forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

(32) For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? (33) Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? (34) Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that

(32) Forasknow... whether there hath been any such thing. The same argument is afterwards employed by St. Paul (Rom. xi. 29) for the restoration of Israel: "for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance," i.e., irrevocable. He did not go and take Him a nation out of the midst of another nation in order to abandon them at last. He never did so much in the way of personal and visible interposition for any people; and He will not forsake the work of His own hands. Moses

the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (35) Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. (36) Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. (37) And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; (38) to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

had proved the truth of what he says here in many scenes of sin and peril averted by his own intercession. (See especially Num. xiv. 11-21, and comp. 1 Sam. xii. 22.)

(37) Because he loved thy fathers.-The reasons for God's choice of Israel are frequently stated in this book; and they are. always stated in such a way as to enforce the doctrine of God's sovereignty, and to show the Israelites that their own merit was in no way the ground of God's choice.

(39) Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else. (40) Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I a Josh. command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

20. 8.

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

(41) Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; (2) that the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: (43) namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

(44) And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: (45) these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt, (46) on this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel "smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:

land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sun rising; (48) from Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, (49) and all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.

CHAPTER V.-") And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O

Palestine is concluded, these ancient sites will be recovered.

SECOND DISCOURSE.

(44-49) These words 'form an introduction to the second discourse, which occupies the larger portion of the book-from chap. v. I to the end of chap. xxvi. There is no real break between. The present introduction differs from what we find in chap. i. 1. There is no intimation that this portion of Deuteronomy was a repetition of what had been delivered between Sinai and Kadesh-barnea. What follows is said to have been spoken in the land of Sihon and Og, after the conquest by Israel.

(46) On this side Jordan.Literally, on the other side. The same expression in verse 47 is defined by the addition, "toward the sun-rising."

The whole passage (verse 44-49) may be editorial, and added by Joshua in Canaan. But there is no necessity for this view.

(48) Mount Sion.-See Note on

chap. iii. 9. V.

This chapter contains a recapitulation of the Decalogue itself and of the circumstances of its delivery. The repetition of the Ten Commandments is the true beginning of the Deuteronomy, as their first delivery is the beginning of the Law itself.

(1) And Moses called all

Israel, and said.—What follows is thus presented to us as an actual exhortation, not merely a portion of a book.

The statutes and judgments.-The religious ordinances and institutions, and the general requirements. The mention of these

The Covenant of the

is prefixed to the Decalogue, of which they are only the application --to a special people under special circumstances. More precisely, the words apply rather to what follows the Decalogue than to the Ten Commandments themselves. (See chap. vi. 1.)

(2) The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. -It must never be forgotten that the Law is a covenant in its very form. (See Note on verse 6.)

(3) Not... with our fathers, but with us.-That is, according to the usage of the Hebrew language in drawing contrasts, not only with our fathers (who actually heard it), but with us also, who were in the loins of our fathers, and for whom the covenant was intended no less than for them; and, in fact, every man who was above forty-two at the time of this discourse might actually remember the day at Sinai.

(4) The Lord talked with you face to face. Yet they saw no manner of similitude (chap. iv. 12), i.e., no visible form; but the very words of God reached their ears. So in Exod. xx. 22, "Ye

(6) I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (7) Thou shalt have

have seen that I have talked with you from heaven."

(5) In this verse a colon seems too large a stop after "the word of the Lord." Perhaps it should rather be read thus: "I stood between Jehovah and you at that time (for ye were afraid by reason of the fire), and ye went not up into the mount." The cause of their not going up into the mount was not their fear, but the express prohibition of Jehovah, as may be seen by Exod. xix.

(6) I am the Lord thy God. -It should never be forgotten that this sentence is an integral part of the Decalogue, and also the first part. The declaration of Divine relationship with all that it implies-the covenanted adoption of Israel by Jehovah-precedes all the requirements of the Law. The law is, therefore, primarily a covenant in the strictest sense.

(7) Thou shalt have none other gods before me.--Literally, upon my face, in addition to my presence; or, as Rashi says, "in any place where I am, that is, in the whole world." "Whither