observes they hurt themselves not God when leaving him the true God they turned to Idols For the word corrupt is commonly used in Scripture where it speaks of the sin of Idolatry The Hierusalem Paraphrast aims at the same sense They are a perverse and crooked Generation The whole Body of them are untoward and untractable walking contrary to God in all their ways For there being a gemination as they speak of a syllable in the latter of these words Pethalthol it increases the sense and makes it the same with the Superlative Degree among us importing the highest obliquity imaginable And these words were never more exactly fulfilled than in the days of our blessed Saviour who calls them a wicked and adulterous a faithless and perverse Generation XVI Matth. 4. XVII 17. And in the days of the Apostles who call them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an absurd kind of People 2 Thess III. 2. Who pleased not God and were contrary to all men 1 Thess II. 15. Verse 6 Ver. 6. Do ye thus requite the LORD O foolish people and unwise He upbraids them with their senseless folly and foul ingratitude which in the following words he demonstrates by representing the Obligations he had laid upon them Is not he thy father Having adopted them in a peculiar manner to be his Children above all other People Who hath taught thee When he rescued them from the slavery of Egypt Hath not he made thee Advanced them for so the word Asa is translated 1 Sam. XII 6. to be a great and mighty People See C Psal 3. And established thee By settling them in excellent order under the Government of most wise and righteous Laws See Chapter the fourth of this Book v. 7 8. Verse 7 Ver. 7. Remember the days of old Look back as far as you are able Consider the years of many generations Consult the most ancient Records which would inform them how God chose their Father Abraham long ago and promised to bless his Posterity as he did Isaac and Jacob in a most eminent manner and sent Joseph by a wonderful Providence into Egypt to preserve them from starving c. Ask thy Father and he will show thee thy Elders and they will tell thee All this is to express the same thing that they should advise with those that knew more than themselves and particularly with old Men as the word may be understood which we translate Elders who by the benefit of their great Age had heard and seen more than others and could tell them how God had dealt with them ever since he brought them by a wonderful Power out of the Land of Egypt Ver. 8. When the most High divided to the Nations Verse 8 their Inheritance He directs them still to look further back and they would find that long before Abraham's time God had them in his thoughts even when he divided the Earth among the Sons of Noah and their Posterity after the Flood X Gen. 5 25 32. When he separated the sons of Adam Or the sons of Men who were one People till he scattered them into several Parts of the Earth and separated them into divers Nations by confounding their Language XI Gen. 8 9. He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Children of Israel He had then the Children of Israel in his mind before they were a Nation and made such a distribution to other People particularly to the Seven Nations of Canaan within such bounds and limits as that there might be sufficient room for so numerous a People as the Israelites when they came to take possession of that Country How the Seventy came to translate these words thus He appointed the bounds of the Nations according to the number of the Angels it is hard to say Bochartus hath made the best Conjecture about it which was hinted by de Muis before him Lib. I. Phaleg Cap. XV. that they had a bad Copy before them which left out the three first Letters of Israel and so they read baneel the Children of God meaning the Israelites Instead of which some Transcribers put the Angels of God because they are sometimes called his Sons Which led the ancient Greek Fathers who followed this Translation into great difficulties and it grew a common Opinion that every Nation was under the Government of an Angel which seems to be the meaning also of the Son of Sirach XVII Ecclus. 17. And many others fancying that God divided the Nations according to the number of the Children of Israel when they came into Egypt which was just Seventy they thence gather there were just so many distinct Nations and so many several Languages Which is a Conceit of some of the Jews as Mr. Selden observes Lib. II. de Synedr Cap. IX But Bochart in the place above-named hath given the plain and simple meaning of this place in these words God so distributed the Earth among the several People that were therein that he reserved or in his counsel designed such a part of the Earth for the Israelites who were then unborn as he knew would afford a commodious habitation to a most numerous Nation Verse 9 Ver. 9. For the LORD's portion is his people And not satisfied with this kindness he chose them alone out of all other Nations to be under his special Care and to enjoy singular Priviledges which none other had and therefore they are called his peculiar Treasure XIX Exod. 5. This Origen maintains to be true against all the Cavils of Celsus Lib. V. p. 250. Edit Cantabr where he shows how beneficial their Laws were and that they were taught so early to know God to believe the Immortality of the Soul and Rewards and Punishments in the Life to come as demonstrated they were distinguished from all other People whatsoever See p. 260. Jacob is the Lot of his Inheritance This is the same thing repeated in other words alluding to the manner of measuring and dividing Lands by Cords as the word in the Hebrew is which we translate lot See XVI Psal 6 and Chapt. IV. of this Book v. 20. Ver. 10. He found him in a desert Land There Verse 10 he first took the Israelites to be his peculiar People for so the word we translate found frequently signifies As in Psal CXVI 3. The pains of Hell gat hold upon me where in the Hebrew the words are found me And in the New Testament IV Rom. 1. What shall we say then that Abraham our Father hath found that is attained In the waste-howling wilderness Desolate and void of all Sustenance where nothing was to be heard but the howlings and yellings of wild Beasts VIII Deut. 15. He led him about Conducted the Israelites from place to place XXXIII Numb 1 2 c. He instructed him Gave them his Laws XX Exod. 1 2 c. XXXIV 1 10 c. He kept him as the apple of his eye Protected and defended them from all dangers with extraordinary care for there is
and thereby proved himself the greatest of all the Prophets For though Moses foretold his own death yet neither he nor any other Prophet whatsoever but our Saviour spake of his being raised up again In which he may be thought to be like to Moses who was raised up by God to be a Saviour of his People out of that Ark which without the special Providence of God had been his Tomb. And unto this Resurrection of Christ doth the propriety of this phrase from the midst of thee agree for this was done as Dr. Jackson also well observes in the midst of Jerusalem the Metropolis of Judaea not without express notice given of it to the Rulers of the People And such a Confirmation it was that he was the Prophet they should all hear that there could not be a greater as all Strangers both to their Religion and ours must agree and they themselves cannot deny For Nachmanides relating in a Letter of his to the Rabbins at Marseilles how there was a Man in those days in the Southern Countries who pretended to be the forerunner of the Messiah unto whom great numbers both of Jews and Arabs resorted tells us that he being apprehended by the King of the Country and askt what Miracle he show'd to confirm his Commission he answered boldly Cut of my Head and I will come to life again To which the King of the Arabs replied There is no sign greater than this which if it come to pass both I and the whole World will believe thee Whereupon his Head was cut off and there was an end of all his pretences though some of the Jews were so mad as Maimonides there saith that they still expected his return to life Thus R. Gedaliah reports in his Schalshelet Hakkabalah Verse 19 Ver. 19. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name This is the proper Character of a Prophet to deliver in the Name of God what he received from God This did Moses but Christ most eminently as I before observed from XII John 49 50. where he saith I have not spoken of my self but the Father which sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak c. whatsoever therefore I speak even as the Father said unto me so I speak Which is a perfect Commentary upon these words of Moses Who here calls Christ a Prophet not a Priest or a King though he was to be both because he would not have the Jews mistake and expect to find in his Person the worldly Grandeur of a mighty Prince or the high honour and splendor of Aaron but have the greatest regard to the heavenly Doctrine which he taught them as he himself he told them was taught by the Father For I proceeded forth saith he and came from God neither came I of my self but he sent me and I do nothing of my self but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things VIII John 28 42. This was the highest honour of all to speak God's words v. 47. in the Name of God V. 42. I conclude this with the remarkable words of the Midrasch upon Ecclesiastes who thus expresses the sense of this Prophecy As was the first Redeemer such shall be the last Redeemer Which plainly determine the Prophet here spoken of to be one single Person and he no other but the LORD Christ See Huetius in his Demonstr Evang. Propos VII N. IX I will require it of him Severely punish him so as to destroy him from among his People as St. Peter interprets it III Acts 23. And so this Phrase is used IX Gen. 5. XLII 22. And there was great reason for such severity seeing they had so solemnly bound themselves to hearken to this Prophet when they desired God not to speak any more to them by himself but by a Mediator which God then promised as I observed v. 18. A Mediator of a better Covenant who should secure them from such dreadful Flames as they then saw if they would hearken to him as they promised to do otherwise what could they expect but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery indignation to devour the Adversaries For since he that despised Moses his Law died without mercy under two or three Witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God in the open face of all the World X Hebr. 27 28 29. Which is a full explication of these words Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my Name I will require it of him Or as Onkelos translates it My WORD shall require it of him Where Memra WORD can signifie nothing but a Divine Person distinct from him who speaks these words even that very Person to whom the Apostle applies them Ver. 20. But the Prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name c. These words plainly suggest to us that Moses intended in the foregoing Discourse Verse 20 to admonish the Israelites to hearken diligently to all such Prophets as God should at any time raise up to them though it be most evident if we examine the propriety of every Word or Clause in the whole Context they cannot be exactly fitted unto any Prophet but Christ Unto whom the whole Discourse is as fully accommodated as a well made Garment to the Body that wears it They are the words of the same excellent Person so often mentioned Dr. Jackson Lib. III. on the Creed Cap. XXI Paragr 1 2. Speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him or that shall speak in the name of other gods It was a manifest sign a Man was a false Prophet if he spake in the name of Baal or any other god but the God of Israel Or if he said such a Star by its spiritual influence coming upon me said Worship me after this manner or thus call upon me as Maimonides who gives an account of the several sorts of false Prophets speaks in his Preface to Seder Zeraim But how should they know a Man to be a false Prophet when he spake to them in the Name of the LORD For Men might pretend as some did that God had sent them and given them a Command when he had not To which he answers in the next Verses Even that Prophet shall die He was to be strangled say the Jews by the Sentence of the great Sanhedrim For it is a Tradition of their Rabbins saith the Gemara Babylonica upon that Title that in the business of Prophecy there are three sorts of Persons who are to be punished by the judgment of Men and three by the Sentence of Heaven He that prophecied what he did not hear from God an example of which we have in Zedekiah 1 Kings XXII 11. or spake what was not said to him but to another an example of which they make Hananiah
that if they would not hearken and keep his Precepts the Heavens were forbidden to give them Rain and the Earth to bring forth Fruit. The Gloss also of the Hierusalem Targum is not amiss that Moses being shortly to die calls the Heavens and the Earth which endure through all Ages to be Witnesses against them when he was gone But the following observation is too curious That Isaiah when he prophecied i. e. being far remote from the Heavens and near to the Earth calls upon the Heavens to hear and the Earth to give ear or attend whereas Moses quite contrary approaching now very near to the Heavens calls upon them to attend or give ear and being in Spirit remote from the Earth bids it hear Ver. 2. My doctrine shall drop as the rain my speech shall distil as the dew Or Let my doctrine drop c. For this seems to be a Prayer that his words which were sent from Heaven to them might sink into their hearts and soften them as the drops of Rain and the dew do the Earth and produce such Fruits of Obedience as might make them happy As the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass The aforesaid Targum thus paraphrases this whole Verse Let the Doctrine of my Law be as sweet upon the Children of Israel as the Rain and the word of my mouth be received by them as the delectable Dew Let it be as gentle showers refreshing the Grass and as the drops of the latter Rain descending and watering the blades of Corn in the Month of March Verse 3 Ver. 3. Because I will publish the Name of the LORD For my Song shall be concerning the LORD of Heaven and Earth whose glorious Perfections I will proclaim which make him the sole Object of your Worship Ascribe ye greatness unto our God Acknowledge therefore the Infinite Power of our God and his Soveraign Dominion over all and give Honour and Service to none besides him These three first Verses seem to be the Preface to the Song and now follows the Song it self Which Josephus calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Poem in Hexameter Verse Lib. IV. Antiq. Cap. VIII Verse 4 Ver. 4. He is the Rock Always indures and never changes so that in him we may find at all times a sure Refuge His work is perfect Whatsoever he undertakes he perfects and compleats it For all his ways are judgment He doth nothing without the greatest reason and according to the Rules of the exactest Justice A God of truth Who is faithful to his Promises And without iniquity And never deceives or wrongs any Man Just and right is he Nor will he punish any Man without a cause or more than he deserves Maimonides takes the first words of this Verse He is the Rock to signifie the first Principle and the efficient Cause of all things without himself For so the word Rock is used when God bids the Children of Israel Look to the Rock out of which they were hewn LI Isa 1. that is to Abraham their Father from whom they were descended And so he thinks it signifies v. 18. of this Chapter Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful i. e. of God the Author of their being And again v. 30. their Rock i. e. the LORD sold them See More Nevochim P.I. Chap. XVI And then by the next words His way is perfect he thinks is meant that as he is the Creator of all things so there is no defect or superfluity in his Works For he takes these words to be the same with those I Gen. 31. God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good See there P. II. Cap. XXVIII and P. III. Cap. XXV And as his Works of Creation are most perfect so are his Works of Providence for he governs the World with the greatest Judgment and Justice So he seems to understand the next words P. III. Cap. XVII all his ways are judgment We are ignorant of the Methods and Reasons of his Judgments yet no injustice or iniquity is to be ascribed to him But all the Evil and all the Good that befals any Man or the whole Church proceeds from the just and equal Judgment of God And more largely Cap. XLIX Our narrow minds cannot apprehend either the Perfection of his Works or the Equity of his Judgments for we apprehend his admirable Works only by parts whether we look upon the Bodies of Animals or the Celestial Spheres and in like manner we apprehend but a little of his Judgments For that of which we are ignorant in both is far more than that which we know of either I conclude this with the words of the Author of Sepher Cosri Part III. Sect. XI He that believes this that all God's Works are perfect and his Ways Judgment will always lead a sweet and pleasant Life All Afflictions will be made light to him nay he will rejoyce that his Iniquities are hereby alleviated and that he shall one day be rewarded for his Patience which he teaches Men by his example and thereby justifies the Judgments of God With respect to which I suppose the Jews now begin the Prayer which they make at the burial of their dead with this Verse of Moses his Song Which Prayer they call Tzidduck haddin i. e. just judgment as Leo Modena observes in his History of the present Jews Part V. Chap. VIII Verse 5 Ver. 5. They have corrupted themselves c. I know not how to justifie this Translation nor that in the Margin He hath corrupted himself Maimonides translates them better making these words a Question and the next words an Answer to them in this manner Did he i. e. God the Rock before spoken of do him any hurt For the Hebrew word Shecheth with lamed after it signifies to hurt or destroy XXXII Numb 15. 1 Sam. XXIII 10. as Joh. Cocceius observes in his Vltima Mosis Sect. 701. And so the meaning is Is God to blame for the Evils that befal him i. e. Israel Unto which the Answer follows in the next words which we thus translate Their spot is not the spot of his Children In the Hebrew the first word of this Sentence is lo i. e. not or no. Which the accent Tipcha as they call it under it shows is not to be joyned with the words that follow banau Mumam but taken by it self being a denial of the foregoing Question And these words are thus to be translated No. His Children are their blot i. e. all the Evil that befals them is the fruit of their Childrens wickedness And so these words are in effect the same with those of Solomon XIX Prov. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth against the LORD He complains of God when the fault is in himself See More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XII Onkelos translates it thus They corrupted to themselves not to him Children that served Idols i. e. as Paulus Fagius
die nor being surprised with death for he knew the time and the place and the manner of it And as he did not die of any Disease as was said before or of old Age or by external force but only by the will and pleasure of God who took his Soul out of his Body so he did not part with it against his will nor with any fear but with a placid Mind and composed Spirit committed himself to God In whose embraces as we may speak he expired and this it is likely the ancient Jews meant when they said His Soul departed with a kiss As to the time of his death the Scripture doth not mention the Year the Month and the Day but the Jews commonly place it in the last Month of the fortieth year after their coming out of Egypt called ADAR and the seventh day of that Month. Thus they say in Seder Olam Rabba Cap. X. and in their Kalendar which they now follow and so Patricides in Hottinger's Smegma Orientale p. 457. But our great Primate of Ireland in his Annals observes that it agrees better with the following History to place his death in the first Day of that Month and Torniellus makes the same Computation that it must be either in the latter end of the Eleventh Month or in the beginning of the Twelfth Verse 6 Ver. 6. And he buried him This refers to the words foregoing viz. the LORD who commanded his Angels to bury him So Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Haeres IX p. 28. and see p. 600. Though in the Scripture active words are very often used passively and the meaning may be only that he was buried Yet there is this to be said for the other sense that thereupon it is thought that the Contest arose between Michael the Archangel and the Devil as St. Chrysostom Theodoret Procopius Gazaeus and others take it who would not have had him buried but opposed it that he might administer an occasion to the Jews to commit Idolatry Though we never find that the Jews were given to the Worship of Reliques as our most Learned Vsser observes in his Annals See there In a Valley in the Land of Moab over against Beth-Peor This Valley was in the Land of Sihon King of the Amorites IV. 46. who had taken it from the Moabites as I noted before and was now possessed by the Israelites And Beth-Peor was a part of the Possession of Reuben XIII Josh 20. which was a place where the Temple of Peor anciently stood from whence it had its name For this Idol is not only called Baal-Peor but simply Peor XXII Josh 17. and as Beth-Baal is the Temple of Baal so Beth-Peor is the Temple of Peor as J. Ger. Vossius abserves de Orig. Progr Idol Lib. II. Cap. VII Now by all these Circumstances of his burial it appears how frivolous that Opinion of the Jews is mentioned in Jalkut out of Siphri that Moses did not really die but was translated into Heaven where he stands and Ministers before God Which conceit Josephus himself follows Lib. IV. Aniq. Cap. VIII where he saith that the having dismissed the Elders who went with him to Mount Abarim and then conversing a while with Eleazar and Joshua while he embraced them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Cloud on a sudden coming upon him he was snacht out of their sight into a certain Valley Which is not only beside but contrary to the Scripture which saith he died and was buried in the Valley And yet some of the ancient Fathers particularly St. Ambrose and St. Hilary have followed this Opinion that when Moses is said to die it doth not signifie the separation of his Soul from his Body but his Translation to a better Life See Sixtus Senensis in his Bibliotheca Lib. V. Annot. LXI where he observes this is not only against Scripture but against the sense of almost all Ecclesiastical Writers But no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day These words unto this day show that this passage was not written by Moses as Josephus and Philo imagine who say he wrote this by the Spirit of Prophecy See v. 1. The reason why his Body was concealed most think to have been lest in future times it should become an Object of their Worship So R. Levi ben Gersom Future Generations perhaps might have made a god of him because of the fame of his Miracles For do we not see how some of the Israelites erred in the brazen Serpent which Moses made And the Heresie of the Melchisedekians shows this was no vain fear as Hermannus Witzius observes Lib. I. Miscell Cap. XVII if Epiphanius may be believed who saith that in Arabia Petraea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. They thought him to be God because of his Wonders he wrought and worshipped his Image What would they have done if they had had his very Body Which he did not desire to be carried into Canaan and buried among his Ancestors as Joseph ordered concerning his Bones For he understood it is likely the mind of God to be that as he should not go over Jordan while he was alive so his Body should not be carried over when he was dead Which R. Chama thinks might have proved dangerous because in the time of their Distress especially at the Captivity of the Land the Children of Israel might have been prone to run to his Sepulchre and beg him with tears to pray for them whose Prayers had been so prevalent for them in his life time For such a piece of Superstition it seems crept in among them in latter Ages of which see Wagenseil upon the Gemara of Sota Cap. I. Sect. LII Annot II. But though no Man knew where Moses was buried when this was written yet some Maronite Shepherds we are told have pretended lately MDCLV to find out his Tomb with this Inscription in Hebrew Moses the Servant of the LORD A great stir was made about it as the same Witzius observes out of Hornius his Historia Ecclesiastica But a learned Jew he saith so confuted the Story showing it was another Moses whose Tomb they found that the Report presently vanished And the Learned Wagenseil makes some probable guesses that it was the Tomb of Moses Maimonides See Annot. VI. in Gemara Sotae Cap. I. Sect. LI. But Bartoloccius in his late Bibliotheca Rabbinica Tom. III. p. 928 c. hath made it rather probable that Hornius was imposed upon by some body in this narration there being no such Author known among the Jews as R. Jakum or Jacomus ben Gad who he saith confuted this Tale. Ver. 7. And was an hundred and twenty years old Verse 7 when he died A third part of which time wanting one Month he had been imployed in the Government of Israel as Josephus observes in the Conclusion of his Fourth Book of Antiquities His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated That is he had all the vigour of Youth remaining there being not
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Fifth Book of MOSES CALLED DEUTERONOMY BY The Right Reverend Father in GOD SYMON Lord Bishop of ELY LONDON Printed for Ri. Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Churchyard 1700. A COMMENTARY UPON DEUTERONOMY Chapter I. THE Fifth Book of MOSES CALLED DEUTERONOMY CHAP. I. THIS Book had the Name of DEUTERONOMY given it by the Greeks from the principal Scope and Design of it which was to repeat unto the Israelites before he left them the chief Laws of God which had been given them that they who were not then born when they were first delivered or were uncapable to understand them or had not sufficiently regarded them might be instructed in them and awakned to attend to them See v. 1. 5. In order to this he premises a short Narrative of what had befaln them since they came from Mount Sinai unto this time in the three first Chapters And then in the fourth urges them by a most pathetical Exhortation to the observance of those Laws which he had taught them especially the Ten Commandments with which he begins the fifth Chapter Where he makes a solemn Rehearsal of the Covenant God made with them in Horeb and what immediately followed upon the delivery of the Law by God himself from Mount Sinai And then having earnestly pressed the observation of the first Commandment in the former part of the sixth Chapter and in the latter part of it and in several Chapters that follow to the end of the eleventh reminded them of a great many things which God had done for them and given them several Cautions lest they let them slip out of their Minds and used many Arguments from several Topicks as we call them to move them to be obedient to all the other Commandments he proceeds in the twelfth Chapter and so forward to the twenty eighth to remember them of a great many other Laws besides the Ten Commandments which he had delivered to them Some of which he explains others he inforces with further Reasons and in several places adds new Laws for the greater Security of the whole particularly he orders the writing of God's Law upon Stones when they came into the Land of Canaan Chapter XXVII And then pronounces those Promises which God had made to the Obedient and his Threatnings to the Disobedient more largely and with greater force then he had done in the XXVIth of Leviticus After which he again remembers them of several wonderful Works of God for them Chapter XXIX and renews the Covenant between God and them using several Arguments to perswade them to a dutiful observance of God's Law Which he commands Chapter XXXI to be read to all the People in the conclusion of every Seventh Year that none might pretend ignorance of it And then concludes all with a most admirable Song which he orders every one to learn and with a Blessing upon the Twelve Tribes All this was done in the two last Months of the last Year of Moses his life But not all at once as plainly appears by several parts of the Book in which he writes what he delivered to them at several times Which is the reason of the Repetition of the very same thing over and over again that he might make it sink into their Minds by being often inculcated Some have been so foolish as to make this an Objection against this Book being composed by Moses But it shows their great ignorance all wise Men having ever judged it necessary to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very same things concerning the same things that they might be thoroughly understood and fixed in the memory of their Auditors and setled in their Hearts and Affections Particularly Epictetus as David Chytraeus long ago observed delivered this as a profitable Rule in all Studies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This must be known as a certain Truth that it is not easie for a Man to attain the solid knowledge of any thing unless he both read and hear the same things every day and also set himself to the practice of them This Course Moses took with the Children of Israel spending every day it is likely of the latter end of his life in calling to their mind again and again what he had taught them and the reason they had to do accordingly Verse 1. THese be the words This Book contains the words Verse 1 Which Moses spake unto all Israel All the People could not hear what he said but he ordered the Elders and Heads of the several Tribes to communicate to the whole Congregation what he delivered to them in the Audience of many of the People who were assembled with them Thus these words are commonly understood But considering the great weight of what is here said I rather think that Moses himself at several times spake what here follows in the Ears of the People See V. 1. On this side Jordan The Vulgar Latin having translated the Hebrew words beeber on the other side Jordan it hath furnished some ill disposed Minds with an Argument that Moses was not the Author of this Book For he that wrote plainly shows that he was in Canaan when he wrote it But a very little consideration would have prevented this frivolous Objection there being nothing more certain than that the Hebrew words signifie indifferently either one side or the other and may be literally translated in the passage over Jordan or as they were about to pass over it as Huetius observes and proves by plain Examples that the Hebrews have no other word to express their mind when they would say either on this side or beyond See Demonstr Evang. Propos IV. Cap. XIV To which another learned Writer since him Hermannus Witsius Lib. I. Miscel Sacr. Cap. XIV hath added several other places which evidently show that beeber is a word that indifferently belongs to either side of any place See 1 Sam. XIV 40. and must be determined by the Matter in hand to which it is to be applied And here undoubtedly it is to be rendered on this side Jordan See III. 8. In the Wilderness in the Plain In the Plain of Moab where they had remained a long while as appears from the foregoing Book XXII Numb 1. XXVI 3 63. XXXI 12. XXXIII 48 49. XXXV 1. XXXVI 13. Over against the Red Sea There is no word in the Hebrew Text for Sea and therefore the Marginal Translation is to be preferred which is over against Suph which was a place in the Country of Moab See XXI Numb 14. over against which they now lay encamped but were so far distant from the Red Sea that there can be no respect to it here Between Paran He doth not mean the Wilderness of Paran frequently mentioned in the foregoing Book for that was as remote from hence as the Red Sea but some place in the Country of Moab as Zuph was and the rest of the places which here follow And Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth
4. By Signs Which are mentioned IV Exod. 9. VII 9 10. And by Wonders This signifies all the Ten Plagues of Egypt For Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go till God had multiplied his Wonders on the Land of Egypt as we read VII Exod. 3. X. 1 2. XI 9 10. And by War This seems to relate to the Overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea where the LORD is said to fight for Israel XIV Exod. 14. XV. 3. while they which is the greatest Wonder of all were delivered without striking a stroke And by a mighty Hand and a stretched-out Arm. These are Phrases which we often meet withal when Moses speaks of their Deliverance out of Egypt III Exod. 19. VI. 6. XV. 12. and many other places And the Hebrews think that his mighty Hand particularly refers to the grievous Murrain and the Pestilence which are called the Hand of the LORD X Exod. 3 15. And his stretched-out Arm to have a particular respect to the killing of the First-born the Angel that was going to smite Jerusalem appearing with a drawn Sword and his Hand stretched out I Chron. XXI 16. And by great Terrors Wherewith the Minds of those were stuck who heard of these things XV Exod 14 15 16. Or else he means the Frights in which the Egyptians were while they remained three Days in most dismal Darkness X Exod. 23. for the conclusion of this Verse signifies that he speaks of all that the LORD their God did for them in Egypt before their Eyes Verse 35 Ver. 35. Vnto thee it was shewed This was a particular kindness to the Israelites which God never before manifested to any other Nation That thou mightest know that the LORD he is God there is none else besides him That they might believe him to be the only true God and worship none but him Which two Articles saith Maimonides More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIII that God is and that he is but One are Fundamentals of Religion which were known not only by Prophets but by every Body else Verse 36 Ver. 36. Out of Heaven he made thee to hear his Voice See XX Exod. 22. That he might instruct thee Teach them his Will which was chiefly declared in the Ten Commandments And upon Earth he shewed thee his great Fire He means either that they saw it as they stood upon the Earth or that it burnt upon the top of the Mount in their sight XXIV Exod. 17. And thou heardest his Words out of the midst of the Fire Ver. 11 12. and XX Exod. 18 19. Verse 37 Ver. 37. And because he loved thy Fathers therefore he chose their Seed after them See XV Gen. 5 6 7. And many other Places in that Book III Exod. 15 16 17. And brought them out in his sight with a mighty power For as he led them the way out of Egypt in a Pillar of Cloud and of Fire XIII Exod. 21. So when they were in danger by Pharaoh's pursuit of them he came behind them and they marched in his sight XIV Exod. 19. Out of Egypt This is mentioned in Scripture as the highest Benefit never to be forgotten by them So G. Sckickard observes in his Mischpat Hamelek Cap. III. Theorem X. That they are put in Mind of this in the Frontispiece of the Decalogue XX Exod. 2. in the Institution of Sacrifices XXII Levit. 33. in the Promise of a Blessing XXVI 13. and here in the enumeration of God's wonderful Works and afterwards in the commendation of his Love VII Deut. 8. in his Dehortation from Ingratitude VIII 14. in his Institution of the Passover XVI 6. in the Speech which the reproving Angel made to them II Judges 1. in the hope he gave them of Victory over the Midianites VI. 9. in his Answer to their Petition for a King I Sam. X. 18. and on a great many other occasions For this was Velut Fundamentum initium Reipublicae c. as another learned German speaks Gierus on IX Dan. 15. the Foundation as we may call it and the Beginning of their Commonwealth founded by God which comprehended in it abundance of Miracles far exceeding all the Power of Nature Ver. 38. To drive out Nations before thee greater Verse 38 and mightier than thou art So mighty that they frighted their Fathers from attempting the Conquest of them XIII Numb 28 29 31. To bring thee in to give thee their Land for an Inheritance as it is this day That is as he had given them a late Experiment by overthrowing the two Kings of the Amorites and giving them their Land for a possession Verse 39 Ver. 39. Know therefore this day and consider it in thy Heart that the LORD he is God in Heaven above and upon the earth and there is none else Be sensible therefore and settle this Belief in thy Heart that the LORD is the sole Governour of the whole World Verse 40 Ver. 40. Thou shalt therefore keep his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee this day c. Worship and obey him as the only way to make them and their Posterity live happily in the Land which God was about to give them That it may be well with thee and with thy Children after thee and that thou mayst prolong thy days upon the earth c. Tho' Moses speak of their long Life upon Earth yet the better sort of Jews did not set up their rest here but from this word prolong extended their hope as far as the other World For thus Maimonides saith in his Preface to Perek Chelek they were taught by Tradition to expound these Words That it may be well with thee in the World which is all good and mayest prolong thy days in the World which is all long i. e. never ends Verse 41 Ver. 41. Then Moses severed three Cities I observed in the Preface to this Book that Moses did not deliver all that is contained in this Book in one continued Speech but at several times as appears even by the beginning of the next Chapter where it is said He called all Israel and said unto them c. Which supposes that after this Preface in these four Chapters he dismissed them to consider what he had said and then some time after assembled the People again to put them in Mind of the Laws which he so earnestly pressed them to observe But between these two times after he had spoken all that is contained in these four Chapters and before he rehearsed the Decalogue he put in execution the Command of God lately given to set apart three Cities of Refuge on this side Jordan Which he here relates in the order I suppose wherein it was done On this side Jordan towards the Sun-rising On the East-side of Jordan according to what was ordered XXXV Numb 14. Ver. 42. That the Slayer might flee thither which Verse 42 should kill his Neighbour unawares c. See there v. 11 12 c. Ver. 43. Namely Bezer in the Wilderness in
Country And another Law punished this Ingratitude with Death See J. Meursius in his Themis Attica Lib. I. Cap. 2 3. where he shews That by Parents they understood not only Father and Mother but Grand-father and Grand-mother nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Great Grand-mother and Great Grand-father if they were yet alive as Isaeus tells us Orat. VII And the Ground of all these Laws was a Sence they had as Aeschines tells us That Men ought to honour their Parents as they did the Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See Sam. Petitus in Leges Atticas Lib. III. Tit. 3. Whence Hierocles calls Parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Earthly Gods And Philo upon the Decalogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Visible Gods who imitate him that is unbegotten by giving Life And accordingly next to the Precepts concerning the Worship of God Moses here places immediately the Duty owing unto Parents That thy Days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee c. These last Words are added to what God spake XX Exod. 12. as an Explication of the foregoing Whereby they are excited to Obedience by the Promise not only of a long Life but of an happy I say Obedience for that 's included in Honour as the Apostle explains it III Coloss 20. Children obey your Parents in all things Where God that is hath not commanded the contrary and where it is not inconsistent with the Publick Good which is alway to be preferred ever before the Duty that is owing to Natural Parents Insomuch that common Reason taught the Heathen that for the Good of the Society the Son is to lay aside the Reverence he should pay to his Father and the Father to pay it unto the Son that is when he is in Publick Office Thus the famous Fabius Cunctator commended his Son for making him light off from his Horse when he met him in his Consulship as Plutarch tells us And see A. Gellius L. XI Noct. Attic. Cap. I. Lib. XIII Cap. ult Lib. XIV in the beginning Ver. 17. Thou shalt not kill If a Man killed another involuntarily he was banished by the Laws of Athens from his Country for a Year But if he kill'd Verse 17 another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Demosthenes speaks out of forethought and designedly he was put to Death See Sam. Petitus Lib. VII in Leges Atticas Tit. 1. p. 508 512. Yea so detestable was this Sin accounted that even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Liveless Things such as Wood or Stone or Iron wherewith a Man was killed Draco ordered to be thrown out of their Coasts Ib. p. 523. Ver. 18. Thou shalt not commit Adultery This Verse 18 Crime was also punished with Death by the Laws of Draco Solon indeed left it to the Liberty of the Husband who caught another Man in Bed with his Wife either to kill him if he pleased or to let him redeem his Life with a Sum of Money But if after this he lived with his Wife he was infamous as Demosthenes tells us who saith she might not come publickly into their Temples If she did any Man might treat her as he pleased only not kill her So that she was so odious as to be thrown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both out of the House of her Husband and out of Holy Places of the City Nor might she go abroad with any Ornaments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the Law of Solon If she did any Body might take them away from her and tear her Clothes in pieces and beat her only not maim her in any part of her Body See the same Petitus Lib. VI. Tit. 4. Ver. 19. Neither shalt thou steal The Laws of Verse 19 Draco punished all Theft with Death Which Solon thought too severe and therefore chang'd that Punishment into making Satisfaction by restoring double yet still making it Death if any Man stole above such a Value or took any thing out of the Publick Baths and such-like places tho' of never so little Value See in the same Author Lib. VII Tit. 5. Verse 20 Ver. 20. Neither shalt thou bear false Witness against thy Neighbour There was an Action at Athens lay both against false Witnesses and him that produced them Who had a Fine set upon them and were made infamous And if they were found thrice in the same Fault 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Both they themselves and all their Posterity were made infamous As Andocides speaks See Ib. page 559. Verse 21 Ver. 21. Neither shalt thou desire thy Neighbour's Wife neither shalt thou covet thy Neighbour's House c. It is observed by some that an exact Order is observed in the delivery of these Precepts For first he places such Offences as are consummate and then those that are but begun and not perfected And in the former he proceeds from those that are most heinous unto those that are less grievous For those Offences are the greatest which disturb the Publick Order and consequently do mischief unto a great many Such are those that are committed against Governors and Rulers who are comprehended under the Name of Parents by whose Authority Humane Society is preserved And then among those which are against particular Persons those are the greatest which touch a Man's Life Next those that wrong his Family the Foundation of which is Matrimony Then those that wrong him in his Goods either directly by Stealth or more craftily by bearing False-witness Then in the last place those Sins are mentioned which are not consummate being gone no further than desire which in Exodus XX. 17. are expressed by one and the same word but here by two which we translate desire and covet Between which I know no difference unless they express higher and lower degrees of the same Sin The contrary to which is contentedness with our Portion and thankfulness to God for it which will not let us covet any thing belonging to another Man with his loss and damage Ver. 22. These Words the LORD spake unto all the Verse 22 Assembly in the Mount out of the midst of the Fire of the Clouds and of the thick Darkness XIX Exod. 16. XX. 18. This confutes the foolish Fancy of the Jewish Doctors that the People heard only the first Words of God I am the LORD thy c. thou shalt have no other Gods but me i. e. They heard him declare his Existence and his Unity but all the rest were reported to them by Moses Nothing can be more contrary to what he here saith that all these Words that is the Ten Words before mentioned were spoken to their whole Assembly See More Nevochim P. II. Cap. XXXIII With a great Voice That is so loud that it might be heard by the whole Camp And he added no more All the rest of the Commandments which follow in the XXI XXII and XXIII of Exodus were delivered to Moses alone and by him to the People according to their own desire XX Exod. 19. XXI 1.
after they had destroyed the Inhabitants Verse 11 Ver. 11. And Houses full of all good things which thou filledst not c. In this and what follows in the rest of the Verse he sets forth the great Bounty of God to them who intended to enrich them with all manner of Good Things without any Labour of their own to purchase them Verse 12 Ver. 12. Then beware lest thou forget the LORD which brought thee forth out of the Land of Egypt c. In Prosperity we are too prone to forget our Benefactors Verse 13 Ver. 13. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God and serve him Preserve an awful Sence of him in thy Mind and be constant in his Worship and Service which was never more necessary than when they enjoyed so many Blessings from him And shalt swear by his Name When there was any need for it As in making Covenants with their Neighbours or in bearing their Testimony before a Judge they were to swear only by the Name of God not by any Idol nor by the Heaven or the Earth or any thing therein for they can bear Witness to nothing See XXIII Joshua 7 8. Nor was it lawful as Maimonides observes in his Treatise called Shebuoth to joyn any other thing with the Name of God But it was all one whether a Man sware by the proper Name of God or by any of his Attributes as by the Name of him who is merciful or gracious or long-suffering c. for this is a perfect Oath See Selden L. 2. De Synedr Cap. XI N. 2. And see N. 7. concerning other Oaths Ver. 14. Ye shall not go after other Gods of the Gods of the People which are round about you This shews Verse 14 that his Intention in this Chapter is to press upon them the Observation of the First Commandment which our Saviour justly calls the Great Commandment Ver. 15. For the LORD thy God is a jealous God Verse 15 See XX Exod. 5. XXXIV Exod. 14. Among you In the Hebrew In the midst of you to observe all you do tho' never so secretly Lest the Anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee and destroy thee from off the face of the Earth For this was the most provoking of all other Sins And therefore we never read either in the Law or in the Prophets the word Charon i. e. Fury or Aph Anger or Caas Indignation or Kinah Jealousie ascribed unto God but when mention is made of Idolatry So Maimonides observes More Nevoch P. I. Cap. XXXVI Ver. 16. Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God as Verse 16 ye tempted him in Massah Never distrust God's good Providence nor murmur against him in any distress For that was the Temptation at Massah XVII Exod. 2 7. Ver. 17. You shall diligently keep the Commandments Verse 17 of the LORD your God and his Testimonies and his Statutes which he hath commanded thee As if he had said I cannot too oft press this upon you nor can you use too great care in this matter Ver. 18. And thou shalt do that which is right and Verse 18 good in the sight of the LORD that it may be well with thee As they loved themselves he charges them not to follow their own Desires which is called doing that which is good in their own Eyes but govern themselves by his Holy Will And that thou mayest go in and possess the good Land Or rather After thou hast gone in and possessed the good Land which the LORD sware unto thy Fathers For there was no doubt of their going in but only of their behaviour there after they were made so happy v. 10 11 12. Verse 19 Ver. 19. To cast out all thine Enemies from before thee as the LORD hath spoken He seems particularly to charge them to drive out the People of Canaan as God had commanded XXXIII Numb 32. For otherwise they would tempt them to forget this great Principle of their Religion that the God of Israel was the only God and intice them to serve their Idols v. 14. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And when thy Son asketh thee in time to come saying What mean the Testimonies and the Statutes and the Judgments which the LORD our God hath commanded you Abarbinel thinks that their Posterity in future Ages might observe three sorts of Precepts in the Law viz. Testimonies which in Hebrew are called Eduth which were such Constitutions as bare witness of some great thing God had done for them and preserved the Memory thereof such was the Passover And then Secondly There were Chukkim Statutes which are such Precepts the Reason of which is unknown And Thirdly Mischpatim Judgments which are such whose Reason is evident Now they might desire to know the Reason why such several Laws were given And he thinks Moses teaches them to give a distinct Answer to their Children about each of these Ver. 21. Then thou shalt say unto thy Son we were Pharaohs Bondmen in Egypt and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty Hand As if he had said Tell them the Reason why he gave us the first Verse 21 sort of Precepts particularly that about the Passover was because we were Slaves and God brought us into a State of Liberty which he would have always thankfully remembred by the observation of that Feast which testified what God wrought for us by his own Power alone The like may be said of the other two great Festivals which were to preserve the Memory of such-like Benefits Ver. 22. And the LORD shewed Signs and Wonders Verse 22 great and sore upon Egypt upon Pharaoh and all his Houshold c. Particularly slew all their First-born and spared those of the Israelites The Memory of which he ordered to be preserved by giving their First-born unto him XIII Exod. Ver. 23. And he brought us out from thence that he Verse 23 might bring us in to give us the Land which he sware to our Fathers This is the Reason Abarbinel fancies of giving them the Judgments before-mentioned God brought us out saith he to place us in this good Land and settle us here under a Government of our own Now Civil Society cannot be preserved without just Judgments and therefore that we might live in good Order God gave us these Political Laws Ver. 24. And the LORD commanded us to do all Verse 24 these Statutes to fear the LORD our God As for the third sort which are Statutes give your Children this Answer That tho' we do not know the Reason of them yet the benefit of them is manifest for they lead us to the Fear of God And nothing is so much for our Good as that both for the eternal Good of our Souls and for the long Life of our Bodies So he interprets the last Words of this Verse And so doth Maimonides For our Good always that he may preserve us alive as it is at this Day The first Words in the Hebrew are That it may be well
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
Egypt and the LORD thy God redeemed thee And did not bring them empty out of their Slavery but loaded with Silver and Gold and Raiment XII Exod. 35. By which Bounty of God to themselves they might take the best measure of their Duty to their poor Brethren when they were dismissed from Servitude Therefore I command thee this thing to day In remembrance of that great Benefit he enjoyned this Benevolence to poor Slaves Ver. 16. And it shall be if he say I will not go away Verse 16 from thee Refused to enjoy his Liberty when his six years Service was expired Because he loveth thee and thine house The Phrase in Exodus XXI 5. being Saying shall say I love my Master c. Abarbinel from thence gathers that it was necessary he should often profess how loth he was to leave his Master and his Family and make repeated Declarations of his Affection to them Because he is well with thee Lives happily Out of these words Maimonides infers that there was to be reciprocal Love between the Servant and his Master for if the Servant loved his Master yet if his Master did not love him his Ear was not bored for he could not take Content in his staying with him But these words suppose his Master's kindness to him by his good usage of him Ver. 17. Then shalt thou take an Awl and thrust it through his ear unto the door c. But first he was to bring him before the Judges that he might there in Verse 17 open Court profess the same that he had done to his Master and thereby make it appear there was no fraud or deceit in the business and that his Master did not keep him against his will contrary to this Law See XXI Exod. 6. where all this is explained And also unto thy Maid-servant thou shalt do likewise This relates only to the not sending Maid-servants away empty not to the boring their Ears if they had no mind to be freed for that was not used if we may believe the Hebrew Doctors to Maid-servants It was sufficient if they had a mind to stay with their Masters that they addicted themselves in solemn words to their Service for ever But there were many differences between a Man-servant and a Maid-servant at least in some Cases See upon XXI Exod. 7. which are explained with great nicety by the Hebrew Doctors with which I need not trouble the Reader because there is no such Slavery among us in these days Verse 18 Ver. 18. It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee It is plain by this that he returns to what he was speaking of v. 12 13 c. concerning their not letting their Servants go away empty when they had their Freedom For this was the chief thing that could seem hard to them For he hath been worth a double hired Servant to thee Who served at most only for three years and had Wages paid him all the time XVI Isaiah 14. In serving thee six years Twice as long as an hired Servant and for nothing So that considering what Wages he gave the other and how small a price perhaps they paid for him they would find themselves gainers by such Slaves and therefore should not think much to give them a Gratuity when they send them away And the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest He incourages them to hope they should be greater gainers otherways by this Charity which would procure God's Blessing upon their future Labours This Argument he had pressed twice or thrice before in this Chapter v. 4 6 10. Ver. 19. All the firstling-males that come of thy herd Verse 19 and of thy flock shalt thou sanctifie unto the LORD thy God All the first-born Males were the LORD's by a Law made at their coming out of Egypt and he gave them to his Priests for their Portion XIII Exod. 2 15. XVIII Numb 15. Thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy Bullock nor shear the firstling of thy Sheep Besides the Firstling-Males which alone were separated to the LORD there were also Firstling-Females which though they were not sanctified to him as the Males were yet were not to be employed by the Owners as the rest of their Cattle but offered as Peace-offerings to God Of which they themselves had a good share though some part of them was given to the Priests Ver. 20. Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God Verse 20 It is evident from hence that he speaks of such Female-firstlings as I mentioned in the foregoing Verse for of the Males they might not eat but they belonged entirely to the Priests Year by year At their Solemn Festivals when they were first to offer them unto God and then the Feast upon these Peace-offerings followed In the place which the LORD shall chuse thou and thy houshold With the Levites and Strangers c. whom they were to invite to these Sacred Entertainments For this is but a Repetition of the Law twice or thrice mentioned before XII 6 7 c. 17 18 26. XIV 23. and upon this occasion here again inculcated because it was of exceeding great moment to preserve them in the Worship and Service of God alone Verse 20 Ver. 20. And if there be any blemish therein as if it be lame or blind or have any ill blemish This is another Reason why he mentions these Feasts again that he might admonish them what to do with these First-lings if there were any blemish in them which made them unfit for Sacrifice These blemishes he had spoken of in XXII Levit. 21 22 24. But here adds the Lame to those there named Which the Prophet Malachi also mentions and so do the Heathens as unacceptable unto God I Mal. 8. Thou shalt not sacrifice it to the LORD thy God No not to make such a charitable Feast at the Sanctuary Verse 22 Ver. 22. Thou shalt eat it within thy gates It was free for them to eat it at home though it is very probable God expected they should invite the Levites and the Strangers the Fatherless and Widows to partake of it as they did of the third Tithe XIV 29. because if it had been without blemish it must have been so imployed at the Sanctuary The unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike Whereas if it had been sacrificed at their Feasts only the clean could have eaten of it As the Roe-buck and the Hart. See XII 15 22. Verse 23 Ver. 23. Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water He takes all occasions to mention this because it was designed to preserve them free from Idolatry See XII 16 23 24. CHAP. XVI Chapter XVI Verse 1. OBserve the Month of Abib Which God Verse 1 by a special order made the beginning of their Year See XII Exod. 2. XIII 4. XXXIV 18. And keep the Passover unto the LORD thy
as a Judge or Governour And Jeremiah is acknowledged by Abarbinel himself to be inferiour to Isaiah For though in his Preface to his Commentary upon Jeremiah he mentions Fourteen things wherein he was like unto Moses and saith he prophesied just Forty years as Moses did yet in his Commentary upon the lesser Prophets he prefers Isaiah before them all and Censures the rudeness of Jeremiah's Language in many things preferring Ezekiel to him So little do these Doctors agree in their Interpretation of this Prophecy which can belong to none of their Prophets which succeeded Moses who were all much inferiour to him until He came who perfectly resembled him but was much superior to him See v. 18. And thus the ancient Jews understood this Prophecy For though Maimonides only saith the Messiah should be indued with Wisdom greater than Solomon's and should equal their Master Moses yet those before him proceeded a great deal further This being a common saying among them which Abarbinel himself remembers in his Commentary upon the small Prophets He shall be exalted above Abraham lifted up above Moses and higher than the Angels of the Ministry Nor is the Cabbalistical observation mentioned in Baal-Hatturim to be quite neglected which is that this Verse begins and ends with the Letter Nun which is the numeral Letter for Fifty importing that to the Prophet here promised should be opened the fifty Gates of Knowledge forty nine of which only were opened to Moses And that this Verse also consists of ten words to signifie that they were to obey this Prophet no less than the ten Commandments Which observation it must be confessed is weakly grounded but contains a most illustrious Truth and shows that they believed Moses here speaks of the Messiah Vnto him shall ye hearken As they had engaged themselves to do it will appear from the following words Verse 16 Ver. 16. According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the Assembly saying Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD c. So we read XX Exod. 19. where they made this request unto Moses saying Speak thou with us and we will hear but let not God speak with us lest we die In which words the whole Multitude bound themselves solemnly to hear the words of the LORD being delivered not immediately from his own mouth but by Moses as is more fully expressed in this Book V Deut. 27 28 29. Where God highly commends this good Resolution in them as Moses here observes again in the next Verse Verse 17 Ver. 17. And the LORD said unto me they have well spoken that which they have spoken He approved their desire and resolved not to speak to them any more as he did from mount Sinai with a voice out of the Fire and Cloud but by Moses himself while he lived and afterward by one like to Moses as it here follows Ver. 18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren These words seem to have been spoken to Moses by God when they desired God would not speak to them any more immediately by himself but by a Mediator Then God was pleased to promise them a great deal more than they desired which was to raise up another Prophet like to Moses who should acquaint them more fully with his Mind and Will in as familiar a manner as Moses did without striking any such terror into them as they were in at the giving of the Law though the words of this Prophet came from the mouth of God himself In which two things the Israelites excelled all other Nations i. e. in that they had such an excellent Law delivered by Moses which was to be bettered by an everlasting Covenant made by this Prince of the Prophets In respect of both as the same Dr. Jackson expresses it the name of Southsayer or Sorcerer was not to be named in Israel as they were in the Nations that knew not God much less expected such a Mediator In whom the Spirit of Life should dwell as plentifully as Splendor doth in the Body of the Sun from whose fulness e're he visibly appeared in the World all other Prophets were illuminated So that Moses himself and all the Prophets that followed him were but as Messengers sent from God to solicit his People to preserve their Allegiance free from all commerce or compact with familiar Spirits until the Prince of Glory came in Person to visit them and dwell among them Like unto thee This is well explained by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a second Law-giver as Moses was For in saying not simply he would raise them up a Prophet but like unto thee it must signifie saith he that this Prophet should be a Law-giver as well as Moses which none of the Prophets were till our Saviour came Neither Isaiah nor Jeremiah were the Makers of Laws but only called upon them to observe the Law of Moses Whereas when the LORD Jesus came he gave Laws to all the World and those far superiour to the Laws of Moses Who only said Thou shalt not commit Adultery but our LORD saith I say unto you ye shall not lust And instead of Thou shalt not kill he saith Be not angry with thy brother c. Whence it was that they who heard him were astonished at his Doctrine and said that he spake not as the Scribes who were expounders of the Law but as one that had authority that is power to ordain and enact Laws and not only to explain those that were already written Lib. I. Demonstr Evang. Cap. VII Lib. III. Cap. II. Lib. IX p. 443 c. See also what Joh. Wagenseil hath said upon these words in his Annot. in Lipman Carm. Memoriale p. 548. And will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him Reveal the whole Mind and Will of God XII John 49 50. For he was herein like to Moses though far superiour to him that he was intimately acquainted with God's Counsels being in the bosom of the Father I John 18. And confirmed all that he said to be from God by Miracles and Wonders and Signs far more mighty than those of Moses and more in number than had been wrought by all the Prophets from the beginning of the World Particularly he fed Multitudes with a little Food which made the People cry out This is of a truth that Prophet which should come into the World VI John 14. but above all this gave them that Bread from Heaven of which the Manna which Moses gave them was but a shadow as he took occasion to show the People upon their admiration of that miraculous Feast he had made for them with five Barley Loaves and two small Fishes For he himself was that Bread of Life who nourished Mens Souls with the Word of Eternal Life which he had in himself as he showed by his Resurrection from the Dead which he himself predicted
pleasure of the Conquerour but beg the Punishment may be mitigated by Mercy and Clemency Namely the Hittites and the Amorites the Canaanites and the Perizzites the Hivites and the Jebusites as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee He distinctly mentions the Nations which were to be utterly destroyed that this severity might be extended no further And so he had done before VII 1. where he mentions Seven Nations though here are only Six the Gergasites being omitted The reason of which Maimonides in Hilcoth Melachim thinks to be that they upon the first Summons of Joshua fled the Country into Africa and therefore are not named in IX Josh 1 2. among those that gathered themselves together to fight against Israel But I take the true reason of this to be that the Gergasites were a People mixed among the rest and did not live in a separate part of the Country by themselves but that they opposed Joshua as well as others and were delivered into his hand appears from XXIV Josh 11. Now this looks like a great Cruelty to kill so many Nations till we consider who the People were that God commanded to be utterly extirpated viz. most abominable Idolaters who offered their Children to Moloch as a piece of pious Worship Magicians Witches Necromancers and guilty of all those filthy Lusts mentioned in XVIII Lev. For which Crimes God thought them not fit to live any longer upon the face of the Earth and therefore commanded them to be utterly destroyed in this War which was undertaken by his order and called therefore the War of the LORD And so was that against Sihon and Og who were likewise Amorites and upon that score rooted out by God's order XXI Numb ult II Deut. 34. For it was Mercy to others not to suffer such a wicked Generation to live Verse 18 Ver. 18. That they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods Here is the great reason given of the forenamed severe Execution that if they had been spared they would have infected the Israelites with their filthy Idolatry Which some make an Argument why Peace was not to be proclaimed to these Nations v. 10. because they were so wicked that on no terms it was fit to suffer them to live But they that object this against what was before said forget or do not consider that the great Condition of Peace with them was that they should renounce their Idolatry and then there was no such danger in sparing them And this so settled in the opinion of the ancient Jews that after they had taken a City they thought upon these terms there was room for Mercy So the Book Siphri upon these very words lest they teach you to do after all their abominations From whence it is to be observed saith that Author if they repented the Israelites might let them live And so R. Solomon himself It is to be understood that if they repented and became Proselytes it was lawful to receive them So should you sin against the LORD your God Both by suffering them to live and imitating them in their wickedness Verse 19 Ver. 19. When thou shalt besiege a City a long time in making war against it to take it thou shalt not destroy the Trees thereof by forcing an Ax against them for thou mayest eat of them and thou shalt not cut them down It is very plain that he speaks of Fruit-trees such as bare Apples Olives Dates c. which were to be preserved both in War and in Peace except in a few Cases In War if the Enemy made advantage of them for their Archers to lurk and shelter themselves behind them by which the Israelites were much annoyed then they think they might be cut down to shorten the Siege And in Peace if they did not bring forth Fruit or if the Fruit would not be so profitable as the Wood would be for building and other uses or if they hindred the growth of better Trees in all these Cases they might be cut down as the Jewish Doctors resolve Who when they please mind the reason of a Law and not the bare words insomuch that they extend this Law to a great many other things which they say might not be destroyed if they were useful and profitable No Houses for Instance nor Garments nor Houshold-stuff nor were they to stop up Fountains c. See Selden Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XV. and Guil. Schickardus in Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVIII For the Tree of the field is man's life The word Life is not in the Hebrew Text but we add it to make out the sense In which we follow many good Authors among the Jews particularly Aben-Ezra who observes many such elliptical i. e. concise Forms of Speech in Scripture As in 1 Sam. XVI 20. where an Ass of Bread is an Ass loaded with Bread So here the Tree is a Man i. e. the Life or Support of Man Just as XXIV 6. it is said a Man should not take the upper or neither Milstone to pledge ki nephesh hu because it is his Life i. e. that whereby he gets his livelyhood But there are a great many who translate the words by way of Interrogation and the Hebrew will bear it and joyning them with those that follow make this the sense Is the Tree of the Field a Man that it should come against thee in the Siege So the Vulgar the Greek and the Arabick Translation and the Chaldee Paraphrast and Josephus as Mr. Selden observes Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XII As much as to say they need not fear any danger from the Trees as if they were Souldiers that could fight against them And if this sense do not seem dilute as some have censured it there is no need of rendring the words by way of Interrogation but only of repeating the word not out of the foregoing words in this manner Thou shalt not cut them down for the Tree of the Field is not a Man c. Of this there are many Examples as Glassius and our Gataker have shown And thus R. Bechai among the Jews expounds these words and the famous Abarbinel who thus glosses upon them It is not decent to make War against Trees who have no hands to fight with thee but against Men only And this sense Grotius follows Lib. III. de Jure Belli Pacis Cap. XII Sect. II. where he produces Philo for this opinion and Josephus who says If Trees could speak they would cry out that it was unjust that they who were no cause of the War should suffer the mischiefs of it And thus Onkelos translates these words and those that follow For the Tree of the Field is not as a Man that it should come against thee in the Siege that is they had no cause to fear Trees and therefore should not hurt them But this is a reason against cutting down any Trees whatsoever whereas Moses
and Bochartus was of opinion that it is not pity towards Birds which is intended in this Law but kindness to Mankind whom God intended by this usage of other Creatures to form unto gentleness and commiseration towards one another But others I think have more truly determined that this is a merciful Constitution with respect to Birds as well as Men. It being a sufficient Affliction as Maimonides calls it to the old one to lose her young and it being unreasonable also that Men should consider only their own present interest without regard to Posterity to whom the breed ought to be continued by letting the old one go free Unto which those Verses commonly ascribed to Phocylides have respect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Let no Man take all the Birds together out of a Nest but let the Mother go that thou mayest have young ones again of her Ver. 7. Thou shalt in any wise let the dam go and take Verse 7 the young to thee For there is a great deal of ill nature in it to take away the Liberty and the Life of any Creature from whom we have received a benefit as Bonfrerius glosses upon these words That it may be well with thee and that thou mayest prolong thy days Some of the Jews from these words have fancied that the observation of this single Precept was of such great value as to procure for them even forgiveness of sins and a long life Which is such a foolish conceit that it makes all other Precepts unnecessary The plain meaning is that God would reward them for their kind usage even of brute Creatures if other Vertues were not wanting such as Charity towards their poor Neighbours And so the Mischna in the Conclusion of the Tract called Cholin discourses very well If in a light Precept concerning a thing which is scarce worth a farthing the Law says that it may be well with thee and thou mayest prolong thy days how much more may this be expected in the weightier things of the Law Ver. 8. When thou buildest a new house then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof The Jews I think are a little too curious in setting a Mark upon the Verse 8 word thy fancying he saith not simply the Roof but thy Roof to except the Temple and the Synagogues and Schools from this Rule which were no private Man's House but belonged to the whole Congregation They say indeed the Temple had Battlements but not for necessity but for Ornament because the Roof of the Temple was not flat as the Roof of another House was For no Body walkt upon the Temple as they did upon their own Houses to take the Air and discourse together or to meditate and pray in little Closets they had there which made it necessary to have these Battlements of three foot and a half high as the Jews say to prevent any Man's falling down when he did not attend but was thinking of some other thing See Constant L'Empereur in his Annotations on Codex Middoth p. 160. That the Roofs of their Houses were flat which was the ground of this Precept we have many proofs in the Scripture For hither Rahab brought the Spies and covered them with the Stalks of Flax which she laid upon them II Josh 6. Here Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the House 1 Sam. IX 25. David also was walking upon the Roof of his Palace when he saw Bathsheba washing her self 2 Sam. XI 2. And in the same place Absolom caused a Tent to be spread that he might go in to his Fathers Concubins in the sight of all Israel XVI 22. See also XV Isa 3. XXII 1. and in the New Tastament X Acts 9. Nor was it the manner of the Hebrews only but of the Greeks and Romans also to make the Roofs of their Houses so that they might walk upon them and stand there to see any Publick Show or take the Air as Is Casaubon shows in a multitude of Instances Lib. IV. in Athenaeum Cap. XII where he observes also out of Pliny and Seneca that the Roman Houses wanted these Battlements which Moses here ordered in this Law By all which we may easily understand those places in the Gospel that speak of proclaiming things on the House top c. X Matth. 27. V Luke 19. That thou bring not blood upon thine house if any man fall from thence And be killed by the fall For his neglect being the cause of his death it made him guilty before God of his Blood and liable to be punished by the Judges for slighting so profitable an Institution as this is Which the Jews extend to a studious care about every thing that might bring a Man's Life in danger For examples sake they might not keep a mad Dog nor set up a broken Ladder in their House c. as L'Empereur observes upon Bava kama Cap. V. Ver. 9. Thou shalt not sow thy Vineyard with divers Verse 9 seeds What he had said concerning their Fields XIX Levit. 19. he now says of their Vineyards which they were not to sow with Seeds of a diverse kind For this was an idolatrous Custom as the reason given against it plainly shows This Maimonides saith he found in a Book of the Zabij and in one Rabbi Josiah who taught That these three things Wheat Barley and Grapes dried in the Sun should be sown together in the Grounds with one and the same Cast of the Hand Which was so sensless a thing that he could not but think they learnt it from the ways of the Amorites as his words are that is from the wicked Idolaters of the Country to which the Israelites were going For Wheat being sown properly at one season of the year and Barley at another and a Vineyard being an improper place for the growth of either of them this Custom could not have its original either from God or from Man but from the Devil the Author of Confusion who taught them this uncouth Rite in honour of Ceres perhaps and Bacchus whom they joyned in the same Act of Worship Lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy Vineyard be defiled If the Israelites had followed this Custom it would have made both the Corn and the Grapes that sprung up from such Seed impure because polluted by Idolatry the very smell of which God would not have to remain among the Israelites as Maimonides speaks in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXVII See Dr. Spencer in his very Learned Work de Leg. Ritual Hebr. Lib. II. Cap. XVIII Every one also knows that it was unlawful for the Israelites to eat any of the Fruits of the Earth till the First-fruits of them had been offered unto God which would not have been accepted by him of such things as these that were expresly forbidden by his Law and consequently the whole Crop became unclean to them and might not be used by them Verse
Ver. 8. Take heed in the plague of Leprosie that thou observe diligently This was the highest legal Uncleanness and therefore the greatest Caution was to be used to prevent its Contagion And do according to all that the Priests the Levites They were constituted by the Law the sole Judges whether a Man had the Leprosie or no and were to order his Separation from others if he had and frequently make inspection whether it spread or was at a stand c. See the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Chapters of LEVITICVS where there are Laws about Houses and Garments as well as Persons infected with this Disease by the Hand of God as the Jews understand it Shall teach you To teach in this place signifies to declare the Obligation of the Law by the Judges of it the Priests the Levites Thus Jehosaphat is said to have sent his Princes to teach in the Cities of Judah and with them he sent Levites and Priests 2 Chron. XVIII 18. where R. Solomon notes that it was the business of the Priests and Levites to teach and instruct as is here written in this place which he quotes and the Princes went with them that none might disobey them but be constrained by their Authority to do according to their command See Mr. Thorndike in his Religious Assemblies Chap. II. p. 22. where he observes that in LEVITICUS direction is given to the Priests how to proceed in judging Leprosies but no Provision made till now that the People should stand to their Judgment They who imagine that the Priest had the care of Lepers as their Physicians forget that no other diseased Persons are ordered to repair to them which is a sign they did not pretend to cure them but only to preserve others from being defiled by them and to do what was necessary for their cleansing when they were healed by God As I command them so shall ye observe to do They were so to observe the Priests as to mark what God commanded and accordingly obey them not against but according to his command Ver. 9. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Verse 9 Miriam by the way after that ye were come forth out of Egypt This seems to be mentioned that they might not think much to be shut up seven days when they were but suspected to have the Leprosie and seven days more to make farther trial and to be put out of the Camp when it appeared plainly they had this Disease XIII Levit. 4 5 45 46. Since so great a Person as Miriam was excluded so long from the Society of God's People XII Numb 15. And this may be also lookt upon as an Admonition to take care lest they spoke Evil of Dignities which brought this Punishment on Miriam or disobeyed the Commands of the Priests which might bring the like or some other Judgment upon them Verse 10 Ver. 10. When thou dost lend thy brother any thing thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge This was a very merciful provision for the Poor whose Houses he would have so priviledged that no Man might enter into them without their consent and there chuse what he pleased for the Security of his Debt But he was to take what the Borrower could best spare Verse 11 Ver. 11. Thou shalt stand abroad Keep without door And the Man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee So the Debtor not the Creditor was to chuse what Pledge he would give For he best knew what he could with most convenience to himself part withal and if it was sufficient the Lender had reason to be satisfied with it Verse 12 Ver. 12. And if the Man be poor thou shalt not sleep with his pledge But restore it before Night Which is to be understood of such things as were necessary for the preservation of his Life or Health as the following words demonstrate Verse 13 Ver. 13. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the Sun goeth down that he may sleep in his own raiment And not to be forced to borrow of others a necessary Covering to defend him from the Cold and not be able perhaps to procure it See XXII Exod. 26 27. which Laws seems to have been intended to keep them from taking any pledge of a very poor Man For to what purpose should they every Morning fetch a pledge and every Evening carry it back again which would only create them a great deal of trouble And bless thee Pray God to bless thee And it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God Procure thee a Blessing from God who will esteem it an Act of great Mercy which is often called by the name of Righteousness in the Holy Books CXII Psalm 9. X Prov. 2 c. Nay such like actions are properly called tzedekah or righteousness according to the opinion of Maimonides who observes More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LIII that this word doth not meerly signifie giving to every Man his own For when a Man pays the Hireling his wages or a Debtor pays his Creditor that is not called tzedekah but what a Man doth out of pure love to Vertue and Goodness as when a Man cures a poor Wretch of his wounds is properly called by that name From whence it is said concerning the restoring of a poor Man's pledge it shall be to thee for righteousness That is saith Dr. Hammond in his Practical Catechism that degree of Mercy which the Law required of every Jew without which he could not be accounted righteous but there was a degree of Bounty beyond this called chusidah which was an excess of Righteousness or Goodness Ver. 14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant Verse 14 Either by putting more work upon him than he is able to do or by detaining his Wages when it is done The latter of these is most properly here denoted as Const L'Empereur observes out of D. Kimchi who in his Book of Roots saith the difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the word here and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not lye in this that the former signifies to defraud the latter to take away by violence but the former signifies to detain by force and the other to take away by force what belongs to another And for the proof of it alledges this place in Deuteronomy which he thus translates Thou shalt not detain by force the wages of the hireling Which is expressed more clearly III Malachi 5. Annot. in Bava kama Cap. IX Sect. VII p. 247. That is poor and needy And therefore the more to be pitied and not oppressed either by giving him less Wages than another Man when he ought rather to have greater or by keeping back his hire beyond the time wherein it ought to be paid For as the ancient Lawyers say Minus solvit qui tempore minus solvit as it is observed by Grotius upon V James 4. Whether he be of thy brethren or
thousand of which perished in this barbarous manner Parents durst not mourn for their Children nor Children sigh for their Parents when they saw them haled to the place of Torment so that their hearts no doubt were ready to break with Grief and Sorrow In short Sic eos metus exanimaverat ut vivi non multum à mortuorum similitudine distarent Fear had so dispirited them that the living in their Aspect did not much differ from the dead Which words of Osorius in his fourth Book de Rebus Emanuelis our Dr. Jackson who relates this sad Story out of him looks upon as a Paraphrase upon these words of Moses though Osorius did not think of them I will give thee a trembling heart and failing of the eyes and sorrow of mind There are those who by a trembling heart understand the Terrors of an Evil Conscience So D. Chytraeus p. 131. And by failing of the eyes may be understood the constant disappointment of their Hopes wherewith they were sometimes fed by false Messiahs in several Ages Which disappointment bred great sorrow of Mind when after earnest expectation of some Good the quite contrary came upon them Ver. 66. And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee Verse 66 That is it should be doubtful whether they should live or die the next moment As it manifestly happened in the forenamed Massacre when they durst not fetch a sigh and yet could hardly avoid it at the sight of their Parents or Childrens Tortures for fear they should suffer the same before the Breath was out of their tortured Bodies And thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of life So it was then none of them knowing who would be next seized in those three days Butchery And so it was in some of their Banishments which they were told should be the best remedy for the evils impending over them as the Author of Schebet Juda speaks who tells us Sect. XXIII that the reason which some Princes gave for their Expulsion out of their Territories was to prevent their being torn in pieces by the People who were most furiously set against them Ver. 67. And in the morning thou shalt say would Verse 67 God it were even That they might not see those miserable Spectacles which they hoped would end in the night when Men went to rest And at even thou shalt say would God it were morning Being afraid of unseen Dangers to which the Night might give an opportunity or that they might not see their way when they fled by Sea and Land from one Country to another as they were forced to do very often For Abarbinel in his Commentary upon XL Isaiah 11. reckons up four universal Banishments out of the Countries where they lived The first out of England the next out of France the third out of Asia Germany Tuscany Lumbardy and Savoy and the last out of Spain when he himself was one of those who were constrained to leave that Country and knew not whither to go He hath given us a lively description of that Calamity like to which he saith none had ever befaln them since they were banished their own Country in his Preface to his Commentary upon the Book of the Kings which he wrote the very next Year after their Expulsion 1493. and the Author of Schebet Juda hath transcribed in his own words A Decree was made and proclaimed publickly that all the Jews should either change their Religion or quit the Country in three Months time Abarbinel had then a place in the Court where he petitioned the King and besought his Ministers and Counsellors to revoke the Edict and be content with their Estates which they offered to him but all in vain For Three hundred thousand old and young Men and Women and he among the rest went away on foot upon one day not knowing whither to go Some went into Portugal others into Navar where they conflicted with many Calamities For some became a Prey or perished by Famine and Pestilence And therefore others committed themselves to the Sea hoping to find a quiet Seat in some other Countries But on the Sea they met with new Disasters for many were sold as Slaves when they came on any Coast many were drowned many burnt in the Ships which were set on fire in short all suffered the just Punishment of God the Avenger as he speaks For after all this a Plague came and swept away the rest of these miserable Wretches who were hated by all Mankind so that all that vast number perished by one Calamity or other except a very few He that would see more of the woful Miseries of this People may look into Schebet Juda Sect. LIII where he shows what befel those who went to seek new Habitations in the Kingdom of Fess where they lived a long time upon Grass and eat its very Roots and then died and their Bodies lay exposed none being so charitable as to bury them For the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see The one of these seems to refer to their dreadful apprehensions in the Night and the other to the lamentable Spectacles they beheld in the day And the simple meaning of the former part of the Verse may be that they should be weary of Life having no Comfort either Day or Night Ver. 68. And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt Verse 68 again The Hierusalem Targum translates it The WORD of the LORD shall bring thee back again He that is who conducted them out of Egypt in a glorious Cloud would punish them for their foul Offences against him by bringing them again into Bondage there This was first fulfilled after the Desolation made by Titus when there was as I observed before v. 62. above Ninety thousand carried Captive and many of them transported into Egypt as Josephus relates in the conclusion of the sixteenth Chapter of his Seventh Book concerning the War of the Jews And here Manasseh ben Israel hath a very pertinent observation that Vespasian transported them into many and various Regions but Egypt is only here named the more to reproach the Jews as if he had said Ye shall be carried into that Land as Captives out of which you came in a triumphant manner Lib. III. de Termino vitae Sect. 3. Which may incline one to think that he was of the same mind with our Dr. Jackson who observing how cruelly they were used here in England and many other Countries concludes that this Island and every place of Europe wherein their Condition of Life hath been more hard and burdensome than their Forefathers was in Egypt may be said to be that Egypt into which God threatens here to bring them in Ships And indeed we do not read of their being carried into Egypt after Vespasian's time though it is set down here as a Punishment to come upon them after a long train of other Miseries
City that apostatized unto it XIII 5 6 c. 12 13 c. And their negligence in doing their duty in this particular made Idolatry spread among them to their utter ruin But these words may be understood as a further answer to such Enquiries as that v. 24. In which if Men persisted and still askt But why doth God thus punish his own People with such unusual Severity when there are many Idolatrous Nations far worse than they who continue still in their own Land and are not thus rooted out Moses bids them silence such Demands and rest satisfied in this that we cannot give an account of such things as God hath not revealed particularly why he punishes some People when he spares others who are as bad but must mind our own duty which he hath plainly revealed unto us That is as Moses concludes this Chapter to do after all his Commandments which he hath given us in his Law believing he will greatly reward the obedient and terribly punish one time or other all those that transgress it There may be also a more obvious sense of these words if we translate them as some great Men have done The secrets of the LORD our God are revealed to us and to our Children Thus Onkelos whose Judgment is very valuable which Grotius follows and before him Forsterus and Paulus Fagius represents it as a commodious sense and makes it the same with the words of the Psalmist CXLVII 20. He hath not dealt so with any Nation Chapter XXX c. For this was a peculiar favour to the Jews that those things which God before kept secret in his own breast he now manifested to them that they might know how to order their lives so as to please him But this made them liable to be punished more grievously than all other People if they did not observe his Will which he most graciously discovered to them And if we could give any credit to the Jews who say that all words in the Bible that have extraordinary Points upon them of which there are but ten in the Pentateuch and these words lanu ulebenu to us and our Children are the last of them denote something peculiar and extraordinary I should think that they relate to the Revelation to be made by Jesus Christ the great Prophet promised to them Chapt. XVIII unto which if they did not give heed the most dreadful Punishments would be inflicted on them as we see they have been for many Ages and are not yet ended CHAP. XXX Verse 1 Verse 1. AND it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee the Blessing and the Curse which I have set before thee God at the first bestowed great and singular Blessings upon them but when they grew so insensible of his Mercy as to violate the Covenant he had made with them then he sent his Curses which he had threatned upon them Which were compleated in their Expulsion out of the good Land which he had given them especially in their last Expulsion by the Romans which was rather an Extirpation And thou shalt call to mind In the Hebrew Bring back to thy heart as we observe in the Margin of 1 Kings VIII 47. where there is the very same phrase and there translated shall bethink thy self that is reflect seriously both upon the Blessings and Curses and consequently consider the truth of God in fulfilling both In which consideration Repentance and Conversion to God begins See XVIII Ezek. 28. Among all the Nations whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee Where they could not chuse but often think of all the Blessings they had enjoyed in their own Land and might have still enjoyed if they had not been disobedient and all the Curses which had befaln them till they were driven from thence and had pursued them ever since See XXVI Levit. 40 c. IV Deut. 29 30 c. Ver. 2. And shall return unto the LORD thy God Verse 2 and shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy Children with all thine heart and with all thy soul Repentance was compleated by forsaking their Idols and returning to the Worship of the LORD their God alone and by obeying all the rest of his Commands and teaching their Children to do the same and all this with sincerity of heart This they did in some measure after they were carried Captive to Babylon since which time we read nothing of their Idolatry But they fell into other sins which stopt their Ears to that great Prophet the LORD Christ when he came to them for which they are punished to this day and will be till they repent and obey him Ver. 3. Then the LORD thy God will turn thy Captivity That is bring those that were carried Captive back again to their own Land Thus the word Verse 3 Captivity is used XIV Psal 7. IV Ephes 8. And have compassion upon thee These words express the Spring of all their Happiness viz. the Divine Compassion in pardoning their sins which had been very provoking And will return and gather thee This is the effect of his Compassion in their Restitution and Recollection again into one Body after their Dispersion From all the Nations whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee This was fulfilled in part when they returned from Babylon for then they who were scattered in other Countries flockt again to them And will be more compleatly fulfilled when they shall believe on our blessed Saviour Verse 4 Ver. 4. And if any of thine be driven out unto the uttermost parts of Heaven from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee and from thence will he fetch thee Unto this Promise Nehemiah plainly alludes in his Prayer to God to prosper his endeavours for the Restoration of Jerusalem I Nehem. 8 9. And finding the truth of it confirmed by the King 's gracious Concession to him he went about the work though one who was accounted a Prophet yea several of the like quality disswaded him from the Enterprize as likely to prove dangerous to his Person VI. 10 11 12 c. Ezra also tells us how Cyrus made a Proclamation throughout all his Kingdom which was very large That all the Jews might return if they pleased into their own Country I Ezra 1 4. And see VIII Zachariah 7 8. And though in their last dispersion by the Romans they be far more scattered and into more distant Regions than they were in the Babylonian Captivity according to Moses his threatning XXVIII of this Book 64. yet if they did now consider the Cause of it and lay to heart their Sin in crucifying the LORD Christ no doubt God would have Compassion on them and wonderfully restore them For the Jews themselves apply this place and have long done so to their present Condition being of Opinion that God hath appointed a prefixed time in his own mind though he hath not declared it when he
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
set up his Tabernacle with Men and dwell with them and they shall be his People and he will be their God XX Revel 3. which I mention because this part of the Prophecy reaches unto the last times and is not yet all fulfilled Thus this famous Song concludes which as the Jews reckon consists of Seventy Verses each of which contains two distinct and entire Sentences and as they fancy are a Compendium of the whole Law of Moses Nay some of them such are the idle Conceits of this Nation think this Hymn is so perfect a Prophecy that it contains in it the Names of all the Men in the World which they undertake to find and by that Versicle where it is to tell what Fortune he whose Name they seek shall have in the World Thus instead of observing seriously what Moses foretold would certainly befal themselves their Superstition and hardness of heart have led them to vain Conjectures concerning other Men. See Jo. Wagenseil upon Sota p. 164 c. where he saith a Jew undertook to show him his Name in this Song which fell out in a Verse that signified Prosperity to him And since him Martinus Mauritius in his Book de Sortitione Hebraeorum Cap. XVI Sect. 3 4 5. Ver. 44. And Moses came and spake all the words of Verse 44 this Song in the ears of the people The very same that is said before he spake this Song XXXI 30. and is now repeated at the Conclusion of it to express his Fidelity in his Office to the very last He and Hoshea the Son of Nun. Who was now his Assistant in this Work as he was designed to be his Successor after his death He is commonly called Joshua but Oshea was his Name at the first XIII Numb 8. Ver. 45. And Moses made an end of speaking all Verse 45 these words to all Israel When he had made an end of speaking them then he added what follows Ver. 46. And he said unto them set your hearts unto Verse 46 all the words which I testifie among you this day Apply your Minds to press upon your selves the observation of all these things For this Expression is a little more than letting them be in their heart VI. 6. or laying them up in their heart XI 18. For they were so to retain the remembrance of them as to attend unto them and consider them Which ye shall command your Children to observe to do This necessary duty of instructing their Children is often pressed IV. 10. VI. 7. XI 19. because without this care their Religion would soon be lost but by this means might be preserved and propagated to all Generations All the words of this Law Which they might be certain was delivered by God to Moses there being as many Witnesses of God's Presence with him as there were Men in their Nation But he had seen so many instances of their unbelief that he uses all the ways manners and forms as Pellicanus observes that he could think of to urge them to obedience By delivering them Tables of their Laws written by God himself by Books by Pillars by Blessings Cursings Obtestations Threatnings long Exhortations Songs Phylacteries and other Ceremonies c. which he continued to do as long as he had breath and was able to speak that they and their Posterity might be happy Verse 47 Ver. 47. For it is not a vain thing for you You shall not imploy your diligence in this matter unprofitably The Jews upon these words have founded a Maxim which Maimonides often mentions That every Precept hath its end and use which though they do not appear to us are grounded upon strong Causes and Reasons More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXVI and L. The design for instance of many Ceremonial Laws cannot now be fully discerned because they were instituted directly contrary to the idolatrous Rites of the Zabij which are long since utterly abolished and but imperfectly recorded in those ancient Authors that speak of them Because it is your life The means to make you an happy People Here are two benefits saith R. Isaac which are promised by the observation of this Law a Spiritual and a Corporal The Spiritual in these words and the Corporal in the next ye shall prolong your days c. And he puts the Spiritual first though among all Corporal Blessings this of long Life be the chief Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XVIII And through this thing By teaching your Children to observe to do all that is commanded in this Law You shall prolong your days in the Land whither you go over Jordan to possess it Have the great Blessing of a long Life in all manner of Happiness which your Posterity shall enjoy for many Generations in the Land of Canaan By which it appears that nothing else but Contempt of this Law could have ejected them out of this Country Ver. 48. And the LORD spake unto Moses that self Verse 48 same day Immediately after he had ended the foregoing Song and given them this Admonition at the Conclusion of it Vre 49. Get thee up into this Mountains Abarim Verse 49 Which he had pointed him unto before and told him what he doth now XXVII Numb 12. Vnto Mount Nebo Abarim was a ridge of Hills whereof Nebo was one See there upon XXVII Numb 2. Which is in the Land of Moab that is over against Jericho This is a more particular Description of the Site of this Mountain than he gave before in the Book of Numbers Behold the Land of Canaan which I give unto the Children of Israel for a possession Which he might easily do from the highest part of the Mountain called Pisgah III Deut. 27. Ver. 50. And die in the Mount whither thou goest up Verse 50 After he had taken a view of the Land every way And be gathered unto thy People To Abraham Isaac and Jacob. This signifies saith R. Isaac that he should be associated and joyned to the Souls of the just who are called his People For the People of Moses were not buried in Mount Abarim and therefore he doth not speak of gathering his Body to their Bodies but of his Soul to their Souls Chissuk Emuna P. I. Cap. XI Chapter XXXIII As Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered unto his People See Numb 24 28. XXXIII 38. Ver. 51. Because ye trespassed against me among the Verse 51 Children of Israel c. Rebelled against his Commandment as he speaks XXVII Numb 14. Because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the Children of Israel XX Numb 12. XXVII 14. Ver. 52. Yet thou shalt see the Land before thee He had earnestly begg'd of God that he might go over Verse 52 Jordan but he denied him that favour I Deut. 37. III. 25 27. yet he was pleased to mitigate his punishment by letting him enjoy a sight of that good Country into which he might not enter But thou shalt not go thither unto the Land which I give the Children
of Israel By which the Israelites should have learnt that as Moses left them short of the promised Land and could not bring them into the possession of it so his Law did not contain a perfect Revelation of God's Will but they were to expect something beyond it CHAP. XXXIII Verse 1 Verse 1. AND this is the blessing As Jacob blessed his Children at his departure out of the World when God had begun to fulfil the promise to Abraham of giving him a numerous Offspring so Moses having seen them vastly increased and ready to enter upon the Land promised to them XV Gen. 18 c. takes his farewel of them with a Blessing pronounced upon the People in general and upon each Tribe in particular Which is in part prophetical as the Blessing of Jacob was and delivered in the prophetick stile which hath some difficulty and obscurity in it on purpose perhaps to excite their diligent study to enquire into the meaning See XLIX Gen. 1 3. Wherewith Moses the Man of God Or the Prophet of the LORD as Onkelos translates it For Prophets are called Men of God in the holy Books 1 Sam. IX 6 7 8. 1 Kings XIII 1. 1 Tim. VI. 11. 2 Tim. III. 17. 2 Pet. I. 21. because in the exercise of their Sacred Function they did not deliver their own sense nor the sense of other Men but the Mind and Will of God who spake by them Blessed the Children of Israel before his death Before he went up into Mount Abarim to die XXXII 49. he prayed God to bless them and also foretold their future State and Condition Such had been the ancient Custom among the holy Patriarchs as we learn from the example of Jacob to admonish their Posterity upon their dying Beds of such things as they thought most imported them For then they could not but be thought to speak most sincerely and their words were apt to be entertained with greater respect and preserved in Mind with greater Care Moses therefore their Deliverer Leader and Law-giver concludes his Life in the same manner and it 's very likely deposited these dying words with them in writing Ver. 2. And he said the LORD came from Sinai And in the first place he endeavours to make them sensible of what God had done already for them and Verse 2 the chief of all his Benefits being the Revelation of his Mind and Will to them he commemorates that as a common Blessing to them all before he begins to speak in particular to each Tribe For that is meant by the LORD came from Sinai where he appeared in a most glorious manner and from thence promulgated his Law with the greatest Solemnity Exod. XX. And thus the Gentiles took an unwonted brightness in any place to be a token of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appearance or Advent of some of their gods in that place As also a great commotion in any place they took for another token of it See the illustrious Spanhemius in his Annotations upon Callimachus his Hymn to Apollo v. 7. which they seem to have learnt from this appearance of God on Mount Sinai and the quaking of that Mountain when God appeared on it And rose up from Seir unto them and shone forth from Mount Paran There is no difficulty in the foregoing words it being evident that God came down on Mount Sinai and thence delivered his Commands to the Israelites and espoused them for his People But how he rose up from Seir unto them the Country of Edom and shone from Paran the Country of Ishmael is not so easie to understand The Jews indeed who are wont to solve all Difficulties by inventing what they please are not troubled to give an account of these words Which signifie they fancy that the Divine Glory first resided upon Mount Seir where God propounded his Law to the Children of Esau but they would not have it because they found these words in it Thou shalt not kill He went therefore to Paran and offered it to the Children of Ishmael but they refused it also because they found these words in it Thou shalt not Steal So he came to Sinai and gave it to the Israelites who said All the words which the LORD hath said will we do XXIV Exod. 3. Thus the Hierusalem Targum and Pirke Elieser and some other more ancient Authors with this addition That he offered the Law to all the Nations of the World but they rejected it because it is written Thou shalt have none other gods but me But this looks so like a Fable that some of themselves are ashamed of it and have given a better sense of the words though I cannot say the true one For thus Abraham Peritsol expounds them The true Law came out of Sinai to the Israelites by which the Edomites were so inlightned that God might be said to rise up to them also and afterward the Celestial Influence shone out of this Law to the Ishmaelites who were the better for it Thus Const L'Empereur reports his sense in his Annotations upon Bava kama Cap. IV. Sect. III. where he endeavours to make out a plainer sense of these words in this manner Though the Mountain of Paran was nigher to Sinai than Seir was and first occurred to those that went out of Egypt yet there was great reason to mention Seir before it because Moses had respect to the order of their Journeys and not to the Site of the Places And their Journeys were so directed by Divine Providence that fetching a long Circuit forward and backward they should come to Canaan In all which turnings and windings they were marvellously preserved and provided for by the same good Providence which conducted them Of this Moses here makes a thankful Commemoration how he led them from Mount Sinai to the Borders of the Land of Canaan towards Mount Seir as is expresly noted by Moses compare I Deut. 19. with II. 1. and XX Numb 14. From whence by reason of their Infidelity they were led back again towards the Red Sea and incamped in the extremity of the Wilderness XXXIII Numb 35. where Ptolemy places Paran though there was another part of it called Paran near Kadesh XIII Numb 3 27. And from thence they were led back again in a long Circuit to the East part of the Land of Canaan This may be one reason why these two places are mentioned together with Sinai that God who there appeared to them was with them all the time they wandred about in the Wilderness till he brought them to the Borders of Canaan where they now were And another may be because in Mount Seir the brazen Serpent was erected by God's order for the Cure of such as were bitten by Serpents when they looked on it which was an illustrious Type of our blessed Saviour and the Salvation wrought by him XX Numb 4 9. And in the Desert to which Paran gave the name because it overlookt the whole though very large they received the