Commentaries on Deuteronomy

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For more great commentaries on Deuteronomy check:
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Order of Contents

Best  1
Commentaries  4
Early Church  6
Jewish  2
Chapters
Authenticity  2


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The Best Commentaries on Deuteronomy

“So few expositions have been written upon Deuteronomy alone, the reader will do well to use the Commentaries upon the Pentateuch and the whole Old Testament.”
Spurgeon

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Calvin, John – Sermons on Deuteronomy  (d. 1564)

*** – ‘This is not the same as that which is contained in the “Calvin Translation Society’s Commentaries.”  Everything that Calvin wrote by way of exposition is priceless; even those who differ from him in theology admit this.’ – Spurgeon

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More Commentaries

Devotional & Practical

Cumming, John – Sabbath Morning Readings on the Old Testament: Book of Deuteronomy  Buy  (1856)

**  “Pretty, popular, profitable.” – Spurgeon

“And to show that the Old Testament can be preached and is relevant to our lives today, John Cumming (1807-1881), Scottish born preacher and, for many years minister of the National Scottish Church, London, expounds Moses’ last treatises with an unction that was characteristic of all that was best in the era in which he lived.”

– Cyril J. Barber, founder of Klock & Klock Publishing, which reprinted this work.  Most of what K&K reprinted is gold.

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Medium Level

Reformer

Luther, Martin – Lectures on Deuteronomy  Buy  in Luther’s Works, vol. 9  ed. J. Pelikan  (St. Louis: Concordia, 1960)  340 pp.  ToC

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More

1800’s

Bush, George – Scripture Questions Designed Principally for Adult Bible Classes: Deut.-Esther  9 pp.

Parker, Samuel – Bibliotheca Biblica: being a commentary upon all the books of the Old and New Testament gathered out of the genuine writings of fathers,  ecclesiastical historians and acts of councils down to the year of our Lord 451, vol. 5, Deuteronomy  (1728)

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1900’s

Kline, Meredith – Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies & Commentary  Buy  (Eerdmans, 1963)  150 pp.  ToC

Should be read with caution.

‘Bold, original, and suggestive study by a Semetic scholar who uses the tools of form-criticism in his analysis of Deuteronomy in an endeavor to exemplify the structural outline of the suzerainty treaties of the second millennium.’ – Cyril J. Barber

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The Early Church on Deuteronomy

Compilations

Parker, Jr., Samuel – Bibliotheca Biblica [a Biblical Library]; being a Commentary Gathered out of the Writings of Fathers & Ecclesiastical Historians, etc., vol. 5 (Deut)  (1720)

*  “Darling says, that this is ‘a commentary of profound learning and research;’ but it seems to us to be mainly filled with that archaic learning which is now out of date.” – Spurgeon

Lienhard, Joseph – Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy  Pre  Buy  (IVP, 2001)  360 pp.  ToC

Campbell, Jonathan – Deuteronomy Through the Centuries  Ref  (Wiley, 2017)  304 pp.

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Individuals

Augustine – Questions on Deuteronomy  at Patristic Bible Commentary

Cyril of Alexandria – bk. 13: ‘Deuteronomy’  in Glaphyra on the Pentateuch, vol. 2: Exodus – Deuteronomy  in Fathers of the Church, vol. 138  Pre  (Catholic University of America Press, 2019), pp. 210-40

Cyril (c. 376 – 444)

Theodoret of Cyrus

Theodoret of Cyrus – The Questions on the Octateuch, vol. 2: On Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges & Ruth  in Library of Early Christianity  Ref  (Catholic University of America Press, 2007)  431 pp.

Excerpt from Questions on Deuteronomy, ch. 1  in A Word in Season, vol. 2, 2nd ed.  (Villanova: Augustinian Press, 1999)  at the website of Roger Pearse

Theodoret (c. 393 – c. 458/466) was a bishop of Cyrus, a theologian of the school of Antioch and a Biblical commentator.

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Jewish Commentaries

Ibn Ezra – Commentary on Deuteronomy  HTML  in English

Reider, Joseph – The Holy Scriptures: Deuteronomy with Commentary  Buy  (Jewish Publication Society of America, 1937)  405 pp.  ToC

‘Written from a conservative Jewish point of view.  Ably expounds the final messages Moses delivered to the children of Israel.’ – Cyril J. Barber

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Chapters in Deuteronomy

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Deut. 4

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 4th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 5

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 5th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 6

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 6th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 7

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 7th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 8

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 8th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 9

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 9th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 12

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 12th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 13

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 13th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 16

Cooper, Thomas – The Exposition upon the 16th Chapter of Deuteronomy  in A Brief Exposition of such Chapters of the Old Testament as Usually are Read in the Church at Common Prayer on the Sundays  d. 1594  English reformer

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Deut. 27-28

Calvin, John – The Covenant Enforced: Sermons on Deut. 27-28  ed. James B. Jordan  (Tyler, TX: Insitute for Christian Economics, 1990)  320 pp.

“John Calvin preached through the book of Deuteronomy on weekdays from March, 1555, to July, 1556.  In all, he preached 200 sermons, expounding the book in detail and making applications to the social and political life of Geneva, as well as to the personal lives of her citizens.  The fifteen sermons selected here have not been seen in English since they were first translated and published in 1583.  In this volume, editor James B. Jordan has revised Arthur Golding’s translation into modern English, making Calvin’s words come alive with renewed impact.”

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Deut. 32

Proto-Reformer

Wycliff, John – ‘The Song of Moses’  in Select English Works of John Wycliff, vol. 3, part 1, pp. 32-48

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The Authenticity of Deuteronomy

Stuart, Alexander Moody – Our Old Bible: Moses on the Plains of Moab  n.d.

Stuart was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland.

Vos, Geerhardus – ch. 13, ‘Unity of Deuteronomy & the Laws of the Intermediate Books’  in The Mosaic Origin of the Pentateuchal Codes  (1886)

Vos (1862-1949) was one of the last conservative theologians at Old Princeton, and is known as the father of reformed Biblical Theology.

See also works on the Authenticity of the Pentateuch.

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