his People by a gentle Government which is far better than to rule Tyrannically by Force and Violence For to what purpose is it to have possession of their Bodies when the true possession is to be Master of their Hearts Get possession of their Hearts by Clemency and that will draw their Bodies along with them CHAP. XVIII Verse 1. THE Priests the Levites and all the Verse 1 Tribe of Levi. Or even the whole Tribe of Levi. See XVII 9. They shall have no inheritance with Israel As had been said XVIII Numb 20. and here in this Book X. 7. Which made it the more necessary Moses should remind the People of that maintenance God had appointed for them Which unless it was duly given them Religion could not be supported and consequently the Government of which he had been speaking would be quite confounded They shall eat the Offerings of the LORD made by fire Not the Burnt-offerings which were wholly Gods but all other Offerings of which a share was appointed for the Priests the Sons of Aaron XVIII Numb 9 10 11 18 19. And his inheritance That is the Inheritance of the LORD of whom he spoke before who had reserved certain Oblations to himself and bestowed them upon the Priests They are mentioned XVIII Numb 8 9. and v. 12 13 14 15. where he first speaks of the First-fruits and the First-born which were all brought unto the LORD and by him given to them In like manner all the Tithes of the Land are said to be an Heave-offering unto the LORD v. 24. where he saith I have given them to the Levites to inherit So these two The Offerings of the LORD made by fire and his Inheritance comprehend all that belonged to his Ministers whether Priests or Levites Verse 2 Ver. 2. Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren the LORD is their inheritance as he hath said unto them The LORD had given them that part and portion of the Offerings which were peculiarly his own And therefore is said to be their Inheritance because they enjoyed his inheritance as these holy things are called in the foregoing words See XVIII Numb 20 24. and XIII Josh 14 33. Verse 3 Ver. 3. And this shall be the Priests due from the people Besides those things that God gave them which peculiarly belonged to him From them that offer a Sacrifice Of Peace-offerings which are sometimes called simply a Sacrifice XVII Levit. 5 8. XV Numb 3. in which the People had a considerable Interest Whether it be Ox or Sheep Under Sheep are comprehended Goats also as I have observed See III Levit. And they shall give unto the Priest the shoulder Together with the Breast as we read VII Lev. 32 33 34. And the two cheeks and the maw These were not given to the Priests before but were now added to their Portion being accounted the best part of the Beasts For as the Cheeks were the best part of the Head and the Shoulder and Breast the best of the other Members of the Body so the Maw was the principal part of the Entrails as Maimonides observes P. III. More Nevochim Cap. XXXIX By the Maw is meant the Stomach and in Beasts that chew the Cud who have four Stomachs that which is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. the lowest of them Which had this name because the digestion which is begun in the other is here perfected and compleated And it appears that this part of the Entrails was accounted by the Ancients a great dainty as Bochartus proves out of Aristophanes in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. II. Cap. 45. p. 505. Ver. 4. The first-fruits also of thy Corn of thy Wine Verse 4 and of thy Oyl See XVIII Numb 12. To which it may be useful to add this out of Maimonides who hath distinctly represented the order wherein all Oblations were made that after the Fruits of the Earth were gathered every Man was bound to bring a fiftieth part of them as a First-fruits to the Priests which was called Trumah gedolah the great Oblation of which Moses speaks in this place And next of all he separated a tenth part of the whole from the rest which was Maaser Rishon the first Tithe and given to the Levites XVIII Numb 24. Then out of what remained another tenth part was taken called Maaser Sheni the second Tithe which was every third year given to the Poor and in the two intermediate years spent in Feasting at the House of God XIV Deut. 28. So that for instance if a Man had pressed out an Hundred and two Logs of Oyl he sent two of them as First-fruits to the Priest and then ten more as Tythe to the Levites and deducted nine parts more out of the residue for the Poor by which it appears that One and twenty parts of an Hundred and two that is a fifth part of the whole was separated for pious and charitable uses See Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. IV. Theorem XV. And the first of the fleece of thy Sheep shalt thou give him This is comprehended under First-fruits but never particularly mentioned before now And tho' the quantity is not mentioned yet the Jews have adventured to determine that less than one Fleece in sixty was not accepted For so they say of all other First-fruits that a sixtieth part of the whole was the least that any Man gave and he was accounted a covetous Man if he gave no more they that were indifferently good giving a fiftieth part and liberal Persons the fortieth By this means the Priests were provided with Clothes as by other Offerings with Food And the Wooll also as they call it of Goats which were shorn in these Countries is comprehended under the Fleece of Sheep Verse 5 Ver. 5. For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy Tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD This was the Office of a Priest to offer Sacrifices unto God and to bless the People in his Name Him and his sons for ever The Family of Aaron of which he is principally speaking Who when they were few in number all ministred unto God but afterward they took their Courses of Attendance And as the Jews say there were eight Courses before Moses died four of the Family of Eleazar and as many of Ithamar's which in David's time were enlarged into Four and twenty Courses See Selden Lib. I. de Succession in Pontificat Cap. I. Ver. 6. And if a Levite By a Levite he seems here to mean a Priest See v. 1. For they only could minister Verse 6 unto God and the Levites ministred unto them Come from any of thy Gates out of all Israel From any City in any Tribe of Israel Where he sojourned i. e. Leave the Country where he hath been wont to live And come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose With a sincere Affection to devote himself to
Sea which is hereby meant Ver. 3. And the South And after he had seen Verse 3 the South which the Tribes of Judah and Simeon inhabited he bad him take a view of the Eastern Parts of the Country as it here follows And the plain of the Valley of Jericho All the Region about Jordan especially the lovely Plain of Jericho which is very much celebrated by other Authors and lay in the Tribe of Benjamin The City of Palm-trees Which is often mentioned in Scripture sometime without and sometime with the name of Jericho I Judges 16. III. 13. 2 Chron. XXVIII 15. which was so called because a multitude of Palm-trees grew about it as Strabo as well as Josephus testifies in his Geograph Lib. XVI p. 763. where he describes this plain as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as incompassed about with Mountains after the manner of a Theatre abounding with Palm-trees and other Garden-trees mixed with them for the space of an hundred Stadia And there was also he observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Paradise of Balsam Which is a rare Aromatick Plant like to the Turpentine-tree whose Juice is of great virtue and value c. From which odoriferous Plant growing here some think this City had the Name of Jericho signifying sweet smelling So R. Judas in the Gemara of Beracoth where he mentions this Tree as growing about Jericho and thence derives its name from the Hebrew word reach which signifies a sweet smell This is more probable than the Conjecture of D. Chytraeus who imagines Jericho to come from jerec which signifies the Moon and in their German Language he thinks might be called Luneburgh Vnto Zoar. Which lay in the entrance of the Salt Sea Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the LORD said unto him After he had showed him the Land the WORD of the LORD as the Hierusalem Targum hath it spake these words to him which follow And God having been wont to speak to Moses out of the Cloud of Glory Josephus conceives that now he was incompassed with it and from thence heard this voice Which the Jews fancy was so loud that the People heard it into the Camp Thus at our Saviour's Transfiguration upon the holy Mount a glorious Cloud over-shadowed him and his three Apostles who heard the voice say to them This is my beloved Son c. The Samaritans as Hottinger relates in his Smegma Orientale Cap. VIII p. 456. tell the story thus That Joshua Eleazar the Priest and all the Elders accompanying him to the Mount fell into such a Passion when they were to take their leave that they could not be parted from him Whereupon the Pillar of Fire came down which separated them from Moses so that they saw him no more This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed XII Gen. 7. XIII 15. XV. 18 c. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes Which the LORD strengthned it is likely with a greater vigour than usual that he might take a larger prospect than other wise he could have done of this Country Or as some of the Jews understand it he laid a Map of it before his eyes wherein every part of it was exactly described But that might have been done in the Plains of Moab without going up into a Mountain therefore the other is more reasonable that he strengthned his visive Faculty with a greater Power to see the whole Country in its length and breadth c. And therefore some of the Rabbins have been so wise as to put both together as J. Bened. Carpzovius observes out of several of them upon Schickard's Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVI p. 285. who thus speak God shewed him the whole Land as in a Garden Plot forty Miles in breadth and as many in length and gave his Eyes such a power of Contemplating the whole Land from the beginning to the end that he saw Hills and Dales what was open and what was inclosed remote or nigh at one view But thou shalt not go over thither This he had often said to him and now mentions it that he might die in a comfortable sense that he had been as good as his word to him and consequently carry this Belief along with him into the other World that he would make good the Oath which he sware to their Fathers of bringing them into Canaan and there fulfil all that he had foretold Verse 5 Ver. 5. So Moses the servant of the LORD So God himself calls him after his death in the next Book I Josh 2 7. as the most eminent Minister of his that he had hitherto employed in Israel But the observation of R. Bechai is not well founded that he is not called the Servant of the LORD till after he was dead and then admitted unto the nearest familiarity with the Divine Majesty For though these very words are not used yet the LORD calls him My Servant Moses which is the same thing XII Numb 7. Died in the Land of Moab For this Country was so still called because it anciently belonged to the Moabites See XXI Numb 26. from whom Sihon had taken it as Israel now had taken it from him So that he really died in the Land of Israel According to the Word of the LORD The Hierusalem Targum expounds this very soberly According to the Sentence of the Decree of the LORD That is as the LORD had determined and declared he should XXXII 49 50. And so this Phrase is commonly used in this very Book XVII 6 10 11. as well as in other places of the Pentateuch IX Numb 20. XIII 3 c. which will warrant this Interpretation that Moses did not die of any Disease nor was worn out with Age but meerly because God the Supream Governour of all things so ordered it But some of the Jews not satisfied with this have far-fetch'd Conceits concerning the Death of Moses from these words For because it is said he died al pi at the mouth as the words are literally in the Hebrew of the LORD Maimonides himself saith that their wise Men think and he seems of their Opinion that it signifies the LORD drew his Soul out of his Body with a kiss And thus died Aaron and Miriam but none besides them Of Aaron indeed it is expresly said he died al pi of the LORD but it is not said of Miriam and yet they will have her to have had the same favour That is they died saith he of too much love from the pleasure they had in the thoughts of God which apprehension of God conjunct with the highest love to him he thinks is called kissing I Cant. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LI. But this is not the meaning of the Phrase though no doubt Moses departed this Life in a most delectable sense and taste of the Divine Love having no unwillingness to
it c. According to their own desire but on condition they should help their Brethren to conquer the Land of Canaan See XXXII Numb 20 21 22. Verse 19 Ver. 19. But your Wives and your little Ones and your Cattle for I know you have much Cattle shall abide in your Cities which I have given you See XXXII Numb 16 24 26. Verse 20 Ver. 20. Vntil the LORD have given rest unto your Brethren as well as unto you c. Brought them to a Settlement in the Land of Canaan and given them a peaceable possession of it After which we read that Joshua dismissed these Tribes and sent them to their Wives and Children XXII Josh 4. Verse 21 Ver. 21. And I commanded Joshua at that time About that time when by God's order he appointed Joshua to be his Successor and took him to be his Associate in the Government XXVII Numb 18 c. Thine eyes have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two Kings So shall the LORD do unto all the Kingdoms whither thou passest This seems to be the Preface to the Charge which by God's Command he gave to Joshua at that time XXVII Numb 19 23. Ver. 22. Ye shall not fear them for the LORD your Verse 22 God fighteth for you This is part of the Charge it self which he had heard him give all the People eight and thirty years ago I. 21 29 30. Ver. 23. And I besought the LORD at that time Verse 23 saying Being told by God at the same time XXVII Numb 12 13. that he should shortly dye and only see the Land of Canaan but not enter into it Moses made his humble Supplication to God that he would not execute the Sentence which he had denounced against him For the word besought signifies Supplication to one that is offended Ver. 24. O LORD God thou hast begun to shew Verse 24 thy Servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand In subduing the two Kings of the Amorites For what God is there in Heaven or in Earth that can do according to thy works and according to thy might He speaks according to the Language of those times when Men worshipped many Gods of several sorts None of which he acknowledges were able to bring to pass such things as the LORD had done Ver. 25. I pray thee let me go over and see the good Verse 25 Land that is beyond Jordan To see is here to enjoy it as the rest of the Israelites were to do For God bad him go up into a Mountain and behold it but threatned he should not enter into it Which Threatning he might well think was reversible as others had been against the People of Israel upon his Prayer for them though they had more highly offended the Divine Majesty than he had done For though he doubted at the first especially when he saw no Water come out of the Rock at the first stroke yet he presently recovered himself and smote it the second time believing God would relieve them That goodly Mountain Most think that he desired to go so far into it as to see the place where God intended to settle his Divine Presence which proved to be Mount Moriah But nothing was known of this a long time after unless we suppose it was revealed unto him that where Abraham offered Isaac there the LORD would dwell It seems to me that he means that goodly Country full of noble Mountains for thus the word Mountain is often used particularly XIII Numb 29. where the Spies say the Amorites dwell in the Mountain i. e. in that mountainous part of Canaan And Lebanon He desired to go through the whole Country as far as Lebanon which was the most Northerly part of it famous for goodly Cedars as the Mountain before spoken of was in the South of Canaan Verse 26 Ver. 26. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes See I. 37. And would not hear me Refused to grant my Petition And the LORD said unto me Let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter This suggests that Moses renewed his Petition after the first denial and more earnestly begg'd this Favour of God which he could not obtain but was enjoyned silence This argues great displeasure and is mentioned by him as an Admonition to the Israelites Chapter IV. to be fearful to offend the Divine Majesty Ver. 27. Get thee up to the top of Pisgah See what I have noted upon XXVII Numb 12. Verse 27 And lift up thine eyes Westward and Northward c. Take a full view of the Country in all the Quarters of it which might be seen from the top of this Mountain which was called Nebo See XXXIV 1 2 3. Ver. 28. But charge Joshua and incourage and Verse 28 strengthen him c. Bid him not doubt that I will bring my People thither under his Conduct though I deny thee entrance into it Ver. 29. So we abode in the Valley over against Verse 29 Beth-peor It is likely that there was a Temple built to Baal-Peor which fronted this Valley for so Beth signifies an House or Temple of Peor Which gave the Name to a City wherein it stood which was part of the Inheritance of the Reubenites XIII Josh 20. In this Valley Moses was buried XXXIV 6. where he made this most excellent Exhortation to all the People CHAP. IV. Verse 1. NOW therefore hearken O Israel Having Verse 1 commemorated several Benefits which God had bestowed upon them since their coming out of Egypt and the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai with several severe Punishments which he had inflicted on them for their Disobedience to it Moses proceeds now to exhort them earnestly to the observance of it Vnto the Statutes These seem to be such Laws as concerned the Worship of God And the Judgments And then these were such as concerned their Dealings one with another Which two words comprehend all that is signified by Testimonies and Precepts also in other places Which I teach you for to do them Which he was about to set before them and press upon their Practice That ye may live and go in and possess the Land which the LORD God of your Fathers giveth you Not perish as their Fore-fathers had done in their Rebellion but be happy and enjoy what God had promised and was ready now to bestow upon them Verse 2 Ver. 2. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish from it This is thought by some to signifie that they should not make the least alteration in the Laws he had given them about the Rites of Divine Worship and Abstinence from several Meats and such like things which were distinctive Marks whereby they were separated from other Nations to be a peculiar People to him Thus Chiskuni interprets these words Thou shalt not add fear upon the fear of the blessed God That is any other Worship to the Divine Worship prescribed by these
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
XXIV 3. And he wrote them in two Tables of Stone and delivered them unto me That is the Ten Commandments and no more XXIV Exod. 12. XXXI 18. XXXIV 1 28. Lest what they heard with their Ears should quickly slide out of their Minds he took care to have it engraven with his own Hands in these Tables Verse 23 Ver. 23. And it came to pass when ye heard the Voice out of the midst of the Darkness for the Mountain did burn with Fire that ye came near unto me even all the Heads of the Tribes and Elders After they had recovered out of the Fright wherein they were at the Conclusion of these Words When the Thunderings Lightnings and Noise of the Trumpet was so terrible that they removed and stood afar off XX Exod. 18. Verse 24 Ver. 24. And ye said Behold the LORD our God hath shewed us his Glory and his Greatness and we have heard his Voice out of the midst of the Fire Here Moses relates more largely what he said in short XX Exod. 19. We have seen this day that God doth talk with Man and he liveth This looks like a thankful Acknowledgment of the great Goodness of God in vouchsafing them such a Favour as never any Men had before and which they could not expect again And accordingly Moses makes use of it as an Argument to be very observant of God's Commands XX Exod. 22 23. Verse 25 Ver. 25. Now therefore why should we die For this great Fire will consume us For if we hear the Voice of the LORD our God any more then we shall die It is an ungrounded Conceit of Maimonides in the place above-mentioned that when they had heard the first Words they fell into a Swoon and did not recover themselves till all the rest was spoken which made them conclude that they should really die and never come to themselves again as we speak if they should hear him speak to them any more The plain meaning is that mortal Men could not endure to hear him speak in that manner For the Voice was so loud and accompanied with such Flashes of Fire and such Claps of Thunder as made them conclude if it had continued longer they should have expired Ver. 26. For who is there of all Flesh i. e. Of all Verse 26 Men who are weak and frail as the word Flesh denotes That hath heard the Voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of Fire as we have and lived There is no Instance of such a thing as this which made them afraid of hearing him speak in this manner any more For they did not mind God's End and Intention in this which Moses suggests to them in the XX Exod. 20. but in a confusion of Thoughts imagined that tho' they had escaped once the Flames out of which he spake might devour them if they came near them again Ver. 27. Go thou near and hear all that the LORD Verse 27 our God will say and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee and we will hear it and do it See XX Exod. 19. This shews their Opinion of Moses that he could be able not only to endure that without disorder which made them ready to die but go into the very midst of the Darkness out of which those Flames came Ver. 28. And the LORD heard the Voice of your Verse 28 Words when ye spake unto me and the LORD said unto me I have heard the Voice of the Words of this People c. As Moses here reports more largely what they said to him than he did in Exodus so he likewise gives a larger Account what God bad him say to them in answer to their desire They have well said all that they have spoken It very much becomes them out of a sence of their meanness and unworthiness and of the inconceivable Majesty of God to desire he would speak to them by a Mediator Verse 29 Ver. 29. O that there were such an Heart in them that they would fear me and keep my Commandments always The words are wonderful emphatical in the Hebrew Who will give that there may be such an Heart in them Which is an Expression of the most earnest desire but withal signifies that if what he had done for them would not move them to fear and obey him it was impossible to perswade them to it Not but that he could miraculously work upon them and change their Hearts saith Maimonides if he pleased as he miraculously changed the Nature of other things but if this were God's Will to deal with them after this fashion there would have been no need to send a Prophet to them or to publish Laws full of Precepts and Promises Rewards and Punishments by which saith he God wrought upon their Heart and not by his absolute Omnipotence More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXII That it might be well with them and with their Children for ever For God desired nothing more than this which they themselves promised v. 27. which moved him to vouchsafe such a special Priviledge to them as first to speak to them himself and at their desire consent to speak to them by his Prophet Verse 30 Ver. 30. Go say to them get you into your Tents again All this shews that Moses was a Mediator between God and them and between them and God Ver. 31. But as for thee stand thou here by me He invites Moses unto the nearest approaches unto his Majesty and the most familiar converse with him Verse 31 XX Exod. 21. XXIV 2 18. For this was the highest degree of Prophecy as Maimonides calls it in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LI. And in his Preface to that Book he saith This is the greatest degree of Illumination of a Prophet concerning whom it is said Stand thou here with me And again The Skin of his Face shone Which he supposes signified that his Mind was always full of light whereas other Prophets were sometime in darkness and saw nothing And I will speak unto thee all the Commandments and the Statutes and the Judgments which thou shalt teach them According to their own desire v. 27. See VI. 1. And that they may do them in the Land which I give them to possess it According to their Promise in the same v. 27. Ver. 32. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD Verse 32 your God hath commanded you Being obliged by such singular Benefits as no other Nation ever had the like v 24 25 26. and having engaged themselves so solemnly to be obedient v. 27. Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left This is a Phrase often used to signifie a strict observance of God's Laws neither superstitiously adding to them nor profanely laying aside any of them XVII 20. XXVIII 14. 1 Josh 7. Ver. 33. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD Verse 33 your God hath commanded you That is observe all his Laws
and make them the Rule of their Lives Chapter VI. That ye may live and that it may be well with you and that ye way prolong your Days in the Land which ye shall possess Universal Obedience he would have them sensible was the only way to make them live happy and long in that good Land which he was about to bestow upon them This he inculcates again in the next Chapter VI. 3. For all Mankind thought long Life a very great Blessing as appears by Callimachus's Hymn to Diana Ver. 132 133. when he promises to those whom she favours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They shall not come into their Grave till they have reached a great old Age. CHAP. VI. Verse 1 Verse 1. NOW these are the Commandments the Statutes and the Judgments Which God promised to deliver to him in the foregoing Chapter v. 31. and Commandments are thought commonly to relate unto the Moral Laws Statutes to Rites and Ceremonies which have no natural Reason for them and Judgments to Civil Government Which the LORD your God commanded to teach you that ye may do them in the Land whither ye go to possess it They are the Words of God himself in the place before named v. 31. This I suppose was spoken by Moses to them a little time after he had delivered what is contained in the foregoing Chapter being a Preface to the rest of the Laws which he received from God in Mount Sinai as they desired Ver. 2. That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God Verse 2 to keep all his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee c. The prime Intention of God's speaking to them by himself and by Moses was to implant his Fear in their Hearts as the true Principle of Obedience Which so certainly flows from it if it be preserved in its power and force that it frequently in Scripture signifies the whole Duty we owe to God But here more particularly it seems to signifie their adhering to him as the only God So it is used 1 Kings XVIII 3 12. and in the New Testament most plainly X Act. 2 35. Ver. 3. Hear therefore O Israel and observe to do Verse 3 it Mark therefore so well what I say as to do accordingly That it may be well with thee c. As the only way to be happy and to grow a mighty Nation and in short enjoy all that God had promised to their pious Ancestors Ver. 4. Hear O Israel He repeats it again because Verse 4 what he was going to say is of the highest Importance The LORD our God is one LORD Being to remind them of all the Laws which God delivered to them by him and to endeavour to beget an holy Fear of him as the Principle of Obedience he most earnestly presses upon them before he proceed further the First of the Ten Commandments Which is that there is but One God who alone is to be worshipped and that he is their God Whose Laws therefore could not be controuled by the Authority of any other pretended God Many of the ancient Fathers particularly Theodoret and Greg. Nyssen think there is a plain intimation of the Blessed Trinity in these words The LORD our God is one LORD And some of the Jews themselves have thought there was something extraordinary in it that the Name of God should be thrice mentioned as it is in this Sentence Which signifies three Midoth or Properties they confess which they sometimes call three Faces or Emanations or Sanctifications or Numerations tho' they will not call them three Persons as Joseph de Voysin observes in his Book against an Anonymus Antitrinitarian p. 58 63 71 72. And the Cabbalists say as much who asserting ten Sephiroth in God which they take to be something different from the Essence of God and yet not Creatures but Emanations from it as Manasseh Ben Israel explains their Words they make the Three First of them to be more than the other Seven and call them Primordial The First of which they call the Wonderful Intelligence and the First Intellectual Light as St. James calls God the Father of Lights and the First Glory The Second they call among other Names the Illuminating Intelligence just as St. John saith the Eternal WORD enlightens every one that cometh into the World and the Second Glory And the Third they call the Sanctified Intelligence so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in Pual must be translated not Sanctifying as Rittangelius takes it or they may mean no more than the Holy Intelligence which is the very same with the Holy Spirit All this we find in the Book Jetzira which they fancy was made by Abraham From whence we cannot but learn that they had an obscure Notion of the Blessed Trinity and that the Apostles used no other Language about it than what was among the Jews The best of which are so sensible of such things as I have mentioned that they think we Christians are not Idolaters tho' we believe Three Persons in the Godhead which they fancy inclines to Polytheism because we believe the Unity of God and therefore may be saved as well as they So J. Wagenseil shews in his Annotations upon Sota Cap. VII p. 751 c. And Arnoldus in his Spicilegia after him p. 1218. Ver. 5. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with Verse 5 all thine Heart c. Our blessed Saviour alledging these two Verses XII Mark 29 50. looks upon these Words as a part of the First Commandment For after he had said The first of all the Commandments is Hear O Israel the LORD our God is one LORD and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul c. he thus concludes This is the first Commandment For to own him to be the only God the Author of our being and of all things doth necessarily include in it a love of him above all things whatsoever which requires us to love him who hath made them so lovely This is another Principle or Spring of Obedience inseparable from the Fear of God before-mentioned Which doth not drive us away from him but draw us to him being such a Reverence towards him as Children have to their kind Parents which is ever mixed with Love to them With all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might For there being no other God but he alone none else could have any Right to their Love and Service but he only Whose Nature is so excellent that it requires the utmost we can do to testifie our regard to him This one of the Jewish Writers hath admirably expressed in this manner Whosoever serves God out of love he gives himself to the Study of his Laws and unto Good Works c. which excite him to love God with the most flagrant Affection not for the sake of any thing in this World nor for the fear of any
as a Judge or Governour And Jeremiah is acknowledged by Abarbinel himself to be inferiour to Isaiah For though in his Preface to his Commentary upon Jeremiah he mentions Fourteen things wherein he was like unto Moses and saith he prophesied just Forty years as Moses did yet in his Commentary upon the lesser Prophets he prefers Isaiah before them all and Censures the rudeness of Jeremiah's Language in many things preferring Ezekiel to him So little do these Doctors agree in their Interpretation of this Prophecy which can belong to none of their Prophets which succeeded Moses who were all much inferiour to him until He came who perfectly resembled him but was much superior to him See v. 18. And thus the ancient Jews understood this Prophecy For though Maimonides only saith the Messiah should be indued with Wisdom greater than Solomon's and should equal their Master Moses yet those before him proceeded a great deal further This being a common saying among them which Abarbinel himself remembers in his Commentary upon the small Prophets He shall be exalted above Abraham lifted up above Moses and higher than the Angels of the Ministry Nor is the Cabbalistical observation mentioned in Baal-Hatturim to be quite neglected which is that this Verse begins and ends with the Letter Nun which is the numeral Letter for Fifty importing that to the Prophet here promised should be opened the fifty Gates of Knowledge forty nine of which only were opened to Moses And that this Verse also consists of ten words to signifie that they were to obey this Prophet no less than the ten Commandments Which observation it must be confessed is weakly grounded but contains a most illustrious Truth and shows that they believed Moses here speaks of the Messiah Vnto him shall ye hearken As they had engaged themselves to do it will appear from the following words Verse 16 Ver. 16. According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the Assembly saying Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD c. So we read XX Exod. 19. where they made this request unto Moses saying Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die In which words the whole Multitude bound themselves solemnly to hear the words of the LORD being delivered not immediately from his own mouth but by Moses as is more fully expressed in this Book V Deut. 27 28 29. Where God highly commends this good Resolution in them as Moses here observes again in the next Verse Verse 17 Ver. 17. And the LORD said unto me they have well spoken that which they have spoken He approved their desire and resolved not to speak to them any more as he did from mount Sinai with a voice out of the Fire and Cloud but by Moses himself while he lived and afterward by one like to Moses as it here follows Ver. 18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren These words seem to have been spoken to Moses by God when they desired God would not speak to them any more immediately by himself but by a Mediator Then God was pleased to promise them a great deal more than they desired which was to raise up another Prophet like to Moses who should acquaint them more fully with his Mind and Will in as familiar a manner as Moses did without striking any such terror into them as they were in at the giving of the Law though the words of this Prophet came from the mouth of God himself In which two things the Israelites excelled all other Nations i. e. in that they had such an excellent Law delivered by Moses which was to be bettered by an everlasting Covenant made by this Prince of the Prophets In respect of both as the same Dr. Jackson expresses it the name of Southsayer or Sorcerer was not to be named in Israel as they were in the Nations that knew not God much less expected such a Mediator In whom the Spirit of Life should dwell as plentifully as Splendor doth in the Body of the Sun from whose fulness e're he visibly appeared in the World all other Prophets were illuminated So that Moses himself and all the Prophets that followed him were but as Messengers sent from God to solicit his People to preserve their Allegiance free from all commerce or compact with familiar Spirits until the Prince of Glory came in Person to visit them and dwell among them Like unto thee This is well explained by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a second Law-giver as Moses was For in saying not simply he would raise them up a Prophet but like unto thee it must signifie saith he that this Prophet should be a Law-giver as well as Moses which none of the Prophets were till our Saviour came Neither Isaiah nor Jeremiah were the Makers of Laws but only called upon them to observe the Law of Moses Whereas when the LORD Jesus came he gave Laws to all the World and those far superiour to the Laws of Moses Who only said Thou shalt not commit Adultery but our LORD saith I say unto you ye shall not lust And instead of Thou shalt not kill he saith Be not angry with thy brother c. Whence it was that they who heard him were astonished at his Doctrine and said that he spake not as the Scribes who were expounders of the Law but as one that had authority that is power to ordain and enact Laws and not only to explain those that were already written Lib. I. Demonstr Evang. Cap. VII Lib. III. Cap. II. Lib. IX p. 443 c. See also what Joh. Wagenseil hath said upon these words in his Annot. in Lipman Carm. Memoriale p. 548. And will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him Reveal the whole Mind and Will of God XII John 49 50. For he was herein like to Moses though far superiour to him that he was intimately acquainted with God's Counsels being in the bosom of the Father I John 18. And confirmed all that he said to be from God by Miracles and Wonders and Signs far more mighty than those of Moses and more in number than had been wrought by all the Prophets from the beginning of the World Particularly he fed Multitudes with a little Food which made the People cry out This is of a truth that Prophet which should come into the World VI John 14. but above all this gave them that Bread from Heaven of which the Manna which Moses gave them was but a shadow as he took occasion to show the People upon their admiration of that miraculous Feast he had made for them with five Barley Loaves and two small Fishes For he himself was that Bread of Life who nourished Mens Souls with the Word of Eternal Life which he had in himself as he showed by his Resurrection from the Dead which he himself predicted
set up his Tabernacle with Men and dwell with them and they shall be his People and he will be their God XX Revel 3. which I mention because this part of the Prophecy reaches unto the last times and is not yet all fulfilled Thus this famous Song concludes which as the Jews reckon consists of Seventy Verses each of which contains two distinct and entire Sentences and as they fancy are a Compendium of the whole Law of Moses Nay some of them such are the idle Conceits of this Nation think this Hymn is so perfect a Prophecy that it contains in it the Names of all the Men in the World which they undertake to find and by that Versicle where it is to tell what Fortune he whose Name they seek shall have in the World Thus instead of observing seriously what Moses foretold would certainly befal themselves their Superstition and hardness of heart have led them to vain Conjectures concerning other Men. See Jo. Wagenseil upon Sota p. 164 c. where he saith a Jew undertook to show him his Name in this Song which fell out in a Verse that signified Prosperity to him And since him Martinus Mauritius in his Book de Sortitione Hebraeorum Cap. XVI Sect. 3 4 5. Ver. 44. And Moses came and spake all the words of Verse 44 this Song in the ears of the people The very same that is said before he spake this Song XXXI 30. and is now repeated at the Conclusion of it to express his Fidelity in his Office to the very last He and Hoshea the Son of Nun. Who was now his Assistant in this Work as he was designed to be his Successor after his death He is commonly called Joshua but Oshea was his Name at the first XIII Numb 8. Ver. 45. And Moses made an end of speaking all Verse 45 these words to all Israel When he had made an end of speaking them then he added what follows Ver. 46. And he said unto them set your hearts unto Verse 46 all the words which I testifie among you this day Apply your Minds to press upon your selves the observation of all these things For this Expression is a little more than letting them be in their heart VI. 6. or laying them up in their heart XI 18. For they were so to retain the remembrance of them as to attend unto them and consider them Which ye shall command your Children to observe to do This necessary duty of instructing their Children is often pressed IV. 10. VI. 7. XI 19. because without this care their Religion would soon be lost but by this means might be preserved and propagated to all Generations All the words of this Law Which they might be certain was delivered by God to Moses there being as many Witnesses of God's Presence with him as there were Men in their Nation But he had seen so many instances of their unbelief that he uses all the ways manners and forms as Pellicanus observes that he could think of to urge them to obedience By delivering them Tables of their Laws written by God himself by Books by Pillars by Blessings Cursings Obtestations Threatnings long Exhortations Songs Phylacteries and other Ceremonies c. which he continued to do as long as he had breath and was able to speak that they and their Posterity might be happy Verse 47 Ver. 47. For it is not a vain thing for you You shall not imploy your diligence in this matter unprofitably The Jews upon these words have founded a Maxim which Maimonides often mentions That every Precept hath its end and use which though they do not appear to us are grounded upon strong Causes and Reasons More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXVI and L. The design for instance of many Ceremonial Laws cannot now be fully discerned because they were instituted directly contrary to the idolatrous Rites of the Zabij which are long since utterly abolished and but imperfectly recorded in those ancient Authors that speak of them Because it is your life The means to make you an happy People Here are two benefits saith R. Isaac which are promised by the observation of this Law a Spiritual and a Corporal The Spiritual in these words and the Corporal in the next ye shall prolong your days c. And he puts the Spiritual first though among all Corporal Blessings this of long Life be the chief Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XVIII And through this thing By teaching your Children to observe to do all that is commanded in this Law You shall prolong your days in the Land whither you go over Jordan to possess it Have the great Blessing of a long Life in all manner of Happiness which your Posterity shall enjoy for many Generations in the Land of Canaan By which it appears that nothing else but Contempt of this Law could have ejected them out of this Country Ver. 48. And the LORD spake unto Moses that self Verse 48 same day Immediately after he had ended the foregoing Song and given them this Admonition at the Conclusion of it Vre 49. Get thee up into this Mountains Abarim Verse 49 Which he had pointed him unto before and told him what he doth now XXVII Numb 12. Vnto Mount Nebo Abarim was a ridge of Hills whereof Nebo was one See there upon XXVII Numb 2. Which is in the Land of Moab that is over against Jericho This is a more particular Description of the Site of this Mountain than he gave before in the Book of Numbers Behold the Land of Canaan which I give unto the Children of Israel for a possession Which he might easily do from the highest part of the Mountain called Pisgah III Deut. 27. Ver. 50. And die in the Mount whither thou goest up Verse 50 After he had taken a view of the Land every way And be gathered unto thy People To Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This signifies saith R. Isaac that he should be associated and joyned to the Souls of the just who are called his People For the People of Moses were not buried in Mount Abarim and therefore he doth not speak of gathering his Body to their Bodies but of his Soul to their Souls Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XI Chapter XXXIII As Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto his People See Numb 24 28. XXXIII 38. Ver. 51. Because ye trespassed against me among the Verse 51 Children of Israel c. Rebelled against his Commandment as he speaks XXVII Numb 14. Because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the Children of Israel XX Numb 12. XXVII 14. Ver. 52. Yet thou shalt see the Land before thee He had earnestly begg'd of God that he might go over Verse 52 Jordan but he denied him that favour I Deut. 37. III. 25 27. yet he was pleased to mitigate his punishment by letting him enjoy a sight of that good Country into which he might not enter But thou shalt not go thither unto the Land which I give the Children
all the rest of the Priests and Levites in conjunction with him for they were all separated unto the LORD having signalized themselves as we speak by their early Zeal for the LORD when their Brethren apostatized to Idolatry Of which Moses takes notice in the next Verse Who said unto his Father c. I have not seen him c. regarded that is no Relation when they executed the Commands of God against the Worshippers of the Golden Calf See our Learned Dr. Spencer de Leg. Hebr. Lib. III. Cap. VII Dissert VII where he treats also of these words as they may be applied to our LORD Christ the true holy one of God who is indeed a Priest for ever holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners c. VII Hebr. 26. Whom thou didst prove at Massah Or whom thou hast thorowly proved For the words in the Hebrew are Whom in proving thou didst prove the ancient Interpreters not taking Massah for the name of a place as we do but for trying or proving And so indeed the words in the Hebrew seem to import the Particle beth before Massah being different from that before Meribah which is al though we translate them both alike by the word at And thus the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases Whom thou didst prove or try and he stood in the trial that is approved himself perfect or upright as Onkelos expresses it This procured that Tribe a Blessing from the LORD XXXII Exod. 26 29. and brought them into special grace and favour with him as the word we translate holy one signifies For it is not kadoth but chasid And with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah Though God did severely chide and reprove Moses and Aaron who were the Heads of this Tribe when they were tried at the Waters of Strife XX Numb 12 13. yet they did not forfeit their Office by the Offence they then committed and therefore Moses prays it might still continue in Aaron's Posterity Ver. 9. Who said unto his Father and to his Mother Verse 9 I have not seen him neither did he acknowledge his Brethren nor know his own Children This relates unto the impartial Execution of Judgment by the Levites upon the Worshippers of the Golden Calf without respect of Persons XXXII Exod. 26 c. And as some will have it to Phinehas his Zeal mentioned in Numb XXV But that it hath any respect to a more ancient Judgment given in the Case of Judah and Thamar as the Hierusalem Targum fancies there is no ground to believe See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. VIII N. 2. For they have observed thy Word and kept thy Covenant XXXII Exod. 28 29. Abarbinel and others make this to be the reason of what follows Verse 10 Ver. 10. They shall teach Jacob thy Judgments and Israel thy Law Because they were so upright as to take no notice of their dearest Relations in Judgment therefore they were intrusted with this Office of Teaching the People the Statutes of God That is deciding all Controversies which arose about any thing in the Law So the Jews expound it and it is agreeable to what we read in the Seventeenth Chapter of this Book v. 9 10. and many other places as Mr. Selden shows in the place forenamed p. 372 c. and our Mr. Thorndike in his Religious Assemblies Chap. II. where he observes the TEACHING here mentioned consisted in declaring the meaning and obligation of the Law in matters doubtful as is apparent from X Levit. 8 9 10 11. For though others might be Members of their Courts of Judgment yet they consisted chiefly of Priests and Levites As for teaching the People in their Religious Assemblies that was not so much the Office of the Priests and Levites as of the Prophets For though the Prophets and the Disciples of the Prophets were commonly Priests and Levites who being most free from the Care of Estates and Inheritances and by their Office in his Ceremonial Service came nearest to God of all other Men were most likely to be endued with an extraordinary degree of Knowledge and of the Fear of God yet it is certain that the charge of teaching the People in their Assemblies belonged as well to those Prophets who were not Priests and Levites as to those that were See him p. 25. And this was one reason as Maimonides observes why the Tribe of Levi might have no Inheritance in the Land that being free from the trouble of ploughing and sowing c. they might wholly attend to the Study of the Law and be able to teach Israel God's Judgments More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXIX They shall put incense before thee and whole Burnt-offerings upon thine Altar This was the peculiar Office and Honour of the Priests alone to offer Incense on the Golden Altar and Burnt-offerings upon the Brazen The Hierusalem Targum thus paraphrases it They shall put Incense of precious Spice before thee to pacifie thine Anger and offer a most acceptable Sacrifice upon thine Altar Ver. 11. Bless LORD his Substance The word Verse 11 we here translate Substance is translated Wealth VIII 17 18. which consisted most in Cattle they having no Land to till which he prays God to increase that they might have sufficient Sustenance for themselves and their Family It is a strange fancy of some of the Jews that whosoever offered Incense grew rich and therefore no Priest was suffered to offer Incense more than once that so Riches might be derived to them all Thus they trifle while their hearts are set on getting Money and not on growing good See Sheringham on Joma p. 35 36. and Mauritius de Sortitione Hebraeorum Cap. XXIV Sect. IV. And accept the work of his hands All their Ministry at the Altar where the Priests officiated or about the Tabernacle of which the Levites had the care Smite through the loins of them that rise against him and of them that hate him that they rise not again For they who were Enemies to the Priests and Levites were Enemies to Religion and to all Civil Government which was chiefly administred by them as was before observed See XVII 8 9 10 11 12. Ver. 12. And of Benjamin he said He mentions Verse 12 him next to Levi because the Temple in which the Priests officiated was partly situated in his Lot The beloved of the LORD Or being beloved of the LORD as the LXX interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall dwell in safety by him i. e. By the LORD Which signifies the stability of his Portion which had Jerusalem the Holy City in it as we read XVIII Josh 28. For though Mount Sion was in the Tribe of Judah and so the Sanctuary was there LXXVIII Psal 68. yet the City wherein it stood was not Nay the Ancients think the Altar of Burnt-offering was in the Tribe of Benjamin as Kimchi observes upon that place before-mentioned in Joshua See upon XLIX Gen. 27. And there are reasons to make one think that Sion
Propos IV. Cap. 1. Ver. 6. The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb Verse 6 saying X Numb 13. Ye have dwelt long enough in this Mount From the third Month of the first Year XIX Exod. 1. to the twentieth day of the second Year after they came out of Egypt X Numb 11. they stayed at Mount Sinai which is the same with Horeb they being only two tops of the same Mountain one of them something higher than the other as they are described by those who have taken a view of them For Moses was twice with God for the space of Forty days in in this Mount and here the Tabernacle and all things belonging to it were made according to the Orders he there received and then was erected and consecrated and the People all numbred and disposed under their several Standards to march in such order as God appointed II Numb 3 10 17 c. X. 14 15 c. Verse 7 Ver. 7. Turn you From this Mountain And take your Journey Resume your Journey which you have so long intermitted And go to the Mount of the Amorites A Mount on the South part of Canaan inhabited by the Amorites together with some Canaanites and Amalekites XIV Numb 25 43 45. But the principal Possessors of it were Amorites as is expressed more than once in this Chapter v. 19 20 44. This is the Mountain to which Moses bid the Spies go up XIII Numb 17. and so they did v. 22. And unto all the places nigh thereunto And so pass into all the neighbouring Country which lies near it In the Plain in the Hills and in the Vale. This is a Description of the Country nigh unto this Mountain some of which was Champion as we speak and other parts of it consisted of Hills and Dales And in the South and by the Sea-side to the Land of the Canaanites and unto Lebanon and unto the great River the river Euphrates And so go into all the rest of the Land of Canaan the several quarters of which he here sets forth The Southern part lying toward this Mountain the Western upon the Sea where the People properly called Canaanites dwelt the Northern toward Lebanon and the Eastern towards the River Euphrates Which by other Authors as well as Moses is called the great River So Callimachus in his Hymn to Apollo v. 103. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The great Flood of the Assyrian River which the Scholiast observes is meant of Euphrates And Lucan cum Tigride magnus Euphrates L. III. v. 253. Ver. 8. Behold I have set the Land In the Hebrew Verse 8 Given the Land i. e. bestowed it upon you and am ready to bring you into the possession of it Before you That every one of you may have his share of it Or that you may go whether you please and settle your selves in it XIII Gen. 9. XXXIV 10. Go in and possess the Land Therefore make no longer stay here in the Wilderness but go and take possession of my Gift Which the LORD sware unto yuor Fathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob c. XV Gen. 18. XVII 7 8. XXVI 3. XXVIII 13. Ver. 9. And I spake unto you at that time saying Verse 9 About the time of their coming to Horeb or Mount Sinai For the Story of Jethro unto which this relates preceded that immediately XVIII Exod. Many great Men place it after the giving of the Law Of which see Selden L. II. de Synedr Cap. 2. N. IV. I am not able to bear you alone We do not read before now that Moses spake thus to the People But Jethro spake in this manner to him XVIII Exod. 18. and gave him advice to take some others to his assistance v. 21. which advice he followed v. 24. And then spake to the People what Jethro had said to him and enlarged upon it in the words we read here in the following Verses where he gives them the reason why he could not perform the Office of a Judge alone Ver. 10. The LORD your God hath multiplied you Verse 10 and behold ye are this day as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Increased unto a greater number then can easily be told Verse 11 Ver. 11. The LORD God of your Fathers make you a thousand times so many as you are As if he had said I am not troubled at your vast increase but bless God for it and beseech him to make you a thousand times more numerous then at present you are And bless you as he hath promised you In the Promise often repeated to their Fathers XII Gen. 2. XV. 5. XVII 5 6. XVIII 18. XXII 17. XXVI 4. XXVIII 14. Verse 12 Ver. 12. How can I my self alone bear your cumbrance and your burden and your strife But how is it possible for one Man alone to undergo the labour of hearing all the Complaints of such a Multitude and of remedying all their Grievances and determining all their Controversies So the last word signifies Suits at Law as we speak as the two former signifie other Differences which arose between one Man and another about such things as are mentioned in the XXI XXII and XXIII Chapters of EXODUS The first word which we translate cumbrance signifies tediosam litigantium serram as Hottinger interprets it in his Smegna Orientale Lib. I. Cap. 6. the tedious Pleadings of those that manage Causes before a Judge by Bills and Answers suppose and Rejoynders c. Verse 13 Ver. 13. Take ye In the Hebrew it is Give ye i. e. present unto me such Persons as you think fit according to the following Characters Wise men and understanding and known among your Tribes Men of known Wisdom Prudence and Integrity skilful in Divine and Humane Laws See XVIII Exod. 21. Some take Wise men to signifie such as knew much and understanding such as had prudence to make use of their knowledge being Men of Experience and they were to be noted for both these otherwise the People would not have reverenced them Ver. 14. And ye answered me and said The thing Verse 14 which thou hast spoken is good for us to do This Consent of the People is not recorded before but sufficiently implied in their Submission to this Regulation mentioned XVIII Exod. 26. Ver. 15. So I took the chief of your Tribes wise men Verse 15 and known From among those Men that they presented to him he took I suppose such Persons among the chief of their Tribes as were endowed with the Qualities here named and were known by all so to be For obscure Persons either for Birth or Experience in Affairs would have been contemned and therefore he chose the noblest of those that were presented to him called here the chief of their Tribes if they were no less worthy than others For some such no doubt there were among their great Men as might be thought fit for this high Employment And they were the fitter because being Men of Quality as we speak they were less liable to
said unto their Fathers upon this occasion which he doth not mention in the Book of NUMBERS where we read only of his falling down before God that he might awaken this Generation to a greater confidence in God and a dread of his Judgment Dread not nor be afraid of them Do not consider so much how strong they are as how powerful the LORD your God is who hath promised you this good Land Verse 30 Ver. 30. The LORD your God which goeth before you In a glorious Pillar of Cloud and Fire He shall fight for you As he had done hitherto XIV Exod. 14. XVII 8 c. According to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes Why should you think he is less able to bring you into Canaan than he was to redeem you from Egypt where you were oppressed by very powerful Enemies Verse 31 Ver. 31. And in the Wilderness Ever since they came from thence through the Wilderness of the Red-Sea XIII Exod. 18. and the Wilderness of Sin XVI Exod. 1. and the Wilderness of Sinai XIX Exod. 1 2. and then through that terrible Wilderness of Paran See above v. 19. Where thou hast seen how the LORD thy God bare thee as a Man doth bear his Son The long Experience they had had of his tender care over them which was as indulgent as that of a kind Father towards his only Son when he is a Child whom he carries in his Arms should have made them confident of his gracious Providence for the future In all the way that ye went until ye came to this place He made provision for them in the most desolate places bringing them Water out of a Rock sending Bread down to them from Heaven defending them from wild Beasts and from their fiercer Enemies c. Ver. 32. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Verse 32 LORD your God He could not prevail with them to trust God and go up as he commanded in his Power and Might to possess the Land Nor could all that Caleb and Joshua said at all move them XIV Numb 7 8 9. Ver. 33. Who went in the way before you Never Verse 33 failed constantly to direct and guide you in your Journeys XIII Exod. 22. To search you out a place to pitch your Tents in But always markt out your Encampments where they should be X Numb 17. In fire by night to shew you by what way you should go and in a cloud by day That they might be able to travel by Night as well as by Day which was most convenient in Summer time when the Sun was very scorching in a Wilderness where there was no shelter XIII Exod. 21. X Numb 16 21. Ver. 34. And the LORD heard the voice of your words They not only distrusted God v 32. but murmured against their Leaders and against God in Verse 34 a mutinous manner consulting to return into Egypt XIV Numb 1 2 3 4. And moreover spake of stoning Caleb and Joshua for their good Advice v. 10. And was wroth and sware saying Which so provoked the Divine Majesty that he irrevocably determined what follows confirming it with an Oath XIV Numb 21. Verse 35 Ver. 35. Surely there shall not one of these Men of this evil Generation see that good Land c. See XIV Numb 21 28 29. Verse 36 Ver. 36. Save Caleb the Son of Jephunneh And Joshua the Son of Nun. See XIV 24 30. and see below v. 38. He shall see it and to him will I give the Land that he hath trodden upon c. This was as exactly fulfilled as their disinheriting was XIV Josh 9 12. Where the particular Portion of Land is mentioned which God promised to him and which Joshua gave him in the Mountain where the Anakims dwelt For such was the wonderful Faith and Courage of Caleb that he doubted not to dispossess those whom the rest of the Israelites dreaded as invincible Verse 37 Ver. 37. Also the LORD was angry with me Not at that time but afterwards when they came into the Wilderness of Zin to another Kadesh XX Numb 1 12. For your sakes By occasion of their fresh discontents and mutinous upbraidings of him XX Numb 2 3 4. which provoked him so that he spake unadvisedly with his Lips as the Psalmist observes CVI Psal 31 32. This was an high aggravation of their guilt that they not only undid themselves but brought great Displeasure upon their worthy Leader and Governour whom they wearied with their Tumults and Rebellions Or the meaning may be which doth not much differ from the account now given that they murmuring in a tumultuous manner when they saw the Water did not flow out of the Rock at the first stroke he himself also was put into such a Commotion that he began to doubt and say God would do nothing for such a rebellious People though he had declared he would If this be true he soon recovered himself and smote the Rock again in confidence God would be as good as his word But God was so angry at the words he had spoken that he so far punished him for them as to deny him entrance into Canaan Saying Thou shalt not go in thither Which threatning is renewed a little before his death XXVII Numb 13 14. and he could not get repealed by any Entreaties as we read in this Book III. 26. Ver. 38. But Joshua the Son of Nun which standeth Verse 38 before thee i. e. Waits upon thee He shall go in thither So God promised when he as well as Caleb indeavoured to put Courage into the People to go and possess the Land XIV Numb 6 7 c. 30. Incourage him for he shall cause Israel to inherit it Not only go thither and have his Portion there but be the Captain of Israel and conquer the Land for them and divide it among them This intimates as if Joshua was afraid he might be excluded as well as his Master being extreamly troubled it is likely that he was not suffered to reap the Fruit of his long Labours Therefore God bids Moses incourage his hope and command him to take heart as we speak for undoubtedly he should do more than go into Canaan Which may be the reason why his Name is not put into the Exception v. 35 36. together with Calebs but they are mentioned separately because there was something to be said peculiar to each of them Verse 39 Ver. 39. Moreover your little ones whom ye said should be a prey See XIV Numb 31. Which in that day had no knowledge of good and evil And consequently did not provoke God by their Disobedience They shall go in thither c. Their innocence moved pity towards them though Children in some cases were cut off for their Fathers sins Verse 40 Ver. 40. But as for you turn you From the Land of Canaan to which they were not permitted to go And take your journey into the Wilderness And get you back again
into the Wilderness out of which I have brought you XIV Numb 25. By the way of the Red-Sea Thus they had their desire in some part of returning into Egypt XIV Numb 4. which was not far from the Red-Sea Verse 41 Ver. 41. Then you answered and said unto me We have sinned against the LORD They repented when it was too late to do them any good See XIV Numb 40. We will go up and fight according to all that the LORD our God commanded us Now they resolve to encounter those Enemies of whom they were before so afraid as to speak of stoning those who exhorted them not to fear them XIV Numb 9 10. And when you girded on every Man his Weapons of War ye were ready to go up into the Hill They not only made a stout Resolution but actually prepared themselves for the Onset as if there were no difficulty in that which a little before they dreaded to think of So de Dieu translates the last words Ye thought it an easie matter to ascend the Hill or ye despised going up the Mountain in our Language made nothing of it Ver. 42. And the LORD said unto me say unto Verse 42 them Go not up XIV Numb 41 42. Neither fight Much less think of fighting For I am not among you By my powerful Presence to subdue your Enemies or to defend you from them so the Phrase is often used for the Ark of the Covenant the Token of God's Presence did not go with them XIV Numb 44. Lest ye be smitten before your Enemies Which would be a far greater Disgrace than marching away from them Ver. 43. So I spake unto you XIV Numb 42 43. Verse 43 And ye would not hear No more than before when he bad them go up And rebelled against the Commandment of the LORD For now it was against his will as before it was his will that they should go up And went presumptuously up into the Hill Would venture against the express command of God which was the highest presumption Ver. 44. And the Amorites which dwelt in that Mountain Verse 44 came out against you As soon as they saw the Israelites ascend to assault them they came down upon them XIV Numb 45. And chased you as Bees do Which pursue those that disturb their Hives in great swarms and with great fury CXVIII Psalm 12. For though Bees have very small Bodies yet they have great Spirits and a vast Force as Bochart observes in many instances to make out the aptness of this Comparison in his Hierozoicon P. II. Lib. IV. Cap. X. And destroyed you in Seir. It seems they fled toward that part of Idumaea where Mount Seir was which they afterwards compassed many days II. 1. when they removed from Kadesh-Barnea And there some of them fell by the Sword of the Amorites who were the fiercest of all the People of Canaan and might on that account be well compared to Bees who cease not their pursuit till they have fixt their stings Even unto Hormah See XIV Numb 45. Verse 45 Ver. 45. And ye returned After the Amorites retreated And wept before the LORD Beseeching him to go along with you and assist you to conquer the Land But the LORD would not hearken to your voice nor give ear unto you To consent that they should now go and possess the promised Land or stay near to it but remained sixt in his resolution that they should go back again and wander in the Wilderness as long as they lived Verse 46 Ver. 46. So ye dwelt in Kadesh many days God had commanded Moses to lead them into the Wilderness by the way of the Red-Sea the very next Morning after their mutiny upon the return of the Spies XIV Numb 25. But they prevented this by their early rising next Morning to Assault the Amorites in the Mountain v. 40. After which they being discomfited he permitted them to stay some time here to bemoan themselves But how long is not certain for sometime the Cloud stayed but two days sometime a month sometime a year before it stirred from the Tabernacle which was the sign of their removal X Numb 22. And in some Stations it 's likely they stayed several Years for from the time of their removal from Kadesh-Barnea till they came to Mount Hor which was thirty seven Years we find but Nineteen Stations See XXXIII Numb from v. 18. to v. 37. According to the days that ye abode there Some expound it as long as they did in all the rest of their Stations i. e. nineteen Years as the Jews compute in Seder Olam But as the learned Dr. Lightfoot thinks it signifies as long as they did at Mount Sinai and so they stayed near a whole Year as they had done at Sinai But the most simple Explication seems to be that they tarried here so long after this as they had done before it at least forty days which was the time the Spies spent in searching out the Land Though there is no necessity to confine it to that number but simply to interpret it that as they stayed there many days before this mutiny so they did as many after it Chapter II. CHAP. II. Verse 1 Verse 1. AND we turned c. From the Borders of the Land of Canaan to go Southward till they came to the very shore of the Red-Sea Which as David Chytraeus computes it was thirty German miles from Kadesh-Barnea As the LORD spake unto me According to the command formerly mentioned XIV Numb 25. And we compassed Mount Seir. The mountainous Country of Edom whereof Mount Seir was but a part For when they came to Ezion-gaber which was upon the Red-Sea they were still in the Country of Edom 1 Kings IX 26. 2 Chron. VIII 17. For it stretched a long way from the Confines of Canaan unto Elato and Ezion-geber on the Red-Sea Many days Some think that they were marching to and fro along the Borders of this Country all the time they spent from this removal till they return'd to go towards Canaan again So that by many days they understand the whole XXXVIII years which passed between their departure from Kadesh-Barnea till they came over the Brook Zered v. 14. For when they were at Ezion-gaber which was farthest from Canaan they were as I said upon the Borders of Edom and so they were when they came back again seven and thirty Years after at Mount Hor XX Numb 23. XXI 4. But this must not be understood as if all the Stations mentioned XXXIII Numb after they left Kadesh-Barnea till they came hither again were near to the Country of Edom Some of them might be remote though they all lay in that Wilderness which reached from one end of Idumaea to the other Ver. 2. And the LORD spake unto me saying This was in the end of the XXXIXth Year after their Verse 2 coming out of Egypt when they had spent XXXVII Years going to and fro since their departure
these Expeditions But they seem to be here remembred as an Encouragement to the Israelites to hope that they might drive out the Inhabitants of Canaan who were not stronger than these as they had already driven the Amorites out of the Country of Sihon as it here follows As Israel did unto the Land of his possession which the LORD gave unto them Some have argued from hence that this Book was not written by Moses but by some body else after they had got possession of the Land of Canaan But it is manifest this may relate to what they had done already in dispossessing Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan of their Country which it is expresly said Moses had given for a possession to the Tribe of Reuben and Gad and the half Tribe of Manasseh and that by God's direction XXXII Numb 33. XXXIV 14 15. and in this Book XXIX 8. This hath been observed by many particularly by Huetius in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. XIV N. XV. Ver. 13. Now rise up said I and get you over the Verse 13 Brook Zered c. Which elsewhere we translate the Valley of Zered See XXI Numb 12. Ver. 14. And the space in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea Verse 14 until we came over the Brook Zered was thirty eight years For it is evident by the story in Numbers that they came to Kadesh-Barnea about the fourth Month of the second Year after they came out of Egypt See upon XII Numb 16. And if we suppose that they removed from hence in the seventh or eighth Month of that Year it is certain that they could not come to this Brook till the seventh or eighth Month of the fortieth Year For Aaron died at Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth Month of this Year and we must allow two or three Months time for all that followed between that and this viz. the conquest of King Arad and of Sihon and Og c. Vntil all the Generation of the Men of War So they were called who were above twenty years old I Numb 3. Were wasted out from among the People Utterly consumed so that not one of them was left XXVI Numb 64 65. As the LORD sware unto them See XIV Numb 28 29. Verse 15 Ver. 15. For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them to destroy them from among the Host Some of them it is likely died a Natural death but many of them might in the course of Nature have lived longer if God had not several ways cut them off before their time Vntil they were consumed By one Plague or other which God sent among them So that a great deal of their time in the thirty eight Years before mentioned were spent it is likely in burying and mourning for their dead Verse 16 17. Ver. 16 17. So it came to pass when all the Men of War were consumed and dead from among the People that the LORD spake unto me saying This was spoken it is probable just as they passed over the Brook Zered or in their next Station at Dibon-Gad XXXIII Numb 45. Ver. 18. Thou art to pass through Ar the Coast of Verse 18 Moab this day Or rather to pass by the Border of Moab for they were not permitted to come into their Country v. 9. See upon v. 4. Ver. 19. And when thou comest nigh over against the Verse 19 Children of Ammon As they did after the conquest of Sihon King of the Amorites whose Country bordered upon the Ammonites XXI Numb 13 24. Distress them not neither meddle with them The same command with that about the Edomites and Moabites v. 5 9. For I will not give thee of the Land of the Children of Ammon any possession As he had said before of the Land of Moab v. 9. Because I have given it unto the Children of Lot for a possession To the Descendants of his youngest Son as he had done the Country of Moab to the Children of the eldest Ver. 20. And that also was accounted a Land of Giants Verse 20 c. Was called the Country of Giants or Rephaim for People so called inhabited it And the Ammonites called them Zamzummims Changed their Names it is probable from Zuzims See XIV Gen. 5. as they were called before into Zamzummims But why they were called either by the one Name or the other it is but conjectured Some conceive they were called Zuzims from their swiftness or nimble running which in Warriours was a quality always highly valued and Zamzummims from their abominable Wickedness or their craft and cunning in doing Mischief Ver. 21. A people great and many and tall as the Anakims The same description which he gave of the Emims v. 10. Verse 21 But the LORD destroyed them before them i. e. Before the Ammonites who expelled them out of their Country and it 's like cut off the most of them And they succeeded them and dwelt in their Land This is so often repeated to possess the Minds of the Israelites with a sense of God's Providence which rules every where displacing one People and setling another in their stead and fixing their Bounds also which they shall not pass without his leave Verse 22 Ver. 22. As he did to the Children of Esau which dwelt in Seir when he destroyed the Horites from before them c. He repeats this which he had said before v. 12. because it was a fresher Instance of God's disposal of Countries unto what People he pleases and nearly touched the Israelites because they were their Brethren Verse 23 Ver. 23. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim even unto Azzah Unto which he adds an instance which seems to be elder than any of the former concerning a People called Avims who inhabited some part of the Land of Canaan whither they were going For though we do not read of Hazerim in any other place yet Azzah i. e. Gaza was in the Country of the Philistims who expelled these Avims And David Chytraeus thinks that Hazerim was a Town afterward in the Tribe of Judah called Haza-gaddah XV Josh 27. The Caphtorim which came out of Caphtor That is some People of Cappadocia who were near of Kin to the Philistims See X Gen. 14. Destroyed them and dwelt in their stead Concerning which see in the place above-named Unto which I shall only add That the Avims being expelled out of Canaan by the Caphtorims went it is very probable over Euphrates and settled there till the King of Assyria brought some of them back again to plant the Country of Samaria 2 Kings XVII 31. where we translate this word Avites See Bochart in his Phaleg Lib. IV. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 24. Rise ye up take your Journey and pass over Verse 24 the River Arnon See XXI Numb 13 14. Behold I have given into thy hand Sihon King of Heshbon and his Land c. You your selves shall do to him what your Brethren the Children of Esau did to the
can tell why yet Diodorus Siculus acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the God from whom Moses pretended to have his Laws i. e. JEHOVAH Ver. 7. For what Nation is there so great who hath Verse 7 God so nigh unto them as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for Both Onkelos and the Paraphrase of Jonathan and likewise the Hierusalem Targum are very significant upon this place What People is there who have a God that approaches to them so as the LORD our God doth to us At whatsoever Hour we cry unto him he answers us It is the manner of other People to carry their Gods upon their Shoulders to shew that they are near to them when alas they are afar off and cannot hear them But the LORD our God sits on his Throne on high and hears our Prayers whatsoever time we call upon him c. To which may be added that they had a Symbol of God's Presence continually among them in the Holy Place where he dwelt with them and Moses whensoever he pleased consulted him in all difficult Affairs as their High-Priest might do with the Vrim and Thummim in all times to come Ver. 8. And what Nation is there so great that hath Verse 8 Statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this Day The true Greatness of a Nation it appears by this and the foregoing Verse consists in the sincere Worship of God and in the upright Administration of Justice Both which were so provided for by the Divine Laws among the Jews that no Nation could compare with them or was really so great as they were For though their Country was but small and they were often oppressed by several cruel Enemies who desired their Extirpation yet they recovered themselves and kept their Laws in their worst Condition when commonly they best observed them Insomuch that as a very learned Person of our own Church long ago observed After so many Changes and Alterations as there were in their State from better to worse and back again after so many Victories got by them over others and so many Captivities of their Persons and Desolations of their Country as others had wrought they continued still one and the same People governed by the same Laws under several great and potent Monarchies The successive Rise and Fall of Three of which they were preserved to behold and in their declining State able to stand out a great while against the Fourth the mightiest that ever was on Earth and that when this Monarchy was in its full strength This is a plain Demonstration of the Truth of these Words of Moses That no Nation was so great as they See Dr. Jackson's First Book upon the Creed Chap. XXI Maimonides observes That the word Zaddikim which we translate righteous signifies as much as equal and proportionate Such saith he were all these Laws of God in which there was no excess by the prescription of long Pilgrimages or severe Fastings nor any defect which might open the Window to any Vice or make them careless in the Practice of Vertue More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIX Verse 9 Ver. 9. Only take heed to thy self and keep thy Soul diligently lest thou forget the things which thou hast seen c. Their only danger was lest they should grow careless and unmindful of all the wonderful Things that God had done for them Which he therefore exhorts them to think of frequently and to keep in Memory and lay to Heart so that they might preserve the Sence of them as long as they lived and likewise teach all Posterity to be mindful of them Ver. 10. Especially the Day that thou stoodest before Verse 10 the LORD thy God in Horeb. But above all that memorable Day when the LORD delivered his Law to them from Mount Sinai at which the oldest of them were present and had seen and heard what he said and how it was delivered When the LORD said unto me Gather me the People together Unto the foot of Mount Sinai where they stood at such a distance from it as God prescribed XIX Exod. 10 11 12 13. And I will make them hear my Words XIX Exod. 9 c. XX Exod. 1 c. That they may learn to fear me all the Days that they shall live upon the Earth c. For those Words which they heard were pronounced in so terrible a manner as to make them dread to offend his Majesty and to instruct their Children to stand in awe of him Ver. 11. And ye came near and stood under the Verse 11 Mountain XIX Exod. 17. And the Mountain burnt with Fire XIX Exod. 16 18. Into the midst of Heaven Into the middle of the Air which is frequently called Heaven in Scripture as the Fouls of Heaven are the Fouls of the Air But whether the Fire flamed up precisely into the very midst of the lower Region of the Air or only a great height is not material either way the Expression is proper enough Ver. 12. And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the Fire XIX Exod 20. XX. 1 22. Ye heard the Voice of the Words XX Exod. 19. Verse 12 But saw no Similitude Tho' sometimes the Divine Majesty seems to have appeared in a visible Shape VII Dan. 9 10. yet when he came to give them his Law he would not appear in the Figure of a Man or any other thing that might seem to represent him to their outward Senses or their Imagination For it had been dangerous then to manifest himself under any Resemblance when he forbad them to make any Resemblance of him They would have thought he forbad them to make any other Resemblance but that wherein he shewed himself to them in which they would have concluded it was lawful to represent him Only ye heard a Voice From hence some of the Jews would gather that the People only heard the Sound of God's Words when he spake the Ten Commandments but not the Distinction of the Sound so as to understand the Sense of what he said Thus Maimonides in his More Nevochim P. 2. Cap. XXXIII Which is manifestly false as appears from Ver. 10. and 13. and XX Exod. 22. For therefore the Day wherein he spake to them in Horeb was so remarkable as never to be forgotten because he made them hear his Words so that they might learn to fear him c. For tho' he did not appear in the likeness of any thing to them yet he vouchsafed to speak to them plainly in their own Language that they might be instructed in their Duty both which was to keep them from Idolatry He did not let them see any Shape that they might not make any Image of him to worship it or him by it after the manner of the Heathens but he let them hear his Voice that they might not go and worship any other Gods which the Heathens pretended spake to them Ver.
13. And he declared unto you his Covenant which Verse 13 he commanded you to perform even ten Commandments These were the principal Laws which they covenanted with him to observe tho' afterwards he added others after the Tenor of which he made a Covenant with them XXXIV Exod. 27. And he wrote them upon two Tables of Stone XXIV Exod. 12. XXXIV 28. Ver. 14. And the LORD commanded me at that Verse 14 time to teach you Statutes and Judgments that ye might do them in the Land whither ye go over to possess it This doth not signifie that they themselves did not hear the Ten Words from Mount Sinai but were taught them by Moses as Maimonides fancies in the forenamed place for it plainly relates to the rest of the Laws which God immediately after gave him Exod XXI XXII XXIII It being their own desire that God would speak to them no more by himself but communicate the rest of his Will by Moses XX Exod. 19. And accordingly he told the People all the Words of the LORD and all the Judgments which he delivered to him XXIV Exod. 3. All this will appear more plainly from the next Chapter of this Book v. 22 c. It is a meer Imagination of those Jews who take the Statutes and Judgments here mentioned for their Oral Law as Aben Ezra R. Solomon R. Bechai and others do upon this place Who say That when God gave Moses the written Law he expounded it to him Which Exposition he delivered to Joshua and he to the LXX Elders c. so that it came down to them in a successive Tradition Ver. 15. Take ye therefore good heed to your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the Day that the Verse 15 LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the Fire He gives them a special Caution about this because the Nations of the World were so prone to make Images of their Gods which he expresly forbids in the Second Commandment Upon this Text the present Jews ground the Third Article of their Faith which is that God is incorporeal Verse 16 Ver. 16. Lest ye corrupt your selves By worshipping any thing but God himself alone Unto whom they being espoused the giving Divine Worship unto any thing else was such a Corruption as Adultery is in a married Woman And make you a graven Image the similitude of any Figure See the Second Commandment XX Exod. 3 4. The likeness of Male or Female The representation of God in Humane Shape is first forbidden because it was most common among the Heathens Therefore I cannot think this relates to the Egyptian Worship who honoured Oxen as sacred to Osiris and Cows as sacred to Isis Unto which Mr. Selden thinks the LXX had respect when they translated these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Diis Syris Syntag. I. Cap. IV. Verse 17 Ver. 17. The likeness of any Beast that is on the Earth c. The word Or is to be here supplied and in all that follows in this manner Or the likeness of any Beast that is on the Earth or the likeness of any winged Fowl that flieth in the Air Where Col tzippor Canaph which we translate Any winged Fowl signifies all Birds and Insects that fly in the Air For in the shape of such Creatures also the Heathen represented their Gods or some of their Qualities For not only Oxen were sacred to Apis and Rams to Jupiter Ammon but Hawks and Eagles and even Beetles to other Deities Ver. 18. Or the likeness of any thing that creepeth on Verse 18 the Ground Nothing was more common among the Heathen than the Worship of Serpents Or the likeness of any Fish that is in the Waters The famous Dagon whom the Philistims worshipped was a Fish with an Humane Face Hands and Feet Certain it is the Syrians worshipped a Fish as Cicero tells us in his third Book of the Nature of the Gods Syri Piscem venerantur Which Mr. Selden thinks relates to the famous Goddess Atazgatis which is a word made out of the Hebrew Addir-dag i. e. magnificent or potent Fish See De Diis Syris Syntag. II. Cap. II. The Egyptians were famous in After-times for worshipping all sorts of Animals and if one could find they were so in the Days of Moses it might be assigned as the most probable Reason of his cautioning the Israelites against these things so particularly they being lately come out of Egypt Ver. 19. And lest thou lift up thine Eyes unto Heaven Verse 19 From hence I believe that common Speech among the Arabians was derived Take heed how thou gazest on the Splendor of the Stars Which is in the first Century of Arabick Proverbs set forth by Erpenius Prov. XXVIII who saith he knew not what to make of it But I take it to be a Caveat against Idolatry to which the ancient Arabians were addicted And when thou seest the Sun and the Moon and the Stars even all the Host of Heaven The most ancient Idolatry of all other seems to have been the Worship of the Sun and the rest of the heavenly Bodies which began among the Chaldaeans For there is not any God or Goddess among the ancient Gentiles but hath a respect to the Sun or the Moon as Gisbertus Cuperus hath very plainly demonstrated in his Harpocrates P. 87 c. 108 c. And a very learned Man of our own hath lately said a great deal on the same Subject See Appendix to the Antiquity of Palmyra Cap. IV. by Mr. A. Seller And Maimon More Nevoch P. III. Cap. XXX Shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them Drawn in enticed and deceived as Onkelos and the LXX translate it either by the instigation of some evil Genius or admiration of their Splendor or imitation of other Nations or a vain Opinion that some Divinity inhabits such illustrious Bodies or out of a Sense of the Benefits Mankind receive by them For the chief Philosophers themselves were led by their weak Reasonings into this Error as appears even by Plato who saith It is most just that the Heaven should be worshipped with all the Gods and Demons and that we should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as he speaks in his Epinomis See Eusebius in his Praepar Evang. Lib. XIII Cap. XVIII where he shews how much better the Hebrews speak in this matter and quotes some Words of Plato out of a Work of his not now extant for the Explication of these Words of Moses And to make this Idolatry seem more reasonable some of the Philosophers asserted the Sun to be indued with Understanding and therefore is called by Proclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The King of Intellectual Fire to distinguish it from other Fires which are without Understanding And from thence in one of the Coyns of Caracalla there is over the Sun surrounded with Rays the word PROVIDENTIA In short the World had been so long settled in this Worship that it was no easie matter when the
Country And another Law punished this Ingratitude with Death See J. Meursius in his Themis Attica Lib. I. Cap. 2 3. where he shews That by Parents they understood not only Father and Mother but Grand-father and Grand-mother nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Great Grand-mother and Great Grand-father if they were yet alive as Isaeus tells us Orat. VII And the Ground of all these Laws was a Sence they had as Aeschines tells us That Men ought to honour their Parents as they did the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Sam. Petitus in Leges Atticas Lib. III. Tit. 3. Whence Hierocles calls Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Gods And Philo upon the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Visible Gods who imitate him that is unbegotten by giving Life And accordingly next to the Precepts concerning the Worship of God Moses here places immediately the Duty owing unto Parents That thy Days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee c. These last Words are added to what God spake XX Exod. 12. as an Explication of the foregoing Whereby they are excited to Obedience by the Promise not only of a long Life but of an happy I say Obedience for that 's included in Honour as the Apostle explains it III Coloss 20. Children obey your Parents in all things Where God that is hath not commanded the contrary and where it is not inconsistent with the Publick Good which is alway to be preferred ever before the Duty that is owing to Natural Parents Insomuch that common Reason taught the Heathen that for the Good of the Society the Son is to lay aside the Reverence he should pay to his Father and the Father to pay it unto the Son that is when he is in Publick Office Thus the famous Fabius Cunctator commended his Son for making him light off from his Horse when he met him in his Consulship as Plutarch tells us And see A. Gellius L. XI Noct. Attic. Cap. I. Lib. XIII Cap. ult Lib. XIV in the beginning Ver. 17. Thou shalt not kill If a Man killed another involuntarily he was banished by the Laws of Athens from his Country for a Year But if he kill'd Verse 17 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Demosthenes speaks out of forethought and designedly he was put to Death See Sam. Petitus Lib. VII in Leges Atticas Tit. 1. p. 508 512. Yea so detestable was this Sin accounted that even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liveless Things such as Wood or Stone or Iron wherewith a Man was killed Draco ordered to be thrown out of their Coasts Ib. p. 523. Ver. 18. Thou shalt not commit Adultery This Verse 18 Crime was also punished with Death by the Laws of Draco Solon indeed left it to the Liberty of the Husband who caught another Man in Bed with his Wife either to kill him if he pleased or to let him redeem his Life with a Sum of Money But if after this he lived with his Wife he was infamous as Demosthenes tells us who saith she might not come publickly into their Temples If she did any Man might treat her as he pleased only not kill her So that she was so odious as to be thrown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both out of the House of her Husband and out of Holy Places of the City Nor might she go abroad with any Ornaments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Law of Solon If she did any Body might take them away from her and tear her Clothes in pieces and beat her only not maim her in any part of her Body See the same Petitus Lib. VI. Tit. 4. Ver. 19. Neither shalt thou steal The Laws of Verse 19 Draco punished all Theft with Death Which Solon thought too severe and therefore chang'd that Punishment into making Satisfaction by restoring double yet still making it Death if any Man stole above such a Value or took any thing out of the Publick Baths and such-like places tho' of never so little Value See in the same Author Lib. VII Tit. 5. Verse 20 Ver. 20. Neither shalt thou bear false Witness against thy Neighbour There was an Action at Athens lay both against false Witnesses and him that produced them Who had a Fine set upon them and were made infamous And if they were found thrice in the same Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both they themselves and all their Posterity were made infamous As Andocides speaks See Ib. page 559. Verse 21 Ver. 21. Neither shalt thou desire thy Neighbour's Wife neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbour's House c. It is observed by some that an exact Order is observed in the delivery of these Precepts For first he places such Offences as are consummate and then those that are but begun and not perfected And in the former he proceeds from those that are most heinous unto those that are less grievous For those Offences are the greatest which disturb the Publick Order and consequently do mischief unto a great many Such are those that are committed against Governors and Rulers who are comprehended under the Name of Parents by whose Authority Humane Society is preserved And then among those which are against particular Persons those are the greatest which touch a Man's Life Next those that wrong his Family the Foundation of which is Matrimony Then those that wrong him in his Goods either directly by Stealth or more craftily by bearing False-witness Then in the last place those Sins are mentioned which are not consummate being gone no further than desire which in Exodus XX. 17. are expressed by one and the same word but here by two which we translate desire and covet Between which I know no difference unless they express higher and lower degrees of the same Sin The contrary to which is contentedness with our Portion and thankfulness to God for it which will not let us covet any thing belonging to another Man with his loss and damage Ver. 22. These Words the LORD spake unto all the Verse 22 Assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the Fire of the Clouds and of the thick Darkness XIX Exod. 16. XX. 18. This confutes the foolish Fancy of the Jewish Doctors that the People heard only the first Words of God I am the LORD thy c. thou shalt have no other Gods but me i. e. They heard him declare his Existence and his Unity but all the rest were reported to them by Moses Nothing can be more contrary to what he here saith that all these Words that is the Ten Words before mentioned were spoken to their whole Assembly See More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIII With a great Voice That is so loud that it might be heard by the whole Camp And he added no more All the rest of the Commandments which follow in the XXI XXII and XXIII of Exodus were delivered to Moses alone and by him to the People according to their own desire XX Exod. 19. XXI 1.
after they had destroyed the Inhabitants Verse 11 Ver. 11. And Houses full of all good things which thou filledst not c. In this and what follows in the rest of the Verse he sets forth the great Bounty of God to them who intended to enrich them with all manner of Good Things without any Labour of their own to purchase them Verse 12 Ver. 12. Then beware lest thou forget the LORD which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt c. In Prosperity we are too prone to forget our Benefactors Verse 13 Ver. 13. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God and serve him Preserve an awful Sence of him in thy Mind and be constant in his Worship and Service which was never more necessary than when they enjoyed so many Blessings from him And shalt swear by his Name When there was any need for it As in making Covenants with their Neighbours or in bearing their Testimony before a Judge they were to swear only by the Name of God not by any Idol nor by the Heaven or the Earth or any thing therein for they can bear Witness to nothing See XXIII Joshua 7 8. Nor was it lawful as Maimonides observes in his Treatise called Shebuoth to joyn any other thing with the Name of God But it was all one whether a Man sware by the proper Name of God or by any of his Attributes as by the Name of him who is merciful or gracious or long-suffering c. for this is a perfect Oath See Selden L. 2. De Synedr Cap. XI N. 2. And see N. 7. concerning other Oaths Ver. 14. Ye shall not go after other Gods of the Gods of the People which are round about you This shews Verse 14 that his Intention in this Chapter is to press upon them the Observation of the First Commandment which our Saviour justly calls the Great Commandment Ver. 15. For the LORD thy God is a jealous God Verse 15 See XX Exod. 5. XXXIV Exod. 14. Among you In the Hebrew In the midst of you to observe all you do tho' never so secretly Lest the Anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the Earth For this was the most provoking of all other Sins And therefore we never read either in the Law or in the Prophets the word Charon i. e. Fury or Aph Anger or Caas Indignation or Kinah Jealousie ascribed unto God but when mention is made of Idolatry So Maimonides observes More Nevoch P. I. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 16. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God as Verse 16 ye tempted him in Massah Never distrust God's good Providence nor murmur against him in any distress For that was the Temptation at Massah XVII Exod. 2 7. Ver. 17. You shall diligently keep the Commandments Verse 17 of the LORD your God and his Testimonies and his Statutes which he hath commanded thee As if he had said I cannot too oft press this upon you nor can you use too great care in this matter Ver. 18. And thou shalt do that which is right and Verse 18 good in the sight of the LORD that it may be well with thee As they loved themselves he charges them not to follow their own Desires which is called doing that which is good in their own Eyes but govern themselves by his Holy Will And that thou mayest go in and possess the good Land Or rather After thou hast gone in and possessed the good Land which the LORD sware unto thy Fathers For there was no doubt of their going in but only of their behaviour there after they were made so happy v. 10 11 12. Verse 19 Ver. 19. To cast out all thine Enemies from before thee as the LORD hath spoken He seems particularly to charge them to drive out the People of Canaan as God had commanded XXXIII Numb 32. For otherwise they would tempt them to forget this great Principle of their Religion that the God of Israel was the only God and intice them to serve their Idols v. 14. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And when thy Son asketh thee in time to come saying What mean the Testimonies and the Statutes and the Judgments which the LORD our God hath commanded you Abarbinel thinks that their Posterity in future Ages might observe three sorts of Precepts in the Law viz. Testimonies which in Hebrew are called Eduth which were such Constitutions as bare witness of some great thing God had done for them and preserved the Memory thereof such was the Passover And then Secondly There were Chukkim Statutes which are such Precepts the Reason of which is unknown And Thirdly Mischpatim Judgments which are such whose Reason is evident Now they might desire to know the Reason why such several Laws were given And he thinks Moses teaches them to give a distinct Answer to their Children about each of these Ver. 21. Then thou shalt say unto thy Son we were Pharaohs Bondmen in Egypt and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty Hand As if he had said Tell them the Reason why he gave us the first Verse 21 sort of Precepts particularly that about the Passover was because we were Slaves and God brought us into a State of Liberty which he would have always thankfully remembred by the observation of that Feast which testified what God wrought for us by his own Power alone The like may be said of the other two great Festivals which were to preserve the Memory of such-like Benefits Ver. 22. And the LORD shewed Signs and Wonders Verse 22 great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and all his Houshold c. Particularly slew all their First-born and spared those of the Israelites The Memory of which he ordered to be preserved by giving their First-born unto him XIII Exod. Ver. 23. And he brought us out from thence that he Verse 23 might bring us in to give us the Land which he sware to our Fathers This is the Reason Abarbinel fancies of giving them the Judgments before-mentioned God brought us out saith he to place us in this good Land and settle us here under a Government of our own Now Civil Society cannot be preserved without just Judgments and therefore that we might live in good Order God gave us these Political Laws Ver. 24. And the LORD commanded us to do all Verse 24 these Statutes to fear the LORD our God As for the third sort which are Statutes give your Children this Answer That tho' we do not know the Reason of them yet the benefit of them is manifest for they lead us to the Fear of God And nothing is so much for our Good as that both for the eternal Good of our Souls and for the long Life of our Bodies So he interprets the last Words of this Verse And so doth Maimonides For our Good always that he may preserve us alive as it is at this Day The first Words in the Hebrew are That it may be well
This was the great Promise made to their Fathers that he would make their Posterity as numerous as the Stars of Heaven and the Dust of the Earth XV Gen. 5. XXII 17. XXVIII 14. He will also bless the Fruit of thy Womb. Preserve them from Miscarrying that so they might multiply And the Fruit of thy Land thy Corn and thy Wine and thine Oyl By giving them Rain in due Season c. See XXVI Levit. 4 5. The increase of thy Kine The Hebrew Word Segar which we translate Increase the LXX Vulgar and Syriac render the Herds But Onkelos and Jonathan translate it as we do the young ones which the Mothers bring forth See Bochart P. I. Hierozoicon L. II. Cap. XXX And the Flocks of thy Sheep The Hebrew Word Ashtaroth comprehends Focks both of Sheep and of greater Cattle as the same Bochart observes P. 1. Hieroz L. III. Cap. XLIII and in his Canaan Lib. 2. Cap. 2. where he observes that the Goddess Astarte in those Countries was thought to preside over Flocks of Sheep and Herds of Oxen. Ver. 14. And thou shalt be blessed above all People Verse 14 He promises to make them as singular for his Favours as they were in their Laws and manner of Living There shall not be Male or Female barren among you or among your Cattle See XXIII Exod. 26. Ver. 15. And the LORD will take away from thee all Verse 15 Sickness Or remove from them the common Diseases and Infirmities of Mankind so that they should die in a good old Age as the Scripture Speaks which tended manifestly to their Increase and Multiplication And will put none of the evil Diseases of Egypt which thou knowest upon thee Neither those Blotches or Boils which God by an immediate Hand smote them withal IX Exod. 9. XV. 26. Nor any other which they in that Country were subject unto peculiarly their filthy Ulcers called Aegyptiaca and Syriaca as Casaubon observes upon Persius Sat. V. p. 467. with which the Priests of Isis were wont to threaten and terrify poor People if they did not worship her In Opposition to which our very learned Dr. Spencer thinks God made this special Promise to his People to preserve them from all such evil Diseases if they kept themselves pure from that Egyptian Idolatry Which is very ingenious if the Worship of Isis was so ancient as the Days of Moses See L. I. de Legibus Hebr. Ritual Cap. III. And will lay them upon all them that hate thee And thereby disable them to hurt his people Ver. 16. And thou shalt consume all the people which Verse 16 the LORD thy God shall deliver thee Utterly destroy all the people of Canaan when they had Conquered them as he commanded them before v. 7. Thine eyes shall have no pity upon them The reason of this severity was because of their abominable wickedness as I there observed Neither shalt thou serve their Gods for that will be a snare unto thee In the Hebrew and thou shalt not serve their Gods c. This severity was used to prevent their being inticed by them to their Idolatry if they had suffered them to live among them Verse 17 Ver. 17. If thou shalt say in thine heart these Nations are more than I how shall I dispossess them If such a diffidence began to arise in their hearts as possessed their fore-fathers XIV Numb Verse 18 Ver. 18. Thou shalt not be afraid of them but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt He requires them immediately to expel all fear by Faith in God which the remembrance of what God had done for them if seriously reflected on might well work in them Verse 19 Ver. 19. The great temptations which thine eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand c. Of all these he had put them in mind before IV. 34. and now renews the remembrance of it that the experience they had of Gods power and goodness might banish all fear out of their hearts Verse 20 Ver. 20. Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them Raise up enemies which they think not of to infest them that is unusual swarms of hornets and of an unusual bigness it 's like which came like an Army upon them See XXIII Exod. 28. Vntil they that are left and hide themselves from thee be destroyed Which should pursue those that fled from the Israelites and sting them to Death in their lurking Holes Ver. 21. Thou shalt not be afrighted at them Let Verse 21 all this inspire you with Courage For the LORD thy God is among you a mighty God and a terrible The Sovereign of the World of whose Goodness you have had such long Experience dwells among you and conducts and leads you wheresoever you go And who can stand before him See XVII Exod. 7. Ver. 22. And the LORD thy God will put out these Verse 22 Nations before thee by little and little Thou mayst not consume them at once lest the Beasts of the Field increase upon thee Be not discouraged tho' they be not destroyed all at once There is great Reason against that concerning which see XXIII Exod. 21. where this Verse is explained Ver. 23. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them Verse 23 unto thee and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they be destroyed In time he will deliver them all up into thy Hands and thou shalt so over power them as to leave none of them remaining Ver. 24. And he shall deliver their Kings into thy Verse 24 hand As he did we read in the Book of Joshua XII 7 8 9 c. where XXXI Kings are enumerated who were conquered by him And thou shalt destroy their Name from under Heaven There shall no Memory of so much as the Names of such Men be left any where There shall no Man be able to stand before thee until thou have destroyed them The Kings and great Men of the Country being destroyed their Victory was easier over the rest Verse 25 Ver. 25. The graven Images of their Gods shall ye burn with Fire This he had required before v. 5. but mentions it again to let them know that if they did not perform their part of the Covenant of which this was the chief God would not destroy the Inhabitants of Canaan totally As we find he did not II Judg. 2 3. and for this very Reason as Joshua had told them XXIII 12 13. Thou shalt not desire the Silver and Gold that is upon them The Jews are too nice and curious who expound this only of the Gold and Silver Clothes or the Chains or other Jewels of Gold and Silver wherewith their Images were adorned because he saith upon them There is no reason to doubt but he means that they should be destroyed if they were entirely made of massy Gold and Silver which they were not to convert to their own use For thus Moses did
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
the Jews did not differ in its form or substance from that which commonly fell in those Countries and doth so at this Day But herein consisted the Miracle that he gave it them in a prescribed Measure and so abundantly as to suffice such a vast Number and that every Morning in all Seasons of the Year This made it a Divine Manna for the common fell only in small Quantities and not always but at some times in the Year That he might humble thee This word is commonly understood of humbling by Affliction which may seem not to belong to Manna For that was a singular Benefit being an excellent Nourishment and of a delicious Taste But they having nothing else beside this to live upon were soon tired with it as we find XI Numb 6. and much more did it seem an Affliction to them to live upon one thing alone for forty Years together And God intended by it to humble them at the same time that he was extraordinary kind to them And that he might prove thee Whether they would be thankful that they were not starved and submit to his wise Providence and obey his Laws which they had the greater reason to observe because it was evident they owed their very Life and Being to him every Moment For without new Supplies every Day from Heaven they had been famished in that desolate Wilderness And do thee good at thy latter end That in Conclusion his kindness to them might be more thankfully received and more safely enjoyed So Maimonides expounds this Passage in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXIV God was pleased to accustom them to labour in the Wilderness that he might increase their happiness when they came into the Land of Canaan For this is certain A transition from labour to rest is far sweeter than continual rest Nor could they so easily have subdued the Land and overcome the Inhabitants of it unless they had indured some hardship in the Wilderness For rest and idleness takes away Mens Courage but labour and hard fare augments it And this is the good saith he which was in the issue to redound to them by this wise dispensation of God's Providence Verse 17 Ver. 17. And thou shalt say in thine heart my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth Such vain Conceits are apt to arise in Mens minds if they preserve not a sence of God and of all his Mercies to them Verse 18 Ver. 18. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth Continually call to mind that they owed all they had and the increase of it to his Almighty Providence without whom they could never have gotten possession of this Land nor have prospered in it That he may establish his Covenant which he sware unto thy Fathers c. He would have them sensible of their own unworthiness also which would make them more grateful to him of all the Blessings God had bestowed on them and acknowledge them to his meer goodness and fidelity to his Promises for they had been a murmuring and rebellious People Ver. 19. And it shall be if thou do at all forget the Verse 19 LORD thy God Luxury and Pride the usual effects of Fulness naturally made them unthankful and unmindful of God And neglect of God's Service made them easily fall to Idolatry And walk after other Gods and worship and serve them The two last Expressions are the Explication of the first for then they walked after the Idols of the People as Onkelos paraphrases it when they worshipped and adored them It is evident by this that the drift of Moses in all this Discourse is as I observed before to press upon them the first and great Commandment I testifie against you this day that ye shall utterly perish See IV. 26. Ver. 20. As the Nations which the LORD destroyeth Verse 20 before your face He speaks in the Present Tense because he was about to destroy them and when he began he destroyed them by little and little VII 22. and there were still more to be destroyed So shall ye perish because ye would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God It was but just that they should perish as those Nations did because they fell into their Sins Chapter IX CHAP. IX Verse 1 Verse 1. HEar O Israel He begins a new Exhortation to them at some distance of time from the former but still aiming at the same thing to represent to them the danger of Idolatry Thou art to pass over Jordan this day That is shortly not long hence for it cannot be meant precisely all these things being spoken in the eleventh Month of the last Year of their Travels and they passed not over Jordan till the first Month of the next Year Between which and this time Moses died and they mourned a whole Month for him To go in to possess Nations A Country inhabited by Nations for the People themselves they were to destroy Greater and mightier than thy self Whom notwithstanding God would deliver up into their Hands Cities great and fenced up to Heaven As the Spies had represented them I. 28. and they were indeed very strong Cities whose Walls could not easily be scaled Verse 2 Ver. 2. A People great and tall XIV Numb 28 32. The Children of the Anakims whom thou knowest Who seem to have been the chief of those Nephilim or Rephaim which we sometimes translate Giants in those parts XIII Numb 22 28 33. Of whom thou hast heard say who can stand before the Children of Anak A common Proverb in those days The Children of Anak being so famous that the whole Nation as Bochartus thinks took it's Name from them For Bene-Anak i. e. Children of Anak or Pheneanak is easily changed into Phaenicia These Anakims were vanquished by Joshua who drove them out of the Cities where they dwelt and made them flee to the Philistims Where a Remnant of them seem'd to have liv'd till the days of David For Goliah and his Brethren Lahmi Sippai and Ishbibanob 1 Chron. XX. 4 c. were Anakims and so was that Man with six Toes on each Foot and six Fingers on each Hand 2 Sam. XXI 16. for they were all born at Gath which was one of the Cities to which the Anakims fled XI Josh 22. Some think that from hence Kings among the Greeks were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because commonly they chose those to rule over them who were Persons of a great Stature and carried Majesty in their Faces But it is not improbable as I observed before that some of the Anakims fled into Greece and settled there when they were driven out of Canaan Ver. 3. Vnderstand therefore this day Settle this Verse 3 therefore in your Minds before you go over Jordan as undoubted truth That the LORD thy God is he that goeth before thee Over Jordan III Josh 3 4 c. As a consuming fire Before
whom none can stand IV. 24. He shall destroy them and he shall bring them down before thy face See III Josh 10 11. The Hebrews have a conceit that the Fire which burnt upon the Altar appeared in the Form of a Lion to show what God would be to their Enemies if the Israelites obeyed him otherwise what he would be to them So shalt thou drive them out and destroy them utterly as the LORD hath said unto thee Not the whole seven Nations intirely whom he said God would drive out by little and little VII 22. but so many as to make a Settlement for themselves in Canaan without much difficulty Verse 4 Ver. 4. Speak not in thine heart after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out When this is done do not so much as entertain a Thought For my righteousness hath the LORD brought me in to possess this Land Nothing is more dangerous than Pride and Self-conceit And therefore as he taught them before VIII 7. to have an humble Opinion of their own Power so now not to arrogate any thing to themselves on the account of their own Righteousness But for the wickedness of these Nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee XVIII Lev. 24 25 27 28. Verse 5 Ver. 5. Not for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go to possess their Land but for the wickedness of these Nations c. and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy Fathers c. It was of great moment which makes him repeat it again that they should understand the true Causes why God expelled these Nations and gave their Land to the Israelites which were these two First The abominable wickedness of the Canaanites for which they deserved to be rooted out Secondly God's gracious Promises to the pious Ancestors of the Israelites with whom he made a Covenant and confirmed it with an Oath to plant them there in the room of the former Inhabitants Ver. 6. Vnderstand therefore that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good Land to possess it for thy Verse 6 righteousness He repeats it a third time that if it were possible he might root out of the Israelites the Opinion of their own Deserts before he rooted the Canaanites out of their Country For thou art a stiff-necked People So far from being Righteous that they were very Refractory Of which God often complained XXXII Exod. 9. XXXIII 3 5. and Moses acknowledges it in his Prayer to God for them XXXIV 9. Ver. 7. Remember and forget not how thou provokedst Verse 7 the LORD thy God to wrath in the Wilderness In order to destroy the Opinion of their own Righteousness it was necessary to call to mind some of their most notorious Provocations which he exhorts them carefully to preserve in their Mind as a Means to keep them humble From the day that thou didst depart out of the Land of Egypt until you came to this place ye have been rebellious against the LORD This appears by the many Murmurings we read of in the two first Years after they came out of Egypt and likewise in the last of which only we have a particular Account but their behavour all the rest of the time they spent in the Wilderness was no better Ver. 8. Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to Verse 8 wrath Or rather Even in Horeb for there is an Emphasis in this and he speaks it with some Indignation when they had newly received the Law and had a visible Appearance of God in great Glory upon Mount Sinai and had entred into Covenant with him they so shamefully revolted from him that he thought to have destroyed them XXXII Exod. 7 8 c. Verse 9 Ver. 9. When I was gone up into the Mount to receive the Tables of Stone even the Tables of the Covenant which the LORD made with you See XXIV Exod. 11. Then I abode in the Mount forty days and forty nights I neither did eat bread nor drink water See XXIV Exod. 18. XXXIV 28. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the LORD delivered unto me two Tables of Stone written with the finger of God See XXXI Exod. 18. According to all the words which the LORD spake with you in the Mount See XXXIV Exod. 28. Out of the midst of the fire in the day of the Assembly When the whole Body of the People were assembled and heard God speak these Ten Words out of the midst of the Fire See IV Deut. 10 11 12 13. Verse 11 Ver. 11. And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that the LORD gave me the two Tables of Stone c. That is having given him the two Tables as was said before v. 10. Verse 12 Ver. 12. The LORD said unto me Immediately after he had delivered to him the Tables XXXI Exod. 18. XXXII 7. Arise get thee down quickly from hence for the People which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves c. See XXXII Exod. 7 8. Verse 13 Ver. 13. Furthermore the LORD spake unto me saying I have seen this People and behold it is a stiff-necked People Who will not bend to the Yoke of my Laws XXXII Exod. 9. Ver. 14. Let me alone Do not make any Intercession to me for them That I may destroy them and blot out their Name from under Heaven and I will make of thee a Nation Verse 14 greater and mightier than they See XXXII Exod. 10. Ver. 15. So I turned and came down from the Mount Verse 15 See XXXII Exod. 15. And the Mount burnt with fire Was all in a flame in token of God's high displeasure against them and as if he intended presently to consume them And the two Tables of the Covenant were in my hand XXXII Exod. 15. Ver. 16. And I looked and behold ye had sinned against Verse 16 the LORD your God and had made you a molten Calf About which he found them dancing XXXII Exod. 19. Ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you For a few Weeks before he had commanded them with his own Mouth not to make to themselves any graven Image c. XX Exod. 4. And immediately after commanded Moses to repeat this Precept particularly to them Not to make with him Gods of Silver or Gold v. 22 23. Ver. 17. And I took the two Tables and cast them Verse 17 out of my two hands and brake them before your eyes By God's order no doubt in token that they had broken his Covenant and were unworthy to be owned by him for his People XXXII Exod. 19. or that the Covenant was made void and God no longer engaged to them Ver. 18. And I fell down To pray God for Pardon though not presently but after he had broken the Calf in pieces reproved Aaron and made a Verse 18 slaughter among the People XXXII Exod. 20 21 c. As at the first When he
no long time XXVI Numb 15 16 17 23 24 35 38 39 c. And from Gudgodah to Jotbath And so to the rest of the Places mentioned XXXIII Numb 34 35 36. till they came to Mount Hor. A Land of Rivers of Waters A place where there was plenty of Water which he mentions I suppose that they might reflect upon their foul distrust of God's Providence a little after when they murmured for want of Water at Kadesh XX Numb 3 4 c. Verse 8 Ver. 8. At that time Not long after Moses came down from the Mount the second time of which he had been speaking v. 5. The LORD separated the Tribe of Levi. To his own special Service as we read III Numb Some think that God renewed his Choice of them to the Employment here mentioned after Aaron's death when he confirm'd them in their Office But we read of no such thing and it cannot be inferred meerly from these words at that time which may well relate to the time mentioned v. 5. To bear the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Here are three parts of their Office mentioned in these and the following words The first of which was to carry the Ark which peculiarly belonged to the Kohathites III Numb 27 31. when the Camp removed from one place to another Who were good Witnesses that the same Ark still remained at that day wherein Moses first placed the Tables of the Covenant for it never stirred but by their means To stand before the LORD This is a Phrase used of Servants that wait upon their Masters before whom they are said to stand Thus Gehazi attended the Prophet Elisha 2 Kings V. 25. And the Prophets tnemselves are thus said to stand before the LORD 1 Kings XVII 1. XVIII 15. Therefore here signifies that the Levites were separated to be God's Ministers as it follows To minister unto him As Assistants to the Priests in the Tabernacle III Numb 6. and as a guard to the Tabernacle v. 7 8. Which was the second part of their Office And to bless in his Name unto this day This was the greatest thing of all and was peculiar to the Priests who were a part of the Tribe of Levi but had the sole Priviledge among them to bless in the Name of the Lord as we read expresly VI Numb 23 24. If indeed it could be made out that by blessing in the Name of the LORD is meant only to bless the Name of the LORD that was common to all the Levites who sang Praises and gave Thanks continually to him in the Temple as I suppose they did in the Tabernacle But I find no Example of the use of this Expression in this sence And therefore it must be restrained to the Priests who were Sons of Levi as well as the rest and are so called when Moses mentions this part of their Office XXI Deut. 5. Verse 9 Ver. 9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his Brethren Because God would have them only attend to this Service and not look after other Affairs Particularly of guarding the Sanctuary and keeping constant watch there to secure all the Holy Things especially the Ark which they took care none should meddle withal And therefore the People might be sure it remained as Moses left it when he put it into the Tabernacle with the Tables of the Covenant in it The LORD if his Inheritance according as the LORD thy God promised him He took care to provide for the Levites without having any Land to plough or sow c. See XVIII Numb 20. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And I stayed in the Mount according to the first time forty days and forty nights This doth not signifie that after the separation of the Levites he went up again into the Mount but having confirmed what he said concerning his putting the Tables of Stone in the Ark which he made after he came the second time down from the Mount v. 5. he returns to what he was speaking of in the beginning of the Chapter and had begun to say before IX 25. how he prayed to God for them when he went to carry the Tables he had hewn up unto God in the Mount that now he might relate to them the Success of his Prayers which follows in the next words And the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also and the LORD would not destroy thee As he feared he would because he had so threatned IX 15. Ver. 11. And the LORD said unto me Arise take Verse 11 thy journey before the People that they may go in and possess the Land c. This cannot refer to what he said unto him after the making the Golden Calf as I find some take it from XXXIII Exod. 1. for that was before he went up into the Mount again But to what he said at the Conclusion of their Removals from place to place some of which he mentions here v. 6 7. for then he orders them what to do when they entred into Canaan which he saith I have given you to possess it XXXIII Numb 51 52 53. Ver. 12. And now Israel what doth the LORD thy Verse 12 God require of thee Unto whom he hath given Tables wherein he himself hath wrote his Will with his own Hand v. 4 5. and hath graciously pardoned your foul Breach of his Covenant upon my Intercession v. 10. But to fear the LORD thy God The Fear of God sometimes includes in it all Religion but here seems to signifie one of the great Principles of Obedience See VI. 2. And to walk in all his ways Unto which the Fear of God inclines Men when their Hearts are possessed with it And to love him Especially if the Love of God be in them which is still a stronger Principle of Obedience VI. 1. And to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Being constant in his Worship and Service and worshipping him alone VI. 13. XIII 3. For loving him with all the Heart and Soul seems here to have particular respect to their having no inclination to serve other Gods 1 Kings VIII 23 48. Which the Jews after they had smarted for their Idolatry understood to be the great Commandment As their Father Jacob they say taught his Twelve Sons when they came about him on his Death-bed saying to them Ye perhaps worship the Idols which Terah the Father of Abraham worshipped or those which Laban my Mother's Brother worshipped or ye worship the God of Jacob. To whom they all made this Answer with a perfect Fear Hear O Israel our Father THE LORD OVR GOD IS ONE LORD Whereupon Jacob said LET HIS GREAT NAME BE BLESSED FOR EVER Thus the Hierusalem Targum upon VI. 4. of this Book Verse 13 Ver. 13. To keep the Commandments of the LORD and his Statutes which I command this day for thy good Self-love should have inclined them to obedience to God's Commands which he gave them for their good though he
a low flat Country like that of Egypt but full of Hills which could not be made fruitful but by Rain from Heaven which seldom fell in Egypt but the Israelites might expect in due season if they were obedient to God Who by this means after they had ploughed their Ground and sowed their Corn made it spring up plentifully without any further Labour or Care of theirs Such a Country also was more pleasant and healthy than that of Egypt whose Ground next to Nile being overflowed more or less every Year by the rising of Nile to the fall of it which was from the Solstice to the Aequinox or as some say an hundred Days See Salmasius upon Solinus p. 427 c. 436 c. they could not walk abroad into their Fields and many times there followed after the Water was gone off great Sicknesses and Diseases by the smell of the Silt which it had left behind Ver. 12. A Land which the LORD thy God careth Verse 12 for Takes care that it want not Water by sending Showers of Rain plentifully from Heaven in their proper Season The Eyes of the LORD thy God That is the Providence of God whose Majesty dwelt in the Sanctuary Are always upon it To see what is wanting and to supply it From the beginning of the Year even unto the end of the Year At all Seasons to give them both the first and latter Rain as he speaks v. 14. and such Weather as might both produce and kindly ripen the Fruits of the Earth This he mentions as an Argument to Obedience in which if they failed he plainly tells them the Land should not yield her Fruit v. 17. For this Country was not so Fertile of it self as by the peculiar Blessing of God upon it whilst they kept his Laws Verse 13 Ver. 13. And it shall come to pass if ye will hearken diligently unto my Commandments which I command you this day To hearken diligently here signifies to consider them seriously and lay them to heart To love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul He repeats this so often because it is the Great Commandment as our Saviour speaks and because nothing is more natural than to love our Benefactors God especially our greatest Benefactor who gave us our being with all our Heart and with all our Soul See X. 12. And being the first and great Commandment it draws along with it Obedience to all the rest and is in effect the whole Duty of Man to God For constant Experience shows us that whosoever gets the firm hold of this Affection governs a Man as he pleaseth .. Ver. 14. That I will give you the Rain of your Land as much as is sufficient for such an hilly Country In his due season At the proper times which Verse 14 here follow The first Rain Before the sowing of their Seed to prepare the Ground and after it was sown that it might take root in the Earth and spring up And the latter Rain When the Corn was grown up towards earing time and after it was eared to make the Ears full and plump This appears from IV Amos 7. where he speaks of with-holding the Rain from them while there were yet three Months to the Harvest Which is meant of this latter Rain whereby their Corn was brought forward when it was but in the Blade to earing and so on to Harvest That thou mayest gather in thy Corn and thy Wine and thine Oil. Till the Corn and all the Fruits of the Earth be brought to maturity Ver. 15. And I will send Grass in thy Fields for Verse 15 thy Cattle To make them fat or to give plenty of Milk That thou mayest eat and be full Eat Flesh if they pleased as well as the Fruits of the Earth in great Plenty Ver. 16. Take heed to your selves that your heart be Verse 16 not deceived By the specious Colours that other Nations put upon their Idolatry as the Antiquity of it Vniversal Consent c. there being no part of the World at that time as Maimonides observes where all were not accustomed to worship Images c. whereby the Israelites were in danger to be seduced into an Imitation of their Neighbours And ye turn aside and serve other Gods and worship them By this it is evident that Moses is still pressing them to Care in observing the first and second Commandment Verse 17 Ver. 17. And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you For their being deceived into Idolatry by false Reasonings which perswaded them what they did was lawful did not excuse them before God Who expected they should have used greater Caution and governed themselves by his plain and express Commands And he shut up the Heavens that there be no Rain The contrary to this is called opening his good Treasure XXVIII Deut. 12. signifying that they lived upon the Royal Bounty of the King of Heaven which their Sins would hinder from flowing to them That the Land yield not her Fruit and lest ye perish quickly from off the good Land which the LORD giveth you To with-hold Rain from them was a sore Judgment which quickly brought a Famine which was very grievous to those who used to live so plentifully And it was frequently attended with various Diseases whereby they were wasted and consumed Verse 18 Ver. 18. Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul See VI. 6. And bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes Always in sight as the Rule whereby they should order their steps lest they trod amiss This is one of the Portions of Scripture from v. 13. to the end of v. 21. which the Jews write in their Tephilim as they call them which they use when they say their Prayers which they fancy are thereby made more acceptable unto God This Conceit began not long before our Saviour's time in the School of Hillel and Schammai and took such Root in the Minds of the most Religious that it hath grown to a great Superstition ever since See upon Chap. VI. v. 8 9. Which is another Portion of Scripture that they wrote in these Parchments though at the first St. Hierom saith upon XXIII Matth. 5. they wrote only the Ten Commandments Ver. 19. And ye shall teach them your Children Verse 19 This is repeated very often IV. 10. VI. 7. And out of this place and V. 1. the Jews have framed this as one of their affirmative Precepts That they ought themselves to learn the Law of God and to teach it unto others And this they do so diligently that as soon as their Children are capable to understand any thing they make them carefully read the Holy Books and instruct them so that before they can be called Youths they are acquainted with the whole Law of God In which we must confess they shame a great many Christians who scarce understand
so much of our Religion when they are Men and Women as the Jews do of theirs when they are meer Children From the Hebrew word limmathtem in this Verse ye shall teach them the Jews have framed a Conceit that their Talmud hath its Name signifying teaching and instruction as R. Jechiel saith in his Disputation with Nicolaus pag. 9. Speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way c. Taking all occasions to inculcate these Precepts upon them See VI. 7. and upon their Daughters as well as their Sons though the Jewish Doctors commonly fancy there is no command to instruct their Daughters in the Law See Mischna Sota Cap. III. Sect. IV. with Wagenseil's Annotations and the Gamara there p. 471 501. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And thou shalt write them upon the Door-posts of thy House and upon thy Gates See VI. 9. By this means God's Word being so rooted in the hearts of the Parents to use the words of Dr. Jackson as to bring forth this good Fruit in their Practice the Seed of it might be sown in the tender Hearts of their Children and be propagated from one Generation to another Verse 21 Ver. 21. That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children in the Land which the LORD sware unto your Fathers to give them Nothing is wont to move Men more than Love to themselves and Love to their Children whom they Love next to themselves As the days of Heaven upon the Earth As long as this World shall last Which the Psalmist speaking of David expresses in this manner His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven LXXXIX Psal 29. Which doth not signifie absolutely for ever but a long time For thus Baruch says the Jews in Babylon were commanded to pray for the Life of Nebuchadnezzar and the Life of Baltasar his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their days might be as the days of Heaven upon Earth Which is the very Phrase of Moses here in this place importing a very long Life And such Hyperbolical Expressions every one knows are used by the Heathen particularly by Virgil. Aeneid 1. Convexa polus dum sidera pascet Ver. 22. For if ye shall diligently keep all these Commandments Verse 22 c. To love the LORD your God This is still made the Condition of all their Happiness See v. 13. X. 20. To walk in all his ways In observance of his Laws which was the Fruit of true love to him And to cleave unto him So as to serve no other God but to persevere in the Worship of the LORD their God alone The Jews make this one of the DCXIII Precepts of the Law as they count them distinct by it self but they interpret it foolishly of sticking to the CABALA of their wise Men whereby they fancy themselves united unto God Ver. 23. Then will the LORD drive out all these Verse 23 Nations from before you As he had often promised VII 23. XXIII Exod. 27. And ye shall possess Nations greater and mightier than your selves VII 1. Ver. 24. Every place wherein the soles of your feet Verse 24 shall tread shall be yours That is every place of the promised Land as it is explained in the next words From the Wilderness Viz. of Sin which was on the South of Canaan And Lebanon Which was its Bounds on the North. From the River the River Euphrates Which was the Eastern Limits when in the days of Solomon their Empire reached hither according to the Promise unto Abraham in XV Gen. 18. Even unto the uttermost Sea shall your Coast be Which is now called the Mediterranean or the Midland Sea which bounded it on the West See XXXIV Numb 6. where it is called the Great Sea and in that Chapter the Bounds of their Country round about are described Verse 25 Ver. 25. There shall no Man be able to stand before you See VII 24. For the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the Land that ye shall tread upon as he hath said unto you For God had promised to terrifie the Inhabitants of Canaan and take away their Courage XXIII Exod. 27. And accordingly the Spies whom Joshua sent brought him an account of the great Consternation wherein the whole Country was when they were about to enter into it II Josh 9 24. Verse 26 Ver. 26. Behold I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse That is he proposed them to their choice Verse 27 Ver. 27. A Blessing if you obey the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day Which he more largely explains XXVIII 2 3 4 c. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandment of the LORD your God Which is also more particularly laid before them XXVIII 15 16 17 c. The whole Historical Part of the Old Testament witnesses the Truth of this that God blessed or cursed them according as they observed or broke his Laws And if the People of Israel had diligently marked considered and laid to heart that their Happiness or Misery were always correspondent to their good and bad Behaviour towards God it would have confirmed their Belief of their Law as much as if they had seen all the Miracles done before their Fore-fathers and supplied the want or the rarity of them in after Ages Nay this would have done more than all the Miracles did which were forgotten in a short time whereas their own daily Experience of the happy Fruits of Obedience and the Mischief of Disobedience would have sealed these Truths unto their Conscience But turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known It was not every sin that turned God's favour from them but their Idolatry and Apostacy from him against which he principally warns them throughout all these Chapters IV. 3 4 15 16 23. V. 32. VI. 4 14. VII 4 5 25. VIII 19. IX 12. X. 20. Ver. 29. And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy Verse 26 God hath brought thee into the Land whither thou goest to possess it that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal To quicken them unto a strict care in their Obedience Blessings and Cursings were to be pronounced with great Solemnity at their first entrance into the Land of Canaan as is more fully ordered XXVII 11 12 c. and performed by Joshua VIII 33 34 35. And Moses seems to enjoyn them the like Solemnity every Seventh Year XXXI 10 11 12 13. Ver. 30. Are they not on the other side Jordan Verse 30 With respect to the place where Moses now was the Mountains he mentions were on the other side of Jordan in the Land of Canaan In which they had no sooner got footing but Joshua took care to execute this Command that their
Egypt and the LORD thy God redeemed thee And did not bring them empty out of their Slavery but loaded with Silver and Gold and Raiment XII Exod. 35. By which Bounty of God to themselves they might take the best measure of their Duty to their poor Brethren when they were dismissed from Servitude Therefore I command thee this thing to day In remembrance of that great Benefit he enjoyned this Benevolence to poor Slaves Ver. 16. And it shall be if he say I will not go away Verse 16 from thee Refused to enjoy his Liberty when his six years Service was expired Because he loveth thee and thine house The Phrase in Exodus XXI 5. being Saying shall say I love my Master c. Abarbinel from thence gathers that it was necessary he should often profess how loth he was to leave his Master and his Family and make repeated Declarations of his Affection to them Because he is well with thee Lives happily Out of these words Maimonides infers that there was to be reciprocal Love between the Servant and his Master for if the Servant loved his Master yet if his Master did not love him his Ear was not bored for he could not take Content in his staying with him But these words suppose his Master's kindness to him by his good usage of him Ver. 17. Then shalt thou take an Awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door c. But first he was to bring him before the Judges that he might there in Verse 17 open Court profess the same that he had done to his Master and thereby make it appear there was no fraud or deceit in the business and that his Master did not keep him against his will contrary to this Law See XXI Exod. 6. where all this is explained And also unto thy Maid-servant thou shalt do likewise This relates only to the not sending Maid-servants away empty not to the boring their Ears if they had no mind to be freed for that was not used if we may believe the Hebrew Doctors to Maid-servants It was sufficient if they had a mind to stay with their Masters that they addicted themselves in solemn words to their Service for ever But there were many differences between a Man-servant and a Maid-servant at least in some Cases See upon XXI Exod. 7. which are explained with great nicety by the Hebrew Doctors with which I need not trouble the Reader because there is no such Slavery among us in these days Verse 18 Ver. 18. It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee It is plain by this that he returns to what he was speaking of v. 12 13 c. concerning their not letting their Servants go away empty when they had their Freedom For this was the chief thing that could seem hard to them For he hath been worth a double hired Servant to thee Who served at most only for three years and had Wages paid him all the time XVI Isaiah 14. In serving thee six years Twice as long as an hired Servant and for nothing So that considering what Wages he gave the other and how small a price perhaps they paid for him they would find themselves gainers by such Slaves and therefore should not think much to give them a Gratuity when they send them away And the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest He incourages them to hope they should be greater gainers otherways by this Charity which would procure God's Blessing upon their future Labours This Argument he had pressed twice or thrice before in this Chapter v. 4 6 10. Ver. 19. All the firstling-males that come of thy herd Verse 19 and of thy flock shalt thou sanctifie unto the LORD thy God All the first-born Males were the LORD's by a Law made at their coming out of Egypt and he gave them to his Priests for their Portion XIII Exod. 2 15. XVIII Numb 15. Thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy Bullock nor shear the firstling of thy Sheep Besides the Firstling-Males which alone were separated to the LORD there were also Firstling-Females which though they were not sanctified to him as the Males were yet were not to be employed by the Owners as the rest of their Cattle but offered as Peace-offerings to God Of which they themselves had a good share though some part of them was given to the Priests Ver. 20. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God Verse 20 It is evident from hence that he speaks of such Female-firstlings as I mentioned in the foregoing Verse for of the Males they might not eat but they belonged entirely to the Priests Year by year At their Solemn Festivals when they were first to offer them unto God and then the Feast upon these Peace-offerings followed In the place which the LORD shall chuse thou and thy houshold With the Levites and Strangers c. whom they were to invite to these Sacred Entertainments For this is but a Repetition of the Law twice or thrice mentioned before XII 6 7 c. 17 18 26. XIV 23. and upon this occasion here again inculcated because it was of exceeding great moment to preserve them in the Worship and Service of God alone Verse 20 Ver. 20. And if there be any blemish therein as if it be lame or blind or have any ill blemish This is another Reason why he mentions these Feasts again that he might admonish them what to do with these First-lings if there were any blemish in them which made them unfit for Sacrifice These blemishes he had spoken of in XXII Levit. 21 22 24. But here adds the Lame to those there named Which the Prophet Malachi also mentions and so do the Heathens as unacceptable unto God I Mal. 8. Thou shalt not sacrifice it to the LORD thy God No not to make such a charitable Feast at the Sanctuary Verse 22 Ver. 22. Thou shalt eat it within thy gates It was free for them to eat it at home though it is very probable God expected they should invite the Levites and the Strangers the Fatherless and Widows to partake of it as they did of the third Tithe XIV 29. because if it had been without blemish it must have been so imployed at the Sanctuary The unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike Whereas if it had been sacrificed at their Feasts only the clean could have eaten of it As the Roe-buck and the Hart. See XII 15 22. Verse 23 Ver. 23. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water He takes all occasions to mention this because it was designed to preserve them free from Idolatry See XII 16 23 24. CHAP. XVI Chapter XVI Verse 1. OBserve the Month of Abib Which God Verse 1 by a special order made the beginning of their Year See XII Exod. 2. XIII 4. XXXIV 18. And keep the Passover unto the LORD thy
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
makes it very probable that though there were Judges appointed according to the direction of this Law yet the exercise of their Power was often interrupted by the great Changes which were in that Nation and that there was no such Sanhedrim as the Talmudists describe till the Time of the Maccabees For the very Name of Sanhedrim plainly shews its Original to have been when the Greek Tongue was common among the Jews and that was when the Kings of Syria and Egypt who were of the Macedonian Race had the chief power in Palestine See Conringius in the forenamed Book Sect. XXXVII And enquire They were to lay the Cause before this high Court and desire their Opinion in it And they shall show the sentence of judgment They were bound to determine the Controversie and whatsoever Sentence they gave it was to stand good till it was reversed by other Judges of the same Authority For the Jews who understand all this of the great Sanhedrim and scan every Syllable with great nicety will have the words just before that shall be in those days to signifie that every Sentence must hold in the time when it is given So that if this Court determined a Matter which in after times by other Judges of the same Court should be judged otherways that second Sentence was to stand being the Opinion of those days For this Sentence was in their judgment the meaning of the Law by which they were all to be governed and if there was no Tradition in the Case they judged themselves as well as they could Verse 10 Ver. 10. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place That is the high Court which sits there or the Judge who is in those days Which the LORD shall chuse The Jews who understand this only of the Sanhedrim say it was not lawful for them to judge Causes at least not those which were Capital in any other place See Selden Lib. II. de Synedriis Cap. XV. N. VI VII X. Shall shew thee Shall pronounce And thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee Some phansie that he speaks to the inferiour Judges who brought the Cause thither to have the Opinion of this highest Court who were then to pronounce Sentence according to it But as the Persons concerned in the Controversie brought it before this Court when the Inferiour could not determine it so they gave the Sentence in which he requires the contending Parties to acquiesce and to do according to their determination Which did not concern questions of Faith as if Men were to believe whatsoever they should teach them but such Controversies as are mentioned v. 8. about Civil or Criminal Matters which they were finally to determine so that Men should not further controvert the Matter but rest in their Decisions For in all Governments there must be an end of Suits some where or other and God required all his People to submit to the Sentence of this Court. For so the words run in the Hebrew And thou shalt do according to the Sentence which they shall shew thee from the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse That is from the Supream Court of Judicature which resided where God himself did For if Men had been permitted to disagree to their Sentence the very end and use of this Court had been taken away as Maimonides speaks in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI Ver. 11. According to the Sentence of the Law which Verse 11 they shall teach thee In the Hebrew according to the Mouth or the Word of the Law which they shall teach thee That is according to the Interpretation which they gave of the Law And according to the judgment which they shall tell thee That is according the Order or Decree which they made thereupon Shalt thou do Pay suppose the Money which they judged to be due to another Man For he doth not speak of their doing whatsoever they bad them as if they could controll the Commands of God but of Obeying the Sentence of this Court about those Matters which were in question between one Man and another v. 8. who were not to be Judges in their own Case but rest in the Judgment of those whom God had made the Supream Interpreters of his Law Thou shalt not decline from the Sentence which they shall shew hee c. They were not to make the least alteration in their Sentence For though they might think it was wrong and the Senate perhaps did really err and be better informed afterwards which the Law supposes and in that case orders an Expiatory Sacrifice IV Levit. 13. yet it was not lawful for any Man to act contrary to their present Decree nor to teach the contrary whatsoever his private Opinion might be Verse 12 Ver. 12. And the man that will do presumptuonsly and will not hearken This they understand not barely of a private Man that would not stand to their Sentence but of an Elder or inferiour Judge who presumed to contradict it as Mr. Selden shows L. III. de Synedr Cap. III. Vnto the Priest It is commonly thought as I observed v. 8. that the Singular Number is here put for the Plural and that the meaning is If any Man would not hearken to the highest Court of Judgment which consisted commonly of a great many Priests he should die for his Contempt But they have a great deal of reason on their side who insist upon the Letter of this word Priest and of that which follows or the Judge understanding both of single Persons and take the High-Priest only to be here meant who seems to be described in the next words that stands to minister there before the LORD thy God For when God did not raise up a Judge to govern his People the High-Priest was the Supream Governour under God until the days of David and so they were after the Captivity Hence it is as Grotius observes Lib. de Imperio Summarum Potestatum circa Sacra Cap. IX Sect. 4. that COHEN is a name common to Priests and Princes For among a great many Nations anciently he shows the Priests had the highest power particularly among the Cappadocians Strabo who was of that Country saith the Sacerdotal Dignity was next to the Regal But howsoever this word be interpreted the Crime here mentioned was Contumacy in not submitting to the Sentence of the highest Authority whether it were vested in one Person or more whereby the Government was in danger to be broken and therefore God orders such a person to be put to death Or the Judge See before v. 9. Even that man shall die The Jews who interpret this as I said of a Judge in Inferiour Courts who presumed to contradict the Judgment of the Supream Court have tempered the Severity of this Law by several Explications and Exceptions Which have regard either to the manner of passing this Decree by the highest Court which an inferiour disobeyed and that
the perpetual Service of God at the Sanctuary so that instead of coming in his Course he would always wait there and never stir from that place Ver. 7. Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD Verse 7 his God Attend continually at the Altar to do all the Service of the Sanctuary The LXX translate it He shall minister to the name of the LORD i. e. to the Divine Majesty who dwells there As his brethren the Levites do As all those do who live at that place Which stand there before the LORD To minister unto him This was the case of Samuel Ver. 8. They shall have like portion to eat This Verse 8 shows that he is speaking of the Priests for the Levites did not eat of the holy things offered at the Altar And the meaning is that the rest of the Priests who waited there should allow him the same Portion which they themselves had in the Sacrifices Besides that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony Which was to remain proper to himself and not be divided with other Priests at Jerusalem suppose where he ministred The Hebrew words are something obscure being beside his sales by or unto the fathers That is such Possessions as their Fathers purchased and left to them For though the Priests had no share in the Land of Canaan given them at the division of it yet they might purchase Houses and Goods and Cattle and sometimes they purchased Fields as we read Abiathar had Fields of his own at Anathoth 1 Kings II. 26. and the Prophet Jeremiah who was a Priest also purchased a Field of his Uncle's Son in his own Town XXXII Jer. 7 8 c. But the Jews make a quite different construction of these three Verses which they understand in this manner That if any Levite i. e. Priest for they only ministred before God came up out of the City where he commonly resided out of pure Devotion to attend at the three Solemn Feasts which were held at the place where the Sanctuary was where they were bound to wait only when their Course came but at these Feasts might all come and minister in the Sanctuary his Brethren whose Week it was then to attend should both admit him to minister before God with them and also give him an equal Portion with themselves in the extraordinary Sacrifices which were then offered at those Festivals Except only those which were peculiarly assigned to them whose Week of waiting at the Altar it then was who by the Ordinance of God delivered to Moses and Aaron who they suppose are here called the Fathers were to have the right Shoulder of the Peace-offerings See VII Levit. 33. where it is said He among the Sons of Aaron that offereth the Peace-offerings and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part in which none other was to participate But why this should be called the Sales I do not understand unless we interpret it as Fosterus doth Venditiones i. e. res venditas à patribus things sold by the Fathers That is appropriated by them to the particular Priest that offered the Sacrifice as things sold are to those that buy them Ver. 9. When thou art come into the Land which the Verse 9 LORD thy God giveth thee The Land of Canaan which the LORD was about to bestow upon them according to his promise Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those Nations Now he returns to warn them again not to fall into the Idolatry and the Superstitions of the Country whither they were going See XVIII Levit. 3. Ver. 10. There shall not be found among you So Verse 10 as to be tolerated Any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire This was the most abominable Idolatry practised in that Country whither they were going who consecrated their Children in this manner to Moloch or the Sun of which I have said sufficient XVIII Levit. 21. Therefore I shall only add here that this wicked Custom seems to have flowed from this Country of the Phaenicians and Tyrians unto the Carthaginians Who were guilty of the Impiety of Sacrificing their Children as they did also here unto Moloch XX Levit. 2 3. Which spread it self in a manner over all the World as many have shown particularly Joh. Geusius in his Treatise de Victimis Humanis Pars I. Cap. XI and it was found among the Americans when that new World was discovered See also P. II. Cap. V. Or that useth divination Of which there were many sorts and one was by raking into the bowels of their Sacrifices particularly of Humane Sacrifices by the observation of which they pretended to foretell things as many Authors testifie Yea they offered little Children on purpose that thereby they might make their Auguries as the same Geusius hath observed in that Book Cap. XXI Unto which perhaps there is a peculiar respect in this place for I find most of the things here mentioned joyned in other places with making their Children pass through the fire particularly 2 Kings XXI 6. 2 Chron. XXXIII 6. and the Prophet Ezekiel seems to intimate that hereby they divined when he charges the Israelites with this crime XX. 26 31. For he adds Shall I be enquired by you O House of Israel Who have enquired that is by making your Children pass through the fire But it must be confessed that the Hebrew words Kosem kosemim which we translate useth divination are by many thought to have a peculiar respect unto such as used to divine by casting or drawing of Lots And the word as our Learned Dr. Castell observes is so used in the Arabian Language for distribution of Lots Which sort of Divination was much in use among the Greeks and Romans and had been so it is very likely in more ancient times among the Eastern Nations For nothing is more known than the Sortes Praenestinae and Pativinae among the Romans and the Dodonaeae and Dindymenae and many others among the Greeks Particularly that at Bura in Achaia where there was a Cave in which was the Image of Hercules before which they who resorted thither to enquire directions in any Case or the success of any Affair used to fall down and say their Prayers and after that to throw four Dice upon the Table and by the Letters or Marks upon which they fell the divination was made as Pausanias describes it in his Achaica In other places they used them in a different manner and the ancient Arabians divined by Arrows as our famous Dr. Pocock hath shown in his Notes upon Gregor Abul-farajus his Book concerning the Original and Manners of the Arabians p. 327 328 c. Where he describes the manner of it and shows that it was performed before some Idol and therefore was strictly forbidden by Mahomet in his Alcoran as a Diabolical Invention In which he seems to have imitated Moses who may be thought here to forbid such kind of
Abominations which no doubt had some relation to Idolatry and therefore were forbidden to the Israelites Ver. 13. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy Verse 13 God This shows there was something of Idolatrous Worship in all the forenamed Practices which if they followed it was in some degree to forsake the LORD on whom they were wholly to depend and seek to him alone in the ways which he had prescribed in his Laws For this was to be perfect with the LORD to have nothing to do with any other god nor with the Rites and Ceremonies that were used in their Worship And therefore the LXX translate this word sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 XXII Job 3. as well as by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for then they were perfect with God when they kept his Worship simple and pure without the mixture of any Forreign Religion Which the whole Context shows to be the sense both in the words foregoing and followng Ver. 14. For those Nations which thou shalt possess hearkned unto observers of times and to diviners The ancient Heathen as Strabo tells us Lib. VI. had these Verse 14 Diviners in such esteem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they thought them worthy of the highest Authority But God would not have his People so much as to consult such Persons for it appears by these words that not only they who were Diviners for instance but they who hearkned to them were odious to God For that even the Art of Divination depended upon some Idolatrous Opinions and Practices appears evidently even from the most refined Account we have of it in ancient Authors For Instance Ammianus Marcellinus who to acquit his Master Julian from the suspicion of Sorcery which some said he used to get the fore-knowledge of things future makes it a principal point of Wisdom not unworthy such a Prince who was a professed Lover of all Sciences to offer placatory Sacrifices to draw in the Spirit of all the Elements to endue him with a Spirit of Divination For so his words are in the beginning of his One and twentieth Book The spirit of all the Elements being alway and every way invigorated with the fore-perceiving motion of the everlasting i. e. the heavenly bodies make us partakers of the gifts of divining and the substantial Powers ritu diverso placatae being rendred favourable by respective Rites i. e. such as were proper and sutable to each of them convey Praedictions to Mortality as from so many perpetual Springs or Fountains Over which Substantial Powers the goddess Themis is said to praeside c. Which shows that Julian who called Jupiter the most high god the king of all yet courted other inferiour powers by such rites as he imagined would win their favour which was rank Idolatry But as for thee the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do But absolutely forbad it XIX Lev. 31. XX. 6. where he warns them to have nothing to do with some of the Persons here mentioned and not only instructed them in the way to live happily but established an Oracle among them to be consulted on all weighty occasions and governed them by Men whom he had endued with his Spirit XI Numb 16 17 25. Therefore if any Israelite practised any of the things here forbidden though he did not worship any Idol he was scourged by the Sentence of the Court of Judgment See Selden Lib. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. VII Ver. 15. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Verse 15 Prophet Since the Jews as all other Nations were extreamly desirous to know things to come Moses reveals unto them from God a thing future of the highest importance viz. the Coming of CHRIST and the greatness of his Authority and in after times God revealed to them by degrees the time of his Birth his Death Resurrection c. The Jews indeed commonly take these words to be a promise of a constant Succession of Prophets that should be among them to preserve them from going to such Diviners as were famous among their Heathen Neighbours and thus many Christian Interpreters make out the connexion of these words with the foregoing But though this may be allowed to be intimated and this Promise be acknowledged to be partly verified in those Prophets which God raised up from Age to Age after Moses for further knowledge of his Will as the promise of a Saviour was in part verified in those Judges and Kings by whom God delivered his People from their Enemies yet it is very evident that he speaks of a single Prophet more eminent than all the rest and that these words in their most literal sense cannot belong to any other Person but the MESSIAH So that albeit the continuance of Prophets among this People was a means to prevent all occasions of consulting Sorcerers or Witches yet the chief ground upon which Moses disswades them from such practices according to the literal connexion of these words with the foregoing the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee to do so i. e. to hearken unto Observers of Times and Diviners was the consideration of their late mighty Deliverance by Moses the excellency of their present Law which God had given them for their direction and their expectation of a greater Law-giver in future times when the first Covenant should wax old and Prophecy it self for a long time fail as it did before the Coming of this great Prophet the LORD CHRIST To this purpose Dr. Jackson in his Third Book upon the Creed Chap. XXI paragr 19. From the midst of thee of thy brethren It was a great honour to them to have such a Prophet as is here spoken of arise out of their Nation but as he was after a peculiar sort raised up by JEHOVAH not meerly by the External Assistances or Impulsion of his Spirit to use the words of the same excellent Person paragr 9. but by intrinsick assumption into the Unity of his Person So likewise he was raised up in a strict and proper sense from the midst of them being as it were extracted out of a pure Virgin as the first Woman was out of the Man by the Almighty's own immediate hand Like unto me This shows he speaks of a single Prophet and not of a constant Succession of Prophets there being none of them like to Moses whom God himself distinguished from them all XII Numb 6 7 8. And accordingly that Divine Writer who added those Verses which are at the end of this Book concerning the Death of Moses testifies that there never rose in Israel a Prophet like to Moses See XXXIV Deut. 10. It is commonly thought to be done by Ezra who hath effectually confuted all the Conceits of R. Bechai Aben-Ezra Abarbinel and other Jewish Doctors who take either Joshua or Jeremiah to have been this Prophet If Joshua as some fancy added these words then he excluded himself from being the Person nor did Joshua act as a Prophet but
XXVIII Jer. 11. or Prophecies in the name of an Idol suppose Baal all these were to be put to Death by the Sentence of the Court of Judgment But he that suppressed his Prophecy like Jonah or despised the words of a Prophet or did not observe his own words were to be punished by the Hand of Heaven See Selden Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. VI. N. I. Ver. 21. And if thou say in thine heart how shall we Verse 21 know the Word which the LORD hath not spoken Which was but a reasonable question there being as great care necessary not to hearken to falshood as to be attentive unto Truth And this relates unto such Prophets as came to them in the Name of the LORD For if a Man came in the name of any other god there needed no other Mark to discover him to be an Impostor Ver. 22. When a Prophet speaks in the Name of the Verse 22 LORD Predicting some wonderful thing to come to pass as a Token he is sent of God to deliver what he speaks to the People If the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken For if the LORD had sent him he would have accomplished what he gave as a sign of his Mission which not coming to pass he was proved to be a false Prophet who spake out of his own heart and not the Word of the LORD But here the Jews distinguish between a Prophet who predicts evil things as Famine or Pestilence c. and one that predicts good things as Rain when there is great need of it and fruitful years c. Though the Predictions of the former sort did not come to pass he was not to be reputed presently a false Prophet because God is very merciful and often repented him of the evil as he did in the Case of Nineveh But in the latter Case if any one of the good Things he foretold did not come to pass he was to be taken for a Deceiver which they understand also of the very time and place when and where he said the things he predicted should be fulfilled and here they bring in the example of Hananiah the Son of Azur mentioned before XXVIII Jer. 11. And see v. 8 9. of that Chapter But this doth not give us the true difference for both God's Promises and Threatnings many times depend upon a Condition as appears from that famous place in the Prophet XVIII Jerem. 7 8 9. So that the good Things a Prophet foretold might not come to pass and yet he might be a true Prophet because the People proved unworthy of them and God did not absolutely intend them Therefore the true meaning seems to be That if a Prophet foretold such a Thing as the Power of Nature cannot produce and gave it as a sign God sent him who would justifie his Mission by doing that wonder and the Thing did not come to pass he was to be lookt upon as not a Man of God For example when Moses threw his Rod on the ground and said it should become a Serpent if it had not been turned into a Serpent he had been convicted of Falsity Or a Prophet said Fire should come down from Heaven and consume the Sacrifice which lay before him which was the case of Elijah if it had not come down he would have been no more owned for a true Prophet than the Prophets of Baal And as Maimonides well observes if a Prophet's words were fulfilled in one or more Things he was not to be judged a true Prophet unless every Thing he spake in the Name of God came to pass Which he proves from those words concerning Samuel 1 Sam. III. 19 20. The LORD let none of his words fall to the ground And all Israel knew that Samuel was established to be a Prophet of the LORD The Jews also made this addition to the Rule forementioned of trying Prophets as Mr. Selden observes Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. V. N. III. That whatsoever Prophet had the Testimony of another undoubted Prophet was to be taken for a true Prophet By which Rule they might have known the great Prophet whom God promised to them in the foregoing Verses For John the Baptist whom the whole Nation took for a Prophet testified to them that JESUS was the Christ. And besides all other undoubted Marks of his being sent of God his rising from the Dead which he himself foretold was enough to satisfie all Men of the Truth of what he said For though every Prediction of what afterwards comes to pass will not necessarily prove a Man to be a true Prophet yet the fulfilling of a great number of Things not one of which fails as was said before of Samuel especially of such a Thing as this which was impossible to be brought to pass but by an Almighty Power is an uncontroulable Evidence of a Divine Mission R. Solomon upon this Verse hath a Note which is worth our Observation though it be not to the purpose of Moses his words A Prophet saith he that bids thee not observe some of the Precepts is not to be heard unless he be known to be a Man of eminent Vertue and upright Life as Elijah was who bid them build an Altar on Mount Carmel even when Sacrifices upon High-places were forbidden But there was a necessity for it that he might restore the true Worship of God in Israel Which should have made them hearken to our blessed Saviour better than they did he being so perfectly holy and pure that he challenged any of them to charge him with Sin especially when he only laid aside some of their vain Traditions but conformed to all the Rites of Moses So that if in conclusion we should grant that Moses in the 15th and 16th c. Verses speaks of all the Prophets that should succeed him which it is certain he doth not principally intend the Jews were impious in rejecting our Saviour who came as a Prophet to them and had all the Marks that a Prophet could have of his being sent from God But the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously For it was an act of high Presumption and arrogant Pride for any Man to pretend a Commission from God when he had not sent him Which was done two ways as the Jews interpret this either when a Man spake in the Name of God that which was false or when he pretended that to have been spoken to him which was revealed by God to another See XXII Jerem. 30. Both these were impudent Impostors and accordingly to be treated Thou shalt not be afraid of him Have no reverence or regard to him though he be never so confident Nor be afraid to lay hold of him and endeavour to bring him before the Sanhedrim to have their Sentence pass upon him as the Jews understand it though he have never so powerful an Interest to support him and preserve him from punishment Thus Maimonides in the forenamed Preface
apart as they say to this Office by an Unction and that with the same Oyl which the King was anointed withal His Office was to blow with the Trumpets to make the following Speech unto the Army when they were preparing to joyn battle and when they first went out to exhort all new Builders Planters and married Men to return back and when they were drawn up in Battalia to exhort all that were faint-hearted to leave the Army and go home See XXXI Numb 6. A great many of the Jewish Doctors thus explain this particularly Maimonides who may serve instead of all See Schickard Jus Regium Cap. V. Theor. XVIII and Hottinger in his Histor Eccles Seculum XVI pars 2. p. 689 690 c. Where he produces an excellent Discourse out of R. Levi Barzelonita his Catechism to show the Office of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anointed for the War and the reason why he was appointed to it For Souldiers saith he in the time of War have great need to be heartned and confirmed in their resolution And because the more honourable any one is the more willingly Men hearken to him therefore the Law required that he who was to encourage others should be a select Person himself and a Priest to whom they would be apt to pay a great Reverence Ver. 3. And shall say unto them c. Going from one Battalion as we now speak unto another or else ordering the Officers mentioned v. 5. to go Verse 3 about and speak every where what he did at the head of the Army And he was to speak in the Hebrew Language and no other as the Jews say in Mischna Sota Cap. VIII Sect. 1. And they have a conceit that the Romans learnt both the form of Encamping out of Moses his Law and also to make Orations to their Souldiers before they went to fight as J. Wagenseil observes out of Shilte Hagibborim Though it is more reasonable to think that common sense taught those that were Leaders of others to incourage them to follow them Ye approach this day unto battle against your Enemies Who often appeared very formidable by the vast number of their Horses and Chariots which the Israelites wanted Let not your hearts faint So we well translate the Hebrew word be soft or tender Which though it be a quality highly commendable with respect to God 2 Kings XXII 19. yet the contrary became them towards their and his Enemies Fear not and do not tremble Trembling or as the Hebrew word is making haste i. e. running away is the effect of fear Neither be ye terrified because of them Sometimes a great dread of danger made Men run away and sometimes so dismayed them that they could not stir much less strike a stroke Some of the Jewish Doctors fancy that the four several words here used are opposed to so many Actions of their Enemies whereby they hoped to strike a terror into them Let not your hearts faint when your Enemies brandish their Swords and clash them one against another Fear not when you hear the pransing of their Horses and the terrible ratling of their Chariots And do not tremble when they shout as if they were sure of Victory Neither be ye terrified when ye hear the Trumpets sound an Alarm to the Battle So Moses Kotzensis See Schickard Cap. V. Theor. XVI p. 115. And such a passage Wagenseil observes out of Philostratus Lib. II. Cap. V. upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. VIII Sect. II. p. 876. Ver. 4. For the LORD your God is he that goeth Verse 4 with you to fight for you against your Enemies Sometimes the Ark of God's Presence went before them when they entred into Canaan III Josh 3 10 11 c. and in the midst of them when they compassed Jericho VI Josh 9. So that God was properly then said to go with them or in the midst of them as the Vulgar Latin here translates it And at all other times he was present by his power to aid them especially against the People of Canaan with whom their Battles were said to be the Wars of the LORD To save you To preserve them by the defeat and overthrow of their Enemies Ver. 5. And the Officers shall speak unto the people Verse 5 saying This the Jews particularly Abarbinel think was spoken by the Priest before-mentioned and then proclaimed by the Officers called Schoterim of whom I have observed enough before XVI 18. and other places They that would see more may consult J. Wagenseil upon that Title in the Mischna called Sota Cap. VIII p. 854. But by whomsoever this was spoken it seems most likely to have been delivered before they drew nigh to the Battle See v. 2. at the first mustering of the Army What man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated it i. e. Hath not yet dwelt in it For at their first entrance to dwell in an House they made a Feast which being the first Meal they made there was called Chanach or Dedication as the same Wagenseil observes out of Michlol Jophi See in Cap. VIII Sota Sect. 2. Annot. 3. And because a Year is allowed to a Man to enjoy his Wife before he be obliged to go to the Wars XXIV 5. they allow the same time in these other Cases for the enjoyment of a new House or of a Vineyard as many have observed Particularly Selden Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. XIII N. I. and Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. V. Theor. 16 17. And they understand this not only of a new built House but of an House newly come into a Man's possession either by Succession Purchase or Gift yet not of such Houses as were not fit for habitation as Mr. Selden reports their Opinion Lib. III. de Vxor Hebr. Cap. III. In which he seems to have forgot himself for the Mischna in Sota Cap. VIII Sect. II. saith expresly this is to be understood of him that built an House wherein to lay Straw to make a Stable a Barn or a Granary because as Wagenseil there notes such places might in case of necessity be turned into a Dwelling-house Let him return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it This was allowed in those Wars only which they made voluntarily but not of those which were ex praecepto by the Divine Commandment against the Seven Nations of Canaan and Amalek in which every Man was bound to engage And so are the other Cases which here follow to be understood as all the Jewish Writers agree Another man dedicate it First enjoy it for this word here does not denote any Consecration as in other places but beginning to use a thing which in our English Language as Mr. Selden observes in the place forenamed we call taking handsel of it and so the Spanish Jews express it in their Translation Ver. 6. And what man is he that hath planted a Vineyard Verse 6 and hath not yet eaten of
Terms of Peace c. Only they think the Ammonites and Moabites were to be excepted by that Law XXIII 6. yet they temper it thus that if those Nations desired Peace of themselves it was to be granted to them though not offered And the most ancient Writers of the Jews say that Joshua sent three Messages to the Seven Nations of Canaan before he invaded them though he undertook the War with a Command from God to destroy them viz. if they did not submit to the Summons which was sent them either to flee or to make peace which was the subject of the two first Messages The next was a Denunciation of War against them as they say in the Hierusalem Talmud quoted by Mr. Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XIII And see the Learned J. Wagenseil in Annot upon Sota p. 845. Maimonides was of opinion that the Gibeonites had not heard of these Proclamations which made them use Craft to procure Mercy from the Israelites But P. Cunaeus thinks it more probable that they had refused at first to submit to Joshua's Summons but seeing him victorious they betook themselves to that Artifice mentioned in the Book of Joshua when they could not hope for Peace by any other means Lib. II. de Republ. Hebr. Cap. 20. Ver. 11. And it shall be if it make thee an answer Verse 11 of peace and open unto thee Accept of the Conditions offered to them which were three First That they should take upon them the observation of the Seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah and consequently renounce Idolatry Secondly Pay them a yearly Tribute And thirdly become their Subjects See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. IV. and Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. V. Theor. XVI Then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be Tributaries unto thee and they shall serve thee Here are two of the Conditions before-mentioned and the first was necessarily supposed because the Israelites were not to suffer any of their gods to remain among them For though by serving the Israelites is not meant being made their Slaves yet it imports that they were to live in due subjection to them as their Governours who might imploy them in their Publick Works as repairing the King's Palace the Walls of Cities c. Verse 12 Ver. 12. And if it will make no peace with thee but will make war against thee then thou shalt besiege it Without any further Summons to yield upon Conditions of Peace Verse 13 Ver. 13. And when the LORD thy God shall deliver it into thy hand Of which they were not to doubt v. 4. Thou shalt smite every Male thereof with the edge of the Sword Which was a just Punishment for their Obstinacy of which the Men who were here condemned to Destruction were the Authors and suffered the more justly because they were told no doubt before-hand that if they did not yield when Conditions were offered to them they must expect this Execution Verse 14 Ver. 14. But the women and the little ones Who had not offended by rejecting Conditions of Peace nor could do any harm And by little ones are to be understood Male-children as well as Female And the Cattle and all that is in the City even all the Spoil thereof Money Houshold-stuff and all manner of Goods Shalt thou take unto thy self c. This was granted to them as a reward of their Service in the War Ver. 15. Thus shalt thou do unto all the Cities which Verse 15 are very far off from thee which are not of the Cities of these Nations This Clemency to the Women and little ones is limited to those that were not Inhabitants of the Land of Canaan who in the following Verses are ordered to be otherwise treated For by the Laws of War among all Nations the Conquerour might use those whom he subdued as he pleased See Grotius Lib. III. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. IV. Sect. V. where among other things he quotes that saying of Marcellus in Livy Quicquid in hostibus feci jus belli defendit Whatsoever I have done with Enemies the right of War defends it Ver. 16. But of the Cities of these People which the Verse 16 LORD thy God doth give thee for an Inheritance The Cities of the Land of Canaan Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth i. e. Neither Man Woman nor Child as we speak But their Cattle except in few cases when they were appointed to be a CHEREM i. e. accursed were not to be killed as appears from XI Josh 14. And this slaughter of all the People is to be understood only in case they did not surrender when they were Summoned but rejected the Conditions of Peace that were offered to them After this no Mercy was to be had upon them See XXIII Exod. 32. In which their Condition was worse than any other Peoples whose Men were only to be slain v. 14. but not Women and Children For which difference there was a great reason as I shall show presently but if we could see none we ought to consider that it was done by God's Command who as he is most just and merciful so hath a greater right over Men than we have over Beasts as Grotius well observes Who alledges many Examples of the like practice in the Heathen World both among Greeks and Romans See L. III. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. IV. Sect. IX Verse 17 Ver. 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them After they had slighted all offers of Peace Some of the Jews indeed have been so merciful as to think this is not a Command but a Permission which warranted them to kill all without any distinction of Sex or Age yet did not so enjoyn it but that they might after they had taken a City spare such as repented and offered to become Proselytes of the Gate This was the opinion one would think which anciently prevailed as Selden observes Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XVI because we find the Relicks of these People often mentioned in the Bible And this is agreeable also to the Law of Nations that such as beg Mercy should be spared Which flowed from the ancient right which such Persons were thought to have to it as David Chytraeus observes out of Thucydides Lib. III. and the known Verse of the Oracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to hurt Supplicants who are sacred and acquitted of their Offences He doth not mention the place where this Oracle was uttered but Ezekiel Spanhemius hath lately observed out of Pausanias that it was at Dodone See Observationes in Callimachi Hymnum in Dianam vers 123. where he notes that from hence Jupiter was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was accounted a severe and implacable avenger of all Violence done to Supplicants And they are Supplicants says the same Chytraeus who confess their Sin and acknowledging they deserve Punishment give themselves up to the
is another difference between this Case and that in Exodus where the Man was bound to settle a Dowry upon her but here to pay a Fine unto her Father The reason is plain because there was no need of settling a Dowry in this Case as in the former for the Dowry was settled upon her in that Case lest the Husband might lightly and wantonly put her away by Divorce and she have nothing to maintain her of which there was no danger here because this Law saith expresly in the conclusion of this Verse that he may not put her away all his days Yet there are those who think it likely that in this Case also he settled a Dowry of fifty Shekels upon her besides what he paid for her further for otherwise the Condition of a Virgin deflowred by Force was worse than hers deflowred by her own Consent They have some Exceptions concerning this Payment to her Father which are not very material nor certain But this is considerable That this Fine was the same whether the Woman was of Noble or of Mean Parentage neither more nor less was paid by the Law But in after times the Sanhedrim they tell us added some other Mulcts besides this here mentioned because it seemed so small that the Honour of a Virgin was not thought sufficiently repaired by it Therefore he that inticed a Virgin paid other two one for the Shame and Dishonour he had done her and the other for the loss of her Virginity and vitiating her Body And he that forced a Virgin paid a third besides these two upon the account of the Pain unto which he was supposed to have put her And in these three they proportioned the Penalties to the quality of the Person and other Considerations which made them vary See Selden in the forenamed place p. 123. And she shall be his wife because he hath humbled her Though she were blind or lame or leprous he could not refuse her if she and her Father required him to marry her He may not put her away all his days This was a third part of his Punishment for the force he had committed that he should be forced not only to take her to Wife but constrained also to keep her as long as she lived and not have the liberty of giving her a Bill of Divorce as other Men might do who were desirous to part with their Wives If it be askt How it could be known whether she was inticed or forced They answer as was observed before that it was reasonably presumed that he forced her if the thing was done in the Field or in a Place far from Inhabitants Chapter XXIII but if in the City or Town that she consented unless the contrary was evidently proved Verse 30 Ver. 30. A man shall not take his fathers wife That is shall not marry her Nor discover his father's skirt Nor so much as lie with her For this is a modest Phrase borrowed from the ancient Custom in those Countries where the Bridegroom when he brought his Bride into the CHVPPA as they called it or Bridal Chamber spread the Skirt of his Robe over her to signifie his right to her and power over her and that he alone might lawfully enjoy her III Ruth 9. XVI Ezek. 8. And this Verse seems to me to be here inserted as a short Memorandum that they should be careful to observe all the Laws which he had delivered against Incestuous Marriages in the Eighteenth Chapter of Leviticus See there v. 8. and XX. 11. CHAP. XXIII Verse 1 Verse 1. HE that is wounded in the stones Bruised or compressed in those parts as the manner was of making Eunuchs who are here spoken of and were sometimes made that way when they were Infants or by taking them quite away which was done in some when they were grown up And there were those who had none of these Parts left remaining as it follows in the next words Or hath his privy members cut off In whole or in part which was not used till they found the other did not effectually answer their purpose in this unnatural practise Wherein some thought they honoured their gods particularly Cybele the Mother of the gods unto whose Service her Priests devoted themselves by cutting off their Genitals So not only Minutius Foelix Tertullian and several other of the ancient Christian Writers testifie but many also of the Pagan See Joh. Geusius de Victimis Humanis Pars II. Cap. I. Shall not enter into the Congregation of the LORD These Persons were so much abhorred by some among the Pagans that Lucian saith they were excluded not only from the Schools of Philosophers but which was more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from their holy Offices and their Sprinklings and all common Meetings So Diocles is introduced speaking in his Eunuchus But no Body thinks this to be the meaning here that they should not entertain such a Person as a Proselyte or that he should not come to worship God at the Temple for that was free for all Nations if they renounced Idolatry But the meaning of this Law is either to forbid the Israelites to marry with such Persons or not to admit them to bear any Office in the Jewish Commonwealth The Hebrew Doctors generally take it in the first sense See Selden de Jure Nat. Gent. Lib. V. Cap. XVI and so do a great many among Christian Writers And there is an eminent Example of the use of this Phrase in this sense XIII Nehem. 1 2 3. But some think it was superfluous to forbid this because none would marry with such Persons as were uncapable to perform the Marriage Duty And therefore they follow the second sense it being certain that the Hebrew word KAHAL Congregation signifies in many places not the whole Body of the People of Israel but the great Assembly of Elders into which no such Person was to be admitted because they were unfit for Government Eunuchs being observed generally to want Courage Thus Simeon de Muis and others who seem to have great reason on their side Yet it is so plain that the Congregation of the LORD in the following part of this Chapter signifies the People of Israel who might not marry with the Persons mentioned v. 2 3 8. that I cannot but think it ought to be so interpreted here For though such Marriages were useless and unprofitable as Maimonides speaks yet they made a distinction between those who were made Eunuchs by God that is born so and those made by Men And this Law they say is not to be understood of the former but only of the latter Some of which it is certain were left in such a Condition that they were desirous of Marriage as appears by the Constitution of the Emperour Leo who did not think it superfluous to forbid Marriage with them For it appears by it that some Women chose such Husbands See also XXX Ecclesiasticus 20. but especially the Book ascribed to St.
like prevailed before the Law of Moses Which Opinion hath something to countenance it from the mention of Divorces in several places XXI Levit. 14. XXII 13. XXX Numb 9. before the Book of Deuteronomy was written wherein he orders a Bill to be given in writing to discharge them If this be true it gives a good reason why God was pleased to grant this permission because they were so settled in this practice that it was safer still to indulge it to them than quite to abolish it Which he did with this Caution that Husbands should not discharge their Wives with a Word bidding them be gone out of Doors i. e. putting them away rashly and in a sudden fit of Anger but first write them a Bill containing their pleasure herein Which being a deliberate act might possibly hinder this Divorce to which they might be prone in a passion but not after some consideration The form of this Bill is in Mr. Selden and exactly scanned Lib. III. Vxor Hebr. Cap. XXIV who observes also in another place of that Book Cap. XIX that as for five hundred years or more the Roman State flourished without the use of Divorces so for seven hundred years after the making of this Law there is no mention of any Bill of Divorce among the Jews that is till the days of Isaiah See Chap. L. 1. and but rarely afterwards And give it into her hand Saying these or some such like words Behold this is thy Bill of Divorce otherwise it was not good And there were to be at least two Witnesses unto it as the Jews say Who make ten things necessary which they think to be founded upon the Law it self to make the Bill legal See Selden in the same Book Cap. XXV And send her out of his house This Dr. Hammond in the place above-mentioned looks upon as an Obligation upon her Husband to furnish her for her Journey to endow her and make provision for her For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to send out signifies in the New Testament to provide a viaticum 1 Corinth XVI 6 11. III Titus 13. where it is explained by letting nothing be wanting But the Jews are of opinion that the Divorce was perfect and legitimate before he sent her out of his Doors For it was sufficient to give her a Bill in such a form as plainly show'd their Matrimony was dissolved and that she was no part of his Family though he had not actually sent her away Yet if he kept her still in his House after this Bill was delivered into her hand it was presumed they cohabited together and he was to give her a new Bill of Divorce In all which I can see nothing like a Command for putting away their Wives if they were disagreeable which the Jews would fain extort out of these words And so they spake unto our blessed Lord XIX Matth. 7. though in another place they spake of it only as a permission X Mark 3. The plain intent of this Law being this That if a Man did put away his Wife as they are here suffered to do she might marry another Man but if that new Husband died she might not return to her first Husband again See Buxtorf de Sponsal Divort. p. 107 108 c. and to show that Moses rather supposed than permitted Divorces p. 113 c. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And when she is departed out of his house So that it is publickly known she is no longer his Wife She may go and be another man's wife The Bond of Marriage being wholly broken by the Bill of Divorce whereby he renounced all interest in her and expresly said in the very body of the Bill as we speak It may be free to thee to marry with whom thou wilt Much more was the Bond broken by Adultery for which our Saviour gives a Man leave to put away his Wife and take another See David Chytraeus concerning this matter p. 117 c. where he reports a very wise Resolution of Luther's Pomeranus and Melancthon in the Case of the Criminal Person Verse 3 Ver. 3. And if the latter husband hate her and write her a Bill of Divorce and give it her in her hand and send her out of his house This shows that no other way of putting away a Wife was allowed but only this For as Maimonides well observes More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLIX if it had been lawful to do it by bare words or simply sending her out of his House any Woman might have left her Husband and said she was put away both she and he that committed Adultery with her pretending a Divorce when her Husband had given her none Therefore the Law wisely provided none should be put away but by such a Bill as is before-mentioned whereby an Authentick Testimony was given of it Or if her latter husband die which took her to wife Whereby she became free again as the Apostle hath observed VII Rom. 2. Ver. 4. Her former husband which sent her away may Verse 4 not take her again to be his wife One would have thought there could have been no danger of any Man 's desiring her again whom he had solemnly sent away with dislike But such is the levity and fickleness of Humane Nature the Jews at least were so inconstant that it seems Men sometimes sought after that which they had rejected and this was the Punishment of their Injustice in putting away a Wife without sufficient Cause as by this they acknowledged that they might not again enjoy her After that she is defiled This is the reason why the former Husband might not marry her again as the Jews take it because by her second Marriage she was defiled Which they say she was so that he could not have her again though she had been only espoused to a new Husband who had never lain with her For they make no difference between her second Marriage and second Espousals but think a Woman contracted such a Pollution by her second Espousals that she would not have been so much polluted if she had plaid the Whore after her Divorce For in that case they say he might notwithstanding have married her again but not after she had been married to another Thus Mr. Selden reports their opinion Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. Cap. XI where he observes that the Mahometans who are wont in many things to ape the Jews here quite differ from them allowing a Man liberty to take his Wife again though he had divorced her three times Now the ground upon which a divorced Woman was accounted defiled or unclean after another Man had married her I suppose was that this was lookt upon as a Solemn Renunciation of her former Husband on her part who had been renounced by him by the Bill of Divorce but he was not absolutely renounced by her till she married another whereby she was totally alienated from him This made her unclean not in her self nor with respect to her
about Cleansing were not then delivered And feared not God This he makes the fourth Cause that though they feared Israel whom they durst not look in the Face but cut them off behind yet they feared not God who had done such wonderful things for them in Egypt and brought them thence with a mighty hand and overthrown Pharaoh in the Red-sea Which might have made them understand that he sets up Kings and pulls down Kings as Daniel speaks 2.21 But instead of considering this they would have prophaned the Glory of the LORD as he speaks by inslaving those whom he had but newly delivered and continued under the protection of a glorious Cloud Unto all which may be added that they were originally derived from the same Stock with the Israelites viz. from Isaac Verse 19 Ver. 19. Therefore it shall be when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine Enemies round a-about in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee God did not require them to put this Command in Execution immediately after they were possessed of the Land of Canaan but after they were well settled there So that there were some Ages passed before they went about it and then God himself put them in mind of it or rather strictly enjoyned it to be performed by Saul their first King and we do not find them blamed for not doing it in the time of the Judges 1 Sam. XV. 1 2 3. Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven So God commandeth Saul in the place now mentioned Vtterly destroy all they have and spare them not but slay both men and women c. For by the same Justice that one Person is cut off a whole Family or a whole Nation may be utterly destroyed that other Families or Nations seeing or hearing God's Judgments upon them may be moved to flee from that wickedness for which they are punished They are the words of Maimonides P. III. More Nevochim Cap. XLI If we could believe all that the Talmudists say we might think there were some among the Jews who indeavoured to mollifie the Severity of this Precept For they tell a story in Bava-bathra of Joab his Master who taught him to read it thus Blot out Zachar the Male of Amalek not Zecher the Remembrance But at the same time they tell us Joab thought to have killed him for leading him into an Error Thou shalt not forget it This is not a distinct Precept but only a Repetition of the foregoing to imprint it more on their minds and hearts And accordingly the Jews pretend to have had their hearts so set upon it that when the Officers were about to proclaim freedom from War to those Persons mentioned XX. 5 6 c. they always excepted the War against the Seven Nations and Amalek in which every Body was bound to assist Chapter XXVI I shall end this matter with an Observation of Abarbinel that in this Paragraph about Amalek the Injunction which God gave to Moses XVII Exod. 14. was fulfilled by him Write this for a memorial in a book No other Book saith he is hereby meant but the Book of the Law which when Moses wrote he was bound to mention this Precept about Amalek which he doth in this place And if we suppose that he immediately wrote a distinct History of this matter yet he inserted it afterwards into the Pentateuch both here and in the Book of EXODVS CHAP. XXVI Verse 1 Verse 1. AND it shall be when thou art come into the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance and possessest it and dwellest therein When they had a settled possession of the several Inheritances which fell to their share in the Land of Canaan Verse 2 Ver. 2. That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth This is not meant meerly of the first First-fruits they should have after they were settled in Canaan but of the First-fruits they should have every year Which being the most desirable as Conradus Pellicanus here observes of all other and coveted by every one majori aviditate with a greater Appetite than ordinary Nature it self directed Men to offer them to God the giver of all good things And these were distinct from that mentioned XXIII Levit. 10. being of all the Fruits of the Earth The principal of which being Seven the Jews commonly say these only were to be carried to God viz. Wheat Barley Grapes Figs Pomegranates Olives and Dates Some of the Doctors say the First-fruits of all kind of things whatsoever were due and a question being raised Whether a Stranger was bound to pay them or not some of them say no because they could not use the Protestation mentioned v. 3. But the more common Opinion is that they might both bring First-fruits and use the Protestation because Abraham was also the Father of Strangers XVII Gen. 5. and it may be saith R. Bechai that is pointed at v. 11. of this Chapter where it is said Thou and the Levite and the Stranger that is among you Which thou shalt bring of thy Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee In order to which they say every owner of Land when he went into his ground and found any Figs or Bunch of Grapes or a Pomegranate more forward than the rest he was to tye a Rush about it and write upon it These are First-fruits So Wagenseil and many others have observed out of the Title Biccurim Cap. III. And shalt put it in a basket The quantity of each they say was to be at least a sixtieth part And they might be all put into the same Basket provided they were not mingled but preserved distinct Barley being laid at the bottom and then Wheat and next Olives and above them Dates and then Pomegranates and last of all Figs and Grapes being hung on the out-side and Leaves of Palm or other Trees put between every kind of First-fruits R. Bechai saith that the Rich brought these Fruits in Baskets of Gold and Silver that is covered with Gold or Silver as Maimonides speaks and we read of the like golden Baskets carried by Virgins in the Feast of Bacchus at Athens See Ezek. Spanhemius on Callimachus his Hymn to Ceres p. 733. Now if the Basket here mentioned was made of these or any other Metal the Jews say the Priest was to restore it to the owner when he had emptied it But if it was a wicker Basket or such like the Priest had it together with the First-fruits See Wagenseil upon Mischna Sota Cap. VII Sect. III. And shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse to place his Name there The Man himself was to go as the Jews say with the Basket upon his shoulder and a great Company were wont to go together who met at the chief City of their Province The time of going was at the Feast of Pentecost XXIII Exod. 16. not before but at any time
after till the Feast of Dedication which was in our November after which they were not accepted Of the manner of going up with a Bullock before them whose Horns were gilt and Head crown'd with an Olive Garland with Musick and singing in the way the first Verse of the CXXII Psalm c. See Wagenseil in the place above-mentioned and Selden Lib. III. de Synedriis Cap. XIII N. III. with Dr. Light-foot in his Temple-Service And here I cannot but think fit to note that the Heathen in all probability from hence derived the Custom of carrying their First-fruits as a Tithe every year unto the Island Delos where Apollo was supposed to have his special Residence And this not only from the Islands thereabouts and the neighbouring Countries but from all parts of the World as the Jews we find every where sent from the Countries where they dwelt a Sum of Money every year instead of First-fruits and Tithes unto Jerusalem which Priviledge the Romans allowed them after they had conquered them as Josephus tells us Lib. VII de Bello Jud. Cap. XIII That Heathen Custom now mentioned is expressed by Callimachus in his Hymn upon Delos in those remarkable words v. 278 279 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense of which is this That First-fruits were sent for Tithes every year from all Countries not only from the East and West and South but from the North also And they were sent with such Joy as the Jews expressed on this occasion for all Cities he saith did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so we read in several Authors that there were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they called them Solemn Embassies sent from several People by chosen Persons unto Delos to celebrate there the Feast of Apollo with Musick and Dancing c. Particularly the Athenians Peloponesians and Messenians c. of whom see Ezek. Spanhemius in his Observations on Callimachus p. 487. And which is most strange the Hyperboreans a very northerly People sent frugum primitias to this Island as Pliny and I know not how many other Authors testifie Only what he calls the First-fruits of their Corn and such like things they call the First-fruits of their holy things as the same excellent Person observes there p. 490 492 c. Which was done to testifie their honour to this god and for the maintenance of his Priests and other Ministers who attended upon him there For Delos of it self was but a barren Isle the Soil being dry and stony and called therefore by Callimachus v. 208. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are other footsteps of this among the Heathen the Mystica vannus Jacchi mentioned by Virgil in his Georgicks being nothing else according to Servius but vas vimineum a wicker Basket in which their First-fruits were carried See the same Spanheim p. 495. Verse 3 Ver. 3. And thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days Who was then in attendance at the Sanctuary and particularly appointed to wait for their coming When they entred the Gates of the City they sung the second Verse of Psalm CXXII Our feet shall stand in thy gates O Jerusalem And then they went to the Mountain of the Temple and sung the whole Hundred and fiftieth Psalm And as soon as they entred the Court of Israel the Levites began to sing XXX Psal 1. I will extoll thee O LORD my God c. And say unto him The following Confession in this Verse was made by them with the Baskets on their shoulders to stir them up to Humility as Maimonides interprets it His words are these While they were compelled to carry their Baskets on their shoulders and in that manner to proclaim the Divine Benefits it signified that it was a considerable part of God's Worship and Service for a Man to be mindful of his Afflictions and Tribulations when God had given him ease and rest from them This the Law takes care of in several places as when it saith Thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant c. With this intention that he who lived in Riches and Pleasure might be secured from the Vices which spring from thence such as Pride Haughtiness Apostasy and the like According to what is said in this Book VIII 12. Lest thou eat and art full and XXXII 15. Jesurun waxed fat and kicked c. To prevent which God commanded the First-fruits to be thus offered every year to his Divine Majesty More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXIX I profess this day unto the LORD thy God that I am come into the Country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us This is a thankful acknowledgment of God's faithfulness to his promise whereby they were put in mind to be faithful unto him of whom they held this good Land by his gracious and free Gift and held it by this Tenure of paying to him this yearly Rent Ver. 4. And the Priest shall take the basket out of thy Verse 4 hand and set it before the Altar of the LORD thy God After the foregoing words were said the Basket was taken down from their shoulders and every one holding his Basket by the handle or the rim of it the Priest put his hands under it and waved it about according to the Prescription in the Law while the Men recited the following words v. 5 6 c. This waving was a manifest token that it was offered to the LORD of the World as an acknowledgment that he was in a peculiar manner their LORD and Soveraign of whom they held this Land Ver. 5. And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD Verse 5 thy God Audibly pronounce in the presence of God A Syrian ready to perish was my father Their Father Jacob was not a Syrian by birth for he was born in the Land of Canaan But one and the same Person may be said to be of divers Countries as Bochartus hath observed with regard either to the Place of his Nativity or of his Education or of his Life and Conversation which occasioned three Countries to be ascribed to our blessed Saviour viz. Bethlehem Nazareth and Capernaum See his Phaleg Lib. II. Cap. V Thus Jacob who was born and bred in Canaan is notwithstanding called a Syrian because he lived Twenty years with his Uncle Laban who was a Syrian XXV Gen. 20. and consequently Jacob's Mother was so as were both his Wives and all his Children who were born there except Benjamin But he is more particularly here called a Syrian to put them in mind of his Poverty when he went first into that Country and there lived as a Servant under an hard Master which is expressed in these words ready to perish that is very poor and reduced to great straits being forced to flee from the fury of his Brother Esau and to travel on foot to Padan-Aram which was comprehended anciently under the name
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
pleased to dwell among them by a glorious Symbol of his Presence in the Sanctuary yet dwelt in far more transcendent Glory in the Heavens the highest of which could not contain him as holy Men acknowledged 1 Kings VIII 27. 2 Chron. II. 6. And bless thy People Israel and the Land which thou hast given us Having performed their Duty they had the greater confidence to beg the continuance of God's Mercies to them and to their Country which it had been presumption to expect if they had not acknowledged him to be the Donor of all the good things they enjoyed in the manner before appointed For this was the end of all Oblations both of this Tithe and of the First-fruits and any other to acknowledge God to be the LORD of whom all things come as David speaks and of whose own we give unto him See 1 Chron. XXIX v. 11 12 13 c. As thou swarest unto our fathers He teacheth them to conclude as they began v. 3. with a thankful acknowledgment of God's faithfulness to his Promise A Land that floweth with milk and honey See XI 9. The Hierusalem Targum paraphraseth it thus A Land producing fruits as pure as milk and as sweet and delicious as honey Ver. 16. This day This refers to the time when Verse 16 Moses spake all these words unto them The LORD thy God hath commanded thee By me To do these statutes and judgments These two words comprehend the Precepts in the foregoing Chapters some of which concern Matters of Religion and others of Civil Government Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul Set your selves sincerely and heartily to the performance of them Ver. 17. Thou hast avouched So the Hebrew Verse 17 word signifies as Job Ludolphus observes who renders it asseverare seriò affirmare being the same with the French word avoüer and may be here translated thou hast solemnly professed or rather protested The LORD this day The word this is not in the Hebrew as it is in the foregoing Verse but he saith simply Hajom not hajom hazeh the day or that day which signifies the time when Moses delivered these Laws from God To be thy God Then they owned him to be their King and Governour For so the Name of ELOHIM properly signifies Dignity Empire and Authority as Grotius observes upon XX Exod. and Fortunatus Scacchus before him expounds these very words Which saith he have respect to God as their Emperour who had the Supream Government of the Commonwealth of Israel with a Right and Authority of constituting Laws and giving Mandates for the establishing of that Government Sacror Elaeochrism P. II. Cap. LII p. 509. See XXIV Exod. 3 4 c. and XXXIV 27. And to walk in his ways By his ways that Author understands the Moral Precepts written on Tables of Stone To keep his statutes The Ritual Precepts And his Commandments Concerning the Duties of his Worship and Service And his judgments The Political Precepts belonging to their good Government And to hearken unto his voice In all things which he should declare from his Oracle when they consulted it Verse 18 Ver. 18. And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people c. At the same time for the word this is not in the Hebrew the LORD assured the Israelites that they should be his People in a special manner provided they made good their promise of keeping his Commandment For the Covenant was mutual See XXIV Exod. 3 7. XIX 5 6. It is observable that the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases these two Verses in this manner Ye have taken the Word of the LORD to reign over you to day that he may be your God c. And the Word of the LORD reigneth over you a People dedicated to his Name as his peculiar c. Where MEMRA the WORD cannot be understood other ways than of the second Person in the Deity Ver. 19. And to make thee high above all Nations that he hath made It is a pious note of Conr. Pellicanus That there is no greater Glory to the Faithful than that they are peculiarly grateful devoted dedicated Verse 19 obedient unto God as his Children In praise and in name and in honour These words express his singular Kindness to them in that though all Nations were his being made by him and he the LORD and Governour of them all yet he promised to have such a special Favour to them that all Nations round them should take notice of it and speak with admiration of their Happiness and the Honour he had done them All this is included in those words before-mentioned XIX Exod. 5 6. where the last words of this Verse are explained That thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God as he hath spoken All this Moses called to their mind that it might prepare and dispose them to renew the same Covenant with God before he left them Which he presses upon them in the Nine and twentieth Chapter of this Book after he had given them some other Admonitions and laid before them the Blessings and Curses that would come upon them according to their Fidelity or Falsness in that Holy Covenant Which is the Subject of the two following Chapters Chapter XXVII CHAP. XXVII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND Moses with the Elders of Israel commanded the people saying I observed in the Preface to this Book and upon Chapter IV. 41. and other places that Moses did not speak all that is contained in this Book at once but at several times and that he commonly took the Elders to his assistance as is here expresly affirmed though some things he spake himself alone to all the People as I observed upon V. 1. Keep all the Commandments which I command you This is a new Exhortation to Obedience which he could not press too often considering the great proneness of this People to break God's Laws This day At this time and formerly for it doth not precisely signifie one day and the word this is not in the original Verse 2 Ver. 2. And it shall come to pass on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan Here it is evident the word day doth not signifie precisely the very same day they passed over but not long after as soon as they were come to Mount Ebal v. 4. after the taking of Jericho and Ai as appears from VIII Joshua 30. For they were to pass over Jordan unto the Land which the LORD their God gave them as it here follows before they were obliged to do what is here required That thou shalt set thee up great stones It is not said how many but some fancy there were Twelve according to the number of Pillars which Moses imployed XXIV Exod. 4. when he made the Covenant between God and his People But unless we could certainly determine how much of the Law was to be written upon these Stones we cannot give a good guess
at their number For if only the Ten Commandments fewer than Twelve would serve if the whole Book of Deuteronomy so many were not sufficient As for the Marginal Reference in our Bibles unto IV Josh 1. it can have no respect to this place for those Twelve Stones were ordered to be taken our of Jordan and left there where they lodged that Night which was at Gilgal See there v. 3 8 20. And plaister them with plaister That being plain and smooth they might write what is here commanded upon them which they could not do while they were rough and uneven Ver. 3. And thou shalt write upon them all the words Verse 3 of this Law Many think he means the whole Book of Deuteronomy which because it is long great stones are ordered to be provided for this purpose Others think only the Ten Commandments are here intended which were the principal words of the Covenant as Moses calls this Law XXIX 1. But Josephus L. IV. Archaeol Cap. ult is of opinion that he means the Cursings which here follow from v. 15. to the end of the Chapter Which is no improbable Opinion they containing several select Precepts and the last of them seems to respect the whole Law of Moses v. 26. But however we understand this it is certain that before the use of Paper was found out the Ancients particularly the Phoenicians and Egyptians were wont to write their minds upon Stones as a great many Authors testifie mentioned by Huetius Who observes that this Custom continued long after the Invention of Paper especially if they desired any thing should be vulgarly known and conveyed down to Posterity See Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. Cap. II. N. XV. where he observes that Moses ordered the Book of Deuteronomy to be inscribed upon Stones I suppose he means all the Laws contained in this Book not all the Exhortations and Historical passages which agrees very well with this Injunction that they should write on the stones all the words of this Law When thou art passed over that thou mayest go in unto the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee c. When they were gone over Jordan to take possession of the Land of Canaan and were come to the place where he directed these Stones to be set up and this Inscription made upon them Which place is particularly named in the next Verse And from these words Fortunatus Scacchus thinks he hath reason to assert that none of the things forementioned are meant by the words of this Law here commanded to be written But that upon the very top of these Stones or the Altar made of them as he would have it understood were written only the words of this Covenant whereby the People of Israel confessed themselves to have received the Land of Canaan from God and to hold it on Condition of their Obedience unto him For so he interprets the words write upon them in summa superficie And to make us know what he means by the words of this Law he thinks the following words are added That thou mayest go in unto the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee c. That is thou shalt declare who brought thee hither and gave thee possession of this Country and upon what Condition viz. that thou shouldst keep the Commands given to thee by God in Horeb. And therefore Moses doth not bid them write on the Stones the Law of the LORD nor the Law absolutely but the words of this Law Where the demonstrative Particle hazoth limits the sense to the present Matter of which he is speaking Thus he Myrothec 2. Sacror Elaeochrism Cap. LVII where he endeavours to strengthen this Interpretation by observing that after this Command for writing this Law upon the Stones Moses and the Priests and Levites spake unto all Israel saying Take heed and hearken O Israel this day thou art become the People of the LORD thy God c. v. 9 10. Ver. 4. Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Verse 4 Jordan that ye shall set up these stones This Phrase set up seems to imply that they were a kind of Pillars erected for this purpose that the Inscription might appear more fairly upon them In Mount Ebal Here the Samaritan Pentateuch hath in Mount Gerizim which is a manifest corruption to justifie their building a Temple there which they pretend God commanded in these words Ver. 5. And there shalt thou build an Altar unto the Verse 5 LORD thy God That they might offer Sacrifice to God and renew their Covenant with him An Altar of Stones Upon which Josephus himself fancies the forenamed Inscription was to be made and so the Talmudists also in Mischna Sota Cap. VII But it is plain the Stones designed for that use were to be set up before the Altar was built the intention of it being as I shall show presently that they might promise to observe the words which were there written Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them See XX Exod. 25. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Thou shalt build the Altar of the LORD thy God of whole stones Not hewn nor polished whereby all manner of imagery was avoided Such Rustick Altars of rough Stone piled one upon another were in use among the Heathen who seem to have imitated this Pattern The Form of one of them Fortunatus Scacchus hath given us out of some ancient Monuments at Brixia related by Octavius Roscius See his forenamed Book Cap. LIX p. 585. Such Altars the Israelites were permitted to build upon some special occasion as Gideon and Manoah did VI Judg. 24 26. XIII 19. and Samuel 1 Sam. VII 17. and Saul 1 Sam. XIV 35. and David 2 Sam. XXIV 25. And such an one Moses himself built XXIV Exod. 4. And as Moses there set up Twelve Pillars according to the number of the Tribes of Israel when they entred into Covenant with God at Horeb so the forementioned Author thinks at the Confirmation of it when they came into Canaan they built not Twelve Altars but heaped up Twelve Stones which made one Altar without any Cost at all bestowed upon it And thus Elijah took Twelve Stones and on a sudden built an Altar with them when he endeavoured to bring the Israelites back again into the Covenant of God 1 Kings XVIII 31 32. And thou shalt offer Burnt-offerings thereon As they did at Horeb XXIV Exod. 5. and as Joshua did when they came into Canaan and had built the Altar here commanded VIII Josh 31. which Burnt-offerings were an acknowledgment of God's Soveraign Dominion over them and that they held this Land of him as their Supream LORD from whom they had received it They kept the Passover as soon as they came into Canaan but we read of no Altar erected nor Burnt-Sacrifices offered till they came to Ebal Ver. 7. And thou shalt offer Peace-offerings So Verse 7 Moses also did at Horeb as we read in the forenamed place XXIV Exod. 5. and so Joshua did
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
before-mentioned Plainly importing That Men could not pretend ignorance of their Duty nor had any reason to desire that some Body would go to Heaven again for those things which Moses had already brought from thence And thus the Apostle most justly accommodates these words to the new Revelation from Heaven by the Son of God which was not abstruse and difficult but as plain and perspicuous as this now made by Moses Ver. 13. Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldst Verse 13 say Who shall go over the Sea for us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of Philo in his Book concerning Rewards and Punishments so as to need long and tedious Voyages laborious and wearisom Travels to fetch it from foreign Countries Such as the Greek Philosophers took who travelled into Egypt and the Eastern part of the World to learn Wisdom which God now taught his People in the Wilderness without any pains to attain it Ver. 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee Being Verse 14 brought to their very Doors by Moses the Servant of God who now delivered to them the Mind of God as the Son of God himself did afterwards when he came and dwelt among them In thy mouth and in thy heart Made so familiar to them that they might always have it in their common Discourse to teach it their Children and had now been so often repeated that it might well be laid up in their Memory never to be forgotten by them VI. 6 7 8 9. XI 18 19 20. It was also in the mouth of their Priests who were to teach them Knowledge II Malachi 7. and press it upon their hearts Here the forenamed R. Isaac in both the places forenamed observes That Repentance depends on the confession of the mouth and grief of the heart but the largest Confession and the sorest Grief will not avail them till they repent of their Crucifying the LORD Jesus and shall confess him with their mouth and believe in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead c. as St. Paul speaks X Rom. 9 10. That thou mayest do it That they might have nothing to do but to put it in practice and in order thereunto continually read it and keep it in mind In which the Jews were so diligent that as Josephus tells the Gentiles Lib. II. contra Apionem they could as easily recite all the Laws of God as tell their Names But here was their Error that they were not careful to do what they knew to be the Will of God and so when he sent his Son among them who plainly declared to them more fully the meaning of their holy Books they could not understand and receive that which they read every day And indeed this is the common Error as Dr. Jackson well observes of all corrupt Minds to seek that afar off as if they were Strangers to it which is really in their Mouth and in their Heart so that they would but be doers and not only hearers of the Word as St. James speaks alluding perhaps to these words of Moses As St. Paul applies this whole passage to the Gospel which is that Word of Faith so preached and published by the Apostles that it may be in all our Mouths and Hearts without going to seek for any other infallible Teacher Ver. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and Verse 15 good death and evil Life and Good Death and Evil may be but two words for the same thing viz. all manner of Happiness and all manner of Misery both which he had at large set before them in the Twenty eighth Chapter Or by Life may be meant long Life in the Land God had promised them and Good all the Prosperity they could wish for there as on the other side Death may signifie their being cut off from the Land of the Living before their time and Evil all the Calamities he had threatned while they lived And so the next Verse seems to interpret it Maimonides from these words observes that the wills of Men are under no force nor coaction but are free Agents and therefore have Precepts imposed upon them with a Punishment threatned to the Disobedient and a Reward promised to those who keep God's Commandments Of which he treats at large in his Preface to his Commentary upon Pirke Avoth Cap. VIII Ver. 16. In that I command thee this day to love the Verse 16 LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes and Judgments This includes their intire Obedience to all God's Laws which are comprehended under these three Names See VI. 1 5. VII 11. X. 12 13. That thou mayest live and multiply and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it This is the Explication of the Life and Good which he set before them if they observed God's Laws with sincere affection to them v. 15. Ver. 17. But if thine heart turn away so that thou Verse 17 wilt not hear Want of Love to God and of a due Esteem of his wonderful Love to them made their Heart turn away to other things and not regard what he had revealed to them from Heaven And worship other gods and serve them This was the principal Breach of the Covenant of God Verse 18 Ver. 18. I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the Land whither ye go c. This is the Explication of the Death and Evil he set before them v. 15. Verse 19 Ver. 19. I call Heaven and Earth to record this day aginst you that I have set before you life and death God Angels and Men were Witnesses that he had done his duty See IV. 26. VIII 19. and therefore is owned by God himself to be faithful in all his house XII Numb 7. Blessing and cursing They are the same with Life and Death but he uses several words to make them sensible that both proceeded from God the one being the Effect of his Love and Favour and the other of his Anger and high Displeasure Therefore chuse life that thou and thy seed may live That is chuse to be Obedient without which they could not be happy Or he wishes them to set their hearts on the happiness God had promised them that it might incline them to do as follows Verse 20 Ver. 20. That thou mayest love the LORD thy God and obey his voice Love is the noblest and the strongest Spring of Obedience And that thou mayest cleave unto him Obedience to God is the surest Preservative from Apostasy For he is thy life and the length of thy days Chapter XXXI The Author and Giver of Life which he preserves and prolongs unto those who are obedient That thou mayest dwell in the Land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them Which Promise confirmed
and all this he adds was done in the Court of the Women which well agrees with what is said in the next Verse Gather the people men and women c. But it doth not contradict what I said before of his reading it in the Court of the Men of Israel For if the King were of the Family of David it was always done there if he were not then in the Court of the Women as Wagenseil observes out of Maimonides Ver. 12. Gather the people together All that came Verse 12 to this Feast could not meet in one place but were divided into several Assemblies probably in their Synagogues For as many as the Courts of Israel would hold meeting there it is reasonable to think that the rest assembled in some other holy Place Such were their Synagogues which Philo in his Book of the Embassy to Caius calls Places of Secondary Holiness And Maimonides discourses at large of the Holiness of Synagogues and Schools in his Book of Prayer and the Priests Blessing Cap. XI See upon XIX Levit. 30. Men Women and Children Though the Males only were bound to go up to the great Feasts yet many devout Women went also voluntarily as appears by Hannah 1 Sam. I. 3 4. And all the Women in Jerusalem were likewise bound to attend at these Solemnities with the Children who were capable of Instruction See VIII Nehem. 2 3. To whom some Person of Authority read the Law in their Court while the King of the House of David was reading it in the Court of the Men of Israel And the stranger that is within thy gates Such as were Proselytes to the Jewish Religion not excluding those who were only Proselytes of the Gate if they would come to their Assemblies That they may hear and that they may learn and fear the LORD your God and observe to do all the words of this Law That by this means they might be instructed in the true way of worshipping God which is here called his fear and to his Worship and Service add a careful Obedience to all that he commanded in this Book which they might read and were bound to do so in their own private Houses and which they heard read every Sabbath-day in their publick Synagogues For which indeed there is no particular Command in the Law but they being commanded to teach their Children every day at home the things contained in the Law and consequently to read it VI. 7 8. XI 16. they thought it most reasonable to have it read on the Sabbath in their Publick Assemblies where some portion of the Law was read But now the whole Volume as an Authentick Testimony of the whole Nation to the truth of what is contained in these Books Verse 13 Ver. 13. That their Children which have not known any thing For the early Instruction of Posterity in the Sacred Authority of this Law May hear and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as ye live in the land c. Be preserved in the true Religion by so solemn an Acknowledgment made by the King himself that God delivered all these Laws to Moses Accordingly we find that Joshua their Supream Governour after the death of Moses did read all the Words of the Law not omitting a word that Moses commanded before all the Congregation with Women and the little ones and the Strangers that were conversant among them VIII Josh 34 35. But from that time to the Reign of Jehosaphat 2 Chron. XVII 7 8 c. which is commonly computed to be Five hundred and thirty years we find no mention of a Publick Reading of it Nor from that time to the eighteenth year of King Josiah 2 Chron. XXXIV 30 31. which was the space of two hundred eighty and two years nor from that time till after the Captivity of Babylon VIII Nehem. 2 3 c. By which neglect they more easily fell into Idolatry and continued in it more or less till that Captivity for a forgetfulness of the Law ensued upon this neglect Ver. 14. And the LORD said unto Moses behold Verse 14 thy days approach that thou must die He admonishes him that the end of his days upon Earth was near when he must resign up his Office into the hands of Joshua who had been before appointed his Successor XXVII Numb Call Joshua and present your selves in the Tabernacle of the Congregation that I may give you a charge This was done I suppose in the Face of all the People to whom Moses had been speaking v. 1 2. to give Joshua the greater Authority and to make him reverenced by them when they saw he was appointed by God himself to be their Governour as he had been before ordained publickly by God's Order XXVII Numb 18 19 c. And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tabernacle of the Congregation In the Court of the Sanctuary with their Faces towards it for it was not lawful for any but the Priests to go into the Sanctuary it self Some indeed have thought that by a special Order from God Joshua was now admitted into it but this seems to me to be contradicted by the next Verse which saith God appeared in a Cloud over the door of the Tabernacle Verse 15 Ver. 15. And the LORD appeared in the Tabernacle in a pillar of a Cloud This signifies that the Glory of the LORD as other places speak appeared unto them and unto the People as it had done upon many occasions XXXIII Exod. 9 10. IX Numb 15. XVI Numb 42 43. And the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the Tabernacle Being a Symbol of the Divine Presence whose Glory appeared out of the Cloud as it did XVI Numb 42. For the Cloud was always upon the Tabernacle XL Exod. 35 38. IX Numb 18. but when the LORD would strike an awe into the People and move them to regard what he said or did then the Cloud stood at the door of the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD came out of the most Holy Place and appeared in it Verse 16 Ver. 16. And the LORD said unto Moses Out of the Cloud I suppose as he did XVI Numb 44. Behold thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers He first admonished Moses again of his departure in the audience I suppose of Joshua who heard all the following Admonition to make him more carefully observe the end and design of it Sleep is a common word for Death either of good Men or bad which was not used meerly as a soft expression of that which the Heathen dreaded as the most terrible of all things but â—o put them in mind perhaps that death should not last always but they should as certainly rise again as they lay down so the word is in the Hebrew to sleep with their Fathers And this people will rise In Rebellion And go a whoring God who searches all Mens hearts discerned such bad inclinations in this People that he knew they would fall into Idolatry
shall the Plagues of Babylon the great come in one day In one hour her great riches shall come to nought XVIII Revel 8 10 17. Verse 36 Ver. 36. For the LORD shall judge his people Plead their cause as the Scripture elsewhere speaks L Jerem. 34. and deliver them from the Oppression of their Enemies as this Phrase is often used in the Book of Psalms VII 8. X. 18. And repent himself for his servants Have mercy upon them as the Vulgar truly expresses the sense and turn his Hand which punishes them upon their Enemies See L Jerem. 20. LI. 24. When he sees that their power is gone That they are not able to help themselves That 's the due time or season before-mentioned for God to interpose when the Enemies of his People think themselves irresistible there being none able to oppose them And there is none shut up or left Some refer this to Persons and others to Things and either way it signifies their Condition to be so forlorn that they could do nothing either by Men or by Money for their deliverance J. Forsterus translates these words Custoditum aut neglectum i. e. precious or vile By which wonderful deliverance and restoration when they were so totally destitute of all help all the World was given to understand that there is no God like unto the LORD Ver. 37. And he shall say Or It shall be said Where are their gods their rock in whom they trusted Verse 37 It is dubious whether these words be directed to the Jews or to the Gentiles who had oppressed them It seems most agreeable to take them as a Reproach to the Enemies of the Jews who had long bragg'd of the Power of their gods and ascribed all their Success to them v. 27. who now could not deliver them in their distress Ver. 38. Which did eat the fat of their Sacrifices and Verse 38 drank the wine of their Drink-offerings For the same Rites were used among the Gentiles as among the Jews who offered all the Fat upon the Altar and there poured out the Wine which accompanied the Meat-offering c. See XV Numb The LXX refer this to the Worshippers themselves and translate it thus agreeably enough to the Hebrew The fat of whose Sacrifices ye eat and drank the wine of their Drink-offerings And Onkelos to the same purpose Let them rise up and help you and be your protection From the Calamity which was unavoidably coming upon them XLVI Isa 1 2 7. LI Jerem. 17 18. Ver. 39. See now Open your Eyes now at last Verse 39 and be convinced by your sad Experience of your Error That I even I am he That it is I and none but I who have made these Changes in the World first making you Instruments in punishing my People and now inflicting the like Punishments upon you LI Jerem 24 25 49. The words in the Hebrew being I I am he the Author of the Old Nitzacon was sensible that we Christians might hence observe that there are two who are here called God the Father and the Son And therefore takes care to inform his Reader that there are not two first principles of things Which as no Christian is so foolish as to affirm so their own Authors have acknowledged more Persons than one here called God Thus Jonathan in his Paraphrase plainly supposes another Person in the Divinity whom he calls the WORD when he thus explains this Verse When the WORD of the LORD shall reveal himself to redeem his People he shall say to all People I am he that have been and am and shall be See I Revel 8. and by my WORD kill and make alive I smote the People of Israel and I will heal them in the end of the days Which makes these words a plain Prophecy of the Messiah and him to be God And so the Hierusalem Targum See that I now am he in my WORD and there is no God besides me I am he who kill the living in this World and raise the dead in the World to come c. And there is no god with me As I have no Superiour so neither have I any Equal I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal If I please to destroy any People for their sins none can hinder me and if any repent and implore my Mercy I restore them to perfect safety R. Isaac in his Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. VI. Sect. XX. alledges these words as a Prophecy of the Resurrection of the dead in the days of the Messiah And in another place Cap. X. he alledges them as an effectual Confutation of those ancient Hereticks who imagined two Supream Powers one of them the Author of all Good and the other the Author of all Evil which I observed upon XVI Levit. to have been a very ancient Opinion For there could not be they fancied the same Care which had an influence upon both To remove which false conceit God declares I kill as well as make alive c. And for the same reason he saith in XLV Isa 7. I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil I the LORD do all these things Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Nor can any reverse the Judgment that I pass upon Men. Ver. 40. For I lift up my hand to Heaven Swear Verse 40 solemnly to do what follows viz. be revenged on his Enemies as well as deliver his People Thus Abraham anciently sware XIV Gen. 22. And when God promised to bring the Israelites into Canaan he is said to lift up his hand VI Exod. 8. IX Nehem. 15. From whence some think the word promittere is derived signifying to engage by stretching out the hand and that from thence sprang the Custom of stretching out and lifting up their Hand when they sware Which the Gentiles practised as those known words of Virgil inform us Aeneid XII Suspiciens Coelum tenditque ad sydera dextram When God therefore is said to lift up his Hand to Heaven the meaning is he swears by himself as it here follows And say I live for ever As sure as I live Ver. 41. If I whet my glittering Sword Make all Verse 41 things ready for the execution of my Judgments And my hand take hold of judgment I begin to punish I will render vengeance to mine Enemies None shall stop my proceedings to be fully avenged of them And will reward them that hate me For as Jeremiah speaks LI. 56. The LORD God of Recompences will surely requite For it is the vengeance of the LORD as he speaks in the foregoing Chapter concerning Babylon L. 15. take vengeance upon her as she hath done do unto her Verse 42 Ver. 42. I will make mine Arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh Make an exceeding great slaughter XXXIV Isaiah 5 6. With the blood of the slain and of the Captives This signifies none should be spared for they should be killed who
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
out of the Earth Some think it hath respect to the rich Mines which were in this Country but of that I can find no proof Verse 20 Ver. 20. And of Gad he said blessed be he that inlargeth Gad. That is blessed be God who hath allotted to him such a large Inheritance which he afterward also further enlarged as we read 1 Chron. V. 18 19 20. He dwelleth as a Lion Lives secure and fearless though encompassed with Enemies whom the Gadites tore in pieces as it here follows if they offered to molest them For this was a very warlike Tribe as we learn from 1 Chron. XII 8. and therefore here compared to a Lioness so Labi signifies which equals a Lion if not exceeds him in strength and fierceness as Bochartus hath observed out of good Authors in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. III. Cap. L. And so Onkelos here translates it He dwelleth as a Lioness And the Hierusalem Targum puts in both after this manner He remains quiet as a Lion and a Lioness neither is there People or Kingdom that shall stand before them And teareth the arm with the Crown of the Head Kills the Princes with their Kings as Onkelos truly expounds it For by Arms are meant Men of Strength and Power and by the Crown of the Head is properly to be understood the chief Commander Ruler or King And therefore the LXX also translate Crown of the Head by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prince or Supream Governour Ver. 21. And he provided the first part for himself Verse 21 He first received his Portion in the Land which they conquered as Onkelos expounds it Which he is said here to provide for himself because this Tribe with Reuben and part of Manasseh desired to be possessed of the Country of Sihon which was accordingly given to them XXXII Numb 1 2 33. Because there in a portion of the Law-giver Which Moses who was their Lawgiver gave them by God's order whereas the other Nine Tribes and a half had theirs given them by Joshua Was he seated The word in the Hebrew signifies hid i. e. protected when going to the War in Canaan they left their Wives and Children and Cattle without any defence but God's Providence according to the Promise they made to Moses XXXII Numb 16 17 c. What the Hierusalem Targum and Onkelos and several of the Rabbins even Abarbinel himself here say of Moses being buried in this Tribe which they make the sense of these words I think is no more to the purpose than what the Cabbalists observe upon this place that in the Blessing of Gad the whole Alphabet is found because Moses our Master saith Baal Hatturim was buried in his Territory who observed the whole Law from Aleph to Tau i. e. from the beginning to the end See Theodorick Hackspan Cab. Judaica N. 10. And he came He speaks of this as a thing already done because he certainly foresaw they would perform their Engagement With the Heads of the People With the chief Commanders of the rest of the Tribes of Israel Or as the words may be translated more literally He came with the Heads of the People i. e. the Gadites marched in the Front before the Children of Israel For so was the Agreement between Moses and them as we read in XXXII Numb 17. that they should go ready armed before the Children of Israel Of which engagement Joshua put them in mind when they were entering into Canaan I Josh 14. and they stood to it v. 16 17. He executed the Justice of the LORD Upon the Seven Nations of Canaan whom God commanded them to extirpate And his Judgments with Israel Going in the foremost of the Israelites to Battle till the whole Country was subdued to them XXXII Numb 21 22 29. XXII Josh 1 2 3 c. Ver. 22. And of Dan he said Dan is a Lions whelp Courageous as a young Lion So Onkelos Which was most eminently verified in Sampson who was of this Tribe and whom the Spirit of the LORD began Verse 22 to move in the Camp of Dan XIII Judges 25. He shall leap from Bashan The Tribe of Dan had no Inheritance near Bashan but he compares them to the young Lions of that place For Lions haunted Mountains IV Canticles 8. and this Mountain in particular was famous for them and bred very fierce ones Which every one knows leap upon their Prey when they assault it and fasten their Nails and their Teeth in it So Bochart observes many ancient Authors describe them P. I. Hierozoicon L. III. Cap. II. p. 739. And thus did the Danites on a sudden leap from one end of Judaea to another and seized on the City of Laish near to the Fountain of Jordan calling it by the Name of Dan as we read XVIII Judg. 29. Ver. 23. And of Naphtali he said O Naphtali satisfied Verse 23 with favour That is with the Favour of God which is explained in the next words And full with the blessing of the LORD The word full as Maimonides observes signifies that which is most perfect and absolute in its kind More Nevoch P. I. Cap. XIX Such was the Country of Galilee wherein this Tribe had their possession which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as Josephus speaks L. III. de Bello Judaico Cap. IV. fat throughout in all its parts and very fertil planted with all manner of Trees insomuch that it invited him to Husbandry who was averse to Labour and by that means was intirely inhabited and had no void space in all the Country c. Possess thou the West and the South The same Josephus makes this Tribe to have possessed the East and the North in the upper Galilee Lib. V. Antiq. Cap. I. p. 142. which is directly contrary to what Moses here saith Therefore Bochartus in his Hierozoicon P. I. Lib. III. Cap. XVIII judiciously expounds these words of Moses not with respect to the whole Land of Canaan but to the Danites before mentioned For the portion of Naphtali extended from the South of the City called Dan or Laish to the Sea of Tiberias And so the three Chaldee Paraphrasts expound the Hebrew word jam which we translate West by the Sea of Tiberias or Genesaret which is the same For the Hebrews call great Lakes by the name of Seas and by this Sea is not meant the Mediterranean but the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias or Genesaret for by all these Names it is called as Mr. Selden observes in his Mare Clausum p. 21. Verse 24 Ver. 24. And of Asher he said Let Asher be blessed with Children With a numerous and beautiful Issue Let him be acceptable to his Brethren All the rest of the Israelites shall court them for their goodly aspect Or as some rather think he prophecies this Tribe should win the favour and affection of others by their affability and obliging behaviour For which Jacob predicts they should be famous XLIV Gen. 21. And let him dip his