Verse 16. Thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud — and the voice of the trumpet] The thunders, lightnings, &c., announced the coming, as they proclaimed the majesty, of God. Of the thunders and lightnings, and the deep, dark, dismal, electric cloud, from which the thunders and lightnings proceeded, ws can form a tolerable apprehension; but of the loud, long-sounding trumpet, we can scarcely form a conjecture. Such were the appearances and the noise that all the people in the camp trembled, and Moses himself was constrained to say, " I exceedingly fear and quake," Heb. xii. 21. Probably the sound of the trumpet was something similar to that which sh;ill be blown by the angel when he sweareth, by Him that liveth for ever. There shall be time no longer!
Verse 17. And Moses brought forth the people — to meet with God] For though they might not touch the mount till they had permission, yet when the trumpet sounded long, it appears they might come up to the nether part of the mount, (see ver. 13, and Deut. iv. 11;) and when the trumpet had ceased to sound, lliey
A,M.25i3. out of the camp to meet with An. Exod. isri. God; and they stood at the ^""'"- nether part of the movmt.
1 8 And f Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it B in fire: ^ and the smoke thereof ascended as tlic smoke of a furnace, and ' tlie wliolc mount quaked greatly.
1 9 And '' when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, ' Moses spake, and " God answered him by a voice.
It was absohitcly necessary that God should give the people at large some particular evidence of his being and power, that they might be saved from idolatry, to which they were most deplorably prone; and that they might the more readily credit Moses, who was to be the constant mediator between God and them. God, therefore, in his indescribable majesty, descended on the mount; and, by the thick dark cloud, the violent thunders, the vivid lightnings, the long and loud blasts of the trumpet, the smoke encompassing the whole mountain, and the excessive earthquake, proclaimed his poiver, his glory, and his holiness; so that the people, however unfaithful and disobedient afterwards, never once doubted the Divine interference, or suspected Moses of any cheat or imposture. Indeed, so absolute and unequivocal were the proofs of supernatural agency, that it was impossible these appearances could be attributed to any cause but the unlimited power of the author of Nature.
It is worthy of remark that the people were informed three days before, ver. 9-11, that such an appearance was to take place; and this answered two excellent purposes: 1. They had time to sanctify and prepare themselves for this solemn transaction; and, a. Those who might be skeptical had sufficient opportunity to make use of every precaution to prevent and detect an imposture; so this previous warning strongly serves the cause of Divine revelation.
Their being at first prohibited from touching the mount on the most awful pen.alties, and secondly, being permitted to see manifestations of the Divine majesty, and hear the words of God, subserved the same great purposes. Their being prohibited in the first instance would naturally whet their curiosity, make them cautious of being deceived, and ultimately impress them with a due sense of God's justice and their own sinfulness; and their being permitted afterwards to go up to the mount, must have deepened the conviction that all was fair and real, that there could be no imposture in the case, and that though the justice and purity of God forbade them to draw nigh for a time, yet his mercy, which had prescribed the means of purification, had permitted an access to his presence.
upon Mount bmai, on tlic lop oi An. Exod. Isj. 1. the mount: and the Lord called "™'
Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.
21 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down, " charge the people, lest they break tlirough unto the Lord " to gaze, and many of them perish.
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, p sanctify tliemselves, lest the Lord 1 break forth upon them.
The directions given from ver. 10 to 15 inclusive show, not only the holiness of God, but the purity he requires in his worshippers.
Besides, the whole scope and design of the chapter prove that no soul can j)ossib!'y approach this holy and terrible Being but through a mediator; and this is the use made of this whole transaction by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, chap. xii. 18-24.
Verse 20. The Lord came down^ This was undoubtedly done in a visible manner, that the people might witness the awful appearance. We may suppose that every thing was arranged thus: the glory of the Lord occupied the top of the mountain, and near tn this Moses was permitted to approach. Aaron and the seventy elders were permitted to advance some way up the mountain, while the people were only permitted to come up to its base. Moses, as the lawgiver, was to receive the statutes and judgments from God's mouth; Aaron and the elders were to receive them from Moses, and deliver them to the people; and the people were to act according to the direction received. Nothing can be imagined more glorious, terrible, majestic, and impressive, than the whole of this Iransac tion; but it was chiefly calculated to impress deep reverence, religious fear, and sacred awe; and he who attempts to worship God uninfluenced by these, has neither a proper sense of the Divine majesty, nor of the sinfulness of sin. It seems in reference to this that the apostle says. Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably tvith REViiKENCE and godly fe.\r: for our God is a coxsl'MI.ng FiRa; Heb. xii. 28, 29. Who then shall dare to approach him in his own name, and without a mediator?
\'erse 22. Let the priests also — sanctify thetnselves] That there were priests among the Hebrews before the consecration of.'Varon and his sons, cannot be doubted; though their functions might be in a considerable measure suspended while under persecution in Egypt, yet the persons existed whose right and duty it was to offer sacrifices to God. Moses requested liberty from Pharaoh to go into the wilderness to sacrifice; and had there not been among the peojile both sacrifices and priests, the request itself must liave appeared nugatory and absurd. Sacrifices from the beginning had constituted an essential part of the
An. Exod. isr. 1. LoRD, i he people cannot come ^''"^"- up to Mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, " Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.
24 And the Lord said unto him. Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up,
worship of God, and there certainly were priesls whose business it was to offer them to God before the giving of the law; though this, for especial reasons, was restricted to Aaron and his sons after the law had been given. As sacrifices had not been offered for a considerable time, the priests themselves were considered in a state of impurity; and therefore God requires that they also should be purified for the purpose of approaching the mountain, and hearing their Maker promulgate his laws. See the note on chap, xxviii. 1.
Verse 23. The people cannot come up] Either because they had been so solemnly forbidden that they would not dare, with the penalty of instant death before their eyes, to transgress the Divine command; or the bounds which were set about the mount were such as rendered their passing them physically impossible.
And sanctify it.] ^^\\^>^\p^ vekiddaskto. Here the word "i^lp hadash is taken in its proper literal sense, signifying the separating of a thing, person, or place, from all profane or common uses, and devoting it to sacred purposes.
Verse 24. Let 7iot the priests and the people break through] God knew that they were heedless, criminally curious, and stupidly obstinate; and therefore his mercy saw it right to give them, line upon line, that they might not transgress to their own destruction.
From the very solemn and awful manner in which the LAW was introduced, we may behold it as the ministration of terror and death, 2 Cor. iii. 7, appearing rather to exclude men from God than to bring them nigh; and from this we may learn that an approach to God would have been for ever impossible, had not infinite mercy found out the Gospel scheme of salvation. By this, and this alone, we draw nigh let not the priests and the peo- An. Exod. Isr. 1. pic break through, to come up ^"^^°'
unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon
25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them.
to God; for loe have an entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb. x. 19. " For," says the apostle, " ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and to the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, (for they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touch the mountain it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) but ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all; and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus the MEDIATOR of the NEW COVENANT; and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel;" Heb..xii. 18-24.
Reader, art thou still under the influence and condemning power of that fiery law which proceeded from his right hand \ Art thou yet afar off? Remem ber, thou canst only come nigh by the blood of sprink ling; and till justified by his blood, thou art under the curse. Consider the terrible majesty of God. If thou have his /ai'0»/- thou hast Z(/e; i( his frown, death. Be instantly reconciled to God, for though thou hast deeply sinned, and he is just, yet he is the justifier ot him that believeth in Christ Jesus. Believe on him, receive his salvation, obey his voice indeed, and keep his covenant, and then shalt thou be a king and a priest unto God and the Lamb, and be finally saved with all the power of an endless life. Amfn
The preface to the ten commandments, 1,2. The first commandment, against mental or theoretic idolatry, 3. The SECOND, against making and worshipping images, or practical idolatry, 4-6. The third, against false swearing, blasphemy, and irreverent use of the name of God, 7. The fourth, against profanation of the Sabbath, and idleness on the other days of the week, 8-11. The fifth, against disrespect and disobedience to parents, 12. The sixth, against murder and cruelty, 13. The seventh, against adultery and uncleanness, 14. The eighth, against stealing and dishonesty, 15. The ninth, against false testimony, perjury, &c., 16. The tenth, against covetousness, 17. The people are alarmed at the auful appearance of God on the mount, and stand afar off, 18. They pray that Moses may be mediator between God and them, 19. Moses encourages them, 20. He draws near to the thick darkness, and God communes with.".i-ni, 21, 22. Farther directions against idolatry, 23. Directions concerning making an altar of earth 34; and a'» altar of hewn stone, 25. None of these to be ascended by steps, and the reason given, 26.
Verse 1..4// these words\ Houbigant supposes, and Willi great plausibility of reason, tliat the clause nS.'<n D'"\2in '73 nx elk col haddcbarim haelleh, " all these words," belong to the latter part of the concluding verse of chap, xix., which he thinks should be read thus: Attd Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them all these words; i. e., delivered the solemn charge relative to their not attempting to come up to that part of the mountain on which God manifested himself in his glorious majesty, lest he should break forth upon them and consume them. For how could Divine justice and purity suffer a people so defiled to stand in his immediate presence 1 When Moses, therefore, had gone down and spoken all these words, and he and Aaron had reascended the mount, then the Divine Being, as supreme legislator, is majestically introduced thus: And God spake, saying. This gives a dignity^ to the commencement of this chapter of which the clause above mentioned, if not referred to the speech of Moses, deprives it. The Anglo-Saxon favours this emendation: Irob rpjisec Suj-, God spoke THUS, w liich is the whole of the first verse as it stands in that version.
Some learned men are of opinion that the ten com- MAND.MENTS wcrc delivered on May 30, being then the day of pentecost.
The laws delivered on Mount Sinai have been variously named. In Deut. iv. 13, they are called mB'> D'^3^^ asereth haddebariin, the ten words. In the preceding chapter, ver. 5, God calls them "jTI^ ns cth herithi, my covenant, i. e., the agreement he entered into with the people of Israel to take them for his peculiar people, if they took him for their God and portion. If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, THEN shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me. And the word covenant here evidently refers to the laws given in this chapter, as is evident from Deut. iv. 13; And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten com.mand.ments. They have been also termed the moral law, because they contain and lay down rules for the regulation of the manners or conduct of men. Sometimes they have been termed the law, niinn hattorah, by way of eminence, as containing the grand system of spiritual instruction, direction, guidance, &c. See on the word law, chap. xii. 49. And frequently the decalogue, AtKa?Myor, which is a literal translation into Greek of the D"13nn mr>' asereth haddcbarim, or ten WORDS, of Moses.
of theology, the true notions we should form of the Divine nature, the reverence we owe and the religious service we should render to him. The second, containing the sir last commandments, and comprehending a complete system of ethics, or moral duties which man owes to his fellows, and on the due performance of which the order, peace, and happiness of society depend. By this division, the first table contains our duty to God; the second our duty to our neighbour. This division, which is natural enough, refers us to the grand principle, love to God and love to man, through which both tables are observed. 1. Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. 2. Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two hang all the law and the prophets. See Matt. xxii. 37-40.
Verses. I a.m the Lonn thy God] yn'^N niri'' YeAovah eloheycha. On the word Jehovah, which we here translate Lord, see the notes on Gen. ii. 4, and E.xod. vi. 3. And on the word Elohim, here translated God, see on Gen. i. 1. It is worthy of remark that each individual is addressed here, and not the people collectively, though they are all necessarily included; that each might feel that he was bound for himself to hear and do all these words. Moses laboured to impress this personal interest on the people's minds, when he said, Deut. v. 3, 4; " The Lord made this covenant with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day."
Brought thee out of the land of Egypt, cj-c] And by this very thing have proved myself to be superior to all gods, unlimited in power, and most gracious as well as fearful in operation. This is the preface or introduction, but should not be separated from the commandment. Therefore, —
Verse 3. Thou shalt hnve no other gods before me.] □'ins Q'nSs elohim acherim, no strange gods — none that thou art not acquainted with, none who has not given thee such proofs of his power and godhead as I have done in delivering thee from the Egyptians, dividing the Red Sea, bringing water out of the rock, quails into the desert, inanna from heaven to feed thee, and the pillar of cloud to direct, enlighten, and shield thee. By these miracles God had rendered himself familiar to them, they were intimately acquainted with the operation of his hands; and therefore with great propriety he says. Thou shall have no strange gods before mo; 'iD *?>' at panai, before or in the place of those manifestations which I have made of myself.
This commandment prohibits every species of mental idol.atry, and all inordinate attachment to earthly and sensible things..Vs God is the fountain of happiness, and no intelligent creature can be happy but through him, wlioever seeks happiness in the creature
An. Eitod. Isr. 1. thee any graven image, or any ^"'''°' Hkeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or tliat is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
is necessarily an idolater; as he puts the creature in the place of the Creator, expecting that from the gratification of his passions, in the use or abuse of earthly things, which is to he found in God alone. The very first commandment of the whole series is divinely calculated to prevent man's misery and promote his happiness, by taking him off from all fal.se dependence, and leading him to God himself, the fountain of all good.
Verse 4. Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image'\ As the word 7D3 jtasal signifies to hew, carve, grave, &c., '7D3 pesel may here signify any kind of image, either of toood, stone, or metal, on which the axe, the chisel, or the graving tool has been employed. This commandment includes in its prohibitions ei-ery.s^jccies of idolatry known to have been practised among the Egyptians. The reader will see this the more plainly by consulting the notes on the ten plagues, particularly those on chap. xii.
Or any likeness, Sfc.^ To know the full spirit and extent of this commandment, this place must be collated with Deut. iv. 15, &c.: Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves — lest ye corrupt yourselves — and make you a graven image, the sirnititude of any figure, the likeness of male or female. All who have even the slightest acquaintance with the ancient history of Egypt, know that Osiris and his wife Isis were supreme divinities among that people.
The likeness of any beast. — mn3 hehemah, such as the ox and the heifer. Among the Egyptians the ox was not only sacred but adored, because they supposed that in one of these animals Osiris took up his residence: hence they always had a living ox, which they supposed to be the habitation of this deity; and they imagined that on the death of one he entered into the body of another, and so on successively. This famous ox-god they called Apis and Mnevis.
The likeness of any winged fowl. — The ibis, or stork, or crane, and hawk, may be here intended, for all these were objects of Egyptian idolatry.
The likeness of any thing that creepeth. — The crocodile, serpents, the scarabeus or beetle, were all objects of their adoration; and Mr. Bryant has rendered it very probable that even the frog itself was a sacred animal, as from its inflation it was emblematic of the prophetic influence, for they supposed that the god inflated or distended the body of the person by whom he gave oracular answers.
The likeness of any fish. — AW fish were esteemed sacred animals among the Egyptians. One called Oxurunchus had, according to Strabo, lib. xvii., a temple, and divine honours paid to it. Another fish, called
5 s Thou shalt not bow down a. M. 2513. thyself to tliem, nor serve them: An. Exod. Isr. 1 for I the Lord thy God am ^ a ^'"^■
jealous God, ' visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and
Phagrus, was worshipped at Syene, according to Clemens Alexandrinus in his Cohortatio. And the Lepidotus and eel were objects of their adoration, as we find from Herodotus, lib. ii., cap. 72. In short, oxen, heifers, sheep, goats, lions, dogs, monkeys, and cats; the ibis, the crane, and the hatok; the crocodile, serpents, frogs, flies, and the scarabeus or beetle; the Nile and its fish; the sun, moon, planets, and stars; fire, light, air, darkness, and night, were all objects of Egyptian idolatry, and all included in this very circumstantial prohibition as detailed in Deuteronomyj and very forcibly in the general terms of the text: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. And the reason of this becomes self evident, when the various objects of Egyptian idolatry are considered.
To countenance its image worship, the Roman Catholic Church has left the whole of this second commandment out of the decalogue, and thus lost one whole commandment out of the ten; but to keep up the number they have divided the tenth into two. This is totally contrary to the faith of God's elect and to the acknowledgment of that truth which is according to godliness. The verse is found in every MS. of the Hebrew Pentateuch that has ever yet been discovered. It is in all the ancient versions, Samaritan, Chaldee. Syriac, Septuagint, Vulgate, Coptic, and Arabic; also in the Persian, and in all modern versions. There is not one word of the whole verse wanting in the many hundreds of MSS. collected by Kennicott and Be Rossi. This corruption of the word of God by the Roman Catholic Church stamps it, as a false and heretical Church, with the deepest brand of ever-during infamy!
This commandment also prohibits every species of external idolatry, as l\\e first does all idolatry that may be called internal or mental. All false worship may be considered of this kind, together with all image worship, and all other superstitious rites and ceremonies. See the note on ver. 23.
Verse 5. Jealous God] This shows in a most expressive manner the love of God to this people. He felt for them as the most affectionate husband could do for his spouse; and was jealous for their fidelity, because he willed their invariable happiness.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children'] This necessarily implies — if the children u-alk in the steps of their fathers; for no man can be condemned by Divine justice for a crime of which he was never guilty; see Ezek. xviii. Idolatry is however particularly intended, and visiting sins of this kind refer? principally to national judgments. By withdrawing
6 And ^ showing mercy unto tliousands of them that love mc, and keep my commandments. 7 ' Thou shalt not take tlie name of the
the Divine protection the idolatrous Israelites were delivered up into the hands of tlieir enemies, from whom the gods in whom they had trusted could not deliver them. This God did to the third and fourth generations, i. e., successifcly; as may be seen in every part of the Jewish history, and particularly in the book of Judges. And this, at last, became the grand and the only effectual and lasting means in his hand of tlieir final deliverance from idolatry; for it is well ki;own that after the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were so completely saved from idolatry, as never more to have disgraced themselves by it as they had formerly done. These national judginents, thus continued from generation to generation, appear to be what are designed by the words in the text. Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, &c.
Verse 6. And showing meroj unto thousands'] Mark; even those who love God and keep his commandments merit nothing from him, and therefore the salvation and blessedness which these enjoy come from the mercy of God: Showing mercy, &c. What a disproportion between the works of justice and mercy! Justice works to the third or fourth, mercy to thousands of generations!
The heathen had maxims like these. Theocritus also teaches that the children of the good shall be blessed because of their parents' piety, and that evil shall come upon the offspring of the wicked: —
Idyll. 26, V. 32. Upon the children of the righteous fall The choicest blessings; on the wicked, wo.
That lore me, and keep my commandments ■] It was this that caused Christ to comprise the fulfilment of the whole law in love to God and man; see the note on ver. 1. And as love is the grand principle of obedience, and the only incentive to it, so there can be no obedience without it. It would be more easy even in Egyptian bondajjc to make brick without straw, than to do the will of God unless his love be shed abroad in the lieart by the Holy Spirit. Love, says the apostle, is the fuiJilUng of the laic; Rom xiii. 10.
Verse 7, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain] This precept not only forbids all false oaths, but all common swearing where the name of God is used, or where ho is appealed to as a witness of the truth. It also necessarily forbids all light and irreverent mention of God, or any of his attributes; a 402
8 ° Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
imports: and we may safely add to all these, that e\evy prayer, ejaculation, &c., that is not accompanied with deep reverence and the genuine spirit of piety, is here condemned also. In how many thousands of instances is this commandment broken in the prayers, whether read or extempore, of inconsiderate, bold, and presumptuous worshippers! And how few are there who do not break it, both in their public and private devotions! How low is piety when we are obliged, in order to escape damnation, to pray to God to " pardon the sins of our holy things.'"
Even heathens thought that the names of their gods should be treated with reverence.
XlavTDg fiev 6t] KaTjiv eTriTifdevfia, deuv ovofjara pr} Xpaivtiv (yadiu^, exovra oif f;(0V(7iv ij/iuv ixaaroTe ra TTu/l/la oi TT/leiOTot KadapoTT/Toc re (coi ciyveiof to ^repi rouf BeovQ.
" It is most undoubtedly right not easily to pollute the names of the gods, using them as we do common names; but to watch with purity and holiness all things belonging to the gods."
The Lord will not hold him guiltless, cj-c] What ever the person himself may think or hope, however he may plead in his own belialf, and say he intends no evil, &c.; if he in any of the above ways, or in any other way, takes the name of God in vain, God will not hold him gttiltlcss — he will account him guilty and punish him for it. Is it necessary to say to any truly spiritual mind, that all such interjections as O God! my God! good God! good Heavens! &c., &c., are formal positive breaches of this law! How many who pass for Christians axe highly criminal here!
Against profanation of the Sabbath, 3.nd idleness on the other days of the tceek. Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.] See what has been already said on this precept. Gen. ii. 2, and elsewhere. As this was the most ancient institution, God calls them to remember it; as if he had said. Do not forget that when I had finished my creation I instituted the Sabbath, and remember why I did so, and for what jmrposes. The word!^2'Z' shabbath signifies rest 01 cessation from labour; and the sanctification of the seventh day is commanded, as having something representative in it; and so indeed it has, for it typifies the rest which remains for the people of God, and in this light it evidently appears to have been understood by the apostle, Heb. iv. Hecause this commandment has not been particularly mentioned in the New Testament as a moral precept binding on all, therefore some have presumptuously ( 2T)
^'"'"'- 10 But the P seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou slialt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor ihy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, i nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
1 1 For ' in six days the Lord made hea-
inferred that there is?io Sabbath under the Christian dispensation. The truth is, the Sabbath is considered as a type: all types are of full force till the thing signified by them takes place; but the thing signified by the Sabbath is that rest in glory which remains for the people of God, therefore the moral obligation oi' the Sabbath must continue till time be swallowed up in eternity. Verse 9. Six daijs shalt thou labour] Therefore he who idles away time on any of the six days, is as guilty before God as he who works on the Sabbath. No work should be done on the Sabbath that can be done on the preceding days, or can be deferred to the succeeding ones. Works of absolute necessity and mercy are alone excepted. He who works by his servants or cattle is equally guilty as if he worked himself. Hiring out horses, &c., (or pleasure or business, going on journeys, paying loorldly visits, or taking jaunts on the Lord's day, are breaches of this law. The whole of it should be devoted to the rest of the body and the improvement of the mind. God says lie has hallowed it — he has made it sacred and set it apart, for the above purposes. It is therefore the most proper day for public religious worship.
Verse 12. Honour thy father and thy mother] There is a degree of affectionate respect which is owing to parents, that no person else can properly claim. For a considerable time parents stand as it were in the place of God to their children, and therefore rebellion against their lawful commands has been considered as rebellion against God. This precept therefore prohibits, not only all injurious acts, irreverent and unkind speeches to parents, but enjoins all necessary acts of kindness, filial respect, and obedience. We can scarcely suppose that a man honours his parents who, when they fall weak, blind, or sick, does not exert himself to the uttermost in their support. In such cases God as truly requires the children to provide for their parents, as he required the parents to feed, nourish, support, instruct, and defend the chddren when they were in the lowest state of helpless infancy. See the note on Gen. xlviii. 12. The rabbins say. Honour the Lord with thy substance, Prov. iii. 9; and. Honour thy father and mother. The Lord is to be honoured thus if thou have it; thy father and mother, •whether thou have it or not; for if thou have nothing, thou art bound to beg for them. See Ainsworth.
12 ^Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
That thy days may be long] This, as the apostle observes, Eph. vi. 2, is ihe first commandment to which God has anne.xed a promise; and therefore we may learn in some measure how important the duty is in the sight of God. In Deut. v. 16 it is said, And that it may go well with thee; we may therefore conclude that it will go ill with the disobedient; and there is no doubt that the untimely deaths of many young persons are the judicial consequence of their disobedience to their parents. Most who come to an untimely end are obliged to confess that this, with the breach of the Sabbath, was the principal cause of their ruin. Reader, art thou guilty 1 Humble thyself therefore before God, and repent. 1. As children are bound to succour their parents, so parents are bound to educate and instruct their children in all useful and necessary knowledge, and not to bring them up either in ignorance or idleness. 2. They should teach their children the fear and knowledge of God, for how can they expect affection or dutiful respect from those who have not the fear of God before their eyes? Tliose who are best educated are generally tlie most dutiful. Heathens also inculcated respect to parents.
OvSev 7r/3of -^tuv -ifjiiuTcpov ayalua av KTrjcat/uda TTarpog Kai irpoTraropor Trapci/ievuv yi}pa, Kai fiijTepuv rt/v aVTTjv Svvafiiv sxqvguV ovg orav ayaK7~.i} Tiq,
" We can obtain no more honourable possession from the gods than fathers and forefathers worn down with age, and mothers who have undergone the same change, whom when we delight, God is pleased with the honour; and every one that is governed by right understanding fears and reverences them, well knowing that the prayers of parents oftentimes, and in many particulars, have received full accomplishment."
Against murder and cruelty. Verse 13. Thou shalt not kill.] This commandment, which is general, prohibits murder of every kind. 1. All actions by which the lives of our fellow creatures may be abridged. 2. -A.11 wars for extending empire, commerce, &c. 3. All sanguinary laws, by the operation of which the lives of men may be taken away for offences of comparatively trifling demerit
15 " Thou shrilt not steal.
17 "Thou shalt not covet thy A.M. 2513.
man-servant, nor his maid-scTrant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
4. All had dispositions which lp;iJ men to wi.sh evil to, or meditate mischief against, one another; for, says the Scripture, He that hatcth his brother in his heart is a murderer. 5. All xmnt of charity to the helpless and distressed; for he who has it in his power to save the life of another by a timely application of succour, food, raiment, &c., and does not do it, and the life of the person either falls or is abridged on this account, is in the si^'ht of God a murderer, lie who neglects to save life is, aecordinK to an incontrovertible maxlx in law, the s.vME as he who takes it away. 6. -All riot and excess, all drunkenness and gluttot.j, all inactivity and slothful ness, and all superstitious mouifications and self-denials, by which life may be destroyed or shortened; all these are point-blank sins against the sixth commandment.
Against adultery and uncleanness. Verse 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.] Adultery, as defined by our laws, is of ttoo kinds; double, when between two married persons; single, when one of the parties is married, the other single. One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice. 1. It robs a man of his right by taking from him the affection of his wife. 2. It does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring — a child which is not his. The act itself, and every thing leading to the act, is prohibited by this commandment; for our Lord savs, Even^e xeho looks on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And not only adultery (the unlawful commerce between two married persons) is forbidden here, but also fornication and.all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure hooks, songs, paintings, &c., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind, are against this law, as well as another species of impurity, for the account of which the reader is referred to the notes on Gen..xxxviii. at the end. That fornication was included under this command we may gather from St. Matthew, xv. 19, where our Saviour expresses the sense of the diflcrent commandments by a word for each, and mentions them in the order in which they stand; but when lie comes to the seventh he uses two words, /loi.ff""! -ffn'tiat, to express its meaning, and then goes on to the eighth, &c.; thus evidently showing that fornication was understood to be comprehended under the command, " Tliou shall not commit adultery." As to the word adultery, adulterium, it has probably been derived from the words ad allerius tonim, to anoth'r's bed; for it is going to the bed of another man that constitutes the act and the crime. Adultery often mear? idolatry in the worship of God.
Against stealing and dishonesty. Verse 15. Thou shalt not steal.] All rapine and theft are forbidden by this precept; as well national and commercial wrongs as petty larceny, highway robberies, and private stealing: even the taking advantage of a seller's or buyer's ignorance, to give the one less and make the other pay more for a commodity than its worth, is a breach of this sacred law. All irilhholding of rights and doing of wrongs are against the spirit of it. But the word is principally applicable to clandestine stealing, though it may undoubtedly include all political injustice and private wrongs. And consequently all kidnapping, crimping, and slave-dealing are prohibited here, whether practised by individuals or by the state. Crimes are not lessened in their demerit by the number, or political importance of those who commit them. A state that enacts bad laws is as criminal before God as the individual who breaks good ones.
It has been supposed that under the eighth commandment, injuries done to character, the depriving a man of his reputation or good name, are included; hence those words of one of our poets: — Good name in man or woman Is the immediate jewel of their souls. Who steals piy purse steals trash; — But be that Jilches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.
Against /a/.sf testimony, perjury, &c. Verse 16. Thou shalt not bear false witness, i^cj Not only false oaths, to deprive a man of liis life or of his right, are here prohibited, but all whispering, tale-bearing, slander, and calumny; in a word, whatever is deposed as a truth, which is false in fact, and tends to injure another in his goods, person, or character, is against the spirit and letter of this law. Suppressing the truth when known, by which a person may be defrauded of his properly or his good name, or lie under injuries or disabilities which a discovery of the truth would have prevented, is also a crime against this law. He who bears a false testimony against or belies even the devil himself, comes under the curse of this law, because his testimony is false. By the term neighbour any human being is intended, whether he rank among our enemies or friends.
Against covetousness. Verse 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house — u'ife, dfc] Covet signifies to desire or long after, ir order to enjoy as a property the person or
nings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain '' smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off:
19 And they said unto Moses, ' Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but "^ let not God speak with us, lest we die.
20 And Moses said unto the people, ^ Fear not: ^ for God is come to prove you, and ^ that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
thing coveted. He breaks this command who by any means endeavours to deprive a man of his house or farm by taking them over his head, as it is expressed in some countries; who lusts after his neighbour's wife, and endeavours to ingratiate himself into her affections, and to lessen her husband in her esteem; and who endeavours to possess himself of the servants, cattle, &c., of another in any clandestine or unjustifiable manner. " This is a most excellent moral precept, the observance of which will prevent all public crimes; for he who feels the force of the law that prohibits the inordinate desire of any thing that is the property of another, can never make a breach in the peace of society by an act of wrong to any of even its feeblest members."
Verse 18. And all the people saw the thimderings, 4-c.] They had witnessed all these awful things before, (see chap. xix. 16,) but here they seem to have been repeated; probably at the end of each command, there was a peal of thunder, a blast of the trumpet, and a gleam of lightning, to impress their hearts the more deeply with a due sense of the Divine Majesty, of the holiness of the law which was now delivered, and of the fearful consequences of disobedience. This had the desired effect; the people were impressed with a deep religious fear and a terror of God's judgments; acknowledged themselves perfectly satisfied with the discoveries God had made of himself; and requested that Moses might be constituted the mediator between God and them, as they were not able to bear these tremendous discoveries of the Divine Majesty. " Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with ns, lest we die;" ver. 19. This teaches us the absolute necessity of that great Mediator between God and man, Christ Jeeus, as no man can come unto the Father but oy him.
Verse 20. And Moses said — Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces'] The maxim contained in this verse is, Fear not, that ye may fear — do not fear with such a fear as brings consternation into the soul, and produces nothing but terror and confusion; but fear with that fear which reverence and fi/ial affection inspire,
2 1 And the people stood afar off.
and Moses drew near unto "^ the An. Exod. isr. i thick darkness, where God was. ^"'"'-
22 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you ' from heaven.
23 Ye shall not make '' with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offer ings, and thy peace-offerings, ' thy sheep and
that ye sin not — that, through the love and reverence ye feel to your Maker and Sovereign, ye may abstain from every appearance of evil, lest you should forfeit that love which is to you better than life. He who fears in the first sense can neither love nor obey; he who fears not in the latter sense is sure to fall under the first temptation that may occur. Blessed is the man who thus feareth always.
Verse 22. / have talked with you from heaven.] Though God manifested himself by the fire, the lightning, the earthquake, the thick darkness, &c., yet the ten loords, or coinmandments were probably uttered from the higher regions of the air, which would be an additional proof to the people that there was no imposture in this case; for though strange appearances and voices might be counterfeited on earth, as was often, no doubt, done by the magicians of Egypt; yet it would be utterly impossible to represent a voice, in a long continued series of instruction, as proceeding from heaven itself, or the higher regions of the atmosphere. This, with the earthquake and repeated thunders, (see on verse 18,) would put the reality of this whole procedure beyond all doubt; and this enabled Moses, Deut. v. 26, to make such an appeal to the people on a fact incontrovertible and of infinite importance, that God had indeed talked with them face to face.
A''erse 23. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver] The expressions here are very remarkable. Before it was said, Ye shall have no other gods before me, "]D b;' al panai, ver. 3. Here they are commanded, ye shall not make gods of silver or gold 'nx illi with me, as emblems or representatives of God, in order, as might be pretended, to keep these displays of his magnificence in memory; on the contrary, he would have only an altar of earth — of plain turf, on which they should offer those sacrifices by which they should commemorate their own guilt and the necessity of an atonement to reconcile themselves to God. See the note on verse 4.
Verse 24. Thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings] The law concerning which was shortly to be given, though sacrifices of this kind were in use from the days of Abel.
25 And ° if ihoii wilt make me an altar of
stone, thou shalt not ^ build it of hewn stone;
In all places where I record my name] Wherever I am worshipped, whether in the open wilderness, at the tiibernacle, in the temple, the synagogues, or elsewhere, / will come unto thee and bless thee. These words are prcciselj' the same in signification with those of our Lord, Matt, xviii. 20: For cohere two or three are i^athered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. And as it was JESUS who was the angel that spoke to them in the wilderness. Acts vii. 38, from the same mouth this promise in the latv and that in the Gospel proceeded.
Verse 25. Thou shalt not huild it of hewn stone] Because they were now in a wandering state, and had as yet no fixed residence; and therefore no time should be wasted to rear costly altars, which could not be transported with them, and which they must soon leave. Besides, they must pot lavish skill or expense on the construction of an altar; the altar of itself, whether costly or mean, was nothing in the worship; it was only the place on which the victim should be laid, and their mind must be attentively fixed on that God to whom the sacrifice was offered, and on the sacrifice itself, as that appointed by the Lord to make an atonement for their sins.
Verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps vnto mine altar] The word altar comes from alius, high or elevated, though the Hebrew word 71310 mizbach, from n2I zabach, to slay, kill, &c., signifies merely a place for sacrifice; see Gen. viii. 20. But the heathens, who imitated the rites of the true God in their idolatrous worship, made their altars very high; whence they derived their name altaria, altars, i. e., very high or elevated places; which they built thus, partly through pride and vain glory, and partly that their gods might the better hear them. Hence also the high places or idolatrous altars so often and so severely condemned in the Holy Scriptures. The heathens made some of their altars excessively high; and some imagine that the pyramids were altars of this kind, and that the inspired writer refers to those in these prohibitions. God therefore ordered his altars to be made, 1. either of simple turf, thst there might be no unnecessary expense, which, in their present circumstances, the people could not well afford; and that they might be no incenivcs to idolatry from their costly or curious structure; or 2. of unhewn stone, that no images of animals or of the celestial bodies might be sculptured on them, as was the case among the idolaters, and especially among the Egyptians, as several of their ancient altars which remain to the present day amply testify; which altars themselves, and the images carved on them, became in process of time incentives to idolatry, ami even objects of worship. In short, God formed every part of his worship so that every
for if thou lift up thy tool upon
26 Neither shalt thou go up ^""'■
by steps unto mine altar, i that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
thing belonging to it might be as dissimilar as possible from that of the surrounding heathenisli nations, and especially the Egyptians, from whose land they had just now departed. This seems to have been the whole design of those statutes on which many commentators have written so largely and learnedly, imagining difliculties where probably there are none. The altars of the tabernacle were of a different kind.
In this and the preceding chapter we have met with some of the most awful displays of the Divine Majesty; manifestations of justice and holiness which have no parallel, and can have none till that day arrive in which he shall appear in his glory, to judge the quick and the dead. The glory was truly terrible, and to the children of Israel insuflTerable; and yet how highly privileged to have God himself speaking to them from the midst of the fire, giving them statutes and judgments so righteous, so pure, so holy, and so truly excellent in their operation and their end, that they have been the admiration of all the wise and upright in all countries and ages of the world, where their voice has been heard! Mohammed defied all the poets and literati of jVrabia to match the language of the Koran; and for purity, elegance, and dignity it bore away the l)alm, and remained unrivalled. This indeed was the only advantage which the work derived from its author; for its other excellences it was indebted to Moses and the prophets, to Christ and the apostles; as there is scarcely a pure, consistent, theologic notion in it, that has not been borrowed from our sacred books. Moses calls the attention of the people, not to the language in which these Divine laws were given, though that is all that it should be, and every way worthy of its author; compressed yet perspicuous; simple yet dignified; in short, such as God should speak if ho wished his creatures to comprehend; but he calls their attention to the purity, righteousness, and usefulness of the grand revelation which they had just received. For what nation, says he, i* there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as Jehovah our God is, in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation hath statutes and Judgments so righteous as all this late which I set before you this day? And that which was the sum of all excellence in the present case was this, that the Goo who gave these laws dwelt among his people; to him they had continual access, ani from him received that power without which obedience so extensive and so holy would have been impossible; and yet not one of these laws exacted more than eternal reason, the nature and fitness of things, the prosperity of the community, and the peace and happiness of the individual, required. The law is holy, and t\i
To show still more clearly the excellence and great utility of the ten commandments, and to correct some mistaken notions concerning them, it may be necessary to make a few additional observations. And I. It is worthy of remark that there is none of these commandroents, nor any part of one, which can fairly be considered as merely ceremonial. All are moral, and consequently of everlasting obligation. 2. When considered merely as to the letter, there is certainly r,o difficulty in the moral obedience required to them. Let every reader take them up one by one, and ask bis conscience before God, which of them he is under a fatal and uncontrollable necessity to break '! 3. Though by the incarnation and death of Christ all the ceretnojiial law which referred to him and his sacrifice is necessarily abrogated, yet, as none of these ten commandments refer to any thing properly ceremonial, therefore they are not abrogated. 4. Though Christ came into the world to redeem them who believe from the curse of the law, he did not redeem them from the necessity of walking in that newness of life which these commandments so strongly inculcate. 5. Though Christ is said to have fulfilled the law for us, yet it is nowhere intimated in the Scripture that he has so fulfilled these ten laws, as to exempt us from the necessity and privilege of being no idolaters, swearers, Sabbath-breakers, disobedient and cruel children, murderers, adulterers, thieves, and corrupt witnesses. All these commandments, it is true, he punctually fulfilled himself; and all these he writes on the heart of every soul redeemed by his blood. 6. Do not those who scruple not to insinuate that the proper observation of these laws is impossihle in this life, and that every Tian since the fall does daily break them in thought, word, and deed, bear false witness against God and his truth! and do they not greatly err, not knowing the Scripture, which teaches the necessity of such obedience, nor the power of God, by which the evil principle of the heart is destroyed, and the law of purity written on the soul ] If even the regenerate man, as some have unwarily asserted, does daily break these commands, tlicse ten words, in thought, word, and deed, he may be as bad as Satan for aught we know; for Satan himself cannot transgress in more forms than these, for sin can be committed in no other way, either by bodied or disembodied spirits, than by thought, or word, or deed. Such sayings as these tend to destroy the distinction between good and evil, and leave the infidel and the believer on a par as to their moral state. The people of God should be careful how they use them. 7. It must be granted, and indeed has sufficiently appeared from the preceding exposition of these commandments, that they are not only to be understood in the letter but also in the spirit, and that therefore they may be broken in the heart while outwardly kept inviolate; yet this does not prove that a soul influenced by the grace and spirit of Christ cannot most conscientiously observe them; for the grace of the Gospel not only saves a man from outioard but also from inivard sin; for, says the heavenly messenger, his name shall be called Jesus, (i. e., Saviour,) because he shall save, (i. e., deliver) his people FROM their sins. Therefore the weakness or corruption of human nature forms no argument here, because the blood of Christ cleanses from all unrighteousness; and he saves to the uttermost all who come unto the Father through him. It is therefore readily granted that no man unassisted and uninfluenced by the grace of Christ can keep these commandments, either in the letter or in the spirit; but he who is truly converted to God, and has Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, can, in the letter and in the spirit, do all these things, because Christ sTRENCTHfeNs him. — Reader, the following is a good prayer, and oftentimes thou hast said it; now learn to pray it: " Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep these laws! Lord, have mercyupon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee!" — Co?n Se>-vire
Lams concerning servants. They shall serve for only seven years, 1,2. If a servant brought a wife to servitude loith him, both should go out free on the seventh year, 3. If his master had given him a wife, and she bore him children, he might go out free on the seventh year, but his ivife and children must remain, as the property of the master, 4. If, through love to his master, ivife, and children, he did not choose to avail himself of the privilege granted by the law, of going out free on the seventh year, his ear was to he bored to the door post with an awl, as an emblem of his being attached to the family for ever, 5, 6. Laws concerning maid-servants, betrothed to their masters or to the sons of their masters, 7—11. Laws concerning battery and murder, 12—15. Concerning men-stealing, 16. Concerning him that curses his parents, 17. Of strife between man and man, 18, 19; between a master and his servants, 20, 21. Of injuries done to women in pregnancy, 22. The le.x t.^lionis, or law of like for like, 23-25. Of injuries done to servants, by which they gain the right of freedom, 26, 27. Laws concerning the ox which has gored men, 28-32. Of the pit left uncovered, into which a man or a beast has fallen. 33, 34. Laws fonr.eming the ox that kills another, 35, 36.
2 '' If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for notliing.
3 If he came in " by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters; the
her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
5 •' And if the servant ' shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:
6 Then his master shall bring him unto the ^judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall « bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.
A'^erse 1. Now these are the judgments] There is so much good sense, fechng, humanity, equity, and justice in the following laws, that they cannot but be admired by every intelligent reader; and they are so very plain as to require very little comment. The laws in this chapter are termed political, those in the succeeding chapter judicial, laws; and arc supposed to have been delivered to Moses alone, in consequence of the request of the people, chap. xx. 19, that God should communicate his will to Moses, and that Moses should, as mediator, convey it to them.
Verse 2. If thmi hiy a Hebrew servant'] Calmet enumerates six different ways in which a Hebrew might lose his liberty: 1. In extreme poverty they might sell their liberty. Lev. x.\v. 39: If thy brother be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, &c. 2. A father might sell his children. If a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant; see ver. 7. 3. Insolvent debtors became the slaves of their creditors. My husband is dead — mid the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen, 2 Kings iv. 1. 4. A thief, if he had not money to pay the tine laid on him by the law, was to be sold for his profit whom he had robbed. If he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his thcfl; chap. xxii. 3, 4. 5. A Hebrew was liable to be taken prisoner in war, and so sold for a slave. 6. A Hebrew slave who had been r.ansomed from a Gentile by a Hebrew might be sold by him who ransomed him, to one of his own nation.
Six years he shall serve] It was an excellent provision in these laws, that no man could finally injure himself by any rash, foolish, or precipitate act. No man could make himself a servant or slave for more than seven years; and if he mortgaged the family inheritance, it must return to the family at the jubilee, which returned ever)' fiftieth year.
It is supposed that the term six years is to be understood as referring to the sabbatical years; for let a man come into scn'itude at whatever part of the interim between two sabbatical years, he could not be detained in bondage beyond a sabbatical year; so that if he fell into bondage the third year after a sablutical year, he had but three years to serve; if the fifth, but one. See on chap, xxiii. 11, &c. Others suppose that this privilege belonged only to the year of jubilee, beyond which no man could be detained
Verse 3. If he came in by himself] If he and his wife came in together, they were to go out together: in all respects as he entered, so should he go out. This consideration seems to have induced St. Jerome to translate the passage thus: Cum (juali veste inlraverat, cum tali exeat. " He shall have the same coat in going out, as he had when he came in;" i. e., if he came in with a new one, he shall go out with a new one, which was perfectly just, as the former coat must have been worn out in his master's ser^-ice, and not his own.
Verse 4. The wife and her children shall be her master^s] It was a law among the Hebrews, that if a Hebrew had children by a Canaanitish woman, those children must be considered as Canaanitish only, and might be sold and bought, and serve for ever. The law here refers to such a case only.
Verse6. Shall bringhimuntothe judges] DTlbxH Sn el haelohim, literally, to God; or, as the Sepluagint have it, -^po^ to Kpirripwv Qtou, to the judgment of God; who condescended to dwell among his people; who determined all their diflferences till he had given them law's for all cases, and who, by his omniscience, brought to light the hidden things of dishonesty. See chap. xxii. 8.
Bore his ear through tcith an awl] This was a ceremony sufficiently significant, as it implied, 1. That he was closely attached to that house and family. 2. That he was bound to hear all his master's orders, and to obey them punctually. Boring of the ear was an ancient custom in the east. It is referred to by Juvenal: —
" First come, first served, he cries; and I, in spite Of your great lordships, will maintain my right: Though born a slave, though my torn ears are bored, 'Tis not the birth, 'tis money makes the lord." Dhtdkn.
Calmet quotes a saying from Pclronius as attesting the same thing; and one from Cicero, in which he rallies a Libyan who pretended he did not hear him: " It is not," said he, " because your cars are not sufjiciently bored,•" alluding to his having been a slaxt
8 If she ^ please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her.
9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.
10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, ' and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
1 1 And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free, without money.
12™ He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
13 And "if a man lie not in wait, but God " deliver him into his hand; then p I v/ill appoint thee a place whither he shall flee.
14 But if a man come i presumptuously
Verse 1. If a man sell his daughter] This the Jews allowed no man to do but in extreme distress — when he had no goods, either movable or immovable left, even to the clothes on his back; and he had this permission only while she was unmarriageable. It may appear at first view strange that such a law should have been given; but let it be remembered, that this servitude could extend, at the utmost, only to six years; and that it was nearly the same as in some cases of apprenticeship among us, where the parents bind the chUd for seven years, and have from the master so much per week during that period.
Verse 9. Betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her] He shall give her the same dowry he would give to one of his own daughters. From these laws we learn, that if a man's son married his servant, by his father's consent, the father was obliged to treat her in every respect as a daughter; and if the son married another woman, as it appears he might do, ver. 10, he was obliged to make no abatement in the privileges of the first wife, either in hex food, raiment, or duty of marriage. The word nnj;; onathah, here, is the same with St. Paul's ofecXofievjiv evvocav, the marriage debt, and with the 6fu?.tav of the Septuagint, which signifies the cohabitation of man and wife.
Verse 11. These three] I. Kei food, Tt^H-j; sheerah, her flesh, for she must not, like a common slave, be fed merely on vegetables. 2. Her raiment — her private wardrobe, with all occasional necessary additions. And, 3. The marriage debt — a due proportion of the husband's time and company.
upon his neighbour, to slay him A. M. 2513. with guile; ' thou shalt take An. Exod. Isr! 1, him from mine altar, that he ^"'"'- may die.
15 And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.
1 6 And = he that stealeth a man, and ' selleth him, or if he be "^ found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
1 7 And ^ he that '" curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.
18 And if men strive together, and one smite ^ another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed:
19 If he rise again, and walk abroad ^ upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for ^ the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.
20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely =" punished.
Verse 13. / will appoint thee a place whither he shall fee.] From the earliest times the nearest akin had a right to revenge the murder of his relation, and as this right was universally acknowledged, no law was ever made on the subject; but as this might be abused, and a person who had killed another accidentally, having had no previous malice against him, might be put to death by the avenger of blood, as the nearest kinsman was termed, therefore God provided the cities of refuge to which the accidental manslayer might flee till the affair was inquired into, and settled by the civil magistrate.
Verse 14. Thou shalt take him from mine altar] Before the cities of refuge were assigned, the altar of God was the common asylum.
Verse 15. That smiteth his father, nr his mother} As such a case argued peculiar depravity, therefore no mercy was to be shown to the culprit.
Verse 16. He that stealeth a man] By this law every man-stealer, and every receiver of the stolen person, should lose his life; no matter whether the latter stole the man himself, or gave money to a slave captain or negro-dealer to steal him for him.
Verse 19. Shall pay for the loss of his lime, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.] This was a wise and excellent institution, and most courts of justice still regulate their decisions on such cases by this Mosaic precept.
Verse 21. If the slave who had been beaten by his master died under his hand, the master was punished with death; see Gen. ix. 5, 6. But if he survived
woman's husband will lay upon him; and he
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 '' Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
26 And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
27 And if he smite out his man-servant's tooth, or his maid-servant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then " the ox shall be surely stoned, emd his llcsh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
the beating a day or ivio the master was not punished, because it might be presumed that the man died through some other cause. And all penal laws should be construed as favourably as possible to the accused.
Verse 22. And hurt a woman with child] As a jtosterily among the Jews was among the peculiar promises of" their covenant, and as every man had some reason to think that the Messiah should spring from his family, therefore any injury done to a woman with child, by which the fruit of her womb might be destroyed, was considered a very heavy offence; and as the crime was committed principally against the husband, the degree of punishment was left to his discretion. But if mischief followed, that is, if the child had been fully formed, and was killed by this means, or the woman lost her life in consequence, then the punishment was as in other cases of murder — the person was put to death; ve^. 23.
Verse 24. Eye for eye] This is the earliest account we have of the lex talionis, or law of like for like, which afterwards prevailed among the Greeks and Romans. Among the latter, it constituted a part of the twelve tables, so famous in antiquity; but the punishment was afterwards changed to a pecuniary fine, to be levied at the discretion of the prtetor. It prevails less or more in most civilized countries, and is fully acted upon in the canon law, in reference to all calumniators: Calumniator, si in accusatione defecerit, talionem recipiat. " If the calumniator fail in the proof of his accusation, let him suffer the same punishment which he wished to have inflicted upon the man whom he falsely accused." Nothing, however, of this kind was left to private revenge; the magistrate awarded the punishment when the fact was proved, otherwise the lex talionis would have utterly destroyed the peace of society, and have sown the seeds of ha- Ursd, revenge, and all uncharitableness.
29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
30 If there be laid on him a sum ol money, then shall he give for ^ the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
3 1 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.
3 2 If the ox shall push a man-servant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master ^ thirty shekels of silver, and the '' ox shall be stoned.
Verse 27. If he smite out his — tooth] It was a noble law that obliged the unmerciful slave-holder to set the slave at liberty whoso eye or tooth he had knocked out. If this did not teach them humanity, it taught them caution, as one rash blow might have deprived them of all right to the future services of the slave; and thus self-interest obliged them to be cautious and circumspect.
Verse 28. If an ooc gore a man] It is more likely that a hull is here intended, as the word signifies loth, see chap. xxii. 1; and the Septuagint translate the 1W shor of the original by ravpoc, a bull. Mischief of this kind was provided against by most nations. It appears that the Romans twisted hay about the horns of their dangerous cattle, that people seeing it might shun them; hence that saying of Horace, Sat., lib. i., sat. 4, ver. 34: Fcenum habel in cornu, longefuge. " He has hayon his horns; fly for life!" The laws of the twelve tables ordered. That the owner of the beast should pay for what damages he committed, or deliver him to the person injured. See on chap. xxii. I.
His flesh shall not be eaten] This served to keep up a due detestation of murder, whether committed by man or beast; and at the same time punished the man as far as possible, by the total loss of the beast.
A'^erse 30. If there be laid on him a sum of money — the ransom of his Ife] So it appears that, though by the law Ite forfeited his life, yet this might be commuted for a pecuniary mulct, at which the life of the deceased might be valued by the magistrates.
Verse 32. Thirty shekels] Each worth about three shillings English; see Gen.xx. 16; xxiii.15. So,counting the shekel at its utmo.it value, the life of a slave was valued at four pounds ten shillings. And at this price these same vile people valued the life of our blessed a
An. Exod. isr. 1. pit, or II a man shall dig a pit, ^"''"'' and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
34 The owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money xuito the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his.
35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, that
Lord; see Zech. xi. 13, 13; Matt. xxvi. 15. And in return, the justice of God has ordered it so, that they have been sold for slaves into every country of the universe. And yet, strange to tell, they see not the hand of God in so visible a retribution!
Verse 33. And if a man shall open a pit, or — dig a pit] That is, if a man shall open a well or cistern that had been before closed up, or dig a new one; for these two cases are plainly intimated: and if he did this in some public place where there was danger that men or cattle might fall into it; for a man might do as he pleased in his own grounds, as those were his private right. In the above case, if he had neglected to cover the pit, and his neighbour's ox or ass was killed by falling into it, he was to pay its value in money. The 33d and 34th verses seem to be out of their places. They probably should conclude the chap- live o.x, and divide the money of An. Exod. isr! i and the dead ox also they ^"^"'^
36 Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push ill time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.
ter, as, where they are, they interrupt the statutes concerning the goring ox, which begin at verse 28.
These different regulations are as remarkable for their justice and prudence as for their humanity. Their great tendency is to show the valuableness of human life, and the necessity of having peace and good understanding in every neighbourhood; and they possess that quality which should be the object of all good and wholesome laws — the prevention of crimes. Most criminal codes of jurisprudence seem more intent on the punishment of crimes than on preventing the commission of them. The law of God always teaches and warns, that his creatures may not fall into condemnation; for judgment is his strange work, i. e., one reluctantly and seldom executed, as this text is frequently understood.
Laws concerning theft, 1-4; concerning trespass, 5; concerning casualties, 6. Laws concerning deposits, or goods left in custody of others, ivhich may have been lost, stolen, or damaged, 7—13- Laws concerning things borrowed or let out on hire, 14, 15. Laws concerning seinciion, 16, 17. Laios concerning v/'itchcraft, 18; bestiality, 19; idolatry, 20. Laws concerning strangers, 21; concerning widows, 22-24; lending money to the poor, 25; concei-ning pledges, 26; coracemin^ respect io magistrates, 28; concerning the first ripe fruits, and the ffrst-born of man and beast, 29, 30. Directions concerning carcasses found torn in the field, 31.
Verse I. If a man shall steal] This chapter consists chiefly o{ judicial laws, as the preceding chapter does of political; and in it the same good sense, and well-marked attention to the welfare of the community and the moral improvement of each individual, are equally evident.
In our translation of this verse, by rendering different Hebrew words by the same term in English, we ^a«e greatly obscured the sense. I shall produce ehe verse with the original words which I think improperly translated, because one English term is used for two Hebrew words, which in this place certainly do not mean the same thing. If a man shall steal an »x {ym shor) or a sheep, (nty seh,) and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen (ipn bakar) for an ox, hlB' shor,) and four sheep (|SX tson) for a sheep (HB' a
an ox, and ^ four sheep for a sheep. 2 If a thief be found ° break-
seh.) I think it must appear evident that the sacred writer did not intend that these words should be understood as above. A shor certainly is different from a bakar, and a seh from a tson. Where the difference in every case lies, wherever these words occur, it is difficult to say. The shor and the bakar are doubtless creatures of the beeve kind, and are used in different parts of the sacred writings to signify the bull, the ox, the heifer, the steer, and the calf. The seh and the tson are used to signify the ram, the wether, the ewe, the lamb, the he-goat, the she-goat, and the kid. And the latter word [NX tson seems frequently to signify the flock, composed of either of these lesser cattle, or both sorts conjoined.
As niiy shor is used. Job xxi. 10, for a bull, probably it may mean so here. If a man steal a bull he shah give Jive oxen for him, which we njay presume was
3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have notiiing, then he shall be " sold for his theft.
4 If the theft be certainly ^ found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall ^restore double.
5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution.
no more than his real value, as very few bulls could be kept in a country destitute of horses, where oxen were so necessary to till the ground. For though some have imagined that there were no castrated cattle among the Jews, yei this cannot be admitted on the above reason; for as they had no horses, and bulls would have been unmanageable and dangerous, they must liave had oxen for the purposes of agriculture. Tson IXi' is used for a flock either of sheep or goats, and seh niy for an individual of either species. For every seh, four, taken indifferently from the Ison or flock, must be given; i. e., a sheep stolen might be recompensed with four out of the jlock, whether of sheep or goats: so that a goal might be compensated with four sheep, or a sheep with four goats.
Verse 2. If a thief be found] If a thief was found breaking into a house in the night season, he miglit be killed; but not if the sun had risen, for then he might be known and taken, and the restitution made wliich is mentioned in the succeeding verse. So by the law of England it is a burglary to break and enter a house by night; and " anciently the day was accounted to begin only from sunrising, and to end immediately upon sunset: but it is now generally agreed that if there be daylight enough begun or left, eitlier by the light of the sun or twilight, whereby the countenance of a person may reasonably be discerned, it is no burglary; but that this does not extend to moonlight, for then many midnight burglaries would go unpunished. And besides, the malignity of the offence does not so properly arise, as Mr. Justice Blackstonc observes, from its being done in the dark, as at the dead of night, when all the creation except beasts of prey are at rest; when sleep has disarmed the owner, and rendered his castle defenceless." — East's Pleas of the Crown, vol. ii., p. 509.
Verse 4. He shall restore double.] In no case of theft was the life of the offender taken away; the utmost that the law says on this point is, that, if when found breaking into a house, he should be smitten so as to die, no blood should be shed for him; ver. 2. If be had stolen and sold the property, then he was to
6 If fire break out, and catch a. m. 2513. in thorns, so that the stacks of An. Exod. Isr. L corn, or the standing corn, or the ^""'°- field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.
7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen oul of the man's house; "^ if the thief be found, let him pay double.
8 If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the ' judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods.
9 For all manner of trespass, whether it he for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for
restore /our or Jivefold, ver. 1; but if the animal was found alive in his possession, he was to restore double.
A'^erse 6. If fire break out] Mr. Harmer observes that it is a common custom in the east to set the dry herbage on fire before the autumnal rains, which fires, for want of care, often do great damage: and in countries where great drought prevails, and the herbage is generally parched, great caution was peculiarly necessary; and a law to guard against such evils, and to punish inattention and neglect, was highly expedient. See Harmer' s Observat., vol. iii., p. 310, &c.
Verse 7. Deliver unto his neighbour] This is called pledging in the law of bailments; it is a deposit of goods by a debtor to his creditor, to be kept till the debt be discharged. Whatever goods were thus left in the hands of another person, that person, according to the Mosaic law, became responsible for them; if they were stolen, and the thief was found, he was to pay double; if he could not be found, the oath of the person who had them in keeping, made before the magistrates, that he knew nothing of them, was considered a full acquittance. Among the Koraans, if goods were lost which a man had intrusted to his neighbour, the depositary was obliged to pay their full value. But if a man had been driven by necessity, as in case of fire, to lodge his goods with one of his neighbours, and the goods were lost, the depositary was obliged to pay double their value, because of his unfaithfulness in a case of such distress, where his dishonesty, connected with the destruction by the fire, had completed the ruin of the suflerer. To this case the following law is applicable: Cum guisfidem elegit, nee dcpositum redditur, contentus esse debet simple: cum vera extanle necessitate dcponat, crescit perfidiet crimen, &c. — Digest., lib. xvi., tit. 3, 1. 1.
Verse 9. Challengeth to be his] It was necessary that such a matter should come before the judges, because the person in whose possession the goods were found might have had them by a fair and honest purchase; and, by sifting the business, the thief mighl b«
An. Exod. isr! 1. another challengeth to be his, the ^'''^"- ''cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.
10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it:
1 1 Then shall an ' oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.
12 And "if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.
Verse II. An oath of the Lord be behoeen them] So solemn and awful were all appeals to God considered in those ancient times, that it was taken for granted that the man was innocent who could by an oath appeal to the omniscient God that he had not put his hand to his neighbour's goods. Since oaths have become multiplied, and since they have been administered on the most trifling occasions, their solemnity is gone, and their importance little regarded. Should the oath ever reacquire its weight and importance, it must be when administered only in cases of peculiar delicacy and difficulty, and as sparingly as in the days of Moses.
Verse 13. If it be torn in pieces — let him bring it for witness} Rather, Let him bring T\2'\\5T\ n^' ed hatterephah, a testimony or evidence of the torn thing, such as the horns, hoofs, &c. This is still a law in some countries among graziers: if a horse, cow, sheep, or goat, intrusted to them, be lost, and the keeper asserts it was devoured by dogs, &c., the law oWiges him to produce the horns and hoofs, because on these the owner's mark is generally found. If these can be produced, the keeper is acquitted by the law. The ear is often, the place marked, but this is not absolutely required, because a ravenous beast may eat the ear as well as any other part, but he cannot eat the horns or the hoofs. It seems however that in after times two of the legs and the ear were required as evidences to acquit the shepherd of all guilt. See Amos iii. 12.
Verse 16. If a man entice a maid] This was an exceedingly wise and humane law, and must have operated powerfully against seduction and fornication; because the person who might feel inclined to take the advantage of a young woman knew that he must marry her, and give her a dowy, if her parents consented; and if they did not consent that their daughter should wed her seducer, in this case he was obliged to give her the full dowry which could have been deraand- let him bring it for witness, and An. Exod. Isr. i. he shall not make good that ^"^' which was torn.
14 And if a man borrow aught of his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good.
15 But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be a hired thing, it came for his hire.
1 6 And " if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.
17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall ° pay money, according to the P dowry of virgins.
18 1 Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.
ed had she been still a virgin. -According to the Targvmist here, and to Deut. xxii. 29, the dowry was fiftij shekels of silver, which the seducer was to pay to her father, and he was obliged to take her to wife; nor had he authority, according to the Jewish canons, ever to put her away by a bill of divorce. This one consideration was a powerful curb on disorderly pas sions, and must tend greatly to render marriages re spectable, and prevent all crimes of this nature.
Verse 18. Thou shall not suffer a witch to live.] If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing. It has been doubted whether riiJl^'DD mecashshephah, which we translate loitch, really means a person who practised divination or sorcery by spiritual or infernal agency. Whether the persons thus denominated only pretended to have an art which had no existence, or whether they really possessed the power commonly attributed to them, are questions which it would be improper to discuss at length in a work of this kind; but that witches, tcizards, those who dealt with familiar spirits, &c., are represented in the sacred wTitings as actually possessing a power to evoke the dead, to perform suiiernatural operations, and to discover hidden or secret things by spells, charms, incantations, &c., is evident to every unprejudiced reader of the Bible. Of Manasseh it is said: He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times [pV veonen, he used divination by cloud.s] and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, [^ItyOl vcchishshcph,] and dealt with a familiar spirit, [31X HI!';'! veasah oh, performed a variety of operations by means of what was afterwards called the Trvev/xa twBuvo^, the spirit of Python,] and with wizards, ['Jl;?T yiddconi, the ivise or knowing ones;] and he xorought much evil in the sight of the Lord; 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. It is very likely that the Hebrew ^M cashaph, and the Arabic ^ ipX cashafa, had originally the same meaning, to
19 ''Whosoever lielh wilh a beast, shall surely he put to death.
20 ' He that sacrificcth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
21 ' Thou shall neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land
22 " Yc shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
bare or naked; and OuUAjLo mecasliefat is used to signify commerce xoilh God. See Wihnct and Gig- ^cius. The mecashshcphah or ivitch, therefore, uas probably a person who professed to reveal hidden mysteries, by commerce xoilh God, or the invisible
From the severity of ihic law against witches, &c., we may see in what light these were viewed by Divine justice. The}' were seducers of the people from their allegiance to God, on whose judgment alone they should depend; and by impiously prying into futurity, assumed an attribute of God, the foretelling of future events, which implied in itself the grossest blasphemy, and tended to corrupt the minds of the people, by leading them away from God and the revelation he had made of himself. Many of the Israelites had, no doubt, learned these curious arts from their long residence with the Egyptians; and so much were the Israelites attached to them, that we find such arts in repute among them, and various practices of this kind prevailed through the whole of the Jewish history, notwithstanding the offence was capital, and in all cases punished with death.
Verse 19. Lieth tvith a beast] If this most abominable crime had not been common, it never would have been mentioned in a sacred code of laws. It is very likely that it was an Egyptian practice; and it is certain, from an account in Sonnini's Travels, that it is practised in Egypt to the present day.
Verse 20. Utterly destroyed.] The word Qin cherem denotes a thing utterly and finally separated from God and devoted to destruction, without the possibility of redemption.
Verse 21. Thou slta't neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him] This was not only a very humane law, but it was also the offspring of a sound policy: " Do not vex a stranger; remember ye were strangers. Do not oppress a stranger; remember ye were oppressed. Therefore do unto all men as ye would they should do to you." It was the produce of a sound policy: " Let strangers be well treated among you, and many will come to take refuge among you, and thus the strength of your country will be increased. If refugees of this kind be treated well, they will become
2.3 If thou afflict them in any A. M. 2513. wise, and they 'cry at all unto An.'Eiod.isr'.l. me, I will surely "" hear their cry; ^"'°"
24 And my =■ wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and y your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
25 ^ If thou lend money to any of my peo pie that is poor by thee, thou shall not be to him as a usurer, neither slialt thou lay upon him usury.
proselytes to your religion, and thus their souls may be saved."' In every point of view, therefore, justice, humanity, sound policy, and religion, say, Neither vex nor oppress a stranger.
Verse 22. Ye shall not afflict any ividow, or fatherless child.] It is remarkable that offences against tliis law are not left to the discretion of the judges to be punished; God reserves the punishment to himself, and by this he strongly shows his abhorrence of the crime. It is no common crime, and shall not be punished in a common way; the wrath of God shall wax hot against him who in any wise afflicts or wrongs a widow or a. fatherless child: and we may rest assured that he who helps either does a service highly acceptable in the sight of God.
Verse 25. Neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.] "^Si neshech, from nashach, to bite, cut, or pierce wilh the teeth; biting usury. So the Latins call it tjsnra rorax, devouring usury. " The increase of usury is called liyj ncshcch, because it resembles the biting of a serpent; for as this is so small as scarcely to be perceptible at first, but the venom soon spreads and diffuses itself till it reaches tho vitals, so the increase of usury, which at first is not perceived nor felt, at length grows so much as by degrees to devour another's substance." — Leigh.
It is evident that what is here said must be understood of accumulated usury, or what we call compound interest only; and accordingly "jafJ neshech is mentioned wilh and distinguished from n"31i"\ tarbith and n'310 marbilh, interest or simple interest, Lev. xxv. 30, 37: Prov..xxviii. 8; Ezek. xviii. 8, 13, 17, and xxii. 12. — Parkhurst.
Perhaps usury may be more properly defined unlawful interest, receiving more for the loan of money than it is really worth, and more than the law allows. It is a wise regulation in the laws of England, that if a man be convicted of usury — taking unlawful interest, the bond or security is rendered void, and he forfeits treble the sum borrowed. Against such an oppressive practice the wisdom of God saw it essentially necessary to make a law to prevent a people, who were naturally what our Lord calls the Pharisees, i^O.apyvpoi, lovers of money, (Luke xvi. 11,) from oppressing each other; and who, notmthstanding the
An. Kxod. isr. 1. neighbour s raiment to pledge, ^''"'"- thou shall deliver it unto him by that the.sun goeth down ".
27 For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he '' crieth
law in the text, practise usury in all places of their dispersion to tiie present day.
Verse 36. If thou — take iliy neighbour's raiment to pledge] It seems strange that any pledge should be taken which must be so speedily restored; but it is very likely that the pledge was restored by night only, and that he who pledged it brought it back to his creditor next morning. The opinion of the rabbins is, that whatever a man needed for the support of life, he had the use of it when absolutely necessary, though it was pledged. Thus he had the use of his working tools by day, but he brought them to his creditor in the evening. His hyke, which serves an Arab as a plaid does a Highlander, (see ic described chap. xii. 34,) was probably the raiment here referred to: it is a sort of coarse blanket, about six yards long, and five or six feet broad, which an Arab always carries with him, and on which he sleeps at night, it being his only substitute for a bed. As the fashions in the east scarcely ever change, it is very likely that the raiment of the Israelites was precisely the same with that of the modern Arabs, who live in the very same desert in which the Hebrews were when this law was given. How necessary it was to restore the hyke to a poor man before the going down of the sun, that he might have something to repose on, will appear evident from the above considerations. At the same time, the returning it daily to the creditor was a continual acknowledgment of the debt, and served instead of a written acknowledgment or bond; as we may rest assured that writing, if practised at all before the giving of the law, was not common: but it is most likely that it did not exist.
Verse 28. Thou shalt not revile the gods] Most commentators believe that the word gods here means magistrates. The original isD'nSx Elohim, and should be understood of the true God only: Thou shall not blaspheme or make light of [S'7pn tekallef] God, the fountain of justice and power, nor curse the ruler of thy people, who derives his authority from God. We shall ever find that he who despises a good civil government, and is disaffected to that under which he lives, is one who has little fear of God before his eyes. The spirit of disaffection and sedition is ever opposed to the religion of the Bible. When those who have been pious get under the spirit of mi.srule, they infallibly get shorn of their spuritual strength, and become like salt that has lost its savour. He who can indulge himself in speaking evil of the civil ruler, will soon learn to blaspheme God. The highest authority says. Fear God: honour the king.
28 ''■ Thou shalt not revile the ^ gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
29 Thou shalt not delay to offer ' the ^ first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy '' liquors: ' the first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me
Verse 29. The first of thy ripe fruits] This offering was a public acknowledgment of the bounty and goodness of God, who had given them their proper seed time, Xhe first and the latter rain, and the appointed weeks of harvest.
From the practice of the people of God the heathens borrowed a similar one, founded on the same reason. The following passage from Censorinus, De Die Natali, is beautiful, and worthy of the deepest attention: —
Uli enim [majores nostri) qui alimenta, palriam, lucem, se denique ipsos deorum dono habehant, ex omnibus aliquid diis sacrabant, magis adeo, tit se gratos approbarent, quam quod deos arbitrarentur hoc indigere. Itaque cum perceperant fruges, antequam vescerentur, Diis libare inslituerunt: et cum agros atque urbcs, deorum munera, possiderent, partem quandam templis sacellisquc, ubi eos cclercnt, dicavere.
" Our ancestors, who held their food, their country the light, and all that they possessed, from the bounty of the gods, consecrated to them a part of all theii property, rather as a token of their gratitude, than from a conviction that the gods needed any thing. Therefore as soon as the harvest was got in, before they had tasted of the fruits, they appointed libations to be made to the gods. And as they held their fields and cities as gifts from their gods, they consecrated a certain part for temples and shrines, where they migh worship them."
Pliny is express on the same point, who attests that the Romans never tasted either their new corn oi wine, till the priests had offered the first-fruits to the gods. Ac ne degustabant quidem, novas fruges aut vina, antequam sacerdotes primitias LiB.iSSENT. — Hist. Nat., lib. xviii., c. 2.
Horace bears the same testimony, and shows that his countrymen offered, not only their first-fruits, but the choicest of all their fruits, to the Lares or household gods; and he shows also the wickedness of those who sent these as presents to the rich, before the gods had been thus honoured: —
Dulcia poma, Et quoscumque feret cullus tibi fundus honores Ante Larem gustet venerabilior Lare dives. Sat., lib. ii., s. v., ver. 13 " What your garden yields. The choicest honours of your cultured fields, To him be sacrificed, and let him taste. Before your gods, the vegetable feast." Dl'Nkin.
And to the same purpose Tibullus, in one of the most beautiful of his elegies: —
An. Exo.1. Isr. 1. wilh tliinc oxcii, and with ihy ^"'""' sheep: ' seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it inc.
Et quodcumque mihi pomum novus educat annus,
Libalum ns^ricolcc ponitur ante dco. Flava Ceres, tilii sil nostra dc riire corona
Spicca, qua: Icmpli pcndeat ante fores.
" My grateful fruUs, the earliest of the year, Before the rural god shall daily wait.
From Ceres' gifts I '11 cull each irotoner ear, And hang a ivheaten wreath before her gate."
The same subject he touches again in the fifth elegy of the saine book, where he specifies the different offerings made for the produce of the fields, of the Hacks, and of the vine, ver. 27: —
Ilia deo sciet agricolm pro vitibus uvam. Pro segete spicas, pro grege ferre dapem.
" With pious care will load each rural shrine, For ripened crops a golden sheaf assign, Cates for my fold, rich clusters for my jcine." Id. — See Calmct.
The rejoicings at our harvest-home are distorted remains of that gratitude which our ancestors, with all the primitive inhabitants of the earth, expressed to God with appropriate signs and ceremonies. Is it not possible to restore, in some goodly form, a custom so pure, so edifying, and so becoming 1 There is a laudable custom, observed by some pious people, of dedicating a new house to God by prayer, &c., which cannot be too highly commended.
Verse 30. Seven days it shall be with his dani] For the mother''s health it was necessary that the young one should suck so long; and prior to this time the process of nutrition in a young animal can scarcely be
ye eat any flesh that is torn of ^""°'
beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the
considered as completely formed. Among the Romans lambs were not considered as pure or clean before the eighth day; nor calves before the thirtieth: Pecoris foetus die octavo purus est, bovis trigesimo. — Plin. Hist. Nat., lib. viii.
Verse 3 1. Neither shall ye eat — -flesh — torn of beasts in the field] This has been supposed to be an ordinance against e.ating flesh cut off the animal while alive, and so the Syriac seems to have understood it. If we can credit Mr. Bruce, this is a frequent custom in Abyssinia; but human nature revolts from it. The reason of the prohibition against eating the flesh of animals that had been torn, or as we term it worried in the field, appears to have been simply this: That the people might not eat the blood, which in this case must be coagulated in the flesh; and the blood, being the life of the beast, and emblematical of the blood of the covenant, was ever to be held sacred, and was prohibited from the days of Noah. See on Gen. ix. 4.
In the conclusion of this chapter we see the grand reason of all the ordinances and laws which it contains. No command was issued merely from the sovereignty of God. He gave them to the people as restraints on disorderly passions, and incentives to holiness; and hence he says, Ye shall be holy men unto me. Mere outward services could neither please him nor profit them; for from the very beginning of the world the end of the commandment was love out of a pure heart and good conscience, and faith unfeigned, 1 Tim. i. 5. And without these accompaniments no set of religious duties, however punctually performed, could be pleasing in the sight of that God who seeks truth in the inward parts, and in whose eyes the faith that workelh by love is alone valuable. A holy heart and a holy, useful life God invariably requires in all his worshippers. Reader, how standest thou in his sight '
Laws against evW-s^eaking, 1. Against bad company, 2. Against partiality, 3. Laws commanding acts of kindness and humanity, 4, 5. Against oppression, 6. Against unrighteous decisions, 7. Against bribery and corruption, 8. Against unkindness to strangers, 9. The ordinance concerning the Sabbatical year, 10, 11. The Sabbath a day of rest, 12. General directions concerning circumcision, JfC, 13. The three annual festivals, 14. The feast o/" unleavened bread, 15. The feast of harvest, and the feast of ingathering, 16. All the males to appear before God thrice in a year, 17. Different ordinances — no blood to he offered tvith leavened bread — no fat to be left till the neit day — the first fruits to be brought to the house of God — and a kid not to be seethed in its mother's milk, 18, 19. Description of the Angel of God, loho was to lead the people into the promised land, and drive out the Amoriles, dfc, 20-23. Idolatry to be avoided, and the images of idols destroyed, 24. Different promises to obedience, 25-27. Hornets shall be sent to drive out the Canaanites, <^c., 28. The ancient inhabitants to be driven out by little and little, and the reason why, 29, 30. The boundaries of the promised land, 31. No league or covenant tc he made with the ancient inhabitants, who are all to be utterly expelled, 32, 33. 4Ifi a
'pHOU ^ shall not ^ raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an "= unrighteous witness.
2 "^ Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; ' neither shalt thou ^ speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
4 s If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou slialt surely bring it back to him again.
5 '^ If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, ' and \vo\ildest for-
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII. Verse 1. Thou shalt not raise a false report] Acting contrary to this precept is a sin against the ninth commandment. And the inventor and receiver of false and slanderous reports, are almost equally criminal. The word seems to refer to either, and our translators have very properly retained both senses, putting raise in tiie text, and receive in the margin. The original NiiTi N7 lo fissa has been translated, thou shalt not publish. Were there no publishers of slander and calumny, there would be no receivers; and were there none to receive them, there would be none to raise them; and were there no raisers, receivers, nor propagators of calumny, lies, &c., society would be in peace. Verse 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude lo do evil] Be singular. Singularity, if in the right, can never be criminal. So completely disgraceful is the way of sin, that if there were not a multitude walking in that way, who help to keep each other in countenance, every solitary sinner would be obliged to hide his head. But D"D"i rabbim, which we translate multitude, sometimes signifies the great, chiefs, or mighty ones; and is so understood by some eminent critics in this place: " Thou shalt not follow the example of the great or rich, who may so far disgrace their own character as to live without God in the world, and trample under foot his laws.'" It is supposed that these directions refer principally to matters which come under the eye of the civil magistrate; as if he had said, " Do not join with great men in condemning an innocent or righteous person, against whom they have conceived a prejudice on the account of his religion," &c.