did not only write to his own Age wherein his Father and Grand-father were well known but likewise to the following Ages to whom he seems in this place to direct his Discourse and not to his Contemporaries who knew all these Particulars well enough It was of Consequence for them to know that Aaron the Brother of Moses was descended from Levi and that he was the first Head of the Sacerdotal Families therefore it ought not to seem strange to any one that in this place Moses and Aaron are as it were pointed at and their Genealogy shown to the Israelites of future Ages 12. The words of Exodus 16.35 are alledged which they pretend could not be written till after the death of Moses And the Children of Israel did eat Manna forty years until they came to a Land inhabited They did eat Manna until they came unto the Borders of the Land of Canaan For it appears from the fifth Chapter of Joshua that Manna did not cease till after the death of Moses To this some answer That Moses fore-knew as is evident from Numbers 14.33 that the Manna would cease after the end of forty years so soon as the Israelites entred the Land of Canaan But this is here related and not foretold and therefore Moses uses the Preterperfect Tense Comederunt did eat For which reason I should rather chuse to say that this Verse as well as some more has been added to the Text by way of Parenthesis occasioned by what immediately goes before where mention is made of an Omer full of Manna to be laid up in the Ark. 13. Some Persons deny the following Verse to belong to Moses But an Omer is the tenth part of an Ephah because when a Measure is in use it is not customary to define it and therefore they believe that after the Hebrews were scatter'd into several Countries and consequently began to use the Measures of other Nations this was purposely written that they might understand which Measure was meant in this History The same is observed about their Money Numb 3.47 Chap. 18.16 But it does not appear that the Jews used any other Measures in Palestine so as to make it necessary to define the old Measures nor does an Ephah seem to be better known than an Omer But Moses who instituted the Jewish Commonwealth might designedly give a short Description of the Coins and Measures to the end that they might not afterwards be changed 14. The Sacred Historian thus begins Deut. 1.1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side Jordan in the Wilderness From whence they gather that the Writer of this Book was then in Canaan But we have discussed the Ambiguity of the Particle Bheber upon * M. le Clerk has promised the World a Paraphrase and Comment upon the other four Book of Moses but they have not seen the light as yet that place of Deuteronomy to which we refer the Reader 15. In the same Book Chap. 2.12 there are some words which they pretend could never come from Moses The Horims dwelt in Sur before time but the Children of Eâ—au succeeded them when they had destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their stead as Iâ—rael did unto the Land of his Possession But at that time when Moses writ this two Tribes and a half had already setled themselves near the head of Jordan and turn'd out the old Inhabitants and Moses had an Eye to that 16. Chap. 3.11 Thus the Sacred Writer speaks of the King of Basan For only Og King of Basan remain'd of the remnant of Giants behold his Bedsted was a Bedsted of Iron Is it not in Rabbah of the Children of Ammon Nine Cubits was the length thereof and four Cubits the breadth of it Now some can scarce believe that it was possible for Moses to speak thus of a Man that was lately dead and overcome by the Israelites and whose Bed was rather in Basan of which Territory he was King than among the Ammonites who were none of his Subjects But Moses had a mind to give a particular account of a thing which was well known at that time indeed but would have been unknown to Posterity unless he had deliver'd it in writing As for what concerns the Bed how it came to be carried into another Kingdom who can tell But since there is no Absurdity in this Story nothing can be gather'd from a thing the reason of which is altogether unknown 17. In the same Chapter v. 14. we meet with the following passage Jair the Son of Manasseh took all the Country of Argob unto the Coasts of Geshuri and Maacathi and call'd them after his own name Bashan-Havoth-jair unto this day We shall handle this matter more at large in our Commentary In the mean time if this were added by a later hand yet it would not follow from thence that the greatest part of the Pentateuch was not written by Moses 18. We will not deny the last Chapter of Deuteronomy to be writ by some one else where Moses's going up to Mount Nebo and his death are related and yet all the foregoing Chapters are not therefore to be given away from him We may easily suppose that this Book was supplied by another hand which had been in a manner imperfect if it had not ended with the death of Moses But those Jews that are of opinion that Moses foretold all these things as being assisted by a Prophetical Spirit do not deserve to be heard What can be said more plainly to make us understand that these things were written long after Moses's death than what we find in the three last Verses IV. Hence we may gather from these eighteen places which are commonly brought to prove the Pentateuch to be of a later date that most of them are doubtful and consequently ought not to be made use of as Arguments to prove these five Books to belong to another Age. Very few of them manifestly seem to be added by another hand and do not in the least hinder why we should not ascribe these Volumes to Moses After the same manner some ancient Grammarians tell us there are several Verses here and there inserted into Homer's Poems yet no one from thence takes occasion to deny that the Iliads and the Odysses were written by Homer We must not imagine that in former Ages they had such plenty of Books or so many Copies of the same Book as now we have and so it might easily happen that in succeeding Times one of the Prophets might make some Additions to Moses which afterwards were incorporated with all the Copies Indeed if it did not otherwise evidently appear that the greatest part by far of the Pentateuch was written by Moses I confess there would be great weight in the above-mention'd Objections to incline us to believe that these Volumes were written much later than is commonly pretended but since we have proved it beyond all manner of doubt that almost all the
were communicated to him by God nor though such a thing is possible yet since Moses is silent in the matter dares any one pretend to affirm it as an undoubted Truth but only the Rabbins who were never asham'd of Lying and whose Assertions consequently are not much to be regarded Now it scarce seems probable that so many Names and the Particulars of so many Years could be handed down by Tradition 'T is much more probable that the ancient Patriarchs left them in Writing and so transmitted them to their Posterity which Monuments coming into the hands of Moses he diligently copied and connected them with the History of his own Age for what Design and Purpose we shall afterwards enquire Now what sort of Writings they were and how numerous only those Persons can inform us who lived in those Times if they were restor'd to Life again We conjecture that some of them were written carminibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Verses of the same Termination wherein we shall at some better convenience shew the Poetry of the Hebrews to consist (a) Lamech's Speech Gen. 4.23 M. le Clerk has observ'd to consist of words of the same Termination in the Hebrew and 't is his Opinion that Moses borrow'd abundance of Passages from ancient Verses in which Antiquity used to preserve the Memory of all remarkable Transactions before the discovery of Letters The same remark he makes upon Chap. 7.11 adding That there is something of a Poetical Spirit in the latter But I look upon this Criticism to be ill grounded for why might not such a Passage fall from Moses unawares as well as this Hexameter Verse from Tully in one of his Orations In quâ me non inficior mediocriter esse Besides who would conclude that Tacitus compil'd his History out of Poetical Monuments because he begins with Vrbem Roman à principio Reges habuere See our Notes upon Chap. 4.23 24. and Chap. 7.11 'T is certain that almost all Nations in the World preserved the Fragments of their ancientest Histories in Verse as several Learned Men have proved And it appears that even among the Hebrews in Moses's time the Memory of great Actions was celebrated in Verse which the People learn'd by Heart as the Songs of Moses himself that are extant both in Exodus 15. and Deuteronomy 32. demonstrate Nay God himself commanded the latter to be learn'd by the Children of Israel as we find in Deut. 31.29 Nor ought any one to wonder that we carry the beginnings of Poetry so high since Musick by the Invention of some Instruments flourish'd even before the Deluge as Moses expresly tells us Gen. 4.21 Nay 't is probable that Men employ'd themselves in Vocal Musick before they thought of the Instrumental But though some few memorable Transactions might be preserv'd in Verse which the long-liv'd Patriarchs perhaps might have by heart yet a Chronology including the Calculation of so many years seems too unruly an Argument to have been included in them And Moses makes mention of the Book of the Battels of the Lord of which we shall treat when we come to Numbers 21.14 The second sort of things which we read in the Pentateuch 't is evident were written by Moses himself First God commanded him to write the Law and Moses is accordingly said to have written it In Exodus 34.27 God after he had repeated the chief Precepts of the Law thus speaks to Moses Write thou these words for after the Tenour of these words I have made a Covenant with thee and with Israel But in Exodus 24.4 after several Laws were made Moses is said to have written all the Words of the Lord and frequent mention is made of the Book of the Covenant or Law as in the seventh Verse of the same Chapter In Deuteronomy 28.58 If thou wilt not observe says Moses to do all the words of this Law that are written in this Book which perhaps he then held in his hands see likewise v. 61. and Chap. 29.20 27. where the Curses are said to be writ in it This does Moses deliver to the Levites Chap. 31.9 and commands it v. 26. to be put in the side of the Ark that it may be a Witness against Israel Mention is made of the same Book as if it comprehended all the Divine Laws after the Death of Moses Joshua 1.8 where Joshua is commanded by God not to suffer that Book to depart out of his Mouth that is perpetually to read it and administer Justice to the People out of the Laws deliver'd in it See likewise Chap. 8.31 'T is true indeed that the Jews by the word Thorah Law are used to understand the whole Pentateuch nevertheless 't is certain that it is of a doubtful Signification and may signifie more or fewer Laws So Joshua 8.32 it is said that Joshua wrote a Copy of the Law of Moses upon twelve Stones of an Altar as he was commanded by the Book of the Law See Deut. 27.2 3. in all which places Thorah signifies only a small part of the Law as Learned Men have observed because it was not possible for the whole five Books of Moses to be writ upon twelve Stones joyn'd together to make a four-square Altar But 't is evident from the places above-mentioned that at least all the Precepts of the Law were written by Moses and indeed so many troublesom Laws could not be remembred unless their Memories were refresh'd by a written Book especially when they began to be observed Some Persons are of Opinion that only the Book of Deuteronomy is to be understood in Joshua and the above-cited places of Deuteronomy and that afterwards that Book alone was found in the time of Josiah King of Judah But although Deuteronomy is the Repetition of the Law yet many things are there briefly handled neither are they so clearly described that the Israelites who were none of the acutest People in the World and always inclin'd to Idolatry could have an accurate Knowledge of the whole Law only out of that Book and therefore if Moses design'd to have it all observ'd as no body questions but he did he ought to have given the Israelites a larger Exposition of it and this he actually perform'd for we have shown from two places of Exodus that the Laws which we see there were written by him and not Deuteronomy alone The Book in which he writ them is called The Book of the Covenant Exod. 24.7 which after he had solemnly read before the People without question he did not throw it away since it was as it were a publick Instrument wherein were preserved the Laws of the Covenant made with God Besides Moses writ some other Treatises not extant in Deuteronomy of which we shall discourse hereafter and which without doubt he bequeath'd to Posterity since they have arrived safe to our hands Therefore the above-mentioned Conjecture that only Deuteronomy was left us by Moses is altogether groundless and contrary to the Sacred
Ipsáque imago sibi formam sine corpore servans Durat ad huc etenim nudâ statione sub aethram Nec pluviis dilapsa situ nec diruta ventis Quin etiam siquis mutilaverit advena formam Protinus ex sese suggestu vulnera complet Dicitur vivens alio sub corpore sexus Munificos solito dispungere sanguine Menses Neither was Tertullian the Inventor of this silly Fiction for St. Irenaeus had it before him as appears by the following words lib. 4. l. 51. The Wife remain'd in Sodom not now a corruptible Flesh but an everlasting Statue of Salt and through her Privities showing her Menses after the manner of Women because the Church which is the Salt of the Earth is left in the Confines of the Earth suffering those things that are Human and tho' whole Members are often taken from it yet it perseveres a Statue of Salt which is the Foundation of Faith strengthening and sending the Sons to their Father This excellent Man was impos'd upon by some monstrous Story-teller and perhaps too greedily swallowed what he heard without throughly examining his witness 's Reputation It has been long ago observed by some Judicious Persons that Orators are allow'd to take some liberty in History that they may be able to say something fine and Elegant Now this manner of Death for Lot's Wife was capable of all the Beauties of Rhetorick and Strains of Tragedy but the common Death as we have said is described by Moses afforded little or no matter for Pomp and Ornament This seems to be the reason why some of our Modern Writers of Travels have given an Account of what they never saw not to take notice that perhaps they were ashamed to say they had not seen that which others who had been in those Parts pretended to have seen least the World should take them not to have made a true use of their Travels Christopher Furerus a Noble-man of Germany whose Travels of Palestine and the neighbouring Countries were Printed at Nurimberg in the Year 1621. affirms that he washed his Hands in the Lacus Asphaltites and found that the taste of it was very nasty and more saltish then ever he found but be makes not the least mention of the Statue of Salt Bellonius was in the Province of Jeriche about Jordan and describes all the Nations about it l. 2. c. 86. but is silent as to this wonderful Statue whether he had heard nothing concerning it or was of opinion that the common Reports were false You 'll find Thevenot does the same if you read ch 41. l. 2. Part I. of his Travels into the East Nay Nicholas Christopher Radzivil a Polish Prince who Survey'd these Places with all the exactness imaginable I inquired says he very carefully of our Arabian and those that are well skill'd in our Country who all of them affirm'd that nothing like it was there to be found To return now to the more ancient Times we might to these Witnesses add St. Jerome who lived so many Years in Palestine and took no little care to divulge things of this Nature and yet he never makes the least mention of this Statue of Salt altho' he takes notice of the Subversion of Sodom of Lot nay even of his Wise too Those that are acquainted with his Character and know what Pains he takes to show his own wit even upon the names of Places and other Witticisms tho' never so far fetched are no doubt on 't sensible that he wou'd never have lost so Glorious an opportunity as this everlasting Statue afforded him to exercise his Talent upon if any one had presumed to affirm that so remarkable a Monument was extant in his Time In his Epitaph of Paula where he hunts after Mysteries from every place which she saw or even beheld at a distance he lost the best opportunity of showing his Wit that he could have desired if at that time this Famous Statue was to be seen As soon as the Sun was up says he she stood upon the Brow of Caphar Baracha that is the Town of Benediction to which place Abraham followed the Lord from whence she beheld a vast Solitude and the Ground where formerly Sodom and Gomorrah Adma and Zeboim stood She view'd the Vineyards of Balsam in Engaddi and Segor vitulaus conteruantem which was formerly called Bale and was in the Syrian Dialect Translated into Zoar that is a little one She remembred the Cave of Lot and why not the Statue of Salt if it was still remaining and shedding Tears admonished her Virgin Companions to abstain from Wine the unlucky Parent of Luxury If the Statue of Lot's Wife had been then believed to be on the other side of the Lacus Asphaltites how opportunely might he have introduced Paula admonishing her Companions to eschew Earthly things and not to look back In his Epistle to Rusticus tho' he makes mention of Lot's Wife yet he says no more of her than that disordered by Despair and looking behind her she was condemn'd to wear an everlasting Mark of her Infidelity In his Commentary upon Amos c. 4.11 Lot says he was saved tho' Sodom was destroyed losing the part and substance of his Body by which we understand his Wife and yet this perpetual affecter of Allegories says no more of her All which Circumstances clearly show that in St. Jerome's time no body believed that this Statue of Salt was then Extant VI. And indeed we have no Arguments to prove she was turn'd into a Statue 't is far more probable that the Woman either grew benum'd by fear or else was suffocated by some Bituminous or Sulphureous Vapour When she saw her native Country destroy'd by Fire from Heaven and Earth with a dreadful Noise the Ground trembling under her Feet and she recollected in her mind the sad Destiny that befel all her Friends and Relations except her Husband and two Daughters What wonder is it if Grief and Fear so possest her Spirits that she immediately expired or at least fainted away and no one being by to assist her in that deliquium died upon the spot Plutarch in Sympos L. 4. Qu. 2. affirms that several Persons have been killed meerly with the fright of Thunderbolts Add to this says he the Consternation and Fear by which abundance of Men that suffered not the least Injury have been carried off only by their being too apprehensive of Death Great numbers have been kill'd by Thunder who have not any Footsteps of being struck or burnt because their Soul with meer fear has flown out of their Body like a Bird. Many as Euripides says have been destroyed by the very breath of Thunder for at other times also the Hearing is easiest affected of any of the Senses those Disturbances and Apprehensions that proceed from Noise giving always the most terrible Alarms to the Soul Besides it has been observ'd that several have been stupified to that degree by an Earthquake that they have run up and down
Heathens not only those of the Hebrews nothing hinders but he might sometimes designedly help Natural Causes on their behalf VII It appears also from the Death of the Egyptians that the Sea was divided as I have said First Moses says that when the Israelites went into the Sea The Egyptians pursued and went in after them in the Night-time to the midst of the Sea even all Pharaoh's Horses his Chariots and Horse-men Exod. 14.23 The Egyptians believed that the Israelites took hold of the Opportunity of an Ebbing which was greater than it used to be and that therefore they ought presently to pursue them least the Passage should be stopt by the return of the Waters Tho' the Egyptians were transported with anger yet had they suspected that it was a Prodigy they had certainly never been so mad as to go into the Channel of the Sea and they might have seen that it was undoubtedly a Miracle were it not that they might with some likelyhood ascribe the thing to an Extraordinary Reflux When the whole Army of the Egyptians came into the Sea and the Israelites got to the opposite Shore that is in the Third Watch of the Night as we learn from what follows Moses was commanded to smite the Sea which being done Exod. 14.27 The Sea return'd to its strength when the morning appear'd Which seems not to have happen'd by degrees but God made use of an extraordinary South-Wind which brought back with a great violence and in a very short time the Waves which stood still by the strength of the North-Wind This we learn from Moses's Song Exod. 15.10 Thou didst blow with thy Wind the Sea covered them They sank as lead in the mighty Waters c. If the Waters were congealed and heaped up on both sides what need was there of a Wind to make them return to their place As they stood up only by the Will of God they might return into their Channel by the same Will provided God would have recall'd the Efficacy of his Power for they had dropt down by their weight like melted Ice Lest the Egyptians should avoid by flying the violence of the Reflux besides the South-Wind by which it was hasten'd Moses says That God Troubled the Host of the Egyptians and took off their Chariot-wheels that they drave them heavily Exod. 14.24 25. That we may the better understand this we must remember that the Army of the Egyptians was made up only of Chariots and Horse-men For Pharaoh brought with him no Infantry to overtake more easily the Israelites nor did he want any seeing he might easily rout an unarm'd People only with his Chariots and Horse-men Besides the March of the Horse-men and Chariots was made slower by a secret Efficacy of the Divine Power Three things might make that Passage more difficult to the Egyptians than to the Israelites 1. There might be in some Places abundance of Mires too deep to drive Chariots and Horses thro' them without great trouble whereas Men a Foot might easily get over them especially the Israelites who were used to wander with their Flocks in the Marshes of Egypt Tho' the Bottom of the Sea is not the same every where yet no Body will wonder that I say there might be here and there some Miry Places in a Space that was some Miles Broad a little while after the Sea left it 2. If there were no Mires in some places there was abundance of deep Sand in which Wheels will sink deeply and thro' which Horses can go but slowly Diodorus Siculus says Book III. There is a vast quantity of Dirt and Sand in that Sea and that the Floods sometimes carry so much Sand about the Ships that Sail in it that they stick fast in the Ground That Sand hindered without doubt the Chariots and Horses from going fast If it be objected that Moses says several times that the Israelites went thro' the Sea as thro' a Dry Land I answer It ought not to be so understood as if the Channel of the Sea had not been so much as moist and dirty The Land is said to be Dry because there was no Waves upon it and it is opposed not to Moistness but to Water as Gen. 1.9 And God said let the Waters under the Heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the Dry Land appear and God called the Dry Land Earth See also Chap. 8.13 Philo therefore laid too great a stress upon that Word when he said that the Isrelites went thro' the Sea as thro' a way paved with Stones for as he goes on the Sand grew hard and made one solid Body Miracles have been often invented to explain some Words of Scripture upon which they put too literal a Sense of which the Holy Writers never so much as dream'd 3. The Bottom of the Sea being uneven and full of Rocks and †See Theophras Hist of Plants Book IV. ch 8. Shrubs could not give a Free passage to the Chariots Nay 't was almost impossible for those who drived the Chariots and hastened to pursue the Israelites in the Night time and then to make their escape to the Egyptian Shores not to encumber and hinder one another and even to overturn their Chariots and break the Wheels against the Rocks Now some Chariots overturned or broke were sufficient to disturb the whole Army and it could go but slowly whilst their Ranks were broke and every Horseman endeavoured to go faster then another This Moses seems to teach us in the words I have quoted All which things I have mentioned did without doubt hinder the march of the Horse and Chariots When the Israelites saw this besides they perhaps observed that the Wind was turned knowing that the Sea would presently flow in they began to think more seriously of making their escape Then at last they perceived that the God of the Israelites was not less Powerful in the Sea then he had been in Egypt So that condemning their rashness they turned back and made haste to the Egyptian Shoar but the Waves breaking upon them they were Drowned Josephus not only says that the Water of the Sea was driven on the Egyptians by the Wind but also that there arose at the same time a violent Storm which perhaps he learned from the Egyptian Priests of his time The Egyptians added that their Ancestors were forced to come home and leave off pursuing the Israelites by reason of the Storms as it appears from Justin Book 26. Ch. 2. But Moses says that they all Perished in the Sea and that not one of them escaped to bring the News of their Calamity From whence one may observe by the bye that Josephus omitted that part of the Tradition of the Egyptians because it was contrary to the History of Moses but willingly alledged according to his Custom that part which was not inconsistent with it VIII If the Histories of Manetho and of some others who wrote the Antiquities of the Egyptians were extant we might