and make them the Rule of their Lives Chapter VI. That ye may live and that it may be well with you and that ye way prolong your Days in the Land which ye shall possess Universal Obedience he would have them sensible was the only way to make them live happy and long in that good Land which he was about to bestow upon them This he inculcates again in the next Chapter VI. 3. For all Mankind thought long Life a very great Blessing as appears by Callimachus's Hymn to Diana Ver. 132 133. when he promises to those whom she favours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. They shall not come into their Grave till they have reached a great old Age. CHAP. VI. Verse 1 Verse 1. NOW these are the Commandments the Statutes and the Judgments Which God promised to deliver to him in the foregoing Chapter v. 31. and Commandments are thought commonly to relate unto the Moral Laws Statutes to Rites and Ceremonies which have no natural Reason for them and Judgments to Civil Government Which the LORD your God commanded to teach you that ye may do them in the Land whither ye go to possess it They are the Words of God himself in the place before named v. 31. This I suppose was spoken by Moses to them a little time after he had delivered what is contained in the foregoing Chapter being a Preface to the rest of the Laws which he received from God in Mount Sinai as they desired Ver. 2. That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God Verse 2 to keep all his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee c. The prime Intention of God's speaking to them by himself and by Moses was to implant his Fear in their Hearts as the true Principle of Obedience Which so certainly flows from it if it be preserved in its power and force that it frequently in Scripture signifies the whole Duty we owe to God But here more particularly it seems to signifie their adhering to him as the only God So it is used 1 Kings XVIII 3 12. and in the New Testament most plainly X Act. 2 35. Ver. 3. Hear therefore O Israel and observe to do Verse 3 it Mark therefore so well what I say as to do accordingly That it may be well with thee c. As the only way to be happy and to grow a mighty Nation and in short enjoy all that God had promised to their pious Ancestors Ver. 4. Hear O Israel He repeats it again because Verse 4 what he was going to say is of the highest Importance The LORD our God is one LORD Being to remind them of all the Laws which God delivered to them by him and to endeavour to beget an holy Fear of him as the Principle of Obedience he most earnestly presses upon them before he proceed further the First of the Ten Commandments Which is that there is but One God who alone is to be worshipped and that he is their God Whose Laws therefore could not be controuled by the Authority of any other pretended God Many of the ancient Fathers particularly Theodoret and Greg. Nyssen think there is a plain intimation of the Blessed Trinity in these words The LORD our God is one LORD And some of the Jews themselves have thought there was something extraordinary in it that the Name of God should be thrice mentioned as it is in this Sentence Which signifies three Midoth or Properties they confess which they sometimes call three Faces or Emanations or Sanctifications or Numerations tho' they will not call them three Persons as Joseph de Voysin observes in his Book against an Anonymus Antitrinitarian p. 58 63 71 72. And the Cabbalists say as much who asserting ten Sephiroth in God which they take to be something different from the Essence of God and yet not Creatures but Emanations from it as Manasseh Ben Israel explains their Words they make the Three First of them to be more than the other Seven and call them Primordial The First of which they call the Wonderful Intelligence and the First Intellectual Light as St. James calls God the Father of Lights and the First Glory The Second they call among other Names the Illuminating Intelligence just as St. John saith the Eternal WORD enlightens every one that cometh into the World and the Second Glory And the Third they call the Sanctified Intelligence so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in Pual must be translated not Sanctifying as Rittangelius takes it or they may mean no more than the Holy Intelligence which is the very same with the Holy Spirit All this we find in the Book Jetzira which they fancy was made by Abraham From whence we cannot but learn that they had an obscure Notion of the Blessed Trinity and that the Apostles used no other Language about it than what was among the Jews The best of which are so sensible of such things as I have mentioned that they think we Christians are not Idolaters tho' we believe Three Persons in the Godhead which they fancy inclines to Polytheism because we believe the Unity of God and therefore may be saved as well as they So J. Wagenseil shews in his Annotations upon Sota Cap. VII p. 751 c. And Arnoldus in his Spicilegia after him p. 1218. Ver. 5. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with Verse 5 all thine Heart c. Our blessed Saviour alledging these two Verses XII Mark 29 50. looks upon these Words as a part of the First Commandment For after he had said The first of all the Commandments is Hear O Israel the LORD our God is one LORD and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul c. he thus concludes This is the first Commandment For to own him to be the only God the Author of our being and of all things doth necessarily include in it a love of him above all things whatsoever which requires us to love him who hath made them so lovely This is another Principle or Spring of Obedience inseparable from the Fear of God before-mentioned Which doth not drive us away from him but draw us to him being such a Reverence towards him as Children have to their kind Parents which is ever mixed with Love to them With all thine Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Might For there being no other God but he alone none else could have any Right to their Love and Service but he only Whose Nature is so excellent that it requires the utmost we can do to testifie our regard to him This one of the Jewish Writers hath admirably expressed in this manner Whosoever serves God out of love he gives himself to the Study of his Laws and unto Good Works c. which excite him to love God with the most flagrant Affection not for the sake of any thing in this World nor for the fear of any
so much of our Religion when they are Men and Women as the Jews do of theirs when they are meer Children From the Hebrew word limmathtem in this Verse ye shall teach them the Jews have framed a Conceit that their Talmud hath its Name signifying teaching and instruction as R. Jechiel saith in his Disputation with Nicolaus pag. 9. Speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way c. Taking all occasions to inculcate these Precepts upon them See VI. 7. and upon their Daughters as well as their Sons though the Jewish Doctors commonly fancy there is no command to instruct their Daughters in the Law See Mischna Sota Cap. III. Sect. IV. with Wagenseil's Annotations and the Gamara there p. 471 501. Verse 20 Ver. 20. And thou shalt write them upon the Door-posts of thy House and upon thy Gates See VI. 9. By this means God's Word being so rooted in the hearts of the Parents to use the words of Dr. Jackson as to bring forth this good Fruit in their Practice the Seed of it might be sown in the tender Hearts of their Children and be propagated from one Generation to another Verse 21 Ver. 21. That your days may be multiplied and the days of your Children in the Land which the LORD sware unto your Fathers to give them Nothing is wont to move Men more than Love to themselves and Love to their Children whom they Love next to themselves As the days of Heaven upon the Earth As long as this World shall last Which the Psalmist speaking of David expresses in this manner His Seed shall endure for ever and his Throne as the days of Heaven LXXXIX Psal 29. Which doth not signifie absolutely for ever but a long time For thus Baruch says the Jews in Babylon were commanded to pray for the Life of Nebuchadnezzar and the Life of Baltasar his Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that their days might be as the days of Heaven upon Earth Which is the very Phrase of Moses here in this place importing a very long Life And such Hyperbolical Expressions every one knows are used by the Heathen particularly by Virgil. Aeneid 1. Convexa polus dum sidera pascet Ver. 22. For if ye shall diligently keep all these Commandments Verse 22 c. To love the LORD your God This is still made the Condition of all their Happiness See v. 13. X. 20. To walk in all his ways In observance of his Laws which was the Fruit of true love to him And to cleave unto him So as to serve no other God but to persevere in the Worship of the LORD their God alone The Jews make this one of the DCXIII Precepts of the Law as they count them distinct by it self but they interpret it foolishly of sticking to the CABALA of their wise Men whereby they fancy themselves united unto God Ver. 23. Then will the LORD drive out all these Verse 23 Nations from before you As he had often promised VII 23. XXIII Exod. 27. And ye shall possess Nations greater and mightier than your selves VII 1. Ver. 24. Every place wherein the soles of your feet Verse 24 shall tread shall be yours That is every place of the promised Land as it is explained in the next words From the Wilderness Viz. of Sin which was on the South of Canaan And Lebanon Which was its Bounds on the North. From the River the River Euphrates Which was the Eastern Limits when in the days of Solomon their Empire reached hither according to the Promise unto Abraham in XV Gen. 18. Even unto the uttermost Sea shall your Coast be Which is now called the Mediterranean or the Midland Sea which bounded it on the West See XXXIV Numb 6. where it is called the Great Sea and in that Chapter the Bounds of their Country round about are described Verse 25 Ver. 25. There shall no Man be able to stand before you See VII 24. For the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the Land that ye shall tread upon as he hath said unto you For God had promised to terrifie the Inhabitants of Canaan and take away their Courage XXIII Exod. 27. And accordingly the Spies whom Joshua sent brought him an account of the great Consternation wherein the whole Country was when they were about to enter into it II Josh 9 24. Verse 26 Ver. 26. Behold I set before you this day a Blessing and a Curse That is he proposed them to their choice Verse 27 Ver. 27. A Blessing if you obey the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day Which he more largely explains XXVIII 2 3 4 c. Verse 28 Ver. 28. And a Curse if ye will not obey the Commandment of the LORD your God Which is also more particularly laid before them XXVIII 15 16 17 c. The whole Historical Part of the Old Testament witnesses the Truth of this that God blessed or cursed them according as they observed or broke his Laws And if the People of Israel had diligently marked considered and laid to heart that their Happiness or Misery were always correspondent to their good and bad Behaviour towards God it would have confirmed their Belief of their Law as much as if they had seen all the Miracles done before their Fore-fathers and supplied the want or the rarity of them in after Ages Nay this would have done more than all the Miracles did which were forgotten in a short time whereas their own daily Experience of the happy Fruits of Obedience and the Mischief of Disobedience would have sealed these Truths unto their Conscience But turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which ye have not known It was not every sin that turned God's favour from them but their Idolatry and Apostacy from him against which he principally warns them throughout all these Chapters IV. 3 4 15 16 23. V. 32. VI. 4 14. VII 4 5 25. VIII 19. IX 12. X. 20. Ver. 29. And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy Verse 26 God hath brought thee into the Land whither thou goest to possess it that thou shalt put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal To quicken them unto a strict care in their Obedience Blessings and Cursings were to be pronounced with great Solemnity at their first entrance into the Land of Canaan as is more fully ordered XXVII 11 12 c. and performed by Joshua VIII 33 34 35. And Moses seems to enjoyn them the like Solemnity every Seventh Year XXXI 10 11 12 13. Ver. 30. Are they not on the other side Jordan Verse 30 With respect to the place where Moses now was the Mountains he mentions were on the other side of Jordan in the Land of Canaan In which they had no sooner got footing but Joshua took care to execute this Command that their
forth out of Egypt This seems to belong to the Ammonites who had no Compassion towards the Israelites when they were distressed in the Wilderness but though they were near of kin to them did not show them that Civility which is commonly expressed to meer strangers in their Travels XIV Gen. 18. XVIII 2 31. XIX 1 2. We do not find any mention of this barbarity of theirs in the foregoing History but we read how kind God ordered the Israelites to be to them in not medling with them much less distressing them as they passed by their Country II Deut. 19. Which aggravated their Inhumanity in not vouchsafing this common kindness to the Israelites of giving them the Refreshment of Bread and Water as they went by them And because they hired against thee Balaam the Son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse thee As the foregoing passage peculiarly refers to the Ammonites so this doth to the Moabites who with the Assistance of the Midianites invited Balaam by the Promises of a great Reward to come from the Eastern Country and curse the Israelites See XXII Numb 5 6 7. For these two Reasons God laid this Prohibition upon his People in which Maimonides observes the Divine Justice in proportioning Punishments to Offences For Amalek coming out against the Israelites when they were newly come forth from Egypt to cut them off with the Sword God commanded their Memory to be blotted out XXV 19. but the Ammonites being only basely covetous and the Moabites acting against them only by Craft and not by Force God inflicted no other Punishment upon them but this That his People should avoid all Affinity with them and show no love to them More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XLI And the MS. Author of Etz-Hachajim mentioned by Wagenseil in the place forenamed makes this the ground of the distinction mentioned before between the Males and the Females of those Countries Their Males saith he might never marry with an Israelitish Woman but by a Tradition delivered down to us from Moses in Mount Sinai we hold that the Women of those Countries if they embraced the Jewish Religion might be married to a Man of Israel For the Women must be thought in all reason not to have been guilty as the Men were of that which was the reason of this Law it not being the Custom for Women to bring out Bread and Water to Travellers nor did they send Ambassadors to hire Balaam to come and curse the Israelites Accordingly we find Ruth who was a Moabitess married to Boaz the Ancestor of David Verse 5 Ver. 5. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not hearken unto Balaam but the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the LORD thy God loved thee Balaam indeed did not Curse the Israelites as the Moabites desired and he intended but no Thanks was owing to him for that but it was to be ascribed to the Love of God to his People who constrained him against his will to Bless them Verse 6 Ver. 6. Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever By entering into any League with them much less by taking them into Conjugal Society but on the contrary they were to look upon them as dangerous Enemies who being their near Neighbours would watch all Opportunities to ensnare or disturb them Some of the Jews would have this to be an Exception to the General Rule XX. 10. that they might not offer them Terms of Peace as they were bound to do to all Men but the Seven Nations of Canaan though if they desired Peace they were bound they say to grant it See Schickard in his Mischpat Hammelech p. 118. But Grotius hath well observed upon V Matth. 43. that God did not give the Jews any Right to their Country as appears from I Deut. 19. and therefore the meaning here is that they should not make any League with them of mutual Assistance which they called foedera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verse 7 Ver. 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite So as never to enter into the Society of Marriage with them they being a circumcised People For he is thy brother Nearer of kin to them than the Ammonites and Moabites Esau their Father being the Twin-brother of Jacob. And so Moses calls them when he delivers God's Command to the Israelites not to meddle with them II Deut. 8. We passed by from our Brethren the Children of Esau c. Here it may be observed that the word Brother comprehended more than the Israelites as our Saviour shows the word Neighbour did X Luke 29 c. Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian because thou wast a stranger in his Land That is the Egyptians in a sore Famine sustained them their Children Flocks and Herds very kindly the memory of which benefit God would not have forgotten though in future Generations they were cruelly oppressed by them Ver. 8. The Children that are begotten of them shall Verse 8 enter into the Congregation of the LORD in the third Generation When they had been Proselytes for three Generations it was lawful to marry with them Nay some of the Jews are so liberal here of their kindness as to understand by banim not Children in general but Sons with whom only Marriage is forbidden till the third Generation Marriage with their Daughters being lawful as they think as soon as they turned compleat Proselytes Upon which account Solomon took Pharaoh's Daughter to Wife See Selden Lib. V. de Jure Nat. Gent. Cap. XIV XV. where he observes that all this held good only till the Captivity of Babylon when all these Nations being confused they might marry with any of them if they became Jews For Wars and Colonies and Deportations had made such a mixture of People that one could not be known from another This Wagenseil hath lately confirmed out of several Hebrew Authors whom Mr. Selden did not trouble himself to mention and particularly out of the MS. Etz-Hachajim which he most highly commends See p. 149. upon Sota They all agree likewise that none of these Laws extended to Proselytes who might marry with any of these Nations See Selden ib. Cap. XVIII Verse 9 Ver. 9. When the host goeth forth against thine Enemy then keep thee from every wicked thing This was a Rule to be observed at all times but then especially when they had the greatest need of the Divine help for which wicked People could not reasonably hope and when there was the greatest danger of being wicked in a time of such licence as Soldiers commonly take There is a Sentence very like this in Agathias Lib. II. mentioned by Grotius towards the conclusion of his Prolegomena to the Book de Jure Belli Pacis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Injustice and neglect of God's Service are ever to be avoided as most pernicious but especially in a time of War and when Men are upon the point of giving battle Which he proves
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
no long time XXVI Numb 15 16 17 23 24 35 38 39 c. And from Gudgodah to Jotbath And so to the rest of the Places mentioned XXXIII Numb 34 35 36. till they came to Mount Hor. A Land of Rivers of Waters A place where there was plenty of Water which he mentions I suppose that they might reflect upon their foul distrust of God's Providence a little after when they murmured for want of Water at Kadesh XX Numb 3 4 c. Verse 8 Ver. 8. At that time Not long after Moses came down from the Mount the second time of which he had been speaking v. 5. The LORD separated the Tribe of Levi. To his own special Service as we read III Numb Some think that God renewed his Choice of them to the Employment here mentioned after Aaron's death when he confirm'd them in their Office But we read of no such thing and it cannot be inferred meerly from these words at that time which may well relate to the time mentioned v. 5. To bear the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Here are three parts of their Office mentioned in these and the following words The first of which was to carry the Ark which peculiarly belonged to the Kohathites III Numb 27 31. when the Camp removed from one place to another Who were good Witnesses that the same Ark still remained at that day wherein Moses first placed the Tables of the Covenant for it never stirred but by their means To stand before the LORD This is a Phrase used of Servants that wait upon their Masters before whom they are said to stand Thus Gehazi attended the Prophet Elisha 2 Kings V. 25. And the Prophets tnemselves are thus said to stand before the LORD 1 Kings XVII 1. XVIII 15. Therefore here signifies that the Levites were separated to be God's Ministers as it follows To minister unto him As Assistants to the Priests in the Tabernacle III Numb 6. and as a guard to the Tabernacle v. 7 8. Which was the second part of their Office And to bless in his Name unto this day This was the greatest thing of all and was peculiar to the Priests who were a part of the Tribe of Levi but had the sole Priviledge among them to bless in the Name of the Lord as we read expresly VI Numb 23 24. If indeed it could be made out that by blessing in the Name of the LORD is meant only to bless the Name of the LORD that was common to all the Levites who sang Praises and gave Thanks continually to him in the Temple as I suppose they did in the Tabernacle But I find no Example of the use of this Expression in this sence And therefore it must be restrained to the Priests who were Sons of Levi as well as the rest and are so called when Moses mentions this part of their Office XXI Deut. 5. Verse 9 Ver. 9. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his Brethren Because God would have them only attend to this Service and not look after other Affairs Particularly of guarding the Sanctuary and keeping constant watch there to secure all the Holy Things especially the Ark which they took care none should meddle withal And therefore the People might be sure it remained as Moses left it when he put it into the Tabernacle with the Tables of the Covenant in it The LORD if his Inheritance according as the LORD thy God promised him He took care to provide for the Levites without having any Land to plough or sow c. See XVIII Numb 20. Verse 10 Ver. 10. And I stayed in the Mount according to the first time forty days and forty nights This doth not signifie that after the separation of the Levites he went up again into the Mount but having confirmed what he said concerning his putting the Tables of Stone in the Ark which he made after he came the second time down from the Mount v. 5. he returns to what he was speaking of in the beginning of the Chapter and had begun to say before IX 25. how he prayed to God for them when he went to carry the Tables he had hewn up unto God in the Mount that now he might relate to them the Success of his Prayers which follows in the next words And the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also and the LORD would not destroy thee As he feared he would because he had so threatned IX 15. Ver. 11. And the LORD said unto me Arise take Verse 11 thy journey before the People that they may go in and possess the Land c. This cannot refer to what he said unto him after the making the Golden Calf as I find some take it from XXXIII Exod. 1. for that was before he went up into the Mount again But to what he said at the Conclusion of their Removals from place to place some of which he mentions here v. 6 7. for then he orders them what to do when they entred into Canaan which he saith I have given you to possess it XXXIII Numb 51 52 53. Ver. 12. And now Israel what doth the LORD thy Verse 12 God require of thee Unto whom he hath given Tables wherein he himself hath wrote his Will with his own Hand v. 4 5. and hath graciously pardoned your foul Breach of his Covenant upon my Intercession v. 10. But to fear the LORD thy God The Fear of God sometimes includes in it all Religion but here seems to signifie one of the great Principles of Obedience See VI. 2. And to walk in all his ways Unto which the Fear of God inclines Men when their Hearts are possessed with it And to love him Especially if the Love of God be in them which is still a stronger Principle of Obedience VI. 1. And to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul Being constant in his Worship and Service and worshipping him alone VI. 13. XIII 3. For loving him with all the Heart and Soul seems here to have particular respect to their having no inclination to serve other Gods 1 Kings VIII 23 48. Which the Jews after they had smarted for their Idolatry understood to be the great Commandment As their Father Jacob they say taught his Twelve Sons when they came about him on his Death-bed saying to them Ye perhaps worship the Idols which Terah the Father of Abraham worshipped or those which Laban my Mother's Brother worshipped or ye worship the God of Jacob. To whom they all made this Answer with a perfect Fear Hear O Israel our Father THE LORD OVR GOD IS ONE LORD Whereupon Jacob said LET HIS GREAT NAME BE BLESSED FOR EVER Thus the Hierusalem Targum upon VI. 4. of this Book Verse 13 Ver. 13. To keep the Commandments of the LORD and his Statutes which I command this day for thy good self-Self-love should have inclined them to obedience to God's Commands which he gave them for their good though he
that Moses should admonish the Israelites so often diligently to pay their Tithe And the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks See concerning these XII 6. That thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always This justifies what I said that the design of this was to preserve them stedfast in their Religion by having Communion with him in so solemn a manner every year For that is meant by fearing the LORD alway continuing in the Worship and Service of him alone See VI. 1. Ver. 24. And if the way be too long for thee so that Verse 24 thou art not able to carry it or if the place be too far off from thee which the LORD thy God shall chuse c. If they lived at so great a distance from the Sanctuary or the way was so bad that it would be very troublesome and chargeable to carry those Tithes in kind here they have a liberty granted them to make Money of them and with that to buy Provision for the Feast at the Sanctuary when they came thither as it follows in the next Verse All things likewise which would not keep so long as till they could go to the House of God they were to turn into Money but things that were not perishable they were to carry in kind if they did not dwell too far off from it Ver. 25. Then shalt thou turn it into Money Adding a fifth part to it as the Law is XXVII Levit. 31. And bind up the money in thine hand and shalt go unto Verse 25 the place which the LORD thy God shall chuse Put it into a Bag by it self and not mix it with other Money but keep it bound up till the next Feast and then carry it in their hand to the place where God's House was settled God would not have them excused from going to that place with these things in kind upon every slight reason and therefore made it something chargeable to exchange them into Money by requiring a fifth part to be added And besides the Elders made a Constitution That this liberty should be allowed to none but those who lived above a days Journey from Jerusalem which at last was the fixed place of God's Worship And that it might be known certainly what was a days Journey the places at that distance were fixed from every Quarter viz. Lydda on the West the River Jordan on the East Aarabatta on the North and Elath on the South as J. Wagenseil hath observed in his Confutation of that blasphemous Book called Toldos Jeschu pag. 22. Verse 26 Ver. 26. And thou shalt bestow that Money for whatsoever thy Soul lusteth after for Oxen or for Sheep c. Purchase such Provision as they most delighted in of all Meats that God's Law allowed And thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God Make an holy Entertainment at the House of God And thou shalt rejoyce thou and thine Houshold Men-servants and Maid-servants as well as Sons and Daughters XII 18. together with the Levites Widows Orphans and Strangers Ver. 27. And the Levite that is within thy Gates thou shalt not forsake him They were always to be invited to these Feasts See XII 19. For he hath no part nor inheritance with thee They Verse 27 being wholly devoted to the Worship of God and the Study of the Law as Maimonides observes in his More Nevochim P. III. Cap. XXXIX See XII 19. Ver. 28. At the end of three year thou shalt bring forth Verse 28 all the Tithe of thine Increase The Opinion of the Hebrew Doctors is that this was not a distinct Tithe from that which they call the second Tithe paid every year but the very same which every third year was not to be carried to the Sanctuary but to be employed to the Comfort of the Poor in their own Cities and Houses For thus they explain it That in the third year after the Year of Release and in the sixth year the Tithe that was wont to be carried to the place where the Sanctuary was and there spent in Feasts before God was to be spent upon the Poor in every Town where they that paid the Tithe lived But every first second fourth and fifth year from the Year of Release it was spent in holy Entertainments at the House of God In the Year of Release it self which was every seventh year no Tithes at all were paid of any kind because all lay common So that every year the owner of the Ground set out a second Tithe but he was not bound to carry it every year to Jerusalem for in the compass of seven years four of those years only were appointed for their journey thither and two they staid at home See Selden of Tithes and Lib. VI. de Jure Nat. Gent. p. 693. But this is contradicted by other great Men particularly by Bishop Mountagu who asserts these to be two distinct Tithes See p. 332 c. especially p. 346. and those that follow And Josephus seems plainly to be of his mind p. 349. Old Tobit calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the third Tithe I. 8. The Tithe of thine increase the same year i. e. Of the third year And shall lay it up within thy Gates It was not to be carried to the place where God's House was but to be spent at home Verse 29 Ver. 29. And the Levite because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee See v. 37. And the Stranger and the Fatherless and the Widow which are within thy Gates shall come and shall eat and be satisfied This Tithe was not spent in Joy and Gladness as the second Tithe was v. 26. when they went to God's dwelling place but meerly in the Relief and Comfort of the poorer sort of People who otherwise might have been forced to beg or to serve Strangers and thereby be in danger of being perverted from their Religion That the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest This Tithe the Jews say was called the Consummation of Tithes because herein the love of their Neighbours was most eminently apparent For it is likely they themselves had no share in this as they had at the Feasts upon the second Tithe but is wholly spent upon the Persons here named Whose hearts could not but be moved to pray to God for his Blessing upon them in all their Labours which he here promises to bestow CHAP. XV. Chapter XV. Verse 1. AT the end of every seventh year It Verse 1 appears from v. 9. that this Phrase signifies as much as every seventh year Thou shalt make a release Perfectly free their Brethren from all their Debts which they owed to their Creditors This year was famous not only for this but for letting Servants go free as some think XXI Exod. 2. and for letting their Ground rest XXV Levit 34. and for reading this Law publickly to all the People XXXI Deut. 10. Ver. 2. And this is the manner
joyful news that they should march into Canaan or as D. Chytraeus understands it in the Wilderness of Paran the LXX Elders received the Spirit to make them Assistants unto Moses in the Government X Numb 12. XI 24 c. and here I may add Moses repeated his Law to them I Deut. 1 5. who seems in this Verse to follow a Metaphor borrowed from the Sun which first illuminates the Air and then rises and then spreads abroad his Beams as God by degrees declared his Presence with his People whithersoever they went first at Mount Sinai then at Seir and last of all here in the Wilderness of Paran But it must be acknowledged that these words may be interpreted in a more simple manner they being but a further amplification of what was said in the first words the LORD came from Sinai When at the same time he rose up from Seir and shone forth from Mount Paran for these Mountains were very near one to another or rather parts of one and the same ridge of Mountains as Conr. Pellicanus here observes and is more clearly made out by a very Learned Man among our selves Dr. Hyde in his excellent Notes on Abrah Peritsol Itinera Mundi p. 73. for Teman which is the same with Paran III Habak 3. was near to Edom whose chief City was Bosra I Amos 12. as that was near to Sinai The ignorance of the Mahometans is much to be pitied who out of this place imagine they have found as good an Authority for the Alcoran as there is for the Law of Moses and for the Gospel of Christ For thus they interpret these words God gave the Law from Sinai and the Gospel from Seir which they would have to be the same with Galilee which our Saviour much frequented and the Alcoran from Mount Paran Which they fancy is a Mountain not far from Mecca See Dr. Pocock upon Greg. Abul Pharaji p. 183. and Guadagnolus Resp pro Relig. Christiana But the last words of this Verse for them are sufficient to confute these Conceits for they plainly show that the whole Verse speaks of the People of Israel And he came with ten thousand of Saints Or as our Mr. Mede thinks it should be translated with his holy ten thousands or myriads that is attended with an innumerable company of Angels who waited on him at the giving of the Law See LXVIII Psal 7. VII Dan. 10. of which Enoch perhaps prophecied in part Jude 14 15. And from hence it may be thought that Notion of the Jewish Doctors followed by St. Stephen and St. Paul that the Law was given by Angels had its beginning Mede Book II. p. 437. That is they attended upon God as his Ministers when he himself gave the Law From his right hand With which we are wont to deliver things to other Persons Went a fiery Law for them For the Law of Moses was given out of the midst of Fire and therefore called a fire of Law as the words are in the Hebrew XIX Exod. 16 18. IV Deut. 11 12. V. 22 23 24. The Cabbalists as Reuchlin observes fancy that God wrote the Law in a Globe of Fire and sent it to them But the Hierusalem Targum is more sober which thus expounds it He stretched his right hand out of the midst of flames of fire and gave the Law unto his People And Onkelos still better The Law written with his right hand he gave us out of the midst of fire Or as Campeg Vitringa would have this latter part of the Verse translated On his right hand a fire and out of the fire a Law for them The meaning being that God came to Mount Sinai with that fire for in Scripture to be on the right hand of any one is to accompany him Lib. II. Observ Sacr. Cap. IV. By the conclusion of this Verse it is apparent that the former part of it belongs intirely to God's Mercy unto the Children of Israel upon whom he bestowed his Law in most illustrious Tokens of his Presence Which makes it highly probable that his rising up from Seir upon them and shining from Mount Paran belongs to the same matter That is the Cloud wherein he descended on Sinai with a vast Host of Angels extended it self so far as to cover the neighbouring Mountains of Seir and Paran Though the meaning may be as I have shown that he continued his Presence with them after they went from Sinai through all their Journeys in the Wilderness of Seir and Paran till they came to the place where they now were Ver. 3. Yea he loved the People All this was the Verse 3 effect of his Love and Kindness to the People of Israel whom he owned for his Son and his First-born IV Exod. 22. and therefore in a tender manner brought them out of Egypt XIX Exod. 4. that he might instruct them in his Laws All his Saints are in thy hand Whereby he made them an holy Nation as it there follows in XIX Exod. 5. whom he took into his special Care and most gracious Protection as this phrase signifies in many places IV Numb 28 33. And Onkelos refers it to the mighty Power whereby he brought them out of Egypt But it may have respect to God's preservation and support of them when he gave the Law in such a terrible manner that Moses himself quaked and yet none of them received any harm As for the change of the Person from his to thy it is very frequent in this Language particularly in IX Dan. 4. And they sat down at thy feet The first word which we translate sat down being no where else found but here and I Isa 5. where it plainly hath another sense hath occasioned various Interpretations of this Sentence But most agree in this of Sol. Jarchi that as Scholars sat at the feet of their Master round about him while he taught them their Lesson so the People encompassed the Mount where God was and heard his Law which he thence delivered But it is a question whether there was such a Custom of Scholars in those days and the People did not sit but stood at the foot of the Mount XX Exod. 18. Therefore Onkelos understands this of their sitting down or pitching their Tents where the glorious Cloud that led them rested X Numb 12 33. Every one shall receive of thy word This still is commonly referred to the Peoples receiving the Law But Onkelos thinks it hath respect to their Journeys at the commandment of the LORD X Num. 13. For so he interprets it They went forward according to thy word And so the Hierusalem Targum expounds these and the foregoing words Behold they were led and came to the foot of his Cloud and went forward and rested according to the command of his word It takes in also the other sense of the word tucchu as it signifies smiting in I Isa 5. in this manner Though he inflicted many Chastisements upon them yet they did not cease nor
Sea which is hereby meant Ver. 3. And the South And after he had seen Verse 3 the South which the Tribes of Judah and Simeon inhabited he bad him take a view of the Eastern Parts of the Country as it here follows And the plain of the Valley of Jericho All the Region about Jordan especially the lovely Plain of Jericho which is very much celebrated by other Authors and lay in the Tribe of Benjamin The City of Palm-trees Which is often mentioned in Scripture sometime without and sometime with the name of Jericho I Judges 16. III. 13. 2 Chron. XXVIII 15. which was so called because a multitude of Palm-trees grew about it as Strabo as well as Josephus testifies in his Geograph Lib. XVI p. 763. where he describes this plain as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as incompassed about with Mountains after the manner of a Theatre abounding with Palm-trees and other Garden-trees mixed with them for the space of an hundred Stadia And there was also he observes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Paradise of Balsam Which is a rare Aromatick Plant like to the Turpentine-tree whose Juice is of great virtue and value c. From which odoriferous Plant growing here some think this City had the Name of Jericho signifying sweet smelling So R. Judas in the Gemara of Beracoth where he mentions this Tree as growing about Jericho and thence derives its name from the Hebrew word reach which signifies a sweet smell This is more probable than the Conjecture of D. Chytraeus who imagines Jericho to come from jerec which signifies the Moon and in their German Language he thinks might be called Luneburgh Vnto Zoar. Which lay in the entrance of the Salt Sea Verse 4 Ver. 4. And the LORD said unto him After he had showed him the Land the WORD of the LORD as the Hierusalem Targum hath it spake these words to him which follow And God having been wont to speak to Moses out of the Cloud of Glory Josephus conceives that now he was incompassed with it and from thence heard this voice Which the Jews fancy was so loud that the People heard it into the Camp Thus at our Saviour's Transfiguration upon the holy Mount a glorious Cloud over-shadowed him and his three Apostles who heard the voice say to them This is my beloved Son c. The Samaritans as Hottinger relates in his Smegma Orientale Cap. VIII p. 456. tell the story thus That Joshua Eleazar the Priest and all the Elders accompanying him to the Mount fell into such a Passion when they were to take their leave that they could not be parted from him Whereupon the Pillar of Fire came down which separated them from Moses so that they saw him no more This is the Land which I sware unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it unto thy seed XII Gen. 7. XIII 15. XV. 18 c. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes Which the LORD strengthned it is likely with a greater vigour than usual that he might take a larger prospect than other wise he could have done of this Country Or as some of the Jews understand it he laid a Map of it before his eyes wherein every part of it was exactly described But that might have been done in the Plains of Moab without going up into a Mountain therefore the other is more reasonable that he strengthned his visive Faculty with a greater Power to see the whole Country in its length and breadth c. And therefore some of the Rabbins have been so wise as to put both together as J. Bened. Carpzovius observes out of several of them upon Schickard's Jus Regium Cap. V. Theorem XVI p. 285. who thus speak God shewed him the whole Land as in a Garden Plot forty Miles in breadth and as many in length and gave his Eyes such a power of Contemplating the whole Land from the beginning to the end that he saw Hills and Dales what was open and what was inclosed remote or nigh at one view But thou shalt not go over thither This he had often said to him and now mentions it that he might die in a comfortable sense that he had been as good as his word to him and consequently carry this Belief along with him into the other World that he would make good the Oath which he sware to their Fathers of bringing them into Canaan and there fulfil all that he had foretold Verse 5 Ver. 5. So Moses the servant of the LORD So God himself calls him after his death in the next Book I Josh 2 7. as the most eminent Minister of his that he had hitherto employed in Israel But the observation of R. Bechai is not well founded that he is not called the Servant of the LORD till after he was dead and then admitted unto the nearest familiarity with the Divine Majesty For though these very words are not used yet the LORD calls him My Servant Moses which is the same thing XII Numb 7. Died in the Land of Moab For this Country was so still called because it anciently belonged to the Moabites See XXI Numb 26. from whom Sihon had taken it as Israel now had taken it from him So that he really died in the Land of Israel According to the Word of the LORD The Hierusalem Targum expounds this very soberly According to the Sentence of the Decree of the LORD That is as the LORD had determined and declared he should XXXII 49 50. And so this Phrase is commonly used in this very Book XVII 6 10 11. as well as in other places of the Pentateuch IX Numb 20. XIII 3 c. which will warrant this Interpretation that Moses did not die of any Disease nor was worn out with Age but meerly because God the Supream Governour of all things so ordered it But some of the Jews not satisfied with this have far-fetch'd Conceits concerning the Death of Moses from these words For because it is said he died al pi at the mouth as the words are literally in the Hebrew of the LORD Maimonides himself saith that their wise Men think and he seems of their Opinion that it signifies the LORD drew his Soul out of his Body with a kiss And thus died Aaron and Miriam but none besides them Of Aaron indeed it is expresly said he died al pi of the LORD but it is not said of Miriam and yet they will have her to have had the same favour That is they died saith he of too much love from the pleasure they had in the thoughts of God which apprehension of God conjunct with the highest love to him he thinks is called kissing I Cant. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth More Nevochim P. III. Cap. LI. But this is not the meaning of the Phrase though no doubt Moses departed this Life in a most delectable sense and taste of the Divine Love having no unwillingness to