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
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
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.
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
of Syria XXXII Gen. 10. where he was so cruelly used by his Uncle Laban XXXI 7 39 40 41. that Onkelos takes these words which we translate ready to perish in an active sense for him that destroys another For by the Syrian here he understands Laban who is so called as I noted before XXVIII Gen. 5. as if the meaning were the Syrian that is Laban sought to destroy my father For as he used him barbarously when he was with him so he followed after him when he went away with a mind to ruin him And thus Manasseh ben Israel understands it and many others mentioned by Fesselius which is the sense also of the Vulgar Latin Syrus persequebatur patrem meum And he went down into Egypt Though he brought him from Laban with great Substance yet as he was still but a Sojourner in the Land of Canaan so he was forced by Famine to go down into Egypt for Sustenance And sojourned there with a few They were but seventy Persons and lived there as Strangers All which they now were bound to commemorate for their Humiliation before God which I observed before out of Maimonides which might move them the more to exalt and magnifie the Mercy of God to them who had made them as it follows a mighty Nation For this Confession consists of these two parts their own Unworthiness and God's great Goodness And became there a Nation great mighty and populous See I Exod. 7. Ver. 6. And the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted Verse 6 us and laid upon us hard bondage The goodness of God unto them in making them so numerous was the occasion of sorer Affliction than either they or their Fathers had indured See I Exod. v. 9 10 c. The remembrance of this was exceeding useful to stir up their gratitude to God not only for their deliverance from the Egyptian slavery but bringing them into a Country of their own most plentifully stored with all manner of good things Ver. 7. And when we cried unto the LORD God of Verse 7 our fathers the LORD heard our voice and looked upon our affliction c. Having acknowledged their low and poor and distressed Condition now they proceed to an acknowledgment of God's wonderful goodness which appeared the more in relieving them when they were utterly helpless See II Exod. 23 24 25. III. 7 8. Ver. 8. And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt Verse 8 with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and a great terribleness c. See IV. 34. and VII 19. This is so vehemently inculcated upon them as Maimonides speaks in the place forenamed that they should remember the day they came out of Egypt all the days of their life XVI 3. X Exod. 2. Which it became them especially to remember at this time that they might demonstrate the truth of Prophecy both concerning Punishments and Rewards Verse 9 Ver. 9. And hath brought us into this place and given us this Land even a Land flowing with milk and honey As they remember the terrible Plagues upon Egypt in the foregoing Verse so they commemorate the singular Blessings bestowed upon them in this Verse 10 Ver. 10. And now behold I have brought the First-fruits of the Land which thou O LORD hast given me Thus they concluded this Solemn Rite as they began it v. 3. with an acknowledgment that they held this Land of God as the Supream LORD and that by his free gift And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God Having said these words they left the Basket by the Altar as the Jews say where it had been placed v. 4. and then the Priest set it before the Sanctuary where God dwelt by his special Presence there And worship before the LORD thy God They made a profound Reverence towards the most Holy Place by bowing their Bodies as low as they could and so went out of the Temple So the Hebrew word imports and this outward Act of Worship no doubt was accompanied in all good Men with humble Thanks to God for his Benefits and Prayer for the continuance of them Verse 11 Ver. 11. And thou shalt rejoyce in every thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee and unto thy house thou and the Levite and the Stranger that is among you They were to make a Feast at the time of offering these First-fruits and there to entertain the Levites and the Strangers as well as their own Family These Feasts were made out of the Provision mentioned XII 6 7. XVI 10 11 12. Besides which the Bullock which went before them when they carried up the First-fruits from their several Cities was offered for a Peace-offering when they came to the Sanctuary as Mr. Selden observes in the place above-mentioned Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. XIII p. 203. Ver. 12. When thou hast made an end of tithing all Verse 12 the tithes of thine increase For there was a second Tithe to be paid after the first to the Levites as was observed above XII 6. and is plainly spoken of XIV 22 23 c. Which the Jews call the consummation or finishing of tithing as I observed there v. 29. And so these words may be translated When thou hast finished all the tithes of thine increase The third year which is the year of tithing Every third year the second Tithe before-mentioned was to be employed to a peculiar use See XIX 28 29. as it follows here in the next words So the Jews expound it whose sense our Mr. Mede expresses in a few words For two years together they paid the Levites Tithe and the Festival Tithe but in the third year they paid the Levites Tithe and the Poor-man's Tithe That is what was wont in other years to be spent in Feasting was wholly spent every third year upon the Poor B. I. Discourse XXXII p. 228. But there are some that think they were bound every third year to pay this poor Man's Tithe besides that to the Levites and the Festival Tithe about which I shall not here dispute And hast given it to the Levite the stranger the fatherless and the widow that they may eat within thy gates and be filled According to the Commandment XIV 29. See there Verse 13 Ver. 13. Then thou shalt say As they were every year to make the foregoing Profession when they brought their First-fruits so they were to make another Profession which here follows every third year when the course of all manner of tithing as Mr. Mede there expresses it was come about Before the LORD This sounds as if they were to make this Profession before the most Holy Place at the Sanctuary Which seems to confute the common Exposition of the Jewish Doctors that this Tithe of the third year was not to be spent there but at home within their own Gates But it may be supposed that every Man was privately to make this Solemn Profession as in the Presence of God who knew the truth
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 Dizabah There was a place called Hazeroth where they had encamped a long time ago XI Numb 35. XXXIII 17. but it was in another Wilderness far from this place as appears by the account Moses gives of their Removals from that place to this where they now lay XXXIII Numb 17 48 49. And therefore I take this and the other three places here mentioned to have been frontier Towns in the Country of Moab which lay upon the borders of this Plain The last of which Dizabah is translated by the LXX and the Vulgar as if it signified a place where there were Mines of Gold Onkelos and the Hierusalem Targum who take Suph to signifie the Red Sea and Paran for the Wilderness through which they had come many years ago c. are forced to add several words to make out the sense of this Verse in this manner These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan c. reproving them because they sinned in the Desert and provoked God in the Plain over against the Red Sea and murmured in Paran about Manna and at Hazeroth for Flesh c. And so they proceed to mention other Sins committed in other places but not in these here named which they force from their natural sense to comply with this Conceit Verse 2 Ver. 2. There are eleven days journey from Horeb c. Or eleven days we were a coming from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea Which cannot be understood of the whole time they spent between these two places but only of the time they spent in travelling For they stayed a Month at Kibroth-Hattaavah and a Week more at Hazeroth XI Numb 21. XII 15 16. before they came to Kadesh-Barnea This he represents to them to make them sensible they had been kept in the Wilderness so many years as had passed since they came out of Egypt not because it was a long way to Canaan but for the reason mentioned in the XIVth of Numbers For from Horeb whither he order'd them to go when they came out of Egypt they came in eleven days and took no long Journeys to the borders of the Land of Canaan where Kadesh-Barnea lay So Maimonides the way was plain and known between Horeb whither God brought them on purpose to serve him and Kadesh which was the beginning of an habitable Country according to what he saith XX Numb 16. See More Nevochim P. III. Cap. L. See XIII Numb 26. By the way of Mount Seir. The Country of the Edomites Chapt. II. v. 12. Vnto Kadesh-Barnea How they were ordered to come hither and what they did here he relates v. 6 19. and so proceeds to give an account of several remarkable things which befell them unto the time when he wrote these things which he sets down in the next Verse Ver. 3. And it came to pass in the fortieth year Verse 3 After they came out of Egypt In the eleventh month on the first day of the month In the first Month of this fortieth Year they came into the Wilderness of Zin unto another Kadesh XX Numb 1. From whence they removed to Mount Hor where Aaron died on the first Day of the fifth Month of this Year See there v. 28. Where it appears v. 29. they mourned for him thirty days that is till the beginning of the sixth Month. In which they fought with King Arad XXI Numb and from Mount Hor travelled from place to place as we read there and XXXIII Numb till they came to these Plains of Moab In which Journeys and in the rest of the Transactions mentioned in the latter end of the Book of Numbers they spent the other five Months of this Year as I have observed in their proper places And now began the eleventh Month when Moses being to leave the World before the end of this Year spake all that follows in this Book And this Speech which he begins v. 6. and continues to the fortieth Verse of the fourth Chapter the great Primate of Ireland thinks he made to the People on the twentieth of February and on the Sabbath-day as the Reader may find in his Annals That Moses spake unto the Children of Israel according unto all that the LORD had given him in Commandment unto them Made a Rehearsal of all that at several times he had received from the LORD and delivered unto them Ver. 4. After he had slain Sihon the King of the Amorites Verse 4 which dwelt at Heshbon About five Months ago for it was after Aaron's death which was the first Day of the fifth Month XXXIII Numb 38. and they mourned for him all that Month. See XXI Numb 21 c. And Og the King of Bashan which dwelt at Astaroth This was a City in the Country of Bashan XIII Josh 31. and a City it was of very great Antiquity as appears from XIV Gen. 5. See there From whence some think the famous Goddess Astarte had her Name being here worshipped But whether that Goddess took her Name from this City or the City from the Goddess is not certain as Mr. Selden observes in his Syntagma II. de Diis Syris cap. 2. But that the Heathen Deities were wont to have their Names from the Groves Mountains Cities and Caves where they were worshipped is as certain as it is uncertain from whence Astarte or Astoreth as the Scripture Name is was so called In Edrei His Royal Palace was at Astaroth as Sihon's was at Heshbon but he was slain in Edrei XXI Numb 33. Verse 5 Ver. 5. On this side Jordan in the Land of Moab In the Plains of Moab before they passed over Jordan See v. 1. Began Moses to declare this Law saying To call to remembrance that which any one had forgotten and to explain that which any one did not understand So Maimonides expounds these words in Seder Zeraim In the end of the fortieth Year in the beginning of the Month Shebat Moses called the People together saying The time of my Death draws near if any one therefore hath forgot any thing that I have delivered let him come and receive it or if any thing seem dubious let him come that I may explain it And so they say in Siphri If any one have forgotten any Constitution let him come and hear it the second time if he need to have any thing unfolded let him come and hear the Explication of it For which he quotes this Verse and says that Moses spent all his time in this from the beginning of the Month Shebat to the seventh day of Adar And what he now said was likely to be the more regarded because these were in a manner his dying words for he lived but till the seventh day of the next Month and seems to have composed this Book as a Compendium of his whole Law for the familiar use of the Children of Israel from whence it is called Deuteronomy i. e. a second Law See Huetius in his Demonstr Evang.
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
obliged to God for their deliverance out of the Slavery of Egypt which nothing could have effected but God's Almighty Power declared in various Instances This is the first Argument wherewith he excites their Love to God which he pressed in the foregoing Chapter and begins this again with it that God had loved them so much as to work many astonishing Miracles rather than let them continue Slaves to Pharaoh Ver. 4. And what he did unto the Army of Egypt Verse 4 unto their Horses and to their Chariots Who pursued after the Israelites and overtook them XIV Exod. 6 7 8. Whereby the kindness of God appeared after he had delivered them in preserving them from being brought back to their Slavery How he made the water of the Red-sea to overflow them as they pursued after you See XIV Exod. 23 24 27 28. And how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day Brought them so low that they have not recovered their strength to attempt any thing against you since that time Ver. 5. And what he did to you in the Wilderness Verse 5 until ye came unto this place Provided for them protected and preserved them Forty years giving them possession also of the Country of Sihon and Og two Kings of the Amorites These Benefits if they considered which they could not but see they owed to his Love alone were powerful Arguments to move them to love him Ver. 6. And what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab the son of Reuben XVI Numb 1 c. The remembrance and consideration of the terrible Verse 6 Vengeance the LORD took upon rebellious People he uses as another Argument to make them obedient And there was none more remarkable than this upon Dathan and Abiram He doth not mention Korah but they could not well forget him when they thought of his Confederates though he suffered another Punishment How the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their Housholds and their Tents c. See XVI Numb v. 32 33 c. Verse 7 Ver. 7. But your eyes have seen the great Acts of the LORD which he did In Egypt at the Red-sea and in the Wilderness v. 3 4 5. Some of which all of them had seen and there were none of them who had not seen some Verse 8 Ver. 8. Therefore shall ye keep all the Commandments which I command you this day Remembring what had befall'n both their Enemies and themselves That ye may be strong and go in and possess the Land whither you go to possess it In hope that the same God would empower them to subdue the Canaanites and give them full possession of their Country Verse 9 Ver. 9. And ye may prolong your days in the Land which the LORD sware unto your Fathers to give unto them and to their Seed This may relate both to the present Generation and to their Posterity who after their Fathers had lived long in the Land of Canaan should succeed them and enjoy it in future Ages See v. 21. A Land that floweth with Milk and Honey This is a common description in all Authors of a rich and pleasant Country Particularly in Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the like Bochartus hath observed in Virgil Horace and other Writers Hierozoic Lib. IV. P. I. Cap. XII Ver. 10. For the Land whither thou goest to possess Verse 10 it is not as the Land of Egypt from whence ye came out He uses all manner of Arguments to perswade them to Obedience from a grateful remembrance of God's former Mercies v. 2 3 c. from the terrible Punishment of the Disobedient v. 6. from the Benefits that would redound to themselves by their Obedience v. 9. and now he represents to them what a noble Country he was going to bestow upon them but of such a Condition as would keep them in a constant dependance upon his Favour for the blessing of it Where thou sowedst thy Seed and wateredst it with thy foot as a Garden of Herbs This doth not signifie that the Land of Egypt was not so fruitful as the Land of Canaan for their Fertility is not to be compared but that there they reaped the Fruits of their Labour with more pains Diodorus Siculus indeed and Herodotus say that the Egyptians take the least pains of all other Men about their Corn insomuch that it may be affirmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they bring in the Fruits of the Earth without Labour being at no such trouble about ploughing as other Men are c. See in his Euterpe Cap. XIV Yet it must be considered that as the Nile which made this fruitfulness failed them sometimes and did not overflow all the flat Country so the upper parts of Egypt had not the benefit of it nor all the lower neither without great pains in cutting Rivers to bring the water to them Which Pliny calls rigua Nili For the word rigua properly signifies the little Rivers and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cuts which were made to derive Water from the Nile into places at a distance from it as Salmasius observes p. 588. in Solinum Hesychius calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Receptacles of Water Ditches or Dikes which we now call Canals as the same Author observes p. 908. And this I find Strabo speaks so plainly in his Geography Lib. XVII pag. 788. that his words may serve as a good Commentary upon those of Moses Nature saith he doth much for Egypt by the Nile but Industry and Art about that River doth a great deal more For the higher it flows the more ground it naturally waters and makes fruitful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but Industry sometimes hath prevailed when Nature hath failed insomuch that as great a part of the Country hath been watered in the smallest rise of Nile as in the highest Which was effected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Cuts and Banks which were made by Art For before the time of Petronius he saith there was the greatest fruitfulness when Nile rose fourteen Cubits and when it rose only eight there was a Famine But in the time of his Government there was as great Plenty when it rose only twelve Cubits and no Man felt any want when it rose only eight This was by the Care and Industry of the People who were forced also sometimes to carry Water from these Cuts as well as from the River in Vessels to moisten the Ground when the Mudd which the Nile left was baked into a Crust by the great Heat of the Sun So that the Ground of Egypt might properly be said to be watered by the foot as we water our Gardens when there wants Rain Concerning which Expression see Dr. Hammond upon the Psalms p. 7. col 2. of the first Edition Ver. 11. But the Land whither ye go to possess it is Verse 11 a Land of Hills and Valleys and drinketh Water of the Rain of Heaven Not
comes that the Physician hath obtained his end he changes the Diet and permits his Patient what he formerly forbad and prohibits that which he formerly permitted Which exactly agrees to what our blessed Saviour hath done CHAP. XIII Chapter XIII Verse 1. IF there arise among you In future Verse 1 times A Prophet One that pretends to have a Message from God delivered to him in a Vision or by the Word of the LORD For there was a constant Succession of Prophets to whom God revealed his mind several ways among the Jews to preserve them in the true Worship of God and instruct them in their Law and admonish them on some occasions of things to come Which was the more necessary because there were such kind of Persons among the Gentiles Or a dreamer of Dreams Who pretended God had appeared to him in a Dream as he did unto Jacob XXVIII Gen. 11. and revealed his mind to him Such there were in Jeremiah's time XXIX Jerem. 8. And give thee a sign Foretell something Or a wonder By what follows one would think this belongs to the foregoing words which are to be understood as if he had said If he foretell some wonderful thing which shall shortly come to pass Or it may be interpreted shall work a miracle unto which the Heathen did not so much pretend as they did to Predictions which were common among them Ver. 2. And the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof Verse 2 he spake unto thee The Event confirm the Prediction so that he seem a true Prophet Saying Let us go after other gods which thou hast not known and let us serve them And consequently he perswade you to worship other gods which he pretends is demonstrated to be lawful by the fulfilling of his Sign and Wonder Verse 3 Ver. 3. Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet or dreamer of Dreams Notwithstanding look upon him as a Lyar and not as a true Prophet For God cannot contradict himself nor do any thing to perswade Men to forsake him and give his Worship to another This shows that he still pursues his intention in this Chapter as well as all the foregoing to establish them in the Belief and Worship of one God according to the first Commandment From which nothing was more likely to seduce them than false Prophets who were the great Instruments of establishing the foulest Idolatry in Israel As appears from 1 Kings XVIII 19. where we read of no less then Four hundred Prophets of Baal and Four hundred and fifty Prophets of the Groves that is of other false gods particularly Astarte as Mr. Selden conjectures in his Syntagma II. de Diis Syris Cap. II. And there could not be a plainer Demonstration that a Man was a false Prophet than if he endeavoured to draw them to the Worship of other gods or if he pretended to speak in the Name of any other god XVIII Deut. 20. or if he commanded them to offer such Sacrifices as God abhorred Thus Aristander as David Chytraeus notes discovered himself to be a false Prophet though he foretold the destruction of Babylon for he required Humane Sacrifices to be offered As Tiresias also predicted Victory to the Thebans provided Creon's Daughter was offered up in Sacrifice and Chalcas the time of the Siege of Troy but together therewith commanded the Sacrifice of Iphigenia These and such like things plainly discovered they were not inspired by God who is the lover of Mankind and cannot delight in their Blood For the LORD your God proveth you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your Soul That there might be an open and publick discovery made whether they sincerely loved God or no or were stedfast in their Religion So Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXIV God would make known to the Nations of the World the measure of your Faith in the Truth of his Law and of the Approbation wherewith you apprehend it c. For it had been a great weakness to suffer even a Miracle to shake their Faith after it had been confirmed by so many Miracles Ver. 4. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God Verse 4 Follow the Will of God as Maimonides interprets it declared by himself More Nevochim P. I. Cap. XXXVIII Which is a plainer and more genuine Interpretation than that of the Gamera of Sota Cap. I. Sect. 52. where R. Chama expounds it of imitating God in cloathing the Naked visiting the Sick burying the Dead c. For Beneficence is the beginning and the end of the Divine Law Which is a pious sense but not here intended And fear him Worship him alone VI. 2. And keep his Commandments The greatest of which is this XI 13. And obey his voice Which you heard from Mount Sinai saying Thou shalt have no other gods but me And ye shall serve him and cleave unto him Stedfastly adhere unto his Service and not be drawn from it by any perswasion Verse 5 Ver. 5. And that Prophet or dreamer of Dreams These two signifie Persons who pretended to different sorts of Revelations by Visions or by Dreams Shall be put to death This the Jews interpret to signifie Strangulation unto which upon good proof of the Fact he was to be Sentenced by the great Sanhedrim For that was a received Maxim among them That a lying Prophet was to be judged no where but by the Council of LXX See Selden Lib. III. de Synedriis Cap. VI. N. I. Because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God who brought you out of the Land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the House of Bondage Perswaded you to forsake your God and his Service to whom you owe your Liberty and all your Possessions in the Land of Canaan To thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in These words express how zealous such Impostors were in their Importunities and how restless in their Endeavours to draw Men to Idolatry pressing them so earnestly as if they would force them to it So shalt thou put the Evil away from the midst of thee i. e. The danger of Idolatry by taking away the Life of him that would have seduced others unto it Verse 6 Ver. 6. If thy Brother the Son of thy Mother Who lay in the same Womb with him Or thy Son or thy Daughter Who were dearer than a Brother Or the Wife of thy bosom Who was still dearer sleeping in the same Bed with him as the Hierusalem Targum expounds it Or thy Friend which is as thine own Soul Whom thou lovest as thou dost thy Life He puts a Friend in the chief place as the Son of Sirach also doth XXXIII Ecclus. 19. which their Wives by the ill choice they made of them had not always in their Affection Here is no mention of Father or Mother because a Child as the Hebrews fancy was to have
God He now begins in this Chapter to admonish them about their great Feasts which they were to keep whereby the whole Nation was preserved in the Worship of one only God which Mosesstill pursues to press upon them For in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt In memory of which the Feast of the Passover was ordained By night For then Pharaoh pressed them to be gone when he saw his First-born slain in the Night XII Exod. 29 30 31. and then they immediately prepared themselves for their Journey and borrowed of the Egyptians Jewels of Gold and Silver v. 35. Insomuch that Moses calls this a Night much to be observed unto the LORD and that Night of the LORD to be observed by all the Children of Israel in their Generations XII Exod. 42. though it was Day-light before they began their March as we read there v. 22. So that Moses bids them remember the day when they came out of Egypt XIII Exod. 3. which comprehends both that which is properly called Day and Night Verse 2 Ver. 2. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the LORD thy God The word Passover signifies here not only the Lamb which was properly called Pesach or Passover which was offered on the Fourteenth day at even but all the Paschal Sacrifices which followed after as appears by the next words of the flock and of the herd Which Sacrifices were appointed for all the seven Days of unleavened Bread XVIII Numb 17 18 19 c. See Bochartus in his Hierezoicon P. I. L. II. Cap. 50. where he shows at large that the word Passover is here a general word comprehending the Particulars after-mentioned p. 565 566. And thus translates these words which he justifies by many like instances Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the LORD thy God viz. of the Flock and of the Herd Which last words are added exegetically to explain what that Passover was which they were to offer unto the LORD Such Sacrifices as were offered in the Solemn Passover of Ezekiah 2 Chron. XXX 22. and of Josiah 2 Chron. XXXV 7 8 9. where it is apparent that the King and the Princes gave to the People and to the Priests Oxen as well as Sheep lepesachim for the Passover-offerings And thus it is used in the New Testament XVIII John 28. where it is said the Jews would not go into the Judgment-Hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passover i. e. these Passover-Offerings which were holy things of which none might eat in their defilement In the place which the LORD shall chuse to place his Name there At the Sanctuary as hath been often said XII 5 11 c. where all Sacrifices were to be offered Verse 3 Ver. 3. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it That is with the Passover before-mentioned Which is a Demonstration that all the Sacrifices of the Flock and of the Herd spoken of in the foregoing Verse are comprehended under the Name of Passover For with the Lamb they could not eat unleavened Bread seven days it being to be eaten presently in the Evening when it was offered after which followed the seven days of unleavened Bread which could not be eaten so long with the Passover unless Passover signifie all the seven days Sacrifices Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread therewith See XII Exod. 15. XIII 6 7. Even the bread of affliction So called because it was insipid and also heavy upon the Stomach and not easily digested whence it had the Name of Matzah because it was lumpish and could not rise as leavened Bread doth For thou camest forth out of the Land of Egypt in haste Wanting time to put any leaven to their Dough XII Exod. 34 39. That thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the Land of Egypt all the days of thy life That their Affliction there and their speedy Deliverance from thence might never be forgotten For their eating this Bread seven days together every year one would think could not but make great Impressions on their Mind and the more to imprint the sence of God's Mercy there the Master of every Family when he brake this Bread at the Paschal Feast and gave every one a piece of it said This is the Bread of Affliction which your Fathers did eat in the Land of Egypt So Maimonides and others tell us See XII Exod. 17. Ver. 4. And there shall no leavened bread be seen with Verse 4 thee in all thy coasts seven days See XII Exod. 18 19 20. XIII 3 7. Neither shall there any thing of the flesh which thou sacrificest the first day at even remain all night until the morning This is a plain description of the Paschal Lamb which was to be eaten in the Even wherein it was sacrificed XII Exod. 10. which he forbears here to call the Passover tho' that name properly belong to it because he had called other Sacrifices by that name v. 2. and would not have them confounded Verse 5 Ver. 5. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee Not at home as they did when they first came out of Egypt and that because it was a Sacrifice which were now required to be all offered at the Sanctuary as was said before XII 5 11. Verse 6 Ver. 6. But at the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse to place his Name in there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover From whence Maimonides infers that even whilst High-places were allowed the Passover could not be killed any where but at the Sanctuary If any Man did offer it in a private High-place he was beaten as he saith in his Treatise concerning the Passover Cap. I. Sect. 3. At even at the going down of the Sun Between the two Evenings concerning which see XII Exod. 6. After the offering of the Evening Sacrifice they began to kill the Passover and continued this Sacrifice till Sun-set At the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt Then they were preparing themselves for their Journey and had warning to be ready and eat the Lamb with their Staves in their Hands as Men going forth to travel XII Exod. 11. though they did not actually go forth till the next Morning Verse 7 Ver. 7. And thou shalt rost and eat it in the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse See XII Exod. 8 9. And thou shalt turn in the morning and go unto thy Tents Unto their own Habitations which are called Tents because they had no other dwelling when these words were spoken The only doubt is whether he permits them to go home the next Morning after the Even before-mentioned or the Morning after the whole Feast of unleavened Bread was over It seems most reasonable to expound it of the former that if Mens occasions called them home they were not bound to stay any longer at the place where the Sanctuary
Sota And indeed as there was nothing more rational than this that their Neighbours making great gain by Merchandize such as the Sidonians Tyrians and those that lived upon the Red-Sea and the Egyptians they should not borrow Money of the Israelites for nothing so it was no less reasonable the Israelites themselves whose chiefest Profit was by Husbandry and Breeding of Cattle should have Money lent them freely by one another without any Interest their Land not being a Country of Traffick whereby Money might be improved as in other Countries For by the Laws of other Nations as Grotius observes on VI Luke 35. that Usury was odious which was practised upon Husbandmen Abarbinel also is so tender in this point as to say that Usury hath something in it so unequal at least as it is commonly practised that God did not permit the Israelites to exercise it among all their Neighbours but only upon those of the Seven Nations of Canaan And thus far he is in the right that every one who was not a Jew was not to be deemed a Stranger An Edomite for instance is called their Brother in the seventh verse of this Chapter and therefore this Precept Thou shalt not lend upon Vsury to thy Brother is to be extended to Edomites In like manner saith he neither do the Ishmaelites come under the name of Strangers nor other People but those of the Seven Nations And this Opinion Leo Modena follows in his History of the present Jews Part. II. Cap. V. where he saith by the word Stranger in this place none other can be meant but only those Seven Nations from whom God commanded them to take away even their Lives And that it is only their present distress in which they have no other way of livelyhood left that makes them think it lawful to lend upon Vsury to those among whom they live In which I think he is mistaken though this Doctrine is better natured than that of some of the Jews who are so full of hatred to us Christians whom they call Edomites that they deprive us as Wagenseil observes in the place above-named of the name of Brethren and think it lawful to oppress us with Usury Of which number are R. Bechai and the Author of the old Nitzacon set forth by Wagenseil ancienter than that of Lipman's set forth by Theodorick Hackspan who was so full of Malignity that he shut his Eyes against the Light which he plainly saw For he could not deny that the Edomites were their Brethren and consequently that Moses required the Jews not to take Usury of them and that it was anciently unlawful But then he pretends that they forfeited this Priviledge by not coming to help to preserve Jerusalem and the Temple from being destroyed yea by rejoycing at their ruin And fearing this would not satisfie he hath devised this justification of their Usury that the Edomites have made themselves Strangers by the neglect of Circumcision See p. 139. That the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand unto in the Land whither thou goest to possess it Charity to their poor Brethren had many Promises of a great Reward and this Law was made peculiarly for the Relief of such Persons as appears by those places before-mentioned both in Exodus and in Leviticus It extended indeed to all but chiefly was intended as a Provision for the Poor and Needy whom they were not to neglect for God ordered them all to live together as Brethren Children of the same Father and indeed they were all Rich and Poor descended from one and the same Original And therefore he designed there should be no indifferent Person unrelieved among this People upon whom he had heaped so many Blessings and delivering them from the Slavery of Egypt had planted them in the good Land promised to their Fathers To which purpose all those Precepts were given which require them to lend gratuitously to their poor Brother to restore the Pledge left with them to leave the Corners of their Fields unreaped not to gather the Gleanings of the Harvest and Vintage to observe the Year of Release and of Jubilee and such like peculiar Provisions for the Comfort of the Poorer sort that they might share in the happiness which God bestowed upon his Elect People Ver. 21. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God In a thing lawful and possible and by a Person who had power to make it and was not subject to the Authority of another who had power to Verse 21 make it void See XXX Numb 2. Thou shalt not slack to pay it Lest they should prove less able and so be unwilling to perform what they had vowed or should perhaps forget it If they lost the thing they vowed whilst they delayed they were bound to give the value of it Which was one difference between a Vow and a Free-will-offering that in the latter case as Maimonides saith if that which he designed was stoll'n or died he was not bound to make reparation The same Author applies this to a Vow a Man made of giving an Alms to a poor Body suppose a Shekel which he was to bestow immediately if any poor Body was at hand If not he was to separate it and lay it by till he met with one c. Cap. VIII de Donis Pauperum Sect. 1. For the LORD will surely require it of thee Demand that which thou hast made to be his own And it would be sin in thee Be punished by God's just Judgment upon thee for the wrong thou hast done him Ver. 22. But if thou shalt forbear to vow it shall be no Verse 22 sin in thee God was so very merciful as Maimonides observes that if a Man was not able to offer him an Ox or a Lamb he accepted of Turtles and young Pigeons of which there was great plenty in that Country And if this was beyond his Ability but he had a desire to testifie his Affection to God by a Free-will-offering he was pleased to accept an Oblation of Bread baked in an Oven or Pan or any other usual way And if this was too heavy he accepted of bare flour without putting him to the charge of baking it For he would have Men to be easie in his Service and all their Offerings to be free and cheerful and therefore tells them here that if they vowed nothing at all to him he would not take it ill of them nor impute it to them as a sin More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLVI Verse 23 Ver. 23. That which is gone out of thy mouth thou shalt keep and perform even a Free-will-offering according as thou hast vowed c. This was to make them consider well before-hand what their Ability was and not rashly resolve and promise any thing for though they were not bound to vow the smallest matter yet having once vowed they were no longer free but bound to make it good though it proved very chargeable to
II Lament 20. IV. 10. But never so exactly fulfilled as in the last siege by the Romans when a noble Woman which fully answers to this Prophecy such Persons being very delicate did the very same as Josephus relates in his Book of the Jewish War Lib. VII Cap. VIII A most unnatural fact as he observes which was never committed either by Greek or Barbarian and which he would not have related because it might seem incredible if there had not been many Witnesses of it besides himself Verse 57 Ver. 57. And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet Toward her new-born Babe which is wont to be welcomed into the World with great joy but in this siege dispatcht out of it to asswage the rage of their hunger In the Hebrew as we take notice in the Margin the word we translate young one properly signifies the after-birth And so the LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which makes this passage most plain that their hunger should make them so unnatural as first to eat the After-birth which came from them and then the Child which was wrapped in it And towards her children which she shall bear The rest of their Children whose cries for Food they had no way to stop but by killing them and making them their own Food So it follows in the next words For she shall eat them for want of all things Having nothing else left to eat For they had devoured not only the leather of their Girdles and their Shoes and which covered their Shields but the very stale Dung of Oxen and such things as the most sordid of all living Creatures would not eat See Josephus Lib. III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. XVI Lib. VII Cap. VII Secretly It was not done secretly for any other reason but least any body should have a share with them and so make their hunger return the sooner And yet it was a hard matter to conceal what they had done of this kind for the seditious People presently smelling there had been something boild got into the House when she had eaten one half of her Child and found the other half which she had left till another time of which she invited them to eat In the siege and straitness These two words which are used here and v. 53. and 55. may both relate to the grievous Miseries they should endure when they were besieged v. 52. and may be translated in the pressure and straits wherewith thine Enemies c. Wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in thy gates We have not such an account of their distress in other Cities as we have of what they suffered in Jerusalem where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an innumerable multitude perished by Famine as Josephus tells us L. VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. VII and ineffable Calamities thereupon hapned For in every House where the least shadow of Food appeared a War immediately began and the dearest Relations fell to blows snatching away from each other the miserable Supports of Life Nor would they let those that were dying expire quietly not believing what they affirmed when they told them they had no Food in their Houses but the Cut-throats came and searcht their very Bosoms as they lay drawing their last breath whether they had not there hid some Food Verse 58 Ver. 58. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law which are written in this Book Among which those words are most remarkable XVIII 15 18 19. A Prophet shall the LORD thy God raise up unto thee like unto me unto him shall ye hearken c. Whosoever will not hearken unto the words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name the LORD THY GOD. That is fear the great LORD of Heaven and Earth and their special Benefactor who is most glorious in himself and to be most humbly reverenced by us For the Name of God is God himself from whence it is that he is sometimes called HASCHEM the Name XXIV Lev. 11. This shows the reason why Moses repeats this Name the LORD THY GOD so often as he doth in the Preface to this Book Chapt. VI VII VIII IX c. In some of which there is scarce a Verse wherein we do not meet with these words and it is sometimes repeated no less than three times in one and the same Verse XII 18. XVI 15. that God might be in all their Thoughts and the fear of him might possess their Hearts Ver. 59. Then the LORD If they still persisted Verse 59 in their Infidelity and Disobedience after Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and such unheard of Calamities as they had suffered during the siege of that place he threatens to bring upon them more astonishing Judgments Will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance Though their great Plagues under Vespasian by Famine Sword and Pestilence had lessened their numbers exceedingly yet by the time of Trajan and Adrian they had like Traitors taken for a while from the Rack to use Dr. Jackson's words recovered strength enough to be put to greater torture For then they were made a Spectacle to the World of the Divine Vengeance again which they brought upon themselves by their Rebellion and show'd therein their natural strength by their grievous lingring pains in dying For not only in Mesopotamia and in Cyprus but especially in Cyrene and throughout all Egypt they broke out into such outrages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had been possessed with some fierce and seditious Spirit as Eusebius speaks Lib. IV. Eccles Hist Cap. II. whereupon Marcius Turbo was sent against them and setting upon them both by Sea and Land with Horse and Foot made a vast destruction of them See Dion Lib. LXVIII and Xiphilinus who describe their slaughter to have been so great that now was fulfilled as the forenamed Dr. Jackson thinks what Moses foretold in this place The LORD will make thy plagues wonderful great plagues and of long continuance And indeed Eusebius saith in the forenamed place that Turbo destroyed many thousands of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in many battles and in no small time the War being protracted a great while to compleat their destruction And the application of this Prophecy to this Time may be confirmed by a strange Relation which we meet withal in their own Books For in the Hierusalem Talmud one of their Doctors tells us That when Trajan came upon them with his Army they were reading these very words of the Law v. 49. the LORD shall bring a Nation against thee from far from the ends of the earth c. which he understanding having askt them what they were doing he cried out Here is the man pointing to himself who am come five days sooner than I intended And immediately compassing them about with his Legions slew them
thousand of which perished in this barbarous manner Parents durst not mourn for their Children nor Children sigh for their Parents when they saw them haled to the place of Torment so that their hearts no doubt were ready to break with Grief and Sorrow In short Sic eos metus exanimaverat ut vivi non multum à mortuorum similitudine distarent Fear had so dispirited them that the living in their Aspect did not much differ from the dead Which words of Osorius in his fourth Book de Rebus Emanuelis our Dr. Jackson who relates this sad Story out of him looks upon as a Paraphrase upon these words of Moses though Osorius did not think of them I will give thee a trembling heart and failing of the eyes and sorrow of mind There are those who by a trembling heart understand the Terrors of an Evil Conscience So D. Chytraeus p. 131. And by failing of the eyes may be understood the constant disappointment of their Hopes wherewith they were sometimes fed by false Messiahs in several Ages Which disappointment bred great sorrow of Mind when after earnest expectation of some Good the quite contrary came upon them Ver. 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee Verse 66 That is it should be doubtful whether they should live or die the next moment As it manifestly happened in the forenamed Massacre when they durst not fetch a sigh and yet could hardly avoid it at the sight of their Parents or Childrens Tortures for fear they should suffer the same before the Breath was out of their tortured Bodies And thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of life So it was then none of them knowing who would be next seized in those three days Butchery And so it was in some of their Banishments which they were told should be the best remedy for the evils impending over them as the Author of Schebet Juda speaks who tells us Sect. XXIII that the reason which some Princes gave for their Expulsion out of their Territories was to prevent their being torn in pieces by the People who were most furiously set against them Ver. 67. And in the morning thou shalt say would Verse 67 God it were even That they might not see those miserable Spectacles which they hoped would end in the night when Men went to rest And at even thou shalt say would God it were morning Being afraid of unseen Dangers to which the Night might give an opportunity or that they might not see their way when they fled by Sea and Land from one Country to another as they were forced to do very often For Abarbinel in his Commentary upon XL Isaiah 11. reckons up four universal Banishments out of the Countries where they lived The first out of England the next out of France the third out of Asia Germany Tuscany Lumbardy and Savoy and the last out of Spain when he himself was one of those who were constrained to leave that Country and knew not whither to go He hath given us a lively description of that Calamity like to which he saith none had ever befaln them since they were banished their own Country in his Preface to his Commentary upon the Book of the Kings which he wrote the very next Year after their Expulsion 1493. and the Author of Schebet Juda hath transcribed in his own words A Decree was made and proclaimed publickly that all the Jews should either change their Religion or quit the Country in three Months time Abarbinel had then a place in the Court where he petitioned the King and besought his Ministers and Counsellors to revoke the Edict and be content with their Estates which they offered to him but all in vain For Three hundred thousand old and young Men and Women and he among the rest went away on foot upon one day not knowing whither to go Some went into Portugal others into Navar where they conflicted with many Calamities For some became a Prey or perished by Famine and Pestilence And therefore others committed themselves to the Sea hoping to find a quiet Seat in some other Countries But on the Sea they met with new Disasters for many were sold as Slaves when they came on any Coast many were drowned many burnt in the Ships which were set on fire in short all suffered the just Punishment of God the Avenger as he speaks For after all this a Plague came and swept away the rest of these miserable Wretches who were hated by all Mankind so that all that vast number perished by one Calamity or other except a very few He that would see more of the woful Miseries of this People may look into Schebet Juda Sect. LIII where he shows what befel those who went to seek new Habitations in the Kingdom of Fess where they lived a long time upon Grass and eat its very Roots and then died and their Bodies lay exposed none being so charitable as to bury them For the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see The one of these seems to refer to their dreadful apprehensions in the Night and the other to the lamentable Spectacles they beheld in the day And the simple meaning of the former part of the Verse may be that they should be weary of Life having no Comfort either Day or Night Ver. 68. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt Verse 68 again The Hierusalem Targum translates it The WORD of the LORD shall bring thee back again He that is who conducted them out of Egypt in a glorious Cloud would punish them for their foul Offences against him by bringing them again into Bondage there This was first fulfilled after the Desolation made by Titus when there was as I observed before v. 62. above Ninety thousand carried Captive and many of them transported into Egypt as Josephus relates in the conclusion of the sixteenth Chapter of his Seventh Book concerning the War of the Jews And here Manasseh ben Israel hath a very pertinent observation that Vespasian transported them into many and various Regions but Egypt is only here named the more to reproach the Jews as if he had said Ye shall be carried into that Land as Captives out of which you came in a triumphant manner Lib. III. de Termino vitae Sect. 3. Which may incline one to think that he was of the same mind with our Dr. Jackson who observing how cruelly they were used here in England and many other Countries concludes that this Island and every place of Europe wherein their Condition of Life hath been more hard and burdensome than their Forefathers was in Egypt may be said to be that Egypt into which God threatens here to bring them in Ships And indeed we do not read of their being carried into Egypt after Vespasian's time though it is set down here as a Punishment to come upon them after a long train of other Miseries
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
make them sensible of the Condition of their Tenure by engaging them in a Solemn Covenant to observe the Laws of God faithfully which was but a renewal of what was made before at Horeb. That ye may prosper in all that you do See IV. 6. The Hebrew word which we translate prosper the LXX translate act prudently for they tanslate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Vulgar to the same purpose ut intelligatis that ye may understand to manage your selves wisely in all your Concerns by observing the Rules God hath given you Which was the way to prosper Ver. 10. Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God The Summons which he sent out v. 2. it seems by this was to appear at the Tabernacle Verse 10 where they now stood and from whence he delivered these words to them by the Priests and Levites XXVII 9 14. Your Captains of your Tribes In the Hebrew your heads of your Tribes who were the greatest Persons in the Nation called sometimes Princes Your Elders These were not only the LXX Elders mentioned XI Numb 16. but all the other Judges in their several Courts who are often called by the Name of Elders in this Book Particularly XIX 12 18. XXI 2 4 6. XXV 8. And the Officers Who attended upon the Judges to execute their Sentence See XVI 18. With all the men of Israel All the Men of their several Tribes Ver. 11. Your little ones your wives Who were Verse 11 all now present or else were represented by the Men of Israel And thy stranger that is in thy camp Whether Egyptians that followed them when they came out of Egypt XII Exod. 38. or other People who had embraced their Religion so far at least as to renounce all Idolatry From the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water The meanest Servant whom they had bought perhaps with their Money either in Egypt or since they came from thence Ver. 12. That thou shouldest enter into Covenant with Verse 12 the LORD thy God In the Hebrew the words are pass into Covenant For so Covenants were anciently made in the Eastern Countries by dividing the Sacrifice and passing between the parts of it as appears from the manner of God's making a Covenant with Abraham in XV Gen. 10 17. whence some derive the Hebrew word Berith which signifies a Covenant from Bara which signifies cutting off because something was always sacrificed at the making Covenants and anciently cut in pieces For the same reason the Romans called a Covenant foedus which they derive à feriendo from striking that is killing some Beast particularly a Swine which was done with many Ceremonies And into his oath The Hebrew word which we translate Oath rather imports a Curse which was annexed to an Oath And so the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For they entred into this Covenant with such Imprecations upon themselves as are mentioned XXVII 15 16 c. Wishing perhaps that they might be cut in pieces as the Sacrifice was between whose parts they passed if they did not faithfully perform their Engagement Which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day For the Covenant was mutual as appears by the burning Lamp representing the Divine Majesty passing through the pieces of the Sacrifice when God entred into a Covenant with Abraham XV Gen. 17. Verse 13 Ver. 13. That he may establish thee to day a people unto himself Confirm them in all the Priviledges which they had often forfeited by breaking his Covenant of being his peculiarly above all People XIX Exod. 5. XIX Deut. 2. And that he may be unto thee a God as he hath said unto thee Bless them and do them good as he had solemnly promised And sworn unto thy Fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. XII Gen. 2 3. XVII 7 8. XXII 16 17. XXVI 3 4. XXVIII 13 14. Ver. 14. Neither with you only do I make this covenant Verse 14 and this oath He means those mentioned v. 10 11. Ver. 15. But with him that standeth here with us this Verse 15 day before the LORD our God and also with him that is not here c. I think the Particle ki which begins this Verse should not be translated but for this is the same with what was said before not distinct from it And therefore should be translated thus As with him that standeth here with us before the LORD our God so also with him that is not here with us this day i. e. with all that were absent from the present Assembly and with all future Posterity who were as yet unborn So the Hierusalem Targum understands the latter part of this Verse with all Generations which shall be after us as if they stood here with us to day And so Vzielides as they call him with all Generations to come unto the end of the World as if they stood here with us at this present For perpetual Leagues are sometimes made between whole Nations for whom some contract in the name and place of all the rest and bind not only themselves but their Successors And thus Kings give Feifs to their Subjects upon Conditions which their Families are bound to perform in after Ages or else lose the benefit of them Ver. 16. For ye know how we have dwelt in the Land of Verse 16 Egypt These words and those that follow in this and the next Verse come in as an Argument to move them to enter into this Covenant and to show them the necessity of renewing it For as God had wonderfully multiplied them in the Land of Egypt so he delivered them from thence no less wonderfully when they were miserably enslaved Which was such a Mercy as ought never to be forgotten and therefore frequently mentioned in this Book and laid an obligation upon them to be wholly devoted to him as his redeemed People IV. 20. And how we came through the Nations whom we passed by The Edomites Midianites Ammonites and Moabites through the Skirts of whose Countries they passed and were preserved from receiving any hurt by them Verse 17 Ver. 17. And ye have seen their abominations and their idols They had opportunity in Egypt of seeing too much of their vile Idolatries And so they had as they passed by the Country of Moab and Midian when some of them were seduced to the Worship of Baal-Peor though if they had not been blinded by their Lust they could not but have seen how contemptible an Idol that was and have abominated it All the Idols of the Heathen are frequently called Abominations and in XXVI Levit. 30. they are called as they are here gillulim which we translate in the Margin dunghil gods to express the utmost contempt of them And some think they are so called not only in regard of their matter sed ob formam scarabaei habitantis in stercore but for the form of the Beetle which lives in Dung. For so Isis the great Goddess of the Egyptians was
desist from the Doctrine of the Law Verse 4 Ver. 4. Moses commanded us a Law He commanded them to observe that Law which God had given them when he was about to depart from them This he did in this very Book I. 3. V. 1. VI. 1. VIII 1 c. He spake of himself in the third Person which is very usual throughout all this Book Even the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. As a peculiar Blessing which God had bestowed on them and on their Posterity above all other Nations in the World IV Deut. 8. Who as they had not this Law given to them so they were not bound to observe it as the Jews themselves conclude from this very place Nor did they force any Body to embrace this Law when they made a Conquest of a neighbouring Country but left them to their liberty provided they would become Proselytes of the Gate that is forsake Idolatry and keep the common Precepts enjoyned to all Mankind Thus Maimonides interprets the word Inheritance See Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVII and Grotius de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. I. Cap. I. Sect. XVI The Author of Ez Hachajim a MS. highly valued by the famous Wagenseil saith that when a Child began to speak the Father was bound to teach him this Verse In which instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hereditary some of the Jews read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 espoused as if the Law were espoused to the Jewish Nation See Wagenseil on Sota p. 519 520. Ver. 5. And he was King in Jeshurun Or For he Verse 5 was King that is under God the Supreme Ruler and Governour of Israel and therefore in his Name and by his Authority required them to observe these Laws Which plainly shows him to have had the Supream Power in all things both Civil and Sacred Which is excellently expressed by our Mr. Thorndike in his Review of the Rights of the Church c. p. 68. where he observes That the Israelites being made a free People by the Act of God bringing them out of Egypt and intitling them to the Land of Canaan upon the Covenant of the Law had Moses not only for their Prophet and their Priest for by him Aaron and his Successors were put into the Priesthood the Tabernacle and all belonging to it consecrated but also for their King their Lawgiver their Judge and Commander in chief of their Forces under God if not rather God by Moses For we find that after Moses his decease either God by some extraordinary signification of his Will and Pleasure stirred up some Man in his stead for the time or if there was none such ruled their proceedings himself by Vrim and Thummim answering their Demands and directing what to do and what course to follow in all the Publick Affairs that concerned the State of that People Whereupon when they required Samuel to make them a King he declared it was not Samuel but himself whom they had rejected Because they had rejected him whom God had immediately set over them in his own stead by whose death the power returned to God as at the beginning Concerning the word Jeshurun see XXXII 15. and Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. II. N. 2. When the Heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together To renew their Covenant with God and to receive his last Commands See XXIX 1 2 9 10. XXXI 28 29. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Let Reuben live and not die and let not his Men be few In the last Clause of this Verse we repeat the word not which is wanting in the Hebrew without any necessity For the words may be thus translated exactly Let Reuben live and not die though his Men be few Which seems to be a confirmation of the Prophecy of Jacob XLIX Gen. 4. That he should not excel and yet should live and not perish That is be in some measure a flourishing Tribe though not so numerous as some others See there And possibly it may be here suggested that though they passed armed over Jordan before their Brethren to settle them there according to their engagement XXXII Numb 27. IV Josh 12 13. yet none of them should perish but both they and their Wives and Children that stand behind them should be all preserved Ver. 7. And this is the blessing of Judah As much as to say Judah shall be remarkably blessed For these words this is the blessing are used of none of the rest of the Tribes either of Reuben which went before Verse 7 or the others that follow after Here is no mention made of Simeon who was next to Reuben because that Tribe was included in Judah with whom their Possessions were mixed XIX Josh 1. and therefore they went together to make Expeditions I Judg. 3. Judah also is here put before Levi because it was to be the Royal Tribe according to the Prophecy of Jacob which Moses was assured God would fulfil and therefore prays as follows And he said hear LORD the voice of Judah Grant his Petition when he calls for help against his Enemies So Onkelos paraphrases it Hear his Prayer when he goes forth to war And bring him unto his People Return him home in peace unto his People as the same Onkelos expounds it Let his hands be sufficient for him To avenge him of his Enemies as he also explains it And be thou an help to him from his Enemies Suffer them not to prevail over him but give him the victory when he fights with them So the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases these two last passages Let his hands exercise Revenge upon his Enemies in battles and do thou support and sustain him against those that hate him This was notoriously fulfilled in this Tribe which was the most valiant and successful of all other For in all their Wars this Tribe was the principal and the safety of all the rest seems to have depended upon this See I Judg. 1 2 c. XX. 18. And as these places show that this was the most considerable Tribe before they had Kings so after that it was able together with Benjamin to maintain its ground against the other ten Tribes and all other Opposers Ver. 8. And of Levi he said let thy Thummim and Verse 8 thy Vrim be with thy holy one Continue in this Tribe the high dignity of Consulting with thee and receiving Directions from thee by the High Priest concerning the Publick Safety Or as some take it because Thummim is here set before Vrim which is not in any other place make them upright and faithful as well as understanding and knowing in the discharge of their Duty For though by holy One be principally meant the High Priest who was in a peculiar manner anointed to be separated to the Service of God especially in this part of it to approach him with Vrim and Thummim which gave Aaron the name of the Saint of the LORD CVI Psal 16. yet it comprehends