4. By Signs Which are mentioned IV Exod. 9. VII 9 10. And by Wonders This signifies all the Ten Plagues of Egypt For Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go till God had multiplied his Wonders on the Land of Egypt as we read VII Exod. 3. X. 1 2. XI 9 10. And by War This seems to relate to the Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea where the LORD is said to fight for Israel XIV Exod. 14. XV. 3. while they which is the greatest Wonder of all were delivered without striking a stroke And by a mighty Hand and a stretched-out Arm. These are Phrases which we often meet withal when Moses speaks of their Deliverance out of Egypt III Exod. 19. VI. 6. XV. 12. and many other places And the Hebrews think that his mighty Hand particularly refers to the grievous Murrain and the Pestilence which are called the Hand of the LORD X Exod. 3 15. And his stretched-out Arm to have a particular respect to the killing of the First-born the Angel that was going to smite Jerusalem appearing with a drawn Sword and his Hand stretched out I Chron. XXI 16. And by great Terrors Wherewith the Minds of those were stuck who heard of these things XV Exod 14 15 16. Or else he means the Frights in which the Egyptians were while they remained three Days in most dismal Darkness X Exod. 23. for the conclusion of this Verse signifies that he speaks of all that the LORD their God did for them in Egypt before their Eyes Verse 35 Ver. 35. Vnto thee it was shewed This was a particular kindness to the Israelites which God never before manifested to any other Nation That thou mightest know that the LORD he is God there is none else besides him That they might believe him to be the only true God and worship none but him Which two Articles saith Maimonides More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIII that God is and that he is but One are Fundamentals of Religion which were known not only by Prophets but by every Body else Verse 36 Ver. 36. Out of Heaven he made thee to hear his Voice See XX Exod. 22. That he might instruct thee Teach them his Will which was chiefly declared in the Ten Commandments And upon Earth he shewed thee his great Fire He means either that they saw it as they stood upon the Earth or that it burnt upon the top of the Mount in their sight XXIV Exod. 17. And thou heardest his Words out of the midst of the Fire Ver. 11 12. and XX Exod. 18 19. Verse 37 Ver. 37. And because he loved thy Fathers therefore he chose their Seed after them See XV Gen. 5 6 7. And many other Places in that Book III Exod. 15 16 17. And brought them out in his sight with a mighty power For as he led them the way out of Egypt in a Pillar of Cloud and of Fire XIII Exod. 21. So when they were in danger by Pharaoh's pursuit of them he came behind them and they marched in his sight XIV Exod. 19. Out of Egypt This is mentioned in Scripture as the highest Benefit never to be forgotten by them So G. Sckickard observes in his Mischpat Hamelek Cap. III. Theorem X. That they are put in Mind of this in the Frontispiece of the Decalogue XX Exod. 2. in the Institution of Sacrifices XXII Levit. 33. in the Promise of a Blessing XXVI 13. and here in the enumeration of God's wonderful Works and afterwards in the commendation of his Love VII Deut. 8. in his Dehortation from Ingratitude VIII 14. in his Institution of the Passover XVI 6. in the Speech which the reproving Angel made to them II Judges 1. in the hope he gave them of Victory over the Midianites VI. 9. in his Answer to their Petition for a King I Sam. X. 18. and on a great many other occasions For this was Velut Fundamentum initium Reipublicae c. as another learned German speaks Gierus on IX Dan. 15. the Foundation as we may call it and the Beginning of their Commonwealth founded by God which comprehended in it abundance of Miracles far exceeding all the Power of Nature Ver. 38. To drive out Nations before thee greater Verse 38 and mightier than thou art So mighty that they frighted their Fathers from attempting the Conquest of them XIII Numb 28 29 31. To bring thee in to give thee their Land for an Inheritance as it is this day That is as he had given them a late Experiment by overthrowing the two Kings of the Amorites and giving them their Land for a possession Verse 39 Ver. 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy Heart that the LORD he is God in Heaven above and upon the earth and there is none else Be sensible therefore and settle this Belief in thy Heart that the LORD is the sole Governour of the whole World Verse 40 Ver. 40. Thou shalt therefore keep his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee this day c. Worship and obey him as the only way to make them and their Posterity live happily in the Land which God was about to give them That it may be well with thee and with thy Children after thee and that thou mayst prolong thy days upon the earth c. Tho' Moses speak of their long Life upon Earth yet the better sort of Jews did not set up their rest here but from this word prolong extended their hope as far as the other World For thus Maimonides saith in his Preface to Perek Chelek they were taught by Tradition to expound these Words That it may be well with thee in the World which is all good and mayest prolong thy days in the World which is all long i. e. never ends Verse 41 Ver. 41. Then Moses severed three Cities I observed in the Preface to this Book that Moses did not deliver all that is contained in this Book in one continued Speech but at several times as appears even by the beginning of the next Chapter where it is said He called all Israel and said unto them c. Which supposes that after this Preface in these four Chapters he dismissed them to consider what he had said and then some time after assembled the People again to put them in Mind of the Laws which he so earnestly pressed them to observe But between these two times after he had spoken all that is contained in these four Chapters and before he rehearsed the Decalogue he put in execution the Command of God lately given to set apart three Cities of Refuge on this side Jordan Which he here relates in the order I suppose wherein it was done On this side Jordan towards the Sun-rising On the East-side of Jordan according to what was ordered XXXV Numb 14. Ver. 42. That the Slayer might flee thither which Verse 42 should kill his Neighbour unawares c. See there v. 11 12 c. Ver. 43. Namely Bezer in the Wilderness in
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
so much of our Religion when they are Men and Women as the Jews do of theirs when they are meer Children From the Hebrew word limmathtem in this Verse ye shall teach them the Jews have framed a Conceit that their Talmud hath its Name signifying teaching and instruction as R. Jechiel saith in his Disputation with Nicolaus pag. 9. Speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way c. Taking all occasions to inculcate these Precepts upon them See VI. 7. and upon their Daughters as well as their Sons though the Jewish Doctors commonly fancy there is no command to instruct their Daughters in the Law See Mischna Sota Cap. III. Sect. IV. with Wagenseil's Annotations and the Gamara there p. 471 501. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And thou shalt write them upon the Door-posts of thy House and upon thy Gates See VI. 9. By this means God's Word being so rooted in the hearts of the Parents to use the words of Dr. Jackson as to bring forth this good Fruit in their Practice the Seed of it might be sown in the tender Hearts of their Children and be propagated from one Generation to another Verse 21 Ver. 21. That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children in the Land which the LORD sware unto your Fathers to give them Nothing is wont to move Men more than Love to themselves and Love to their Children whom they Love next to themselves As the days of Heaven upon the Earth As long as this World shall last Which the Psalmist speaking of David expresses in this manner His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven LXXXIX Psal 29. Which doth not signifie absolutely for ever but a long time For thus Baruch says the Jews in Babylon were commanded to pray for the Life of Nebuchadnezzar and the Life of Baltasar his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their days might be as the days of Heaven upon Earth Which is the very Phrase of Moses here in this place importing a very long Life And such Hyperbolical Expressions every one knows are used by the Heathen particularly by Virgil. Aeneid 1. Convexa polus dum sidera pascet Ver. 22. For if ye shall diligently keep all these Commandments Verse 22 c. To love the LORD your God This is still made the Condition of all their Happiness See v. 13. X. 20. To walk in all his ways In observance of his Laws which was the Fruit of true love to him And to cleave unto him So as to serve no other God but to persevere in the Worship of the LORD their God alone The Jews make this one of the DCXIII Precepts of the Law as they count them distinct by it self but they interpret it foolishly of sticking to the CABALA of their wise Men whereby they fancy themselves united unto God Ver. 23. Then will the LORD drive out all these Verse 23 Nations from before you As he had often promised VII 23. XXIII Exod. 27. And ye shall possess Nations greater and mightier than your selves VII 1. Ver. 24. Every place wherein the soles of your feet Verse 24 shall tread shall be yours That is every place of the promised Land as it is explained in the next words From the Wilderness Viz. of Sin which was on the South of Canaan And Lebanon Which was its Bounds on the North. From the River the River Euphrates Which was the Eastern Limits when in the days of Solomon their Empire reached hither according to the Promise unto Abraham in XV Gen. 18. Even unto the uttermost Sea shall your Coast be Which is now called the Mediterranean or the Midland Sea which bounded it on the West See XXXIV Numb 6. where it is called the Great Sea and in that Chapter the Bounds of their Country round about are described Verse 25 Ver. 25. There shall no Man be able to stand before you See VII 24. For the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the Land that ye shall tread upon as he hath said unto you For God had promised to terrifie the Inhabitants of Canaan and take away their Courage XXIII Exod. 27. And accordingly the Spies whom Joshua sent brought him an account of the great Consternation wherein the whole Country was when they were about to enter into it II Josh 9 24. Verse 26 Ver. 26. Behold I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse That is he proposed them to their choice Verse 27 Ver. 27. A Blessing if you obey the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day Which he more largely explains XXVIII 2 3 4 c. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandment of the LORD your God Which is also more particularly laid before them XXVIII 15 16 17 c. The whole Historical Part of the Old Testament witnesses the Truth of this that God blessed or cursed them according as they observed or broke his Laws And if the People of Israel had diligently marked considered and laid to heart that their Happiness or Misery were always correspondent to their good and bad Behaviour towards God it would have confirmed their Belief of their Law as much as if they had seen all the Miracles done before their Fore-fathers and supplied the want or the rarity of them in after Ages Nay this would have done more than all the Miracles did which were forgotten in a short time whereas their own daily Experience of the happy Fruits of Obedience and the Mischief of Disobedience would have sealed these Truths unto their Conscience But turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known It was not every sin that turned God's favour from them but their Idolatry and Apostacy from him against which he principally warns them throughout all these Chapters IV. 3 4 15 16 23. V. 32. VI. 4 14. VII 4 5 25. VIII 19. IX 12. X. 20. Ver. 29. And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy Verse 26 God hath brought thee into the Land whither thou goest to possess it that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal To quicken them unto a strict care in their Obedience Blessings and Cursings were to be pronounced with great Solemnity at their first entrance into the Land of Canaan as is more fully ordered XXVII 11 12 c. and performed by Joshua VIII 33 34 35. And Moses seems to enjoyn them the like Solemnity every Seventh Year XXXI 10 11 12 13. Ver. 30. Are they not on the other side Jordan Verse 30 With respect to the place where Moses now was the Mountains he mentions were on the other side of Jordan in the Land of Canaan In which they had no sooner got footing but Joshua took care to execute this Command that their
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
can tell why yet Diodorus Siculus acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the God from whom Moses pretended to have his Laws i. e. JEHOVAH Ver. 7. For what Nation is there so great who hath Verse 7 God so nigh unto them as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for Both Onkelos and the Paraphrase of Jonathan and likewise the Hierusalem Targum are very significant upon this place What People is there who have a God that approaches to them so as the LORD our God doth to us At whatsoever Hour we cry unto him he answers us It is the manner of other People to carry their Gods upon their Shoulders to shew that they are near to them when alas they are afar off and cannot hear them But the LORD our God sits on his Throne on high and hears our Prayers whatsoever time we call upon him c. To which may be added that they had a Symbol of God's Presence continually among them in the Holy Place where he dwelt with them and Moses whensoever he pleased consulted him in all difficult Affairs as their High-Priest might do with the Vrim and Thummim in all times to come Ver. 8. And what Nation is there so great that hath Verse 8 Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this Day The true Greatness of a Nation it appears by this and the foregoing Verse consists in the sincere Worship of God and in the upright Administration of Justice Both which were so provided for by the Divine Laws among the Jews that no Nation could compare with them or was really so great as they were For though their Country was but small and they were often oppressed by several cruel Enemies who desired their Extirpation yet they recovered themselves and kept their Laws in their worst Condition when commonly they best observed them Insomuch that as a very learned Person of our own Church long ago observed After so many Changes and Alterations as there were in their State from better to worse and back again after so many Victories got by them over others and so many Captivities of their Persons and Desolations of their Country as others had wrought they continued still one and the same People governed by the same Laws under several great and potent Monarchies The successive Rise and Fall of Three of which they were preserved to behold and in their declining State able to stand out a great while against the Fourth the mightiest that ever was on Earth and that when this Monarchy was in its full strength This is a plain Demonstration of the Truth of these Words of Moses That no Nation was so great as they See Dr. Jackson's First Book upon the Creed Chap. XXI Maimonides observes That the word Zaddikim which we translate righteous signifies as much as equal and proportionate Such saith he were all these Laws of God in which there was no excess by the prescription of long Pilgrimages or severe Fastings nor any defect which might open the Window to any Vice or make them careless in the Practice of Vertue More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIX Verse 9 Ver. 9. Only take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thou hast seen c. Their only danger was lest they should grow careless and unmindful of all the wonderful Things that God had done for them Which he therefore exhorts them to think of frequently and to keep in Memory and lay to Heart so that they might preserve the Sence of them as long as they lived and likewise teach all Posterity to be mindful of them Ver. 10. Especially the Day that thou stoodest before Verse 10 the LORD thy God in Horeb. But above all that memorable Day when the LORD delivered his Law to them from Mount Sinai at which the oldest of them were present and had seen and heard what he said and how it was delivered When the LORD said unto me Gather me the People together Unto the foot of Mount Sinai where they stood at such a distance from it as God prescribed XIX Exod. 10 11 12 13. And I will make them hear my Words XIX Exod. 9 c. XX Exod. 1 c. That they may learn to fear me all the Days that they shall live upon the Earth c. For those Words which they heard were pronounced in so terrible a manner as to make them dread to offend his Majesty and to instruct their Children to stand in awe of him Ver. 11. And ye came near and stood under the Verse 11 Mountain XIX Exod. 17. And the Mountain burnt with Fire XIX Exod. 16 18. Into the midst of Heaven Into the middle of the Air which is frequently called Heaven in Scripture as the Fouls of Heaven are the Fouls of the Air But whether the Fire flamed up precisely into the very midst of the lower Region of the Air or only a great height is not material either way the Expression is proper enough Ver. 12. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the Fire XIX Exod 20. XX. 1 22. Ye heard the Voice of the Words XX Exod. 19. Verse 12 But saw no Similitude Tho' sometimes the Divine Majesty seems to have appeared in a visible Shape VII Dan. 9 10. yet when he came to give them his Law he would not appear in the Figure of a Man or any other thing that might seem to represent him to their outward Senses or their Imagination For it had been dangerous then to manifest himself under any Resemblance when he forbad them to make any Resemblance of him They would have thought he forbad them to make any other Resemblance but that wherein he shewed himself to them in which they would have concluded it was lawful to represent him Only ye heard a Voice From hence some of the Jews would gather that the People only heard the Sound of God's Words when he spake the Ten Commandments but not the Distinction of the Sound so as to understand the Sense of what he said Thus Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. 2. Cap. XXXIII Which is manifestly false as appears from Ver. 10. and 13. and XX Exod. 22. For therefore the Day wherein he spake to them in Horeb was so remarkable as never to be forgotten because he made them hear his Words so that they might learn to fear him c. For tho' he did not appear in the likeness of any thing to them yet he vouchsafed to speak to them plainly in their own Language that they might be instructed in their Duty both which was to keep them from Idolatry He did not let them see any Shape that they might not make any Image of him to worship it or him by it after the manner of the Heathens but he let them hear his Voice that they might not go and worship any other Gods which the Heathens pretended spake to them Ver.
your God which he made with you and make you a graven Image c. For this Verse 23 was the principal thing in the Covenant that they should worship him alone Which is the reason it is so often repeated and was immediately after the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai mentioned alone as if it was the only thing he had said unto them XX Exod. 22 23. Ye have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven Ye shall not make with me Gods of Silver neither shall ye make unto you Gods of Gold Ver. 24. For the LORD thy God is a consuming Verse 24 Fire So he appeared upon the Mount when he delivered his Laws from thence in flaming Fire XXIV Exod. 17. The learned Huetius thinks that from these Words of Moses the ancient Persians took up the Worship of Fire at first only as a Resemblance of God or a Symbol of him as Maximus Tyrius saith Dissert XVIII but afterwards as God himself Demonstr Evangel p. 94. Even a jealous God Who cannot endure any Rival in your Affection See XX Exod. 5. These were two awakening Arguments to keep them from Idolatry that God cannot endure it and will be very terrible in his punishment of it Ver. 25. When thou shalt beget Children and Childrens Verse 25 Children and shalt have remained long in the Land When they were very much multiplied and had been long settled in the possession of the Land of Canaan And shall corrupt your selves By the Worship of other Gods And make a graven Image or the likeness of any thing Which he had strictly prohibited and solemnly caution'd them to beware of v. 23. And shalt do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God to provoke him to Anger By imitating the idolatrous Customs of other Nations Verse 26 Ver. 26. I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you this Day A solemn kind of Asseveration that as surely as the Heaven and the Earth shall endure they should utterly perish That ye shall soon utterly perish from off this Land whereunto ye go c. As soon as the Measure of your Iniquity is filled up ye shall speedily be destroyed without Remedy Which the Hebrews refer to the Captivity by Salmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar after they had been almost Eight hundred Years in this Country and so might be said to have remained long in the Land Verse 27 Ver. 27. And the LORD shall scatter you among the Nations See XXVI Levit. 33. And ye shall be left few in number among the Heathen c. XXVI Levit. 22. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And there ye shall serve Gods the work of Mens Hands Wood and Stone c. The Idols of the Heathen To the Worship of which he threatens to abandon them as a punishment for their Apostasie from God And the Heathen sometime compelled them to worship their Gods as we read in the Third of Daniel Which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell This is a Description of the most stupid Idolatry to which they should be delivered if they fell from God See XXI Numb 29. Ver. 29. But if from thence than shalt seek the LORD thy God When they were scattered among the Heathen v. 27. Thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thy Heart Verse 29 and all thy Soul If they then repented sincerely and became unfeigned Worshippers of the LORD their God alone he promises them forgiveness Ver. 30. When thou art in tribulation and all these Verse 30 things are come upon thee In great distress by the execution of the foregoing Threatnings Even in the latter Days In future Times or in their most declining State The Jews themselves apply this to the present State wherein they now are and have been many Years as appears by the ancient Nitzacon set forth lately by Wagenseil p. 254. where he saith the whole Nation must repent before God send Deliverance unto them If thou turn to the LORD thy God and shalt be obedient to his Voice The great end of punishment was to convert them and make them more observant of God's Commands Ver. 31. For the LORD thy God is a merciful God Verse 31 See XXXIV Exod. 6 7. XIV Numb 17 18. He will not forsake thee neither destroy thee c. He promises not to cast them off nor destroy them utterly tho' they were utterly thrown out of their Land v. 26. but restore them to his Favour according to the Covenant made with their Fathers and confirmed by an Oath XVII Gen. 19. XXII 16 17. See XXVI Levit. 44 45. Ver. 32. For ask now of the Days that are past which Verse 32 were before thee since the day that God created Man upon the Earth c. Turn over the Annals of the whole World from one end of it to the other ever since it was made and search whether thou canst find any thing like to that which God hath done for you Which R. Isaac thus glosses in his Munimen Fidei lately set forth by Wagenseil p. 103. From the Creation of the World till their going out of Egypt there were passed Two thousand four hundred and forty eight Years and yet in all that long Tract of Time there never were seen or heard in any part of the World such prodigious Miracles as were wrought to bring them out of Egypt and afterward in leading them through the Red Sea raining Manna on them and the appearance of the Divine Majesty at Mount Sinai c. Verse 33 Ver. 33. Did ever People hear the Voice of God speaking out of the midst of Fire as thou hast heard and live Here was a double or rather tripple Prodigy never heard of before that God should speak to them audibly and distinctly so long as to inform them in their Duty towards himself and one another and this out of the midst of devouring Flames and without the least hurt to any one of them XX Exod. 18. XX. 18. XXIV 17. Verse 34 Ver. 34. Or hath God assayed to go and take him a Nation from the midst of another Nation Another Wonder never before heard of that God by two Men alone Moses and Aaron should demand the Delivery of a Nation under the Power of another Nation far greater and stronger than themselves and effect it also by no other Means but such as here follow By Temptations This word may be thought to signifie the grievous Trials of the Israelites whose Miseries were increased after the first Attempt for their Deliverance which seemed to them a strange way of proceeding V Exod. 19 22 23. But by Temptations may in this place be in general meant Miracles as the Hebrews understand it and the Chaldee word Tenessin signifies This and the two following words being of the very same import with the three words in the New Testament which we often meet withal and seem to be taken from hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 With Miracles Wonders and Signs II Act. 22. 2 Corinth XII II Hebr.
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
elsewhere by the illustrious Examples of Darius Xerxes and the Athenians in Sicily Verse 10 Ver. 10. If there be among you any man that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth to him by night This seems to be only one Instance of Uncleanness from which they were to keep themselves carefully though it was no moral Impurity nor a voluntary Pollution By which it was easie for them to understand how watchful they were to be over themselves in all other Cases especially such as had an inward turpitude in them Then he shall go abroad out of the Camp There is no such thing required before in XV Levit. 16. where the same Pollution is mentioned The reason I suppose was that he speaks there of what hapned to them in their own Houses where they had private Chambers into which they might retire and keep themselves from defiling others But here of those that were abroad in the Army where it was hard to keep their fellow Soldiers from touching them without removing out of the Camp He shall not come within the Camp This some understand particularly Drusius of not coming within the Camp of God and of the Levites that is to the Tabernacle but it seems to be an Exclusion of him from the whole Camp of Israel as I have expounded it Verse 11 Ver. 11. But it shall be when evening cometh on he shall wash himself with water and when the Sun is down he shall come into the Camp again See XV Levit. 16. The end of all this as Maimonides observes More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LXL was that every Man might have this fixed in his mind that their Camp ought to be as the Sanctuary of God into which every one knows no Man might enter in his Uncleanness and not like the Camps of the Gentiles in which all manner of Corruption Filthiness Rapines Thefts and other Wickednesses were freely committed Ver. 12. Thou shalt have a place also without the Camp Verse 12 whither thou shalt go forth abroad A place distant from all Company where they might ease themselves as it is explained in the next Verse For natural Honesty directed all Men on such occasions to seek privacy and it tended as all Cleanliness doth to the preservation of Health which was one reason of ordering them to find a place without the Camp that there might be no offensive smell among them And hereby as Maimonides observes they were distinguished from brute Beasts which commonly ease themselves any where and before any body But besides all this Moses himself gives us the principal reason of this Command peculiarly respecting the Israelites v. 14. Verse 13 Ver. 13. Thou shalt have a paddle An Instrument wherewith to digg up the Ground and cover it again Epiphanius Haeres LXXVII calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Iron Paddle Vpon thy weapon Their Sword I suppose And it shall be when thou wilt ease thy self abroad It was not in their choice when they would do this but when their needs required yet the Jews will have it that they were to accustom themselves to do this business in the Morning as soon as they were up Thus the Jews at this day as Leo Modena tells us in his History of them Part I. Chap. VI. afterwards washing their Hands that they may go clean to their Prayers Thou shalt dig therewith A hole in the ground And shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee That there might be no appearance nor scent of it remaining This is still practised by the Carribians among whom there is never any such thing as Ordure seen So the Authors of the History of the Carriby Islands tell us Book II. Chap. XIV Where they observe also out of Busbequius that the Turks use the same Cleanliness in their Camps making an hole with a piece of Iron wherein they bury their Excrements And in this matter the Essens were extreamly superstitious for as Josephus relates they would not ease themselves at all on the Sabbath day because they lookt upon it as a labour to dig in the earth and Excrements not fit to be seen on that day Ver. 14. For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy Camp At this time the Ark which was the Token of the Divine Presence was settled in the midst of their Camp and whithersoever they moved Verse 14 was carried along with them two Standards going before and two following and the Ark between them in the midst as appears from the Tenth of Numbers It is likely also that it was carried in after times in the midst of them when they went to War as some think it was when they went against the Midianites XXXI Numb 6. and when they encompassed Jericho Now this Presence of God among them was the reason why no Uncleanness though in it self natural might be found in their Camp but out of reverence to the Divine Majesty which dwelt between the Cherubims over the Ark be removed afar off And by such Actions as these Maimonides well observes God intended to strengthen and confirm the Faith of the Soldiers that God dwelling among them would go along with them and fight for them against their Enemies as it here follows More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI And thus Abarbinel discourses upon these words The Camps of the Israelites ought to be holy having a special Providence of God among them For they do not make War by meer Humane Power and Courage but by the Power of God and of his Spirit on which they depend for deliverance from all evil and victory over their Enemies c. To deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee This is the constant sense of this Phrase Of God's being in the midst of them to defend protect and deliver them from all evil as I observed before See VII Deut. 21. III Josh 10. XLVI Psal 6. III Zachar. 15. Now this Cleanliness being commanded with respect to the Divine Presence which dwelt among them the Jews are strangely mistaken in using such Superstitions as they do in every place when they have no such Presence of the Divine Majesty in the midst of them See Schickard in Mischpat Hammelech Cap. V. Theorem XVIII p. 144 c. Therefore shall thy Camp be holy Free from all manner of Defilements though they be only of this sort That he see no unclean thing in thee In these words saith Maimonides in the place before-named he deters them from Fornication which is far worse than the fore-mentioned Uncleanness but too common among the Soldiers when they are absent from their own homes And therefore that he might keep them from such Impurities he commands them such Actions he means covering their Ordure as might call to their minds the glorious Majesty of God which dwelt among them But though the Hebrew word which we here translate unclean thing properly signifies nakedness and all those impure Mixtures mentioned in the Eighteenth of Leviticus and
of what he said Or rather that the next time he went up to worship at God's House he was bound to make this declaration before the Divine Majesty Which is the most likely Interpretation because these words before the LORD are always so used in these Books And unless they had been obliged to this their covetous and cruel disposition might have inclined them to defraud the Poor which by this means was prevented For though Men might have satisfied themselves in omitting this Profession if it had been left meerly to their own private Consciences yet when they were bound to come and make it publickly at God's own House as they could not avoid it so few would be found so impudently prophane as solemnly to tell a lye to God himself I have brought away the hallowed things Things separated by the Divine Commandment from their own private use for the use of the Poor Out of my house From the rest of the Fruits of the Earth which they had gathered And also I have given them unto the Levite and unto the stranger to the fatherless and to the widow That is unto the Refreshment of the Poor So the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases v. 2. which is worth the mentioning In the third year which is the year of tithing for the Poor ye shall give the first Tithes to the Levites and then the Tithes of the Poor to the Strangers Fatherless and Widows that they may eat in their Cities and be filled According to all thy Commandments which thou hast commanded me According to the direction before-mentioned XIV 29. I have not transgressed thy Commandments neither have I forgotten them Neither done contrary to God's Precepts nor forgotten to perform them either by keeping these Tithes to themselves or by bestowing them otherwise than God appointed Ver. 14. I have not eaten thereof in my mourning Verse 14 After the general Profession mentioned in the Verse foregoing that they had brought all hallowed things out of their Houses and employed them as God directed they were to make three particular Professions which are mentioned in this Verse and it is probable they have respect to some idolatrous Customs which were in those days The first of them is that they had not eaten thereof in mourning or in lamentation For so the Hebrew word Oni signifies very bitter grief and sore mourning Such the Egyptians made in Harvest time when they offered the First-fruits of the Earth and kept the Feast of Isis with doleful Lamentations So Diodorus Siculus and other Authors tell us particularly Julius Firmicus who severely reproves their folly or madness rather saying Cur plangitis fruges terrae c. Why do you bewail the Fruits of the Earth why weep you at the growth of your Seed c. you should rather give thanks for these things to the most high God whose Bounty is not to be lamented but bewail rather your own Error c. If there was such a Custom in the World when Moses lived it may very well be thought that he taught the Israelites to disclaim such sensless and impious practices And as the Egyptians by this mourning acknowledged Isis that is the Earth to be the giver of all these good things so he required God's People to bring in their Harvest with the greatest Joy and Thanks unto the most High For there was no Joy so great as that of Harvest and Vintage directly opposite to the Heathen who kept the Feast of Bacchus also with Lamentations See our Learned Dr. Spencer Lib. II. de Ritual Hebr. Leg. Cap. XXIV Sect. I. Nor taken ought thereof for any unclean use As some of the old Idolaters were wont to do who separated some part of the First-fruits for Magical purposes and some times for carnal and filthy So Julius Firmicus informs us who immediately after the mention of their Lamentations when they gathered the Fruits of the Earth asks this question Quid addis incestum adulterium Which shows that there were unclean Rites which accompanied their Offerings and that they made them minister unto Venus See the same Learned Author in the same place Sect. III. Nor given ought thereof for the dead If this be the right Translation of the last words for the dead St. Austin hath given us a likely reason of this Clause which was to profess they had not imitated the Gentiles who were wont to set Meat and Drink upon the Graves of the Dead as he tells us Serm. XV. de Sanctis But it doth not appear that they set any part of their Tithe or First-fruits upon them nor that they did it only in Harvest time but rather common Bread and Wine which at all times they set upon their Graves when they were interred and therefore it may be translated to the dead as the same excellent Person observes Sect. III. And so it is a profession they had not offered any of the Fruits of the Earth to Heroes after the manner of the Gentiles particularly to Osiris For that they honoured them with their First-fruits appears by a passage in Porphyry Lib. IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. XXII where he mentions three Laws made by Triptolemus an ancient Lawgiver among the Athenians One of which is this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to worship the gods with the Fruits of the Earth Which Draco thus expounds as he shows in the Conclusion of that Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To honour the Gods and the Heroes of their Country publickly according to the Laws of the Nation and privately as much as they were able with speaking well of them and with the First-fruits and the Annual Offerings See Meursius in his Themis Attica Lib. I. Cap. I. But however we take this the giving any part of the Tithe either for the dead or to the dead shows there was such a Superstitious Custom unto which this Clause having a manifest respect we have reason to think the two former have so likewise But I have hearkned to the voice of the LORD my God and done according to all that thou hast commanded me Performed all that God required and done nothing contrary to it All these words from v. 13. to this place were to be spoken with a low and humble voice because they are a sort of Commendation of themselves and of their own Integrity which is not to be proclaimed aloud But when they made the foregoing Profession at the presenting of their First-fruits v. 5 6 c. they being an acknowledgment of their own meanness and poor beginnings and of God's infinite goodness in their advancement they were to lift up their voice and say aloud My Father was a Syrian ready to perish c. Thus the Doctors resolve in the Gemara of Mischna Sota Cap. VII in the beginning of it Verse 15 Ver. 15. Look down Have a gracious regard From thy holy habitation from heaven This is an humble acknowledgment of the Infinite Majesty of God who though he was graciously
before-mentioned Plainly importing That Men could not pretend ignorance of their Duty nor had any reason to desire that some Body would go to Heaven again for those things which Moses had already brought from thence And thus the Apostle most justly accommodates these words to the new Revelation from Heaven by the Son of God which was not abstruse and difficult but as plain and perspicuous as this now made by Moses Ver. 13. Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldst Verse 13 say Who shall go over the Sea for us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of Philo in his Book concerning Rewards and Punishments so as to need long and tedious Voyages laborious and wearisom Travels to fetch it from foreign Countries Such as the Greek Philosophers took who travelled into Egypt and the Eastern part of the World to learn Wisdom which God now taught his People in the Wilderness without any pains to attain it Ver. 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee Being Verse 14 brought to their very Doors by Moses the Servant of God who now delivered to them the Mind of God as the Son of God himself did afterwards when he came and dwelt among them In thy mouth and in thy heart Made so familiar to them that they might always have it in their common Discourse to teach it their Children and had now been so often repeated that it might well be laid up in their Memory never to be forgotten by them VI. 6 7 8 9. XI 18 19 20. It was also in the mouth of their Priests who were to teach them Knowledge II Malachi 7. and press it upon their hearts Here the forenamed R. Isaac in both the places forenamed observes That Repentance depends on the confession of the mouth and grief of the heart but the largest Confession and the sorest Grief will not avail them till they repent of their Crucifying the LORD Jesus and shall confess him with their mouth and believe in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead c. as St. Paul speaks X Rom. 9 10. That thou mayest do it That they might have nothing to do but to put it in practice and in order thereunto continually read it and keep it in mind In which the Jews were so diligent that as Josephus tells the Gentiles Lib. II. contra Apionem they could as easily recite all the Laws of God as tell their Names But here was their Error that they were not careful to do what they knew to be the Will of God and so when he sent his Son among them who plainly declared to them more fully the meaning of their holy Books they could not understand and receive that which they read every day And indeed this is the common Error as Dr. Jackson well observes of all corrupt Minds to seek that afar off as if they were Strangers to it which is really in their Mouth and in their Heart so that they would but be doers and not only hearers of the Word as St. James speaks alluding perhaps to these words of Moses As St. Paul applies this whole passage to the Gospel which is that Word of Faith so preached and published by the Apostles that it may be in all our Mouths and Hearts without going to seek for any other infallible Teacher Ver. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and Verse 15 good death and evil Life and Good Death and Evil may be but two words for the same thing viz. all manner of Happiness and all manner of Misery both which he had at large set before them in the Twenty eighth Chapter Or by Life may be meant long Life in the Land God had promised them and Good all the Prosperity they could wish for there as on the other side Death may signifie their being cut off from the Land of the Living before their time and Evil all the Calamities he had threatned while they lived And so the next Verse seems to interpret it Maimonides from these words observes that the wills of Men are under no force nor coaction but are free Agents and therefore have Precepts imposed upon them with a Punishment threatned to the Disobedient and a Reward promised to those who keep God's Commandments Of which he treats at large in his Preface to his Commentary upon Pirke Avoth Cap. VIII Ver. 16. In that I command thee this day to love the Verse 16 LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes and Judgments This includes their intire Obedience to all God's Laws which are comprehended under these three Names See VI. 1 5. VII 11. X. 12 13. That thou mayest live and multiply and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it This is the Explication of the Life and Good which he set before them if they observed God's Laws with sincere affection to them v. 15. Ver. 17. But if thine heart turn away so that thou Verse 17 wilt not hear Want of Love to God and of a due Esteem of his wonderful Love to them made their Heart turn away to other things and not regard what he had revealed to them from Heaven And worship other gods and serve them This was the principal Breach of the Covenant of God Verse 18 Ver. 18. I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the Land whither ye go c. This is the Explication of the Death and Evil he set before them v. 15. Verse 19 Ver. 19. I call Heaven and Earth to record this day aginst you that I have set before you life and death God Angels and Men were Witnesses that he had done his duty See IV. 26. VIII 19. and therefore is owned by God himself to be faithful in all his house XII Numb 7. Blessing and cursing They are the same with Life and Death but he uses several words to make them sensible that both proceeded from God the one being the Effect of his Love and Favour and the other of his Anger and high Displeasure Therefore chuse life that thou and thy seed may live That is chuse to be Obedient without which they could not be happy Or he wishes them to set their hearts on the happiness God had promised them that it might incline them to do as follows Verse 20 Ver. 20. That thou mayest love the LORD thy God and obey his voice Love is the noblest and the strongest Spring of Obedience And that thou mayest cleave unto him Obedience to God is the surest Preservative from Apostasy For he is thy life and the length of thy days Chapter XXXI The Author and Giver of Life which he preserves and prolongs unto those who are obedient That thou mayest dwell in the Land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them Which Promise confirmed
so much as a wrinkle in his Cheeks So some of the Ancients interpret the last Clause Others He had not lost so much as a Tooth out of his Mouth See Bocharius in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. Cap. XLV p. 506. Both Onkelos and the Hierusalem Targum refer it to the Splendor of his Countenance which continued to the last From hence it was that the Heathen who were not wholly unacquainted with this Story but had not a perfect knowledge of it imagined that Moses was troubled to die when he was so vigorous For Trebellius Pollio in the Life of Claudius saith that the most learned Mathematicians were wont to say that no Man lived beyond an Hundred and twenty years For though Moses lived an Hundred and five and twenty years so he mistakes being Dei ut Judaeorum libri loquantur familiaris a Man familiar with God as the Books of the Jews tell us yet he complaining that juvenis interiret he died when he was young they say he was told by an uncertain God that no Man should ever live longer This Mistake arose from their misinterpretation of those words VI Gen. 3. Yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years For Huetius well observes that this incertus Deus was the true God the Creator of Heaven and Earth whom St. Paul saith they called also the unknown God Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. Cap. I. N. LVII And I cannot but add that this passage out of Trebellius was taken notice of above an hundred years ago by a learned Man I have often mentioned David Chytraeus to show that these Sacred Books were not unknown to the Heathen and that they had a Reverence for them Verse 8 Ver. 8. And the Children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days The time of Mourning for the Dead was longer or shorter according to the Dignity of the Person And the Jews have a Tradition which distinguishes between the days of Weeping and Mourning The former of which never exceeded a Month which was the time they wept for Moses the latter never lasted more than a year as they gather from the Example of the greatest Doctor they ever had R. Judah who composed the Mischna for whom they mourned Twelve Months See Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. VI. Theor. XIX and upon L Gen. 3 10. XX Numb 29. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended They lamented him compleatly thirty days and no longer By which it seems that weeping and mourning whatsoever difference was between them were anciently of the same length though the Jews in the forenamed Tradition are pleased to make the one last much longer than the other Now by this and what follows in the Book of Joshua we may certainly know the truth of what I said on v. 5. concerning the day on which Moses died For if we add unto these thirty days which followed immediately upon it the three days wherein the Spies lay hid in the Mountain II Josh 22. and allow three or four days more for their going and coming back and then add the three days they lay by Jordan before they passed over III Josh 2. they make just a Month and ten days from the first day of the last Month when I supposed Moses died unto the day they got safe over Jordan which was the tenth day of the first Month. Whereas if we reckon as the Jews do that Moses died on the seventh day of the last Month it would have been the seventeenth day of the first Month before they got over Jordan I observe also that though the Talmudists generally make him to have died on the seventh day of Adar yet there have been some who placed it on the first For the Medrasch Rabbah telling the story of Haman's casting Lots to find the best time to do Execution on the Jews saith he pitched upon the Month ADAR because it had been unlucky to the Jews by the death of their Master Moses therein But he did not consider saith that Medrasch that as Moses died on the first day of this Month so he was born on the same first day Ver. 9. And Joshua the Son of Nun was full of the Spirit of Wisdom To take the Government upon Verse 9 him and manage it prudently as soon as Moses left them Which was necessary to be mentioned that it might not be thought they wanted a Head to conduct them as their Neighbours possibly might imagine when the News came of Moses his death For as the Samaritans tell the story in Hottinger's Smegma Orientale p. 462. when they heard the Lamentations which the whole Congregation made for Moses they began to rejoyce and gather their Forces together to set upon the Israelites as wanting a Leader But they soon found themselves mistaken Joshua having taken the Charge of them and being endued with his Spirit For Moses had laid his hands upon him Whereby he committed to him the Supream Authority after his departure and implored the Spirit of God to qualifie him for it For power to execute any Office among the Jews was given by laying on of hands whereby they were ordained and appointed to it And this was a Rite of Prayer also as many have observed for the obtaining the Gifts of the Spirit which were necessary for the discharge of that Office And though no words of Prayer be mentioned yet the very laying on of hands denotes it as our learned Dr. Outram observes from this very place and from I Tim. V. 22. Lib. I. de Sacrif Cap. XV. N. VIII Of Moses his laying on Hands upon Joshua we read XXVII Numbers 18 c. And he was solemnly also a little before Moses his death presented unto God by his own Command XXXI of this Book 14 c. And the Children of Israel hearkned unto him and did as the LORD commanded Moses Obeyed him as their Supream Governour according to God's Command delivered to Moses XXVII Numb 20. XXXI Deut. 23. See 1 Josh 16 17 c. Ver. 10. And there rose not a Prophet since in Verse 10 Israel like to Moses This is a plain demonstration that the promise God makes by Moses that he would raise up a Prophet like to him XVIII Deut. 15 19 c. was not fulfilled either in Joshua or in Samuel who it is likely wrote this Chapter as I said before and the best of the Jews confess shall not be fulfilled till MESSIAH come Thus the Author of Sepher Ikkarim Lib. III. Cap. XX. It cannot be but that a Prophet shall at last arise like to Moses or greater than he for the King Messiah shall be as great or greater Therefore these words are not to be expounded as if there should never be such a Prophet but that in all the time of the following Prophets till the Cessation of Prophecy none should arise like to Moses But after that there shall be one like him or rather greater than he Whom the LORD