Deuteronomy 19

Deuteronomy 19:1

Which ye have not known - Which you have no acquaintance with, nor experience of their power, or wisdom, or goodness, as you have had of mine.

Deuteronomy 19:2

Put - Heb. Thou shalt give, that is, speak or pronounce, or cause to be pronounced. So the word to give is used, Deuteronomy 13:1,2 Job 36:3 Proverbs 9:9. This is, more particularly expressed, Deuteronomy 27:12,13.

Deuteronomy 19:3

Over against - Looking toward Gilgal, tho’ at some considerable distance from it. Beside the plains of Moreh - This was one of the first places that Abram came to in Canaan. So that in sending them thither to hear the blessing and the curse, they were minded of the promise made to Abram in that very place, Genesis 12:6,7.

Deuteronomy 19:8

All the places - Temples, chapels, altars, groves, as appears from other scriptures. Green - tree - As the Gentiles consecrated divers trees to their false gods, so they worshipped these under them.

Deuteronomy 19:9

Pillars - Upon which their images were set. Names - That is, all the memorials of them, and the very names given to the places from the idols.

Deuteronomy 19:10

Not do so - That is, not worship him in several places, mountains, and groves.

Deuteronomy 19:11

To put his name there - That is, to set up his worship there, and which he shall call by his name, as his house, or his dwelling - place; namely, where the ark should be, the tabernacle, or temple: which was first Shiloh, and then Jerusalem. There is not one precept in all the law of Moses, so largely inculcated as this, to bring all their sacrifices to that one altar. And how significant is, that appointment? They must keep to one place, in token of their belief. That there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man. It not only served to keep up the notion of the unity of the godhead, but the one only way of approach to God and communion with him in and by his son.

Deuteronomy 19:12

Thither bring your burnt - offerings - Which were wisely appropriated to that one place, for the security of the true religion, and for the prevention of idolatry and superstition, which might otherwise more easily have crept in: and to signify that their sacrifices were not accepted for their own worth, but by God’s gracious, appointment, and for the sake of God’s altar, by which they were sanctified, and for the sake of Christ, whom the altar manifestly represented. Your heave - offerings - That is, your first - fruits, of corn, and wine, and oil, and other fruits. And these are called the heave - offerings of their hand, because the offerer was first to take these into his hands, and to heave them before the Lord, and then to give them to the priest. Your free - will - offerings - Even your voluntary oblations, which were not due by my prescription, but only by your own choice: you may chuse what kind of offering you please to offer, but not the place where you shall offer them.

Deuteronomy 19:13

There - Not in the most holy place, wherein only the priests might eat, but in places allowed to the people for this, end in the holy city. Ye shall eat - Your part of the things mentioned, Deuteronomy 12:6. Before the Lord - In the place of God’s presence, where God’s sanctuary shall be.

Deuteronomy 19:14

Here - Where the inconveniency of the place, and the uncertainty of our abode, would not permit exact order in sacrifices and feasts and ceremonies, which therefore God was then pleased to dispense with; but, saith he, he will not do so there. Right in his own eyes - Not that universal liberty was given to all persons to worship how they listed; but in many things their unsettled condition gave opportunity to do so.

Deuteronomy 19:17

His name - His majesty and glory, his worship and service, his, special and gracious presence. Your choice vows - Heb. the choice of your vows, that is, your select or chosen vows; so called, because things offered for vows, were to be perfect, whereas defective creatures were accepted in free - will - offerings.

Deuteronomy 19:18

Your daughters - Hence it appears, that though the males only were obliged to appear before God in their solemn feasts, yet the women also were permitted to come.

Deuteronomy 19:19

Thy burnt - offerings - Nor the other things mentioned above, this one and most eminent kind being put for all the rest.