Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Deuteronomy
Book: Deuteronomy
Chapter: 27
Overview:
The
Law to be written
On Stones in the promised land.
(1-10)
The curses to be pronounced
On Mount Ebal.
(11-26)
1-10 As soon as they were come into
Canaan, they must set up a
monument,
On which they must write the words of this
Law. They
must set up an
Altar. The
Word and
Prayer must go together.
Though they might not, of their own heads, set up any
Altar
besides that at the
Tabernacle; yet,
By the appointment of
God,
they might, upon special occasion. This
Altar must be made of
unhewn
Stones, such as they found upon the
Field.
Christ, our
Altar, is a
Stone cut out of the mountain without hands, refused
By the builders, as having
No form or comeliness, but accepted
of
God the
Father, and made the Head of the
Corner. In the Old
Testament the words of the
Law are written, with the
Curse
annexed; which would overcome us with horror, if we had not, in
the New
Testament, an
Altar erected close
By, which gives
consolation. Blessed be
God, the printed copies of the
Scriptures among us, do away the necessity of such methods as
were presented to
Israel. The
End of the
Gospel ministry is, and
the
End of preachers ought to be, to make the
Word of God as
Plain as possible. Yet, unless the
Spirit of
God prosper such
labours with Divine power, we shall not, even
By these means, be
made
Wise unto
Salvation: for this blessing we should therefore
daily and earnestly pray.
11-26 The six tribes appointed for blessing, were all children
of the free women, for to such the promise belongs, Ga 4:31.
Levi is here among the
Rest. Ministers should apply to
themselves the blessing and
Curse they preach to others, and
By
Faith set their own
Amen to it. And they must not only allure
people to their duty with the promises of a blessing, but awe
them with the threatenings of a
Curse,
By declaring that a
Curse
would be upon those who do such things. To each of the curses
the people were to say,
Amen. It professed their
Faith, that
these, and the like curses, were real declarations of the wrath
of
God against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, not
one
Jot of which shall fall to the ground. It was acknowledging
the equity of these curses. Those who do such things deserve to
fall, and
Lie under the
Curse. Lest those who were guilty of
other sins, not here mentioned, should think themselves safe
from the
Curse, the last reaches all. Not only those who do the
evil which the
Law forbids, but those also who omit the good
which the
Law requires. Without the atoning
Blood of
Christ,
sinners can neither have
Communion with a holy
God, nor do any
thing acceptable to him; his righteous
Law condemns every one
who, at any time, or in any thing, transgresses it. Under its
awful
Curse we remain as transgressors, until the
Redemption of
Christ is applied to our hearts. Wherever the
Grace of
God
brings
Salvation, it teaches the believer to deny ungodliness
and worldly lusts, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in
this present world, consenting to, and delighting in the words
of
God's
Law, after the inward
Man. In this holy walk, true
peace and solid joy are to be found.