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.
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
for instance in III Galat. 21. asks this question Do you not hear the Law and then quotes what we read in XVI Gen. 21. And so Nehemiah saith X. 34 35. that they brought First-fruits unto God as it is written in the Law viz. XIII Exod. 12. XXIII 19. And Josiah put away the workers with familiar Spirits c. that he might perform the words of the Law 2 Kings XXIII 24. which we find XIX Levit. 30. XX. 6 27. And Ezekiah also 2 Chron. XXXI 3. appointed the daily Oblations and those required at stated times to be offered as it is written in the Law of the LORD which plainly refers to the XXVIIIth and XXIXth of Numbers And Joshua built an Altar on Mount Ebal VIII 30 31. as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses which we find no where but in this Book of Deuteronomy XXVII 4. And delivered it unto the Priests the sons of Levi. Concerning this form of Speech the Priests the sons of Levi see XVII 9. It is probable Moses had wrote most of these Five Books some time ago and so the foregoing words may be translated Moses had wrote this Law but did not finish them till a little before his death and then delivered them to the Priests But there is no necessity thus to understand it for he might have had time enough between this and his death to write the whole Pentateuch It being only said v. 14. Thy days approach that thou must die which doth not imply he was to die in a day or two but there might be some weeks before his departure Which bare the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD It was most proper to deliver it unto them who alone might touch the Ark in which this Law was to be laid v 26. The Kohathites who were mere Levites and not Priests did carry the Ark in their Travels through the Wilderness after the Priests had covered it and put in the Staves thereof as I have shown IV Numb 5 6 c. but it is evident they served only as Ministers to the Priests who upon great occasions bare the Ark themselves As when they passed over Jordan III Josh 3 6. when they compassed Jericho VI Josh 6. and when the Temple of Solomon was dedicated and the Ark brought into it 1 Kings VIII 3 4 6. When David indeed brought the Ark to Jerusalem it is said the Levites bare it but at the same time the Priests also were summoned to take care of it which shows the Levites bare it as their Servants 1 Chron. XV. 2 11 13 14 15. And unto all the Elders of Israel As he delivered this Book of the Law that is the whole Pentateuch as Abarbinel and others of the Jews understand it unto the Priests commanding them to preserve it safe near the Ark v. 24. so he delivered another Copy of this Book to the Elders of every Tribe as the Jews affirm in Debarim Rabba Where they say and it is highly probable that Moses before his death wrote Thirteen Copies of the Law with his own hand as they add and having delivered one unto the Priests to be preserved in the holy Place gave one to each Tribe which he committed to the care of the Elders of it Thus Maimonides also in his Preface to Jad Chazakah as Buxtorf observes in his Histor Arcae Foederis Cap. 5. The intent of which was I suppose that all the People of each Tribe might resort to it as the whole Nation were to resort to that in the Sanctuary if they doubted of any thing which might be thought to be amiss by the errors of Transcribers Ver. 10. And Moses commanded them Both the Verse 10 Priests and the Elders to take care of what follows At the end of every seventh year in the solemnity of the year of release Mentioned XV. 1 c. In the Feast of Tabernacles When they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth and thereby had greater leisure to attend to the hearing of the Law read to them Which when Mens minds were also freed from Cares by the Release of their Debts was likely to make a greater impression upon them Ver. 11. When all Israel is come to appear before the Verse 11 LORD thy God in the place which he shall chuse As they were bound to do at this Feast and at Pentecost and the Passover XVI 16. Thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their hearing This Order being directed not to all Israel but to a particular Person plainly imports that the Supream Governour whosoever he was had this charge laid upon him to take care these Laws should be read at this Solemn Time that all the People might hear them And therefore I think the Jews rightly say that their Kings when they had them were bound not only to look after this matter but to read the Law themselves to as many that is as could hear them appointing the Priests and the Levites to read it in as many other Assemblies of the People as were necessary for the fulfilling of this Precept In order to which a Pulpit was set up in the Court of the Men of Israel on the very first day of the Feast for they did not think fit to defer it till the last because it is here said when Israel is come to appear before the LORD not when they were ready to depart as the Jews observe the King going up into it the Minister took the Book of the Law and delivered it to the Ruler of the Synagogue who gave it to the Sagan or Vicar of the High Priest who delivered it to the High Priest and he to the King who stood up to receive it and then sâ—t down to read All this expresses the reverence with which this holy Book was delivered and likewise the reverence with which they approached to the King Who they say began to read at this Book of Deuteronomy which is a Compendium of the Law and proceeded before he stopt to those words VI. 4. Hear O Israel c. which having also read he omitted the rest till he came to Chap. XI 13. And it shall come to pass if thou wilt hearken diligently c. reading on to the 22d Verse And then skipt to XIV 22. And thou shalt truly tithe c. reading on to the Section concerning the King XVII 14. and then the Cursings and Blessings out of the XXVIIth and XXVIIIth Chapter till he had ended all that Section of the Law Thus the Mischna in the Title Sota Cap. VII Sect. VIII which Wagenseil hath lately illustrated with most Learned Annotations and our Dr. Lightfoot also hath given an account of it long ago in his Temple Service Chap. XVII Sect. I. where he saith the King might sit down if he pleased when he read but it was esteemed more honourable if he stood as King Agrippa did when he performed this Office And before he began to read he made a Prayer to God
and all this he adds was done in the Court of the Women which well agrees with what is said in the next Verse Gather the people men and women c. But it doth not contradict what I said before of his reading it in the Court of the Men of Israel For if the King were of the Family of David it was always done there if he were not then in the Court of the Women as Wagenseil observes out of Maimonides Ver. 12. Gather the people together All that came Verse 12 to this Feast could not meet in one place but were divided into several Assemblies probably in their Synagogues For as many as the Courts of Israel would hold meeting there it is reasonable to think that the rest assembled in some other holy Place Such were their Synagogues which Philo in his Book of the Embassy to Caius calls Places of Secondary Holiness And Maimonides discourses at large of the Holiness of Synagogues and Schools in his Book of Prayer and the Priests Blessing Cap. XI See upon XIX Levit. 30. Men Women and Children Though the Males only were bound to go up to the great Feasts yet many devout Women went also voluntarily as appears by Hannah 1 Sam. I. 3 4. And all the Women in Jerusalem were likewise bound to attend at these Solemnities with the Children who were capable of Instruction See VIII Nehem. 2 3. To whom some Person of Authority read the Law in their Court while the King of the House of David was reading it in the Court of the Men of Israel And the stranger that is within thy gates Such as were Proselytes to the Jewish Religion not excluding those who were only Proselytes of the Gate if they would come to their Assemblies That they may hear and that they may learn and fear the LORD your God and observe to do all the words of this Law That by this means they might be instructed in the true way of worshipping God which is here called his fear and to his Worship and Service add a careful Obedience to all that he commanded in this Book which they might read and were bound to do so in their own private Houses and which they heard read every Sabbath-day in their publick Synagogues For which indeed there is no particular Command in the Law but they being commanded to teach their Children every day at home the things contained in the Law and consequently to read it VI. 7 8. XI 16. they thought it most reasonable to have it read on the Sabbath in their Publick Assemblies where some portion of the Law was read But now the whole Volume as an Authentick Testimony of the whole Nation to the truth of what is contained in these Books Verse 13 Ver. 13. That their Children which have not known any thing For the early Instruction of Posterity in the Sacred Authority of this Law May hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as ye live in the land c. Be preserved in the true Religion by so solemn an Acknowledgment made by the King himself that God delivered all these Laws to Moses Accordingly we find that Joshua their Supream Governour after the death of Moses did read all the Words of the Law not omitting a word that Moses commanded before all the Congregation with Women and the little ones and the Strangers that were conversant among them VIII Josh 34 35. But from that time to the Reign of Jehosaphat 2 Chron. XVII 7 8 c. which is commonly computed to be Five hundred and thirty years we find no mention of a Publick Reading of it Nor from that time to the eighteenth year of King Josiah 2 Chron. XXXIV 30 31. which was the space of two hundred eighty and two years nor from that time till after the Captivity of Babylon VIII Nehem. 2 3 c. By which neglect they more easily fell into Idolatry and continued in it more or less till that Captivity for a forgetfulness of the Law ensued upon this neglect Ver. 14. And the LORD said unto Moses behold Verse 14 thy days approach that thou must die He admonishes him that the end of his days upon Earth was near when he must resign up his Office into the hands of Joshua who had been before appointed his Successor XXVII Numb Call Joshua and present your selves in the Tabernacle of the Congregation that I may give you a charge This was done I suppose in the Face of all the People to whom Moses had been speaking v. 1 2. to give Joshua the greater Authority and to make him reverenced by them when they saw he was appointed by God himself to be their Governour as he had been before ordained publickly by God's Order XXVII Numb 18 19 c. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tabernacle of the Congregation In the Court of the Sanctuary with their Faces towards it for it was not lawful for any but the Priests to go into the Sanctuary it self Some indeed have thought that by a special Order from God Joshua was now admitted into it but this seems to me to be contradicted by the next Verse which saith God appeared in a Cloud over the door of the Tabernacle Verse 15 Ver. 15. And the LORD appeared in the Tabernacle in a pillar of a Cloud This signifies that the Glory of the LORD as other places speak appeared unto them and unto the People as it had done upon many occasions XXXIII Exod. 9 10. IX Numb 15. XVI Numb 42 43. And the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the Tabernacle Being a Symbol of the Divine Presence whose Glory appeared out of the Cloud as it did XVI Numb 42. For the Cloud was always upon the Tabernacle XL Exod. 35 38. IX Numb 18. but when the LORD would strike an awe into the People and move them to regard what he said or did then the Cloud stood at the door of the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD came out of the most Holy Place and appeared in it Verse 16 Ver. 16. And the LORD said unto Moses Out of the Cloud I suppose as he did XVI Numb 44. Behold thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers He first admonished Moses again of his departure in the audience I suppose of Joshua who heard all the following Admonition to make him more carefully observe the end and design of it Sleep is a common word for Death either of good Men or bad which was not used meerly as a soft expression of that which the Heathen dreaded as the most terrible of all things but â—o put them in mind perhaps that death should not last always but they should as certainly rise again as they lay down so the word is in the Hebrew to sleep with their Fathers And this people will rise In Rebellion And go a whoring God who searches all Mens hearts discerned such bad inclinations in this People that he knew they would fall into Idolatry
Land Verse 20 which I sware unto their Fathers that floweth with milk and honey VI. 10 c. XV. 8 9. And they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat VIII 10 11 12 c. XXVII 15. Then they will turn unto other gods and serve them c. Against which he had most solemnly foremarned them in the places before-mentioned and XI 16. XII 29 30. Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass when many evils Verse 21 and troubles are befaln them that this Song shall testifie against them as a witness That they are most justly punished for their foul ingratitude and unbelief with which this Song upbraided them having told them plainly XXXII 18 19. what would be the effect of their forsaking him and at the delivery of it God having solemnly said here v. 17. that when they went a whoring from him he would forsake them and hide his face from them For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed The Calamities which fell upon them according to what is predicted in this Song brought it to their remembrance when they had forgotten it or did not regard it For these words do not seem to be a Precept requiring them to remember this Song but a Prediction foretelling that their Miseries should not suffer them quite to forget it For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware He saw the secret Inclinations and Designs which were in their hearts and perceived that at that very present they hankered as we speak after Idols Verse 22 Ver. 22. Moses therefore wrote this Song the same day And so did Joshua as he was commanded v. 19. who spake the words of this Song unto the People as well as Moses XXXII 44. And taught it the Children of Israel Commanded them to learn it v. 19. In order to which the Jews say every Man was bound to write for himself a Copy of it and more than that they make it one of the affirmative Precepts as Maimonides tells us which obliged every Israelite to write out the whole Book of the Law with his own hand For so they interpret those words v. 19. Write ye this Song for you as if they were spoken to all the People and their meaning had been Write ye this Law for you wherein is this Song for they were not to write the Law by small parts and sections as his words are but all of it intirely And if a Man's Parents had left him a Copy yet he was bound to write one himself or if he could not write to procure one to be written for him by some other Person c. See Schickard's Mischpat Hameleck Cap. II. Theor. V. Verse 23 Ver. 23. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge That is the LORD who had hitherto spoken to him by Moses now spake to him himself and gave him this charge to gain him the greater Authority For which end he had ordered Joshua to present himself before him together with Moses verse 14. Be strong and of a good courage Which he repeats to him after the death of Moses I Josh 6 7. For thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them I have appointed thee to be the Captain of my People to lead them into the Land of Canaan And I will be with thee To give him success in all his Enterprises Which words being spoken in the audience of all the People as may be supposed from v. 14. made them readily submit to the Authority of Joshua and confide in his Conduct Ver. 24. And it came to pass when Moses had made Verse 24 an end of writing the words of this Law in a Book until they were finished The whole Book of his Laws which he put together before his death as I said on v. 9. Ver. 25. That Moses commanded the Levites c. Verse 25 The Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi. See v. 9. Ver. 26. Take this Book of the Law and put it in the Verse 26 side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God Not in the inside of it for he doth not say put it into the Ark but in the side of the Ark that is on the outside in a little Box as Jonathan and others expound it For it is the very same Phrase with that 1 Sam. VI. 8. where the Philistims are said to have put the Jewels of Gold which they returned for a Sin-offering in a Coffer by the side of the Ark. Where none could put it but the High Priest because no Body else might go into the Holy Place where the Ark was And therefore those Priests who received the Book of the Law from Moses delivered it to Eleazer to be there placed See Buxtorf Histor Arcae Cap. V. and Huetius more lately in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. de Can. Libr. Sacrorum Sect. VIII where he observes that R. Meir in both the Talmuds Abarbinel himself and many others have been of opinion from this very place that the Book of the Law was put into the Ark it self being no less precious than the Tables of Stone which were there But the Scripture tells us There was nothing in the Ark save the two Tables of Stone 1 Kings VIII 9. 2 Chron. V. 10. and their reason is good for nothing the two Tables far excelling this Book because written by the Finger of God And therefore other great Doctors among the Jews rightly place it without the Ark as the very words of Moses import That it may be there for a witness against thee It was deposited in that place as a publick Record that if any one should falsifie or deprave any thing in the Law as Abarbinel interprets it he might be convicted out of this Book which was sacredly preserved to be produced as a Witness against him Or as the Author of Tzeror Hammor expresses it that if they should be so wicked as to lose the Books of the Law this Copy kept under the care of the Priests might remain to testifie what was the Will of God As we see it did in the days of Josiah when it was casually found in the House of God as they were about the reparations of it Though I cannot say they found it in the side of the Ark but rather upon the Roof of the House or in the Rafters where the Priests had hid it as some of the Jews think when Manasseh endeavoured to destroy this Authentick Copy of the Law as he had done all other that he could find and when they came to uncover the House there it appeared Ver. 27. For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff-neck I have been sufficiently acquainted with your perverse disposition Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye Verse 27 have been rebellious against the LORD and how much more after my death For it was not
Laws nor diminish that Worship Which Interpretation seems to be warranted by what follows Thy eyes have seen what the LORD thy God did because of Baal-Peor But in the words before-going which introduce these Judgments being mentioned as well as Statutes there must be a larger sense of this Injunction which relates to all the Laws of God and the meaning seems to be Ye shall not transgress any of these Precepts either by doing any thing contrary to them which was to add or omitting any thing which they required which was to diminish Thus Grotius interprets it upon 2 Corinth XI 24. Addere ad legem est facere quod lex vetat diminuere est omittere quod lex jubet But which way soever we take it nothing is more certain than that this Prohibition preserved these Books from any alteration since the time they were written For the whole Body of the People acknowledging their Divine Authority none of them dared to change any thing either by addition or diminution Of which there is a wonderful instance in the People that came out of Assyria in the room of the Israelites who were transported thither to inhabit the Country of Samaria who receiving this Law their Posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews themselves have done although they were their mortal Enemies and have been exposed to all the Changes and Revolutions that can befall a Nation during the long interval of Two thousand and four hundred years Thus the most learned Dr. Alix observes in his Reflections upon the four last Books of Moses p. 144. And I do not see why the perfection of the Scripture without the Oral Law of the Jews should not be thought to be established by these words as another learned Person Joh. Wagenseil understands them in his Confut. Carminis Lipmanni p. 585. Yet as the forenamed Chiskuni notes it doth not seem reasonable to conclude from hence that they were prohibited to add any Constitutions as a Hedge and Fence to the Law or as an Explication of it when the sense was doubtful See Mr. Thorndike in his Rights of the Church in a Christian State p. 180 c. That ye may keep the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you This justifies the Explication I gave of the foregoing words as respecting all God's Laws and XII 32. makes it more plain And indeed God being their Law-giver it was the highest presumption to make any Alteration in any of his Laws Verse 3 Ver. 3. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor c. How he cut off Twenty four thousand by a Plague and by the Hand of Justice who had been guilty of Idolatry by the enticements of the Midianitish Women XXV Numb 5 9. Which seems to be a reason why they should take a special Care about the Worship of God that nothing were done contrary to the Laws he had ordained concerning it For all the men that followed Baal-peor the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you The Judges put to death all those that they knew to be guilty and the Hand of God found out all the rest so that there was not a Man of them left who was not swept away by the Pestilence Verse 4 Ver. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the LORD Did not depart from his Worship but bewailed the Apostasie of some of their Brethren XXV Numb 6. Are alive every one of you this day A singular Providence watched over them to preserve them in such good health that not one in so many Thousands was dead since that time Nor in the War with the Midianites wherein they slew all the Males did they lose so much as one Man XXXI Numb 7 49. Ver. 5. Behold I have taught you Statutes and Judgments Verse 5 v. 1. Even as the LORD my God commanded me Sincerely and uprightly without adding any thing of my self or diminishing any thing that he said That ye should do so in the Land whither ye go to possess it To be the Rule of your Life when ye come into the Land of Canaan Ver. 6. Keep therefore and do them for this is your Verse 6 wisdom and understanding in the fight of all the Nations It is your interest to observe them as you will soon find by experience which will teach you that it is not only the wisest Course in it self but will get you the reputation of being a wise People among all your Neighbours Which shall hear of all these Statutes There being mention before v. 1 5. of Judgments as well as Statutes and here only of the latter Abarbinel thence infers That even those Laws which depended wholly upon the Will and Pleasure of God and for which they could give no reason for such they understood by Chukkim would procure them very great Honour if they were carefully observed For the Nations seeing how wonderfully they prospered would be apt to impute it to these extraordinary Prescriptions which they followed Just saith he as a Physician who cures desperate Diseases by some small trifling Remedies as they seem to others is highly applauded for the profoundness of his Knowledge and Wisdom But Maimonides takes this word Statutes to comprehend all the Laws of God and undertakes to show that all the Six hundred and thirteen Precepts have a wise End in them for the Profit and Benefit of those that observe them either to beget some wholesome Opinion in their Mind or to pull out some perverse one either to institute some good Order or to take away Iniquity c. See More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXI And say Surely this Nation is a wise and understanding People Who continued in Safety Liberty and Prosperity abounding with all manner of Blessings while they continued all to go up to worship One God sincerely at one Place at certain Set-times as if the whole Nation was but one Family All the rest of their Laws also were admirably fitted to unite them unto God and one to another and consequently to make them appear a wise People in the Eyes of other Nations whose Writers have not only highly magnified Moses but their Law-Givers have transcribed several of his Laws into their own Constitutions This appears by the old Attick Laws and those of the Twelve Tables as many learned Men have observed Nay the Oracle reported by Porphyry in Eusebius his Praeparatio Evangelica Lib. IX Cap. X. thus extols this Nation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldaeans and the Hebrews who came from Chaldaea are the only wise People who worship God the Eternal King in a pure manner And the Oracle of Apollo Clarius recorded by Macrobius Lib. I. Saturnal Cap. 18. is no less remarkable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acknowledge Jao so they pronounced the Name JEHOVAH to be the highest God of all For though Macrobius fancied the Sun to be here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Body
12. to v. 35. where he orders also the eighth day to be solemnly observed for a special reason See there Because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase and in all the works of thy hands Thankfulness to God for Blessings bestowed was the way to procure more Therefore thou shalt surely rejoyce In God the giver of all good things whom the whole Nation by the Institution of this Feast were incited to bless and praise for the Fruits of his Bounty to them And Peace-offerings were sacrificed on purpose for this end XXVII 7. From the repetition of this Command Thou shalt rejoyce the Jews infer that though all Festivals were Times of Joy yet the Feast of Tabernacles was to be celebrated with greater Joy than all the rest And accordingly Maimonides tells us the whole Festival was spent in Musick and Dancing and Singing Night and Day Ver. 16. Three times in the year shall all thy Males Verse 16 appear before the LORD thy God in the place c. This is so frequently enjoyned See v. 13. because it was of the greatest Consequence that they should meet as often as they could conveniently at one and the same place to worship the Divine Majesty whereby the Notion of the Unity of God was preserved among them And they shall not appear before the LORD empty This is also frequently repeated where the Feasts themselves are enjoyned XXIII Exod. 15. XXXIV 20. And from these and the following words That every man should give as he was able c. came the pious Custom in the beginning of our Religion that the People when they came to the LORD's Table offer'd Bread and Wine and Corn and Oil and such like things for the Support of God's Ministers and the Relief of the Poor every one according to their Ability Which was done in acknowledgment of God as the Author of Life and of all good Things for which they in this manner shewed their Gratitude to him And the Priests in the presence of all the People lifted them up and gave God thanks and beseeched him to accept them And out of these in many places they made their Agapae or Feasts of Charity for the Poor Mention is made of these Oblations in the Canons ascribed to the Apostles Cap. 3 4. which though not made by them yet contain a great many Apostolical Customs Verse 17 Ver. 17. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee It was but reasonable that the more bountiful God had been to them the more liberally they should offer a grateful Acknowledgment to him For all the forenamed three Feasts had relation to the Fruits of the Earth which God had blessed them withal as well as commemorated former great Benefits bestowed on their Fore-fathers The Passover being at the beginning of Barley Harvest Pentecost at the beginning of Wheat-Harvest and the Feast of Tabernacles when they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth At which Seasons all Mankind were ever wont to be full of Joy and to offer Sacrifices So Aristotle tells us Lib. VIII ad Nicomachum Cap. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The ancient Sacrifices and Conventions seem to have been after the gathering in of the Fruits of the Earth as a First-fruits at which time chiefly they rested from their labours And so Strabo likewise Lib. X. Geograph p. 467. It is common both to Greeks and Barbarians to offer their Sacrifices with a Festival intermission of their Labours c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so Nature taught them to do that is to thank God with Rejoycing and Cessation from Labours For which he gives this surprising Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For remission of Labour abstracts the Mind from Humane Affairs and turns it towards God This certainly was the ancient intention of all such Festival Times as the Heathen themselves could discern Ver. 18. Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee Verse 18 To see that these and all other Laws were duly observed Moses de Cotzi upon these words makes this difference between Schofetim and Schoterim that the former viz. Judges were the Senators in the several Courts who decided Causes and the other Officers were no more than Ministers attending the Court to keep the People in order with a Staff and a Whip and to execute the Decrees and Orders of the Judges whom they appointed not only in the Court but in the Streets looking after Weights and Measures in the Market and correcting Offenders Maimonides also makes them the same with our Apparitors or those who in the Roman Law are called Officiales as Constantine L'Empereur observes p. 362. upon Cornelius Bertram who mistook them for a sort of Judges and in the Digests Executores and in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exactors XII Luke 58. Josephus makes them to have been Publick Criers and so we find them imployed XX. 8. I Josh 11. But then some of them at least seem to have been an honourable sort like our Heralds XXIII Josh 2. and all of them were Men of Authority though but young Men as Maimonides describes them who had not attained the Years and Knowledge of Doctors of the Law and therefore unfit to be Judges But the Jews place them next under their wise Men or Doctors and above their Scribes and Clerks as Mr. Thorndike observes in his Review of the Rights of the Church p. 94. But that they were certainly only under Officers and not Judges there is another Argument which is That Solomon upon this account commends the Ants that they carefully do their business though they have no Schoter set over them VI Prov. 7. no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to force or affright them into it In all thy gates That is in every City as Mr. Selden observes out of the Jewish Writers Lib. VII de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. V. and more largely L. II. de Synedriis Cap. V. Sect. 1. where he shows they interpret it in all the Cities of Israel both within the Land and without where Israel had any Jurisdiction Which is so true that they had Consistories wheresoever they were dispersed for the determining all Differences arising out of the Law though not as to the power of Life and Death which was seldom granted them by their Soveraigns Thus we learn from Philo that there was such a Consistory at Alexandria and the little Chronicle called Seder Olam Zuta tells us of the like in Babylonia And after the destruction of the Temple it is manifest not only by the Jewish Writings but by Epiphanius and others that there continued a Consistory at Tiberias for many Ages c. See Mr. Thorndike's Rights of the Church p. 56 57. and his Review of it p. 56. But though this be granted yet these words in all thy gates may suggest also the part of the City where they kept
it seems to have indemnified him if he killed him before he got thither Whereas he was not worthy of death inasmuch as he hated him not in time past Which in his rage the Avenger of Blood did not consider and therefore was guilty before God of shedding innocent Blood tho' the Law did not punish him for it Ver. 7. Wherefore I command thee saying Thou shalt Verse 7 separate three Cities for thee To prevent which Mischief God commanded not meerly one but three Cities and those in several places of the Country where Men might find Safety if they made haste to flee to them Ver. 8. And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy Coast Verse 8 as he hath sworn unto thy Fathers and give thee all the Land which he promised to give unto thy Fathers As far as unto the River Euphrates XV Gen. 18. XXIII Exod. 31. I Deut. 7. Ver. 9. If thou shalt keep all these Commandments to Verse 9 do them which I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God and to walk ever in his ways This seems to have been the Condition upon the performance of which depended the enlargement of their Border Which is more fully expressed XI 22 23 24. And so the Covenant made with Abraham in XV Gen. 18. is to be understood as including in it this Condition Thou shalt then add three Cities more for thee besides these three We do not read of any more added to these though their Border was enlarged in David's and Solomon's time and that as far as Euphrates But those Nations which they subdued were only made Tributaries to the Kings of Israel who did not people and possess those Countries and consequently there was no occasion for such Cities there unless the Israelites had been the Inhabitants of those Countries as they were of the Land of Canaan v. 1. Verse 10 Ver. 10. That innocent blood be not shed in thy Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee As there would if upon supposition of such an enlargement of their Borders there had been no Cities nearer to flee unto than these six which were sufficient only for the Land of Canaan and the Land they possessed on this side Jordan where they now were And so blood be upon thee The Guilt and Punishment of Blood in not taking care of the Safety of innocent Persons Verse 11 Ver. 11. But if any man hate his brother and lye in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him mortally that he die and fleeth unto one of these Cities When there was a manifest design of killing another and known hatred he that committed the Murder was to receive no benefit by his fleeing to a City of Refuge And then a Man was judged to hate his Brother when for three days together he had never spoken to him though they had kept one another company as I observed before out of Mr. Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. II. p. 473. Verse 12 Ver. 12. Then the Elders of this City shall send and fetch him thence Demand him of the Elders of the City to which he fled that he might be sent to them and tried by them whether he was guilty of wilful Murder or ought to have the benefit of their protection being innocent of that Crime XXXV Numb 12 24. It is likely there were probable Reasons given why he was suspected to be guilty of Murder and therefore they desired the Matter might be examined otherwise if the Case was known to be like that in v. 5. they did not make this demand And deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die That is if they found him guilty of wilful Murder otherwise they were to deliver him out of the hand of the Avenger of Blood and restore him to the City of Refuge that he might not die XXXV Numb 25. Ver. 13. Thine eye shall not pity him Nor take any Verse 13 Satisfaction for the Life of a Murderer as the Law is XXXV Numb 31. But thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel By putting him to death That it may go well with thee By having no guilt upon them as they had when they let this Crime go unpunished Ver. 14. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbours land-mark Verse 14 which they of old time have set in thine inheritance c. The Jewish Doctors think that this hath respect to the Holy Land as they call it and to the terms or bounds which were set by Joshua in the division of the Country which no Man might take away For that made him both guilty of Theft and also of the breach of this Precept and consequently he incurred a double Punishment and was whipt twice as much as another Offender See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. III. in the latter end This was a Law among the Greeks as appears by Plato Lib. VIII de Legibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let no Man presume to remove the bounds of Land looking upon this as being truly to remove things immoveable i. e. To unsettle and overturn all things Numa-Pompilius therefore made this Crime capital Which makes Josephus his Explication of these words seem more reasonable than that of the Talmudists who extends this Precept to the Grounds of all their neighbour Nations who were at peace with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being the occasion of Wars and Insurrections which arise from the Covetousness of Men who would thus enlarge their Territories Lib. IV. Archaeol Cap. 8. Which may be thought a reason why Moses joyns this to the foregoing Precept about punishing Murder and made this one of the Curses they were bound to pronounce and consent to it at their entrance into the Land of Canaan XXVII Deut. 17. Which they of old time have set in thine inheritance which thou shalt inherit in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it This may seem to determine this Precept peculiarly to the preserving the Bounds in the Land of Canaan and by those of old time they understand Joshua and the Elders who divided the Land and fixed every ones Lot But it was as necessary to be observed in all other Countries as that which was their proper Inheritance For as Josephus truly observes They that remove the Bounds of Lands are not very far from subverting all Laws Verse 15 Ver. 15. One witness shall not rise up They that gave their Testimony in any Cause always stood up Against a man for any iniquity or for any sin A single Witness was not to be admitted as sufficient to convict a Man of any Offence whatsoever whether in Civil or in Criminal Matters For an inquisition into the Fact one was enough but not for the Condemnation of him that was accused Yet in Pecuniary Matters one Witness was sufficient to bring a Man to purge himself by an Oath See
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
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
second Husband whom she married nor with respect to any other Man who might marry her without any pollution but only with respect to her first Husband Unto whom by this Law she was made unclean for so all things forbidden to the Jews were accounted as appears from X Acts 14 15. where all Meats prohibited by the Law are called unclean and God is said to have cleansed them by taking off that Prohibition For that is abomination before the LORD That is to return to her first Husband and to be his Wife again For this saith Abarbinel was to imitate the Egyptians who changed their Wives and took them again into their Houses which was the occasion of great filthiness But this intimates that if she had not been married to any other Man but kept her self free she might have been his Wife again if he had a mind to be Reconciled to her And this shows also that God intended to discourage them from putting away their Wives by making them uncapable after they had been married to another for ever to enjoy them again though they grew very rich or otherwise desirable which inclined many no doubt to consider well before they parted with them And thou shalt not cause the Land to sin which the LORD thy God giveth thee c. The People of the Land might by such a large Indulgence have been tempted to pollute it with many sins and thereby bring God's Judgments upon it See III Jerem. 1. For as Isaac Arama glosses if this had not been prohibited a Gate had been opened unto vile Men to make a trade of changing their Wives and thereby filled the Land with Whoredoms Ver. 5. When a man hath taken a new wife The Verse 5 Hebrews think as I observed before XX. 7. that whether he had married a Virgin or a Widow he was to have the Priviledge here mentioned yea they extend it to him who had married his Brother's Wife but not to him who had married her whom he put away and might take again if she had not been married since that to another Man For she could not be said to be a new wife He shall not go out to war See XX Deut. 7. Nor be charged with any business No Publick Employment was to be put upon him which might occasion his absence from his Wife Not so much as watching or such like For the better understanding of which it must be remembred what was said about the fearful and timorous who were bid to return home from the Army lest they disheartned their Brethren XX. 8. And yet these Men were bound to furnish the Army with Victuals and Water to clear the Ways and take up their Quarters But a new Bridegroom was free from all these Only they made a difference between a War by the Divine Commandment and one undertaken voluntarily unto the former of which they think this Immunity doth not extend but only to the latter In the Margin these words are translated Nor any thing pass upon him that is he shall not pay tribute But he shall be free at home for one year The same time of freedom it was thought reasonable to grant unto Builders and Planters because they are joyned with new married Men in the Speech the Priest made before they went to battle XX. 5 6 7. And shall cheer up his wife whom he hath taken Make much of her as we speak and so endear himself to her by his kindness that there might be no occasion of a Divorce For the prevention of which this Law seems to have been intended that by so long a Conversation together without any interruption they might have so perfect an understanding one of another and such a mutual confidence might be settled that he might not easily entertain any jealousies of her when he should be absent in the Wars or elsewhere Verse 6 Ver. 6. No man shall take the nether or the upper Milstone to pledge This is a Law of the same nature with that XX Exod. 26 27. for the preservation of Mercy Beneficence and Clemency towards the Poor as Maimonides speaks More Nevochim P. III. Cap XXXIX For he taketh a man's life to pledge That is his livelyhood by which he maintains himself and his Family and keeps them from starving By this reason it was unlawful to take any other thing for a Security by the want of which a Man might be in danger to be undone For instance they did not allow any Man to seize upon the Oxen which were at Plough He who broke this Law was scourged Ver. 7. If a man be found stealing any of his brethren Verse 7 the children of Israel If he were either taken in the fact or it was plainly proved against him So the very words of the Athenian Law were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if a Man be an apparent Man-stealer And maketh merchandise of him or selleth him This was the end of Man-stealing to make a gain of him either by exchanging him for some Commodity or selling him for Money Then that Thief shall die This Crime was punished with death though stealing of Beasts or other things was not See XXI Exod. 16. because it was very heinous on a double account both by depriving the Community of one of its Members and making him a Slave in another Country And indeed the most moderate Lawyers did not know how to secure Men in the possession of things very valuable but by inflicting such a Punishment on those that stole them Thus after Solon had tempered the rigid Law of Draco which punished all Theft with death by ordering in most Cases only the payment of double he enacted the stealing of a great Sum of Money to be Capital Nay he made it a great Crime to steal Dung because it was a thing of great value in that Country which was very barren needed it for their Ground How much more valuable was a Man in all Mens account whom if any Man stole the Law was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that death should be his punishment as Xenophon reports it And he was accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man-stealer who not only by force or by fraud carried away a free Man and sold him for a Slave or suppressed him but he who inveigled away another Man's Servant and perswaded him to run away or concealed such a Fugitive as Samuel Petitus observes out of Pollux and others Lib. VII in Leges Atticas Tit. V. p. 533. which makes me think not only he that stole one of his Brethren of the Children of Israel but he that stole a Proselyte of any sort or the Servant of a Stranger was liable to the punishment mentioned in this Law of Moses And thou shalt put away evil from among you By these words we may understand the greatness of this Crime for they are never used in this Book but when Moses speaks of the punishment of some enormous sin See XIII 5. XVII 7. XIX 19 c. Verse 8
Josh 33. Which could not have been unless it were placed between the two Mountains whereon they stood upon both sides from the top to the bottom With a loud voice That every one that stood on the side or top of the Mountains might hear what they said the Priests being placed so in several parts of the Valley that their voice might reach them all For which end they were advanced perhaps upon a Pulpit as Ezra afterwards was VIII Nehem. 4. and a signal likewise given when they should say Amen Ver. 15. Cursed be he that maketh any graven or molten Verse 15 image The People upon the Mountains being to bless as well as curse the Mischna in the Title Sota Cap. VII Sect. V. rightly explains this that first the Priests turning their Faces towards Mount Gerizim proclaimed with a loud voice Blessed be the man that maketh not any graven c. Unto which all the People that stood there answered Amen And then turning their Faces towards Mount Ebal they said these words Cursed be the man that maketh c. to which they that stood there made the same answer See also the Hierusalem Targum which paraphrases these words in the same manner An abomination unto the LORD Which is odious and far to be removed from the Presence of the LORD as the same Targum interprets it The work of the hands of the Crafts-man A meer device of Men and therefore not to have Divine Worship given to it of any sort And putteth it in a secret place Though he was not a publick declared Worshipper of Images yet if he did it privately in some Closet of his own House or in any other secret place to conceal his wickedness though he escaped the punishment of the Law which sentenced open Idolaters to death yet he could not escape the vengeance of God And all the people The forenamed Mischna and Targum say That the People on both Mountains answered Amen both to the Blessings and to the Cursings which doth not agree with what goes before v. 12 13. Shall answer and say Amen Express their consent to it For the word Amen as the Talmudists say in Schebuoth hath sometimes the force of an Oath sometimes only declares consent and approbation and sometimes is used for the confirmation of any thing An Example of the first they think there is in V Numb 22. and they alledge this place for an Example of the second and for the third XXVIII Jerem. 6. Verse 16 Ver. 16. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father and mother It is observed by Interpreters that as the Precept of honouring Parents stands next to the Commandment concerning the Honour that is due to God XX Exod. 12. so the Curse pronounced against those who dishonoured them is here placed next to the Curse against Worshippers of Images And as Idolaters were to be put to death so were those that cursed their Parents XXI Exod. 17. XX Levit. 9. And I may add from the foregoing words that though they did it ever so secretly they lay under this Curse And all the people shall say Amen But before this Curse was pronounced they had said Amen to the Blessing opposite to it blessed is he that setteth not lightly by his Father and Mother as was observed on the foregoing Verse And the same is to be noted concerning the following Curses which were preceded with a Blessing till they were all ended Ver. 17. Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's Verse 17 Land-mark c. Against which there is an express Precept in the foregoing part of this Book XIX 14. And Pellicanus well observes that by this particular Instance of God's displeasure against Injustice they were deterred from all Incroachments upon their Neighbours Possessions Ver. 18. Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander Verse 18 out of the way By giving him wrong directions or misleading him See XIX Levit. 14. Some apply this to giving pernitious Advice to simple People which is certainly worse than misguiding of the blind because it leads Men into sin as well as into danger Ver. 19. Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of Verse 19 the stranger fatherless and widow These three I observed before XXIV 19. are commonly put together as a paraphrase upon the word poor whose Cause God himself undertakes to plead X. 18. and see XII Exod. 21 22. And therefore all good Law-givers have taken special care of them particularly of Orphans concerning whom Plato ordains that the Conservators of the Laws should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of their natural Parents and look after them so well that they should not fare the worse for wanting their Fathers See Lib. VIII de Legibus fol. 926 c. Edit Serrani Verse 20 Ver. 20. Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife See XXII 30. and XVIII Levit. 8. Verse 21 Ver. 21. Cursed be he who lieth with any manner of beast c. XXII Exod. 19. and XVIII Levit. 23. This some of the Jewish Doctors out of an unaccountable pride apply to the Vulgar sort of their own Nation whom they call the People of the Earth as if they were no better than Beasts with whom they were not to marry Verse 22 Ver. 22. Cursed be he that lyeth with his sister the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother c. This hath been explained also XVIII Levit. 9. Verse 23 Ver. 23. Cursed be he that lyeth with his mother-in-law c. See XVIII Levit. 17. and XX. 14. Verse 24 Ver. 24. Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly c. Though it be but with his Tongue whereby he wounds the same of an absent Person But the word smite is often used for killing XXI Exod. 12. XXIV Levit. 17. Of which if a Man was guilty though he committed the Murder so secretly that he could not be put to death by the Sentence of the Judges yet he lay under this heavy Sentence of God Verse 25 Ver. 25. Cursed be he that taketh a reward to slay an innocent person c. This seems to have respect to the Judges who for Money not only gave wrong Judgment in other Causes but condemned those that were not guilty to death See XXIII Exod. 7 8. and in this Book X. 17. XVI 19. Ver. 26. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them The word we here translate confirm is more plainly translated perform in 1 Sam. XV. 11. And so it certainly signifies here the performing Verse 26 of what God commands being a kind of Establishment of the Law as Disobedience is a Subversion of it and as far as lyes in the Offenders power an abolishing it and taking it away Therefore the Apostle exactly translates the sense of these words III Galat. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things c. where the Apostle adds the word all as the LXX and the Samaritan did even in St.
21. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the Tribes of Israel Though he offended Verse 21 never so secretly for he speaks of one that blessed himself in his heart c. v. 19. God threatens to make him a publick and notorious Example of his Vengeance to all the People of Israel According to all the Curses of the Covenant that are written in the Book of the Law It was a singular condescension in the Divine Majesty to enter into Covenant with them but it contained not only Blessings to the obedient but Curses upon the disobedient the latter of which were as certain as the former Ver. 22. So that the Generations to come of your Children Verse 22 that shall rise up after you and the stranger that shall come from a far Land shall say That which follows v. 24. When they see the Plagues of that Land This shows that these Threatnings are denounced not meerly against a simple Idolater but such an one as made it his endeavour to draw others from the Worship of God not being content to be drunk himself with Heathenish Superstition but zealous to intoxicate as many as he could with it and to root true Religion out of the Nation And the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it In the Hebrew it is The sicknesses wherewith he hath made it sick i. e. the heavy Punishments which he hath inflicted upon it and thereby made it a miserable Nation Ver. 23. And that the whole Land is brimstone and salt and burning Or as it may be translated Is burnt up with brimstone and salt For these make Land Verse 23 barren and unfruitful as Pliny particularly observes of Salt Lib. XXX Cap. VII Omnis locus in quo reperitur Sal sterilis est nihilque gignit All ground in which Salt is found is barren and produceth nothing See IX Judges 45. CVII Psal 34. XVII Jerem 6. XLVII Ezek. 11. II Zephan 9. That it is not sown nor beareth nor any grass groweth therein That neither Nature nor Art will make it fruitful Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim And the Country about them which was the most beautiful of all other in that part of the World XIII Gen. 10. but on a sudden turned into a filthy stinking Lake where no Creature neither Fish nor Fowl can live Which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath Being highly incensed by their wickedness See Gen. XVIII 20. XIX 24 25. as he was by the wickedness of the Jews which was the more provoking because they had such an example of his Vengeance continually before their eyes and yet went on in their evil ways till they brought the like Judgment upon all Judoea This was more exactly fulfilled in the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans than in their first by the Babylonians For the whole Land was laid waste and deserted by its Inhabitants and made a Den of Thieves being brought to desolation by repeated returns of Wars More especially in the time of Adrian when Julius Severus as I observed upon the foregoing Chapter made such a devastation that the whole Country was turned in a manner into a Wilderness Ver. 24. Even all Nations shall say All that were near them or came that way from far Countries as it goes before v. 22. Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this Land Verse 24 Which he formerly made so populous and plenteous And what means the heat of this great anger These exceeding dreadful Calamities which evidently proceeded from a Divine Vengeance For the Jews fought so valiantly and defended Jerusalem so resolutely as appears by Josephus that the Author of Schebet Juda had reason to say that it was not want of Arms nor the unusual terrour of new Machines but the Anger of God provoked by their Wickedness which was the true and only Cause of their destruction And indeed Titus himself said as much that God fought for the Romans and drove the Jews from their Fortifications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what could the hands of Men or Machines have done against such strong Towers See Chap. XXXII v. 22. Ver. 25. Then shall men say because they have forsaken Verse 25 the Covenant of the LORD God of their Fathers which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt This account must be supposed to be given by the pious Jews or by those who were made sensible when it was too late how stedfast God was in his Covenant which contained Curses as well as Blessings as was before observed v. 21. And see VII 9 10. XI 26 27 28. Ver. 26. For they went and served other gods and Verse 26 worshipped them whom they knew not This aggravated their sin that they sought for acquaintance with strange gods directly contrary to the Covenant of God XII 30 31. And whom he had not given unto them Or as it is in the Margin had not given or divided to them any portion that is never bestowed any benefit upon them as the LORD their God had done who brought them out of Egypt Or more simply as Bootius thinks the words will bear to whom no worship belonged Verse 27 Ver. 27. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this Land to bring upon it all the Curses that are written in this Book So Moses foretold them VII 4. XI 16 17. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And the LORD rooted them out of their Land in anger and wrath and in great indignation Here is one word more to express his displeasure against them than was used before when he speaks of the destruction of Sodom c. v. 23. And they all denote the great Plagues threatned in XXVI Levit. and in the foregoing Chapter of this Book And cast them into another Land as it is this day This may seem to relate only to their Captivity in Babylon for after they were rooted out by the Romans they were scattered into all Lands XXVIII 63 64. But considering what goes before v. 23 24. and that they were not quite rooted out many of them remaining in the Land when Nebuchadnezzar conquered them till the desolation made by the Romans I think these words relate to them also and another Land is only the singular number as is usual for the plural And so the Author of Schebet Juda understood it who quoting these words cast them out into another land adds which experience now proves to be true Verse 29 Ver. 29. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God but those that are revealed belong unto us and to our Children for ever c. The Jews generally take these words to be meant of the punishment of secret sins particularly of Idolatry spoken of before v. 19. which belongeth unto God as the punishment of open sins belonged unto them in obedience to his Law who commanded them to put to death him that seduced any Person to Idolatry and to raze the
nor the likeness of any thing c. The Second Principle That God's Nature is invisible is contained in this Second Commandment Being the Ground of this Prohibition to make any Image of him Which the best of the Heathen forbad also for this very reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it is impossible to conceive God otherwise but by the Mind alone as Plutarch reports the sence of Numa among the Romans And we find the same as plainly said by Antisthenes among the Greeks in Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is not seen by the Eyes nor is like to any thing and therefore none can learn any thing of him by an Image Nor could the Vulgar I am apt to think have been kept so long and so generally as they were to the worship of them if it had not been by bold Fictions that some of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faln down from Heaven and that all of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Things and full of a Divine Communication as Jamblichus speaks And to make them more reverenced while some of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conspicuous to all the People others were kept secret in the inmost part of their Temple as having hidden in them a Symbolical Presence of God as Proclus speaks upon Timaeus Which Ezek Spanhemius justly thinks was done in imitation of what Moses saith concerning God's Presence upon the Mercy-Seat in the Holy of Holies Observationes in Callimachum p. 586 c. See upon these three Verses my Annotations on XX Exod. 4 5 6. Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain c. This contains the Third Principle before-mentioned that God takes Notice of all things even of our Thoughts and governs all our Affairs For it is the Foundation of an Oath that God knows our very Hearts and is Witness to our Meaning as well as our Words and will if we swear falsly punish us for it Which is an acknowledgment also both of the Justice and the Power of God See upon XX Exod. 7. Ver. 12. Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it They were to keep it in Memory that they might sanctifie it as it is XX Exod. 8. see there And it was sanctified Verse 12 or set apart for special Ends and Purposes that they might give to the blessed God the seventh part of the Week as Abarbinel speaks upon these Words and might learn the Divine Law together with the Kabalah or Traditional Exposition of the Words and mark well the Niceties of it For which he quotes a Saying out of the Gemara of the Hierusalem Talmud Sabbaths and Feasts were not given but to learn the Law upon them Which is the reason he saith of another Speech of theirs in their Midrasch or Allegorical Exposition upon Exodus That the Sabbath weigheth against all the Commandments Because it was a principal means to make them known and observed There is not much said indeed in express Words concerning this End of the Rest of the Sabbath But common Reason told the Jews it could not be intended meerly as a Day of Ease from Labour but for the solemn Service of God and Instruction in their Duty to him As the LORD thy God commanded thee At Marah say the Jews commonly where he gave them a Statute and an Ordinance See XV Exod. 25. But one of them saith better At Marah it was designed and at Sinai it was commanded But they do not look back far enough for the Original of this Commandment For there being two Things in this Day the Rest of it and the Religion the Rest of it was in Remembrance of their Deliverance out of Egypt and the Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea which compleated their Deliverance immediately after which they kept their first Sabbatical Rest The Religion was in Remembrance of the Creation of the World and so this Day had been observed from the beginning by the Patriarchs tho' we find no mention made of their Resting And that may possibly be the meaning of these Words As the LORD thy God commanded thee That is immediately after he had finished the Creation of the World Verse 13 Ver. 13. Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy Work See upon XX Exod. 9. Verse 14 Ver. 14. But the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God in it thou shalt not do any Work c. The reason why they might not do any Work on this Day is given in the XX Exod. 11. which is wholly omitted here because Moses had another Reason to add for the Inforcement of this Precept And refers them in the foregoing Words v. 12. As the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to what he had said in the Book of Genesis and Exodus where he had set down the Reason which God himself gave with his own Mouth for the Religious Observation of this Day because in Six Days the LORD made Heaven and Earth c. So that this Commandment was designed to establish the Fourth Principle I mentioned that God is the Maker of all Things To preserve the Memory and Sence of which as the Author of the Answer Ad Orthodoxos observes LXIX this Rest was instituted to be observed with a more than ordinary Sanctity It being of such great moment that the first Sabbath-breaker was punished with Death because the voluntary Violation of it contained in it a Denial that the World was created by God That thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Mercy towards Men as well as Piety towards God was a Reason for the observation of this Sabbatical Rest Ver. 15. And remember that thou wast a Servant in Verse 15 the Land of Egypt and that the LORD thy God brought thee from thence c. therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day This is a new Ground for the observation of the Sabbath because God had given them rest from their hard Labour in Egypt Which obliged them to keep that Seventh Day which God appointed at the giving of Manna being the Day on which he overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea as the Memory of the Creation of the World obliged them to keep one Day in seven So our Mr. Mede hath explained it See my Annotations on XIV Exod. 30. And Maimonides hath something to the same purpose in his More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXI See upon XX Exod. 11. Ver. 16. Honour thy Father and thy Mother as the Verse 16 LORD thy God hath commanded thee In the Twentieth of Exodus v. 12. See there To which I shall here add That the Laws of Solon made those Children infamous who did not afford Sustenance to their Parents and provide them an Habitation And by the ancient Law of Athens he that reproached his Parents was disinherited if he struck them his Hand was cut off if he left them unburied he lost their Estate and was banished his
to Sever Zeraim Thou shalt not be terrified Chapter XIX or averted from endeavouring to have him put to death by his Religion Goodness or Knowledge since in his proud brags he hath spoken false things of God For to be afraid of such a Person and of his Partakers was to distrust God who is the Defender of those that defend the Cause of Religion CHAP. XIX HAving sufficiently pressed upon the People the great Commandment of Loving God with all the Heart and Soul and Strength and Him alone Moses now proceeds to remember them of other Precepts belonging to the Second Table as we now speak but not in an exact method nor without interspersing some Ceremonial Matters And he begins with what concerns that Commandment Thou shalt not kill Verse 1. WHen the LORD thy God hath cut off Verse 1 the Nations whose Land the LORD thy God giveth thee c. The very same words we had before upon another occasion XII 29. Which are now used to signifie that they were not bound to what follows till God had subdued the Land of Canaan for them and they were settled in it as the last words of the Verse import dwellest in their Cities and in their Houses Accordingly after the division of the Land God puts Joshua in mind of this business XX Josh 1 2 c. Ver. 2. Thou shalt separate three Cities for thee According to an order God had given to Moses XXXV Numb 14 15. to set aside six Cities in all for the Verse 2 use here mentioned Three on this side Jordan where they now were and three on the other side in the Land of Canaan The former part of which Command Moses himself had executed IV Deut. 42 c. and now gives them a Charge to perform the other In the midst of thy Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it In the midst of their Land signifies no more but within their Land For if they had been all three in the very heart of the Country it would have crossed the end and intention of them which was that they should be placed so conveniently in several parts of the Country that Men might easily and speedily flee to them And therefore the midst of the Land may be opposed to the skirts of the Country where they would have been too far distant from some parts of it or may denote that they should be set in an eminent place upon the top of Mountains where they might be seen afar off And so they all three were it is apparent from XX Josh 7. where they are said to be in Mount Naphtali Mount Ephraim and the Mountain of Judah Verse 3 Ver. 3. And thou shalt prepare thee a way Make a plain Rode to them and keep it in good repair that both in Winter and Summer the Man-slayer might without difficulty flee thither And for his more safe passage the Hebrews say where there were any turnings or two ways parted they were bound to set up a Post or Stone wherein was engraven in great Letters the word MIKLAT i. e. Refuge that he might not mistake his way to the place And divide the Coast of thy Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts The Jews understand it that they were to be placed at an equal distance in three several parts of the Country that all might have the same benefit by them and no Body have a longer Journey to go than his Neighbour for his safety That every Slayer may flee thither Have the convenience of preserving himself in one or other of them It is observable that there were as many of these Cities in the two Tribes and a half as there were in all the other nine Tribes and a half in which there seems to be a great inequality I have given some account of it upon XXXV Numb 14. and the Hebrews fancy there was another reason for it because of the frequent Murders which were likely to be committed by the fierce Nature of the Gileadites See the Book of Judges Chap. X. and XI and VI Hosea 8. Ver. 4. And this is the case of the slayer which shall Verse 4 flee thither that he may live Be preserved from the Avenger of Blood who otherwise might kill him Whoso killeth his Neighbour ignorantly whom he hated not in time past These Cities were not to be a protection to a wilful Murderer but to an innocent Person who against his intention was so unhappy as to kill a Man belidaath as the words are in the Hebrew without his knowledge being free that is from any design to do him the least harm But as for such as out of hatred and malice in their hearts killed another they were so far from finding safety in these Cities that they were to be pulled from the Altar if they fled thither for Sanctuary as we now speak XXI Exod. 12 14. Or if they would not stir from thence they might be killed there as appears by the case of Joab 1 Kings II. 28 30 31. Ver. 5. As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the Ax to cut down the Tree and the head slippeth Verse 5 from the helve and lighteth upon his neighbour that he die By this all other like Cases were to be judged That is when a Man was about a lawful business if any thing hapned which he intended not he was not accountable for it See Selden Lib. IV. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. II. He shall flee unto one of those Cities and live He might get to which of them he could most conveniently and there be preserved The Jews from this word live conclude without any other ground for it that a Master was bound to go along with his Scholar who fled hither because without the Doctrine of the Law Men did not live but were dead Verse 6 Ver. 6. Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer while his heart is hot With Anger which might boil up to such a degree as to move him to kill the Slayer before he had examined whether there was a just Cause It is evident that this Verse is to be connected with Verse the third the two next v. 4 5. coming in as a Parenthesis to show who should be preserved in these Cities and who not being a reason why the Cities of Refuge should be placed at an equal distance in several parts of the Country that the Journey might not be too long to any of them but a Man might soon flee thither before the Avenger of Blood could lay hold of him Because the way is long and slay him If he could not have gotten thither in a short time he might have been in danger to lose his Life though not worthy of death For as the Law did not punish him that kill'd a Man-slayer when he found him out of the Bounds of the City of Refuge XXXV Numb 27. so