Exposition of the Whole Bible

thee, &c.] And fo fulfil the prophecies delivered for the whole countries of Edom and Moab: until.

the other fide Yordan, over which they muft pafsin us pafs. by him, &c.] Or through his country, as was defired: for the Lord God hardened bis fpirit, and made bis heart. obftinate; as he did Pharaoh's, for whom he will he hardens; fo that he would not liften to the propofals made to him, nor grant the requelts afked of him, but with pride and haughtinefs of {pirit defpifed and difdained I rael:

that be might deliver bim into thine band; that fo an opportunity might offer of fighting with him, and taking his country from him; whereas had he been peaceable and flexible, he had continued in the enjoyment of his land, and J/rae/ would not have had that advantage againft him; but God, who has the hearts of kings, and of all men in his hands, fo wrought upon him that he fhould take of every city, we left none to remain, for the Amorites were one of the feven nations who were devoted to deftruction, the meafure of whofe iniquity was now full, and therefore vengeance was taken.

¥. 35. Only the cattle we took for.a prey unto ourfelves, &c.] Thefe they did not deftroy, but preferved alive for their own ufe and profit, and took them as their own property: and the fpoil of the cities which we took; as houfhold-goods, gold, filver, and whatever valuable was found by them; this they took as plunder and fhared it among themfelves.

¥. 36. From Aroer, which is by the brink of the

the fteps he did, which made way for the delivery of river Arnon, &c.] Upon the border of Moad, him and his country into the hands of the J/raelites: as appeareth shis day: for when Mofes made this fpeech, the kingdom of Sihow was pofleffed by the J/raelites, Numb. xxi. 24, 25.

¥. 31. And the Lord faid unto me, &c.] After or about the time when the mefiengers were fent to Sibon, perhaps when they had returned and had brought his anfwer: debold I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee; by hardening his heart, which was a fure token of his ruin, and a leading ftep to the delivery of him into the hands of Ifrael: begin to poffe/s, that thou mayeft inherit bis land; moye towards it and enter into, it, not fearing any oppofition made by him.

¥. 32. Then Sibon came out againft us, &c.] Perceiving they were upon their march towards his land or into it, he gathered all his people and went out of He/bbon their capital city, where he refided: be and all his people, to fight at Fahaz; a city which he had taken from the king of Moad, and which in after times, after the captivity, of the ten tribes, came into their hands again, Jf xv. 4. Fer. xlviii. 21. See the note on Numb, xxi. 23.

¥. 33. And the Lord our God delivered him before us, &c.] With their lands: and we fmote bim, and bis fons, and all his people, with the edge of the {word; flew them all: the Ce#id or textual reading is bis fon, though the Keri or margin is bis fons, which we follow. So Farchi obferves it is written bis fon, becaufe he had a fon mighty as himfelf, he fays..

¥. 34. And we took all bis cities at that time, &c.) As Hefboon, and others mentioned in Num), xxi. 25,

N this chapter the account is carried on ‘of the conqueit of the 4morites by I/rael, of Og king and the principal city of it; fee Fer. xlviii. 19: and from the city that is by the river; or even the city that is in the miidft of the river, the city Aroer which feems to be meant; fee Fo/b. xii. 2. and xiii. g. This river is afterwards called the river of Gad, 2 Sam. xxiv. 5. in the midft of it droer-was, perhaps becaufe it was poffefied by the Tribe of Gad: even unto Gilead; mount Gilead and the country adjacent to it, which belonged to Og king of Bajban: there was not one city too firong for us; that could hold out againft them, when attacked and_befieged by them, but prefently furrendered: he Lord our God delivered all unto us; Mofes afcribes all the victories and fuccefs they had unto the Lord, not to their own might and power, but to the power of God with them, and. his bleffing on

firoyed the men, and the women, and the little ones

¥. 37. Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou cameft not, &c.| Which was then in their pofieffion; otherwife what Siben had took away from them, that the children of J/rae/ came into and en= joyed, as before obferved, ¥. 1 Q. nor unto any place of the river Fabbok; any town or city fituated on this river, which was the border of the children of Ammon, chap. iii. 16. fee the note on Gen. xxxii. 22. nor unto the cities in the mountains; much lefs did they penetrate into the innermoft parts of their country, ‘the mountainous part thereof, and the cities there: nor unto whatfoever the Lord our God |forbad us, whether in Edom, Moab or Ammon, particularly the latter, of which he is more efpecially and peculiarly {peaking.

y. 1. Then we turned and went up the way to | Bafhan, ®&c.] Which feems to have been higher of Bafban and his kingdom, ¥. 1—11. and of the diftribution of their country to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manaffeh, y.12— 417. and then the command to the faid tribes is obferved, to go out armed before their brethren, affift them in the conqueft of the land of Canaan, and then return to their poffeffions, ¥. 18, 19, 20. and alfo that to Fo/bua not to fear, but Canaanitife kings and kingdoms what he had feen done to the two kings of the “morites, ¥. 21, 22. After which Mo/es relates the requeft he made, go over Fordan and fee the good land, which was denied him, only he is bidden to look from the an hill to feeit,¥.23—-27. And the chapter is clofed “with the charge he was to give Fo/bua, y. 28. in the valley where they abode,!

than the kingdom of Sibon: this was a fine country for pafturage, for the breeding of cattle larger and lefler, and was famous for its oaks: it is the fame country which in Fo/epbus and others goes by and) the name of Batanea: and Og the king of Bafban came out againft us; got his forces together, and came out from “/hteroth, the royal city where he todotothe dwelt: be and all his people, to battle ct Edrei, another city in his kingdom, about fix miles from the former; fee chap. i. 4. and Numd. xxi. 33. to) y.2. And the Lord faid unto me, &c.| When Og was marching with all his forces againft [/rael: top of ' fear him not &c; fee the Note on Numd. xxi. 34.

¥. 3. So the Lord our God delivered into our bands Og alfo the king of Bajfban,. and all his people, &c.] As well as Sihon king of He/bbon: and we fmote him,

2. till none was left ta bim remaining; or left alive,

Ft And we took all his cities at that time, &c.] Not only Edret where the battle was fought, and Afpteroth his capital city, but all the refit in his kingdom: there was not a city which we took not from them; not one ftood out, but all furrendered on fummons; the number of which follows: threefeore cities; which was a large number for fo mall

_a country, and fhews it to be well inhahited: a// the region of Argob; which was a {mall province of the kingdom of Og in Bafoan: Aben Ezra and archi obferve, that it was called after a man, i.e, whofe name was Argob; the Targum of Onkelos names it Zracona, and the Targum of Fonathan Targona, the fame with Trachonitis in Fofepbus and other authors; fee Luke ili. 1. Ferom relates » that in his time, about Gera/a, acity of Arabia, 15 miles from it to the weft, there was a village which was called Arga, which feems to carry in it fome remains of the antient name of this country; and the Samaritan verfion,.in all places where Argod is, calls it Rigebaah; and in the Mi/nah* mention is made of a place called Ragab, beyond Jordan, famous for its being the fecond place for the beft oil.

¥. 5. All thefe cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, &c.|-That is, all the cities in the kingdom of Bafban, and though they were, it hindered not their falling into the hands of the J - raelites; and this might ferve to encourage them againft thofe fears they were poffefled of by the fpies, with refpeét to the cities in the land of Canaan; fee Numb. xiii. 28. Deut.i. 28. befides unwalled towns a great many, {mall towns and villages adjacent to the feveral cities, as is common.

y.6. And we utterly deftroyed them, &c.] Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them: as we did to Sihon king of Hefhbon; they did not deftroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt inthem; but the people that lived there, as follows here: wfterly deftroying the men, women, and children of every city; fee ch. li. 34.

y. 7. But all the cattle, and the {poil of the cities, &c.] The oxen and fheep, camels and affes; their gold and filver, and the furniture of their houfes; their ftores of corn, and of other fruits of the earth, even all their fubftance of whatfoever kind: we took for a prey to ourfelves; made them their own property, and ufed them for their own profit and fervice, whereby they became greatly‘ enriched.

x. 8. And we took at that time out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites, &c.] Sihon king of Hefobon, and Og king of Bajhan: the land that was on this fide Fordan, where Mo/es then was, being in the plains of Moad, and was the country beyond Fordan, with refpect to the land of Canaan, and when in that: from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon, Arnon was a river which divided Moab and the Amorites, Numb, xxii. 13. and Hermon was a mountain of Gilead, which ended where Lebanon began, and was the northerly border of this country. It was remarkable for the dew that fell on it; fee Pf cxxxiii. 3. and the note there.

y. 9. Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion, &c,.] Which name it has in P/ xxix. 6. a name the inhabitants of Sidon gave it, but for what reafon it is not eafy tofay; however, that it was well mir; in whofe poffeffion it was laft. Bochart * thinks it had its name from the multitude of wild cats init, Shunar in the Chaldee tongue being the name of that creature; but Yarchi fays Shenir in the Canaanitifo language fignifies fnow; fo in the Targums of Onkelos and Fonathan, it is called the mountain of fnow; and the Hebrew who read to Ferom, ardtaught him, affirmed to him that this mountain hung over Paneas, from whence fnow in fummer-time was brought to 7yre for pleafure!, and the fame is confirmed by Abulfeda™. There is faid to be upon the top of it a famous temple, which is ufed for worfhip by the heathens, over againft Paneas and Lebanon", and it is highly probable, there was one even at this time, when it was pofiefied by the Amorites, fince it is called mount Baal Hermon, Judg. iii. 3. from the worfhip of Baal, or {ome other idol upon it, as it fhould feem. Befides thefe it had another name, mount Sioa, Deut, iv. 48. but to be diftinguifhed from mount Zion near Ferufalem. The names of it in this place are very differently interpreted by Hi erus es

‘though he thinks it had them all on account of the fnow on it, which was as a net all over it; for Hermon he obferves fignifies a net, a drag-net, and

Shenir an apron, and Sirion a coat of mail, all} from the covering of this mount with fnow. — y. 10. All the cities of the plain, &c.) There was a plain by Medaba, and Hefbbon and her cities were in a plain, with fome others given to the tribe of Reuben, Fob. xiii. 16, 17. and all Gilead; mount Gilead, and the cities belonging to it, a very fruitful country, half of which fell to the fhare of - the Reubenites, and the reft to the half tribe of Ma- — naffeh: and all Bafban; of which Og was king, called Batanea, a very fertile country, as before obferved: anto Salcah and Edrei, cities of the-kingdom of Og in Baj/han; which feem to be frontier cities of the latter; fee ch. i. 4. and iti. r. The former Adrichomius » fays was fituated by the city Gefbur and mount Hermon, and was the boundar of the country of Bajban to the north; and aes cording to Benjamin of Tudela*, it was: half 4 day’s journey from Gilead; as Edrei feems to be its boundary to the fouth.; ¥. 11. or only Og king of Balan remained of the remnant of giants, &c.] The meaning feems to be, either that he was the only one that was left of the race of the giants the Ammonites found when they took pofleffion of this country, ch. ii. 20. or that was left when the Amorites took it from the 4mmonites; and who having by fome means or other ingratiated himfelf into their affeCtions, becaufe of his ftature, ftrength, and courage, and other qua- ualifications they might difcern in him, mass flee their king: Lebold, bis bedfead was @ bedftead iron; his body being fo large and bulky, he might — think it moft proper and fafeft for him to haye a — bedftead made of iron to lie upon, or to prevent — noxious infects harbouring in it; nor was it unufual — to have bedfteads made of other materials than ~- wood, as of gold, filver, and ivory; fee the note. on Amos vi. 4. Some learned men‘ have been of — opinion, that the beds of Typho in Syria, made men- _ tion of by Homer*, refer to this bedftead of

DEUTERONOMY. Chiii3. 4-14).

all were flain with the fword; fee the noteon Numb. known to Tyre and Sidon, appears from {now itt fummer time being brought to the former, as will — be hereafter obferved: aud the Amorites call it She- ~ is it not in Rabbak of the children of Amnon? which — oes 2 ae was the royal city of the Ammonités, in the times David, 2 Sam, xii. 26. now called Philadelphia, as of from Gilead even unio the river Arnon s {ee } i2: balf the valley and the border or rather, half the

‘Yerom fays*. This bedftead might be either fent thither by Og before the battle at, Zdrei for fafety, or rather might be fold-by the J/raelites to the inha- river, the river 4raon; and fo it is rendered rhe middle of the river, in Fofb. xii. 2. arid fo here the middle of the torrent by the Vulgate Latin and Sepiua- bitants of Rabbab, who kept it as a great curiofity: g7w¢ verfions, and by Onkelos: even tinto the river nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of aman; a common cubit, fo that it was four yards and a half long, and two yards broad. Ovkelos renders it, after the king’s cubit; and the king’s cubit at Babylon, according to Heredotus*, was larger by three fingers than the common one; fuch as the cubit in £2ekiel’ xl. 5. which was a cubit. and an hand’s breadth; and this makes the dimenfions of the bedftead yet larger..-And by this judgment may be made of the talnefs of Og’s ftature, though this is not always a {ure ruleto go by.; for Alexander,

Jabbok which is the border of ihe children of Ammon; beyond which the land given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad reached not; fee ch. ii. 37.

¥.17. The plain alfo and Jordan, &c.}] The plain by Yordan, the plains of Moab on the fide of it, together. with the river: and the coaft thereof 3 the country adjoining to it: from Chinnereth even unto the fea of the plain, even the falt-fea, that is; from Genéfaret, as the Targums of Onkelos and Fonathan; called the land of Gennefaret, Matt. xiv. 34. from thence to the fea of Sodom, the fea of the plain, where the cities of the plain ftood, Scdom, when in India, ordered his foldiers to make beds of Gomorrab, &c. and the falt-fea, fo called from the five cubits long, to be left behind them, that they might be thought to be larger men than they were, as Diodorus Siculus” and Curtius* relate; but there is little reafon to believe that Og’s beditead was made with fuch a view. Maimonides obferves’, that a bed in common is a. third part larger than a, man 5 fo that Og, according to this way of reckoning, was fix cubits high, and his ftature doubly larger thana common man’s; but lefsthan a third part may well be allowed to a bed, falt and nitrous waters of it, the lake A/phaltites: under Afedoth-Pifgah eafiward; mentioned among the cities given to the tribe.of Reuben, Fo d. xiii.

20, rendered the Jprings of Pifgab, ch. iv. 49. the word having the. fignification of effufions, pourings out; fo the Zargums. |

¥: 18. And I. commanded you at that time, &c.] Not all Jrael, but the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manafeh; for what follows only concerns them: faying, the Lord your God hath which: will make him taller ftill; the height of Og g7ven you this laud to poffe/sit; the land before de= is reckoned by Wolfius * to be 137442 feet of Paris meafure.

v.12. And this land which we poffeffed at that time, &c.| Or took poffeffion of, having conqueredit; for it ftill remained in their poffeflion: from Aroer which is by the river Arnon, on the borders of Moab, from thence as far as Gilead was the land which was taken from Sibon king of He/bbon, ch. ii. 36. and half mount.Gilead, and the cities thereof; which were taken from Og king of Bajhan, y. 10. gave I unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites 5 at their requeft, on certain conditions to be performed by them, afterwards repeated.

y. 13: And the reft of Gilead, &c.\ The other half of the mount, with the cities belonging to it; and all Bafhan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manaffeh; {ee Numb. xxxii. 33. all the region of Argob, with all Bafhan, the region of Trackonitis, in Bafban; {ee ¥. 4. which was called the land of giants, or of Rephaim, this ‘Farchi faysis the country of the Rephaim given to Abraham, Gen. xv. 20.

y. 14. Fair the fon of Manaffeh took all the country of Argob, &c.| Or Trachonitis, the {mall towns belonging to Gilead, as in Numb. xxxii. 41. unto the coafts of Gefouri and Maachathi, thefe were little kingdoms in Syria, on which the country of Argob bordered, and had kings over them in the time of David, and came not into the poffeffion of the Jraelites, fee Fofb. xiii. 13. 2 Sam. iti. 3. and x. 6,8. and xv. 8. and called them after bis own - name Bafhan-bavotk-jair unto this day; fee Numb. XXXil. 41.

y¥. 15. And IgaveGilead unto Machir;] The fon of Manaféh; not to him perfonally, who cannot _ ‘bethoughtto have been livingat this time, but to his pofterity, tothe Machirites, fee Numb. xxxii. 40.

-¥. 16. And unto the Reubenites and unto the Gadites, &c.] The tribes of Reuben and Gad: I gave

{cribed, lately in the hands of Sibox and Og; this at their requeft Mo/es gave them, by the direction of the Lord, on the following condition: you fall pas over armed before your brethren the children of Yrael, allthat are meet for the war that is, they fhould pafs over Fordan with the reft of the tribes, being armed to affift them in the conqueft of Canaan: for this phrafe which we render defore your brethren, doesnot fignify that they went in the forefront of them, only that they were prefent with them, and joined them in their war againft their enemies; fee Numb. xxxii. 29, 30. and therefore fhould be rendered with your brethren*; even as many of them as were able to bear arms, at leaft as many as Jo/bua would chufe to take of them; for he did not take them all by a great many; fee Fold. iv. 13.

¥.19. But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, &c.] Thefe were to be left behind: for I know that ye have much cattle; which made the countries of Gilead and Baj/han, fo famous: for pafturage, agreeable to them; fee Numb. xxxii. 1. thefe under the care of fervants, and alfo their wives and children, ball abide in your cities which I bave given you; and which they- rebuilt and repaired, Numb. xxxii. 34—42.

y. 20. Until the Lord have given reft unto your brethren, as well as unto you, &c.| Rett from their enemies, and habitations to dwell quietly in; fo the land of Canaan is. called a reft, ch. xii. g. typical of the reft which remains for the people of God: and until they alfo poffe/s the laid which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Fordan; for fo Canaan was with refpect to Mofes and the people with him, who were then in the plains of Moab; otherwife the.country in which he was with refpect to Canaan is ufually, called beyond Fordan; this the Lord had given in promife.to J/rael, and they were juft now ready to enter into and poffefs it, by virtue of his gift, and whichmade it fure unto them: and then fhall ye return every man unto bis polfefion, which I have given you, as accordingly they did, Yo/d. xxii.

y. 21. And I commanded Fofhua at that time, &c.] After the conqueft of the two kings, and the affienment of their countries to the above tribes; and after Mofes had it made known to him that he fhould quickly die, and Yo/bua fhould be his, fucceffor; then, by the direétion of God, he.gave him the following charge: /aying, thine eyes have feen all that the Lord your Ged bath done unto thefe two kings 5 Sibon and Og, how their kingdoms were taken from them, and. given to J/rae/, and they flain with the fword; this Yo/hua was an eye-witnefs of, and was no doubt greatly concerned in the battles with them, being the general of the J raelitifh armies; at leaft this was fornetimes his poft, and he can’t bethought to have been un-employed in thefe wars: fo fhall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou paffeft; all the kingdoms in the land of Canaan, where there ‘were many, thirty-one at leaft; thefe would be all conquered and put into thé hands of the J/raelites, and their kings flain.

y¥. 22. Ye fhall not fear them, &c.| On account of the numbers, ftrength, courage, and - gigantic {tature of the inhabitants, at leaft fome of them,; nor on account of their walled towns, and fortified cities: for the Lord your God he fhall fight for you; as he did particularly at Fericho, the walls of which city fell at the found of rams horns; and at Gi- Leon, when he caft down hailftones on their enemies, and more were flain by them than with the fword; and in all their battles, it was he that gave them fuccefs and victory.

y¥. 23. And I befought the Lord at that time, &c.] When he was told he fhould die, and Fofbua fhould fucceed him; or when the two kings were flain, and their kingdoms conquered; this being the beginning, pledge, and earneft, of what God had promifed to do for the people of J/rael, Mo es was very defirous of living to fee the work compleated, and therefore fought the Lord by prayer and fupplication: /aying; as follows.

¥.24. O Lord God, thou haft begun to fhew thy fervant thy greatunefs. and thy mighty hand, &c.)

To give a fpecimen of the greatnefs of his power, the world; and in thofe amazing inftances of his power, in bringing down judgments upon wicked men, kings, and kingdoms; and in the deliverance of his own people from them, and putting them and their kingdoms into the poffeifion of them; which were the wondrous works of might Mofes had in view, and a fenfe of which was imprefied on his mind, at this time.

¥. 25. I pray thee, let me go over and fee the good

land that is beyond Fordan, &c.] The land of Ca-. naan, the land flowing with milk and honey; a land which he defcribes as a moft excellent one, ch. viii. 7,8. To fee this land, he was very defirous of going over the river ‘fordan, beyond which it lay with refpe¢ct to the place where he now was:

that goodly mountain and Lebanon, or, that goodly mountain, even Lebanon; which lay to the north of the land of Canaan, and was famous for cedar and odoriferous trees. But if two diftinét mountains are meant, the goodly mountain may defign mount Moriah, on which the temple was afterwards built, and of which Mofes might have a forefight; and fome by Lebanon think that is meant, which was built of the cedars of Lebanon, and therefore goes by that name, Zech. xi. 1. and a foreview of this made the mountain fo precious to. Mofes, and defirable to be feen by him. So the Targum of ‘fonathan; ** that goodly mountain in which is built the city of Ferufalem, and mount Lebanon, in which the fhekinah fhall dwell;” to which agrees the note of Alen Ezra, who inter= prets the goodly mountain of Ferufalem, and Lebanon of the houfe of the fanétuary. In the Septuagint it is called Antilibanus. Mount Libanus had its name not from frankincenfe growing upon it, as fome have thought; for it does not appear that any did grow upon it, for that came from Seda in’ Arabia Felix; but from the whitenefs of it, thro’ the continual fnows that were on it, juft as the Alps have their name for the fame reafon; and fo Ferom fays> of Lebanon, that the fnow never fails trom the tops of it, or is ever fo overcome by the heat of the fun, as wholly to melt; to the fame purpofe alfo Tacitus * fays, and Mr. Maundrell*, who was there in May, {peaks of deep fnow onit, and reprefents the cedars as ftanding in fhow.

¥. 26. But the Lord was wroth with me for your

in fubduing the two kings and their kingdoms, and /akes, &c.] Not at this time, and for this prayer delivering them up into the hands of the J/raelites. Mofes had feen inftances of the mighty power of God in Egypt, at the Red-fea, and in the wildernefs; but this was the beginning of his power, in vanquifhing the Canaanites, and putting their land into the poffeffion of the I/raelites, as he had promifed; of which. the Amorites were a part, anda principal nationof them: and thus God, when he begins a work of grace upon the foul of man, begins to fhew the exceeding greatnefs of his power, and which is further exerted in carrying it on, and bringing it to perfection: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? here Mo/fes {peaks ac- _cording to the notion of heathens, who fuppofed there were other gods in heaven and in earth befides the true God; and upon this fuppofition obferves, let there be as many as they will, or can be imagined, there is none of them like the Lord God of J/rael for power and might; or are able to do fuch works as he has done, in nature, in the creation of all things out of nothing, in. providence, in fupporting what he has made, and in governing of his, but on account of he and Aaron not fanctifying him at the waters of Meribah; or of fome expreffions of unbelief, and unadvifed words, which dropped from his lips through their provocation of him; fee Numb. xx. 12. Pf. cvi. 32, 33. and. would not hear me, now, and grant the above requeft, having before declared that he and Aaron fhould not bring the people of J/rael into the land he had given them; and Mo/es with all his intreaties could not prevail upon him to repeal the fentence: and the Lord. faid unto me, let it fuffice s that he had feen the conqueft of the two kings, and the delivery of their kingdoms into the hands of J/rael, and that he had brought the people through the wildernefs to the borders of the land of Canaan, and that he fhould have a diftant fight of the land, as after directed: /peak no more unto me of this matter; intimating it would bein vain, and to no purpofe, to folicit {uch a favour, fince it would _ never be granted; it was a determined point, and he would never recede fromit. = ¥. 27. Get thee up into the top of Pifgah, &c.} Which was the higheft eminence of mount Wedo, 2 ® and fo a very proper place to take a profpect from; their enemies, and ftrengthen him with prémifes of fee Deut. xxxii. 49. and xxxiv, 1. and lift up thine eyes weftward, and northward, and fouthward, and eaftward; to all the four points of the heaven, and to all the four quarters and borders of the land of Canaan: and behold it with thine eyes; even the land of Canaan, and particularly Lebanon, though it lay to the north of it, that mountain he had fuch adefire to fee. Mo/fes, though old, his natural fight was very ftrong, and not in the leaft dim; and it is not improbable that it might be more than ordinarily increafed and affifted at this time: for the prefence of God, and of his gracious help and affiftance: for he fhall go over before this people 5 over the river Fordan, at the head of them, as their leader and commander; a typeof Chriff, the leader and commander of his people, who as their king goes forth at the head of them, and will introduce them all into his father’s kingdom and glory: and he foall caufe them to inherit the land which thou fhalt jee; and no mote; not enter into, but Fo/bua fhould; and having conquered it, fhould divide it by lot for an inheritance to them, and their chil- thou foalt not go overthis Fordan, into the land of dren after them; a type of Chri/?, in whom and by

Canaan; this affair of not being fuffered to enter there, Mo/es frequently takes notice of, no lefs than four’ or five times, it being what lay near his heart.

y¥. 28. But charge Fofhua, and encourage him, and Strengthen bim, &c.} Charge him to take the care of the children of J/rae/, to introduce them into the good land, and put them into the poffeffion of it; encourage him againft all fear of his and

HIS chapter contains an exhortation to J/rae/, to keep the commands, ftatutes, and judements of God, urged from the fuperior excellency of them to thofe of all other nations, ¥. 1—8. from the manner in which they were delivered, out of the midit of fire, by a voiceof words, but no fimilitude feen, ¥. 9—15. and particularly the J/- raelites are cautioned again{t idolatry, from the confideration of the goodnefs of God to them, in bringing them out of Egypt, ¥. 16—20. and the whom the faints obtain an inheritance by lot, Eps. i Tt.

¥. 29. So we abode in the valley over againft Betb- Peor;] Inthe plains of Mead, over againtt a terple built for Baal Peor upon a mountain, fo called from that idol, or that idol from the mountain; this is the valley where Adofes was buried, ch. | xxxiv, 6, kings of the Amorites, which they are put in rhind of in the preceding chapters; hence this begins with therefore hearken; for nothing is a greater incentive to obedience, than the kindnefs and goodnefs of God: which I teach you for to do that ye may live; the law was taught by Mo/es, but the gofpel of grace and truth by Fefus Chri?; and it was taught by him, as well as it was to be hearkened to by them, in order to yield obedience to it; for not bare hearing, but doing the law, is the prin- rather Mo/es is urgent upon them to be diligent injcipal thing, of any avail; and which was to be their obedience to the laws of God, becaufe he fhould quickly be removed from them, ¥. 21—24.

done, that they might live; not a fpiritual and eternal life, which are not by the works of the and fhould they be difobedient to them, it provoke the Lord to deftroy them, or to carry them captive into other lands, ¥. 25—28. though even then if they repented and fought the Lord, and became obedient, he would be merciful to them, and not forfake them, ¥. 29, 30, 31. and they are wouldjlaw, but are had only froth Cérift, through his grace and righteoufnefs; but a corporal life, anda comfortable enjoyment of the bleffings of it, and particularly that that might be continued to them: and go in and poffe[s the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you; the land of Canaan, which putin mind again.of the amazing things God had done for them, in fpeaking to them out of fire, and they alive; in bringing them out of another nation, and driving out other nations to make room for them; all which he improves, as fo many arguments to move them to obedience to the divine commands, ¥. 32—-40. and then notice is taken of the three cities of refuge,. feparated on this fide Fordan, ¥. 41, 42, 43. and the chapter is concluded with obferving, that this is the law, and thefe the teftimonies, Mo/es declared and repeated to the children of J/rael in the country of Sjbon and Og, who were delivered into their hands, and their ‘lands poffefled by them, which laid them under freth obligations to yield obedience to God, ¥.

y. 1. Now therefore kearken, O Ifrael, unto the ftatutes, and unto the judgments, &c.] The laws of God, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which they are exhorted to attend to and obey, in confidera- the Lord God of Abrabam, Laac, and Facob, had promifed to give to their pofterity, and which they were to hold by their obedience to his laws.

y¥.2. Ye fhall not add to the word which I command you, neither foall jou diminifh ought from it, &c.] Neither make new laws of their own, and join them to the law of God, and fet them upon a level withit, or prefer them before it; as the fcribes and Phgrifees did in Chrif’s time, who by their traditions made the word of God of none effect, as dothe papifts alfo by their unwritten traditions; nor abrogate nor detract from the law of God, nor make void any part of it: or elfe the fenfe is, neither do that which is forbidden, nor neglect that which is commanded; neither be guilty of fins of omiffion nor commiffion, nor in any way break the law of God, and teach men foto do by word or by example; nota jot or tittle is either to be put to it, or taken from it, Prov. xxx. 5, 6. Matth. v. 18, 19. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command tion of the great and good things the Lord hadjyou; in his name; or which he delivered unto done for them, ever fince they came from Hored, where they were given them; fuchas providing for them, and feeding them in the wildernefs, preferving them from every hurtful thing, and delivering their enemies into their hands, the two them as his commandments, and which were to be kept juft as they were delivered, without adding to them, or taking from them. ¥. 3. Your eyes have feen what the Lord did becaufe of Baal-Peor, &c } Becaufe of the idolatry. the the people of J/rael fell into by worfhipping that idol, being drawn into it by the daughters of and Midian, through the counfel of Balaam, with whom they committed fornication; which led them _to the other fin, and both highly provoking to God. The Targums of Onkelos and fonathan are, ** what the Word of the Lord has done to the worfhippers of the idol Peor;” for all the mien that followed Baal-pceor the Lord thy God hath deftroyed them among you; 24000 perfons died on that account; which being a recent thing, frefh in memory, and what they were eye-witnefiés of, was a caution to them to avoid the fame fins, as it is to us on whom territories, for the land they were going tor poffefs: » Moad was but a fmall country; nor for their wealth and riches, and warlike exploits, though they were not © contemptible in either; but fortheir happy confti- » tution in church and ftate, being directed and:go- + verned in both by laws, which came immediately’ from God himfelf, for their knowledge of ‘divine | things, and for fpiritual bleflings and privileges from they were-favoured with, of which a fpecialinftance + is given: who hath God fo nigh unto them as the + Lord our Ged is, in all things that we call upon him - for? God was nigh unto them in refpeét of relation, being their covenant God and Father, and’, the ends of the world are come, Numb. xxiii. 9.

1 Core %.6,°7, 8. 11. ¥. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, &c.] To the worfhip of the Lord your God, as the Targum of Fonatban-, attended the fervice of the fanctuary, were obfervant of the laws of God, and walked in his ftatutes and judgments; did not apoftatize from him by idolatry or otherwife, but kept clofe unto him, and followed him fully: are alive every one of you this day; which is very re- » markable, that in fuch a vaft number of people not tion belonged; and with refpect to place and pre- » fence, ‘his tabernacle being in the midft of them, ~ the feat of his fhekinah, or divine majefty, being « in the moft holy place, between the cherubim over the mercy-feat; and he going before themin® the pillar of cloud by day, and in the pillar of fire. by night, and who might be applied unto at all » times, for whatfoever’ they ftood in need of; and; who was always near unto them, to give them advice and counfel, help, and affiftance; to hear one fhould die in fuch a fpace of time, it being feveral months fince -that affair happened; and-befides, in that time there was a war with the A@dianites, and yet not one perfon died in that war, nords it feems by this account by any difeafe or difafter whatever; fee Numb. xxxi. 49.

y. 6. Keep therefore and do them, &c.] Obferve them, take notice of what is expreffed by them, and perform them, both as to matter and manner, as they require: for this is your wifdom and your underfianding in the fight of the nations; wifdom and underftanding would appear to other nations by their obfervance of the commands of God: which fhall bear all thefe fiatutes; which they hada report, and got knowledge of by fome of) the philofophers who travelled into thofe parts, and by the tranflation of the bible into the Greek guage: and fay, Jurely this great nation is a wife and underftanding people; that had fuch a body of laws, in which they were inftructed, and according their prayers, and communicate unto them things temporal and fpiritual they ftood in need of: and fo the Lord is nigh to all that call upon him in faith, with fervency, and in fincerity and truth;) and herein the glory and greatnefs of a people, as of [rael, lies, in being nearly related to God, a people near unto him, both as to union andcomme,;munion; andin having acommunication of good things from him. God is both a God at hand and afar off, Fer. xxiii. 235 fee Pf cxly. 18. }

¥..5. Bebold, I, have taught you ftatutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded &c.] He had faithfully delivered them, without adding tothem, or diminifhing from them, and had diligently inftructed the J/raelites in them, had taken pains to lead them into a thorough and underftanding of them: that ye /bould do fo in the land whither ye go to poffe/s it; do in like manner asthe commandments of the Lord direct to; that which is right*; proper and fitting to be done, by doing which they. fhould continue in the landj they were about to pofiefs, and therefore when it were, to be careful to perform them; fome of| them could not be done till they came into it, and all were to be done in it.

y.8. And what nation is there fo great, that hath knowledge ftatutes and judgments fo righteous, &c.| Founded im juftice and equity, and fo agreeable to right reafon, and fo well calculated and adapted to lead perfons orjin the ways of righteoufnefs and truth, and keep: them from doing any injury to each others perfons and properties, and to maintain good order, pedce, injand concord among them: as all this law which I et before you this day? which he then repeated, afrefh declared, explained and inftruéted them in; for otherwife it had been delivered to them near 40 years ago. Now there was not any nation then in being, nor any fince, to be compared with the nation of the ews, for the wife and wholefome laws given unto thems no, not thé more cultivated and that is, their | civilized nations, as the Grecians and Romans, who had the advantage of fuch wife law-givers as they were accounted, as Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, and others; and indeed the beft laws that they had, eem to be borrowed from the Fezws. MS y. 9. Only take heed to thy/élf, &c.] To walk lan-jaccording to this law, and not fwerve from it: and keep thy foul diligently; from the tranfgreffions and breaches of it: lef thou forget the things which thine eyes have feen; either the ftatutes and judg-— to which they were governed, and in which they walked; that were fo agreeable to reafon, truth, juftice, and equity; infomuch that fo far as they became known, they were admired and copied after, both by Greeks and Romans; and hence it was that the oracle declared, that only the Chaldeans and Hebrews were a wife people; the Hebrews the delivery of them; or the punifhment infliéed on the breakers of them; or the favours beftowed rom thy heart all the days of thy life, out of thy mind and memory, and have no place in thy affections, through a neglect and difufe of them: dut teach — they his fons and daughters, to whom: the,adop-.

ments fet before them, and the circumftances of ~ on thofe that obferved them: and left they depart i came from Chaldea, as Abrabam the father of them thy fons, and thy fons fons; their children and them. grand-children, that they may be trained up in y. 7. For what nation is there fo great, &c.] Not fo much for their number, for they were thej fewelt of all people; nor for the largenefs of their them in their youth, and fo not depart from th when grown up, and in years; feech. vi. 7 y. 10, Specially the day that thou ftoodeft

Chivo.ti—ig. DEUTERONO 17, is the Lord in Horeb, 8cc.] Above all: things Mo/es would have them take care not to forget the day the law was given frém mount Sinai, which was fo awful and jolemn, when they faw. the fire; the|&c. fmoke, the lightning; and heard the thunder the found of the trumpet; all which were very fhocking and terrifying: and though the men of were great quantities of it in mount Sinai 3; fee the note on Fvod. xxxi. 18. he)

y. 14. ud the Lord commanded me at that time, When the ten commandments were delivered andjon mount Si#ai, and Mofes was. ordered to come up to God in the mount: to teach you flatutes and judgments; laws ceremonial and judicial, befides

- this generation were but young then; being under twenty years of age, yet many of them were old enough to obferve thefe things, and which one would think fhould never wear out of their minds: when the Lord faid unto me, gather me the people to- ether; not the elders of the people only, but the whole body of the people, as he did, and brought them to the foot of mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 17.

the ten commands given them: that ye may do them in the land whither ye go over to pofféfs it 5 the land of Canaan, which was on the other fide of Yordan, and over which they muft go in order to poffefs it; and when they came there, they were to hold the poileffion of it by attending to thofe jaws which forbad the fins for which the old inhabitants of it were expelled out of it; and befides thefe; there

_ and will make them hear my words, the ten commands which were fpoken by the Lord himfelf aloud, with an articulate voice, in the hearing of all the people; and was fuch a terrible voice of words, that they that heard it intreated it might be ipoken to them no more, Hed. xii.19. that they|&c. may learn to fear me all the days that they foal live _ upon the earth 5 to reverence him the law-giver, who is able to faveand todeftroy; to fear to offend him by breaking his laws, fo holy, juft, and good, and delivered in juch an awful and folemn manner: and that they may teach thar children, the words they had heard, teach them obedience to them, and to be careful not to aét contrary to them; fince that would bring down judgments upon them, and deprive them of the favour they enjoyed, of which they had feen inftances.

¥.12. Ayd the Lord fpake unto you out of the mide of the fire, 8c.) Vor the Lord defczndedjon mount Sinai in. 4 cloud, in fire, and was in the thick darknefs, from whence he delivered out the ten commands: ye heard the voice of the words, diftinctly and plainly, not only the found of them, but the words themfelves, and fo astounderftand} what was, meant by them: dui faw no fimilitude, not any likeneis of the perfon fpeaking, by which they could form any idea of him in their minds, which was\ purpofely done to prevent idolatry: only ye heard @ voice; that was all. » 13. And he declared unto you his covenant, -&c.] So the law was called, becaufe it contained on the part of God, things which he would-have "done or avoided, to which were annexed promifes of long life and happinefs in the land he gave them; and they, on their part, agreed to hearken to it, and obey it, Exod. xxiv. 3, 7. which he com- \manded you to perform, even ten commandments; owhich fee at large in Exod. xx. 1—17. and in this book afterwards repeated, ch. v. €—21. and he ewrote them upon two tables of fione; to denote the -durablenefs of them; the Targum of Fonathanfays yon, tables of fapphire; but it is moft likely that they were written on tables of marble, fince were alfo feveral laws, both ceremonial and jadicial, which were to be peculiarly obferved in the land, as well as others they were obliged to do whilft without it. | |

¥. 15: Take pe therefore good heed unto yourfélves; Asto keep all the laws given them, fo particularly to avoid idolatry: for ye faw no manner of /imilitude, on the day the Lord Jpake unto you in Ho- 7eb, out of the mid? of the fre; and therefore as they had nothing that direéted and led them, fo they had. nothing that. could be a temptation. to them, to make any form or likenefs, and worfhip it..

y. 16. Leff ye corrupt yourfelves, &c.] And not themfelves only, but the word and worfhip of God by idolatry, than which nothing is more corrupt- * jing and defiling, nor more abominable to God: make you a graven image, the fimilitude of any of it, in the lower [figure; a graven image, in the likenefs of any fi-. eure, an idea of which they had formed in theif minds: the likene/s of male or female; of aman or awoman; fo fome of the ‘heathen deities were the likenefs of men, as ¥upiter, Mars, Her cules, Apollo, &cc. and others in the likenefs of women, as Funo, Diana, Venus, 8ec. Some think fris and jis, Egyptian deities, the one male, the other female, are refpected; but. it is not certain that thefe were worfhipped by them fo early,

¥i1t. And ye came near and food under the\and mountain, 8c.) At the foot.

part.of the mountain, as the Targum of Fonathan,| and agrees with Ewod. xix. 17. and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midft of heaven, the ame and imoke went up into.the middle of the air:Jin * with darknefs, clouds, and thick darknefs.; which thick darknefs was occafioned partly by the'{moke which went up like the ‘fmokeof a furnace, and|O partly by the thick clouds, which were on the mount, and covered the face of the heavens, which were black and tempeftuous with them; the Sep-| tuagint renders it a tempeft, Exod. xix. 18. Heb. xii. 18. which denotes the obfcurity of the law, and the terrors it works in the mincs of men.

y.17. The likene/s of any beaft that is on. the earth, &c.] As there are fearce any but the likenefs of them has been made and worfhipped, of. the creatures themfelves, ‘as the ox by the Egyptians; the theep by the Thebans, the goat by the Mende- /ians, and others by different people: the likene/s of any winged fowl that fliethinthe air, as the hawk and the bird called dis, and another by the name of Cneph by the Egyptians, and the eagle by others. | y.18. The likene/s of any thing that creepeth on the ground, &c.] As. ferpents by many; and indeed that creature is introduced into almoft all the idolatries of the heathens, which feems to take its rife from the ferpent Satan made ufe of to deceive our firft parents: tbe lkene/s of any Fife that is in the waters beneath the earths asthe croéodile and hippopotamus, or river-horfe; by the Egyptians and Dagon and Derceto, fuppofed to be figures in the form of a fifh among the Phenicians.

¥.19. And left thow lift up thine eyes unto beaven, &c,]. The {tarry heaven, which to do in itfelf is not finful; and may be lawfully and commendably done, to raife admiration at the. wonderful works of God in them, and lead to adore the author of them; but if not guarded againft may be en{naring: end when thou feeft the fun and the tnoon, and the ftars, even all the bof of beaven; thole bright luminaries, fo glorious to behold, and fo’ therefufeful and beneficial to the earth, and the inhabi- apace Qa: i. Boeken ofr Geor 4 _eiaen F tants ro DEUTERONOMD. Chiiv.y.16+28, cants of it: foould# -be driven’ to worfhip them, and reqhired of them, ment was promifed unto ferve them; Should have an impulfe on their.minds jthem on the performance of it, and what they mut} and their hearts, be inclined and drawn to the wor-jexpe¢t fhould they break it, and particularly be fo

Ship of them, partly by confidering their {plendor, forgetful of it, and the firft articles in it, as fol- — lows: and make you a graven image, or the likene[s of any thing which the Lord thy God bath forbidden thee’y a graven image in the likenefs of men or women, of any beatt on the earth, or fowl in hea+ ven; or fifh in the fea. oe eS ¥. 24. For the Lord-thy God is a eonfuming fire, &c.] To his enemies; his wrath is like fire to burn up and deftroy all that oppofe him and break his commands, and efpecially. idolaters; whofe fin of all others is the moft provoking to him, finceit {trikes at his being, his honour and glory; where+ fore it follows, even a jealous God; who is jealous.

glory and ufefulnefs, and partly by the example of others; for the worfhipping of thefe feems to be and is the firft kind of idolatry. men gave into, at leaft it was very antient; fee Fob xxxi. 76, 27. which the Lord thy God bath divided unto ail nations under the whole heaven; the fun and the moon by their conftant revolutions vifit all the parts of the world, and {tars are fixed in both hemifpheres, fo that. all nations of the earth receive the benefit and advantage of all: thefe heavenly bodies; but were never defigned to be the objects of their worfhip, as might be learnt from their’ being divided ro them, fometimes one part of the earth enjoying them, and then another, and not prefent with them all at one and the fame time, which, if deities, would have been: neceffary; fee Pf xix. 6. Mats. Vi 45.

¥. 20. But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of ibe iron furnace, &c.} The allufion is to the trying and melting of metals, and freeing them from drofs, by putting them into furnaces ftrongly heated, fome of which are of earth, others of iron; the word. as.the Fewi/h writers ® obferve, fignifies fuch an one in which gold and filver and other things are melted; fee Pf xii. 6. Prov. xvii. 3. even out: of Egypt, which is here compared. to an iron furnace,, becaufe of the cruelty with which the J/raelites were ufed. in it, the hardfhips they were put under, and the mifery and bondage they were kept in; but out of all the Lord brought them, as he does all his people fooner or later out of their affiictions, fometimes called the furnace of affliction, J/ xlviii. 10. where their graces are tried, and they are purged, purified, and: refined from thei drofs and tin. -This the Lord did to J/rae/, he brought them out. of their diftreffed ftate and condition: to de unto him a people of inberitance as.ye are this day; to be the Lord’s inheritance,.as they now were, chap. XXxxii. g. as well as they were quickly. to inherit the land of Canaan, for which they were brought out of the land of Egypt; and indeed they were already, even that day, entered on their inheritance, the kingdom otf the Amorites being delivered into their hands, y. 21. Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your fakes, cc.) See chap. iii. 26: and fware that I foould not go over Fordan; this circumftance of fwearing is no where elfe exprefled:: and that I foould not go in unto that good land, the land of Canaan; he might fee it as he did from Pifgah, but not enter into it: which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inberitance to them and to their children after them.

y. 22. But I muft diein this land, &c.] The Jand of Mead, in a mountain in it he died, and in a valley there he was buried, chap. xxxii. go. and xxxiv. 5,6. J muff not go over Fordan; this he repeats, as lying near his heart; he had earneftly folicited to go over, but was denied it: dut ye foall go over, and poffe/s that good land, this he firmly believed and affures them: of, relying on the promife and faithfulnefs of God.

y. 23. Take beed.unto yourfelves, 8cc.] Since he thould not be long with them to advife, inftrué, and caution them: Jf ye forget the covenant of the

Lord your God, which he made with you; what that

not the works of mens hand, but the glo fous, Gate 7"

of his honour in matters of worfhip, and will not fuffer his. glory to be given to another, nor his praife to graven images, without refenting it or punifhing for it.; ¥.25. When thou foalt beget children and childrens children, 8¢c.} Children and grand-children, and feveral ages and generations have pafled: and foalt have remained long in the land; many years.

and even ages; or have grown old * in it: now they were in their infancy, and as fuch were about to enter into it; during the times of the judges, they were in their childhood, or youth;. in the times of David. and Solomon, they were in their manhood 3. after that, in their decline; and in: the times of Feconiab and his brethren, in. their old-age, when for’ their fins they were carried. captive: and fall corrupt yourfelves, and make a gravep image, or the likenefs of any thing, fee the note on ¥..16. and fhalf do evil in the fight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger, that fin of idolatry, that God-provoking fin, is chiefly intended. San y. 26. I call heaven and earth to witnefs againft ou this day, &c.} Should they be guilty of fuch afin, fince they were fo ftrongly and publickly cautioned againit'it; and even the heaven and the earth were called upon as withefles of the law being fet before them, which fo exprefsly forbids it, chap. xxx. 19. that ye fhall foon utterly perifh from off the'land, whereinto you go over Fordan to poffe s it; though they were now about to go. ever Fordan and inherit the land of Canaan, yet they would not enjoy it long, but be taken and earried captive out of it; as the ten tribes were by - Salmanefer king of Affria, and the two tribes by Nedbuchadnexzar king of Babylon, and both for their idolatry and other crimes. CAR SRE ¥. 27. And the Lord foall featter you among the nations, &c.] As they were by both captivities; the ten tribes. were difperfed among the cities. of the Medes, and the two tribes throughout the’ empire of Babylon: and ye fhall be left few im number amang the heathen, whither the Lord fhall lead you, or bemen of number’, fo few that they might be eafily — numbered; Which intimates that it fhould-be otherwife with them than when in Egypt;’ there they were multiplied and increafed the more they were afflicted, but in thefe captivities they fhould be greatly diminifhed. 1, TOGO a ee ¥. 28. And there ye foall ferve gods, the work of by mens hands, wood. and ftone, 8c.) “Idols men, cut out of wood and {tone; thefe th he enticed into the fervice of, or ce ferve; which was ftill more brutith ane to worfhip the fun, moon and ftars,

Ch. iv. 329-37. DEUTERONOMY ig of the eternal. God. But fince in their captivities they were not fubjeCt to idolatry; but were cured of it thereby; another fenfe of the words is given by fome, as by Oxkelos and Yonathan, who paraphrafe the words of ferving the people, that ferve idols; but what follows confirms the firft fenfe: which neither fee, nor hear, nor tafte, nor finell; fenfelefs things, which have none of the fenfes of feeing, hearing and fmelling, nor the faculty of eating, which they need not to fupport life, of which they are deftitute; and therefore it muft be monttrous ftupidity to worfhip fuch lifelefs, fenfelefs objects; fee P/ cxv. 4, 5, 6, 7.

y. 29. But if from thence thou joalt feek the Lora thy God, &c.] By prayer and fupplication, acknowledging and confefling fin, and defiring that God would be gracious and forgive it, and bring them out of their miferable condition; even if out of thofe depths of affliction and diftrefs, and though feattered about in the world, and. in the uttermoft parts of it: thou foalt find him; to be a God hearing and anfwering prayer, gracious and merciful, ready to help and deliver: if they feck him with all their beart and with all their foul, fincerely and affectionately..

¥. 30. When thou art in tribulation, &c.] Ina ftrange land, in the power of a foreign enemy, and ufed ill: and all thefe things are come upon thee, captivity, thrakdom, hard labour, and want of the neceffaries of life: even in the latter days, in their prefent captivity for the rejection of the Meffiah: if thou turn to the Lord thy God; as the Fews will when they are converted and brought to a fenfe of their fin, and of their need of Chrift, and feek to him as their Saviour, as they will do in the latter day, Hof. iii. 5. and 2 Cor. iii. 16. and foalt be obedient unto bis voice; not of the law only, but of the gofpel alfo, proclaiming peace, pardon, righteoufhefs and falvation by him whom they have pierced.

y. 31. For the Lord thy God is a merciful God, &c.] In Chrift, in whom he has proclaimed his name as fuch, of which Mo/es had a comfortable view, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7,8. and therefore could atteft it from his own knowledge and experience: he will not forfake thee, though in a ftrange country, but bring them from thence into their own land again, and favour them with his gracious prefence in his houfe. and ordinances: neither deftroy thee, from ‘being a people; and in a very wonderful manner are they preferved among the nations of the earth to this day: wor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which be fware unto them, that a Saviour fhould come and turn away ungodlinefs from them, and take away their fins;. fee Rom. xi. 26, 27.

y. 32. For afk now of the days that are pajft, which were before thee, &c.| Enquire into and

‘confult the annals of former times, of ages paft: Jince the day that God created man upon the earth, trace them quite up to the creation of the world, -and men in it: and afk from the one fide of heaven to.the other; traverfe the whole globe, and examine the records of every nation in it in both hemifpheres: whether there bath been any fuch thing as » this great thing is, or hath been beard like it? whether they can give any account of any thing feen, ‘heard or done like what follows; fuggefting that - they cannot furnifh out an inftance to be mentioned mount Sinai, to which the. following reférs: and wpon earth be /hewed thee bis great fire; on mount Sizai, which burned with it: and thou beardeft bis

*pwithit.\3, <.. words out of the midft of the fire; the ten com- _- -¥. 93. Did ever people hear the voice of God. (peaking out of the midft of fire, ®c.| None ever heard the voice of God as they did, much Jefs} y. ’ {peaking fuch words as they heard, and. ftill lefs mands, and therefore may well be called a fiery law; fee ¥. 12, 15..33.: © 37. And becaufe he loved thy fathers, &c.] Not their immediate fathers, whofe carcafles fell in the out of the midft of fire, which was their cafes ¥. 12; 15. as thou bajt heard, and live? which was {lranger ftill, when they might have expected they fhould; and doubtlefs feared they would be, as it was wonderful they were not, confumed by it.

¥. 34. Or bath God affayed to go and take him a nation from the midft of another nation, &c.] As he now had done, namely the nation of J/rael out of the nation of the Bgyptians; this he not only had affayed to do, but had actually done it; whereas no fuch inftance like it could be produced, and efpecially as done in tle manner this was:. by ¢emp-~ tations, by figns, and by wonders, and by war; the word temptations may be confidered as a general word, as dben Ezra thinks; and may fignity the temptations by figns, Ge. or the various effays and trials, ways, means and methods raken by the Lord to bring about the event: by fens may be meant thofe which were required of Mo/es;\ and done by him before the people of J/rael; and before Pharaoh, as proofs of his miffion. from the Lord, Exod. iv. 1—g. 30. and vii. g; and by wonders, the ten plagues of Egypt, which were done by a fupernatural and miraculous operation and were amazing things; fee P/. lxxviiie 11; 12; 13 and by war, either the flaying of the firft-born, with the deftruction of the judges and gods of £- egypt, as Aben Ezra, or the Lord’s fighting for J rae/ at the Red Sea, as Farchi; he faved them and deftroyed the Egyptians, and fhewed himfelf to be a man of war, Exod. xiv.14, 25. and. xv..3. and by a mighty hand and firetched out arm; phrafes frequently ufed when this affair is fpoken of, and are expreffive of the mighty power of God in the -above inftances, and in the iffue of them, bringing J/rael out of Egypt; though Aben Ezra interprets it of the pillar of fire and cloud in which the Lord went before them: and by great terrors; which the fame writer interprets of the drowning of Pharaob-and his hoft in the fea, and dividing ic for J/rael; but may be underftood not only of the terrors which poffefled him and his people then, but at other times, efpecially at the’ time of the thunder and lightning, and when: they: fat in thick darknefs, and ‘particularly.when all their firft-born were flain; fee chap. xxvi. 8. according to all that the Lord your God did for' you in Egypt before your Eyes; among the men of Egypt, as the above writer, Pharaoh and his courtiers: the:above things were done as before them for. their terror; fo before J/rael for their encouragement.

¥..35. Unto thee it was foewed, &c.|. What the Lord didin Egypt: that thou mighteft know that the Lord he is God, there is none elfe befides:bims that he is the one only living and true God; and there is no other: this phrafe is often ufed by the prophet Jaiah, to exprefs the fame great atticle of faith.

¥. 36. Out of heaven be made thee to hear bis voice, that he might infirudt thee, 8c.) Thunder is the voice of God, and by which ‘he. inftructs men in the greatnefs of his power, Fob. xxvi. 14. and xl..g. and Pf xxix. 3, €%c. unlefs his voice in giving the law, which was for the inftruGtion of Yrael, is meant; for that was heard on earth, on theirs might live long i in thé land of Canaan, the Lord gave for an inheritance. for sever, \. ded they kept his law, and were obedient to skis commands; fee Dest. vis 25. Joint gue andthe they have had feveral interruptions: ‘by vtheits captie captivities, and efpecially by their. prefene very - dea: one, yet when they fhall return and feek the Lord their God, and David their king, they: fhall have their land reftored to them again, and fhall never more be difpofiefied of it: ee

¥. 41. Lhen Mofes fevered three cities, 8c ] To be cities of refuge, according to. the:command of God; Numb. xxxv. 14.),this che did. when he had ~ conquered. the two kingdoms of the, Amarifes, that God had given them for an. inheritance to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and. the half tribe of Manaffeh, y:. 38. though Yarchi fays;and fo other Fewifh writers, that perfons were not received into them until the three cities appointed in the land of Canaan were feparated for che like ules fee the note on Numd. xxxv. 14: and thele\ were, on, shis fide Jordan, toward the rifing fun; on» that fides of the niver on which the plains of Mod lay, and the kingdoms of the Mmorites,, and to the, eattof Jorda: fo Farchi remi arks ** on that fide whieh is 200 the eaft of Jordan” 3 fee Fofooxrs 8:

¥. 42: Lhat:-the flayer might flee ibithers. Bec] For. refuge;. the flayer.or.a man, \bus homany Mayer; but which ould kill kisneighboars unowares 5 by accident to.him, without.any défign and intesuon to kill him; ignorantly, as the Sep/uggentwerlion 5 ojand fo Ouabels: and bated him not in Lines pars it havingcnever appeared: that, there) had beena quarrel between them; and that «the flayeteshad {hewn any enmity tothe man flain any timé before. the fact, or bore av grudge againft, him,.orfpite unto him: end that fleeing unto one of.thefé cities he might live; inpeaceand fafety junto (his, own death, or unto the:death of the| high prietty whea he was releafed from his confinement tothe city of his refuge, and might rétutn to. his: ttibe, abe aw) and pofleMians.cade wt

43. Namely Bexer in the acai ye» ap ohh xx. 8. it is added uponthe plain, ‘this perhaps was‘the -wildernefs of Adoad,.in the plains of itp the fame with Bozrab, Jer. xlviiis 24.) dee ehapy ting. and 1.Maccab. v. 28.0.it was in the plain coutiry af the Reubenites, or lay in, that! part of, the, ¢ which ‘was allotted. to. them, | andiiwhichite gave..to, they Levitet aa Chronsvi.g 78a ‘devlelie.: dah in: Gilead of the Gadites 5 it lay: in,thaty part of mount Gilead, andamong the cities.oftity which fell to. the fhare »of. thewtribe of Gydyrand was by them given to the Lewitesy1 Chron. vio8or ‘this.city is frequently in icripe: urer Called: Remoths Gilead s fee 1 Kings iv. 13. and \xxiis20) andeGolem ia Baans of thé Manafitess or, Ganson, \ asthe ‘Sepéuagints and drome hencewthe icountnyy Brie wees wasy called Gaulamitis;\call, Bashansthe Og, was given) tothe half otribe of and — out of ‘it this city wassgiven by them totale 1 Chron.vis 71. ‘andoappointed a city nokpoige wildernefs, and entered not into the good land becaufe of their unbelief, but their more remote fathers or anceftors, Abraham, Teac and Facob, who had fome fingular teftimonies of the love of God to them., Abrabam is called the friend ot God, and Yaac was the fon of promife in whom the feed was called; and acod is particularly faid to beloved by God, when E/au was hated: therefore be chofe their feed after them’; not to eternal life’ and falvation, but to the enjoyment of external bleflings and privileges, to be called by his name, and to fet up his name and worfhip among them, and to be a fpecial people to him above all people on the earth, as to outward favours both civil and ecclefiaftical: and brought thee out in his fight with bis mighty power out of Egypt; which was done not only in the fight of the Egyptians openly, they not daring to hinder them, as the wonders wrought to oblige them to Jet them go out, done in the fight of the J/raelites as before obferved, but in the fight of God, he going before them in the pil- Jar of cloud and.fire, fmiling upon them the J/ }/ raelites, and looking with a frown upon the hoft of the Egyptians, and pind abe the people by the angel of his prefence.

¥. 38: To drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art, &c.| The feven nations of the land of Canaan, which were more im: nuaiber and mightier in power and ftrength than they, and particularly. the “morites, who were already driven out and difpoffeffed of their country, a F the kingdoms and nations of Sibon and Og: bring thee in to give thee their land for an ‘shor. tance, as itis this day; referring, as Aben Ezra obferves, to the inheritance of the land:of the two kings of the Amorites, which the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manaffeh were put into the pofieffion of. already.

¥. 39. Know therefore this day, and per dep it 7 thine heart, &c.| Own and‘acknowledge. it now with thy mouth, and lay'it- up and confider it) in thine heart hereafter, as a truth of the greateft importance to be profeffed and: held faft, and:to ‘be thought of and meditated upon’ continually, and never to be forgotten: that the Lord he: is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; that he has made: both, and is the poffeffor and lord of them, and Bins what he’pleafes with them; that, the one is: his throne, his. dwelling-place,, and the other his footftool; and: that the inhabitants. of both are his creatures, and under his authority and command, and he can difpofe of them as he pleafes; there is zone elfe; no God in heaven or in earth befide him.:

¥. 40. Thou fhalt keep devetre his Ratutes, and his commandments, &c.| All his laws, moral, °ceremonial and judicial, partly being under obligation to him for all the great and good things done by him for ‘them. before enumerated, and partly.and chiefly becaufe he is.the Lord’ God in. heaven and in earth, and has’a right to. command) and: ought to be obeyed: which I command: thee this. day 50.10 the name of the Lordy and’ which’ he repeated, opened and explained, ant charged them ‘atrefh to ~ebferve; otherwife they:

given long: ago: thatit may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee; that they.and theirs might enjoy temporal mercies, and contihue, in:the land of Canaan, and parttake‘of all the bleffings i in it as follows, and of the fanétuary of the’ Lord, and the privileges of it: amd.that: thot maye/t pro- _ tong thy days upon the: earth, wwhich the Lord thy God giveth thee for: ever 3 that isy thar: now as the/e cities weretypieal tof Chil may be fomething. obierved an the\names, of chen were fuch that:had been as. agreeing (with, hin. Bexer sfignifies ayfentap place; Chritt is) the. fortretsy smountaiy and plage - of defenoe for his peoplesand ftrong hold coywhiel the prifoners»of hope: wroyethe/ trong tower, ther the righteous run and are lela ‘ nifies, exaltations 5 which may p altation of (Chrifts in hu hand of; God, and the ¢ phi they ane him, 'whearé rie by i Raaval: