i Lev. 19. 35, 36. Prov. 11.

being found out, that though a man had no child by his wife, yet his name should not be put out of Israel, that is, out of the pedigree, or which is equivalent, remain there under the brand of childlessness. The Sadducees put a case to our Saviour upon this law, with a design to perplex the doctrine of the resurrection by it, Matt. 22. 24, &c. perhaps insinuating that there was no need of maintaining the immortality of the soul, and a future state, since the law had so well provided for the perpetuating of men's names and families in the world. But, 3. If the brother, or next of kin, declined to do this good office to the memory of him that was gone, what must be done in that case? Why, (1.) He shall not be compelled to do it, v. 7. If he like her not, he is at liberty to refuse her, which, some think, was not permitted in this case before this law of Moses. Affection is all in all to the comfort of that relation; that is a thing which cannot be forced, and therefore the relation should not be forced without it. (2.) Yet he shall be publicly disgraced for not doing it. The widow, as the person most concerned for the name and honour of the deceased, was to complain to the elders of his refusal; if he persist in it, she was to pluck off his shoe, and spit in his face, in open court, (or as the Jewish doctors moderate it, spit before his face,) thus to fasten a mark of infamy upon him, which was to remain with his family after him, v. 8-10. Note, Those justly suffer in their own reputation who do not do what they ought, to preserve the name and honour of others. He that would not build up his brother's house, deserved to have this blemish put upon his own, that it should be called the house of him that had his shoe loosed, in token that he deserved to go barefoot. In the case of Ruth, we find this law executed, Ruth 4. 7, but because, upon the refusal of the next kinsman, there was another ready to perform the duty of a husband's brother, it was that other that plucked off the shoe, and not the widow; Boaz and not Ruth.

II. A law for the punishing of an immodest woman, v. 11, 12. The woman that by the foregoing law was to complain against her husband's brother for not marrying her, and to spit in his face before the elders, needed a good measure of assurance; but lest the confidence which that law supported, should grow to an excess unbecoming the sex, here is a very severe but just law to punish impudence and immodesty. 1. The instance of it is confessedly scandalous to the highest degree. A woman could not do it, unless she were perfectly lost to all virtue and honour. 2. The occasion is such as might in part excuse it; it was to help her husband out of the hands of one that was too hard for him. Now if the doing of it in a passion, and with such a good intention, was to be so severely punished, much more when it was done wantonly and in lust. 3. The punishment was, that her hand should be cut off; and the magistrates must not pretend to be more merciful than God, Thine eye shall not pity her. Perhaps our Saviour alludes to this law, when he commands us to cut off the right hand that offends us, or is an occasion of sin to us; better put the greatest hardships that can be upon the body, than ruin the soul for ever. Modesty is the hedge of chastity, and therefore ought to be very carefully preserved and kept up by both sexes.

V. 13-19. Here is,

I. A law against deceitful weights and measures; they must not only not use them, but they must not have them; not have them in the bag, not have them in the house, v. 13, 14, for if they had them, they would be strongly tempted to use them. They must not have a great weight and measure to buy by, and a small one to sell by, for that was to cheat both ways, when either was bad enough; as we read of those that made the ephah small, in in which they measured the corn they sold, and the shekel great, by which they weighed the money they received for it, Am. 8. 5. But thou shall have a perfect and just weight, v. 15. That which is the rule of justice, must itself be just: if that be otherwise, it is a constant cheat. This had been taken care of before, Lev. 19. 35, 36. This law is enforced with two very good reasons. 1. That justice and equity will bring down upon us the blessing of God. The way to have our days lengthened, and to prosper, is to be just and fair in all our dealings; honesty is the best policy. 2. That fraud and injustice will expose us to the curse of God, v. 16. Not only unrighteousness itself, but all that do

about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.

CHAPTER XXVI.

With this chapter Moses concludes the particular statutes which he thought fit to give Israel in charge at his parting with them; what follows, is by way of sanc Lion and ratification. In this chapter, I. Moses gives them a form of confession, to be made by him that offered the basket of his first-fruits, v. 1-11. II. The protestation and prayer to be made after the disposal of the third year's tithe, v. 12-15. 111. He binds on all the precepta he had given them, 1. By the divine authority; Not 1, but the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes," v. 16. 2. By the mutual covenant between God and them, v. 17-19.

AN

ND it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein; 2 That "thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit

Ex. 17. 8, &c. m Ps. 36. 1. Prov. 16. 6. n 1 Sam. 15. 3. o Ex. 17. 14. a Ex. 23. 19. Num. 18. 13.

unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord. And miserable is that man who is abhorred by his Maker. How hateful, particularly, all the arts of deceit are to God, Solomon several times observes, Prov. 11. 1.-20. 10, 23, and the apostle tells us, that the Lord is the Avenger of all such as overreach and defraud in any matter, 1 Thes. 4. 6.

II. A law for the rooting out of Amalek. Here is a just weight, and a just measure; that as Amalek had measured to Israel, so it should be measured to Amalek again.

1. The mischief Amalek did to Israel, must be here remembered, v. 17, 18. When it was first done, it was ordered to be recorded, Ex. 17. 14-16, and here, the remembrance of it to be preserved, not in personal revenge, for that generation which suffered by the Amalekites was gone, so that these who now lived, and their posterity, could not have any personal resentment of the injury, but in a zeal for the glory of God, (which was insulted by the Amalekites,) that throne of the Lord against which the hand of Amalek was stretched out. The carriage of the Amalekites toward Israel is here represented, (1.) As very base and disingenuous. They had no occasion at all to quarrel with Israel, nor did they give them any notice, by a manifesto, or declaration of war; but took them at an advantage, when they were just come out of the house of bondage, and, for aught that appeared to them, were only going to sacrifice to God in the wilderness. (2.) As very barbarous and cruel; for they smote them that were feeble, whom they should have succoured. The greatest cowards are commonly the most cruel, while those that have the courage of a man, will have the compassions of a man. (3.) As very impious and profane; they feared not God. If they had had any reverence for the majesty of the God of Israel, which they saw a token of in the cloud, or any dread of his wrath, which they lately heard of the power of over Pharaoh, they durst not have made this assault upon Israel. Well, here was the ground of the quarrel: and it shows how God takes what is done against his people as done against himself; and that he will particularly reckon with those that discourage and hinder young beginners in religion, that (as Satan's agents) set upon the weak and feeble, either to divert them, or to disquiet them and offend his little ones.

2. This mischief must in due time be revenged, v. 19. When their wars were finished, by which they were to settle their kingdom, and enlarge their coast, then they must make war upon Amalek, v. 19, not merely to chase them, but to consume them, to blot out the remembrance of Amalek. It was an instance of God's patience that he deferred the vengeance so long, which should have led the Amalekites to repentance; yet an instance of fearful retribution, that the posterity of Amalek, so long after, were destroyed for the mischief done by their ancestors to the Israel of God. That all the world might see, and say, that be who toucheth them, toucheth the apple of his eye. It was near four hundred years after this, that Saul was ordered to put this sentence in execution, 1 Sam. 15. and was rejected of God because he did not do it effectually, but spared some of that devoted nation, in contempt not only of the particular orders he received from Samuel, but of this general command here given by Moses, which he could not be ignorant of. David afterward made some destruction of them; and the Simeonites, in Hezekiah's time, smote the rest that remained, 1 Chr. 4. 43; for when God judges, he will overcome.

NOTES TO CHAPTER XXVI.

b Hos. 12. 12.

c Gen. 43. 12. d Gen. 46. 1—6. e c. 7.7. f Ex. 1. 11–14. g Ex. 2. 3, 4. A Ex. 12. 37, 51. 13. 3, 16. i c. 4. 34,

were ripening, he was to mark that which he observed most forward, and to lay it by for first-fruits, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates, some of each sort must be put in the same basket, with leaves between them, and presented to God in the place which he should choose. Now from this law we may learn, 1. To acknowledge God as the Giver of all those good things which are the support and comfort of our natural life, and therefore to serve and honour him with them. 2. To deny ourselves. What is first ripe we are most fond of; those that are nice and curious, expect to be served with each fruit as its first coming in; my soul desired the first ripe fruits, Mic. 7. 1. When therefore God appointed them to lay those by for him, he taught them to prefer the glorifying of his name before the gratifying of their own appetites and desires. 3. To give to God the first and best we have, as those that believe him to be the first and best of beings. They that consecrate the days of their youth, and the prime of their time, to the service and honour of God, bring him their first-fruits, and with such offerings he is well pleased. I remember the kindness of thy youth.

II. Good words put into their mouths to be said in the doing of this good work, as an explication of the meaning of this ceremony, that it might be a reasonable service. The offerer must begin his acknowledgment before he delivered his basket to the priest, and then must go on with it, when the priest had set down the basket before the altar, as a present to God their great Landlord, v. 3, 4.

1. He must begin with a receipt in full for the good land which God had given them, v. 3, I profess that I am come now at last, after forty years' wandering, unto the country which the Lord sware to give us. This was most proper to be said when they came first into Canaan; probably, when they had been long settled there, they varied from this form. Note, When God has made good his promises to us, he expects that we should own it, to the honour of his faithfulness; this is like giving up the bond, as Solomon does, 1 Kings 8. 56, There has not failed one word of all his good promise. And our creature comforts are then doubly sweet, when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise.

2. He must remember and own the mean original of that nation, which he was a member of; how great soever they were now, and he himself with them, their beginning was very small, which ought thus to be kept in mind throughout all the ages of their church by this public confession, that they might not be proud of their privileges and advantages, but might for ever be thankful to that God whose grace chose them when they were so low, and raised them so high. Two things they must own for this purpose. (1.) The meanness of their common ancestor. A Syrian ready to perish was my father, v. 5. Jacob is here, called an Aramite, or Syrian, because he lived twenty years in Padan-Aram; his wives were of that country, and his children were all born there, except Benjamin; and perhaps the confessor means not Jacob himself, but that son of Jacob who was the father of his tribe. However it be, both father and sons were more than once ready to perish, by Laban's severity, Esau's cruelty, and the famine in the land; which last was the occasion of their going down into Egypt. Laban the Syrian sought to destroy my father, so the Chaldee; had almost destroyed him, so the Arabic. (2.) The miserable condition of their nation in its infancy. They sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves, v. 6, and that a great while as their father was called a Syrian, they might be called Egyptians; so that their possession of Canaan being so long discontinued, they could not pretend any tenant-right to it. A poor, despised, oppressed people they were in Egypt, and therefore, though now rich and great, had no reason to be proud, or secure, or forgetful of God.

3. He must thankfully acknowledge God's great goodness, not only to himself in particular, but to Israel in general. (1.) In VOL. I.-59

8 And the LORD brought us forth "out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched and with great terribleness, and with signs, and arm, with wonders;

9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship 'before the LORD thy God:

11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;

13 Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of

* Ex. 3. 8. Prov. 3. 9. 1 Cor. 10. 31. m c. 12. 7, 12. 16. 11. n 1 Cor. 9. 11. o Lev. 27. 30. Num. 18. 24. p c. 14. 28, 29.

bringing them out of Egypt, v. 7, 8. It is spoken of here as an act of pity, he looked on our affliction; and an act of power, he brought us forth with a mighty hand. This was a great salvation, fit to be remembered upon all occasions, and particularly upon this: they need not grudge to bring a basket of first-fruits to God, for to him they owed it, that they were not now bringing in the tale of bricks to their cruel task-masters. (2.) In settling them in Canaan, v. 9, He hath given us this land. Observe, He must not only give thanks for his own lot, but for the land in general, which was given to Israel; not only for this year's profits, but for the ground itself which produced them, which God had graciously granted to his ancestors, and entailed upon his posterity. Note, The comfort we have in our particular enjoyments, should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless God for the former mercies we remember, and the further mercies we expect and hope for

4. He must offer to God his basket of first-fruits, v. 10. I have brought the first-fruits of the land, (like a peppercorn,) as a quit-rent for the land which thou hast given me. Note, Whatever we give to God, it is but of his own that we give him, 1 Chr. 29. 14. And it becomes us, who receive so much from him, to study what we shall render to him. The basket he set before God; and the priests, as God's receivers, had the first-fruits, as perquisites of their place and fees for attending, Num. 18. 12.

Lastly, The offerer is here appointed, when he has finished the service, 1. To give glory to God, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God. His first-fruits were not accepted without further acts of adoration. An humble, reverent, thankful heart, is that which God looks at and requires, and without that, all we can put in a basket will not avail. If a man would give all the substance of his house to be excused from this, or in lieu of it, it would utterly be contemned. 2. To take the comfort of it to himself and family, v. 11, Thou shalt rejoice in every good thing. It is the will of God that we should be cheerful, not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances, but in our enjoyments of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we should make the most comfortable use we can of it, yet still tracing the streams to the Fountain of all comfort and consolation.

V. 12-15. Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year, we had the law before, ch. 14. 28, 29. The second tithe which, the other two years, was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts, was to be spent, the third year, at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty, that they would dispose of it according to the law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, v. 12, it is therefore required, that when at the next feast after, they appeared before the Lord, they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious manner, that they had fully adminis tered, and been true to their trust.

I. They must make a solemn protestation to that purport v. 13, 14. 1. That no hallowed things were hoarded up, "I have brought them away out of mine house, nothing now remains there but my own part.' 2. That the poor, and particularly poor ministers, poor strangers, and poor widows, had had their part according to the commandment. It is fit that God, who by his providence gives us all we have, should by his law direct the using of it; and though we are not now under such particular appropriations of our revenue as they then were, yet, in general, we are commanded to give alms of such things as we have; and then, and not otherwise, all things are clean to us. Then we may take the comfort of our enjoyments, when God has thus had his dues out of them. This is a commandment which must not be transgressed, no not with an excuse of its being forgotten, v. 13. 3. That none of this tithe had been misapplied to any common use, much less to any ill use. This ( 465 )

God of whole stones; and thou shalt offer burntofferings thereon unto the LORD thy God:

7 And thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice "before the LORD thy God. 8 And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.

9 And Moses, and the priests the Levites, spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; This day thou art become the people of the LORD thy God.

10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.

dc. 26. 10, 11. e c. 26. 18. for a cursing. f c. 33. 10. who had their maintenance out of it; the elders of Israel, whom God had placed in honour and power over them, and who were men of business in the world, and likely to be long so when Moses was gone, they commanded their people to keep God's law. Moses having put some of his honour upon them, joins them in commission with himself, in giving this charge, as St. Paul sometimes in his epistle joins with himself Silvanus and Timotheus. Note, All that have any interest in others, or power over them, should use it for the support and furtherance of religion among them. Though the supreme power of a nation provide never so good laws for this purpose, if inferior magistrates in their places, and ministers in theirs, and masters of families in theirs, do not execute their offices, it will all be to little effect. 2. With all importunity. They press it upon them with the utmost earnestness, v. 9, 10, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel. It is a thing that requires and deserves the highest degree of caution and attention. They tell them of their privilege and honour, "This day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God, the Lord having avouched thee to be his own, and being now about to put thee in possession of Canaan which he had long promised as thy God, Gen. 27, 7, 8, and which if he had failed to do in due time, he would have been ashamed to be called thy God, Heb. 11. 16. Now thou art more than ever his people, therefore obey his voice." Privileges should be improved as engagements to duty. Should not a people be ruled by their God?

II. A particular direction to them, with great solemnity to register the words of this law, as soon as they were come into Canaan. It was to be done but once, and at their entrance into the land of promise, in token of their taking possession of it, under the several provisoes and conditions contained in this law. There was a solemn ratification of the covenant between God and Israel at mount Sinai, there was an altar erected, and twelve pillars and the book of the covenant was produced, Ex. 24. 4. That which is here appointed, is a solemnity somewhat like that.

1. They must set up a monument, on which they must write the words of this law. (1.) The monument itself was to be very mean; only rough unhewn stones plastered over; not polished marble or alabaster, nor brass tables, but common plaster upon stone, v. 2. It is repeated again, v. 4, and orders given that it be written, not very finely, to be admired by the curious, but very plainly, that he who runs might read it, Hab. 2.2. The word of God needs not to be set off by the art of man; nor embellished with the enticing words of man's wisdom. But, (2.) The inscription was to be very great, All the words of this law, v. 3, and again, v. 8. Some understand it only of the covenant between God and Israel, mentioned ch. 26. 17, 18. Let this heap be set up for a witness, like that memorial of the covenant between Laban and Jacob, which was nothing but a heap of stones thrown hastily together, upon which they did eat together in token of friendship, Gen. 31. 46, 47, and that stone which Joshua set up, Josh. 24. 27. Others think that the curses of the covenant in this chapter were written upon this monument, the rather because it was set up in mount Ebal, Others think that the whole book of Deuteronomy was written upon this monument; or at least the statutes and judgments from ch. 12. to the end of ch. 26. And it is not improbable, that the heap might be so large as, taking in all the sides of it, to contain so copious an inscription; unless we will suppose (as some do) that the ten commandments only were here written; as an authentic copy of the close rolls which were laid up in the ark. They must write this when they were gone into Canaan, and yet Moses says, v. 3, "Write it that thou mayest go in," that is, "that thou mayest go in with comfort, and assurance of success and settlement, otherwise, it were well for thee not to go in at all. Write it as the conditions of thine entry, and own that thou comest in upon these terms, and no other; since Canaan is given by promise, it must be held by obedience."

v. 4.

2. They must also set up an altar. By the words of the law which were written upon the plaster, God spake to them; by the altar, and the sacrifices offered upon it, they spake to God; and thus was communion kept up between them and God. The word and prayer must go together. Though they might not, of their own heads, set up any altar beside that at the tabernacle, yet, by the appointment of God, they might, upon a special occasion. Elijah built a temporary altar of twelve unhewn stones like this here, when he brought Israel back to this covenant which was now made, 1 Kings 18. 31, 32. Now, (1.) This

11 And Moses charged the people the same day, saying

12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 And these shall stand upon mount Ebal *to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD,

g Ex. 20. 4, 23. Is. 44. 9. Hos. 13.2, 3.

altar must be made of such stones as they found ready upon the field, not new cut out of the rock, much less squared artificially; Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them, v. 5. Christ, our Altar, is a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, Dan. 2. 34, 35, and therefore refused by the builders, as having no form or comeliness, but accepted of God the Father, and made the Head of the corner. (2.) Burnt-offerings and peace-offerings must be offered upon this altar, v. 6, 7, that by them they might give glory to God, and obtain favour. Where the law was written, an altar was set up close by it, to signify, that we could not look with any comfort upon the law, being conscious to ourselves of the violation of it, if it were not for the great Sacrifice by which atonement is made for sin; and the altar was set up on mount Ebal, the mount on which those tribes stood, that said Amen to the curses, to intimate, that through Christ we are redeemed from the curse of the law. In the Old Testament the words of the law are written, with the curse annexed, which would fill us with horror and amazement, if we had not in the New Testament (which is bound up with it) an altar erected close by it, which gives us everlasting consolation. (3.) They must eat there, and rejoice before the Lord their God, v. 7. This signified, [1.] The consent they gave to the covenant; for the parties to a covenant ratified the covenant by feasting together. They were partakers of the altar, which was God's table, as his servants and tenants, and such they acknowledged themselves, and being put in possession of this good land, bound themselves to pay the rent, and do the services, reserved by the royal grant. [2] The comfort they took in the covenant; they had reason to rejoice in the law, when they had an altar, a remedial law, so near it; it was a great favour to them, and a token for good, that God gave them his statutes; and that they were owned as the people of God, and the children of the promise, was what they had reason to rejoice in, though when this solemnity was to be performed, they were not put in full possession of Canaan; but God has spoken in his holiness, and then I will rejoice, Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; all my own.

V. 11-26. When the law was written to be seen and read by all men, the sanctions of it were to be published, which, to complete the solemnity of their covenanting with God, they were deliberately to declare their approbation of. This they were before directed to do, ch. 11. 29, 30, and therefore the appointment here begins somewhat abruptly, v. 12. There were, it seems, in Canaan, that part of it which afterward fell to the lot of Ephraim, (Joshua's tribe,) two mountains that lay near together, with a valley between, one called Gerizim, and the other Ebal. On the sides of these two mountains which faced one another, all the tribes were to be drawn up, six on one side, and six on the other, so that in the valley, at the foot of each mountain, they came pretty near together, so near as that the priests standing between them might be heard by those that were next them on both sides; then when silence was proclaimed, and attention commanded, one of the priests, or perhaps more, at some distance from each other, pronounced with a loud voice one of the curses here following, and all the people that stood on the side and foot of mount Ebal, (those that stood further off taking the signal from those that stood nearer and within hearing,) said, Amen; then the contrary blessing was pronounced, "Blessed is he that doth not so or so," and then those that stood on the side, and at the foot of mount Gerizim, said, Amen. This could not but affect them very much with the blessings and curses, the promises and threatenings of the law, and not only acquaint all the people with them, but teach them to apply them to themselves.

I. Something is to be observed, in general, concerning this solemnity, which was to be done but once and not repeated, but would be talked of to posterity.

1. God appointed which tribes should stand upon mount Gerizim, and which on mount Ebal, v. 12, 13, to prevent the disputes that might have arisen, if they had been to dispose of themselves. The six tribes that were appointed for blessing, were all the children of the free women, for to such the promise belongs, Gal. 4. 31. Levi is here put among the rest, to teach ministers to apply to themselves the blessing and curse which they preach to others, and by faith to set their own Amen to it,

2. Of those tribes that were to say Amen to the blessings, it is said, They stood to bless the people, but of the other, They stood to curse, not mentioning the people, as loath to suppose that any of this people whom God had taken for his own, should lay themselves under the curse. Or, perhaps, the dif