Commentary on Deuteronomy, Commentary · Chapter 5
CHAP. V.
Verſe 1. AND Moſes called all Iſrael, and ſaid unto Verſe 1 them.] That is, ſummoned all the Elders, and Heads of their Tribes, who were to communicate what he ſaid to the reſt. Thus it is commonly expounded: But that which he ſaith, XXIX. 10, 11. ſeems to direct us to another Interpretation; that he himſelf went from Tribe to Tribe, and repeated theſe Ten Words, (as they are called) placing himſelf in ſeveral parts of their Camp, that every one might hear what he ſaid. And this was ſometime after he had, in like manner, exhorted them to Obedience, in the foregoing Preface. See IV. 41.
Hear, O Iſrael, the Statutes and Judgments, which I ſpeak in your Ears this day.] Mind what I now ſay unto you.
That ye may learn them, and keep and do them.] That ye may not be ignorant of ſuch important Truths, nor negligent in the Practice of them; which is the End of Knowledge.
Verſe 2 Ver. 2. The LORD our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb.] See XXIV Exod. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Verſe 3 Ver. 3. The LORD made not this Covenant with our Fathers.] Viz. Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob: With whom he covenanted to give their Poſterity the Land of Canaan; but did not make to them this diſcovery of his Will, which was the matter of the Covenant at Horeb.
But with us, even us, who are all here alive this day.] A great part of thoſe who were then at Horeb, were now alive, viz. all under twenty Years old. And if they had been all dead, Moſes might have ſaid, He made it with us; becauſe they were ſtill the ſame People, tho' the particular Perſons were dead, with whom the Covenant was made, not only for themſelves, but for their Poſterity.
Verſe 4 Ver. 4. The LORD talked with you Face to Face in the Mount, &c.] Openly, clearly, and diſtinctly; or by himſelf, without the Mediation of Moſes; but in no viſible ſhape, for that is expreſly denied in the foregoing Chapter, IV. 12, 15.
Verſe 5 Ver. 5. I ſtood between the LORD and you at that time, to ſhew you the Word of the LORD. As a Mediator, whom God employed to prepare them to meet him, (XIX. Exod. 10, 11, &c.) and to preſcribe them the Bounds, at what diſtance they ſhould keep, (v. 12.) and to bring them forth to meet with him, (v. 17.) and to charge them to keep within their Bounds, v. 21. And on the other ſide, to repreſent their Deſires unto God, after he had ſpoken to them, XX Exod. 19. So that he was truly a Mediator between God and them; and ſtood alſo in a middle place, at the foot of the Mount, while they ſtood further off.
For ye were afraid by reaſon of the Fire.] XX Exod. 18.
And went not up into the Mount.] XIX Exod. 17. XX. 21.
Ver. 6. I am the LORD thy God, which brought Verſe 6 thee out of the Land of Egypt, from the Houſe of Bondage.] This Preface to the Ten Commandments is explained, XX Exod. 2.
Ver. 7. Thou ſhalt have none other Gods before me.] Verſe 7 See XX Exod. 3. It is wiſely obſerved by Grotius, (Lib. 2. de Jure Belli & Pacis, Cap. XX. Sect. XLV.) That true Religion was ever built upon theſe Four Principles: First, That there is a God, and that he is but One. Secondly, That God is nothing of thoſe things that we ſee with our Eyes, but ſomething more ſublime than them all. Thirdly, That he takes Care of Humane Affairs, and judges them moſt juſtly. Fourthly, That he is the Maker of all things whatſoever. Which Principles are explained in theſe firſt four Precepts of the Decalogue; the Unity of the Godhead being delivered in the firſt place.
Ver. 8, 9, 10. Thou ſhalt not make thee any graven Verſe 8, 9, 10. Image, nor the likeneſs of any thing, &c.] The Second Principle, That God's Nature is inviſible, is contained in this Second Commandment: Being the Ground of this Prohibition, to make any Image of him. Which the beſt of the Heathen forbad alſo for this very reaſon, foreign, Becauſe it is impoſſible to conceive God otherwiſe, but by the Mind alone, as Plutarch reports the ſence of Numa among the Romans. And we find the ſame as plainly ſaid by Antiſthenes among the Greeks, in Clemens Alexandrinus, foreign: He is not ſeen by the Eyes, nor is like to any thing; and therefore none can learn any thing of him by an Image. Nor could the Vulgar, I am apt to think, have been kept ſo long, and ſo generally as they were, to the worſhip of them, if it had not been by bold Fictions, that ſome of them were foreign, Faln down from Heaven; and that all of them were, foreign, Divine Things, and full of a Divine Communication, as Jamblichus ſpeaks. And to make them more reverenced, while ſome of them were foreign, conſpicuous to all the People; others were kept ſecret in the inmoſt part of their Temple, as having hidden in them a Symbolical Preſence of God, as Proclus ſpeaks upon Timaeus. Which Ezek Spanhemius juſtly thinks, was done in imitation of what Moſes ſaith concerning God's Preſence upon the Mercy-Seat, in the Holy of Holies. Obſervationes in Callimachum, p. 586, &c.
See upon theſe three Verſes my Annotations on XX Exod. 4, 5, 6.
Verſe 11 Ver. 11. Thou ſhalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain, &c.] This contains the Third Principle before-mentioned, that God takes Notice of all things, even of our Thoughts, and governs all our Affairs: For it is the Foundation of an Oath, that God knows our very Hearts, and is Witneſs to our Meaning, as well as our Words; and will, if we ſwear falſly, puniſh us for it: Which is an acknowledgment alſo both of the Juſtice, and the Power of God. See upon XX Exod. 7.
Ver. 12. Keep the Sabbath-day to ſanctifie it.] They were to keep it in Memory, that they might ſanctifie it, as it is XX Exod. 8. ſee there. And it was ſanctified, Verſe 12 or ſet apart for ſpecial Ends and Purpoſes; that they might give to the bleſſed God the ſeventh part of the Week, (as Abarbinel ſpeaks upon theſe Words) and might learn the Divine Law, together with the Kabalah, or Traditional Expoſition of the Words, and mark well the Niceties of it: For which he quotes a Saying out of the Gemara of the Hieruſalem Talmud, Sabbaths and Feaſts were not given, but to learn the Law upon them. Which is the reaſon he ſaith of another Speech of theirs, in their Midraſch, or Allegorical Expoſition upon Exodus, That the Sabbath weigheth against all the Commandments: Becauſe it was a principal means to make them known and obſerved. There is not much ſaid indeed, in expreſs Words, concerning this End of the Reſt of the Sabbath: But common Reaſon told the Jews, it could not be intended meerly as a Day of Eaſe from Labour; but for the ſolemn Service of God, and Inſtruction in their Duty to him.
As the LORD thy God commanded thee.] At Marah ſay the Jews commonly, where he gave them a Statute and an Ordinance: See XV Exod. 25. But one of them ſaith better, At Marah it was deſigned, and at Sinai it was commanded. But they do not look back far enough for the Original of this Commandment: For there being two Things in this Day, the Rest of it, and the Religion; the Rest of it was in Remembrance of their Deliverance out of Egypt, and the Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, which compleated their Deliverance; immediately after which, they kept their firſt Sabbatical Reſt. The Religion was in Remembrance of the Creation of the World; and ſo this Day had been obſerved from the beginning by the Patriarchs, tho' we find no mention made of their Reſting: And that may poſſibly be the meaning of theſe Words, As the LORD thy God commanded thee. That is, immediately after he had finiſhed the Creation of the World.
Verſe 13 Ver. 13. Six Days ſhalt thou labour, and do all thy Work.] See upon XX Exod. 9.
Verſe 14 Ver. 14. But the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God, in it thou ſhalt not do any Work, &c.] The reaſon why they might not do any Work on this Day, is given in the XX Exod. 11. which is wholly omitted here; becauſe Moſes had another Reaſon to add, for the Inforcement of this Precept: And refers them (in the foregoing Words, v. 12. As the LORD thy God hath commanded thee) to what he had ſaid in the Book of Geneſis and Exodus; where he had ſet down the Reaſon which God himſelf gave with his own Mouth, for the Religious Obſervation of this Day; becauſe in Six Days the LORD made Heaven and Earth, &c. So that this Commandment was deſigned to eſtabliſh the Fourth Principle I mentioned, that God is the Maker of all Things. To preſerve the Memory and Sence of which, (as the Author of the Anſwer, Ad Orthodoxos, obſerves, LXIX.) this Reſt was inſtituted, to be obſerved with a more than ordinary Sanctity. It being of ſuch great moment, that the firſt Sabbath-breaker was puniſhed with Death; becauſe the voluntary Violation of it, contained in it a Denial, that the World was created by God.
That thy Man-ſervant and thy Maid-ſervant may rest as well as thou.] Mercy towards Men, as well as Piety towards God, was a Reaſon for the obſervation of this Sabbatical Reſt.
Ver. 15. And remember that thou wast a Servant in Verſe 15 the Land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee from thence, &c. therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day. This is a new Ground for the obſervation of the Sabbath; becauſe God had given them reſt from their hard Labour in Egypt: Which obliged them to keep that Seventh Day, which God appointed at the giving of Manna, (being the Day on which he overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea) as the Memory of the Creation of the World obliged them to keep one Day in ſeven. So our Mr. Mede hath explained it: See my Annotations on XIV Exod. 30. And Maimonides hath ſomething to the ſame purpoſe, in his More Nevochim, P. II. Cap. XXXI. See upon XX Exod. 11.
Ver. 16. Honour thy Father and thy Mother, as the Verſe 16 LORD thy God hath commanded thee.] In the Twentieth of Exodus, v. 12. See there. To which I ſhall here add, That the Laws of Solon made thoſe Children infamous, who did not afford Suſtenance to their Parents, and provide them an Habitation. And by the ancient Law of Athens, he that reproached his Parents, was diſinherited; if he ſtruck them, his Hand was cut off; if he left them unburied, he loſt their Eſtate, and was baniſhed his Country: And another Law puniſhed this Ingratitude with Death. See J. Meurſius, in his Themis Attica, Lib. I. Cap. 2, 3. where he ſhews, That by Parents they underſtood, not only Father and Mother, but Grand-father, and Grand-mother; nay, foreign i. e. Great Grand-mother, and Great Grand-father, if they were yet alive, as Iſaeus tells us, Orat. VII. And the Ground of all theſe Laws, was, a Sence they had, as Aeſchines tells us, That Men ought to honour their Parents, as they did the Gods, foreign. See Sam. Petitus, in Leges Atticas, Lib. III. Tit. 3. Whence Hierocles calls Parents, foreign, Earthly Gods. And Philo upon the Decalogue, foreign, &c. Viſible Gods, who imitate him that is unbegotten, by giving Life. And accordingly, next to the Precepts concerning the Worſhip of God, Moſes here places immediately the Duty owing unto Parents.
That thy Days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, &c.] Theſe laſt Words are added to what God ſpake, (XX Exod. 12.) as an Explication of the foregoing. Whereby they are excited to Obedience, by the Promiſe not only of a long Life, but of an happy. I ſay Obedience, for that's included in Honour, as the Apoſtle explains it, III Coloſſ. 20. Children obey your Parents in all things: Where God, that is, hath not commanded the contrary, and where it is not inconſiſtent with the Publick Good; which is alway to be preferred ever before the Duty that is owing to Natural Parents. Inſomuch, that common Reaſon taught the Heathen, that for the Good of the Society, the Son is to lay aſide the Reverence he ſhould pay to his Father, and the Father to pay it unto the Son; that is, when he is in Publick Office: Thus the famous Fabius Cunctator, commended his Son, for making him light off from his Horſe, when he met him in his Conſulſhip, as Plutarch tells us. And ſee A. Gellius, L. XI. Noct. Attic. Cap. I. & Lib. XIII. Cap. ult. & Lib. XIV. in the beginning.
Ver. 17. Thou ſhalt not kill.] If a Man killed another involuntarily, he was baniſhed, by the Laws of Athens, from his Country for a Year: But if he kill'd Verſe 17 another, foreign, as Demoſthenes ſpeaks, out of forethought, and deſignedly, he was put to Death: See Sam. Petitus, Lib. VII. in Leges Atticas, Tit. 1. p. 508, 512. Yea, ſo deteſtable was this Sin accounted, that even, foreign, Liveleſs Things, ſuch as Wood, or Stone, or Iron, wherewith a Man was killed, Draco ordered to be thrown out of their Coaſts. Ib. p. 523.
Ver. 18. Thou ſhalt not commit Adultery.] This Verſe 18 Crime was alſo puniſhed with Death, by the Laws of Draco. Solon indeed, left it to the Liberty of the Husband, who caught another Man in Bed with his Wife, either to kill him, if he pleaſed, or to let him redeem his Life with a Sum of Money. But if after this he lived with his Wife, he was infamous, as Demoſthenes tells us; who ſaith, ſhe might not come publickly into their Temples: If ſhe did, any Man might treat her as he pleaſed, only not kill her: So that ſhe was ſo odious as to be thrown, foreign, Both out of the Houſe of her Husband, and out of Holy Places of the City. Nor might ſhe go abroad with any Ornaments, (foreign, is the Law of Solon). If ſhe did, any Body might take them away from her, and tear her Clothes in pieces, and beat her; only not maim her in any part of her Body. See the ſame Petitus, Lib. VI. Tit. 4.
Ver. 19. Neither ſhalt thou ſteal.] The Laws of Verſe 19 Draco puniſhed all Theft with Death: Which Solon thought too ſevere, and therefore chang'd that Puniſhment into making Satisfaction, by reſtoring double; yet ſtill making it Death, if any Man ſtole above ſuch a Value; or took any thing out of the Publick Baths, and ſuch-like places, tho' of never ſo little Value. See in the ſame Author, Lib. VII. Tit. 5.
Verſe 20 Ver. 20. Neither ſhalt thou bear falſe Witneſs against thy Neighbour.] There was an Action at Athens lay both againſt falſe Witneſſes, and him that produced them: Who had a Fine ſet upon them, and were made infamous. And if they were found thrice in the ſame Fault, foreign, Both they themſelves, and all their Poſterity, were made infamous. As Andocides ſpeaks. See Ib. page 559.
Verſe 21 Ver. 21. Neither ſhalt thou deſire thy Neighbour's Wife, neither ſhalt thou covet thy Neighbour's Houſe, &c.] It is obſerved by ſome, that an exact Order is obſerved in the delivery of theſe Precepts: For firſt he places ſuch Offences as are conſummate, and then thoſe that are but begun, and not perfected. And in the former he proceeds from thoſe that are moſt heinous, unto thoſe that are leſs grievous: For thoſe Offences are the greateſt which diſturb the Publick Order, and conſequently do miſchief unto a great many. Such are thoſe that are committed againſt Governors and Rulers, who are comprehended under the Name of Parents; by whoſe Authority Humane Society is preſerved. And then among thoſe which are againſt particular Perſons, thoſe are the greateſt which touch a Man's Life: Next, thoſe that wrong his Family; the Foundation of which is Matrimony: Then thoſe that wrong him in his Goods, either directly by Stealth, or more craftily by bearing Falſe-witneſs. Then in the laſt place, thoſe Sins are mentioned, which are not conſummate, being gone no further than deſire; which in Exodus, (XX. 17.) are expreſſed by one and the ſame word, but here by two; which we tranſlate deſire and covet: Between which I know no difference; unleſs they expreſs higher and lower degrees of the ſame Sin. The contrary to which, is contentedneſs with our Portion, and thankfulneſs to God for it; which will not let us covet any thing belonging to another Man, with his loſs and damage.
Ver. 22. Theſe Words the LORD ſpake unto all the Verſe 22 Aſſembly in the Mount; out of the midst of the Fire, of the Clouds, and of the thick Darkneſs.] XIX Exod. 16. XX. 18. This confutes the fooliſh Fancy of the Jewiſh Doctors, that the People heard only the firſt Words of God, I am the LORD thy, &c. thou ſhalt have no other Gods but me, i. e. They heard him declare his Exiſtence, and his Unity; but all the reſt were reported to them by Moſes. Nothing can be more contrary to what he here ſaith, that all theſe Words (that is, the Ten Words before mentioned) were ſpoken to their whole Aſſembly. See More Nevochim, P. II. Cap. XXXIII.
With a great Voice.] That is, ſo loud that it might be heard by the whole Camp.
And he added no more.] All the reſt of the Commandments, which follow in the XXI, XXII, and XXIII of Exodus, were delivered to Moſes alone, and by him to the People, according to their own deſire, XX Exod. 19. XXI. 1. XXIV. 3.
And he wrote them in two Tables of Stone, and delivered them unto me.] That is, the Ten Commandments, and no more, XXIV Exod. 12. XXXI. 18. XXXIV. 1, 28. Leſt what they heard with their Ears, ſhould quickly ſlide out of their Minds, he took care to have it engraven with his own Hands, in theſe Tables.
Verſe 23 Ver. 23. And it came to paſs, when ye heard the Voice out of the midst of the Darkneſs, (for the Mountain did burn with Fire) that ye came near unto me; even all the Heads of the Tribes and Elders.] After they had recovered out of the Fright wherein they were, at the Concluſion of theſe Words: When the Thunderings, Lightnings, and Noiſe of the Trumpet was ſo terrible, that they removed and ſtood afar off, XX Exod. 18.
Verſe 24 Ver. 24. And ye ſaid, Behold the LORD our God hath ſhewed us his Glory, and his Greatneſs, and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire.] Here Moſes relates more largely, what he ſaid in ſhort, XX Exod. 19.
We have ſeen this day, that God doth talk with Man, and he liveth.] This looks like a thankful Acknowledgment of the great Goodneſs of God, in vouchſafing them ſuch a Favour, as never any Men had before, and which they could not expect again. And accordingly Moſes makes uſe of it, as an Argument to be very obſervant of God's Commands, XX Exod. 22, 23.
Verſe 25 Ver. 25. Now therefore why ſhould we die? For this great Fire will conſume us: For if we hear the Voice of the LORD our God any more, then we ſhall die.] It is an ungrounded Conceit of Maimonides, (in the place above-mentioned) that when they had heard the firſt Words, they fell into a Swoon, and did not recover themſelves till all the reſt was ſpoken; which made them conclude, that they ſhould really die, and never come to themſelves again, (as we ſpeak) if they ſhould hear him ſpeak to them any more. The plain meaning is, that mortal Men could not endure to hear him ſpeak in that manner: For the Voice was ſo loud, and accompanied with ſuch Flaſhes of Fire, and ſuch Claps of Thunder, as made them conclude, if it had continued longer, they ſhould have expired.
Ver. 26. For who is there of all Fleſh?] i. e. Of all Verſe 26 Men, who are weak and frail, as the word Fleſh denotes.
That hath heard the Voice of the living God, ſpeaking out of the midst of Fire (as we have) and lived.] There is no Inſtance of ſuch a thing as this; which made them afraid of hearing him ſpeak, in this manner, any more: For they did not mind God's End and Intention in this, (which Moſes ſuggeſts to them in the XX Exod. 20.) but in a confuſion of Thoughts imagined, that tho' they had eſcaped once, the Flames out of which he ſpake might devour them, if they came near them again.
Ver. 27. Go thou near and hear all that the LORD Verſe 27 our God will ſay, and ſpeak thou unto us all that the LORD our God ſhall ſpeak unto thee, and we will hear it, and do it.] See XX Exod. 19. This ſhews their Opinion of Moſes, that he could be able not only to endure that without diſorder, which made them ready to die; but go into the very midſt of the Darkneſs, out of which thoſe Flames came.
Ver. 28. And the LORD heard the Voice of your Verſe 28 Words, when ye ſpake unto me, and the LORD ſaid unto me, I have heard the Voice of the Words of this People, &c.] As Moſes here reports more largely what they ſaid to him, than he did in Exodus; ſo he likewiſe gives a larger Account what God bad him ſay to them, in anſwer to their deſire.
They have well ſaid, all that they have ſpoken.] It very much becomes them, out of a ſence of their meanneſs and unworthineſs, and of the inconceivable Majeſty of God, to deſire he would ſpeak to them by a Mediator.
Verſe 29 Ver. 29. O that there were ſuch an Heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep my Commandments always.] The words are wonderful emphatical in the Hebrew, Who will give, that there may be ſuch an Heart in them. Which is an Expreſſion of the moſt earneſt deſire; but withal ſignifies, that if what he had done for them, would not move them to fear and obey him, it was impoſſible to perſwade them to it. Not but that he could miraculouſly work upon them, and change their Hearts, (ſaith Maimonides) if he pleaſed, as he miraculouſly changed the Nature of other things; but if this were God's Will, to deal with them after this faſhion, there would have been no need to ſend a Prophet to them, or to publiſh Laws, full of Precepts and Promiſes, Rewards and Puniſhments; by which (ſaith he) God wrought upon their Heart, and not by his abſolute Omnipotence. More Nevochim, P. III. Cap. XXXII.
That it might be well with them, and with their Children for ever.] For God deſired nothing more than this, which they themſelves promiſed, (v. 27.) which moved him to vouchſafe ſuch a ſpecial Priviledge to them, as firſt to ſpeak to them himſelf, and at their deſire, conſent to ſpeak to them by his Prophet.
Verſe 30 Ver. 30. Go, ſay to them, get you into your Tents again.] All this ſhews, that Moſes was a Mediator between God and them, and between them and God.
Ver. 31. But as for thee, ſtand thou here by me.] He invites Moſes unto the neareſt approaches unto his Majeſty; and the moſt familiar converſe with him, Verſe 31 XX Exod. 21. XXIV. 2, 18. For this was the higheſt degree of Prophecy, as Maimonides calls it, in his More Nevochim, P. III. Cap. LI. And in his Preface to that Book, he ſaith, This is the greateſt degree of Illumination of a Prophet, concerning whom it is ſaid, Stand thou here with me: And again, The Skin of his Face ſhone. Which he ſuppoſes ſignified, that his Mind was always full of light; whereas other Prophets were ſometime in darkneſs, and ſaw nothing.
And I will ſpeak unto thee all the Commandments, and the Statutes, and the Judgments, which thou ſhalt teach them.] According to their own deſire, v. 27. See VI. 1.
And that they may do them, in the Land which I give them to poſſeſs it.] According to their Promiſe, in the ſame, v. 27.
Ver. 32. Ye ſhall obſerve to do therefore as the LORD Verſe 32 your God hath commanded you.] Being obliged by ſuch ſingular Benefits as no other Nation ever had the like, (v 24, 25, 26.) and having engaged themſelves ſo ſolemnly to be obedient, v. 27.
Ye ſhall not turn aſide, to the right hand, or to the left.] This is a Phraſe often uſed to ſignifie, a ſtrict obſervance of God's Laws; neither ſuperſtitiouſly adding to them, nor profanely laying aſide any of them, XVII. 20. XXVIII. 14. 1 Joſh. 7.
Ver. 33. Ye ſhall walk in all the ways which the LORD Verſe 33 your God hath commanded you.] That is, obſerve all his Laws, and make them the Rule of their Lives.
Chapter VI.That ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye way prolong your Days, in the Land which ye ſhall poſſeſs.] Univerſal Obedience, he would have them ſenſible, was the only way to make them live happy, and long, in that good Land which he was about to beſtow upon them. This he inculcates again in the next Chapter, VI. 3. For all Mankind thought long Life a very great Bleſſing, as appears by Callimachus's Hymn to Diana, Ver. 132, 133. when he promiſes to thoſe whom ſhe favours,
—foreign
foreign.
i. e. They ſhall not come into their Grave, till they have reached a great old Age.