A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Deuteronomy 25

¹ “If there be a controversy between men and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. — if there be a controversy between men; a dispute between two or more:

— that the judges may judge them; who were never less than three; the great Sanhedrin at Jerusalem consisted of seventy one, the lesser court was of twenty three, and the least of all three only;

² And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number. — scourging is named as a penalty in Leviticus 19:20. The beating here spoken of would be on the back with a rod or stick, perhaps a rotan, which have been proven to be very effective in its desire effect;

³ Forty stripes he may give him, and no more, lest, if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. — then thy brother should seem vile unto thee; as if he was a beast, and not a man, and much less a brother;

— the Targum of Jonathan says, “lest he be in danger, and that thy brother may not be made despicable in thy sight;” lest he be in danger of his life, and become vile, as a dead carcass;

⁴ “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. — thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn; the larger grains were beaten out by the feet of oxen, which, yoked together, day after day trod round the wide open spaces which form the threshing-floors; and to be humane, they were allowed freely to pick up a mouthful;

⁵ “If brethren dwell together, and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry outside unto a stranger; her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him for a wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her. — if brethren dwell together; in the same town, or at least, the same county.

⁶ And it shall be that the firstborn whom she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. — that his name be not put out of Israel; that a family be not lost. So this was a provision that the number of their families might not be diminished;

⁷ And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’

⁸ Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak unto him; and if he stand by it and say, ‘I like not to take her,’ — the duty is recognized as one of affection for the memory of the deceased;

⁹ then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house.’

— the root of the obligation here imposed upon the brother of the deceased husband lies in the idea of childlessness being a great calamity (compare with Hagar in Genesis 16:4), and extinction of name and family one of the greatest that could happen;

¹⁰ And his name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.’

— and from MSG

¹¹ “When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand and taketh him by the secret parts, — when men strive together, one with another; quarrel with one another, and come to blows, and strive for mastery, which shall beat, and be the best man;

¹² then thou shalt cut off her hand; thine eye shall not pity her. — thine eye shall not pity her; because of the plausible excuse that might be made for her action, as these considerations were to have no place with the magistrate, who was to order the punishment inflicted without pity;

¹³ “Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. — in Proverbs 11:1, “a false balance is abomination to the Lord.”

¹⁴ Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. — the protection of the poor is the chief practical end in this; rich men can take care of themselves; poor men are doubly robbed by short weight and measure, because they cannot protect themselves against it.

¹⁵ But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have, that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. — that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; long life was always reckoned a blessing, and is frequently promised to.

¹⁶ For all who do such things and all who do unrighteously are an abomination unto the Lord thy God. — and all that do unrighteously; what is not just and right between man and man, in any other instance whatever: are an abomination unto the Lord thy God; both they and their actions; he is a righteous God, and loves righteousness, and hates injustice of every kind.

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye had come forth out of Egypt, — take warning from the case of the Amalekites; which was an aggravation of their cruel and inhuman action, that they not only came out against them unprovoked;

¹⁸ how he met thee on the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all who were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.

— the Amalekites were the aggressors, and fell upon them as they were travelling on the road, but when they were just come out of Egypt, where they had been in hard bondage, and their spirits broken, and they not used to war; and so took them at all these disadvantages, a people that had not in the least injured them.

¹⁹ Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round 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. — that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven:

— that is, utterly destroy them, so that there should be none left of them anywhere, to put in mind that there ever were such a people on earth; men, women, children, cattle of all sorts, were to be destroyed, and nothing left that belonged unto them; that it might not be said this beast was Amalek’s; and to be destroyed.

Deuteronomy 26

¹ “And 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, — and possessest it, and dwellest therein; not only had entered into it, but got the possession of it, and settled there;

² that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring from thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there.

— and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there; which, as the event showed, was the city of Jerusalem; hither from all parts of the country were the firstfruits to be brought.

³ And thou shalt go unto the priest who shall be in those days, and say unto him, ‘I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I have come unto the country which the Lord swore unto our fathers to give us.’ — the priest that shall be in those clays; not the high priest, but the priests generally, or the individual priest whose function it was to officiate on the occasion;

⁴ And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. — the firstfruits here in question are to be distinguished alike from those offered in acknowledgment of the blessings of harvest;

⁵ “And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God: ‘A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

— a Syrian was my father; that is, Jacob; for though born in Canaan, he was a Syrian by descent, his mother Rebecca, and his grandfather Abraham, being both of Chaldea or Mesopotamia, which in Scripture is comprehended under the name of Syria;

— Jacob’s wives and children, by their mothers’ side, and his relations, were Syrians, and he himself had lived twenty years in Syria with Laban.

⁶ And the Egyptians evilly treated us and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. — and the Egyptians evilly entreated us; ordered their male children to be killed by the midwives, and by another edict to be drowned by the people: and afflicted us; by setting taskmasters over them, who put heavy burdens upon them;

⁷ And when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. — and the Lord heard our voice, and looked upon our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression; with a look of pity and compassion, heard their cries, answered their petitions, and sent them a deliverer, Exodus 2:25.

⁸ And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great fearsomeness, and with signs and with wonders; — with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm; by his almighty power, of which full proof was given by what he then did, Deuteronomy 5:15,

— and with great terribleness: to Pharaoh and his people, through the plagues that were inflicted on them, especially the last, the slaying of their firstborn; Deuteronomy 4:34; and with signs and wonders; wrought by the hands of Moses and Aaron, meaning the ten plagues, often so called;

⁹ and He hath brought us into this place and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. — “a land flowing with milk and honey” was for ancient Israel; but “amber waves of grain” and “mountains of cheese and lakes of wine” for modern Israel;

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; — the person who offered his first-fruits, must remember and own the mean origin of that nation, particularly the family of Abraham began to develop into a nation, of which he was a member.

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 who is among you. — thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you; by which it seems that not only a basket of firstfruits was brought and presented to the Lord, which is the perquisite of the priest,

— but there were others also brought, or bought with their money at Jerusalem, and a sort of a kept, which the Levite, and stranger or proselyte, from Pentecost to the feast of tabernacles a man may bring the firstfruits, and proclaim; must thankfully acknowledge God’s great goodness to Israel. 

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, — the third year, which was the year of tithing; that is, of the tithe for the poor, commanded to be paid every third year;

¹³ then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God: ‘I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Thy commandments which Thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed Thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. — again, the tithe for the poor, or the third tithe; commanded to be paid every third year;

¹⁴ I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead; but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God and have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me.

— I have not eaten thereof in my mourning; when in times of sorrow, which brought defilement on sacred things; under a pretense of poverty, and grudging to give any away to the poor.

¹⁵ Look down from Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people Israel and the land which Thou hast given us as Thou swore unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.’

— and the land which thou hast given us; with fertility and plenty of all good things, that it might be as thou swarest to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey;

¹⁶ “This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul. — refer not only to the laws last mentioned, but to all others which he had been repeated and repeated;

— thou shall therefore keep and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul; cordially, readily, willingly, sincerely, constantly, and to the utmost of their abilities.

¹⁷ Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in His ways, and to keep His statutes and His commandments and His judgments, and to hearken unto His voice.

— thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God; said, affirmed, pledged and in the most solemn manner declared, that the Lord was their God, and him only; and that they would have no other God, nor worship, serve, or obey any other;

¹⁸ And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments,

— and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; at the same time declared this as his will, that they should observe all his precepts, to which they were laid under obligation by the special favour and peculiar privileges he bestowed upon them, Deuteronomy 7:6;

¹⁹ and to make thee high above all nations which He hath made in praise and in name and in honor, and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken.” — to make thee high above all nations; none of them having the Lord to be their God and King in such sense as Israel,

— nor they his people in such a peculiar sense as they were; nor having such laws and statutes as he had given to them; these things gave them a superiority over all other nations;

— and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken; the end of the Lord in being their God, and making them his people, was not only to make them high above all others, but to make them more holy than others; to set them apart for himself, as a people sacred to his worship and service, as he had both determined and declared, Deuteronomy 7:6.

~ by Joel on May 28, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses