Deuteronomy 26:19

And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:16-19 Moses here enforces the precepts. They are God's laws, therefore thou shalt do them, to that end were they given thee; do them, and dispute them not; do them, and draw not back; do them, not carelessly and hypocritically, but with thy heart and soul, thy whole heart and thy whole soul. We forswear ourselves, and break the most sacred engagement, if, when we have taken the Lord to be our God, we do not make conscience of obeying his commands. We are elected to obedience, 1Pe 1:2; chosen that we should be holy, Eph 1:4; purified a peculiar people, that we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them, Tit 2:14. Holiness is true honour, and the only way to everlasting honour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou hast avouched - literally, "made to say:" so also in the next verse. The sense is: "Thou hast given occasion to the Lord to say that He is thy God," i. e. by promising that He shall be so. Compare Exodus 24:7; Joshua 24:14-25,

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning—in a season of sorrow, which brought defilement on sacred things; under a pretense of poverty, and grudging to give any away to the poor.

neither … for any unclean use—that is, any common purpose, different from what God had appointed and which would have been a desecration of it.

nor given ought thereof for the dead—on any funeral service, or, to an idol, which is a dead thing.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

To make thee high above all nations,.... None of them having the Lord to be their God and King in such sense as Israel, nor they his people in such a peculiar sense as they were; nor having such laws and statutes as he had given to them; these things gave them a superiority over all other nations:

which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; that is, which nations he made praiseworthy, famous, and honourable, for their extent, wealth, riches, and number; and yet on the above accounts Israel was advanced higher than they:

and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken; the end of the Lord in being their God, and making them his people, was not only to make them high above all others, but to make them more holy than others; to set them apart for himself, as a people sacred to his worship and service, as he had both determined and declared, Deuteronomy 7:6.

Geneva Study Bible

And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. and to make thee high above all nations, etc.] As remarked above on Deuteronomy 26:17, this belongs properly not to Israel’s but to Jehovah’s declaration. High or highest, cp. Deuteronomy 15:6, Deuteronomy 28:1.

which he hath made] Psalm 86:9. For a similar assertion in Deut. of Jehovah’s supreme providence, see Deuteronomy 4:19.

for a praise, and for a name, and for an honour] As in R.V. marg., cp. Jeremiah 13:11 b. That is a praise, etc., to Himself; Berth, prefers ‘to other nations,’ who must acknowledge Israel’s excellence and superiority.

and that thou wilt be an holy people] This continues naturally the people’s declaration in Deuteronomy 26:18. Holy people, Deuteronomy 7:6, Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 14:21, Deuteronomy 28:9; cp. J, Exodus 19:6, holy nation (gôi for ‘am), to which passage the phrase as he hath spoken (possibly editorial) refers.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - (Cf. Jeremiah 13:11; Jeremiah 33:9; Zephaniah 3:19, 20.) An holy people (cf. Exodus 19:5, 6). "The sanctification of Israel was the design and end of its election of God, and would be accomplished in the glory to which the people of God were to be exalted" (Keil).



Deuteronomy 26:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

At the same time, Jehovah had caused the people to be told that they were His treasured people of possession, as He had said in Exodus 19:5-6; and that if they kept all His commandments, He would set them highest above all nations whom He had created, "for praise, and for a name, and for glory," i.e., make them an object of praise, and renown, and glorification of God, the Lord and Creator of Israel, among all nations (vid., Jeremiah 33:9 and Jeremiah 13:11; Jeremiah 3:19-20). "And that it should become a holy people unto the Lord," as He had already said in Exodus 19:6. The sanctification of Israel was the design and end of its divine election, and would be accomplished in the glory to which the people of God were to be exalted (see the commentary on Exodus 19:5-6). The Hiphil האמיר, which is only found here, has no other meaning than this, "to cause a person to say," or "give him occasion to say;" and this is perfectly appropriate here, whereas the other meaning suggested, "to exalt," has no tenable support either in the paraphrastic rendering of these verses in the ancient versions, or in the Hithpael in Psalm 94:4, and moreover is altogether unsuitable in Deuteronomy 26:17.