not think such things incredible as Huetius hath shown in his Quaestiones Alnetanae L. I. cap. 12. n. 24. Ver. 9. And Moses brought out all the Rods from before Verse 9 the LORD unto all the Children of Israel Before whom they were exposed to open view that they might see the difference God had made And they looked and took every Man his Rod. Viewed them and taking them into their Hands examined them and found they were the very same Rods which they had delivered unto Moses with their Names on them without any alteration Ver. 10. And the LORD said unto Moses bring Verse 10 Aaron's Rod again Which either Moses held in his Hand or delivered it to Aaron as he did the rest to the several Princes of the Tribes who showed it to the Children of Israel with the Buds Blossoms and Almonds upon it After which God commanded it to be returned unto him Before the Testimony To be laid up in the place where it was before it was thus changed v. 4 7. To be kept for a Token against the Rebels That it might be produced as a sufficient Conviction of their Impiety if any presumed hereafter to rebel against Aaron's Authority Or rather that it might prevent all Insurrections against it for the future For it remained we find in the most Holy Place for some time as appears both from the Apostle IX Hebr. 4. and from the reason of its being put here that it might be preserved as a Sign or Proof of Aaron's Authority and Suppress all opposition to it But how long it continued we cannot tell for it is not mentioned when the Ark was brought into the Temple of Solomon 1 Kings VIII 9. nor is it certain whether it continued in that verdure wherein it now appeared with the Buds Blossoms and Fruit though it is highly probable it did because it was to be a Testimony that the Honour of the Priesthood should continue to Aaron's Family alone through all Generations There are those who take this Rod which blossomed and was laid up in the most Holy Place to have been the Rod of Moses wherewith he wrought so many Miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea Concerning which the Jews tell very many incredible things as that it came from a Branch of the Tree of Life which an Angel gave to Seth who planted it in the Wilderness where Moses found it grown to a Tree and cut this Rod from it For when they came to Marah and could not drink the Waters because they were bitter God showed them this Tree that with it he might make them sweet Upon which Tree he afterward placed the brazen Serpent by looking on which the People were healed c. Thus the Cabbalists generally tell this Tale but some of them much otherwise who say it was given to Adam and by him to Enoch and so on till it came to Joseph in whose House the Egyptians found it when he died and brought it to Pharaoh from whom Jethro stole it c. with a great deal of such like stuff Which Abarbinel saith is to be understood mystically But all the ground they have for this Fancy of the Rod here laid up being Moses's Rod is from XX. 8 9. where it is said That Moses took the Rod from before the LORD wherewith he brought Water out of the Rock and this Rod is said v. 11. to be Moses his Rod. Dr. Owen upon the Epistle to the Hebrews follows this Conceit and endeavours to find many Mysteries in it But it is evidently false for as there is not the least intimation here that it was the Rod of Moses but quite contrary it is called the Rod of Aaron v. 6. so it had not been a sufficient Argument to convince the Infidelity of the Israelites if Aaron's Rod had not been of the same kind with all the rest For they might have ascribed what came to pass to the singular quality or vertue of that Rod especially if it were Moses his Rod wherewith Wonders used to be wrought and not to a special Hand of God appearing to establish the Authority of Aaron And besides a Rod full of Blossoms and Fruit had been very unfit to be used to smite the Rock withal for which purpose that Rod which seems to have been his Pastoral Staff wherewith he smote the Rock in Horeb was most proper XVII Exod. 5 6. And thou shalt quite take away their Murmurings from me i. e. Silence all their Cavils against Aaron and his Family which the LORD here declares he would no longer bear if they continued in them after this demonstration of his Will and Pleasure For here were a great many miraculous things concurred together to convince them that to oppose Aaron was to oppose God himself The Jews reckon up eight First That Aaron's Rod should bring forth Buds Blossoms and Fruit all in one Night when the other Rods which were of the same nature brought forth nothing And then secondly That the Buds brought forth Leaves for so they interpret those words v. 8. the Rod of Aaron was budded i. e. brought forth Leaves for the next words speaks of its budding which followed after And thirdly That it thrust out Leaves before the Blossoms which is contrary to the Nature of the Almond Tree And next that it put forth Blossoms all the Rod over as they interpret those words bloomed Blossoms And then that a dry Stick as they understand it should produce Fruit and this Fruit Almonds which such Trees they think as that Rod was taken from did not bear And further That it produced ripe Almonds as the Hebrew word Schekedim imports And lastly That Moses showed the People all these at one view the Leaves Buds Blossoms and Fruit in perfection By which multiplicity of Miracles the Dignity of Aaron was so demonstrated that we do not find they at any time hereafter adventured to rise up against him For besides all those Wonders now mentioned it may be that it was not the Season of the Year for Almonds nor so much as for the budding of that Tree which made it the more astonishing But the greatest thing of all was the continuing of this Miracle to future Ages which might well make them afraid to open their Mouths again in Murmurings against Aaron That they die not Be not consumed in a moment as God had more than once formerly threatned XVI 21 45. and now declared if they did not mend their Manners and cease their Murmurings about this matter he would instantly execute Ver. 11. And Moses did so as the LORD commanded so did he Both brought the Rod again to him and laid it up before him and told the Children of Israel the reason of it which occasioned what Verse 11 follows Ver. 12. And the Children of Israel spake unto Moses Verse 12 saying Behold we die we perish c. Moses having told them that he laid up the Rod for this end to be a Witness against them that if
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Fourth Book of MOSES CALLED NUMBERS BY The Right Reverend Father in GOD SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCXCIX A COMMENTARY UPON NUMBERS A COMMENTARY UPON THE Fourth Book of MOSES CALLED NUMBERS CHAP. I. Chapter I THIS Book is called by the Name of NVMBERS in our Language because it begins with an Account of the Numbering of the People in the beginning of the second Year after they came out of Egypt though it contain a great many things besides that particularly another Numbering of them Chapter XXVI towards the conclusion of their Travels in the Wilderness For this Book comprehends an History of about thirty eight Years though the most of the things related in it fell out in the first and in the last of these Years and it doth not appear when those things were done which we read of about the middle of the Book from the XVth to the XXth Chapter Verse 1 Verse 1. And the LORD spake unto Moses Who undertook nothing without order from God In the Wilderness of Sinai Where they had continued near a full Year as appears by comparing XIX Exod. 1. with this place and shortly after this removed from it X. 11. In the Tabernacle of the Congregation From whence the LORD delivered those Laws which we read in the foregoing Book See on I Lev. 1. and now seems to have admitted him into the Tabernacle whereas before he only spake to him out of it On the first day of the second Month in the second year after they were come out of the Land of Egypt All that is related in the foregoing Book seems to have passed in the first Month of the second Year after their coming out of Egypt In the beginning of which the Tabernacle was set up XL Exod. 2 17. and in the middle of it the Passover was kept as appears by this Book IX 1 2 c. Verse 2 Ver. 2. Take ye the sum There had been a Muster as we may call it of the People before the Tabernacle was erected XXX Exod. 12. and consequently some Months before this for it was in order to a Contribution which every one was to make towards that holy work XXXVIII Exod. 26. Whereas this was for the better disposing of their Camps about the Tabernacle now that it was set up and for their more regular march when they removed from Mount Sinai which they were to do shortly Of all the Congregation of the Children of Israel Who alone were numbred all except the Levites but none of the mixt Multitude that came with them out of Egypt XII Exod. 38. After their Families It appears by VII Joshua 16 17 c. that the several Tribes of Israel were divided into Families and those Families into Housholds and those Housholds had every one of them an Head or Chief who is called the Father of it There were LXX of these Families in all but some Tribes had more others fewer according to the number of Souls as they are called that is Persons who were in each when they went down into Egypt XLVI Gen. 27. By the House of their Fathers Every Family as I said being distributed into Houses which we now call Families these Houses were denominated from their Chief whom they called their Father For no Houses were denominated from the Mother as the Jews say With the number of their Names The Names of every Person in the several Houses were set down and registred that they might be the better known Every Male by their pole But no Women for the reason which follows Ver. 3. From twenty years old and upward Which Verse 3 was ever after this the Age when Men were thought fit for War All that are able to go forth to war in Israel One would think by this they were not to number very aged and decrepit People because they were no more able to go to war than Women and Children and those under twenty years old And if we may believe Josephus L. II. Antiq. cap. 9. after fifty Years old Men were not bound to pay the half Shekel which was due in such Musters and therefore we may reasonably think were excused from going to war unless they had a mind themselves Thou and Aaron Who had the highest Authority in the Nation Shall number them by their Armies This seems to import that in taking the account of them they distributed them into certain Troops or Companies out of which were formed Regiments as we now speak and greater regular Bodies which composed several Armies We do not read this was required in the former numbering XXX Exod. that being for another end as I now observed not for their more orderly march in their remove from Mount Sinai And here I cannot but take notice what a vast difference there was between this method and that rude way which Cecrops the first King of Attica after the Ogygian Flood which hapned about the time of Moses took to know the number of his People which the Greek Writers say was by requiring every one of them to bring a Stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and throw it down before them which he counting found them Twenty thousand So the Scholiast upon Pindar Od. IX and others in Meursius de Regibus Atheniens L. I. cap. 7. Verse 4 Ver. 4. And there shall be with you a Man of every Tribe Whom they were to take for their Assistants Every one Head of the House of his Fathers The LXX and the Vulgar understand this to signifie the principal Persons in each Tribe who were best acquainted with every Family and Houshold in that Tribe And so it is expounded v. 6. And many think these were the First-born in their Tribe But there is this Objection against it That Nahshan who is named for the Tribe of Judah v. 7. was not descended from the First-born of that Tribe For Pharez was not Judah's eldest Son Selah being before him who had Children as we find XXVI of this Book v. 20. Besides when the Princes of the Tribes rre reckoned again XXXIV of this Book in the last Year of their abode in the Wilderness none of them are derived from these Men here mentioned but from others And therefore these were the most eminent Men in the several Tribes upon a different account either for Wisdom or Valour or some other excellent quality Ver. 5. And these are the Names of the Men that shall Verse 5 stand Be Assistants With you i. e. With Moses and Aaron Of the Tribe of Reuben Elizur the Son of Shedeur There is little to be observed concerning these Tribes but that they are here placed not in the order of their Birth but of their Mothers who bare them First the Children of Leah who are all reckoned in the same order wherein they were born of her ver 6 7 8 9. Then the Children of Rachel v. 10 11. And after them the
XXV Exod. 16. XL. 3. And over all the Vessels thereof and over all things that belong unto it Not to use them in any Sacred Ministry which belonged to the Priests alone but to carry them when they were to be removed and to keep them in Safety at all times See VIII ult Where it is expresly said they shall do no Service there They shall bear the Tabernacle and all the Vessels therefore As is particularly directed in the fourth Chapter And they shall minister unto it Which Ministry is at large described in the third Chapter And shall encamp round about the Tabernacle As a Guard unto it They being like to the Legions about the Palace of a great King to secure and defend it from Violence or Rudeness Which was the reason that they did not march under any of the Standards of the other Tribes because they were to make a Camp by themselves the order of which is directed in the same third Chapter And for the same reason they were not to go to the Wars because their Camp was to attend upon the Tabernacle the House of God Ver. 51. And when the Tabernacle setteth forward the Levites shall take it down and when it is to be pitched the Levites shall set it up When the Israelites removed to a new station the Tabernacle was Verse 51 taken in pieces that it might be the more easily carried from place to place In which the Levites were to be employed and likewise in putting it together again when it was to be set up where they rested in their Journeys as is more fully ordered in the fourth Chapter Where the manner of taking it down and setting it up again is directed and every ones Office about it whether Priests for they had some hand in it or Levites exactly appointed And the Stranger Who is not of this Tribe though an Israelite That comes nigh To perform any of the forenamed Offices Shall be put to death As a presumptuous Person in medling with that which doth not belong unto him The Author of Schebet Jehudah extends this to all Strangers who worshipped strange Gods and saith there was a Golden Sword hung up in the Gate of the Temple with this Inscription The Stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death Ver. 52. And the Children of Israel The rest of the Verse 52 Tribes before-mentioned Shall pitch their Tents every Man by his own Camp c. In the order prescribed in the next Chapter Ver. 53. But the Levites shall pitch round about the Verse 53 Tabernacle of Testimony As is directed Chap. III. where they are ordered to make a Camp nearer the Tabernacle within the other Camp of the Israelites That there be no Wrath upon the Congregation of the Children of Israel To prevent the other Camp of the Israelites from coming too nigh the Tabernacle whereby they might have incurred God's Displeasure And the Levites shall keep the Charge of the Tabernacle of Testimony That is therefore they were to be a constant guard about it that no Man might approach nearer than God allowed and so bring heavy Punishments upon himself and upon the Congregation Verse 54 Ver. 54. And the Children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses so did they Consented to all that is here required and did accordingly CHAP. II. Chapter II Verse 1 Ver. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron saying The just number of Days that were spent in taking the fore-named Account of the People is uncertain see I. 19. but that being finished now order is given for their Encamping under their several Standards And it is directed to Aaron as well as Moses though the Order for numbring them was directed to Moses only Chap. I. 1. Aaron having by that first Order been joined with him in taking the Account of them Verse 2 Ver. 2. Every Man of the Children of Israel shall pitch by his own Standard By the Banner of that Tribe to which he was joined by the following Order With the Ensign of their Fathers House Every Family and Houshold had their particular Ensigns beside that great Banner under which they encamped and marched it being pitched and carried as will appear in the midst of them How these Banners and Ensigns were distinguished one from another we have no certain Knowledge The later Jews say particularly Aben Ezra upon this place that Judah carried in his Standard the Figure of a Lion and Reuben the Figure of a Man Ephraim of an Ox and Dan of an Eagle for which I can see no ground For though Judah be compared to a Lion yet the Reasons he gives for the other are very absurd with which I shall not trouble the Reader But only observe that there is not one word of any such thing in their ancient Writers no not in the whole body of the Talmud as the famous Bochartus assures us And it is not likely that they who so lately smarted for making the Golden Calf would adventure to make any other Images and expose them to the Eyes of all the People Nor is it impertinent to observe that when Vitellius in after-ages was to march against the Arabians through Judaea the great Men of the Nation met him and beseeched him to march another way The Law of their Country not allowing Images such as were in the Roman Ensigns to be brought into it So Josephus relates L. XVIII Antiq. cap. 7. for which one can see no reason if their Ancestors in the Wilderness had by the Command or Allowance of Moses carried an Eagle in any of their Standards See Bochart in his Hieroz P. I. L. III. C. V. It is more probable if there be room for Conjecture in this matter that the Name of Judah might be embroidered in great Letters in his Standard and of Reuben in his and so of the rest or they were distinguished by their Colours only as now our Regiments are Far off about the Tabernacle of the Congregation shall they pitch At such a distance as might show their Reverence to the Tabernacle and that there might be another Camp of the Levites within them who made a nearer Inclosure about it in the same Form with the Camp of Israel which was Quadrangular This Distance of the Camp of Israel from the Tabernacle is reasonably judged by III Josh 4. to have been Two thousand Cubits That is a Mile Verse 3 Ver. 3. And on the East-side toward the rising of the Sun These are two Expressions after the manner of the Hebrews for the same thing Or Kedma which we here translate on the East may be translated on the fore part viz. of the Tabernacle Which was towards the Sun's Rising Shall they of the Standard of the Camp of Judah pitch These had the most honourable Post as we now speak of all others pitching before the most holy Place where Moses and Aaron had their Station in the Camp of the Levites III. 38. And therefore the
is the reason perhaps why these are ordered here in the next words to bring up the Rear They shall go hindmost with their Standards Here the Standard comprehends Ensigns for there was but one Standard for this Camp as there were no more for the other three Therefore the meaning is they shall march hindermost under their several Colours as we now speak Which was ordered for the greater Security of the Sanctuary by the two strongest Bodies marching before and behind where there was the greatest danger Ver. 32. These are those which were numbred of the Verse 32 Children of Israel by the House of their Fathers c. That is Thus were all these Persons disposed under their several Standards whose Number was taken by Moses and Aaron with their Associates I. 44 45. Ver. 33. But the Levites were not numbred among Verse 33 the Children of Israel as the LORD commanded Moses And consequently did not belong to any of these Standards being to make another Camp by themselves I. 47 c. Ver. 34. And the Children of Israel did according to Verse 34 all that the LORD commanded Moses As they gave in their Names when they were to be numbred I. 54. so they now joyned together under such Standards as God appointed So they pitched by their Standards and so they set forward c. Each Tribe encamped under the Standard that was assigned to them and they also marched when they set forward in such order as is here directed Some order no doubt had been observed before both when they rested and when they marched See XIII Exod. 18. but it was not so exact and regular as this form into which they were now cast by God himself nor can we think it was so strictly observed The Jews say that this Camp made a Square of Twelve Miles in compass about the Tabernacle as Dr. Lightfoot hath observed in his Centur. Chorogr CXLVIII and J. Wagenseil more lately in his Annotations upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. 1. Sect. 51. where several of them say that the Camp was three Parasots in compass and a Parasot was four Miles CHAP. III. Chapter III Verse 1 Ver. 1. THese are the Generations of Aaron and Moses Being now to give an account of the Levites who had not been numbred with the rest of the Children of Israel he sets down the descendants of the principal Persons among them viz. Aaron whom he puts in the first place because he was the elder Brother and his Posterity were advanced to the Dignity of Priests and Moses whose Posterity were only Ministers to the Priests as all the common Levites were It may seem indeed at first fight as if he gave an account only of Aaron's Posterity v. 2. But if we look further to v. 27 28. we shall find the Posterity of both here numbred in the Family of the Amramites of which both Aaron and Moses were Amram being their Father from whom the Genealogy of the Children of Moses is derived 1 Chron. XXIII 13 14 c. through their Generations as here those of Aaron Concerning the word Generations See Dr. Hammond on the first of St. Matthew Not. a. In the day that the LORD spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai This Circumstance seems to be particularly specified because at that time Nadab and Abihu who are mentioned in the next Verse were both alive and very eminent Persons XXIV Exod. 1 9 10. though they were now dead at this numbring of the Levites Ver. 2. These are the Names of the Sons of Aaron Verse 2 Nadab the first-born c. There seems no necessity of setting down the Names of Aaron's Sons they not being here to be numbred But it was of great Concernment to have the Distinction preserved between the Priests and the Levites their Offices being very different and therefore Moses here sets down who belonged to the one and who to the other Ver. 3. These are the Names of the Sons of Aaron Verse 3 the Priests which were anointed See VIII Levit. 30. Which he consecrated In the Hebrew whose Hand he filled See XXVIII Exod. 41. XXIX 9. To minister in the Priests Office He would have it noted that Aaron's Posterity were solemnly consecrated to an higher Office than the rest of the Tribe of Levi who were to be their Servants The very name of Cohen carries Dignity in it signifying sometime a Prince as well as a Priest Accordingly the Priests had very little servile Work imposed upon them but their chief business was to draw near to God to present him with the Blood and the Fat and some part of the Sacrifices which might be killed by other Persons This shows that they were God's Familiars insomuch that some Sacrifices were divided between him and them and it was the same thing whether they were consumed on the Alter or eaten by the Priests And those things are said to be given to God which were put into their hands though they never came to the Altar Which is an Evidence of the near relation they had to the Divine Majesty which the Levites had not for they could not come nigh to offer any thing to him no more than the rest of the Israelites but were employed in inferior Services about the Tabernacle that the Priests might wholly attend to the Service of God at the Altar Verse 4 Ver. 4. And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD c. A little after their Consecration X Lev. 1 c. And they had no Children Which is here recorded that all Posterity might know there were none to be admitted to the Office of Priesthood but such as could derive their Genealogy from Eleazar or Ithamar If the other had left any Sons they would have inherited their Father's Office before Eleazar as Maimonides observes out of Siphre See Schickard his Jus Regium Cap. VI. Theorem XX. And Eleazar and Ithamar ministred in the Priests Office in the sight of their Father The LXX rightly translate it together with their Father Who was the High Priest and they Lower Priests under him And so were all their Sons which it is likely they had in good number For they are appointed v. 38. for the guard of the Tabernacle towards the East And thus the Gemara Hieorosol in the Title concerning Fasting saith That Moses appointed VIII Classes of Priests four of the Family of Eleazar and as many of Ithamar which continued till the time of Samuel the Prophet and David who admitted many more See Selden de Success in Pontif. Cap. I. Ver. 5. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Now he gives order about the rest of the Tribe of Levi who had been omitted in the late Muster Verse 5 Ver. 6. Bring the Tribe of Levi near and present Verse 6 them They had consecrated themselves to God by a noble Act mentioned XXXII Exod. 29. Which procured them this Blessing to be presented to God and consecrated to him in a solemn manner for such Services as he should assign
them So this word bring near signifies to offer them unto God As they were VIII 10 11. Before Aaron the Priest In his presence That they may minister unto him Unto Aaron and the rest of the Priests who were the immediate Ministers of God and the Levites were given to minister unto them Which they did many ways especially while they remain'd in the Wilderness where they had a peculiar Charge which otherwise would have been incumbent on the Priests not only to guard the Tabernacle and keep a Watch night and day about it but also to take it down and to carry it when they removed and to set it up again when they rested as we read in the following part of this Chapter and in the next When they came into the Land of Canaan and were settled there they had less to do of this kind But as the Charge of the Tabernacle still lay upon them as it had done before so did other Works in the Courts of the LORD'S House and in the Chambers where they waited on the Priests which are particularly mentioned in 1 Chron. XXIII 28 29 c. And in David's time their Work was still more increased for he appointed them to be Singers in the House of the LORD and to play upon several sorts of Instruments 1 Chron. XXV which they did Morning and Evening 1 Chron. XXIII 30. Porters perhaps there were before who stood at the several Gates of the Tabernacle as afterward of the Temple and are said therein to minister in the House of the LORD 1 Chron. XXVI 12. as also Guards of the Treasury of God's House and of things dedicated to him v. 20. But as he increased the number of them so he settled them in their Courses that there might be a constant Attendance with greater ease As for those of them that were made Judges and Officers not only in Matters concerning the LORD but in the Service of the King as we read there 1 Chron. XXVI 29 30. it no more belongs to what is said of them here than what follows there v. 31. that there were found among them mighty Men of Valour See upon v. 10. Verse 7 Ver. 7. And they shall keep his Charge and the charge of the whole Congregation It highly concerned Aaron in particular and the whole Congregation in general that the Tabernacle should be well guarded And this was the Levites great business at present who took this Charge from off their hands by attending that Service which all of them were bound to perform Before the Tabernacle of the Congregation This exactly expresses in what their Ministry consisted which was not performed in the Tabernacle where the Priests only officiated in the Holy Place as the High Priest in the most Holy but before it in the External Part of it where they assisted the Priests in their Service To do the Service of the Tabernacle Such Service as I have mentioned before v. 6. Ver. 8. And they shall keep By guarding them and keeping a continual Watch about them Verse 8 All the Instruments of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Every thing belonging to it And the charge of the Children of Israel to do the Service of the Tabernacle By which Service at the Tabernacle they took upon them the Charge which otherwise was incumbent on the whole Congregation who were to take care that the holy Things were kept both safe and secure and also separate to the Sacred Uses to which they were appointed These words which are often repeated to do the Service of the Tabernacle are to be carefully noted because the Levites did not serve in the Tabernacle which belonged only to the Priests but served the Tabernacle by guarding it and taking it down and carrying it c. as was said before Ver. 9. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron Verse 9 and to his Sons They were first presented unto God v. 6. and God bestowed them as a Gift upon the Priests See VIII 19. They are wholly given unto him out of the Children of Israel To attend upon the Priests and to obey their Orders for which they paid them nothing but they were to do it freely being given to them to be their Servants by God who paid them their Wages Ver. 10. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his Sons Verse 10 and they shall wait on their Priests Office Or thou shalt appoint them to wait on their Priesthood Which he had shown before was very different from the Levitical Office but to make them more mindful of their Dignity he repeats it again that Aaron and his Sons alone should officiate as Priests viz. in offering Sacrifice in setting the Bread upon the Holy Table looking after the Lights and burning Incense Which they were to perform in their own Persons and not appoint any others as their Deputies to do them for none of these things could be performed by the Levites Whose business it was to look after the fine Flour of which the Bread was made to prepare it and the Frankincense which was to be burnt and abundance of such like things which are particularly mentioned 1 Chron. IX 27 28 29 31 32. But they could not make the Anointing Oyl or the sweet Perfume mentioned XXX Exod. 23 34. for they were most holy and therefore the Priests only could compound them And the Stranger that cometh nigh By Stranger is meant any one though a Levite that was not of the Sons of Aaron who alone had the priviledge to approach unto God Shall be put to death God himself sent out a Fire to consume Korah and his Company who presumed to offer Incense being but bare Levites and not Priests Chap. XVI Verse 11 Ver. 11. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying To make the Matter more clear he further tells Moses the reason why he took the Levites from among the the Children of Israel to be his after a peculiar manner Verse 12 Ver. 12. And I behold I have taken the Levites from among the Children of Israel Take notice of the Reason why I have taken the Levites from among the rest of the Israelites v. 9. for it is by my Order and Appointment Instead of all the First-born that openeth the Matrix c. To make an exchange with them for all their First-born which I have heretofore challenged as my own and now take the Levites in their stead Therefore the Levites shall be mine As all the First-born were which now shall be theirs and the Levites be mine Ver. 13. Because all the First-born are mine By Verse 13 a special Right which is mentioned in the next words For on the day that I smote all the First-born in the Land of Egypt The Title whereby he laid a Claim to all the First-born was that great Miracle as R. Levi of Barcelona calls it which he wrought when he destroyed all the First-born of their Neighbours in Egypt and touched not one of theirs By which sparing Mercy he acquired
only carry it in the manner there described Verse 21 Ver. 21. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying He was principally concerned in this but Aaron was also joined with him to see the Execution of what is here required v. 1.19 34. Verse 22 Ver. 22. Take also the Sum of the Sons of Gershon c. The eldest Son of Levi III. 17. who though they were employed in lower Services were to account it an Honour to serve about the Tabernacle Verse 23 Ver. 23. All that enter in to perform the Service I do not understand why this should not be translated as v. 2. into the Host For it is the very same Phrase in the Hebrew both here and there only here more emphatical by doubling the word for Host And therefore may very properly be translated in this place that enter in to war the Warfare For the Service of the Gershonites was more burthensome than the former though they were fewer in number ver 36 40. Ver. 24. This is the Service of the Families of the Gershonites Verse 24 Which were only two III 18. 21. To serve and for Burdens To serve when the Tabernacle rested and to carry Burdens when it removed See v. 47. Ver. 25. And they shall bear the Curtains of the Tabernacle Verse 25 The ten fine Curtains which were the inward Hangings of the Tabernacle XXVI Exod. 1 2 c. Which I suppose were taken down as well as carried by the Gershonites because nothing is said here of Aaron or his Sons being employed to make them ready for carriage And the Tabernacle of the Congregation his Covering Not the Boards of the Tabernacle which were the Charge of the Children of Merari v. 31. but the eleven Curtains of Goats-hair which covered the Boards XXVI Exod. 7 8 c. And the Covering of Badgers Skins which is upon it The outward Covering of all which was of Rams Skins dyed Red and Badgers Skins as we translate it XXVI Exod. 14. And the Hanging for the Door of the Tabernacle Which is described in the Conclusion of the same Chapter XXVI Exod. 36. Ver. 26. And the Hangings for the Court XXVII Exod. 9 c. And the Hanging for the Gate of the Door of the Court. See XXVII Exod. 16. Which is by the Tabernacle and the Altar round about The Sense would have been more plain if the Particle al which we translate by had been translated upon or over for the Court encompassed both the Tabernacle and the Altar XL Exod. 6 7 8. And their Cords Which were employed in fastning these Hangings And all the Instruments for their service The brazen Pins I suppose mentioned XXVII Exod. 19. And all that is made for them And whatsoever else belonged to them See III. 26. So shall they serve Or in that shall they serve Verse 27 Ver. 27. At the appointment of Aaron and his Sons shall be all the Service of the Sons of the Gershonites c. In the Hebrew it is at the Mouth of Aaron c. i. e. according to their Order every one of the Gershonites were to apply themselves to such Services as they directed For God had given the Levites to them to be their Ministers and keep their Charge III. 6 7. And ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their Burdens The word here for appoint seems to import that the Priests gave them a Particular as we speak of what they were to do that they might neither forget nor mistake For it is the same word that is used in the beginning of this Book I. 3. for numbring the People and so it is used here v. 34 47 48. Therefore the Vulgar translates these words Et sciant singuli cui debeant operi mancipari and every Man may know what is his proper business Which is the Sense of the LXX also And affords an excellent Instruction to all Men to follow diligently the business of their own Callings not to meddle with other Mens nor to think themselves fit to undertake every thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks in his Politicks L. III. One work is best performed by one Person Ver. 28. And their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the Son of Aaron the Priest That is under Verse 28 the Direction and Conduct of Ithamar For though the Gershonites had a Chief of their own III. 24. yet Ithamar was to inspect both him and them and see they did not neglect their Duty Thus Eleazar was set over the Kohathites v. 16. Ver. 29. As for the Sons of Merari thou shalt number Verse 29 them after their Families c. Which were but two III. 33. as those of Gershon were Ver. 30. Every one that entreth into the Service Verse 30 The words in the Hebrew are the very same with those v. 3. which we translate enter into the Host See there Ver. 31. This is the charge of their Burden c. Verse 31 The most cumbersome things fell to their charge which here follow The Boards of the Tabernacle See XXVI Exod. 15 c. And the Bars thereof See there v. 26 c. And the Pillars thereof See in the same place v. 32. and XXXVI 36. And Sockets thereof These belonged both to the Boards of the Tabernacle XXVI Exod. 19 21 25. and to the Pillars XXVI Exod. 32. XXXVIII 27. Ver. 32. And the Pillars of the Court round about Verse 32 XXVII Exod. 10 11 12. And their Sockets See there And their Pins V. 19. and XXXVIII 20. And their Cords XXXV Exod. 18. XXXIX 40. By name ye shall reckon the Instruments of the charge of their Burden The Priests particularly Ithamar were to give them an Inventory of these things Expressing by name every Pin for instance and to what use and in what place it served Because otherwise such small things might have been lost if they had not taken a special care of them and they might not have been able to set up the Tabernacle again when they rested for want of them Verse 33 Ver. 33. This is the Service of the Families of the Sons of Merari according to all their Service in the Tabernacle of the Congregation In taking down and carrying the Tabernacle Vnder the hand of Ithamar c. Who had the over-sight both of the Gershonites and the Merarites As Eleazar had of the Kohathites v. 16 28. Verse 34 Ver. 34. And Moses and Aaron and the Chief of the Congregation They took to their assistance the very same Men I suppose who were employed in the numbring all the Children of Israel Chap. I. 4. 16 17. Numbred the Sons of the Kohathites c. Having assigned to them their particular Charge they now proceed to number them as God commanded v. 2 3. Verse 35 Ver. 35. Every one that entreth into the Service Or as we translate it v. 3. entreth into the Host Verse 36 Ver. 36. And those that were numbred of them by their Families were Two thousand seven hundred and fifty Of
and let Blood And whosoever suffered a Rasor to pass upon his Flesh was required to wash himself in pure Fountain-water as he shows More Nevochim P. III. cap. 47. Verse 19 Ver. 19. And the Priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the Ram. The left Shoulder which he was to take out of the Pot as it was boiling for the right Shoulder which is called the Heave-shoulder in the next Verse was the Priest's Portion by a Law made before this VII Lev. 32 33. And one unleavened Cake out of the Basket and one unleavened Wafer The Basket of unleavened Bread was ordered to be offered before v. 17. and now he orders one of the Cakes and one of the Wafers mentioned with the Bread v. 15. to be put into the Hands of the Nazarite the rest being burnt I suppose upon the Altar And shall put them into the hands of the Nazarite That he might give them to the Priest in token of his Thankfulness to him for his pains After the Hair of his Separation is shaved And his Vow in a manner compleated as it was immediately after these things were presented unto God Ver. 20. And the Priest shall wave them Both Verse 20 the sodden Shoulder and the Cake and Wafer For a Wave-offering before the LORD See VII Lev. 30 31. This is holy for the Priest with the Wave-Breast and Heave-shoulder These two were the Priests Portion out of all Peace-offerings as I observed before from VII Lev. 34. but in this Peace-offering he had moreover the other Soulder as a special Token of the Nazarite's Gratitude for his Cleansing And after that the Nazarite may drink Wine He was restored to his former Freedom to live as other Men did Ver. 21. This is the Law of the Nazarite who hath Verse 21 vowed and of his Offering to the LORD for his Separation All these things he was bound to perform betore he could be freed from his Vow though he was never so poor Besides that that his hand shall get Besides which he might add if he pleased according to his Ability According to the Vow which he vowed so must he do after the Law of his Separation There was a necessity that he should perform what his Vow obliged him unto according to the Law of Nazariteship though he might voluntarily offer what he thought good over and above his Oblation now that he was executing his Vow His Friends also might joyn with him in the Expense he was at for so many Sacrifices as he was enjoyned to offer or in providing voluntary Offerings beyond his Oblation Thus we read in XXI Acts 23 24. that St. Paul by the advice of St. James and the Elders Jerusalem was at charges with certain Men that had this Vow upon them and purified himself with them Which was agreeable to the Custom among the Jews as Petitus and others have observed out of Maimonides who says others might help the Nazarites to fulfil their Vow and partake with them in it by abstaining from Wine c. for some time as they did Verse 22 Ver. 22. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying The Tabernacle having been lately erected to which the People were all to resort they are invited to it by the Directions here given how they should be dismissed when they came to Worship Which was in such a manner that they might not doubt as R. Menachem glosses but the Divine Benediction would come down upon them from his Celestial Habitation when they devoutly frequented his House here on Earth Verse 23 Ver. 23. Speak unto Aaron and unto his Sons saying Whose proper Office it was to bless the People as it was to offer their Sacrifices and burn Incense XXI Deut. 5. On this wise he shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them Standing so that they might be seen with their Hands lifted up and spread speaking with a loud voice with their Faces towards the People See IX Lev. 22. Verse 24 Ver. 24. The LORD bless thee and keep thee Give thee all good things and preserve thee from all evil Ver. 25. The LORD make his Face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee Be favourable unto thee and pardon all thy Sins Ver. 26. The LORD lift up his Countanance upon Verse 25 thee and give thee Peace Be always with thee to Verse 26 protect and defend thee and give thee perfect Happiness When this Benediction was said in the Sanctuary if we may believe the Jews it was but one and pronounced without any Pause The People keeping a profound Silence but out of the Sanctuary in their Synagogues they made three of it the Priest pausing at the end of every Verse and the People saying Amen to each of them In the Sanctuary also they pronounced the name JEHOVAH which is here thrice repeated but in their Synagogues they used some other name instead of it So the Mischna Sotae Cap. VII Sect. 6. The Repetition of this Name three times in these three Verses and that with a different Accent in each of them as R. Menachem observes hath made the Jews themselves think there is some Mystery in it Which we understand though they do not For it may well be lookt upon by us as having respect to the three Persons in the Blessed Trinity who are one God from whom all Blessings slow unto us 2 Corinth XIII 14. This Mystery as Luther wisely expresses it upon Psalm V. is here occultè insinuatum secretly insinuated though not plainly revealed And it is not hard to show if this were a place for it how properly God the Father may be said to bless and keep us and God the Son to be gracious unto us and God the Holy Ghost to give us Peace Ver. 27. And they shall put my Name upon the Children of Israel To put God's Name upon them was to commend them to his Almighty Goodness or to bless them by calling upon the LORD and beseeching him to bestow all that they desired upon them And I will bless them The Jews from hence observe that God's Blessing in some sort depends upon the Blessing of the Priest Which they thought so necessary that such Priests as were admitted to no other Service might perform this for fear the People should at any time want it So Chaskuin upon XXI Deut. 5. and Jalkut as Wagenseil observes upon the Gemara Sotae Cap. VII Sect. 26. whose words are these The Blessing pronounced by a Priest who hath some blemish in his Body ought to be accounted legitimate Jonathan here paraphrases these words in this manner I will bless them in my WORD or by my WORD Which is the Apostolical Doctrine that God the Father hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in or by Christ 1 Ephes 3. Who with the Holy Ghost is most high in the Glory of God the Father And it is observable that the Jews think it utterly unlawful to add a fourth Benediction to these three though they find one in the
go and enquire particularly of God about a matter of great Concernment as will appear from IX 8 9. And it is likely he had gone in twice upon this occasion to consult him about the Offering of the Princes v. 4 5 10 11. And now it is possible went in again to know if the LORD would give him any further Directions Then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the Mercy-seat c. There God promised to meet him and to commune with him c. XXV Exod. 22. Which supposes he would be always present there And so he was for the Cloud of Glory filled the House after it was set up LX Exod. 33 34. from whence God spake unto him I Lev. 1. and told him he would appear i. e. reside constantly in the Cloud upon the Mercy-seat XVI Lev. 2. Now here he relates how God appeared and communed with him from thence which was by a voice that he heard of one speaking to him as he stood in the outward part of the Sanctuary So the Jews understand it particularly R. Solomon who thinks that Moses only entred into the Sanctuary and standing in the very entrance of it heard the voice speaking to him from between the two Cherubims which was very clear and strong but went no farther than into the Sanctuary where Moses alone at that time was So they observe in Siphra as Butxtorf notes in his Histor Arca Foederis cap. 15. And he spake unto him With an audible voice and so distinctly that he perceived and understood every word Which Abarbinel thinks God vouchsafed for this reason That as he visibly represented to him in the Mount the pattern of the Tabernacle and of every thing belonging to it whereby the form and figure of every particular was imprinted on his Mind and he was the better able to give directions how to make them exactly So he being to write in his Law all that God required them to do he delivered every thing to him in an audible voice that he might set down in these Books the very Words and Phrases which he heard with his Ears from the Mouth of God as plainly as if he had described them from some ancient Volume To which I cannot but add That this audible articulate voice from God which was perceived by Humane Ears represented God as if he was incorporate and may well be lookt upon as an earnest of that great Mystery God manifested in the flesh who in the Fulness of Time became a Man and spake to all the Jews familiarly in their own Language CHAP. VIII Chapter VIII Ver. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying Verse 1 When this was spoken is not certain If Moses went into the Tabernacle immediately after the Princes had offered v. 89. of the foregoing Chapter it may be thought he then spake these things to him But both this and what follows concerning the Levites seem rather to have been delivered after the order for giving them to the Priests and setling their several Charges Chap. III. and IV. But some other things intervening which depended upon what had been ordered concerning their Camp and that of the Israelites see v. 4. Moses omits this till he had set down them and some other matters which he had received from God See VII 11. Ver. 2. Speak unto Aaron and say unto him when Verse 2 thou lightest the Lamps At the same time the Publick Service of God began at the Altar of Burnt-offerings of which he speaks in the foregoing Chapter the setting on the Shew-bread offering Incense and lighting the Lamps was begun in the Sanctuary The last of these is only here mentioned but it supposes the other The seven Lamps shall give light over against the Candlestick Unto the Table which was over against the Candlestick as the vulgar Latin very well explains it Which is rather a Paraphrase upon these words than a Translation of them in this manner When thou lightest the seven Lamps let the Candlestick be set up on the South-side for so it was ordered XXVI Exod. 35. and so Moses set it XL. 24. and let the Lamps look towards the North over against the Table of Shew-bread See XXV Exod. 37. where there is the like obscure Expression but to this Sense And thus this Verse may be translated exactly out of the Hebrew When thou settest up the Lamps the seven Lamps shall shine before the face of the Candlestick i. e. enlighten all the room that is opposite to it for there were no Windows in the Sanctuary and therefore these Lamps were lighted Verse 3 Ver. 3. And Aaron did so he lighted the Lamps thereof c. For God's Table being placed over against the Lamps where he was represented as Feasting with his People which no body doth in the dark it was but sit that there should be continual light in that Place And this as I take it is the first time that the Lamps were lighted when the Altar was dedicated and the Publick Service of God began which continued ever after Verse 4 Ver. 4. And this work of the Candlestick was of beaten Gold c. Upon this occasion he briefly repeats what is more largely said concerning the Structure of this Candlestick XXV Exod. 31 c. and XXXVII 17 c. Verse 5 Ver. 5. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying That which follows plainly belongs to what was said Chap. III. 7. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Take the Levites from among the Children of Israel In that place III. 7. he bad Moses give them to Aaron and his Sons out of the Children of Israel and now he executes it And cleanse them He had given them their Charge Chap. IV. and now he prepares them for the performance of it For they could not be fit to attend in the Tabernacle till they were purified and in some sort consecrated to that Service Ver. 7. And thus shalt thou do unto them to cleanse them Here he directs how they were to be purified Verse 7 and then v. 9 10 c. how they were to be consecrated or dedicated to God Sprinkle the Water of purifying upon them The manner of making this Water is not described till XIX 9. but in all likelihood had been ordered and made before because the Levites were sprinkled with it as those also were who had been defiled by the dead XIX 13. And let them shave all their Flesh The greatest Purity was required in them for they are here ordered to be cleansed according to the cleansing of a Leper XIV Levit. 8 9. and of a Nazarite when he was defiled by the dead VI Numb 9. R. Levi ben Gersom thinks there was this moral Signification in this shaving that they were hereby admonished To cast away all worldly Cares as much as might be and wholly give themselves to their sacred Ministry And wash their Cloths That their Bodies being cleansed might not be defiled by foul Apparel Ver. 8. Then let them take a young
Bullock For a Verse 8 Burnt-offering as is manifest from v. 12. With his Meat-offering Which always attended upon Burnt-offerings XV. 9. And another young Bullock shalt thou take for a Sin-offering This being offered for the whole body of the Levites is the same Sacrifice that is ordered when the whole Congregation of Israel sinned through Ignorance IV Levit. 13 14. Ver. 9. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Tabernacle of the Congregation To the Door of it where the Altar of Burnt-offerings stood XL Verse 9 Exod. 6. And thou shalt gather the whole Assembly of the Children of Israel together The Hebrew words COL ADATH which we translate the whole Assembly frequently signifies all the Elders of Israel As in XV. 4. XXV 7. XXXV 12. And it cannot well have any other sense in this place as appears from the next Verse Verse 10 Ver. 10. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD Present them to him at the Altar And the Children of Israel The Elders of the People mentioned in the foregoing Verse For all the Children of Israel could not possibly do what is here enjoyned but some of them in the name of the rest and none so proper as their Rulers and Governors who were their Representatives Shall put their hands upon the Levites As Men used to do upon their Sacrifices Which signified the devoting of that Beast to God by him who laid his Hand on it at the Altar for such Purposes as he brought it And this was done by private Men in their Burnt-offerings and Peace-offerings as well as in their Sin-offerings see I Levit. 4. III. 2. VIII 13. but the Jews observe that the whole Congregation laid their Hands only upon the Sin-offering that was offered for them IV Lev. 15. Therefore the Levites are here to be considered under that notion as is manifest from v. 19. where God is said to have given them to Aaron c. to make an Atonement for the Children of Israel For the Levites being given to God instead of the First-born by the Sanctification of which First-born to God as it is called XIII Exod. 1. the whole Family was sanctified and their Sin after a sort expiated the Offering of the Levites after this manner to God was to have the same effect that the Offering of the First-born had viz. the Sanctification and Atonement of the Children of Israel Ver. 11. And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Verse 11 LORD for an Offering of the Children of Israel The Hebrew words are more significant Aaron shall wave the Levites before the LORD for a Wave-offering c. I have often observed before that this Waving or Agitation too and fro before the Altar of which see XXIX Exod. 24. was a solemn Consecration of a thing to God as a Sacrifice And therefore the Levites were presented unto him under the same Consideration as the First-born were But it was impossible for Aaron to wave them as he did some parts of a Sacrifice and therefore it is probable that he lifting up his Hands and turning about to all sides as he did when he offered a Wave-offering they at his Command imitated the same motion and so were offered up to God and became wholly his See ver 21. That they may execute the Service of the LORD Or as it is more significantly in the Margin that they may be to execute c. Which expresses the Intention of this waving them before the LORD that being wholly given up to him they might become meet to execute that Service to which he appointed them at his House Ver. 12. And the Levites shall lay their Hands upon the Heads of the Bullocks It being evident from v. 19. that the Levites were considered as an expiatory Sacrifice Verse 12 and yet not being to be devoted to Death no more than the First-born were these two Sacrifices one for Sin the other a Burnt-offering were substituted in their stead Upon which therefore they were to lay their Hands that the Sin which the Children of Israel laid upon them v. 10. might be transferred to these Beasts by laying their Hands upon them to be actually sacrificed unto God by shedding their Blood The one for a Sin-offering and the other for a Burnt-offering unto the LORD The Burnt-offering was mentioned first v. 8. being the most ancient of all Offerings from the beginning of the World But the Sin-offering is offered first to make the other acceptable And so it was when Aaron was consecrated VIII Levit. 14.18 and when he offered for himself IX Levit. 8 12. and for the People v. 15 16. and to name no more in the Cleansing of a Leper XIV 19. To make an Atonement for the Levites The Sin-offering properly made the Atonement and the Burnt-offering declared its acceptance Verse 13 Ver. 13. And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron and his Sons As they were brought before the LORD because they were to be given unto him v. 9. So now they were set before Aaron and his Sons because they were given by God to them v. 19. And offer them for an Offering unto the LORD Or as it is in the Hebrew and wave them for a Wave-offering unto the LORD Some imagine that as Aaron waved them before v. 11. so now they were in like manner waved by Moses But it seems to me more probable that the meaning is they being waved c. should be set before Aaron and his Sons and presented to them as God's Gift according to his order III. 9. And so these words ought to be translated after thou hast waved them for a Wave-offering That is after Aaron by his Order had waved them And thus the like words must be understood v. 15. See there Ver. 14. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among Verse 14 the Children of Israel By the fore-mentioned Purification v. 7. and Oblation v. 10 11. And the Levites shall be mine They became his by this solemn Oblation of them to him v. 11. Ver. 15. And after that shall the Levites go in To Verse 15 the Court of the Tabernacle where they were to attend upon the Priests and assist them in their Ministry and in taking down the Tabernacle when it was to remove To do the Service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation In the Court of the Priests where the Altar of Burnt-offering stood For into the Sanctuary it self none but the Priests entred and there was no Ministry there in which the Levites were to assist And thou shalt cleanse them and offer them for an Offering Or rather after thou hast cleansed them and offered c. according as was directed v. 7 11. Ver. 16. For they are wholly given unto me c. Verse 16 God commanded them before to be taken from among the Children of Israel III. 45. and now they are given to him The word is repeated twice in the Hebrew given given which we translate wholly given because the Children of Israel
had devoted them to him by laying their Hands on them v. 10. and Aaron had waved them as a Wave-offering to the LORD v. 11. Instead of such as open every Womb c. See III. 12 13. Verse 17 Ver. 17. For all the First-born of the Children of Israel are mine both Man and Beast c. XIII Exod. 2. Verse 18 Ver. 18. And I have taken the Levites for all the First-born of the Children of Israel By the exchange mentioned III. 2 13 45. Verse 19 Ver. 19. And I have given the Levites as a Gift to Aaron and to his Sons c. In the Hebrew the words are more emphatical I have given the Levites given c. That is the Levites which are given unto me v. 16. I have given unto Aaron and his Sons III. 9. To do the Service of the Children of Israel See III. 7. The Vulgar Latin translates it to serve me for the Children of Israel i. e. to do them Service by assisting the Priests in offering Sacrifice for the People In the Tabernacle of the Congregation See v. 15. And to make an Atonement for the Children of Israel Not by offering Sacrifice for that was the work of the Priests alone but by being offered themselves in the nature of an expiatory Sacrifice unto God as I observed before v. 10 and 12. For though they were not slain at the Altar as Sacrifices were yet they might expiate as the Scape-Goat did Which was sent away alive into the Wilderness after it had been presented unto the LORD as these Levites were XVI Levit. 7 10. That there be no Plague among the Children of Israel As there would have been if any Man had presumed to officiate in the House of God but such as were in this manner taken by himself to minister there When the Children of Israel come nigh unto the Sanctuary To worship God and to bring their Sacrifices to be offered at his Altar Ver. 20. And Moses and all the Congregation of Israel Verse 20 i. e. The Elders of the People v. 9 10. Did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites c. Separated them to God from the rest of the Israelites as he had directed v. 14. Ver. 21. And the Levites were purified and they Verse 21 washed their Clothes According to the order given v. 7. And Aaron offered them an Offering before the LORD Or rather Waved them a Wave-offering c. As I observed v. 11. To which may be added That it is likely some of the Levites were thus waved in the name of all the rest for there being Two and twenty thousand of them III. 39. one cannot well conceive how they should be every one thus offered And Aaron made an Atonement for them to cleanse them See v. 12. Ver. 22. And after that the Levites went in to do Verse 22 their Service in the Tabernacle of the Congregation According to the Directions given v. 15. Before Aaron and before his Sons In their presence and by their direction Ver. 23. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Verse 23 After the foregoing Commands he gave him some further Instructions Ver. 24. This it is that belongeth unto the Levites Add this to what hath been said about them From twenty and five years old and upward they shall Verse 24 go in Then they might begin to take the Custody of the Tabernacle upon them and to be Door-keepers to keep out Strangers and such as were unclean but not to load the Wagons and do such like work of burden till they were thirty years of Age. See IV. 3. To wait upon the Service of the Tabernacle c. In the Hebrew the words are To war the warfare of the Tabernacle Which is a Phrase often used before IV. 3 23 c. and there applied to those that carried the Tabernacle Which they might not do till thirty years of Age but might go in to learn at five and twenty as some reconcile these two But Abarbinel notes That there is nothing said of their learning but of their Service or Ministry and therefore at twenty five years old they began that part of the Service which consisted in the Custody of the Tabernacle Verse 25 Ver. 25. And from the Age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the Service thereof In the Hebrew Shall return from the warfare of their Service i. e. be discharged from their Function and no longer burdened with any laborious work as that of carrying the Tabernacle was And shall serve no more In such manner of work Verse 26 Ver. 26. But shall minister with their Brethren This Ministry is explained in the following words To keep the charge that is to take care of the Tabernacle unto which they were to be a Guard In the Tabernacle of the Congregation See IV. 3. And shall do no Service In the Hebrew Serve no Service that is do no laborious work as was said before their Age beginning to require ease and rest and therefore no Ministry was required of them but what they might well perform without pains and labour Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge Appoint them their Ministries according to these Rules which were observed after the Ark of God was settled and there was no occasion to remove it any more When David therefore instead of carrying the Ark and the Tabernacle for which there was then no further occasion appointed them to be Singers in the Temple and Porters c. For which they were fit at twenty years of Age but continued their Employment no longer than till fifty as the Jews tell us when their Voice began to decay Whence that Observation of Abarbinel upon this very Chapter Age makes Levites unfit for Service not Blemishes in their Bodies but Priests are unfit by Blemishes in their Bodies not by Age. For Priests continued their Service as long as they lived and though they did not begin it till twenty years of Age yet no Law of God forbad them to begin sooner CHAP. IX Chapter IX Verse 1 Ver. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai Or the LORD had spoken for he relates now what was done a Month ago but not recorded till now for a special reason Which was that God having commanded them in the Month before this to keep the Passover some Persons were unprepared for it and thereupon a question arose What Course they should take for they were much troubled they could not do as their Brethren did Which produced a new Command from God that they should keep the Passover in this second Month of the first Year after they came out of Egypt This Moses being to give an account of as a matter of great importance he doth it in the proper place for it when he was relating what things were done in this Month I. 1. and deferred the mention of keeping the Passover in the first Month till he could speak
particularly from Arba who was their Grand-father as Joshua tells us XIV 15. XV. 13 14 c. Where he shows how Caleb drove these Anakims out of their Cities and made them fly to the Philistims where there were some Remainders of them till the days of David And others of them perhaps fled into Greece for there was a Race of Men among the Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who Vossius thinks it probable might descend from these Children of Anak Lib. I. de Orig. Progressu Idolol cap. XIII And we were in our own sight as Grashoppers Their Fear magnified them above measure though no doubt they were Men of such an extraordinary heighth Verse 26 that they might look upon themselves to be as small and contemptible as Grashoppers are compared with us And such very tall Men there are still in some parts of the World as Job Ludolphus observes in his Commentary upon his Histor Aethiopica Lib. I. cap. 2. n. 22. And so we were in their fight One of the Jewish Doctors makes bold to call these Men Liars For though their Fear might make them seem in their own sight as Grashoppers yet how could they tell saith he that they were so in the sight of the Children of Anak Here the Gemarists in the place I mentioned above cap. 10. endeavour to help them out by continuing the Tale of the great Mortality which was then in those Countries Where a Funeral-Feast as the manner was being one day made under certain Cedar-trees which are very shady the Spies got up to the top of them to hide themselves among the thick Boughs But the People below hapning to look up the Spies heard them say there are Men got up into the Trees who look like Grashoppers But there needs no such Inventions to defend them when an Hyperbole will do it Their plain meaning being this that the Anakims looked down upon them with the utmost Contempt By all which it appears that they had not only a sight of the Anakims but the Anakims also saw them and lookt upon them it is likely as they did upon other Travellers who were wont to come thither either for their Pleasure or to traffick in their Country or in their way to other places Whom it was not their Custom to examine strictly whence they came and what their business was but let pass to and fro among them freely CHAP. XIV Chapter XVI Ver. 1. AND all the Congregation By all the Congregation Verse 1 may be here meant all the great Men for so the Phrase sometimes signifies except Caleb and Joshua and perhaps some few others Lift up their Voice and cried Shrieked and made loud Lamentations And the People wept Which put all the People into Tears That night Which followed after the Report made by the Spies Ver. 2. And all the Children of Israel murmured against Verse 2 Moses and against Aaron As they had frequently done before but now in a more tumultuous manner And the whole Congregation said unto them The great Men spake in the name of the whole body of the People Would God that we had died in the Land of Egypt In a Fit of Fury and Despair they quite forgot how miraculously God had brought them from thence and consequently could as easily bring them into Canaan Or would God we had died in this Wilderness When several of their Brethren were burnt and smote with a very great Plague in this very Wilderness of Paran XI 1 33. Ver. 3. Wherefore hath the LORD brought us into this Land Having vented their Passion against God's Ministers they most undutifully accuse him as if he Verse 3 had dealt deceitfully with them To fall by the Sword Of the Children of Anak who they fancied were irresistible That our Wives and Children should be a prey To the People of Canaan after all the Men of Israel were killed Were it not better for us to return into Egypt Their Rage deprived them of the use of their Reason Verse 4 Ver. 4. And they said one to another let us make a Captain and let us return into Egypt They knew that Moses would not conduct them thither and therefore they thought of chusing another Leader But though they might in a Raging Fit speak of returning to Egypt yet it is an amazing thing that they should continue in this Madness and deliberate about it nay actually appoint them a Captain as Nehemiah saith they did IX 17. For how could they get thither without Food which they could not expect God would send them from Heaven when they had forsaken him Or how could they hope to find their way when his Cloud which directed them was withdrawn from them Or hope to deal with those that might oppose their Passage if they hit upon the right way And after all if they came into Egypt what Entertainment could they look for there among a People whose King and Princes and First-born had lately perished on their account Nothing can be said in answer to these things but that outragious Discontent will not suffer Men to consider any thing but that which grieves them and that foul Ingratitude and Forgetfulness of God's Benefits and that throws them into such Discontents Ver. 5. And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces To deprecate God's Displeasure which lately arose against Verse 5 them upon a less occasion than this XI 33. and they might justly fear would now destroy them all for their incurable Infidelity as Josephus explains it Before all the Assembly of the Congregation of the Children of Israel Some fancy that their falling down before them was to beseech them to desist from their Murmuring and to trust in God who would go before them and sight for them as he saith he told them I Deut. 29 30. But falling on their Faces being the Posture of the most humble Supplicants to God and not to Men as all understand it in other places particularly XVI 4. XX. 6. their falling down before the Assembly signifies no more but that in their presence Moses and Aaron humbled themselves deeply before the Divine Majesty and prayed to him with the greatest Earnestness to forgive them and to bestow a better Mind upon them Which they did in their presence to awaken them to consider the danger they were in by their heinous Sin that they themselves might cry to him for Mercy For the usual Posture of Prayer in that Nation was standing but in very great Distress and Anxiety of Mind when they were exceeding solicitous to obtain their Petition they kneeled down and sometimes fell on their Faces which was still a sign of greater Ardor and Concernment as appears from our Blessed Saviour XXVI Matth. 39. XXII Luke 41. Ver. 6. And Joshua the Son of Nun and Caleb the Son of Jephunneh which were of them that searched the Land rent their Clothes As the manner was on any Verse 6 sad and doleful occasion especially when they heard any Man blaspheme
Lightning and perhaps scorched as they likewise sometimes are The latter seems most probable from what follows v. 37. and from the like punishment by Fire from the LORD which is said to devour Nadab and Abihu and yet their Bodies remained intire X Lev. 2 4. This was the more astonishing because Moses and Aaron who stood with them at the Door of the Tabernacle v. 18. had no hurt Verse 36 Ver. 36. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Immediately after the Death of those Men. Ver. 37. Speak unto Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest Who it is likely stood by them as next Successor to Aaron in the Office which was disputed And therefore perhaps imployed in what follows rather than Aaron that his Succession might be confirmed Though others will have it that it was below the Dignity of Aaron to perform such a mean Office and besides he might have been in danger to be polluted by the dead Bodies of the Men that were burnt That he take the Censers out of the Burning Out of the place where the Men were burnt as some understand it Or which differs not much from among the dead Bodies which were burnt Burning being put for Bodies burnt as Captivity XXI 1. for those that were carried Captive or made Prisoners as we there translate it But there is no need of either of these Additions burning signifying the Fire which burnt in them which he orders Eleazar to throw out that the Censers might be brought away And scatter thou the Fire yonder The Men were burnt as soon as ever they put fire to the Incense in their Censers v. 18. which flaming at the Door of the Tabernacle where they stood near the Altar from whence they took the Fire God commanded to be thrown away without the Camp into that place I suppose where they were wont to throw the Ashes VI Lev. 11. or rather into some unclean place where they threw the Dust scraped from the Walls of Leprous Houses XIV Lev. 41. For it was to show that God abhorred their Offering For they are hollowed Or had Fire from the Altar put into them which some think sanctified them But the plain reason is given in the next verse because they offered them before the LORD i. e. they had been employed to an holy use and that by God's command v. 6 17. and therefore God would not have them hereafter serve for any other Ver. 39. The Censers of these Sinners against their Verse 39 own Souls Who have brought destruction upon themselves by their Presumption Let them make of them Either Aaron or Eleazar were to cause them to be beaten into such Plates as here follow Broad Plates for a covering of the Altar Of Burnt-offering which was covered with Brass XXVII Exod 12. but these Plates were to be laid upon that Covering which it had already for the end mentioned in the Conclusion of this verse And hereby also the proper Covering of the Altar lasted the longer For they offered them before the LORD Presented them before the LORD when they offered Incense in them v. 35. Therefore they are hallowed Or holy That is I will have them separated for this reason to my use alone and no other It is a thing worthy to be taken special notice of that the Impiety of the Men that offered Incense did not discharge their Censers of the discriminative Respect as our famous Mr. Mede speaks due unto things sacred As these in some sort were by being presented to the LORD which made it unlawful to imploy them to common uses For as the LORD himself is that singular incommunicable and absolutely Holy One and his Service and Worship therefore incommunicable to any other so should that also which is consecrated to his Service be in some proportion incommunicably used and not promiscuously and commonly as other things are See Book I. Discourse 2. p. 18. And they shall be a Sign unto the Children of Israel That God accepts no Sacrifice which is not presented by the Hands of the Sons of Aaron This the Levites were to remember who attended upon the Priest when they saw these Plates laid upon the Altar of Burnt-offering every day Verse 39 Ver. 39. And Eleazar the Priest took the brazen Censers c. By this it appears these Censers were made of the same Metal though it was not said before that Aaron's Censer was of and wherewith the Altar was overlaid He took them up out of the burning no doubt immediately upon the foregoing Commands and as soon as the Mutiny was quite quelled they were employed as Moses had directed Ver. 40. To be a Memorial unto the Children of Israel This explains what is meant by a Sign v. 38. viz. to put them in mind or rather to keep in their memory That no Stranger Though he were an Israelite nay a Levite if he were not as it here follows of the Seed of Aaron he was reputed a Stranger to this Office Come near to offer Incense before the LORD Presume to execute the Office of a Priest in the Sanctuary That he be not as Korah and his Company Destroyed in a dreadful manner By this it appears that Korah perished as well as the Two hundred and fifty Men and it is likely as they did by Fire from the LORD As the LORD said unto him i. e. To Eleazar By the hand of Moses Ver. 36 37. Ver. 41. But on the morrow An astonishing Instance Verse 41 of the incurable hardness and insensibility of some Mens hearts which were not in the least altered by God's terrible Judgments and singular Mercies but instantly forgat both All the Congregation of the Children of Israel Not merely the Rulers of the People as this Phrase sometimes signifies but all the People in general v. 47. who were incited it is probable by that lewd Rout which Korah had gathered together against Moses and Aaron v. 19. Some of which were swallowed up but most of them remained still alive to do more Mischief Murmured against Moses and against Aaron In such a mutinous and threatning manner as demonstrated the contagious Nature of a Seditious Humour beyond all example For from a discontented Party who grumbled that they were not preferred suitably to the opinion they had of themselves it spread it self into the whole Body of the People And so infected them as to kindle a new Flame as soon as the former had been extinguished by such a terrible Vengeance as one would have expected should not have left the smallest Spark of this mutinous Humour in them Saying Ye have killed the People of the LORD So they impudently call those Men whom God himself had declared by a visible Token to be presumptuous Sinners against their own Souls Some imagine they quarrelled with Moses and Aaron because they had not prevailed with God to pardon them which they could as well have done as procured this Judgment upon them But the displeasure which God here expresses against this
the Head of the House of their Fathers should bring these Rods. Their Names we have in the first Chapter of this Book v. 5 6. and VII 2 12 c. Twelve Rods. Besides Aaron's for so many Tribes there were besides that of Levi. And too great a number of every Tribe in all likelyhood had joyned with Korah in their discontended Murmurings at the confinement of the Priesthood unto Aaron's Family alone to which they all fansied they had as much right as he Which is the reason of taking a Rod from every Tribe that they might all be convinced that none of them but he and his Family alone were owned by God for his Priests See XVI 3. Write thou every Man's name upon his Rod. Either by an Incision into the very Wood or with such Ink as they wrote withal in those days V. 22. This he did in the Presence of the Princes that they might not afterward suspect any Fraud when they came to take their Rods again but be satisfied they were the very same which they saw noted with their Names Ver. 3. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the Verse 3 Rod of Levi. Because God had made him the Prince of that Tribe by giving him the High-Priesthood And he would have them see that as no other Person in any of the Twelve Tribes so no other Levite ought to pretend unto that high Office which he had invested him withal and him alone For one Rod shall be for the Head of the House of their Fathers One Rod was sufficient because the Head of the Tribe comprehended the whole Tribe Who were all excluded from the Priesthood by the Exclusion of him who represented them Verse 4 Ver. 4. And thou shalt lay them up in the Tabernacle In the most Holy Place Before the Testimony i. e. Before the Ark called in many Places the Ark of the Testimony XL Exod. 3. because therein Moses put the Testimony or two Tables of Stone and the Mercy Seat above it v. 20 21. where the Divine Glory resided Therefore to lay the Rods before the Testimony was to lay them before the Divine Majesty who intended by them finally to determine the present Controversie Where I will meet with you There he promised to meet with Moses XXV Exod. 22. by whom he communicated his Mind unto the People For he neither met with them nor with Aaron there any other way but by Moses And therefore the Vulgar Latin here translates it minding the sence rather than the words Where I will speak to them And so the LXX By which I will be made known to thee there And indeed meeting with them here is nothing but declaring or making known his Mind to them all by what was done there upon Aaron's Rod. So it follows in the next verse And for this reason the Tabernacle of the LORD is called OHEL MOED the Tabernacle of Meeting not of Mens meeting there as is commonly supposed by our translating it The Tabernacle of the Congregation but of God's meeting there with Men. For so the LORD himself gives the reason of the Name both here and in XXIX Exod. 42. XXX 36. where I have noted the same out of Mr. Mede Ver. 5. And it shall come to pass that the Man's Rod whom I shall choose shall blossom The Rods being laid before me I will tell you whom I have chosen to minister to me in the Priesthood by making the Verse 5 Rod upon which his Name is written to blossom when all the rest remain as they were before without any Alteration This was a kind of new choice as the words import whereby God confirmed the choice he had formerly made of Aaron to be High-Priest And I will make to cease from me the Murmurings of the Children of Israel whereby they murmur against you And hereby stop all their Mouths from murmuring any more about this matter unless they will oppose me directly who declare before-hand how I intend to give Judgment in this Case and put an end to this Dispute Ver. 6. And Moses spake unto the Children of Israel Verse 6 Told them what God had said that they might be all consenting to this way of Decision And every one of their Princes gave him a Rod apiece For they could not refuse such a fair Proposal For each Prince one according to their Fathers Houses even twelve Rods. Observing herein the Commands of Moses who wrote no doubt every Man's Name upon his Rod as he was also commanded v. 2. And the Rod of Aaron was among their Rods. Not one of the twelve as the Jews fancy but besides the twelve Rods for the twelve Tribes as was directed v. 2. and obeyed by them as the foregoing words tell us his Rod was put among them with his Name upon it as their Names were upon their Rods. And therefore the Vulgar translates it having regard to the sence only There were twelve Rods besides the Rod of Aaron Which the LXX intended in their Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Rod of Aaron in the midst of their Rods. And if it were cut from the very same Tree with theirs the Miracle became the more remarkable Verse 7 Ver. 7. And Moses laid up the Rods before the LORD Who was by them to declare his choice v. 5. In the Tabernacle of Witness In that part of the Tabernacle where the Ark was which had in it the Witness or Testimony which God gave Moses XXV Exod. 21. who alone could go into that place Verse 8 Ver. 8. And it came to pass that on the morrow It is likely God told him he would â—orthwith show whom he had chosen Moses went into the Tabernacle of Witness The most Holy Place where the Rods were laid up by God's order And behold the Rod of Aaron Which had his Name written on it For the House of Levi. Or To the House of Levi i. e. whom God had made Head of the Levites Was budded and brought forth Buds and blossomed Blossoms and yielded Almonds In some places of the Rod I suppose there was an appearance of Buds coming forth in others the Buds were fully thrust out and in others they were opened and shot forth into Blossoms and those Blossoms in other parts knotted and grown into Almonds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as Gregory Nyssen speaks in the Life of Moses p. 185. The greatest Miracle even in the judgment of Unbelievers who now acknowledged that which before they opposed v. 12 13. For that in one Night a dry Stick as some suppose them all to have been should produce Buds and Flowers and Fruit when all the rest which perhaps were cut from the same Tree were as dry as they were before could not but be very amazing and unless they would shut their eyes make them see the distinction which the LORD made between Aaron whose Name that Rod bare and all the rest of the Children of Israel whom the other Rods represented The Heathen did
These words relate only to the Trespass-offerings immediately before-named which were attended with a recompense of the Wrongs done either unto the LORD V Lev. 15 16. or unto their Neighbours VI Lev. 5. V Numb 8 9. Shall be most holy for thee and for thy Sons To be used by none else as it follows in the next verse Verse 10 Ver. 10. In the most holy place shalt thou eat it i. e. In the place where they performed their Sacred Office in that part of the Tabernacle next the Sanctuary which is called most holy in comparison with the rest which were further off because none might enter into it but the Priests alone See Note upon VI Lev. 16. where it is said expresly It shall be eaten in the holy place in the Court of the Tabernacle of the Congregation And see v. 26. and X. 12 13. Every Male shall eat it And none else as the places fore-mentioned expresly limit it II Lev. 3 10. VI. 18 29. VII 6. It shall be holy unto thee Peculiarly separated from the use of all other Persons but only Aaron and his Sons Verse 11 Ver. 11. And this is thine Now he mentions the less holy things as before the most holy which he bestowed upon him and his whole Family The Heave-offerings of their Gift with all the Wave-offerings of the Children of Israel That is the Breast of their Peace-offerings which are here called their Gift which was waved before the LORD and the right Shoulder heaved and then given to the Priest for his Portion VII Lev. 30 31 32 33 34. And so was the right Shoulder of the Ram which was offered for the Nazarite VI Numb 19 20. I have given them unto thee and unto thy Sons and to thy Daughters with thee c. These were not confined to the Males only but might be eaten by their Daughters also X Lev. 14. Every one that is clean in thy House shall eat of it Not only their Wives and their Daughters that were not married but those who were Divorced or Widows and returned to their Fathers House without Children or had Children begotten by a Priest See XXII Lev. 13. together with their Servants also whether bought with their Money or born in their House though not hired Servants or mere Sojourners XXII Lev. 10 11. But these things were to be eaten in a clean place X Lev. 14. somewhere within the Camp as afterward in Jerusalem XII Deut. 6 7 17 18. And no unclean Person permitted to eat of them VII Lev. 20 21. XXII 4. And besides when any Israelite killed an Ox a Sheep or a Goat for his own use he was bound to give the Priest the Shoulder the two Cheeks and the Maw as the Jews understand XVIII Deut. 3. Ver. 12. All the best of the Oyl and all the best of Verse 12 the Wine c. The Greek translate the Hebrew word Cheleb fat by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 marrow XLV Gen. 18. but here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the First-fruits of the Oyl c. signifying these First-fruits were to be of the very best of all the things here mentioned which were to be brought in the beginning of the Vintage and of the Harvest The precise quantity of which is no where determined but they say it was at least the sixtieth part of the whole See XXII Exod. 29. XXIII 19. XVIII Deut. 4. where he speaks of the First-fruits which every private Man was to offer beside which there was a First-fruits offered in the Name of the whole Congregation XXIII Lev. 10 17. All which belonged to the Priests as a Reward of their Service The First-fruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD them have I given thee Our Mr. Thorndike thus distinguishes the two sorts of First-fruits mentioned here and in other places The one was to be taken by the Priests at the Barn and Wine-Press as he thinks that here spoken of was The other was to be brought to the Sanctuary viz. those mentioned XXII and XXIII Exod. and XXVI Deut. 1 2. The quantity of either of them being in the moderate account a fiftieth part as S. Hierom determines upon XLV Ezek. which is agreeable to the Jewish Constitutions in Maimonides of First-fruits cap. 2. and of Separations cap. 3. But the Scripture XLV Ezek. 13. requires only the sixtieth part See Rights of the Church in a Christian State p. 210. Verse 13 Ver. 13. And whatsoever is first ripe in the Land which they shall bring unto the LORD shall be thine Some take this to signifie the First-fruits of all other things besides Corn Wine and Oyl mentioned in the foregoing Verse But it being a different word from that which we translate First-fruits viz. Biccurim not Reshith it is most likely he here intends either the things first ripe as we translate it before the rest of the Harvest and Vintage or those voluntary Offerings of this sort which any one pleased to make which seem to be intended in these words which they shall bring unto the LORD i. e. of their own good will over and above the ordinary First-fruits The Jews generally understand by Biccurim such things as are ripe before the rest either in the Field as elsewhere whether they were Wheat Barley or any other sort of Grain or Figs Grapes Pomegranets Olives or Dates which they bound about with a Rush and said Let this be for the First-fruits Which every Man might bring in what measure he pleased none being appointed by the Law Every one that is clean in thy House shall eat of it The whole Family of the Priests if they were under no pollution See v. 11. Ver. 14. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine Verse 14 Of those things which the Hebrews call Cherem a thing devoted Moses speaks in XXVII Lev. 21 28. And they were either simply devoted in such words as these Let this thing be a Cherem Or with an addition determining it to a certain use Let this be a Cherem offered by me for holy uses The first sort were wholly the Priests but the latter were employed about the Temple or the Vessels of it or the Priests Garments And these devoted things which became the Priests Portion differed in this from Free-will-offerings that every thing which was offered as a Cherem might be eaten only by the Priests in the Holy Place but other Free-will-offerings by the whole Family in any clean place Ver. 15. Every thing that openeth the Matrix in all Verse 15 Flesh which they bring unto the LORD whether it be of Men or Beasts shall be thine That which first came out of the Womb of any Creature was to be the Priests if it were a Male. If a Female were the First-born and a Male followed next that was not the Priests because it did not open the Womb as the Hebrews expound it See XIII Exod. 2. Nevertheless the First-born of Man shalt thou surely redeem and the Firstling of unclean Beasts shalt
thou redeem See XIII Exod. 13. XXXIV 20. Verse 16 Ver. 16. And those that are to be redeemed Viz. Of the First-born of Men mentioned before not of unclean Creatures which were to be redeemed by a Lamb XIII Exod. 13. and that after they were eight Days old XXII Exod. 30. From a Month old shalt thou redeem Then the Money was due but they commonly staid till the fortieth Day when the Woman was purified According to thy estimation Some think this relates not to what follows that the Priest should set a value upon them for that was a set rate five Shekels for every one but to what goes before that after a Child was a Month old the Priest should appoint a day for the payment of the Redemption-money either immediately after the Women had lain in a Month or on the fortieth Day that she might be Purified and the Child redeemed both together But it rather refers to what follows for though the price be determined yet so it is in another case XXVII Lev. 3 4. and notwithstanding is said to be by the estimation of the Priest because he was to take this Money not according to the quality of the Person but as much of a poor Man as of a rich and not more of a rich Man than of a poor For the Money of five Shekels c. Which was the price set upon the First-born when they were exchanged for the Levites III. 46 47. This Redemption of every First-born was a matter of great Importance and therefore so often mentioned as a very learned Friend of mine Dr. Alix observes in his Reflections on the four last Books of Moses Chap. 3. For as the Separation of the Tribe of Levi to God's Service instead of the First-born whom God spared and preserved in Egypt of which we read in the third Chapter of this Book made every Levite become a living Memorial of that great Miracle wrought at the Israelites going out of Egypt so this Law concerning the Redemption of the First-born made a further impression upon their Minds of that mighty Hand of God which compelled Pharaoh to let the Isaelites depart out of his Country Ver. 17. But the firstling of a Cow or of a Sheep or Verse 17 a Goat thou shalt not redeem For they were clean Creatures and only unclean Beasts were to be Redeemed v. 15. They are holy Separated by my appointment for an holy use viz. to be offered in Sacrifice not redeemed or put to any other use Thou shalt sprinkle their Blood upon the Altar and burn their fat c. Just as they did with their Peace-offerings VII Lev. 31 33. Ver. 18. And the flesh of them shall be thine The Verse 18 whole Body of the Beasts not merely some part of them after the Fat was burnt became the Priests intirely As the Wave-breast and the Heave-right-shoulder are thine As these parts of the Peace-offerings were the Priests See v. 11. so that all their Family who were clean might eat of the Flesh of these Firstlings as they did of those parts of the Peace-offerings Verse 19 Ver. 19. All the Heave-offerings of the holy things which the Children of Israel offer unto the LORD He repeats what he had said in the beginning of this Discourse v. 8. that he had given him all the Heave-offerings which comprehend those mentioned VI. 19 20. Have I given thee and thy Sons and thy Daughters with thee by a Statute for ever Settled upon the Priests and their whole Family for their Support by an unalterable Law See v. 11. It is a Covenant of Salt for ever before the LORD unto thee c. i. e. An everlasting Covenant never to be revoked See upon II Lev. 13. And these things being to be eaten before the LORD there was a place in the Court of the Women where they feasted upon them as L'Empereur observes upon Middoth cap. 2. sect 6. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And the LORD spake unto Aaron saying See v. 1. Thou shalt have no Inheritance in their Land i. e. In the Land of the Children of Israel whom he speaks of in the foregoing verse Where having told him what reward he and his Family should have for his Service he bids them be satisfied therewith and not expect any more And indeed it was so very liberal a Provision that their desires could not reasonably extend any further For as they had two sorts of First-fruits as I observed v. 12. so after a Tythe of that which was given to the Levites there was another Tythe of what remained to be spent in sacrificing at Jerusalem that is for the most part upon the Priests and Levites unto whom and unto the Poor it wholly belonged every third Year XIV Deut. 22 28. XXIII Exod. 19. XXXIV 20. Add hereunto the First-born all the Sin-offerings and their share in the Peace-offerings and the Skins of the Sacrifices which alone as Philo observes was a great Revenue and it will appear it could not be so little as a fifth part of the Fruit of the Country that came to the Priests for their Maintenance as Mr. Thorndike observes in the Rights of the Church in a Christian State p. 211. Neither shalt thou have any part among them When the Land was divided no fields or Vine-yards c. were to be given to the Priests or to any of the Tribe of Levi. And as the Jewish Doctors say they were to have no part among their Brethren in the Spoil So Jarchi upon this place and Maimonides and others who indeavour to answer the Objection which may be raised against this from the XXXIst Chapter of this very Book v. 28 29. Where a Tribute was taken of the Prey they got from the Midianites and given to Eleazar and the Levites This Tribute say they was offered because the Spoil came by executing God's Vengeance upon a Land that was not theirs XXV 17. But of the Land of Sihon and Og which God bestowed upon them as he did the Land of Canaan nothing was given to the Priests and Levites for they were admonished to the contrary as they understand them by these words Neither shalt thou have any part among them no not of the Spoil Certain it is that of the Land of the Country they were to have no part God having otherwise provided for them that they might attend wholly to his Service and not spend their time in Tilling the Ground or feeding Cattle which would have taken up their Thoughts very much from their Sacred Employment Yet the Levites had certain Cities and their Suburbs assigned to them XXXV 2 c. which was executed by Joshua as God commanded XXI Josh 2 3. whereby they were dispersed among the Tribes of Israel that they might the better instruct the People in the Divine Law XXXIII Deut. 10. 2. Chron. XXX 22. II Malachi 4 5 c. By accident also the Priests came to have some Land See XXVII Lev. 20 c. and my Notes there I
am thy part and thine inheritance among the Children of Israel For they were maintained in his House and lived upon his Altar and fed from his Table as it is explained in XIII Josh 14. The Sacrifices of the LORD God of Israel made by fire are their inheritance as he said unto them Which is given as the reason why Joshua gave them no Inheritance And see v. 33. of that Chapter where the LORD God of Israel is said to be their Inheritance Who it appears by the foregoing part of this Chapter and other places made such an ample Provision for them that if he had given them any part of the Land of Canaan together with it there had been too great an inequality between them and the rest of the Tribes of Israel For without any share in the Land their Portion was far richer than that of any other Persons whatsoever I have said enough to prove this already but it may not be amiss to set it before the Reader again a little more distinstly As they had yearly the First-fruits of the whole Country which was at least the sixtieth part of the Fruits it produced and the tenth part of the Tithe given to the Levites as it follows below v. 26. and all Free-will-offerings together with the Money which arose out of Persons and Things devoted unto God and all the Firstlings of Cows Sheep and Goats and the Redemption-Money for the Firstlings of such Creatures as were unclean So they had all the Meat-offerings Offerings for Sin and Trespass-offerings together with the Breast and Shoulder of all Peace-offerings and the Skins of all Burnt-offerings and the Loaves made of the first Dough and the Shew-bread and as Josephus and others expound XVIII Deut. 3. a considerable part of every beast that was killed for private use besides the Cities and Land about them which were assigned to the Levites Which if well weighed there will appear a vast difference between the Priests and the rest of the People For the First-fruits alone if they were not less than the sixtieth part of the product of the Country might seem sufficient especially if the Firstlings be added the Priests not being the sixtieth part of the People no nor the hundred part as learned Men have computed See Bonfrerius Ver. 21. And behold Now he gives the Levites Verse 21 notice of the Recompence he would make them for their Service as he had told the Priests what they should have for theirs And Aaron hath the delivery of this Grant made to them from God that they might see he did not mind himself and the Interest of his own Family only I have given the Children of Levi all the tenth in Israel See XXVII Lev. 30. and 2 Chron. XXXI 5 6. where they are distinctly mentioned Aben-Ezra thinks the tenth rather than any other part was assigned because it was a perfect Number Ten being in simple Numbers the highest to which we can arise without repeating the Numbers under it For it is as he speaks the beginning of the second Combination and the end of the first whereupon all Numbers do depend Which our Mr. Mede hath expressed in my judgment far better who looks upon it as God's favourable dealing with men in requiring but the Tenth which is in truth the least part of their Goods according to the first Division For when we proceed beyond Ten we begin to make a new Division as Eleven is ten and one c. But we need not have recourse to such Niceties See upon Genesis XXVIII 22. For an Inheritance Instead of a share in the Land of Canaan which other Tribes had divided among them And a larger Inheritance this was than any other Tribe possessed for this was the smallest Tribe of all as appears by comparing the account which is given of them in the beginning of this Book For all the Males of this Tribe from a Month old and upward were but Two and twenty thousand III. 29. Whereas in the Tribe of Judah alone there were above Threescore and fourteen thousand Men of War I. 26 27. And yet the Levites had a tenth part of the product of the whole Country and the twelve Tribes had only the other nine parts among them Such a care had God of those who were peculiarly devoted to his Service For the Service which they serve c. As a Reward of their Service of which see Chapter IV. Verse 22 Ver. 22. Neither must the Children of Israel henceforth come nigh the Tabernacle of the Congregation Or rather Therefore the Children of Israel must not come nigh so as to perform any of the Offices belonging to the Priests and Levites who were appointed to do every thing belonging to the Service of God there and had their Reward for it also appointed Lest they bear sin and die Be punished with Death which is often threatned to such Presumption Ver. 23. But the Levites shall do the Service of the Verse 23 Tabernacle of the Congregation It was their work and no Bodies else and therefore no other Persons were to meddle with it That is they alone guarded the Tabernacle and afterwards the Temple opened the Gates of it kept out all Strangers i. e. all but Priests and Levites carried the Tabernacle and its Vessels when they were to be removed c. And they shall bear their Iniquity They shall die for it if they permit any one else to come there and do their work See v. 1. It shall be a Statute for ever throughout their Generations that among the Children of Israel they have no Inheritance As all other Persons were excluded from serving in the Tabernacle so they who served there were shut out from having any Inheritance among their Brethren This was made an unalterable Law which provided another separate Maintenance for them by the Tythes of all the Land as here it again follows Ver. 24. But the Tythes of the Children of Israel which Verse 24 they offer as an Heave-offering unto the LORD That the People might not grudge to pay them the Tythes for their Service he represents them as an Heave-offering which they offered to God in Gratitude to him of whom as the Supreme Landlord they held that Land Not that they were heaved up or waved before the LORD but they were of the same Nature with those things that were so offered to him i. e. Holy Things separate to his uses all which are called by this Name of Terumah v. 8. And particularly all the Offerings which God required to be freely brought for the building him a Sanctuary are called by this Name of Terumah or Heave-offering XXV Exod 2. See there I have given to the Levites to inherit The Israelites gave them to God and he gave them to the Levites for their Inheritance who had as much right to them as the other Tribes had to their Land Which was the reason he ordered they should have no Portion of the Land of Canaan with the other
Tribes as it here follows therefore have I said unto them among the Children of Israel shall they have no Inheritance For he had given them the Tythes to inherit But R. Solomon Jarchi observes also that the Levites themselves had no right to them till they had taken out the tenth part from their Tenth and given it to the Priests as is here immediately directed Verse 25 Ver. 25. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying In all the foregoing part of the Chapter v. 1 8 20. the LORD spake unto Aaron though by Moses but here his Order is particularly directed to Moses because that which follows would better come from him than from Aaron Who was employed in acquainting the Levites with the Donation God had made of the Tythes to them v. 21. but it would not have been so proper for him to tell them what was to be given out of the Tythes to himself and to the Priests Verse 26 Ver. 26. Thus speak unto the Levites and say unto them When ye take of the Children of Israel the Tythes which I have given you from them for your Inheritance In these words Moses confirms the report which Aaron had made to them that the Tythes of the Land should be theirs and their Brethren the Children of Israel have no right to them Then shall ye offer up an Heave-offering for the LORD As the Israelites made their grateful Acknowledgments to God by offering their Tythes to him for the use of his Servants the Levites v. 24. so it was but fit that the Levites should be so grateful as to offer to him the Tythe of their Tythes as it here follows for such uses as he should appoint Even a tenth part of the Tythe For the tenth part which God reserved to himself out of the Land which he gave the Children of Israel was a kind of Rent paid to him their Supreme LORD And he assigning this Rent over to the Levites for their Maintenance thought good notwithstanding to reserve a Tythe of this tenth part to himself that thereby he might as it were hold his Possession and keep Seisin as the Lawyers speak of his own Inheritance Ver. 27. And this your Heave-offering shall be reckoned Verse 27 unto you Be accepted by God as the Offerings heaved up to him in the Sanctuary are v. 24. though it be but the hundredth part of the whole Fruit of the Land As though it were the Corn of the Threshing-floor and as the fulness of the Wine-press As if you paid such a Tythe as the Israelites do to you out of all their own Fields and Vineyards That is they were to believe their Offering of this small part to be as acceptable to God as that of all the Tribes of Israel and that they should have the same right to what remained when they had done this as the People had to all the rest of the Fruits of the Earth when they had paid the tenth part to the Levites Ver. 28. Thus you also shall offer an Heave-offering Verse 28 unto the LORD of all your Tythes which ye receive of the Children of Israel He would have them know that he ordered this because he would not have the Levites alone offer nothing to him from whom they received so much but they also should make him a grateful Acknowledgment as well as others And ye shall give thereof the LORD 's Heave-offering It is called so often the LORD 's Heave-offering that they might the more willingly pay it out of a thankful sense of what they owed to him the Donor of all To Aaron the Priest This Tythe is thought by some to have been designed for the High-Priest alone Two great Men in their time were of this Opinion viz. Nicolaus Lyra and the famous Alphonsus Tostatus And another very learned Person of our own Bishop R. Montagu thinks it not altogether improbable that such a Provision as this might be made for the High-Priest and his Family State and Dignity he being a Man of great Power and Might only less than the Kings of Israel and the inferiour Priests having a noble Maintenance without this from the First-fruits and Offerings of the People But there is nothing to support this but the mere Letter of the Text for Josephus expresly says the contrary Lib. VI. Archaeolog cap. 4. and so do the generality of the Jewish Writers and St. Hierom also that all the Priests had their share in this Tenth paid by the Levites Which till it was paid the Levites might not spend to their own use any part of their Tythe And to secure this the Priest was to be with the Levites when they took Tythes as we read X Nehem 37 38 to take care that they set out a tenth part of them for the Priests Whereby the Priest the Son of Aaron I cannot think is meant the High-Priest himself for that had been below his Dignity but some Priest I suppose appointed by him who took care of the Concerns of the whole Order of Priesthood and particularly of the High-Priest's interest who it is probable had a principal share among the rest in this Revenue perhaps a tenth part out of their Tenth But for this I have no Authority though I take it for certain that when he saith this Tenth should be given to Aaron the Priest the meaning is that as it was not for himself alone but all his Sons had a share in it so he himself was not excluded from an honourable portion of it It may seem strange perhaps that there is no particular portion set out for the High-Priest by himself if this be not it But it is to be considered that all the forenamed Provision From v. 8. to v. 20. was made for him in the first place and for the Priests together with him For so the words runs Vnto thee have I given them and to thy Sons v. 8 9 c. And he had this priviledge also that he did not Minister by Lot as the other Priests did in their several Courses but when he pleased and might take to himself what Sacrifices he thought good to offer V. 9 10. as Maimonides tells us in Cele Mikdasch cap. 5. where he speaks concerning the High-Priest's Prerogatives Ver. 29. Out of all your Gifts Not only out of Verse 29 their Tythes but out of all their other Possessions which God gave them their Fields for instance which were in the Suburbs of their Cities Ye shall offer Make a Present to the Priests Every Heave-offering Some portion of every thing God gives you to possess Of the LORD As a thankful acknowledgment of the Divine Bounty to you upon whom he hath bestowed so many good things See v. 28. Of all the best thereof And that not of the refuse but of the best of the Tythe and other things that were given them By which is not to be understood that they were bound to pick out the very best Wheat suppose and separate it from the worse which
20. But the Man that shall be unclean By a dead Body a Bone or a Grave c. And shall not purifie himself By the Water of Separation appointed for that purpose Verse 20 That Soul shall be cut off from among the Congregation As a Contemner of this Law of God Because he hath defiled the Sanctuary of the LORD c. This and the following words are only a Repetition of what was said v. 13. for the greater confirmation of it Ver. 21. And it shall be a perpetual Statute unto them Verse 21 that he that sprinkleth the Water of Separation shall wash his Clothes Be reputed unclean until he hath washed his Clothes which I suppose comprehends his Body also v. 19. And he that toucheth the Water of Separation As a Man might chance to do when he mingled the Water and Ashes together v. 17. Shall be unclean until Even And wash his Clothes it must be supposed from the foregoing words For mere staying till Even purified no Body without some Rite of Cleansing And there was more reason for him that touched the Water immediately to wash his Clothes than for him who only sprinkled with it Ver. 22. And whatsoever Or whomsoever Verse 22 The unclean person toucheth shall be unclean He doth not mean by the unclean Person him who was made unclean by touching the Water of Separation for his Uncleanness was so slight that any one would think he should make no Body unclean by his touch but the unclean Person spoken of all along in this Chapter who was defiled by touching a dead Body He whom such a Person touched was made unclean and therefore was to wash his Clothes and not be thought clean until the Even And the Soul that toucheth it Or toucheth him Shall be unclean until Even Not only he whom the unclean Person touched but he who touched the unclean Person or any unclean thing was to be unclean till the Even and wash his Clothes as I said before for his Cleansing No other Cleansing was necessary for such kinds of Uncleanness as these For Sacrifices were required only for the uncleanness of Lepers and of a Childbed-woman and of a Flux of Blood or Seed all others were purged without Sacrifice By this nice care which is here taken about the smallest bodily Defilements God intended I make no doubt to make them sensible how necessary it was to preserve inward Purity without which they could not be acceptable to God though they approached to his Sanctuary For these Laws extending to what was done at home as well as abroad were a plain Instruction both that it was not sufficient to be pure in the Eyes of Men and that nothing could be concealed from the Divine Majesty who sees what passeth in secret CHAP. XX. Chapter XX Ver. 1. THEN came the Children of Israel even Verse 1 the whole Congregation into the Wilderness of Zin From Rithmah or Kadesh-barnea they came at last into this Wilderness after many Removals to other Stations of which Moses gives an account in the XXXIIId Chapter from v. 19. to v. 36. For God led them by the Cloud quite back again to the Red Sea XIV 25. and from thence brought them into this Wilderness of Tzin Which is quite different from that mentioned XVI Exod. call'd Sin for this lay on the Confines of Idumaea as appears from v. 14 15. In the first Month. Of the fortieth Year after they came out of the Land of Egypt For Moses gives an account of the Transactions only of the two first Years after they came from thence and of the last the rest he passeth over in silence being spent in tiresome Journeys whereby all above Twenty years old were consumed by one Disease or other In those Travels he shows how at several Removals mentioned Chapter XXXIII they were led back from Kadesh-barnea unto Ezion-Geber that is from the North to the South of the Shore of the Red Sea in which Journey they compassed the Land of Edom many Days II Deut. 1. that is many Years For from the time they left Kadesh-barnea till they returned back again was thirty eight Years II Deut. 14. And the People abode in Kadesh Not in Kadesh-barnea which was their fifteenth Station and in the Confines of the South part of Canaan XXXIV 4. XV Josh 3. But another Kadesh on the Confines of the Land of Edom towards the Red Sea XXXIII 36. II Deut. 3. XI Judges 17. And Miriam died there Four Months before her Brother Aaron XXXIII 38. and eleven Months before Moses being elder than either of them For she was near an Hundred and thirty Years old as may be gathered from II Exod. 4 7. where it appears she was not a Child when Moses was born And was buried there In Kadesh where she died But we read of no mourning for her as there was for Aaron a little after v. 29. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And there was no Water for the Congregation The Water that hitherto followed them from the Rock in Horeb now failed Which hapning just at the Death of Miriam the Jews have a foolish conceit that as her Piety procured it for them so she being dead it was taken from them and was restored again for the Piety of Moses and Aaron It is more reasonable to think that God suffered the Water to be discontinued for a time that he might try the Faith of this new Generation whether they were any better than their rebellious Fathers and withal to convince them that the Water out of the former Rock was not contained in it if he had not produced it who could bring forth Water out of any other place as well as that Or they being now going towards Canaan and near a Country where Water might be had for Money or they might have found it by digging for it God thought fit to let the Miracle cease that they might see he would shortly provide for them otherways For it is very likely that in their last Station where they were before this at Ezion-Geber XXXIII 36. the Water that had followed them in all their Journeys thither fell there into the Red Sea and so was swallowed up they being as I said to return towards Canaan by places where Water might be procured without a Miracle For being upon the edge of the Land of Edom when Aaron died in their next Removal v. 28. XXXIII 37. we read expresly that they presently after came to a Land of Rivers of Water X Deut. 7. And indeed not long after they removed from Mount Hor where Aaron died we find in the next Chapter to this that they came to Oboth XXI 10. which signifying Bottles it is no unreasonable Conjecture that here they met with Water with which they filled their empty Bottles And next to that Station they came to Jie-Abarim v. 11. heaps of Fords or as the Chaldee expounds it The Ford of those that pass over And then to the Valley of Zared v. 12. or to the
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
in Egypt See this there explained And she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their Sister Who seems to have been born before Moses if not before Aaron II Exod. 4. Ver. 60. And unto Aaron was born Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar VI Exod. 23. where he tells the name of their Mother Ver. 61. And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered Verse 60 strange Fire before the LORD See X Lev. 2. Verse 61 and the third Chapter of this Book v. 4. But Eleazar who was the eldest next to them was now alive and made High-Priest and it is likely Ithamar also being under Twenty years old when the People murmured upon the Report of the Spies and so not cut off with that wicked Generation XVI 29. All this is here recounted to show that the Tribe of Levi was preserved by the blessing of God as well as the rest of the Israelites though they were to have no Inheritance in the Land of Canaan Ver. 62. And those that were numbred of them were Verse 62 twenty and three thousand c. So they were a thousand more than at the last numbring III. 39. For they were not numbred among the Children of Israel But by themselves for the reason following Because there was no Inheritance given them among the Children of Israel For God was their Inheritance as he told them XVIII 20 c. And therefore they were ordered not to be numbred Thirty eight years ago no more than now I Numb 49 c. The Jews are something curious in their Observations upon these words among or in the midst of the Children of Israel from whence they conclude that the Levites might have Lands out of the Bounds of the Land of Canaan though not within it among their Brethren Ver. 63. These are they that were numbred by Moseâ— Verse 63 and Eleazar the Priest who numbred the Children of Israel in the plains of Moab c. By a special command of God v. 1 2 c. Ver. 64. But among these there was not a Man of them whom Moses and Aaron the Priest numbred when they numbred the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Verse 64 Sinai See the first Chapter of this Book v. 1 2 c. so exactly were God's Threatnings fulfilled as well as his Promises Chapter XXVII Verse 65 Ver. 65. For the LORD had said of them they shall surely die in the Wilderness He had pronounced this irreversible Sentence upon the whole Congregation XIV 23 28 29. where he swears they should not enter into the Land of Canaan because they had brought or entertained an evil report of it See also II Deut. 14 15. And there was not left a Man of them save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh and Joshua the Son of Nun. Whom God promised to spare because they were of another Spirit XV. 24 30 38. And their survival was as remarkable an instance of the truth of God's word as the Death of all the rest CHAP. XXVII Verse 1 Ver. 1. THEN came the Daughters of Zelophehad the Son of Hepher c. Who are mentioned before XXVI 33. just as they are here only their Genealogy is here more fully set out that their Father was the Grandson of Manasseh the Son of Joseph from whom he was lineally descended but left no Sons behind him Now these young Women hearing Moses say as he doth in the foregoing Chapter that the LORD commanded the Land of Canaan should be divided among those that were now numbred and observing that only Males from Twenty years old were numbred v. 2. presently apprehended that they being Females were excluded from having any Inheritance among the Israelites and so the Family of the Hepherites XXVI 32. would be extinguished This was the ground of what follows Whereby it appears that every body was immediately acquainted with the Laws which Moses received from God and that there was a faithful Register kept of every one that was born in every Family and Tribe to prevent all Disputes about the true Heirs to Mens Estates Ver. 2. And they stood before Moses c. To represent Verse 2 before him and the rest of the Judges who were now assembled the Case which I have mentioned Before Moses and Eleazar the Priest and before the Princes and all the Congregation These made up the greatest Court of Judicature that at any time sate For by Princes are meant either the Heads of the Tribes or the highest of the Judges appointed XVIII Exod. called the Heads of the People v. 25. And by all the Congregation is meant the LXX Elders mentioned in this Book XI 24. For they are called col ha edah the whole Congregation and sometimes only Edah the Congregation as R. Solomon observes See Bertram de Republ. Jud. p. 72. Now at the Head of all these sat Moses and next to him Eleazar the Priest By the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation Near to which this august Assembly it is likely was wont to sit when they met together that Moses might presently if there were occasion go and consult with God himself in any difficult matter that came before them And thus Mr. Selden observes out of Maimonides that in future times the great Sanhedrim followed the Tabernacle sitting sometimes in one place sometimes in another according as that was settled As after they came to Canaan it was first at Shiloh then at Mizpeh and afterwards at Gilgal Nob Gibeon the House of Obed-Edom till at last it was fixed in Jerusalem Lib. II. de Synedr cap. 15. n. 4. As concerning that which the Talmudists say concerning the proceedings in this case of Zelophehad's Daughters nothing certain can be determined But they give this account of it That they first brought this Cause into the Courts appointed by the advice of Jethro XVIII Exod. 21. and began with the Rulers of ten who knowing not what to say to them they went to those of fifty and from thence to the Centurions and at last to the Chiliarchs None of which durst adventure to give Judgment but referred the Cause by reason of its difficulty to Moses who brought it to the SCHECHINAH as they speak i. e. to the Divine Majesty Seld. ib. cap. 16. n. 1. Verse 3 Ver. 3. Saying Our Father died in the Wilderness Among the rest mentioned v. 64 65. of the foregoing Chapter They seem to have drawn up their Cause in the form of a Petition or as Mr. Selden speaks in the Legal Phrase presented a Libel to the Court containing the intire matter of their Petition and that artificially enough And he was not one of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the Company of Korah They use the very words of Moses concerning that rebellious Company XVI 11. And instance in this Sin rather than any other either to show that their Father had a due regard to the Authority of Moses who they hoped therefore would be the more favourable to his Posterity or
And the Hangings of the Court See Verse 26 XXVII Exod. 9. And the Curtain for the Door of the Court XXVI Exod 16. Which is by the Tabernacle and by the Altar round about Or as the Hebrew particle al may be translated is over or upon the Tabernacle c. That is this Curtain at the Door and the Hangings of the Court compassed the Tabernacle and the Altar of Burnt-offerings which stood at the Door of it XL Exod. 19. round about so that they were not exposed to common fight For these Gershonites had nothing to do with the Altar it self which was the Charge of the Kohathites v. 31. And the Cords of it This seems to refer not merely to the Curtain for the Door of the Court but to all that went before viz. the Cords whereby those Hangings were stretched out and fastned by Pins to the Wood-work of the Tabernacle For the Cords of that belonged to the Custody of the Sons of Merari v. 37. and we find Pins and Cords as well for the Tabernacle that is the Hangings as for the Court i. e. the Boards c. XXXV Exod. 18. For all the Service thereof Of this part of the House of God as appears from v. 31 and 36. where this is repeated with respect to the other parts of it Verse 27 Ver. 27. And of Kohath was the Family of the Amramites c. He was the second Son of Levi and had as many more Families sprung from him as from the Eldest among which was the Family of the Amramites of which were Moses and Aaron Verse 28 Ver. 28. In the number of all the Males c. Though there were four Families of the Kohathites and but two of the Gershonites yet the latter were as numerous as they within Eleven hundred Keeping the Charge of the Sanctuary Of what belonged to the holy Place which was committed to their Charge as it follows afterward and they were instructed in it betimes Verse 29 Ver. 29. The Families of the Sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the Tabernacle southward Between the Tabernacle ond the Standard of Reuben II. 10. Verse 30 Ver. 30. And the Chief of the House of the Father of the Families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the Son of Vzziel There was a Commander in Chief appointed over this Body of the Levites who was chosen out of the youngest Family of the Kohathites But it is observable there were no Standards belonging to any of these Bodies they being designed for other Service and not for War Ver. 31. And their Charge shall be the Ark and the Verse 31 Table and the Candlestick The Sanctuary as was said before v. 28. being committed to their Custody the Particulars are here mentioned which were the most precious of all the holy Things With which the Kohathites had the honour to be intrusted though a younger Family than those descended from Gershon because Moses and Aaron were of it being of the Family of the Amramites Which is the reason why the Kohathites are reckoned first in the next Chapter v. 2. and that of the XLVIII Cities given to the Levites by Joshua almost half of them fell to their Families XXI Josh 4 5. The Altars Both the Altar of Burnt-offerings and the Altar of Incense And the Vessels of the Sanctuary wherewith they i. e. the Priests minister See XXV Exod. 29. XXXVII 16. And the hanging That is the Vail before the most Holy Place for all other Hangings were under the care of the Gershonites v. 25 26. wherein the Ark was wrapt when they carried it IV. 5. And all the Service thereof Whatsoever belonged to this part of God's House See v. 26. and the Particulars are mentioned in the next Chapter v. 7 9 14. Ver. 32. And Eleazar the Son of Aaron shall be chief Verse 32 over the Chief of the Levites There was one Officer in chief set over each of these great Families of the Gershonites v. 24. of the Kohathites v. 30. and the Merarites v. 35. And over all these Chiefs there is now appointed a supreme Chief who was to govern them as they governed those under them and that was Eleazar who was more than a Levite being the eldest Son of Aaron the High Priest And have the over-sight of them that keep the charge of the Sanctuary But more particularly Eleazar was to super-vise those that had the Sanctuary under their care That is all the Rohathites and Elizaphan their chief v. 20. Verse 33 34. Ver. 33 34. Of Merari was the Family of the Mahlites and the Family of the Mushites c. Nothing is observable of these but that they were the fewest in number being thirteen hundred less than the Children of Gershon v. 22. Verse 35 Ver. 35. These shall pitch on the side of the Tabernacle Northward Opposite to the Kohathites between the Standard of Dan and the Sanctuary II. 25. Verse 36 Ver. 36. And under the Custody and Charge of the Sons of Merari shall be the Boards of the Tabernacle c. Concerning all the things mentioned in this and in the next Verse See XXVI Exod. 15 16 c. XXVII 10 11 12 c. and the next Chapter of this Book v. 31 32. Verse 37 Ver. 37. And their Cords These are different from those before mentioned v. 27. as I noted there Verse 38 Ver. 38. But those that encamp before the Tabernacle towards the East Where the Entrance into it was Even before the Tabernacle of the Congregation Eastward He would have this Station observed as much excelling the rest Shall be Moses and Aaron and his Sons There were but three Bodies of the Levites descended from the three Sons of Levi v. 1. and therefore none left to guard this side of the Tabernacle but Moses and Aaron and their Families who lay between the Standard of Judah and the Tabernacle see Chap. II. v. 3. which was the most honourable Post as I there noted Where the Priests were with great reason placed together with the chief Governor of all Moses because they were to guard the Holy Place that none might go into it but themselves Keeping the charge of the Sanctuary Of the Entrance into it For the charge of the Children of Israel Which it concerned every one of the Children of Israel should be kept sacred See v. 7. And the Stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to Death No Man that was not of the House of Aaron though a Levite was upon the peril of his life to enter into the Sanctuary Of which they had the charge See v. 10. Ver. 39. All that were numbred of the Levites which Verse 39 Moses and Aaron numbred at the Commandment of the LORD This looks like a Contradiction to the Observation I made v. 14.16 But Aaron's numbring here in all Probability is only his agreeing that this was a true Account which Moses took of the Tribe of Levi. For Moses still continues to be alone concerned in numbring the
First-born of the Children of Israel for whom they were to be exchanged v. 40.42 Were twenty and two thousand If the particular Sums before-mentioned v. 22 28 34. be put together they amount to three hundred more than twenty two thousand Therefore it is a reasonable Conjecture that the three hundred are omitted in this account because they were the first-born of the Levites themselves and upon that score belonging to God already by the Law in XIII Exod. 2. XXXIV 20. could not be exchanged for the first-born of other Tribes and substituted in their stead as other Levites were It is very observable here also that the Levites were the fewest in number of any Tribe being but Two and twenty thousand three hundred from a Month old and upward when some Tribes were twice nay thrice as many See I. 27. not reckoning Children but only Men from twenty years old and upward In which the Divine Providence was very conspicuous Which so ordered it that this whole Tribe might be dedicated to him Whereas if it had grown proportionably to the rest there would have been more Levites by far than the first-born of all the Tribes Verse 40 Ver. 40. And the LORD said unto Moses To whom alone this Command is directed as I observed above Number all the first-born of the Males of the Children of Israel from a month old and upward The first-born Males were to be a Month old before their Parents were bound to redeem them If they died before they were not to pay any thing for them Which depends upon another Law XII Lev. 4.6 Where if a Woman brought forth a Male besides the seven days of her Separation she was to stay three and thirty days more before she went unto the Sanctuary At which time the Child being to be presented to God it appears that he acknowledged them for his when they were a Month old Yet they distinguish between the time when the Redemption-Money was due and when it was offered This latter was deferred till the Mother was abroad again but it was due and the Father obliged to pay it as soon as the Child was a Month old So Const L'Empereur observes out of Maimonides upon Bava kama cap. VII Sect. 6. And take the number of their Names That their number and that of the Levites might be compared one with the other for the reason which here follows Ver. 41. And thou shalt take the Levites for me I Verse 41 am the LORD instead of all the First-born among the Children of Israel God had taken them before as we read v. 12. by declaring his Will to Moses about it And now he commands Moses to declare his Will to the People and actually to make this exchange after he had taken the Number both of the First-born and of the Levites For he had Authority to take which he pleased being their LORD And the Cattel of the Levites instead of all the Firstlings among the Cattel of the Children of Israel Not that they should be sacrificed or taken from the Levites but that they should be accounted God's Cattel they being the Cattel of the Levites who were his entirely And therefore were presented unto him as the Levites were but still continued in their possession by his Allowance for their Encouragement in his Service See v. 45. Ver. 42. And Moses numbred as the LORD commanded Verse 42 him all the First-born of the Children of Israel But we do not find that he numbred the Firstlings of their Cattel or the Cattel of the Levites because the exchange of them was not made in particular by substituting one for one but generally by substituting all the Cattel of the Levites instead of all the Firstlings of the Israelites Cattel Ver. 43. And all the first-born Males by the number Verse 43 of Names c. and were Twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen It may appear something strange that from above Six hundred thousand Men reckoning from twenty years old and upward I. 46. there should not be more than this number of first-born Sons till it be considered that thus many were born since the Slaughter of the Egyptian First-born which was not much above a year ago after which time all the First-born of Israel became God's but not those that were born before For so the Law is XIII Exod. 2. Whatsoever openeth the Womb i. e. hereafter both of Man and Beast shall be mine Verse 44 Ver. 44. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Still he is the Person solely employed in this business Verse 45 Ver. 45. Take the Levites instead of all the First-born among the Children of Israel and the Cattel of the Levites instead of their Cattel Having numbred both the Levites and the First-born now he bids him take those Two and twenty thousand Levites instead of so many First-born As for the Cattel they were not numbred as I observed before but exchanged in the lump as we speak And the Levites shall be mine I think it is remarkable that he doth not add and their Cattel shall be mine also For he did not take their Cattel from them when they became his but left them the use of them who still enjoyed them in his Right I am the LORD This exchange is made by my Authority who am the LORD both of them and all they have Ver. 46. And for those that are to be redeemed of the Verse 46 two hundred and threescore and thirteen c. There being Two hundred threescore and thirteen First-born more than there were Levites they are directed in the next Verse what to do about them For there could be no exchange of Levites for them because there was not a sufficient number to be taken in their stead Ver. 47. Thou shalt even take five Shekels apiece by Verse 47 the pole This was the Price of Redemption ever after as appears from XVIII 16. For it had been lately constituted the value of a Man-child from a Month to five years old in XXVII Levit. 6. After the Shekel of the Sanctuary c. See XXX Exod. 13 c. The only difficulty in this matter was to determine which of the First-born should be redeemed by paying this Money and which should be exchanged for the Levites For every one of the Israelites no doubt was desirous rather to have his First-born redeemed by a Levite than by paying five Shekels and yet some of them must be put to this expence there not being Levites enough to answer for them all The Jews think particularly R. Solomon that there was no way to satisfie this doubt like that by drawing of lots Which was done in this manner Moses saith the fore-named Doctor took Two and twenty thousand Scrolls of Parchment and wrote in them these words a Son of Levi and Two hundred and seventy and three more wherein he wrote five Shekels and then putting them all together in an Urn and shaking it to mingle them he commanded every
the way and manner of dying this Colour Which being not easie to compass the Jews at this day instead of this Colour are contented to use White See J. Wagenseil upon the Gemara Sotae cap. 2. Annot. 8. Verse 39 Ver. 39 And it shall be to you for a Fringe Or rather it that is the Riband shall be unto you upon the Fringe or to the Fringe added to it to make it the more noted being of a distinct Colour from the Fringe which was of the same Colour with the Garment The Jews say in the Selvedge of which these Fringes were was their upper Garments called Talish being a kind of Cloak That ye may look upon it and remember all the Commandments of the LORD i. e. When they looked down this Fringe and Lace which they saw there might put them in mind of the Duty they owed to God who commanded this not for it self but to remember them that they were a holy People bound to God by peculiar Laws which they should be as careful to observe as to wear these Fringes Hence it was that they who pretended to greater Sanctity than others enlarged these Fringes as our Saviour observes XXIII Matth. 5. i. e. extended them to a greater length so that they swept the Ground which made them more observable as Braunius notes out of the Gemara of Gittim Lib. I. de Vest. Sacerd. Hebr. cap. 3. n. 16. Where he also observes That their Superstition grew so much as with great Subtilty to contrive that these Fringes might be so wrought as to denote the DCXIII Precepts contained in the Law of Moses and so they might be put in mind of ALL the Commandments of the LORD See Buxtorf also in the place before-named and Bishop Montagu in his Apparatus cap. 7. n. 32. And do them Which was the end of remembring them as that was of their wearing them though the Jews proved so foolish as to pride themselves in the bare use of these Ornaments i. e. in their being a select People which ought to have made them more careful to do the whole Will of God And that ye seek not after your own heart Follow not your own Thoughts and Imaginations as Maimonides expounds it More Nevoch P. I. cap. 39. or rather your own desires Or the word seek may import inventing other ways of serving God according to their own fansies And your own eyes Nor follow the Example of others as they were prone to do it appears by their making the Golden Calf that they might have such a visible Representation of God as other Nations were wont to have After which ye use to go a whoring It appears by this that the foregoing words have a peculiar regard to the Worship of God which he speaks of in the beginning of this Chapter from which when they departed they are said to go a whoring from God unto whom they were espoused Verse 40 Ver. 40. That ye may remember and do all my Commandments He would not have them think there was any Sanctity to be placed merely in wearing these Fringes but they were to be considered only as Instruments to call their Duty to remembrance and excite them to the performance of it And so the Jews themselves sometimes call them as Buxtorf observes in the place before-named Means and Instruments of observing the Precepts And be holy unto your God By observing all his Commandments especially keeping themselves from Idols Verse 41 Ver. 41. I am the LORD your God Their Sovereign and Benefactor Which brought you out of the Land of Egypt He remembers them of the most peculiar Obligation they had upon them to observe this Law and all the rest of his Precepts To be your God They were Redeemed by him on purpose when none else could deliver them that they might acknowledge no other God but only him to whom they owed their Liberty to serve him I am the LORD your God This seems to be repeated to encourage them to hope that he would still continue good to them notwithstanding the Rebellion of their Fathers for which he had condemned them to die in the Wilderness Where he would preserve them their Children and at last bring them into Canaan if they would follow his Directions CHAP. XVI Chapter XVI WE have nothing here said to direct us to the Time and Place when and where this new Rebellion hapned but it is very probable as I said XV. 1. that it was in some part of the latter half of the second Year after they came out of Egypt before they removed from Kadesh-Barnea Ver. 1. Now Korah the Son of Izhar the Son of Verse 1 Kohath the Son of Levi. By this it is evident that Korah was Cosin German as we speak to Moses and Aaron for Izhar Korah's Father was the second Son of Kohath as Amram the Father of Moses and Aaron was his eldest Son VI Exod. 18. 1 Chron. VI. 2. And Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Eliab This Eliab was the Son of Pallu the second Son of Reuben as appears from XXVI 5 8 9. And On the Son of Peleth He also was descended from Reuben as well as Dathan and Abiram as the next words tell us Sons of Reuben but of what Family it doth not appear Nor is this Man any where again mentioned no not in the progress of this Conspiracy which inclines me to think that though he entred into it yet he afterward withdrew himself or was so inconsiderable that no notice was taken of him Took Men. The word Men is not in the Hebrew but simply Korah took Which word took being the first word in the Hebrew Text the whole verse may be thus translated Korah the Son of Izhar c. took both Dathan and Abiram the Sons of Eliab and On the Son of Peleth c. That is he drew these into a Conspiracy with him Or he betook himself to a Party as the Chaldee understands it he divided himself with an intention that is to make a Sedition But the Sence is the same if we follow our Translation he took Men that is Complices or Associates with him in his Rebellion By which we may understand the Two hundred and fifty mentioned in the next verse Verse 2 Ver. 2. And they rose up Made an Insurrection in which Korah seems to have been the Ring-leader having drawn the rest into it Which he might the more easily do because the Kohathites and Reubenites lay encamped on the very same side of the Tabernacle II Numb 10. compared with III. 29. by which means they had opportunity often to Conspire together Whence R. Solomon makes this Reflection Wo to the Wicked and wo to his Neighbour The cause of the Insurrection is generally thought both by Jews and Christians to have been that Korah could not brook the Preferment of Aaron and his Family so high above the rest of the Levites who were made only their Ministers III. 6 9. VIII 19. For he thought this was too
great a difference between the Children of two Brothers who were of equal Deserts Nay Aben-Ezra thinks that he wholly disliked the late Exchange of the First-born for the Levites And besides it may be thought that he stomacht the late Preferment of Elizaphan the Son of Vzziel who was the youngest Son of Kohath to be chief of the Family of the Kohathites III. 30. which he thought rather belonged to himself who was the Son of the second Son of Kohath And finding himself too weak to make an Insurrection alone he perswaded Dathan and Abiram of the Tribe of Reuben and those in whom they had an interest to joyn with him upon another pretence that they were descended from the eldest Son of Israel to whom the chief Authority in the Nation belonged which Moses had taken upon himself and likewise preferred the Tribe of Judah to the principal place in their encampment II. 3. and also the LXX Elders to be his Assistants without their Advice and leaving them out of the number Such as these may be thought to be the grounds upon which they proceeded Korah seeking the Priesthood and the Sons of Reuben the Civil Dignity But it seems to me that the ground of the Quarrel was wholly upon the account of the Priesthood as I shall show upon the next verse and that they struck at Moses only as advancing his Brother and his Family by his own Authority and not as they pretended by God's direction For as Dathan and Abiram did not appear openly when they had formed this Faction for we find them in their Tents v. 12. and refusing to come to Moses when he sent for them so in the next verse they seem to speak of nothing but the Priesthood And so Moses understood their meaning v. 5 10 15. Before Moses In an open defiance of his Authority who they pretended had no power to make such Alterations as he had done With certain of the Children of Israel It is not said out of what Tribe but it is likely out of several if not some out of every Tribe in whom they had any interest Two hundred and fifty Princes of the Assembly c. The LXX divide their Character into three parts First That they were Princes of the Assembly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers of Thousands and Rulers of Hundreds c. And Secondly Famous in the Congregation Which they translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who used to be called to Publick Consultations when they were to deliberate about weighty Affairs And so several both ancient and modern Translations as Mr. Selden hath shown L. II. de Synedriis cap. 4. n. 10. where he saith they were called maxime puto si non solum deliberandi causa chiefly if not only to have their Advice And then lastly Men of renown Such who had got a great Name that is Fame and Credit among the People upon these or other accounts This made the Insurrection the more dangerous that such great Persons were engaged and appeared in it Verse 3 Ver. 3. And they gathered themselves together The fore-named Company came in a Body Against Moses As an arbitrary Disposer of all Preferment And against Aaron Who was promoted by Moses to the Office of High-Priest which he himself had discharged before Aaron's Consecration which perhaps they made a ground of their Quarrel And said unto them Ye take too much upon you In the Hebrew the words are Rab-lachem it is sufficient for you That is you have domineered long enough resign your Places to others for all of us nay every Man in Israel is as good as you Seeing all the Congregation are holy every one of them Here seems to be the Root of the Quarrel Before Moses's time every one might offer Sacrifice in his own Family as I have often observed which Custom these Men would have had still continued being angry that this high Office was confined to one Family alone who were to enjoy all the Benefits of it which were exceeding great For the Priests had a large share in most Offerings and some things wholly to themselves This is the more probable because it was so very hard to convince the People that God had settled this Dignity and all the Profits belonging to it in Aaron's Family For though God did a new thing never heard of before to demonstrate these People that rose against Moses and Aaron to be Seditious yet it was necessary still to do more For after the Earth had swallowed up Dathan and Abiram and Fire consumed Korah and his Company and a Plague destroyed many more of them the LORD did another Miracle XVII 8. in making Aaron's Rod blossom and bud and bring forth Almonds in one Nights time when all the rest of the Rods remained dry Sticks Which makes it probable as I said before there were some in all the Tribes who were engaged in this Sedition and were so deeply infected with the false Notions of Korah that it was necessary to give them all this Satisfaction And the LORD is among them The People need no other Governour but him who dwells among them in his Tabernacle where they can present their Sacrifices to him themselves without your Assistance Wherefore then lift you up your selves above the Congregation of the LORD Since God owns us all for his special and peculiar People why do you take upon you such high Places and Dignity above us all For Moses disposed and ordered all things and Aaron by his order took upon him to be solely God's chief Minister in his Sanctuary Verse 4 Ver. 4. And when Moses heard it he fell upon his face With Aaron also it is likely as they did lately XIV 5. And for the same end See there to deprecate God's displeasure which they might justly think would now rise higher than ever and to beg his direction what to do in such a dangerous state of things Verse 5 Ver. 5. And he spake unto Korah and unto all his Company This shows that Korah was the Head of this Faction and Dathan and Abiram did not at the first I guess from hence appear with him Saying Being risen up from Prayer he made this Answer to the Seditious People by order from God who no doubt directed him to this way of suppressing them Even to morrow the LORD will show c. In the Hebrew the words are To morrow or in the Morning and the LORD will show c. That is stay but till to Morrow and it shall appear without any further delay whether you or we be in the right He would keep them in suspense no longer and yet gave them so much time to consider better and repent Some observe that the Morning was the time of executing Justice and therefore here appointed Will the LORD show By some visible Token Who are his Or Who appertain to him viz. As his Ministers And who is holy Separated and solemnly Consecrated by his appointment to the Sacred Office of Priesthood And will