Deuteronomy 10:21

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:12-22 We are here taught our duty to God in our principles and our practices. We must fear the Lord our God. We must love him, and delight in communion with him. We must walk in the ways in which he has appointed us to walk. We must serve him with all our heart and soul. What we do in his service we must do cheerfully, and with good will. We must keep his commandments. There is true honour and pleasure in obedience. We must give honour to God; and to him we must cleave, as one we love and delight in, trust in, and from whom we have great expectations. We are here taught our duty to our neighbour. God's common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. And those who have themselves been in distress, and have found mercy with God, should be ready to show kindness to those who are in the like distress. We are here taught our duty to ourselves. Circumcise your hearts. Cast away all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving God. By nature we do not love God. This is original sin, the source whence our wickedness proceeds; and the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God, Ro 8:5-9. Let us, without delay or reserve, come and cleave to our reconciled God in Jesus Christ, that we may love, serve, and obey him acceptably, and be daily changed into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. Consider the greatness and glory of God; and his goodness and grace; these persuade us to our duty. Blessed Spirit! Oh for thy purifying, persevering, and renewing influences, that being called out of the state of strangers, such as our fathers were, we may be found among the number of the children of God, and that our lot may be among the saints.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

On "circumcision" see Genesis 17:10. This verse points to the spiritual import of circumcision. Man is by nature "very far gone from original righteousness," and in a state of enmity to God; by circumcision, as the sacrament of admission to the privileges of the chosen people, this opposition must be taken away ere man could enter into covenant with God. It was through the flesh that man first sinned; as it is also in the flesh, its functions, lusts, etc., that man's rebellion against God chiefly manifests itself still. It was fitting therefore that the symbol which should denote the removal of this estrangement from God should be worked in the body. Moses then fitly follows up the command "to circumcise the heart," with the warning "to be no more stiff-necked." His meaning is that they should lay aside that obduracy and perverseness toward God for which he had been reproving them, which had led them into so many transgressions of the covenant and revolts from God, and which was especially the very contrary of that love and fear of God required by the first two of the Ten Commandments. The language associated with circumcision in the Bible distinguishes the use made of this rite in the Jewish religion from that found among certain pagan nations. Circumcision was practiced by some of them as a religious rite, designed (e. g.) to appease the deity of death who was supposed to delight in human suffering; but not by any, the Egyptians probably excepted, at all in the Jewish sense and meaning.

The grounds on which circumcision was imposed as essential by the Law are the same as those on which Baptism is required in the Gospel. The latter in the New Testament is strictly analogous to the former under the Old; compare Colossians 2:11-12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart—Here he teaches them the true and spiritual meaning of that rite, as was afterwards more strongly urged by Paul (Ro 2:25, 29), and should be applied by us to our baptism, which is "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God" [1Pe 3:21].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy praise; either,

1. The object and matter of thy praise, as Exodus 15:2, whom thou shouldst ever praise. Or rather,

2. The ground of thy praise, i.e. of thy praise-worthiness; he who makes thee honourable and glorious above those people whose God he is not.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He is thy praise,.... The object and matter of it, who deserves the praises of all his creatures, because of his perfections, works, and blessings of goodness; for all mercies temporal and spiritual come from him, and therefore he is greatly to be praised for them: praise is his due, and it is comely in his people to give it to him; see Jeremiah 17:14.

and he is thy God which hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen; which were done upon the Egyptians for their sakes, both in the land of Egypt and at the Red sea; and also what he had done for them in the wilderness, to Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, Psalm 106:22.

Geneva Study Bible

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. He] in an emphatic position.

thy praise] Either the object of thy praise (cp. Psalm 109:1, God of my praise), or cause of thy fame, thy renown, viz. by the deeds He has done for thee, Jeremiah 17:14.

great and terrible things] Deuteronomy 4:34 great terrors; cp. Deuteronomy 6:22, Deuteronomy 7:19.

which thine eyes have seen] So Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 29:3 (2), all Sg. as here; but in Deuteronomy 29:2 (1) before your eyes; cp. Deuteronomy 11:2. The nation is regarded as identical through all its generations. See on Deuteronomy 4:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - He is thy praise, i.e. the Object of thy praise; the Being who had given them abundant cause to praise him, and whom they were bound continually to praise (cf. Psalm 22:3; Psalm 109:1; Jeremiah 17:14). Terrible things; acts which by their greatness and awful effects inspired fear and dread into those by whom they were witnessed. For thee; literally, with thee, i.e. either in thy view or towards thee, for thy behoof (comp. Deuteronomy 1:30; 1 Samuel 12:7; Zechariah 7:9; and such an expression as "deal kindly [literally, do Madness] with," Genesis 24:49, etc.). Deuteronomy 10:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After laying down the fundamental condition of a proper relation towards God, Moses describes the fear of God, i.e., true reverence of God, in its threefold manifestation, in deed (serving God), in heart (cleaving to Him; cf. Deuteronomy 4:4), and with the mouth (swearing by His name; cf. Deuteronomy 6:13). Such reverence as this Israel owed to its God; for "He is thy praise, and He is thy God" (Deuteronomy 10:21). He has given thee strong inducements to praise. By the great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen, He has manifested Himself as God to thee. "Terrible things" are those acts of divine omnipotence, which fill men with fear and trembling at the majesty of the Almighty (cf. Exodus 15:11). אתּך עשׂה, "done with thee," i.e., shown to thee (את in the sense of practical help).