Deuteronomy 3

— after the cubit of a man.] The first stated measure was that mentioned in this place, “the cubit of a man;” measuring from the centre of the round bone in the elbow to the point of the middle finger. This is still the measure of all unpolished nations: but no medium or term expressive of its exact contents having been applied, writers have differed as to the precise length of this cubit. Brace.

&c.] As if he had said, Remember, it was the tumultuous and ungovernable behaviour of your fathers, that provoked and drew me into that miscarriage, which deprived me of a pleasure I so much wished to enjoy. Learn you wisdom by their folly; while I cheerfully resign myself to the just and good will of God. Pyle.

Chap. IV. ver. 1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel, &c.] Moses having laid before the Israelites so long a train of Divine dispensations towards their nation, calls here upon the whole assembly, in the most earnest and serious manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct and practice, answerable to the great designs of such mercies and judgments: namely, that they should render them punctually obedient to the laws of God, and cautious of offending Him, either by the addition of any heathenish and superstitious rites to the services enjoined them, or by the wilful omission and neglect of any plain precept of religious worship. This being the very intent, for which they were conducted to the promised land, and the absolute condition of their peaceful and happy enjoyment of it. Pyle.

alive &c.] A singular Providence watched over those, who did not depart from the worship of the Lord, but bewailed the apostasy of some of their brethren, Numb. xxv. 6. Hence they were preserved in such good health, that not one in so many thousands was since dead. Nor in the war with the Midianites, wherein they slew all the males, did they lose so much as one man, Numb. xxxi. 7, 49. Bp. Patrick.

How decidedly does this statement justify the punishment extending to such a multitude: a circumstance to which objections are so often made. Dr. Graves.

Deuteronomy 3:2

2. Ye shall not add unto the word &c.] This prohibition preserved these books from any alteration since the time they were written. For the whole body of the people acknowledging their Divine authority, none of them dared to change any thing either by addition or diminution. Of this there is a wonderful instance in the people that came out of Assyria, in the room of the Israelites, who were transported thither: these people, on coming to inhabit the country of Samaria, having received the Law of Moses, their posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews themselves have done; although they were their mortal enemies, and have been exposed to all the changes and revolutions that can befall a nation, during the long interval of 2400 years. Dean Allix.

It was fit, at the beginning of this exhortation to obedience, to require, that they should neither add to, nor take from, the Divine precepts, because God had given them His law for their rule of life, and had annexed His promises to their universal obedience to it. Bp. Kidder.

4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are

judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Deuteronomy 3:5

5. — I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, &c.] Laws are generally made, when people have been well settled; and they are founded upon many contingencies, which arise from the nature of the soil, the trade, and produce of the country, and the temper, customs, and disposition of the natives and their neighbours. But the laws of Moses were given in a desert; while the people were in a forlorn state; wandering from place to place; and encountering hunger and thirst without seeing any ultimate end of their roving, Numb. xx. 2. These prescripts were designed for a religious polity, when the people should be at some particular period settled in Canaan; of which settlement human forecast could not see the least probability. For what hopes could a leader entertain of possessing a country, from which he withdrew himself, and persisted in receding, for so many years? And, when at a time an attempt was made to obtain some footing, nothing ensued but repulse and disappointment. Did any lawgiver ever give directions about corn, wine, and oil in a country, that was a stranger to tillage and cultivation; or talk of tithes and firstfruits, where there was scarcely a blade of grass? It may be answered, that these ordinances were given with a view to Canaan. True; but Moses himself was not acquainted with Canaan; as is plain from the spies which were sent, and the orders they received, Numb. xiii. 18—20; and if Providence were not his guide, there was little chance of his getting even a sight of it. He was in the midst of a wilderness, and so continued for near forty years. And in this place, and at this season, he gave directions about their towns and cities, and “of the stranger within their gates:” while they were in a

a Chap. 12. 32. Josh. 1. 7. Prov. 30. 6. Rev. 22. 18. b Numb. 25. 4, &c.

Deuteronomy 3:16

16. — half the valley.] The same Hebrew word signifies both a valley, and a brook, or river: and being Vol. I.

brethren the children of Israel, all that are †meet for the war.

Deuteronomy 3:24

24. — what God is there in heaven &c.] Moses here speaks according to the language of the times, when men worshipped many gods, of several sorts: none of which, he acknowledges, were able to bring to pass such things as the Lord had done. Bp. Patrick.

Deuteronomy 3:25

25. — I pray thee, let me go over, &c.] It is not unreasonable to suppose, that Moses should think the threatening of God reversible: and it must have been very desirable to him to see that land, which had been so long promised, so much expected, and so much vilified by them who had been sent from Kadesh-barnea to search the land. But besides this it may be said, that he had a desire to see especially that place, where God would choose to dwell, which the Jews affirm is meant by the “goodly mountain;” as well as the remoter parts of the promised land, in which was Lebanon. Bp. Kidder. By the “goodly mountain” he most probably means, that goodly country, full of noble mountains: for thus the word “mountain” is often used, particularly in Numb. xiii. 29, where the spies say, “the Amorites dwell in the mountains;” that is, in that mountainous part of Canaan. Bp. Patrick.

26. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes,