Transcriber's note: Transcriber's Note: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. * * * * * THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE EDITED BY THE REV. W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D. _Editor of "The Expositor"_ THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY BY ANDREW HARPER, B.D. NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 51 EAST TENTH STREET 1895 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY BY THE REV. ANDREW HARPER, B.D. PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS, ORMOND COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 51 EAST TENTH STREET 1895 Dedicated to REV. A. B. DAVIDSON, D.D., LL.D. NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH IN VERY GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF INSTRUCTION AND IMPULSE IN OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES PREFACE. An adequate exposition of Deuteronomy requires the discussion of many topics. The author has endeavoured to keep these various claims in view: at the same time the limits of the volume have dictated selection and compression. In particular, a chapter on miracle in the Old Testament has been wholly omitted. That topic cannot be said to have a peculiar or exclusive relation to Deuteronomy. Yet the writer would have wished to include in the volume a reasoned statement of the grounds on which he owns and asserts the supernatural in Old Testament history; all the more because he admits critical views which have sometimes been associated, and still oftener supposed to be associated, with rationalistic views generally. For the present this discussion is postponed. In some instances, also, the writer has been obliged to content himself with statements on critical questions more brief than he could have desired; but it is hoped that enough has been said to explain the position assumed, and to make clear the main lines of argument. The task of adjusting the matter to the space would have been easier if it had seemed legitimate to omit the critical and archæological questions on the one hand, or, on the other, to leave untouched the bearing of the thoughts and Laws of Deuteronomy on the religious history of the race, and on the dangers and duties of our own age. But an exposition of Deuteronomy must endeavour to open the appropriate outlooks in all these directions. Owing to the author's distance from London the work of passing the book through the press has necessarily been left wholly to others. It is hoped that oversights which may have arisen from this cause will be pardoned. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE AUTHORSHIP AND AGE OF DEUTERONOMY 1 CHAPTER II THE HISTORIC SETTING OF DEUTERONOMY 37 CHAPTER III THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT 48 DEUT. i.-iii. CHAPTER IV THE DECALOGUE--ITS FORM 60 DEUT. v. 1-21. CHAPTER V