Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Moses here resumes his address, and having made a passing allusion to the principal events in their history, concludes by exhorting them to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully.”

“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart--Here he teaches them the true and spiritual meaning of that rite, as was afterwards more strongly urged by Paul (Ro 2:25, 29), and should be applied by us to our baptism, which is "not the putting away of the …”

“Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge--The reason for the frequent repetition of the same or similar counsels is to be traced to the infantine character and state of the church, which required line upon line and precept upon precept.”

“I speak not with your children which have not known . . . But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did--Moses is here giving a brief summary of the marvels and miracles of awful judgment which God had wrought in effecting their release f…”

“A widely extending plain forms the cultivated portion of Egypt, and on the greater part of this low and level country rain never falls. This natural want is supplied by the annual overflow of the Nile, and by artificial means from the same source when the rive…”

“That blessing was promised to the Israelites as a temporal reward for their fidelity to the national covenant [De 11:13]. It was threatened to be withdrawn on their disobedience or apostasy; and most signally is the execution of that threatening seen in the p…”

“Lebanon--the northern limit; Euphrates--their boundary on the east. Their grant of dominion extended so far, and the right was fulfilled to Solomon. even unto the uttermost sea--the Mediterranean.”

“These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe--Having in the preceding chapter inculcated upon the Israelites the general obligation to fear and love God, Moses here enters into a detail of some special duties they were to practise on their obta…”

“And ye shall overthrow their altars--piles of turf or small stones. and break their pillars--Before the art of sculpture was known, the statues of idols were only rude blocks of colored stones.”

“It was admirably calculated to prevent the corruption which would otherwise have crept in from their frequenting groves and high hills--to preserve uniformity of worship and keep alive their faith in Him to whom all their sacrifices pointed. The place was succ…”

“Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates--Every animal designed for food, whether ox, goat, or lamb, was during the abode in the wilderness ordered to be slain as a peace offering at the door of the tabernacle; its blood to be sprinkled,…”

“Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them, &c.--Game when procured in the wilderness had not been required to be brought to the door of the tabernacle.”

“Taking into consideration the prevalence of this idea among them, we see that against an Egyptian influence was directed the full force of the wholesome caution with which this chapter closes.”

“The modern Jews appeal to this passage as justifying their rejection of Jesus Christ. But He possessed all the characteristics of a true prophet, and He was so far from alienating the people from God and His worship that the grand object of His ministry was to…”

“If thy brother . . . entice thee secretly--This term being applied very loosely in all Eastern countries (Ge 20:13), other expressions are added to intimate that no degree of kindred, however intimate, should be allowed to screen an enticer to idolatry, to c…”

“It is manifest that what was done in secret could not be legally proved by a single informer; and hence Jewish writers say that spies were set in some private part of the house, to hear the conversation and watch the conduct of a person suspected of idolatrous…”

“Certain men, the children of Belial--lawless, designing demagogues (Jud 19:22; 25:25), who abused their influence to withdraw the inhabitants of the city to idol-worship.”

“Then shalt thou inquire--that is, the magistrate, to whom it officially belonged to make the necessary investigation. In the event of the report proving true, the most summary proceedings were to be commenced against the apostate inhabitants. The law in this c…”

“The hart--(see on De 12:15). fallow deer--The Hebrew word (Jachmur) so rendered, does not represent the fallow deer, which is unknown in Western Asia, but an antelope (Oryx leucoryx), called by the Arabs, jazmar. It is of a white color, black at the extremit…”

“Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed--The dedication of a tenth part of the year's produce in everything was then a religious duty. It was to be brought as an offering to the sanctuary; and, where distance prevented its being taken in kind, it w…”

“Save when there shall be no poor man among you--Apparently a qualifying clause added to limit the application of the foregoing statement [De 15:3]; so that "the brother" to be released pointed to a poor borrower, whereas it is implied that if he were rich, t…”

“For the poor shall never cease out of the land--Although every Israelite on the conquest of Canaan became the owner of property, yet in the providence of God who foresaw the event, it was permitted, partly as a punishment of disobedience and partly for the exe…”

“All the firstling males of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God--[See on Ex 13:2]; see Ex 22:30). thou shalt do not work with the firstling of thy bullock--that is, the second firstlings (see De 12:17, 18;”

“But it is susceptible of easy reconciliation. Pharaoh's permission, the first step of emancipation, was extorted during the night, the preparations for departure commenced, the rendezvous at Rameses made, and the march entered on in the morning.”

“Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God--No command was laid on women to undertake the journeys, partly from regard to the natural weakness of their sex, and partly to their domestic cares.”