die nor being surprised with death for he knew the time and the place and the manner of it And as he did not die of any Disease as was said before or of old Age or by external force but only by the will and pleasure of God who took his Soul out of his Body so he did not part with it against his will nor with any fear but with a placid Mind and composed Spirit committed himself to God In whose embraces as we may speak he expired and this it is likely the ancient Jews meant when they said His Soul departed with a kiss As to the time of his death the Scripture doth not mention the Year the Month and the Day but the Jews commonly place it in the last Month of the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt called ADAR and the seventh day of that Month. Thus they say in Seder Olam Rabba Cap. X. and in their Kalendar which they now follow and so Patricides in Hottinger's Smegma Orientale p. 457. But our great Primate of Ireland in his Annals observes that it agrees better with the following History to place his death in the first Day of that Month and Torniellus makes the same Computation that it must be either in the latter end of the Eleventh Month or in the beginning of the Twelfth Verse 6 Ver. 6. And he buried him This refers to the words foregoing viz. the LORD who commanded his Angels to bury him So Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Haeres IX p. 28. and see p. 600. Though in the Scripture active words are very often used passively and the meaning may be only that he was buried Yet there is this to be said for the other sense that thereupon it is thought that the Contest arose between Michael the Archangel and the Devil as St. Chrysostom Theodoret Procopius Gazaeus and others take it who would not have had him buried but opposed it that he might administer an occasion to the Jews to commit Idolatry Though we never find that the Jews were given to the Worship of Reliques as our most Learned Vsser observes in his Annals See there In a Valley in the Land of Moab over against Beth-Peor This Valley was in the Land of Sihon King of the Amorites IV. 46. who had taken it from the Moabites as I noted before and was now possessed by the Israelites And Beth-Peor was a part of the Possession of Reuben XIII Josh 20. which was a place where the Temple of Peor anciently stood from whence it had its name For this Idol is not only called Baal-Peor but simply Peor XXII Josh 17. and as Beth-Baal is the Temple of Baal so Beth-Peor is the Temple of Peor as J. Ger. Vossius abserves de Orig. Progr Idol Lib. II. Cap. VII Now by all these Circumstances of his burial it appears how frivolous that Opinion of the Jews is mentioned in Jalkut out of Siphri that Moses did not really die but was translated into Heaven where he stands and Ministers before God Which conceit Josephus himself follows Lib. IV. Aniq. Cap. VIII where he saith that the having dismissed the Elders who went with him to Mount Abarim and then conversing a while with Eleazar and Joshua while he embraced them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cloud on a sudden coming upon him he was snacht out of their sight into a certain Valley Which is not only beside but contrary to the Scripture which saith he died and was buried in the Valley And yet some of the ancient Fathers particularly St. Ambrose and St. Hilary have followed this Opinion that when Moses is said to die it doth not signifie the separation of his Soul from his Body but his Translation to a better Life See Sixtus Senensis in his Bibliotheca Lib. V. Annot. LXI where he observes this is not only against Scripture but against the sense of almost all Ecclesiastical Writers But no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day These words unto this day show that this passage was not written by Moses as Josephus and Philo imagine who say he wrote this by the Spirit of Prophecy See v. 1. The reason why his Body was concealed most think to have been lest in future times it should become an Object of their Worship So R. Levi ben Gersom Future Generations perhaps might have made a god of him because of the fame of his Miracles For do we not see how some of the Israelites erred in the brazen Serpent which Moses made And the Heresie of the Melchisedekians shows this was no vain fear as Hermannus Witzius observes Lib. I. Miscell Cap. XVII if Epiphanius may be believed who saith that in Arabia Petraea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They thought him to be God because of his Wonders he wrought and worshipped his Image What would they have done if they had had his very Body Which he did not desire to be carried into Canaan and buried among his Ancestors as Joseph ordered concerning his Bones For he understood it is likely the mind of God to be that as he should not go over Jordan while he was alive so his Body should not be carried over when he was dead Which R. Chama thinks might have proved dangerous because in the time of their Distress especially at the Captivity of the Land the Children of Israel might have been prone to run to his Sepulchre and beg him with tears to pray for them whose Prayers had been so prevalent for them in his life time For such a piece of Superstition it seems crept in among them in latter Ages of which see Wagenseil upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. I. Sect. LII Annot II. But though no Man knew where Moses was buried when this was written yet some Maronite Shepherds we are told have pretended lately MDCLV to find out his Tomb with this Inscription in Hebrew Moses the Servant of the LORD A great stir was made about it as the same Witzius observes out of Hornius his Historia Ecclesiastica But a learned Jew he saith so confuted the Story showing it was another Moses whose Tomb they found that the Report presently vanished And the Learned Wagenseil makes some probable guesses that it was the Tomb of Moses Maimonides See Annot. VI. in Gemara Sotae Cap. I. Sect. LI. But Bartoloccius in his late Bibliotheca Rabbinica Tom. III. p. 928 c. hath made it rather probable that Hornius was imposed upon by some body in this narration there being no such Author known among the Jews as R. Jakum or Jacomus ben Gad who he saith confuted this Tale. Ver. 7. And was an hundred and twenty years old Verse 7 when he died A third part of which time wanting one Month he had been imployed in the Government of Israel as Josephus observes in the Conclusion of his Fourth Book of Antiquities His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated That is he had all the vigour of Youth remaining there being not
Sea which is hereby meant Ver. 3. And the South And after he had seen Verse 3 the South which the Tribes of Judah and Simeon inhabited he bad him take a view of the Eastern Parts of the Country as it here follows And the plain of the Valley of Jericho All the Region about Jordan especially the lovely Plain of Jericho which is very much celebrated by other Authors and lay in the Tribe of Benjamin The City of Palm-trees Which is often mentioned in Scripture sometime without and sometime with the name of Jericho I Judges 16. III. 13. 2 Chron. XXVIII 15. which was so called because a multitude of Palm-trees grew about it as Strabo as well as Josephus testifies in his Geograph Lib. XVI p. 763. where he describes this plain as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as incompassed about with Mountains after the manner of a Theatre abounding with Palm-trees and other Garden-trees mixed with them for the space of an hundred Stadia And there was also he observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Paradise of Balsam Which is a rare Aromatick Plant like to the Turpentine-tree whose Juice is of great virtue and value c. From which odoriferous Plant growing here some think this City had the Name of Jericho signifying sweet smelling So R. Judas in the Gemara of Beracoth where he mentions this Tree as growing about Jericho and thence derives its name from the Hebrew word reach which signifies a sweet smell This is more probable than the Conjecture of D. Chytraeus who imagines Jericho to come from jerec which signifies the Moon and in their German Language he thinks might be called Luneburgh Vnto Zoar. Which lay in the entrance of the Salt Sea Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the LORD said unto him After he had showed him the Land the WORD of the LORD as the Hierusalem Targum hath it spake these words to him which follow And God having been wont to speak to Moses out of the Cloud of Glory Josephus conceives that now he was incompassed with it and from thence heard this voice Which the Jews fancy was so loud that the People heard it into the Camp Thus at our Saviour's Transfiguration upon the holy Mount a glorious Cloud over-shadowed him and his three Apostles who heard the voice say to them This is my beloved Son c. The Samaritans as Hottinger relates in his Smegma Orientale Cap. VIII p. 456. tell the story thus That Joshua Eleazar the Priest and all the Elders accompanying him to the Mount fell into such a Passion when they were to take their leave that they could not be parted from him Whereupon the Pillar of Fire came down which separated them from Moses so that they saw him no more This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed XII Gen. 7. XIII 15. XV. 18 c. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes Which the LORD strengthned it is likely with a greater vigour than usual that he might take a larger prospect than other wise he could have done of this Country Or as some of the Jews understand it he laid a Map of it before his eyes wherein every part of it was exactly described But that might have been done in the Plains of Moab without going up into a Mountain therefore the other is more reasonable that he strengthned his visive Faculty with a greater Power to see the whole Country in its length and breadth c. And therefore some of the Rabbins have been so wise as to put both together as J. Bened. Carpzovius observes out of several of them upon Schickard's Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVI p. 285. who thus speak God shewed him the whole Land as in a Garden Plot forty Miles in breadth and as many in length and gave his Eyes such a power of Contemplating the whole Land from the beginning to the end that he saw Hills and Dales what was open and what was inclosed remote or nigh at one view But thou shalt not go over thither This he had often said to him and now mentions it that he might die in a comfortable sense that he had been as good as his word to him and consequently carry this Belief along with him into the other World that he would make good the Oath which he sware to their Fathers of bringing them into Canaan and there fulfil all that he had foretold Verse 5 Ver. 5. So Moses the servant of the LORD So God himself calls him after his death in the next Book I Josh 2 7. as the most eminent Minister of his that he had hitherto employed in Israel But the observation of R. Bechai is not well founded that he is not called the Servant of the LORD till after he was dead and then admitted unto the nearest familiarity with the Divine Majesty For though these very words are not used yet the LORD calls him My Servant Moses which is the same thing XII Numb 7. Died in the Land of Moab For this Country was so still called because it anciently belonged to the Moabites See XXI Numb 26. from whom Sihon had taken it as Israel now had taken it from him So that he really died in the Land of Israel According to the Word of the LORD The Hierusalem Targum expounds this very soberly According to the Sentence of the Decree of the LORD That is as the LORD had determined and declared he should XXXII 49 50. And so this Phrase is commonly used in this very Book XVII 6 10 11. as well as in other places of the Pentateuch IX Numb 20. XIII 3 c. which will warrant this Interpretation that Moses did not die of any Disease nor was worn out with Age but meerly because God the Supream Governour of all things so ordered it But some of the Jews not satisfied with this have far-fetch'd Conceits concerning the Death of Moses from these words For because it is said he died al pi at the mouth as the words are literally in the Hebrew of the LORD Maimonides himself saith that their wise Men think and he seems of their Opinion that it signifies the LORD drew his Soul out of his Body with a kiss And thus died Aaron and Miriam but none besides them Of Aaron indeed it is expresly said he died al pi of the LORD but it is not said of Miriam and yet they will have her to have had the same favour That is they died saith he of too much love from the pleasure they had in the thoughts of God which apprehension of God conjunct with the highest love to him he thinks is called kissing I Cant. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LI. But this is not the meaning of the Phrase though no doubt Moses departed this Life in a most delectable sense and taste of the Divine Love having no unwillingness to
these Expeditions But they seem to be here remembred as an Encouragement to the Israelites to hope that they might drive out the Inhabitants of Canaan who were not stronger than these as they had already driven the Amorites out of the Country of Sihon as it here follows As Israel did unto the Land of his possession which the LORD gave unto them Some have argued from hence that this Book was not written by Moses but by some body else after they had got possession of the Land of Canaan But it is manifest this may relate to what they had done already in dispossessing Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan of their Country which it is expresly said Moses had given for a possession to the Tribe of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh and that by God's direction XXXII Numb 33. XXXIV 14 15. and in this Book XXIX 8. This hath been observed by many particularly by Huetius in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. XIV N. XV. Ver. 13. Now rise up said I and get you over the Verse 13 Brook Zered c. Which elsewhere we translate the Valley of Zered See XXI Numb 12. Ver. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea Verse 14 until we came over the Brook Zered was thirty eight years For it is evident by the story in Numbers that they came to Kadesh-Barnea about the fourth Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt See upon XII Numb 16. And if we suppose that they removed from hence in the seventh or eighth Month of that Year it is certain that they could not come to this Brook till the seventh or eighth Month of the fortieth Year For Aaron died at Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth Month of this Year and we must allow two or three Months time for all that followed between that and this viz. the conquest of King Arad and of Sihon and Og c. Vntil all the Generation of the Men of War So they were called who were above twenty years old I Numb 3. Were wasted out from among the People Utterly consumed so that not one of them was left XXVI Numb 64 65. As the LORD sware unto them See XIV Numb 28 29. Verse 15 Ver. 15. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from among the Host Some of them it is likely died a Natural death but many of them might in the course of Nature have lived longer if God had not several ways cut them off before their time Vntil they were consumed By one Plague or other which God sent among them So that a great deal of their time in the thirty eight Years before mentioned were spent it is likely in burying and mourning for their dead Verse 16 17. Ver. 16 17. So it came to pass when all the Men of War were consumed and dead from among the People that the LORD spake unto me saying This was spoken it is probable just as they passed over the Brook Zered or in their next Station at Dibon-Gad XXXIII Numb 45. Ver. 18. Thou art to pass through Ar the Coast of Verse 18 Moab this day Or rather to pass by the Border of Moab for they were not permitted to come into their Country v. 9. See upon v. 4. Ver. 19. And when thou comest nigh over against the Verse 19 Children of Ammon As they did after the conquest of Sihon King of the Amorites whose Country bordered upon the Ammonites XXI Numb 13 24. Distress them not neither meddle with them The same command with that about the Edomites and Moabites v. 5 9. For I will not give thee of the Land of the Children of Ammon any possession As he had said before of the Land of Moab v. 9. Because I have given it unto the Children of Lot for a possession To the Descendants of his youngest Son as he had done the Country of Moab to the Children of the eldest Ver. 20. And that also was accounted a Land of Giants Verse 20 c. Was called the Country of Giants or Rephaim for People so called inhabited it And the Ammonites called them Zamzummims Changed their Names it is probable from Zuzims See XIV Gen. 5. as they were called before into Zamzummims But why they were called either by the one Name or the other it is but conjectured Some conceive they were called Zuzims from their swiftness or nimble running which in Warriours was a quality always highly valued and Zamzummims from their abominable Wickedness or their craft and cunning in doing Mischief Ver. 21. A people great and many and tall as the Anakims The same description which he gave of the Emims v. 10. Verse 21 But the LORD destroyed them before them i. e. Before the Ammonites who expelled them out of their Country and it 's like cut off the most of them And they succeeded them and dwelt in their Land This is so often repeated to possess the Minds of the Israelites with a sense of God's Providence which rules every where displacing one People and setling another in their stead and fixing their Bounds also which they shall not pass without his leave Verse 22 Ver. 22. As he did to the Children of Esau which dwelt in Seir when he destroyed the Horites from before them c. He repeats this which he had said before v. 12. because it was a fresher Instance of God's disposal of Countries unto what People he pleases and nearly touched the Israelites because they were their Brethren Verse 23 Ver. 23. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim even unto Azzah Unto which he adds an instance which seems to be elder than any of the former concerning a People called Avims who inhabited some part of the Land of Canaan whither they were going For though we do not read of Hazerim in any other place yet Azzah i. e. Gaza was in the Country of the Philistims who expelled these Avims And David Chytraeus thinks that Hazerim was a Town afterward in the Tribe of Judah called Haza-gaddah XV Josh 27. The Caphtorim which came out of Caphtor That is some People of Cappadocia who were near of Kin to the Philistims See X Gen. 14. Destroyed them and dwelt in their stead Concerning which see in the place above-named Unto which I shall only add That the Avims being expelled out of Canaan by the Caphtorims went it is very probable over Euphrates and settled there till the King of Assyria brought some of them back again to plant the Country of Samaria 2 Kings XVII 31. where we translate this word Avites See Bochart in his Phaleg Lib. IV. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 24. Rise ye up take your Journey and pass over Verse 24 the River Arnon See XXI Numb 13 14. Behold I have given into thy hand Sihon King of Heshbon and his Land c. You your selves shall do to him what your Brethren the Children of Esau did to the
13. And cut down their Groves There is the same mention of Asherim which we translate Groves in the place last named only another word for cut down See there But Mr. Selden both there and here understands by Asherim wooden Images of Astarte a great Goddess worshipped in that Country For which among other Reasons he gives this that Gideon is said to have thrown down the Altar of Baal and cut down the Grove that was by it So we translate it VI Judg. 25 28. where in the Hebrew the last word is Alau which signifies upon it and not by it And so the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the Asherah which is said to be upon the Altar must not signifie a Grove but an Image and none more likely than that of Astarte See De Diis Syris Syntagm 2 Cap. 2. and 2 Kings XXIII 6 7. And burn their graven Images with Fire As he was commanded to destroy their molten Images XXXIII Numb 52. that so no sort of Image nor any Monument of their Worship might be left in the Country but all so entirely abolished that they might have no Incentive to Idolatry This was the work of the Supreme Governour as Grotius prudently observes For tho' out of private places it belonged to the Lord of the place or if he were negligent to the King to remove Idols yet none but the Supreme Power might remove them out of publick places or such Persons who were delegated thereby to that Office See L. de Imper. Sum. Potest circa Sacra Cap. VIII Sect. 3. Ver. 6. For thou art an holy People unto the LORD Verse 6 thy God This is an Argument frequently used particularly in the Book of Leviticus why they should cleave to God alone because he had separated them to himself by many peculiar Laws which no other People had but they XI Levit. 44 45. XIX 2. XX. 7 26. The LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all People that are upon the face of the Earth As he had distinguished them from all other People by peculiar Laws so by special Favours and singular Priviledges which no other Nation whatsoever enjoyed See XIX Exod. 5 6. Some interpret the Words special People to signify that they belong'd to none but him and he had no other People but they whom he had espoused to himself From whence it is that as the Israelites are called God's People so that Country is called his Land LXXXV Psal 1. for there he dwelt by his special Presence And the King of that Country is called God's King XVIII Psal 50. and he is said to sit on God's Throne and to be Nelech le Jehovah King for the LORD 2 Chron. IX 8. and the Kingdom is called the Kingdom of the LORD XIII 8. and therefore with this Argument Asa addresses himself to God in the next Chapter XIV 11. for Help in time of Distress because he was their God and would not he hoped let their Enemies prevail against himself And accordingly these Enemies are said to be destroyed before the LORD and before his Host v. 13. Jehoshaphat also exhorts the Judges in that Book to great Caution 2 Chron. XIX 6. because they judged not for Man but for the LORD And the Prophet exhorts in the following Chapter XX. 15. not to be afraid of a mighty Host which came against him because the Battle is not yours but Gods the Cause in which they fought being his more than their own Verse 7 Ver. 7. The LORD did not set his Love upon you nor choose you To be his special People as he calls them in the foregoing Verse Because ye were more in Number than any People for ye were the fewest of all People When God declared his Love first to Abraham and his Posterity he had no Child XII Gen. 1 2 3. XV. 1 2. And when he had his Family continued so small after there were XII Heirs of the Promise that in the space of Two Hundred Years they were but LXX Persons XLVI Gen. 27. Nor do we read of any great increase of them till after the Death of Joseph which was near Fourscore Years more I Exod. 7 8 c. So St. Steven observes VII Acts 17. When the time of the Promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham the People grew and multiplied in Aegypt Ver. 8. But because the LORD loved you Because it was his good Pleasure to single them out from all other People to receive special Tokens of his Favour to them Verse 8 And because he would keep the Oath which he had sworn unto your Fathers hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand c. Not for any desert of theirs but to make good his Promise confirmed with an Oath did he work their wonderful Deliverance out of Egypt XV Gen. 13 14. XXII 16 c. Ver. 9. Know therefore that the LORD thy God he Verse 9 is God He exhorts them therefore to preserve this Sense in their Mind that their God is the only God The faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments c. Who will not only faithfully keep his Word and make good his Promises but do abundantly more than he hath promised to those that cleave unto him alone and serve no other God For it appears by the Second Commandment that is peculiarly meant by loving him To a thousand Generations See XX Exod. 6. Ver. 10. And repay them that hate him Punish all Verse 10 Idolaters who are peculiarly called haters of God as I have often observed See XX Exod. 5. To their Face They themselves should live to see and feel the Punishment of their Idolatry So the Chaldee Paraphrases it Becajehon in their Life He will not be slack to him that hateth him he will repay him to his Face Though he do not punish him immediately yet he will not defer it long but be avenged of him before he die Therefore when he threatens to punish them to the Third and Fourth Generation the meaning is not that he will only punish their Posterity but them with their Posterity whom they shall see destroyed before their Face For the Fourth Generation as Maimonides observes is as much as the oldest Men commonly live to see Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt therefore keep the Commandments and the Statutes and the Judgments which I command thee this day to do them All the Laws of God see VI. 1. especially this great Commandment to have no other God but him Verse 12 Ver. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass if ye hearken to these Judgments and keep and do them that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the Covenant and Mercy which he sware unto thy Fathers As faithfully fulfil his Promises to them as he did to their Fathers Verse 13 Ver. 13. And he will love thee Continue his Love to them And bless thee and multiply thee
will deliver them but if they did repent he would shorten the days of their Banishment and immediately bring them to their own Land Thus the ancient Nitzacon set forth not long ago by Wagenseil p. 254. And R. Isaac since him and more lately often insists upon this in his Chissuk Emuna published by the same very learned Person Particularly Perck VII where he saith There can be no time prefixed for their Deliverance because it depends upon their Repentance whereby they may cut off the length of this Banishment provided they turn to God with their whole heart and a full repentance For which he alledges this place And he repeats it again Perck XXVII as the great comfort they have in this long Banishment that upon their perfect Repentance God will be merciful to them and overcome their Sins and perform this Promise Which I find still more lately mentioned in Manasseh ben Israel his Book de Termino Vitae L. III. Sect. III. where he saith Herein all the Prophets imitate Moses being wont after terrible Threatnings to conclude with some singular Consolation Which made R. Aquiba as the Talmudists report fall a laughing when all the wise Men who were with him wept and lamented at the sight of the ruins of Jerusalem and the Temple Which they wondering at he said After the Clouds the Sun will break out and after the end of the Evils which Moses threatned we may hope for good things for God is not more faithful in fulfilling the one than in performing the other But alas in all Ages hitherto there are no signs of Repentance much less of a perfect one but they have been strangely hardned in their unbelief and have bitterly reproached the LORD Jesus and his Religion Abarbinel himself though a Gentleman of a noble Family a well bred Person and of an excellent Understanding is extreamly guilty of this And since his time Solomon Virgae in the Age before us considering the astonishing Plagues that have befaln them and that never any People as he acknowledges conflicted with so many Miseries and for so many Ages as they have done enquires the Causes why the Divine Majesty should be so angry with them He reckons Seven among which he accounts the putting of Jesus of Nazareth to death as one yet not as a Crime but that which hath enraged Christians against them For he wickedly illustrates this by that Speech of Moses VIII Exod. 24. which he thus translates If we slay and sacrifice the abominable gods of the Egyptians in their sight will they not stone us Which is the highest Reproach he could vomit against our Saviour mingled with the most stupid folly in giving that as a Reason of the Divine Anger which at the most is only a Reason in their account of Mens indignation Schebet Jehuda Sect. LXIII The most cruel Usage which they have met with in all Christian Countries might thus exasperate and embitter their Spirits and I cannot excuse the violent hatred of Christians to them and their barbarous treatment of them though they therein fulfilled the Divine Threatnings as I have shewn upon the Twenty eighth Chapter which being ceased since the Reformation of Religion the Jews have not been so virulent against our blessed Saviour and it is to be hoped will be won to the Obedience of Faith by our Christian usage of them when those other stumbling Blocks which hinder their Conversion are removed out of the way Ver. 5. And the LORD thy God will bring thee into Verse 5 the Land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possess it Be again planted in it as they were at their return from the Captivity of Babylon especially after they had laid the foundation of the House of the LORD he blessed them exceedingly II Haggai 18 19. VIII Zachar. 7 8 9 10 11 12. And he will do thee good The Prophet Zachary hath given a full Explication of these words VIII 13 14 15. And the Prophet Jeremy before him XXXII 42 43 c. which was fulfilled in the building of the House of the LORD though great opposition was made to it and in the compassing Jerusalem with Walls and settling them in a state of liberty according to the Prophecy of Isaiah LII 1 2. And multiply thee above thy fathers The Hebrew words import that he would make them greater then their fathers Which he did by their vast increase after they returned from Babylon See VIII Zachar. 4 5. and before him I Hosea 10. Which is manifest from their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. spreading themselves in so many Colonies through all Asia both the great and the less with Egypt Greece Italy and Spain See Strabo Lib. XVI concerning Joppa By this means they were very much exalted as Zachariah prophecied after the Captivity XII 6. for as they had their liberty in their own Country God being a Wall of Fire to them while Jerusalem had no Walls so they spread themselves as I said and had their Synagogues in Babylon Arabia Syria and divers other Countries before-mentioned and a great many Proselytes also joyned themselves to them Yet one cannot well think that so magnificent a Prophecy as this is was intirely fulfilled after their return from Babylon when they were Tributaries to the Persians and afterwards fell under the power of the Graecians under whom they suffered very much especially in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes whose death did not conclude their Troubles as Hermannus Witsius hath shown at large in his Decaphylon Cap. X. N. 9 10 11 12 c. where he endeavours to prove that there was no moment of time after their return from Babylon wherein they could be said to be made greater than their fathers especially in the days of David and Solomon And therefore he concludes that this Promise is still to be compleatly fulfilled And thus R. Isaac in his Book before-named Chissuk Emuna argues Perck VI. that God did not bestow Benefits upon them equal to those which their Fathers enjoyed much less superiour while the second Temple stood but all that time was full of Straits and Calamities for which he alledges the Prophecy of Daniel IX 25. And therefore saith these words of Moses can by no means be thought to be fulfilled when the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned from Babylon and left a vast number behind them who would not come back with them but stay there to this day Ver. 6. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart By such singular Benefits bestowed upon them in a miraculous manner God designed to take away the stubborn refractoriness of their Spirits called Verse 6 hardness of heart XXIX 19. and to cut off all their wicked Inclinations and Dispositions to Idolatry and Superstition which had been their ruin which is called humbling their uncircumcised heart XXVI Levit. 41. But though God circumcised them yet their hearts might remain uncircumcised as appears from XXIX 3 4. And therefore he calls upon them
by an Oath being faithfully fulfilled he justly claimed their Fidelity to him upon that account Which is the reason it is so often mentioned VI. 10. VIII 1. IX 5. X. 11. XI 9 21. XIX 8. CHAP. XXXI Verse 1. AND Moses went and spake these words Verse 1 unto all Israel By this it seems plain to me that after Moses had renewed the Covenant with the People mentioned in the foregoing Chapter he dismissed them and retired to his own Tent. But not long after gave them a new Summons as he had done XXIX 2. and went again to take his leave of them The LXX indeed seem to take the first words as if the meaning was that he went on with his Discourse For thus they render them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He finished speaking all these words For which I see no warrant nor is it likely he could speak all that here follows at the same time Ver. 2. And he said unto them I am an hundred and Verse 2 twenty years old this day This shows these words were spoken not long before his death which was this year XXXIV 7. Manasseh ben Israel would have us from hence observe The singular care God hath of those who serve him with a perfect heart as Moses did the days of whose years saith he are exactly proportioned For so these words are expounded in Sota Cap. I. To day my years are compleated to day I was born and to day I shall die For he was born on the seventh day of the Month Adar and on the same day of the same Month he died Thus Enoch he adds lived just Three hundred sixty five years which are proportioned to the days of the Suns annual Course Lib. III. de Termino Vitae Sect. V. But as there is no great weight in this Observation if it were true so that which he saith of Moses is evidently false For he did not die this very day as appears from v. 14. where he saith The days approach that I must die therefore the time was not yet come And I can no more go out and in Discharge the Office I have long sustained of your Governor and Leader See XXVII Numb 17. not because he wanted vigor either of Body or Mind for that is contrary to XXXIV 7. of this Book but because God did not think fit to permit him to conduct them any further as the following words explain it Also the LORD hath said unto me thou shalt not go over this Jordan The Particle we translate also often signifies for and is so translated by us in divers places particularly in III Isa 7. XVII Jerem. 8. And being so taken here the sense of these words is plain and easie giving a reason why he could no longer take the charge of them as he had done because God had otherwise ordered having told him he should not bring them into Canaan which they were now ready to enter Ver. 3. The LORD thy God he shall go over before thee Conduct them by the Ark of his Presence III Josh 5 11. and see XXIII Exod. 23. and IX Deut. 3. Verse 3 And he shall destroy these Nations from before thee and thou shalt possess them XXXIV Exod. 11. And Joshua he shall go over before thee As their Captain and Leader when Moses had left them III. 28. Josh I. 2. As the LORD hath said When he was appointed the Successor of Moses XXVII Numb 18 21. Ver. 4. And the LORD shall do unto them as he did Verse 4 to Sihon and to Og Kings of the Amorites c. See XXIV Numb 24 34 35. Ver. 5. And the LORD shall give them up before thy Verse 5 face As he had promised before VII 23. where he saith The LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee In the Hebrew the words are before thy face See IX 3. That ye may do unto them according to all the Commandments which I have commanded you i. e. Utterly destroy them and their Altars and Images and Groves c. See VII 2 3 5 27. XII 1 2 c. Ver. 6. Be strong and of a good courage By Faith in Verse 6 God which their Fore-fathers wanting were discouraged and durst not go up and possess the Land when God commanded them I. 28 32. Fear not nor be afraid of them Be not affrighted much less dismayed at their Multitude their Stature and Strength when you go to fight with them The second word afraid only expresses an higher degree of the same Passion of Fear signifying being overcome with it For that is the import of the Hebrew word aratz which originally signifies to prevail over another This he had said to their Forefathers I. 21 29. and after repeated to them III. 2 22. VII 17 18 21. For the LORD thy God he it is that doth go with thee According to the assurance before given them XX. 4. He will not fail thee nor forsake thee This Promise which here is general in the next Verse but one is particularly made to Joshua and renewed to him by God himself after the death of Moses when they were about to enter into the Land of Canaan I Josh 5. And it is applied by the Apostle unto all faithful Christians to encourage their hope of being conducted through all Difficulties and Dangers unto their heavenly Inheritance XIII Hebr. 5. Verse 7 Ver. 7. And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him in the sight of all Israel That they might have the greater reverence to his Person and Authority and follow his Conduct as a Leader appointed by God Be strong and of a good courage He exhorts him to give a good Example to all the People these being the same words he had spoken to them v. 6. For thou must go with this people Be their Leader and Commander in chief by God's special order XXVII Numb 21. Vnto the Land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them VIII 1. X. 13. XXX 20. And thou shalt cause them to inherit it Put them into the possession of it III. 28. Verse 8 Ver. 8. And the LORD he it is that doth go before thee and will be with thee I Josh 9. He will not fail thee nor forsake thee See v. 6. Fear not neither be dismayed The same which he said to the People v. 6. but was most necessary to be pressed upon him who by his undaunted Resolution was to put Courage into them The word we translate dismayed is different in the Hebrew from that v. 6. which is be not afraid but the LXX and the Vulgar use the same word to express both which denote such a Consternation as disables a Man to do his duty which is the proper import of this word Ver. 9. And Moses wrote this Law Some understand Verse 9 by this Law only the Book of Deuteronomy for which I can see no reason the Scripture calling all that is contained in the Five Books of Moses by the name of the Law St. Paul
knew face to face Or as de Dieu thinks it should be translated who knew the LORD face to face This was one Preheminence of Moses above all the Prophets that he conversed more familiarly with God than any of them did See XII Numb 8. which place explains this for to know him face to face was to speak familiarly to God and to hear God speaking in like manner unto him And so the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words only instead of the LORD he saith Who knew the WORD of the LORD talking with him and delivering to him most excellent Laws for the good government of his People In which Laws he still lives they all remaining upon Record to this day when the Laws of all the famous Lawgivers whom the Gentiles honoured as gods are obliterated But it must be observed that in this wherein Moses excelled all the Prophets our blessed Saviour far transcended him For he was in the bosom of the Father I Joh. 18. and spake what he saw and heard c. III Joh. 11 32. Verse 11 Ver. 11. In all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do The Hierusalem Targum hath it Which the WORD of the LORD sent him to do in the Land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his Land See IV. 34. VI. 22. VII 19. In these signs and wonders Moses excelled all the Prophets doing more Miracles than all that succeeded him as Maimonides observes More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXV But our blessed Saviour excelled him in this as well as them doing more wonders than all the Prophets put together had done from the beginning of the World and far greater also than theirs XXI Joh. ult Ver. 12. And in all that mighty hand and in all that great terror which Moses showed As the former Verse relates to what he did in Egypt so this hath respect unto their passing through the Red Sea and to all that befel them in the Wilderness both at the giving of the Law and afterward till this time So the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words In all that strong hand and in all those great Visions which Moses managed And Onkelos to the same purpose In the sight of all Israel In the place forenamed Maimonides insists much upon this that Moses wrought all his Miracles publickly the whole Congregation being Witnesses of them And so our Saviour commonly wrought his till they sought to kill him in their Synagogues at their Publick Feasts when there was the greatest Concourse of the People of Israel So that in this he was a Prophet like unto Moses though infinitely superiour which some of the old Jews could not but discern as I observed upon Chap. XVIII when upon these words of Isaiah LII 13. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high they thus gloss in Tanchuma which is an ancient Book among them This is the King MESSIAS who shall be exalted above Abraham extolled above Moses and be very high above the Angels of the Ministry Upon which Conradus Pellicanus thus glosses and concludes his Commentary as I shall do mine with these words What is it to be above the Angels let the Jews explain we can understand nothing by it but the very WORD of God which was in the beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made and without him nothing was made viz. the LORD God of Hosts to whom in perfect Vnity God the Father Son and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen Thus ends the Pentateuch which as our great Primate of Ireland computes contains the History of Two thousand five hundred and fifty two years and an half from the beginning of the World to the death of Moses FINIS By reason of the Distance of the Author this Omission hapned which the Reader is desired to insert in its proper place At the end of Page 511. Line ult after three hundred years add these words But if any one think good thus to apply the words of this Verse unto Vespasian they must not take this for the literal meaning of them because it is evident that by the Stranger is to be understood those of other Nations who lived among them Particularly those Gentiles who were brought into their Country by the Assyrians instead of the Ten Tribes as some of the best of the Jewish Writers expound it What the Doctor also saith concerning their advancing Vespasian to the Imperial Dignity cannot be maintain'd ERRATA Page 21. Line 24. read their Cities Page 30. Line 14. r. Elate Page 39. Line 18. r. faith Page 43. Line 17. r. Ammonites Page 67. Line 15. r. Atargatis Page 85. antepen r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 86. Line 11. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 90. Line 24. r. even before Page 116. Line 2. r. Melech Page 145. Line 13. r. until the other Page 174. Line 5. for notion r. reason Page 183. Line 10. for Geder r. Seder Page 194. Line 18. r. Author of Sepher Ikkarim Page 220. Line 20. r. Acra-batta Page 242. Line 20. r. Arcadica * Page 264. Line 24. blot out but as the persons concerned in the Controversie brought it and read But whoever brought the Controversie before this Court when the Inferiour could not determine it they gave the sentence Page 269. Line 10. r. Cunaeus Lib. II. Page 290. Line 29. r. had her first Page 323. Line 15. r. Chillel Page 332. Line 20. r. was so setled Page 348. Line 2. r. slake Page 358. Line 24. r. both Sexes Page 365. Line 6. r. whom all that Page 372. Line 1. r. make thee Page 382. Line 31 32. r. paid to her father Page 408. Line 20. for inherent r. indigent Page 420. Line 28. r. Chasidah Page 428. Line 2. r. remember it Page 438. Line 16. r. of no consequence Page 439. Line 26. r. as a reason Page 442. Line 28. r. Dr. Pocock Page 488. Line 19. r. would furnish Page  Line 20. r. that should further Page 507. Line 9. r. strangeness Page 599. Line 16. r. retained the manner Page 612. Line 1. r. Olive Tree thrives Page 617. Line 27. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a field Page 641. Line 12. r. Mountain Page 650. Line 22. r. he speaks of himself Page 652. Line penult r. staid behind them Page 663. Line 20. r. Gazellas Page 665. Line 5. r. great numbers Page  Line 25. r. IV Gen. 10. Page 668. Line 17 18. r. He came the Heads of the People Page 685. Line 12. r. he having BOOKS Printed for Richard Chiswell BIshop Patrick's Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis The Second Edition 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Second Book of Moses called Exodus 4 to 1697. His Commentary on the Third Book of Moses called Leviticus 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Fourth Book of Moses called Numbers 4 to 1699. His Commentary on the Fifth Book of Moses called Deuteronomy 4 to 1700. His Hearts Ease or a Remedy against all Troubles A Consolatory Discourse directed to those who have lost their Friends and dear Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The Seventh Edition 120. 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Archbishop of Canterbury In which there is a particular Relation of many remarkable Passages in the Reigns of Henry the Fifth and Sixth Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck LLD. Chancellor of the Dioscess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English And a Table of Contents annexed Archbishop Tollotson of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion Being the First Volume Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Chaplain to his Grace His Second Volume Containg Sixteen Sermons on several Occasions His Third Volume Containing Sixteen Sermons on several Subjects His Fourth Volume Containing several Discourses on Natural and Instituted Religion The Nature and Necessity of Regeneration the Danger of all known Sin c. His Fifth Volume Proving Jesus to be the Messiah the Son of God The Danger of Apostacy from Christianity c. His Sixth Volume Being the First part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1699. His Seventh Volume Being the Second or Remaining Part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1700. A Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts By George Tullie Sub-Dean of York The Third Edition Corrected 120. 1699. Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By William Wake D.D. The Sixth Edition 120. Private Devotions digested into Six Litanies with Directions and Prayers By Hen. Valentine The Bishop of Sarum's Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England in Folio 1700. The Life of John Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury in the Times of Queen Elizabeth and King James the First Written by Sir George Paul Comptroller of his Graces Houshold To which is added a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for Pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin LLD. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Archbishop Whitgift 80. 1699.