John Wesley

if you obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to Him with all…

“It is observable, that Moses calls God, the Lord thy God twelve times in these ten verses. In the threatnings of the former chapter, he is all along called the Lord, a God of power, and the judge of all.”

And it is not beyond the sea, that you should need to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to get it for us and proclaim it, that we may obey…

“Neither beyond the sea - The knowledge of this commandment is not to be fetched from far distant places, to which divers of the wise Heathens travelled for their wisdom; but it was brought to thy very doors and ears, and declared to thee in…”

Assemble the people—men, women, children, and the foreigners within your gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and to follow carefully all the words…

“But into divers assemblies or synagogues. Women who hereby are required to go to Jerusalem at this solemnity, as they were permitted to do in other solemnities. Children - Such of them as could understand, as appears from Neh.”

“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against…

“Take this book - Probably the very same book, which (after having been some way misplaced) was found in the house of the Lord, in the days of Josiah, and publickly read by the king himself, for a witness against a people, who were then…”

As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

“Her nest - Her young ones in the nest; which she by her cry and motion provoketh to fly. Her wings - As preparing herself to fly.”

He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field.

“The high places - To conquer their strongest holds, which often are in the mountains, and their cities fenced with walls of greatest height and strength. To ride upon, in scripture phrase, is to subdue or conquer.”

with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat.

“Fat of lambs - For though the fat wherewith the inward parts were covered was not to be eaten by them, but offered to God, yet that fat which was mixed with the flesh they might eat, as the Jewish doctors note.”

They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

“They knew not - Or, who never knew them, that is, never shewed any kindness to them, or did them any good: New gods - Not simply or absolutely, for some of these had been worshipped for many generations, but comparatively to the true God…”

You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

“Of the rock - Of God, one of whose titles this is, or of Christ, who is called the rock, 1 Cor. x, 4, whom the Israelites tempted.”

if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”

“The wrath - Their rage against me, as it is expressed, Isaiah xxxvii, 28, 29, their furious reproaches against my name, as if I were cruel to my people or unable to deliver them.”

Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

“These words are spoken to God: the change of persons, his and thy, is most frequent in the Hebrew tongue.”

the law that Moses gave us, the possession of the assembly of Jacob.

“Moses - He speaks this of himself in the third person, which is very usual in the Hebrew language. The law is called their inheritance, because the obligation of it was hereditary, passing from parents to their children, and because this was the best part…”

So the LORD became King in Jeshurun when the leaders of the people gathered, when the tribes of Israel came together.

“He was king in Jeshurun - Moses was their king not in title, but in reality, being under God, their supreme governor, and law giver.”

And concerning Judah he said: “O LORD, hear the cry of Judah and bring him to his people.

“Hear, Lord - God will hear his prayer for the accomplishment of those great things promised to that tribe, Gen. xlix, 8-12. This implies the delays and difficulties Judah would meet with, that would drive him to his prayers, which would be with success.”

Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.

“Whom thou didst prove - Altho' thou didst try him, and rebuke him, yet thou didst not take away the priesthood from him. At Massah - Not at that Massah mentioned Exod. xvii, 7, which is also called Meribah, but at that other Meribah, Num.”

He said of his father and mother, ‘I do not consider them.’ He disregarded his brothers and did not know his own sons, for he kept Your word and maintained…

“The sense is, who followed God and his command fully, and executed the judgment enjoined by God without any respect of persons, Exod. xxxii, 26, 27.”

Concerning Benjamin he said: “May the beloved of the LORD rest secure in Him; God shields him all day long, and upon His shoulders he rests.”

“Shall dwell in safety by him - Shall have his lot nigh to God's temple, which was both a singular comfort and safeguard to him. Shall cover - Shall protect that tribe continually while they cleave to him.”

with the bountiful harvest from the sun and the abundant yield of the seasons,

“By the sun - Which opens and warms the earth, cherishes and improves and in due time ripens the seeds and fruits of it. The moon - Which by its moisture refreshes and promotes them.”

with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it, and with the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush.

“Many a time had God appeared to Moses; but now he is just dying, he seems to have the most pleasing remembrance, of the first time that he saw the visions of the Almighty.”

May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”

“Iron and brass - The mines of iron and copper, which were in their portion, whence Sidon their neighbour was famous among the Heathens for its plenty of brass, and Sarepta is thought to have its name from the brass and iron which were melted…”

The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

“The eternal God - He who was before all worlds, and will be, when time shall be no more: Is thy refuge - Or, thy habitation or mansion-house (so the word signifies) in whom thou art safe, and easy, and at rest, as a man…”

So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

“Distinct and separated from all other nations, with whom I will not have them mingle themselves. The fountain - That is, the posterity of Jacob, which flowed from him as waters from a fountain, in great abundance.”

all of Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,

“So these parts lying in the several quarters are put for all the rest. He stood in the east and saw also Gilead, which was in the eastern part of the land, and thence he saw the north and south and west.”

the Negev, and the region from the Valley of Jericho (the City of Palms) all the way to Zoar.

“The south - The south quarter of the land of Judah, which is towards the salt sea, the city of palm-trees - Jericho, so called from the multitude of palm-trees, which were in those parts, as Josephus and Strabo write.”

and no prophet who performed all the mighty acts of power and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

“But as far as the other prophets came short of him, our Lord Jesus went beyond him. Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ as a son: his miracles more illustrious, his communion with the father more intimate: for he is in his bosom…”