the whole Channel as before When the Morning appeared When it was light And the Egyptians fled against it They were so frighted by the Light which shone in their Faces and by the Thunder and Hail c. that they turned back and like Men distracted run and met the Waters which came tumbling down upon them And the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea The Hebrew word imports throwing down with violence and precipitation and may be translated threw them headlong Artapanus in Eusebius L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 27. tell this Story from the Heliopolitans after the same manner that Moses doth only he makes some of them to have been killed with Lightning and the rest drowned Ver. 28. And the Waters returned and covered the Chariots c. The Sea returned to its former depth so that they were swallowed up And all the Host of Pharaoh that came into the Sea after them Some have fancied that all the Host of Pharaoh did not perish but only so many of them as pursued the Israelites into the Sea which they fancy this place intimates some did not But the plain meaning is that they all came into the Sea after the Israelites and were all drowned in it It is a wilder fancy that Pharaoh alone was saved by the Angels Michael and Gabriel because he cried out as he had done heretofore IX 27. The LORD is righteous and I and my People are wicked Thus the Author of Dibre Hajamim or The Life and Death of Moses who says they transported him to Nineveh where he reigned as long as the Israelites wandred in the Wilderness The same is related by other such fabulous Writers who are soberly confuted by Aben Ezra from the following words There remained not so much as one of them and from XV. 4 19. where Moses in his Song plainly makes Pharaoh to have perished among the rest And with him an old Midrash saith that Jannes and Jambres were drown'd who had been the great Instruments of hardning Pharaoh's heart See our Learned J. Gregory Observ c. 15. Ver. 29. But the Children of Israel walked on dry Land c. Or Had walked for it seems to be a meer fancy that they were still in the Sea and had not passed quite through it when Pharaoh and his Host were drowned For which there is no ground but this word walked which may as well be translated in the time perfectly past as in the present And so I doubt not Moses meant that the Israelites were safe on Shore when the Sea returned upon the Egyptians And the Waters were a Wall unto them c. See v. 22. Ver. 30. Thus the LORD saved Israel As he had promised v. 13. That day Which was the XXI st of Nisan and the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which by God's command was to be kept holy XII 16. And now there was a very great reason for it and for that triumphant Hymn which they sung upon this Solemnity Chap. XV. Mr. Mede will have this Day to have been that which they afterward kept for their Sabbath in memory of their Redemption out of the Land of Egypt and the House of Bondage This he gathers from the Repetition of the Decalogue in the Fifth of Deuteronomy where leaving out the reason for this Commandment from the Creation of the World Moses inserts this other of their Redemption out of Egypt as the ground of observing that Seventh day rather than any other v. 15. Therefore the LORD commanded thee to keep the Sabbath namely not for the quotum of one day in seven of that there was another reason from the Example of God in the Creation but for the designation of that day after the preceding six days rather than any other Discourse XV. p. 74. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the Sea-shore It may be interpreted that as they stood upon the Sea-shore they saw their dead Bodies floating upon the Waters But it is likely also that by the working of the Sea and by the Divine Providence many of their Bodies were cast on shore that the Israelites might have the benefit of the Spoil and especially of their Arms which they wanted and were now by this overthrow furnished withal This Shore was inhabited by the Icthyophagi among whom the memory of this Recess and Return of the Sea was preserved as I observed upon v. 21. and unto whom the dead Bodies were given for food as the Psalmist saith LXXIV 14. that is to the Beasts and Birds of Prey which peopled the neighbouring Wilderness This was done by the righteous Judgment of the LORD God of the Hebrews who made this proud Prince his States-men and Army a Prey not only to the Fishes and Sea-monsters but a visible booty as Dr. Jackson speaks to the promiscuous sorts of ravenous Creatures which inhabit the Deserts Ver. 31. And Israel saw that great work c. Of making a path for them to walk on dry Ground in the middle of the Sea and then drowning the Egyptians when they followed them in the same path And the People feared the LORD They beholding and considering the powerful hand of God which appeared in this great work it begat in them for the present high and awful Thoughts of him and devout Affections to him For the fear of the LORD includes all Religion Or if we take the word fear in a restrained sense for a dread of the Divine Majesty the meaning is they were sensible how dangerous as well as vain it is to oppose his Authority to set themselves against his Will or slight his Warnings as Pharaoh and the Egyptians did And believed the LORD and his Servant Moses Believed the Promises which God had made them by Moses of bringing them into the Land of Canaan III. 17. looking upon Moses as a Servant of his who faithfully declared the Mind and Will of God unto them CHAP. XV. Verse 1. THen sang Moses and the Children of Israel c. Upon the XXIth of Nisan as I said before which was the last day of Unleavened Bread when they came safe through the Sea and saw the Egyptians drown'd they sang this Song of Praise to God for their wonderful Deliverance So the constant Tradition of the Hebrews is and there is great ground for it This Song Called the Song of Moses the servant of the LORD XV Rev. 3. because he composed it by a Divine Inspiration to be sung by all the People And it is the most ancient Song of which there is any memory Vnto the LORD In praise of the Divine Power and Goodness which remarkably appeared in this Deliverance Josephus L. II. c. ult of his Antiquities saith that this Song is composed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Hexameter Verse which Eusebius represents as the Opinion of many others L. XI de Praepar Evang. c. 3. But I do not see how this can be made out nor what St. Hierom saith concerning such Songs in many
not require so much as others Ver. 18. And when they did mete it with an Omer When it was brought unto their Tents v. 16. then the Father of the Family or some of the Rulers of the Congregation v. 22. measured what they had gathered with an Omer and gave to every one his proportion according as God directed He that gathered much had nothing over Had no more than his Omer And he that gathered little had no lack He that had not gathered enough to make an Omer for every man had it made up to him out of other Mens gatherings who had more than enough Abarbinel will have it that they were so directed by a miraculous Providence as to gather just so much for their several Families that every Person 's share would come to an Omer and neither more nor less And so Greg. Nyssen calls this the Second Miracle which was in the Manna having observed one before v. 14. But others think that if any part of it remained after every one in the Family had an Omer it was Food for their Cattle which in the Wilderness wanted Grass sufficient for them And this seems the more probable because otherwise we must make a new Miracle that every Man Woman and Child should be able to eat an Omer which all grant was sufficient for the Sustenance of any Man whatsoever but was too much sure for a Child They gathered every Man according to his eating As they were directed v. 16. Ver. 19. And Moses said Let no Man leave of it till the morning It was therefore to be all spent one way or other the same day it fell Which was the Law of all the Holy Feasts particularly of the Passover XII 10. and of the Sacrifice of Peace-Offerings XXI Lev. 30. Besides God would have them depend upon his Providence and trust him for fresh Supplies every day as Aben-Ezra well notes And R. Levi ben Gersom He that kept it till the morning betrayed his want of Faith and feared God would send no more for if he believed to what purpose should he be at the pains to keep it Here was a new Wonder that as it fell every day for Forty years together both in Winter and in Summer and likewise fell in such quantity that every one had an Omer and none wanted this Measure so it would not keep till the next Morning which it might have done in its own Nature and did once in a Week and in the Ark was preserved to many Generations Ver. 20. Notwithstanding they hearkned not unto Moses but some of them left of it till the morning Either through unbelief or meer negligence or a wanton inclination to make an Experiment some among them disobeyed his Command And it bred Worms and stank This was a Wonder also that such an heavenly Food so pure and simple should not only breed Worms but also stink Which was a Punishment for their Disobedience though a merciful one in that God did not inflict it upon themselves but upon their Food The Jews commonly take these words to be transposed things being wont first to putrifie and then to breed Worms and in that order Moses relates this matter when it was laid up for the Sabbath v. 24. That it neither stank neither was any Worm therein But Abarbinel thinks that Moses here speaks of it according to the order wherein they found it which was that first Worms appeared in it to their Eyes and then they smelt the stink But in speaking of what fell out on the seventh day he follows the natural order and saith it did not stink neither was any Worm in it And Moses was wroth with them Chid them severely for their Disobedience to him who had bestowed such a singular benefit upon them Ver. 21. And they gathered it every morning every man according to his eating This is not needlesly repeated but a further Explication of their Care and Diligence to furnish themselves early in the Morning with as much as was necessary before the Sun grew hot and melted it or as some of the Jews add raised the Wind which blew dust upon it When the Sun waxed hot it melted That it might not be trod upon nor putrified Which seems to be spoken of that which remained in the open Field ungathered though Abarbinel will have it that what they had brought into their Tents melted also when the Sun grew hot which obliged them not only to gather it early but to bake and prepare it presently while it was yet hard and not dissolved But I see no ground for this nor is it likely that they were constrained to prepare it all together but might any time that day at Supper as well as Dinner order it according to their liking Others of the Jews fancy that being melted it made little Brooks and Rivolets in the Fields c. but the plain sence is that the Sun which melted it exhaled it also into the Air from whence it came and returned again the next Morning Ver. 22. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much Bread c. According to the Command of God v. 5. It appears by this place where it is called Bread as it is v. 4 12. that it was of a hard Substance when it fell though it dissolved by the heat of the Sun being like the Corn of which Bread is made And the Rulers of the Congregation came and told Moses He had bidden them gather a double quantity on the sixth day but had not told them the reason of it v. 5. and therefore they come now to enquire what they should do with it By this one would think they were the Rulers who saw a distribution made to every one in a just proportion or that they appointed Overseers to take care of it Ver. 23. And he said unto them this is that which the LORD hath said This is the Command which I have received from God about this matter To morrow is the rest Or shall be the rest Of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD To be kept holy so as to do no work therein And therefore you must not so much as go into the field to gather your Food which is the reason why you are ordered to make two days Provision in one The words in the Hebrew which we translate the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD may be rendred as they lye in order the Sabbath the holy Sabbath unto the LORD Which Abarbinel explains as if the word Sabbath being repeated signified that it was to be a Cessation from all manner of Work because it was the Sabbath of the LORD himself wherein he ceased from his Works At this time and not before the rest of the seventh day seems to have been appointed They performed Religious Offices upon one day in seven but did not cease from all Labour until now These very words seem to show there had been some observation of a Sabbath heretofore and was not wholly a new
thing for if it had they could not have understood Moses nor known what he meant See what I have noted upon the Second of Genesis where I thought it reasonable to assert That God intended to preserve a Memory of the Creation in six days by appointing the seventh day to be kept holy And therefore the more pious any people were the greater respect they had to this day But when the World grew very wicked before the Flood as they little thought of God so it is likely they neglected all distinction between this day and others And the dispersion of People after the Flood very much blotted it out of their minds as it did many other good things But in the Family of Abraham we may well suppose it was continued though not with such strict abstinence from all Labour as for special reasons was afterward enjoyned Which is the cause why we read nothing of their resting in their Travels upon that day before their coming out of Egypt Where they were under such cruel Servitude that all observation of the seventh day it is likely was laid aside they being pressed day and night by their Task-masters to hard Labour without intermission And therefore when God brought them out of that Slavery he renewed his Command for the observation of the Sabbath with this addition in memory of their Deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage that they should rest from all manner of Labour upon that day Both these Reasons are given by Moses why God commanded it to be observed in memory of the Creation in six days XX Exod. 11. and in memory of their deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage V Deut. 15. Bake that which you will bake to day c. The words to day are not in the Hebrew but are necessary to make the sense plain because they were enjoyned on this day to prepare or make ready all things against the next v. 5. And that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept till the morning From which words some have inferred that there was no prohibition of baking and seething on the Sabbath but the contrary rather is here supposed See Dr. Heylin in his History of the Sabbath Part. I. p. 100. But I do not see how this consists with the further explication of this matter in XXXV Exod. 3. where they are forbidden to kindle a Fire upon this day Unless any one will say that for the present they might do it but shortly after were prohibited which is not at all likely For the plain meaning is that if they would make any baked Meats or boiled with the Manna they must do it upon the sixth day though what they did not then bake nor boil they might safely keep till the next day and it should not breed Worms nor stink But what they so kept was to be eaten without baking or boiling as it well might being a food prepared in Heaven for their eating without any need of further Art And therefore called Bread even when they gathered it v. 22. Ver. 24. And they laid it up until the morning c. Without any Preparation of it by baking or boiling and it kept the whole seventh day without any putrefaction Ver. 25. And Moses said Eat that to day Simple as it is without baking or boiling For to day is a Sabbath unto the LORD The frequent repetition of this in this Chapter v. 23. and again v. 29 30. hath led the Jews into this mistake that the Sabbath was not ordained by God till they came out of Egypt directly contrary to what we read in the Second of Genesis that it was instituted from the beginning And therefore Moses here only gives an account why this Precept was renewed at their coming out of Egypt when there was a new Religious observation added to it which was not necessary before viz. resting wholly from all manner of work There is an excellent Discourse on this Subject in a late Learned Author J. Wagensiel in his Confutation of R. Lipman's Carmen Memoriale p. 559 c. who well observes that this Precept having a peculiar respect to the Jews we are not bound to observe the rest of the Sabbath with such strictness as they did but only as the Patriarchs did before the giving of the Law p. 564. As for the translation of the day from the seventh to the first day of the Week it is impossible for the Jews to prove that the day they observe is the seventh from the Creation And besides that the whole World cannot be tied to the circumstance of time precisely for in some parts of it the Sabbath will fall eighteen hours later than in Palestine as he evidently shows p. 572 c. To day you shall not find it in the field This Moses said to them as Abarbinel thinks in the Evening of the Sabbath which was in effect a Prohibition to them not to go out to gather it on that day Ver. 26. Six days ye shall gather it c. The same Author thinks this is repeated to signifie that as long as they continued in the Wilderness they should gather it six days in a Week as they did now but never find any on the seventh There shall be none As you rest saith he from doing any thing about the Manna so God will cease from sending it unto you Upon which he makes this pious reflection That in this World we must work for our Souls if we would be happy in the next World which is an intire Sabbath or Rest For he that labours in the Evening of the Sabbath shall eat on the Sabbath To the same purpose Origen long before him Hom. VII in Exod. Ver. 27. There went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather c. The same wicked disposition remained in them which made them on other days keep it till next Morning v. 19 20. Ver. 28. And the LORD said unto Moses how long refuse ye to keep my Commandments c. These chiding words are full of indignation and yet signifie the long-suffering Patience of God with an untoward Generation Abarbinel expounds this passage as if upon this occasion he upbraided them with all their other Transgressions saying You kickt against me at the Red Sea and believed not my words at Marah also you murmured and uttered very discontented words at Elim Nay after I had given you Manna you violated my Precept in reserving it till the next Morning And now you break my Sabbath what hope is there that you will observe any of my Laws Refuse to keep my Commandments and my Laws He speaks thus say some of the Jews because that in which they now offended is a thing upon which the whole Law all his Commandments depend So the same Abarbinel Because the Sabbath instructed them in the Creation of the World upon which all the Law depends therefore he saith My Commandments and my Laws Ver. 29. See Consider For that the LORD hath given you the
dressed up the High Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the liberty and freedom also wherein they were instated I doubt not is signified by these words Kings and Priests as Onkelos translates them and as it is expressed in the New Testament I Revel 6. V. 10. and the Syriac also Kingdom and Priesthood for Kings and Priests were of all other Men freed from Oppression And thus I sind our Mr. Thorndike a most Learned man glosses upon thess words Review of the Rights of the Church p. 132. God calls them Kings because redeemed from the Servitude of Strangers to be a People Lords of themselves and Priests because redeemed to spend their time in Sacrificing and feasting upon their Sacrifices under which Figure he afterwards represents the happy estate of his Church LXI Isa 6. though they Sacrificed not in Person but by their Priests appointed in their stead by imposition of the Elders hands VIII Numb 10. An holy Nation A People separated to God from all other Nations and from their Idolatry to serve God in an acceptable manner These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the Children of Israel The sum of what he was to say to them comprehending both their Duty and their high Priviledge Ver. 7. And Moses came Down from the Mount where he had been with God v. 3. And called for the Elders of the People The principal Persons in the several Tribes See III. 16. which he seems to have done in the Evening of the second day of the Month. And laid before their faces all these words c. Plainly declared to them what God had given him in charge which they went and propounded to the People of the several Tribes whom they represented Ver. 8. And all the People answered together and said All with one consent declared as here follows All that the LORD hath spoken we will do They consented to have the LORD for their King and promised to be obedient to his Will And Moses returned the words of the People unto the LORD This seems to have been done the next day which was the third day of the third Month. Upon which Report made to God of the Peoples Consent he proceeds after a few days preparation to declare the Laws by which they should be governed Chap. XX XXI XXII XXIII and then in the XXIVth Chapter these Laws pass into a Covenant between God and them Here Moses plainly acted as a Mediator between God and the People Ver. 9. And the LORD said unto Moses lo I will come unto thee Appear upon the Mount In a thick Cloud In a darker Cloud than that which had hitherto gone before them to conduct them so that they should see nothing but Flashes of Lightning which came out of it in a very frightful manner v. 16 18. For that there was sire in it appears from IV Dent. 11. V. 22 23. though at first perhaps only a thick Cloud appeared as a token of his approach That the People may hear when I speak with thee Though they saw no Similitude yet they plainly heard a voice speaking unto Moses and declaring their Duty Maimonides indeed thinks that the words were directed only unto Moses and that the Israelites heard meerly the sound of the words but did not distinctly understand them More Nevoch P. II. c. 33. Which is directly against what Moses says IV Deut. 12. The LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the sire c. and V. 4 5. The LORD talked with you face to face in the Mount c. saying I am the LORD thy God c. which words are plainly directed to all the People And believe thee for ever They had been staggered in their Belief after they had professed it at the Red Sea XV. ult but after this it might be expected they would never question his Authority any more And Moses told the words of the People unto the LORD Or rather for Moses had told c. Upon which account God was pleased to make the foregoing Declaration Till they had owned him for the LORD their God i.e. their King and Governour he did not speak unto them at all but only unto Moses But now that they had consented to be his he resolves to speak audibly to them and henceforth to dwell among them and in order to it six his Tabernacle with them For which he gives order Chap. XXV c. immediately after they had entred into Covenant to do as they had promised Or these words which seem to be a needless repetition may relate to that which follows and be translated thus Moses having told the words of the People unto the LORD the LORD said unto Moses Go unto the People and sanctifie them c. Ver. 10. Go unto the People and sanctifie them to day and to morrow This shows that Moses was sent down early on the fourth day to prepare them for the Appearance of the Divine Majesty among them by sanctifying them that is separating them from all Uncleanness or rather from all common and ordinary Imployments that they might give themselves to Fasting and Prayer and Abstinence from otherwise lawful Pleasures For Pirke Elieser takes Abstinence from their Wives mentioned v. 15. as a part of this Sanctification cap. 41. And so doth Gregory Nyssen in his Book de Vita Mosis p. 178. And Maimonides observes that Separation from Wine and strong Drink is called Holiness in the Law of the Nazarites VI Numb 5. and therefore may be thought part of the Sanctification here required More Nevoch P. I. c. 33. And let them wash their Clothes The Hebrews understand it of washing their whole Bodies For thus Aaron and his Sons were to be consecrated to their Office XXIX 4. XL. 12. and therefore thus the People were now to be made a holy People unto the LORD and made sit for the Presence of the Divine Majesty Under whose Wings as they speak none were received in future times i.e. made Proselytes but by Baptism or washing of their whole Body which was taken from this pattern And accordingly where we read in the Law of particular Purifications by washing their Clothes in case of any Uncleanness as XI Lev. 25 28 40. XIV 8 47. where Moses speaks of cleansing a Leprous Person XXXI Numb 24. where he speaks of cleansing Soldiers and many other Cases they understand it in the very same manner In some cases indeed it is expresly prescribed XV Lev. 5 6 7. XVI 26 c. and they expound all other where Clothes only are mentioned by the same Rule as Mr. Selden shows I. I. de Synedr c. 3. where he observes that in the Pagan Language pure Garments signifie the washing of the whole Body See p. 29. Ver. 11. And be ready against the third day He doth not mean the third day of the Month but the third day after this command to Sanctifie themselves In which they were bound to spend two intire days and then the LORD promised to
with an Oath that which they knew not to be true For so the word Schave frequently signifies in Scripture a Lie This relates not to their giving a Testimony before a Judge upon Oath of which he speaks afterward in a distinct Commandment but to their Intercourse and Commerce one with another For an Oath saith R. Levi of Barcelona ought to establish every thing and thereby we declare our selves to be as much resolved concerning that which we swear as we are concerning the Being of God Heathens themselves accounted an Oath so sacred a thing that it was capital for a Man to forswear himself as Hen. Stephanus in his Fontes Juris Civilis p. 7. observes out of Diodorus Siculus L. I. and the reason he gives of it is this that such a Man committed two heinous Crimes by violating his Piety to God and his Faith to Men in the highest degree But besides this both Jews and Christians always understood swearing lightly upon frivolous occasions or without any necessity to be here forbidden R. Levi before-mentioned saith this Precept may be violated four several ways besides swearing that which we mean not to perform And Salvian aplies this to the trivial naming of God and our Saviour upon all occasions and sometimes upon bad occasions Nihil jam penè vanius quam Christi nomen esse videatur c. Every body then swearing by Christ he would do this or that though of no consequence whether he did it or no or perhaps a thing which ought not to be done L. IV. de Gubern Dei p. 88. edit Baluz They that understand this of Swearing by false Gods which are called vain things in Scripture do but trifle that is condemned in the foregoing Commandment it being a piece of Worship to swear by them For the LORD will not hold him guiltless c. If Men did not punish the false Swearer the LORD threatens that he will And so Mankind always thought as appears by the Law of the XII Tables mentioned by Hen. Stephanus in the Book quoted above Perjurij poena divina exitium humana dedecus The Divine Punishment of Perjury is utter Destruction the Humane Punishment is Disgrace or Infamy And Alexander Severus was so sensible of this that he thought Juris jurandi contempta Religio satis Deum ultorem habet The contempt of the Religion of an Oath hath God for a sufficient Avenger For an Oath is the strongest Bond that is among Men to bind them to Truth and Fidelity as Cicero speaks L. III. de Ossic c. 31. Witness saith he the XII Tables witness our Sacred Forms in taking an Oath witness our Covenants and Leagues wherein we plight our Faith to Enemies witness the Animadversions of our Censors qui nulla de re diligentius quam de jurejurando judicabant who judged of nothing more diligently than of an Oath Nor was the other sort of vain that is light and idle Swearing without any just occasion suffered to go unpunished for Mr. Selden observes out of Maimonides L. II. de Synedr c. 11. p. 497. that if any Man was guilty of it he that heard him Swear was bound to Excommunicate him what that was he shows in the first Book and if he did not he was to be Excommunicated himself And there is great reason for these Civil Laws which have provided a Punishment for this Crime not only because it is a great disrespect to God to use his Name so lightly on every trivial occasion but because such contempt of the Divine Majesty makes Men fall into the fearful Sin of Perjury Ver. 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy Be mindful of the day called the Sabbath to make a difference between it and all other days so that it be not employed as they are Ver. 9. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work This is not a Precept requiring Labour but a Permission to employ six days in a Week about such worldly Business as they had to do Which Permission also God himself abridged by appointing some other Festival days as all Governours may do upon some special occasions But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God Appointed by his Authority to be a day of Rest from your Labours In it thou shalt not do any work Herein the peculiar respect to the Seventh day consisted on all other days they might work but on this they were to cease from all manner of work In which very thing was the sanctifying of this day it being hereby separated and distinguished from all other days in a very remarkable manner But then it naturally followed that having no other work to do they should call to mind the reason why it was thus fanctified or set apart from other days And the reason say the Jews themselves was That having no other business they might fasten in their minds the belief that the World had a beginning which is a thred that draws after it all the foundations of the Law or the Principles of Religion They are words of R. Levi of Barcelona Besides which there was another reason which I shall mention presently But by this it appears that the Observation of this day was a Sign or a Badge to whom they belonged A profession that they were all the Servants of Him who created the Heaven and the Earth as God himself teaches them to ununderstand it XXXI 13 17. And that their Minds might be possessed with this sense he ordered this Solemn Commemoration of the Creation of the World to be made once in Seven days For as if there had been quicker returns of it their Secular Business might have been too much hindred so if it had been delayed longer this sense might have worn too much out of their minds Thou nor thy Son nor thy Daughter c. They might no more employ others in their worldly Business on this day than do it themselves But their Children though they understood not the reason were to rest that in time they might learn this great Truth that all things were made by God Nor thy Cattle Their Oxen and Asses and all other Creatures wont to be employed in their Labours were to enjoy the benefit of this Rest as well as themselves V Deut. 14. Which was absolutely necessary it being impossible for their Servants to rest as is here also required if they were to set their Cattle on work Nor thy stranger that is within thy gates No stranger who by being Circumcised had embraced the Jewish Religion But other strangers might work who only dwelt among them having renounced Idolatry but not taken upon them the Obligation to observe their whole Law Yet if any such Person was a Servant to a Jew his Master might not imploy him on the Sabbath day in any work of his but the Man might work for himself if he pleased being not bound to this Law See Selden L. III. de Jure N. G. c. 12. Ver. 11. For in six days the Lord made
Heaven and Earth There were two reasons for the Sanctification of this day One was because God rested from his Work of Creation on the Seventh day which is mentioned here the other was because he had given them rest from their Labours in Egypt which he mentions in the Vth of Deuteronomy There is no body hath explained both these better than Maimonides More Nevoch P. II. c. 31. There are two different Causes saith he for this Precept from two different Effects For when Moses first explained to us the cause of this Celebration in the Promulgation of the X. Commandments he saith it was because in six days the LORD made Heaven and Earth But in the repetition of them he saith Remember that thou was a servant in Egypt c. therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day V Deut. 15. The first Cause is the Glory and Magnificence of this day as it is said Therefore the LORD blessed the seventh day and sancified it II Gen. 3. This was the effect of that Cause for in six days he made Heaven and Earth this was the reason he means of the first Institution of the Sabbath but that he gave this Precept of the Sabbath unto us i.e. the Israelites and commanded us to observe it was from the other Cause which followed the first Cause because we were Servants in Egypt All which time we could not serve according to our own Will and Pleasure nor had any Rest or observed a Sabbath And therefore God gave us this special Precept of Resting and Cessation from Labours to joyn together these two Reasons viz. the belief of the beginning of the World which presently suggests to us the Being of God and then the memory of Gods Benefits unto us in giving us Rest from our intolerable Burdens in Egypt Wherefore he blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it In the beginning of the World he blessed the Seventh day II Gen. 3. and now particularly chose this Seventh day for a Sabbath which he ordered them to observe in memory of their coming out of Egypt on that day as I observed XVI 5 23. By which he preserved in their minds that singular Benefit which he had bestowed upon them and most manifestly saith Maimonides in another place P. III. c. 43. procured great ease to all sorts of Men by freeing a seventh part of their Lives from wearisom Labour Which hath another Blessing in conjunction with it that it perpetually preserved and confirmed that most precious History and Doctrine concerning the Creation of the World Ver. 12. Honour thy Father and thy Mother In another place they are commanded to fear them XIX Lev. 3. and as here the Father is put before the Mother so there the Mother is put before the Father to show as Maimonides takes it in his Treatise called Memarim c. 6. that we ought not to make any difference between them but they are both equally to be honoured and reverenced Which is a Duty of such great concernment that we are taught by the placing of this Commandment immediately after those which peculiarly relate to God's Worship that next to his Majesty our Parents are to be honoured with that reverence love obedience and maintenance which is due to them And therefore notorious disobedience to them is threatned with death as well as Apostacy from God Wherein this honour or fear doth consist is taught in all Books of Religion and Mr. Selden hath named a great many things wherein the Jews place it as the Learned Reader may see L. II. de Synedr c. 13. p. 558 c. I shall only add that this was a Law among the Heathens mentioned by Saleucus Charondas and others in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let Children honour their Parents And thus Vlpian expresses it Filio semper honesta sancta persona Patris videri debet And afterward Filium Patrem Matrem venerari oportet With much more that Hen. Stephanus hath collected in his Fontes Rivi Juris Civilis That thy days may be long in the Land c. As disobedience to Parents is by the Law of Moses threatned to be punished with death so on the contrary long Life which is the greatest worldly Blessing is promised to the Obedient and that in their own Country which God had peculiarly inriched with abundance of his Blessings Heathens also gave the very same incouragement saying that such Children should be dear to the Gods both living and dead So Euripides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this famous Senarius mention'd by the fame Henr. Stephanus with many other notable Passages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt live long or as long as thou canst desire if thou nourish thy ancient Parents Whence children are called by Xenophon and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 13. Thou shalt not kill After the Command about the respect due to Parents naturally follows the regard we ought to have to all other Men who spring from them And the greatest injury we can do another is to take away his Life whereby he is deprived of all the Enjoyments of this World and Humane Society it self is also wounded which cannot subsist if its innocent Members cannot be safe Innocent I say for this Commandment doth not hinder Men from defending themselves from violence XXII 2. nor forbids Magistrates to punish those with death who commit Crimes worthy of it for this is to preserve the Lives of other Men XXII 18 19 20. Ver. 14. Thou shalt not commit Adultery Next to a Man's self his Wife is nearer to him than any other Person they two being one flesh Which makes the injury done to him in her Person a breach of Humane Society next to Murder Nay the LXX place this Commandment before the other Thou shalt not kill Vertuous Woman valuing their Chastity more than their Lives and the Crimes to which meer Pleasure tempts Men being more grievous in the opinion of the great Philosopher than those to which they are stimulated by anger Whoredom is also forbidden in the Law of Moses and Incest as Wounding any Man is as well as Murder but in these X. Words which are a short Abridgment of their Duty it was sufficient only to mention the principal things of every kind which were hateful to God and injurious to Men. Ver. 15. Thou shalt not steal This was to injure Men in their Goods and Possessions either by open Rapine or by Craft and Cheating against which God intended to secure them by this Precept Several sorts of this Sin are afterwards mentioned in particular Laws Ver. 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy Neighbour As our Neighbour is not to be injured by us in Deeds so not in Words by giving a false Testimony against him before a Judge which is the chief Sin of this kind This is both an injury to our Neighbour and an affront to God in whose place
the Cloud Where the Divine Glory was and now broke out and appeared I suppose unto Moses Some think the seventh day might be the Sabbath upon which God chose to appear to him Ver. 17. And the sight of the Glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the Mount in the Eyes of the Children of Israel It broke out of the Cloud after six days so that the People saw it like flaming fire To which the Psalmist seems to allude XCVII Psal 2 3. Clouds and darkness are round about him and fire goeth before him c. Thus the Glory of the LORD is described in other places as within a Cloud and sometimes breaking out of it XL Exod. 35. where the Cloud is said to be upon the Tabernacle and the Glory of the LORD to fill it within which v. 38. is described like fire See also XVI Numb 42. And thus at its first appearing there was a Pillar of a Cloud and of Fire led them XIII 21. And it sometimes appearing in an amazing brightness beyond that of the Sun and sometimes being wrapt up in as thick a Cloud God is likewise said both to dwell in Light and in thick Darkness 1 Kings VIII 12. Ver. 18. And Moses went into the midst of the Cloud From whence the LORD had called to him v. 16. Therefore he broke through the thick Cloud into the very Prefence of God which was in a secret part of the Cloud called the midst of it And gat him up into the Mount To the top of it where the Glory of the LORD appeared to him in the midst of the Cloud the External Parts of which and the Fire only being seen by the People And Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights That he might receive the two Tables of Stone and the Gift of Prophecy as Elmacinus an Arabian Christian adds with Directions for the making the Tabernacle and all things belonging to it and the Service to be performed there by the Priest apparelled according to Divine Prescription c. which follow in the ensuing Chapters where Moses relates what orders God gave him about every thing relating to his Divine Service And it need not seem strange as Clemens Alexandrinus excellently speaks L. I. Stromat p. 351. that Moses received his Laws from God when the Greeks pretend the same of their Minos only they say he went into Jupiter's Cave and was nine years there in learning the Laws which he gave him when Moses was but XL. days in the Mount where God visibly appeared They believed also that Lycurgus received his Laws from Apollo and Zaleucus as Plato Aristotle and divers others whom he mentions say received his from Minerva All this was firmly believed among them who in not acknowledging the Divinity of Moses his Ministration were very ingrateful for his was the Archetype as he speaks or Pattern of what was pretended in their Stories Forty days and forty nights It may be a question whether the six days that he remained in the Cloud before the LORD called him higher be included in these XL. days or were only preparatory to his nearer access to God They may well be both for it is not said he was in the midst of the Cloud forty days and forty nights but that he was so long in the Mount Part of which time was spent in the dark Cloud and the rest in the bright Presence of God in the midst of the Cloud And in all that space he did neither eat nor drink XXXIV 28. IX Deut. 9. God could if he had pleased have revealed to him all his Mind in a less time But the method of the Divine Wisdom is to do all things gradually For instance the Substance of a Child in the Womb saith the Author of Schalsch Hakkabalah is not perfected in less time than XL. Weeks in all which time it receives no Meat nor Drink at the Mouth we must understand him and so many days did the Divine Power work in Moses to form him into a new Essence as his words are and give him a full Comprehension of all that God communicated to him And all this time he neither did eat nor drink for these actions say that Jew prejudice the Understanding which God intended to exalt by depressing the Bodily Faculties and Powers Which for want of Meat and Drink were brought down very low that the Understanding might be raised and lifted up And thus we find in after times that Daniel chastened his Body for three whole Weeks together the better to dispose him for heavenly Vision X. 2 3 12. This ascent of Moses from the Cloudy part of the Mount to the fiery top of it was upon the XIVth of Sivan and we may suppose as Jacobus Capellus doth that the Cloud accompanied him as he went up to defend him from the circumambient flame CHAP. XXV Verse 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses Out of that glorious and flaming Light wherein he appeared to him Ver. 2. Speak unto the Children of Israel When he went down from the Mount That they bring me In the Hebrew take for me out of their Goods An Offering The Hebrew word Terumah or as some pronounce it Trumah is commonly translated an Heave-offering or Offering lifted up Which the Chaldee translates that which is separated from common use and in the separation perhaps was lifted up towards Heaven in token that they desired God to accept it Of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my Offering They were only to be moved to it but not importuned much less told what quantity they should give but every Man was left to his own good Inclinations And accordingly Moses delivered the Mind of God unto them when he came down from the Mount and they made a free Oblation XXXV 5 21 29. Besides which there was also a Tribute laid upon them for the ransom of their Souls XXX 12 13 14. which amounted to a great Sum of Money as we find in the XXXVIII 24 c. Ver. 3. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them The things which ye shall accept as an Offering to me Gold and silver and brass Unto what uses these were to be imployed we are told afterwards Ver. 4. And blue and purple and scarlet Wool or Yarn or Stuff or as Abarbinel will have it Silk of these Colours About which there is much dispute but no Translation hath better described them than our English For Thecelet which we translate blue and Abarbinel will have to be a Sea-green is certainly a Sky-colour So Maimonides expresses it the Colour of the Firmament and Kimchi calls it ultramarine This hath been demonstrated by Braunius who shows how it was died L. I. de Vest Sacr. Hebr. L. I. c. 13. Argaman also he hath demonstrated c. 14. signifies purple as we translate it For both Josephus and Philo say so and he brings many proofs that they say true And there being
Synedris c. 6. The sense is this in short He that violates a Negative Precept as they call it either doth it secretly which is most frequent or openly which happens seldom unless a Man be one of those profligate Wretches whom we call Apostates Now him that secretly brake the Sabbath the Scripture threatens with cutting off viz. by the hand of God according to what is written here in this place In like manner incestuous and unlawful Conjunctions are threatned XVIII Lev. 29. because they were wont to be committed secretly But if any Man did any Work openly on the Sabbath so that there were Witnesses of it he was to be stoned according to what is said XV Numb 35. Though if he did it out of mistake either secretly or openly he was only to bring a Sacrifice for his Errour And if he offended against any of the Decrees of the Wise-men about the Sabbath he was to be beaten Or if there was no Court of Judgment in the place as now in their present Condition then all such Transgressors were left to God to punish them of whatsoever sort they were Ver. 15. Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the LORD So it is called also XXXV 2. and XXIII Lev. 3. And so the Sabbath wherein the Land rested is likewise called XXV Lev. 4. But the Hebrew words Schabbat Schabbaton Sabbath of Rest properly signifies Sabbath above all Sabbaths i. e. the greatest Sabbath on which a rest was to be most punctually observed from all manner of Work which the Jews as de Dieu notes call the weighty Sabbath as if other days of rest were but light in comparison with this According to that saying of R. Josee Great is Circumcision because the weighty Sabbath gives place to it that is admits of this Work though the Rest on this Sabbath be so very great Shall surely be put to death As an Idolater who did not acknowledge the Creator of the World See before v. 14. Ver. 16. Wherefore the Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their Generation for a perpetual Covenant The most litteral Interpretation of this Verse seems to me to be that of Lud. de Dieu The Children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath by making the Sabbath a perpetual Covenant throughout their Generations That is by never suffering it to be interrupted they made it a perpetual Covenant between God and them throughout all Ages Ver. 17. It is a sign between me and the Children of Israel for ever A Badge and Livery that they were the Servants of the most High who made the Heavens and Earth A Mark of their being devoted to him and continuing in Covenant with him no less than Circumcision For in six days the LORD made Heaven and Earth In memory of which the Sabbath was first instituted to preserve perpetually and establish that most precious History and Doctrine of the Creation of the World as Maimonides speaks More Nevoch P. III. c. 43. And on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Delighted in the Contemplation of all his Works which he saw were very good I Gen. 31. The same Maimonides observes that the word jinnaphash which we translate was refreshed comes from nephesh which among other things signifies the intention of the Mind and the Will and therefore the sense of this Phrase is All the Will of God was perfected and brought to a Conclusion his whole good Pleasure was absolutely finished on the seventh day More Nevoch P. I. c. 67. Ver. 18. And he gave unto Moses when he made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai When he dismissed him having said all that is before related during his forty days stay with him in the Mount he delivered unto him two Tables of Testimony to carry down with him to the People Two Tables of Testimony Wherein God testified to them his Mind and Will in the principal things which concerned their Duty See XVI 34. Tables of stone That what was written upon them might be more durable There is no ground to think that these Tables were made of some precious Stone as the Author of the Book Cosri and other Jews fancy for the word Eben in the Hebrew simply signifies any sort of Stone and is wont to have some other joyned to it when precious Stones are meant as in 2 Sam. XII 30. 1 Kings X. 2. 2 Chron. III. 6. Written with the finger of God i. e. By God himself Just as the Heavens saith Maimonides are said to be the work of his fingers VIII Psal 4. which he interprets in another place XXXIII 6. By the word of the LORD were the Heavens made Therefore written by the singer of God is as much saith he as by the word that is the Will and good Pleasure of God More Nevoch P. I. c. 66. In short this Phrase signifies that God employed neither Moses nor any other Instrument in this Writing but it was done by his own powerful Operation For all things that we do being wrought by our hands and our fingers these words are used to express God's power See XXXII 16. This was a thing so notorious in ancient times and so much believed by those who were not Jews that many other Nations pretended to the like Divine Writings that they might gain the greater Authority to their Laws Thus the Brachmans report in their Histories That the Book of their Law which they call Caster was delivered by God to Bremavius upon a Mount in a Cloud and that God gave also another Book of Laws to Brammon in the first Age of the World The Persians say the same of those of Zoroaster and the Getes of Xamolxis Nay the Brachmans have a Decalogue like this of Moses and accurate Interpretations of it in which they say there is this Prophecy That one day there shall be one Law alone throughout the World This evidently shows how well the World was anciently acquainted with these Books of Moses and what a high esteem they had of them See Huetius L. II. Alnetan Quaest c. 12. n. 19. CHAP. XXXII Verse 1. AND when the People Not the whole Body of the Congregation but so many of them that the rest durst not appear to oppose their desires Saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the Mount The Jews fancy that he stayed beyond the time that he had appointed for his return to them But that is not likely for he himself was not told how long God would detain him there See XXIV 14. The meaning therefore is that he stayed longer than they expected so that they did not know what to think of it And having as yet received no Directions about the Service of God for which they were called out of Egypt VII 16. and other places they thought it was time to desire Aaron to set about it in such a way as other People served their Gods The people gathered themselves
meaning is Thou shalt do thus before them if they doubt whether I have appeared to thee as he feared they would v. 1. to convince them of it Ver. 6. And the LORD said furthermore unto him Put now thy hand into thy bosom c. He did not ask for a new sign but the LORD was graciously pleased to grant him a further Confirmation of his Faith or rather of the Faith of the Israelites And he put his hand into his bosom and when he took it out behold it was leprous as Snow It was a wonderful thing that out of the same place should come both the Disease and the Cure as we read in the next Verse that by putting his hand into his bosom again it became sound and it was the greater wonder because the Leprosie was a Disease that was very hard to be cured R. Elieser in the place fore-named doth not give so good a reason for this sign as for the former though it is not a bad one For he making a Question Why God should give them a sign by an unclean thing and not by a clean makes this Answer to it Because as a Leper is unclean and makes others so in like manner Pharaoh and the impure Egyptians had defiled the Israelites but God showed by Moses's drawing his hand out of his bosom again pure and clean that he would deliver and purge the Israelites from the silthiness of the Egyptians I should think rather that the Leprosie represented God's smiting the Egytians with his Plagues and the Cure of it God's removal of those Plagues at Moses his Prayer But there is no end of such Conceits Therefore I shall ra-rather observe that God commanding him to work all these wonders before Pharaoh ver 21. it is very probable this gave occasion to the fabulous Story which was invented in future Ages that Moses was a Leper and the Israelites infected with that and other scabby Diseases For so Josephus tells us L. I. contra Apion the Tale was told in Manetho's History and thence descended unto others that Moses was driven out of the Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Justin L. XXXV c. 2. Tacitus L. V. Histor c. 3. because he had the Leprosie Which as Manetho perhaps did not maliciously devise out of his own head so those Historians from whom he borrowed his Work might have but an imperfect Tradition of the Truth derived from this Passage of Moses appearing with a leprous Hand before Pharaoh which was presently noised about the Country without the other part of his being immediately cured And thus Helladius Besantinus an Egyptian Writer in his Chresto-Mathia mentions one who said Moses was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because his Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was markt with white leprous spots And unto this lye he calls Philo to be a Witness The very same is affirm'd by Philemaeus Hephaestionis as J. Meursius observes in his Notes upon the fore-named Author Ver. 7. And he plucked it out of his bosom and behold it was turned again as his other flesh A manifest token as Con. Pellicanus rightly takes it that God could with as much ease restore his oppressed People to perfect liberty Ver. 8. And it shall come to pass if they will not believe thee nor hearken to the voice of the first sign Here he gives the reason why he was pleased to add another sign to the former that he might overcome the incredulity which he foresaw would be in many of them That they will believe the voice of the latter sign Yield their consent to that which is plainly taught them by both these signs viz. that God had appeared to him and ordered him to say what he did And he saith they would believe because it was rational to suppose they would though he likewise supposes in the next Verse some might still remain incredulous and therefore he adds another Ver. 9. Thou shalt take of the Water of the River and pour it upon the dry Land and the Water shall become Blood This sign was not wrought now when God talked with him as the two former were for he was in the Desert far from the River here spoken of and near no River at all Therefore in case the Israelites did not believe upon the sight of the two former signs this is ordered to be wrought when he came into Egypt for their Conviction by taking the Water of Nilus and turning it into Blood Which might be well looked upon as an Indication that God was able to spoil that Water which was the great Instrument of the fertility of that Country and make their Land barren And also put them in mind that the cry of the innocent Blood of their Infants which had been drown'd in that River was come up to God There was a necessity that Moses should be instructed with all these Powers because with an unusual Commission which would not have been credited if he had not brought such extraordinary proof of it All the Prophets after him did not work Miracles which were necessary only when some great Change was to be made in the World as there was now at their bringing out of Egypt After which they were to be put into a new form and order by a body of peculiar Laws both Civil and Religious which when they were notoriously violated God was pleased by such wonders as Moses wrought to turn their hearts back again as he did in the days of Elijah 1 Kings XVIII 37. Ver. 10. And Moses said unto the LORD O my Lord. This is a Form of Speech whereby he declines this great Imployment and desires to be excused The Reason of which follows I am not Eloquent In the Hebrew Am not a man of words i. e. not a good Speaker or not accustomed to make Speeches or as some take it a Man of few words and therefore unfit to be sent to the Israelites and much more to the King of Egypt to whom none but great Orators make Addresses Clemens in his Epistle to the Corinthians makes this an Argument of Moses his Humility and saith he added these words from I know not what Authour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am a reek from a Pot. Neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy Servant This hath been always my Imperfection that I could not speak fluently nor do I find that I am altered since thou hast been pleased to appear to me and give me this Commission But I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue Cannot bring forth my words readily nor pronounce them well The Jews think he had some impediment in his Speech so that he could not pronounce some Letters or Words exactly at least not without such difficulty that it was long before he could bring them forth But the LXX understand these words slow of speech as if he had but a weak small or slender voice speaking voce gracili exili as it may be translated in Latin which
she bore him Nadab and Abihu These two perished in the very first Sacrifice which their Father offered because they did not take Fire from the Altar but offered with strange Fire X Lev. 1 2. Eleazar Who succeeded his Father in the Priesthood Numb XX. 25 c. and assisted Joshua in the Division of the Land of Canaan XIV Josh 1. XIX 51. XXI 1. From him sprung Zadok and the following High-Priests till the Destruction of Jerusalem 1 Chron. VI. 4 c. And Ithamar From whom came Eli and Ahimelech and Abiathar in the time of David in whom this Family was Extinct Ver. 24. And the Sons of Korah c. Though he himself perished in his Rebellion against Moses who was his Cosin-German yet his Family remained XXVI Numb 58. and were famous in the days of David being often mentioned in the Book of Psalms Ver. 25. And Eleazar took one of the Daughters of Putiel to Wife Who this Putiel was is not certain Dr. Lightfoot thinks he was an Egyptian Convert whose Daughter Eleazar married But I see no good ground for this Opinion but rather think it more likely Eleazar would marry one of the race of Abraham being Son to the High-Priest He was married indeed before his Father was promoted to that Dignity yet Aaron was so great a Man in his own Tribe See IV. 14. and married into so honourable a Family in Israel v. 23. that it is not probable he would suffer his Son to match with an Egyptian Proselyte These are the Heads of the Fathers of the Levites c. The great Persons from whom sprung the principal Families among the Levites He saith nothing of the other Tribes because his intention was only to derive his own Pedigree and his Brother Aaron's from Israel Ver. 26. These are that Moses and Aaron to whom the Lord said bring out the Children of Israel c. These are the two Persons to whom God gave Commission to be the Deliverers of their Nation out of the Egyptian Bondage He had mentioned just before their Genealogy the Charge God gave them both to the Children of Israel and unto Pharaoh v. 13. And now he goes on to show that they were the Men who were peculiarly chosen by God to discharge that Office first by going to the Children of Israel which he mentions here and then to Pharaoh which he mentions in the next Verse Bring out the Children of Israel from the Land of Egypt Assure them of their Deliverance notwithstanding the Pressures under which they groan According to their Armies Not by a disorderly Flight but every Family in such good order as an Army keeps XII Exod. 41 51. XIII 18. Ver. 27. These are they that spake to Pharaoh c. Who carried the Message from God to Pharaoh requiring him to let Israel go out of Egypt V. 1 2 c. VI. 13. These are that Moses and Aaron He repeats it again that all Generations might mark who were the Men that God imployed in this great and hazardous Work of Demanding the Liberty of the Children of Israel from Pharaoh's Servitude and effecting it in such manner as is afterward related in this Book There have been Critical Wits who made this an Argument that Moses was not the Author of these Books because it is not likely they imagine he would write thus of himself But no Body but these Criticks can see any Absurdity in it that he and his Brother being the Instruments in Gods hand of effecting such wonderful things should not let Posterity be ignorant of it but take care not only to Record it but to set a special Note upon it that none might rob them of the Honour God bestowed on them and He by whose direction this was written might have the glory of working such mighty things by such inept Instruments as Moses often acknowledges himself to have been Nor is this more than Ezra Nehemiah and Daniel say concerning themselves and St. John may as well be denied to be the Authour of the Gospel which bears his Name because he saith This is the Disciple that testifieth these things c. XXI 24. And besides this the History of succeeding Ages show us the necessity of this which Moses hath said of himself For if he had not told us what his Progeny was we see by what we read in Justin and Corn. Tacitus and such like Authours what false Accounts we should have of him for Justin from Trogus Pompeius makes him as I observed before the Son of Joseph Nay the Jewish Writers have been so fabulous that we should have learnt as little Truth from them if Moses had not told it us himself Ver. 28. And it came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses c. Having finished the Account he thought fit to give of himself and of his Brother whom God was pleased to imploy in this great Embassy he resumes the Relation of it which he broke off at the end of v. 13. Ver. 29. That the LORD spake unto Moses saying I am the LORD c. This and the next Verse seem to be a Recapitulation of what God said in his last Appearances to him v. 2 10 c. and of his desire to be excused from the Employment on which he was sent urged by two Arguments v. 12 13. where they are related something more largely than they are here in the last Verse of this Chapter In which he mentions them again that there might be a clearer connexion with what God further added for his Encouragement when he gave him the forenamed Charge v. 13. to deliver a new Message unto Pharaoh Ver. 30. And Moses said before the LORD We read the very same v. 12. which makes me think this is not a new Objection but meerly a Recital of what he had objected there See what I have said on the foregoing Verse Behold I am of uncircumcised Lips c. See v. 12. CHAP. VII Verse 1. AND the LORD said unto Moses He received new Orders from the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty before whom he stood VI. 12 30. See Mark what I say in answer to all thy Objections I have made thee a God to Pharaoh Therefore why shouldest thou fear to appear before him who is but a Man Moses is not called absolutely a God but only a God unto Pharaoh Which denotes that he had only the Authority and Power of God over him or rather he was God's Ambassadour to speak to him in his Name with a Power ready to Execute all that he desired for the Humbling of Pharaoh and Punishing his Disobedience to his Message And Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet Let therefore the Vncircumcision of thy Lips be no longer an Objection for he shall interpret thy Mind as Prophets declare the Mind of God Some slight Wits have from this place also drawn an Argument that this Book was not written by Moses but by some other Authour long after his time Because the word
the River stank c. And there was Blood throughout all the Land of Egypt The Waters were in all places turned into Blood except perhaps the Land of Goshen which is not comprehended under the Land of Egypt Ver. 22. And the Magicians of Egypt did so with their Inchantments See v. 11. In some of the Pools or Lakes of Water they made an appearance of the like Change which made Pharaoh think his God was as powerful as the God of the Hebrews The Land of Goshen as I said might possibly be free from this Plague as it was certainly from several of the rest VIII 23. IX 4 c. and some fancy the Magicians had Water from thence to show their power upon But I cannot think it probable that they made Pharaoh stay so long and one may as well say they had it out of the Sea or out of the Pits that the People digged v. 24. as Aben Ezra conjectures and Justin Martyr Quaest. Resp XXVI ad Orthodox But there is no need of any of these Conjectures if it be granted as the History leads us to conclude that Moses did not in a moment change all the Waters of the Country but only those of the River as I said on v. 20. and afterwards by degrees all the rest when the Magicians had tried their Art upon some of them Which Moses also turned into real Blood so that neither they nor any body else was able to drink of them And Pharaoh 's heart was hardned The very same words in the Hebrew which we had before v. 13. where they should have been translated I there observed as they are here and also in VIII 19. Neither did he hearken unto them as the LORD had said III. 19. This was more apt to move his heart than the former Miracle because it continued longer v. 25. and the Magicians could not by all their Spells or Skill in Sorcery remove this Plague in all that time See next Verse Ver. 23. And Pharaoh turned and went unto his House It seems that upon his refusal to hearken unto Moses his Monition v. 15 16 c. God sent this Plague that very Morning before he got home to Dinner So that there was not time to fetch Water from distant places but the Magicians exercised their Inchantments upon some Ponds which were not as yet turned by Moses into Blood Neither set he his heart to this also Here is the reason why his heart was not moved by this Miracle He did not seriously consider what Moses had done and examine the Difference between the Effect of his Power and that of the Magicians Which was the cause that his heart was hardned as we read before as all Mens are who will think of nothing but only to have their own Humour satissied Ver. 24. And all the Egyptians digged round about the River for Water to drink c. The whole Country was forced to try to get Water to quench their thirst by this great labour How it succeeded we are not told but it is likely they found clear Water by percolation through the Earth For Moses smote only the Pits that were then in being when Aaron stretcht out his Rod which had no effect upon those which were digged afterwards Why they did not setch it from Goshen if there was any clear Water there as we cannot but think there was for the use of the Israelites is not easie to determine Their Pride perhaps would not suffer them till they had tried other ways to supply their wants Ver. 25. And seven days were fulfilled after that the LORD had smitten the River The Rod of Moses could effect nothing without the LORD by whose Power this Change was made in the Waters Which lasted seven days before this Plague was removed By which means they were convinced that all the Waters were really corrupted and they felt the heavy Effects of it in a grievous stench and perpetual Labour in digging Pits all about the River Whether Pharaoh at last begged to have this Plague removed or no we are not told It is likely he was so obstinate that he would not stoop to ask this favour of them which might be the reason it lasted so long to see whether he would be moved to humble himself so far To which when he would not yield God took it away to make room for another stroke or as some think it continued together with the Plague of Frogs and were both removed upon his Petition It is a weak Conjecture of the Hebrew Doctors from these Words that all the Ten Plagues lasted seven days apiece which is plainly contrary to the Story CHAP. VIII Verse 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses Who attended upon the Divine Majesty we may reasonably suppose every day to know his Pleasure And after the seven days mentioned v. last of the foregoing Chapter were fulfilled the LORD commanded him to Address himself again to Pharaoh and to threaten him with a new Punishment which was inflicted upon the XXVth day of the sixth Month and taken away the day after v. 10. Go unto Pharaoh and say unto him Thus saith the LORD c. The very same Message in effect which he had delivered to him before V.I. VII 16 17. Ver. 2. And if thou refuse to let them go behold c. He again threatens the Plague before he inflicts it both that Pharaoh might know it came not by chance but by the determinate Counsel of God and that he might prevent it by Repentance and Submission to God's Command I will smite This word commonly signifies in the Scripture Language to kill but here only to afflect grievously See LXXVIII Psalm 45. where to destroy them signifies to annoy them All thy Borders Every part of his Country to the utmost extent of it i.e. in all places where the Egyptians dwelt For it is not likely the Israelites were infested with them See v. 4. With Frogs The Hebrew word Tsaphadéa signifies as Eben Ezra thinks an Egyptian Fish which some will have to be a Crocodile As Gaulmyn observes in his Annnotations on the Life and Death of Moses p. 256. But this is undoubtedly false for they could not infest them in that manner as is described in the next Verse Ver. 3. And the River shall bring forth Under the Name of the River is comprehended all the Streams Ponds Lakes and other Waters in Egypt as appears from v. 5. For most of them came one way or other out of the River they having little Rain in Egypt Frogs abundantly The Nile naturally produced Frogs but such great abundance of them as silled the Country was miraculous especially being produced on a sudden and their going out of the River and Fields into the Cities and Houses c. was still more miraculous Which shall go up Out of the River which lay lower than the Land And come into thine House c. This explains what he meant by smiting in the foregoing Verse viz. inflicting a
that had been seen and they were a frequent Plague in those Countries either in bigness or in in number or in both That is all that had been seen in Egypt For in other Countries perhaps there might have been as large if Pliny may be believed that in India there had been some seen three foot long The Jews in the Book called The Life and Death of Moses fancy these to have been of such a vast Bulk that their Jaw-teeth were like those of Lions But it 's likely Moses speaks here only of their multitude For the Prophet Joel hath such an Expression when he speaks also of their being without number I Joel 6. Whose Teeth are the Teeth of a Lion i. e. they devoured all things greedily and speedily And he turned himself and went out from Pharaoh Either Moses did not stay for an Answer knowing he would give him none better than formerly or Pharaoh answered so churlishly that Moses hastily turned about as the words seem to import and went away in some indignation Ver. 7. And Pharaoh 's Servants said Some of his Counsellors or Courtiers who feared the word of the LORD IX 20. Or perhaps the whole Court began now to be sensible of their Danger How long shall this Man They seem to speak contemptibly of Moses to please Pharaoh who they were afraid would not like their Counsel unless they flattered him Be a Snare to us The LXX and the Vulgar translate it be a stumbling-block i. e. lay before us the Occasion of our falling into one Calamity after another Or involve and intangle us in so many Mischiefs Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed Dost thou not consider that so many Plagues have ruined our Country Ver. 8. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh c. Upon this Advice he commanded them to be called back again and consented to let them go with some Limitations to which Moses could not agree But who are they that shall go In the Hebrew the words are but who and who that is Name the particulars For his Covetousness would not suffer the whole Nation to go but he would keep some fast in his hands as a Pledge for the Return of the rest Ver. 9. And Moses said we will go with our young and our old c. with our Flocks and with our Herds c. The reason of this large Demand is given in the end of this Verse They did not know what and how often they must Sacrifice to the LORD and therefore it was necessary their Flocks and Herds should go with them And they being to hold a Feast unto the LORD none of them were to be absent from the Solemnity Hold a Feast unto the LORD It appears from V. 1 3. that it was to be a Feast upon a Sacrifice of which every one was to be a partaker Ver. 10. And he said unto them Let the LORD be so with you as I will let you go c. Most take this for a form of Imprecation as if he had said I wish you may prosper no better than I will accord to your desire But some look upon it as an Irrision or Jeer as if he had said you trust in the LORD let him do all he can to deliver you as I am resolved to keep you here This justifies the truth of their Observation who say that Pharaoh at the first behaved himself like a proud Phantastick Humorist who slighted all that Moses said or did but since the Plague of Murrain on the Cattle and Blains upon the Egyptians like a fantastick distracted Bedlam who raved as if his Brains had been blasted to use Dr. Jackson's Phrase with the Fumes of his seared Conscience Look you to it for evil is before you It is uncertain whether he meant evil that they designed against him or which he designed against them The former best agrees with what follows as if he had said you intend a Rebellion therefore I will let none but the Men go Or more plainly it is visible you design some evil i. e. you have conspired to be gone and make a Revolt Or it is plain and manifest by your very Countenances that you intend some evil If we take it the other way for evil which he threatned to them the meaning must be Mark what I say I will take a course with you unless you be content to go and Sacrifice upon my terms i. e. the Men only Ver. 11. Not so You shall not have your will Go now ye that are Men and serve the LORD for that you did desire So he Interprets their Demand V. 1. pretending that Women and Children needed not to attend upon Sacrifices And they were driven out from Pharaoh 's presence It is likely he said I have no more to say to you or you know my mind and therefore get you gone and then commanded his Officers to thrust them out of Doors which they did with some violence This shows he was in a fury which made him neither regard God nor Man but reject the good Counsel his own Servants had given him v. 7. as well as the Commands which Moses from God had delivered to him Ver. 12. And the LORD said unto Moses siretch out thine hand c. Upon this the Lord immediately ordered Moses to Execute the Judgment he had denounced Which as I said before was threatned about the seventh day and inflicted upon the next and removed on the ninth day of Abib Compare v. 4 13 19. Ver. 13. And Moses stretched forth his Rod over the Land of Egypt See VIII 6. And the LORD brought an East wind c. Though the Hebrew word kadim doth properly signifie the East yet it is sometimes used for the South as Boehart hath demonstrated P. II. Hieroz L. I. c. 15. and so the LXX here understood it For though in Arabia which lay East of Egypt there were great store of Locusts yet not such Numbers as were in Ethiopia which lay South of it and abounded with them more than any Country in the World Some People there lived upon nothing else but Locusts which were brought thither in the Spring about the Vernal Aequinox in vast quantities partly by the Western and partly by the Southern Winds as the same Bochart shows out of good Authors L. IV. c. 3. And now it was about that time of the year when by a Wind blowing from those parts they were brought into Egypt See LXXVIII Psal 26. Ver. 14. And the Locusts went up over all the Land of Egypt Being lifted up by the Wind as Pliny speaks they sly in the Air in a great Cloud which now it seems spread it self over all the Land of Egypt solicitè spectantibus populis c. as the same Author speaks People looking on them in great fear lest they fall down and cover their Country as the words following tell us they did here in Egypt And rested in all the Coasts of Egypt After they had hovered
was ordered upon the tenth of the Month Abib On which day they begun to prepare for the Passover by taking up the Lamb which was to be then slain four days after And God appointed this to be the first Month of the Year which hitherto had been the seventh XII 2 3 4. Ver. 23. They saw not one another We may well look upon this as an Emblem of the Blindness of their Minds which was so great that they had not the least discerning of their approaching Destruction Some of the Romans mention such Darkness for a short time as was counted prodigious by Livy and Julius Obsequens Particularly at the Death of the Emperour Carus there was such a Mist that one man could not know another See more Examples in Huetius L. II. Alnet Quaest c. 12. p. 203 c. But of such a Darkness as this which continued to obscure all things three days together there is no Record but in this Sacred Story Which no Man hath the least reason to disbelieve it being as easie for God to continue it for three days as for one hour there being also a very great reason for it both to punish the Egyptians and relieve the Israelites Neither rose any from his place None stir'd out of their Houses for they could not see one another within Doors no not by the help of a Candle or a Fire as the Author of the Book of Wisdom understood it XVII 5. where he also supposes that they were affrighted with Apparitions and their own evil Consciences were also a great Terrour to them while they remained Prisoners so long in dismal Darkness And the Psalmist justifies him in part when instead of mentioning this Plague of Darkness as he doth the rest which were inflicted on the Egyptians he saith God sent evil Angels among them LXXVIII Psal 49. But all the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings Whereby they were inabled to go about their business and get all things ready for their departure without any notice of the Egyptians much less any hindrance from them who were in a Mist and could not see what they were a doing Ver. 24. And Pharaoh called unto Moses He was so terrified by the horrible Apparitions he had seen that at the end of the three days of Darkness he sent a Messenger to call Moses for before that time none could find their way to him Or perhaps the meaning may be that in his ravening sit he called for Moses as if he had been near him And said When Moses came he made his former Confession a little larger but had not the heart to comply intirely Go ye serve the LORD only let the Flocks and the Herds be stayed c. It was a perfect infatuation to higgle as we speak with Moses and still drive his Bargain as low as he could when he was reduced to such Distress that he was upon the brink of Destruction But this was the effect of his Covetousness which was incurable and would not suffer him to part with them but still to keep a Pawn for their Return to his Servitude Let your little ones go with you His Blindness made him think this a great Condescention because he had denied it before v. 10. Ver. 25. And Moses said Thou must give us also Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings that me may Sacrifice c. The difference between Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings See XVIII 12. As they were to Sacrifice to the LORD their God which was the Service he required so they were to hold a Feast unto him at which both Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings were necessary Ver. 26. Our Cattle also shall go with us i. e. Therefore we cannot leave our Cattle here because we must use them in Sacrifices c. There shall not an Hoof he left behind i. e. The smallest thing For this was a Proverbial Speech in the Eastern Countries as appears by the like saying among the Arabians which was first used about Horses and afterwards translated to other things Present Money even to an Hoof That is they would not part with an Horse or any other Commodity till the Buyer had laid down the price of it to a Farthing as we now speak Or according to the present German Language the Hoof may be put for the whole Beast and the meaning be we will not leave so much as one behind us So Conr. Pellicanus For thereof must we take to serve the LORD our God To offer Sacrifice to him And we know not with what we must serve the LORD c. Who was to appoint his own Sacrifices as he afterwards did when they came into the Wilderness Ver. 27. But the LORD hardned Pharaoh's heart c. He did not incline Pharaoh to comply with this motion but suffered him to persist in his Obstinate Resolution not quite to part with them See v. 20. Ver. 28. And Pharaoh said unto him Get thee from me This sounds as if he intended again to have him driven from his Presence as v. 11. so soon did he forget his own humble Confessions and Supplications to him v. 16 17. and returned to his frantick Rage and Fury against him Take heed to thy self see my face no more for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die A Speech more foolish than proud as Dr. Jackson observes to come from a Man whom the LORD had so much impoverished and so often humbled and given sufficient Proofs of his Power not only to bring greater Plagues immediately upon him but to cut him off Ver. 29. And Moses said Thou hast spoken well I will see thy face again no more That is unless I be called for as one would think he was because Moses did deliver one Message more to him XI 4 8. Though we may suppose he delivered it now or that he did not deliver it himself but by some other Person But that doth not agree with the last words of v. 8. of the next Chapter And we read also XII 31. that Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by night who perhaps did not go but only receive his Message CHAP. XI Verse 1. AND the LORD said unto Moses It is uncertain when the LORD spake this I suppose it was as soon as he came out from Pharaoh at the end of the three days Darkness which continued the eleventh twelfth and thirteenth of the Month Abib and on the fourteenth in the Morning Moses received this new Revelation Yet I will bring one Plague more upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt The killing of their First-born which was the last Plague inflicted on them in Egypt Afterwards he will let you go hence c. Not only consent to dismiss you intirely but be earnest with you and urge you to depart So we find it came to pass XII 31 33. Thrust you out altogether Perfectly and compleatly with some kind of compulsion Ver. 2. Speak now in the ears of the Children of Israel Give order therefore to the Israelites as I
Twenty to the eating of one Lamb. At which meal Men Women and Children Masters and Servants if Circumcised were entertained and every one did eat a piece at least as big as an Olive if we may believe the Hebrew Doctors Every Man according to his eating shall make your count for the Lamb. That is every Master of a House shall take such a number of Persons to him as will be sufficient for the eating of the Lamb. Ver. 5. The Lamb shall be without blemish In the Hebrew perfect or without defect There are ten Blemishes mentioned in XXII Levit. 22 23 24. which made a Sacrifice unfit for the Altar About which the Heathen themselves were very curious as I noted above out of Herodotus who relates how exact and scrupulous the Egyptian Priests were in their Scrutiny whether a Beast were fit to be offered See VIII 26. A Male Because the Male was counted more excellent than the Female I Malachi 14. and therefore all whole Burnt-offerings which were the most perfect sort of Sacrifices were to be Males only I Lev. 3 6. From hence this Custom as Bochart thinks was derived to the Egyptians who offered only Males as he proves out of Herodotus P. I. Hieroz L. III. c. 33 50. But whatsoever the Egyptians did the Romans did otherwise For Servius saith in VIII Aeneid In omnibus Sacris faeminini generis plus valent victimae that Sacrifices of the Female kind were of greatest value in all their Holy Offices Such different fancies there were in the World in after Ages but what Opinions they had in Moses his time none can certainly resolve Of the first year It doth not signifie that the Lamb was to be a year old for then it was uncapable to be offered but under a year old It was fit for Sacrifice at eight days old though not before XXII 30. XXII Lev. 27. which Laws Maimonides saith were observed in the Paschal Lamb as they were in the Daily Sacrifice XXIX Exod. 38. XXXVIII Numb 3. and in others XXIII Lev. 18 19. and so it continued sit from that time till it was a year old after which it was not accepted For which Bochart gives a very likely reason in the fore-named Book P. I. L. II. c. 50. p. 585. Ver. 6. And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same Month. When it was to be offered to God by all the People as our Saviour was upon the very same day Which the Jews expected as appears by a memorable passage which Andr. Masius in V Josh 10. quotes out of that Tract in the Talmud called Rosch Hashanah where they say it was a famous and old opinion among the ancient Jews that the day of the New Year which was the beginning of the Israelites deliverance out of Egypt should in future time be the beginning of their Redemption by the Messiah Which was wonderfully fulfilled in our Lord and Saviour who keeping the Passover the day before the Rulers of the Jews observed it it fell out that he the true Lamb of God was offered on that very day which Moses here appointed for the Offering this Typical Sacrifice And the whole Assembly of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it God here grants a Liberty to any Man among the Israelites to kill the Passover Which act did not make him a Priest whose work it was to offer the Blood for in other Sacrifices any Man that brought them might do the same I Lev. 3 4 5. And this is given as a reason why the People did not kill the Passover in Hezekiah's time because they were unclean and therefore the Levites had the charge of it II Chron. XXX 17. But besides this Moses seems to mean that all the Company who were to eat were to be present at the Sacrifice By which means the whole Assembly of the Congregation of Israel were engaged in this Service And this was exactly also fulfilled in our Blessed Saviour whom the Apostle calls our Passover against whom the Priests and Scribes and Pharisees and all the People conspired to take away his Life In the Evening In the Hebrew the words are as is noted in the Margin of our Bibles between the two Evenings The first of which began when the Sun began to decline from its Noon-tide point and lasted till Sun set Then began the second Evening and lasted till Night Between these two Evenings about the middle of them was the Passover offered For after the offering of Incense they began on this day to kill the daily Evening Sacrifice between two and three in the Afternoon a little sooner than on other days and having sinished that and trimmed the Lamps as Maimonides in his Treatise on this Subject Cap. 1. Sect. 4. describes the order of it they went about the Paschal Sacrifice which continued till Sun-setting That is there were about two hours and an half for the dispatch of all the Lambs For the daily Evening Sacrifice and all belonging to it being over in an hours time by half an hour after three all the rest of the day till Sun-set which was two hours and an half at this time of the Year remained for the killing of the Paschal Lambs See Bochart Hieroz P. I. L. II. c. 50. p. 558. and our Learned Dr. Lightfoot in his Gleanings on Exodus Now our three a Clock in the Afternoon being the fame with the Jews ninth hour it is evident our blessed Saviour offered up himself to God for our Redemption about the same time that this Lamb was slain for their deliverance out of Egypt XV Mark 34 37. Ver. 7. And they shall take of the Blood Which was the Means that God now appointed for their Preservation And strike it By dipping a bunch of Hysop into it v. 22. On the two Side-posts Upon which Folding-doors moved For from thence Bochart thinks they had their Name in the Hebrew And on the upper Door-posts The Hebrew word Maskuph is no where to be found but in this Chapter and its carrying in it a signification of looking-through may induce us to think they had Lattices at the top of their Doors through which they could peep to see who knockt before they opened them Both these were sprinkled with the Blood but not the Threshold lest any Body should tread upon it which had been prophane this being an holy thing This striking or sprinkling of the Blood upon the Posts seems to have been peculiar to the first Passover at their going out of Egypt and not to have been used in after Times when there was not the same occasion for it viz. to distinguish their Houses from the Egyptians for their preservation from the destroying Angel In the Houses wherein they shall eat it In which the whole Nation was gathered together and so all delivered Ver. 8. And they shall eat the Flesh in that Night For it was not lawful to let any of it remain till the Morning v. 10. And the Hebrews say they
eat lest they should make the Beds dirty on which they lay leaning But Bochart hath demonstrated that this Custom was not so ancient but that in Moses his time and after they sat at their Tables as we do now of which there are many Instances in the Book of Genesis and elsewhere And therefore it is more likely the Jews were wont to go without Shoes when they were in Egypt for anciently Men did so and that being an hot Country there was no need of them And besides they were so oppressed that they may well be supposed to want many such Conveniencies of Life But now God commands them to put on Shoes being to travel a long Journey See his Hierozoicon P. I. L. 2. c. 50. p. 508. And your Staff in your hand Still the Posture of Travellers who never went without a Staff both to support them in slippery places and to defend them against Assaults XXXII Gen. 10. They seem now to have eaten the Lamb leaning on their Staves and therefore stood all the time as Men ready to depart But these were things peculiar only to that Pasover which they kept in Egypt afterwards they were not tied to them Ye shall eat it in haste As Men expecting every moment to begin their Journey This was the Foundation of many of the Laws about the Passover as Maimonides observes P. III. More Nev. c. 46. It is the LORD 's Passover To be kept in memory of his wonderful Mercy in sparing the Israelites when he destroyed the Egyptians and delivering them from their cruel Bondage Ver. 12. For I will pass through the Land of Egypt this Night See XI 4. And will smite all the First-born c. A most grievous Judgment all Children being very dear to their Parents especially their First-born and those more especially who are their only Children as it is likely they were to many in Egypt It was the forer Plague also because no Man's Children were spared that he might comfort his Neighbours but they were all at the same time bewailing their loss It is not certain by what sort of Death they were smitten but it was sudden and extinguisht them all in the same moment And against all the Gods of Egypt I will execute Judgment And so Moses tells us he did XXXIII Numb 4. From whence it appears that the Egyptians were Idolaters in Moses his days and the Jewish Doctors will have it that all their Idols were destroyed this Night So Jonathan in his Paraphrase Their molten Images were dissolved and melted down their Images of Stone were dasht in pieces their Images made of Earth were crumbled into bits and their Wooden ones reduced to Ashes Of the truth of which we cannot be assured though we meet with it not only in Pirke Elieser c. 48. but in the Author of Dibre hajamim c. or The Life and Death of Moses whose words are these All the First-born both of Man and Beast were smitten the Images also and Pictures destroyed whereupon the Jews borrowing Gold Silver and Garments of the Egyptians they went away laden with Riches according to what God said to Abraham XV Gen. 14. That Nation whom they shall serve will I judge and afterward shall they come out with great Substance This the Heathen seem to have understood for this Story reached them as if they had carried away the Gold and Silver and Garments of the Egyptian Idols For so Trogus reports it in Justin L. XXXVI c. 2. that when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt Sacra Aegyptiorum furto abstulit he stole away the Holy Things of the Egyptians which he makes the reason why Pharaoh pursued them Artapanus also in Eusebius saith that most of their Temples were overthrown by an Earthquake L. IX Praepar Evang. c. 27. There are those who by Elohim understand nothing but their Princes or Judges the great Men of the Kingdom upon whom the Judgment of God was now executed But another place in this Book XX. 23. plainly determines it to signifie Images I am the LORD There is no other God but me as he had said he would make both the Israelites and Pharaoh also to know X. 2. XI 7. Ver. 13. And the Blood shall be to you for a Token Or a Sign by which the Israelites were assured of Safety and Deliverance from the destroying Angel Of which Token if we may believe Epiphanius there was a Memorial preserved even among the Egyptians themselves though they were ignorant of the Original of their own Rites For at the Aequinox which was the time of the Passover they mark't their Cattle and their Trees and one another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with red Oker or some such thing which they fancied would be a Preservative to them And when I see the Blood Wheresoever my Angel finds this Blood upon the Door-posts I will pass over you c. Here is the reason of the Name of Pesach as the Hebrews call it or Pischa or Pascha as it is called by the Chaldees because God ordered his Angel to pass over or pass by the Children of Israel and not to smite any body in their Families when he smote every First-born of the Egyptians v. 23. Ver. 14. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial To preserve in mind God's wonderful Works which he made to be remembred CXI Psal 4. that is ordered and disposed things in such a manner that they should not be forgotten particularly by instituting a Festival Solemnity upon this day as it here follows And you shall keep it a Feast to the LORD c. Called the Feast of the Passover the Rites of which are all manifestly contrived to preserve a Memory of the Benefits they now received An Ordinance for ever To the end of that Oeconomy For it often signifies only a long Duration as XV Deut. 17. And here imports no more but that they should keep this Ordinance not only now but when they came into the Land of Canaan Ver. 15. Seven days shall ye eat unleavend Bread The seven days following the Feast of the Passover were observed as a distinct Festival and called The Feast of unleavened Bread v. 17. because no Bread that had any leaven in it might be eaten all that time Which the Jews expound thus Not that they were bound to eat unleavened Bread all those seven days which was necessary only on that Night when the Passover was killed but only not to eat leavened Bread That was utterly unlawful but they might eat Rice or parched Corn or any such thing See Petavius in Epiphan Haeres LXX N. XI At their march indeed out of Egypt they were forced to eat unleavened Bread having none else to eat not only for seven days but for a whole month that is from the fifteenth of the first Month to the fifteenth and sixteenth of the next when God gave them Manna and Quails XVI 1 12 13. But necessity as I said compelled them to this they having
years And from his Families coming into Egypt till their departure was just as many more Which agrees perfectly with what the Apostle saith that the Promise made by God to Abraham and his Seed could not be made void by the Law which was four hundred and thirty years after III Galat. 16 17. How the first Promise made to Abraham was when God bad him go to Canaan XII Gen. 3. See XV Gen. 13. There are some indeed that reckon their stay in Egypt to have been only two hundred and ten years and then they took in the five years Abraham stay'd at Charran after he left Vr of the Chaldees to make up these four hundred and thirty years of which Opinion is Drusius in the place above mentioned But Josephus saith expresly that they departed out of Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Two hundred and fifty years after Jacob came into it L. II. Antiq. c. 5. All the Difficulties that have been raised by Commentators in the Exposition of these words are avoided by this Interpretation If we admit that is only these two Synechdoche's the figure of part for the whole first that under the Name of the Children of Israel is comprehended Israel himself with his Father and Grandfather and secondly that their sojourning comprehends the whole time that this Nation dwelt in a Land that was not theirs half of which time at least was spent in Egypt See Guil. Vorstius in his Notes upon Tzemach David p. 200. 205. Ludov. Capellus Chron. Sacra p. 135. But especially our most Learned Primate Vsher Chron. Sacr. c. 8. where he largely confutes the contrary Opinion which if any one desire to see defended I know none that hath done it better than Gerhardus J. Vossius in his Isagogue Chronologica Dissert VII c. 1 c. where he fairly represents the Arguments on both sides but inclines himself to think the Children of Israel dwelt CCCCXXX years in Egypt and indeavours to answer those who assert that Interpretation which I have given Cap. 12. But acknowledges ingenuously Cap. 6. that it is the sense not only of the ancient Jews but of the ancient Christians such as Eusebius Epiphanius and St. Chrysostom among the Greeks and St. Hierom St. Austin c. among the Latines and of a vast number of later Writers Ver. 41. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years These years says St. Hierom in III Galat. are to be computed ab eo tempore quo Deus ad Abrahamum locutus est c. from the time when God said to Abraham In thy Seed shall all Nations be blessed i. e. when he went first to Canaan Even the self same day it came to pass They all went out on one day or they went out that very day four hundred and thirty years after Abraham came to Canaan So faithful was God in his Promise to his faithful Servant That all the Hosts of the LORD c. So they are called for the LORD was become their King as I observed III. 10. and now led them forth as their Captain General And this word Hosts imports that they went out not confusedly but in good order See XIII 18. which is the more wonderful there being such a vast number of them v. 37 38. that one would think they could not so soon get together especially in any order But Josephus hath well resolved this That Moses having notice of God's Intentions some days before See v. 1. had disposed them for their Departure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and distributing them into several Companies had appointed them the place of general Rendevouz as we now speak or at least directed who should march first and what order they should observe that they might not hinder one another in their March Ver. 42. It is a Night to be much observed In the Hebrew as the Margin notes a Night of Observations That is a very remarkable Night or a Night in which there were many Precepts to be observed as some will have it Or as Conradus Pellicanus a Night in which the LORD after a special manner watched over the Children of Israel For which reason the Jews expect their Messiah to come in this Night foolishly imagining he will then find them all most ready to follow him to Jerusalem For they have now corrupted an ancient Tradition which I observed before v. 6. was remarkably fulfilled in our Saviour's suffering that very Evening when the Paschal Lamb was killed and the Children of Israel redeemed from the Egyptian Bondage Vnto the LORD In honour of him who had graciously begun to fulfil his Promise made to their Fore-fathers VI. 2 3 4. This is that Night of the LORD c. Which God hath commanded to be observed because they came out at that Season XVI Dent. 6. under his Conduct from the Egyptian Bondage Or it may be called that Night of the LORD because his Power and Mercy and Faithfulness to his Promises so signally appeared that Night Ver. 43. And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron At the same time I suppose that he instituted the Passover v. 1. he added this Caution about it This is the Ordinance of the Passover A further Rule to be observed at this Feast There shall no Stranger eat thereof Several of the Jewish Doctors by the Son of a Stranger understand an Apostate from the Religion of Israel to strange Worship i. e. Idolatry as Mr. Selden observes L. I. de Synedr c. 12. p. 479. But it is not to be so restrained as appears from the next Verse which is a further Explication of this Wherein he ordains that no Man who did not embrace their Faith and Religion should eat of the Passover though he was a Proselyte so far as to be permitted to live among them For this being a Commemoration of the great Deliverance bestowed upon the Israelites none but they were to partake of it unless they would be Circumcised and thereby come into the Covenant made with Abraham Which gave them a title to all the Priviledges of his Children and obliged them as well as the Natural Israelites to give Publick Thanks for this Work of their Redemption from Egyptian Bondage to Worship and Serve their God according as he directed Ver. 44. And every Man-servant that is bought for money As many were in those Times and Countries who became their Masters proper Goods as much as their Cattle When thou hast Circumcised him then shall he eat thereof He was not to be Circumcised against his Will but if he refused after a years trial as Maimonides expounds it to receive Circumcision his Master was to sell him again For it is very unreasonable to think that he was to be compelled to be Circumcised as those Hebrew Doctors seem to understand it who say That both Master and Servant were forbid to eat of it till the Servant was Circumcised See Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 1. Where he shows at large
of Gold as Casaubon speaks in his Annotations on this place L. XVI p. 760 761. CHAP. XIII Verse 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses saying After they came to Succoth where I suppose the SCHECHINAH appeared to him as it had done in Midian and in Egypt to direct him in his Conduct Ver. 2. Sanctifie unto me the First-born Separate or set apart from common uses for I appropriate them to my self as it follows in the end of the Verse This word Sanctifie as our Mr. Mede observes signifies differently in several Conjugations Sometimes it signifies to devote and consecrate to the Service of God and sometimes to use a thing as holy being already devoted to him And thus he reconciles this place where he bids him sanctifie all the First-born i. e. look upon them as things separated to his own use and therefore not to be used by them with another place XXVII Lev. 26. where he saith concerning the First-born No Man shall sanctifie it it is the LORD's i. e. the LORD hath already set it apart to himself and therefore no Man is to Consecrate that again which God hath already Consecrated that is taken for his own See L. II. de Sanctuario Dei p. 552. First-born There were two sorts of First-born Some who were the First-born of the Father called the beginning of his Strength XXI Deut. 17. The other the First-born of the Mother which are called here whatsoever openeth the Womb. The Hebrews make a great difference between these two and say That to the former sort belong the Prerogatives both of having the Inheritance of his Father and also the Priesthood but to the latter only belongs one of these Prerogatives viz. the Priesthood And they gather it from this very place Whatsoever openeth the Womb which is the First-born of the Mother is mine i. e. shall be employed in my Service But instead of these God took the Levites to attend upon him III Numb 12. After which the First-born were to be redeemed at a certain Rate which was part of the Priests maintenance XVIII Numb 15 16. See Selden de Successionibus ad Leg. Hebr. c. 7. Among the Children of Israel Whom this Precept concerned peculiarly but no other People Therefore the Jews say that if one of them and a Gentile had any Beast in Common between them the First-born was free as their Phrase is because it is here said among the Children of Israel not the Gentiles See Buxtorf Synag Jud. c. 38. Both of Man and Beast As is further directed and explained v. 12 13. It is mine And therefore was to be offered to God if it were a Male of any Beast only an Ass was to be redeemed XXXIV 19 20. God intended by this Law to teach them saith R. Levi Barzelonita that the whole World was his and that Men had nothing in it but by his gracious Grant who challenged the First-born of every thing to himself because all was his For the First-born Male was dearer to a Man saith he than the Apple of his Eye as no doubt he was yet he was bound to Consecrate him to God But the plainest reason of this Law was to put them in mind of God's miraculous Providence in sparing their First-born when those of the Egyptians were all killed To which the Jewish Doctors add a more ancient right God had to them being the Persons who Sacrificed to God before Priests were ordained by the Law of Moses So Onkelos takes the young men XXIV 5. to have been the First-born and the Priests mentioned XIX 22. Aben Ezra also upon XVI Numb 1. saith the same the truth of which I shall examine there Ver. 3. And Moses said unto the People God seems to have commanded Moses at the same time he gave this Precept to repeat here at Succoth what he had said to them in Egypt concerning the Observation of the Passover and of the Feast of Vnleavened Bread It being of great moment to have the Benefits hereby Commemorated in perpetual remembrance Remember this day c. Which was the first day of Unleavened Bread commanded to be kept holy XII 16. For by strength of hand the LORD brought you out That is by a miraculous Power which constrained Pharaoh to let you go much against his will So God promised at his first appearance to Moses III. 19. There shall no leavened Bread be eaten Unleavened Bread was to be eaten on the Passover Night and afterwards no leavened Bread See XII 15 c. where this is represented as the Sense of the Jews but the sixth and seventh Verse following seem to say otherwise Ver. 4. This day came ye out In the Morning of this Day they began their March In the Month of Abib This word Abib signifies an Ear of Corn for then Barley began to ear The Syriack word hababa hath something of its sound which signifies a flower and so they here translate it The Month of Flowers Whence Macarius saith God brought Israel out of Egypt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Month of Flowers when the pleasant Spring first appeared See XXIII 15. Ver. 5. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the Land c. From hence they conclude this Precept did not oblige them in the Wilderness but it was by a special Direction and Command that they observed it the year after this IX Numb 1 2 c. See XII 25 50. In confirmation of which the XII Deut. 1. is alledged where he begins to recapitulate all the Laws they were to observe in Canaan among which this is one XII 5 6. yet this alone would not have been sufficient to prove this for he might be thought now only to reinforce his Laws at their etrance into Canaan if he had not added v. 8. Ye shall not do after all the things you do here this day c. Which supposes that in the unsetled Condition wherein they were in the Wilderness they had not kept themselves to all those Rules which follow and had been formerly delivered Which he sware unto thy Fathers to give thee c. XV Gen. 18 19 c. Ye shall keep this Service in this Month. Both the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread XII 25. Ver. 6. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened Bread This seems to confute what the Jews say that they were not bound to eat unleavened Bread but only when they ate the Passover See XII 15. And in the seventh day shall be a Feast unto the LORD As the first day was holy v. 3. so was the last XII 16. that they might not fail in their Gratitude for so great a Benefit as they now Commemorated Ver. 7. Vnleavened Bread shall be eaten seven days This seems still to make the Injunction plainer that for seven days together they should eat unleavened Bread Which is so often repeated because this made them sensible more than any thing else of the wonderful Hand of God in bringing them out of
Egypt which was so sudden and hasty that they had not time to bake the Dough they had prepared nor so much as put Leaven to it XII 39. There shall no leavened Bread be seen with thee From whence the Jews conclude That not only all such Bread is to be carefully sought for and thrown out of their Houses but all their Vessels that have been used the year before thoroughly scoured least any thing should remain in them that might give a tincture of acidity to the Bread that might be made in them In which work they spend some days before the Passover as Buxtorf observes in his Synag Jud. c. 17. Neither shall there be Leaven seen with thee c. For which Cause as he there observes they abstain all the time of this Feast from all such things as may possibly have some Leaven in them As from Honey and Sugar which are often adulterated with Flowre c. Ver. 8. And thou shalt shew thy Son in that day c. That is on the first day of Unleavened Bread it was to be a part of their Religion to instruct their Children in the meaning of their Killing the Lamb and their Abstinence from Leaven This the Jewish Doctors make one of the DCXIII Precepts that Parents should tell the whole Story of their going out of Egypt on the fifteenth day of Nisan when every one according to his Ability was bound in his own Language to bless and praise the Name of God for all his Miracles which he wrought for them They are the words of R. Levi of Barcelona Ver. 9. And it shall be for a Sign unto thee These seem to be still the words that the Parents were to say to their Children upon these Festivals whereby they taught them to look upon this Observation as a Token or Memorial of what God had done for their Forefathers when he brought them out of Egypt Vpon thy hand and for a memorial between thine eyes To make thee as sensible of God's Goodness as of that which thou hast in thy Hand or of a Thing that is continually before thine Eyes The Jewish Superstition about their Phylacteries took its rise from hence but without any good ground it being evident he speaks not of tying Parchments or any thing else about their Wrists c. but of teaching their Children the meaning of their Holy Rites And so some of themselves have expounded it particularly the forementioned R. Levi of Barcelona who gives this reason why such abundant care was taken to have these things remembred Because saith he this is the Foundation of our Law and of our Religion for which Cause in all our Blessings and Prayers we Commemorate our coming out of Egypt because it is a Sign to us and a perfect Demonstration of the Creation of the World and that our Lord God is the Author of all Creatures and doth what he pleases c. For who but he could change the Course of Nature and work such great and unheard of Signs as he did This is sufficient to confute those that deny the Creation of the World and to establish us in the belief of God most blessed and to perswade both that there is a Providence and that his Power extends to all things both in general and particular So he See v. 16. That the LORD's Law may be in thy mouth That their Children might be able to declare to their Posterity the Law of the LORD about these Matters For with a strong Hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt By slaying all their First-born in one Night See III. 19. Ver. 10. Thou shalt therefore keep this Ordinance Of the Passover and of the Feast of Unleavened Bread In this season from year to year On the fourteenth and the seven following days of the first Month. Ver. 11. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the Land of the Canaanites c. Under the Name of Canaanites he comprehends all the rest of the seven Nations And these words seem to import that the Law of the First-born was not to take place till they came into the Promised Land Yet we find III Numb 12 13. that God demanded all the First-born of them though he took the Levites in their stead And both being numbred and there being Two hundred seventy three First-born Males more than there were Levites v. 41 42 43. he required them to be redeemed at five Shekels apiece and the Money to be given to the Priests v. 46 47 48. But perhaps after this the Law was not observed till they came to Canaan Which he sware unto thy Fathers c. See v. 5. Ver. 12. That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the Matrix Here he shows what he means by that Sanctification of the First-born which was mentioned v. 2. and for what end and reason this was ordained For that which is called Sanctifying there is here called setting apart or separating it from the rest of that kind of Creatures for another use viz. to be Sacrificed to the LORD For the word heevarta which we translate set apart is in the Hebrew make to pass over Which is explained XXII 30. Thou shalt give it unto me viz. to be offered at the Altar The Males The First-born are only mentioned v. 2. but here it is explained to signifie only the Males If a Female came first and afterward a Male that Male was not devoted unto God because it did not open the Womb a Female coming before it Shall be the LORD's And therefore set apart from common uses to be imployed in his Service That is every firstling Male of a Cow Sheep or Goat was to be offered in Sacrifice and the Blood being sprinkled on the Altar the Flesh of them was given to the Priests See XVIII Numb 17 18. where what is here briefly delivered is there more largely explained Ver. 8. And every firstling of an Ass There was the same reason for Horses and Camels but an Ass is only mentioned because abundance of Asses were bred in Judea where there were few Horses or Camels And therefore XVIII Numb 15. it is said in general The firstlings of unclean Beasts thou shalt redeem Thou shalt redeem with a Lamb. Which was to be Sacrificed to God If a Man had not a Lamb he was to give the price of one And because all Lambs were not of an equal price some being worth more than others the Rabbins say that a good eye i. e. a liberal Man gave a Shekel an evil eye half as much and a middle sort of Men gave three quarters It was to be redeemed also within thirty days If thou wilt not redeem it then thou shalt break or cut off its neck It was to die one way or other and not to be imployed in common use but thus to be disposed of if they would not give a Lamb or its value in exchange for it Which Men might sometimes be unwilling to
But all this is a meer fancy to excuse his Foresathers who should rather have prayed to God than murmured against Moses For we read expresly God did not take away the Pillar of the Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night from before the People XIII 22. That is it constantly guided them in the way wherein they should go whether they travelled by day or by night And in that very place which he builds his Opinion upon where it is said they journied according to the commandment of the LORD it is also expresly recorded that there was no water for the People to drink XVII 1. Ver. 25. And he cried unto the LORD He did what they should have done made his earnest Prayer to God to relieve them in this distress which he instantly vouchsafed to do And the LORD showed him a Tree We are not told what Tree this was whose Wood being thrown into the Waters took off their bitterness but to increase the Miracle the Jews will have this to have been a Tree of bitter taste which Jonathan calls Ardophne which naturally would have made the Waters bitter if they had been sweet Demetrius mentions this wonderful cure of the Waters in Eusebius his Praepar Evang. L. IX c. 29. Which when he had cast into the water By the order of the LORD who showed him the Tree For the Wonder did not consist as Huetius thinks in his Quaestiones Alnetanae in curing the Water by throwing the Wood into it for that may be done naturally as Pliny shows but that he found this Wood in the Wilderness by the direction of God As Elisha found by the same Divine direction that the throwing in of Meal would make Water sweet which the same Pliny saith is a natural Remedy There he made for them Propounded to them or appointed them A Statute and an Ordinance This seems to signisie that for their better Government God now gave them a few Rules to be observed for the present till he should more fully declare his Will to them from Mount Sinai And it is a most ancient constant Tradition of the Jews That now he commanded them to observe the Sabbath which they understand by Statute and to do Justice particularly honour their Parents which they understand by Ordinance or Judgment as the Hebrew word imports And they instance especially in keeping the Sabbath and honouring of Parents because those two Commandments are pressed upon them in Deuteronomy with this particular inforcement As the LORD commanded thee V Deut. 12 16. which they will have to relate unto this command at Marah See Mr. Selden L. III. de Jure Nat. Gent. c. 9. p. 314 333 c. And perhaps these two might be in the number but it is probable there were more Commands besides these which were now given them as the following Verse seems to intimate And there he proved them He began there to make a trial of their Obedience Whether they would observe these Laws or no. Ver. 26. And said if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God c. This was the main thing he required of them as Jeremiah observes VII 22 23. Where he saith God spake nothing to them in the day when he brought them out of Egypt i. e. at this time concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices but only commanded them saying Obey my voice And this Maimonides himself confesses in his More Nevoch P. III. c. 32. It appears from the Scripture and the Cabala also that the first Precept which God gave us after we came out of Egypt was not concerning Burnt-Offerings and Sacrifices but it was that given us at Marah If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God where he gave us a Statute and a Judgment And it is a certain Tradition that the Statute was the Sabbath and the Judgment was the taking away all iniquity i. e. doing Justice I will put none of those Diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians He incourages their Obedience by a gracious Promise to preserve them from those terrible Plagues which he inflicted upon the Egyptians for their Disobedience Which is an Indication withal that if the Israelites proved like them they should be punished in the same manner as he threatens afterwards XXVIII Deut. 59 c. I am the LORD that healeth thee There are two parts of a Physicians Office to cure Men when they are sick and to preserve them in health when they are well The latter is here chiefly intended which the Psalmist takes notice of when he saith CV 37. There was not one feeble Person among their Tribes Ver. 27. And they came to Elim They seem to have stayed but a day at Marah and on the XXVth of Nisan to have come to this place called Elim which signifies Rams from the good Pasture which was here for the feeding Sheep as Jacobus Capellus will have it But Bochartus thinks that El signifies in general a Field as El-Paran XIV Gen. 6. he interprets the Field or Plain of Paran and consequently Elim signifies a part of the Wilderness where there were large and spacious Plains Thus I find Ezekiel the Tragaedian mentioned by Eusebius understood it in his Exagoge where he brings in one talking with Moses and pointing him to this place where a great Light shone on a sudden as a Pillar of Fire to show it to them Which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shady Meadow and saith it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exceeding fertil Ground L. IX Praepar Evang c. 29. Where were twelve Wells of Water and threescore and ten Palm-trees Twelve Wells of Water according to the number of the XII Tribes and LXX Palm Trees according to the number of the Elders of Israel says the Hiorusalem Targum and Jonathan's Paraphrase Which Nachmanides so much believed that he saith each Tribe pitched their Tents about one of these Fountains and the LXX Elders sat down under the shadow of the Palm Trees giving thanks to God for the Benefits they now received upon dry Land as lately they had done in the Sea But there is no reason to think that the high Court consisting of so many Elders was now constituted as I have observed before of which see Mr. Selden L. I. de Synedr c. 15. p. 626 c. There is nothing in the Story neither to warrant what Ezekiel says in the place before-named that these Twelve Springs all gushed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of one Rock which was in this beautiful Plain No more than there is for what follows in him concerning a marvellous strange Bird such as no Man ever saw before as big again as an Eagle of various Colours and a most sweet Voice which appeared to them upon this occasion Which he seems to have had out of some Talmudical Fable Palm-Trees This Tree delights in watery Places and therefore no wonder so many were planted here by these Fountains
For it is noted by Pliny that gaudet riguis toto anno bibere amat the Palm-Tree delights in places well watered and loves to drink all the year There were two sorts of these Trees the common and that which was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it bare Dates as Salmasius hath observed in his Plinianae exercit p. 472. 1326. If these were of the latter sort they gave them the better entertainment And they encamped there by the water To refresh themselves and their Flocks in this delightful place CHAP. XVI Verse 1. AND they took their journey from Elim After they had rested a good while there as appears by the end of the Verse And all the Congregation came unto the Wilderness of Sin Not directly but first they went back towards the Red-sea which was their next Station after they left Elim as Moses tells us XXXIII Numb 10. where he gives an exact account of all their Stations one of which is here omitted because nothing remarkable I suppose fell out there and they did not stay long in it This Sin is different from that where Miriam died XX Nunth 1. and written with different Letters Which is betweem Elim and Sinai So the direct way to Sinai had been into this Wilderness of Sin but for some reason which we know not they first return'd to some part of that Sea where they had been before On the fifteenth day of the second Month c. Just a Month after they came out of Egypt And therefore it seems they stayed a good while at Elim where there was plenty of Water and some shade which was now very comfortable this second Month which they call Ijar answering to part of our April and May. Or otherwise we must suppose they spent some time at the Red-sea whether God conducted them perhaps to put them in mind of his late great Mercy to them there which might incline them to be more obedient to his Commands mentioned XV. 25 26. Ver. 2. And the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel Their Elders and all are included in these words they being the same with those v. 1. which certainly comprehend all that came out of Egypt Though its likely there were some more pious among them who were not guilty of what follows when the generality were so mutinous that they who were better disposed could scarce be discerned Murmured against Moses and Aaron This seems to be an higher discontent than the former XV. 24. because the whole Congregation were ingaged in it whereas there it is only said the People were concerned in it And there they quarrelled only with Moses but here with both their Leaders And as that was for want of Water so this for want of Bread all their Dough which they brought out of Egypt being now spent So Josephus and R. Bechai which latter saith the Dough they brought out of Egypt sufficed for a whole Month from the XVth of Nisan to the XVth of Ijar and the Night of the XVIth they still are of it And then on the XVIth he thinks the Manna descended which fell on the first day of the Week as he argues from those words v. 5. when on the sixth day they are commanded to gather twice as much as on other days Which was says he both the sixth day of the Week and of the descent of the Manna Ver. 3. Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD c. As some of the Egyptians did A strange wish proceeding from great ingratitude to God and forgetfulness of his Benefits When he sat That was the ancient posture of eating before this time XXXVII 25. XLIII 33. and afterward XXXII Exod. 6. XIX Judg. 6. By the Flesh-pots and did eat Bread to the full This is not likely when they were not only meer Slaves but under cruel Hardships But they untruly magnisie their former Condition that they may represent their present to be more miserable than really it was For ye have brought us forth into this Wilderness They were glad to be brought out of Egypt but their Discontent arose from their being brought into a Wilderness where they wanted all Provisions but what they brought along with them To kill this whole Congregation with hunger There was no danger of their perishing presently they having so many Flocks to feed them But without Bread this would not satisfie them and they were loth it is likely to lose any of their Stock which they hoped rather to increase than to diminish Or else they longed for Dainties as they did afterwards which moved God to send them great store of Fowl as we understand v. 12. Ver. 4. Then said the LORD Dunto Moses He spake to him out of the Cloud of Glory where the SCHECHINAH was as I observed above I will rain Bread Send you down that which shall supply the place of Bread in a very plentiful manner like drops of Rain from Heaven from above out of the Clouds Which was as Greg. Nyssen speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the most incredible of all Wonders that Bread should be given them not as usually out of the Earth but out of the Air where no Seed is ever sown L. de Vita Mosis p. 177. Every day It came down in daily showres as much only as would suffice for one day that they might be kept in a perpetual thankful dependence upon God's Providence and that this might more evidently appear to be a miraculous Work of his who made it fall at all times of the year alike The Heathen themselves preserved some Memory of this in that Fable of Pan whom Huetius shows to be Moses finding out Ceres when she had been long wanting to give Men bread when they were ready to starve with hunger That I may prove them Some think this relates to what goes before concerning his sending them Bread every day which was so ordered that he might prove whether they would murmur because they had not enough at once for a whole year or humbly hope in his Mercy for a constant supply But the following words whether they will walk in my law or no direct us to a larger sense which is that he tried whether they would be obedient to all his Commands when he let them want nothing to support and incourage them in his Service Prove them Not as if he was ignorant but that it might plainly appear to others and to themselves what they were Or as Maimonides interprets it that it might openly appear to the World that God sustains him who follows his Worship and Service by means that he did not think of So he expounds this very place More Novoch P. III. c. 24. That every one may see and know whether it be beneficial to give ones self to the Service of God or not Ver. 5. On the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in When they had gathered it and brought it into their Tents they were
to grind and bake it c. v. 23. and make ready all things that were necessary against the next day which was to be a Festival viz. the Sabbath on which they were to do nothing For the Sabbath was not to be disturbed with such kind of Work but though on other Festivals they might prepare their Meat and only abstain from labour yet on this they might not so much as dress their Meat but it was to de done the Evening before on which they were to prepare every thing for the next day From which preparation this day was called the Parascue XXIII Luke 54. the preparation for the Sabbath And it shall be twice as much as they gather daily Enough that is for two days viz. that sixth day and the next which was to be the Sabbath v. 23. Where what is here briefly said in general is more particularly and largely explained The Talmudists are generally of an opinion that the XVth day of the second Month when they came hither v. 1. was the seventh day of the week See Mr. Selden L. III. de Jure N. G. c. 11. Which if it be true they knew nothing of the rest of the Sabbath for they travelled upon this day But Mr. Mede hath observed that it is altogether uncertain whether or no it was the seventh day from the Creation It might possibly fall out so by the Providence of God that the seventh day designed by him for their Sabbath might be both the seventh in order from the Creation and also from the day of their deliverance out of Egypt But that which now determined this seventh day after six days labour to be their rest was their Redemption out of Egypt and the Overwhelming of Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea which was upon this very day The Example of the Creation was a reason for sanctifying one day in seven but the designation of this seventh day was as I said from their wonderful deliverance See Discourse XV. Book 1. Ver. 6. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the Children of Israel What God spake to Moses alone v. 4. is delivered to the People by Aaron also who was assistant to his Brother in the Government of them At Even On the Evening of this fifteenth day God sent them Quails as we translate v. 13. Then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the Land of Egypt Be convinced that it was by the LORD's Direction and Command that you were brought out of Egypt into this place And therefore you have no reason to quarrel with us who did nothing of our selves without his order but rather to trust in him who can make as good provision for you here in the Wilderness as ever you saw in Egypt Ver. 7. And in the Morning When the Manna fell down v. 13. Then ye shall see the Glory of the LORD His great power some interpret it in sending them Bread from Heaven and Flesh also with it But I take it rather to refer unto the visible appearance of the Divine Majesty which they saw presently after this v. 10. and were convinced of his real Presence in that Cloud by the descent of the Manna from thence next Morning which no Power but the Divine could produce And so I find Abarbinel himself interprets it Their seeing the Glory of the LORD is not to be understood of the Bread or the Flesh he sent them but of the Fire which appeared to all the People to reprove them for their Murmurings For that he heareth your Murmurings against the LORD He is present among you and takes notice of your ungrateful behaviour towards him For what are we that ye murmur against us Alas we are but poor Instruments of his who hath done all the Wonders you have seen and by that means brought you hither And therefore why do you complain of us as if we acted any thing by our own Authority Ver. 8. And Moses said this shall be when the LORD shall give you c. I say again therefore mark it when the LORD shall give you Flesh to eat in the Evening and in the Morning Bread to the full then you shall be convinced that he hath taken notice of your Murmurings which are really against him who imploys us only as his Ministers and will be so gracious as not to punish your Discontents but provide for your Necessities Ver. 9. And Moses spake unto Aaron Who was his Minister as Moses was more immediately God's Speak unto the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel Who were all ingaged in this undutiful Murmuring v. 2. Come near before the LORD Before the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty which was in the Cloud as I observed XIII 21. and now was about to break forth upon them in a glorious manner But because of their Murmurings the Cloud was removed it is probable to a greater distance from them than it used to be Bonfrerius will have it that they were to come near to the Tabernacle of Moses where the Glory of the LORD appeared XXXIII 7 9. But there is no proof that it was wont to be there till that occasion See upon that place For he hath heard your murmurings He will show that he is among you and observes how ungratefully you requite him It is not unlikely that Moses bad Aaron go and speak to the People because he himself retired to speak to God That is to pray for them and to acknowledge his great Goodness in passing by their Murmurings Ver. 10. And it came to pass as Aaron spake unto the whole Congregation of the Children of Israel According to the Command of Moses v. 9. That they looked They were suddenly surprised I conceive with an unwonted brightness which made them look about to see whence it came Or Aaron perhaps bad them look that way Towards the Wilderness Whether the Cloud had conducted them and stood at some distance from them And behold the Glory of the LORD appeared in the Cloud The Divine Majesty appeared in flaming Light such as they had never seen before See XIII 21. Thus N. Lyra truly expounds Fulgor quidam insolitus c. an unusual Splendor representing the Divine Power to reprove the Murmurings of the People Ver. 11. And the LORD spake unto Moses Who was gone as I said to pray unto God whilst Aaron was speaking unto the People Ver. 12. I have heard the murmurings of the Children of Israel c. He repeats to Moses what he had bidden him tell them v. 4 5 6. and perhaps spake it from the Cloud of Glory in the Audience of all the People In the Evening ye shall eat Flesh v. 8. And in the Morning ye shall be silled with Bread v. 4. And ye shall know that I am the LORD your God Who brought you out of Egypt and will provide for you here in the Wilderness Ver. 13. And it came to pass that at Even According to God's Promise v. 6 8. The Quails
Sabbath therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days You have no reason to seek it on the Sabbath being provided before-hand with as much as is sufficient for that day Let no man go out of his place The Jews say that a Man went out of his place if he went above Two thousand paces from his dwelling That is if he went beyond the Suburbs of his City XXXV Numb 5. Ver. 30. So the people rested on the seventh day The Reprehension which God gave them by Moses v. 28. and the solemn renewal of the Precept v. 29. wrought so much upon them that for the present they rested upon this day And they not having been used to this rest God did not immediately punish their Disobedience in going abroad to gather Manna though afterward he ordered a Man to be stoned for gathering Sticks on this day for he had often repeated this Law to them before that time Ver. 31. And the House of Israel called the name thereof Manna This is repeated again to show that the name which they gave it at first v. 15. continued to it afterward being so apt and proper to signifie God's Providence over them that they could find no better And it was like Coriander Seed Of a round sigure like that Seed v. 14. White Being like Bedolach as Moses saith XI Numb 7. which signifies Pearl as Bochartus shows in his Hierozoic P. II. p. 678. where he observes the Talmudick Doctors in the Title Joma expresly say it was like Margalith or Margarith i.e. Pearl The taste of it was like Wafers made with honey All things of a pleasant relish are compared in Scripture to Honey Whence those words of David XIX Psalm 11. CXIX 103. Onkelos saith Manna tasted like Escaritae which was a delicious Food at Rhodes as Bochart observes out of Julius Pollux between Bread and Cake like our Bisket I suppose which was so grateful that they who did eat it were never satiated but still desired more In the XI Numb 7 8. Manna is said to taste like fresh Oyl Which doth not contradict this for as Abarbinel and others observe the meaning is that when it first fell before it was prepared it tasted like Honey-wafers but when it was baked then it tasted like fresh Oyl And so the words XI Numb 8. plainly import they took it and beat it in a Mortar and baked it c. and the taste of it i. e. thus prepared was like the taste of fresh Oyl Nay the Jewish Doctors commonly say it had all manner of pleasant savours according to Mens different Palates and thence they fancy it is called v. 29. the Bread Mischne which we translate of two days because it was changed according to the diversity of those that did eat it Children young men and old Which conceit the Author of the Book of Wisdom follows XVI 20 21. Ver. 32. And Moses said This is the thing which the LORD commandeth I have this further Command to deliver from God concerning the Manna Take an Omer of it Just so much as was assigned to every one for his daily Bread v. 16. To be kept for your Generations For your Posterity in future Ages That they may see the Bread wherewith I have fed you c. For seeing with ones eyes saith Isaac Aramah mightily confirms a thing and leaves one in no doubt of it And he took care they should see both the Manna it self and the measure which he bountifully allowed to every one of them Ver. 33. And Moses said unto Aaron What God commanded Moses he now commands Aaron to do Take a Pot. He saith nothing of the matter of this Pot or Vrn which some say was an Earthen Pot others say of Lead Brass or Iron and Abarbinel thinks it was of Glass that one might see what was within But the Apostle hath setled this Controversie by calling it a Golden Pot IX Hebr. 4. and so do the LXX in this place And indeed all the Vessels of the Sanctuary being of Gold it was but reason that this which contained such a precious Monument of God's Mercy should be of the same Metal Lay it up before the LORD i.e. Before the Ark of the Testimony as it is explained in the next Verse Which shows that this Command was given after the building of the Tabernacle and is here mentioned because it belongs to the same matter which Moses relates in this Chapter Others suppose it was spoken by way of Prolepsis which seems not to me so probable Ver. 34. So Aaron laid it up When the Tabernacle was built Before the Testimony This is the same with before the LORD in the foregoing Verse For the Divine Glory dwelt between the Cherubims which were over the Ark which is commonly called the Ark of the Testimony XXX 6. XL. 3 5. But here and XXV 36. is simply called the Testimony by an Ellipsis or leaving out the first word which is very usual in other Instances For thus it is called the Ark of God's strength 2 Chron. VI. 41. but elsewhere the first word being omitted it is called only his strength LXXVIII Psalm 61. CV 4. And therefore the Ark is called the Testimony partly because there God gave them a special Token of his Dwelling among them and partly because the two Tables of Stone were in the Ark which are called the Testimony XL. 20. Where it is said Moses put the Testimony into the Ark and then immediately v. 21. he calls it the Ark of the Testimony Ver. 35. And the Children of Israel did eat Manna forty years Within a Month which wanted to make compleat forty years For it begun to fall just XXX days after they came out of Egypt on the XVth of April and ceased to fall on the XVth or XVIth of March the day after the Passover which they kept in the Fortieth year V Josh 11 12. Now in all Writers some days under or over are not wont to be considered when there is a round Number But there are those who fancy these words were put into this Book after Moses his death for which I can see no ground For it is certain he lived the greatest part of the Fortieth year after they came out of Egypt and brought them to the Borders of Canaan within sight of it I Dent. 3. XXXIV 1 2 c. And therefore may well be supposed to have added these words himself to this History as he did the foregoing v. 32. that all belonging to this matter might be put together in one place Vntil they came to a Land inhabited i. e. To Canaan or the Borders of it as it here follows For these words saith Aben-Ezra have respect to the Wilderness in which they now were which was not inhabited Vntil they came unto the Borders of the Land of Canaan That is saith he to Gilgal which was the Borders when they had passed over Jordan when they did eat of the Corn of the Land and had no
come down in all their sight upon Mount Sinai That is when they were fit to receive him by their professing themselves an holy People of which that outward washing was a token For the third day the LORD will come down c. Not from the Mount but from Heaven upon Mount Sinai On which the SCHECHINAH descended in a Cloud which struck a great awe into them For it was darker than the Pillar of the Cloud by which they had been conducted hither thorough which some rays or glimpse of a glorious Majesty that was in it broke forth upon them Ver. 12. And thou shalt set bounds unto the People round about To keep them at a due distance out of a just reverence to the Divine Majesty Take heed unto your selves that ye go not up c. This Caution also was given them to work and preserve in their Minds a most profound Reverence of the Divine Majesty and to those Laws which were to be delivered from this Mount Ver. 13. There shall not an hand touch it but he shall surely be stoned or shot through Be stoned if he were near at hand or shot through with Darts or Arrows if at a distance So Aben-Ezra And so Jonathan likewise translates the latter Clause They shall throw Darts at him And so our old Translation Stricken through with Darts But the Talmudists and the greatest Lawyers among the Jews expound both these Clauses of stoning which was twofold as we read in the Misna Tit. Sanhedrin c. 6. either by throwing Stones at a Malefactor or throwing him down from an high place upon Stones And thus this last place imports in the Hebrew and may properly be translated projiciendo projicietur he shall be violently thrown down or thrown down headlong It is the very same word with that XV. 4. concerning the casting Pharaoh's Chariots into the Sea And this was a Punishment as Mr. Selden observes like that among the Romans from the Saxum Tarpeium which the Jews inflicted upon some captive Edomites 2 Chron. XXV 12. and Jehu inflicted upon Jezabel 2 Kings IX 32. On which story R. Leviben Gersom observes pertinently That as she caused Naboth to be stoned so she was punished her self in the same kind for stoning saith he was either by throwing Stones at Malefactors or throwing them down upon Stones To justifie which he alledges this place in Exodus And David Kimchi makes the same Observation See Mr. Selden L. I. de Synedr c. 5. p. 74 c. When the Trumpet soundeth long When the sound of it is protracted or drawn out and consequently was less terrible then while it was shorter and broken See v. 16. They shall come up to the Mount To the foot of it v. 17. that they might more plainly hear the voice of God Ver. 14. And Moses came down from the Mount to the People As he had been commanded v. 10. And sanctified the People Commanded them to Sanctisie themselves as the Author of Sepher Cosri explains it P. I. Sect. 87. both with Internal Sanctification and External among which the principal was Separation from the company of Women as it here follows v. 15. And they washed their Clothes See v. 10. Unto which add that it is no wonder they used this Purification before the giving of the Law which had been anciently in use among their Ancestors upon Solemn Occasions As appears by what I observed on XXXV Gen. 2. where Jacob before the building of an Altar to God in Bethel as he had vowed cleansed his Family after this manner For so Aben-Ezra truly expounds these words be clean wash your Bodies which was the old Rite of cleansing See there Ver. 15. And said unto the People be ready against the third day Prepared to hear the words of God Come not at your Wives For this time was set apart for Solemn Fasting and Prayer that they might be fit to converse with God by having their Minds abstracted from earthly things Ver. 16. And it came to pass on the third day See v. 11. There more Thunders and Lightnings Which broke out of the thick Cloud to awaken them to attend unto his Majesty who was approaching And a thick Cloud In which a flaming Fire presently appeared v. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that the Mountain could not be seen as Greg. Nyssen explains it de Vita Mosis p. 179. And the voice of the Trumpet The heavenly Ministers who were Attendants upon the Divine Majesty made a sound like that of a Trumpet to summon the People to come and appear before God and receive his Commands Exceeding loud Beyond what the blast of any Men could make for it made the whole Camp quake as the following words tell us Ver. 17. And Moses brought forth the People out of the Camp When their trembling was abated by the remission as we may suppose of the sound of the Trumpet To meet with God That they might be espoused to him And they stood at the nether part of the Mount Below at the foot of it not presuming to touch it which they were severely forbidden v. 11 12. See IV Deut. 11. Ver. 18. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke Nothing could be seen but smoke mixed with a Flame Because the LORD descended on it in sire The SCHECHINAH came down into the thick Cloud v. 9 16. with a glittering company of Angels who appeared like flames of Fire unto which they are compared by the Psalmist CIV 4. Thus Moses himself seems to expound it XXXIII Deut. 2. He came with ten thousands or myriads of holy ones i. e. of Angels from his right hand went a fiery Law for them Which plainly relates to this appearance at Mount Sinai And the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace Mixt with Fire which went up even to the midst of Heaven as Moses explains it IV Deut. 11. And the whole Mount quaked greatly See LXVIII Psal 8. CIV 32. Ver. 19. And when the voice of the Trumpet sounded long It is a different word here in the Hebrew from that v. 13. which we translate sounded long signifying that it proceeded or went on either a long time or to a greater loudness And waxed louder and louder In the Hebrew the words are exceeding strong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Trumpet exceeded it self the succeeding Blasts transcending those that went before as Greg. Nyssen well interprets the whole Moses spake The People trembled before at the loud sound of the Trumpet v. 16. but now it grew so very terrible that Moses himself said as the Apostle expounds this passage XII Hebr. 21. I exceedingly fear and quake For hither I think Junius rightly applies those words And God answered him by a voice Bidding him not be afraid but come up unto him as it follows in the next Verse Greg. Nyssen thinks that the voice of the Trumpet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 became articulate with the Organs of Speech by the Divine Power Ver. 20.
19. who were then in attendance upon the Divine Majesty as his Retinue when he spake all these words that follow to the end of the seventeenth Verse which are called the Ten words or Commandments in XXXIV 28. And he spake them with so great a Voice V Deut. 22. that all the People who were very numerous plainly heard them which was very wonderful This was upon the sixth day of the third Month called Sivan See Selden L. III. de Jure N. G. c. 11. Ver. 2. I am the LORD thy God which have brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. In this Preface to the Ten Commandments he asserts his Right to give them Laws not only in general as he is the LORD of all but by a peculiar Title he had to their Obedience whom he had taken to himself after a special manner to be his People by bringing them out of the Land of Egypt and the Servitude under which they groaned there This was a Benefit fresh in their Minds and most apt to affect their Hearts and therefore he doth not say as the Author of Sepher Cosri observes P. I. Sect. 27. I am the LORD of Heaven and Earth or I am thy Creator but I am the LORD thy God who have shown a particular favour and kindness to thee by bringing thee out of the Land of Egypt c. When he became their King by a special Title as I observed III. 10. and upon that account gave them these Laws whereby they were to be governed and gave them peculiarly to them as the fore-named Author notes who were tied to the Observance of them by virtue of their Deliverance out of Egypt and God's placing his Glory among them Whereas if they had been tied to them by virtue of their Creation they would have belonged to all Nations as much as unto them Thus He. Maimonides will have these words I am the LORD thy God to signifie the Existence of God and the next v. 3. his Vnity which two are the great Foundations of Religion More Nevoch P. II. c. 33. And indeed the word JEHOVAH or LORD is generally thought to signifie he who is of himself And the next word ELOHIM which is the most ancient Name of God in Scripture Learned men of late derive from the Arabick word Alaha there being no root in Hebrew remaining from whence it can so regularly come which signifies to worship serve and adore Hottinger hath taken a great deal of pains in his Hexaemeron and elsewhere to confirm this out of that and out of the Ethiopick Language also The Jews say indeed that Elohim is the name of Judgment as Jehovah is of Mercy but Abarbinel confutes this to establish a Notion of his own viz. the Omnipotent Cause of all things which others oppose as much as he doth the former And therefore most I think now rest in the fore-named Notion that it properly signifies him who only is to be religiously worshipped and adored as it follows in the next words Ver. 3. Thou shalt have no other Gods That is believe in one God or believe there is no other God but me as Nachman interprets it and consequently worship no other God This is the great Foundation as the Hebrews speak of the Law for whosoever confesses any other God he denies the whole Law And they truly observe also that this negative Precept includes the affirmative viz. a Command to worship Him the only God As when Naaman saith he would neither offer Burnt-offering nor Sacrifice to any other God but the LORD it is plain he meant that he would Sacrifice to him 1 Kings V. 17. See Selden L. III. de Jure N. G. c. 1. Before me As they were not to forsake Him and worship some other God so not to worship any other God together with Him as many did 2 Kings XVII 33. For in his Presence he could not indure any Competitor Ver. 4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image c. The difference between Pesel which we translate graven Image and Temunah which we translate Likeness seems to be that the former was a protuberant Image or a Statue made of Wood Stone c. and the other only a Picture drawn in colours upon a Wall or Board c. Both which some have thought they were prohibited here so much as to make whether it were the Image or Picture of the Stars or Birds or Men or Beasts or Fishes for fear they should be drawn to worship them Thus it is certain Origen understood this Commandment when he said there was not permitted to be so much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. a Picture-drawer or a maker of Statues in their Commonwealth to take away all occasion of drawing Mens minds from the worship of God L. IV. contra Cels p. 181. Clemens Alexandrinus was of the same Opinion L. V. Stromat and Tertullian L. de Spectaculis c. 23. Which they derived in all probability from the Jews who from the time of the Maccabees to the Destruction of Jerusalem thought they were forbidden by this Law to make an Image or Figure of any Living Creature especially of a Man This Harmannus Conringius hath plainly demonstrated in his Paradoxa de Nummis Ebraeorum c. 5. out of many places in Philo and in Josephus The latter of which tells us L. XVIII Archaeolog c. 5. That all their Governours before Pilate were wont to use Ensigns in Jerusalem without the Image of Caesar in them because their Law forbad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the making of Images And when Vitellius was to lead the Roman Army through Judaea against the Arabians with Images in their Ensigns the People ran to meet him beseeching him to forbear it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it was not consonant to the Laws of their Country to see Images brought into it But whether this was the ancient Exposition of the Law before those times may be doubted The Talmudists think it was unlawful to make any Figures of Celestial Bodies either prominent or plain though it were for Ornaments sake but as for Animals they might make prominent Statues of them except only of Men the Images of whom they might draw on a plain See Selden L. I. de Jure Nat. Gent. c. 6 7 8. Which distinctions most look upon as ungrounded and the common Opinion is That Moses did not forbid the very making of an Image but that they should not make them to set up in the place of Divine Worship Ver. 5. Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them If they saw an Image as they must needs do in other Countries though we suppose they had none among themselves he requires them not to use any gesture or to do any thing that might signifie Reverence or Honour given to them Such were prostrating themselves before them bowing their bodies kissing their hands much less to offer Sacrifice or burn Incense c. to them Here seems
the Judge is whom we go about to deceive Large Commentaries on these Commandments are not to be expected which may be found in many Authors commonly known Ver. 17. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours house c. Here is forbidden so much as the designing any Mischief to others in any of the things forementioned For as all Injuries in word or deed are prohibited in the IV. preceding Commandments So in this he prohibits those which are only in the heart or counsels of Men but never come to light And in the enumeration of the things they were not to covet he begins first with that which was last mentioned and so backard to the other For he saith Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House by designing to bear false witness or to commit theft And then follows thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife by intending to abuse her if opportunity served nor his Man-servant nor his Maid-servant c. which are his principal Goods He saith nothing of thirsting after his Life which is supposed to be unlawful because less than that is forbidden Menander hath something like this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do not so much as covet the thred of a Needle for God sees thee being intimately present with thee See more in Grotius his Prolegomena in Excerpta ex Stobaeo Ver. 18. And all the People saw the Thundrings c. Seing being the principal Sense it is frequently put for the rest and this passage may be translated they sensibly perceived c. See XLII Gen. 1. and Drusius's Quaestiones Hebr. L. I. c. 10. The Thundrings and the Lightnings XIX 16. And the noise of the Trumpet Which ceased while God spake the X. Words to them but now began again together with Thunders and Lightnings when they were ended For as they were introduced in a most Majestick manner to raise their attention and strike an awe into them so they were closed that they might be the more sensible of the dreadfulness of that Majesty who spake to them and that they might have a greater reverence to his Law They removed and stood afar off They were at the bottom of the Mount while God spake to them but now started back for fear those Flames they saw upon the Mountain V Deut. 25. and perhaps flashed from thence in a terrible manner should devour them How far they removed we know not some think to the place where they were incamped before this glorious Appearance out of which Moses brought them to meet with God XIX 2 17. Ver. 19. And they said unto Moses By the Heads of their Tribes and their Elders V Deut. 23. who came from the People to Moses while he remained still in his place For he saith there they came near unto him when they spake these words which signifies they were at some distance before Speak thou with us and we will hear c. They desire that what God had farther to command them He would be pleased to acquaint Moses with it and they would receive it as his own words but should die with fear if they heard him speak any more with his own Voice This is more largely related V Deut. 24 25 c. and accordingly God afterward communicated to Moses alone the rest of his Laws both concerning Religion and Civil Government Ver. 20. And Moses said unto the People He bad the Elders return this Answer to the People that sent them Fear not Be not afraid of your lives No hurt shall come to you For God is come to prove you God intends by this dreadful Appearance to discover unto your selves and others whether you will be such as you pretend XIX 8. And that his fear may be before your face And that you may have an awful sense of him in your Mind by having before your eyes continually the Glory of his Majesty of which you were lately sensible v. 18. That you sin not Let this be your only fear not to offend God by disobeying his Commands Ver. 21. And the People stood afar off In their Tents within their Camp For God commanded him to bid the Elders after this Discourse to go to their Tents from whence they came where I suppose the rest of the People were V Deut. 30. But he bad Moses stay with him and he would as they desired tell him all the rest of the things which he intended to enjoyn them v. 31. And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was Who called him to him again as he had done before XIX 20. There is a curious Observation in Pirke Elieser that the Hebrew word here is not Nogesh he approached or drew near as we trunslate it but Niggesh he was drawn near The Angel Gabriel or Michael as he fancies coming and taking him by the hand and leading him up to God cap. 41. But this signifies rather that he did not go up of his own accord but was called by God to draw near to his Divine Majesty Which he did the next day upon the seventh day of Sivan and received LVII Laws besides the X. which God himself delivered partly Civil and partly Religious which were Explications of the Decalogue Ver. 22. And the LORD said unto Moses When they were together in the thick Cloud before mentioned Thus thou shalt say unto the Children of Israel When thou goest down again to them Ye have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven The apprehension of one sense as Maimonides phrases it More Nevoch P. I. c. 46. is usually in Scripture put for the apprehension of another As See the word of the LORD II Jer. 31. that is hear it or mark it diligently Or the meaning here may be You saw i. e. perceived by the Thundrings and Lightnings and all the rest of the Tokens of a Majestatick Presence that it was I who spake from above Ver. 23. Ye shall not make with me The Hebrew Writers here make a pause or full stop as if it were a compleat Sentence And the meaning is explained in the Talmud to be Ye shall not make the Similitude of the Ministers that minister before me above as the Sun the Moon the Stars or the Angels Ger. Bab. upon Avoda Zura And so Maimonides upon the same Subject It is unlawful to form the Images of the Sun the Moon the Stars the Celestial Signs or Angels according to that which is written Ye shall not make with me i. e. nothing like the Ministers that minister to me above See Selden L. II. de Jure N. G. c. 6. p. 198. But if we joyn these with the following words the sense is the same that as they acknowledged no other Gods but him so they should not make any Image to represent him To inforce which the word make is repeated in the end of the Verse whereby greater efficacy is added to the Command Gods of silver or gods of gold shall ye not make unto you He gives this
the Elders was in all likelyhood to convince them that he was among them and had spoken to them and sent them the Precepts before-mentioned by the hand of Moses Also they saw God and did eat and drink After they had seen God they were so far from receiving any harm that they feasted with him upon the Reliques of the Peace-offerings with great Joy and Gladness Or we may suppose that the Glory of the LORD shone upon them as they sat down to eat and drink in token of their full consent to the Covenant now made for so the custom was of making Covenants XXIV Gen. 30. XXXI 54. and that notwithstanding they continued to finish their Feast not being dispirited as good Men were sometimes afterwards with glorious Visions X Dan. 8 16 17. but rather strengthen'd and made more vigorous The word for saw in this Verse is different from that in the former importing I suppose that this Appearance of God to them lasted some time Ver. 12. And the LORD said unto Moses He called to him perhaps with an audible voice from the place where they saw his Glory that they might know how familiar he was with God and might more readily receive whatsoever Commands he brought from him Come up to me into the Mount To the top of the Mount where the Glory of the LORD was v. 17. For hitherto Moses had gone no further than the rest but was with them when they did eat and drink before the LORD And be there Stay with me there v. 18. And I will give thee Tables of stone Not only the Jews but Epiphanius also fancies these Tables were made of Saphire from what was said v. 10. But the words signifie plainly enough that they were of Stone And a Law and Commandments which I have written From this place the Jews endeavour to establish their unwritten or oral Law i. e. their Traditions which they say were now delivered together with the Tables of Stone So Maimonides in his Preface to Jad Chazeka All the Precepts which were given to Moses on Mount Sinai were given with their Explications according to what is said I will give the Tables of Stone and a Law and Commandments where by the Law is meant the written Law and the Commandments denote the Explication of it which we call the Oral Law Thus he and others of them directly against the Text it self which saith expresly both of the Law and the Commandments here mentioned that they were written See Selden L. II. de Synedr c. 16. Therefore by Law and Commandments we are to understand nothing else but the Law contained in the X. Commandments That thou mayest teach them Instruct the People to observe them as the most sacred of all other Precepts being written as well as spoken by God himself who taught Men by this Example how to preserve their Laws For Aristotle saith in his Problems that in old time Men being ignorant how to write 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were wont to sing their Laws that they might not be forgotten It being the invention of the Corybantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theopompus speaks to set up Pillars and ingrave their Laws upon them Which Solon at last wrote on wooden Tables called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were laid up in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods v. Sam. Petitum Praefat. in Leg. Atticas Ver. 13 And Moses rose up From among the Elders with whom he was before And his Minister Joshua Who attended him further than the Elders but not into the place where he went For God intending him to be Moses his Successor seems to admit him unto a nearer Familiarity than any one else besides Moses And Moses went up into the Mount of God The place where the Divine Glory appeared But Joshua staid for him in some lower part of the Mountain expecting his return For he did not go up to the top of the Mount as appears from the XXXII Chapter where Moses his descent from thence being mentioned Joshua is not named till it be said that Moses was come down from the Mount v. 15 17. He went with him therefore till he entred into the Cloud and then he staid as it were at the door waiting for his return Ver. 14. And he said unto the Elders Before he left them he gave them this order Tarry ye here for us Not in the place where they had seen God and did eat and drink with him whether the People might not come but rather in the Camp or some place near it whether the People might upon occasion resort to them Unto which place Moses seems to have walkt with them from the Mount before he returned to go up into it or at least pointed them unto it with his singer that they might there wait for him Vntil we come again to you He could not tell how long God would detain him and therefore commands them to govern the People till his return to them And behold Aaron and Hur are with you Who seem to have been of greatest Authority next to himself and were with him in the Mount when the Israelites fought with Amalek Chap. XVII If any man have any matters to do let him come unto them In all Causes which were too hard for the Elders to determine he directs them to go to Aaron and Hur as they were wont to do to him By this it appears that these LXX Elders were some of the Judges appointed by the advice of Jethro XVIII 22. which he continued to follow and orders them to observe in his absence Ver. 15. And Moses went up into the Mount Having said this he and Joshua left them and he went into the higher part of the Mount And a Cloud covered the Mount That part of it where he was so that the People and Joshua also lost the sight of him Ver. 16. And the Glory of the LORD abode upon Mount Sinai That visible Majesty which shone in extraordinary splendour was setled for the present upon the top of this Mount And the Cloud covered it i. e. Covered the Glory of the LORD not the Mount as Aben Ezra observes For the Cloud was not the Glory of the LORD but incompassed and covered it so that for six days nothing but the Cloud appeared to the Israelites till on the seventh day the Cloud was rent as I take it or opened and the Glory of the LORD appeared like flaming fire Six days Thus long it was hidden in a Cloud so that Moses himself could not see it but remained wrapt up in darkness which might have astonished him if he had not been supported by the Divine Power and a comfortable sense of God who had often appeared to him and conversed familiarly with him And the seventh day he called unto Moses The second time for he had called to him before to come up to him v. 12. commanding him to approach into his glorious Presence Out of the midst of
Cubits which was the breadth of this East-end of the Court as well as of the West v. 12 13. Of blue and purple and scarlet c. Concerning all this see XXV 5. and here only observe that the Hangings of the Gate were far richer than of the rest of the Court which were meerly of fine twined Linen v. 9. but these of several other beautiful Colours and adorned with that work which they called Rokem which we translate Needle-work What that was see XXXVIII 39. And their pillars shall be four and their sockets four Proportionable to those on each side of the Gate which were three for Hangings of fifteen Cubits v. 14 15. as these were four for Hangings of twenty Ver. 17. All the Pillars round about the Court shall be filletted with silver Those at the East and West-end as well as those on the South and North-sides Their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of brass As was before directed v. 10 11. Ver. 18. The length of the Court c. Here all the Dimensions of the Court are put together the length and breadth of which might be inferred from the Hangings v. 9 12 c. but here are expresly determined together with the height which was not at all intimated before and now appointed to be five Cubits l. e. two yards and an half of larger measure than ours So that the Tabernacle might be plainly seen by the People for it was as high again as the Walls if I may so call them that incompassed it Of twined Linen and their sockets of brass This seems to be a brief repetition of what was said before concerning the Hangings and the Pillars which stood on Bases of Brass Ver. 19. All the Vessels of the Tabernacle in all the service thereof This is also a repetition in general of what was said before particularly v. 3. for all the Vessels belonging to the Tabernacle it self were of Gold as we read in the XXVth Chapter And all the pins thereof The Tabernacle had nothing of Brass in the Fabrick of it but the Bases of the Pillars at the Entrance XXVI 37. and therefore these Pins I suppose belong to them whereby the Pillars were fastned in their Sockets And all the pins of the Court shall be of brass These brazen Pins were struck into the ground as Dr. Lightfoot understands it that the Hangings which were tied to them by Cords might be kept from flying up at the bottom Ver. 20. And thou shalt command the Children of Israel that they bring thee pure Oyl-olive beaten Not squeezed out by a Press or by a Mill for such was full of Sediment and Dregs but which run freely from the Olives being bruised with a Pestel For the light In the golden Candlestick XXV 37. To cause the Lamp to burn always Sufficient to keep the Lamp always burning Some imagine that it did not burn day and night but being lighted every Evening went out in the Morning And there are some places which seem to favour this Opinion particularly 1 Sam. III. 3. where mention is made of the Lamp going out viz. in the Morning See also 2 Chron. XIII 11. where we read of setting the Lamps to burn every Evening which seems to signisie that they did not burn in the Day But Josephus who was a Priest and could not but know and had no reason to tell a lie saith they burnt Day and Night And indeed it was but necessary for otherwise the Priests must have ministred in the dark at the Altar of Incense before the Divine Majesty Who kept a Table in the Sanctuary which required light for no Body feasts in darkness And therefore R. Levi of Barcelona Praecept XCVIII saith God commanded a Lamp should always burn in the Sanctuary for the Honour and Majesty of it there being no Light conveyed to it otherways But it is highly probable there were not so many of the Lamps burning in the Day as in the Night when all the seven Lamps were lighted some of which were put out in the Morning and lighted again in the Evening So Josephus saith expresly L. III. Antiq. c. 9. Three burnt all Day before the LORD and the rest were lighted in the Evening Ver. 21. In the Tabernacle of the Congregation without the Vail That is the second Vail which was before the most Holy Place Which is before the Testimony That is the Ark of the Testimony See XXV 21 22. Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD As direction is more fully given XXX 7 8. It shall be a Statute for over c. See XXXVIII 43. CHAP. XXVIII Verse 1. AND take thou Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the Children of Israel Here Aaron and his Sons are designed to the Priests Office and afterward XXXII 19. the whole Tribe of Levi were Consecrated to the LORD by a noble Act of Zeal which they performed And at last I Numb 51. and many other places it was made Capital for any one else to officiate at the Tabernacle but they only That he may minister unto me Attend on me as my Servant in my Court. For Cohen signifies one that serves in ministerio honorabili in an honourable Office as appears from XII Job 19. Therefore David's Sons are called by this Name 2 Sam. VIII 18. and it was given to the Priests quatenus fuerunt primarij Dei Ministri as they were the principal Ministers of God as Junius observes upon XLI Gen. 45. In the Priests Office Wheresoever there hath been any Religion there have been Priests whose Office it peculiarly was to Minister unto God in the Service belonging to him But this is the first time we read of any Constituted in Israel by a Divine appointment at least the Priesthood was not confined to the particular Family of Aaron who was made High Priest and his Sons Priests of a lower Order Some Heathens imitated this by continuing the Priesthood in a certain Family For Plato says there were in some places 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both of Men and Women which in the founding of a City he would not have a Law-giver alter but where there was no such Constitution he would have annual Priests and none but grave Men of 60 years of Age put into the Office L. VI. de Leg. p. 759. Even Aaron Nadab and Abihu Eleazar and Ithamar Aarons sons These were all the Males in this Family at present whose Descendants in future Ages were all Priests Ver. 2. And thou shalt make holy Garments for Aarou thy brother If very good Authors did not affirm it we should scarce think it credible that the Priests among some of the ancient Heathens offered Sacrifices to their Gods naked Particularly the old Arabians as Hottinger observes in his Histor. Orientalis L. I. c. 7. But such filthiness was abhorred by most People whose Priests were not only Clothed but performed their Service at the Altar in a peculiar Habit.
aut fossulas angulares c. such little deep holes as resemble those that are in one of the Stomachs of those Animals that chew the Cud called Reticulum See L. I. de Vestitu Sacerd. Hebraeorum c. 17. And thou shalt make the Mitre of Linen See v. 37. where the Mitre is mentioned And thou shalt make the girdle of needle-work It is mentioned before v. 4. under the name of Abanet or Abnet which no doubt signifies a Girdle or Belt yet not like our common Girdles but like that which we call a Schash being made of twined Linen and Worsted of divers colours as we find XXXIX 29. where blue and purple and scarlet signifies Wooll or Worsted-yarn of these colours Such were the Girdles of all the Priests which they wore all the year the High Priest as well as the rest except upon one day that of Expiation when he had on a Girdle of fine Linen only not mixed with Woollen These Girdles were of such a length that they might go round the Body more than once as Josephus tells us L. III. Antiq. c. 8. For if we may believe him they were Two and thirty Ells long and four Fingers broad being hollow within When they were not in the Act of Ministration both ends of them hung down to their very feet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the same Josephus speaks for comeliness sake that they might appear more goodly to the beholders which agrees to what Moses saith in the next Verse that they as all the Priestly Garments v. 2. were made for glory and beauty But when they went about any holy work belonging to their Office they threw them over their left shoulder that they might not be an hindrance to them The use of this Girdle was to girt their Coat close to them which they tuckt up also in the Girdle when they went about their Ministry to the middle of their Leggs that it might not incumber them in their Service Of needle-work This was a different sort of work from Taschbetz which we translate broidered v. 4. and from Choscheb which we translate cunning v. 6 15. and is here called Rokem Which signifies the same with Choscheb as to the variety of Colours and Figures in the Work but Choscheb as the Hebrew Doctors tell us was done by weaving and Rokem with a Needle as we rightly take it Of the two Choscheb was the most artificial as the word seems to intimate being wrought on both sides with the same Figures whereas Rokem was only on one side This they gather from XXVI 31. where the Vail is ordered to be made of the Work called Choscheb which it's probable was glorious on both sides both within and without the most Holy Place Josephus saith this Girdle was wrought with Flowers of the several Colours mentioned XXXIX 29. Ver. 40. And for Aarons sons thou shalt make Coats The Coats of all the Priests as well as of the High Priest were embroidered as Maimonides expresly affirms And it seems to be the sense of v. 4. where he is commanded to make Garments not only for Aaron but for his Sons i. e. all the rest of the Priests among which the broidered Coat may well be thought to belong to them See XXXIX 27. And thou shalt make for them girdles The Girdles of the inferiour Priests were the very same with that of the High Priest as well as their Tunicks or Coats being to bind their Coats to their Body And bonnets How these differed from the Mitre of the High Priest in their Form not in their Matter see v. 37. For glory and for beauty The Garments of all the Priests were contrived to make them appear in a splendid and comly manner when they ministred to the glorious Majesty of God being of sine Linen which was worn by the greatest Persons made with great Art especially their Coats and Girdles which were finely adorned as I have shown in the Verses foregoing with elegant Figures and rich Colours for blue or sky-colour purple and scarlet belonged to Kings and Persons of Honour But the Garments of the High Priest were above all the rest most glorious and design◠so to be v. 2. For besides those common to him with all the Priests which were very costly he had others far more precious particularly the Ephod and its Girdle the Breast-plate set with Stones of great value the Robe and the Crown of Gold The two Stones also on the shoulders of the Ephod were not only precious in their kind but for their bigness being so large that Twelve Names were engraven in them containing Six and thirty Letters All which considered Philo had reason to say L. de Sacerd. Hon. it is manifest the Law drest up their Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the venerableness and honour of a King For the Priesthood in old time was so honourable that Kings themselves discharged it which is the reason that in Scripture Princes and Priests have the same Name of Cohenim To all which I may add That they took such care all their Garments should be for glory and beauty that when they were foul they did not wash them nor repair them when they had any breach in them but new ones were bought and the old imployed about the Lamps in the Feast of Tabernacles See Mr. Selden L. III. de Synedr c. 11. p. 142. Ver. 41. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother and his sons with him As we read he did VIII Lev. 6 7 c. 13. and this was part of Aaron's Consecration v. 3. of this Chapter And shalt anoint them He anointed Aaron by pouring the holy Oyl upon his Head VIII Lev. 12. but he anointed his Sons only by sprinkling some of it upon their Garments as he did upon his also with the Blood of the Sacrifice XXIX 21. VIII Lev. 30. And consecrate them By the Sacrifice of a Ram called the Ram of Consecration the Blood of which he put upon the tip of their right ear c. XXIX 20. VIII Lev. 22 23 c. and by the Wave-offering which he put into their hands that they might wave them before the LORD XXIX 24. VIII Lev. 27. From whence the phrase for consecrate here in this place is in Hebrew fill their hand And sanctifie them By the foregoing Ceremonies For they were set apart to the Divine Service by putting on their Garments anointing them and offering the Sacrifice of Consecration and by washing them with Water as appears from VIII Lev. 6 7 12. where it is said he anointed Aaron to sanctifie him and v. 30. having sprinkled their Garments it is said he sanctified Aaron and his Garments and upon his Sons and upon his Sons Garments with him Ver. 42. And thou shalt make them linen breeches Though these are mentioned in the last place yet they were put on the first of all the Priests Garments after them the Coat which being girt about with the Girdle the Bonnet
Ib. c. 69. Make an atonement for the Altar By the Blood of the Bullock And sanctifie it By anointing it with the holy Oyl And it shall be an Altar most holy The reason why it is so called is given in the following words because it was not only thus separated to an holy use but made those things to be holy which were offered upon it Which they could not be till it was thus expiated and sanctified Therefore Fort. Scacchus expounds these words an Altar most holy it shall be fully and compleatly consecrated by observing all the Rites which are here prescribed for seven days together Till the end of which no Sacrifice whatsoever was offered on this Altar because it was not cleansed and sanctified to make them holy and acceptable but on the eighth day when all was performed that was required on the preceding seven days fire came down from Heaven and consumed the Burnt-offering VIII Lev. 1 24. Whatsoever toucheth the Altar shall be holy Nothing was acceptable unto God unless it was offered upon this Altar which sanctified every thing that was laid upon it according to God's direction Thus our Saviour seems to explain these words XXIII Matth. 19. The Altar sanctifieth the Gift That was the name for all things presented unto God which were called Korban being destined to be offered at his Altar Ver. 38. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the Altar The principal use of the Altar was That there might be a constant Sacrifice offered upon it in acknowledgment of God's Sovereign Dominion over them Which could not be done till it was expiated and consecrated but that being finished Moses directs here what should be the first Sacrifice offered upon it Two Lambs These were to be a Burnt-offering which was the most ancient of all other Sacrifices being the same that Abel offered Of the first year See XII 5. Day by day continually There were other occasional Sacrifices of various sorts but these were stated and so constant that they were never intermitted No not upon Festivals when other Sacrifices were added as upon the Sabbath this Sacrifice was doubled XXVIII Numb 9 10. and upon New-moons and other Feasts several other Sacrifices were appointed as may be seen there v. 11. and in the rest of that Chapter It appears by IX Lev. 17. that this daily Sacrifice was offered at least for some time in the Wilderness but after they began to wander to and fro for Eight and thirty years some think it was omitted Which was the reason that God renewed this Charge in XXVIII Numb 3 4. See Junius and Menochius on that place Ver. 39. The one Lamb thou shalt offer in the morning and the other thou shalt offer at even At what time in the Morning and Even is not here plainly prescribed But the word in the Hebrew for the latter-being between the Evenings which was about three a Clock in the Afternoon the Morning Sacrifice also was offered between the Rising of the Sun and Noon viz. at nine a Clock in the Forenoon Ver. 40. And with one Lamb a tenth deal of flour Most understand the tenth part of an Ephah which was an Omer concerning which see XVI 36. And so Moses afterward expresly orders by God's command XXVIII Numb 5. Mingled with the fourth part of an hin of Oyl c. An Hin was the sixth part of an Ephah containing one Wine Gallon two Pints and fifteen Inches as Bishop Cumberland computes it in his Learned Treatise of Scripture Measures So that the fourth part of it was a Quart and something more than a quarter of a Pint. The principal thing here to be observed is That this was ordained as I noted upon the XXVth Chapter to represent God's dwelling among them in the Sanctuary where this daily Sacrifice was the constant Provision made for his Table as the Altar is called and Bread and wine a necessary attendant as they are at all Tables upon the Meat that was set before him Ver. 41. And the other Lamb thou shalt offer at even and shalt do thereunto according to the Meat-offering in the Morning and according to the Drink-offering thereof The same Rites were to be observed in this that were in the Morning Sacrifice without any difference For as Abarbinel observes in his Preface to the Book of Leviticus the true Reason of these two Sacrifices was That all Men who live well having two Meals a day so many Sacrifices which were his Meat were therefore appointed for the Divine Majesty For a sweet savour See I Lev. 9. An offering made by fire unto the LORD i. e. A Burnt-offering as the next Verse explains it Ver. 42. This shall be a continual Burnt-offering throughout their Generations at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation For there the Altar of Burnt-offerings stood as we read XL. 6 29. XVII Lev. 6 c. Before the LORD Who dwelt in the most Holy Place in the upper end of the Tabernacle Where I will meet you Their coming to Worship in that place is called drawing nigh to God accordingly he promises to vouchsafe his gracious Presence with them See XXV 22. To speak with thee More especially he promises to meet Moses there upon occasion and to declare his Mind and Will to him in such Cases wherein he should consult him Ver. 43. And there I will meet with the Children of Israel That they might not think his meeting with them before-mentioned was only by revealing his Mind to Moses and so to them as the last words of the fore-going Verse might seem to intimate he explains his meaning to be that there he would grant Tokens of his special Love and Favour to them all when they approached unto him And the Tabernacle shall be sanctified with my glory The glorious Presence of God which filled this House XL. 35. was that which sanctified it or made it an Holy Place But some refer this not to the Tabernacle but to Israel which is just before mentioned and the word Tabernacle not in the Text and the truth is they were made an holy People also by this glorious Presence of God among them in the Tabernacle Ver. 44. And I will sanctifie c. That is manifest them to be sanctified or still more compleatly sanctifie them by the appearance of the Divine Glory in the Tabernacle IX Lev. 24. The Tabernacle of the Congregation In the Hebrew the name is Ohel moed which signifies exactly the Tabernacle of Meeting So called not from the Peoples meeting there as we seem to take it when we translate it Tabernacle of the Congregation but from God's meeting there with them which is mentioned just before and in the next Chapter XXX 36. is expresly called the Tabernacle of Meeting as I think it should be translated where I will meet with thee Which shows that this was the reason of its name See also XVII Numb 4. and Mr. Mede Book II. p. 436. Now all the People could
not read in the foregoing Chapters of any carved Work about the Tabernacle and therefore this word may better be rendred as it is in the beginning of the Verse cutting rather than carving Timber For it signifies in general doing all the Work of Carpenters and Joyners To work in all manner of Workmanship That was necessary for the making of every thing God had commanded Ver. 6. And I behold I have given with him Lest Moses should think one principal Contriver and Director not to be sufficient God joyns another with him Aholiab of the Tribe of Dan. It is observed by R. Bechai that God chose one out of the lowest Tribe for so they accounted that of Dan as well as one out of the chief which was Judah that Bezaleel saith he might not be lifted up with vain Conceit for great and small are equal before God And he truly observes that one of the same Tribe of Dan by the Mothers side was the most skilful Person that could be found for the Building of the Temple by Solomon 2 Chron. II. 14. And in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom That is God indued the Minds of all ingenious Persons among them with an extraordinary Skill which they never learnt either by their own study or any Master but had it by an inspiration from above There were several no doubt who had a natural Genius to such Arts as were necessary in this Work but they could not by their own Industry have attained such Skill as God bestowed on them at least not so soon as to go immediately about the building of the Tabernacle and all things belonging to it That they may make all that I have commanded thee Not to imitate the Egyptian Contrivances as some have fancied for which no such great Skill one would think was necessary but to make all exactly according to the Model which Moses had seen in the Mount and he described to them which could not have been done without God's extraordinary Assistance Ver. 7. The Tabernacle of the Congregation and the Ark of the Testimony c. These things are here mentioned according to the order of Nature which is first to build an House and then to provide its Furniture And it is observable that there was but one House or Tabernacle one Ark and one Altar either for Sacrifice or Incense to preserve in their Minds the belief of the Unity of God contrary to the Gentiles who had their Temples and Altars every where and each Family its domestick Gods and particular Superstitions Ver. 8. The pure Candlestick It is hard to tell why this is particularly called pure unless it be because it was intirely of pure Gold XXV 31. which the Table and Altar of Incense were not for they were only overlaid with pure Gold XXV 24. XXX 3. Some have thought that it is called pure because no Blood was ever sprinkled upon it as there was on the Altar of Incense but this is not a good reason for we do not find there was any sprinkled on the Table Ver. 9. The Altar of Burnt-offering c. Concerning this and the Laver he had received orders XXVII 1. XXX 17. Ver. 10. And the Clothes of Service Wherewith the Ark and the Table and the Candlestick and the golden Altar were covered IV Numb 6 7 9 11 c. when the Camp removed The holy Garments for Aaron c. Which are ordered Chap. XXVIII Ver. 11. And the anointing Oyl and sweet Incense c. These was ordered in the foregoing Chapter v. 23 34. Ver. 12. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying After he had delivered him all the foregoing Orders about the Tabernacle its Furniture and the Workmen to be imployed in making them he added what follows Ver. 13. Speak unto the Children of Israel saying Verily my Sabbaths shall ye keep This hath been mention'd thrice already see XVI 23. XX. 8. XXIII 12. but here seems to be repeated again upon this special occasion that they might not think this Sacred Work would warrant them to break the Sabbath On which he bids Moses tell them they must not do this Work no more than any other For the Tabernacle was built for the Service of God which was principally performed upon this day And he uses a word of the Plural Number not to signifie any other Sabbath but this which recurring so often as once in seven days he might well admonish them to keep his Sabbaths And so the Apostle plainly speaks II Coloss 16. For it is a sign between me and you This plainly shows he speaks of the weekly Sabbath the observation of which testified to all the World what God they worshipped as all Nations signified by their Rites and Ceremonies what their Gods were to whom their Services were paid Now the Israelites stood in a double relation to God as his Creatures and as those who were redeemed by him from the Egyptian Bondage In both which regards the Sabbath was a Sign or a Token between him and them For by observing one day in seven after six days labour they signified that they worshipped the Creator of the World who in six days made all things and then rested and by observing such a seventh day See XVI 5. after six days labour rather than any other they signified they owned him to be their Deliverer from Egyptian Slavery This is opened excellently by our Mr. Mede Discourse XV. p. 73 74. Throughout your Generations During this Polity which God now establishes among you That ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctifie you To be my peculiar People by observing this Solemnity For it was peculiarly enjoyned to them and to no other Nation and was looked upon as a singular Benefit conferred on them above all People as appears by the devout Acknowledgment Nehemiah makes of this among the rest of the Divine Favours to them That he made known unto them his holy Sabbath IX 14. and see XX Ezek. 11 12. Ver. 14. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore Since it is such a distinguishing Mark be the more careful to observe it For it is holy unto you This depends upon what was said in the Conclusion of the foregoing Verse that hereby they were sanctified or separated to God as a peculiar People and therefore in all reason should look upon this as an holy day Every one that desileth it shall surely be put to death If there were credible Witnesses of his Profanation For whosoever doth any work thereon This was to defile or profane it That Soul shall be cut off from amongst his People God seems to threaten that he himself would shorten his days if the Judges for want of Witnesses could not punish him So Eliah ben Moseh one of those whom the Jews call Karaites most excellently expounds this and all the rest of the Punishments threatned to the Violation of this Precept which Mr. Selden hath given us out of a MS. L. I. de
presently when I have noted that this Translation fashioned it with a graving Tool is not so agreeable to what here follows as another which the Hebrew words will as well bear After he had made it a molten Calf The words in the Hebrew are and he made it c. we translate them after c. to make this agree with what goes before according to our Translation he fashioned it with a graving Tool which may as litterally be translated he bound them up in a bag For we find the word jatzar which we here translate fashioned to have the signification also of binding or tying up and cheret in the Plural Number to signifie a bag 2 Kings V. 23. And thus the Prophet Isaiah as Bochart observes describes the making of Images XLVI 6. they lavish Gold out of the Bag and they make it a God Which agrees with what is here said of Aaron He received the Ear-rings and put them in a Bag and then having made a Mold cast them into it and made a golden Calf See v. 24. A molten Calf So he calls it because it was no bigger than a Calf though the Head was like an Ox and therefore as I observed before so called by the Psalmist What moved Aaron to represent God in this sigure is hard to resolve Most think he imitated the Egyptians among whom he had long lived which seems not to me at all likely since he had seen the Judgment that God executed against all their Gods XII 12. yet so great a Man as J. Gerh. Vossius hath taken a great deal of pains to prove that Joseph was adored by them under the Name of Apis and Serapis and that his Symbol was an Ox. This he hath laboured to support by many ingenious Conjectures But it is not likely if he were thus publickly honoured as a God that a King should arise who knew not Joseph i. e. had no regard to him I Exod. 8. and another succeed him who endeavoured to ruin all his Kindred The Worship of Serapis also was not so ancient for Herodotus saith not a word of it nor any Body else till the time of Alexander the Great and many Authors say it was brought into Egypt out of Pontus by Ptolomy See Bochartus in his Hierozoic P. I. p. 338. And though Apis was more ancient yet not of such antiquity as Moses as a very learned Person of our own Dr. Tenison now Archbishop of Canterbury hath shown in his Book of Idolatry Chap. VI. Part 4 5 c. And as for Osiris both Plutarch and Strabo say he was the same with Apis which was not then known as I have said in Egypt no more than Typhus or Typhon whom Philo thinks to be here intended but was certainly a later Invention and as Bochartus imagines represented Moses himself though very much disguised Cuperus indeed hath made it probable in his Harpocrates p. 83 c. that there was a Serapis worshipped in Egypt before that brought out of Pontus But whether it be so or no I do not take it to be at all material because it is not likely that Aaron would make such a Representation of the Divinity as was in use among them from whose Slavery God had lately deliver'd them For how could he think the LORD to whom he proclaimed a Feast would be pleased to be represented by any of those Idols on whom as I said before he had executed Judgment at their departure out of Egypt Or what reason is there to think the Israelites themselves could be inclined to think their God to be like any thing which that People worshipped who abhorred the Sacrifices which the God of Israel required Their Conjecture seems to me far more likely who think that Aaron in making this Calf took his pattern from some part of the SCHECHINAH which appeared to him and the Elders of Israel when they eat before God XXIV 10. attended with the Angels Some of which called Cherubim they think appeared with the faces of Oxen. But as there is no mention in that place of Cherubims nor of the Angels appearing in any shape whatsoever and Moses expresly saith the Israelites saw no manner of Similitude on the day when the LORD spake to them in Horeb IV Deut. 15. and therefore Aaron and the Elders in all probability saw none afterward so I think there is no evidence that the heavenly Ministers at any time appeared in this shape till the SCHECHINAH departed from the Temple in the days of Ezekiel See XXV 18 20. After all this considered Aaron seems to me to have chosen an Ox to be the Symbol of the Divine Presence in hope the People would never be so sottish as to worship it but only be put in mind by it of the Divine Power which was hereby represented For an Oxes head was anciently an Emblem of Strength and Horns a common sign of Kingly Power So they were among the Phoenicians as Pignorius observes in his Mensa Isiaca p. 15. out of Eusebius his Praepar Evang. L. I. cap. ult and among the Egyptians as Diodorus Siculus relates L. I. and among the Romans as appears by that famous story of Genucius Cipus in Val. Maximus L. V. c. 6. who when he was Praetor had Horns come out of his Head on a sudden as he was going out of the City to the Wars whereupon he was told Regem eum fore si in Vrbem revertisset That he should be a King if he returned into the City And something like it is related by Julius Capitolinus concerning Clodius Albinus at whose Birth a Cow brought forth a Calf with purple Horns which they lookt upon as signum Imperij a Token of Empire Which made the ancient Fathers perhaps when they spake of this Calf or Ox of Aarons mention only its Head For so doth Tertullian L. ad versus Judaeos c. 1. cum processisset eis bubulum caput and St. Cyprian Lactantius St. Hierom St. Ambrose and others Not because they thought Aaron made only the Head but because this was the principal part whereby God was represented And they said The People cried out aloud These be thy Gods O Israel Or as Nehemiah expresses it IX 18. This is thy God c. the Image or Symbol of the Divine Majesty or as Abulensis interprets it His Divine Vertue resideth in this golden Body The Plural Number is commonly used for the Singular especially when God is spoken of as I observed before XX Gen. 13. XXXV 7. 2 Sam. VII 23. Which brought thee up out of the Land of Egypt This shows they lookt upon this Ox only as a Representation of the Almighty LORD their God for it being but newly made they could not imagine they were brought by it from the Egyptian Slavery but by his Power which perhaps they fancied now resided in it Ver. 5. And when Aaron saw it he built an Altar before it As at the Peoples request he made it so he seeing them receive it with
gate throughout the Camp They were not to go into their Tents where they who were sensible of God's Displeasure it may be presumed were bemoaning their sin but to kill every one they met in the Street And slay every man his Brother and every man his Companion c. All the Israelites were Brethren and they are commanded to spare none they met withal because they were near Relations or Friends or next Neighbours Some may imagine this too hazerdous an Undertaking the Levites being but a very small number in comparison with the People of Israel But having God's warrant they were consident none would have the Courage to oppose them for Guilt makes Men timorous and the Levites also found them as Men used to be at the conclusion of a Festival weary with their Dancing and Sports Besides there are those who by their being naked v. 25. understand they were unarmed for Aaron had disarmed them to their shame by setting up the Calf for them to dance about which made them lay aside all thoughts of their Arms and so were more easily slain by the Levites Ver. 28. And the Children of Levi did according to the word of Moses Who being under God their chief Ruler passed this extraordinary Sentence upon the Offenders without the common Process in Courts of Judgment as Mr. Selden observes L. II. de Jure N. G. c. 2. in the end of it And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men The Vulgar hath twenty three thousand contrary to the LXX as well as the Hebrew Text and all the Eastern Versions except the Arabick printed at Rome in this Age and manifestly out of the Vulgar Latin as Mr. Selden hath observed in the same place and Bochart shows largely to be against all the ancient Translations and Writers Hieroz P. I. L. II. c. 34. p. 353. Where he notes also out of Philo these three thousand to have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the principal Ring-leaders of this Impiety In memory of these Disasters the Breaking of the Tables and this Slaughter the Jews keep a Fast every year on the XVIIth of Tamuz which by Jac. Capellus computation answers to the XVIth of our July Ver. 29. For Moses had said consecrate your selves to day to the LORD Or Moses said ye have consecrated your selves c. Which way soever we take it either as spoken before the Execution to encourage them to it or afterward to commend them for it the meaning is That this Act was as acceptable to God as a Sacrifice and had procured them the honour to wait upon him as his Ministers Every man upon his Son and upon his Brother This seems to signifie that some of the Tribe of Levi had also prevaricated to whom these pious Levites had no regard but killed them indifferently with the rest though they met with one of their own Children For which they are highly commended by Moses in his Blessing XXXIII Deut. 9. But it may signifie no more but that they went out with this sincere Resolution to spare none though never so dear to them That he may bestow upon you a blessing this day This Blessing was the Preferment of the Tribe of Levi to be God's Ministers in his House and to enjoy all the Tenth of the Land for an Inheritance XVIII Numb 21 24. Ver. 30. And it came to pass on the morrow Which was the XVIIIth day of Tamuz or our XVIIth of July That Moses said unto the people Whom he assembled together that he might make them sensible of their sin Ye have sinned a great sin He set their sin before them it is likely in all its aggravating Circumstances And now I will go up unto the LORD But he would not have them despair of recovering God's Favour though he could not absolutely assure them of it Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin That God might not inflict any further Punishment upon them Ver. 31. And Moses returned unto the LORD Not as yet to the place where he was before with the LORD for forty days but to some part of the Mount where he might put up his most fervent Prayers to God by which his Anger was turned away as well as by Sacrifices And said O this people have sinned a great sin He begins his Prayers with a Confession of their Guilt in a most pathetical manner And have made them gods of gold Contrary to the express repeated Command of God XX. 4 23. Ver. 32. Yet now Here follows his earnest and most affectionate Deprecation for them If thou wilt forgive their sin Be thou pleased or O that thou wouldest forgive them See Dr. Hammond upon XCV Psal not 6. Or if not blot me I pray thee out of thy Book which thou hast written Let me die rather than live to see the Evils that are coming on them if thou punish them as they deserve God hath no need of a Book wherein to Register and Record any of his purposes but the Scripture uses the Language of Men as the Jews speak who to this day retain this form of Speech in their Prayer wherewith they begin the New-year O our Father and our King write us in the Book of the best Life in the Book of Righteousness in the Book of Redemption They desire that is to be preserved that year in a happy condition free from sin from want and from danger See Theodorick Hackspan in his Annotations on this place Ver. 33. And the LORD said unto Moses Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my Book This was all the Answer Moses could obtain That they only should perish who had offended the Divine Majesty Which doth not deny them a Pardon if they ceased to offend him Ver. 34. Therefore now go Speak no more of this matter but return to the Camp Lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee Take the Conduct of the People upon thee to the Land which I promised to bestow on them This supposes God would not punish them as they deserved though by the words following it appears he abated something of his wonted kindness to them Behold mine Angel shall go before thee Not the Angel spoken of XXIII 20. but some lesser Minister in the Heavenly Court as appears from the next Chapter v. 2. where he saith only I will send an Angel before thee viz. in the Pillar of Cloud and Fire XIII 22. Nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them Upon the next occasion to punish other Offences I will further punish this Whence the saying of R. Isaac in the Gemara Sanhedrim c. 11. There hath no vengeance come upon the world in which there hath not been half an ounce of the first Calf To which R. Vschajah there hath respect in these words Till the days of Jeroboam the Israelites suckt but of one Calf but afterward of three That is their Punishment was
holy And therefore the seven days appointed for that purpose were ended before the Consecration of the Priests began which continued seven days more and then the next day was the Feast of unleavened Bread Which was famous on a double account first because it was the first day of unleavened Bread and then it was the Octaves of the Consecration And this appears more plainly from I Lev. 1. where we find the following Commands were given to Moses out of the Tabernacle by the Divine Majesty who therefore dwelt there when he commanded the Priests to be consecrated which he did not till the Tabernacle was solemnly consecrated to be his Habitation There the Priests also are commanded to abide during the seven days of their Consecration VIII Lev. 33. which shows that all things belonging to its Sanctification were finished before their Consecration began As to that which is alledged from VIII Lev. 10 11 c. I shall consider it there Ver. 19. And he spread abroad the Tent over the Tabernacle The Ohel which we translate Tent sometimes signifies the whole House of God See v. 19. but here only the external part of it which covered that which was properly called Mischchan the Tabernacle Which Moses having erected with all its Sockets Boards Bars and Pillars v. 18. and hung it we must suppose with the inward Hangings which were the richest he spread abroad over them the Curtains of Goats-hair called the Tent XXVI 11. to be a covering over the Tabernacle XXVI 7. XXXVI 14 19. So the Tabernacle was an House within an House inclosed with strong Walls as we call them to secure it from the injury of the Weather And put the covering of the Tent upon it Mentioned in XXVI 14. Ver. 20. And he took and put the Testimony into the Ark. The two Tables of Stone as he had been commanded XXV 16. which he mentions again in the repetition of the Law X Deut. 5. Hence the Ark is called the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony in the next Verse and v. 3. of this Chapter Ver. 21. And he brought the Ark into the Tabernacle It is probable that he had placed the Ark after it was made in his own Tent which for the present was called the Tabernacle of the Congregation and had the Glory of the LORD in it XXXIII 7 9. but now he brought it into this Tabernacle which by God's order was prepared for it And set up the Vail of the Covering c. See v. 3. Ver. 22. And he put the Table in the Tent of the Congregation Here the whole House is called the Ohel or Tent as I observed upon Verse 19. But immediately the word Mischchan which we translate Tabernacle is used as the most proper expression for the inside of the House as the other most properly denotes the outside of it All is made more clear in the 34th Verse where we read that the Cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation that is the outside of the House and the Glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle within Though afterward v. 38. the Cloud is said to be upon the Tabernacle as v. 36. it is said to be over the Tabernacle because it was over the Tent which covered it Ver. 25. And he lighted the Lamps before the LORD c. In this and all that follows of burning sweet Incense v. 27. offering the Burnt-offering and Meat-offering v. 29. Moses acted as a Priest appointed by an extraordinary Commission from God only for this time that he might Consecrate the House of God and the Priests that were to minister therein which being done his Priesthood ceased And he did all that is mentioned in these Verses when the Tabernacle was Consecrated and the Glory of the LORD had filled it testifying the Divine Presence to be there Ver. 31. And Moses and Aaron and his Sons washed their hands c. This shows that Moses acted now as a Priest and therefore washed himself before he went to Sacrifice at the Altar as the Priest afterwards were always bound to do XXX 19 20 21. But it must be understood that neither this washing here spoken of nor his offering Sacrifice mentioned v. 29. was till some days after this See v. 17. Ver. 33. So Moses finished the work And then anointed the Tabernacle and all contained in it according to God's order v. 9 10 11. the execution of which though now not here mentioned in so many words is expresly said to be on the same day that he had compleatly set up the Tabernacle VII Numb 1. Ver. 34. Then a Cloud or then the Cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation After it was anointed and sanctified for the Divine Residence and the Princes perhaps had also finished that large Offering which we read VII Numb was made on this day God was pleased to fill this place with his glorious Presence For the cloudy Pillar which descended upon Moses his Tent and stood there before the door of it XXXIII 9. removed now from thence and came hither not standing at the door of it in the form of a Pillar but spreading it self all over the outside of the Tabernacle so that it was covered with it as we read also IX Numb 15. And the Glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle See v. 22. What God promised XXV 8 22. he now performed notwithstanding their Revolt from him by worshipping the Golden Calf Which made him withdraw himself from them XXXIII 7 c. till upon Moses's earnest Intercession for them and their Repentance he graciously consented to return to them and abide among them v. 14 15 c. As now he did by setling his glorious Presence in this Tabernacle which was set up in the midst of them For whereas the other Tabernacle of Moses was removed a Mile or two from their Camp XXXIII 7. this Tabernacle was pitched a month after this I Numb 1. in the midst of their Camps as we read II Numb 2 17. Ver. 35. And Moses was not able to enter into the Tent of the Congregation For the Glory of the LORD shone so bright and so strong beyond all that it had ever done that no Eye could look upon it And it filled not only the most holy Place but the whole Body of the Tabernacle so that he durst not adventure to come within it tell he was called I Lev. 1. After which time he seems to have had liberty to go in unto God when he pleased VII Numb 89. IX 8 9. For after this great day the Glory of the LORD retired into the most holy Place within the Vail and resided constantly there over the Ark of the Testimony from whence he spake to Moses when he came to consult him in the holy Place See the fore-mentioned VII Numb 89. Whence he is said to dwell between the Cherubims though on some occasion this Glory appeared without upon the Tabernacle but over the Ark it is likely XVI Numb 42. And so perhaps it did XI
17 25. and sometimes at the door of the Tabernacle XXXI Deut. 14 15. Because the Cloud abode thereon and the Glory of the LORD filled the House The Cloud and the Glory of the LORD were not two different things but one and the same as the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire were For outwardly it was a Cloud and inwardly a Fire and accordingly here the External part of it covered the Tabernacle without while the Internal part shone in full Glory within the House Thus it was upon Mount Sinai where Moses is said to draw near to the thick Darkness where God was XX. 21. That is the Glory of the LORD was in that thick Darkness And so we read before that the Glory of the LORD appeared in the Cloud XVI 10. And so those words are to be interpreted XXIV 16. The Glory of the LORD abode upon Mount Sinai and the Cloud covered it that is covered the Glory of the LORD not the Mount six days After which on the seventh day the Glory of the LORD broke through it and appeared like devouring fire in the sight of all the People v. 17. Ver. 36. And when the Cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle the Children of Israel went onward in their journeys That is the LORD whose glorious Presence was in this Cloud led and conducted them in all their Removals And therefore they are said to have journeyed at the commandment of the LORD because when the Cloud wherein the LORD was was taken up then they journeyed IX Numb 17 18 20 23. Ver. 37. But if the Cloud were not taken up then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up They were wholly governed by its motions and followed its directions Ver. 38. For the Cloud of the LORD So it is called also in X Numb 34. because the Glory of the LORD was in it Was upon the Tabernacle by day And so it was by Night but then had another appearance as it here follows And fire was on it by night The Fire and the Cloud as I said v. 35. were not different things but the same Pillar which was dark by day when there was no need of light shone like fire by night when the dark part of it could not be seen to lead and conduct them It appeared therefore like a Cloud by day and turned the light side to them which was bright as fire by night that they might march if there were occasion by its direction both day and night And thus it is described XIII 21 22. IX Numb 15 16 c. And so this Verse may be translated The Cloud of the LORD was upon the Tabernacle by day and the Fire was bo in it i.e. in the Cloud by night For so they are elsewhere described as one within the other V Deut. 22. The LORD spake unto all your Assembly out of the midst of the fire of the Cloud and of the thick Darkness In the sight of all the Children of Israel throughout all their journeys The whole Congregation had constantly this comfortable Token of God's Presence among them by the Cloud in the day time and Fire in the night which never left them all the time they were in the Wilderness but brought them to Canaan The End of the Book of EXODUS ERRATA PAge 3. line 1. read See Gen. L. 26. l. 27. dele now before more p. 5. l. 24. r. Aben-Ezra p. 12. l. 6. r. the Hebrews p. 27. l. 12. r. Schalschalah p. 31. l. 5. r. he called his Son p. 41. l. 31. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 51. ult r. his words p. 56. l. 1. for exciting r. exerting p. 62. l. 19. r. because he came with an unusual p. 68. l. 20. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 70. l. 10. r. all this converse l. 19. r. Temara p. 71. l. 9. r. though not very far p. 73. l. 11. r. kashah p. 75. l. 17. r. such knives p. 80. l. 22. r. should not go alone p. 81. l. 13. r. Schalshalah Hakkabalah p. 86. l. 17. r. Taskmasters p. 114. l. 14. r. Gaulmyn p. 136. l. 12. r. Quastiones Alnetanae p. 138. l. 23. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 139. l. 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 141. l. 23. for Aretius r. Huetius l. 25. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 143. l. 17. r. as the Jews did long p. 153. l. 20 31. r. Schechin p. 163. l. 22. r. as the Wheat and the Rye 23. r. Trees were not broken p. 193. l. 1. r. expresly p. 197. l. 4. r. Elaeochrisin p. 220. l. 22. r. without the profession p. 242. l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 249. l. penult r. so long p. 250. l. 28. r. the next verse p. 251. l. 12. r. to protect them p. 256. l. 29. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 262. l. 4. r. tells this story p. 268. l. 13. r. compact p. 278. l. 25. r. distress p. 285. l. 12. r. when we sat p. 294. l. 10. r. who therefore tells them p. 309. l. 24. r. some other Stations p. 324. l. 17. r. German Jews p. 345. l. 6. r. of our minds p. 351 l. 21. r. phrase imports p. 366. l. ult r. and not in any p. 370. l. 18. r. they are the words p. 376. l. 16. r. backward p. 377. l. antepenult r. Gem. Bab. p. 380. l. 25. r. therefore ought not p. 427. l. 15. r. opprobrious p. 443. l. 31. r. where he pleases p. 449. l. 14. r. eat and drink p. 460. l. 3. r. to be true p. 462. l. 9. r. here p. 464. l. 26. r. having owned him p. 466. l. 31. r. he speaks p. 487. l. 3. r. when they were p. 488. l. 13. r. the ten words p. 501. l. 24. r. so in the six p. 511. l. 15. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 513. l. 33. r. set it up p. 520 l. 19. r. make for it p. 545. l. 31. r. Jaspis p. 559. l. 2. r. letters deep p. 567. l. 1. r. and his sons his sons garments p. 572. l. 24. r. which went round p. 573. l. ult r. the Jews say p. 580. l. 18. r. in the first p. 585. l. 30. r. that he might p. 586. l. 11. r. at his entrance p. 608. l. 19. r. Periegetes p. 609. l. 15. r. unto thee p. 614. l. 9. r. take to the Rosamim l. 11. r. take to thee p. 617. l. 6. r. contented themselves p. 623. l. 13. r. were ordered p. 631. l. 8. r. rebuking them p. 640. l. 11. r. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 642. l. 30. r. make thee Prince p. 666. l. 18. r. v. 20. p. 674. l. 25. r. till men p. 677. l. 16. r. thine inheritance p. 679. l. 17. r. ad praelium ferunt p. 683. l. 20. r. fear oct of their p. 714. l. 9. r. Author of Sepher l. 26. r. in the latter end it is probable p. 721. l. 7. r. as the Priess Books Written by SYMON PATRICK D. D. now Lord Bishop of ELY and Printed for Richard Chiswell THE Parable of the Pilgrim written to a Friend The 6 Edition 4to 1681. Mensa Mystica Or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper In which the Ends of its Institution are so manifested our Addresses to it so directed our Behaviour there and afterward so composed that we may not lose the Profits which are to be received by it With Prayers and Thanksgivings inserted To which is annexed Aqua Genitalis A Discourse concerning Baptism In which is inserted a Discourse to persuade to a confirmation of the Baptismal Vow 8vo Jewish Hypocrisie A Caveat to the present Generation Wherein is shewn both the false and the true way to a Nations or Persons compleat Happiness from the sickness and recovery of the Jewish State To which is added a discourse upon Micah 6. 8. belonging to the same matter 8vo Divine Arithmatick A Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. Samuel Jacomb Minister of St. Mary-Woolnoth-Church in Lombard-street London With an Account of his Life 8vo A Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mr. Tho. Grigg Rector of St. Andrew-Vndershaft London 4to An Exposition of the Ten Commandments 8vo Heart's Ease Or a Remedy against all Troubles With a Consolatory Discourse particularly directed to those who have lost their Friends and Rekitions To which is added Two Papers printed in the time of the late Plague The sixth Edition corrected 12mo 1695. The Pillar and Ground of Truth A Treatise shewing that the Roman Church falsly claims to be That Church and the Pillar of That Truth mentioned by St. Paul in 1 Tim. 3. 15. 4to An Examination of Bellarmin's Second Note of the Church viz. A NTIQVITY 4to An Examination of the Texts which Papists cite out of the Bible to prove the Supremacy of St. Peter and of the Pope over the whole Church In Two Parts 4to A private Prayer to be used in difficult times A Thanksgiving for our late wonderful Deliverance A Prayer for Charity Peace and Unity chiefly to be used in Lent A Sermon preached upon St. Peter's Day printed with Enlargements 4to A Sermon preached in St. James's Chappel before the Prince of Orange Jan. 20. 1688. on Isaiah 11. 6. A Second Part of the Sermon before the Prince of Orange on the same Text. Preached in Covent-Garden A Sermon preached before the Queen in March 1688 9. on Colos 3. 15. A Sermon against Murmuring preached at Covent-Garden in Lent 1688 9. on 1 Cor. 10. 10. A Sermon against Censuring preached at Covent-Garden in Advent 1688. on 1 Cor. 4. 10. Fast-Sermon before the King and Queen Apr. 16. 1690. on Prov. 14. 34. A Thanksgiving-Sermon before the Lords Nov. 26. 1691. for reducing of Ireland and the King 's safe Return On Deut. 4. 9. A Fast-Sermon before the Queen Apr. 8. 1692. On Numb 10. 9. Sermon before the Lord Mayor at St. Brides Church on Easter-Munday 1696 on 2 Tim. 2. 8. A Commentary on the First Book of Moses called Geneses 4to 1695. A Commentary on the Second Book of Moses called Exodus 4to 1697. A Sermon before the Lords Nov. 5. 1696. on Dan. 4. 35.
twice as great for they made two Calves though they had seen the terrible Punishment which came upon their Forefathers from making one Ver. 35. And the LORD plagued the people With the Pestilence as some imagine though it be not mentioned in Scripture Or he means all the Evils that afterward consumed them in the Wilderness But there are those who understand this of the slaughter made by the Levites which he briefly repeats as the manner sometimes is in these Writings as a Conclusion to this History of the Golden Calf Because they made the Calf which Aaron made Provoked him to make CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1. AND the LORD said unto Moses depart and go up hence thou and thy people c. This is a renewal of the Order he had already given XXXII 34. which he further explains by expresly assuring him he would make good his Promise to their Fore-fathers of which Moses had remembred him XXXII 13. But they were not by this ordered presently to remove till Moses had been again in the Mount and the Tabernacle was set up and all the Service of it prescribed And I will send an Angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the Amorite c. I will not wholly withdraw my Protection from you as he had for the present XXXII 25. but send one of my Ministers to discomsit your Enemies till you get possession of their Land Ver. 3. For I will not go up in the midst of thee For though I intended to have dwelt among you my self by my special Presence which was in the SCHECHINAH XXV 8. XXIX 43 45 46. you have justly forfeited that favour The Chaldee gives the true sense of this Speech I will not make my Majesty so the SCHECHINAH or Divine Glory was called to go up in the midst of thee And accordingly it follows v. 7 8 9. that he did remove to a distance from them Concerning that Phrase in the midst of thee See XVII 7. For thou art a stiff-necked people See XXXII 9. Lest I consume thee in the way It is not fit for me to see my self affronted to my face by stiff-necked Offenders and not punish them with utter destruction This is an Argument that the Angel he saith he would send before them was not God himself as the Eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is for then he would have had the same reason to consume them for their Disobedience Ver. 4. And when the people heard these evil tidings This threatning of such a grievous Punishment They mourned Fasted perhaps and wept and hung down their Heads with shame and sorrow And no man did put on him his ornaments But every one laid aside his usual Attire and appeared in the Habit of Penitents which in after times was Sackcloth Ver. 5. For the LORD had said unto Moses say unto the Children of Israel ye are a stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee This Verse gives a reason of their Mourning because Moses had by God's order said to them what God said to him That they were such a perverse People it was not safe for them that he should stay among them and be provoked by their Transgressions suddenly to destroy them Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee These words show that he had not peremptorily resolved to forsake them as he threatned v. 3. but might be moved by their Repentance to continue with them And therefore he orders them to put themselves in a mourning Habit in token of their hearty sorrow for their sin That I may know what to do unto thee Deal with you according as I find you disposed See XXII Gen. 12. Ver. 6. And the Children of Israel stript themselves of their ornaments Not only of those wherewith they had decked themselves at their late Festival but of all other that they ordinarily wore which they who were not dressed forbore to put on v. 4. By the Mount Horeb. Or rather as the Hebrew word mehar imports from the Mount that is a great way off from the place where God appeared as unworthy to come into his Presence Ver. 7. And Moses took the Tabernacle His own Tent as the LXX interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning I suppose not his own private Tent where he and his Family lived but a publick Tent where he gave Audience and heard Causes and enquired of God which Bonaventura C. Bertramus calls Castrorum Praetorium in his Book de Repub. Jud. c. 4. For such a place we cannot but think there was before that Tabernacle was erected whose pattern he saw in the Mount where all great Affairs were transacted and where Religious Offices in all probability were performed And pitched it without the Camp afar off from the Camp At the distance of Two thousand Cubits as R. Solomon interprets it Which was done to humble them when they saw the Displeasure of God and of his Servant against them declared by this Departure far from them For they might justly fear he would remove quite out of their sight And called it the Tabernacle of the Congregation Gave it the same name which was afterward appropriated to the Tabernacle built for Divine Service alone Because here God met with Moses and communicated his Mind to him and hither they were all to resort who had any business with Moses or would receive an Answer to their Enquiries from God And it came to pass that every one which sought the LORD went out unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation which was without the Camp This is commonly understood of those who came to desire Resolution in any Case of Dissiculty which they could not have as formerly within the Camp but were forced to go and seek it without Which as it showed God's Displeasure so withal gave them some hope of Mercy because it plainly appeared God was not quite alienated and estranged from them Ver. 8. When Moses went into the Tabernacle all the people rose up and stood every man at his Tent door In reverence to him as their Leader whom they had lately despised Or it may be thought also a posture wherein they implored his Intercession for them that God would be pleased graciously to return to them Which is expressed by what follows And looked after Moses Expecting what would be the end of this Business both God and his Minister being removed from them Vntil he was gone into the Tabernacle As long as they could see him Ver. 9. And it came to pass as Moses went into the Tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended In which the SCHECHINAH or Divine Majesty was XL. 35. which was gone up before because of their Idolatry whereby the Camp was become unclean but now came down again upon the removal of the Tabernacle Where it is very probable it used to be setled as the Token of the Divine Presence among them and afterward was translated to the Tabernacle made after God's appointment where