Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 1

Verses 1-5

(See the Deuteronomy Book Comments for Introductory content and Homiletic suggestions).

XI

THE ANALYSIS: SOME OBJECTIONS ANSWERED

Deuteronomy 1:1-5

ANALYSIS I. Introduction, Deuteronomy 1:1-5.

1. Retrospective connection with Numbers 1:1-2.

2. Time, place and circumstances of first address, Deuteronomy 1:3-5.

3. Text fixing character of the book and meaning of the Law, Deuteronomy 1:5.

II. Appointment of three cities of refuge in territory east of Jordan, Deuteronomy 4:41-43.

III. First great oration, Deuteronomy 1:6-4:40.
1. A review of national history from Sinai to Jordan, Deuteronomy 1:6-3:29.

2. Exhortation thereon, Deuteronomy 4:1-40.

IV. Second great oration, Deuteronomy 4:44- 24:19.
Part 1. Deuteronomy 4:44- 11:32.

(1) Introduction, Deuteronomy 4:44-49.

(2) Rehearsal of the Decalogue, 5:1-21.

(3) Comment on the history, exposition and exhortation, Deuteronomy 5:22-11:32.

Part 2. Deuteronomy 12-26, various statutes and judgments with comment, exposition, and exhortation.

V. Third great oration, Deuteronomy 27-28.
Part 1. Deuteronomy 27, provision for renewal of covenant after entering Canaan.

(1) Record of the law on monumental stones, Deuteronomy 27:1-4

(2) Building of an altar after original model in Exodus 20 and ratification by burnt offerings, Deuteronomy 27:5-6.

(3) Peace offerings and joyous communion festivals, Deuteronomy 27:7.

(4) Provision for announcement of result at the covenant renewal, Deuteronomy 27:9-10.

(5) Solemn and sublime arrangements for committing the whole people to both blessings and curses of the law, Deuteronomy 27:11-26.

Part 2. Deuteronomy 28, exhortations based upon the directions and prophecies of Part 1.

(1) Blessings of obedience. Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

(2) Curses of disobedience. Deuteronomy 28:15-68.

VI. Fourth great oration, Deuteronomy 29-30.
Part 1. Provision for present renewal of covenant oath, Deuteronomy 29:1-15.

(1) Introduction, historic recital. Deuteronomy 29:1-9.

(2) Parties who take the oath. Deuteronomy 29:10-15.

Part 2. Comment and exhortation, Deuteronomy 29:16-30:20.

VII. Fifth great oration, Deuteronomy 31:1-13.
1. His words to the people, Deuteronomy 31:1-6.

2. His words to Joshua, Deuteronomy 31:7-9.

3. Provision for instruction of the people at central place of worship when established, in all the written law, every seventh year, Deuteronomy 31:9-13.

VIII. Moses and Joshua before the Lord, Deuteronomy 31:14-29.
1. Moses presents his successor before Jehovah, Deuteronomy 31:14-15.

2. Jehovah instructs Moses to write and sing a song, and why, Deuteronomy 31:16-22.

3. Jehovah’s charge to Joshua, Deuteronomy 31:23.

4. The Pentateuch completed and filed for preservation and why, Deuteronomy 31:24-29.

IX. The song, or Moses’ sixth address, Deuteronomy 32:1-47.
1. The invocation, Deuteronomy 32:1.

2. Its character, Deuteronomy 32:2.

3. Its theme, Deuteronomy 32:3-6.

4. Its argument, Deuteronomy 32:7-33.

5. Its prophecy, Deuteronomy 32:34-43.

6. Its exhortation, Deuteronomy 32:44-47.

X. Jehovah’s final direction to Moses, Deuteronomy 32:48-52.
1. View of the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 32:48-49.

2. Prepare to die, Deuteronomy 32:50.

3. Why not permitted to enter the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 32:51-52.

XI. Prophetic blessings on the tribes, or seventh address of Moses, Deuteronomy 33.
1. Introduction, Deuteronomy 33:1-5.

2. Each tribe separately, Simeon omitted, why, Deuteronomy 33:6-25.

3. The people as a unit, Deuteronomy 33:26-29.

XII. Deuteronomy linked to the book of Joshua, Deuteronomy 34.

1. Unique death and burial of Moses, Deuteronomy 34:1-7.

2. Israel mourning for her departed hero, Deuteronomy 34:8.

3. His successor, Deuteronomy 34:9.

4. His place in history, Deuteronomy 34:10-12.

Open your Bible and follow me carefully in noting some things upon which the higher critics base some objections to the integrity of the book. They allege first that there is a contradiction between the first two verses of Deuteronomy and the next three verses as to the place, or scene. Now, let us read it: "These are the words which Moses spake unto all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah over against Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab." Now these words refer to four or five different localities. The third commences: "And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, . . . " Now, they say that the first two verses locate the scene in a number of places reaching clear back to the Red Sea. That the following verses locate it opposite Jericho in the plains of Moab, and, therefore, there is a contradiction.

Now note my answer. The first two verses in the book of Deuteronomy are retrospective, merely establishing connection with the book of Numbers, just the closing of the book of Numbers restated and the true commencement of Deuteronomy is the third verse. So if you turn to Genesis, you will find that the last verses are about Jacob and all of his children going into the land of Egypt. Then, when you look at the beginning of Exodus, he commences by a restatement of the closing of Genesis. "Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, . . ." Now turn to 2 Chronicles 36:22: "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia." Now turn to Ezra I, the book that follows it, and you will see it restates the closing of Chronicles. In other words, it is a habit where these books are related to each other to show that relation by restating in the beginning of the new book the ending of the preceding. Therefore there is no contradiction between the first two verses, which are merely retrospective and form a connecting link with Numbers. The statement in the three following verses that the scene of the book of Deuteronomy is the plains of Moab is the first point, and the man that has a studious mind ought to see that they ought not to make that a ground of invidious criticism of the Word of God.

The second objection is based on the phrase, "beyond Jordan." Deuteronomy says, "These are the words that Moses spake unto all Israel beyond Jordan." They say that expression, "beyond Jordan," means that a man wrote the book on the west side of the Jordan. Now, in the New Testament where it speaks of John baptizing beyond the Jordan, that means in Perea, therefore they say that some man besides Moses wrote this because Moses didn’t get on that side of the Jordan. You see the point clearly.

The reply on this point is that this phrase was a geographical expression without any reference to position of the writer or speaker fixed before the time of Moses and describes a section of country like "The South Country." no matter where the speaker is with reference to the south country. And "the land toward the great sea" means west of the Jordan, no matter whether the speaker himself is west of the Jordan or east of it. It is a geographical expression, precisely so "Beyond Jordan" was a phrase fixed in history and in geography before Moses wrote. He meant that section of the country east of the Jordan River. Now, I hate to call your attention to the little things. I dislike to speak of little things but must if I speak of anything the higher critics claim.

The next is based on a number of parenthetical clauses in the King James Version (Deuteronomy 1:2; Deuteronomy 2:10-12; Deuteronomy 2:20-23; Deuteronomy 3:9; Deuteronomy 3:11) which are claimed to be irrelevant to the matter in hand. Now you see these parenthetical clauses. On these parentheses they base an objection. They say they break the connection and therefore must have been interpolations by a later writer. This is their allegation.

Now, my reply is that every one of those parenthetical references is intensely relevant to the matter in hand, and that they very greatly accentuate the emphasis of the speaker. Suppose we take them up in order. It was only eleven days’ march from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. Now, the fact that it took them thirty-seven days for an eleven days’ march shows that they committed some sin. He sharply rebuked that sin, which delayed them. The next time the delay was thirty-eight years on account of their sin. Now, it is very important for Moses in making a speech, and a speech which is to close with an exhortation, to call attention, parenthetically, to these facts, and in the second verse he states all the places that he wants to emphasize. "You stopped there so long, here, yonder." You see now if that parenthetical statement is not relevant to the matter he had in hand, there is no such thing as relevancy.

Now, let us look at the next parenthetical clause (Deuteronomy 2:10-12; Deuteronomy 2:20-23). Let us see what that is. The parenthesis reads this way, "The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, . . ." "the Horites also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but the children of Esau succeeded them, . . ." Now, they say that this is evidently an interpolation by a later writer. I reply that the ethnic reference to those joint nations is of the utmost importance and bearing on the matter in hand. If those joint races had been expelled from their former holdings by the Edomites, Amorites, and Moabites, how little should Israel, led by the Almighty, fear such adversaries. Their history demands just exactly that reference. And let us notice the next parenthesis (Deuteronomy 2:9), which reads, ’"which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion and the Amorites called it Senir." They say that these names are given to Mount Sinai at a much later date, therefore the man that wrote that must have lived at a much later date than Moses lived. Now, the names given Mount Hermon are all pertinent, and express historical facts well in the knowledge of Moses, and helped to identify the mount. Moses called it Mount Hermon) not Sinai. The Phoenicians gave it the name of Sirion. Other people called it a different name. All of these names were given before the time of Moses. They are just mistaken in the fact that these names were given it at a later period.

Now let us look at the next objection (Deuteronomy 3:11). It is the description of the bedstead of Og. This objection is but an expression of unbelief in the veracity of the historian and results from their own ignorance. Well, little fellows like higher critics would never need a big bed. You would have to stretch them and expand them to make them fit. But it is a historical fact that the bones of a person fitting that bed have been recently dug up near that place. I am regarded as a pretty tall man and when a friend of mine saw me get off the train with some giants, he commenced laughing and said, "B. H., I always thought you were a big man, but you are a dwarf; just look at those people." Now we know, in history, of people big enough to fill that bed. The pentateuchal references to giants are supported rather than discredited by modern discoveries on the scene of the story.

Now let us take up the other, (Deuteronomy 3:14). It says, "Even unto this day." Now, they say that whoever wrote that expression must have been a man very remote from that time, hundreds and hundreds of years must have passed away. When that writer says, "Even unto this day," therefore, some other man than Moses must have written the book. Their criticism is the merest assumption. The phrase, "even unto this day," does not necessarily imply a long time, and we will find it used in the book of Joshua to mean a very short period of time. Moses could say, "Even unto this day," since his reason for using that expression is that he sometimes refers to a place that had changed names, he says that it used to be called a certain name; that it used to be called Rephaim a long time ago, or at such a time it was called a certain name. It is still that name "unto this day." The phrase simply means this, whether it be a long interval or a short interval of time.

I will give you one more (Deuteronomy 4:41-43) : "Then Moses set apart three cities on the side of Jordan toward the sunrising; that the man-slayer might flee thither." In other words, he there sets apart three cities of refuge before he crosses the Jordan. Now, the objection to this speech is that Moses breaks the connection. My reply is that it does not break the connection of the speech. His speech was ended, and a piece of history comes in before he makes another speech. Now, you will think these are very small matters, and yet men covered with medals from the universities of Europe gravely sit down and attack the Pentateuch on these things.

Every public speaker, whether preacher or politician, may profitably study Carlyle’s "Essay on Stump Speaking," in which he submits substantially the following conditions of a great oration:

First, there must be a great occasion to call it forth. Now, you know the difference in getting up in a debating society with nothing involved and having a case to come up in real life. One is an occasion and the other a make-believe. There must be a great occasion.

Second, the speaker must be equal to the occasion.

Third, he must daringly seize the opportunity flying by swiftly. If he has not the capacity to seize that opportunity, he never can be an orator.

Fourth, he must have something to say. Neither froth, nor fancies, nor oratorical declamation fits a great occasion. There must be matter and body to his thought.

Fifth (and here is the point upon which I do all my studying on great occasions when I make speeches), he must so say things that they will stick, lodge, burn in the mind of the hearer. Now, those are the points by Carlyle on stump speaking; and I want to apply them to the book of Deuteronomy. In the first place it has been shown that Moses had a great occasion; second, it has been shown how he was the one man in all the world equal to the demands of that occasion; third, it has been shown how, in the last days of his life, he seized the flying opportunity to utilize the occasion. And now, from the addresses themselves and subsequent history, we have to determine whether he had something to say and so said it that it stuck.

Now fix your attention carefully on a phrase, the most important in the whole book, as determining the character of the book (Deuteronomy 1:5). Just six words, "began Moses to declare this law." You must not construe this to mean that Moses began to enact new laws. "To declare" here means to unfold, to expound, to dig under, to dig up past law. The book does not tell of the legislator making the laws, but of an orator expounding law, giving the sense of it and applying its meaning. This text is a matchless theme for a sermon when you desire to show how Moses began to take up this law, to expound, to declare this law, and what the significance. It means that the Bible is not so much a book for reading, but a book to be studied.

That you must open up its heart. Now, a student can do this. An idiot can read the Bible, but he cannot dig it out. Now an example: When our Lord met those two people going to Emmaus he said, "You fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said concerning me," and then he dug up and expounded all the meanings of this scripture. "Now, you didn’t believe these things; you simply read them; now I will expound them; I will dig them up and let you see the real meaning of them." Therefore I say that this gives us the character of the book. It is an exposition and not legislation. I repeat, this teaching is a matchless theme when you desire to show the necessity of Bible study; that the Scriptures are not so much to be read as to be studied.

Another point is that Moses uses the words, "the law," and he does not limit them to mere previous legislation, but includes all the historical setting. The whole of the first address which is called an expounding of the law is but an exposition of the connecting history. With the Jews later and with Christ and his Apostles, the Torah, the Law, means all the Pentateuch, both history and legislation. It has that meaning in the remarkable history found in 2 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 34. The book found is the Pentateuch. The unity of the Pentateuch cannot ever be overemphasized. Moses in his address of exposition goes back to the Genesis record of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even to the first creation of man. He goes back to Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers in both history and legislation. And as we shall see at the close of this book, he finishes the continuous record and deposits it as a witness forever in the ark in the custody of the priests. You should study Dr. Green of Princeton in Biblical Introduction on the unity of Genesis, the unity of the Pentateuch and the unity of the Old Testament.

QUESTIONS

1. Give an analysis of Deuteronomy.

2. What do the higher critics allege as to the first two verses and how do you answer it?

3. What the higher critics’ second objection, and the answer?

4. What their third objection and what the answer?

5. Show the relevancy of each of these parenthetical clauses.

6. What their fourth objection and the reply thereto?

7. What the objection based on the phrase "unto this day," and your reply?

8. What the objection based on Deuteronomy 4:41-43, and your reply thereto?

9. What essay on "Stump Speaking" is cited? What are the conditions of a great oration as submitted by this author?

10. Show how the first three of these conditions apply to Moses.

11. What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 1:5 and what the bearing on the character of the book?

12. What line of thought suggested for a sermon on this text and its application?

Verses 6-32

(See the Deuteronomy Book Comments for Introductory content and Homiletic suggestions).

XII

FIRST AND SECOND ORATION, PART I

Deuteronomy 1:6-11:32

FIRST ORATION

The occasion is great and awe inspiring. Death is just ahead of the speaker, about one month off, and yet the old man stands before us in the vigor of youth. He does not die from decay of either mental or physical power but simply because God is going to take him. He has carried these people in his heart eighty years and has borne them in fact for forty marvelous years of eventful history; has suffered unspeakably in their behalf, and now is burdened with the spirit of prophecy which unfolds to his eagle eye their disastrous future for thousands of years, brightened for a time by the coming of the Prophet, like himself but infinitely greater, and the prospect of their final restoration. He starts out with a reference to Horeb where they entered into covenant relations with God, and where he himself sat, with the chiefs of the tribes, of thousands, of hundreds, of tens, to hear all minor causes, appealing to him only in great matters. The qualifications of these judges are set forth in Exodus 18:21, and "they were able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness," and here, as "wise men, well-known chiefs of the tribes, full of understanding." He rehearses his original charge to these judges: they must fairly hear all cases, must judge righteously, must be impartial, must fear no face of man, must remember that the judgment is Jehovah’s. The object of the reference is to show that they left Sinai thoroughly organized and equipped; left there in numbers more than the stars shown to Abraham and with their leader praying, "The Lord of your fathers make you a thousand times as many more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you."

They left there at God’s command to go at once to take possession of their long promised country. But alas, on account of their sins they lost thirty-seven days in getting to Kadesh-barnea and then with the imperative command ringing in their ears, the Lord said as before, "Come and take possession"; they again are delayed forty days in order to get a report from spies, and after that report and an awful breach of the covenant they lost thirty-eight years more of weary wandering, then when again assembled at Kadesh-barnea sinned again and caused Moses himself to sin, and so debarred him from the Promised Land. Then, through unbelief in God, through fear of man, through presumption toward God, through fleshly lusts, they had utterly failed to enter in.

Moreover, they had lied in attributing their attitude of rebellion to parental concern for their children, which God rebuked by showing that he could lead those helpless children into the Promised Land without the loss of one, while the bones of the parents whitened in the wilderness. And now, though at Kadesh-barnea again, when entrance was no more than stepping over a line drawn in the sand, they must turn down toward the Red Sea, and by a long, weary and circuitous march approach the country on the other side; a path must compass Mountain Seir, skirt Edom, Moab, and Ammon and bring them into deadly conflict with Sihon, king of the Amorites, Og, king of Bashan, and all the hosts of Midian. That circuitous march was marked by some great sins and made memorable by some great deliverances. Aaron died at Mountain Hor. Moses is about to die, without passing over into the Promised Land.

Now, this oration, having thus briefly reviewed the legislation, makes that survey the basis of his exhortation by way of application. Learn from this model, O preachers, how to revive the lost art of exhortation. That used to be the custom for men that were called to exhort who could not preach. They could not preach a sermon but they could sit down and listen to a preacher preach and then move people mightily by exhortation. I have heard men, ignorant as they were in books, give exhortations that would make the stars sparkle.

Dr. Burleson preached a sermon at Huntsville and at the close of the sermon J. W. D. Creath got up and commenced by slapping his thigh and you could have heard him a hundred yards. He said, "The spirit of God is here, and the devil is fighting hard." The people were converted by the hundreds and the biggest man was Sam Houston. A Negro boy on the outside was convicted of sin and came to the front, not understanding but feeling the power of God, he knelt at Sam Houston’s feet saying, "Massa Houston, save me." Sam Houston said to the boy, "Ask the clergy, I am just a poor lost sinner myself." We bad Deacon Pruitt; he never preached but Judge Baylor never held a meeting but he got Brother Pruitt to help him. He always wanted him to exhort after he preached. Moses determined to exhort these people, and in order to exhort them, he takes up the survery. They keep forgetting the times of his exhortation. The points are stated thus:

(1) Hearken unto God’s word and do it.

(2) Do not add to his law nor diminish it. "Heaven and earth," says our Lord, "must pass away, but my word shall not pass away."

(3) Be warned by your own history. History teaches lessons and imposes obligations. Preachers especially should be students of history in order to understand God’s government over nations and the way of his providence.

(4) In view of its impression on other nations obedience will be your highest wisdom. They will thereby recognize your relations with Jehovah and marvel at your prosperity and fear your power.

(5) Do not forget. Teach this law diligently to your children.

(6) Remember that you yourselves and your nation alone heard God’s own awful voice pronounce your Decalogue and that you have his autograph copy preserved as a witness.

(7) Remember that when you heard his voice you saw no likeness of him and beware that you make no graven image of anything that is in heaven above, nor earth below; do not fall down and worship it. We should all become iconoclasts, breakers of images. "Icon," the image; "Iconoclast," the breaker of images.

(8) Remember that Jehovah is a jealous God and will look upon sin with no degree of allowance, and be sure that he will find out your sins and be sure that he will punish your sins. Don’t you become so sweetly sentimental that you will think it impolite to say the word "hell." Let us remember the awful words of our Lord, greater than Moses, who said, "Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," who said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." So this is the first exhortation of Moses.

SECOND ORATION, PART I

The scripture of this part is Deuteronomy 4:44, to the end of the eleventh chapter. Like the first oration, the second has an introduction giving the time, place, and circumstances of delivery. The closing: paragraph of Deuteronomy 4 gives this introduction in verses Deuteronomy 4:44-49. There is nothing in it calling for additional comment beyond the fact that it marks an interval of undetermined time between the two Orations.

This part of the oration consists of a rehearsal of the whole Decalogue, stated in an offhand, oratorical form, without attempting the exact verbal quotations, and of an exposition of the first table, that is, the four commandments embodying our relation to God) and then an earnest exhortation by way of application. Note the verbal differences between this offhand rehearsal of the Decalogue by Moses and the Exodus record of it as spoken in the very words of Jehovah himself, and written by him on tablets of stone. From Revised Version, read Exodus 20:2-17, and then read the corresponding Commandments in the same version from Deuteronomy 5:6-21. You must consider the Exodus form as the true original, and the Deuteronomy form as a substantial restatement by a public speaker, and note that Deuteronomy 5:15, is not an attempt to quote the Fourth Commandment as originally given, but merely a passing exhortation, assigning an additional motive for remembering the sabbath day. The reader will also note that Romanists combine the first and the second according to our division, to make their first, and then divide our tenth to make their ninth and tenth. This does not affect the matter, only the numbering of the parts.

I asked you to read the Decalogue in Exodus and Deuteronomy alternately because enemies of the Bible have made so much of the fact that there is not an exact verbal agreement, and hence they have denied the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. The reply to it is that the divine original in God’s own handwriting is the Commandments as they were delivered; second, in this case there is an inspired substantial restatement of the original in oratorical form and this restatement is just as much inspired as the original. Remember the sabbath because God rested on that day and it is prophetic, in an indirect way, of the New Testament sabbath. As God rested from creation when he had finished the work and the day commemorated an historical fact, so Jesus, having accomplished the great redemption (so that the Jewish sabbath is nailed to the cross of Christ), rested from his work and there remaineth a sabbath-keeping to the people of God. Jesus entered into this rest, as God did his.

Here I pause to commend, first, the exposition of the Decalogue in the Catechism of the Presbyterian Confession of Faith. This catechetical exposition has been taught to more children than perhaps any other in the world. Let us always commend the Presbyterians for their fidelity in family instruction, and always confess and lament Baptist delinquency on this line until we repent and do better. Second, it now gratifies me to be able to commend a Baptist exposition of the Decalogue, which, in my judgment, is the best in all literature. Not very long ago, a venerable man, soon to pass away, was helped upon the platform and introduced at the Southern Baptist Convention, and he received the Chautauqua salute. It was George Dana Boardman of missionary fame. He is the author of University Lectures on the Ten Commandments. The lectures were delivered before the students of Pennsylvania University, and the book was issued by the American Baptist Publication Society. Study it carefully and assimilate it into your very life. On the Fourth Commandment, perhaps without immodesty, I may ask you to read the three sermons on the sabbath in my first published volume of sermons.

My reason for speaking of these books is that Moses himself is now to devote eight chapters to an exposition of the Decalogue in the oration under consideration. You will make special note that Moses emphasizes the fact that the Decalogue was the only part of the covenant actually voiced by Jehovah, and that this divine autograph was then filed away in the ark as an eternal witness. The fact is also emphasized that no other people had even heard God’s voice or possessed his autograph. Thousands of the younger generation now addressed by Moses were present that awful day when Sinai smoked and trembled and was crested with fire, and the loud and ever louder trumpet smote their ears as no other trumpet will smite the ears of men until the great judgment day. They might well recall their terror when from the fires of Sinai this awful penetrating voice solemnly pronounced in thunder tones those Commandments one after another. They themselves could recall how they begged not to hear that voice any more and implored Moses to hear for them as mediator and to repeat to them in human voice any other words of God. I have already sought to impress you that Deuteronomy is an exposition of the law rather than a giving of the law. The orator and expositor not only shows that these Commandments of God are exceedingly broad, but he attempts to show their depths and reveal their heights, yea, to lay bare their very heart and spirit.

This heart and spirit he finds in the word "love." "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy might." He compresses the first four Commandments into "Thou shalt love Jehovah," as later in this book he compresses the last six into "Love thy neighbour as thyself." When our Lord answers the question, "Which is the first commandment of the law?" He quotes Deuteronomy in his answer: "This is the first and great commandment, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy mind, and all thy strength, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

And as the second is impossible without the first, a New Testament writer may well say, "All the law is fulfilled in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And another says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Or as Paul to Timothy declares its widest scope, "Now the end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, out of faith unfeigned." In one word then, that grandest thing in the world, LOVE, Moses expounds the Decalogue. On this matter he founds his exhortation thus:

(1) "Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them on the posts of thine house, and on thy gates." What a course of family instruction! What a theme of family conversation! What a safeguard at home, at the gate, at the door, at the hearth, at the bed! As the Jew awoke in the morning, the Law greeted him; as he passed the door, it saluted him; as he passed through the gate, it hailed him; in all his walking beyond the gate it accompanied him. It governed the words of his tongue; it remained between his eyes to regulate sight; it dwelt in his heart to regulate emotion; and remained in his mind to prescribe and proscribe thought, purpose and scheme. Its hand of authority touched the scales and yardstick and restrained within its bounds all his business. His fruit, his grain, his flock, and all other treasures acknowledged its supremacy. It provoked the questions of children by its object lessons and supplied the answers to the questions.

(2) When prosperity comes with its fulness of blessings) do not forget God, (Deuteronomy 6:10-15).

(3) When adversity and trial overtake you do not tempt God as you tempted him at Massah, saying, "Is God among us?" (Deuteronomy 6:16). Just here the psalmist says, "My feet had well nigh slipped, for I was envious of the prosperity of the wicked and said, In vain have I washed my hands in innocency and compassed thine altars, O Lord of Hosts." How often have we been bitter in heart and counted God our adversary and ourselves the target of his arrows and lightning.

(4) "Remember that the destruction of the Canaanites is essential to your fidelity to this law. They will corrupt you if you spare them. You shall not pity them, for the measure of their iniquity is full." You are God’s sheriff executing his will, not yours, mercilessly as a pestilence, a cyclone, an earthquake, or a flood, indiscriminatingly obey his will. Make no covenant with these doomed and incorrigible nations. Do not intermarry with them. Covet none of their possessions devoted to God’s curse. Ah, if only Achan later had remembered this and had not brought defeat upon his people and ruin to himself and house!

(5) Remember the bearing of this law on Self:

(a) When walls crumble before you and the sun and moon stand still to complete your victory, beware lest you attribute your victories to your own strength.

(b) Or to your numbers.

(c) And especially beware of self-righteousness. All your history avouches you to be a stiff-necked and rebellious people. There was no good in your origin. "A Syrian ready to perish was your father." At the Red Sea, at the waters of Marah, when you thirsted, when you hungered, in all the wilderness, and at Kadesh-barnea, through the cunning of Balaam even until now you have sinned and kept sinning, and will continue to sin, existing as monuments of grace and mercy. Who are you, to be puffed up with conceit and pride of selfrighteousness?

(6) Consider how reasonable all of Jehovah’s commandments are: "And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy soul, with all thy heart, to keep the commandments of Jehovah and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12).

A later prophet shall re-echo the thought: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee but to do justly and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God."

(7) Finally, blessings crown your obedience and curses follow your disobedience. The inexorable alternative is set forth before you. Obey and live; disobey and die. And ye yourselves, over yonder, shall stand on opposing mountains while this law is read in a valley between, and those on Gerizirn shall call out the blessings, and those on Ebal shall pronounce the curses. And you will in one loud Bounding voice say, "Amen, so let it be."

QUESTIONS

1. What briefly the occasion of the first oration?

2. What the substance, appeal and application of the first oration?

3. What lost art here referred to, and what examples of this art cited?

4. What the several points of his exhortation?

5. Where do you find introduction to the second oration and what the time, place and circumstances of its delivery?

6. Of what does Part 2 of the second oration consist?

7. What are the verbal differences between the Exodus form and the Deuteronomy form of the Decalogue and how account for them?

8. Which is the true, original form?

9. What of Moses’ statement here of the Fourth Commandment?

10. How do the Romanists number the commandments?

11. What charge is sometimes brought against the Bible because of these verbal differences and the reply thereto?

12. What books on the Ten Commandments commended?

13. What facts in connection with the giving of the Ten Commandments especially emphasized by Moses?

14. What was Moses’ summary of the Ten Commandments and what Christ’s use of it?

15. Kame the points of his exhortation.

16. How was the importance of teaching the law emphasized?

17. What exhortation relating to prosperity?

18. What one relating to adversity?

19. What charge concerning the Canaanites, and why?

20. What the bearing of this Law on self?

21. How does he show the reasonableness of God’s law?

22. What alternative set before them, and what prophecy concerning blessings and curses here given by Moses?