of thy strangers that are in thy Land within thy gates No difference was to be made between a Natural Jew and a Proselyte of the Gate according to the general Law XIX Levit 34. For such oppression might tempt them to do very wicked things for instance expose or kill their Children when they were not able to maintain them after the manner of the Heathen who were frequently guilty of this and thought it no Crime when their Poverty constrained them to it See Petrus Petitus Lib. III. Miscell Observ Cap. XVII where he produces many proofs of it both out of Greek and Roman Authors Verse 15 Ver. 15. At his day thou shalt give him his hire Which was due to him either by Contract or by natural Equity and whether he had agreed to serve him for a Day or a Month or a Year At the time when his Wages was due it was to be punctually paid unless he were willing to have it remain in his hands For this was not an Act of Mercy but of Justice to pay an Hireling his Wages Neither shall the Sun go down upon it for he is poor This shows he speaks particularly of one that served for a days Wages and could not forbear the payment of it because he was so poor as not to be able to provide himself and family Necessaries without it And setteth his heart upon it Eagerly expects it as the Support of his Life So the Vulgar translates it with it he supports his Soul that is his Life Lest he cry unto the LORD Make grievous Complaints to him who made both Rich and Poor And it be sin unto thee God will hear his Cry and severely punish thee See V James 4. Ver. 16. The father shall not be put to death for the Verse 16 children neither shall the children be put to death for the father every man shall be put to death for his own sin This is a Rule of Common Reason which was anciently expressed in this vulgar saying Noxa Caput sequitur And is excellently expressed by Dion Chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every Man be the Author of his own Misfortune Which Amaziah King of Judah thought extended to the Children of Traitors unto whom he allowed the benefit of this Law as we read in so many words 2 Kings XIV 6. 2 Chron. XXV 4. And not only Philo but Dionys Hallicarnassaeus condemns the Custom of those Nations who put to death the Children of Tyrants or Traitors See Grotius Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. XXI Sect. XIII XIV where he observes that God indeed threatens to visit the sins of the Fathers upon the Children but in this Case Jure dominij non poenae utitur he uses the Right of Dominion not of Punishment Verse 17 Ver. 17. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the fatherless Nor of the Widow who is joyned with them v. 19. For such Persons commonly had none to stand by them and plead their Cause and therefore the Judges were to take the greater Care to see them have Justice done XXII Exod. 21. XXIII 9. Nor take the widows raiment to pledge Which is to be understood of one that is poor as appears from v. 12. See XXII Exod. 21 26 27. Verse 18 Ver. 18. But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond-man in Egypt and the LORD redeemed thee thence therefore I command thee to do this thing The remembrance of their own miserable Condition in Egypt till God took pity upon them was to work Compassion in them towards others in the like forlorn Estate otherwise they did not remember them as they ought This is often urged as a Reason for showing Mercy to Strangers and such like helpless Persons particularly in XIX Levit. 33 34. and in this Book X. 19 20. XV. 15. Ver. 19. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field and hast forgot a sheaf in the field thou shalt not go back again to fetch it There are many merciful Laws about the Poor See XIX Levit. 9 10. XXIII 22. They are all put together by Mr. Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. VI. where the Exposition the Talmudists give of this Law seems to me to be so strict that it could do little good For they say a Sheaf was not taken to be forgotten unless not only the Owner of the Field but all the Labourers forgot it and if none of them remembred it yet if any Man that passed by that way came and gave them notice of it it was not lookt upon as left by forgetfulness Yet they are so kind as to extend this Law not only to Sheaves of Corn left in the Field but to Bunches of Grapes and other Fruit which was left behind in their Vineyards or Orchards And it seems no unreasonable Interpretation of this Law that if an Owner of a Field or his Workmen called to mind before they were gone quite out of the Field that a Sheaf was left in such a place they might go back and fetch it but not if they did not remember it till they came into the City They that would see more Cases about this matter may look into Maimonides de Donis Pauperum translated by Dr. H. Prideaux Cap. V. and his very learned Annotations upon it Josephus seems to me to have interpreted this Law most charitably Lib. IV. Archaeolog Cap. VIII where he saith they were not only not to go back to fetch what they had forgot but to leave on purpose Corn and Grapes and Olives c. for the benefit of the Poor It shall be for the stranger for the fatherless and for the Widow Who are commonly put together as proper Objects of Charity and are as Mr. Selden speaks a kind of Paraphrase upon the word Poor That the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand Make their Land still very fruitful which was a reward of their Charity Ver. 20. When thou beatest thine Olive-tree As Verse 20 they were wont to do in those Countries with Sticks to bring down the Olives Thou shalt not go over the boughs again Not search the Boughs after they are beaten whether any be left It shall be for the stranger c. Who might go into the Olive-yards after the Owner had carried out his Fruit and gather what they found still remaining on the Trees Verse 21 Ver. 21. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy Vineyard thou shalt not glean it afterwards By making a new gathering after the first But if the poor themselves left any behind after the usual time allowed for the gathering such Fruits or Corn as were left for them it was lawful for the Owner to take it himself and he was not bound either to pay the Poor the price of it or to leave it for the Beasts and the Birds For the command is say the Jewish Doctors who nicely scan these things that it shall be for the Poor and
to have married her But all this is judged by the famous Abarbinel upon 2 Sam. XIII to be very absurd and neither believes that David would have committed such a Fact as to lie with a Woman in her Gentilism nor if he had that this Child would have been lookt upon as a Gentile since he afterward married her Mother And therefore he takes those words of Tamar v. 13. Speak to the King and he will not withhold me from thee to be a meer put off as we speak to get rid of his Company which Amnon understood very well who knowing he could not have her to Wife proceeded to force her Ver. 14. And it shall be if thou have no delight in Verse 14 her then thou shalt let her go whither she will If at the Months end or before his Mind was changed and he did not like to take her for his Wife then he might neither meddle with her any more as the Hebrew Doctors understand it nor keep her any longer as a Slave nor sell her or make merchandise of her as the Text here expresly orders but give her liberty to go whither she her self thought good This he lost say the Jews by his short pleasure he took at first For other Captives whom a Man had made himself Master of by the Law of War he might imploy in his Work as Slaves or make Money of them but one whom he had lain with he was either to marry or set her a liberty This they ground upon the last words of this Verse which I shall show may have another interpretation And therefore I shall not insist upon their sense which depends upon the same words who think Moses speaks of his not likeing her after she was become his Wife her Humour Manners and Conversation being disagreeable to him in which case he was to give her a Bill of Divorce as he might do another Wife but not keep her as a Slave Because thou hast humbled her It must be acknowledged that this is an usual Phrase for having had Carnal Knowledge of a Woman as the Scripture modestly elsewhere speaks in the like case It signifies so in the very next Chapter of this Book XXII Deut. 29. XIX Judg. 24. XX. 2. and many other places where it is used for Violence offered to a Woman which was the greatest Affliction to her as the Hebrew word properly signifies From which I see no reason why we should depart in this place for it was sufficient Affliction and Humiliation to a Captive Woman as Carpsovius observes in his Annotations upon Schickard's Book which I have so often named that after she had been brought into a Souldiers House and kept there a Month having her Head shaved Garments changed c. in hope of Marriage she was rejected at last when it should have been consummated And thus Abarbinel here understands the word humbled not of his lying with her but of all the forementioned Conditions which were imposed upon her as a preparation for his Bed and of her disappointment after she had submitted to be baptized And indeed the Hebrew word denotes any sort of Affliction See I Exod. 11. LXXXVIII Psal 8. LXXXIX 23. XC 15. XCIV 5 c. Verse 15 Ver. 15. If a Man have two Wives one beloved and another hated That is less loved as the word hated sometimes signifies XXIX Gen. 31. VI Matth. 24. R. Solomon thinks that this Case follows the other because it might so happen that if a Man suffered himself to be carried with too violent a passion towards such a Woman as is before-mentioned it might turn into hatred when he found her not to be agreeable to him And they have born him Children both the beloved and the hated Towards which it was likely he would be affected very differently as he was to his Wives And if the first-born Son be hers that was hated As it fell out in the Case of Leah and Rachel Ver. 16. Then it shall be when he makes his Sons to Verse 16 inherit that which he hath that he may not make the Son of the beloved first-born c. He speaks of Sons for Daughters were not to have a double Portion And he speaks of Sons as the Jews will have it born before the death of their Father to whom he divided his Inheritance For a posthumous Son had not a double Portion as the Gemara upon Bathra saith See Selden de Successionibus Cap. VII p. 29. Ver. 17. But he shall acknowledge the Son of the hated Verse 17 for the first-born Which had his first love and was to enjoy the effects of it By giving him a double portion of all that he hath Of all that he was in possession of when he died but not of that which was his in Reversion after his death as Mr. Selden shows the Opinion of the Jewish Lawyers is Lib. de Success Cap. VI. p. 24. For he is the beginning of his strength See XLIX Gen. 1. The right of the first-born is his By a very ancient Custom antecedent to the Law which made the first-born the Head of the Family and gave him as much more as any of his Brethren of the Estate belonging to it that he might be able to maintain and support the Dignity of it XXV Gen. 31. But if there was no Son and the Inheritance was to be divided among Daughters the eldest Daughter had not a double share of the Estate as Mr. Selden shows in the same Book Cap. VIII Verse 18 Ver. 18. If a Man have a stubborn and rebellious Son By a stubborn Son the Jews understand one that will not do as he is bidden and by a rebellious one that doth what he is forbidden And they imagine this Law is annexed to the foregoing about the marriage of a Souldier to a Captive Woman because the Issue of such Marriages commonly proved refractory or at least gave their Parents great trouble So Schickard observes out of Tanchuma And they confirm it by an Example out of Scripture viz. the two Children of David Absolom and Tamar who were both born of a Captive Woman made a Proselyte the former of which conspired the Death of his Father and the other being ravished by Amnon was the occasion of the Death of some of her Brethren Mischpat Hammelech Cap. V. Theorem XVII Which will not obey the voice of his Father or the voice of his Mother Behaved himself not only undutifully but crosly to them and with such contempt of their Authority as argued he had not only lost all filial Affection and Reverence to them but would if he could undo them And that when they have chastned him will not hearken unto them Is never the better for Admonitions Reprehensions and Corrections which they were bound to give him Verse 19 Ver. 19. Then shall his Father and his Mother lay hold of him It is absurd to say as the Hebrew Doctors do in their qualifications of this Law that his Parents were with
their own hands to apprehend him and bring him before the Court though it seems reasonable enough that both Father and Mother should agree in the Complaint against him and desire Officers might be sent to lay hold of him In which one cannot well suppose that they would consent to have such a Punishment as follows inflicted upon him unless he were intolerable And bring him unto the Elders of his City Who were to examine the proofs and accordingly to pass Sentence upon him Concerning these Elders see v. 3 4. And unto the gate of his place Where the Court of Judgment was wont to sit See XVI 18. The Paternal Power among the ancient Romans was so great that they might put their Children to death as they did their Slaves without any Process before a Magistrate And this some have taken to be a Natural Right and imagined God would not have commanded Abraham to kill his Son but that it was a part of his inherent Power However this be they were not thought fit to be long intrusted with it for God here orders by Moses that it should be committed to the publick Judges as the most disinterested Persons Ver. 20. And they shall say unto the Elders of his City Verse 20 This seems to intimate the Authority of Parents was still so preserved that their Testimony alone was sufficient to convict a rebellious Son without any further proof The Hebrew Doctors indeed are of another mind as I shall show in the Explication of what follows This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice This is to be understood say they of a Son that was no less then Thirteen years old and a day and so might be presumed to know his Duty and to be capable of being governed by Counsel and good Advice And this is reasonable enough But what they say concerning the time when he became his own Man is monstrously absurd See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. XIII p. 559 560. What they say of a Daughter not to be comprehended under this Law may be admitted because she was not capable to do so much Mischief in a Family as a rebellious Son He is a glutton and a drunkard These Sins are no where made capital by the Law of Moses but when they were accompanied with rebellious Disobedience to Parents Who were to bring Witnesses as the Hebrew Doctors say that this Son had stoln some of their Goods and sold them that he might spend the Money in these Vices under which others are comprehended which usually attend them And that he had done this after he had been admonished and chastised so that he was not to be punished as this Law at last prescribes till he was grown incorrigible For they say the Court was first to order him to be whipt and not to proceed further till upon a new Complaint it was proved that he had run into the same riotous Courses since that punishment Then upon this second Testimony as they call it the Court gave Sentence against him that he should be stoned to death unless the Parents before the Sentence was pronounced said they gave him their Pardon There are a great many little Niceties about the quantity of Meat and Wine that he eat and drank and other Matters with which I do not think fit to trouble the Reader Verse 21 Ver. 21. And all the Men of his City shall stone him with stones that he die This is such a severe Sentence that it inclines me to think the Parents lookt upon such a Son as so debaucht that he would not only spend all their Estate if he had it but was inclined to kill them that he might get it into his own hands For the Sentence of Death is denounced elsewhere against one that struck his Father or Mother XXI Exod. 15. or that cursed them v. 17. It is not said indeed he should be stoned but put to death which they interpret of strangling this punishment of stoning being appointed for Idolaters and Blasphemers of God Next to whom Parents are to be reverenced being in God's place with respect to their Children See upon the fifth Commandment And therefore other Nations were very severe in their punishment of such Children as are here described and particularly the Romans after the power was taken from Parents to sell them or put them to death and the Censure of them committed to the Magistrates See Hen. Stephen in his Fontes Rivi Juris Civilis p. 18. And among the Athenians Lysias saith in his Oration against Agoratus he that beats his Parents or did not maintain them and provide an habitation for them when they were in want 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deserved to be put to death The Law indeed did not inflict that punishment but only said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be infamous That is as they expound it he might not come into the Publick Assemblies nor enter into their Temples nor wear a Crown in their Publick Festivals and if any such Persons presumed so to do they were brought before the Magistrates who set a Fine upon their Heads and committed them to Prison till they paid it See Sam. Petitus in his Commentary upon the Attick Laws Lib. II. Tit. IV. p. 163. No wonder therefore Moses ordained this punishment when a Son was come to such a degree of profligate wickedness that he indeavoured to undo his Parents Which some States have thought fit to follow in these latter Ages For David Chytraeus saith he himself saw an Example of this Severity at Zurich in the year One thousand five hundred and fifty where a disobedient Son was beheaded who had cursed his Mother and beaten her So shalt thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear See concerning this before upon XIX 20. Verse 22 Ver. 22. If a man have committed a sin worthy of death and he be put to death There were several sorts of Capital Punishments viz. Strangling Burning Cutting off by the Sword and Stoning Now the Hebrew Doctors limit this unto such Offenders as were stoned of which Punishment he speaks in the foregoing Verse But there being Eighteen sorts of Offenders who were to be Sentenced to this Death they put a further limitation upon these words their Tradition being as they tell us the Sin worthy of death or Stoning is only Idolatry or Blasphemy So we read in the Sanhedrim Cap. VI. Sect. IV. All that were stoned were also hanged according to the opinion of R. Eliezer but the wise Men say none were hanged but the Idolater and Blasphemer And they add there that only Men not Women were thus used for which I can see no reason but their sticking to the meer Letter of these words as if the word Man did not comprehend both senses But if we examine the Scripture we shall find this not to be true that no Men were hanged but they that were stoned for the King of Ai
Country And another Law punished this Ingratitude with Death See J. Meursius in his Themis Attica Lib. I. Cap. 2 3. where he shews That by Parents they understood not only Father and Mother but Grand-father and Grand-mother nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Great Grand-mother and Great Grand-father if they were yet alive as Isaeus tells us Orat. VII And the Ground of all these Laws was a Sence they had as Aeschines tells us That Men ought to honour their Parents as they did the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Sam. Petitus in Leges Atticas Lib. III. Tit. 3. Whence Hierocles calls Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Gods And Philo upon the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Visible Gods who imitate him that is unbegotten by giving Life And accordingly next to the Precepts concerning the Worship of God Moses here places immediately the Duty owing unto Parents That thy Days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee c. These last Words are added to what God spake XX Exod. 12. as an Explication of the foregoing Whereby they are excited to Obedience by the Promise not only of a long Life but of an happy I say Obedience for that 's included in Honour as the Apostle explains it III Coloss 20. Children obey your Parents in all things Where God that is hath not commanded the contrary and where it is not inconsistent with the Publick Good which is alway to be preferred ever before the Duty that is owing to Natural Parents Insomuch that common Reason taught the Heathen that for the Good of the Society the Son is to lay aside the Reverence he should pay to his Father and the Father to pay it unto the Son that is when he is in Publick Office Thus the famous Fabius Cunctator commended his Son for making him light off from his Horse when he met him in his Consulship as Plutarch tells us And see A. Gellius L. XI Noct. Attic. Cap. I. Lib. XIII Cap. ult Lib. XIV in the beginning Ver. 17. Thou shalt not kill If a Man killed another involuntarily he was banished by the Laws of Athens from his Country for a Year But if he kill'd Verse 17 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Demosthenes speaks out of forethought and designedly he was put to Death See Sam. Petitus Lib. VII in Leges Atticas Tit. 1. p. 508 512. Yea so detestable was this Sin accounted that even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liveless Things such as Wood or Stone or Iron wherewith a Man was killed Draco ordered to be thrown out of their Coasts Ib. p. 523. Ver. 18. Thou shalt not commit Adultery This Verse 18 Crime was also punished with Death by the Laws of Draco Solon indeed left it to the Liberty of the Husband who caught another Man in Bed with his Wife either to kill him if he pleased or to let him redeem his Life with a Sum of Money But if after this he lived with his Wife he was infamous as Demosthenes tells us who saith she might not come publickly into their Temples If she did any Man might treat her as he pleased only not kill her So that she was so odious as to be thrown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both out of the House of her Husband and out of Holy Places of the City Nor might she go abroad with any Ornaments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Law of Solon If she did any Body might take them away from her and tear her Clothes in pieces and beat her only not maim her in any part of her Body See the same Petitus Lib. VI. Tit. 4. Ver. 19. Neither shalt thou steal The Laws of Verse 19 Draco punished all Theft with Death Which Solon thought too severe and therefore chang'd that Punishment into making Satisfaction by restoring double yet still making it Death if any Man stole above such a Value or took any thing out of the Publick Baths and such-like places tho' of never so little Value See in the same Author Lib. VII Tit. 5. Verse 20 Ver. 20. Neither shalt thou bear false Witness against thy Neighbour There was an Action at Athens lay both against false Witnesses and him that produced them Who had a Fine set upon them and were made infamous And if they were found thrice in the same Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both they themselves and all their Posterity were made infamous As Andocides speaks See Ib. page 559. Verse 21 Ver. 21. Neither shalt thou desire thy Neighbour's Wife neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbour's House c. It is observed by some that an exact Order is observed in the delivery of these Precepts For first he places such Offences as are consummate and then those that are but begun and not perfected And in the former he proceeds from those that are most heinous unto those that are less grievous For those Offences are the greatest which disturb the Publick Order and consequently do mischief unto a great many Such are those that are committed against Governors and Rulers who are comprehended under the Name of Parents by whose Authority Humane Society is preserved And then among those which are against particular Persons those are the greatest which touch a Man's Life Next those that wrong his Family the Foundation of which is Matrimony Then those that wrong him in his Goods either directly by Stealth or more craftily by bearing False-witness Then in the last place those Sins are mentioned which are not consummate being gone no further than desire which in Exodus XX. 17. are expressed by one and the same word but here by two which we translate desire and covet Between which I know no difference unless they express higher and lower degrees of the same Sin The contrary to which is contentedness with our Portion and thankfulness to God for it which will not let us covet any thing belonging to another Man with his loss and damage Ver. 22. These Words the LORD spake unto all the Verse 22 Assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the Fire of the Clouds and of the thick Darkness XIX Exod. 16. XX. 18. This confutes the foolish Fancy of the Jewish Doctors that the People heard only the first Words of God I am the LORD thy c. thou shalt have no other Gods but me i. e. They heard him declare his Existence and his Unity but all the rest were reported to them by Moses Nothing can be more contrary to what he here saith that all these Words that is the Ten Words before mentioned were spoken to their whole Assembly See More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIII With a great Voice That is so loud that it might be heard by the whole Camp And he added no more All the rest of the Commandments which follow in the XXI XXII and XXIII of Exodus were delivered to Moses alone and by him to the People according to their own desire XX Exod. 19. XXI 1.
was hanged VIII Josh 29. and five Kings more X. 26. and they were not hanged because they were Blasphemers or Idolaters for then all the rest of the Canaanites should have been so treated but because they were such Enemies of God as had rebelliously withstood the gracious Summons of Surrender And there are other Examples also which confute this as the two Traitors that murdered Isbosheth 2 Sam. IV. 12. and the five Sons of Saul 2 Sam. XXI 9. It is more probable therefore that all those whom the Judges thought to be such great Offenders that it was fit to make them very publick Examples were hanged up after they had suffered the punishment of Death to which they were sentenced This seems to be denoted in the word Chatta which signifies sometimes a very great Crime as appears from XII Hosea 8. where he speaks of iniquity which is sin Not as if all iniquity were not sin but some acts of iniquity were not so heinous as to be called by that name And thou hang him After he had been put to death as appears by the foregoing words which speak of his being put to death before this Suspension Which shows that this Punishment was not the same with the Roman Crucifixion as Baronius Sigonius Lipsius and others have mistaken for they hanged Men alive upon the Gibbet whereby they expired before they were taken down But this was only hanging up their Bodies after they were dead and exposing them to open shame for a time On a Tree On a piece of Timber saith the Sanhedrim struck into the Ground out of which came a Beam whereunto his Hands were tied as they tell us in the place before-mentioned And so Schickard in his Mischpat Hammelech Cap. IV. Theor XIV So that his Body hung in such a posture as crucified Men did Ver. 23. His body shall not remain all night upon the Tree but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day This is excellently interpreted by Josephus Lib. IV. Archaeol Verse 23 Cap. VIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having remained the whole day a Spectacle unto all he was to be buried at night for as soon as the Sun went down the Body also was taken down Examples of which we have in the Book of Joshua VIII 29. X. 26 27. In which he is far more sincere then their Rabbins who say the Law was satisfied if they hanged up the Body just before the setting of the Sun and presently after took it down again Which Exposition seems to have been contrived in favour of their Country-men for only Israelites they confess were to be thus exposed not Proselytes of the Gate as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Jure Nat. Gent. c. Cap. XII For he that is hanged is accursed of God The Jews interpret this Clause as if the meaning were he was hanged because he blasphemed God So Onkelos himself and the Samaritan Versions with those of the Spanish and Mauritanian Jews as Selden observes L. II. de Synedr Cap. XIII N. IV. And Hottinger in his Smegma Orientale p. 96 97. But though this be a common Opinion among the Hebrew Doctors yet the LXX have taken the sense right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cursed of God is every one that is hanged on a Tree And so S. Paul III Galat. with very little difference For they observed what those Doctors did not that Moses doth not here give a reason why the Man was hanged up but why he was to be taken down from the Gallows Now what Consequence is there in this Let him be taken down and buried because he cursed God Every one sees that though the word cursed should be taken in an active sense this is not a right interpretation of these words For though it had been good sense to have said Let him be hanged because he cursed God yet not let him be taken down for that reason Now such Persons are said here to be accursed of God not because they were hanged up but because of their Sin which deserved they should be thus exposed So S. Hierom upon III Galatians Non ideo maledictus quia pendet sed ideo pendet quia maledictus He was not accursed because he was hanged but he was therefore hanged because he was accursed Hanging up being a Token that the Man had committed a horrid Crime whereby he had incurred the high displeasure of Almighty God So that every one who saw him hang on that fashion were to think with themselves This Man was under the Curse of God because of his Sin And unless he had undergone this Curse he could not have been buried and put into the Condition of other Men. But when he had undergone it for his Sin then it had been a sin in the People not to have taken him down or prolonged his Suspension longer than God imposed this Curse upon him And the Land had been defiled if after this Suffering which God had appointed they had not buried him To this purpose Abarbinel who refutes several other accounts of this matter particularly that of Sol. Jarchi who thinks he was not to hang longer than till the Evening because it would have been a dishonour to the Soveraign of the World after whose Image Man was made This is followed by many and even by Grotius himself who gives no other reason of it in his Book de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. II. Cap. XIX Sect. IV. But this is a reason as Abarbinel notes why he should not have been hanged up at all It may be also usefully noted further that they say in the Tract called Sanhedrim that not only the Malefactor but all the Instruments of Punishment were to be buried at the going down of the Sun Even the Tree it self upon which he was hanged was to be buried that no memory of so foul a thing might be left in the World nor any might say Behold this was the Tree upon which such a one was hang'd That the Land be not defiled which the LORD thy God giveth thee By the stench of the Body after it putrified as the same Abarbinel expounds it who observes that the dead Body of no Creature corrupts and stinks sooner than that of a Man which is exceeding offensive to the living For which cause saith he the Book Siphre determines not only that all Malefactors should be buried as soon as the Law here orders that they might not imitate the manners of the Egyptians and Philistims and such like People who let Bodies rot in the Air after they were hanged up but that every Man should bury his dead the same day they died or be deemed to have transgressed a Negative Precept Which may pass for a very good natural reason of it but there is something more in it respecting a Legal Pollution under which their whole Country lay as long as an accursed thing hung openly among them just as all that entred into the Tent where a dead Body lay and all that
of Israel By which the Israelites should have learnt that as Moses left them short of the promised Land and could not bring them into the possession of it so his Law did not contain a perfect Revelation of God's Will but they were to expect something beyond it CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND this is the blessing As Jacob blessed his Children at his departure out of the World when God had begun to fulfil the promise to Abraham of giving him a numerous Offspring so Moses having seen them vastly increased and ready to enter upon the Land promised to them XV Gen. 18 c. takes his farewel of them with a Blessing pronounced upon the People in general and upon each Tribe in particular Which is in part prophetical as the Blessing of Jacob was and delivered in the prophetick stile which hath some difficulty and obscurity in it on purpose perhaps to excite their diligent study to enquire into the meaning See XLIX Gen. 1 3. Wherewith Moses the Man of God Or the Prophet of the LORD as Onkelos translates it For Prophets are called Men of God in the holy Books 1 Sam. IX 6 7 8. 1 Kings XIII 1. 1 Tim. VI. 11. 2 Tim. III. 17. 2 Pet. I. 21. because in the exercise of their Sacred Function they did not deliver their own sense nor the sense of other Men but the Mind and Will of God who spake by them Blessed the Children of Israel before his death Before he went up into Mount Abarim to die XXXII 49. he prayed God to bless them and also foretold their future State and Condition Such had been the ancient Custom among the holy Patriarchs as we learn from the example of Jacob to admonish their Posterity upon their dying Beds of such things as they thought most imported them For then they could not but be thought to speak most sincerely and their words were apt to be entertained with greater respect and preserved in Mind with greater Care Moses therefore their Deliverer Leader and Law-giver concludes his Life in the same manner and it 's very likely deposited these dying words with them in writing Ver. 2. And he said the LORD came from Sinai And in the first place he endeavours to make them sensible of what God had done already for them and Verse 2 the chief of all his Benefits being the Revelation of his Mind and Will to them he commemorates that as a common Blessing to them all before he begins to speak in particular to each Tribe For that is meant by the LORD came from Sinai where he appeared in a most glorious manner and from thence promulgated his Law with the greatest Solemnity Exod. XX. And thus the Gentiles took an unwonted brightness in any place to be a token of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appearance or Advent of some of their gods in that place As also a great commotion in any place they took for another token of it See the illustrious Spanhemius in his Annotations upon Callimachus his Hymn to Apollo v. 7. which they seem to have learnt from this appearance of God on Mount Sinai and the quaking of that Mountain when God appeared on it And rose up from Seir unto them and shone forth from Mount Paran There is no difficulty in the foregoing words it being evident that God came down on Mount Sinai and thence delivered his Commands to the Israelites and espoused them for his People But how he rose up from Seir unto them the Country of Edom and shone from Paran the Country of Ishmael is not so easie to understand The Jews indeed who are wont to solve all Difficulties by inventing what they please are not troubled to give an account of these words Which signifie they fancy that the Divine Glory first resided upon Mount Seir where God propounded his Law to the Children of Esau but they would not have it because they found these words in it Thou shalt not kill He went therefore to Paran and offered it to the Children of Ishmael but they refused it also because they found these words in it Thou shalt not Steal So he came to Sinai and gave it to the Israelites who said All the words which the LORD hath said will we do XXIV Exod. 3. Thus the Hierusalem Targum and Pirke Elieser and some other more ancient Authors with this addition That he offered the Law to all the Nations of the World but they rejected it because it is written Thou shalt have none other gods but me But this looks so like a Fable that some of themselves are ashamed of it and have given a better sense of the words though I cannot say the true one For thus Abraham Peritsol expounds them The true Law came out of Sinai to the Israelites by which the Edomites were so inlightned that God might be said to rise up to them also and afterward the Celestial Influence shone out of this Law to the Ishmaelites who were the better for it Thus Const L'Empereur reports his sense in his Annotations upon Bava kama Cap. IV. Sect. III. where he endeavours to make out a plainer sense of these words in this manner Though the Mountain of Paran was nigher to Sinai than Seir was and first occurred to those that went out of Egypt yet there was great reason to mention Seir before it because Moses had respect to the order of their Journeys and not to the Site of the Places And their Journeys were so directed by Divine Providence that fetching a long Circuit forward and backward they should come to Canaan In all which turnings and windings they were marvellously preserved and provided for by the same good Providence which conducted them Of this Moses here makes a thankful Commemoration how he led them from Mount Sinai to the Borders of the Land of Canaan towards Mount Seir as is expresly noted by Moses compare I Deut. 19. with II. 1. and XX Numb 14. From whence by reason of their Infidelity they were led back again towards the Red Sea and incamped in the extremity of the Wilderness XXXIII Numb 35. where Ptolemy places Paran though there was another part of it called Paran near Kadesh XIII Numb 3 27. And from thence they were led back again in a long Circuit to the East part of the Land of Canaan This may be one reason why these two places are mentioned together with Sinai that God who there appeared to them was with them all the time they wandred about in the Wilderness till he brought them to the Borders of Canaan where they now were And another may be because in Mount Seir the brazen Serpent was erected by God's order for the Cure of such as were bitten by Serpents when they looked on it which was an illustrious Type of our blessed Saviour and the Salvation wrought by him XX Numb 4 9. And in the Desert to which Paran gave the name because it overlookt the whole though very large they received the
that they were the chief Support of the Kingdom of Israel Which began in Jeroboam who was King of ten Tribes after whom there followed a long Race of Kings till the Captivity There may be also some respect in these words unto Joshua the first Governour of all the People who was of the Tribe of Ephraim as of Manasseh were Jair Jephthah and Gideon who were famous Men among the Judges It is remarkable also here that Joseph is compared to the Firstling of a Bullock because Reuben being set aside for his Incest Joseph had the Right of Primogeniture in part translated unto him 1 Chron. V. 1 2. and in consequence of it had a double Portion in the Land of Canaan It is to be noted likewise that he is said to be like unto the Firstling of his Bullock because there were not more goodly Bullocks any where than in Bashan IV Amos 1. which fell to the share of some of the Children of Manasseh XVII Josh 5. There have been some great Men who from this place and other Conjectures have fancied that Joseph was worshipped in Egypt after his Death under the form of an Ox by the name of Serapis Which Bochartus hath confuted in the Book forenamed Cap. XXXIV And his horns are like the horns of an Vnicorn This is a further description of the power and strength of the House of Joseph for an Horn is every where an Emblem of mighty Power and Force and an Vnicorn as we translate the word Reem is a very strong as well as stately Creature But Bochartus hath alledged a great many things to prove that Reem is a sort of wild Goat in Arabia as big as a Deer and of the same colour which they now call Gazellus P. I. Hierozoicon Lib. III. Cap. XXVII There were some of them sent lately to the French King by the Divan of Tripoli which had black Horns in shape like those of a Goat only they were round and pointed But the tallness strength and swiftness of this Creature together with its fierce untameable Nature hath made Ludolphus who at first was of Bochart's opinion to conclude upon second thoughts that Reem in Scripture signifies the Rhinoceros as the Vulgar Latin here translates the word See Lib. I. Commentar in Histor Aethiop Cap. X. N. 74. Which seems not so well to agree with these words of Moses which suppose the Creature here spoken of to have two Horns he using the Plural Number with which the two Tribes descended from Joseph are very fitly compared And so David mentions the Horns of the Reem XXII Psal 22. But whatsoever Creature it was Princes and great Men were wont to be compared to it as appears from XXXIV Isa 7. where the Grandees as we now speak of Edom are called Vnicorns as in the following words they are compared to Bullocks and Bulls With them he shall push the people together Throw down all that oppose him particularly the Canaanites For these saith the Hierusalem Targum are the great Men of the Amorites whom Joshua the Son of Nun slew who was of the Tribe of Ephraim and the Captains which Gideon the Son of Joash slew who was of the Tribe of Manasseh To the ends of the Earth Of the Land of Canaan And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh These things shall be performed by the numerous Armies of Ephraim and Manasseh Or these are the Benedictions of these two Tribes the younger of which he signifies should be more powerful than the elder according to the Prophecy of Jacob XLVIII Gen. 19. Verse 18 Ver. 18. And of Zebulun he said rejoyce Zebulun in thy going out About their business as the Hierusalem Targum expounds it that is their Merchandise which they exercised upon the Sea of Genesaret where they were situated and not far from the Mediterranean In which he prays they might have such good Success as to fill their hearts with joy There are those who understand this of their going out to War against their Enemies which is the Exposition of Onkelos And so this Phrase is often used particularly in XIV Gen. 8. and the Valour of this Tribe is upon one occasion celebrated in V Judges 18. But Jacob's Prophecy determines us rather to the other sense XLIX Gen. 13. where he represents this Tribe as Mariners rather than Soldiers Though it must be acknowledged that there were greater numbers among them in David's time who were expert Warriors 1 Chron. XII 33. and that the Israelites generally were not addicted to Traffick the Sea-coast being possessed by the Philistims and the Canaanites save only what belonged to this Tribe And Issachar in thy Tents The same Hierusalem Targum expounds it Rejoyce ye House of Issachar when ye come into your Schools for this was a Learned Tribe at least in some Ages as appears from 1 Chron. XII 32. But Jacob's Prophecy rather determines us to another sense which is that they should grow rich by feeding Cattle and by Husbandry for which their Country being very proper they chose rather that quiet kind of Life then Merchandise Though they were near Neighbours to Zebulun and for that reason as well as because they were Brethren by the same Mother are here put both together in one Benediction This seems also best to agree with the Phrase of rejoycing in their Tents in which they are said anciently to dwell who fed Cattle IV Gen. 10. And perhaps the Learning that the Children of Issachar are said to have had in 1 Chron. XII 32. which consisted in the understanding of the times was nothing else but their skill in the proper Seasons for Sowing and Planting and Pruning c. to know what Israel ought to do in the management and improvement of their Land which was of great use especially in that Country Ver. 19. They shall call the People unto the Mountain Here Moses predicts the House of God should be set upon a Mountain unto which he saith Zebulun for Verse 19 the latter end of the Verse shows he speaks particularly of them should invite the rest of their Tribes by their forwardness and zeal to go up to worship God at the three great Festivals So the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases Behold the People of the House of Zebulun shall be ready to go to the mount of the holy House of the LORD Or by the People perhaps he means the Gentiles their Neighbours whom they should endeavour to bring to the Service of the true God Which was especially fulfilled when Christ came IV Matth. 15 16. There they shall offer Sacrifices of Righteousness Liberal Sacrifices out of their honest gains by Merchandise For they shall suck of the abundance of the Seas Import abundance of various Commodities and grow rich by their Traffick And of Treasure hid in the Sand. This is a further amplification of the same thing relating particularly to their importation of Gold and Silver and precious Stones which are digged