rewarded their Obedience to them as if he had received the Benefit thereof Verse 14 Ver. 14. Behold the Heaven Where the Sun Moon and Stars shine And the Heaven of Heavens And all the glorious Regions beyond them Is the LORD 's thy God Are all his Possession as they are his Work The Earth also with all that therein is As well as this Earth and all the Creatures that are in it Ver. 15. Only the LORD had a delight in thy Fathers to love them and he chose their Seed after them Verse 15 even you above all People c. He would have them sensible therefore that the Possessor of Heaven and of Earth could have no need of them or of their Services who were a very inconsiderable Part of his Creatures But it was his own meer good Will and Pleasure which moved him to show such Love to Abraham as he had done and to his Posterity for his sake above all other Nations on Earth Ver. 16. Circumcise therefore the fore-skin of your Verse 16 heart Do not satisfie your selves therefore with the bare Circumcision of your Flesh and the Observance of such External Rites and Ceremonies but cut off and cast away all your naughty Affections which make you insensible both of God's Mercies and Corrections and disobedient to his Commands And be no more stiff-necked As he had often before complained they were particularly XXXII Exod. 9. and see IX 6. of this Book It is a Metaphor as I observed from Oxen who when they are to draw in a Yoke and go forward pull back their Neck and their Shoulder to withdraw themselves from the Yoke To both which the Scripture alludes IX Nehem. 29. And sometime severally we find mention of them as in the place before-named in Exodus he speaks of their stiff-neck and in VII Zachar. 11. he saith They pull'd away the shoulder St. Stephen puts both these together in his Character of the wicked Jews that killed our blessed Saviour VII Acts 51. that they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart Therefore the contrary disposition God promises towards the Conclusion of this Book as the greatest Blessing he could bestow on them XXX 6. Ver. 17. For the LORD thy God is God of gods and Verse 17 Lord of lords Superiour to all other Beings whether Kings on Earth or Angels in Heaven A great God a mighty and a terrible Who can do what he pleases every where and therefore is to be greatly dreaded Which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward The most righteous Judge of Men who will not connive at your Sins because you are Circumcised nor be bribed by any Sacrifices to overlook your Wickedness XXIII Exod. 8. XIX Lev. 15. I Deut. 17. Nor on the contrary reject those that uprightly obey him though they be not Jews So St. Peter learnt to understand these words X Acts 34. Verse 18 Ver. 18. He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and Widow Takes their part as we speak and defends them against those that would oppress them And loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment Provideth for those who are driven unjustly out of their own Country or travelling on their honest Occasions fall into want For he seems here to speak of those who were neither Proselytes of Justice nor of the Gate as the Jews speak but were meer Gentiles Verse 19 Ver. 19. Love ye therefore the Stranger Be kind and hospitable to such distressed Persons which is a Vertue that flows from the Love of God v. 12. to which it is in vain to pretend if we love not all Mankind This Love consists in imitating God's Care of such Persons whereof he speaks in the foregoing Verse viz. doing them Justice equally with others and affording them Food and Raiment For ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt This Vertue was peculiarly required of the Jews who had been in that Condition which he commanded them to pity See XXIII Exod. 9. XIX Levit. 33 34. And if they had sincerely practised this Duty towards Aliens the Grace of God shown to the Gentiles in our blessed Saviour would not have seemed so strange to them as it did Ver. 20. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God him Verse 20 shalt thou serve This was explained before v. 12. To him shalt thou cleave Serve that is and Worship none but him And swear by his Name See VI. 13. Ver. 21. He is thy praise Whom thou oughtest Verse 21 therefore to praise Or rather in whose Love and Favour thou oughtest to glory and to think it the highest honour to be his Servant and to have him for thy God as it here follows He is thy God Who hath bestowed upon thee all the good things which thou enjoyest That hath done for thee all these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen In bringing them out of Egypt destroying Pharaoh in the Red-sea leading them through the Wilderness giving them the Country of Sihon and Og c. Whom therefore they were bound to Love and Serve and to confide in his Mercy and not in their own Power or Righteousness VIII 17 18. IX 4 5 6. Ver. 22. Thy Fathers went down into Egypt with Verse 22 threescore and ten persons See XLVI Gen. 27. I Exod. 5. Their Family he would have them remember was very small Chapter XI about Two hundred Years ago And now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Vastly increased them according to his Promise unto Abraham XV Gen. 5. XII Exod. 37. XXVI Numb 51 62. Which alone as Conradus Pellicanus here notes was sufficient to fill their Hearts with his Love and their Mouths with his Praise CHAP. XI Verse 1 Verse 1. THerefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God Who of so small hath made thee so great a Nation And keep his charge A Phrase used frequently concerning the Levites III Numb 7 8 c. But here comprehends all the Particulars following His Statutes and his Judgments and Commandments which he had charged them to observe See VI. 1. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And know you this day Consider seriously what I have said to you till you be sensible of it VIII 5. IX 6. For I speak not with your Children which have not known and which have not seen The words I speak are not in the Hebrew and they may as well be supplied thus For not with your Children have these things been done c. Which agrees well with v. 7. The Chastisement of the LORD your God The Plagues he sent upon the Egyptians His greatness Which appeared by the many great things he did only upon the stretching out of Moses his Rod. His mighty hand and stretched out arm These are more words to express the same thing Ver. 3. And his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt Or His miraculous Acts c. Verse 3 He uses so many words to make them sensible how much they were
themselves Ver. 19. And when we departed from Horeb. See Verse 19 X Numb 2. We went through all that great and terrible Wilderness It may well be called great because it extended a great way For after three days Journey X Numb 12. they settled at Kibroth-hattaavah which was in this Wilderness of Paran From whence they went to Hazeroth which is still said to be in this Wilderness XI Numb 35. And when they went from thence they were in the same Wilderness XII 16. where Kadesh was XIII 26. and see XXXIII 19. And this Wilderness was very terrible or dreadful because there were no Inhabitants in it but wild Beasts Which you saw by the way of the Mountain of the Amorites All the way you went towards that Mountain See v. 7. As the LORD our God commanded us According to the direction which God gave them by the motion of the Cloud that went before them And we came to Kadesh-Barnea Where they rested at the foot of that Mountain in the Wilderness of Paran XIII Numb 2 26. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And I said unto you ye are come to the Mountain of the Amorites which the LORD our God doth give unto us For this was part of the Country which God bestowed upon them for their Possession as appears from XXXIV Numb 4. Where Kadesh-Barnea is mentioned as a frontier Place in their South-border And indeed the Amorites wheresover they found them were to be expelled as they had already dispossessed them of the whole Kingdom of Sihon who was King of the Amorites XXI Numb 21 25 26. Ver. 21. Behold the LORD thy God hath set the Land before thee All the Country beyond this Mountain v. 8. Go up For there was a great ascent to it XIII Verse 21 Numb 17. And possess it Enter upon the Possession of it As the LORD God of thy Fathers hath said unto thee According to the Promise made by God long ago to Abraham Isaac and Jacob See v. 8. which he is now ready to perform Fear not neither be discouraged Do not dread either their number or their strength but trust in the LORD whose Name he repeats four times in these three Verses that he will make good his word Ver. 22. And ye came near unto me every one of you Verse 22 The Heads of every Tribe in the name of the whole Congregation whose desire this was And said we will send Men before us Some select Persons And they shall search out the Land Give us an account how it lies and what kind of Country it is And bring us word again by what way we shall go up Inform us which way to direct our march into it And into what Cities we shall come What Cities we shall first attack to make our way the clearer into the Country Moses also charges the Men that went to search the Land with many other Enquiries XIII Numb 18 19 20. that the People might receive the fullest satisfaction Ver. 23. And the saying pleased me well He thought Verse 23 this a reasonable motion proceeding only from a prudent Caution whereas in truth they were timorous and distrustful of God's promise And I took twelve Men of you one of a Tribe That every body might be satisfied when they heard the report of their Brethren XIII Numb 2 3 4. c. and God directed him so to do as we read there Verse 24 Ver. 24. And they turned From Kadesh-Barnea And went up into the Mountain XIII Numb 17 21. And came unto the Valley of Eschol It appears by the relation XIII Numb 21 22 23. that this was the last place unto which they came when they had ended their search And searched it out After they had gone through all the quarters of the Country Verse 25 Ver. 25. And they took of the fruit of the Land in their hands and brought it down unto us Both Grapes Pomegranates and Figgs XIII Numb 23. And brought us word again and said It is a good Land which the LORD our God doth give us So they all said unanimously and brought along with them a demonstration of it XIII Numb 27. only they added that they were not able to deal with the Inhabitants of it Verse 26 Ver. 26. Notwithstanding ye would not go up but rebelled against the Commandment of the LORD your God Who bad you go up and not be afraid v. 8 21. Which was the greater sin because he had not only brought them to the Borders of the Land but convinced them that he had not deluded them with fair Promises of a better Country than really it was For they all saw the goodly Fruit which it produced and ought therefore to have believed he would fulfil his word and give them the possession of it Verse 27 Ver. 27. And ye murmured in your Tents After great Lamentations for a whole Night together XIV Numb 1. And said because the LORD hated us he hath brought us forth out of the Land of Egypt Unto which therefore they desired and conspired to return XIV Numb 4. To deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us Nothing can be more pernitious as Grotius here observes than a perswasion that God doth not love us but hath a design upon us to destroy us Ver. 28. Whither shall we go up Moses I suppose Verse 28 still pressed them to go up and take possession of the Land to which they give him this snappish Answer Our Brethren have discouraged our hearts The Men that you your self sent to search the Land have dispirited us by the Report they have brought us Which would not have had that effect upon them if they had minded one part of it as much as the other and calmly considered what Caleb and Joshua said who made no doubt of Success Saying The People is greater and taller than we More numerous and of far greater stature and strength XIII Numb 28.33 The Cities are great and walled up to Heaven The Spies only told them that ther Cities were walled and very great XIII Numb 28. but their fear and confusion of Thoughts augmented the danger of attempting the Conquest of them Yet Moses himself thinks good afterwards to use the same hyperbole IX 1. which is common in the best Authors For thus Homer in Odyss E. v. 239. speaks of a Firr-tree as high as Heaven i. e. exceeding tall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Many other Instances may be seen in Bochartus his Phaleg Lib. I. Cap. XIII And Moreover we have seen the Sons of the Anakims there See XIII Numb 28.33 Const L'Empereur will rather have it translated the Sons of the Giants as the LXX and Onkelos take it Yet he acknowledges that Anak seems to have been the first Parent and Propagator of the Race of Giants after the Flood and therefore it may be properly translated as we do See Annot. in Itiner Benjamini Tudelensis p. 136. Verse 29 Ver. 29. Then I said unto you Moses here at large relates what he
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
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
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
XVII 6. At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established The Accusation shall stand or fall to the ground Ver. 16. If a false witness rise up against any man to Verse 16 testifie against him that which is wrong In any Matter whether against God or against Man For tho' one Witness could not condemn another yet if it were proved he was a false Witness it was sufficient to condemn himself Ver. 17. Then both the men between whom the Controversie Verse 17 is That is the Accuser and the Person accused Shall stand before the LORD They were to come in Cases obscure to the Supream Court where the Sanctuary was settled Who sat it is likely at the Door of the Tabernacle in Moses his time See XVII 8 12. and so might properly be said to try them before the LORD Before the Priests and the Judges which shall be in those days This they all understand of the highest Court which consisted partly of Priests and partly of other great Persons whom he calls Judges under which Name the whole Court is comprehended in the next Verse See XVII 8. And Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. VIII N. 2 3. Ver. 18. And the Judges The Court before-named Verse 18 who are all whether Priests or others comprehended under the Name of Judges Shall make diligent inquisition For it was not easie to prove a Man to be a false Witness and therefore the Matter was brought before this Supream Court And behold if the witness be a false witness and hath testified falsly against his brother If upon strict Examination he was found to have given a false Evidence against his Brother in a matter which touched his Estate or his Body or his Life Verse 19 Ver. 19. Then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother That is saith Maimonides if he designed to have taken away his Brother's Life he was to lose his own if to have had him scourged he was to be lashed himself if to lose a Sum of Money he was to be fined the very same Sum. More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI But though in most Cases a false Witness was to suffer the very same kind of Punishment which he intended to have brought upon another if his Testimony had not been disproved yet in some it was not exactly observed As if one falsly accused a Priest's Daughter of playing the Whore he was not to be burnt as she should have been but to be strangled as an Adulterer So J. Coch observes upon the Title Maccoth ad Cap. I. where the whole business of false Testimonies is handled But some foolish decisions were made by the Rabbins in opposition to the Sadducees as he observes in his Annot. 20. in Sect. 6. Among the Athenians there was an Action lay not only against a false Witness but against the Person who produced him Upon whom they set a Fine and they were made infamous And if they were found thrice guilty of this Crime not only they but their Posterity were made infamous throughout all Generations as Sam. Petitus observes out of Andocides and others Lib. IV. in Leges Atticas Tit. VII p. 359. It is something strange they were not more severe against such Offenders many of their Laws being plainly borrowed from Moses And among the ancient Romans by the Law of the Twelve Tables false Witnesses were thrown down from the Tarpeian Rock as A. Gellius tells us Lib. XX. Cap. I. which was altered indeed in latter times for such Punishments as the Judges thought they merited But he there tells Phavorinus That if the old Punishment had continued to their days they should not have had so many false Testimonies given as they then saw So shalt thou put the evil away from among you This may be understood either of the false Witness or of his Crime the guilt of which was taken away by the just punishment of it Ver. 20. And those that remain The remainder Verse 20 of Israel who see him suffer in his kind Shall hear and fear The end of punishment is to deter others from such wickedness See XIII 11. XVII 13. And shall henceforth commit no more any such avil among you Learn to beware by other Mens sufferings Ver. 21. And thine eye shall not spare He speaks to Verse 21 the Judges who were not out of Compassion to moderate the Punishment but make it equal to the Damage he intended to another Examples he gives of this in the words following Life shall go for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot Concerning this lex talionis see XXI Exod. 23 24 25. XXIV Levit. 19 20. And see Grotius on V Matth. 38 40. where he well observes that the Party injured might forbear to require this Punishment but the Judge if it were required could not deny to inflict it Chapter XX. CHAP. XX. Verse 1 Verse 1. WHen thou goest out to battle against thine Enemies Who either invaded them as in XI Judges or with whom they had a just quarrel because of Injuries done them without Satisfaction Such as that mentioned 2 Sam. X. 4 c. And seest Horses Which the Israelites wanted as I observed upon XVII 16. their Armies consisting of Footmen who were taken from the Plough or from the Sheepfolds And Chariots Which carried a certain number of Men in them and when they were falcati as they called them were very formidable For they made terrible Slaughters among the Enemy cutting down Men as we do Grass with a Sithe or Sickle The Canaanites had great numbers of them XI Josh 4. and IV Judges 3. Be not afraid of them The Israelites were trained up to confide in God and not in Horses which their Country as I said did not afford and consequently they had no Chariots nor in multitude of Souldiers And we find remarkable Instances of this particularly in Jehosaphat 2 Chron. XX. 6 c. 17. who followed the Example of David whose words are most memorable XX Psalm 7. Some trust in Chariots and some in Horses but we will remember the Name of the LORD our God See also XXI Prov. 21. For the LORD thy God is with thee which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt That was such an instance of his power as made it unreasonable to doubt of good Success when he was present with them as he always was while they continued faithful Worshippers of him The Translation of Onkelos is here very remarkable which is The LORD thy God his WORD is thy help which plainly denotes another Divine Person the same with JEHOVAH Ver. 2. It shall be when ye come nigh unto the battle Verse 2 Are about to give or receive the Assault That the Priest shall approach and speak unto the people The Jews say there was a Priest appointed for this very purpose whom they call MASCHUACH MILCHAMAH anointed of War he being set
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
and Dizabah There was a place called Hazeroth where they had encamped a long time ago XI Numb 35. XXXIII 17. but it was in another Wilderness far from this place as appears by the account Moses gives of their Removals from that place to this where they now lay XXXIII Numb 17 48 49. And therefore I take this and the other three places here mentioned to have been frontier Towns in the Country of Moab which lay upon the borders of this Plain The last of which Dizabah is translated by the LXX and the Vulgar as if it signified a place where there were Mines of Gold Onkelos and the Hierusalem Targum who take Suph to signifie the Red Sea and Paran for the Wilderness through which they had come many years ago c. are forced to add several words to make out the sense of this Verse in this manner These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan c. reproving them because they sinned in the Desert and provoked God in the Plain over against the Red Sea and murmured in Paran about Manna and at Hazeroth for Flesh c. And so they proceed to mention other Sins committed in other places but not in these here named which they force from their natural sense to comply with this Conceit Verse 2 Ver. 2. There are eleven days journey from Horeb c. Or eleven days we were a coming from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-Barnea Which cannot be understood of the whole time they spent between these two places but only of the time they spent in travelling For they stayed a Month at Kibroth-Hattaavah and a Week more at Hazeroth XI Numb 21. XII 15 16. before they came to Kadesh-Barnea This he represents to them to make them sensible they had been kept in the Wilderness so many years as had passed since they came out of Egypt not because it was a long way to Canaan but for the reason mentioned in the XIVth of Numbers For from Horeb whither he order'd them to go when they came out of Egypt they came in eleven days and took no long Journeys to the borders of the Land of Canaan where Kadesh-Barnea lay So Maimonides the way was plain and known between Horeb whither God brought them on purpose to serve him and Kadesh which was the beginning of an habitable Country according to what he saith XX Numb 16. See More Nevochim P. III. Cap. L. See XIII Numb 26. By the way of Mount Seir. The Country of the Edomites Chapt. II. v. 12. Vnto Kadesh-Barnea How they were ordered to come hither and what they did here he relates v. 6 19. and so proceeds to give an account of several remarkable things which befell them unto the time when he wrote these things which he sets down in the next Verse Ver. 3. And it came to pass in the fortieth year Verse 3 After they came out of Egypt In the eleventh month on the first day of the month In the first Month of this fortieth Year they came into the Wilderness of Zin unto another Kadesh XX Numb 1. From whence they removed to Mount Hor where Aaron died on the first Day of the fifth Month of this Year See there v. 28. Where it appears v. 29. they mourned for him thirty days that is till the beginning of the sixth Month. In which they fought with King Arad XXI Numb and from Mount Hor travelled from place to place as we read there and XXXIII Numb till they came to these Plains of Moab In which Journeys and in the rest of the Transactions mentioned in the latter end of the Book of Numbers they spent the other five Months of this Year as I have observed in their proper places And now began the eleventh Month when Moses being to leave the World before the end of this Year spake all that follows in this Book And this Speech which he begins v. 6. and continues to the fortieth Verse of the fourth Chapter the great Primate of Ireland thinks he made to the People on the twentieth of February and on the Sabbath-day as the Reader may find in his Annals That Moses spake unto the Children of Israel according unto all that the LORD had given him in Commandment unto them Made a Rehearsal of all that at several times he had received from the LORD and delivered unto them Ver. 4. After he had slain Sihon the King of the Amorites Verse 4 which dwelt at Heshbon About five Months ago for it was after Aaron's death which was the first Day of the fifth Month XXXIII Numb 38. and they mourned for him all that Month. See XXI Numb 21 c. And Og the King of Bashan which dwelt at Astaroth This was a City in the Country of Bashan XIII Josh 31. and a City it was of very great Antiquity as appears from XIV Gen. 5. See there From whence some think the famous Goddess Astarte had her Name being here worshipped But whether that Goddess took her Name from this City or the City from the Goddess is not certain as Mr. Selden observes in his Syntagma II. de Diis Syris cap. 2. But that the Heathen Deities were wont to have their Names from the Groves Mountains Cities and Caves where they were worshipped is as certain as it is uncertain from whence Astarte or Astoreth as the Scripture Name is was so called In Edrei His Royal Palace was at Astaroth as Sihon's was at Heshbon but he was slain in Edrei XXI Numb 33. Verse 5 Ver. 5. On this side Jordan in the Land of Moab In the Plains of Moab before they passed over Jordan See v. 1. Began Moses to declare this Law saying To call to remembrance that which any one had forgotten and to explain that which any one did not understand So Maimonides expounds these words in Seder Zeraim In the end of the fortieth Year in the beginning of the Month Shebat Moses called the People together saying The time of my Death draws near if any one therefore hath forgot any thing that I have delivered let him come and receive it or if any thing seem dubious let him come that I may explain it And so they say in Siphri If any one have forgotten any Constitution let him come and hear it the second time if he need to have any thing unfolded let him come and hear the Explication of it For which he quotes this Verse and says that Moses spent all his time in this from the beginning of the Month Shebat to the seventh day of Adar And what he now said was likely to be the more regarded because these were in a manner his dying words for he lived but till the seventh day of the next Month and seems to have composed this Book as a Compendium of his whole Law for the familiar use of the Children of Israel from whence it is called Deuteronomy i. e. a second Law See Huetius in his Demonstr Evang.
Son of God came to root it out For the Essens the best Sect among the Jews seem to have had a Tang of this Superstition as Josephus represents them Lib. II. De Bello Judaico Cap. VII Some indeed excuse them as if they only admired the Sun as the most excellent Work of God which they expressed by some kind of Adoration But Josephus expresly tells us That early in the Morning they directed to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they beseeched him to rise And this stuck still in the Minds of some who professed Christianity particularly the Followers of Basilides and the Manichees who called the Sun and the Moon by the Name of Gods and sometimes called the Sun Christ as Theodoret tells us Lib. I. Cap. XXVI And Epiphanius and St. Austin say the same in more places than one No wonder therefore that Julian the Apostate should say that God produced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of himself the Sun the greatest God in all things like unto himself For which he quotes Plato in his famous Oration in praise of the Sun Where he saith The same Sun hath filled the Heaven with innumerable other Gods page 146. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Heaven is full of Gods from the Sun Which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all Nations under the whole Heaven The Sence is very plain that all Nations under Heaven have the Benefit of the Sun Moon and Stars as well as the Jews who were therefore to worship him alone who is the LORD of them all and hath made them to be Ministers unto us This R. Solomon saw and yet he could not stick to it but fell into the vain Fancy of the generality of the Jews that God hath distributed the Nations of the World under the Government of several Stars which Stars are under the Government of Angels but the Jews under the Government of God alone and not subject to any Planet Which hath no Foundation at all much less can we think that God appointed the Nations of the World to worship the heavenly Host lest they should be Atheists as Clemens Alexandrinus and Justin Martyr fancy from this place Unless they mean that God for their Sins delivered them up to this Impiety which several great Men since have thought to be the true meaning of these words For there are no such words now to be found in the LXX as they alledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is one who takes the word Chalak which we translate Divide to signifie to Blandish and makes this the Sence That God places these great Luminaries in the Heavens to invite and allure all Nations to admire and adore him the Creator of them And indeed in the Conjugation which the Hebrews call Hiphil this word doth signifie to soften and smooth and consequently to allure but it never signifies so in that they call Kall Maimonides makes the Sence of Moses's Argument to be this God hath made the Sun and Moon to be Ministers not to be worshipped According to that I Gen. 18. Which made the Psalmist so particularly call upon all the heavenly Bodies to praise the LORD CXLVIII Psal More Nevoch P. II. Cap. V. Verse 20 Ver. 20. But the LORD hath taken you and brought you forth out of the Iron Furnace This is a Phrase used also by Solomon I Kings VIII 51. and by Jeremiah XI 4. to express the most cruel Servitude wherein God suffered them to be tried as Metals are in a Furnace of Iron red hot For he doth not allude to their making of Bricks as some imagine which were not wrought in an Iron Furnace To be unto him a People of Inheritance as ye are at this Day These were two powerful Arguments to induce them to be obedient That they were not only delivered from the hardest Slavery but now made God's peculiar People see XIX Exod. 5. whom he had purchased for his Inheritance i. e. to be his People for ever From this Verse Sir John Marsham gathers That Moses had respect in the foregoing Verses to the Egyptian Superstition as if he had said Excusso servitutis jugo etiam excutienda sunt Aegypti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having shaken off the Egyptian Yoke they were also to shake off their abominable Idols For the invisible God is not to be worshipped by Images or Symbols So that when he forbids them v. 16. To make a graven Image the similitude of any Figure the likeness of Male and Female he thinks Moses hath respect to the Boves utriusque sexus Sacri The Sacred Beeves of both kind the Males to Osiris the Females to Isis And he mentions the likeness of any Beast that is on the Earth v. 17. Because all the Egyptians worshipped not only the Creatures before-mentioned but Canem Felem a Dog and a Cat The Thebans and Saitae worshipped Sheep the Mendesians a Goat and others of them Wolves and Lyons And he adds The likeness of any winged Fowl that flieth in the Air because all the Egyptians worshipped an Hawk and the Bird called Ibis and the Thebans an Eagle In v. 18. he mentions the similitude of any thing that creepeth on the Ground because about Thebes Serpents were sacred to Jupiter And the likeness of any Fish that is in the Waters because all Egypt worshipped certain Fishes and some of them the Crocodile and the Hippotamus And as for the Sun Moon and Stars v. 19. the worship of them was common to the Egyptians with all other Nations All this he justifies out of good Authors and it might pass for Truth had we any certainty that the Egyptians in the time of Moses were as sottish as they were in the time of Herodotus See Seculum IX Sect. de Idololatria Verse 21 Ver. 21. Furthermore or rather But The LORD was angry with me for your sakes He remembers this again tho' he had mentioned it twice before I. 37. III. 26. that they might be the more deeply sensible of the danger of offending God since such a Man as he was excluded from the good Land for one single Fault Or hereby he would magnifie the Goodness of God to them who tho' great Offenders had a Priviledge granted to them which was denied him And sware that should not go over Jordan c. He only told him so at the first XX Numb 12. but upon Moses's importunate Intreaty that he would revoke the Sentence of which we read in the foregoing Chapter of this Book it seems he silenced him by confirming his Threatning with an Oath Verse 22 Ver. 22. But I must die in this Land I must not go over Jordan See XXVII Numb 12 13 14. His frequent Repetition of this shews how near it went to his Heart But ye shall go over and possess that good Land God's Promise to them he would have them think was as irrevocable as his Threatning against him Ver. 23. Take heed unto your selves lest ye forget the Covenant of the LORD
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
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
13. And cut down their Groves There is the same mention of Asherim which we translate Groves in the place last named only another word for cut down See there But Mr. Selden both there and here understands by Asherim wooden Images of Astarte a great Goddess worshipped in that Country For which among other Reasons he gives this that Gideon is said to have thrown down the Altar of Baal and cut down the Grove that was by it So we translate it VI Judg. 25 28. where in the Hebrew the last word is Alau which signifies upon it and not by it And so the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore the Asherah which is said to be upon the Altar must not signifie a Grove but an Image and none more likely than that of Astarte See De Diis Syris Syntagm 2 Cap. 2. and 2 Kings XXIII 6 7. And burn their graven Images with Fire As he was commanded to destroy their molten Images XXXIII Numb 52. that so no sort of Image nor any Monument of their Worship might be left in the Country but all so entirely abolished that they might have no Incentive to Idolatry This was the work of the Supreme Governour as Grotius prudently observes For tho' out of private places it belonged to the Lord of the place or if he were negligent to the King to remove Idols yet none but the Supreme Power might remove them out of publick places or such Persons who were delegated thereby to that Office See L. de Imper. Sum. Potest circa Sacra Cap. VIII Sect. 3. Ver. 6. For thou art an holy People unto the LORD Verse 6 thy God This is an Argument frequently used particularly in the Book of Leviticus why they should cleave to God alone because he had separated them to himself by many peculiar Laws which no other People had but they XI Levit. 44 45. XIX 2. XX. 7 26. The LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all People that are upon the face of the Earth As he had distinguished them from all other People by peculiar Laws so by special Favours and singular Priviledges which no other Nation whatsoever enjoyed See XIX Exod. 5 6. Some interpret the Words special People to signify that they belong'd to none but him and he had no other People but they whom he had espoused to himself From whence it is that as the Israelites are called God's People so that Country is called his Land LXXXV Psal 1. for there he dwelt by his special Presence And the King of that Country is called God's King XVIII Psal 50. and he is said to sit on God's Throne and to be Nelech le Jehovah King for the LORD 2 Chron. IX 8. and the Kingdom is called the Kingdom of the LORD XIII 8. and therefore with this Argument Asa addresses himself to God in the next Chapter XIV 11. for Help in time of Distress because he was their God and would not he hoped let their Enemies prevail against himself And accordingly these Enemies are said to be destroyed before the LORD and before his Host v. 13. Jehoshaphat also exhorts the Judges in that Book to great Caution 2 Chron. XIX 6. because they judged not for Man but for the LORD And the Prophet exhorts in the following Chapter XX. 15. not to be afraid of a mighty Host which came against him because the Battle is not yours but Gods the Cause in which they fought being his more than their own Verse 7 Ver. 7. The LORD did not set his Love upon you nor choose you To be his special People as he calls them in the foregoing Verse Because ye were more in Number than any People for ye were the fewest of all People When God declared his Love first to Abraham and his Posterity he had no Child XII Gen. 1 2 3. XV. 1 2. And when he had his Family continued so small after there were XII Heirs of the Promise that in the space of Two Hundred Years they were but LXX Persons XLVI Gen. 27. Nor do we read of any great increase of them till after the Death of Joseph which was near Fourscore Years more I Exod. 7 8 c. So St. Steven observes VII Acts 17. When the time of the Promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham the People grew and multiplied in Aegypt Ver. 8. But because the LORD loved you Because it was his good Pleasure to single them out from all other People to receive special Tokens of his Favour to them Verse 8 And because he would keep the Oath which he had sworn unto your Fathers hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand c. Not for any desert of theirs but to make good his Promise confirmed with an Oath did he work their wonderful Deliverance out of Egypt XV Gen. 13 14. XXII 16 c. Ver. 9. Know therefore that the LORD thy God he Verse 9 is God He exhorts them therefore to preserve this Sense in their Mind that their God is the only God The faithful God which keepeth Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments c. Who will not only faithfully keep his Word and make good his Promises but do abundantly more than he hath promised to those that cleave unto him alone and serve no other God For it appears by the Second Commandment that is peculiarly meant by loving him To a thousand Generations See XX Exod. 6. Ver. 10. And repay them that hate him Punish all Verse 10 Idolaters who are peculiarly called haters of God as I have often observed See XX Exod. 5. To their Face They themselves should live to see and feel the Punishment of their Idolatry So the Chaldee Paraphrases it Becajehon in their Life He will not be slack to him that hateth him he will repay him to his Face Though he do not punish him immediately yet he will not defer it long but be avenged of him before he die Therefore when he threatens to punish them to the Third and Fourth Generation the meaning is not that he will only punish their Posterity but them with their Posterity whom they shall see destroyed before their Face For the Fourth Generation as Maimonides observes is as much as the oldest Men commonly live to see Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt therefore keep the Commandments and the Statutes and the Judgments which I command thee this day to do them All the Laws of God see VI. 1. especially this great Commandment to have no other God but him Verse 12 Ver. 12. Wherefore it shall come to pass if ye hearken to these Judgments and keep and do them that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the Covenant and Mercy which he sware unto thy Fathers As faithfully fulfil his Promises to them as he did to their Fathers Verse 13 Ver. 13. And he will love thee Continue his Love to them And bless thee and multiply thee
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
that this Nation is thy People And see v. 15 16. CHAP. X. Verse 1 Verse 1. AT that time the LORD said unto me Hew the two Tables of Stone like unto the first and come up unto me into the Mount After his Anger was something appeased he ordered Moses to come up to him where he had been before and bring with him two Tables of Stone like those he had broke that God might renew his Covenant with them But there was this difference as I observed XXXIV Exod. 1. that God himself made the former Tables but he bad Moses make these which signifies some Abatement of his Favour And make thee an Ark of Wood. This Command was given at his first going up into the Mount XXV Exod. 10. and perhaps was renewed again now upon the occasion of making these new Tables which were to be put into it Ver. 2. And I will write on the Tables the words that were in the first Tables which thou brakest So we read he told him XXXIV Exod. 1. And thou shalt put them in the Ark. As soon as it Verse 2 was made to receive them Ver. 3. And I made an Ark of Shittim-wood This Verse 3 looks as if he made an Ark before he made the Tables that when he brought them down it might be ready to receive them And it hath given some ground to the Jewish Doctors to say that there were two Arks one made by Moses wherein he put the Tables of Stone that were broken and those that were renewed until the others was made by Bezaleel For we read expresly that Bezaleel made the Ark XXXVII Exod. 1. and here it is said that Moses made it So that they conclude there were two made and this made by Moses they fancy was the Ark that went before them in their Marches and Battles which the other never did by God's order but only when they entred into Canaan III Josh for when of their own selves they carried it forth in the days of Eli God was angry with them and delivered it into the Enemies hand 1 Sam. IV. 3 4 11. But Aben-Ezra Nachmanides and Abarbinel have confuted this by strong Reasons to the contrary as may be seen in Buxtorf's Histor Arcoe p. 35 36 c. And as to this place they are of Opinion that Moses speaks of the Ark made afterwards by Bezaleel which Moses is said to have made because he commanded him to make it Just as Solomon is said to have built the Temple because he caused it to be built Or if it be granted that Moses made an Ark before he went the second time into the Mount which this Verse seems to Countenance it will not follow that there were two Arks in use among the Israelites for this Ark now made was of meer Wood not overlaid with Gold and designed only as a Chest wherein to keep the Tables handsomely till the Ark could be made by Bezaleel and then the Tables were translated into that and this Chest of Moses laid aside And hewed two Tables of Stone like unto the first and went up into the Mount c. See XXXIV Exod 4. Verse 4 Ver. 4. And he wrote on the Tables according to the first writing the Ten Commandments XXXIV Exod. 28. Which the LORD commanded you in the Mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the Assembly When the whole Congregation was gathered together at the foot of the Mount See IX 10. And the LORD gave them unto me To carry down to the People Verse 5 Ver. 5. And I turned my self From the Divine Presence where he had been supplicating for Mercy and had received from thence the Tables of the Covenant And came down from the Mount At the end of Forty Days and Nights XXXIV Exod. 28 29. And put the Tables in the Ark which I had made Which he commanded to be made by Bezaleel XXXVII Exod. 1. and put into the Tabernacle as soon as it was built with these Tables in it XL Exod. 20 21. And there they be as the LORD commanded me Though Moses mention his making the Ark before his hewing the Tables and going up into the Mount v. 3. yet these words seem to determine that he speaks of the Ark made by Bezaleel according to his directions For now that they were going over Jordan the Tables were in the Ark which he is said here to have made Which was certainly the Ark of the Covenant not that Chest which some suppose Moses to have made to keep the Tables in till the other could be sitted for their Reception Ver. 6. And the Children of Israel took their journey Verse 6 from Beeroth of the Children of Jaakan to Mosera Not immediately but after they had passed through several other places and made some stay in them For they went from Bene-Jaakan to Gudgodah or Hor-hagidgad and so to Jotbath and the rest of the Mansions mentioned XXXIII Numb 32 33 c. until they came to Mount Hor. There Aaron died and there he was buried At Mosera or the top of Mount Hor which was another part of the same Mountain as Horeb was of Sinai And Eleazar his Son ministred in the Priests Office in his stead The greatest difficulty is to give an account how this comes in here and what connexion this and the following Verse have with what went before All the satisfaction that I can give to it is this that Moses having told them that he put the Tables of the Testimony or Covenant into the Ark as a Token God was reconciled to them and that there they still were as the LORD commanded he puts them out of all doubt of it by telling them that though Aaron who had the special Care of the Holy Place and all things in it committed to him was dead yet Eleazar his Son was still alive who could testifie those Holy Things remained as when Moses first placed them there he being Consecrated to the Priests Office instead of Aaron and in this very Mount XX Numb 25 26 c. which is the occasion of mentioning this Station here when most of the rest are omitted Verse 7 Ver. 7. And from thence Not from Mosera but from Bene-jaakan as appears from XXXIII Numb 32. where a full Account is given of their Removals which are but just touched here They journeyed to Gudgodah Called in the Book of Numbers by the Name of Hor-hagidgad And none will think it strange that there is such variation in the proper Names of Places and of Men in Profane Writers as well as the Scriptures who considers as Conradus Pellicanus here notes how differently the Names of Places are pronounced now from what they were in former Ages and how much one Nation differs from another when they speak of them and what Alterations are made from the first Founders of Nations and Cities by those that conquer them and change all Names to their own Glory See how Names were changed among the Israelites in
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
hearts might be possessed with a sence upon what terms they were to enjoy it And he describes the places so particularly that they might be sure to know them By the way where the Sun goeth down On that side which inclined to the West In the Land of the Canaanites The People particularly so called who were one of the Seven Nations Some of which lived here in the East and others near the Mid-land Sea As I have observed upon XV Gen. 21. Which dwell in the Champian over against Gilgal Some think these Mountains were at such a considerable distance from Gilgal that they cannot be said to be over against Gilgal because this Phrase signifies them not to be far off one from the other And therefore they translate these words looking towards Gilgal But it is not said that the Mountains were over against Gilgal but the dwelling of the Canaanites in whose Country these Mountains were was over against it Beside the Plain of Moreh Of which mention is made XII Gen. 6. Where the Canaanites are also mentioned as in that Land when Abraham came into it Which suggests to us that these Blessings were pronounced in that very place where Abraham anciently dwelt and where he worshipped God who there appeared to him Verse 31 Ver. 31. For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the Land which the LORD your God giveth you and ye shall possess it and dwell therein He would have them be as careful in this Matter as it was certain that they should shortly go over Jordan to take possession of the Country which God was about to bestow on them Which he assures them they should get possession of and settle themselves therein Ver. 32. Chapter XII And ye shall observe to do all the Statutes and Judgments which I set before you this day But then do not forget what I have so often said to you which he thought he could not inculcate enough See Verse 32 IV. 40. V. 32. VI. 1. VII 11. VIII 1 c. CHAP. XII Verse 1. THese are the Statutes and Judgments Verse 1 which ye shall observe to do in the Land which the LORD God of thy Fathers giveth thee to possess c. Now I suppose he begins a new Exhortation which he made to them at some small distance from the former And he enters upon it with the same words which he used before VI. 1. IX 1. which could not be too often repeated considering the great proneness of the People to neglect their Duty Ver. 2. Ye shall-utterly destroy all the places wherein Verse 2 the Nations which ye shall possess served their gods So that no Opinion should be left of their being Sacred Places by any Relick or Memorial of the old Idolatry remaining there It was not sufficient that the Gods which the Seven Nations worshipped were abolished but the very places also where they were worshipped were to be made common and employed to other uses Vpon the Mountains and upon the Hills and under every green Tree These were the places where the ancient Heathen chose to worship their Gods imagining their Sacrifices were more acceptable upon Mountains than in Valleys Lucian himself gives this Reason for it Because Men were then nearer to the Gods and so more easily obtained Audience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Tacitus saith the same in the last of his Annals Daemons also were wont to haunt Woods and shady places and there appear to Men And were thought also to be the Presidents of Mountains others of Woods and Forrests And accordingly the Heathen erected Altars to them in these and such like places particularly under great Oaks which were held Sacred Places where their gods were thought to have a peculiar power By this Law therefore God intended to root out this Superstition and commanded his Tabernacle to be built low and humble And though afterward the Temple was set upon an Hill there was only one and no more and therefore it could not be thought to be out of any Opinion that an Hill was more Sacred than another place And under every green Tree Nothing can illustrate these words more than what Pliny saith in the Twelfth Book of his Natural History concerning Trees which thus begins Haec fuere Numinum Templa c. These were the Temples of the gods and even now the simple People after the ancient Rites dedicate to god such Trees as excel the rest Nor do we more adore the Images glittering with Gold and Ivory quà m lucos in iis silentia ipsa than we do the Groves and the solemn Silence therein And then he reckons what Trees were peculiarly sacred to Jupiter Apollo Minerva c. concluding that several of their gods such as the Sylvani Fauni and some of their Nymphs had their Names from the Woods This was a thing so notorious that in their most Sacred Solemnities they were wont to present the gods whom they worshipped with a Crown or Garland made of the Boughs and Leaves of such Trees in which they were thought to delight As to Jupiter a Crown of Oak to Apollo of Laurel to Minerva of Olive to Venus of Myrtle to Bacchus of Ivy to Rhea Pan Neptune and Vulcan of Pine c. See Ezek. Spanhemius upon Callimachus his Hymn to Diana vers 200. Ver. 3. And ye shall overthrow their Altars and break Verse 3 their Pillars and burn their Groves with fire and you shall hew down the graven Images of their Gods See VII 5. and XXVI Lev. 1. He mentions all these so particularly because this is the very foundation and hinge of the Law as Maimonides speaks that all Opinion of the Sanctity of such things should be blotted out of Mens hearts and the memory of them extinguished More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXIX where he reckons abundance of things of this kind which were among the old Idolaters called Zabij And destroy the Names of them out of that place From this and such like places the Jews have framed this Affirmative Precept That the Gentile Idolatry is by all means to be destroyed For these Nations having forfeited their Land by their abominable wickedness and God having bestowed it upon the Israelites whom he took for his peculiar People and among whom he dwelt and therefore calls this his Land See VII 6. He as the King of the Country might enjoyn what Orders he pleased to have observed And it was of the highest concernment that there should not be the least footstep of the old Idolatry left in the Country but that he who was the Lord of it and the LORD of Heaven and Earth should be alone acknowledged and worshipped And there was greater Reason for this than at first sight may be imagined For as the Host of Heaven was worshipped as the glorious Bodies wherein their gods inhabited which was the Notion of the best of the Heathen for this Worship so their Daemons were supposed to dwell in the Images and Pillars which for
without repeating them all again In every place that thou seest To be beautiful lovely and inviting by its situation and shady Trees and Fountains c. Such as are mentioned v. 2. Which the Gentiles chose perhaps wherein to Sacrifice because they were more delightful or solemn than other Whence Ezekiel VI. 3. mentions Rivers and Valleys together with Mountains where there were fine Pastures and Springs of Water which were so pleasant and refreshing in those Countries that they fancied the gods delighted in them So St. Hierom notes upon VII Jerem. that this Gentile Error omnes provincias occupavit c. spread it self in all parts of the World That they should offer their Sacrifices at the heads of Fountains and delightful Groves Verse 14 Ver. 14. But in the place which the LORD shall chuse in one of thy Tribes there shalt thou offer thy Burnt-offerings This he had said before v 5 6 11. but repeats it again because of the great importance of it to prevent all strange Worship Elijah indeed offered upon Mount Carmel after the Temple was built but it was by a Prophetical Inspiration and if any one at that time had askt him if they might take that liberty he would have answered by no means but he that offers out of Jerusalem shall be cut off XVII Levit. 4. As for what I do now it is an extraordinary Case to convince the lying Prophets of Baal c. Thus Maimonides in Geder Zeraim And there thou shalt do all that I command thee Bring their Tithes and First-fruits before-mentioned v. 6. and eat and rejoyce before the LORD v. 7. Ver. 15. Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat Verse 15 flesh For common Food In all thy Gates In any City Town or House While they were in the Wilderness indeed they might not kill their Beasts but only at the Door of the Tabernacle and consequently they eat nothing but Peace-offerings which had been first presented unto God and part of them burnt at his Altar XVII Levit. 3 4 c. But when they went into Canaan they were freely indulged to kill their Beasts in any place without bringing any part of them to the Altar Whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after Of all sorts of Creatures not prohibited in the XIth of Leviticus According to the Blessings of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee Suitable to every Man's Estate and Condition The unclean and the clean may eat thereof They who were under any Legal Uncleanness might not eat of the Sacrifices but of common Food at their ordinary Tables they might as well as others As of the Roe-buck and as of the Hart. He instances in these because there was great plenty of them in that Country as Aelian observes in the end of his fifth Book Where he saith they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the highest Mountains of Amanus Libanus and Carmel These Creatures might not be sacrificed to God but they might eat of others which were used in Sacrifice Sheep Goats Oxen as freely as of these which were not Verse 16 Ver. 16. Only ye shall not eat the Blood But of the Blood of those Creatures they might no more eat than of those that were sacrificed at the Altar But as there it was to be sprinkled upon the Altar and then poured out at the foot of it so here it was to be poured on the Earth Ye shall pour it upon the Earth as water So that it might sink into the Ground and disappear as Water doth when it is poured on the Earth Which is so strictly enjoyned though it was not the Blood of an Oblation to prevent those Superstitions which were exercised by the old Idolaters about the Blood of their Sacrifices In which they thought their Daemons delighted and by eating of which they hoped to have Communion with them as Maimonides observes in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLVI Verse 17 Ver. 17. Thou mayest not eat within thy Gates In their own private Habitations The Tithe of thy Corn or of thy Wine or of thy Oil. This cannot be meant of the Tithe paid to the Levites which the People might not eat any where being appropriated to the Levites alone He speaking therefore of a Tithe which the People might eat though not at home yet in the place where the Sanctuary was it must be meant of that which the Hebrews call the second Tithe which was set out after that to the Levites was paid Concerning which he speaks XIV 22 23 c. Or the firstlings of the Herds or of thy Flock These were entirely the Priests Portion by an express Law XVIII Numb 15 17 18. and therefore could not lawfully be eaten by the People either at home or at the Sanctuary Which makes it necessary to understand this of some other Firstlings and it is not improbable that it is meant of the Females which opened the Womb. For the Males only were the LORD's as appears from XIII Exodus and other places who gave them to his Priests but he would have the First-born Females also to be in some sort Sacred by requiring them to be eaten at his Sanctuary where his Priests had their share of them For I see no ground to think that as there was a secondary Tithe so there was a secondary Firstling set apart by every Man to this use Nor any of thy Vows which thou vowest c. All such things were also wholly the LORD's XXVII Levit. 28. and given by him to his Priests XVIII Numb 14. But that is only to be understood of what was vowed to God absolutely without mentioning any particular use to which it was designed Besides which they might vow what they pleased to be spent in Solemn Feasts with the Levites the Widows the Fatherless and other poor People and of such Moses here speaks Or Heave-offerings of thine hand These were First-fruits of Corn Wine and Oil as I said upon v. 6. which were also the Priests Portion XVIII Numb 12. Therefore this can be meant of no other First-fruits but such as Men freely offered without any obligation to it to be spent in this fashion for he was speaking before of such kind of things Unless we will understand this of the First-fruits of young Trees which might not be eaten in three Years after they were planted but in the fourth Year were to be holy to praise the LORD withal XIX Levit. 24. which as Josephus saith were spent in these Sacred Feasts See there Verse 18 Ver. 18. But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse thou and thy Son and thy Daughter c. See before v. 11 12. Verse 19 Ver. 19. Take heed to thy self that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the Earth He gives this Caution lest Covetousness should make them defraud the Levites of their Tithes and not let them have convenient Habitations or prophaneness make them not invite
them to the Sacred Feasts before spoken of This is repeated XIV 27. And in this the Jews were so careful that when there was such increase of the Levites that their Cities could not contain them they assigned them more than were given them at first For Joshua gave them only XLVIII but before the Captivity of Babylon they had XX. more added to them as appears from 1 Chron. VI. 65 66 c. where after the mention of the old Number there is an account given of XX. more added to them out of several Tribes For though they could not enlarge the Bounds prescribed to their Cities yet as the number of Levites increased they might give them new Cities And so they did that they might not be straitned in their Dwellings among them Ver. 20. When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy Verse 20 Border That is when he had brought them out of this Wilderness where they were incamped round about the Tabernacle into a spacious Country where they might live far distant from it As the LORD hath promised thee Which he promised to enlarge even as far as Euphrates if they were obedient to him XV Gen. 18. And thou shalt say I will eat flesh Have a desire to eat it Because thy Soul longeth to eat flesh There were several sorts of Flesh that were lawful to be eaten which they could not have in the Wilderness and therefore might be supposed to desire them very much when they came into Canaan which abounded with them And besides they would have more plenty of such Cattle as they now had which might incline them to keep greater Tables Thou mayest eat flesh whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after This was said before v. 15. and now repeated with all the rest that belongs to this matter to let them see God did not intend to abridge them too much of their liberty For though they might not eat the Tithe of their Corn Wine and Oil and the rest mentioned v. 17. at their own home because they were holy things and therefore to be eaten only in one certain place where God's Sanctuary was yet all sorts of Flesh used at their private Tables he now gives them leave to kill any where without bringing it to the Tabernacle and offering the Blood at the Altar as they were tied to do while they were in the Wilderness XVII Lev. 3 4 c. For then the Tabernacle was very near to every one of them but when their Border was enlarged it must needs be at so great a distance from some of them that it would have been too heavy a Burden to oblige them to kill every thing they eat at the Tabernacle and therefore he dispenses with it Verse 21 Ver. 21. If the place c. The Particle Chi may better be translated here because which makes these words a reason of the Allowance given in the foregoing Verse Because the place which the LORD thy God hath chose to put his Name there is too far from thee thou mayest kill c. Of thy Herd and of thy Flock Such Creatures as are now allowed for Sacrifice Oxen Sheep Lambs and Goats Which the LORD hath given thee For Food as well as other uses As I have commanded thee Given thee leave to eat at home without carrying them to the Tabernacle So it follows And thou shalt eat in thy Gates whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after i. e. All manner of things of which there was great variety not prohibited by this Law Verse 22 Ver. 22. Even as the Roe-buck and the Hart is eaten so mayest thou eat them Which were Creatures not allowed to be offered to God in Sacrifice See v. 15. and therefore they might less doubt to eat of them than of such as were peculiarly appointed for that use From which they might possibly have thought that out of Reverence to God they should abstain but are here satisfied they might as freely eat of them as of the other The clean and the unclean shall eat of them alike Whereas while they were in the Wilderness only such as were clean might eat Flesh because it was sanctified by being killed at the Altar now all are indulged the same liberty whether they were removed from holy things as the Hierusalem Targum expresses it or were pure to use them both might eat flesh alike Ver. 23. Only be sure that thou eat not the Blood Verse 23 Take great care as the word signifies in the Hebrew which is be strong use thy utmost diligence to prevent this For the blood is the life and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh See what I have noted upon IX Gen. 4. XVII Lev. 11 14. Ver. 24. Thou shalt not eat it thou shalt pour it out Verse 24 upon the earth as water Since they could not pour it out at the Altar where no body could meddle with it they were to pour it out on the Earth that it might sink into it Or as the Law required in Leviticus XVII 13. cover it with Dust that the Cattle might not lick it up Or the meaning may be Pour it as a common thing which Water is without any religious Rite used about it Ver. 25. Thou shalt not eat of it This is repeated Verse 25 here so often as it is also in the XVIIth of Leviticus to shew the weightiness of this Command That it may go well with thee and with thy Children after thee when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD When they neither followed the Idolatrous Customs which the Gentiles used about the Blood nor prophanely meddled with that which was peculiar to God when it was offered at the Altar Which was the great reason why they were prohibited to eat Blood Ver. 26. Only thy holy things which thou hast and thy vows thou shalt take and go unto the place which the LORD shall chuse Only he would have them Verse 26 not to forget that the things mentioned v. 17. they were not to eat at home but at the House of God though it was never so far distant from them Verse 27 Ver. 27. And thou shalt offer thy Burnt-offerings the Flesh and the Blood upon the Altar of the LORD thy God No Sacrifices were to be offered any where but at the Sanctuary as he had said before v. 6. and now reminds them of it that they might observe it and do accordingly And the Blood of thy Sacrifices shall be poured out upon the Altar of the LORD thy God All their Peace-offerings as well as others were to be there offered and their Blood poured on the Altar as a holy thing whereas the Blood of those Creatures they killed at home was poured out as a common thing like Water And thou shalt eat the Flesh After God and his Priests had their parts Verse 28 Ver. 28. Observe and hear all these words which I command thee that it may go well with thee and with thy Children after thee for ever
This was the great Commandment to serve God alone and the observance of it was the great Condition upon which all their Happiness depended Which makes him again press their care in this matter When thou dost that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God Pleased God by a strict obedience to this Precept Verse 29 Ver. 29. And when the LORD thy God shall cut off the Nations from before thee whither thou goest to possess them c. See IX 1. Ver. 30. Take heed to thy self that thou be not snared by following them after that they be destroyed from before thee It is plain from hence that in this Chapter as well as the foregoing he is still endeavouring Verse 30 to secure them from the Idolatrous Customs of the Country which they went to possess Which is the ground of the following Prohibition about which he could not say too much they being so prone to Idolatry and the danger they incurred thereby so exceeding great There are some of the Jews who think that by following them is meant following their Fashions in their Clothes and in their Ornaments as it is explained in the Book Siphri which might intice them to imitate their Religious Rites which it appears by the next words are principally intended After that they be destroyed from before thee It was the most unaccountable folly to worship the gods of those Nations whom they saw expelled their Country for their Idolatries And that thou enquire not after their gods They were not so much as to ask what gods they worshipped Saying How did these Nations serve their gods Nor endeavour to know the manner of their Worship Which was very different as Maimonides observes according as their gods differed one from another for that sort of Worship which was acceptable to one god might not be given to another As they uncovered themselves if we may believe him before Baal-peor and threw a Stone to Mercury See his Tract concerning the Worship of the Planets Cap. III. Sect. 2 c. and Dionys Vossius his Annotations there Where he resolves that if they uncovered themselves to Mercury or threw a Stone to Baal-peor it was not Idolatry because not their proper Worship Which is a foolish Opinion for they were not to use any of their Religious Rites no more than to offer Sacrifice burn Incense or bow down to any of their Idols which he acknowledges was Idolatry In short if they gave the Idol the Worship proper to him or that Worship which was proper to the true God he acknowledges they were guilty Even so will I do likewise Though Men only resolved to do it yet they were guilty of committing this Sin The Jews indeed make no great account of sins committed in the heart yet in this Case they are very strict having framed this Maxim as R. Levi Barcelonita observes Proecept CCXXVI which their Rabbins industriously inculcate into their Scholars That the blessed God imputes no thought of any Transgression to an Israelite as if it were the fact it self except only the thought of Idolatry which is imputed to a Man as if he had committed Idolatry Now it was a reasonable Presumption that he who enquired how the People of Canaan worshipped their gods intended at least to worship the God of Israel as they did those Idols And this gave too much cause to suspect that he had an inclination to worship their Idols instead of God For otherwise he would have rested content with that way of worshipping God which the Law had prescribed Whereupon the Jews have determined as our Mr. Thorndike hath observed that there are four Ceremonies which whosoever performs to any thing but to God alone must be understood to worship it for God which are Sacrificing Burning Incense Pouring out Drink-offerings and Adoration But others there are by doing which Men cannot be concluded to worship any thing but God till they do it in that way and fashion as is done by those who profess to worship it for God See his Principles of Christian Truth Chap. XXVI Ver. 31. Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy Verse 31 God See v. 4. Of which the Reason is here given For every Abomination to the LORD which he hateth have they done unto their gods For instance The Zabij saith Maimonides I find in their Books offered to their great God the Sun seven Batts and seven Mice and seven other creeping Things which alone may suffice to demonstrate how vile and abominable their Worship was and what reason there was so severely to prohibit their Idolatry and every thing pertaining to it More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXIX For even their Sons and their Daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods This is the great Instance of their abominable Wickedness Of which see XVIII Levit. 21. XX. 2. This was notoriously practised by the Carthaginians who it is certain derived it from the Phaenicians the ancient Inhabitants of this Country Plato mentions it in Protagora where he saith The Athenian Laws did not permit them to sacrifice Men but among the Carthaginians it was an holy Rite so that some of them permitted their Sons to be offered to Saturn Which wicked Custom at last overspread all Nations even the Greeks themselves as Joh. Gensius hath demonstrated Lib. de Victimis Humanis P. I. Cap. XI and P. II. Cap. VI. Ver. 32. Whatsoever thing I command you observe to Verse 32 do it Keep close to the Precepts I have given you about my Worship v. 28. and see IV. 2. Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it They were not to add any other Rites of Worship of their own devising or from the Idolatrous Customs of those Countries nor omit any of those which God had commanded them to use For if they had used any of the Gentile Ceremonies whereby they honoured their gods it would easily have introduced the Worship of the gods themselves and if they had omitted any of the Rites which God had ordained some other would have easily stept into their room which were used by Idolaters Maimonides from these words labours to prove the Eternity of the Law of Moses But it is very strange that so great a Man should be so blind as not to see what some of his Brethren could discern That God did not bind up himself neither to change nor alter these Laws though he did not permit the Israelites to do it So the Author Sepher Ikkarim wisely glosses upon these words Lib. III. Cap. XIV The Scripture prohibits us to add unto or detract from these Precepts according to our Will and Pleasure but what hinders the blessed God either to add or detract when his blessed Wisdom shall think fit Which he illustrates in the foregoing Chapter by this Example among others A Physician prescribes a Diet to his Patient for such a time as he judges convenient which he doth not declare to the sick Man Now when the time
more Reverence for them than to Accuse them of any Crime whatsoever As if a greater regard was to be had to them than to God himself The true Reason is because there was no need to name them for if their Piety to God was to overcome their Love to all those Relations before-mentioned it could not be supposed that Respect to Parents was to come into competition with it Intice thee secretly In the foregoing Verses he speaks of an open Seducer and here of a secret one There of one that came with Authority and here of one of the ordinary People Saying Let us go and serve other gods The Jews think this is meant of one who invited others to Idolatry but did not press them with Reasons as in the former Case Which is not likely for all Men pretend some Reason or other for such a great Alteration as that to a new Religion Which thou hast not known thou nor thy Fathers This aggravates the Crime to entice them to forsake God who was known to have done such Wonders for their Fathers and was so good to them and go to serve gods with whom they had no Acquaintance Ver. 7. Namely of the gods of the People which are round about you nigh unto thee or far off from thee Wheresoever they were for several Nations had several Verse 7 gods whether in the neighbouring Countries or in remote Parts it made no difference at all if they were strange gods From one end of the Earth even unto the other end of the Earth The Enticer might possibly suggest the Universality of the Worship to which he invited him as an Argument to embrace it Verse 8 Ver. 8. Thou shalt not consent unto him As many words as there are in this Verse the Jews think there are so many Precepts The first of which is this Not to be led by Affection and kindness to yield unto his Motion So they interpret these words Thou shalt not love him Nor hearken unto him I do not see how this differs from the former but they interpret it That they ought to hate him as well as his Motion So Maimonides in his Book of the Worship of the Planets Cap. V. Sect. 6 7. Neither shall thine eye pity him This they fancy signifies that if he were in danger of death they should not help him but let him perish Neither shalt thou spare When he was brought before the Judge they were not to intercede for him nor say any thing in his favour nor assist him to defend himself Neither shalt thou conceal him Dissemble any thing that might make against him And no doubt God intended by all these words to signifie that he ought to be lookt upon as his greatest Enemy upon whom therefore they were to have no Mercy but to prosecute him unto death as guilty of the highest Treason against the Divine Majesty Ver. 9. But thou shalt surely kill him Not privately as he inticed others but by a Legal Process against him in a Court of Judgment And that not Verse 9 the highest but in the Court of XXIII who might proceed against him as Mr. Selden observes Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. VI. The only difficulty was how to prove him Guilty who inticed another secretly as the Text saith and not before Witnesses To which the Jews answer That he who was inticed was to dispose some Persons as secretly near to the place of their next meeting who might hear all he said and testifie it in Court Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death He was to be stoned to Death and the Accuser was to throw the first Stone at him together with the Witnesses XVII 7. For it would have weakned the Credit of his Accusation if he had not been the foremost in the Execution See XVII 7. And afterwards the hand of all the People Who were to assist in the Execution of this Sentence The first words of this Verse which we translate Thou shalt surely kill him the Vulgar Latin translates Thou shalt forthwith kill him And so the Jews understand the Hebrew Phrase Killing thou shalt kill him i. e. immediately have him before the Court of Judgment As the LXX understood it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 informing thou shalt inform against him that is without delay And accordingly the Jews add that after he was Condemned he was immediately also put to death Whereas in other Crimes the Execution was respited after the Sentence was pronounced for a Day and a Night that the Man might have time to clear his Innocence if he were able by any new Proofs Such Severity was but needful among a People prone to Idolatry and incompassed on all sides with idolatrous Nations Verse 10 Ver. 10. And thou shalt stone him with stones that he die But if upon Admonition he desisted from his Enticement and repented of what he had said to his Neighbour and resolved himself not to worship other gods he was not bound to inform against him Because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. See v. 5. The very attempt of this was Criminal though he did not prevail in his Seducement Verse 11 Ver. 11. And all Israel shall hear and fear and shall do no more any such wickedness as this among you The end of this Severity was to preserve the Body of the People from the Contagion of Idolatry Nothing being more apt to deter Men from Crimes than such exemplary Punishments of them So Callimachus in his Hymn to Ceres Vers 23. makes this the design of the Punishment she inflicted on Erysichthon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that others might shun the like Transgression Verse 12 Ver. 12. And if thou shalt hear say in one of thy Cities which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell in saying If the Infection was spread into a City or a considerable part of it there was still more danger and greater Severity was to be used to prevent the whole Country about it from being drawn away from their Allegiance to the Divine Majesty And therefore upon such an Information as follows in the next Verse which is here meant by thou shalt hear say given to the great Sanhedrim they were to do as is directed v. 14. Ver. 13. Certain Men the Children of Belial So Verse 13 the most profligate Wretches are called in Scripture XIX Judges 22. 1 Sam. I. 16. X. 27. XXV 17 25. signifying lawless Persons who had no regard either to God or Men. Are gone out from among you Left the Worship of God at the Tabernacle For it doth not signifie their forsaking the City in which they continued to seduce Men from their Religion but forsaking their Communion in Divine Service By which many have well observed that place in St. John may be interpreted 1 Epist. St. John II. 19. And have withdrawn the Inhabitants of their City The Hebrew word which here we
of the release It is Verse 2 thus to be understood Every Creditor that lendeth ought unto his Neighbour shall release it It was an entire acquittance not of Debts contracted by Sale of Lands or Goods to those who were able to pay but of Money lent to a Neighbour or Friend meerly to relieve his Poverty not to carry on Trade or to make a Purchase For nothing could have been more absurd than to have extinguished such Debts whereby the borrower was inriched He shall not exact it of his Neighbour or of his Brother Here the word Brother is added to explain what is meant by a Neighbour viz. an Israelite or a Proselyte entirely of their Religion who had all the Priviledges of an Israelite Some think that by not exacting Money lent to such a Man is meant no more but only forbearing to demand it in this year because there was no sowing or reaping in it or if he did that he should not have power to recover it by Law this year though afterward he might But the plain meaning seems to be that he should be perfectly free from his Debt as a Servant after six years was from his Service Though if afterward he grew rich in good Conscience he was bound to pay it Because it is the LORD's release In the Hebrew the words Schemitta laihova signifie that this year was a Release to the LORD or for the LORD In honour that is of him who made this a year of great Charity In obedience to whom they were bound to be very kind to their poor Brethren But the Jews fancy they were not bound to be so kind as to make this Release till the very last day of the year So that if a Man had borrowed Money in the beginning of it he was not acquitted till the year expired Verse 3 Ver. 3. Of a forreigner thou mayest exact it again Of an Alien as we translate the word Nocri in the foregoing Chapter v. 21. That is of one who was neither an Israelite nor proselyted to their Religion but a meer Gentile The only question is whether they were not to remit the Debts of a Proselyte of the Gate who I think is no where called their Brother in the Law and therefore they were not obliged to discharge them from what they owed But that which is thine with thy Brother thine hand shall not touch This seems to restrain it wholly to those who were Jews or had all the Priviledges of Jews Verse 4 Ver. 4. Save when there shall be no poor among you Whether we follow this Translation or that in the Margin of our Bibles it appears that they were obliged to acquit only their poor Brethren Of whom they were not to exact their Debts least they should be tempted to flee to the Gentiles and forsake their Religion So this was a Provision still against Idolatry Or if we understand it as it is in the Margin to the end that there be no poor among you the sence is the same that they were by this Charity to keep Men from extream Necessity which might force them to go a begging or to seek for Relief in strange Countries For the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it He would not have them think that they might become poor themselves by this means for he assures them God would prevent that by sending his extraordinary Blessing upon them Cardinal Cajetan and some others understand this Verse as if it were all of it a Promise and contained no Precept in it viz. That God would take care they should not be burdened by this Law for he would so bless them that they should have no Poor among them and then they were not obliged to acquit those of their Debts who were able to pay them Ver. 5. Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice Verse 5 of the LORD thy God to observe to do all these Commandments which I command thee this day Particularly this of releasing their poor Neighbours from their Debts which would intitle them to the Blessing he promises again in the next Verse Ver. 6. For the LORD God blesseth thee as he promised Verse 6 thee God had many ways blessed them already and he promises to reward their Obedience with greater Blessings And thou shalt lend unto many Nations but thou shalt not borrow Grow so very rich that other Nations should come to borrow of them but they be beholden to none And thou shalt reign over many Nations c. I suppose he means no more than Solomon doth when he saith The borrower is servant to the lender XXII Prov. 7. But it may extend to their dominion over many Nations whom they conquered till they enlarged their Bounds as far as Euphrates Verse 7 Ver. 7. If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren in any of thy gates in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother As they might be inclined to do after the passing of this Law thinking with themselves that what they lent to such a Man they should never have again but must lose it if he were not able to repay it before the Year of Release This seems to be the meaning of this Verse which the Jews interpret not of lending but of giving Alms. It is not much material which way we take it For he that lent to a poor Man was willing to give what he lent if he could not pay him before the Year of Release after which he could not demand it Thou shalt not harden thine heart nor shalt thou shut thine hand from thy poor brother Covetousness proceeds from want of Pity Tenderness and Compassion towards others in their Miseries unto which Nature it self inclines us especially towards Members of the same Society And the Jews had several particular Obligations to be tender-hearted as they were all Children of God after a peculiar manner who had been wonderful kind and merciful to them XIV 2. Verse 8 Ver. 8. But thou shalt open thine hand wide to him Bountifully supply him with what he wants And shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanted The Jews understood this not meerly of affording him Food sufficient to satisfie his hunger and Clothes to cover his nakedness and keep him warm but furnishing him with Houshold-goods if he had been forced to sell all he had that he might live comfortably Yea they proceed so far as to determine that the Neighbourhood should joyn together and make a Purse for him to put him in as good a Condition as he was before he fell into this want They determine also the quantity that every Man should give A very liberal Person the fifth part of what he had if need required a Man of moderate Bounty a tenth part If any Man gave less when the Case required
more he was accounted a Niggard or as they phrase it a Man of an evil eye But notwithstanding all these Precepts and their Interpretations the Jews so little minded their Poor that their Governors were at last forced as we now alas do to lay a Rate upon the Rich for the Maintenance of the Poor which they enabled their Officers to exact See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. VI. and Maimonides de Donis Pauperum set forth by a very learned Friend of mine Dr. Prideaux Cap. VII who argues from this place that if a poor Man wanted a Wife they were bound to provide him one c. Ver. 9. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked Verse 9 heart saying The seventh year the year of Release is at hand If such a Thought came into their Mind that they should lose what they lent because the seventh year approached they were bound to stifle it immediately and not suffer it to lodge there And thine eye be evil against thy poor brother This move thee to be unkind and unmerciful to him So a Man of an evil eye signifies in XXIII Prov. 6. one that grudges what another eats at his Table And thou givest him nought Lending was in this case giving when a Man was very poor and the Year of Release so near that he could have no prospect of his being able to repay him And he cry unto the LORD against thee Make his doleful Complaint unto God finding no Relief from Men. And it be sin unto thee God charge it upon thee as an offence against his Majesty yea a great offence For so the word sin sometimes signifies XV John 24. IV James 17. Verse 10 Ver. 10. Thou shalt surely give him Not fail to relieve his Wants And thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him They were not only to relieve him but to do it cheerfully Because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy Works and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto There is no difference between all their work and all that they put their hand unto for all Works are performed by the hand unless one refer to what they did within doors and the other to their Labours in the Field Verse 11 Ver. 11. For the poor shall never cease out of thy Land There would always be some or other among them who stood in need of the forenamed charitable Relief by which they might be preserved from extream Poverty which God intended to prevent as is plain from v. 4. See Grotius upon XXVI S. Matth. 11. The Hierusalem Targum understand this as if there should have been no Poor amongst them if they had been obedient to God's Precepts Therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide If any one refused to give or gave less than became him Maimonides saith in the forenamed place the Sanhedrim compelled him to it and whipt him with the stripes of rebellion or contumacy i. e. very sorely till he gave as much as they judged he ought to do To thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in thy Land Here are evidently three different sorts of Persons mentioned as Objects of their Charity which may be lookt upon as directing the excellent order of it For first they were to relieve those that were nearest to them in Blood called here their Brethren Then secondly such as were in great Misery And thirdly such as were low in the World and required some help but not so much as the former sort Some indeed will not admit such a difference between the words poor and needy but think the last signifies such whose Condition was Calamitous About which I think it is not worth the while to dispute I shall rather observe that God took exceeding great care that none should come to very great want by the large Provision he made for the poorer sort of People who had the benefit of the third Tithe mentioned in the foregoing Chapter which was wholly given to them every third year and of the Sabbatical Year when all that grew of it self was common to every Body and of this Release of Debts in the same year and of the large quantity of Corn which they were bound to leave every year in the Corners of their Fields with the Ears that fell and the Sheaf that was left c. Ver. 12. If thy brother an Hebrew man or an Hebrew Verse 12 woman be sold unto thee Whether sold by themselves or by the Court of Judgment for Theft But there was some difference between a Man and a Woman See XXI Exod. 2 3 c. And the same Law they say was to be observed about those who were sold by their Father or were born of Hebrew Slaves And serve thee six years then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free He doth not speak of the Year of Release as if he were then to be set free though he had served but one year or perhaps no more than half a year before that came but of the seventh year from the time of his Sale For he was to serve six compleat years unless the Jubilee hapned to intervene when every one was set free though he had not served so long But such Servants as were taken in the Wars or were sold by Canaanites or born of them might be kept perpetual Slaves unless they were maimed by their Masters with the loss of some Member of their Body Verse 13 Ver. 13. And when thou sendest him out free from thee thou shalt not let him go away empty But bestow something upon him for his more comfortable Subsistence when he was a Free-man And this comprehends Women as well as Men as appears by the foregoing Verse but then it is to be understood of such as went out free by virtue of this Law after they had served six years not of such as were redeemed by their Friends or redeemed themselves with their own Money XXV Levit. 18. For such might be supposed not to need their Masters kindness as they did who had nothing to help them out of their Slavery Verse 14 Ver. 14. Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock and out of thy floor and out of thy Wine-press That they might put themselves in a way of living well in the World which they were not able to do without this Assistance because what they got in their six years Service was wholly for their Master and not for themselves He doth not prescribe a certain measure to their Bounty but leaves every Man to express his Affection freely towards God and towards his Neighbour But the Hebrews say they were bound to give them at least thirty Shekels of Silver Of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee that shalt thou give him Considering how God hath inriched thee even by his Service Ver. 15. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a Verse 15 bondman in
was but till they had eaten the Paschal Lamb after which they might return home if they pleased So Bochartus who from hence proves that the most Solemn Days of the Feast of unleavened Bread were not observed like a Sabbath because Men might travel home upon the first Day of unleavened Bread as the whole Nation travelled out of Egypt on this day from Rameses to Succoth Yet pious People who were able to bear so great a Charge were wont no doubt to stay the whole seven Days before they returned home because the first and last Days of the Feast were great Solemnities So they did in the Passover of Hezekiah and Josiah 2 Chron. XXX 21. XXXV 17. And there being special Sacrifices to be offered every day during this Festival as was before said Solomon ben Virgoe observes that all the Country thereabouts brought their Oxen and their Sheep to be sold at this time to those who came from far so that the Mountains round about Jerusalem were covered with them and not a bit of Grass to be seen He adds also That whosoever did not come up to this Feast all his Goods were forfeited and converted to Sacred Uses Shebet Jehuda p. 378. Ver. 8. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread and Verse 8 on the seventh day shall be a solemn Assembly unto the LORD thy God This is to be understood as if he had said that after they had eaten unleavened Bread six days they should conclude the Solemnity upon the seventh day with a Solemn Assembly or as it is in the Hebrew with a restraint but still continue also on this day to eat unleavened Bread For this Feast was to last seven days and in all the foregoing Books they are expresly required to ear unleavened Bread seven days XII Exod. 15. XXIII Levit. 6. XXVIII Numb 17. A Solemn Assembly Which the Hebrews call Atzereth of the meaning of which see XXIII Lev. 36. Thou shalt do no work therein That is no Servile Work as it is explained XXVIII Numb 25. but they might dress their Meat which the LXX seems to mean by those words which they add 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 save only such things as shall be done to preserve life Verse 9 Ver. 9. Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee From the morrow after the Sabbath when they brought the Sheaf of the Wave-offering as it is explained in XXIII Levit. 15. See there Begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the Corn. For they began to cut Barley at the Passover as is manifest from hence that Joshua passed over Jordan to enter into Canaan in the time of Harvest III Josh 15. and this was in the month of Nisan when they kept the Passover as appears from V Josh 10. Which Month could not be called Abib or the Month of New Fruits if some Corn was not then ripe viz. Barley This Josephus confirms Lib. III. Antiq. Cap. X. Which must be understood as Hermannus Conringius observes in his Treatise de Initio Anni Sabbatici c. of that sort of Barly which was sown in Autumn as it is this day in Frisia which required a stronger Soil than that sown in the Spring and produced a much richer Crop See Mr. Mede's Works p. 355. who observes how very different their Climate was from ours Ver. 10. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto Verse 10 the LORD thy God The reason of this Name is given in the foregoing Verse And see XXXIV Exod. 22. It was called also the Feast of Harvest See XXIII Exod. 16. With a Tribute of a Free-will-offering of thine hand which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God c. Besides those Offerings which are prescribed XXIII Levit. 17 18. XXVIII Numb 27 c. The quantity is not directed but left to every Man's Piety And whatsoever it was he brought it was wholly given to God and he that brought it had no share in it but God gave it to his Priests According as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee Though no quantity was prescribed yet God expected every Man should offer proportionably to his Estate and they who had a religious sense of God's goodness in blessing their Labours no doubt acknowledged it by a Liberal Tribute Ver. 11. And thou shalt rejoyce before the LORD thy Verse 11 God thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant and the Levite that is within thy gates c. This Feast was made of such Offerings as are mentioned XII 7 17 18 19. Ver. 12. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a Verse 12 bondman in Egypt They are often put in mind of this as an Argument to Charity particularly towards their Servants See XV. 15. And thou shalt observe and do these Statutes There was a particular reason for keeping this Feast because it was in remembrance of God's giving them his Law from Mount Sinai where he spake with them himself Ver. 13. Thou shalt observe the Feast of Tabernacles seven days after that thou hast gathered in thy Corn and Verse 13 thy Wine This is the third great Feast at which all their Males were bound to appear every year as we read XXIII Exod. 16 17. XXXIV 22 23. Of which he puts them in mind again XXIII Levit. 34 35 36. and here v. 16. Verse 14 Ver. 14. And thou shalt rejoyce in thy Feast thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant c. There was the like Law at Athens where King Cecrops ordained as Macrobius tells us Lib. I. Saturnal Cap. X. the Master of every Family should after Harvest make a Feast for his Servants and eat together with them who had taken pains with him in tilling his Ground Delectari enim Deum honore Servorum contemplatu laboris for God delighted in the honour done to Servants in consideration of their Labour This it 's likely he learnt from Moses for he reigned at Athens much about the same time that Israel came out of Egypt and was the first as Eusebius saith who taught the Greeks to call God by the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. X. Proepar Evangel which we may interpret the Living God Though therein he seems to be a little mistaken For Pausanias saith more than once both in his Arcadia and his Attica That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was the first that called Jupiter by the name of the Most High or Supream And the same we read in St. Cyril against Julian Lib. I. See Joh. Meursius de Regibus Atheniensium Lib. I. Cap. IX Verse 15 Ver. 15. Seven days shalt thou keep a Feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse In order to which that it might be kept the more Solemnly it is once more enjoyned and all the Sacrifices that were to be offered in each of the seven days appointed in XXIX Numb from v.
12. to v. 35. where he orders also the eighth day to be solemnly observed for a special reason See there Because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy increase and in all the works of thy hands Thankfulness to God for Blessings bestowed was the way to procure more Therefore thou shalt surely rejoyce In God the giver of all good things whom the whole Nation by the Institution of this Feast were incited to bless and praise for the Fruits of his Bounty to them And Peace-offerings were sacrificed on purpose for this end XXVII 7. From the repetition of this Command Thou shalt rejoyce the Jews infer that though all Festivals were Times of Joy yet the Feast of Tabernacles was to be celebrated with greater Joy than all the rest And accordingly Maimonides tells us the whole Festival was spent in Musick and Dancing and Singing Night and Day Ver. 16. Three times in the year shall all thy Males Verse 16 appear before the LORD thy God in the place c. This is so frequently enjoyned See v. 13. because it was of the greatest Consequence that they should meet as often as they could conveniently at one and the same place to worship the Divine Majesty whereby the Notion of the Unity of God was preserved among them And they shall not appear before the LORD empty This is also frequently repeated where the Feasts themselves are enjoyned XXIII Exod. 15. XXXIV 20. And from these and the following words That every man should give as he was able c. came the pious Custom in the beginning of our Religion that the People when they came to the LORD's Table offer'd Bread and Wine and Corn and Oil and such like things for the Support of God's Ministers and the Relief of the Poor every one according to their Ability Which was done in acknowledgment of God as the Author of Life and of all good Things for which they in this manner shewed their Gratitude to him And the Priests in the presence of all the People lifted them up and gave God thanks and beseeched him to accept them And out of these in many places they made their Agapae or Feasts of Charity for the Poor Mention is made of these Oblations in the Canons ascribed to the Apostles Cap. 3 4. which though not made by them yet contain a great many Apostolical Customs Verse 17 Ver. 17. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee It was but reasonable that the more bountiful God had been to them the more liberally they should offer a grateful Acknowledgment to him For all the forenamed three Feasts had relation to the Fruits of the Earth which God had blessed them withal as well as commemorated former great Benefits bestowed on their Fore-fathers The Passover being at the beginning of Barley Harvest Pentecost at the beginning of Wheat-Harvest and the Feast of Tabernacles when they had gathered in all the Fruits of the Earth At which Seasons all Mankind were ever wont to be full of Joy and to offer Sacrifices So Aristotle tells us Lib. VIII ad Nicomachum Cap. II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The ancient Sacrifices and Conventions seem to have been after the gathering in of the Fruits of the Earth as a First-fruits at which time chiefly they rested from their labours And so Strabo likewise Lib. X. Geograph p. 467. It is common both to Greeks and Barbarians to offer their Sacrifices with a Festival intermission of their Labours c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so Nature taught them to do that is to thank God with Rejoycing and Cessation from Labours For which he gives this surprising Reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For remission of Labour abstracts the Mind from Humane Affairs and turns it towards God This certainly was the ancient intention of all such Festival Times as the Heathen themselves could discern Ver. 18. Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee Verse 18 To see that these and all other Laws were duly observed Moses de Cotzi upon these words makes this difference between Schofetim and Schoterim that the former viz. Judges were the Senators in the several Courts who decided Causes and the other Officers were no more than Ministers attending the Court to keep the People in order with a Staff and a Whip and to execute the Decrees and Orders of the Judges whom they appointed not only in the Court but in the Streets looking after Weights and Measures in the Market and correcting Offenders Maimonides also makes them the same with our Apparitors or those who in the Roman Law are called Officiales as Constantine L'Empereur observes p. 362. upon Cornelius Bertram who mistook them for a sort of Judges and in the Digests Executores and in the New Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exactors XII Luke 58. Josephus makes them to have been Publick Criers and so we find them imployed XX. 8. I Josh 11. But then some of them at least seem to have been an honourable sort like our Heralds XXIII Josh 2. and all of them were Men of Authority though but young Men as Maimonides describes them who had not attained the Years and Knowledge of Doctors of the Law and therefore unfit to be Judges But the Jews place them next under their wise Men or Doctors and above their Scribes and Clerks as Mr. Thorndike observes in his Review of the Rights of the Church p. 94. But that they were certainly only under Officers and not Judges there is another Argument which is That Solomon upon this account commends the Ants that they carefully do their business though they have no Schoter set over them VI Prov. 7. no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to force or affright them into it In all thy gates That is in every City as Mr. Selden observes out of the Jewish Writers Lib. VII de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. V. and more largely L. II. de Synedriis Cap. V. Sect. 1. where he shows they interpret it in all the Cities of Israel both within the Land and without where Israel had any Jurisdiction Which is so true that they had Consistories wheresoever they were dispersed for the determining all Differences arising out of the Law though not as to the power of Life and Death which was seldom granted them by their Soveraigns Thus we learn from Philo that there was such a Consistory at Alexandria and the little Chronicle called Seder Olam Zuta tells us of the like in Babylonia And after the destruction of the Temple it is manifest not only by the Jewish Writings but by Epiphanius and others that there continued a Consistory at Tiberias for many Ages c. See Mr. Thorndike's Rights of the Church p. 56 57. and his Review of it p. 56. But though this be granted yet these words in all thy gates may suggest also the part of the City where they kept
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
was when a Cause came before them upon an Appeal for it was not so Criminal to disobey every Sentence of the Supream Court but only such as these or to the place where it was made which was to be no where else but at God's dwelling place or to the things about which the Decree was made which some will have to be only weighty Matters and the act of Contumacy also was considered for he was not put to death they say unless in open Court he declared a contrary Sentence The death he suffered was strangling and he could suffer in no other place but where this High Court sat See Selden of all these in the place before-mentioned N. II III IV V VI. And it may be further observed that the Prophets themselves were subject to the Power and Jurisdiction of this High Court by whom they might be sentenced to Capital Punishment if they taught contrary to the Law of God But our Mr. Thorndike makes a doubt whether the Constitution which the Jewish Writers mention about a Rebellious Elder as they call him who taught any thing contrary to the determination of this Supream Court was ever in force or no For it was made because of the differences between the Schools of Hillel and Sammai who lived not long before our Saviour's time when it appears by the Gospel that Nation had lost the Power of Life and Death See Rights of the Church Chap. V. p. 256. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel This may refer either to the evil Person or to the great scandal and dangerous Example he gave by resisting the highest Authority and thereby breaking the Bond of Unity and Peace Verse 13 Ver. 13. And all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously This Punishment was intended to strike a terror into all the People that they should not adventure to oppose the Supream Authority And for this end the Offender was to be kept in custody as R. Aquiba understood this till the next great Feast either of the Passover or Pentecost or Tabernacles and then executed when the whole Nation i. e. all the Males were present This Mr. Selden observes in the forenamed place N. VII is the most received Opinion though R. Jehuda saith they did not make the Sentence sharper by a long delay but executed it presently And for the further publication of it they sent Letters to all the Tribes and Cities of Israel to give notice that such a Man was executed at such a time for this Crime See Selden there N. VIII Verse 14 Ver. 14. And when thou comest into the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee and shalt possess it and shalt dwell therein When they had conquered the Land of Canaan and were settled in it And shalt say I will set a King over me The Jews commonly from this and the next Verse fancy that God commanded them to make a King when they came to the Land of Canaan and had a quiet possession of it following herein the Gemara of the Sanhedrim Cap. II. Insomuch that they have presumed to make this an affirmative Precept That a King of the People should be chosen and quote this place for it To which some Learned Men among Christians have seemed to incline particularly Petrus Cunaeus Lib. de Republ. Hebr. Cap. XIV and Guil. Schikardus in his Jus Regium Cap. I. Theor. I. But Abarbinel himself contradicts this and so doth Josephus who observes that God intended they should keep their present Government but if they would have a King he should be one of their Brethren For thus he interprets this place Lib. I. Antiq. Cap. VIII that they should not affect any other Government but love the present having the Laws for their Master and living according to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is sufficient that God is your Ruler And then he adds but if you desire to have a King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be one of your own Nation as it here follows in the next Verse Like as all the Nations that are about me Such as the Edomites who had been governed by Kings before the days of Moses See XXXVI Gen. 31. Ver. 15. Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee Install and receive him into the Throne Whom the LORD thy God shall choose They could not elect whom they pleased but the first King at least was to be appointed oy God himself who was their Supream Governour So the People understood it when they desired Samuel who was their chief Ruler under God to make them a King 1 Sam. VIII 5. but durst not to presume to set one up of themselves And to confirm them in this Opinion Samuel saith to Saul 1 Sam. X. 1. The LORD hath anointed thee to be Captain over his Inheritance and saith to all the People v. 24. See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen And accordingly when the lot was to be cast to show who was to be their King Samuel bids all the Tribes present themselves before the LORD v. 19. And when it fell upon Saul and they could not find him they enquired of the LORD and the LORD answered where he was v. 22. In like manner when Saul was rejected the LORD himself appointed David to be anointed their King and settled that Authority in his Family And to determine which of his Sons should have it God himself appointed his immediate Successor viz. Solomon For so David declares to all the Princes and the great Men whom he assembled before his death Of all my Sons the LORD hath chosen Solomon to sit upon the Throne of the Kingdom of the LORD God of Israel 1 Chron. XXVIII 5. And again XXIX 1. David said unto all the Congregation Solomon my son whom alone God hath chosen is yet young c. But though it was thus in the beginning of this Kingdom yet God intended at length to make it hereditary as appears from v. 20. of this Chapter One from amongst thy Brethren shalt thou set over thee i. e. Saith the Tradition mentioned by the Jews out of Tosiphta the most select and choice Person that could be found not one of mean Extraction or Employment This they fancy is meant by from among thy brethren Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee which is not thy brother This the Jews extend to all Offices whatsoever as Maimonides reports their sense See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XX. p. 647. And by thy brother some of them understand one that was an Israelite both by Father and Mother though others think it sufficient if a King was an Israelite by the Mother's side See there Cap. XXII Which in his Book de Succession ad Pontificat Lib. II. he shows was sufficient for any Dignity among the Israelites but only the Priesthood See also Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. IX N. VI. where he observes the Talmudists say the great Sanhedrim was
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
and thereby proved himself the greatest of all the Prophets For though Moses foretold his own death yet neither he nor any other Prophet whatsoever but our Saviour spake of his being raised up again In which he may be thought to be like to Moses who was raised up by God to be a Saviour of his People out of that Ark which without the special Providence of God had been his Tomb. And unto this Resurrection of Christ doth the propriety of this phrase from the midst of thee agree for this was done as Dr. Jackson also well observes in the midst of Jerusalem the Metropolis of Judaea not without express notice given of it to the Rulers of the People And such a Confirmation it was that he was the Prophet they should all hear that there could not be a greater as all Strangers both to their Religion and ours must agree and they themselves cannot deny For Nachmanides relating in a Letter of his to the Rabbins at Marseilles how there was a Man in those days in the Southern Countries who pretended to be the forerunner of the Messiah unto whom great numbers both of Jews and Arabs resorted tells us that he being apprehended by the King of the Country and askt what Miracle he show'd to confirm his Commission he answered boldly Cut of my Head and I will come to life again To which the King of the Arabs replied There is no sign greater than this which if it come to pass both I and the whole World will believe thee Whereupon his Head was cut off and there was an end of all his pretences though some of the Jews were so mad as Maimonides there saith that they still expected his return to life Thus R. Gedaliah reports in his Schalshelet Hakkabalah Verse 19 Ver. 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name This is the proper Character of a Prophet to deliver in the Name of God what he received from God This did Moses but Christ most eminently as I before observed from XII John 49 50. where he saith I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak c. whatsoever therefore I speak even as the Father said unto me so I speak Which is a perfect Commentary upon these words of Moses Who here calls Christ a Prophet not a Priest or a King though he was to be both because he would not have the Jews mistake and expect to find in his Person the worldly Grandeur of a mighty Prince or the high honour and splendor of Aaron but have the greatest regard to the heavenly Doctrine which he taught them as he himself he told them was taught by the Father For I proceeded forth saith he and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me and I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things VIII John 28 42. This was the highest honour of all to speak God's words v. 47. in the Name of God V. 42. I conclude this with the remarkable words of the Midrasch upon Ecclesiastes who thus expresses the sense of this Prophecy As was the first Redeemer such shall be the last Redeemer Which plainly determine the Prophet here spoken of to be one single Person and he no other but the LORD Christ See Huetius in his Demonstr Evang. Propos VII N. IX I will require it of him Severely punish him so as to destroy him from among his People as St. Peter interprets it III Acts 23. And so this Phrase is used IX Gen. 5. XLII 22. And there was great reason for such severity seeing they had so solemnly bound themselves to hearken to this Prophet when they desired God not to speak any more to them by himself but by a Mediator which God then promised as I observed v. 18. A Mediator of a better Covenant who should secure them from such dreadful Flames as they then saw if they would hearken to him as they promised to do otherwise what could they expect but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation to devour the Adversaries For since he that despised Moses his Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God in the open face of all the World X Hebr. 27 28 29. Which is a full explication of these words Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him Or as Onkelos translates it My WORD shall require it of him Where Memra WORD can signifie nothing but a Divine Person distinct from him who speaks these words even that very Person to whom the Apostle applies them Ver. 20. But the Prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name c. These words plainly suggest to us that Moses intended in the foregoing Discourse Verse 20 to admonish the Israelites to hearken diligently to all such Prophets as God should at any time raise up to them though it be most evident if we examine the propriety of every Word or Clause in the whole Context they cannot be exactly fitted unto any Prophet but Christ Unto whom the whole Discourse is as fully accommodated as a well made Garment to the Body that wears it They are the words of the same excellent Person so often mentioned Dr. Jackson Lib. III. on the Creed Cap. XXI Paragr 1 2. Speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him or that shall speak in the name of other gods It was a manifest sign a Man was a false Prophet if he spake in the name of Baal or any other god but the God of Israel Or if he said such a Star by its spiritual influence coming upon me said Worship me after this manner or thus call upon me as Maimonides who gives an account of the several sorts of false Prophets speaks in his Preface to Seder Zeraim But how should they know a Man to be a false Prophet when he spake to them in the Name of the LORD For Men might pretend as some did that God had sent them and given them a Command when he had not To which he answers in the next Verses Even that Prophet shall die He was to be strangled say the Jews by the Sentence of the great Sanhedrim For it is a Tradition of their Rabbins saith the Gemara Babylonica upon that Title that in the business of Prophecy there are three sorts of Persons who are to be punished by the judgment of Men and three by the Sentence of Heaven He that prophecied what he did not hear from God an example of which we have in Zedekiah 1 Kings XXII 11. or spake what was not said to him but to another an example of which they make Hananiah
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
speaks only of Fruit-trees From whence Grotius thinks that saying of the Pythagoraeans took its original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Trees that do not grow wild and bear fruit ought not to be hurt much less cut down And yet it seems to be more agreeable to the Hebrew words than our Marginal Translation which makes this sense That there are Trees of the Field sufficient to employ in the Siege so that they need not cut down Fruit-trees to carry it on Ver. 20. Only the Trees which thou knowest that they Verse 20 be not Trees for Meat thou shalt destroy and cut them down If it were necessary for the raising Bulwarks as it here follows or otherways to distress the Enemy they had liberty to cut down Trees that did not bear Fruit but not meerly to make Waste and Desolation And thou shalt build Bulwarks against the City that maketh war with thee From whence they battered the City and threw great Sones into it as well as begirt them round that no Provisions might be brought in to them Thus we find they did in after times 2 Chron. XXVI 15. 2 Sam. XX. 15. And they must have some such Inventions in Moses his days or else how could they take Cities fortified with such high Walls as are mentioned I Deut. 28. Or to what purpose should they build Bulwarks and cast up Banks but from thence to batter the City with some Engine or other Vntil it be subdued From these words the Jewish Doctors conclude that it was lawful to make War even upon the Sabbath because having set down before a City they were to proceed till it was subdued which these words suppose might not be in a short time Only they say that the Siege was to be begun at least three days before the Sabbath Thus these Superstitious People not thinking common reason sufficient to justifie them in so plain a case Chapter XXI make the Scripture speak what it intended not for their warrant See Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVIII where he alledges Maimonides in his Hilkoth Melachim to this purpose And Joh. Benedictus Carpzovius produces a plainer out of Hilkoth Schabbath where he delivers their sense in these words A Siege is to be begun three days before the Sabbath and then it may be continued every day even upon the Sabbath until the City be taken and this may be done in a War that is voluntarily undertaken For thus our wise Men understand these words by ancient Tradition until it be subdued CHAP. XXI Verse 1 Verse 1. IF one shall be found slain in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess This follows very properly after the Law he had delivered about making War because then the Bodies of dead Men were most frequently found About which the wisest Law-givers took the greatest care that Inquisition should be made how and by whom they were slain This appears by Plato who in his Ninth Book de Legibus hath a Law something like to this though far short of the Solemnity that is here required to be used as I shall observe in the Conclusion of this Statute Lying in the field and it be not known who hath slain him The Hebrew Doctors here stick too much to the letter of these words for they will not have them reach to a dead Body hanging in the Air upon a Tree or hid in the Sand or Dust or floating upon the Water which is extream absurd Ver. 2. Then thy Elders and thy Judges shall come forth The great Sanhedrim were to send forth some Verse 2 of their Members so the Jews interpret it to do what here follows And indeed it may be thought that none but they could take care of this matter the doubt being to which of the neighbouring Cities where the other Judges lived it belonged Therefore the Paraphrase ascribed to Vzielides saith Two of the wise Men or Elders and three of the Judges were sent by the great Sanhedrim about this business See Selden Lib. III. de Synedr Cap. VII N. 2. Yet he observes in another part of that most Learned Work Lib. II. Cap. VII N. 3. that there were a sort of Elders who were not ordained by laying on of Hands but only were venerable Persons for their Age and Prudence who some think might serve for this Employment And they called such Elders Zikne Hashuk Elders of the Street or Vulgar Elders But none I think hath discoursed more critically upon these words thy Elders and thy Judges than our Mr. Thorndike who observes that there had been Judges constituted to determine Causes by Jethro's advice XVIII Exod. the greater Causes being reserved for Moses alone For whose Assistance God afterward appointed Seventy Elders Numb XI who made up the great Court of Judgment in that Nation Now they of this great Consistory are called the Elders of Israel but they of other Consistories or Inferiour Courts are called barely Elders or Elders of such a City See Review of the Rights of the Church p. 70. where he alledges this very place for it and by thy Elders understands the Elders of Israel the lower Elders being mentioned in the next Verse And so those of the great Consistory are commonly called in the Gospel And in like manner the Scribes of the People and thy Scribes signifie there those of this High Court. Whereas the bare Name of Scribes is extended further to the inferiour Doctors of the Law As also the Name of Rulers and that of Rulers of the People are to be understood with the like difference And they shall measure unto the Cities that are round about him that is slain That is if it were dubious what City lay nearest to the dead Body as it sometimes hapned But commonly it is probable at the first view they easily discerned this and so did not trouble themselves to measure It is a frivolous dispute in the Mischnah from whence they were to measure whether from the Navel or the Nose or the Forehead which last seems most rational to Maimonides who calls it the Center of the Body But they did not if we believe the Jewish Doctors in their measuring take notice of any City wherein there was not a Court of XXIII Elders and Jerusalem was always excepted See Selden in the place forenamed N. III. and L'Empereur upon Bava kama p. 173. and Wagenseil upon Sota p. 899. If the dead Body lay nearest to the Country of the Gentiles then they did not measure at all but it was presumed the Man was killed by them Verse 3 Ver. 3. And it shall be that the City which is next to the slain Man From whence it might be presumed the Murderer came or was fled thither as Abarbinel discourses Even the Elders of that City Who were different from the Elders before-mentioned See the foregoing Verse for they returned to Jerusalem when they had seen the Body buried if there was no discovery of the Murderer and
then the Senators of the City next to the dead Body who were XXIII performed what is here ordered Shall take an Heifer That was not above two years old for if it were a day more they might not use it for this purpose as Maimonides and others affirm Yet the Scripture in other Cases mentions one of three years old XV Gen. 9. XV Isa 5. XLVIII Jer. 5. as Wagenseil observes upon the Mischna of Sota Cap. IX Sect. III. Annot. 2. If two Cities happened to be aequidistant from the dead Body then they joyned together to provide this Heifer Which hath not been wrought with Never used in ploughing the Ground And which hath not drawn in the yoke This may seem to be included in the foregoing Expression as Maimonides observes but it is added he thinks to signifie that if it had been imployed in any other labour it became improper for this use Such Heifers were accounted by the Heathen to be most acceptable to their gods as appears by Homer in whom Diomedes and Nestor promise such an Offering to Pallas See Bochart Lib. II. Hieroz Cap. XXXIII P. I. out of Iliad K. and Odyss T. But there was a particular reason for such an one in this Case wherein the Heifer was not to be offered that it might the better represent as many think the Person that had committed this Murder who was a Son of Belial subject to no Law and deserved to be beheaded as this Heifer was It is not required that it should be without blemish as those Heifers were to be that were offered at the Tabernacle but it sufficed if it had never been accustomed to the Yoke Yet this is not to be taken without all Limitation for if it wanted any Member or were diseased it might not be imployed in this Service as Wagenseil observes out of Maimonides in the place forenamed p. 907. Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the Elders of that City shall bring down the Heifer Their Cities it seems were commonly seated on Hills or high Ground Into a rough Valley The Hebrew word Nachal signifies both a Valley and a Torrent The LXX Josephus and the Vulgar understand it as we do and the following words favour this Interpretation But the Talmudists and the Rabbins who generally follow them take it to signifie a Torrent which is the sense of Maimonides himself and the next word Ethan which we translate rough they interpret a rapid Torrent Chaskuni thinks there is some reason for this in the sixth Verse where they are required to wash their hands over the Heifer in the Water that is of the Brook I see nothing to hinder the putting both senses together Torrents being wont to run down violently from the Mountains through the Valleys which lye beneath them which is the cause that the same word signifies both Which is neither eared Or rather ploughed Nor sown Being a stony craggy Ground representing the horridness of the Murder and the cruelty and hardness of the Man's heart who committed it They that follow the other Interpretation of Nachal understood the foregoing words Ascher lo jeabeth bo which we translate neither eared as if they signified the Torrent did not serve to water the neighbouring Ground and these words to be meant of the Soil which lay next to the Torrent in which nothing was sown And besides this variety there are those who take Ethan not to signifie either that which is hard or rapid but the most fertile Ground So R. Bechai and lately R. Jac. Abendana in his Marginal Notes upon Michlal Jophi Where he gives this reason for it That the Inhabitants of each City might be the more careful to prevent such Murders being in danger otherwise to lose the best Ground belonging to their Inheritance For the Land where the Body was found if we may believe the Mischna was never to be sown any more See Sota Cap. IX Sect. V. And shall strike off the Heifers neck there in the valley Coming behind the Heifer saith that Mischna as the Murderer was supposed to have treacherously surprised the slain Man and should have been thus used if he could have been found Ver. 5. And the Priests the sons of Levi. See Verse 5 XVII 9 18. XVIII 1. Shall come near To see all performed according to the Law and to pray to God for the Country in the words prescribed v. 8. For them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him and to bless in the Name of the LORD See XXVIII Exod. 1 c. VI Numb 23 c. And by their word shall every controversie and every stroke be tried They did not determine all Matters whatsoever but all of this nature in which the Law appointed them to take care things were done according to it As in the killing of the red Heifer the Examination of the Woman suspected of Adultery by the Water of Jealousie the Leprosy whether in Men or Houses or Garments Thus the Hebrews explain these words See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. VIII And so Bonfrerius here acknowledges that they did not come hither as Judges but as Directors and that they might purge themselves together with the Elders from all guilt of this Crime Verse 6 Ver. 6. And all the Elders of that City that are next to the slain Man If there were never so many Elders in the City they were all to clear themselves by doing what follows Shall wash their hands over the Heifer c. In the Water of the Brook which flowed through the Valley protesting their Innocence in the words prescribed in the next Verse So Chaskuni glosses As our hands are clean so are we from the guilt of this blood See Wagenseil upon Sota p. 910. who thinks Pilate had respect to this Rite when he condemned our Saviour XXVII Matth. 24. notwithstanding all that Learned Men have said to the contrary Verse 7 Ver. 7. And they shall answer and say Being askt perhaps whether they knew any thing of this Murder Our hands have not shed this blood neither have our eyes seen it That is they professed solemnly they knew not who shed it nor how the Man came to be slain And the Mischna before-mentioned adds that they said for how can any one think that Elders would be Murderers This Man did not come into our City that we know of and dismissed without necessary provisions nor was seen by us and permitted to go away without company Which Maimonides expresses more largely in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XL. where he represents the Wisdom of this Law in these words The Elders called God to witness that they had not neglected to secure the ways nor to set Watches to examine diligently those that travelled saying as our Rabbins express it This Man was not killed through any negligence or forgetfulness which we were guilty of in not observing our publick Constitutions nor do we know who killed him Now by this Inquisition into the Fact by this going forth of the
Sota And indeed as there was nothing more rational than this that their Neighbours making great gain by Merchandize such as the Sidonians Tyrians and those that lived upon the Red-Sea and the Egyptians they should not borrow Money of the Israelites for nothing so it was no less reasonable the Israelites themselves whose chiefest Profit was by Husbandry and Breeding of Cattle should have Money lent them freely by one another without any Interest their Land not being a Country of Traffick whereby Money might be improved as in other Countries For by the Laws of other Nations as Grotius observes on VI Luke 35. that Usury was odious which was practised upon Husbandmen Abarbinel also is so tender in this point as to say that Usury hath something in it so unequal at least as it is commonly practised that God did not permit the Israelites to exercise it among all their Neighbours but only upon those of the Seven Nations of Canaan And thus far he is in the right that every one who was not a Jew was not to be deemed a Stranger An Edomite for instance is called their Brother in the seventh verse of this Chapter and therefore this Precept Thou shalt not lend upon Vsury to thy Brother is to be extended to Edomites In like manner saith he neither do the Ishmaelites come under the name of Strangers nor other People but those of the Seven Nations And this Opinion Leo Modena follows in his History of the present Jews Part. II. Cap. V. where he saith by the word Stranger in this place none other can be meant but only those Seven Nations from whom God commanded them to take away even their Lives And that it is only their present distress in which they have no other way of livelyhood left that makes them think it lawful to lend upon Vsury to those among whom they live In which I think he is mistaken though this Doctrine is better natured than that of some of the Jews who are so full of hatred to us Christians whom they call Edomites that they deprive us as Wagenseil observes in the place above-named of the name of Brethren and think it lawful to oppress us with Usury Of which number are R. Bechai and the Author of the old Nitzacon set forth by Wagenseil ancienter than that of Lipman's set forth by Theodorick Hackspan who was so full of Malignity that he shut his Eyes against the Light which he plainly saw For he could not deny that the Edomites were their Brethren and consequently that Moses required the Jews not to take Usury of them and that it was anciently unlawful But then he pretends that they forfeited this Priviledge by not coming to help to preserve Jerusalem and the Temple from being destroyed yea by rejoycing at their ruin And fearing this would not satisfie he hath devised this justification of their Usury that the Edomites have made themselves Strangers by the neglect of Circumcision See p. 139. That the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand unto in the Land whither thou goest to possess it Charity to their poor Brethren had many Promises of a great Reward and this Law was made peculiarly for the Relief of such Persons as appears by those places before-mentioned both in Exodus and in Leviticus It extended indeed to all but chiefly was intended as a Provision for the Poor and Needy whom they were not to neglect for God ordered them all to live together as Brethren Children of the same Father and indeed they were all Rich and Poor descended from one and the same Original And therefore he designed there should be no indifferent Person unrelieved among this People upon whom he had heaped so many Blessings and delivering them from the Slavery of Egypt had planted them in the good Land promised to their Fathers To which purpose all those Precepts were given which require them to lend gratuitously to their poor Brother to restore the Pledge left with them to leave the Corners of their Fields unreaped not to gather the Gleanings of the Harvest and Vintage to observe the Year of Release and of Jubilee and such like peculiar Provisions for the Comfort of the Poorer sort that they might share in the happiness which God bestowed upon his Elect People Ver. 21. When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God In a thing lawful and possible and by a Person who had power to make it and was not subject to the Authority of another who had power to Verse 21 make it void See XXX Numb 2. Thou shalt not slack to pay it Lest they should prove less able and so be unwilling to perform what they had vowed or should perhaps forget it If they lost the thing they vowed whilst they delayed they were bound to give the value of it Which was one difference between a Vow and a Free-will-offering that in the latter case as Maimonides saith if that which he designed was stoll'n or died he was not bound to make reparation The same Author applies this to a Vow a Man made of giving an Alms to a poor Body suppose a Shekel which he was to bestow immediately if any poor Body was at hand If not he was to separate it and lay it by till he met with one c. Cap. VIII de Donis Pauperum Sect. 1. For the LORD will surely require it of thee Demand that which thou hast made to be his own And it would be sin in thee Be punished by God's just Judgment upon thee for the wrong thou hast done him Ver. 22. But if thou shalt forbear to vow it shall be no Verse 22 sin in thee God was so very merciful as Maimonides observes that if a Man was not able to offer him an Ox or a Lamb he accepted of Turtles and young Pigeons of which there was great plenty in that Country And if this was beyond his Ability but he had a desire to testifie his Affection to God by a Free-will-offering he was pleased to accept an Oblation of Bread baked in an Oven or Pan or any other usual way And if this was too heavy he accepted of bare flour without putting him to the charge of baking it For he would have Men to be easie in his Service and all their Offerings to be free and cheerful and therefore tells them here that if they vowed nothing at all to him he would not take it ill of them nor impute it to them as a sin More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLVI Verse 23 Ver. 23. That which is gone out of thy mouth thou shalt keep and perform even a Free-will-offering according as thou hast vowed c. This was to make them consider well before-hand what their Ability was and not rashly resolve and promise any thing for though they were not bound to vow the smallest matter yet having once vowed they were no longer free but bound to make it good though it proved very chargeable to
second Husband whom she married nor with respect to any other Man who might marry her without any pollution but only with respect to her first Husband Unto whom by this Law she was made unclean for so all things forbidden to the Jews were accounted as appears from X Acts 14 15. where all Meats prohibited by the Law are called unclean and God is said to have cleansed them by taking off that Prohibition For that is abomination before the LORD That is to return to her first Husband and to be his Wife again For this saith Abarbinel was to imitate the Egyptians who changed their Wives and took them again into their Houses which was the occasion of great filthiness But this intimates that if she had not been married to any other Man but kept her self free she might have been his Wife again if he had a mind to be Reconciled to her And this shows also that God intended to discourage them from putting away their Wives by making them uncapable after they had been married to another for ever to enjoy them again though they grew very rich or otherwise desirable which inclined many no doubt to consider well before they parted with them And thou shalt not cause the Land to sin which the LORD thy God giveth thee c. The People of the Land might by such a large Indulgence have been tempted to pollute it with many sins and thereby bring God's Judgments upon it See III Jerem. 1. For as Isaac Arama glosses if this had not been prohibited a Gate had been opened unto vile Men to make a trade of changing their Wives and thereby filled the Land with Whoredoms Ver. 5. When a man hath taken a new wife The Verse 5 Hebrews think as I observed before XX. 7. that whether he had married a Virgin or a Widow he was to have the Priviledge here mentioned yea they extend it to him who had married his Brother's Wife but not to him who had married her whom he put away and might take again if she had not been married since that to another Man For she could not be said to be a new wife He shall not go out to war See XX Deut. 7. Nor be charged with any business No Publick Employment was to be put upon him which might occasion his absence from his Wife Not so much as watching or such like For the better understanding of which it must be remembred what was said about the fearful and timorous who were bid to return home from the Army lest they disheartned their Brethren XX. 8. And yet these Men were bound to furnish the Army with Victuals and Water to clear the Ways and take up their Quarters But a new Bridegroom was free from all these Only they made a difference between a War by the Divine Commandment and one undertaken voluntarily unto the former of which they think this Immunity doth not extend but only to the latter In the Margin these words are translated Nor any thing pass upon him that is he shall not pay tribute But he shall be free at home for one year The same time of freedom it was thought reasonable to grant unto Builders and Planters because they are joyned with new married Men in the Speech the Priest made before they went to battle XX. 5 6 7. And shall cheer up his wife whom he hath taken Make much of her as we speak and so endear himself to her by his kindness that there might be no occasion of a Divorce For the prevention of which this Law seems to have been intended that by so long a Conversation together without any interruption they might have so perfect an understanding one of another and such a mutual confidence might be settled that he might not easily entertain any jealousies of her when he should be absent in the Wars or elsewhere Verse 6 Ver. 6. No man shall take the nether or the upper Milstone to pledge This is a Law of the same nature with that XX Exod. 26 27. for the preservation of Mercy Beneficence and Clemency towards the Poor as Maimonides speaks More Nevochim P. III. Cap XXXIX For he taketh a man's life to pledge That is his livelyhood by which he maintains himself and his Family and keeps them from starving By this reason it was unlawful to take any other thing for a Security by the want of which a Man might be in danger to be undone For instance they did not allow any Man to seize upon the Oxen which were at Plough He who broke this Law was scourged Ver. 7. If a man be found stealing any of his brethren Verse 7 the children of Israel If he were either taken in the fact or it was plainly proved against him So the very words of the Athenian Law were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if a Man be an apparent Man-stealer And maketh merchandise of him or selleth him This was the end of Man-stealing to make a gain of him either by exchanging him for some Commodity or selling him for Money Then that Thief shall die This Crime was punished with death though stealing of Beasts or other things was not See XXI Exod. 16. because it was very heinous on a double account both by depriving the Community of one of its Members and making him a Slave in another Country And indeed the most moderate Lawyers did not know how to secure Men in the possession of things very valuable but by inflicting such a Punishment on those that stole them Thus after Solon had tempered the rigid Law of Draco which punished all Theft with death by ordering in most Cases only the payment of double he enacted the stealing of a great Sum of Money to be Capital Nay he made it a great Crime to steal Dung because it was a thing of great value in that Country which was very barren needed it for their Ground How much more valuable was a Man in all Mens account whom if any Man stole the Law was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that death should be his punishment as Xenophon reports it And he was accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Man-stealer who not only by force or by fraud carried away a free Man and sold him for a Slave or suppressed him but he who inveigled away another Man's Servant and perswaded him to run away or concealed such a Fugitive as Samuel Petitus observes out of Pollux and others Lib. VII in Leges Atticas Tit. V. p. 533. which makes me think not only he that stole one of his Brethren of the Children of Israel but he that stole a Proselyte of any sort or the Servant of a Stranger was liable to the punishment mentioned in this Law of Moses And thou shalt put away evil from among you By these words we may understand the greatness of this Crime for they are never used in this Book but when Moses speaks of the punishment of some enormous sin See XIII 5. XVII 7. XIX 19 c. Verse 8
Ver. 8. Take heed in the plague of Leprosie that thou observe diligently This was the highest legal Uncleanness and therefore the greatest Caution was to be used to prevent its Contagion And do according to all that the Priests the Levites They were constituted by the Law the sole Judges whether a Man had the Leprosie or no and were to order his Separation from others if he had and frequently make inspection whether it spread or was at a stand c. See the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Chapters of LEVITICVS where there are Laws about Houses and Garments as well as Persons infected with this Disease by the Hand of God as the Jews understand it Shall teach you To teach in this place signifies to declare the Obligation of the Law by the Judges of it the Priests the Levites Thus Jehosaphat is said to have sent his Princes to teach in the Cities of Judah and with them he sent Levites and Priests 2 Chron. XVIII 18. where R. Solomon notes that it was the business of the Priests and Levites to teach and instruct as is here written in this place which he quotes and the Princes went with them that none might disobey them but be constrained by their Authority to do according to their command See Mr. Thorndike in his Religious Assemblies Chap. II. p. 22. where he observes that in LEVITICUS direction is given to the Priests how to proceed in judging Leprosies but no Provision made till now that the People should stand to their Judgment They who imagine that the Priest had the care of Lepers as their Physicians forget that no other diseased Persons are ordered to repair to them which is a sign they did not pretend to cure them but only to preserve others from being defiled by them and to do what was necessary for their cleansing when they were healed by God As I command them so shall ye observe to do They were so to observe the Priests as to mark what God commanded and accordingly obey them not against but according to his command Ver. 9. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Verse 9 Miriam by the way after that ye were come forth out of Egypt This seems to be mentioned that they might not think much to be shut up seven days when they were but suspected to have the Leprosie and seven days more to make farther trial and to be put out of the Camp when it appeared plainly they had this Disease XIII Levit. 4 5 45 46. Since so great a Person as Miriam was excluded so long from the Society of God's People XII Numb 15. And this may be also lookt upon as an Admonition to take care lest they spoke Evil of Dignities which brought this Punishment on Miriam or disobeyed the Commands of the Priests which might bring the like or some other Judgment upon them Verse 10 Ver. 10. When thou dost lend thy brother any thing thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge This was a very merciful provision for the Poor whose Houses he would have so priviledged that no Man might enter into them without their consent and there chuse what he pleased for the Security of his Debt But he was to take what the Borrower could best spare Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt stand abroad Keep without door And the Man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee So the Debtor not the Creditor was to chuse what Pledge he would give For he best knew what he could with most convenience to himself part withal and if it was sufficient the Lender had reason to be satisfied with it Verse 12 Ver. 12. And if the Man be poor thou shalt not sleep with his pledge But restore it before Night Which is to be understood of such things as were necessary for the preservation of his Life or Health as the following words demonstrate Verse 13 Ver. 13. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the Sun goeth down that he may sleep in his own raiment And not to be forced to borrow of others a necessary Covering to defend him from the Cold and not be able perhaps to procure it See XXII Exod. 26 27. which Laws seems to have been intended to keep them from taking any pledge of a very poor Man For to what purpose should they every Morning fetch a pledge and every Evening carry it back again which would only create them a great deal of trouble And bless thee Pray God to bless thee And it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God Procure thee a Blessing from God who will esteem it an Act of great Mercy which is often called by the name of Righteousness in the Holy Books CXII Psalm 9. X Prov. 2 c. Nay such like actions are properly called tzedekah or righteousness according to the opinion of Maimonides who observes More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LIII that this word doth not meerly signifie giving to every Man his own For when a Man pays the Hireling his wages or a Debtor pays his Creditor that is not called tzedekah but what a Man doth out of pure love to Vertue and Goodness as when a Man cures a poor Wretch of his wounds is properly called by that name From whence it is said concerning the restoring of a poor Man's pledge it shall be to thee for righteousness That is saith Dr. Hammond in his Practical Catechism that degree of Mercy which the Law required of every Jew without which he could not be accounted righteous but there was a degree of Bounty beyond this called chusidah which was an excess of Righteousness or Goodness Ver. 14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant Verse 14 Either by putting more work upon him than he is able to do or by detaining his Wages when it is done The latter of these is most properly here denoted as Const L'Empereur observes out of D. Kimchi who in his Book of Roots saith the difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word here and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not lye in this that the former signifies to defraud the latter to take away by violence but the former signifies to detain by force and the other to take away by force what belongs to another And for the proof of it alledges this place in Deuteronomy which he thus translates Thou shalt not detain by force the wages of the hireling Which is expressed more clearly III Malachi 5. Annot. in Bava kama Cap. IX Sect. VII p. 247. That is poor and needy And therefore the more to be pitied and not oppressed either by giving him less Wages than another Man when he ought rather to have greater or by keeping back his hire beyond the time wherein it ought to be paid For as the ancient Lawyers say Minus solvit qui tempore minus solvit as it is observed by Grotius upon V James 4. Whether he be of thy brethren or
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
Hierom's time to expound the words of this Law to signifie not meerly all that is contained in these Blessings and Curses but all things which are written in the Book of the Law So that whether this whole Book i. e. all the Laws contained in it written upon the Pillars or only these Blessings and Cursings the matter comes to the same Issue because all that is contained in this Book is comprehended in this last Curse yea all that is contained in the whole Law of Moses Therefore it is not very material neither whether only these Curses and Blessings were recited upon Mount Gerizim and Ebal or the whole Law of Moses from one end to the other about which the Jews themselves differ But they that are of the latter Opinion think it well grounded upon VIII Josh 33. where we read how Joshua carefully performed what Moses here enjoyned And that his words might not be forgotten Moses seems to have ordered the continuance of this Solemnity every seventh year in the Twenty ninth Chapter of this Book v. 10 11 c. The Misâ—hna in Sota which I have often mentioned concludes this matter with these words When the Blessings and the Cursings were ended they brought Stones and built an Altar which they plaistered over and wrote upon them all the words of this Law in Seventy Languages But I have shown before that the Stones on which the Law was written was different from the Altar and were erected before the building of the Altar The Gemara there adds Cap. VII Sect. XXIV That every one of the Israelites there present stood bound one for another that is for the whole Company that they would observe these Laws Which I know not how they extract out of Moses his words but their Doctors frequently mention it in their Books and make this pious use of it That by virtue of this Security which they gave for each other every Man was bound to reprove his Neighbour if he saw him offend unless he was content to undergo the Punishment which was threatned unto the Breach of God's Laws and come under the Curse XIX Levit. 17. And unto this they apply those words They shall fall one upon another as we truly translate XXVI Levit. 37. as if they signified every one shall fall by his Brother that is by his Brothers Crimes For we all promised say they in the Gemara Sanhedrim Cap. III. Sect. VI. and engaged one for another and so from that time were punished one for another CHAP. XXVIII Chapter XXVIII Verse 1. AND it shall come to pass In this Verse 1 Chapter he repeats with many Enlargements the Rewards and Penalties which he had promised and threatned in the Book of Leviticus unto the Observance or Breach of the Covenant they had made with God And here in this Verse he promises in general the Blessings which are more particularly enumerated in the following Verses If thou wilt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God to observe and do all his Commandments c. See VII 12. Where the same thing is said only here he adds the word diligently to make them attend with the greater seriousness to what he delivered See Chapt. XI 13 22. That the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all Nations of the earth By bestowing on them the following Blessings See VII 14. They were already endued with singular Priviledges above other Nations XIX Exod. 5 6. which by their Obedience would be confirmed continued and augmented in greater plenty of all things Ver. 2. And all these Blessings shall come upon thee Verse 2 and overtake thee Blessings that come unexpectedly and when we are not in pursuit of them are most welcome and highly delight us And such God here promises to bestow on them by his gracious Providence without their laborious and anxious seeking after them By which very thing he set them above all Nations for what they followed after eagerly and many times in vain he undertakes should come to them and prevent their desires If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God So as to observe and do all his Commandments as it is explained in the foregoing Verse Verse 3 Verse 3. Blessed shalt thou be in the City and blessed shalt thou be in the field That is in all their Affairs within doors or without Or whether they lived by Employments in the City or by Husbandry in Tilling the Ground It is not a natural Interpretation of these words which one of the Hebrew Doctors gives of them in Bava Metzia where he expounds blessed shalt thou be in the City thy House shall be so nigh unto the Synagogue that thou needest not be troubled by going a long way to it And blessed in the field thy Ground shall lye so near to the City that thou mayest quickly bring the Fruit it produces to be sold in the Market But if he could have gone on in this manner it had been something tolerable but he expounds what follows in a most undecent manner See Wagenseil upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. III. Sect. IX Annot. 5. Verse 4 Ver. 4. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body This seems to be a Promise of preventing Miscarriages when they were with Child for a numerous Progeny is promised afterwards v. 11. And the fruit of thy ground This signifies they should have seasonable Harvests and Vintages For fruit of the ground comprehends not only all sorts of Corn but Grapes Figs Pomegranates and such like Fruit which grow on Trees And the fruit of thy Cattle By the word Behemah is sometimes meant all sorts of brute Creatures in opposition to Men sometimes tame Creatures in opposition to wild Beasts But here all sorts of Domestick Creatures except Kine Sheep and Goats viz. Asses and Camels Which Jacob brought with him as well as Oxen and Sheep when he came from Laban into Canaan XXXII Gen. 5 7. And the increase of thy kine The breed of these was very profitable being a considerable part of the Riches not only of that but of other Countries as appears by what Pausanias saith of them See Bochartus P. I. Hierozoicon Lib. II. Cap. XL. in the beginning And the flocks of thy sheep Under the name of Sheep in the Hebrew are comprehended Goats also All which God promises to increase that is to make them very wealthy And here it may be observed that the Israelites were generally Husbandmen or Shepherds and did not commonly follow any other Trades and therefore no mention is made of them here unless it be in v. 6. where he seems to speak of all sort of Business Ver. 5. Blessed shall be thy basket The Hierusalem Verse 5 Targum refers this to the Basket wherein they carried up their First-fruits XXVI 2. But the Vulgar Latin translates it thy Barns and so do the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the places where they laid up their Corn and other Fruits of the Earth Which
God promises both to fill and to preserve from Fire or Thieves or other Disasters And thy store The LXX and the Vulgar translate it all that was remaining of which they had not present use but kept till they had occasion for it So it is a promise that they should never want but still have something lying by them in Store as we translate it above what they needed Ver. 6. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out This the Hierusalem Targum interprets of their entring into their Schools and going home again But it rather Verse 6 signifies they should have good Journeys when they had occasion to Travel and find all safe when they returned home Or be prosperous both in time of Peace and in time of War when they are said in the Hebrew phrase to go out against their Enemies Or it may signifie in general good success in all their Affairs which is expressed by the phrase of coming in and going out XXXI 2. 2 Sam. III. 25. But I see no ground to think that it relates to Traffick or Manufactures for they were of little use among a People whose plain way of living made few things necessary but what every Man could make himself And therefore we find by Ezekiel who describes Chapt. XXVII the great variety of Merchandize which was brought to the Mart of Tyre that the Israelites carried nothing thither but Wheat and Honey and Oil and Balm v. 17. which are the Commodities the Earth it self produceth Verse 7 Ver. 7. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face God had promised before that when they went up to serve him at their Solemn Festivals their Enemies should not so much as desire their Land XXXIV Exod. 24. and now he assures them that when they did invade their Country they should not prevail but be overthrown by them They shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways He not only promises them Victory but a complete Victory For fleeing seven ways i. e. many ways imports a total overthrow which made every Man shift for himself as Souldiers do when they are entirely routed Ver. 8. And the LORD shall command the blessing upon thee Protect them in their Enjoyments by his Verse 8 Soveraign Power and Providence when otherwise they would have been in danger In thy store-houses The LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Vulgar Cellaria which signifie places wherein other Goods were laid up within doors as Corn was in Barns without v. 5. And in all that thou settest thine hand unto In all manner of Undertakings and Employments And he shall bless thee in the Land which the LORD thy God giveth thee Make them live long therein Ver. 9. The LORD thy God shall establish thee an holy Verse 9 people unto himself Confirm them in that noble relation wherein they stood to him See VII 6. XIV 2. As he hath sworn unto thee See VII 12. If thou wilt keep the Commandments of the LORD thy God He had separated them from all People by peculiar Laws and Priviledges for this purpose that they should be governed by him and be obedient to him And walk in his ways No body can see any reason to make this a special Precept as the Jews do that we should walk in the ways of the LORD Which contains all the Duty owing to him whether by his ways we understand those Divine qualities of Mercy Holiness Goodness and Truth whereby we approach to him or as the word ways is commonly used in Scripture his Divine Precepts whereby he comes as it were unto us and declares his mind and will towards us by conformity to which we become like him in those Divine qualities for that is the entire meaning of walking in his ways ordering all our Actions according to the Direction of his holy Will whereby we resemble him Verse 10 Ver. 10. And all the people of the earth Who were round about them or should have any knowledge of them Shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD Be convinced that you are after a peculiar manner the LORD's People XIV 1. XXVI 18. For wheresoever we read that a Person or Thing hath the Name of God called upon it or is called by his Name the meaning is that it is his As the City called by God's name XXV Jerem. 29. is the City of God where he dwelt viz. Jerusalem And thus the Ark is said to have the Name of God called on it 1 Chron. XIII 6. i. e. was the LORD's Ark or the Ark of the Covenant And as here the Children of Israel are said to be a People called by his Name so it is said of the Christian Church XV Acts 17. For the very same phrase as Mr. Mede observes is used of the like relation that Men have unto that which is theirs Thus Jacob saith XLVIII Gen. 16. that his Name should be called on the two Sons of Joseph that is they should be his as Reuben and Simeon were Which shows these are words of Adoption See Discourse I. p. 7. And shall be afraid of thee Not dare to do thee any hurt or fear to have thee their Enemy Verse 11 Ver. 11. The LORD thy God shall make thee plenteous in goods Bestow on them abundance of all good things that their hearts could desire In the fruit of thy body By giving them a numerous and healthy Issue whereby they should be multiplied like the Stars of Heaven or the Sand on the Sea-shore According to the Promise made to Abraham XV Gen. 5. XXII 17. And in the fruit of thy Cattle Which he promised likewise to increase exceedingly And in the fruit of thy ground Which should afford large Crops of Corn and great store of all other Fruits every year In the Land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee So that they should not need to send unto other Countries to procure Food as they did in the days of their Father Jacob but have enough in their own Land to support them all though never so numerous Ver. 12. The LORD shall open his good Treasure unto Verse 12 thee the Heaven to give thee rain unto thy Land The Heaven or the Air is called the good Treasure of God because there he gathers together great Heaps of Clouds from whence he inriches the Earth with fatning showers of Rain Which when he withholds he is said to shut up this Treasure XI 17. and when he bestows it to open it that his People might be sensible of their dependence upon his Bounty for that Blessing as well as others which he dispenses as he pleaseth In its season The former and the latter Rain as the Scripture calls it The former fell in Autumn after the Seed was sown to make it take root and spring up The latter fell in the Spring time to bring
II Lament 20. IV. 10. But never so exactly fulfilled as in the last siege by the Romans when a noble Woman which fully answers to this Prophecy such Persons being very delicate did the very same as Josephus relates in his Book of the Jewish War Lib. VII Cap. VIII A most unnatural fact as he observes which was never committed either by Greek or Barbarian and which he would not have related because it might seem incredible if there had not been many Witnesses of it besides himself Verse 57 Ver. 57. And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet Toward her new-born Babe which is wont to be welcomed into the World with great joy but in this siege dispatcht out of it to asswage the rage of their hunger In the Hebrew as we take notice in the Margin the word we translate young one properly signifies the after-birth And so the LXX translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which makes this passage most plain that their hunger should make them so unnatural as first to eat the After-birth which came from them and then the Child which was wrapped in it And towards her children which she shall bear The rest of their Children whose cries for Food they had no way to stop but by killing them and making them their own Food So it follows in the next words For she shall eat them for want of all things Having nothing else left to eat For they had devoured not only the leather of their Girdles and their Shoes and which covered their Shields but the very stale Dung of Oxen and such things as the most sordid of all living Creatures would not eat See Josephus Lib. III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. XVI Lib. VII Cap. VII Secretly It was not done secretly for any other reason but least any body should have a share with them and so make their hunger return the sooner And yet it was a hard matter to conceal what they had done of this kind for the seditious People presently smelling there had been something boild got into the House when she had eaten one half of her Child and found the other half which she had left till another time of which she invited them to eat In the siege and straitness These two words which are used here and v. 53. and 55. may both relate to the grievous Miseries they should endure when they were besieged v. 52. and may be translated in the pressure and straits wherewith thine Enemies c. Wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in thy gates We have not such an account of their distress in other Cities as we have of what they suffered in Jerusalem where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an innumerable multitude perished by Famine as Josephus tells us L. VII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cap. VII and ineffable Calamities thereupon hapned For in every House where the least shadow of Food appeared a War immediately began and the dearest Relations fell to blows snatching away from each other the miserable Supports of Life Nor would they let those that were dying expire quietly not believing what they affirmed when they told them they had no Food in their Houses but the Cut-throats came and searcht their very Bosoms as they lay drawing their last breath whether they had not there hid some Food Verse 58 Ver. 58. If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law which are written in this Book Among which those words are most remarkable XVIII 15 18 19. A Prophet shall the LORD thy God raise up unto thee like unto me unto him shall ye hearken c. Whosoever will not hearken unto the words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful Name the LORD THY GOD. That is fear the great LORD of Heaven and Earth and their special Benefactor who is most glorious in himself and to be most humbly reverenced by us For the Name of God is God himself from whence it is that he is sometimes called HASCHEM the Name XXIV Lev. 11. This shows the reason why Moses repeats this Name the LORD THY GOD so often as he doth in the Preface to this Book Chapt. VI VII VIII IX c. In some of which there is scarce a Verse wherein we do not meet with these words and it is sometimes repeated no less than three times in one and the same Verse XII 18. XVI 15. that God might be in all their Thoughts and the fear of him might possess their Hearts Ver. 59. Then the LORD If they still persisted Verse 59 in their Infidelity and Disobedience after Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and such unheard of Calamities as they had suffered during the siege of that place he threatens to bring upon them more astonishing Judgments Will make thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed even great plagues and of long continuance Though their great Plagues under Vespasian by Famine Sword and Pestilence had lessened their numbers exceedingly yet by the time of Trajan and Adrian they had like Traitors taken for a while from the Rack to use Dr. Jackson's words recovered strength enough to be put to greater torture For then they were made a Spectacle to the World of the Divine Vengeance again which they brought upon themselves by their Rebellion and show'd therein their natural strength by their grievous lingring pains in dying For not only in Mesopotamia and in Cyprus but especially in Cyrene and throughout all Egypt they broke out into such outrages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had been possessed with some fierce and seditious Spirit as Eusebius speaks Lib. IV. Eccles Hist Cap. II. whereupon Marcius Turbo was sent against them and setting upon them both by Sea and Land with Horse and Foot made a vast destruction of them See Dion Lib. LXVIII and Xiphilinus who describe their slaughter to have been so great that now was fulfilled as the forenamed Dr. Jackson thinks what Moses foretold in this place The LORD will make thy plagues wonderful great plagues and of long continuance And indeed Eusebius saith in the forenamed place that Turbo destroyed many thousands of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in many battles and in no small time the War being protracted a great while to compleat their destruction And the application of this Prophecy to this Time may be confirmed by a strange Relation which we meet withal in their own Books For in the Hierusalem Talmud one of their Doctors tells us That when Trajan came upon them with his Army they were reading these very words of the Law v. 49. the LORD shall bring a Nation against thee from far from the ends of the earth c. which he understanding having askt them what they were doing he cried out Here is the man pointing to himself who am come five days sooner than I intended And immediately compassing them about with his Legions slew them
Vagabonds into various Countries where they carried this Mark of Infamy along with them that all might be instructed to make no more such Attempts But in the fifth Century they made new Commotions and were driven out of Alexandria for their Seditious Practices where they had been settled ever since the time of Alexander the Great and dispersed into several Countries as Socrates observes in his Ecclesiastical History Lib. VII Cap. XVI And in the next Chapter relates how miserably they were deluded in Crete by one that pretended to be Moses come down from Heaven to lead them to their own Land through the Sea into which many threw themselves and perished That Expulsion out of Alexandria is mentioned by David Ganz also one of their own Authors In the sixth Century as Elmacinus tells us they again rebelled in Palestine against the Romans who slew a great number of them And in the seventh they were expelled from Antioch by Phocas and out of Hierusalem by Heraclius and out of Spain An. 604. by Sisebutus or as some call him Sisebodus King of the Goths And they flying in great numbers into France were shortly after put to this hard choice either to renounce their Religion or lose all they had Which Persecution Dr. Jackson observes in the Book often mentioned Cap. XXVIII Paragr 1. is recorded by those who wrote the Life of Dagobert as one of the chief Memorables of his Reign What their state was in the next three Centuries he saith he had observed nothing remarkable Nor can I find any thing notable in the eighth but the appearance of a false Messiah by whom they were deluded and brought into trouble As for the ninth there were no learned Men among them in that Age nor in the Christian World And in the tenth they were in the same condition insomuch that they were fain to make a Weaver the Head of one of their Universities Neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest They being not able to obtain a long Settlement any where but were tossed up and down and forced from one Country to another For so it was that in the beginning of the eleventh Century about the Year of our Lord One thousand they were so vexed throughout the most part of Europe that quid agerent aut quo se verterent nesciebant they knew not what they should do or which way they should turn themselves as the forenamed Doctor observes Paragr 4. out of Papirius Massonus who hath it out of Glauber To which I will add this Testimony out of David Ganz in his Book called Tzemach David that in the latter end of this Century An. MXCVI. when there was a famous Expedition for the recovery of the Holy Land the Jews felt it a most calamitous time as he speaks being robbed and pillaged and killed by the Souldiers as they went along And indeed so much Cruelty was exercised upon them that it moved St. Bernard's Compassion to write to the Bishop Clergy and People of Spire not to persecute them much less kill them or drive them out of their Country For they are dispersed said he into all Lands that while they suffer the just punishment of their horrid wickedness they may be witnesses of our redemption Epist. CCCXXII And the Author of Schebet Juda mentioning their Banishment out of Savoy Piedmont Lombardy Sicily and other Countries quotes these very words of Moses among those Nations thou shalt find no rest c. as a Prophecy of that Exile which was accompanied with many other Mischiefs For as they fled to other Countries an immense multitude of People fell upon them and pillaged them of all the Gold and Silver they were carrying away with them as he relates there Sect. XI And the LORD shall give thee a trembling heart They being always in dread of some new Misery their Condition still growing more dismal in the twelfth Century For as there is a progress in Moses his Prophecy of the increase of their Calamities so it proved in the event that their Sufferings grew greater and greater They themselves in Tzemach David and other Books relate that in the Year 1142. an Hundred and twenty of their Congregations were utterly subverted and dispersed And in the Year 1170. they were expelled again out of France and spoiled of their Treasure which was renewed in the Year 1198. How they were used here in England our own Chronicles tell us and the like ill usage they met withal in Germany and Spain So that R. Zacut complains of no less than ten grievous Persecutions in this one Age to abolish the name of Jews out of the World This could not but give them a very trembling heart And failing of thine eyes Which looked for some relief instead whereof they were still more hardly used in the thirteenth Century being in the Year 1253. again expelled out of France whither they had returned and again in 1295. when they expected some rest there was a fresh Expulsion mentioned by R. Levi ben Gersom who saith they were spoiled of all their Goods and sent away only with their Clothes upon their backs Which he affirms with the more confidence because it was done in his time when he saith there was such a number of them that they exceeded those that came out of Egypt So he writes in his Exposition of those words XXIII Numb 10. Who can count the dust of Jacob I will forbear to mention how they were treated here in England 1290. and in Germany into which they flying out of France were most cruelly used And sorrow of mind Which must needs seize upon them heavily to find their Miseries so far from abating that they still increased in the fourteenth Century When they were banished again out of France and spoiled of their Goods 1306. and once more 1395. which the Jews call their fourth and last Banishment About the same time they were banished out of Germany An. 1392. In Castile indeed they redeemed their Lives with Money which they could not part withal without much sorrow of mind but in Catalonia Arragon and in other parts of Spain such a terrible Storm fell upon them that they themselves in Juchasin say there were no less than Two hundred thousand turned Christians with heavy hearts It would be too tedious to mention all that they suffered in the fifteenth Century in Germany Hungary Polonia and in Italy Spain and Portugal I will only observe what befel them in the Country last named in the next Century An. 1506. when all that is said in this Verse is fulfilled by that dreadful Massacre which was made of them at Lisbon for three days together Where Men were not suffered to die of their deadly wounds but were dragged by their mangled Limbs into the Market Place where the Bodies of the living and the slain with others half alive half dead were burnt together in heaps The Spectacle was so horrible that it quite astonished the rest of this wretched People two
represented as Plutarch tells us in his Book de Iside Osiride But whether in such ancient times as this of Moses it may be justly doubted Wood and Stone Silver and Gold Generally they were made of Wood or Stone which sometimes were silvered or gilded over And if any of them were made of massy Silver or Gold yet being liveless things they were no more able to afford them any help than the Dung on the Earth And it was an abominable thing to look upon dead matter as a god or to think he made his habitation there which was the opinion of the better sort of Heathen or would be represented by them they having no likeness at all unto him Ver. 18. Lest there should be among you man or woman Verse 18 or family or tribe These words are to be connected with v. 15. as the principal end why he engaged every Soul of them to renew their Covenant with God that none of them might revolt from him to serve any other god And the order wherein he places these words show that Idolatry is of a very infectious nature spreading it self strangely from single Men and Women unto Families and at last into whole Tribes Whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God Who had a hankering as we now speak after other gods which might afterwards break out into Idolatry To go and serve the gods of these Nations When the heart i. e. the Mind Will and Affections are depraved Men easily find occasions to follow whither they lead them And by this it appears that the principal part of the Covenant was to keep them close to the Worship of one God and no other as I have often observed VI. 4. VII 2 25. IX 1 c. Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood Many take a root here to signifie an evil principle which the Apostle calls an evil heart of unbelief III Hebr. 12. But the words going before in this Verse and those that follow in the next plainly lead us to take it for any Person lurking secretly among them like a root under ground that was tainted with Idolatry who might poison others therewith and in time bring forth the fruits of their Impiety which he calls gall and wormwood Where it must be observed that the Hebrew word Rosch which we translate Gall properly signifies an Herb growing among Corn as bitter as Gall. Which in X Hosea 4. we translate Hemlock and commonly in Scripture is joyned with Wormwood as it is here IX Jerem. 15. III Lament 19. VI Amos 12. Unto which Idolatry is compared because it is most ungrateful and distastful if I may so speak unto God and produces bitter effects that is most grievous Punishments unto Men. Verse 19 Ver. 19. And it come to pass when he The Man spoken of before under the name of a root of bitterness Heareth the words of this Curse Against Idolatry which Moses engaged every one of them to renounce by making a Solemn Covenant with God to Worship him alone and dreadful Imprecations upon themselves if they did not make good this Covenant v. 12 14 15 16. XXVII 15. That he bless himself in his heart Secretly fancy none of these Curses shall fall upon him but quite contrary promise himself all manner of happiness Saying I shall have peace Prosper and be happy Though I walk in the imagination of mine heart Or in the stubborness of mine heart as it is in the Margin That is resolve to worship what God I best fancy To add drunkenness to thirst In the Hebrew the words are as the Margin of our Bibles observes the drunken to the thirsty for both words are Adjectives as Grammarians speak and supposing a Substantive to support them many think none so proper to be understood as the word Earth Which makes this a Proverbial Speech to add the wet ground to the dry and thirsty or rather the thirsty to the wet For the Particle beth which in the Hebrew is the Note of the Accusative Case is put before the word dry or thirsty and therefore that 's the thing which is to be added to the wet or drunken not the drunken to the dry And the sense is draw others into the same wickedness just as if a drunken Man should draw sober Persons to play the fool with him and do as bad as himself or after one piece of Land is overflowed the Water should be let into that which is dry and spoil that also For this seems to be the meaning of the whole Verse If a Man shall be so presumptuous as not only to cry peace to himself when he runs after his own Devices in serving other gods but endeavours to draw others into the same wicked practices There are a great many other Interpretations of these words seven or eight given by the Hebrew Doctors besides others in Christian Writers which may be seen in Coccejus in his Vltima Mosis Sect. 134. But this seems to me the most easie at which the Chaldee aims and the LXX if the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be omitted which is not in the Hebrew or the Chaldee nor the Vulgar Latin And if we take the words as we translate them only inverting them add thirst unto drunkenness the sense is as easie viz. add more sins to the foregoing XXX Isa 1. and to be still inflamed as the Scripture speaks with love to more Idols after the Service of many of them increasing their Altars as Hosea speaks like heaps in the furrows of the field X Hos 1. XII 11. Dr. Jackson in his first Book upon the Creed Chapt. XXX Paragr 4. thinks the meaning is that Posterity added to the wickedness of their Ancestors For they being cast out of their good Land for their Infidelity and Disobedience their Posterity saith he continue Exiles and Vagabonds for their stubborness in like Practices not being willing to this day to offer up the Sacrifice of a contrite heart for their disobedience past but rather adding thirst to drunkenness bless themselves when they hear the words of that Curse promising peace to themselves though they walk on according to the stubborness of their fore-fathers hearts Verse 20 Ver. 20. The LORD will not spare him That is not pardon or pass by his wickedness without punishment But then the anger of the LORD and his jealousie shall smoak against that man These words import the highest degree of Anger That is the severest Plagues which are the effects of the Anger of an incensed Majesty And all the Curses that are written in this Book Particularly in the foregoing Chapter Shall lye upon him Not only fall but remain upon him to his utter ruin as it follows in the next words And the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven By his name is meant himself so that this is a threatning of Destruction to him and his Posterity till there be no memory of him left Ver.
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
City that apostatized unto it XIII 5 6 c. 12 13 c. And their negligence in doing their duty in this particular made Idolatry spread among them to their utter ruin But these words may be understood as a further answer to such Enquiries as that v. 24. In which if Men persisted and still askt But why doth God thus punish his own People with such unusual Severity when there are many Idolatrous Nations far worse than they who continue still in their own Land and are not thus rooted out Moses bids them silence such Demands and rest satisfied in this that we cannot give an account of such things as God hath not revealed particularly why he punishes some People when he spares others who are as bad but must mind our own duty which he hath plainly revealed unto us That is as Moses concludes this Chapter to do after all his Commandments which he hath given us in his Law believing he will greatly reward the obedient and terribly punish one time or other all those that transgress it There may be also a more obvious sense of these words if we translate them as some great Men have done The secrets of the LORD our God are revealed to us and to our Children Thus Onkelos whose Judgment is very valuable which Grotius follows and before him Forsterus and Paulus Fagius represents it as a commodious sense and makes it the same with the words of the Psalmist CXLVII 20. He hath not dealt so with any Nation Chapter XXX c. For this was a peculiar favour to the Jews that those things which God before kept secret in his own breast he now manifested to them that they might know how to order their lives so as to please him But this made them liable to be punished more grievously than all other People if they did not observe his Will which he most graciously discovered to them And if we could give any credit to the Jews who say that all words in the Bible that have extraordinary Points upon them of which there are but ten in the Pentateuch and these words lanu ulebenu to us and our Children are the last of them denote something peculiar and extraordinary I should think that they relate to the Revelation to be made by Jesus Christ the great Prophet promised to them Chapt. XVIII unto which if they did not give heed the most dreadful Punishments would be inflicted on them as we see they have been for many Ages and are not yet ended CHAP. XXX Verse 1 Verse 1. AND it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee the Blessing and the Curse which I have set before thee God at the first bestowed great and singular Blessings upon them but when they grew so insensible of his Mercy as to violate the Covenant he had made with them then he sent his Curses which he had threatned upon them Which were compleated in their Expulsion out of the good Land which he had given them especially in their last Expulsion by the Romans which was rather an Extirpation And thou shalt call to mind In the Hebrew Bring back to thy heart as we observe in the Margin of 1 Kings VIII 47. where there is the very same phrase and there translated shall bethink thy self that is reflect seriously both upon the Blessings and Curses and consequently consider the truth of God in fulfilling both In which consideration Repentance and Conversion to God begins See XVIII Ezek. 28. Among all the Nations whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee Where they could not chuse but often think of all the Blessings they had enjoyed in their own Land and might have still enjoyed if they had not been disobedient and all the Curses which had befaln them till they were driven from thence and had pursued them ever since See XXVI Levit. 40 c. IV Deut. 29 30 c. Ver. 2. And shall return unto the LORD thy God Verse 2 and shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy Children with all thine heart and with all thy soul Repentance was compleated by forsaking their Idols and returning to the Worship of the LORD their God alone and by obeying all the rest of his Commands and teaching their Children to do the same and all this with sincerity of heart This they did in some measure after they were carried Captive to Babylon since which time we read nothing of their Idolatry But they fell into other sins which stopt their Ears to that great Prophet the LORD Christ when he came to them for which they are punished to this day and will be till they repent and obey him Ver. 3. Then the LORD thy God will turn thy Captivity That is bring those that were carried Captive back again to their own Land Thus the word Verse 3 Captivity is used XIV Psal 7. IV Ephes 8. And have compassion upon thee These words express the Spring of all their Happiness viz. the Divine Compassion in pardoning their sins which had been very provoking And will return and gather thee This is the effect of his Compassion in their Restitution and Recollection again into one Body after their Dispersion From all the Nations whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee This was fulfilled in part when they returned from Babylon for then they who were scattered in other Countries flockt again to them And will be more compleatly fulfilled when they shall believe on our blessed Saviour Verse 4 Ver. 4. And if any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of Heaven from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee Unto this Promise Nehemiah plainly alludes in his Prayer to God to prosper his endeavours for the Restoration of Jerusalem I Nehem. 8 9. And finding the truth of it confirmed by the King 's gracious Concession to him he went about the work though one who was accounted a Prophet yea several of the like quality disswaded him from the Enterprize as likely to prove dangerous to his Person VI. 10 11 12 c. Ezra also tells us how Cyrus made a Proclamation throughout all his Kingdom which was very large That all the Jews might return if they pleased into their own Country I Ezra 1 4. And see VIII Zachariah 7 8. And though in their last dispersion by the Romans they be far more scattered and into more distant Regions than they were in the Babylonian Captivity according to Moses his threatning XXVIII of this Book 64. yet if they did now consider the Cause of it and lay to heart their Sin in crucifying the LORD Christ no doubt God would have Compassion on them and wonderfully restore them For the Jews themselves apply this place and have long done so to their present Condition being of Opinion that God hath appointed a prefixed time in his own mind though he hath not declared it when he
will deliver them but if they did repent he would shorten the days of their Banishment and immediately bring them to their own Land Thus the ancient Nitzacon set forth not long ago by Wagenseil p. 254. And R. Isaac since him and more lately often insists upon this in his Chissuk Emuna published by the same very learned Person Particularly Perck VII where he saith There can be no time prefixed for their Deliverance because it depends upon their Repentance whereby they may cut off the length of this Banishment provided they turn to God with their whole heart and a full repentance For which he alledges this place And he repeats it again Perck XXVII as the great comfort they have in this long Banishment that upon their perfect Repentance God will be merciful to them and overcome their Sins and perform this Promise Which I find still more lately mentioned in Manasseh ben Israel his Book de Termino Vitae L. III. Sect. III. where he saith Herein all the Prophets imitate Moses being wont after terrible Threatnings to conclude with some singular Consolation Which made R. Aquiba as the Talmudists report fall a laughing when all the wise Men who were with him wept and lamented at the sight of the ruins of Jerusalem and the Temple Which they wondering at he said After the Clouds the Sun will break out and after the end of the Evils which Moses threatned we may hope for good things for God is not more faithful in fulfilling the one than in performing the other But alas in all Ages hitherto there are no signs of Repentance much less of a perfect one but they have been strangely hardned in their unbelief and have bitterly reproached the LORD Jesus and his Religion Abarbinel himself though a Gentleman of a noble Family a well bred Person and of an excellent Understanding is extreamly guilty of this And since his time Solomon Virgae in the Age before us considering the astonishing Plagues that have befaln them and that never any People as he acknowledges conflicted with so many Miseries and for so many Ages as they have done enquires the Causes why the Divine Majesty should be so angry with them He reckons Seven among which he accounts the putting of Jesus of Nazareth to death as one yet not as a Crime but that which hath enraged Christians against them For he wickedly illustrates this by that Speech of Moses VIII Exod. 24. which he thus translates If we slay and sacrifice the abominable gods of the Egyptians in their sight will they not stone us Which is the highest Reproach he could vomit against our Saviour mingled with the most stupid folly in giving that as a Reason of the Divine Anger which at the most is only a Reason in their account of Mens indignation Schebet Jehuda Sect. LXIII The most cruel Usage which they have met with in all Christian Countries might thus exasperate and embitter their Spirits and I cannot excuse the violent hatred of Christians to them and their barbarous treatment of them though they therein fulfilled the Divine Threatnings as I have shewn upon the Twenty eighth Chapter which being ceased since the Reformation of Religion the Jews have not been so virulent against our blessed Saviour and it is to be hoped will be won to the Obedience of Faith by our Christian usage of them when those other stumbling Blocks which hinder their Conversion are removed out of the way Ver. 5. And the LORD thy God will bring thee into Verse 5 the Land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possess it Be again planted in it as they were at their return from the Captivity of Babylon especially after they had laid the foundation of the House of the LORD he blessed them exceedingly II Haggai 18 19. VIII Zachar. 7 8 9 10 11 12. And he will do thee good The Prophet Zachary hath given a full Explication of these words VIII 13 14 15. And the Prophet Jeremy before him XXXII 42 43 c. which was fulfilled in the building of the House of the LORD though great opposition was made to it and in the compassing Jerusalem with Walls and settling them in a state of liberty according to the Prophecy of Isaiah LII 1 2. And multiply thee above thy fathers The Hebrew words import that he would make them greater then their fathers Which he did by their vast increase after they returned from Babylon See VIII Zachar. 4 5. and before him I Hosea 10. Which is manifest from their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. spreading themselves in so many Colonies through all Asia both the great and the less with Egypt Greece Italy and Spain See Strabo Lib. XVI concerning Joppa By this means they were very much exalted as Zachariah prophecied after the Captivity XII 6. for as they had their liberty in their own Country God being a Wall of Fire to them while Jerusalem had no Walls so they spread themselves as I said and had their Synagogues in Babylon Arabia Syria and divers other Countries before-mentioned and a great many Proselytes also joyned themselves to them Yet one cannot well think that so magnificent a Prophecy as this is was intirely fulfilled after their return from Babylon when they were Tributaries to the Persians and afterwards fell under the power of the Graecians under whom they suffered very much especially in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes whose death did not conclude their Troubles as Hermannus Witsius hath shown at large in his Decaphylon Cap. X. N. 9 10 11 12 c. where he endeavours to prove that there was no moment of time after their return from Babylon wherein they could be said to be made greater than their fathers especially in the days of David and Solomon And therefore he concludes that this Promise is still to be compleatly fulfilled And thus R. Isaac in his Book before-named Chissuk Emuna argues Perck VI. that God did not bestow Benefits upon them equal to those which their Fathers enjoyed much less superiour while the second Temple stood but all that time was full of Straits and Calamities for which he alledges the Prophecy of Daniel IX 25. And therefore saith these words of Moses can by no means be thought to be fulfilled when the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin returned from Babylon and left a vast number behind them who would not come back with them but stay there to this day Ver. 6. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart By such singular Benefits bestowed upon them in a miraculous manner God designed to take away the stubborn refractoriness of their Spirits called Verse 6 hardness of heart XXIX 19. and to cut off all their wicked Inclinations and Dispositions to Idolatry and Superstition which had been their ruin which is called humbling their uncircumcised heart XXVI Levit. 41. But though God circumcised them yet their hearts might remain uncircumcised as appears from XXIX 3 4. And therefore he calls upon them
these munitions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for what could Mens Hands or Machines do against such Towers Which calls to mind what is related not only by S. Chrysostom Sozomen Socrates but by Ammianus Marcellinus himself an Heathen Historian Lib. XXIII beginning how that when Julian the Apostate ordered the Temple at Jerusalem to be rebuilt terrible Globes of Fire burst out prope fundamenta from the very Foundations which overturned all burnt the Workmen and made the place so inaccessible that they desisted from the Attempt The certainty of this hath extorted the same Confession from the Jews themselves David Ganz in his Tzemach David and R. Gedaliah in Schal Hakkabala though they pretend the Building went on and was finished but after many years overthrown by an Earthquake Verse 23 Ver. 23. I will heap mischiefs upon them Which shall miserably oppress and crush them And spend all my Arrows upon them His Judgments and Plagues are oft compared to Arrows shot at them VII Psal 12 13. XXXVIII 2. XCI 5. And he speaks in the Language of an Archer who shoots till he hath emptied his Quiver and hath not one Arrow left Verse 24 Ver. 24. They shall be burnt with hunger This Verse and the next explains what he means by Arrows which are here enumerated And first he threatens a Famine with which he saith they should be burnt either because these Judgments are compared to fire v. 22. or because extream Hunger parches the inward parts and makes the Visage as black as a Coal as Jeremiah speaks IV Lament 8. And devoured with burning heat With Fevers and Calentures as they are called in hot Countries And with bitter destruction With the Pestilence which he calls bitter because it was incurable And I will send the teeth of wild beasts upon thee This was another of the sore Judgments which God threatned to their Disobedience See XXVI Levit. 22. Upon which Maimonides observed that Magicians were wont to promise them by their Arts to free their Cities Fields and Plantations from Lions and Serpents and such like hurtful Creatures unto whose power God delivered them because they forsook him and followed Idolaters and Magicians More Nevoch P. III. Cap. XXXVII With the poison of Serpents of the dust Whose bitings were deadly And they were exposed to them as well as to wild Beasts when they were forced to fly into Wildernesses and hide themselves in Dens and Caves where some of them could not avoid being devoured by wild Beasts and bitten by Serpents which lay lurking in those holes So Cooceius in his Vltima Mosis Sect. 1271. where he notes also that this was fulfilled in part when they were thrown by the Romans to wild Beasts in the Theatres as Josephus relates Lib. VI. de Bello Judaico Cap. XVI XX. Ver. 25. The sword without and terror within shall Verse 25 destroy They could no where be safe for in the Field the Sword of their Enemies cut them off and at home they did not think themselves secure in their closest Chamber but died with fear or made away themselves lest they should fall into the hands of those that sought to destroy them See I Lament 20. Or perhaps by the terror within may be meant Famine and Pestilence VII Ezek. 15. Both the young man and the virgin the suckling with the man of grey hairs He threatens to deliver them into such merciless Hands as would spare none nor make any difference of Sex or of Age. This Huetius refers to the last destruction of Jerusalem in his Demonstr Evang. Propos IX Cap. CLXXIII And Abarbinel also confesses it was then fulfilled Verse 26 Ver. 26. I said i. e. Resolved I would scatter them into corners I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men Utterly destroy them so that not one of them should be found and if any remained they should sculk and not dare to appear among Men. Verse 27 Ver. 27. Were it not that I feared the wrath of the Enemy He that is Omnipotent is not capable of fearing any thing but he speaks in our Language and gives this reason why he did not make them cease to be a Nation because he would not have their Enemies insult and grow outragious in their insolent Language even against himself Of which we find an instance XXXVII Isa 28 29. Lest their Adversaries should behave themselves strangely Ascribe all this to their false gods as Cocceius understands it which are called strange gods v. 16. And lest they should say our hand is high Imagine their own Power and Valour had destroyed the Jews as both the Assyrians and Chaldaeans boasted X Isa 7 8 c. I Habak 15 16. And the LORD hath not done all this And attribute nothing to the most High in all the business Certain it is the Wickedness of the Jews was so exceeding great that their final Extirpation had been accomplished many Generations before it came to pass had the LORD been only just and respected nothing but their deserts whom he very often preserved when they might have been justly destroyed for such reasons as he himself here gives That his Glory might not be impeached among the Nations but they might see by the strange Deliverances and Restaurations of the Jews that their God was a God of gods most worthy to be honoured by all the World as he himself speaks below v. 36. So Dr. Jackson well observes B. I. on the Creed Chap. XXII Sect. IV. The Marginal Translation of this last Clause is also agreeable to the Hebrew Our high hand and not the LORD hath done all this To prevent which wrong Construction of God's Judgments upon them he took such a time for the Execution of them as Conradus Pellicanus well observes when the World began to be better instructed by the Coming of Christ So that Titus himself said as I noted before that it was God and not the Hands of the Romans that destroyed them See XXIX 24. and this Chapter v. 22. Ver. 28. For they are a Nation void of counsel The Verse 28 Hebrew word abad which is commonly translated perish and here we translate void signifies in the Ethiopick Language is foolish or mad as Job Ludolphus observes in his excellent History of that Country Which makes it probable this was the ancient sense of the word among the Hebrews and gives the best account of this place which may be thus translated They are a Nation foolish in their counsel Whose Counsels led them to such Courses as utterly undid them and when they seemed most wise they madly ruined themselves And thus those words of Jeremiah may be best translated The heart of the King is foolish IV. 9. Neither is there any understanding in them They did not understand what was good for themselves but imprudently chose that which did them mischief Some refer this to the Enemies of the Jews before spoken of but that seems not so agreeable to what
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
of Israel By which the Israelites should have learnt that as Moses left them short of the promised Land and could not bring them into the possession of it so his Law did not contain a perfect Revelation of God's Will but they were to expect something beyond it CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND this is the blessing As Jacob blessed his Children at his departure out of the World when God had begun to fulfil the promise to Abraham of giving him a numerous Offspring so Moses having seen them vastly increased and ready to enter upon the Land promised to them XV Gen. 18 c. takes his farewel of them with a Blessing pronounced upon the People in general and upon each Tribe in particular Which is in part prophetical as the Blessing of Jacob was and delivered in the prophetick stile which hath some difficulty and obscurity in it on purpose perhaps to excite their diligent study to enquire into the meaning See XLIX Gen. 1 3. Wherewith Moses the Man of God Or the Prophet of the LORD as Onkelos translates it For Prophets are called Men of God in the holy Books 1 Sam. IX 6 7 8. 1 Kings XIII 1. 1 Tim. VI. 11. 2 Tim. III. 17. 2 Pet. I. 21. because in the exercise of their Sacred Function they did not deliver their own sense nor the sense of other Men but the Mind and Will of God who spake by them Blessed the Children of Israel before his death Before he went up into Mount Abarim to die XXXII 49. he prayed God to bless them and also foretold their future State and Condition Such had been the ancient Custom among the holy Patriarchs as we learn from the example of Jacob to admonish their Posterity upon their dying Beds of such things as they thought most imported them For then they could not but be thought to speak most sincerely and their words were apt to be entertained with greater respect and preserved in Mind with greater Care Moses therefore their Deliverer Leader and Law-giver concludes his Life in the same manner and it 's very likely deposited these dying words with them in writing Ver. 2. And he said the LORD came from Sinai And in the first place he endeavours to make them sensible of what God had done already for them and Verse 2 the chief of all his Benefits being the Revelation of his Mind and Will to them he commemorates that as a common Blessing to them all before he begins to speak in particular to each Tribe For that is meant by the LORD came from Sinai where he appeared in a most glorious manner and from thence promulgated his Law with the greatest Solemnity Exod. XX. And thus the Gentiles took an unwonted brightness in any place to be a token of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appearance or Advent of some of their gods in that place As also a great commotion in any place they took for another token of it See the illustrious Spanhemius in his Annotations upon Callimachus his Hymn to Apollo v. 7. which they seem to have learnt from this appearance of God on Mount Sinai and the quaking of that Mountain when God appeared on it And rose up from Seir unto them and shone forth from Mount Paran There is no difficulty in the foregoing words it being evident that God came down on Mount Sinai and thence delivered his Commands to the Israelites and espoused them for his People But how he rose up from Seir unto them the Country of Edom and shone from Paran the Country of Ishmael is not so easie to understand The Jews indeed who are wont to solve all Difficulties by inventing what they please are not troubled to give an account of these words Which signifie they fancy that the Divine Glory first resided upon Mount Seir where God propounded his Law to the Children of Esau but they would not have it because they found these words in it Thou shalt not kill He went therefore to Paran and offered it to the Children of Ishmael but they refused it also because they found these words in it Thou shalt not Steal So he came to Sinai and gave it to the Israelites who said All the words which the LORD hath said will we do XXIV Exod. 3. Thus the Hierusalem Targum and Pirke Elieser and some other more ancient Authors with this addition That he offered the Law to all the Nations of the World but they rejected it because it is written Thou shalt have none other gods but me But this looks so like a Fable that some of themselves are ashamed of it and have given a better sense of the words though I cannot say the true one For thus Abraham Peritsol expounds them The true Law came out of Sinai to the Israelites by which the Edomites were so inlightned that God might be said to rise up to them also and afterward the Celestial Influence shone out of this Law to the Ishmaelites who were the better for it Thus Const L'Empereur reports his sense in his Annotations upon Bava kama Cap. IV. Sect. III. where he endeavours to make out a plainer sense of these words in this manner Though the Mountain of Paran was nigher to Sinai than Seir was and first occurred to those that went out of Egypt yet there was great reason to mention Seir before it because Moses had respect to the order of their Journeys and not to the Site of the Places And their Journeys were so directed by Divine Providence that fetching a long Circuit forward and backward they should come to Canaan In all which turnings and windings they were marvellously preserved and provided for by the same good Providence which conducted them Of this Moses here makes a thankful Commemoration how he led them from Mount Sinai to the Borders of the Land of Canaan towards Mount Seir as is expresly noted by Moses compare I Deut. 19. with II. 1. and XX Numb 14. From whence by reason of their Infidelity they were led back again towards the Red Sea and incamped in the extremity of the Wilderness XXXIII Numb 35. where Ptolemy places Paran though there was another part of it called Paran near Kadesh XIII Numb 3 27. And from thence they were led back again in a long Circuit to the East part of the Land of Canaan This may be one reason why these two places are mentioned together with Sinai that God who there appeared to them was with them all the time they wandred about in the Wilderness till he brought them to the Borders of Canaan where they now were And another may be because in Mount Seir the brazen Serpent was erected by God's order for the Cure of such as were bitten by Serpents when they looked on it which was an illustrious Type of our blessed Saviour and the Salvation wrought by him XX Numb 4 9. And in the Desert to which Paran gave the name because it overlookt the whole though very large they received the
die nor being surprised with death for he knew the time and the place and the manner of it And as he did not die of any Disease as was said before or of old Age or by external force but only by the will and pleasure of God who took his Soul out of his Body so he did not part with it against his will nor with any fear but with a placid Mind and composed Spirit committed himself to God In whose embraces as we may speak he expired and this it is likely the ancient Jews meant when they said His Soul departed with a kiss As to the time of his death the Scripture doth not mention the Year the Month and the Day but the Jews commonly place it in the last Month of the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt called ADAR and the seventh day of that Month. Thus they say in Seder Olam Rabba Cap. X. and in their Kalendar which they now follow and so Patricides in Hottinger's Smegma Orientale p. 457. But our great Primate of Ireland in his Annals observes that it agrees better with the following History to place his death in the first Day of that Month and Torniellus makes the same Computation that it must be either in the latter end of the Eleventh Month or in the beginning of the Twelfth Verse 6 Ver. 6. And he buried him This refers to the words foregoing viz. the LORD who commanded his Angels to bury him So Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Haeres IX p. 28. and see p. 600. Though in the Scripture active words are very often used passively and the meaning may be only that he was buried Yet there is this to be said for the other sense that thereupon it is thought that the Contest arose between Michael the Archangel and the Devil as St. Chrysostom Theodoret Procopius Gazaeus and others take it who would not have had him buried but opposed it that he might administer an occasion to the Jews to commit Idolatry Though we never find that the Jews were given to the Worship of Reliques as our most Learned Vsser observes in his Annals See there In a Valley in the Land of Moab over against Beth-Peor This Valley was in the Land of Sihon King of the Amorites IV. 46. who had taken it from the Moabites as I noted before and was now possessed by the Israelites And Beth-Peor was a part of the Possession of Reuben XIII Josh 20. which was a place where the Temple of Peor anciently stood from whence it had its name For this Idol is not only called Baal-Peor but simply Peor XXII Josh 17. and as Beth-Baal is the Temple of Baal so Beth-Peor is the Temple of Peor as J. Ger. Vossius abserves de Orig. Progr Idol Lib. II. Cap. VII Now by all these Circumstances of his burial it appears how frivolous that Opinion of the Jews is mentioned in Jalkut out of Siphri that Moses did not really die but was translated into Heaven where he stands and Ministers before God Which conceit Josephus himself follows Lib. IV. Aniq. Cap. VIII where he saith that the having dismissed the Elders who went with him to Mount Abarim and then conversing a while with Eleazar and Joshua while he embraced them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cloud on a sudden coming upon him he was snacht out of their sight into a certain Valley Which is not only beside but contrary to the Scripture which saith he died and was buried in the Valley And yet some of the ancient Fathers particularly St. Ambrose and St. Hilary have followed this Opinion that when Moses is said to die it doth not signifie the separation of his Soul from his Body but his Translation to a better Life See Sixtus Senensis in his Bibliotheca Lib. V. Annot. LXI where he observes this is not only against Scripture but against the sense of almost all Ecclesiastical Writers But no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day These words unto this day show that this passage was not written by Moses as Josephus and Philo imagine who say he wrote this by the Spirit of Prophecy See v. 1. The reason why his Body was concealed most think to have been lest in future times it should become an Object of their Worship So R. Levi ben Gersom Future Generations perhaps might have made a god of him because of the fame of his Miracles For do we not see how some of the Israelites erred in the brazen Serpent which Moses made And the Heresie of the Melchisedekians shows this was no vain fear as Hermannus Witzius observes Lib. I. Miscell Cap. XVII if Epiphanius may be believed who saith that in Arabia Petraea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They thought him to be God because of his Wonders he wrought and worshipped his Image What would they have done if they had had his very Body Which he did not desire to be carried into Canaan and buried among his Ancestors as Joseph ordered concerning his Bones For he understood it is likely the mind of God to be that as he should not go over Jordan while he was alive so his Body should not be carried over when he was dead Which R. Chama thinks might have proved dangerous because in the time of their Distress especially at the Captivity of the Land the Children of Israel might have been prone to run to his Sepulchre and beg him with tears to pray for them whose Prayers had been so prevalent for them in his life time For such a piece of Superstition it seems crept in among them in latter Ages of which see Wagenseil upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. I. Sect. LII Annot II. But though no Man knew where Moses was buried when this was written yet some Maronite Shepherds we are told have pretended lately MDCLV to find out his Tomb with this Inscription in Hebrew Moses the Servant of the LORD A great stir was made about it as the same Witzius observes out of Hornius his Historia Ecclesiastica But a learned Jew he saith so confuted the Story showing it was another Moses whose Tomb they found that the Report presently vanished And the Learned Wagenseil makes some probable guesses that it was the Tomb of Moses Maimonides See Annot. VI. in Gemara Sotae Cap. I. Sect. LI. But Bartoloccius in his late Bibliotheca Rabbinica Tom. III. p. 928 c. hath made it rather probable that Hornius was imposed upon by some body in this narration there being no such Author known among the Jews as R. Jakum or Jacomus ben Gad who he saith confuted this Tale. Ver. 7. And was an hundred and twenty years old Verse 7 when he died A third part of which time wanting one Month he had been imployed in the Government of Israel as Josephus observes in the Conclusion of his Fourth Book of Antiquities His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated That is he had all the vigour of Youth remaining there being not
knew face to face Or as de Dieu thinks it should be translated who knew the LORD face to face This was one Preheminence of Moses above all the Prophets that he conversed more familiarly with God than any of them did See XII Numb 8. which place explains this for to know him face to face was to speak familiarly to God and to hear God speaking in like manner unto him And so the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words only instead of the LORD he saith Who knew the WORD of the LORD talking with him and delivering to him most excellent Laws for the good government of his People In which Laws he still lives they all remaining upon Record to this day when the Laws of all the famous Lawgivers whom the Gentiles honoured as gods are obliterated But it must be observed that in this wherein Moses excelled all the Prophets our blessed Saviour far transcended him For he was in the bosom of the Father I Joh. 18. and spake what he saw and heard c. III Joh. 11 32. Verse 11 Ver. 11. In all the signs and the wonders which the LORD sent him to do The Hierusalem Targum hath it Which the WORD of the LORD sent him to do in the Land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his Servants and to all his Land See IV. 34. VI. 22. VII 19. In these signs and wonders Moses excelled all the Prophets doing more Miracles than all that succeeded him as Maimonides observes More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXV But our blessed Saviour excelled him in this as well as them doing more wonders than all the Prophets put together had done from the beginning of the World and far greater also than theirs XXI Joh. ult Ver. 12. And in all that mighty hand and in all that great terror which Moses showed As the former Verse relates to what he did in Egypt so this hath respect unto their passing through the Red Sea and to all that befel them in the Wilderness both at the giving of the Law and afterward till this time So the Hierusalem Targum expounds these words In all that strong hand and in all those great Visions which Moses managed And Onkelos to the same purpose In the sight of all Israel In the place forenamed Maimonides insists much upon this that Moses wrought all his Miracles publickly the whole Congregation being Witnesses of them And so our Saviour commonly wrought his till they sought to kill him in their Synagogues at their Publick Feasts when there was the greatest Concourse of the People of Israel So that in this he was a Prophet like unto Moses though infinitely superiour which some of the old Jews could not but discern as I observed upon Chap. XVIII when upon these words of Isaiah LII 13. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high they thus gloss in Tanchuma which is an ancient Book among them This is the King MESSIAS who shall be exalted above Abraham extolled above Moses and be very high above the Angels of the Ministry Upon which Conradus Pellicanus thus glosses and concludes his Commentary as I shall do mine with these words What is it to be above the Angels let the Jews explain we can understand nothing by it but the very WORD of God which was in the beginning with God and was God by whom all things were made and without him nothing was made viz. the LORD God of Hosts to whom in perfect Vnity God the Father Son and Holy Spirit be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen Thus ends the Pentateuch which as our great Primate of Ireland computes contains the History of Two thousand five hundred and fifty two years and an half from the beginning of the World to the death of Moses FINIS By reason of the Distance of the Author this Omission hapned which the Reader is desired to insert in its proper place At the end of Page 511. Line ult after three hundred years add these words But if any one think good thus to apply the words of this Verse unto Vespasian they must not take this for the literal meaning of them because it is evident that by the Stranger is to be understood those of other Nations who lived among them Particularly those Gentiles who were brought into their Country by the Assyrians instead of the Ten Tribes as some of the best of the Jewish Writers expound it What the Doctor also saith concerning their advancing Vespasian to the Imperial Dignity cannot be maintain'd ERRATA Page 21. Line 24. read their Cities Page 30. Line 14. r. Elate Page 39. Line 18. r. faith Page 43. Line 17. r. Ammonites Page 67. Line 15. r. Atargatis Page 85. antepen r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 86. Line 11. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 90. Line 24. r. even before Page 116. Line 2. r. Melech Page 145. Line 13. r. until the other Page 174. Line 5. for notion r. reason Page 183. Line 10. for Geder r. Seder Page 194. Line 18. r. Author of Sepher Ikkarim Page 220. Line 20. r. Acra-batta Page 242. Line 20. r. Arcadica * Page 264. Line 24. blot out but as the persons concerned in the Controversie brought it and read But whoever brought the Controversie before this Court when the Inferiour could not determine it they gave the sentence Page 269. Line 10. r. Cunaeus Lib. II. Page 290. Line 29. r. had her first Page 323. Line 15. r. Chillel Page 332. Line 20. r. was so setled Page 348. Line 2. r. slake Page 358. Line 24. r. both Sexes Page 365. Line 6. r. whom all that Page 372. Line 1. r. make thee Page 382. Line 31 32. r. paid to her father Page 408. Line 20. for inherent r. indigent Page 420. Line 28. r. Chasidah Page 428. Line 2. r. remember it Page 438. Line 16. r. of no consequence Page 439. Line 26. r. as a reason Page 442. Line 28. r. Dr. Pocock Page 488. Line 19. r. would furnish Page  Line 20. r. that should further Page 507. Line 9. r. strangeness Page 599. Line 16. r. retained the manner Page 612. Line 1. r. Olive Tree thrives Page 617. Line 27. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a field Page 641. Line 12. r. Mountain Page 650. Line 22. r. he speaks of himself Page 652. Line penult r. staid behind them Page 663. Line 20. r. Gazellas Page 665. Line 5. r. great numbers Page  Line 25. r. IV Gen. 10. Page 668. Line 17 18. r. He came the Heads of the People Page 685. Line 12. r. he having BOOKS Printed for Richard Chiswell BIshop Patrick's Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Genesis The Second Edition 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Second Book of Moses called Exodus 4 to 1697. His Commentary on the Third Book of Moses called Leviticus 4 to 1698. His Commentary on the Fourth Book of Moses called Numbers 4 to 1699. His Commentary on the Fifth Book of Moses called Deuteronomy 4 to 1700. His Hearts Ease or a Remedy against all Troubles A Consolatory Discourse directed to those who have lost their Friends and dear Relations To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The Seventh Edition 120. 1699. The Life of Henry Chichele Archbishop of Canterbury In which there is a particular Relation of many remarkable Passages in the Reigns of Henry the Fifth and Sixth Kings of England Written in Latin by Arthur Duck LLD. Chancellor of the Dioscess of London and Advocate of the Court of Honour Now made English And a Table of Contents annexed Archbishop Tollotson of Sincerity and Constancy in the Faith and Profession of the True Religion Being the First Volume Published from the Originals by Dr. Barker Chaplain to his Grace His Second Volume Containg Sixteen Sermons on several Occasions His Third Volume Containing Sixteen Sermons on several Subjects His Fourth Volume Containing several Discourses on Natural and Instituted Religion The Nature and Necessity of Regeneration the Danger of all known Sin c. His Fifth Volume Proving Jesus to be the Messiah the Son of God The Danger of Apostacy from Christianity c. His Sixth Volume Being the First part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1699. His Seventh Volume Being the Second or Remaining Part of his Discourses on the Divine Attributes 1700. A Discourse of the Government of the Thoughts By George Tullie Sub-Dean of York The Third Edition Corrected 120. 1699. Preparation for Death Being a Letter sent to a young Gentlewoman in France in a dangerous Distemper of which she died By William Wake D.D. The Sixth Edition 120. Private Devotions digested into Six Litanies with Directions and Prayers By Hen. Valentine The Bishop of Sarum's Exposition of the 39 Articles of the Church of England in Folio 1700. The Life of John Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury in the Times of Queen Elizabeth and King James the First Written by Sir George Paul Comptroller of his Graces Houshold To which is added a Treatise intituled Conspiracy for Pretended Reformation Written in the Year 1591. By Richard Cosin LLD. Dean of the Arches and Official Principal to Archbishop Whitgift 80. 1699.
Land Verse 20 which I sware unto their Fathers that floweth with milk and honey VI. 10 c. XV. 8 9. And they shall have eaten and filled themselves and waxen fat VIII 10 11 12 c. XXVII 15. Then they will turn unto other gods and serve them c. Against which he had most solemnly foremarned them in the places before-mentioned and XI 16. XII 29 30. Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass when many evils Verse 21 and troubles are befaln them that this Song shall testifie against them as a witness That they are most justly punished for their foul ingratitude and unbelief with which this Song upbraided them having told them plainly XXXII 18 19. what would be the effect of their forsaking him and at the delivery of it God having solemnly said here v. 17. that when they went a whoring from him he would forsake them and hide his face from them For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed The Calamities which fell upon them according to what is predicted in this Song brought it to their remembrance when they had forgotten it or did not regard it For these words do not seem to be a Precept requiring them to remember this Song but a Prediction foretelling that their Miseries should not suffer them quite to forget it For I know their imagination which they go about even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware He saw the secret Inclinations and Designs which were in their hearts and perceived that at that very present they hankered as we speak after Idols Verse 22 Ver. 22. Moses therefore wrote this Song the same day And so did Joshua as he was commanded v. 19. who spake the words of this Song unto the People as well as Moses XXXII 44. And taught it the Children of Israel Commanded them to learn it v. 19. In order to which the Jews say every Man was bound to write for himself a Copy of it and more than that they make it one of the affirmative Precepts as Maimonides tells us which obliged every Israelite to write out the whole Book of the Law with his own hand For so they interpret those words v. 19. Write ye this Song for you as if they were spoken to all the People and their meaning had been Write ye this Law for you wherein is this Song for they were not to write the Law by small parts and sections as his words are but all of it intirely And if a Man's Parents had left him a Copy yet he was bound to write one himself or if he could not write to procure one to be written for him by some other Person c. See Schickard's Mischpat Hameleck Cap. II. Theor. V. Verse 23 Ver. 23. And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge That is the LORD who had hitherto spoken to him by Moses now spake to him himself and gave him this charge to gain him the greater Authority For which end he had ordered Joshua to present himself before him together with Moses verse 14. Be strong and of a good courage Which he repeats to him after the death of Moses I Josh 6 7. For thou shalt bring the Children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them I have appointed thee to be the Captain of my People to lead them into the Land of Canaan And I will be with thee To give him success in all his Enterprises Which words being spoken in the audience of all the People as may be supposed from v. 14. made them readily submit to the Authority of Joshua and confide in his Conduct Ver. 24. And it came to pass when Moses had made Verse 24 an end of writing the words of this Law in a Book until they were finished The whole Book of his Laws which he put together before his death as I said on v. 9. Ver. 25. That Moses commanded the Levites c. Verse 25 The Priests who were of the Tribe of Levi. See v. 9. Ver. 26. Take this Book of the Law and put it in the Verse 26 side of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD your God Not in the inside of it for he doth not say put it into the Ark but in the side of the Ark that is on the outside in a little Box as Jonathan and others expound it For it is the very same Phrase with that 1 Sam. VI. 8. where the Philistims are said to have put the Jewels of Gold which they returned for a Sin-offering in a Coffer by the side of the Ark. Where none could put it but the High Priest because no Body else might go into the Holy Place where the Ark was And therefore those Priests who received the Book of the Law from Moses delivered it to Eleazer to be there placed See Buxtorf Histor Arcae Cap. V. and Huetius more lately in his Demonstratio Evangelica Propos IV. Cap. de Can. Libr. Sacrorum Sect. VIII where he observes that R. Meir in both the Talmuds Abarbinel himself and many others have been of opinion from this very place that the Book of the Law was put into the Ark it self being no less precious than the Tables of Stone which were there But the Scripture tells us There was nothing in the Ark save the two Tables of Stone 1 Kings VIII 9. 2 Chron. V. 10. and their reason is good for nothing the two Tables far excelling this Book because written by the Finger of God And therefore other great Doctors among the Jews rightly place it without the Ark as the very words of Moses import That it may be there for a witness against thee It was deposited in that place as a publick Record that if any one should falsifie or deprave any thing in the Law as Abarbinel interprets it he might be convicted out of this Book which was sacredly preserved to be produced as a Witness against him Or as the Author of Tzeror Hammor expresses it that if they should be so wicked as to lose the Books of the Law this Copy kept under the care of the Priests might remain to testifie what was the Will of God As we see it did in the days of Josiah when it was casually found in the House of God as they were about the reparations of it Though I cannot say they found it in the side of the Ark but rather upon the Roof of the House or in the Rafters where the Priests had hid it as some of the Jews think when Manasseh endeavoured to destroy this Authentick Copy of the Law as he had done all other that he could find and when they came to uncover the House there it appeared Ver. 27. For I know thy rebellion and thy stiff-neck I have been sufficiently acquainted with your perverse disposition Behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye Verse 27 have been rebellious against the LORD and how much more after my death For it was not
likely they would have a greater regard to Joshua than they had to him who had such near familiarity with God as never any Man had Ver. 28. Gather unto me all the Elders of your Tribes Verse 28 I suppose after Moses had spoke to the People what God ordered v. 1 2 c. See there he dismissed them again that he might write the Book of the Law v. 9. and deliver it to the Priests c. and then write this Song which follows in the next Chapter v. 19 22 c. Which being done he is ordered here to summon all the Elders of the several Tribes and with them all the People came v. 30. that he might deliver to them by word of Mouth the Song which he had wrote And your Officers I have frequently observed that these Schoterim which we translate Officers were but Ministers to their Elders or Judges See V Exod. 14. I Deut. 15. XVI 18. Unto which I shall add here only the words of Abarbinel The Office of the Schoterim was to see that the Sentence which the Judges had given was observed and to compel Men to it They who would have more may find a long Roll of Authors who are of this mind both Jews and Christians in Jo. Benedic Carpzovius upon Schickard's Jus Regium who hath also said a great deal to the same purpose Cap. IV. Theorem XIV That I may speak these words in their ears The Song which God had suggested to him and commanded him to write v. 19 22. And call heaven and earth to record against them Call the whole World to witness how wicked they are if they fall from God after such care to preserve them in his Obedience Verse 29 Ver. 29. For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt your selves Fall to the foulest Idolatry II Judges 19. And turn aside from the way which I have commanded you Departing from that way of God which I have delivered to you by his command It was a very melancholy thing for Moses to leave the World in this belief that all his pains would be lost upon them but he comforted himself in doing his Duty to the very last and omitting no means to secure them from Apostasy And evil will befal you in the latter days This seems to express a foresight that they would not immediately revolt but after the death of Joshua and of the Elders who survived him II Judges 7 11 12 c. Because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands By making Images after the manner of other Nations and bowing down to them and worshipping them II Judges 12 13. III. 7. where the Groves signifie the Images in the Groves Verse 30 Ver. 30. And Moses spake With the assistance of Joshua XXXII 44. In the ears of all the Congregation of Israel Whom the Elders and Officers v. 28. had assembled according to their Tribes and Families unto whom they went severally and spake these words in their hearing The words of this song Which follows in the next Chapter and much differs in the raised Expressions and loftiness of the Stile from the rest of this Book hitherto Vntil they were ended Omitted nothing but compleatly delivered this Song to them Or they spake all these words to them at the same time with one continued Speech I observed before that the most ancient way of Instruction was by Poetical Compositions which was more ancient than Rhetorical Discourses And as their chief Learning did consist of Poetry so the excellency of their Poetry was seen in the proper and native Subject of this Faculty that is in Matters of sacred use or observation From whence the Title of Vates descended unto Secular and Prophane Poets who detained the manner of Speech used by the former But as Conradus Pellicanus here truly observes and see my Notes on XV Exod. 1. the Scripture Poetry doth not consist in the cadency and number of Syllables contrived to please the ear but in brief and weighty Sentences simply and sincerely composed in a lively manner to enlighten the Understandings move the Affections and stick in the Memory And the Ancients as a great Man of our own observes had this advantage of later Poets That the Fashion of the World as he speaks in their times was more apt to ravish their thoughts with admiration wonderful Events being then more frequent and their frequency not abating but rather increasing their wonderment because their variety was very great and the apprehension of invisible or supernatural Powers in those Events was usual and undoubted So that admiration was then inforced upon Men and the Breasts of those who diligently observed those Events or were any way disposed by Nature to it were inspired with lively and sublime Affections apt to vent themselves in such Poetical Phrase and Resemblances as we cannot reach unless we raise our Invention by Imitation and stir up Admiration by Meditation and Study But now our Senses being neither moved with such extraordinary Effects of God's Power nor our Minds bent to observe the ways of his Wisdom so as to be stricken with true observation of them we have fewer good Sacred Poems than of any other kind Thus Dr. Jackson Book I. on the Creed Chap. XIV David Chytraeus also hath an excellent Discourse on this Subject to show that the ancient Poetry among the Heathen contained the Doctrine of God and of Celestial Things all the Offices and Rewards of Vertue with the Punishment of Vice the History of their Kings and the noble Acts of famous Men Tome I. of his Works p. 154 c. Where he confirms this out of the Verses of Orpheus who lived as he computes about an Hundred and fifty years before David and those of Pindar Simonides and the rest who lived in the time of the War with Xerxes But Moses led the way to them all whose Mind was raised to that Sublimity of Thoughts and Speech which we find in his Songs by admiration of those strange Events which he saw XV Exod. XXI Numb and here in the next Chapter wherein he was followed by Deborah Barak and Hannah c. in after times V Judges 1 Sam. II. CHAP. XXXII Chapter XXXII Verse 1. GIve ear O ye heavens and I will speak Verse 1 and hear O earth the words of my mouth He calls Angels and Men to bear witness XXX 19. that the Israelites had been admonished of their Duty and warned of their Danger and this not by words of his own invention but which were put into his mouth by the Spirit of God Or after an elegant form of Speech he calls upon all insensible Creatures every where to listen to him that he might awaken the Israelites out of their stupidity or upbraid them as a People that had ears to hear and would not hear him And as some of themselves have observed he may be thought to intimate hereby