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Deuteronomy Chapter
Sixteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 16
This
chapter treats of the three grand yearly festivals, of the feast of passover,
when, where, and what was to be sacrificed, how to be dressed, and in what
manner to be eaten, Deuteronomy 16:1,
of the feast of pentecost, when to begin it, where and how it was to be
observed, Deuteronomy 16:9,
and of the feast of tabernacles, when, where, and how long it was to be kept, Deuteronomy 16:13,
which three times in the year all the males were to appear before the Lord, and
not empty, Deuteronomy 16:16,
an order is given for the appointment of judges in the land, to execute
judgment, Deuteronomy 16:18,
and the chapter is closed with a caution against planting groves, and setting
up images, Deuteronomy 16:21.
Deuteronomy 16:1 “Observe the
month of Abib, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God,
for in the month of Abib the Lord your God
brought you out of Egypt by night.
YLT
1`Observe the month of Abib
-- and thou hast made a passover to Jehovah thy God, for in the month of Abib
hath Jehovah thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night;
Observe the month of Abib,.... Sometimes called
Nisan; it answered to part, of our March, and part of April; it was an observable
month, to be taken notice of; it was called Abib, from the corn then appearing
in ear, and beginning to ripen, and all things being in their verdure; the
Septuagint calls it the month of new fruit; it was appointed the first of the
months for ecclesiastic things, and was the month in which the Israelites went
out of Egypt, and the first passover was kept in it, and therefore deserving of
regard; see Exodus 12:2.
for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out
of Egypt by night; for though they did not set out until morning, when it was day
light, and are said to come out in the day, yet it was in the night the Lord
did wonders for them, as Onkelos paraphrases this clause; that he smote all the
firstborn in Egypt, and passed over the houses of the Israelites, the door
posts being sprinkled with the blood of the passover lamb slain that night, and
therefore was a night much to be observed; and it was in the night Pharaoh
arose and gave them leave to go; and from that time they were no more under his
power, and from thence may be reckoned their coming out of bondage; see Exodus 12:12.
Deuteronomy 16:2 2 Therefore
you shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God,
from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to put His name.
YLT
2and thou hast sacrificed a
passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock, and of the herd, in the place which
Jehovah doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there.
Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God,.... In the
month Abib, and in the night of that month they came out of Egypt, even on the
fourteenth day of it at night, between the two evenings, as the Targum of
Jonathan; which was a lamb, and typical of Christ, the passover sacrificed for
us, 1 Corinthians 5:7.
of the flock and the herd; that is, you shall
sacrifice also the offerings which were offered throughout the seven days of
unleavened bread, and these were both sheep and oxen, Numbers 28:19 and
are expressly called passover offerings and peace offerings, 2 Chronicles 30:21,
for what was strictly and properly the passover was only of the flock, a lamb,
and not of the herd, or a bullock; though Aben Ezra says there were some that
thought that in Egypt it was only a lamb or a kid, but now it might be a
bullock; which he observes is not right. It may be indeed that the word
"passover" here is a general term, comprehending the whole passover
solemnity, and all the sacrifices of the seven days: the Jews commonly
understand this clause of the Chagigah, or feast of the fifteenth day, the
first day of unleavened bread, and so the Targum of Jonathan,"and the
sheep and the oxen on the morrow;'some distinguish them thus, the flock for the
duty of the passover, the herd for the peace offerings, so Aben Ezra; or as
Jarchi interprets it, the flock of the lambs and kids, and the herd for the
Chagigah or festival; in the TalmudF13T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 70. 2.
; the flock, this is the passover; the herd, this is the Chagigah, so Abendana:
there was a Chagigah of the fourteenth day, which was brought with the lamb and
eaten first, when the company was too large for the lamb, that their might eat
with satietyF14Jarchi in loc. Maimon. Hilchot Corban Pesach, c. 8.
l. 3. ; but this was not reckoned obligatory upon themF15, but they
were bound to bring their Chagigah on the fifteenth day:
in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name
there; that is, at Jerusalem, as the event has shown; hence we read of
the parents of our Lord going up to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the
passover, Luke 2:41.
Deuteronomy 16:3 3 You
shall eat no leavened bread with it; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread
with it, that is, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land
of Egypt in haste), that you may remember the day in which you came out of the
land of Egypt all the days of your life.
YLT
3`Thou dost not eat with it
any fermented thing, seven days thou dost eat with it unleavened things, bread
of affliction; for in haste thou hast come out of the land of Egypt; so that
thou dost remember the day of thy coming out of the land of Egypt all days of
thy life;
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it,.... With the
passover, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; that is, with the passover
lamb, nor indeed with any of the passover, or peace offerings, as follows; see Exodus 12:8.
seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread therewith; with the
passover; this plainly shows, that by the passover in the preceding verse is
not meant strictly the passover lamb, for that was eaten at once on the night
of the fourteenth of the month, and not seven days running, and therefore must
be put for the whole solemnity of the feast, and all the sacrifices of it, both
the lamb of the fourteenth, and the Chagigah of the fifteenth, and every of the
peace offerings of the rest of the days were to be eaten with unleavened bread:
even the bread of
affliction; so called either from the nature of its being heavy and lumpish,
not grateful to the taste nor easy of digestion, and was mortifying and
afflicting to be obliged to eat of it seven days together; or rather from the
use of it, which was, as Jarchi observes, to bring to remembrance the
affliction they were afflicted with in Egypt:
for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; and had not
time to leaven their dough; so that at first they were obliged through
necessity to eat unleavened bread, and afterwards by the command of God in
remembrance of it; see Exodus 12:33,
that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of
the land of Egypt all the days of thy life; how it was with them
then, how they were hurried out with their unleavened dough; and that this
might be imprinted on their minds, the master of the family usedF16Haggadah
Shel Pesach, in Seder Tephillot, fol. 242. Maimon. Chametz Umetzah, c. 8. sect.
6. , at the time of the passover, to break a cake of unleavened bread, and say,
this is the bread of affliction, &c. or bread of poverty; as it is the way
of poor men to have broken bread, so here is broken bread.
Deuteronomy 16:4 4 And
no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory for seven days, nor
shall any of the meat which you sacrifice the first day at twilight
remain overnight until morning.
YLT
4and there is not seen with
thee leaven in all thy border seven days, and there doth not remain of the
flesh which thou dost sacrifice at evening on the first day till morning.
And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy
coasts seven days,.... For before the passover they were to search diligently every
room in the house, and every hole and crevice, that none might remain any where;
see Exodus 12:15,
neither shall there be anything of the flesh, which thou
sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning; which may be
understood both of the flesh of the passover lamb, as Aben Ezra, according to Exodus 12:10 and of
the flesh of flocks and herds, or of the Chagigah; according to Jarchi this
Scripture speaks of the Chagigah of the fourteenth, which was not to remain on
the first day of the feast (the fifteenth) until the morning of the second day
(the sixteenth).
Deuteronomy 16:5 5 “You
may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you;
YLT
5`Thou art not able to
sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God is giving
to thee,
Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates,.... Or
cities, as the Targum of Jonathan, so called because they usually had gates to
them, in which public affairs were transacted; but in none of these, only in
the city of Jerusalem, the place the Lord chose, might they kill the passover
and eat it, and other passover offerings:
which the Lord thy God giveth thee; in the land of Canaan,
and which land was given them of God.
Deuteronomy 16:6 6 but
at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His
name abide, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at twilight, at the going
down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.
YLT
6except at the place which
Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle -- there thou dost
sacrifice the passover in the evening, at the going in of the sun, the season
of thy coming out of Egypt;
But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his
name in,.... To place the ark and the mercy seat with the cherubim over
them, where he caused his Shechinah, or divine Majesty, to dwell; and this was
at Jerusalem, where the temple was built by Solomon:
there thou shalt sacrifice the passover; kill and eat
the paschal lamb:
at even, at the going down of the sun; between the
two evenings it was killed, before the sun was set, and afterwards at night it
was eaten; the Targum of Jonathan is,"and at evening, at the setting of
the sun, ye shall eat it until the middle of the night:"
at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt; or as the
same Targum,"the time of the beginning of your redemption out of Egypt;'which
was when Pharaoh rose at midnight, and gave them leave to go; from thence their
redemption commenced, though they did not actually set out until the morning.
Deuteronomy 16:7 7 And
you shall roast and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses, and in the morning you shall turn and go to your
tents.
YLT
7and thou hast cooked and
eaten in the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix, and hast turned in the
morning, and gone to thy tents;
And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy
God shall choose,.... The word for "roast" signifies to
"boil", and is justly so used, and so Onkelos here renders it, and
the Septuagint version both roast and boil; but it is certain that the passover
lamb was not to be boiled, it is expressly forbidden, Exodus 12:8
wherefore some think the Chagigah is here meant, and the other offerings that
were offered at this feast; and so in the times of Josiah they roasted the
passover with fire, according to the ordinance of God; but the other holy
offerings sod or boiled they in pots, cauldrons and pans, and divided them
speedily among the people, 2 Chronicles 35:13,
but the passover lamb seems plainly to be meant here by the connection of this
verse with the preceding verses; wherefore Jarchi observes, that this is to be
understood of roasting with fire, though expressed by this word:
and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents; not in the
morning of the fifteenth, after the passover had been killed and eaten on the
fourteenth, but in the morning, after the feast of unleavened bread, which
lasted seven days, was over; though some think that they might if they would
depart home after the passover had been observed, and were not obliged to stay
and keep the feast of unleavened bread at Jerusalem, but march to their own
cities; and so Aben Ezra observes, that some say a man may go on a feast day to
his house and country, but, says he, we do not agree to it; and it appears from
the observation of other feasts, which lasted as long as these, that the people
did not depart to their tents till the whole was over; see 1 Kings 8:66 and
with this agrees the Targum of Jonathan,"and thou shall turn in the
morning of the going out of the feast, and go to thy cities.'Jarchi indeed
interprets it afterwards of the second day.
Deuteronomy 16:8 8 Six
days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be
a sacred assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on
it.
YLT
8six days thou dost eat
unleavened things, and on the seventh day [is] a restraint to Jehovah thy God;
thou dost do no work.
Six days shalt thou eat unleavened bread,.... In other
places it is ordered to be eaten seven days, Exodus 12:15 and
here it is not said six only; it was to be eaten on the seventh as on the
other, though that is here distinguished from the six, because of special and
peculiar service assigned to it, but not because of an exemption from eating
unleavened bread on it. The Jews seem to understand this of different corn of
which the bread was made, and not of different sort of bread; the Targum of
Jonathan is, on the first day ye shall offer the sheaf (the firstfruits of the
barley harvest), and on the six days which remain ye shall begin to eat the
unleavened bread of the new fruits, and so Jarchi:
and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy
God; a holy convocation, devoted to religious exercises, and the
people were restrained, according to the sense of the word, from all servile
work, as follows:
thou shalt do no work therein; that is, the business of
their callings, their trades and manufactories; they were obliged to abstain
from all kind of work excepting what was necessary for the dressing of food,
and in this it differed from a sabbath; see Exodus 12:16.
Deuteronomy 16:9 9 “You
shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from the
time you begin to put the sickle to the grain.
YLT
9`Seven weeks thou dost
number to thee; from the beginning of the sickle among the standing corn thou
dost begin to number seven weeks,
Seven weeks then shalt thou number unto thee,.... And then
another feast was to take place, called from hence the feast of weeks, and
sometimes Pentecost, from its being the fiftieth day:
begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest
to put the sickle to the corn; for the sheaf of the wave offering, as the
first fruits of barley harvest, which was done on the morrow after the sabbath
in the passover week, and from thence seven weeks or fifty days were reckoned,
and the fiftieth day was the feast here ordered to be kept; so the Targum of
Jonathan,"after the reaping of the sheaf ye shall begin to number seven
weeks;'see Leviticus 23:15.
Deuteronomy 16:10 10 Then
you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God
with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as
the Lord your God blesses you.
YLT
10and thou hast made the
feast of weeks to Jehovah thy God, a tribute of a free-will offering of thy
hand, which thou dost give, as Jehovah thy God doth bless thee.
And thou shall keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God,.... The feast
of Pentecost, at which time the Spirit was poured down upon the apostles, Acts 2:1.
with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand; there were
two wave loaves which were ordered to be brought and seven lambs, one young
bullock and two rams for a burnt offering, together with the meat and drink
offerings belonging thereunto, and a kid of the goats for a sin offering, and
two lambs for a peace offering, Leviticus 23:17,
and besides all this, there was to be a voluntary contribution brought in their
hands; for this was one of those feasts at which all the males were to appear
before the Lord, and none of them empty:
which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God,
according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; no certain
rate was fixed, it was to be a free gift, and in proportion to a man's
abilities, or what the Lord had blessed him with.
Deuteronomy 16:11 11 You
shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and
your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is
within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are
among you, at the place where the Lord your God
chooses to make His name abide.
YLT
11And thou hast rejoiced
before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who [is] within thy gates, and
the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who [are] in thy midst, in
the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle
there,
And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God,.... Make a
liberal feast, and keep it cheerfully, in the presence of God, in the place
where he resides, thankfully acknowledging all his mercies and favours:
thou, and thy son, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and
the Levite that is within thy gates; that dwelt in the same
city, who were all to come with him to Jerusalem at this feast, and to partake
of it with him:
and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are
among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name
there; who should be at Jerusalem at this time.
Deuteronomy 16:12 12 And
you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to
observe these statutes.
YLT
12and thou hast remembered
that a servant thou hast been in Egypt, and hast observed and done these
statutes.
And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt,.... And now
delivered from that bondage; the consideration of which should make them
liberal in their freewill offering, and generous in the feast they provided,
and compassionate to the stranger, widow, and fatherless:
and thou shalt observe and do these statutes; concerning
the passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and of Pentecost, and the peace
offerings and the freewill offerings belonging to them: and nothing could more
strongly oblige them to observe them than their redemption from their bondage
in Egypt; as nothing more engages to the performance of good works than the
consideration of our spiritual and eternal redemption by Christ, 1 Corinthians 6:19.
Deuteronomy 16:13 13 “You
shall observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days, when you have gathered from
your threshing floor and from your winepress.
YLT
13`The feast of booths thou
dost make for thee seven days, in thine in-gathering of thy threshing-floor,
and of thy wine-vat;
Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days,.... Which
began on the fifteenth day of Tisri, or September; see Leviticus 23:34,
&c.
after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore
sometimes called the feast of ingathering, Exodus 23:16,
barley harvest began at the passover, and wheat harvest at Pentecost; and
before the feast of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the
olives were over, as well as all other summer fruits were got in.
Deuteronomy 16:14 14 And
you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male
servant and your female servant and the Levite, the stranger and the fatherless
and the widow, who are within your gates.
YLT
14and thou hast rejoiced in
thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy
handmaid, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow,
who [are] within thy gates.
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast,.... At this feast of
tabernacles and ingathering of the fruits of the earth, in token of gratitude
and thankfulness for the goodness of God bestowed on them; the Targum of
Jonathan adds, with the flute and the pipe, making use of instrumental music to
increase the joy on this occasion:
thou and thy son, &c. See Gill on Deuteronomy 16:11
Deuteronomy 16:15 15 Seven
days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God
in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of
your hands, so that you surely rejoice.
YLT
15Seven days thou dost feast
before Jehovah thy God, in the place which Jehovah doth choose, for Jehovah thy
God doth bless thee in all thine increase, and in every work of thy hands, and
thou hast been only rejoicing.
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God,.... The feast
of tabernacles still spoken of:
in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: the city of
Jerusalem:
because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase, and
in all the works of thine hands; both in the increase of their fields,
vineyards, and oliveyards, and also in their several handicraft trades and
occupations they were employed in; so Aben Ezra interprets all the works of
their hands of merchandise and manufactories:
therefore thou shalt surely rejoice; extremely, heartily, and
sincerely, and not fail to express joy on this occasion, and manifest it by a
generous freewill offering to the Lord, and a bountiful entertainment for
himself, his family, friends, and others.
Deuteronomy 16:16 16 “Three
times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall
not appear before the Lord empty-handed.
YLT
16`Three times in a year doth
every one of thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which He doth
choose -- in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in
the feast of booths; and they do not appear before Jehovah empty;
Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy
God,.... This has been observed before, Exodus 23:17, and
is repeated here for the sake of mentioning the place where they were to
appear, which before now was not observed, and indeed it is chiefly for that the
other festivals are here recited:
in the place which he shall choose; which though not
expressed is now easily understood; and the three times at which they were to
appear there were, in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks,
and in the feast of tabernacles; or passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles; and
of numbers of people going up from the country to each of these feasts, we have
instances in the New Testament; to the passover, Luke 2:42, to
Pentecost, Acts 2:5, to
tabernacles, John 7:2,
and they shall not appear before the Lord empty; Aben Ezra
observes, the meaning is, not empty of the tribute of the freewill offering of
their hand, and which Jarchi more fully explains of the burnt offerings of
appearance, and of the peace offerings of the Chagigah, or money answerable to
them; which, according to the MisnahF17Chagigah, c. 1. sect. 2. was
a meah of silver for a burnt offering, and two pieces of silver for the
Chagigah, which weighed thirty two barley cornsF18Maimon. &
Bartenora in ib. .
Deuteronomy 16:17 17 Every
man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
YLT
17each according to the gift
of his hand, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God, which He hath given
to thee.
Every man shall give as he is able,.... The quantity to be
given is not fixed in the law, but the wise men appointed it, as observed on Deuteronomy 16:16
but it is left by the Lord to the generosity of the people, only giving this
general rule, that they should do according to their ability, and as the Lord
had prospered them; see 1 Corinthians 16:2
so Jarchi,"every man that hath many eatables and much goods shall bring
many burnt offerings and many peace offerings.'
Deuteronomy 16:18 18 “You
shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge
the people with just judgment.
YLT
18`Judges and authorities
thou dost make to thee within all thy gates which Jehovah thy God is giving to
thee, for thy tribes; and they have judged the people -- a righteous judgment.
Judges and officers shall thou make thee,.... Judges
were fixed in the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, and those that have
lawsuits come before them; officers are masters of the staff and whip, and they
stand before the judges, and go into markets, streets, and shops, to order the
weights and measures, and to smite all that do wrong; and all they do is by
order of the judges; so MaimonidesF19Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 1. sect.
1. : the qualifications of judges to be chosen and constituted by the people
are thus described by him. In the sanhedrim, greater or lesser, they place only
men wise and understanding, expert in the wisdom of the law, and masters of
great knowledge, and that know some of the other sciences, as medicine,
arithmetic, astronomy, and astrology, the ways of soothsayers, diviners, and
wizards, and the vanities of idolatry, that they may know how to judge them;
and they set in the sanhedrim only priests, Levites, and Israelites, who are
genealogized; nor do they set an old man there, nor an eunuch, nor a king, but
an high priest, if he is qualified with wisdom; and they must be free from
blemishes, and of a good stature and appearance, and understand many languages,
and not hear by an interpreter; and though all this was not precisely required
of the sanhedrim of three judges, yet these same things ought to be in everyone
of them, wisdom, and meekness, and fear, and hatred of money, and love of
truth, and love of men, and to be of a good reportF20Ib. c. 2. sect.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7. and these were to be placed in
all thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy
tribes; that is, in every city, as Onkelos, and so Jarchi; and usually
the courts of judicature were held in the gates of cities, and it was only in
the land of Israel, not without it, that they were obliged to set up courts of
judicature, as MaimonidesF21Ib. c. 1. sect. 2. observes; who also
asks, how many courts were fixed in Israel, and what the number they consisted
of? to which he answers, they fixed at first the great court in the sanctuary,
and it was called the great sanhedrim, and its number were seventy one; and
again, they set up two courts of twenty three, one at the door of the court,
and the other at the door of the mountain of the house (and so in the Misnah)F23Sanhedrin,
c. 10. sect. 2. ; and they set up in every city in Israel, in which were one
hundred and twenty (men or families) or more, a lesser sanhedrim, which sat in
the gate, and their number were twenty three judges; in a city in which there
were not one hundred and twenty, they placed three judges, for there is no
court less than threeF24Ib. sect. 3,4. :
and they shall judge the people with just judgment; give a right
and just sentence in all cases that come before them, according to the laws of
God, and the rules of justice and equity.
Deuteronomy 16:19 19 You
shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for
a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
YLT
19Thou dost not turn aside
judgment; thou dost not discern faces, nor take a bribe, for the bribe blindeth
the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
Thou shall not wrest judgment,.... Or pervert it, pass
a wrong sentence, or act contrary to justice; this is said to the judges as a
direction to them, and so what follows:
thou shalt not respect persons; so as to give the cause
on account of outward circumstances and relations; as in favour of a rich man
against a poor man merely for that reason, or of a near relation or intimate
friend and acquaintance against a stranger, but justice should be administered
without favour or affection to any; as Jarchi puts it, he was to make no
difference in his address and behaviour to contending parties before him; he
was not to be tender and soft to one and hard to the other, or let one stand
and another sit:
neither take a gift: as a bribe to give the
cause wrong: at Thebes, in Egypt, as Diodorus SiculusF25Bibliothec.
l. 1. c. 45. relates, in a court on a wall, were images of judges to the number
of thirty; in the midst of them was the chief judge; having Truth hanging down
from his neck (which seems to be in imitation of the Urim of the high priest of
the Jews), his eyes shut, and many books by him; by which image was shown, that
judges should receive nothing, and that the chief judge should look to truth
only:
for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words
of the righteous; see Exodus 23:8 the
Jews have a saying, that a judge that takes a bribe, and perverts judgment,
does not die of old age, or till his eyes become dimF26Misn. Peah,
c. 8. sect. 9. .
Deuteronomy 16:20 20 You
shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land
which the Lord your God is giving you.
YLT
20Righteousness --
righteousness thou dost pursue, so that thou livest, and hast possessed the
land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.
That which is altogether just shalt thou follow,.... Or
"justice", "justice"F1צדק
צדק , strict justice, and nothing else:
that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee; that is, continue in the possession of it.
Deuteronomy 16:21 21 “You
shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which
you build for yourself to the Lord your God.
YLT
21`Thou dost not plant for
thee a shrine of any trees near the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou makest
for thyself,
Thou shall not plant thee a grove of any trees,.... Of any
sort of trees, as oaks or any other; not but that it was lawful to plant trees
and groves of them, but not for a religious or idolatrous use: particularly
near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make
thee; as the Heathens did near their altars, lest it should be thought
to be done for a like superstitious and idolatrous use; which evil the Jews
sometimes fell into in the times of wicked reigns, and which their good and
pious kings removed and destroyed; see 2 Kings 18:4 and
HecataeusF2Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408. , an
Heathen historian, relates of the city of Jerusalem, that there were there no
image, nor plantation, nor grove, nor any such thing.
Deuteronomy 16:22 22 You
shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
YLT
22and thou dost not raise up
to thee any standing image which Jehovah thy God is hating.
Neither shalt thou set up any image,.... Graven or molten, of
man, beast, fish, or fowl; the word signifies a "statue or pillar"F3מצבה στηλην,
Sept. "statuam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Tig. vers. Fagius,
Drusius, Grotius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth. which was
set up for idolatry; for, as Aben Ezra observes, what was not set up for
idolatry was not forbidden, as when erected in memory of any action or
remarkable event; see Joshua 22:10,
&c.
which the Lord thy God hateth; as he does every
species, of idolatry, or that has any tendency to it; it being so opposite to
his being, perfections, and glory; and therefore nothing should be done like
it, because it is so hateful to him.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》