Deuteronomy 17

pass through the fire.] See the notes on Lev. xviii. 21; xx. 2. — or that useth divination, &c.] In these two verses are specified various manners, in which inquisitive persons anciently sought information on subjects beyond the usual sight of men: the names given to these arts most probably denote the different modes or practices of their professors. Such arts appear to have been practised in former times; and Niebuhr mentions several kinds of occult science, still extant among the Arabs; some arising from sleight of hand; others from ecstatic enthusiasm; others as charms against evil; and lastly a science, which is, says he, “as described to me, witchcraft, or sorcery. It is said to be employed only in hurting others, wherefore those addicted to it are hated and execrated by every honest Arab.” Most of the kinds of magick, specified by Moses, were probably of an injurious nature: which accounts for their being connected with the practice of making children “pass through the fire,” if we suppose such children to have been burnt alive: see the notes on Lev. xviii. 21. Such arts are forbidden with the utmost propriety, as evil in the disposition of mind which they betray; at the same time the prohibition does not imply that any efficacy attended the exercise of these arts. Script. illustr. See the note on Lev. xx. 27.

Deuteronomy 17:8

8. — between blood and blood.] That is, in the case of murder, whether it was wilful or accidental. “Between plea and plea;” that is, in causes depending between the plaintiff and defendant. “Between stroke and stroke;” that is, in the case of wounds inflicted by one man upon another. Bp. Kidder.

Deuteronomy 17:13

13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.] See Gen. xvii. 1. The force of the expression, “be thou perfect,” in that passage, may be illustrated by comparing it with the present verse; in which, after a charge to the Israelites, not to learn the abominations of those nations, whom God should cast out before them, it is immediately added, “Thou shalt be perfect,” or entire, “with the Lord thy God.” Bp. Louth.

Deuteronomy 17:14

14. — I will set a king over me.] Josephus and others have with reason understood this passage to mean, not that God commanded the Israelites to make them a king, when they should be settled in Canaan: but that God intended them to keep their present government; if however they would have a king, he should be at first appointed immediately by God, who was their Supreme Governour; and that afterwards they should be indispensably obliged to elect one of the Israelitish nation, and not a Gentile. Bp. Patrick, Pyle.

Deuteronomy 17:15

15. — a Prophet] He does not say, a priest, or a king, though the Messiah was to be both: but he says, “a Prophet;” to teach the people of Israel, not to mistake any of their priests or kings for the Messiah; but to expect and regard less in His person, the external honour of Aaron’s family, and the worldly grandeur of kings,

Deuteronomy 17:16

16. — he shall not multiply horses] Lest he bring a burden upon his people; or confide in the power of his horsemen, more than in God; or which is the chief reason, given by Moses himself, lest the people should be tempted to maintain a commerce with Egypt: with which country God commanded them not to have any intercourse, at least while they should continue to be idolaters. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.

This law given to the kings of Israel, considered together with the history of the nation, forms a very

strong presumption for the divine original of the Law of Moses. For, supposing Moses to be a mere human legislator, like Solon or Lycurgus, what could tempt him to forbid the princes of his country the use of horses and chariots for their defence? Should such a law be proposed for France or Germany at this day, what would the world think of it? Or, supposing this law to be his own contrivance, how comes it to pass, that the event and success of things, through many ages, doth so exactly correspond with the law? That the princes prospered, and extended their dominion, over great countries, when they had neither chariots nor horses, and were ruined and undone, when they were strong in those forces? Can it be supposed, that the history of many ages which relates to the affairs not only of the princes of Israel, but of other contemporary kings, is all forged, and that merely to shew an agreement between the history and this particular law? Or, how shall we account for the conduct of the Prophets, who saw the people ruined, and instead of reproaching them with cowardice and a neglect of their necessary defence, reproach them with having been too strong, too powerful in horses and horsemen? These appearances can never be accounted for by any human contrivance, and they plainly shew that the hand of God was in this thing from the beginning to the end. Bp. Sherlock.

The priests’ and Levites’ inheritance. Before CHRIST 1431. his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. # CHAP. XVIII.