Deuteronomy 5

— the iniquity] The single subject, to which the prohibition of both the first and second Commandments relates, is false worship, or the worship of false gods; this is the single class of sins which is guarded against. Although therefore the expression here be, “the sins” or “the iniquities of the fathers,” without specifying in that clause what sins, yet in fair construction, and indeed in common construction, we may well suppose it to be that kind and class of sins, for the restraint of which the command was given, and against which its force was directed. The punishment threatened by any law must naturally be applied to the offence particularly forbidden by that law, and not to offences in general. Archdeacon Paley. The sin of idolatry here meant was the greatest national crime that could be committed: it was high treason against the Supreme Majesty of the state, during the theocracy, or whilst the people continued under the more immediate government of God: the offenders therefore, and even the enticers to idolatry, whether close or individuals, by the municipal law, were to be utterly destroyed or stoned to death; or any one that sacrificed to a strange god. And in cases of high treason, do not human lawgivers visit the children or families of the delinquents with confiscation of property, and legal disabilities, that parents may be deterred from disturbing the publick peace, and be more strongly attached to the existing government, from regard to their offspring? Cicero commends the policy of such penalties. Dr. Hales.

— to sanctify it.] There is not much said in express words, concerning this end of the “rest” of the sabbath. But common reason told the Jews, it could not be intended merely as a day of ease from labour; but for the solemn service of God, and instruction in their duty to Him. Bp. Patrick.

God directed the Jews, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God &c. and these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up,” Deut. vi. 5—7. Now as He required them to attend so constantly to these duties, He could not but expect, they should attend more especially to them on that day, when the great foundation of all duty, His creation of the world, was appointed to be commemorated; and when they had nothing to do, to take off their thoughts from what they owed to God and their Maker. There was a peculiar sacrifice appointed for that day; there is a peculiar psalm composed for it, the ninety-second; and these things are surely further intimations to us, that it must have been a time, peculiarly intended for the offering up of prayers and thanksgiving to Heaven. Abp. Secker.

Let it not be supposed, that because God hath appointed the sabbath as a day of rest from bodily labour, it is therefore to be an idle holiday. Many, in following their wicked pastimes, make it more a day of labour, than any day in the week. This is not only perverting God’s design in giving them “rest from their labour,” but it is perverting God’s design in giving them rest for the religious employment of their minds: which is a point of still greater consequence. God hath therefore taken both these points into His own hands: knowing that man had not the authority to enjoin them; nor probably the inclination. God not only “rested” on the sabbath day; but He “blessed” and “hallowed” it. Gilpin.

— neither shalt thou covet] It is remarked by some, that an exact order is observed in the delivery of these precepts: for first, He places such offences as are consummated, and then those, that are begun and not perfected. And in the former He proceeds from those that are most heinous, unto those that are less grievous: for those offences are the greatest, which disturb the publick order, and consequently do mischief to many persons. Such are those that are committed against governours and rulers, who are comprehended under the name of parents; by whose authority human society is preserved. And then, among those, which are against particular persons, those are the greatest which touch a man’s life; next, those that wrong his family, the foundation of which is matrimony; then, those that wrong him in his goods, either directly, by stealth, or more craftily, by bearing false witness: then, in the last place, those sins are mentioned, which are not consummated, but proceed no farther than desire. Bp. Patrick.

The whole law, concerning these matters of our several obligations one to another, “is briefly comprehended,” as St. Paul very justly observes, in this one saying, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” Rom. xiii. 9. Our neighbour is every one, with whom we have at any time any concern, or on whose welfare our actions can have any influence. For whoever is thus within our

our God any more, then we shall die.

Deuteronomy 5:5

5. (I stood between the Lord and you &c.] In the preceding books of the Pentateuch, Moses speaks of himself in the third person: but in this book, in a more animated manner, he drops, as it were, the character of an historian, and is introduced as immediately addressing himself to his countrymen. Hence it is that, in describing what he uttered, he repeats the Decalogue with some slight change of expression from that which was used at its first delivery; a variation, which, as it affected not the import of the commandment, might have served to indicate, that not the letter, but the spirit, of the law was to be regarded: he likewise introduces some general alterations in the code that he presents, which should be considered as supplementary additions requisite by a change of time and circumstances: and he takes occasion to intimate that spiritual intention of the law, by which it was designed for the inward government of man. See chap. x. 16. Dr. Gray.

For a regular exposition of the several Commandments, the reader is referred to the notes on Exo-

to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

5. — thou shalt love the Lord thy God] The characteristick excellence of the Mosaical law consists in the inward principle, on which obedience to it was founded, namely, “the love of God,” as noticed in the second Commandment; and more fully unfolded afterwards in the admirable commentary upon the Decalogue, furnished in the remainder of the Pentateuch. Its na-

Deuteronomy 5:7

7. Thou shalt have none other gods before me.] It is wisely observed by Grotius, that true religion was ever built upon these four principles: 1st, That there is a God, and that he is but One. 2ndly, That God is none of those things, which we see with our eyes; but something more sublime than they all. 3dly, That He takes care of human affairs, and judges them most justly. 4thly, That He is the maker of all things whatsoever! These principles are explained in the first four precepts of the Decalogue. In the first, the Unity of the Godhead is delivered. The second contains the second principle, that God’s nature is invisible; for this is the ground of the prohibition against making any image of Him. In the third Commandment we have the third of these principles, that God takes notice of all things, even of our thoughts, and governs all our affairs: for it is the foundation of an oath, that God knows our very hearts, and is witness to our meaning as well as our words; and will, if we swear falsely, punish us for it; which is an acknowledgment also both of the justice and of the power of God. Lastly, in the fourth Commandment, the reason given for the religious observation of the seventh day is, because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, &c.” So that this Commandment was designed to establish the fourth principle above mentioned, that God is the maker of all things. To preserve the memory and sense of which, this rest was instituted, to be observed with more than ordinary sanctity. And it was esteemed of such great moment, that the first sabbath-breaker was punished with death. Bp. Patrick.

Deuteronomy 5:9

9. — visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children] There is an apparent harshness in this declaration, with which the minds even of good and pious men have been sometimes sensibly affected. To “visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, even to the third and fourth generation,” is not, at first sight at least, so reconcileable to our apprehensions of justice and equity.

The ten commandments. Before CHRIST 1661. d Jan. 22. 18.

Deuteronomy 5:10

10. And shewing mercy unto thousands &c.] What a LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Deuteronomy 5:11

11. Thou shalt not take the name &c.] An habitual reverence for the Supreme Being would banish from among us that prevailing impiety of using His name on the most trivial occasions. The following passage occurs in an excellent sermon, preached at the funeral of a gentleman, (the Hon. Robert Boyle,) who was an honour to his country, and a more diligent as well as successful inquirer into the works of nature, than any other our nation has ever produced: “He had the profoundest veneration for the great God of heaven and earth that I have ever observed in any person. The very name of God was never mentioned by him without a pause and a visible stop in his discourse: in which one, that knew him most particularly above twenty years, has told me, that he was so exact, that he does not remember to have observed him once to fail in it.”

Every one knows the veneration which was paid by the Jews to a name so “great, wonderful, and holy.” They would not let it enter even into their religious discourses. What can we then think of those, who make use of so tremendous a name in the ordinary expressions of their anger, mirth, and most impertinent passions? of those, who admit it into the most familiar questions and assertions, ludicrous phrases, and works of humour? not to mention those who violate it by solemn perjuries! It would be an affront to reason to endeavour to set forth the horrour and profaneness of such a practice. The very mention of it exposes it sufficiently to those, in whom the light of nature, not to say religion, is not utterly extinguished. Addison.

Deuteronomy 5:12

12. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it.] In Exodus it is “Remember the sabbath day;” but that was in order to the keeping of it. Bp. Kidder. Nothing is the cause of more mischief and wickedness of every kind amongst us, than the neglect of the sabbath. If we look into the accounts of bad people, who have suffered for their crimes, we shall generally find they began with neglecting the sabbath. From hence they proceeded to higher degrees of wickedness: and though young people in general, who neglect the sabbath, may not go such violent lengths as many of these unhappy wretches go; yet, having no regard for religion, nothing to recall them to a sense of duty, they soon learn every kind of wickedness. Swearing and drinking are the common attendants on sabbath-breaking: for if the sabbath-breaker is not at church, there is another place, where he is commonly to be found. Here he shews plainly whose servant he is; not the servant of God certainly.

In an account of a country, in which the Christian hath had once been established, it is stated, that when the person, who wrote the account, travelled there, all knowledge of Christianity was so utterly lost, that when he asked such of the inhabitants as he met with, who Christ was; for what purpose he died; what was meant by a future state; or by the immortality of the soul; or by the day of judgment; or any other easy question: they stared at him in stupid ignorance, having never heard of any of these things. In the last page the author tells us, the use of the sabbath was totally lost among these people. If he had told us this in the first

The ten commandments. Baldwin CHRIST 1461. o Gen. 2. 2. Hebr. 4. 4.

Deuteronomy 5:14

14.—the seventh day is the sabbath &c.] To the question, What regard is due to the institution of a sabbath under the Christian dispensation? the answer is plainly this: neither more nor less than was due to it in the Patriarchal ages, before the Mosaick covenant took place. It is a gross mistake to consider the sabbath as a mere festival of the Jewish Church, deriving its whole sanctity from the Levitical law. The contrary appears, as well from the evidence of the fact, which sacred history affords, as from the reason of the thing, which the same history declares. The religious observation of the seventh day hath a place in the Decalogue among the very first duties of natural religion. The reason assigned, in Exod. xx. 11, for the injunction, is general, and hath no particular relation or regard to the Israelites. The creation of the world was an event, equally interesting to the whole human race; and the acknowledgment of God, as our Creator, is a duty in all ages and in all countries, equally incumbent on every individual of mankind. The terms, in which the reason of the ordinance is assigned, plainly describe it as an ordinance of an earlier age: “Therefore the Lord blessed and hallowed it,” or set it apart. It is not said, ‘Therefore the Lord now blesses the seventh day, and sets it apart,’ but ‘Therefore He did bless it, and set it

thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manser-

Baldwin CHRIST 1461.

apart in time past; and He now requires that you His chosen people should be observant of that ancient institution." And in further confirmation of the fact, we find from Exod. xvi, that the Israelites were acquainted with the sabbath, and had been accustomed to some observance of it, before Moses received the tables of the law at Sinai. Indeed the Jews themselves well understood the antiquity of this institution, which appears upon the best evidence to have been coeval with the world itself: in the book of Genesis, the mention of this institution closes the history of the Creation. An institution of this antiquity, and of this general importance, could derive no part of its sanctity from the authority of the Mosaick law: and the abrogation of that law no more releases the worshippers of God from a rational observation of a sabbath, than it cancels the injunction of filial piety, or the prohibitions of theft and murder, adultery, calumny, and avarice. The worship of the Christian church is properly to be considered as a restoration of the Patriarchal in its primitive simplicity and purity: and of the Patriarchal worship, the sabbath was the noblest and perhaps the simplest rite. Bp. Horsley.

— nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant.] It is to be remembered, that, although the worship of God is the chief end of the institution of the sabbath, yet the refreshment of the lower orders of mankind, by an intermission of their labours, is indisputably a secondary object: “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.” Thus it is expressly provided by the law, that on the sabbath day they should have their refreshment. Now as these injunctions were evidently founded on the general principles of philanthropy, it should seem, that, allowance being made for the difference between the rigour of the Jewish, and the liberality of the Christian dispensation, and allowance being also made for the different circumstances of the ancient and modern world, these injunctions of the suspension of the labours of the lower ranks are universally and perpetually in force, in all parts of the world, and in all ages: the rather, as they are no less calculated for the benefit of the higher than for the comfort of the lower orders. It is useful to both to be admonished at frequent intervals; the one for their consolations, the other for the suppression of that pride, which a condition of ease and superiority is too apt to inspire. It is useful to both to be reminded of their equal relation to their common Lord, as the creatures of His power, the subjects of His government, the children of His love, by an institution, which at frequent intervals unites them in His service. Under this recollection the servant will obey with fidelity and cheerfulness, and the superiour will govern with kindness and lenity. It is of the highest importance to the present good humour of society, and to the future interests of men of every rank, that these injunctions should be observed with all the exactness which the present state of society may admit. Bp. Horsley.

— nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle.] The labour of man is not the only toil, which the Mosaick law prohibited on the sabbath day. “Thou shalt not do any work—nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle.” It was a principle with some of the heathen moralists, that no rights subsist between man and the lower animals; that, in the exercise of our do-

The ten commandments. Before CHRIST 1481. vant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

Deuteronomy 5:15

15.—remember that thou wast a servant &c.] This is a new ground for the observation of the sabbath, because God had given them rest from their hard labour in Egypt. This obliged them to keep that seventh day, which God appointed at the giving of manna, being the day on which He overthrew Pharaoh in the Red sea; as the memory of the creation of the world obliged them to keep one day in seven. Jos. Mede.

It is for this reason, that the Hebrews are so often reminded by God of their having been strangers and bondservants in the land of Egypt, that by their hospitality and charity they might comfort and relieve those who were in the like condition: and that the happy change in their circumstances might beget in them a perpetual gratitude to their great Benefactor, and the meanness of their former condition teach them to be humble. Stackhouse.

Deuteronomy 5:16

16. Honour thy father and thy mother.] This Commandment requires honour to be given not only to the father, but to the mother also: an addition, which many human laws seem to have neglected. As the laws were given to the Israelites with a view to keep them free from the crimes of their idolatrous and wicked neighbours, and from the iniquities of the Egyptians, with whom they had long dwelt, it is to be supposed, that the moral duties were at that time scandalously neglected by those nations, and that the duty of obedience to parents, and particularly to mothers, was as ill observed as the rest. The Egyptians, as we learn from ancient history, were far from having right notions of it: for they held, first, that children had more obligation, and should pay more respect, to the father than to the mother; and, secondly, that a son lay under no necessity to maintain his indigent parents, but that a daughter was obliged to do it. Thus they compelled a woman, considered as a daughter, to assist and maintain her

parents; and yet, as she was a mother, they took from her in a manner all authority over her sons: which was absurd and unjust. Dr. Jortin.

—that thy days may be prolonged.] These words are here added to what we read in Exod. xx. 18, as a farther motive to obedience; and we find the Apostle takes notice of it in Eph. vi. 3. On the whole, obedience to this precept hath the promise, not only of a long, but of a happy life. Bp. Kidder.

Dutiful children have even now, though no absolute certainty, yet a reasonable hope of a long prosperous life. For, 1st, the good providence of God is extended to all and each person, and acts secretly, silently, and effectually, and often conveys temporal blessings to the righteous by ways and means not discernible and exposed to publick view. 2dly, There is a natural connexion between obedience to parents, and length of days. Parents, usually speaking, desire that their children should behave themselves well, and prosper in the world; that they should be modest, civil, sober, temperate, regular, and industrious: and children, who in these things obey their parents, take the best methods to secure to themselves long life and prosperity. But since under the Gospel, spiritual promises are more fully propounded, and all things temporal are represented as precarious, if long life should not always be the effect of a dutiful behaviour to God and to parents, it is to be considered, that when a pious and excellent person dieth in the flower of his age, to such an one to live is loss, and to die is gain: it is to depart hence, and to be with the Lord, which is far better. The conclusion is, that “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come,” 1 Tim. iv. 8: of the life that now is, in all fair probability; of that which is to come, with absolute certainty. Dr. Jortin.

Deuteronomy 5:21

21.—neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, &c.] This tenth and last Commandment is by the Church of Rome divided into two, to keep up the number after joining the first and second into one, contrary to ancient authority, Jewish and Christian. How the mistake was originally made, is hard to say: but undoubtedly they retain and defend it the more earnestly, in order to pass over the second Commandment, as only part of the first, without any distinct meaning of its own. And accordingly many of their devotional books omit it entirely; though the two Commandments plainly relate to different things; the first appointing, that the object of our worship be the only true God; the second, that we worship not Him under any visible resemblance or form. It is plain therefore that these two ought not to be thus joined and confounded. And that the tenth ought not to be divided, is equally evident: for it is one single prohibition of all unjust desires. And if reckoning up the several prohibited objects of desire makes it more than one Commandment, for the same reason it will be more than two. For there are six

The people are afraid.

or his manservant, or his malobservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Deuteronomy 5:22

22. — and he added no more.] That is, He did not deliver the following laws, which we find in Exod. xvi, xxii, &c. as He did these moral precepts, by an audible voice and in the solemn manner out of the midst of the fire; but He delivered them to Moses, who imparted them to the people. Bp. Kidder.

Deuteronomy 5:29

29. O that there were such an heart in them, &c.] The words are wonderfully emphatical in the Hebrew: “Who will give that there may be such an heart in them!” This is an expression of the most earnest desire; but at the same time it signifies, that if what He had done for them, would not move them to fear and obey Him, it was impossible to persuade them to it. Not but that He could miraculously work upon them, and change their hearts (saith Maimonides) if He pleased, as He miraculously changed the nature of other things: but if this were God’s will, to deal with them in this manner, there would have been no need to send a Prophet to them, or to publish laws full of precepts and promises, rewards and punishments: by which, saith he, God wrought upon their heart, and not by His absolute omnipotence. Bp. Patrick.

— that it might be well with them and with their children] There is no judgment threatened to any nation in the Holy Scripture, but it is on account of the sins and wickedness they were guilty of; which sins if they repented of, so as to forsake them, they might find

m Exod. 20. 19. Moses receiveth the law. An exhortation to obedience. Before CHRIST 1451. here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

Deuteronomy 5:33

33. Ye shall walk in all the ways — that ye may live.] In the Jewish dispensation mankind are enabled to discern the principles and the process of that moral government, which God exercises over nations, even in the course of His ordinary providence: which undoubtedly dispenses publick prosperity and publick calamity, and regulates the rise and decay of empires, on the very same principles, which are so strikingly displayed in the history of the chosen people. The Divine interposition in the general government of the world is indeed conducted by the regular operation of secondary causes, and therefore more silent and unseen, than the course of that extraordinary Providence then exhibited: but it is not therefore less certain or less effective. In the history of the Jewish state, the judgments of God are distinctly and solemnly exhibited for the instruction of man; and in a word, this great truth is clearly and powerfully impressed, that “as righteousness exalteth a nation, so sin is a reproach to any people.” Prov. xiv. 34: a lesson, which but for the immediate and extraordinary Providence, displayed in this awful dispensation, could never have been so forcibly inculcated, or so clearly understood. Dr. Graves. Chap. VI. ver. 4. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:] The Scripture expressly asserts, in perfect conformity with reason, that there is but one God, the object of our faith and adoration; not one supreme, and other inferiour ones, as the heathens believed, but one alone. See also ver. 13; Matt. iv. 10; Is. xlii. 8; xlv. 5. Accordingly St. Paul declares, that “to us” Christians “there is one God the Father, of whom are all things.” But then, besides the several orders of created beings, the same Scripture as expressly mentions His eternal Son and Spirit; the one begotten of Him, the other proceeding from Him. The distinct and full meaning of these terms we know not; but this however they plainly denote, that the Son and Spirit are derived from the Father, in a manner, whatever it be, each different from the other, and both different from creation. Accordingly we find ascribed to both these, not only the names, but the perfections of God, with honours and worship incommunicable to any creature: and while they are evidently distinguished from the Father, they are as evidently described as being one with Him. Wherein precisely this union and this distinction lies, the Scripture hath not said, and therefore we cannot say, any farther than this: that the union appears to be, not only a similitude of will, or of other powers and dispositions, but the highest possible sameness of essential attributes and properties; for which reason it hath been called an unity of essence, nature, or substance: and the distinction appears to be, not only a difference of names, or of relations to created beings, but of subsistence and action, resembling in some measure, as described in holy writ, that of different human agents; on which account it is said to be a distinction of persons. And from all these things put together we conclude that we are to believe and worship Three Persons, who are one God. Abp. Secker. It is usually observed by commentators, that many of the ancient Fathers look on this text as containing a plain intimation of the blessed Trinity, the word translated the LORD being a singular, and the word rendered God a plural: and some of the Jews themselves have had similar thoughts, as noticed by Bp. Patrick. Dr. Wells.