Deuteronomy 26

Chap. XXVII. ver. 1. And Moses with the elders &c.] Moses, having repeated and explained the law, which was given at Horeb, engages the people to obey it; and that he does by the very same methods which he used, when the law was first given them. 1st, He then built an altar according to the command and direction given him, Exod. xxiv. 4; xx. 24, 25; and he takes the same care here, ver. 5. 2dly, He then wrote the words of the law, Exod. xxiv. 4; and here he takes care it should be done, ver. 3, 4. 3dly, He then took the people’s profession of obedience, Exod. xxiv. 3; and he mentions the same profession here, chap. xxvi. 17. 4thly, He then took care to confirm the covenant between God and the people by sacrifices, Exod. xxiv. 5; and now he requires the very same kinds of sacrifices also, ver. 6, 7. 5thly, He then, after all his other care, set before them blessings and curses, Lev. xxvi; and so he does here, ver. 12, 13, and chap xxviii. Bp. Kidder.

The people are commanded to write the law upon stones. Before CHRIST 1451. a Josh. 4. 1.

Deuteronomy 26:13

13. — I have brought away the hallowed things &c.] This profession was a wise provision, to keep in memory the goodness of God to the Hebrew nation, and their peculiar engagements to the honour and service of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, as the Abrahamick family. It was a wise means, by an offering to Jehovah, attended with such a profession, to prevent the superstitions then gaining ground; as the Egyptians, says Bishop Patrick, “when they offered the firstfruits of the earth, kept the feast of Isis with doleful lamentations, and as by this mourning they acknowledged Isis, that is, the earth, to be the giver of all these good things; so Jehovah required His people to bring in their harvest with the greatest joy and thanks to Him. As the idolaters separated some part of the firstfruits for magical purposes, and sometimes for carnal and filthy, (for in their feasts great impurities were allowed and practised) and as they were used to honour the gods and heroes of their country publicly, according to the laws of their country, and privately, as much as they were able, with speaking well of them, and with the firstfruits and annual offerings:” the ritual not only wisely