twice as great for they made two Calves though they had seen the terrible Punishment which came upon their Forefathers from making one Ver. 35. And the LORD plagued the people With the Pestilence as some imagine though it be not mentioned in Scripture Or he means all the Evils that afterward consumed them in the Wilderness But there are those who understand this of the slaughter made by the Levites which he briefly repeats as the manner sometimes is in these Writings as a Conclusion to this History of the Golden Calf Because they made the Calf which Aaron made Provoked him to make CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1. AND the LORD said unto Moses depart and go up hence thou and thy people c. This is a renewal of the Order he had already given XXXII 34. which he further explains by expresly assuring him he would make good his Promise to their Fore-fathers of which Moses had remembred him XXXII 13. But they were not by this ordered presently to remove till Moses had been again in the Mount and the Tabernacle was set up and all the Service of it prescribed And I will send an Angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite c. I will not wholly withdraw my Protection from you as he had for the present XXXII 25. but send one of my Ministers to discomsit your Enemies till you get possession of their Land Ver. 3. For I will not go up in the midst of thee For though I intended to have dwelt among you my self by my special Presence which was in the SCHECHINAH XXV 8. XXIX 43 45 46. you have justly forfeited that favour The Chaldee gives the true sense of this Speech I will not make my Majesty so the SCHECHINAH or Divine Glory was called to go up in the midst of thee And accordingly it follows v. 7 8 9. that he did remove to a distance from them Concerning that Phrase in the midst of thee See XVII 7. For thou art a stiff-necked people See XXXII 9. Lest I consume thee in the way It is not fit for me to see my self affronted to my face by stiff-necked Offenders and not punish them with utter destruction This is an Argument that the Angel he saith he would send before them was not God himself as the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for then he would have had the same reason to consume them for their Disobedience Ver. 4. And when the people heard these evil tidings This threatning of such a grievous Punishment They mourned Fasted perhaps and wept and hung down their Heads with shame and sorrow And no man did put on him his ornaments But every one laid aside his usual Attire and appeared in the Habit of Penitents which in after times was Sackcloth Ver. 5. For the LORD had said unto Moses say unto the Children of Israel ye are a stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee This Verse gives a reason of their Mourning because Moses had by God's order said to them what God said to him That they were such a perverse People it was not safe for them that he should stay among them and be provoked by their Transgressions suddenly to destroy them Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee These words show that he had not peremptorily resolved to forsake them as he threatned v. 3. but might be moved by their Repentance to continue with them And therefore he orders them to put themselves in a mourning Habit in token of their hearty sorrow for their sin That I may know what to do unto thee Deal with you according as I find you disposed See XXII Gen. 12. Ver. 6. And the Children of Israel stript themselves of their ornaments Not only of those wherewith they had decked themselves at their late Festival but of all other that they ordinarily wore which they who were not dressed forbore to put on v. 4. By the Mount Horeb. Or rather as the Hebrew word mehar imports from the Mount that is a great way off from the place where God appeared as unworthy to come into his Presence Ver. 7. And Moses took the Tabernacle His own Tent as the LXX interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning I suppose not his own private Tent where he and his Family lived but a publick Tent where he gave Audience and heard Causes and enquired of God which Bonaventura C. Bertramus calls Castrorum Praetorium in his Book de Repub. Jud. c. 4. For such a place we cannot but think there was before that Tabernacle was erected whose pattern he saw in the Mount where all great Affairs were transacted and where Religious Offices in all probability were performed And pitched it without the Camp afar off from the Camp At the distance of Two thousand Cubits as R. Solomon interprets it Which was done to humble them when they saw the Displeasure of God and of his Servant against them declared by this Departure far from them For they might justly fear he would remove quite out of their sight And called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation Gave it the same name which was afterward appropriated to the Tabernacle built for Divine Service alone Because here God met with Moses and communicated his Mind to him and hither they were all to resort who had any business with Moses or would receive an Answer to their Enquiries from God And it came to pass that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation which was without the Camp This is commonly understood of those who came to desire Resolution in any Case of Dissiculty which they could not have as formerly within the Camp but were forced to go and seek it without Which as it showed God's Displeasure so withal gave them some hope of Mercy because it plainly appeared God was not quite alienated and estranged from them Ver. 8. When Moses went into the Tabernacle all the people rose up and stood every man at his Tent door In reverence to him as their Leader whom they had lately despised Or it may be thought also a posture wherein they implored his Intercession for them that God would be pleased graciously to return to them Which is expressed by what follows And looked after Moses Expecting what would be the end of this Business both God and his Minister being removed from them Vntil he was gone into the Tabernacle As long as they could see him Ver. 9. And it came to pass as Moses went into the Tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended In which the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty was XL. 35. which was gone up before because of their Idolatry whereby the Camp was become unclean but now came down again upon the removal of the Tabernacle Where it is very probable it used to be setled as the Token of the Divine Presence among them and afterward was translated to the Tabernacle made after God's appointment where
when they found any too difficult they were to refer it to be heard by Moses himself So R. Leviben Gersom explains it Every great Cause in which they know not what to judge they shall bring to thee and thou shalt show what is right or how it is to be decided There are those indeed who think there were several sorts of Causes that might not be brought before these Inferiour Courts but were to be reserved for Moses's hearing and judging These they make to be Four First All Sacred Matters or Things belonging unto God which they gather from v. 19. Secondly All Matters of Equity where the rigour of the Law was sit to be mitigated Thirdly All Capital Causes And lastly Such as the Chiliarchs i. e. Rulers of Thousands and the other Judges referred to him But this is said without ground for it is plain all sorts of Causes might be determined by the inferiour Courts if they were able to make an end of them whether Civil or Sacred Only those which were too difficult for them that is when they did not find a Law to direct them or it was obscure or they could not agree about the Punishment then they were to be brought before Moses So he himself charges not that the People should bring such Causes to him as they thought difficult but that the Judges themselves should bring them i. e. order an Appeal to him I Deut. 17. bring it unto me speaking to the Judges and I will hear it Which shows the Cause had been at the Bar of other Courts before and that it was not unlawful for them to meddle with it if they had been able to determine it And accordingly we read here below v. 26. that the Judges did so In short these words do not intimate that there were some Causes the other Judges might not try if they were able but only that such things as they found themselves not skilful enough to determine they should bring to him See Mr. Selden in the fore-named Book p. 633 c. But every small matter they shall judge Hitherto Moses but heard all Causes promiscuously great and small but Jethro well advises him to delegate the labour of judging all Causes liquidi juris as the Lawyers speak where the Right was clear and to reserve no part of the Judicature to himself but where the Law it self was either defective or obscure So shall it be casier for thy self c. Thou wilt ease thy self of a great burden by appointing others to take their share of it Ver. 23. If thou wilt do this thing and God command thee so If thou wilt follow this advice by God's approbation who was to be consulted whether he allowed it Then thou shalt be able to endure Thy days will be prolonged which otherwise will be shortned with this intolerable labour And the People go to their place in peace Go home very much satisfied with such quick dispatch and happy composure of their Differences Ver. 24. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his Father-in-law c. Followed his Counsel by God's approbation with whom no doubt he advised v. 23. Here the Samaritan Copy inserts those words of Moses I Deut. 9 c. I am not able to bear you my self alone the LORD your God hath multiplied you c. Which he spake indeed when he made this Constitution but did not set it down in this Book where he intended only a short account of these Transactions Ver. 25. And Moses chose able men c. Out of those who were presented to him by the People See v. 20. Ver. 26. And they judged the People at all Seasons Whensoever they resorted to them For some Court or other sate every day that was not appointed by God for other Business i. e. for Religion The hard Causes they brought to Moses c. It is plain by this that the Judges not the People brought the hard Causes unto Moses For the People could not know whether they might not have a Remedy nearer hand than by going to him on all occasions till they had tried Ver. 27. And Moses let his Father-in-law depart After he had staid some time with him and could not prevail with him to stay longer which he earnestly desired and go with them to see the Accomplishment of God's Promises to them as those words X Numb 29 c. are thought to signifie But perhaps that Hobab there mentioned was not Jethro himself but his Son whom Moses also perswaded not to return to his own Country for he makes no reply much less denies to stay with Moses when he pressed him the second time though he refused at first v. 32. But this I shall consider in that place And he went his way into his own Land To make his Children or the People of the Land Proselytes saith the Chaldee Paraphrase Which it's probable he indeavoured i. e. to bring them to true Religion and affected in some measure so that Piety was propagated in some Families among them to future Generations For the Rechabites came out of this Country 1 Chron. II. 55. whose vertue Jeremiah Praises in the latter end of the Jewish Church Chap. XXXV CHAP. XIX Verse 1. IN the third Month. Or in the third new Moon For the Hebrew word Chodesh signifies a new Moon as well as a Month nay that is the prime signification from whence the other is derived And so we are to understand it here that on the New Moon i. e. the first day of the third Month called Sivan after their coming out of Egypt they came into the Wilderness of Sinai Which was just XLV days after they departed out of Egypt For if we add to the XV. days of the first Month XXIX which made the second these put together with this New Moon make XLV Unto which if we add that day when Moses went up to God v. 3. and reported when he came down the Message God sent by him to the Elders of Israel and the next day after when he returned their Answer unto God v. 7 8. with the three days more which God gave them to prepare themselves for his coming down among them v. 10 11. there were just Fifty days from their Passover to the giving of the Law upon Mount Sinai which laid the Foundation of the great Feast of Pentecost The same day i. e. On the fore-mentioned New Moon of the third Month. Came they into the Wilderness of Sinai So called from that famous Mountain Sinai which gave the name to the Wilderness which lay before it This Mountain was also called Horeb IV Deut. 10. they being only different tops of one and the same Mountain but this higher than Horeb so that one may see the Red Sea from them as they that have travelled into those Parts affirm Who say it is now called by the Arabians Tur and by Christians the Mountain of St. Catherine Ver. 2. For they were departed from Rephidim c. They began to move from
against him But many of the Jews say that they should not Condemn one whom they thought guilty if he was cast only by one Voice If there were a majority of two then indeed they say a Judge was bound to joyn with them See Mr. Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 5. p. 229. and c. 6. p. 259. where he shows they take the word evil in this place to signifie the evil of punishment See also cap. 12. p. 525. But this seems to be only a Subtilty Their Opinion is more reasonable who by the Hebrew word Rabbim here understand not a multitude but great and potent Men to whom a Judge was not to have respect in Judgment no more than to a poor Man who v. 3. is opposed to these Men of might But what follows I think will better interpret this Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest Judgment This is interpreted by Maimonides to signifie That no Judge was to give his Sentence in a Capital Cause either for Absolving or Condemning according to the Opinion of the rest if he were not able to deliver any Opinion of his own See Mr. Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 13. p. 529. Other fancies they have about the word Rabbim in this Clause of the Verse which he notes there c. 9. p. 421. But the sense I think will be most plain and easie if we take Rabbim in the first part of the Verse as we do for the Multitude and in this latter part for the great and potent or ruling Men who are generally attended by a Multitude And expound the whole thus That the Judges were not to be deterred either by the People or by mighty Men to pronounce a false Judgment This agrees with what follows and with XIX Lev. 15. Ver. 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause So as to give a wrong Judgment in his favour The word we translate countenance in Hebrew tehedar signifies to adorn or honour and so we translate it XIX Lev. 15. And so it may be translated here Thou shalt not adorn or set off a poor Man's Cause with fine words and plausible colours to make it look better than it is See I Deut. 16 17. Ver. 4. If thou meet thy enemies ox or ass going astray thou shalt surely bring it back to him again The Samaritan Copy adds after ox or ass or any other beast And Moses himself extends it to all sorts of Goods that are lost XXII Deut. 3. But the Jewish Doctors as R. Levi of Barcelona confesses restrain the word Enemy to an Israelite as if they thought not themselves bound to any such kindness for one of another Nation This perhaps they gathered from XXII Deut. 1 2. where instead of the word Enemy we find Moses uses the word Brother But this should have taught them to look upon all Men even Enemies as Brethren having the same common Original and bearing the Image of the same God This Verse may be connected with the foregoing in this manner If you be inclined to show pity do it in such Instances as these but not in Judgment Ver. 5. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden His Ass is only mention'd but Oxen and other such like Creatures are intended as appears from the former Verse Yet this likewise the hard-hearted Jewish Doctors would have belong only to an Israelite who hated them And they put several Cases upon this Law As what if the Beast be a Gentile's and the Burden belong to an Israelite or on the contrary what is to be done And if they meet with two Beasts belonging both to Israelites and labouring under Burdens but one the Beast of a Friend the other of an Enemy which is he bound to help In which they resolve that he is by this Precept to have regard to the Beast of his Enemy that he may subdue his evil Affection which would perswade him otherways How far also the word see extends is a question among them that is how far they were to go out of their way to lend their help with such like Niceties which I shall not trouble the Reader withal And wouldst forbear to help him thou shalt surely help with him The sense is clear enough but the construction of the words in the Hebrew is not so plain For the word Azab which we translate help signifies to leave or forsake and so the Chaldee here interprets it Thou shalt in that moment dismiss or forsake thy enmity to him and go and help him And L. de Dieu to the same purpose Rather than leave him under his Burden quit thine enmity to him c. A great many other ways there are to make out the Grammar of the Hebrew words but Bochart thinks all in vain unless instead of the Particle lo with a Vau we admit it with an Aleph and then they run clearly in the Hebrew in this manner Thou shalt cease or abstain from leaving him i. e. not follow thy own ill inclinations to pass by him leaving thou shalt not leave him i. e. by no means leave him viz. to raise up his Beast himself as if it nothing concerned thee Or Thou shalt abstain from leaving it i. e. the Ass labouring under his Burden I say thou shalt by no means leave it The same thing is repeated because it is a Command so opposite to Mens depraved Affections and therefore was fit to be inculcated that they might not lightly pass it over See Hierozoio P. I. L. II. c. 40. p. 399. Ver. 6. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause As they might not favour a Man because he was poor v. 3. so much less might they wrong him or not do him right because he wanted Money to prosecute it There seems to be an Emphasis as Conradus Pellicanus observes in the word thy poor importing that they had such a relation to them that they ought to be as much concerned for them as any other Member of their Body But the Jews fancying this to be sufficiently included in the Precept before mentioned v. 3. understand here by the poor a bad man who is pauper praeceptorum non facultatum one that wants Vertue not Money To whom a Judge might not say He was a wicked Fellow and Condemn him without any further Examination of his Cause for it belongs to God saith the same R. Levi to execute Judgment upon the ungodly and not to the Judges Ver. 7. Keep thee far from a false matter i. e. From a false Judgment for he seems to speak to the Judges and neither admit that which is false nor pronounce it And the innocent and righteous slay thou not That is saith the before-named R. Levi Barzel beware carefully lest thou takest away the Life of him that may be innocent of that whereof he is accused And therefore he saith the Judges were to Condemn no Man but by the Testimony
which she her self said she had respect might have the same signification in her Language that it had in Hebrew there being a great affinity between these two Tongues See XL Gen. 45. Clem. Alexandrinus saith that the Name he had given him by his Parents at his Circumcision was Joachim Which he had I suppose out of some fabulous Book for in the same place he speaks of the Name was given him after he was translated to Heaven L. I. Strom. p. 343. Ver. 11. And it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown When he was not only arrived at Man's estate but was full Forty years old as St. Stephen observes VII Acts 23. and may be gathered from this History That he went out unto his Brethren c. He had a motion from God as St. Stephen there seems to interpret it to go and acquaint himself with the Condition of his Brethren and to own himself more than he had done hitherto to be one of them The Jews tell many Tales what passed between him and Pharaoh till this time but there is no more credit to be given to them than to what Artapanus an Heathen Historian relates of his Military Exploits in a War with the Ethiopians against whom Cenephres sent him as General of his Forces Though this is remarkable that his Name and several Passages of his Life mixed with some Fables were known to other Nations and by them magnified and admired As appears by what Eusebius hath extracted out of Artapanus Eupolemus Demetrius and other Heathen Writers L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 26 27 c. And looked upon their burdens Which he did very often as Philo understands it L. I. de Vita Mosis and not without great Grief and Heaviness that he was neither able to hinder their Oppression nor to help them under it But he exhorted Pharaoh's Officers to moderate their Severity and the Israelites to be patient in hope of Deliverance And he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew The Cause of it is reported in The Life of Moses in Hebrew and in Schalsch Hakkabalah that this Egyptian had broken the Hebrew 's House and bound him and ravished his Wife and now endeavoured to murder him But this looks like a Tale which is a little better told by the Author of Schemoth Rabba and others mentioned by Mr. Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 1. who say that this Egyptian was one of the Taskmasters who called this Man out of his Bed in the Night to go to work and then took his opportunity to slip into it and lye with Selomith his Wife who took him for her Husband The plainest account and most likely is this of Philo in the place above mentioned that some of Pharaoh's Officers little differing from the most furious Beasts not at all mollified but more exasperated by Intreaties one of them of the most violent temper fell in an outragious manner upon an Hebrew because he did not do his work so fast as he would have him beating him most cruelly till he had almost kill'd him One of his Brethren All the Hebrews were his Brethren but this Man was of his own Tribe and one of the Children of Kohath as the forenamed Authors take it Ver. 12. And he looked this way and that way c. Round about him that he might not run into danger himself by delivering his Brother from it He slew the Egyptian Being stirred up to it by a Divine motion otherways he could not have justified this Fact to God and his own Conscience And therefore St. Stephen plainly makes this an Indication to the Children of Israel that God intended to deliver them by his means and says Moses thought they would have so understood it VII Acts 25. Nay Maimonides himself gives this account of it Pars II. Cap. XLV More Nevochim where he making this the first Degree of Prophecy when a Man is moved and animated by God to some great and heroick Enterprise either for the Preservation of the whole Church or the Deliverance of eminent Men from Oppression he reckons Moses among others as an Instance of it in these words Moses was indued with this Power when he grew up to be a Man by the impulse of which he slew the Egyptian and checked him who unjustly strove with one of his Brethren c. The Hebrews generally say that Moses did not kill this Man with a Sword or any other Weapon but meerly by the word of his Mouth pronouncing him Dead in the Name of God Which Tradition is so old that it is mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus L. I. Strom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They that pretend to Secrets say that he killed the Egyptian with his word alone as Peter afterwards in the Acts killed Ananias and Sapphira And hid him in the Sand. An inaccessible Desert lay on the West of Egypt as Diodorus Siculus observes and there was another also on the East of it so that if this hapned upon the Borders there was Sand enough wherein to bury him Ver. 13. And when he went out the second day Having begun to Act by the Divine Commission he seems to have resolved every day to give proofs of his Authority and awaken the People to expect deliverance by his means And therefore went out among them this day as he had done the day before Behold Two Men of the Hebrews strove together He was surprized to find two of his Brethren contending one with another when they were so grievously oppressed by the Egyptians And he said to him that did the wrong Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow He had no less Authority to admonish and reprove his Brethren than to chastise their Oppressors Ver. 14. And he said Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us It is plain by this that he acted as one that had Authority but this Man questioned from whence he had it Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian It is not likely the Man thought he had any such intention but meant only to fright Moses from medling in his matters by letting him know that what he had done already was not such a secret as he thought it And Moses feared He had not yet received a Commission from God to act publickly as their Governour and therefore durst not stay to answer a Charge against him which he thought might be possibly brought for what he had done privately Some have troubled themselves to reconcile this with what the Apostle saith XI Hebr. 27. that he feared not the wrath of the King which doth not seem to agree with what is said here that Moses feared But there he may very well be thought to speak not of his flight out of Egypt but of his last departure with the whole body of the Israelites Though if we should allow Moses and the Apostle to speak of the same thing there would be no contradiction between them For he might so fear as to make him cautious and
made him very unfit he thought to be an Ambassadour And this doth not disagree with what St. Stephen saith that he was mighty in Words as well as Deeds VII Acts 22. for the sense of what he spake was great and weighty though his pronunciation was not answerable to it Nor did his ill or weak pronunciation nor his slowness in bringing forth his words hinder him from being an excellent Judge and deciding Causes from Morning to Night as we read XVIII Exod. In the determination of which there was no need of Oratory but of a quick Apprehension exact Judgment and proper Language which he never wanted One would think also that by Use and Exercise he grew prompt in the delivery of his Mind for he made several very long Speeches to the People and especially an incomparable Discourse before his departure out of the World in the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy In the latter end of which his Song shows that he wanted no eloquent words when he pleased to use them Ver. 11. And the LORD said unto him who hath made mans mouth c. Cannot I who formed all the Organs of Speech and made the rest of mens Senses and when I please deprive them of their use take away this Impediment of which thou complainest and make thee to speak as roundly and gracefully as any Man living The Authour of the Life of Moses who makes Pharaoh to have condemned Moses for killing the Egyptian c. See II. 15. fancies that God puts him in mind of his Deliverance at that time As if he had said Who taught thee to make thy Defence when thou wast Arraigned before Pharaoh Who made the King dumb that he could not urge and press thy Execution Who made the Executioner deaf that he could not hear the Sentence when pronounced And who made them all blind that they could not see when thou madest thy escape which is very ingeniously invented but we have no assurance of the truth of this Explication Ver. 12. Now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say Excuse thy self no longer but obey the Commission I have given thee and I will both help thy Speech and suggest to thy Mind what thou shalt deliver This doth not signifie as I take it that if he had without further disputing gone about his Business God would have given him a better Elocution but that he would have made his words as powerful as if they had been pronounced with the greatest advantage Or the meaning may be that he should never want either words or thoughts to instruct his Brother Aaron whom God always intended to send along with him Ver. 13. And he said O my Lord. The same form of Speech with that v. 10. Send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou wilt send The Vulgar Latin having translated the word SCHILO XLIX Gen. 10. qui mittendus est him that is to be sent it hath inclined several great Men to think that Moses here desires God to send the MESSIAH And several of the ancient Fathers Just Mart. Tertull. and S. Cyprian c. were of this mind as many later Interpreters both of the Roman and of the Reformed Church have been Particularly Flacius Illyricus in his Clavis upon the word MITTO thus explains this Passage Manda id functionis c. commit this Office to the true Messiah or blessed Seed whom thou hast resolved to send who will discharge this Trust far better than I can do c. But there have been and are other very considerable Persons who think Moses means no more than this Send a more proper Person one sitter for this Imployment than I am And the truth is such Speeches as these in Scripture do not denote any certain Person or Thing but signifie something indesinite and in general Examples of which we have in 1 Sam. XXIII 13. 2 Sam. XV. 20. upon which Phrase Vado quo vado I go whither I may the same Flacius observes that it denotes an uncertain motion In like manner Moses here determines his desire to no particular Person but only wishes God would send any Body rather than himself And that he did not think of the Messiah there is this Argument that he had no reason to believe he was now born and yet God's Promise was to send one immediately to relieve the Israelites Upon which Errand also if he had prayed God to send him it would argue Moses to have been in the same Errour with the present Jews that the Messiah was to be a Temporal Deliverer Ver. 14. And the Anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses These words seem to import that God was highly displeased with him and consequently that he had very much offended him Yet some of the Fathers particularly St. Hierom and St. Basil impute his backwardness to serve in this Imployment unto his great Modesty Humility and a deep Sense of his own Infirmities of which the wisest and best Men are far more sensible than other Persons And then this Anger amounts to no more than such a Displeasure as a Father hath at his Child when he is too dissident notwithstanding all that he hath said and done to breed in him a just confidence And therefore no Punishment followed this Anger unless we think as R. Solomon doth that because of this backwardness God preferred Aaron's Family above his or that this was the Cause he would not Cure his Imperfection of Speech but only a Chiding which we may suppose went before the following Question Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother which carries something of sharpness in it And indeed this may be said in Moses his Excuse That the most Excellent Persons are the least forward to embrace the Offers of great Advancement According to the observation of Plato L. I. de Republ which I find Eusebius also hath noted out of him L. XII Praep. Evang. c. 9. that no Magistracy being designed for the Profit of him that Governs but of those that are Governed I must needs conclude saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no Man who is considerate he means will voluntarily take upon him the Government of a People but he must be hired to it or he must be punished if he will not undertake it For he that will use his Power well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 never doth that which is best for himself but for those whom he governs Such an one was Moses who sought not his own Profit or Glory as those that now seek for great Places by which they design a Benefit to themselves and not to their Neighbours and therefore was not easily perswaded to accept of the high Authority which was offered to him Is not Aaron the Levite thy Brother One would think by this that Aaron was now a principal Person and of most eminent Quality in the Tribe of Levi as may be concluded also from his Marriage with the Sister of the
that all along from thence to this place it is very often said in the close of the former Plagues that Pharaoh's heart was hardned as the LORD had said VII 13 22. VIII 15 19 32. But this is the first time that it is said the LORD hardned the heart of Pharaoh as he had spoken unto Moses Which different Close gives us to understand that now after the Plague of Blains the Sentence of Destruction was irreversibly denounced against him and God resolved to dispose things so that he should not repent but run headlong to his ruin Ver. 13. And the LORD said unto Moses rise up early in the Morning That he might speak with Pharaoh before he went abroad or at his going out of his Palace And stand before Pharaoh c. Present thy self unto him with the same Message that I have often sent to him See V. 3. VII 16 c. Let my People go that they may serve me But why doth he send any more Messages to him may some say after he had hardned him and knew he would not submit To which Dr. Jael sâ—n's Answer is very apposite That God dealt with Pharaoh just as he had done with the poor oppressed Israelites after Moses had delivered his first Message to him Pharaoh immediately forbids his Task-masters to give them any Straw and yet required the same Tale of Bricks which they made when they had Straw enough The Lord in like manner demands the same Obedience of Pharaoh after he had deprived him of Understanding and of all good Motions which he had demanded of him before or at the first Exhibition of his Signs and Wonders And this is that which gave occasion to the Question we find IX Rom. 19. Why doth he yet find fault To which there needs no further Satisfaction in this place Ver. 14. For I will at this time For now I will begin to send more terrible Plagues upon thee one after another till I have destroyed thee Send all my Plagues All that I have resolved to inflict as Menochius truly expounds it Not all that I am able but all that I design to send for thy destruction Vpon thine heart Such as shall make thy heart ake as we now speak not only afflict thy Body and Goods but fill thy Soul with terrour or grief or rage That thou mayest know there is none like me in all the Earth To teach thee by sad Experience that my Power is superiour to all other To which another reason is added in the next Verse that all the World might see the same And a third X. 2. that Israel might learn to Worship him alone and teach their Children to do so likewise Ver. 15 16. For now I will stretch out my hand that I may smite thee and thy People with Pestilence c. I do not see how this Translation can be maintained for we do not read that God after this sent a new Pestilence upon Pharaoh and the Hebrew word deber signifies nothing else This therefore must needs refer to the Time past and the sense of these three Verses 14 15 16. must be this I will send more Plagues on thee and on thy Servants as was threatned v. 14. for the truth is I had now stretched out my hand to destroy both thee and thy People by my late Pestilence wherewith you had all been cut off had it not been that I reserve you for further Punishments for which very cause I made thee to stand when thou wast falling i. e. kept thee from dying that I might send more Plagues upon thee and make thy destruction more notorious to all the World See Paulus Fagius and Theod. Hackspan and Fr. Junius also who translate these words I had smitten thee and thy People with Pestilence i. e. when he destroyed their Cattle with a Murrain and then hadst thou been cut off from the Earth as it follows in the end of this Verse that is when the Boils broke out upon the Magicians Ver. 16. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up In the Hebrew the words are I have made thee stand that is preserved thee alive when the Pestilence would have cut thee off as the Murrain did thy Cattle if I had not kept thee from perishing then that I might destroy thee in a more remarkable manner And thus the LXX understood it when they translated it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast been preserved that is from destruction With which the Apostle agrees though he doth not here follow their Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have raised thee i. e. from the foregoing Sickness IX Rom. 17. spared thee in the midst of malignant Ulcers For to show in thee my Power By sending more dreadful Plagues upon him and at last overwhelming him in the Sea And that my Name may be declared throughout all the World If Pharaoh and his People had all perished by the Pestilence when the Cattle did or died when smitten with Blains the terrour of God's powerful Displeasure had not been so visible to all the World as it was in overthrowing the whole Strength of Egypt in the red Sea Ver. 17. As yet exaltest thou thy self against my People c. In these words he returns to finish his Message begun v. 13. which he concludes with this Expostulation which upbraids him with his sensless Obstinacy Which in other words may be thus paraphrased Dost thou still notwithstanding all that I have done to humble thee proudly insult over my People and resolve to keep them in Bondage This Expostulation which is very sharp and cutting may seem to some unseasonable now that God himself had hardned him and taken his Understanding from him though before nothing could have been more proper while there was a possibility of penetrating his heart But God cannot lose his right to demand that Obedience which Men have made themselves unable to pay and it was but just he should be upbraided with his Obstinacy even when he could not comply because he had brought upon himself this Punishment of stupid Insensibility See v. 13. Ver. 18. Behold to morrow about this time As his Destruction was determined so it was to come speedily upon him and therefore there was but one Day between this Plague and the former I will send a very grievous Hail Great Hail-stones falling very thick as we speak Such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof Since it hath been inhabited This shows that though Rain was not frequent in Egypt yet sometimes they had both Rain and Hail also Otherwise there could not have been a Comparison made between this and former Hail if there never had been any at all Ver. 19. Send therefore now and gather thy Cattle c. It appears by the next Verse that though Pharaoh and his Grandees could not be moved by all these Judgments yet there were some Persons in the Court who were better disposed for whose sake God gives this
he doth that Pharaoh's eldest Son who was now slain had the Name of Osiris whose sudden Death by this stroke all Posterity lamented in one Night of the year Which was when the Moon was at full as he observes out of Apuleius which still confirms this Conjecture it being at a full Moon when this Slaughter was made and the Israelites delivered out of Egypt For there was not an House where there was not one dead If there were any Children in it Ver. 31. And he called for Moses and Aaron By some of his Servants whom he sent to them as v. 33. seems to signifie By Night He durst not stay till the next Morning for fear he should have been cut off also before that time And said Rise up One would think by this that they found them sleeping securely in their Beds when this deadly blow was given to the Egyptians And get you forth from amongst my People both you and the Children of Israel c. For he was sorely afraid if they staid any longer they would bring some greater Mischief upon him Go serve the LORD as ye have said He had several times made this Concession but was never so much in earnest as now Ver. 32. Also take your Flocks and your Herds c. Though his heart had been often hardned yet this Slaughter of all their First-born made such a deep impression upon him that he comes fully up to their Terms yielding for the present to all they had desired though he did not continue constant in this mind but soon revolted And bless me also Pray for me as the Chaldee translates it Ver. 33. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the People They that brought from Pharaoh a grant of all the Israelites desired and others also who had lost their Children pressed very hard upon them to accept it and that with all speed not out of love to the Israelites but for fear they should perish themselves if they did not leave their Country Pharaoh especially seeing his First-born the Heir of his Crown struck suddenly dead had reason to conclude the next blow would be at his own Life To send them out of the Land of Egypt This shows they were not meerly dismissed but intreated nay importuned to depart Such a change had this Slaughter and the general Outcry that followed upon it made in their hearts In haste They that were unwilling before to hearken to the Israelites Petition now make their Petitions to them and were so glad to be rid of them that they would not suffer them to delay their departure Nay made a Golden-bridge as we speak for their speedy passage out of Egypt v. 35 36. For they said we be all dead men They were desirous the Israelites should enjoy their Liberty rather than lose their own Lives Ver. 34. And the People took their Dough before it was leavened They seem to have newly mixed their Flowre and Water together and kneaded it into a Paste or Dough as we translate it but had not put any leaven into it nor had time to make it into Cakes and bake them Their kneading-troughs The Hebrew word comprehends both the Dough and the Thing wherein it was contained which in VIII 3. we translate Ovens and here Kneading-troughs in which their Dough was carried Being bound up in their Clothes The Hebrew word for Clothes signifies any thing that covers another or wherein it is wrapt as the Dough was in Linnen-clothes it is most likely for that is usual to keep it from the cold Air which was sharp in the Night and would have hindred its rising On their shoulders For we do not read of any Wagons or Horses they had for the Carriage of their Goods out of Egypt Ver. 35. And the Children of Israel did according to the word of Moses Who had commanded them from God to do as it here follows XI 1 2. which was their warrant and justified the Fact And they borrowed of the Egyptians c. So most understand it though some think it was a free gift which the Egyptians bestowed upon them when they were very desirous as we read before to have them gone out of their Country which made them not only intreat but hire them to depart So Jacobus Capellus ad A.M. 2503. They that had denied them leave to go away for a few days saith he now press them to depart with all speed quin praecibus Israelitas demulcent ac donis onerant Egyptii See III. 23. But it is commonly thought that the Egyptians imagined the Israelites only desired to appear as well adorned as they could before their God at the great Feast they were to hold in the Wilderness and so readily lent them these Jewels and sine Clothes to deck themselves withal which they hoped would be restored to them again as soon as the Sacrisice was over Ver. 36. And the LORD gave the People favour c. As he had promised III. 21. and see XI 3. So that they lent them such things as they required Though the Men borrowed as well as the Women XI 3. yet the Women are only mentioned III. 23. because they borrowed most and the Women and Maidens of Egypt might be the more willing to bestow their Jewels and Earings upon them that they might woo their Husbands Children and Relations to be gone with all speed And they spoiled the Egyptians God hath a Supream Right to all things and there was a just cause why he should transfer the Right of the Egyptians unto the Israelites See XI 2. Unto which add this Story which is told in the Gemara of the Sanhedrin that in the time of Alexander the Great the Egyptians brought an Action against the Israelites desiring they might have the Land of Canaan in satisfaction for all that they borrowed of them when they went out of Egypt To which Gibeah ben Kosam who was Advocate for the Jews replyed That before they made this Demand they must prove what they alledged that the Israelites borrowed any thing of their Ancestors Unto which the Egyptians thought it sufficient to say That they found it Recorded in their own Books mentioning this place Well then said the Advocate look into the same Book and you will find the Children of Israel lived four hundred and thirty years in Egypt pay us for all the labour and toil of so many Thousand People as you imployed all that time and we will restore what we borrowed To which they had not a word to answer Tertullian mentions such a Controversie or Plea between the two Nations L. II. advers Marcion where he relates this from an ancient Tradition See Mr. Selden L. VII de Jure Nat. Gent. c. 8. Besides this it is not impertinent to observe that the Egyptians were declared Enemies to the Jews now it is not unlawful to spoil an Enemy nor ought this upon that account to be called a Thest This reason Clemens Alexandrinus joyns to the former See L.
world accounted Gods For he did not acknowledge any more Divine Powers than One but he speaks according to the common opinion Men had in those days of other Gods besides the most High This is a common acknowledgment of good Men in after times LXXXVI Psal 8 10. CXXXV 5. For in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them If we refer this to what immediately goes before viz. all Gods the meaning is that the LORD appeared superiour to all the Egyptian Gods who insolently attempted by the Magicians to equal him in his wonderful Works but were baffled and exposed to contempt and at last thrown down in their Images VIII 19. IX 11. XII 12. But it is commonly thought to relate to the Egyptians and Pharaoh mention'd in the foregoing Verse and then the meaning is That the LORD confounded them that proudly contemned his Authority saying Who is the LORD c. V. 2. whom he forced to beg his pardon IX 27. and at last drowned him and his Host in the Red Sea when they said in an haughty boasting manner I will pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them c. XV. 9. And to this purpose the Chaldee expounds it In that very thing wherein they thought to judge i. e. to punish or destroy the Israelites they were judged themselves i. e. drowned in the Sea as they intended to drown all their Male Children Ver. 12. And Jethro Moses Father-in-law He is constantly thus described v. 1 2 5 6 7 8. and every where else but v. 9 10. to distinguish him from any other Jethro to whom these things might possibly be thought to belong Took a Burnt-offering Which was to be wholly consumed upon the Altar and nothing of it eaten by any body I Lev. 9. This now may be thought to have been done after the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai which Moses here mentions because he would put together all that belongs to Jethro's story though not all done at the very same time just as I said he did what belonged to the History of the Manna XVI 33 35. See there And Sacrifices i. e. Peace-offerings of which the People as well as the Priests were to be partakers VII Lev. 34. XXVI Deut. 7. And regularly there never was any Burnt-offerings made which were wholly consumed upon the Altar but Peace-offerings attended upon them if they were not Offerings for the whole Congregation but for particular Persons that so they who brought them might Feast also with God upon the Sacrifices For feasting upon Sacrisices was an Appendix unto all Sacrifices whatsoever one way or other if not by themselves yet by the Priests who eat of the Sin-offerings as the Proxies of the People Of this there are numerous Instances not only among the Jews after the Law was given but among other People who had this Custom antecedent to it As appears from XXV Numb 2. where the Midianites invite the Israelites to the Sacrifices of their Gods and the People did eat c. Which they did not learn from Moses but derived from higher Antiquity it is probable even from Abraham himself For God To be offered unto God Who offered them we are not told but it should seem by the word took that Jethro himself who was a Priest was permitted to perform this Office in token that they owned him to be a faithful Servant and Minister of the most High God as Melchizedeck was And accordingly it follows that Aaron was invited with the Elders of Israel to come and Feast with him upon these Sacrifices And Aaron came This seems to signifie that Aaron was but a Guest and had not been the Priest who offered the Sacrifice For though we suppose the Law to have been now given yet it is likely Aaron and his Sons were not yet consecrated nor the Service of God as yet ordered according to the Law that had been delivered no more then Judicatures were erected as after this they were by the advice of Jethro But of these things we can have no absolute certainty but only make probable conjectures And all the Elders of Israel See III. 16. To eat Bread To partake of the Sacrifices that had been offered for this comprehends the whole Meal XLIII Gen. 25. Before God Before the Tabernacle where God dwelt Or if that was not yet set up in the place where God appeared in an extraordinary manner which it is likely was in the Tent of Moses XXXIII 7. Ver. 13. And it came to pass on the morrow The next day after this Solemn Sacrifice which the Jews I observed above say was on the XIth day of Tisri So Sepher Mechilta and others from thence as Mr. Selden hath noted L. II. de Synedr c. 2. p. 75. That Moses sate That was the posture of Judges To judge the People To hear Causes and determine them And the People stood by Moses c. That was the posture both of the Plaintiff and the Defendant And there were now so may Causes brought before him that they took up the whole day so that he had not time to eat and refresh himself Ver. 14. And when Moses Father-in-law saw all that he did to the People He either was present and observed himself or was informed by others what insupportable pains he took He said what is this thing that thou dost to the People What a burden is this to judge the Causes of a whole Nation Why sittest thou thy self alone Takest more upon thee than any one Person is able to bear And all the People stand by thee from morning to the even Till both thou and they are tired Ver. 15. Because the People come unto me to enquire of God I cannot refuse to do Justice and there is none but my self to declare what the Law of God is in such Cases as are brought before me To enquire of God Doth not signifie here to desire him to consult the Divine Majesty for them but to decide their Controversies according to the mind of God declared in the Laws he had given him So the LXX to seek for judgment from God and the Vulgar to seek God's Sentence For what was determined according to God's Law was the Judgment of God and so it is called by Moses See Mr. Selden L. I. de Synedr c. 15. p. 610. Ver. 16. When they have matter Of Controversie They come to me That I may decide it And I judge between one and another Determine where the right lyes And I do make them know the Statutes of God and his Laws This explains what is meant by enquiring of God i. e. what was the Law of God in the Case brought before him From which we may probable gather that the Law was already given from Mount Sinai and all the other Laws and Statutes which follow Chap. XXI XXII XXIII before this hapned Unless we will say as some do that Moses was directed upon the spot as we speak by
a secret inspiration how to determine every Cause Ver. 17. The thing that thou dost is not good Neither profitable for thy self nor for the People as it follows in the next Verse Ver. 18. Thou wilt surely wear away Decay apace and without remedy as the Phrase in the Hebrew signifies Both thou and the People that is with thee Such tedious Attendance will impair them also as well as thy self For this thing is too heavy for thee c. Too much for one Man to undergo Ver. 19. Hearken now unto my voice Be advised by me I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee Though I am no Israelite I will take upon me to be thy Counsellor and I doubt not God will show my Advice to be good by the good Success which will attend it Be thou for the People to Godward that thou mayst bring the Causes unto God Appoint others to hear Causes and do thou give thy self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Worship and Service of God alone as Josepus expounds it L. III. Antiq. c. 3. or as Ruffinus glosses reserve thy self only to the Ministry of God to attend that is upon him and know his mind Which if it be the sense must be understood with this Exception only in greater Causes as it follows afterward which he was to hear himself And that may well be the meaning of these words When the People bring any matter to thee which is too hard for other Judges to determine v. 22. do thou if need be carry it to God that he may resolve thee Not that he was alway to consult the Oracle for he knew in most Causes the sense of God's Law but in some it might be necessary to have a particular direction from Heaven As in XV Numb 34 35. XXVII 5 c. Ver. 20. And thou shalt teach them Ordinances and Laws How these two differ is not certain but Ordinances are commonly taken to concern matter of Religion and Laws civil matters of Justice and Charity In both which he was if the Case required it to bring it to God and then to report to the People what his Resolution was about it And shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk How to behave themselves towards God And the work that they must do How to behave themselves one towards another Ver. 20. Moreover Now in order to this Thou shalt provide out of all the People Look out such Men as are qualified according to the following Directions Which he did in this manner as he himself relates I Deut. 13. where he saith to the People take ye wise and understanding men c. In the Hebrew it is give ye i. e. present to me such Men as you think sit for this office And then it follows I will make them Rulers over you They chose them and then he approved them and gave them authority Or perhaps they presented a good many whom they thought qualified and out of them he appointed such as he judged most meet And thus he saith again v. 15. So I took the chief of the Tribes c. See Mr. Selden L. I. de Synedr c. 15. p. 632. Able men Men able to endure labour or Men who are not needy but rich and wealthy or Men of Parts or Men of Courage for it may refer to any of these especially the last such as did not fear potent Persons but God alone as it here follows Such as fear God Men truly Religious who would fear to offend God by doing Injustice but not fear to offend Men by doing Right Men of Truth Honest upright Men whose love to Truth would make them sift it out by hearing both sides patiently with impartial attention and unbiassed affection Hating Covetousness Not greedy of Money but abhorring Bribes and all base ways of Gain Which as Demosthenes says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes Judges besides themselves and no better than mad For all these good qualities they were to be eminent and noted among the People as Moses his words import I Deut. 13. where he bids them present to him not only wise men and understanding but also known among their Tribes generally accounted Men of Understanding and Integrity And place such over them to be Rulers of Thousands c. The Hebrew words are such that it cannot be determined by them whether this relate to the number of Rulers or of People that were to be ruled by them as Mr. Selden observes and discourses upon it very largely in the sore-mentioned place L. I. de Synedr c. 15. p. 615. Where he shows that Decem vir for instance was not only one set over ten but one of the ten Judges of which a Court consisted and so the rest may be interpreted But the most ancient and most received Sense is that he doth not speak of the Number of Judges for what a strange Court would that be in which there was a Thousand Judges but of the People of whose Causes they were to take cognizance And it is commonly thought also there was but one Ruler over a Thousand Families or Men it is uncertain which and so of the rest though the words may import more than one in each of these Judicatures whether greater or smaller The Talmudists make a prodigious number of Judges of each sort but it is most rational to think that Jethro's meaning was That he should constitute greater and lesser Judicatures according to the Division of their several Tribes into Thousands Hundreds Fifties and Tens and a competent number of Persons appointed to be Judges in these greater or lesser Courts For that their Tribes were divided into Thousands for instance is apparent from several places XXII Josh 14. VI Judg. 15. where Gideon saith my Family in the Hebrew it is my Thousand is the meanest in Israel 1 Chron. XII 20. V Mic. 2. These Thousands Corn. Bertramus takes to be Families whom the Hebrew call Houses which were divided into so many Heads as they call them as the Tribes were into Families And of these he thinks Jethro advises him to make such Rulers as are here mentioned of several degrees But others particularly Herman Conringius de Republ. Hebr. Sect. 19. think we are to understand only Rulers over a thousand Men not Families as it is certain in Military Affairs the Captains of thousands were only of a thousand Soldiers XXXI Numb 14. Rulers of hundreds Rulers of fifties and Rulers of tens There were four orders of these Rulers but whether there was a subordination of the lower order to the higher as in Armies there is of the Captain to the Colonel as we now speak and the Inferiors to him I cannot determine Ver. 22. And let them judge the People at all Seasons Sit every day some or other of them in their several Districts See v. 26. Every great matter they shall bring to thee Not if they were able to determine it themselves For they had power to hear all Causes but
the Elders was in all likelyhood to convince them that he was among them and had spoken to them and sent them the Precepts before-mentioned by the hand of Moses Also they saw God and did eat and drink After they had seen God they were so far from receiving any harm that they feasted with him upon the Reliques of the Peace-offerings with great Joy and Gladness Or we may suppose that the Glory of the LORD shone upon them as they sat down to eat and drink in token of their full consent to the Covenant now made for so the custom was of making Covenants XXIV Gen. 30. XXXI 54. and that notwithstanding they continued to finish their Feast not being dispirited as good Men were sometimes afterwards with glorious Visions X Dan. 8 16 17. but rather strengthen'd and made more vigorous The word for saw in this Verse is different from that in the former importing I suppose that this Appearance of God to them lasted some time Ver. 12. And the LORD said unto Moses He called to him perhaps with an audible voice from the place where they saw his Glory that they might know how familiar he was with God and might more readily receive whatsoever Commands he brought from him Come up to me into the Mount To the top of the Mount where the Glory of the LORD was v. 17. For hitherto Moses had gone no further than the rest but was with them when they did eat and drink before the LORD And be there Stay with me there v. 18. And I will give thee Tables of stone Not only the Jews but Epiphanius also fancies these Tables were made of Saphire from what was said v. 10. But the words signifie plainly enough that they were of Stone And a Law and Commandments which I have written From this place the Jews endeavour to establish their unwritten or oral Law i. e. their Traditions which they say were now delivered together with the Tables of Stone So Maimonides in his Preface to Jad Chazeka All the Precepts which were given to Moses on Mount Sinai were given with their Explications according to what is said I will give the Tables of Stone and a Law and Commandments where by the Law is meant the written Law and the Commandments denote the Explication of it which we call the Oral Law Thus he and others of them directly against the Text it self which saith expresly both of the Law and the Commandments here mentioned that they were written See Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 16. Therefore by Law and Commandments we are to understand nothing else but the Law contained in the X. Commandments That thou mayest teach them Instruct the People to observe them as the most sacred of all other Precepts being written as well as spoken by God himself who taught Men by this Example how to preserve their Laws For Aristotle saith in his Problems that in old time Men being ignorant how to write 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were wont to sing their Laws that they might not be forgotten It being the invention of the Corybantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theopompus speaks to set up Pillars and ingrave their Laws upon them Which Solon at last wrote on wooden Tables called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were laid up in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods v. Sam. Petitum Praefat. in Leg. Atticas Ver. 13 And Moses rose up From among the Elders with whom he was before And his Minister Joshua Who attended him further than the Elders but not into the place where he went For God intending him to be Moses his Successor seems to admit him unto a nearer Familiarity than any one else besides Moses And Moses went up into the Mount of God The place where the Divine Glory appeared But Joshua staid for him in some lower part of the Mountain expecting his return For he did not go up to the top of the Mount as appears from the XXXII Chapter where Moses his descent from thence being mentioned Joshua is not named till it be said that Moses was come down from the Mount v. 15 17. He went with him therefore till he entred into the Cloud and then he staid as it were at the door waiting for his return Ver. 14. And he said unto the Elders Before he left them he gave them this order Tarry ye here for us Not in the place where they had seen God and did eat and drink with him whether the People might not come but rather in the Camp or some place near it whether the People might upon occasion resort to them Unto which place Moses seems to have walkt with them from the Mount before he returned to go up into it or at least pointed them unto it with his singer that they might there wait for him Vntil we come again to you He could not tell how long God would detain him and therefore commands them to govern the People till his return to them And behold Aaron and Hur are with you Who seem to have been of greatest Authority next to himself and were with him in the Mount when the Israelites fought with Amalek Chap. XVII If any man have any matters to do let him come unto them In all Causes which were too hard for the Elders to determine he directs them to go to Aaron and Hur as they were wont to do to him By this it appears that these LXX Elders were some of the Judges appointed by the advice of Jethro XVIII 22. which he continued to follow and orders them to observe in his absence Ver. 15. And Moses went up into the Mount Having said this he and Joshua left them and he went into the higher part of the Mount And a Cloud covered the Mount That part of it where he was so that the People and Joshua also lost the sight of him Ver. 16. And the Glory of the LORD abode upon Mount Sinai That visible Majesty which shone in extraordinary splendour was setled for the present upon the top of this Mount And the Cloud covered it i. e. Covered the Glory of the LORD not the Mount as Aben Ezra observes For the Cloud was not the Glory of the LORD but incompassed and covered it so that for six days nothing but the Cloud appeared to the Israelites till on the seventh day the Cloud was rent as I take it or opened and the Glory of the LORD appeared like flaming fire Six days Thus long it was hidden in a Cloud so that Moses himself could not see it but remained wrapt up in darkness which might have astonished him if he had not been supported by the Divine Power and a comfortable sense of God who had often appeared to him and conversed familiarly with him And the seventh day he called unto Moses The second time for he had called to him before to come up to him v. 12. commanding him to approach into his glorious Presence Out of the midst of
he should carry the great Concerns of the Children of Israel their weighty Causes and Doubts before God and desire his direction for the King for the great Council and for the People in all difficult Matters both in War and in Peace whether belonging to Religion or to Civil Government Vpon his heart before the LORD He was never to appear in the Holy Place without this Breast-plate with the Names of all the Children of Israel upon it Many learned Men have taken notice of that passage in Aelian L. XIV Var. Hist c. 34. where he relates how the Egyptian Priests had an Image made of Saphire Stone about their Neck which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Truth when they sate in Judgment And Diodorus Siculus saith L. I. c. 75. that it consisted of more precious Stones than one from whence some have imagined that Moses took his Pattern of this Breast-plate But as they did not wear this Badge of Authority when they ministred about Sacred Things but in their Civil Courts where they sate as Judges so there is no reason to think this Ornament of theirs was so old as the time of Moses there being no mention of it in Herodotus but was rather a later Invention unto which other Countries were not Strangers For the Vestal Virgins among the Romans at least she that was called Maxima wore an Ornament upon her Breast made of precious Stones as a Statue digged up at Rome in the beginning of the last Century seems to represent it See Lipsius cap. ult de Vesta Vestal And Gutherius hath proved that these Vestal Virgins sate in Judgment and tried Causes as the Pontifex Maximus did and then it is likely and not at other times wore this Antepectorale There is more ground also to say that the Egyptians took their Pattern from the Jews than that they took it from the Egyptians there being in the time of Solomon a great Correspondence between them by his marriage with Pharaoh's Daughter Continually Whensoever he appeared before the LORD to enquire of him The greatest difficulty is how the LORD answered by Vrim and Thummim Which the Jews generally think was by the shining of the Stones and the prominence of such Letters in them as made the Answer If they had left out the latter part of this resolution about the prominence of the Letters what they say would have been more likely Especially since Josephus only mentions their extraordinary splendour telling us for instance that when the High Priest enquired whether they should go to War or not If God approved of it there was such a refulgent brightness in the Stones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that made all the People know God would be present for their help and succour And when God did not approve of their undertaking he saith there was a cloudiness upon the Stones as there had been for two hundred years he confesses before he wrote his History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God being angry with them for the transgression of his Laws L. III. Antiq c. 9. But this alone could not resolve such questions as that I Judg. 1. Who shall go up first to sight against the Canaanites To which the LORD answered v. 2. Judah shall go up For if this Answer was given in the way now mentioned that Stone alone which had the Name of Judah engraven on it must have had a Splendor in it above all the rest Which if we should suppose yet an Answer could not have been given to all their questions meerly by the Refulgency of all or of any one Stone as if they askt Which way they should go against an Enemy Therefore it is more likely that there was a Voice which spake to the High Priest from the Divine Glory on the Mercy-seat as we read there was to Moses when he went into the most Holy Place to speak with God VII Numb 89. Against which I do not see what can be objected and it seems far more probable than their opinion who think God inspired the High Priest at that time when he consulted him as he did the Prophets For this makes no difference between enquiring by Vrim and Thummim and by the Prophets but only this That God they say constantly answered when the High Priest consulted him which favour he did not always grant the Prophets If there be any Truth also in what the Jews say concerning the Bath-col under the second Temple it seems to me to tell us That God then directed them without the Vrim and the Thummim in the same way as he had formerly done with it Certain it is that such a Voice often spake to our Saviour in the audience of his Apostles out of the High and Holy Place in the Heavens to show that he was the Prophet like unto Moses whom he promised to raise up unto them XVIII Deut. 15. There are those who have adventured to affirm That others besides the High Priest might wear the Vrim and Thummim to consult the Divine Majesty particularly their Kings But how weak the Grounds of this Assertion are will appear when I come to those places which they alledge to justifie it I shall conclude what I have to note about this matter with one Observation more That this is one of the principal Reasons why the Government of this People before they had Kings was as Josephus calls it a Theocracy that is The Empire of God because he by this Oracle of Vrim and Thummim prescribed how they should proceed in all their publick Affairs of great moment And another Reason was because he stirred up Judges when he thought it necessary who being of his immediate appointment are so far acknowledged by him that when they were weary of Samuel's Government who was a Judge and desired a King God declared it was not Samuel whom they rejected but himself Ver. 31. And thou shalt make the Robe The Hebrew word Mehil which we translate Robe is by the Latins called Pallium and by the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Garment coming down to the Ankles The form of it is intimated in the next Verse and the matter of it is here ordered to be all of blue i. e. of blue Cloth Some indeed say of Silk but is is certain Thechelet signifies Wooll died of a sky-colour See Braunius L. I. de Vest. Sacr. Hebr. c. 9. n. 1. Robe of the Ephod So called because the Ephod was put upon it Ver. 32. And there shall be an hole in the top of it From hence the Form of it may be gathered that it was like one of our Surplices or Shirts without Sleeves but with two holes on the sides to let their hands through And it was put on over their Heads it appears by this hole at the top and so covered their whole Body In the midst thereof Not cross-wise from shoulder to shoulder but long-wise from the back to the middle of the breast as Abarbinel expounds it Wherein it differed from