The Pulpit Commentary
ADMONITIONS AND EXHORTATIONS. Moses, having presented to the people certain facts in their recent history which had in them a specially animating and encouraging tendency, proceeds to direct his discourse to the inculcation of duties and exhortations to obedience to the Divine enactments. This portion also of his address is of an introductory character as well as what precedes.

Exhortation to the observance of the Law generally. The Law was to be kept as a complete whole; nothing was to be taken from it or added to it; it comprised the commandments of Jehovah, and therefore they were not only to do it as what Moses, their leader and lawgiver, had enjoined, bat to keep it as a sacred deposit, not to be altered or tampered with, and to observe it as what God their Sovereign had enacted for them. The dignity and worth of the Law are here asserted, and also its completeness as given by Moses. Any addition to it, no less than any subtraction from it, would mar its integrity and affect its perfection. Altered circumstances in process of time might, indeed, lead to the desuetude of some parts of the Mosaic enactments, and new institutions or laws might be required to meet a new condition of things, or even in that new condition to fence and sustain the primitive code; but that cede was to remain intact in the Statute-Book, and no alterations were to be made upon it that should affect its substance or nullify any of its principles. New laws and institutions appointed by God would, of course, have the same authority as those originally ordained by Moses; and such, it can hardly be doubted, were in point of fact under the Hebrew monarchy introduced by the prophets speaking in the name of God. The Law, nevertheless, was kept substantially entire. Even under the new dispensation, the Law has not been abolished. Christ, as he himself declared, came not to destroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them (Mat_5:17). The sin of the Pharisees, for which they were censured by our Lord, lay in this, that they taught for doctrines the commandments of men (Mat_15:9), and had "made the commandments of God of none effect by their traditions" (Mat_15:6).

Deu_4:1, Deu_4:2

Now therefore; rather And now. With this Moses passes from referring to what God had done for Israel to admonish Israel as to what they had to do as the subjects of God and the recipients of his favor. They were to give heed to all the statutes and judgments which Moses, as the servant of God, had taught them, in order that they might do them. Statutes (חֻקִּים), the things prescribed or enacted by law, whether moral, ritual, or civil; judgments (מִשְׁפָטִים), rights, whether public or private, all that each could claim as his due, and all he was bound to render to God or to his fellow-men as their due. These two comprehend the whole Law as binding on Israel. On the doing of these by the people depended life; these had been made known to them, not merely for their information, but specifically that they might do them, and thereby have life; not long life in the Promised Land alone, though this also is included (Deu_4:40; Deu_5:33; Deu_6:2, etc.), but that higher life, that life which man lives "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord" (Deu_8:3; cf. Le Deu_18:5; Eze_20:11; Mat_4:4), that spiritual life which is in God's favor (Psa_30:5). Enjoying this life as the fruit of obedience, they should also possess as their inheritance the laud promised to their fathers.

Deu_4:3, Deu_4:4

The people had had personal experience of the danger, on the one hand, of transgressing, and the benefit, on the other, of keeping God's Law; they had seen how those who sinned in worshipping Baal-peer were destroyed (Num_25:3, Num_25:9), whilst those who remained faithful to the Lord were kept alive. This experience the people had had only lately before, so that a reference to it would be all the more impressive. Baal-peor, the idol whose cultus was observed at Peor. Baal (Bal, Be‛el, Bel, Lord) was the common name of the supreme deity among the northern of the Semitic-speaking people, the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Aramaeans, and the Assyrians. There were thus many Baals. Followed: walked after; a common Biblical expression for religious adherence and service (cf. Jer_8:2; Jer_9:14; and with a different formula, Num_32:12; Deu_1:36; Jos_14:8; Jdg_2:12, etc.). Ye that did cleave unto Jehovah your God. "To cleave unto one" is expressive of the closest, most intimate attachment and communion (cf. Gen_2:24; Isa_14:1). The phrase is frequently used of devotion to the service and worship of the true God (cf. Deu_10:20; Jos_22:5; Jos_23:8; Act_2:23, etc.); here it expresses the contrast between the conduct of those who remained faithful to Jehovah and those who forsook him to worship Baal. Are alive every one of you this day. "Thus they that keep themselves pure in general defections, are saved from the common destruction (Eze_9:4-6; 2Ti_2:19; Rev_20:4)" (Ainsworth).

Deu_4:5, Deu_4:6

The institutes of Moses were the commandments of Jehovah, and therefore obedience to them was imperative. By this was conditioned the enjoyment by Israel of the Promised Land; and this would be their wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations; to themselves it would be life, and to the nations it would convey an impression of their being the depositories of true wisdom and knowledge, so that they should be constrained to say, Surely a wise and understanding people is this great nation. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that is wise winneth souls" (Pro_11:30). God's statutes make wise the simple (Psa_19:8; Psa_119:98, Psa_119:99); and they who are thus made wise attract the attention of others by the fame of their wisdom. Thus the Queen of Sheba heard in her distant country of the wisdom of Solomon, and came to him to commune with him of all that was in her heart (1Ki_10:1, etc.); and many throughout the ages who were seeking after truth among the heathen, were drawn to Israel by seeing how with them was the true knowledge of God. Israel was thus exalted because God was nigh to them, ready to hear their cry and to give them what they needed; which none of the gods of the nations were or could be to their votaries; and because, in the Law which God had given them, they had such instruction and direction as no heathen nation possessed.

Deu_4:7, Deu_4:8

Translate, For what great nation is there that hath gods that draft near to it, as Jehovah our God whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances like this whole Law which I am giving before you this day? (comp. Deu_33:29; Psa_34:17-20; Psa_145:18; 1Sa_14:36; I Kings 1Sa_18:26-29, 37; Jas_4:8). "True right has its roots in God; and with the obscuration of the knowledge of God, law and right, with their divinely established foundations, are also shaken and obscured (cf. Rom_1:26-32)" (Keil).

The possession of the oracles of God by Israel was a benefit to them only as these were kept in mind and reverently obeyed. Therefore they were to take heed and diligently beware of forgetting the circumstances under which the Law had been received at Horeb. God had then commanded the people to be gathered together, so that they stood before the Lord, were in his manifested presence, and were made to hear his voice speaking to them from amidst the fire and the clouds that covered the mount. They had thus actual evidence and guarantee that the Law they had received was Divine; and this they were to keep in mind as long as they lived, and to communicate to their children in all coming time, that so they might fear the Lord; for on this rested that covenant which God had made with Israel, and which they were to keep as the condition of their continuing to enjoy privilege and life.

Keep thy soul diligently; i.e. Be very careful to preserve thy life (cf. Job_2:6; Pro_13:3; Pro_16:17; Pro_19:16; in all which passages the same formula is used as here). The Hebrew (נֶפֻשׁ) means primarily breath, then vital principle, natural life (anima), then soul life, the soul or mind (animus). The forgetting of the wonders they had seen would lead to their forgetting God, and so to their departing from him, and this would mar and ultimately destroy their life (cf. Jos_23:11-16). The things which thine eyes have seen (see Exo_19:10, etc.).

The Pulpit Commentary
Specially the day. The word "specially," introduced by the translators into the Authorized Version, is a needless interpolation. With this verse begins a new sentence, which is continued in Deu_4:11 on to the end of Deu_4:13. Render, On the day [i.e. at the time, the יום, is an adverbial accusative] when ye stood before Jehovah your God in Horeb … when ye came near and stood,… then Jehovah spake to you, etc.

The Pulpit Commentary
The mountain burned with fire unto the midst [unto the heart] of heaven; i.e. up to the Very skies; a rhetorical description of the mighty pillar of fire that blazed on Sinai, and betokened the presence of him whose symbol is fire. With darkness, clouds [cloud], and thick darkness; underneath the fire was a cloud of deep darkness, out of which it blazed, the "thick cloud" of Exo_19:9, Exo_19:16, and the "smoke" out of which the lightnings flashed, and over which the glory of the Lord, like devouring fire, rested on the top of the mountain (Exo_19:18; Exo_20:18; Exo_24:16, Exo_24:17).

The Pulpit Commentary
On this occasion the people heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; there was no form or shape apparent to the eye. No man can see God's face (Exo_33:20, Exo_33:23); "no man hath seen God at any time" (Joh_1:18); and though the nobles or elders of Israel who went up with Moses into the mount are said to have seen God, it is evident that what they saw was only some luminous manifestation of his glory, and not a form or shape of which a similitude could be made (Exo_24:9-17). Even Moses, with whom God said that he would speak mouth to month, and who should behold the similitude of God (Num_12:8), was told that he could not see his face, his essential personality, but only his back, the reflection of his glory (Exo_33:18-23).

The Pulpit Commentary
His covenant; God's gracious engagement with Israel for their good, and by which they were bound to observe all his commandments. God declared this at Sinai when he uttered the ten commandments (words, דְבָרִים), "the words of the covenant, the ten words" (Exo_34:28), which he afterwards gave to Moses on two tables of stone, written with the finger of God (Exo_24:12; Exo_31:18). Besides these, there were other statutes and ordinances which Moses was commanded to teach the people, and which, with them, comprised the Law given at Sinai (see Exo_21:1-36. and following chapters).

The Pulpit Commentary
As the people had seen no form or figure when God spake to them, so they were to beware for their very lives (cf. Deu_4:9) of acting corruptly by making any kind of image, whether of man or of beast, for the purpose of worshipping God as represented by it; they were also to beware of being so attracted by the splendor of the heavenly bodies as to be forcibly seduced to worship them and offer them religious service. They were not in this respect to imitate the heathen; for God, who had delivered them out of the furnace of Egyptian bondage, had taken them for himself to be his special possession; and therefore they were to take heed not to forget the covenant of Jehovah their God, nor to offend him by making any image or representation of him as the object of worship. Among the heathen, and especially in Egypt, images were the very pillar and support of religion; but in Israel, as God had revealed himself to them without form, it was as a spirit he was to be worshipped, and not under any outward representation.

Graven image (פֶסֶל), carved work or sculpture, whether of wood, or metal, or stone—the similitude of any figure—the form of any idol (סֶמֶל, form, statue, idol)—the likeness—figure (תַבְנִית, a building, a model, a form, or figure)—of male or female—in apposition to graven image, and illustrative of it.

Deu_4:17, Deu_4:18

The likeness—the figure—of any beast, etc. A warning against the animal-worship of Egypt.

The Pulpit Commentary
Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, etc. The worship of the heavenly bodies, especially star-worship, prevailed among the Canaanites and many of the Semitic tribes, but was not confined to them; the Egyptians also reverenced the sun as Re, the moon as Isis, and the stars as the symbols of deities. The Israelites were thus, both from past associations and from what they might encounter in Canaan, exposed to the danger of being seduced into idolatry. Shouldest be driven: shouldest be urged on, drawn, or constrained (cf. Deu_13:13). Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven, God had allotted (חָלַק) to all mankind the heavenly bodies for their advantage (Gen_1:14-18; Psa_104:19; Jer_31:35); it was, therefore, not competent for any one nation to seek to appropriate them as specially theirs, and it was absurd for any to offer religious service to objects intended for the service of man. Targum: Which the Lord thy God prepared for all peoples under heaven; Vulgate: Quae creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus. This seems better than the interpretation that God had "allotted them for worship, i.e. had permitted them [the nations] to choose them as the objects of their worship" (Keil, etc.); for:

1. There is no distinction here between the Hebrews and the other nations of the earth; "all nations" includes them as well as the heathen.

2. Though God permitted the heathen to worship the heavenly bodies, he never allotted these to men in order that they might worship them. "It noteth God's bounty in giving all people the use of those creatures, and the base mind of man to worship such things as are given for servants unto men" (Ainsworth).

The Pulpit Commentary
Iron furnace—furnace for smelting iron: "figure of burning torment in Egypt" (Herxheimer). This reference to the smelting of iron shows that, though the implements of the ancient Egyptians were mostly of copper, iron must also have been in extensive use among them. Other references to the use of iron are to be found in the Pentateuch; see Gen_4:22; Le Gen_26:19; Num_35:16; Deu_3:11; Deu_8:9; Deu_19:5; Deu_27:5 (Goguet, 'Origine des Lois,' 1.172; Wilkinson, 'Ancient Egypt,' 1.169; 2.155). To be unto him a people, etc. (cf. Exo_19:4-6; Deu_7:6).

The Pulpit Commentary
Moses, after again referring to his being not permitted to enter Canaan, takes occasion anew to warn the people against forgetting the covenant of Jehovah and making any image of God, seeing he is a jealous God, and a consuming fire.

The Lord was angry with me … and swore, etc. Neither in Num_20:12, nor in Num_27:12-14, is there any mention of God's having sworn that Moses should not enter Canaan with the people; but it is absurd to suppose, as some have done, that the writer here has confounded this with what is recorded in Num_14:21, Num_14:28,—that is inconceivable; and it certainly does not follow, because no mention is made in Numbers of God's having sworn, that he did not swear on this occasion; if he confirmed with an oath his decree that the generation that rebelled at Kadesh should not enter Canaan, the probability surely is that he would do the same when he announced to Moses the decree that he should not conduct Israel into the promised laud. "It is perfectly obvious, from Deu_3:23, sqq; that all the details are not given in the historical account of the event referred "(Keil).

The Pulpit Commentary
A graven image, or the likeness of any thing, etc.—literally, a graven (sculptured) image of a form of all that Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; s.c. not to make (cf. Deuteronomy 16-18 and Deu_2:37).

The Pulpit Commentary
A consuming fire. When God spoke to Israel at Sinai, his glory appeared "like devouring (consuming) fire on the top of the mount" (Exo_24:17); and in allusion to this Moses here calls God "a consuming fire." He is so to all his enemies, and to all who disobey him; by severe inflictions he will punish, and, if they persist in their hostility and rebellion, will ultimately destroy them (comp. Deu_9:3; Isa_10:16-18; Amo_5:6; Zep_1:18; Heb_12:29). A jealous God; LXX; Θεὸς ζηλωτής God has a burning zeal for his own glory; he guards it with jealous care; and he will not spare those who do him dishonor, especially those who are guilty of idolatry, whereby they "change the truth of God into a lie" (Rom_1:25; cf. Exo_20:5; Deu_6:14, Deu_6:15; Deu_32:16, etc.; Psa_78:58, etc.; Nah_1:2). He is jealous also over his people, because he loves them, and will not endure any rival in their affection and devotion.

The Pulpit Commentary
Moses enforces the warning against idolatry, by predicting the evil that should come upon the nation through the apostasy of those who should in after times turn from Jehovah to strange gods. When they should have begotten children and children's children, and had been long in the land, i.e. when in after years a generation should arise that had not known the things they had seen, or had forgotten them (Deu_4:9), and the nation should then become wanton and corrupt, and fall into idolatry (cf. Deu_6:10, etc.; Deu_8:7, etc.; Deu_31:20, Deu_31:21; Deu_32:15, etc.; Hos_13:6); then should they utterly perish from off the land of which they were now about to take possession.

Have remained long in the land; literally, have become old, an ancient nation, etc. To provoke him to anger; i.e. so as that he should be displeased and grieved, and roused to punish.

The Pulpit Commentary
I call heaven and earth to witness. Moses speaks in the name of the Lord of all, and so calls to witness the whole created universe to attest his words; the heavens and earth are witnesses for God, and when evil comes on those who transgress his Law, they declare his righteousness (Psa_50:4, Psa_50:6), in that what has befallen the sinner is only what was announced beforehand as the penalty of transgression. Soon; hastily (מַהֵר), without delay (cf. Deu_7:4, Deu_7:22 ["at once," Authorized Verses]; Deu_9:3 ["quickly"], Deu_9:12, Deu_9:16). Prolong days; usually equal to have a long life (cf. Deu_5:16; Deu_6:2; Deu_11:9; Deu_17:20, etc.); here it means "continue long to occupy." Only as they continued faithful to Jehovah could they continue as a people to possess the land; severed from him, they lost their title to occupy Canaan, and ceased to be his special people; as a nation they would be destroyed by being scattered among other nations. From Le 26:33, etc; and Deu_28:64, it is evident that the author had in view "all the dispersions which would come upon the rebellious nation in future times, even down to the dispersion under the Romans, which continues still; so that Moses contemplated the punishment in its fullest extent" (Keil).

The Pulpit Commentary
Few in number; literally, men of number, i.e. that may be counted; few as compared with the heathen among whom they should be dispersed (Gen_34:30). Shall lead you. The verb here (נִהֵג, Piel of נָהַג) is frequently used in the sense of conducting gently and kindly (Isa_49:10; Isa_63:14; Psa_48:14; Psa_78:52); but it also means to drive, to carry off, to convey forcibly (Exo_14:25; Gen_31:26; Exo_10:13; Psa_78:26); the connection shows that it is in the latter sense it is to be taken here. Dispersed among the heathen, they, who had dishonored God by making an image to represent him, should be compelled to do service to mere dead idols, the work of men's hands, which not only could not hear or see, as God can, but also could not-perform even such animal functions as eating and smelling (Psa_115:4-7; Jer_10:3-9). These idols are called "gods" by Moses, because they were so counted by those who worshipped them; elsewhere he stigmatizes them as "abominations," things to be loathed and abhorred (שִׁקּוּצִים, Deu_27:15; Deu_29:17). As had been their sin, so should be their punishment; as they had dishonored God, so should they be themselves dishonored; as they had worshipped by an image him who is spirit and without form, they should be made to sink down to an utterly materialized worship, that of mere idols, the work of men's hands; as they had apostatized from the one holy and true God, they should be degraded to become the servants of abominations, objects of loathing and abhorrence (Jer_16:13; Act_7:42). God, however, would not utterly cast them off: if, in their misery and degradation, they should repent and turn again to him and seek him sincerely and earnestly, they should find him; for he is a merciful God, and mindful of the covenant which he swam unto their fathers (cf. Le 26:39, etc.).

The Pulpit Commentary
With all thy heart and with all thy soul. As true religion consists in loving the Lord with all the heart and soul, the whole inner nature (Deu_6:5; Deu_10:12), so true repentance consists in a turning from sin and all ungodliness to God, in a coming from a state of enmity to him, or of indifference to his claims, to honor, reverence, and serve him intelligently and sincerely, thinking of him aright, adoring his perfections, delighting in him u the alone good, giving to him that honor which is his due, and doing his will from the heart (of. 2Ch_15:15). When men have apostatized from God, it is often by means of "tribulation" that they are brought to a right state of mind towards him, and to a true repentance "not to be repented of;" and to effect this is the design of all the chastisements which God sends on his own people (Heb_12:5-11; cf. Jer_24:7; Jer_29:10-13; Jer_50:4, etc.; Eze_6:11, etc.).

The Pulpit Commentary
In the latter days; in the afterward of days (בְּאַחֲריִת הַיָּמִים; "end," Deu_11:12)-a phase used sometimes to designate the times of the Messiah (Isa_2:2; Hos_3:5; comp. Act_2:17; 1Pe_1:20; Heb_1:1; 1Jn_2:18); but here, as generally, it simply indicates futurity, the time to come (cf. Gen_49:1; Num_24:14; Deu_31:29, etc.). This, however, may include the far distant future, and so points to the time when Israel shall finally return to the Lord and be saved, through the acknowledgment of him whom they despised and rejected when he came as the Messiah promised to the fathers. As St. Paul grounds the assurance of the final redemption of Israel, as a whole, on their calling of God (Rom_11:26-29), so Moses here sees in God's covenant the ground of the ever-watchful care and grace of God to Israel, and the security of their final restoration as a nation.

The Pulpit Commentary
Will not forsake thee; literally, will not let thee loose, will not lose hold of thee, will not cast thee off (cf. Rom_11:1, etc.). "Israel will return and find God, because he loses not hold of it" (Herxheimer). "The sinner will incline to seek God only when he apprehends him as gracious and ready to hear" (Calvin).

The Pulpit Commentary
Still more to enforce his warning against apostasy, and urge to obedience and faithful adherence to the service of Jehovah, Moses appeals to what they had already experienced of God's grace in the choosing of them to be his people, in his speaking to them to instruct them, and in the miracles which he had wrought for their deliverance and guidance; grace such as had never been showed before to any nation, or heard of since the creation of the world, and by which those who had experienced it were laid under the deepest obligations of gratitude and duty, to love and serve him by whom it had been showed. With this appeal he closes his first address.

For. This connects the statement that fellows with that which precedes as its cause; it is because Jehovah is a merciful God, that the unparalleled grace showed to Israel had been displayed. The days that are past, etc; i.e. inquire from the earliest time of man's abode on the earth. From the one side of heaven unto the other; search the records of all times and places, whether any so great a thing has ever happened or been heard of.

(Cf. Deu_4:12; Deu_5:22-26; Gen_16:13.)

The Pulpit Commentary
Hath God assayed, etc.; hath he ever made the attempt to come on the earth and take a nation from the midst of a nation, as he took the Hebrew people from among the Egyptians? By temptations (מַסּוֹת, plu. of מַסָּה, a testing, a trial)—i.e. by the plagues inflicted on Pharaoh and his people, whereby they were tested and tried—by signs and by wonders. "The wonder (מופֵת) differs from the sign (אוֹת) in this, that the former denotes the properly marvelous, the extraordinary, the uncommon, consequently the subjective apprehension of the miraculous event; the latter the significant element in the miracle, the reference to the higher, Divine design, the purpose of God in it, consequently to the objective side of the miracle (comp. Deu_13:2)". By war (cf. Exo_14:14; Exo_15:3-10); by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm (Exo_6:6; Exo_14:8; Deu_5:15); and by great terrors (Exo_12:30-36), the effect on the Egyptians of the Divine inflictions (cf. Psa_105:27-38; Psa_106:21, Psa_106:22).

The Pulpit Commentary
All this Israel was made to see, in order that they might know that Jehovah is alone God, and beside him is no other. God (הָאֱלֹהִים, the God), the one living and true God.

The Pulpit Commentary
(Cf. Exo_20:18-22.) To indicate still further the pre-eminence of Israel, Moses emphasizes the supernatural character of the revelation God had given to them, and the awful manner of its delivery; God spake to them with audible voice, out of heaven, amidst fire, and they heard his words out of the fire. To instruct thee. The verb here used (יָסַד) means primarily to bind and thence to correct, to chasten, which meaning some interpreters would give here. But the word means also to correct by instruction, to instruct or persuade (cf. Isa_8:11; Isa_28:26; Psa_16:7); and the connection, both with what precedes and with what follows, requires this meaning here.

The Pulpit Commentary
And because he loved thy fathers (cf. Gen_15:5-7; Exo_13:15-17, etc.). Inasmuch as God had loved their fathers, the patriarchs, and had chosen them their descendants to be his people, and had delivered them out of Egypt, that he might establish them in the Promised Land, having driven out thence nations mightier than they, therefore were they to consider in their heart and acknowledge that Jehovah alone is God, and that in the wide universe there is no other. The apodosis in this sentence begins at Deu_4:39, and not, as in the Authorized Version, at "he chose," in Deu_4:37, nor at "brought thee," as some suggest. Because he loved thy fathers, and chose his [i.e. Abraham's] seed after him, and brought thee, etc.,—for all this thou shalt keep his statutes, etc. In his sight; literally, in his face, i.e. in his presence, by himself present with them; with special reference to Exo_33:14, where the same word is used as here. Onkelos has hero "by his Word," and the rabbins explain it of "the angel of his presence, as it is said, Isa_63:9".

The Pulpit Commentary
As it is this day; as this day has shown, or as it has come to pass this day, in the overthrow, namely, of Sihon and Og.

The Pulpit Commentary
Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, etc.; literally, bring back into thy heart. "Because we cannot lay hold of spiritual things in thought instantly in a moment, God commands to make them to revert, i.e. again and again to recall them to the mind".

The Pulpit Commentary
Upon the earth,—rather upon the land (הָאֲדָמָה)—which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever. The comma after "thee" in the Authorized Version should be deleted. "The sum of this whole exhortation is

(1) to acknowledge and lay to heart that God is the alone God of the universe, in heaven and on earth; hence

(2) to be obedient to his laws; and so

(3) to have, as a recompense, a happy continuance in the beloved land" (Herxheimer). The conclusion of the exhortation reverts to its beginning (comp. Deu_5:1-33 :40; Deu_5:1).

The Pulpit Commentary
APPOINTMENT OF THREE CITIES OF REFUGE BEYOND JORDAN.

A short historical notice is here inserted, probably because it was during the interval between the first and second addresses of Moses that he carried into effect the Divine command to appoint cities of refuge for the manslayer (Num_35:9, etc.; cf. Exo_21:13). This notice, therefore, is here in its proper place in the order of the narrative. That Moses should, just at this stage, have made this appointment was fitting and proper, seeing he had been urging on the people obedience to the Divine statutes and commandments, and had represented their conquest of the territory of Sihon and Og as an earnest of their ultimate possession of the whole land of the Amorites. By appointing these cities, Moses gave an example of obedience to God's injunction, and, at the same time, not only asserted on the part of Israel a right of proprietorship in this trans-Jordanic territory, but assumed as certain that, on the ether side of Jordan also, the same right of proprietorship should be possessed and exercised by Israel in the fulfilling of the whole law concerning cities of refuge (cf. Deu_19:1, etc.). That this section belongs properly to Num_35:1-34; Num_36:1-13; and has been interpolated here by some later hand, is a pure assumption, for which there is no ground.

On this side Jordan; beyond Jordan, more expressly defined as toward the sun rising, viz. on the east of that river.

The Pulpit Commentary
Unawares; literally, in lack or want of knowing (בְּבְלִי־דַעָת), i.e. unconsciously, unintentionally; in Num_35:31, Num_35:15, another word (בִּשְׁגָגָה, by mistake) is used, rendered in the Authorized Version by "unwittingly;" in Jos_20:3, both words are used. In times past; literally, yesterday, three days since, i.e. formerly, heretofore (cf. Gen_31:2; Exo_5:8).

The Pulpit Commentary
Names of the cities set apart. Bezer; LXX. βοσόρ; one of the cities of the plain or table-land of the Amorites, on the east of Jordan (Deu_3:10; Jos_20:8), afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Reuben (Jos_21:36). It is probably the Bosor of 1 Macc. 5:36; it has not been identified with any existing locality, but the ruined heaps of Burazin to the east of Hesban, or those of Berza in the same district, may mark its site. Ramoth in Gilead; probably the same as Ramoth-mizpeh (Jos_13:26); it lay to the northwest of Philadelphia (Rabba or Rabbath-Ammon, hod. Amman), on the Jabbok ('Onom.,' s.v." Rammoth" and "Remmoth"); a Levitical city in the tribe of Gad (Jos_21:38), hod. Es Salt, six hours from Amman (Von Raumer, Porter). Golan in Bashan. Eusebius identifies this with Gaulon, a very large village in Batanaea, from which the surrounding region had its name, viz. Gaulonitis, hod. Jolan ('Onom.,' s.v. "Gaulon"); it was a Levitical city in the tribe of Manasseh (Jos_21:27; 1Ch_6:71); it has not been identified.

The Pulpit Commentary
PART II—SECOND ADDRESS OF MOSES.

CHAPTER 4:44—CHAPTER 26:19.

THIS address is introduced by a general notice of what is to form the subject of it, viz. the Law, with a more especial description of that in its different parts, as consisting of ordinances, statutes, and rights; together with a reference to the place and time when this address was delivered.

This is the Law—the Torah—which Moses set before the children of Israel. "He meaneth that which hereafter followeth; so this belongeth to the next chapter, where the repetition of the laws begins" (Ainsworth); cf. Deuteronomy verse 1; Deu_6:1; Le Deu_6:9; Deu_7:1, etc.

The Pulpit Commentary
Testimonies; ordinances attested and confirmed by God; the word used here (עֵדוֹת, plu. of עֵדַה) occurs only in Deuteronomy (here and Deu_6:17, Deu_6:20) and in the Psalms. Statutes and judgments (cf. Deu_4:1). After they came forth out of Egypt; "i.e. not immediately after their exit, But, as verse 46 shows, when they were already beyond Jordan" (Herxheimer); literally, in their coming out: i.e. during the process of their passing from Egypt to Canaan; more exactly defined by what follows.

The Pulpit Commentary
In the valley (cf. Deu_3:29). In the land of Sihon; on ground already captured and possessed by Israel (cf. Deu_2:32-36; Deu_3:1-17; verse 48; cf. Deu_3:9, Deu_3:12-17).