Ver. 16. That it may go well with thee in the land, &c.— The promise added to the fifth commandment, as cited by the apostle, is in these words, That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.—As to which, it must first be observed, that it ought to be rendered on the land, meaning the land of Judea. And in the next place, we are to take notice, that this promise, as cited by the apostle, is not expressed in the same words as it is in the Hebrew copy of the fifth commandment in Exodus, where that clause is not to be found, that it may be well with thee: but he makes the citation from Deuteronomy, where are to be found the very words which the apostle has cited; and our translators might have used the same words in both places, if they had pleased. Indeed, the order in which the two clauses here stand, is observed in the Hebrew, Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, and Latin; but the LXX and St. Paul have put the clauses in another order; thus, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the land. The difference is no way material, and the quotation is exact enough: and, perhaps, this reading of the LXX and St. Paul is the true original reading of the place. From this it appears, that our translators should have used the word land, (not earth,) in rendering the apostle's words. The whole promise is, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The apostle, for brevity's sake, omitted the last clause; still leaving us to conclude, that he spake of no other land than what the commandment did, even the land of Canaan. See Hallett's Notes on Texts of Scripture, vol. 3:
REFLECTIONS.—We have here the ten commandments which God delivered on Horeb or Sinai, two summits of the same mountain. After the fourth commandment, the reason for observing a sacred rest, which, before was taken from the creation, is here urged from their deliverance out of Egypt. They had been servants themselves, and therefore knew how welcome a day's rest would be to their own servants. Their redemption also was typical of our own; and we, in memory of Christ resting from his glorious work on his resurrection-day, observe it as our day of sacred rest, to celebrate his triumphs over sin, death, and hell, and to prepare to triumph with him, when we shall finally rest from our labours in eternal bliss. Of itself, the law is a ministration of condemnation to fallen man, and could only serve to beget terror in the guilty conscience; But it was given to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.—To preserve these commands from being forgotten, they are written on durable tables, and laid up in the ark for a memorial to succeeding generations. Note; The writing of the Scriptures is what we can never enough be thankful for; thus we are not left to uncertain traditions, but may continually apply to the unadulterated fountain of truth.