1 Deut. II. The LORD God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many mo as you are and bless you as he hath promised you CHAP. VII Chapter VII Ver. 1. AND it came to pass on the day that Moses Verse 1 had fully set up the Tabernacle Which he did upon the first Day of the first Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt XL Exod. 17 18. And had anointed it and sanctified it c. See VIII Levit. 10 11. where it is said he anointed also as it here likewise follows all belonging to it Which being seven days in doing as appears from v. 35. of that Chapter it is evident that the word Day doth not here precisely denote the very Day on which the Tabernacle was erected but more largely at or about that time as it must necessarily signifie v. 84. of this Chapter after he had set up the Tabernacle and not only sanctified and anointed it but received Orders about Sacrifices and anointed the Priests with the rest mentioned in the Book of Leviticus and also had numbred the People ordered their Encampment and the Encampment of the Levites and given them their Charge about the Tabernacle In short when Moses had done all the things mentioned hitherto in this Book then followed this Dedication of the Altar And whosoever will compare this Chapter with the second may easily be convinced that this Offering of the Princes was not made till the Camp was formed and the Tribes ranged under their several Standards For the Princes Offer held in the same Order and Method that they are disposed there Ver. 2. That the Princes of Israel heads of the House of their Fathers Mentioned Chap. I. 5 16. And were over them that were numbred This evidently Verse 2 shows that this Offering of the Princes was after the numbring of the People Offered In the Order that is set down in this Chapter Verse 3 Ver. 3. And they brought their Offering The LXX translate the Hebrew word Korbanam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Gift or their Present which they made to God Which consisted of several things for divers uses Before the LORD i. e. At the Door of the Tabernacle as it is explained in the end of the Verse Six covered Wagons and twelve Oxen. In the first place they made a Present for the Service of the Tabernacle it self That such parts of it as were most cumbersome might be more conveniently carried and that they might be free from Dust Rain or Hail The Wagons were covered being not ordinary Carriages but such as were used by great Persons So the LXX understood it who translate the Hebrew word Tzabbim by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the LXVI Isa 20. and here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now as Pollux reckons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Wagons and Chariots then used So Hesychius tells us as Learned Men have observed it signifies such Wagons as illustrious Men and Women used and that they were covered above A Wagon for two of the Princes This shows plainly enough that they were sumptuous and had perhaps rich Coverings in that two of the great Men joyned in the Present of one Wagon And for each one an Ox. That there might be a Pair of Oxen to draw each Wagon And it is probable those Oxen were yoked together which were offered by those two Princes who joined in offering one Wagon And they brought them before the Tabernacle Set them before the entrance of it Ver. 4. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Verse 4 It seems Moses did not accept these Presents till he had Orders from the LORD in the next words Ver. 5. Take it of them Receive their Present as Verse 5 acceptable to me That they may be to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Congregation He directs their use which was to carry the Tabernacle when they removed from one place to another And thou shalt give them to the Levites In order to which he directs him to bestow them upon the Levites who had the charge of that Carriage To every Man according to his Service In such Proportions as the things they had to carry required Ver. 6. And Moses took the Wagons and Oxen and Verse 6 gave them to the Levites In such Proportions as follow in the next two Verses Ver. 7. Two Wagons and four Oxen to the Sons of Verse 7 Gershon according to their Service As they were fewest in number that could do Service so they had less burdensome things to carry than the Sons of Merari IV. 25 40. and therefore had fewer Carriages allowed them Ver. 8. And four Wagons and eight Oxen he gave unto the Sons of Merari according to their Service They were the most numerous but had the greatest Verse 8 burden and therefore had allowance of more Carriages and Oxen IV. 31 32 48. Vnder the hand of Ithamar the Son of Aaron the Priest Who had the Inspection and Care both of the Gershonites and Merarites IV. 28 33. Verse 9 Ver. 9. But unto the Sons of Kohath he gave none For the reason that follows Because the Service of the Sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their Shoulders The LXX translate it more exactly because they had the Service of the holy thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Ark is called IV. 4. they shall carry it on their Shoulders Which was for the greater Honour and Dignity of the Ark and of the Law contained in it as Maimonides R. Levi ben Gersem and others observe And that the Form and Structure of the Ark might not be discomposed as Maimonides adds More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLV nor the Ephod and the Breast-plate rufled as they might have been by the shaking of a Wagon Yet they all observe this was not so peculiar to the Sons of Kohath but that the Priests the Sons of Aaron upon some special occasion carried the Ark particularly when they went over Jordan III Josh 3. and at the Siege of Jericho at both which times a great Miracle was to be wrought And when Zadok and Abiathar carried it back to Jerusalem 2 Sam. XV. 29. though that I observed before may be otherways interpreted and there seems no reason why they should carry it back when the Levites brought it ver 24. and when Solomon's Temple was built 1 Kings VIII 6. for the Levites might not go into the Holy Place and therefore it was then carried by the Priests Ver. 10. And the Princes offered They brought the Offerings which they desired might be presented Verse 10 unto God For the dedicating of the Altar The Hebrew word Chanac which in one place of the Pentateuch signifies simply to begin to use or enjoy an House XX Deut. 6. here and several other places signifies the first Application and Addiction of any thing to Sacred Uses or to the Divine Service to which it had been designed and consecrated And this was done with some certain solemn
not think such things incredible as Huetius hath shown in his Quaestiones Alnetanae L. I. cap. 12. n. 24. Ver. 9. And Moses brought out all the Rods from before Verse 9 the LORD unto all the Children of Israel Before whom they were exposed to open view that they might see the difference God had made And they looked and took every Man his Rod. Viewed them and taking them into their Hands examined them and found they were the very same Rods which they had delivered unto Moses with their Names on them without any alteration Ver. 10. And the LORD said unto Moses bring Verse 10 Aaron's Rod again Which either Moses held in his Hand or delivered it to Aaron as he did the rest to the several Princes of the Tribes who showed it to the Children of Israel with the Buds Blossoms and Almonds upon it After which God commanded it to be returned unto him Before the Testimony To be laid up in the place where it was before it was thus changed v. 4 7. To be kept for a Token against the Rebels That it might be produced as a sufficient Conviction of their Impiety if any presumed hereafter to rebel against Aaron's Authority Or rather that it might prevent all Insurrections against it for the future For it remained we find in the most Holy Place for some time as appears both from the Apostle IX Hebr. 4. and from the reason of its being put here that it might be preserved as a Sign or Proof of Aaron's Authority and Suppress all opposition to it But how long it continued we cannot tell for it is not mentioned when the Ark was brought into the Temple of Solomon 1 Kings VIII 9. nor is it certain whether it continued in that verdure wherein it now appeared with the Buds Blossoms and Fruit though it is highly probable it did because it was to be a Testimony that the Honour of the Priesthood should continue to Aaron's Family alone through all Generations There are those who take this Rod which blossomed and was laid up in the most Holy Place to have been the Rod of Moses wherewith he wrought so many Miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea Concerning which the Jews tell very many incredible things as that it came from a Branch of the Tree of Life which an Angel gave to Seth who planted it in the Wilderness where Moses found it grown to a Tree and cut this Rod from it For when they came to Marah and could not drink the Waters because they were bitter God showed them this Tree that with it he might make them sweet Upon which Tree he afterward placed the brazen Serpent by looking on which the People were healed c. Thus the Cabbalists generally tell this Tale but some of them much otherwise who say it was given to Adam and by him to Enoch and so on till it came to Joseph in whose House the Egyptians found it when he died and brought it to Pharaoh from whom Jethro stole it c. with a great deal of such like stuff Which Abarbinel saith is to be understood mystically But all the ground they have for this Fancy of the Rod here laid up being Moses's Rod is from XX. 8 9. where it is said That Moses took the Rod from before the LORD wherewith he brought Water out of the Rock and this Rod is said v. 11. to be Moses his Rod. Dr. Owen upon the Epistle to the Hebrews follows this Conceit and endeavours to find many Mysteries in it But it is evidently false for as there is not the least intimation here that it was the Rod of Moses but quite contrary it is called the Rod of Aaron v. 6. so it had not been a sufficient Argument to convince the Infidelity of the Israelites if Aaron's Rod had not been of the same kind with all the rest For they might have ascribed what came to pass to the singular quality or vertue of that Rod especially if it were Moses his Rod wherewith Wonders used to be wrought and not to a special Hand of God appearing to establish the Authority of Aaron And besides a Rod full of Blossoms and Fruit had been very unfit to be used to smite the Rock withal for which purpose that Rod which seems to have been his Pastoral Staff wherewith he smote the Rock in Horeb was most proper XVII Exod. 5 6. And thou shalt quite take away their Murmurings from me i. e. Silence all their Cavils against Aaron and his Family which the LORD here declares he would no longer bear if they continued in them after this demonstration of his Will and Pleasure For here were a great many miraculous things concurred together to convince them that to oppose Aaron was to oppose God himself The Jews reckon up eight First That Aaron's Rod should bring forth Buds Blossoms and Fruit all in one Night when the other Rods which were of the same nature brought forth nothing And then secondly That the Buds brought forth Leaves for so they interpret those words v. 8. the Rod of Aaron was budded i. e. brought forth Leaves for the next words speaks of its budding which followed after And thirdly That it thrust out Leaves before the Blossoms which is contrary to the Nature of the Almond Tree And next that it put forth Blossoms all the Rod over as they interpret those words bloomed Blossoms And then that a dry Stick as they understand it should produce Fruit and this Fruit Almonds which such Trees they think as that Rod was taken from did not bear And further That it produced ripe Almonds as the Hebrew word Schekedim imports And lastly That Moses showed the People all these at one view the Leaves Buds Blossoms and Fruit in perfection By which multiplicity of Miracles the Dignity of Aaron was so demonstrated that we do not find they at any time hereafter adventured to rise up against him For besides all those Wonders now mentioned it may be that it was not the Season of the Year for Almonds nor so much as for the budding of that Tree which made it the more astonishing But the greatest thing of all was the continuing of this Miracle to future Ages which might well make them afraid to open their Mouths again in Murmurings against Aaron That they die not Be not consumed in a moment as God had more than once formerly threatned XVI 21 45. and now declared if they did not mend their Manners and cease their Murmurings about this matter he would instantly execute Ver. 11. And Moses did so as the LORD commanded so did he Both brought the Rod again to him and laid it up before him and told the Children of Israel the reason of it which occasioned what Verse 11 follows Ver. 12. And the Children of Israel spake unto Moses Verse 12 saying Behold we die we perish c. Moses having told them that he laid up the Rod for this end to be a Witness against them that if
so many Wonders it was not seemly it should lye in his own Tent as a common Staff but in the House of God as a Sacred Wand This indeed is no where mentioned no more than many other things which notwithstanding are plainly intimated Ver. 10. And Moses and Aaron gathered the Congregation before the Rock As God had commanded v. 8. Verse 10 And he said unto them Moses who was the chief Actor said unto them Hear ye now ye Rebels The Talmudists fancy that this is the great Sin for which Moses and Aaron were denied to go into Canaan because he called God's People Rebels From whence they have framed this Maxim He that treats the Church contemptuously which ought to be honoured is as if he blasphemed the Name of God But they subvert the Truth who build it upon no better Foundations For Moses the great Minister of God only uses God's own Language to their Fathers XVII 10. where he bids him lay up Aaron's Rod as a Token against the Rebels And if this were a Sin Moses committed it again not long after this and in an higher strain which no Body can think he would have done if it had cost him so dear when he saith IX Deut. 24. Ye have been rebellious against the LORD ever since I knew you Must we fetch you Water out of this Rock In these words also some of the Jews particularly Nachman think they find the Sin of Moses and Aaron who here they fancy ascribe to themselves that which they ought to have acknowledged the Work of God alone But this is without any ground for the plain meaning of the words is quite contrary Is it in our power to bring Water out of a Rock So the Vulgar Latine translates it it being a Speech of those that wonder like that 1 Kings XXI 19. Hast thou killed and also taken possession As if Moses had said Strange that you should think it possible for us to bring you Water out of a Rock which is the work only of an Omnipotent Power Ver. 11. And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he smote the Rock twice It seems the Water did not gush out at the first stroke which made him repeat it Verse 11 And the Water came out abundantly and the Congregation drank and their Beasts also So that their present Necessity was supplyed and they also filled their Vessels when they left this place to serve them till they met with the convenience of Water as they did I showed upon v. 2. Ver. 12. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Verse 12 Aaron because ye believed me not Here Interpreters have been much troubled to find what it was for which God was offended at Moses and Aaron for though the Text tells us expresly it was for their Unbelief whereby they gave great Scandal and did not sanctifie him as they did formerly before the Israelites yet it doth not clearly appear wherein this Unbelief declared it self Abarbinel hath collected several Opinions of the Jewish Doctors about this matter which are no less than ten after which he delivers his own which seems to me as unsatisfactory as the rest were to him for it is far fetcht with too much nicety and subtilty and relies also upon Uncertainties The plainest account of it I think is this which none of them take notice of That the Water now ceasing at the same time that Miriam died Moses was very sad both for her Death and perhaps for the Ceasing of the Water And being unexpectedly assaulted by the People who ought to have had a greater Reverence for him in a time of Mourning especially it was the occasion of a greater Commotion of Anger and Indignation than was usually in him Which gave him such a Disturbance in his Mind and so disordered his Thoughts that when God bad him take his Rod and go and speak to the Rock he fell into some doubt whether God would grant them the Favour he had done before either because they were so wretched a People that it was not fit God should do any thing for them or because he thought perhaps Water might be otherways procured for them And because of this doubting I suppose it might be that upon the first striking of the Rock no Water came forth God also perhaps so ordering it that he might try him and hereupon his Diffidence increased into Unbelief and a settled Perswasion they should have no Water His Anger also at such a rebellious Generation it is likely made him the more distrustful that God would do nothing for them For both these are mentioned by the Divine Writers that touch upon this History that he did not believe and that his Spirit was so provoked that he spake unadvisedly with his lips CVI Psalm 32 33. which was when he spake those words v. 10. Must we fetch you Water out of this Rock i. e. is that a likely matter They being words of the same sort with those of Sarah XVIII Gen. 13. Shall I of a surety have a Child who am old that is I cannot believe it And when he saw the Water did not come out at the first stroke he might be so rash as to say Now it is plain God will give you none but let you perish or words to that effect I know nothing more probable than this unless the Reader likes the Opinion of Joseph Albo better which is the ninth Opinion mentioned by Abarbinel That Moses and Aaron having had such long Experience of God's goodness to this People and of his readiness to help them ought not to have gone and made their Complaints to God about the want of Water v. 6. but immediately of themselves gone to the Rock being confident of God's Power and Mercy which had never failed them and called for Water to come out of it For now the Tabernacle was built and they had God dwelling among them which they had not when he smote the Rock at first which ought to have bred in them the highest Assurance that God would supply them Dr. Lightfoot hath another Conjecture which I shall propound that the Reader may judge which is most likely That Moses and Aaron began to distrust God's Promise of entring into the promised Land at the end of forty Years imagining that if they brought Water again out of the Rock it must follow them as long as the other had done For this he makes the sence of their words What ye Rebels must we bring Water out of a Rock as we did at Horeb Are all our Hopes and Expectations of getting out of the Wilderness come to this We never fetcht you Water out of a Rock but once and that was because ye were to stay a long time in the Wilderness c. Now that is gone must we fetch Water out of another Rock O ye Rebels have ye brought it to this pass by your Murmurings that we must have a new stay in the Wilderness Are we to begin our abode
right of Marriage So shall their Inheritance be taken away from the Inheritance of the Tribe of our Fathers So will their Estate go out of our Tribe without remedy because the Jubilee it self will give us no Relief Verse 5 Ver. 5. And Moses commanded the Children of Israel according to the Word of the LORD Whom I suppose he consulted about this matter as he did when the first doubt was moved about the Inheritance of these Women XXVII 5. and received the answer by which he here commanded the Israelites to govern themselves The Tribe of Joseph In whose name the chief Fathers of their several Families made this representation to Moses as became Men who took care of the concerns of the whole Tribe Hath said well In desiring the Inheritance of these Women might not go out of their Tribe which was prevented by the following Law Ver. 6. This is the thing which the LORD doth Verse 6 command concerning the Daughters of Zelophehad saying Let them marry to whom they think best They were not confined to any particular Persons but might have their choice among those who were descended from the same Stock as it immediately follows Only to the Family of the Tribe of their Father shall they marry Only with these two limitations that they might not marry a Man of another Tribe nor a Man of another Family in their own Tribe For it is very manifest that they are tied to marry into the Family of their Father and accordingly they did actually marry their Cosin-Germans as we now speak v. 11. For this Law was made for the preservation of Families as well as of Tribes as the Law for the Redemption of Lands was And therefore these words the Family of the Tribe of their Father is well translated by Grotius upon I St. Matthew 16. familia stirpis paternae the Family of the Stoâ—k of their Father which was that they desired might not perish XXVII 4. and was the ground of the Law which commanded a Man to marry the Wife of his Brother who left no Issue XXV Deut. 16. Therefore there being several Families in the Tribe of Manasseh XXVI 29 30 31 32. these Women could marry only into the Family of the Hepherites Verse 7 Ver. 7. So shall not the Inheritance of the Children of Israel remove from Tribe to Tribe For by preserving it in the Family to which it was given it was necessarily preserved in the Tribe For every one of the Children of Israel shall keep himself to the Inheritance of the Tribe of his Fathers And not endeavour to get any part of the Inheritance of another Tribe by marrying an Heiress in it Plato himself took care of this that when a Man left only a Daughter his Estate should not be carried by her to a Stranger but she should be bound to marry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that was nearest of kin to her And if there was a want of near Kindred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. it should descend to the Children of her Father's Brother or the Children of the Grandfather some of which he ordains should marry her Lib. XI de Legibus p. 924 925. Edit Serrani Verse 8 Ver. 8. And every Daughter that possesseth an Inheritance in any Tribe of the Children of Israel Here this Law is made general that all Women who were Heiresses as the Daughters of Zelophehad were should do as they are here commanded And this was one of the Attick Laws which as Grotius observes were plainly borrowed from the Law of Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That an Heiress should not marry out of her Kindred but dispose of her self and Estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to one nearest of kin to her which was one of the Laws of Solon as Sam. Petitus observes out of Isaeus Pollux and others in his Comment in Leges Atticas Lib. VI. Tit. 1. p. 441. Shall be Wife to one of the Family of the Tribe of her Father Here she is confined to her Family and not merely to her Tribe But this concerned only such as were Heiresses all other Women might marry into what Tribe they pleased as appears by these very Books wherein we read that Aaron himself married the Sister of the Prince of Judah VI Exod. 22. And if any object that this was before the giving of the Law it is evident that Jehoiada a Priest and consequently of the Tribe of Levi married King Jehoram's Sister who was of the Tribe of Judah 2 Chron. XXII 11. And long before this all the Tribes of Israel being in great solicitude how to find Wives for their Brethren of Benjamin did not scruple their having them out of any Tribe if it had not been for their Oath XXI Judg. 18. And to add no more David himself of the Tribe of Judah married Michael the Daughter of Saul who was of the Tribe of Benjamin The Talmudists add that even these Heiresses might marry into what Tribe they pleased after the first Division of the Land by Joshua to which they imagine this Law was restrained it being a common saying among them That it did not belong to any Age but that in which it was made In the following Ages they pretend a Man might purchase Land in any Tribe and possess it alway or have the Inheritance of it by Marriage though he were of another Tribe as Selden shows their Opinion to be Lib. de Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 18. and Lib. III. de Synedr c. 4. n. 1. and Buxtorf de Sponsal Divortiis sect 44. But this is well confuted by Grotius in his Annotations upon I St. Matthew v. 16. Ver. 9. Neither shall the Inheritance remove from one Tribe to another Tribe This establishes in general what he had said before v. 7. with particular respect Verse 9 to the Daughters of Zelophehad But Moses ben Nachman upon these very words asserts the Talmudick Opinion before-mentioned that this concerns only the present Time not future Ages And puts this Case which is the strongest that can be thought of if a Woman were married into another Tribe after which Marriage her Father and all her Brethren dying without Children the Inheritance fell to her and consequently saith he the Possession must devolve from one Tribe to another into which she had married But according to the Letter of these words the Inheritance was rather to descend to the next of her Kindred than by her be carried out of the Tribe to which it belonged But every one of the Tribes of the Children of Israel shall keep himself to his own Inheritance Shall cleave or stick close to his own Inheritance as the Hebrew word signifies and as the Greek and Latin expresses it The reason of the Command was as Procopius Gazaeus observes to prevent the Confusion of Tribes How the Vulgar Latin came to deviate so much from the Hebrew Text and from the Intention of this Law as it hath done in this and the