Exposition of the Whole Bible

vii. ro. and with this agrees the Targum of Fonathan, ** and thou fhalt turn in the morning of the going out of the feaft, and go to thy cities”. ‘archi indeed interprets it afterwards of the fecond d mong you, in the place which the Lord thy Ged bath chofen to place bis name there; who fhould be at erufalem at this time.

¥.12. And thou foalt remember that thou waft a bondman in Egypt, 8&c.] And now delivered from that bondage; the confideration of which fhould make them liberal in their freewill-offering, and generous in the feaft they provided, and compatfionate to the ftranger, widow and fatherlefs: and thou foalt obferve and do thefe ftatutes, concerning the paflover, the feaft of unleavened bread, and of Pentecoft, and the peace-offerings and the freewillofferings belonging to them: and nothing could more ftrongly oblige them to obferve them than their redemption from their bondage ih Egypt; as nothing more engages to the performance of good works, than the confideration of our fpiritual and eternal redemption by Chrift, 1 Cor. vi. ig, 20. Tit. i. 14. 1 Pet. i. 17, 18, 19.

¥. 13. Thou foalt ovferve the feaft of tabernacles feven days, 8c.) Which began on the fifteenth day of Tifri, or September, fee Lev. xxiii. 34, &c. after that thou haft gathered in thy corn and thy wine; and therefore. fometimes called the feaft of in-gathering, Exod. xxiii. r6. barley-harveft began at the paffover, and wheat-harveft at Pentecoit; and before the feaft of tabernacles began, the vintage and the gathering of the olives were over, as well as all other fummer-fruits were got in.

¥. 14. And thou foalt rejoice in thy feaft, 8ec.] At this feaft of tabernacles and in-gathering of the fruits of the earth, in token of gratitude and thankfulnefs for the goodnefs of God beftowed on them: the Yargum of Fonathan adds, with the flute and the pipe, making ufe of inftrumental mufic to increafe the joy on this occafion: thou and thy fon, &c. fee the note on ¥. 11.

¥. 15. Seven days fhalt thou keep a folemn feaft unto the Lord thy God, &c.| The feaft of tabernacles ftill fpoken of: in the place which the Lord thy God fhall chufe; the city of Ferufalem: becaufe the Lord thy God fhall blefs thee in all thy increafe, and in all the works of thine hands; both in the increafe of their fields, vine-yards and olive-yards, and alfo in their feveral handicraft-trades and occupations they were employed in; fo Aven Ezra interprets all the works of their hands of mer-: chandize and manufactories: therefore thou fhalt furely rejoice; extremely, heartily and fincerely, and not fail to exprefs joy on this oceafion, and manifeft it by a generous freewill-offering to the Lord, and a bountiful entertainment for himfelf, his family, friends and others.

yr. 16. Three times a year foall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, &cc.| This has been obferved before, Exod. xxiii. t7. and xxxiv. 23. and is repeated here for the fake of mentioning the place where they were to appear, which before now was not obferved, and indeed it is chiefly for that the other feftivals are here recited: im the place which be foall chufe,; which though not expreffed is now eafily underftood; and the three times at which they were to appear there, were, ix the fea t of unleavened bread, and in the feaft of weeks, and in the feat of tabernacles; or paffover, Pentecoft and tabernacles; and of numbers of people going up ~ from the country to each of thefe feafts, we have inftances in the New Teftament; to the paffover, Luk. ii. 425 44. Fobn, xi. 55. to Pentecolt, AZ, ii. 5—11. to tabernacles, Fobm, vii. 2, 10. and they foall not appear before the Lord empty; Aben Ezra obferves the meaning is, not empty of the tribute of the freewill-offering of their hand, and which

. 8. Six days fhalt thou eat unleavened bread, &c.] In other places it is ordered to be eaten feven days, Exod, xii. 15, 19. and xiii. 6, 7. and here it is not faid fix only; it was to be eaten on the feventh as on the other, though that is here diftinguifhed from the fix, becaufe of fpecial and peculiar fervice afligned to it, but not becaufe of an exemption from eating unleavened bread on it. The ews feem to underftand this of different corn of which the bread was made, and not of different fort of bread; the Targum of Fonathan is, on the firft day ye fhall offer the fheaf (the firft fruits o1 the barley- harveft) and on the fix days which remain ye fhall begin to eat the unleavened bread of the new fruits, and fo Farchi: and on the seventh day fhall be a folemn affembly to the Lord thy God; a holy convocation, devoted to religious exercifes, and the. people were reftrained, according to the fenfe of the word, from all fervile work, as follows: thou foalt do no work therein; that is, the bufinefs of their callings, their trades and manufaétories; they were obliged to abftain from all kind of work excepting what was neceflary for the dreffing of food, and in this it differed from ‘a fabbath; fee Exod. xii. 16. Lev. xxiii. 8. + gl

¥. 9. Seven weeks then foalt thou number unto thee, &cc.] And then another feaft was to take place, called from hence the feaft of weeks, and fometimes Pestecoft from its being the soth day: degin to number the feven weeks, from fuch time as thou beginneft to put the fickle to the corn for the fheaf of the wave-offering, as the firft fruits of barleyharveft, which was done on the morrow after the fabbath in the paffover-week, and from thence 7 weeks or 50 days were reckoned, and the 50th day was the feaft here ordered to be kept; fo the Targuin of Jonathan * after the reaping of the fheaf ye fhall begin to number feven weeks”; fee Lev. XXiii. 15.

y. 10. And thou foalt keep the feaft of weeks unto the Lord thy God, &c.] The feaft of Pentecoft, at which time the Spirit was poured down upon the apottles, Ad. ii. 1. with a tribute of a free-will offering of thine band; there were two wave-loaves which were ordered to be brought and feven lambs, one young bullock and two rams for a burnt-offering, together with the meat and drink-offerings belonging thereunto, and a kid of the goats for a fin-offering, and two lambs for a peace-offering, Lev. xxiii. 17, 18, 19. and befides all this, there -was to be a voluntary contribution brought in their hands; for this was one of thofe feafts at which all the males were to appear before the Lord, and none of them empty: which thou fhalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath bleffed thee, no certain rate was fixed, it was to be atree gift, and in proportion to a man’s abilities, or what the Lord had bleffed him with.

y.11. And thou foalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, &c } Make a liberal feaft, and keep it chearfully, in the prefence of God, in the place where he refides, thankfully acknowledging all his mercies and favours: thou, and thy fon, and thy manfervant, and thy maid-fervant, and the Levite that is within thy gates; that dwelt in the fame city, who were all to come with him to Feru/alem at this feaft, and to partake of it with him: and the ftranger, and the fatherle/s, and the widow, that are a- (Ver. IL Ne. 2.

archi, mote fully explains, of the burnt-offerings of appearance, and of the peace-offerings of the Chagigah, or money anf{werable to them; which, according to the Mi/nabs was a meah of filver for a burnt-offering, and two pieces of filver for the Chagigah, which weighed 32 barley-corns *..

¥. 17. Every man fhall give as be is able, &c.) The quantity to be given is not fixed in the law, but the wife men appointed it, as obferved.on y. 16. but it is left by the Lord to the generofity of the people, only giving this general rule, that they fhould do according to their ability, and as the Lord had profpered them; fee 1 Cor. xvi. 2. fo Farchi, * every man that hath many eatables and much goods fhall bring many burnt-offerings and many peace-offerings.’

¥. 18. Fudges and officers fhalt thou make thee, &c.] Judges were fixed in the Sanhedrim, or court of judicature, and thofe that have law-fuits come before them; Officers are mafters of the ftaff and whip, and’ they ftand before the judges, and go into markets; ftreets and fhops, to order the weights and meafures, and to {mite all that do wrong; and ‘all they do is by order of the judges; fo Maimonides *: the qualifications of judges to be chofen and conftituted by the people are thus defcribed by him. In the Sanhedrim greater or leffer, they place only men wife and underftanding, expert in the wifdom of the law, and mafters of great knowledge, and that know fome of the other fciences, as medicine, arithmetic, aftronomy and aftrology, the ways of foothfayers, diviners and wizards, and the vanities of idolatry, that they may know how to judge them; and they fet in the Sanhedrim only priefts, levites and J/raelites, who are genealogizec; nor do they fet an old man there, nor an eunuch, nor a king, but an high-prieft, if he is qualified with wifdom, and they muft be free from blemifhes, and of a good ftature and appearance, and underftand many Janguages, and not hear by an interpreter; and though «all this was not precifely required of the Sanbedrim of three judges, yet thefe fame things ought to be in every one of them, wifdom, and meeknefs, and fear, and hatred of money, and love of truth, and love of men, and to be of a good report ': and thefe were tobe placed in a// thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy, tribes; that is, in every city, as Ozkelos, and fo Farchi; and ufually the courts of judicature were held in the gates of cities, and it was only in the Jand of Jrae/, not without it, that they were obliged to fet up courts of judicature, as Maimonides * obferves; who alfo afks, How many courts were fixed. in J/rael, and. what the number they confifted of? to which he anfwers, They fixed at firft the great court in the fanctuary, and it was called the great Sanhedrim, and its number were 71; and again they fet up two courts of 23, one at the door of the court, and the other at the door of the mountain of the houfe (and fo in the Mi nab)»;

and they fet up in every city in J/rae] in which were 120 (men or families) or more, a leffer Sanhedrim, which fat in the gate, and their number “were 23 judges; ina city in which there were not 120, they placed three judges, for there is no court lefs than three *: and they hall judge the people with

iujt judgment, give a right and juft fentence in all cafes that come before them, according to the laws of God, and the rules of juftice and equity.

¥. 19. Thou fhalt not wreft judgment, &c.] Or pervert it, pafs a wrong fentence, or aét contrary to juitice; this is faid to the judges as a direétion to them, and fo what follows: thou fhalt not re- /ped perfons; fo as to give the caufe on account of outward circumftances and relations; as in favour - of a rich man againft a poor man merely for that reafon, or of a near relation or intimate friend ~ and acquaintance againft a ftranger, but juftice fhould be adminiftred without favour or affection to any; as Yarchi puts it, he was to make no difference in his addre{s and behaviour to contending parties before him; he was not to be tender and foft to one and hard to the other, or let one ftand and another fit: neither take a gift, as'a bribe to give the caufe wrong: at Thebes in Egypt, as Diodorus Siculus ¥ relates, in a court on a wall, were images of judges to the number of thirty; in the midit of them was the chief judge, having truth hanging down from his neck (which feems to be in imitation of the Urim of the high-prieft of the Jews) his eyes fhut, and many books by him; by which image was fhewn, that judges fhould receive nothing, and that the chief judge fhould look to truth only: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wife, and pervert the words of the righteous; fee Exod. xxiii. 8, the Zews have a faying, that a judge that takes a bribe and perverts judgment, does not die. of old age, or till his eyes become dim 2.

y. 20. That which is altogether juft foalt thou follow, &c.) Or juftice, juftice*, ftri& juftice and nothing elfe: that thou mayeft live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; that is, continue in the poffeffion of it., y.21. Thou fhalt not plant thee a grove of any trees, &c.] Of any fort of trees, as oaks or any other; not but that it was lawful to plant trees and groves of them, but not for 4 religious or idolatrous ufe: particularly wear unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou fhalt make thee; as the heathens did near their altars, left it fhould be thought to be done for a like fuperftitious and idolatrous ule; which evil the Yews fometimes fell into in the times of wicked. reigns, and which their. good and pious kings removed and deftroyed; fee 2 Kings xviii. 4. and xxi. 3. and xxiii. 4, 7, 14, 15. and Hecateus » an heathen hiftorian, relates of the city of ‘Yerufalem, that there were there no image, nor plantation, nor grove, nor any fuch thing.

¥. 22. Neither foalt thou fet up any image, 8&c.] Graven or molten, of man, beaft, fit or fowl; the word fignifies a /latue or pillar « which was fet up for idolatry; for, as 4den Ezra obferves, what was not fet up for idolatry was not forbidden, as when erected in memory of any action or remarkable event; fee Fo/h, xxii. 10, 8c. which the Lord thy God hateth; as he does every fpecies’ of idolatry, or that has any tendency to it; it being fo oppofite to his being, perfections and glory; and therefore nothing fhould be done like it, becaufe ic is fo hateful to him. BM eon)

H1S chapter begins with a caution not to i facrifice any thing to the Lord that is blemifhed or ill-favoured, ¥. 1. an order is given to put to death men or women guilty of idolatry, where it is clearly proved upon them, ¥. 2—7. and it is dire€ted that when cafes are too hard for inferior judges to determine, they fhould be brought to Ferufalem to the priefts, levites and judges, which void and abftain from any thing, that God has not commanded it; for in things of that nature no- ‘thing fhould be done but what he has ordered, who is 4 jealous God, and will not fuffer any to take upon them to direct what fhould be done as a religious fervice and duty and if any are fo prefumptuous, they muft expect it will be refented; fee Ef. i, 12. and efpecially with refpeét to the ob- formed the great confiftory there, whofe fentence ject of worfhip, as here, and which relate to things was to be adhered unto on pain of death, ¥. 8

* —13. and rules are given about the choice of a king, and he is informed what he muft not do, and what he fhould do, ¥. 14—20.

¥. 1. Thou fhalt not facrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemifh, &c.] No facrifice of any fort, whether burnt-offering, finoffering, or peace-offering, was to have any blemifh in it; typical of the unblemifhed and immaculate if not forbid exprefsly, yet tacitly, to do- which was an abomination to the Lord.

_ ¥. 4. And it be told thee, and-thou baft heard of It, and enquired diligently, &c.] A report of. this kind was not to be neglected; though it was not to be concluded upon as certain by hear-fay, it was to be looked into, and the perfons that brought it thoroughly examined; fo the Targum of Fonathan, ** and enquired the witneffes well,’’ what proof. and evidence they could give of the faét, who the lamb of God, who being without fin offered himfelf perfons were, when and where, and in what man- without fpot to God, and fo could take away the fins of others by the facrifice of himfelf; fee Lev. xxii. 18—25. or any ill-favouredne/s, any ficknefs or difeafe upon it of any fort, which made it ill-favoured to the fight, or difagreeable to the fmell, or however unacceptable for facrifice: for that is an abomination to the Lord thy God, every fuch ner the fin was committed: and behold it be true, and the thing certain; upon examining the witneffes the cafe is plain and out of all queftion: that fuch abomination is wrought in Ifrael, to doit in any country was abominable, but much more fo in the land of J/rae/, among the profeffing people of God, who had the knowledge of! the true God, blemifhed and ‘ill-favoured facrifice; fee Ma. i. 8.}and had had fo many’ proofs of his deity, his

T4. ¥. 2. If there be found among you within any of

power and providence, as well as received fo many? favours-and bleffings from-him, and had fuch thy gates which’ the Lord thy God giveth thee, &cc. In any of theif @ties inthe land of Canaan: man)}laws and -ftatutes given them as no other people had.

or woman that hath wrought wickedne/s in the fight of the Lord thy God; as all that is wrought is in the fight of the omnifcient God; here it means

¥.5. Thousbalt bring forth that man or that woman which have committed the wicked thing, &c.] \dolatry in any of the above inftances: this muft be not any kind of wickednefs, for there is none lives fuppofed to be done after he or fhe have been had’

without committing fin of one fort or another, all which is known to God the fearcher of hearts, but fuch wickednefs as is after defcribed: i” tran - grefing bis covenant; that is, his law, and particu- Jarly the firft table of it, which refpects divine worfhip, and which is in the nature of a marriagecontraét or covenant; which, as that is tranfgreffed by adultery committed by either party, fo the covenant between God and J/rael was tran{grefled by idolatry, which is fpiritual adultery, and going a whoring after other gods, as it follows.

y¥. 3. And hath gone, 8&c.] The Targum of Fonathan adds, after the evil imagination or concupifcenfe, lufting after other lovers, and forfaking the true God, and departing from his worfhip: end ferved other gods; ftrange gods, the idols of the people, other gods befides the true God; the creature befides the creator: and worfhipped them: by bowing down before them, praying to them, or afcribing théir mercies and bleflings to them, ‘and giving thém the glory of them: either the fun, or moon, or any of the boft of heaven; the two great luminaries, and ‘the’ planets, “ conftellations and ftars, any of them; which kind of idolatry very early obtained, and was in ufe at this time among the heathens, and ‘was an iniquity to’ be punifhed by the judge, Fob, xxxi. 26,°27, 28. which fin, though fo ftriétly forbidden, the people of J/rael fometimes fell into, 2° Kings xxi. 3. and xxiil. 4. which I have not ‘commanded, and which is a fufficient reafon in matters of worfhip, to a- before a court of judicature, and have been tried and found guilty, and fentence paffed on them, then they were tobe brought forth to execution:) unto’ thy gates, the Targum of Fonathan fays, unto the gates of your Sanhedrim, or court of yudicature; but ‘farchi obferves, that this is a miftake of the paraphraft, for he fays, we are taught by tradition that thy gate is the gate in which the has ferved om committed idolatry; and fo fays Maimonides 4; they don’t ftone'a man but at the gate where he ferved or worfhipped; but if the greateft part of the city are heathens, they ftone him at the door of the Sanhedrim; and this is received from tradition, that to thy gates, is the gate at which he ferved, and not where his judgment is finifhed: even: that max or that woman, this is repeated, and the woman as well as the man is exprefled, to fhew ‘that no compaffion is to be had on her as is ufual, nor to be fpared on account of the weaknefs and ‘tendernefs of her fex, but fhe as well as the man muft be brought, forth and executed according to her fentence, without any mercy fhown; and this is obferved to 'fhew the refentment of the divine majetty, and his indignation at this ‘fin: and halt jlone them with flones until they die; of the manner of {toning men and women, fee the note on 4és vii. 58. Be ION ¥. 6. At the mouth of two witneffes, or three witneffes, foal he that is worthy of death be put to death, &c.] | The idolater found guilty was to be ftoned:: - two witnefies were fufficient to prove a fact, if three the the better, but on the teftimony of one, fentence might not be pronounced..dben Ezra obferves, that fome fay, if two witneffes contradi&t two other, a third turns the fcale and determines. the matter; and others fay, that two who ate wife men will do, and three of others; and becaufe it is faid at the mouth of thefe witneflés, tt is concluded, that a teftimony fhould be verbal and not written; fhould not be recorded, neither in pecuniary cafes nor in capital ones, but from the mouth of the witnefles, as it is faid at the mouth, &c. at their mouth, and ever any difficulty about determining it: being matter of controverfy within thy gates; or what are matters of eontroverfy about any thing elfe; for the phrafe is general, as Aben Ezra obferves, and takes in every thing in which any thing difficult might eccur; fe farchi interprets it of things which the wife men of a city are divided about; one pronounces a perfon or thing unclean, another clean, one condemning and another juftifying, and fo far rightly; for this refpects not controverfies between men, that may be brought into courts of not from their hand-writing °: but at the mouth of one witnefs he fhall not be put to death; {0 careful is the Lord of the lives of men, that none fhould be taken away but upon full and fufficient evidence, even in cafes in which his own glory and honour is judicature, but controverfies or divifions arifing in © thefe courts upon them, between the judges themfelves, they not agreeing in their opinions: then /halt thou arife and get thee up into the place which ¢he Lord thy God fhall chufe,; to Ferufalem, to the fo much concerned. ¥. 7. The hands of the witneffes foall be firft upon bim to put him to death, &c.} great Sanhedrim or court of Judicature, to which the inferior judges were to apply themfelves in

Of every one of| matters of moment and difficulty, for inftruction, them, as ben Ezra; they were to caft the firft information and direction; it being fuppofed that ftone at him, which would be a farther trial and confirmation of their teftimony; for if they readily the idolater, it would not only fhew their zeal for the honour of the divine being, but an uncon-

{cioufnefs of guilt in their teftimony, and be an encouragement to others to proceed with fafety: and afterwards the hands of all the people; thould in fuch a court fuch like cafes may have been brought before them, and they were expert and and without reluctance firft began the ftoning of underftanding in them.

¥. 9. Thou foalt come.unto the priefts, the levites, &c.] The priefts that are of the tribe of Levi, as the Targum of Fonathan, and fo Farchi; for Aben Ezra fays, there are priefts that are not of the genealogy of Levi; fuch there were indeed in Febe employed in taking up ftones, and cafting at him until he was dead: /o thou fhalt put the evil away from among you; both the evil man and the evil committed by him, which by this means would be prevented from fpreading, feeing by his death others would be deterred from following his example; as well as the evil of punifhment, which otherwife would have come upon the nation, had| Y they connived at fo grofs an iniquity.

¥. 8. If there arife a.matter too hard for thee in judgment, &c.] This is fpoken to inferior judges in Cities in the country, who fometimes might have cafes too wonderful and myfterious, as the word fignifies, or fecret and hidden, fuch as were out of redoam’s time, 1 Kings xii. 31. and xiii, 33. Maimonides‘ obferves, that it is ordered that there fhould be in the great Sanhedrim priefts and levites, as it is faid: and thou fhalt come unto the priefs, and the judge that fhall be in thofe days, and enquire; judge is here put for judges, of which the great court confifted, being priefts, levites and raelites; fee the note on ch. xvi. 18. tho’ others think that only a fingle perfon-is meant, fuch as Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, Samfon, Re but then as there was not always fuch an one in being, I fhould rather think that the judge here if a fingle perfon, is the prefident or prince of the great Sanhedrim, who fucceeded Moj/es, and fat in his place;

their reach and beyond their capacity, and fo be very difficult for them to determine what fhould be done: between blood and bloods; that is, whether and of him and his court, the priefts, and levites and J/raelites that compofed it, enquiry was to be made: and they fhall foew thee the fentence of a man is guilty of fhedding innocent blood or not; judgment, give their judgment in the difficult cafe when fuch a cafe is depending between a perfon charged with it and the relatives of the deceafed, or between a man-flayer and the avenger of blood, and the queftion is, whether he may have the be- propofed, and declare what is right to be done, and what fentence is to be pronounced.

¥. 10. And thou foalt do according to the fentence which they of that place, which the Lord fhall chuje,

nefit of a city of refuge or not, and there are fome Joall foew thee, &c.) The judges of the inferior circumftances attending it which make it difficult how to determine: between plea and plea; of the plaintiff on one fide and of the defendant on the other, and both have fo much to fay in their own caufe, that it is hard to decide which is in the right and which in the wrong, whether in capital or pecuniary cafes; ic chiefly if not folely refpects civil things in controverfy: and between ftroke and ftroke blow or wound which one man received from another, and for which he commences a fuit of law upon it, Exod. xxi. 18, 19. or for affault and battery; and fo den Ezra interprets it of blows and bruifes; but the Few#/h writers generally interpret it of the plague, or ftroke of leprofy; fo the Targums of Fonathan and Ferufalem, but the examination of fuch a cafe did not belong to the civil magiftrate, but to a prieft; nor was fuch a perfon had up to Ferufalem to be fearched, but was fhut up in a houfe until further evidence could be got; and befides the figns of the leprofy are fo di¢tinctly given, that at waiting a proper stime, there was feldom or courts were to return and proceed on the difficult cafe according to the judgment of the great court at ‘Ferufalem, and follow the direétions and ‘inftructions they fhould give them: and thou fhalt obferve to do according to all that they inform thee, not only obferve and take notice of what they fay, but put it in practice, and not in fome things and — fome circumftances only, but in all and eyery thing they fhould give them information about relating to the cafe in queftion.

¥. 11. According to the fentence of the law which they foall.teach thee, &c.} For they were not to make any new law, but to teach the law of God, and fo far as their fenfe and opinion of things agreed with that law, they were to be regarded: and according to the judgment which they foal tell thee thou foalt do, what were law and juftice, w were fit and right to be done, according to the wil of God, which they. fhould declare unto them, that was carefully to be done by them: shew fhalt not decline from the fentence they foall fhew thee, to t. right £ Hilchot Sanhedrin, e. 2. §, 2. § right hand nor to the left; by fetting up after all their own judgments againft theirs to whom they had applied for information and direction, which to have done would have been very infolent and affronting; they were not to depart from the de- tions: and fhalt fay, I will fet a king over me, like as all the nations that are round about me, which was what would and did lead them to fuch a thought and refolution; obferving that the neighbouring nations had kings over them, they were termination they made of the cafe, on pretence of defirous of being like them as to the form of their knowing better, nor even in any minute circum- {tance to deviate from it, but ftrictly and clofely to keep unto it; though not to follow them fo implicitly as to receive from them and embrace things the moft abfurd and unreafonable, as archi fuggetts; who fays, that their fenfe was to be abided by, even if they fhould fay that the right hand is the left and the left hand the right.

y. 12. And the man that will do prefumptuoufly, &c.] The judge of the country-court that makes his application to that at Yeru/alem for information and direétion; if after all he is conceited in his own opinion and rejects theirs, and is obftinate and will not be guided and directed, but will take his own way and purfue his own fenfe of things, and aé according to that: and will not bearken to the prieft that fiandeth to minifier there before the Lord thy God; the priefts of the tribe of Levi, of whom the court generally confifted, ¥. 9. prieft for priefts; though fome think the: high-prieft is meant, to whom the character very well agrees; but he was not always at the head of thé Sanbedrim, nor indeed a member of it, unlefs he had the proper qualifications; fee ch. xviii. 18. or unto the judge, or judges; fee the note on ¥. 9. L’Empereurt thinks, that the fupreme fenate, or grand Sanhe- civil government, and have a king as they had.

¥. 15. Thou foalt in any wife fet him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God fhall chufe, 8c.) The Jews take this to be a command to fet a king over them; whereas it is only a permiffion in cafe they fhould defire and determine on having one, as God forefaw they would; and this with a limitation and reftriction to appoint none but whom God fhould chufe, and which was their duty and intereft to attend unto; for none could chufe better for them, and was what he had a right unto, and it became them to fubmit to it, fince he was thefr king in a civil and fpecial fenie, and another was only his vicegerent; accordingly we find when they exprefled their defire to have a king in the time of Samuel, and it was granted, though not without fome refentment, the Lord chofe their firft king for them, Sau/, and after him, David, and even Solomon, David’s fon; and though in after-times they appointed kings without confulting him, it is complained of, Hof: viii. 4. hence this claufe is prefaced in the Targum of Fonathan, ** ye fhall feek inftruion from the Lord, and after fet him king, &c.” which was to be done by the mouth of a prophet, or by Urim, as Aben Ezra obferves: one from among thy brethren fhalt thou drim, was two-fold, according to the diverfity of /et king over thee; that is, one of their own na- ecclefiaftic and political matters; fince where it treats of the fupreme fenators, or chief perfons in the court, the prieft is manifeftly diftinguifhed from the judge (z. e. priefts or judges); now the man that has afked advice of them and will not be directed by it, but takes his own way, this being fo great a contempt of and infult. upon the great fenate of the nation: even that man fhall die; and this was by ftrangling, for fo the rebellious elder, as fuch an one is called, was to die according to the Mifnab*; and it is faid ', that the death fpoken of in the law abfolutely (without fpecifying what kind of death) is ftrangling: and thou fhalt put away the evil from Ifrael, the evil man that is rebellious again{t the fupreme legiflature of the nation, and the evil of contumacy he is guilty of, deterring others from it by his death.

¥. 13+ And all the people fall bear and fear, &c.] All the people of J/rae/ in their feveral cities, and particularly the judges in thofe cities; they fhall hear of what is done to the obftinate and difobedient elder, and fhall be afraid to commit the like offence, left they fhould come into the fame punifhment: and do no more prefumptuoufly, after his example; hence Yarchi fays, they wait till the feaft comes and then put him to death; and fo it is faid *, they bring him up to the great Sanhedrim which is at Yerufalem, and there keep him until the feaft (the next feaft) and put him to death at the feaft as it is faid, a// the people fhall hear and fear.

y¥. 14. When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, &c.] ‘The land of Canaan: and fhalt poffe/s it, and fhalt dwell therein, be entirely in the poffeffion of it and fettled in it; it feems to denote fome time of continuance in it, as it was, before they thought of fetting a king over. them, about which are the following inftruc- tion, an Jraelite, a brother both by nation and religion: thou mayeft not fet a ftranger over thee that is not thy brother; one of another nation, that is not of the family of J/rael, as Aben Ezra notes, even not an Edomite, though called fometimes their brother; and Hered, who was an Idumean, was fet up, not by them but by the Romans; now in this their king was a type of the king Meffiah, of whom it is faid, their nobles fhall be of themfelves, Fer. xxx. 21, ¥. 16. But he fhall not.multiply horfes to himfelf, &c.] That he might not put his truft and confidence in outward things, as fome are apt to truft in horfes and chariots; and that he might not tyrannize over and diftrefs his fubjects by keeping a number of horfes and chariots as a ftanding army, and chiefly for a reafon that follows; he was tohave no more than for his own chariot, fo Farchi, and fo the Mi/nab ' and Maimonides ™; the Targum of Fonathan rettrains it to two: nor caufe the people to return to Egypt, to the end that be fhould multiply horfes; which was a country that abounded with them, and therefore he was not to encourage, and much lefs oblige his fubjeéts to travel thither or trade with that people for the fake of increafing his ftock of horfes, J. xxxi. i. 3. fora/inuch as the Lord hath faid unto you, ye foall henceforth return no more that way; not that going into Egypt on any account whatfoever was forbidden, as tor trade and merchandife in other things, or for fhelter and fafety, for which fome good men fed thither; but for outward help and affiftance againft enemies, and for horfes on that account, and particularly in order to dwell there, from which the Fews in the times of Yeremiah were difluaded by him, and threatened by the Lord with deftruétion, in cafe ‘they fhould, Jer. xlii. 15-—22. When the Lord faid faid this is not certain; it may be when they propofed to make a captain, and return unto Egypt; or he faid this in his providence, this was the lan-) guage of it ever fince they.came out of it, or however this he now faid; fee ch. xxviii. 68.

¥. 18. And it foall be when he fitteth upon the throne of bis kingdom, 8&c.]. When he is fettled on it, andis even amidtft all the pomp and glory of it: that he foall write him a copy of this law in @ book; which copy the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions interpret of this book of Deuteronomy, which is a fummary, abftract, and repetition, of the feveral laws of God to the people of J/rael; though lefthim; and he copies it out of the book of the court by the order of the Sanbedrim of feventy-one 5 if his fathers have left him none or it is loft, he writes two books of the law, one he leaves in the houfe of his treafures, which he is commanded, as every one of Jjrael ‘is, and the fecond never departs from him,” bur one may feem fufficient on all occafions, and-for all purpofes; and this was'to be. wrote out of that which is before the priefis and Le vies; the original copy of it, which was depofited neither foalljin the fide of the ark; dee Deut. xxxi. 26. 2 Kings xxii. 8. Bt SR. y.19. Aud it foall be with him, Bec] Always, left)when at home or abroad,’ fitting on his throne om lying down, or wherever he went,’ unle#~in *fuch 6!places where it was not proper to read it, as thé Yews obferve®: and be fhall read therein all the days deny jof bis life; every day of his life; meditate on it night and day as a good man does, that he might be. well verfed in it, and Know how to govern his people according to it: shat be may learn to fear the Lord bis God, to ferve and worthip him both internally andvexternally, he having the fear of Godalways before his eyes, and on his heart, which the holy law of God ‘direéts to and inftructs in: to keep all the words of this law, and thefe fiatutes todo them; not only fuch as concerned him as a king, but all others that concerned him asa man, a creature fubjet to the Lord, and as an S/raclite belonging to the church and: commonwealth of J/rael, and fo includes all laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial. ’ boat y.17. Neither fall be multiply wives to himfelf, that his heart turn not away, &c.| From attending to the duty of his office, the care and government of his people, and from {ferious religion; and particularly from the worfhip of the true God, as the heart of Solomon was turned away from it-by his numerous idolatrous wives, 1 Kings xi. 3,4. it is acommon notion of the Jews that a king might have eighteen wives, and no more *:

be greatly multiply to himfelf filver and gold; he might increafe his wealth, but not greatly, left his heart fhould be lifted up with pride by it, and his fubjects fhould be oppreffed and -burthened with taxes for that purpofe; or he being pofiefled of much fhould make ufe of it to enflave them, and efpecially fhould be fo elated with it, as to God, and defpife his providence, and difobey his laws; fee Prov. xxx. 9. The ews generally fay! that he ought not to. multiply more than what will pay the ftipends or wages of hisfervants, and only for the treafury of the houfe of the Lord, and for the neceffity of the congregation (or common-wealth), and for their wars; but not ‘for himéelf, and his own treafury.

y. 20. That bis heart be not lifted up above bis brethren, &c.] On account of his office, the dig- grees, whofe words are, ‘* at the time a king fits on the throne’ of his kingdom, he writes for himfelf a book of the law, befides what his fathers the Fewi/h writers commonly underftand it of the whole Pentateuch, the five books of Moj/es,; which perhaps may be enlarging it too much, as it would be reducing it to too little, to reftrain it to this law concerning kings, as the Targum of Fonathan. The word Mijbneh rendered copy, fignifies double; hence fome take it to mean.a double exemplar or copy of the law he was obliged to write out, whereby it would be the more imprinted on his mind, and he would be furnifhed with it for his ufe at home and abroad, as the Fewi/b writers obferve; fo Farchi by the copy underftands two books of the law, one to be left in his treafury, theother to goout and in with him. The fame is nity of it, confidering that he was fubject to the law of God, and accountable to the Lord for all his actions: and that he turn not afide from the commandment to the right hand or to the left; not in the leaft deviate fromthe law of God, in the whole of his conduct, and particularly in theexercife of his kingly office: to the end that he may prolong bis days in bis kingdom, ruling well according to the laws of God being the way to ‘rule long: be and his children in the midft of Ifrael, this thews, as Farchi obferves, that if his fon was fit for the kingdom, he was to be preferred to any other man; for tho? it was elective, yet to be continued in the fame family, provided they walked in the ways of the faid inthe Za/mud™, and with which Maimonides" Lord, and obferved his laws.