THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE

EDITED BY THE REV.
W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.
Editor of "The Expositor"

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

BY

ANDREW HARPER, B.D.

NEW YORK
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
51 EAST TENTH STREET
1895

THE
BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

BY THE REV.
ANDREW HARPER, B.D.
PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS, ORMOND COLLEGE
WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE

NEW YORK
A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON
51 EAST TENTH STREET
1895

Dedicated to
REV. A. B. DAVIDSON, D.D., LL.D.
NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH
IN VERY GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE
OF
INSTRUCTION AND IMPULSE
IN OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

[vii]

PREFACE.

An adequate exposition of Deuteronomy requires thediscussion of many topics. The author has endeavouredto keep these various claims in view: at thesame time the limits of the volume have dictated selectionand compression. In particular, a chapter on miracle inthe Old Testament has been wholly omitted. That topiccannot be said to have a peculiar or exclusive relationto Deuteronomy. Yet the writer would have wished toinclude in the volume a reasoned statement of thegrounds on which he owns and asserts the supernaturalin Old Testament history; all the more because headmits critical views which have sometimes been associated,and still oftener supposed to be associated, withrationalistic views generally. For the present this discussionis postponed. In some instances, also, the writerhas been obliged to content himself with statementson critical questions more brief than he could havedesired; but it is hoped that enough has been saidto explain the position assumed, and to make clear themain lines of argument.

The task of adjusting the matter to the space wouldhave been easier if it had seemed legitimate to omit thecritical and archæological questions on the one hand, or,[viii]on the other, to leave untouched the bearing of thethoughts and Laws of Deuteronomy on the religioushistory of the race, and on the dangers and duties ofour own age. But an exposition of Deuteronomy mustendeavour to open the appropriate outlooks in all thesedirections.

Owing to the author's distance from London the workof passing the book through the press has necessarilybeen left wholly to others. It is hoped that oversightswhich may have arisen from this cause will be pardoned.

[ix]

CONTENTS