聖書注解書

These [be] the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red [sea], between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.

These be the words which Moses spake. — And surely he spake much, if he spake, as some cast it up, this whole Book in less than ten days’ space. Certain it is that he spake here, as ever, most divinely, and like himself, or rather beyond himself - the end of a thing being better, if better may be, than the beginning thereof, Ecclesiastes 7:8 as good wine is best at last; and as the sun shines most amiably when it is going down. This book of the law it was that the king was to write out with his own hand, Deuteronomy 17:18-19 that it might serve as his manual, and attend him in his running library. This was that happy book that good Josiah lighting upon, after it had long laid hid in the temple, melted at the menaces thereof, and obtained of God to die in peace, though he were slain in battle. This only book was that silver brook, that preciously purling current, out of which the Lord Christ, our Champion, chose all those three smooth stones, wherewith he prostrated the Goliath of hell in that sharp encounter. Matthew 4:4 ; Matthew 4:7 ; Matthew 4:10 And surely, if Cicero could call Aristotle’s "Politics," for the elegancy of the style, and for the excellency of the matter, aureum flumen orationis; and if the same author durst say that the law of the twelve tables did exceed all the libraries of philosophers, both in weight and worth; how much rather is all this true of this second edition of God’s law, with an addition.

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([There are] eleven days’ [journey] from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.)

There are eleven days’journey. — So many days’ march for a foot army. But Philo the Jew saith a horseman might despatch it in three days. Triduo confici potuit.

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And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first [day] of the month, [that] Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;

In the eleventh month. — And in the twelfth month of this same year he died; so that this was his swan song: Sic, ubi fata vocant, …

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After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:

After he had slain Sihon. — If Samson had not turned aside to see the lion, that not long before he had slain, he had not found the honey in the carcass. Judges 14:8 So, if we recognise not our dangers, deliverances, and achievements, we shall neither taste how sweet the Lord is, nor return him his due praises. To true thankfulness is required, (1.) Recognition; (2.) Estimation; (3.) Retribution. See them all in Psalms 116:3 ; Psalms 116:7 ; Psalms 116:12 .

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On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,

Began Moses to declare. — And he was not long about it. See Trapp on " Deuteronomy 1:1 " A ready heart makes riddance of God’s work; for being oiled with the Spirit, it becomes lithe and nimble, quick of despatch.

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The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:

Long enough. — The law is not for men to continue under, but for a time till they be fitted for Christ. Galatians 3:16-25 Humbled they must be, and hammered for a season; sense of misery goes before sense of mercy.

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Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all [the places] nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

Unto the great river Euphrates. — Here are the bounds of the Promised Land; all which if they enjoy not, the fault was merely in themselves. Joshua chideth them for their slackness and dastardliness.

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Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

Go in and possess it. — God was ready, but they were not ripe for such a mercy. So 2 Chronicles 20:33 the high places were not taken away; for the people had not yet prepared their hearts for such a reformation: the work was ensnarled and retarded by their unfitness. See Isaiah 59:2 .

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