thousand of which perished in this barbarous manner Parents durst not mourn for their Children nor Children sigh for their Parents when they saw them haled to the place of Torment so that their hearts no doubt were ready to break with Grief and Sorrow In short Sic eos metus exanimaverat ut vivi non multum à mortuorum similitudine distarent Fear had so dispirited them that the living in their Aspect did not much differ from the dead Which words of Osorius in his fourth Book de Rebus Emanuelis our Dr. Jackson who relates this sad Story out of him looks upon as a Paraphrase upon these words of Moses though Osorius did not think of them I will give thee a trembling heart and failing of the eyes and sorrow of mind There are those who by a trembling heart understand the Terrors of an Evil Conscience So D. Chytraeus p. 131. And by failing of the eyes may be understood the constant disappointment of their Hopes wherewith they were sometimes fed by false Messiahs in several Ages Which disappointment bred great sorrow of Mind when after earnest expectation of some Good the quite contrary came upon them Ver. 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee Verse 66 That is it should be doubtful whether they should live or die the next moment As it manifestly happened in the forenamed Massacre when they durst not fetch a sigh and yet could hardly avoid it at the sight of their Parents or Childrens Tortures for fear they should suffer the same before the Breath was out of their tortured Bodies And thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of life So it was then none of them knowing who would be next seized in those three days Butchery And so it was in some of their Banishments which they were told should be the best remedy for the evils impending over them as the Author of Schebet Juda speaks who tells us Sect. XXIII that the reason which some Princes gave for their Expulsion out of their Territories was to prevent their being torn in pieces by the People who were most furiously set against them Ver. 67. And in the morning thou shalt say would Verse 67 God it were even That they might not see those miserable Spectacles which they hoped would end in the night when Men went to rest And at even thou shalt say would God it were morning Being afraid of unseen Dangers to which the Night might give an opportunity or that they might not see their way when they fled by Sea and Land from one Country to another as they were forced to do very often For Abarbinel in his Commentary upon XL Isaiah 11. reckons up four universal Banishments out of the Countries where they lived The first out of England the next out of France the third out of Asia Germany Tuscany Lumbardy and Savoy and the last out of Spain when he himself was one of those who were constrained to leave that Country and knew not whither to go He hath given us a lively description of that Calamity like to which he saith none had ever befaln them since they were banished their own Country in his Preface to his Commentary upon the Book of the Kings which he wrote the very next Year after their Expulsion 1493. and the Author of Schebet Juda hath transcribed in his own words A Decree was made and proclaimed publickly that all the Jews should either change their Religion or quit the Country in three Months time Abarbinel had then a place in the Court where he petitioned the King and besought his Ministers and Counsellors to revoke the Edict and be content with their Estates which they offered to him but all in vain For Three hundred thousand old and young Men and Women and he among the rest went away on foot upon one day not knowing whither to go Some went into Portugal others into Navar where they conflicted with many Calamities For some became a Prey or perished by Famine and Pestilence And therefore others committed themselves to the Sea hoping to find a quiet Seat in some other Countries But on the Sea they met with new Disasters for many were sold as Slaves when they came on any Coast many were drowned many burnt in the Ships which were set on fire in short all suffered the just Punishment of God the Avenger as he speaks For after all this a Plague came and swept away the rest of these miserable Wretches who were hated by all Mankind so that all that vast number perished by one Calamity or other except a very few He that would see more of the woful Miseries of this People may look into Schebet Juda Sect. LIII where he shows what befel those who went to seek new Habitations in the Kingdom of Fess where they lived a long time upon Grass and eat its very Roots and then died and their Bodies lay exposed none being so charitable as to bury them For the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see The one of these seems to refer to their dreadful apprehensions in the Night and the other to the lamentable Spectacles they beheld in the day And the simple meaning of the former part of the Verse may be that they should be weary of Life having no Comfort either Day or Night Ver. 68. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt Verse 68 again The Hierusalem Targum translates it The WORD of the LORD shall bring thee back again He that is who conducted them out of Egypt in a glorious Cloud would punish them for their foul Offences against him by bringing them again into Bondage there This was first fulfilled after the Desolation made by Titus when there was as I observed before v. 62. above Ninety thousand carried Captive and many of them transported into Egypt as Josephus relates in the conclusion of the sixteenth Chapter of his Seventh Book concerning the War of the Jews And here Manasseh ben Israel hath a very pertinent observation that Vespasian transported them into many and various Regions but Egypt is only here named the more to reproach the Jews as if he had said Ye shall be carried into that Land as Captives out of which you came in a triumphant manner Lib. III. de Termino vitae Sect. 3. Which may incline one to think that he was of the same mind with our Dr. Jackson who observing how cruelly they were used here in England and many other Countries concludes that this Island and every place of Europe wherein their Condition of Life hath been more hard and burdensome than their Forefathers was in Egypt may be said to be that Egypt into which God threatens here to bring them in Ships And indeed we do not read of their being carried into Egypt after Vespasian's time though it is set down here as a Punishment to come upon them after a long train of other Miseries
and Dizabah There was a place called Hazeroth where they had encamped a long time ago XI Numb 35. XXXIII 17. but it was in another Wilderness far from this place as appears by the account Moses gives of their Removals from that place to this where they now lay XXXIII Numb 17 48 49. And therefore I take this and the other three places here mentioned to have been frontier Towns in the Country of Moab which lay upon the borders of this Plain The last of which Dizabah is translated by the LXX and the Vulgar as if it signified a place where there were Mines of Gold Onkelos and the Hierusalem Targum who take Suph to signifie the Red Sea and Paran for the Wilderness through which they had come many years ago c. are forced to add several words to make out the sense of this Verse in this manner These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan c. reproving them because they sinned in the Desert and provoked God in the Plain over against the Red Sea and murmured in Paran about Manna and at Hazeroth for Flesh c. And so they proceed to mention other Sins committed in other places but not in these here named which they force from their natural sense to comply with this Conceit Verse 2 Ver. 2. There are eleven days journey from Horeb c. Or eleven days we were a coming from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea Which cannot be understood of the whole time they spent between these two places but only of the time they spent in travelling For they stayed a Month at Kibroth-Hattaavah and a Week more at Hazeroth XI Numb 21. XII 15 16. before they came to Kadesh-Barnea This he represents to them to make them sensible they had been kept in the Wilderness so many years as had passed since they came out of Egypt not because it was a long way to Canaan but for the reason mentioned in the XIVth of Numbers For from Horeb whither he order'd them to go when they came out of Egypt they came in eleven days and took no long Journeys to the borders of the Land of Canaan where Kadesh-Barnea lay So Maimonides the way was plain and known between Horeb whither God brought them on purpose to serve him and Kadesh which was the beginning of an habitable Country according to what he saith XX Numb 16. See More Nevochim P. III. Cap. L. See XIII Numb 26. By the way of Mount Seir. The Country of the Edomites Chapt. II. v. 12. Vnto Kadesh-Barnea How they were ordered to come hither and what they did here he relates v. 6 19. and so proceeds to give an account of several remarkable things which befell them unto the time when he wrote these things which he sets down in the next Verse Ver. 3. And it came to pass in the fortieth year Verse 3 After they came out of Egypt In the eleventh month on the first day of the month In the first Month of this fortieth Year they came into the Wilderness of Zin unto another Kadesh XX Numb 1. From whence they removed to Mount Hor where Aaron died on the first Day of the fifth Month of this Year See there v. 28. Where it appears v. 29. they mourned for him thirty days that is till the beginning of the sixth Month. In which they fought with King Arad XXI Numb and from Mount Hor travelled from place to place as we read there and XXXIII Numb till they came to these Plains of Moab In which Journeys and in the rest of the Transactions mentioned in the latter end of the Book of Numbers they spent the other five Months of this Year as I have observed in their proper places And now began the eleventh Month when Moses being to leave the World before the end of this Year spake all that follows in this Book And this Speech which he begins v. 6. and continues to the fortieth Verse of the fourth Chapter the great Primate of Ireland thinks he made to the People on the twentieth of February and on the Sabbath-day as the Reader may find in his Annals That Moses spake unto the Children of Israel according unto all that the LORD had given him in Commandment unto them Made a Rehearsal of all that at several times he had received from the LORD and delivered unto them Ver. 4. After he had slain Sihon the King of the Amorites Verse 4 which dwelt at Heshbon About five Months ago for it was after Aaron's death which was the first Day of the fifth Month XXXIII Numb 38. and they mourned for him all that Month. See XXI Numb 21 c. And Og the King of Bashan which dwelt at Astaroth This was a City in the Country of Bashan XIII Josh 31. and a City it was of very great Antiquity as appears from XIV Gen. 5. See there From whence some think the famous Goddess Astarte had her Name being here worshipped But whether that Goddess took her Name from this City or the City from the Goddess is not certain as Mr. Selden observes in his Syntagma II. de Diis Syris cap. 2. But that the Heathen Deities were wont to have their Names from the Groves Mountains Cities and Caves where they were worshipped is as certain as it is uncertain from whence Astarte or Astoreth as the Scripture Name is was so called In Edrei His Royal Palace was at Astaroth as Sihon's was at Heshbon but he was slain in Edrei XXI Numb 33. Verse 5 Ver. 5. On this side Jordan in the Land of Moab In the Plains of Moab before they passed over Jordan See v. 1. Began Moses to declare this Law saying To call to remembrance that which any one had forgotten and to explain that which any one did not understand So Maimonides expounds these words in Seder Zeraim In the end of the fortieth Year in the beginning of the Month Shebat Moses called the People together saying The time of my Death draws near if any one therefore hath forgot any thing that I have delivered let him come and receive it or if any thing seem dubious let him come that I may explain it And so they say in Siphri If any one have forgotten any Constitution let him come and hear it the second time if he need to have any thing unfolded let him come and hear the Explication of it For which he quotes this Verse and says that Moses spent all his time in this from the beginning of the Month Shebat to the seventh day of Adar And what he now said was likely to be the more regarded because these were in a manner his dying words for he lived but till the seventh day of the next Month and seems to have composed this Book as a Compendium of his whole Law for the familiar use of the Children of Israel from whence it is called Deuteronomy i. e. a second Law See Huetius in his Demonstr Evang.
any such Jurisdiction which the Sanhedrim had over their Kings but all this may well be lookt upon as a meer invention of the Jewish Doctors to magnifie the Power of their great Council That his heart turn not away From all serious Business and Employment whilst he was caressing and studying to please a multitude of Women Some understand it lest they turned his heart away from God and the Duties of Piety of which there was great danger if he married Worshippers of strange gods as Solomon did Otherwise I should think it might be interpreted of turning his Thoughts from minding his People and their good and welfare which must needs suffer much when they were burdened with a great company of Wives who were to be richly maintained and provided for Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold No more saith the Sanhedrim Cap. II. than would pay Stipends to his Servants c. Others of them scan the words more nicely and observe That first he is forbidden to multiply Gold and Silver greatly That is to content himself with moderate Riches and not set himself to heap up Treasure which could not be done commonly without great Oppression of his Subjects And secondly he is forbidden to multiply them to himself But for the Publick Benefit he might lay up Money in the Treasury at the Temple though in his own Coffers for his private Interest he might not See Schickard in his Mischpat Hammelech Cap. III. Theorem XI where he produces their Answer to this Question How should the King be able to manage a War or do any other great thing if he did not furnish himself with good store of Gold and Silver He might say they fill the Publick Exchequer though not his own private Bags And that for two Reasons First Lest he should wax proud and haughty when his Purse swelled And secondly Lest he should be tempted to squeeze his Subjects and exact more from them than they were able to bear as Solomon seems to have done whose Treasurer the People stoned 1 Kings XII 18. Verse 18 Ver. 18. And it shall be when he sitteth on the Throne of the Kingdom that he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a Book Not only of this Book of Deuteronomy but of the whole Law and that with his own hand as a means to fix it more in his mind Insomuch that though a Copy was left him by his Father he was notwithstanding to transcribe one himself as the Jews say in the Gemara Sanhedrim Cap. II. Sect. XIII All this is very agreeable to these words but whether he was bound if he had not written a Copy before he was King as every private Israelite they say was bound to do to write two when he sate on the Throne may be doubted for it cannot without violence be drawn from these words and their authority is not sufficient to warrant it They give indeed a plausible reason for it That the one he was to carry about with him whithersoever he went and to read in the other at home but why one Copy might not serve for both these purposes I do not see Out of that which is before the Priests the Levites He was not to write one word of it out of his memory meerly or any private Man's Copy but out of the Book which was in the Sanctuary where the original and uncorrupted Copy was in the Custody of God's Ministers There are a great many Rules the Jews give about the right writing of this Copy Which may be seen in Guil. Schickardi Mischpat Hammelech Cap. II. Theorem V. Ver. 19. And it shall be with him Wheresoever Verse 19 he was either in the Camp or at home or in any other place provided it was pure and free from filth as the Jews limit it See there Theor. VI. And he shall read therein all the days of his life Diligently study it not spending his time as Maimonides glosses in drinking and making merry but in learning the Law of God See there p. 53. From the neglect of this Precept their Kings became so ignorant of the Laws of God and of their Obligation to observe them that in the days of the good King Josiah he was strangely startled at what he heard read out of this Book of the Law when it was found in the Temple where it had long lain without any knowledge of it That he may learn to fear the LORD his God Be preserved in the true Religion To keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them Be acquainted with his whole Duty and perform it constantly See I Joshua 8. Ver. 20. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren Verse 20 Not imagining himself to be above all Laws nor slighting his Subjects as unworthy of his notice but taking a due care to promote their happiness For as the Scriptures saith Maimonides provided the King should have great honour done him obliging all to reverence him so it commands him to be lowly in heart and not to carry himself insolently Let him be gracious and full of clemency to little and great so shall he go out and come in with the love and good wishes of them all Unto which Nachmanides adds this pious Reflection If the Scripture deters Kings from pride and haughtiness of heart how unbecoming is it in other Men who are far inferiour to them c. And that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or the left Neither by changing the Laws on pretence of making better nor by abrogating them on pretence of their inconveniency But where the Divine Law was not clear or where nothing was there defined he might by his Authority make new Constitutions as David and Solomon did as well in Sacred as in Civil Matters To the end that he may prolong his days in his Kingdom he and his Children in the midst of Israel This shows that God intended to establish a successive Right in that Family to which he chose to give the Kingdom if they continued in a constant Observation of his Laws And indeed there is no way to establish and perpetuate a Family in the Throne like the due observation of Laws though they be but Humane not Divine Laws For as Aristotle truly said He that commands the Law should govern all i. e. all things be ordered according to Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to command that God should rule and the Laws But he that bids a Man to rule without Laws according to his own will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sets up a Beast to govern Chapter XVIII And above all things he ought to endeavour to win the love of his Subjects by Humility and Clemency as the same Aristotle taught Alexander if we may believe R. Jedaja in his Book called Mibâ—har Happeninim where he reports a Letter of his to that great Prince advising him to gain the Affection of
Vagabonds into various Countries where they carried this Mark of Infamy along with them that all might be instructed to make no more such Attempts But in the fifth Century they made new Commotions and were driven out of Alexandria for their Seditious Practices where they had been settled ever since the time of Alexander the Great and dispersed into several Countries as Socrates observes in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. VII Cap. XVI And in the next Chapter relates how miserably they were deluded in Crete by one that pretended to be Moses come down from Heaven to lead them to their own Land through the Sea into which many threw themselves and perished That Expulsion out of Alexandria is mentioned by David Ganz also one of their own Authors In the sixth Century as Elmacinus tells us they again rebelled in Palestine against the Romans who slew a great number of them And in the seventh they were expelled from Antioch by Phocas and out of Hierusalem by Heraclius and out of Spain An. 604. by Sisebutus or as some call him Sisebodus King of the Goths And they flying in great numbers into France were shortly after put to this hard choice either to renounce their Religion or lose all they had Which Persecution Dr. Jackson observes in the Book often mentioned Cap. XXVIII Paragr 1. is recorded by those who wrote the Life of Dagobert as one of the chief Memorables of his Reign What their state was in the next three Centuries he saith he had observed nothing remarkable Nor can I find any thing notable in the eighth but the appearance of a false Messiah by whom they were deluded and brought into trouble As for the ninth there were no learned Men among them in that Age nor in the Christian World And in the tenth they were in the same condition insomuch that they were fain to make a Weaver the Head of one of their Universities Neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest They being not able to obtain a long Settlement any where but were tossed up and down and forced from one Country to another For so it was that in the beginning of the eleventh Century about the Year of our Lord One thousand they were so vexed throughout the most part of Europe that quid agerent aut quo se verterent nesciebant they knew not what they should do or which way they should turn themselves as the forenamed Doctor observes Paragr 4. out of Papirius Massonus who hath it out of Glauber To which I will add this Testimony out of David Ganz in his Book called Tzemach David that in the latter end of this Century An. MXCVI. when there was a famous Expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land the Jews felt it a most calamitous time as he speaks being robbed and pillaged and killed by the Souldiers as they went along And indeed so much Cruelty was exercised upon them that it moved St. Bernard's Compassion to write to the Bishop Clergy and People of Spire not to persecute them much less kill them or drive them out of their Country For they are dispersed said he into all Lands that while they suffer the just punishment of their horrid wickedness they may be witnesses of our redemption Epist. CCCXXII And the Author of Schebet Juda mentioning their Banishment out of Savoy Piedmont Lombardy Sicily and other Countries quotes these very words of Moses among those Nations thou shalt find no rest c. as a Prophecy of that Exile which was accompanied with many other Mischiefs For as they fled to other Countries an immense multitude of People fell upon them and pillaged them of all the Gold and Silver they were carrying away with them as he relates there Sect. XI And the LORD shall give thee a trembling heart They being always in dread of some new Misery their Condition still growing more dismal in the twelfth Century For as there is a progress in Moses his Prophecy of the increase of their Calamities so it proved in the event that their Sufferings grew greater and greater They themselves in Tzemach David and other Books relate that in the Year 1142. an Hundred and twenty of their Congregations were utterly subverted and dispersed And in the Year 1170. they were expelled again out of France and spoiled of their Treasure which was renewed in the Year 1198. How they were used here in England our own Chronicles tell us and the like ill usage they met withal in Germany and Spain So that R. Zacut complains of no less than ten grievous Persecutions in this one Age to abolish the name of Jews out of the World This could not but give them a very trembling heart And failing of thine eyes Which looked for some relief instead whereof they were still more hardly used in the thirteenth Century being in the Year 1253. again expelled out of France whither they had returned and again in 1295. when they expected some rest there was a fresh Expulsion mentioned by R. Levi ben Gersom who saith they were spoiled of all their Goods and sent away only with their Clothes upon their backs Which he affirms with the more confidence because it was done in his time when he saith there was such a number of them that they exceeded those that came out of Egypt So he writes in his Exposition of those words XXIII Numb 10. Who can count the dust of Jacob I will forbear to mention how they were treated here in England 1290. and in Germany into which they flying out of France were most cruelly used And sorrow of mind Which must needs seize upon them heavily to find their Miseries so far from abating that they still increased in the fourteenth Century When they were banished again out of France and spoiled of their Goods 1306. and once more 1395. which the Jews call their fourth and last Banishment About the same time they were banished out of Germany An. 1392. In Castile indeed they redeemed their Lives with Money which they could not part withal without much sorrow of mind but in Catalonia Arragon and in other parts of Spain such a terrible Storm fell upon them that they themselves in Juchasin say there were no less than Two hundred thousand turned Christians with heavy hearts It would be too tedious to mention all that they suffered in the fifteenth Century in Germany Hungary Polonia and in Italy Spain and Portugal I will only observe what befel them in the Country last named in the next Century An. 1506. when all that is said in this Verse is fulfilled by that dreadful Massacre which was made of them at Lisbon for three days together Where Men were not suffered to die of their deadly wounds but were dragged by their mangled Limbs into the Market Place where the Bodies of the living and the slain with others half alive half dead were burnt together in heaps The Spectacle was so horrible that it quite astonished the rest of this wretched People two
these Expeditions But they seem to be here remembred as an Encouragement to the Israelites to hope that they might drive out the Inhabitants of Canaan who were not stronger than these as they had already driven the Amorites out of the Country of Sihon as it here follows As Israel did unto the Land of his possession which the LORD gave unto them Some have argued from hence that this Book was not written by Moses but by some body else after they had got possession of the Land of Canaan But it is manifest this may relate to what they had done already in dispossessing Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan of their Country which it is expresly said Moses had given for a possession to the Tribe of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh and that by God's direction XXXII Numb 33. XXXIV 14 15. and in this Book XXIX 8. This hath been observed by many particularly by Huetius in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. XIV N. XV. Ver. 13. Now rise up said I and get you over the Verse 13 Brook Zered c. Which elsewhere we translate the Valley of Zered See XXI Numb 12. Ver. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea Verse 14 until we came over the Brook Zered was thirty eight years For it is evident by the story in Numbers that they came to Kadesh-Barnea about the fourth Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt See upon XII Numb 16. And if we suppose that they removed from hence in the seventh or eighth Month of that Year it is certain that they could not come to this Brook till the seventh or eighth Month of the fortieth Year For Aaron died at Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth Month of this Year and we must allow two or three Months time for all that followed between that and this viz. the conquest of King Arad and of Sihon and Og c. Vntil all the Generation of the Men of War So they were called who were above twenty years old I Numb 3. Were wasted out from among the People Utterly consumed so that not one of them was left XXVI Numb 64 65. As the LORD sware unto them See XIV Numb 28 29. Verse 15 Ver. 15. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from among the Host Some of them it is likely died a Natural death but many of them might in the course of Nature have lived longer if God had not several ways cut them off before their time Vntil they were consumed By one Plague or other which God sent among them So that a great deal of their time in the thirty eight Years before mentioned were spent it is likely in burying and mourning for their dead Verse 16 17. Ver. 16 17. So it came to pass when all the Men of War were consumed and dead from among the People that the LORD spake unto me saying This was spoken it is probable just as they passed over the Brook Zered or in their next Station at Dibon-Gad XXXIII Numb 45. Ver. 18. Thou art to pass through Ar the Coast of Verse 18 Moab this day Or rather to pass by the Border of Moab for they were not permitted to come into their Country v. 9. See upon v. 4. Ver. 19. And when thou comest nigh over against the Verse 19 Children of Ammon As they did after the conquest of Sihon King of the Amorites whose Country bordered upon the Ammonites XXI Numb 13 24. Distress them not neither meddle with them The same command with that about the Edomites and Moabites v. 5 9. For I will not give thee of the Land of the Children of Ammon any possession As he had said before of the Land of Moab v. 9. Because I have given it unto the Children of Lot for a possession To the Descendants of his youngest Son as he had done the Country of Moab to the Children of the eldest Ver. 20. And that also was accounted a Land of Giants Verse 20 c. Was called the Country of Giants or Rephaim for People so called inhabited it And the Ammonites called them Zamzummims Changed their Names it is probable from Zuzims See XIV Gen. 5. as they were called before into Zamzummims But why they were called either by the one Name or the other it is but conjectured Some conceive they were called Zuzims from their swiftness or nimble running which in Warriours was a quality always highly valued and Zamzummims from their abominable Wickedness or their craft and cunning in doing Mischief Ver. 21. A people great and many and tall as the Anakims The same description which he gave of the Emims v. 10. Verse 21 But the LORD destroyed them before them i. e. Before the Ammonites who expelled them out of their Country and it 's like cut off the most of them And they succeeded them and dwelt in their Land This is so often repeated to possess the Minds of the Israelites with a sense of God's Providence which rules every where displacing one People and setling another in their stead and fixing their Bounds also which they shall not pass without his leave Verse 22 Ver. 22. As he did to the Children of Esau which dwelt in Seir when he destroyed the Horites from before them c. He repeats this which he had said before v. 12. because it was a fresher Instance of God's disposal of Countries unto what People he pleases and nearly touched the Israelites because they were their Brethren Verse 23 Ver. 23. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim even unto Azzah Unto which he adds an instance which seems to be elder than any of the former concerning a People called Avims who inhabited some part of the Land of Canaan whither they were going For though we do not read of Hazerim in any other place yet Azzah i. e. Gaza was in the Country of the Philistims who expelled these Avims And David Chytraeus thinks that Hazerim was a Town afterward in the Tribe of Judah called Haza-gaddah XV Josh 27. The Caphtorim which came out of Caphtor That is some People of Cappadocia who were near of Kin to the Philistims See X Gen. 14. Destroyed them and dwelt in their stead Concerning which see in the place above-named Unto which I shall only add That the Avims being expelled out of Canaan by the Caphtorims went it is very probable over Euphrates and settled there till the King of Assyria brought some of them back again to plant the Country of Samaria 2 Kings XVII 31. where we translate this word Avites See Bochart in his Phaleg Lib. IV. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 24. Rise ye up take your Journey and pass over Verse 24 the River Arnon See XXI Numb 13 14. Behold I have given into thy hand Sihon King of Heshbon and his Land c. You your selves shall do to him what your Brethren the Children of Esau did to the
This was the great Promise made to their Fathers that he would make their Posterity as numerous as the Stars of Heaven and the Dust of the Earth XV Gen. 5. XXII 17. XXVIII 14. He will also bless the Fruit of thy Womb. Preserve them from Miscarrying that so they might multiply And the Fruit of thy Land thy Corn and thy Wine and thine Oyl By giving them Rain in due Season c. See XXVI Levit. 4 5. The increase of thy Kine The Hebrew Word Segar which we translate Increase the LXX Vulgar and Syriac render the Herds But Onkelos and Jonathan translate it as we do the young ones which the Mothers bring forth See Bochart P. I. Hierozoicon L. II. Cap. XXX And the Flocks of thy Sheep The Hebrew Word Ashtaroth comprehends Focks both of Sheep and of greater Cattle as the same Bochart observes P. 1. Hieroz L. III. Cap. XLIII and in his Canaan Lib. 2. Cap. 2. where he observes that the Goddess Astarte in those Countries was thought to preside over Flocks of Sheep and Herds of Oxen. Ver. 14. And thou shalt be blessed above all People Verse 14 He promises to make them as singular for his Favours as they were in their Laws and manner of Living There shall not be Male or Female barren among you or among your Cattle See XXIII Exod. 26. Ver. 15. And the LORD will take away from thee all Verse 15 Sickness Or remove from them the common Diseases and Infirmities of Mankind so that they should die in a good old Age as the Scripture Speaks which tended manifestly to their Increase and Multiplication And will put none of the evil Diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee Neither those Blotches or Boils which God by an immediate Hand smote them withal IX Exod. 9. XV. 26. Nor any other which they in that Country were subject unto peculiarly their filthy Ulcers called Aegyptiaca and Syriaca as Casaubon observes upon Persius Sat. V. p. 467. with which the Priests of Isis were wont to threaten and terrify poor People if they did not worship her In Opposition to which our very learned Dr. Spencer thinks God made this special Promise to his People to preserve them from all such evil Diseases if they kept themselves pure from that Egyptian Idolatry Which is very ingenious if the Worship of Isis was so ancient as the Days of Moses See L. I. de Legibus Hebr. Ritual Cap. III. And will lay them upon all them that hate thee And thereby disable them to hurt his people Ver. 16. And thou shalt consume all the people which Verse 16 the LORD thy God shall deliver thee Utterly destroy all the people of Canaan when they had Conquered them as he commanded them before v. 7. Thine eyes shall have no pity upon them The reason of this severity was because of their abominable wickedness as I there observed Neither shalt thou serve their Gods for that will be a snare unto thee In the Hebrew and thou shalt not serve their Gods c. This severity was used to prevent their being inticed by them to their Idolatry if they had suffered them to live among them Verse 17 Ver. 17. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them If such a diffidence began to arise in their hearts as possessed their fore-fathers XIV Numb Verse 18 Ver. 18. Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt He requires them immediately to expel all fear by Faith in God which the remembrance of what God had done for them if seriously reflected on might well work in them Verse 19 Ver. 19. The great temptations which thine eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand c. Of all these he had put them in mind before IV. 34. and now renews the remembrance of it that the experience they had of Gods power and goodness might banish all fear out of their hearts Verse 20 Ver. 20. Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them Raise up enemies which they think not of to infest them that is unusual swarms of hornets and of an unusual bigness it 's like which came like an Army upon them See XXIII Exod. 28. Vntil they that are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed Which should pursue those that fled from the Israelites and sting them to Death in their lurking Holes Ver. 21. Thou shalt not be afrighted at them Let Verse 21 all this inspire you with Courage For the LORD thy God is among you a mighty God and a terrible The Sovereign of the World of whose Goodness you have had such long Experience dwells among you and conducts and leads you wheresoever you go And who can stand before him See XVII Exod. 7. Ver. 22. And the LORD thy God will put out these Verse 22 Nations before thee by little and little Thou mayst not consume them at once lest the Beasts of the Field increase upon thee Be not discouraged tho' they be not destroyed all at once There is great Reason against that concerning which see XXIII Exod. 21. where this Verse is explained Ver. 23. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them Verse 23 unto thee and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed In time he will deliver them all up into thy Hands and thou shalt so over power them as to leave none of them remaining Ver. 24. And he shall deliver their Kings into thy Verse 24 hand As he did we read in the Book of Joshua XII 7 8 9 c. where XXXI Kings are enumerated who were conquered by him And thou shalt destroy their Name from under Heaven There shall no Memory of so much as the Names of such Men be left any where There shall no Man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them The Kings and great Men of the Country being destroyed their Victory was easier over the rest Verse 25 Ver. 25. The graven Images of their Gods shall ye burn with Fire This he had required before v. 5. but mentions it again to let them know that if they did not perform their part of the Covenant of which this was the chief God would not destroy the Inhabitants of Canaan totally As we find he did not II Judg. 2 3. and for this very Reason as Joshua had told them XXIII 12 13. Thou shalt not desire the Silver and Gold that is upon them The Jews are too nice and curious who expound this only of the Gold and Silver Clothes or the Chains or other Jewels of Gold and Silver wherewith their Images were adorned because he saith upon them There is no reason to doubt but he means that they should be destroyed if they were entirely made of massy Gold and Silver which they were not to convert to their own use For thus Moses did
the Levites the Jews understand as if he had said the Priests of the Tribe of Levi or the Sons of Levi For so he speaks in XXI 5. And Mr. Selden produces a great many other Instances of the like Phrase Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. VIII N. 2 3. and shows they are so described as the Jews think to exclude all others that had been Priests before God took the Sons of Aaron peculiarly to serve him in this Office But the Levites as well as Priests they unanimously agree were capable to be Members of this great Sanhedrim Which they all likewise say did not consist only of Priests and Levites but of any other Persons of other Tribes who were fit to be promoted to this Dignity Nay they say if there was not one Priest or Levite in the Court it was a lawful Judicature For the High-Priest himself no more than any Man else had a place here meerly for his Birth unless his Learning in the Law was answerable So Maimonides and others And those other Members who were not Priests nor Levites they think are comprehended under the word Judge which though it be in the singular number may be thought to signifie more than one as appears from XIX 17. where it is said expresly they shall bring the Controversie there mentioned before the Priests and the Judges And further that Judge after the manner of this Language may signifie Judges Constantine L'Empereur gathers from v. 12. where Priest in the singular number is used for those who are here called Priests in the plural Annot. in Corn. Bertram p. 389. But howsoever this be it seems to me that though the Priests and Levites were not the only Persons of whom this High Court consisted the Members of which might be chosen out of any Tribe where they could find men qualified yet they are here first mentioned because they were likely to be the most capable Persons to exercise this Authority especially in the first Constitution of this Commonwealth when they were newly entred into Canaan For all other Persons were then busily employed in looking after the Inheritance that was fall'n to them and settling the Affairs of their several Families whereby they were rendred less able to attend unto this weighty Office But the Tribe of Levi having no Inheritance among them as is often repeated in these Books and no care about Husbandry and such like Affairs had a full leisure both to study the Laws of God and to judge according to them especially being appointed by God to teach Jacob his Judgments and Israel his Law XXXIII 10. Besides this Court being settled at the place of God's Worship where a great many Priests and Levites always necessarily attended they were most ready without any inconvenience to themselves to execute this Office of Judges having their Maintenance from the Publick which no other Persons had But otherwise as I said they had no more right than other Men to be Members of this Court. Which we cannot certainly say consisted of Seventy Judges together with their Nasi i. e. their Prince or President nor that they always sat at the place here appointed For there were sometimes great Troubles in the Land and they were under the power of their Enemies which extreamly disturbed their Government and made it necessary for God to raise them up extraordinary Judges because the power of this Court was broken in pieces So Mr. Selden himself acknowledges that there were great Intermissions of their sitting in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes and of Herod the great Lib. II. de Synedriis Cap. XIV N. III. And therefore why not in the times when they were oppressed by the Moabites Ammonites Philistines and other cruel Neighbours in the days of the Judges And thus Grotius Hermannus Conringius to name no more here understand the word Judge who is joyned with the Priest and Levites And unto the Judge The fore-named Authors thus translate this Verse Thou shalt come unto the Priests the Levites or unto the Judge that shall be in those days Where by Judge they understand such as Othniel Ehud Gideon Jephtah Sampson Samuel and others whom God raised up when they were oppressed by their Enemies and in great Confusions to govern his People which they did with the highest Authority being equal to Kings save only that they kept not Royal State or Equipage but are plainly called by that Name XVII Judg. 6. XIX 1. XXI 25. Now though the Priests and Levites i. e. that Court of which they made a considerable part were the ordinary Supream Judges of Controversies yet the JUDGE when God raised one up was endued with an extraordinary power above theirs to whom the People therefore resorted for his decision For just as all ordinary Magistrates among the Romans gave place to a Dictator when they had one so all the Hebrew Magistrates did to such a JUDGE when God appointed him who determined all manner of Controversies as at other times the other Judges whether Priests or others were wont to do See Herman Conringius de Republ. Ebraeorum Sect. XXXIX I know but one Objection against this which is That those extraordinary Judges were not fixed as far as we can find in the place where the Sanctuary was unless we may judge of all the rest by Eli and Samuel who seem to have been settled there But we must consider that they were not confined by their Commission which was not grounded on this Law to any one certain place but left at liberty to live where they thought most convenient for the discharge of their Trust in the Reformation of the People And the truth of what I said concerning their Supream Power plainly appears in Samuel who went up and down the Country executing Judgment when Shilo was destroyed and had no Court like that which the Jews speak of to assist him But when he needed assistance he appointed his Sons to be Judges 1 Sam. VIII 1. of whom when the Elders complained v. 4. because they did not discharge their Duty well it was to himself and not to any other Persons and they desire not a Sanhedrim but a King to judge them v. 5. Which Petition we do not find that he communicated to the Sanhedrim but only unto God nor is any mention made of them in the choice of a King or after he was chosen in the History of their Kings till Jehosaphat's time no more than there is in the Book of Joshua and Judges Where we read that when there was no King that is Judge in Israel every Man did what was right in his own eyes which is a sign that there wanted such a Court to keep them in order After the time of Jehosaphat who settled Judges in every City as I observed XVI 18. they continued it is plain till the Captivity but what number there was of them we do not know After the Captivity Ezra and Nehemiah seem to have done all themselves See IX and X Nehem. which
makes it very probable that though there were Judges appointed according to the direction of this Law yet the exercise of their Power was often interrupted by the great Changes which were in that Nation and that there was no such Sanhedrim as the Talmudists describe till the Time of the Maccabees For the very Name of Sanhedrim plainly shews its Original to have been when the Greek Tongue was common among the Jews and that was when the Kings of Syria and Egypt who were of the Macedonian Race had the chief power in Palestine See Conringius in the forenamed Book Sect. XXXVII And enquire They were to lay the Cause before this high Court and desire their Opinion in it And they shall show the sentence of judgment They were bound to determine the Controversie and whatsoever Sentence they gave it was to stand good till it was reversed by other Judges of the same Authority For the Jews who understand all this of the great Sanhedrim and scan every Syllable with great nicety will have the words just before that shall be in those days to signifie that every Sentence must hold in the time when it is given So that if this Court determined a Matter which in after times by other Judges of the same Court should be judged otherways that second Sentence was to stand being the Opinion of those days For this Sentence was in their judgment the meaning of the Law by which they were all to be governed and if there was no Tradition in the Case they judged themselves as well as they could Verse 10 Ver. 10. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place That is the high Court which sits there or the Judge who is in those days Which the LORD shall chuse The Jews who understand this only of the Sanhedrim say it was not lawful for them to judge Causes at least not those which were Capital in any other place See Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis Cap. XV. N. VI VII X. Shall shew thee Shall pronounce And thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee Some phansie that he speaks to the inferiour Judges who brought the Cause thither to have the Opinion of this highest Court who were then to pronounce Sentence according to it But as the Persons concerned in the Controversie brought it before this Court when the Inferiour could not determine it so they gave the Sentence in which he requires the contending Parties to acquiesce and to do according to their determination Which did not concern questions of Faith as if Men were to believe whatsoever they should teach them but such Controversies as are mentioned v. 8. about Civil or Criminal Matters which they were finally to determine so that Men should not further controvert the Matter but rest in their Decisions For in all Governments there must be an end of Suits some where or other and God required all his People to submit to the Sentence of this Court. For so the words run in the Hebrew And thou shalt do according to the Sentence which they shall shew thee from the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse That is from the Supream Court of Judicature which resided where God himself did For if Men had been permitted to disagree to their Sentence the very end and use of this Court had been taken away as Maimonides speaks in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI Ver. 11. According to the Sentence of the Law which Verse 11 they shall teach thee In the Hebrew according to the Mouth or the Word of the Law which they shall teach thee That is according to the Interpretation which they gave of the Law And according to the judgment which they shall tell thee That is according the Order or Decree which they made thereupon Shalt thou do Pay suppose the Money which they judged to be due to another Man For he doth not speak of their doing whatsoever they bad them as if they could controll the Commands of God but of Obeying the Sentence of this Court about those Matters which were in question between one Man and another v. 8. who were not to be Judges in their own Case but rest in the Judgment of those whom God had made the Supream Interpreters of his Law Thou shalt not decline from the Sentence which they shall shew hee c. They were not to make the least alteration in their Sentence For though they might think it was wrong and the Senate perhaps did really err and be better informed afterwards which the Law supposes and in that case orders an Expiatory Sacrifice IV Levit. 13. yet it was not lawful for any Man to act contrary to their present Decree nor to teach the contrary whatsoever his private Opinion might be Verse 12 Ver. 12. And the man that will do presumptuonsly and will not hearken This they understand not barely of a private Man that would not stand to their Sentence but of an Elder or inferiour Judge who presumed to contradict it as Mr. Selden shows L. III. de Synedr Cap. III. Vnto the Priest It is commonly thought as I observed v. 8. that the Singular Number is here put for the Plural and that the meaning is If any Man would not hearken to the highest Court of Judgment which consisted commonly of a great many Priests he should die for his Contempt But they have a great deal of reason on their side who insist upon the Letter of this word Priest and of that which follows or the Judge understanding both of single Persons and take the High-Priest only to be here meant who seems to be described in the next words that stands to minister there before the LORD thy God For when God did not raise up a Judge to govern his People the High-Priest was the Supream Governour under God until the days of David and so they were after the Captivity Hence it is as Grotius observes Lib. de Imperio Summarum Potestatum circa Sacra Cap. IX Sect. 4. that COHEN is a name common to Priests and Princes For among a great many Nations anciently he shows the Priests had the highest power particularly among the Cappadocians Strabo who was of that Country saith the Sacerdotal Dignity was next to the Regal But howsoever this word be interpreted the Crime here mentioned was Contumacy in not submitting to the Sentence of the highest Authority whether it were vested in one Person or more whereby the Government was in danger to be broken and therefore God orders such a person to be put to death Or the Judge See before v. 9. Even that man shall die The Jews who interpret this as I said of a Judge in Inferiour Courts who presumed to contradict the Judgment of the Supream Court have tempered the Severity of this Law by several Explications and Exceptions Which have regard either to the manner of passing this Decree by the highest Court which an inferiour disobeyed and that
was when a Cause came before them upon an Appeal for it was not so Criminal to disobey every Sentence of the Supream Court but only such as these or to the place where it was made which was to be no where else but at God's dwelling place or to the things about which the Decree was made which some will have to be only weighty Matters and the act of Contumacy also was considered for he was not put to death they say unless in open Court he declared a contrary Sentence The death he suffered was strangling and he could suffer in no other place but where this High Court sat See Selden of all these in the place before-mentioned N. II III IV V VI. And it may be further observed that the Prophets themselves were subject to the Power and Jurisdiction of this High Court by whom they might be sentenced to Capital Punishment if they taught contrary to the Law of God But our Mr. Thorndike makes a doubt whether the Constitution which the Jewish Writers mention about a Rebellious Elder as they call him who taught any thing contrary to the determination of this Supream Court was ever in force or no For it was made because of the differences between the Schools of Hillel and Sammai who lived not long before our Saviour's time when it appears by the Gospel that Nation had lost the Power of Life and Death See Rights of the Church Chap. V. p. 256. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel This may refer either to the evil Person or to the great scandal and dangerous Example he gave by resisting the highest Authority and thereby breaking the Bond of Unity and Peace Verse 13 Ver. 13. And all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously This Punishment was intended to strike a terror into all the People that they should not adventure to oppose the Supream Authority And for this end the Offender was to be kept in custody as R. Aquiba understood this till the next great Feast either of the Passover or Pentecost or Tabernacles and then executed when the whole Nation i. e. all the Males were present This Mr. Selden observes in the forenamed place N. VII is the most received Opinion though R. Jehuda saith they did not make the Sentence sharper by a long delay but executed it presently And for the further publication of it they sent Letters to all the Tribes and Cities of Israel to give notice that such a Man was executed at such a time for this Crime See Selden there N. VIII Verse 14 Ver. 14. And when thou comest into the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee and shalt possess it and shalt dwell therein When they had conquered the Land of Canaan and were settled in it And shalt say I will set a King over me The Jews commonly from this and the next Verse fancy that God commanded them to make a King when they came to the Land of Canaan and had a quiet possession of it following herein the Gemara of the Sanhedrim Cap. II. Insomuch that they have presumed to make this an affirmative Precept That a King of the People should be chosen and quote this place for it To which some Learned Men among Christians have seemed to incline particularly Petrus Cunaeus Lib. de Republ. Hebr. Cap. XIV and Guil. Schikardus in his Jus Regium Cap. I. Theor. I. But Abarbinel himself contradicts this and so doth Josephus who observes that God intended they should keep their present Government but if they would have a King he should be one of their Brethren For thus he interprets this place Lib. I. Antiq. Cap. VIII that they should not affect any other Government but love the present having the Laws for their Master and living according to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is sufficient that God is your Ruler And then he adds but if you desire to have a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be one of your own Nation as it here follows in the next Verse Like as all the Nations that are about me Such as the Edomites who had been governed by Kings before the days of Moses See XXXVI Gen. 31. Ver. 15. Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee Install and receive him into the Throne Whom the LORD thy God shall choose They could not elect whom they pleased but the first King at least was to be appointed oy God himself who was their Supream Governour So the People understood it when they desired Samuel who was their chief Ruler under God to make them a King 1 Sam. VIII 5. but durst not to presume to set one up of themselves And to confirm them in this Opinion Samuel saith to Saul 1 Sam. X. 1. The LORD hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance and saith to all the People v. 24. See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen And accordingly when the lot was to be cast to show who was to be their King Samuel bids all the Tribes present themselves before the LORD v. 19. And when it fell upon Saul and they could not find him they enquired of the LORD and the LORD answered where he was v. 22. In like manner when Saul was rejected the LORD himself appointed David to be anointed their King and settled that Authority in his Family And to determine which of his Sons should have it God himself appointed his immediate Successor viz. Solomon For so David declares to all the Princes and the great Men whom he assembled before his death Of all my Sons the LORD hath chosen Solomon to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the LORD God of Israel 1 Chron. XXVIII 5. And again XXIX 1. David said unto all the Congregation Solomon my son whom alone God hath chosen is yet young c. But though it was thus in the beginning of this Kingdom yet God intended at length to make it hereditary as appears from v. 20. of this Chapter One from amongst thy Brethren shalt thou set over thee i. e. Saith the Tradition mentioned by the Jews out of Tosiphta the most select and choice Person that could be found not one of mean Extraction or Employment This they fancy is meant by from among thy brethren Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother This the Jews extend to all Offices whatsoever as Maimonides reports their sense See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XX. p. 647. And by thy brother some of them understand one that was an Israelite both by Father and Mother though others think it sufficient if a King was an Israelite by the Mother's side See there Cap. XXII Which in his Book de Succession ad Pontificat Lib. II. he shows was sufficient for any Dignity among the Israelites but only the Priesthood See also Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. IX N. VI. where he observes the Talmudists say the great Sanhedrim was
to see that no King but one thus qualified was set over the People Which when there was such a Court may be allowed to be true though all the Power which they ascribe to their Sanhedrim over their Kings is by no means to be admitted but is an apparent figment For it is manifest out of the Bible that their Kings had that very Power which they ascribe to the Sanhedrim Particularly it is notorious that Solomon by his own Power put Abiather out of the Office of High-Priest 1. Kings II. 6 26. which Judgment the Talmudists say belonged only to the great Sanhedrim In like manner other Kings judged Prophets which they appropriate to the same Court Ver. 16. But he shall not multiply Horses to himself Verse 16 There is no certain number determined but the Jews well resolve that he was not to keep them for meer pomp and state but only so many as were for use and service To draw his Chariot for instance and for the guard of his Person But he was to take care that he did not burden his People by too many under this or any other pretence And therefore not to keep up a Body of Horse for War For among the Jews their Armies consisted altogether of Footmen there being no breed of Horses in that Country and their People who were all Husbandmen and Shepherds being accustomed to labour and to run as swiftly as a Horse 2 Sam. II. 18. XVIII 19 22 c. Certain it is that in the days of David they had no Horse-men in their Army for when Absolom lost the Battle and fled it was upon a Mule that he indeavoured to make his Escape And though Solomon was so prodigiously rich that he was able to maintain Forty thousand Stalls of Horses for his Chariots and Twelve thousand Horse-men 1 Kings IV. 26. yet succeeding Kings could not keep up such an Expence but when they had occasion sent for Succours from Egypt which commonly consisted of Horse-men Now one of the Reasons the Jews give why their King was not to multiply Horses is lest he should be puffed up with pride for an Horse being a stately Creature his Rider is often swoln with an high conceit of himself as more than one of the Heathen have observed See Bochart in his Hierozoicon Lib. II. Cap. IX Nachmanides gives another good Reason Lest he should confide and trust in the power of his Horse-men more than in God See Schikard in his Mischpat Hammelech Cap. III. Theorem X. But the chief Reason is given by Moses himself in the next words Lest they should be tempted to go to Egypt with which Country it was dangerous to have familiarity Nor cause the People to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply Horses Send his People thither to buy Horses for him it being a Country which abounded with them as Judaea did with Asses For when Sheshak King of Egypt whom the Greek Writers call Sesostris came against Jerusalem there were Threescore thousand Horse-men in his Army 2 Chron. XII 3. Which shows how they abounded with Horses in that Country in those days though in after times they did not care to breed them They might indeed have had Horses out of other Countries as well as Egypt but not so easily nor so good Which made Solomon send thither and Pharaoh set a great price upon them because he knew their value and that they could not furnish themselves so easily with them elsewhere 1 Kings X. 28 29. Forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you ye shall henceforth return no more that way Or the first words may be rendred Forasmuch as the LORD saith unto you c. as he did now by him that they should not maintain Traffick with the Egyptians at lest while they continued Idolaters We read indeed that many Jews went thither and Vrijah the Prophet fled thither XXVI Jerem. 21. of which the Jews give this account First Some say this was but a temporary Constitution which was not to last always Secondly They distinguish about the way of returning thither conceiving that they might not go thither out of the Land of Israel but they might out of another Country whither they were driven Maimonides thinks they might go thither as Merchants but not fix their dwelling there But the true meaning is that they might not voluntarily go thither upon any account at least while they remained as I said so corrupted in their Religion and Manners as they were at this present For there is an express Law XVIII Levit. 3. According to the works of the Egyptians ye shall not do See Schickardus in the forenamed place p. 78. Whence those words of the Prophet Isaiah where when he saith the Land of Israel was full of Horses he adds their Land also is full of Idols II Isaiah 7 8. For by multiplying the one they multiplied the other And therefore though David did reserve some Chariots and Horse-men which he took in his Conquests for his own use yet no great number 2 Sam. VIII 4. But still great Men rode upon Mules 2 Sam. XVIII 9. 1 Kings I. 33 38 41. as they had done in the days of the Judges V. 10. X. 4. XII 14. Verse 17 Ver. 17. Neither shall he multiply Wives to himself This is not a Prohibition to take more Wives than one but not to have an excessive number after the manner of the Eastern Kings whom Solomon seems to have imitated I see no ground for what the Jews say that he might have Eighteen See Schickard in the Book above-named Cap. III. Theor. IX Selden's Vxor Hebr. Lib. I. Cap. VIII Buxtorf de Sponsal Pars I. Sect. 40. For the proof which R. Solomon and Bechin give of it is very weak which is that David having already six Wives 2 Sam. V. 13. the Prophet tells him if he had not offended God he would moreover have given him such and such things i. e. say they twice as many Wives 2 Sam. XII 8. Much less is there any ground for what they say that if he took more than this number he was to be scourged by the Authority of the Sanhedrim as he was they pretend for the breach of any of these Precepts here mentioned See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. IX N. V. Which Grotius indeed endeavours to soften by affirming that these Lashes were no disgrace to him because he received them voluntarily in Token of his Repentance and therefore was not scourged by the common Executioner but by such a Person as he himself chose to give this Correction and he received also such a number of Stripes as he himself pleased and no more Lib. I. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. III. Sect. XX. But this is directly against Maimonides who saith in downright words that the Sanhedrim appointed this Chastisement as Selden observes in another place Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. IX N. V. And there is no Example in the whole Book of God of
like prevailed before the Law of Moses Which Opinion hath something to countenance it from the mention of Divorces in several places XXI Levit. 14. XXII 13. XXX Numb 9. before the Book of Deuteronomy was written wherein he orders a Bill to be given in writing to discharge them If this be true it gives a good reason why God was pleased to grant this permission because they were so settled in this practice that it was safer still to indulge it to them than quite to abolish it Which he did with this Caution that Husbands should not discharge their Wives with a Word bidding them be gone out of Doors i. e. putting them away rashly and in a sudden fit of Anger but first write them a Bill containing their pleasure herein Which being a deliberate act might possibly hinder this Divorce to which they might be prone in a passion but not after some consideration The form of this Bill is in Mr. Selden and exactly scanned Lib. III. Vxor Hebr. Cap. XXIV who observes also in another place of that Book Cap. XIX that as for five hundred years or more the Roman State flourished without the use of Divorces so for seven hundred years after the making of this Law there is no mention of any Bill of Divorce among the Jews that is till the days of Isaiah See Chap. L. 1. and but rarely afterwards And give it into her hand Saying these or some such like words Behold this is thy Bill of Divorce otherwise it was not good And there were to be at least two Witnesses unto it as the Jews say Who make ten things necessary which they think to be founded upon the Law it self to make the Bill legal See Selden in the same Book Cap. XXV And send her out of his house This Dr. Hammond in the place above-mentioned looks upon as an Obligation upon her Husband to furnish her for her Journey to endow her and make provision for her For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to send out signifies in the New Testament to provide a viaticum 1 Corinth XVI 6 11. III Titus 13. where it is explained by letting nothing be wanting But the Jews are of opinion that the Divorce was perfect and legitimate before he sent her out of his Doors For it was sufficient to give her a Bill in such a form as plainly show'd their Matrimony was dissolved and that she was no part of his Family though he had not actually sent her away Yet if he kept her still in his House after this Bill was delivered into her hand it was presumed they cohabited together and he was to give her a new Bill of Divorce In all which I can see nothing like a Command for putting away their Wives if they were disagreeable which the Jews would fain extort out of these words And so they spake unto our blessed Lord XIX Matth. 7. though in another place they spake of it only as a permission X Mark 3. The plain intent of this Law being this That if a Man did put away his Wife as they are here suffered to do she might marry another Man but if that new Husband died she might not return to her first Husband again See Buxtorf de Sponsal Divort. p. 107 108 c. and to show that Moses rather supposed than permitted Divorces p. 113 c. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And when she is departed out of his house So that it is publickly known she is no longer his Wife She may go and be another man's wife The Bond of Marriage being wholly broken by the Bill of Divorce whereby he renounced all interest in her and expresly said in the very body of the Bill as we speak It may be free to thee to marry with whom thou wilt Much more was the Bond broken by Adultery for which our Saviour gives a Man leave to put away his Wife and take another See David Chytraeus concerning this matter p. 117 c. where he reports a very wise Resolution of Luther's Pomeranus and Melancthon in the Case of the Criminal Person Verse 3 Ver. 3. And if the latter husband hate her and write her a Bill of Divorce and give it her in her hand and send her out of his house This shows that no other way of putting away a Wife was allowed but only this For as Maimonides well observes More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLIX if it had been lawful to do it by bare words or simply sending her out of his House any Woman might have left her Husband and said she was put away both she and he that committed Adultery with her pretending a Divorce when her Husband had given her none Therefore the Law wisely provided none should be put away but by such a Bill as is before-mentioned whereby an Authentick Testimony was given of it Or if her latter husband die which took her to wife Whereby she became free again as the Apostle hath observed VII Rom. 2. Ver. 4. Her former husband which sent her away may Verse 4 not take her again to be his wife One would have thought there could have been no danger of any Man 's desiring her again whom he had solemnly sent away with dislike But such is the levity and fickleness of Humane Nature the Jews at least were so inconstant that it seems Men sometimes sought after that which they had rejected and this was the Punishment of their Injustice in putting away a Wife without sufficient Cause as by this they acknowledged that they might not again enjoy her After that she is defiled This is the reason why the former Husband might not marry her again as the Jews take it because by her second Marriage she was defiled Which they say she was so that he could not have her again though she had been only espoused to a new Husband who had never lain with her For they make no difference between her second Marriage and second Espousals but think a Woman contracted such a Pollution by her second Espousals that she would not have been so much polluted if she had plaid the Whore after her Divorce For in that case they say he might notwithstanding have married her again but not after she had been married to another Thus Mr. Selden reports their opinion Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. Cap. XI where he observes that the Mahometans who are wont in many things to ape the Jews here quite differ from them allowing a Man liberty to take his Wife again though he had divorced her three times Now the ground upon which a divorced Woman was accounted defiled or unclean after another Man had married her I suppose was that this was lookt upon as a Solemn Renunciation of her former Husband on her part who had been renounced by him by the Bill of Divorce but he was not absolutely renounced by her till she married another whereby she was totally alienated from him This made her unclean not in her self nor with respect to her
after till the Feast of Dedication which was in our November after which they were not accepted Of the manner of going up with a Bullock before them whose Horns were gilt and Head crown'd with an Olive Garland with Musick and singing in the way the first Verse of the CXXII Psalm c. See Wagenseil in the place above-mentioned and Selden Lib. III. de Synedriis Cap. XIII N. III. with Dr. Light-foot in his Temple-Service And here I cannot but think fit to note that the Heathen in all probability from hence derived the Custom of carrying their First-fruits as a Tithe every year unto the Island Delos where Apollo was supposed to have his special Residence And this not only from the Islands thereabouts and the neighbouring Countries but from all parts of the World as the Jews we find every where sent from the Countries where they dwelt a Sum of Money every year instead of First-fruits and Tithes unto Jerusalem which Priviledge the Romans allowed them after they had conquered them as Josephus tells us Lib. VII de Bello Jud. Cap. XIII That Heathen Custom now mentioned is expressed by Callimachus in his Hymn upon Delos in those remarkable words v. 278 279 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of which is this That First-fruits were sent for Tithes every year from all Countries not only from the East and West and South but from the North also And they were sent with such Joy as the Jews expressed on this occasion for all Cities he saith did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so we read in several Authors that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they called them Solemn Embassies sent from several People by chosen Persons unto Delos to celebrate there the Feast of Apollo with Musick and Dancing c. Particularly the Athenians Peloponesians and Messenians c. of whom see Ezek. Spanhemius in his Observations on Callimachus p. 487. And which is most strange the Hyperboreans a very northerly People sent frugum primitias to this Island as Pliny and I know not how many other Authors testifie Only what he calls the First-fruits of their Corn and such like things they call the First-fruits of their holy things as the same excellent Person observes there p. 490 492 c. Which was done to testifie their honour to this god and for the maintenance of his Priests and other Ministers who attended upon him there For Delos of it self was but a barren Isle the Soil being dry and stony and called therefore by Callimachus v. 208. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are other footsteps of this among the Heathen the Mystica vannus Jacchi mentioned by Virgil in his Georgicks being nothing else according to Servius but vas vimineum a wicker Basket in which their First-fruits were carried See the same Spanheim p. 495. Verse 3 Ver. 3. And thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days Who was then in attendance at the Sanctuary and particularly appointed to wait for their coming When they entred the Gates of the City they sung the second Verse of Psalm CXXII Our feet shall stand in thy gates O Jerusalem And then they went to the Mountain of the Temple and sung the whole Hundred and fiftieth Psalm And as soon as they entred the Court of Israel the Levites began to sing XXX Psal 1. I will extoll thee O LORD my God c. And say unto him The following Confession in this Verse was made by them with the Baskets on their shoulders to stir them up to Humility as Maimonides interprets it His words are these While they were compelled to carry their Baskets on their shoulders and in that manner to proclaim the Divine Benefits it signified that it was a considerable part of God's Worship and Service for a Man to be mindful of his Afflictions and Tribulations when God had given him ease and rest from them This the Law takes care of in several places as when it saith Thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant c. With this intention that he who lived in Riches and Pleasure might be secured from the Vices which spring from thence such as Pride Haughtiness Apostasy and the like According to what is said in this Book VIII 12. Lest thou eat and art full and XXXII 15. Jesurun waxed fat and kicked c. To prevent which God commanded the First-fruits to be thus offered every year to his Divine Majesty More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXIX I profess this day unto the LORD thy God that I am come into the Country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us This is a thankful acknowledgment of God's faithfulness to his promise whereby they were put in mind to be faithful unto him of whom they held this good Land by his gracious and free Gift and held it by this Tenure of paying to him this yearly Rent Ver. 4. And the Priest shall take the basket out of thy Verse 4 hand and set it before the Altar of the LORD thy God After the foregoing words were said the Basket was taken down from their shoulders and every one holding his Basket by the handle or the rim of it the Priest put his hands under it and waved it about according to the Prescription in the Law while the Men recited the following words v. 5 6 c. This waving was a manifest token that it was offered to the LORD of the World as an acknowledgment that he was in a peculiar manner their LORD and Soveraign of whom they held this Land Ver. 5. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD Verse 5 thy God Audibly pronounce in the presence of God A Syrian ready to perish was my father Their Father Jacob was not a Syrian by birth for he was born in the Land of Canaan But one and the same Person may be said to be of divers Countries as Bochartus hath observed with regard either to the Place of his Nativity or of his Education or of his Life and Conversation which occasioned three Countries to be ascribed to our blessed Saviour viz. Bethlehem Nazareth and Capernaum See his Phaleg Lib. II. Cap. V Thus Jacob who was born and bred in Canaan is notwithstanding called a Syrian because he lived Twenty years with his Uncle Laban who was a Syrian XXV Gen. 20. and consequently Jacob's Mother was so as were both his Wives and all his Children who were born there except Benjamin But he is more particularly here called a Syrian to put them in mind of his Poverty when he went first into that Country and there lived as a Servant under an hard Master which is expressed in these words ready to perish that is very poor and reduced to great straits being forced to flee from the fury of his Brother Esau and to travel on foot to Padan-Aram which was comprehended anciently under the name
consume and eat up which they did so entirely that they were lookt upon by all People as a Plague sent by God and are therefore called by Joel his Army II. 25. So not only the Hebrews but the Arabians esteemed them who say that some of them on a time fell before their Prophet as he sat at Meat with this Inscription on their Backs I am God and there is none other besides me the LORD of Locusts who nourish them and when I please send them forth that they may be food for the people and when I please that they may be their plague by eating up their food See Bochartus in his Hierozoicon Pars II. Lib. IV. Cap. VI. Verse 39 Ver. 39. Thou shalt plant vineyards and dress them Take a great deal of care and pains about them after they are planted to make them fruitful But shalt neither drink of the wine nor eat the grapes Not enjoy the least benefit by their cost and labour For worms shall eat them The Hebrew word Tholaath is a general name for all Worms whatsoever But there is a peculiar sort that infest Vines which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Bochartus observes in his Hierozoicon P. II. Lib. IV. Cap. XXVII where he takes notice that the Latines call this Worm Volvox and Convolvulus because it wraps and rolls it self up in the Buds and eats the Grapes up when they grow towards ripeness as the Roman Authors explain it Ver. 40. Thou shalt have Olive-trees through all thy Verse 40 Coasts but thou shalt not anoint thy self with the oil Though the Country abounded with these Trees in all parts of it they produced nothing but Leaves and a show of Fruit which came to no perfection For thy Olive shall cast her fruit Being blasted as the Hierusalem Targum explains it in the very Blossom or the Buds dropping off for want of Rain or the Fruit being eaten with Worms Maimonides observes that the Idolaters in those Countries pretended by certain Magical Arts to preserve all manner of Fruit so that Worms should not gnaw the Vines nor either Buds or Fruit fall from the Trees as he reports their words out of one of their own Books which he names therefore to deterr the Israelites from all idolatrous practices Moses here pronounces that they should draw upon themselves those very Punishments which they studied by such means to avoid More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXVII Ver. 41. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters but thou Verse 41 shalt not enjoy them for they shall go into captivity Which is threatned in many places of the Prophets and fulfilled in several Invasions of their Neighbours for the Syrians no doubt carried captive more than that one little Maid who waited on Naaman's Wife 2 Kings V. 2. And in other inroads upon them till the Captivity of the whole Land this we may be confident was a frequent Calamity 2 Kings XIV 26. XV. 37 c. But it was never more remarkably fulfilled than since they crucified our Saviour their Children having been taken from them as I have observed before v. 32 34. and transported sometimes into other places And who knows whether many of their Stock detained by King Emanuel of Portugal before-mentioned have not been transported into America and whether many of the Spanish Colonies have not a mixture of the Jewish Progeny in them as Dr. Jackson observes Manasseh ben Israel I am sure endeavours to prove in his Book called Spes Israelis that some of the Ten Tribes are in America though how they came there he can give no account Verse 42 Ver. 42. All thy trees and the fruit of thy Land shall the Locust consume So Onkelos and the Hebrew Writers generally translate the word tzelatzal which signifies a peculiar sort of Locusts which falls upon Trees as others upon the Fields And it seems to have this name because these Locusts come in such thick Clouds that they darken the Sun the Hebrew word tzalal signifying to over-shadow The Hierusalem Targum translates it All your Trees and the fruits of your Land shall spoilers possess I suppose these several Judgments fell in the order wherein they are here mentioned in v. 38 39 40 41 42. There being first a great Dearth of which we read 2 Kings VIII 1 c. and I Joel 10 11 12 c. then many Invasions of their Country wherein several were carried Captive by the Bands of Moab upon the Israelites 2 Kings XIII 20. and of the Chaldaeans Syrians and Ammonites who came upon Judah XXIV 2. And we read expresly that before this in the days of Ahaz a great Multitude were carried Captive by the Syrians 2 Chron. XXVIII 5. After which more Spoilers came upon them in the days of Jeremiah XII 12. and a new Famine XIV 1 c. in which this 41st verse may be thought to be fulfilled Ver. 43. The stranger that is within thee shall get up Verse 43 above thee very high and thou shalt come down very low There is no sorer Punishment to a proud People than to see those who are not only their Inferiours but much beholden to them as all Strangers were to the Jews among whom they lived meerly by permission get up above them and become their Superiours But so it was that the Jews by their foolish endeavours to advance themselves raised a meer Stranger to the highest Dignity who humbled them into the lowest Condition For this as that excellent Person I have often mentioned observes may be applied to Vespasian who was appointed to command in the Wars against the Jews and being a Person of mean Birth and obscure Family had no thoughts of aspiring to the Imperial Seat but by the unseasonable desire of the Jews to exalt themselves above all Nations they hoised him up to the most sublime pitch of Greatness who was ordained by God to pluck them down from their Seat and bring them beneath all People See Dr. Jackson Book I. on the Creed Cap. XXIII Paragraph 3 4 c. For he quite extinguished their Glory which was their Temple at Jerusalem and likewise shut up and prophaned the Temple which the Egyptian Jews had built in the Country of Heliopolis after it had stood above Three hundred years Ver. 44. He shall lend to thee and thou shalt not lend to him he shall be the head and thou shalt be the tail Thus the Covenant of God to exalt this People Verse 44 and humble their Foes was quite inverted as he also observes See v. 12 13. all the Plagues threatned to those who bare ill-will to Sion lighting on them and their Friends and all the Blessings promised to such as prayed for her Peace being heaped on those that wrought her ruin Verse 45 Ver. 45. Moreover all these Curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed These Punishments he means should not cease but follow one upon another
was resolved by the common consent of all Christians that no Jew should live in their Territories but be driven out of them throughout all the World By which means the greatest part of them died of several kinds of death or made away themselves so that vix pauci residui fierent in orbe Romano there remained but a very few of them in the Roman World They are the words of Glauber who relates this Lib. III. Cap. VII Verse 63 Ver. 63. And it shall come to pass as the LORD rejoyced over you to do you good and to multiply you so the LORD will rejoyce over you to destroy you and to bring you to nought The state of the Jews from the time of Adrian till the expiration of the Roman Empire cannot be gathered from the Roman Writers but the Fathers of the Church often mention their Miseries and so do their own Authors Particularly the Author of Schebet Jehuda who saith It is not in the power of Man to tell all the Kingdoms and Cities where they were scattered in which they suffered things so horrid that it is fitter to pass them over in silence than to relate them But therein was verified the Divine Prediction XXVI Lev. 38. Ye shall perish among the heathen and the Land of your Enemies shall eat you up Sect. XLIX And Dr. Jackson to explain this hath more particularly observed That as God raised up Cyrus in testimony of his rejoycing to do them good who released them from their Captivity in Babylon so to give the World a proof of his rejoycing to destroy them and bring them to nought he advanced Philip Augustus to the Crown of France about An. 1179. to defeat all the hopes which some kindness shown unto them had put into their hearts For he spoiled their Synagogues of all their Donatives and Ornaments confiscated all their Lands and immoveable Goods and granted a Release of all Debts due unto them from Christians See Book I. upon the Creed Cap. XXVIII Paragr 13. And ye shall be plucked from off the Land whither thou goest to possess it This was wonderfully fulfilled by Adrian who after the strange Desolation before-mentioned prohibited by a Publick Decree ratified with the Senates consent any Jew to come within sight of Judaea This he did out of a politick respect lest the sight of their Native Soil might inspire them with some fresh desperate Resolutions to endeavour their Settlement there again but herein he was unwittingly the Angel of God as the same excellent Person speaks to keep this wicked Race out of that Paradise the good Land out of which he had driven them Verse 64 Ver. 64. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people That was the effect of Adrian's severe Decree of not coming within view of their own Country which made them disperse all the World over where they could find any admittance From the one end of the earth even unto the other Such as were carried Captive in Adrian's War were transported by his order into Spain his own native Country which was then accounted the End of the World westward And many of them it is evident by their own Books fled to Babylon and the Countries thereabout which was as far as they knew Eastward In Spain they continued many years in great abundance as it were expecting a Wind for their Passage to some place more distant from their ancient Seat And who knows whether many of them have not since the discovery of America been transported thither as I before observed Certain it is that the Jews themselves are sensible this Prophecy was not fulfilled till this their last dispersion after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans For thus R. Isaac who had occasion to mention these words in his Munimen Fidei lately brought to light by Wagenseil Perek VI. glosses upon them In the Roman Captivity the Jews were dispersed and dissipated through all the Regions of the East and of the West For every Nation of which the Roman Army consisted when they returned to their own Countries carried some of them along with them into Greece Germany Italy Spain France and all other Countries which either Christians or Mahometans now possess And there thou shalt serve other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known even wood and stone Here that excellent Person I have so often mentioned Dr. Jackson commends it to the Readers consideration whether this part of Moses his Prophecy may not be understood of the Convert Jews throughout the Pope's Dominions who are often urged to commit Idolatry with Stocks and Stones upon more tyrannical terms if they gain-say than their forefathers were either by the Assyrians Chaldaeans Egyptians Romans or any whatsoever that led them Captive out of their Land If it be said There is a great difference between the Heathen Idolatry and the present Image-worship in the Roman Church it is granted the Idolatry is of a divers kind and so it seems Moses meant when he threatens the Jews after their final Transportation into these Western Countries should serve such gods as their fathers had not known for their Fore-fathers before Moses his time and after had known the Heathen gods too well but were perfect Strangers to this Image-worship now in use And to strengthen this interpretation it ought to be observed that these words which neither thou nor thy fathers have known are omitted in the thirty sixth Verse of this Chapter where he speaks of their serving of other gods of wood and stone as he doth here But that part of the Prophecy belongs to what they did in the first Captivity into Babylon as Manasseh ben Israel observes Who understands these words to be a Prophecy of what they have suffered in this last Dispersion For reciting these words Lib. III. de Termino Vitae Sect. 3. p. 131. as containing the greatest Calamity that hath befaln them he saith This we see fulfilled after a singular manner in this present Captivity because of all those Evils wherewith the Hebrews have been afflicted in France and England and Spain For they had been often pressed either to renounce their Religion or to be undone and many times chose rather to comply with the Idolatrous Worship in the Roman Church then be banished and have their Goods confiscated Verse 65 Ver. 65. And among these Nations shalt thou find no rest This was wonderfully fulfilled in the Ages which followed that in which Adrian lived when they both disturbed others and could find no rest themselves For in the third Century they raised Sedition in the Reign of Severus by whom they suffered very much about the Year 202. after our Saviour's Birth And in the next Century we are informed by St. Chrysostom in his second Oration against the Jews Tom. VI. Edit Savil. p. 333. That they rebelled again in the Time of Constantine who causing their Ears to be cropt off dispersed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as vile Fugitives and
for instance in III Galat. 21. asks this question Do you not hear the Law and then quotes what we read in XVI Gen. 21. And so Nehemiah saith X. 34 35. that they brought First-fruits unto God as it is written in the Law viz. XIII Exod. 12. XXIII 19. And Josiah put away the workers with familiar Spirits c. that he might perform the words of the Law 2 Kings XXIII 24. which we find XIX Levit. 30. XX. 6 27. And Ezekiah also 2 Chron. XXXI 3. appointed the daily Oblations and those required at stated times to be offered as it is written in the Law of the LORD which plainly refers to the XXVIIIth and XXIXth of Numbers And Joshua built an Altar on Mount Ebal VIII 30 31. as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses which we find no where but in this Book of Deuteronomy XXVII 4. And delivered it unto the Priests the sons of Levi. Concerning this form of Speech the Priests the sons of Levi see XVII 9. It is probable Moses had wrote most of these Five Books some time ago and so the foregoing words may be translated Moses had wrote this Law but did not finish them till a little before his death and then delivered them to the Priests But there is no necessity thus to understand it for he might have had time enough between this and his death to write the whole Pentateuch It being only said v. 14. Thy days approach that thou must die which doth not imply he was to die in a day or two but there might be some weeks before his departure Which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD It was most proper to deliver it unto them who alone might touch the Ark in which this Law was to be laid v 26. The Kohathites who were mere Levites and not Priests did carry the Ark in their Travels through the Wilderness after the Priests had covered it and put in the Staves thereof as I have shown IV Numb 5 6 c. but it is evident they served only as Ministers to the Priests who upon great occasions bare the Ark themselves As when they passed over Jordan III Josh 3 6. when they compassed Jericho VI Josh 6. and when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated and the Ark brought into it 1 Kings VIII 3 4 6. When David indeed brought the Ark to Jerusalem it is said the Levites bare it but at the same time the Priests also were summoned to take care of it which shows the Levites bare it as their Servants 1 Chron. XV. 2 11 13 14 15. And unto all the Elders of Israel As he delivered this Book of the Law that is the whole Pentateuch as Abarbinel and others of the Jews understand it unto the Priests commanding them to preserve it safe near the Ark v. 24. so he delivered another Copy of this Book to the Elders of every Tribe as the Jews affirm in Debarim Rabba Where they say and it is highly probable that Moses before his death wrote Thirteen Copies of the Law with his own hand as they add and having delivered one unto the Priests to be preserved in the holy Place gave one to each Tribe which he committed to the care of the Elders of it Thus Maimonides also in his Preface to Jad Chazakah as Buxtorf observes in his Histor Arcae Foederis Cap. 5. The intent of which was I suppose that all the People of each Tribe might resort to it as the whole Nation were to resort to that in the Sanctuary if they doubted of any thing which might be thought to be amiss by the errors of Transcribers Ver. 10. And Moses commanded them Both the Verse 10 Priests and the Elders to take care of what follows At the end of every seventh year in the solemnity of the year of release Mentioned XV. 1 c. In the Feast of Tabernacles When they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth and thereby had greater leisure to attend to the hearing of the Law read to them Which when Mens minds were also freed from Cares by the Release of their Debts was likely to make a greater impression upon them Ver. 11. When all Israel is come to appear before the Verse 11 LORD thy God in the place which he shall chuse As they were bound to do at this Feast and at Pentecost and the Passover XVI 16. Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their hearing This Order being directed not to all Israel but to a particular Person plainly imports that the Supream Governour whosoever he was had this charge laid upon him to take care these Laws should be read at this Solemn Time that all the People might hear them And therefore I think the Jews rightly say that their Kings when they had them were bound not only to look after this matter but to read the Law themselves to as many that is as could hear them appointing the Priests and the Levites to read it in as many other Assemblies of the People as were necessary for the fulfilling of this Precept In order to which a Pulpit was set up in the Court of the Men of Israel on the very first day of the Feast for they did not think fit to defer it till the last because it is here said when Israel is come to appear before the LORD not when they were ready to depart as the Jews observe the King going up into it the Minister took the Book of the Law and delivered it to the Ruler of the Synagogue who gave it to the Sagan or Vicar of the High Priest who delivered it to the High Priest and he to the King who stood up to receive it and then sâ—t down to read All this expresses the reverence with which this holy Book was delivered and likewise the reverence with which they approached to the King Who they say began to read at this Book of Deuteronomy which is a Compendium of the Law and proceeded before he stopt to those words VI. 4. Hear O Israel c. which having also read he omitted the rest till he came to Chap. XI 13. And it shall come to pass if thou wilt hearken diligently c. reading on to the 22d Verse And then skipt to XIV 22. And thou shalt truly tithe c. reading on to the Section concerning the King XVII 14. and then the Cursings and Blessings out of the XXVIIth and XXVIIIth Chapter till he had ended all that Section of the Law Thus the Mischna in the Title Sota Cap. VII Sect. VIII which Wagenseil hath lately illustrated with most Learned Annotations and our Dr. Lightfoot also hath given an account of it long ago in his Temple Service Chap. XVII Sect. I. where he saith the King might sit down if he pleased when he read but it was esteemed more honourable if he stood as King Agrippa did when he performed this Office And before he began to read he made a Prayer to God
Land Verse 20 which I sware unto their Fathers that floweth with milk and honey VI. 10 c. XV. 8 9. And they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat VIII 10 11 12 c. XXVII 15. Then they will turn unto other gods and serve them c. Against which he had most solemnly foremarned them in the places before-mentioned and XI 16. XII 29 30. Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass when many evils Verse 21 and troubles are befaln them that this Song shall testifie against them as a witness That they are most justly punished for their foul ingratitude and unbelief with which this Song upbraided them having told them plainly XXXII 18 19. what would be the effect of their forsaking him and at the delivery of it God having solemnly said here v. 17. that when they went a whoring from him he would forsake them and hide his face from them For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed The Calamities which fell upon them according to what is predicted in this Song brought it to their remembrance when they had forgotten it or did not regard it For these words do not seem to be a Precept requiring them to remember this Song but a Prediction foretelling that their Miseries should not suffer them quite to forget it For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware He saw the secret Inclinations and Designs which were in their hearts and perceived that at that very present they hankered as we speak after Idols Verse 22 Ver. 22. Moses therefore wrote this Song the same day And so did Joshua as he was commanded v. 19. who spake the words of this Song unto the People as well as Moses XXXII 44. And taught it the Children of Israel Commanded them to learn it v. 19. In order to which the Jews say every Man was bound to write for himself a Copy of it and more than that they make it one of the affirmative Precepts as Maimonides tells us which obliged every Israelite to write out the whole Book of the Law with his own hand For so they interpret those words v. 19. Write ye this Song for you as if they were spoken to all the People and their meaning had been Write ye this Law for you wherein is this Song for they were not to write the Law by small parts and sections as his words are but all of it intirely And if a Man's Parents had left him a Copy yet he was bound to write one himself or if he could not write to procure one to be written for him by some other Person c. See Schickard's Mischpat Hameleck Cap. II. Theor. V. Verse 23 Ver. 23. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge That is the LORD who had hitherto spoken to him by Moses now spake to him himself and gave him this charge to gain him the greater Authority For which end he had ordered Joshua to present himself before him together with Moses verse 14. Be strong and of a good courage Which he repeats to him after the death of Moses I Josh 6 7. For thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them I have appointed thee to be the Captain of my People to lead them into the Land of Canaan And I will be with thee To give him success in all his Enterprises Which words being spoken in the audience of all the People as may be supposed from v. 14. made them readily submit to the Authority of Joshua and confide in his Conduct Ver. 24. And it came to pass when Moses had made Verse 24 an end of writing the words of this Law in a Book until they were finished The whole Book of his Laws which he put together before his death as I said on v. 9. Ver. 25. That Moses commanded the Levites c. Verse 25 The Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi. See v. 9. Ver. 26. Take this Book of the Law and put it in the Verse 26 side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God Not in the inside of it for he doth not say put it into the Ark but in the side of the Ark that is on the outside in a little Box as Jonathan and others expound it For it is the very same Phrase with that 1 Sam. VI. 8. where the Philistims are said to have put the Jewels of Gold which they returned for a Sin-offering in a Coffer by the side of the Ark. Where none could put it but the High Priest because no Body else might go into the Holy Place where the Ark was And therefore those Priests who received the Book of the Law from Moses delivered it to Eleazer to be there placed See Buxtorf Histor Arcae Cap. V. and Huetius more lately in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. de Can. Libr. Sacrorum Sect. VIII where he observes that R. Meir in both the Talmuds Abarbinel himself and many others have been of opinion from this very place that the Book of the Law was put into the Ark it self being no less precious than the Tables of Stone which were there But the Scripture tells us There was nothing in the Ark save the two Tables of Stone 1 Kings VIII 9. 2 Chron. V. 10. and their reason is good for nothing the two Tables far excelling this Book because written by the Finger of God And therefore other great Doctors among the Jews rightly place it without the Ark as the very words of Moses import That it may be there for a witness against thee It was deposited in that place as a publick Record that if any one should falsifie or deprave any thing in the Law as Abarbinel interprets it he might be convicted out of this Book which was sacredly preserved to be produced as a Witness against him Or as the Author of Tzeror Hammor expresses it that if they should be so wicked as to lose the Books of the Law this Copy kept under the care of the Priests might remain to testifie what was the Will of God As we see it did in the days of Josiah when it was casually found in the House of God as they were about the reparations of it Though I cannot say they found it in the side of the Ark but rather upon the Roof of the House or in the Rafters where the Priests had hid it as some of the Jews think when Manasseh endeavoured to destroy this Authentick Copy of the Law as he had done all other that he could find and when they came to uncover the House there it appeared Ver. 27. For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff-neck I have been sufficiently acquainted with your perverse disposition Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye Verse 27 have been rebellious against the LORD and how much more after my death For it was not
observes they hurt themselves not God when leaving him the true God they turned to Idols For the word corrupt is commonly used in Scripture where it speaks of the sin of Idolatry The Hierusalem Paraphrast aims at the same sense They are a perverse and crooked Generation The whole Body of them are untoward and untractable walking contrary to God in all their ways For there being a gemination as they speak of a syllable in the latter of these words Pethalthol it increases the sense and makes it the same with the Superlative Degree among us importing the highest obliquity imaginable And these words were never more exactly fulfilled than in the days of our blessed Saviour who calls them a wicked and adulterous a faithless and perverse Generation XVI Matth. 4. XVII 17. And in the days of the Apostles who call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an absurd kind of People 2 Thess III. 2. Who pleased not God and were contrary to all men 1 Thess II. 15. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Do ye thus requite the LORD O foolish people and unwise He upbraids them with their senseless folly and foul ingratitude which in the following words he demonstrates by representing the Obligations he had laid upon them Is not he thy father Having adopted them in a peculiar manner to be his Children above all other People Who hath taught thee When he rescued them from the slavery of Egypt Hath not he made thee Advanced them for so the word Asa is translated 1 Sam. XII 6. to be a great and mighty People See C Psal 3. And established thee By settling them in excellent order under the Government of most wise and righteous Laws See Chapter the fourth of this Book v. 7 8. Verse 7 Ver. 7. Remember the days of old Look back as far as you are able Consider the years of many generations Consult the most ancient Records which would inform them how God chose their Father Abraham long ago and promised to bless his Posterity as he did Isaac and Jacob in a most eminent manner and sent Joseph by a wonderful Providence into Egypt to preserve them from starving c. Ask thy Father and he will show thee thy Elders and they will tell thee All this is to express the same thing that they should advise with those that knew more than themselves and particularly with old Men as the word may be understood which we translate Elders who by the benefit of their great Age had heard and seen more than others and could tell them how God had dealt with them ever since he brought them by a wonderful Power out of the Land of Egypt Ver. 8. When the most High divided to the Nations Verse 8 their Inheritance He directs them still to look further back and they would find that long before Abraham's time God had them in his thoughts even when he divided the Earth among the Sons of Noah and their Posterity after the Flood X Gen. 5 25 32. When he separated the sons of Adam Or the sons of Men who were one People till he scattered them into several Parts of the Earth and separated them into divers Nations by confounding their Language XI Gen. 8 9. He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Children of Israel He had then the Children of Israel in his mind before they were a Nation and made such a distribution to other People particularly to the Seven Nations of Canaan within such bounds and limits as that there might be sufficient room for so numerous a People as the Israelites when they came to take possession of that Country How the Seventy came to translate these words thus He appointed the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Angels it is hard to say Bochartus hath made the best Conjecture about it which was hinted by de Muis before him Lib. I. Phaleg Cap. XV. that they had a bad Copy before them which left out the three first Letters of Israel and so they read baneel the Children of God meaning the Israelites Instead of which some Transcribers put the Angels of God because they are sometimes called his Sons Which led the ancient Greek Fathers who followed this Translation into great difficulties and it grew a common Opinion that every Nation was under the Government of an Angel which seems to be the meaning also of the Son of Sirach XVII Ecclus. 17. And many others fancying that God divided the Nations according to the number of the Children of Israel when they came into Egypt which was just Seventy they thence gather there were just so many distinct Nations and so many several Languages Which is a Conceit of some of the Jews as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. IX But Bochart in the place above-named hath given the plain and simple meaning of this place in these words God so distributed the Earth among the several People that were therein that he reserved or in his counsel designed such a part of the Earth for the Israelites who were then unborn as he knew would afford a commodious habitation to a most numerous Nation Verse 9 Ver. 9. For the LORD's portion is his people And not satisfied with this kindness he chose them alone out of all other Nations to be under his special Care and to enjoy singular Priviledges which none other had and therefore they are called his peculiar Treasure XIX Exod. 5. This Origen maintains to be true against all the Cavils of Celsus Lib. V. p. 250. Edit Cantabr where he shows how beneficial their Laws were and that they were taught so early to know God to believe the Immortality of the Soul and Rewards and Punishments in the Life to come as demonstrated they were distinguished from all other People whatsoever See p. 260. Jacob is the Lot of his Inheritance This is the same thing repeated in other words alluding to the manner of measuring and dividing Lands by Cords as the word in the Hebrew is which we translate lot See XVI Psal 6 and Chapt. IV. of this Book v. 20. Ver. 10. He found him in a desert Land There Verse 10 he first took the Israelites to be his peculiar People for so the word we translate found frequently signifies As in Psal CXVI 3. The pains of Hell gat hold upon me where in the Hebrew the words are found me And in the New Testament IV Rom. 1. What shall we say then that Abraham our Father hath found that is attained In the waste-howling wilderness Desolate and void of all Sustenance where nothing was to be heard but the howlings and yellings of wild Beasts VIII Deut. 15. He led him about Conducted the Israelites from place to place XXXIII Numb 1 2 c. He instructed him Gave them his Laws XX Exod. 1 2 c. XXXIV 1 10 c. He kept him as the apple of his eye Protected and defended them from all dangers with extraordinary care for there is
were taken Captive as well as those that fell in the battle From the beginning of revenges upon the Enemy How the Hebrew word Paroth comes to signifie revenges I am not able to give an account but in that sense we take it both here and in V Judges 2. The word Para from whence it seems to be derived signifies to make bare or naked And so the Vulgar Latine here understands it and thence Joh. Forsterus hath given a probable sense of these words taking rosch which we translate beginning for the head as it properly signifies or the King in this manner because of the baring i. e. making bare of the head by the Enemy That is the taking away of the Kingdom and Priesthood from Israel The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Head of the Princes of the Enemies Which is a sense very agreeable if we could find any word in the Hebrew like to Paroth that signifies Princes or Rulers But I think there is a more simple sense may be given of these words than any of the forementioned only by supposing the Particle Lamed to be omitted as in many other places before paroth Which is this from the King to the Slave of the Enemies For they were wont to shave their Captives as every one knows by way of Contempt and Scorn Which is the reason God threatens baldness so often to the Israelites by his Prophets when he was so angry with them that he gave them up to be Slaves Next to this is the Translation of Onkelos I will take away those words he adds the Crowns from the head of the Enemy Which was the making the King's head bare This universal slaughter is most notably expressed by Jeremiah L. 35 36 37 43. And some think this Prophecy will be then most amply fulfilled when the Jews shall be called and made Members of the Church of Christ See Dr. Jackson Book XI on the Creed Chap. XII Ver. 43. Rejoyce O ye Nations with his People Verse 43 Here the Particle eth is omitted before ammo as I supposed in the foregoing words lamed to be before paroth Which made the Vulgar translate these words O ye Nations praise his People But the LXX discerned the true sense and translate it as we do The Apostle having justified their Translation in XV Rom. 10. where he expresses this word for word as they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rejoyce ye Gentiles with his People But it must here be noted that before these words the LXX have some other which are very remarkable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rejoyce ye Heavens together with him and let all the Angels of God worship him and then follows Rejoyce ye Gentiles with his People which are not in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee and yet the latter Clause of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all the Angels of God worship him are the very words of the Apostle I Hebr. 6. which seem to have been taken from hence out of the LXX for they are no where else to be found in the Scripture The Margin indeed of our Bibles refers us to XCVII Psalm 7. But there the words of the LXX are otherwise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worship him all ye his Angels Which are in the second Person whereas here and in the Apostle the words are in the third We may therefore suppose rather that the LXX from ancient Tradition among the Jews added these words before they translated this Verse to declare unto what time the fulfilling of them should principally belong For the XCVII Psalm seems to be but a descant as Dr. Jackson's words are upon this part of Moses his Song from whence the Jews might learn the Scope of it And accordingly the Apostle uses the words of the LXX here in this place rather than those of the Psalmist because he would have the Hebrews understand and consider that Moses himself had predicted the Exaltation of the Son of God as the Psalmist afterwards expounded him There is another Translation of these words of Moses which is very agreeable to the Apostle in XV Rom. 10. Rejoyce ye Nations who are his People See v. 21. of this Chapter Either way this is a plain Prophecy of the Gentiles becoming one Body with the People of Israel And thus Kimchi himself translates it Sing ye Gentiles who are his People which began to be fulfilled after our Saviour's Ascension to the Throne of his Glory in the Heavens when all the Angels of God worshipped him Hitherto Moses had supposed in this Song great Enmity between them and that sometimes they had plagued Israel sorely as at others God rendred to them according to what they had done unto his People But now he breaks out into a rapture of Joy to think that they should one day be reconciled and made one People of God And the LXX thus understanding it might well preface to their Translation of this Verse with the words now mentioned Rejoyce ye Heavens together with him For if there be joy in Heaven as Procopius Gazaeus well glosses at the Repentance of one Sinner how much more for the Salvation of the whole World by destroying the Devil's Tyranny Which being to be performed by the Advancement of the Son of God into the Heavens the next words might well be added Let all the Angels of God worship him Which they had always done the same Procopius observes as their God who created them but now they Praise and Extol his Humanity exalted at the right Hand of God For he will avenge the blood of his Servants These words seem to express some of the Motives that should perswade the Gentiles to become one Body with the Jews for such the Apostles and all the first Converts were God's punishing all those who shed the Blood of his Servants as the Christian Martyrs are called in the Book of the Revelation In which confidence the LXX add another Sentence before these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and let all the Sons of God be strong in him And will render vengeance to his Adversaries To all such as oppose this blessed Union and first to the Jews who set themselves against it more than any others being mad at the Apostles for preaching to the Gentiles and then to the Romans who persecuted all those who embraced Christianity And will be merciful unto his Land This cannot be meant of the Land of Israel which was no longer God's Land than any other but of the whole Earth as Conrad Pellicanus well explains it in which that one People of God dwells reduced as he speaks in the whole Multitude of the Faithful into one Catholick Church For they all acknowledge from the greatest to the least that One only Omnipotent God with no less Devotion and Affection than Abraham Isaac Jacob and Moses did And unto his People The whole World that believe in Christ and are his faithful Servants whose Blood he will avenge XIX Revel 2. and then