Expositions of Holy Scripture Deuteronomy

Expositions of Holy Scripture Deuteronomy gathers Alexander Maclaren’s selected sermons from Deuteronomy 7 through the death of Moses in chapter 34. It is a selective exposition rather than a continuous commentary, but its fourteen sermons form a coherent study of God’s character and of the response His people owe Him: trust, remembrance, worship, obedience, love, and perseverance.

The opening sermon on Deuteronomy 7:9 establishes one of the governing themes: God is the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy. Maclaren grounds faith not in human optimism but in the unchanging character and pledged word of God. Because God is trustworthy, His people can lean their lives upon Him. Covenant is important to this exposition, yet the larger emphasis is the divine faithfulness that makes believing reliance possible.

Deuteronomy 8:2 turns Israel’s forty wilderness years into a lesson in spiritual memory. Maclaren treats remembrance as a discipline that exposes human weakness, recalls divine guidance and provision, and teaches practical wisdom for the present. The point is not nostalgia but a clearer knowledge of God and of oneself. Readers asking how past trials and providence should shape present faith find a direct answer here.

The peace-offering of Deuteronomy 12 leads to a sermon on glad fellowship with God, while Deuteronomy 18:9–22 receives substantial treatment in “Prophets and the Prophet.” Maclaren contrasts forbidden attempts to obtain supernatural knowledge with God’s appointed revelation and develops the promise of a Prophet like Moses as reaching its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The passage therefore becomes both an exposition of biblical prophecy and a Christ-centered account of how God makes Himself known.

Deuteronomy 28 and 30 press the question of obedience. “A Choice of Masters” argues that human life inevitably comes under a ruling allegiance, while “The Spirit of the Law” develops Deuteronomy 30:11–20 as a call for God’s command to be received in heart, will, speech, and conduct. Choosing life means loving God, hearing His voice, cleaving to Him, and refusing the false freedom that becomes bondage. Maclaren repeatedly connects inward allegiance with outward Christian living.

The largest concentration of sermons comes from Deuteronomy 32–33. God is presented as His people’s portion and as the One who claims them for Himself; as the eagle who trains and protects its brood; as the Rock whose stability exposes every false refuge; and as the God who loves, shelters, and strengthens His saints. These images allow Maclaren to develop God’s nature, His love for His people, and the confidence that faith may place in Him. Deuteronomy 33:25, “as thy days, so shall thy strength be,” becomes a practical assurance that God supplies strength suited to each day’s duty and trial.

The closing sermon on Deuteronomy 34:5–6 reflects on Moses’ death outside the promised land. A servant may finish his appointed work without seeing every hoped-for result, yet God’s purpose is not dependent upon any single human life. The sermon addresses faithful service, human limitation, continuity in God’s work, and confidence at the end of one’s earthly task.

The volume is therefore useful to readers asking why God can be trusted, how believers should remember His past guidance, what Deuteronomy teaches about the Prophet like Moses, what it means to choose life and obey from the heart, how God’s love and stability sustain His people, and how to persevere when one’s own strength is insufficient.