15 Look down from thy holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless thy people Israel, and the land that thou hast given us as thou didst swear unto our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey!
Look down from the heavens, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory! Where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy tender mercies? Are they restrained toward me?
Let all flesh be silent before Jehovah; for he is risen up out of his holy habitation.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: They shall again use this speech, in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness!
Thus saith Jehovah: The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what is the house that ye will build unto me? and what is the place of my rest? Even all these things hath my hand made, and all these things have been, saith Jehovah. But to this man will I look: to the afflicted and contrite in spirit, and who trembleth at my word.
hear thou in the heavens thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; in order that all peoples of the earth may know thy name, [and] that they may fear thee as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!
Thus therefore pray *ye*: Our Father who art in the heavens, let thy name be sanctified,
For God, having promised to Abraham, since he had no greater to swear by, swore by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee; and thus, having had long patience, he got the promise. For men indeed swear by a greater, and with them the oath is a term to all dispute, as making matters sure. Wherein God, willing to shew more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his purpose, intervened by an oath, that by two unchangeable things, in which [it was] impossible that God should lie, we might have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us,
and we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression;
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah hath anointed me to announce glad tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and opening of the prison to them that are bound;
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, and whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy [place], and with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget [its skill]; If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to my palate: if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
Jehovah hath been mindful of us: he will bless, he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron; He will bless them that fear Jehovah, both the small and the great. Jehovah will add unto you more, unto you and unto your children. Ye are blessed of Jehovah, who made the heavens and the earth.
And let the beauty of Jehovah our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands, establish thou it.
Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 26
Commentary on Deuteronomy 26 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 26
With this chapter Moses concludes the particular statutes which he thought fit to give Israel in charge at his parting with them; what follows is by way of sanction and ratification. In this chapter,
Deu 26:1-11
Here is,
Deu 26:12-15
Concerning the disposal of their tithe the third year we had the law before, ch. 14:28, 29. The second tithe, which in the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at the feasts, was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty, that they would dispose of it according to the law, to the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless (v. 12), it is therefore required that when at the next feast after they appeared before the Lord they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious manner, that they had fully administered, and been true to their trust.
Deu 26:16-19
Two things Moses here urges to enforce all these precepts:-