two preceding verses I shall not here examine It is sufficient to note that Onkelos hath expressed the Hebrew Text word for word and the LXX do not depart from the sence of it Verse 10 Ver. 10. Even as the LORD commanded Moses so did the Daughters of Zelophehad Accordingly they followed this direction when they came into the Land of Canaan and had received their Portion there Now there being no such words added here as there are in other Cases this shall be unto the Children of Israel a Statute of Judgment XXVII 11. much less a Statute of Judgment throughout your Generations XXXV 29. it led I conjecture the Talmudick Doctors into the fore-mentioned Opinion that this Law concerned only the present Generation Ver. 11. For Mahlah Tizzah and Hoglah and Verse 11 Milkah and Noah the Daughters of Zelophehad Thus they are called both in XXVI 33. XXVII 1. though they are not there mentioned in the same order for Tirzah is there named last who here is named in the second place Perhaps they are set down here in the order wherein they were disposed in Marriage and Tirzah who was the younger was married in the second place Were married unto their Fathers Brothers Sons For Hepher no doubt had other Sons besides Zelophehad who had Issue-male though Zelophehad had not What their Names were or how many of them we do not know but some suppose them to have been six one of which died in the Wilderness without Issue See Selden de Successionibus cap. 23. where he discourses at large of the Portion which fell to them in the Land of Canaan Ver. 12. And they were married into the Families Verse 12 c. In the Margin more exactly out of the Hebrew to some that were of the Families i. e. to one of the Families of Manasseh from whom several Families descended XXVI 29 c. And their Inheritance remained in the Tribe of the Family of their Father The word for Tribe signifies sometimes merely a Family in a Tribe And so the LXX as Grotius observes in the place before-named in this very business uses sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former of which signifies a part of a whole Tribe And thus Josephus also uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie a Family Mr. Selden hath the same Observation in his Book de Successionibus cap. 18. that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it signifies not a Tribe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 familiam cognationem seu genus sanguine proximum a Family a Kindred or those that are next in Blood But there is no need of these Observations if the words be translated as they may rightly and their Inheritance remained in the Tribe and the Family of their Father See v. 6. Verse 13 Ver. 13. These are the Commandments and the Judgments which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to the Children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho He began to deliver the Precepts here intended at the XXVIth Chapter See v. 3. and continues them to this place By Commandments seem to be meant the Precepts about the Worship of God Chapt. XXVIII XXIX XXX and by Judgments the Civil Laws about dividing their Inheritances and regulating their Descent to their Posterity and establishing Cities of Refuge for Man-slayers which are expresly called a Statute of Judgment XXVII 11. XXXV 29. Some other things are interspersed as God's Commandment to number the People which was in order to the assigning them their Inheritances proportionable to their Families to execute Judgment on the Midianites and to set down in Writing their Travels in the Wilderness of which I have given an account in their proper places FINIS By reason of the Distance of the Author these ERRATA have hapned which the Reader is desired to Correct Page 5. Line 7. read are reckoned Page 73. Line 29. r. See Levit. II. 15. Page 74. Line 22. r. were signs Page 82. Line 12. r. Rabboth Page 96. Line 4. r. aquatiles Line ult r. so that they might not Page 107. Line 13. r. other shoulder Page 110. Line 2. r. Chaskuni Page 123. Line 31. r. XL. Exod. Page 140. Line 30. r. may teach Page 152. Line 5. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 158. Line 31. r. Acropolis Page 163. Line 10. r. Choten Page 166. Line 31. r. the following story Page 167. Line 3. r. Rise up Page 171. Line 22. r. it is likely Page 190. Line 12. r. Setting forth the Praises Line 20. r. such credit Page 191. Line penult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 195. Line 21. r. whose Presence Page 198. Line 1. r. kadim Page 201. Line 11. r. but besides that there is Line 12. r. and it is Page 210. Line 28. r. as were never bred Page 216. Line 18. r. not deigning to stay Page 221. Line 21. after July begin a new line Page 227. Line 2. r. Torquatus Page 228. Line 3 4. r. a stony place Page 241. Line 1. dele and that Page 251. Line 7. r. Bitter Line 31. r. Spirit with him Page 282. Line 1. r. The Man shall be Page 284. Line 31. r. And the Garment the Jews say in the Selvedge c. Page 284. Line 33. r. Talith Page 316. Line 19. r. it being broke out Page 332. Line 3. r. where as Page 333. Line 21. r. within the veil Page 335. Line 11. r. Zeback Page 358. Line 7. r. more fit to treat Page 367. Line 7. r. as we may call it Page 387. Line 26. r. Successors of Esau Page 402. Line 19. r. by way of apposition Page 404. Line 24. r. the words are Page 406. Line 30. r. Bootius Page 420. Line 6. r. from Arnon Page 426. Line 1. r. whence Hesychius Line 22. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 433. Line 18. r. Kosem Page 446. Line 9. r. proffer'd him Page 468. Line 9. r. per juga Page 469. Line 7. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 470. Line 15. r. Sepher Cosri Page 482. Line 2. r. Dei nutu Page 501. Line 4. r. Baal-Peor Line 26. r. were called Baalim Page 519. Line 30. r. are reckoned Page 523. Line 14. r. Zelophehad Page 532. Line penult r. who was born Page 539. Line 21. r. being but reason Page 555. Line ult r. pouring out upon Page 556. Line 4. r. Heliogabalus Page 564. Line 18. r. and so doth Page 598. Line 19. r. and what I have Page 618. Line 22. r. Jogbehah Page 634. Line 22. r. to have been places Page 635. Line 9. r. anciently called Abel-shittim Page 673. Line 14. r. XXXI XXXII 2. 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 Sixth Edit 4 to 1681. Mensa Mystica Or a Discourse concerning the Sacrament of the Lords Supper In which
First-born of the Children of Israel for whom they were to be exchanged v. 40.42 Were twenty and two thousand If the particular Sums before-mentioned v. 22 28 34. be put together they amount to three hundred more than twenty two thousand Therefore it is a reasonable Conjecture that the three hundred are omitted in this account because they were the first-born of the Levites themselves and upon that score belonging to God already by the Law in XIII Exod. 2. XXXIV 20. could not be exchanged for the first-born of other Tribes and substituted in their stead as other Levites were It is very observable here also that the Levites were the fewest in number of any Tribe being but Two and twenty thousand three hundred from a Month old and upward when some Tribes were twice nay thrice as many See I. 27. not reckoning Children but only Men from twenty years old and upward In which the Divine Providence was very conspicuous Which so ordered it that this whole Tribe might be dedicated to him Whereas if it had grown proportionably to the rest there would have been more Levites by far than the first-born of all the Tribes Verse 40 Ver. 40. And the LORD said unto Moses To whom alone this Command is directed as I observed above Number all the first-born of the Males of the Children of Israel from a month old and upward The first-born Males were to be a Month old before their Parents were bound to redeem them If they died before they were not to pay any thing for them Which depends upon another Law XII Lev. 4.6 Where if a Woman brought forth a Male besides the seven days of her Separation she was to stay three and thirty days more before she went unto the Sanctuary At which time the Child being to be presented to God it appears that he acknowledged them for his when they were a Month old Yet they distinguish between the time when the Redemption-Money was due and when it was offered This latter was deferred till the Mother was abroad again but it was due and the Father obliged to pay it as soon as the Child was a Month old So Const L'Empereur observes out of Maimonides upon Bava kama cap. VII Sect. 6. And take the number of their Names That their number and that of the Levites might be compared one with the other for the reason which here follows Ver. 41. And thou shalt take the Levites for me I Verse 41 am the LORD instead of all the First-born among the Children of Israel God had taken them before as we read v. 12. by declaring his Will to Moses about it And now he commands Moses to declare his Will to the People and actually to make this exchange after he had taken the Number both of the First-born and of the Levites For he had Authority to take which he pleased being their LORD And the Cattel of the Levites instead of all the Firstlings among the Cattel of the Children of Israel Not that they should be sacrificed or taken from the Levites but that they should be accounted God's Cattel they being the Cattel of the Levites who were his entirely And therefore were presented unto him as the Levites were but still continued in their possession by his Allowance for their Encouragement in his Service See v. 45. Ver. 42. And Moses numbred as the LORD commanded Verse 42 him all the First-born of the Children of Israel But we do not find that he numbred the Firstlings of their Cattel or the Cattel of the Levites because the exchange of them was not made in particular by substituting one for one but generally by substituting all the Cattel of the Levites instead of all the Firstlings of the Israelites Cattel Ver. 43. And all the first-born Males by the number Verse 43 of Names c. and were Twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen It may appear something strange that from above Six hundred thousand Men reckoning from twenty years old and upward I. 46. there should not be more than this number of first-born Sons till it be considered that thus many were born since the Slaughter of the Egyptian First-born which was not much above a year ago after which time all the First-born of Israel became God's but not those that were born before For so the Law is XIII Exod. 2. Whatsoever openeth the Womb i. e. hereafter both of Man and Beast shall be mine Verse 44 Ver. 44. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying Still he is the Person solely employed in this business Verse 45 Ver. 45. Take the Levites instead of all the First-born among the Children of Israel and the Cattel of the Levites instead of their Cattel Having numbred both the Levites and the First-born now he bids him take those Two and twenty thousand Levites instead of so many First-born As for the Cattel they were not numbred as I observed before but exchanged in the lump as we speak And the Levites shall be mine I think it is remarkable that he doth not add and their Cattel shall be mine also For he did not take their Cattel from them when they became his but left them the use of them who still enjoyed them in his Right I am the LORD This exchange is made by my Authority who am the LORD both of them and all they have Ver. 46. And for those that are to be redeemed of the Verse 46 two hundred and threescore and thirteen c. There being Two hundred threescore and thirteen First-born more than there were Levites they are directed in the next Verse what to do about them For there could be no exchange of Levites for them because there was not a sufficient number to be taken in their stead Ver. 47. Thou shalt even take five Shekels apiece by Verse 47 the pole This was the Price of Redemption ever after as appears from XVIII 16. For it had been lately constituted the value of a Man-child from a Month to five years old in XXVII Levit. 6. After the Shekel of the Sanctuary c. See XXX Exod. 13 c. The only difficulty in this matter was to determine which of the First-born should be redeemed by paying this Money and which should be exchanged for the Levites For every one of the Israelites no doubt was desirous rather to have his First-born redeemed by a Levite than by paying five Shekels and yet some of them must be put to this expence there not being Levites enough to answer for them all The Jews think particularly R. Solomon that there was no way to satisfie this doubt like that by drawing of lots Which was done in this manner Moses saith the fore-named Doctor took Two and twenty thousand Scrolls of Parchment and wrote in them these words a Son of Levi and Two hundred and seventy and three more wherein he wrote five Shekels and then putting them all together in an Urn and shaking it to mingle them he commanded every
observes Lib. II. de Jure Belli Pacis cap. 20. sect 9. and see Selden de Jure Nat. Gent. Lib. IV. cap. 4. But this Judgment as they call it seems not to be well grounded upon the Fact of Phineas who was a publick Person and had an extraordinary motion not to be imitated by private Men nor was it followed till the latter times of the state of that Nation Through her belly The Vulgar hath it through her Secret Parts And so the Jews in Pirke Eliezer c. 47. and in other Books such as Pesikta and Siphri where they make many Miracles to have concurred in this Fact particularly they say that the Relations of Zimri going to fall upon Phineas for killing their Prince the Angel of the LORD smote them and cut them off So the Plague was stayed from the Children of Israel It seems a Pestilential Disease as Josephus calls it swept away many of the Offenders who could not so speedily be punished by the Judges But it stopt immediately upon this pious Act of Phineas Verse 9 Ver. 9. And those that died of the Plague were Twenty and four thousand There were but Twenty and three thousand who died of the Plague it self as the Apostle tells us 1 Cor. X. 8. but there were a thousand more taken off in the Plague time or during the Plague as the Hebrew words may be read For in the Twenty and four thousand Moses comprehends all those who were killed by the Sword in the day of the Plague as the Phrase is v. 18. whereas St. Paul reckons those only who died of the Pestilence as many have observed particularly Bochartus Lib. II. Hieroz cap. 34. P. I. It is probable that from hence it was that the Author of the Samaritan Chronicle took up a Conceit that the King of Moab sent Twenty four thousand Damsels to Seduce the Israelites as Hottinger reports his words in his Smegma Orientale cap. 8. p. 448. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And the LORD spake unto Moses saying After the Plague was stayed it is likely Moses went into the Tabernacle to give God thanks for his Mercy to his People and then he spake to him what here follows Verse 11 Ver. 11. Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the Priest hath turned my Wrath away from the Children of Israel Though they wept and mourned before the Door of the Tabernacle yet that did not prevail so much for Mercy as this Heroick Act of Justice While he was zealous for my sake among them With a fervent and courageous Affection vindicated the Divine Honour by a speedy punishment of those notorious Offenders That I consumed not the Children of Israel in my Jealousie Did not proceed to destroy them by the Pestilence when I was so highly incensed against them For it is observed by Herodotus himself in his Euterpe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for great Crimes there are as great Punishments sent from God which is necessary for the Publick Good For unless by such means a stop be put to open Impurities to Murders and such like Crimes not only all Civil Society will be overturned but Nations become so wicked that they will be fit for nothing but to be rooted out by the Divine Vengeance as the Canaanites were Thus Cicero discourses Philip. VIII In Corpore si quid ejusmodi est quod reliquo corpori noceat c. In the Body if there be any thing which hurts the rest of the Body it is necessary to cut it off or to burn it that some one Member rather than the whole Body perish And so it is in the Body of the Commonwealth Vt totum salvum sit quicquid est pestiferum amputetur that the whole may be preserved let that which is infectious be lopped off Ver. 12. Wherefore say Unto Phineas or unto Verse 12 all the People Behold I give thee my Covenant of Peace The word Peace in Scripture comprehends all manner of Blessings and therefore this is a solemn Promise and Engagement to make him and his Family prosperous the particular Blessing which he entails upon him following in the next verse But some will have this to signifie that he should be the great Reconciler of God to his People and make Peace between them hereafter as he had done at present Philo seems to think this and the Priesthood to be two distinct things when he saith God crowned his Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with two Gifts Peace and the Priesthood And the Jews make Peace to consist in a long Life of Prosperity which was fulfilled in Phineas his Person who lived till the latter times of the Judges XXI Judg. 28. Pirke Elieser interprets it he gave him the life of this World and of the next Verse 13 Ver. 13. And he shall have it and his Seed after him It shall continue in his Family Even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood This is the particular Happiness which God settled upon him and his Posterity as long as their State lasted Which was with some limitation it appears by this that after some Successions in the Line of Phineas the Priesthood came for a time into the Family of Eli who was descended from Ithamar the youngest Son of Aaron The reason of it is not mentioned in the Scripture but some great Sin it is reasonable to suppose provoked God to set aside the Line of Eleazar for some years till Eli's Sons also became so wicked that the Priesthood was taken from them and restored in the days of Solomon to the Posterity of Phineas with whom it continued as long as the Priesthood lasted What Sin this was and when committed we do not know Some of the Hebrew Doctors are so bold as to say it was because Phineas would not absolve Jephthah from his Vow as Mr. Selden observes Lib. I. de Success in Pontif. cap. 2. But as there is no ground for this and such like fancies which others of them have so it is more probable that some of Phineas's Successors offended rather than he himself his Posterity for four Generations holding the Priesthood before it was translated to Eli as Josephus and others mentioned by Selden in the place before-named make account Aegidius Camartus in his Book de Rebus Eliae cap. 3. sect 5. and Corn. Bertram cap. 15. de Republ. Jud. imagine that in those confused times none of the Priests were found fit to administer the Affairs of the Nation but Eli alone and therefore he was appointed by God to it as appears from 1 Sam. II. 30. But L'Empereur in his Annotations upon Bertram well observes That it being the constant course of God's proceedings to continue his Mercies to the Israelites according to his promise while they were obedient but to take them away when they became disobedient it is highly reasonable to conclude there was some great Offence given to God by some of the Race of Phineas which was the cause that they lost this Dignity But
it was necessary to consider rather the value than the measure of every Portion And gives this reason why the Tribe of Benjamin had so narrow a Portion allotted them because the Ground was so very fertil about Jerusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Lot was very strait because of the goodness of the Soil To every Man shall his Inheritance be given That is to every Family According to those that were numbred of him According to the Account that had been now taken not considering who might be born after this and thereby increase a Family or die and thereby diminish it before the Division of the Land was made For several died we may well think in the Wars with the Canaanites and others were born before the Country was conquered Ver. 55. Notwithstanding the Land shall be divided Verse 55 by Lot When it was divided into so many equal shares as there were Tribes a due respect being had to their Number they were not to choose which share they would have but that was to be determined by Lot The manner of which they say was this Two Urns being placed before him that drew the Lots in one of which were Scrols of Parchment containing the Names of the XII Tribes of Israel and in the other the Portions of Land he first put in his hand into the Urn wherein were their Names and drew out one suppose that of Judah and then he put his hand into the other Urn and drew out the Portion that fell to his share Or perhaps there was only one Urn wherein were the several Portions of Land and they began suppose with the eldest Son of Israel viz. Reuben and pulling out a Scroll said This is the Portion of Reuben and so with the rest But which soever way they proceeded there were two Distributions made One of the whole Country into XII Parts and another of each of those Parts among the several Families that were in each Tribe See Selden de Successionibus ad Leges Hebr. cap. 21 22. According to the Names of the Tribes of their Families they shall inherit This seems to justifie what I now said that they first named the Tribe whose Lot they would draw out and that contained his Inheritance But after all this it might happen that some of their Lots were too scanty for their Number and others too large In which case Eleazar and Joshua and the rest appointed for this Office XXXIV 17 c. ordered some Portion to be taken from those who had too much and given to those who had too little for their Families This appears from XIX Josh 9. where a Portion out of the Lot of Judah is ordered for Simeon because the one was too large and the other too small and the same may be said of Dan v. 47. Verse 56 Ver. 56. According to the Lot shall the Possession be divided The first words which we translate according to the Lot being in the Hebrew Al pi hagoral which literally signifies according to the mouth of the Lot which is no more than as the Lot shall declare the Jews have a conceit that the Land was divided not merely by Lot but by Vrim and Thummim which Eleazar the Priest then put on as the Talmud describes it in Bava Bathra and two Urns standing before him in one of which were the Names of the XII Tribes and in the other the Names of the Portions of Land he looked by the Holy Ghost upon the Vrim and Thummim and said Let such a Tribe come up which being done he said again Let such a Portion of Land come up for this Tribe by which means all the People before whom this was done were satisfied that their Portion was allotted to them by God and all cause of murmuring and contention taken away Thus R. Solomon and others mentioned by Buxtorf in his Histor Vrim Thummim cap. 3. And Martinius Mauritius in his late Treatise de Sortitione veter Hebr. cap. 29. sect 4 5. where he observes how ancient the way of dividing Goods and Lands by Lot was in other Countries But there was no need of this Solemnity the Division of the Land by God's Order after the manner of Lots sufficienly showing it was not by Man's Directions but by God's that such a share fell to them Between many and few Every Tribe having its Land assigned them by the Lot it was then divided among the several Families in the same manner as these words seem to signifie and then every Houshold had their share allotted them according to the number of Persons that were in them Which if they were many had a greater share if few a less By which means every Man had reason to rest satisfied because such was his Lot That is such was the good pleasure of God who directed the Lots as we learn from XVIII Joshua 6 8 10. where we read expresly that in the Division of the Land he cast Lots for them before the LORD in Shiloh that he might order every one his Portion Ver. 57. And these are they that were numbred of the Verse 57 Levites after their Families It was fit an account should be taken of this Tribe also that it might be seen how God had blessed them as well as the rest of the Tribes of Israel with a numerous Issue though he had cut off in the space of Thirty eight years all the former Generation from Twenty years old and upward Of Gershon the Family of the Gershonites c. The principal Families in this Tribe were three descended from the three Sons of Levi Gershon Kohath and Merari Whose Names were not at all altered since their coming out of Egypt until this time XLVI Gen. 11. VI Exod. 16. Verse 58 Ver. 58. These are the Families of the Levites The three fore-named were the principal Families divided into those lesser Families which here follow The Family of the Libnites Descended from Libni the eldest Son of Gershon Who had another Son whose Family is here omitted viz. Shimi though mentioned VI Exod. 17. But in this place Moses doth not give a full account of all the Families of the Levites nor is it given in exact order because they were to have no Inheritance in the Division of the Land which was the reason that all the Families of the other Tribes are set down so punctually The Family of the Hebronites From Hebron one of the Sons of Kohath VI Exod. 18. III Numb 19. The Family of the Mahlites the Family of the Mushites From the two Sons of Merari who were called Mahli and Mushi VI Exod. 19. III Numb 20. The Family of the Korathites From the great Grand-child of Levi VI Exod. 21. XVI Numb 1. And Kohath begat Amram Who was Grand-child of Levi and Brother to the Father of Korah VI Exod. 18. Verse 59 Ver. 59. And the name of Amram's wife was Jochabed the daughter of Levi. See VI Exod. 20. Whom her Mother viz. Levi his Wife bare to Levi