pleased to dwell among them by a glorious Symbol of his Presence in the Sanctuary yet dwelt in far more transcendent Glory in the Heavens the highest of which could not contain him as holy Men acknowledged 1 Kings VIII 27. 2 Chron. II. 6. And bless thy People Israel and the Land which thou hast given us Having performed their Duty they had the greater confidence to beg the continuance of God's Mercies to them and to their Country which it had been presumption to expect if they had not acknowledged him to be the Donor of all the good things they enjoyed in the manner before appointed For this was the end of all Oblations both of this Tithe and of the First-fruits and any other to acknowledge God to be the LORD of whom all things come as David speaks and of whose own we give unto him See 1 Chron. XXIX v. 11 12 13 c. As thou swarest unto our fathers He teacheth them to conclude as they began v. 3. with a thankful acknowledgment of God's faithfulness to his Promise A Land that floweth with milk and honey See XI 9. The Hierusalem Targum paraphraseth it thus A Land producing fruits as pure as milk and as sweet and delicious as honey Ver. 16. This day This refers to the time when Verse 16 Moses spake all these words unto them The LORD thy God hath commanded thee By me To do these statutes and judgments These two words comprehend the Precepts in the foregoing Chapters some of which concern Matters of Religion and others of Civil Government Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart and with all thy soul Set your selves sincerely and heartily to the performance of them Ver. 17. Thou hast avouched So the Hebrew Verse 17 word signifies as Job Ludolphus observes who renders it asseverare seriò affirmare being the same with the French word avoüer and may be here translated thou hast solemnly professed or rather protested The LORD this day The word this is not in the Hebrew as it is in the foregoing Verse but he saith simply Hajom not hajom hazeh the day or that day which signifies the time when Moses delivered these Laws from God To be thy God Then they owned him to be their King and Governour For so the Name of ELOHIM properly signifies Dignity Empire and Authority as Grotius observes upon XX Exod. and Fortunatus Scacchus before him expounds these very words Which saith he have respect to God as their Emperour who had the Supream Government of the Commonwealth of Israel with a Right and Authority of constituting Laws and giving Mandates for the establishing of that Government Sacror Elaeochrism P. II. Cap. LII p. 509. See XXIV Exod. 3 4 c. and XXXIV 27. And to walk in his ways By his ways that Author understands the Moral Precepts written on Tables of Stone To keep his statutes The Ritual Precepts And his Commandments Concerning the Duties of his Worship and Service And his judgments The Political Precepts belonging to their good Government And to hearken unto his voice In all things which he should declare from his Oracle when they consulted it Verse 18 Ver. 18. And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people c. At the same time for the word this is not in the Hebrew the LORD assured the Israelites that they should be his People in a special manner provided they made good their promise of keeping his Commandment For the Covenant was mutual See XXIV Exod. 3 7. XIX 5 6. It is observable that the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases these two Verses in this manner Ye have taken the Word of the LORD to reign over you to day that he may be your God c. And the Word of the LORD reigneth over you a People dedicated to his Name as his peculiar c. Where MEMRA the WORD cannot be understood other ways than of the second Person in the Deity Ver. 19. And to make thee high above all Nations that he hath made It is a pious note of Conr. Pellicanus That there is no greater Glory to the Faithful than that they are peculiarly grateful devoted dedicated Verse 19 obedient unto God as his Children In praise and in name and in honour These words express his singular Kindness to them in that though all Nations were his being made by him and he the LORD and Governour of them all yet he promised to have such a special Favour to them that all Nations round them should take notice of it and speak with admiration of their Happiness and the Honour he had done them All this is included in those words before-mentioned XIX Exod. 5 6. where the last words of this Verse are explained That thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God as he hath spoken All this Moses called to their mind that it might prepare and dispose them to renew the same Covenant with God before he left them Which he presses upon them in the Nine and twentieth Chapter of this Book after he had given them some other Admonitions and laid before them the Blessings and Curses that would come upon them according to their Fidelity or Falsness in that Holy Covenant Which is the Subject of the two following Chapters Chapter XXVII CHAP. XXVII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND Moses with the Elders of Israel commanded the people saying I observed in the Preface to this Book and upon Chapter IV. 41. and other places that Moses did not speak all that is contained in this Book at once but at several times and that he commonly took the Elders to his assistance as is here expresly affirmed though some things he spake himself alone to all the People as I observed upon V. 1. Keep all the Commandments which I command you This is a new Exhortation to Obedience which he could not press too often considering the great proneness of this People to break God's Laws This day At this time and formerly for it doth not precisely signifie one day and the word this is not in the original Verse 2 Ver. 2. And it shall come to pass on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan Here it is evident the word day doth not signifie precisely the very same day they passed over but not long after as soon as they were come to Mount Ebal v. 4. after the taking of Jericho and Ai as appears from VIII Joshua 30. For they were to pass over Jordan unto the Land which the LORD their God gave them as it here follows before they were obliged to do what is here required That thou shalt set thee up great stones It is not said how many but some fancy there were Twelve according to the number of Pillars which Moses imployed XXIV Exod. 4. when he made the Covenant between God and his People But unless we could certainly determine how much of the Law was to be written upon these Stones we cannot give a good guess
nor the likeness of any thing c. The Second Principle That God's Nature is invisible is contained in this Second Commandment Being the Ground of this Prohibition to make any Image of him Which the best of the Heathen forbad also for this very reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because it is impossible to conceive God otherwise but by the Mind alone as Plutarch reports the sence of Numa among the Romans And we find the same as plainly said by Antisthenes among the Greeks in Clemens Alexandrinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is not seen by the Eyes nor is like to any thing and therefore none can learn any thing of him by an Image Nor could the Vulgar I am apt to think have been kept so long and so generally as they were to the worship of them if it had not been by bold Fictions that some of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faln down from Heaven and that all of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Things and full of a Divine Communication as Jamblichus speaks And to make them more reverenced while some of them were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conspicuous to all the People others were kept secret in the inmost part of their Temple as having hidden in them a Symbolical Presence of God as Proclus speaks upon Timaeus Which Ezek Spanhemius justly thinks was done in imitation of what Moses saith concerning God's Presence upon the Mercy-Seat in the Holy of Holies Observationes in Callimachum p. 586 c. See upon these three Verses my Annotations on XX Exod. 4 5 6. Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain c. This contains the Third Principle before-mentioned that God takes Notice of all things even of our Thoughts and governs all our Affairs For it is the Foundation of an Oath that God knows our very Hearts and is Witness to our Meaning as well as our Words and will if we swear falsly punish us for it Which is an acknowledgment also both of the Justice and the Power of God See upon XX Exod. 7. Ver. 12. Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctifie it They were to keep it in Memory that they might sanctifie it as it is XX Exod. 8. see there And it was sanctified Verse 12 or set apart for special Ends and Purposes that they might give to the blessed God the seventh part of the Week as Abarbinel speaks upon these Words and might learn the Divine Law together with the Kabalah or Traditional Exposition of the Words and mark well the Niceties of it For which he quotes a Saying out of the Gemara of the Hierusalem Talmud Sabbaths and Feasts were not given but to learn the Law upon them Which is the reason he saith of another Speech of theirs in their Midrasch or Allegorical Exposition upon Exodus That the Sabbath weigheth against all the Commandments Because it was a principal means to make them known and observed There is not much said indeed in express Words concerning this End of the Rest of the Sabbath But common Reason told the Jews it could not be intended meerly as a Day of Ease from Labour but for the solemn Service of God and Instruction in their Duty to him As the LORD thy God commanded thee At Marah say the Jews commonly where he gave them a Statute and an Ordinance See XV Exod. 25. But one of them saith better At Marah it was designed and at Sinai it was commanded But they do not look back far enough for the Original of this Commandment For there being two Things in this Day the Rest of it and the Religion the Rest of it was in Remembrance of their Deliverance out of Egypt and the Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea which compleated their Deliverance immediately after which they kept their first Sabbatical Rest The Religion was in Remembrance of the Creation of the World and so this Day had been observed from the beginning by the Patriarchs tho' we find no mention made of their Resting And that may possibly be the meaning of these Words As the LORD thy God commanded thee That is immediately after he had finished the Creation of the World Verse 13 Ver. 13. Six Days shalt thou labour and do all thy Work See upon XX Exod. 9. Verse 14 Ver. 14. But the Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God in it thou shalt not do any Work c. The reason why they might not do any Work on this Day is given in the XX Exod. 11. which is wholly omitted here because Moses had another Reason to add for the Inforcement of this Precept And refers them in the foregoing Words v. 12. As the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to what he had said in the Book of Genesis and Exodus where he had set down the Reason which God himself gave with his own Mouth for the Religious Observation of this Day because in Six Days the LORD made Heaven and Earth c. So that this Commandment was designed to establish the Fourth Principle I mentioned that God is the Maker of all Things To preserve the Memory and Sence of which as the Author of the Answer Ad Orthodoxos observes LXIX this Rest was instituted to be observed with a more than ordinary Sanctity It being of such great moment that the first Sabbath-breaker was punished with Death because the voluntary Violation of it contained in it a Denial that the World was created by God That thy Man-servant and thy Maid-servant may rest as well as thou Mercy towards Men as well as Piety towards God was a Reason for the observation of this Sabbatical Rest Ver. 15. And remember that thou wast a Servant in Verse 15 the Land of Egypt and that the LORD thy God brought thee from thence c. therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day This is a new Ground for the observation of the Sabbath because God had given them rest from their hard Labour in Egypt Which obliged them to keep that Seventh Day which God appointed at the giving of Manna being the Day on which he overthrew Pharaoh in the Red Sea as the Memory of the Creation of the World obliged them to keep one Day in seven So our Mr. Mede hath explained it See my Annotations on XIV Exod. 30. And Maimonides hath something to the same purpose in his More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXI See upon XX Exod. 11. Ver. 16. Honour thy Father and thy Mother as the Verse 16 LORD thy God hath commanded thee In the Twentieth of Exodus v. 12. See there To which I shall here add That the Laws of Solon made those Children infamous who did not afford Sustenance to their Parents and provide them an Habitation And by the ancient Law of Athens he that reproached his Parents was disinherited if he struck them his Hand was cut off if he left them unburied he lost their Estate and was banished his
and stony places have the least swelling in them Or as some translate it grow callous There are those that refer this last Clause not to their Feet but to their Shoes according to what we read XXIX 5. Ver. 5. Thou shalt also consider in thine Heart Often reflect and ponder Verse 5 That as a Man chastneth his Son so the LORD thy God chastneth thee All the Afflictions which God had sent upon them he would have them think were not for their undoing but for their amendment and correcting what was amiss in them and therefore ought to be thankfully acknowledged as well as his Benefits Ver. 6. Therefore thou shalt keep the Commandments Verse 6 of the LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him Howsoever therefore he dealt with them it ought to have led them to Obedience In the repetition of this so often Moses doth but practice his own Lesson which he had taught them VI. 7. That they should teach these Words diligently to their Children c. Ver. 7. For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a Verse 7 good Land Therefore there was the greater need they should enter into it with the pious Resolution before-mentioned to fear God and walk in his ways Otherwise they would be in great danger to be corrupted by such plenty and variety of all good things as this Land afforded A Land of Brooks of Water of Fountains and Depths that spring out of Valleys and Hills The Hebrew word Tehom which we translate deep and in the plural Number Depths signifies sometimes those great Caverns of Water that are within the Ground which were made by the plentiful Rains which God sent upon this Country while they were obedient to him Which both made it fruitful tho' now barren and abounding also with Water for their Cattle LXXVIII Psal 15. XXXI Ezek. 4. But it is here commonly interpreted Lakes or Wells of Water Verse 8 Ver. 8. A Land of Wheat and Barley and Vines and Fig-trees and Pomegranates Plentifully stored with all things necessary for the support and pleasure of Life A Land of Oyl-Olive and Honey The same word Debas which signifies Honey signifies also Dates And so de Dieu thinks it most reasonable to translate it here being joyned with four other sorts of Fruits And so Kimchi saith the ancient Jews expounded it in this place and in 2 Chron. XXXI 5. where it is said That Israel brought in abundance the first Fruits of Corn Wine Oyl and Honey or Dates as we there translate it in the Margin Verse 9 Ver. 9. A Land wherein thou shalt eat Bread without scarceness Be in no want of any sort of Provision which is comprehended under the Name of Bread Thou shall not lack any thing in it No other Conveniences of Life A Land whose Stones are Iron and out of whose Hills thou mayst dig Brass Where there are useful Minerals as plentiful as Stones are in other places These are the rather mentioned because there were no such Mines in Egypt where they had long dwelt and were stored with plenty of other things XI Numb 5. Verse 10 Ver. 10. When thou hast eaten and art full After a liberal Meal Then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good Land which he hath given thee Give solemn Thanks to God not only for that present Repast but for the plentiful Provision he had made for them of all good things in the Land he had bestowed on them From this place the Jews have made it a general Rule or as they call it an affirmative Precept That every one bless God at their Meals That is as I said give him Thanks for his Benefits For he blesses us when he bestows good things upon us and we bless him when we thankfully acknowledge his Goodness therein Which is a natural Duty which we owe to the Fountain and Original of all Good Ver. 11. Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy Verse 11 God in not keeping his Commandments and his Judgments and his Statutes which I command thee this day He would have their Thanksgiving for his Benefits leave such a sence of God upon their Minds as should make them careful to yield him an entire Obedience Ver. 12. Lest when thou hast eaten and art full Verse 12 and hast built goodly Houses and dwelt therein Feasted in stately Houses wherein they enjoyed their Ease Ver. 13. And when thy Herds and thy Flocks are multiplied Verse 13 and thy Silver and thy Gold is multiplied and all that thou hast is multiplied The sence of these two Verses is when they had great abundance of all good things within Doors and without Ver. 14. Then thine Heart be lifted up Which is Verse 14 an usual Effect of great Riches as Euripides observes in that known Saying of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wealth breeds Pride Scorn and Contempt of others This Moses Kotzensis thought so great a Sin that he puts it among the Negative Precepts and pretends he was warned in a Dream so to do tho' Maimonides and others had omitted it And when he awaked he was confirmed in it by reading a place in the Gemara upon Sota Cap. I. which saith Wheresoever we find these Words in Scripture Take heed lest there is a Prohibition as there is v. 11. and here to take heed of Pride For whosoever is proud he shall be brought low as the Gemara there adds which are in a manner the Words of our blessed Saviour XVIII St. Luke 14. And thou forget the LORD thy God This is another common effect of large Possessions which make the Owners of them fall into Sloth and Luxury and such Forgetfulness of the Donor of all good Things that they trust in uncertain Riches as the Apostle speaks and not in the living God imagining now they can never want not because God is so good but because they have such store of good Things laid up for many Years Which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt and from the House of Bondage No wonder if they forgot all his former Benefits when they were unthankful for the present Verse 15 Ver. 15. Who led thee through that great and terrible Wilderness See I. 19. Wherein were fiery Serpents See XXI Numb 6. And Scorpions These are commonly joyned with Serpents in Scripture even in the New Testament X Luke 19. XI 12 13. being found in the same places especially in this Desert of Arabia And Drought The Hebrew word Tsimmaon signifies a dry place as we translate it CVII Psal 33. XXXV Isa 7. And that best agrees with what here follows Where there was no Water Who brought thee forth Water out of a Rock of Flint From which one would have sooner expected Fire than Water XX Numb 11. Who fed thee in the Wilderness with Manna which thy Fathers knew not v. 3. The great Salmasius in a Treatise on purpose about Manna hath said a great deal to prove that the Manna which God sent
rewarded their Obedience to them as if he had received the Benefit thereof Verse 14 Ver. 14. Behold the Heaven Where the Sun Moon and Stars shine And the Heaven of Heavens And all the glorious Regions beyond them Is the LORD 's thy God Are all his Possession as they are his Work The Earth also with all that therein is As well as this Earth and all the Creatures that are in it Ver. 15. Only the LORD had a delight in thy Fathers to love them and he chose their Seed after them Verse 15 even you above all People c. He would have them sensible therefore that the Possessor of Heaven and of Earth could have no need of them or of their Services who were a very inconsiderable Part of his Creatures But it was his own meer good Will and Pleasure which moved him to show such Love to Abraham as he had done and to his Posterity for his sake above all other Nations on Earth Ver. 16. Circumcise therefore the fore-skin of your Verse 16 heart Do not satisfie your selves therefore with the bare Circumcision of your Flesh and the Observance of such External Rites and Ceremonies but cut off and cast away all your naughty Affections which make you insensible both of God's Mercies and Corrections and disobedient to his Commands And be no more stiff-necked As he had often before complained they were particularly XXXII Exod. 9. and see IX 6. of this Book It is a Metaphor as I observed from Oxen who when they are to draw in a Yoke and go forward pull back their Neck and their Shoulder to withdraw themselves from the Yoke To both which the Scripture alludes IX Nehem. 29. And sometime severally we find mention of them as in the place before-named in Exodus he speaks of their stiff-neck and in VII Zachar. 11. he saith They pull'd away the shoulder St. Stephen puts both these together in his Character of the wicked Jews that killed our blessed Saviour VII Acts 51. that they were stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart Therefore the contrary disposition God promises towards the Conclusion of this Book as the greatest Blessing he could bestow on them XXX 6. Ver. 17. For the LORD thy God is God of gods and Verse 17 Lord of lords Superiour to all other Beings whether Kings on Earth or Angels in Heaven A great God a mighty and a terrible Who can do what he pleases every where and therefore is to be greatly dreaded Which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward The most righteous Judge of Men who will not connive at your Sins because you are Circumcised nor be bribed by any Sacrifices to overlook your Wickedness XXIII Exod. 8. XIX Lev. 15. I Deut. 17. Nor on the contrary reject those that uprightly obey him though they be not Jews So St. Peter learnt to understand these words X Acts 34. Verse 18 Ver. 18. He doth execute the Judgment of the Fatherless and Widow Takes their part as we speak and defends them against those that would oppress them And loveth the Stranger in giving him Food and Raiment Provideth for those who are driven unjustly out of their own Country or travelling on their honest Occasions fall into want For he seems here to speak of those who were neither Proselytes of Justice nor of the Gate as the Jews speak but were meer Gentiles Verse 19 Ver. 19. Love ye therefore the Stranger Be kind and hospitable to such distressed Persons which is a Vertue that flows from the Love of God v. 12. to which it is in vain to pretend if we love not all Mankind This Love consists in imitating God's Care of such Persons whereof he speaks in the foregoing Verse viz. doing them Justice equally with others and affording them Food and Raiment For ye were strangers in the Land of Egypt This Vertue was peculiarly required of the Jews who had been in that Condition which he commanded them to pity See XXIII Exod. 9. XIX Levit. 33 34. And if they had sincerely practised this Duty towards Aliens the Grace of God shown to the Gentiles in our blessed Saviour would not have seemed so strange to them as it did Ver. 20. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God him Verse 20 shalt thou serve This was explained before v. 12. To him shalt thou cleave Serve that is and Worship none but him And swear by his Name See VI. 13. Ver. 21. He is thy praise Whom thou oughtest Verse 21 therefore to praise Or rather in whose Love and Favour thou oughtest to glory and to think it the highest honour to be his Servant and to have him for thy God as it here follows He is thy God Who hath bestowed upon thee all the good things which thou enjoyest That hath done for thee all these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen In bringing them out of Egypt destroying Pharaoh in the Red-sea leading them through the Wilderness giving them the Country of Sihon and Og c. Whom therefore they were bound to Love and Serve and to confide in his Mercy and not in their own Power or Righteousness VIII 17 18. IX 4 5 6. Ver. 22. Thy Fathers went down into Egypt with Verse 22 threescore and ten persons See XLVI Gen. 27. I Exod. 5. Their Family he would have them remember was very small Chapter XI about Two hundred Years ago And now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the Stars of Heaven for multitude Vastly increased them according to his Promise unto Abraham XV Gen. 5. XII Exod. 37. XXVI Numb 51 62. Which alone as Conradus Pellicanus here notes was sufficient to fill their Hearts with his Love and their Mouths with his Praise CHAP. XI Verse 1 Verse 1. THerefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God Who of so small hath made thee so great a Nation And keep his charge A Phrase used frequently concerning the Levites III Numb 7 8 c. But here comprehends all the Particulars following His Statutes and his Judgments and Commandments which he had charged them to observe See VI. 1. Verse 2 Ver. 2. And know you this day Consider seriously what I have said to you till you be sensible of it VIII 5. IX 6. For I speak not with your Children which have not known and which have not seen The words I speak are not in the Hebrew and they may as well be supplied thus For not with your Children have these things been done c. Which agrees well with v. 7. The Chastisement of the LORD your God The Plagues he sent upon the Egyptians His greatness Which appeared by the many great things he did only upon the stretching out of Moses his Rod. His mighty hand and stretched out arm These are more words to express the same thing Ver. 3. And his miracles and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt Or His miraculous Acts c. Verse 3 He uses so many words to make them sensible how much they were
their own hands to apprehend him and bring him before the Court though it seems reasonable enough that both Father and Mother should agree in the Complaint against him and desire Officers might be sent to lay hold of him In which one cannot well suppose that they would consent to have such a Punishment as follows inflicted upon him unless he were intolerable And bring him unto the Elders of his City Who were to examine the proofs and accordingly to pass Sentence upon him Concerning these Elders see v. 3 4. And unto the gate of his place Where the Court of Judgment was wont to sit See XVI 18. The Paternal Power among the ancient Romans was so great that they might put their Children to death as they did their Slaves without any Process before a Magistrate And this some have taken to be a Natural Right and imagined God would not have commanded Abraham to kill his Son but that it was a part of his inherent Power However this be they were not thought fit to be long intrusted with it for God here orders by Moses that it should be committed to the publick Judges as the most disinterested Persons Ver. 20. And they shall say unto the Elders of his City Verse 20 This seems to intimate the Authority of Parents was still so preserved that their Testimony alone was sufficient to convict a rebellious Son without any further proof The Hebrew Doctors indeed are of another mind as I shall show in the Explication of what follows This our Son is stubborn and rebellious he will not obey our voice This is to be understood say they of a Son that was no less then Thirteen years old and a day and so might be presumed to know his Duty and to be capable of being governed by Counsel and good Advice And this is reasonable enough But what they say concerning the time when he became his own Man is monstrously absurd See Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. XIII p. 559 560. What they say of a Daughter not to be comprehended under this Law may be admitted because she was not capable to do so much Mischief in a Family as a rebellious Son He is a glutton and a drunkard These Sins are no where made capital by the Law of Moses but when they were accompanied with rebellious Disobedience to Parents Who were to bring Witnesses as the Hebrew Doctors say that this Son had stoln some of their Goods and sold them that he might spend the Money in these Vices under which others are comprehended which usually attend them And that he had done this after he had been admonished and chastised so that he was not to be punished as this Law at last prescribes till he was grown incorrigible For they say the Court was first to order him to be whipt and not to proceed further till upon a new Complaint it was proved that he had run into the same riotous Courses since that punishment Then upon this second Testimony as they call it the Court gave Sentence against him that he should be stoned to death unless the Parents before the Sentence was pronounced said they gave him their Pardon There are a great many little Niceties about the quantity of Meat and Wine that he eat and drank and other Matters with which I do not think fit to trouble the Reader Verse 21 Ver. 21. And all the Men of his City shall stone him with stones that he die This is such a severe Sentence that it inclines me to think the Parents lookt upon such a Son as so debaucht that he would not only spend all their Estate if he had it but was inclined to kill them that he might get it into his own hands For the Sentence of Death is denounced elsewhere against one that struck his Father or Mother XXI Exod. 15. or that cursed them v. 17. It is not said indeed he should be stoned but put to death which they interpret of strangling this punishment of stoning being appointed for Idolaters and Blasphemers of God Next to whom Parents are to be reverenced being in God's place with respect to their Children See upon the fifth Commandment And therefore other Nations were very severe in their punishment of such Children as are here described and particularly the Romans after the power was taken from Parents to sell them or put them to death and the Censure of them committed to the Magistrates See Hen. Stephen in his Fontes Rivi Juris Civilis p. 18. And among the Athenians Lysias saith in his Oration against Agoratus he that beats his Parents or did not maintain them and provide an habitation for them when they were in want 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deserved to be put to death The Law indeed did not inflict that punishment but only said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be infamous That is as they expound it he might not come into the Publick Assemblies nor enter into their Temples nor wear a Crown in their Publick Festivals and if any such Persons presumed so to do they were brought before the Magistrates who set a Fine upon their Heads and committed them to Prison till they paid it See Sam. Petitus in his Commentary upon the Attick Laws Lib. II. Tit. IV. p. 163. No wonder therefore Moses ordained this punishment when a Son was come to such a degree of profligate wickedness that he indeavoured to undo his Parents Which some States have thought fit to follow in these latter Ages For David Chytraeus saith he himself saw an Example of this Severity at Zurich in the year One thousand five hundred and fifty where a disobedient Son was beheaded who had cursed his Mother and beaten her So shalt thou put evil away from among you and all Israel shall hear and fear See concerning this before upon XIX 20. Verse 22 Ver. 22. If a man have committed a sin worthy of death and he be put to death There were several sorts of Capital Punishments viz. Strangling Burning Cutting off by the Sword and Stoning Now the Hebrew Doctors limit this unto such Offenders as were stoned of which Punishment he speaks in the foregoing Verse But there being Eighteen sorts of Offenders who were to be Sentenced to this Death they put a further limitation upon these words their Tradition being as they tell us the Sin worthy of death or Stoning is only Idolatry or Blasphemy So we read in the Sanhedrim Cap. VI. Sect. IV. All that were stoned were also hanged according to the opinion of R. Eliezer but the wise Men say none were hanged but the Idolater and Blasphemer And they add there that only Men not Women were thus used for which I can see no reason but their sticking to the meer Letter of these words as if the word Man did not comprehend both senses But if we examine the Scripture we shall find this not to be true that no Men were hanged but they that were stoned for the King of Ai
sufficient if they were such as they called Elders of the Street or common Men. See Lib. I Vxor Hebr. Cap. XV. and Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. VII N. III. And say my husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother She was to put in a Bill of Complaint against him in these words Verse 8 Ver. 8. Then the Elders of his City shall call him and speake to him c. He being summoned to appear before them together with the Woman who they say was to be fasting and two Witnesses at the least she opened the whole matter And then the question being askt Whether it were three Months since her Husband's death which were to be allowed to see whether she proved with Child or no and whether this Man was next of kin And a satisfactory answer being returned the Judges laid the Law before them and admonished them seriously to consider on each side their Age or any Disparity or Incommodity that might be in their Marriage and accordingly to resolve And then they ask't the Man in express words Whether he would marry her and raise up Seed to his Brother If he stood to his first Resolution as it here follows and said I like not to take her then the Woman read the words foregoing v. 7. My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel c. and then proceeded to do as follows v. 9. See Selden in the Book fore-named Cap. XIV Ver. 9. Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the Verse 9 presence of the Elders and loose his shoe from off his foot From his right foot as the Hebrew Doctors say which was done I suppose as a Mark of Infamy for his want of Natural Affection which made him unworthy to be reckoned among Free-men but rather deserve to be thrust down into the Condition of Slaves who were wont to go barefoot And spit in his face In contempt of him who had despised her The Hebrew Doctors indeed expound this only of her spitting upon the Earth directly before his face so that the Spittle might be seen by the Judges And they give this a reason why the King was not subject to this Law of marrying his Brother's Wife and they might add the High-Priest XXI Lev. 13 14. because it would have been below his dignity to have had his Shoe pulled off if he had not liked the Woman or to have had her spit before him as Bartenora's words are Which would have been a better reason if they had said It had been very unbecoming for her to have spit in the King's Face See Selden Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. Cap. X. and Hackspan Lib. I. Miscellan Cap. VII N. VIII where he observes the King was bound to all the DCXIII Precepts but only this of marrying his Brother's Wife And shall answer To his peremptory refusal of her And say so shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house She was immediately to read these words of the Law And then the Judges gave her a Writing signifying his renunciation of her in the manner now related that so it might be free for any other Man to marry her See the form of it in Selden Lib. I. Vxor Hebr. Cap. XIV where he hath observed certain Niceties about the kind of the Shoe that was to be pulled off but gives no account why this Ceremony was used Verse 10 Ver. 10. And his name shall be called in Israel the house of him that hath his shoe loosed As soon as she had loosed his Shoe both the Judges and all the By-standers round about cried aloud three times The Shoe is pulled off the Shoe is pulled off the Shoe is pulled off and thereupon his Family had this Name as a disgrace for not doing the Duty of a Brother Some will have this pulling off the Shoe to have been only a mark that he parted with his right to her but these words show that it was in the nature of a Brand upon him and his Posterity And so Josephus saith Lib. IV. Archaeolog Cap. VIII that he went out of the Court with a Mark of Ignominy Which doth not relate meerly to her spitting in his face for Maimonides saith expresly in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLIX that this Action viz. of pulling off the Shoe as well as the other was a foul and ignominious thing in those days intended to move Men to perform the Duty of a Husband's Brother that they might avoid such Reproach J. Wagenseil hath given us the exact form of the Shoe which was used on such occasions in his Annotations upon Sota p. 664. and see 1212. where he commends Leo Modena his account of this whole Business Which differs not at all from that which I have given only I observe that he saith when the Woman taketh off the Shoe fom the Man's foot she lifts it up on high and throweth it against the ground which I take to be a Note of Indignation and Contempt And he saith also it was anciently accounted a more laudable thing to take her than to release her and imputes it to the Corruption of Men's Manners and the Hardness of their Hearts that now they look only after worldly ends either of Riches or Beauty which makes very few in these days especially among the Dutch and Italian Jews to marry their Brother's Widow See his History of the Rites and Customs of the Jews Part IV. Chap. VII Ver. 11. When men strive together one with another Verse 11 Fall out as we speak and fight either with their Fists or Sticks or other Weapons And the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him Who had wounded him and was likely I suppose to be too hard for him And putteth forth her hand and taketh him by the secrets As a sure means to make him let go his hold of her Husband that he might preserve himself Ver. 12. Then thou shalt cut off her hand This Verse 12 was to be done by the Sentence of the Court as a punishment for her Impudence and for the hurt which perhaps the Man might have received hereby in those Parts whereby Mankind is propagated Thine eye shall not pity her The word her not being in the Hebrew Text several of the Jews and Grotius seems to approve their Opinion interpret this Law quite otherwise As if the Woman might both take hold of his Secrets for the delivery of her Husband and also cut off the other Man's hand and they should not pity him who suffered thus nor punish the Woman who might do any thing of this nature to preserve one so dear to her as her Husband But this is a very forced Interpretation Maimonides is a little more reasonable in his Exposition of these words which he will have to signifie that they
before-mentioned Plainly importing That Men could not pretend ignorance of their Duty nor had any reason to desire that some Body would go to Heaven again for those things which Moses had already brought from thence And thus the Apostle most justly accommodates these words to the new Revelation from Heaven by the Son of God which was not abstruse and difficult but as plain and perspicuous as this now made by Moses Ver. 13. Neither is it beyond the Sea that thou shouldst Verse 13 say Who shall go over the Sea for us c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to use the words of Philo in his Book concerning Rewards and Punishments so as to need long and tedious Voyages laborious and wearisom Travels to fetch it from foreign Countries Such as the Greek Philosophers took who travelled into Egypt and the Eastern part of the World to learn Wisdom which God now taught his People in the Wilderness without any pains to attain it Ver. 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee Being Verse 14 brought to their very Doors by Moses the Servant of God who now delivered to them the Mind of God as the Son of God himself did afterwards when he came and dwelt among them In thy mouth and in thy heart Made so familiar to them that they might always have it in their common Discourse to teach it their Children and had now been so often repeated that it might well be laid up in their Memory never to be forgotten by them VI. 6 7 8 9. XI 18 19 20. It was also in the mouth of their Priests who were to teach them Knowledge II Malachi 7. and press it upon their hearts Here the forenamed R. Isaac in both the places forenamed observes That Repentance depends on the confession of the mouth and grief of the heart but the largest Confession and the sorest Grief will not avail them till they repent of their Crucifying the LORD Jesus and shall confess him with their mouth and believe in their heart that God hath raised him from the dead c. as St. Paul speaks X Rom. 9 10. That thou mayest do it That they might have nothing to do but to put it in practice and in order thereunto continually read it and keep it in mind In which the Jews were so diligent that as Josephus tells the Gentiles Lib. II. contra Apionem they could as easily recite all the Laws of God as tell their Names But here was their Error that they were not careful to do what they knew to be the Will of God and so when he sent his Son among them who plainly declared to them more fully the meaning of their holy Books they could not understand and receive that which they read every day And indeed this is the common Error as Dr. Jackson well observes of all corrupt Minds to seek that afar off as if they were Strangers to it which is really in their Mouth and in their Heart so that they would but be doers and not only hearers of the Word as St. James speaks alluding perhaps to these words of Moses As St. Paul applies this whole passage to the Gospel which is that Word of Faith so preached and published by the Apostles that it may be in all our Mouths and Hearts without going to seek for any other infallible Teacher Ver. 15. See I have set before thee this day life and Verse 15 good death and evil Life and Good Death and Evil may be but two words for the same thing viz. all manner of Happiness and all manner of Misery both which he had at large set before them in the Twenty eighth Chapter Or by Life may be meant long Life in the Land God had promised them and Good all the Prosperity they could wish for there as on the other side Death may signifie their being cut off from the Land of the Living before their time and Evil all the Calamities he had threatned while they lived And so the next Verse seems to interpret it Maimonides from these words observes that the wills of Men are under no force nor coaction but are free Agents and therefore have Precepts imposed upon them with a Punishment threatned to the Disobedient and a Reward promised to those who keep God's Commandments Of which he treats at large in his Preface to his Commentary upon Pirke Avoth Cap. VIII Ver. 16. In that I command thee this day to love the Verse 16 LORD thy God to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his Statutes and Judgments This includes their intire Obedience to all God's Laws which are comprehended under these three Names See VI. 1 5. VII 11. X. 12 13. That thou mayest live and multiply and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the Land whither thou goest to possess it This is the Explication of the Life and Good which he set before them if they observed God's Laws with sincere affection to them v. 15. Ver. 17. But if thine heart turn away so that thou Verse 17 wilt not hear Want of Love to God and of a due Esteem of his wonderful Love to them made their Heart turn away to other things and not regard what he had revealed to them from Heaven And worship other gods and serve them This was the principal Breach of the Covenant of God Verse 18 Ver. 18. I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the Land whither ye go c. This is the Explication of the Death and Evil he set before them v. 15. Verse 19 Ver. 19. I call Heaven and Earth to record this day aginst you that I have set before you life and death God Angels and Men were Witnesses that he had done his duty See IV. 26. VIII 19. and therefore is owned by God himself to be faithful in all his house XII Numb 7. Blessing and cursing They are the same with Life and Death but he uses several words to make them sensible that both proceeded from God the one being the Effect of his Love and Favour and the other of his Anger and high Displeasure Therefore chuse life that thou and thy seed may live That is chuse to be Obedient without which they could not be happy Or he wishes them to set their hearts on the happiness God had promised them that it might incline them to do as follows Verse 20 Ver. 20. That thou mayest love the LORD thy God and obey his voice Love is the noblest and the strongest Spring of Obedience And that thou mayest cleave unto him Obedience to God is the surest Preservative from Apostasy For he is thy life and the length of thy days Chapter XXXI The Author and Giver of Life which he preserves and prolongs unto those who are obedient That thou mayest dwell in the Land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob to give them Which Promise confirmed
desist from the Doctrine of the Law Verse 4 Ver. 4. Moses commanded us a Law He commanded them to observe that Law which God had given them when he was about to depart from them This he did in this very Book I. 3. V. 1. VI. 1. VIII 1 c. He spake of himself in the third Person which is very usual throughout all this Book Even the Inheritance of the Congregation of Jacob. As a peculiar Blessing which God had bestowed on them and on their Posterity above all other Nations in the World IV Deut. 8. Who as they had not this Law given to them so they were not bound to observe it as the Jews themselves conclude from this very place Nor did they force any Body to embrace this Law when they made a Conquest of a neighbouring Country but left them to their liberty provided they would become Proselytes of the Gate that is forsake Idolatry and keep the common Precepts enjoyned to all Mankind Thus Maimonides interprets the word Inheritance See Schickard in his Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVII and Grotius de Jure Belli Pacis Lib. I. Cap. I. Sect. XVI The Author of Ez Hachajim a MS. highly valued by the famous Wagenseil saith that when a Child began to speak the Father was bound to teach him this Verse In which instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hereditary some of the Jews read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 espoused as if the Law were espoused to the Jewish Nation See Wagenseil on Sota p. 519 520. Ver. 5. And he was King in Jeshurun Or For he Verse 5 was King that is under God the Supreme Ruler and Governour of Israel and therefore in his Name and by his Authority required them to observe these Laws Which plainly shows him to have had the Supream Power in all things both Civil and Sacred Which is excellently expressed by our Mr. Thorndike in his Review of the Rights of the Church c. p. 68. where he observes That the Israelites being made a free People by the Act of God bringing them out of Egypt and intitling them to the Land of Canaan upon the Covenant of the Law had Moses not only for their Prophet and their Priest for by him Aaron and his Successors were put into the Priesthood the Tabernacle and all belonging to it consecrated but also for their King their Lawgiver their Judge and Commander in chief of their Forces under God if not rather God by Moses For we find that after Moses his decease either God by some extraordinary signification of his Will and Pleasure stirred up some Man in his stead for the time or if there was none such ruled their proceedings himself by Vrim and Thummim answering their Demands and directing what to do and what course to follow in all the Publick Affairs that concerned the State of that People Whereupon when they required Samuel to make them a King he declared it was not Samuel but himself whom they had rejected Because they had rejected him whom God had immediately set over them in his own stead by whose death the power returned to God as at the beginning Concerning the word Jeshurun see XXXII 15. and Selden Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. II. N. 2. When the Heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gathered together To renew their Covenant with God and to receive his last Commands See XXIX 1 2 9 10. XXXI 28 29. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Let Reuben live and not die and let not his Men be few In the last Clause of this Verse we repeat the word not which is wanting in the Hebrew without any necessity For the words may be thus translated exactly Let Reuben live and not die though his Men be few Which seems to be a confirmation of the Prophecy of Jacob XLIX Gen. 4. That he should not excel and yet should live and not perish That is be in some measure a flourishing Tribe though not so numerous as some others See there And possibly it may be here suggested that though they passed armed over Jordan before their Brethren to settle them there according to their engagement XXXII Numb 27. IV Josh 12 13. yet none of them should perish but both they and their Wives and Children that stand behind them should be all preserved Ver. 7. And this is the blessing of Judah As much as to say Judah shall be remarkably blessed For these words this is the blessing are used of none of the rest of the Tribes either of Reuben which went before Verse 7 or the others that follow after Here is no mention made of Simeon who was next to Reuben because that Tribe was included in Judah with whom their Possessions were mixed XIX Josh 1. and therefore they went together to make Expeditions I Judg. 3. Judah also is here put before Levi because it was to be the Royal Tribe according to the Prophecy of Jacob which Moses was assured God would fulfil and therefore prays as follows And he said hear LORD the voice of Judah Grant his Petition when he calls for help against his Enemies So Onkelos paraphrases it Hear his Prayer when he goes forth to war And bring him unto his People Return him home in peace unto his People as the same Onkelos expounds it Let his hands be sufficient for him To avenge him of his Enemies as he also explains it And be thou an help to him from his Enemies Suffer them not to prevail over him but give him the victory when he fights with them So the Hierusalem Targum paraphrases these two last passages Let his hands exercise Revenge upon his Enemies in battles and do thou support and sustain him against those that hate him This was notoriously fulfilled in this Tribe which was the most valiant and successful of all other For in all their Wars this Tribe was the principal and the safety of all the rest seems to have depended upon this See I Judg. 1 2 c. XX. 18. And as these places show that this was the most considerable Tribe before they had Kings so after that it was able together with Benjamin to maintain its ground against the other ten Tribes and all other Opposers Ver. 8. And of Levi he said let thy Thummim and Verse 8 thy Vrim be with thy holy one Continue in this Tribe the high dignity of Consulting with thee and receiving Directions from thee by the High Priest concerning the Publick Safety Or as some take it because Thummim is here set before Vrim which is not in any other place make them upright and faithful as well as understanding and knowing in the discharge of their Duty For though by holy One be principally meant the High Priest who was in a peculiar manner anointed to be separated to the Service of God especially in this part of it to approach him with Vrim and Thummim which gave Aaron the name of the Saint of the LORD CVI Psal 16. yet it comprehends