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
the Verse 43 plain Country of the Reubenites and Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites and Goshen in Bashan of the Manassites Thus they are set down also in the Book of Joshua XX. 8. XXI 27 36 38. Ver. 44. And this is the Law which Moses set before Verse 44 the Children of Israel Now follows the Law which after the forementioned assignation of the Cities of Refuge Moses set before all the People and pressed them to the observance of it Ver. 45. These are the Testimonies and the Statutes Verse 45 and the Judgments As the next Chapter contains the Law that is the Ten Commandments which Moses set before them So in several following Chapters after new earnest Exhortations to Obedience he represents to them the rest of God's Will comprehended under these three words Testimonies Statutes and Judgments Some of which belong to the Divine Service others to their Civil Government and the rest to Ceremonial Observations for the better security and preservation of both the former Which Moses spake unto the Children of Israel after they came forth out of Egypt Which he had formerly delivered to them after they were come out of the Egyptian Bondage in the XXI XXII XXIII Chapters of Exodus and in the following Books Verse 46 Ver. 46. On this side Jordan c. In this and the two following Verses he again mentions the place and the time when and where he set before them the Law and the Testimonies Statutes and Judgments recorded in the following part of this Book Which he repeats that all Posterity might observe these Discourses were made a little before he died In the Valley over against Beth-peor III. Vlt. In the Land of Sihon King of the Amorites who dwelt at Heshbon II. 24 31 c. Whom Moses and the Children of Israel smote after they were come forth out of Egypt In the fortieth Year after their departure thence As appears from XXI Numb 24. XXXIII 38. Verse 47 Ver. 47. And they possessed his Land and the Land of Og King of Bashan c. See XXI Numb 33 c. Verse 48 Ver. 48. From Aroer which is by the Bank of the River Arnon even unto Mount Sion which is Hermon The Mount here called Sion is not that which was so famous in After-times when David made it the Royal Seat for that was on the other side Jordan and is written with different Letters in the Hebrew But in all probability is a Contraction of Sirion which is the Name by which the Sidonians called Hermon For the Bounds of this Country are so described III. 8 9 12. to extend from the River Arnon to Mount Hermon which is called Sirion Chapter V. Ver. 49. And all the Plain on this side Jordan Eastward even unto the Sea of the Plain See III. 17. Verse 49 Vnder the Springs of Pisgah The same place there called Ashdod-Pisgah Which is exactly described after the same manner by Benjamin Tudelensis in his Itinerary set forth by L'Empereur p. 51. Where he saith that Jordan is called at Tiberias the Sea of Genesareth and coming from thence with a great force falls at the foot of this Hill into the Sea of Sodom which is called the Salt Sea CHAP. V. Verse 1. AND Moses called all Israel and said unto Verse 1 them That is summoned all the Elders and Heads of their Tribes who were to communicate what he said to the rest Thus it is commonly expounded But that which he saith XXIX 10 11. seems to direct us to another Interpretation that he himself went from Tribe to Tribe and repeated these Ten Words as they are called placing himself in several parts of their Camp that every one might hear what he said And this was sometime after he had in like manner exhorted them to Obedience in the foregoing Preface See IV. 41. Hear O Israel the Statutes and Judgments which I speak in your Ears this day Mind what I now say unto you That ye may learn them and keep and do them That ye may not be ignorant of such important Truths nor negligent in the Practice of them which is the End of Knowledge Verse 2 Ver. 2. The LORD our God made a Covenant with us in Horeb. See XXIV Exod. 3 5 6 7 8. Verse 3 Ver. 3. The LORD made not this Covenant with our Fathers Viz. Abraham Isaac and Jacob With whom he covenanted to give their Posterity the Land of Canaan but did not make to them this discovery of his Will which was the matter of the Covenant at Horeb. But with us even us who are all here alive this day A great part of those who were then at Horeb were now alive viz. all under twenty Years old And if they had been all dead Moses might have said He made it with us because they were still the same People tho' the particular Persons were dead with whom the Covenant was made not only for themselves but for their Posterity Verse 4 Ver. 4. The LORD talked with you Face to Face in the Mount c. Openly clearly and distinctly or by himself without the Mediation of Moses but in no visible shape for that is expresly denied in the foregoing Chapter IV. 12 15. Verse 5 Ver. 5. I stood between the LORD and you at that time to shew you the Word of the LORD As a Mediator whom God employed to prepare them to meet him XIX Exod. 10 11 c. and to prescribe them the Bounds at what distance they should keep v. 12. and to bring them forth to meet with him v. 17. and to charge them to keep within their Bounds v. 21. And on the other side to represent their Desires unto God after he had spoken to them XX Exod. 19. So that he was truly a Mediator between God and them and stood also in a middle place at the foot of the Mount while they stood further off For ye were afraid by reason of the Fire XX Exod 18. And went not up into the Mount XIX Exod. 17. XX. 21. Ver. 6. I am the LORD thy God which brought Verse 6 thee out of the Land of Egypt from the House of Bondage This Preface to the Ten Commandments is explained XX Exod. 2. Ver. 7. Thou shalt have none other Gods before me Verse 7 See XX Exod. 3. It is wisely observed by Grotius Lib. 2. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. XX. Sect. XLV That true Religion was ever built upon these Four Principles First That there is a God and that he is but One. Secondly That God is nothing of those things that we see with our Eyes but something more sublime than them all Thirdly That he takes Care of Humane Affairs and judges them most justly Fourthly That he is the Maker of all things whatsoever Which Principles are explained in these first four Precepts of the Decalogue the Unity of the Godhead being delivered in the first place Ver. 8 9 10. Thou shalt not make thee any graven Verse 8 9 10. Image
and must relate to their rigorous usage which I have observed in many Countries in several Ages down to these latter times The Hierusalem Talmud it must be observed mentions another bringing into Egypt literally understood in the Massechta before-named upon v. 59. where they say That as God forbad them three times to return into Egypt which they there set down so they were forced thither three times for their Transgressions against God first in the days of Senacherib King of Assyria XXXI Isa 1 3. secondly in the time of Johanan the Son of Kareah XLII Jerem. 16. and lastly in the time of the Emperour Trajan But this I look upon as a mistake for Trajan rather killed all those whom he found there than carried them thither as I noted before With Ships Which seems to put them in mind how different their Condition was now become from what it was when they came out of Egypt without any Ships for the Sea gave them a passage through it by being made dry Land Their being carried also thither by Ships made their Condition the more deplorable because there was no means of escaping out of them as there might have been if they had gone by Land By the way whereof I spake unto thee Or To the way so the Particle beth often signifies XI Gen. 4. XVI 22. that is to the place whereof I said Ye shall see it no more again For it seems to be a manifest allusion to what we read in the Seventeenth Chapter of this Book v. 16. And there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen Exposed to sale like Beasts in the open Market and that at so vile a price that thirty of them as both Prophane and Ecclesiastical Historians relate were sold for one small piece of Money Josephus giving a particular account how the Captives were disposed of by Titus saith that the most goodly young Men he reserved to attend his Triumph of the rest he ordered those above seventeen years old to be sent bound into Egypt to labour in the Works there many he distributed in the Provinces to perish in the Theatre by the Sword and wild Beasts and all under Seventeen years old he commanded to be sold But while they were making this distribution Twelve thousand of them died of Famine partly by the hatred of their Guards who gave them no Food and partly by the weakness of others whose Stomachs could not receive it L. VII Cap. XVI By which a Judgment may be made how little worth these vile Wretches were as it here follows In after times I have observed in the course of this Commentary how they were sold for Slaves in some places and in all used as no better Benjamin Tudelensis who went a Pilgrimage to visit his Country-men represents their Condition as most miserable throughout the Eastern Empire And particularly complains of their hard usage among the Greeks at Constantinople Within the Walls of which City they were not suffered to live nor to come thither but on occasion of Traffick and Business and that only by Boat for they had their Habitation in a kind of an Island not a Man being permitted on Horsback except only one Solyman the Emperour's Physician Whose advancement was their sole Comfort in that miserable Servitude under which the rest groaned without any difference of good or bad as he acknowledges who were daily beaten and abused in the open Streets Thus he confesses though his principal design was to set forth the power they retained in the world Itinerarium p. 27 28. Edit L'Empereur And no man shall buy you Though some as I said before were sold at a very vile rate next to nothing yet others hung upon the Sellers hands as we speak the Market being either so overstockt with their numbers that none would cheapen the greatest part of them or they were so contemptible that no body would give what was askt for such useless Slaves For as no Money could purchase their Peace and Security from Calamities so neither could their Calamities though continually most grievous they are the words of Dr. Jackson redeem their estimation in the world nor all the Blood of their Slain tho' their Massacres were numberless extinguish that hateful and loathsome Conceit which most Men had entertained of them For in the fifteenth Century they were become so abominable that several Doctors began to hold it unlawful for Christians to let them live among them Particularly the famous Thomas Turrecremata Inquisitor General forbad all Men to have any dealings with them or to afford them Meat or Drink or any thing else Whence proceeded the direful Proscriptions which we read of in that Age whereby they were forced out of Spain Poland Hungary and divers other Countries where they were not suffered to live though with a Note and Character upon them to distinguish them from all other Men. I conclude my Observations on this Chapter with the Remark which the same great Man Dr. Jackson makes Chapt. XXII Paragr 6. That the extraordinary Blessings and Plagues which were to overtake this People being here set down by Moses although their Blessings might have been more and more admirable than the Curses that have befaln them yet he either foreseeing or fearing what would be rather than hoping the best that might be is almost four times as long in enumerating their Plagues as he is in their Blessings And so have the Miseries of the latter Jews been four times as long as the Prosperity of their worthy Ancestors And since our Saviour's Death all the Plagues which were in part fulfilled before have been more than seven times multiplied upon them For in their former Overthrows or Captivities though they suffered the Violence of War yet after that Storm was past so they did but submit to their Conquerers they lived well enough nay usually found more than ordinary favour at their hands But since our Saviour's Death they have through all Ages been more and more miserable Chapter XXIX the memory of their foregoing Plagues having been but an invitation to the like or worse and their continual bad usage prescribing the lawfulness of their abuse CHAP. XXIX Verse 1 Verse 1. THese are the words of the Covenant The Talmudists in the Gemara of Sota Cap. VII Sect. XXIV refer these words to the Benedictions and Cursings mentioned in the foregoing Chapter which plainly belong to what God delivered unto Moses in Mount Sinai at the first which he had now repeated in this Book with the addition of several Blessings and Curses to make what he said the more effectual Which the LORD commanded Moses to make That is to renew For which end Moses repeated the principal Laws of God and explained them in this Book which is from thence called Deuteronomy being a Compendium of the Pentateuch a Breviary of the Covenant composed for the familiar and daily use of the Children of Israel With the Children of Israel in the Land
Land Verse 20 which I sware unto their Fathers that floweth with milk and honey VI. 10 c. XV. 8 9. And they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat VIII 10 11 12 c. XXVII 15. Then they will turn unto other gods and serve them c. Against which he had most solemnly foremarned them in the places before-mentioned and XI 16. XII 29 30. Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass when many evils Verse 21 and troubles are befaln them that this Song shall testifie against them as a witness That they are most justly punished for their foul ingratitude and unbelief with which this Song upbraided them having told them plainly XXXII 18 19. what would be the effect of their forsaking him and at the delivery of it God having solemnly said here v. 17. that when they went a whoring from him he would forsake them and hide his face from them For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed The Calamities which fell upon them according to what is predicted in this Song brought it to their remembrance when they had forgotten it or did not regard it For these words do not seem to be a Precept requiring them to remember this Song but a Prediction foretelling that their Miseries should not suffer them quite to forget it For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware He saw the secret Inclinations and Designs which were in their hearts and perceived that at that very present they hankered as we speak after Idols Verse 22 Ver. 22. Moses therefore wrote this Song the same day And so did Joshua as he was commanded v. 19. who spake the words of this Song unto the People as well as Moses XXXII 44. And taught it the Children of Israel Commanded them to learn it v. 19. In order to which the Jews say every Man was bound to write for himself a Copy of it and more than that they make it one of the affirmative Precepts as Maimonides tells us which obliged every Israelite to write out the whole Book of the Law with his own hand For so they interpret those words v. 19. Write ye this Song for you as if they were spoken to all the People and their meaning had been Write ye this Law for you wherein is this Song for they were not to write the Law by small parts and sections as his words are but all of it intirely And if a Man's Parents had left him a Copy yet he was bound to write one himself or if he could not write to procure one to be written for him by some other Person c. See Schickard's Mischpat Hameleck Cap. II. Theor. V. Verse 23 Ver. 23. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge That is the LORD who had hitherto spoken to him by Moses now spake to him himself and gave him this charge to gain him the greater Authority For which end he had ordered Joshua to present himself before him together with Moses verse 14. Be strong and of a good courage Which he repeats to him after the death of Moses I Josh 6 7. For thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them I have appointed thee to be the Captain of my People to lead them into the Land of Canaan And I will be with thee To give him success in all his Enterprises Which words being spoken in the audience of all the People as may be supposed from v. 14. made them readily submit to the Authority of Joshua and confide in his Conduct Ver. 24. And it came to pass when Moses had made Verse 24 an end of writing the words of this Law in a Book until they were finished The whole Book of his Laws which he put together before his death as I said on v. 9. Ver. 25. That Moses commanded the Levites c. Verse 25 The Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi. See v. 9. Ver. 26. Take this Book of the Law and put it in the Verse 26 side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God Not in the inside of it for he doth not say put it into the Ark but in the side of the Ark that is on the outside in a little Box as Jonathan and others expound it For it is the very same Phrase with that 1 Sam. VI. 8. where the Philistims are said to have put the Jewels of Gold which they returned for a Sin-offering in a Coffer by the side of the Ark. Where none could put it but the High Priest because no Body else might go into the Holy Place where the Ark was And therefore those Priests who received the Book of the Law from Moses delivered it to Eleazer to be there placed See Buxtorf Histor Arcae Cap. V. and Huetius more lately in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. de Can. Libr. Sacrorum Sect. VIII where he observes that R. Meir in both the Talmuds Abarbinel himself and many others have been of opinion from this very place that the Book of the Law was put into the Ark it self being no less precious than the Tables of Stone which were there But the Scripture tells us There was nothing in the Ark save the two Tables of Stone 1 Kings VIII 9. 2 Chron. V. 10. and their reason is good for nothing the two Tables far excelling this Book because written by the Finger of God And therefore other great Doctors among the Jews rightly place it without the Ark as the very words of Moses import That it may be there for a witness against thee It was deposited in that place as a publick Record that if any one should falsifie or deprave any thing in the Law as Abarbinel interprets it he might be convicted out of this Book which was sacredly preserved to be produced as a Witness against him Or as the Author of Tzeror Hammor expresses it that if they should be so wicked as to lose the Books of the Law this Copy kept under the care of the Priests might remain to testifie what was the Will of God As we see it did in the days of Josiah when it was casually found in the House of God as they were about the reparations of it Though I cannot say they found it in the side of the Ark but rather upon the Roof of the House or in the Rafters where the Priests had hid it as some of the Jews think when Manasseh endeavoured to destroy this Authentick Copy of the Law as he had done all other that he could find and when they came to uncover the House there it appeared Ver. 27. For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff-neck I have been sufficiently acquainted with your perverse disposition Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye Verse 27 have been rebellious against the LORD and how much more after my death For it was not
set up his Tabernacle with Men and dwell with them and they shall be his People and he will be their God XX Revel 3. which I mention because this part of the Prophecy reaches unto the last times and is not yet all fulfilled Thus this famous Song concludes which as the Jews reckon consists of Seventy Verses each of which contains two distinct and entire Sentences and as they fancy are a Compendium of the whole Law of Moses Nay some of them such are the idle Conceits of this Nation think this Hymn is so perfect a Prophecy that it contains in it the Names of all the Men in the World which they undertake to find and by that Versicle where it is to tell what Fortune he whose Name they seek shall have in the World Thus instead of observing seriously what Moses foretold would certainly befal themselves their Superstition and hardness of heart have led them to vain Conjectures concerning other Men. See Jo. Wagenseil upon Sota p. 164 c. where he saith a Jew undertook to show him his Name in this Song which fell out in a Verse that signified Prosperity to him And since him Martinus Mauritius in his Book de Sortitione Hebraeorum Cap. XVI Sect. 3 4 5. Ver. 44. And Moses came and spake all the words of Verse 44 this Song in the ears of the people The very same that is said before he spake this Song XXXI 30. and is now repeated at the Conclusion of it to express his Fidelity in his Office to the very last He and Hoshea the Son of Nun. Who was now his Assistant in this Work as he was designed to be his Successor after his death He is commonly called Joshua but Oshea was his Name at the first XIII Numb 8. Ver. 45. And Moses made an end of speaking all Verse 45 these words to all Israel When he had made an end of speaking them then he added what follows Ver. 46. And he said unto them set your hearts unto Verse 46 all the words which I testifie among you this day Apply your Minds to press upon your selves the observation of all these things For this Expression is a little more than letting them be in their heart VI. 6. or laying them up in their heart XI 18. For they were so to retain the remembrance of them as to attend unto them and consider them Which ye shall command your Children to observe to do This necessary duty of instructing their Children is often pressed IV. 10. VI. 7. XI 19. because without this care their Religion would soon be lost but by this means might be preserved and propagated to all Generations All the words of this Law Which they might be certain was delivered by God to Moses there being as many Witnesses of God's Presence with him as there were Men in their Nation But he had seen so many instances of their unbelief that he uses all the ways manners and forms as Pellicanus observes that he could think of to urge them to obedience By delivering them Tables of their Laws written by God himself by Books by Pillars by Blessings Cursings Obtestations Threatnings long Exhortations Songs Phylacteries and other Ceremonies c. which he continued to do as long as he had breath and was able to speak that they and their Posterity might be happy Verse 47 Ver. 47. For it is not a vain thing for you You shall not imploy your diligence in this matter unprofitably The Jews upon these words have founded a Maxim which Maimonides often mentions That every Precept hath its end and use which though they do not appear to us are grounded upon strong Causes and Reasons More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXVI and L. The design for instance of many Ceremonial Laws cannot now be fully discerned because they were instituted directly contrary to the idolatrous Rites of the Zabij which are long since utterly abolished and but imperfectly recorded in those ancient Authors that speak of them Because it is your life The means to make you an happy People Here are two benefits saith R. Isaac which are promised by the observation of this Law a Spiritual and a Corporal The Spiritual in these words and the Corporal in the next ye shall prolong your days c. And he puts the Spiritual first though among all Corporal Blessings this of long Life be the chief Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XVIII And through this thing By teaching your Children to observe to do all that is commanded in this Law You shall prolong your days in the Land whither you go over Jordan to possess it Have the great Blessing of a long Life in all manner of Happiness which your Posterity shall enjoy for many Generations in the Land of Canaan By which it appears that nothing else but Contempt of this Law could have ejected them out of this Country Ver. 48. And the LORD spake unto Moses that self Verse 48 same day Immediately after he had ended the foregoing Song and given them this Admonition at the Conclusion of it Vre 49. Get thee up into this Mountains Abarim Verse 49 Which he had pointed him unto before and told him what he doth now XXVII Numb 12. Vnto Mount Nebo Abarim was a ridge of Hills whereof Nebo was one See there upon XXVII Numb 2. Which is in the Land of Moab that is over against Jericho This is a more particular Description of the Site of this Mountain than he gave before in the Book of Numbers Behold the Land of Canaan which I give unto the Children of Israel for a possession Which he might easily do from the highest part of the Mountain called Pisgah III Deut. 27. Ver. 50. And die in the Mount whither thou goest up Verse 50 After he had taken a view of the Land every way And be gathered unto thy People To Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This signifies saith R. Isaac that he should be associated and joyned to the Souls of the just who are called his People For the People of Moses were not buried in Mount Abarim and therefore he doth not speak of gathering his Body to their Bodies but of his Soul to their Souls Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XI Chapter XXXIII As Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto his People See Numb 24 28. XXXIII 38. Ver. 51. Because ye trespassed against me among the Verse 51 Children of Israel c. Rebelled against his Commandment as he speaks XXVII Numb 14. Because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the Children of Israel XX Numb 12. XXVII 14. Ver. 52. Yet thou shalt see the Land before thee He had earnestly begg'd of God that he might go over Verse 52 Jordan but he denied him that favour I Deut. 37. III. 25 27. yet he was pleased to mitigate his punishment by letting him enjoy a sight of that good Country into which he might not enter But thou shalt not go thither unto the Land which I give the Children
of Israel By which the Israelites should have learnt that as Moses left them short of the promised Land and could not bring them into the possession of it so his Law did not contain a perfect Revelation of God's Will but they were to expect something beyond it CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND this is the blessing As Jacob blessed his Children at his departure out of the World when God had begun to fulfil the promise to Abraham of giving him a numerous Offspring so Moses having seen them vastly increased and ready to enter upon the Land promised to them XV Gen. 18 c. takes his farewel of them with a Blessing pronounced upon the People in general and upon each Tribe in particular Which is in part prophetical as the Blessing of Jacob was and delivered in the prophetick stile which hath some difficulty and obscurity in it on purpose perhaps to excite their diligent study to enquire into the meaning See XLIX Gen. 1 3. Wherewith Moses the Man of God Or the Prophet of the LORD as Onkelos translates it For Prophets are called Men of God in the holy Books 1 Sam. IX 6 7 8. 1 Kings XIII 1. 1 Tim. VI. 11. 2 Tim. III. 17. 2 Pet. I. 21. because in the exercise of their Sacred Function they did not deliver their own sense nor the sense of other Men but the Mind and Will of God who spake by them Blessed the Children of Israel before his death Before he went up into Mount Abarim to die XXXII 49. he prayed God to bless them and also foretold their future State and Condition Such had been the ancient Custom among the holy Patriarchs as we learn from the example of Jacob to admonish their Posterity upon their dying Beds of such things as they thought most imported them For then they could not but be thought to speak most sincerely and their words were apt to be entertained with greater respect and preserved in Mind with greater Care Moses therefore their Deliverer Leader and Law-giver concludes his Life in the same manner and it 's very likely deposited these dying words with them in writing Ver. 2. And he said the LORD came from Sinai And in the first place he endeavours to make them sensible of what God had done already for them and Verse 2 the chief of all his Benefits being the Revelation of his Mind and Will to them he commemorates that as a common Blessing to them all before he begins to speak in particular to each Tribe For that is meant by the LORD came from Sinai where he appeared in a most glorious manner and from thence promulgated his Law with the greatest Solemnity Exod. XX. And thus the Gentiles took an unwonted brightness in any place to be a token of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appearance or Advent of some of their gods in that place As also a great commotion in any place they took for another token of it See the illustrious Spanhemius in his Annotations upon Callimachus his Hymn to Apollo v. 7. which they seem to have learnt from this appearance of God on Mount Sinai and the quaking of that Mountain when God appeared on it And rose up from Seir unto them and shone forth from Mount Paran There is no difficulty in the foregoing words it being evident that God came down on Mount Sinai and thence delivered his Commands to the Israelites and espoused them for his People But how he rose up from Seir unto them the Country of Edom and shone from Paran the Country of Ishmael is not so easie to understand The Jews indeed who are wont to solve all Difficulties by inventing what they please are not troubled to give an account of these words Which signifie they fancy that the Divine Glory first resided upon Mount Seir where God propounded his Law to the Children of Esau but they would not have it because they found these words in it Thou shalt not kill He went therefore to Paran and offered it to the Children of Ishmael but they refused it also because they found these words in it Thou shalt not Steal So he came to Sinai and gave it to the Israelites who said All the words which the LORD hath said will we do XXIV Exod. 3. Thus the Hierusalem Targum and Pirke Elieser and some other more ancient Authors with this addition That he offered the Law to all the Nations of the World but they rejected it because it is written Thou shalt have none other gods but me But this looks so like a Fable that some of themselves are ashamed of it and have given a better sense of the words though I cannot say the true one For thus Abraham Peritsol expounds them The true Law came out of Sinai to the Israelites by which the Edomites were so inlightned that God might be said to rise up to them also and afterward the Celestial Influence shone out of this Law to the Ishmaelites who were the better for it Thus Const L'Empereur reports his sense in his Annotations upon Bava kama Cap. IV. Sect. III. where he endeavours to make out a plainer sense of these words in this manner Though the Mountain of Paran was nigher to Sinai than Seir was and first occurred to those that went out of Egypt yet there was great reason to mention Seir before it because Moses had respect to the order of their Journeys and not to the Site of the Places And their Journeys were so directed by Divine Providence that fetching a long Circuit forward and backward they should come to Canaan In all which turnings and windings they were marvellously preserved and provided for by the same good Providence which conducted them Of this Moses here makes a thankful Commemoration how he led them from Mount Sinai to the Borders of the Land of Canaan towards Mount Seir as is expresly noted by Moses compare I Deut. 19. with II. 1. and XX Numb 14. From whence by reason of their Infidelity they were led back again towards the Red Sea and incamped in the extremity of the Wilderness XXXIII Numb 35. where Ptolemy places Paran though there was another part of it called Paran near Kadesh XIII Numb 3 27. And from thence they were led back again in a long Circuit to the East part of the Land of Canaan This may be one reason why these two places are mentioned together with Sinai that God who there appeared to them was with them all the time they wandred about in the Wilderness till he brought them to the Borders of Canaan where they now were And another may be because in Mount Seir the brazen Serpent was erected by God's order for the Cure of such as were bitten by Serpents when they looked on it which was an illustrious Type of our blessed Saviour and the Salvation wrought by him XX Numb 4 9. And in the Desert to which Paran gave the name because it overlookt the whole though very large they received the
said unto their Fathers upon this occasion which he doth not mention in the Book of NUMBERS where we read only of his falling down before God that he might awaken this Generation to a greater confidence in God and a dread of his Judgment Dread not nor be afraid of them Do not consider so much how strong they are as how powerful the LORD your God is who hath promised you this good Land Verse 30 Ver. 30. The LORD your God which goeth before you In a glorious Pillar of Cloud and Fire He shall fight for you As he had done hitherto XIV Exod. 14. XVII 8 c. According to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes Why should you think he is less able to bring you into Canaan than he was to redeem you from Egypt where you were oppressed by very powerful Enemies Verse 31 Ver. 31. And in the Wilderness Ever since they came from thence through the Wilderness of the Red-Sea XIII Exod. 18. and the Wilderness of Sin XVI Exod. 1. and the Wilderness of Sinai XIX Exod. 1 2. and then through that terrible Wilderness of Paran See above v. 19. Where thou hast seen how the LORD thy God bare thee as a Man doth bear his Son The long Experience they had had of his tender care over them which was as indulgent as that of a kind Father towards his only Son when he is a Child whom he carries in his Arms should have made them confident of his gracious Providence for the future In all the way that ye went until ye came to this place He made provision for them in the most desolate places bringing them Water out of a Rock sending Bread down to them from Heaven defending them from wild Beasts and from their fiercer Enemies c. Ver. 32. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Verse 32 LORD your God He could not prevail with them to trust God and go up as he commanded in his Power and Might to possess the Land Nor could all that Caleb and Joshua said at all move them XIV Numb 7 8 9. Ver. 33. Who went in the way before you Never Verse 33 failed constantly to direct and guide you in your Journeys XIII Exod. 22. To search you out a place to pitch your Tents in But always markt out your Encampments where they should be X Numb 17. In fire by night to shew you by what way you should go and in a cloud by day That they might be able to travel by Night as well as by Day which was most convenient in Summer time when the Sun was very scorching in a Wilderness where there was no shelter XIII Exod. 21. X Numb 16 21. Ver. 34. And the LORD heard the voice of your words They not only distrusted God v 32. but murmured against their Leaders and against God in Verse 34 a mutinous manner consulting to return into Egypt XIV Numb 1 2 3 4. And moreover spake of stoning Caleb and Joshua for their good Advice v. 10. And was wroth and sware saying Which so provoked the Divine Majesty that he irrevocably determined what follows confirming it with an Oath XIV Numb 21. Verse 35 Ver. 35. Surely there shall not one of these Men of this evil Generation see that good Land c. See XIV Numb 21 28 29. Verse 36 Ver. 36. Save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh And Joshua the Son of Nun. See XIV 24 30. and see below v. 38. He shall see it and to him will I give the Land that he hath trodden upon c. This was as exactly fulfilled as their disinheriting was XIV Josh 9 12. Where the particular Portion of Land is mentioned which God promised to him and which Joshua gave him in the Mountain where the Anakims dwelt For such was the wonderful Faith and Courage of Caleb that he doubted not to dispossess those whom the rest of the Israelites dreaded as invincible Verse 37 Ver. 37. Also the LORD was angry with me Not at that time but afterwards when they came into the Wilderness of Zin to another Kadesh XX Numb 1 12. For your sakes By occasion of their fresh discontents and mutinous upbraidings of him XX Numb 2 3 4. which provoked him so that he spake unadvisedly with his Lips as the Psalmist observes CVI Psal 31 32. This was an high aggravation of their guilt that they not only undid themselves but brought great Displeasure upon their worthy Leader and Governour whom they wearied with their Tumults and Rebellions Or the meaning may be which doth not much differ from the account now given that they murmuring in a tumultuous manner when they saw the Water did not flow out of the Rock at the first stroke he himself also was put into such a Commotion that he began to doubt and say God would do nothing for such a rebellious People though he had declared he would If this be true he soon recovered himself and smote the Rock again in confidence God would be as good as his word But God was so angry at the words he had spoken that he so far punished him for them as to deny him entrance into Canaan Saying Thou shalt not go in thither Which threatning is renewed a little before his death XXVII Numb 13 14. and he could not get repealed by any Entreaties as we read in this Book III. 26. Ver. 38. But Joshua the Son of Nun which standeth Verse 38 before thee i. e. Waits upon thee He shall go in thither So God promised when he as well as Caleb indeavoured to put Courage into the People to go and possess the Land XIV Numb 6 7 c. 30. Incourage him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it Not only go thither and have his Portion there but be the Captain of Israel and conquer the Land for them and divide it among them This intimates as if Joshua was afraid he might be excluded as well as his Master being extreamly troubled it is likely that he was not suffered to reap the Fruit of his long Labours Therefore God bids Moses incourage his hope and command him to take heart as we speak for undoubtedly he should do more than go into Canaan Which may be the reason why his Name is not put into the Exception v. 35 36. together with Calebs but they are mentioned separately because there was something to be said peculiar to each of them Verse 39 Ver. 39. Moreover your little ones whom ye said should be a prey See XIV Numb 31. Which in that day had no knowledge of good and evil And consequently did not provoke God by their Disobedience They shall go in thither c. Their innocence moved pity towards them though Children in some cases were cut off for their Fathers sins Verse 40 Ver. 40. But as for you turn you From the Land of Canaan to which they were not permitted to go And take your journey into the Wilderness And get you back again
from Kadesh-Barnea In all which time he gives us no account what passed either in the foregoing Book or in this but only sets down the places of their abode as I observed in the XXXIIIth of NVMBERS Ver. 3. Ye have compassed this Mountain long enough Verse 3 i. e. The mountainous Country of Edom mentioned v. 1. Turn ye northward From Ezion-gaber which was in the South towards the North that is directly towards the Land of Canaan Ver. 4. And command thou the People saying Ye Verse 4 are to pass through the Coast of your Brethren the Children of Esau which dwell in Seir. For they went from Ezion-gaber to Kadesh XX Numb 1. and from thence to Mount Hor v. 22. which was in the edge of the Land of Edom XXXIII Numb 37. and from thence they travelled to compass the Land of Edom XXI 4. i. e. the Eastern quarter of it So that though they did not pass through the Coast of Edom as we translate it yet they passed by it and very near unto it as the Particle beth frequently signifies XXXVII Gen. 13. V Josh 13. 1 Sam. XXIX 1. Though they may be truly said to pass through their Coast if thereby we understand their Border or the Confines of their Country And they shall be afraid of you Lest wanting a Settlement the Israelites should seize upon their Country Accordingly we find they raised all the force they could make to oppose them XX Numb 20. Take ye good heed to your selves therefore Let not that encourage you to assault them Verse 5 Ver. 5. Meddle not with them Make not the least attempt upon them For I will not give you of their Land no not so much as a foot breadth i. e. Not the smallest Portion Because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession So Joshua saith expresly XXIV Josh 4. wherein he made good the Blessing of Isaac XXVII Gen. 39. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Ye shall buy meat of them for money that ye may eat c. If you have a mind to any Provision that their Country affords you shall not take it but purchase it as they did their very Water v. 29. which was a scarce thing in those dry Countries And so the Israelites offered to do when they treated with them about a passage through their Country XX Numb 19. Verse 7 Ver. 7. For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand Or though the LORD hath blessed thee c. That is though there is no need of it God having abundantly provided you with all things necessary But if we follow our translation the sense is plain You have wherewith to buy of them what you need or desire therefore do not take it away by force He knoweth thy walking through this great Wilderness Hath directed and prospered thee as the word knoweth signifies in many places I Psal 6. XXXI 7. in thy Travels through a dangerous Wilderness These forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee thou hast lacked nothing He had mercifully provided for them so constantly that he let them want nothing necessary for their support This was the Sum of the Argument why they should not molest the Edomites nor take any thing by stealth from them because they were in no need and God hath given that Country to the Children of Esau as he intended to give Canaan to the Israelites Their being in the Wilderness forty Years is mentioned also VIII 2. XXIX 5. besides other places of Scripture For from the fifteenth day of the first Month in which their Fathers came out of Egypt XXXIII Numb 5. to the tenth day of the same Month in which they went over Jordan into Canaan IV Josh 19. there were but five days wanting of compleat forty Years I cannot but here note also that this is one of those places wherein Onkelos mentions the MEMRA i. e. WORD of Jehovah which can signifie nothing but a Divine Person For thus he tranlates these words The WORD of the LORD thy God hath been thy helper thou hast not wanted any thing Ver. 8. And when we passed by from our Brethren the Verse 8 Children of Esau which dwelt in Seir through the way of the plain i. e. Through the Wilderness of Zin From Elath and from Ezion-gaber Two places upon the Red-Sea the last of which Ezion-gaber signifies as much as the Spine or Back-bone of a Man So called because there were great ragged Rocks in that Port as Bochart observes like those at Dyracchium in Macedonia which had its Name also from thence Lib. I. Canaan Cap. XLIV We turned After they were denied passage through their Country and had gone through those Stations mentioned XXXIII Numb 41 42 c. And passed by the Wilderness of Moab See XXI Numb 11. Going by the East side of their Country XI Judg. 18. Verse 9 Ver. 9. And the LORD said unto me Distress not the Moabites neither contend with them in battle He would not have them force their way through his Country because the King of Moab refused them a passage as the King of Edom had done XI Judg. 17. For their Country now was but small since Sihon King of the Amorites had taken from them all the best of it which lay between Arnon and Jabbok of which the Israelites had possessed themselves by the conquest of Sihon So that they had only that Portion remaining which lay upon the Dead-Sea which David in after times subdued For I will not give thee of their Land for a possession No more than of Edom v. 5. Because I have given Ar. It is likely the Capital City gave Name to the whole Country about it At least Ar which was the chief City of Moab XXI Numb 15 28. is put here for all the Land of Moab as Mount Seir for all the Land of Edom v. 1. Vnto the Children of Lot for a possession Though the Moabites were now a wicked People yet for their pious Ancestors sake from whom they were descended God would not have them dispossessed Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the Emims dwelt there in time past c. A terrible People as the very Name imports both for their number and for their strength being of a large size like Anakims See XIV Gen. 5. Verse 11 Ver. 11. Which also were accounted Giants as the Anakims c. Which seems to have been their name or else Rephaim but to distinguish them from others of that name in Canaan the Moabites called them Emims Ver. 12. The Horims also dwelt in Seir before-time They were the ancient Inhabitants of Mount Seir as the Emims were of the Country of Moab XIV Gen. 6. XXXVI 20. Verse 12 But the Children of Esau succeeded them Planted themselves in that Mountain When they had destroyed them from before them and dwelt in their Land When the Children of Esau expelled the Horites or the Children of Lot the Emmims is no where recorded nor who were their Leaders in
these Expeditions But they seem to be here remembred as an Encouragement to the Israelites to hope that they might drive out the Inhabitants of Canaan who were not stronger than these as they had already driven the Amorites out of the Country of Sihon as it here follows As Israel did unto the Land of his possession which the LORD gave unto them Some have argued from hence that this Book was not written by Moses but by some body else after they had got possession of the Land of Canaan But it is manifest this may relate to what they had done already in dispossessing Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan of their Country which it is expresly said Moses had given for a possession to the Tribe of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh and that by God's direction XXXII Numb 33. XXXIV 14 15. and in this Book XXIX 8. This hath been observed by many particularly by Huetius in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. XIV N. XV. Ver. 13. Now rise up said I and get you over the Verse 13 Brook Zered c. Which elsewhere we translate the Valley of Zered See XXI Numb 12. Ver. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea Verse 14 until we came over the Brook Zered was thirty eight years For it is evident by the story in Numbers that they came to Kadesh-Barnea about the fourth Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt See upon XII Numb 16. And if we suppose that they removed from hence in the seventh or eighth Month of that Year it is certain that they could not come to this Brook till the seventh or eighth Month of the fortieth Year For Aaron died at Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth Month of this Year and we must allow two or three Months time for all that followed between that and this viz. the conquest of King Arad and of Sihon and Og c. Vntil all the Generation of the Men of War So they were called who were above twenty years old I Numb 3. Were wasted out from among the People Utterly consumed so that not one of them was left XXVI Numb 64 65. As the LORD sware unto them See XIV Numb 28 29. Verse 15 Ver. 15. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from among the Host Some of them it is likely died a Natural death but many of them might in the course of Nature have lived longer if God had not several ways cut them off before their time Vntil they were consumed By one Plague or other which God sent among them So that a great deal of their time in the thirty eight Years before mentioned were spent it is likely in burying and mourning for their dead Verse 16 17. Ver. 16 17. So it came to pass when all the Men of War were consumed and dead from among the People that the LORD spake unto me saying This was spoken it is probable just as they passed over the Brook Zered or in their next Station at Dibon-Gad XXXIII Numb 45. Ver. 18. Thou art to pass through Ar the Coast of Verse 18 Moab this day Or rather to pass by the Border of Moab for they were not permitted to come into their Country v. 9. See upon v. 4. Ver. 19. And when thou comest nigh over against the Verse 19 Children of Ammon As they did after the conquest of Sihon King of the Amorites whose Country bordered upon the Ammonites XXI Numb 13 24. Distress them not neither meddle with them The same command with that about the Edomites and Moabites v. 5 9. For I will not give thee of the Land of the Children of Ammon any possession As he had said before of the Land of Moab v. 9. Because I have given it unto the Children of Lot for a possession To the Descendants of his youngest Son as he had done the Country of Moab to the Children of the eldest Ver. 20. And that also was accounted a Land of Giants Verse 20 c. Was called the Country of Giants or Rephaim for People so called inhabited it And the Ammonites called them Zamzummims Changed their Names it is probable from Zuzims See XIV Gen. 5. as they were called before into Zamzummims But why they were called either by the one Name or the other it is but conjectured Some conceive they were called Zuzims from their swiftness or nimble running which in Warriours was a quality always highly valued and Zamzummims from their abominable Wickedness or their craft and cunning in doing Mischief Ver. 21. A people great and many and tall as the Anakims The same description which he gave of the Emims v. 10. Verse 21 But the LORD destroyed them before them i. e. Before the Ammonites who expelled them out of their Country and it 's like cut off the most of them And they succeeded them and dwelt in their Land This is so often repeated to possess the Minds of the Israelites with a sense of God's Providence which rules every where displacing one People and setling another in their stead and fixing their Bounds also which they shall not pass without his leave Verse 22 Ver. 22. As he did to the Children of Esau which dwelt in Seir when he destroyed the Horites from before them c. He repeats this which he had said before v. 12. because it was a fresher Instance of God's disposal of Countries unto what People he pleases and nearly touched the Israelites because they were their Brethren Verse 23 Ver. 23. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim even unto Azzah Unto which he adds an instance which seems to be elder than any of the former concerning a People called Avims who inhabited some part of the Land of Canaan whither they were going For though we do not read of Hazerim in any other place yet Azzah i. e. Gaza was in the Country of the Philistims who expelled these Avims And David Chytraeus thinks that Hazerim was a Town afterward in the Tribe of Judah called Haza-gaddah XV Josh 27. The Caphtorim which came out of Caphtor That is some People of Cappadocia who were near of Kin to the Philistims See X Gen. 14. Destroyed them and dwelt in their stead Concerning which see in the place above-named Unto which I shall only add That the Avims being expelled out of Canaan by the Caphtorims went it is very probable over Euphrates and settled there till the King of Assyria brought some of them back again to plant the Country of Samaria 2 Kings XVII 31. where we translate this word Avites See Bochart in his Phaleg Lib. IV. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 24. Rise ye up take your Journey and pass over Verse 24 the River Arnon See XXI Numb 13 14. Behold I have given into thy hand Sihon King of Heshbon and his Land c. You your selves shall do to him what your Brethren the Children of Esau did to the
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.
Evil but he serves God truly because he is the Truth and the chiefest Good that he may be admitted to Communion with him And a Man ought to love him with the most vehement and intense Affection so that he languish with love to him just as a Man that is in love with one he desires to make his Wife Wheresoever he is at home or abroad when he eats and drinks when he lies down and rises up he thinks of her To which Solomon compares the Love of the Spouse who saith I am sick of Love 2 Cant. 5. To this purpose Baal Chasidim mentioned by Wagenseil upon Sota Cap. V. p. 611. By the Heart may be here meant the Will which is the Original of all that a Man doth as the Jews speak whether Good or Evil By the Soul the Affections to which St. Mark adds the Mind i. e. the Understanding or Rational Faculty and by Might or Strength is meant the Power of the Body for Action which four all together make up the whole Man And the word ALL added to each of these doth not exclude all other things from any share in our Thoughts and Affections but only from an equal Interest in them The Love of God ought to be superiour and direct all our other Motions to serve him as Maimonides expresses it in his Preface to Pirke Avoth Ver. 7. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy Children In the Hebrew the words are as our Margin observes shall whet or sharpen them signifying Verse 7 as some think that they should endeavour to make them pierce their Hearts But De Dieu rather thinks it signifies Beat them into them as things are hammered on an Anvil with repeated Strokes Which the famous Bochartus doth not so well approve who observes that the word Sanan which in Arabick signifies in the first place to sharpen or whet signifies also Exquisitè docere c. to teach exquisitely so that he who is taught be made thereby more acute and perspicacious Which is the intention he thinks of the Hebrew word here L. 2. Canaan Cap. XVII However it be expounded it imports the Diligence they should use as we translate it to instil this Principle into their Children's Minds that there is but One God and to work in them a fear and love of his Divine Majesty For to that which goes before v. 4 5 6. these words have a particular respect By which it appears that Moses thought his Law was so plain that every Father might be able to instruct his Sons in it and every Mother her Daughters And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine House and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up As much as to say they should take all occasions to inculcate this great thing at home and abroad Night and Day never ceasing their most earnest Endeavours to perswade their Children not to worship any other God nor to fail to worship the LORD their God with sincere Affection The Jews have made from hence one of their affirmative Precepts That twice a Day at least they should recite these words Hear O Israel c. which is a very dilute Sence of this Precept Wherein Moses requires not meerly their saying these words in which there might be a great deal of Superstition but taking all opportunities to imprint them upon the Minds and Hearts of their Children Verse 8 Ver. 8. And thou shalt bind them for a Sign upon thine Hand and they shall be as Frontlets between thine Eyes Just thus he commands them to preserve the Memory of their Deliverance out of the Land of Egypt almost in the same words See XIII Exod. 9 16. where this is sufficiently explained And it appears to be a Proverbial Speech from XLIX Isa 16. There are some learned Men indeed who take these words literally notwithstanding St. Hierom hath delivered his Opinion to the contrary that there is no Command for Phylacteries which are grounded upon these words particularly Jos Scaliger in his Elench Trihaeres Nic. Serarii Cap. 7. 8. Where he thinks God gave this Command to the Israelites to prevent their following the Rites of other Nations who armed themselves against Dangers with superstitious Amulets in their Foreheads which the Egyptians he thinks called Totaphot But since neither here nor in Exodus there are any such words as thou shalt make thee Frontlets but Moses only saith the things he is speaking of shall be for Frontlets between their Eyes I take it not to be meant literally Tho' it 's likely they intended well who so understood it For our blessed Saviour doth not seem to reprove the Jews for wearing Phylacteries but for their Ostentation in making them broader than ordinary Ver. 9. And thou shalt write them upon the Posts of thy House and on thy Gates This looks more like a literal Command than the former and it might Verse 9 have been very useful to them when they went in and out of their House to read these words Hear O Israel the LORD thy God is one LORD c. But the Jews are too scrupulous about the Words they should write and upon what part of the Posts and Gates they were to put them c. as Mr. Selden observes Lib. III. De Synedr Cap. XIII N. 2. Tho' after all it may be this was not intended but only that they should never let this Principle slip out of their Mind but think of it when they went out and came in as well as when they were in their Houses and by the Way when they rose up and when they lay down Yet it must be observed that other Nations used to write their Laws upon their Gates as Huetius notes in his Demonstratio Evangelica p. 58. which it 's likely they did in imitation of the Jews who to this Day have written in a Parchment these Words from v. 4. to the end of this Verse with that other passage Chap. XI from v. 13. to v. 20. which they roll up and writing on it the Name of Shaddai put it into a piece of Cane or other hollow Wood and fasten it to the Doors of their Houses and of each particular Room in them and as often as they go in and out they make it a part of their Devotion to touch this Parchment and kiss it As Leo Modena tells us in his History of the Jews P. 1. Cap. 2. Ver. 10. And it shall be when the LORD thy God Verse 10 shall have brought thee into the Land which he sware c. Of this he speaks with the greatest assurance there being no doubt to be made that God would immediately give them possession of the good Land promised to them The only danger was lest they should be thrown out of it for their Disobedience Great and goodly Cities which thou buildedst not For they did not lay all waste as they did Jericho for which there was a particular Reason but dwelt in them
and stony places have the least swelling in them Or as some translate it grow callous There are those that refer this last Clause not to their Feet but to their Shoes according to what we read XXIX 5. Ver. 5. Thou shalt also consider in thine Heart Often reflect and ponder Verse 5 That as a Man chastneth his Son so the LORD thy God chastneth thee All the Afflictions which God had sent upon them he would have them think were not for their undoing but for their amendment and correcting what was amiss in them and therefore ought to be thankfully acknowledged as well as his Benefits Ver. 6. Therefore thou shalt keep the Commandments Verse 6 of the LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him Howsoever therefore he dealt with them it ought to have led them to Obedience In the repetition of this so often Moses doth but practice his own Lesson which he had taught them VI. 7. That they should teach these Words diligently to their Children c. Ver. 7. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a Verse 7 good Land Therefore there was the greater need they should enter into it with the pious Resolution before-mentioned to fear God and walk in his ways Otherwise they would be in great danger to be corrupted by such plenty and variety of all good things as this Land afforded A Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of Valleys and Hills The Hebrew word Tehom which we translate deep and in the plural Number Depths signifies sometimes those great Caverns of Water that are within the Ground which were made by the plentiful Rains which God sent upon this Country while they were obedient to him Which both made it fruitful tho' now barren and abounding also with Water for their Cattle LXXVIII Psal 15. XXXI Ezek. 4. But it is here commonly interpreted Lakes or Wells of Water Verse 8 Ver. 8. A Land of Wheat and Barley and Vines and Fig-trees and Pomegranates Plentifully stored with all things necessary for the support and pleasure of Life A Land of Oyl-Olive and Honey The same word Debas which signifies Honey signifies also Dates And so de Dieu thinks it most reasonable to translate it here being joyned with four other sorts of Fruits And so Kimchi saith the ancient Jews expounded it in this place and in 2 Chron. XXXI 5. where it is said That Israel brought in abundance the first Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey or Dates as we there translate it in the Margin Verse 9 Ver. 9. A Land wherein thou shalt eat Bread without scarceness Be in no want of any sort of Provision which is comprehended under the Name of Bread Thou shall not lack any thing in it No other Conveniences of Life A Land whose Stones are Iron and out of whose Hills thou mayst dig Brass Where there are useful Minerals as plentiful as Stones are in other places These are the rather mentioned because there were no such Mines in Egypt where they had long dwelt and were stored with plenty of other things XI Numb 5. Verse 10 Ver. 10. When thou hast eaten and art full After a liberal Meal Then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good Land which he hath given thee Give solemn Thanks to God not only for that present Repast but for the plentiful Provision he had made for them of all good things in the Land he had bestowed on them From this place the Jews have made it a general Rule or as they call it an affirmative Precept That every one bless God at their Meals That is as I said give him Thanks for his Benefits For he blesses us when he bestows good things upon us and we bless him when we thankfully acknowledge his Goodness therein Which is a natural Duty which we owe to the Fountain and Original of all Good Ver. 11. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy Verse 11 God in not keeping his Commandments and his Judgments and his Statutes which I command thee this day He would have their Thanksgiving for his Benefits leave such a sence of God upon their Minds as should make them careful to yield him an entire Obedience Ver. 12. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full Verse 12 and hast built goodly Houses and dwelt therein Feasted in stately Houses wherein they enjoyed their Ease Ver. 13. And when thy Herds and thy Flocks are multiplied Verse 13 and thy Silver and thy Gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied The sence of these two Verses is when they had great abundance of all good things within Doors and without Ver. 14. Then thine Heart be lifted up Which is Verse 14 an usual Effect of great Riches as Euripides observes in that known Saying of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wealth breeds Pride Scorn and Contempt of others This Moses Kotzensis thought so great a Sin that he puts it among the Negative Precepts and pretends he was warned in a Dream so to do tho' Maimonides and others had omitted it And when he awaked he was confirmed in it by reading a place in the Gemara upon Sota Cap. I. which saith Wheresoever we find these Words in Scripture Take heed lest there is a Prohibition as there is v. 11. and here to take heed of Pride For whosoever is proud he shall be brought low as the Gemara there adds which are in a manner the Words of our blessed Saviour XVIII St. Luke 14. And thou forget the LORD thy God This is another common effect of large Possessions which make the Owners of them fall into Sloth and Luxury and such Forgetfulness of the Donor of all good Things that they trust in uncertain Riches as the Apostle speaks and not in the living God imagining now they can never want not because God is so good but because they have such store of good Things laid up for many Years Which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt and from the House of Bondage No wonder if they forgot all his former Benefits when they were unthankful for the present Verse 15 Ver. 15. Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness See I. 19. Wherein were fiery Serpents See XXI Numb 6. And Scorpions These are commonly joyned with Serpents in Scripture even in the New Testament X Luke 19. XI 12 13. being found in the same places especially in this Desert of Arabia And Drought The Hebrew word Tsimmaon signifies a dry place as we translate it CVII Psal 33. XXXV Isa 7. And that best agrees with what here follows Where there was no Water Who brought thee forth Water out of a Rock of Flint From which one would have sooner expected Fire than Water XX Numb 11. Who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not v. 3. The great Salmasius in a Treatise on purpose about Manna hath said a great deal to prove that the Manna which God sent
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
forth out of Egypt This seems to belong to the Ammonites who had no Compassion towards the Israelites when they were distressed in the Wilderness but though they were near of kin to them did not show them that Civility which is commonly expressed to meer strangers in their Travels XIV Gen. 18. XVIII 2 31. XIX 1 2. We do not find any mention of this barbarity of theirs in the foregoing History but we read how kind God ordered the Israelites to be to them in not medling with them much less distressing them as they passed by their Country II Deut. 19. Which aggravated their Inhumanity in not vouchsafing this common kindness to the Israelites of giving them the Refreshment of Bread and Water as they went by them And because they hired against thee Balaam the Son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse thee As the foregoing passage peculiarly refers to the Ammonites so this doth to the Moabites who with the Assistance of the Midianites invited Balaam by the Promises of a great Reward to come from the Eastern Country and curse the Israelites See XXII Numb 5 6 7. For these two Reasons God laid this Prohibition upon his People in which Maimonides observes the Divine Justice in proportioning Punishments to Offences For Amalek coming out against the Israelites when they were newly come forth from Egypt to cut them off with the Sword God commanded their Memory to be blotted out XXV 19. but the Ammonites being only basely covetous and the Moabites acting against them only by Craft and not by Force God inflicted no other Punishment upon them but this That his People should avoid all Affinity with them and show no love to them More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI And the MS. Author of Etz-Hachajim mentioned by Wagenseil in the place forenamed makes this the ground of the distinction mentioned before between the Males and the Females of those Countries Their Males saith he might never marry with an Israelitish Woman but by a Tradition delivered down to us from Moses in Mount Sinai we hold that the Women of those Countries if they embraced the Jewish Religion might be married to a Man of Israel For the Women must be thought in all reason not to have been guilty as the Men were of that which was the reason of this Law it not being the Custom for Women to bring out Bread and Water to Travellers nor did they send Ambassadors to hire Balaam to come and curse the Israelites Accordingly we find Ruth who was a Moabitess married to Boaz the Ancestor of David Verse 5 Ver. 5. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the LORD thy God loved thee Balaam indeed did not Curse the Israelites as the Moabites desired and he intended but no Thanks was owing to him for that but it was to be ascribed to the Love of God to his People who constrained him against his will to Bless them Verse 6 Ver. 6. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever By entering into any League with them much less by taking them into Conjugal Society but on the contrary they were to look upon them as dangerous Enemies who being their near Neighbours would watch all Opportunities to ensnare or disturb them Some of the Jews would have this to be an Exception to the General Rule XX. 10. that they might not offer them Terms of Peace as they were bound to do to all Men but the Seven Nations of Canaan though if they desired Peace they were bound they say to grant it See Schickard in his Mischpat Hammelech p. 118. But Grotius hath well observed upon V Matth. 43. that God did not give the Jews any Right to their Country as appears from I Deut. 19. and therefore the meaning here is that they should not make any League with them of mutual Assistance which they called foedera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 7 Ver. 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite So as never to enter into the Society of Marriage with them they being a circumcised People For he is thy brother Nearer of kin to them than the Ammonites and Moabites Esau their Father being the Twin-brother of Jacob. And so Moses calls them when he delivers God's Command to the Israelites not to meddle with them II Deut. 8. We passed by from our Brethren the Children of Esau c. Here it may be observed that the word Brother comprehended more than the Israelites as our Saviour shows the word Neighbour did X Luke 29 c. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian because thou wast a stranger in his Land That is the Egyptians in a sore Famine sustained them their Children Flocks and Herds very kindly the memory of which benefit God would not have forgotten though in future Generations they were cruelly oppressed by them Ver. 8. The Children that are begotten of them shall Verse 8 enter into the Congregation of the LORD in the third Generation When they had been Proselytes for three Generations it was lawful to marry with them Nay some of the Jews are so liberal here of their kindness as to understand by banim not Children in general but Sons with whom only Marriage is forbidden till the third Generation Marriage with their Daughters being lawful as they think as soon as they turned compleat Proselytes Upon which account Solomon took Pharaoh's Daughter to Wife See Selden Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XIV XV. where he observes that all this held good only till the Captivity of Babylon when all these Nations being confused they might marry with any of them if they became Jews For Wars and Colonies and Deportations had made such a mixture of People that one could not be known from another This Wagenseil hath lately confirmed out of several Hebrew Authors whom Mr. Selden did not trouble himself to mention and particularly out of the MS. Etz-Hachajim which he most highly commends See p. 149. upon Sota They all agree likewise that none of these Laws extended to Proselytes who might marry with any of these Nations See Selden ib. Cap. XVIII Verse 9 Ver. 9. When the host goeth forth against thine Enemy then keep thee from every wicked thing This was a Rule to be observed at all times but then especially when they had the greatest need of the Divine help for which wicked People could not reasonably hope and when there was the greatest danger of being wicked in a time of such licence as Soldiers commonly take There is a Sentence very like this in Agathias Lib. II. mentioned by Grotius towards the conclusion of his Prolegomena to the Book de Jure Belli Pacis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Injustice and neglect of God's Service are ever to be avoided as most pernicious but especially in a time of War and when Men are upon the point of giving battle Which he proves
through all Christian Countries for a testimony to the truth of our Religion and there only oppressed crushed and squeezed as Moses here foretold One instance of which sore oppression I cannot forbear to add out of Schebet Jehuda where R. Solomon Virgae confesses what great Miseries they have been exposed unto by Persons pretending to be their Messiah who have drawn the hatred of all Nations upon them Particularly in Persia he saith they were most lamentably handled upon this score being not only stript of all but forced to go about like Dogs with a great Clog of Wood bound to their Necks which exposed them to the scorn and laughter of all Men. For while some threw it behind their backs others would come and throw it down before their feet Some dragging them backwards and others cruelly beating them with it This one told him who saw it Verse 34 Ver. 34. So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eys which thou shalt see So they were as the forenamed Doctor observes Chapt. XXIX Paragraph 6.15 when their Children were taken from them in Portugal For some being not able to rescue or dispatch them killed themselves others who had better opportunity drowned their Children in Wells or Ditches And here in England one of their learned Rabbins perswaded four hundred of his Company besieged with him in a strong Tower by the furious Multitude to cut their own Throats rather than fall into their Enemies hands himself confirming his Doctrine by cutting his Wives Throat first then his Children and lastly killing himself And thus in the time of the forementioned Crusado's the Souldiers made such dreadful havock of the Jews as they went along to the Holy Land that many of them made themselves away out of despair as their own Authors R. Gedaliah and David Ganz tell us ad An. 1096. Ver. 35. And the LORD shall smite thee in the knees Verse 35 and in the legs with a sore botch that cannot be healed c. This is the same word in the Hebrew Schechin which is used v. 27. called the botch of Egypt and here an evil botch that is a very grievous breaking out which began in those lower parts and so spread being incurable and by no means to be stopt from the sole of the feet unto the crown of the head Ver. 36. And the LORD shall bring thee and the Verse 36 King which thou shalt set over thee unto a Nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known This may seem to have been fulfilled literally only when Jehojachin was carried away Captive to Babylon 2 Kings XXIV 15. and afterward Zedekiah XXV 7. Jerem. XXXIX 7. LII 11. For when they returned they had no more any Kings But the latter part of these words a Nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known may incline us to extend this Threatning as far as to their last Dispersion by the Romans Since which they have been driven into several Countries far less known to them than Babylon was with which they had correspondence before their Captivity thither 2 Kings XX. 12 c. And though they have had no King yet they have set over themselves Rulers and Governours who may be comprehended under that Name And there thou shalt serve other gods wood and stone Either sottishly following the Example of the Country to which they were carried XLIV Jerem. 17 18. or being compelled thereunto by their cruel Tyranny III Daniel 6. The Author of Schebet Jehuda observes that this was the just punishment of their folly in running after Idols that they were sent into other Countries to worship those gods which they were so fond of in their own And he refers it particularly to the time of the Captivity of Babylon in which they continued Seventy years according to the number of years wherein those Planets whom they had worshipped finished their Course For Saturn as he computes finishes his in One and twenty Jupiter in as many and so he proceeds with the rest which make up that number But this is too curious an Observation and the Jews have little skill in Astronomy therefore I pass it by and only observe that Manasseh ben Israel also understands this of the Babylonian Captivity for all the Punishments mentioned from v. 15. to v. 49. were fulfilled under the first Temple and after the ruin of it till the building of the second Which though it be not exactly true some of these Predictions having been more compleatly fulfilled as I have shown in after Times yet it is reasonable to think that this Threatning particularly belongs to what they suffered in Babylon the very same Calamity being again threatned in the 64th verse where I shall show it belongs to their present Condition Ver. 37. And thou shalt become an astonishment Verse 37 Their Neighbours he means who saw or heard of the greatness and strongness of their various Plagues should be dismayed at the sight or report of them wondering that a People who had been so flourishing should be made so exceeding desolate See 1 Kings IX 8. XVIII Jerem. 16. XIX 8. A proverb and a by-word among all Nations whither the LORD shall lead thee So that when Men would express one extreamly vile they should say he was a Jew The same is threatned by God when he appeared to Solomon 1 Kings IX 7. and by Jeremiah XXIV 9. which it is likely was fulfilled at their first Captivity into Babylon See II Lament 15 16. but hath been notoriously fulfilled in their last Captivity as they call it since the Destruction of Jerusalem and their Temple by the Romans For here in England from whence they have been banished above three hundred years their name serves as a perfect measure to use the words of Dr. Jackson B. I. on the Creed Chap. XXX to express the height of Impiety in any Agent or the depth of an abject worthless forlorn condition in any Patient Better we cannot express the most cut-throat dealing than thus You use me like a Jew or none but a Jew would have done this And when in common Speech we exaggerate wrongs done to the most odious or despised People among us we say I would not have done so to a Jew Ver. 38. Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shalt gather but little in This was fulfilled before they were carried Captive to Babylon when Verse 38 God frequently sent sore Famine upon them as we read in the Prophet Isaiah LII 1.9 and Jeremiah XIV 1 2 3 c. and is often threatned by Ezekiel among other terrible Judgments and by Jeremiah himself XXIX 17 18. For the locust shall consume it They were a great Plague in those Countries falling sometimes in such vast numbers from whence they had the name of Arbe that they covered the whole face of the Earth and devoured every green thing For so another of their names imports which is Chasil coming from Chasal which signifies to
till they had brought them to utter ruin Which is so evidently fulfilled that would but the Atheists consider it and lay it to heart it would wring from them a Confession of the truth of what these Divine Oracles have uttered That this was a People who had been appointed to destruction For though there be a great many of them remaining in several parts of the World yet they have never been suffered to grow into a Nation but in that sense are utterly destroyed as Moses here prophesied Because thou hearknedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God to keep his Commandments and his Statutes which I commanded thee this day It hath manifestly appeared the hand of God is very heavy upon them for their Disobedience to him there being no other reason why they who were once so favoured by him should be so long as they have been more miserable than any other People Verse 46 Ver. 46. And they shall be upon thee That is the Curses before-mentioned should remain fixed upon them and continue unremoved from Age to Age. For a sign and for a wonder That all Men may take notice of them and look upon them as extraordinary Tokens of God's high displeasure and take warning thereby to beware of their Infidelity and Disobedience For as that great Man often saith No sign can be given equivalent to the desolatiqn of the Jewish Nation and their continuing still banished from their own Land and miserably treated in all other Countries And upon thy seed for ever All the World may clearly see to use his words again that the God of their Fathers hath cast them off they having no signs or badges of his ancient wonted favours whilst innumerable Marks and Scars of his fearful Indignation against their Fathers remain unhealed in their Children after more Generations than their Ancestors had of Prosperity in the promised Land Ver. 47. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy Verse 47 God with joyfulness and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things Or In the abundance of all things for this is opposed to the hunger and thirst in which he saith in the next Verse they should serve their Enemies as a punishment for their wanton abuse of God's Mercies Which being so exceeding great justly required not only their obedience but cheerfulness and delight therein Ver. 48. Therefore shalt thou serve thine Enemies Verse 48 which he shall send against thee He doth not call the LORD their God as he did before now they were abandon'd by him for their sins In hunger and thirst and nakedness and in want of all things This shows what he meant before by abundance of all things plentiful provision of Food and Raiment and all other things belonging to the Comfort of Life And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck The loss of Liberty was as great a Misery as any other which ended also in hard Servitude And it was but just that they should be Slaves in the Land of their Enemies to cruel Masters who would not in their own Country serve so gracious and loving a Father as the LORD their God A yoke of iron Signifies an unsupportable Yoke which could not be broken See XXVIII Jerem. 13 14. Verse 49 Ver. 49. And the LORD shall bring a Nation against thee from far This evidently belongs to the Romans as Manasseh ben Israel acknowledges who thinks that at this Verse begins his Prophecy of their Calamities under the second Temple as in the foregoing he describes their Calamities under the first And in this I think he saith right That there is scarce any thing mentioned in the following part of this Chapter but what relates to what they suffered under the second Temple as he speaks and since its destruction though I cannot say as he doth of the foregoing part of it that it was fulfilled in the Calamities which befel them under the first Temple for many things were never so compleatly fulfilled as since they crucified our Saviour From the end of the earth This shows he speaks of the Romans rather then of the Chaldaeans who did not come from far much less from the end of the earth but out of the North Country which was not very far distant from Judaea Whereas the Romans by whom they were last destroyed came literally from far and from the end of the earth Particularly Julius Severus was called by the Emperour Adrian to their destruction out of this Island of Britain Wherein Vespasian also had given great proof of his Conduct And Adrian himself and Trajan by whom they were still more crushed after Vespasian had destroyed their City and Temple were both Spaniards by birth And therefore Manasseh ben Israel says peremptorily in his Book de Termino Vitae Lib. III. Sect. III. this is to be understood of the Souldiers in Vespasian's Army which he brought out of England France and Spain and other remote parts of the World As swift as the Eagles Which every one knows the Romans carried in their Ensigns And these Birds are observed to fly upon their Prey with great force and violence to whom therefore fierce Souldiers such as the Romans were are compared when they set upon their Enemies So Homer describes Achilles falling upon the Trojans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Iliad Φ. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 furious assaults as the Scholiast interprets it And so he speaks concerning Hector Iliad X. As David also speaks of Saul and Jonathan 2 Sam. 1.23 and the Chaldaeans are so described coming against Jerusalem IV Jerem. 13. XLVIII 40. XLIX 22. I Lament 19 XVII Ezek. 3. and see VII Daniel 4. and Bochartus in his Hierozoicon Pars I. Lib. II. Cap. IX P. II. Lib. II. Cap. II. A Nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand The Roman Tongue was more strange to them than the Chaldaean especially the Language of many Nations of which the Roman Army was composed And being a People whom their Ancestors perhaps never heard of Dr. Jackson justly looks upon the Destruction and general Desolation of their Country made by the Romans and their Tributaries in these Western Parts of the World as an Everlasting Monument of the truth of Moses his Prophecy in this and in the following Verses Verse 50 Ver. 50. A Nation This word Nation being used thrice in this and the foregoing Verse Manasseh ben Israel in the place forenamed is so critical as to observe that this Repetition shows Jerusalem was to suffer thrice by the Roman power First In the time of Pompey and secondly when Sosius came to the assistance of Herod against Antigonus and thirdly when it was besieged and overturned by Vespasian and his Son Titus Of a fierce countenance So we translate this Phrase VIII Daniel 23. which in the Hebrew is a strong or hard face Accordingly we translate it impudent or in our language brazen-faced VII Prov. 13. and hard XXI Prov. 29. and bold of face
of Moab Where he declared to them the Law which he had formerly delivered to their Fathers I Deut. 5. Beside the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb This doth not signifie that he made a Covenant with them different from the former made at Horeb Exod. XXIV but only now renewed the same Covenant after they had shamefully violated it more more than once Which was the more necessary because they were ready to enter into the Land of Canaan and he was just upon his departure from them into another World and therefore did all he could to engage them in a more firm obedience to God And for that end both more fully explain'd several Laws and added others and at large laid before them the Happiness or the Misery that would ensue upon their fidelity or falsness in this Covenant Ver. 2. And Moses called unto all Israel This Verse 2 seems to import a new Summons which he sent out to them to attend him now he was about to conclude what he had to say to them before he left them Which he did not as I have often observed See V. 1. all at once in one continued Speech but at several times and now was about to wind up all in this and in the next Chapter And said unto them He argued with them from the Knowledge and Experience which they had of the Power of God in his wonderful Works particularly three which were very memorable Those in Egypt which he mentions here and in the two next Verses and those in the Wilderness v. 5 6. and lately in the great Victory he had given them over two potent Kings v. 7 8. Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the Land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and unto all his Land Some of them had seen when they were young and others had understood from them which is here called seeing all the Plagues which God brought upon Pharaoh and upon his Court and upon his whole Country This he had often called to their mind in his Preface to the Repetition of his Laws VI. 12. VII 18 19. XI 3 4. and makes it a great aggravation of their guilt if they should forsake him who had done such wonderful things for them XIII 5 10. And now he concludes with the same Argument as most powerful to move them if they had any sense of their Obligations to the greatest Benefactor Verse 3 Ver. 3. The great temptations which thine eyes have seen the signs and those great miracles Of these he had put them in mind before See IV. 34. VII 19. Verse 4 Ver. 4. Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear unto this day They had not so considered and laid to heart God's wonderful Works as to have a lasting sense of them bestowed upon them by God He gives us an understanding heart but we must first consider what he hath done for us as the Apostle instructs us 2 Tim. II. 7. And he gives us what we do not receive and so in effect it is not given Thus he saith himself that he purged Israel but they would not be purged XXIV Ezek. 13. What the difference is between an heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear need not be curiously enquired They are perhaps but three various expressions of their gross stupidity or three degrees of it which was so great that they had no continued sense of the wonderful Works God had done for them nor did so much as regard and observe them no nor hearken to those who put them in mind of them Which must not be imputed to any want of power in these things to move them much less of the Divine Grace to work upon their hearts by them but was wholly to be ascribed to their own negligence and perversness Of which God here complains and with which he severely upbraids them that he had not given them this Grace Which is a clear demonstration the fault was in themselves and therefore Maimonides rightly and judiciously explains these words when he saith the meaning is they had not disposed themselves to receive this Grace from God Ver. 5. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness Verse 5 By a glorious Cloud which both conducted and protected them VIII 2. XI 5. Concerning these forty years see Chapt. II. 7. Your clothes are not waxen old upon you and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot See VIII 4. The Jews used no shoes in Egypt as Bochartus probably conjectures but being to take a long Journey through a rough way in the Wilderness he commanded them to eat the Passover with shoes on their feet XII Exod 11. And these very shoes which they put on at that Festival when they were ready to march God suffered not to decay in all their Travels for forty years following See Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. Cap. L. Ver. 6. Ye have not eaten bread neither have ye drunk Verse 6 wine or strong drink Not commonly though when they passed by some neighbouring Country they might possibly sometimes purchase both Bread and Wine or other strong Liquors But their ordinary Food was the heavenly Manna and their Drink was the Water that followed them out of the Rock So that the meaning is they were constantly supported by a miraculous supply from God who took care of them and thereby laid a greater Obligation upon them to serve him who graciously fed them without any labour of their own For they neither ploughed nor sowed nor reaped nor took any other pains for this Provision as they must have done for Bread and Wine or other Liquors pressed out of Dates or Figs c. That ye may know that I am the LORD your God This he did for them that he might breed and maintain in them a sense of his Omnipotent Power and of his All-sufficient Goodness and Faithfulness to his Promises Which he intended to demonstrate at his first giving of Manna to them XVI Exod. 12. Verse 7 Ver. 7. And when ye came into this place For they were now in a part of the Country which they conquered IV. 45 46 c. Sihon King of Heshbon and Og King of Bashan came out against us to battle and we smote them XXI Numb 24 34 35. II Deut. 30 c III. 2 3 c. Verse 8 Ver. 8. And we took their Land from them and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites c. See XXXII Numb 33. and IV Deut. 12 c. Verse 9 Ver. 9. Keep therefore the words of this Covenant and do them Preserve them in memory so as to make good your Ingagements which you passed to God in Horeb which Moses was now about to renew and lay a fresh obligation on them For most of them being a new Generation and now going to enter upon the possession of the Land of Promise it was necessary to
21. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the Tribes of Israel Though he offended Verse 21 never so secretly for he speaks of one that blessed himself in his heart c. v. 19. God threatens to make him a publick and notorious Example of his Vengeance to all the People of Israel According to all the Curses of the Covenant that are written in the Book of the Law It was a singular condescension in the Divine Majesty to enter into Covenant with them but it contained not only Blessings to the obedient but Curses upon the disobedient the latter of which were as certain as the former Ver. 22. So that the Generations to come of your Children Verse 22 that shall rise up after you and the stranger that shall come from a far Land shall say That which follows v. 24. When they see the Plagues of that Land This shows that these Threatnings are denounced not meerly against a simple Idolater but such an one as made it his endeavour to draw others from the Worship of God not being content to be drunk himself with Heathenish Superstition but zealous to intoxicate as many as he could with it and to root true Religion out of the Nation And the sicknesses which the LORD hath laid upon it In the Hebrew it is The sicknesses wherewith he hath made it sick i. e. the heavy Punishments which he hath inflicted upon it and thereby made it a miserable Nation Ver. 23. And that the whole Land is brimstone and salt and burning Or as it may be translated Is burnt up with brimstone and salt For these make Land Verse 23 barren and unfruitful as Pliny particularly observes of Salt Lib. XXX Cap. VII Omnis locus in quo reperitur Sal sterilis est nihilque gignit All ground in which Salt is found is barren and produceth nothing See IX Judges 45. CVII Psal 34. XVII Jerem 6. XLVII Ezek. 11. II Zephan 9. That it is not sown nor beareth nor any grass groweth therein That neither Nature nor Art will make it fruitful Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah Admah and Zeboim And the Country about them which was the most beautiful of all other in that part of the World XIII Gen. 10. but on a sudden turned into a filthy stinking Lake where no Creature neither Fish nor Fowl can live Which the LORD overthrew in his anger and in his wrath Being highly incensed by their wickedness See Gen. XVIII 20. XIX 24 25. as he was by the wickedness of the Jews which was the more provoking because they had such an example of his Vengeance continually before their eyes and yet went on in their evil ways till they brought the like Judgment upon all Judoea This was more exactly fulfilled in the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans than in their first by the Babylonians For the whole Land was laid waste and deserted by its Inhabitants and made a Den of Thieves being brought to desolation by repeated returns of Wars More especially in the time of Adrian when Julius Severus as I observed upon the foregoing Chapter made such a devastation that the whole Country was turned in a manner into a Wilderness Ver. 24. Even all Nations shall say All that were near them or came that way from far Countries as it goes before v. 22. Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this Land Verse 24 Which he formerly made so populous and plenteous And what means the heat of this great anger These exceeding dreadful Calamities which evidently proceeded from a Divine Vengeance For the Jews fought so valiantly and defended Jerusalem so resolutely as appears by Josephus that the Author of Schebet Juda had reason to say that it was not want of Arms nor the unusual terrour of new Machines but the Anger of God provoked by their Wickedness which was the true and only Cause of their destruction And indeed Titus himself said as much that God fought for the Romans and drove the Jews from their Fortifications 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what could the hands of Men or Machines have done against such strong Towers See Chap. XXXII v. 22. Ver. 25. Then shall men say because they have forsaken Verse 25 the Covenant of the LORD God of their Fathers which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the Land of Egypt This account must be supposed to be given by the pious Jews or by those who were made sensible when it was too late how stedfast God was in his Covenant which contained Curses as well as Blessings as was before observed v. 21. And see VII 9 10. XI 26 27 28. Ver. 26. For they went and served other gods and Verse 26 worshipped them whom they knew not This aggravated their sin that they sought for acquaintance with strange gods directly contrary to the Covenant of God XII 30 31. And whom he had not given unto them Or as it is in the Margin had not given or divided to them any portion that is never bestowed any benefit upon them as the LORD their God had done who brought them out of Egypt Or more simply as Bootius thinks the words will bear to whom no worship belonged Verse 27 Ver. 27. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this Land to bring upon it all the Curses that are written in this Book So Moses foretold them VII 4. XI 16 17. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And the LORD rooted them out of their Land in anger and wrath and in great indignation Here is one word more to express his displeasure against them than was used before when he speaks of the destruction of Sodom c. v. 23. And they all denote the great Plagues threatned in XXVI Levit. and in the foregoing Chapter of this Book And cast them into another Land as it is this day This may seem to relate only to their Captivity in Babylon for after they were rooted out by the Romans they were scattered into all Lands XXVIII 63 64. But considering what goes before v. 23 24. and that they were not quite rooted out many of them remaining in the Land when Nebuchadnezzar conquered them till the desolation made by the Romans I think these words relate to them also and another Land is only the singular number as is usual for the plural And so the Author of Schebet Juda understood it who quoting these words cast them out into another land adds which experience now proves to be true Verse 29 Ver. 29. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God but those that are revealed belong unto us and to our Children for ever c. The Jews generally take these words to be meant of the punishment of secret sins particularly of Idolatry spoken of before v. 19. which belongeth unto God as the punishment of open sins belonged unto them in obedience to his Law who commanded them to put to death him that seduced any Person to Idolatry and to raze the
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
knew face to face Or as de Dieu thinks it should be translated who knew the LORD face to face This was one Preheminence of Moses above all the Prophets that he conversed more familiarly with God than any of them did See XII Numb 8. which place explains this for to know him face to face was to speak familiarly to God and to hear God speaking in like manner unto him And so the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words only instead of the LORD he saith Who knew the WORD of the LORD talking with him and delivering to him most excellent Laws for the good government of his People In which Laws he still lives they all remaining upon Record to this day when the Laws of all the famous Lawgivers whom the Gentiles honoured as gods are obliterated But it must be observed that in this wherein Moses excelled all the Prophets our blessed Saviour far transcended him For he was in the bosom of the Father I Joh. 18. and spake what he saw and heard c. III Joh. 11 32. Verse 11 Ver. 11. In all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do The Hierusalem Targum hath it Which the WORD of the LORD sent him to do in the Land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his Land See IV. 34. VI. 22. VII 19. In these signs and wonders Moses excelled all the Prophets doing more Miracles than all that succeeded him as Maimonides observes More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXV But our blessed Saviour excelled him in this as well as them doing more wonders than all the Prophets put together had done from the beginning of the World and far greater also than theirs XXI Joh. ult Ver. 12. And in all that mighty hand and in all that great terror which Moses showed As the former Verse relates to what he did in Egypt so this hath respect unto their passing through the Red Sea and to all that befel them in the Wilderness both at the giving of the Law and afterward till this time So the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words In all that strong hand and in all those great Visions which Moses managed And Onkelos to the same purpose In the sight of all Israel In the place forenamed Maimonides insists much upon this that Moses wrought all his Miracles publickly the whole Congregation being Witnesses of them And so our Saviour commonly wrought his till they sought to kill him in their Synagogues at their Publick Feasts when there was the greatest Concourse of the People of Israel So that in this he was a Prophet like unto Moses though infinitely superiour which some of the old Jews could not but discern as I observed upon Chap. XVIII when upon these words of Isaiah LII 13. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high they thus gloss in Tanchuma which is an ancient Book among them This is the King MESSIAS who shall be exalted above Abraham extolled above Moses and be very high above the Angels of the Ministry Upon which Conradus Pellicanus thus glosses and concludes his Commentary as I shall do mine with these words What is it to be above the Angels let the Jews explain we can understand nothing by it but the very WORD of God which was in the beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made and without him nothing was made viz. the LORD God of Hosts to whom in perfect Vnity God the Father Son and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen Thus ends the Pentateuch which as our great Primate of Ireland computes contains the History of Two thousand five hundred and fifty two years and an half from the beginning of the World to the death of Moses FINIS By reason of the Distance of the Author this Omission hapned which the Reader is desired to insert in its proper place At the end of Page 511. Line ult after three hundred years add these words But if any one think good thus to apply the words of this Verse unto Vespasian they must not take this for the literal meaning of them because it is evident that by the Stranger is to be understood those of other Nations who lived among them Particularly those Gentiles who were brought into their Country by the Assyrians instead of the Ten Tribes as some of the best of the Jewish Writers expound it What the Doctor also saith concerning their advancing Vespasian to the Imperial Dignity cannot be maintain'd ERRATA Page 21. Line 24. read their Cities Page 30. Line 14. r. Elate Page 39. Line 18. r. faith Page 43. Line 17. r. Ammonites Page 67. Line 15. r. Atargatis Page 85. antepen r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 86. Line 11. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 90. Line 24. r. even before Page 116. Line 2. r. Melech Page 145. Line 13. r. until the other Page 174. Line 5. for notion r. reason Page 183. Line 10. for Geder r. Seder Page 194. Line 18. r. Author of Sepher Ikkarim Page 220. Line 20. r. Acra-batta Page 242. Line 20. r. Arcadica * Page 264. Line 24. blot out but as the persons concerned in the Controversie brought it and read But whoever brought the Controversie before this Court when the Inferiour could not determine it they gave the sentence Page 269. Line 10. r. Cunaeus Lib. II. Page 290. Line 29. r. had her first Page 323. Line 15. r. Chillel Page 332. Line 20. r. was so setled Page 348. Line 2. r. slake Page 358. Line 24. r. both Sexes Page 365. Line 6. r. whom all that Page 372. Line 1. r. make thee Page 382. Line 31 32. r. paid to her father Page 408. Line 20. for inherent r. indigent Page 420. Line 28. r. Chasidah Page 428. Line 2. r. remember it Page 438. Line 16. r. of no consequence Page 439. Line 26. r. as a reason Page 442. Line 28. r. Dr. Pocock Page 488. Line 19. r. would furnish Page  Line 20. r. that should further Page 507. Line 9. r. strangeness Page 599. Line 16. r. retained the manner Page 612. Line 1. r. Olive Tree thrives Page 617. Line 27. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a field Page 641. Line 12. r. Mountain Page 650. Line 22. r. he speaks of himself Page 652. Line penult r. staid behind them Page 663. Line 20. r. Gazellas Page 665. Line 5. r. great numbers Page  Line 25. r. IV Gen. 10. Page 668. Line 17 18. r. He came the Heads of the People Page 685. Line 12. r. he having BOOKS Printed for Richard Chiswell BIshop Patrick's Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis The Second Edition 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Second Book of Moses called Exodus 4 to 1697. His Commentary on the Third Book of Moses called Leviticus 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Fourth Book of Moses called Numbers 4 to 1699. His Commentary on the Fifth Book of Moses called Deuteronomy 4 to 1700. His Hearts Ease or a Remedy against all Troubles A Consolatory Discourse directed to those who have lost their Friends and dear Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The Seventh Edition 120. 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Archbishop of Canterbury In which there is a particular Relation of many remarkable Passages in the Reigns of Henry the Fifth and Sixth Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck LLD. Chancellor of the Dioscess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English And a Table of Contents annexed Archbishop Tollotson of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion Being the First Volume Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Chaplain to his Grace His Second Volume Containg Sixteen Sermons on several Occasions His Third Volume Containing Sixteen Sermons on several Subjects His Fourth Volume Containing several Discourses on Natural and Instituted Religion The Nature and Necessity of Regeneration the Danger of all known Sin c. His Fifth Volume Proving Jesus to be the Messiah the Son of God The Danger of Apostacy from Christianity c. His Sixth Volume Being the First part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1699. His Seventh Volume Being the Second or Remaining Part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1700. A Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts By George Tullie Sub-Dean of York The Third Edition Corrected 120. 1699. Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By William Wake D.D. The Sixth Edition 120. Private Devotions digested into Six Litanies with Directions and Prayers By Hen. Valentine The Bishop of Sarum's Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England in Folio 1700. The Life of John Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury in the Times of Queen Elizabeth and King James the First Written by Sir George Paul Comptroller of his Graces Houshold To which is added a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for Pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin LLD. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Archbishop Whitgift 80. 1699.