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Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 11:26-32
Moses sums up all the arguments for obedience in two words, the blessing and the curse. He charged the people to choose which they would have. Moses then appointed a public and solemn proclamation of the blessing and cu…
The Blessing and the Curse. (b. c. 1451.)
THE BLESSING AND THE CURSE. (B. C. 1451.) Here Moses concludes his general exhortations to obedience; and his management is very affecting, and such as, one would think, should have engaged them for ever to God, and sho…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26-32
Life's solemn alternative. Moses here sums up his exhortation with the alternative of a blessing or a curse. Obedience secures the blessing; disobedience the curse. He also directs them to go through a solemn service wh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26-32
Moses, in conclusion, refers to the blessing and the curse consequent on the observance or the transgression of the Law, and prescribes that when they had entered on possession of the land the blessing should be proclai…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26
Behold, I set before you; place for your consideration (Deuteronomy 4:8; Deuteronomy 30:15), so that you may see whither tends obedience on the one hand, and disobedience on the other.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26-28
The dread alternative before every man. Perhaps, strictly speaking, the final paragraph of this chapter includes Deuteronomy 11:26-32. The reader thereof will, however, observe that, while in its entirety it deals with…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26-29
The great alternative. I. GOD SUMMONS US TO DECISION. 1. His revelations lay the ground for it. "Light is come into the world" (John 3:19). 2. They demand it. Men would trifle, but God says, "Now" (2 Corinthians 6:2). M…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:26-32
Startling alternatives. Our life is hourly a choice of alternatives. We can go to the right or to the left. Choice is incessantly demanded, and the issues of our choice are momentous. I. THE REVELATION OF GOD'S WILL MAY…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 11:28
Other gods, which ye have not known; in contradistinction to Jehovah, the revealed God, made known to them by word and deed. Deuteronomy 11:29, Deuteronomy 11:30 (Cf. Deuteronomy 27:11.) Thou shalt put the blessing; tho…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:1-4
Moses comes to the statutes he had to give in charge to Israel; and begins with such as relate to the worship of God. The Israelites are charged not to bring the rites and usages of idolaters into the worship of God; no…
Relics of Idolatry to Be Destroyed. (b. c. 1451.)
RELICS OF IDOLATRY TO BE DESTROYED. (B. C. 1451.) From those great original truths, That there is a God, and that there is but one God, arise those great fundamental laws, That that God is to be worshipped, and he only,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1
These are the statutes and judgments (cf. Deuteronomy 4:1; Deuteronomy 6:1). Moses, as the servant of God, had taught Israel statutes and rights, as God had commanded him (Deuteronomy 4:5); and now he recapitulates the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-3
The invasion a religious one. The Israelites were instructed to exterminate the Canaanites in consequence of their sins, as we have already seen; but in this passage we have strict injunctions given to destroy the place…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-4
The doom of idolatry. The reverse side of blessing is a curse. The abuse of the best things is the worst. In the ratio in which any institution has capacity to benefit, has it capacity to injure. The sun can quicken lif…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32
EXPOSITION ANNOUNCEMENT OF PARTICULAR LAWS. CHAPTERS 12-26. Moses, having in his first address cast a glance at the events which had transpired between Sinai and the plains of Moab, and in his second recapitulated what…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-32
Regulations for Divine worship: specific rules embodying permanent principles. With this twelfth chapter an entirely new set of instructions begins. Up to this point the exhortations have been for the most part moral: n…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:1-5
Destruction of monuments of idolatry. Israel's entrance into Canaan was the entrance of true knowledge, of pure forms of religion, of cleansed morals. The worship of Jehovah was the very antithesis of that of which thes…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:4-6
The heathen placed their altars and offered their worship wherever they thought fit, according to their notions of the deity and his service; but Israel was not to do so unto Jehovah their God: he himself would choose t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:4-14
Centralization in worship. It is quite unnecessary that we should here enter upon the criticism which has been raging upon this important passage, as indicating something post-Mosaic. The directions in Exodus do not nec…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 12:5-32
The command to bring ALL the sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle, was now explained with reference to the promised land. As to moral service, then, as now, men might pray and worship every where, as they did in the…
Where Sacrifices Must Be Offered; Ceremonial Observances; Cautions Against Idolatrous Rites. (b. c. 1451.)
WHERE SACRIFICES MUST BE OFFERED; CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES; CAUTIONS AGAINST IDOLATROUS RITES. (B. C. 1451.) There is not any one particular precept (as I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and inculcate…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:5-28
Characteristic signs of Jehovah's worship. All the religious institutions of Moses were bulwarks against the idolatry of the period, and were admirably suited to the intellectual and moral condition of the people. The w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:5-9
Public worship. A necessity of our spiritual life. Prompted by a community of privileges, interests, feelings, hopes, duties, temptations, aspirations; "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:3-7). It is require…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 12:6
To the appointed place all their sacrificial gifts and offerings were to be brought, and there they were to keep their holy feasts. The gifts are classified in groups. 1. Burnt offerings and sacrifices, the two principa…