The N'ewCentury Bible Deuteronomy #• '^?. * JAN 3 i.i)iU *] Division JsS ^ \ Section THE NEW-CENTURY BIBLE •GENESIS, by the Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, Litt.D., D.D. EXODUS, by the Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, Litt.D., D.D. LEVITICUS AND NUMBERS, by the Rev. Prof. A. R. S. Kennedy, M.A., D.D. •DEUTERONOMY AND JOSHUA, by the Rev. Prof. H. Wheeler Robinsom, M.A. •JUDGES AND RUTH, by the Rev. G. W. Thatcher, M.A., B.D. *I AND II SAMUEL, by the Rev. Prof. A. R. S. Kennedy, M.A., D.D. ♦I AND II KINGS, by the Rev. Prof. Skinner, D.D. *I AND II CHRONICLES, by the Rev. W. HARVEY-Jellie, M..\.. B.D. EZRA, NEHEMIAH, and ESTHER, by the Rev, Prof. T. Witton Davies, B.A., Ph.D. •JOB, by Prof. A. S. Peake, M.A., B.D, ♦PSALMS (Vol. I) I to LXXII, by the Rev. Prol. Davison, M.A., D.D. •PSALMS (Vol, II) LXXIII TO END, by the Rev. Prof. T. WiTTON Davies, B.A., Ph.D. PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, and SONG OF SOLOMON, by the Rev. Prof. G. CURRIE MARTIN, M.A., B.D. •ISAIAH, by the Rev. Principal Whitehouse, M.A., D.D. ISAIAH XL-LXIII, by the Rev. Principal Whitehouse, M.A., D.D. JEREMIAH and LAMENTATIONS, by Prof. A. S. Peake, M.A., B.D. •EZEKIEL, by the Rev. Prof. W. F. Lofthouse. M.A. DANIEL, by the Rev. Prof. R. H. CHARLES, D.D. •MINOR PROPHETS: HOSEA, TOEL, Amos, Obadiah, JonAH, Mjcah, by the Rev. R. F. Horton, M.A.. D.D. •MINOR PROPHETS: Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechahiah, Malachi, by the Rev. Canon Driver, Litt.D., D.D. •i. MATTHEW, by the Rev. Prof. W. F. Slater, M.A. •2. MARK, by the late Principal SalmOND, D.D. •3. LUKE, by Principal W. F. Adeney, M.A., D.D. *4. JOHN, by the Rev. J. A. McClymont, D.D. ♦5. ACTS, by the Rev. Prof. J. Vernon Bartlet, M.A., D.D. *6. ROMANS, by the Rev. Prof. A. E. Garvie, M.A., D.D. *7. I and II CORINTHIANS, by Prof. J. Massie. M.A., D.D. *8. EPHESIANS, COLOSSIANS, PHILEMON, PHILIPPIANS, by the Rev. Prof. G. CuRRiE Martin, M.A., B.D. •o. I AND II THESSALONIANS, GALATIANS, by Principal W. F. Adeney, M.A., D.D. *io. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES, by the Rev. R. F. HoRTON, M.A., D.D. •11. HEBREWS, by Prof. A. S. PeAKE, M.A., B.D. *t2. THE GENERAL EPISTLES, by the Rev. Prof. W. H. Bennett, Litt.D. D.D. •13. REVELATION, by the Rev. C. ANDERSON Scott, M.A. [Those marked* are already pttblislied.'] THE NEW-CENTURY BIBLE DEUTERONOMY and JOSHUA Oxford: horacb hart printer to thh university v^ General Editor : Principal Walter F. Adenev, M.A., D.D. INTRODUCTIONS REVISED VERSION WITH NOTES MAP AND INDEX EDITED^Y H. WHEELER Robinson, m.a. TUTOR IN RAWDON COLLEGE LATE SENIOR KENNICOTT SCHOLAR IN THE ' UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD NEW YORK: HENRY FROWDE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, AMERICAN BRANCH EDINBURGH : T. C. & E. C. JACK The Revised Version is prinied by permission of the U?iiversities of Oxford and Cambridge CONTENTS DEUTERONOMY ,;. It is not because of Israel's righteous- 6 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY nesa, but because of the wickedness of these nations, that Yalivvch is dispossessing them (ix. 1-7). At this point the argument is broken by a detailed description of the disobedience of Israel at Horeb, and the circumstances of the giving of the law (ix. 8 — X. 5, 10, 11). A detached note is added, in regard to Israel's journeying and the separation of Levi (x. 6-9). The argument of the address is resumed by an earnest appeal for response to the requirements of Yahweh (x. 12-22). The hearers of Moses have themselves seen the work of Yahweh in the fate of Pharaoh, Dathan, and Abiram ; let them, therefore, obey Him amid the prosperity of Palestine (xi. 1-12). That prosperity depends on the rain Yahweh gives from heaven, which He will withhold from those who worship other gods ; but Israel's territory shall be won and held on the condition of loyalty to Him (xi, 13-25). So are a blessing and a curse set before Israel for choice, as shall be proclaimed on Gerizim and Ebal (xi. 26-32). With the twelfth chapter, the speaker passes to the direct enunciation of the statutes and judgements to be observed in Palestine, and to the primary requirement that there shall be one, and only one, sanctuary in the place which Yahweh shall choose, where all sacrifice shall be offered ; when flesh is eaten elsewhere, the feast shall be non-sacrificial in character, the local sanctuaries and their accompaniments being destroyed (chap. xii). The sternest measures are to be taken against every incitement to the worship of other gods, whether from prophet (xiii. 1-5), relative (xiii. 6-1 1), or city (xiii. 12-18). The holiness of Israel is to be maintained by abstinence from cuttings for the dead (xiv. i, 2) and from ' unclean ' foods (xiv. 3-21). /The tithe of the produce of field and herd is to be eaten at the one sanctuary ; if the distance is too great, it may be sold locally, and the money used for purchases at the sanctuary ; but the tithe of the third year is to be reserved for the Levite and the poor (xiv. 22-29). Every seventh year is to be marked, in regard to Hebrews, by the remission of debt (xv. i-ii), or of bondage, unless there is willingness to continue service (xv. 12-18). The firstborn of herd and flock, if perfect, is to be eaten at the sanctuary (xv. 19-23). The Israelite shall bring his offerings to the sanctuary three times in every j'ear — viz. at the feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (xvi. 1-17'. No post INTRODUCTION 7 or pillar like those of the heathen culls shall stand by the altar of Yahweh (xvi. 21, 22), and the sentence on the idolater shall be death (xvii. 2-7). At this point, anticipated by a short section on the appointment of judges, which seems misplaced (xvi. i8-2o\ we pass from the * statutes ' or religious, to the 'judgements' or moral ordinances. Ditficult cases are to be referred to the priests of the sanctuary (xvii. 8-13). The future king shall himself be an Israelite, and he is warned against the accumulation of horses, wives, or wealth ; let him study this law and obey it faithfully' (xvii. 14-20). The dues of the priests are named (xviii. 1-5), and also the right of country Levites to minister on equal terms in the, sanctuary (xviii. 6-8). Resort may not be had to magic and divination ; for special guidance the people shall depend on the line of prophets whom Yahweh will raise up in succession to Moses (xviii. 9-22). Cities of refuge, with right of sanctuary for unintentional manslaughter, will afford the protection hitherto given by local altars (xix. 1-13). Removal of a landmark and false witness are forbidden, the latter under severe penalty (xix. 14-21). Various provisions are made for the conduct of warfare (chap, xx), for the cleansing of a district from the stain of bloodshed (xxi. 1-9), for the treatment of women captives (xxi. 10-14), and for domestic problems (xxi. 15-21). There follow a number of detailed ordinances, dealing with such matters as lost property, sexual relations, admittance of non-Israelites into the community, loans, divorce, regard for the poor, Levirate marriage, and justice in trade (chaps, xxii- xxv). A ritual of thanksgiving to accompany the presenta- tion of a basket of first-fruits at the sanctuary (xxvi. i-ii), and a form of declaration that the provisions of the third year of tithe have been observed (xxvi. 12-15), lead to a final exhorta- tion to maintain the relations now established between Yahweh and His people (xxvi. 16-19% The address of Moses is broken ^ at this point by a chapter (xxvii) which narrates the command to set up inscribed stones in Palestine, and to carry out a ritual of blessings and cursing on Gerizim and Ebal. The address of Moses continues, without introduction, in the following chapter, which develops the blessings of obedience, and the curses of disobedience, the latter at much greater length. The two remaining chapters form a third and distinct address of 8 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY Moses, which brie^ refers to Egypt, the wilderness, and the victories won, and enforces the importance of the covenant now made between Yahweh and His people ; it will hold for the future, however men may think to neglect it with impunity. Other nations shall see, in the desolation of the land, the curse written in this book (chap. xxix). Yet, when blessing and curse have found their fulfilment, and Israel is scattered among the nations, penitent return to obedience shall secure the restoration of Yahweh's favour, and He will gather the outcasts from the uttermost parts (xxx. i-io). A practical and certain issue is thus set before Israel, the issue between life and deatii, good and evil (xxx. 15-20). Even so rapid a review as this of the salient points of the book will suggest that it can hardly have issued, in its present forin, from the flowing pen of a single writer. To say nothing of the appendix, as a collection of various niaterials relating to the last days of Moses, the addresses do not afford any natural explanation of their threefold form. The statements introducing them seem to imply inde- pendence of origin ; the inter-relation of the subject-matter, as seen in obvious repetitions, and in less obvious differ- ences of standpoint, confirms this impression. But since we are fortunate enough to be able to approach the book from the vantage-ground of external history, these points are best deferred till we have glanced at the narrative of the discovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple (cf. 2 Kings xxii). In the year 621 b. c, being the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah, who was then twenty-six years of age, Shaphan, the king's scribe or chancellor, had occasion to visit the Temple, in order to be present at the transfer of money, collected for repairs, to the overseers of the work. During this visit of Shaphan, Hilkiah the chief-priest said to him, *I have found the Book of the Law in the house of Yahweh.' He gave it to Shaphan, who read it, apparentl}' on the spot. On Shaphan's return to the king to hand in his official report, he said, after the business was done, * Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book.' Shaphan read this to the king, who, INTRODUCTION y having heard ' the words of the Book of the Law,' rent his clothes. The king thereupon appointed what we should call a Royal Commission of five members to inquire of Yahweh, not concerning the authenticity of the book, which Josiah shows no sign of doubting, but as to what must be done in view of previous neglect of its commands. The commission consults Huldah the prophetess, whose ' Thus saith Yahweh,' in its present form, confirms the threats of the book, but promises Josiah that he shall himself be spared the sight of their fulfil- ment. It is probable, however, that the original prophecy of Huldah has been revised in the light of the Exile and its attendant calamities, and the original answer may have bidden Josiah proceed to carr_v out the requirements of the book with- out delay. This he does by gathering priests, prophets, and people ill a great assembl}-^, to which is read ' the Book of the Covenant which was found in the house of Yahweh.' King and people bind themselves to obey Yahweh and * to establish the words of this covenant written in this book.* The reformation of religion under Josiah is based ex- plicitly on the discovered book, and we may infer the character of the book from the details of the reformation (2 Kings xxiii. 1-24). The result of this inference, as will be seen from the parallels to be cited, is to show that the fundamental document of the reformation of 621 13. C. is embedded in our present Book of Deuteronomy. The reformation naturally begins with the centre of Israel's religious life, the Temple at Jerusalem. Methods of worshipping Yahweh borrowed from foreign cults are ended by the destruction of their means or accompani- ments. This applies in particular to the Asherim or wooden posts by the altar (verse 6 : cf. Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3, xvi. 21), and the cells of the sacred prostitutes (verse 7 : cf. Deut. xxiii. 17). But not only foreign methods of worshipping Yahweh, but foreign objects of worship, have invaded the Temple and its precincts. The roof-altars of Ahaz, used in connexion with star- worship (Jer. xix. 13), and the altars of Manasseh for all the host of heaven (2 Kings xxi. 5), lo THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY together with the horses and chariots of sun-worship set up at the entrance to the Temple, have also to be destroyed (verses ii, 12 : cf. Deut. xii. 1-4 and iv. 19). Defilement awaits the sanctuaries of rival deities which have hitherto existed in the neighbourhood of the Temple: such are the place of human sacrifice by fire to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom (verse 10 : cf. Deut. xii. 31), and the high places erected by Solomon on the south-east of the city to the Sidonian Ashtoreth, the Moabite Kemosh, and the Ammonite Milcoiii (verse 13 : cf. (i Kings xi. 7, 8) Deut. vi. 14). The Mazzeboth or stone pillars, and the Asherim or wooden posts, which stood on these high places, were of course destroyed (verse 14 : cf. Deut. vii. 5, xii. 3). The high places throughout all Judah, including all local cults, whether in the name of Yahw^eh or of other gods (verses 5, 8: cf. Deut. xii. 1-28), were similarly treated, and the reformation seems to have extended beyond the limits of Josiah's kingdom to Bethel, if not, as a later writer claims, to Samaria (verses 15 and 16-20). By this drastic procedure, one sanctuary alone remained, the Temple at Jerusalem. Here the reformation was consummated by the celebration of the Feast of Passover, according to the new requirement of the Law-book, not, as hitherto, as a feast locally celebrated throughout the country (verses 21- 23 : cf. Deut. xvi. 1-8, especially verse 5 ). Finally, various methods of magic and divination are suppressed (verse 24 : cf. Deut. xviii. 9-14). Any one who will take the trouble to consult the parallel passages will probably be convinced that he has still before him, within the limits of Deuteronomy, the written document that prompted the reformation of Josiah. This is especially clear in the fact that the principle of one central sanctuary, which stood out in our outline of the book, is fundamental in the actual reformation, though it reverses the practice of earlier Hebrew religion, which permitted many altars throughout the land (Exod. XX. 24). In one point only is there want of obvious agree- ment between the precepts of our book and the practice INTRODUCTION 1 1 of the reformation, viz. in tlie fact that whilst Deuteronomy gives the country Levites the right to sacrifice at Jeru- salem (xviii. 7) this is withheld from them according to the narrative of 2 Kings (xxiii. 9). But the reformers are simply exceeding Deuteronomy in the rigorous applica- tion of its polemic against the high places \ Granting, then, the identity of some part of our present Book of Deuteronomy with the Book of the Law found in the Temple, the further question is naturally suggested, which part : Some data towards the answer are given us by the comparison already made, which shows that the Deuteronomic parallels to the narrative are practically all drawn from that central portion of Deuteronomy which constitutes the second address of Moses (chaps, v-xxvi), and more especially from its distinctly legislative portion (chaps, xii-xxvi). Further indications as to the extent of the Book of the Law are as follows, (i) It was so brief that Shaphan w^as able to read it through for himself, apparently before leaving the Temple, and then to read it again to the king on his return. (2) Its authenticity was accepted by Josiah without any question ; the book must therefore have contained clear information as to its authoritative origin, and cannot have been a bare collec- tion of anonymous laws. If, for brevity's sake, we might prefer to take the legislative portion of the second address of Moses (chaps, xii-xxvi) as the Book of the Law, yet we require some such introduction as the earlier portion of that address (chaps, v-xi) supplies, in order to explain the un- hesitating acceptance of it by Josiah. (3) The impression made on him was so strong that he rent his clothes ; we therefore seem to require some pointed conclusion to the Book of the Law, emphasizing the consequences of neglecting it. Such a conclusion would actually be supplied by the blessings and curses of chap, xxviii, which there is no reason to separate from the rest of the 1 Stade, Ceschichie des Volkes Israel, i. 656. 12 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY second address. The conclusion, therefore, which we provisionally reach is that the second address of Moses (chaps, v-xxvi, xxviii) contains the original Book of the Law, the only valid objection being that it seems too long; but its present length is probably due to subsequent amplification. Earlier criticism (e. g. that of Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuchs,^. 191) regarded the legis- lative portion of the address as original, its introductory chapters of exhortation being added subsequent to the reformation ; but, to say nothing of the necessity for sonic introduction to the original book (mentioned above), there does not seem any adequate ground, either in language or subject-matter, for drawing this line of division (for the linguistic proof, cf. Driver, Deuteronomy, pp. Ixvi, Ixxviiif.). More recent criticism has attempted the separation of different strata running through the whole address ; Steuernagel, for example, has made use of the considerable variation in the use of singular and plural suffixes, and of obvious displacements and doublets, to effect such an analysis {Deuterofiomium iind Josua^ pp. ii, iii). It can hardly be said that any such analysis has found general acceptance, and discussion of the details lies outside the scope of our present survey ; but certain sections, notably the long digression concerning Horeb (ix. 8— x. 11) and the Levitical section relating to clean and unclean animals (xiv. 3-20), are probably later additions. These elements, together with the remaining non- legislative chapters of our Deuteronomy, are due to successive editions of the original work'. That there have been such is clearly shown by the parallel and independent superscriptions to the first and second ad- dresses (i. 1-5 ; iv. 44-49), and this indication is confirmed * * Apart from the elements of the present Deuteronomy, be- longing to JE, P, and the connected redaction, the book, as it lies before us, is a precipitate of the spiritual movements called into being by the Law-book and the Reformation of Josiah. It arose through the efforts to make Josiah 's book adequate for all require- ments.' (Stade, Bib, Theologk des Alien Testaments, p. 264.) INTRODUCTION 13 by the independence of the addresses themselves. It is possible that the Horeb digression, already referred to (ix. 8 f.), belongs to the historical review of the first three chapters, which it may have preceded. These chapters depend largely on the JE narrative ; they are assigned to the interval between the Deuteronomic reform and the Exile, say about 600 B. C, by the two most recent com- mentators (Steuernagel and Bertholet). Against the supposition that they are by the author of the second address, 'the diversity of historical representation is decisive * (Moore, EB. 1087 ; he instances the different relations represented as existing with the Moabites (of. ii. 29 and xxiii. 4), and the fact that the first address supposes the men of the desert to have all perished save two (i. 35, ii. 14 f.), whilst the second bases its appeal on their continuance— ' Your eyes have seen all the great work of Yahweh which He did' (xi. 7 : cf. v. 2) ). A portion of this first address (iv. 1-40) is not, however, historical review, but exhortation, and part of it, at least, seems to presuppose the Exile (v. 25-31 : cf. Moore, /. r.) as does the third address (xxix, xxx). The last four chapters of Deuteronomy, forming the Appendix on the closing events of the life of Moses, whilst incorporating some of the oldest elements in the book (e. g. the ' Blessing,' xxxiii), were probably added last of all. We may, therefore, roughly distinguish four stages in the composition of our XJ present Deuteronomy, viz : — (i) The Book of the Law (v—ix. 7; x. 12 f.— xi, xii-xxvi, xxviii) before 621 B.C. (D.) (2) Historical Introduction (i-iii ; ix. 8— x. 11), c. 600 B.C. (D2.) (3) Exilic Introduction and Conclusion (iv. 1-40, xxixf.) (D^) (4) Appendix and Redactional additions and altera- tions ^ R(J,E, P). ^ The above symbols, so far as they relate to the various 14 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY Of greater importance than the precise dating of these later additions is the question of the period at which the original Book of the Law was written. We have seen ample reason for holding that the second address of Moses was substantially in existence in 621 B. C. ; we have now to ask whether its composition is to be assigned to an earlier period, and if so, within what limits. It is to be noticed, in the first place, that the address, whilst written throughout on the assumption that Moses is the speaker, is definitely ascribed to Moses as writer also in the nar- rative conclusion to the book (xxxi. gf., 24 f.). It is not possible here to repeat the well-known arguments for the rejection of this tradition, which are stated at length in Driver's Deutero7iomy (pp. xxxiv-xliv) \ The most con- vincing proof that the book belongs to an age much later than the Mosaic lies in the cumulative force of the reconstruction of the history of Israel's religion, afforded by many independent data. Marti, in his recent useful out- line of the results attained {Die Religion des Alien Testa- inents nnter den Religionen des vorderen Orients^ 1906; Eng. Trans, by Bienemann, 1907), divides the religious development into four periods : — (i) The Nomadic period, prior to settlement in Palestine, whose characteristic is the belief in demons and spirits, found amongst ancient and modern Semites in this stage of culture, and surviving amongst the Hebrews to a much later age. (2) The Agricultural period, following the settlement in Palestine of a group of people united by the worship of Yahweh, who had delivered their central stock from the slavery of Egypt. strata of Deuteronomic writers (D, D^, D^), are self-explanatory. The symbols R, J, E, and P are those used throughout the Pentateuch, and in Joshua, and are explained on p. 53, and in The Century Bible, Genesis, p. 52. Further details of analysis are indicated in the notes, and by these letters attached to the text. * They are not weakened in any material point by the criticisms of G. Robinson in The Expositor (vols, viii and ix, 1898, 1899: 'The Genesis of Deuteronomy') or of Orr in The Problem of the Old Testament '^1905'). INTRODUCTION 15 Yahweh becomes the god of the land whose local deities He has dispossessed, though His worship borrows many elements, particularly in regard to sacrifice, from the religion of Palestine. But He is distinct from these gods by His growing relation with the social and moral life of His people. (3) This relation is developed in the" next period by the prophets, particularly those of the eighth century before Christ, who develop the principle of a practical monotheism, and emphasize the moral require- ments of Yahweh as against the sacrificial. The indi- vidualism of Jeremiah and the universalism of Deutero- Isaiah are consequences of this fundamental emphasis on the ethical nature of God and man. (4) Finally, we have the religion of the Laiv, whose characteristic is dependence on a written revelation of the Divine requirements. If such an outline of the history of religion in Israel be accepted— and it is hardly too much to say that all we know of Semitic religion in general and Hebrew in particular supports its general truth— then there can be little doubt as to what limits we should draw for the date of composition of the central part of Deuteronomy. Its fundamental theological doctrine, rightly enshrined by Judaism in its daily ritual, is the ' Hear, O Israel : Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone ' ^ ; its fundamental religious precept is stated in the continuing words, 'and thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might ' (vi. 4, 5). Its further insistence on a single sanctuary is a logical deduc- tion from the practical monotheism for an age not yet able to separate the visible from the invisible. The single God, the single love for Him, and the single sanctuary for His worship can be explained only as ideas produced by the moving events and personalities of the eighth century. We ^ See note on vi. 4 for the justification of this rendering, and for the sense in which it proclaims monotheism in practice, bj' its emphasis on the unique relation of Yahweh and Israel. i6 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY shall have reason to see that Deuteronomy stands as the incorporation of the teaching of the great prophets, and as the transition to the later religion of the written law. The dominant precept of its legislation, that of the central sanctuary, finds part of its explanation also in the deliver- ance of Jerusalem and its sanctuary from Sennacherib in 701, whilst more ancient sanctuaries were defiled by the invader (Moore, /. c. 1084). Hezekiah himself (720-693) is said to have conducted a reformation on lines similar to that of Josiah (2 Kings xviii. 4, 22), but his work was undone by his son Manasseh (692-639; xxi. 3f.). Within the seventh century, therefore, i. e. either in the long reign of Manasseh or in the earlier part of that of Josiah (637- 608), the central part of our Deuteronomy must have been written. The later date is perhaps more probable. Against either date it has been frequently urged that the seventh-century writer who composed the address he has ascribed to Moses could not well be ' inspired ' if his method was intended to deceive. But can he be accused of such an intention ? We have not only to remember the well-known freedom by which ancient writers place their own interpretation of the events of a period in the mouth of the actors in them^ — a freedom perfectly legitimate before the emergence of the finer historical sense of our own days — but also the fact that this writer is under the influence of those great prophets who did not hesitate to speak in the name of Yahweh. If a man may claim to speak in the spirit of God, when conscience sends him forward like Amos, or deep personal sorrow purges his vision like Hosea's, or faith lifts his eyes above armies like Isaiah's, why may he not speak with equal sincerity in the spirit of some great fellow man whose mantle of prophecy is his inheritance ^ ? The naive ascription of authorship, honest then, would be dishonest now; but, ^ Cf. the speeches of Thucydides, and the dialogues of Plato. "^ For the psychological possibility of this, see 2 Kings ii. 9. INTRODUCTION 17 given the ancient standpoint, all that can be demanded of the author is that he should, if writing in the name of Moses, speak as Moses would have spoken were he still alive'. Indeed, we may go further and say that this is the only way to interpret the great men of the past truthfully ; and when Israel ceased to do this, she exchanged her prophetic inspiration for the religion of the scribe. Truth, as Mazzini finely puts it, lies at the intersection of tradition and con- science. The conscience of a seventh-century writer inter- secting the tradition of a great law-giver has given us the Book of the Law found in the Temple. The writer has lent his own experience to Moses, so that he, being dead, yet speaketh. He has ascribed to him a foresight of many centuries, just as Jewish exegesis does in its comments on the Pisgah vision. Rashi tells us that when Moses looked out over the Promised Land he saw, not only its several parts, but the enacted history of each. The whole panorama of Israel's moving history till the last day was unrolled before his undimmed eye. In the same spirit, and with use of the same dramatic occasion, the writer of the address has made Moses legislate for a distant century, so fulfilling the words of the book itself—' Yahweh thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken' (xviii. 15). To that prophetic message Josiah did hearken, rending his raiment, whilst to the contem- porary message of Jeremiah his son Jehoiakim refused to hearken, rending not his raiment but the prophet's roll (Jer. xxxvi. 23). There is no more reason to doubt the sincerity of the Deuteronomist than of Jeremiah. Each was convinced of the genuineness of his message, whether spoken as coming direct from God or mediated through a historic tradition. ^ For confirmation of this in (later) Jewish theories of reve- lation, see Taylor's Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, Excursus I. THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY II. The Deuteronomic Legislation. Maine, in his classical work on 'Ancient Law,' with his eye turned to the Indo-European family of nations, names three stages of development prior to the emergence of a written code. The earliest is that of 'separate, isolated judgements,' spoken by a king or judge, and assumed to be the result of direct inspiration. A second stage is reached when the awards in a succession of similar cases become * the germ or rudiment of a custom ' (p. 5). The third stage is reached when the king's power passes to an aristocracy who claim 'to monopolize the knoiuledge of the laws, to have the exclusive posses- sion of the principles by which quarrels are decided' (p. 12). Such an aristocracy may be religious in the East, civil or political in the West ; but in any case, the tradition of Customary Law is in their keeping. Finally, we reach the stage in which, through the invention of writing, ' Inscribed tablets were seen to be a better depository of law, and a better security for its accurate preservation, than the memory of a number of persons however strengthened by habitual exercise ' (p. 15). Maine gene- ralized without reference to the development of Semitic law, but in this field also his analysis holds good. Behind such a written code as that of Deuteronomy we see a religious oligarchy, the priests of Israel, on whom has devolved the tradition of customary law. Behind that oligarchy, again, we catch a glimpse of Moses, as an individual law- giver, sitting to judge the people who throng him from morn till even : ' The people come unto me to inquire of God : when they have a matter, they come unto me ; and I judge between a man and his neighbour, and I make them know the statutes of God, and His laws' (Exod. xviii. 15, 16). We may fill up this outline with Doughty's details of justice in the desert, as it is administered among the Bedouins to-day. The tribesmen gather in the morn- INTRODUCTION ' 19 ing at the tent of their sheikh, where common affairs are discussed, such as movements of enemies, and facilities of pasture and water. This is the council of the elders and the public tribunal : hither the tribesmen bring their causes at all times, and it is pleaded by the maintainers of both sides with busy clamour ; and everyone may say his word that will. The sheykh mean- while takes counsel with the sheukh, elder men and more con- siderable persons ; and judgement is given commonly without partiality, and always without bribes. This sentence is final. The loser is mulcted in heads of small cattle or camels, which he must pay anon, or go into exile, before the great sheykh send executors to distrain any beasts of his, to the estimation of the debt. The poor Beduins are very unwilling payers, and often think themselves unable at present : thus, in every tribe, some households may be seen of other tribes' exiles. . . . Seldom the judge and elders err, in these small societies of kindred, where the life of every tribesman lies open from his infancy, and his state is to all men well known. Even their suits are expedite, as all the other works of the Arabs. Seldom is a matter not heard and resolved in one sitting. Where the accusation is grave, and some are found absent that should be witnesses, their cause is held over to another hearing. ... In the desert there is no human forfeit, there is nothing even in homicide, if the next to the blood withhold not their assent, which may not be composed, the guilty paying the amends (rated in heads of cattle). (Arabia Deserfa, i. 249.) Such is the picture of primitive Semitic legislation preserved by the changeless desert; and it is doubtless substantially as true of the Israelites of the time of Moses as of the Bedouins of to-day. We need to keep it constantly before us in the study of Hebrew law, because the origin explains many things in the result. The earlier laws, at least, spring from the life of the people, and bear the evident impress of Hebrew psycho- logy and primitive culture. Peculiarities in their pre- bcntation may seem ine.xplicable to us, till we remember c 2 20 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY that they may be adjudications on actual cases, preserved as types and precedents. We are, fortunately, able to study the results of a long development of Semitic legislation in the Code of Laws promulgated by the Babylonian king Hammurabi \ This king, who reigned in the twenty-third century before Christ, appears in the Bible under the name Amraphel (Gen. xiv. 9). The large block of stone on which his laws are inscribed was carried from Sippara in Babylonia to Susa in Elam, where it was discovered in 1902. On one side of it is a picture of Hammurabi receiving his laws from the seated sun-god Shamash. There are forty-four columns legible, and five which have been erased, and the laws number 282. The practical object of the publication is declared in the epilogue to be that 'the oppressed, who has a controversy, shall stand before my image as king of righteousness, read the inscription, perceive the precious words: the inscription shall show him his business, he shall find his right' (Winckler's trans., p. 39). This epilogue contains an invocation of blessing on the obedient, and a number of curses on the disobedient ; in this greater amplitude of malediction resembling that of the Deuteronomic Law-book (xxviii). In the prologue Ham- murabi dwells on his Divine appointment ; but the body of laws itself is a code pure and simple, without any of that admixture of appeal and warning which characterizes the Book of Deuteronomy and gives it its moral and religious value. The laws of Hammurabi confirm Maine's dictum that * the more archaic the code, the fuller and the minuter is its penal legislation ' {op. cit., p. 368). They are of the greatest importance for the interpretation of Hebrew law, with which they are closely related, if not as direct source, yet certainly as developed from a common origin and amongst a related people. Their principal topics are * For fuller information, see the article in Hastings's Diction- ary of the Bible, vol. v, by Johns, whose translation is here followed. INTRODUCTION 21 the rights and duties of kings' servants, the cultivation of land, the transactions of commerce, family relationships, inheritance and adoption, the control of slaves, the hiring of servants, and a long list of penalties in regard to con- duct towards parents, personal injuries, surgical and veterinary blundering, the branding of slaves, imper- fectly-constructed houses and boats. Amongst these penalties we find mutilations of the tongue, eye, ear, breasts, limbs, and teeth. (In Deuteronomy, apart from the jus taliojiis or law of like for like, there is only one case (xxv. 12) in which mutilation, that of the hand, is commanded.) It must not be thought that these are merely arbitrary cruelties ; they rest on a different psychology from ours, one which regards the different members of the body as possessing a quasi-consciousness, and as subject to ethical judgement*; so that, as far as possible, it is the guilty member that is made to suffer. For example, ' If the doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound with a lancet of bronze, and has caused the gentleman to die, or has removed a cataract of the eye for a gentleman with the bronze lancet and has caused the loss of the gentleman's eye, one shall cut off his hands' (§ 218). Or again, 'If a son of a palace warder, or of a vowed woman, to the father that brought him up, and the mother that brought him up, has said, " Thou art not my father, thou art not my mother," one shall cut out his tongue' (§ 192). Another principle that sharply divides primitive thought from our own is that of corporate responsibility, the principle that regards the family, not the individual, as the legislative unit. Two striking examples of this are found in the Code of Hammurabi. If a man has caused a woman's death in a certain way, his own daughter is killed (§ 210). If ' This principle, differently applied, explains the piercing of the slave's ear (Deut. xv. 17), the ear being the organ of obedience. 2 2 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY a builder has built a house so badly that it falls and causes the death of the owner's son, the builder's son is to be killed (§ 230). The principle is familiar to us from its recognition in Israel, as in the destruction of the family of Achan (Joshua vii. 24, 25), and it underlies the Second Commandment, which represents God as visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Deut. v. 9 ; Exod. xx. 5). But the Deutero- nomic Code expressly lifts its voice against this principle : ' The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers : every man shall be put to death for his own sin' (xxiv. 16). Jeremiah, the contemporary of the Deuteronomic reformers, and perhaps one of them, echoes the same protest, when he says : ' In those days they shall say no more. The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity : every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge ' (Jer. xxxi. 29, 30). Another of many interesting parallels between the two codes is in regard to the provision known as the 'Year of Release.' Deuteronomy provides that 'If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years ; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee' (xv. 12). The limit for such practical slavery for debt is more closely drawn by Hammurabi : ' If a debt has seized a man, and he has given his wife, his son, or his daughter for the money, or has handed them over to work off the debt, for three years they shall work in the house of their buyer or exploiter, in the fourth year he shall set them at liberty' (§ 117). But, in general, the Deuteronomic law expresses that amelioration of treatment and condition which we should expect from its much later date than the Laws of Hammurabi. This is also true of the relation of the Deuteronomic laws to the earlier Hebrew legislation, contained in the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xx. 22 - INTRODUCTION 23 xxiii. 19), the Decalogue (Exod. xx. 1-17), and what is known as the earlier Decalogue (viz. the laws contained in Exod. xxxiv. 10-26). For a tabulated comparison of the Deuteronomic Code with the earlier, and the later legis- lation, reference may be made to Driver's Deuteronomy (Introd., pp. iii-xiv) ; his conclusions are :— * The dififerent relation in which Deuteronomy thus stands to the three codes of JE, H, and P may be described generally as follows: it is an expajiswn of the laws in JE (Exod. xx. 22 — xxiii. 33, xxxiv. 10-26, xiii. 3-16) ; 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 ' {op. a'l., p. xiv). It will be seen that this conclusion, based solely on internal evidence, confirms the conclusion as to the date of the Deuteronomic Code already reached on other grounds. The only point in which it is perhaps open to criticism is the description of Deut. xii-xxvi as an enlarged edition of the Book of the Covenant, which must at least be taken in a broad sense (cf. Moore, E.B.^ c. 1083: 4he evidence of literary dependence is much less abundant and convincing than it must be if Deuteronomy were merely a revised and enlarged Book of the Covenant '). The Deuteronomic Code, containing upwards of eighty laws, falls into three principal sections: — (i) The central sanctuary, with its related ordinances (xii. I — xvi. 17, with xvi. 21— xvii. 7) ; (2) Authorities— viz. Judges, King, Priests, Prophets (xvii. 8— xviii. 22, with xvi. 18-20) ; (3) Miscellaneous Laws, many of which, however, might be entitled Laws of Humanity (Steuernagel, op. «/., p. 74) (chaps, xix-xxv). But it will be most convenient to group the contents of the code, for the purpose of more closely examining its contents, under five heads :— viz. (i) Primitive Culture and Anthropology ; (2) The Law of Persons; (3) The Law of Property; (4) Justice and Humanity; (5) The Law of Worship; of which the last 24 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY has been described in the previous section (The Reforma- tion of Josiah). I. Primitive Culture and Anthropology. There are four groups of ideas which receive illustration in Deutero- nomy, of which we may first take those which attach to — I. Blood. Scarcely any subject is more fruitful in its revelation of primitive habits of thought than this. A red river of blood runs through the whole landscape of early thought and custom. The blood is the life— to us, physio- logically, its vehicle, to the primitive man, psychically, either its vehicle or the life itself. We no longer think of blood when it is shed as life ; but the key to primitive thought about blood is the fact that the life, with all its perils and powers, is still in that red pool which has gushed from the dying man, or spurted from the neck of the slain animal. It is for this reason that blood is tabooed, on the one hand, as a source of peril, or used in magic, on the other, as a means of power. This attitude explains many of the customs and ideas attaching to covenants, sacrifice, and the primitive justice of blood-revenge. Three of these customs are found in Deuteronomy. One is the well- known blood taboo, forbidding blood to be eaten with meat of slain animals : ' Ye shall not eat the blood ; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water ' (xii. l6 : cf. xv. 23) ; ' The blood is the life ; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh ' (xii. 23). Probably, also, the law for- bidding any animal dying of itself to be eaten rests partly on the idea that the coagulated blood cannot be drained from its veins (xiv. 21). Further, we have in this book examples of the psychical stain of blood, the idea that where blood has fallen a certain peril attaches. A battle- ment is to be made round the roof of the Israelite house 'that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any m.in fall from thence ' (xxii. 8). There is also a striking ritual in the case of the finding of a murdered body, the murderer being unknown. The responsibility rests on the nearest community, whose elders must purge away the INTRODUCTION 25 stain of blood by breaking the neck of an unused heifer in a valley with running water, and by washing their hands over it, with the confession of innocence (xxi. 1-9). As a third example of the significance of blood, there is the practice of blood-revenge mentioned in connexion with the cities of refuge (xix. 1-13). 2. The mystery of life and death, underlying blood, receives illustration in other ways also. Birth is a mys- tery, and the first-born of man or animal is regarded in a peculiar light. In Deuteronomy this finds evidence in regard to animals only : * All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto Yahweh thy God ' (xv. 19). Perhaps, also, the mystery of generation may underlie the severity of the obscure law relating to an assault by a woman (xxv. 11, 12: cf. Cook, The Laws of Moses and the Code of Haninmrabi, p. 251). Death, like birth, is a mystery, and the presence of death is always a peril. Hence, the body of a malefactor who has been hanged is not to remain all night unburied : ' that thou defile not thy land which Yahweh thy God giveth thee for an inheritance ' (xxi. 22, 23). The pro- hibition of mutilations in connexion with death opens up the large subject of mourning customs : ' Ye are the children of Yahweh your God ; ye shall not cut your- selves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead' (xiv. i). Deuteronomy here opposes offerings of blood and hair at the grave, of universal prevalence ; in some way they are thought to bind the living to the dead, and to secure the friendship of ghosts. 3. One of the principal dififerences between primitive and modern psychology lies in the belief that external influences enter into the life through channels other than those of the senses. We think of Man-soul as a fortified city, with certain definite gates ; the primitive man conceived himself as an unwalled settlement, open to invasion on every hand. This is the psychological atmosphere which explains magic at the bottom of the 26 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY scale and prophetic inspiration at the top. One of the aims of the Deuteronomic reform is to lift men's thought from the lowest to the highest of these levels, within the same atmosphere. Consequently, a number of magical or unspiritual methods are condemned (xviii. lo, 1 1 ). Israel's future communion with the spiritual world is to be through a spiritual channel — that of the prophet. The practices condemned or modified in the interests of the religion of Yahweh illustrate the conditions of thought from which has arisen the higher and purer belief. Thus, it is forbidden to seethe a kid in its mother's milk (xiv. 21), probably with reference to the preparation of certain charms, which seem to have been used in the fertilization of land; milk has, a mystery akin to that of blood (Robertson Smith, Rel. Se??t., p. 221 n.). The law which is sometimes called euphemistically 'cleanliness in the camp' is really a development of the belief that everything connected with the human body is a peril to it, if falling into the hands of ill-disposed persons (xxiii. 9-14). The plague of leprosy— always a mysterious disease to the Israelite- is explained and treated by what we should call psychical rather than physiological methods (xxiv. 8, 9). The com- mand to wear tassels of twisted cords on the corners of the garment (xxii. 12), like that to wear frontlets— the later phylacteries — (vi. 8, xi. 18), is to be connected with the widespread use of amulets amongst ancient and modern peoples. The exhortation to keep a vow once made (xxiii. 21-3) is explicable enough to us on purely moral grounds, but the origin of the regard for vows lies in the ancient regard for the spoken word, as something charged with powers of its own of curse or blessing. 4. A fourth group, consisting of references to fetishistic and totemistic beliefs, remains to be noticed. The pi^eiple of fetishism is that which regards the material object as the temporary or permanent dwelling-place of a hidden and mysterious power ; this underlies the use of the wooden post or Asherah, and the stone pillar or Mazzebah, against INTRODUCTION 27 which Deuteronomy wages relentless warfare (xii. 3, xvi. 21, 22), One of the most significant features of the Deuteronomic reform lies in this protest against customs hitherto natural to Israel with its neighbours ; the later force and attraction of Israel's faith for the nations lay in this very rejection of material emblems as inade- quate for a spiritual God. The principle of totemism, brought out in recent researches into the ways of Austra- lian aborigines, is that of the group relationship of men to animals or plants. This may be a development from the plain fact of human dependence on these for food ; it comes to mean that a definite human group is connected with a definite family of plants or animals, which it mul- tiplies by its rites, and on whose well-being its own depends. / Possibly we should connect the list of clean and unclean animals in Deuteronomy (xiv. 3-20) chiefly with such early totemistic beliefs, whether flourishing among the surrounding people, or among the Israelites themselves ; Israel is to be saved from unspiritual cults by avoidance of the animals with which they are bound up. Perhaps a similar range of belief will best explain the difficult laws against sowing the vineyard with two kinds of seeds, ploughing with an ox and an ass, or wearing mingled stuff (xxii. 9-1 1 ) ; or these may spring from ideas as to the mystery of sex. II. From these interesting indications of the survival of earlier beliefs, we may pass to the direct legislation of Deuteronomy in regard to persons. As already indicated in the account of the Code of Hammurabi, the Book of Deuteronomy occupies a transitional place between the earlier corporate responsibility and the later individualism, to which it has largely contributed. The injustice of treating the whole family as the criminal unit is fully recognized (xxiv. 16). What Maine sums up as the pro- gress from Status to Contract {op. df., p. 170) — i.e. from life as determined by position in a family to life as con- ditioned by personal agreement— is here visible in many 28 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY ways. We have a number of laws relating to maniage and sexual relations, designed not only to promote moral- ity, but (to do what is the same thing under another name) to give woman her natural rights and protection. This is shown in a most impressive, because quite indirect, way in the form which the Tenth Commandment assumes in its quotation in Deuteronomy. The wife appears in the Exodus version (xx. 17) as one of the chattels of the house, and is named after the house, together with the slaves, the oxen, and the asses. But in the Deuteronomic version the wife is named before the house, and is placed in a separate sentence, a different verb, with a higher shade of meaning, being used (Deut. v. 21). The same principle operates in regard to the rights even of women taken captive in war. Before one of these can become the wife of her captor, she is to be allowed the full interval for mourning her dead, her head being shaved and her nails pared, probably in accordance with mourning customs ; nor can she be subsequently sold for money, or dealt with as a mere slave (xxi. 10-14). Baseless scandal against a newly-married woman is severely punished (xxii. 13-21), and a rough principle of discrimination is introduced in alleged cases of sexual immorality (xxii. 22-7) ; a girl who has been wronged is to be married, and the heir to an estate does not inherit his father's wives (xxii. 30), as by the older custom (2 Sam. xvi. 22). Divorce is regulated (xxiv. 1-4), and immorality under the cloak of religion is rebuked (xxiii. 17, 18: cf. xxii. 5?). Levirate marriage (xxv. 5-10) secures succession for the childless ; he who renounces his duty in this respect has to submit to a humiliating symbolical ceremony, in which his sandal is loosed, in the presence of the elders, by the woman he will not marry (xxv. 9). As the rights of women are protected, so are those of children. An interesting law deals with the right of primogeniture, which is made inalienable. According to Hebrew law, the first-born would receive twice the portion of the others— which INTRODUCTION 29 explains Elisha's prayer for a double portion of the spirit of Elijah ; if, now, a man's eldest son is born of a wife he dislikes, he may not set this child aside for the sake of one born of his favomite (xxi. 15-17). On the other hand, the rights of the parents in regard to their sons are safeguarded, and a persistently disobedient son can be brought to the elders of the city, and is even liable to death by stoning (xxi. 18-21). It is eminently character- istic of Deuteronomy that it should lay stress on the religious training of children : * These words which I command thee this day shall be upon thine heart ; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up ' (vi. 6, 7 : cf. verse 20 f.). The circle of rights and duties extends beyond the family to its slaves, and to those without, even to aliens dwelling in the midst of Israel. A law which throws considerable light on the influences making ancient domestic slavery so very different a thing from modern commercial slavery not only deals with the emancipation of the slave in the seventh year of service, but contemplates the possibility of his preferring to remain for ever in the family of his master ; and if he prefers to go he is not to be sent empty away (xv. 12-18). On the other hand, he who robs a brother Israelite of his freedom, and sells him into slavery, is liable to a capital sentence (xxi v. 7 : cf. Cook, op. ciL, p. 241). The duty which an Israelite owes to the stranger who dwells in his community is constantly emphasized, but as a principle of morality rather than as matter of explicit enactments {i^ide infra: Justice and Humanity). III. From the Law of Persons we pass to the Law of Property, though we must not forget Maine's reminder ' that the separation of the Law of Persons from that of Things has no meaning in the infancy of the law, that the rules belonging to the two departments are inextricably mingled together' {op. cit., p. 259). Thus, one of the 30 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY marriage laws already noticed deals with the daughter as the father's property, estimated at the value of fifty shekels of silver (xxii. 29); whilst the person of a debtor is liable for his debt (xv. 12). The laws of property are usually as significant of social conditions as the laws of persons are of moral principles ; but the two realms are closely intermingled, and it is chiefly for the convenience of our own habits of thought that we are entitled to make the distinction between persons and property. The social conditions implied in the Deuteronomic Code are those of an agricultural people, as con- trasted with the more commercial character of many of the laws of the Babylonian ; but, as Cook says {pp. cit., p. 272), ' That laws relating to trade and commerce should fail to find a place in the Hebrew legislation is not surprising when it is considered how widely conditions in Israel differed from those in Babylonia.' /\Ve find the regulations we should naturally expect amongst an agricultural people against the removal of a neighbour's landmark, ' which they of old time have set * (xix. 1 4) ; the stone or other mark of the boundary was probably once consecrated to a deity, under whose protection it stood. A neighbour's vineyards and cornfields may satisfy one's personal and present hunger, but clear limits are indicated as to what may be taken (xxiii. 24, 25). Strayed oxen or sheep are to be restored, or kept against restoration, and this applies to all lost property ; whilst a man is to be helped with his fallen ox or ass (xxii. 1-4). A somewhat curious law declares that eggs or young birds found in a nest by accident may be taken, but not the mother bird ; it has been suggested that this rests on the idea of the mother bird as common and public property, which may not be appropriated (xxii. 6, 7). The wages of the labourer must not be detained, but paid daily, whether he be Hebrew or foreign, for the alien has his rights (xxiv. 14, 15). In regard to borrowing and lending, the chief thing that strikes us about the laws is their imprac- INTRODUCTION 31 ticability ; indeed, we find Jeremiah complaining (xxxiv. 8 i.) that, as a matter of fact, they are not observed. Limits are placed on the articles that may be pawned, necessities like the millstone being excluded (xxiv. 6 : cf. 10-13) ; no interest for the loan is to be taken from a Hebrew, though it may be taken from a foreigner (xxiii. 19, 20) ; the curious provision of the year of release, already noticed in another connexion, would secure the remission of the debt in the seventh year, though some have held that what is meant is the temporary suspension of the right to repayment (xv. i-ii ; Cook, op. a'L, p. 233 n.). We have to remember in all this that the code ' contemplates only those cases in which indebtedness of one Israelite to another is the result of individual poverty ; it knows nothing of any kind of credit system such as necessarily springs up with the development of commerce ' (Benzinger, La2iJ a7id Justice^ E.B.^ c. 2727). IV. It will naturally be asked what provision is made for the carrying out of these laws, and for the effective promotion of such legislative reforms. The answer is twofold : the organization of justice is to be made more efficient through enlargement of the jurisdiction of the priests at the expense of the elders ; and the revival of religion is to supply the motive for the higher moral standards. In regard to the first of these points (cf. Benzinger, op. ciL, c. 27 17-27 19), the judicial system behind the earlier Book of the Covenant is constituted by the elders of the locality, themselves the heads of families, who have, if the phrase may be allowed, Spooled' their patriarchal power. These elders still appear in the Book of Deuteronomy. But, as Benzinger points out {op. cit.^ c. 2719), * The elders retain within their competency only a limited class of ofifences,' more especially in regard to the family, the original sphere of their jurisdiction (xxi. 18 f., xxii. 13 f., XXV. 7 f., xix. 1 1 f., xxi. I f.). The appoint- ment of judges is regarded as the work of Moses (i. 9-18) ; each locality is to have its professional staff (xvi. 18), The 32 THE BOOK OF DEUTEPvONOMY higher court is now the priestly college at Jerusalem (xvii. 8-13). Here the priests examine into the case, and show the sentence of judgement. The jurisdiction of the king appears to be limited to the enforcement of this priestly jurisdiction (xvii. 18-20). In regard to the details of the new administration, we notice not only exhortations to fair dealing (xxv. 13-16), and just judgement, and to the refusal of bribes (xvi. 19), but, what was probably more effective, two or three witnesses are required (xvii. 6, xix. 15), and a severe sentence is prescribed against perjury, the only case where the old jus talionis is applied (xix. 15-21). We notice also two important steps forward, or rather the recognition of two principles which make for progress in justice. One is the recognition of motive as a determining factor in manslaughter (xix. 4) ; the other is the precaution against excess in the punishment, which is to be administered, in the case of the bastinado, in the presence of the judge (xxv. 1-3 : ' Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed '). But the greatest progress is in the attempt to lift conduct from the letter of justice to the spirit of mercy, and to present the ideal of humanity towards all sorts and conditions of men. The attempt to secure humanity in warfare (chap, xx) was probably as im- practicable as are present attempts at securing interna- tional arbitration. But one cannot miss the higher spirit that animates the appeals to kindness and humanity in the personal relationships of life (xxiv. 17, 18, 19-22: of. X. 19, ' Love ye therefore the stranger, for ye were strangers in the land of Egj^pt'). This spirit is incul- cated, not only towards dependents and strangers, but even towards animals (' Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn,' xxv. 4) \ Its presence may seem incongruous in a law code, whilst we consider only the limits of practical enforcement ; but it may remind us that * Cf. the philanthropic reason assigned for the keeping of the Sabbath (v. 14 : contrast Exod. xx. 11)/ INTRODUCTION 33 the code of law of any community always lags behind the highest moral ideals, and depends on them both for its continual improvement and for the very life-breath of its efficiency. For mercy is not only above the sceptred sway of the throned monarch ; from the heart where it is en- throned it sends forth the pulsing life, without which the sceptre will drop from the nerveless grasp, and the mo^t elaborate code of laws be as dead as that of Hammurabi. III. The Deuteronomic Religion. The Book of Deuteronomy is described by Dillmann (p. 602) and by Driver (p. xxvi) as 'a prophetical law book/ by Bertholet (p. xiii) as a ' crystallization of pro- phetical thoughts,' by Steuernagel (p. xx) as the tangible and practicable expression of more than a century's efforts after reform. The book itself bears explicit testimony to its reverence for the prophet's mission; Moses is represented as promising a succession of prophets like himself to be the authoritative channels of the Divine revelation (xviii. 15 f.). But a more impres- sive memorial of the reverence in which the great prophets of the eighth century were held by the reforming party consists in the fact that Deuteronomy would be inconceivable without them, and that almost every page of its appeals bears the impress of the teaching of Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah. The principles inculcated by these prophets, which are expressed and practically applied in the Book of Deuteronomy, are as follows :—- I. Yahweh alone is to be worshipped (vi. 4, 13, 14), not simply because His revealed character deserves the abso- lute devotion He claims from the Israelite, but because no other god can challenge the supreme and universal rule of Yahweh, the ' God of gods' (x. 17) ; indeed, there is no god beside Him (iv. 35, 39). Cf. Amos, i-ii, ix. 2, 4, 7 ; Hos. v. 14, viii. 14, xi. II, xii. 9, xiii. 4, xiv. 3; Isaiah i. 24, ii. lof., X. 5f., &c. ; Micah i. 3f., iv. 6f., 12, v. 15. V 1 34 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY II. No image or material representation of Him maybe used in His worship (vii. 25, xii. 2-5, xvi. 21, 22: cf. iv. 12-19, V. 8). Cf. Hos. iv. 17, viii. 4, x. 5, xiii. 2 ; Isaiah ii. 20, xxx. 22, xxxi. 7 ; Micah i. 7, v. 13, 14 ; (?) Amos viii. 14. '"'' III. His character is wholly moral (vii. 9, 10 ; x. 17, 18). Cf. Amos V. 14, 15, 24; Hos. ii. 19, 20, iv. if., v. 4 ; Isaiah i. 4, 15 f, v. 7, &c. ; Micah ii. 7, &c. IV. Past history and present Providence reveal that the principles of Divine government are moral (v. 33, vi. 3, vii. 12 f., xi. 13-17, 26-8, xxvi. 5 f., xxviii, xxx). Cf. Amos i, ii, iii. I, 2, iv. 6-1 1, vii-ix ; Hos. ii. 5 f., iv, 9, vi. 5, &c. ; Isaiah i. 5, xxviii. 23-9, &c. ; Micah iii. 12. V. The relation of Israel to Yahweh h^s in it a moral demand, to be fulfilled through whole-hearted love for Him (vi. 5, vii. 6-8, viii. 5, xiv. 2, xxx. 11-14). Cf. Amos iii. I, 2; Hos. ii. 19, iv. if., xi. 1-3; Isaiah i. 21, &c. ; Micah vi. 8. VI. His great requirement is that man should render to man what is right (v. 14, x. 19, xii. 19, xiv. 29, xv. 7, 15, xvi. 19, xxii. 1-4, xxiv. 14, 15, 17-22, xxv. 13-16). Sacrifice and the ritual of religion occupy a place in the worship of Yahweh subordinate to this chief requirement of social righteousness. Cf. Amos iii. 10, iv. t, 4, v. 10, 21 f., viii. 4-6 ; Hos. vi. 6, viii. 13, ix. 4, x. 12 ; Isaiah i, &€., Micah ii. i, iii, vi. 10. I. We begin with what is undoubtedly the central doctrine of Deuteronomy, the unique claims of Yahweh. It is important to understand clearly what we mean by speaking of Hebrew Monotheism. In the Decalogue we read, ' Thou shall have none other gods beside me* (v. 7). This command does not deny the existence of other gods ; it simply declares that Israel has nothing to do with them. An early Hebrew song calls the Moabites * the people of Kemosh,' who ' hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity' (Num. xxi. 29). Similarly, the Moabites would call Israel the people of Yahweh. On the well-known Moabite Stone we find INTRODUCTION 35 an excellent illustration of the relation of a Semitic people to its deity. King Mesha of Moab ascribes the victories of Omri of Israel over Moab to the anger of Kemosh with his land. At last Kemosh saw fit to restore the lost territory, and to direct a successful campaign against Israel, part of the spoil being the vessels of the defeated Yahweh of Israel. For ancient thought, the drums and tramplings of peoples mark the strife of rival deities, each powerful in his own domain, and only occasionally beyond it. It is from such a conception of Yahweh that Hebrew Monotheism and Christian Theism have developed, not by any abstract denial of the existence of extra-territorial deities, but by putting more and more meaning into the character of Yahweh and His relation to His people until there was no room left for other gods, and they faded away into mere spectres and shades. This is parti- cularly the work of the four prophets of the eighth century (see the references above). They can be called practical monotheists, not because they deny that other gods exist, but because they so exalt Yahweh that He becomes the only spiritual power of whom account need be taken. Deuteronomy follows them in the utterance of its doctrinal principle : ' Hear, O Israel : Yahweh our God is one Yahweh ' ; or, as seems a preferable translation : ' Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone ' (vi. 4). This sentence does not assert that there is no other god ; indeed, within the same chapter, there is a nominal recognition of the exist- ence of other gods : * Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples which are round about you * (vi. 14). But it presents Yahweh as the one and only one object of Israel's love and worship, one in the sense that the horizon of Israelite religion includes no other, which is practical if not philosophical monotheism. Indeed, a century after, we find the monotheistic inference drawn in similar terms : ' And Yahweh shall become king over all the earth ; in that day shall Yahweh be one, and His name one ' (Zech. xiv* 9). Within the later strata of the D 2 36 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY Book of Deuteronomy itself we pass from implicit to ex- plicit monotheism, as the product of quasi-philosophical reflection. In the fourth chapter (exilic) we find the gods are regarded as mere idols, ' the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell ' (verse 28) ; ' Yahweh, He is God ; there is none else beside Him' (verse 35) ; ' Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath : there is none else * (verse 39). Nothing more explicit than this statement can be wanted, and it is reached by the double process of degrading other deities into lifeless idols, and of exalting Yahweh from one tribal deity among many to the One and only God, by virtue of His attributes and power. 2. The practical deduction from this prophetic principle, which gives a special character to the legislation of Deuteronomy, is the law of the central sanctuary. We must not regard it as a merely theoretical inference, that because there is only one God there must be only one sanctuary. More probably, this application is due to the practical necessities of reform. The prophets had attacked the worship associated with the various high places scattered through the country in no measured terms, either because they ofifered a delusive substitute for the practice of morality (Amos iv. 4) or because of the immoral prac- tices connected with their cults (Hosea, supra) ; they had denounced idolatry, because of its inadequacy to represent deity (Isa. ii. 8, 20) or because of its practical associa- tions (Micah i. 7). But the long reign of Manasseh, during which so much heathen and idolatrous worship had prevailed, showed that the truth was not yet able to hold its own against the vested interests, the old- established prejudices, the ignorance and want of intelli- gence, of those connected with the local cults. Something definite must be done to bring home the prophetic ideals to the hearts of the people. The insistence of Isaiah on the inviolability of Jerusalem (xxxvii. 35, xxviii. 16), and the confirmation of this doctrine by the deliverance from INTRODUCTION 37 Sennacherib (Isa. xxxvii. 22, 33), must have largely helped to establish the prestige of the temple in the capital. If the worship of the land were centralized here, a high and worthy type might be maintained, whilst all other lower forms might be declared illegitimate. Nor was this ideal so impracticable as it might at first sight seem to us. ' The whole land of Israel is small : Jerusalem is distant from the sea only thirty-three miles, from Jordan about eighteen, from Hebron nineteen, and from Samaria thirty- four or thirty-five' (G. A. Smith, E.B., c. 2417). When we remember the small extent of this territory, which we so easily forget in view of the magnitude of the spiritual interests of Israel, much becomes explicable in the ideals of the reformers, and the sweeping character of the reformation. It was no Utopian dream to conceive a land, so small, trained to worship Yahweh at its capital city in an imageless and moral worship. The rejected elements of the local cults of Yahweh (to say nothing of the worship of rival deities) are the image or material representation of Yahweh, which is unworthy of His nature (iv. 12-19), and immoral elements such as sacred prostitution, or the sacrifice of children, which are directly opposed to His requirements (xxiii. 17, 18; xii. 31, xviii. 10). The stone pillar and the wooden post were also condemned (xvi. 21, 22) because both could detract from the spirituality of God and engender superstition, whilst the latter seems to have been connected specially with immorality. These were, wholly or chiefly, elements absorbed into Hebrew religion from the cults of Canaan ; so that the reformation was a genuine return to the strong simplicity of the earlier worship of Yahweh with, of course, the added ideas drawn from centuries of history, and continued progress in moral and social development ^ The chief element retained from the high places destroyed ^ Bertholet, op, cit., xxvii, emphasizes the loss to the people in the secularization of their life. No doubt the immediate less was real enough, but it was the price of progress. 38 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY was that of sacrifice, to which the prophets, as a whole, were by no means kindly disposed; but the attitude of the Book of Deuteronomy to sacrifice, and the place given to it in the prescribed worship, are very different from that of the later Levitical system \ The practical character and aim of the Deuteronomic centralization of worship are further seen in the related laws meant to meet the difficulties occasioned by the change. Provision is made for the dispossessed priests of the local sanctuaries (xviii. 6-8) ; the protection of the fugitive from the avenger of blood, once provided at the local shrines, is now to be found at the cities of refuge instituted for the purpose (xix. 2f.). The annual festivals and pilgrimages, the expression of the agricultural life of Canaan, are now to be celebrated at the one sanctuary (xvi. i6). The produce of the tithe, which may be too bulky to carry to Jerusalem, it is permitted to change into money to be expended there (xiv. 22-7). The slaughter of animals for food loses its ancient sacrificial character on ordinary occasions, the only requirement being that \he blood is to be poured out on the ground (xii. 16, 24). 3. But the law of the central sanctuary, with its various safeguards, would have had little significance in the history of religion if it had not been the expression of a conception of God capable of unlimited growth and application. We have seen that the positive impulse to monotheism was an exalted conception of the character of Israel's God ; it is this we have now to notice more closely. Two passages, in particular, illustrate this con- ception : * The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His command- ments to a thousand generations ; and repayeth them that * Prior to D, the burnt-offering and the peace-offering are found (Exod. xx. 24, cf. xxiv. 5). D adds the heave-offering (Deut. xii. 6, 1 7). P adds not only the oblation or meal-offering (Lev. ii. I f.), but the sin-offering (v. 1-6), central in the Day of Atonement (Lev. xvi. 3), and the guilt-offering (Lev. v. 14-16. INTRODUCTION 39 hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face' (vii. 9, 10); 'Yahweh your God, He is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. ... He is thy praise, and He is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen' (x. 17-21). The conception of God involved in such descriptions is moral in the fullest sense of the word, moral as including both justice and mercy; and this conception underlies the whole statement of the requirements of Yahweh, and the interpretation of His dealings with men. The sources of this conception lie open to us in the per- sonalities and dominant conceptions of the prophets ; it is one of the fascinating rewards of Old Testament study that we see the idea of God emerging in its different elements, feature by feature, as the various elements of a portrait emerge on the developing plate in the photo- grapher's dark room. Only as we study each contribution in its natural historic light do we grasp the meaning of the great word that ' God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son ' (Heb. i. i, 2). The ethical monotheism of the eighth-century prophets, which supplies the passion and power of Deuteronomy, may be analysed into four more or less closely related elements, contributed by the four prophets already named. Amos presents Yahweh to us as a moral ruler, requiring moral obedience (chaps, i, ii ; vii-ix) ; Hosea as a loving husband, in spite of Israel's infidelity (chaps, i-iii) ; Isaiah as the Holy One of Israel (v. 16, 24; .vi. 3), the establisher of Zion (xxxvii. 35; xxviii. 16) ; Micah as the judge of social injustice (ii. I, 2 ; iii. 10-12). The fact that we have gained, 46 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY through Christ, a still higher conception of His character, must not blind us to the importance of the contribution made by these prophetic pioneers, in their interpretation of His ways from the standpoint of idealized human morality. They were anthropomorphic thinkers, as all men who dare to think God must be; but, in such ventures of faith, everything depends on the quality of the anthropomorphism. Elijah, in his denunciation of the wrong done to Naboth, as well as in his protest against the worship of Baal, is prophetic of his successors ; but they are able to rise above the cruder conceptions of Elijah into a more purely moral and spiritual sphere. It is this going forth of man to meet God, this stepping off the edge of the world into the darkness of the unknown, that forms the human side of revelation. Like Moses in the ancient tradition, these men climbed the mount of God, and brought back His word. It was fitting that prophecy, a Canaanite phenomenon in its lower forms, should be able in its higher, when permeated by the moral convictions of man, to dispossess the gods of Canaan. Of these four prophets, it is from Hosea, the richest in his conception of Yahweh, that Deuteronomy derives its highest ideas. * In a special degree the author of Deuteronomy is the spiritual heir of Hosea' (Driver, Deut. p. xxvii). But we may notice first that general conception of the Moral Government of the world which is common to all the prophets, and is specially emphasized in Amos. 4. The Book of Deuteronomy lays uncompromising strfess on the retributive righteousness of God ; for it, the past reveals the intervention of Yahweh in the affairs of His people, His control of events in accordance with their obedience to Him (cf. the retrospect of the first three chapters). The broad basis of appeal to Israel is that of the close of the original introduction to the code : 'Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse ; the blessing, if ye shall hearken .... and the curse, if ye shall not INTRODUCTION 41 hearken ' (xi. 26-8) ; or of that fine passage in the (later) conclusion : * This commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off . . . the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil . . . life and death, the blessing and the curse' (xxx. 11-19). It was not until a later date, as in the Book of Job, that this naive view of history, as consisting of direct reward and punishment, ceased to be adequate ; and the inadequacy was pressed home to the heart of the individual when the old national unity ceased to occupy the foreground of religion. The Book of Deuteronomy shows no sense of difficulty in maintaining present directness of retribution and the entire adjustment of prosperity to righteousness ; accordingly it has no message concerning the doctrine of a future life, by which that difficulty is partially met for Christian thought. 5. But it would not be just to the book to present the promise of reward and the threat of punishment as its only motive to obedience. Yahweh is to be loved in Himself for what He is ; the relation in which He stands to Israel is not simply that of a judge or ruler, but of a friend and a father. This is the chief ground for holding that Deuteronomy is specially influenced by the teaching of Hosea : ' Thou shalt love Yahweh thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might' (vi. 5). We can see here the influence of the betrothal conception of Hosea, resulting in a new inwardness of motive. The relation between Yahweh and His people is lifted to a level of thought which may be called evangelical. Isaiah's conception of a holy people (vi. 5 : cf. iv. 3, &:c.) is given a noble extension when this holiness is made the response to the revealed character of Yahweh (Deut. vii. 6-8 ; xiv. 2, 21 ; xxvi. 19, xxviii. 9); and this extension comes through the combination of Hosea and Isaiah. Even when Hosea changes his figure for what is still 42 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY more suggestive of the true relation between God and man, that of father and son, he is followed by Deuteronomy. Hosea, in one of the tenderest passages in his book, writes : * When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt ... I taught Ephraim to go; I took them on my arms' — as a father takes the tired child whom he has been teaching to take its early steps (xi. 1-3). The same figure, applied somewhat differently, meets us in Deuteronomy : ' And thou shalt consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so Yahweh thy God chasteneth thee ' (viii. 5) ; it is followed exactly in i. 31. 6. The humanity of this relation between Yahweh and His people is reflected in the relation between man and man, presented as ideal. The humanitarianism of Deutero- nomy is very marked, as we hav^e already seen. It has well been said that 'Nowhere else in the O.T. 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 per- suasive eloquence ; and nowhere else is it shown with the same fullness of detail how high and noble principles may be applied so as to elevate and refine the entire life of the community ' (Driver, Dent., p. xxv). If the object of Deuteronomy is * to transform the Judah of King Josiah's day into a peculiar people, holy and just, loving God and following God's law' (Montefiore, Hibbei-t Lectures, p. 183), we must recognize the primary place in this conception of holiness which is taken by the simple laws of morality and fair dealing and sympathy with the needs and difficulties of others. We have al- ready noticed such of these laws as could be tabulated in a code ; it only remains to indicate here the stress laid on such conduct towards others as the truest service to Yahweh. Deuteronomy does not go to the length of some of the prophets in denouncing the formalities of INTRODUCTION 43 ritual, yet we cannot but feel that the worship of Yahweh finds, for the writers, its aptest and highest expression in obedience to Yahweh's laws, amongst which those of justice and mercy to all men are not counted the least by a just and merciful God. IV. The Canonical Place and Influence of Deuteronomy. The Book of Deuteronomy is not only part of the canon of Scripture, it has been the nucleus in the for- mation of that canon. On many other books of the Bible the literary characteristics and the theological attitude of Deuteronomy have been strongly impressed ; whilst it has been said with truth that ' Its influence on the domestic and personal religion of Israel in all ages has never been exceeded by that of any other book in the canon ' (G. A. Smith, Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament, p. 163). I. Deuteronomy was the first book to be accepted by I srael as authoritative Scripture. N othing of the literature of Israel was regarded as an authoritative standard of life and faith prior to the publication of Deuteronomy. The nearest approach to an earlier canon is found in the earlier collections of laws, such as the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xx. 22— xxiii. 19) ; but, probably, such collections were drawn up within the priestly circle to be private manuals, not public Bibles. As a law of God, a sentence was binding ; so far there would be nothing new in the emergence of the Deuteronomic Code as com- pared with the oral law. But now, for the first time, the law is made accessible to the nation, after public accept- ance, and the foundations of a book-religion are laid. By the time of the Maccabees (i Mace. i. 56, 57) devotion to a written revelation has become the distinctive mark of Judaism, and we understand the force of the later Arabic phrase, applied to both Jews and Christians, * the people 44 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY of the book.' This development is the direct outcome of the acceptance of Deuteronomy, and continues still further : *The movement begun by Deuteronomy does not close within the period of the O. T.— its goal is the Talmud ; its course covers more than a thousand years. Deutero- nomy does much to crystallize principles into rules, and thereby partly strangles the free prophetic life, to which it so largely owed its existence' {E.B., 2744: cf. Driver, pp. Ixiv, Ixv; Marti, op. cit.., p. 65). Yet a written revelation, with all its perils, was required to meet the practical needs of religion. Because of it, Israel's exile could not destroy her faith ; it could only deepen her reverence and love for the existent literature, and for the oral traditions yet to be expanded and written, which were the distilled life of her past. Through all the vicissitudes of her subsequent history, those sacred books, of which Deuteronomy is the foundation, become the tower of her strength, the centre of her hopes. The historic truth of many centuries is behind that Talmudic parable which tells of the Jewish maiden parted from her lover, yet keep- ing tioth with him through his long delay, because able to go into her chamber and read and reread his letters. Israel, wrote the Rabbis, is that maiden, entering her synagogues to study the writings of God. Nor is the faith of Israel alone bound in a debt of gratitude to the book-religion of Deuteronomy. The faith of the early Christian Church, from its lowliest adherent to its great apostle, was nourished on the principles preserved through a book-religion ; and we may forgive some of the fossiliz- ing influences of Jewish legalism because it has kept in its bed of limestone the very forms of ancient faith for our present study and edification. So long as the ideal of Jeremiah awaits fulfilment, and the law of God remains unwritten on the heart, some external authority in religion, Bible or Church, will be necessary to correct the vagaries of the individual, and to develop the possibilities of the immature. Deuteronomy, at the head of the triple canon INTRODUCTION 45 of the O. T., may be said to contain in itself ' the law, the prophets, and the writings.' Itself a law-book pri- marily, it is the outcome of prophetic teaching ; whilst the two poems of its appendix link it with the chief repre- sentative of the third canon, i. e. the Psalter. II. In regard to the literary and theological influence of Deuterono7ny^ the first point to notice is the relation of the book to the contemporary prophet Jeremiah. The fact that a close relation exists is unmistakable. A selection from the many parallels between the two books is given by Driver, p. xciii ; he remarks : ' remini- scences from Deuteronomy, consisting often of whole clauses, are interwoven with phrases peculiar to Jeremiah 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' (p. xcii : cf. Deut. iv. 29, and Jer. xxix. 13 ; iv. 34 and xxxii. 21 ; v. 33 and vii. 23 ; xviii. 20 and xxix. 23; xxviii. 52 and V. 17, out of a very large number of cases). Two explanations have been given of this closeness of relation. The older one is that Jeremiah himself was interested in the Deuteronomic reform, and wrote largely under its influence (e. g. Montefiore, op. cit., p. 194). One passage in particular expressly supports this view (Jer. xi. I -14) in which the prophet is sent to speak to the men of Judah and Jerusalem ' the words of this covenant,' which, in view of the terms used, can be no other than the Deuteronomic. But even those who have taken this view have been compelled to admit that Jeremiah was disappointed with the course of the Deuteronomic reform (e. g. Cheyne, Jeremiah, p. 107). No other explanation could well be given of the famous passage which speaks of the need for a new covenant, more spiritually received : * I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it . . . and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying. Know Yahweh : for they shall all know me * (Jer. xxxi. 33, 34). 46 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY * Clearly, then,' wrote Cheyne in 1888, * Jeremiah must before this have begun to be disappointed with Deutero- nomy. He may have read it privately— this perhaps we may argue from his continued allusions to it ; but in public he confined himself to reproducing its more spiritual, more prophetic portions' {op. cit., p. 107). It is to be noted that Jeremiah directly opposes the doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of Jerusalem and its temple (chap, xxvi), and is distinctly recognized in this as a successor to Micah (verse 18), whilst his protest at the gate of Yahweh's house is worthy of the eighth-century prophets : * Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, are these ' (vii. 4). There is, indeed, one passage in which Jeremiah seems to be attacking the abuses to which a written revelation would lend itself, if he is not criticizing Deuteronomy itself : * How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of Yahweh is with us ? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely ' (viii. 8). The newer criticism of the Book of Jeremiah, of which Duhm's commentary may be taken as representative, regards the Deuteronomic parallels as later additions, when the lyri- cal poems of Jeremiah were worked up into a continuous prophecy. (This would include even the passage in the eleventh chapter to which reference has been made ; the writer of it argued that since Jeremiah was a contemporary of the Deuteronomic reform, he must, as a prophet of Yahweh, have been concerned in it— which is the way in which much history has been written, even to our own day.) But, even if this extreme view in regard to Jeremiah be ultimately adopted, the strong influence of Deuteronomy is the more clearly indicated, in that it prevailed against the principles of Jeremiah ; whilst the practical failure of the Deuteronomic reform to which the Book of Jeremiah witnesses (vi. 16-21; xxxiv. 8f) only throws into contrast the literary dominance of Deuteronomy over the subsequent history and literature INTRODUCTION 47 of Israel, of which the present Book of Jeremiah would itself be an example. A further example of that dominance is supplied by the Book of Kings in its present form : * Henceforward histoiy becomes an exponent of legal theory' (Gray, E.B.y c. 2735); 'there seems, indeed, to have quickly formed itself a regular school of writers upon the Deutero- nomic pattern, who looked at history and religion from the Deuteronomic point of view ' (Montefiore, op. cit.^ p. 193). Reference should be made to the Century Bible edition of Kings (Skinner) for the copious evidence that the compiler worked from the standpoint of Deutero- nomy (see, especially, the Introduction, pp. 14-18). He selects his material from a religious standpoint ; he traces the prosperity or adversity of the nation to its obedi- ence or disobedience to Deuteronomic law ; he judges the character of the line of kings by their loyalty or disloyalty to the Yahweh of Deuteronomy. Hezekiah, for example, because of his earlier reform on Deuterono- mic lines, receives the commendation : ' He trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel ; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among them that were before him ' (2 Kings xviii. 5). Manasseh, who built again the high places which his father had destroyed (2 Kings xxi. 3 f.), though he escapes without personal disaster, has stored up retributive adversity for his people : ' I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down' (verse 13), is Yahweh's word over Manasseh's reign. We have become so accustomed to these verdicts on the monarchs of Israel, that it is difficult to pass behind them. Yet thes:e kings are praised or pilloried by an unhistoric method ; they stand or fall by their compliance with or rejection of a book they never saw. For the Law-book which is mentioned in Kings is, throughout, Deuteronomy (cf. Driver, xci. n.) : the manner of reference shows this, for example, in David's charge to Solomon (i Kings ii. 3), 48 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY * Keep the charge of Yahweh thy God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgements and His testimonies, according to that which is written in the Law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself ; the reference is doubtless to the special paragraph in Deuteronomy urging the study of the book on the monarch s of Israel. This Deivteronomic redaction extends, though in a less marked degree in the case of Samuel, over the whole of the * Former Prophets,' as they are called— viz. Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (Budde, E,B., (i(y6), and the influence of Deuteronomic phraseology may be traced in certain books of the third canon — viz. Nehemiah, Daniel, and Chronicles (Driver, p. xcii). In all this influence it is the doctrine of Yahweh's retributive righteousness which is central, and the Book of Job shows us how absolutely and completely this had become the orthodox tenet of Israel. In the Book of Deuteronomy that doctrine was applied to the nation as a whole ; individuals were involved in the fate of the nation, as in the destruction of a whole city contami- nated by alien worship (Deut. xiii. 12-16). But though, as we have seen, the rights of the individual in criminal law are recognized, the individual aspects of the law of retribution are not yet fully realized. The powerful protest of Job was necessary against the belief that suffering and innocence were incompatible ; it is not that disobedience is not punished, but that the suffering which is punishment in one case may be discipline in another, or more particularly, may be neither of these, but man's opportunity to witness to his disinterested principles, and to his loyal obedience to God. The powerful assertion of this in Job testifies indirectly to the power of the Book of Deuteronomy, whose doctrine eventually made the protest necessary. III. An adequate description of the influence of Introduction 49 Deuteronomy on the personal religion of Israel would become a history of the people under this special aspect. But some points in particular may be noted in which the influence of the book, alone, or in conjunction with the Torah, has been noteworthy. The briefest reference must be made to the Torah school and the Torah instruction of the synagogue, and to the zeal for the perfect fulfilment of the Torah which finds its expression in Pharisaism. More significant for our present purpose is that recognition of family life, and insistence on religious instruction within the family, which Deuteronomy displays, and to which Israel as a whole has so loyally responded (vi. 7, cf. 20). The reception of proselytes was a feature of the greatest importance in the centuries about the Christian era ; how large a part these proselytes played in the extension of Christianity every reader of the Acts of the Apostles knows. Yet this welcoming spirit towards those without springs largely from the attitude towards strangers so strongly urged in the Book of Deuteronomy ; and the monotheism and imageless worship of the Jews, which centre in that book, constituted the chief attraction for many of the proselytes to Judaism. In characteristic details of Jewish religion the influ- ence of Deuteronomy is very clearly shown. The pious Jew of Christ's day showed his piety visibly in three ways — by the Zizith, the tassels of blue or white wool worn on the four corners of the upper garment ; by the Mezuza, the little box fixed to the right doorpost of houses or rooms, which contained a small roll inscribed with certain portions of Scripture ; by the Tephiliin or Phylacteries worn by the male Israelite on arm or head at morning prayer'. Each of these observances rests on a Deuteronomic command (xxii. 12; vi. 9, and xi. 20; vi. 8, and xi. 18). A marked feature of Jewish piety, as every r aks ^ Schflrer, Geschtchte aks judischen Volkes int Zeitalter Jesu Christi, vol. ii. § 28. iv. {En^z. Trans., div. ii. vol. ii. p. iii f.) 50 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY one will have noticed who has watched a pious Jew at meal-time, is the elaborate thanksgiving ; this is based upon the command, ' And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless Yahweh thy God for the good land which He hath given thee ' (viii. lo). The daily prayer of Judaism, its confession of faith, to be recited morning and evening by every adult male Israelite, is made up of the two cardinal passages taken from Deuteronomy (vi. 4-9 and xi. 13-21), with the addition of a third from Numbers (xv, 37-41) (Schiirer, vol. ii. § 27 ; Taylor, op.cit.^ Exc. iv). It was this prayer that Rabbi 'Aquiba was reciting when the executioners were combing his flesh with combs of iron : ' All my days I have been troubled about this verse. Thou shalt love the Lord . . . with all thy soul, even if He should take away thy spirit. When, said I, will it be in my power to fulfil this ? Now that I have the opportunity, shall I not fulfil it ? ' So he dwelt on the word one (God) till he expired (Taylor, op. cit.y p. 54). There is the Jewish religion at its highest and its lowest ; its literalism and triviality on the one hand, its splendid passion of self- devotion on the other. In the Book of Deuteronomy both are represented. The influence of Deuteronomy on the New Testament, so far as it admits of being traced, is as great as we might have expected. There are about thirty quotations, made from some nineteen passages, but the less direct references are at least eighty (Swete, Introduction to the Old Testament in Greeks p. 383 ; Westcott and Hort, New Testament, App.). Characteristic use of Deuteronomy is made by that Hebrew of the Hebrews, Paul ; he cites, for example, the command not to muzzle the ox when treading out the com, as proof that Christian ministers may be paid for their work ( I Cor. ix. 9 : cf. Deut. xxv. 4) ; he extends a warning about Yahweh's employment of other nations to the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom (Rom. x. 19 : cf. Deut. xxxii. 21); he does not hesitate to apply the eloquent passage about the nearness INTRODUCTION Si of the Deuteronomic commands to practical life to the equal practicability of the new word of the Gospel : * The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart : that is, the word of faith which we preach' (Rom. x. 6-8: cf. Deut. XXX. 12-14). But much more striking and interest- ing is the use of Deuteronomy made by Jesus. As He drew the idea of His ministry from the passage He read in the synagogue at Nazareth (Isa. Ixi : cf. Luke iv. 16 f.), and afterwards used in His reply to John's inquiry (Matt. xi. 4f.) ; as He based His disregard of social con- ventions in mixing with publicans on that prophetic word, ' 1 will have mercy, and not sacrifice' (Matt. ix. 13 : cf. Hos. vi. 6) ; and as He uttered both the depths and the heights of His experience on the Cross in two words taken from the Psalter {' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' ' Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit' : Matt, xxvii. 46 : cf. Ps. xxii. i ; Luke xxiii. 46 : cf. Ps. xxxi. 5); so we find Him drawing spiritual nourish- ment on two important occasions from the Book of Deuteronomy. The first is His temptation in the desert; we cannot but be impressed by the fact that His assertion of a higher principle than self-satisfaction, His rebuke of the folly that would presume on the Divine patience, His refusal to serve God and mammon, are all expressed in Deuteronomic words (Matt. iv. 3 f.; Luke iv. 3 f, : cf. Deut. viii. 3, vi. 16, and vi. 13). How much He must have loved this book, when His spiritual struggle finds this natural expression in its language ! And not less signifi- cant a testimony to the influence of Deuteronomy is supplied by the fact that He summarizes the whole of the law and the prophets in a verse taken from Deuteronomy, and in another from the less likely book of Leviticus (Matt. xxii. 37 ; Mark xii. 29 f. ; Luke x. 27 : cp. Deut. vi. 5). We must add to these two primary references those others in which He bases the relations of members of the new community on Deuteronomic principles of justice (' that at the mouth of two witnesses or three every E 2 52 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY word may be established' — Matt, xviii. i6: cf. Deut xix. 15), and that He extends a Deuteronomic ideal (xviii. 13) from the narrower realm of the avoidance of supersti- tion till it covers the whole horizon of social morality (' Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect ' : Matt. v. 48). NOTES ON LITERATURE The commentaries used in the preparation of the notes to this edition are those by — Dillmann (Numeri, Deuteronomium, und Josua ', Kurz. Exeg. Handb., 1886). Driver (Deuteronomy, International Critical Comnt., 1895). Steuernagel (Deuteronomium, Hand-Komm. z. A. T., 1898). Bertholet (Deuteronomium, Kurz. Hand-Comm., 1899). The English reader who desires fuller notes than the neces- sarily bare and dogmatic statements here made should consult Driver ; as an introduction to the book, and to some of its principal topics, A. Harper's ' The Book of Deuteronomy ' in The Expositor's Bible may be mentioned. The article on 'Deuteronomy,* by Ryle, in Hastings's Dictionary 0/ the Bible (cited as D. B.) (i, pp. 596-603), is largely based on Driver ; that by Moore, in the Encyclopaedia Biblica (cited as E. B.) (i. c. 1079-94), is an admirable and terse statement of the contents and problems of the book, and with its critical analysis the present writer is in general agreement. The subject-matter of Deuteronomy is, of course, discussed in all histories of Israel or introductions to the O. T. ; amongst these may be named in particular Stade's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, i. pp. 641-71 (1889); Wellhausen's Israelitische und Jiidische Geschichte^, 1897 ; Smend'' s Alttestamentliche Religions- geschichte*, 1899 ; Stade's Biblische Theologie des Alten Testa- ments (pp. 260-9), ipoS* The critical problems in connexion with the original contents of the Reformation Law-book are difficailt and complicated, and are still under vigorous dis- cussion. Atqongst recent literature on this subject may be named :->■ NOTES ON LITERATURE 53 Cullen, The Book of the Covenant in Moub, 1909 (reviewed by the writer in The Critical Review^ 1904; regards Deut. v-xi as the discovered book, to which the laws were added later, since ' a new law-code is usually not the instrument, but the outcome of a successful revolution '). Fries, Die Gesetzesschrift des Konigs Josia.i^s (the Law-book of Josiah seen in Exod. xxxiv. 11-26, not in Deuteronomy). Botticher, Das Verhdltnts des Deuterouomiums zu 2 K6n. xxii, xxiii, und sur Prophetie Jeremia, 1906. (Accepts chaps, xii- xxvi, xxviii as the Josianic Law-book, and gives a useful survey of the present state of Deuteronomic criticism.) Klostermann, Der Pentateuch, 1907 {Das deuteronomische Gesetsbuch, pp. 154-428). SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS J. The narrative by TJudaean ?) writers from b.c. 850, using the name Yahweh (Jehovah, R. V., Lord). E. The narrative by Ephraimite writers from b. c. 750, using the name Elohim (God). JE. The * prophetic ' narrative of the Hexateuch, resulting from the combination of J and E. P. The ' priestly ' narrative and legislation (exilic and post- exilic). D. The original Book of Deuteronomy, discovered in b. c. 62X. D". Pre-exilic additions to D. D^. Exilic additions to D. R. Additions by various redactors ; sometimes further classi- fied by a raised letter, e. g. R^, the Deuteronomic redactor. In Deut. xxxii, xxxiii, R ? denotes the use of earlier (unknown) sources by the redactor. Cook. S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses and the Code qf Hammurabi. D.B. Hastings's Dictionary of the Bibie. E.B. Encyclopaedia Biblica. G.V.I. Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel. H. G. H.L. G. A . Smith, Historical Geography of the Holy Land. 54 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY L.O.T. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. O.T.J.C. W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jeunsh Church^. Oxf. Hex. The Hexateuch, edited by J. Estlin Carpenter and G. Harford-Battersby. Rel. Sem. W. Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites. S.B.O.T. The Sacred Books of the Old Testament: Leviticus (S. R. Driver and H. A. White) ; Joshua (W. H. Bennett). Z.A.T,IV» Zeitschrift fiir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaff. (Where Bertholet, Dillmann, Driver, and Steuernagel are cited without further specification, the reference is to their commentaries on Deuteronomy named above. ) THE LEGISLATIVE CODES OF THE O. T. The laws of the O. T. fall into four distinct codes, differing in character and date, though now editorially combined with- out regard to their origin. i. The earliest of these, found in connexion with the pro- phetic narratives of the Hexateuch (JE), is known as the Book of the Covenant (Exod. xx. 3 — xxiii. 19), with which is to be grouped the Decalogue (Exod. xx. 2-17) and the earlier Decalogue underlying Exod. xxxiv. 10-26. This code is prior to the eighth century b. c, and reflects a simple society, with agriculture as its chief interest. ii. For the Deuteronomic Code of the seventh century b. c. see above, pp. 23 f. iii. A special code of exilic origin, closely related toEzekiel, and found in Lev. xvii-xxvi, is known as the Law of Holiness (H). iv. The Priestly Code (P), post-exilic, and promulgated in 444 B. c. (Nch. viii-x), runs through the Pentateuch, especially Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and is concerned almost entirely with the regulation of worship. An example of the differences and development in these codes will be found on p. 38 (footnote on ' Sacrifices '). THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY REVISED VERSION WITH ANNOTATIONS THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY [D*] These be the words which Moses spake unto all 1 Israel beyond Jordan in the wilderness, in the » Arabah over against ^ Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. It is eleven days' 2 journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea. [P] And it came to pass in the fortieth 3 year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them ; [D^] after he had smitten Sihon the king of 4 the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei : beyond 5 * That is, the deep valley running North and South of the Dead Sea, ^ Some ancient versions have, the Red Sea. i. 1-5. Introductory Note, Geographical and Chronological, to the First Address of Moses. 'All Israel,' in the characteristic phrase of Deuteronomy, is supposed to be gathered ' beyond Jordan ' (i. e. east of it, from the standpoint of a writer of West Palestine), in the place to which previous adventures have brought the nation (cf. Num. xxxiii. 49, xxxvi. 13). The apparent definition of this place, however, in the first verse, is obscure and uncertain. The names given are unidentified for this locality, whilst Suph, Paran, and Hazeroth have already occurred in the account of the wander- ings of Israel. Probably, therefore, the second half of this verse, with verse 2, is the misplaced fragment of a list of desert halting- places. 2. Horeb (D, E) = Sinai (J, P) ; different names for the same mountain. the way of motuit Seir, i. e. of the Edomite district, east of the Arabah. The phrase thus designates the most eastern of the three main roads between Sinai and the south of Palestine. Kadesli-baniea = 'Ain-Kadls, fifty miles south of Beersheba. 3. The chronological note (characteristic of P) links the book with the scheme of the previous narrative of the Pentateuch. It is continued in xxxii. 48. 4. Sihon, &c. : see Num. xxi. ai — xxii. i ; also notes on ii. 26 f. 58 DEUTERONOMY 1. 6-8. D^ Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare f^ this law, saying, The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this 7 mountain : turn you, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the Arabah, in the hill country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great 8 river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set the land before you : go in and possess the land which the Lord 5. besfan ... to declare: rather, 'undertook to expound' this Deuteronomic law which follows (after lengthy introductions). The word for 'law ' properly means 'direction' or ' instruction,' which more general sense may be intended here. i. 6 — iv. 40. The First Address of Moses. It consists of a histo- rical review of Israel's adventures since leaving Sinai (i. 6 — iii. 29) nd a hortatory peroration (iv. 1-40), part, or all, of which appears to be a later addition. The statements made are based, some- times even verbally, on J E in Exodus and Numbers. i. 6-18. Yahweh's command to journey from Horeb to the Promised Land (verses 6-8). Moses, feeling his responsibility, asked for assistance in the government of the people, to which they agreed (verses 9-14). Leading men were accordingly appointed, and charged by Moses to observe strict impartiality in judgement (verses 15-18). 6. See Exod. xxxiii. i. 7. In this description of the Promised Land, the hill-country of the Amorites appears to describe Palestine generally by its principal topographical feature, the Central Range (cf. verses 20 and 44); the Arabah (verse i, R. V. marg.) here refers to its northern part, now El-Ghor, the Jordan Valley to the Dead Sea ; the hill country is the special term for the mountains of Judah and Ephraim ; the lowland (Shephelah), the lower hills and moorland lying between the Central Range and the Maritime Plain ; the South (Negeb) is the dry district south of the moun- tains of Judah ; the sea shore, or plain along the coast of the Mediterranean, is further defined by the land of the Canaanites, i. e. Phoenicia, cf. Josh. xiii. 4 ; the Lebanon stands broadly for the northern territory, whilst the Euphrates is given as the (ideal) limit of a territory much larger than Israel ever occupied (cf. xi. 24). DEUTERONOMY 1. 9-16. D^ 59 sware unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. And 9 I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone : the Lord your God hath 10 multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. The Lord, the God of your ^ i fathers, make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you ! How can 12 I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife ? Take you wise men, and understanding, 13 and known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. And ye answered me, and said, 14 The thing which thou hast spoken is good /or us to do. So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, 15 and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. And I charged your judges at that time, saying. Hear f/?e iG causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the stranger that is 8. For the promise to Abrabam, cf. Gen. xii. 7, xxii. 16. &c. (for the comparison of his seed to the stars in number (verse to), Gen. XV. 5, xxii. 17) ; Isaac, Gen. xxvi. 3 ; Jacob, Gen. xxviii. 13. 9. I spake unto yon at tliat time : according to Exod. xviii. 18, the suggestion was due to Jethro ; according, also, to the present place of that narrative, the incident occurred before the visit to Horeb. 15. Exod. xviii. 13 f. (cf. Num. xi. 16 f.). The modern parallel is the moral authority of the Bedouin sheikh, which rests ultimately on the pressure of the family on its members. The higher Kadi will correspond to Moses here. • This judicial activity of the heads of tribes and clans we must, of course, regard, not as an in- novation, but as an ancient usage ' (E.B. 2718 : ' Law and Justice '). 16. the stranger that is with him: Heb. 'his ger,' the settled foreigner, here given equal rights with the native Israelite (x. 19, xiv. 21, xxiv. 17, xxvii. 19). 'The care taken by Israelite law to protect strangers finds no parallel in Babylonia' (S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses, p. 276). 6o DEUTERONOMY 1. ^7.22. D« 17 with htm. Ve shall not respect persons in judgement ; ye shall hear the small and the great alike ; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man ; for the judgement is God's : and the cause that is too hard for you ye shall bring 18 unto me, and I will hear it. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. 19 And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us ; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God giveth unto 2 1 us. Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee : go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of thy fathers, hath spoken linto thee ; fear not, neither be 22 dismayed. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may 17. thejudgfement is God's : primarily by the sacred oracle or lot (note on Joshua vii. 14) ; secondarily, as interpreted by suitable men speaking in His name. i. 19-46. Israel, arriving at Kadesh-barnea, was bidden to enter the land from the south (verses 19-21). The report of the spies, sent at the desire of the people (verses 22-5), discouraged them (verses 26-8), notwithstanding the exhortation of Moses (verses 29-31). Their cowardice angered Yahweh, who decreed that Caleb and Joshua, and the children only of the present generation should eventually enter (verses 32-40). The people, however, persisted in making the attempt, in spite of the Divine warning (verses 41-3^ with the result that they were defeated by the Amorites (verses 44-6). 19. that great and terrible wilderness: (viii. 15) the barren limestone plateau (Et-Tih : see the geological maps in E.B.^ 1208-9) between the peninsula of Sinai-Horeb and the south of Palestine. From its most southern projection into the peninsula to Beersheba the distance is 170 miles; to Kadesh-barnea (of. verse 2) somewhat less. as. According to Num. xiii. i f. (P), these spies are sent at the command of Yahweh. UEUTERONOMY 1. 23-28. D^ 61 search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come. And the thing pleased me well : and 23 I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe : and 24 they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. And they 25 took of' the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said. It is a good land which the Lord our God giveth unto us. Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the 26 commandment of the Lord your God : and ye murmured 27 in your tents, and said. Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Whither are we going up ? our brethren have made 38 our heart to melt, saying, The people is greater and 24. the valley of Eshcol : an explorer*s name (* grape-cluster ') assigned for the occasion (Num. xiii. 23, 24) ; not otherwise known or identified, but in the neighbourhood of Hebron (Num. xiii. 22). The grape, in particular, deserves to be called the fruit of the land (verse 25) ; the vine becomes almost the national emblem of Israel (i Kings iv. 25, &c. ; Isa. v. 2 ; Jer. ii. 21 ; Ezek, xv ; Matt, xxi. 33 f. ; John xv. i). 25. Cf. Num. xiii. 23, where the spies bring back grapes, pomegranates, and figs. 27. in your teuts, as being unwilling to unite for common action. For the true meaning of the phrase *To your tents, O Israel ! ' see note on Joshua xxii. 4. 28. our heart to melt. What is to us a figure was to the primitive Hebrew the literal description of a fact, perhaps suggested by the coagulation of blood in and about the heart of a slain animal. Though the circulation of the blood was, of course, unknown, the quickened heart-beat of fear might be connected with the 'melting ' of the central blood-organ. The phrase occurs in xx. 8 ; Joshua ii. II, v. I, vii. 5, xiv. 8 ; Ezek. xxi, 7 ; Nah. ii. 10 ; Isa. xiii. 7, xix. I. In Ps. xxii. 14, the heart is compared to wax, melting (and running down) amongst the viscera. Elsewhere it is said to become soft (Job xxiii. i6, &c.). 62 DEUTERONOiMV 1. 29-37. D^ taller than we ; the cities are great and fenced up to heaven ; and moreover we have seen the sons of the 29 Anakim there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither 30 be afraid of them. The Lord your God who goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did 31 for you in Egypt before your eyes ; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye 32 went, until ye came unto this place. Yet '^in this thing 33 ye did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way, to seek you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye 34 should go, and in the cloud by day. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, 35 saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I sware to give 36 unto your fathers, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, he shall see it ; and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children : because he hath 37 wholly followed the Lord. Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying. Thou also shalt not go in * Or, for all this thing perhaps * the (long-)necked people,' or giants ; Num. xiii. 22, 28, 33 ; Deut. ii. 10, 11, 21, ix. 2 ; Joshua xi. 21, 22, xiv. 12, 15, XV. 13, 14, xxi. II ; Judges i. 20. This race, of colossal stature to Hebrew eyes, was specially connected with Hebron and its vicinity. 31. bare tliee : for similar expressions of the warm and helpful attachment of Yahweh to His people, cf. xxxii. ii ; Exod. xix. 4 ; esp. Hos. xi. 3 ; Isa. xlvi. 3. 32. 'Yet notwithstanding this word (of mine) ye were not trusting Yahweh your God.' 33. See Exod. xiii. 21. 36. Caleto: Num. xiv. 24 (JE) ; xiv. 30 (P ; with Joshua). The ' land * meant is that of Hebron and its district (cf. Joshua xiv. 12-14). 37. an^ry with mo: the present composite narrative in Num. DEUTERONOMY 1. 38-42. D^ 63 thither : Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before 38 thee, he shall go in thither : encourage thou him ; for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little 39 ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn you, and take your 40 journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned 41 against the Lord^ we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And ye girded on every man his weapons of war, and ^were forward to go up into the mountain. And the Lord 42 said unto me, Say unto them. Go not up, neither fight ; for I am not among you ; lest ye be smitten before your * Or, deemed it a light thing XX. 1-13 leaves us ' without any clear idea of the character of the sin.' though it appears to be * an act of open rebellion, rather than of simple unbelief (Gray, Numbers, pp. 258, 262). Moreover, the event is there (cf. Deut. xxxii. 51) assigned to the closing period of Israel's wanderings. Here, as in iii. 26, iv. 21, the reason given for Yahweh's anger with Moses is quite different from that of P ; the anger is on account of the disobedience of the people ('for your sakes'). The event is thus assigned to the opening period of Israel's wanderings. The two forms of the tradition refer to the same spot, but at an interval of thirty-seven years. 38. Joshua : see on verse 36 and Josh. i. i. which standeth before thee : i. e. as an attendant or 'minister' (i Kings x. 8). 39. a prey: Num. xiv. 3, 31. The guilty generation must give place to the innocent, hence the conventional ' forty ' years of wandering (cf. ii. 14). 40. Bed Sea : Heb. Yam Suph (sea of reeds ?), here denoting the Gulf of 'Akabah (Num. xiv. 25 : cf. i Kings ix. 26). 41. The emphasis of the Hebrew is apt to be lost by the English reader. The second * we ' is emphatic ; we, not our children, will enter. were forward : R. V. marg. preferable. 64 DEUTERONOMY 1. 43-2. 3. D- 43 enemies. So I spake unto you, and ye hearkened not ; but ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and were presumptuous, and went up into the mountain. 44 And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat 45 you down in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the Lord ; but the Lord hearkened 46 not to your voice, nor gave ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there. 2 Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spake unto me : and we compassed mount Seir many I, 3 days. And the Lord spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough : turn you north- 44. Num. xiv. 45. For the figure of the bees (number and ferocity) see Ps. cxviii. 12 ; Isa. vii; 18 ; perhaps the obscure reference to the hornets in vii. 20 springs from a misunderstood figure of the same kind. in Seir, even unto Hormah : more probably, with the ancient versions, ' from Seir.' In Judges i. 17, Hormah (* the banned ' city) is identified with Zephath, and Es-Sabaita, twenty-five miles north-east of Kadesh-barnea, has been suggested as the site. 45. Tears follow foolhardiness, as foolhardiness does timidity ; the psychology of Israel, as Bertholet remarks, is that of a child. 46. many days (the following v^rords express idiomatically an in- definite period ; cf. xxix. i6 ; 2 Kings viii. i ; Zech. x. 8, and the similar Arabic idiom). Cf. ii. r, of which verse the ' many days' are subsequently defined (verse 14) as thirty-eight years ; here they cannot mean more than a few months. See on ii. 14. ii. 1-8*. Israel, leaving Kadesh-barnea, wandered for many years in the south of Palestine. Finally, Yahweh bade them turn northward again and pass peaceably by £,dom, , which they accordingly did. 1. we compassed monnt Seir: i.e. Edom (1. a) : cf. Num. xxi. 4. In their aimless wanderings on the borders of Edom almost thirty-eight j'ears are supposed to be spent (verses 7 and 14). 3. northward : < The Israelites must be imagined by this time DEUTERONOMY 2. 4-8. D^ 65 ward. And command thou the people, saying, Ye are 4 to pass through the border of your bretliren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you : take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore : contend not with them ; for I will not give you of their 5 land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on : because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. Ye shall purchase food of them for money, 6 that ye may eat ; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the Lord thy God hath 7 blessed thee in all the work of thy hand : he hath known / thy walking through this great wilderness : these forty v years the Lord thy God hath been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing. So we passed by from our brethren the 8 children of Esau, which dwell in Seir^ from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. to have made their way along the south-west and south border of Edom, as far as the south-east end of the 'Arabah, so that a turn northwards would at once lead them along the east border of Edom in the direction of Moab ' (Driver, p. 34). 4. your brethren : as in the traditional story of the relationship of Jacob to Esau, ' the father of the Edomites ' (Gen. xxxvi. 43). Israel appears to have been later in settlement than its Edomite kin (cf. verse 12, and Gray, op. cit., p. 268). Friendly relations with Edom are enjoined in xxiii. 7, but were broken after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586. pass throng-h : i. e. some part of Edom's eastern territory ; the narrative is thus formally distinct from that of Num. xx. 14-21, where, at an earlier point of time, permission to pass through Edom from Kadesh, on the west, is refused. 6. buy water: a valuable possession in such districts : see note on Josh. XV. 19. 7 gives the reason for Israel's proud independence of Edom. 8. passed by from: we should probably read (cf. LXX) ' passed through ' (cf. verse 29) ; the present text may be due to the influence of Num. xx. 21 (Bertholet). Otherwise we must explain as 'from the neighbourhood of,' which the Hebrew allows, the way of the Arabah, &c. Ezion-geber must have been near to Elath, the modern 'Akabah, at the north end of the gulf of 66 DEUTERONOMY 2. 9-1 1. D^ And we turned and passed by the way of the wilder- 9 ness of Moab. And the Lord said unto me, Vex not Moab, neither contend with them in battle : for I will not give thee of his land for a possession ; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. 10 (The Emim dwelt therein aforetime, a people great, and 1 1 many, and tall, as the Anakim : these also are accounted a Rephaim, as the Anakim ; but the Moabites call them * See Gen. xiv, 5. that name. From here Israel passes N.NE. towards Moab, leaving the road through the 'Arabah on their left. ii. S^'-is. Israel was forbidden to attack Moab (verses 8^, 9). An archaeological note on the ancient inhabitants (verses 10-12). Reason for the length of Israel's wanderings (verses 13-15). 8**. the wilderness of Moab: the uncultivated pasture-land east of the territory of Moab, the latter being at its full extent a district about sixty miles long by thirty broad, east of the Dead Sea, whose length is about fifty miles. 9. Vex not : rather, * do not treat as a foe ' ; so verse 19. Ar (cf. verse 18), named in two fragments of ancient poetry (Num. xxi. 15, 28), is the same place as ' the City of Moab ' (Num. xxii. 36), at the east end of one of the Arnon valleys, but the exact site of this capital of Moab is unknown. the children of lot: (Ps. Ixxxiii, 8) as is stated of the Moabites in Gen. xix. 37. The relationship with Israel, though less direct than in the case of Edom (verse 4), is sufficient to prevent attack. 10. The three verses (10-12) bracketed by R.V. are clearly an editorial note in regard to the earlier inhabitants of the territories of Moab (verses 10, 11) and Esau (verse 12). The conception of aborigines as giants is familiar to anthropology (cf. Tylor, Primi- tive Culture, i. 387). Emim : Gen. xiv. 5, where they are defeated by Chedorla- omer at Kiriathaim, north of the Arnon. The name = ' terrors.' They are compared with the more familiar Anakim (i. 28), and, like them, are included in the general class known ^s 11. Bephaim: these are frequently named (e. g. Joshua xii. 4, xiii. 12, xvii. 15), Og of Bashan being their last survivor (iii. 11). Etymology most naturally, perhaps, connects them with * shades ' or ghosts ; Stade, who takes this view {G.V.I. , i. 420) refers to Tylor, ii. 114, in support of it : ' In Madagascar, the worship of the spirits of the dead is remarkably associated with the Vazimbas, the aborigines of the island.' DEUTERONOMY 2. 12-19. D^ 67 Emim. The Horites also dwelt in Seir aforetime, but 12 the children of Esau succeeded them ; and they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the Lord gave unto them.) Now rise up, and get you over 13 the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. And thejiays Jn which we came from Kadesh-barnea, 14 until we were come' over the brook Zered, were thirty and eight years j until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord sware unto them. Moreover the hand of 15 the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. So it came to pass, when all the men of war were 16 consumed and dead from among the people, that the 17 Lord spake unto me, saying, Thou art this day to pass 18 over Ar, the border of Moab : and when thou comest 19 nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor contend with them : for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession : because 12. Horites: supposed to mean 'cave-dwellers,' for whom Edom makes abundant provision : cf. Gen. xiv. 6. xxxvi. 20 f. as Israel did, in what, to the annotator, was the dim past, but in the address of Moses is still future. 13. tlie brook Zered: probably the Wady Kerak, running into the north bay of the Dead Sea formed by the peninsula El Lissan. 14. The tradition expressed in this verse is to be distinguished from that of the earlier narratives, ' According to JE the thirty- eight years in the wilderness were spent at Kadesh ; according to Deuteronomy, they were spent away from Kadesh (ii. 14), in wandering about Edom' (ii. i) (Driver, p. 33). ii. 16-25. Ammon not to be attacked (verses 16-19). An archaeological note on the ancient inhabitants (verses 20-3). Israel is to attack and dispossess the Amorites (verses 24, 25), 19. Anunoxx, also descended from lot (Gen. xix. 38) : cf. F 2 68 DEUTERONOMY 2. 20-25. D^ I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also is accounted a land of Rephaim : Rephaim dwelt therein aforetime; but the Ammonites call them 2 r Zamzummim ; a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim ; but the Lord destroyed them before them ; 22 and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: as he did for the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto 23 this day : and the Avvim which dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.) 24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of Arnon : behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land : begin to 25 possess it, and contend with him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. Judges xi. 13, 22. The true territory of Ammon lay in the district drained by the upper Jabbok, with Rabbath Ammon as its centre (cf. verse 37 ; Num. xxi. 24, with Gray's note). 20. Zamzummim : perhaps the same as the Zuzim of Gen. xiv. 5 ; the name 'whisperers,' Schwally, W. R. Smith) appears to be connected with the same class of ideas as that noticed under Rephaim (verse ir). 23. Awim : Joshua xiii. 3, where they are named with the Philistines. Here it is said that the Philistines (who came from Caphtor, Amos ix. 7, probably Crete) dispossessed the original inhabitants called Avvim ; a parallel to the previous cases of dis- possession. 24. the valley of Arnon : running from west to east through the centre of the original territory of Moab. The Moabites had, however, been driven south of the Arnon by Sihon (Num. xxi. 26). Consequently, by crossing this Wady, Israel passed into Amorite territory, and was no longer hindered from attack by the ties of blood existent in the case of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. DEUTERONOMY 2. 26-3?.. D^ 69 And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of 36 Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, Let me pass through thy land : I will go 27 ^ along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. Thou shalt sell me food for money, 28 that I may eat ; and give me water for money, that I may drink : only let me pass through on my feet ; as the 29 children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me ; until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the Lord our God giveth us. But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by 30 him : for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart ^ obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day. And the Lord said unto me, 31 Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee : begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. Then Sihon came out against us^ he and all 32 his people, unto battle at Jahaz. And the Lord our 33 ^ Heb. by the way, by the way. ^ Heb. strong. ii. 26-37. Israel sought to pass through Amorite territorj', but was refused by Sihon (verses 26-31), who was, however, defeated and his land completely occupied (verses 32-37). Cf. Num. xxi. 21 f. 26. Kedemoth in the subsequent territory of Reuben (Joshua xiii. 18), but site unknown. Heshbon, sixteen miles east of the Dead Sea mouth of the Jordan. 29. Esau: cf. verse 8 ; Moabites: see on xxiii. 4. 30. spirit {ruach), originally of (abnormal) energy and faculty imparted from without; subsequently of (normal) psychical activity, especially on its higher and more intellectual side. heaxt : not only the physiological but also the psychical cen- tre, to which all activities of thought and feeling can be ascribed. as at this day (i. e. has taken place). 32. Jahaz : one of the cities afterwards taken by Mesha from Israel, and in the neighbourhood of Dibon (Moabite Stone, II. 19-21). The site is unknown, but it must have been in the south-east corner of Sihon's territory cf. H.G.H L. 559). 70 DEUTERONOMY 2. 34-8. 2. D'' God delivered him up before us; and we smote him, 34 and his ^ sons, and all his people. And we took all his cities at that time, and ^ utterly destroyed every ^inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none 35 remaining : only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had 36 taken. From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us : the 37 Lord our God delivered up all before us : only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near ; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill country, and wheresoever the Lord our God forbad us. 3 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan : and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and 2 all his people, unto battle at Edrei. And the Lord said unto me, Fear him not : for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou * Or, son ^ Heb. devoted. *^ Heb. city of men. 34. utterly destroyed : see note on xx. 17, and read ' devoted ' in every case. 36. Aroer : one mile north of the Arnon ; the unnamed city (Joshua xiii. 9, 16) may be Ar, mentioned in ii. 9 ; Gilead may here include the half of it south of the Jabbok, or refer to the northern half ; in any case, Sihon's north boundary is the Jabbok itself (Num. xxi. 24 ; Joshua xii. 2). 37. See on verse 19. iii. 1-7. Og of Bashan defeated, and his territory taken. 1-3. Cf. Num. xxi. 33-5, an insertion from the present passage. 1. Bashan: the wide district in the north-east, with the Yarmuk, Edrei, and Salecah (verse 10) marking its south boundary, and having the mountains of Hauran and Hermon on its east and north, and Geshur and Ma'acah (Joshua xii. 5, xiii. 11) (now the Jaulan) on its west. The name (with the Hebrew articlci probably denotes the ' fertile' region. at Hebrew 'to' Edrei (i. 4) on the south boundary, and a principal city inverse lO; ; about thirty-three miles east of the south end of the Sea of Galilee. DEUTERONOMY 3. 3-11. D' 71 shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So the Lord our 3 God deHvered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people : and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. And we took all his cities at that 4 time ; there was not a city which we took not from them ; threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were cities fenced with high 5 walls, gates, and bars ; beside the * unwalled towns a great many. And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto 6 Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. But all the 7 cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey unto ourselves. And we took the land at that time out 8 of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond Jordan, from the valley of Arnon unto mount Hermon ; {which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, and 9 the Amorites call it Senir ;) all the cities of the ^ plain, 10 and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (For only Og " king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim ; * Or, country towns ^ Or, table land 4. Argob, a section of Bashan. not now known (see verse 14) : H.G.H.L. 551. iii. 8-17. The territory acquired east of Jordan was now al- lotted to Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh. Archaeological notes (verses 9, 11). 9. A later note giving two synonyms of Hermon. Sirion (Fs. xxix. 6), Senir (Ezek. xxvii. 5 ; Song of Sol, iv. 8 ; i Chron. v. 23), and Sion (iv. 48) may originally be names of different parts of Hermon. 10. the plain : the table-land (R. V. marg.) north of the Arnon (cf. iv. 43 ; Joshua xiii. 9) ; Oilead here covers the territory south and north of the Jabbok (see note on Joshua xxii. 9) ; Bashan (defined by two cities on its south border) completes the survey of territory east of the Jordan. Salecah (Salchad), thirteen miles east of Bosrah, south of the Jebel Hauran. 72 DEUTERONOMY 3. 12-14. D^ R behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron ; is it not in Rabbah of the children of Amnion ? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, 12 after the cubit of a man.) And this land we took in possession at that time : from Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead^ and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the i3Gadites: and the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh ; " all the region of Argob, ^ even all Bashan. (The same 14 is called the land of Rephaim. [R] fair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, unto the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites ; and called them, even Bashan, ^ after his own name, Havvoth-jair, unto * Or, all the region of Argob. {AH that Bashan is called, tfc. ^ Or, with ^ See Num. xxxii. 41. 11. a bedstead of iron : a sarcophagus of black basalt (of which large numbers are found in this district) is probably meant. The cubit of a man, or ordinary cubit (a phrase like Isaiah's ' pen of a man,' viii. i), was probably one or other of the Egyptian cubits of 20.67 and 17-72 inches ; so that the supposed tomb of Og in Rabbath- Ammon (see on ii. 19) would be from thirteen to fifteen feet long, and from six to seven feet broad. For the Kephaim, see on ii. 11. 12. The country between the Arnon and the Jabbok was divided between Reuben and Gad, the half-tribe of Manasseh receiving the country north of the Jabbok (verse 13). Read with R.V. marg.. at end of verse 13. 14. An insertion based on Num. xxxii. 41 : cf. i Kings iv. 13. Here, however, these * tent-villages " of Jair are wrongly placed in Bashan, as in the dependent passage, Joshua xiii. 30 ; the order of the Hebrew shows '■ even Bashan ' to be interpolated in the statement from Num. xxxii. 41. Cf. H.G.H.L. 551. Jair : i Chron. ii. 22, where tvventj'-three cities are assigned to him in Gilead. Another tradition places him in the age of the Judges (Judges x. 4), with thirty cities. the Geshurites and the Maacathites : Geshur, east of the Sea of Galilee, and Ma'acali, east of Lake Huleh ; both in the Jaulan district, and still independent in David's time (2 Sam. iii. 3, X. 6). DEUTERONOMY 3. 15-21. R D^ 73 this day.) And I gave Gilead unto Machir. And unto 15, the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley, ^ and the border thereof; even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon ; the 1 7 Arabah also, and Jordan and the border thereof from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the ^ slopes of Pisgah eastward. [D^] And I commanded you at that time, saying. The 18 Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it : ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all the men of valour. But your 19 wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you ; until the Lord give rest unto your 20 brethren, as unto you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God giveth them beyond Jordan : then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you. And I commanded Joshua 21 at that time, saying. Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings : so * Or, for a border * Or, springs 15-17. A doublet to verses 12, 13, taken from Num. xxxii 40, Joshua xii. 2, 3. 16. and the border: read with R.V. marg. (so verse 17). 17. CMnnereth : see on Joshua xi. 2 : the slopes of Pisfifah, or ' cHffs ' (see on Joshua x. 40) : cf. iii. 27, xxxiv. i. iii. 18-22. Moses had pledged the warriors of the settled tribes to aid in the conquest of the territory west of Jordan (verses 18-20), and bidden Joshua take courage for the future from what he had seen (verses 21, 22). 18. I commanded you : Num. xxxii. 28 f. 19. much cattle : (Num. xxxii. i) ' As a matter of fact, the pre-eminently pastoral (cf. Judges v. 16, 17*) character of the tribes which remained east of Jordan must have been the result and not the cause of their settlement in this district' (Gray, Numbers, p. 427), which is proverbial for its pasture. 74 DEUTERONOMY 3. 22-29 D' shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou 22 goest over. Ye shall not fear them : for the Lord your God, he it is that fighteth for you. 24 And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy strong hand : for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and 25 according to thy mighty acts ? Let me go over, I pray thee, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that i6 goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me : and the Lord said unto me. Let it suffice thee ; 27 speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes : for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him : for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor. iii. 23-29. The prayer of Moses to be allowed to cross the Jordan (verses 23-5) is refused by Yahweh (verse 26), and he is bidden, instead, to look over the land from Pisgah (verse 27), and to commit the future to Joshua (verse 28). Close of review (verse 29). 24. what god is there : Exod. xv. 11 (see on vi. 4). Let Yahweh finish what he has begun (Phil. i. 6). 25. that eroodly mountain : the hill-country west of Jordan. 26. was wroth (see on i. 37): a strong word = ' overflowed with rage.' 27. See on xxxiv. i. 28. charge : * command ' him (to do what you may not). The double ' he ' is emphatic. 29. the valley over against Beth-peor — where speaker and hearers are supposed to be standing. The word for ' valley ' de- notes a glen or < ravine,' one of those in the mountains of Abarim. Beth-peor (iv. 46, xxxiv. 6 : Joshua xiii. 20) is unknown ; a mountain Peor is named, Num. xxiii. 28 : cf. Baal-Peor in iv. 3. DEUTERONOMY 4. r. D' 75 [D^] And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes 4 and unto the judgements, which I teach you, for to do them ; that ye may live, and go in and possess the land iv. 1-40. Hortatory Conclusion to the First Address. Exhortation to strict obedience as the condition of prosperity (verses 1-4). The Divine commands, if obeyed, will place Israel in a unique and enviable position (verses 5-8). Let what has been seen be remem- bered and taught, viz. the marvellous events at Horeb, when the invisible God was heard, and the terms of His covenant revealed (verses 9-14). The invisibility of Yahweh at Horeb ought to warn against all idolatry (verses 15-18) and star-worship (verse 19). Yahweh claims Israel for Himself (verse 20). He was angry with Moses on account of Israel ; let Israel beware lest, through idolatry, His jealous wrath be incurred (verses 21-4). Idolatry will be followed by exile, with its attendant evils (verses 25-8). Yet, in exile, to seek Yahweh earnestly will be to find Him ; and he will remember His covenant in compassion (verses 29-31). The uniqueness of the events at Horeb and of the deliverance from Egypt (verses 32-6). From such events let Israel know the uniqueness of Yahweh Himself (37-9). Obedience to Him will bring prosperity (verse 40). The interpretation of chap, iv is, for the most part, sufficiently clear, but its critical analysis offers difficult problems, and there is much difference of opinion amongst scholars in regard to them. The fact that exhortation should follow a historical review is natural enough : but it may fairly be asked whether the former does not end abruptly (iii. 29) without adequate transition to the exhortation of iv. I f. Further, if chaps, i-iii and iv. 1-40 originally formed a unity, we should expect the peroration to make some use of the facts already reviewed ; yet, whilst chaps, i-iii deal with in- cidents subsequent to Horeb, iv. 9-24 and 32-40 are dominated by the thought of Horeb itself and its significance, practically no use being made of what has preceded. In regard to Horeb, a marked difference of statement emerges. In iv. 10 f., 32-5, em- phasis is laid on the fact that those now addressed actually saw with their own eyes the wonders of the Divine revelation ; in i. 35, 39 f., cf. ii. 14, 15, that generation is represented as passing away before the entrance into the Promised Land. One section of this chapter (verses 25-31) appears to presuppose the experiences of exile. In view of these, and other considerations, it seems probable that the greater part, if not the whole of this chapter, is an exilic expansion of Deuteronomic truths. 1. statutes and . . . judgements : as often in this book : so far as any distinction of terms is to be emphasized in such a standing 76 DEUTERONOMY 4. 2-9. D' which the Lord, the God of your fathers, giveth you. 2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command 3 you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor : for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God halh destroyed them from the midst 4 of thee. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your 5 God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgements, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the 6 midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it. Keep therefore and do them ; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, which shall hear all these statutes, and say. Surely this great nation is 7 a wise and understanding people. For what great nation is there, that hath '^ a god so nigh unto them, as the Lord 8 our God is whensoever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this 9 day ? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes * Or, God phrase, the 'statute* is an 'engraved' decree, whilst the 'judge- ment ' is the decision of a judge on some actual case, regarded as a precedent. 2. Cf. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. Bertholet points out that the idea of a canon of scripture is alread}' given in these words. Hammurabi concludes his code with an elaborate curse on the man who alters his sentences (see Introd., p. 20). 3. because of Baal-peor : more probably, in the place called after the god, ' Baal of Peor,' lord of the district Peor (see on iii. 29\ Cf. Num. XXV. 1-5 ; Hos. ix. 10. *?. a god: or' gods.' For the attitude to other gods, cf. iii. 24. Israel's religion is unique by its ready access to Yahweh (verse 7), and by its ethical character (verse 8). DEUTERONOMY 4. to-m. D^ 77 saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life ; but make them known unto thy children and thy children's children ; the day that thou stoodest 10 before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And ye came near and stood n under the mountain ; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the Lord spake unto you out of the 12 midst of the fire : ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form ; only ye heard a voice. And he declared 13 unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to per- form, even the ten » commandments ; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the Lord commanded 14 ^ Heb. words. 9. heart : see on ii. 30 ; here the seat of memory. Soul is simply a stronger synonym for ' self with no psychological reference : so in verse 15 R. V. (yourselves. Note the emphasis, prominent in Deuteronomy, on the duty of the religious teaching of children. They belong to the unity of the nation (' thou, thy '). 10. Horeb : Exod. xix, esp. verse 9 f. 11. Exod. xix. 17 f. 12. An argument against idolatry, on the ground that He who was heard at Horeb was not seen. 13. covenant: (cf. Josh. xxiv. 25) properly an agreement of any kind, like that between Abraham and Abimelech (Gen. xxi. 32) or between Syria and Israel (i Kings xx. 34). The agreement between David and Jonathan, first apparently of * brotherhood ' (i Sam. xviii. 3), and then that David should be the future king, and Jonathan the chief minister (xxiii. 17, 18), was made 'before Yahweh ' (xxiii. 18: cf. xx. 8), i.e. under the solemn sanctions of religion. The idea of an agreement between man and man was extended to that of one between man and God in the covenant of Sinai (Exod. xix. 5) confirmed by the slaughter of victims (Exod. xxiv. 8: cf. Gen. xv. gf.). This idea is prominent in Deuteronomy and dependent writers. The terms of the agree- ment made at Sinai (Exod. xxiv. 7, 8, xxxiv. to, 27). as binding on Israel, are stated in the ten commandments, or 'words.' so that 78 DEUTERONOMY 4. 15-19. D' me at that time to teach you statutes and judgements, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to 15 possess it. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ; for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire : 16 lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness 18 of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven, the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of 19 any fish that is in the water under the earth : and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all the the Decalogue itself can be called ' the covenant ' of Yahweh. Cf. Driver, pp. 67, 68, on whose very full note the above is based. 16. corrupt yourselves : rather * do corruptly' (verse 25 : cf. Isa. i. 4 R. v., 'deal corruptly'). graven image : (Exod. xx. 4 ; Deut. v. 8) properly a figure cut or hewn out of wood (Isa. xl. 20) or stone (Isa. xxi. 9) ; but the name {p^sel) is extended to images in general when of cast metal (Isa. xl. 19). Figure = image or statue. 17. Cf. Ezek. viii. 10. * All the great deities of the northern Semites had their sacred animals, and were themselves worshipped in animal form, or in association with animal symbols, down to a late date' {Rel. Sent. 288). The explanation of such phenomena seems to lie in totcmism, especially in the idea of kinship between animals and men, and of communion with the god through the sacred animal. 18. under the earth : see the diagram of the early Semitic conception of the universe in the Centuiy Bible, ' Genesis,' p. 66. The water is that of * the great deep ' (Gen. vii. 11), the supposed source of springs and rivers (cf. Ezek. xxxi. 4). 19. drawn away: xxx. 17 ; for the idea cf. Job xxxi. 26. the host of heaven : xvii. 3 ; 2 Kings xvii. 16 : doubtless with special reference to the star-worship of Assyria and Baby- lonia. hath divided: (see xxix. 26 R. V. marg.) for worship. DEUTERONOMY 4. 20-26. D» 79 peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord hath 20 taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as at this day. Furthermore the Lord was angry with me 2 1 for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance : but I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan : 22 but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. Take 23 heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is 24 a devouring fire, a jealous God. When thou shalt beget children, and children's chil- 25 dren, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of any thing, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger : I call 26 heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye 20. yon : emphatic in the Hebrew. iron fnrnace : i. e. one whose fire is fierce enough to melt iron ; so, of Egypt also, Jer. xi. 4 ; 1 Kings viii. 51 : cf. Isa. xlviii. 10. a people of inheritance : i. e. for Yahweh Himself : cf. vii. 6, ix. 29, xiv. 2, xxvi. 18. 21. angrry with me : i. 37, iii. 26, though * sware ' introduces a new feature. 24. a devourinsr fire (ix. 3) ; a jealons God (v. 9, vi. 15) ; i.e. terrible in His wrath, exclusive in His claims. 25. have been long : Hebrew ' have fallen asleep,' i. e. become lethargic. Omit the words to anger. Corrupt yourselves should be ' do corruptly.' 26. heaven and earth : as abiding and outlasting the changes of human life (xxx. 19, xxxi. 28, xxxii. i : see note on Josh. xxiv. 27, the stone of witness). 8o DEUTERONOMY 4. i-j-m- D' go over Jordan to possess it ; ye shall not prolong your 27 days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither the Lord 28 shall lead you away. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, 29 nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence ye shall seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou search after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, *in the latter days thou shalt return to the 31 Lord thy God, and hearken unto his voice : for the Lord thy God is a merciful God ; he will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which 32 he sware unto them. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like 33 it ? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and 34 live ? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation ^ Or, if in the latter days thou return 28. Cf. Jer. xvi. 13. To leave one's own land is to leave the god linked to its fortunes (i Sam. xxvi. 19 ; 2 Kings xvii. 25), and the idea lingers when practical monotheism has been reached (verses 35, 39), and the idol has become the butt of Hebrew sarcasm, as in exilic prophecy Isa. xliv. 12 f.). 29 f. The passage presupposes the condition of the exiles, to whose spiritual need the writer would minister. 30. in tlie latter days: Hebrew 'in the end of the daj's,' i. e. the climax or goal of some particular period, often with a Messianic reference (Hos. iii. 5 ; Isa. ii. 2 —- Mic. iv. 1). 31. merciful: rather 'compassionate'; the conception stands in contrast to verse 24. fail : rather ' let fall ' (Joshua i. 5). 33. God, or ' a god ' (so verse 34). DEUTERONOMY 4. 35-40. D' 81 from the midst oi another nation, by ^- temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before- your eyes ? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest 35 know that the Lord he is God ; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that 36 he might instruct thee : and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire ; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, 37 therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt ; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier 38 than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day. Know therefore this day, and 39 lay it to thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath : there is none else. And thou shalt keep his statutes, and his commandments, 40 which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever. * Or, trials Or, evidences 34. temptations : R.V. marg. * trials' is to be read, viz. those of Pharaoh, by the plagues of Egypt, to which the ' signs ' and ' wonders ' also refer. 35. there is none else beside him : cf. verse 39. The explicit monotheism implies a later standpoint than that of chaps, v f. See on vi. 4. 36. Exod. xix. 16, 18 : instruct is not an adequate rendering. The Hebrew word 'denotes, not the instruction of the intellect, but the discipline or education of the moral character ' (Driver). 37. with his presence (Exod. xxxiii. 14 : cf. Isa. Ixiii. 9) — i. e. personally : cf. 2 Sam, xvii. ii (R. V. marg.). For * therefore he ' read * and,' closely connecting verses 37 and 38 with verse 39 (know, therefore. &c.). loved: characteristic of Deuteronomy (vii. 8, 13, x. i5,xxiii. 5). G 82 DEUTERONOMY ^.4145. P D R° 41 [P] Then Moses separated three cities beyond Jordan 43 toward the sunrising ; that the manslayer might flee thither, which slayeth his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past ; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he 43 might Hve : namely^ Bezer in the wilderness, in the » plain country, for the Reuben ites ; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites ; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. 44 [D] And this is the law which Moses set before the 45 children of Israel : [R°] these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which Moses spake * Or, table land iv. 41-43. Moses Assigns Three Cities of Refuge East of Jordan. This note is without any relation to what precedes or follows, and was probably inserted here for want of a more convenient place. In xix. i f. we read the commandment to appoint cities of refuge west of Jordan, but there is no reference to any previous appointment, nor, indeed, .to the east district at all (unless the additional three of verse 8f. be so understood). According to Num. XXXV. 14 (P), three cities of refuge are to be assigned east, and three west of Jordan. The present passage is most simply understood as the statement that Moses fulfilled on the east of Jordan the command there given to him, and is therefore added by a writer acquainted with P. The question is, however, com- plicated by the mention of these eastern cities in Joshua xx. 8 (P), where they are assigned by Joshua, as if the present section were non-existent. Moreover, verse 42 is obviousl}' drawn from xix. 3-5, so that the late writer who made this insertion was familiar both with D and P. 43. Bezer (rebuilt by Mesha, Moabite Stone, 1. 27) : perhaps Kusr el-Besheir, two miles south-west of Dibon. Ramoth in Gilead: (i K\n%s xxii. 3, &c.) site disputed, but probably in the north ' near the Yarmuk, for it was on debatable ground between Aram and Israel' {H.G.H.L.^ ^^i^- Qolan, also unknown, whose name has descended in that of the district Gaulanitis, east of the Sea of Galilee. iv. 44-49. Title and short Introduction to the Deuteronomic Code. This section forms a parallel to, not a continuation of, i-iv. 40, which it ignores. It is possible that with verse 44 we begin the original Deuteronom3\ But this title has been expanded {a by the addition of the title in verse 45. 'ly by a series of details as to time and place, summarized from chaps, i-iii. DEUTERONOMY 4.46—5. 3. R^D 83 unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt ; beyond Jordan, in the valley over against Beth- 46 peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt : and they took 47 his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, which were beyond Jordan toward the sunrising ; from Aroer, which is on the edge 48 of the valley of Arnon, even unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond Jordan eastward, 49 even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the * slopes of Pisgah. [D] And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto 5 them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgements which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. The Lord our God 2 made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made 3 not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, * Or, springs 46 f. Cf. iii. 29, i, 4, ii. 32 f., iii. 8, ii. 36, Hi. 9, 17. 'Sion,' as a name for Hermon, is the only new element. v-xxvi. The original ' Book of the Law ' is thought, almost universally, to be contained within the limits of chaps, v-xxvi, xxviii (see Introd., § 1) ; but no single theory, from among the many that have been formed as to the precise elements, has secured general acceptance. Our present Book of Deuteronomy represents chaps, v-xxvi as the continuous (second) address of Moses to Israel. V. 1-2 1. Moses begins his delivery of the Deuteronomic law by reference to the covenant made in Horeb, at which his hearers were present (verses 1-3). He then acted as mediator between Yahweh and Israel (verses 4-5) for the delivery of the ' Ten Commandments' (verses 6-21). 2. Horeb : see on i. 2, and note relation to iv. 1-40 (above,, p. 75) ; covenant, iv. 13 note. 3. All the hearers were present at Horeb ; this representation agrees with that of the (dependent) section iv. 1-40 ^cf. verses 10, G 2 84 DEUTERONOMY 5. 4-7. D 4 who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord spake with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of 5 the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord : for ye were afraid be- cause of the fire, and went not up into the mount ;) saying, 6 a I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^ bondage. 7 Thou shalt have none other gods c before me. * See Ex. xx. 2. ^ Heb. bondmen. •= Or, beside me. 32-5), but directly contradicts that of the (independent?) section T-iii: cf. i. 35,39 f.,ii. 14, 15- 4. facs to face seems to exclude the mediation of Moses, asserted by verse 5 (added from Exod. xix. 20, xx. 19?). 6 f. The Decalogue, to whose earlier and more familiar form R. V. marg. refers. Still earlier than Exod. xx. 2-17 (E) is the very different table of ' the ten words ' (the Hebrew name for the Decalogue) apparently embedded in Exod. xxxiv. 10-26 (J); Wellhausen's reconstruction is quoted by Driver, L.O.T. p. 37. I We are here concerned only with the characteristics of D's form of the Decalogue in contrast with that in E. These are — (a) more definite or emphatic statement ; {b) recognition of the higher status of the wife ; (c) substitution of a philanthropic motive for keeping the Sabbath. A good summary of the teaching of the Decalogue will be found in Paterson's article in D.B. (i. 582). There has been much difference of opinion as to its age and authorship, and some scholars still maintain a Mosaic original, whilst admitting addition of later laws (e.g. ii and iv,) or amplification of the original words. Its almost exclusive concern with morality, however (contrast the ritual 'ten words' of Exod. xxxiv. 10-26), seems to connect it with the prophetic teaching of the eighth century (cf. Addis, E.B. 1050), of which it may be regarded as a compen- dium. In the arrangement of the Ten Commandments familiar to English readers, they fall into two sets of five, beginning at verse 7, the first set dealing with the spiritual worship of Yahweh and with respect for parents, the second with the prohibition of immoral acts towards men. In the Jewish division, how- ever, verse 6 is taken as the first word, and verses 7, 8 are taken together as the second (see E.B. 1050 ; Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers., p. 120). *1. before me : probably ' in addition to me ' (cf. R. V. marg.) ; the phrase leaves open the question as to the real existence of other gods ; but see on vi. 4. DEUTERONOMY 5. S-15. D 85 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, the 8 likefiess o/sLny form that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth : thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve 9 them : for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me ; and shewing mercy unto ^ thousands, of them 10 that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God ^^ in 1 1 vain : for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord 12 thy God commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labour, 1?, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is a sabbath 14 unto the Lord thy God : t'n it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; /that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a 15 ^ See Ex. xx. 6. ^ Or, for vanity or falsehood 8. a graven image : E continues ' or any form * for D's * even any form,' as do the versions here. In Exod. xxxiv. 17 it is the 'molten god,' a special and more artificial product, that is forbidden. 10. R. V. marg. suggests by reference the marginal alternative * a thousand generations,' which is preferable (cf. vii. 9). H. in vain: put for misuse in the widest sense, including false swearing or purposes of superstition (magical rites and incantations). 12. Observe: more direct than E's 'remember.' D adds ' as Yahweh thy God commanded thee.' 14. D adds 'thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of ; also the last clause ' that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou,' with which is connected the striking difference in the next verse. 15. and thou shalt renienther, &c. This is the most impor- 86 DEUTERONOMY 5. 16-21. D servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm : therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. 16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God commanded thee : that thy days may be long, and that it may go well with thee, upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 17 Thou shalt do no murder. 1 8 Neither shalt thou commit adultery. 19 Neither shalt thou steal. 20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. 2 1 ^ Neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's wife ; neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. a [Ver. 18 in Heb.] tant difference between D and E. For the remote and wholly theoretical reason of E, claiming the day as Yahweh's, D substitutes characteristically the humanitarian motive (cf. xv. 13 f., xvi. 11, xxiv. 14 f.) of giving needed rest to dependents. This is rein- forced by appeal to the memory of Israel's own needs in Egypt (cf. XV. 15, xvi. 12, xxiv. 18, 22). 16. D adds ' as Yahweh thy God commanded thee/ also * and that it may go well with thee,' the latter being characteristic of this book's doctrine of providence (v. 29, vi. 18, xii. 25, 28, xxii. 7). Cf, Eph. vi. 2, 3. 17. In the Hebrew papyrus found at Fayum and now at Cam- bridge, the prohibition of adultery precedes that of murder (text in Z.A.T.JV., 1903, p. 348). 20. false witness : D has a different word for ' false' ( = vain, verse 11). 21. D adds 'his field,' and recognizes the higher status of the wife by placing her first instead of second (after * house '), and by using a distinct verb (covet . . . desire ; with more physical sug- gestion?) in regard to the other possessions. Augustine, followed by Roman Catholics and Lutherans, carries this distinction further by making two commandments of verse 21. (He combines i and ii.) DEUTERONOMY 5. 22 2S. D 87 These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly 22 in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice : and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them unto me. And it came to pass, 33 when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders ; and ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath 24 shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire : we have seen this day that God doth speak with man, and he liveth. Now 25 therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us : if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die. For who is there of all 26 flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our 27 God shall say : and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee ; and we will hear it, and do it. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, 28 when ye spake unto me ; and the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee : they have well said all that Steuernagel compares xxi. 10 f., xxii. 13 f., xxiv. if., as similar attempts of Deuteronomy to raise the position of women. V. 22-33. Moses recalls the manner in which the Decalogue was delivered verse 22}, and the request of the people that thej' might no more hear the voice of Yahweh, but might receive His messages through Moses (verses 23-7). This request was ap- proved by Yahweh, who appointed Moses as mediator (verses 28-31). Let Israel, therefore, obey and prosper (verses 32, 33). 22. A parallel narrative is given in ix. 9-1 1 : cf, Exod. xxxi. 18. 27. thou: emphatic in the Hebrew, in both places. 28. For the request, see Exod. xx. 19 ; its approval by Yahweh is not otherwise recorded. 88 DEUTERONOMY 5. 29—6. 3. D 29 they have spoken. * Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my com- mandments always, that it might be well with them, and 30 with their children for ever ! Go say to them, Return ye 31 to your tents. But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgements, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give 32 them to possess it. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you : ye shall not turn 33 aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. 6 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgements, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye 2 go OY 5 "■ Or, ^he Lord our God, the Lord is one Or, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one Or, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone 3. in a land : The ' in ' is supplied by R. V. to the incomplete Hebrew. Read with LXX, ' to give to thee a land.* milk and honey: as often in JE (Exod. iii. 8, &c.). They are enumerated amongst the products of the land in xxxii. 13, 14, and their selection, in this standing phrase, is frequently explained from the tastes of Bedouins. Greek parallels, however, perhaps suggest a reference to the cult of Dionysus, as though Canaan were said to produce 'food for the gods ' (Z.A. T.W., 1902, p. 321 f.). vi. 4-9. Yahweh has the sole claim to Israel's love and memory. This paragraph, with which is joined xi. 13-21 and Num. XV. 37-41, forms the famous Jewish 'Shema'' appointed for recitation by every Jew morning and evening (Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. ii6f. ; Schurer. op. cit., vol. ii, § 27, Appendix), whose name is taken from the first Hebrew word (Eng. * hear '). The whole decalogue is held to be latent in the Shema' (Taylor, /. c, who quotes the proof texts) ; Christ Himself c^^sred t|ie opening words of the Shema' to be the first commanWient, comprehensive of all duty towards God (Mark xii. 29; Matt. xxii. 37 : cf. Luke X. 27, 28). 4. the I.OBD our God is one LORD : the Hebrew words are, ' Yahweh our God Yahweh one,' and their exact translation and interpretation is much disputed, as the three marginal variations of the R. V. suggest. The rendering of the R.V. text, though that of Dillmann (p. 269) and Driver (p. 89) is open to the serious criti- cism that Yahweh is a proper name, and can hardly admit of the epithet * one ' before it, since there is no other god bearing this name (cf Taylor, op. cit., p. 116). The first margin is questioned on the ground that ' Yahweh our God is one ' would have been the more natural way of expressing this, without resumption of the subject by the second Yahweh, The second margin is said to be ' less forcible rhetorically' (Driver) than the text. The third margin, the rendering of Ibn Ezra, is followed by the two most recent commentators, Steuernagel and Bertholet, and is most in harmony with the context, since verse 5 claims the whole-hearted love of Israel for Yahweh (alone), and nothing suggests a contrast with the local Baals, who are not ' one ' but many. The objection to this view is that we might have expected another Hebrew word {l^baddo: cf. a Kings xix. 15 ; Ps. Ixxxvi. lo), to express 90 DEUTERONOMY G. 6-8. D thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 6 and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon 7 thine heart : and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when 8 thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they 'alone' ; but the present word (ehdd) is found in this sense in I Chron. xxix. i, where it is rendered ' alone ' by R. V. ' The sentence makes no statement concerning the existence or non- existence of other gods, but simply emphasizes the fact that there is only one God for Israel, and that Israel must honour no other god beside Him ' (Steuernagel, p. 25). If we call this mono- theism, the term must be interpreted historically, not philosophi- cally. The existence of other gods is, at least nominally, re- cognized in verse 14 ; the Hebrew was content here to assert the exclusive claim and the incomparable and unique right of Yahweh to his devotion. A more explicit statement of monotheism is found in the (later) passage iv. 35, 39 (' there is none else^ : S.^H'he love of God .... is set forth in Deuteronomy with peculiar emphasis as the fundamental motive of human action ' (Driver, p. 91). Both thought and feeling, the whole personality, owe allegiance to Yahweh ; there must be no compromise with other cults. 6. these words: i.e. verse 4f as the epitome of the teaching of the book. upon thine heart : the psychical centre of memory and of love : cf. Jer. xxxi. 33 ; for a parallel to the whole passage, see xi. i8-2T. These words are to become a theme of living interest, at home and abroad, at the beginning and end of the day (verse 7). 7. teach . . . diligfently : or ' impress,' a strong word, here only. 8. This verse became the scriptural basis for the • phylacteries ' of the N.T. (tephillin). It is matter of dispute whether the original meaning of the words is literal or figurative. In Exod. xiii. 16 the same words are clearly applied figuratively, which is some reason for taking them figuratively here '^as do Steuernagel and BertholetV On the other hand, the next verse seems intended literally, in view of the fact that this book else- where (xxvii. 3, 8) commands the law to be written actually on stones (Dillmann). The literal view CDillmann. Driver) seems here more probable ; its best explanation is that of Benzinger DEUTERONOMY 6. 9-12. D 91 shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou 9 shalt write them upon the door posts of thy house, and upon thy gates. And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall bring 10 thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee; great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, and houses n full of all good things, which thou fiUedst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt eat and be full ; then beware lest l;hou forget the Lord, which 1 2 brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the {E.B. 1566, * Frontlets '), viz. that in this way the amulets worn by Israelites from ancient times were consecrated to the use of Yahweh. The actual usage of Judaism cannot, however, be traced back earlier than the first century b. c. The tephillin are leather pouches fixed to a band, and containing slips of parch- ment on which the Shema' and Exod. xiii. i-io, 11-16, are written. One is worn on the left arm turned towards theJ^art, the other between the eyebrows, at morning and evening ^»yer (-Benzinger, /. c). 9. The custom finds parallels from ancient and modern Eg3'pt. and from other countries (examples in Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 68 f. . The mezuza (originally 'doorpost') is the small metal case, containing its inscribed parchment, similar to that of the tephillin, fixed to the right-hand doorpost of Jewish houses, and touched at entrance and exit. So used, it tends to become an amulet for warding ofi" evil from the house ; not, as the present passage intends, a stimulus to constant memory of Yahweh. The Babylonians, in the same waj', appear to have hung up tablets, with reference to the plague-god, when a plague broke out (Jastrow, Babylonian- A ssynan Religion, p. 269 n.\ vi. 10-15. The peril of the Promised Land will be that of for- getting Yahweh's deeds and worshipping the gods of the country; thus will Yahweh be angered. 11. cisterns: not wells, but reservoirs for the storage of water ; separately named because an important feature of the Eastern house during the dry season. Mesha (Moabite Stone, 1. 24) writes, 'There was no cistern in the midst of the city . . . and I said to all the people, '- Make you every man a cistern in his own house.'' ■ 92 DEUTERONOMY 6. 13-20. D 13 house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God ; and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by his name. 14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the ^5 peoples which are round about you; for the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God ; lest the anger of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the face of the earth. 16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted 17 him in Massah. Ye shall diligently keep the command- ments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and 1 8 his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord : that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord 19 sware unto thy fathers, to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken. 20 When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, 12. the house of boiidage: see note on Joshua xxiv. 17 : cf. verse 21. 13. swear by his name : i. e. no other deity but Yahweh is to be recognized in the invocations of oaths (cf. Ps. Ixiii. ii). The solemn appeal confined to the one true God is not a contradiction of, but a step towards, the more ethical and spiritual conception which substitutes a ' Yea ' and a ' Nay ' for all oaths (Matt. v. 34-7)- 14. see on verse 4 (end). 15. a jealous God: cf. iv. 24. The context suggests how crudely this anthropomorphism is to be interpreted. The ' other gods ' are primarily the local Baals of Canaan, in the writer's view. vi. 16-19. Yahweh's presence not to be put to trial, but His law obeyed, that Israel may dwell prosperously in Canaan. 16. tempt: rather 'test' or 'prove': cf Exod. xvii. 7. 'Massah' is connected with the Hebrew word translated 'test' {nissah) : cf. ix. 22. vi. 20-25. The law of Yahweh is to be justified to future I generations by the story of His deliverance of Israel from Egypt ; ' the Law, like the deliverance, is a manifestation of Divine grace. DEUTERONOMY 6. 31— 7. i. D 93 What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgements, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were 21 Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt ; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand : and the Lord 22 shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes : and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring 23 us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to 24 fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. And it shall be 25 righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this com- mandment before the Lord our God, as he hath com- manded us. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land 7 whither thou goest to possess it, and shall ^ cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite,.and '' * Heb. pluck off. 20. Cf. Exod. xiii. 14, where a similar explanation of the separa- tion of the firstborn is asked and given. 23. us (first) : emphatic in the Hebrew, in contrast with Egypt and Pharaoh. 24. for our g'ood always : the point of the answer ; the revelation of the law makes possible that obedience to Yahweh's will which is our (sufficient) ' righteousness,' and keeps us within the sphere of His continuing purpose to save. vii. I -I I. Victorious Israel is to extenninate the conquered peoples of Canaan, to inake no public or private alliances with any of them, and to destroy the material accompaniments of their religion, lest it become a snare (verses 1-5). Israel belongs to Yahweh, solely through the initiative of His love ; because of this, and of His fidelity to past promises, has Yahweh delivered Israel from Egypt (verses 6-8). Let Israel obey a God who so fully repays both love and hate towards Himself (verses 9-1 1). 1. This list of nations, frequently repeated in whole or part, gives no precise geographical information ; it is * designed for the purpose of presenting an impressive picture of the number and 94 DEUTERONOMY 7. 2-5. D the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the HivitCy and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and i mightier than thou ; and when the Lord thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them ; then thou shalt ^ utterly destroy them ; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them : 3 neither shalt thou make marriages with them ; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his 4 daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods : so will the anger of the Lord be kindled 5 against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. But thus shall ye deal with them ; ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their ^pillars, and hew down their * Heb. devote. ''Or, obelisks variety ©£. the nations dispossessed by the Israelites ' (Driver, p. 97). The Ainorites::and Jtii£_Canaaniteii are the two of most importance, ' each sufficiently numerous "aiTdprominent 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 west and east ' {op. cit., p. 12). For the Hittites, see on Joshua i. 4. The other names are of more local significance : the Hivites are connected with Gibeon (Joshua ix. 7, xi. 19), and with Shechem (Gen, xxxiv. a) ; the Jebiisites with Jerusalem (Joshua xviii. 28) ; the Perizsites with the Rephaim (Joshua xvii. 15) and the Canaanite (Gen. xiii. 7) ; the Crirgrashites are of unknown locality. 2. utterly destroy: see note on xx. 17 for the heyem or ban. A covenant with the natives of Canaan is forbidden in JE, Exod. xxiii. 32, xxxiv. 12 : see on iv. 13. 3. Cf. Joshua xxiii. 12 for the peril of the marriage alliance with non-Israelites. The policy of Ezra (Ezra ix and x), at a critical time, shows how real this peril was (cf. Neh. xiii. 23 f.). 'The permanence of Judaism depended on the religious separateness of the Jews ' (Ryle, Cam. Bible, ' Ezra,' p. 143). 4. me: i.e. Yahwch, though Moses is the nominal speaker; so elsewhere (xi. 11, &c.). 5. As in Exod. xxxiv, 13 : see on xvi. ai, aa, and cf. xii. 3. The graven images (see on iv. 16) are here of wood, since they can be burnt. DEUTERONOMY 7. 6-11. D 95 '^Ashenm, and burn their graven images with fire. I'or 6 thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God : the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a pecuhar people unto himself, ^ above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor 7 choose you, because ye were more in number than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all peoples : but because 8 the Lord loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, 9 he is God ; the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his command- ments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them 10 that hate him to their face, to destroy them : he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him lo his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandment, 1 1 * See Ex. xxxiv. 13. ^ Or, ottt of 6. See Exod. xix. 5-6, from which this verse is derived. Israel is here called holy, not from any moral quality, but as separated, and appropriated to Yahweh, who has chosen this nation as His peculiar people, xiv. 2 (Heb. 'a people of possession') — i.e. His personal and private property. Cf. iv. 20 (*a people of inheritance'). R. V. marg. 'out of is preferable (cf. R.V. text of Exod. xix. 5). 8. redeemed : or * ransomed.' The term maybe used literally of the payment of an actual ransom (Exod. xiii. 13), or figuratively of the result, without regard to the means, as here : cf. Hos. xiii. 14. Cf. iv. 20, where the act of deliverance is connected with the choice of Israel, and Hos. xi. i. 9. he is God, &c. : Heb. ' He is the (true) God (iv. 35), the faithful God, keeping the covenant and the loving-kindness.' Cf. v. 9, 10. 10. to their face, i. e. personally : contrast v. 9, where ' the ancestor with four generations forms a solidarity ' (Cook, Laivs, p. 261). will not be slack : Heb. ' will not delay ' , the requital). 96 DEUTERONOMY 7. 12-18. D and the statutes, and the judgements, which I coromand thee this day, to do them. , 1 3 And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these judgements, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep with thee the covenant and the mercy 13 which he sware unto thy fathers : and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee : he will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy kine and the young of thy flock, in the land which he sware unto 14 thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all peoples : there shall not be male or female barren 15 among you, or among your cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness ; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee, but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. 16 And thou shalt consume all the peoples which the Lord thy God shall deliver unto thee ; thine eye shall not pity them : neither shalt thou serve their gods ; for that will 1 7 be a snare unto thee. If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I ; how can I dispossess 18 them? thou shalt not be afraid of them : thou shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, vii^ 12-26. The blessings of the obedient will prove Yahweh's fidelity to the covenant (verses 12-16), Let not Israel fear the nations of Canaan, for Yahweh will give victory as in Egypt (verses 17-24). To Him must their graven images be 'devoted' (verses 25, 26). 12 f. The thought of verse 9 is emphasized and illustrated. 13. The produce of Canaan is Yahweh's gift (not that of the local Baals) : cf. xi. 14. 14. Cf. Exod. xxiii. 26 f., with which this whole passage is connected. 15. the evil diseases of Eg-ypt (xxviii. 60 ; cf. Exod. xv. 26) : which include elephantiasis, dysentery, and ophthalmia. 16. a suare uuto thee : cf. verse 25 ; Exod. xxiii. 33, xxxiv. 12. DEUTERONOMY 7. 19-25. D 97 and unto all Egypt ; the great » temptations which thine 19 eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out : so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid. Moreover 20 the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and ^ hide themselves, perish from before thee. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them : for 21 the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible. And the Lord thy God will cast out 22 those nations before thee by little and little : thou mayest not consume them c at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall 23 deliver them up before thee, and shall discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed. And 24 he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shajt make their name to perish from under heaven : there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their 25 gods shall ye burn with fire : thou shalt not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein : for it is an abomination to * Or, trials See ch. iv. 34, and xxix. 3. " Or, hide themselves front thee, perish ^ Or, quickly 19. temptations: see on iv. 34. 20. the hornet: Exod. xxiii. 28; Joshua xxiv. 12. Actual hornets searching out hidden survivors are apparently meant, as is understood in Wisdom xii. 8 f. Commentators refer to the four known species of hornets in Palestine, and the possibly fatal character of an attack ; but the reference is obscure. See on i. 44. 22. See Exod. xxiii. 29, where the same reason is given. 24. their kinsfs : Joshua xii. 24. 25. graven images (iv. 16) : here they are made of wood, overlaid with precious metals, the latter alone, when stripped off, forming a possible object of desire. an abomination (of Yahweh) : a phrase characteristic of this book (xii. 31, xvii. i, &c.). H 98 DEUTERONOMY 7. 26—8. 3. D 26 the Lord thy God : and thou shalt not bring an abomina- tion into thine house, and become a devoted thing like unto it : thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it ; for it is a devoted thing. 8 All the commandment which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware 2 unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou 3 wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know ; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. 26. The whole story of Achan (Joshua vii) is the best com- mentary on this verse ; a devoted thingf: herem (on xx. 17). viii. 1-20. The discipline of the desert wanderings was meant to teach Israel dependence on Yahweh (verses 1-5). Amid the plenty of Palestine (verses 6-10) let not Him be forgotten on whom Israel then depended so absolutely (verses 11-17). The plenty is from Yahweh ; if He be forgotten the nation will perish (verses 18-20). 2. Amos ii. 10. to prove thee : cf. vi. 16, where the same word is translated 'tempt' by R. V. (cf. 2 Chron. xxxii. 31). The words are co- ordinate with ' to humble thee ' ; i. e. the humiliation taught dependence (verse 3), the proof of hardship tested character (verse 2°). 3. manna : Exod. xvi. 13 f. ; supplied to Israel, according to P, from the second month of the first year (Exod. xvi. i) until Gilgal was reached (Joshua v. 12). It is usually identified with the exudations of tamarisk twigs, when punctured by an insect. Others think of a species of stone lichen, which can be eaten (E.B. 2929). thinjf that proceedeth out of (one word in Heb. = ' utter- DEUTERONOMY 8. 4-9. D 99 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy 4 foot swell, these forty years. And thou shalt consider in 6 thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. And thou shalt keep 6 the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. For the Lord thy God bringeth 7 thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills ; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and 8 pomegranates ; a land of oil olives and honey ; a land 9 wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it ; a land whose stones are ance ') ; not here in the spiritualized sense of Matt. iv. 4, where the antithesis is between material food and spiritual support, but in the sense of that which is created by the special command of God : i. e. the antithesis is that between food supplied naturally and supernaturally. Hence the emphasis on the unknown nature of this manna. 4. Cf. xxix. 5 ; not in the earlier narratives, which are here amplified by the writer. The Jewish commentator Rashi points out that the clothes must have grown with the children who wore them, ' like the shell of a snail ' (ed. Berliner, p. 316). 5. chasteneth : or ' disciplines ' (see on iv. 36) ; as in the humbling experiences of the desert. The O. T. doctrine of the Divine Fatherhood is well brought out by Montefiore, Hibbert LecturesVWl. (* God and Israel.') The God of Judaism is ' no hard and merciless taskmaster, but a loving and compassionate Father.. . ; the double limitation must not be forgotten. God's pitying Father- hood extends only to those " who fear Him." Outside that barrier are the heathen nations and the wicked within Israel ' (p, 463). 6. The verse, resuming verse i, is transitional, emphasizing the lesson of the desert (verses 1-5), and warning against the peril of Canaan (verse 7 f.). *r. 'An attractive and faithful description of the Palestinian landscape ' (Driver). The depths are those of the subterranean waters (iv. 18) which feed the fountains. 8. Cf. Num. xiii. 23 ; Joel i. 12 ; Hag. ii. 19, &c. The cultivated oil olive is distinguished from the (wild) olive, giving little oil. 9. whose stones are iron: probably the black basalt (iii. 11) is meant, which consists of one-fifth part of iron, and is still called iron-stone by the Arabs. H 2 loo DEUTERONOMY 8. 10-18. D 10 iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. And thou shalt eat and be full, and thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 1 1 Beware lest thou forget the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgements, and his 1 2 statutes, which I command thee this day : lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and 13 dwelt therein; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all 14 that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of 15 bondage; who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought thee t6 forth water out of the rock of flint ; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not; that he might humble thee, and that he might prove 1 7 thee, to do thee good at thy latter end : and thou say in thine heart. My power and the might of mine hand hath 18 gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he brass : i. e. copper, which was formerly obtained from Lebanon and Edom. For a vivid description of ancient mining operations, see Job xxviii. i-n. 15. fiery serpents: Num. xxi. 6 : cf. Isa. xxx. 6. There are various kinds of serpents in the districts traversed by Israel ; these are perhaps designated ' fiery ' or '■ burning ' because of the inflammation of their bite (cf. Gray, Numbers, p. 277). The reference to scorpions is added by D ; they are common in the same districts, and the Pass of Akrabbim (Joshua xv. 3) receives its name from them. water out of the rock of flint : Exod. xvii. 6, yi. in thine heart : Bertholet well compares Luke xii. 19 (' I will say to my soul '). Deuteronomy insists on the inwardness of religious issues (vi. 5). DEUTERONOMY 8. 19-9. 4. D loi sware unto thy fathers, as at this day. And it shall be, 19 if thou shalt forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the 20 nations which the Lord maketh to perish before you, so shall ye perish ; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of the Lord your God. Hear, O Israel : thou art to pass over Jordan this day, 9 to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people 2 great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak ? Know therefore this day, 3 that the Lord thy God is he which goeth over before thee as a devouring fire ; he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thee : so shalt thou drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as the Lord hath spoken unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart, 4 after that the Lord thy God hath thrust them out from before thee, saying. For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land : whereas for the wicked- ness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from 19. Other g-ods: i.e. the local Baals of the nations of Canaan (verse 20). ix. 1-7. The victory over mightier nations will be due to Yahweh (verses 1-3^ Let not Israel claim it as the reward of righteous- ness, since it is due, on the one hand, to the wickedness of those dispossessed, on the other, to Yahweh's fidelity to ancient promises, (verses 4, 5'. Israel has been disobedient from Egypt to the present place (verses 6, 7). 1, 2. Cf. i. 28, where see note on Anakim. thou : emphatic in the Hebrew in both cases. The know- ledge came from the report of the spies (Num. xiii. 28). 3. he : emphatic in each instance ; the victory is Yahweh's, not Israel's. hath spoken: in Exod. xxiii. 27, 31. I02 DEUTERONOMY 9. 5-8. D D« 5 before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go in to possess their land : but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may estabHsh the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 6 Jacob. Know therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteous- 7 ness ; for thou art a stiffnecked people. Remember, forget thou not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness : from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the 8 Lord. [D^] Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to 6. a stiffnecked people : Heb. * a people hard of neck ' ; Exod. xxxii. 9, xxxiii. 3, 5, xxxiv. 9. 'The figure underlying the expression is of course the unyielding neck of an obstinate, intractable animal (cf. Isa. xlviii. 4 'and a sinew of iron is thj' neck') ' (Driver). ix. 8— X. II. Israel's disobedience illustrated from the events at Horeb (verseS). Moses received the tables of stone after being forty days on Horeb (verses 9-1 1). Yahweh, made angry by the molten calf, declared to Moses his intention to destroy Israel (verses 12-14). Moses, confronted on his descent with Israel's sin, broke the tables of stone (verses 15-17) and made intercession through forty days for Israel and Aaron (verses 18-20). The calf he destroyed (verse 21). After reference to similar disobedience at other places, especially Kadesh-barnea (verses 22-4), Moses resumes the story of his intercession at Horeb, and recalls his prayer, urging Yahweh to remember the tie between Israel and Himself (verses 25-9), In reply, Yahweh recalled him to the mount, and gave him another copy of the Decalogue, which he placed, on his return, in the ark he had made (x. 1-5). His stay on the mount the second time was as long as the first (verse 10), and Yahweh renewed his promise to Israel (verse 11). This narrative is obviously interrupted by x. 6f., which gives part of an itinerary of Israel, and possibly also by x. 8, 9, a note on the separation of the Levites. To a less marked degree, it is interrupted by ix. 22-4, and shows other signs of confusion (e. g. DEUTERONOMY 9. 9-12 D^ 103 wrath, and the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. When I was gone up into the mount to 9 receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. And the Lord delivered unto 10 me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God ; and on them was written according to all the words, which the Lord spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it n came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. And the Lord said unto me, 12 Arise, get thee down quickly from hence ; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves ; they are quickly turned aside out of the way .^ . verses 11 and 13). Even apart from such indications of a want of unity, it is difficult to conceive that the original writer of the Introduction to the Deuteronomic Code would have dealt here with a single illustration at such disproportionate length. The narrative of Horeb appears to be more closely related to the historical review (chaps, i-iii) than to any other part of Deutero- nomy, and, Hke it, is based on JE (see the table in Driver, p. 112). There are also linguistic points of contact. It is significant that that review is without reference to the events of Horeb. This has led to the not improbable conjecture that ix. 9 f. originally stood before i. 6 as part of the historical introduction (D'*), which would then begin, like the hortatory introduction (v f.), with the delivery of the Ten Commandments. 8. Summary of the whole narrative, linking it to verse 7 : cf. Exod. xxiv. 12 f., xxxi. i8f..xxxiv, on which this narrative is based, to a large extent verbally. 9. Exod. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28 (the latter referring, however, to a subsequent occasion). 10. Exod, xxxi. 18 : cf. Deut. v. 4. 11. A doublet to verse 10*, according to which the tables of stone have already been given. 12. Exod. xxxii. 7 : have cormpted themselves, rather ' have done corruptly.' I04 DEUTERONOMY 9. 13-20. D'^ which I commanded them; they have made them a 13 molten image. Furthermore the Lord spake unto me^ saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff- 14 necked people : let me alone, that I may destroy them^ and blot out their name from under heaven : and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire : and the two tables of the 16 covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the Lord your God ; ye had made you a molten calf : ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 And I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of 18 my two hands, and brake them before your eyes. And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water ; because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke 19 him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened unto me that 20 time also. And the Lord was very angry with Aaron to 13. Exod. xxxii. 9. Piirthermore is supplied by R.V. ; Heb. < and.' 14 f. Exod. xxxii. 10, 15, 19 are largely reproduced. 18. as at the first : i. e. the intercession lasted for the same time as the sojourn on the mount, ix. 9, and is identical with that of x. 10. According to Exod. xxxii. 30 f., Moses returned on the morrow after his discovery of the sin to make intercession ; ac- cording to Exod. xxxiv. 9, he again made intercession, within the second period of forty days spent on the mount (xxxiv. 28), The latter may be in view here ; but it ought to follow, not precede verse 21. to provoke him to anfifer : delete ' to anger,' as in iv. 25. 19. that time also : what other occasion is meant is not clear ; possibly the present narrative has been condensed, and originally contained a reference to the earlier intercession of Exod. xxxii. 31. DEUTERONOMY 9. 21-27. D* 105 have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time. And I took your sin, the calf which ye had 21 made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust : and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth- 22 hattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath. And when 23 the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying. Go up and possess the land which I have given you ; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from 24 the day that I knew you. So I fell down before the 25 Lord the forty days and forty nights that I fell down ; because the Lord had said he would destroy you. And 26 I prayed unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember thy 27 servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor 20. The prayer for Aaron is not mentioned in Exodus. 21. Exod. xxxii. 20; yoTir sin: for this concrete usage, cf. Amos viii. 14, Mic. i. 5. as fine as dust : rather ' crushed fine to dust,' which was scattered in the Wady ; according to Exodus, that the Israelites might drink of it. 22. 23. Four other examples of Israel's disobedience are cited ; Taberah (Num. xi. 1-3), Massah (Exod. xvii. 2-7), Eihroth- hattaavah (Num. xi. 4-34), and Kadesh-barnea (i. 19 f.)- 25 resumes the account of the intercession of verse 18, and replies to Yahweh's words in verse 14 (' destroy them '). It should be noted that whilst this is the second intercession (Exod. xxxiv. 9), according to the present narrative, its contents are largely those of the first (Exod. xxxii. 11-13). 28. Cf. Exod. xxxii. 12 ; Num. xiv. 16, both of which have contributed to this verse. io6 DEUTERONOMY 9. 38— 10. 7. D^ E 28 to their sin : lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised unto them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in 29 the wilderness. Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy great power and by thy stretched out arm. 10 At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me 2 into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in 3 the ark. So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into 4 the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten ^ commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the 5 assembly : and the Lord gave them unto me. And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made ; and there they be, 6 as the Lord commanded me. [E] (And the children of Israel journeyed from ^^ Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah : there Aaron died, and there he was buried ; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead. 7 From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah ; and from * Heb. words. ^ Or, the wells of the children of Jaakan X. 1-3. These verses are condensed from Exod. xxxiv. i, 2, 4, and expanded by the references to the ark, not there named. According to Exod. xxxvii. i f. (xxv. 10 f.) this ark was made by Bezalel, after, not before, the reception of the second tables (P). The inconsistency may go back to some narrative of JE, not now extant. 6, 7. These verses are clearly an interruption to the Horeb DEUTERONOMY 10. S-io. E R° D^ 107 Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. [RP] 8 At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath no portion nor 9 inheritance with his brethren ; the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God spake unto him.) [D^] And I stayed in the mount, as at the first time, forty days lo narrative. They are connected with Num. xxxiii. 31-3 (P), where the four names of this itinerary fragment occur, with some variation, and in a different order. They cannot be derived from that passage, not only because of the differences, but especially because they place the death of Aaron at a point and place different from those of P (Num. xx. 22 f., on Mount Horeb). They are usually regarded as a fragment of E's itinerary (cf., e. g., Num. xxi. 12-15), both from their form and from the interest in Eleazar (Joshua xxiv. 33, E). The places named are unknown. *T^e passage is important, as showing that in the tradition of JE, not less than in P, Aaron was the founder of a hereditary priest- hood ' (Driver, p. 121). 8, 9. The consecration of Levi to priestly duties, with priests' dues. It is included in the brackets of the R. V. as a continuation of the interruption made by verses 6, 7. It seems, however, to be an independent note connected with the mention of the ark in verse 5. 8. At that time : either of the stay at Horeb (verse 5) or at Jotbathah (verse 7), according to the view taken of the connexion. the tribe of Levi : to whom are here given the three priestly duties— (a) to bear the ark, in Num. iv. i f. (P) the duty of Levites (Kohathites) in the narrower sense, as distinct from the priests, but in Deuteronomic writers the duty of the Levitical priests (Deut. xxxi. 9 ; Joshua viii. 33 : cf. Joshua iii. 3, vi. 6, 12) ; (b) to minister to Yahweh (in offering sacrifice), a duty reserved by P for the (Aaronic) priests alone as distinct from the Levites (Num. iii. 10) ; (c) to bless in His name, according to P (Num. vi. 23) the privilege of (Aaronic) priests only. See on xviii. i. 9. Yahweh is his inheritance : i. e. Levi is supported from the sacred offerings to Yahweh, xviii. i, 2. 10. 11. These verses resume and conclude the Horeb narrative, though their present place can hardly be original. I stayed : the Heb. would allow the translation * I had stayed,' which is required if we relate the verse to ix. 18, 19. The io8 DEUTERONOMY 10. 11-19. D^ D and forty nights : and the Lord hearkened unto me that 1 1 time also ; the Lord would not destroy thee. And the Lord said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people ; and they shall go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them. 12 [D] And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy 13 God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which 14 I command thee this day for thy good ? Behold, unto the Lord thy God belongeth the heaven, and the heaven of 15 heavens, the earth, with all that therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you ^ above all peoples, 16 as at this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your 17 heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the Lord your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the terrible, which regardeth not 18 persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgement of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the 19 stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye * Or, out of intercession to which Yahweh hearkened will then be that of ix. 25-9, whose success is now explicitly stated. X. 12-23. Exhortation to respond to the great God who has done such great things for Israel. 12. require: * What is Yahweh thy God asking from thee?' Cf. Mic. vi. 8, which this verse recalls. 16. Circumcise : xxx. 6 ; Jer. iv, 4 ; the figure is also used of the ear (Jer. vi. 10) and of the lips (Exod. vi. 12) ; it is hardly drawn from the physical operation (the unreceptive heart being ' closed in,' Driver), but denotes a spiritual and true membership of Israel in contrast with one based on the outward sign. \*r. reward : * a bribe.' 18, 19. Three classes liable to oppression are put under His DEUTERONOMY 10. 30— 11. 4. D 109 therefore the stranger : for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God ; him shalt 20 thou serve ; and to him shalt thou cleave, and by his name shalt thou swear. He is thy praise, and he is thy 2 1 God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went 22 down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons ; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep 11 his charge, and his statutes, and his judgements, and his commandments, alway. And know ye this day : iox Ispeak 2 not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the ^ chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm, and his signs, and his works, which he did in the 3 midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land ; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, 4 unto their horses, and to their chariots ; how he made the * Or, vistrnctioti protection ; Israel's duty to the stranger is enforced like the duty to servants (v. 15), by an appeal to experience. the stransrer : see on i. 16 ; for the motive, cf. Exod. xxii. 21, xxiii. 9. 21. thy praise: (Jer. xvii. 14) i. e. to be praised by thee for His deeds. for thee : Heb. ' with thee ' ; with reference to Egypt (xi. 3). 22. Gen. xlvi. 27 ; Exod. i. 5 ; Deut, i. 10 ; a special instance of the Divine providence. xi. 1-9. Let the personal experience of Yahweh's great deeds prompt Israel to obedience. 2. I speak: necessarily supplied by R.V., because the Hebrew has no verb to govern the long sentence following (verses 2-6). chastisement : ' discipline ' comes nearer the meaning of the Heb. word than either R.V. or R. V. marg. (iv. 36, viii. 5). Cf. the similar, though less detailed, review in iv. 34 f. (vi. 22, vii. 18). The generation addressed is that which was delivered from Egypt. no DEUTERONOMY 11. 5-11. D water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you^ and how the Lord hath destroyed them 5 unto this day ; and what he did unto you in the wilderness, c until ye came unto this place j and what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben ; how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all 7 Israel : but your eyes have seen all the great work of the s Lord which he did. Therefore shall ye keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither 9 ye go over to possess it ; and that ye may prolong your days upon the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land flowing 10 with milk and honey. For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst 1 1 it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs : but the land, whither 5. See Num. xvi. The omission of Korah is due to the fact that the writer is using JE, which did not mention him. The (later) account of P, which does, has been interwoven with JE to form the narrative of Num. xvi. xi. 10-17. Canaan contrasted with Egypt to show its greater dependence on Yahweh for fertility. (The paragraph division of R. V. between verses 12 and 13 obscures the sense.) 10. not as the land of E^jrpt : viz. in respect of irrigation, owing to the broken surface of the country (verse 11), which does not favour artificial irrigation on a large scale. wateredst it with thy foot: i.e. possibly with a wheel worked by the foot. The present water-wheels of Egypt are turned usually by an ox. W. Max Muller points out, however {E.B., ' Egypt,' 1226 n.i), that the use of the water-wheel cannot be proved for ancient Egypt ; ' most probably " watering with the foot " means carrying water.' as a garden of herhs : (i Kings xxi. a) i. e. a small plot of ground for which artificial irrigation could be employed in Palestine. DEUTERONOMY 11. 12-17. D m ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven : a land which the 13 Lord thy God ^ careth for ; the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently 1 3 unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the 14 rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will give grass in thy fields for 15 thy cattle, and thou shalt eat and be full. Take heed to 16 yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, an4 serve other gods, and worship them ; and the anger 1 7 of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the * Heb. seeketh after. 11. drinketh water of the rain of heaven: i. e. is dependent on the rains of verse 14 for its moisture, in contrast with Egypt, where rain is infrequent and agriculture depends on the inundation of the Nile, and on connected systems of irrigation. The superiority of Canaan, as well as its greater dependence on Yahweh, is naturally implied. 12. careth for. 'The climate of Egypt is not one which of itself suggests a personal Providence, but the climate of Palestine does so ' {H.G.H.L., p. 74). The present passage is a suggestive example of the way in which 'second causes' can tyrannize over human imagination. The water of the Nile is a natural gift ; the rain of Palestine a supernatural. 14. the rain of your land : i. e. not irregular showers, but the rainy period of the winter, begun by the heavy rainfall of October (the ' former rain '), which prepares for the agricultural year, and closed by that of March and April (the ' latter rain '), before the summer drought begins. This division of seasons is ' the ruling feature of the climate of Syria' {H.G.H.L., p. 63 f.), and on its regular occurrence depend the fertility and prosperity of the land (verse 17). 17. The picture is not overdrawn. 'The early rains or the latter rains fail, drought comes occasionally for two years in rr2 DEUTERONOMY 11. 18-24. D heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit ; and ye perish quickly from off the good land J 8 which the Lord giveth you. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul ; and ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall 19 be for frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, talking of them, when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and 20 when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and 21 upon thy gates : that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of the 22 heavens above the earth. For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it ; to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and 23 to cleave unto him ; then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess nations 24 greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place where- on the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours : from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the ^ hinder sea shall be your border. * That is, western. succession, and that means famine and pestilence ' {op. cit., p. 73). For a fine description of cause and effect in agricultural prosperity, see Hosea ii. 21, 22. xi. 18-25. The words of Yahweh, cherished, taught, and obeyed, will bring victorious possession of the Promised Land. 18-20. See on vi. 6-9, from which these verses are repeated with very slight change. 21. as the days of the heavens above the earth : i. e. so long as the (visible) universe endures : cf. the appeal to its permanence in iv. 26. 24. Cf. Joshua i. 3. The wilderness meant is that south of Palestine, answering here, as a boundary, to Lebanon in the north, whilst Israel's ideal territory is to extend from the Euphrates in the east to the Mediterranean in the west. DEUTERONOMY 11. 25-30. D bP 113 There shall no man be able to stand before you : the 25 Lord your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath spoken unto you. Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a 26 curse ; the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the com- 27 mandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day : and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto 28 the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known. [R^] And it shall come to pass, when the Lord thy 29 God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt set the blessing upon mount Gefizira, and the curse upon mount Ebal. Are they not 3o beyond Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the 25. as lie liath spoken : Exod. xxiii. 27. xi. 26-32. The alternatives of obedience and disobedience are those of a blessing and a curse (verses 26-8). These shall be solemnly recognized at the centre of Israel's future land (verses 29-32). (The blessing and the curse are expanded in chap, xxviii.) 28. wMch ye have not known : the Baals of Canaan have no share in the intimate relation hitherto existing between Yahweh and Israel. 29. set the blessing upon : give it ceremonial sanction there, as is described in xxvii. 11 f., with which passage verses 29, 30 are to be connected (hence assigned to RP), Gerizim . . . Ebal : probably chosen because the ancient sanctuary of Shechem (Joshua xxiv. 32) lay in the valley between them. The simplest explanation of the assignment of the blessing and. curse respectively is that Ebal lay to the north, i. ?. on the Hebrew ' left,' and Gerizim to the south, the Hebrew ' right.' That the latter was, as amongst other peoples, regarded as aus- picious, in contrast with the ill-omened left, is shown by the Hebrew name ' Benjamin,' or 'son of the right hand' (Gen. xxxv. 1 8, R. V. marg.). 30. the way of the ffoingf down of the sun : i. e. the chief I IT4 DEUTERONOMY 11. 31— 12. r. R^ D sun, in the land of the Canaanites which dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the ^ oaks of Moreh ? 31 [D] For ye are to pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you, and ye 32 shall possess it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the judgements which I set before you this day. 12 These are the statutes and the judgements, which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord, the God of thy fathers, hath given thee to possess it, all the * Or, terebinths western road, running from south to north, and passing east of Shechem, which is therefore * behind ' it (cf. verse 24). whicli dwell in the Ara"balx : the reference is obscure, since the 'Arabah (i. i, R. V. marg.) is remote from Shechem. over against Oilg'al : hardly the Gilgal near Jericho j possibly the ' circle ' (of stones) in connexion with Shechem. tlie oaks of Moreli: or 'the terebinth (sing, in LXX) of the teacher' (giver of oracles) (see Joshua xxiv. 26 for the sacred stone and sacred tree at Shechem). xii-xxv. At this point we pass to the Code of Laws, which falls into three main sections : I. The Law of the Central Sanctuary, with its related ordinances, xii. I — xvi. 17 (with xvi. 21 — xvii. 7). IL Laws relating to persons in authority (judges, king, priests, prophets), xvii. 8— xviii. 22 (with xvi. 18-20). III. Miscellaneous Laws, xix-xxv (not admitting, in their present order, of further classification^). xii. I -28. The Fundamental Law of the Single Sanctuary. For the central place and primary importance of this section, see Introd. p. 10 (The Reformation of Josiah), p. 36 f. Title (verse i). Destruction of the Canaanite places of worship (verses 2, 3). Yahweh is to be worshipped at one place only (verses 4-7). The present individual liberty-is-to be abandoned (verses 8-10' that all offerings in Canaan may be made at the one place verses 11, 12). Repetition, in vaiied form, of the law of a single sanctuary (verses 13, 14% Animals for food may be * Driver (p. 135) takes xix and xxi. 1-9 to form a section, 'Criminal Law.' DEUTERONOMY 12. 2, 3. D 115 days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall surely destroy 2 all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree : and ye shall 3 break down their altars, and dash in pieces their * pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew * Or, obelisks killed and their flesh eaten anywhere, though not the blood (verses 15, 16"). But the substance of tithe, vow, or offering is to be eaten at the one place only (verses 17-19). Repetition, in a varied form, of the permission to kill for food locally, though the blood must be poured away (verses 20-5) ; whilst all sacred rites must be performed at the one central sanctuary (verses 26-8). There can be little doubt that this section contains more than on^ version of the same law. 2. all tlie places: i. e. the sacred places, or sanctuaries, like * the place of Shechem ' (Gen. xii. 6) or of Bethel (xiii. 3), called * the place of the altar ' (verse 4) or the ' place ' where Abraham proposed to sacrifice Isaac (xxii. 3). The corresponding Arabic word for ' place ' is used similarly of a sanctuary. The much more usual word employed to designate these local sanctuaries is that rendered * high place' {bdmdh), such sanctuaries being originally upon the hig'li mountains and upon tlie hills. For the relation of such a high place to a particular town or district, see, e.g., I Sam. ix. 10-25. served their gods : most of these local sanctuaries were those of the Canaanites, adopted by Israel after the conquest of Canaan. How far Israel actually worshipped the local Baals at these sanctuaries is uncertain ; what is clear is that the worship of Yahweh was practised at them down to the time of the Deuteronomic Reformation, and after its initial failure (Exod. xx. 24-6, Mn every place' ; i Kings xix. 10, 'thine altars' ; Amos and Hosea, passim^ where it is the contamination of the worship of Yahweh by (surviving) Canaanite associations that is attacked, not the localization of the worship away from the Temple). under every green tree : or ' spreading ' tree ; for the sacred trees often growing at these ' places,' see Joshua xxiv. 26 ; I Sam. xxii. 6 ; Hos. iv. 13, (S.'c. 3. pillars {mazzeboth) : the artificial sacred stones. See on xvi. 22. Asherim: the wooden posts, representing the sacred tree. See on xvi. 21. I 2 ii6 DEUTERONOMY 12. 4-6. D down the graven images of their gods ; and ye shall 4 destroy their name out of that place. Ye shall not do 5 so unto the Lord your God. But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye 6 seek, and thither thou shalt come : and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of These, with the altar (see on verse 2), and in some cases the idol ('Hos. viii. 6), the usual accompaniments of the 'high place,' are to be so completely destroyed that the very memory (* their name ') of the local Baals is to cease (contrast verse 5, ' his name '). Bertholet illustrates by the later Jewish modification of proper names containing the element ' Baal ' ; e. g. Ish-baal became Ish- bosheth. 5. the place which Yahweh your God shall choose: i.e. Jerusalem, as often in this book (cf. i Kings viii. 44, 48, by a Deuteronomic writer). The earliest mention of Jerusalem is in the Tell el-Amarna Tablets, c. 1400 b.c, where it appears as the fortified capital of a small district. After the Israelite invasion it remained for a long time in the hands of the Canaanites, till captured by David (2 Sam. v. 6, 7). He brought up the ark of Yahweh to a tent, and on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, which he bought (2 Sam. xxiv. i8f.\ Solomon's Temple was built. There is no evidence of the existence there of an earlier sanctuary. S. burnt offering's : viz. as systematized in Lev. i, those of cattle, sheep and goats, birds, whose blood was dashed or drained out against the side of the altar, whilst the whole of the flesh was burnt upon it. Cf. Exod. x. 25, &c. sacrifices : specially of the thank- or peace-oflfering (Exod. xx. 24), as the most frequent form of sacrifice. The flesh of cattle, sheep, or goats was eaten by the worshippers at a sacrificial meal of communion with the deity — except the fat offered on the altar and the priest's portion. tithes : see on xiv. 22. heave offering" of yoitr hand : personal contributions ; not something elevated in presentation, but ' lifted off' a larger quantity, like first-fruits and other voluntary offerings. vows . . . freev/ill offering's : belonging to special occasions, firstlings : cf. xv. 19-22. DEUTERONOMY 12. 7-12. D 117 your herd and of your flock : and there ye shall eat 7 before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed ihee. Ye shall 8 not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes : for ye 9 are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. But when ye go 10 over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God causeth you to inherit, and he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety ; then it shall come to pass that the place which the Lord ii your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord : and ye shall rejoice before 12 the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates, forasmuch as he *t. The sacrificial meal (verse 6, ' sacrifices ') of the family group : cf. verse i8, xiv. 23, xv. 20. For the important place of this act of communioPx in Semitic religion, see especially/?^/. Sem., Lect. vii. The emphasis of Deuteronomy on joy in worship agrees with the omission of any reference above to the sin-offering or guilt-offering of Lev. iv and v (Introd., p. 38 note). 8. Cf. Amos V. 25. It need hardly be pointed out that the writer knows nothing of the elaborate wilderness-ritual of P. 10. rest froir- all your enemies : not gained, as a matter of history, till the age of David and Solomon, which may be in view here (2 Sam. vii. i ; i Kings viii. 56). 11. The verse implies that the law of the single sanctuary was not meant to come into operation till the time was ripe for build- ing the Temple (cf. i Kings iii. 2). yonr choice vows : i. e. choice substance offered to fulfil a vow. 12. the Levite (cf. x. 9) : i. e. the original priest of the local ii8 DEUTERONOMY 12. 13-17. D 13 hath no portion nor inheritance with you. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every 14 place that thou seest : but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes^ there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command 15 thee. Notwithstanding thou may est kill and eat flesh within all thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee : the unclean and the clean may eat 16 thereof, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. Only ye shall not eat the blood ; thou shalt pour it out upon the 17 earth as water. Thou mayest not eat within thy gates sanctuary, now deprived of his livelihood (xviii. 6-8), and fre- quently commended in this book to the care of Israel (verse 18, xiv. 27, 29, xvi. II, 14, xxvi. 11). within your gates : i. e. throughout your cities (a character- istic phrase of Deuteronomy). 15. thou mayest kill: the Hebrew verb means either to sacrifice or to kill, the fact being that all slaughter of domestic animals was originally sacrificial, their flesh being eaten on com- paratively rare occasions at a sacrificial meal (see on verse 6). This sacrificial act could be performed at a sanctuary only so long as one was close at hand ; the centralization of all sacrificial acts at Jerusalem involved the recognition of slaughter for food as non-sacrificial (cf. Rel. Sent., p. 238). A fuller explanation is given by verse 20 f. after all the desire of thy soul : the soul {nephesh), originally the breath, as the principle of life, tends to be specialized in later Hebrew psychology as the principle of emotion and sensation, especially hunger (as here). The higher cognitive and conative elements of conscious life were ascribed to the heart. the unclean and the clean : i. e. in a ceremonial sense (i Sam. XX. 26), since the act was no longer to be regarded as sacrificial, but such flesh was to be treated like game (as of the gazelle, and as of the hart : cf. xiv. 5), i. e. under a non-sacrificial classification. 16. blood: see Introd., p. 24 ; the blood of the slain animal is still regarded as too mysterious and ' sacred ' to be consumed ; hence, for want of an altar at which to dispose of it with safety, it is poured on the ground (cf. Rel. Sem., p. 234 f.\ 17. The permission for the local consumption of flesh does not DEUTERONOMY 12. 18-23. D 119 the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thine oil, or the firsthngs of thy herd or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, nor the heave offering of thine hand : but thou shalt eat 18 them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates : and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not 19 the Levite as long as thou livest upon thy land. When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as 20 he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desireth to eat flesh ; thou mayest eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul. If the place 21 which the Lord thy God shall choose to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the Lord hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat within thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul. Even as the 22 gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat thereof: the unclean and the clean shall eat thereof alike. Only 23 be sure that thou eat not the blood : for the blood is the apply to tithes (xiv. 22 f.), firstlings (xv. igf.)? or other sacred offerings. 20. enlarg-e thy border : cf. xix. 8 ; v^^ith reference to the acquisition, not of Canaan (verse i), but of the ideal territory of i. 7, xi. 24 (Dillmann). For the actual extent of the Josianic kingdom, see Introd., p. 37. I will eat flesh : implying that this is no everyday occurrence (see on verse 15). Cf. Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. p. 452. 23. sure : Heb, ' strong ' ; reference to i Sam. xiv. 3a will show how hunger might overcome a primitive superstition ; but the use of blood in magical rites may also be in view. the blood is the life: cf. Gen. ix. 4 ; Lev. xvii. 11, 14. See Introd., p. 24. I20 DEUTERONOMY 12. 24-30. D life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh. 24 Thou shalt not eat it ; thou shalt pour it out upon the 25 earth as water. Thou shalt not eat it ; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord. 26 Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the Lord 27 shall choose : and thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the Lord thy God : and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat 28 the flesh. Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord thy God. 29 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest in to possess them, and thou possessest them, and dwellest in their land ; 30 take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared ^ to follow * Heb. after them. 27. See on verse 6. xii. 29 — xiii. 18. Laws against Solicitation to the Cults of Canaan, General warning against the assimilation of the worship of Yahweh to that of the gods of Canaan (verses 29-31). If a prophet urges the claims of these gods, his teaching is to be rejected, though it is substantiated by foretold signs ; and the man himself is to be put to death (xii. 32 — xiii. 5). Even a relative or friend, secretly soliciting to their worship, is to be denounced and stoned to death (verses 6-1 1). The city that listens to such soUcitations shall be devoted to Yahweh, its inhabitants being slaughtered, and its spoil burnt without exception (verses 12-18). 30. ensnared : partly, no doubt, by the ancient belief that the god of a district must be worshipped there, and in the local manner (i Sam. xxvi. 19 ; 2 Kings xvii. 25-8) ; partly, also, by the fascination exercised over men in all ages by novel means of contact with the supernatural world. DEUTERONOMY 12. 31— 13. 3. D 121 them, after that they be destroyed from before thee ; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying. How do these nations serve their gods ? ^ even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Lord thy 31 God : for every abomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods ; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods. ^What thing soever I command you, that shall ye 32 observe to do : thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it. If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a 13 dreamer of dreams, and he give thee a sign or a wonder, aad the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he 2 spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them ; thou shalt 3 not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God proveth you, * Or, that I also may do likewise ^ [Ch. xiii. i in Heb.] Religious reformers have alwa3's recognized the perils of syncretism of the forms of worship ; by the transference or acceptance of an alien form the alien idea finds easy entrance. 31. abomination : cf. vii. 25 ; practically a technical term for acts of idolatry, though also used in the ethical sphere (xxv. 16 ; Lev. xviii. 22). burn in the fire (2 Kings xvi. 3, xvii. 31, &c.) : see note on xviii. ID for this form of child-sacrifice. 32. This verse (cf. R. V. marg.) relates to the three following cases (chap, xiii) of solicitation to heathen worship. xiii. 1. a dreamer of dreams. The prophet is conceived as receiving his message by vision or dream (Num. xii. 6). In Jer. xxiii. 28, however, the prophecy nourished on dreams is distinguished from the ethical and spiritual message of Jeremiah himself. a sigfn or a wonder : such as Isaiah offers Ahaz (Isa. vii. 11) to substantiate his message. 3. proveth you (viii. 2, 16), &c. : * is putting you to the test to 122 DEUTERONOMY 13. 4-6. D to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all 4 your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his com- mandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, 5 and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken » rebellion against the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, ^ Heb. turning aside. know whether you do (emph.) love ' (Driver) ; i. e. whether your relationship to Yahv^reh is of such a character that it can defy even * supernatural ' evidence against His revealed will. The passage is important for the biblical doctrine of miracle (cf. Mozley, Lectures on the O. 71, p. 33) ; with it should be compared Paul's warning to the Galatians not to receive another gospel though an angel preached it (Gal. i. 8) ; and, on the other hand, Christ's refusal to give external signs of His truth (Mark viii. 11 f.), which He based primarily on moral experience (John vii. 17) and practical discernment (Matt. xvi. 3). 5. put away : consume or exterminate (as by burning) ; the phrase ' consume the evil from the midst ' is characteristic of Deuteronomy, in which it occurs seven times, all except once of the death sentence. 6 f. The second example of solicitation, which is of a private character ('secretly,' verse 6; 'conceal,' verse 8). Even the closest personal ties must not protect the would-be idolater from unsparing denunciation and death (cf xxxiii. 9). the son of thy mother (Ps. 1. 20) : not, of course, a superfluous addition to ' brother' in the household of several wives (xxi. 15). thy friend, which is as thine own soul : the same phrase occurs in one of the two classical examples of O. T. friendship DEUTERONOMY 13. 7-12. D 123 Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers ; of the gods of the peoples 7 which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far ofif from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of I ^ earth ; thou shalt not consent unto him, 8 nor hearken unto him ; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him : but thou shalt surely kill him ; thine hand shall be 9 first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him 10 with stones, that he die ; because he hath sought to draw thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall 11 do^no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee. If thou shalt hear tell ^ concerning one of thy cities, la which the Lord thy God giveth thee to dwell there, ^ Or, in (i Sam. xviii. i) ; whilst, in the other, it is the worshipper of Yahweh who wins over the worshipper of Kemosh (Ruth i. 16). ?. far off: the Assyrians (2 Kings xvi. 10, xxi. 3^, 'the host of heaven ' : cf. Deut. iv. 19) are probably meant ; for religious influences nearer at hand, see i Kings xi. 5, 7. 9. thine hand shall he first (xvii. 7) : i. e. in the public in- fliction of the death penalty of verse 10. The convicting witness must bear the initial responsibility of the act, cost him what sorrow it may. 10. Stoning was the only recognized form of capital punishment in Hebrew law (Benzinger, in E.B. 2722). Its adoption may be due partly in order to avoid literal blood-shedding (to any marked degree), and partly to keep down the dead man's spirit by the pile of stones cast on his body. 12 f. The third case of solicitation supposes it to have been successful, so that a city is tainted with heathen-worship. hear tell concerning: read as in R. V. marg. ; the words 'in one of thy cities,' &c., are placed before 'saying' for greater emphasis, though actually part of what is said. 124 DEUTERONOMY 13. 13-18. D 13 saying, Certain ^ base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not 14 known; then shalt thou inquire, and ma^^e search, and ask diligently ; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst 15 of thee; thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, ^ destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the 16 edge of the sword. And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof ^ every whit, unto the Lord thy God : and it shall be an ^ heap for 17 ever; it shall not be built again. And there shall cleave nought of the devoted thing to thine hand : that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and 18 multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers ; when thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee * Heb. sons of worth lessness. ** Heb. devoting it. '^ Or, as a whole burnt offering ^ Or, mound Heb. tel. 13. base fellows: the Hebrew word for ' worthlessness ' (R. V. marg.) is 'belial,' which in 2 Cor. vi. 15 has developed into a proper name for the devil. These men have gone out from the midst of Israel, i. e. are themselves Israelites. 16. spoil: included in the herem, which is of the severest type, like that on Jericho (Joshua vi. 24). See on xx. 17. street : ' broad place,' like our ' market-place ' or * village- green.' every whit. The Hebrew word, kalil, means ' entire ' or 'whole,' and is also used specially of a 'holocaust' or sacrifice consumed wholly upon the altar (xxxiii. 10) ; here in the latter sense (R. V. marg.). an heap for ever : like Ai (Joshua viii 28) or Rsbbah (Jer. xlix. Sv. DEUTERONOMY 14. i, 2. D 125 this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God. Ye are the children of the Lord your God : ye shall 14 not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art an holy people unto 2 the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, » above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. * Or, out of xiv. 1-2 1. The holiness of Israel is to be maintained by ab- stention from cuttings for the dead (verses i, 2), from eating the flesh of certain animals (verses 3-8), fishes (verses g, 10), and birds (verses 11-20), and from other practices (verse 21) un- worthy of the people of Yahweh. The central part of this section (verses 4-20) stands in close relation to Lev. xi. 2-23, with which it agrees verbally to a large extent. The general character of the list disconnects it from D and relates it to P, and this is confirmed by the phrase ' after its kind,' which is characteristic of P. It is disputed, however, whether Deuteronomy here depends on Leviticus, or vice versa. 1. cut yourselves: cf. Lev. xix. 28 (xxi. 5, of the priests). It is clear from Jer. xvi. 6 (cf xli. 5, xlvii. 5) that mourners cut themselves for the dead as part of the ordinary funeral ceremonies of the time, so that the present law, even if belonging to the original Law-book, was not observed. Such mutilations occur amongst many primitive peoples (examples in Rel. Sent., p. 322 f.), and their object appears to be to maintain blood-communion, or a blood-covenant, with the dead. Similar cuttings were made by the heathen priests opposed by Elijah (i Kings xviii. 28), to establish the blood-bond with their deity. make any baldness between your eyes : the hair-ofifering at the grave is another widespread custom, with similar intent ; the hair, like the blood, is a special seat of vitaUty. The custom is frequently mentioned in the O. T. as a natural feature of mourning (Amos viii. 10; Isa. xv. 2, xxii. 12; Mic. i. 16; Jer. xvi. 6; Ezek. vii. 18), the shaved patch ' between the eyes ' (i. e. on the forehead) corresponding to the mourner's hatband in this country ; whilst the cuttings on the hands (Jer. xlviii.37) were doubtless as conventional a sign of mourning as black gloves. The former practice is forbidden to the priests in Lev. xxi. 5 ; other develop- ments of the hair-offering are illustrated by the Nazirite's vow (Num. vi. 18), and the vow of Paul ^Acts xviii. 18), and the priestly 126 DEUTERONOMY 14. 3-8. D P ? 4 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. [P ?] These are the beasts which ye shall eat : the ox, the sheep, and 5 the goat, the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the 6 chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and hath the hoof cloven in two, and S'cheweth the cud, 7 among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that have the hoof cloven : the camel, and the hare, and the ^ coney, because they chew the cud but part not the 8 hoof, they are unclean unto you : and the swine, because he parteth the hoof but cheweth not the cud, he is un- * Heb. bringeth up. ** See Lev. xi. 5. tonsure of ancient and modern times. Similar practices among; the early Arabs are described by Wellhausen {Resfe, p. i8i). 3. abominable thing- : the same word as in vii. 25 (' abomina- tion'). 'No single principle, embracing satisfactorily all the cases, seems yet to have been found ; and not improbably more principles than one co-operated' (Driver, p. 164). Probably certain animals had come to be preserved as a religious duty (totemism), or were connected with heathen rites (Ezek. viii. 10) ; others may have been considered as repulsive in themselves. 4f. The translation of the more unfamiliar names is often uncertain, and usually follows the suggestions of the ancient versions. The list of ten clean beasts is not given in Lev. xi. 2 f. 5. pygfargf: i.e. 'white-rump,' the name of a species of antelope, mentioned by Herodotus (iv. 192) as found in Libya. clianiois: the word (occurring here only) probably denotes some kind of mountain sheep, rather than the chamois, which belongs to Central Europe. 6 f. Two characteristics of the * clean ' class are noted — (a) the division of the hoof, (6) the bringing up the cud ; one only of these may belong to animals in the unclean class (verses 7, 8), viz, (h) to the camel, hare, rock-badger (R. V. marg.), and (a) to the swine. Coney is the Old-English word for 'rabbit' (cf. Ps. civ. 18 ; Prov. XXX. 26). ' Neither the rock-rabbit nor the hare really chews the cud, but the movements which they often make with their mouths give them the appearance of ruminating'* {S.B.O.T., Lev., p. 74). DEUTERONOMY 14. 9-17. P ? 127 clean unto 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 : what- 9 soever hath fins and scales shall ye eat : and whatsoever 10 hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat ; it is unclean unto you. Of all clean birds ye may eat. But these are they of n, which ye shall not eat : the ^ eagle, and the gier eagle, and the ospray ; and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite 1 3 after its kind; and every raven after its kind; and the 14, ostrich, and the night hawk, and the seamew, and the hawk after its kind ; the little owl, and the great owl, 16 and the horned owl ; and the pelican, and the vulture, 17 » See Lev. xi. 13, &c. 9, 10. This general classification of fishes is stated at greater length in Lev. xi. 9-12. 12. eagle: R. V. marg. suggests 'great vulture.' There are four species of vultures and eight of eagles in Palestine. The Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew word here {nesher) covers all these generically, but the biblical usage of the word (Mic. i. 16, 'enlarge thy baldness as the nesher') shows that the griffon or great vulture is meant, which is without feathers on the head and neck (see Post in D.B. s. v. '• Eagle '). gler eagle : the bearded vulture, largest of all. ospray: the short-toed eagle : ' It is the most abundant of the eagle tribe in Palestine ' (Post, /. c). 13. the g'lede, and tlie falcon, and the kite : read ' >he kite and the falcon,' and omit 'glede,' which is simply a guess at a word which does not elsewhere occur, and is almost certainly due to a scribal error (cf. Lev. xi. 14, supported here by the ancient versions). * Glede ' is itself an old name for the kite, retained from A. V. after its kind (P) : i. e. as a generic name, including various species. 16. horned owl: others, after LXX, as 'waterhen.' Reasons for rejection of the A. V. 'swan' are given by Post {D.B. s. v. 'Swan'). 17. vulture: 'carrign-vulture,' known as ^ Pharaoh's hen.' 128 DlUTERONOMY 14. 18-21. P?D 18 and the corm)rant ; and the stork, and the heron after its 19 kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And all winged creeping things are unclean unto you : they shall not be 20 eaten. Of all dean fowls ye may eat. 21 [D] Ye shall lot eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it ; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner : for thoi art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou slalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk. cormorant: some knd of plunging bird is meant; the cormorant is an expert dier, and ' is common along the coast, coming up the Kishon and Tisiting the Sea of Galilee. It is hke- wise abundant along the Joiian ' (D.B. s. v.). 18. heron: a conjecture, »n the ground that the heron belongs to the same group as the ston. 19. creeping: < swarming'; winged swarming things are insects that fly. 20. fowls : the Hebrew woid is wider than the English, and denotes winged creatures in geieral. Some kinds of locusts are here included : cf. Lev. xi. 21, 21. 21. thing" that dieth of itself: one word in Hebrew, rendered * carcase ' in verse 8 ; the ground oi objection to it is that the blood has not been drained out, as the ccntext of Lev. xvii. 15 implies. The verse suggests to the English -eader a cynical disregard for the health of the ' stranger ' ; but <;his does not belong to the Hebrew law, which merely points o\t that the ' stranger ' is free from the ceremonial obligations of the Israelite, without reference to the selfish disposal of diseased meat stranger : see on i. 16. Theger is'iere distinguished from the nokhri (xv. 3), or ' foreigner,' who is no a settled resident like the ger, bute. g. a foreign trader. The verse should be compared with Exod. xxii.^ 31 (J E), where it is said that fl-sh torn of beasts is to be given to the dogs ; and Lev. xvii. 15, wher- both kinds of flesh are forbidden to both IsraeHtes and settled * svrangers ' (cf. Exod. xii. 49, P), the latt'er class being practically ' p-oselytes.' seethe (boil). The same law is fouid in Exod. xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26 ; in b6th cases it is named in connexion with the offering of the f^stfruits, which suggests .. reference to some harvest rite (note verse 22 f.). Robertson Sr>ith, who states that DEUTERONOMY 14. 22-24. D 129 Thou shalt surely tithe all the increase of thy seed, 22 that which cometh forth of the field year by year. And 23 thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock ; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if 24 the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when that milk is here (as elsewhere) regarded as equivalent to blood ' Kel. Sent., p. 221 n.). Here some heathen rite for promoting fertility of the field by the breach of a primitive taboo seems to be meant. _ xiv. 22-29. The Law of Tithes. The tithe of all the produce of the ground, together vi^ith the firstlings, is to be eaten at the central sanctuary (verses 22-3). Its value may be realized in money and expended tJiere according to choice, if the distance is too great for the transference of the tithe in kind (verses 24-6). The Levite is not to be forgotten in this family feast (verse 27). Every third year's tithe, however, is to be devoted to dependent classes of the particular district (verses 28, 29). 22. tithe. The payment of a tenth was frequent amongst many peoples (references in Moore's art. 'Tithes,' E.B., for Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians, Egyptians, Syrians, Sabaeans, Lydians, Babylonians, and Chinese). The tithe was devoted by the early Hebrews to secular, i. e. royal (i Sam. viii. 15, 17 : cf. Amos vii. i) or religious 1 Amos iv. 4 : cf. Gen. xxviii. 22) purposes. The earliest Semitic sacred tithe of which we know, that of the Carthaginians sent to Tyre, was both political and religious {Rel. Sem., p. 246). The priest would naturally receive something from all tithe offered at a temple to the deity; he would share, e. g., in the family feast prescribed by the present law. This is, however, to be clearly distinguished from the later law of Num. xviii. 21 (P), which claimed the whole tithe for the Levites. For a full discussion of their relation, see Driver, pp. 168-73. Cattle are not tithed by this law (contrast Lev. xxvii. 32). 23. See on xii. 5, 7 ; consumption is now transferred from the local (Amos iv. 4"^^ to the central sanctuary. flrstUngrs : included here incidentally ; for the law relating to them, see xv. 19-23. 130 DEUTERONOMY 14. 25—I5. i. D 35 the Lord thy God shall bless thee : then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God 26 shall choose : and thou shalt bestow the money for what- soever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul asketh of thee: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine 27 household : and the Levite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him ; for he hath no portion nor inherit- ance with thee. 28 At the end of every three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shalt 29 lay it up within thy gates : and the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied ; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest. 15 At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a 25. turn it Into money : a concession necessitated by the new law of the one sanctuary. bind up the money : i. e. in a purse : cf. Gen. xlii. 35 (' bundle,' the Heb. word for purse, being related to the verb * bind '). 28. At the end of every three years : i. e. the tithe of the third year is devoted wholly to charity (cf. xxvi, ts). bringf forth . . . lay up : i. e. this tithe is collected from indi- vidual Israelites and deposited in a common store for its specific use — the sustenance of the more or less dependent classes named here, and often elsewhere in this book (xvi. 11, 14, xxiv. 17, 19-21, xxvi. 12, 13). XV. 1-18. The Year of Release. Every seventh year shall be *a release to Yahweh' ; the creditor shall let drop his claim to what has been lent to a fellow Israelite (verses 1-3). If Israel is obedient, this law will not be required, for Israel will lend, not DEUTERONOMY 15. 2. D 131 release. And this is the manner of the release : every a creditor shall release that which he hath lent unto his neighbour ; he shall not exact it of his neighbour and his brother ; because the Lord's release hath been pro- borrow (verses 4-6). Further, the Israelite is not to let the thought of this year's proximity hinder him from helping his needy brother (verses 7-11). Slavery, in the case of an Israelite, is to be limited by the same term ; in the seventh year the Hebrew slave is to be set free with liberal provision for his needs (verses 12-15). If. however, he choose to remain, his ear shall be pierced as a sign of the permanent bond now constituted (verses 16-18). Cf. the law of Exod. xxiii. 10, 11 (JE), according to which land is to lie fallow in the seventh year (the spontaneous produce of that year to be for the poor), and the similar law of Lev. xxv. 1-7 (H), known as that of ' the Sabbatical year.' The suspension of agriculture in the seventh year, it has been thought, would make necessary, in many cases, some such provision as this for the suspension of debt-claims in that year. {The former law appears to be one form of a widespread resumption of the rights of the community in land). It is possible, however, that this law is intended to take the place of that in Exod. xxiii. 10, 11, rather than to supplement it. 1. At the end of every seven yeaxs: i.e. in the seventh year as rounding off this period. This will be seen from Jer. xxxiv. 14, where ' at the end of seven years ' clearly implies that six years only have elapsed. a release : lit ' a letting drop,' as is seen from the use of the corresponding verb in 2 Kings ix. 33 (death of Jezebel ; R. V. ' throw her down ') and, figuratively, as here, in Exod. xxiii. II (R. V. marg.). 2. the IiOBD'S release : ' a release (in honour) of Yahweh ' : cf. Lev. xxv. 4, * in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath to Yahweh.' The fact that this is proclaimed shows that it is intended to be celebrated throughout the land at one and the same time. It is, however, very difficult to decide what is released or 'let drop.' Is it the debt itself, which is then wholly cancelled by this year of release ? Or is it simply a temporary release from the obligation to repay during the seventh year ? The most recent commentators are divided on this point. Dillmann, followed with considerable hesitation by Driver, takes the latter view, on the ground that the former would be impracticable and that the law connects with Exod. xxiii. 10, II, where it is the use of the land for the seventh year that is K 2 13^ DEUTERONOMY 15. 3-8. D 3 claimed. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it : but whatsoever of thine is with thy brother thine hand 4 shall ^ release. Howbeit there shall be no poor with thee ; (for the Lord will surely bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to 5 possess it ;) if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all this command- 6 ment which I command thee this day. For the Lord thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee : and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. 7 If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren, within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor 8 shut thine hand from thy poor brother : but thou shalt surely open thine hand unto him, and shalt surely lend * Or, release : save when there Ac. suspended. Steuernagel and Bertholet hold the former view, on the ground that the law plainly relates to charitable loans, not business investments, and that the requirement that the loan should become a gift in such a case is not so unnatural as it might seem. This view seems more probable ; its utter impracticability for business relations was easily evaded by the later Jews through a legal fiction. 3. a foreiGfuer : i. e. the nokhri, not the settled ger (see on xiv. 21), who stands in much closer relation to Israel. 4. R. V. marg. says that the law of release is not operative when there is no poverty. R. V. text states categorically that there shall be no poverty, before introducing the limitation of verse 5. The latter is more natural, though as an expression of an ideal it is literally inconsistent with verse 11, the statement of actual conditions. with thee : ' in thee ' ; i, e. in thy midst. *rt. The new paragraph deals with the practical difficulty at once raised by the law — that a loan on the eve of the yew of release is tantamount to a gift. DEUTERONOMY 15. 9-12. D 133 him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a base thought in thine heart, 9 saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand ; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nought ; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, 10 and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him : because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease 1 1 out of the land : therefore I command thee, saying. Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land. If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, 1 2 9. thine eye be evil : xxviii. 54, 56. The evil eye is primarily the envious or grudging eye (Matt. xx. 15). Primitive thought credits the peripheral organs w^ith actual psychical and ethical qualities, though our knowledge of the nervous system leads us to interpret such expressions as figurative. cry unto Yaliweh : Exod. xxii. 23 ; the spoken word has a power of its own. sin unto thee ; (xxiv. 15) Heb. ' in thee ' ; so R.V. in xxiii. 22. It is diflficult to conceive that the strong language of this verse can relate simply to a question of deferred payment ; indeed Benzinger goes so far as to say that verse 9 * makes it impossible to interpret the law as meaning merely that repayment of the debt is postponed for a year ' {E.B. 2727). Cf. ' givest ' in verse 10. 12 f. For the parallel law in JE, see Exod. xxi. 2-6 ; Lev. xxv. 39-46 (H and P) gives a later law, according to which the Israelite is not to be a slave at all, but a hired ser\'ant, and released in the year of Jubile. Foreigners only are to be slaves for life. On Semitic slavery in general, see S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses, chap. vii. For the parallel law in the Code of Hammurabi, see Introd., p. 22. That the present law was by no means uniformly observed is shown by Jer. xxxiv, 8 f. an Hebrew woman : explicitly excluded from the sphere of this law by Exod. xxi. 7 ; the older law allowed even the wife of the slave to go out with him only if she entered servitude with him, as his wife already. Deuteronomy, in placing the Hebrewcss 134 DEUTERONOMY 15. 13-18. D be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years ; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 1 3 And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt 14 not let him go empty : thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress : as the I^ord thy God hath blessed thee 15 thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee : therefore I command 16 thee this thing to-day. And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go out from thee ; because he loveth thee 17 and thine house, because he is well with thee ; then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy '^ servant for ever. And also 18 unto thy ^ maidservant thou shalt do likewise. It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou lettest him go free * Or, bondman ^ Or, bondwoman on an equality of rights with the Hebrew, is consistent with its recognition of the improved status of woman in v. 21 (see note). Cf. verse I7^ and serve : rather, * he shall serve.' 14. furnish him liberally : Heb. * make a rich necklace for him ' ; the same verb in Ps. Ixxiii. 6. 17. thrust it throug-h his ear: for primitive thought such a ceremony is more than symbohcal. The ear is the organ of obedience, and as such possesses psychical and ethical qualities. In the Code of Hammurabi (Law 282) the slave who refuses to obey his master has his ear cut off. The ear seems to have been a favourite place for branding slaves (Cook, The Laws 0/ Moses, p. 159). Some of the ear-boring rites of primitive peoples are probably an acknowledgement of the worshippers' service to the deity, to whom they stand as slaves. unto the door of his master's house, on whose threshold a blood-bond is thus made (Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 210). In Exod. xxi. 6, however, this is preceded by the bringing of the slave to the sanctuary (* unto God')» whereas the present law makes the rite simply a domestic one. DEUTERONOMY 15. 19-21. D 135 from thee ; for to the double of the hire of an hireling hath he served thee six years : and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest. All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of 19 thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God': thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. Thou shalt eat it before 20 the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. And if it 21 have any blemish, as if it be lame or blind, any ill blemish whatsoever, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the 18. to the double of the hire of an hireling : a day-labourer would Jiave cost twice as much. For a modem parallel to the practice here enjoined, see Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 554 (cited by Cook, op. cit, p. 167' : — 'The condition of a slave is always tolerable and is often happy in Arabia ... It is not many years, " if their house- lord fears Ullah " before he will give them their liberty ; and then he sends them not away empty.' XV. 19-23. ne Law 0/ Firstlings. The firstborn males of oxen and sheep are to be eaten yearly at the one sanctuary, in a family feast (verses 19-20). If, however, any one of these be not perfect, it is to be eaten at home as ordinary food (verses 21-23). Parallel laws are found in JE (Exod. xiii. 11-16, xxii. 29, 30, xxxiv. 19-20), and in P (Num. xviii. 15-18). The chief differences (which exemplify the practical interests of Deuteronomy) are that the earlier law (Exod. xxii. 30) orders the offering of the firstborn on the eighth day after birth, which the law of the central sanctuary makes impracticable, and that the later law (Num. xviii. 18) gives the whole of the flesh as a priests' due, instead of direct- ing its consumption at a family feast. 19. firstling- males: these were originally placed under the taboo which belongs to all that is connected with birth and its mysteries (Introd., p. 25). If a firstling ass was not redeemed by its owner, its neck was to be broken (Exod. xxxiv. 20 : cf Rel, Sem., p. 463). The maintenance of this taboo is still seen here, in the exclusion of the firstling from ordinary work or use, 20. year by year : i. e. at such a yearly festival as the passover (chap, xvi), a custom which would explain the present place of this law. 21. blemish: cf xvii. i. 136 DEUTERONOMY 15. 22— 16. i. D 22 Lord thy God. Thou shalt eat it within thy gates •, the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the ^^3 gazelle, and as the hart. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water. 16 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover 22. the unclean and the clean : see on xii. 15 ; it is to be treated as ordinary food, the taboo being in this case disregarded. xvi. 1-17. The Three Annual Festivals: — (a) Passover (and Unleavened Bread) (verses 1-8) ; (6) Weeks (= Pentecost^ (verses 9-12) ; (c) Tabernacles (verses 13-15). Summary (verses 16, 17). Parallel laws are found in JE (Exod. xxiii. 14-17, xxxiv. 18, 22-4, xii. 21-7, xiii. 3-10), and in HP (Lev. xxiii) and P (Num. xxviii and xxix). In the summary of these festivals (verse 16) they are called the feast of Mazzoth (unleavened bread), the feast of weeks, and the feast of booths. The second and third of these are plainly agricultural ; the first also is of the same character, since (a) it is connected with the time of putting the sickle to the standing corn (verse 9) ; (6) produce is offered at it as at the other feasts (verse 17), especially ' the sheaf of the firstfruits ' (Lev. xxiii. 10) ; (c) the name suggests bread made in haste (Gen. xviii. 6, xix. 3, Exod. xii. 34) from the newly-reaped barley (cf. Joshua v. 11). But agricultural feasts, such as these, can have had no place in the nomadic life of Israel. They must belong to the time subsequent to its settlement in Canaan, and w^ere most probably derived from the Canaanites themselves, amongst whom the vintage festival, at any rate, was celebrated (Judges ix. 27, xxi. i9f.)« The first of these festivals is hereconnected with sacrifices of another kind (verse 2), and with another name, the Passover (verse i f.). This con- nexion appears to have existed from an earlier time (Exod. xxxiv. 25, xii. 21 f ), the characteristic features of the Passover rites being (a) the sacrifice of the firstlings of cattle and the redemption of the firstborn of man (Exod. xxxiv. 19 ; note verse 18 for connexion with Mazzoth) ; (6) the sprinkling of the posts of the door with blood (JExod. xii. 22) ; (c) the evening celebration (verses 4-7 : cf. Exod. xii. 22). Of these, (a) will connect with the law of firstlings (xv. 19 f.); (6) is some form of 'threshold covenant,' in which the blood wards off peril, as from pestilence (see on vi. 9) ; and (c) suggests that the festival is related to the phases of the moon. Scholars differ in opinion as to which of these gives the central meaning of the Passover j W. R. Smith, DEUTERONOMY 16. 2, 3. t> 137 unto the Lord thy God : for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. And thou shalt sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy 2 God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it ; seven days 3 shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the for example, emphasizes {a) : ' In the Passover we find the sacrifice of firstlings assuming the form of an annual feast, in the spring season ' {Rel. Sent., p. 465) ; Benzinger emphasizes {b) (E.B. 3595) ; and others have emphasized the relation of spring festivals to the calendar. (For the importance of the moon in regard to Semitic agriculture, see Jastrow, Babylom'art-Assyn'an Religiou, p. 461.) The ' Passover ' may weW have been Israel's own contribution to the combined festival of Passover — Mazzoth ; in its- original form it may have been connected with the Exodus, according to the tradition of Exod, v. i, xii. 31, &c. At any rate, each of the three festivals subsequently gained a historical meaning ; the first is here made a memorial of the Exodus (verses i, 3, 6, as perhaps already in Exod. xii. 27, JE) ; the Feast of Booths commemorated the desert wanderings (Lev. ^xiii. 43, H) ; whilst, outside the limits of the O. T., the Feast of Weeks was connected with the delivery of the law at Sinai {E.B. 3651). The characteristics of Deuteronomy, in dealing with these festivals, are — (a) their centralization at Jerusalem, with its conse- quences, (b) emphasis on their historical character in general (see on Deut. xxvi. 5 f.). 1. Abito. The word relates to fresh ears of barley in Exod. ix. 31 (* in the ear ') ; hence it is used of the period of the year in which these are formed (i. e. our April), the first month of the priestly year, whose post-exilic name was Nisan. the passover: Heb. pesah, whose meaning is usually ex- plained from Exod. xii. 13. Others connect with a similar word meaning to leap, or limp (i Kings xviii. 26), and explain it as meaning a ritual dance ; others, again (Zimmern, Die Ketlinschriften iind das Alte Testament, p. 610 note^), connect with the Assyrian pasdhu (be appeased) as a rite of expiation. 2. of the flock and the herd : i. e. either a sheep or an ox, the range of choice for the Passover sacrifice being wider than in the later law of P (Exod. xii. 3-6), by which the sacrifice must be a Iamb or kid. 3. unleavened bread: (for the relation of Ma^^oth to the 138 DEUTERONOMY 16. 4-8. D bread of affliction ; for thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste : that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all 4 the days of thy life. And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days ; neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrificest the first day at even, 5 remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the 6 Lord thy God giveth thee : but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest 7 forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt * roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose : and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. 8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread : and on the seventh day shall be ^^ a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God ; thou shalt do no work therein, * Or, seethe ^ See Lev. xxiii, 36. Passover, see above) ; here called the bread of affliction on the ground of Exod. xii. 34, 39, and a frequent form of food prepared in haste or ' trepidation ' (Driver) (see above, and cf. I Sam. xxviii. 24). 4. The two prohibitions of this verse are connected by Robertson Smith {Rel. Sem.^ p. 221 note) with one another and with the idea * that the efficacy of the sacrifice lay in the living flesh and blood of the victim. Everything of the nature of putrefaction was therefore to be avoided.' 6. season : rendered ' set time ' in Exod. ix. 5 ; the time of day is meant (Exod. ;xii. 29 f.). *7. roast. The normal meaning of the Heb. word is ' boil ' (R. V. marg. seethe), as rendered in xiv. 21, and as it should be rendered here. The later law of P (Exod. xii. 9) forbids the flesh of the passover sacrifice to be boiled. unto thy tents: i.e. home, where the following Mazzoth festival is to be kept. For the phrase, see on Joshua xxii. 4. 8. a solemn assembly: R. V. marg. offers the alternative DEUTERONOMY 16. 9-13. D 139 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee : from the 9 time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. And 10 thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God a with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give, according as the Lord thy God blesseth thee : and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord 11 thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt remember that 12 thou wast a bondman in Egypt : and thou shalt observe and do these statutes. * Or, after the measure ofthe&e. 'closing festival,' this seventh sabbatical day being the close of the whole week ; but the word is used in a general sense also (Jer. ix. 2). Read simply 'an assembly.' 9. The * feast of weeks ' (verses 10, 16 ; Exod. xxxiv. 22) is so called because it marks the completion of the seven weeks of corn harvest ; its better-known name, Pentecost, meaning * the fiftieth ' (day), was used by Hellenistic Jews (cf. Lev. xxiii. 16). It is called * the feast of harvest ' in Exod. xxiii. 16, and * the day of firstfruits ' in Num. xxviii. 26 (here, however, no mention is made of the firstfruits). sickle : for the only other reaping instrument named in the O. T., see Jer. 1. 16 ; Joel iii. 13 (a different word). Both sickle flints, to make a cutting edge, and iron sickles have been found at Tell el Hesi {E.B. 81). 10. feast: Heb. hag^ the same word as the Arabic haj^ the well-known annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Driver prefers to render by ' pilgrimage ' ; in any case, this element in the meaning of the word must not be overlooked. Possibly ' pilgrim-feast ' may be used with advantage. with a tribute : read with R. V. marg. ; the Hebrew word probably means ' sufficiency,' and the meaning is * the full amount that thou canst afford.' 11. See on xii. 5, 7, la. 140 DEUTERONOMY 16. 13-18. D 13 Thou shalt keep the feast of ^ tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing- 14 floor and from thy winepress : and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are rs within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose : because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thine hands, 1 5 and thou shalt be altogether joyful. Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles : and they shall not appear before 17 the Lord empty : every man ^ shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee. 18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy • Heb. booths. ^ Heb. according to the gift 0/ his hand. 13. The feast of booths (R. V. marg.) is called in Exod. xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22 (JE) the feast of ingathering ; and, as the chief of the three, is also called simply ' the feast ' (i Kings viii. 2, 65, &c.). The custom of living in * booths ' at the vintage season has been enshrined in the law of Lev. xxiii. 40-3. The feast is the autumn thanksgiving for the produce of the year, which the vintage completes (September). 15. Cf. Lev. xxiii. 39; this feast, only, retains the worshippers more than a day at Jerusalem. 16 f. The concluding summary is parallel with Exod. xxiii. 17. appear before : the original punctuation of the Hebrew verb here as elsewhere (xxxi. 11, &c.), perhaps expressed 'see the face of (cf. 2 Sam. iii. 13, &c.), the phrase used of obtaining audience of a king or ruler. xvi. 18 — xviii. aa (except xvi. ai — xvii. 7) : Judges, King, Priests, Prophets. The appointment of local judges whose judicial acts DEUTERONOMY 16. 19, 20. D 141 gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, according to thy tribes : and they shall judge the people with righteous judgement. Thou shalt not wrest judgement ; thou 19 shalt not respect persons : neither shalt thou take a gift ; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the ^ words of the righteous. ^' That which is ^° altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, * Or, cause ^ Heb. JusHcey justice. shall be impartial (xvi. 18-20). Reference of difficult cases to a court of appeal at Jerusalem, whose decisions shall be final, con- tempt of court being punishable with death (xvii. 8-13). The future king of Israel shall be Yahweh's choice and an Israelite (xvii. 14, 15). He shall not multiply horses, wives, or wealth verses 16, 17). A royal copy of this law shall be made, which he shall study and obey, that he may be saved from pride and disobedience, and may prolong his reign and that of his d3'nasty (verses 18-20). The Levitical priests, having no other inheritance, shall be supported from the offerings made to Yahweh and from dues paid by the people (xviii. 1-5). Local Levites who come up to Jerusalem shall there have equal rights of ministry and support with their brethren (verses 6-8). The magic and divination of Canaan shall not be practised by Israel (verses 9-14^ Instead, there shall be a succession of prophets to take the place of Moses, authoritatively commissioned by Yahweh, the test of the true prophet being the conformity of his message to actual events (verses 15-22). xvi. 18 f. Judges. 18. Judges and officers : the appointment of these local (In all thy grates) judges and their assistants was rendered ni i^es- sary by the destruction of the local sanctuaries, whose priests had given judgements in the name of Yahweh (Exod. xxi. 6, xxii. 8 ; I Sam. ii. 25 ; Isa. xxviii. 7). Josephus makes the appointment to be of seven judges for each city, each with two Levites to assist him {Antiq. iv. 8. 14)— a description probably drawn from the customs of his own day. For examples of the powers of these judges, cf xix. 17, xxi. 2, xxv. 2. The relation of these judges to the ' elders * (see on xix. 11) is not clear. 19. Cf. the Code of Hammurabi, § 5, for the severe sentence on the judge who revokes his own properly declared verdict (pre- sumably on corrupt grounds). Attempted bribery is there punirfied by the penalty from which escape is sought, § 4. words : so the Hebrew, but in sense of R« V. mai^. 142 DEUTERONOMY 16. 21—17. i. D and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 21 Thou shalt not plant thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou 2 2 shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up a ^ pillar ; which the Lord thy God hateth. 17 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God an ox, or a sheep, wherein is a blemish, or any evilfavoured- ness : for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. * Or, obelisk xvi. 21 — xvii. 7. Laws against Idolatrous or Improper Worship. No Asherah and no Mazzebah shall be erected b^' Yahweh's altar (xvi. 21, 22) ; no blemished animal shall be sacrificed to Him (xvii. i) ; the Israelite convicted through tw^o witnesses of w^or- shipping other gods shall be stoned to death (xvii. 2-7). This short section is clearly out of place, since it breaks the connexion between xvi. 20 and xvii. 8. Its most natural place would be between chaps, xii and xiii. 21. Asherah : (vii. 5, xii. 3) this transliteration of the Hebrew word is not to be regarded as the name of a person (the existence of any goddess of this name is uncertain) nor confused with Ashtoreth, the Phoenician goddess. It was a wooden post (Judges vi. 26), which stood by Canaanite altars (Judges vi. 25 : cf. Exod. xxxiv. 13), and by the altars of Yahweh, prior to the Deuteronomic reform (2 Kings xiii. 6, xxiii. 6, 15). The most natural explanation regards it as a development from tree-worship (cf. Rel. Sem., p. 188 ; and for a popular account of tree-worship, Phil pot, The Sacred Tree). 22. pillar, or, 'Mazzebah,' is the upright stone, frequently named with the Asherah as standing by the altar or high place (vii. 5, xii. 3). There were sacred stones at Shechem (Joshua xxiv. 26), Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 18 f.), Gilgal (Joshua iv. 20) ; cf. Hosea iii. 4 {Rel. Sem., 203). For the place of the sacred stone in Semitic religion, see Moore's art. ' Massebah ' in E.B. ; it appears to have been * the rude precursor of the temple and the altar as well as of the idol ' {E.B. 2982V An illustration of a Phoenician Mazzebah will be found in D.B. s. v. ' Pillar.' xvii. 1. blemish: xv. 21 ; Lev. xxii. 17-25 (H) : cf. Lev. i. 3 (P , &c. The abomination (vii. 25) of such an offering is em- phasized in Mai. u 8. DEUTERONOMY 17. 2-8. D 143 If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of 2 thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that doeth that which is evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath 3 gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven^ which I have not commanded ; and it be told thee, and 4 thou hast heard of it, then shalt thou inquire diligently, and, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel ; then shalt thou bring 5 forth that man or that woman, which have done this evil thing, unto thy gates, even the man or the woman ; and thou shalt stone them with stones, that they die. At 6 the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is to die be put to death ; at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hand of the 7 witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee. If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgement, 8 between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and 2f. Cf. Exod. xxii. 20 (JE) and Deut. xiii, which deals with seduction to this idolatry. covenant: cf. Joshua vii. 11, 15, &c.: see on iv. 13. Here the term is equivalent to * ordinance ' or * injunction.* 3. See on iv. 19. 4. Cf. xiii. 14. 5. The idolater is to be stoned to death without the gate (cf. Num. XV. 36). Stephen died under this law (Acts vii. 57 f.). 6. A special application of the general provision of xix. 15 : cf. Num. XXXV. 30. 7. See on xiii. 9 ; and note that in both cases the death penalty is carried out by the entire community (cf. E.B. 2718). 8 f. The subject of xvi. 18-20 is continued ; difficult cases shall be referred from the local courts to Jerusalem. between blood and blood: i.e. whether the act of killing has been intentional or accidental (Exod. xxi. ia-14). Similar 144 DEUTERONOMY 17. 9-12. D between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates : then shalt thou arise, and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose ; 9 and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days : and thou shalt inquire ; and they shall shew thee the sentence of 10 judgement : and thou shalt do according to the tenor of the sentence, which they shall shew thee from that place which the Lord shall choose ; and thou shalt observe to I r do according to all that they shall teach thee : according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgement which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do : thou shalt not turn aside from the 12 sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that doeth pre- sumptuously, in not hearkening unto the priest that difficulties might arise in regard to the plea (a general word), in- cluding, if not designating, disputes about property (e.g. Exod. xxii. if.) and in regard to the stroke, which refers to personal injuries (such as those of Exod. xxi. 18 f.). within thy grates : i. e. locally (xii. is), hardly with refer- ence to the ' gate ' as the place of judgement. 9. the priests the Levites : see on xviii. i. the judge : possibly the king is meant, as in Amos ii. 3 ; Micah V. i. That the king was supreme judge in Israel is clear from 2 Sam. viii. 15, xiv. 4 f., xv. a, i Kings vii. 7, &c. A supreme court is said to have been instituted by Jehoshaphat, according to 2 Chron. xix. 8, of spiritual and lay judges, with the chief priest as president in sacred, and a representative of the king in secular cases. thou shalt inquire: read with LXX 'they shall inquire' (cf. xix. 18), i.e. the judges who will 'declare' (R.V. shew) the sentence. 10. tenor : Hebrew * mouth ' : cf. xix. 15, xxi. 5 (* word '). The idiom ' according to the mouth of ' here expresses * exactly,' or 'literally.' teach : ' direct,' the verb corresponding to the noun ' torah ' (verse 11), * direction,' and so ' law.' 18. The relation of the 'priest' and the 'judge' is not clear, DEUTERONOMY 17. 13-16. D 145 standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, of unto the judge, even that man shall die : and thou shalt put away the evil foom Israel. And' ail the people ^ail 13 hear, and fear, aaid do no more presumptuously. When thou art come unto the land Which tbe' t/OR» M thy GodI ^veth thee, and shait possess it; atrid shale dweli' therein ; and shalt say, I will seta klrtg over me, lilte' as all the nations that are round' about me ; thou shalt in 15 any wise set him king over thee, \f1iom the Lord thy God shall choose : one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee : thou mayest not put a foreigner over thee, which is not thy brother. Only he shall not r6 multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses : forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you. Ye shall unless we suppose that a division of jurisdiction is implied (see on verse 9). For put away, see on xiii. 5. The decision is that of Yahweh ; hence the severe penalty for contempt of court. xvii. 14-20. The future king, 14. I will set a king* over me : cf. i Sam. viii. 5, which belongs to the later of the two narratives of the institution of the kingship, representing Samuel as hostile to such institution. Deuteronomy shares something of this hostility, drawn from the actual experience of the monarchy (verse 16), and expressed in previous prophetic teaching (e. g. Hos. viii. 4). 15. The king must be Yahweh's choice (i Sam. x. 24 ; 2 Sam. vi. 21), and a native Israelite. 16. 17. The prohibition of multiplied horses, wives, and wealth is clearly aimed at such conduct as Solomon's (i Kings x. 14 — xi. 8), and implies the memory of his reign. horses : i. e. for war. The Hebrew suspicion of foreign methods of fighting is reflected in Joshua xi. 9, where the captured horses are houghed. Cf. Hos. xiv. 3 ; Isa. ii. 7 ; Micah v. 10. to return to Egypt : hardly of an Israelite slave-trade (Steuemagel), but of the general relations of commerce, as in I Kings X. 28. Egypt was famous for its horses. hath said : cf. xxviii. 68 ; the source of tliis quotation is not included in the extant O. T. documents; but cf. Exod. xiii. 17, xiv. 13. L 146 DEUTERONOMY 17. 17— 18. i. D 17 henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away : neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. 18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites : 19 and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life : that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these 20 statutes, to do them : that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the command- ment, to the right hand, or to the left : to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel. 18 The priests the Levites, ^ even all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel : they » Or, and 17. that Ms heart tuim not away : as did Solomon's (i Kings xi. 4 f.), through the foreign religion of the women of his harem. silver and gold : as a source of pride (verse 20 : cf. Isa. xxxix). 18 f. The king is to v^^rite out for himself the Deuteronomic law from the sanctuary edition (xxxi. 9, 26), and rule by its precepts, a copy of this law: Hebrew, 'a repetition of this law,' wrongly understood by the LXX (so in Joshua viii. 32) as meaning ' this repetition of the law,' whence is derived the name of the book ' Deuteronomy,' the * second law.' xviii, 1-8. The Priests: (a) support (verses 1-5), {b) equality (verses 6-8). 1. The priests the Levites: i. e., as the verse explicitly states (' all the tribe of Levi '), every Levite is a potential or actual priest. (There is no ground for R. V. marg.). The later law of P con- fined the priesthood to * Aaron's sons, the priests ' (Lev. i. 5, &c.) : see on x. 8. no portion nor inheritance with Israel. The early history of the tribe of Levi is obscurely reflected in Gen. xxxiv. 25, 30, xlix. 5f., where it appears as a secular tribe ; in Deut. xxxiii. 8 11 it appears as a priestly community. We have no clear evidence as to the transition ; but the passages cited from Genesis imply the disappearance of Levi and Simeon as distinct tribes. The most DEUTERONOMY 18. 2-6. D 147 shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and his inheritance. And they shall have no inheritance among 2 their brethren : the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath spoken unto them. And this shall be the priests' due 3 from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The 4 firstfruits of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all thy 5 tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for ever. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all 6 probable explanation of the priestly character, subsequently as- signed to Levi, is that the descendants of the Levite Moses became a nucleus for priests in general, of whatever tribal origin, who replaced the old scattered or exterminated secular tribe. (For fuller details, see D. B. s. v. * Levi.') the offerings of Yahweh made by fire : i Sam. ii. 28 ; Josh, xiii. 14 (interpolated) and often in P ; ' it is thus used of the burnt-offering (Lev. i. 9), the meal-offering (Lev. ii. 3), the thank- offering (Lev. iii. 3), the guilt-offering (Lev. vii. 5), in all of which specified parts were the perquisite of the priests (Lev. ii. 3, vii. 6-10; Num. xviii. 9 f.).' (Driver.) his inheritance : i. e. such other dues as are named in verse 4. Cf. verse 2, ' Yahweh (therefore the offerings made to Him) is their inheritance.' 3. The dues from the fire-offerings (of D) are stated ; contrast those of Lev. vii. 34 ; Num. xviii. 18, where the breast and thigh are assigned (P). For the priest's share in earlier times see I Sam. ii. 13-16 : cf. Judges xvii. 10. 4. Cf. Num. xviii. 12. For the earlier offering of firstfruits, see Exod. xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26 (JE) : see on xxvi. 2 f., and cf. Rel. Sent., p. 241. xviii. 6-8. The (dispossessed) country priests (Levites) shall be at liberty to come to Jerusalem and receive an equal place in ministry and support with the priests already there. Contrast 2 Kings xxiii. 9 (Introd., p. 11). sojoumeth : his occupation being gone, he can no longer be re- garded as a settled resident. Deuteronomy knows of no Levitical cities. L 2 f48 DEUTERONOMY 18. 7-10. D Israel, where he sojourneth, and come with all the desire of his soul unto the place which the Lord shall choose ; 7 then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there 8 before the Lord. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony. 9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the 10 abominations of those nations. There shall not be found with thee any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the firci one that Useth divination, one that 6. and come : * he shall come ' is preferable, with < and * for * then ' in verse 7. 8. beside that whicli coxuetli of the sale of his patrimony : * besides his sellings according to the fathers,' i. e. the sale either of his local possessions (R. V.) or of private dues on leaving for Jeru- salem. So Driver, who adds — ' 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.' xviii. 9-22. Prophets : the contrast of prophecy with (heathen) magic and divination. 10. pass througrh the fire : cf. xii. 31 ; the reference is to the rites of Molech-worship (Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2-5), frequently con- demned by the prophets (Jer. vii. 31) : cf. 2 Kings xvi. 3, xvii. 17, xxi. 6, xxiii. lo, for its prevalence amongst Israelites. Victims were actually killed, according to these and other passages, though little is known of the details of the ceremony. We may explain the words as referring to some fire-ordeal, supposed to elicit a divine response (so Driver, p. 222). The following list of eight varieties of the magician or diviner forms a locus classicus for the study of the subject. The terms (fully discussed in Driver's Commentary) are : — (i) One that useth divination: as by the headless arrows (Ezek. xxi, 21) used in drawing lots at a sanctuary by the Arabs; this is the most general term. (2) one that practiseth augfury : a sooth- sayer, the Hebrew term (Judges ix. 37, cf. R. V. marg.) perhaps denoting one who muttered his incantations. (3) an enchanter : or observer of omens (Gen. xliv. 5 ; Num. xxiv. i . (4) a sorcerer : using material means in his magic ,Micah v. 12 ; cf. Exod. xxii. J DEUTERONOMY 18. ir-17. D 149 practiseth augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a n charmer, or a consulter with a famihar spirit, or a wizard;, or a necromancer. For whosoever doeth these things is 12 an abomination unto the Lord : and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the 13 Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt 14 possess, hearken unto them that practise augury, and unto diviners : but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. The Lord thy God will raise 15 up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken ; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy 16 God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well said 17 18). (5) a cliamier : as of serpents (Ps. Iviii. 5), the term perhaps expressing one who composes a spell. (6) and (7) A consulter witli a familiar spirit, or a wizard : rather. ' with a ghost or familiar spirit ' (Lev. xx. 27), the former exemplified by the ' witch of Endor' (i Sam. xxviii. 7), the latter perhaps by Acts xvi. 16. (8) a necromancer, or inquirer of the dead : cf. Isa. viii. 19. Thus (i), (2), (3) relate to divination, (4), (5) to magic, (6), (7), (8) to mediumistic spiritualism. A somewhat similar list of names can be collected from Baby- lonian literature (Jastrow, Bab.-Assyrian Religion, p. 657). The first two laws of the Code of Hammurabi are concerned with the weaver of spells. 14 f. The contrast of Israel's means of knowing hidden and future things is now enforced. 15. a prophet: i.e. a succession of prophets, as the whole { passage implies, who will continue to take the spiritual place of ' Moses (like unto me). The Messianic application of this promise to Christ (Acts iii. 22, vii. 37) is foreign to Deuteronomy. from the midst of thee, of thy brethren : Israelites, not foreign magicians. 16, 1*7. See V. 27, 28. I50 DEUTERONOMY 18. i8--19. i. D 1 8 that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee ; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall 19 speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will 20 require it of him. But the prophet, which shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the 21 name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart. How shall we know the word 22 which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken : the prophet hath spoken it presump- tuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him. 19 When the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations, 18. What was said (v. 31) of Moses is here (verses 18-20) generalized and applied to the line of future prophets. The prophet, like the apostle (2 Cor. v. 20), is essentially the am- bassador of God. 19. Z will require : the * I ' is emphatic in the Hebrew. Yahweh vindicates the prophet's word. 20. presujnptnously : in xvii. 12 of sins of omission, as here of commission. Cf. Jer. vi. 13, 14, &c. 22. The test of the prophet of Yahweh is the observed truth of his predictions. If he is supported by events, he is supported by Yahweh ; otherwise he need not be dreaded. This test is explicitly rejected for the prophets of other gods (xiii. 1-5) ; nor is the higher Hebrew prophecy nearly so much predictive as inierpretative. xix-xxv. The remainder of the Code of Laws admits of no natural division on the basis of its present order. The laws are of a miscellaneous character, and many of them might be grouped, by rearrangement, under the four heads of {a) criminal law, (b) warfare, (c) family and marriage relationships, (, to which the killer belonged, who would have to decide on the forthcoming evidence as to motive (accord- ing to Joshua XX. 4, the elders of the city of refuge had to decide on the man's original admission). The execution of the death sentence still remains with the kinsman of the slain — the only case in which the death-penalty is not executed by the community {E.B. 2718). xix. 14. Landmarks not to be removed. remove: Hebrew 'set back' (xxvii. 17; Prov. xxii. 28, xxiii. 10 ; Job xxiv. 2 ; Hos. v. 10). Many nations have put their private boundary marks under religious sanctions. For the Roman god Terminus, see Merivale, Romans under the Empire, iv. p. 77. Babylonian private boundary-stones bear dedications to gods (Cook, Laws of Moses, p. 183) : on the sacred character of such stones, see Clay Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 166 f. 154 DEUTERONOMY 19. 15-20. D which they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit, in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. 15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth : at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, 16 shall a matter be established. If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of «• wrong 17 doing ; then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the iS judges which shall be in those days ; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition : and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his 19 brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother : so shalt thou put away the evil 20 from the midst of thee. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any * Or, rebellion See ch. xiii. 5. Hosea is the only previous writer to refer to their removal. ' The numerous references to the offence in the later writings stand out in striking contrast to the silence of the Book of the Covenant' (Cook, op. citf p. 195). landmark: 'boundary,' perhaps a line of stones. xix. 15-21. Law of Witness. At least two witnesses shall be required for conviction (verse 15). False witness shall be punished by rigorous infliction on the perjurer of the penalty he sought to bring on another (verses 16-21 \ 15. Cf. xvii. 6; Num. xxxv. 30 (both with special reference to a death-penalty). 16. an unrigrhteons witness : Heb. ' a witness of violence ' (Exod. xxiii. i). 17. The case is referred to the court at Jerusalem (xvii. g) as * before Yahweh ' (cf. xii. 7) implies. 19. as he had thoug-ht; rather 'purposed.' Somewhat similar laws are found in the Code of Hammurabi : § 4. * If as witness to corn or money he has lied, he shall himself bear the sentence of that case ' (cf. § 3). DEUTERONOMY 19. 21— 20. 2. D 155 such evil in the midst of thee. And thine eye shall not a i pity ; life shall go for Ufe, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, 20 and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shalt not be afraid of them : for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye draw nigh unto the battle, 2 that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, 21. The»«5 talionis is quoted as the principle of the treatment of the false witness. Cf. Exod. xxi. 24 (JE) ; Lev. xxiv. i8, 20 (H). For its thorough-going application in the Code of Hammurabi, see Cook {pp. cit,, p. 249). XX. 1-20. Laws of Warfare. Since Yahweh is with Israel there shall be no fear in facing a more numerous foe (verse i). Before a battle, the priest shall exhort Israel to this effect (verses 2-4), and the officers shall proclaim that whoever has built a house, planted a vineyard, or betrothed a wife, without opportunity for their enjoyment, shall return home (verses 5-7) ; also, that those who are afraid shall return (verse 8). Leaders shall then be appointed (verse 9), The city to be attacked shall be allowed, if it surrenders at the outset, to become subject to Israel (verses 10, 11) ; otherwise its males shall be killed and all else be Israel's spoil verses 12-15). This does not apply to the Canaanite cities, whose inhabitants and contents must be ' devoted ' to Yahweh (verses 16-18). In besieging a city, its fruit-trees shall not be destroyed (verses 19, 20). The original place of this chapter may have been after xxi. 9, as it interrupts the subject of chap, xix, and xxi. 1-9, and its own subject is continued in xxi. 10. No parallels to these laws are found in the other O. T. codes ; their aim (characteristic of Deutero- nomy) is to introduce certain principles of humanity into warfare. (The student should note Schwally's monograph on the subject of this chapter, Semitische Krtegsaltertumer, I). 1. horses and chariots : always a source of alarm to Israel (Joshua xvii. 16 ; Judges i. 19). 2. the priest : his presence being explained by the ancient conception of warfare as a sacred act and the camp as a sacred place (xxiii. pf.). *The camp, the cradle of the nation, was also the oldest sanctuary. There was Israel and there was Yahweh ' (Wellhausen, Israel, und Jiid. Geschichte, p. a6). See on verse 17, rS6 DEUTERONOMY 20. 3-7. D 3 and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw nigh this day unto battle against your enemies : let not your heart faint; fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye affrighted 4 at them ; for the Lord your God is he that :goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying. What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it ? let him go and return to his house, lest 6 he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not ^-used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man 7 use the fruit thereof. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her ? let him go and * See ch. xxviii. 30, and Lev. xix. 23-25. xxiii. gf., and note the presence of the ark (i Sam. iv. sf., xiv. 18 ; 2 Sam. xi. ii) on the battlefield. 4. Bertholet well points out that in the faith of these verses King Josiah marched against Pharaoh-necoh at Megiddo (2 Kings xxiii. 29). 5. tlie officers: i. 15, cf. xvi. 18; here possibly those subor- dinates who kept the lists of warriors. dedicated it : the spirits of the soil are still propitiated by a blood -offering on the occasion of a new building (Doughtj', Arabia Deserta, i. p. 136 ; Rel. Sent., p. 133 f. : and for Syria, Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion, p. 225). On the ground of such customs amongst many peoples, Schwally {op. cit., p. 91 f.) explains this law as an exclusion from the (sacred) army of those who are likely to ' die in the battle ' because of neglected rites and unappeased demons. He cites an interesting parallel from the Iliad {11. 698 f.) : Protesilaus, having left his home half-finished, is slain by a Trojan as he leaps ashore from the ship. 6. vised the fruit thereof: Heb. 'make profane' by common use that which was previously sacred. According to Lev. xix. 23-5, new fruit-trees must be left for three years (to the spirits of the soil ?), given to Yahweh in the fourth, and actually eaten by the owner in the fifth year only. For a warrior to forsake or interrupt the ceremonies of propitiation in connexion with the vineyard is to imperil his life (Schwally, op. cit., p. 89). 7. betrothed I Heb. 'paid the bride.price for' (a Sam. iii. 14). DEUTERONOMY 20. 8-14. D 157 return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak 8 further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart. And i* shall be, when the officers have made an 9 end of speaking unto the people, that they shall appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people. When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, 10 then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make 1 1 thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall become '' tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee. And if it will 12 make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it : and when the Lord thy God 13 delivereth it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword : but the women, and 14 the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof^ shalt thou take for a prey unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, * Or, subject to taskwork The most natural explanation of this law is that it seeks to ensure posterity before the perils of battle. According to xxiv. 5 the newly-married warrior is released from service for a year. 8. feaorful : cf. Judges vii. 3. Schwally (o/>. «V.,p. 97) refers to the physical tests of courage applied amongst some primitive peoples, failure to meet which will exclude from war. 9. captains of hosts: the leaders of divisions can only be appointed when the army is purged of the unfit ; ' they ' will refer not to the (suborxdinate) officers, but is used loosely of those to whom this appointment belonged. Driver compares I Mace. iii. 55, 56. 11. tributary : Hebrewas in R. V. marg. : see note on Joshua xvi. 10. 13 f. The herem or ban (verse 17) to be applied to cities outside Canaan in a partial form (males only) ; but in its severest form to the Canaanite cities (verse 17^ 158 DEUTERONOMY 20. 15-17. D 15 which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from 1 6 thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive 17 nothing that breatheth: but thou shalt » utterly destroy them j the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and * Heb. devote. 16. nothing' that "breatlietlx : cf. Joshua xi. 14, where the phrase refers to human beings as contrasted with animals, as is its usual meaning (though * breath ' may be used of animals, as well as man, Gen. vii. 22). 17. utterly destroy: (vii. 2) ' ban ' or ' devote,' i. e. put under the herem. The same word, with the same meaning, occurs in the inscription of Mesha (Moabite Stone), where Meshasays that, having captured Nebo from Israel, he slew the whole of its 7,000 inhabitants and dragged the vessels of Yahweh before his god Kemosh, because he had ' devoted ' it to Ashtar-Kemosh (lines 16, 17). The root meaning of herem, variously applied in the different Semitic languages, denotes that which is inviolable or sacred, e.g. to the deity (xiii. 17, R. V. marg. ; see previous verse for the herem). The herem is, however, neither a sacrifice nor a present to the deity in the ordinary sense, but a taboo, the primitive method of alienating anything from ordinary use. The act of destruction naturally ensures the complete observance of the taboo. The motive that might lead to it in the special case of the herem taboo is illustrated by Num. xxi. 2, where the hereof is a bargain made to obtain the help of Yahweh. Examples of the herem will be found in i Sam. xv. 3 (Amalek to be slain, ' both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass') and Joshua vi. 17 f. (Jericho; where men and things are ' devoted,* apart from the exceptions there noted, verses 24, 25, whilst the theft and punishment of Achan, chap, vii, vividly illustrate the nature of the ^lerem), and the idea doubtless underlies other passages where the actual term does not occur (i Sam. xxii. iif.; 2 Kings xv. 16; 2 Chron. xxv. 12 f.). The Israelite idolater is to be ' devoted ' (Exod. xxii. 20), as well as the idolater of Canaan. The Deuteronomic references (e. g. verse 18) give the herem a utilitarian interpretation ; it will save Israel from the perils of a heathen environment. Parallels amongst other peoples to the general conception, with fuller information, will be found in Schwally's discussion (op. a'ty pp. 29-44), or the article ' Ban ' in E.B, DEUTERONOMY 20. 18— 21. i. D 159 the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite ; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee : that they teach you not to 18 do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making 19 war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them ; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down ; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee ? Only the trees which thou knowest that they be 30 not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall. If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy 21 the Hittite, &c. : see on vii. i, where the Girgashite is added to complete the full list of seven. commanded tliee : vii. 2 ; Exod. xxiii. 31-33. 19. For the destruction of trees, as one of the operations of warfare, see 2 Kings iii. 19, 25. Mohammed, for example, brought pressure to bear on the Banu Madir by the destruction of their (special) date-trees. The Kur'an (LIX) is made to justify this breach of Kur'anic law (cf. Margoliouth, Mohammed, p. 317). Tiglath-Pileser III exults in the same act {E.B., 4512). For private property in trees, see the Code of Hammurabi, § 59. is the tree of the field man ? a slight change in the Hebrew pointing gives this sense, which is that of the versions. The reason for the prohibition is Deuteronomic ; but more primitive ideas of the spirits dwelling in trees {Rel. Sem., p. 133) first secured the preservation of their abodes. The date-tree was worshipped by the tribe Khozaa (Burckhardt, Arabia, i. p. 299; quoted by Lubbock, Origin 0/ Civilisation, p. 305). 20. trees for meat : i. e. fruit-trees (Heb., trees of food). build bulwarks : or siege-works, of the wood of the other trees cut down : cf. Jer. vi. 6. Assyrian siege-operations are represented pictorially in E.B. s. v. 'Siege.' xxi. 1-9. Expiation of murder by some person unknown. If a murdered man be found, the murderer being unknown, the authorities of the nearest city shall be responsible for the removal of the peril of shed blood (verses 1, 2). This removal they shall i6o DEUTERONOMY 21. 2-4. D God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be 2 not known who hath smitten him : then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto 3 the cities which are round about him that is slain : and it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer of the herd, which hath not been wrought with, and which 4 hath not drawn in the yoke ; and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break effect, under the eyes of the priests, by breaking a heifer's neck and making a representative declaration of innocence (verses 3-9). There is no parallel to this law in the other O. T. codes, but its two underlying ideas, the peril of shed blood (Introd., p. 24) and corporate responsibility, find abundant illustration elsewhere. The latter is also illustrated in the Code of Hammurabi (§§ 23, 24). For the present responsibility of Arab sheikhs for their tribesmen, see Doughty, Arabia Deserta \, p. 176 ; according to th€ ancient Arab law, the people of a place in which a slain man was found had to swear that they were not ihe. murderers (W. R. Smith, Kinship, p. 263). The last-named writer thinks (MS. note quoted by Driver) that the aim of the present law was to preclude blood-feud ; we may also think, as the above parallels suggest, of the preservation of order in a district. But in any case, there is the underl3nng idea of shed blood as itself a peril. 1. in the field ; i. e. the open country, away from inhabited spots. 2. thy elders: (cf xix. n f) ; the sheikhs are the natural local authorities, to whom the judgfes (xvi. 18) are added. The arrival of the priests in verse 5 after the ceremony is begun is peculiar, and the reference to them suggests its own addition by a writer who regarded the act as sacrificial and therefore requiring their presence (so Bertholet and Steuernagel). 3. an heifer of the herd : which, as the sequel shows, is to take the place of the unknown murderer, and therefore must not have been profaned by common use (cf. xv. 19). drawn in the yoke : the same restriction in the case of the red heifer (Num. xix. 2) also for ceremonial use. 4. a valley with runningf water: Heb. 'a perennial wady,' i. e. one that has water through the dry season. The wady, like the heifer, must be one not profaned- by common use ; it has already a quasi-sacred character as an ever-flowing stream, whose watero will carry away the heifer's blood ; as the wady Kishon was DEUTERONOMY 21. 5-9. D r6i the heifer's neck there in the valley : and the priests 5 the sons of Levi shall come near ; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord ; and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be : and all the 6 elders of that city, who are nearest unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley : and they shall answer and say, Our 7 hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Forgive, O Lord, thy people Israel, whom thou 8 hast redeemed, and suffer not innocent blood to remain in the midst of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the innocent 9 perhaps chosen (Wellhausen, op. cit,, p. 89, note 2, cited by Bertholet) to be the place of slaughter of the prophets of Baal (i Kings xviii. 40). There may also be some connexion with the idea that a corpse defiles water. Thus when a corpse had been carried across the stream at Nebk, the inhabitants found it necessary to cut the throats of a number of sheep over the stream, so that their blood might run into the water, and the disastrous floods of the river-spirit be checked (Curtiss, op. cit., p. 200). The broken neck of the heifer may have been supposed originally to operate on the unknown murderer by symbolic magic. 5. tlie priests : see on verse 2 ; and for the appended reasons of their appearance, cf. x. 8, xviii. 5 ; xvii. 8f. 6. v/ash their hands : as did Pilate (Matt, xxvii. 24 : cf. Pss. xxvi. 6, Ixxiii. 13), such acts being for ancient thought more than what we mean by symbolic ; they actually did something to make innocent the person performing them. 8. rorgive: xxxii. 43 (R.V. 'make expiation'). The root meaning of the Hebrew word [kapper) is 'cover' : cf. Gen. xxxii. 20, ' I will appease him (with the present) ' ; Heb. * I will cover his face ', so that he may not see the wrong previously done to him. In later usage it is used either of the priest (Lev. iv. 20, ' make atonement '), or of God, who * covers,' or regards as covered, the wrongdoer (as here) or the wrong (Jer. xviii. 23, ' forgive not their iniquity'). redeemed : by the deliverance from Egypt (vii. 8\ 9. thou: emphatic in the Hebrew, as defining Israel's duty in contrast with the previous appeal to Yahweh. put away : ' exterminate ' as in xix. 13 ; note throughout the i62 DEUTERONOMY 21. 10-13. D blood from the midst of thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord. 10 When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God delivereth them into thine hands, 11 and thou earnest them away captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto 1 2 her, and w^ouldest take her to thee to wife ; then thou shalt bring her home to thine house ; and she shall shave 13 her head, and pare her nails; and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month : and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be idea of the shed blood as forming a physical-psychical peril ; no idea of moral guilt is involved. xxi. 10-14. Marriage with women captured in war. A female captive must not be made a concubine till the expiration of a month (verses 10-13). She must not subsequently be sold as a slave (verse 14). 10, For the phrases, cf. xx. i, 13 ; the paragraph belongs to the rules of warfare. 12. shave her head and pare her nails : the hair and the nails, from their rapid growth, were regarded by primitive peoples as special seats of vitality. They are cut off here because the defilement either of death or of the woman's heathen environment is supposed to cling to them in particular {Rel. Sent., p. 333 note 5) ; or viewed as part of the mourning customs (Bertholet) in connexion with the kinsmen of the woman, who are assumed to have been slain. For the cutting of the hair in such cases see xiv. i ; for this, and the paring of the nails, see Frazer, The Golden Bough, i. 388 ; for the removal of the clothes, Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa, p. 22a. For parallel customs in Arabian mourning, see Rel. Sem., p. 428 ; Kinship, p. 178. The Arabian customs (for a widow) seem to point specially to the impurity of previous cohabitation (cf. Wellhausen, Reste'^, p. 171). 13. the raiment of her captivity : i. e. the clothes worn v/hen she was taken captive, a full month : xxxiv. 8 ; Num, xx, 29. Deuteronomy here emphasizes the full dischargeof funeral obligations. For Mohammed 'captivity ipso facto dissolved marriage; and the captive wife DEUTERONOMY 21. 14-17. D 163 her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, 14 if thou have no delight in her. then thou shalt let her go whither she will ; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not deal with her ^ as a slave, because thou hast humbled her. If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the 15 other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated ; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated ; then it shall be, in the day that he 16 causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn ^> before the son of the hated, which is the firstborn : but 1 7 * Or, as a chattel ^ Or, during the life time of might at once become the concubine of the conqueror' (Margoliouth, Mohammed^ p. 461). 14. whither she will ; Heb. * according to her soul,' i, e. in freedom as opposed to slavery : cf. Exod. xxi. 8. deal with her as a slave : ' deal tyrannically with her ; ' the same word as in xxiv, 7. xxi. 15-21. The rights and duties of sons. The double portion of the firstborn son is inalienable, though his mother be not the father's favourite wife (verses 15-17). A persistently disobedient son shall be brought by his parents before the elders and stoned to death (verses 18-21). 15. two wives: e. g. Leah and Rachel (Gen. xxix. 30), Hannah and Peninnah (i Sam. i. 6), both cases illustrating the difficulties connected with the polygamy practised in Israel ; the Semitic languages, indeed, have a word in common for the rival wife. The Code of Hammurabi (§§ 144-8) appears to allow a second wife (or concubine) only when the first wife is childless, or has been seized with sickness. 16. in the day, &c. : i. e. when he announces (cf. Gen. xxiv. 36) the division of his property to be made at his death ; there were no written wills amongst the Hebrews prior to the Greek and Roman period (Nowack, Archdologie, § 64). before : Heb. ' upon the face of ; in Gen. xi. 28, Num. iii. 4, as in R. V. marg., but R. V. text is here preferable, in sense of ' in preference to ' (v. 7 ; Exod. xx. 3). M 2 i64 DEUTERONOMY 21. .8-21. D he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath : for he is the beginning of his strength ; the right of the first- born is his. 18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not hearken rg unto them : then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and no unto the gate of his place ; and they shall say unto the elders of his city. This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice ; he is a riotous liver, and a 21 drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die : so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee ; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. 17. a double portion: i.e. as the Hebrew 'a share of two,' twice as much as any of the other sons : cf. 2 Kings ii. 9 ; Zech. xiii. 8 (the same Heb. phrase). tlis right of tli8 firstljorn : for the early history of primo- geniture, see Maine's Ancient Law, chap, vii : it is not recognized in the Code of Hammurabi, which supposes an equal division to take place, apart from special gifts or allowances (§§ 165, 166). 18 f. Through the action of the community the family jurisdiction is maintained (cf. Gen. xxxviii. 24 : E.B. 2717) ; laws in Exod. xxi. 15, 17 (Lev. XX. 9) assign death to the son who strikes or curses his parents : cf. v. 16, xxvii. 16. The Code of Hammurabi enacts that ' if a man has struck his father, one shall cut off his hands ' (§ 195). 19. unto the gate: xxii. 15, xxv. 7 ; Ruth iv. if.; on Syrian gateways, as courts of justice, &c., see D.B. ii. pp. 1 10-13; Thomson, The Land and the Book., p. 27. 20. a riotous liver : or ' glutton ' ; Heb. one who makes light of, squanders, used especially of gluttony (Prov. xxiii. 21). 21. Cf. xiii. ro, xvii. 5, xxii. 24. The original absolute power of parents over children (Exod. xxi. 7; Gen. xxxi. 14 f.) is here shown in process of limitation ; the community control, while they enforce, the authority of the parents. DEUTERONOMY 21. 22—22. 3. D 165 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, 22 and he be put to deaths and thou hang him on a tree ; his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but 23 thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is ^ accursed of God ; that thou defile not thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an in- heritance. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go 22 astray, and hide thyself from them : thou shalt surely bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother 2 be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thine house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. And so shalt thou do with his ass ; and ?> so shalt thou do with his garment ; and so shalt thou do * Heb. the curse of God. xxi. 22, 23. The suspended body to be buried the same day. 22. he be put to death : i. e. by some method other than by hanging ; the latter was applied to the body already dead (Joshua viii. 29, X. 26 ; i Sam. xxxi. 10; 2 Sam. iv. 12). 23. accursed of Crod : (Gal. iii. 13) probably, as Dillmann suggests, because those whose bodies were so treated were 'devoted,' or were criminals of the darkest type ; we must connect with this the primitive conception of the peril to the community of a corpse thus publicly exposed (' that thou defile not thy land'). xxii. 1-12. Various Laws : regard for neighbours (verses 1-4) ; distinction of sex (verse 5) ; mother-bird to be spared (verses 6, 7); battlements (verses 8, 9); mixtures (verses 10, 11); tassels (verse 12). 1 f. See Exod. xxiii. 4, 5, where also, in briefer form, it is commanded that the strayed ox or ass be restored and the fallen beast of burden lifted. There, however, these belong to * thine enemy ' ; ' brother ' is a wider term, though it makes the law less emphatic. Verses 2, 3 (except the reference to ass) are here added to the earlier form of the law. hide thyself; Isa. Iviii. 7 ; Ps. I v. i : cf. Isa. liii. 3 (a different word). Cf. Luke x. 31, 32. 3. According to Lev. vi. 1-7, failure to restore a lost article is i66 DEUTERONOMY 22. 4-7. D with every lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found : thou mayest not hide thyself. 4 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them : thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. 5 A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment : for whosoever doeth these things is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. 6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the youngs or upon the eggs, thou 7 shalt not take the dam with the young : thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. treated as theft and punished with a fine of one-fifth the value. In the Code of Hammurabi, identification by witnesses is required in the case of a lost (stolen) article found in another's hands (§§ 9-13). xxii. 5. Sexual Morality. The sexes must not interchange attire. This law refers to practices, like those in connexion with the wor- ship of Cybele or Aphrodite, in which men acted as women and women as men : see Robertson Smith, O.T.J.C.', p. 365. abomination : vii. 25 : of. xviii. 12 for a similar religious application of this term. xxii. 6, 7. Birds^ Nests. The mother-bird is not to be taken with her eggs or young from a nest found by chance. The law may here illustrate the 'kindness to animals' of Deuteronomy (as in XXV. 4 and xxii. 1-4), but probably goes back to some earlier con- ception such as the ' right of user ' suggested by Fenton (quoted by Driver) ; the bird is common property, its produce alone belongs to the person finding it. that it may be well with thee, &c. : cf. v. 16 ; the same promise is attached to sparing the mother-bird as to honouring parents. DEUTERONOMY 22. 8-10. D 167 When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make 8 a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. Thou shalt not 9 sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed : lest the » whole fruit be ^ forfeited, the seed which thou hast sown, and the increase of the vineyard. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. 10 * Heh, fulness, ^ Heb. consecrated. xxii. 8. Parapets to House-roofs. The nearest parallel is that of Exod. xxi. 33, 34, which makes a man who has left a pit uncovered responsible for the loss of an ox or ass falling into it. A group of laws in the Code of Hammurabi affirming the responsibility of builders for accidents comes nearer to the present injunction (§§ 229-33). a battlement for tliy roof: see on Joshua ii. 6. blood upon thine house: cf. xix. 10, xxi. 8. Primitive thought extends the idea of 'guilt' not only to animals (Exod. xxi. 28 f.), but also to inanimate objects (Frazer, The Golden Boughj ii. p. 294). xxii. 9-1 1. Mixtures {of seedy ploughing animals, and stuff) for- bidden. For the first and last see Lev. xix. 19 ; the second and the reason for the first are here only. The origin of these laws is obscure : see Introd., p. 27. 9. vineyard: Lev. xix. 19, 'field,' an extension of the present law. Vines are planted far enough apart for the plough to pass between {D.B. iv. 868), so that there would be room for the sowing of a different crop. two kinds of seed : * the modern Palestinian custom which compels a man to sow on his strips of land the same seed as the rest, in order that all may harvest at the same time, suggests an explanation ' (Cook, The Laws of Moses, p. 195). This utiHtarian explanation, however, belongs to a later age ; some practice in connexion with heathen cults is more likely to be involved ; e. g. the symbolical representation of the union of deities (Steuernagel). be forfeited : R. V. marg. ' consecrated,' i. e. to the sanctuary (Joshua vi. 19). The man will lose both his grapes and his other crop as a penalty for his irreligious act. 10. Cf. Lev. xix. 19, ' Thou shalt not make thy cattle breed in two kinds,' which may state more directly the general purpose of the present law. ' Mules, however, were used in David's time and later (2 Sam. xviii. 9; i Kings i. 33, xviii. 5)' (S.B.O.T., Lev., p. 89). An ox and an ass yoked together may still be found in Palestine. i68 DEUTERONOMY 22. 11-15. D 11 Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuif, wool and linen together. 1 2 Thou shalt make thee ^ fringes upon the four borders of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself. 1 3 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate 14 her, and lay shameful things to her charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens 1 5 of virginity : then shall the father of the damsel, and her '^ Or, twisted threads 11. Nothing is known of the practice aimed at, though the context (verses 5, 13 f.) suggests some sexual reference; perhaps the union of male and female deities was tacitly recognized by this (Egyptian ?) cloth. xxii. 12. Memorial tassels to be wont. Cf. Num. xv, 37-41, where the reason for wearing these is given (cf. vi. 8, xi. 18). fringes: (R. V. marg. to be read) 'twisted cords' called 'Zizith' or tassels in Num. xv. 38 {D.B. i. p. 627). Introd., p. 49. vesture : the outer garment made of a square piece of cloth, used also to sleep in (Exod. xxii. 26). xxii. 13-30. Sexual Relations. If a man questions the previous virginity of his newly married wife, her parents shall bring the circumstantial proof to the elders, and the man shall be fined and lose the right of divorce. If the proof is not forthcoming, the woman shall be stoned to death (verses 13-21). Adultery shall be punished by the death of both persons (verse 22). The same penalty applies in the case of the seduction of a betrothed woman, taking place in the city ; in the country, the woman shall be presumed innocent, and the man only shall die (verses 23-7). In the case of an unbetrothed woman, the man seducing her shall marry her without right of divorce, paying the bride-price to her father (verses 28, 29). An inheriting son shall not marry his father's wife (verse 30). 14. the tokens of vir^nity: see the (Latin) Appendix of Trumbull's The Threshold Covenant, pp. 243-52. Parallels amongst other peoples are cited by Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, pp. 123, 124. Physiologically, the evidence is by no means conclusive ; it is still, however, regarded as essential in Egypt and Palestine, as elsewhere also. DEUTERONOMY 22. 16-22. D 169 mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate : and the 1 6 damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her ; and, 1 7 lo, he hath laid shameful things to her charge, saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity ; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take the man and 18 chastise him ; and they shall amerce him in an hundred 19 shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel : and she shall be his wife ; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, that 20 the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel : then 2 1 they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die : because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house : so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an 22 I'T. the gfarment : i.e. camisia sponsae sanguine inquinata, quae ut testimonium virginitatis custodiri consuevit. 18. clxastise him: probably corporal punishment is intended (cf. XXV. 3), as is understood by Josephus, Antiq. iv. 8. 23. 19. amerce: i.e. 'fine,' the fine being twice that for the seduction of a virgin (verse 29), and paid to the father as defamed by the false report. Its nominal ^100 silver shekels at 25. gd.) equivalent is a little less than £14. 20. If the physical evidence be not forthcoming, the charge is regarded as proved, and the woman accordingly punished. 21. The place of the punishment is that of the sin ; the father, moreover, was responsible for his daughter. stone her : see on xiii. 10, and cf. xxi. 21. folly in Israel: rather 'senselessness' : cf. Joshua vii. 15 (Achan") ; usually, as here, of acts of immorality (,Gen. xxxiv. 7). 22. For other laws relating to adultery, see v. 18 ; Lev. xviii. I70 DEUTERONOMY 22. 33-27. D husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman : so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel. 23 If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her ; 24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die ; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city ; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife : so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee. 25 But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her ; then the 26 man only that lay with her shall die : but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death : for as when a man riseth against his 27 neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: for 20, XX. 10. The punishment was assumed to be that of verse 24, i. e. death by stoning (Ezek, xvi. 40 ; John viii. 5). The parallel law in the Code of Hammurabi reads, * If the wife of a man has been caught in lying with another male, one shall bind them and throw them into the waters. If the owner of the wife would save his wife, or the king would save his servant (he may) ' (§ 129). xxii. 23 f. The parallel law in the Code of Hammurabi is, ' If a man has forced the wife of a man who has not known the male, and is dwelling in the house of her father, and has lain in her bosom, and one has caught him, that man shall be killed, the woman herself shall go free ' (§ 130). 23. betrothed : see on xx. 7 ; the bride-price having been paid, she is the property of her husband, and the case becomes one of adultery (cf. ' his neighbour's wife '). in tlie city : where, presumably, the woman might have been rescued had she appealed for help (* because she cried not '). 25. in tlie field: here the woman's innocence is presumed, for the reason given in verse 27. force her : rather, * take hold of her ' (s Sam. xiii. 11). 26. as when a man riseth : i. e. the sudden attack in each case found a defenceless victim. DEUTERONOMY 22. 28—23. i. D 171 he found her in the field ; the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not 28 betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found ; then the man that lay with her shall give unto 29 the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her j he may not put her away all his days. ^ A man shall not take his father's wife, and shall not 30 uncover his father's skirt. He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy 23 member cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord. » [Ch. xxiii. I in Heb.] 28, 29. The case of the unbetrothed woman is on a different footing ; no marital rights are involved (cf. Exod. xxii. 16, 17). Consequently, the man pays the bride-price (see on verse 19) as in an ordinary marriage, his penalty being the loss of the right of divorce. The price of a slave was thirty shekels (Exod. xxi. 32). 30. Cf. Lev. xviii. 8, xx. 11 ; a similar prohibition of marriage with a step-mother occurs in the Kur'an (iv. 26), aimed at the inheritance of women in the same way as other property (Robertson Smith, Kinship, p. 86). his father's skirt : xxvii. 20 : cf. Ezek. xvi. 8 ; Ruth iii. 9 A probable parallel to this law (Cook, op. cit, p. loi) occurs in the Code of Hammurabi, § 158 : ' If a man, after his father, has been caught in the bosom of his head wife who has borne children, that man shall be cut off from his father's house.' The present law is the first instance of legislation as to forbidden degrees (cf. Lev. xviii and xx). xxiii. 1-8. Classes excluded from the assembly of Yahweh : eunuchs, bastards, Ammonites and Moabites, but not the third generation of an Edomite or Egyptian. 1. The verse refers to two methods of making eunuchs (crushed testicles, abscission of penis). Such mutilations were practised in certain forms of Syrian worship ; the prohibition is probably, like that in xiv. i, directed against association with heathenism. the assembly of Yahweh : Israel as a religious community (Mic. ii. 5). The conception is developed by priestly writers, though in P ' congregation ' (edah, Exod. xii. 3, &c.) replaces 172 DEUTERONOMY 23. 2-7. D 2 A bastard shall not enter into the assembl)' of the Lord ; even to the tenth generation shall none of his enter into the assembly of the Lord. 3 An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord ; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of the 4 Lord for ever : because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt ; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of * Mesopotamia, to curse thee. 5 Nevertheless the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam ; but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the Lord thy God loved thee. 6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. 7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy * Heb. Aram-naharaim. * assembly ' {kdhdl). A place in this community is extended even to the eunuch in Isa. Ivi. 4 f, 2. a "bastard : possibly * child of incest ' (cf. xxii. 30), unclean by origin. to the tenth generation : i. e. never (verse 3 end). 3. Ammonite, Moabite: excluded by the previous verse, according to Gen. xix. 30 f. 4 f. Their exclusion is grounded on history, possibly by a later addition. they met you not, &c. : contrast ii. 29, where the Moabites are said to have sold food and water to Israel. they hired against thee, &c. (Heb, ' he * = king of Moab) ; this relates to the Moabites only, Num. xxii. 5. 5. turned the curse into a hlessing: Num. xxiii. 11, 25, xxiv. 10. 6. A characteristic limitation of Deuteronomic humanitarianism. For the expressions see Jer. xxix. 7 ; Ezra ix. 12. This paragraph is quoted and acted upon in Neh. xiii. 1-3. It reflects the historical hostility between the two peoples and Israel (e. g. Amos i. 13 ; Zeph. ii. 8 ; Isa. xvi. 6). 7. an Edomite : ' thy brother,' as descended from Esau : cf. ii. 4-8. DEUTERONOMY 23. 8-13. D 173 brother : thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian ; because thou wast a stranger in his land. The children of the 8 third generation that are born unto them shall enter into the assembly of the Lord. When thou goest forth in camp against thine enemies, 9 then thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing. If there 10 be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of that which chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp : but 1 1 it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall bathe himself in water : and when the sun is down, he shall come within the camp. Thou shalt have a place also 12 without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad : and thou shalt have a » paddle among thy weapons ; and 13 * Or, shovel an Egryptiau : the motive for friendliness towards him is elsewhere (v. 15, xv. 15, xvi. 12, xxiv. 18, 22) used to arouse sympathy with the slave and dependant. 8. The verse refers to the descendants of those Edomites or Egyptians who have settled in Palestine and affiliated themselves to Israel. xxiii. 9-14. The holiness of the camp {nocturnal pollutions, excrement). This law belongs to the rules of warfare in chap, xx and xxi. 10-14. A wider statement of that which defiles the camp is given by P (Num. v. 1-4). A military expedition is sacred to the war-god, on whose presence it depends for success (see on XX. 2), 10. See Lev. XV. 16; all that relates to sexual life is a peril, and the taboo it imposes is rigorously respected by primitive peoples. For the sexual taboo in general during war, see i Sam. xxi. 4-6 ; 2 Sam. xi. 11. Schwally {op. cit., p. 60 f.) gives some of the parallels from other peoples : cf. also Frazer, The Golden Bough, i. 327 f. and the note, p. 328. See on xx. 5 f. 11. when evening cometh on: and a new day begins (at sunset) in which the polluted man may, after ablution, return to the camp. 13. a paddle : or * digging-stick ' ; the word occurs elsewhere as 'peg' (^tent-peg, Judges v. a6) or 'loom-stick' (Judges xvi. 14). 174 DEUTERONOMY 23. 14-17. D it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which 14 cometh from thee : for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee ; therefore shall thy camp be holy : that he see no *»- unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. 15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master a servant which 16 is escaped from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it liketh him best : thou shalt not oppress him. I'j There shall be no ^harlot of the daughters of Israel, * Heb. nakedness of any thing. ^ Heb. kedeshah. See Gen. xxxviii. ar. The excrement is not covered for any sanitary reason or motive of propriety ; for primitive peoples it is a means by which magic can be worked, and therefore to be prevented from falling into an enemy's hands. For this peril, and that of demonic influence at the time of excretion, see Schwally {pp. cit, p. 67). 14. The original grounds of the custom are replaced by one more suitable to a worshipper of Yahweh ; Yahweh Himself (cf. Gen. iii. 8) is in the camp (xx. i), which must be kept *holy.' xxiii. 15, 16. Asylum in Israel for escaped slaves. This stands in marked contrast with the severe enactments of the Code of Hammurabi concerning runaway slaves (§§ 15-20), from Babylo- nian territory ; the law of Deuteronomy apparently relates to foreign slaves only. 16. within one of tliy gfates : i. e. a city of Israel, implying that he is a foreign slave. Contrast the extradition rights allowed by Gath, i Kings ii. 39, 40. thou shalt not oppress him: so, of the ger or protected stranger (Exod. xxii. 21), whose presence in Israel would some- times be explainable in this way (escape from slavery). xxiii. 17, 18. Religious prostitution forbidden. For a classical example of the custom referred to see Herodotus I. 199 (at the temple of Aphrodite among the Babylonians). Cf. i Kings xiv. 24 and R. V. marg. 17. harlot . . . Sodomite : the Hebrew is simply a ' sacred ' DEUTERONOMY 23. 18-20. D 175 neither shall there be a * sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the wages of iS a dog, into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow : for even both these are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother ; usury 10 of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury : unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon 20 usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury : that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thine hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it * Heb. kadesh. person (male and female), with reference to immorality practised in the service of a deity. 18. dog-: the term used in a Cyprian inscription (temple of Ashtoreth) apparently to denote male prostitutes of the above class (cf. Rev. xxii. 15). Cf. Rel. Sent., p. 292. for any vow : i. e. fulfilling a pledge given to the deity. In the narrative of Herodotus, the silver coin earned is * sacred ' to Aphrodite, the woman ' having acquitted herself of her duty to the goddess.' abomination : vii. 25, xii. 31, &c. The reference is probably to the earnings, to say nothing of the earners. xxiii. ig, 20. Interest on loans allowed from foreigners only. Parallels in Exod. xxii. 25 (JE), Lev. xxv. 36, 37 (H) : cf. Ps. XV. 5. 19. lend npon nsnry: Heb. 'exact interest,' moderate or excessive. The English ' usury ' is misleading to the modern reader, who forgets that this term originally meant, and means here, simply * interest.' 20. The Bedouins of to-day take no interest on loans (Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 318; cited by Cook, Laws of Moses, p. 233). This is in accordance with those simpler conditions of life in which the loan is meant to relieve poverty, &c., not to be a business investment ; for the more complex social conditions of Babylonia, with its development of trade and commerce, see the Code of Hammurabi, §§ 49, 50. too, according to which interest is ordinarily given In a year of disaster, however, the interest on a debt is cancelled (§ 48). 176 DEUTERONOMY 23. 21— 24. i. 2 1 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not be slack to pay it : for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee ; and it would be sin in thee. 22 But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. 23 That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do; according as thou hast vowed unto the Lord thy God, a freewill offering, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. 24 When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. 25 When thou comest into thy neighbour's standing corn, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand ; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn. 24 When a man taketh a \7ife, and marrieth her, then it xxiii. 21-3. Vows. The subject is developed by P in Num. xxx (cf. verse 2) and in later Jewish casuistry. Well-known vows of the O. T. are those of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. so), Jephtbah (Judges xi. 30), Hannah (i Sam. i. ri). 21. not be slack: ' delay not ' : cf. Eccles. v. 4, 5. 23. a freewill offeringr : ' freely ' (as in Hos. xiv. 4). These vows are to be paid at Jerusalem (xii. 6, Sec). xxiii. 24, 25. Hunger, not greed, may be satisfied in a neigh- bour's vineyard or cornfield. 24. vessel : the bag or wallet of the traveller (Gen. xliii. 11 ; I Sam. ix. 7) or shepherd (i Sam. xvii. 40). 25. Cf. Matt. xii. i f. ; Mark ii. 23 f. ; Luke vi. i f. xxiv. 1-4. Divorce. A divorced woman, whose second husband has also divorced her, oris dead, may not be remarried to the first. This, and the other references to divorce (xxii, 19, 29 ; Lev. xxi. 7, 14, xxii. 13 ; Num. xxx. 9), in Hebrew law, take the custom for granted, and do not directly establish it, but deal with its relation to various contingencies. The laws of divorce in the Code of Hammurabi (§§ 137-43) are chiefly concerned with its financial aspect, and guard the woman's right to the return of her dowry or other compensation, when s!ie has not been to blame. In the O. T. no right of divorce is supposed to belong to the DEUTERONOMY 24. 2-5. D 177 shall be, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is 2 departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and 3 write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house ; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife ; her former husband, 4 which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled ; for that is abomination before the Lord : and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. When a man taketh a new wife, he shall not go out in 5 woman. Divorces were evidently very frequent in Babylonia and Israel (Mai. ii. 13-16). For a review of Semitic marriage- lav/, see Cook, The Laws of Moses, chaps, iv, v ; cf 2 Sam. iii. 14 f. ; Hos. ii, &c. 1. The apodosis is verse 4 {then her former husband, &c.), the previous three verses are governed by ' if or ' when,' and should be so translated (read ' and it shall be ' (verse i), ... * and she may go ' (verse 2), with necessary re-punctuation). some unseexnly thing- : Hebrew as in xxiii. 14 (R.V. marg.) ; interpreted by the school of Shammai of unchastity, and by the school of Hillel of any ground of dislike. * It is most natural to understand it o{ immodest or indecent behaviour^ (Driver, p. 271). Cf. Matt. v. 31, 32, xix. 7 ; Mark x. 4. a "bill of divorcement (* a writing of separation ') : Isa. 1. i ; Jer. iii. 8 (the latter expressly referring to this law). The divorce is formally and unmistakably made. Compare the Code of Ham- murabi (§ 141) ; the divorce is not valid without the legal form. Here three formalities are required — (a) the deed, (6) its service, (c) dismissal of wife. 4. defiled : i. e. through cohabitation with another man (cf Matt. V. 32), which, in the light of a remarriage, might be regarded as adultery (Lev. xviii. 20 ; Num. v. 13, 14, 20). cause the land to sin : i. e. by a ' defilement ' which exposes land and people to the wrath of Yahwch (Isa. xxiv. 5), and makes it an • abomination ' (vii. 25, &,c.) to Him. N 1 78 DEUTERONOMY 24. 6-8. D the host, neither shall he be charged with any business : he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife which he hath taken. No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge : for he taketh a man's life to pledge. y If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and he deal with him ^ as a slave, or sell him ; then that thief shall die : so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. 8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you : as I commanded them, so ye * Or, as a chattel 5. Exemption from military or other duties for one year after marriage (cf. xx. 7). cheer : Heb. ' make to rejoice,' but we should perhaps read with Vulgate (repointing the Hebrew), ' rejoice ^take pleasure) with' (so Bertholet). As stated by Deuteronomy, the law is humanitarian ; but it may rest on older ideas connected with the period of gestation (Schwally, op. cit., 79 f.). 6. The mill not to be taken as deposit for a loan (cf. verses 10- 13, 17 **), since it is essential to the life of its owner. mill: consisting of two circular stones, the upper being rotated by hand upon the lower, to grind the corn for each day's needs — to take away the upper stone was to deprive the house of the use of the mill itself, and therefore of its daily supply of bread (Exod. xi. 5 ; Isa. xlvii, 2 ; Jer. xxv. lo ; Matt. xxiv. 41 ; Rev. xviii. 22). See on verse 10 f. for pledg'e. 7. Man-stealing : repeated from Exod. xxi. 16, except that the law is here confined to Israelite victims of tyrannical dealing (on xxi. 14). Cf. the Code of Hammurabi (§ 14), ' If a man has stolen the son of a freeman, he shall be put to death.' xxiv. 8, 9. The Levitical laws in regard to leprosy are to be rigorously followed. These laws are given in Lev. xiii. 14 f., but their substance may well be pre-Deuteronomic. 8. the plague of leprosy : the ' stroke ' of this unclean disease (on which see D.B.^ iii. 95 f.) was regarded as a divine judgement (2 Kings V. 27, XV. 5) of a specially severe character, because the visible personality seemed partially destroyed (Num. xii. 12 : cf. Job iu 5). Hence, doubtless, its special treatment. as Z commanded them : i. e. Yahwch, like ' mc ' in vii. 4. DEUTERONOMY 24. 9-15. D 179 shall observe to do. Remember what the Lord thy God 9 did unto Miriam^ by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt. When thou dost lend thy neighbour any manner of 10 loan, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou n dost lend shall bring forth the pledge without unto thee. And if he be a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his 12 pledge : thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge when 13 the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee : and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor 14 and needy, whether he be of thy brethren^ or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates : in his day 15 9. Miriam : smitten with leprosy for contempt of Moses (Num. xii. 10), and kept without the camp, at Yahweh's bidding, for seven days. xxiv. 10-13. Selection and Retention of Pledges for Loans. The article deposited with a creditor as security for his loan is to be selected by the borrower ; and if it be essential to his life, it shall be speedily returned. 10. Interest, not a pledge, was forbidden in xxiii. 19, 20. 12. The rule becomes practically equivalent to that of verse 6 ; the essentials of life must not be withheld from those needing them. Similarly of the ox in the Code of Hammurabi (§ 241 : cf^ Job xxiv. 3). 13. Exod. xxii. 26, 27 (JE). The gfarment (simldk) is ' the largest and heaviest article of Oriental dress, being the dress of travel, of the shepherd, worn for protection against cold and rain, and used as a covering during s\eep\D.B., i. 625, where illustrations are given). For the pledging of clothes, of. Amos ii. 8 ; Prov. xx. 16 ; Job xxii. 6). xxiv. 14, 15. Treatment of Hired Servants : they are not to be wronged by the retention of their wages (Lev. xix. 13). 15. in his day: i.e. the day of labour (Job xiv. 6), through which are earned the wages, e. g. the * penny ' of Matt. xx. 2 f. The Code of Hammurabi gives a scale of v;ages per day for different grades of labour (§§ 273, 274"). N 2 i8o DEUTERONOMY 24. 16-19. D thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it ; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it : lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee. 16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers : every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17 Thou shalt not wrest the judgement of the stranger, nor of the fatherless ; nor take the widow's raiment to 18 pledge : but thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence : therefore I command thee to do this thing. 19 When thou reapesc thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it : it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for lest he cry, &c. : contrast verse 13, and cf. xv. 9. xxiv. 16. Individual Responsibility. A fundamental characteristic of ancient ideas of personality is the absence of legal individuality ; ancient thought and law make the family the unit (Joshua vii. 24 ; 2 Kings ix. 26) rather than the individual. For the social solidarity of the family, see v. 9 (cf. Jer, xxxi. 29 ; Ezek. xviii. 2) ; here blood-revenge is specially in view (cf. 2 Kings xiv. 6). The principle of individuality is emphasized by Ezekiel (chap, xviii); its full recognition falls largely within the sphere of Christian influences. xxiv. 17, 18. Stranger, Orphan, and Widow. These three dependent classes are grouped together, as in Exod. xxii. 21, 22 and elsewhere ; care for them is characteristic of this book. 17. wrest the judg-ement : cf. x. 18 and xvi. 19 ; Exod. xxiii. 6. the widow's raiment : cf. verses 12, 13. The widow's claims are legally recognized in various laws of the Code of Hammurabi (§§ 171, 172, 177) ; it is there also enacted that 'The buyer that has bought a utensil of a widow's sons shall lose his money and shall return the property to its owners.' 18. Cf. XV. 15. xxiv. 19-22. Gleanings to be left for the needy, in field, olive- garden, and vineyard. 19. See Lev. xix. 9, xxiii. 22 (H) ; and for the general practice as to gleaners' privileges, Rulh ii. It is a widespread custom to DEUTERONOMY 24. 20— 25. 3. D 181 the widow : that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go 20 over the boughs again : it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest 21 the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it after thee : it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. And thou shalt remember that thou wast 22 a bondman in the land of Egypt : therefore I command thee to do this thing. If there be a controversy between men, and they come 25 unto judgement, and the judges judge them ; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked; and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be 2 beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. Forty stripes he may give him, he shall 3 treat the last sheaf of corn in a special way, on the ground that it contains the corn-spirit fFrazer, The Golden Bough, ii. p. 171 f.) ; the last sheaf may have been left originally for strangers (ib. 232^) as a convenient method of disposing of its perilous contents. Here, however, a humanitarian motive has replaced a primitive superstition. 20. beatest : olives were and are beaten down from the trees in order to gather them (Isa. xvii. 6, xxiv. 13). 21. See Lev. xix. 10. XXV. 1-3. Corporal punishment to be moderate (cf. Exod. xxi. 20, of slaves only). 1. The apodosis probably begins with '■ the judge shall cause him to lie down'; read therefore 'and they shall justify' (pro- nounce innocent), . . . ' then it shall be ' (verse 2). 2. to lie down : probably for the bastinado (cf. Rob. Smith, O.T.J.C.'^, p. 368). Note here the three precautions against excessive flogging ; {a) before bis face : i. e. in the presence of th3 judge himself; (b) bynnmber ; (c) maximum of forty stripes, the exact number being proportionate, i. e. accordiner to hit' wickedne;^s. 3. forty stripes : in later practice this became * forty stripes i82 DEUTERONOMY 25. 4-6. D not exceed : lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. 4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out tJie cor?i. 5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not marry with- out unto a stranger : her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the 6 duty of an husband's brother unto her. And it shall be, save one ' (2 Cor. xi. 24), lest the legal number should be ex- ceeded by a miscount. The Code of Hammurabi (§ 202) imposes ' sixty strokes of a cow-hide whip.' should seem vile : Hebrew ' should be dishonoured.' unto thee : Heb. '■ before thine eyes,' i. e. openly. XXV. 4. The ox to he unmuzzled in threshing (a misplaced law). In spite of i Cor. ix. 9, 10 (of. i Tim. v. 18), the meaning is literal ; God does ' take care for oxen ' (cf. xxii. 6, 7). The custom still continues. XXV. 5-10. Levirate Marriage. The widow of a childless brother is to be married by the survivor, to raise an heir to his name (verses 5, 6). Failure to perform this duty after public challenge shall be punished with public dishonour (verses 7-10). This custom (the English name of which comes from the Latin, * levir,' husband's brother) occurs in various forms among many peoples (references in Westermarck, Human Marriage^ p. 510, note). It existed in Israel prior to this law ; see the narrative of J in Gen. xxxviii. The parallel in Ruth iv. i f. is that of a quasi- Levirate marriage, neither Boaz nor Ruth coming under the exact application of this law, but the aim and legal procedure being similar. The law probably modifies an earlier and wider custom of the inheritance of a dead brother's wife, by the provisions (a) that the brothers in question are those having a common establishment, (6) that the second marriage is to take place only when there was no son born of the first, (c) that the firstborn of the marriage shall take the name and place of the dead brother. 5. husband's brother: a technical term {yabam: cf. * levir,' above) from which the verb ' perform the duty of a husband's brother' (one word in Heb.) is derived. 6, For the Israelite, as for other ancient peoples, the survival of the DEUTERONOMY 25. 7-". D 183 that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel. And if the man like not to take 7 his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of an husband's brother unto me. Then the elders of his city shall call 8 him, and speak unto him : and if he stand, and say, I like not to take her ; then shall his brother's wife 9 come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe 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. And his 10 name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed. When men strive together one with another, and the 1 1 ' name ' is of supreme importance, and its blotting out the greatest of calamities (ix. 14 : cf. verse 19, * remembrance *.) *?. to tlie grate unto the elders: xxi. 19, xxii. 15. Such a marriage, as a duty, is to be enforced by public opinion, though not by any legal penalty. Cf. Ruth iv. 1-12. 9. loose Ms shoe : Ruth iv. 7, where the removal of the sandal is explained as a symbolic representation of transfer (cession of right). The dishonour lies not in the act itself, but the circumstances of its performance by the woman. Driver refers to Rob. Smith, Kinship^ p. 269. 'A Bedouin form of divorce is " she was my slipper, and I have cast her off." ' spit in his face : Num. xii. 14 ; Job xxx. 10 ; Isa. 1. 6. bnild up: Ruth iv. 11 ; Gen. xvi. 2, xxx. 3 (R. V. marg.). 10. The dishonour shall attach to his family, who shall be known as ' the house of bare-foot.' XXV. II. A t3rpical case of feminine immodesty. So, at least, we must interpret the law as here reproduced ; but the severity of the punishment suggests that the woman's act was originally' regarded as a breach of the taboo which everywhere attaches to the mystery of generation. The Code of Hammurabi (§§ 202-5) deals with < striking the strength' of a man (so Johns), where the r84 DEUTERONOMY 25. 12-17. » wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth 12 forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets : then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity. 13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great 14 and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine house 15 divers measures, a great and a small. A perfect and just weight shalt thou have ; a perfect and just measure shalt thou have : that thy days may be long upon the 16 land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, even all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. 1 7 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way as genitalia might be meant ; e. g. ' If a gentleman's servant has struck the strength of a free-man, one shall cut off his ear.' But, in his later translation {D.B., v. 606) Johns renders 'strength' as * cheek.' strive together : wrestle or struggle (Exod. xxi. 22). cut ofF her hand: as the member contaminated by the breach of taboo, or as inherently evil. No other mutilation as penalty is ordered in the law of Israel, apart from the ius talionis of xix. 21 (Dillmann) ; both go back to primitive ideas and practices. XXV. 13-T6. Fair dealings (weights and measures). Cf Lev. xix. 35> 36 (H) ; Ezek. xlv. 10 f. 13. divers weig-hts: Heb. 'a stone and a stone,' the larger to weigh purchases, the smaller, sales. Cf Amos viii. 5 ; Micah vi. II 'with wicked balances and with a bag of deceitful weights' (contrast Prov, xvi. ii). Most of the ancient weights still existing are of stone {E.B. 5299) : cf. 2 Sam. xiv. 26 where ' weight ' renders Heb. 'stone.' 14. divers measures: Heb. 'an ephah and an ephah,' the ephah being approximately a bushel ; these larger measures are naturally kept in the ' house ' as contrasted with the ' bag ' of weights carried about. 15. perfect in the physical sense of * whole,' i. e. 'full weight.' 16. Cf. xviii. 12, xxii. 5. unrighteonsjly : Heb. ' unrighteousness ' (Lev. xix. 15, 35). XXV. 17-19. Hostility to the Amalekites enjoined. V7. Amalek was encountered by Israel at Rephidim, near Sinai (Exod. xvii, 8-16), and was regarded with a peculiar bitterness thep DEUTERONOMY 25. i8— 26. 2. D 185 ye came forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the 18 way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord 19 thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven ; thou shalt not forget. And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land 26 which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein ; that thou shalt 2 take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou and thenceforward (i Sam. xiv. 48, xv. 2, 3, xxvii. 8, xxx. if.; 2 Sam. viii. 12', till the disappearance of this people from history. 19. rest : see on xii. 10. blot out, &c. : based on Exod. xvii. 14. xxvi. i-ii. Liturgy for {annual) presentation of first-fruits; acknowledgement of the Divine Providence. Every year the Israelite shall offer a basketful of first-fruits at the altar in Jerusalem, and acknowledge that Yahweh has kept His promise (verses 1-4). In prescribed words he shall recall the history of his people from the time of Jacob to the settlement in Canaan, and shall confess that Yahweh is the giver of the first-fruits pre- sented (verses 5-10*). The basket shall be deposited at the altar, and there shall be a family feast (verses io''-ii). This liturgy stands suitably at the end of the legal code (chaps. xii-xxv), and, with that which follows, relating to the tithes (verses 12-15^ illustrates the spirituality of the ritual ceremonies of Israel's religion (see on verse 5). That the ceremony is to be annually performed appears from its general character ; it relates to all the first-fruits, i. e. those of each successive year. The occasion is not stated, but must be one of the three feasts of xvi. 16, perhaps the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost). 1 . As xvii. 14. 2. theflrst of all the fruit : the first-fruits have been mentioned already in xviii. 4 as the due of the priests, and may be included in the heave-offering of xii. 6, 11, 17. Here, apparently, of a re- presentative part. i86 DEUTERONOMY 26. 3-5. » shalt bring in from thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee ; and thou shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to 3 cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the land which the Lord sware unto our 4 fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the 6 altar of the Lord thy God. And thou shalt answer and say before the Lord thy God, A » Syrian ^ ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number ; and he became there a * Heb. Aramean. " Or, wandering Or, lost bring* in : i.e. from the field or garden to the barn (2 Sam. ix. 10 ; Hag. i. 6, ' ye have sown much and bring in little '). a basket: cf. xxviii. 5, 17, where it is a typical and familiar article, mentioned along with the kneading-trough. the place, &c. : see on xii. 5. 3. that shall be in those days: (xvii. 9, xix. i7\ i.e. of the year in question (the chief of the priests being meant). profess : ' declare,' i. e. that Yahweh's oath to the fathers (see on i. 8) has been faithfully kept. 4. 'The basket-bearing priest is a conspicuous figure in the Assyrian sculptures' {D.B., i. 256*). 5. A Syrian ready to perish : the reference is to Jacob 'the Aramaean,' whose mother, Rebecca, was from Aram-Naharaim (Gen. xxiv. 10), and whose ancestral kindred (xxiv. 4) were of the same country. He himself *fled into the country of Aram' (Hos. xii. 12), served Laban, and married his daughters there (Gen. xxix-xxxi). The marginal alternatives to ' ready to perish ' are due to the fact that the Hebrew word for ' perish ' is applied to animals 'straying' or 'lost' (i Sam. ix, 3, 20; Jer. 1. 6). The emphasis on Jacob is intended to bring out the lowly origin of Israel. Thanksgiving for present prosperity is made intelligent and vivid by the contrast with past adversity. he went down into Eg-ypt : Gen. xlvi. i f. : the number of che family group migrating to Egypt being seventy (Gen. xlvi. 26, 27 : cf. Gen. xxxiv. 30). DEUTERONOMY 26. 6-13. D 187 nation, great, mighty, and populous : and the Egyptians 6 evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage : and we cried unto the Lord, the God of our 7 fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression : and the 8 Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terrible- ness, and with signs, and with wonders : and he hath 9 brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now, behold, 10 I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it down before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God : and thou shalt rejoice in all the good 1 1 which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is in the midst of thee. When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithe 12 of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shalt give it unto the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled ; and thou shalt say 1 3 great, mig-hty, and poptQous : Exod. i. 9. 6-8. Exod. i. 12, 14, ii. 23, iii. 7, 9; Num. xx. 15, i6; Deut. iv. 34. 9. flowing with, milk and honey : see on vi. 3. 10. hast given me : by the series of events recapitulated, leading up to the possession of Canaan ; these fruits, and the opportunity to enjoy them, come alike from Yahweh, not from the Baalim of Canaan. 11. Cf. xii. I, 12, 18, xvi. II, 14. xxvi. 12-15. Triennial Declaration of Tithe and Prayer for Prosperity. la. in the third year: the tithe of this year being exception- ally devoted to the relief of the poor and dependent (xiv. 28). i8& DEUTERONOMY 26. 14-17. D before the Lord thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou hast commanded me : I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them : 14 I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I put away thereof, being unclean, nor given thereof for the dead : I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, I have done according to all that thou hast -5 commanded me. Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. 16 This day the Lord thy God commandeth thee to do these statutes and judgements : thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. 1 7 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, 13. before Yahweh thy God: probably not at home (Gen. xxvii. 7), but at one of the feasts at Jerusalem, more especially the Feast of Tabernacles, which completed the agricultural year, the hanowed thing's: i, e. the tithe, as ' holy' to Yahweh ; the same word (' put away') is used of its removal as in xiii. 5, xvii. 7, 12, xix. 13, 19, xxi. 21, xxii. 21-4, xxiv. 7 ; the tithe is under a taboo. 14. Three sources ofpollution are disclaimed — (a) consumption of tithe by a mourner, ceremonially unclean by his association with death (Hos. ix. 4) ; (6) separation of tithe by one * unclean' (cf. Lev. xxii. if.); (c) devotion of tithe to (or for) the dead. The last probably refers to the well-known custom, amongst many peoples, of offering food, &c., at a grave for the consumption of the departed spirit. xxvi. 16-19. Conclusion to Code. Let Israel obey these com- mands, for to-day Israel has accepted Yahweh as God, and Yahweh has accepted Israel as His unique people. (The conclusion of a covenant is presupposed.) 17, 18. avouched: lit * caused to say,' i. e. to acknowledge, which may be the better rendering here. DEUTERONOMY 26. i8— 27. 2. D R^ 189 and that thou shouldest walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and hearken unto his voice : and the LfORD hath 18 avouched thee this day to be a peculiar people unto him- self, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; and to make thee high above 19 all nations which he hath made, ^ in praise, and in name, and in honour ; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken. [R°] And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded 27 the people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day 2 when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up * Or, for a praise, and for a name, and for an honour 19. Read with R. V. raarg. ; Israel is to be all this for Yahweh, a ' holy ' people, as being separate from all others, a * peculiar people ' (vii. 6), xxvii. Command to erect stones, inscribed with the law, on Mount Ebal ; also to build an altar there (verses 1-8). Appeal for obedience (verses 9, 10). The tribes, in two divisions, shall stand on Gerizim and Ebal for the blessing and the curse respectively (verses 11-13). A series of twelve curses to be pronounced by the Levites. This chapter is generally admitted to belong to the secondary elements of the book, as appears from — (a) its lack of hterary unity, (6) the interruption in the address of Moses, continued without apparent break or explanation in chap, xxviii. The em- phasis on the place of the Levites and the character of the curses suggest a late addition, though the curses themselves may be an old liturgical ofRce, used on solemn occasions (Driver, p. 300). The points of contact are with the Book of the Covenant and with the Law of Holiness, rather than with Deuteronomy. 1. and the elders: here only associated with Moses in giving commandment. 2. plalster : the stones were whitewashed to afford a writing suiface, as was the customary Egyptian practice. I90 DEUTERONOMY 27. 3-7- R"" JE R^ 3 great stones, and plaister them with plaister : and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over ; that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of thy 4 fathers, hath promised thee. And it shall be when ye are passed over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou 5 shalt plaister them with plaister. [JE] And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of 6 stones : thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of «- unhewn stones : and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto 7 the Lord thy God : and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, [R°] and shalt eat there ; and thou shalt rejoice * Heb. whole. 3. The best example of the inscription of laws (by engraving) on stone is afforded by the parallel Code of Hammurabi, dis- covered in 1902 on a block of black diorite, about eight feet high (see Introd., p. 20). In this way laws were * published ' in ancient times, and made accessible to all, as is expressly stated on the above stone. all the words of this law : how much of Deuteronomy v-xxvi is included it is, of course, impossible to say. Of the Code of Hammurabi 3,614 lines are extant. 4. mount Ebal : xi. 29. The Pentateuch of the Samaritans reads ' Gerizim,* an alteration in favour of their sacred mountain. 5. Cf, Exod. XX. 25 ; the prohibition of worked stone springs from the belief that the stone in its natural state is more sacred than a stone artificially hewn (verse 6), and from the conservatism of religion which opposes any innovation on primitive simplicity. The earliest altar was a stone like that taken by Jacob at Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 18). 6. burnt offeringrs : see on xii. 6 ; these religious ceremonies ratify the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. 7. peace offering's : Exod. xx. 24 ; called in xii. 6, and else- where in Deuteronomy, ' sacrifices.' Shalt eat there, &c. : cf. xii. 7, 12 ; the sacrificial meal is part of the ceremony of the * peace-offering. ' DEUTERONOMY 27. 8-13. R'' D R^ 191 before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon 8 the stones all the words of this law very plainly. [D] And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all 9 Israel, saying, Keep silence, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord 10 thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. [R°] And Moses charged the people the same day, n saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless 12 the people, when ye are passed over Jordan ; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin : and these shall stand upon mount Ebal for 1 3 S. the stones : distinct from those of the altar. This command, and the record of its fulfilment in Joshua viii. 30, 31, imply the existence of such an altar and stones at the time of the writers. 9, 10. These verses should be compared with xxvi. 16-19. whose thought they continue, and to whose phraseology they are closely related. Israel must obey the voice of Yahweh (xxvi, 17) and do His commands (xxvi. 17), because this day (xxvi. 16, 17, 18) Israel has accepted the position of Yahweh's people (xxvi. 18). On the other hand, their thought is continued in xxviii, I, 2. Dillmanii suggests that the priests the Levites is a later addition in view of verses 11-26. 11-13. In xi. 29 the alternative blessing or curse of obedience or disobedience to the law is emphasized by reference to a future ceremony in Canaan which shall bring both home to the Israelite and confirm them for the new country. Here the ceremony is partially described ; its actual accomplishment is narrated in Joshua viii. 30-5. 12. These shall stand : the tribes are divided, for the cursing and the blessing (north and south) geographically, according to .Steuernagel ; the eastern, Reuben and Gad, and the northern Asher, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, are opposed to the western and southern tribes, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, Issachar, with Levi. This explanation, however, does not suit the position of Issachar, and most (e. g. Dillmann, Driver, Bertholet^ explain the division by the birth through concubines of Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher ^^Geu. xxx. 1-13), Reuben's forfeiture of birthright (Gen. 192 DEUTERONOMY 27. 14-20. R^ ? the curse ; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, 14 and Naphtali. [?] And the Levites shall answer, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15 Cursed be the man that maketh a graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and setteth it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. . 6 Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say. Amen. 1 7 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. iS Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. 19 Cursed be he that wresteth the judgement of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say. Amen. 20 Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife ; because XXXV. 22, xlix. 4), and Zebulon's place as the youngest son of Leah (Gen. xxx. 20), which account for these tribes being appointed to curse. 14 f. The number of the curses is doubtless suggested by that of the twelve tribes. They relate to — (i) imageless religion, (2) dishonour of parents, (3) removal of landmark, (4) want of humanity to blind, (5) injustice to the helpless, (6-9) incest and immorality, (10) murder, (11) bribery, (12) general disobedience to the law. the Iievites: not, as in verse 12, the members of a secular tribe, but in the official sense of x. 8 (clergy as opposed to laity). 15. Cursed: see on Joshua vi. 26. a graven or molten image : iv. 16, ix. 12 ; Exod. xx. 4 (Deut. V. 8) ; Lev. xix. 4, xxvi. i. Amen : (Neh. viii. 6) ' verily ' ; may be used at the beginning of a sentence, with reference to previous words (i Kings i. 36) ; alone (as here, with the implied sentence ' let this curse be ') ; or at theend of something said, as in the Lord's Prayer {E.B., 136, 137). 16. V. 16 ( = Exod. XX. 12) ; Exod. xxi. 17 ; Lev. xx. 9. setteth lig-ht by: ' dishonoureth,' opposed to the 'honour* of the fifth commandment. ir {xix. 14). 18 (Lev. xix. 14). 19 (xxiv. 17 ; Exod. xxii. DEUTERONOMY 27. 21— 28. i. ? D 193 he hath uncovered his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. 21 And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of 22 his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And 23 all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour in secret. 24 And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent 25 person. And all the people shall say, Amen. Cursed be he that confirmeth not the words of this 26 law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. [D] And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken 28 21 f. ; Lev. xix. 33 f.). 20 (xxii. 30; Lev. xviii. 8, xx, 11). 21 (Exod. xxii. 19 ; Lev. xviii. 23, xx. 15). 22 (Lev. xviii. 9, xx. 17 ; contrast Gen. xx. 12, 2 Sam. xiii. 12, 13). 23 (Lev. xviii. 17, XX. 14). 24 (v. 20— Exod. XX. 16, Deut. xix. 11; Exod. xxi. 12; Lev. xxiv. 17). 25 (xvi. 19 ; Exod. xxiii. 8 ; both in more general sense). 26. Cf. 2 Kings xxiii. 3, 24, where Josiah < confirms ' {lit. * makes to stand') the Deuteronomic law. The above ' curses ' may be the codification of early decisions given at the sanctuary of Shechem— each a primitive Torah— as we may infer from the names given to the sacred trees there, * the oak of the teacher' (Moreh, Gen. xii. 6), or 'of the augurs' (Judges ix. 37, R.V. marg.). Meyer-Luther {Die Israelitm, p. 552% in pointing this out, suggest that such early legislation at Shechem accounts for the insertion of Deut. xii-xxvi between the two parts of the Shechem narrative (Deut. xi. 26 30, xxvii. 1-26). xxviii. Comhisiott. A detailed declaration of the blessings of prosperity, which shall be conditional on obedience to the law now given (verses 1-14). A parallel declaration of the curses of adversity, which shall punish disobedience inverses 15-25, 38-46^. Further description of the terrors of this divine punishment O 194 DEUTERONOMY 28. 2-4. D diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on 2 high above all the nations of the earth : and all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. ?i Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou 4 be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, (verses 26-37). Invasion by a fierce enemy ; the horrors of a protracted siege (verses 47-57^ Disobedient Israel plagued and scattered in exile ; life a burden ; return to the slavery of Egypt (verses 58-68). This chapter of solemn and forceful warning seems to belong, at least in part, to the original law-book of Josiah, The evidence for this is {a) the impression made on him by the book v(^hen first read (2 Kings xxii. 11, 13'i which requires such severe warnings as these ; {d) the parallel conclusions to the ' Book of the Covenant' (Exod. xxiii. 20-33) and to the Law of Holiness (Lev. xxvi) ; (c) the natural continuation in xxviii. i of the thought and language of xxvii. 10 (xxvi. 19^. But it is difficult to maintain the unity of chap, xxviii. The curses are so very disproportionate in length to the blessings that they seem to have been considerably expanded. A natural conclusion is reached at verse 46 ; the first of the two following sections (verses 47-57) implies experience of the exile and the siege of Jerusalem, the second (verses 58 68) also implies the exile and the ^previous) existence of the Deuter- onomic law in writing. Within the earlier half of the chapter, also, there seems to be later addition, and Bertholet is probably right in regarding verses 26-37 '" this light. The nucleus of the chapter, forming the original conclusion to the Deuteronomic Code, will then be verses 1-25% 38-46, a parallel and symmetrical list of blessings and curses. 1. The connexion of thought, through xxvii. 9-10, with xxvi. 16-19 is to be noted. The infrequent word rendered ' on high ' Celyoiii occurs also in xxvi. 19, and nowhere else in the prose of Deuteronomy once only in the poetry, xxxii. 8). 2. overtake: the blessings and curses verse 15 are personified, the same word being used here as of the avenger of blood (xix. 6). xxviii. 3-6. Six formal blessings cover life in town and country, offspring (or produce ■, the supply of food, the beginning and the end of each undertaking. 4. Cf. vii. 13 ; the blessing of fertility in every form of life. DEUTERONOMY 28. 5-1 1. D 195 and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. 5 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed r, shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall 7 cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee : they shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways. The Lord 8 shall command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee for an holy people 9 unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee ; if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that 10 thou art called by the name of the Lord ; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee 1 1 5. basket : see xxvi. 2, here representative of plentiful stores. kneadinsr-trough : Exod. viii. 3, xii. 34 ; essential to the preparation of the daily bread, like the mill of xxiv. 6 ; here representative of plentiful meals. 6. comest in . . . ffoest out : Ps. cxxi. 8 ; a standing phrase, used by Moses (xxxi. 2), Caleb (Joshua xiv. ii), Solomon (i Kings iii. 7), to cover the activities of ordinary life. 7. oanse : Heb. ' give ' (as smitten ones' ; their concentrated attack shall be followed by the pursuit of them as scattered fugitives. 8. shall command : Heb. ' command ' (jussive, as is the verb in verses 21, 36. npon thee: Heb. * with thee ' (see on verse 2). 9. an holy people : vii. 6, xiv. 2, xxvi. 19. The primarily non- ethical meaning of the term is apparent ; ' an holy people ' is one separated to Yahweh, apart from actual character in the first instance ; when Israel obeys, Yahweh will confirm His choice of this people as His special property (cf. Exod. xix. 5, 6\ 10. thou art called by the name of Yahweh : rather, * the name of Yahweh is called over thee ' (as owner, cf. 2 Sam. xii. 28, R. V. marg.), Jer. xiv. 9, &c. o 2 196 DEUTERONOMY 28. 12-19. D plenteous for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good « treasure the heaven to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thine hand : and thou shalt lend 13 unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail ; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath ; if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to 14 observe and to do them ; and shalt not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon 16 thee, and overtake thee. Cursed shalt thou be in the 17 city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall 18 be thy basket and thy kneadingtrough. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, the 19 increase of thy kine, and the young of thy flock. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt * Or, treasury 12. treasure : R. V. marg. gives the better rendering, the reference being to the store of water above the firmament (Gen. i. 7, vii. II : cf. Deut. xi. 11, 17). From this 'treasury' (Job xxxviii. 22) comes the nation's (agricultural) wealth and its financial independence. 13. Cf. Isa. ix. 14, xix. 15. 15-19. These curses take the same verbal form as the blessings (verses 1-6), except that verses i*^ and 2^ are not represented and verse 17 precedes verse 18. DEUTERONOMY 28. 20-25. D i97 thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall send 20 upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that thou puttest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly ; because of the evil of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, 21 until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest in to possess it. The Lord shall smite thee 23 with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with ^'^the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish. And thy heaven that is over thy 23 head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord shall make the rain of thy 24 land powder and dust : from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. The Lord shall 25 cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies : thou shalt go out one way against them, and shalt flee seven * Or, according to some ancient versions, drought 20 f. The exact parallelism with the blessings is here abandoned, but there is a general similarity as far as verse 25 *, resumed in verses 38-46. 21. pestilence: a general term for * plague,' as is indicated by its use in the frequent Jeremianic phrase, ' I will consume them by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence' (xiv. 12, &c.). 22. Seven plagues shall pursue Israel, like the sevenfold enemy of verse 25 (cf. verse 2)— the first four being assailants of men, the last three of crops, the sword : read, with R. V. marg., * drought,' which requires no change in the Hebrew consonants. 23. Cf. Lev. xxvi. 19 ; the drought described is the opposite of what is promised in verse 12 ; the hardened earth yields no fruit, since the closed heaven gives no rain. 24. The well-known sirocco in which 'The air becomes loaded with fine dust, which it whirls in rainless clouds hither and thither' Thomson, The Land and the Booh, pp. 295, 536). 25. seven ways : see on verse 7, here reversed. 198 DEUTERONOMY 28. 26-30. D D' ways before them : [D'] and thou shalt be * tossed to 26 and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to fray 27 them away. The Lord shall smite thee with the boil of Egypt, and with the ^ emerods, and with the scurvy, and 28 with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and with blindness, 29 and with astonishment of heart : and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways : and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled alway, and there shall be none 3^ to save thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her : thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein : thou shalt plant a vine- ■ Or, a terror tinto ^ Or, tumours Or, plague boils tossed to and fro: Heb. 'a trembling,* i.e. an object of terror (R. V. marg.^. The second half of the verse appears to be a reproduction of a Jeremianic refrain (Jer. xv. 4, xxiv. 9, xxix. 18, xxxiv. 17), whilst verse 26 repeats Jer. vii. 33. The subsequent verses (to 37) are most naturally understood as written after the actual experiences of the captivity and exile. 2G. Dishonour to the corpse meant far more to the ancient world than to the modern ; it involved the fortunes of the person- ality in the dim realm beyond. fray : i. e. * frighten.' 27. the boil of Egrypt (Exod. ix. 9, &c.) : some form of skin disease, possibly elephantiasis. Skin diseases, such as those named in this verse, were and are common in Syria and Egypt (vii. 15). emerods : i. e. haemorrhoids (piles), a possible meaning suggested by the usage of the Arabic cognate. 28. Cf. Zech. xii. 4 for these three expressions of mental disorder and dismay. 29. ifrope : Hebrew, more vividh', 'be groping' : cf. Isa. lix. to ; Job v. 14. prosper in: ' make prosperous,' as in Joshua i. 8. xxviii. 30-34. The Calawities of Foreign Invasion : cf. verse 29 * oppressed and spoiled ' (robbed). DEUTERONOMY 28. 31-39. ^' ^ i99 yard, and shalt not » use the fruit thereof. Thine ox 3^ shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee : thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to save thee. Thy sons and thy daughters 32 shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day : and there shall be nought in the power of thine hand. The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labours, shall a 33 nation which thou knowest not eat up ; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway : so that thou shalt 34 be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, 35 with a sore boil, whereo/" thou canst not be healed, from Ihe sole of thy foot unto the crown of thy head. The 36 Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers ; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, 37 a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples whither the Lord shall lead thee away. [D] Thou shalt carry 38 much seed out into the field, and shalt gather little in ; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vine- 39 * See oh. xx. 6, and Lev. xix. 23-25. 30. Cf. XX. 5-7 ; Amos v. 11 ; Mic. vi. 15 ; Zeph. i. 13. 35. Practically a repetition of verse 27, here an interruption. 36. thy king- (xvii. 14) ; after a reign of three months, Jehoiachin was, in 597 b.c, carried captive to Babylon, with 10,000 others, by Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kings xxiv. 8f.). other gods : cf. iv. 28 (note). 38 f. The general parallelism with the blessings of the original nucleus of the chapter seems here to be resumed (cf. verses 8, II f.). Note that the curse rests on corn, wine, and oil (vii. 13) — the chief products of the soil. 200 DEUTERONOMY 28. 40-47. D D^ D D^ yards and dress them, but thou shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes ; for the worm shall eat them. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil ; for thine 41 olive shall cast its fruit. [D^] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine ; for they shall go 42 into captivity. [D] All thy trees and the fruit of thy 43 ground shall the locust possess. The stranger that is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and 14 higher ; and thou shalt come down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him : he 45 shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee^ till thou be destroyed ; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he 46 commanded thee : and they shall be upon thee for a sign 47 and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever : [D^] because 41. A doublet to verse 32, here interrupting the description of agricultural adversity. 42. the locust : ' probably the creaker, from the stridulous sound produced by many of the Orthoptera, especially the males, by rubbing the upper part of the leg against the wing ' (Driver, ' Excursus on Locusts ' in ' Joel and Amos,' Catn. Bible, p. 86). Eight other names for ' locust ' occur in the O. T. 43. 44. Cf. verses 12^, 13% with which a contrast is obviously intended. The strangfer : the ger (i. 16), so frequently named in this book as dependent on Israel's consideration ; he will profit (e. g. through commerce) by the barrenness of the soil in which he has no possession. 45, 46. Formal conclusion to the (original) curses, resuming verse 15. for a sign and for a wonder : i. e. recognized as the divinely foretold penalties for disobedience. 47 f. This exilic section, pointing the moral of the actual mis- fortunes of Israel, describes (a) the rapacity of the invader (verses DEUTERONOMY 28. 48-52. D^ 201 thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyful ness^ and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things : therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which 48 the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things : and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. The Lord shall bring a nation against '1 9 thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth ; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand ; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the 5^ person of the old, nor shew favour to the young : and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, f ^ until thou be destroyed : which also shall not leave thee corn, wine, or oil, the increase of thy kine, or the young of thy flock, until he have caused thee to perish. And he 52 shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land : and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath 49-51) ; (*) the horrors of the subsequent sieges (especially of Jerusalem) (verses 52-57). 4V. Cf. vi. lof., viii. 11 f. for the moral perils of prosperity, with joyfalness : characteristic of Deuteronomy (xii. 7, 12, 18) and of the pre-exilic religion of Israel, as opposed to the later development in the pious of the sense of sin, and of anxious and punctilious obedience. 48. a yoke of iron : Jer, xxviii. 14 (note the acted parable of the prophet, verse 10, perhaps responsible for the present use of the figure). 49. from far, &c. : Isa. v. 26 (Assyrians). as the eag-le flieth : or, ' as the vulture (xiv. 12) swoopeth ' : Hos. viii. I Assyrians) ; Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. 22 (Chaldeans\ thou Shalt not understand: Isa. xxviii. 11, xxxiii. 19 (Assyrians) ; Jer. v. 15 (Chaldeans). 50. The Chaldeans are described as stern in appearance, pitiless in action (cf. Jer, v. 15 f.). 52. The sieges of the cities (' in all thy gates ') throughout the land are described. 202 DEUTERONOMY 28. 53-57. D' 53 given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the Lord thy God hath given thee ; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall straiten thee. 54 The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children bo which he hath remaining : so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left him ; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall straiten thee 5^ in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, 57 and toward her son, and toward her daughter ; and toward her ^ young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear ; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly : in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemy * Or, after-birth 53 f. (Lev. xxvi. 29'. Hunger will brutalize men and lead to inhuman conduct, so terrible will be its force. For these results of famine, cf. 2 Kings vi. 28 f, (siege of Samaria) ; Lam. iv. 10 (siege of Jerusalem). With the whole verse cf. Jer. xix. 9, a related passage, and note the recurrence of the refrain here, in verses 55 and 57. 54. tender . . . delicate : Isa. xlvii. i {\\\ a different application) ; the overthrow of the habit which is second nature, as well as of the claims of nature itself. his eye shall he evil : see on xv. 9 ; he will grudge to give even of this unnatural food to those dearest to him ; in verse 57 used of the grudging look fixed on the meal itself. 56. would not adventure: 'had not tried' to walk, but was hitherto accustomed to the luxury of litter or carriage only (cf. the similar picture of degradation in Isa. xlvii. i f.). 57. R. V. marg. to be read. DEUTERONOMY 28. 58-64. D=^ 203 shall straiten thee in thy gates. If thou wilt not 58 observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the lord thy god; then the Lord will make thy 59 plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sick- nesses, and of long continuance. And he will bring upon 60 thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every 61 sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in 62 number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And it shall come to pass, that 63 as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you ; so the Lord will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you ; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest in to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all 64 peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the xxviii. 58-68. A further warning against disobedience to the written law, independent of what has preceded, but also pre- supposing experience of the Exile 'verse 63 f.). 68. the words of this law that are written in this book : of. xvii. 18. According to the Book of Deuteronomy itself, the law was not yet written down (see xxxi. 9) ; the expression suggests some familiarity with a code already written (cf. verse 61). name: Mic. vi. 9 ; Isa. lix. 19; Mai. iv. 2 ; Ps. Ixi, 5 ; Lev. xxiv. II ; a late usage, as is pointed out by Bertholet. 60. Cf. vii. 15. 62. Cf. iv. 27, xxvi. 5 ; i. 10. 63. The joy of Yahweh in the destruction of Israel Is an unusual trait ; contrast Hos. xi. 8 f. and the whole conception ol that prophet. 204 DEUTERONOMY 28. 65—29. r. D^ R^ other end of the earth ; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy f'5 fathers, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot : but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul : 66 and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee ; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have none assurance of 67 thy life : in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning ! for the fear of thine heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee. Thou shalt see it no more again : and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you. 29 [R°] * These are the words of the covenant which the ^ [Ch. xxviii. 69 in Heb.] 64. other gods : verse 36, iv. 28 (note). xxviii. 65-67. A description of Israel's life in exile : without a home, full of vain regret : compassed with troubles the anticipation of which makes life itself burdensome. 66. The cause of these anxieties ; life hangs by a thread, as did that of Damocles (cf. Job xxiv. 22, R. V. marg.). 67. Israel's life is as wearisome as that of Job (vii. 4). 68. Israel will be brought in slave-ships to Egypt, in spite of Yahweh's former resolve (xvii. 16^) ; yet, even as slaves, men will not have them. sell yourselves: i.e. liberty is sacrificed to maintain life. xxix. I. This verse is rather ' a formal subscription, marking the end of the book' in its original form (Moore, E B., 1088 ; Driver, Kuenen, and others), than the superscription to chap, xxix ^Dillmann, Steuernagel, Bertholet, Oxf. Hex., and others). xxix-xxx. Exilic Exhortations : fidelity to the covenant in Moah. Moses briefly reviews the journey of Israel from Egypt to Moab. DEUTERONOMY 29. 2-4. R'' D^ 205 Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. [D^] " And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto 2 them, Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land ; the great ^ temptations 3 which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders : but the Lord hath not given you an heart to know, and 4 * [Ch. xxix. I in Heb.] ^ See ch. iv. 34. as an illustration of the gracious help of Yahweh, which He now covenants to continue (xxix. 2-9). Israel now stands in the presence of Yahweh to enter into this covenant, promised in the past, enduring to all future time (verses 10-15). Let none turn from Yahweh thinking to escape the curse of disobedience ; the wrath of Yahweh shall be manifest to all in Israel's exile (verses 16-29). Yet, even then, return from disobedience will bring return from exile, and the restoration of prosperity (xxx. i-io). Let Israel note the simplicity and practicability of the Divine commandment (verses 11-14), and the issues of prosperity or adversity absolutely dependent on obedience or disobedience to it (verses 15-20). These two chapters in their present position form a third address of Moses, separated from the second (central) address by the subscription of xxix. i and the new beginning made in verse 2. Even formally, therefore, they are supplementary to the Deutero- nomic Law, nor can any sufficient reason be given why they should not have been included in the second address, had they belonged to the original book. The positive evidence of the contents of the chapters assigns them to the period of exile ; thus xxix. 22 f. dwells on the spectacle of a punishment conceived to have taken place, and xxx. i-io even discusses the hope of return from exile, a topic which would be psychologically as improbable here as in Isa. xl. f., before the shadow of exile fell on Israel. The two chapters belong to the same class of literature as iv. 1-4.0 (D^), viz. exilic exhortations on the basis of the written and published law-book. 2. Cf. v. I for the method of introducing the address. Ye : emphatic in the Hebrew (cf. xi. 2-7) ; for the point of this emphasis, see introduction to chap. iv. 3. temptations : ' trials ' or provings (note on iv. 34\ 4. Now, only, is the full meaning of Israel's history clear 2o6 DEUTERONOMY 29. 5-11. D' 5 eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness : your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old 6 upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink : that ye might know that 7 I am the Lord your God. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote 8 them : and we took their land, and gave it for an inherit- ance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the 9 half tribe of the Manassites. Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them,^ that ye may » prosper in all that ye do. 10 Ye stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your 1 1 ofificers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camps, * Or, deal wisely through Yahweh's revelation of His purpose and gift of the faculty to understand it. 5. Cf. viii. 2 ; Amos ii. lo : the ' I' refers to Yahweh (verse 6) ; with the second half of the verse, cf. viii. 4. 6. The lesson of dependence on Yahweh, already enforced in viii. 3. 7. Cf. ii, 32 f., iii. if., 12 f. 9. Let Israel, therefore, obey Him on whom success depends in the future, as it has in the past. prosper : R. V. marg. is preferable (prosperity being the result of the wise dealing). 10. tribes: we expect a parallel to * heads ' and 'elders,' such as 'judges,' which is found in similar enumeration (Joshua viii. 33, xxiii. 2, xxiv. i) and should probably be read for 'tribes' here (cf. LXX; the similarity of the two Hebrew words makes their interchange easy). 11. thy stranger : the enumeration of those who are to become bound by the covenant is meant to include all without excep- tion, even non-Israelite settlers (here, practically, proselytes) and DEUTERONOMY 29. 12-17. D' 207 from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water : that thou shouldest enter into the covenant of the 1 2 Lord thy God, and into his oath, which the Lord thy God niaketh with thee this day : that he may establish 13 thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant 14 and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us 15 this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day : (for ye know how we 16 dwelt in the land of Egypt ; and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed ; and r 7 ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood temple-servants (wood -gatherers and water-drawers\ Both these classes, as here regarded, belong to a later period of the social life of Israel than that professedly dealt with in this address ; for the former, cf. i. 16, v. 14, &c. ; for the latter, Joshua ix. 21-7. 13. As in xxvi. 17, 18. For the promise to Israel, see Exod. xix. 5 ; the covenant with the fathers is named only by P (Gen. xvii, 7, with Abraham) ; but compare the promises cited in note on i. 8, 14, 15. Israel, present and future, is conceived as a unit3' ; note the solidarity of the race for ancient thought, a conception remote from our more developed ideas of individuality. 16, 17. The connexion with what preceeds and follows is not clear ; hence the brackets of R. V., making the verses a parenthesis. But {d) the present Israel is addressed as distinguished from the future Israel (ye is emphatic in the Heb.) ; {b) reference is made to Israel's actual experience of idolatry in Egypt and elsewhere ; (c) the aim of the appeal is to secure present fidelity (verse 18). Israel's past contact with idolatry is not to seduce to a breach of the present covenant. The reference to the future is not resumed till verse 22 (' the generation to come '). 16. came . . . passed: the same word in the Hebrew, the construction being like that of i. 46. 17. abominations: 'detestable things,' not the same word as that translated ' abomination ' elsewhere in this book ; frequenll3' of idols in Jeremiah (iv. i) and Ezekiel ^v. ii). idols : another contemptuous term is used, frequent in Ezekiel 2o8 DEUTERONOMY 29. 18-20. D^ and stone, silver and gold, which were among them :) 18 lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations ; lest there should be among you a root that 19 beareth ^ gall and wormwood ; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this l> curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of mine heart, ^ to destroy the moist with 20 the dry : the Lord will not pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name * Heb. rosh, a poisonous herb. •* Or, oath and so vv. 20, 21. " Or, to add drunkenness to thirst (vi. 4 ; Lev. xxvi. 30), which appears to describe them as (inanimate) ' cylinders.' among' them : * with them/ i. e. belonging to them ; here, perhaps, a further touch of contempt. 18. It is simplest to begin a new sentence with this verse, supplying 'Beware' as is done by R. V. in Isa. xxxvi. 18 ; Job xxxii. 13 (so Driver). a root that heareth gfall and wormwood : i. e. poison and bitterness (xxxii. 32 ; Amos vi. 12 ; Hos. x. 4, &c.) in the con- sequences of idolatry. 19. curse: 'oath' as R. V. marg., i.e. the binding pledge given by Yahweh (verse 12) which may lead the individual to think he may act with impunity. to destroy the moist with the dry : ' to carry away watered with dry ' (herbage, as by the wind), i. e. all without distinction, a proverbial expression {cf. xxxii. 36) used here to express the destruction of the whole community through the infidelity of in- dividual members. The result of the idolater's self-congratulation is here stated as his purpose. 20. will not pardon: 'will not consent to pardon ' (stronger than R. v.). shaU smoke : Ps. Ixxiv. i, Ixxx. 4 (R. V. marg.) : of. Deut. xxxii. 22 ; Ps. xviii. 8 ; Isa. Ixv. 5. lie upon him: as a wild beast crouching (Gen. xlix. 9) ; so of sin, Gen. iv. 7. DEUTERONOMY 29. 21-27. ^ 209 from under heaven. And the Lord shall separate him 21 unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. And the generation to come, your children that 23 shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the Lord hath made it sick ; and that the whole land thereof is brim- 23 stone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath : even 24 all the nations shall say. Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say. Because they forsook the 25 covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt ; and went and served other gods, and 26 worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not '"^ given unto them : therefore the anger of the 27 » Heb. divided. 22 f. The effect of idolatry on the future of the nation, as dis- played both to Israelites and non-Israelites. (The exiles traced their calamities to the sins of the fathers : cf. Ezek. xviii. 2 ; Isa. xl. 2). 23. The land itself shares in the fortunes of the people ; con- trast Ezek. xlvii. 7 f., where the stream from the sanctuary fertilizes the desert and sweetens the Dead Sea. Here the natural character of the Dead Sea district is extended in thought to the whole land, and regarded as its ' sickness.' like the overthrow, &c. : cf. Gen. xix. 24 f., and for the vicinity of Admah and Zeboiim, Gen. xiv. 2 (cf. Hos. xi. 8). 24 f. Probably dependent on Jer. xxii. 8 f. ; as is verse 28 on Jer. xxi. 5. xxiv. 6. xxxii. 37. 29. The hidden future is Yahweh's, the known past, with its lesson of obedience to the law, is ours. Revelation is here re- garded as historical rather than canonical. 2IO DEUTERONOMY 29. 28—30. 5. D' Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all 28 the curse that is written in this book : and the Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as 29 at this day. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God : but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. 30 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven 2 thee, and shalt return unto the Lord thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with 3 all thy soul ; that then the Lord thy God will ^ turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples^ whither the 4 Lord thy God hath scattered thee. If any Even the least likely parts of the land yield their gracious tribute to Yahwch's favourites. 224 DEUTERONOMY 32. i.i-i6. R? 14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, With fat of lambs, And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat ; And of the blood of the grape thou drankest wine. 1 5 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked : Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art become sleek : Then he forsook God which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods^ With abominations provoked they him to anger. 14. liutter : * curd ' or curdled milk, now, as then, a common Oriental dish. Cf. Doughty, Arabia Deseria^ i. 41. And rams: join with previous line, as in LXX ; the two lines will then read : With fat of lambs and rams, Cattle of Bashan and goats. the fat of kidneys is the choicest fat (Lev. iii. 4 ; Isa. xxxiv. 6) ; the phrase is here applied figuratively to wheat, and means simply * the choicest wheat' (Ps. Ixxxi. 16, cxlvii. 14). the blood of the grape (Gen. xlix. 11), which Israel drinks as (fermenting) wine. xxxii. 15-18. The father forgotten by the well-cared- for child, spoilt by prosperity. 15. Jeshurun: (xxxiii. 5, 26 ; Isa. xliv. 2), the 'upright ' one, a title of Israel (cf. 'the book of Jashar,' R.V. marg. to Joshua x. 13), which here becomes purposely ironical. thou art become sleek : probably * thou wast sated,' or gorged with food. In this verse and in verse 18, the verbs relate to the past, not to the present. The child, it seems to be implied, has become an over-fed animal, kicking against the pricks of the goad (cf. I Sam. ii. 29) ; brutish sensuality appeared instead of the man's grateful obedience. lightly esteemed : Hebrew * treated as a fool ' : cf. Micah vii. 6 (R.V. 'dishonoureth'). 16. strange (gods) : (Jer. ii. 25, iii. 13), the abominations, Isa. xliv. 19, with which they vexed Yahweh (omit 'to anger,' here and in verse 21, which the Hebrew does not express) : cf Ps. Ixxviii. 58. DEUTERONOMY 32. ly-ar. R? 225 They sacrificed unto demons, which tvere no God, 17 T. :;ods whom they knew not, To new gods that came up of late, Whom your fathers dreaded not. Of the Rock that '"^ begat thee thou art unmindful, 18 And hast forgotten God that gave thee birth. And the Lord saw it, and abhorred them^ 19 Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, 20 I will see what their end shall be : For they are a very froward generation, Children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is 21 not God ; * Or, hare 17. demons (Ps. cvi. 37) : the Hebrew word {Shedini) is borrowed from the Assyrian ^sedu,, denoting a protective demon (subordinate deity) , represented by the bull-colossus at the entrances of temples [Die Keilinschrifien und das A.T.,^ p. 455). Their divinity is denied by the term 'no-god' ; whilst Israel's 'new gods' in general are said to be without the link of past history that binds Israel to Yahweh (Isa. Ixiii. 16). dreaded not : ' were not acquainted with ' (from an Arabic cognate). 18. Yahweh is here represented as both father and mother to Israel (' begat ' of the father; * gave thee birth,' i.e. travailed with thee, of the mother). xxxii. 19-27. The effect of this conduct on Yahweh: Hedeclares the merited punishment. 19. abhorred (them): Hebrew 'contemned* or 'spurned'; of. Jer. xiv. 21. provocation : the vexation inflicted on Himself by Israel. 20. Yahweh will stand aloof (xxxi. 17, 18), withdrawing the help that has made Israel prosperous. a very froward generation : i. e. from-ward ; Hebrew * a generation of perversions.' faith: 'faithfulness.' 31. Notice the parallelism ; 'they' and ' I ' are emphatically Q 226 DEUTERONOMY 32. 22-24. R? They have provoked me to anger with their vanities : And I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people ; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 2i For a fire is kindled in mine anger, And burneth mito the lowest ^ pit, And devoureth the earth with her increase. And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them ; I will spend mine arrows upon them : 24 T/iey shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with ^ burning heat And bitter destruction ; * Heb. Sheol. ^ Heb. burning coals. See Hab. iii. 5. contrasted in the Hebrew ; the ' no-people ' answers to the ^ no- god,' the 'senseless nation ' to ' their vanities,' and the same verbs, 'make jealous' and 'vex' (omit 'to anger') are used in both clauses. For the question as to the identity of this ' no-people,' through whom Yahweh punishes Israel, see the introduction to this chapter. They are not more a people than their gods are God. See Introd., p. 35. vanities: (///. 'breaths') a Jeremianic term for heathen deities (e. g. viii. 19). Paul applies the second half of the verse to Israel's jealousy and vexation at the entrance of heathen into the kingdom (Rom. x. 19). 22 f. Yahweh' s anger against faithless Israel. the lowest pit : Sheol is named, in parallelism with ' the foundations of the mountains,' to denote the unlimited reach of Yahweh's anger : see the diagram in the Century Bible, ' Genesis,' p. 66. 23. I will heap : Hebrew ' I will sweep (catch) up,' but we ought probably to repoint the Hebrew consonants and read either ' I will add ' or (with versions) ' I will gather ' ; mischiefs : Hebrew * evils.' spend : i. e. use up, exhaust the whole quiver against Israel [C.L Ezek. V i6\ 24. The three plagues of hunger, pestilence, wild beasts (and reptiles) ; Jer. xiv, 12, &c. ; Ezek, xiv. 15, 21. burnixiir heat: ' the Fire-bolt, a poetical designation of the DEUTERONOMY 32. 25-29. R? 227 And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them, With the poison of crawling things of the dust. Without shall the sword bereave, 25 And in the chambers terror ; // shall destroy both young man and virgin, The suckling with the man of gray hairs. I said, I would scatter them afar, 26 I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men : Were it not that I feared the provocation of the 27 enemy, Lest their adversaries should misdeem, Lest they should say. Our hand is exalted, And the Lord hath not done all this. For they are a nation void of counsel, 28 And there is no understanding in them. Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, 29 That they would consider their latter end ! fiery darts, sent by Jehovah, to which the poet (or popular imagina- tion) attributed fever, or other pestilential complaint' (Driver), 25. The evils of war, as a fourth plague, without and within, on young and on old. xxxii. 26, 27. * I should have said, I will cleave them in pieces, I will make, &c.' Yahweh was hindered from saying this (and accomplishing it) by the reason given in verse 27, that the enemies of Israel would count it their own victory over Yahweh and His people, not Yahweh's will. xxxii. 28-33. The poet laments Israel's failure to .understand disaster as part of Yahweh's purpose ; how can He b,e compared with heathen deities, as though they were victorious over Him ? nor can these corrupt nations be thought to be themselves pleasing to Yahweh. 28. void of counsel : Hebrew * perishing of counsel ' (Jer. xlix. 7). This is the reason (' For ') why such severe discipline is necessary. 29. ' If they had been wise, they would understand this, they would discern their latter end,' i. e. ti^'^^'- ~'^ to which Yahweh purposed to leave them (verse 20). Q 2 J 228 DEUTERONOMY 32. 30-34. R? 30 How should one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Except their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had delivered them up ? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges. 52 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah : Their grapes are grapes of ^ gall, Their clusters are bitter : 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, And the cruel venom of asps. 34 Is not this laid up in store with me, Sealed up ^ among my treasures ? '^ See ch. xxix. 18. ^ Or, in my treasuries 30. The shameful defeat of Israel in battle is due, not to Yahweh's inadequacy, but to His deliberate abandonment of Israel's cause : cf. Isa. xxx. 17 ; contrast Lev. xxvi. 8. 31. Even Israel's foes shall recognize the unique supremacy of Yahweh. (Thus the Egyptians are represented as confessing the invincible might of Yahweh, Exod. xiv. 25.) xxxii. 32, 33. The figure of the vine, so often used of Israel, is here applied to Israel's foes, to describe their corruption in root and fruit ; less probably, of Israel's corruption. 32. the vine of Sodom, &c. The names * Sodom ' and * Gomorrah ' are here used generally, as often (Isa. i. 10 ; Jer. xxiii. 14), as types of wickedness. 32''. Their grapes are poisonous grapes, Bitter clusters are theirs. 33. the poison of drag-ons : i.e. of serpents (Ps. xci. 13; Exod. vii. 9 f.). venom of asps : possibly of cobras. ' Poison ' and ' venom ' should be interchanged in this verse to correspond more exactly with the Hebrew. xxxii. 34, 35. Yahweh declares that this corruption shall itself be punished. 34. Sealed up amonff my treasures: read with R.V. marg. For the figure (sin ke^*, for punishment), see Hos. xiii. 12; Job xiv. 17. , jj, DEUTERONOMY 32. 35-38. R? 229 Vengeance is mine, and recompence, 35 At the time when their foot shall slide : For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. For the Lord shall judge his people, 36 And repent himself for his servants ; When he seeth that their power is gone, And there is none remai?iing^ shut up or left at large. And he shall say, Where are their gods, 37 The rock in which they * trusted ; Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, 38 * Or, took refuge 35. Veng'eauce is mine : quoted Heb. x. 30 ; Rom. xii. 19. The LXX and the Samaritan Pentateuch, however, read * For the day of vengeance and recompense,' which connects more closely with the previous verse, and formsa better parallel with ' For the time when their foot shall slide ' (so giving Yahweh His opportunity). at hand : in which speedy approach of Yahweh's day of intervention lies the practical comfort of the poem (cf. Isa. xl. i). 36. Israel's helplessness affords a motive parallel with that of heathen corruption for Yahweh's intervention. jndge: i. e., as the parallel line shows, examine His people's case, and decide that the time for intervention is ripe. repent himself : or 'have compassion on.' This half- verse is repeated in Ps. cxxxv. 14. power : Hebrew ' hand ' (Lev. xxv. 35), perhaps here in the sense * support.' shut up or left at larg-e : in Hebrew an alliterative phrase, used to express * all ' (r Kings xiv. 10, &c.) ; we may compare such a phrase in English as ' bag and baggage ' ; such phrases are frequent in Semitic speech (xxix. 19}. The precise origin of this phrase is doubtful ; it may refer to those under taboo and those free from taboo, a very important principle of classification for primitive thought {Rel. Sem.^ 456). xxxii. 37-39. Yahweh contrasts Himself with the gods who can do nothing against His judgement. Where are the gods to which Israel has turned for refuge (R. V. marg.) ? on which Israel has lavished material gifts in vain. 230 DEUTERONOMY 32. 39-41. R? And drank the wine of their drink offering ? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, And there is no god with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I have wounded, and I heal : And there is none that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live for ever, If I whet ^ my glittering sword, And mine hand take hold on judgement ; I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. * Heb. the lightning of my sword. 38. let them toe your protection: Hebrew * let there be unto you a shelter ' (secret placed The versions read ' let them be.' 39. I am Ixe : i.e. Yahweh, the supreme God (Isa. xli. 4, xliii. 10, 13, xlviii. i2\the first and the last, with whom there is no god (Deut iv. 35), and from whose hand there is no deliverer (Hos. ii. 10, V. 14 ; Isa. xliii. 13). Z kill ... I heal : both pronouns are emphatic in the Hebrew. The reference is simply to the absolute power over life and death possessed by Yahweh, and not to any doctrine of individual resur- rection (i Sam. ii. 6 ; Hos. vi. 2, &c.). xxxii. 40-42. Yahweh swears to take vengeance on Israel's foes, lift up my hand : (Exod. vi. 8 ; Num. xiv. 30 ; Ezek. xx. 5, and often in Ezekiel) the action of one taking an oath (Gen. xiv. 22). As I live: often in Ezekiel (v. 11), and elsewhere : Yahweh swears by Himself (Heb. vi. 13). 41. If does not make the vengeance conditional, but when the time for action arrives, the vengeance will be complete. my sflittering sword: (note R. V. marg.) cf. Nah. iii. 3, Hab. iii. ri for the flashing weapon of the warrior, here figura- tively assigned to Yahweh, who takes hold on judgement as a weapon. DEUTERONOMY 32. 42-45. R? D^ 231 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, 42 And my sword shall devour flesh ; With the blood of the slain and the captives, ^ From ^ the head of the leaders of the enemy, c Rejoice, O ^ ye nations, w/fk his people : 43 For he will avenge the blood of his servants. And will render vengeance to his adversaries. And will make expiation for his land, for his people. And Moses came and spake all the words of this song 44 in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun. [D^'] And Moses made an end of speaking all these 45 * Or, From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy ''Or, the hairy head of the enemy " Or, Praise his people, ye nations ^ Or, ye nations, his people 42. Yahweh's battlefield described (cf. Isa. Ixiii. 3-6). The weapons once turned against Israel (verses 23, 25") are now so fiercely employed against Israel's foes that the poet must needs personify their fury ; the very captives are slain to gratify them. From the head, &c. The marginal alternatives show the difficulty of translation ; the second of these is preferable to the text, as giving a parallel detail to the 'blood,' these scalps being the prey of Yahweh's sword. 43. Conclusion : let the (other) nations congratulate Israel upon this vengeance taken on Israel's foes. Hejoice, O ye nations, with his people : rather (cf. R. V. marg.), ' Greet His people joyfully ' (the verb denotes the utterance of a ringing cry, here inspired by the thoiight of Yahweh's inter- vention). make expiation : (see on xxi. 8) for the blood of Israel that has been shed (the fact that this bloodshed was, in verse 25, a divine punishment of Israel is disregarded). for his land, for his people : read, with versions, ' for the land of his people.' 44. Concluding note by the redactor, answering to the intro- ductory note, xxxi. 30. Hoshea: i.e. Joshua, which the versions read here. Cf. xxxi. 19 (note). xxxii. 45-47. Moses commends the law as Israel's life. This has nothing to do with the Song, but is connected with xxxi. 24-9. 232 DEUTERONOMY 32. 46-51. D^ P 46 words to all Israel : and he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day ; which ye shall command your children, to observe 47 to do all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you ; because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. 48 [P] And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame 49 day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho ; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession : 50 and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people ; as Aaron thy brother died in 51 mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people : because 46. unto you : * against you ' ; ^ God's law is viewed as a testimony against human sin ' (Driver). which ye shall command : rather, ' in order that ye may charge ' (iv. 10). Once more there is characteristic reference to the religious training of the young (vi. 7, &c.). 47. vain: Heb. * empty ' of practical bearing on life ; to obey this law is to live in prosperity (cf. xxx. 20). xxxii. 48-52. Moses is ordered to ascend Mount Nebo, there to die. He is to see from afar the Promised Land, but, because of his infidelity at Kadesh, is not to enter it. (A duplicate, perhaps editorial, of Num. xxvii. 12-14, PO 48. that selfsame day: i. e. that of i. 3 (P). 49. Abarim : Heb. '■ the Abarim,' meaning ' the regions beyond ' (the Jordan) ; the word denotes ' the edge of the great Moabite plateau overlooking the Jordan valley, of which Mount Nebo was the most prominent headland ' (E.B., 4). mount Nebo : (Num. xxxiii. 47) called ' the top of Pisgah ' in Deut. iii. 27 (D-), the two designations being editorially identified in xxxiv. i (q. v.). 50. thy people : here, probably, in the original sense of the word, ' thy father's kin,' as elsewhere (in ihis phrase) in P. died in mount Kor : Num. xx. 22-9 ; the place signified is unknown. DEUTERONOMY 3?. 52—33. i. PR? 233 ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilder- ness of Zin ; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. For thou shalt see the land 52 before thee ; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel. [R?] And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the 33 51. trespassed: 'acted unfaithfully': see Num. xx. 1-T3 ; for the locality (Kadesh), see on i. 2 ; for the sin of Moses, on ». 37- sanctified me not : the same verb (Kadash) is used in Num. XX. 12, with play on the place-name, Kadesh. 52. before thee : * from a distance ' : cf. 2 Kings iv. 25, where R. V. renders the same word * afar off.' xxxiii. The Blessing of Moses. This poem is not incorporated into the narrative of Deuteronomy like the ' Song,' but depends simply on its superscription (xxxiii. i) for its connexion with the book. Mosaic authorship is disproved, not only by the reference to Moses himself in verse 4, but by the assumption that the conquest of Canaan lies in the past (verses 27, 28) and by other features of the poem. It consists of an introduction (verses 2-5) which describes Yahweh's coming from Sinai, the gift of law and land, and the establishment of the kingdom ; of eleven longer or shorter eulogistic or sympathetic sayings about the eleven tribes, Simeon being omitted (verses 6 25) ; and of a conclusion (verses 26-9) emphasizing the providence of a unique God and the pros- perity of a consequently unique people. In regard to the central portion, each tribe is characterized by some salient feature in its situation, character, or history, and the historical conditions at the time of its composition may consequently be inferred. Simeon has disappeared as a tribe (see on xviii. i) ; Reuben (verse 6) is diminishing ; the prayer is offered that Judah may return to his people (verse 7). Levi is specially commended as a priestly community (verses 8-1 1) ; in Benjamin's land is Yahweh's sanctuary (verse 12) ; Joseph occupies the foremost place in the poem, the fertility of his territory and its military origin being emphasized (verses 13-17) ; Zebulun and Issachar are com- mercially prosperous (verses 18, 19) ; the trans-Jordanic territory of Gad appears to have been increased recently (verses 20, 21), whilst the northern position of Dan, Naphtali, and Asher, and the fertile territory of the two latter, are also noticed (verses 22-5\ From these references it seems clear that the date of the poem must lie between the division of the kingdom, c. 030 b, c. (verse 234 DEUTERONOMY 33. 2. R? man of God blessed the children of Israel before his 2 death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, 7) and the fall of the Northern Kingdom, 734-722 (verse 16) ; and within this period the prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (782- 743) best corresponds with the general atmosphere of contentment and security (contrast xxxii, 1-43) in which the poem moves (so Kuenen, Moore, Steuernagel, Bertholet, and others ; Dillmann and Driver prefer a date under Jeroboam I, soon after the division into two kingdoms had taken place). The central part of the poem appears, from its chief interests, to have been written in the Northern Kingdom, possibly (in view of verse 8f.) by a Levite at some northern sanctuary. The introduction (verses 2-5) and conclusion (verses 26-9), whilst forming an effective setting for the 'blessings,' were originally, perhaps, an independent psalm, of later (post-exilic ?) date (Steuernagel, Bertholet, Moore^ Oxf, Hex.). This psalm describes Israel's deliverance (through a theophany) from the enemy, and its subsequent happy security. It must be admitted, however, that the separation of psalm from ' blessings ' is not absolutely necessary, and the poem may well be read as a unity, which ' breathes from end to end a national spirit exalted by power and prosperity and unbroken by disaster ' (Moore, E.B.y 1090). It should be compared throughout with the (earlier) * Blessing of Jacob ' (Gen. xlix). xxxiii. I. Editorial note, linking the poem to the context. 1. the blessing- : cf. Joshua xiv. 13 (note) for the significance attached to such words ; here deepened by the fact that a dying man speaks them (Gen. xxvii. 7). the man of God : a name given to Moses in the title to Ps. xc, and in Joshua xiv. 6. Elsewhere a frequent designation of the prophet (e. g. i Sam. ix. 6). xxxiii. 2-5. Introduction. Yahweh revealed Himself from the south for the people He loved, to whom He gave law and land, that He might rule them. (This seems to be the general meaning of the section, but the text is frequently corrupt and the details of interpretation uncertain.) 2. The opening verses form a theophany, such as is found in Judges V. 4f. (Ps. Ixviii. 7 f.) ; Hab. iii. 3 f . : in each of these Yahweh comes up from His abode in the south, to intervene for His people. Sinai : ' the mountain of God ' (Exod. iii. i), to which the giving of the law was assigned because of its previous sacredness (not vice versa). Yahweh says He has brought Israel unto DEUTERONOMY 33. 3. R? 235 And rose from Seir unto them ; He shined forth from mount Paran, And he came from the ten thousands of ^ holy ones : At his right hand ^ was a fiery law unto them. Yea, he loveth the c peoples ; 3 All d his saints are in thy hand : And they sat down at thy feet ; * Heb. holiness. ^ Or, zvasfire^ a law Or, as otherwise read, were streams for them ^ Or, tribes ^ Or, their holy ones Himself (Exod. xix. 4), in bringing the people to Sinai (of. Rel. Sem.y^ p. 118) ; Sinai is His abode on earth. rose : i. e. like the sun, as the Hebrew verb denotes : cf. Hab. iii. 4. Seir (ii. i) . . . Paran (i. i, place uncertain) ; perhaps named as indicating the route by which Yahweh comes from Sinai to Israel. the ten thousands of holy ones : i. e. from the midst of the angels surrounding Him (i Kings xxii. 19, &c.). But for 'holiness' (see R. V. marg., i. e. Kodesh) LXX has the place-name Kadesh (i. 2), which would give a better parallel wnth Paran ; and we ought probably to read ' from ' (Dillmann) or ' to ' (Wellhausen) * Meribath-Kadesh ' (xxxii. 51). The reading of the Hebrew text is responsible for the later belief (cf. Targum and LXX) that the law was ordained through angels (Acts vii. 53; Gal. iii. 19; Heb. ii. 2). a flery law unto them : this can hardly be a correct render- ing, since * a fire, a law ' (R. V. marg.^) j'ields no good sense, and supposes a Persian word to be used for 'law.' R. V. marg.'' gives a (doubtful) rendering of a word made b}' combining those rendered ' fire ' and ' law.* The text is corrupt, and numerous attempts at emendation have been made, of which Dillmann's ' a burning fire ' has perhaps won most acceptance (* from his right hand '). 3. the peoples: read, with LXX, 'his people,' since the reference must be to Israel, and the interpretation of R. V. marg. is without sufficient justification. his saints : R. V. marg. applies the pronoun to Israel. Steuernagel follows Lucian's LXX in reading, ' in His hands ' for ' in thy hand.' And they sat down at thy feet : the rendering of the verb is based on a supposed Arabic cognate. But the words appear to 236 DEUTERONOMY 33. 4-7. R? Every o?ie ^ shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us a law, An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob And ^ he was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people were gathered, All the tribes of Israel together. Let Reuben live, and not die ; c Yet let his men be few. And this is the blessing of Judah : and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, ^ Or, received ^ Or, there was a king " Or, And let not his men be corrupt, and the translation of the second half of this verse is very doubtful. Driver renders : And they [followed] at thy foot, Receiving of thy words. 4. inheritance: i. e. probably Canaan ; 'for' is supplied by R. V. to make a connexion. 5. he was king": i.e. Yahweh. R.V. marg. will most naturally refer to Saul. Jeshurnu : verse 26, xxxii. 15 (note). xxxiii. 6-25. The separate blessings on the eleven tribes {excluding Simeon). 6. Reuben (the firstborn, Gen. xlix. 3) ; blamed in the Song of Deborah (Judges v. 15**, 16) for absence from the conflict ; cursed by Jacob (Gen. xlix. 3, 4), and of little historical importance (settled east of Jordan, Joshua xiii. 15-23, but not mentioned in Mesha's inscription, c. 850). Here the hope is expressed that the tribe may not become wholly extinct. Yet let his men be few : this is the only approach to a curse which the ' Blessing ' contains. The alternative of R. V. marg. carries the negative of the first clause over into the second, but this is grammatically improbable (cf. Driver, p. 395"^. 7. And this is of Judah : probably, like the notes introducing all the blessings except that of Reuben, an editorial insertion, not belonging to the original poem. Judah : settled in the south of Palestine (Joshua xv) ; not named in the Song of Deborah ; becoming of historical importance under David ; its military success and supremacy are praised in DEUTERONOMY 33. 8. R? 237 And bring him in unto his people : a With his hands he contended ^for himself; And thou shalt be an help against his adversaries. And of Levi he said, 8 Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with cthy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah ; ■ Or, Let his hands be sufficient for him ^ Or, for them '^ Or, him whom thou lovesi the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 8 f.). Here the poet praj'S for the reunion of Judah with his people (Israel) and for Judah's victory over enemies in some present need. The verse is im- portant for the dating of the Blessing, since it presupposes the separation of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, which took place through Jeroboam I (c. 930 ; i Kings xii. 20). for himself: Hebrew * for him,' leaving the reference un- certain (cf. R. V. marg.). Stade's conjecture, however {G. V. /., i. p. 160), * With thy hands contend for him ' (making the line a prayer to Yahweh, like the rest of the verse), is very probably right, and has found frequent acceptance. 8. ]Levi: see note on xviii. i for the early history of this tribe, here already a priestly community. Thy Tlmmmiiu and thy XJrim : the sacred lot, administered by the priest, probably giving a * Yes ' or ' No ' in reply to inquiry. The passage best illustrating this practice is the LXX of I Sam. xiv. 41 : 'And Saul said, Yahweh, God of Israel, why hast thou not answered thy servant to-day ? is the wrong in me or in Jonathan my son ? Yahweh, God of Israel, give Urim ; and if thus thou say, give to thy people Israel, give Thummim.' Cf. Exod. xxviii. 30 ; Lev. viii. 8 ; Ezra ii. 63. with thy g'odly one : Hebrew ' for a man, thy kindly or pious one ' ; either the tribe, conceived as a person, or Moses (Aaron) as its representative. Massah (Exod. xvii. 1-7), Meribah (Num. xx. 2-13) : the O. T. narrative throws no light on the manner in which Levi was tested and striven with (or lor) ; nor can the references to Moses and Aaron be said (representatively) to explain the present passage, which supposes Levi to have come out successfully from the ordeal. 238 DEUTERONOMY 33. 9-11. R? Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him ; Neither did he acknowledge his brethren, Nor knew he his own children : For they have observed thy word, And keep thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy judgements, And Israel thy law : They shall put incense ^ before thee, And whole burnt offering upon thine altar. Bless, Lord, his substance, And accept the work of his hands : Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him, "• Heb. in thy nostrils. 9. Levi's renunciation of the ties of blood, in faithful observance of the priestly office. The reference is probably to the general impartiality and independence of worldly considerations expected of the priest, of which the incident recorded in Exod. xxxii. 27-9 will afford a particular illustration : cf. Lev. xxi. 1 1 ; i Sam. i. 28 (contrast Eli's partiality, ii. 29). The verbs should be rendered in the present tense in verses 9, 10. tliy covenant : Mai. ii. 4-9. 10. The function of the Levitical priest (the whole tribe : see on xviii. i) is twofold : to give the oracles and other decisions (cf. xvii. 10 f.; law = direction, teaching) of Yahweh, and to offer sacrifice. incense : possibly in the earlier and more general meaning, * smoke of sacrifice.' For the anthropomorphism of R. V. marg., cf. I Sam. xxvi. 19 (R. V. marg.) ; Gen. viii. 21, &c. whole burnt ofTeringr : see on xiii. 16. 11. his substance : i. e. his possessions ; but ' strength ' (which the Hebrew word originally means) is here preferable ; the work of his hands will be Levi's sacrificial acts. Smite through the loins of : Hebrew ' smite as to the loins ' round which is the girdle (Prov. xxxi. 17), and which are the seat of bodily strength (Nahum ii. i; Ezek. xxix. 7; Ps. Ixvi. 11, Ixix. 23), trembling in the anguish of travail (Isa. xxi, 3) or fear (Nahum ii. 10). The particular reference to the (obscure) history DEUTERONOMY 33. 12,13. R? 239 And of them that hate him, that they rise not again. Of Benjamin he said, ^^ The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him ; He covereth him all the day long, And he dwelleth between his shoulders. And of Joseph he said, ^3 Blessed of the Lord be his land ; For the precious things of heaven, for the dew, of Levi is unknown ; some opposition to the priestly prerogatives (cf. Num. xvi, I Kings xii. 31) is in viev;^. The martial figure has led some to suppose that the verse belongs to Judah, and should follow verse 7 ; but this transposition does not seem necessary. 12. Benjamin : the tribe of Saul and Jonathan ; celebrated, in the Blessing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 27), for its martial character, as 'a ravening wolf ; here appearing as a favourite son of Yahweh, even as of Jacob (Gen. xliv. 20), and called ^ the beloved of Yah- weh ' (note its central position in the land, Joshua xviii. 11 f.). by Mni : omit with versions. He covereth : ' surroundeth,* i. e. Yahweh protects Benjamin. lie dwelleth between his shoulders : Yahweh dwells (in His sanctuary) amongst the mountains (for ' shoulders ' in this sense, cf. Joshua xv. 8, xviii. 13) of Benjamin. The reference is usually taken to be to the temple at Jerusalem (see on Joshua xv. 8 : cf. Josh, xviii. 28\ Others {e.g. Bertholet, thinking of the North IsraeHte origin of the poem) explain of the sanctuary at Bethel ;Amos vii. 13). 13. Joseph: i.e. Ephraim and Manasseh (verse 17: cf. Gen. xlviii. 5), to which tribes the most prominent place in the Blessing is here given (cf. Gen. xlix. 22-6, with which the present passage shows literary relationship). The prominence is natural in view of the historical importance of 'Joseph,' as the centre of the Northern Kingdom, in which, moreover, this poem probably originated (cf. verse 7). The blessings assigned to Joseph are those of fertile territory (verses 13-16) and of military prowess (verse 17. fin Gen. xlix. 23 f., Joseph has been hard pressed, but has prevailed.) Por the precious thing^s : elsewhere ' choice fruits ' (Song of Songs, iv. 13, 16, vii. 13) ; here of the natural gifts on which all fertility depends — sunshine, rain, and dew. Read 'from' instead of ' for ' throughout ; these gifts are the source of blessing. for the dew: more probably 'above,' as in the related passage, 240 DEUTERONOMY Sa. 14-17. R? And for the deep that coucheth beneath, 14 And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, And for the precious things of the growth of the moons, 15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, And for the precious things of the everlasting hills, 16 And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush : Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, And upon the crown of the head of him ^ that was separate from his brethren. 1 7 ^ The firstling of his bullock, majesty is his ; And his horns are the horns of the c wild-ox : * Or, that is prince among ^ Or, His firstling bullock ^ See Num. xxiii. 22. Gen. xlix. 25 (cf. Gen. xxvii. 39), which gives a better contrast with ' beneath ' in the next line. the deep that coucheth beneath : i. e. ' the water under the earth' (iv. 18, note), personified as a crouching monster, like the Babylonian Tiamat (Jastrow, Bab. Ass. Rel., p. 411), with which name the Hebrew word for ' deep ' {tehom) is connected. 14. the gfrowth of the moons: * the produce of the months,* i. e. of successive seasons. 15. for the chief things :