cause him to come near unto him Make it appear that they are the Persons who ought to burn Incense and to offer Sacrifice For to come near is to perform these Offices as may be learnt from XIX Levit 22. but especially from X Levit. 3. And the very word Cohen denotes it for it signifies a Minister next to the King And him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him They shall discharge the Office of Priesthood whom God himself hath chosen to it and no Body else Ver. 6. This do I put you to this Trial. Verse 6 Take your Censers Perform the Office of Priests unto which you pretend a right Korah and all his Company All the Two hundred and fifty Men and whosoever else were in the Faction of Korah Whom he orders no doubt by God's direction to execute the Office to which they aspired Ver. 7. Put Fire therein and put Incense in them Verse 7 As the Priests were wont to do Before the LORD to morrow At the Altar of Incense as some conceive before the most Holy Place So Menochius But this is contrary to v. 18. where we read they stood in the door of the Tabernacle with their Censers Fire and Incense Nor would the Sanctuary contain such a Company or if it had been large enough the People could not have seen either their Offering or their Punishment from the LORD for their Sin Therefore these words before the LORD signifie with their Faces towards the Sanctuary at the Gate of which they stood for what was done there is said to be before the LORD XXIX Exod. 42. And it shall be that the Man whom the LORD doth choose he shall be holy This comprehends both the Man and all his Family so the meaning is the LORD would declare whether Aaron and his Sons should execute the Priesthood alone or Korah and his Company be admitted to it Ye take too much upon you ye Sons of Levi. It is the same Phrase which we had before v. 3. Rab-lachem you are high enough already let the station wherein you are suffice you and aspire not after greater Dignity The following words justifie this Interpretation Verse 8 Ver. 8. And Moses said unto Korah hear I pray you ye Sons of Levi. By this and by the foregoing verse it appears not only that there were some of the Levites in this Sedition together with Korah at the Head of them but that they were the chief Incendiaries though others as I said before were drawn in to joyn with them because Moses addresses himself only to them Verse 9 Ver. 9. Seemeth it a small thing unto you Do you take it to be no honour to you That the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel Made choice of you above all other Israelites to wait upon him in his Family as his Domestick Servants III Numb 12. VIII 6 14. To bring you near to himself Though not so near as the Priests yet nearer than all other Men being the sole Attendants upon the Priests III. 6. VIII 10 11. To do the Service of the Tabernacle of the LORD III. 7 8. particularly the Kohathites were chosen to do the Service of the Tabernacle about the most holy things IV. 4 19. And to stand before the Congregation to minister unto them VIII 11 19. Ver. 10. And he hath brought thee near to him and Verse 10 all thy Brethren the Sons of Levi with thee Or Though he hath brought thee speaking unto Korah thus near to him and all the rest of the Levites thy Brethren See VIII 10 11 15 19. And seek ye the Priesthood also Will it not content you that you alone are chosen to minister unto the Priests III. 6. but you must be advanced to minister unto God in their Office Ver. 11. For which cause both thou and all thy Company Verse 11 are gathered together against the LORD By whose order Aaron and his Sons were appointed to serve him in the Office of Priests as was declared when the Levites were taken to minister unto them III. 3. IV. 15 19 20. And therefore to rise up against them was to rise up against the LORD and oppose his Authority who made them his Priests And what is Aaron Or And Aaron what hath he done Wherein is he faulty That ye murmur against him For taking upon him the Office of Priesthood into which he did not intrude himself but was chosen and appointed by God to do him that Service who would have been angry with him if he had refused it Ver. 12. And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram Verse 12 the Sons of Eliah To Summon them to the place where Moses now was which the Jews say was the Court of Judgment This shows that either these Men as I said v. 2. did not openly appear with Korah and his Company against Moses v. 3. Or if they did they retired to their Tents before he rose up from his Prayer to give them an Answer What became of On we are not informed for he is neither mentioned here nor in the following part of this Narrative concerning their Sedition nor any where else in the Holy Scripture Which said We will not come up They bad the Messenger who summoned them to appear before Moses to tell him plainly that they denied his Authority For that 's the meaning of this Language He hath no Authority to command us who are none of his Subjects and therefore will not obey him Verse 13 Ver. 13. Is it a small thing with thee that thou hast brought us up out of a Land flowing with Milk and Honey to kill us in the Wilderness Though they would not come to him yet they returned him this Message Have we not suffered enough by being brought out of a rich and plentiful Country abounding with all good things into a barren Wilderness where we are ready to starve Nothing could be more insolentand ungrateful than to describe Egypt in the very same Language wherein God himself had often spoken of the Land of Promise particularly when he sent Moses to tell them he would bring them up out of the Affliction of Egypt under which they groaned III Exod. 16 17. Except thou make thy self altogether a Prince over us Unless we allow thee to make what Laws thou thinkest good and impose what thou pleasest upon us A most rude and insolent Speech signifying that they had not shaken off the Yoke of Bondage but only exchanged it and instead of the Rich and Wealthy Oppression of Pharaoh were come under the Poor and Hungry Tyranny of Moses For so the next verse imports Ver. 14. Moreover thou hast not brought us into a Verse 14 Land that floweth with Milk and Honey c. Or Certainly this is not the good Land into which thou didst promise to conduct us It seems to be a Sarcastical Speech Upbraiding him as if he had put a Cheat upon them and fed them only with
Appendix to Wagenseil's Annotations upon Sota p. 1186. And offer it upon the Altar At the South-Corner of it Ver. 26. And the Priest shall take an handful of the Verse 26 Offering even the Memorial thereof See upon the second Chapter of Leviticus v. 2. And burn it upon the Altar The rest of it the Priests were to eat unless her Husband himself was a Priest in which case it was all thrown among the Ashes See Selden in the place above-named Where he also observes that if she confessed the Fact or her Husband would not have her drink or either of them died before she drunk or a Witness of the Adultery appear'd which made the Waters useless the whole Sacrifice was burnt and not only a Memorial thereof All which is in the Mischna Sect. III. and IV. And afterward shall cause the Woman to drink of the Water The Sacrifice therefore was first offered though the Mischna say that if the Priest gave her the Water to drink first and then presented the Offering he did not do amiss Verse 27 Ver. 27. And when he hath made her to drink the Water By this it appears he might force her to drink if she would not do it by perswasion Then it shall come to pass that if she be defiled and have done Trespass against her Husband that the Water that causeth the Curse shall enter into her and become bitter c. These Effects here mentioned presently followed For she grew pale and her Eyes were ready to start out of her Head c. so that they cryed out Carry her forth carry her forth lest she defile the Court of the Temple by dying there as the Mischna saith Cap. III. Sect. 4. The Adulterer also if we may believe the Jews died the same day and hour Nay his Belly swelled as hers did and his secret Parts rotted as the Author of Ez. Hechajim saith in Wagenseil upon Sota Cap. V. Sect. 1. Where he adds that all this came to pass in case her Husband had never offended in the same kind For if he had at any time defiled the Marriage-bed then this Water had not these Effects upon his Wife though she had been faulty Which the Gemara also affirms Verse 28 Ver. 28. And if the Woman be not defiled but be clean then she shall be free Receive no harm at all by drinking the Water And shall conceive Seed If she was barren before she became fruitful after this trial and also bare a Man-child if we may believe the Jews and had easie labour Her Beauty also increased her Health was confirmed and if she had any Disease it was cured They observe also that if after she was thus cleared she kept company again with the same Man whom her Husband suspected and by his renewed Admonition had required her not to be in private with him this potion was not repeated but she was dismissed from being his Wife without any Dowry But if she kept company with any other Person privately after Admonition to the contrary this potion might be repeated as often as she offended with new Lovers Thus that MS. Ez. Hechajim so highly commended by Wagenseil Who also adds that in case her Husband put her away after her Acquittal and she married another Man who had the same ground of Jealousie that her former Husband had because of her Familiarity with the same Person whom he had forbidden her to keep company withal her new Husband might bring her to a new trial by this Water And so might as many Husbands as she should marry one after another if she gave the like occasion of Jealousie Ver. 29. This is the Law of Jealousies Whereby Verse 29 God declared himself to be privy to the most secret Sins and to be both the Preserver of Conjugal Faith and Chastity and the Protector of Innocence And provided that Man and Wife should live happily together by keeping Men from cruel and furious Proceedings against their Wives when they entertained a Jealousie of them willing them to commend the Case to God and by containing Wives in their Duty out of dread of this Punishment Which was so terrible as Maimonides well observes even to innocent Women that they would have given all they had to avoid it nay wish'd rather to die than undergo such a publick Infamy of having their Head uncovered their Hair cut off as he represents it their Garment torn to their Breasts and so to stand in the Sanctuary before a great multitude of Men and Women and the whole Sanhedrin More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLIX When a Wife goes aside If the Man went aside from her she had not the same Action against him because the Family was not so much injured by his going aside as by hers which brought a spurious Brood to inherit his Estate To another instead of her Husband Hence the Talmudists conclude such an Action did not lie against a Woman who was only espoused or that waited for her former Husband's Brother to take her to Wife if they gave Suspicion of being defiled So the Mischna Cap. IV. Sect. I. And is defiled By that other Man with whom she went aside Verse 30 Ver. 30. Or when the Spirit of Jealousie cometh upon him and he be jealous over his Wife It appears by the first words of this Law v. 13 14. that whether she was really defiled or there was only a vehement Suspicion of it which bred a Jealousie in him the Husband had liberty to bring her to this trial for his own Satisfaction Which Law was rather permissive than preceptive And shall set the Woman before the LORD That he might show whether there was cause for her Husband's Jealousie or not See v. 18. And the Priest shall execute upon her all this Law Though the Man was not bound to bring her to this Trial but rather the contrary if he could otherwise get rid of his Jealousie yet the Priest was bound to proceed against her according to the foregoing Rules when she was set before the LORD to be tried And he might set her before him on any day that was not a Festival and in any hour of the day but not in the night nor might he give the Drink to two suspected Women at one and the same time Ver. 3. Then shall the Man be guiltless from iniquity Verse 31 and the Woman shall bear her iniquity By Iniquity here is to be understood the Punishment due to Iniquity For the Wife or her Parents if she appeared to be innocent could have no action against the Husband upon the Account of this Accusation And if she was guilty she was justly punished for her Crime and her Husband had no reason to say as the Jews speak in Pesikta Wo is me that I have killed a Daughter of Israel c. for he is here pronounced innocent in that matter by the Eternal God Who doth not exercise a Tyranny as they there go on over his Creatures nor gives them Precepts
observes Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 20. sect 9. and see Selden de Jure Nat. Gent. Lib. IV. cap. 4. But this Judgment as they call it seems not to be well grounded upon the Fact of Phineas who was a publick Person and had an extraordinary motion not to be imitated by private Men nor was it followed till the latter times of the state of that Nation Through her belly The Vulgar hath it through her Secret Parts And so the Jews in Pirke Eliezer c. 47. and in other Books such as Pesikta and Siphri where they make many Miracles to have concurred in this Fact particularly they say that the Relations of Zimri going to fall upon Phineas for killing their Prince the Angel of the LORD smote them and cut them off So the Plague was stayed from the Children of Israel It seems a Pestilential Disease as Josephus calls it swept away many of the Offenders who could not so speedily be punished by the Judges But it stopt immediately upon this pious Act of Phineas Verse 9 Ver. 9. And those that died of the Plague were Twenty and four thousand There were but Twenty and three thousand who died of the Plague it self as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. X. 8. but there were a thousand more taken off in the Plague time or during the Plague as the Hebrew words may be read For in the Twenty and four thousand Moses comprehends all those who were killed by the Sword in the day of the Plague as the Phrase is v. 18. whereas St. Paul reckons those only who died of the Pestilence as many have observed particularly Bochartus Lib. II. Hieroz cap. 34. P. I. It is probable that from hence it was that the Author of the Samaritan Chronicle took up a Conceit that the King of Moab sent Twenty four thousand Damsels to Seduce the Israelites as Hottinger reports his words in his Smegma Orientale cap. 8. p. 448. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying After the Plague was stayed it is likely Moses went into the Tabernacle to give God thanks for his Mercy to his People and then he spake to him what here follows Verse 11 Ver. 11. Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest hath turned my Wrath away from the Children of Israel Though they wept and mourned before the Door of the Tabernacle yet that did not prevail so much for Mercy as this Heroick Act of Justice While he was zealous for my sake among them With a fervent and courageous Affection vindicated the Divine Honour by a speedy punishment of those notorious Offenders That I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousie Did not proceed to destroy them by the Pestilence when I was so highly incensed against them For it is observed by Herodotus himself in his Euterpe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for great Crimes there are as great Punishments sent from God which is necessary for the Publick Good For unless by such means a stop be put to open Impurities to Murders and such like Crimes not only all Civil Society will be overturned but Nations become so wicked that they will be fit for nothing but to be rooted out by the Divine Vengeance as the Canaanites were Thus Cicero discourses Philip. VIII In Corpore si quid ejusmodi est quod reliquo corpori noceat c. In the Body if there be any thing which hurts the rest of the Body it is necessary to cut it off or to burn it that some one Member rather than the whole Body perish And so it is in the Body of the Commonwealth Vt totum salvum sit quicquid est pestiferum amputetur that the whole may be preserved let that which is infectious be lopped off Ver. 12. Wherefore say Unto Phineas or unto Verse 12 all the People Behold I give thee my Covenant of Peace The word Peace in Scripture comprehends all manner of Blessings and therefore this is a solemn Promise and Engagement to make him and his Family prosperous the particular Blessing which he entails upon him following in the next verse But some will have this to signifie that he should be the great Reconciler of God to his People and make Peace between them hereafter as he had done at present Philo seems to think this and the Priesthood to be two distinct things when he saith God crowned his Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with two Gifts Peace and the Priesthood And the Jews make Peace to consist in a long Life of Prosperity which was fulfilled in Phineas his Person who lived till the latter times of the Judges XXI Judg. 28. Pirke Elieser interprets it he gave him the life of this World and of the next Verse 13 Ver. 13. And he shall have it and his Seed after him It shall continue in his Family Even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood This is the particular Happiness which God settled upon him and his Posterity as long as their State lasted Which was with some limitation it appears by this that after some Successions in the Line of Phineas the Priesthood came for a time into the Family of Eli who was descended from Ithamar the youngest Son of Aaron The reason of it is not mentioned in the Scripture but some great Sin it is reasonable to suppose provoked God to set aside the Line of Eleazar for some years till Eli's Sons also became so wicked that the Priesthood was taken from them and restored in the days of Solomon to the Posterity of Phineas with whom it continued as long as the Priesthood lasted What Sin this was and when committed we do not know Some of the Hebrew Doctors are so bold as to say it was because Phineas would not absolve Jephthah from his Vow as Mr. Selden observes Lib. I. de Success in Pontif. cap. 2. But as there is no ground for this and such like fancies which others of them have so it is more probable that some of Phineas's Successors offended rather than he himself his Posterity for four Generations holding the Priesthood before it was translated to Eli as Josephus and others mentioned by Selden in the place before-named make account Aegidius Camartus in his Book de Rebus Eliae cap. 3. sect 5. and Corn. Bertram cap. 15. de Republ. Jud. imagine that in those confused times none of the Priests were found fit to administer the Affairs of the Nation but Eli alone and therefore he was appointed by God to it as appears from 1 Sam. II. 30. But L'Empereur in his Annotations upon Bertram well observes That it being the constant course of God's proceedings to continue his Mercies to the Israelites according to his promise while they were obedient but to take them away when they became disobedient it is highly reasonable to conclude there was some great Offence given to God by some of the Race of Phineas which was the cause that they lost this Dignity But
so constant was God to his Promise that he preserved his Line in a continued Succession of twelve Persons from Phineas to Azariah who executed the Priest's Office in the Temple that Solomon built in Jerusalem as we read 1 Chron. VI. v. 4. to the 10th From which time to the Captivity of Babylon there were nine more as we read there in the following verses And after the end of the Captivity unto the time of Antiochus Eupator the Jews reckon fifteen more the last of which Onias was killed by Lysias And after him there were eight of the Family of the Asmonaei the last of which Aristobulus was killed by Herod who after that made whom he pleased Because he was jealous for his God God who searches the hearts saw that this motion proceeded not from any private Passion but out of pure Love and fervent Affection to him and from Indignation to see his Divine Majesty so affronted For Zeal is a mixed Affection of Love and Anger And made an Atonement for the Children of Israel Procured a Pardon for all his Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo expresses it by his uncommanded and spontaneous diligence to vindicate God's Honour flowing from his sincere Devotion to God's Service Verse 14 Ver. 14. Now the name of the Israelite that was slain even that was slain with the Midianitish Woman God would have his Name stand upon record partly to make it infamous and partly to do honour to Phineas who durst venture to set upon a Man who had so great an interest in his Tribe as is mentioned in the next words Zimri the Son of Salu a Prince Not the chief of the whole Tribe but of a great Family in that Tribe Of a House among the Simeonites In the Hebrew the words are of a House of a Father For the Tribes were divided into Families and these into Houses every one of which had a Head or Chief See the first Chapter of this Book v. 2. and Zimri was one of those principal Persons though not Prince of all the Simeonites Verse 15 Ver. 15. And the name of the Midianitish Woman that was slain was Cozbi the daughter of Zur This is set down also to show how little Phineas feared the great Men either in Israel or elsewhere For Zur is reckoned afterwards as one of the Kings of Midian XXXI 8. or Princes XIII Josh 21. He was Head over a People and of a chief House in Midian The Hebrew word Vmmoth which we translate People signifies Nations So that if we translate these words exactly they sound thus He was Head of Nations of a House of a Father in Midian that is Chief of divers Families who all sprung from the same Father or Original in that Country Ver. 16. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Verse 16 Some time after this though not long as appears from XXXI 1 2. but a little before Moses his death Ver. 17. Vex the Midianites Among whom this Verse 17 pernitious Contrivance was hatched For Balak being so incensed against Balaam that he bid him be gone in all haste out of his Country XXIV 11. Balaam would not stay to propound unto him this mischievous Advice which was in his Head but went to the Midianites and there discovered it Which was the same thing he knew as if he had acquainted Balak with it there being a great Friendship between the two Nations XXII 4. It is likely also that the Midianites were the first that advised Balaam should be sent for which made their Guilt the greater but the Moabites did not escape though for Lot's sake perhaps II Deut. 9. their Punishment was deferred till future times as Balaam prophesied XXIV 17. And they were also excluded by a Law made immediately after this from the Society of the Israelites for this very Fact XXIII Deut. 3 4. And smite them With the Sword as we find they did Chapt. XXXI Ver. 18. For they vex you with their wiles Have Verse 18 sorely distressed you by their subtil Devices Wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor Drawn you in to commit foul Idolatry Here Peor which was a Mountain in Moab where Baal had a Temple as I observed XXIII 28. is used for the Idol it self which was there worshipped being a contraction of Baal-Peor And so it is XXXI 18. XXII Josh 17. And in the matter of Cozbi And into lewd filthiness with Idolatrous Women The Daughter of a Prince of Midian By whose consent no doubt she went upon this wicked design that by her noble Garb and Attendance she might the more powerfully intice the great Men of Israel to Idolatry Their Sister Whom the whole Family were content to prostitute that they might compass the destruction of the Israelites But by Sister may be meant one of the same Country or Nation the same kind of Language being used among them that was among the Jews who called one another Brethren and Sisters being descended from the same stock as Christians did all those that were of their Religion Which was slain in the day of the Plague When so many Thousands fell by the Pestilence For Peor's sake For worshipping Baal-Peor into which they were inveigled by the Women who invited them to a Feast and there by their Charms excited another fleshly Appetite in them which they would not let them satisfie unless they would both eat of their Sacrifices and worship their Idol And perhaps they told them it was not lawful for them to consent to their desire unless they would be of their Religion CHAP. XXVI Chapter XXVI Ver. 1. AND it came to pass after the Plague Mentioned Verse 1 in the foregoing Chapter v. 9 17. Though some fancy it refers unto all the Plagues that had swept away all the former Generation except two Persons It is likely this may be done in the eighth Month of the fortieth Year after they came out of Egypt The LORD spake unto Moses and unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest saying As God had formerly joyned Aaron with Moses I Numb 1 17. II. 1. IV. 1 c. So now Aaron being dead he joyns his Son Eleazar with him to show that he succeeded not only in his Place and Office but also in his Authority Ver. 2. Take the Sum of all the Congregation of the Verse 2 Children of Israel They had been twice numbred before this Once before the building of the Tabernanacle in the first year after they came out of Egypt when they paid every Man half a Shekel towards it XXX Exod. 11 13. XXXVIII 25. And again when they were to be encamped in the second month of the second year I Numb 1 2 c. And now all those Men who had been then numbred thirty eight years ago being dead as appears from v. 64. of this Chapter God commands them to be numbred a third time Partly that he might demonstrate his faithfulness to his word in multiplying them vastly notwithstanding all their