The Deuteronomic discourses.
I. THE SPEAKER. "Moses." Though an hundred and twenty years old, "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deuteronomy 34:7)—a statement borne out by the sustained eloquence of these addresses. He speaks with the authority of a prophet, the affection of a patriot, and the earnestness of a dying man.
II. THE HEARERS. "All Israel." A new generation had sprung up from that which had received the Law at Sinai.
1. All are concerned in hearing God's message. "It is your life" (Deuteronomy 32:47).
2. New-comers need new teaching.
III. THE SITUATION. "In the wilderness"—still there at the end of forty years. The places named (Deuteronomy 1:1), suggestive of past wanderings and rebellions. Form a background to the discourses that follow, and point home their lessons. We learn:
1. The value of association as an aid in teaching.
2. Our past cannot be got rid of, but it may be utilized.
3. God's Word is to be pondered in the light of bygone experiences.
4. The comparison of our actual situation with what it might have been (Deuteronomy 1:2) is often a salutary exercise (cf. Luke 15:17).
IV. THE SUBJECT. "All that the Lord had given him in commandment." We find that this does not refer to a new commandment, but to the old commandment which they had from the beginning (cf. 1 John 2:8).
1. Men crave for novelty, but the function of the preacher is to remind them of the truths which do not change, and to give "line upon line, precept upon precept," until loyal and hearty obedience is rendered to the same.
2. Exhortation is most effective when it takes as its basis the sure Word of God.
3. God's Word is to be spoken in its entirety.
V. THE TIME. "In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month"—when the attack on the Canaanites was about to be renewed, and after signal tokens of Divine favor had already been granted (Deuteronomy 1:4).
1. God's mercies call for renewed dedication (Psalms 116:12-14).
2. The recollections of wasted years should prove an incentive to obedience in the future (Romans 13:11, Romans 13:12; Ephesians 5:15, Ephesians 5:16; 1 Peter 4:3).
3. We need God's commandment in our memories and hearts when entering on work in which formidable opposition is to be encountered, and which will put our fidelity to a severe test.
VI. THE MOTIVE.
1. The natural solicitude of old age. It is characteristic of old age to fall back upon and reiterate previous counsels. Compare Peter in his second Epistle (2 Peter 1:16); the traditional stories of the old age of John; Paul in the pastoral Epistles, "urging and repeating and dilating upon truths which have been the food of his life" (Alford).
2. The lawgiver's knowledge of the rebelliousness of the people's disposition (Deuteronomy 9:24).
3. The Divine command (verse 3). This had respect to the altered circumstances of the new generation, and to the prospect of their entering the land promised to their fathers, continuance in which was conditional on obedience.—J.O.