay those who attempted to move them (Dion. Hal. ii. 74;
Plutarch, Numa 16), and celebrated the annual festival of the
Terminalia in honour of the god Terminus (Ovid, Fastiy ii.
6398".). — IVhich they 0/ old time have sei\ lit. the former ones
(D*3t^'^<1), i.e. ancestors (Lev. 26*5). Holding-s of land, inherited
by the poor occupier from his ancestors (comp. in Pr. 22"
"thy fathers"), are not to be encroached upon by a wealthier
neighbour. The law, in its present wording, presupposes the
occupation of Canaan by the Israelites, the D''3B'N"i being evi-
dently not the Canaanite predecessors of the Israelites, but
the Israelitish ancestors of the present possessors. — In the
land, &€.] the usual Deut. formula (i^o 12^).
15-21. The law of witness. No person is to be judicially
condemned on the testimony of a single witness ; and a mali-
cious witness is to be punished in accordance with the Lex
talionis. — 15. At the mouth of two witnesses, (Sr'c] the same
precautionary rule, which is laid down in 17^ and Nu. 352' (P)
in the case of capital charges, is here reaffirmed as a general
principle in the administration of criminal law. — Shall a matter
be established^ or "a word be confirmed," i.e. (subjectively)
be treated as valid (Nu. 305-6. 8j_ — 16-21. When a malicious
witness accuses a person wrongfully, the accuser and the
accused are both to appear before the central tribunal (17®) ;
and the witness, if his dishonesty be clearly proved, is to be
punished with the same penalty which his testimony, if true,
would have brought upon the person whom he accused. — 16.
A malicious witness] lit. a witness of violence (Dlon *1V), i.e. a
witness who either meditates some covert violence himself, or
who assists by his false testimony the high-handed wrong-
doer: so Ex. 23I Ps. 35". — To testify against (5^^) him of de-
fection] viz. from law and right. Elsewhere the term ('"'"^p)
is used of defection from God in a religious sense (on 13®) ;
but here it appears from the context to be used more generally,
as perhaps also in Is. 59^^. — 17-19. Then both the men who have
the dispute, i.e. the witness suspected of dishonesty and the
person whom he accuses, shall stand before fehovah (12^), before
the priests and the judges who shall be in those days, i.e. shall
17. a'ln DnS -wn] 2 S. 15*- *.
236 DEUTERONOMY
appear at the central sanctuary, before the supreme tribunal
there constituted (17^ with the note) ; and the judges, sitting
there, shall inquire diligently [i-^^^O-*) ly*.^) into the question
in dispute ; and if the result of the inquiry be to show that the
witness has spoken untruthfully, then shall ye do unto him as
he had purposed {7.&c\\. i® Jer. 51^2) to do unto his brother, viz.
by accusing him falsely upon a criminal charge. The question
is treated as belonging to the class of more difficult cases,
reserved for the jurisdiction of the central tribunal (see on
lysf.). — So shall thou exterminate the evil from thy midst] the
same concluding formula as in other similar cases (on 13^(5)).
— 20. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, &fc.\
similarly 1312(11). — 21. No compunction is to be felt in execut-
ing the sentence. — Thine eye shall 7iot pity] v.^^ 7^^. — Life (shall
be given) for life, eye for eye, ^c] similarly Ex. 212* (JE) Lev.
24I8. 20 (H) ; but each time for a different offence: in Ex. in
the special case of men fighting together, and injuring in
the struggle a woman with child ; in Lev. quite generally, in
the case of a man doing his neighbour some bodily harm.
Life is lit. soul: see on 1223.
XX. Three Laws designed to secure Self-control and
Forbearance in the Conduct of War.
"These laws are peculiar to Dt. : their aim, however, is
not to regulate the entire conduct of war, but only to check
the barbarity and cruelty with which it was carried on by
many ancient nations, especially by the Assyrians, to bring it,
as far as possible, under the influence of the higher moral
spirit of Israel's religion, and to secure recognition for the
claims of humanity and moderation " (Dillmann, after Ewald,
Antiquities, p. 314). The chap., where it stands, separates
c. 19 from 2 1 1-9 (both of which deal with cases connected with
murder), while it is itself, on the other hand, cognate with
2 1 10-14^ Perhaps its original place was after 21*, where it
would form a suitable introduction to 2iio-i* &c.
1-9. The spirit of trustful confidence in presence of the foe,
18. n:ni] = "and if" (13").— 21. e-sn cbj] the a is the z pretii (14/^): Ex.
21'-^ Lev. 24'*'^ nnn " insliad of" is used.
XIX. 20 — XX. 5 237
and of regard for the circumstances and interests of individual
soldiers, in which a military expedition is to be undertaken
by Israel. — 1-4. The Israelite is to reflect, and to be reminded
also by the priest accompanying the host, that Jehovah is
ever beside them, as their champion and ally. — And see st horse i
ayid chariots\ which w^ere always formidable to the Israelites,
and with which, in particular, the Eg-yptians and Assyrians
were well provided. — IVho brought thee up, &-'c.\ and thereby
gave evidence of His power to help thee : comp. 7^^'^^ and
for the ptcp. Si^-^^^ — g. That the priest shall approach, &'c.\ the
priest, viz. who is in attendance upon the host, for the purpose
of performing the necessary sacred functions.
The presence of a priest (or priests) with the army, is not otherwise
expressly attested, at least as a standing custom ; but it may be inferred
— though some of the instances are, it is true, not of a character to estab-
lish a rule — from such passages as i S. 4* [omit " there" with fflr], ^^ 14'*
2 S. 11^^ (the ark taken into the field) ; i S. 7^'* 13^'* (sacrifices before an
engagement); Nu. 10* 31* (both P) 2 Ch. 13^*-'*; and from the expres-
sion to consecrate (c'';!i3) a war (or warriors), which refers apparently to the
sacrifices offered at the opening of a campaign (Mic. 3* Jer. 6* 22'' gi^v. 28
Is. 13' Joel 4').
3. Hear, O Israel] 5^. — Let not your heart be soft] or tender
(^T.) * cf. V.8 Is. 7* Jer. 51*^. — Nor be alarmed (iTDnn ^Si)] cf. on
i63. — Neither be affrighted (iviyn ^Xl) i^^. — Is he that goeth
with you, to fight for you, &'c.\ cf. 3^2. — 5-7. Permission is
further to be given by public proclamation through the host,
for those who have engaged recently in certain important
domestic undertakings, to return home, and enjoy the antici-
pated satisfaction or pleasure of which death in the field might
otherwise deprive them. These provisions are a remarkable
illustration of the sympathetic regard for the interests and
feelings of others, which characterizes the author of Dt. — 5.
The officers (D"'"it3K')] i-e. subordinate military officials (i^^) ; it
may be presumed that these kept the register of those who
served in the army ; and hence it would naturally be their
duty to know who had received authorized leave of absence. —
Who is the man that hath built a new house, and not dedicated
it? let him go and return, d^c] the dedication of the temple
ZX. 1. iVyon] on S^*.— 2. D3?li??] qdrobkhdm : G-K. § 61. 1 R.^
238 DEUTERONOMY
(i K. 8*53), of an altar (Nu. 710), and of an image (Dan. 3«- »),
is alluded to elsewhere, but not the dedication of an ordinary
private house. — 6. Not used the fruit thereof ? (ii'pn)] lit. not pro-
faned it (the vineyard), treated it as common (so 28^° Jer. 31^),
— the first produce of the vines being reserved as sacred, and
not used by the owner: comp. Lev. 1923-25. — 7. That hath
betrothed a wife, <Sr'c.] comp. 24^, where exemption from
military service is granted to those who are newly married,
for the space of a year. — 8. The faint-hearted are zilso to be
allowed to return home, lest their presence should have a
demoralizing effect upon the other soldiers. — Soft-hearted\ (^"1
^^^C)] cf. 2 Ch. 137; above, on v.^ — Meli\ i28. — 9. Only when
this proclamation has been made, and the numbers of those
who intend to remain at their post are accurately known, is
the army to be marshalled in divisions, under their respective
commanders. — That they shall appoint captains of hosts\ prob-
ably the captains of hundreds, and thousands, often mentioned
elsewhere (p. 18) : but the expression is an unusual one (cf.
I K. 2^ I Ch. 273). The subject of "shall appoint" will
hardly be "the officers" (Keil), for the duty of appointing
commanders is one that is likely to have been entrusted to a
more responsible authority: more probably, the subject is
indefinite, Engl, "they," Heb. CTj^sn (see philol. note on 152),
i.e. those whose business it was to appoint them (Dillm.). —
For an example of this law being acted upon, see i Mace. 3^®.
10-18. In attacking a hostile city (provided it be not one
belonging to the Canaanites), a formal offer of peace is always
to be first made to it; and it is to be treated with severity
only in case this offer be declined. — 10. Then proclaim peace
to it\ i.e. invite it to surrender peaceably; cf. Jud. 2i^3. — 11.
Shall he for forced labour unto thee (0^7 ^p Vn^), and shall serve
thee] "tributary" (RV.) expresses the general sense, but not
the special ideas associated with the Heb. mas, which implies
8. aaS riK 05; nSi] constr. as 12^. (E {'Iva fin luXia^n) Sam., however,
express Dp; (cf. i**), which may be right. — 10. mStrV .tSk nxipi] lit. "call
to it -with reference to peace" ; cf. for the V i S. 17^*. — 11. iJj;" ^"^v dn]
words like dn, o, jyoS, JS, &c., are as a rule followed immediately by the
verb : diW is here prefixed for emphasis ; cf. 2 S. 17^' i K. 20'* Ex. ai'. —
r.T . . . n'.-n] on 1 2".
XX. 6-17 239
liability to forced service^ or task-work, such as an Eastern
monarch is wont to exact of his subjects (cf. Jos. 16''' i K. 9**
[the "forced labour of one doing service," cf. "and shall
serve thee" here]; and on 2 S. 202^). — 12-14. But if the offer
of peace be declined, then the siege is to be proceeded with ;
and if the city be captured, all the male population may be
slain with the sword, the women and children, together with
the cattle and spoil, being reserved as a prey for the captors.
Such treatment of a conquered city, measured by a modern
standard, may be deemed severe : but it must be recollected
(i) that it is only ex hypothesi to be resorted to, after the offer
of more favourable terms has been distinctly made and
refused ; and (2) that it is lenient as compared with the
barbarities often practised in ancient warfare upon a con-
quered people ; the law implies no sanction or excuse for such
atrocities as are alluded to in Am. i^-i^ Hos. 14I (13^^) 2 K.
8^2^ or for the torture of prisoners, and other cruelties,
perpetrated, as their own monuments declare, by the Assyrians
(comp. Rawlinson, Anc. Monarchies,'^ i. 478 f.). — 14. But the
women, fir'c] the women and children are to be spared (con-
trast v.i^ 2^* &c.), the case not being one for the application of
the hdrem (on 72). — Take for a prey unto thyself^ '-^)] 2®''
3^ — Eat\ i.e. enjoy, use for thine own sustenance and profit. —
15. Of these nations^ i.e. of the nations of Canaan. — 16-18. But
in the case of cities belonging to the Canaanites, no such for-
bearance is to be exercised : their inhabitants, in accordance
with the provision 72*, are to be all put to the sword, lest
they should lead the Israelites into immorality and irreligion.
— Aught that breatheth\ lit. any breath (nD&*j"73) ; the same
expression Jos. io« ijn. 14(^2) i k. 1529 (Deut.); Ps. i5o»t.
From Jos. ii^^it seems that only human beings are denoted
by it : this is in accordance with the predominant usage of
HDB'i, which is applied to the breath of life in man, Gn. a'
I K. 17" Is. 426 57I6 Job 273 34I*, but is used only once of
animals, Gn. 72s. — 17. Utterly destroy] lit. devote : see on 7>. —
The Hittite, &'c.'\ on 72. — Commanded thee] 7': comp. Ex.
12-13. And when, &c.} so AV. RV,, accommodating- the sentence to
Eng-. idiom : cf. on S^*"", and Dr. § 149. — moi] 16'*. — 13. run . . . k"? iitn] 17",
240 DEUTERONOMY
2-i3i-3s_ — 13_ That they teach you not to do after all their
abominations . . ., and so ye sin^ <5r'c.] cf. 7* la^i iS^^,
19-20. The fruit-trees belonging to the territory of a
besieged city not to be wantonly destroyed by the besieger. —
A common practice with invading' armies, often, for example,
mentioned in Greek warfare (Kecpeiv or rc/Aveiv t^v y^v, &c.).
In 2 K. 319-25 the Israelites invading Moab, at Elisha's in-
stigation, "cut down every good tree." *' In Arabic warfare
the destruction of an enemy's palm-groves is a favourite
exploit [OTJCJ^ p. 369); see for ancient times 4 Esdr. 15^2^
Ibn Hisham, ed. Wiist. p, 13, 1. 4, ' He was resolved ... to
root out the people of Medina, and cut down the palm-trees,'
and for recent times Palgrave, Travels in Arabia^ chap, v."
(W. R. Smith, MS. note). It was also an Assyrian custom —
at least after the capture of a city — to destroy the valuable
trees in the vicinity, esp. the date-palms (Rawlinson, Anc.
Mon.^ i. 474, 475, with the illustration). — 19. For is the tree of
the field man, that it should be besieged before thee (lit. enter
into siege from before thee) ?] i.e. that it should be subjected,
like the walls of a city, to the assaults of a besieger : Israel's
hostility, namely, may be directed excusably against men,
who are national adversaries, but not against trees capable of
supplying it with sustenance. The rendering, which is that
of all the ancient versions, and nearly all modern com-
mentators, implies the alteration of a point (^^^n for ^^^v") in
the Massoretic vocalization, which here yields no appropriate
sense : see below. Enter into siege, as 2 K. 24^'' 252 : cf. Jer.
10^7; Ez. 4^. — 20. Bulwarks] rather siege-works, the same
word ("i^^'P) which is rendered "siege" in v.^^: cf. Ez. 42 Mic.
4I* Is. 29^. — Until it fall] lit. come down (28^2 jg. 32^^).
18. cnxam . . . \vr>^] as 7-^ — 19. m:"?] G-K. § 114. 2 R.* — 'ji DTxri 'd] can
only be rendered, "man is the tree of the field," which is explained to
mean " man consists of the tree of the field," i.e. he lives on it (so Ibn 'Ezra
who paraphrases .tibti |'y Kin mt< p "n '3, whence A\'. ; Schultz, who
compares 24^* Ez. 12^" [corrupt] Eccl. 12'^). But though this idiom occurs
in Heb. (Dr. § 189. 2), the present would be a very extreme instance of it,
and the rend, leaves the clause ii-iD^ Tjro NnS unexplained, cixn for dtk^
removes all difficulty. — 20. "^axD fy] Lev. 19**. — in.x] resuming- \V : cf. Ps.
IOl^ and on 13'. — r\\ff]) Kin tb-k] as Gen. 9^ Nu. i4'*- -^^ (Z^.v. «<in 2c ; Dr.
i 199 Obs.).
XX. i8— XXI. 4 241
XXI. 1-9. Symbolical ceremony for the expiation of an
untraced murder. — If a man be found murdered in the open
country, and there be no indication who the murderer is, the
elders of the city which is nearest to the spot where the corpse
was found, are to procure a heifer which has never been used
for any work, to take it to a running stream, and having- there
slain it, in presence of the priests, to wash their hands over
it, at the same time solemnly avowing before God that their
city is guiltless of the murder, and entreating Him to forgive
His people for the crime that has been committed in its midst.
The law is peculiar to Dt., though the feeling which underlies
it, viz. that the shedding of innocent blood defiles a land or
people, until some recognized atonement be offered for it, is
one which is often expressed elsewhere. The rite prescribed
is of an archaic character, and is certainly much older than the
law of Dt. in which it is here embodied.
In Arabia, when a man was found slain, the people of the place had to
swear that they were not the murderers (Smith, Kinship, p. 263). " In
the Kitab al-AghanT, ix. 178, 1. 25 ff., the responsibility for a homicide is
thrown on the nearest homestead {ddr). This is part of the arrangement
made by 'Amr b. Hind as arbiter between the two tribes to prevent the
recrudescence of war between Bakr and Taghlib. Doubtless in the
Hebrew law also the original object was to preclude blood-feud " (W. R.
Smith, MS. note).
1. If there he found\ 17* 2^. — Is giving thee to possess it]
19^*; cf. 15* 25!^. — 2. Thy elders and thy judges] i.e. those of
the surrounding cities (cf. on 1912 16^8), — 3_4, The city which
is nearest to the scene of the murder is to be held responsible
for the due performance of the expiating rite, its "elders"
acting naturally on its behalf (on 19^^). — 3. Which hath not been
-wrought 10 ith^ &€.] cf. 15^^ Nu. 192. — 4. Unto a valley (wady)
•with ever-running -water] see below. — Which is neither plowed
nor so-wn] i.e. is an uncultivated spot. — And shall break the
heifet's neck there] the heifer, in this rite, is manifestly designed
XXI. 1. ri" kS] a circ. cl. = "»V not being known" (Dr. § 162). — 3. .rm
'11 Tvn] construe as 12" (where see note). — na Tjv, k"? nsx] "wherewith it
hath not been worked" — an impers. passive, as v.* ("wherein it is not
tilled"), Is. 14^ "the hard labour n^ ijj; ib-n wherewith (cogn. accus.)
it was worked with thee" ; cf. 16^" 53^ Nu. 16** (on 2 S. 17^'^).— 4. in-x ^n] ffi
^a,fa,y^ Tfa-x^'ta., Aq. (see Field, ad loc.) x^'f^'^fh^ '"^tp^'h Onq. t;5 ^Q} (un-
cultivated), hence S kt3 (do.), V asperam atque saxosam, AV. rough. The
16
242 DEUTERONOMY
as a substitute for the unknown murderer, and bears the
penalty which ought properly to be his. It is not regarded as
a proper sin-offering, and accordingly it is not slaughtered
with any special ritual (Lev. 4iff), but merely put to death by
having its neck broken (Ex. 13^8 3420 Is. 663) . ^t the same time,
the fact that the animal is to be a young one, which has
not been used for any profane purpose, shows that a certain
sanctity is conceived to attach to it, and, as Dillm. observes,
that it possesses to some extent the character of a sin-offering
(comp. Nu. 192). And it is to be slaughtered by an ever-
flowing stream, in an uncultivated spot, in order doubtless
that the blood may be carried away by the torrent, and that
any which falls upon the earth may sink into it, without the
risk of being uncovered at some future time when the soil is
disturbed by the plough. — 5. The priests the sons of Levi] 31^:
usually "the priests the Levites " (18^). The priests here
meant may possibly be those of the central sanctuary : but
more probably, by an inexactness of language (p. 219), the
members of the priestly tribe resident in the locality (18^): cf.
Baudissin, Priesterthuin^ 82, 84. — JFor them, &€.] cf. lo^ 18*.
— And according- to their sentence (lit. 77iouth) shall every
dispute and every stroke be\ i.e. they are to have a voice in
word is one of those of which the true meaning was lost by the Jews ; and
it was accordingly represented both by the ancient versions and by the
mediaeval Jewish commentators, Rashi, Ibn 'Ezra, Qimchi, &c. (whence
AV.) by conjectural renderings, more or less agreeable with the context,
such as strong, mighty, hard, rough (comp. the AV, of Gen. 49** Ex. 14*'
Nu. 20^^ Jer. 5'* Ps. 74^^ Pr. 13^*). As soon, however, as Arabic began to
be studied systematically, and compared with Hebrew, the real meaning
ofjn'xat once revealed itself; Schultens, in his Origines Hebrcece (1724),
i. 8, pointed out that the root must be the Arabic toatana, to be constant,
unfailing, esp. of water ; hence in'N Vn: Am. ^^ a perennial, or ever-floiving
torrent (wady), here of a torrent-valley (see on 2^^), the stream in which
flowed continuously. In Ex. 14-' Ps. 74'* jn^j* is construed as a subst. =
"continuous flow" : elsewhere it is used fig. to denote permanent, endur-
ing, sure, as Gen. 49-* of a bow, Nu. 24*^ (a dwelling), Jer. 5** (a nation,
whose numbers never dwindle or fail). Job 12^^ (of men firmly seated, or
established, in a position of dignity), &c. The opposite of J^'N is 3j^S Jer.
15**. In form, the word is an " elative," i.e. it has an intensive force, the
corresponding formation in Arabic denoting the comparative or superlative
degrees of an adjective ; in Hebrew it fell out of use, except in a few
instances, as aj^x, iti'?<, ■ij?»<, lOif-is (Ew. § 162*'; Stade, §§ 255, 256'').
XXI. 5-h 243
every legal decision of importance (cf. 17^'*'). Here the
presence of the priests appears to be required, not for the
purpose of taking part personally in the ceremony (which is
performed throughout by the "elders" of the city concerned),
but rather for the purpose of imparting to it a religious char-
acter, and of securing that the presoribed rites are properly
performed. — 6. And all the elders of that city . . . shall wash
their hands over the heifer, &'c.\ thereby expressing symbolic-
ally that the city which they represent is innocent of the
crime (Mt. 272* : cf. Ps. 26*' 73^^), and transferring the guilt
of it to the animal representing the murderer. — 7. Answer
(ijy)] in a liturgical sense (271^- ^^). — Neither have our eyes seen
it\ i.e. nor have we any knowledge who is the murderer. — 8.
Clear pB?) thy people\ the root-idea of kapper is either (from
the Arab.) to cover (see Wellh. Comp. 335 f.), or (from the
Syr.) to wipe off (see OTJC.^ 438 f., (more briefly) 2 381 ; cf.
nno blot out Is. 4325 4422), — in either case, the general sense
being that of obliterating or cancelling- sin, or (in the rare
cases where the obj. is a person) clearing the sinner. In the
OT. generally the subj. is God, as 32*^ Jer. iS^^ Ez. 16^^ (with
*>, as here), Ps. 65^ 7828 798; cf. the pass, v.sb i S. 3!^ Is. &
22^* Pr. 16° : in P the subj. is mostly the priest, the verb being
used absolutely in the sense oi perform an obliterating {atoning)
rite. See further pp. 425-6; and on Lev. i*. — Wliich l/wu
hast ransomed (7^)] the appeal is grounded on the gracious
relation subsisting between Jehovah and His people, which
was sealed by their deliverance from Egypt. — Set not innocent
blood in the midst of thy people^ let it not remain, infecting and
incriminating thy people (cf. with hv jDJ to lay upon, Jer. 26^*
7. n3Br kV] the Kt. is npe^p', the fem. sing, with the plural (or dual) ilT
understood (as in Arab.) collectively, as i S. 4*' Ps. 18^ 37^^ al. (Ew. § yj^ ;
G-K. § 145''). The Qr^ ('3? 5*) substitutes the more ordinary construction,
as it does in Jer. 2'' 22' Ps. ^^^. The correction is, however, unneces-
sary ; for the cases in which the verb is in the impf. (as Ps. 37") are
sufficiently numerous to show that the construction is genuinely Hebrew.
(Aram, and Eth. have a 3 p\. fem. in a : hence Peters, Hebraica, 1887, p.
Ill, 1889, p. i9of., supposes these forms to be isolated examples of the
same form in Heb.; see, however, Nold. ZDMG. 1884, p. 411.). — 8. "iSSj]
a Nithpael form, with double reflexive prefix, very common in post-bibL
Hebrew (Strack u. Siegffried, Lehrh. der Neuhebr. Sprache, % 91*, e.g,
244 DEUTERONOMY
Jon. 1^*). The community, as a whole, is responsible for the
crime committed in its midst, until the murderer has been
brought to justice (Nu. 35^^), or, if this is impossible, until
some expiation has been offered, and accepted, for his offence.
— 9. And thou (emph.) shall exlerminale the innocent Mood
from thy inidst\ thus shall Israel perform the duty of clearing
itself from the stain of murder (comp. 19^^). — When thou shall
do that which is right (6^^) in the eyes of Jehovali\ in obeying
Jehovah's behest, Israel will clear itself of the guilt resting
upon it.
XXI. lO-XXV. Miscellaneous Laws, relating chiefly to
Civil and Domestic Life.
The section beginning here is marked by several peculi-
arities of terminology, which are to be accounted for, probably,
by the fact that the laws contained in it (which are often more
concisely worded than in the previous chapters) are taken more
directly, and with less modification of form than in other cases,
from older sources.
10-14. On marriage with a female captive taken in war.
— An Israelite is at liberty to bring home with him a female
captive, but he may not formally treat her as his wife until he
has allowed her a month in which to mourn for her lost
parents. He may afterwards, if he ceases to care for her,
permit her to leave him, but he must not sell her into slavery.
The law (which is peculiar to Dt.) inculcates thoughtfulness
and forbearance under circumstances in which the Israelitish
warrior, elated by victory, might readily deem himself at
liberty to act as he pleased. It is connected by its subject-
matter with c. 20; and perhaps (as remarked on 2\^) was
once immediately preceded by c. 20. The case contemplated
is manifestly that of warfare with foreign nations, after Israel
is settled in Palestine (v.^o "when thon goest forth " &c.), not
with the nations of Canaan, with whom no intermarriages are
to be contracted (72). — 10. When thou goest forth to battle
'Djpj;ij, ?S?{<nj), though the only other example in the OT. is Ez. 23** IPW
(G-K. § 55* ;' Stade, § i6()^). The constr. with S, as Is. 22" (Pu'al).— 10.
V3'H<] perh. "originally 13'^k, in agreement with 'lanj and Vair : so 28**"
XXI. 9-14 245
against thine enemies] exactly as 20^ — And Jehovah thy God
delivereth him into thy hand] as 20^^ ; cf. on 32. — 11. /fast a
desire unto her {7\2 npCJ'm)] 7'' iqI^; as here, Gn, 348. — 12. She
shall shave her heady and pare her nails] a. symbolical expres-
sion of the fact that her forsaken condition is at an end, that
she has found a husband who will care for her, and that she
is about to begin life again under new auspices, in close
relationship with the people of God.
In ancient Arabia, a widow passed the year after her husband's death
in seclusion, without washing or otherwise attending to her person : and
she would terminate her period of mourning by some formal act, such as
paring- her nails, or plucking out the hair from her face (Lane, Arab. Lex.
p. 2409" ; Wellh. Arab. Heid. 156 ; Smith, Kinship, 178 ; OTJC."^ 368). The
present injunction is based probably on such a custom, though, as the
woman is not represented as being actually a widow, she may lay aside
the marks and (v.^^) the garb of her forlorn state, as soon as her prospects
of a husband and of a home are assured.
" Pare " is lit. make (riB'j?), i.e. shape aright^ dress', cf. of the
beard, 2 S. ig^^. — 13. The rairnent of her captivity] her captive's
garb (Is. 32*). — And shall remain in thine house (Gn. 38^1), and
he-wail her father and her mother for a month of days] cf. the
month's mourning of Nu. 20^9 Dt. 34^ (for Aaron and Moses).
The object of the provision is evidently (Keil, Dillm.) to give
her time to become reconciled to her separation from her
parents (Ps. 45^^ (^^>), and her own people, and to accustom
herself to her new surroundings, into which she has been
brought against her will. — 14. Let her go whither she will] lit.
according to her soul (or desire: 24^''); see Jer. 34^^. — Thou
shalt not sell her for money] the restriction is in virtual agree-
ment with the provision laid down in Ex. 21^ (JE) for the case
(Di.) ; cf. however on 7'". — V2v n-atn] cf. Nu. 21I Jud. 5^^ Ps. 68". — 11. frar]
32** 2 Ch. 28'.— nun nij' nr»<] for the st. c. nrK, cf. i S. 28^ Ps. 58^ (before a
rel. clause), and the common phrase . . . B3 nVina. nPK, not less than ns',
is determined by nun (cf. i S. 16^^) ; but the gen. which determines it is
deferred, or held in suspense, by the introduction of the parallel ns'. Comp.
Ew. § 289C; G-K. § 130'.— 13. .T^yD . . . fn'D.-n] cf. Gn. 38"- »» i S. xf*.—
D'D' ht] so 2 K. \^^\ D'D' mn Gn. 29" Nu. n«>-*it. O'C is prob. not a
geniL, but in appos. with rrr : cf. O'D' cmc (Dr. § 192. i ; G-K. § 131. 2 c).
-H. .13 -ovnn nV] cf. 24' 1-1301 12 TDi'nmf. The meaning is uncertain. Arab.
ghamura is to be copious or abundant, of water, ghamara is to rise abovt
(of water), to submerge, fig. to surpass, excel (in stature, dignity, &c.) ; conj.
Hi. ghamara to plunge into a fight, attack in conflict, ghamrah is a sub-
246 DEUTERONOMY
of a man, who has taken his female bond-servant to wife, and
desires afterwards to part with her. — Thou shall not play the
master over her] on "inynn (24''t), see below. — Because thou hast
humbled her (i^n^^V)] ^\'^ of dishonourings a woman, as 22'*- ^
Gn. 34S 2 S. 1312 al. (cf. below).
15-17. The rights of the firsthom. — The firstborn son is
not to be disinherited, or deprived of his legitimate share of
his father's property, in the interests of the son of a favourite
wife : he is to receive a share twice as large as any of his
brothers. Peculiar to Dt. The law is designed to guard against
the case which, it is evident, might readily arise, of a man's
abusing his paternal prerogative through the influence of a
favourite wife. — 15. If a man have two wives, the one beloved
and the other hated\ as happened, for example, in the case of
Jacob (Gn. 2(f^-'^^: cf. i S. i^). — 16. In the day that he causethy
&c.\ a certain testamentary power was thus possessed by the
ancient Israelite (cf. Gn. 24^6 25^ ; 2 S. 17^3 2 K. 20^) ; but it was
limited by custom and law (cf. No\vack,^rcAao/. §64). — 17. But
he shall acknowledge C'''?!!) the firstboT7i\ properly, recognise him
(Gn. 428), viz. as being what he is, and possessing rights above
his brethren, — By giviyig him a share of two in all that he hath]
lit. ^^ a TTiouth of two" (O^pC' '2). The same idiomatic expression
recurs 2 K. 2® ("let a share of two in thy spirit fall to me," i.e. a
share twice as large as any of thy other disciples ; may I rank
as the firstborn among them), Zech. 13^. — The beginning of his
strength] the first-fruits of his virile powers : so Gn. 49' (of
Reuben), cf. Ps. 78^1 \o<^^. — The right of the firstborn is his]
merging flood. In so far as the meaning in Heb. may be at all inferred
from these data, the reflex, conj. would have some such fig. sense as deal
despotically, play the master (cf. ffi 24' xaTttiviaanLaiti) : Ges. irruit in ali-
quem, manum ei admovit violentius. RV. paraphrases. — tcn nnn] 22^
2847.62 q/ J j.f^ .3 ;,nn 4^^. — an'Jj?] Arab, 'ana {'and^) is to be submissive,
obedient (Qor. 20""), esp. by becoming a captive, iv. to make or treat as a
captive (see esp. Rahlfs, 'jy und lay in den Psalmen, 1892, p. 67 ff.). niy
in Heb. means analogously to treat as a subject or dependent, with the
acquired idea of treating irresponsibly, to maltreat, to humble, by depriving
of independence, or liberty, or recognized rights : cf. Gn. 16^ (|| " to do
what is right in one's own eyes: so Jud. 19'-^), Gn. 31*" Jud. le"-®-", || to
serve or to enslave Gn. 15^^ Ex. i"-" (cf. v."); of a woman, specially to
treat with disregard 0/ her womanly rights, to dishonour. — 16. Sav kS] 7^
— '3B ^y] in front of —in preference to: cf. Ex. 20'.
XXI. I5-20 247
the position and privileges of the firstborn were highly valued
(cf. Gen. 2^^^- 8* 27^^). The present law does not institute the
right of the firstborn, but invests with its sanction an estab-
lished usage, and guards it against arbitrary curtailment.
18-21. The incorrigible son. — A son who persistently refuses
to obey his parents, is to be arraigned by them publicly before
the elders of his city, and stoned to death. This particular
law is peculiar to Dt. ; but respect towards parents is incul-
cated in the Decalogue : death is prescribed in the Book of the
Covenant (Ex. 21^^) as the penalty for smiting, as also, both
in the same Code {tb. v.^^) and in H (Lev. 20^), for cursing,
father or mother: in Dt. 27^^ he that "setteth light by his
father or his mother " is pronounced accursed. — Stubborn ana
rebellious (n"jin^ l^iD)] Jer. 523 Ps. 'jS^.— Chasten (^^D^.)] gs Pr.
19I8 29^7 : here, probably, including bodily correction (22^8 ;
cf. on 4^6; and see Pr. 132* 22^^ 23^3f. 29W). — 19. And shall bring
him forth\ 17'* 2221* 24. — Unto the elders of the city] whose
duty it was to take cognizance of offences against social and
family right : see on 19^2. — And unto the gate of his place] in
which the elders sat, and where the law was administered :
comp. 22^5 25'^ Ruth 41-2- 11. The "gate" — more properly the
gateway y with a depth corresponding to the thickness of the
wall in which it was constructed, having a gate at the inner
and outer ends (hence "between the two gates," 2 S. iS^*),
and doubtless seats along each side — is thus the Oriental
forum ; and it is often alluded to as the place in which the
administration of justice was carried on, e.g. Am. s^O' 12. u Is.
29" Job 3121 Ps. 1275. Cf. Thomson, The Land and the
Book, i. (S. Palest.) 27ff.— 20. The elders of his city] Sam. (K
"the men of his city " (as v. 21), which, however, appears here
to be less suitable than "elders." — (Being) a glutton and a
drunkard] the same combination (*5?bl ?7iT) Pr. 2321 (cf. v.**
"be not among those that drink wine, that squander flesh
upon themselves ") ; ^ht (properly a squanderer) also Pr. 28''.
The words are manifestly intended to hint at the ground of
the young man's obstinacy, though from the nature of the
case they will not be meant except as an example of what
20. nt uja] on 5*.
248 DEUTERONOMY
might be said on such an occasion. — 21. All the men of hh
city, ^c] comp. 13IU10) jyS 222*. ^*All" because it is to the
common interest for all to take part in putting down the
wrong: of. 1310(9), Nothing is said of any investigation on
the part of the elders into the truth of the parents' allegation :
no doubt this is passed over, as an understood thing, in the
case of a criminal charge. — So thou shalt exterminate^ &'c.\
i^^<J>\— Shall hear and fear\ 1312(11) 1713 1^20.
As shown above, Hebrew law insisted on respect beingf paid to parents,
and Hebrew moralists did not hesitate to commend the rod as a salutary
instrument of education ; but the father's authority — though, at least in an
earlier age (Ex. 21'), he could sell his daughter into slavery — was not
despotic : he had not, as at Rome, power of life and death over his son ;
where (as in the case here contemplated) vice and insubordination became
intolerable, he could not take the law into his own hands, he must appeal
to the decision of an impartial tribunal (cf. Nowack, Archdol. § 28, end).
The present law will hardly, however, have been often carried into practice :
"in Pr. 30'^ disobedience to parents is cited as a thing which brings a man
to a bad end, not as a thing punished by law " {^Rel. Sent, p. 60).
22-23. The body of a malefactor, exposed, after execution,
upon a tree, to be taken down and buried before nig^htfall. —
If there he in (15^) a mun a sin, ajudgm,ent of death (19®)] i.e.
a proved capital charge. — And he he put to death, and thou
hang him on a tree\ the malefactor was hung, not, as with us,
for the purpose of being executed, but after execution, as an
additional disgrace (comp. Jos. lo^^ 2 S. 412) : it was exposure
before God and man, a public proof that the adequate penalty
had been paid by him for his offence. — 23. His hody shall not
remain all night upon the tree, hut thou shalt hury him on the
same day] cf. Jos. 8^9 lo^^ (where the bodies of the kings
defeated by Joshua are removed "at the going down of the
sun"). — For he that is hanged is accursed of God, and thou
shalt not defile thy land, d^c] probably the exposure of a
malefactor's corpse by hanging was resorted to only in the
case of heinous offences : it could be taken therefore as
significant of the curse of God (Gn. 4" Dt. 27^*) resting
22. niD BStyo Ntjn] a case of apposition, 'd 'd limiting and defining the sense
of KBn: cf. Ex. 24^ zi-vhu D'n3T, Is. 3^ nc-ipp nyj;?, &c. (Dr. § 188. i). — 23.
'I'jn D'.nSN nSSp '3] "a curse of God "=accursed of God (Dr. § 189. 2). So
ffi («£xaT«^a;«8K)f biri rev hov), Aq. Theod. {^xaTtipx hiv [see Field]), U (male-
dictus a Deo), and virtually all moderns. There was, however, a current
XXI. 21— XXII. I 249
specially upon the offender ; and as murder, like other
abominable crimes, was held to render the land in which it was
perpetrated unclean (Nu. 35^^''- ; Lev. iS-*^-^'^^-), so the unburied
corpse, suspended aloft, with the crime as it were clinging to
it, and God's curse resting visibly upon it, had a similar effect.
Hence, as soon as the requisite publicity has been attained,
the spectacle is to end : the corpse, at sunset, is to be taken
down, and committed to the earth, as a token that justice has
completed its work, and that the land has been cleansed from
the defilement infecting it (comp., in the case of murder, Nu.
2g33b c. igi3 218). — Accurscd of God\ see below.
XXII. 1-4. On neighbourly feeling and regard. — The lost
property of a neighbour, if found, is to be restored to him, or
kept until he claims it, v.^'^. Assistance is to be cheerfully
rendered to a neighbour in difficulty, v.^.
^ Thou shalt not see thy brother's Ex. 23* If thou meet thine enemy's
ox or his sheep driven away, and ox or his ass going astray,
hide thyself from them : thou shalt thou shalt
surely bring them back to thy brother, surely bring it back to him.
' And if thy brother be not nigh
unto thee, &c. * And so shalt thou
do with his ass, and so shalt thou
do with his garment, &c.
* Thou shalt not see thy brother's • If thou shalt see the ass of him
ass, or his ox, fallen down in the that hateth thee couching down
way, and hide thyself from them ; under his burden, thou shalt forbear
thou to leave it to him (alone) ; thou
shalt surely lift (them) up with him. shalt surely loosen it with him.
The law is evidently an expansion of that in Ex. 23*^- (JE),
with modifications, accommodating it to the spirit and point
of view of Dt. The "enemy" in Ex. is noticeable: it is
Jewish interpretation, which treated D'n'rx as the obj, gen. (Gn. 27"), "a
curse — i.e. reproach, insult — to God" : so ap. Ariston of Pella [2nd cent.],
quoted by Jerome, Xoiiep'ia, hoZ i Kpifidfjt.iv'is ; Ps.-Jon. " For it is contempt
(Kni'?'p) before God to hang a man, except his sins have caused it ; and
because he is made in the image of God, thou shalt bury him," &c. ;
Rashi " It is a slight to the King (i'?D Sb' iSnSt), because man is made in
the image of God." The same constr. also underlies the (ungrammatical)
paraphrases of Onq. " for because he hath sinned before God he is hung,"
Symm. " propter blasphemiam Dei suspensus est," S " for he that
blasphemeth (uniiDT ]d) God is hung," Siphr d {sincient Heb. Comm. on Dt.]
orn nu SVipb/ 'jbd. Comp. Lightfoot, Galatians,^ p. 150 (on Gal. 3").
XXII. 1. noVynm . . . nunn «*?] on 7*.
250 DEUTERONOMY
an old-world anticipation of the spirit of Mt. 5**. In Dt
"brother" is substituted, not for the purpose of excluding one
who may be an enemy, but in order to make the application
of the precept as wide as possible (cf. on 152). For "driven
away "(Q''n^3), i.e. parted forcibly from the herd through some
mishap, cf. Mic. 4^ Zeph. 3^^ (with pp "gather"), Ez. 34*- ^^
(with "bring back").— ^/a^ thyself] Is. 58^ Ps. 552.-2-3.
Additions (except the " ass" in v.^) to the law of Ex. : (i) if
the owner be not at hand, or unknown, his lost animal is to
be kept till he comes to claim it : (2) all other lost property
that may be found is to be dealt with similarly. — 2. Until thy
brother require it\ or demand it, viz. as something that he has
a claim to : cf. 2322(21) Ez. 33^ 346- 8. 10. 11. cj>"ijn expresses more
than "seek after" (RV.), which would correspond to tJ'p (i S.
98). — 4. The uncommon, and probably archaic, uses of 3Ty in
Ex. 23^^ are replaced here by more ordinary phrases.
5. The sexes not to interchange garments, or other articles
of attire. — Peculiar to Dt. No doubt the prohibition is not
intended as a mere rule of conventional propriety, — though,
even as such, it would be an important safeguard against
obvious moral dangers, — but is directed against the simulated
changes of sex which occurred in Canaanite and Syrian
heathenism, to the grave moral deterioration of those who
adopted them (cf. OTJC.^ 365).
According to Macrob. Sat. Hi. 8, and Servius on Aen. ii. 632, there was
in Cyprus a statue of a bearded Venus, harhatum corpore sed veste muliebri,
cum sceptro ac natura virili, who was considered to be of both sexes (cf.
Ellis on Catull. 68'^), and to whom sacrifice was offered by men dressed as
women, and women dressed as men : and noisy processions of Galli, or
eunuch-priests of Cybele, the mother of the gods, paraded the towns and
villages of Syria, Asia Minor, and other parts, attired as women, and
soliciting the populace to unholy rites (Apul. Metamorph. viii. c 24fF. ;
August. Civ. Dei, vii. 26 ; cf. Luc. de dea Syria, §§ 15, 26, 51 (at Hiera-
polis) ; Jerome on Hos. 4^*; and Movers, Die Phonizier, i. 678 ff.). At
Aphaka, in Ccele-Syria, Constantine put down a temple of Aphrodite, the
priests of which are described by Eusebius as yiviiU rmf £>}pt( ov» i*ifK,
ri fifivov Trii ^unuf a.Txpvfi(rd.fniti ( Vit. Const, iii. 55), on account of the
character of the rites carried on at it.
A woman shall not wear an article pertaining to a man (^^3
2. wfjoNi) cf. 2 S. II*' 17" Jud. igis-w (r]@i<)._in3rni . . . ny] cf. i S. i"
3 S io» (Dr. § IIS, "•»• iJ')-— 3. •■'13K] Ex. 220 Lev. 5»-»t.— Vain kS] 7".
XXII. a-8 251
"aj)] '^3 is a very general term, applicable to almost any article
used or worn, e.g. weapons (Gn. 27^), jewels (24^8), ornaments
(also household objects, implements, vessels, &c.), Lev. \-^^*
(a "thing" of skin), 1 S. I7*<> (a shepherd's "bag"): it is thus
a much wider term than "garment" ; and hence the indefinite
rendering of A V. "that which pertaineth unto." — For whoso-
ever doeth these things is an abomination unto Jehovah\ so 18^'
2$^^ ; of. on 7*5.
6-7. A man finding a bird's nest may take the young
birds or the eggs, but is not to take the mother with them. —
Peculiar to Dt. The law is generally considered to rest upon
a humanitarian motive (cf. 25*), and to direct regard to be
paid to the parental relation in animals (cf. Lev. 2227*^^) ; but
Fenton {Early Heb. Life, p. 48) thinks it "rests upon the
idea that one may have * right of user ' in the bird to the
extent of sharing in its produce ; but one may not claim entire
possession of it." — 7. That it may be well for thee^ &c.\ 4*".
The promise is the same as that which is attached in 5^^ to
the command to pay honour to human parents.
8. Human life not to be endangered by neglect. Every
house-top is to be provided with a parapet, as a protection to
those using it for recreation or other purposes. — This law also
is peculiar to Dt. ; but a provision prompted by the same
general motive is found in Ex. 2\^^^- (a pit not to be left open,
so that an ox or an ass may fall into it). — A parapet] as is
well known, the top of an Eastern house is flat, and capable
of being used for recreation and many other purposes (Jos. 2^
Jud. i627 I S. 925f- 2 S. ii2 i622 Is. 22^ Jer. ig^^ Zeph. i^ Mt.
24" Acts io9).
9-lL Prohibition of non-natural combinations. — A vineyard
is not to be sown with difi"erent kinds of seed ; a field is not
to be plowed with an ox and an ass working together ; and
no garment is to be worn, made of wool and linen in com-
6. 'JbS . . . Kip'] *' happens before thee," i.e. chances accidentally to be
before thee: 2 S. 18' cf. 20'; Gn. 24^^ 27^ (.Ti|?n).— d'33.t Sy dnh] '75; idiom. =
together with : cf. Gn. 32'^ Hos. 10" Job 38^^ {Lex. hy i c). — 8. npvD] only
here : prop, a confining enclosure {& <rT£ip«v»); Arab, 'aqd to hinder, "with-
hold. — "in'aa d'di d'bti] cf. '3 cm jm 21*, '?y d'dt or Jud. g'", Sy cm |iu Jer.
26" Jon. i".— '?sijn ''B' '3] on 17®.
252 DEUTERONOxMV
bination. The motive of the prohibition appears to be the
preservation of natural distinctions : species — at least as they
now exist, and are known to us — are designed by God to be
distinct (comp. Gn. iH. 12. 21. 24. 25j . each possesses its own
characteristic features ; and a principle thus visibly impressed
by the Creator upon nature is not to be interfered with by
man. The second provision is peculiar to Dt. ; the first and
third are found, without very material variation, in Lev. 19*^
(H), where they are preceded by a provision, to which nothing
corresponds in Dt., against permitting cattle of different
species to breed together.
Lev. 19^' Thy cattle thou shah
not make to gender in two kind-s
^ Thou shalt not soTv thy mneyard with thy field thou shalt not sow with
two kinds (of seed) ; lest the full two kinds (of seed) :
produce (nx'^on) be forfeited (e'^pn),
the seed which thou sowest, and
the increase of the vineyard. ^^ Thou
shalt not plow with an ox and an
ass tog^ether. ^^ Thou shalt not and a garment of two
wear mixed stuff (uoyr), wool and kinds, of mixed stuff (ubj.'B'), shall
linen together, not come up upon thee.
9. Why "vineyard" takes here the place of "field" in
Lev. is not apparent : as it is the subject of the entire law, it
can hardly be meant as an example of the kind of "field"
contemplated ; z-f^^- 24^^- 21 the two are also distinguished. If
it may be assumed that Lev. presents an earlier form of the
law than Dt., it is possible that in the interval it had become
the custom to plant fields generally with different kinds of
seed (cf. Is. 282^) ; the legislator, consequently, may have
tacitly conceded the custom in such cases, and have satisfied
himself with retaining the prohibition in the case of vineyards
alone. Others think the law of Lev. a later extension of that
of Dt. The explanatory clause, v.^^, stating the consequence
if the prohibition be disregarded, is peculiar to Dt. "Be
forfeited " is lit. become holy or sacred (5^"!}p^), i.e. be forfeited
to the sanctuary, a synonym of {^'np n^n, Lev. 2710- 21 Jos. 6^' ;
comp. the same verb in Lev. 6" 08) Nu. if^- (i637f.). The last
words, "the seed which thou sowest," &c., define more
distinctly what is intended by ns5?»pn (Ex. 2228(29) Nu. i8«7),
XXII. 9-" 253
v«z. not only the grain, vegetables, &c., sown (in infringement
of the prohibition) between the vines, but also the produce of
the vines themselves. — 10. Ploughs are still in Palestine some-
times harnessed to an ox and an ass (Conder, Tent Work,
328). — 11. The form of the sentence differs, but the substance
is similar in Lev. and Dt. The peculiar, and evidently
•* foreign word," TJoyCi', is common to both laws : in both also
the term is explained ; but in Dt. it is said, more definitely
than in Lev., to denote a combination of wool and linen.
Only the particular material thus styled is forbidden. The
minuter definitions of the later Jews, on the subject of these
laws, will be found in the Mishnic treatise KiVaim.
12. Tassels to be worn by the Israelites, as a distinctive
badge, upon the four corners of their mantles. — The law corre-
sponds to the one in Nu. i587-« (P, perhaps in particular H),
where the object of the tassels is also explained (v.s^'^), viz.
to remind the Israelites of their obligations to Jehovah, and
to check them when they are tempted to pursue too keenly
personal interests or ambitions. — Twisted cords (^yI?) thou
shalt make thee upon the four comers of thy covering (Ex.
2227(26))^ wherewith thou coverest thyself] Nu. 15^8 <'Say unto
them. And they shall make them tassels (n^S''V) upon the
corners of their garments (Dnn33) throughout their genera-
tions, and they shall put upon the tassel of each corner a cord of
blue " (for the purpose, namely, of fastening it to the garment).
Nu. uses n'^T'ii which appears to have been the more technical
term ; Dt. has Dvl? twisted threads or cords, which is found (in
a different connexion) i K. 7^'' (" wreaths" of metal work).
The rend, "fringe" is inaccurate. The zizith was a cord, ending- in
a tassel,— \h^ cord, according to the usage of the later Jews, consisting of
eight threads of white wool, twisted round each other a prescribed number
of times, and tied, at intervals, in five double knots (see Kitto's Bibu
Cyclop., s.v. Fringes, with the illustrations). The ordinary outer garment
worn by the Hebrews (^^9^ or 1:2 — more rarely, as here, n?D?) was a large
quadrangular piece of stuff, probably like the modern 'ab&ye, of coarsely
woven wool, which was thrown round the body something in the manner
11. noyi!'] Lev. 19^'t. Of uncertain origin ; but not improbably Egyptian,
(15 »i/3S>iXaf ; whence Kn. explains "woven falsely," from Copt, saht, -woven,
and nudj, false (Peyron, Lex. pp. 224, 133).— 12. D'Vi:] in Syr. Arab, the
root 'J^J is preserved with the meaning to twist or plait {e.g. Mt. 2"]'^ Sb).
25'»- DFUTERONOMY
of a Scotch plaid (cf. Benzinger, Archdol. p. 98 f.); and these "tassels'
were attached to its four corners. In a later age, when the Jews were
exiled from Palestine, as the tassels on the outside attracted notice, and
led to persecution, they were transferred to the inner garment ; and ulti-
mately the custom arose of attaching- them also to the Tallith, or quad-
rangular mantle, worn at the time of morning prayer (Kitto, I.e.').
XXII. 13-XXIII. I (XXII. 30). Laws relating to Marriage
(see also 24.^"* 25^").
XXII. 13-21. Procedure to be adopted in the case of a
newly-married wife being alleged by her husband not to have
been a virgin. — (i) If the alleg-ation be false, the girl's parents
are to appear with the proofs of their daughter's virginity
before the elders of the city, who are then to punish the
husband with stripes, and to impose upon him a fine of 100
shekels of silver ; he is moreover to take back his wife, and
to be deprived for ever of the right of divorcing her, v. ^3"^*.
(2) If the allegation be true, and proof of the girl's virginity
be not forthcoming, she is to be brought out to the entrance
of her father's house, and there stoned to death by the men
of her city, v. 20-21. — 13. Hate her] i.e. turn against her, after
his carnal desires have been satisfied (comp. 2 S. 13^^). — 14.
Frame against her wanton charges] lit. caprices of words, i.e.
baseless allegations, wantonly made for the purpose of obtain-
ing a divorce from her. The rend, "shameful things" (RV.)
is a free one, and has no claim to philological exactness. —
And utter (x^Vini) an evil name against her] or publish (v.^' ; cf
14. onaT ni'?''?!?] a difficult and uncertain expression. n'?'Sj; is elsewhere
"action"; but it is only found in poetry (Ps. g^^ 14* &c.); and "acts of
words " (Schultz, Kn. Ke.) is a weak and doubtful expression for "acts
giving rise to unfavourable comments or reports." Perh. Dillm. is right
in having recourse to the sense of the root V^v, which is certainly preserved
in SSvnn "to work one's will on," and in Si^vn " wilfulness, caprice " (cf.
Fleischer's note in Del. on Is. 3'' [ed. 3]), and in rendering " caprices of
words," i.e. wanton and arbitrary charges. Of the versions, (JEr renders
by iTi^v aurri T^mfairirriKdvs x'oyaut. Connecting nhSy with the Aram, vhy (cf.
Arab, 'illah) "occasion, cause, pretext"; similarly U ("quaesieritque
occasiones quibus dimittat eam "), & (" and draw after her a pretext with
words"), probably Onq. yh'O 'Dipon rh 'ir'i, i.e. either "impute to her
occasions of words " {i.e. of unfavourable remarks), or " bring against her
pretexts of words," i.e. fictitious charges (comp. in Levy not only KBipon,
but also fjpp Ithpe., and KSpoin), Ps.-Jon. pS'DT my "an objection of words,"
i.e. an adverse charge, Ibn 'Ezra " mV'Sv occasions" AV. "give occasiona
xxii. 13-15 255
F^r. ro^» Nu. 1382 i4'«- 37j._l5. Shall bring forth the tokens oj
the darrisePs virginity] the procedure of a primitive-minded
people. The criterion is not an infallible one, it being quite
possible that the absence of the tokens referred to may result
from other causes than the one to which it is here supposed
to point. Nevertheless, among many Eastern peoples, the
old feeling still survives, and much importance continues to be
attached to them, as evidence of the bride's chastity : among
the Arabs of Egypt, and the Moors, for instance, immediately
after the consummation of a marriage, they are displayed
ostentatiously to the relations of the newly-married couple,
and sometimes even more publicly : * similar customs prevail
among the village populations of Syria and Palestine : t and
their absence, unless it could be satisfactorily explained, would
be regarded as justifying the bridegroom in dissolving the
marriage, and compelling the father to take back his daughter,
of speech against her." The meaning " occasion, pretext," however,
though belonging to Aram, nh]!, Arab, 'illah, and to nh^hv in post-Bibl.
Heb. (Levy, NHWB. iii. p. 654), is not otherwise that of the Biblical rh'S))
(or of the root \h'i generally). Aq. ivaXXa«T(xa fri/jiaTii, in accordance with
his peculiar style of translation (he rendered nV^j? elsewhere by UaXXKyii,
O'Si'^yn by haWiyfiaTx, &c. : see Ps. 9^^ 102' Is. 3* 66'' in the Hexapla, with
Field's note on Jer. 38^* : and on the style of Aquila, Field's Hexapla, i. p.
xxifF.). — "? D^] with the rend, adopted above, cb' will mean make (14^),
frame ; but, if rh'h]i signifies acts, it will have the force of attach, impute
to (cf. 9 D^ lit. to lay in i S. 22'* Job 4^*), and a^ must be inserted in v.^^
with Sam. (5. n-'jK av«<i] Gn. 20* Lev. iS^-'* 26^^ Is. &.—) k-^o] '«to find
belonging to" : so v,"-'^" 1 S. 13^ Hos. 1 2^—15. lyjri] Kt. nviO, Qre n-jyjn.
In the Pent, ihe/em. mvJ is found only Dt. 22^^, the masc. form nj/J being
otherwise used for both genders (for the fcin. 2: times, viz. Gn. 24^^- "■• ^•
8S.67 3^3.3.12 £)t_ 22i'- 16- ^«- 20- 21. 2a. 24. 25. 26. 26. 27. 28. 29) . the Massoritcs, howcvcr,
directed in these cases the usual form mvj to be substituted in reading,
hence the Qre n-\i!in. At what time the epicene "ly: went out of use, we do
not know ; it may not have been until after the Pent, was so far canonized
that its text was deemed unalterable, and while in the rest of the OT. the
Kethib was accommodated, where necessary, to the more modem usage,
in the Pent, the change was made only in the Qre.
* Leo Afric. (ed. 1632) p. 325 (Pory's transl. 1600, p. 143 f.); Toume-
fort, Voyage in the Levant, 1718, ii. 69 ; Arvieux, Voyages h ConstantinopU,
&c., 1735, iii. 306 ; Host, Marokos, 1781, p. 103 ; Niebuhr, Descr. dArabie,
1776, i. 35 ff-; Burckhardt, Arab. Proverbs, 1830, p. 117, Bedouins, 1831, i
266, — quoted by Knob. Cf. (for Africa) Post, Afrik. Jurisprudenz, i. § 146.
t Wetzstein in Bastian's Z. fUr EthnoL 1873, p. 290 f. ; Klein in the Z.
des Deutschen Pal.-Vereins, 1883, p. loo.
256 DEUTERONOMY
and refund the mahr (v.^s). — 17. Shameful things {^iN .)\ see on
v.^*. — Spread {}w^. 8^5) the g-arment\ the salmah wsis used for
sleeping- in (24^3) : but perhaps the word may be meant here
in a more general sense {2 113228- 5). — 18. Chastise him (iiD^I
VIK)] viz. with corporal punishment (cf. on 2\^^)'. according to
Jos. Antiq. iv. 8. 23, he received the legal "forty stripes save
one " (258). — 19. Shall fine him an hundred (shekels of) silver^
and give them^ ^c] **fine" (t-'jy) as Ex. 2122 Am. 2^: cf. the
subst. 2 K. 2388 (RV. marg.). The fine is a compensation to the
father for the malicious defamation of his daughter : its amount
is twice that payable by the seducer of an unbetrothed virgin,
v.2^ — And she shall be his (emph.) wt/e, &c.] in spite of his effort
to be rid of her, she shall remain his wife ; he shall never be at
liberty to divorce her. — 20-21. The case of the allegation being
true. — 21. Bring out] 17'*. — To the entrance of her father s
house] she is to pay the penalty of her sin openly, in front of
the house which she has disgraced. — The men of her city shall
stone her, dr'c.] cf. 2121. — Hath wrought senselessness ("^^^3) in
Israel] the same reproachful phrase Gn. 34'^ Jos. 7^^ Jud. 20^- ^"^
Jer. 2923, and without in Israel, Jud. 1923.24 2 S. 13^2 (cf. v.^^
the corresponding adj.) Job 42^!, — always of acts of immorality
except Jos. 7^^ (an act of irreligion) and Job 42^ (see Dillm.2).
Ndbdl and nebalah are very difficult to render in English. " Fool,"
and "folly" (besides being needed for the more common '?'od, S'in, mS'oa,
nSix) are inadequate, and suggest wrong associations. The fault of the
ndbdl is not weakness of reason, but moral and religious insensibility, a
rooted incapacity to discern moral and religious relations, leading to an
intolerant repudiation in practice of the claims which they impose. The
ideas associated with the ndbal appear most clearly in Is. 32® ; he is painted
there as at once irreligious and churlish (cf. "Nabal," i S. 25^). The
term is thus applied to Israel, unappreciative of Jehovah's benefits (c. 32^),
to the heathen (32^' Ps. 74^^* ^), to the man who cannot perceive that there
is a God (Ps. 14^ = 53^) ; see also 2 S. 3^ 13^^ Is. 32" Jer. 17" Ez. 13' Ps. 39'(*'
Pr. ly''-^^^ 30^^ Job 2^*'t. Nebdldh, besides the passages quoted, occurs only
I S. 25^ Is. 9^^ f ^' (II profanity) 32^t' The cognate nabluth occurs Hos.
212(10)^ in the sense of immodesty. Senseless and senselessness may be
suggested as fair English equivalents, it being understood that the defec-
tive "sense" which they predicate shows itself particularly in acts of
impiety, profligacy, and churlishness, and that it is, in fact, the latter ideas
which the two words, in actual use, really connote.
20. ncK] cf. 131". — INSOJ n"? cLdu^l'iTuiy as 13^^ 17'*. — 21. nno]] so v.'^lUD}:
G-K. § 104. 2^— niJiV] Sam. ffi iTiiin^.
XXII. 17-23 257
So shall ihou extenninate, &€.] i3^(-'). Sov.22->*.
22. Adultery. — If a man be found committingf adultery
with a married woman, both alike are to be put to death.
Adultery is forbidden, not only in the Decalogue, but also in
Lev. iS^o (H) : the penalty provided for it here is in agreement
with the law of Lev. 20^° (also H). The manner of execution
is not expressly prescribed either here or in Lev. ; but it was
understood (on the analogy of v. 2*) to be by stoning; comp.
Ez. i6S8-*o 23«.47 John S^. Cf. Post, Familienrecht, p. 358 f.
23-29. Seduction. — Two cases are distinguished: (i) that
of the girl being already betrothed to a husband, v.^^-^Tj ^2)
that of the girl being unbetrothed, v. 28-29. The first case is
treated as virtually one of adultery, the girl, after betrothal,
being regarded as pledged to her future husband, as fully as
if she were formally married to him ; she is described accord-
ingly (v. 2*) as his " wife," and the penalty (except in the case,
V.25, where the girl can be reasonably acquitted of blame) is
the same as for adultery, viz. death for both parties. For
this case there is no parallel in the other Codes of the Pent.
(1) The seduction of a girl already betrothed to a husband,
Y 23-27. Here the penalty prescribed differs, according as the
girl may, or may not, be reasonably deemed to have been a
consenting party : in the former case (v.23-24) both parties are
to be punished with death, in the latter (v.^s-st)^ the man only.
— 23. Betrothed to a man] betrothal is, in Eastern countries,
an important preliminary to marriage, and a more solemn and
formal proceeding than our "engagement." Among the
Arabs it is a legal act, whereby, upon consideration of a price
paid {mahr, Heb. mo/iar: cf. on v.^^), a girl is handed over by
her father or guardian to the suitor, and the marriage, as a
legal procedure, is thereby terminated.* It is hence apparent
why the seduction of a betrothed virgin is treated practically
as a case of adultery. For other allusions to betrothal in the
22. ^ya nSy^a] Gn. 2ot. — Q.Tar oi] 23": Lex. 03 2 end.
• Wellh. Die Ehe bei den Arabem, in the Gottingen Nachrichten, 1893,
No. II, p. 480 f. ; Smith, Kinship, p. 78 f. ; Benzinger, Hebr. Arch, p.
148 f. ; Klein, ZDPal- Vereins, 1883, p. Sgf. : cf. Edersheim, L.&TA. 354.
A very widely diffused custom (Post, Familienrecht, p. 157 fF., 173 ff.).
«7
7$$ DEUTERONOMY
OT., see V.26-2T.28 2o7 2830 Ex. 2215(16) 2 S. 3^* Ho6. 2^^f(^\^
24. Un^o the gate, &'c.\ the place of execution, as 17'. —
Humbled (^Vi)\ see on 21I*. — 25. And the man take hold of her\
"force her" (AV., RV.) Is too strong a rendering : 3 P^.pi!!' is
simply to take hold of, 25I1 Gn. 19I6 and often ; for the same
purpose as here, 2 S. 13I1. — 26. Riseth up againsi\ 19I1. (2)
The seduction of a girl who is not betrothed, v.^-^^. In
this case, the seducer is to be compelled to take the girl as
his wife, and to forfeit the right to divorce her during the
rest of his life. In JE Ex. 221^^(1^^) corresponds, though
the provisions are not quite the same ; the seducer is to
pay similarly a price to the father for the girl to become
his wife, but the amount is left undefined ; and it is open
to the father to refuse to give her to him ; in Ex. also
the seducer is described as using persuasion ('"H??^), while here
the case contemplated seems to be one in which force is
employed. — 28. Lay hold on her (HL"Dri^)] not the word used in
V.25, though a synonym of it (Gn. 39^2 i K. 13*). — She shall he
his wife : he muy not put her away all his days] as v.^^^. —
/fumbled her] v. 2*. — 29. Shall give unto the dam-set s father fifty
shekels of silver] the seducer is to be compelled to take the girl
as his wife, and to pay (cf. Post, 350 f.) the price which by ancient
custom (v.23) the suitor had to pay to the father (or family) of
the bride. The technical term for this payment was mdhar
(AV., RV. inexactly "dowry"), Gn. 3412 Ex. 22" (i7) (the
cognate verb in v.^^GS)), i S. i825 (cf. Smith, Kinship, p. 78 f.),
corresponding to the Homeric ?Sva (or ISva), II. iC^^^, Od.
2 1 160-162^ &c. The amount of the payment would vary natur-
ally with the position and circumstances of the bridegroom,
as well as with the attractions of the bride ; 50 shekels is prob-
ably named as an average : an ordinary price for a slave was
30 shekels, Ex. 21 32.
30 (XXIII. 1). Prohibition of marriage with a stepmother.
^The same prohibition (differently worded) appears in Lev.
24. TTK ns'n ^y] 23' 2 S. i3*-t: on nji, see G-K. § 130. 3.-25. .iie'3 dni]
OQ the position of mra, see on 20". 26. niD .vcn] cf. 21^. — mp' ^w\^z
Win? . . .] Am. 5^* Is. 29* (Dr. § 115, s.v. icxa). — cs: inimj on ig*. — 28.
Blf TnJ in pause, for nf tk (on 7*). — 29. my tck nnn] 21".
XXII. 24— XXIII. 2 (1) 259
i8* (11), "The nakedness of thy father's wife thou shalt not
uncover; it is thy father's nakedness," and 20^1, where death
for both parties is prescribed as the penalty for disobedience.
— Uncover his father' s skirt] so 27^0 : of. "to spread the skirt
(i S. 24^(5) al.) over" a woman, Ez. 16^ Ruth 3^, fig. for to take
her as a wife. Here the expression is evidently a euphemism.
In ancient Arabia a man's wives passed, like his other property, to his
heir : a son could thus claim his father's wives (except, of course, his own
mother) as part of his inheritance ; and the practice of marriage with a
stepmother is forbidden for the future in the Qor'an (4''®). Examples (of
an exceptional kind) in the OT. illustrating- the same custom are Gn. 35''*
49* ; 2 S. 3' ; 16^' ; 1 K. 2** : but in Jerusalem such unions were still common
in the time of Ezekiel (22'"), who condemns them (in words borrowed from
Lev. 18^) ; and in Syria they appear to have been not unusual in the 5th
cent. A.D. (Smith, Kinship, pp. 86-90 ; OTJC."^ 3^9 f. : see also Wellh. I.e.
[p. 257 note], p. 461).
In Lev. i8*'^" 20^^^* the forbidden degrees of affinity are so numerous as
to constitute a long list ; hence it has been questioned why only one is
mentioned in Dt. (see two others in the imprecations 27^* ^). By some it
has been thought that Dt. refers to the prohibition in Lev. 18^ as repre-
sentative of the whole series ; but had this been the Writer's intention, he
would surely have expressed it by means of some generally worded refer-
ence to the entire list. Others consider that Dt. exhibits the earlier stage
in the law of forbidden degrees, which was afterwards developed through
Ez. (22^'''-) to the comprehensive list of Lev, 18. It is hardly likely how-
ever that this was the only prohibited degree recognised in the age of Dt. :
most probably (whether Lev. 18 be earlier than Dt. or later) marriage with
a stepmother, being prevalent at the time, needed to be specially forbidden.
XXIII. 2-9 (1-8). Classes to be excluded from religious com-
munion with Israel. — 2 (1). Eunuchs not to be admitted into
the theocratic community. " Presumably the original sense
of this rule was directed not against the unfortunate victims
of Oriental tyranny, and the Harem system, but against the
religious mutilation of the Galli, as Lucian [de dea Syria, § 51)
describes it at Hierapolis, and as Bardesanes [Spicil. Syr. p.
20, 1. i) attests it for Edessa (Cureton mistranslates). The
Tar'atha of Bardesanes is, of course, Atargatis, the Syrian
goddess" (VV.R.S.). As court-officials, eunuchs are often
depicted on the Assyrian monuments, being there at once
recognizable by their bloated, beardless face, and double ch-n
XXIIL 1. vaN ^133 rhy vh\ **a parallel expression occurs iii Ai-a.AC,
De Goeje, Fragm. Hist. Arab. 248, 1. 3 ma kashaftu li'mra'ati kuna/li.- "
(W.R.S.).
260 DEUTERONOMY
(DB.^ S.V.; Rawlinson, Anc. A/on.* i. 496-498; in Persia, id.
Hi. 221-223; in Egypt (Gn. ^y'^'^ Heb.), Ebers, Ae^: ti. die Bb.
Mose's, 298). As the kingdoms of Israel and Judah adopted
the organization of the neighbouring monarchies, eunuchs
assumed in them an increased rank and prominence (1 S. 8^'
I K. 229 2 K. 8'^ 9=52 23I1 2412. 15 2519 Jer. 292 3419 38^ 41I6). The
allusion in this verse is to the two surgical operations by
which the condition of a eunuch was most commonly produced;
in modern times, the second is often resorted to in the East
(Tournefort, The Levant, 1718, ii. 7 ; Burckhardt, Nubia, 1819,
p. 330 (Knob.) : cf. von Kremer, Aegypten, ii. 87-89). — Enter
into\ Gn. 49^. — Jehovah's asse?}iblj'] v.^-* [hence La. i^" Neh. 13^]"
(2. 3. 8) Nu. i63 (P) 20" (P) Mic, 25 I Ch. 288!. The ground of the
exclusion of eunuchs (in so far as it is not a protest against
mutilation in the service of a heathen deity) is in all probability
analogous to that referred to in 14M the deliberate mutilation
of the nature which God has given to man is inconsistent with
the character of Jehovah's people (comp. similar prohibitions
in H, in regard to priests Lev. 2120, and animals offered in
sacrifice 222''). Nevertheless, in the more spiritual conception
of the kingdom of God, formed by the prophets, this, like other
disqualifying carnal ordinances, has no place; and by the
prophet of the exile (Is. sB*"^) the eunuch, who in other respects
is a loyal servant of Jehovah, is promised an honourable posi-
tion in the ideal community of the future (cf. Acts 827- ^^). —
3 (2). A bastard, even to the tenth generation, is not to enjoy
communion with Jehovah's people. — Bastard (">_tpp)] Zech.
9^t. Of uncertain etymology: probably Rabbinical tradition
{Jehamoth iv. 13: see Ges. Thes. 781 ; Levy, NHWB. iii. 140)
is right in supposing the term to denote not generally one born
out of wedlock ((Jit eV iropv-q^, U de scorto natus), but the off-
spring of an incestuous union, or of a marriage contracted
within the prohibited degrees of affinity (Lev. i8'''2<' 26^^-'^^):
the stain of their birth is to cling to such as these, including
even their descendants to the tenth generation, and to pre-
2. nsi yiss] lit. "wounded o/(=Mro?/^A) crushing-" (Ges. Dillm.), viz.
of the testes. — 3. iS m3' nS] for the ) of reference, cf. v.*'* Lam. 1^°; also
Gn. 17" 34" I K. 2* 825 ,410 , s 1,3 (/^^^_ L, g ^)_
XXIII. 3-7 (2-6) 26 I
elude them from participating in the full privileges of member-
ship in the people of God. — 4-7 (3-6). The 'Ammonite and the
Moabite are to be placed on the same footing- as the bastard,
on account of their ancestors' unfriendly treatment of Israel at
the time of the Exodus. — Because they met you not with bread
(Is. 2ii*) and with water] nothing is said in Dt. 2^^^- respecting
the conduct of the 'Ammonites towards Israel : in 2^9 the
Moabites, it is implied, sold the Israelites bread and water for
money (see the note there). — In the way, when ye came forth
out of Egypi\ so 24^ 2517 : here, at any rate, where the reference
is to a date at the close of the 40 years' wanderings (cf. 2^*),
the expression ** when ye came forth out of Egypt" could not
have been used by a contemporary, writing but six months
afterwards, but betrays the writer of a later age, in which the
40 years had dwindled to a point. — 5 (4). And because he
hired against thee Balaam, son of Beor\ "he" is the king of
Moab (Nu. 22^'- &c.): the 'Ammonites are not mentioned in
connexion with Bala'am. — From Pethor of Aram-Naharaim\ in
Nu. 22' " Pethor, which is by the River" {i.e. the Euphrates),
presumably identical with the Pitru of the Inscriptions, on the
Western bank of the Euphrates {KATJ^ 155 f.). Aram-Nahar-
aim ("Aram of the two rivers " = Mesopotamia), as Gn. 24^"
Jud. 3^ Ps. 60 title\. — 6 (5). This intention of the Moabites
was, however, frustrated through Jehovah's love of Israel.
The Writer avails himself of the opportunity of thus insisting
on a truth upon which he lays great stress (7^ &c.). — Turned
the curse into a blessing] Nu. 23^^- ^sf- 24^**. — 7 (6). Thou shalt
not seek their peace or their prosperity, all thy days for ever] for
the expressions, comp. Jer. 29^ Ezr. 9^2 (g. reminiscence from
the present passage); also Jer. 38*: all thy days, as 12^^, cf.
2219- 29^ Israel is not indeed permitted to hate the 'Ammonite
or the Moabite ; but it is to remain permanently indifferent
to their welfare. As the history abundantly shows, hostile
relations were very apt to manifest themselves between the
Israelites and their neighbours on the opposite side of the
Dead Sea ; and by the prophets both nations are depicted in
an unfavourable light, Moab being charged with assuming
8. > iD^jj] Is. 21''': also Mi. 6» ^/'. gs'^.— 6. 'ii nan k'?i] Jos. 24": cf. on i**.
262 DEUTERONOMV
towards Judah a haughty, independent attitude (Is. iC Jer.
^g2v). 29. 42 Zeph. 2^), and the 'Ammonites with wag"i.ig cruel
aggressive wars (Am. i^^^, and with exulting maliciously over
Judah's misfortune (Zeph. 2^ Ez. 2i33(-s) 258-^). V.*-6(3-^are
quoted (in an abridged form) in Neh. i^^'^t and Neh. 138 de-
scribes how the principle embodied in them was immediately
acted upon. — 8-9 (7-8). The Edomite and the Egyptian, how-
ever, may be admitted in the third generation, the former
because he is Israel's "brother," the latter because Israel was
once a sojourner in his land. — 8 (7). Thou shall not abhor an
Edomite, for he is thy brother^ the feelings of rivalry and hostility,
prevalent generally between Israel and Edom (comp. Gn. 25^3
2740 Nu. 20I8-21 2 S. 813 (Rv. m.) 14 I K. ijisf. Am. i" Jer. 497-22
Ez. 35 Is. 34, &c.), are to be overruled by the recollection of
the ties of consanguinity which bound the two nations together
(cf. on 2*). — Thou shall not abhor an Egyptian, because thou
wast a stranger in his land (10^^)] the case with Egypt is
similar. In spite of the Egyptians' oppression of Israel, in
spite, too, of the distrust and suspicion with which the prophets
viewed the political interference of the Pharaohs with the
affairs of Palestine (comp. on 171^), the Israelites had once
been sojourners in their land ; and the recollection of this fact
should soften their attitude towards them. — 9 (8). Children
that are born to them of the third generation] i.e. the descend-
ants, in the third generation, of an Edomite, or Egyptian,
settled in Canaan, may share the full privileges of the native
Israelite (of course upon condition that they consented to be
circumcised, and made a general profession of Israel's faith).
It is probable that under the monarchy there was a good deal
of intercourse between Egypt and Palestine: Israelites are
mentioned more than once as visiting Egypt, the writers of
the same period show considerable acquaintance with the
peculiarities of the Egyptian climate or soil (Is. 19; Am. 9^
Nah. 38^- Jer. 46^) ; and no doubt Egyptians frequently visited
Palestine in a similar way.
7. DDi'?^' v-nn hS\ Jer. 29'' 38* (^) Ezr. 9*'(+ onaw, as here).— 9. It is
better, syntactically, to place the athnah at crh, — "As for the children
who shall be bom to them, the third generation may enter," &c.
XXIII. s-is (7-14) 263
10-15 (9-14). On the purity and cleanliness of the camp. —
When Israel is engaged in a military expedition, the camp is
not to be defiled by the presence within it of any accidental
pollution, v.ii-^2(io.ii). and a place is to be reserved outside
the camp for the necessities of nature, v. ^^-is (12-14) p j^^s a
law analogous to the first of these provisions in Nu. 5^"*,
where it is prescribed that everyone, of either sex, who is a
leper, or has an issue (see Lev. 152- 19- 25), or is unclean through
contact with a corpse (Nu. 19^^ 31^^). is to be excluded from
the camp : but the two laws are not identical ; for while the
prohibition in Nu. is much more comprehensive than that in
Dt., the particular case which is alone contemplated in Dt. is
not included in Nu. at all. — 10 (9). WJien thou goest forth] 20*
21^^. — Thou shall keep thee (2*) from every evil thing] i.e. (here)
from whatever is conventionally unbecoming : cf. 17^ (phil. n.).
— 11 (10). That is not clean by reason of an accident of the night]
see Lev. 15^®. — 12 (11). He shall bathe himself with water; and
when the sun goeth down (16^ 24^^ Jqs. 8^9) he shall come within
the camp] the purification enjoined agrees with that prescribed
in Lev. 15^^ under the same circumstances, "he shall bathe
all his flesh with water, and be unclean until the even." —
14 (13). A paddle CD^)] the word commonly denotes a tent-pin
or -peg (Jud. 421- 22 ^26 ^/,j^ sometimes a peg or nail (Is. 2223) :
here it must signify an implement of similar form, suitable for
digging in the ground. — 15 (14). The reason of the foregoing
prohibitions, viz. lest Jehovah, who accompanies Israel in its
wars (20^- *), be obliged to withdraw Himself from the camp
(cf. Nu. 5^^). — Walketh (n^nnio)] the hithp. conjug. is stronger
10. njno wi,j\ '3] " when thou goest forth as a camp" : cf. 2 K. 5* "And
Aram onna ms' came forth as marauding bands," &c., r\vKa, onni, being
accusatives defining ho-w the going forth took place (Ew. § 279*; G-K.
§ 118. 5 c).— 11. nip] St. c. of m.ij.— 12. any masS] Gn. 2a^^\'. cf. npa(n) nuflS
Ex. \^ Jud. 19^ Ps. 46«t.— IS. t] i.e. side, place : cf. Nu. 2" Jer. & ; and
on 2*^. — 14. latx] only here. «)'!, Syr. saino, is a common Aram, word,
meaning w^a/on (= Heb. 'Sa): Krm in C (in pj'tn nu quiver, lit. receptacle of
weapons. Is. 49* al.) means the same; and the Heb. \l\}, prob. a technical
term, appears to be the same word. The word is construed collectively ;
but many MSS. have the plural I'JIK. (& (»*' t« T^uyms nu), TB express Sy
intK, In IJIK hll, Sy has the sense of m addition to, together with (Gn. 28*
31"* Nu. 31*0/.: Lex. Sv 4 b): cf. on 22*. — iriNs] AV., following the Rabb.
264 DEUTERONOMY
than the qal {\^ 20*), and Implies going to and fro, going about
(see e.g. Gn. 3^ 1317 2 S. 7^- ''), i.e. accompanying the camp
wherever it went. — That he may see in thee no nakedness of a
thing {13'n nny)] ue. no indecency. The expression is peculiar,
but recurs 24^: '•nakedness" is the word commonly used to
denote the pudenda (Gn. 9^2 and often), also used fig. of the
nakedness of a land (Gn. ^2^-'^'^). — Turn hack from following
thee (Tinxo 3B'l)] Ruth ii« i K. 1921 and often ; of Jehovah,
Jer. 32*". lAt. from after thee.
16-17 (15-16). Humanity to be shown to a fugitive slave.
— A slave fleeing from hard treatment in a foreign land, and
taking refuge in Israel, is not to be delivered up to his master,
but allowed to dwell in the land, wherever he may please. —
16 (15). Unto thee] i.e. to Israel.— 17 (16). Within one of thy
gates] i.e. in one of thy cities (15''' 16^ 172 18^; see on 1212),
implying that hitherto he had been in a foreign land. —
Thou shalt not oppress him (^33in \h)] Ex. 2220 Lev. \^^^ (of the
G&r) ; not elsewhere in Dt.
18-19 (17-18). Against religious prostitution. — No Israelite,
of either sex, is to become a temple-prostitute ; nor is the
gain derived from any kind of prostitution to be offered in
payment of a vow. — Temple-prostitute] the allusion is to the
immoral and repulsive custom, common in Canaanitish and
Phoenician cults, by which persons of both sexes prostituted
themselves in the service of a deity. The law in v.^^ciT) jg
peculiar to Dt. ; but Lev. iS^^ (cf. 20^^), though general in its
wording, is aimed probably at the same practice.
The rendering's "harlot" and "sodomite" are both inadequate: in
neither case is ordinary immorality intended, but immorality practised in
the worship of a deity, and in the immediate precincts of a temple : see
deriv. from ns', "that which cometh of thee"; and the same convenient
euphemism is retained in RV. : but comparative philology shows that the
word has really no connexion with ns' ( = Aram. Ny: cf. Dr. § 178), but that
it is cognate with the Syr. nxs {Va..) foedavit, N^iNN^t, Nnxy, sordes, fi-ms,
and means 7?//^ (cf. -tnis Is. 4'' a/.). — T^no] sing. (G-K. § 93. 3. 3). — 16. dvd]
,^12.13.18 Ex. 22" Lev. 25«.— 17. \h n'lEia] Gn. 20'' ip ryn n'ltjj, Jer.4o^''-«.—
18. aSa] the term d'dVd occurs in a (partly mutilated) enumeration of the
ministers and other attendants attached to a temple of 'Ashtoreth at Larnaca
in Cyprus {CIS. I. i. 86 B^*), whence it has been supposed that it was the
recognized Phoenician designation of the kedeshlm (ib, p. 95 ; OT/C.^ 365 «.).
XXIII. i6-i9 (15-18) 265
Hdt. i. 199 (in Babylon) ; Ep. of Jeremy 43 (also in Babylon) ; Strabo, xii.
36; Ramsay, Cities of Phrygia, i. 94f., 115 ; Lucian, Lucius, § 38 ; Athan.
c. Gentes, p. 24 E ; Ges. Thes. s.v.\ and cf. on 22'. Kadesh and Kedeshah
are, respectively, the masc. and fern, of the same adj. (lit. sacred), which
denotes a person dedicated to a deity for the purposes indicated (C TEXta-^o^sf
and riXirKinnef, i.e. initiates). The kedeshlm (masc.) and kedeshoth (fem.)
are frequently alluded to in the OT., especially in the period of the
monarchy, when rites of foreig'n origin made their way into both Israel
and Judah : see, for the former, i K. 14-^ 15" (banished from Judah by
Asa) 22<^(«) 2 K. 237 Job 36"! ; for the latter, Gn. 3821- i« Hos. 4"t : comp.
Jer, gS-'-Sf. ii_ ;\^q_ uiinXXxyfiUei, i.e. changed (of sex) ; cf. on 22*.
19 (18). Hire (pnx)] the word used regularly of the payment
made to a harlot {e.^^. Mic. 1^ Is. 2317-18 Ez. 16^*); the ex-
pression thus includes the gains made by an ordinary harlot,
as well as those of the kedeshoth mentioned in the previous
verse. — Nor the price of a dog\ i.e. (as the context shows) the
price or payment (Mic. 3II) which a "dog" receives, "dog"
(3^3) being an opprobrious designation of the male kedeshim
referred to in v.i8(i9) ; comp. kiVcs Apuc. 22^5, and the note below.
In the impure worships of antiquity, it was not uncommon for
the gains of prostitution to be dedicated to a deity (cf. Hdt. i.
199; Lucian, de dea Syria, § 6, Dial. Meretr. 7, 1 ; 14, 3 ;
Clem. Al. Protrep. p. 13). — The house of Jehovah thy God] only
here in Dt. : cf. Ex. 2319 = 3426 (JE), Jos. 62^ Jud. 19I8. Very
often in Kings, &c., as a designation of the Temple. — Both of
them] i.e. both the hire of a whore, and the price of a "dog,"
not both the givers and their gifts : see, on the force of D3,
22^2 (phil. note). — An abomination, &€.] 1812.
20-21 (19-20). On usury (interest).— The Israelite is not
to lend to his brother-Israelite upon usury (interest) ; he
may lend upon these terms to a foreigner, but not to his
brother, if he desires Jehovah's blessing to rest upon his
undertakings. V.20(i9)is parallel with Ex. 2221(25) ;„ je, and
Lev. 253''-37 in H, in both of which passages a brotherly treat-
ment of the impoverished Israelite is inculcated, and it is
forbidden to take interest from him for a loan ; the permission
to receive interest from a foreigner (though implicit in the
terms of Ex. and Lev.) is granted explicitly only in Dt. ; and
the promise of Jehovah's blessing is, of course, character-
istically Deuteronomic (on 2^). Virtually all loans in ancient
266 DEUTERONOMY
Israel were, it is probable (p. 178, and below), those directed
to the relief of distress ; and these accordingly are the loans
contemplated in the present law. — 20 (19). Thou shall not make
thy brother give interest (^^3), interest of money, interest of
victuals, interest of anything off which interest is given] Ex.
2224(25) QE) «<if j-^ou lend (npn) money to my people, even
him that is poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him as a
creditor [on 15^]; ye shall not lay interest C^^^) upon him";
Lev. 2536f- (H) "Take thou of him (thy impoverished brother,
V.35) no interest or increase (n''3'iri1 Tltf'J) ; but fear thy God,
that thy brother may live with thee. Thy money thou shalt
not give him for interest ; and for increase thou shalt not give
(him) thy victuals." " Usury" (AV., RV.), it need hardly be
said, is not used in the OT. in the modern sense of the term,
of exorbitant interest, but (in accordance with its general
usage in old English) of interest generally (whether reasonable
or exorbitant). The Heb. verb ^K'J means commonly to bite :
hence ^K'J is, no doubt, properly something bitten off the sum
lent, in modern parlance, interest. Interest is mentioned else-
where in the OT. — always with reprobation — Ez. iS^* i^* ^^ 22^'
Ps. 155 Pr. 2S^.— Interest of money, &'c.] cf. Neh. 5".— 21 (20).
Unto a foreigner, db^c] comp. 153. — May bless thecy 6r'c.] 142^''
2419b ; 12'.— In the land, &€.] 7I i i^o- ^.
In condemning' the practice of taking interest on money lent, Hebrew
legislation agreed with the thinkers of Greece and Rome (Plato, Legg. v.
742 ; Arist. Pol. i. 10. 5 ; Cato, ap. Cic. de Off. ii. 25 ; — Arist., for instance,
arguing, in view of its Greek name Ta«»f, that money being naturally barren,
to extract offspring ivom it must be contrary to nature) ; and the same opinion
was shared largely in the early Christian Church. The change of sentiment
20. 'J1 ynvh tbti nS] lit. (as it seems) "thou shalt not make thy brother
bite off, a biting of silver, &c. , even a biting of anything off which one biteth,"
viz. for the purpose of giving to the lender what is so "bitten off" from the
principal lent. Comp. Hab. 2^, where there is a play on the double mean-
ing of the verb : the Chaldaean (v.®) " increases what is not his " (cf. Pr.
28*), i.e. treats the nations subject to him as a usurer : these then rise up
against him as his "debtors," but also as those who will "bite" him
{y^Vi), i.e. requite him painfully for his extortions. " In Arabic there is a
parallel expression 'to eat usury.' For the connexion in which ir: here
appears there is a curious parallel in Hadlth Bokhari, vii. 60 of the BolSq
vocalized edition, where the price of blood, the price of a dog, and the
'eating of usury' are forbidden together. I think this is merely curious;
probably the Hadith is due to Jewish influence" (W.R.S.).
XXIII. 20-21 (19-20) 26;
which has supervened in modem times is due partly to a clearer perception
of the nature and use of money, partly to the fact that the purposes for
which loans are now required, are (as a rule) difTerent from those for
which they were needed in ancient societies. In modern times loans are
required principally by merchants and other traders, for the purpose of
developing an industry by increasing the capital with which it is worked ;
and the increased capital bringing with it an increased income, it is both
natural and proper that a reasonable payment should be made for the
accommodation, just as would be done for the loan {i.e. the hire) of a
house, or of any other commodity. In ancient times, however, commercial
relations were comparatively undeveloped, and loans were commonly
needed for the purpose of relieving distress (cf. Ex. aa'-^ (^)) ; the borrower
was not a solvent man, able and willing to pay a price for what, as he
well knew, would enable him to extend his business with profit to himself,
but a man reduced to poverty by misfortune and debt, to exact interest
from whom seemed tantamount to making gain out of a neighbour's need.
The loans on which interest was prohibited, were thus originally not
advances of money needed for the development of a commercial industry,
but advances intended for the relief of destitution (cf. p. 178) ; a system of
commercial loans (as distinguished from charitable loans) was only intro-
duced gradually ; and even when it was introduced, it was still long
before it was clearly seen that the two stood upon different footings, and
that interest on the former (provided its rate was not exorbitant) was
legitimate and just. But the feeling with which the ancients regarded all
interest, is of course still rightly maintained towards excessive, or usurious
interest. Cf. Grote, I/ist. of Greece, Part ii. ch. xi. pp. 311-315, 356 f.
By the later Jews the practice of taking interest was strongly condemned
(Hamburger, Real-Encycl. f. Bihel u. Talm. i. s.v. ZiNS ; supplementary
volume, 5.1/. Wucher), and abstention from it was considered so meritorious
that it was deemed tantamount to accepting " the yoke of the kingdom of
heaven" {Siphra, p. 109°, on Lev. 25^'). In Mt. 25'^ (the parable of the
talents) it is mentioned without any mark of disapproval.
22-24 (21-23). On vows. — A vow, once made, is to be
religiously performed : but being an obligation incurred volun-
tarily, it is no sin to a man if he does not make one. The
habit of making vows, i.e. of promising solemnly before God
to offer a sacrifice, or perform some other religious duty, in
case a prayer or other earnest desire be granted, was a common
one in antiquity ; and many instances are recorded in the OT.
(Gn. 2820 Nu. 2i2 Jud. ii30 i S. i" 2 S. 15'^); hence it is not
more than natural that laws should have been framed for the
purpose of regulating the practice, and defining the conditions
under which a vow should be valid. No legislation on the
subject is however contained in JE ; in P, the conditions under
which vows are valid are defined in Nu. 30, the passage which
268 DEUTERONOMY
is parallel to the present law being v.^^^)^ which lays down the
principle that a vow made by a man is in all cases binding
(the rest of the chapter specifying the conditions under which
vows made by women are, or are not, binding). The place at
which all vows are to be paid, has been stated previously in
Dt. I2'-"-". 26_ — 22(21). When thou shall vow a vow unto
Jehovah thy God^ thou shall not delay to pay zV] Nu. 30^(2)
** When a man voweth a vow unto Jehovah, or sweareth an
oath to bind a bond upon his soul (himself), he shall not
profane his word : according to all that goeth forth out of his
mouth shall he do." Not only is the vow to be performed as
it was promised, the performance of it is not to be unduly
deferred. Much stress is laid in the prophetic and poetical
books on the payment {pT^, lit. to make whole^ i.e. make goody
pay fully) of vows, partly as a duty to be promptly rendered,
partly as implying the welcome fact that the hope or desire,
which inspired the vow, has been gratified : see Is. 1921 Nah.
2I (ii5) Jon. 2^0 Ps. 222a 50" 56^3 6i9 652 66^3t ^612 ii6i4. "
Job 22^7; comp. also (based on this and the next verse) Eccl.
g8f.(4f.). Warnings against precipitate vows are given in
Pr. 2o25 Eccl. 5^ W. — Require it of thee] 18^^. — And it will be sin
in thee] viz. if thou do not pay it: cf. v.23(22) 159.— 24(23).
The utterance (S^) of thy lips ("I'riSb' SVio)] or "that which is
gone forth out of thy lips." The expression is used of a solemn
declaration or promise; Nu. 30^2(12) ps_ 3^35 jer, 17I6: cf. the
cogn. verb, Nu. 303(2) 3324 jer. 4417 is. 4523; and '"• 'S N^D
c. 8^. — Observe and do] 4^. — According as thou hast vowed freely
unto Jehovah thy God that which thou hast spoken [promised)
with thy mouth] the words are explanatory of the preceding
l^nSK' NVVD ; whatever has been voluntarily offered to Jehovah
in the vow, is to be duly rendered to Him. '^^'J?, it seems,
must be taken adverbially (Hos. 145W); it is against the
rend, of RV., that a "free-will offering" was made under
different conditions from a vow, and is mentioned as something
distinct from it (Dt. 12^-^7 Lgy. 7^6 al.). — Spoken with thy
mouth] cf. I K. 815- 2* Jer. 4425.
25-26 (24-25). Regard to be shown for a neighbour's cropa
22. DVD r-n] 18".
XXIII. 22 (2i)-XXIV 269
— The Israelite, as he passes through a neighbour's vineyard,
may pick and eat the grapes, as he goes along, but may not
carry any away in a vessel ; similarly, as he passes through a
neighbour's cornfield, he may pluck the ears with his hand,
but must not cut off any with a sickle. Both laws are peculiar
to Dt. They are adapted to check an avaricious spirit on
either side. The owner of a vineyard, or field of grain, is not
to grudge the passer-by a few grapes or ears of corn, if he
plucks them as he walks along (comp. the case of the gleaners,
2^^19-21^ ; on the other hand, the passer-by is not to take advan-
tage of the liberty thus granted to him, for the purpose of
enriching himself unreasonably at his neighbour's expense. —
25 (24). At thine own pleasure^ lit. according to thy soul, i.e. thy
appetite; cf. Pr. 1325 (iL"Q3 V2^h bsN p^^V) Ps. loyMs. 58", and
on 1220 1426. — 26(25). The disciples of Jesus were justified by
this law in what they did in the cornfields, Mt. 12^ Lk. 6^. The
Rabbinical teachers of Christ's day, however, treated "pluck-
ing" as a species of reaping, and "rubbing" (Lk. 6^) as a
species of threshing ; hence both came under the category of
'* work" or "business" (n^s^D), and were pronounced unlaw-
ful on the Sabbath day. See Edersheim, Life and Times of
fesuSy ii. 56, 780. The same licence is still granted in
Palestine (Rob. BR. i. 493, 499).
XXIV. 1-4. On divorce. A divorced woman, after con-
tracting a second marriage, is not to te re-married to her
former husband. — The rend, of AV., RV., is not here quite
exact ; v.^-^ form the protasis, stating the conditions of the
case contemplated, v.^ is the apodosis. The law is thus not,
properly speaking, a law of divorce : the right of divorce is
assumed, as established by custom (comp. 221^- 29, two cases
in which the right is forfeited) ; but definite legal formalities
are prescribed, and restrictions are imposed, tending to
prevent its being lightly or rashly exercised (see p. 272).
There is no corresponding law in the other Codes of the Pent.;
like Dt., H and P take the custom of divorce for granted
(Lev. 2i'^-i* 22^3 Nu. 3o'0('*)); but they contain no legislation
25. ly^r] accus. of manner : cf. yasy'? '73N Lev. 25^^ 26'. — 26. I'JJi] Ex,
zd^ Jos. 8" Is. ioi».
270 DEUTERONOMY
respecting it. The law of Dt. is quoted, and applied didactic*
ally, in Jer. 3^ (in v.^^ read as RV. marg.). — 1-4. Render:
" When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, and it cometh
to pass, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath
found in her some indecency, that he writeth her a bill of
divorce, and delivereth it into her hand, and sendeth her out
of his house, (2) and she departeth out of his house, and goeth
and becometh another man's wife, (3) and the latter husband
hateth her and writeth her a bill of divorce, and delivereth
it into her hand, and sendeth her out of his house ; or if the
latter husband, which took her to be his wife, die; (4) her
former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again
to be his wife, after that she is defiled." — 1. Find no favour in
his eyes] a common Hebrew expression : Gn. 6^ 18^ 19^^ &c.
— Because he hath found in her some indecency] the feeling
prompting a husband to divorce his wife must rest upon a
definite and substantial ground. The expression rendered
"indecency" ("i^'n nny) has occurred before in 23^5(14). jt is
lit. the nakedness of a thing, and signifies most probably some
improper or indecent behaviour (fflr aa-xvH-ov TrpSy/xa).
The expression is a peculiar one ; and different views have been held
as to what is denoted by it. Of the Jewish legalists, the school of
Shammai (i cent. B.C.), pressing the word "nakedness," understood it of
unchastity, the school of Hillel, pressing (in Rabbinical fashion) the word
"thing," and the clause "if she find no favour in his eyes" (though this,
as a matter of fact, is qualified by the following words, " becatise he finds
some indecency in her"), supposed the most trivial causes to be included,
declaring, for instance, that a wife might be divorced, even if she burnt
her husband's food (iS'c^n nn-\pn iV'£3n), or if he saw a woman who pleased
him better {Gittin, ix. 10: cf. Mt. 19' ii . . . Kara, vaaa^ alrlav, Jos. Ant.
iv. 8. 23 xaf atr'Sn^oTauv a'lria;). It may however be doubted how far the
latter opinion was literally acted upon. The grounds mentioned in the
Mishnah as justifying divorce are, violation of the law of Moses, or of
Jewish customs, the former being said to consist in a woman's causing her
husband to eat food, on which tithe has not been paid ; in causing him to
offend against the law of Lev. 18^', in not setting apart the first of the
dough (Nu. is^"'*)* ^"d in failing to perform any vow which she has made ;
and the latter in appearing in public with dishevelled hair, spinning (and
exposing her arms) in the streets, and conversing indiscriminately with
men, to which others added, speaking disrespectfully of her husband's
parents in his presence, or brawling in his house (^Kethuhoth vii. 6).
The I^araite Jews limited the grounds of divorce more exclusively to
offences against modesty or good taste, a change of religion, serious
XXIV. 1-3 271
bodily defects, and repulsive complaints (see A(J. Neub.uier, Aus det
Petersb. Bibliothekf 1866, pp. ni, loi ; Aaron ben Ella, Gan 'Eden, p. "Mpb,
c. 24 of DTJ mo). That the 13t nny denotes something short of actual
unchastity, may be inferred from the fact that for this a different penalty
is enacted, viz. death (22^); in 23"" (^*), also, the same expression is used,
not of what is immoral, but only of what is unbecoming. It is most
natural to understand it of immodest or indecent behaviour.
Writeth her a hill of divorce (Onna "iSp)] lit. a writ of cutting
off (cf. Sir. 25^8 aTroVe/ic), or separation (ffi ^i^Xlov aTroa-Taa-iov,
as Mt. 581 197 Mk. 10*) : so v.^ Jer. 3^ Is. so^t- The husband's
determination to divorce his wife must be attested by a
properly formulated legal document. — And delivereth it into
her hand\ so v.^. The deed must, so to say, be formally
served upon the wife. The conditions which a deed of divorce
(called in post-Biblical Hebrew a Get), in order to be valid,
must satisfy, and the formalities to be observed for its due
delivery to the woman, as defined by the later Jews, are stated
at length in the treatise of the Mishnah called Gittin. — And
sendeth her aioay {'^^P'^) otit of his house] a third formality (so
V.') : the woman must be sent forth formally, by her husband,
out of his house, npy' to send away or dismiss is the usual
Heb. word for divorce ; cf. v.* 221^- ^9 Is. 50^ Mai. 2^^. A
divorced woman is •^^"'3, lit. one driven out, expelled i^^v . 21^*
22^3 Nu. 30^° Ez. 44^21) ; but the verb {jnj is not found in this
sense (Gn. 21^0 being scarcely an instance). The right of
divorce, it will be noticed, rests solely with the husband ; no
provision is made for the case of a wife seeking redress for her
husband's misbehaviour. By the later Jews, the wife was
permitted in certain cases to claim a divorce, viz. if her
husband were a leper, or afilicted with a polypus, or engaged
in a repulsive trade {Kethuhoth, vii. 10). — 3. Hate her] cf. 22^^.
The expression, which includes no reference to a positive
oflFence on the woman's part, might be taken to show that a
husband could divorce his wife upon slight and arbitrary
grounds ; but as a second husband would hardly enjoy greater
liberty of divorce than a first, it is only reasonable to interpret
it in the light of v.^, as implying some impropriety as its
XXIY 2. 7 nn'ni] prop, come to belong to, become the property of: of a
woman, the standing expression for to be married to : Jud. 14*** 15' al.
2/2 DEUTERONOMY
occasion. — 4, After (hat she is defilcJ\ the union of a divorced
woman with another man, from the point of view of her first
husband, falling' into the same category as adultery, to which
this term is applied (Lev. iS^o Nu. 513. h. 20)^ << xhe marriage
of a divorced woman is thus treated implicitly as tantamount
to adultery, and the way is prepared for the teaching of Christ
on the subject of marriage, 09 lav dTroAcXv/xeVr/v ya/xT^crg /jLOL^arai
Mt. 5^2" (Keil). — An abomination before J ehovah\ a variation
of the usual expression "Jehovah's abomination" (on 7^^);
" before " as v.^^ Gn. 7^. — And thou shalt not cause the la?id to
stn\ cf. Jer. 3^. The land is conceived by the Hebrews as in
moral sympathy with the people living upon it, and is thus
almost personified (Ez. 141^ Is. 2420^); it is "polluted" under
its inhabitants (Is. 24^), and "defiled" by their immoralities
(Lev. i825). Here to sin denotes (or at least includes) to incur
the guilt and consequences of sin ; cf. Is. 29^1 Eccl. 5^ ; and
the subst. sin (Ntan) in 15^. — Is giving thee^ 421.
Hebrew law, as remarked above, does not institute divorce, but
tolerates it, in view of the imperfections of human nature (x^if <rnt
rxXnpoKafii'ia.y ifiuti, Mt. 19*), and lays down regulations tending to limit it,
and preclude its abuse. Thus the law of Dt. provides (hree guarantees
against rash or arbitrary divorce : a definite and substantial ground must
be alleged ; a proper legal instrument must be prepared ; and the case (it
is implied) must be brought before some public functionary, who would
not only secure the due observance of the requisite legal formalities, but
also take care that the grounds alleged were sufficient, and consider any
defence that might be offered. The deed, moreover, in order that the
divorce may be legally valid, must be delivered into the wife's hand, and
she must be formally sent by her husband out of his house. It is evident
that the time and expense involved in these formalities would tend to check
a divorce suit being rashly instituted ; the husband would have opportunity
for reconsideration, and the intervention of a public magistrate would
prevent proceedings being instituted upon wanton or frivolous grounds.
The further provision in Dt. that a divorced woman who had married a
second time, should not return to her former husband, would operate
similarly as a deterrent from hasty divorce, or, if the divorce had actually
taken place, it would lead the husband to consider the possibility of taking
his wife back, while he was still at liberty to do so, viz. before she had
bound herself to a second husband ; it would also be of value in a different
direction by checking, on the part of a woman desirous of returning to her
former home, the temptation to intrigue against her second husband. In
4. n(<9©n] G-K. § S4***'; Stade, § 165: the pausal form (for nxtpDn) on
account of the Zaq«f{id, on 7*).
XXIV. 4-« 273
two cases the right of divorce is withlield, viz. where a man slanders his
newly-married wife as unchaste, or seduces her before marriage (22'''- '"),
the gfround, no doubt, being, in the former case, that a husband guilty of
such a mean attempt to get rid of his wife deserved to forfeit the right
altogether, and in the latter case, that a woman who had been so treated
had a claim to special consideration at her husband's hands, and shoul(/
not be exposed to the additional disgrace of a divorce.
Malachi (2^'"'') deplores the frequency of divorce in his day, and
declares that it is hateful to Jehovah. The Rabbis in a later age dis-
couraged the practice as much as they could do : at the same time, the
passages from the Mishnah cited above, show that it was permitted upon
grounds which, judged by a Christian standard, would be deemed in-
sufHcient ; and perhaps the indistinctness of the expression used in Dt.
may have contributed to this laxity. Comp. the counsel of Sir. 25*'* /*,»
iff SiccTt iii^oiatf ftnii ytnaix.) ^ovripa i^i>viriaf 1/ fit) tropivtrai tara X*'f°'' ''*"> "'^^
vii rafxuv rtu d*iri/ii avrv* (see also y^ (^' 4^^).
The minuter regulations of the later Jews, on the subject of divorce,
are contained chiefly in the Mishnic treatises Kethuhoth (i.e. marriage-
contracts) and Gittin, — both translated in De Sola and Raphall, Eighteen
Treatises of the Mishna, 1843 : see further Saalschiitz, Mos. Recht,
p. 799 fF. ; Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus, ii. 332-334 ; Hamburger,
ReaUEncycl. f. Bibel u. Talm. i. s.v. Scheiden, ii. ^.7;. SCHEIDUNG (where
the formalities that must be observed in the preparation of a legal Get are
enumerated) ; Kitto, Bibl. Cyclop.^ iii. 89 f. The legal form of a Get may
be seen in Selden, Uxor Hebr. (1673) p. 369 f. ; Surenhusius, Mishna, iii.
323, 325 f. ; Hamburger, ii. I.e. ; cf. also Gittin, ix. 3. For two interesting
specimens of ancient ^<?/Am6o/A( A. D. 1095 and ii64)see A. Mem., Documents
de PaUographie Hebr. et Arabe (1894), p. 35 fF. — On divorce-customs in
other countries, see Post, Familienrecht, p. 249 ff.
5. No military service, or other public duty, is to be
imposed upon a man during the first year after his marriage.
— Peculiar to Dt. The law is analogous to those in 2o5-7, and
is prompted by the same spirit of consideration for a man's
domestic relations, and the same unwillingness to interfere
with them unnecessarily. — Neither shall any business he imposed
upon him] lit. pass over upon him. (Job 13^^): i.e. his services
are not to be requisitioned for any public purpose. — He shall
be free {^\>^) for his house for one year\ i.e. exempted (i K. 15^2)
from other duties, and free to attend to the interests of his
new home.
6. The mill, or the upper millstone, not to be taken in
8. nai VdS] '7 {=as regards) is here very peculiar, though there are some
approximate parallels in late Heb., i Ch, 28"'-2i 29"'' 2 Ch. 7^" (1| i K. 9*
without V) : Lex. "? 5 e e. — 6. Kin] he, — such a one as is mentioned in cl.*
(Job 13^).
18
274 DEUTERONOMY
pledge. — The hand-mill is an article in every household in the
East : it is indispensable for keeping the family supplied with
food ; and every morning its dull, grating sound is heard
throughout an Eastern village (cf. Jer. 25^0 Rev. 18^2). The
law is analogous to the one in v. 12-13. and like it imposes a
wholesome limitation on the power exercised by the creditor
over the debtor : how liable this power was to be abused may
be inferred from such passages as Am. 2^ Pr. 22^^ Job 22^ —
The milly or the upper millstone\ i.e. either the whole mill,
or even the upper millstone alone (which revolves upon the
lower stone, and without which, of course, the mill is useless).
The hand-mill (Q^H"}) consists of two flat circular stones, worked
usually by two women (Mt. 24*^) seated on the ground, as
anciently by female slaves (Ex. 1 1^ Is. 472) ; the work being
hard, and deemed degrading, was not performed by men
except such as were captives (Jud. 1621 Lam. 5^^). The
"upper millstone" (3?"?., lit. the "chariot," or rider) is men-
tioned also Jud. 9^3 (2 S. ii2i). — For he (emph. : viz. one that
doeth this) taketh a life [soul) in pledge\ the hand-mill, as just
said, supplying a family with its daily bread, and so being
tantamount to the life of those dependent upon it.
7. Against man - stealing. — A man discovered to have
stolen, and sold into slavery, a brother-Israelite is to be
punished with death. The law is virtually a repetition of Ex.
2 1 16 in J E, the phraseology being merely recast in the Deutero-
nomic mould. — If a man he found (21^ 2222) stealing any of
his brethren of the children of Israel, and he play the master
over him (21I*), and sell him, then that thief shall die] Ex. 21I*
** He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he {i.e. the
man stolen) be found in his hand, shall surely be put to death."
In Dt. the object of the verb "stealeth " is expressly limited
to an Israelite. By sell him is no doubt meant sell him into
slavery in a foreign land. — Brethren] 15*. — So thou shalt ex-
terminate, &'c.] is^^^).
8-9. On leprosy. — In dealing with the plague of leprosy,
the Israelites are to attend carefully to the directions given to
them by the Levitical priests ; and to bear also in mind what
7. vs:]=persoti, as 10^ and often.
XXIV. 7~io 275
Jehovah did to Miriam, as they came forth out of Egypt (Nu.
12^^). In JE no provision is made for the treatment of
leprosy ; but in the Priests' Code the subject is handled with
great minuteness, in view of the different cases that are likely
to arise, in two long chapters, Lev. 13-14. The law, as it
stands here, cannot be taken as proof that Lev. 13-14 existed
in its present shape at the time when Dt. was written ; but it
is sufficient evidence both that a Tdrah on the subject was in
the possession of the priests, and that the principles which
it embodied were of recognized authority, and referred to a
divine origin ('* as I have commanded them"). — 8. Take heed]
cf. 4". — The plague (y33) of leprosy] lit. touch or stroke (17^ 21^),
— here of the physical mark {irXriyrj) produced by a malignant
complaint (cf. i K. 8^^ Ps. 91^^), and a standing expression in
Lev. 13-14 (v.^* ^' ' &c.) ; cf. the cogn. verb, 2 K. 15^ — Observe
. . . and do] 4^. — According to all that the priests the Levites
(18^) shall direct you] 1710^ (where obedience to the " direction "
of the priests is similarly enjoined) : the verb is the one ip'f'^)
used of the technical '* direction," given by the priests (cf. on
17^^) ; and the regulations contained in Lev. 13-14 are called
by the corresponding subst., the Tdrah of leprosy (13^®
1^82.64.57). — 1,33] ^ Sam. minn fjaa. — As I have commanded
them] the first person, of Jehovah, as 7*. — Observe to do] 5^ —
9. Remember, ^c] cf. 718b j and esp. 2^^''. — Unto Miriam] see
Nu. 12 (JE). A solemn admonition to remember not only
how Miriam was suddenly smitten with leprosy, but also how
seriously it was treated, Miriam being excluded from the camp
for seven days (Nu. 12^^^-). — By the way, &'c.] 23^(4) 25^^.
10-13. On pledges. — When an Israelite lends to his neigh-
bour on the security of a pledge, he is not to go into the
house for the purpose of fetching his pledge ; the right of
selecting the article offered is to remain with the borrower.
And if the borrower be a poor man, and offer his mantle as the
pledge, it is to be restored to him at sunset, in order that he
8. 3 TDBTi] in, i.e. in the matter of (Ex. 23^^ 2 S. 20^"), when the case
arises ; not against (3J, Schultz, Keil), which would be jD (23I" Jud. 13^
Jer. 9*), not 3. — 10. neri] 15*. — loay tsaj;'?] for him to give his pledge (cf,
on 15'), — with a change of subj., as sometimes happens with the inf. (4*).
276 DEUTERONOMY
may not be deprived of his covering for the night. Loans on
interest {22^^^-) are forbidden : but loans on the security of a
pledge are permitted ; and the two present provisions are
designed to prevent the creditor's abusing his legitimate rights,
or enforcing them vexatiously (Job 22'' 243), The second is
based upon Ex. 2225f-(26f): the first is peculiar to Dt., and like
those in v.^- ^^^, is intended as a further restriction on the
arbitrary power of the creditor. The terms of both provisions
show that commercial and monetary transactions (cf. p. 178)
are still of a relatively simple character. — 12. A?id if he be a
poor man, thou shall not sleep in his pledge^ as the next verse
shows, the pledge contemplated is a mantle (no^tJ') — perhaps
the only article that a poor man would have at his disposal
for the purpose, as well as his only covering by night (Ex.
2226(2:)). So Ex. 2225(26) a jf thou take thy neighbour's mantle
(riD^C') to pledge, thou shalt restore it to him against sunset."
A garment was a common article to offer as a pledge (24^'
Am. 28 Pr. 20^6 2713 Job 226) ; and the salmah (or simlah) was
the large quadrangular over-mantle, or plaid (cf. on 22^^),
which was used for sleeping in, and for other purposes (Ex.
12^* Jud. 825 I s. 2i^'>). On the duty of restoring pledges, see
also Ez. i8^- ^2 2215. — And to thee it shall be Hghteousness] 6^^.
14-15. Justice towards hired servants. — The wages of a
poor hired servant are not to be withheld from him after the
time when they are due ; they are to be paid to him regularly
at the end of his day's labour. One of the many laws in which
Dt. abounds, not less than the codes of JE and H, inculcating
equity and consideration towards those in a position of
dependence or want. The parallel in H is Lev. 19^^^. — Thou
shalt not oppress (or defraud)] P'^'V is used specially of oppression
by robbery or fraud: 2829-33 i S. 123-4 Am. 4I Ez. iS^^ 222»
Mai. 35 (■i'3K' -\y^ ^^^)}),^0f thy brethren, or of thy strangers,
&€.] the expressions are Deuteronomic (152 12^2 31I2). — 15_
In his day, ^c] Lev. ig^^b *<the wages of an hired servant
shall not remain all night with thee until the morning. —
13. ryohv] as Ex. 228- «»: Dt. usu. has n^ot? (8^ lo^s 21IS 22-5-"), but
nohiff 29^ (=8*).— 14. 5l"i3p] collect., as Lev. ly^-io-i^a/. — 15. nae' jnn] with,
out iV, idiomatically, as Gn. 30^* Ex. 2* Jon. i^ ; Zc. 11'*.
XXIV. I2-I6 277
Setteth his heart upon it\ lit. lifteth up his soul to tty a Hebrew
idiom signifying "setteth his desire upon it": cf. on iz^o, and
see Hos. 4^ Jer. 22^^ 44^* Ez. 2426 Ps. 24*, and in a religious
sense (with God as the object of desire) 25^ I43^- With the
thought, cf. Job 72 14^. — Lest he cry against thee unto Jehovah^
audit be sin in thee] 15^: cf. Ex. 2222(23).
16. Responsibility for a crime is to be confined to the
criminal : his family are not to suffer with him. — Peculiar to
Dt. Judged by a modern standard, this provision seems to be
a superfluous one ; for the practice prohibited appears to be
inconsistent with the fundamental principles of justice : but in
the light of ancient ideas, and ancient usage, it was by no
means unnecessary. In ancient times the family was the unit
of society, much more than the individual ; the guilt, and not
merely (as with us) the disgrace, of a crime perpetrated by an
individual, was shared by the rest of his family ; and it was
only gradually that the doctrine of individual responsibility
acquired recognition. Hence among ancient nations, especi-
ally in the East, the family of a criminal often suffered
punishment with him (Est. g^^f.^ Herod, iii. 119, Dan. 6^5 (S'*)),
Whether the same custom prevailed in Israel can only be
inferred by conjecture: the cases Jos, y^*^- 2 S. 2i^-® are of an
exceptional nature, and hardly authorize an inference as to
the ordinary judicial procedure. But in 2 K. 14^ (where the
present law is quoted by the compiler of Kings) Amaziah
appears to be praised on account of his unusual clemency ;
and that there was felt to be a danger of the practice is shown
by the existence of a law forbidding it.
The doctrine of individual responsibility is strongly insisted on by
Ezekiel (c. 18). The principle of the present law has been asserted before,
7^". It does not conflict with the teaching of 5' (Ex. 20'). There the
reference is to the providence of God, operating naturally through the
normal constitution of society : children are linked to their parents by ties,
physical and social, from which they cannot free themselves ; and they
suffer, not because they are guiltjy of their fathers' sins, but because by the
self-acting operation of natural laws their fathers' sins entail disgrace or
misfortune upon them. Here a law is prescribed for human action, and a
16. Sy] may be either/or (ffi uw\p) Jer. 15" Ps. 6g* 44^°, or together with
(on 23").— 16^ mnr] ffi Sam. US mo; (so 2 K. 14* Kt.), © pmo;: tbo
difference is immaterial.
278 DEUTERONOMY
principle is laid down for the administration of justice by the State ; th«
family of a criminal is not to be punished judicially with him. The two
cases are thus altogether different : it is one thing- that, in virtue of the
physical and social conditions in which they live, children should suffer
for their fathers' sins ; it is another thing- that, by the deliberate inter-
vention of human authority, they should be punished for criminal acts
which they have not committed. Cf. J. B. Mozley, Ruling Ideas in Early
Ages, Lect. iv. p. 1 1 1 ff.
17-18. The stranger and the fatherless not to be treated
with injustice, nor the widow with hard-heartedness. — The
same three typical classes of the necessitous and unprotected
are again, as already in Ex. 22^^^- (^if-)^ and often elsewhere in
Dt. (comp. on 14^^), commended to the considerate regard of
the Israelite. Each of the two provisions is substantially the
application to a special case of the general principle of Ex.
2220.21.25(21.22.26) 236.9 and Lev. 1933'- (the stranger not to be
oppressed). — Thou shall not -wrest the judgment (i6^^) of the
stranger, (or) the fatherless] Ex. 23^ "Thou shalt not wrest
the judgment of the poor in his cause." — Nor take the widow's
gatTuent to pledge] a provision analogous to the one in v,^.
Comp. Job 243, where taking the widow's ox for a pledge is
mentioned as a piece of oppressiveness side by side with
removing landmarks, robbing flocks, and driving away the ass
of the fatherless. — But thou shalt remember, &c.] the whole
verse nearly as 15^^; cf. below, v.^
19-22. Gleanings in the cornfield, the olive-garden, and
the vineyard, are not to be claimed in a grasping spirit by
the owner, but to be left for the stranger, the fatherless, and
the widow. — The first and the third provisions agree sub-
stantially with Lev. iQ^f- 2322, in the Law of Holiness, only
the phrasing being Deuteronomic ; the second is an extension
of the same principle to the olive-garden. — 19. When thou
reapest thine harvest, &€.] cf. Lev. ig^- ^°'' ( = 2322). — May bless
thee, (SrT.] 14291) 2321 (20)b,_20. W}ien thou beatest (csann *d) thine
olive tree] alluding to the method by which the fruit of the
olive tree was collected ; so Is. 27^2^ Comp. the parallel
expression. Is. 17^ 24^2 ri'T Pjpjs <'as at the striking of an olive
tree." — 21. When thou gatherest thy vineyard (Jud. 92^), &c.\
cf. Lev. I9^°\ — 22. And thou shalt remember, (Srr.] v.^^ 15^^
20. iNsn] denom. from •"'"••f : the so-called Piel privativum (G-K. § 52. 2*).
XXIV. 17— XXV. 3 279
XXV. 1-3. Precautions against undue severity in the in-
fliction of corporal punishment (the bastinado). — If a culprit
be condemned by a lawful tribunal to be beaten with stripes,
the sentence is to be carried out in presence of the judge, the
stripes are to be counted one by one, and the entire number
given is not to exceed forty. Peculiar to Dt. A provision
both equitable and necessary in an age when little regard was
apt to be paid to human suffering, and when corporal punish-
ment was liable to be inflicted with extreme severity. The
expression in v.^ "cause to lie down" makes it probable that
the particular punishment contemplated in the law is the
bastinado, which was a common form of punishment in Egypt
(Wilkinson-Birch, 1878, i. 305, 308; HIVB.^ 8992, 914) and
in other Eastern countries, and which lends itself with peculiar
facility to abuse. The infliction of stripes is often alluded to
in the OT. as an obvious and ordinary form of punishment,
e.^. Ex. 21^0 (which shows that a master would sometimes
beat his slave with such violence as to cause his death), Pr.
1013 iy26 ig29 26^ (on the back ; cf. Is. 50^), Jer. 20^ 37^': but
it is nowhere described as authorized by law except here, and
(probably) 22^^. — 1. TAey shall justify the righteous, and con-
demn the wicked] comp. i K. 8^2 (of God). Righteous and
wicked are here used in their forensic sense, to signify
righteous and wicked, in respect of the particular charge of
which a person is accused, i.e. they are equivalent to innocent
and guilty respectively ; cf. Ex. g^'' 23^. P'''^.V'? and r^^'"!'?. lit.
make (i.e. declare) righteous (innocent) and wicked (guilty), as
2 S. 15* Is. 523 Ps. 823 ; Ex. 22S(9) Ps. 3733 9421.-2. Worthy to
be beaten] lit. a child of beating (nian ]2.), by a well-known
Hebrew idiom: comp. "a child of death" (niD p) i S. 20^1 al.
— To be beaten before his face, according to what is sufficient for
his wickedness, by number] provisions evidently adapted to
protect the criminal against maltreatment : the punishment is
not to be left to the discretion of subordinate officials, it is to
be inflicted in the presence of the judge ; the stripes are to be
counted, not administered at random ; and their number is to
be strictly proportionate to the gravity of the offence. — 3. A
XXY. 2. 'T nD] cf. Lev. 25-^.
28o DEUTERONOMY
further limitation : the number of stripes is never to exceed
forty. — Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed] by
the later Jews the number, to avoid the possibility of a mis-
take, was fixed at 39 (nnx iDn D"'J?3"1X Maccoth, iii. lo ff., where
the process is described ; 2 Cor. ii^* Jos. Ant. iv. 8. 21, 23). —
Thv brother] the term is here used with force; see on 152. —
Be dishonoured] on the idea expressed by "^/i??, see on 27^^.
The meaning- is that an excessive punishment is a humiliation
inconsistent with the respect that is due to a human being ;
it brings with it a degradation which even a criminal does not
deserve. — Before thy eyes] aggravating the indignity; cf. on
i^^. (^'^^mof AV. RV. is incorrect: see below.)
4. The ox not to be muzzled, while he is treading out the
corn. — Peculiar to Dt. The law affords another example of
the humanity which is characteristic of Dt., and which is to
be exercised even towards animals (cf. probably 22^'- ; and
Pr. 12^°). I Cor. 9^ I Tim. 5^^ the law is quoted, in illus-
tration of the principle that "the labourer is worthy of his
hire." The custom of threshing corn in the manner here
alluded to, prevails still in the East. The ears of corn are
spread out upon the threshing floor, the oxen, yoked together
in pairs, are led by a rope, or made to move round a pivot in
the centre, and their hoofs passing over the ears, separate the
grain from the husk. See DB'^. i. 65 (in Egypt); Thomson,
The Land and the Book (1881), i. p. 153 f. (at Yebna) ; Rob.
BR. i. 550 (near Jericho: here the oxen of the Christians were
muzzled, those of the Moslems unmuzzled). Oxen (or other
animals) still thresh unmuzzled "in Mauretania (Hoest,
Marok. p. 129), Mesopotamia (Buckingham, Mcsop. i. 418),
Syria (Russell, Aleppo,^ i. 76), Arabia and Palestine (Wellsted,
Reisen in Arabien, 1842, i. 194; Lynch, Narrative, 1852,
p. 218)" (Knob.). Conder {Tent Work, 1887, p. 329) says,
** I have seen them muzzled, though this is rare."
5-10. The law of Levirate-marriage. — If there are two
brothers living as neighbours, and one die leaving- no son, his
3. 'Ji I'DV i£3] RV. "lest, if" Sec. : see on S'''. — yy^h nhp:] not "should
seem vile unto thee": " in the ej'cs (=:judgment) of" is 'ri'3 (e.g: Gn. 19"):
':'i'^ is always before, in vifii' of {e.g. v.").
XXV. 4 28 1
widow is not to be married into another family, the surviving
brother is to take her as his wife, and the eldest child born to
them is to succeed to the name and inheritance of the deceased
brother, v.^-^. In case the surviving brother declines to do
this, a formal declaration to that effect is to be made by both
of them before the elders of the city, after which the widow is
to loosen her brother-in-law's sandal from his foot in token
that he has formally renounced his right, and to express
publicly, by word and gesture, the contempt which he deserves
for having failed to discharge this duty towards his deceased
brother, v.^"^°. Peculiar to Dt. The motive of the law is
obvious. It is to prevent the extinction of a family; for it
was deemed a disaster if a man, who had once secured for
himself a wife and home, should be left without a descendant
to perpetuate his name. As however in so many other cases,
the law of Dt. does not create a new institution, but merely
codifies an old one. The Levirate-marriage must have been
an ancient tribal institution in Israel ; for the duty of a sur-
viving brother to marry his brother's childless widow is in
Gen. 38 (see esp. v.^- i*b- 26j presupposed for the patriarchal
age. But the institution is not confined to the Hebrews :
wkh modifications in detail, the custom by which it becomes
the duty of a surviving brother to marry his deceased brother's
wife (or wives), and to make provision for his children, is a
widely-diffused one, which prevails among very many different
nations, and under the most different systems of relationship
(for instance, kinship through women, not less than kinship
through men).* The Hebrew institution, however, differs
from the normal Levirate-marriage in three respects — (i) it
was limited to the case where the deceased left no male issue ;
(2) even then it was only put in force when the two brothers
were dwelling on the same family estate ; (3) the surviving
brother, though he took his deceased brother's widow as his
wife, and enjoyed during his lifetime (so far as appears) his
• See the long' list of peoples cited by Westermarck, Hist, of Human
Marriage, p. 510 f. ; and the very clear synopsis, with fuller details, in A.
H. Post's brochure, Einl. in das Stud, der Ethnol. Jurisprudenz (18S6), pp,
28-47 J *lso (fof Africa) Afrik. Jurisprudent (1887), pp. 419-425.
282 DEUTERONOMY
brother's estate, did not found a family for himself: the issue
of the marriage succeeded to the name and estate of the
deceased brother. Similar limitations prevail in India, Mada-
gascar, and among the Calchaquis of Brazil. Hindu law
restricts the practice to the case in which the deceased leaves
no issue of either sex ; but the union with the widow cannot
here be termed a marriage, for it is only permitted to con-
tinue as long as may be necessary to ensure the birth of a
single son,* its special aim being merely to provide an heir
who may be qualified to perform duly certain sacrificial rites
in honour of the deceased. t In Madagascar it is the duty of
a younger brother to raise up seed to his elder brother in case
he dies childless. | — 5. Dwell together] i.e. on the same family
estate (Gn. 13^ 2^^ ^o not illustrate the usage here) : when the
members of the family were separated, the law did not apply.
It was a collateral object of the institution to prevent a family
inheritance from being broken up, and (see the next clause
but one) passing into strange hands. — And have no son] this is
the natural meaning of the Hebrew (p), and it is so understood
by Onq., Knob., Ew., Dillm., Oettli, Benzinger, Arch. p. 346,
Nowack, Arch. i. 345, RV. ; but ffi (o-Trep/xa) understands p in
the general sense of cJiild (of either sex) ; so Jos. Ant. iv. 8.
23, and in the quotation by the Sadducees, Mt. 22^* ( = Mk.
i2i» = Lk. 2o28), F, Rabb., Schultz, Keil, al. Had this, how-
ever, been intended, seed, or son or daughter, would, as Dillm.
remarks, have been certainly said in legal phraseology. —
Without (Jud. i2«) to a stranger] i.e. to a man belonging to
another family or clan : she was to remain (with her property)
in her own family. — Perform the duty of an husband's brother
unto her] the idea conveyed by these words is expressed in
the Heb. by a single word, a verb derived from the Hebrew
term for "husband's brother" (D3^), viz. i^^^]], i.e. ** treat her
as a cnj, or husba7id's brother'' (so Gn. 38^). The fact of Heb.
S. V . . . .Tnn] 24". — n-Sy n3'] Gn. 19^^ : usu. Sk k2.
* Institutes ofManu, v. 59-63 ; Mayne, Hindu Law and Usage,* 1883,
?§ 68-69. Actual marriage with the widow, however, prevails among
particuliar tribes of India {ib. § 70).
t Cf. on this duty, Maine, Early Law and Custom, chaps, iii.-iv.
:;: Sibree, The Great African Island, i88o, p. 246.
XXV. 5-IO 283
possessing a special word to indicate this particular relation
is evidence that it must have been a prominent factor in
ancient Hebrew society, and that the rights and duties
connected with it must have been important ones. — 6. S?iall
succeed to the name of his brother that is dead] lit. ' * stand up
upon the name," &c., i.e. assume a position (or be established)
as his heir, and the perpetuator of his name and family. — That
his name he not blotted out front Israel] comp. for the figure 9^*
29I9 Ps. 96 10913; for the thought Ru. 45-10 i S. 2422(21) 2 S.
14^^. — 7. Shall go tip to the gate (Ru. 4I), unto the elders] in
order that her brother-in-law's renunciation of his office may
be officially attested and sanctioned: cf. 21I* 221^. — To raise
up, &c.] cf. Ru. 45-10 (inbnj hv non w^ Li''\>rh). — 9. Then shall
his brother^ s "wife draw nigh unto him in the presence of the
elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his
face ; and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto
the man that doth not build up his brother's house] according to
Ru. 4"'-, it was the custom in ancient Israel, when property
was transferred, or a right ceded, to take off the sandal, and
hand it to the person in whose favour the transfer or cession
was made, as a symbolic attestation of the act, investing it
with legal validity. Here the sandal is taken from the foot of
the husband's brother, in token of his renunciation of the right
which the law gave him over his deceased brother's wife
(comp. the Bedouin form of divorce, * * she was my slipper,
and I have cast her off"; Smith, Kinship, p. 269); but it is
removed not by himself, but by the woman, as an indication,
apparently, that he allows an honourable privilege to be taken
from him, and voluntarily renounces a duty which affection
for a deceased brother should have made dear to him. The
discredit which was felt to attach to his conduct, appears
further from the contemptuous act which the woman is after-
wards directed to perform (see Nu. i2i< Job 30^0 Is. 50^), and
from the disparaging words with which she is to accompany
it. For build up, cf. Ru. 4" ; also Gn. i& 30^ (RV. m.),—
10. And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him
9. v:s3] "»n the face of" (in a hostile sense), as Nu. 12"; c.y'" (see note);
Job 16* Hos, 5*. " Before" {Jebamoth, 12* ; Rabb. ; Espin) would be "JsS,
284 DEUTERONOMY
that hath his sandal loosed] or, more pointedly, ** of the un-
sandalled one," — a contemptuous soubriquet, which will cling
to his family, and perpetuate the recollection of his unbrotherly
act. — ^t^iC'n 10B' Nip''] Ru. 4I* (in a different application).
An institution so widely diffused as the Levirate-marriage must rest
throughout upon some common basis, and be due to the operation of some
common principle, or principles, influencing society. By J. F. McLennan *
it was strongly contended that the peculiar position taken in it by the
brother can be properly understood only as a survival from an antecedent
polyandroiis stage of society — in particular, of the kind known as Tibetan
polyandry, in which a group of brothers living together share a single
wife, and the children of the brotherhood are all (by a legal fiction)
reckoned as belonging to the eldest brother. But though undoubtedly
polyandry has prevailed, and prevails still, in many parts of the globe f
(notably in Central Asia), the best independent judges are of opinion that
McLennan greatly exaggerated its extent and importance as a stage in
the development of society ; and, in particular, that the usages connected
with the Levirate-marriage, to which he appealed as evidence of its former
existence, were not so conclusive as he supposed. t The institution of the
Levirate-marriage, it is probable, § originated in a state of society in which
the constituent units were, more largely than with us, not single families,
but groups of related families y or joint family groups. In primitive and
semi-primitive societies women do not possess independent rights, they
are treated as part of the property of the family to which they belong. A
married woman, upon the death of her husband, passes consequently, with
her children, and her late husband's estate, to the new head of the family,
who assumes in relation to them the same rights and duties which the
husband had : he holds towards them the joint position of guardian and
owner ; and this brings with it as a corollary the right to treat the widow
as his wife. And it is the brother who thus becomes the deceased man's
heir, because, from his age and position, he is (as a rule) the person who
is best fitted to be the new head of the family, and the guardian of its
• Studies in Arte. Hist. 18S8, p. 97 ff., esp. 109-1 14 ; Fortnightly Review,
1877, i. 694 if.
t Including Arabia: see Strabo, p. 783; Bokhari, iii. 206 (W. R.
Smith, Kinship, 122-135; Wellh. in "Die Ehe bei den Arabem," in the
G8tt. Nachrichten, 1893, p. 460 ff.).
X H. Spencer, Fortnightly Review, ib. p. 895 fF. ; Westermarck, Human
Marriage, pp. 3, 510-515 ; Wake, Marriage and Kinship, ch. v., esp. pp.
172-178 ; A. H. Post, Entwicklungsgesch. dcs Familienrechts, pp. 58 f., 63 ;
Starcke, The Primitive Family, pp. 128-170. (The reader should be
aware that the term "Levirate-marriage" is used by different writers in
different senses : by some it is used in the broader sense noticed above (p.
281), by others it is limited to the special type, such as prevailed among
the Hebrews and the Hindus.)
§ Post, FJhnol. Jurisprudenz, p. 40 ff. ; Starcke, pp. 141, 152 f., 159 f^
165-167.
XXV. II-I2 285
interests and rights. As remarked above, the Levirate-marriage prevails
with many modifications of detail : frequently, for example, it is limited to
the case where the surviving- brother is younger than the deceased
brother ; * as the strong sense of family unity which gave it rise becomes
weakened, the brother, though he must still make provision for the widow,
often retains only the right, and not the duty, to take her in marriage ; t
elsewhere it is permitted only where the education of the deceased brother's
children has to be provided for.J Not improbably the Hebrew institution
was once considerably wider in its operation than appears in the OT. :
there, very nearly as among the Hindus and the Malagasy, it is confined
to the particular case in which the widow has no sons, and in which there-
fore some special provision is necessary to secure the perpetuation of the
deceased man's family, and maintain the integrity of his estate. That
the issue of the marriage is counted as belonging to another than bis
real father is due to the operation of a "legal fiction," of which numerous
examples are to be found in ancient law.
The marriage of Bo'az and Ruth (in spite of Nowack, Arch. i. 346 f.)
is not a Levirate-marriage : Bo'az is not Ruth's brother-in-law ; but he
"purchases" her (4'*), together with No'omi's estate (4*), which he
"redeems": he takes her consequently not as Levir, but as Gael; and
this office devolves upon him, as i^"" hints, just because No'omi has no
surviving son, able to discharge the duty of Levir. The resemblances to
Dt. 25 in Ru. 4 are due to the general community of subject-matter (the
elders intervening in a case of family law, the "gate," &c.), not to the
fact that the same case is being described. From a legal point of view,
the marriage of Bo'az and Ruth, and the perpetuation of Mahlon's name
^^6b. 10^^ gpg elements in the transaction, subordinate to the question of the
redemption of Elimelech's estate (4^'^).
In Lev. 18^^ 20^ marriage with a brother's wife (widow) is forbidden.
The two laws are usually harmonised by the supposition that Lev. pre-
scribes the general rule, which is superseded in the law of Dt. by the
exceptional circumstances there contemplated. As the conditions under
which the marriage is permitted are very precisely described in Dt., this
explanation may be the correct one. (The difference is otherwise ex-
plained by Benzinger, Arch. p. 346; Nowack, Arch. \. 346.)
11-12. Against immodesty in women. — W7ien men strive
with one another {wm^ Ivy ^d)] as Ex. 2122. — 12. Thine eye
shall not spare\ 7^^. — "The case, significant for the manners
of the age, was, nevertheless, assuredly not of such frequent
occurrence as to call for prohibition by a special enactment :
it is, however, selected typically (as e.g. \<f) out of a number
of others, in order to serve as a standard for the judgment
to be pronounced in similar cases. Immodesty, even when
extenuating circumstances are present, is to be checked as
stringently as possible. It is, moreover, apart from the ju\
* Post, p. 45 f. t lb. p. 42. X lb. p. 46.
286 DEUTERONOMY
A>/wnts[see on 19^^], the only case in which the law prescribes
the mutilation of the person as a punishment" (Dillm.).
13-16. On honesty in trade. — The Israelite is not to have
in his possession unjust weights or measures ; for Jehovah
abhors dishonesty, whereas His blessing rests upon those who
deal uprightly. Justice in the administration of judgment has
been insisted on previously (i6^^"20) : here justice in commercial
transactions is insisted on likewise. Lev. ig^s-ss^ jn t^g Law
of Holiness, is parallel: "Ye shall do no unrighteousness
(?)]}) in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
Just balances, just stones, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall
ye have : I am Jehovah your God, which brought you out of
the land of Egypt." — 13. Thou shalt not have in thy bag (Mic.
6^^ Pr. 16^^) two different {stones)\ lit. a stone and a stone., i.e.
stones of different size and weight, or (as the following words
explain), "a great and a small," — the larger one for buying,
and the smaller for selling ; Am. 8^ shows how this type of
dishonesty prevailed in N. Israel. Stones were frequently
used for weights in ancient countries. For the Heb. idiom
employed, comp. Pr. 20^' (the same expression), Ps. 12^ (lit.
"with a heart and a heart") i Ch. 12^. — 14. Two different
ephahs\ the most ordinary, and standard, Heb. measure is
taken as the example ; comp. Lev. 19^^ Am. 8^ Mic. 6^° Ez.
4510, — 15_ ji -whole and just stone] "whole," i.e. not deficient
in any respect, not under weight. Comp. Pr. ii^ (notO '•iTKO
Wl^l n^h^ pXI nin^ nnyin). — That thy days may he long, Qfc]
5^^ (Ex. 20^2); cf. 4*°: see on 4^6 i2o. — 16. For every one thai
doeth these things, &c.] the ground, exactly as 18^2 22^:
see also 7^^ ("abomination"). — (Even) every one that doeth
unrighteousness y)X)\ ^iy HK'y, as Lev. 19I5. ss ^hj^ quoted
above, and in Ez. (3^0 iS^*- 26 2313- 16. is^^ U/^^ jg ^ot a common
word, occurring, beyond the passages quoted, only 9 times.
17-19. The 'Amalekites to be exterminated by Israel. — The
hostility displayed by 'Amalek towards Israel as they came
out of Egypt (Ex. 17^"^^), when they pursued them with
such pertinacity as even to cut off stragglers in their rear, is
not to be forgotten by Israel : when settled securely in thei/
18. pMi pK] Ux. \ 1 1.— 15. pnsi] cf. G-K. § 131. 2''.
XXV. I3-I8 28;
land, they are to remember Jehovah's purpose, then solemnly
pronounced against His people's foe (Ex. 17^*- ^^). The verses
repeat and enforce, in the style and manner of Dt., the duty
thus laid (implicitly) upon Israel. The repetition is agreeable
to the situation in which the discourses of Dt. are represented
as having been delivered. The passage of Ex. declaring
Jehovah's purpose to "blot out the remembrance of 'Amalek
from under heaven " is a striking and emphatic one ; and in a
recapitulation of the principles designed for Israel's future
guidance, supposed to have been addressed to them when they
were on the point of entering the Promised Land, it is not
more than natural that it should have been repeated. The
fact that 'Amalek, at the time when Dt. was written, had
ceased to be a neighbour formidable to Israel, even if it had
not ceased to exist as a nation altogether (cf. i S. 15; 30^^^;
I Ch. 4*5), does not affect the question : the injunction is
supposed to have been given at a time when its execution was
yet future ; and in so far as it had been actually carried into
effect, the Israelitish reader would have the satisfaction of
feeling that it was a point on which his nation had not failed
in responding to the duty laid upon it. — 17. Remember what
'Amalek, dr'c.] the sentence is framed exactly as 24®. — In the
way, &€.] as 236(*). — How he met thee Cl"}!^) hy the way] cf.
I S. 152 (ima 1^ Db' nc's ^siK'^f' p^Joy hk'j; Ik's n^<).— 18. And
cut off at the rear in thee all that were fagged behind thee] lit.
** tailed in thee," i.e. cut off as a tail those whom sickness or
exhaustion compelled to follow on slowly behind. Cf. Jos.
lo^* (D2)t. This particular incident is not mentioned in
Ex. 178-13. — Fagged] see below. — Faint and weary] Jud. 8*-^^
(•l^y); 2 S. 172 (yy), cf. V.29. Advantage was taken of a time
when Israel was exhausted by the heat, or other accident of
the journey. — And he feared not God\ " according to the rules
of ancient Arabian hospitality, and with some sense of God,
<uch as may be presupposed even among the heathen (Gn.
2o*-8 42^8), the 'Amalekites ought to have spared, and indeed
18. 33t] the Piel privat., as 24**. — D'Spni] of uncertain meaning^. In
r>an. 2** the Aram. Srn is to beat down, subdue : in Syr. Stm is to forge a
metal ; hence perhaps beaten down (by heat or fatigue), over-done, fagged.
288 DEUTERONOMY
rather assisted, those who lagged behind, unfit for battle.
That they did the contrary, was inhuman and barbarous : a
people with such evil customs deserves no mercy" (Dillm.). —
19. Giveth thee rest, &c.\ so 12^0. The period meant is that
of the Kings (cf. 2 S. 7^). — In the land which, &'c.\ exactly as
I i*.— Thou Shalt blot out, e^c] Ex. 17I* •«! will utterly blot
out the remembrance of 'Amalek from under heaven." The
Divine purpose, declared in these words, is here impressed
upon Israel as a duty. — Thou shalt not forget] cf. 9^.
XXVI. T^vo liturgkal ceremonies to be performed periodically
by the Is/aelite in Canaan; with an exhortation im-
pressing once again upon Israel its obligations towards
Jehovah.
The subject of this chapter fits it to form a suitable close
to the code of laws constituting the Deuteronomic legislation
(c. 5-1 1 ; 12-25). It provides the Israelite with the means of
periodically reminding himself, befote God, of the obliga-
tions under which he lives, and of the spirit of grateful and
ready acquiescence in which he should yield obedience to
them.
1-11. A form of thanksgiving, to be used annually by the
Israelite, at the time of presenting his first-fruits at the
Central Sanctuary. — The Israelite, bringing with him his first-
fruits in a basket (which the priest will receive from his hands
and present formally at the altar), is to make a solemn con-
fession of Jehovah's bounty and faithfulness as manifested in
His dealings with his nation, and in grateful acknowledg-
ment of His goodness to offer to Him the first-fruits of the
soil which He has given him to possess. — 1. Whefi thou art
come, (Sr'c] nearly as 17^*. — For an itiheritance\ 4^^ &c. — 2.
Some of the first (18^) of all the fruit\ whether the '* some of"
is to be taken strictly, or not (cf. v.^**), is uncertain ; comp.
on\.^^.— Unto the place, &c.] i25-".— 3. The priest that shall
be in those days] i.e. the priest for the time being (17* 19^^).
By the sing, is meant, probably, the chief priest (acting, if
necessary, through one of his deputies). — 3. I declare this day,
&*c.] the Israelite confesses that he owes his present enjoy-
XXVI. i-u 289
ment of the land to Jehovah's faithfulness. — Sware] i*. — 5-9,
How Jehovah had wonderfully multiplied the nation, and
brought it from servitude in Eg-ypt into fertile Canaan. The
passage consists largely of reminiscences of JE's narrative in
Ex., with one or two from Nu. 20. — 5. An Aramcean ready
to perish C^^^) toas my father\ Jacob is so styled, with inten-
tional disparagement, on account of his foreign connexions ;
his mother's home had been in Aram-Naharaim (Gn. 2/^^- 2*),
and he spent himself many years in the same country (Gn.
29-31) in the service of his mother's brother, Laban "the
Aramaean" (Gn. 2520 28^ in P; 3120.24 j^ jg)^ whose two
daughters he married. "I?N, prop, perishmg (Job 29^^ Pr.
3 1 6), when applied to animals, esp. sheep, suggests the idea
of losi (and so in danger of perishing) by straying- (Jer. 50^
Ez. 34'*- 1^ Ps. ii9i''6; comp. i S. 93-20); and as such an idea
would be applicable to Jacob, with his many wanderings, it is
not improbable that it may have been felt to be associated
with the word here; hence RV. marg. "Or, wandering'. Or,
lost": cf. Is. 27^3. But the once destitute foreigner, slender
as his chances of life might have appeared to be, became
ultimately a great people. — To sojourn there\ Gn. 47*. — Few in
number] cf. Gn. 3430. — Great, mighty, and populous] Ex. i^;
cf. c. 1^°. — 6. Evil entreated us (uns iyi"'l)] Nu. 20^5 (JE). —
Afflicted us (i:iij;""i)] Ex. 112. — Hard bondage \r\V\> m2V)] Ex. i^*
69 (both P); also i K. 12* Is. 148.— 7. Cried unto Jehovah]
Nu. 20^8; cf. Ex. ^T.—The God of our fathers] Ex. 3i6.i6._
Heard our voice] Nu. 20^^. — Saw our affliction] Ex. 3^ 481. —
And our oppression {Yj\rh)] Ex. 3^. — 8. Brought us forth, &'c.\
the expressions as above, 8^* 4^*. — 9. Unto this place] i^^ 9^ 1 1*.
— Flowing with milk and honey] 6^ &c. — 10. So shall thou set
it down . . . awflfworj-^e*^] viz. with the ceremonial just described
(v.4ioa). In point of fact it is the priest who is actually to " set
down" the basket (v.*). — 11. And thou shall rejoice because of
all the good, &'c.] comp. 1 26''- nf- i^f. jgn. u^ which make it
evident that what is meant is the joy of a sacred meal, held at
the sanctuary, in which the needy Levite and the stranger (as
in the passages quoted) are to be invited to share.
XXYI. 5. BVD Toa] so 28«2 : the 3 as 10**.
19
290 DEUTKKONOMV
III 18' ihe reshith forms part of the revenue of the priests. The present
passagfe is not necessarily in conflict with that, though the exact manner
in which the first-fruits were disposed of is not certain. In may be natur-
ally supposed that the first-fruits presented at the altar became afterwards
the property of the priests : in this case, as it is not distinctly said that the
sacred meal of v.'^ consisted of the first-fruits, the reference may be to the
sacred meal accompanyingf one of the three annual Pilgrimages, perhaps
that of Weeks (16"), at which the first-fruits may have been offered. Or
if the part. jD (some of the first-fruits) in v.^ is to be taken strictly, as the
amount of the first-fruits is not defined in 18^, it may have been considered
sufficient to hand over a part to the priest (v."- ■*•'**), the remainder being
consumed at a sacred meal. The former alternative seems preferable.
12-15. A solemn profession of obedience in the past, with
a prayer for a blessing in the future, to be made by the
Israelite after he has completed his payment of the triennial
tithe. — The tithe of the third year was appropriated to charit-
able purposes in the Israelite's native place (142^*^) : this not
being in itself a religious act, a substitute is provided, con-
sisting in a form of words, expressing the worshipper's sense
of the obedience which he owes to God, and of His dependence
upon Hiin for future blessing. — 12. /n the third year, the year
of tithing] see on 142^. — And givest it to the Levite, dir'c.] as
prescribed in 14'^^^-. — 13. Before Jehovah thy God] possibly, as
Gn. 277, in the Israelite's own home, "before God the all-
present" (Knob., Keil) ; but, more probably (Riehm, ^PF^.
1794'', Di.), in view of the general usage of D, "before
Jehovah at the central sanctuary" (v.^- ^^ ja''-^^. 18 j^^as. 26 j^ao
16^' ig^^), — probably, on the occasion of the pilgrimage thither
at the end of the year, at the Feast of Booths. — / have
extenninated (13" ('')) that which is holy out of my house]
"Holy" (of. on 12-'') refers to the tithe, which, being con-
secrated to Jehovah, so long as it remains in a private house,
is of the nature of an unpaid debt, a due wrongfully withheld ;
hence the strong verb employed, signifying its total removal
from the house. — Have given them, &c.] 14^^. — / have not
12. -liyy^] for Tri-n'? (cf. Neh. lo^s nbys): G-K. § 53. jR."-'. But the
Hif. does not occur elsewhere ; and prob. iB'yp should be read, as i4"^*'
Gn. z'S^. — iB'iDn nitJ-] tS to JsuTs^av JTiSsxaT-ov, introducing the idea of the
"second tithe" (above, p. 170). But this could be only -ivn nryon, of
which n^'j/Drr nvD is not a probable corruption. The rendering possesses
no exegetical or critical value ; and implies merely that r\vo was read
(ungrammatically) as n'jK'.
XXVI. 12-14 29 1
transgressed any of thy commandmc7its\ the context (on both
sides) shows that the reference is to the particular command-
ments relating to the tithe : the worshipper affirms that he
has paid it in full to those who were authorized to receive it :
the words are thus not conceived in a spirit of self-righteous-
ness ; for they relate only to a particular and limited duty,
which it would require no severe moral effort to perform. —
14. He has, moreover, while it was in his custody, guarded it
carefully against defilement. — / have not eaten thereof in my
sorrow] i.e. in my mourning; pX as Hos. g*. Contact with a
corpse, or even proximity to it in the same house, occasioned
ceremonial uncleanness (Nu. ig^i- '^*, in P) ; if a man, there-
fore, whilst he was unclean from this cause, partook of the
tithe, the whole would become unclean in consequence.
•* Bread of sorrows" is alluded to as unclean in Hos. g*. — Nor
exterminated thereof whilst unclean] he has been careful, while
removing (v.^^) the tithe from his house, to be in other respects,
also, ceremonially clean. Contact with holy things, whilst a
person was unclean, whether through proximity to a corpse,
or from any other cause, had to be avoided : comp. (of the
priests) Lev. 22^-^ (H) Nu. iS^^-^^ (P). — Nor given thereof for
(or /o) the dead] the exact sense of these words is uncertain,
the Hebrew being ambiguous. If the rendering for the dead
(14^) be correct, the allusion will be to the custom of the
friends of a deceased person testifying their sympathy with the
mourners assembled in the house by sending to them gifts of
bread or other food, for their refreshment (2 S. 3^^ Jer. 16'^ Ez.
24*^) : food consumed at such funeral feasts being n^iturally
(see above) "unclean," it would be deemed unlawful co apply
any part of the tithe to such a purpose (so Kn., Ke'., £w. Anliq.
p. 204, Oettli). If, on the other hand, the rendering to the dead
be correct, then the allusion will be, most probably, to the
practice which was widely prevalent among ancient nations
(Tylor, Primitive Culture,^ •• 4.90 ff., ii. 30-43, including sur-
vivals among Christian peoples), and was in vogue also among
the later |cvvs (Tob. 4^'': comp. Sir. 30^^^-, where the practice
is ndicuied), of placing food in the grave with the dead, for
14. KOaa] " a^ one unclean" (on v.°) : cf. «<i3' ,- n^ Is. 40"*.
292 DEUTERONOMY
the use of the departed spirit on its journey to the Underworld.
The practice referred to was common in Egypt, where "small
tables were sometimes placed in the tombs, bearing offerings
of cakes, ducks, or other things, according to the wealth or
inclination of the donors" (Wilkinson-Birch, Anc. Egypt, ed.
1878, iii. 432, where there is a representation of such a table
found at Thebes, now in the British Museum). So Dillm.,
Oort {Th. Tijdschr. 1877, P- 354 f-). Wellh. {Arab. Heid. 162).
Such a custom, though not otherwise attested in the OT.,
might well have prevailed among the more superstitious
Israelites, for whom such prohibitions as those in i8^°^- were
necessary.
According to others, the allusion is to actual sacrifices, offered to the
dead for the purpose of rendering; them propitious to the survivors : so
Hal^vy, Mdlanges de Crit. 1883, p. 371 ; Stade, Gesch. i. 389, 425 ;
Schwally, Das Lehen nach dent Tode, 1892, pp. 22, 25; Benzinger, Arch.
165, 166 f. ; Nowack, Arch. i. 196 f., ii. 300 : cf. Spencer, Legg. Heb. II. xxiv.
§ 3. 3 (of offering's to deities such as Osiris or Adonis). This is possible :
but it is not required by the text of the passage ; and, in spite of Schwally
and Nowack, it is far from established as a Hebrew custom by Jer. \G .
I have hearkened, &c.\ a renewed profession of the con-
scientious completeness with which this religious duty has been
discharged. — 15. As the worshipper can thus conscientiously say
that he has rendered to Jehovah the due which He claims of the
produce of the soil, so he closes with the prayer that Jehovah,
on His part, will still vouchsafe to bless His land, and the
people dwelling upon it. — Look forth {7\^''\>t'r\)\ Ps. 14^ 10220. —
Thv holy habitation (iL-^p pyo)] Jer. 25=^0 Zc. 2^7 Ps. 68*5 2 Ch.
3o-"t : pyo, in classical Heb., is confined to poetry, and the
elevated prose of the prophets. Cf. Is. 63^^. — And the ground,
&'c.\ci. 11^2. i4f.^ — Asthoicswarest] i^. — A land flowing, &'c.\\.^,
16-19. Closing exhortation, reminding Israel of the mutual
obligations, undertaken by Jehovah and the people respectively,
in the covenant subsisting between them. — This day] 4^ 5^ &c.
— These statutes and judgments] i.e. those contained in c.
12-25; comp. 12^ — Observe and do them] 4^. — With all thiTte
heart and with all thy soul] on 6^. — 17. Thou hast this day
17. tdkh] so v.'^f. The rend, adopted above is that of Ges., Ew. {Ant.
p. 28), Kn,, Keil, and is the most satisfactory, others that have been pro
posed being questionable philologically.
XXVI. 15-19 293
caused Jehovah to say (mosn) that he "will be thy God, &'cJ\
l^pxn (which occurs only here and \.^^) was perhaps a term
used technically by the contracting- parties in a covenant, each
causing the other to recite the terms of the agreement between
them. So here Israel, by listening so readily to the command-
ments set before it, has (virtually) "caused Jehovah to say"
that He will be its God, and that it should observe His com-
mandments ; and Jehovah has at the same time "caused
Israel to say" that it will be His people and keep His com-
mandments, and that He will then respond, on His part, by
promoting it above the nations of the earth. That Israel
*^ caused, or occasioned, Jehovah to say," is not, of course,
literally exact ; but the expression follows from the nature of
the case, and is a consequence of Jehovah's having con-
descended to become one of the contracting parties to a
covenant. — To be to thee for a God {Li''Thvh 1^ nvn^)] a common
phrase (with thee, you, them, &c., as the case may be) : 29I2 ;
2 S. 724 (= I Ch. 1722) Jer. 723 n* 24^ 3022 3133 (cf. y.i) Ez. ii20
M" 34^* 36^^ 37^^- ^^Zech. S^; in P (inch H), Gn. 177.8 Ex. &
29« Lev. ii« 2233 2588 2612.45 Nu. i5"t (differently Gn. aS^^
(JE); Ex. 4!^). — To 'walk in his ways, &r'c.^ the expressions,
as 8^ 430.40 &c_ — 18_ And Jehovah hath this day caused thee to
say (v. ^7) that thou wilt be to him a peculiar people^ 7^ (with
note), based on Ex. igS (n^JD 'h Dir^ril), the passage here
referred to ("as he said unto thee"). The phrase is an
expansion of the common one "to be to him {or me) for a
people," the correlative of "to be to thee for a God," and
often found in combination with it; 27^ (n''^"^3) Jer. 723 ii^ 13^^
247 3022 3i33 (cf. v.l) 3238 Ez. Il20 14" 3628 3728. 27 Zgch. 2^^ 9fi,
in H, Lev. 26^2; with other verbs, Dt. 2912 (d^h), i S. 12^
{r\^]3) 2 S. 723 (mD)2<' (piD; in the ||, i Ch. 1722 )nj), in P, Ex.
6^ (np^)t : and the undertaking being g"iven by a human
subject, as here, 2 K. 11^^ = 2 Ch. 23^^. — And keep all his
commandnients\ explanatory of the conditions involved in
Israel's agreeing to be Jehovah's npJD Dy. — 19. And that he
will set thee high, &r'c.\ 281^; cf., of the Israelitish king, Ps.
3g28(27) — Which he hath made] Ps. 86^. — For a praise, a7id for
a nam.e, and for an honour (lit. an ornament)] i.e. to be an
294 DEUTERONOMY
object of pride and renown unto Jehovah; so Jer. 13^^^ (the
same words), cf. 33^ Zeph. 319-20, — ^^^ holy people, &'c.\ 7*
142.21 289; varied from Ex. 19^ (cmp "'Ij), which is referred to
here ("as he hath spoken"), as v.^ is referred to in the last verse.
From its position, the condition of being a holy people to
Jehovah appears to be viewed here as a privilege conferred
upon Israel by God (cf. 28^), rather than as a duty (which it
is Israel's part to realise for itself (142-21). Naturally, con-
secration to Jehovah has this double aspect, either side of
which may be brought into prominence, according to the
truth which a writer on a particular occasion desires to
enforce.
XXVII. Instructions relative to a symbolical acceptance by
the nation of the Deuteronomic Code, after its entrance
into Canaan.
In this chapter the discourse of Moses is interrupted, and the
writer uses the third person (as i^-^ 441-43 ^i 2gi (2)ff.j. it contains
injunctions relative to /b«r ceremonies : (i) the inscription of the
Deuteronomic law on stones upon Mount 'Ebal, v.i-*-*; (2)
the erection of an altar and offering of sacrifices on the same
spot, v.^-7 ; (3) the ratification of the new covenant by the
people standing on both mountains, six tribes upon each,
v.i^-13; (4) the twelve curses to be uttered by the Levites, and
responded to by the whole people, v.i*-26. V.^-io consists of a
practical exhortation addressed to Israel.
The chapter presents considerable critical difficulties. Not
only are the various parts of which it consists imperfectly
connected with each other (see the notes), but it stands in a
most unsuitable place. C. 28 forms manifestly the proper
close of the Deut. Code (c. 5-26), and connects well with 261^ ;
but c. 27 lacks connexion both with c. 26 and with c. 28 (the
transition from 2714-26 ^q 281 being peculiarly abrupt), while
at the same time it interrupts the discourse of Moses with
directions, the proper place of which is after c. 28, and with
a series of imprecations (v.i4-26^ which (where they now stand)
anticipate unduly 2^^^^-. It is hardly possible that the chapter
can form part of the original Dt. It seems that a Deutero-
XXVII. 1-2 295
nomic imdeus has been expanded by the addition of later
elements, and placed here, in an unsuitable context, by a later
hand.
1-8. The Israelites, on the day that they cross Jordan, are
to take ^eat stones, to inscribe upon them the Deuteronomic
law, and to set them up upon Mount 'Ebal, at the same time
erecting an altar, and offering sacrifices, to Jehovah. — The
ceremony, here prescribed, is intended evidently as a public
and official acceptance by the nation of the Deuteronomic
Code, ratified by religious sanctions.
The passage appears to be composite. V.^"* and v.* belong closely
tog-ether (all relating to the stones, and to what is to be written upon
them) ; but they are interrupted by v."'^ (relating entirely to the altar).
Yi-4. 8 ^a^s ajgQ y 7b^ abound with marks of the Deut. style, which are absent
from v.'"'». It seems that an older injunction (JE), v.*"^*, respecting a
sacrifice on 'Ebal, has been taken up by D (or a follower of D), supple-
mented by the addition of v.^, and combined with the instructions, written
in his own words, for the inscription on stones of the Deut. law. It is a
further question whether v.^'*-* itself is the work of one hand or two.
Dillm. points out that v.'^'^ are repeated, largely in the same words, in
V *• *, with the difference that while in v.* 'Ebal is specified as the place
where the stones are to be set up, in v.^"' they are to be set up immediately
after the passage of Jordan (note not only v.'' "on the day," but v.' " that
thou mayest^ in," &c.) : hence he assigns v.^"' to D, v.**''''* to R<*. But
the repetition may be due to the diffuse character of the Deut. style (Kuen.
Th. T. xii. 299), and the other difference may arise from the fact that the
writer, looking back to a distant past, may not have reflected on the time
that must actually have elapsed between the passage of Jordan and the
arrival at 'Ebal. In 1 1^" 'Ebal seems to be represented as nearer to Jordan
than it actually is.
1. And the elders] elsewhere in Dt. Moses is represented as
alone laying commands upon Israel. Why the elders (31^) are
here exceptionally associated with him, it seems impossible
satisfactorily to explain; the sing, ^v^i, and the pron. "I,"
show that in any case they are assigned only a subordinate
position beside him. — All the commandment, &c.] i.e. the
Deut. law; cf. on 8^ — 2. Ott the day when, &c.] hardly =
** in the time when " ; for (i) IK'S DV? is not quite the same as
Di*3 (sq. inf. or pf.), Gn. 2* Nu. 3^, and where it occurs besides
(2 S. 1920 Est. 9^) denotes a literal " day " ; and (2) in v.^^ only
the passage of Jordan is contemplated, the occupation of
XXYII. 1. -lb?*] 5^2 16' ; cf. on i".— 2. t^] v.« Am. 2' Is. 33"!.
296 DEUTERONOMY
Canaan being- yet in the future. If v.* ('Ebal) is by the same
hand as v.^*^, the difference, it seems, can only be explained
as sug-gested above. — Great stones\ because much was to be
inscribed upon them. — Plaister them with plaister\ i.e. coat
them with lime or gypsum p''?')' '" order to secure a surface
on which the writing inscribed might be clearly legible. The
letters were not to be carved in the stone (as is usually the
case in ancient inscriptions), but to be inscribed, with some
suitable pigment, upon a prepared surface. The practice was
Egyptian. In Egypt it was the custom to put a layer of
stucco, or paint, over the stone used in architecture, of what-
ever quality, even granite : and in the case of sandstone, which
was porous, a coat of calcareous composition was laid on
before the paint was applied. The black pigment, used in
Egypt, consisted of ivory or bone black ; and figures, or
characters, inscribed by this method were very permanent
(Wilkinson-Birch, Anc. Eg. ii. 286-288). It was a common
custom in antiquity to engrave laws upon slabs of stone or
metal, and to set them up in some public place. At Carthage
the regulations respecting sacrifices were thus engraved {CIS.
I. i. 166-170). In Greece such slabs were called o-r»;Aat [e.g.
Plato, Crit. 119 C, E; Demosth. Lept. p. 495): many laws
and decrees of Athens, and other Greek states, so inscribed,
have been discovered during recent years (see e.g. Hicks,
Greek Hist. Inscriptions., 1882, passim). — 3. All the words oj
this law] i.e. of the Deuteronomic Code (c. 5-26), according to
the general usage of the expression "this law" (i^). Others
have supposed the reference to be to the blessings and curses
(Jos. Ant. iv. 8. 44, who says, inexactly, that they were
inscribed on the altar), or to the 613 precepts which the Jews
computed to be contained in the Pent. [Sotah, vii. 5; Knob.,
Ke.) ; but neither of these explanations is consistent with the
term used. Whether the whole of c. 5-26 is intended, or the
laws alone (without the hortatory introductions and comments),
must remain undetermined. This inscription of the Deut.
Code is intended as a declaration, on the part of the people,
made as soon after their entry into Canaan as possible, that it
is the rule under which in future they elect to live, while the
XXVII. 3-« 297
laws inscribed upon the slabs remain as a permanent record of
the fact (of. Is. 8^ 30^). — In order that thoti may est go t'n, &*c.]
the phrases as 4'*° 6^. The words seem clearly to contemplate
the occupation of Canaan as still future ; see on v. 2. — 4.
'Ebal] Sam. has " Gerizim," the sacred mountain of the
Samaritans. No doubt, an arbitrary alteration of the text:
see Ges. de Pent. Sam. p. 61 ; De Rossi, Var. Lect. adloc. —
5-7. The altar to be erected on the same spot. It is to be
built, according to the ancient law of Ex. 20^5 (JE), in simple
fashion, of whole, i.e. of unhewn stones, upon which no tool
has been used. Burnt-offerings are to be offered upon it, and
also peace-offerings (cf. Ex. 20^4), the latter accompanied by
the usual sacrificial meal. The nation's public acceptance of
the Deut. law in Canaan is to be marked by religious cere-
monies, similar to those by which the covenant of Sinai was
concluded (Ex. 2/\^- ^i). The representation cannot be destitute
of an historical basis : no doubt at the time when E wrote,
there was such an altar on 'Ebal, together with slabs of stone
inscribed with parts of the law, which tradition told had
been set up there shortly after Israel's entrance into Canaan.
Comp. Jos. 8^1. Burnt- and peace-offerings are often men-
tioned together in the historical books, as Ex. 24^ Jud. 20^^
2i5 I S. 108 2 S. 617 I K. 315.— 7. Peace-offerings (Q'P^f)] else-
where in Dt. (on 12^ 18^) these are denoted by the term " sacri-
fices " (D'naT); see 126-11.27 x^^,—Eat\ on 12^.— And thou shalt
rejoice before Jehovah^ as 12I2. This clause, if the view adopted
above be correct, will be an addition made by D (or R"^) to the
passage (v.^"^) taken by him from E. — 8. Upon the stones] i.e.
those named in v. 2- * (see v.^a), not those mentioned in v.\
9-10. Israel is reminded of the obligations involved in its
character as Jehovah's people. — The verses have been often
supposed (Ewald, Hist. i. 121 ; Kleinert, p. 183; Kuen. Th. T,
1878, p. 302 f.. Hex. § 7. 21 ; Dillm. ; Westphal, p. 99), not
without reason, to have been the link which originally con-
5. f)*:n] as 23-' Ex. 20^ ; cf. Is. lo'^ In Arab, to raise aloft \ in Heb.,
coupled with the idea of moving to and fro, to swing or wave (the hand,
&c.). — 6. 'Ji nio'^B' D':3.v] in appos. with '' n^JD nK : Engl, idiom inserts
" of." So Gn. 2^ Ex. 2o25 25I8 &c. (Dr. § 195. i ; G-K. § 117. 5 i 5).— 8. ^»<3]
Hab. 2^ ; cf. i'. — atJM ixa] the double inf. abs., as 9*^^.
298 DEUTERONOMY
necf ed c. 26 with c. 28. On the one hand, they are unconnected
either with v.'-^ or with vJi-^o (for not only does a new intro-
duction follow in v.", but the expression "commandments
and statutes," which elsewhere denotes the Deut. Code as a
whole, is too g^eneral to be understood of the imprecations
V. 14-26) . on the other hand, they are kindred in thought with
26IM9 (cf. V.9 this day with this day 26^7; and the similar
argument based in both passages on the fact of Israel being
Jehovah's people) ; and, while 27^^-2'^ is followed very abruptly
by c. 28, 29^-10 would be a suitable and natural introduction to
it. — 9. The priests the Levites]; see on 18^. — All Israel] i^ —
Hear, O Israel] 5^. — This day thou art become a people vnto,
(Src] 26^^. — 10. Hearken, then, unto the voice, ^yc] cf. 26^^. —
Commandments and statutes] 4*" 6^ io^3 28^5 30IO, cf. 26^^. —
WJiich I am connnanding thee this day] 4*'' and repeatedly.
11-13. The Deuteronomic Code to be ratified, and symbolic-
ally accepted, by Israel at a national solemnity to be cele-
brated on Mount Gerizim and Mount 'Ebal. — The verses have
reference to ii26-3o^ where a blessing is promised, in case
Israel obeys Jehovah's commandments, and a curse in case it
departs from them ; and the blessing, it is then said, is to be
"set" upon Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount 'Ebal.
The last words point evidently to some kind of symbolical
ceremony ; and the present passage indicates what the nature
of the ceremony intended is : six of the tribes are to stand
upon one of the two mountains named, invoking a blessing
upon the people, in the event of their obedience, and six upon
the other, invoking similarly a curse, in the event of their
disobedience. The sons of Jacob's legitimate wives, Leah and
Rachel, are, it may be observed, chosen for the blessing, the
sons of his two concubines, Zilpah and Bilhah (Gad and Asher,
and Dan and Naphtali), for the curse, the numbers on the two
sides being equalized by Reuben, who forfeited his birthright
(Gn. 49''), and Zebulun, as the youngest son of Leah (Gn.
30^'"'), being transferred from the former division to the latter
9. njpn] only here. Sakala in Arab, is to be silent {e.g. Gn. 15^^ Ex. 15^*
Saad.). — n^nj] the Nif. is elsewhere hardly used, except of an occurrence,
to be brought about', cf. 4^^. — 13. Vy] nearly =yor (rare): cf. Ex. I2* 29"
Ps. 8cy« {Lex. hv 1 g S).
XXVII. 9-'3 299
(Knob., Keil., Dillm.). On the two mountains selected, see
on II*. For the manner in which the instructions here given
are stated to have been carried out, see Jos. 8^3 (D^).
14-26. A series of twelve imprecations, to be pronounced
by the Levites, and responded to by the people, declaring God's
curse against twelve typical forms of sin. — Of the offences
against which these curses are directed, all are reprobated
elsewhere in the Pent., though not all in one and the same
Code ; thus seven are forbidden, or (the twelfth) deprecated,
in other parts of Dt., six in the laws of JE (Ex. 20. 21-23. 34),
nine in Lev. 17-26 (H).
The following table exhibits the parallels in a synoptical
form : —
Ex. Deut. 27. Lev. 17-26.
20^- ^ 34" v.'" (the secret worship of an image) : cf. 4'^- ^' ^ ig* 26^*
20^^21" v.'^ (dishonour of parents) : 5^^ cf. 21^*"''^ 20®
v.i^ (removal of landmark) : 19^*
v.i* (misleading the blind)
22^*'*' 23® V.'* (wresting the judgment of the stranger,
fatherless, and widow) : 24"
v.* (incest with step-mother) : 23^ (22'")
2218(19) V. 21 (bestiality)
v.*^ (incest with half-sister)
v.^' (incest with mother-in-law)
20'^ 21^* v.^^ (murder)
cf. 23* v.^ (receiving bribes for slaying the innocent) :
cf. i6i9
* * • v.''* (disregard of the Deuteronomic law) • • •
The parallels agree in substance, but the resemblance is
seldom verbal : hence the imprecations will hardly have been
taken directly from the corresponding prohibitions. The
offences against which they are directed are the dishonour of
Jehovah, certain grave breaches of filial and neighbourly duty,
and certain typical forms of immorality. The principle upon
which the particular offences named are selected is not
apparent. Only three of the offences prohibited in the
Decalogue are included ; and yet, while adultery, for instance,
is not noticed, three separate cases of incest are specified.
It has, however, often been observed that the offences selected
for imprecation are, at least mostly (note "in secret," v.**'''^),
I91*
,g33f.
188 20"
18^3 20l»
1 89 20"
i8»7 20"
2^17
300 DEUTERONOMY
such as would not readily be brought to justice before a human
tribunal.
The verses agree so indifferently with what precedes that
it is hardly possible for them to have been the original sequel of
v.i^-^^, or even to have formed pare of the original Deuteronomy.
(i) V.'^'^' speaks of a blessing to he pronounced on Mt. Gerizim, and
a curse upon Mt. 'Ebal ; and we expect accordingly (cf. n'^*) some invoca-
tion of blessings and curses upon the two mountains respectively. Instead
of this, however, there follows a series of curses alone. The supposition
(Kcil) that the blessings are omitted, because the law, owing to the sinful
character of human nature, brings chiefly a curse to man, is inadequate :
this might explain why, for instance, in a general exposition of man's rela-
tion to the law, the consequences of human disobedience were dwelt upon
more fully and emphatically than those of human obedience (as is actually
the case in Dt. 28 and Lev. 26) : it does not explain why, when an express
arrangement has just been described for pronouncing a blessing upon the
people, as well as a curse, instructions should follow for the latter, but
not for the former. And v.''"-, interpreted in the light of ii''^^"^, seems
clearly to point to some description of the consequences, respectively, of
Israel's obedience and disobedience, in the same general manner as c. 28,
not to an enumeration of twelve particular offences to be visited by God
with His curse.
Further, (2) while v.^^"!' represents the whole people as divided into two
halves, six of the tribes (including Levi, which is treated here as a lay-
tribe, Ephraim and Manasseh being counted as one) standing on Gerizim
for the purpose of blessing, and six on 'Ebal for the purpose of cursing, in
y 14-26 tj^g whole people respond to a series of curses uttered by the Levites
alone. Certainly v.^* does not necessarily contradict v." (for v.^* might
refer to the tribe of Levi in general, while the "Levites" of v." might
denote a minority, selected to officiate on the occasion) ; but the two
representations, taken in the whole, are manifestly inconsistent.
(3) Had the imprecations been the work of the author of Dt., it is
natural to suppose that they would have borne some definite relation to
the Deut. legislation, and presented an epitome of the sins which he himself
deemed ihe gravest, or the most prejudicial to Israel's welfare. But in
point of fact, some of those which he warns the Israelite most earnestly
against, are not included in the list (for instance, the worship of "other
gods," and the sins characterized by him as Jehovah's "abomination"),
while several which are not mentioned elsewhere in Dt. find a place in it.
The list being thus constructed without special reference to Dt., it is
probable that it is in reality not the work of the author of Dt., but an old
liturgical office, used on solemn occasions, which has been inserted by a
later hand in the text of Dt., and accommodated to its position there by
the addition (or adaptation) of v.*®.
14. The Levites] i.e. (if written from the standpoint of Dt.)
\i. m Sip] only here, the usual syn. being Vnj Sip (2 S. 15^ al.). Cf,
Vip □*-)rr Ts. 13* al.
XXVII. I4-I6 30I
members of the tribe of Levi (whether acting as priests, or
not); cf. i8^ 31"^^- If written from the standpoint of P,
" Levites " in the sense of the inferior, non-priestly members
of the tribe (p. 219) will be intended. — Answer] in the sense of
"begin to speak," as 21''^. — 15, Cursed] a formula of impre-
cation, used sometimes colloquially, as the expression of a
merely human disapproval, Jos. g^^ (JE) i S. 26^^ (with
"before Jehovah "), Jer. 20^*- ^5, sometimes in connexion with
an oath, involving grave consequences for the persons con-
cerned Jos. 6^8 (with " before Jehovah "), Jud. 21^^ j g^ i^^S4. 28^
sometimes on a prophet's lips, or in the mouth of God Himself,
as the emphatic declaration of a Divine sentence, as here and
v.15-26 . cf. Gen. 2^*' ^^ 4^^ 9^^ 2729 ( = Nu. 24^) 49^ Dt. 28i«-i»
Jer. 11^ 175 48^*^ Mai. i^*t, Ps. 11921 (disregarding accents).
The copula is unexpressed in the Heb. ; and is, be, or shall be,
must be understood, according to the context. Here is is
most suitable. — Jehova/is abomination] 7^5. — The "work of the
hands of the craftsman (p~\T\ ^^' nt^'yo)] so Jer. lo^ ; comp. ib.
v. 9 Hos. 132; also Hos. 8« Is. 4019-20 417 4^11-13 45i6._/„
secret] cf. i3'^(6). Even the secret idolater (Job 312'^) does not
elude the Divine judgment. — Amen (IP^*)] lit. an adj. firm,
assured, used adverbially, as an emphatic expression of
assent, assuredly, verily, i K. i^^ Jer. 11^ 28*' (ironically),
Neh. 5^3; as a liturgical formula Nu. 522 (px ;os) ; as here,
and v. '^-26^ in ^j^g mouth of the people generally Neh. 8^ (px
ps), and in the doxology to the fourth book of the Psalms,
Ps. io6« (so I Ch. 1 636), cf. Ps. 41I* 7219 8953 (10NI JOX). Only
twice besides (differently) Is. 65I6. 16. it is true, the other
examples of the use of Amen, which are perfectly parallel to
this, are post-exilic ; but the passages in Kings and Jeremiah
are proof that the term itself was used at a much earlier
period ; and there is no sufficient ground for supposing that
it was not employed, as a solemn liturgical formula, in pre-
exilic times. — 16. Dishonoiireth ('"'.^PP)] not so strong as ??i^P
"curseth" (Ex. 211^ Lev. 20^); but the exact opposite of the
" Honour " C?!)) of the Decalogue. Both n^j? and the cognate
subst. W\> {ignominy, disgrace) are often opposed to n?? and
18. o(^) . . . nry nc'N] Jud. i^^ i S. \f^ al. (Dr. § 115).
302 DEUTERONOMY
T33 honour \ see (in the Heb.) Is. 3^ 16'* (AV. ••brought
into contempt"), Pr. 12^; Hos. 4^ Hab. 2^8 p^. -jSSj and
cf. c. 253. — 18. TVzfl/ niaketh . , . to go astray ('"I3^'D) zn the
way] cf. Pr. 2810 Job I2i«.— 19. 7%«/ wresteth, &c.] 24^^.—
29. Uncovered his father^ s skirt] see on 23^ (2230). — 22. 7%e
daughter of his father ^ or the daughter of his mother, i.e. his
half-sister by either parent: so Lev. 18^ 20I''. Marriage
of the first kind here specified, viz. with a half-sister not
uterine, was more anciently deemed admissible (see Gn. 20^2 j
and in the time of David 2 S. 13^^^) ; it was practised in
Jerusalem in Ezekiel's day, but reprobated by the prophet
(22^^). Relationship on the father's side was regarded as not
so close as relationship on the mother's side. Cf. Smith,
OTJC.^ p. 370; and on the same practice among the Phoenicians
and elsewhere. Kinship, p. 162 f. — 24. That stniteth . . . in
secret] not the usual expression for murder : no doubt chosen
here for the purpose of embracing in the curse even the
murderer who is successful in escaping detection by human
justice, inoa, as v.^^ 13^ 28^'^; of other crimes, 2 S. 12^2 Ps,
loi^ Job 13^0 3i27_ — 25. That taketh a bribe to slay an innocent
person] in 16^^ Ex. 23^ the receiving of bribes is forbidden
generally, not with reference to the special case here con-
templated. Cf. Ez. 22^2 "in thee have they taken bribes to
shed blood." — 26. The words of this law] i.e., as v.', of the
Deuteronomic law. — Confirmeth (D^p^)] lit. caiiseth to stand
tip, i.e. giveth effect to (comp. io-tw/acv Rom. 3^*), as 2 K.
223-24 (of Josiah, in the same connexion); also i S. 1511-18
Jer. 35I* al.
XXVIII. Peroration to the Deuteronomic Legislation.
XXVIII. A solemn declaration of the blessings (v.^"^*), and
the curses (v.^^^), which Israel may expect to attend the
observance or neglect of the Deuteronomic law. — The Deutero-
nomic Code, like the Law of Holiness (Lev. 26'"**), follows
the precedent of the Book of the Covenant, which ends with a
25. 'pJ Di e'b: man"?] "to smite a soul (Lev. 24"-" Nu. 35"'"**': cf. 'to
smite as to the soul,' c. 19^*), (even) innocent blood": 'pi 01 is in appos.
with iTBi, in virtue of the principle cbj.t Kin di.t 12**.
XXVII. i8— XXVIII 303
passage of similar import (l£x. 23''^°-88). The chapter forms an
eloquent and impressive peroration to the great exposition of
Israel's duty which has preceded (c. 5-26): in sustained
declamatory power, it stands unrivalled in the OT. In its
general literary character, it resembles the prophetic discourse
of Jer. or Ez., rather than that of one of the earlier prophets:
but it displays greater regularity of form, and artistic com-
pleteness, than is common in Jeremiah ; and a larger variety
of ideas than Ez. usually throws into a single prophecy. The
blessings and the curses open symmetrically (v.^-''; v.^^'^');
but, these verses ended, the treatment in each case becomes
freer, the curses being developed at much greater length than
the blessings, and indeed forming the most characteristic
feature of the chapter. The scheme of this part of the dis-
course should be noted. It does not consist, as in Lev. 26
(see p. 304), of a series of stages, one following another
chronologically, and each induced by the failure of the preced-
ing one to effect a reformation in Israel's character; it is
developed in a series of parallel pictures of the calamities
which Israel may expect, each ending in national disaster or
ruin, the last two presenting a more appalling prospect than
the others (v.20-26. 27-37. 38-44. 49-57. 58-68). a recurrence of sub-
stantially the same thought, though usually in different
language, may be noted more than once (v.^i^- 27. ss. eo j y.^-";
v.28.34. V.S1.6I; v.82.41; v.86f. 64) . but in most cases this is
attributable to the plan of the discourse, just explained ; and
only twice is the repetition alien to the context in which it
now stands, and liable consequently to the suspicion of being
interpolated (v.^S; v.*i). In general style and phraseology
the discourse is thoroughly Deuteronomic ; though naturally
(on account of the special character of the subject-matter) it
contains several words and phrases not found elsewhere in Dt.
The occurrence in it of expressions of which Jeremiah makes
more frequent use (v. 20b. 25b. 26. 37) \^ not sufficient to show inter-
polation from him ; the other parts of Dt. afford little or no
occasion for the repetition of such expressions, whereas Jer.
(who in other instances also borrows largely from Dt., and is
besides singularly apt to repeat the phrases which he uses)
304 DEUTERONOMY
might consistently with his general practice both appropriate
and repeat them. See, further, against the supposition either
that c. 28 is a later addition, by another hand, to the main
body of Dt., or that it has been to any appreciable extent
interpolated, Kuenen, Hex. § 7. 21 (2). It is particularly to
be noted that deportation to a foreign land (v. 36- 37. 41. 63-68^
is not the sole prospect which the author holds out before
his people, it is but one beside many other afflictions, most
of which are to fall upon Israel in its own land (failure of
crops, &c.).
It may be worth while to compare c. 28 briefly with the corresponding
discourses in Ex. 23^"''^ and Lev. 26^'^'. In Ex. the treatment is consider-
ably briefer as well as more special ; the rewards of obedience consisting
in fertility and health for land and people, success in the struggle with the
Canaanites, wide and secure territory, and the penalty of disobedience
being touched on only in a single verse (v.'^^''). There is no appreciable
literary dependence of Dt. 28 upon Ex. 23^""*^. In Lev. 26 the subject is
developed in a style and manner bearing a greater general resemblance
to Dt. 28 : the rewards of obedience (v.^'^^) are fertility of the soil, success
against foes, and Jehovah's favourable presence with His people ; the
penalties of disobedience are, successively, disease and defeat by foes
(v.^'*'^^), drought (v.'^'^), country ravaged by wild animals (v. -^"^), invasion
by foe, siege, and pestilence (v.''^"'^), desolation of cities and land, and
scattering among the nations (v.^"^), in misery and distress (v.*^"^^),
followed by a promise of restoration in the event of the exiled Israelites
repenting (v. ■***"■**). Although, however, the thought in Lev. 26 is in
several instances parallel to that in Dt. 28, and here and there one of the
two chapters even appears to contain a verbal reminiscence of the other
(comp. Dt. 28--* -^- ^^ ''^'' with Lev. 26^^- ^^* -*• '^ respectively), the treatment
in the two cases is diflerent, and the phraseology, in so far as it is charac-
teristic, is almost entirely distinct. Lev. 26 presenting affinities with
Ezekiel (Z. O. /■. p. 140), Dt. 28 with Jeremiah: in fact, the two chapters
present two independent elaborations of the same theme.
1-14. The blessings of obedience. — Comp. above 7^2.16
,113-16.22-25, v.1-2 introductory. — 1. And it shall come to pass\
as remarked on pp. 294, 298, these words, continuing the
discourse of Moses, stand in no connexion with 27i*"26, and
were once probably the immediate sequel of 26^^"^^ or z'j^-^^. —
If thou shall hearken diligently (yoKTl yiDtJ' DSl)] 11^^ 15^: cf.
Ex. 2322 (also Ex. 1526 195). — Will set thee on high, &fc.\ as
26^^. — Come upon thee and overtake thee\ the blessings, like
the curses, v.^^-*^, are almost personified, and represented as
XXVIII. i^ 305
pursuing their objects, like living agents. For overtake (ytJTi),
cf. Job 27-0 Is. 59^ Ps. 4013.
3-6. Prosperity in every department of the national life. —
Six clauses, each introduced by Blessed, specifying the nature
and range of the blessings just promised : city and country
will alike be prosperous ; offspring of men and cattle, and the
produce of the soil, will be abundant and healthy ; the fruits
of the earth will be safely gathered in and stored ; success
will attend every enterprise upon which the Israelite embarks.
— 4. The fruit of thy womb, and the fniit of thy ground\ 7^^ (cf.
also below, v. i^- 1^. 33. 42. 51. 53 ^qS) ; the thought (but not the
expression) as Ex. 23^6. — The increase of thy kine, fir'c.] see
on 7^^. — 5. Thy basket and thy kneading-trough\ i.e. the vessels
used for garnering and utilizing the fruits of the earth. —
Basket (^^39)] V.17 2&^- ^\ ,— Kneading-trough] v." Ex. f^^
i2^*t. — 6. When thou contest in, and when thou goest out] the
same phrase, denoting the completion, and the beginning, of
an undertaking, 31^ Jos. 14^^ i K. 3''^ Is. 37^8 Ps. 121^.
7-10. Victory against foes; prosperous seasons; Jehovah's
favour ; the respect of the world. — 7. The form of the discourse
here changes ; and the thoughts expressed compactly in v.^'^ are
freely expanded. — 7. Smitten before thee] i*^ (Nu. 14*'^) Jud.
2o32. 3!) di^ — They shall come out against thee one way, and shall
flee before thee seven ways] the compact and steady array of the
advancing troops of the foe is contrasted effectively with their
dispersion, in manifold directions, after the defeat. Comp.
I*!x. 23^2- 2" Lev. 26"f-. — 8. fehovah command the blessing . . . ;
and bless thee, &c.] in the Heb. the form of the verb is jussive
(^V'.)» significant of the eagerness with which the orator
watches and desires the future which he announces. So (at
least as pointed) v.^i- '^^. If the form be original here, the
jussive rend, should be retained throughout ; Cj uses the opt.
from v.''^ to v.^^. — Connnand the blessing] Lev. 25^1 Ps. 133^. —
With thee (1^^)] i.e. so that it may accompany thee in all thy
labours. Not "upon thee." — Thy bams (yoDx)] Pr. s^^t. —
In all that thou puttest thy hand to] 12^. — 9. Jehovah will
establish thee unto himself for an holy people (7^ 14^ 26^''), ai
he S7vare unto thee] He will confirm the honourable position
J
06 DEUTERONOMY
promised in Ex. ig^^- (thoug-h no oath is there mentioned), with
tne respect (v.^^), and various material advantages (v.^^-^*),
thereby ensured. — Seeing that ('3) thou wilt be keeping, &fc.\
8^. The entire paragraph, from v.^ to v.^*, is an apodosis
dependent upon the "if" (D^<) of v.^; but here (as again in
v.^^) the condition upon which the promised blessing depends
is adverted to indirectly by a clause introduced with '?,
^'■lahen, or seeing that (in the case supposed) thou wilt keep,"
&c. (comp. philol. note on 1220). — 10. All the peoples of the
earth] comp. esp. Jos. 4^^ (D2) i K. 8*3 ( = 2 Ch. 6^3)60 (all
Deut.), Zeph. 320 ; also i K. 8^3 Ez. 2^^^f-—'S^^(^^l see that
/ehovah's name is called over thee] i.e. that He is thy Owner,
and, as such, surrounds thee with His protection (cf. Is. 61^).
The sense of the phrase appears clearly from 2 S. 12^, where Joab,
while besieg'ing' Rabbah, sends to urge David to come in person and take
it, "lest / (emph.) take the city, and my name be called over it" i.e. lest
I gfain the credit of having captured it, and it be counted as my conquest.
The phrase expresses thus the fact of ownership — whether acquired by
actual conquest or otherwise (Is. 4^ Ps. 49*- <'^') — coupled at the same
time with the idea of protection ; and occurs frequently, especially with
reference to the people of Israel, Jerusalem, or the Temple. The passages
are: Amos Q^* Jer. yio.u.u.so ,^9 ,^16 (^f jgr. himself), 25-8 32^ 34"> i K.
8« (Deut.)=2 Ch. (P Is. 63I9 2 Ch. 7^* Dan. 9i»-»». It is to be regretted
that, in the English Versions, the phrase is generally paraphrased ob-
scurely, "called by my name" (which really corresponds to a different
expression 'Cca Kipj Is. 43^, cf. 48' Nu. 32^-) ; but the literal rendering,
which in this case happens to be both clearer and more forcible than the
paraphrase, is sometimes given on the margin of RV. {e.g. on 1 K. 8^).
Shall he afraid of thee] as enjoying, viz., thus visibly,
Jehovah's all-powerful protection (cf. 2^5 ii25).
11-14. Wealth accruing- from Jehovah's blessing, and conse-
quent material superiority over othernations. — 11. Maketheehave
in excess (^I'^^i^)] 30^ ; cf. 2 K. 4''3- ■** Ru. 2^* (*' leave thereof" :
lit. have in excess, leave over). More than •* plenteous " (RV.).
— Unto good] i.e. unto prosperity: so 30^. — 12. His good treasury]
i.e. the celestial reservoirs, in which the rain was conceived by
the Hebrews to be stored (Gn. 7^^ 8^), "the waters above the
firmament" of Gn. i' ; the figure, as Job 3822 Jer. 10^3 ^^jie
(Ps. 135''^). — To give the rain of thy land in its season] cf. 11^*;
also Lev. 26* (onyD dd'dk'J ^nn:i). — And to bless all the work oj
thine hand] with especial reference to agricultural undertakings ;
XXVIII. I0-20 ^oy
cf. 14^, and on 2^. — T/iou shall lend unto many nations, but
thou shall not borrow] viz. on account of the abundance of thy
wealth. Cf. is"; also Ps. 3726.— 13. The head, and not the
tail, &"€.] Israel will take an honourable position at the head
of the nations ; it will be tending only upwards, and not tending
downwards, i.e. it will be ever rising" in reputation and import-
ance (cf. v.^ 261^) : it will not be suppressed or forgotten
among other peoples, more fortunate and powerful than itself.
For the fig. use of "head" and " tail," comp. Is. gisf. (uf.) ,^15^
"For some Arabic parallels, see the ZDMG. 1892, p. 180"
(W.R.S.). — 13-14. Seeing that ('?) thou •wilt be hearkening . . .
and turning not aside, <2r'c.] the condition, as v.®. For the
phrases, cf. 4«; 529(82); ^\i s^^ 138(2).
15-68. The curses of disobedience.— Comp. 426-28 ^\ giar.
1 1^^*"- (but as a penalty for idolatry only). V.^^ jg introductory,
agreeing completely in form with v. ^-2, except that two sub-
ordinate clauses are not represented ; v.^^'^^ correspond pre-
cisely to v.^-^* (only v.^7- ^^ being interchanged). With v. 20 the
form changes, as with v.'^ in the blessings ; but the corre-
spondence with the blessings, in literary treatment, is not
afterwards maintained, the subject being developed at much
greater length.
16-19. Failure in every department of national life. — The
expressions correspond exactly to those used v.^-^ ; see the
notes there.
20-26. Disastrous years, pestilential fevers, exhausting
droughts, ruinous defeat in battle. — 20. Cursing (Mai. 22), and
discomfiture (7^^), and rebuke, in all that thou piittesl thine
hand unto] the opposite of v.^. In the Hebrew, ctcrsing, dis-
comfiture, and rebuke have each nx, with the article ; they
are specified with emphasis, and almost treated as material
agencies (cf. v.2). — Which thou shall do (AV. for to do)]
14-^*'^. — Until thou be destroyed (pDB'n ny)] repeated, with
knell-like effect, v.2<- *5. 61. ei j cf. 723. — And until thou perish
quickly] cf. v.22; 428 iii7 Jqs. 23I6 (D2).— 7%^ evil of thy doings
XXYIII. 13. nSl-c'? p^] p-\^noihing but, allogether, as v.^^ Gn. 6' (vt pi)
Is. 2819. Cf. IN V.-9.— 20. mKD.i] Mai. 2* (a reminiscence), 3* Pr. 3** 28^!.—
niyiDi] not elsewhere : cf. nyj Mai. 2'.
3o8 DEUTliRONOMY
{T^^Vp yn)] Hos. 9I5 Is. 1 16 Ps. 28*, and esp. in Jer.,— as her-;,
with because of, Jer. 4* 21^2 26^ 44^'^. also 232-22 25^. D'SSyrD f.s
a word which (except i S. 25-') is confined to the more elevated
prose, asjud. 2^^ (Deut.), and esp. Jeremiah (17 times). Only
here in Dt. — Me] on 7*. — 21. Afake the pestilence C?^ili) cleave\
in the Heb. the verb is pointed as a jussive; cf. v.*. "121 is a
very g^eneral term, denoting- what we should call an epidemic^
accompanied by g-reat mortality : it is often mentioned in the
OT., e.g. Am. 410 i K. S-'" ; esp. in Jer. (in the combination,
"the sword, the famine, and the pestilence"); threatened, as
here, in Lev. 26 (v. 2^) Q^^ina "im Tinbcn. — Whither thou goest
in, <2r'c.] 7I. — 22. Seven further plagues, the first four being-
such as affect human being-s, and the last three injurious to
';rops. — Consumption and fever (nrnpai nsritra)] so Lev. 26I6. —
Inflammation and fiery heat (in^n^l np^Jim)] not elsewhere. —
Drought] so Sam. U, Saad. : Heb. " with the sword " (^^.n?'') •
but in this connexion the sword is out of place ; and
"drought" (2^nai) is decidedly preferable (so Ges., Kn., Di.,
Oettli). How calamitous a drought might be in Palestine,
hardly needs illustration: see e.g. ii^^ i K. 8^^ 171^ Am. z^''^-
Jer. 142-6 Hag. i^i. — Blasting and mildew (ppi'DI pSHw^m)] so
I K. 8^7 (Deut.) = 2 Ch. 628 Am. 48 Hag. 2^\ With blasting,
cf. Gn. 416- 23. 27 (ai-jp nisiTt;*) ; the reference is to the deleterious
effects of the hot and withering East wind (Hos. 131^ Jon. 4^).
• — 23-24. The consequences of the drought, mentioned in v. 22.
— 23. Thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, &c.] Lev.
2519 << And I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as
brass." — 24. The rain of thy land powder and dust] in con-
sequence of the drought, dust and sand being blown down,
instead of rain, upon the thirsty soil. In the sirocco, this is
sometimes the case in Palestine: "The wind continued to
increase in violence and heat, and the atmosphere was now
full of dust and sand ; the glow of the air was like the mouth
of a furnace " {BJ^. ii. 123). — 25. Shall cause thee to be smitten,
(^c] exactly reversing the blessing of \J. Cf. Lev. 26I".
25. niyi] from yii to shake (Eccl. 12^), move in fear, tremble (Est. 5*),
more common in Aram. (C tremble, Syr. totter, quake, tremble ; KJ/11 tremor,
fuffiiU, trembling)', here of the object at which one trembles (cf. n^n^ Jer.
XXVIII. 21-27 3^9
Tliere follows, however, an aggravation of the fate pronounced,
v.^, upon Israel's foes. — And thou shall be a shuddering {^)Vp)
unto all the kingdoms of the earth] i.e. an awe-inspirhig
spectacle: so Jer. 15* 24^ 29^^ 34^'^ (in all, "And I will give
them (you) to be a shuddering unto all the kingdoms of the
earth," with reference to the impending exile of Judah) ; cf.
Ez. 23*^ 2 Ch. 2(f. — Kingdoms of the earth] also freq. in Jer.,
viz. 154 249 2526 (but see ffi), 29^8 341-17 Is. 2317 2 K. igis. ifi
(Deut.) = Is. 37^6.20 2 Ch. 3623 ( = Ezr. i2) Ps. eS^^f.— 26. The
inglorious end of the Israelite warriors. — Thy carcases shall
become meat unto all fowls of the heaven, and unto the beasts of
the earth] so Jer. 7^3 16^ 19^ (with I "will give), 342"!; cf. i S.
1*^44. 46 Ps. 7g2_ — j\fid there shall he none to fray thein away (pxi
n^nno)] no friend will remain to save Israel's corpses from such
dishonour. So Jer. 7^3 (just quoted) ; the phrase also occurs
frequently (10 times) besides, but in a diflferent connexion, of
dwelling, or lying down, undisturbed (as Lev. 26^ Is. 172).
27-37. Loathsome and incurable diseases, mental infatua-
tion and blindness, resulting in Israel's falling a prey to
foreign invaders, and being led finally into an ignominious
exile. — 27. The new paragraph starts with a fresh denunciation
of the bodily plagues, with which Israel, if disobedient, may
expect to be smitten.— 77z^ boil of Egypt (OnvD pTO'?)] the
"boil" {]''n^) — properly, inflamed spot, the root in the cognate
languages, Arab. Aram. Eth., having the sense of /o be hot or
inflamed— \s mentioned also v.^s Ex. 9^- 1". n Lev. 13I8. lo- 20 (^
symptom of elephantiasis) 23 (a common ulcer), 2 K. 20''= Is.
3821 Job 2^1. The " boil of Egypt" must denote some form of
cutaneous disease, peculiarly prevalent in Egypt. Not im-
possibly elephantiasis (see v. 35) is meant, which was especially
associated by the ancients with Egypt ; * but the expression
does not point distinctively to that ; and as cutaneous
48*; in? Ps. 31- ; &c.). Ges. divexatio; Ew. (§ 72'') play-ball; but only
the reduplicated form yiyi (Hab. 2!, and in Aram.) has the meaning shake
to and fro. — 26. t'?^^] collect., as Is. 26^'.
* Pliny {Hist. Nat. 26. i § 5) calls it " x'Egypti peculiare malum" ; and
Lucretius (vi. 1 1 14 f.) writes, "Est elepluis morbus, qui propter flumina Nili
Oignitur /Egypto in mcciiri, neque pra;terea usquam."
5 I O DEUTERONOMY
eruptions, of various kinds, are common in Egypt (on 7I*),
some other kind of endemic boil or malignant pustule (of.
J. R. Bennett, Diseases of the Bible, p. 64 f.) may be intended.
— Timiours (D'^sy^^) i S. 56- »• 12 6*- H- Properly ^7y^///«^^,—
generally understood of haemorrhoidal swellings in the anus
(Ges. Ke.) ; the Arab, 'afal has a similar meaning.
In view, however, partly of the position of the word here between two
other terms denoting- affections of the skin, partly of the rapid diffusion of
the D'Vsy among the Philistines fi S. 5-6), and of the fact that the mouse
(cf. Samuel, p. 48) was regarded in antiquity as the emblem of a pestilence,
it is thought by others that plague-boils (RV. 2nd margin) are meant (so
Hitzig, Urgesch. der Philistaer, 1845, P- 201 ; Thenius on i S. 5^ ; Schultz,
adloc; Wellh. Sa7n. p. 64; Dillm. also inclines; Hastings' DB. iii. 325).
With the scab (mi3l) and with the itch (oinni)] the garah
is mentioned Lev. 2120 22^2; the heres only here. In Arabic,
jarab is a contagious eruption consisting of pustules, the
mange or scab ; and harasha and charasha both mean to scratch.
(S \j/(i)pa aypta (so Lev. l.c.) Koi kvt^4>V > 5J scabies et prurigo.
Similar skin complaints are still common in Syria and Egypt ;
here they are specially signalized as incurable. — 28. Madness
and blindness and astonishment of heart\ i.e. mental infatuation,
resulting (v. 29) in ill-considered and disastrous public policy
(comp. in illustration of the term, though not of its application
in the present passage, i S. 2115-16 2 K. g^"), blind incapacity
to perceive what the times require (cf. Is. ag^-^^-^^), and
paralysis of reason in presence of unexpected disaster (cf.
Jer. 4^ Is. 138). Comp. the same three words (but without
" of heart ") Zech. 12*, of a panic, seizing horses and horsemen,
and rendering them helpless in the fray. — 29. And thou shall
he groping at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness] cf. Job
5^* Is. 59^" Zeph. i^'^. Israel will be reduced mentally to a
condition worse than that of those who are physically blind ;
it will be helpless when all ought really to be clear before it.
With the graphic "shalt be groping," comp. Is. 302° "shall
27. D'^svai] the Kt. is d'^e];_^? : the vowels of the Qre belong to D'"in;p3».
□•Vsy appears to have been regarded by the Massorites as a coarse, or
indecent, word : for, wherever it occurs, they direct the reader to substitute
Dnnt2 (which has twice, i S. 6"-", found its way into the text). The mean-
ing of D-iino is obscure: see the note, p. XXII.— IcnJ^so //ta/, as v.^'-" 2'-'
&c.— 29. B'B'DO n"ni] cf. on 9'.— >] as 16'" noty ik.
XXVIII. 28-35 3 I I
be heholding-y"'' 59^ "have come to be separating," Mark 1328
eo-ovTttt tKTTt'TTTovTfs. — 7y!<?M j-//a// iiot make thy ways to prospc]
the lines of action adopted by Israel, in its national capacity,
will result in disaster. For the phrase, cf. (lit.) Gn. 24''^,
(metaph.), as here, Jos. i^ (D^). — Oppressed {]e,r. 50^^) and robbed
contimially] viz. by foreign assailants. — 30-34. Different ways in
which the foreign invader will " oppress and rob " the Israelites,
viz. by depriving them of contemplated domestic enjoyments,
by appropriating their possessions, by carrying their children
into slavery, and by plundering their crops. — 30. Thou shall
betroth a wife, cSrc] cf. 20''^. — Shall ravish her] the Heb. word
is a strong one, implying indelicate treatment, such as might
be expected at the hands of a captor (comp. Is. i^^^ Zech. 14^;
elsewhere only Jer. 32). — And not use the fruit thereof] see on
20^. — With the general thought of this verse, comp. Am. 5^1^
Mic. 615 Zeph. ii3 Jer. 6^2 gio (contrast Is. 6521^) ; also Jer. 5^^
— 31. Before thine eyes] whilst thou art looking on, unable to
raise a hand to prevent it. Cf. on i^"; and Is. i^ (D31J3^). —
And thou shall have no saviou?-] the thought of Israel's friend-
lessness, while thus pitilessly plundered, is repeated pathetic-
ally from V.23. — 32. IVJiile thine eyes look, and fail with longing
(Lam. ^'^'')for thern all the day] the parents watch their children
carried off into exile and slavery, and long despairingly to see
them again. — And it shall not be in the power of thy hand (to
help it)] so Neh. 5^ ; see below. — 33. Which thou knowest 7iot]
cf. V.36, and on 13^ (^); also Jer. 14^8 j^u ,^4 2228. — Eat tip]
Lev. 26^'^^. — Oppressed and crushed contiriually] viz. by ex-
tortion, injustice, and violence (cf. v.^^). For crushed (I*''^!),
see I S. \2^-* Am. 4I (in both, || pt"V; see on 24I*), Is. 586;
Jer. 22^7 (ny^-ip, || pL"y)._34, And thou shall be maddened
because of, &c.] the appalling spectacle of wasted lands and
ruined homes (v.^^-as) y^\\\ madden (cf. v. 28) the survivors, and
drive them to desperation. — 35. Israel will, moreover, be
smitten with the terrible scourge of leprosy. The verse is
31. ':£3'?d] " from before," " from /he sight of (note the ll Tn'V) : cf. i S.
21" Lev, 22^ Ps. 51" al., and on 17'*. — mjin:] [Kx is construed regularly as
& /em. pi. — 32. nsS;] from nh^, the verbal adj., of the same form as ni-j,
n\i, [.Tin], f. n-in, &c.— t' '?«'' r*<i] cf. with b>' Gn. 31^ Pr. 3^^ Mic. 2't
The S is the h of norm, according (q (ii"j.
3 I 2 DEUTERONOMY
open to the suspicion of being interpolated or misplaced ; for
it repeats the thought of v.^^ in a slightly altered form, and
mterrupts the connexion between v. ^2-34 ^nd v.^^-^"^. — Upon the
knees and upon the legs with an evil boit\ on " boil," see on v.^^.
From the stress laid on the knees and legs, it is probable that
the disease meant is that species of elephantiasis known as
the "joint-leprosy," or technically, from the fact that the
nerves affected by it lose sensation, as the Anesthetic
elephantiasis, which "attacks the joints of the fingers and
toes, and afterwards those of the larger limbs, which drop off
bone by bone," while *' the limbs which are affected but do not
ulcerate become at last so completely devoid of sensation that
portions of them may be burnt, or otherwise injured, without
the person being conscious of it " (see the Report of the
College of Physicians on Leprosy, quoted in the Speaket's
Comm. i. 561). The other species of leprosy, consisting of
ulcerous tubercles, is called the Tuherculated. The expression,
"smote with an evil boil, from the sole of his foot to his
crown," is used also in the description of Job's complaint
(Job 2^), which the symptoms referred to — e.g. Job 2^ 7^"® 17'^
19!'^ (RV. 2nd marg.) 20 ^pM — show must have been one form
or other of the same terrible malady. — 36-37. The climax of
the series of disasters described in v. 28-34; the nation itself,
with its king, abandoned finally by Jehovah, and led into an
ignominious exile. — Kt^. Jehovah bring thee\ the Heb. is pointed
as a jussive: cf. v.®. — ^«fl?//i>'^?"«^] powerless to aid thee. Cf.
lyi*^- ; 2 K. 241^-^^ 25^^-. — Which thou hast not known, thou nor
thy fathers] v.33; also v.e^b i37(<3). Comp. Jer. qI^O^) 16^^^.—
And there shall thou serve other gods, wood and stone] v.^* 4^^ ;
also Jer. 16^^^. — 37. And thou shall become an astonishviefit, a
proverb, and a byword, &c.] viz. by the fall from thy high estate,
and the unprecedented calamities overtaking thee. Hence
Jer. 249 I K. 97 (Deut.) = 2 Ch. ^"^^ .—Astonishment] Jer. i8i«
198 259- 18 al.— Byword ('12^?f )] Jer. 248 i K. 9^ 2 Ch. i^^\. Lit.
the object of sharp or cutting remarks. — Will lead thee] 4^7.
38-44. Failure of crops, impoverishing^ Israel, and reducinfj
it to a state of dependence upon the foreig^ner resident in its
midst. — The paragraph starts from nearly the same point as
XXVIII. 36-43 3 ' 3
V.22, and is in designed contrast to v.^- ^^■'^*. — 38-40. The corn,
the wine, and the oil, the three staple productions of Palestine
(7^^), in spite of the provision made for an abundant yield, will
be destroyed by plagues of insects. — 38. Thou shall carry much
seed, &fc.\ci. Hag. i^; Mic. 6^^<'.— Shall finish it {-i^on")] the
word occurs only here : in Aram, it means bring to an end.
Hasil, one of the Heb. words for a locust, i K. 8^7 Is. 33*
(A.V. caterpillar), is derived from the same root. — 39. Thou
shall plant vineyards, &rc.\ Zeph. i'^. — Nor gather in (the
grapes)] or store'. "IJN denotes not gathering from the trees,
but gathering into stores (Pr. 6^ lo^f). — The worm] "in all
probability the lij/, U of the Greeks (Theophr. Caus. PL iii. 22.
5f. ; Strabo, xiii. i. 64), a worm or grub that destroys vine-
buds, the convolvulus oi the Romans (Plin. H. N. 17. 47), the
vine-weevil, an insect very injurious to vineyards" (Knobel). —
40. Not anoint thyself with oil] so Mic. 6^^^, On the practice
of anointing, comp. 2 S. 1220 142 Ru. 3^ 2 Ch. 28^5; also Am.
6^ Is. 6i3 Eccl. 98 Ps. 235. — /or thitte olives shall drop off] see
below. — 41. The children born to Israel will go into captivity.
The verse interrupts the qonnexion, and seems to be super-
fluous after v.32. — 42. The cricket (^v^^iTi)] the word occurs only
here ; and the particular insect meant is uncertain, though it
must evidently have been one destructive to trees and crops.
Probably one of the many species of locust (Tristram, NHB.
p. 307 ff.) is intended. The root from which the word is
derived means to clang or jingle', so doubtless the insect
denoted by it is so designated from the stridulous sound of its
wings. — Possess] Is. 34^1 (cf. 14^3) Hos. 9'^. — 43. Israel will
thus be steadily impoverished, while the "stranger" (10'''),
who is not in the same degree dependent permanently upon
the soil of Palestine, will increase in power and wealth, till a
condition the reverse of that promised in v.^-^^^* is reached,
and the Israelite is compelled to borrow of him in order to
procure the necessaries of life.
40. n'?nj Sdq] i6MEx. 13").— icn ^S [dci] Mic. 6'* 2 S. 14-'.— W'] drop
off: see on 7'. rri of the fruit, as Mic. 6'^ — 42. t'l.,";] the Pi. in this sense
only here: Jud. 14'^ differently. Perh. tt: should be read (cf. Is. 34"
Hos. 9''). — 43. HBD HDD . . . nSi'D -Si-c] on 7--'.
314 DEUTERONOMY
45-48. Four verses, marking a pause in the discourse.
Jehovah's voice has not been hearkened to, hence the calamities
enumerated in v.^^^; Jehovah has not been served with joy-
fulness, hence Israel will have to serve its enemies in want,
and the disasters described in v.*®"*® will fall upon it. — V."-*«
form thus a conclusion to v.i5-44 . v.47-*8 are introductory to
v.49.68, — 45_ Shall come upon thee, and pursue thee] \.^^'^- 22b, —
Because thou hearkenedst not] v.^*. The past tense is used (as
v.20e7id)^ because the orator places himself in imagination in the
time when the destruction is completed. — 46. For a sign and
for a wonder] a sign witnessing to God's righteous intervention
and judgment, a wonder (4^*) attracting men's attention, and
arousing their horror. Comp. 2921-27 (22-28)_ — Ayid upon thy seed
for ever] these curses will cling to Israel's posterity for ever,
forming a perpetual monument of God's judgment upon wil-
fulness and sin. The possibility of an ultimate repentance
and restoration (429-31 30I-10) is not here contemplated by the
Writer. — 47. Servedst not] as was Israel's duty: 6^^ lo^o i^^^i^).
— With joyfulness, <5r'c.] such as was due to a God who had
lavished upon Israel the tokens of His love (^^^- yis &c.), and
such as would have been naturally rendered by Israel, had it
obeyed the injunction to love Jehovah with an undivided heart
(65 Sue.).— Gladness of heart (3^ 31D)] Is. 651* ; comp. on 1510.
— By reason of the abundaftce of all things (?3 2nD)] which
led Israel to forget God, and to offer Him a grudging, half-
hearted service (610-12 ^^i^-is). — 48. A yoke of iron] Jer. 281*.
49-68. Development of v.^^^ outlining, more terribly than
before, the final consequences of Israel's disobedience.
(i.) 49-57. Jehovah will bring against Israel from afar a
nation, fierce, destructive, and relentless, who will desolate
the country, and besiege the inhabitants in their cities until
they are reduced to the horrible necessity of consuming their
own offspring. — 49. From afar, from the end of the earth] comp.
Is. 52** (of the Assyrian). — As the vulture darteth ('^?^"'^)] descry-
ing its prey from afar, and alighting swiftly and unerringly
47-48. niayi . . . ntrx nnn] z^^-^. — 48. wnW' ne'N t^'ik] v.'^''' s^**- "^ (cf. i K.
V) support the correction 13'1n (Di. : cf. 21'"): comp., however, on 7'" —
ITOi*)! ny] on "f^.
XXVTII. 45-53 315
upon it (Job 9^" 39^^'- Mt. 24^8), For the rend, vulture, see on
14^2^ The approach of the Assyrians is likened to the swoop
of the same bird in Hos. 8^ ; and that of the Chaldaeans in
Hab. i^ Jer. 48^04922. " Darteth " is a poetical word, occur-
ring only here and Jer. 48**> 49^2 Ps. 18" ^^^^. — Whose tongue thou
shalt not understand^ cf. Jer. 5^^^. Isaiah notes the same fact
in connexion with the Assyrians (Is. 28^^ 33^')' Both the
Assyrians and the Chaldaeans spoke a language — that in which
the cuneiform inscriptions of Nineveh and Babylon are written
— which, though Semitic, and allied to Hebrew, nevertheless
differed from it too considerably to be intelligible to the
Israelites. — 50. Of fierce countenance (D"'3D TJ/)] lit. of strong
countenance, i.e. unyielding, unmoved by considerations of
equity or pity, defiant (cf. Ez. 2* D^iD ^K'P ; 3'' nVD ""prn) : so Dan.
823 (of Antiochus Epiphanes) ; comp. Pr. 7^^ 21 29 Eccl. 8^ An
unmoved countenance may, under particular circumstances, be
a " fierce " one ; but Pr. 7^^ shows that fierceness is not what
the expression properly denotes. The direction in which the
nation will display itself as unyielding is indicated in the
clauses which follow. — Which shall not regard the person of
the old, &c.\ comp. Is. 13I8 (of the Medes) ; 47^ Lam. 4^^ s^^r.
(of the Chaldaeans). — 51. The desolation of the fields and
homesteads of Palestine. — And he shall eat, €^c.\ comp. Jer.
5^^*. The expressions as before in Dt., v.*- 20 713. — 52. The
siege and reduction of the strong places. — In all thy gates] i.e.
cities (on 1212^^ Stress is laid (in both clauses of the verse)
upon the besieging forces pursuing their work in all parts of
the land. — Come down] i.e. be reduced: cf. 2020. — Wherein
thou trustest] so Jer. 5^^^ — Hath given thee] the perf., as v.**- *^.
Usually the ptcp. (120.25 &c.).— 53. And thou shalt eat, fi-c]
comp. Lev. 262^ Jer. 19^ Ez. 5^0. — The fruit of thy womb] v.*. —
In the siege and in the straitness •wherewith thine enemy shall
straiten thee] the rather striking phrase recurs, as a kind of
refrain, v.^s- 67 j and is borrowed hence in Jer. 19^. — 54-57.
The thought of v.*^ is dwelt upon for the purpose of illustrat-
ing, in two vivid pictures, the ghastly reversal of natural
M. voeri] xdAom. — understand, as Gn. u' 42*^ Is. 33**.— 50. \fi\S 0'«J
periphr. for ipj 'IB (G-K. § 129).— 82. lS nx.T] i K. 8*' Jer. 10" at.
3l6 DEUTERONOMY
affection, to which the severity of the siege will give rise. —
54. Tender . . . and luxurious\ aTraAos /cat Tpv<f)€pb^ ((G). Cf.
Is. 47^, of Babylon, under the figure of a lady of rank, living
in ease and luxury. — I/ts eye shall he evil agai7ist\ i.e. he will
regard with disfavour, grudge (15^). — 77;^? wife of his boson{\
1 2^(6). — 56. Who had not adventured, &'c.\ being a lady of
rank, and therefore accustomed to be borne upon a litter, or
to ride in a carriage (Is. 47^'-). — 56-57. Her eye shall be evil
against her husband . . . and against her after-birth, &c. ] the
expression seems to be used differently in the two verses : she
will grudge her husband, her son, and her daughter, a share
in the ghastly repast which she is preparing ; she will grudge
her after-birth, and her children whom she may bear during
the siege, even the ordinary treatment which, as a mother,
she would naturally give them, putting the one out of sight,
and fondly cherishing the other ; in her want of all things she
will eat both secretly. In illustration of the fact, see 2 K.
528f. Lam. 4^0 (cf. 220) ; also Joseph. B.J. vii. 21.
(2.) 58-68. Jehovah will plague Israel with extraordinary
afflictions, and even rejoice over them, to expel them from
their land ; homeless and helpless amongst the nations, their
life will be a burden to them ; the survivors, finally, offered
for sale in an Egyptian slave-market, will find none to
purchase them. — 58. The Writer begins his closing paragraph
with warning Israel once again (cf. v.^^. 45j of the fatal mistake
which it is yet in its power to avoid. — All the words of this
law] 17^^ 27^- 8 2928(29) 2 1 12 32**5. — That are written in this book]
cf. v.^^ 29^^- 20- 26 (20. 21. 27) ^o^o. The expression harmonizes
imperfectly with 31^ (where Moses is first said to have
"written" the Deuteronomic law) ; and betrays the fact that
Deuteronomy was from the first a written book. — This glorious
and fearful name] cf. (of God) 10^'^. — 59. The " plagues," extra-
Si. 33J?ni -[1 inn] for the position of 13, cf. on 7". — 55. Sa i"? Txe-n 'Sao]
lit. "from lack of (9^ Is. 5'*) one's leaving him anything- " = because nolhing
is left to him. The implicit subj. of tmb-h is TNy'"?'^ (on 15^) : tkci (cf. 9-*)
will be intended as an inf. c. with Tiireq ; but no doubt TNtrn should be
pointed (see on 3* 'j^). — 56. Ji.n] for the inversion (hSjt »]3 Jv.n would be the
normal order), cf. Is. 49* Jud. 9^ (Dr. § 208. 3 Obs.). The inf. abs.
(irreg.), as Is. 42-* (G-K. § 113. i<^).
XX VII I. 54-64 317
ordinary, manifold, and persistent, with which Jehovah will, in
that case, afflict Israel. — Make thy plagues {stripes) ixonderful
("iniaD X^sm)] i.e. unusual, exceptional for their severity and
continuance (lit. will distinguish, viake extraordinary : ffi
excellently TrapaSo^acrei) : cf. Is. 29^* Job 10^". — Plagues\ lit.
strokes or stripes (25^) — not the word used in 24^ (I'y) — so v.^^
2921(22). cf. Lev. 2621 (nsa uyhv ^nSD^l), is. i^ ("fresh stripes"
RV. ?narg.), Jer. & ("wounds"), Jer. 19^ ("plagues"), 30^^
("wounds"), Pr. 20^*^ ("strokes"). It is the subst. corre-
sponding with the ordinary verb rendered smite ('"'7'?). — Of
long continuance (D'JDSJ)] lit. assured, i.e. constant, persistent;
comp. of unfailing waters. Is. 33^^ Jer. 15I8. Usually in a
moral application, "trustworthy," "faithful." — 60. And he
will bring back upon thee all the diseases of Egypt\ from which,
in the event of Israel's obedience. He had promised to exempt
His people (7^^, with note). — Which thou dreadest] 9^^. —
Cleave] v. 21. — 61. Even sicknesses and plagues, not expressly
named in this book, will be brought upon Israel, in order that
its destruction may be secured. — Sickness and plague {stripe)]
so Jer. &. — The book of this laiv\ i.e. Deuteronomy (cf. i^).
Elsewhere the expression used is "this book of the law,"
2920(21)3010 31 26 Jos. i^.— Until thou be destroyed] v.20. 24. 46.61.
— 62-64. Hence Israel, now so populous (i^o)^ will be left few
in number; for Jehovah, who once rejoiced over it to promote
its prosperity, will then rejoice over it to ruin it, and expel it
from its land. — 62. Few in number] so 42^. A reversal of 26^.
— Instead of your being (on^^n iJi'N nnn) as the stars of heaven
for multitude] i^o. — Because thou didst not hearken, <5r'c.] v.*^
cf. V.15. — 63. Rejoiced over you to do you good(^^^)]2P^^^^r. 32*1
(both times in a promise of restoration). — To multiply you] iio
7^^. — Ye shall be torn away from the land, &'€.] cf. v.21 6^' Jos.
2313. 15 Jer. 2410 2 K. 1723 2521 (with different v^xhs).— Whither
thou goest in, &fc.] v.21. — 54 fj^g survivors, driven from their
land, will be dispersed in every quarter of the earth, and there
sink completely into heathenism. Comp. 427^. — Shall scatter
39. 'Hi"i35] G-K. § 91. 3 R. — 60. •-iii?] an orthogr. variation of 'iiD (7"),
cf. Gn. 478 (nyh) : Ew. § i6\— 62. tjyo 'no^] as 26^—63. Dnnc:i] Pr. 2^ \^
Ps. 52^ ; Ezr. 6" (Aram.), of a beam pulled out of a housef.
3 I 8 DEUTERONOMY
thee among the peoples] as 42^* Jer. 9^6 (i^) Ez. 22^'' ; Lev. 263'.—
From the one end of the earth, &c.] as 13^(7). — Aiid there thou
shalt serve other gods . . . wood and stone] v.^^ 4^8. — Which
thou hast not known, &€.] 13'' W*» (hence Jer. 19* 44') : cf. 28'*.
— 65-67. A powerful and graphic description of Israel's con-
dition in exile : no peace or rest ; never-ceasing anxiety and
suspense ; life in perpetual jeopardy : the present unendurable
because fraught with peril, the future filled by the imagination
with undefined terrors. — 65. Have no repose (y^jin ^)] Is. 34I*
("settle"). A rare word, only besides Jer. 31^ 476 508* Is. 51*
(the cognate subst. Is. 28^2 j jg^^ 6^®)t. — Resting-place for the
sole of thy foot] Gn. 8^. — An agitated heart] cf. the verb in 2^5
2 S. 19I (AV. i833 "much moved") Ex. 15^*. — And failing 0/
eyes [wyv T^'^^)] in the vain expectation of relief. The eyes are
said to " fail " when they long eagerly for something, especially
if the longing be disappointed : comp. Jer. 14*' Job ii^o 175 Lam.
2II 4I7 ps. 69* 1 19^28 J and above, v.^^, gee also Lev. 26'^ i S.
28', cited in the next note. — And languishing of soul (k'S: pasni)]
i.e. wasting away of life (on 12^3), through continued anxiety,
or other cause: comp. Jer. 31^5 (RV. "sorrowful"; rather
languishing, viz. through want) ; Lev. 26^^ * ' I will appoint terror
over you, even consumption and fever, causing the eyes to
fail, and the soul (life) to languish {^'^}, nianoi D>ry nibo) " ;
I S. 2^3. — Q%. Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee (";"n Vm
n33D n^ D'^<^i'n)] lit. "shall be hung up for thee in front," i.e. shall
be, as it were, suspended in front of thee upon a thread, which
threatens every moment to break. — And thou shalt not believe
in thy life] i.e. shalt expect every moment to be thy last. The
same phrase in Job 24^2, of a sick man, who has abandoned
all hope of recovery. — 67. In the morning thou shalt say,
Would it were even ! and at even thou shalt say, Would it were
morning!] thus graphically is the agonized uncertainty, pro-
tracted by day and by night, depicted. — For the fear of thine
heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thi?ie eyes
which thou shalt see (v. 3*)] because of the imagined terrors of
the future, and the actual perils of the present. Comp. for the
63. ijl] only here.— 66. iV] the dat. of reference (Ex. 10^ Jos. 2* Jud
IJ* 2 S. '\^ 2 K. 4" &c.).— 1J1D] in front: Gn. 2ii« 2 K. 3-^ 4'^*.
XXVIII. 65-69 (XXIX. i) 319
t^ciic<.il thought, Lev. 263'"'''- (groundless panics In the land of
exiie). — 68. The final scene in the drama. The survivors will
be brought back to the "house of bondage," which, as they
had imagined, and as indeed Jehovah had purposed, they
had left behind them for ever : they will offer themselves there
as slaves, but even their enemies will dread to buy them ; all
men will shun them, as a people upon whom the curse of God
visibly rests. — In ships\ i.e. (probably) in slave-galleys. The
idea is not that the surviving Israelites will be brought to
Egypt merely as exiles, but that they will be brought there to
be sold as slaves, the "ships" being those of the Phoenicians,
who carried on a trade in slaves (Am. 1^ Ez, 27^^ Joel 4^), and
had commercial relations with Egypt (Is. 23^). — By the way
•whereof I said, ^c.\ cf. 17^^, with the note.
69 (XXIX. 1). Subscription to the Deuteronomic legislation
(c. 5-26. 28). — These are the words of the covenant, &c.\ the
pron. these may point indifferently backwards or forwards (on
1^); and it is disputed whether the verse refers to what has
preceded, c. 5-26. 28, or to what follows, c. 29-30. The former
view is that of Knob., Kuenen {Hex. § 7. 21, 2), Westphal,
p. 104; the latter that of Ewald {Hist. i. 122), Keil, Dillm.,
Oettli. The former view appears to be the preferable one.
The expression '■'■•words of the covenant " implies a specification
of the terms or conditions to be observed by the contracting
parties (cf. Ex. 34^8 2 K. 2'^-^'^^x. ii8'^34^8); and it is said
29^ (^) that these " words " are to be observed; but no state-
ment respecting what they comprise is to be found in c. 29-30;
it is difficult therefore to understand how 28^^(29^) can be
intended as a superscription to c. 29-30. On the other hand,
c. 5-26. 28 is occupied entirely with an exposition of the terms
of the covenant: so that 28*'^ (29^) would be an appropriate
and natural subscription to it. — In the land of Moah\ i*. —
Beside the coveyiant "which he 7nade with them at Horeb (i^)]
the covenant made at Horeb is alluded to in Dt. S^-^; the
covenant into which Israel has now entered in Moab (26^^^- ;
x^ 29^1(12))^ while in part identical with that, is largely an
extension of it, embracing many entirely new regulations:
the two covenants are accordingly distinguished.
320 l)EUTEk(JNOrvrY
XXIX. -XXX. Moses Third Discourse. Israel
fornially called upon to enter into the Deutero-
noniic Covenant.
The Deuteronomic Code ends with c. 28. C. 29-30 is of
the nature of a supplement, insisting afresh upon the funda-
mental principle of the Code, viz. devotion to Jehovah, and
calling upon Israel to yield loyal allegiance to it. The
discourse falls naturally into three parts. In the first,
Moses, after referring to what Jehovah has done for Israel
^2^1-8(2-9)^^ reminds them that the purpose for which they are
now assembled together is that they may enter solemnly into
covenant with Him, and warns them afresh of the disastrous
consequences, including national ruin and exile, which a lapse
into idolatry will inevitably entail (ag^'^^^^^"^^^) ; in the second,
imagining the threatened exile to have taken place, he promises
that even then, if Israel sincerely repents, Jehovah will again
leceive it into His favour, and restore it to the land of promise
I^qI-io^ ; in the third, he sums up, in brief but forcible words,
the two alternatives placed before Israel, life and happiness
on the one side, death and misfortune on the other, and
adjures the nation to choose wisely between them (so^^'^").
In these chapters, the connection is sometimes imperfect, esp. betweea
30*""' and 30"'^'' (see on 30") ; several words and phrases occur, not other-
wise found in Dt. (Dilhn. notes Vscn ag*'*', nSx oath, imprecation, 29^'' ^^- **•
ii...w,i2.i4.i».2o.2ii ^o?^ idol-blocks a^nd detestations 29i8|"'i, e- [b 29'^ fi*', nnnw
stubbornness 29'* W, r^K [ry and nSo 29"'<-''', .^J?^S unto evil 29-"'^^', U'«^Snr\ sick-
nesses 29^' '"', forsake the covenant 2<)^* f-^', vr\i pluck up 29^^ '^*', nnn drivt
awayTp'-* ; and the phrases 29' »'''''• "("*)>'. 18 (i9)b) . ^^^j t^j^e points of contact
with Jeremiah are more numerous than usual. A question thus arises,
whether the text is throug^hout in its orig^inal order, and whether it ia
entirely by the same hand as the body of Dt. : see the Introduction, § 4.
XXIX. 1-8 (2-9). Moses reminds the Israelites of all that
Jehovah has wrought for them, from the time of their deliver-
ance from Egypt, founding upon it a renewed exhortation to
obey the words of the covenant. — The paragraph is a recapitu-
lation of the substance of earlier parts of Dt., stated largely
in the same phraseology. — 1 (2). And Moses called unto all
Israel (i'). and said unto them] exactly as 5^. — Ve (emph.) have
XXIX. ^-6^2-7) 32'
seen, &^c. ] cf. Jos. 23^ (D-) ; also c. 1 1'^"^. — All that Jehovah did,
dr'c. j cf. i^** 4'^'*'' 7^* 11^^-; also 3^' 4^. — Before your eyes] i^'
43*^. — 2 (3). The great provi7igs, &c.\ ^'^ (where see note), 7^^.
— Which thine eyes saw\ 4^ 7^^ lo^'. — 3 (4). But fehovah hath
not given you an heart to know, &c. ] the heart is named as the
organ of understanding- (on 42^) ; the eyes and the ears are
named as figures for the capacity of moral and spiritual per-
ception (Is. 6i*> 32^). Israel's perverseness (cf. 9'^- ^4), the
meaning must be, has obliged Jehovah hitherto to deal with
it accordingly (Ps. iS^'^^e)), and to withhold from it the power
of apprehending properly the duties which its relation to
Jehovah had imposed upon it. Contrast the hope of 526 (29),
and the opposite action of Jehovah, after Israel's penitence,
in 30^. The remark is not very intimately connected with the
context, and must be regarded as parenthetical : Israel's
possession of the organ of physical sight (v.^C^)) suggests the
thought of its deficiency in the faculty of spiritual insight
(comp. the same contrast, Jer. 5^1 Is. 4220 438). — 4-5 (5-6).
The Divine guidance in the wilderness. — 4 (5). And I led you
forty years in the wilderness] verbatim as Am. 2^*', and nearly
as Dt. 82, cf. 2^. From v.^C^)^, it appears that the pronoun
refers to God (see on 7^). — Your clothes have not worn away,
<2r'c.] as 8*. — 5 (6). Israel was not sustained by ordinary
human food, in order that it might learn that Jehovah was its
God, and that it was dependent upon Him for sustenance.
The allusion is to the lesson of the manna, as taught in 8*
(where see note). — In order that ye may know that I am,
Jehovah] almost as Ex. 717 8i8(22)b ;„ je, Is. 458. The ex-
pression "And ye (thou, they, &c.) shall know that I am
Jehovah" occurs in P, Ex. 6^ 7^ 14*- ^ 16^2 29*0, exceedingly
often (more than 50 times) in Ezek. [L.O.T. p. 276 f.), and
occasionally besides, as Ex. lo^ (JE) i K. 2oi3- 28^ fhe form
':S of the pers. pron., which is very unusual in Dt. (12^0 phil.
note), makes it probable that the phrase " to know that I am
Jehovah " was already a current one, adopted by the Writer
as one with which he was familiar: ci. Journ. of Phil. xi. 224.
— 6-7 (7-8). The conquest of Sibon and 'Og, and the division
of their territory: see -s?'^- 31- 3. a. i2f. — Uiito this place] 1^9'
322 DEUTERONOMY
11*. — 8 (9). These benefits, received at Jehovah's hands
should constitute a motive to obedience : comp. 4^*- *" ; 1 1^-^- s.
— Observe , . . and do\ 4^. — The words of this covenant\ 28''*'
(29I). — That ye may understand — viz. so as to manage success-
fully {h^yi^r\)—all that ye do] i K. 23b (Deut.) ; cf, Jos. i^- « (D2).
9-12 (10-13). Israel is assembled here to-day for the pur-
pose of entering formally into the covenant with Jehovah, and
accepting the obligations which that involves. — Ve are stand-
ing (Q^?^? °?^)] more lit. are stationed, fixed, as it were, for a
purpose — a more formal term than cnpi? : cf. i S. 22^- "^ Is. 31^.
With "before Jehovah," comp. "take your (their) stand
(iiDjfl'nn) before Jehovah," i S. 10^^ Jos. 24^ — Your tribes\
"tribes," in this connexion, between "heads" and "elders,"
can hardly be right. In all probability, ' ' your judges " (Dj'':2£C')
should be read for "your tribes" (C3''t23*k:') : comp. Jos. 8^^ 23^ 24^
So prob. ffi (for a.pxi<^v\oi appears to correspond to "heads"
alone: see Jos. 21^, and contrast c. 5^^ ©). — Your officers
(dd''~iD"J')] see on i^^; and comp. 31^8 Jos. S^^ 232 24^ — (Even)
all the men of Israel] summing up the whole, of which
particular representative items have been previously specified,
according to the usage in Dt. (p. 214). — 10(11). Your little
ones] so 31^2 Jqs. 8^^. — Thy stranger that is in the midst of thy
camp] Israel's "camp" (often in JE, and esp. in P) is not
referred to elsewhere in Dt., except 2^^^-. "Thy stranger," as
gi4 24H 3112, xhe mention of the "stranger" (cf. 31^2. jog, ^ib
D^) is an indication that the Writer lived in an age when the
foreigners settled in Israel had acquired, religiously as well
as socially, a recognised position (comp. on lo^^ 14^^)- — The
gatherer of thy {?irQ-)wood, cSr'c.] so Jos. g2i. 23. 27|^ where the
Gibe'onites, after the fraud practised by them upon the Israel-
ites, are cosdemned to serve in these capacities for the sanctu-
ary (cf. Neh. io35(3*) 1331). But here, unless again the terms
be borrowed from the institution of a later age, the reference
may be to those performing these menial duties for the indi-
vidual Israelites. — Gatherer] 2Dn is not connected with 3vn to
hew. the Arab, hatah \s fire-wood, aid hataha is to collect fire-
XXIX. 10. Tjno] G-K. § 93. 3 R^.— acnj 19* Jer. 46"^ do not show that 'n
muans to " hew" : that it is used prop, oi fire-wood, appears from Ez. 39".
XXIX. 8-16(9-17) 323
wood (Lane, p. 593). — 11(12). Pass over into his covenant] see
below. — And into his oath] or iinprecation (i^/^), i-e. a covenant
sealed by an oath, and mutual imprecations (p. 67) ; so Gn.
2628 Ez. 1713 Neh. io80(29).— 12 (13). That he may establish thee
(28^) this day unto himself for a people, and that he may
be unto thee for a God] a succinct statement of the mutual
obligations entered into by Jehovah and Israel. For the
expressions used, see on 26^''^' ^8. — As he spake unto thee (1^^),
and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
facob] in Gn. \'f-^ (P) Jehovah promises "to be to Abraham
for a God " ; but there is no mention of a corresponding-
promise to Isaac or Jacob. But no doubt the reference is to
passages such as Gn. 22^^-i8 26^* 28^^'- (JE), the conditions
involved tacitly in the promises there recorded being con-
verted here into a formula expressing them distinctly. The
oath to the forefathers is often alluded to in Dt. (on i^) ; but
usually with reference to the promise of the land of Canaan :
with reference to the covenant concluded with them, 4^1 712
8'8 ; cf. also 437 78.
13-20 (14-21). And the covenant is one which must be held
to bind not only those present to-day, but future generations as
well ; for the danger of Israel's lapsing into idolatry is great ;
and the consequences are grave for him who yields to the
temptation. — 14 (15). That standeth] here the less formal word
(icr) is used. — And also with him that is not here with us to-day]
i.e. the Israelite of future generations. Comp. the similarly
expressed contrast in 5^. — 15 (16). For ye (emph.) know how we
dwelt, cSr'c.] the ground for v.^*(^^): ior ye have experience of
the idolatry rife both in Egypt, and among the other nations
bordering on Canaan ; and can judge consequently of the
necessity of including future generations in the terms of the
obligation. — How we passed through the midst of the nations
through which ye passed] the idem per idem form of expression,
explained on i*».— 16 (17). Their detestable things (2n^>*1p^)] a
11. nnaa •\i\i\ a phrase found only here. Possibly it may have its origin
in the ceremony of oni:n pn nny (Gn. 15^" Jer. 34^*'") in concluding a cove-
nant : but more prob. it means simply " to pass over (Ex. 30^^* '*) into the
covenant " ; cf. the syn. enter into, Ez. 16^ Neh. 10^*. — 12. . . . D'prj |J©7
HM' Kim] G-K. § 114. 3 R» ; Dr. § 118.— 14. jb"] G-K. § 100. 5.
324 DEUTERONOMY
contemptuous designation of heathen deities or idols, only
here in the Hex., but frequent in writers of the age of Jer.
and Ez., and sometimes subsequently, as i K, ii^ (Deut.)
" Milcom, the detestation of the 'Ammonites," ^ 2 K. 2'^^-^^
Jer. 7^*^ Ez. 20^- ^ Is. 66^ al. Shiqqiiz occurs first in Hos. 9^'
(" and became detestatiotis like that which they loved "). It is
cognate with the verb rendered detest^ Dt. 7^^ (see note). AV.,
RV. usually render " abomination," confusing it thereby with
to'ebah, except where it occurs by the side of this word, when
"detestable thing" is adopted (Jer. 16I8 Ez. 5" 720 iii8.2i)._
And their idol-blocks (Dn''?l?3)] another contemptuous designation
of heathen idols, found once besides in the Hex. (Lev. 26^0, H),
used otherwise only by the compiler of Kings (i K. 15^2 2126
2 K. 1712 2111-12 2324)^ by Ezek. (39 times : e.g. 6*-6-«-9; and
parallel, as here, with detestatiofis, 2o'''- ^- 1^ 372^ ; so 2 K. 2324),
and in Jer. 502.
The particular attribute belonging- to an idol which the term expresses
is, however, uncertain. Galal is to roll {e.g. a stone, Gn. 29^) : hence Ges.
supposed gilliil to denote properly blocks of stone, such as are rolled, the
term being applied derisively to idols, as though dei lapidei (similarly
Baudissin, Sent, Rel.-gesch. i. 95, but not limiting the material to stone,
cylindrical masses, of whatever material) : Evvald, on the other hand {Die
Lehre der Bihel von Gott, ii. 264), thought it probable that the word was
meant as a satirical allusion to the costume and appearance of an idol,
and denoted properly doll-images (" Puppen, Wickelkinder").
Wood and stone] 42^ 2826- 64. — Silver and gold] cf. 72^. — With
thetn] in their possession. Not atnong them (RV.). — 17-18
(18-19). Take heed, therefore, lest there be any among you
who yields to the temptation to follow the gods of these
nations, and who is infatuated enough, when he hears the
terms of the covenant, to imagine he may safely disregard
them. — 17(18). (Take heed) lest. . .] this is the best con-
struction (cf. Is. 36IS Job 3213), with a period at the end of
y^i6(i7). for v.i*(i^> (which looks distinctly to ihe future) can
hardly be intended to make provision for a present need
(" to-day," v.^n^«)).—To go to serve] cf. 137- 14(6- is) jys..,^ root
that beareth poison and wor/nwood] a significant figure, ex-
17. .t:!) ca^S] 30". Dvp] i K. u*.— 17-18. ^^3n.■n . . . n'ni . . . r' ]fi] on
4" : B" [t, as 2 K. lO''^.
XXIX. i7-i8(i8-i9) 325
pressive of the bitter consequences which idolatry brings in
its train, the single hidden root being the source of abundant
poisonous fruit. Poison (:;'sn), as 3232-33 Hos. 10* Am. 612
Jer. 8^^ 9I* 2315 Lam. 36- 19 Ps. 6922 Job 2d"^\. AV., RV,
usu. "hemlock" or "gall." It is evident, from this passage
and Hos. 10*, that some poisonous plant is denoted by the
term ; though what plant it is, is quite uncertain. As rosh
means also "head," Ges. thought of poppies, of which several
species are found in Palestine. IVormwood (njy^), as Am. 5^
612 Jer. 9I* 23I6 Lam. 315- 19 Pr. 5^t.— 18 (19). ll^7ien he heareih
the words of this oath (v.^^- -3(^2. i4)jj^ {g^ the conditions of the
covenant. — That he bless himself in his heart, &c.\ i.e.
mentally congratulate himself that he may nevertheless act as
he pleases with impunity. — Though I walk in the stubbornness
(ni"l^"iK') of my hcart\ i.e. persist in my self-chosen course of
idolatry. Of course the expression represents the judgment
of the Writer of Dt., not that of the imagined speaker (comp.
" we have made lies our refuge," Is. 2%^^). "Stubbornness"
(lit. y?rwne^5 [see below], in a bad sense), always followed by
"of the heart," occurs elsewhere only in Jeremiah (3^^ 72* (^'•''
118 1310 1612 1812 23I7) and Ps. 8ii3(i2)._ro carry off the
7vatered (Is. 58^1) with the dry] or thirsty (Ez. 19^3) ; a proverbial
expression, denoting all (comp. on 2,^^^')- The two adjectives
a.refc7>i. in the Heb. ; and no doubt the reference is implicitly
to herbage or plants ; watered and parched alike, all will be
swept away together. The clause is, of course, to be connected
not with "though I walk," &c., but with "bless himself in
his heart"; the meaning being that the idolater alluded to
congratulates himself that he will escape all harm, in order to
destroy all together, viz. through the deleterious consequences
of his sin, which either (Knob.) brings down directly the
Divine anger upon the entire people (cf. Nu. 1622 Jos. 6^^ 7^
2218.20)^ or (Dillm.) spreads rapidly, and so infects the com-
munity at large as to produce in the end the same result
The result of the idolater's action is represented, ironically,
as being his design (iVpp), as occasionally besides ; comp. Hos.
18. nnnt] -nc (Pael), "i^n (Af.), are common in Syr. in the sense o(
confirm, streiigthen : and niT'iv' is fTtfiujj.x (Cd. 2*).
326 DEUTERONOMY
8* Is. 44^ Jer. 7^^. — Carry off\ or sweep away, the Arab, safd
is used esp. of wind carrying away dust. In AV. the ?i^. is
lost: cf. Gn. i823-24 igis.iz (av. consume)', i S. 2610 271 {be
carried away. AV. perish) \ Ps. 40^5(14) a/.— 19-20 (20-21).
Jehovah's anger against such a man will not be assuaged :
He will mark him out amongst all his compatriots for an evil
fate.— 19 (20). Will not be willing (^n^^^ \h) to pardon him] AV.
"will not pardon him " is inadequate: "will" is not here a
mere sign of the future. — And his jealousy] sc. at the honour
which is His due being rendered to another; comp. on 42^. —
Shall smoke against that man] Ps. 74^ (of anger) ; cf. So^ W (see
RV. m.), Is. 65^. — All the imprecation {y^"^) written in this book]
i.e. the curses (niSSj^) of 28i5ff. . cf. 2 Ch. 342*. — Shall lie down
upon him] y^] is to lie down as an animal (Gn. 49^) : if the
word be correct, it must be used figuratively, of the curse
settling upon him ; but the metaphor is rather a forced one ;
and perhaps ffi KoXk-qOria-^rai {i.e. "^P?^"!) shall cleave to hi?n
(so ST) is the true reading (cf. 2821- ^^).— Shall blot out his
naine from under heaven] 9^* ; cf. 25^^. — 20 (21). Shall separate
him (i^nnni)] 4*^ 10* 192-7; cf. I K. 8^3 (in a good sense). —
Unto {or for) evil] Am. 9* Jud. 2^^ (Deut.), Jer. 21I0 24^ 29^^ 38*
39^^ 4411-27.29 (with various verbs). — Out of all the tribes oj
Israel] i S. 228 i K. 8I6 ii32 1421 2 K. 21^ (all Deut.) : cf. Dt. 12^
18^. — 77!^ imprecations i^^'^) of the covenant, &f'c.] 28^^''^-.
21-27 (22-28). But the dreaded future will only too surely
arrive; and the passer-by, when he sees the barren, depopu-
lated land, and inquires the cause of its ruin, will be told in
reply that it is a judgment upon Israel for its apostasy. — The
tone is no longer deprecatory, as v.i''^^^^)^ but predictive; for
the dreaded contingency is now pictured as a certainty. The
transition from the individual of v.i9-2'>(20 2i) j-q j-j^g nation in
y 2iff. (22ff.) is somewhat abrupt ; but the Writer evidently con-
templates the case of the "poison" of v.i'^(i^) having com-
pleted, only too thoroughly, its baneful effects. — 21-23 (22-24).
20. n3in3.i] as it stands, belongs strictly to nnan, though the part of " the
covenant written in the book " specially referred to is, of course, c. 28.
The versions express nainan (cf. 2 Ch. 34^) ; and it is best to read either
this or nSx (sing., as v.'*).
XXIX. 19-25(20-26) 327
Both the Israelite of a future generation, and the traveller
journeying from distant parts, are imagined to put this question
of surprise. — The folio-wing generatiori] Ps. 48^^(1^) 78^-*'
10 2^9 (18). —21(22). Riseup\]\id. 2^^.— The foreigner that shall
come from afar land\ hence (in a different connexion) i K. 8*^
{Tieut.).— Plagues {stripes)] 2859- «i Jer. 198.-22(23). Brim-
stone and salt, (even) a bicrning, is all its land ; it is not sown,
&c.] epexeg. of the "plagues," and "sicknesses" of v. 21(22).
the soil is represented as covered with a sulphurous and saline
deposit, mingled with calcined bituminous matter, checking
all vegetation. For the figures, cf. Gn. 192^ Job 18^^ jgr. ly^b^
The imagery (as the end of the v. shows) is drawn from the
arid and barren tracts, bearing this character, — the effects
probably of eruptions of bitumen, — in the neighbourhood of
the Dead Sea (cf. Tristram, Land of Israel, pp. 348-358 ;
Dawson, Egypt and Syria, p. I24ff.): the whole land is
pictured as resembling these. — Neither doth it cause to grow
(TOvn vh\: AV. beareth)] Gn. 3I8 Is. 61"; cf. Gn. 1925 "the
growth (or sprouting) of the soil " (np^xn noV), — Nor aftj' herb
Cometh up therein] cometh up, as Am. 7^ al. — Like the overthrow
of Sodom, &fc.\ jnahpekhah is always used with reference to
the cities of the Plain, either directly (Am. 4^1 Is. 13^9 Jer, 49^8
50*^), or allusively (Is. i^)! : comp. ^'^^Vt Gn. 192", and the
cognate verb haphakh, Gn. 1921.25.29 jgj._ ^6^^ Lam. 4^. —
Admah and Zeboim\ Hos. ii^; Gn. lo^^ i42.8|._23_24 (24-25).
WJierefore hath fehovah done thus to this land? And they
shall say. Because they forsook, ^fc] almost the same words,
borrowed hence, and merely accommodated to the city, or the
temple, in i K. 9^^- Jer. 228f- (of. 1610^-). — Forsook the covenant
of fehovah] i K. 1910-1* Jer. 22^ Dan. ii^of. — Which he made
with them, &yc.] v.i3(h); also i K. 821 (Deut.), Jer. 11* 34^^—
25(26). Went and served other gods] 137.14(6.13) I'j^.^WJiom
21-23. ixni carries on iDip' and n3' ; d'u.t h-2 itdni resumes [nnxn nnn -ioki
after the long intervening- rel. clause (cf. on 4''2). Construe : " And the
following generation will say — even your children who shall rise up after
you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, and who shall see,
&c. . . . — (23) Yea, all the nations shall say," &c. — DS'inxD] Eccl. lo^^ —
D'NiVnn] Jer. 14'* 16* Ps. 103' 2 Ch. zi^'t.— 22. nsnN] the suff. refeij
awkwardly to jinh v.*^.
328 DEUTERONOMY
they knew not] i i^s. — A7id -whom he had not allot fed unto them]
see on 41^. — 26 (27). To bmig upon it all the curse (n^S"''"') that
is written in this book] 28i5ff. ; cf. v.i9-2o(20 2i) p^^{)\ Cf. Jer.
25I8. The clause is worded, like v.^^^^^), from the point of
view of the Writer of Dt. ; for "this book" is hardly appro-
priate in the mouth of the persons supposed to give the
answer, v. 24 (25). — 37 (28). Plucked them up from off their land]
so I K. 14" (Deut.), Jer. \2^^ 2 Ch. 720 (varied from "cut off"
in I K. 9^) ; Am. g^^ (with not). KTlJ (opp. to j;£33 to plants Am.
9^5 Jer. 24^ «/.) does not occur elsewhere in the Hex. : it is
not a very common word, being used chiefly by Jer. (i^'' 12^^- ^'^
18'^ «/.). — In anger, and in fury, and in great wratK] Jer. 21*
32^^^. — Cast them into another land] cf. Jer. 222^. — As at this
day] see on 2^^. — 28 (29). The secret things belong tinto Jehovah
our God ; but the thitjgs that are revealed belong unto us and
to our children for ever, that 7ve may do all the words of this
/aw] by the "secret things," is meant the future: the know-
ledge of this, the Writer says, belongs to Jehovah ; we and
our descendants are concerned only with what He has revealed
to us, viz. the practical duty of observing His law. — All the
words of this law] 28^^.
XXX. 1-10. Nevertheless, if Israel in the land of its exile
repents and turns sincerely to Jehovah, He will again visit
it with His mercy, He will restore it to the land of promise,
and bestow upon it again the tokens of His favour. — The
paragraph (which may be regarded as an expansion of 4'"^"^^)
consists substantially of a reaffirmation of the promises given
in previous parts of Dt., accommodated to the case of Israel's
repentance in the land of its exile. V.'^ (see note) seems to
show, however, that it cannot have been originally designed
to precede v. "20. — \ When all these things are cofne upon thee,
the blessing and the curse] the reference is to c. 28, where the
blessings consequent upon obedience, and the curses incurred
by disobedience, are successively enumerated. It is true, the
28. U'J^Si uS] the puncta extraordinaria " have here no critical sijjnifi-
cance, but in all probability merely call attention, like the 7 ma /use. in v.''",
to some hidden meaning, which the Jewish doctors sui)posed to attach tc
the words in question" (Dillm.).
XXIX. 26(27)— XXX. 4 3^9
"blessing"" might be deemed not strictly appropriate in a
context which contemplates entirely the case of the nation's
disobedience : but it seems that the Writer has in view Israel's
future as a whole, which would not be throughout of a uniform
character, but would present examples both of national obedi-
ence and of national apostasy ; and the consequences of the
former would afford material for salutary reflexion, not less than
those of the latter. — Which I have sei before ihee] i.e. offered
for thy choice (v.^^- ^^ ii^^): see on 48. — And hetliink thyself\
so I K. 8*^ (AV.). Lit. bring back to thy heart, i.e. consider
(viz. the causes of thy exile, thy relation to Jehovah, &c.):
see 4^^ (phil. n.). — Hath driven thee] ['""^'^ is common in this
applicatiDn in Jer. (8^ 16^*^ 22^-^ 24^271^-1^ 29^'*- ^^ 22^7 4628) ;
so Ez 4^3. Cf. 'nni?, v.*. — 2. And shalt return even unto pV)
Jehovah thy God, and hearken to his voice] verbatim as 4^". —
Which I command thee this day] so v.^- ^^ : see on 4^. — With
all thy heart a?id with all thy soul] as 4^9 (see note). The
repentance must be thorough and sincere. — 3. Will ttim thy
captivity'] or change thy fortune (see below). Whether niat^* be
derived from n^C' or iw, the expression does not mean " bring
back thy captives " : it is used commonly with reference to a
decisive turn, or change, in a people's fortune. Here, as also
Jer. 29^* 30^ Ez. 29^*, the return from captivity is mentioned
separately afterwards. — Have compassion upon thee (lomi)]
1318(1"); cf. 4". Comp. Jer. \2^^ 3326 ^Q^j^^^nil DDn:^ DS 31L"N "3).
— And gather thee (*l^"3pl)] Jer. 23^ 29^* (D'lan ^30 D3ns "nvapi
DK' D3nx "Timn "IK^X nioipon boi), 3i8-i0 3237; and often in Ez.
(as 11^7 2&^^).—Hath scattered thee] 42^ 28*^*; cf. Jer. 9^5 30".
— 4-5. However remote be the place of Israel's banishment,
XXX. 3. "(TinB' riN 3B'i] by the older scholars this expression (which is a
frequent one, as Am. c,^* Jer. 29I'* 30"- '^ 31--' 33^* 49*- *•) was taken to mean
turn the captivity — though with the admission that it might be used meta-
phorically (as Ez. 16*3 Job 42'") ; but Ewald, in 1841 (on Jer. 48^^; cf.
Jahrb. Bihl. Wiss. v. 216 f.), called this expl. in question, contending that
the meaning was to turn a turning (cf. s 3'"i an, 's Dp^ cpj : nOv* from
312*, like nn^ from tiS), i.e. to change decisively a person's (or nations)
fortune ; and most modern scholars have followed him (as Bottch. Xeue
Ahrenlese, i. 65f., Lehrb. § 464; Ols. pp. 412, 417; Kuenen, Theol. Tijdschr.
1873, pp. 519-524 ; Dillm. on Job 42*"; Nowack on Hos. 6" ; Cheyne and
Kirkpatrick on Ps. 14'').— 4. Trti] hence Neh. i' : cf. Jer. 30" Mic. 4*.
330 DEUTERONOMY
Jehovah will still bringf it back, and visit it again with His
bounty. — The end of heaveti] in the far distant regions of the
world, where, as the Hebrews supposed, the solid vault of
heaven rested upon the earth : the same expression 4^2 Ps_ jg7
Is. 13^, and (borrowed hence) Neh. i^. The more usual phrase
is "the end of the earth."— 5. Do thee good\ S^^ 28^^.— And
multiply thee] 7^^ 1318(1") 28^^. — 6. He will, further, work in
Israel a change of heart, that it may serve Him willingly, with
all its powers. — IVtll circuTncise (10^^) thy heart] i.e. remove
its dulness of spiritual perception (29^ W), so that it may display
again the activity and willingness of 526(29). fj^g thought, as
Dillm. remarks, is a Messianic one: of. Jer. 31^^ 3239^- £2. iji^
2,6^'^^-.— And . . . of thy seed] v.i9 28^^-^^: of. Is. 5921.— Tt? love,
&€.] see 6^. — For thy life's sake] a variation of the phrase usually
employed, "that thou mayest (ye may) live," v. ^^4^ ^30(33) 8I1620;
cf. 30^^ (iT'^m). — 7-10. The curses resting upon Israel will then
be transferred to its foes ; and Israel will again enjoy the bless-
ings of obedience in its own land. — All these imprecations {^'^^^)]
as 29^^^- (2of.)^ ^vith reference to 28'^^^-. — 8. And thou] the pron.
is emphatic (opp. to the "enemies" of v.''^). — And do all his
commandments, &c.] 2S'^-'^^: cf. 15* 27^ — 9. Will make thee have
in excess . . . 7/nto £ood] repeated from 28^^. — For he 'will again
rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers] ci.22>^^ ;
Jer. 32'*^ — 10. When thou hearkenest . . . , when thou tumest,
&c.] the condition of Jehovah's renewal of His favour repeated
from v. 6- 8, and introduced as in 28^- ^^ (repeated similarly from
28^). — Which are written in this book of the law] 2920(21).
11-20. No impracticable duty is laid upon Israel ; Jehovah's
demands are easy alike to ascertain and to understand. The
moment is a crucial one : the path of life and the path of
death lie in front of Israel ; let it choose wisely between them.
— The paragraph is loosely connected with v.^'^^. V.""i*
10. nainsn] the fem. sg-., with a collective force, is construed often with
plurals, when the pred. is a verb (G-K. § 145. 4), and sometimes even (if
the text be always sound) with a pron. suff. (2 K. 3^ i^s-s. n 1^22 \^^\^
Klost. riN^n: prob. rightly], 10'-^ [Klost. njsD], Lam. i'^ [but see (5, Lohr],
Ez. 35'" [see versions, and Cornill], Ps. 145® Kt. [read as Qre, fflS2E], Job
14^* 39" • cf. Ew. § 317*) ; but these cases do not justify a fem. adj. in
appos. with ni 'o: read prob. niinD.i (Jer. 51** read noin, as v.** and ffi).
XXX. 5-is 33»
(*' For" . . .) clearly states the reason for a present duty; in
view of the contents of the four verses, it is exceedingly un-
natural to suppose (Keil, Einl. § 24. 3 end) that they explain
why Israel should find it easy to return to Jehovah in the
future conting-ency contemplated in v.^". It is next to im-
possible, therefore, that v.^^'^o can have been originally the
sequel of v.^-^" (cf. the Introduction, § 4). — 11. For this com-
mandment, which I C07nniand thee this day (4^)] see ii^^ ig9;
and on 528(31). The commandment meant, as 11 22 igS show, is
devotion to Jehovah, with the obligations which it involves,
especially obedience to the moral and religious demands made
by Ilim of His worshippers: this has been so emphatically
and repeatedly insisted on in the preceding discourses that it
may fitly be said to be well known, and "nigh" to the
Israelite. — It is not too difficult (17^) for thee., neither is it far
off] it is nothing abstruse or incomprehensible, like the com-
plicated structure of the human frame (Ps. isg*": cf. 131^ Pr.
30^^) ; it is nothing recondite, which can be reached only by
laborious and protracted study. The force of the expression
is not far off is illustrated by the two figures employed in
V 12-13 . {f Is jiQf ifi heaven, — in an inaccessible height, which
none can scale ; neither is it beyond the sea, — in some distant
region, which none can visit, for the purpose of fetching it
thence, and bringing it to Israel's knowledge. — 14. But the word
is very nigh to thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou
may est do it] it has been brought so near to thee — viz. by
prophets and other teachers, and especially in the discourses
of Dt. — that thou canst talk of it familiarly with thy lips
(cf. 6^ ii^^), and meditate upon it in thy heart (cf. 6^ n^^);
thou art consequently placed in a position for giving it
practical effect. — 15-20. Finally, Moses earnestly exhorts
Israel to make a right choice in the decision now devolving
upon it. — 15. Sec (i^), / have set before thee — i.e. laid before
thee for thy choice (11 26) — life and good, and death and evil]
comp. 1 1 26-28^ where the alternatives are the blessing and the
curse. On life in Dt., see on 4^. Good (^itS"!}), i.e. pro-
sperity, may be illustrated by 26^^, and the frequent use of the
cognate verb in Dt. (4^0 526 (29). so (ss) 68. is. 24 jqIS) . see also
332 DEUTERONOMY
Ps. 25I' (Heb. abide in good), 3411.1800. 12) 1035 job 21" 22i«
3o26. With death and evil, comp. 4^6 8^^'-. Evil {i.e. mis-
fortune), as Jer. 7^ 25'^ (Heb. "for evil to you") Ps. 10^ Pr.
13!^. See also Jer. 21^ "Behold, I set before you the way of
life, and the way of death," — the former being- explained (v.^)
to mean desertion to the Chaldeans ; the latter, remaining- in
Jerusalem. — 16-18. Explanation of what is involved in the two
alternatives : if the nation elects to obey Jehovah, life and
happiness ; if it elects to reject Him for false gods, disaster and
ruin. The expressions as before in Dt. — 16. \If thou shall
hearken to the commandinent of Jehovah thy God,] which I com-
mand thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God . . ., then thou
shall live and multiply, and Jehovah thy God shall bless thee,
(SrT.] the Heb. text appears here to be imperfect, thoug-h its
imperfection is concealed from the English reader by p^^ni. being
improperly rendered ** that thou may est live" (which would
require here n'nn }yop). By the restoration from © of the
clause in brackets the construction becomes perfectly regular,
and the form of the verse corresponds exactly with that of the
alternative case stated in v.^"'^- (so Di. Oe. Marti). — The com-
mandment, which I command thee this day, to love, cS^c] cf.
v^ii n22 ig9, — Xo walk in his ways\ 8". — Live and multiply] 8I.
— Will bless thee] 7^3 2320 288 al.—In the land, &c.] f 2320 al.
— 17. But if thine heart turn (rus")] 2911^ (i^). — But be drawn
away (^C^rl). &^c.] 4^^. — 18. / declare (26^) unto you this day
that ye shall surely perish] ^^^%^^. — Ye shall not prolong days]
426b &c. — Upon the ground, whither, drT.] 420 ii3i 31I3 ^2^7^ —
19-20. Heaven and earth are called to witness that Israel has
been fully informed of what is involved in the alternatives
placed before it. — 19. I call heaven and earth to witness against
you this day] verbatim as 42^. — Life and death have I set before
thee, the blessing and the curse] a combination of v.i' and 1 12«.
— That thou mayest live] 4^ 580(33) gi, — Thou and thy seed] 30^.
— 20. To love Jehovah thy God, &c.] 6^ 48O. — To cleave to him]
io20 1 1 22 i2^^'^^.—Eor that is thy life, and the length of thy days]
to love Jehovah, and to follow Him faithfully, is the condition
of thy life and prosperity. A variation in expression of the
thought of 4^-**' &c. — Which Jehovah sware, &c.] i®.
XXX. i6— XXXI. I 333
XXXI.-XXXIV. The closing Eveiits of Moses Life.
With c. 30 the discourses of Dt. are broug^ht to an end,
and the narrative of the Pent, is resumed, for the purpose of
recording" Moses' final counsels to his people, and describing
the circumstances of his death. The contents of the four
chapters are somewhat miscellaneous, comprising", viz. : —
1. Moses' parting words of encouragement to the people and to Joshua,
2. Instructions for the Deuteronomic law to be read publicly, once in
seven years, before the assembled people, 31*''^
3. Commission of Joshua bj' Jehovah, -ji'"*''*-^^.
4. The Song of Moses (32'"*'*), with accompanying introductory and con-
cluding notices, 21 "'■--'• '-"'"^" 3-'"-
5. Moses' final commendation of the Deuteronomic law to Israel,
32^-"-
6. Jehovah's command to Moses to ascend Mount Nebo and there die,
3,48-52.
7. The Blessing of Moses, c. 33.
8. The narrative of Moses' death, c. 34.
The narrative contained in these chapters is not homo-
geneous ; the same sources (JE and P) which are used in Gn.-
Nu. here reappear, the nucleus being" derived from JE, which,
after it had been expanded by Deuteronomic additions, was
subsequently combined with excerpts from P. The various
parts of the narrative are not in all cases very closely con-
nected tog^ether; on the question whether they are throughout
preserved in their original order, see the Introduction, § 4.
XXXI. 1-8. Moses announces to the people, for the last
time, that Joshua is to conduct them into Canaan, and en-
courages both them and him with the promise of Jehovah's
support. — Cf. i^'f- 321?. 28. The language used is repeated
largely from earlier parts of Dt., esp. c. 1-3. — 1. And Moses
went and spake these -words to all Israel] it is forced, and contrary
to usage to refer " these words," with Kn. Ke., to what follows
— in this case, "saying " (icxi?) instead of, or at least (Ex. 20^)
by the side of, "these words," would have been probably
used : the expression can only be naturally understood of
something which has preceded (cf. Gn. 20^ 44O Nu. 14^^). The
reference cannot, however, be to c. 29-30, for it has already
334 DEUTERONO:\TY
been expressly stated that this was spoken to all Israel (ag^^^)),
the terms used imply that " words," previously addressed to
Moses, are meant. The language of the verse (taken in con-
nexion with what follows) would be best explained, if it could
be supposed to have been once preceded by words such as
those which now stand in 32''f-, appointing Joshua as Moses'
successor, and bidding Moses encourage him (Dillm. Oettii).
ffi has o-weTeAccre kaXwv, i.e. "13"] P ^?^1 (32*^) for "laT*! "|^^"|, which
is adopted by Klost. Pent. p. 134: this reading removes all
difficulty ; but the textual change which it implies is not a very
probable one. — Went] viz. from the place where he was, when
he received the command about to be reported to the people.
" Disposed," or "set himself" (Kn. Ke.) is not a legitimate
paraphrase, either here or Gn. 3522 Ex. 2^ Jos. 9* Job i* (which
have been quoted in support of it). — All Israel] w.'^-'^^. The
standing expression in the narrative parts of Dt. : see on i^. —
2. An hundred and twenty years old this day] so (in P) 34^^. — J
can no more go out and come in] i.e. am no more able to engage
in active undertakings : of. Jos. 14^^, and on 28^. — And Jehovah
hath said unto me, Thou shall not go over this Jordafi] 3^^ ; cf.
J 37 42if.^ — 3_ Jehovah, thy God, he is going over before thee ; he
shall destroy, ^c] cf. 9^. — Possess them] 9^. — Josh^ia, he is
going over before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken\ '^'^ ', cf. i^^. —
4. As he did to Sihon, &'c.] 232ff. f«- -. cf. 3-1^.— 5. Deliver them
up before you] 72.23. q^ jS ^phji. n.). — According to all the C07n-
mandment, C^c] 72- 3. 5 §jq_ — g Be ye courageous atid strofig]
so V. 7. 23 Jos. 1- 6. 7. 9. 18 iqSs (all D2) : cf. f^.—Fear not, neither
be affrighted before them (iviyn bxi)] i2^ ; cf. 20^. — For Jehovah
thy God is he that goeth 'with thee] 20*. — He "will not drop thee
(4^^), nor forsake thee] v.^ Jos. i^ (D2). — 7-8. Encouragement
of Joshua (cf. the injunction 328). — /« the sight of all Israel] cf.
34^2 Jos. 10^2 J an(j see on i^". — Be courageous and strong {p'wx
J*DSl)] cf. 328 "encourage and strengthen him" (tn^'nxi inpTn).
—For thou (emph.) shall go with this people, &c.] cf. i^*.
Sam. &V, however, read ^^ bring this people" (S'^an for xnn :
cf. V.23), which is adopted by Knob. Kuen. Klost. Dillm.
Oettii, and is preferable in a connexion in which the stress
XXXI. 3. i3iy Nin] i S. 1" (Dr. § 199 «.).- 6. l'?in,T xn] v.^ z^-
XXXI. 2-!i 3 5
rests upon Joshua as leader of the people, and not merely (as
1^8) on his being permitted personally to enter Canaan. — S/iali
cause them to inherit ?V] 1^8228. — g. Is he that goeth before thee]
1^0; cf. 1 3^. — //e (emph.) 7vill be ivith thee] cf. on v. ^3. — //e
will not drop thee, <5r'c.] as v.^ Jos. i^ [AW fail thee). — Thou
shalt not fear, yior be dismayed] i^' Jos. 8' lo^^ (D-).
9-13. Moses gives instructions for the Deuteronomic law
to be read publicly before the assembled people, once in every
seven years, at the Feast of Booths in the ye:ir of Release. —
9. And Moses wrote this law] cf. v.^*. The brevity of the
expression shows that the statement is made, not on its own
account, but as the necessary preliminary to the injunction of
y 10-14 (Dillm.). Delitzsch supposes the reference, both here
and 27^, to be, not to Dt. as we have it, but to its kernel, the
leg^al code of which the existing book is the parenetic expan-
sion [ZKli'L. 1880, p. 505; Ce7iesis^ (1887), pp. 23-25). — And
gave it ujito the priests . . ., and ii7ito all the elders of Israel]
i.e. he ga\e it to the joint representatives of the ecclesiastical
and civil (19'^) authority in Israel, not so much for custody
(see v.-'^*^), as in view of the purpose indicated in v.^<"^-. — The
priests the sons of Levi {21^)] i.e. the Levitical priests; see on
18^. — IVJiich bare tJie ark of fehovali' s covenant] cf. v.'-''' Jos. 8^^ ;
and see more fully the note on 10^. The clause is manifestly
intended to describe a standing" privilege of the priests, not to
state the fact that they were carrying the ark on this particular
occasion. — 10. At the end of [ex G.ry) seven years] I5^ — The set
tijne] Ex. 23^^ — 34^^; cf. p. i8c). — The year of Release] 15^"^-. —
In the Feast of Booths] iS^^-'^. — 11. Mlien all Israel (i^) cometh
to appear in the p?'esence of] or, witii the pointing ^'i^V, to see
the face of: see the note on i6""\ — In the place which he
shall choose] as i6'*^: see on 12^. — Thon shalt read] Israel is
addressed (as just before, in "thy God"), the command being
supposed to be carried out by the particular members, or
representatives of the nation, whom it may concern (cf. 17^;
and uu \-^) : the address to Israel in the 2nd pers. is, howe\er,
a little incongruous by the side of the following "before all
Israel," and perhaps the plural, ^^ye shall read " (isipn), should
be restored from G urayi 0Kr£cri9e (Dillm. Oettli). — This law]
33^ DEUTERONOMY
I.e. as regularly (see on i^), the ieg^islation of Deuteronomy.*
— 12-13. All are to be assembled for the purpose, not the
males only (who alone were under an obligation to attend
the Feast of Booths, iSi*^), but the women, the children, and
the strangers, or foreigners resident in Israel, — the women
because it concerns them, not less than the men, to know
what the principles of Israel's religion are; the resident
foreigner, because, enjoying the protection of Israel, and
being in its midst, Israel's faith ought not to be a matter of
indifference to him, and he should be instructed in the
practical duties and responsibilities which his position lays
upon him (cf. 2g^^<-^^^; and see on lo^^ 1421J . ^nd the children
(cf. 6^ 11^^), in order that the rising generation may learn
betimes the duties incumbent upon them. — Assemble (^npn) ^he
f)euple\ 4^". — Thy stranger that is 'within thy gates (12^2^] 5I* (Ex.
20"^), 1421. — That they may hear, and that they may learn, and
fear Jehovah your God\ nearly as 4^*^ 14-^^ 17^^. — Observe to do]
^K~All the words 0/ this law] 17^^ 2f-» 2858 2928(29) 32*6; cf.
2y2ei 2 1 24^ — 13 ^// ^/i^ days that ye live upon the groufid] 4^°
12^ — IVhich ye are going over, &c.] 42*' 32""^; cf. 30^^^ also
|i4 51b J j8. ii_ With the importance attached to the instruction
of children, comp. 4^ 6'- 20-25 nie 3246.
14-23. Moses and Joshua are commanded to present them-
selves at the Tent of Meeting, in order that Joshua may be
lippointed his successor, v.**'^^ Moses is there warned that
after his death Israel will apostatize ; and is directed to write
the following Song (32i-*3), as a witness to future generations
that the consequences of such apostasy have been foretold to
them,v.*®'^^ Joshua is instituted by Jehovah as Moses' successor,
v.^^ — Here it is to observed that v.^^- ^^- 2^ belong together,
all relating to Joshua, and \.-'^ being the manifest sequel of
V.14. 15. v^i6-22 also belong together, but they relate to a
different subject, viz. the Song, The entire section has been
long recognized as not forming part of the work of D (Ewald,
* According- to the Mishnah {So/ah, vii. 8) it was the custom for a
selection to be read, viz. Dt. 1^-6^ 6^-« ii^**^- i^^^- 26^^"- 17"-*', a-id the
Blessings and the Curses (from c, 27-28). King Agrippa is menrionec' as
having read this selection.
XXXI. 12-13 337
///>/. i. 123; Knob.; Schrader, Einl. (i86g), § 191. 3; Klost.
St. u. Krit. 1871, p. 262 ff. (reprinted in Der Pentateuch^ 1893,
p. 236 ff.); Kleinert, p. 162; Wellh. Comp. p. 118; Kuen.
Hex. §§ 7. 20; 8. 15; Dillm. ; &c.). The grounds are best
stated, perhaps, by Klost.
I. Phraseologically, the section contains many expressions which are
not those of Dt., while several (esp. in v.'^-'*-''^) recur in JE : —
V.''' mo'? TD' i3-ip : the same expression, Gn. 47^^ (J), i K. 2^-
V." 2^'T\n present oneself, cf. Ex. 19'", and esp. Nu. ii'^^ (RV. "stand")
Jos. 24'. (The verb occurs in a different application, Dt. 7^ 9*
ii-'5.)
v.*** '" the references to the Tent of Meetings and the pillar of cloud are
in the manner of JE, Ex. 33''-»-^'' Nu. iiiet, and esp. 12* : the
former is not elsewhere alluded to in Dt.
v.'" r\in with the ptcp., of the fut., as often, both in JE (as Ex. 8^^ 9'*)
and Jud. Sam. Kings, &c., but never in Dt. TmzH DV 33B', as
Gn. 47^' (and elsewhere : see note). — Go a whoring after, as Ex.
2^16.16 ^/_ ^sgg note): never in Dt., where " to ^0 after other
gods " is the phrase reguiarly employed (on 6"). — Foreign gods
(133 'h'jn) : not in Dt. (see note).
Y\i6. 20 p.-i-j -^-^ to break a covenayit ; not in Dt. (see note).
yir. 17. 18. 22 j-„ that day : though the expression is one that might be
used bv any writer, its repeated occurrence is not in the manner
of D : it occurs otherwise twice only in the entire book, 21"^ 27^^.
Y',w. -0 ij^ ,^j£j iii^fi to: not elsewhere in Dt., where the phrase used is
always ^o (vyi"^/- or serve. — Other gods, though frequent in Dt.,
is found both in JE (Ex. 23" 34'* Jos. 24-'- "'), and elsewhere
(on 61^).
Y IB. 19. 2J. ai children of Israel; hardly ever, if at all, used by D (on 4**),
who regularly prefers all Israel (i^), or twice, in exactly the
same context as v.'^, says "this people" (v.'' 3^: in i^ Israel).
v.** which I sware, &c. (so v.*^- ^), and floiving ivith milk and honey,
as often in Dt., but also in JE, and (rarely) elsewhere (cf. Jer.
32'-'^ ; and see on i* 6^). — Eat and be filed, occurs besides in
Dt. (on 6"), but is not peculiar to it {ib.). — \V-\ grow fat, and j'KJ
contemn (see note), are not Deuteronomic.
V.-^ IS' imagination, Gn. 6* 8-'^ (both J). — DiB3 before : a common word
(Gn. 27* &c.) ; but not in Dt.
Y.17.18 liide my face, and v.^^'*^ evils and troubles, do not occur else-
where in the Hex. ; hide my face and evils are perhaps
suggested by 32^' ^.
It is true, these are not all of equal weight ; in the case of two or three,
probably, there was no other occasion in Dt. for their use ; nevertheless,
taken in the aggregate their significance is considerable ; and in view of
the strongly marked style of Dt., it may be fairly concluded that a section
in which so few of D's characteristic expressions are to be found, while SO
much occurs that he does not elsewhere use, is not his work. This coii>
22
;i:iS DEUTERONOMY
elusion, based in the first instance upon linguistic criteria alone, is con-
firmed by other indications.
2. V.^*"^ interrupts the connexion between v.'"^^ and v.^'^. V.-*"" is
the sequel of v.^"'^: both deal with the same subject, the disposal of the
Deut. law, and v.-^'* is similarly worded to v.^. A presumption thus arises
that v.^^"^^ is inserted where it now stands from a different source.
3. According to D, Joshua has been long nominated as Moses'
successor (i^'^'* 3^^), and Moses has been instructed to "appoint" and
"encourage" him (3-^) ; and 31^'* appears to describe how he has publicly
("in the sight of all Israel") done this. In ^i^^*'^*^, however, Joshua,
having presented himself at the Tent of Meeting, is appointed to his office
by Jehovah, and encouraged by Him (v.^) nearly in the same words which
Moses had used before in 31^. These two representations do not properly
harmonize : had both been written by one and the same hand, there is a
presumption that the relation between the two ceremonies (v.'"' and
y_i4. 15. 23j -would have been more clearly indicated. As the narrative
stands, it is evident that v.^*"i°*^^ is written without reference to v."', and
does not presuppose it.
4. V.^^"'^- is manifestly (see v.^®*''^) the introduction to the Song in c. 32 ;
and after the words "And wrote this song," &c., in v.^, the Song would
naturally be expected to follow at once. Instead of that, however, the
Song and its introduction are separated from each other by v.^'-*'', which,
where it now stands, is also clearly intended (v.^'^") as an introduction to
the same Song. But two parallel introductions would hardly be written
by one author. As v.^"^" contains numerous marks of the Deuteronomic
style, v.^'"^^ may be presumed to be the work of a different hand.
It follows that v.1^-23 is not the work of the Deuteronomic
author of the context in which it is now embedded (v.^*'^- 24-30^^
Y 14-15. 23 maybe reasonably referred to JE. Whether, how-
ever, v.^^-22 (relating" to the Song) belongs also to JE, is less
certain : its literary character is less distinctly that of JE ; it
separates awkwardly v.^*"^^ from its sequel in v.^^ (cf. on v.^s),
and may not impossibly have been inserted where it now
stands subsequently (cf. Stade, ZATW. 1885, p. 298 f.).—
14-15. Joshua is summoned to the Tent of Meeting, in order
that he may be instituted as Moses' successor. — 14. Thy days
approach for dying] so Gn. 47^9 (J), i K. 2^t. — Present your-
selves (Ui'^nni)] lit. take your stand; so Nu. ii^^ 238-^5 gx. S^*
913 19I7 345 Jos. 24I (all JE), Jud. 2o2 I S. lo" Cf. 299O0).
— In the Tent of Meeting (nyiD i'nsa)] as often in Ex.-Nu.,
both JE (Ex. 337 Nu. iiie 12*), and P (Ex. 2721 &c.). The
meaning of the term is explained (by P) in Ex. 25^2 29*2 30^
as signifying the Tent in which Jehovah jnet Moses for the
XXXI. I4-I6 339
purpose of speaking- with him ; it is thus practically equivalent
to the Tent of Revelation. This and the next verse are the
only places in Dt. in which the Tabernacle is mentioned. —
That I may command Jo sht(a\ i.e. appoint him to his office.
See on 3"-*, where, however, Moses'xs instructed to '* command "
or " appoint " Joshua (cf. 3i"^-)'
There is a third representation in P. In P, Moses, at Jehovah's direction,
has already solemnly "appointed " Joshua to his ofiice, in the presence of
Ele'azar the priest, and of the cong^regation (Nu. 27^^-'). The two
passagfes are capable of a formal reconciliation, by the supposition that
Dt. 3ii'"-23 narrates Jehovah's confirmation of the appointment made
previously by Moses. But, after the solemn manner in which, according
to Nu. 27'°'-^, Joshua's institution had taken place, such a confirmation
would seem to be unnecessary ; and even if the case were otherwise, it is
singular that the terms of v.^^ (as of v.-') make no reference to any previous
ceremony having been performed, but are worded exactly as if Joshua's
first (and only) institution v/ere being described. It can hardly be doubted
that Dt. ^ii'i'-^s and jsjy. 27!^'^ are, in fact, two parallel accounts of the
institution of Joshua, one belonging to JE and the other to P, which
exhibit variations of detail, such as are often observable between the
parallel narratives of JE and P.
15. In a pillar of clou d\ so Nu. 12* ; cf. Ex. 33^- 10 (both JE).
16-22. Introduction to the Song (32i-«).— 16-18. The
apostasy of Israel after Moses' death. — 16. Behold, thou art
about to sleep -with thy fathers] " to sleep (lie down) with one's
fathers," as Gn. 47^0 (J), 2 S. 'j^^, and constantly in the Books
of Kings (i K. 2^0 ii'*^ &c.). P, for the same idea, uses the
expression "be gathered to one's father's kin"; see on 32^°
(of Moses). — This people] with a touch of disparagement, as
Ex. 329-21 NU.14I1 Is. 6^ 811 2913 al. — Go a nmhoring after (mn
^-ins)] so Ex. 3415.16 (JE), Lev. \f 20^ (after Molech) Nu. 153"
(all H), Jud. 2^7 827.33. cf. "to go a whoring away from
Jehovah," Hos. i2 (^inxp), 412 (nnric), 9I (^yp), Ps. 7327 (;p).
The same verb (with the cognate substantives signifying
whoredom) occurs elsewhere (esp. in Hos. Ez.) as a forcible
figure denoting the disloyal abandonment of Jehovah for other
gods. The origin of the usage is matter of conjecture. The
words may have been employed in a purely figurative sense
from the beginning : but in view of the fact that actual
prostitution was not an uncommon feature in ancient Semitic
cults (cf. on 23i8(i">), it is not improbable that this suggested
340 DEUTERONOMY
the use of the expressions hi question, and that originally
they were meant literally, though afterwards they came
to be used metaphorically. In particular passages, it is
sometimes uncertain whether the reference is to a literal or
to a spiritual whoredom : but elsewhere one, and not the
other, appears clearly to be intended. Hosea (c. 1-3) con-
ceives the moral union between Jehovah and His people
under the figure of the marriage-bond (see W. R. Smith,
Prophets of Israel, pp. 166-180); and from this point of
view, any infidelity towards Jehovah would naturally be
expressed under the figure here used. Nevertheless in Hos.
4''^ (notice v.^^- 1^) it seems clear that the prophet has literal
whoredom in his mind. — The foreign gods of the land whither
it goeth in, in its 7nidst\ "in its midst" can only mean "in
the people's midst" (to be taken closely with "the foreign
gods of the land ") ; the pron. (which is masc.) being not
referrible to "land," and the paraphrase (AV., RV.) "to be
among them "being quite illegitimate. The sentence is, how-
ever, an awkward one ; and Klost. [Pent. p. 239), with whom
Dillm. agrees, may be right in thinking that originally it ran,
"and go a whoring after foreign gods in its midst," i.e. the
gods of the Canaanites living in Israel's midst (cf. Jos. <^ 16^** ;
and asp. 24'-^ "put away the foreign gods which are m yonr
midst''), the clause "of the land whither it goeth in" being a
gloss inserted afterwards for the purpose of relieving the
Mosaic age of any possible suspicion of idolatry. — Foreign
gods] ^33(n) ^n>s, as Gn. 352-4 Jqs. 2420-23 (all E), Jud. ioi«
I S. f Jer. 5^9 2 Ch. 331^1: cf. i?3 h^ (poet.) Dt. 32^2 Ps.
81 'Ob Mai. 2iit, 133 nV^X Dan. ii^^f. Not the word rendered
"strange" in 32'** Ps. 81^°* &c., but cognate with nokhri
"foreigner" (142^ 15^ 17^^ 292i(22)^_ — Forsake mc\ 2820 Jos.
24I6. 20 Jud, 2I2. 13 ,06.10.13 I s_ 88 1210 I K. 99 al.— Break my
covenant loliich I have made with it] nn2 "iDn, as v. 20. Else-
where in the Hex. only Gn. ly^* (P), Lev. 26^5.44 (h). The
expression is, however, an ordinary one, Jud. 2^ i K. 15^^ Jer.
16. pxi "i-J '■iVn] 13: 'nSx forms a compound idea, "gods of foreign-
ness" = " foreign gods," which is then qualified by the gen. " of the land";
cf. on 32".
XXXI. 17-19 34^
li^*^ al. — 17. And mine anger shall be kindled against it . . .,
an^i it shall be for devouring (^3s!' HTii), — i.e. for other nations
to consume (7'": cf. Nu. 14^), — and many evils and (roubles
(i S. ioi9) will befall (lit. fiyid'. v.21 430 Ex. iS^ Nu. 20!^) it;
and it will say in that day, Is it not because my God is not in my
midst {i*"^) that these evils have befallen me ?\ the sing-., as (in
the Heb.) v.^^- 1^- ^o- 21^ Qf the people generally (on i^i), which
is represented as thus acknowledging the cause of its disasters.
— And I will forsake them] corresponding to " they will forsake
me,"v.^*': the same antithesis, 2 Ch. 12^ 152 2430. — //ide my
/ace] i.e. withdraw my favour : so v.^^ ; perhaps suggested by
3220. Not elsewhere in the Hex. : in other books. Is. 8'^ Mic.
3*, and frequently in later writers, esp. the Psalms. — In my
midst] the sing., of the nation, as Jos. 9"- "' ly'"*- ^^ Jud. 2o2-'' &c.
{L.O.T. p. 366 f.). For the thought, cf. Ex. \f Nu. 14*2
(whence c. i''2), Mic. 3^^ Jer. 14^: see also on \^^ 6^^; and add
Is. 12^ Zeph. 315. i7_ — 18_ Jehovah will, however, still continue
to withhold His favour from Israel: the acknowledgment,
which the nation is represented as making in v.i'^, is not the
expression of true penitence. — Turned (njs) unto other gods]
V.20: so Hos. 3I: ^s njD also Lev. ig*- si (H), Ps. 40^ al.—
19-22. Injunction to write the following song (32^"'), in order
that it may be a witness for Jehovah against the children
of Israel. — 19. And now] in view of the prospect of future
apostasy, opened out in v.i'''"^^. — Write you this song] if the
text be correct, Moses and Joshua will be addressed. In view
of v.^*' and esp. of v. 22 (<'And Moses wrote," &c.), it is con-
sidered by others that the original reading was sing., "Write
thee." The plural agrees, however, with 32^''. — And teach
thou it, &c.] cf. 2 S. 1 18. (!!liJ teach ye it {^')^^).—Put it in
their mouth] cf. Ex. 4!^, and on 18^^. GF put ye it ("P"*^'). —
A witness for me against the children of Israel] viz. partly (cf.
y 20b-2ij by showing them that, having been forewarned of the
bitter consequences of apostasy, they have only themselves to
blame if they suffer accordingly, partly (cf. 2^^'^^) t>y convict-
ing them of ingratitude in deserting their Benefactor, and
17. '3 Sy] Jiid. 3'- Jer. 4-* Mai. 2'^ Fs. 139'^ "vsk Sy (29^^) is more
common. — 20. Ji ijN'3K 'a] RV. *' For wheti . . . then . . ." : cf. on 8'^''^ 12'""''.
342 DEUTERONOMY
establishing the justice (32^) and mercy {22^*'*^) of God. Hence
the Song is to be " taught" the IsraeHtes, in order that their
successive generations may become familiar with its contents,
and take to heart the lessons which it contains. The idiom
'2 ivh ^'^, as v.-'^ Mic. 1- Jer. 42^. The original aim of the
Song, and the sense in which it was actually a "witness"
against Israel, were possibly, however, different from those
ascribed to it here by the author of 31^6-22; gee p. 344 /<?/>,
and on 32^ — 20. For I shall bring it, cSr'r.] the pronouns, both
here and in v.^^, are throughout sing., except in ser^e and
contemn. — Which / sware, &c.] see p. 337. — And it "will eat,
and be filled, and grow fai\ based on ■^2'^^-'^^'. cf. 6^^ 8^2f._ — ^1«flf
will tnrn unto other gods\ v.^^: cf. 6^- 8^*. — And contemn me]
Nu. 1411-23 i63o 2 S. 1214 Is, i4 -24. Not elsewhere in Dt.— 21.
Many evils, &c.] v.^"^. — Will a7iszvcr ( ig^^) before it for a wit7iess\
cf. v.^^. — For I know its imagination {P'T.)i tvhich it (the people)
worketh even now, fi-v.] i.e. the thoughts and impulses work-
ing already in its heart, even before it has reached Canaan.
Cf. for the thought, Nu. nH. 22 &c. ^"^:, as Gn. 6^ (hence
I Ch. 28^ 29IS), 821 (both ]).— Worketh\ lit. maketh (nc'y), of
the activity of the heart, as Is. 32". — Which I sware] "unto
its fathers" (Wi3x!?), as is added by ffi, Sam., seems needed:
cf. 81.— 22. And taught it] v.i^.
23. Conclusion of the narrative of Joshua's commission
(v.i'"'). — Atid he com?nanded {or appointed) Joshua] the verse
seems once to have immediately followed v.i^'- (from which it is
now separated by v.^^--'^, relating wholly to the Song). For,
where it stands, the subj. of " commanded " can only naturally
be Moses (see v. 22); and yet, as v.^* shows, it must really be
Jehovah. — Be courageous, &fc.] nearly as v.^ (D). The verse
(being the sequel of v.^'"^) will originally have formed part of
the narrative of JE. It may, to some extent, have been re-
modelled in the style of Dt. ; but the only distinctively Deut.
phrase in it is "Be courageous and strong": "children of
Israel," as remarked on p. 337, is not Deuteronomic ; and
" the land which I sware " is said by J E as well as by D {ib.). —
And I (emph.) will be with thee] hence Jos. i^ 3" (D^) : cf. Gn.
28'^ 31^ Ex. 312 (all JE), Jud. 61*'; also above, v.«(D) T:y hm' Nin.
XXXI. 20-28 343
24-30. Moses gives directions for the Deuteronomic Code tc
be deposited beside the Ark. This done, he recites publicly,
in the audience of the people, the following Song (32*""), fore-
warning the nation of the consequences, if it apostatizes. — The
passage is throughout Deuteronomic ; v. 24-27 forming mani-
festly the sequel of v.^-^^ ; and v.^s-so consisting, as pointed out
on p. 338, of a second Introduction to the Song: observe that
v.28i> is parallel in substance to v.^^, and v.29 to v.20-2i_ — 24.
Had made an end of writings &c.\ see v.^. — The "words of this
law] i.e. of the Deuteronomic law (2726) : cf. on i^. — Until
they were finished (D^ri nj?)] cf. v.^o 2'^^ Jos. 82^ io20 (both D2,
and both after mi^aa ^^''"l), i K. 14^0. — 25. The Levites, who bare
the ark of fehovafis covenant (10^)] a comparison of v.'' and
jyisb shows that the reference is not to " Levites " in the sense
of P (who were not permitted to enter the Holy of Holies), but
to the members of the tribe officiating at the central sanctuary,
i.e. to the Levitical priests {y .^) \ see pp. 122, 219. — 26. This
book of the law] 29^0(2^) 30^*^ Jos. i^. — F'or a witness against
thee] viz. as presenting a standard of faith and action (cf. on
4*5), from which, in the case assumed, Israel will have visibly
declined. It is remarkable that the same phrase which is
applied in v.^® to the Song, is used here with reference to
the Deut. law. — Against thee] i.e. Israel ; the priests being
addressed as the representatives of the nation. — 27. For 1
(emph.) — /, who have experienced it so often — know thy defi-
ance (ino), and thy stiff neck] cf. i^^- 43 g7. 23. 24 . ^nd 96- 13 loie.
— Ye have been defiant 7vith] g'- ^*. — 28-29. The Deuteronomic
parallel to v. ^^-21. — 28. Assemble] v.^^ ^io_ — j-^^ elders of your
tribes and your officers] cf. 29^ (^*'), also 520(23)^ fbe expression
'* elders of tribes " does not occur elsewhere. CS inserts " and
your judges" before "and your officers": prob. rightly, for
en such an occasion (cf. 29^ (^*')) the judges would hardly be
omitted, when the subordinate Shoterim (i^^) were included. —
These words] i.e. the Song 32^-43, though the transition from
V. 24-27 is somewhat abrupt. For another view (Dillm., Oettli,
Westphal), according to which 3124-29 stood once before
0. 29-30 (so that the appeal to heaven and earth of v. 28 was
the one in 30'''), see on 32*^, and the Introd. § ^.—Ca/l heaven
344 DEUTERONOMY
and earth to witness\ cf. 4^^ 30^". Heaven and earth, having
heard the warning (see 32^) will be witnesses against Israel in
the event of its disregarding it. It is doubtful, however,
whether this is the original sense of the invocation in 32^ ; see
the note there.— 29. Deal corruptly (rinnL"n)] 4I6. ab ; cf. nw
912a (Ex. 32^), ix>.—Turn aside, <2r'c.] 912b. 16 (Ex. 32*), ii28._
Evil will happen to von] Jer. 4423 ; cf. Gn. 49^. Happen is
N"ip, not the word used in v.^"- 21 (svd). — In the end of the days]
see on 4^0. Here the reference is to the distant, but undeter-
mined, future, which the Writer pictures as the age of Israel's
apostasy. — That which is evil, &c.] 42^. — To vex him with the
work of your hands] so i K. 16'' 2 K. 22^"^ (both Deut.), Jer.
2^6. 7 223'^. Not definitely with idols (42^), but with the system-
atic engagement in idolatrous practices, uyv Ti^VO = enter-
prise (on 2^) being used in a bad sense, cf. Ps. 28'*^ Lam. 3*'''
Jer. 25!^ — F^jv; (d'^I/'Dh)] see on 425. — 30. All the asseinbly of Israel]
Lev. 1617 (P) Jos. 8'5 (D2) i K. 8i*- 22. 55 (Deut.) \2^ : cf. c. s^^.
XXXIL 1-43. The Song of Moses.— The object of this poem
is (v.*-6) to exemplify the rectitude and faithfulness of Jehovah,
as manifested in His dealings with a corrupt and ungrateful
nation. With this aim in view, the poet, after the Exordium
(v. ^•3), describes ,y?'r^//t', the providence which had brought Israel
safely through the wilderness, and planted it in a land blessed
abundantly by Jehovah's goodness (v.'^-'^) ; secondly, Israel's
ingratitude and lapse into idolatry (v. 1^-1^), which had obliged
Jehovah to threaten it (v.i^-25) with national disaster, and
almost (v.26f-) with national extinction; and thirdly, Jehovah's
determination to grant His people victory over their foes, by
speaking to them through the extremity of their need, and
leading them thereby to a better mind (v. 28-43). The thought
underlying the whole is thus the rescue of the people, by an act
oi grace, at the moment when annihilation seemed imminent.
The poem begins reproachfully ; but, in general, tenderness
and pity prevail above severity, and towards the close the
strain rises into one of positive encouragement and promise.
29. '3 "niD -inn] 'd 'k is prefixed to 'D for emph. : cf. Gn. 18'^ Ps. 62"
1282 Is. 28"'-'8 Mic. 5^ I K. 8'"; also i S. 208" Ps. 66'" i4i»« Jer. 22" Job
34'" Neh. 13-'^.— nx^pi] so Jer. 44=': see G-K. § 74. 3. R.'
xxxT. 29— XXXII. 345
The Song- shows jjreat originality of form, being a presenta-
tion of prophetical thoughts in a poetical dress, on a scale
which is without parallel in the OT. As the opening verses
show, it is a didactic poem, taking the form of a retrospective
survey of Israel's religious history, and developing the lessons
deducible from it : in general plan, it resembles Ps. 78. 105. 106
(cf. in prose Ez. 20, and the allegories Ez. 16. 23), but the
treatment is marked by greater completeness, and superior
poetical power. The poet develops his theme with con-
spicuous literary and artistic skill : the images are diversified
and expressive ; and the parallelism is remarkably regular and
forcible. A spirit of impassioned earnestness sustains and
suffuses the whole.
Date of the Song. — The political condition of Israel at the
time when the Song was written may be inferred without
difficulty from its contents. Nothing in the poem points to
Moses as the author. The period of the Exodus, and of the
occupation of Canaan, lies in a distant past (yJ-'^'^), the story
of which may be learnt by the poet's contemporaries from
\.\\^\r fathers (v.^) ; Israel is settled in Palestine (v.^^-i^), and
has had time not only to lapse into idolatry (v.^^-ioj^ ^ut even
to have been brought in consequence to the verge of ruin
(v. 20-30) ; it is hard pressed by heathen assailants (v.^Oj cf_
V.21- 25-27)^ but Jehovah promises to interpose, and rescue His
people from its foes (v.3*-43). Israel's apostasy, and con-
sequent disasters, lie thus in the writer's past : all that is
future is its deliverance. Such a situation, it is evident, is
not that of the Mosaic age. To suppose that the poet adopted
an assumed standpoint, especially one between Israel's disasters
and its deliverance, is highly unnatural ; v.^'^^ reads through-
out like a piece of history ; * the transition from the reproach-
ful description of the past or present (v.*-^^) to the promise
for the future (v.^*^) is analogous to similar transitions in the
prophets (as Hos. 2^^<y^')^- Is. i24ff- Ez. i660ff. 2o40ff-) ; and the
poet, when he addresses his readers (v.^* *• 7), addresses
evidently the guilty generation which has already, after
* The futures in v.^'^ express obviously Jehovah's past determination,
being introduced by the words, "And he said."
346 DEUTERONOMY
Israel's entry into Canaan (v.^^-^*), lapsed from the faith of its
fathers (v.^-'^- ^^- ^''^- ^^). The post-Mosaic origin of the Song
may be safely concluded upon this ground alone. It is con-
firmed by further indications. Both the line of thought and
the phraseology of the poem point to an age much later than
that of Moses : the theological ideas, the argument, the point
of view, often also the expressions, display constantly points
of contact with the writings of the canonical prophets, from
the 8th cent. b.c. and onwards. The poem has accordingly
been not inaptly characterized by Cornill [Einl. § 13. 5), as a
"compendium of prophetical theology." Nor is the matured
and regular poetical form (which is anything but ** rugged "*)
altogether what would be expected in a composition dating
from the Mosaic age.
The precise date is, however, difficult to fix, the allusions to
contemporary persons (see on v. 21) and events being (as often
in the prophets) poetically indefinite. Former critics, referring
the whole of 3114-23 to JE, concluded that the poem was older
than the composition of this work, the compiler of which,
they supposed, finding the Song already attributed to Moses,
incorporated it in his narrative, with an introductory and
concluding notice, 31I6-22 32^*. Upon this view, the political
situation presupposed by the poem — Israel reduced to ex-
tremities by the successes of its foes, but its salvation resolved
upon by Jehovah — would agree with the condition of Israel
under Jehoash, or the early years of Jerobo'am 11. (c. 780 B.C.),
when Israel, having been long harassed by the Syrians (i K.
20 [cf. 22^], 2 K, 52 6^- 24ff- gHf. loS'^f), and threatened under
Jehoahaz with actual ruin (2 K. 133^ 7. 22. 25j^ began gradually
to recover itself (2 K. 1325, cf. v.^- i*-i9- 23 ; 1425.27); the crisis
described in 2 K. 1322 i426f. [cf. Dt. 3236- 26j| would quite
correspond to that which forms the turning-point in the Song.
This is the period to which the Song is referred by Knob.,
Schrader {Einl. § 205^), Dillm., Westphal (ii. 57 f.), Oettli
• Speaker's CoTnmentary , 5. 919,
t But the use in 2 K. 14^'' of a phrase from Dt. 32^' does not show more
than that the Deut. compiler of Kings deemed the expression a suitable
one to denote Israel's condition at the time.
XXXII. 347
(p. 22). Ew., Kanip. (p. 302 f.), and Reuss (§ 226), under*
standing by the. "no-people" the Assyrians, refer the poem
to the years immediately preceding- the fall of Samaria (b.c.
722). It is, however, a question whether either of these dates
— the former of which would be earlier even than Amos and
Hosea — accounts adequately for either the theological stand-
point, or the literary characteristics, of the Song, and whether
it would not be more properly assigned (cf. Kuen. Hex. § 13.
30) to the age of Jer. and Ez., c. 630 B.C. Though the literary
individuality of the poet is strong, and there are consequently
few "verbal parallels, the general thought of the poem, and its
predominant ideas, have decidedly greater affinities with the
prophets of the Chaldaean age, than with the earlier prophets,
Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, or Micah. The terms in which idolatry
is reprobated, the thought of Israel's lapse, punishment, and
subsequent restoration, various traits in v. ^^- ^i- 25. 35. 36. 41-42
(see the notes), the contrasts established between Jehovah
and the gods of the nations, though there are isolated parallels
in earlier prophets, recall strongly, as a whole, the tone and
manner of Jer. Ez. and the Deuteronomic writers in the
historical books. Where Israel's recent disasters are referred
to (v.20-30)j or Jehovah's coming triumph is portrayed (v.*^-'*^),
the terms used are figurative and general, and do not point
necessarily to an author living in the age of Jehoash or
Jerobo'am 11. : as a prophetic meditation on the lessons to be
deduced from Israel's national history, it would harmonize
entirely with the spirit and point of view which prevailed
(comp. Jer. 2'*-28 Ez. 16. 20) in the age of Jer. and Ez. (cf.
Konig, EinL p. 224). And the literary analysis of the sur-
rounding narrative shows (p. 337 f.) that, with its original intro-
duction 3ii6-22^ and conclusion 32**, it might have been inserted
in JE, after the narrative, as a whole, had been completed.
The Song must, however, have been old enough to be currently
attributed to Moses when 31I6-22 ^^^s written, — unless, to be
sure, like c. 33 (p. 388), it was from the first written e persona
Mosis, and intended to fill the place of a (lost) parting song,
in which Moses, according to tradition, had forewarned his
people of the dangers of apostasy.
348
DEUTERONOMY
The literary parallels with other prophets are slight, the following
being the most noticeable :— Hos. s^*^ 6' (v.*") ; 8^* (v.i«) ; g'" 13' (v.^") ; 13^
(v.M.39); i3«(v.i5.i8). 1410(9) (v. 4). ig, i2 (y.i) ; 1* ^o^-^ children {v."'""^) i Mic.
5«(7) (v.2i); 7" (v.'"''): Jer. 2« (v.*"-^^^) ; 2' (v.»3-i7 [general thought]); 2"
(v."»); 2«'(v."); 227b.28(v,37f.). a"' s's j^mw^^r^, of false gods(v.i«); 3«- •»
father, of God, cf. 2^7 (v.^-^») ; 422 521 S20 foolish (v.« [but Vn:, not Vdd], 28) ;
6^* (v.!«); 6i''(v.»''); 8i» 14^2 vanities (v.^i) ; isi* 1/ (v.*^) : add 7;^.r (with
idolatry), v.^'*'^, often in Dt., Jer., and compiler of Kings ; and abomina-
tions, v.^', sometimes in Jer., and frequently in Ez., of idolatrous practices.
None of these are of a character enabling us to judge (even where a real
imitation or reminiscence on one side or the other may be fairly assumed,
— and in some other passages that have been quoted, this is yet more
problematical) which is the original. And Jer., when he quotes earlier
writers {e.g. Dt., or, in c. 48, Is. 15-16), quotes verbally and extensively:
the fact that the resemblances with Dt. 32 are so few and slight makes it
doubtful whether they are really reminiscences on his part from it. It is
at least equally probable that Jer. and Dt. 32 are only connected in-
directly ; and that the resemblances (such as they are) are to be accounted
for by the fact that the two authors lived in the same intellectual atmo-
sphere, so that the same current expressions and ideas came to the lips of
each.
"Awal tif!*iy.iva, occurring in the Song, are v.* D'Tye', v.' '?n'?ns, v.^" hh\ p'la,
V.'' nbD, v.i' n't^ (but text dub.), v.^ j^DX, v.'" vo, nno, v.^ nnsn, v.** didj,
v.^ dV, v.'* "I'D! (d3'p; ; perh. text, error for 03Qi), mna (if text be right).
Uncommon words are v.* fjny, v.^ the fern. pi. niD', v.^' hm, v.'"* "inn, v."
jniB", BV3, n2V, v.'^ cn;^, ivk', v.** anb eat, aep, hni, v.^^ nsj, v.^^ d'S-Ss, v.^
rmo, v.^ Tnv, v.'^ bm, ^iiyi nii-y, v,*^ myig, of these the form niD' v.^, ion
v.", Dnty v.", Tny v.^^, n'?iN v.^*, have an Aramaic tinge.
The Song presents some noticeable affinities with the Wisdom-Utera-
ture : notice the didactic tone of v.^*^; also v.' cncN, v.^ rii':^, v.^ rpy, v.^
maiBnn, v,^^ am (see notes), and the emphasis laid upon the value of wise
action, v.®-*^. 29^
Words or expressions otherwise occurring chiefly, if not entirely, in
writings not earlier than the age of Jer. and Ez. are v.'* "jij;, v.'' im nn, v.'*
Dm (of sirange gods), the pi. nuym, D'j?3n, v.^* hhm, v.^^ D'Vnn, v.^ ntp, D.iS,
v.** on^, fi^n, V.2' 132, v.'2 ii^n, v.^* Tny, v.'^ nSiN, niiyi mi-y, v.''^ n-izf, v.'*^ the
Hif. pnn ; and probably some others as well.
Monographs on the Song: Ewald in ihejahrb. der Bibl. Wissenschaft,
viii. (1856) p. 41 ff.; Ad. Kamphausen, Das Lied Moses, 1862 (329 pp.);
Aug. Klostermann in the Stud, taid Kritiken, 1872, pp. 230 ff., 450 ff.,
reprinted in Der Pentateuch (1893), p. 267 ff.
1-3. Exordium. Heaven and earth are invited to attend,
on account of the dignity and loftiness of the poet's theme.
Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak ;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth :
• Let my teaching drop as the rain.
Let my speech distil as the dew ;
XXXII. 1-3 349
As the small rain upon the young grasn,
And as the showers upon the herb.
• For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah ;
Give ye greatness unto our God.
1. Heaven and earth are invoked, not as "witnesses {a^^ 30^*
3i28), but as forming- an audience whose attention may be
claimed on account of the solemnity and importance of the
truths which the poet has to declare. Cf. Is. i^ Ps. 50* (each
tiine before a great prophetic declaration) ; Mic. i^ 6^^- Is. 34^.
The sense attached in 31^8 to the invocation — unless indeed
(p. 347 bottom) the Song were composed from the first e persona
Mosis — can hardly be that originally intended. The original
aim of the poem (p. 345) was to point a moral from the past ;
but naturally, when it came to be regarded as a work of the
Mosaic age, it was understood differently, as a warning for
the future; accordingly, in 31 19-21 the poem itself, and in
3128-29 heaven and earth invoked in v.\ are treated as witness-
ing against Israel, in case it neglects the warning, and falls
into misfortune. — 2. The similes are chosen in view of the
moral lessons which the poet desires to enforce. The tertium
coniparationis is manifestly the gentle, yet penetrating and
effectual, action of rain or dew upon plants (Ps. 72^). May
what the poet has to say prove not less potent in its operation !
may it be as the fertilizing rain or dew upon the hearts of
those who hear it (Job ag-^f- ; Is. 55^0) ! may it give birth in
Israel to a new spiritual life! Teaching {J^\i7, properly jowe-
thing received) is a word otherwise peculiar to the Wisdom-
literature (Pr. i5 42 721 99 1621.23 Job \\% and Is. 2924!.
Young grass (»<?^"^.), as Gn. i^ 2 S. 23* al. Clause ^ ('^y DTms
y^v), as Mic. 58 (II n"in> nSD ^OD). With the didactic tone of
v.1-2, comp. Pr. 41-2-10 5I-2 Ps. 492-5(1-4) ^^\-2 (each a didactic
Psalm). — 3. The verse states the ground of the invocation, v.^,
and the wish expressed in v.2 : the poet w'lW proclaim Jehovah' s
XXXII. 1. 'irN] except Jos. 24^ (E), used exclusively in poetry, — 48
times, of which 22 are in Proverbs and 1 1 in Job. — 2. "^ij;'] 33^ (21* al. in
a different sense): cf. .ts'iv Is. 5^*. Elsewhere (5 times) '^y^ ( = Arab.
ra'afa) is found in the same sense. — Dn'j'b] not elsewhere. — titdk] only
found in poetry (36 times, of which 19 are in Ps. 119) : cf. Is. iS^ 32*. — 3:
Sn;] of God, as 3-^ 5-' 9^ 11* Ps. 150".
350 DEUTKRONOMY
name (cf. Ps. 22^3 (22))^ i,e. will declare openly, so that hia
people may recogriize and own it, Jehovah's character, as
revealed in His dealing-s with Israel (on \2^\ cf. Ex. 34^,
where almost the same phrase, mn^ D^'2 X"ip''"i> is followed by
a solemn enunciation of Jehovah's moral attributes) : let those
who hear him respond in a becoming- spirit, and give, i.e.
ascribe (Ps. 29^*'), to their God the greatness which is His due.
4-6. The poet's theme deiined more closely : viz., to con-
trast the unchangeable rectitude and faithfulness of Jehovah
with the corrupt and faithless behaviour of His people.
• The Rock, his work is perfect ;
For all his ways are judgrnent :
A God of faithfulness, and without iniquity ;
Just and upright is he.
• Corruptly has dealt towards him — not his sons are thei/
blemish —
A twisted and crooked generation.
• Is it Jehovah that ye treat thus?
O senseless people and unwise :
Is not he thy father, who produced thee?
Did not he make thee and establish thee?
4. The Rock (liSfn)] a title of Deity, recurring v.^^. is (««the
Rock that begat thee ") ^°- ^^- ^"^ ; and found besides, 2 S. 23^
Is. 17^'^ 30-^ (where "the Rock of Israel" forms an effective
parallel to "the mountain of Jehovah") Hab. i^^, and fre-
quently in the Psalms (esp. iniv "my Rock"), as Ps. iS^-^^
("Who is a rock except our God?" cf. i S. 2^ Is. 44^)*^ 19^'
281 al. : also in the proper names -|1^i^Ss, '•ntrniv, m^^'nTD, bxniv,
Nu. i5. 6. 10 ^t, (all P). It designates Jehovah, by a forcible
and expressive figure, as the unchangeable support or refuge of
His servants ; and is used with evident appropriateness, where
the thought is of God's unvarying attitude towards His people.
The figure is, no doubt, like crag, stronghold, high place, &c.
(Ps. 18^ (2)), derived from the natural scenery of Palestine (for
another view, see Cheyne on Ps. \W-'^). In the Versions, the
4. nsn] the castis pendens, as Ps. 18^^ &c. (Dr. § 197. 2 ; A. B. Davidson,
Heb. Syntax, § 106''). — bscdJ a subst., the subject being (as oft. in Heb.)
identified with the quality inhering in it (Dr. § 189. 2 ; Dav. § 29^). — pw
Siy] not "and not iniquity," negativing n:iDN (which would be Siv vhw Jer.
2-^), but " and there is no iniquity " = 7uithont iniquity : cf. Jer. 5-' j'Nl ^30 DJ
3^.— "riy] 25'".
XXXII. 4-s 35 »
metaphor is usually obliterated, the word being represented
by 6'tos, fioTjOos, avTiX-^TTTwp, &c. — sometimes even KTia-rr]^, irXda--
TT/s, as though from "iv^ ; or <j)v\a$, as if from iv: ; Deus,/ortts;
ND'pn, ^Epin; &c. Hence in AV. mj' strc7igth, Ps. iS^ igiS;
God, Is. 44^. " ' Great rock (or, mountain) ' is a common title
of Assur and Bel in Assyrian" (Cheyne on Ps. iS^). — Hh
•work is perfect (con)] or (Reuss) irreproachable: His moral
administration of the world (?t'2, as Is. 5^2 Ps_ 28^) is sound,
free from DID or ble?nish (cf. on 17^ 18^^); it is not in any
respect deficient, or justly open to censure. Israel's troubles
(v.'^-" ) are not due to any failing or imperfection on God's
part, but to its own delinquencies (v.^^"^). Cf. the parallel in
Ps. 18^1 (30) .,2-11 Qij^n hii.r\.—Judg77ient\ or (in a forensic sense)
right (Is. 618): the methods followed by Him in His rule of
the world are just methods. — A God of faithfulness, (Sr'c] He
is faithful, i.e. true to His revealed character and to His
promises (cf. 7^), He is also just and upright. A concise and
forcible declaration of the ethical perfection of God, maintained
by Him uniformly, so the poet insists, in His moral govern-
ment of the world. — 5. With Jehovah's perfections, the poet
now contrasts His people's sad deficiencies. The rend, of
clause * is that of Oettii, who understands the second part as
a denial of the title of Jehovah's true sons to those who, in
fact, are but a "blemish" upon them, viz. the "twisted and
crooked generation " of clause ^. Oettii acknowledges, how-
ever, that the poem does not elsewhere distinguish between a
true and a false Israel, and allows that the text is most prob-
ably corrupt. Clause * admits, in fact, of no satisfactory
explanation. On other renderings and emendations which
have been proposed, see below. — Dealt corruptly] g^^. — Sotu
(or children)] as v.^- is. 19. 20 i^i.
5. DD1D v:2 kS iS nnc-] Kn. Ke. take 'ii nn as the subj. of nnr, treating
DDiD vzz kS as in apposition to this, and parenthetically prefixed :
"Corruptly has dealt towards him — not his children, their blemish [i.e. a
blemish upon His true children] — a twisted and crooked generation " ; but
a construction such as this is too abrupt and forced to be attributed with
probability to the original author (who, in his poem generally, writes with
great smoothness and ease) : the paraphrase in RV. (2nd marg.) conceals
the harshness of the Heb. No better is the rend, of Kamp. (pointing
j3^
DEUTEKONOMV
One ol" I lie man\' figfures under which the relation of Jehovah to His
people is expressed in the OT. The term is a significant one. Nations,
or individuals, in antiquity often imagined themselves to be descended from
a divine ancestor (cf. Nu. 21'-'", where the Moabites are called the sons and
daughters of K^mosh) : but in such cases the idea was a physical one ; in
Israel (in virtue of Jehovah's spiritual and ethical character) it is spiritual-
ized ; moral demands are based upon it ; and it becomes the expression of
correlative privileges and duties (cf. W. R. Smith, Prophets, p. 168 f.).
The application of the idea may be illustrated by the following passages :
(1) Jehovah loved Israel (cf. on 7*), and therefore called him to be His
son (Hos. 11'), and the deliverance from Egypt stamped him as His first-
born (Ex. 4-'^ JE) ; the firstborn, thus delivered, receives from his Father a
parent's education and fostering care, Hos. ii^"* Dt. 8* Jer. 3'* (Render .
"How (gladly) would I put thee among sons!"). But (2) this telation
involves correlative duties, Dt. 14' (see note) ; to which, however (3) Israel
often does not respond, and is reproached accordingly with its unfilial
disposition (so here, v."- "•''•*• '-"'' Hos. 11^ Is. i*-* a-n-ntuQ d'J3, 30^ cmio □'::,
30^* □THD c':a, Jer. ^^^-'^'^ D'aniB' d':^, 4-- □''73a d'J3), and with disappointing
its Father's expectations, Jer. 3'' (words of unreal penitence : see v.^ RV.
ni.). Is. 63*"'". (4) The sonship of Israel is made the basis of promises for
the future, Hos. 2^ (1^") "sons of the living God," Jer. 31^* (both of
Ephraim). Cf. Is. 63"' 64' (^), the appeal of the penitent nation to Jehovah,
as its Father. The theocratic king, as head of the nation, is pre-eminently
Jehovah's " son," though liable to correction at his Father's hands (2 S. 7''',
cf. Ps. Sg''"''') : he is described as "begotten " by Jehovah, on the day when
he is installed into his kingly rights (Ps. 2^).
A blemish^ 17^ Imperfect Israel is contrasted with Jehovah,
d::; d) : " Corruptly has dealt towards him— not his children, blemishes [i.e.
spots, disfiguring their Father, God] — a twisted and crooked generation."
The versions render no help. Sam. fit have DID 'i^ 17 vh innty rtfjiOLfToffOLi ovk aurS
TiKvri fiufivra, Sam. ^ 3131^ '13 H*? nV iShb (so & KDiDT K'zz n'? nht iSan ; and
prob. 2r Nnu'a'' inhzi n'zi .tS nS pnV iS'nn). The sense attached to the read-
ing 1*7 nh innc seems to have been " have done corruptly, (but) not towards
him" (K "have corrupted themselves, not Him"), i.e. they may have
injured themselves, but not Him, by their corruptions, — a strained and
artificial sense. Aq. has '^litphipiicy avTM il^ uloi avTou. . . . ; Symm. iiiiphipat
•rpoi a'uTov DUX "'»' aVTOu to auioXov (? HDIND). VJ3 N7 17 VinB' "his not-SOns
have dealt corruptly towards him " would not be out of harmony with
Heb. idiom (see on v.^'') : but CDiD remains an inexplicable redundancy.
Ew. very ingeniously explained CDiD from the Syr. nhdid oath (from Aram.
v.w to sivear) — "His not-sons have corrupted their oath towards him:"
but the oath does not seem to be here in place ; and the Aramaism is of a
kind that cannot be said to be probable. Klost. proposes D^iDg Yf inriB»
(see v.^^^pDX, and Am. i"): restoring v:3 n'? (the omission of which does
not seem to be necessary), we should then have " His not-sons have
corrupted their faithfulness towards him." Dillm.: D3 DID v:3 iS innc, i.e.
" His children have dealt corruptly towards him : there is a blemish in
thcin " (whereas God's -work is d'DD : for C3 did, cf. Lev. 21'-* 22^).
XXXII. 6 353
whose work (v.*) is D^ori. By generation, here and v. 20, are
meant the poet's contemporaries, whom the term denotes,
with the moral connotation which it sometimes acquires, as
possessed of common ethical characteristics, — here (as Ps. 12^
78^ Pr. 30^1-^*) in a bad sense, sometimes (Ps. 14^ 24^) in a
good sense. Twisted [AY . perverse, which does not adequately
express the sense of tJ'i^y) is elsewhere found chiefly in the
Proverbs : it is used in connexion with the heart, lips, mouth,
and ways, and denotes a character which pursues devious and
questionable courses for the purpose of compassing its ends ;
it is often, like its cognate verb, opposed to words denoting
what is sincere, straightforward, and frank (□''ion, "IK'S arid
their cognates ; see e.g. Pr. 10^ ii^o 19I 28^- ^^', Job 9^0 Mic. 3^
*' and everything that is straight — viz. in a court of law — they
twist"). /Fi/HS croo/^g^ occurs only here ; but the cogn. verb
(or ptcp.) occurs Job 5^^^ ^nd (by the side of ^\?V) Ps. i827 Pr.
8^ — 6. Apostrophizing this crooked and degenerate nation,
the poet, with some warmth, reproaches it with the folly and
ingratitude of which it has been guilty : will ye thus — viz.
with the disregard implied in v.^ — treat Jehovah, your Father
and Benefactor? — Senseless (•'?3)] i.e. obstinately insensible to
the claims which Jehovah's goodness makes upon them (cf. on
22^1). — Unwise^ in the Proverbs, wisdom, i.e. the faculty of
shrewd observation, and acute, discriminating insight, is
displayed as teaching and directing those who possess it in
many different departments of human knowledge and enter-
prise, in the sphere of religion, not less than in those of
6. nin^ Sn] so Van der Hooght, and other edd. For reasons which are
obscure the reading here became early a matter of dispute ; and MSS
and edd. vary accordingly, — other texts having -Tin'^ jj and others nj.T^n.
The true reading can, of course, be only ni.T^q (like nj.T^i), — or rather
(discarding the Mass. punct. of nin') nin:^n. See Lex. p. 210; or more
fully De Rossi, Var. Led. ad he. — nxi I'jD^n nin'Sn] '^'^ To Jehovah will ye
do this?" The position of m.T, immediately after n, gives it emphasis.
So SnSt Job 13'' 21-^ 22^; 'nixn Jer. 5^^- f^ \ and analogously with other
particles. Vdi is merely to do or act (like •x(a.rTuv'), i S. 24^^ Ps. 137^ Happy
he who repays to thee thy doing (iSidj), which thou hast done (n'?Dj) to us.
So D'T ViDJ Jud, 9I" Is. 3" "the dealing of the hands." 'jDJ only some-
times acquires the sense of requiting, when the context suggests a com-
parison of the "doing" which the word properly denotes with antecedent
conduct on the other side.
23
354 DEUTERONOMY
morals, politics, and social life generally. Here, accordingly,
it is the part of a " wise" nation to be conscious of the moral
superiority of Jehovah over other gods, and to perceive, on
the one hand, the advantages which follow from consistent
devotion to Him, and from observance of the laws which He
has laid down for the welfare of nations ; and, on the other,
the disastrous consequences which the neglect of them must
inevitably entail (cf. v.28-29; also 4^). — Thy father, -who pro-
duced thee, &'c.\ in so far, namely, as by the redemption from
Egypt Jehovah called Israel into being as a nation ; and after-
wards, with a parent's interest and care, watched over its
growth, assisting the development of its powers, and training
it to independence (cf. 8^ : also Hos. 1 1^"* Is. 63^^ 64^ Mai. 2^").
— Produced thee (ijp)] 7\i\> is to acquire, usually by buying
(Gen. 251° and often), but also in other ways (Pr. i^), some-
times also to possess (Is. i^) : used of a parent, or of God, as
the author of existence, or moulder of the human frame, it
may be rendered ^e/ (Gn. 4I) ox produce (Gn. 1419-22 Ps, 13918
Pr. 822). — Make and establish (or confirvi)\ i.e. fashion (into a
nation), and consolidate: cf. Ps. \\(^^ (':13313M 'iiK'y T^^) J also
V.15 (in:;*y), Is. 442 (pno iivm iK'y).
7-14. Demonstration, from Israel's past, of the providential
care which Jehovah had lavished upon His people. — The
intention of these verses is to justify the reproach contained in
v.^. Let Israel reflect upon its past history, and consider (i)
how Jehovah, when He fixed the boundaries of the nations,
reserved a home amongst them for His people, v.^-^; (2) how
He led and sustained the infant nation in the wilderness,
y 10-12. (2) how He enabled it to take triumphant possession
of the fertile soil of Canaan, v.i^-i*.
' Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of successive gfenerations ;
Ask thy father, and he will tell thee,
Thine elders, and they will say to thee :
* "When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
" When he separated the sons of men,
" He fixed the borders of the peoples
'* According to the number of the children of IsraeL
• " For Jehovah's portion is his people ;
" Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
XXXII. 7-8 355
7. The days of old (D^iy riio^), as v.^^ show, are not the
patriarchal age, but the period of the formation of the nation
under Moses, and of its settlement in Canaan, cf. Is. 63^^
Mic. 7^*. D^iy, denoting- remote time (whether past or future),
is a relative term : Am. 9^^ it is used of the age of David ; Is.
5812 and 61* (in both parallel to "»n) "ii"n, as here) of the be-
ginning of the Babylonian exile, viewed from its close. It is
manifest from the context that those whom the poet addresses
belong to an age which looks back upon the exodus, and the
occupation of Canaan, as lying in a distant past. — Successive
generations^ on the Heb. idiom employed, see below. — Ask\ 4^2
Job 8^ 1 2^. The fathers, and elders, are to be appealed to, as
the natural depositaries of historical information, in an age
when knowledge of the past was largely handed down by oral
tradition: comp. Job 8^ 15^^ Ps. 782^- Joel i^. — 8. The answer
of the "elders," extending (Ew.) to v.^*, or rather, probably,
gliding insensibly into the poet's own discourse. When
Jehovah allowed the various nations of the earth gradually to
settle themselves in separate localities. He so determined their
boundaries as to reserve among them a home for Israel,
adequate to its numbers. — Most High {\\'hv)\ a poetical title of
God, Nu. 24^8 I ;. 14^* and in many Psalms (cf. Cheyne, B. L.
p. 83 f.); perhaps suggested here by the thought of His
supremacy over the nations of the world. — Separated (nnan)]
cf. n-iB3 Gn. io32 (P).
The later Jews, interpreting- the last words literally, and observing that
just 70 nations are mentioned in Gn. 10 as descended from the three sons
of Noah, imagined prosaically that a correspondence was intended between
these nations and the 70 souls of Gn. 46''' : so, for instance, Ps.-Jon. :
"When the Most High gave the world for an inheritance to the nations
which came forth from the sons of Noah, when He divided alphabets and
tongues to the sons of men, he cast lots with the 70 angels, the princes of
7. niD'] the fern, plural, only once besides, Ps. 9o'^ It is more frequent
(by the side of the masc. form) in Aramaic. — T11 m] the 1 has a distributive
force, = " of every generation (see Lex. 1 1 \.b). Except in this phrase
(which is frequent, though not otherwise earlier than Lam. 5^' Is. 13^ 34"
58" 60" 61*) it is exclusively a late usage, 1 Ch. 26" 28" Est. i^-ia&c.—
^li!]] the jussive form before a suffix is found only once besides, Is. 35*
(Dr. § 47 n.).— 8. "jn^p?] irreg. for '^njn? (cf. 26"): Ew. § 238^1; Kon.
i. 315 ; G-K. § 53 R.'— 3»:] on this form, cf. Dr. § 174, with Obs.; Dav. p.
94. The original pronunciation will probably have been 3y:.
356 DEUTERONOMY
the nations . . ., and established the borders of the peoples according to
the number of the 70 souls of Israel which went down into Egypt." In
clause <* (G has «,a.Ta. a.pi(fjLov «'■) yeXi/v hou, i.e. "according to the number of
the sons of God" (■?« for b'xn:;"), cf. Gn. 6^-* Job i* 2^ 38^ If this reading
be original (so Cheyne, Job and Sol. p. 81 ; Cornill, Einl. p. 71 ; Schultz,
OT. Theol. i. 227 ; Stade, ZATW. v. 300), it will be an anticipation of the
later doctrine of guardian-angels, presiding over the different nations,
found in Dan. loi-*-^'''^^ 12^ Sir. 17^^, and frequently alluded to in post-
Biblical Jewish literature (see the extract just quoted, and Eisenmenger,
Entdecktes Judenthiivi, i. 806 flf.). The idea will then be that the nations
were allotted to the care of subordinate divine beings (cf. 4^^ 29-' (^)), while
Jehovah presided over Israel Himself (v.^). But the text yields a very
suitable sense ; and there is no sufficient reason for preferring this reading.
Cf. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 294.
9. The verse states the reason why Jehovah showed the
regard for Israel impHed in v.^: when the territories of the
nations were divided, Israel fell to Jehovah, and became His
allotted portion. The thought is the same (though differently
expressed) as 7^ lo^^ &c. p?n is a portion or share, often
when applied to land, parallel, as here, with inheritance {e.g.
Gn. 3114 Dt. 1212 181) ; with '> phr\, cf. Zech. a^ds). For " lot,"
lit. (measuring-) line (''^D). see phil. note on 3* ; and cf. jy^a
Dn^m bn Ps. 10511.
10-12. How Jehovah led and sustained the infant nation in
the wilderness.
^" " He found him in a land that was a wilderness,
" And in the howling waste of a desert ;
" He surrounded him, he cared for him,
" He kept him as the apple of his eye :
" " Like a vulture, that stirreth up its nest,
" That hovereth over its young,
" He spread abroad his wings, he took him,
*' He bare him upon his pinion :
" "Jehovah alone did lead him ;
" And no foreign god was with him.
10. The poet starts, not with the deliverance from Egypt,
but with a situation better designed ad exaggerandum Dei in
eos beneficiuin (Le Clerc), and to illustrate His providential
care; Israel \i2i.s found (cf. Hos. g^^*; and the figure of the
exposed child in Ez. iG^") by Jehovah, at a time when it was
homeless, and might readily have perished from want ; it was
tenderly taken charge of by Ilim, and brought to a land
XXXII. 9-II 357
abundantly provided for its needs (comp. Jer. 2'-'^). The
following clause depicts the perils of the wilderness, — its
barren desolation, and the howling beasts which frequented
it (cf, on i^^). The word rendered waste (^nri) implies a wild
and desolate expanse (Job i224 = Ps. 107*0; cf. Gn. i^ Jer. 423).
— Surrounded him\ i.e. encircled him with His protection (cf.
Ps. 32^*'). — As the pupil of his eye] fig. of what is tenderest
and dearest, and therefore guarded with most jealous care
(cf. Ps. 17^ Pr. 72). — 11. The eagle has in English poetry such
noble associations that the substitution of "vulture" may
seem a degradation of the figure which the Hebrew poet
employs ; but Tristram's argument (see on 14^2) that nesher is
not the eagle, but the Griffon-vulture, seems irresistible ; so
that though eagle may be excusably retained in a popular
version, it is a rendering without any pretensions to scientific
exactness. The figure of Ex. 19* (cf. Dt. i^i) is here developed,
so as to illustrate Jehovah's paternal affection shown in train-
ing Israel to independence : as the bird stirs up its nest, with
10. The impff. (so v.^^*"* ^- ^'* ^* &c.) reproduce the past with vividness, or
(sometimes) express iteration (Dr. §§ 27a, 30 ; Dav. §45 R.^). — JDB'' '?'?' inna]
lit. " in the waste of the howling of a desert "= " the howling- (adj.) waste
of a desert": cf. 31I® ic^&n nrj '.iVx, with note; Is. 2" din nin^J 'ry=the
proud eyes of man ; Jer. 8* onaiD ipc cy=the lying pen of the scribes ; Ps.
20' irD' ytJ" nni3J3 = vvith the saving might of thy right-hand, 28^ niyiB" tiyn
in'B'D ; 2 S. 8^" 23^. The disjunctive accent at i.in is no objection to this
construction: see Jer. 8^ (and often). Sh\ does not occur again ; n'?'?' is
the wai7 of distress (Is. 15^0/.); but there does not seem to be any diffi-
culty in supposing that (like ululare) the root was also capable of being
applied to the cries of wild beasts. There is thus no need to question the
integrity of the text ; and the emendations that have been proposed
(Klost. ; Dillm.) do not commend themselves as improvements. Ps.-Jon.,
with substantial correctness : jmTi jna' j''7'?"Di inK \not I'tit, which is a
corruption : v. Fleischer, ap. Levy, NHWB. ii. p. 446, and Payne Smith,
col. 1630]. — in::i3'] the Polel, to bestow (mental) attention on, occurs only
here. The more common Hithp. jJian.T has a refl. force, to consider for
oneself. — iry pb"kd] cf. Pr. 7^; yy nz jic'to Ps. 17*: also (fig. of the midst
of darkness) Pr. 7^ 20''*t. The - on has prob. the force of a diminutive : cf.
in Syriac n^id'jd regtilus, KrnriD little book, &c. (Noldeke, Syr. Gr. p. 73) ;
and Stade, § 296°, who adds D'nqt? little moons or crescents (Jud. 8^),
D'3y")t, and perhaps liEJ's?*, and pn;? Cant. 4^. — 11. ry ib-jd] "like a
vulture (that) stirreth up," &c. This is always the constr. when 3 with a
subst. is followed by a verb (for 3 is not a conj., like ib'n^) : so e.g. Is. 6i^*'-
(4 examples) ikb ]n3' inn3 like a bridegroom, (who) &c., 62^ 1V3' TsSo like
35^ DEUTERONOMY
the object of encourag-ing its young ones to flight, but at the
same time hovers over them so as to be at hand to support
them on its wings, in case their strength fails and they are in
danger of falling, so Jehovah (the figure of the bird being still
retained) spread out His wings, and bare Israel upon them,
until its powers were matured, and the nation was able to
support itself alone (cf. Hos. ii'*).
W. L. Alexander quotes from Davy, Salnwnia, p. 87, the following
pertinent illustration : " Two parent eagles on Ben Weevis were teaching
their offspring, two young birds, the manoeuvres of flight." Rising from
the top of a mountain, they "at first made small circles and the A'oung
imitated them ; they paused on their wings waiting till they had made
their first flight, holding them on their expanded wings when they ap-
peared exhausted, and then took a second and larger gyration, always
rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight, so as to make
a gradually ascending spiral." See also Bochart, Ilterozoicon, ii. i8i.
12. Jehovah led Israel without the aid of other gods : the
more groundless and ungrateful therefore was the nation's
subsequent desertion of Him, v.^^-^*. Foreign god pp.3 ^X), as
Ps. 8iio(9)b Mai. 2" (not '' sf range god" = ^\ h^), cf. on 31^6 .
for the thought, comp. Hos. 13^ (RV. m.) Is. 43^2. In thus
sustaining Israel through the desert, Jehovah was, in fact,
leading him (Ex. 13^1 1513) to his home: He was, moreover,
doing this alone, without the co-operation of any other god.
13-14. How Israel was enabled to take possession of the
fertile soil of Canaan.
^' " He made him ride on the high-places of the land,
" And he ate the fruitage of the field ;
"And he made him suck honey out of the crag,
"And oil from the rocky flint :
a lamp (that) burneth, Ps. 42'^ ':i Jiyn S'ko, 83'*, and frequently. The impf.
states picturesquely the teriittm coniparafionis (Dr. § 34 ; Dav. § 44 R.'*). —
vSnj] Gn. i5''t. — ''inr] cf. Gn. i^ In Syriac the word means to hover or
brood over: Wright, Apocr. Acts of Apostles, 49, 1. 15 (of angels hovering
over the Virgin), Ephr. Syr. i. 1 17 E-i 18 A (of the Spirit of God brooding
over, and fertilizing, the waters, like a hen Kn:3 Sj? Ncnion) ; cf. ii. 29 F the
adv. n'NJBmD in hovering attitude, of the Seraphim above the throne
(Is. 6^^). — 12. T13] an adv. accus., with isolation (Jer. 15" al. ; Dav. § 70
R.-) ; here = alone, though this, when it means "to the exclusion of
others," is elsewhere always expressed in Heb. by 1137 ('!'?5? &c.), lit.
"according to his (thy, &c.) separation," Gn. 32" &c. — 13. 'mca] Kt. is
*n'iD3, the Qre '05?. So elsewhere. The ' is very anomalous : see Stade,
S 330'', G-K. § 87. 5 R.'— 'T^l pausal form of "i^, tli< older form of ri-\}p (cf.
n'?3 tor eo/ay, &c.). retaiiuil in poetry (11 times), f.e- I's. 8*.
XXXII. 12-14 359
•* " Curd of kine, and milk of sheep,
•' With fat of Iambs, and rams ;
" Herds of Bashan, and he-goats,
" With the kidney-fat of wheat :
" And the blood of the grape thou didst drink as foaming wine."
13. In clause * the poet uses a fine imaginative figure,
implying triumphant and undisputed possession ; similarly 332*
(-[-nn), Hab. 3^9 ('.'Dm"), Ps. iS^* (•«:Toy"') ; and of God, march-
ing as sovereign over the earth, Am. 4^^ Mic. i^, or sea, Job
98 (in all ^']'^). This passage suggests the terms of the promise
in Is. 581*. — And he ate (bas^l)] Sam. ffiS li^.c?^'} and inade him
eat, which is preferred by Klost. and Marti (in Kautzsch's Heil.
Schriften des AT.s), and may be right (though the reminis-
cences in Is. 58^*^ Ps. 8i^''(i''') hardly prove that the authors
of these passages so read it) : at the same time, it is quite
possible that isss"! may have been chosen purposely for variety.
— Fruitage of the field ("nc nni^n)] exactly so Lam. 4^ (as the
support of life) ; cf. men n3"i:n Ez. 38'^o (|| fruit of the tree) :
naun also Jud. gii (of the fig) Is. 27^! : cf. the verb, Pr. lo^i
Ps. 92I5. — Honey out of the crag; ^c.^ even places that might
be expected to be naturally barren yielded rich and valued
products, which Israel might S2ick — i.e. enjoy with relish (33^^
Is. 60^* 66^^- ^2) — in its Palestinian home. Palestine, says
Tristram {DB.'^ i. 377), is by its flora well suited to bees ;
and in the wadys "innumerable caves and fissures of the dry
limestone rocks afford shelter and protection for the combs."
Hence honey might literally be found oozing out from among
the rocks. The olive also flourishes in sandy, and even in
rocky soil (cf. Job 29''). — Rocky fiitit] cf. 8^^ (flinty rock). — 14.
The poet eloquently continues his enumeration of the choice
and varied products of Palestine — the flocks and herds which
fattened upon its pastures, and the vines which clothed its
hillsides with purple crops. nxcn is not "butter," but
curdled or sour milk, still esteemed in the East as a refreshing
beverage, and often offered to travellers. It is now called
leben [DB. s.v. Milk). Comp. Gn. 188 Jud. 525 2 S. 1729 Job 20"
29*. The second line of the verse ends better with rams (Ew.
14. ]Sf2 '33] ':3 poet, for offspring, produce : cf. of animals "ip3 '33 i S,
i^^"-al.; Ps. 298 ii4*-«.
360 DEUTERONOMY
Klost. Dillm. Oettli, with <&, Heb. MSS., and Edd. : cf. Norzi
adloc.) than with lambs', the fat of rams, as i S. 15^2, cf. Is.
34^. on^ is not the usual term for "lambs"; it seems to
denote such as, from their age or kind, were a special delicacy :
cf. I S. 159 Am. 6*. The combination □"•id, D'^'X, and Dmny,
recurs Ez. 27^1 39^^, and Is. 34^. — Herds of Basha7i\ celebrated
for their strength and size (cf. on 3^). Fat, fig. of what is
best or finest, occurs Nu. 18^2 ^the "fat" of oil and of new
wine), and in the phrase "fat of wheat," Ps. 8ii'^(i^) (doubt-
less a reminiscence from this passage) 147^*: the fat about
the kidneys being the richest (cf. Lev. 3*; Is. 34® " kidney- fat
of rams"), the "kidney-fat of wheat" denotes the choicest
and most nutritious wheat. — Blood of the grape\ from Gn. 49^^.
— Foaming wine] not 1*^, the usual word, but ipn, common in
Aram, and Arab, {chamr, from chamara, to ferment), but in
Heb. found only in poetry, here and Is. 272 (where, however,
very probably *ipn pleasantness should be read : see RV.
marg.). Perhaps in Heb. the proper sense of the word,
fermenting ox foaming draught {^s. 75^), was still felt, and it
had not sunk to be a mere synonym of p\ The change to the
2nd pers. {^^ thou didst drink") is such as often occurs in Heb.
poetry ; here its effect is to bring vividly home to Israel the
truth of what is said (cf. v.^^. is^^
15-18. Israel's ingratitude and defection from Jehovah, the
result of the abundance of good things which it enjoyed.
^^ But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked :
Thou waxedst fat, thou grewest thick, thou wast gorged with food !
And he forsook God which made him,
And treated as senseless the Rock of his salvation.
^^ They made him jealous with strange (gods) :
With abominations they vexed him.
" They sacrificed unto Shedim, (to) a no-god,
(To) gods whom they knew not,
To new (gods) that came in of late.
Before whom your fathers shuddered not.
*8 Of the Rock that begat thee, thou wast unmindful ;
And thou forgattest God that travailed with thee.
15. Before this verse Sam. ffir have V^K''! apr ^3N^1 (koX €<f)ayev
'IttKO)/? Kol iv€irXrjcr6r]), which connects well with v.^'*, and, as it
seems to him to be quoted in 3120 Neh. 9^^, is accepted by
xxxii. 15 361
Klo. (and, less confidently, by Dillm.) as an original part of
the text. But the phrases in 312° Neh. 9^^ do not necessarily
presuppose such a clause here ; and its addition makes v.^^
long and heavy. — Jcslmru7i\ a poetical title of Israel, " pointing
allusively to ^s"ii"*, but derived from "iL"^ ttprighi''' (Dillm.),
and accordingly designating the nation under its ideal char-
acter (cf. Ex, 19" Dt. 142 &c.), as the Upright one (Aq. 0.2.
(.vQxn<xTo% ; hence U rcctisshmis) : here, where the context is of
declension from its ideal, applied to it reproachfully. " Nomen
Recti pro Israele ponens, ironice eos perstringit qui a recti-
tudine defecerant " (Calv.). Elsewhere (33^- ^"^ Is. 44^!) it is
used as a title of honour. — Waxed fat, and kicked] Jer. 5^8
(Neh. 9^5) ; and i S. 229. Israel, which ought to have been
docile and obedient, like an ox — or perhaps (Calv. Ew.) like a
horse — that had grown fat and strong through good feeding,
and had consequently become intractable (cf. Hos. 4^"; Is.
lo^'' RV. w.), turned rebelliously against its Owner and Bene-
factor. — Wast gorged with food^ see below. Gratz : J^C^'y be-
eamest sleek (Jer. 5-^). In line 2, notice the impassioned and
pointed address to Israel itself, and also the accumulation of
15. n^ny] i K. 12'" ( = 2 Ch. io''')t.— n'?-?] only here. The meaning- is
uncertain. Ges. (oriijlnally) and Keil from knshna, to eat greedily, esp.
cucumbers, kashi'a, to be gorged with food (Lane, p. 2613), — to which, of
course, strictly a form k''^3 (cf. Arab. s/iani'a = iiit', ?;iali'a = iihti) would
correspond in Hebrew. Ibn 'Ezra states that some commentators explained
the word from Job 15-^ (n'^ni rjB ."i??), to be covered, viz. with fat ; so Ges.
in Thes., remarking that his former expl. involved a uarifov ■^rp'oTipov. This
may be true ; but the objection is hardly a decisive one : the etym. from nsa
requires more to be supplied than is probable, viz. the crucial -with fat (see
AV.), and philologically (assuming the soundness of the text) the etym.
form kashi'a is decidedly preferable. RV. art become sleek does not express
any particular etymology. The versions merely conjecture from the context
(ffi i-JtXttTyv^'/i, IT dilatatxis, Onq. Ps.-Jon. S poDJ N:p) gained riches, — either
paraphrasing, or perhaps reading n'C'D [so some 30 MSS. and old edd., ap.
De Rossi, Var. Led. Supplem. p. 25], cf. Syr. ^'^2 to heap up, collect. For
the forcible aVyvJsrov, cf. Jud. 5-' (3Dc '72: V13). — m'p.s-] the singular (though
in use in Arab, and Aram.) is in Heb. probably only a secondary form,
obtained inferentially from n'n'?N : it is chiefly poetical, and, except perhaps
Ps. i8-*^ (where 2 S. 22-'- has '?«), it is not otherwise found in writings
earlier than the age of Jer. : viz. v.^' Hab. i" 3* Is. 44^ Ps. 50-^ 114^ 139"
Pr. 3o\ 41 times in Job, 2 K. 17*1 Kt. (Qrg 'h'jk) and in late prose, Neh.
ff 2 Ch. 32I6 Dan. i,37.38.s8. S9|^
362 DEUTERONOMY
synonyms desig-ned to emphasize the idea to be expressed (cf.
Is. 8^5 52^^). — WJitch made him\ as v.^. — Treated as senseless
P??!?)] or with contumely : a strong term, prop, treat as a 7^?
(v. ^-21), or senseless, irreligious person (see on 22^1), who only
deserves contumely, Jer. 1421 Mic. 7^ Nah. 3^!. — inyiK'^ m^]
Ps. 8927; i'{>>i i-iv 2 S. 22*7 Ps. 95!. The four clauses of this
verse express a climax : * states the cause and beginning of
Israel's lapse, ^ depicts it as confirmed, ^ describes how Israel
forsook Jehovah. ^ how it ended by loading Him with con-
tempt. — 16. Cf. Ps. 78^5. The verse exemplifies how Israel
had treated Jehovah with contumely (v. ^5), viz. by robbing
Him, its Benefactor, of the honour which was His due, and
bestowing it upon false gods, — the intrinsic worthlessness of
which is then further illustrated in v.^^. On the jealousy, and
vexation (not anger, AV.) of God — both aroused, in particular,
by a preference shown towards false gods — see on 4'-'* and 42^.
— Abomhiations\ cf. 72^: in the pi., of wicked or idolatrous
practices i89-i2 sqIs ; i K. 142* 2 K. i63 2i2-ii (all Deut.) ;
Jer. 710 4422 ; and esp. in Ez. (39 times), as s^- " S^- 9- 13- 1*. X7.
Perhaps here of the idols themselves : cf. 2 K. 23^^ Is. 44^^. —
Strange ones (2'~!j)] of gods alien to Jehovah, or perhaps as
introduced from foreign lands : so Jer. 225 313 (notice the con-
text), IT Is. 4312, -II ^x Ps. 4421 81 10.— 17. The Shedim are
alluded to besides only in a late Psalm (106^"): if the state-
ment there made rests upon a genuine tradition, human
sacrifices were offered to them.
The precise nature of the ideas associated with the " Shedim " is un-
certain, the two notices of them in the OT. being insufficient to fix them
decisively. In Assyrian, shidu is the name of the divinities represented by
the bull-colossi, so often found in the front of Assyrian palaces, who were
regarded apparently not as gods properly so called, but as subordinate
spirits, demi-gods or genii, invested with power for good or evil (Schrader,
KAT.^ pp. 39, 160). The feelings with which a shidu was regarded in
Assyria may be illustrated from the invocation of an Assyrian king (Lenor-
mant, Les Origines de THistoire, i. 114), " In this palace may the gracious
shidu, the gracious colossus, guardian of the steps of my majesty, con-
tinue his presence always," &c. If the root be the same as the Arab.
s&dn, to hold dominion, the word will be substantially the same as sayyid
(whence the Spanish Cid), lord, master, prince (of the same form as ly from
Ty, li) from in, &c. ). ffi renders by Sa;^o»/a ; and in Aram, ktb* is common
[e.g. 2r Lev. 17' Is. 13" Ps. 91* ; and oft. in the Syriac Version of the NT.) in
xxxii. 16-18 363
the sense oi demon or evil spirit ; but this usage hardly determines the ideas
associated long previously with the Heb. Shedim. -w appears to occur as a
divinenamein the Phoenician n. pr. ncij oriB'ij(N61d. ZDMG. 1888, p. 481).
Most probably the term denotes some kind of subordinate spirit or demi-
god. Cf. Baudissin, Sein. Rel.-gesch. i. 130 (T. ; Deiitzsch, Parodies, pp.
153, 154 ; Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 290, 440, 445, 446, 449, 450, 456, 463,
The poet at once proceeds to deny the divinity of the
Shedim by characterizing them as the negation of deity, as a
" no-god " : see below, for other examples of the forcible and
pregnant Hebrew idiom employed for the purpose. — Whom
they kneiv not] as Israel "knew" Jehovah: cf. ii^s i^TCe)
2g25(26) Hos. 13* (RV. viarg.). The deities in question are
described further as 7iew ones (Jud. 5^), introduced recently, in
ironical contrast to Jehovah, who had been the nation's God
from of old (D^iyD Is. 63^^). — Shuddered not] an uncommon
word (Jer. 2^2 g^^ 27^* 32^*^!), perhaps denoting here a super-
stitious horror or dread ("Das Wort veranschaulicht mit
grosser Kunst das Unheimliche des Gotzendienstes," Kamp.).
Even this had not been felt by the Israelites of old for the gods
whom their sons had now learnt to honour. For another view
of the meaning, see below. — 18. The climax of ingratitude :
Israel forgot Him, to whom, as a Father (v.^-^^) it owed its
existence as a nation, and who (by an effective change of
figure) is represented at the same time as a mother, travailing
with her infant, and bringing him painfully into the world.
For the combined use of the two figures, cf. (in parallel
clauses) Jer. 227 Job 382^ ; also (Le Clerc) i Cor. 4^^ Philem. 10
Gal. 4^® : the combination, with reference to one and the same
subject, is bold ; but the figure of the mother is suggested,
probably, partly by the parallelism, partly by the desire to
emphasize the tender affection with which Jehovah regarded
17. is'i'^g tiS] cf. V.2' Vn vh and c]i vh. Is. 10" XV vh, 31® "fx vh 3in and
DiK kV ain, Am. 6^^ nan n'?'? d'ookti ; Jer. 5^^ and have sworn dtiVk xSa by
not-gods (cf. 2" 16^), 2 Ch. 13^ and became a priest d'.i'^k nhh to not-gvds.
Is. 55* Ps. 44'» (Ew. § 2878 ; G-K. 152. i n.). With vja t6 v.» (if the text
be sound), cf. 'DV kS Hos. i* 2^. — 3"ii?p] cf. Job 20* Ez. 7^ ; Jer. 23** (in
/ora/ sense)t. — onyfe'] "ffi has iTitxrai, which agrees with Arab, sha'ara, to
perceive, and to a certain extent with Aram, "lyo to visit, inspect, keep an
eye on. The rendering seems to me to be not so unworthy of consideration
as Dillm. appears to think, who does not even mention it " (W.R.S.). The
same explanation is given by Barth, Etyni. Stiidien (1893), p. 67.
364 DEUTERONOMY
His people (cf. Jud. 10^^ Is. 63"). — Travailed imth thee {^\r\'6)\
prop, 'writhed, was in anguish, with thee (Ps. si'^^^) Is. 51^ al. ;
cf. the phrase '"i^/?^'? ''"''7 travail-paiyis, anguish, as of a par-
turient woman, Ps. 48" (•'^ al.), fig. of God, as here, Ps. 90*
bm ps %r,T\\, cf. Pr. 82'«- 25 ^-!JJ7\r[^ of Wisdom).
19-22. The punishment evoked by Israel's defection.
^^ And Jehovah saw, and spurned,
By reason of the vexation occasioned by his sons and his daughters,
^^ And he said, " I will hide my face from them,
" I will see what their latter end will be ;
" For they are a g'cneration given to perversions,
" Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
-^ " They have made me jealous with a no-g-od,
" They have vexed me with their vanities ;
"And I will make them jealous with a no-people,
"With a senseless nation will I vex them.
22 <( Pqp 3^ f;^g ;y kindled in my nostril,
"And it burneth unto the nethermost Sheol ;
"And it devoureth the earth and its increase,
" And setteth ablaze the foundations of the mountains.
19. Snw\ as the occasion of the action which ensued, as Is.
59I6. — Spumed (r^P?!!)] absol. as Jer. 1421 : cf. Lam. 2^ (also of
God), Jer. 332" Pr. i^o 512 155 Ps. 107I1. The vexation (Dy3) oj
his sons and daughters is the chagrin and disappointment
occasioned to the father by the unmerited dishonour received
at his children's hands (cf. on 42^). — 20-21. Jehovah's deter-
mination in consequence, expressed both negatively (v. 20) and
positively (v.21). The speech here beginning extends to the
end of V.27. — 20. Jehovah will withdraw from them His favour-
able regard (31^"), and, leaving them, as it were, to themselves,
will wait to see what their final lot (v.^^ Job 8") will then be:
He will do this, because they have proved themselves to be a
falsehood-loving race, sons (v.^) disloyal to a tender Parent. —
Perversions (niranri)] i.e. evasions of truth and right. The
word is one which otherwise occurs only in the Proverbs : cf.
18. Tn] this can be only the pausal form of "V^, from n;^, like 'n; 4^
from n;ri: but the jussive form is inexplicable, and the other Semitic
languages have only saha (with n) to forget, not rr'ts' (with '). In all prob-
ability we should read .te")? (cf. Sam. Ntiri), from n^j (Lam. 3" ah) to forget
(Dr. § 17s). — 20. nniEnn] always in the pi. (cf. m^iann); prop, turnings
about, i.e. lines of action, or modes of speech, adopted for the sake of
XXXII. 19-21 3^5
below. — In toJiom is no faithfnlness\ opp. to God (v.^). — 21,
They will be rewarded according to the law of a righteous
retribution : jealousy and vexation (4-^- '^■') on the one side will
be requited with jealousy and vexation on the other ; the " no-
god " will be put to shame by a "no-people"; and Israel,
"senseless" itself (v.*^), will be taught a bitter lesson by a
people "senseless" likewise. — A no-god\ a contemptuous
designation of the unreal gods, whom the Israelites followed
after (cf. on v.^'''). — Vanities] P2n (lit. a hreatJi Is. 57^^) denotes
fig. what is evanescent, unsubstantial, worthless: hence of
false gods, esp. in Jer. : in the sing. Jer. lo^^ ( = 51^^) ^6^^
(comp. 2^ = 2 K. 17^^), and in the plural, as here, Jer. 8^^ 10^
1422 I K. 1613.26 (Deut.), Ps. ai'' Jon. 2^.—A no-people] i.e.,
most probably, a savage, undisciplined horde (Maurer, Ew.
Kamp. Oettli). In the parallel clause, the foe is termed a
senseless nation (cf. Ps. 74IS senseless people, of the heathen
desecrators of the temple), i.e. (on v.^) an impious nation,
insensible to the claims of God or man. With a heathen
nation, unworthy to be called a "people," will Jehovah now
provoke Israel's jealousy and vexation, by permitting it, viz.
to win successes against His own people.
No-people, on the analogy of no-god, will denote something which,
though in a sense capable of being termed a people, does not really
deserve the name (cf. lup alupa, fiios oi^iuToi, &c.). The term "people"
implies a community which has attained a certain degree of civilization,
and has learnt to submit to definite political and moral restraints : the
uy kV will therefore denote a nation which is in some way deficient in these
respects. It might thus be used, for instance, of the irregular, loosely
organized bands — such as those of the Philistines, of the Midianites and
"children of the East" (Jud. 6^'*), or Aramaeans (2 K. 5^ 6^^) — at whose
hands the Israelites sometimes experienced a sharp defeat ; or it might
denote an uncivilized horde, like the Scythians (the prototypes of the
Goths and Vandals of a later age), who swept over Canaan under Josiah
(comp. Jer. 5^^'^^) ; or it might even, perhaps, denote a nation, so inhuman
and barbarous in its habits, and especially in its conduct of war, as upon
moral grounds to be unworthy of the name of people (comp. the terms used
escaping unpleasant realities, or evading the truth, perversions of truth or
right. The word is used esp. in connexion with utterances, and occurs
sometimes in proximity to v^.^ twisted (v.^) : Pr. 2*^ 'n nmo cn, ^^ who
rejoice yn 'na (v.^* whose paths are twisted, &c.), 6''* (a source of strife),
gi3 ,o3i.32 jgaa (cf. 6'*)3» 23^^! ; cf. if^, where the v.ivhz ^snj is parallel with
the twisted in heart. — pcx] only here: elsewhere d':idk or njiDK.
366 DEUTERONOMY
of a barbarian foe, Is. 24'®'' 33'). To judge from such descriptions ai
we possess, the Scythians, of all the peoples known to the Hebrews,
were the most unlike other nations (comp. Rawlinson, Anc. Mon.*u. 225 f.,
and the extract in L.O.T. p. 237) ; and hence would seem to answer best
to the designation Dj; k"? (thoug-h, of course, it does not follow that the
Scythians are actually meant by the expression). It is probable that the
poet has no definite people in view, but that, having heard by rumour of
the desolations wrought elsewhere by the inroads of wild and savage
barbarians, whom Israel would disdain to style a "people," he pictured
such as the instruments in God's hands of the retribution awaiting Israel.
The view of Schultz, Keil, and others, according to which the expression
means "not a people in God's sight," a people not enjoying theocratic
privileges, is not probable, or supported by the context : the term
"people" being used absolutely, must connote what naturally and
normally belongs to the idea of a " people," not what belongs to it (as in
the case of Israel) exceptionally. " Not a people " is altogether different
from " Not my people" ("oy n"?) Hos. i^ which must have been used, had
this been the sense which the expression was intended to convey. — In
Rom. 10^® the passage is interpreted freely so as to refer to Israel's being
provoked to jealousy by the heathen being admitted to the same theocratic
privileges ; but in the original context it is the favour shown to them by
their being allowed to punish Israel, which moves Israel to jealousy.
22. The ground of this determination : Jehovah's wrath,
or jealousy (4^*), kindled into an all-devouring flame, by
Israel's shameful idolatry. The verse contains a graphic but
hyperbolical description (for the context requires the judgment
to be limited to Israel) of the far-reaching and destructive
operation of the Divine anger. The first clause is repeated
Jer. 15I*, and (with Dnmp for nmp) 17*. — In my nostril] as
Ps. 18^ (^): cf. Is. 65^ (also of a fire kindled by the spectacle
of Israel's idolatry). — Nethermost She6l\ cf, Ps. 8613; the
stream of Jehovah's fire penetrates even to the Underworld
(cf. Am. 92). — Increase y'^'y)\ cf. 11*^ (phil. n.). — Foundations
of the mountains] Ps. 18^(7).
23-25. The manifold forms of calamity in which Jehovah
threatened that the judgment would discharge itself upon
Israel.
" " I will add evils upon them ;
" Mine arrows I will exhaust against them :
** "(So that they may be) sucked out by famine,
" And eaten up with the Fire-bolt and bitter Destruction (
" And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them,
"With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
22. nmp] Jer. 151* 17* Is. 50" 6^H : nr;-]P 28^^ Lev. aG^'^t.
XXXII. 22-24 3^7
• "Without the sword shall ocrcave,
"And in llie chambers terror,
"(It shall destroy) both young man and virgin,
"The suckling with the man of grej' hairs.
23. Add (nscs)] point nSDX (from ^1?;) ; and cf. Ez. 5^^ Lev.
26^1. I^S^i?^, from n^D (_>gi8(i9)) to carry or sweep aivay, yields
no suitable .sense, to "sweep together, heap up,'' being a
questionable paraphrase. — Evils\ 31^^-21. — Exha!isl\ X\\.. fuiish'.
none will remain unused. — Arrows] fig. of Divine chastise-
ments, as v.*2 Ez. 5I6 Ps. 71*113) 383 (2) Job 64 : cf. Lam. 312-13.
— 24. (5 omits a7td before the teeth, in which case the verse
will be unconnected with v. 23, and "so that they may be"
must be omitted; the meaning being, "When they are
already exhausted by famine and pestilence, wild beasts and
poisonous reptiles will be sent amongst them." Famine,
particularly in a siege, is a judgment frequently threatened,
as Is. 513 and esp. in Jer. Ez. : the former has often the com-
bination, "The sword, the famine, and the pestilence" (1412
2i« 278-13 &c. : cf. Ez. 512511 715), to which Ez. (1415-21) adds
"evil beasts," as the fourth of the "four sore judgments,"
which Jehovah sends upon a sinful land (cf. here v.2*-25). —
Eaten up CPH?)] ^D-' is a poet. syn. of. ^7^, found chiefly in
Pr. (Pr. 417 95 231-6 Ps. \^\^\).—The Fire-bolt (^f^)] a poetical
designation of the fiery darts, sent by Jehovah, to which the
poet (or popular imagination) attributed fever, or other
pestilential complaint. Cf. Hab. 3^ (where the terribly active
malady is almost personified) " Before Him goeth Pestilence
(13^ : comp. here 3pp) ; and the Fire-bolt proceedeth at His
feet."
In Heb. I^l is a poet, word for a flame, esp. a pointed, darting flame
Cant. 8* Job 5' Ps. 76* (npp 'Sjsy-i, fig. of arrows) 78^^!. In Phoenician,
23. nscx] (E tuii.\u, "E congregabo, & r:3N, — no doubt vocalizing njpk
(Mic. 4'), from ipx. — 24. 'ipj from sg. niD only here, though restored by
Hitz. Ew. Del. Cheyne, Di. in Is. 5'*. The word is not above suspicion :
but if correct, it most probably means drained or sucked out, from !^]0 —
Arab, mazza, to suck (cf. njt?, Syr. t<;fp, by the side of ['so, Syr. fp), a
variation of the more usual mazza (which agrees with Aram. {'jD, Heb.
j'S? Is. 66^'t). ffi T»ix«^£>«, as though from nipc, Syr. kijo: unsuitable, as
an effect of hunger. A.V. burnt follows Ibn 'Ezra and Kinichi 3jn 'mc
who compares KiP7 Dan. 3'* (Aram. inf. of njn), though allowing that tht
root of this has no D. Gratz conjectures M") emaciated, — 'TTD] only here.
368 DEUTERONOMY
however, the name (or title) of a deity is derived from it : CIS. 1. \. 89, in
a biling-ual inscription from Idalion in Cyprus, a prince Ba'alrani erects
an image, in the Greek text ru ' A-roXXuvi tu 'A;/.v>cXo7, in the Phoenician
■jDD f\v-h (Resheph of Amyklas) ; ib. 90 'ns I'jD ;n'3'?D I'^D p' b-n tn pn ypnD
Vp yocs "jnNi 'riD h]i -2hr:h n n^c^ Sa ni'a Snxn '?aD f]ti'i'? '^kV a-hii2 p 'jnm
Tin', ?.^, "This is the patten [from ypT to spread oui\ of gold [ = Heb. j'lin]
which Milkyaton, king of Kition and Idalion, son of Ba'alram, gave to
his god, Resheph of Mikal, in Idalion, in the month of Bui [i K. 6^^], in
the 2nd year of his reigning over Kition and Idalion, because he listened
to his voice: may he bless (him)!" 'jdd fjtfn occurs also ib. 91, 93, 94:
DirnSx f]iyi= AcraXft/v/ tcoi AXoctnaiTo.!, and n"7N t]ef\=^ A-JTiiXuvi Tui 'EXitTo.i, are
found on two inscriptions from Tamassus, also in Cyprus (see Euting,
Sitzungsberichte of the Berlin Acad. 1887, p. Ii5f. ; or Proc. Bibl. Arch.
1887, ix. pp. 47 f., 100 f., 153 f.; and cf. Clermont-Ganneau, Recueil d Arch.
Orient, pp. i76f., i98f.); i-nacn is the name of another local ']B'T {CIS.
ib. 10), conjectured by Clermont-Ganneau, I.e. p. 179 ff., to be ' Kt'oXXuv
Ayvnvs ; the pr. names jn'SB'i " Resheph has given," and fityiNiaj; occur {ib.
44, 88, 393) ; Raspu or Resoup, as the name of an Asiatic god, is named on
Egyptian Inscriptions {ib. p. 38) : it can thi's hardly be accidental that the
modern name of the town which occupies the site of the ancient Apollonias,
near Jaffa, should be Arsuph (Ganneau, p. 177). As Apollo, under one of
his aspects, was the author of pestilence (//. i. 50 f.; cf. his epithets Ixxipyos,
ixrifiiiXos, iKarnlioXos), it is not (in view of the senses borne by the Heb. '^E'^)
too bold a conjecture that fityT {Resheph, or Resheph ?) was the name of the
Phoenician Fire-god, who smites men and cattle with his fiery darts, pro-
ducing in them fever and other plagues ; and that liyn, here and Hab. 3*,
denotes the fiery bolts, by which Jehovah was imagined to produce pesti-
lence or fever. G (ipaia-u ipviav, Onq. fjiy '^SN, Aq. [Piipipufiivoi vrntu], IB
devorabunt eos aves, & pJN dVcx ntbVi, in accordance with the interpreta-
tion of fje'T 'J3 in Job 5' els — birds (cf. Hab. 3'' A2e 5i ; Sir. 43" Heb. and ffi).
Destruction (^Pi?)] properly, it seems, excidium; of a pesti-
lential epidemic, as Ps. 91^ (|| 1?"7. pestilence). Only Is. 28^
besides 3Di5 nyb'; cf. 3Dp Hos. 131*. By bitter is meant
poisonous or malignant. — The teeth of beasts] a poetical varia-
tion of ny-j n»ri evil beasts (Lev. 26*5 Ez. 517 al.), or ^'jh'r^ n'n
Lev. 2622 (with '^nni't^'m) Hos. 2i*(i2) g^^^ — Crawling things of
the dttst] cf. Mic. y^^ p^j i^nf, The root signifies to withdraw,
retire ; and the expression denotes reptiles such as crawl away
to hide themselves under stones, plants, &c. For the threat
itself, cf. Jer. 8^'''. — 25. The terrible realities of war will wreak
bereavement alike through the streets and in the houses :
23. DmnD . . . pno] jd is off, idiom. =<w the side of: pna= 071 /side is
frequent ; omnD is a poet, variation of n'3D on the side of the house =
within {e.g. Ez. 7" n'^D 3J;^■^l "i^ini j'lna 2-inn). — Vsiyn] is elsewhere always
XXXII. 25-27 3^9
neither age nor sex will be spared. Lam, i^ob is a reminiscence
of clauses »b; cf, also Ez. y'"* Jer. 920(21). With clauses c.'i,
compare such passages as Hos. 14^ (i3^*)> 2 K. 8^2 Lam. 221
Jer. i82i 5122 2 Ch. 36^^: the young men, in particular, are
often specified as the victims of an invasion.
26-27. In fact, only dread of the adversaries' taunts had
withheld Jehovah from resolving on Israel's annihilation.
^ " I should have said, ' I will cleave them in pieces,
" ' I will make their memory to cease from men ' ;
* " Except I dreaded the vexation caused by the enemy,
" Lest their adversaries should misdeem,
" Lest they should say, ' Our hand is exalted,
" ' And not Jehovah hath wrought all this.' "
26. On clause *, see below ; with clause ^, cf. 25I8 Ps. 9^
34^^ 109^5 Job 18^^. — 27. Jehovah is represented again (cf. v. ^9)
construed with an accus. of the person bereaved, here it is followed loosely,
after the athnah, by an accus. of the person carried off. — 26. ch'^sn] a very
uncertain word, nss is a comer; but no verb nxs is otherwise known in
Heb. ; and Syr. 't<a is decorus fuit, decuit. (i) AV. has "scatter them into
corners," following Rashi (''jyD DS'Se'nV nxa cn'CN) and Kimchi (S^a niSN
nxij), in treating the word as a denom. from hks, which can hardly be said
to be probable. (2) Most modems (Ges. Ew. Kamp. Knob. Keil, Dillm.)
render "will blow them away." This, however, is exceedingly question-
able : no root HNij to blow is known ; and nys, of which .ins is assumed to
be a softened form, means nothing but to cry out (Is. 42^'*+), in Syriac to
bleat (also to cry out) : the meaning (Ges.) flavit, sibtlavit, is purely con-
jectural, assumed solely for the purpose of explaining ni'sx viper, and
entirely without support in Arabic (Lane, p. 2421). (3) The Arab, fa' a is
to cleave or split {e.g. the head, or a bowl) ; and d.tnsn is explained from
this by Schultens, Opp. Minora (1769), p. 158 (" exscinderem eos "), J. D.
Michaelis, Supplem. ad Lexica Heb. p. 1987, Schroter in Merx, Archiv, i.
461. If the text be sound (which, it must be owned, is doubtful), this
meaning has most to recommend it, (2) being decidedly the least probable
of all. Cr "hiatr-rtpu (whence Gratz emends ds'ds). Sam. reads on 'Sn,
whence Sam. Targ. has prun (for pjN 'Ui) "they are my anger"; Onq.
p^'s't^'Ki \\n-^v Mjn "jin" (a double rend.); S pjK JO'k, Aq. [no.) toZ i/V/y ;], IT
ubinam sunt? {i.e. on 'N ^H: the division into three words is in harmony
with the Jewish methods, which Aq. elsewhere follows {iVotes on Sai7i. pp.
xliii, Ixxxiv) ; it is noticed by Rashi and Ibn 'Ezra ad loc. as an old Jewish
view of the word). For the d.t in d.tksjn, cf. G-K. §§ 58. i ; 75 R'".—
nn'3B'N] Am. 8^. — Di3i b':nd] notice the Heb. order : obj. at the end rounding
off the sentence. So oft., as Is. 37^ n'jVo y\v ^i3is" k'ji, Jud. \'^ lay irryi
ion, Ps. 105'* D'='>D d.tSj; nsn : add Ex. 8" Am. 6'* Jer. 13'^ Ps. 15^ 24-* 25"
26*'' &c. ; and cf. on 2 S. 14^^*. The Heb. order would be stiff and un-
natural in Engl. : conversely the Engl, order would be weak in Hebrew.
24
370 DEUTERONOMY
as influenced by the human emotion of Dy3, chagrin or vexa-
tton : the enemy, by taking- to themselves the credit of anni-
hilating' the Chosen People, and not recognizing in their
success Jehovah's hand, would not render Him His due ; and
the dishonour thus done to Him would occasion Him oyp,
vexation at unmerited treatment or a slight. A similar
anthropomorphism is implied, when it is said that Jehovah
does SinyXh.\n^ for His natne's sake, i.e. to maintain His reputa-
tion : comp. Is. 489-iiJer. 147-21 Ez. ao^- 1*- 22 362"- ; also Ex.
32^2 Nu. 141^^- Dt. 928. — Misdee7n\ i.e. fail to recognise the
truth (lit. treat as foreign, Jer. 19* Job 2i29 "and their
tokens ye will not mistake''). — Dreaded p''^^)] i^^ 1822. — Is
exalted\ more exactly, hath become high (npT the perf., not
H'Oi the ptcp.), i.e. hath lifted itself up successfully, hath
asserted itself triumphantly : the same idiom Is. 2611 Ps. 89I* (of
the arm). — And not Jehovah\ but, it is implied, another. The
adverb, in virtue of its position, negatives not the verb but the
subst. ; the heathen nations are represented as insinuating, in
the supposed case, that they have been themselves the sole
authors of Israel's ruin. — Wruuglit (H'-:)] a poet, word, often
used of a manifestation of Divine power : Nu. 2323 (^x ^J?D Hd)
Hab. i5 Is. 2612 4i4 4313 Ps. 442 6829 ^^\% job 22^7 3329.
28-29. The reason why Jehovah had been forced to threaten
His people thus severely : Israel's inveterate inability to dis-
cern its true welfare. — The poet here speaks again in his own
person.
27. HNi Ss Svsj nin' \n^<\ in place of the usual '31 Si'S nS ni,T. So Nu. 16''^
':n'7S' m.T N*? not J. (but another) hath sent me, Gn. 45* al. (Dav. § 127a). —
23. msv ■'5'<] irreg. for "iix, the pathah being otherwise found (in the st. c.
of the plcp.)only before y (VJJ, yjjn, J?P'r). Bo (i. 214) collects examples
(such as 'rj? iTn Jer. 13" Lam. 2>^, 'rv ]'?!? Job 17-, nsj^Dn isv'^ Nu. 17" al.\
and Piel forms, as nSon S^j Est. 3', l'?Dn tjn 2 K. 2i'S cy 3iJ'n Lev. 25**
&c.) tending to show that it is due here to the guttural of niuj; ; but it is
doubtful if this explanation is correct, for the pathah occurs also where
there is no gutt., as Lam. 2^ Lev. 25*'^ Is. 14'^ al. (cf. ib. ii. 286). Stade,
§ 213* 107*, cites other analogies for - , but only when next to a gutt., or T.
— n'lay] cf. n'ira, n'incg, ninu:, nivn, ninan, nion, niyiB", nnn*, nwo, nini:D, ninnD
(v.''-), n'iDp:, nipii-, ninoty, n'i:ian, &c. (cf. Dav. § 17 R.^). The pi. in such cases
(chietiy poet.) has an intensive force ; whatever kind of counsel, under-
standing, might, &c., there may be scope for (cf. G-K. § 124*).
xxxii. 28-30 371
•^ Fur they are a people lost in counsel,
And there is no understanding in them ;
** If they had been wise, they would understand this,
They would discern their latter end.
V.'^^ emphasizes Israel's lack of insight, and assigns it
("For") as the ground of the withdrawal of Jehovah's favour
^v 20-27) J v.'^^ declares that had Israel been wise, it would have
understood this, viz. the necessity of such chastisements as
those just described (v.-o-^s), and discerned their latter end
(v. 20), i.e. the final issuo of the course they were pursuing, in
case either they themselves neglected to repent, or God out of
regard to His honour (v.^^f) did not interpose to save them.
For lost {pv perishing) in respect of counsel, cf. Jer. 49'''.
30-33. Israel's disasters are due only to Jehovah's aliena-
tion, occasioned by Israel's sin : the heathen gods have not
the power to produce them (v.^') ; the heathen nations are too
corrupt to do so (v^^^*).
*" How should one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Were it not that their Rock had sold them,
And Jehovah had delivered them up?
"^ For their rock is not as our Rock,
Our enemies being the umpires.
^ For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
And from the fields of Gomorrha :
Their grapes are grapes of poison.
They have bitter clusters.
'^ Their wine is the venom of reptiles,
And the cruel poison of cobras.
30. How could a mere handful of the foe have routed
whole battalions of Israelites, unless Jehovah had deliberately
abandoned them ? The verse points to military disasters
actually experienced by Israel's troops, and argues that, as
they cannot be reasonably attributed to Jehovah's inability to
defend His people, they must be taken as proof that He has,
for some suflRcient cause, designedly cast them off. With the
image used to describe the rout, conip. Is. 30^'^, and the
contrasted promise of Lev. 26^; Jos. 23''*. — Their Rock\ i.e.
Jehovah (v.*- ^^). — Sold\ the same figure which is found Jud.
214 38 ^2.» iqT (all Deut., except 4'-'), i S. la^ (Deut.), Ez. 301a
29. cn-inxS ira'] Ps. 73'" cnnnxS nj-zx.— 30. 'D nS cn] v. Lex. '? ad fin.
372 DEUTERONOMY
Ps. 44^^t- — 31. For, as the nations themselves are obliged to
own, their "rock" (i.e. their god, or gods) cannot vie in
might with Israel's "Rock" (comp. e.£: Ex. 14^^; Nu. 23-24;
Jos. 2^'"- ; I S. 4^ 5''- '0^- I K. 2023-30)^ and cannot therefore have
brought about Israel's disasters. — 32. The "for" is parallel
to the "for" of v.^i; and the verses describe, for the sake of
setting it aside, a second cause that might be imagined for
Israel's disasters : the moral corruption of the heathen nations
is such that Jehovah can have had no inducement to aid them
against Israel (v.^^^-*^) on their own account ; He must have
been alienated by Israel's sin. — Their vine] i.e. their nature,
represented under this figure. The nations are compared to a
vine whose stock is derived from the growth of Sodom and
Gomorrha : its fruits are accordingly poisonous and bitter ;
and the wine made from them is as deadly as a cobra's bite.
The comparison brings out the fact that their doings are the
natural outcome of an innate corrupt disposition^ a corrupt
natural stock. — The vine of So(ioni\ i.e. a vine whose juices and
fruits were not fresh and healthy, but tainted by the corruption
of which Sodom was the type. — 33. Poiso7i\ 29^^ (^^). — Reptiles
(D^riiri)] a generic term, commonly applied to marine monsters
(Gn. 1^1 al.), but sometimes used of land-reptiles, Ex. 79- lo- 12
Ps. 9i^3b_ ^^ Dragon" (AV., RV.) is merely an old English
synonym oi serpent (Spa/cwv). — Cobras] jHS recurs Is. ii^ Ps. 58^
gji3a (II p3pi^ as here). Job 20^*- ^^f. According to Tristram
{NUB. p. 275; DB". s.v. Asp), the species of serpent denoted
by ;n3 is the hooded cobra of Egypt, the Naja haj'e, which
though it is not found in the cultivated districts of Palestine,
is well known in the plains, and the downs S. of Beersheba*.
It is the species upon which serpent-charmers (Ps. 58^) usually
practise in Egypt, as they do upon an allied species, the Naja
tripudiafis, in India ; it is also in the habit of frequenting holes
in rocks or old walls (Is. ii^).
31. D'SSb ira'iNi] a circumst. clause, as Gn. 18^^ jpi 'nNi = " my lord being
old" (Dr. § 159; Dav. § 138a).— c'V'js] Ex. 2122 Job 3i"t ; nS'SB Is. iS^t;
cf. 28'' Job 31'-*. The rare word (with its cognates) appears to have ex-
pressed the idea of arbiter, arbitration : cf. '?'?b to mediate i S. 2^ Ps. 106^*
Ez. 16^*.— 32. '33y] G-K. § 20. 2 (2) 6.— nmo] n-x\-^ only besides Job 13^^ ; 20**
(a':nB mnc) ; and, in the sense oi gall, ib. w.^.
XXXII. 31-34 373
The view of v.^^'^ adopted above is that of Ew. Kamp. Dillni.
According to others (Kn. Keil, Oettli) these verses describe the moral
character oi Israel, for the purpose of deducing' from it directly the disasters
which have befallen it. In support of this interpretation, it might be urged
that the thought of Israel's corruption as the ground of its misfortunes is
the general theme of the poem, and that the figures employed are else-
where frequently used with reference to Israel (the vine, as Hos. lo^ Jer.
2** Ps. 8o*^"; the comparison to Sodom, as Is. i^" 3** Jer. 23^* Ez. i6^^'^'
Lam. 4^). The alternative view is, however, supported by the context in
y S4ff.^ which plainly speaks of Jehovah's vengeance on Israel's foes, and
where, if v.^^* do not describe the corruption of the heathen, there is
nothing for Kin ("that") to refer to : it is, moreover, to be noticed that in
v.^^ it is not said that the vine has degenerated from its original stock (as
might have been expected, if Israel were intended, cf. Is. 5^ Jer. 2-'), but
that it is corrupt in its origin (its vine is from the vine of Sodom).
34-36. But such corruption cannot remain for ever unnoticed
by Jehovah : it calls for vengeance ; and in the end He will
interpose on His people's behalf, and abandon their enemies to
destruction.
^ Is not that laid up in store with me,
Sealed up in my treasuries?
'^ Mine is [Sam. ffi: Against the day of] vengeance and recompense.
Against the time when their foot slippeth ;
For near is the day of their calamity.
And the destined future hasteth upon them.
^* For Jehovah will judge his people.
And repent himself concerning his servants ;
When he seeth that support is gone,
And that neither fettered nor free remaineth.
34. The reference is to the moral corruption of the heathen,
and its fruits (v.^^f) ; these are not forgotten, or disregarded
by Jehovah, but (as it were) stored up with Him, till the day
of retribution shall arrive. For the figures employed, cf. Hos.
1312 (Dnsx pi; n^^y), Job 14^7 (^yc'Q nnya nnn), where sin is
spoken of as bound up, or sealed in a bag, viz. against the day
of punishment ; for treasuries, also, in various figurative
applications, see 28^2 jer. 10^3 5025 Ps. 33^ Job 38-2.
That the reference both here and v.^' is to the guilt of the heathen, not
34. 02 r] no Semitic root 0D3, with a meaning suitable here, is known.
Most probabh' 0j3 should be read, from D3D to collect, gather together, Ps.
33^ (II nni'iKn jm:) al. : in the old character D and 3 might easily be confused.
This, at least, is the sense that is required ; and it is expressed by the
Versions (fflt <ruvriKrai, S3'mm. drriKurai, H condita, S' TB3 : 2t paraphrases
*D^p ]hi pnnny Sj kSh). — '-\oy]= penes rue {Gn. 24'*').
374 DEUTERONOMY
to that of Israel, is apparent from v.^* " /or Jehovah will judge His people
and repent Himself towards His servants" : the guilt of Israel could not
be a motive for Jehovah's compassion towards them. Some commentators
suppose " that" to point to what follows, viz. the coming judgment : but
where a reference forwards is intended, nwi rather than Kin is commonly
employed. Keil (referring the whole passage, v.-**-"'*^, not to the heathen
but to Israel) supposes "that" to have both a retrospective and a pro-
spective reference, i.e. to include both the guilt of v.^^'* and the judgment
of v.^. But it is not natural to understand xin as pointing in two contrary
directions : a reference to the judgment can only be included in v.**
indirectly, in so far as the figures employed in it suggest it implicitly.
35. Jehovah's vengeance will not be indefinitely deferred ;
the first reverse of Israel's foes will be followed speedily by
their total fall. — Mine is ve7igeance\ the words are not intended
as a warning against self-vengeance (as the verse is applied,
Rom. 12^^) — for the prostrate nation is not in a condition to
think of that : it is meant as a declaration that there is, after
all, a source when vengeance will be forthcoming: " /, of
whom, under the circumstances, you least expect it, will arise,
and recompense your foes" (Kamp.). For the thought of
Jehovah's vengeance (cps), see v.-*'- ^^ Is. i'^^ Mic. 51^^15) jsjah. i2
Ez. 2514-17 Jer. 59.29 gs (cf. ii2o 20^% 4610 5015. 28 516.11 (cf
V.36), Is. 348 354 473 5gi7 5i2 634; cf. also Lev. 262^ (H), Nu.
31^ (P), Ps. 94I 998. The idea is commoner in the later
prophets (esp. those of the exile) than in the earlier ones. —
Against the time, &fc.\ i.e. so soon as they once begin to
totter, vengeance will speedily complete its work. The totter-
ing of the foot is a frequent image of a reverse of fortune :
Ps. 3817 06) 54X8^ cf. 669 i2i3, and with lyo, Job \2^ Ps. 2519
(cf. Ps. 18^7 3731^^ The righteous, when their foot totters, are
upheld by Jehovah (Ps. 94^^) : in the case of the wicked, a
similar moment is seized by God's providence, for the purpose
of completing their destruction. Sam. G, however, for Cp3 ''7
"mine is vengeance" read Qp3 DVp '■'■ against the day of ven-
35. c'??'] a subst , of a rare form, like T3T Jer. 5'^ ntsp 44'-" (Sta. § 222).
— d'^jt aiDn] a rel. clause, after nyS : cf. Job G^ ; Jer. 49* 50'' 51^^.— B'm] the
masc. sg., ace. to G-K. § 145. 7a; Dav. § 113 6. — nn'ni] an Aram, more
than a Heb. word: cf. Syr. Km'ny = Ta ifyjofj-ita. Jn. 16'^; iTnin = /isxXovTa
Rom. S'"* al. In Heb. the root is seldom found, and chiefly in parts of the
OT. either late or tinged dialectically with Aramaisms : the verb Pr. 24-'
Job 15-"! : Tnv ready only besides Job 3* 15-^ Est. 3''* 8", and (in the sense
XXXII. 35-36 375
g-eance" (Jer. 46^^ Is. 34^ 61^ 63*), which connects well with
v.s* ("sealed up in my treasuries, against the day of ven-
geance and recompense "), and forms a good parallel with the
following' clause (" against the time when their foot slippeth "),
and is very probably the original reading (Geiger, Urschrifty
p. 247; Jiid. Ztschr. ix. 92 ; Kamp. Klost. Dillm. Marti). — The
day of their calamity (m^X DV)] a common expression, denoting
the occasion of a sudden and (usually) irreparable disaster,
Jer. 18174621 Ob. 13 (thrice) Pr. 2710 Ps. i8i»^i8) Job 2i30: the
disastrous character of an 1'N* is illustrated also by the figures
used in connexion with it, Pr. 1^7 6^5. — The destined future]
lit. things prepared, or ready (n'lny) : see below. — Hasteth\ cf.
Is. 60" Hab. 2^. — 36. The verse states the reason why Jehovah
will at length assert Himself against His people's foes: the
extremity of their need will move Him to take compassion
upon them. — fudge] i.e. give right to, vindicate against foes or
detractors, as Gn. 30^ Ps. ^^^^^^ Pr. 31^; and the synonym
t32C' frequently (Ps. 7^(s) 26^ &c.). — And repent himself, &c.\
cf. Ps. 90^^. The two clauses are repeated verbatim, Ps. 135^*.
Keil, referring v.** (as well as v.^^'^*) to Israel, is obliged to under-
stand "judge" v.-*^ in the sense of condemn, punish — " For Jehovah will
judge (the wicked of) His people, but repent Himself concerning His (true)
servants." This forced explanation of v.^*, however, only shows that the
exegesis of v.^ which necessitates it, is incorrect, and that the reference
in that verse is really to the heathen. The only truth in Keil's contention
is that, inasmuch as Jehovah naturally would not interpose to aid His
people, so long as it remained obdurate, the Israel referred to in v.^ is
implicitly conceived as penitent (which is also indicated by the use in the
parallel clause of the expression "His servants"): the fate of the im-
penitent Israelites lies here outside the range of the poet's thought. But
such a pointed contrast between "His people" and "His servants" as
Keil postulates is not probable.
That support is gone] Ew. " dass hingeschwunden jeder
Halt." Support is lit. hand, used fig. in Heb. of power or
of things prepared, stores) Is. 10^^. In Aram, and New Heb. the verb
occurs frequently in the sense of to prepare {e.g. a feast), destine ; Trip is
often used with an inf., almost as a periphr. of the future {e.g. Eccl. 9*'
BT 'inoS Tni'T nD=what will happen): and NuS TnyS lit. "for that which is
destined to come {or will come) " is a common New Heb. expression for
"in the world to come." — 36. onjn'] in pause for Diiin', the vowels v ~
being avoided in Heb. with n. So 'nn is in pause 'iin (not '0?)i '0(>
becomes 'riN, 3"irin a^rin, &c. — t\\\h] the Aram, form of the 3 pf. fern.,—
376 DEUTERONOMY
competence (cf. Lev. 25^^ jg^ 28^ 5710 ; and short-handed^ im-
plying impotence, Nu. 1 1^3 Is. 37^7 1^^ ''"lyp, 50- 59I) ; sometimes,
also, of an artificial hand, or support (Ex. 261''- '^) — The
fettered and the free (aiTJ/l IIVJ?)] an alliterati\e pro\ erbial ex-
pression, recurring in the Deut. passages i K. 141*' 2121 2 K. 9'
(^S"i'^'"'2 y\\vr\ -iivy), 142^ (niry D^wXI ii^'y DDXI)!, the precise sense
of which it seems impossible, as Dillm. remarks, to determine
with certainty, but which is meant evidently to be a compre-
hensive formula denoting all (comp. similar expressions 29i8(''')
Job I2l6b).
fiV is to shut up, restrain, confine (e.g. in a prison, Jer. 2)'^^ ! ^'i'l '"
contrast to this, must, it seems, be used in the old sense, which it has Ex.
23* (cf. Job 10'), of /o let loose. Nevertheless the particular idea which the
two words here express is far from clear ; and many explanations have
been proposed : (i) the imprisoned a-wA the released (Saad.); (2) bond and
free (Ges. , Dietrich, Abhandl. z. Heb. Gr. 1846, p. 205); (3) kept in
(restrained by legal impurity from entering the sanctuary : cf. ^i'J;3 Jer. 36*
Neh. 6"*, and ni,T •js'? -\Yi^ \ S. 21*) and at large (Ew. Antiq. p. 199;
Smith, Rel. Sew." p. 456, Smend, AT. Rel.-gesch. p. 126, Nowack, Arch.
ii. 213) ; (4) under and over age (Thcnius, Kamp.) ; {5) married and celibate
(De Dieu, Keil) ; (6) confined a\. home (by age, weakness, &c.) zwd free to
move about (the able-bodied warriors), Oettli. That of Ew. is perhaps as
probable as an}'. The sense celibate (5) is established for the Arab.
'asTb, but the meaning paterfamilias, alleged by De Dieu for 'a'saru, rests
upon an error (see Rod. Thes. Append, p. 104). The meaning celibate is,
however, too specially an Arabism to be adopted with safety for the Heb.
any. The versions render no help, the meaning of the expression being
evidently unknown to them {e.g. ffi ikXiXoivoii ko.) ■jrapufiivo; ; Onq. pSn'^KO
pp'3iyi ; Pesh. "no helper or supporter"). Similar examples of phrases
which name two categories, under one or other of which e\erybody is
(virtually) included, are quoted from the Arabic ; e.g. " the binder and the
bound" (master and servant), Dietrich, I.e. ; "he that has a companion
and he that is alone" (Ew. Gesch. i. 182); "he that moveth and he that
is still," "he that giveth to hear and he that heareth " {'al-musmi'u
wa'ssdmtu) : see further Ges. Thes. pp. 1008, 1362. For the alliteration,
cf. ^:J1 yh njv] ny (Mai. 2'^), njs-i -iv, n^i i"?^.
37-39. God will speak to them through the extremity of
their need, bringing them to own, by the logic of facts, that
the gods in whom they trusted are unworthy of their regard,
in reality, of course, the original form of the ending, though in Heb. (as in
the ordinary fern, of substantives) the n is usually softened to n (Wright,
Compar. Granim. p. 167 f.). This is the only example of the form with a
strong verb in Heb. : a few other cases occur with verbs r\"h, i"v, &c.
(G-k! SS 44 R."; 72 R.» [Ez. 46»'] ; 74 R.^ ; 75 R.i).— Sin] i S. 9^ Jer. 2»«
Job 14" Pr. 2o'^t. In Aram, the usual word for to go aivny.
XXXII. 37-38 ^T]
and 80 making it possible for Himself to interpose on theii
behalf. — The verse supplies the thought that was missing in
v.^^, viz. of the moral change wrought in Israel by its need,
which would be the necessary condition of Jehovah's being
able to "repent," and receive them again into His favour
(Ew. Dillm.).
''^ And he will say, " Where are their gods,
" The rock in whom they sought refuge?
^8 " They that ate the fat of their sacrifices,
'* And drank the wine of their drink-offerings —
" Let them rise up, and help you,
" Let there [Sam. ffiSSTU : them] be a shelter over you.
* " See now that I, I am he,
" And there is no god with me :
*' / slay, and make alive,
" I have wounded, and / heal ;
" And there is no deliverer out of my hand.
37. In their need, Jehovah ironically bids the Israelites
have recourse to the gods, on whose help they had relied, and
whose favour they had sought to win by their sacrifices (cf.
for the thought Jud. lo^* Jer. 228). The manner in which God
is here supposed to address His people is through the circum-
stances of their need : in that need they, as it were, hear His
voice convincing them of the folly of their self-chosen course,
and moving them to look to Him as their true and sole
support. Rock is used here ironically of the false gods, as
v.3^. — Sought (or took) refuge] the verb (non) found so often in
the Psalms of taking refuge in Jehovah: e.g. Ps. 2^^ 7^(1)
i83(2) (13 npriN -\Vi); cf. the subst. nonp refuge, Ps. i4« 462
61* al. The proper sense of the verb is apparent from the
passages where it is followed by a word, such as shadow or
wings, definitely expressing a locality, as Jud. 9!^ (lit.), Is. 14^2
302 Ps. 368 (p-'Dm "I'DJD ^vn) 572. — A shelter (i^^^P)] cf. the
masc. "trip, of Jehovah, Ps. 32^ gi^ iig^^'* al. The clause is,
however, worded less definitely than is probable ; and no
doubt we must read either, with ffiSOEF Sam. Ew. Di. Marti,
VH' ("let thejn be") for TiS or, with Kamp. (who observes
that the fern. mriD does not occur elsewhere), O'jnp for iT|np
37. von] G-K. § 75 R.*.— 38. ints" . . . i'?3N'] frequent., as v.^*'-— cd'dj]
always elsewhere Tjpi or ^Dj, yoi, except here, meaning only a prince..
T,yS DEUTERONOMY
"let ^/leir shelter be over you." — 39. With Impassioned
eloquence the poet, speaking- in Jehovah's name, bids Israel
now, whatever may have been the case hitherto, recognize,
from the impotence of their false gods, His sole divinity, and
own that He has the power both to smite and to heal — it is
He who has brought Israel to its present extremity, and it is
He who is also able, if it so pleases Him, to restore to it its
lost prosperity. — T/ia^ /, I am he] the duplication of the pro-
noun marks the passion and fervour of the speaker : cf. Hos.
5^*^ Is. 4311-25 ^ii2 (gge the writer's Isaiah, pp. 182, 200). — 1
am he (sin *dn)] so Is. 41^ ^■^^- ^^ (followed as here by ^i^D pxi
h'^'o), 46'' 48^2, and (with thou) Ps. 102287. An emphatic asser-
tion of the personality of Jehovah: " I am He,^^ i.e. He who
is — as opposed to the unreal gods of the heathen (v.^"^-, and
the context of the passages in II Isaiah), or to the transitory
fabric of the world (Ps. 102^-^^-) — the Unseen, yet Omnipresent
and Self-consistent, Ruler of the world. — And there is no god
with ine\ cf. 4^^- ^*'. Similar monotheistic affirmations are
frequent in Deutero-Isaiah : see above, on 6* (p. 91).— / slay,
and make alive] cf. i S. 2*^ 2 K. 5''^ Wisd. 161^ Tob. 13^ (a
quotation). The reference is not, of course, to the resurrection
of the dead, but (as in the passages quoted) to Jehovah's
power to rescue from mortal peril (cf. Hos. 6^ 13^*; Ps. 16^^
30'* (3) 56^(13) 8613 Jon. 23-7(2. 6)), _/ /lave wounded, and I heal]
cf. Job 5I8 (nrs^n vn^i ^no^). Is. 1922 3026^ (n2T inso )'np^),
Hos. 61. — i^''^^D •'TO psi] Is. 4313 Job lo^: of. Hos. s^^ Is.
4311-13 contains very clear reminiscences of this verse. Though
Jehovah has smitten His people with war and other scourges,
He will now heal them, and visit their foes with irretrievable
disaster.
40-42. In conclusion, Jehovah solemnly promises that He
will whet His sword, and grant His people vengeance on theii
foes.
*• " For I lift up my hand to heaven,
" And say, ' As I live for ever.
*^ " ' If I whet my glittering- sword,
" ' And mine hand seize hold on judgment,
'* • I will render vengeance to my adversaries,
" ' And will recompense them that hate me.
XXXll. 39-42 379
** " * I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,
'*• ' And my sword shall devour flesh,
" * With the blood of the slain and of the captives,
" ' From the long--haired heads of the foe.' "
40. To lift up the hand is the gesture of a person taking an
oath, intended to imply that he appeals to God as a witness
to the truth of his affirmation, and that he is willing" to incur
the vengeance of Heaven in case he speaks falsely: it is here
applied, ayOpwiro-n-aOws and figuratively, to Jehovah Himself.
The same phrase p) Nt;'3) in P and esp. in Ez. (Ex. 6^ Nu.
14^0; Ez. ao-"^- 6- 15. 23 '(hence Ps. Io626) 28. 42 36^ 44I2 ^yUj) . so
■"' ^'li? Gn. 14": cf. Dan. 12"; Ex. ly^^.—As I ('3:x) live for
ever] an emphatic variation of the usual formula **As I live"
('3X 'n), Nu. 1421.28 jgr. 2224 ^^518 Zeph. 2^ Is. 49^^, and often
(17 times) in Ez. (5^1 1^^16.18.20 &c.)t. — 41. My glittering sword
is lit. "the lightning of my sword" (cf. Nah. 3^ pini 3"in irh
n-in, Hab. 3^1 in":!"! p-13 nj3^, Ez. 2ii<'(^'^)), which here, by a
bold poetic figure, is said even to be "whetted." Jehovah is
figured as a warrior, arming himself for the fray (cf. Ex. 15^
Is. 42^^ SQ^'^) • He "seizes hold" of judgment, as though it
were a weapon, lying at His side, and so is ready for the
combat with His foes, whose time of triumph over Israel is
now drawing to its close. As the context shows, the foes
whom the poet has in view are the victorious heathen (v.^o-^^j ;
the sinners in Israel itself (though of course, if pressed, he
would not deem them included in the promised salvation) lie,
as before (v.^^), outside the range of his thoughts. — Ve7igeance\
on V.35. — 42. The figure of v.*^^ is developed ; and Jehovah's
vengeance is pictured as accomplished amidst a scene of
carnage, such as the Hebrew prophets, esp. the later ones,
love to imagine {e.g. Is. 34^'^- 492*5 63^"^ 66^*5 Jer. 12^2 2530-33
^510 ^025-29^^ Clause '^ answers to, and completes, clause *,
and clause '^ completes similarly clause ^ (cf. Is. 492). The
"arrows," which were formerly (v.2-<) to be exhausted against
Israel, will now be directed, with fatal eflFect, against Israel's
foes.— Z)t"z;o/^r (lit. eat)\ cf. 2 S. 2-^' Ii25 Is. \^^.— Blood of the
40. 'm.tNi] on the tone, see on 2'-'. — 41. 'ri":e' irreg. for Tiijc : cf. Job 19''
(see Del.) ; G-K. § 67 R.'^—mNni] i = w that (Dr. §§ 61, 62, 138 i. /3).— 42.
ono] p as Gn. 9-^ (Is. 51^'). — 'Tar] 21". — 3'ik mvis r.y-ic] y-is \s /Jo-wing locks
380 DEUTERONOMY
slain] Nu. 23^* 2 S. i^^. — A^id the captives] an allusion to the
custom of slaughtering" prisoners after the victory, — a trait
meant to exemplify the completeness of the vengeance. —
Long-haired heads] alluding either to the exuberant vigour and
pride of Israel's wild assailants, or perhaps (W.R.S. in Black's
Judges in the Smaller Comb. Bible for Schools, p. 39) to their
being as warriors consecrated to their sanguinary work, the
unshorn locks being the mark of a vow : cf. Ps, 682^. — Another
rendering (cf. below) is " From the chief of the leaders of the
foe," i.e. from the king, the " slain " and the '* captives " being
the common soldiers.
43. The conclusion to the Song, corresponding to the
exordium, v.^"^.
*^ Sing joyously, O nations, of his people :
For he will avenge the blood of his servants,
And will render vengeance to his adversaries,
And clear from guilt his land, his people [Sam. ffi5^ : his
people's land].
The nations are invited to congratulate Israel on possess-
ing a God like Jehovah (33^^ Ps. 144^^), who will thus effectu-
ally take up His people's cause. Such an invitation, addressed
to the nations (cf. Is. 42^'^-i2 Ps. 47- (^^ 671-'^ a/.), involves
implicitly the prophetic truth that God's dealings with Israel
have, indirectly, an interest and importance for the world at
large. With clause ^ comp. v.^^*'^, with clause *^ v.^ic. From
the terms in which the nations generally are here addressed, it
follows, as Kamp. remarks, that the " adversaries " who are
threatened with vengeance are not the heathen in general, but
a particular people hostile to Israel. — Avenge the blood of his
servants] cf. 2 K. 9^ (in a Deut. insertion, \.'-'^^^\ see L.O.T.
Nu. 6® Ez. 44'^''t (cf. the verb Lev. 10^ al.) ; hence the rend, (nvis^fns) long-
haired heads (Schult., 0pp. Min. p. 159, Kn., Ke., W. R. Smith, who
renders similarly Jud. 5^ "for that flowing locks were worn in Israel."
Those who render leaders (Schultz, Kamp. Di. Oettli : cf. ffi a.fx.'o^rw^')
compare the Arab. _/ara'fl, to surpass, excel, far , a prince, noble: for the
fern., of an office, see G-K. § 122. 4^ AV. (following Kimchi) has
" revenges," which is based upon the common sense of ins in Aram. ; but
it yields here an unsuitable sense. — 43. loy c'u imn] pjnn means elsewhere
(a) cause to shout Ps. 65** Job 29^* ; {b) shout Ps. 32^^ (absol.) 81- (with ■?)!.
" Cause his people to shout, O ye nations," is not, however, a probable
rend.; and "Shout, O ye nations, his people" (Aq. Theod. J. D. Mich.
XXXII. 43-44 3^1
p. 1 86), Ps. 79^'. — And will clear from guilt (21*) his land, his
people] viz. by slaying those who have polluted it, whether by
shedding innocent blood in its midst (21^ Nu. 35^^), or by
practising in it idolatry and other abominations (Lev. iS^s- 28).
The acrov^^Tov "his land, his people" {\0V "inDlx) is, however,
hard and unnatural ; no doubt *' the land of his people " (no^K
loy) should be read with Sam. ffiF Klost. Dillm. Oettli, Marti.
According to the context, the reference will be to the heathen
adversaries, who have massacred innocent Israelites, and
committed other excesses in the land (comp. Joel 4 (3)^^- ^^) ;
but it is possible, in the concluding words of his poem, that
the poet may mean his words to be understood more gener-
ally, and to include a reference to the defilements wrought by
the sins of Israel itself. Upon this view, the poem will end
appropriately with the thought of Israel freed not only from
the calamities which it has so long endured, but also from its
sin (cf. Is. i^'^^- 4* 33^4 &c.), and so restored completely to
Jehovah's favour.
44, Concluding notice respecting the Song. — The verse
forms the conclusion, corresponding to the introduction 31I6-22.
It is tautologous with 31^^ (D), but is the natural sequel of
31^2 : 3122 states how Moses wrote the Song, 32^ how he
recited it before the people, ffi makes this reference clear by
repeating 3122 before 32**. — And Moses came] viz. from where
he was when he received the instructions 31^^"^^, or ** wrote"
the Song 31^2. <*Came and spake" (as Klost. Pent. pp. 249-
251 points out) implies that some instructions or information
had previously been given elsewhere : cf. Gn. 47I (see 46^^),
Ex. 19'^ (see v.^), 24^ (see ao^i). — This song] 3119-21.22. —
Hoshed] prob. a textual error iox Joshua , as is read by Sam.
ffiUS (Klost. p. 249 f.): Joshua' is called Hoshea' only in Nu.
Ew.) either requires D'U to be taken in the very improbable sense of the
two kingdoms of Israel (Ew.), or introduces abruptly the thought of the
nations now become God's people (J. D. Mich.), which, though suitable
elsewhere {e.g. Ps. 47^" (^)), is alien to the present context. It is best there-
fore to suppose that l':"in is construed as \r\ (Ps. 51'® 59'^), and to treat iDV
as the object of the verb. (5 (which expands this verse into 8 lines) has
fiiTa. Ttu katv auTou (so Rom. 15^"), either rendering freely, or reading iDj; oj/;
but the Massoretic text yields a more forcible and appropriate sense.
382 DEUTERONOATY
138. i«(P), all the Pentateuchal sources using otherwise uni-
formly the name Joshua'.
45-47. Moses' final exhortation to Israel to obey the
Deuteronomic law. — The passage is not connected with v.**.
It contains many Deuteronomic expressions ; and its literary
affinities are with 3128-29^ not with 31I6-22 or 32''4._45. i* ^y]]
20* 26^2 3 1 24^ — ^11 these words] i.e. the Deuteronomic dis-
courses. Dillm. Oettli, VVestphal, however, suppose v.''^*" to
have formed the close of the same final hortatory address, to
which they conjecture 3124-29 j-q have been the introduction (on
3i28) ; and refer all these words (as in 3128) to that. — All Israel]
li. — 46. Set your heart to\ i.e. give heed to, pay attention to
{vow -rrpoa-exii-v), the heart being the organ of understanding
(429) : so I S. 920 Ez. 40* ; Ex. 921 i S. 2525 (sq. ^i<) ; cf. (with
DK') Ex. 723 2 S. 1320 al. — IVhere^vtth I testify against you\ see
2 K. 17''^ Neh. (f^. Not tmto (RV.) : God's law is viewed as
a testimony against human sin (cf on 4*^). Comp. the absol.
use of the verb in emphatic or earnest protestation, in popular
language Gn. 43^ i K. 2^2^ and in a religious sense Jer. 11^
Ps. 50^ 8j^.— This day] 8^^ and often (on ^^).— That {^^o) ye
may lay them as a charge upon your children, for them to observe
to do (5') all the words of this law (28^^)] the verse inculcates,
not attention to the Deut. law, as such, but the duty of
impressing upon the rising generation (cf. 6^ ii^^ 3113)^ for
practical purposes, the exhortations accompanying it. — 47. For
that is not a thing too empty for you] the Deut. law is not
something unworthy of your regard, not something so desti-
tute of moral force and value that you can afford to put it
aside with disdain. On the contrary, it is yotir life, — the
foundation of your moral and material well-being (302*^; see
on 4^). — And through this thing ye shall prolong days, ^c]
the natural Deuteronomic sequel of "your life " : cf. 3020 and
0042*^. — Whither ye are passing over, Crc] 42^: similarly 6'
and frequently.
48-52. Moses is commanded to ascend Mount Nebo, and
view Canaan, before lie dies. — This passage belongs to P, the
marks of whose style (see the notes) are unmistakable. It is
a duplicate, somewhat expanded, of Nu. 27^2-14^ which is intro-
XXXII. 45-49 3^3
duclory to P's account of the institution of Joshua (Nu. 2J^^'^),
as the present passage is to P's account of the death of Moses,
contained in parts of c. 34. The additional matter consists
principally of more particular instructions relative to Moses'
ascent of Nebo.
Whether the duphcation is to be attributed to P himself, is uncertain :
the repetition of a command is not in his usual manner (cf. Dillm. p. 179).
At the same time, in the original priestly document (before its combination
with JE and Dt.), the command of Nu. 27^2'''* will have been separated
from the narrative of its execution in Dt. 34 by Nu. 28-31, parts of Nu. 32,
Nu. 33-36 Dt. i^; and a repetition of its terms, with more particular in-
structions to Moses, may have been deemed, under these circumstances,
not unsuitable (cf. Wellh. Comp. p. 115). This is the simplest supposition.
According to others, the duplication is due to a later hand, the motive for
it being the distance by which, when P was broken up for the purpose of
being combined with JE and Dt., Nu. 27'^'^'* was separated from the narra-
tive of Moses' death in Dt. 34. Thus Dillm. conjectures that Dt. 32**"^*
originally stood where Nu. 27'-"" stands now, and that it was removed to
Us present position, as an introduction to c. 34, at the final redaction of the
Pent., an abridgment, sufficient as an introduction to Nu. 27^^'-^, being
placed instead of it at Nu. 2 7'-"''* : Bacon {Triple Tradition, pp. 239 f.,
268) thinks Dt. 32'*'^"''^ an expansion of Nu. 27'^"", inserted by a later
priestly hand, for the same purpose, before c. 34.
48. Oti this selfsame day (nin DVn Q^'t'l)] a standing- ex-
pression of P's (Gn. 7^^ 1^23. 26 ^q_) . seeZ. 0. 7". p. 124, No. 12.
The " day " referred to will be that named in i^ (also P), which
is probably to be regarded as identical with the one to which
P refers the laws stated by him to have been given in the
Steppes of Moab, Nu. 33^*^-36^^. — 49. Go up to this mountain
of the 'Adcif'ifn] verbatim as Nu. 27^2. The " mountains of the
'Abarim, in front of Nebo" are mentioned also Nu. 33'*'''^- (P),
as the last station of the Israelites before they reached the
"Steppes of Moab" (on 34^). Comp. Jer. 22-'^. The name
— properly, no doubt, meaning, "of the parts beyond" —
appears to have been applied to the range of mountains
"beyond" {i.e. East of) Jordan, in which Nebo formed a
particular ridge, '/ye (ruins of) 'Abarim was the name of a
station of the Israelites in the high ground S.E. of Moab (Nu.
2'ii 33'*^). — U?ito Mount Nedo . . . fronting J ericho\ these words
are not in Nu. 27^2^ ggg on 34^ — In the land of Moab\ there
is no occasion to attribute these words to a different source ;
334 DEUTERONOMY
for thougli P speaks habitually of Israel as encamped in the
"Steppes of Moab " (on 34^), Nebo was not situated in the
Jordan valley, so that some more g^eneral expression would
naturally have to be employed. — And see, Qyc.\ nearly as Nu.
27i2b^ Here (as also v.^^j ,jj^ ;§ usg^j for <' I," as regularly in
P [L.O.T. p. 127, No. 25) : Dt. uses as regularly the other form
■•^JX (12^", phil. n.). — IMiich I am giving to\ exactly as Lev.
143-1 2310 252 Nu. 132 152 {V).— For a possession {^]^^^)] as Lev.
143*, and often in P {L.O.T. p. 125, No. 22). D in a similar
sentence would use "'D3S for ""JX, and would end with "for an
inheritance" ('^PH??) instead of "for a possession": see 421
jgio 2oi'5 2i23 24* 261.— 50. And die, &€.] Nu. 27^^^ though
more briefly expressed, agrees with this verse in substance. —
And be gathered to thy father s kiti] a standing phrase of P's
(Gn. 25S 3529 Nu. 2o2^- 26 2713 2i2 al.) ; not found in any other
writer [L.O. T. p. 126, No. 25 b). On the vand. father s kin, see
below. — In Hor the inountain\ so (in this unusual order)
always; see Nu. 2022-27 2i<a 33"'*^t (all P). The site is
uncertain, the identification with Jebel Nebi Harun, a little
SW. of Petra, being very doubtful : see Dillm. on Nu. 20^- ;
Trumbull, Kadesh-bamea, p. i28fF. (who thinks of Jebel
Madura, some 50 miles NW. of Edom) ; Buhl, Gesch. der
Edomiter., ■p. 22 f. — 5L Because ye brake faith with me, &-'c.\
Nu. 27^''^ agrees in substance, and partly in expression.
H'9 to break faith (RV. trespass) is a word belonging chiefly
to the priestly phraseology, and found mostly in P, Ezek.,
and Chr. : see e.g. Lev. s^s- 21 (e^) Nu. 31^6 Jos. 7I (P), 22I6
{L.O.T. p. 127, No. 43; p. 503, No. 3). — Midst (Tin)] as
regularly in P (who rarely uses the syn. ^IP, which D prefers:
cf. on i'*2). — The waters of Meribath-Kadesh (the contention
of Kadesh)] so Nu. 271-'^ (P), Ez. 47^^ ^g-s : cf. the waters of
Meribah, Nu. 2oi3. 24 (p)^ pt. 338 Ps. 818 \o6^^.—Tke
wilderness of Zin\ a designation used only by P (Nu. 13^*
50. D"Ov] in Arab, 'am is patruus and patrueles; in Heb. it commonly
means people. It seems that the orig-. meaning of the word was fathers
kin, retained in Heb. in the two phrases be gathered to, and cut off from,
one's D'Dy, but usu. in Heb. widened to people, while in Arab, it W3*
narrowed to father's brother, and father's brotJier's children. Cf, Wellb
in the Gottingen Nachrichten, 1893, p. 480.
XXXII. 50— xxxm 385
20I 27i<- 1* 3336 343 Jos. 1511 ; ct. Zin, Nu. 34^ Jos. 15^). The
site of Zin is unknown ; but the use of the expression shows
that the "wilderness of Zin " must have been a name for the
country round, or near, Kadesh (cf. Nu. 33^^; and see on i^),
— Sanctified me not] or treated me not as holy, viz. by paying
Me the honour and respect which are My due : cf. Nu. 20^2
27". The word is prob. chosen on account of its assonance
with Kadesh. Plays on words are rare in P ; but they occur
occasionally, e.g. Gn. 175.17 Nu_ j82 2013 ("contended"). —
52. To this verse nothing corresponds in Numbers. — Thou shalt
see the land froTu a distaiice C^^p)] lit. from in front (28^^):
cf. 2 K. 2^5 (^'^ saw him from a distance"), 3^2 425 (RV. "afar
off"). " Before thee" (AV., RV.) is not a good rendering.
XXXIII. The Blessing of Moses.— The Blessing of Moses
consists of a series of benedictions, or eulogies, pronounced
upon the different tribes (Sime'on excepted), v.^-^^, with an
Exordium v. 2-5, and a conclusion v. 26-29. The aim of the
blessing is to signalize some distinctive feature in the char-
acter, or occupation, or geographical situation of each tribe,
with allusion, by preference, to the theocratic function dis-
charged by it ; and at the same time to celebrate the felicity,
material and spiritual, of the nation as a whole, secured to it
originally by Jehovah's goodness in the wilderness (v. 2-5), and
maintained afterwards, by a continuance of His protecting
care, in its home in Canaan (v. 26-29). In general character, it
resembles the Blessing of Jacob (Gn. ^g^'^'^) ; but there are
several more or less noteworthy points of difference, (i) It
has an exordium and conclusion, distinct from the separate
blessings, in which the prominent thought is the relation of
the nation as a whole to Jehovah, and its manifold indebted-
ness to His bounty ; (2) the blessings are wholly eulogistic
(contrast Gn. 49^-'^- ^*-^*) ; (3) the subject of a blessing is often
some feature of a theocratic character (v.^-io- 12. 19. 2id-e. 26-27. 29)^
especially such as originated, or were secured to Israel, in the
Mosaic age (v.^-s- 8-10. le. 21. 27c-d^ . j^ q^ ^g ^^^ secular relations
of the tribes are far more prominent, and there is no reference
to the circumstances of the Mosaic age ; (4) the tribe of
Sime'on is unnoticed (5) each blessing, except the first (v.«),
25
386 DEUTERONOMY
is introduced separately by the narrator, speaking in his own
person (as v.^ ** And of Levi he said . . ."). Compared, as a
whole, with the Blessing of Jacob, the Blessing of Moses may
be said to be pitched in a higher key; the tone is more
buoyant; the affluence, or other distinctive character, of the
various tribes is portrayed in more glowing colours : ease,
tranquillity, and contentment are the predominant character-
istics of the age.* The most salient features are the isolation
and depression of Judah (the notice of which, vJ, is brief,
and very unlike the warm eulogy of Gn. ^g^-'^^), the honour
and respect with which Levi is viewed (contrast the minatory
tone of Gn. 49^'^), the strength and splendour of the double
tribe of Joseph, v.^^-^^, and the burst of grateful enthusiasm
with which the poet celebrates the fortune of his nation, settled
and secure, with the aid of its God, in its Palestinian home
(v.28-29). Reminiscences of Gn. 49 appear in v.^^"^^- 22 (see the
notes).
Date of the Blessing. The Blessing contains more than
one indication that it is not Mosaic. It is incredible that v.**
("Moses commanded us a law") could have been written
by Moses ; and even though (as is done by Volck, p, 45 ;
Delitzsch, ZKWL. 1880, p. 508) v.* be rejected as a gloss,
there remain other traits which it is difficult to reconcile with
his authorship. V.^^- 28 Jook back to the conquest of Pales-
tine 2lS past {^* And he drave out the enemy from before thee,
and said, Destroy ; so Israel dwelt securely upon a land of
corn and wine," &c.) ;t v. ^2. 19-23 describe special geographical
or other circumstances (v. 21 the part taken by Gad in the
conquest of Canaan), with a particularity not usual when the
prophets are declaring the future ; and the silence respecting
* Contrast for instance v.^'" (Levi, Jehovah's faithful minister) with Gn.
49*'' (Levi reproached for its violence, and scattered in Israel for a punish-
ment) ; v.^' (Benjamin dwelling in tranquillity under Jehovah's shelter)
with Gn. 49^^' (Benjamin a wolf, ever active in the pursuit of prey) ; v."
(Joseph an unassailable military power) with Gn. 49^ (Joseph, though main-
taining his position, sorely beset by foes) ; v.^^"^^ (Issachar happy in its
peaceful country life) with Gn. 49^^'- (Issachar mocked for its indolence and
slavish submissiveness to the foreigner).
t These tenses cannot be naturally understood as "prophetic" pasts:
cf. Dr. § 82, with the Obs.
XXXIII 3^7
Sime'on presupposes a period, when (as was certainly not the
case till considerably after the Mosaic age: cf. Jud. i^) the
tribe \\;i.s absorbed in Judah. Nevertheless, though not
Mosaic, ihe Blessing is certainly ancient, though it is difficult
tt> fix the date precisely, the historical allusions of the poem
being either indefinite or obscure, and hence affording room
for divergent conclusions. The Blessing presupposes a period
when Reuben had dwindled in numbers, and Sime'on had
ceased to exist as an independent tribe, when the tribe of Levi
was warmly respected (v.^'^i), when the Temple had been
built, and was regarded with affection by the pious worshippers
of Jehovah [v.^^), when Ephraim was flourishing and powerful
^v^i3-i6. i7j^ and Zebulun and Issachar commercially prosperous
fyigcd^ ; Judah, on the contrary (vJ), would seem to have
been in some difficulty or need, and (see the note) severed
from the rest of Israel. The circumstances of the nation must
have been very different from those under which the Song
^ 21-13 ^ya.s composed: no trace of idolatry, or of Israel's
declension from its ideal ; no foes, threatening Israel with
ruin, — at most the allusions to local or contingent troubles in
V 6b. Tc-d. iic-d . fjQ word of censure or reproach: v.27-29 f^ay be
said to be parallel to ^2^^-^*, but on all the melancholy history
that follows (32^^*^) the Blessing is silent. It breathes the
bright and happy spirit of the earlier narratives of Kings (as
distinguished from the Deuteronomic additions made by the
compiler). The periods to which the criteria just noted have
generally been considered to point, are either one shortly after
the rupture under Jerobo'am i.,* or the middle and prosperous
part (cf. 2 K. 1425) of the reign of Jerobo'am 11. {c. 780 B.c.):t
* Schrader, Einl. § 204 ; Dillm. ; Westphal, ii. 50.
t Graf, pp. 79-82; Bleek, Einl. § 127; Kuenen, Hex. § 13. 16; Reuss,
La Bible, ii. 360 f.; Stade, Gesch, i. 150, 152; Cornill, § 13. 6 ; similarly
Baudissin, Priesterthum, pp. 74 f., 266. Ew. (Hist. \. 128) assigned the
Blessing to the age of Josiah. Kleinert (pp. 169-175: so Konlg, Einl.
p. 202 f.) assigns it to the close of the period of the Judges, when Judah
also played a part distinct from the other tribes, and was relatively much
less prominent ; v.^'^ he refers to the territory of Benjamin generally,
observing that all the principal places named at this time as religions
centres (Bethel, Gilgal, Mi^pah, Nob) were within its borders Riehm
{Einl. i. 313) places it during the rivalry of the two kingdoms of David
388 DEUTERONOMY
the intermediate period is improbable on account of the Syrian
wars (cf. p. 346) ; and a date later than the age of Jerobo'am
would be unsuitable on account of the anarchy and unsettle-
ment which ensued in Israel after his death, and the deporta-
tion of the N. and E. tribes by Tiglath-Pileser in B.C. 734
(2 K. 15^^). There seems to be no sufficient reason why
the first of these dates should not be accepted : * under
Jerobo'am 11., Israel had too recently recovered itself, and its
prosperity (see Amos, passim) was too superficial, to be con-
templated by a prophet of Jehovah with the admiration and
satisfaction which the Blessing- displays. The sympathy
shown for the Northern tribes, and especially the glowing
eulogy bestowed upon Joseph, — while Judah is dismissed in a
few words, with the wish that it may be united to the nation
generally, — is an indication that the poet represents the
Ephraimite point of view, and that he belongs to the Northern
kingdom.! It is most probable that the Blessing was in-
tended from the first to pass under Moses' name : if this was
the case, it will be most natural to suppose that (like the
poetical utterances placed in Bala'am's mouth in Nu. 22-24)
it was the poetical development of an ancient popular tradi-
tion,! which, as it took shape in the poet's breast, received in
parts the stamp of the age in which he lived ; and the aim of
which (Dillm. p. 416) was **to rally the nation anew around
the banner of the Mosaic institutions, and to awaken in it a
and Ishbosheth (2 S. 2-4 : with v.' cf. 2 S. 5^'*) ; Oettli, p. 23, inclines to
the same view.
* Unless, indeed, the familiar use of the term covenant (v.**) pre-
supposes a later age (cf. on 4^^).
t Cf. Westphal, ii. 50, " Le verset 7 ne s'explique parfaitement que si
la pi^ce 4 laquelle il appartient a dt^ ^crite au lendemain meme du Schisme
des dix tribus, en ces temps i la fois prosp^res et douloureux, oi les deux
moiti^s de I'ht^ritag'e de David souhaitaient encore de se rejoindre. La
forme du vceu, — qui n'est point la plus naturelle, puisque c'est Israel qui
s'est separ^ de Juda, — montre assez que I'auteur de la pi^ce est un homme
du royaume du Nord. On sent d'ailleurs aussi fr^mir, dans les demiers
mots de la benediction de L^vi, le ressentiment que I'lsrael fiddle ^prouvait
contre les institutions impies de Jeroboam i. (comp. i Rois xii, surtout le
verset 31)." Cf. the note on v.^
:J: Westphal, ii. 48 : " L'amplificalion po^tique d'un souvenir ancien
dans la tradition populaire."
XXXIII. I 389
fresh and vivid consciousness of the happiness implied in its
being Jehovah's people."
The Blessing contains several words or forms, not occurring elsewhere
(two or three due prob. to a corrupt text) : v.* me'N (?), v.^ 33n, iDn, nnai,
V.' fjONn.T (elsewhere the Nif. IDn:), v.'" miop (elsewhere mop), v.'* p as
conj., V." 'isn, V." b*ij, v.^' vsv, ]^sh, v.^ pn, v.^^ nay, v.^ VyjD (elsewhere
ViyjD), H21. Rare words are v.* .nSnp (usually 'ynp), v.''-^* jme", v.^'^^^ i:d,
v.^ Tiy, Of these 33n, p:i, yrtr, and n:D have an Aramaic, or (iJD) North-
Israelitish, tinge.
As to the manner in which the Blessing was incorporated into Dt.,
nothing definite can be said, Dillm. and Cornill (§ 13. 6) think that it
formed part of E ; Bacon {^Triple Tradition, p. 269 fF.) argues in favour of
its having belonged to J ; but the arguments on both sides are slight and
inconclusive. It displays no literary connexion with the narrative of either
c. 31-32 or c. 34 : the sole noteworthy points of contact with the Song in
c. 32 are Jeshurun v."-^*, iny v.^^^, and the figure in v.^®* (see 32^^'2»-i3a) ;
in general style and tone it differs from it completely. Nor do remin-
iscences, or other traces of its influence, appear in the discourses of Dt. :
hence it is quite possible that it was incorporated from an independent
source — perhaps a collection of ancient national hymns — after the book
had, in other respects, reached its present form. The question is not,
criticall)', one of importance.
As regards the order of the tribes, the series is opened naturally by the
first-born, Reuben ; in Gn. 49 Reuben is followed, in order of seniority, by
Sime'on, Levi, Judah, and then by the two younger Leah-tribes, Issachar
and Zebulun : here (Sime'on being omitted) Judah precedes Levi, — on
account, doubtless, of its political prominence ; the two Rahel-tribes,
Benjamin and Joseph (which in Gn. 49, as Jacob's youngest sons, come
last, in the opposite order) precede Zebulun and Issachar, — in view, no
doubt, of their superior theocratic or political importance, Benjamin stand-
ing first on account of the Temple ; and the series is closed by Gad, Dan,
Naphtali, Asher, the two Bilhah (Rahel's handmaid)-tribes coming
oetween the two Zilpah (Leah's handmaid)-tribes.
Monographs on the Blessing : K. H. Graf, Der Segen Moses, 1857 ;
\V. Volck, Der Segen Mose's, 1873 : see also Stade, Gesch. i. 150-172.
XXXIII. 1. Superscription. — The man of God] so, of Moses,
Jos. 14^ Ps. 90 title\. Frequently of prophets (i S. 2^7 gfi
I K. 12^2 131^- 2 K. 4-8 (oft.), &c.), or messengers of God
(Jud. 13^-^). — Before his death] Gn. 27^ 50^^ i Ch. 22^.
2-5. Exordium. How Jehovah, revealing Himself majes-
tically to His people in the desert, gave them a law through
Moses, and secured for the tribes, united under His sovereignty,
the possession of Canaan.
XXXIIL 1. 'Ji Tia nB-K] the double accus., as 12' 15'* (G-K. § 117. 5*;
Dav. §§ 75^ 78 R^).
390 DEUTERONOMY
* J ?hovah came from Sinai,
And beamed forth unto them from Se'ir ;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And approached out of holy myriads ;
From his right hand was a [burning-] fire for then.
• Yea, he had affection for the peoples [ffir : his peopie|;
All its holy ones were in thy hand :
And they [followed] at thy foot,
Receiving' of thy words.
* A law Moses commanded for us
A possession (for) the assembly of Jacob.
• And he became king- in Jeshurun
When the heads of the people were assembled.
All togfether the tribes of Israel.
2. It is not said that Jehovah came to Sinai, but that He
came from it ; hence the verse cannot relate to the delivery of
the law, when Jehovah "came down iipon Sinai" (Ex. ig^^-^o),
but describes, under grand poetic imagery, how from spots
bordering on the wilderness of the wanderings, Jehovah had
displayed Himself gloriously to His people, assisting them
with His presence, and guiding them on their journey to
Canaan. Cf. the theophanies described in Jud. 5^^- (whence,
with variations, Ps. 688f- ("•)), Hab. f^- Ps. 77I6-20, sjnai,
which is already called the "mount of God" in Ex. 3^ (cf.
19^), must, it seems, have been a sacred spot before the
Israelites made it their halting-place (cf. Wellh. Hist. p. 343 f. ;
W. R. Smith, Rel. Sent. p. iiof., ed. 2, 1894, p. iiyf.). The
majestic mountain ranges on the other side of the great
desert, which stretched as far as the eye could reach on the S.
of Canaan, impressive both for their solitude (.5". dr^ P. p. 12 f.)
and for their savage grandeur, appear to have been regarded
by the Israelites, before the establishment of the sanctuary on
Zion, as Jehovah's earthly dwelling-place, whence He issued
forth for the defence or guidance of His people. — Sinai\ D
always speaks oi Horeb (i^). — Beamed forth (mr)] viz. as the
2. iro'D] ]□ may express either out of, from, or off, on the side of— at
(Ps. t6*and oft.) : the former is more suitable here.— ni»N] so Mass., with
the note jnn npi in a'riD, i.e. to be written as one word, and read as two
(iTi B>t<). m, for the reason stated above, cannot be correct : hence we are
driven to conclude that the text is corrupt. Most of the suggestions that
have been made are, however, questionable philologically : so "t^'N (Graf)
support, viz. for Israel (of. Aram. Ko:nf'f=Heb. n^n; i K. 7** 10^*), nHnip'ij
XXXIII. 2 39^
rising sun, illumining the horizon with the splendour of its
rays. This is what mi always denotes : cf. i? mr Gu. 3222(31).
and fig., as here, of Jehovah, Mai. 32": so h]} HIT Is. 60^ • 2. —
Unfo thc?n\ viz. the persons whom the poet has in his mind (Is.
13^ 33^ > Nah. i^ '* its place"), i.e. here the people of Israel. —
From Seir\ i.e. from Edom (p. 6). The mention of Edom — a
country generally so hostile to Israel — as a place whence
Jehovah manifests Himself for the salvation of His people,
is remarkable ; but it recurs in Deborah's Song, Jud. 5*
("Jehovah, when thou camest forth from Seir, when thou
marchedst from the field of Edom"), and in the Ode of
Habakkuk, Hab. 3^ ("God came from Teman [a district of
Edom], and the Holy One from Mount Paran ") ; and in Jud.
55 the theophanic storm on Sinai appears to be represented
not as a consequence of Jehovah's descent from heaven, but
as a consequence of His issuing forth from Edom. Were we
better acquainted than we are with the ancient religion of
Edom, the reason for this representation might be apparent.
— Shone forth (ysin)] Ps. 50^ (from Zion), 80^ 94I : the thought
also as Hab. 3* n\nn 11X3 nj:i. — From Mount Paran] or
(collect.) the mountains of Paran : so Hab. 3^ (just quoted).
The data at our disposal do not enable us to fix with con-
fidence the locality intended (cf. p. ^): by some (Schultz, Keil,
Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, p. 510, cf. pp. 288 f., 339, 344 f.)
it is identified with Jebel Mugrah, a height of some 2000 ft.,
about 29 miles S. of 'Ain Kadis, 50 miles W. of Edom, and
130 N. of Sinai, forming the S. part of the mountain plateau,
now inhabited by the Azazimeh Arabs ; by others (Delitzsch
on Hab. 3^, Volck) with the range of hills extending in a N.E.
direction from Sinai, along the W. side of the Aelanitic Gulf,
(Friedr. Del. ZKWL. 18S2, p. 342, tentatively) standing-places (from the
Assyr.), nSn^'N (Ew. Knob.) lightning--/! ashes (Aram, he's to pour forth, but
not spec, of light), nnB'x (Bo. Kc.) Jire shot forth (of lightning, lit. fire of
throwing, from VH and btb* from Aram, na to throw, Heb. .Ti(j' in the n.
pr. ^1N'^.f' Nu. i' 2'®), a sense which Ges. seeks to extract from MT., by
treating nT as contr. from nv, from m* to throw. Dillm., observing that
the idea oi lightning is best suited to the context, proposes either n'l[97] CX
(Ex. 20^*) or nT[i5'] ts^x ; these are by far the best proposals that have been
made, the latter (as the f. pi. of TsV is not found except as a n. pr.) being
the preferable one.
j92 DEUTERONOMY
towards Edom. The latter range of mountains appears to be
the loftier and more imposing- (cf. Hull, Mount Seir, Sinai, &c.
pp. 55-61), if such characteristics may be presumed to have
determined its selection in the present connexion. And El oj
Paran, if this be rightly identified with Elath {2^), at the head
of the Aelanitic Gulf (ct. Dillm. on Gn. 14^), would seem to
connect Paran somewhat intimately with that neighbourhood.
— Approached {p^^)\ nnx is the Aram, synonym of X3 to come
(cl. ^), found sometimes in Heb. poetry (v. 21 Is. 21^2 jer. 322 al.).
Approached is adopted merely to avoid the repetition of the
same word came. — Out of holy myriads] i.e. from His abode in
heaven, where He sits enthroned, surrounded by angelic hosts
(i K. 22^9 Ps. 89" Dan. 7^0 al.). But the sense thus produced
is here unsatisfactory ; and it is very doubtful if the text is
correct.
A periphrasis for heaven is not a probable parallel to Sinai, Se'ir, arr^'
Paran ; and the thought of Jehovah's coming- forth from His heavenly
abode (Mic. i^) should precede the three earthly localities : moreover, the
angfel hosts would be more naturally pictured as accompanying their
Sovereign (Zech. 14^ Ps. 68i®(^'*)> than as left behind by Him in heaven.
(& (for Jioly) has Ka'ivs ; whence Ew. {Hist. ii. 198 ; Jahrb. Bibl. IViss. iii.
234), Dillm. read cip nnnoD "from Meribath-Kadesh (32^^), to which Oettli
also inclines ; Bottcher, A'^eue Ahrenl. (less probably) trip na^yn " from the
steppes (34^) of Kadesh"; \V°llh. {Hist. p. 344) tyip nnno "and came to
Meribath-Kadesh." Kadesh (as its name implies) was an ancient sanctu-
ary, and for long a resting-place of the Israelites (i^ : cf. p. 32 f.), though
details of their sojourn there are not preserved in our present Pentateuch.
Its mention here would thus not in itself be unsuitable : though the geo-
graphical character of Kadesh — a recess in a low limestone range, rising
out of the plain (p. 6) — in view of the fact that Jehovah's theophanies are
habitually associated with great mountain regions, does not lend prob-
ability to the idea of a theophanyyVow it. Wellh.'s reading may thus be
worthy of greater consideration than Dillm. (p. 417 f.) is disposed to give
to it ; for, to judge from its other name (Gn. 14^) ' En-Mishpat, " Spring of
judgment," contending parties sought at Kadesh authoritative settlement
of their disputes ; hence it is quite possible that tradition may have con-
nected part of Moses' legislative activity with the period of Israel's sojourn
there. Other slight emendations, deviating less from the existing text,
and none unsuitable to the context, would be naai? for namp (cf. p. 31 n.)
"and came -with holy myriads"; cnp nam nhxi "and ivith him (so, for
came, Sam. SSTU: for the n, see on 34^) were holy myriads"; or nnx)
tip ni3?"iD (mentioned by Graf), "and with him were holy chariots" {ci.
Ps. 68^** <'''* Hab. 3'^''). It is impossible to determine with confidence what
the original text was. — The passage, as understood by the Jews (ST "and
xxxiii. 3 393
with him were myriads of holy ones " ; cf. ffi in clause •* U iiliuv alrti
ayyiXoi fur' avToZ), gave rise to the behef that the angels assisted at the
delivery of the law, Acts 7** Gal. 3'* (see Lightfoot), Heb. z^ Jos. Ant.
XV. 5. 3 al. ; cf. Weber, Altsynag. Theol. p. 259.
A bnmiyig fire for the'ni\ the Heb. text has 10^ m C^'S "fire
was a law for them." But m *' law " is a Persian word, found
only in the latest parts of the OT. (Ezr. Est. Dan.) : it is next
to impossible that it can have been used in Heb. at the time
when this Blessing- was written. Various emendations have
been proposed (see below), of which the most plausible is that
of Dillm., here adopted, nip^ for HT : for the thought, cf. Hab.
3* " He had rays of light (coming forth) from his hand," Ex.
20I8 Ps. 50^. The theophany is described (as Hab. '^^■') as
accompanied by a flood of brilliant light. — 3. The verse, with its
many aTra^ elprj/xeva, and Other difficulties, can hardly be in its
original form : as it stands, the general sense expressed by it is
Jehovah's loving guidance of Israel, and the instruction which
He vouchsafed to give it. — Had affection for (33n)] only here ;
common in Aram, and Arab, in the sense of to love. The
thought as 'f-^ &c. — His people (iDJ?)] so <&. Dillm. Oettli,
Marti : cf. the sing. pron. its in cl. ^. The text has peoples
(d^IDV). This regularly denotes the heathen nations (so Schultz,
Keil), God's regard for which is, however, here entirely foreign
to the poet's train of thought. — Its holy ones] i.e. Israel's, the
"holy nation" (Ex. 19^; Dt. 7^ 142-21 26^^). The pron. can
hardly be rendered his, on account of the very harsh enallage
3. 3 3 h] the ptcp. without the subj. expressed is defensible (v.^': Dr.
§ 135. 6 ; Dav. § lOo") ; but here, as pff. precede and follow, 3317 (ffiS^TU,
Kn. Di. Oe.) is preferable. — D'Dy] on the strength of Gn. 28' 48* Jud. 5" Hos.
10", it has been supposed (Onq. Ibn 'Ezra, Rashi, Graf, Kn. a/.) that D'Dy
may mean the tribes of Israel : but it is very doubtful if the promise that
Jacob is to become " a company oi peoples" (cf. " of nations " Gn. 35"), or
Jud. 5^* Hos. 10" (where " thy coy " appears to mean " thy kinsfolk " : see
on 32'"), justify the supposition that D'ny used absolutely would express this
sense. — isij] would be a pf. Pu. from nan : but no root n:n is known. De
Dieu, Ges. Rod. (in Thes.) al. render reclined, comparing Arab, 'ittaka'a
(viii. conj.) to lean, recline {e.g. on seats Qor. 18*" 43^) : but this rend, is very
dub. ; there is no genuine root taka'a in Arabic ; 'ittakaa, like 'atkaa (iv.),
is a secondary formation from -wakda (Freyt. s.v. ; Lane, p. 2962). Graf,
Knob, would read ^sn, comparing Arab, thakka peregrinatus fuit ; but ti-J
fibould correspond to Heb. v, not n. Other explanations are still less satis-
394 DEUTERONOMY
pcrsonne, which would then be involved in the following thy
— Followed] the rend, is given conjecturally, "inn being in fact
a vox niJiili; see below. — At thy foot\ i.e. at thy guidance
(see below) : cf. i^^ &c. — Thy words] i.e. commands, laws,
&c. — 4. Possession (H'^niD)] otherwise only Ex. 6^ (P), and Ez.
J, 15 25^"' 33^* 362-3.5^ Qf a territorial possession. n?n3 in-
heritance lends itself to fig. uses ; and hence a late Psalmist
can speak of the law as his nbn3 (Ps. 1 19^") : but the metaph.
use of n::nio is not probable ; and the reference is no doubt to
Canaan, of which the cogn. verb ^y* is constantly used (Dt.
4*^ &c.). — Assembly ('^^''7?)] only Neh. 5'^: ?^P is the usual word
(232(1)). — 5. Became king, cfyc] Jehovah assumed, as it were,
the sovereignty over Israel, when the tribes with their leaders
(v. 21) were gathered about Him, on the " day of the assembly "
(910 10^ I SI") at Sinai. — Jcshurun] the designation shows that
Israel is here contemplated under its ideal character (32^^^. —
King] of God, as Nu. 2321 ; cf. Jud. S^s Is. 3322. Graf, Wellh.
[Hist. p. 254), Stade [Gesch. i. 177), Reuss, Kuenen [Hex. § 13.
16), Cornill, § 13. 6, render "And there was a king," &c., sup-
posing the reference to be to the recognition of Saul as king
by united Israel. But this, as Dillm. observes, does not seem
to lie in the line of the poet's thought. CI. '^ leads on appro-
priately to the notices of the separate tribes, which follow (Di.).
6. Reuben.
Let Reuben live, and not die ;
But let his men be few.
factory. The Versions, and Jewish authorities, render no help, in most
cases merely conjecturing- from the context ; (5 u^o a-s (as though nnn for
idh), S ]'^-i-iO /o/hwetl, Aq. percussi {a.s thoug-h 53n), H qui appropinquant
pedibus tuis, Ibn 'Ezra idcdj, Kimchi -t>yh ij'^ni i-i:jnn: iDipo 'd^ u'jy. n^i,
or lycj, is the idea that is required (see the note on iSjn'?) : but there is no
Heb. word expressing- it, which graphically resembles i3n : the corruption,
it is evident, is deep-seated. — "'^Ji'?] the S does not express locality, but is
the "? of norm (11"), as i S. 25*^ "who went according to her foot," i.e.
attended her wherever she went, Gn. 30^* 33" {ace. to the foot — i.e. pace —
of the cattle). Is. 41^ (RV. 2nd w.), Hab. ^. — nc] the " synchionistic"
impf., as Is. 42'^ Jer. 15* i S. i8» Ps. 26' (Dr. §§ 34 <'«a', 163 ; Dav. § 141.
R.8). — Trui-iJ^] with JD part. The form iTia^ (not elsewhere) excites sus-
picion.— 4. nSnp] poet, for n'^npS : cf. Is. 28* 481* (G-K. § 119. 5).— 5. i.t]
beginning the clause with emph. : cf. Job 3I® 16^* 19^^ ah; and nrr v.' Is.
, j7. u 21 1 al.—Q. ',Ti] the sg., as 32'^ — vno] on 4^.— isdd] lit. number {GK.
xxxiii. 4-« 395
The series opens with Reuben, the first-born (Gn. 498).
The blessing is a qualified one, and corresponds with the
position actually taken by Reuben in history. The tribe main-
tained its existence, but was not politically important ; and
its numbers were probably greatly reduced. It is reproached
by Deborah (Jud. 5^^^-) for its indifference in a great national
crisis; and many of the cities assigned to it in the "table-
land" (niC'"'Dn) N. of the Arnon (Jos. 1313-23) appear afterwards
(see the Inscription of Mesha' ; Is. 15-16; Jer. 48) in the
possession of Moab. It is rarely referred to in the history.
The dwindling numbers, and national insignificance, of the
tribe, are reflected in the Blessing; Reuben is to be saved
from extinction, but its existence is to be a precarious one. —
Sime'on, Leah's second son, who would naturally follow
Reuben (as Gn. 49^), is passed by. This, it seems, is to be
explained by the fact that Sime'on at an early period was
virtually absorbed by the tribe of Judah, in the S.W. of whose
territory, about Beer-sheba', its possessions lay : all the
Sime'onite cities enumerated in Jos. ig^-^ are classed in
1^26-32. 42 as belonging to Judah (cf. also Jos. 19^ i Ch. 427. 3i) ;
after the division of the kingdom, Sime'on hardly figures as
an independent tribe ; nor is a single member of it named as
resident in the same cities (Neh. nscff.) after the exile (cf.
Ew. I/isL ii. 287 f.; Stade, Gesch. i. 154 f.). Its early close
connexion with Judah is attested by Jud. i^-i^. Cod. A and
other MSS. of fflr insert Su/acwv in cl. **, rendering (falsely) koI
Svftewv lo-To) TToXus ev api6fi<o ; but this is evidently a correction,
§ 141. 2 R^ ; Dr. § 192. 2 ; Dav. § 296), idiom, for numerable, few (Is. 10";
Nu. 9^^" ; Dt. 4-' a/.). The qualified blessing has appeared to many to be a
difficulty ; and attempts have hence been made to extract from the verse
a different sense. Thus Graf, Ke. understand the neg. in no' Sm to rule
also the foil, clause (as Ps. 9*^ 35^' 38^ 44^* 75^ i S. 2^) ; but this happens
only where the neg. holds the principal place in the first of two parallel
clauses : here it holds a subordinate place, the words and not die being
added to Let Reuben live, merely for the sake of emphasizing that (cf. Ps.
28^'' Jer. 2^ 18^ 21^° 24® 42^") ; the first clause of the verse, therefore, so far
from supplying a neg. to determine the second, in reality contains only an
affirmative proposition. Di. treats 1 in '.Ti a.s = so that {G-K. § 109. 2*^ R ;
Dr. § 64 ; Dav. § 65"=) " Let Reuben live ; and let him not die so that his men
be few " ; but this rend, destroys the rhythm and symmetry of the verse.
396 DEUTERONOMY
made to remove what had the appearance of a difficulty. See
further at the end of the note on v.^ (p. 397 f.).
7. Judah.
' Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Judah,
And bring him to his people :
With his hands he hath contended for it,
And be thou a help from his adversaries.
The prayer of the first line implies that the tribe desirrs
something" — whether release from peril, or success in war, or
union with its natural allies — which it has not yet attained
(Ps. i8^(^> 622(1); cf. Gn. 2117 Nu. 20^6); the prayer that it
may be "brought unto its people" implies that it is separated
from them. And the tribe being spoken of as a whole, the
** people" to which it is to be brought can only be the rest of
Israel. When, however, was Judah, relatively to the rest of
Israel, in the situation thus presupposed ? And what is the
separation alluded to ? Onq. paraphrases : ' ' Hear, O Jehovah,
the prayer of Judah when he go eth forth to battle, and bring
him back to his people in peace " ; and the words are explained
similarly by Keil and others. But this exegesis is question-
able : the limitation expressed in the first italicized clause is
not suggested by anything in the text, which implies that
Judah is generally, at the time contemplated by the poet, in
need of assistance. And we at least know nothing from the
history of its having been the custom for Judah to fight on
behalf 0/ the other tribes, and t'n separation from them ; Jud.
^» 20^8 do not prove it. Judah, during the period of the
Judges, so far from having been the champion of the other
tribes, appears rather to have held aloof from them, and
pursued an independent course of its own : in the Song of
Deborah, it is not even named. By many the words have been
interpreted as a prayer, uttered from the point of view of an
Israelite of the Northern kingdom, for the reunion of Judah
and Israel, either (Riehm, Einl. i. 313) during the rivalry
(2 S. 2-4) between the two kingdoms of David and Ishbosheth,
or at some period (see p. 387 f.) after the rupture under Jero-
bo'am I. (so Ew. Hist. i. 128; Graf, p. 28 f.; Wellh. Hist.
p. .382; Stade, Gesch. i. 160; Dillm. ; Westphal, ii. 50J
XXXIII. 7 397
Although, from a Judaean point of view (i K. 12 Is. 7''^ &c.),
the rupture was viewed as a defection of the Northern tribes
from the dynasty of David, yet Judah was the smaller unit,
and the Northern kingdom retained the national name of
" Israel," so that an Ephraimite, who, whether on religious or
political grounds, regarded the division as a misfortune, might
well speak of Judah as being brought to the larger whole, of
which it was naturally a part, viz. "its people" Israel.* It is
not a decisive objection to this view that bring back {^iy^T\)
would be used of a reunion, rather than merely bring (ijs'DD) :
see Dt. 30^ Ez. 362* 3721 al. Clause '^ will then allude to the
leadership naturally assumed by Judah under David and
Solomon: the victorious wars of David (2 S. 8, &c.) might
well be described poetically as contests in which the tribe was
engaged for the common weal. This is the best explanation
of which the words admit : our ignorance of the exact circum-
stances under which the Blessing was composed, naturally
precludes us from being confident that it is the correct one.
Clause*^, "if it be not meant quite generally, could be readily
understood as an allusion to the invasion of Shishak, i K.
I425f. " (DlUm.). — With his hands, dlr'c.] justifying the desire
for reunion, just expressed, by a reference to Judah's services
for the common weal. But i? 3^"! 1^1' (addressed to God)
"with thy hands contend for it" (Is. 492^ 5122 &c.), is (as Di.
also allows) a plausible conjecture (Stade, I.e.).
The brevity of the blessing of Judah, and the martial terms of v.",
which seem unsuited to the character of Levi, led K. Kohler {Der Segen
Jacob's, 1867, p. s) to conjecture that v.' was misplaced, and that it ought
to follow v.i", in which case v." would of course relate to Judah. Gratz
{Gesch. derjuden, ii. i (1875), p. 486 f.) went further, following' R. Eli'ezer,
a Talmudic author of the 2nd cent, a.d., in applying to this verse the
7. i"? m it] constr. as Ps. 3* if^- " 44^ &c. (G-K. § 144. 4* ; Dav.
f 109 R.s).
• On the theocratic relation of the kingdom of Israel to that of Judah,
see an excellent paper by the Rev. A. Robertson, D.D,, in the Thinker,
Jan. 1895, who points out well that though Judah became ultimately more
important, nevertheless, during the two centuries following the division
of the kingdom, Israel was both politically the more powerful and also the
chief centre of spiritual life and activity (Elijah, Elisha', Amos, Hosea').
398 DEUTERONOMY
somewhat bold exeg^etical canon that when a word did not suit a passage
a. lather more suitable might, if necessary, be substituted for it, and, in
reading accordingly, Simeon (twice) for Judah. Heilprin, Hist. Poetry oj
the Hebrews (New York, 1879), i. 113-116, and Bacon, Triple Tradition,
pp. 270-272, argue stronglj' in support of this correction, and, combining
with it the emendation suggested by Kohler, obtain, as the Blessing of
Sime'on (v.^), " Hear, O Jehovah, the voice of Sime'on, And bring him to
his people " (the reference being supposed to be to the remnant of Sime'on-
ites, who found refuge in Se'ir, i Ch. 4*^') ; and, as the Blessing of Judah
(v."), "Judah with his hands contends for himself. And thou art an help
from his foes : Bless, O Jehovah, his might, And accept the work of his
hands ; Smite through in the loins those that rise up against him. And
them that hate him, that they rise not again " (Heilprin, p. ii6f.; slightly
differently Bacon, p. 315). The correction is an ingenious one: but no
reason appears for the transposition, and other alterations, which it postu-
lates : and it is difficult not to feel the justice of Dillmann's verdict, that
it is "too violent" to be probable. (The play on Sime'on in "Hear"
(sh^md') is no appreciable argument in its favour ; for though the names
of the tribes are played on in Gn. 49 (v.** ^^' ^^), this is not elsewhere the
case in Dt. 33, — VT in v.'', on .tii.t, being very doubtful.)
8-11. Levi.
* Thy Thummim and thy Urim be for the man, thy godly one,
Whom thou didst prove at Massah,
With whom thou contendedst at the waters of Meribah :
• Who saith of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him.
Neither doth he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knoweth he his own children ;
For they keep thy saying, and observe thy covenant :
^* They show Jacob thy judgments,
And Israel thy direction (law) ;
They set incense in thy nostril,
And whole-offerings upon thine altar :
^^ Bless, O Jehovah, his might,
And favour (accept) the work of his hands ;
Smite through in the loins those that rise up against him,
And them that hate him, that they rise not (again).
Contrast Gn. 49^''^. — 3. Jehovah is addressed, with the
petition that the privilege of guarding for Israel the sacred
lot may be confirmed to Levi, whose fidelity had been so
severely tested in the wilderness. — ThuTtimini and Uriiri\ else-
where always Urim and ThumTniniy Ex. 28^^ Lev. 8^ Ezr. 2^^
( = Ne. 7^5), and esp. i S. 14^^ S ("Wherefore hast thou not
answered thy servant this day? if this iniquity be in me or in
Jonathan my son, O Jehovah, God of Israel, give brim . out it
it be in thy people Israel, give Thummim ")t : the Uri?n alone
XXXIII, 8 399
are named Nu. 27^1 i S. 28"!. — For the man, thy godly one\ i.e.
the tribe Levi, conceived collectively, and personified as an
individual ; in clauses ^' '^ it is then described as being
"proved" at Massah, and "contended" with at the waters ot
Meribah, viz. (if the reference be to what is described in our
existing Pent.) in the persons of its two representative leaders,
Moses and Aaron. This rend, is supported by the prominence
which it gives (in agreement with the other blessings) to the
tribe itself: but the sense put upon cl. ^' '^ is rather strained.
Dillm. Oettli render "for the men of thy godly one," viz. of
Moses, the men of his tribe {^^■^ being collective, as Jos. q**'-
Jud. 8^2 Is. 5^-^; and often); in this case the relatives in
cl. **• '^ will refer directly to Moses. The passage, however,
occasions difficulty : for (i) the words, taken in their natural
sense, refer to the tribe generally (notice the plurals in v.®^-),
which however is not mentioned upon either of the occasions
referred to (Ex. ly^-^ ; Nu. 20^"^^) ; and (2) even if it be granted
that the tribe is conceived as represented by Moses or Aaron,
nothing is elsewhere said of either having been tried by
Jehovah at these places : but (with a play on the two names)
it is said in J (Ex. i72i^-7: of. Dt. 61^ 922) that the people
" proved " (see on 6^'^) Jehovah at Massah ("Proving"), and
in E (Ex. 17^*- ^) that they "contended " on the same occasion
with Moses at Meribah ("Contention"); further, at a much
later period of their wanderings (Nu. 20^^ J), that they "con-
tended " with Moses, — or (in P) with Jehovah (Nu. 20^^, cf.
27"), — at the "waters of Meribah," in Kadesh. Upon the
supposition that the present passage alludes to the incidents
thus recorded, it is commonly understood to say, with another
play, that Jehovah "proved" the tribe in Moses' person — or
(Di. Oe.) "proved" Moses himself — at Massah (Ex. 17), viz.
by observing how he would behave under the provocation of
the people's complaints; and "contended" with him at the
waters of Meribah (Nu. 20: cf. Ps. 81^ "I tested thee [Israel]
at the waters of Meribah "), viz. indirectly, by subjecting him
to the test of a trying and arduous situation.* But this ex-
* Which, at least according to P (Nu. 2o'^-''" 27" Dt. 32''; cf. Ps.
io6^^'-), neither Moses nor Aaron endured. This representation certainly
400 DEUTERONOMY
planation cannot be said to be a natural one. Wellh. {htsi.
p. 134), Bredenkamp {Gesetz u. Proph. p. 177, Smend, Alttest.
ReL-gesch, p. 78: Dillm. also inclines) render cl. ^ ^^ Fot
whom thou contendedst" (Is. 1^7 5122) — viz. by enabling
Moses and Aaron to satisfy the people with water : but even
so, as Bred, allows, the reference to Ex. 17 Nu. 20 remains
difficult ; and the possibility must be admitted that another
version of the incidents at Massah and Meribah was current,
in which the fidelity of the tribe was in some manner tested
directly by Jehovah. — Godly (T'Dn)] lit. kind or kindly (akin to
npn, p. 102) ; but as in ancient Israel kind men were also
commonly God-fearing men, the word acquired the sense of
godly ^ pious. It is so used often in the Psalms, esp. late ones
(4* 30^ 31^^* 37^^ &c.) ; and in the Maccabaean ag-e it became the
name of the pious, or patriotic party, who opposed the
Hellenization of their countrymen ('Ao-tSaiot, i Mace. 2*2 ^13
2 Mace. 14^). — 9. The subject is the tribe generally, "who
referring to man (or men) in v.^, the numbers alternating in
the parallel clauses, as is often the case in Heb. poetry, when
a group of persons is spoken of. The intention of the verse
is to predicate of the members of the t ibe a repudiation of all
considerations based upon earthly relationship. The reference
is, however, disputed. The verbs in cl. *' ^' ^ may be either
present or past {said, did, knew). It is often understood to
refer to the incident Ex. 3227-29^ when the " sons of Levi," dis-
regarding all ties of relationship, signally manifested their zeal
for Jehovah, and were rewarded, it seems (see v.^^; and cf. on
lo^), with the prerogative of the priesthood. Others (J. D.
Mich., Graf) suppose the words to be meant more generally,
and to denote hyperbolically the disregard of even the closest
of worldly ties or interests, with which the discharge of a
sacred office — whether the administration of justice (on 17^),
or other duties (Mai. 2^) — should be conducted. Thus Onq.
paraphrases: *' Who has no compassion on his father or his
mother when they are convicted by the court, and regards not
the persons of his brothers and sisters." The causal clause,
cannot be alluded to here, where the context shows that something' credit*
able to the tribe (or its representatives) is in the poet's thoughts.
XXXIII. 9-10 4OT
the wording" of which is quite general (" For they keep," &c.),
favours this interpretation. Probably, however, the other
should not be excluded (Baudissin, Priesterthum, p. 77 ;
Oettli ; cf. Dillm.). The intention of the poet is to describe
the disinterested spirit in which the ideal Levite discharged
his priestly office ; but in doing this he so expresses himself
as to allude at the same time to the occasion Ex. 32^7-29^ on
which a similar spirit was displayed in a conspicuous degree.
As Oettli remarks, the words are applicable, in a certain sense,
to every sacred trust: cf. Mt. loS^Lk. 142^!; alsoDt. i37(«)ti^.. For
another view of the meaning of the passage, see Wellh. Hist. p.
i35f. — I have not seen hini\ a hyperbolical expression of repudia-
tion (Job ^"'^).—Ack7iO'wlcdge ("'"'?'?)] 21^"^.— For they keep, &c.\
the ground of this disinterestedness, viz. their strict observance
of Jehovah's commands. — Saying\ i.e. command (Is. 524). —
Covenant\ cf. on 4^^. Here of the conditions under which the
priesthood was entrusted to the tribe of Levi (so Jer. 33'"^^
Mai. 2*- 5- 8). — 10. Two great duties of the priestly tribe are
indicated in these words: (i) to decide, in cases brought
before them, in accordance with the principles of Jehovah's
"direction," or "law," f which they are the guardians (Jer.
8^) ; (2) to maintain the service of the altar. (For three other
duties, see on lo^.) Show is lit. direct {horah), corresponding
to the following direction, (law) : the two terms are used, which
denote regularly the priestly duty (see on 17IO; and cf. Ez..
4423) of giving direction [Torah) on points of ceremonial
observance. Micah (3II) charges the priests with granting
"direction" for money: Ez. (2226) and Zeph. (3^) speak of
Jehovah's " direction " (law) suffering violence ; for an example
of "direction" being inquired for, see Hag. a^^-^^. ^y judgments
will be meant decisions in civil and criminal causes, or the
ordinances founded upon them (see Ex. 21^ Ez. 442* ; and cf. on
4^ 17^). In neither case is, however, a moral element to be re-
garded as excluded. "Jehovah is distinguished from the gods
of Israel's neighbours, and towers above them, as the God
in whose name justice was administered, and of whom it could
be said that He was not kn«wn where the laws of honour and
9. raxS] S- about, as Gn. 20" al,
26
402 DEUTERONOMY
good faith were violated ; " hence the priest, as His organ
and interpreter, is "the bearer and appointed upholder of
righf^ (Kuenen, Hihb. Led. p. 90). And so Hosea represents
Jehovah's Torah as a moral agency (4^"*), and attributes the
crimes rampant in Israel (v.^^- 2) to the priests' forgetfulness
of its true character (v.^^), and to their worldly unconcern for
the "knowledge" of God, which its possession implies (v.^**) ;
many moral precepts, also, are embodied in Lev. 18. 19 (H) ;
and the "judgments" of Ex. 21-23 ^''^ directly designed for
the maintenance of justice, and civic righteousness, between
man and man in Israel (comp. Kuen. I.e. pp. 83-91 ; Hex,
§ 10. 4; Smend, Alttest. Rel.-gesch. pp. 77 f., 277; Wellh.
Hist. pp. 394-396, 434-439; Montefiore, Hibh. Lect. pp. 45 f.,
49, 64f., 69-71; Benzinger, pp. 321, 324, 412 f.; Nowack,
ii. 97 f.). — Incense\ to burn incense was the duty (and privilege)
of the priests: see i S. 228, and (in P) Nu. le^-^o \f (16*0).
(Wellh. Hist. p. 64 f., Nowack, ii. 246 f., and others, contend
that here and Is. i^^ not incense,, but sweet-smoke, is meant,
and that the reference is to the fat of the thank-offerings
burnt upon the altar : cf. Ps. 66^^^ and the cognate verb '\'\:ipr\
"send up in sweet-smoke," Lev. 3^ &c.) — In thy nostril\ for
the fig., cf. Ps. 1 89 (8), and Gn. 821 Am. 521 Lev. 2&^ .— Wliole-
offerings (^""^d)] see on 1317(16). — With the entire passage,
comp. Mai. 2*-^, where, in terms recalling those used here
(/flw= "direction"), the prophet deplores Levi's declension
from its ideal. — IL His mighi\ i.e. his ability for the efficient
discharge of his sacred trust (so ffi tcr;)/!;?, U fortitudo ; Graf,
Ke. Di. Stade, Oettli). In itself the word might equally mean
iubstance, possessions (AV. RV.), as 8^'^; but wealth is not,
either elsewhere in Dt., or generally in the earlier historical
books, the predominant characteristic of the tribe. — The work
of his hands] i.e. (at least chiefly) his services in connexion
with the altar, which, if they are to be efficacious, must be
favoured (or accepted) by Jehovah : cf. Hos. 8i3 = Jer. 14I*'
(D^-j x!5 nin^i), Am. 522 Ez. 20" 432^ ; and for acceptance ip^)
Jer. 620 Is. 56^ 60^ Lev. i^ al. (rendered favotir Ps. 518(12) jg.
60IO al.). — Smite through (KOP)] or wozind severely (32^9), con-
11. D'jnD] as to, or on, the loins : cf. Ps. 3*, and on 19® (Dav. § 71).—
XXXIII. II-I2 403
lusc. cf. of the head (irremediably), Jud. 5" Ps. 68^2 uo"
Hab. 3'^. — The loins\ named as the centre of strength (Ps. 66'^
69--^» Na. 22-11 Ez. 297).— VOi?] Ex, 157 Ps. iS^o^^o) al. (poet.).
Cf. Ps. i8^^(38)q^p ■^y, ^^ DVnON. — The general picture given
in these verses, of the rights and privileges of the tribe of
Levi, harmonizes with the representation contained in other
passages of Dt. ; see the notes on lo^'- iSi-^ (pp. 214, 219 f.).
12. Benjamin.
•* The beloved of Jehovah dwelleth securely beside him :
He encompasseth him all the day,
And He dwelleth between his shoulders.
Contrast Gn. 492^^. The tribe is characterized (so to say)
as Jehovah's darling, enjoying in a special degree His pro-
tection and regard. " Certainly the whole people is Jehovah's
TT Jer. 1 1^5 [cf. 12'], all His faithful servants are D"'nn^ Ps.
60'' [=108''], but the tribe which He has chosen to put His
name there (Dt. 12^ &c. ; cf. Ps. 87^), is specially honoured
by Him, and receives this title in a special sense (cf. Ps. 127^),
as Solomon was once named Jedicfiah 2 S. 1225" (Graf).
Perhaps the smallness of the tribe, and the recollection of the
aflFection with which, as tradition told, its ancestor, the child
of Jacob's old age, had been regarded by his father (Gn. 43^"^^
44^*^ &c.), may have contributed towards its being so described.
1"!^ is a poetical word, choicer than 2inx, and occurring,
besides the passages quoted, only Is. 5I Ps. 45i('''''^) 84^. —
Dwelleth semrely] lit. in confidence : a frequent phrase, denot-
ing undisturbed security, Jer. 23^ 33^^ Ps. 16^ (of freedom from
the fear of death); cf. with aC'', v.^s 1210 Lev. 2518-1^ &c. —
Beside him (v^y)] the word is doubtful (see below) ; it intro-
duces an idea which harmonizes imperfectly with the figures in
cl. **• ^ ; and the thought of cl. * is complete without it (for the
vcp] poet., as often, for v'jy o'Dpn (Dav. § 98 R.^). — pnip' jd] i.e. JiDip' n^g"
poet, for Dipp (Is. 24^" &c.): Dr. § 41.— 12. Sam. GS omit the first v^i'
(G 6\o; mig^ht be thought to be a paraphrase of jvVj; ; but this is elsewhere
regularly u^taroi) ; U and several Heb. MSS. omit the 2nd. In view ol
the wide use of Vy to denote beside {Lex. hi) 6), it cannot perhaps be saiil
that hi! J^ty would not be a possible constr. ; still hii = beside is rarely said
oi persons except with icy and asj (Gn. 18^45' &c.), which are not quite
parallel (being' prop, to stand over), and never elsewhere with pr or 3B".
The first clause is, in fact, complete at securely : in cl. '' it seems that v"?s
404 DEUTERONOMY
ground oi Benjamin's security follows in cl. ^'''). It has not
improbably come into the text here by error. — He encompasseth
htm] God encircles Benjamin with His protection (cf. Is. 31^).
— And He dwelleth between his shoulders] alluding to the site of
the Temple, just within the rocky border of Benjamin (Onq.
Nri33K' ^ni'-n ^'T^^':^\ Rashi, Ew. Graf, Dillm. &c.). The
boundary between Benjamin and Judah ran close along the
S.E. of Jerusalem (cf. Jos. 15^ iS^*^); according to the later
Jews, the Temple itself was in Benjamin, and the courts in
Judah. Benjamin is pictured as a reclining man ; the use of
the term shoulders (rcriD) being facilitated by the fact that it
has also a geographical sense, denoting the shoulder or side
of a mountain (^.^. Jos. 15^ iS^^the " shoulder of the Jebusite,"
of the same mountain-side on the top of which the Temple
stood), pj:* is the usual expression for Jehovah's dwelling
among His people, as Is. 8I8 Joel 4^7.21 Ps. eS^^Oe) 742 Ez.
43'^ al.\ cf. (in the causative conj.) Dt. 12^^ with the note.
The expl. "Between his (Jehovah's) shoulders — i.e. on His
back — he (Benjamin) dwells" (Schultz, Volck, Ke.), intro-
duces an unsuitable idea, as well as one which is incongruous
with the preceding clause ; Jehovah may be said finely to
hear His people (32^1 Ex. 19* Is. 46*), but Benjamin could
hardly be described as dwelling w^ow Him.
13-17. Joseph. — Fertility of soil, and indomitable military
strength, are the blessings for which the poet eulogizes the
double tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh. The verses contain
several unmistakable reminiscences of the Blessing on Joseph
in Gn. 4922-28.
*^ Blessed of Jehovah be his land,
From the choice fruits of heaven, from the dew \conj.: of
heaven above],
And from the deep that coucheth beneath :
f^n and vSy ^isn are alternative readings, and one of the two vVy should be
omitted. — '■|£3n] only here. The meaning surround (rather than cover) is
supported by Arab, haffa (Qor. iS-*' of a garden surrounded by palm-trees,
39'^ of angels surrounding God's throne), I'm shore (as surrounding the
sea), n^n bridal chamber Ps. 19^ Joel 2^^ (as enclosed). Is. 4^ nsn seems to
mean canopy ; but the text is here doubtful. Aq. -xaaTutit (whence U quasi
in thalamo morabitur), treating fjEn as a denom. from n^n.
XXXIII. 13 405
** And from the choice fruits of the crops of the sun,
And from the choice fruits of the yield of the months ;
'• And from the top of the ancient mountains,
And from the choice fruits of the everlasting' hills ;
*• And from the choice fruits of the earth and its fulness,
And the favour of him that dwelt in the bush —
Let them come upon the head of Joseph,
And upon the crown of the head of him that is prince amongf
his brethren !
" His firstling: bullock, — it hath majesty.
And its horns are horns of a wild-ox;
With them he pusheth peoples,
All togfether the ends of the earth :
Those are the myriads of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.
13. The poet beg^ins with the primary requisites of a pro-
ductive soil, an abundant supply of rain and dew from the
sky, and of fertilizing springs in the earth. From (v.^^-^^)
denotes the source of the blessing': English idiom would
naturally say with; but as this could not stand in v.^^*'-^^*,
from has been adopted throughout for the sake of uniformity.
^J|P by usage (see below) denotes " choice yr«/Vj " ; rain and
13. ijd] v."-" Ct. 4i»'i6 7»* (each time of fruits)t. Arab, majad is
honour, dignity, nobility ; Syr. NnJD (rare) is fruit, 5t «1JD (also rare) is
choice fruit. The word may be a North Isr. Aramaism.— 16. '33ty] the '
is an old case-ending, having in Arab, the force of a gen. (as ' ibnu 'hiialki,
son of the king), but in Heb. retained only exceptionally as a binding
vowel, connecting a word in the st. c. with its gen.: viz. in certain pr.
names (as pi:»'3'?D, Sun^J, '?K'3n &c.), in the particles 'n'?3 (regularly), and
'n'?ii (Dt. i"^ 4^ Jos. 11'^ I K. 3^* I a''" Ps. i8^"t)i otherwise in prose only
Gn. 3i39.s9^ and (doubtfully) Lev. 26'»2-*2-*2: in poetry, in '3P (for id), some
30 times (not in the Pent.), otherwise about 30 times, esp. in participles
before a noun provided with a prep. (G-K. § 130. i ; Dav. § 28 R.'), viz. in
the Pent. Gn. i^^^- " Ex. 15* n33 mx:, and here ; in other books, Hos. 10"
trrh 'nanK, Is. i'-^ escD tin'^d, 22^^*" Jer. 10^' nisoa 'n^ifv, 22-' jtJaVn "tcmv
D'nN3 'n:pD, 49i»-i« 51" Ez. zf Ob.^ Mic. 7" Zech. 11". i7 Lam. ii- 1-1421
Ps. loi* no* ii35-«-''.» 1,48 ,23!^ prob. in niy 'dsni 'jk Is. 478- 1» Zeph. 2I',
very doubtfully in Ps. 113^ (read la^cin'?), 116I : where the word is a ptcp.
fem., the Massorites often substitute a more regular form, as Jer. 10". See
further G-K. § 90. 3*. The facts of the usage have but to be stated for it
to become at once apparent that it is no "archaism," upon which an
argument can be founded for the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (of.
L.O.T.^ p. 528 f.). — tin] Ex. 3-"*t. — n^iNian] an impossible form: read
either (Dillm.) n:Ni3n (i S. 10^), of. |"nn Gn. 49^"^ ; or (Rod. in Thes. Index,
p. II, Ols. p. 452, Kiinig, i. 646 f., G-K. g 48. 3 R.) nx'tan, the cohort, with
the 3rd pers., as Is. 5'' (Dr. § 45 n.).
406 DEUTERONOMY
dew are poetically pictured as the fruit of heaven. As the text
stands, dew is explanatory of ** choice fruits of heaven " ; rain
seems thus to be excluded : it is probable that, by a very
slight change, we should read above for from the dew (^yo for
h^'o), improving at the same time the parallelism of the verse.
Heaven above, exactly as Gn. 272^, and esp. 49^^, the same
verse from which the following words, " the deep that coucheth
beneath," are also borrowed. The "deep," like the "deeps"
of 8'^ (see note), is used of the subterranean waters {4^^), the
supposed source of springs and rivers, as of nutriment to
trees (Ez. 31"*). — Coucheth (nVDh)] properly, as an animal (on
2gX9(20)^; perhaps the subterranean deep was pictured as a
gigantic monster. — 14. The allusion is to the various crops of
fruit, vegetables, grain, &c., which ripen at different seasons
of the year. — Crops (ns^3Pi)] lit. in-cotnes (cf. N^3n bring in,
2 S. 9^°): in the sing. usu. rendered increase (1422-28)^ Jn the
pi. used of the crops of successive years (2 K. 8^ Lev. 25^^. i6j_
— Yield (^'7-1)] properly something thrust forth: only here. —
Months (2''nT)j with a play upon n^.J moon, in poetical
parallelism with sun. — 15. Cf. Gn. 49^6 ("the blessings of the
perpetual mountains [read '^'p^'^ for ^lin ; see Hab. 3^], the
delectable things of the everlasting hills "). May the mountain
sides, to their very top (Ps. 72^^), be fertile with good things,
for the support of man or beast ! — 16. The first part of the
blessing here reaches its climax : may Nature at large be
prodigal for Joseph of her best gifts ! may he secure, above
all, Jehovah's favourable eye ! The earth and its fulness, as
Ps. 24I Mic. i2 a/. ; cf. Ps. 50^2 3^12 (i?3n). — Favour {]\T\)] cognate
with ny-1 to favour {or accept), v.ii; cf. Ps. 513(12)308(7)5120(18)
(AV. good pleasure), 891^(1"). AV. here goodwill. It corre-
sponds to evSoKia. " In ' Him that dwelt in the bush ' (Ex. 32-*),
God, by an advance beyond Gn. 492*^-, is designated emblem-
atically as the God of the Mosaic covenant" (Dillm.). To
dwell, or inhabit (pL'*),— the word used regularly of Jehovah's
abiding with His people (v.12), — suggests a more permanent
occupancy than is implied in the narrative Ex. 32-* ; and is
possibly the survival of an ancient belief to that effect (cf.
W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. p. i76f., ed. 2, p. 193 f.). Clauses '^'^
XXXIII. 14-17 4^7
are exactly as Gn. 40"^, with the one change of let them comt
for let them de.—y^i< I'M] so Gn. 492'}. Lit. either "the
separate one p"?'?)," or " the crowned one. ("".t.^) of his brethren,"
i.e. either distmgzushcd from the others, in influence, wealth,
&c., or actually a prince among them: cf. Lam. 4^ (RV.
nobles)\ ; ^^IJ^P Nah. 3I" (RV. thy crowned)\. In either case,
a title of distinction, implying superiority to the other tribes,
and reflecting the affluence, dignity, and power which, in its
flourishing days, belonged in a pre-eminent degree to the double
tribe of Joseph. — 17. The poet proceeds here to describe, in
hyperbolical language, the invincible military power possessed
by Joseph's firstborn; and ends by stating explicitly that the
people thus blessed are the thronging multitudes of Ephraim and
Manasseh. — His Jirstliyig btillock^ i.e. Ephraim, in accordance
with Gn. 48^^'2o_ Ephraim is figured as a young and nobly-
built bullock, possessing horns of immense size and strength,
with which it pushes, or butts (i K. 22^^ Dan. S'*), with such
efl'ect that even remotest nations are powerless before it. —
Wild ox] Heb. r^ em, a gigantic species of ox, now extinct,
the formidable horns of which are also alluded to in Ps. 22^2
92^* Nu. 2322 ( = 248).
The characteristics of the r^etn are, in particular, its formidable horns,
its size and streng-th, and its untamableness (see esp. Job 39'"''). Tristram
(NHB. pp. 146-150) pointed out that the animal meant must be one now
extinct, the Auerochs of the old Germans, the Urus of Csesar [B.G, vi. 28,
— described as being nearly as large as an elephant and untamable), the
Bos primigenius of naturalists ; Mr. Houghton has shown more recently,
from the pictorial representations on the Assyrian sculptures, that the
Assyrian rimu was a gigantic species of Bos; and it is remarkable that
four teeth of an ox similar to the Bos primigenius should have been dis-
covered (Tristram, I.e. p. 150; Land of Israel , pp. 9-12) in the valley of the
Nahr-el-Kalb, in the same neighbourhood in which Tiglath-Pileser I. (B.C.
1 1 20-1 100) claims to have hunted and killed the rimu, "opposite the land
of the Hittites, and at the foot of Lebanon" (Houghton, Trans. Soc. Bibl.
Arch. V. (1877), pp. 33, 326fF.; Nat. Hist, of the Ancients, p. 171 ff.: see
also Cheyne on Is. 34^ ; Friedrich Delitzsch, The Heb. Lang, in the Light
of Ass. Research, 1883, p. 6f., Proleg. eines neuen Heb.-Aram. IVurter-
buches, p. 16 f.). Comp. Schrader, ICAT.^p. 456, where Shalmaneser n.
says, " His land I trod down like a rimu." — The Arab, ri'm is the Antilope
leucoryx, a graceful, gentle creature, inhabiting the sandy wastes of Arabia
and N.E. Africa, which cannot be the Heb. r^em.
17. me' 1133] the cos. petide7is, as 32''. — nn'] cf. on v.*.
408 DEUTERONOMY
Ends of the eartJi\ parallel to peoples, as to nations in Fs. a*
2228(27) js^ 52^^. — Those (an)] i.e. such as have been described:
so Knob. Ke. Volck, Stade, Dillm. Oettli, Marti; of. sin Job
819 j^ie 159 3i28, And^ at the beginning- of clause®, is best
omitted with Sam. ffiSF. AV., RV., al. (in both clauses)
And they, in which case the two horns will be referred to, and
explained as signifying Ephraim and Manasseh respectively.
With this verse contrast Gn. 49^^^-, where Joseph, though
victorious through the aid of its God, is described as having
severely suffered in contests with its foes.
18-19. Zebulun and Issachar.
" Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out,
And, Issachar, in thy tents :
^ They call peoples to (the) mountain ,
There they offer sacrifices of righteousness :
For they suck the abundance of the seas.
And the hidden treasures of the sand.
18. A poetical variation of the common phrase, '* going
out" and *' coming in" (Ps. 121^; see on 28^), used to desig-
nate a man's whole activity and enterprise. Zebulun, though,
to judge from Jos. ig^^-^^, its territory, at least in the main,
was inland (Asher extending along the sea-coast), is spoken
of in Gn. 49^^ as reaching to the sea ("about Carmel," Jos.
Ant. v. I. 22); and Issachar, in Gn. 49^**^-, as devoting itself
only too readily to the easy task of cultivating its fertile soil :
here, accordingly, it is Zebulun who is to rejoice in its "going
out," i.e. in the enterprises which an approach to the sea
would open to it, and Issachar in its "tents," i.e. in the more
sedentary pursuits of an agricultural community : each, in
other words, is to be attended with success in its own prin-
cipal, or most characteristic, occupation. There is no trace
here of iVie disparagement with which Issachar is regarded
in Gn. 49^*^-. At the same time, the two ideas are not each to
be limited rigidly to the clause in which it stands ; the dis-
tribution is poetical rather than logical; cf. Pr. 10^ Is. 11"
(where in the Heb. outcasts is masc, and dispersed fern.). — 19.
It seems that these two Northern tribes, whose position gave
them facilities for commercial intercourse with foreigners (cf.
Gn. 49" "And he (Zebulun) is for a haven of ships; and his
XXXIII. i8-i9 409
furthest point reacheth unto Sidon "), were in the habit of
holding sacrificial feasts, in which foreign nations were invited
to take part. Gz//, i.e. invite to a feast, as i S. g^^- 2* i K. i^- ''i.
What "mountain" is meant is quite indeterminate: at the
time when the Blessing was written, local altars and sacrifices
would be customary (p. 137) ; hence Herder and Graf thought
of Tabor, Knob, of Carmel (cf. i K. iS^ob) : Zion (S: Rashi
[both, however, understanding by peoples the tribes of Israel :
cf. on V.3], Ew., Bredenkamp, p. 140) seems too distant to be
alluded to here ; the high land (32^) of Canaan generally
(Schultz, Keil) is too wide an area to be probable, especially
where two particular tribes are concerned. There may have
been more than one mountain sanctuary in Zebulun and
Issachar ; and the reference may be to these generally. The
indefiniteness of the expression, coupled with our ignorance
of the customs of the time, prevents our interpreting the
passage with entire certainty. Graf (p. 56) and Stade [Gesch.
1. 171) may be right in conjecturing that sacrificial feasts were
held periodically in the territory of these two tribes, which
were frequented by the people of the surrounding districts, and
utilized by them, in the manner of a fair, for purposes of trade ;
Stade compares the Mina festival of Mecca (Sprenger, Geogr.
Arab. p. 222 flF.). — Sacrifices of righteousness^ i.e. sacrifices
offered in a right frame of mind, the outcome of a right spirit
(Ps. 4^<^J 5121 (i9)t). — For\ the reason why the two tribes invite
foreign nations to such feasts : the wealth derived by them
from the sea enables them to do so. — Stick\ fig. for drawing
rich nutriment and sustenance (Is. 60^^ 66ii- 1^), — The abund-
ance of the seas, &'c.\ the allusion appears to be to the wealth
accruing to the two tribes from the sea, partly through fisheries
or maritime commerce (cf. Gn. 49^^), partly by the manufacture
19. ysr] only here : nysB' Job 22" 38** (of waters) ; 2 K. 9" Is. 60* Ez.
26^" (a troop of men or animals)t. The root in Aram, is to stream over,
overflow : see JJT Pr. 3*" 5^*, S Rom. 5" (for \%x%x.vra.i) ; cf. Is. 48^ C ySif*?
ni? Tn:. — Sin ':idb 'jsi?] cf. Job 20" vi-^ 'Vnj nnj ; and see on 21" (Dav.
§ 28 R.'). jSb (only here) is merely another orthogfr. of iso v.", which is
generally used fig. of covering in walls with panelling- (Jer. 22"). [DB is
to hide, esp. in the earth (Jos. 7^); cf. D'JonD buried s/ores Jer. 41®, ':icbc
o'inoD Is. 45'.
4IO DEUTERONOMY
of g^lass from the sand about 'Akko. Ps. -Jonathan para-
phrases : " For they will settle on the shore of the Great Sea,
and delight themselves with tritons, and catch mussels, and
dye purple with their blood the cords (Nu. 15^8) of their
mantles, and from the sand they will produce mirrors [specti-
iana) and vessels of glass ; for the treasures of the deep are
revealed to them." Josephus [BJ. ii. 10. 2) states that the
sand of the Belaeus, which runs into the sea a little S. of
'Akko, was much used in the manufacture of glass (cf. Plin.
Fi.N. V. 17, xxxvi. 65 ; Tac. HisL v. 7) ; and Strabo (xvi. 2. 25)
says the same of the sand on the coast between 'Akko and
Tyre.
20-21. Gad.
** Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad :
He dwelleth like a lioness,
And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.
^ And he looked out a first part for himself.
For there a commander's portion was reserved :
And he came to [conj. with] the heads of the people
He executed the righteousness of Jehovah,
And his ordinances with Israel.
20. Gad's "enlarger" is God, who frees him from the
foes who hem in, and broadens his territory (Gn. 26^2 ; cf.
with !?^33 border Am. i^s Ex. 342^ Dt. 1220 198). In cl. ^- *= the
warlike character of the tribe is signalized (cf. Gn. 49^^ ; i Ch.
128 Gadite warriors, whose " faces were like the faces of lions,
and as swift as roes upon the mountains ") : it lies on its
broad and picturesque table-land [S. & P. p. 320), like some
huge lion, ready to tear in pieces, not only the arm, but also
the head, of any one who presumes to assail it. Gad was the
strongest tribe on the E. of Jordan (Nu. 323*-86 Jqs. 1324-2SJ j
and it maintained its position and importance there long after
Reuben had become insignificant, though it proved unable to
cope with Tiglath-Pileser (i Ch. c^^^).— Dwelleth (ptj')] cf. Nu.
242 Jud. 5^7 Gn. 49^3^ The comparison to a lioness, as Nu.
2324; 249i> ( = Gn. 49M)._21. Gad, the first of the tribes to find
20. '^y>''\^ 1.x vni] f]K in poetrj' introduces a climax, or sometimes a syn-
onym, with force : cf. i S. 2' CDiTD f]K "j'SsyD, Ps. 65^* n-c »jt< lyynn', 74!^ Is,
4.2^' n-ii- f)N v"i% 46^ ; and on 2^^.
XXXIII. 20-2I 4^ ^
a settled home, was not unmindful afterwards of its dutj
towards the rest of Israel. The allusion appears to be tc
what is narrated in Nu. 32, according to which Gad, on con-
dition of assisting afterwards in the conquest of Canaan,
secured an allotment in the rich pasture-country, E. of Jordan.
— A Jirst part (n''L"X"i)] i.e. a district that was both a best part
(i S. 15^^), and also, as it were, the firs ffruits (Dt. 18'* al.) of the
newly conquered territory. — For there, cSr'c.] in the place where
Gad made his choice, a commander s portion, i.e. a district
worthy of a martial leader, was reserved. — Portion ('^P?!!')] viz.
of land, as 2 K. 921.26 ^of Naboth's estate), Jos. 24-^2 ^/_ —
Commander (Piping)] pipn is to cnt in, engrave (hence \>\\ statute,
5I, lit. something" inscribed or engraven on a public tablet), fig.
to decree^ enacts Is. 10^ Pr. 8^^ : \>\>)'^'^ is thus properly a pre-
scriber of laws ; in a primitive warlike community, however,
the prescriber of laws would also be the sovereign military
authority ; hence ppiriKJ comes to mean commander, Jud. 5^*
(where the context points manifestly to persons holding some
military office : cf. the ^S"it^'* ''ppin of v.^), Is. 3322 {pur com-
mandeTy of Jehovah) ; also of a commander's staff, or wand oj
office, Gn. 49^0 Nu. 21I8 Ps. 60^ (=io89). Here the term is
applied, kot iioxijv, to the warlike tribe of Gad, which is said
to have obtained, in the allotment of the conquered territory,
a portion worthy of its martial character. ST (paraphrastic-
ally), .SF, and some moderns, "For there was the portion of
the hidden {i.e. buried) lawgiver," vis. Moses ; but Nebo,
like Pisgah, was in the territory of Reuben (Nu. 32^^ ; Jos.
1320), not Gad ; portioft would hardly be used of a burial-place ;
and the For is then inexplicable. — And he came, cSr'c.] he took
his part afterwards with the other tribes, and executed with
them Jehovah's behests, in the conquest of Canaan. — Heads
of the people] v.^ Nu. 25* (JE). — With] an emendation. The
text can hardly be made to yield a tolerable sense ; see below.
— JehovaKs righteousness] i.e. what is righteous in Jehovah's
21. "h . . . KTi] saw for himself —provided (cf. Gn. 22^ i S. 16^). — jiso]
covered in (on v.^^), fig. for laid up, reserved, — unless, indeed, pas (cf. Pr.
13^ Job 21^* al.) should be read. The masc, by attraction to ppino (Day.
§ 1 16 R.2 ; G-K. § 146. i).— t<n:i] for nnxM. (cf. Pr. ii" n^b for n5^iB) : G-K.
§§ 68. 2 R. ; 75 R.22; 76. 2<=. kii'I (ben Naft.) is better than Kn;i (edd.);
4 I 2 DEUTERONOMY
eve, and what, if man fulfils it, becomes righteousness for hirr
also (cf. 624). — Ordinances] 4^ Here, it seems, of the com-
mand to make no truce with the Canaanites (Ex. 2^^^-^^).
22. Dan.
Dan is a lion's whelp,
That leapeth forth from Bashan.
In Gn. 49''^ Dan is compared to a venomous serpent, dart-
ing out insidiously from its concealment, and causing a passing
horse to throw its rider; and here the suddenness with which
the Daiiite would attack and overcome his foes suggests the
comparison with a lion, springing forth unexpectedly from its
lair. Lions whelp^ as Gn. 49^ (of Judah). The original
settlement of the Danites was in the two vales of Ajjalon and
Sorek, in the S.W. of Ephraim (G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr. oj
the Holy Land, p. 220 f. ; cf. Jos. 1940-46 p ; Jud. i34f. JE) ; but
they found their position here untenable ; and a body of them
migrated to the North, and seized Leshem or Laish, at the
foot of Hermon (Jos. 194'''; Jud. 18: cf. on 34^), with which,
after the time of Samson (Jud. 13-16), the name of the tribe
is all but exclusively associated. The character given to the
tribe here and Gn. 49!'' is no doubt true to history ; but our
materials do not enable us to illustrate it, except from the
narrative in Jud. 18 of the surprise of Laish, and perhaps
from the exploits of Samson. The words That leapeth forth
from Bashan characterize the lion, not Dan : nevertheless the
locality mentioned seems to show that the poet has the
Northern Dan in his mind, for Bashan appears to have ex-
tended as far as Hermon (cf. on 3^), " laish," also, it may be
noted, is one of the Heb. words for lion (Is. 30® a/.). Possibly
see Kon. i. 577. — oy 'Cnt Hn-^\ came to is a doubtful rend.; for nntt and Nia
are not construed with an accus. of the pers., except in the sense of come
upon (Ps. 1 194') or against (Job 15^') ; and even so only with a sufF. {ll.cc),
except Is. 41-^ (where nu- should very prob. be DU"). Graf, Knob. Stade
render "came as the heads of the people " (cf. Job 29^ cnt at^Ni), i.e. fought
at their head in the conquest of Canaan (3^" Jos. i^* 4"^ Nu. 32'' &c.) ; but
the pi. is difficult in this case, and not justified by i Ch. 12^*''. Hence
Dillm. Oettli read tin nxM. (Is. 41*^), and he came with.— 22. pjt] only
here : C& 'ncrnlZ*. Syr. pi\ Isjecit, sagittavit; NH. pj? is to sgjiirt or spout
out. — Iran] on 3'.
XXXIII. 22-23 4 I 3
there may be some allusion to attacks made oy the Daniies ol
Laish upon neighbouring border-tribes (cf. Stade, Gcscn. i.
i68). Lions in Bashan are not elsewhere alli.ded to ; but its
mountain ranges, and oak forests (3^), would form a natural
ambush for them (for lions in Hermon, see Ct. 4^).
23. Naphtali.
** O Naphtali, satisfied with favour,
And full with the blessing of Jehovah :
Possess thou the lake and the south.
Naphtali, blessed as it is with nature's gifts through
Jehovah's favour (v.^^), is not to be limited to the highland
plateau (the "hill country of Naphtali," Jos. 20^) of Upper
Galilee, well watered and richly wooded as it is : it is to
possess in addition the yet more fertile and beautiful region,
exuberant with an almost tropical vegetation, which borders
on the Lake of Gennesareth. The territory of Naphtali (Jos.
jg32-39^ extended from the far North, close under Lebanon,
along the W. side of Jordan, to a point a little S. of the Lake
of Gennesareth. Ancient and modern writers vie with one
another in praising the soil and climate of the territory owned
by Naphtali : it was abundantly irrigated ; and its productions
were rich and varied. Lower Galilee was, however, yet more
fertile and beautiful than Upper Galilee ; and in the neigh-
bourhood of the Lake, a " torrid basin," 680 ft. below the level
of the Mediterranean Sea, the vegetation is semi-tropical : the
plain of Gennesar, on the N.W. of the Lake, is eulogized by
Josephus {BJ. iii. lo. 8), on account of its climate and
vegetation, almost as if it were a terrestrial paradise. See
Jos. BJ. iii. 3. 2, Rob. BR. ii. 388, 402, S. & P. p. 374,
DB.^ s.v. Galilee (p. 11 18) and Gennesareth, Neubauer,
Gcogr. du Talmud, pp. 45 f., 180, G. A. Smith, Geogr. of the
Holy Land, pp. 417-420, 439 f., 446 f. The lake (Q)) or sea
(cf. Is. 823 |-gij) is the "Sea of Kinnereth " (p. 58), i.e. the
Lake of Gennesareth (so already Onq.). By the south are
23. 0-] Onq. (uniting the two senses of D') lO'ja D' aiyo " the west of the
sea of GcnnC'sar." — cm] Job 37'^ Eccl. 1* 11* Ez. 21^, and 12 times in Ei..
40-42!. — '""^"1"] the emph. form of the iniper. in pause, like nj/;pB', nn^c
Dan. 9'* (G-K. § 48. 5). Elsewhere tp-i (in pause, W"]).
414 DEUTERONOMY
meant the parts bordering- on this Lake, — so styled (it seems)
partly in contrast to the main possessions of the tribe (which
were further North), partly with allusion to the sunny warmth
which prevails there. — Satisfied] or filled abundantly, satiated.
The word, which (either as adj. or verb) is a common one
(see 6^1 8^°- ^^ i ii5 1^20 26^2 3120^^ jg not always quite adequately
represented by satisfied. — Favour\ or good-will (v.^^) : of. Ps.
145^*^ P^ TI ^3^ ynti'D "satisfying all that liveth with good-
will.'^
24-25. Asher.
** Blessed above sons be Asher :
Let him be the acceptable (favoured) one of his brethren ;
And (let him be) dippingf his foot in oil :
** Thy bolts be iron and bronze ;
And as thy days, so let thy [strength] be.
24. Let Asher be blessed above other fathers' sons, — a
child of fortune (probably with allusion to the idea which the
name would sug^gest, happy ; see Gn. 30^^) ; let him be his
brothers' favourite, the one in whose companionship and good
fortune they delight (cf. Est. lo^ rnx "irh n^n) ; the last clause
alludes hyperbolically (cf. Job 29") to the fertility of Asher's
territory. Asher (Jos. ig^*-^!) bordered Naphtali on the West :
its climate and soil were similar to those of the higher parts
of Naphtali, and were favourable in particular to the growth
of the olive-tree: Josephus [^BJ. ii. 21. 2) speaks of Galilee as
ovcrr^s iXaiocfiopov /laXtcrra ; "it is easier," says a proverb in the
Talmud, "to raise a legion of olives [read 7C' for h'"^] in
Galilee than to bring up a child in Palestine " {Bereshith
Rabbah, c. 20; Ncubauer, I.e. p. 180). The productiveness of
Asher's soil gives also its point to the blessing in Gn. 49^0
("Asher, his bread is fat ; and he yieldeth a king's dainties "),
— Blessed above sons] cf. (for the form of expression) Jud. 52-*
1 S. 15^^ (" among," Heb. above or 7no7'e than, as here) ; also
Gn. 3^* ("cursed above"). — 25. The allusion in cl. * may be to
Asher's position : situated in the far North of Canaan, in the
neighbourhood of foreigners, it would need to be well defended
against encroachment and invasion. ^Vpp [bolt), from ?V} io
bolt a door (Jud. 323- 24) . no doubt the same as h^V^J? Ct. 5^ al.,
XXXIIT. 24-26 415
whirh Neh. 3''- " shows to be disliiict from n^~i3 bar (3''). Ij
cl. '', the word rendered strength is extremely uncertain ; see
below. The tribe is pictured as an individual ; and if that be
the true rend., it will be a wish that Asher's strength may be
maintained as time wears on, instead of being (as it were)
diminished by old age.
26-29. Conclusion, celebrating the good fortune of Israel,
which has been planted by its God in a fruitful land, blessed
with success against its foes, and secured in happiness and
peace.
•• There is none like the God of Jeshurun :
Who rideth through the heavens as thy help,
And in his dignity through the skies.
^ The God of old is a dwelling-place ;
And underneath are everlasting arms :
And he drave out the enemy from before thee ;
And said, Destroy.
•* So Israel dwelt securely,
The fountain of Jacob alone.
Upon a land of com and wine :
Yea, his heavens drop down dew !
** Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee?
A people saved by Jehovah,
The shield of thy help, and the sword of thy dignity :
So shall thy enemies come cringing to thee,
And thou shalt tread upon their high-places.
26. The Mass. text can only be rendered like God, O
Jeshurun : but the point is not the uniqueness of God, as sucli
(i S. 2^ I K. 8^^), but the uniqueness of the God of Israel ;
and this sense is expressed by a slight change in the punctua-
tion (^5«!3 for hii3) ; so ffiiJS© Graf, Di. Oettli, &c. ; cf. Ps. 68-''=
(^^XIK'"' ha), 144^5 1^6^.— /eshurun] v.^. — Who rideth, <5rc.] Ps.
5834f. psf.j is 3 paraphrase and commentary; Jehovah comes,
25. 1K3n] "as yet unexplained " (Di.). Strength (ffiS® Saad.) yields an
excellent sense ; but it has no philological justification, a root .x3t not being
known. Ges. Graf, Schult?:, Kn. Ke. at. render rest; but this rend, is
very uncertain, depentling only on a remark in the Kamfis that Arab.
dabaa has this meaning. Sam. has T^n, and Sam. Targ. (Petermann)
T^D, — pointing apparently to a reading "iNaT='i3"] (which Di. thinks under-
lies also the rend, strength) ; but this cannot have been the original text.
/ \ liiya] as thy help, the 3 essentice (on lo") : so Ex. 18^ Nah. 3' Ps.
4l6 DEUTERONOMY
riding through the heavens, to give victory to His people: cf.
Ps. i8ii(io)ff- Is. 19I Hab. f"- '^K—Dz£7ttXv {^]B)] not majesty
(ni<3) ; for njN3 is used generally in a bad sense, pride : as
here, of God, Ps. 6835(34). AV. RV., excellency, a vague
word, which (like excellent. Is. 42 for pxj) has quite lost the
idea of loftiness, or surpassing grandeur, attaching properly
to the Lat. excello, as to the Heb. nxa.— 27. Of old (D^p)] lit.
aforetimey denoting what is ancient rather than what is eternal ;
the word is often used, for instance, of the Mosaic age, or other
distant periods of Israel's past (Ps. 442(1)742-12 jg. 519 ^ic.
720), and even of a former period of a single lifetime (Job 292) ;
of mountains, v.i^, the heavens, Ps. 68^*(33). of God, as here,
Hab. 112 Ps. 5520(19) (RV. "of o\d").— Dwelling-place (n^iyp)]
fern, of n>p, Ps. 90^ (cf. 91^). — And underneath, &'c.\ not only
is God a dwe Hi fig-place (Ps. 90^) for His people. He is also
their unfailing support ; His almighty arms are ever beneath
them, bearing them up, and sustaining them, alike in their
prosperity and in their need. For the fig., cf. Hos. ii^ Is. 33^
51^ Ps. 44* 8922. — TJiTmst (or drave) out] the word used in Ex.
2328-31 332 3411 (jE), Jos. 2412.18 jud. 23 69 (l^n3). Not else-
where in Dt., where the same idea is generally expressed by
t'''"!iri dispossess (see on 43^ 9^), — in AV. RV. rendered likewise,
unfortunately, drive out. The tenses in this and the next
verse show that when these words were written the Israelites
must have been long settled in Canaan. — And said, Destroy']
thereby authorizing Israel to take possession of Canaan (cf.
Ex. 23278-. Dt. 72-24 ^z.).— Destroy] i27 (phil. n.).— 28. The con-
sequences of Jehovah's protection : Israel's security in a home
blessed by nature's bounty. — The fountain of Jacob] i.e. the
constant succession of his descendants, figured as a stream
ever welling forth freshly from its source (cf. Is. 48^ Ps. 682^(26)).
— Securely'] v. 12. — Alone] or solitarily (Mic. 7^* RV.) ; i.e.
secluded from foes, isolation being regarded as the guarantee
of security. So elsewhere : see Jer. 4931 (|| abide securely [RV.
•without care], as here), Ps. 4^(8) (render: "Thou makest me
28. nD3] adv. accus., as I2i**: so na (32"). — '?K]=Sy : see 1 S. 17^ 19";
and cf. Lex. Sk, notei. — So ifjiy' VDC ^n] -jN, as Ps. le'-'** iS''^ 68*- ^' jy"***;
cf. on v.-". ^ny, as 32*t.
XXXIII. 27-XXXIV 417
dwell solitarily, in security"), Mic. 7^* ; and cf. Jud. 18^. —
Com and wine (cilTl) j see on 7^^. — De'w\ dew is often heavy
in Palestine (G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 65: cf. Jud. 6^'^-*^)\ and
at seasons when rain is deficient, is important for the land ;
hence it is frequently alluded to in the OT. as a source of
fertility (Gn. 2728 Pr. 1912 Hos. 146; 2 S. i^i i K. ,7i)._29.
There is none (v. 2*5) like the God of Jeshurun ; and so Israel
holds a unique position among the nations. — Saved] i.e.
victorious (Zech. 9^ Ps. 33^^) : cf. salvation (i.e. deliverance,
victory) Ex. \d^^ i S. ii^^ 1^5 ^x. 2\^^ al. — Shield] of God, as
Gn. 15^ Ps. 3*(^) igs. 31(2. 30) 2320, and elsewhere. — The sword of
thy dig7tity] i.e. the sword which maintains thy dignity (v. 26).
Jehovah is to Israel both armour for protection, and a weapon
for attack.— C(0;«^ cringing to thee] properly lie to thee, i.e.
yield feigned obedience (RV. m.), of the unwilling (and insincere)
homage rendered — especially in the East — by the vanquished
to the conqueror. So Ps. 18^5(^^)66^81^^. — Tread upon their
high places] i.e. march over them in triumph ; see on 32^^.
XXXIV. The narrative of Moses' death.— The death of
Moses will naturally have been narrated by all the principal
Pentateuchal sources ; and accordingly it is not surprising
that the present chapter should comprise elements derived
from JE, D, and P. The analysis is in most cases sufficiently
clear ; the only uncertainty is in one or two places where the
phraseology displays so little that is characteristic that it
might have been used by any narrator.
To P belong —
v.* certainly /Vowz the Steppes of Moah unto Nebo (see 32^: and note
that Steppes of Moab is peculiar to P : L.O. T. p. 128, No. 50) ; and
probably that is fronting J encho as well (see on 32''^).
V^" to -when he died (note the exact conformity of the sentence with
Nu. 33^* ; also with the other similarly constructed sentences Gn.
12" i6i« 17^ 21* 25^" 41''^ 50'''" Ex. 7^— all P) ; perhaps also v.'^^
V.*'^ (in v.^ notice "the Steppes of Moab," and the great similarity in
form of Nu. zo'^^ : v.^* points back directly to P's account of the
institution of Joshua, Nu. ay^^''-^*'; v.^** to Nu. 27"^ lyoe" ; and with
And they did according as Jehovah commanded Moses, comp. Lev.
8^ 163^" Nu. 20*7 2722 3i=*S— all P).
Probably also v.*""' "at the command of Jehovah" (see Nu. t,-;^^^, of
Aaron ; and note that 'D Vy is a standing expression of Ps, L.O.T,
p. 127, No. 41).
27
4l8 DEUTERONOMY
The rest of the chap, shows no signs of P's style. " The mention of
Pisgah V.' (Nu. 21^ 23^*: also Dt. 3^^^), the phrasing of v.** (which
agrees verbally with Ex. Z'^^^^ *^he characteristic expressions in
v.*'^, and the affirmation, v.'*, of the fact that no prophet had
since arisen in Israel whom Jehovah had known ' face to face ' (see
Ex. 33" ; and cf. Nu. 12'''^), all point unmistakably to the pro-
phetical narrative of JE" (Westphal, p. 46 f.). One or two ex-
pressions in v."'** are, however, possibly additions by D: and
y n-12 (which abounds with Deut. phrases) is a supplement to v.^*,
attached certainly by a Deuteronomic hand.
1. From the Steppes of Moah (3XiD nbij?)] Nu. 22^ 263- 63
21I2 3348-50 3ji 3513 Jqs_ 13^21, The term (which is used
only by P) denotes the open plain, between Jordan and the
mountains of Moab, into which the Jordan-valley expands
immediately N. of the Dead Sea, now called the Ghor-es-
Seisebd7i, about 9 miles from N. to S., and 5-7 miles from E.
to W. The corresponding plain on the W. side (about 8
miles from N. to S., by 6i from E. to W.) is called the
Steppes of Jericho (Jos. 4^8 5^^ 2 K. 25^ Jer. 39^ 52^). The
term is elsewhere used of a desert land (Is. 35^ 51^ al.), and
seems to have been given to the region in question on account
of its barren, unproductive soil : at least, the plain about
Jericho (except the immediate environs of the city ; see on v.^)
has this character (Jos. Bf. iii. 10. 7 ip-q/xLav ; Rob. BJ?. i. 542 ;
S. & P. 296, 297; PEF. Survey, iii. 168), — the Ghor-es-
Seiseban, is, however, described as well watered, and covered
with trees (Tristram, Moab, p. 349; Land of Israel, 513 f.). —
Went up] Nebo would be more than 3500 ft. above the level of
the Jordan-valley. — Unto Mount Nebo, to the top (or head) oj
Pisgah, that is fronting Jericho] a comparison of 3^^ with 32*^
shows that " Mount Nebo," and *' the top (head) of Pisgah "
are two alternative designations of the same spot — the one,
perhaps, fixing it more precisely than the other — used by
different writers : here they are combined, — probably by the
final compiler of the Pent., who to the words of JE, "And
Moses went up to the top {or head) of Pisgah " (cf. 3-^ ; and
in JE, Nu. 2i20 23I*), added the geographical definitions of P
(cf. 32*^). On the name Pisgah, see on 3*^^. — Fronting] 'JD jy
usually suggests East of {cL on 1 1^^) : so e.g. Gn. 25^^ i K. 1 1^.
The spot referred to can be fixed, at least approximately,
XXXIV. I 419
with tolerable confidence. The table-land (the Mishor, 3^"^ or
Moab, a plateau about 3000 ft. above the level of the sea,
descends gradually to the Jordan-valley by a multitude of
irregular mountain ridges and summits, intersected by numerous
Wadys. Among these ridges there is one which "runs out
west from the plateau, sinking gradually ; at first a broad brown
field of arable land, then a flat top, crowned by a ruined cairn,
bearing the name Neha " : this is just 5 miles S.W. of Heshbon,
and 9^7 miles due E. of the N.H. end of the Dead Sea; its
height is 2643 ft. above the Mediterranean Sea, or 3935 ft.
above the Dead Sea. West of Neba, the ridge becomes
narrower : at about a mile from Neba are the ruins (Byzantine)
of Sidghah', and i a mile S.W. of this, the ridge terminates
in a projecting spur called Rds Sidghah (the head of Siaghah),
whence the slopes fall steeply on all sides down to the
Jordan-valley, and the Dead Sea, 3586 ft. below (Conder,
Heth and Moab,^ p. 132 f.).* About a mile N. of these two
heights, the ridge of which they form part slopes down into
the picturesque Wady 'Ayun Musa, in which are the cascades
mentioned on 3^^. This ridge is stated to bear indifferently
the names of Neba and Siaghah. Neba is doubtless the
ancient NSbo. The name Pisgah has not been preserved.
Presumably, it was the ancient name of the entire ridge.
n^DSn K'Ki may be rendered either the top or the head of
Pisgah ; if t^xi be top, the locality meant will have been the
modern Neba, the culminating point of the ridge ; but in view
of the fact that it is described in Nu. 2120 as looking forth over
Jeshimon (whether this be the wilderness of Judah, or the long
tract of barren land on the E. of Jordan, N. of the Dead Sea),
it is more natural to understand it of the projecting headland
at the W. extremity of the ridge, the Ras Siaghah, which
commands the better prospect of the Jordan- valley below.
From neither point is there much to be seen towards the
E. and S., the high plateau of Moab behind, and the ridge of
Maslubiyeh on the S., intercepting the view in those directions.
But towards the N., W., and S.W., the panorama is superb,
* On Siaghah, see further Survey of E. Palestine, pp. 154-156 ; and oA
Neba, ib. pp. 198-203.
420 DEUTERONOMY
though the terms of Dt. 34^"^ are hyperbolical, and must be
taken as including points filled in by the imagination, as well
as those actually visible to the eye (see the notes). Actually
the prospect embraces — on the N.E., the Belga (p. 52), a
"waving ocean of corn and grass " ; on the N. the undulating
forests of the Southern half of Gile'ad, terminating in the
Jebel 'Osha (3650 ft. above the sea), behind es-Salt ; the snow-
clad top of Hermon ; Tabor (in Zebulun) ; Ras Ibzik (Bezek),
S. of Gilboa' (in Issachar) ; 'Ebal and Gerizim, with the cleft
between them indicating where Shechem lay ; in front, as the
eye moves Southwards, the heights of Benjamin and Judah
with the Jordan-valley spread out beneath ; the gap in the
hills leading up from Jericho, with the height of Karantania
on the right ; further off, on the horizon, the lofty peak of
Neby Samwil, the ancient Mizpeh (2935 ft.) ; next, the Mount
of Olives, with the hill of Zion behind, and the ridge on which
Bethlehem and Hebron lie, stretching out to the left ; in the
valley below, the lower course of the Jordan, fringed with its
growth of semi-tropical vegetation, the "pride of Jordan"
(Jer. 12^, 49^^ = 50'**, Zech. 11^); the plain of es-Seiseban (East
of the river), the old Abel Shittim, immediately beneath the
spectator ; opposite, the dusky, barren plain of Jericho, with
the " rich green islets " of 'Ain es-Sultan and 'Ain Duk,
underneath the hill of Karantania ; lastly, the Dead Sea, as
far as 'Engedi, stretched out like "a long strip of molten
metal, with the sun mirrored on its surface," and bordered by
the bare and stern limestone rocks forming the edge of the
"Wilderness of Judah."*
And Jehovah showed him all the land, (even) Gilead as far
as Dan, ^and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and
Manassehf and all the land of Judah as far as the hinder sea,
^ and the South, and the Round, (even) the plain of Jericho, the
city of palm-trees, as far as Zoar\ "all the land" is the obj. of
"showed," the following words, to the end of v. 3, defining
the extent of land that is meant (RV. renders wrongly). The
* See further Tristram, Land 0/ Israel, p. 526 f. (from the "lower
Nebbeh," i.e. probably Siaghah, cf. p. 524); Moab, pp. 325f., 329f. ; Conder,
I.e. pp. 134-139; G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 563 f.
XXXIV. 2-3 421
description begins with the N., and follows the eye round to
the S. On Gile'ad, see on 3^'. The Dan meant can be only
the well-known place of that name, formerly Leshem or Laish
(Jos. 19'"' Jud. i828), near the foot of Hermon, where one of
the principal sources of the Jordan takes its rise, often men-
tioned as the extreme N. limit of Cana'an (i S. 320 al.), now
Tcll-el-Kadi. Keil and others have supposed that another
place of the same name in N. Gile'ad, mentioned also Gn. 14^*
2 S. 24^, is intended ; but the existence of such a Dan is
extremely questionable (see Del. or Dillm. on Gn. 14^*; DB.'^
•• 703? 714: in 2 S. 24^ read, after©, "And they came to
Dan, and from Dan they went round unto Sidon ") ; and the
terms of the description here imply some well-known locality.
The words "as far as (ly) Dan" do not mark the point to
which the writer supposed Gile'ad to reach, but the point to
which Moses' view extended. Dan is not, however, as a
matter of fact, visible from Neba (Conder, I.e. p. 139), nor, if
Tristram (p. 527) be right, is more than a part (to Jebel 'Osha)
even of the Southern half (3^^*) of Gile'ad ; and hence Conder
supposes that "ly has the force of towards. But ny means
distinctly as far as: no doubt the limit named is intended
hyperbolically, and is not to be understood au pied de la lettre.
Hermon being visible from Pisgah, Dan is probably named as
the N. limit of Israel, near its foot. — 2. And all Naphtali\ the
territory N. and N.N.W. of the sea of Gennesareth (on 33^^),
reaching a little further N. than Dan. Mentioned as an import-
ant Northerly region of Canaan, the hills of which (many about
2500 ft. in height) might (to judge by the map) be discernible in
dim outline from an eminence such as Pisgah. — And all the land
of Judah as far as the hinder sea] i.e. the Mediterranean Sea
(ii^'i). This again is not visible from Neba (Conder, I.e.), the
view being intercepted by the high central ground of Palestine.
The same explanation must be adopted as in the case of Dan.
— 3. The South] the Negeb, or southern tract of Judah (Jos.
i^2i-32j . see Qn i^ (p. 13). — And the Round] we should perhaps
say the Oval. Kikkar, a round (often of a round loaf of bread,
I S. 10^, and of a talent, i.e. a eireular leaden weight, Zech.
5^), is used technically, as a geographical term, of the circulat
42 2 DEUTERONOMY
(or oval) basin into which the Jordan-valley (the 'Arjibah)
expands, at about 25 miles north of the Dead Sea : so Gn.
13I2 19i7.26.2s. 29 2 S. i823, and " the Round of Jordan " Gn.
1 310- 11 I K. 7*« ( = 2 Ch. 4"): RV. " Plain " (with a capital P).
fflt here ra Trept^wpa, in Gn. and 2 Ch. 17 ■mpL-^(Mpo<; (cf. Mt. 3*).
See S. & P. pp. 284, 287, 488 f. — (Even) the plain of Jericho]
not " of" (RV.) ; the words are in apposition to " the Round,"
and (with as far as Zo'ar) define its extent. The expression
"Plain of Jericho" occurs only here; but T\^\>2, a broad
"cleft," or plain between mountains (see on 8^), would be
quite suitably applied to the broad depressed plain in which
Jericho lies. — The city of palm-trees] so (in appos. with Jericho)
2 Ch. 28^5; alone (as a name of the city) Jud. i^^ 3^^^ Jericho
was renowned in antiquity for its palm-groves. The site of
the ancient city was, no doubt, close to the beautiful fountain
'Ain es-Sultan, or Elisha"s Spring, which gushes forth in a
copious stream about a mile from the foot of the mountains
which lead up into the high ground of Judah. At present the
site is neglected, and haunted only by wandering Bedouins ;
but under cultivation it must have presented a very different
appearance. Josephus seldom mentions Jericho, without
praising the richness and productiveness of its soil. He calls
it the most fertile tract of Judaea ; and in speaking of the
fountain says that it watered a tract 70 stadia long by 20
broad, covered with beautiful pleasure-gardens (TrapaSeio-oi
KoAAio-Tot T€ KOL -irvKvoTaToi), and groves of palms of different
species, besides many other choice and rare trees {BJ. iv. 8. 3,
an eloquent description; cf. Rob. BR. i. 559). — As far as
Zdar] the site of Zo'ar has been disputed.
In Roman and Mediaeval times (cf. Jos. BJ. iv. 8. 4 ; Euseb. Onom.
s.v. (iaXa), a city called Zoara by the Greeks, and Zughar by the Arabs,
at the S. end of the Dead Sea, was pointed to, as the ?o'ar of the OT.;
and it has been located accordingly either (Rob. BR. ii. pp. 107, 518, and
others) at Mezraa, at the mouth of the Wady Kerak, on the isthmus of the
peninsula El-lisan, or (Wetzstein, ap. Del. Gen.* p. 564 fF.; Dillm.) in the
Gh8r es-Safia, at the S.E. end of the Dead Sea. The fact, however, that
here and Gn. 13'" i(f>-^^ (cf. I4*-*) Zo'ar is alluded to as being in (or
very near to) the Kikkdr (see above) of Jordan, which was visible from the
E. of Bethel [ib. 13^", see v.* 12*), — as is actually the case with the lower
course of the Jordan, though not with the S. half of the Dead Sea, — inclines
XXXIV. 4-6 423
others to believe that it lay in reality somewhere at the North end of the
Dead Sea : see G. Grove in BD?^ (1863), s.v. ; Tristram, Moab, pp.
330-334; Conder, Heth and Moab,^ p. 154 f., who identifies it with Tell
Shagflr, 6 miles N.E. of the Dead Sea, at the foot of the Moab range,
near the Wady f^esban (though owning, p. 137, that this site is not dis-
tinguishable from Ras Siaghah). The S. site is the more probable, and
is now generally accepted (Hastings' DB. iii. 151): even the present
passage implies that Zo'ar was some distaiit place, not one at Moses' foot.
4. The land which I sware, &'c.^ verbatim as Ex. 33^. See
on i^. — Catiscd thee to see] in the Heb., the same verb which
is rendered "showed" in v.^ — Thou shalt not go over thither]
cf. i37 32T 421. 22 (D) . 3252 Nu. 2012 (P).— 5. Moses, the servant of
Jehovah] so often in the Deut. sections of Joshua' (i^- ^- 7- 13. i*
&c.): in Nu. i2'^-8(JE) Jehovah calls Moses "my servant."
Also sometimes in later books: i K. g^^- *^ 2 K. 21^ (Deut.)
Mai. 322 Ps. 10526 I Ch. 634 2 Ch. i^ 246- » Neh. i^- s gU ^q%^ Dan.
9^1. Comp. Jud. 28 nin"' "i^y pj p ycnn'- no"'1. — According to the
command {mouth) of Jehovah] so Nu. 33^8 (P), of Aaron.
Mouth in the sense of command is a common Hebrew idiom ;
and the phrase here used occurs frequently (in P) with refer-
ence to Jehovah {e.g. Nu. 316.39^37.41^18.20.23^. nevertheless,
the Jews understood it here literally ; ST paraphrases n|TC^j pj?
"in^T NiD^D ; and hence the Rabb. legend that Moses died by
the kiss of God. — 6. And he buried him] though Heb. idiom
(see phil. n. on 152) would permit the verb to be fairly repre-
sented in English by they buried him ((J5 lBa\\iav), or he was
buried {see the RV. of i K. 13^ 2 K. 2i26 — the same word as
here — Is. 53^), yet, in view of clause*', the subject intended is
doubtless Jehovah. — In the ravine . . . infronto/Beth-Peor]
i.e. in the very ravine in which (according to 32^ 4^^^ Israel at
the moment was.
Probably the Wady Hesban (described in Tristram, Moab, p. 343 ff.);
for this (to judge by the map in the Survey of E. Palest. : cf. also Palmer,
Desert of the Exodus, p. 525 f. ; Tristram, p. 346 [remains in it of an ancient
Roman road]) will have been the natural route for the ascent from Livias
to Heshbon, which, according to Euseb. (see note on 3^), passed by Beth-
pe'or (though the present road is a more circuitous one to the N.). Beth-
pe'or, it is thus probable, overlooked the Wady Hesban, the "top of
Pe'or " (Nu. 23^) being an eminence on the hills above it. Cf. on 3™; and
see more fully the writer's art. Beth-PEOR in the Encycl. Biblica.
On apocryphal literature relating to the death of Moses, see Jude*, J.
424 DEUTERONOMY
E. Gerhard, De sepult. Mosis, 1667 ; J. A. Schmid, De tnorte Mosis, 1703
(cited by Dillm.); Evv. Hist. ii. 224, 226 f. ; PRE? xii. 352 f. ; Schiirer,
N. Zg."^ ii. 630-638 (where other literature is cited). The (incomplete)
Assumptio Mosis was first published, in an Old Latin version, by Ceriani,
Monumenta sacra et pro/ana, 1861, I. i. 55 ff. ; Hilgenfeld retranslated it
into Greek in his Messias Judceorum (1S69), p. 437 ff.; the latest edition is
Charles' Assumption of Moses, 1897: p. 106 fF. of this work contain the
patristic quotations referring- to the legend of the devil claiming the
body of Moses from the Archangel Michael, on the ground that he had
been guilty of the murder of the Egyptians, which was repelled by Michael
in the words quoted in Jude ®, WiTifj-mat voi h'os. See also the riB'D ^b" nYua
in Jellinek, Beth ha-Midrasch, 1853, i, p. ii5fF.
7. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he
died] the age stated ag^rees with Dt. 312; it was, no doubt,
traditional. The clause is derived from P (p. 417): it is the
natural complement of Ex. 7^ Nu. 33^^. — I/is eye was not dim
(Gn. 27I), neither had his freshness fled\ freshness (H/) occurs
only here: but the cogn. adj. Hp means moist, fresh, of fruit
(Nu. 6^), or of growing or freshly-cut wood (Ez. 172* Gn. 30^^),
opp. CT dry. The natural moisture and freshness of his body
was not reduced by age. — Fled\ fig. ; cf. of sleep (in:) Gn. 31*0
Est. 6^ Dan. 6^^(18). There is nothing distinctive in the phrase-
ology of this clause ; hence it is difficult to feel assured whether
it belongs to JE, or whether, like cl. *, it is to be assigned to
P. Wellh. [Cojnp. p. 118) is led by its terseness and force to
refer it to J ; but it connects so well with cl.^ that it may be
part of P. — 8-9. These two verses belong certainly to P. —
And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the Steppes of
Moab (v.i) thirty days] cf. Nu. 2o29 (P), of Aaron: ''And all
the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days." — 9. Was filled
with the spirit of wisdom] cf. Ex. 28^ (P). — Wisdom] i.e.
practical, administrative ability. — For Moses had laid his
hands upon him] see Nu. 27^^- ^3 (Pj^ which is here evidently
referred to. The same ceremony (for different purposes) is
also mentioned often besides in P (as Lev. i* Nu. S^^-^^j
nowhere else, except 2 Ch. 29^3). — Hearkened unto him] Nu.
XXXIV. 7. -Tn?] the older form of the suffix, retained regularly in
Moabitish, but in Heb. (in our existing texts) only sporadically, 14 times
in the Pent, (as Gn. 9'-* 49'' Ex. 32"*^), some 40 times in other books (as
Jen 2^'^^ gs. 10 ,^24 20^ 22'^). See Samuel, p. xxxv, and on 2 S. 2* 21*.
XXXIV. 7-II 4^5
27^ "hearken" (RV. "obey").— 10. Arisen] Ex. i^ Jud. 2I0 ;
also 2^^ 3^- ^^ Dt. iS^^- 1^, with which the present passage is not
inconsistent, for "Hke" there expresses similarity, not equality.
— Whom Jehovah knew] i.e. took notice of, deemed worthy of
His self-revealing friendship and regard (Gn. 18^® Am. 3^;
I Cor. 8^). — Face to face] in personal converse ; so Ex. 33'^
(E) : cf. Nu. 12^ (nc fjN ns) ; and on 5*. The words denote
the special pre-eminence of Moses among the prophets. —
11-12. Two verses calling attention to Moses' pre-eminence in
other respects, viz. on account of the wonders wrought by his
instrumentality. The verses are attached loosely to v.i"*',
and express really a new point of view. The phraseology is
Deuteronomic ; but their imperfect connexion with v. 10 makes
it improbable that they are the work of D ; they are rather
the work of a later (and inferior) Deut. writer, who sought to
supplement v.^*^ by a notice of particulars in which it seemed to
him to be deficient. — As regards all the signs and wonders,
<27^c.] for the expressions used, see 4^* 6^2 71^ u3 26^ 29^(2)b_
—11. In the eyes of all Israel] 31^: cf. also 434 end 522 291(2).
Additional Note on 153 (218 32''3).
The note on 21^ was so worded as to give the general sense of this
term, whether its primary meaning were assumed to be (from the Syriac)
to wipe, wipe off, or (from the Arabic) to cover. Akhough, however, there
are many passages in which the use of the word could be naturally ex-
plained upon the former supposition, there are others (esp. Gn. 32^') in
which this is hardly the case : the latter (which is also the usual explana-
tion) must accordingly be deemed the more probable one. The various
applications of the word are best explained in the note in Wellh. Comp.
P* 335f- Kipper \s to cover — never, however, in a purely literal sense (like
HDD), but always morally, viz. with the collateral idea of either conciliating
an offended person, or screening an offence or an offender. It is used in
three applications, (i) Its most primary application appears in Gn. 32^',
where Jacob, in dread of Es.tj's anger, ?«iys nnjoa r:s n^g^N I will cover
his face with the present — i.e. conciliate him, the fig. being that of a
person blinded by a gift (Ex. 23' i S. 12') so as not to notice something
(cf. Gn. 20^'). Hence {face being omitted) kipper acquires the gen. sense
of to conciliate, propitiate, appease, the means employed (the "irs) being',
according to circumstances, a gift, an entreaty, conciliatory behaviour,
and esp. (see 2) a sacrifice : so Ex. 32^ D^nxon nj(3 .t;s3n 'Sin (by interces-
sion : v.*"-), fig. Pr. 16" (of a king's wrath) nnss' can b-ki, Is. 47" (of
calamity) msjD 'Vain nV (|| mn^ to charm it away). The subst. kopher, lit. a
covering, i.e. a. propitiatory gift, is, however, restricted by usage to a gift
426 DEUTERONOM\
offered as an equivalent for a life that is claimed, — the iversrild so rigforously
prohibited by Hebrew law (above, p. 234) in the case of murder, but per-
mitted in certain other cases, and evidently a familiar popular institution.*
This sense of /Jo/A^r illustrates 2 S. 21 ^ where David says to the repre-
sentatives of the murdered Gibe'onites ns?x na^i wherewith shall I malie
propitiation? the satisfaction demanded being the lives of Saul's sons,
who are thereupon sacrificed to appease Jehovah's anger (v.*; of. v.' 24*).
See also Nu. 35^, comp. with v.*i'**. (2) In the distinctively priestly
phraseology (Ez. and P), the subject o{ kipper is the priest, J the means a
sacrifice — usually the blood of the sin-offering, or the guilt-offering (Dtrn),
occasionally the burnt-offering (Lev. i* 16^), now and then something
else : § the object was perhaps orig. nirr "lij (of. Gn. 32^^, and ni.T ':d n^n),
the verb being construed absolutely, to perform a propitiatory rite, with
Sj; {on behalf of) the person, less freq. with nyn (Lev. 9'' iS**- "• "• ^ Ez. 45") ;
but the use of the accus. of a material object (Lev. 16^-'^ Ez. 43-"-2'>
45'-"t) supports the view that the idea involved is to cover up (of. '?V '1^33,
•\^i Dnn), screen, viz. by a propitiatory rite : there follows (if required) JO
of the guilt from which one is freed (Lev. 4"^ 5*- '" 16'^ a/.), or hv (on
account of), Lev. 4^ 5^^- 1*. ffi usually i^ikarKofiai. See more fully on
Lev. 4^. (3) Sometimes God is the subject, who " covers " — i.e. treats as
covered, overlooks, pardons, condones — either (a) the offender, or [h) the
offence : so (a) Dt. 2\^ 32^ Ez. \(F' 2 Ch. 30I8 ; {b) Jer. iS^^ Ps. 65* 78=^ 79*
Dan. 9*" (obj. in all pj? or D>i'B's)t. God is also, no doubt, conceived as tht
implicit agent where the verb \s passive : viz. Dt. 21^'' i S. 3''* (py nSDn' on
d'?ij; nj; nn:D3i nata 'Vy n-n), Is. 6' isp^ inxoni njijr noi (the means a purging
or atoning rite) ; Is. 22''* (means not specified) ; Is. 27' Pr. 16^ noxai lona
jiy nsp; (the means meritorious conduct) : in all these cases, the subj. is
the iniquity, which, when the verb is in the active voice, is the obj. in (36),
but never in (2). On Nu. 35^^, see above. No. i, at the end.|| In actual
usage, the primary sense of covering was probably altogether forgotten.
The connexion between the three applications may, perhaps, be best pre-
served by rendering in (i) and (2) propitiate, or make propitiation, and in
(3) deal propitiously with (see more fully Propitiation in Hastings' DB.).
* Kopher is an interesting word, which carries us deep down into the
feeling and usage of the ancient Hebrews. It is the price, or equivalent,
of a life : Ex. 21^ (JE), 30'^ P (a half-shekel to be paid by every one, at
the time of a census, as the wsj nss), Nu. 35''- ^ P (not to be accepted from
a murderer), i S. 12^ (a bribe to screen a murderer: so Am. 5'^), Pr. 6^'
(the injured husband will accept no ^£33 from an adulterer), 13^ 21'^ (|| nnn).
Is. 43' (II nnn), Ps. 498P) (no man can ransom a brother from death, or give
God a kopher for him) ; fig. of the discipline of suffering, Job 33^* 36'*t-
% Or sometimes the offering : Lev. i* 17'^ Ex. 3o'"' Nu. 31''* 35'*^.
§ See Ex. 3o"" ^' (the half-shekel paid at a census), Nu. 8'* (the Levites
taken in lieu of the firstborn), 17"'' (i6'*^'-) (Aaron with incense, quelling
Jehovah's wrath), 25'^ (Phinehas, by slaying the offenders, and so arresting
Jehovah's anger), 31** (spoil offered on behalf of survivors in a campaignJi;
35*^ (the blood of a murderer).
II Is. 28'" i5f] is either simply be effaced, or an error for isn] (see 24^).
INDEX
Aaron, death of, lo*.
'Abarim, mountain of the, 32'*^.
Abib, 16I.
"Abomination" (n3Vir>), xxixf.,
Ixxxiii f., 7'-^ 14^ 32'^.
'Ain Kadis (Kadesh), 6, 20.
"Alllsrael,"' i^.
'Amalek, 286-288.
"Amen," 27'®.
'Ammonites, 40, 46, 261 f.
Amorites, 11 f., xix.
Anachronisms in Dt., xlii, xHii, 38,
77. 322.
'Anak, 'Anakim, 23 f., 37.
'Ar, 36, 45-
'Aribah, the, 2f., 35, 133.
Sea of the, 58.
Arabic customs or beliefs referred
to, 126, 147, 156, 164, 188 f., 199,
223 f., 224, 225, 226, 234, 240, 241,
24s. 255. 257 w., 259, 284 «.
Archaisms, imagined, Ixxxviii-xc,
19 n., 79"., 405 n.
Argob, 48-50.
Ark, 117 f., i22f.
Arnon, 45.
'Aro'er, 45.
"As at this day," z"".
" As Jehovah spake," xvi, Ixxxi.
Asher, 33-^-.
Asherah, 201-203.
'Ashtaroth, 8, xviii.
'Ashtoreth, 202.
Assumptio Mosis, 424.
"At that time," xlii, Ixxii n., 15.
" Avenger of blood," xii, 232-234.
'Avvim, 2**
Ba'al of pe'or, 4'.
Baldness, a mark of mowminp'. u'
Bashan, 3' 2,2^*.
Bastard, 23^.
"Belial," not a pr. name, 13'*.
Benjamin, 33'*.
Beth-pe'or, 3^ 34^.
Betrothal, 22^.
" Beyond Jordan," xlii f.
Blood, the seat of the "soul," 12^.
not to be eaten, 12'*- ^.
innocently shed pollutes land,
218 32«
Booths, feast (pilgrimage) of, 16''"''
31IO.
Bribery, 10" 16^' 27^.
Caleb, 36.
Canaan, seven nations of, 7^.
Canaanites, 11 f., 13 f., 133.
extermination of, xxii, xxxii,
Ixii, f^- 20^8-18.
places, or objects, venerated
by, to be destroj'ed, y^-^si. \2'^''.
rites or customs of, xxxii n.
" Captivity, to turn the," 30^, XXIII.
Children, instruction of, xxvi«.,4'
3,1^
"Choice" of Israel by Jehovah,
Ixxx, 7*.
of Jerusalem, Ixxx, 12'
Circumcision of the heart, 10^*.
Cities of Refuge, Ixviii n. , 78, 231 , 233.
" Clean " and " unclean," xii.
animals, 14^'^, 164.
Cobras, 32*".
" Coney," 14''.
427
428
INDEX
" Consecrate " a war, to, 237.
Copper in Palestine, 8®.
Covenant, 4^' 2<)^^\
Ark of the, lo^
Book of the, iii.
Dan (tribe), 33^.
(town), 421.
Dathan and Abiram, ii*.
Dead, food for the, 291 f.
"Dead" Sea, 58.
" Demons " (Dnc), 32".
"Detestation ' ({'piy, ppt^), 7-" 29'" <"*.
Deuteronomic school, xcif. , 68, 95,
96, 141, &c.
Deuteronomy —
aim and scope of, xix-xxv.
aims at realizing in practice ideals
of prophets, xxvii-xxix.
authorship of, xxxiv-xlviii.
of C. 1-4, Ixvii-lxxiii.
of c. 29-31, Ixxiii-Ixxvi.
of 32i-«, 345-348.
of c. 33, 386-389.
ceremonial institutions, attitude
towards, xii-xiv, xxxf., xl.
contents of, i-ii, iv-vii.
discrepancies with JE, xxxv-
xxxviii.
with P, xxxviii-xli, xlviii.
eudsemonism of, xxxii f.
history in, based on JE, and not
on P, xiv-xvii.
incidents named in, not mentioned
in Ex. Nu., xviif., xlviii.
influence, theological and literary,
of, Ixiv, xciff., 68, 81.
laws in, based mostly on pre-
existent usag-e, Ivi, Ixi.
compared synoptically with
others in Pent., iv-vii.
expansion of those in JE,
viii-x.
parallel to those in H, x f .
differ often from those in P,
xi-xiv, xxxviii f.
• represent the usage of a
different age from either JE or
P, xxxvii-xli, 137, 138, 145 f..
Deuteronomy —
165, 171-173, 178, 184, 185, i86f.
191, 192, 216, 218-221, 231.
leading ideas of, xxv-xxxiv, lix.
name, i.
objections to critical date of, con-
sidered, Iv-lxiv.
parenetic element in, ii, ix, xvii,
xix, xxvi, lix, Ixi.
present form of, how reached,
Ixxvii.
presupposes an age later than
that of Moses, xlii-xlviii, 2^' 3'''
,gi4 29io,n)32i3ff. (p. 433f.)3327.
not written by Jeremiah, xciv.
relation of, to JE (an enlarged
and revised edition of the Book
of the Covenant suited to needs
of a later age), viii-x, xiv-xvi,
xix, xxxviii, xlvi, xlviii.
to P (shows acquaintance
with priestly institutions, bu>
with neither legal nor historical
parts of P), xi-xvi, xix, xxxviii-
xli, xlviii.
style of, xli, xlvii, Ixxvii-lxxxviii.
supposed allusions to, in early
prophets or historians, Ixii f.
written under Manasseh or
Josiah ? xlix-lv.
" Devote," to, " devoted " thing, 2^*
" Discipline" ("13!, id-d), 4M n".
Divergent traditions or representa-
tations in the Pent., 26, 27, 28, 33,
56, 61, iigf., 338, 339, 400.
Divination and magic (i8^*""), 223-
226.
" Direct," to, "direction" (law), 17''.
Divorce (24^"''), 269-273.
" Do that which is evil {or right) in
the eyes of J.," to, Ixxxii, 95 f.
" Dowry," wrong rend, of vio, 22"*.
" Dragons," 32^.
Dreams, 13*.
" Eagle," wrong rend, of "M^iy 14^*,
32".
Eating, as sacrificial act, 143, 186.
INDEX
429
•Ebal, ii»27*-"
Edre'i, 8.
Edom, Edoniites, 33-35, 262, 391.
Egypt, deliverance from, to be a
motive for gratitude, 85, 183.
diseases of, 7^*, 28-'^- "".
servitude in, to be a motive for
sympathy, 10"*, of. 16'-.
Egypt and Egyptians, how to be
dea't with by Israel, 211, 262.
Egyptian customs, Ixiiif., 93, 129,
279, 280, 292, 296.
Elath, 36.
Elders of city, 19'*.
Ele'azar, lo**.
Emim, 36 f., 40.
Ephraim, ;ii^''.
Eunuchs, 23^.
" Excellency," bad rend, of .11x^,416.
Familiar spirits (d'jivt), 225 f.
Fear of Jehovah, 6^^ 10^-.
Festivals, 188-190.
F.rc-bolt (rjcn), 22^.
•'Fire-offering" (nfJ<), 18'.
First-fruits, iS"* 26'"".
Firstlings, 15^*'^.
"Fool," "folly," inadequate rend.
of ^2), nVaj, 22^1 32'*- 15- -1.
Foot, watering with the, 11^".
Forbidden kinds of food, i^^'^- 2i».
Forced labour (-D), 20".
Free-will offering, 143.
" Fringes," wrong rend, of 0'*?'"^,
22»2.
Gad, 3I2 3320..
Galilee, 413.
"Gates," of cities of Israel, Ixxix,
12I2.
Gateway, the Oriental forum, 21^^
Gennesareth, 58, 413.
GSr, the, I'o Joi» 14" (p. 165).
Gerizim, 11^ 27^^.
Geshur, 56.
Ghor, the, 3.
Ghosts (mnx), 225 f.
Gile'ad, 52.
Gilgal, ii**, XXI.
Glass, 33".
" Go a whoring after," 31"".
Gudgodah, 10^.
Havvoth-Jair, 55 f., 57.
Heart, the seat of intellect in
Hebrew ps3'chology, 4"-^.
" With all the heart and with all the
soul," xxi n., 73, 91.
Heathen religions, part of Jehovah's
providence, 4^^ 29-^ 1^'.
" Heave "-offering, inexact rend, of
ncnn, 142.
Heb. words and idioms —
HON, 26^
3IN, 226.
]-^^ 23''-
jn-N, 2I^
•?!< (for n'?N), Ixxxix, 4««.
niVx, 32'^
C'nht<, construed with a pi., 4^.
'3N, rare in Dt., 12^" 29".
'3Ji\*, preferred in Dt., Ixxxvii.
«]N, 2'1 33-"- 28.
nnts'N, 3'7 (p. ^8 w.).
itya, a link of relation, 4*.
. . . Nin y^K, 20^".
nx, anomalous (difierent cases of)
J 19. 22 g25 ,^22 208.
nya, Ixxx, 13" 26".
'■? -1^3, 4«>.
.^>'P3, 8'.
hen, 16^.
Vnj, IOI.
Din Vn:, 232-234
D'hih:, 29'".
ho:, 32'-.
nij, mjnn, 2K
sf^^, 2 2^ 23-2.
n-, suff. of 3 masc. sg., 34'.
Van c''7nn, 32-^
rnn, i«.
Kin, of /'em., Ixxxviiif.
Kin, emph., 1^" 322.28 ^34 ^,j
after icx, 7" 20**.
Vnih, i'.
^"V^y '34> 208, 275, 401
.Tn and ptcp., 9^*^.
430
INDEX
Heb. words and idioms —
(1-, leim. of 2 and 3 pi. impf. i".
J1-, rare term, of 3 pi. perf., 8^
nji, D'nni, 141 f., 215.
nat (verb), 145 n,
noi, Ixxxix, i6^^
nnx n:i, 31I*.
niyi, 28'^^
jn, 188 f., 195.
3Qn, 29'".
^?n, 32I*.
ion, 102.
Ton, 400.
I^n, 33^^
pn, 4^-
ppn, ppno, 3321.
□■jri, C"1l!'7, 2^ 7^.
Sen, D'Stynj, 25^*.
\ attached to a word in const,
state, as binding- vowel, 33^^
id:, 4^" 21^^
Dip;, u«.
'ini:, Ixxxix.
CT, XIX, Ixxxii.
with personal object, 9^
nyi;, Ixxi w. , 2^.
cmn, Ixxix, 4^* 9*, 416.
B", I3*(»).
jB" (jB'i:), 4^.
3, use of, i^'' 32".
ni.T Dvn3, 6^.
"3, idiom, use of, 12**.
nin DV3, 2***.
VV3, i3>' 33^0.
Dy3, D'VDH, 42»32l«-"'-".
IS?, 425 f-
wa, 32^*.
h, of norm, ii"28='2 33S.
expressing the tertium com-
parationis, i^".
distributive, i^^
V reflexive, with verbs of motion, i*.
with trans, verbs, i'^ 2^.
33'', p«eferredto 3^, Ixxi n.,lxxxvii.
irjHO = ativ one of, 15'.
1J0 33"
"inb, 22".
ileb. words and v'iiom*-
nyiD, 188, 189.
I'D, I4».
mc'D, 52.
]D in inxp, 15^
DD, 20".
n5J3CD, xc, 8*.
ODD (of the heart), i»
j?po (with force of inf.), \tP
npp, 1 61*, XXII.
Vyo, idiom., 13".
hue, to break faith, 32".
.13 SD, 1 6-,
nnn, nicn, i^s.
mocD, 1 1 1.
D'na, 2**.
•?;!:, .1^33, "^iJ, 22^1 32«- '»• 31.
^n;, 39.
e^n^, c'njp, 224.
■13.J, 31'^.
D':s T3n, i".
"ij?:, cisfeni., Ixxxix, 22^*.
ra:, 12^ 14-^ i9^n., 21^^23'* 24"
bvi (two roots), 7I, XXII.
-iB'j, 1412 32".
T3 jn:, 32.
'jeS jn:, i^ ; 4*.
l'?o, 1 6^8.
Vdd, 4I8.
B3y, B13;', 15'.
m-iv, 4'".
piV, IJiV?;, 224.
Vj?, idiom., 16^ ; 22*.
niVSy, 22^-'.
oy, idiom., 8^
'JS'? HDV, i^ 10* (p. 123).
D'Cy, 32^0 ; 333.
■cynn, 21".
njy, to be humble, 21'*.
3nyi ni^y, 32'^.
nii-y, 16*.
nan — to sacrifice, x"f ""■
jn HB-y, i6i"'".
ncB ntyy, 16^.
n3i5' nB'y, 5^*.
'ntfy, i^ n.
jKs niTiB-y, 7I*.
Tny, nn^ny, 32".
INDEX
431
Heb. words and idioms —
me. 7^
D'S'^a, 32^'.
>iS2, f^ 250.
niyu:, 32**.
•■■xs. 23".
n'rx, 22".
DCP, 223 f.
a"3ij, Ixxxiii.
'' »J3 PN (n.X-l) HKTJ, 16".
ffiCI, I*,
BNl, 33"-
n'CNi, 18^, 290.
D3^ 3-1, I*.
f>m, 32".
pj/l, 12^
pn, 32^.
02c and ntsD, 1".
one*, 32".
oneir, i7f., 237.
ixyu, 22".
n)sy, i2f.
f^E*, 106, 161.
Pi??*, 29I*.
Tnb, 2'**.
nnne', 29^*.
jn^*, 14I8, XXII.
n-, in 3 fern. sg. perf., Ixxxix.
msienn, 32-'".
.mn, 208 f., 275, 401 f.
pn-n, XXI.
q:?;'"?, 59-
noTin, 142.
Accus. of state, 4" 5*- 1* 9'.
Apposition, generalizing, 15^^ i8^
loose, 2^ 3* 17^
Asyndeta, Ixxxvii «.*, t, and §.
Beth essentia, i" lo^* 26* 28«2 3328.
pretii, 14^ 19-^
Casus pendens, 2^ 4^.
Constr. state, foil, by rel. clause,
4».
Daghesh euphonicum, z**.
Elatives, 242 n.
Fern. sing, construed collectively
with pi., 21' 30^".
Heb. words and idioms —
Impersonal passive, 21'.
Impf. with a frequentative force
(of custom, habit, &c.), i3'2'*-^
4" 521 111" ,210.
Impf., synchronistic, 3;^'.
Inf. abs., various uses of, i'* 3** b'-"
g21 ,^21 ,-2 285«.
Inf. constr. Hif. with liireq (?) in
first syll., 3^ 4''> 72^ 28^.
Inf. fern, in •%, xc-xci.
Nithpael, xc, 21*.
Partic. of the imminent future
{fut. instans), 2* 4^.
Pausal form (emph.), 7',
Pron. after verb (emph.), s^'*.
Pron. sufF. anticipating object, 3'^
Order of words, noticeable cases
Qf j36 -6. 14 Tg54. 56 _ ,:;6. 27_
Order of words, emi^hatic, 1^ 4''*"
14.20 613 8» ,^13 ,^5 20" 312" 326.
Perf. with Waw consec, with
force of imper., 4!^
carrying on an impf. after ly,
jVdV, ;s, &c., 320 4I. 16. 25 611,
carrying on an impf. with
freq. force, 5^ ii^**.
introducing apodosis, 437-S8
Resumption, cases of, i**4''2 13I.
Verb with implicit subject, 15I.
High-places, xlixf., 139.
Hinder Sea (the Medit.), ii»* 342,
Holiness, Law of, iv.
parallels with Dt., iv-vii, xf.
Holiness of Israel, 7', 164.
Holy things, 12-" 26'^
Honey in Palestine, 32'^.
" Hor the Mountain," ^2^,
Horeb, xvf., 6.
Horites, 37 f.
Hormah, i**.
Host of heaven, worship of, xlvi, 70.
*' I am he," 32^.
" I am Jehovah," 29'.
Idols and idolatry, xxi, 7'"'" 12*"*
*"■" c. 13, 172-'' 32=".
Idoii, sarcasm on, 4*.
432
INDEX
Imag-es, ^^^-^^ 58 27^*.
Incense, 23^'*'
Incest, 22»'(23i) 2f'>-'^-'^.
Individual responsibility, 7^" 24^^.
Inscriptions, Aramaic (Zinjirli),
Ixxxviii.
Moabite, Ixxxviii, 98.
Palniyrene, 204 n.
Phoenician, Ixxxviii, 69 w.,
79«., 155 n., 203, 204 n., 223,
264 n., 368.
"Instruct," "instruction," wrong-
renderings of "ID", "1D1D, 4^ II*.
Interest, 2320-21.
feeling- of ancients on, 266 f.
Iron in Palestine, 8^.
Israel, treated collectively, i*'
2^-'^n. (p. 42), 31!^.
Israel, " chosen " by Jehovah, Ixxx,
f-
holy to Jehovah, 7^
Jehovah's "peculiar pos-
session," 7^.
Jehovah's people, 26"* 27''-
Jehovah's " sons ' (or "chil-
dren "), 14I 32'.
Israel, kingdom of, 397.
Issachar, 33'*'*.
Jair, 3".
Jealous, of God, 4** 32"^
Jehovah, Israel's duty to, xix fF.
Jeremiah, influence of Dt, on, xcii-
xciv.
Jericho, 422.
orthography of the word,
Ixxxix f.
Jeshurun, 32'^ ^Ti^.
Joseph, 32^^'^''.
Joshua, divergent accounts of, 26,
28, 61, 338, 339.
Josiah, reformation of, xlv, li.
Judah, 33''.
Judges in Israel, i8f., 199 f., 206-
209.
Kadesh-barnea', 6, 392.
sojourn of Israel at, 31-33.
Kedcshim, 23"'- '*.
Kingdom, law of the, \i^^'^,
Kinn^reth, 58, 413.
Laceration of person in mourning,
14^
Land defiled by crime, 21*^ 24^
Landmark not to be removed, 19'*
27I' ; cl. p. XXII.
" Latter days," phrase explained,
430.
"Law" (fordh), xi, 14*1., I7'*''' 24*
33^" (p. 401 f.)-
Law, Hebrew, growth of, Ivii.
Leaven, prohibition of, 192.
Lej'a, the, 49-51.
Leprosy (elephantiasis), 24*'- 28^^
Levi, tribe of, Levites, 1 21-124, '44'
168, 300 f., 343, 398ff. (33'-")-
Levirate-marriage, 25'''-"'.
" Levite," double meaning of term,
219, 300 f., 343.
Levitical cities, 218.
Life, meaning- of, in Dt., 4^ 30^*' *.
Loans, legislation for, 177-180, 276.
" Long-haired head," 32'*-.
Love, Jehovah's, for Israel, xx,
xxviii, 4-*' 7*.
Love of Jehovah, Israel's primary
duty, xxi, xxviii, Ixxviii, 91, 125.
Ma'acah, 56.
Machir, ;i^\
Manasseh, 3'* 33".
Manna, lessons of the, 8^' '*.
Manslaughter and murder, ig^'^^
Mantle (no'?E'), 241".
Marriag-e-customs, 255, 257, 25S.
Marriage-bond, figure of, 340.
Marriage, Levirate, 2^^'^".
Marriages, prohibited, 23^ (22-**)
2^20. 22. 23_
Massah, 6'* 33*.
Mazzoth (Unleavened Cakes),
festival of, i6^-*.
Meals, sacred, 143, 169-173, 186.
" Mercy" (nonV 7*
Meiibah, 384, 399 1. (33").
Mesuzah, 93.
INDEX
433
Mishor, the, 52, 419.
Moab, Moabites, 52, 261.
Moabite customs, 98.
Molech-worship, 222 f. (iS'").
Monotheism in Dt., xx, xxviiif.,
90 f., 378.
Moreh, terebinths of, 1 1'*.
Moserah, Aaron's death at, 10".
Moses, death of (in apocryphal
literature), 423 f.
" Name," force of in Heb., 141.
" Name called over," 28'".
Naphtali, 2,y^-
Nebo, 418 f.
" Neck, stiff," 9«.
Negeb, the, 13, 421.
"No-god," "no-people," 32"-''''.
Oath to the patriarchs, i" 29'''.
•Og. I* 3'^-
sarcophagus (?) of, 3".
" Other gods," xxi, xlix, Ixxviii, 95.
Paran (i^; 33'), 4, 391 f.
Parapet on roof, 22^.
Parents, duties towards, and au-
thority of, 2ii8-2i 27'*.
Passover, i6''®.
Peace-offerings, 18' 27'.
' Peculiar" people, 7*.
Pe'or, 64.
"Perversions" (ni3i2nn), 32*^.
Phoenician customs referred to, 203,
204, 222, 223, 264 f., 302, 36S.
Pilgrimages (c':n), the three annual,
1 61-".
significance of, 189 f.
" Pillar" (obelisk). 16-- (p. 203 f.).
Pisgah, 58, 418 f.
view from, 4igf.
Pledges, law of, 24«- 1"".
Plurality of altars permitted before
Dt., 136-138.
Polyandry, 284.
" Portent" (n:ia), 4**.
Post, A. H., quoted, 234, 255 n., 257,
257 n., 258, 273, 281, 284 f.
Priests, 18'- ^ 21* 24* (p. 401 f.).
28
Priests with army, 20*.
Priests' Code (P), iv.
how related to Dt. {see under
Deuteronomy).
idioms peculiar to, 7, 383-385,
417.
Primogeniture, 2i'*-'^
Prophets, iS^''*^.
" Prove," to, "proving" (idj, noc),
434 616 gs. 16,
" Provoke to anger," to, "provoca-
tion," wrong rend, of 0'i'3.i, CV3,
,25 gl8 ^2'^- 19.27.
Punishment, corporal, 256, 279.
Rain in Palestine, ii"*'*.
Ramoth in Gile'ad, site of, xx, 79.
" Ransom," to ('Tis), 7^
Ras Siaghah, 419 f.
Release, year of, i^^'^ 31'".
Rephaim, 37, 40, 53, 54.
Restoration, promise of future, Ixxvi,
Reuben, 312- 1' 33*.
Roads from Sinai to Canaan, 6.
" Rock," title of God, 324.
" Round " (ir?) of Jordan, 34''.
Sacrifice and slaughter once identi-
cal in Israel, 145 f.
Sacrifices (cnnt), 142, 215.
Salchah, 53.
Sanctuary, law of the single, xliii f.,
138, 140.
Se'ir, 6, 30, 391.
SSnir, 3^.
Sheuim, 32".
Shephelah, the, i2f.
"Show," sense of, in AV. , 5*.
" Shut up or left at large," 32-^'
"Sign " (n'N), 4'^.
Simeon, 395, 398.
Similes in Heb. prose, i".
Sinai, 33^^.
Si'on (name of Hermon), 4**.
Sirion (do.), 3*.
Slavery, law of, I5'-''*.
different from laws of JE and
P, 182, 184, iS.s.
434
INDEX
Smith, W. R.,MS. notes of, 5 (i^), 40
(2"), 156 (14'), 240 (20^"), 241 (21=*),
259(232), 259 n.(23i), 2G6 ;i. (23=«),
307 (2S'«), 363 (32'J).
•'Solemn assembly" (miv), 195.
"Solemn feast" (iVID), 189.
Sonship of Israel, 14' 32^ (p. 352).
"Soul," ideas connected with, in
Heb., 1220 1428 ig^n. 21^'* 23^5 24'^
"South" (ajj) of Judah, 13, 421.
"Stand before" ( = "attend on"),
l38 108.
'' Steppes of Moab," 417, 418.
"Stranger" (Ger), 1^^ 10^" 14^^
Temple, in Benjamin, 404.
" Tempt," " temptation," wrong
rend, of no:, hdd, 6^".
" Tent of Meeting," xiii, 31"'-.
" Testimonies," 4'"'.
Thank-offerings (D'ohef), 18^ 27^
"This law," iii, 8.
et-Tih, wilderness of, 20.
Tithes, law of, 166-173, 290-292.
irreconcilable with law of P,
169-173.
TSrdh, see " Law,"
Totemism, 70.
Tribunal, supreme central, 17"-"
i9»7-i9,
"Tributary," inadequate rend, of
DO^, 20".
Trees, sacred, 11^" i62^
Uncleanness, xii, 249, 263, 272, 291.
" Vanities " (o'San), 3221.
Vengeance (cpi), 32^^* '*^.
"Vex," "vexation" (cyan, 0^2), 4^^
r>18 ^-,16.19.27
Vows, 143, 267 f.
"Wady,"39.
" Waters under the earth," 4'* 8''.
Weeks, feast of, 16''"^*.
Wergild, 234, 426.
Wild ox (cNn), 33".
Witness, law of, 17^ 19"***.
Zamzummim, 22".
Zebulun, 33'^''.
Zered, 2^*.
Zin, 32".
Zo'ar, 42*1
V^AR ^-^ '^
llttttll