the whole number of Males descended from Kohath compare this with III. 28. there was a fourth part and better that were fit for Service Ver. 37. These were they that were numbred of the Families of the Kohathites all that might do Service in the Tabernacle Such Service as is particularly mentioned from v. 4. to v. 16. Verse 37 Ver. 38. And these are they that were numbred of the Verse 38 Sons of Gershon c. He proceeds in the same order to number them which he observed in giving them their Charge beginning with the Children of the second Son of Levi and then going back to the eldest Ver. 39. From thirty years old and upward c. Verse 39 This Verse is the very same with 35. Ver. 40. Two thousand and six hundred and thirty Verse 40 A third part and little more of their Males were fit for Service Compare this with III. 22. Ver. 41. These are they that were numbred of the Families Verse 41 of the Sons of Gershon of all that might do Service in the Tabernacle c. Such Service as is described from v. 24. to v. 29. Ver. 42 43. These two Verses are the same with Verse 42. 43. v. 38 39. Ver. 44. Even those that were numbred of them after Verse 44 their Families were three thousand and two hundred It is very remarkable the Descendants from the youngest Son of Levi III. 17. which had the fewest Males in it of a Month old and upward had the most robust Men fit for Service For here are above half compare this with III. 34. of the whole number of Males grown up to Thirty Years of Age. Which was a singular Providence the heaviest Burden lying upon them who were to carry the Boards c. of the Tabernacle Not indeed upon their shoulders but in Waggons which they were to load after they had taken them down and unload when they were to set them up again and for that reason had more Waggons allowed them than their Brethren the Gershonites VII 7 8. Verse 45 Ver. 45. These are those c. whom Moses and Aaron numbred Who were principally employed in this business According to the Word of the LORD by the hand of Moses To whom the Command is expresly directed v. 21. Verse 46 Ver. 46. All those that were numbred of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron and the Chief of Israel numbred For they took in others to their assistance v. 34. which is here repeated to show that there was no fraud in the business there being Witnesses of every Tribe that they proceeded impartially and did not favour the Levites who were their Brethren Verse 47 Ver. 47. Every one that came to do the Service of the Ministry and the Service of the Burden in the Tabernacle c. The first of these the Service of the Ministry one would think related to their serving the Priest when the Tabernacle was standing and the later the Service of the Burden to their carrying the Tabernacle when it was taken down and removed and so I expounded those words v. 24. But he mentioning here only those that were numbred from Thirty Years old I think upon further consideration that there is no regard in these Expressions to the Service they did to the Priests in the Tabernacle unto which they were admitted at Twenty five Years old See v. 3. but only to the Service mentioned here in this Chapter which relates altogether to the taking down and carrying the Tabernacle And therefore these must be lookt upon as two Phrases for the same thing the former of which is not exactly translated for there is nothing of Ministry in the Hebrew but the words are Every one that cometh to serve the Service of the Service and the Service of the Burden or Carriage For it is the same word which being joyned with work we translate servile XXIII Lev. 7. and other places Ver. 48. Eight thousand and five hundred and fourscore Verse 48 If the three Sums mentioned v. 36 40 44. be put together they amount exactly to this Sum in the whole Ver. 49. According to the Commandment of the Verse 49 LORD they were numbred by the hand of Moses By the assistance of Aaron and others v. I 34 46. Every one according to his Service and according to his Burden I observed before v. 47. that Service and Burden are two Expressions of the same thing For though the Sons of Kohath had the noblest part of the Work yet their Employment is called both a Service and a Burden v. 19. as that of the Gershonites is v. 24. For which Service all the Tithes of the Country of Canaan were given to them and continued to be theirs when this kind of Service ceased as it did when the Temple was built For then there were no Burdens to be carried on their shoulders as Josiah speaks 2 Chron. XXXV 3. but their Duty was changed even by David before the Building of the Temple who made them Singers and Keepers of the Treasury as well as Porters at the Gates of God's House and likewise Judges and other Officers in the Country as we read in 1 Chron. XXVI But the alteration in their Service made no alteration in the Wages allotted to them for they still enjoyed all the Tithes Thus were they numbred of him as the LORD commanded Moses This is so often repeated v. 37 41 45. that all Posterity might reverence these Ordinances as Divine Institutions and not merely Humane Appointments And so we are to look upon all these Laws as wise Orders made by the Soveraign of the World for the better Government of that People whom he had taken for his own peculiar And it argues a very profane Spirit in those as Conr. Pellicanus here observes who can admire and praise Ovid de Fastis and such like Books and have no regard at all if they do not ridicule them to these Sacred Writings which are of such venerable Antiquity CHAP. V. Chapter V Verse 1 Ver. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying It is not said when this was spoken which here follows but it 's likely immediately after the foregoing Commandments upon which it hath some dependance Verse 2 Ver. 2. Command the Children of Israel that they put out of the Camp every Leper and every one that hath an Issue and whosoever is defiled by the dead There were three Camps as Maimonides and a great many other mentioned by Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Synedr cap. I. n. 5. the Camp of the SCHECHINAH or of the LORD viz. the Sanctuary with its Courts which are called the Tents of the LORD 1 Chron. XXXI 2. And next the Camp of the Levites who with Aaron and his Sons made a Camp about the Tabernacle Chapter III. of this Book and then the Camp of Israel Chapter II. which incompassed them all Answerable to these when the Temple was built they reckoned the Temple it self from the East-Gate to be the Camp of
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Fourth Book of MOSES CALLED NUMBERS BY The Right Reverend Father in GOD SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCIX A COMMENTARY UPON NUMBERS A COMMENTARY UPON THE Fourth Book of MOSES CALLED NUMBERS CHAP. I. Chapter I THIS Book is called by the Name of NVMBERS in our Language because it begins with an Account of the Numbering of the People in the beginning of the second Year after they came out of Egypt though it contain a great many things besides that particularly another Numbering of them Chapter XXVI towards the conclusion of their Travels in the Wilderness For this Book comprehends an History of about thirty eight Years though the most of the things related in it fell out in the first and in the last of these Years and it doth not appear when those things were done which we read of about the middle of the Book from the XVth to the XXth Chapter Verse 1 Verse 1. And the LORD spake unto Moses Who undertook nothing without order from God In the Wilderness of Sinai Where they had continued near a full Year as appears by comparing XIX Exod. 1. with this place and shortly after this removed from it X. 11. In the Tabernacle of the Congregation From whence the LORD delivered those Laws which we read in the foregoing Book See on I Lev. 1. and now seems to have admitted him into the Tabernacle whereas before he only spake to him out of it On the first day of the second Month in the second year after they were come out of the Land of Egypt All that is related in the foregoing Book seems to have passed in the first Month of the second Year after their coming out of Egypt In the beginning of which the Tabernacle was set up XL Exod. 2 17. and in the middle of it the Passover was kept as appears by this Book IX 1 2 c. Verse 2 Ver. 2. Take ye the sum There had been a Muster as we may call it of the People before the Tabernacle was erected XXX Exod. 12. and consequently some Months before this for it was in order to a Contribution which every one was to make towards that holy work XXXVIII Exod. 26. Whereas this was for the better disposing of their Camps about the Tabernacle now that it was set up and for their more regular march when they removed from Mount Sinai which they were to do shortly Of all the Congregation of the Children of Israel Who alone were numbred all except the Levites but none of the mixt Multitude that came with them out of Egypt XII Exod. 38. After their Families It appears by VII Joshua 16 17 c. that the several Tribes of Israel were divided into Families and those Families into Housholds and those Housholds had every one of them an Head or Chief who is called the Father of it There were LXX of these Families in all but some Tribes had more others fewer according to the number of Souls as they are called that is Persons who were in each when they went down into Egypt XLVI Gen. 27. By the House of their Fathers Every Family as I said being distributed into Houses which we now call Families these Houses were denominated from their Chief whom they called their Father For no Houses were denominated from the Mother as the Jews say With the number of their Names The Names of every Person in the several Houses were set down and registred that they might be the better known Every Male by their pole But no Women for the reason which follows Ver. 3. From twenty years old and upward Which Verse 3 was ever after this the Age when Men were thought fit for War All that are able to go forth to war in Israel One would think by this they were not to number very aged and decrepit People because they were no more able to go to war than Women and Children and those under twenty years old And if we may believe Josephus L. II. Antiq. cap. 9. after fifty Years old Men were not bound to pay the half Shekel which was due in such Musters and therefore we may reasonably think were excused from going to war unless they had a mind themselves Thou and Aaron Who had the highest Authority in the Nation Shall number them by their Armies This seems to import that in taking the account of them they distributed them into certain Troops or Companies out of which were formed Regiments as we now speak and greater regular Bodies which composed several Armies We do not read this was required in the former numbering XXX Exod. that being for another end as I now observed not for their more orderly march in their remove from Mount Sinai And here I cannot but take notice what a vast difference there was between this method and that rude way which Cecrops the first King of Attica after the Ogygian Flood which hapned about the time of Moses took to know the number of his People which the Greek Writers say was by requiring every one of them to bring a Stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and throw it down before them which he counting found them Twenty thousand So the Scholiast upon Pindar Od. IX and others in Meursius de Regibus Atheniens L. I. cap. 7. Verse 4 Ver. 4. And there shall be with you a Man of every Tribe Whom they were to take for their Assistants Every one Head of the House of his Fathers The LXX and the Vulgar understand this to signifie the principal Persons in each Tribe who were best acquainted with every Family and Houshold in that Tribe And so it is expounded v. 6. And many think these were the First-born in their Tribe But there is this Objection against it That Nahshan who is named for the Tribe of Judah v. 7. was not descended from the First-born of that Tribe For Pharez was not Judah's eldest Son Selah being before him who had Children as we find XXVI of this Book v. 20. Besides when the Princes of the Tribes rre reckoned again XXXIV of this Book in the last Year of their abode in the Wilderness none of them are derived from these Men here mentioned but from others And therefore these were the most eminent Men in the several Tribes upon a different account either for Wisdom or Valour or some other excellent quality Ver. 5. And these are the Names of the Men that shall Verse 5 stand Be Assistants With you i. e. With Moses and Aaron Of the Tribe of Reuben Elizur the Son of Shedeur There is little to be observed concerning these Tribes but that they are here placed not in the order of their Birth but of their Mothers who bare them First the Children of Leah who are all reckoned in the same order wherein they were born of her ver 6 7 8 9. Then the Children of Rachel v. 10 11. And after them the
the word may be understood with God's whole Family that is with all the Children of Israel and faithfully discharged the Trust reposed in him by acquainting them with all God's Will and executing all his Commands and doing nothing of himself as now he was fasly accused but only what God required This is a high Testimony to him and the Jews when they are in the humour of exalting Moses say he was more faithful than the Angels of the Ministry They are the words of R. Jose in Siphri and if he had said As faithful as the Angels of the Ministry it might have passed for a good Explication Ver. 8. With him will I speak mouth to mouth Verse 8 In a most familiar manner as one Friend discourses with another So it is explained XXXIII Exod. 11. From whence Abarbinel in his Rosch Amana gathers That Moses his Prophecy differed from others in these four things First That God spake to others by a Mediator that is as he explains it by some Angel but to him by himself without the intervention of any other Secondly That they never prophesied but their Senses were all bound up either in Visions or in Dreams whereas he was as perfectly awake as we are when we discourse one with another Thirdly That after the Vision was over they were often left so weak and feeble that they could scarce stand upon their feet as appears from X Dan. 8 11. but Moses spake with the Divine Majesty without any consternation or alteration his conversation with him being like that of one Friend with another And lastly No Prophet but he could understand the Mind of God when they pleased for he communicated himself to them only when he thought good whereas Moses might at any time resort to God to enquire of him and receive an answer See IX 8. To the same purpose also Maimonides writes in his Book de Fundamentis Legis cap. 7. Even apparently Plainly clearly and distinctly so that there was no difficulty to apprehend his meaning nor need of an Explication Thus he proclaimed his Name to Moses XXXIV Exod. 6 7. And not in dark Speeches Or in Parables and Enigmatical Representations Such as the Ladder which Jacob saw in a Dream the Boiling-pot which was shown to Jeremiah the Wall the Plumb-line and the Basket of Summer-fruits which Amos saw the Beasts which were represented to Daniel the Lamps Mountain Horses and Chariots to Zachariah the Roll of the Book which Ezekiel was to eat By all which the Prophet as Maimonides observes whose Illustrations these are of these words was given to understand some other thing which was intended to be made known to him by these Figures More Nevoch P. II. c. 43. who in his Book concerning the Foundations of the Law further observes that some of these Prophets had both the Parable as he calls it and its Interpretation represented to them others the Parable only without any Exposition and to some was only delivered the Explication And the Similitude of the LORD shall he behold I am apt to think the word not should be here again repeated as it must be in some places to make out the Sense as XXV Prov. 27. which will make the meaning plainly this he shall not behold the LORD in Similitudes and Resemblances as other Prophets did For the Hebrew word Temunah signifies the Shape of a thing represented either to the outward Senses or to the Imagination not the thing it self Therefore it would be to equal Moses with the rest of the Prophets to say he should see the Similitude of the LORD for so did they Amos for instance saith he saw the LORD standing upon the Altar IX 1. that is some Angelical Appearance in a glorious shape And Eliphaz saith That a Spirit passed before him the form or aspect whereof he could not discern only the Temunah we render it an Image was before his Eyes IV Job 15 16. But God did not thus reveal himself to Moses by Images and Similitudes of Things but spake to him himself as it goes before mouth to mouth Which led Maimonides into the opinion which he often repeats that when God is said to speak to any other Man it was by an Angel and that he never spake to any one himself but only to Moses Nor did any Man before him say that God spake to him or that he sent him on a Message unto others but Moses was the first that had this honour More Nevoch P. I. c. 63. and P. II. cap. 39. But if we follow our Translation which should run thus But the Similitude of the LORD shall he behold it relates to that wonderful Apparition of God to him in the Bush III Exod. 6. as Maimonides thinks More Nevochim P. I. cap. 5. where he saith God poured upon him as much as he could contain but especially to that Revelation which God made of himself to him when he told him that he could not see his Face but should behold his back Parts XXXIII Exod. 20 23. Which was a Priviledge granted to none but him And thus the Similitude of the LORD or his Likeness signifies the LORD himself XVII Psal ult When thy Likeness shall awake that is thou thy self appear for me I shall be satisfied Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my Servant Moses Who is my prime Minister employed by me in the highest Services Ver. 9. And the Anger of the LORD was kindled against them As appeared by what follows And he departed He withdrew his Presence from Verse 9 the Door of the Tabernacle immediately before they could make any answer Which was a token of exceeding great Displeasure as it is in us when we will not so much as hear what Men say for themselves when they have highly and notoriously offended us and we reprove them for it but turn away from them Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the Cloud departed from the Tabernacle It was not merely taken up from it as it was wont to be when they were to remove their Camp but quite disappeared for a time or stood at a great distance from them till Miriam was removed from the Tabernacle and carried out of the Camp For that was one reason of its departure the Divine Majesty not designing to stay where so impure a Creature was And this was also a manifest token of God's high Displeasure against them which moved him to forsake them And behold Miriam became leprous Or was become leprous A proper Punishment for pride and evil speaking Which was not inflicted upon Aaron because he was to judge of Leprosie and was not the first in the Transgression And besides it is likely God would not have one that was but newly made his High-Priest become vile and contemptible White as Snow Which was a mark of an incurable Leprosie when all the Body was over-spread with it IV Exod. 6. 2 Kings V. 27. And Aaron looked upon Miriam As the Priest was bound to do whose Office
XXXIIId Chapter of this Book See v. 41 42. And pitched in Oboth Where it is probable they found Water of the want of which they complained See XX. 2. Ver. 11. And they journeyed from Oboth and pitched Verse 11 in Jie-Abarim Not that Mount Abarim where Moses died XXVII 12. but another place in the Confines of Moab as it here follows See what I have observed XX. 2. In the Wilderness which is before Moab Called the Wilderness of Moab II Deut. 8. Towards the Sun-rising On the East part of it as Jephthah observes a great many Years after this That they came by the East side of the Land of Moab XI Judges 18. Ver. 12. And from thence they removed As they Verse 12 were about to remove from this last place they received a Command from God not to meddle with the Country of Moab II Deut. 9. Which is the reason as Abarbinel observes that Moses here sets down briefly whence and whether they went and where they pitched that it might appear they did not transgress that Command And pitched in the Valley of Zared Or as some translate it in Nachal-Zared which is called Dibon-Gad XXXIII 45. For this place had two Names as the same Author observes and it was just eight and thirty Years since the Spies went up to Survey the Country from Kadesh-barnea till their passing this Brook as we translate it II Deut. 14. But I take Dibon-Gad rather to have been a place which lay upon the Brook Zered Ver. 13. And from thence they removed and pitched Verse 13 on the other side of Arnon The Hebrew word meheber may be translated on this side or on the other side And some think they were now on this side of the River and not yet gone over it Nor did they immediately come hither from their former Station but first to Almon-Diblathaim XXXIII 46. which is also called Beth-Diblathaim in the Wilderness of Moab XLVIII Jerem. 22. and Diblah VI Ezek. 13. And then passing by Ar in the Confines of Moab and approaching to the Country of the Children of Ammon God commanded them not to invade the Ammonites being Descendants from Lot as well as the Moabites II Deut. 18 19 37. but to pass over the River Arnon II Deut. 24. to that side of it which belonged to the Amorites For this River at that time divided the Moabites from the Amorites as it here follows Which is in the Wilderness that cometh out of the Coasts of the Amorites Runs by the Wilderness of Kedemoth unto which the Amorites extended their Dominion II Deut. 26. For Arnon is the Border of Moab between Moab and the Amorites This River flowed from the Mountains of Arabia where it had its rise and fell into the Dead Sea as Josephus saith Lib. IV. Antiq. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bounding the Country of the Moabites and of the Amorites the Country of Moab lying on one side of it and that of the Amorites on the other For though the Moabites formerly possessed the Country on both sides of Arnon as far as Heshbon yet the Amorites had driven them out of that part of it which lay next to them and made the River the Boundary of their two Kingdoms v. 26 27. This Moses recites the more exactly that it might appear the Israelites invaded none of the Moabites Possessions but what was now possessed by the Amorites By which Jephthah defended the Right of the Children of Israel in future times against the Ammonites who pretended this Country belonged to them XI Judges 13 14 15 c. Ver. 14. Wherefore it is said in the Book of the Wars Verse 14 of the LORD A proof of this Moses thought good to alledge out of an Authentick Record in those Countries containing the History of all the Wars that had been in those Parts which are here called the Wars of the LORD because he is the great Governour of the World as Abarbinel interprets it from whom and by whom are all things who putteth down one and setteth up another as the Psalmist speaks at his good pleasure This Book he thinks was written by some of the Wise men of those Naons and so thinks Nachmanides who looking upon this Conquest made by Sihon as a very memorable thing put it down in their Annals which after the way of those Countries were written he thinks in a Poetical manner There are those who are of opinion that this Book was written by Moses himself who left in it directions to Joshua how to proceed in the Wars of the LORD when he conquered Canaan So Dr. Lightfoot conjectures and Bonfrerius doth not much differ from him But I take the former account to be the more probable that Moses justifies what he writes concerning this Conquest out of their own Books which he quotes just as St. Paul in the New Testament doth one of the Greek Poets What he did in the Red Sea These are the words of the Book out of which he quotes a small Fragment And the Marginal Translation of them is most proper Vaheb in Supheh only the word eth is omitted which makes the Sence to be this against Vaheb in Supheh That is he came some such word must be understood against Vaheb a King of the Moabites and overthrew him in Suphah a place in the Frontiers of Moab See I Deut. 1. Others understand by Vaheb the place where Sihon gave the Moabites this blow which he did by falling upon them on a sudden with a terrible Fury So Nachmanides understands these words besuphah he stormed the City and made a furious Assault when they thought not of it For Suphah signifies a Whirlwind or stormy Tempest V Isai 28. And in the Brooks of Arnon The same Nachmanides takes the word veeth which we translate and in to signifie rather and with and these being still the words of the Book before-mentioned the sence is this In the same manner he smote the Brooks or Torrents of Arnon upon which he fell like a Tempest and carried all before him Verse 15 Ver. 15. And at the Streams of the Brook None I think hath given a better account of these words than the same Nachman who by Esched hannechalim which we translate the Streams of the Brooks understands either a Cliff from whence the Torrents flowed as Aschdod and Happisgah III Deut. 17. are the Hills from whence the Springs gushed or the Valley through which the Torrents ran where they made a great broad Water which is here called an Effusion of Torrents as R. Levi ben Gershom interprets the Hebrew words Esched hannechabim That goeth down to the dwelling of Ar. Which extends it self as far as Ar a City of Moab v. 28. R. Levi ben Gersom takes the word Schebet which we translate dwelling to signifie a Place as well as Ar towards which these Torrents bent their Course And lyeth upon the Borders of Moab Which leaneth or belongeth unto Moab being in the Border of that Country Thus far are
in Egypt See this there explained And she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their Sister Who seems to have been born before Moses if not before Aaron II Exod. 4. Ver. 60. And unto Aaron was born Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar VI Exod. 23. where he tells the name of their Mother Ver. 61. And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered Verse 60 strange Fire before the LORD See X Lev. 2. Verse 61 and the third Chapter of this Book v. 4. But Eleazar who was the eldest next to them was now alive and made High-Priest and it is likely Ithamar also being under Twenty years old when the People murmured upon the Report of the Spies and so not cut off with that wicked Generation XVI 29. All this is here recounted to show that the Tribe of Levi was preserved by the blessing of God as well as the rest of the Israelites though they were to have no Inheritance in the Land of Canaan Ver. 62. And those that were numbred of them were Verse 62 twenty and three thousand c. So they were a thousand more than at the last numbring III. 39. For they were not numbred among the Children of Israel But by themselves for the reason following Because there was no Inheritance given them among the Children of Israel For God was their Inheritance as he told them XVIII 20 c. And therefore they were ordered not to be numbred Thirty eight years ago no more than now I Numb 49 c. The Jews are something curious in their Observations upon these words among or in the midst of the Children of Israel from whence they conclude that the Levites might have Lands out of the Bounds of the Land of Canaan though not within it among their Brethren Ver. 63. These are they that were numbred by Moseâ— Verse 63 and Eleazar the Priest who numbred the Children of Israel in the plains of Moab c. By a special command of God v. 1 2 c. Ver. 64. But among these there was not a Man of them whom Moses and Aaron the Priest numbred when they numbred the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Verse 64 Sinai See the first Chapter of this Book v. 1 2 c. so exactly were God's Threatnings fulfilled as well as his Promises Chapter XXVII Verse 65 Ver. 65. For the LORD had said of them they shall surely die in the Wilderness He had pronounced this irreversible Sentence upon the whole Congregation XIV 23 28 29. where he swears they should not enter into the Land of Canaan because they had brought or entertained an evil report of it See also II Deut. 14 15. And there was not left a Man of them save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh and Joshua the Son of Nun. Whom God promised to spare because they were of another Spirit XV. 24 30 38. And their survival was as remarkable an instance of the truth of God's word as the Death of all the rest CHAP. XXVII Verse 1 Ver. 1. THEN came the Daughters of Zelophehad the Son of Hepher c. Who are mentioned before XXVI 33. just as they are here only their Genealogy is here more fully set out that their Father was the Grandson of Manasseh the Son of Joseph from whom he was lineally descended but left no Sons behind him Now these young Women hearing Moses say as he doth in the foregoing Chapter that the LORD commanded the Land of Canaan should be divided among those that were now numbred and observing that only Males from Twenty years old were numbred v. 2. presently apprehended that they being Females were excluded from having any Inheritance among the Israelites and so the Family of the Hepherites XXVI 32. would be extinguished This was the ground of what follows Whereby it appears that every body was immediately acquainted with the Laws which Moses received from God and that there was a faithful Register kept of every one that was born in every Family and Tribe to prevent all Disputes about the true Heirs to Mens Estates Ver. 2. And they stood before Moses c. To represent Verse 2 before him and the rest of the Judges who were now assembled the Case which I have mentioned Before Moses and Eleazar the Priest and before the Princes and all the Congregation These made up the greatest Court of Judicature that at any time sate For by Princes are meant either the Heads of the Tribes or the highest of the Judges appointed XVIII Exod. called the Heads of the People v. 25. And by all the Congregation is meant the LXX Elders mentioned in this Book XI 24. For they are called col ha edah the whole Congregation and sometimes only Edah the Congregation as R. Solomon observes See Bertram de Republ. Jud. p. 72. Now at the Head of all these sat Moses and next to him Eleazar the Priest By the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Near to which this august Assembly it is likely was wont to sit when they met together that Moses might presently if there were occasion go and consult with God himself in any difficult matter that came before them And thus Mr. Selden observes out of Maimonides that in future times the great Sanhedrim followed the Tabernacle sitting sometimes in one place sometimes in another according as that was settled As after they came to Canaan it was first at Shiloh then at Mizpeh and afterwards at Gilgal Nob Gibeon the House of Obed-Edom till at last it was fixed in Jerusalem Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 15. n. 4. As concerning that which the Talmudists say concerning the proceedings in this case of Zelophehad's Daughters nothing certain can be determined But they give this account of it That they first brought this Cause into the Courts appointed by the advice of Jethro XVIII Exod. 21. and began with the Rulers of ten who knowing not what to say to them they went to those of fifty and from thence to the Centurions and at last to the Chiliarchs None of which durst adventure to give Judgment but referred the Cause by reason of its difficulty to Moses who brought it to the SCHECHINAH as they speak i. e. to the Divine Majesty Seld. ib. cap. 16. n. 1. Verse 3 Ver. 3. Saying Our Father died in the Wilderness Among the rest mentioned v. 64 65. of the foregoing Chapter They seem to have drawn up their Cause in the form of a Petition or as Mr. Selden speaks in the Legal Phrase presented a Libel to the Court containing the intire matter of their Petition and that artificially enough And he was not one of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the Company of Korah They use the very words of Moses concerning that rebellious Company XVI 11. And instance in this Sin rather than any other either to show that their Father had a due regard to the Authority of Moses who they hoped therefore would be the more favourable to his Posterity or
the Ends of its Institution are so manifested our Addresses to it so directed our Behaviour there and afterward so composed that we may not lose the Profits which are to be received by it With Prayers and Thanksgivings inserted To which is annexed Aqua Genitalis A Discourse concerning Baptism In which is inserted a Discourse to perswade to a confirmation of the Baptismal Vow 8 vo Jewish Hypocrisie A Caveat to the present Generation Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a Nations or Persons compleat Happiness from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish State To which is added A Discourse upon Micah 6.8 belonging to the same matter 8 vo Divine Arithmetick A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Samuel Jacomb Minister of St. Mary-Woolnoth-Church in Lombard-street London With an Account of his Life 8 vo A Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Grigg Rector of St. Andrew-Vndershaft London 4 to An Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8 vo Heart's Ease Or a Remedy against all Troubles With a Consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12 mo 1695. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Tim. 3.15 4 to An Examination of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church viz. ANTIQVITY 4 to An Examination of the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter and of the Pope over the whole Church In Two Parts 4 to A private Prayer to be used in difficult Times A Thanksgiving for our late wonderful Deliverance A Prayer for Charity Peace and Unity chiefly to be used in Lent A Sermon preach'd upon St. Peter's Day printed with Enlargements 4 to A Sermon Preached in St. James's Chappel before the Prince of Orange Jan. 20. 1688. on Isaiah 11.6 A Second Part of the Sermon before the Prince of Orange on the same Text. Preached in Covent-Garden A Sermon Preached before the Queen in March 1688 9. on Colos 3.15 A Sermon against Murmuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Lent 1688 9. on 1 Cor. 10.10 A Sermon against Censuring Preached at Covent-Garden in Advent 1688. on 1 Cor. 4.10 A Fast-Sermon before the King and Queen April 16. 1690. on Prov. 14.34 A Thanksgiving-Sermon before the Lords Nov. 26. 1691. for reducing of Ireland and the King 's safe Return On Deut. 4.9 A Fast-Sermon before the Queen April 8. 1692. On Numb 10.9 Easter-Sermon before the Lord Mayor 1696. on 2 Tim. 2.8 A Sermon before the Lords Nov. 5. 1696. on Dan. 4.35 A Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis 4 to 1695. A Commentary on the Second Book of Moses called Exodus 4 to 1697. A Commentary on the Third Book of Moses called Leviticus 4 to 1698. A Commentary on the Fourth Book of Moses called Numbers 4 to 1699. Memoirs of the most Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Wherein the History of the Church and the Reformation of it during the Primacy of the said Archbishop are greatly illustrated and many singular Matters relating thereunto now first published In Three Books Collected chiefly from Records Registers Authentick Letters and other Original Manuscripts By John Strype M. A. Fol. Origo Legum Or a Treatise of the Origine of Laws and their Obliging Power As also of their great Variety and why some Laws are immutable and some not but may suffer change or cease to be or be suspended or abrogated In seven Books By George Dawson Fol. The History of the Troubles and Trial of the most Reverend Father in God William Laud Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Wrote by himself during his Imprisonment in the Tower To which is prefixed the Diary of his own Life faithfully and entirely Published from the Original Copy and subjoined a Supplement to the preceding History The Archbishop's Last Will His large Answer to the Lord Say's Speech concerning Liturgies His Annual Accounts of his Province delivered to the King And some other things relating to the History Fol. Animadversions on Mr. Hill's Book Entituled A Vindication of the Primitive Fathers against the Imputations of Gilbert Lord Bishop of Sarum in a Letter to a Person of Quality 4 to Of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion in several Sermons by the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Being the first Volume Published from the Originals by Ralph Barker D.D. Chaplain to his Grace The Second Edition 8 vo Sixteen Sermons preach'd on several Occasions By the most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson late Ld. Archbishop of Canterbury Being the second Volume Published by Ralph Barker D. D. Chaplain to his Grace 8 vo Sixteen Sermons preached on several Subjects being the Third Volume by the same Author Published by Dr. Barker 8 vo Several Discourses viz. Of the great Duties of Natural Religion Instituted Religion not intended to undermine Natural Christianity not Destructive but Perfective of the Law of Moses The Nature and Necessity of Regeneration The Danger of all known Sin Knowledge and Practice necessary in Religion The Sins of Men not chargeable on God Being the fourth Volume by the same Authour Published by Dr. Barker 8 vo Reflections upon a Pamphlet Entituled Some Discourses upon Dr. Burnet and Dr. Tillotson occasioned by the late Funeral Sermon of the former upon the latter By the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert L. Bishop of Sarum 8 vo His Sermon preached before the King at Whitehal on Christmas-day 1696. 4 to Gal. 4.4 His Sermon preached before the King at Whitehal on the Third Sunday in Lent being the Seventh of March 1696. 1 Ephes 5.2 His Essay on the Memory of the late Queen The second Edition 8 vo Dr. Williams now Ld. Bishop of Chichester his 8 Sermons at Esquire Boyle's Lecture for the year 1695. 4 to Any of them may be had single to perfect sets His 1st 2d 3d 4th Sermons at the same Lecture for the year 1696. 4 to His Sermon preached at St. Lawrence Jewry before the Lord Mayor c. on Saturday the 28th of September 1695. at the Election of the Lord Mayor for the Year ensuing Joshua 22.31 4 to His Sermon preached before the honourable House of Commons on Wednesday Dec. 11. 1695. being a solemn day of Fasting and Humiliation appointed by his Majesty for imploring the Blessing of Almighty God upon the Consultations of this present Parliament 4 to 1 Sam. 11.30 His Sermon upon the Resurrection preached before Sir Edward Clark Lord Mayor c. on Easter-Monday April 5. 1697. on Acts 10.40 41 42. Reflections upon a Libel lately Printed Entituled The Charge of Socinianism against Dr. Tillotson Considered 4 to The Church History of Ethiopia wherein among other things the two great splendid Roman Missions into that Empire are placed in their true Light to which are added an Epitome of the Dominican History of that Church And an Account of the Practices and Conviction of Maria of the Annunciation the famous Nun of Lisbon Composed by Michael Geddes D.D. Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Sarum 8 vo Fourteen Sermons preached in Lambeth Chappel before the most Reverend Dr. William Sancroft late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury In the Years 1688 and 1689 by the Learned Henry Wharton M. A. Chaplain to his Grace with an Account of the Author's Life 8 vo Dr. William Owtram's 20 Sermons On several Occasions The 2d Edition 8 vo Sermons preached on several Occasions By John Conant D.D. The first and second Volumes Published by Dr. Williams now Ld. Bishop of Chichester 8 vo The Fathers vindicated Or Animadversions on a late Socinian Book Entituled The Judgment of the Fathers touching the Trinity against Dr. Bull 's Defence of the Nicene Faith By a Presbyter of the Church of England 8 vo A Fifth Volume of Archbishop Tillotson's Discourses published by his Chaplain Dr. Barker on these following Subjects viz. Proving Jesus to be the Messias The Prejudices against Jesus and his Religion consider'd Jesus the Son of God proved by his Resurrection The Danger of Apostacy from Christianity Christ the Author and Obedience the Condition of Salvation The Possibility and Necessity of Gospel-Obedience and its consistence with Free Grace The Authority of Jesus Christ with the Commission and Promise which he gave to his Apostles The Difficulties of a Christian Life consider'd The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Children of this World wiser than the Children of Light 8 vo 1698. A second Volume of Sermons preached in Lambeth Chappel before Archb. Sancroft 1690. By the Learned Mr. Henry Wharton his Graces Chaplain Which with the first Volume lately published are all that he preached A New Account of India and Persia being Nine Years Travel began 1672. and finished 1681. Containing Observations made of those Countries namely Of their Government Religion Laws Customs Of their Soil Climates Seasons Health Diseases Of their Animals Vegetables Minerals Jewels Of their Housing Cloathing Manufactures Trades Commodities And of the Coins Weights and Measures used in the principal Places of Trade in those Parts By John Fryer M. D. Cantabrig and Fellow of the Royal Society Fol. 1698. SCRIPTORUM ECCLESIASTICORUM Historia Literaria facili perspicua methodo digesta Pars Altera Qua plusquam DC Scriptores novi tam Editi quam Manuscripti recensentur Prioribus plurima adduntur breviter aut obscure dicta illustrantur recte asserta vindicantur Accedit ad finem cujusvis Soeculi CONCILIORUM omnium tum Generalium tum Particularium Historica Notitia Ad Calcem vero Operis Dissertationes tres 1 De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis incertae aetatis 2 De Libris Officiis Ecclesiasticis Graecorum 3 De Eusebii Caesariensis Arianismo adversus Joannem Clericum Adjecti sunt Indices utilissimi Scriptorum Conciliorum Alphabetico-Chronologici Studio labore Gulielmi Cave S.T.P. Canon Windesoriensis Fol. Dr. Cave's Primitive Christianity The Fifth Edition 1698. Bp Wilkins of the Principles Duties of Natural Religion The 3d Edition A Sixth Volume of Archbishop Tillotson's Discourses Published by Dr. Barker Being upon the Divine Attributes and Perfections 1699.
but that word as Dr. Lightfoot observes signifies a blast which put the quavering Sound before and after and the plain Note in the midst which is contrary to the Jewish description of it See Temple Service chap. 7. sect 2. Hottinger makes no other distinction between the foregoing Sound v. 3. called Tekiah and this called Teruah but that the former was equal and this was quick and concise Analect Dissert III. p. 152. Then the Camps that lye on the East parts shall go forward viz. If this Alarm was blown only once as appears from Verse 6. then the Hosts that were under the Standard of Judah began to march See Chapt. II. 3. Verse 6 Ver. 6. When ye blow an Alarm the second time c. Having ceased for a while if the Alarm was blown again then those Tribes which were under the Standard of Reuben Chapt. II. v. 10 11 c. began to move who lay on the South-side They shall blow an Alarm for their Journeys That is they shall blow a third and fourth Alarm for the moving of the other two Standards So the LXX rightly explain it in so many words at length Ye shall blow an Alarm the third time and the Camps that lye towards the Sea i. e. on the West-side shall take their Journey and ye shall blow the fourth Alarm and they shall lye towards the North c. In what order the Camp of the Levites moved is related afterwards v. 17 21. Verse 7 Ver. 7. And when the Congregation is to be gathered together you shall blow but you shall not sound an Alarm Here is a manifest distinction between plain blowing and sounding an Alarm which were for different purposes and accordingly to be used v. 3 5. Verse 8 Ver. 8. And the Sons of Aaron the Priests shall blow with the Trumpets None else was permitted to use them either for calling the Assembly together or for their March or at their Feasts because God would have the greater regard paid to the Sound which was made by his Ministers as if he himself called upon them to attend his Summons And they shall be to you for an Ordinance for ever throughout your Generations These Trumpets shall be used by you not only while you stay in the Wilderness but in future Ages as long as you are a Nation Ver. 9. And if you go to war in your Land against Verse 9 the Enemy that oppresseth you c. This is thought to be a third use of the Trumpets when they were going to give Battel to their Enemies Which may be confirmed from XXXI 6. and from 2 Chron. XIII 12. But this doth not exclude another meaning which is that they called the People together to Fast and pray to God before they went out to Battel For it is certain that a Fast was proclaimed by blowing of the Trumpet II Joel 15 c. Which justifies what Maimonides saith in Taanioth cap. 1. that they blow with the Trumpet not only when they were in danger from their Enemies but in all other Distresses by Famine or Pestilence c. For he makes this blowing with the Trumpets in this place to be the same with that Precept L Psal 14. Call upon me in the day of Trouble More Nevoch P. III. cap. 36. The only Objection that I can find against this Exposition which is very ancient is that Moses speaks here of blowing an Alarm with the Trumpets which was not used v. 7. for calling the Assembly together but for the motion of the Camps v. 5. yet one cannot conceive how they should be gathered together to make an Army to sight with their Enemies but by some sort of Sound with the Trumpet See III Judg. 27. VI. 34. and being met it is highly probable they called upon God by Prayer and Fasting for good Success as the latter part of this Verse intimates Besides these silver Trumpets seem to have been used only at the Sanctuary and other Trumpets were used when they went to War For at the Siege of Jericho the Priests blew with Horns not with these silver Trumpets Therefore they may well be thought here to have called them to the Sanctuary to pray to God before they went to War and that by blowing an Alarm whereby they understood the meaning of the Summons And if we may believe the Jews they used when the Temple was built to blow an Alarm every Morning at the opening of the Gates of it particularly at the opening of the East Gate called the Gate of Nicanor as Dr. Lightfoot observes in the place above-named For which though there was no express Command yet it was grounded on this Reason That the Levites who were God's Host as they are often called in this Book IV. 3 c. VIII 24. might be awakened to come and attend their Service in the House of God And ye shall be remembred before the LORD your God He will be merciful to you and grant your Request as the next words explain it And ye shall be saved from your Enemies Which is to be understood with this Condition That they turned to him with unfeigned Repentance which was the proper intention of their Prayer and Fasting Verse 10 Ver. 10. Also in the days of your gladness Here is a fourth use of these Trumpets which were blown when they rejoyced for the good Success suppose of their Arms or any other great Deliverance like that mentioned IX Esther 19. when they feasted upon the Peace-offerings which were then offered And thus it was when Solomon built the Temple 2 Chron. V. 12. VII 6. and at the laying the Foundation of the second Temple after the Captivity III Ezra 10. and at the Dedication of the Walls of Jerusalem XII Nehem 27 35. And in your solemn Days Mentioned in XXIII Levit. which were proclaimed by Sound of Trumpet See there v. 2. and there were great Feasts upon many of them at which the Levites the Poor and the Widows were entertained XVI Deut. 11. VIII Nehem. 10 12. But they were not all Feasts which are there mentioned for one of those Solemn Days was a Fast viz. the great Day of Atonement And therefore the Hebrew word MOED should rather be translated Days of Assemblies as our Mr. Thorndike observes who in his Book concerning the Service of God at Religious Assemblies notes that Moses here distinguishes three sorts of Solemnities First The Days of your Gladness which signifie Solemnities to be celebrated with cheerfulness of heart i. e. Feasts Then The Solemn Days of Assemblies as he translates it containing besides those Assemblies for Humiliation as the Day of Atonement And lastly The beginnings of your Months to which there was a peculiar Service appointed XXVIII 11. And in the beginning of your Months On the New Moons which the Jews observed not like those other Festivities and Days of Assemblies upon which they abstained from all Servile Work but with special Sacrifices which God appointed to be offered to him upon them XXVIII
derived its Original from hence was Seventy two and makes it appear they were only Seventy and with Moses their Head Seventy one sect 8. And it is not unworthy our notice that about the same time as he observes sect 12. that this number of Seventy Judges was here constituted in the Wilderness the great Judicature in Areopagus was constituted among the Greeks viz. in the Reign of Cecrops the first King of Athens after the Ogygian Flood when according to Eusebius the People of Israel were brought out of Egypt The Marmora Arundeliana indeed say this Court was erected in the time of Cranaus but that makes no great difference for he was the Successor of Cecrops We do not find of what number it consisted but it is certain it was the highest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all the Courts among the Greeks And it is no less observable that as that Court began about the same time with the Constitution of this among the Hebrews so they both ended in the Reign of the Emperor Vespasian as the said Mr. Selden shows in that Book cap. 16. sect 10. And bring them unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation That there they might be as it were consecrated unto God and that the People might know they received their Authority from him That they may stand there with thee As those Men who were to be sharers with him in his Authority and were like to him in Wisdom Piety and Descent So Maimonides glosses upon these words in Hilk Sanhedr cap. 2. where he saith none were made Members of the Sanhedrim but Priests and Levites and such of the Israelites as were descended from the noblest Families and quotes these words to prove it Verse 17 Ver. 17. And I will come down In a visible manner verse 25. And talk with thee there To declare perhaps in their Audience that he appointed them to the Office of being the Assistants of Moses in the Government And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it upon them He did not take away from Moses any of the Gifts which he had bestowed upon him nor did he diminish them but conferred upon these Men some of the Gifts which are here meant by Spirit viz. of Wisdom and Judgment and Courage with all others that were needful in a Governor This R. Solomon Jarchi illustrates by the comparison of a great Lamp set up in a room at which many others are lighted without the least diminution of its Light See further verse 25. And they shall bear the burden of the People with thee By this it appears it was the Spirit of Government which God intended to give them that they might ease Moses by assisting him with the same Authority that he had to hinder or to appease such Mutinies as now the People were faln into That thou bear it not thy self alone That all the Murmurings of the People might not be only against him but some of their Complaints might be diverted unto others Who might also help him in the judging of such Causes as had hitherto been reserved to him alone For it is plain that these Seventy Persons made an higher Court than any of those constituted by the advice of Jethro Cornelius Bertram indeed fansies that these Rulers of Thousands Hundreds Fifties and Tens not being sufficient for the business committed to them though he likewise conceives they had some of their several Families joyned with them God appointed these Seventy for their assistance to whom they were to bring all Causes which they could not determine before they troubled Moses with them Lib. de Repub. Jud. cap. 6. But our learned Mr. Thorndike in his Rights of the Church chap. 2. hath well observed that those Captains were to be in place only during the Pilgrimage of the Wilderness For when they came to the Land of Promise the Law provided that Judges and Ministers should be ordained in every City XVI Deut. 18. who if there fell any difference about the Law were to repair to the place where God dwelt to the Successors of Moses and these Seventy for Resolution in it XVII Deut. 11 12. For as he judiciously notes in his Review p. 69. sutable to what is here delivered they were assumed to assist Moses in his great Office of judging the hardest Causes and by that Law XVII Deut. 8 c. were afterwards made a standing Court resident at the Place of the Tabernacle to judge the last Result of all Causes concerning the Law and to determine all Matter of Right not determined by the Letter of the same Ver. 18. And say thou unto the People All that he said hitherto concerned Moses himself in answer to his Request Now he tells him what he should Verse 18 say to the People in answer to their Complaint Sanctifie your selves Here the word Sanctifie seems to signifie no more but to prepare and make themselves ready to receive what they desired So the Chaldee expounds it and so the word is translated by us several times in the Book of Jeremiah VI. 4. XII 3. LI. 28. Against to morrow He seems at the same time to gratifie Moses and satisfie them for his setting the Seventy Elders before the LORD and their eating Flesh succeed one another Or else he immediately gathered the Elders and the next day the Quails came for their Food And ye shall eat Flesh for ye have wept in the Ears of the LORD c. You shall have what you long for with such vehemence that it hath made you utter Complaints against the LORD Verse 19 Ver. 19. Ye shall eat not one day As they did about a Year ago XVI Exod. 12 13. Nor two days nor five days c. Not for a short time only Verse 20 Ver. 20. But even a whole Month. So long the Hebrews gather from hence they staid in this part of the Wilderness of Paran Or rather a little longer For they came hither on the twenty third Day of the second Month in the Even on which if we suppose the Fire to have burnt among them v. 1. and that the next Morning which is scarce credible they lusted after Flesh and in a tumultuous manner demanded it of Moses who promised they should have it we must allow a little time for the constituting of the Seventy Elders And suppose it was done on the twenty fifth Day and that the next Day the Quails came as we translate it they were two Days in gathering them From whence if we begin this Month it will appear they stayed here longer than that space Vntil it come out at your Nostrils Till you be glutted with it and vomit it up so violently that it come not only out at your Mouth but at your Nostrils And it be loathsom to you Which was both the Cause and the Effect of Vomiting Because that ye have despised the LORD Forgetting all that he had done for them as if it had been nothing and slighting his Servant
to the Holy Scriptures will look upon this rather as the Holy Ghost's Testimony concerning Moses than Moses his Testimony concerning himself But we have to do now with a Generation of Men that write upon these Books not as of a Divine Original but as they do upon common Authors Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses The LORD thought fit immediately to stifle their Insurrection which might have proved dangerous if it had spread among the People And perhaps the word suddenly may relate to the manner of his calling to them with a quick and hasty Speech as one provoked and highly displeased And unto Aaron and unto Miriam It is uncertain whether God spake to these two by himself or by Moses It is likely he spake to them all together while Aaron and Miriam were expostulating with Moses with such a Voice as he was wont to use when he communicated his Mind to the Prophets Come out ye three It is likely they were all in Moses his Tent whether his Brother and Sister were come to utter their Complaint Vnto the Tabernacle of the Congregation Which was God's Tent wherein he dwelt among them and from whence he declared his Will to them And they came out To attend the Pleasure of the Divine Majesty Ver. 5. And the LORD came down in the Pillar Verse 5 of the Cloud The Pillar of the Cloud which was wont to be over the most Holy Place where the LORD dwelt came down from thence and the SCHECHINAH in it and stood as it here follows at the Door of the Tabernacle And stood in the Door of the Tabernacle As if it would leave them as it did v. 9. And called Aaron and Miriam Who were at some distance I suppose and are commanded to come nearer And they came forth From the place where they were when he called them Or from Moses with whom they came from his Tent and now are required to stand by themselves Ver. 6. And he said hear now my Words Mark Verse 6 what I say to you If there be a Prophet among you This doth not make a doubt of it but supposes that they and others among the People were Prophets as they alledged v. 2. But God would have them to understand that he did not communicate his Mind to all alike nor in the same way and manner but so differently as to make a remarkable Distinction between Moses and others Whether there were in those days Men brought up and trained to be made fit to receive this Gift bestow'd upon them we do not know But in after-times it is evident there were certain Colledges of Prophets wherein Disciples of Prophets were bred Such was that 1 Sam. X. 5. and XIX 18 c. Where the Sons of the Prophets i. e. their Scholars or Disciples as Jonathan always translates that Phrase were brought up And for the most part such only were endued with this Gift who were so educated in those Schools in the Study of the Law and in Piety Though God did not tye himself to dispense it to such Persons alone but bestowed it upon whom he pleased though they had spent no time in those Schools of the Prophets This is apparent from that Proverbial Speech Is Saul also among the Prophets 1 Sam. X. 11. XIX 24. This had been no wonder as this Saying imports if it had been usual for Persons to be endowed with this Gift on a sudden who was never bred up in such a course as led to it But to show how this came to pass one of that place answered and said as it there follows v. 12. but who is their Father That is this is no such wonder if it be considered who makes Men Prophets viz. God who is the Father of all the Children of the Prophets and therefore may inspire whom he pleases As he now might have imparted this Gift to meaner Persons than the LXX Elders presented to him by Moses and made them equal if he had thought fit with Aaron and Miriam For this was the case of Amos in after-ages who was no Prophet nor a Prophet's Son as he himself relates VII 14. but an Herds-man and yet the LORD took him as he followed the Flock and bad him go and prophesie unto his People Israel I the LORD Here is the Original of Prophecy will make my self known unto him communicate to him my Mind and Will In a Vision This was one way of discovering his Mind to the Prophets by representing things to them when they were awake as if they had perceived them by their Senses which at that time were lockt up and all transacted by a Divine Operation upon their Mind and Imagination See XV Gen. 1. and VIII Dan. 1 15. Abarbinel mentions one who observes that the word Marah the Plural of which Maroth signifies Looking-Glasses in XXXVIII Exod. 8. is a different word from Mareh which is commonly used for Vision And teaches us that all the Representations made in this way to the Prophets were only as the Images of things represented in a Glass in which we behold the outward Shape or Shadow as we may call it but not the thing it self And so St. Paul seems to have understood this word if he alludes to this place as Grotius thinks he doth when he saith now we see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through a Glass darkly 1 Corinth XIII 12. And I will speak unto him in a Dream This was another way of God's revealing his Mind unto the Prophets in their sleep when they not only saw things represented them but also heard a voice And both these seem some times to have been mixed together or to have followed one another as in XVI Gen. 12. VII Dan. 1. VIII 16 17 18. And it is a Maxim among the Jews that there is no degree of Prophecy but it is comprehended under one of these Visions or Dreams So Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. II. cap. 32. and 41. and again cap. 43. where he saith There is no third degree of Prophecy besides these two For as for that Divine Spirit which moved Men to speak of things appertaining to the Knowledge of God and his Praises beyond their natural or acquired Abilities without seeing any Figures asleep or awake though with Assurance that it was from God they will not have it called Prophecy though they acknowledge those Parts of Scripture which they call Cetuvim and the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. written by the Holy Ghost were indited by that Divine Spirit and therefore we cannot reasonably deny those that were inspired by it the Name of Prophets Verse 7 Ver. 7. My Servant Moses is not so Doth not receive my Mind in either of those ways and therefore is more than a Prophet having it communicated to him in a far more noble and clearer manner which placed him in a higher rank than any other inspired Person Who is faithful in all my House Because he was intrusted so
Proselyte that sojourned for a time or were settled among them And will offer an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the LORD Any of the fore-mentioned Offerings which could be offered as is here directed by none but one that was subject to their Law For though another Proselyte who worshipped the true God but was not Circumcised might bring a Burnt-offering yet they say it was without a Meat-offering and Drink-offering and no Peace-offerings were accepted from him As ye do so he shall do Offer according to the Rules above given which is farther explained in the following Verses Verse 15 Ver. 15. One Ordinance Viz. About Sacrifices Shall be both for you of the Congregation i. e. For you Israelites And also for the Stranger that sojourneth with you Here the LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proselytes that are added or joyned to you or are juris vestri participes as Mr. Selden expounds it L. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 2. p. 147. An Ordinance for ever c. Never to be repealed as long as your Religion lasts As ye are so shall the Stranger be before the LORD in Matters of Religion and Divine Worship though not in all Civil Things For no Proselyte they think could be chosen a Member of the Sanhedrim or great Council at Jerusalem The Jews extend these words to the way and manner of being made Proselytes by Circumcision Baptism and Sprinkling of Blood as the Jews were originally they say initiated into their Religion Selden Lib. I. de Synedriis cap. 3. p. 34. Ver. 16. One Law and one manner shall be for you Verse 16 and for the Stranger that sojourneth with you This general Rule was made to invite and incourage Strangers to become Proselytes to the Jewish Religion and to engage the Jews to be kind to them they being admitted to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo calls it an equal Priviledge with those who were born Jews Yet this the Jews say is to be received with some distinctions For the Laws of Moses either concerning the Duties they owed to God and one to another or concerning Magistracy and Marriages they say those of the first sort belonged to Proselytes as much as to original Jews yet with some temperament as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 4. But in those of the second sort they had not an equal priviledge for they were not to have any sort of Command either Civil or Military and though they might marry with the Jews yet not with the Priests and some Marriages were permitted to them which were forbidden to the Israelites See there p. 167. Ver. 17. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Verse 17 These Commands were given in all likelyhood at the same time with the foregoing Ver. 18. Speak unto the Children of Israel and say Verse 28 unto them See v. 2. When ye come into the Land whither I bring you See there also only add this That the Jews acknowledge such kind of Offerings as here follow and First-fruits were due by the Law only from the Corn c. that grew in the Land of Canaan but by the Decree of their wise Men they were to bring them out of Syria and out of the Land of Og and Sihon as Maimonides saith in his Treatise called Biccurim cap. 2. Verse 19 Ver. 19. When ye eat i. e. When it is ready to be eaten for they offered it before they ate of it Of the Bread of the Land So Corn is called CIV Psalm 14. and the meaning seems to be that when they made Bread of the new Corn of the Land they should out of the Dough first make a Cake and offer it to the LORD before they baked Bread for their own use Ye shall offer up an Heave-offering unto the LORD This is explained in the next verse of offering a Cake out of the first Dough whether it were of Wheat or Barley or Rye or Oats or that which they call Cusemim which they describe to be a kind of Wheat or Barley different from that which is commonly known by those names For of these five kinds of Grain the Talmudists say this Cake was to be offered and that out of the Gleanings and the Sheaf left in the Field and out of the Corners of the Field Verse 20 Ver. 20. Ye shall offer up a Cake of the first of your Dough for an Heave-offering Not upon the Altar but it was given to the Priests on whom God bestowed all their Heave-offerings XVIII 8. yet they are said to be offered unto the LORD because they were heaved or lifted up to him as the Creator of Heaven and of Earth and then given to his Ministers who had it in his right As ye do the Heave-offering of the Threshing-floor so shall ye heave it That is as the First-fruits of the Harvest were given to the Priests and not offered upon the Altar so should this be given them XXIII Lev. 16 17. And so was the First-fruits of their Oyl and their Wine c. XVIII Numb 12 13. All which the Jews call the great Terumah or Heave-offering Ver. 21. Of the first of your Dough shall ye give unto Verse 21 the LORD an Heave-offering in your Generations This being a new Law not given before he repeats it that they might be the more observant of it As we may see they were by this that it was one of the things which rendred a Woman infamous though not so as to give her the bitter Water if she did not separate this Cake from the first Dough of the new Corn to be presented to God but either made her Husband believe she had done it when she had not or ate it her self as Mr. Selden observes L. III. Vxor Hebr. cap. 17. And therefore at this very day the Jews are so nice in this point that they take enough to make a Cake as soon as the Meal is mingled with Water The proportion is not mentioned in the Law but their wise Men say it was to be the forty fourth part of the whole Dough. See Buxtorf Synagog Jud. cap. 34. The Cabbalists observing that this verse begins with the Letter Mem and ends with Mem conclude after their way that therefore they were to give the fortieth part because Mem is the numeral Letter for forty Ver. 22. And if ye have erred and not observed all Verse 22 these Commandments which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses Which have been now given concerning Sacrifices for to such Commandments these words seem to have respect Maimonides in his Treatise of the Worship of the Planets and the Jews generally saith this concerns Idolatry Ver. 23. Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses That is all the Commandments in the Book of Leviticus about such Matters Verse 23 of God's Worship and Service From the day that the LORD commanded Moses The word Moses is not in the Hebrew and the
the words of the Book of the Wars of the Lord And the meaning of them is That the King of the Amorites took all these Places by a sudden furious Invasion which Moses therefore punctually recites to show that the Country of the Moabites now reached no further than Arnon All the Brooks or Torrents and all the Effusions of Water as far as Arnon i. e. all the Country about them being taken from them by the Amorites in whose possession it now was and perhaps had been a long time And therefore the Israelites took nothing from the Moabites when they conquered this Country as was said before nor from the Ammonites neither part of whose Country the Amorites also had got from them III Deut. 11. and the Israelites took from the Amorites when they conquered Sihon and Og and it fell to the share of the Gadites XIII Josh 25. Ver. 16. And from thence they went to Beer A Verse 16 Place which took its Name from the Pit or Well which was here digged by God's order as the next words tell us That is the Well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses That is saith Abarbinel that Place was remarkable for the Well that God gave us of his own accord without our Petition which he prevented by bidding Moses dig it for us Gather the People together and I will give them Water Which they now again wanted being removed from the River Arnon but did not murmur about it as they had done formerly and therefore God most graciously when he saw their Distress provided it for them Verse 17 Ver. 17. Then Israel sang this Song This extraordinary Kindness of God which prevented their Prayers and gave them Water out of his own good Pleasure alone as Abarbinel speaks transported them with such Joy that it made them express their Thankfulness in this Song Spring up O Well As soon as they saw Moses and the Princes thrust their Staves into the Earth and the Water began to bubble up they said with a loud voice Come up O Well that is let Waters flow abundantly to satisfie us all Sing ye unto it Or as it is in the Margin Answer unto it The manner of the Hebrews was anciently to sing their Songs of Praise alternately as appears from XV Exod. 20. And so one Company having said Spring up O Well which it's likely they repeated often they called to the rest to answer to them which they did I suppose in the following words Verse 18 Ver. 18. The Princes i. e. The LXX Elders and Heads of the Tribes Digged the Well Very easily only turning up the Earth with their Staves The Nobles of the People digged it The other side of the Quire perhaps took up the Song again repeating the Sence of what the former Company had said By the direction of the Law-giver Or Together with the Law-givers who began the Work and whose Example they followed With their Staves With no more labour but only thrusting their Staves into the Ground and turning up the Earth For as R. Levi ben Gersom takes it the Ground here being Sandy and very soft was easily penetrated though they were not likely to find Water in it But they believing Moses and following his direction God sent it copiously unto them and with no more pains than a Scribe takes when he writes with his Pen. For so he translates the Hebrew word Mechokek which we render Law-giver a Scribe or Doctor of the Law And from the Wilderness Mentioned v. 13. They went to Mattanah This and the place following are otherwise named in the XXXIIIth Chapter as the forenamed ben Gersom understands it But others think these were not Stations which alone Moses gives an account of in the XXXIIIth Chapter where the Israelites pitched their Tents but Places through which they passed till they came to the Station from whence they sent to Sihon for leave to pass through his Country Ver. 19. And from Mattanah to Nahahel c. This Verse 19 as well as the place next mentioned in this verse seems to have been on the Borders of Moab Ver. 20. And from Bamoth in the Valley Rather From Bamoth which signifies a very high place to the Valley Or it may be translated from Bamoth a Valley that is there is a Valley in the Field of Moab c. unto which they came next for some such thing must be understood That is in the Country of Moab Or near to it To the top of Pisgah Or To the beginning as the Hebrew word Rosch may be interpreted of the high Mount Pisgah That is they pitched at the foot of it where the Mountain began which Mountain was a part of the Mountains of Abarim as appears from XXXII Deut. 49. XXXIV 1. Which looks towards Jeshimon Or Towards the Wilderness For so R. Levi ben Gersom interprets it to a Land that was shemumah untilled and desolate viz. to the Wilderness of Kedemoth where they pitched and settled their Camp and from thence sent Messengers to Sihon Verse 21 Ver. 21. And Israel sent Messengers to Sihon King of the Amorites These Messengers were sent from the Wilderness of Kedemoth which was in the Skirts of his Country II Deut. 26. or lay just upon it For there was a City of this Name in that Country which was given to Reuben in the Division of the Land XIII Josh 18. Verse 22 Ver. 22. Let me pass through thy Land They do not seem to desire a Passage through the midst of his Country but only the extream Parts of it which would have much shortned their Journey to the Fords of Jordan We will not turn into the Fields or into the Vineyards we will not drink of the Waters of the Well c. This is the very same civil Message which they sent to Edom XX. 17. By whose Example they pressed Sihon to grant them at least as much as the Edomites and Moabites had done See II Deut. 28 29. Verse 23 Ver. 23. And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his Border This shows that they askt only to pass through the Skirts of his Country See II Deut. 30. But Sihon gathered all his People together He not only refused to grant their Request but came in an Hostile manner with all the Forces he could raise to oppose their passage over Arnon And went out against Israel into the Wilderness From whence they sent their friendly Message to him v. 21. which Moses in II Deut. 26. calls Words of Peace And he came to Jahaz A City it is probable belonging to the Moabites whether the Israelites perhaps retreated when Sihon denied them a Passage through his Country For Isaiah plainly mentions Jahaz as a place either in the Country of Moab or near it XV. 4. and Jeremiah also calling it Jahazah XLVIII 21. And fought against Israel Who had orders from God not to decline the Battle as they did with the Edomites and the Moabites and assured them of Victory II Deut. 31.
Rabbah-Ammon i. e. the great City of the Ammonites For so we find in Stephanus de Vrbibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Bochartus hath truly corrected it in his Preface to his Phaleg which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Ar as I said was the old Name of it II Deut. 29. XVI Isa 1. from whence came the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which it retained in later Ages And the Lords of the High-places of Arnon The Masters or Owners as the word Baale may be translated of the High-places c. i. e. those that dwell in the strongest Forts of the Country Or as some fancy the Priests of the Places are here meant or rather their Temple where Baal was worshipped For we find a place in this Country called Bamoth-Baal XIII Josh 17. The High-places of Baal And it is evident this Poet triumphs in this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over their Gods and their Religion as well as over them Verse 29 Ver. 29. Wo unto thee Moab He goes on to foretell the Calamity of the whole Country Thou art undone O People of Chemosh So he calls the Moabites who served as the Chaldee translates it or worshipped Chemosh as their God For so we read he was XLVIII Jerem. 7 13. 1 Kings XI 7. XI Judges 24. which St. Hierom thinks differs from Baal-Peor only in Name See Vossius de Orig. Progr Idolol Lib. II. cap. 8. Some take Chemosh to be Saturn particularly Scharastanius the manner of whose Worship see in Dr. Pocock's excellent Annotations in Specim Hist. Arab. p. 316. I shall only add That as the Moabites are called the People of Chemosh because they worshipped him as their God so the Israelites are called the People of the LORD and the People of God because they worshipped the LORD alone V Judges 11. 2 Sam XIV 13. For in the Days of Paganism as Mr. Mede observes every Country nay every City had their proper and peculiar Gods which were deemed as their Guardians and Protectors From whence the Nations themselves are expressed by the Name of their Gods That is evident from this place but it is not so plain that when God threatens to deliver up Israel to serve other Gods he means giving them up into the Hands of the People of strange Countries which he takes to be intended in IV Deut. 28. XXVIII 64. XVI Jerem. 16 c. See Book IV. p. 977. And so he thinks the words of David may be expounded 1 Sam. XXVI 19. They have driven me out this day from abiding in the Inheritance of the LORD saying Go serve other Gods i. e. banished me into the Country of Idolaters See Book III. p. 823. where this is more largely explained He hath given his Sons that escaped and his Daughters into Captivity unto Sihon King of the Amorites This is a manifest triumph over their god Chemosh who was not able to save his Worshippers whom he calls his Sons and his Daughters i. e. his Children who were under his Protection No he could not so much as preserve those that escaped the fury of the Sword but they were afterward taken Captive to make up part of the Triumph of Sihon King of the Amorites Ver. 30. We have shot at them Heshbon is perished Verse 30 even unto Dibon The Hebrew words vanniram abad Heshbon at h Dibon may as well if not better be translated their Light is perished or taken away from Heshbon unto Dibon So Forsterus in his Lexicon and the Tigurin Version and others That is their Glory is gone from one end of the Country to the other For Heshbon and Dibon were two famous places in this Territory XIII Josh 17. And some think this is the place called Dibon-Gad XXXIII 45. Which was the more noted because there Nebo one of their Gods was worshipped For in XV Isai 2. Dibon is mentioned as one of their High-places and there Nebo is lamented i. e. their God which was there worshipped When Hesychius saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which no doubt is this Dibon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Place where the Moabites had a Temple See Selden de diis Syris Syntagm 2. cap. 12. We have laid them waste even unto Nophah Another place in that Country as appears by the words following Which reacheth unto Medeba That is the Territories of Nophah extended as far as Medeba which was certainly a place in the Country of Moab XV Isai 2. But the word reacheth is not in the Hebrew and the words without it may be thus truly translated and as far as Medeba For so the Hebrew Particle ascher is sometimes used to signifie simply and as VI Eccles 12. ascher mi and who can tell c. So here ascher ad and unto c. And here I think fit to note That it is likely these Verses were some part of the History of those Countries For a Poetical way of writing was in use before Prose as Strabo tells us Lib. I. Geograph p. 18. where he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All set or artificial Speech whether Historical or Rhetorical was but an imitation of Poetical Compositions the Ancients knowing no other Cadmus and Pherecydes and Hecataeus being the first who brought in this form of writing now in use See Salmasius in Solinum p. 841. and Cuperus in his Apotheosis Homeri p. 55. However this is certain that they who would instruct the People put their Lessons into Verse as Strabo there shows where he says p. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Ancients call Poetry the first Philosophy forming our Lives from tender years teaching good manners governing the passions and actions with pleasure For which cause the Greeks instituted their Children in their Cities by Poety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not merely for the sake of bare delectation but to form them to sobriety Ver. 31. Thus Israel dwelt in the Land of the Amorites Verse 31 This he mentions again to make it the more observed that this was the Country of the Amorites into which the Children of Israel entred not of the Moabites who had been expelled out of it as was notoriously known there being a Song in every Bodies mouth which continued the memory of it Ver. 32. And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer Another Verse 32 City formerly belonging to Moab but now in the possession of the Amorites Which the Israelites did not take at the first but after they had conquered all the Country before-mentioned they sent some Men to bring them Intelligence which way it was best to attack that City also and the Country about it It was not far from Mount Gilead 2 Sam. XXIV 5 6. 1 Chron. XXVI 31. and both of them were famous for good Pasture and therefore given to the Tribe of Reuben and Gad who had much Cattle XXXII of this Book 1 3 4 35 36. After the ten Tribes were carried Captive from their own Land
it fell into the Hands of the Moabites again as may be gathered from XLVIII Jerem. 32. And they took the Villages thereof As well as the City it self And drove out the Amorites that dwelt there If it had not been possessed by them they would not have meddled with it Ver. 33. And they turned Or returned as the LXX have it from Jaazer And went up by the way of Bashan A famous Verse 33 Mountain LXVIII Psal 15. lying more Northerly than the Country of Sihon and belonging also to the Amorites where was very rich Pasture and an excellent Breed of Cattle XXXII Deut. 14. XXII Psal 12. and stately Oaks XXVII Ezek. 6. And Og the King of Bashan The whole Country of which he was King had its Name from that Mountain and was called the Kingdom of Og in Bashan III Deut. 10. where he is said as well as Sihon to be a King of the Amorites v. 8. and v. 11. that he was of the Remnant of the Giants or of the Rephaim who were a mighty People in that Country of Bashan See XIV Gen. 5. which in after Ages was called Batanaea Went out against them To oppose their Passage He and all his People With all the Men of War in his Country To the Battle at Edrei A City near that Country afterward called Adara as St. Hierom tells us in his Book de Locis Hebraicis He offered the Israelites Battle which by God's order they accepted Verse 34 Ver. 34. And the LORD said unto Moses That he might report it to the People Fear him not They had reason to be courageous and not affrighted because he was a Giant having lately overcome a mightier King than he of which God puts them in mind in the end of this verse For I have delivered him into thy hand and all his People c. For their greater incouragement he adds his Promise on which he bids them rely as if they saw it already done that he would give them the Victory over Og and all his Forces and bestow upon them his Country This History Moses reports more at large III Deut. 1 2 3 c. Ver. 35. So they smote him and his Sons and all his Verse 35 People until there was none left him alive After they had overthrown him and his Army they pursued the Victory till they had destroyed all the People of the Country Some part of which held out longer than the rest as appears from XXXII 39 c. but at length was wholly subdued by Jair the Son of Manasseh who had all the Region of Argob given him for his pains XXXII 41. III Deut. 14. And they possessed his Land Wherein were sixty walled Cities besides a great many small Towns III Deut. 4 5. XIII Josh 30. All which was given to the half Tribe of Manasseh III Deut. 13. XIII Josh 29 30. 1 Kings IV. 13. CHAP. XXII Chapter XXII Ver. 1. AND the Children of Israel set forward Verse 1 In what Month of the fortieth Year this which follows fell out we cannot tell but it is likely in the seventh when they removed from the Mountains of Abarim XXI 20. XXXIII 48. And pithed in the plains of Moab Which had formerly belonged to the Moabites from whom it took its name but had been taken from them by the Amorites and now was in the possession of the Israelites On this side Jordan Unto which River this Plain extended and they pitched near to it from Beth-Jesimoth unto Abel-Shittim XXXIII 49. where they stayed till under the Conduct of Joshua they came to Jordan and passed over it III Josh 1. By Jericho Rather against Jericho as the LXX translate it For Jericho was on the other side of Jordan directly opposite to the place where they now pitched And therefore the Vulgar Latin translates or rather paraphrases it Where Jericho is situated beyond Jordan i. e. passing the Ford they came directly to Jericho Verse 2 Ver. 2. And Balak the Son of Zippor Who was King of the Moabites at this time and descended it is likely from the ancient Kings of that Country XXI 26. Saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites To Sihon and Og the two Kings of the Amorites as they are called III Deut. 8. who were such near Neighbours to Balak that he not only saw but considered as the word implies what a speedy Conquest the Israelites had made of their Country Verse 3 Ver. 3. And Moab was sore afraid of the People Lest they should expel them out of their Country as they had done the Amorites for they knew nothing of God's Command to the Israelites not to disturb them in their Possessions Some imagine but I see no good ground for it that they were afraid the Israelites should get possession of the Land of Canaan unto which they thought themselves perhaps to have a better Title being descended from the eldest Daughter of Lot who was the Son of Abraham's elder Brother for Abraham was the youngest Son of Terah But no Body can see any Right that this Descent gave Lot or his Children there being no Promise made of it by God to any Person but Abraham and his Posterity Because they were many Too strong for the Moabites to deal withal having conquered those who had been too hard for them and taken a great Territory from them XXI 26. And Moab was distressed because of the Children of Israel As Moses in his Song after they had passed the Red Sea foretold they would be XV Exod. 15. Ver. 4. And Moab said By Messengers which Verse 4 were sent it is most likely by the King and the Princes of the Country Vnto the Elders of Midian Who were their Neighbours and Confederates The Title of Elders it appears by this was given in other Nations as well as among the Israelites to the greatest Persons in their Countries or the Israelites after their manner so called Men every where who were in high Authority For these Persons who are here called Elders are called Kings XXXI 8. and Princes XIII Josh 21. In like manner they who in the seventh verse of this Chapter are called the Elders of Moab are in the next verse called the Princes of Moab Which it is evident was the ancient Language among the Egyptians L Gen. 7. unless we suppose Moses as I said to have spoken in the Language of the Jews and it is very likely was also the ancient Language of Phoenicia and the Countries thereabouts and perhaps in much remote parts For it is a known Story That when the Phoenicians fled before Joshua and forsook the Land of Canaan they fixed in Asrick where they left this name of Elders among the Carthaginians See Mr. Selden Lib. I. de Synedr cap. 14. p. 587 c. Midian This is not the Country wherein Jethro was a Prince for that was not far from Mount Sinai as appears from III Exod. 1. whereas this was remote from that place adjoyning to the Moabites and near
Verse 2 Moab Called the People Invited them to a Feast For the ordinary Charms unto Idolatry were good Victuals and bad Women Vnto the Sacrifices of their Gods To eat of the Sacrifices which had been offered to their Gods particularly to Baal-Peor These Feasts upon their Sacrifices were very magnificent among the Heathen being accompanied with Musick and Dancing and sometimes pompous Processions which inticed youthful Minds to partake of them Here the Israelites casting their Eyes upon the Daughters of Moab which doubtless on this occasion appeared in the best Dress and richest Ornaments were smitten with their Beauty and courted their Enjoyment Who would not yield to this Motion but upon condition that they would first worship their Gods whereupon pulling a little Image of Peor out of their Bosom they presented it to the Israelites to kiss it and desired them to eat of the Sacrifices that had been offered to him Thus the Jewish Doctors tell the story And indeed it hath been observed by the Writers of the Church that Women have been the most dangerous Seducers of Men from the true Religion being from the beginning the Spreaders of the old Heresies For Simon Magus advanced his Heresie Helenae meretricis adjutus auxilio being assisted by the help of the Harlot Helena Nicolaus of Antioch also choros duxit foemineos The famous Marcion sent before him some Roman Ladies to prepare his way Apelles Montanus Arius Donatus did all take the same course as St. Hierom shows in his Book adversus Pelagianos And the People did eat Which was an act of Idolatry as to eat of the LORD's Sacrifices was an Act of Divine Worship whereby they owned themselves the Servants of the Gods of Moab See XXXIV Exod. 15. And bowed down to their Gods This was still a more plain act of idolatrous Worship expresly forbidden by God in the second Commandment Verse 3 Ver. 3. And Israel was joyned unto Baal-Peor This seems to signifie that they were devoted to the Service of this Idol in great affection with which they performed the forenamed actions The Jews commonly take this Baal-Peor to have been no better than a Priapus and the worship of him to have consisted in such obscene Practices or Postures at least as are not fit to be named Particularly their great Commentary upon Numbers saith That the Israelites being unwilling to enjoy their Women upon those terms they told them they needed only uncover their Nakedness before Baal-Peor which was all the Worship required of them unto which they easily submitted This Maimonides himself relates for a truth that his Worship consisted in revealing their Secret Parts before him More Nevochim P. III. cap. 45. But Solomon Jarchi goes further making this Worship to consist in Actions as ridiculous as they were beastly All which seems to me very unlikely and so it doth to several Men of great Judgment particularly Mr. Selden who thinks with great probability that Peor as I observed before XXIII 28. being the name of a Mountain in the Country of Moab the Temple of Baal stood upon it by whom some understand Saturn others the Sun which is most likely and thence he was called Baal-Beor because there he was especially worshipped as Jupiter was called Olympius because he was worshipped in a famous Temple which stood on the Mountain Olympus And every one knows that anciently they chose the highest Mountains before all other places for the Divine Service insomuch that at Jerusalem the Temple was set upon the Hill of Sion which the Psalmist saith God preferred before all other places LXXVIII Psal 68. Or Peor perhaps was the name of some great Prince as the same Mr. Selden conjectures translated into the number of the Gods for the Psalmist saith CVI Psal 28. that when they worshipped Baal-Peor they are the Sacrifices of the dead Which seems to signifie that in him they worshipped some dead Man who perhaps was the first Institutor of this Worship whatsoever it was Another great Man of our own Nation hath said much to strengthen this Opinion having shown at large that the ancient Heathens were wont to Deify the Souls of Men and Canonize them after Death and these we called Baalim Being accounted an inferiour sort of Deities who they fancied were Ministers for them to their Caelestial Gods See Mr. Mede Book III. p. 724 c. Yet it must be acknowledged that there are others of great note who take all for truth which the Jewish Writers report concerning the filthy Worship of Baal-Peor and imagine that Fornication was a part of it as in future times it was both among the Greeks and Romans in the Worship of some of their Gods For what the Jews found then practised they fancied was done in these early days But it is observable that the more ancient the Books of the Jews are which speak of this matter the less they say of the impurities in the Service of Baal-Peor For Example the Hierusalem Talmud hath none of that leud stuff in it which Solomon Jarchi upon this place took out of the Babylonian which was composed long after the former And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel As appeared immediately by the severe punishment he inflicted on them both for their Idolatry and for their Fornication Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the LORD said unto Moses take all the Heads of the People and hang them up The plain meaning seems to be that he should take i. e. cause to be apprehended the Heads of the People i. e. the Rulers of Thousands and Hundreds and other principal Persons in their Tribes who had been guilty of the foul Idolatry before-mentioned and by hanging them up put a stop to the Peoples lewdness when they saw these great Men made Publick Examples of God's Displeasure For it is very likely more of the Princes of the People were guilty besides Zimri especially if it be true which the Samaritan Chronicle affirms that the Daughters of the chief Men of Moab were sent finely dressed to allure the Israelites and one of the King's Daughters among the rest But though the LXX and the Vulgar and Symmachus thus understand it that he commanded the Heads of the People to be hanged up yet a great many other ancient Translators and many famous Doctors take the word Otham them whom he commanded to be hanged up not to refer to the Heads of the People but to such as had joyned themselves to Baal-Peor and they interpret the foregoing words as if he had bid him take unto him i. e. to his assistance the Heads of the People as they think he did as is related in the next verse The Judges indeed there mentioned seem to me to be distinct from the Heads of the People and Moses did not take them to his Assistance but commanded them to do their duty Yet it must be acknowledged that there is a great current of Interprepreters which runs the other way as if Moses was commanded to
observes Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 20. sect 9. and see Selden de Jure Nat. Gent. Lib. IV. cap. 4. But this Judgment as they call it seems not to be well grounded upon the Fact of Phineas who was a publick Person and had an extraordinary motion not to be imitated by private Men nor was it followed till the latter times of the state of that Nation Through her belly The Vulgar hath it through her Secret Parts And so the Jews in Pirke Eliezer c. 47. and in other Books such as Pesikta and Siphri where they make many Miracles to have concurred in this Fact particularly they say that the Relations of Zimri going to fall upon Phineas for killing their Prince the Angel of the LORD smote them and cut them off So the Plague was stayed from the Children of Israel It seems a Pestilential Disease as Josephus calls it swept away many of the Offenders who could not so speedily be punished by the Judges But it stopt immediately upon this pious Act of Phineas Verse 9 Ver. 9. And those that died of the Plague were Twenty and four thousand There were but Twenty and three thousand who died of the Plague it self as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. X. 8. but there were a thousand more taken off in the Plague time or during the Plague as the Hebrew words may be read For in the Twenty and four thousand Moses comprehends all those who were killed by the Sword in the day of the Plague as the Phrase is v. 18. whereas St. Paul reckons those only who died of the Pestilence as many have observed particularly Bochartus Lib. II. Hieroz cap. 34. P. I. It is probable that from hence it was that the Author of the Samaritan Chronicle took up a Conceit that the King of Moab sent Twenty four thousand Damsels to Seduce the Israelites as Hottinger reports his words in his Smegma Orientale cap. 8. p. 448. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying After the Plague was stayed it is likely Moses went into the Tabernacle to give God thanks for his Mercy to his People and then he spake to him what here follows Verse 11 Ver. 11. Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest hath turned my Wrath away from the Children of Israel Though they wept and mourned before the Door of the Tabernacle yet that did not prevail so much for Mercy as this Heroick Act of Justice While he was zealous for my sake among them With a fervent and courageous Affection vindicated the Divine Honour by a speedy punishment of those notorious Offenders That I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousie Did not proceed to destroy them by the Pestilence when I was so highly incensed against them For it is observed by Herodotus himself in his Euterpe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for great Crimes there are as great Punishments sent from God which is necessary for the Publick Good For unless by such means a stop be put to open Impurities to Murders and such like Crimes not only all Civil Society will be overturned but Nations become so wicked that they will be fit for nothing but to be rooted out by the Divine Vengeance as the Canaanites were Thus Cicero discourses Philip. VIII In Corpore si quid ejusmodi est quod reliquo corpori noceat c. In the Body if there be any thing which hurts the rest of the Body it is necessary to cut it off or to burn it that some one Member rather than the whole Body perish And so it is in the Body of the Commonwealth Vt totum salvum sit quicquid est pestiferum amputetur that the whole may be preserved let that which is infectious be lopped off Ver. 12. Wherefore say Unto Phineas or unto Verse 12 all the People Behold I give thee my Covenant of Peace The word Peace in Scripture comprehends all manner of Blessings and therefore this is a solemn Promise and Engagement to make him and his Family prosperous the particular Blessing which he entails upon him following in the next verse But some will have this to signifie that he should be the great Reconciler of God to his People and make Peace between them hereafter as he had done at present Philo seems to think this and the Priesthood to be two distinct things when he saith God crowned his Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with two Gifts Peace and the Priesthood And the Jews make Peace to consist in a long Life of Prosperity which was fulfilled in Phineas his Person who lived till the latter times of the Judges XXI Judg. 28. Pirke Elieser interprets it he gave him the life of this World and of the next Verse 13 Ver. 13. And he shall have it and his Seed after him It shall continue in his Family Even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood This is the particular Happiness which God settled upon him and his Posterity as long as their State lasted Which was with some limitation it appears by this that after some Successions in the Line of Phineas the Priesthood came for a time into the Family of Eli who was descended from Ithamar the youngest Son of Aaron The reason of it is not mentioned in the Scripture but some great Sin it is reasonable to suppose provoked God to set aside the Line of Eleazar for some years till Eli's Sons also became so wicked that the Priesthood was taken from them and restored in the days of Solomon to the Posterity of Phineas with whom it continued as long as the Priesthood lasted What Sin this was and when committed we do not know Some of the Hebrew Doctors are so bold as to say it was because Phineas would not absolve Jephthah from his Vow as Mr. Selden observes Lib. I. de Success in Pontif. cap. 2. But as there is no ground for this and such like fancies which others of them have so it is more probable that some of Phineas's Successors offended rather than he himself his Posterity for four Generations holding the Priesthood before it was translated to Eli as Josephus and others mentioned by Selden in the place before-named make account Aegidius Camartus in his Book de Rebus Eliae cap. 3. sect 5. and Corn. Bertram cap. 15. de Republ. Jud. imagine that in those confused times none of the Priests were found fit to administer the Affairs of the Nation but Eli alone and therefore he was appointed by God to it as appears from 1 Sam. II. 30. But L'Empereur in his Annotations upon Bertram well observes That it being the constant course of God's proceedings to continue his Mercies to the Israelites according to his promise while they were obedient but to take them away when they became disobedient it is highly reasonable to conclude there was some great Offence given to God by some of the Race of Phineas which was the cause that they lost this Dignity But
That the People may begin to submit to his Authority and learn to obey his Commands as well as thine Ver. 21. And he shall stand before Eleazar the Priest Verse 21 c. For the incouragement of Joshua to undertake this Charge he assures him he shall never want direction from God what to do when he was in any doubt but in the manner here prescribed most certainly receive it And what is here said concerning him belongs to all their succeeding Governours And it is observed by Maimonides and other Jewish Doctors that the High-Priest stood before the Kings of Israel out of great respect to them but no King is said to stand before the High-Priest but only in this case when he was to consult the holy Oracle That it might appear the Honour was given not to the Priest but unto the Divine Majesty whom he consulted by the Priest Who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Vrim Because the word Thummim is here wanting some understand these words as if he had said the High-Priest shall ask counsel for him by the illumination of the Spirit of God So Conradus Pellicanus But the word Thummim in all likelyhood is here to be understood though not expressed being always joyned with Vrim except in this and one other place where Vrim only is named after a short manner of speaking in XXVIII Exod. XXXIII Deut. II Ezra VII Nehem. For they were inseparable from the Breast-plate of Judgment as it is called XXVIII Exod. 30. See there with which the High-Priest appeared before God when he consulted him in great Affairs concerning the Publick Safety more especially in times of War of which we have many Instances in I Judg. 1. XX. 18. 1 Sam. XIV 18. XXVIII 6. David indeed is said to consult God by the Ephod but it must be observed that the Breast-plate was annexed to it which Abiathar brought along with him when he fled from Saul who commanded the Priests to be slain 1 Sam. XXII 2 9. XXX 8. 2 Sam. V. 19. And it is further to be noted that though David thus frequently consulted God this way being engaged in Wars yet we never read that Solomon asked counsel by it being a peaceable King Grotius also observes that Joshua now and the Kings of Judah afterwards therefore stood before the Priest that they might be near to the Vrim and Thummim which he had upon his Breast without which he could not receive any answer De Imperii Sum. Potest c. cap. 6. Before the LORD The High-Priest never inquired by Vrim and Thummim but standing before the LORD that is before the Ark where the SCHECHINAH was At his word shall they go out and at his word shall they come in That is saith Grotius in the place fore-named at the Word of the LORD by the Judgment of Vrim which goes just before Others at the word of the Priest which comes to the same And this the Hebrew Doctors understand concerning the People of Israel making War which is wont to be meant in Scripture by the words going out and coming in And they distinguish between the War that was made by the Divine Commandment against the VII Nations of Canaan and against Amalek and that which was voluntary against any of their Neighbours or others as there should be reason In the former case they think there was no need to ask whether they should make War or no because it was commanded and Joshua and the Kings afterward did it when they pleased But in the other they were not to make War without this Divine Order See Selden Lib. III. de Synedr cap. 12. n. 4. But it is plain from I Judg. 1. that they consulted the LORD also in the first sort of War with the People of Canaan how to manage it to the best Advantage Both he and all the Children of Israel with him even all the Congregation By the first word he the Jews understand Joshua and all the succeeding Princes of Israel who were bound to advise with God by Vrim and Thummim before they made War And by the next words all the Children of Israel with him they understand the Priest that was particularly anointed to go with the People to War XX Deut. 2. And by the last words the whole Congregation they understand the LXX Elders or the great Sanhedrim So Maimonides Abarbinel and a great many others expound these words as Mr. Selden shows in the same place from which they have framed this general Maxim That no private Man might consult this Oracle but the King and the Head of the great Sanhedrim and he that was appointed by all the People in their name And that Col haedah all the Congregation signifies frequently the great Assembly of the Elders and Judges See also Bertram de Repub. Jud. p. 72. Here the Jews start a difficulty as they account it why we never read in the whole Book of Joshua that he consulted the LORD after this manner but as soon as ever he was dead they did I Judg. 1. From whence Abarbinel concludes that Joshua was bound to do this only at the first entrance upon his Office that all Israel might know he was Moses his Successor and that God was with him but that afterward the Spirit of Prophecy rested upon him and conducted him without this Oracle But if nothing was done that is not recorded in the Scripture he might as well have said that Joshua never consulted the Oracle at all for we do not read he did though he be here so ordered R. Levi ben Gersom therefore seems to me to speak more reasonably when he says that those words in the beginning of the Book of Judges do not import that they did not consult God by Vrim in the Life of Joshua but only that after his Death the Children of Israel would not adventure to proceed in the War of Canaan without the same direction And there is something else which they might have observed from this verse with great reason which is how much inferiour Joshua was to Moses though he succeeded him in the Conduct of the People For Moses never made use of the Vrim and Thummim to consult God by the High-Priest but went directly and immediately to God himself whereas Joshua was not admitted to such Familiarity nor had he such frequent Revelations from God as Moses had Yet sometimes God vouchsafed him the honour to speak to him as we find in the beginning of Joshua III. 7. IV. 1 15 c. And there was a most illustrious appearance of God to him before Jericho V. 13 c. Ver. 22. And Moses did as the LORD commandded him and he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar and before all the Congregation According as he was ordered v. 18 19. In this we see the great Verse 22 Integrity the sincere Humility and Self-denial of Moses that he readily submitted to have the Government of Israel translated from his own Family and Tribe
two preceding verses I shall not here examine It is sufficient to note that Onkelos hath expressed the Hebrew Text word for word and the LXX do not depart from the sence of it Verse 10 Ver. 10. Even as the LORD commanded Moses so did the Daughters of Zelophehad Accordingly they followed this direction when they came into the Land of Canaan and had received their Portion there Now there being no such words added here as there are in other Cases this shall be unto the Children of Israel a Statute of Judgment XXVII 11. much less a Statute of Judgment throughout your Generations XXXV 29. it led I conjecture the Talmudick Doctors into the fore-mentioned Opinion that this Law concerned only the present Generation Ver. 11. For Mahlah Tizzah and Hoglah and Verse 11 Milkah and Noah the Daughters of Zelophehad Thus they are called both in XXVI 33. XXVII 1. though they are not there mentioned in the same order for Tirzah is there named last who here is named in the second place Perhaps they are set down here in the order wherein they were disposed in Marriage and Tirzah who was the younger was married in the second place Were married unto their Fathers Brothers Sons For Hepher no doubt had other Sons besides Zelophehad who had Issue-male though Zelophehad had not What their Names were or how many of them we do not know but some suppose them to have been six one of which died in the Wilderness without Issue See Selden de Successionibus cap. 23. where he discourses at large of the Portion which fell to them in the Land of Canaan Ver. 12. And they were married into the Families Verse 12 c. In the Margin more exactly out of the Hebrew to some that were of the Families i. e. to one of the Families of Manasseh from whom several Families descended XXVI 29 c. And their Inheritance remained in the Tribe of the Family of their Father The word for Tribe signifies sometimes merely a Family in a Tribe And so the LXX as Grotius observes in the place before-named in this very business uses sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former of which signifies a part of a whole Tribe And thus Josephus also uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie a Family Mr. Selden hath the same Observation in his Book de Successionibus cap. 18. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it signifies not a Tribe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 familiam cognationem seu genus sanguine proximum a Family a Kindred or those that are next in Blood But there is no need of these Observations if the words be translated as they may rightly and their Inheritance remained in the Tribe and the Family of their Father See v. 6. Verse 13 Ver. 13. These are the Commandments and the Judgments which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to the Children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho He began to deliver the Precepts here intended at the XXVIth Chapter See v. 3. and continues them to this place By Commandments seem to be meant the Precepts about the Worship of God Chapt. XXVIII XXIX XXX and by Judgments the Civil Laws about dividing their Inheritances and regulating their Descent to their Posterity and establishing Cities of Refuge for Man-slayers which are expresly called a Statute of Judgment XXVII 11. XXXV 29. Some other things are interspersed as God's Commandment to number the People which was in order to the assigning them their Inheritances proportionable to their Families to execute Judgment on the Midianites and to set down in Writing their Travels in the Wilderness of which I have given an account in their proper places FINIS By reason of the Distance of the Author these ERRATA have hapned which the Reader is desired to Correct Page 5. Line 7. read are reckoned Page 73. Line 29. r. See Levit. II. 15. Page 74. Line 22. r. were signs Page 82. Line 12. r. Rabboth Page 96. Line 4. r. aquatiles Line ult r. so that they might not Page 107. Line 13. r. other shoulder Page 110. Line 2. r. Chaskuni Page 123. Line 31. r. XL. Exod. Page 140. Line 30. r. may teach Page 152. Line 5. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 158. Line 31. r. Acropolis Page 163. Line 10. r. Choten Page 166. Line 31. r. the following story Page 167. Line 3. r. Rise up Page 171. Line 22. r. it is likely Page 190. Line 12. r. Setting forth the Praises Line 20. r. such credit Page 191. Line penult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 195. Line 21. r. whose Presence Page 198. Line 1. r. kadim Page 201. Line 11. r. but besides that there is Line 12. r. and it is Page 210. Line 28. r. as were never bred Page 216. Line 18. r. not deigning to stay Page 221. Line 21. after July begin a new line Page 227. Line 2. r. Torquatus Page 228. Line 3 4. r. a stony place Page 241. Line 1. dele and that Page 251. Line 7. r. Bitter Line 31. r. Spirit with him Page 282. Line 1. r. The Man shall be Page 284. Line 31. r. And the Garment the Jews say in the Selvedge c. Page 284. Line 33. r. Talith Page 316. Line 19. r. it being broke out Page 332. Line 3. r. where as Page 333. Line 21. r. within the veil Page 335. Line 11. r. Zeback Page 358. Line 7. r. more fit to treat Page 367. Line 7. r. as we may call it Page 387. Line 26. r. Successors of Esau Page 402. Line 19. r. by way of apposition Page 404. Line 24. r. the words are Page 406. Line 30. r. Bootius Page 420. Line 6. r. from Arnon Page 426. Line 1. r. whence Hesychius Line 22. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 433. Line 18. r. Kosem Page 446. Line 9. r. proffer'd him Page 468. Line 9. r. per juga Page 469. Line 7. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 470. Line 15. r. Sepher Cosri Page 482. Line 2. r. Dei nutu Page 501. Line 4. r. Baal-Peor Line 26. r. were called Baalim Page 519. Line 30. r. are reckoned Page 523. Line 14. r. Zelophehad Page 532. Line penult r. who was born Page 539. Line 21. r. being but reason Page 555. Line ult r. pouring out upon Page 556. Line 4. r. Heliogabalus Page 564. Line 18. r. and so doth Page 598. Line 19. r. and what I have Page 618. Line 22. r. Jogbehah Page 634. Line 22. r. to have been places Page 635. Line 9. r. anciently called Abel-shittim Page 673. Line 14. r. XXXI XXXII 2. Books written by Symon Patrick D. D. now Lord Bishop of Ely and Printed for Richard Chiswell THe Parable of the Pilgrim written to a Friend The Sixth Edit 4 to 1681. Mensa Mystica Or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper In which
the LORD and the Camp of the Levites to be from the entrance of the Mount of the House of the LORD to that East-Gate of the Temple And the Camp of Israel they thought extended from the Entrance of Jerusalem to the Mount of the House of the LORD Now Lepers were so unclean that they were not admitted into any of these three Camps but shut out of them all See XIII Lev. 46. But he that had an Issue XV Lev. 2. was only shut out of the two first Camps the Camp of the LORD and the Camp of the Levites but he might be in the Camp of Israel And he that was defiled by the dead XXI Lev. 1. was only excluded from the first the Sanctuary but not from the other two See Drusius also upon IV. 25. Ver. 3. Both Male and Female shall ye put out For Verse 3 Women had Issues for instance as well as Men XV Lev. 2 and 19 c. That they defile not their Camps The Camp of Israel consisted of four Camps and therefore he speaks in the Plural Number that of Judah that of Reuben that of Ephraim and that of Dan II Numb 3 10 18 25. Which would have been so defiled if they had suffered these unclean Persons to stay among them that none would have been fit to go to the Sanctuary In the midst of which I dwell By his special Presence in the Sanctuary which was incompassed by these Camps out of reverence to which such unclean Persons were to be kept at a greater distance than other Men and Women Ver. 4. And the Children of Israel did so and put them without the Camp c. There was an order for this before particularly for putting out the Lepers Verse 4 XIII Lev. 46. which could not be put in Execution till the Camp was formed as now it was Verse 5 Ver. 5. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying It is uncertain when this was spoken but I see no reason why we should not think it was at the same time with the other things here mentioned Verse 6 Ver. 6. When a Man or Woman shall commit any sin that Men commit In the Hebrew the words are plainly these shall commit any sin of Man that is against his Neighbour As in III Joel 19. Violence of the Children of Judah is truly translated Violence against the Children of Judah For it is apparent from the next Verses 7 8. that Moses here speaks of Offences against their Neighbours To do a Trespass against the LORD Such Offences against their Neighbours as were also great Offences against God For the Chaldee understands these words of Frauds and Cheats put upon Men by a false Oath And there is a good warrant for this Interpretation from VI Lev. 2 3. where Moses gives the same command which seems here to be repeated only because he had something to add unto it v. 8. And that person be guilty Or rather be sensible of his guilt See VI Lev. 4. Verse 7 Ver. 7. Then they shall confess the sin that they have done Or rather If they shall confess c. For so the Particle Vau sometimes signifies particularly XII 14. where we as well as the LXX translate it If her Father had spit in her face See what I have noted upon VI Lev. 4. And he shall recompense c. Rather Then he shall recompense the Injury he did to his Neighbour in the manner here directed which hath been explained VI Lev. 5. See there Ver. 8. But if a Man have no Kinsman to recompense Verse 8 the Trespass unto By this it is apparent that if a Man to whom an Injury had been done was dead he that committed it was bound to make Satisfaction to his Heir whosoever he was by restoring the Principal and adding a fifth part to it Now the Israelites never wanting some of their Kindred to succeed to their Inheritances the Hebrew Doctors expound this of the Proselytes of Righteousness who might possibly dye without any heir because they had no Kindred but such as were born after their Regeneration In which Case the Goods that had been illegally taken from such a Proselyte by a Jew did not become his own unless he paid the Price of them with such an addition as is here required c. See Selden L. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. cap. 4. p. 684 685. Edit Lond. Let the Trespass be recompensed unto the LORD By bringing to him the Principal and the fifth part Even unto the Priest Whom God deputed to receive it as his Minister And it was as the Jews rightly expound it equally distributed among all the Priests who were then waiting in their Course Which is a new addition to the Law in VI Lev. and the reason it is likely why that Law is here repeated Besides the Ram of the Atonement c. Mentioned VI Lev. 6 7. where see what I have noted Ver. 9. And every offering of all the holy things of the Children of Israel Upon the occasion of the foregoing Laws concerning a Recompense to be made Verse 9 to the Priest where a Man that had been wrong'd was dead and no Heir to him could be found he explains some other Laws wherein the Priests were concerned who were to have all the Heave-offerings as the word Trumoth here used signifies XVIII 8. Which they bring unto the Priest To be offered unto God Shall be his Who offers it For there being many Priests who waited in their Courses at the Tabernacle all of which could not officiate at the same time but some at one time some at another this Law determines that the particular Priest who performed the Office of Sacrificing should have to himself that part of the holy Things which fell to the Priests share and it should not be divided among them all Thus L'Empereur upon Bava kama c. 9. sect 12. expounds these words better than any I have met withal Verse 10 Ver. 10. And every mans hallowed thing shall be his As the former Verse speaks of the holy Things of the Children of Israel in general so this of what any particular Person offered which still with greater reason was to belong to the Priest that offered it For the Labourer is worthy of his hire and therefore he that did the work of Sacrificing had the Reward of it R. Solomon applying this to Tithes hath a gloss upon these words which though not pertinent is very remarkable He that doth not duly pay his Tithe in the end his Land shall yield him but a tithe of what it was wont to yield And so R. Bechai upon XIV Deut. expounds these words when a Man divideth not as he ought he shall have nothing but the holy things that is the Tithe of what he used to have according to V Isa 10. Whatsoever any Man giveth the Priest it shall be his These words are only a fuller Explication of this Law as the same L'Empereur observes that the rest of the Priests might