Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures has served as a standard reference for more than a century. The subtitle “Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical” aptly describes the three-pronged approach to the biblical text. This translated version of the German text is often considered by many to be superior to the original.
“Heart (5:26) the innermost, then soul as synonymous with life, thus already more external than heart, (4:29) and then strength, which designates the still more outward effective proofs of the life.” (Page 95)
“This mighty text contains far more than a mere declaration that God is one. It asserts that the Lord God of Israel is absolutely God, and none other.” (Page 94)
“For this first command, so far as the doctrine or faith is concerned, limits itself to the oneness, i.e. to the monotheism of the absolute Jehovah, over against polytheism generally, and also over against every polytheistic, paganistic nationalizing or localizing of Jehovah (Zech. 14:9). This is the explanation of the I am Jehovah thy God, and the no other gods before me. This oneness, and therefore exclusiveness, of Jehovah well supports, ver. 5, the moral demand for the perfect ordering of the life.” (Page 94)
“The school of Hillel at the time of Christ interpreted it as κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰταἰαν (Matt. 19:3), i.e., any thing which may not be pleasing to the husband—purely subjective. The stricter school of Schammai confined it to some immodesty, shamelessness, lewdness, adultery. But this latter was a capital crime.” (Page 175)
“But if the life of men rests upon the mouth of God, then men must cleave to the mouth of God and obey Him.” (Page 104)