If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice,
&c.] All worship and service of God, and obedience to his word and ordinances, should spring from fear and reverence of him; and therefore the whole of worship, both external and internal, is sometimes expressed by the fear of the Lord:
and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord;
break it, and thereby exasperate him, and provoke him to wrath and bitterness:
then shall both ye, and also the king that reigneth over you,
continue following the Lord your God; the Targum is,
``after the worship of the Lord your God;''which was their duty to do, and is expressed in the preceding clauses; and this therefore is rather a promise of some benefit and privilege to their duty, and to encourage them to it, since it stands opposed to the threatening of punishment in the next verse; and the words in the original are, "then shall ye &c. be after the Lord your God" F12: that is, though they had in effect rejected the Lord from being their King, by asking and having one; yet notwithstanding, if they and their king were obedient to the commands of the Lord, he would not cast them off; but they should follow him as their guide, leader, and director, and he would protect and defend them as a shepherd does his sheep that follow after him; so Jarchi takes it to be a promise of long life and happiness to them and their king,
``ye shall be established to length of days, both ye and the king.''