This brief final charge of Moses, spoken after his song and before his blessing, is placed here because of its fitness as a repetition and completion of the truths here considered. B.

46. Set your heart unto all the words: ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law. Parallel expressions above: Verse 29, “That we may do all the words of this law,” Verse 14, “The word is nigh thee, that thou mayest do it.” These words state plainly

The Practical Purpose and the Right Use of the Divine Revelation.

The first fundamental requisite for the proper and effective use of the Word of God is the setting of mind and heart upon its study and apprehension, in order to the deep and permanent lodgment of its forceful and quickening truths in the thoughtful spiritual nature. Then will follow the second and ultimate purpose and use of the word; the desire and endeavor to obey its requirements, “to do all the words of this law.” The leading utterance of the Old Testament and the New is one: KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS! The one purpose for which the Old and New Testament are given, for which all “the things revealed” alike in both are disclosed from heaven, is to invite and prompt and help us to this obedience. By our obedience, then, by our reverent believing reception of the Divine commands, by our grateful trust in the Divine promises, by a hearty surrender of will and consecration of life to do the will of God, and by these only may we (and “our children forever”) wisely, rightly, and savingly use the priceless treasure of Divine revelation. B.

The Sublime and Blessed Result of a Believing, Obedient Reception of the Revealed Word (verse 47).

For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life. Life is more than the sum of personal enjoyments and pains through which it finds expression; more than the length of days in which it is visible to human eyes; more than the fulness of means which reveals to us its power. All these pass away, but in the process of their vanishing a spiritual result has been fulfilled. The soul of the man has been brought into fellowship—a fellowship welcomed or disregarded—with men and with the world and with God. It has consciously or unconsciously learnt much and done much. It has shaped a character for itself; it has helped to shape a character for others. It is at the end—most solemn thought!—as it has been used. Life, then, we can see, consists not in abundance, in the overflowing richness of unemployed resources; it springs not spontaneously from the things which we possess, from our original endowments, as the necessary product of natural gifts. It is the opportunity of the individual to win for God, by God’s help, that which lies within his reach; to accomplish on a scale little or great the destiny of humanity as it has been committed to him; to consecrate, it may be, splendid wealth to common service; to transfigure sordid cares by a Divine vision; to rise to the truth of the incarnation as the revelation of the purpose of the Father for the world which he made. Westcott.

The doing or not doing of God’s will, the obeying or not obeying of God’s Word, is a matter of life and death to us. This is the simple, solemn, uniform testimony of Scripture from its first page to its last. The Gospel, with its revelation of “life and immortality,” only heightens the solemnity of the alternative. Instead of bare “life,” it is now “eternal life” which is proposed for our acceptance, and which is lost or forfeited by sin. If “life” is the promise, the counter-alternative is death, and “death” accordingly is denounced against the sinner in Gospel as in Law. Death is the loss of all that makes existence a boon; the extinction in the soul of holiness, happiness, and love. Whatever the final state of the lost may be, whether one of active torment or not, it will be true death. The man loses his “soul”—his “life”—“himself.” Oh, that men were wise, that they understood these things, and acted on their choice as wise men should! Orr.

All that can give fullest value to this life and joy to the next depends on how we treat this message from God. “It is not a vain thing for you; it is your life.” Apart from the acceptance of Jesus Christ by faith, and a life of loyalty to God, there is not a gleam of light or hope for the next life. If God did not allow his message through Moses to be slighted with impunity, certainly he will not suffer men to “trample under foot the Son of God,” and then leave them unpunished! What dread, what awful possibilities as to the fate of immortal souls are trembling in the balance, while they refrain from “yielding themselves unto God”! How earnestly and frequently may we with reason reiterate the words, “It is your life”! All that ensures life here and hereafter being a blessing, depends on the way men treat Jesus Christ and his salvation. C. C.

They will know most of the mystery who have done most of the Law. If we are waiting for the solution of the mystery before we begin obedience to the Law, the mystery will never be revealed to us other than in clouds and storms of judgment. We walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus said unto one of his disciples, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” This is the Christian’s law of action. He acknowledges the mystery; he has no reply whatever to many an enigma; but he is sure that in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, he is preparing himself for those great revelations which are promised to faith, obedience, and love. J. P.

FOURTH ADDRESS CONCLUDED. GREAT PROMISES OF PARDON, RESTORATION, AND BLESSING UPON SUBSEQUENT REPENTANCE. LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING, GOOD AND EVIL SOLEMNLY SET BEFORE ISRAEL AS THE FINAL WORD OF THIS ADDRESS.

De. 32 48 AND the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. For thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither into the land which I give the children of Israel.

De. 34 1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea; and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD

6 died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre 7 unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was 8 not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended, 9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel heakened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded 10 Moses. And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD 11 knew face to face; in all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the 12 land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land; and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.

After many painful and perilous enterprises Moses hath brought his Israelites from Egypt, through the sea and wilderness, within the sight of their promised land; and now himself must take possession of that land whereof Canaan was but a type. When we have done that we came for it is time for us to be gone. This earth is only made for action, not for fruition.

49,50. Moses must go up to Mount Nebo, and die. The time, the place, and every circumstance of his dissolution is determined. That one dies in the field, another in his bed, another on the sea, one in a foreign nation, another in his own, is foredecreed in heaven. And though we hear it not vocally, yet God hath called every man by his name, and saith, “Die thou there.” One man seems to die casually, another by an unexpected violence; both fall by a destiny, and all is set down to us by an eternal decree. He that brought us into the world will carry us out according to his own purposes. Moses must ascend up to the hill to die. He received his charge for Israel upon the hill of Sinai, and now he delivers up his charge on the hill of Nebo. Bp. H.

Moses was the loneliest of men: lonely in his flight from Egypt—lonely while herding his flock in the wilderness—lonely throughout his long life of patient fidelity—lonely in his death and burial. Even while mingling with the multitudes of Israel, he remained secluded and alone. As the glory which shone on his face insulated him for a time from men, so did all his life his majestic nature. He was among men, but not of them. Gilfillan.

The summons to that solitary mountain, every friend and companion left behind, alone with God in that awful solitude, all this is his and no other’s. And yet look at it in another point of view, and what was it but the solitude of every death-bed? “We shall die alone;” these were the words of the great Pascal; and they are true of every man. We may live with others, but we must die by ourselves. Millions may have gone before us, and millions may follow after; but each one of us must gird himself for that tremendous journey alone; not Moses more lonely on the peak of Nebo; nor of all those weeping ones that stand around our couch, can one, even if he would, take a single step of that journey with us; alone, unless One be with us, a conqueror of Hades, a Prince of Life, who with his rod and staff can comfort those who pass even through the darkest valley of the shadow of death. Trench.

Thou shalt be gathered unto thy people. This Divine assurance suggests one of the charms of heaven. Next to the ecstasy which God’s presence shall inspire, is the rapture of reunion with departed friends. No question need distress us touching mutual recognition. Moses and Elijah were recognized as such when they came down in glorified state, and conversed with Jesus on the mount. Not a faculty shall be wanting there which we possessed here. “Then shall we know, even as also we are known.” D. D.

51. Because ye trespassed against me.** Perhaps the life of no man in the Bible has the same rounded fulness as the life of Moses. It had so little of any flaw in the character, and it accomplished so much for the cause of God and man. But there was one part where the character broke down, and one at which the life fell short. On a great occasion his temper failed him, and human passion marred the tone of his mission. The penalty was that Moses did not enjoy what his heart was set upon—the view of the close of all his labors, and the entrance of his nation into the home God had chosen for them. It seems very hard that so great a punishment should follow a single offence, and yet it is not uncommon in the life of a good man to see one false step or one pause in self-control bring with it irreparable loss. Ker.

Death, though it were to Moses an entrance into glory, yet was also a chastisement of his infidelity. How many noble proofs had he given of his courage and strength of faith! How many gracious services had he done to his Master! All our acts of obedience cannot bear out one sin against God. How vainly shall we hope to make amends to God for our former trespasses by our better behavior when Moses hath this one sin laid to his charge, after so many and worthy testimonies of his fidelity! When we have forgotten our sins, God remembers them; and although not in anger, yet he calls for payment. Alas, what shall become of them with whom God hath ten thousand times greater quarrels; who, among many millions of sins, have scattered some few acts of formal services! If Moses must die the first death for one fault, how shall they escape the second for sinning always? Bp. H.

In the sight of the people the leader and lawgiver of the nation was visited with a punishment, which must have convinced them far more strongly of the unsparing character of the judicial severity of God than the most powerful admonition could possibly have done; but, at the same time, “though punished, he received due honor in their sight,” that they might see the sun of mercy bursting through the storm of the judgments of God. As an example of justice, Jehovah caused him to die before the people entered the land of rest and promise; but as an example of grace, he prepared for him an entrance into another, as yet unknown, land of promise and of rest. K.—A hundred words, presented in the form of law and calculated to impress them with a sense of God’s unspotted holiness, cannot exert so great an influence upon their minds as this one fact, that even Moses for his sins must die, no less than Korah or Dathan, outside of Canaan. And what a cause of shame to those who had made Moses sin, and thus to forfeit in one fatal hour the fruit which he had earned so well through years of toil! And what a warning, too! Van O.

Chapter 34. As ch. 31 contains the conclusion of the work, where Moses designates himself as the author of the preceding matter, as well as of the song (ch. 32), to which belongs also the blessing of ch. 33, and thus the whole, as far as ch. 33 is represented as complete in itself, it follows that ch. 34 is a distinct section, plainly separated from the foregoing. Besides, this section is so closely connected with Joshua, ch. 1, as to give force to the opinion that De. 34 does not properly belong to the Pentateuch, and that it should be regarded as being the transition to the Book of Joshua, written by one and the same author. Chapter 34 should accordingly be viewed as an appendix to Deuteronomy. Havernick.—The account of the death and burial of Moses, and other particulars described in this chapter, may have been inserted by Joshua, to complete the history of this illustrious prophet; or were afterward added by Samuel, or some prophet who succeeded him. They were admitted by Ezra as authentic, and we have no reason to question the fidelity of the account. Dr. Gray.—This closing section of the book (34), by some other sympathetic hand, that tells how Moses died and was buried according to the Word of the Lord, and how the people mourned for him, and what they thought of him, forms a conclusion for the whole that is as fitting as it is moving and beautiful. E. C. B.

Ascent to Pisgah, and the Vision Thence (verses 1-4).

1. And Moses went up to the top of Pisgah.** Moses went up alone to the top of Pisgah, alone without help; a sign that his natural force was not abated; alone without company; when he had made an end of blessing Israel, he solemnly took leave of Joshua and Eleazar and the rest of his friends, who probably brought him to the foot of the hill, but then he gave them such a charge as Abraham gave to his servants, at the foot of another hill; Turry ye here while I go yonder and die: they must not see him die, because they must not know of his sepulchre. H.

Its Location. After testing repeatedly every view in the neighborhood, I am perfectly satisfied that there is none which equals in extent that from Nebo—i.e., from the flat ridge which rises slightly about half a mile behind the ruined city (Nebbeh), and which I take to be the true “field of Zophim, the top of Pisgah.” The altitude of this brow cannot be less than four thousand feet above the Ghor, so completely does it overlook the heights of Hebron and of Central Judea. On these brows overlooking the mouth of the Jordan, over against Jericho, every condition is met both for the Pisgah of Balaam and of Moses. H. B. T.

The admirable fitness of such a position, for the purpose had in view, is evident to the modern traveller, from the fact that, wherever he goes, in central and southern Palestine, the mountains of Moab are constantly rising on his sight, as one of the most prominent features in the landscape. N. C. B.

2,3. Thus minutely does the supplement to the Book of Deuteronomy describe the scene which lay open before Moses, when he was alone with God upon the sacred mountain of the Moabites; embracing the four great masses of the inheritance on the east, the north, the centre, and the south, with the plain that lay at his feet. P. S.—By anticipation the terms of the description are taken from the time, then future, when the land should have been allotted to the several tribes of Israel. A glance at the map will show that this enumeration of districts and localities is no chance one, but entirely regular, and as an outline complete. The prophet stands facing the west; the plain of Jericho being directly in front, at his feet; the sea of Galilee, in the distance, at his right hand; the Dead Sea, near by, at his left. The entire central plateau of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah is within easy view before him, across the Jordan; while on the limits of vision, to the right lie snowy Hermon and Lebanon and the Galilean hills; and afar, to the left, the elevations which embosom Hebron—loftiest of the cities of Palestine—slope downward, and fade in the haze of the great southern deserts. The language indicates a view by the prophet, beginning at the north, and sweeping round westward to the south. First is “all the land of Gilead,” the country of “spicery and balm and myrrh,” eastward of the Jordan, to be inhabited by the tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He looks in this direction “unto Dan,” the northernmost city of Palestine. Next, a little to the west of north, he beholds, in the distance, “all Naphtali,” rising from the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, and spreading around the head-waters of the Jordan. Turning farther westward, he sees the broad region of the favored son of Joseph, “the land of Ephraim,” with the territory of the other half-tribe of “Manasseh,” lying nearly in line beyond it. Next, his eye, glancing southward, and not pausing upon little Benjamin, beholds great “Judah,” extending by promise to the shore of the Mediterranean, and to the limits of the southern deserts—“unto the utmost sea and the south.” And last is the view directly beneath of “the plain of the valley of Jericho.” N. C. B.

As the eye turns southward the peak of Jebel Shihan first stands out behind Jebel Attarus. Beyond and behind these sharply rise mounts Hor and Seir, and the red granite peaks of Arabia. Still turning westward, the landscape sinks in two or three lines of gigantic terraces as it descends to the Dead Sea, which lies beneath, like a strip of molten metal. Far beyond it the ridge of Hebron can be traced. Northward lies the deep bed of the river Jordan, with the site of Israel’s last camp. Beyond the river rises the top of Gerizim, and, farther still, the plain of Esdraelon opens, and the shoulder of Carmel, or some other intervening height, shows to the right of Gerizim. Northward again the eye catches the outline of Tabor and Gilboa. Snowy Hermon, mantled with cloud, and the highest range of Lebanon behind it, looks down over all; and to the north-east the vast Hauran stretches out till it joins the uplands of Moab and Ammon. Tristram,

Beneath him lay the tents of Israel; and “over against” them, distinctly visible in its grove of palm trees, the stately Jericho, key of the land of promise. Beyond was spread out the whole range of the mountains of Palestine, in its fourfold masses; “all Gilead,” with Hermon and Lebanon in the east and north; the hills of Galilee, overhanging the lake of Gennesareth; the wide opening where lay the plain of Esdraelon, the future battle-field of the nations; the rounded summits of Ebal and Gerizim; immediately in front of him the hills of Judea, and, amid them, seen distinctly through the rents in their rocky walls, Bethlehem on its narrow ridge, and the invincible fortress of Jebus. To him, so far as we know, the charm of that view—pronounced by the few modern travellers who have seen it to be unequalled of its kind—lay in the assurance that this was the land promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to their seed, the inheritance—with all its varied features of rock and pasture, and forest and desert—for the sake of which he had borne so many years of toil and danger, in the midst of which the fortunes of his people would be unfolded worthily of that great beginning. To us, as we place ourselves by his side, the view swells into colossal proportions, as we think how the proud city of palm-trees is to fall before the hosts of Israel; how the spear of Joshua is to be planted on height after height of those hostile mountains; what series of events, wonderful beyond any that had been witnessed in Egypt or in Sinai, would in afterages be enacted on the narrow crest of Bethlehem, in the deep basin of the Galilean lake, beneath the walls of “Jebus, which is Jerusalem.” Stanley.

That Moses’s view of the promised land from the heights of Nebo was a view with the bodily and not with the inward eye, that he saw it in a state of perfect consciousness, and not in an ecstatic vision, is evident from the circumstances, as well as from the expression. There is not a word about ecstasy here. The antithesis contained in the announcement, that he should not tread with his feet the land of promise, but should see it with his eyes, compels us to think of the bodily eye. We have only to read the words of Jehovah in ch. 34 : 4, “I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither,” and the statement, which follows almost directly afterward, that though Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eye was not dim. At the same time, the distinct and emphatic account of what he saw (verses 1-3), and the expression, “Jehovah showed him the land,” force us to the conclusion, that his natural power of vision was in some way or other miraculously increased. The very unnecessary question—Where did the author of De. 34 learn all this?—may be very simply answered. He was acquainted with the commands and promises of Jehovah in Nu. 27 : 12, 13 and De. 32 : 49 sqq., and the Spirit of God, under whose teaching the whole was written, assured him that the announcements contained in these words were actually fulfilled. K.

4. From Nebo he looked down on the palm-trees of Jericho, close under his feet, and from the deep warm valley through which the Jordan was gleaming far across to yon boundless sea; from Jezreel, with its waving corn, to Eshool, with its luxuriant vines; from Bashan, with its kine, to Carmel, with its rocks dropping honey; from Lebanon, with its rampart of snow, south again to the dim edge of the desert: and as he feasted his eyes on what had so long been the land very far off; as the splendid domain spread out, hill and valley, field and forest, in the bright garb of spring, the Lord said, “This is the land!” “This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to thy seed.” But beautiful and overwhelming as it was, just then there began to rise on Moses’s sight a still more wondrous scene. It was no longer the Jordan, with its palms, but a river of water clear as crystal, and on either side of it a tree of life o’ercanopying. It was no longer Nebo’s rocky summit, but a great white throne, and round it light inaccessible. He is in a better land than the land of promise! Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see that sight. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit that better land. Hamilton.

Enough, doubtless, of the full purpose of God toward his people, and toward the world, was revealed to the prophet, to remove all feeling of disappointment that he should not be permitted to cross the Jordan and set foot on the shore of Canaan. Enough was revealed to absorb what was merely personal into the Divine glory. Ay, and methinks that such a view of the glories of the heavenly Canaan was lifted upon the prospect of the earthly land of promise, that the meek though mighty saint of God, now ripe for the heavenly inheritance, was ready to forego the rest from wandering assured to his people in the land before them for “the rest which remaineth to the people of God.” N. C. B.

As he saw it, and understood, if not all, yet much of the significance of that land for all the after-history of mankind, how it should be indeed a holy land, for it should be once trodden by the feet of One, a prophet like unto him, and greater than him, for he should be Moses and Joshua in one, and far more than either, far more than both; as he saw this good land, may we not believe that he was comforted for all, felt that it was glory enough for a sinful man to have been used by God to bring his people thus far even to the verge and border of this land of inheritance? May we not be sure that with him was not merely a perfect acquiescence in the will of God, so that he accepted that will without murmuring or repining; but that he felt goodness and mercy to have followed him from the first to the last, and that no good thing had been withheld from him? and that so, looking in that supreme hour before and after, looking back to all the way by which the Lord had led him, and looking forward to a land of inheritance, fairer, richer, brighter even than that which he now saw, but must never tread, the weary, much-enduring man yielded his spirit to his God; God, as the Jewish rabbis assure us, drawing out that spirit with a kiss; they meaning by this to express their sense of the serene composure, the painless peace of his departure. Trench.—Who shall say what sweet communion passes between the servant and the Lord when not a word is spoken? There was but one speaker and one auditor. The auditor who had talked so much, with so noble a voice, with so positive and royal an eloquence, spoke nothing, but died in the embrace of his Lord. Who can say what the measure of that reward was? We cannot enter into these mysteries; we can be drawn upward by them, impelled in noble directions by their influence. J. P.

5. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there. 6. And He buried him. In silence and solitude, at the top of Pisgah, alone with God, the great lawgiver, prophet, leader, passed away—passed to the rest which he had so well earned, not smitten by any painful disease, nor worn out by gradual decay—but still in the full possession of his powers, still with none of his natural force abated, he sank to rest—he “was not, for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The soul fled; the body remained, and was buried in some strange and mysterious way—not by Eleazar, not by Joshua—in a ravine of the mountain; but exactly where no man knew. He had no funeral rites, no obsequies, no monument; and hence there could be no after-growth of loving pilgrimages, no superstitious reverence of a holy spot, no local commemorative ceremonies. The grave on Mount Nebo was, as is the grave of Golgotha, shrouded in thick darkness, to after-ages an unknown locality. G. R.

How faithfully to men, and also how kindly, would all our work be done, if we had our account, not to them, but to God, ever in our eye! Moses ascends the mount to learn God’s will, and when he has finished his work he goes to him to die, and to find from him his sepulchre. He, whose servant he is, takes him back into his keeping, in the spirit of that grand old psalm which comes down to us as “the prayer of Moses the man of God” (Psalm 90)—“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” Ker.

God buried him. The penalty of Moses’s sin was fully paid by his death; and this signal honor conferred on him after death was, doubtless, designed to sustain the Lawgiver’s authority, which without it might have been impaired with the people in consequence of his punishment. No man knoweth of his sepulchre. Bearing in mind the appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration, and what is said by Jude (verse 9), we may conjecture that Moses after death passed into the same state with Enoch and Elijah; and that his sepulchre could not be found because he was shortly translated from it. Espin.—We gather from the New Testament that Michael, an high prince with God, angel-protector of the house of Israel, guarded the prophet’s body, and rebuked Satan, who resisted its resurrection. That it was raised is inferred, from the appearance of Moses in a glorified body with Elias, on the mount of our Lord’s transfiguration. D. F.—He whom God buried, according to all likelihood did not see corruption, and was probably raised from his grave as soon as laid there; only just tasting the penalty of death, and then that penalty removed; as would all seem indicated and implied by the apparition of Moses, with Elijah, in a glorified body upon the Mount of Transfiguration. Trench.

His death was announced by the Lord himself to Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead” (Josh. 1:2). So that there was no human witness of his decease; the account of which was added from revelation. Hales.—He that took charge of his birth and preservation in the reeds takes charge of his carriage out of the world: the care of God ceaseth not over his own, either in death or after it. How justly do we take care of the comely burials of our friends, when God himself gives us this example! If the ministry of man had been used in this grave of Moses, the place might have been known to the Israelites; but God purposely conceals this treasure, both from men and devils, that so he might both cross their curiosity, and prevent their superstition. If God had loved the adoration of his servants’ relics, he could never have had a fitter opportunity for this devotion than in the body of Moses. It is folly to place religion in those things which God hides on purpose from us; it is not the property of the Almighty to restrain us from good. Bp. H.

“The Lord buried him.” There is a higher honor conferred on him than if all Israel had met to weep and lament, or the world assembled to his obsequies. God takes away the grave of Moses, that they may have before them, in full and undisturbed relief, the man himself. His words living and dying, his walk with God till God took him, all that he was to God and to them, in self-devotion and affection—these survive him and can never die. If they came to his grave, they approached the creature and its fleeting part; but in coming to his words and his life, they come to Moses himself and to God. And may we not see a similar lesson in this that the sepulchre of the greater prophet than Moses is equally unknown, and may we not wonder that Christians, under a system of spirit and life, have been more slow than Jews to learn the lesson? Once, and once only, were men invited “to see the place where the Lord lay,” that they might be assured it was empty, and refrain any more from seeking the living among the dead. If research the most patient has hitherto done aught, it has been to show that the spot has left no trace upon our earth. God has made the march of armies and the desolation of centuries do for the sepulchre of Christ what his own hand did for the grave of Moses. He could scarcely have condemned more strikingly, in history, that idolatry of place and form which has usurped so long the worship of the spirit. The Christian Church, no less than the Jewish, is taught to look to the life and doctrine of its great Lawgiver with this distinction, that we know most surely where he is, to draw souls to himself, and whence he shall come “to change these vile bodies, and fashion them like unto his own glorious body.” Ker.

Nebo, too, proclaims that the existence of God’s servants does not terminate, but still goes on—nay, properly begins only at death; and the whole history of those who fall asleep in Christ admits of being summarized in these five words, “for all live unto God.” Moses and Aaron—they and such as they still live! The Joshua and Davids—they still live! The Daniels and Isaiahs—they still live! Your godly friends that fell asleep, some early and some late—they are not dead, but they still live! He who gave Moses burial shall one day bring again with him, in glory, all those who have fallen asleep in Jesus Christ. Then shall they all be perfected—those who have been redeemed in early and in later days of grace—when Christ, who is their life, has been revealed. Van O.—“The dead” and “the living” are not names of two classes which exclude each other. Much rather, there are none who are dead. The dead are the living who have died. While they were dying they lived, and after they were dead they lived more fully. All live unto God, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Oh, how solemnly sometimes that thought comes up before us, that all those past generations which have stormed across this earth of ours, and then have fallen into still forgetfulness, live yet. Somewhere at this very instant they now verily are! We say, they were, they have been. There are no have been! Life is life forever. To be is eternal being. Every man that has died is at this instant in the full possession of all his faculties, in the intensest exercise of all his capacities, standing somewhere in God’s great universe, ringed with the sense of God’s presence, and feeling in every fibre of his being that life, which comes after death, is not less real, but more real, not less great, but more great, not less full or intense, but more full and intense, than the mingled life which, lived here on earth, was a centre of life surrounded with a crust and circumference of mortality. The dead are the living. They lived while they died; and after they die, they live on forever! A. M.

8. Moses’s memory is carried with the Israelites, as something sacred, from the wilderness into the promised land, now opened for their entering. His mighty spirit animates the words and deeds of Joshua; and when the latter, in his turn, forsakes the great arena here below, it is not till the people have anew been bound, by the most sacred oaths, to the observance of the whole Mosaic Law. And soon his image is found hovering before the minds of all those judges, kings, and prophets who were faithful to the Lord; the book of Moses’s Law remains the basis of religious teaching and the record of God’s ancient revelation throughout many ages afterward. Of all the seers who come treading in his footprints, which are ineffaceable, there is no single one in Israel that reaches such a height; of all the legislators who are still the pride of ancient heathendom, there is no single one that can compare with him. Where are they all—the Dracos, Numas, Solons, and Lycurguses, and all those who succeeded them? Their work has perished with them; that of Moses is as permanent as Israel—eternal as the God of Israel himself. To the whole of Christendom on earth, his word comes as a message sent from God; the history he writes is like a mine of gold; his life and death become a revelation of God’s glory; and in heaven the songs of Moses and the Lamb still mingle on the lips of the redeemed. Van O.

9. And Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. Although dead, Moses still ruled. His spirit reappeared in his successor. The principles of Moses had been planted in the nature of Joshua: these had flourished and come to maturity. The memory of Moses was still a mighty power in Israel, and they “did,” all though the days of Joshua, “as the Lord commanded Moses.” The legislator had moulded and trained the warrior. Moses was promoted to higher honor, because Joshua was better qualified for this new work—the realization of Israel’s destiny. D. D.

Moses brought Israel to the borders of Canaan and then died and left them, to signify that the Law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). It brings men into a wilderness of conviction, but not into the Canaan of rest and settled peace. It is an honor reserved for Joshua (our Lord Jesus, of whom Joshua was a type) to do that for us which the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh (Rom. 8:3). Through him we enter into rest; the spiritual rest of conscience and eternal rest in heaven. H.

It was essential to the typical meaning and purpose of this history that Moses should not cross the river, for he was the representative man of the Law, and the Law brings no one into rest. For himself, too, it was better to depart. He got something nobler far than an entrance into Canaan—a home with God and the departed worthies. Yet there is something very touching in his death, on the very edge of the promised land. An end like his has been not infrequent among great leaders of intellectual or religious life. They labor and see not, or, if they foresee, enjoy not the fruit of their labors. A hero falls in the very arms of victory, a scientific genius surrenders to others the advantage of his discoveries, reformers and missionaries of truth and progress often die on the threshold of success, leaving it to others to accomplish what they could not continue, “by reason of death.” A striking precedent there is in the death of Moses, the man of God. A lesson, too, of submission and contentment. D. F.

Divine Encomium of Moses (verses 10-12).

God buried Moses. It was fitting, therefore, that he too should write his epitaph. Here it is, given by his inspiration, and, though written only in a book, having a permanence as great as if it had been graven with an iron pen in the rock forever. “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.” W. M. T.

10. There hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel.** Words like these can only have been written some time, but not necessarily a long time, after the death of Moses. They refer more particularly to the wonders wrought by the hand of Moses at the exodus and in the desert; and do but re-echo the declaration of God himself (Nu. 12:6). Espin.—This eulogy seems to have been added that the children of Abraham might place dependence on Moses until the manifestation of Christ; for although prophets were from time to time raised up, the superiority should remain with Moses, lest they decline from the rule of the Law. Two signs of his excellency are here recorded, his familiar acquaintance with God and the glory of his miracles. Calv.—Moses was the founder and mediator of the Old Covenant. As long as this covenant was to last, no prophet could arise in Israel like unto Moses. There is but One who is worthy of greater honor than Moses—namely, the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, who is placed as a Son over all the house of God, in which Moses was found faithful as a servant (compare Heb. 3:2-6 with Nu. 12:7), Jesus Christ, the Founder and Mediator of the new and everlasting covenant. Keil.

Whom the Lord knew face to face.

Others saw visions and dreamed dreams; he spoke face to face with God and was deemed worthy of honors never claimed for an Amos or an Isaiah. Somebody adds here, “There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses.” On its face it is a later addition, like the rest of the chapter. But it is the “amen” that confirms the letter of the history or the self-praise that seals the counterfeit. E. C. B.

Moses was the first to disclose the glorious nature of God and his gracious relationships to our race, as the corner-stone of a great commonwealth. He was the first to proclaim, by his sacrificial institutes and teachings, the one principle that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” He was the first to proclaim the elementary principles and the true basis of the noblest human ethics: “Be ye holy: for I am holy.” He was the first to require of a people love to God as the spring of all obedience, and to assign as the reason for their love the care of God to them. He was the first who made provision for the education of a whole people in the things of God; with virtue and piety for its lessons, and the home for its training-school. He was the first who aimed at educating a people to self-government. Others might follow on in all these respects, but no one else ever could be like Moses in starting all this new national life, thought, and virtue, in organized form. And yet how much more than one like Moses do we need for a world’s regeneration and a Church’s education! “If there had been a Law given which should have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law.” But “what the Law could not do” God has done through our Lord Jesus Christ. Moses can give rules. Only the Lord the Spirit can give life. A Greater than Moses has come, and has created by his power a new commonwealth, whose citizenship is in the heavens. In this “new Jerusalem, which cometh down from God out of heaven,” lo! “all things are made new.” C. C.

His Influence upon Human History.

Calm and colossal, not so much distinguished by his individual features as by the mighty deeds with which he is identified, stands out the figure of that Hebrew lawgiver; and betwixt the romantic incidents of his birth and upbringing, his unparalleled achievements as the conductor of a national exodus, and his exalted function as the founder of the Hebrew commonwealth and the father of a new dispensation, no mere man has exerted a larger or more enduring influence in human history.

Hamilton.—Of all the great men who have played their part on the broad theatre of human action, Moses is the one who has exerted the most pregnant influence on the destinies of mankind and on the direction and progress of civilization. His lofty intellect, his greatness of soul, his pre-eminent virtue, and his unequalled services in the cause of true religion and of republican constitutional liberty, place him at the head of those illustrious benefactors of mankind who here and there, though at intervals too distant from each other, embellish the canvass of history. E. C. W.—Nor was his memory confined to the single people which under his auspices became a great nation. Manetho, the Egyptian, spoke of him as the founder of the Jewish polity and the author of the Jewish laws; the Greeks became acquainted with his name about the time of Herodotus, and unanimously attributed to him the peculiar customs which marked out from all others the Jewish people. Historians of Egypt with one voice proclaimed that it was he who led the Jews from Egypt to the Holy Land. From Greece his fame passed to Rome, where attention was first drawn to him by Cornelius Alexander in the time of Sulla, and where he soon became known as “the Jewish legislator,” and attracted the notice of Apollonius Niolo, Trogus Pompeius, Strabo, Thallus, the freedman of Tiberius, Tacitus, Juvenal, Longinus, and others. Longinus called him “no common man;” Numenius, the Pythagorean philosopher, said that he was “very powerful with God through prayer.” Hecataeus of Abdera praised his courage and practical wisdom. G. R.

The Hebrew lawgiver, considered merely in an historical light and without reference to his Divine inspiration, has exercised a more extensive and permanent influence over the destinies of his own nation and mankind at large than any other individual recorded in the annals of the world. Christianity and Mohammedanism alike respect, and, in different degrees, derive their origin from the Mosaic institutes. Thus, throughout Europe, with all its American descendants, the larger part of Asia and the north of Africa, the opinions, the usages, the civil as well as religious ordinances, retain deep and indelible traces of their descent from the Hebrew polity. To his own nation Moses was chieftain, historian, poet, lawgiver. He was more than all these—he was the author of their civil existence. Other founders of republics and distinguished legislators have been, like Numa, already at the head of a settled and organized community; or have been voluntarily invested with legislatorial authority, like Charondas, Lycurgus, and Solon, by a people suffering the inconveniences of anarchy. Moses had first to form his people, and bestow on them a country of their own, before he could create his commonwealth. The Hebrews would either have been absorbed in the population of Egypt, or remained a wretched Pariah caste, had Moses never lived, or never received his Divine commission. In this condition he took them up, rescued them from captivity; finding them unfit for his purpose, he kept them for forty years under the severe discipline of the desert; then led them as conquerors to take permanent possession of a most fruitful region. Yet with singular disregard to his own fame, though with great advantage to his design, Moses uniformly referred to an earlier and more remote personage the dignity of parent of his people. The Jews were children of Abraham, not of Moses; they were a distinguished nation as descendants of the patriarch, not as compatriots of the lawgiver. The virtue of pure and disinterested patriotism never shone forth more unclouded. He nobly declined the offer made to him by the Almighty, to substitute his own family for the offending race of Israel. The permanent happiness of the whole people was the one great object to which the life of Moses was devoted; so that, if we could for an instant suspect that he made use of religion for a political purpose, still that purpose would entitle him to the highest rank among the benefactors of mankind, as having been the first who attempted to regulate society by an equal written law. If God was not the sovereign of the Jewish State, the Law was: the best and only safe vicegerent of Almighty Providence, to which the welfare of human communities can be intrusted. If the Hebrew commonwealth was not a theocracy, it was a nomocracy. On the other hand, if, as we suppose in the Mosaic polity, the civil was subordinate to the religious end, still the immediate well-being of the community was not sacrificed to the more remote object. Independent of the temporal blessings promised to the maintenance of the Law, the Hebrew commonwealth was so constituted as to produce (all circumstances of the times, the situation and character of the people considered) as much or more real happiness and independence than any existing or imaginary government of ancient times. Let Moses, as contrasted with human legislators, be judged according to his age; he will appear, not merely the first who founded a commonwealth on just principles, but a lawgiver who advanced political society to as high a degree of perfection as the state of civilization which his people had attained, or were capable of attaining, could possibly admit. But if such be the benign, the prematurely wise, and original character of the Mosaic institutions, the faith of the Jew and the Christian in the Divine commission of the great legislator is the more strongly established and confirmed. Milman.

Moral and Spiritual Points of Character.

The noblest trait in his moral character was his patriotic disinterestedness. He twice refused the tempting offer of the aggrandizement of his own family, when God threatened to reject the Israelites for their rebellions, and make of him “a great nation” in their stead. And he left his sons, without rank or patrimony, as private Levites, to subsist on the national bounty, in common with their brethren! Hales. —On the conquest of Canaan, Joshua receives large landed estates, but for the sons of Moses there was nothing more than their share of the Levitical offerings. Even the headship of the tribe of Levi belonged to Aaron, the elder brother of Moses; and upon him and his descendants the high-priesthood was conferred. They did consequently hold a grand position; but as for Moses himself, in 1 Ch. 6, after he has been barely mentioned, his race drops entirely out of the genealogy, while the family of Aaron is carefully described. R. P. S.

He had great privileges; but he had also great responsibilities and trying ordeals. Heaven honored his intercessions with signal deliverances; but heaven punished his sin with a visitation so severe that nothing could better serve to magnify the Law and make it honorable. The promised land he might not set his foot upon; and yet God comforted him and God buried him. A paradox truly, but only on the hypothesis of unreality. Without an army, without the restraints of established customs and regular occupations, by the sheer force of his goodness, his disinterestedness, his supreme patience, and the favor of God, he led, as a father, for forty years, the most intractable and obstinate of peoples. The intrigues of his own family neither disheartened nor angered him. Alive as few others to the demands of even-handed justice, having for his great task the training of a people in the arts of war as well as of peace in a rude age, it is still the law of love to God as a rule of conduct on which he everywhere chiefly insists. Five several times he returns to it (De. 6:4 f.; 10:12; 11:13; 30:6, 20) with emphatic reiteration. E. C. B.

All the great men of sacred as well as of profane history possessed some prominent virtue or quality which stood out in bolder relief than their other perfections. We think of the faith of Abraham, of the conscientiousness of Joseph, of the contrition of David, of the generosity of Jonathan, of the zeal of Elijah—but what do we regard as the dominant quality of Moses? The mind is perplexed in the attempt to fix on any. It is not firmness, it is not perseverance, it is not disinterestedness, it is not patriotism, it is not confidence in God, it is not meekness, it is not humility, it is not forgetfulness of self. It is not any one of these. It is ALL of them. His virtues, his graces, were all equal to each other; and it was their beautifully harmonious operation and development which constituted his noble and all but perfect character. Kit.

His faith is something marvellous, something almost without a parallel. It takes him to God at every moment; it sustains him under every trial and disappointment; in a lifetime of a hundred and twenty years it fails him perhaps three or four times, otherwise it is a constant support and stay. To the last he has the eternal God for his refuge, and feels underneath him the everlasting arms (De. 33:27). Not even Abraham, “the father of the faithful,” is more a man of faith than he. G. R.—“He endured,” says the inspired penman, “as seeing him who is invisible.” He had a vivid and constant sense of the presence of God, and a correct estimate of the relative importance of things seen and temporal, as compared with those which are unseen and eternal. This kept him from contamination during his early education, and while yet he was in the palace of the Pharaohs; and when the day came when he must take the one side or the other in that conflict which has continued through all the ages, he did not hesitate or attempt to temporize, but “esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” Never more alluring prospects opened up before any man than those which the world held out to him. The throne of the greatest monarchy of his age was within his reach. All that wealth could procure, or pleasure bestow, or the greatest earthly power command, was easily at his call. But the glory of these things paled in his view before the more excellent character of those invisible honors which God set before him; and so, without a sigh of regret or a thought of sacrifice, he turned his back upon a position which he could occupy only by proving false to his countrymen and disloyal to his Lord. This faith sustained him in the solitudes of Midian, and animated him amid all the conflict attendant on the Exodus, and all the difficulties that confronted him in the wilderness. From the moment when he heard the promise, “Certainly I will be with thee,” on till the day when he set out for Pisgah, he was seldom visited with misgiving. His intercourse with God was of the closest and most confidential character. Jehovah, to him, was a living person, as real to him as was his brother Aaron, and more helpful to him than any human friend could be. This faith gave him courage in the hour of danger, and calmness in the time of trial. Whether he was called to go in before the angry Pharaoh, or to face the mutiny of the murmuring tribes, he was equally sustained by the sight of the invisible God; and when at length he passed in within the veil, he went only into a higher and closer fellowship with one whom he had long known and loved. W. M. T.

While busy with codes and their proper distribution among the centuries, the critics have strangely overlooked the lawgiver himself, and have completely failed to account for the conception of such a character as that of Moses, and the unique portrayal of it in the Pentateuch. Perfect it is not, for then it would be other than human;—but from that first sweet picture of the little child nestling in its cradle of papyrus leaves, among the reeds of the Nile, to that last, solemn journey to the top of Nebo, to get one glimpse of the dear land which, because of sin, he might not set his foot upon—unique, and to the final stroke beyond the possible reach of invention. Conjured into the history he was not, and could not have been; and just as little can he be conjured out of it. But in it, and of it, then the miracle, if miracle it be, is God’s, and cannot be overthrown. And with the overshadowing personality of a Moses, indisputably fixed in the age of Moses, you have not only a sure and steadfast anchor for the documents that bear his name, but also a sufficient pledge of their genuineness and order.

The material universe during these cycles of time since the exodus has been slowly undergoing change. The “everlasting hills,” of which the Psalmist speaks, have taken on other shapes, gradually yielding to the touch of time. But this sublime figure of the ancient books, and those first great truths he uttered so long ago, remain unchanged. Our critics may succeed in obscuring, for some and for a time, the image and its historic setting; but to efface or greatly alter it were impossible. Like the palimpsest of the Gospel, it may be written over and over with other thoughts. But there will also be happy discoverers in the good time to come. The human will fade out at last, and the Divine shine through. E. C. B.

God’s work-day is eternity. His plan runs from the beginning of days to the end of years. Every sigh and groan of anguish comes up into remembrance before him, and every oppression and cruelty survives for judgment. The burdens of humanity grow already lighter, not heavier. The justice of the Almighty is not foiled. The year of his redeemed shall come. There is a future, and it belongs to Christianity; and there waits the redressing of every wrong. It is an inspiring lesson of faith the Scriptures teach us, when they show us the old Jewish prophets and kings bending forward as if to catch some note of the Bethlehem welcome, waiting to see their Messiah’s day, and yet dying in faith “without the sight.” There are two vivid scenes in the life of the great Hebrew lawgiver, not often brought forward among the wonders of his mission, which are affecting disclosures of that indwelling faith, which was the hiding of all his power: one, where he stood on the top of the mountain, not afraid, with a tranquil expectation, amid thunders and lightnings, and clouds and darkness, waiting confidently for the Lord God to speak at the beginning of his great work; the other, when, at the end of his trials and his life, he went up to look off from the top of another mountain, over the Canaan he could not enter, and then walked firmly down, without murmuring, to die. To us the Lord God always speaks by his Son, if we will listen; and to us the whole future is a land of promise, and every hour an outlook from Nebo, if only we have that unshaken faith that is ready to wait or to work, and asks only to be led. F. D. H.

Christianity has been advancing for centuries through martyrdoms and defections, and great stones rolled to its sepulchre, and prophecies of extinction. But still it lives and moves forward to the throne its Author and Lord has already reached. The corn of wheat which dies and rises to the harvest is its symbol, and we must take it for that of our personal life. If we wish present success we may go seek it elsewhere, but if we desire the strength and peace which make a man independent of everything but God, we must find these in God himself, and in making heart and life submissive to his will. In such a life failure is impossible unless God himself can fail and his moral universe prove itself a dream. Should he give us length of days in the world, as he did to Moses, and usefulness and honor, leaving but one break, as break there must be, at the close, let us take it thankfully; but if, as he appointed to his Son, he send us defeat and disappointment, and forms of death, all through, let us take it hopefully. There is full compensation for failure in every true life, and the highest where the struggle and the loss have been the deepest. Most comforting of all, there is reversal of the consequences of sin when, in humble contrition and faith, the heart has been put into the hand of the great Healer. The shadow on earth’s dial-plate is turned back when eternal life is gained, and the sun shall go down no more. We shall be waked up from our grave, like Moses, to have our heart’s desire, to look on the land and on him who is the glory in the midst of it; nay, better still, to share it with him, and to know that “if we suffer with Christ it is that we may be also glorified together.” Ker.

GENEALOGICAL OUTLINE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, INCLUDING SUBDIVISIONS OF FAMILIES AND BRIEF NOTES RESPECTING PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS.

NOTE.—These chapters, in great part, belong chronologically to the period of the history considered in this volume, and contain detailed information respecting the family and tribal connections of individuals named upon these pages. Obviously it is impracticable, with our limited space, to do more than note these points as a helpful reference to the student-reader.—B.

| CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | XII. | 15-20 | 140 | XXII. | 16, 17 | 152 | XXIX. | 1-37 | 127 | | | 37-42 | 92 | | 18 | 153 | | 38-43 | 139 | | | 43-49 | 140 | | 19 | 152 | | 44-46 | 124 | | | 50, 51 | 92 | | 20 | 153 | XXX. | 1-10 | 122 | | XIII. | 1, 2 | 147 | | 21-27 | 159 | | 11-16 | 123 | | | 3, 4 | 92 | | 23 | 156 | | 17-21 | 124 | | | 5-10 | 140 | | 29, 30 | 147 | | 22-38 | 123 | | | 11-16 | 147 | | 31 | 148 | XXXI. | 1-11 | 120 | | | 17-22 | 93 | XXIII. | 1-3 | 156 | | 12-17 | 139 | | XIV. | 1-9 | 93 | | 4, 5 | 160 | | 18 | 116 | | | 10-31 | 94 | | 6-8 | 156 | XXXII. | 1-6 | 115 | | XV. | 1-21 | 95 | | 9 | 159 | | 7-29 | 116 | | | 22-27 | 96 | | 10, 11 | 144 | | 30-35 | 117 | | XVI. | 1-36 | 97 | | 12 | 139 | XXXIII. | 1-18 | 117 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 99 | | 13 | 153 | | 19-23 | 118 | | XVIII. | 1-27 | 155 | | 14-17 | 138 | XXXIV. | 1-9 | 118 | | XIX. | 1, 2 | 100 | | 18 | 140 | | 10-35 | 119 | | | 3-9 | 103 | | 19 | 147 | XXXV. | 1-3 | 139 | | | 10-25 | 104 | | 10 | 160 | | 4-35 | 120 | | XX. | 1 | 105 | | 20-33 | 113 | XXXVI. | 1-7 | 120 | | | 2-6 | 103 | XXIV. | 1, 2 | 1 5 | | 8-38 | 1 1 | | | 7-11 | 107 | | 3-8 | 114 | XXXVII. | 1-23 | 122 | | | 12-14 | 108 | | 9-18 | 115 | | 29 | 123 | | | 15-17 | 109 | XXV. | 1-9 | 1.0 | XXXVIII. | 1-20 | 124 | | | 18-21 | 112 | | 10-40 | 122 | | 21-31 | 120 | | | 22-26 | 113 | XXVI. | 1-33 | 121 | XXXIX. | 1-31 | 125 | | XXI. | 1 | 113 | | 34, 35 | 122 | | 32-43 | 126 | | | 2-11 | 145 | | 36, 37 | 121 | XL. | 1-11 | 126 | | | 12-14 | 158 | XXVII. | 1-19 | 124 | | 12-15 | 127 | | | 15-36 | 157 | | 20, 21 | 123 | | 16-35 | 126 | | XXII. | 1-15 | 157 | XXVIII. | 1-43 | 125 | | 36-38 | 164 |

| CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | I. | 1-17 | 133 | XVIII. | 21 | 153 | XX. | 27 | 153 | | II. | 1-16 | 134 | | 22-30 | 152 | XXI. | 1-24 | 129 | | III. | 1-17 | 135 | XIX. | 1, 2 | 110 | XXII. | 1-16 | 129 | | IV. | 1-35 | 136 | | 3, 4 | 161 | | 17-33 | 132 | | V. | 1-13 | 136 | | 5-8 | 135 | XXIII. | 1, 2 | 138 | | | 14-19 | 137 | | 9, 10 | 159 | | 3 | 139 | | VI. | 1-7 | 137 | | 11, 12 | 161 | | 4 | 138 | | | 8-13 | 133 | | 13 | 159 | | 5-14 | 140 | | | 14-18 | 134 | | 14 | 161 | | 15-21 | 141 | | | 19-23 | 127 | | 15 | 156 | | 22 | 159 | | | 24-30 | 136 | | 16-18 | 161 | | 23-25 | 141 | | VII. | 1-6 | 137 | | 18 | 110 | | 26-32 | 142 | | | 7-10 | 129 | | 19 | 161 | | 33 44 | 143 | | | 11-21 | 135 | | 20-22 | 152 | XXIV. | 1-9 | 123 | | | 22-27 | 148 | | 23-25 | 147 | | 10-21 | 157 | | | 28-30 | 135 | | 26 | 148 | | 17, 21 | 158 | | | 31-38 | 129 | | 27, 28 | 161 | | 22 | 159 | | VIII. | 1-36 | 127 | | 29 | 152 | | 23 | 157 | | IX. | 1-24 | 128 | | 30 | 161 | XXV. | 1-34 | 144 | | X. | 1-20 | 163 | | 31 | 153 | | 35-38 | 159 | | XI. | 1-47 | 148 | | 32 | 161 | | 39-55 | 145 | | XII. | 1-8 | 150 | | 33, 34 | 159 | XXVI. | 1 | 153 | | XIII. | 1-59 | 149 | | 35-37 | 161 | | 2 | 161 | | XIV. | 1-57 | 149 | XX. | 1-6 | 153 | | 3-13 | 190 | | XV. | 1-33 | 150 | | 7, 8 | 110 | | 14-46 | 191 | | XVI. | 1-34 | 142 | | 9 | 157 | XXVII. | 1-29 | 146 | | XVII. | 1-16 | 132 | | 10-24 | 152 | | 30-34 | 147 | | XVIII. | 1-20 | 152 | | 24-26 | 148 | | | |

| CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. | VERSES. | SECTION. | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | I. | 1-54 | 165 | XV. | 1-16 | 134 | XXVIII. | 26-31 | 141 | | II. | 1-34 | 165 | | 17-21 | 147 | XXIX. | 1-6 | 141 | | III. | 1-4 | 165 | | 22-31 | 136 | | 7-11 | 142 | | | 5-13 | 130 | | 32-36 | 157 | | 12-40 | 143 | | | 14-51 | 165 | | 37-41 | 111 | XXX. | 1-16 | 146 | | IV. | 1-49 | 165 | XVI. | 1-50 | 171 | XXXI. | 1-54 | 178 | | V. | 1-4 | 149 | XVII. | 1-13 | 171 | XXXII. | 1-42 | 179 | | | 5-8 | 137 | XVIII. | 1-5 | 129 | XXXIII. | 1, 2 | 170 | | | 9, 10 | 129 | | 6 | 130 | | 3-5 | 92 | | | 11-31 | 152 | | 7-20 | 129 | | 6, 7 | 93 | | VI. | 1-21 | 146 | | 21-24 | 130 | | 8 | 94 | | | 22-27 | 128 | | 25-32 | 129 | | 8-10 | 96 | | VII. | 1-89 | 126 | XIX. | 1-22 | 150 | | 11 | 97 | | VIII. | 1-4 | 122 | XX. | 1-13 | 172 | | 12-14 | 99 | | | 5-26 | 130 | | 14-29 | 173 | | 15 | 100 | | IX. | 1-14 | 164 | XXI. | 1-10 | 173 | | 16 | 166 | | | 15, 16 | 126 | | 11-18 | 174 | | 17 | 168 | | | 17-23 | 164 | | 19-35 | 175 | | 18 | 169 | | X. | 1-10 | 122 | XXII. | 1-41 | 176 | | 19-36 | 170 | | | 11-28 | 166 | XXIII. | 1-10 | 176 | | 37-43 | 173 | | | 29-32 | 164 | | 11-30 | 177 | | 44 | 174 | | | 33-36 | 166 | XXIV. | 1-25 | 177 | | 45-49 | 175 | | XI. | 1-34 | 167 | XXV. | 1-18 | 178 | | 50-56 | 179 | | | 35 | 168 | XXVI. | 1-62 | 179 | XXXIV. | 1-29 | 179 | | XII. | 1-15 | 168 | | 63-65 | 180 | XXXV. | 1-8 | 180 | | | 16 | 169 | XXVII. | 1-23 | 180 | | 9-34 | 158 | | XIII. | 1-33 | 169 | XXVIII. | 1-15 | 139 | XXXVI. | 1-13 | 180 | | XIV. | 1-45 | 169 | | 16-25 | 140 | | | |

| CHAP. VERSES. | SECTION | CHAP. VERSES | SECTION. | CHAP. VERSES. | SECTION. | CHAP. VERSES. | SECTION. | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | I. 1 | 183 | IX. 1-8 | 105 | XVI. 21, 22 | 153 | XXIV. 5 | 100 | | 2 | 170 | 9 | 115 | XVII. 1 | 132 | 6 | 159 | | 3-8 | 183 | 10-17 | 116 | 2-5 | 153 | 7 | 157 | | 9-15 | 155 | 18-20 | 118 | 6-13 | 156 | 8, 9 | 149 | | 16-18 | 156 | 21 | 116 | 14-20 | 186 | 10-15 | 159 | | 19 | 170 | 22-24 | 185 | XVIII. 1, 2 | 130 | 16 | 156 | | 20-45 | 169 | 25-29 | 118 | 3-5 | 129 | 17-22 | 159 | | 46 | 170 | X. 1-3 | 118 | 6-8 | 130 | XXV. 1-3 | 156 | | II. 1-25 | 174 | 4, 5 | 119 | 9-14 | 153 | 4 | 160 | | 26-37 | 175 | 6, 7 | 173 | 15-22 | 187 | 5-12 | 152 | | III. 1-11 | 175 | 8, 9 | 130 | XIX. 1-13 | 158 | 13-16 | 161 | | 12-20 | 179 | 10 | 118 | 14 | 161 | 17-19 | 188 | | 21-29 | 180 | 11 | 166 | 15-20 | 156 | XXVI. 1-19 | 188 | | IV. 1-10 | 182 | 12-22 | 186 | 21 | 157 | XXVII. 1-26 | 189 | | 11-13 | 105 | 18, 19 | 159 | XX. 1-4 | 187 | XXVIII. 1-14 | 190 | | 14-40 | 182 | XI. 1-17 | 185 | 5-7 | 160 | 15-68 | 191 | | 41-43 | 180 | 18-21 | 111 | 8-20 | 187 | XXIX. 1-28 | 192 | | 44-49 | 183 | 22-32 | 185 | XXI. 1-9 | 158 | 29 | 193 | | V. 1-3 | 183 | XII. 1-4 | 153 | 10-17 | 160 | XXX. 1-10 | 194 | | 4, 5 | 112 | 5-23 | 186 | 18-23 | 157 | 11-14 | 193 | | 6-10 | 103 | 20-22 | 153 | XXII. 1-4 | 130 | 15-20 | 194 | | 11-15 | 107 | XIII. 1-18 | 153 | 5 | 161 | XXXI. 1-29 | 195 | | 16-18 | 103 | XIV. 1, 2 | 161 | 6-8 | 160 | 30 | 196 | | 19-21 | 109 | 3-21 | 148 | 9-12 | 161 | XXXII. 1-44 | 196 | | 22 | 105 | 21 | 160 | 13-30 | 152 | 45-47 | 193 | | 23-31 | 112 | 22-29 | 147 | XXIII. 1, 2 | 161 | 48-52 | 198 | | 32, 33 | 183 | XV. 1-11 | 144 | 3-8 | 184 | XXXIII. 1-29 | 197 | | VI. 1-3 | 183 | 12-18 | 145 | 9-14 | 150 | XXXIV. 1-12 | 198 | | 4, 5 | 110 | 19-23 | 147 | 15, 16 | 145 | | | | 5-9 | 111 | XVI. 1-8 | 140 | 17, 18 | 152 | 1 Chronicles, Chapters II., IV., V., VI., VII, VIII, 199. | | | 10-19 | 183 | 9-12 | 141 | 19, 20 | 159 | | | | 20-25 | 111 | 13-15 | 143 | 21-23 | 146 | | | | VII. 1-26 | 183 | 16, 17 | 138 | 24, 25 | 159 | | | | VIII. 1-20 | 184 | 18-20 | 156 | XXIV. 1-4 | 152 | | |

[The titles and publishers of leading works, additional to those given in previous volumes, are here appended to the names of authors. A helpful service in the interest of readers and writers is thus subserved.]

| | William Adams, D.D. Joseph Addison. Rev. A. S. Aglen. Henry Ainsworth, D.D. d. 1602. | | — | — | | J. W. A. | Jas. W. Alexander, D.D. | | J. A. A. | J. Addison Alexander, D.D. | | W. L. A | Wm. L. Alexander, D.D. Pul. Com. Deut. | | Alf. | Henry Alford, D.D. Peter Allix, D.D. d. 1717. S. J. Andrews, D.D. Joseph Angus, D.D. | | An. | An Unknown Writer. Thomas Arnold, D.D. Wm. Ashmore, D.D. C. A. Auberlen, D.D. Augustine, d. 430. | | | Lord Bacon, d. 1626. Prof. W. F. Bahr. Rev. Albert Barnes. | | C. G. B. | C. G. Barth, D.D. | | S. C. B. | Sam’l C. Bartlett, D.D. From Egypt to Palestine (Harpers, N. Y.) Wm. Bates, D.D. M. Baumgarten, D.D. Wm. J. Beecher, D.D. A. J. F. Behrends, D.D. Bp. Wm. Beveridge, d. 1708. Wm. Binnie, D.D. Pul. Com. Num. T. R. Birks, D.D. | | E. C. B. | Edwin C. Bissell, D.D. The Pentateuch; Its Origin and Structure. (Scribners, N. Y.) Analysis of Codes. (Funk & Wagnalls.) Sir Wm. Blackstone. | | W. G. B. | Wm. G. Blaikie, D.D. Rev. J. J. Blunt. F. Bovet. Rev. Chas. Bradley. Thomas Brainerd, D.D. Chas. A. Briggs, D.D. |

| | Thomas Brooks, d. 1680. Jacob Bryant, D.D., d. 1804. John Bunyan, d. 1688. J. L. Burckhardt. | | — | — | | N. C. B. | N. C. Burt, D.D. George Bush, D.D. Com. Exod. Lev., etc. Horace Bushnell, D.D. Bp. Joseph Butler, d. 1752. | | W. A. B. | Wm. Archer Butler, D.D. | | B. | J. Glentworth Butler, D.D. | | | John Caird, D.D. John Cairns D.D. Augustine Calmet, d. 1757. | | Calv. | John Calvin, d. 1574. W. H. Campbell, D.D. Franklin Carter, D.D. Joseph Caryl, d. 1673. Alfred Cave, D.D. Sacrificial System; Pul. Com. Lev. | | T. C. | Thomas Chalmers, D.D. T. W. Chambers, D.D. Stephen Charnoch, d. 1680. G. B. Cheever, D.D. Theodore Christlieb, D.D. Chrysostom, d. 458. R. W. Church, D.D. Lord Clarendon. | | A. C. | Adam Clarke, D.D. Commentary. Samuel Clark, D.D. Bib. Com. Exod. Lev. | | W. C. | Rev. Wm. Clarkson. Pul. Com. Lev. | | C. C. | Rev. C. Clemance. Pul. Com. Deut. B. F. Cocker, D.D. Lyman Coleman, D.D. Rev. R. Collins. Pul. Com. Lev. Eustace R. Conder, D.D. |

| | F. C. Cook, D.D. Bib. Com. Exod. | | — | — | | H. C. | Henry Cowles, D.D. Heb. History; Pentateuch. Rev. Samuel Cox. Howard Crosby, D.D. The Decalogue. | | J. C. | John Cumming, D.D. Samuel Ives Curtiss, D.D. Levitical Priests. (Clark, Edin.) | | | R. W. Dale, D.D. Ten Commandments. (Hodder & Co., Lon.) | | D. D. | C. Daubeny, D.D., d. 1827. Rev. D. Davies. Pul. Com. Deut. | | | Sir Humphrey Davy. Sir William Dawson, LL.D. Rev. G. Deane. Franz Delitsch, D.D. Commentary, etc. | | | F. B. Denio, D.D. John DeWitt, D.D. | | Dic. B. | Dictionary of the Bible. (Wm. Smith.) | | | Dieterici. Isaac D’Israeli. Genius of Judaism. | | | Prof. H. Drummond. Alex. Duff, D.D. John W. Dulles, D.D. John P. Durbin, D.D. David Durell, D.D., d. 1775. Timothy Dwight, D.D., d. 1817. J. Oswald Dykes, D.D. Law of Ten Words. | | | Prof. Geo. Ebers. | | A. E. | Alfred Edersheim, D.D. Exodus and Wanderings. (Rel. Tr. Soc., Lon.) | | | Rev. R. M. Edgar. Pul. Com. Lev. Num. | | | Jonathan Edwards, D.D. | | B. B. E. | B. B. Edwards, D.D. | | Enc. Met. | Encyclopædia Metropolitana. C. Elliott, D.D. T. E. Espin, D.D. Bib. Com. Num. Deut. | | | G. H. A. Ewald, D.D. | | | Rev. F. W. Faber. | | P. F. | Patrick Fairbairn, D.D. Fred’k W. Farrar, D.D. Fastidius. Henry M. Field, D.D. On the Desert. (Scribners, N. Y.) | | G. P. F. | Geo. P. Fisher, D.D. | | J. F. | John Foster. | | D. F. | Donald Fraser, D.D. Wm. Fraser, D.D. Andrew Fuller, d. 1815. |

| | Fred’k Gardiner, D.D. Heb. Rel. Not a Development. (Funk & Wagnalls, N. Y.) | | — | — | | | F. A. Gast, D.D. Cunningham Geikie, D.D. | | Gerl. | Otto von Gerlach, D.D. Com. on Pentateuch. | | J. M. G. | J. Monro Gibson, D.D. Mosaic Era. (Randolph, N. Y.) | | | Rev. C. R. Gillett. William Gilpin, D.D., d. 1807. C. D. Ginsburg, D.D. F. Godet, D.D. | | E. M. G. | E. M. Goulburn, D.D. Bp. Robert Gray, d. 1834. Richard Graves, D.D., d. 1829. | | W. H. G. | Wm. H. Green, D.D. W. A. Greenhill, M.D. Rev. George S. Grey, d. 1885. Eight Studies on Lord’s Day. (Houghton, N. Y.) | | | F. Guizot. Thomas Guthrie, D.D. | | | William Hales, D.D., d. 1819. | | Bp. H. | Bp. Joseph Hall, d. 1656. Contemplations on O. T. Robert Hall, D.D. James Hamilton, D.D. Moses, the Man of God. (Nesbit, Lon.) Hardwick. Prof. W. R. Harper. Old Test. Student. | | J. H. | John Harris, D.D. H. A. Hävernick, D.D. F. L. Hawks, D.D. | | Hengst. | E. W. Hengstenberg, D.D. | | H. | Matthew Henry, D.D., d. 1714. J. G. Herder. G. F. Herrick, D.D. Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D. Rev. F. W. Holland. | | Hom. Rev. | Homiletic Review, New York. Richard Hooker, D.D., d. 1600. | | M. H. | Mark Hopkins, D.D. Law of Love. T. H. Horne, D.D. Introd. to O. T. Bp. Samuel Horsley, d. 1806. John Howe, D.D., d. 1705. Prof. Edward Hull, Mount Seir. | | F. D. H. | Bp. F. D. Huntington. E. P. Humphrey, D.D. | | | Robert Jamieson, D.D. Commentary. Jews Letters. Jos. Jones, D.D. Wm. Jones, of Nayland, d. 1800. John Jortin, D.D., d. 1770. Flavius Josephus, d. 93. |

| | M. M. Kalisch. J. F. Keil, D.D. Benj. Kennicott, D.D., d. 1783. John Ker, D.D. Bp. Richard Kidder, d. 1703. | | — | — | | Kit. | John Kitto, D.D. Daily Bible Illus. (Carters, N. Y.) | | K. | J. H. Kurtz, D.D. Hist. Old Covenant. (Clark, Edin.) | | | Archbp. Robert Leighton, d. 1684. John Leighton, D.D. Jewish Altar. (Punk & Wagnalls.) | | | John Leland, D.D., d. 1766. | | T. L. | Tayler Lewis, LL.D. Thomas Lewis, 1724. | | H. P. L. | H. P. Liddon, D.D. John Lightfoot, D.D., d. 1675. E. A. Litton, D.D. Moses Lowman, D.D. Bp. Robert Lowth, d. 1787. Martin Luther, d. 1546. | | | James McCosh, D.D. | | D. M. | Donald Macdonald, D.D. Introd. to Pent. Rev. J. A. Macdonald. Pul. Com. Lev. Norman McLeod, D.D. Rev. Alex. MacWhorter. | | A. M. | Alex. Maclaren, D.D. Archbp. Wm. Magee, d. 1831. Bp. W. C. Magee. Maimonides. | | E. M. | Erskine Mason, D.D. Geo. Matheson, D.D. Meilziner. Henry Melville, D.D. Selah Merrill, D.D. F. Meyrick, D.D., Pul. Com. Lev. J. D. Michaelis, d. 1791. Samuel Miller, D.D. Wm. Milligan, D.D. H. H. Milman, D.D. History of Jews. Bp. George Moberly. Baron Montesquieu, d. 1755. Prof. A. D. Morse. J. B. Mozley, D.D. | | M. | Jas. G. Murphy, D.D. Commentary. | | | Edouard Naville. Goshen. (Trubner, Lon.) J. H. Newman, D.D. Bp. Thos. Newton, d. 1782. Richard Newton, D.D. Damascenus Nicolas. B. G. Niebuhr. | | J. P. N. | Rev. J. P. Norris. |

| O. | G. F. Oehler, D.D. C. Von Orelli, D.D. Rev. J. Orr. Pul. Com. Deut. John Owen, D.D., d. 1683. Oxford Catechism. | | — | — | | | Prof. E. H. Palmer. Desert of the Exodus, etc. Wm. Paley, D.D., d. 1805. Bp. Symon Patrick, d. 1707. | | J. P. | Joseph Parker, D.D. People’s Bible. (Punk & Wagnalls, N.Y.) | | Pic. Bib. | Pictorial Bible. A. T. Pierson, D.D. R. S. Poole. E. R. Pope, D.D. W. B. Pope, D.D. | | J. L. P. | J. L. Porter, D.D. Giant Cities of Bashan, etc. Bp. B. Porteous, d. 1808. Rev. Geo. E. Post, M.D. Rev. E. S. Prout. Pul. Com. Num. Rev. Philip Pyle, d. 1799. | | | Leopold Ranke. | | G. R. | George Rawlinson, D.D. | | R. A. R. | Rev. R. A. Redford. Pul. Com. Lev. Carl Ritter. | | F. W. R. | Fred’k W. Robertson, D.D. Edward Robinson, D.D. | | S. R. | Stuart Robinson, D.D. Unpublished Lectures on O. T. sent by the author for these volumes. Prof. Henry Rogers. Rev. A. J. Rowland. | | | Francis de Sales. Adolph Saphir, D.D. Rev. A. H. Sayce. Philip Schaff, D.D. George H. Schodde, D.D. Archbp. Secker, d. 1768. Jas. Scott, D.D. Bp. Thos. Sherlock, d. 1761. Jas. Sime. | | H. B. S. | Henry B. Smith, D.D. | | R. P. S. | R. Payne Smith, D.D. | | P. S. | Philip Smith. O. T. History. (Harpers, N. Y.) Thos. Stackhouse, D.D., d. 1752. James Stacy, D.D. The Day of Rest. A. P. Stanley, D.D. Geo. B. Stevens, D.D. | | R. S. S. | R. S. Storrs, D.D. George Swinnock, d. 1673. | | I. T. | Isaac Taylor. Bp. Jeremy Taylor, d. 1667. |

| W. M. T. | William M. Taylor, D.D. Moses, the Law-Giver. (Harpers, N. Y.) Bp. Fred’k Temple. A. Tholuck, D.D. | | — | — | | J. P. T. | Joseph P. Thompson, D.D. Wm. M. Thompson, D.D. J. H. Thornwell, D.D. Archbishop Tillotson, d. 1694. | | S. S. T. | Sunday-School Times, Phila. London Times. L. T. Townsend, D.D. John Trapp, D.D., d. 1669. Archbp. R. C. Trench. | | H. B. T. | H. B. Tristam, D.D. Land of Israel; Land of Moab; Bible Places; Nat. Hist. Bib. | | H. C. T. | H. Clay Trumbull, D.D. Kadesh-Barnea. (Scribners, N. Y.) Tuch. Rev. Rich’d Tudor. Decalogue. | | Vdn O. | Henry Van Dyke, D.D. J. J. Van Oosterzee, D.D. Life of Moses. (Clark, Edin.) | | E. V. | Edmund Venables, D.D. Daniel Veysie, 1795. Alexander Vinet, D.D. C. Vitringa. d. 1722. |

| | Archbp. Wm. Wake, d. 1737. Robt. Walker, D.D., d. 1783. Rev. Richard Warner, 1823. H. W. Warren, D.D. Daniel Waterland, D.D., d. 1740. Bp. Richard Watson, d. 1816. Thomas Watson, d. 1689. Edward Wells, D.D., d. 1727. B. F. Westcott, D.D. Social Aspects of Christianity. (Mac millan, N. Y.) A. M. Weston, D.D. Rev. J. T. Wheeler. | | — | — | | T. W. | Thomas Whitelaw, D.D. Pul. Com. Wm. C. Wilkinson, D.D. Wm. R. Williams, D.D. Sir Chas. Wilson. | | E. C. W. | E. C. Wines, D.D. Laws of Anc. Hebrews. (Pres. Bd., Phila.) | | R. W. | Rev. R. Winterbotham. Pul. Com. Num. J. L. Withrow, D.D. Bp. Lawrence Womock, d. 1685. T. D. Woolsey, D.D. | | | Rev. D. Young. Pul. Com. Num. |

THE

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2d Samuel, 1 Chronicles XI., 1 Kings I-XI., 2 Chronicles I-IX.

THE REVISED TEXT, ARRANGED IN SECTIONS; WITH COMMENTS SELECTED FROM THE CHOICEST, MOST ILLUMINATING AND HELPFUL THOUGHT OF THE CHRISTIAN CENTURIES, TAKEN FROM NEARLY THREE HUNDRED SCHOLARLY WRITERS.

He remembered his holy promise; and he brought forth his people with joy; And he gave them the lands of the heathen; that they might observe his statutes and keep his laws. They did not destroy the nations whom the LORD commanded them; but were mingled among them; They learned their works; and they served their idols, which were a snare unto them. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people; and he gave them into the hand of the heathen. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry; and he remembered for them his covenant, And repented according to the multitude of his mercies. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.