CHAP. XVIUI.
HIS chapter gives an account of the provifion, y. made for the priefts and Levites, with the| Levi, reafon of it, ¥. 1—5. of allowgnce of a country Levite to minifter at Ferufalem, and take his portion with the reft, y. 6, 7, 8. and of feveral perfons of 1. The prieffs the Levites, and all the tribe of hall have no part nor inheritance with Ifrael, &c.] That is, in the land of Canaan, in the divifion of it among the tribes: they fhall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and bis inberitance;
bad practices not to be fuffered among the people of J/racl, ¥. 9—14. and of an extraordinary pro- “phet that fhould be raifed up among them, to whom they fhould hearken, or it would be the worfe for them, ¥. 15—19. but a falfe prophet was.to be put todeath, of whom a fign is given by which he might be known, ¥. 20, 21, 22.
the priefts was called fire-offerings, after the meat-offerings, fee Lev. ii, 2, 3. and vi. 175 18. and whatfoever of the fin-offerings and peaceofferings which were the Lord’s; fo Bea Melech fays, the flefh of the offerings which belonged to was confumed by fire. All thefe with other things, nathan exprefies it for their inheritance, in lieu of part. There is no obligation to the firft of the their having’ none in the land of Canaan.
y. 2. Therefore foall they have none inheritance among their brethren, &c.) Neither of the field, nor of the vineyard, as the above Targum, becaufe provifion was made for them otherwife, and efpecially becaufe the Lord is their inheritance, as he hath faid unto them, Numb. xviii. 20. fee the note there; which as it may be underftood in a piritual fenfe of their intereft in God, as their Covenant- ~ God, and of their enjoyment of him, and communion with him; fo chiefly in a temporal fenfe of all thofe things in the facrifices which the Lord claimed to himielf, and thefe he gave unto them; fo the fame Targum interprets this of the twenty-four gifts of the priefthood, enumerated Numd, xviii.
¥. 3. And this fhall be the priefts due from the people, from them that offer facrifice, &c.] Not from the priefts, as archi obferves, but from thofe that bring the facrifices to the priefts, particularly the peace-offerings: whether it be ox or Joeep 5 the oneof the herd, the other of the flock, creatures ufed in facrifice, and takes in goats and the kids of them, rams and lambs: and they shall give unto the pricft the fhoulder, and the two cheeks, and themaw the firft of thefe defigns the upper part of the arm that joins to the neck and back, and the next the two cheeks with the tongue, as both. Farchi and Aben Ezra obferve, and indeed the whole head is meant; the maw which the Septuaginé interpreters call swgov, and other writers muse, is, according to the philofopher °, the fourth and latt ventricle or ftomach, and which he thus defcribes; ‘* after the echinus or rough tripe is that which is called mvsgo, the maw, which is in bignefs larger than the echinus, and in form longer, and has many large and fmooth folds;” and mus-gov €oos, the maw of an ox, and the belly of a fwine, are reckoned by the poet 4 as delicious food.
¥. 4. The firft-fruit alfo of thy corn, and of thy wine, and of thy oil, &c.| This is the Terumab or heave-offering, the offering of the firft-fruits; what the meafure or quantity was is not declared, but is fixed by the Fews; fee the note on Exod. xxii. 29. and ihe firft of the fleece of thy fheep foalt thou give him: concerning which in the Mi/nad * it is faid, the firft of the fleece is ufed in the land and without the land, of which they give the weight of five fhekels in Fudea, which are ten fhekels in Galilee; and they give white wool, and not defiled, enough to make of it a little garment. He that buys a fleece of the fheep of a Gentile, he is free from the firft of the fleece; but if he buys it of his neighbour, if he leaves any of it, the feller is bound, if none the buyer is bound; if there are two forts, ruflet and white, and he fells the ruffet but not the white, the males but not the females, every one gives for himfelf. It may be obferved in this account, that as much wool was to be given as would make a fmall garment; enough, fays one of the commentators *, to make a little garment to minifter in; and the leaft garment fit for a prieft to minifter in is a girdle. ‘Farchi’s paraphrafe of it is, “* when thou fheareft thy flock every year, give the firft of it to the prieft, it does not determine the quantity, but our Rabbins fix it to the fixtieth part;” with which agrees the obfervation of another writer‘, that there is no quantity fixed for the firftof the fleece from the law, but from the words of the fcribes it muft not be lefs than the fixtieth fleece until five fheep are fhorn, and the fleece of every one of the five muft not be lefs than twelve fhekels weight; but if there is one fleece of them fefs than twelve fhekels, though the five fleeces aré more than fixty fhekels, lo this is free; fo that, as Maimonides * fays, the firft of the fleece is not lefs than the weight of a fhekel.
¥. 5. For the Lord thy God bath chofen him out of all thy tribes, &c.] That is, has chofen the tribe of Levi out of all the other tribes of Srael to fiand to minifter in the name of the Lord; the priefts to minifter to the Lord by offering facrifices, and the Levites to minifter to the priefts in affifting them in their fervice; and both their miniftry were in the name of the Lord, and for his glory, and done ftanding; for there was no fitting in the fanctuary “; the facerdotal miniftry was only performed ftanding *, whatever was done fitting was rejected’; fee Heb. x. 11. himand his fons for ever; Levi and his pofterity, or the pofterity of the tribe of Levi, were chofen by the Lord to this fervice, to be employed in it as long as the ceremonial law continued, on which ftood the Levitical priefthood; but both are’ now abolifhed by Chrif, having their accomplifhment in him, Hed. vii. 11. xii. 18,
¥. 6. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of Ifrael, where he fojourned, 8&c.] In any of the cities through the land, for they were difperfed all over the country, and employed in inftructing and teaching the people; and excepting the cities which were given them to dwell in out of the feveral tribes, they were but fojourners: and comé with all the defire of bis mind unto the place which the Lord fall chufe; the city of Ferufalem, where the temple would be built, and facrifices offered, at which the Levites were affifting to the priefts, and in various parts of the fervice of the fanctuary; and to which they are fuppofed to come with an hearty good will, with great eagernefs of foul, and a vehement defire of being employed in the work of the Lord. Though Farchi interprets it of a prieft, that comes and offers his free-will-offerings, or what he is obliged to, and even in a ward not his own; or, as otherwife expreffed, of the priefts that come to the feaft, who offer inthe ward, and ferve in the offerings that come by virtue of the feaft, as the additions of the feaft, though it is not intheir own ward; and indeed every prieft was a Levite, though every Levite was nota prieft; and the defcription of him after given, as ftanding miniftring in the name of the Lord, beft agrees with a prieft.
¥. 7. And he fball minifter in the name of the Lord his God, &c.] The Targum of Fonathan is, * he fhall minifter in the name of the Word of the Lord his God;” in the name of Chrift, as a type of him, as every prieft, and every facrifice were: he was to be allowed to officiate, though it was not his courfe or turn: as all bis brethren the Levites do, which fiand there before the Lord; daily offering the fame facrifices, and whatfoever are brought unto them; who might be faid to ftand before the Lord, becaufe they ftood at the altar of the Lord, and offered the facrifices of the people to him; and a country Levite or prieft was to be admitted to do ~ the fame thing at Feru/alem, and in the temple there as they did; and this fhews that a prieft is meant by the Levite.
y. 8. They fall Lave like portions to eat, &c.] Equal parts of the facrifices, with the priefts that ufually miniftered there; hence we learn, fays Farchi, that they divided the fkins and flefh of the fin-offerings; perhaps even fuch as did not come by virtue of the feaft, as the daily-facrifices, and the additions of the fabbath, and the vows, and free-will-offerings: Lefide that which cometh by the fale of his patrimony, for though the priefts and Levites had no inheritance divided to them in the land, yet they might buy houfes and fields, and leave them to their children, and this may be led their patrimony; now it was notreafonable that they fhould wholly live upon this, or fpend what their fathers left them; but befides the income of that, were to have their part and portion with their brethren in the facrifices of the fanctuary. But fome interpret thefe words in a different way, as if they had refpe& to the gifts and oblations in the feveral wards in which the priefts miniftered, as they were ordered by their fathers, Eleazar, Ithamar, Samuel, David, and Solomon; fo the Targums of Onkelos, Fonathan, and Farchi. In the times of Eleazar and Ithamar, there were only eight wards or courfes, which miniftered in their turns, but in the days of David they were divided into twenty-four; fee Zwkei. 8. and the note there; now the ordering and fixing thefein their turns, is called a vendition or fale; and thefe country priefts might partake of all facrifices at the feaft, excepting thofe which belonged to him whofe courfe it was that week.
¥.10. There fhall not be found among you any one that maketh his fon or bis daughter to pafs through the fire, &c.] To Moloch, which was a fort of luftration by fire, two fires being made, and the child led by a prieft between them, and which was an initiation of him into the religion of that deity, and devoting him to it; fo Yarchi fays, this isthe fervice of Moloch, making piles of fire here and there, (on this fide and on that) and caufing (the children) to pafs between them both. Befides this they ufed to burn them with fire to this deity, perhaps after the performance of this ceremony; fee ch. xii. 31. and the note there: or that u vination; according to Aben Ezra this is a general name, and fo Ben Melech, the particulars of which are what follow, an obferver of times, &c. Cicero fays *, there are two forts of divination, one is of art, the other of nature. What nation or what city is not moved by prediction, either by thelin the Mi entrails of beafts, or of thofe that interpret art; (or of dreams or prophecies, fot thefe two are — thought to be natural? Again he fays +, the Phrygians, Pifidians, and Cilicians, pay a great refpe to the figns of birds—from the beginning of the world it was that certain figns were forerunners of certain things; fome in the entrails of beafts, Some in birds, the Jothers in lightnings, others in marvellous things, others in the ftars; fome in vifions and dreams, and Jothers in the words of frantic perfons. So the comedian remarks”, that if a ftrange black dog comes intoahoufe, or a {nake falls from the tiles through rain, ~ cal- jor a hen crows, thefe are obferved as ominous, by the diviner or footh-fayer. Porphyry fays*, that footh-fayers divine by the noife of crows and ravens; and it is faid * the Arabians from birds as from oracles, divine what fhall come to pafs; and that they attain to, as they fay, by eating the heart and liver of dragons. farcbi on this place afks, who isthe diviner? one that lays hold on his ftaff, and fays, hall I go? or fhall I not go? that is, to fuch a place; and according as it fell, fo judgment was made; fee Hof. iv. 12. Now fuch fort of diviners and divinations are cautioned acainft, as not to be admitted amongft the people of [/rae/, and regarded by them: or an obferver of times; and fuch things the Egyptians were very inquifitive about, what month or day belonged to the gods; what day any one was born on, what fhall befal him, how he will die, and what he thall be, as Herodotus * relates; and fuch are they who are here meant, according to R. Akiba’, that count times and hours, and fay fuch a time is beautitul (or feafonable) to go out in and trade; but the wifemen fay, as archi obferves, thefe are they that hold the eyes, caft a mift over people’s eyes, that they can’t perceive their juggling tricks. Some think the word has the fignification of clouds, life,Jand fo defigns fuch that obferved them and their motions, and made their conclufions according to them; fee Lev. xix. 26. or an enchanter 5 accordfing to Farchi, one that remarks things as ominous; jas when a morfel falls out of aman’s mouth, a roe tops him in the way, or his ftaff falls out of his hands: the word has the fignification of a ferpent in it, and fo may fignify one that inchants them; fee P/ lviii. 4, 5. or makes obfervations by them, as portending this and that and the other, as before obferved of the fnake falling from the tiles; and Horace * fpeaks of a ferpent lying in the way, and frighting horfes, as taken notice of by foothfayers: or a witch; of whom fee Exod. xxii. 18.
¥. 9. When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, &c.] The land of Canaan, often thus defcribed, to exprefs the goodnefs of God in beftowing it on them, as amere favour of his, without any defert of theirs; and fo typical of the heavenly Canaan, or eternal which is the free gift of God through Chri: thou fhalt not learn to do after the abominations of thefe nations; the feven nations which before inhabited it; they might learn, as Yarchi obferves, ‘to know how corrupt their works were, and to| fhew to their children, that they might not do fo; but they were not to learn them fo as to practife them, but to have them in the utmoft abhorrence, as being abominable to God, and which fhould be o to them; fome of which are as follow. - y.11. Or a charmer, &c.] That pretends to cure difeafes by charms, or a charmer of ferpents 5 according to Farch?, one that gathers together ferpents and fcorpions, and other animals into one place; with which agree the Targums of Fonathan and feru/alem, ** which bind ferpents and feorpions, and all kind of creeping things;” but, according to ben Ezra, one that fays certain words eth di-|to gather demons together: or a confulter with familar fpirits,; or the enquirer of Ob, or the bottle, which the Fes interpret of Python, or one that has the fpirit of Python, fee Aéls yvi. 16. a ventriloquift, one that fpoke or feemed to {peak out of his belly, or from under his arm-pits; fo itis faid nab* of Ob, this is Python, one that peaks out of his arm-holes; agreeable to which ftrange things and lightnings, or of foothfayers, or aftrologers, or of lots, (for thefe are moftly of called Python, and he fpeaks from forchi fays, this is that fort of witchcraft which is
Ch. xviii.v.12—18. DEUTERONOMY.
and brings up the dead thither: of Baal Od, or the’ mafter of the bottle, fay fome Fewi/h writers, one way he ufes is, he takesthe fkull of a dead man, the flefh of which is confumed from it, and he hides it and burns incenfe to it, and mutters words by it, and hears from it, asif from adead man“: or a wizard; a knowing one, as the word fignifies, fuch an one as, we call a cunning man; fee the note on Lev. xix. 31. or @ necromancer; that enquires of the dead,.or feeks inftruction from them, as the Jargum of Ferufalem. _ Aben Ezra defcribes him as one that goes to burying-grounds, and takes the bone of a dead man, and becaufe of. his wild imagination there appears to him the likenefs of forms; or as. Maimonides!, better ftill, he is one that fafts and fleeps in grave-yards, and utters words; and according to his imagination, fees future things in dreams. y. 12. For all that do thefe things are an abomination to the Lord, &c.] Not that do all thefe things, but whoever does any of them, as archi notes; all fuch. perfons that ufe fuch unlawful methods, or any of them, to gain knowledge; and likewife all thofe that confult them, and make ufe of them; and efpecially it muft be very abominable in the people of J/rae/, to encourage fuch perfons and practices, who had the knowledge of the true God, and himtoconfult on all occafions; had his law and teftimony to attend unto as the rule of fure, and in refpect their conduct, and his prophets to advife with in matters. of difficulty; fee J/ viii. 20. and becaufe of thefe abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee; as well-as for other fins mentioned in Lev. xviii. 24—28. and as before obferved from Cicero, all nations have been addicted to the arts of divination here condemned. 13. Thou fhalt be perfec with the Lord thy God;| Sincerely ferve and worfhip him, faithfully adhere to his word, laws, ftatutes, and ordinances, and walk uprightly before him.
¥. 14. For thofe nations which thou foalt poffe/s hearkened unto obfervers of times, and unto diviners, &c.] Such as are before mentioned, and did as they directed them: but as for thee the Lord thy God hath not fuffered thee fo to do; or, but thou not fo™; thou fhouldeft not do fo, not hearken to fuch perfons, but to the Lord thy God, andto his Jaw and teftimony; nor art thou left to the deception of fuch perfons: the Lord thy God hath given thee; his word and -ftatutes, as a rule to go by, which he has not given to other nations: the Targum of Fonathan adds, ** the priefts fhall afk by urim and thummim, and a true prophet fhall the Lord your God give unto you;” fo that they had no need to hearken to fuch impoftors and deceivers’:
and all of them in fucceffion, ch. xxxiv. 10, II, 12. but the Mefiah, with whom the whole agrees; and upon this the expectation of a prophet among the Fews was raifed, Fobn vi. 14. and is applied to him, and referred to as belonging to him in 4és iil, 22. and vii. 37. who was a prophet mighty in word -and deed, and not only foretold future events, as his own fufferings and death, and refurrection from the dead, the deftru€tion of Feru/alem, and other things; but taught and initruéted men in the knowledge of divine things, fpake as never man did, preached the gofpel fully and faithfully, fo that as the law came by Mo/es, the doctrine of grace and truth came by him; and he was raifed up of God, called, fent, commiffioned and qualified by him for the office of a prophet, as well as was raifed from the dead as a confirmation of his being that extraordinary perfon: from the midff of thee; he was of I/rael, according to the fleth, of the tribe of Fudab, and of the houfe of David, born of a virgin in Bethlebem, preached only in Judea, and was raifed from the dead inthe midit of them, and of which they were witnefles: of thy bretbren., the Ifraclites, of whom as_ concernine the fleth Chriff came, and to whom he was fent as a prophet, and among whom he only preached: like unto me, the Targum of Fonathan adds, * in the holy Spirit;”? which he received without meaof which was fuperior to Mo/es, or any of the prophets: he was like to Mo/és in the faithful difcharge of his office, in his familiar converfe with God, in the miracles which he wrought; as well as in his being a mediator, and the redeemer of his people, as Mo/es was a mediator between God and the people of J/rae/, and the deliverer of them out of Egypt; and it is a faying of the Jews ’ themfelves, “« as was the firft re. deemer, fo is the fecond:” wato him ye hall hearken externally attend on his miniftry, internally receive his do¢trine, embrace and profefs it; do what is heard from him, hear him and not another, always and in all things; fee Matt. xvii.
¥. 16. According to all that thou defiredf of the Lord thy God at Horeb, &c.] This was promifed them, in anfwer to their requeft at Hored or mount Sinai, when the law was delivered to them in the terrible manner it was: i” the day of the affembly, in which the tribes were gathered together to teceive the law, when they were aflembled at the foot of the mount for that purpofe: /aying, Jef me mot hear again the voice of the Lord my God; which was fuch a voice of words, attended with fo much terror, that they that heard intreated the word might not be fpoken to them any more, as the apoftle fays in Heb. xii. 19. neither let me fee this or, as for thee, not fo are they whom the Lord thy God great fire. any more, that I die not; out of which giveth thee»; that is, the prophets whom the Lord would give unto them would not be like the diviners of the heathens, who impofed on the people and deceived them; but would be men fent and ‘infpired by God, and true and faithful in the difcharge of theiroffice; and.to hearken to thefe they are encouraged, by the promife of a very eminent one, like to Mo/es, in the next verfe.
¥. 15. Lhe Lord thy God will raife up unto thee a prophet, &c.| Not Fofbua, as Aben Ezra, nor Feremiab, as Baal Haturim, nor David° as others; nor a fucceffion of prophets, as Yarchi; fora fingle perfon is only fpoken of; and thereis a diffimilitude between Mo/es and any one of the prophets, the Lord fpoke; the congregation of J/rael is here reprefenied {peaking as if a fingle perfon.
¥.17. And the Lord faid unto me, &c.] Unto Mojfes, who carried the above requett to the Lord: they have well fpoken that which they have fpoken; fee ch. v. 28.
¥. 18. I will raife them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, &c.] So that it feems this promife or prophecy was firft made at mount Sinai, but now renewed and repeated, and which is no. where elfe recorded; fee y. 15. when they were not only made eafy for the prefent by appointing Mo/es to receive from the Lord all further notices of his mind and will, but were affured that when it was his pleafure to make a new revelation, or a further difcovery of his mind and will, future times, he would not do it in that terrible way he had delivered the law to them; but would raife up a perfon of their own flefh and. blood, by whom it fhould be delivered, which was fufficient to prevent their fears for the future: and will put my word in his mouth; the dottrines of the gofpel which come from God, and are the words of truth, faith, righteoufnefs, peace, pardon, and falvation; and which Chrift fays were not his Own, as man and mediator, but his father’s, which he gave unto him, and put into his mouth, as what he fhould fay, teach, and deliver to others; fee Fobn, vii. 16. and viii. 28. and xvii. 6, 8. and he fhall fpeak unto them all that I foall command nor did he keep back, but faithfully declared the whole counfel of God; and as he gave him a commandment what he fhould fay, and what he fhould fpeak, he was entirely obedient to it; fee Fobn, xii. afluming a public office, without a divine au injor a commiffion from God, and much lefs what was falfe, and never commanded to be fpoken at all by any: or that foall fpeak in the name of Otber gods; the idols of the people, as the Targum a8 if any. fhould affirm, they were fent by Youe, of infpired by Apollo, as fome are faid to prophefy by Baal, as if they had received their orders’ and inftructions from him, and were infpired® by him} life) Jer. ii. 8: even that prophet shall die’, the Targum of Youathan is, be’ killed by the fword, but the Zews 4 generally interpret it of ftrangling. OBS y. 21. And if thou fay in thine heart, Bc.) Such a thought arifes in the mind, and it appears to be a difficulty, and a query is made upon it How him; Jball we know the word which the Lord bath not /poken? What marks, figns and criterions aré thofe by which it may be known that it is not a word that comes from the Lord?.
-W- 22. When a prophet fpeaketh in the name of
49, 50. and xv. 16. the Lord, &c.| Says he comes from God, is fene
¥. 19. And it foall come to pafs, that whefoever will not hearken unto my words, &c.| To the doctrines of the gofpel, but flight and defpife them: which be foall [peak in my name in whofe name he came, and whofe words or doétrines he declared them to be; not as his own, but his father’s,!is Jobin, Vv. 43. and vii. 16.
or as the Zargums of Onkelos and Jonathan, “ my Word fhall require it.of him, or take vengeance on. him;”.as Chrift the Word of God did in the deftruction of the Fezwi/b nation, city and temple; fee Luk. xix, 27, 44, not having the fear of God, y¥. 20, But the prophet which fhall prefume to Speak in my name, &c.| Pretending a miflion and commifion from.God, and yet was ‘never fent by him, like. the prophets in» Jer. xxii. 24. have not commanded bim to. fpeak-, which though true was. not to be fpoken in a public manner, by by him, and has a commiffion from him to fay fo: if the thing follow not, nor come to pafs; asthe prophecy of Hananiah, Fer. xxviii. 3. that is the thing which the Lord bath not Jpoken; or otherwife it would have come to pafs, unlefs when a‘condition either exprefied or implyed, as the ‘repentance I will require it of him; or difobedience of a people; fee Fer. xviii, 7—10, dut the prophet bath {poken it prefumptuoufly; in a bold and daring manner, with great impiet and impudence, out.of his own head and heart bei t a mere device and imagination of his‘ewh ‘which: he delivered as coming from the Lord: thou. foalt not be: afraid of bim; not only: to reprove him for his wickednefs but jalfo to punifh him for it; fhewing ho regard & the whieh I high charaCer he affumes, nor to ‘the great pretenfions he makes, to dfanctity, knowled ey te) linden with God.. e iat
“HIS chapter contains an ofder to feparate three cities of refuge in the land of Canaan, rated from thofe inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manaffeb, ch. iv.
for fuch that killed a man unawares to flee to, of 41—43. but thefe were to be in the midft of the which thofe who were guilty of murder purpotely, were to have no benefit, ¥.. 113. a law is given againft removing land-marks, y. 14. and others concerning witnefles, that they fhould: be more than one; be two, or three, ¥. 15. and that a falfe witnefs, on conviction, fhould be punifhed, y. 16 21.
y. 1. When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whofe land the Lord thy God giveth thee, &c.] The feven nations of the land of Canaan, whofe deftru€tion was of the Lord for their fins, and whofe land was a gift of him that had a right to difpofe of it to the children of Drael; fee ch. xii. 29. and thou fucceedeft them, and dwellef in their cities, and in their boufes; fhould poffefs their Jand in their ftead, by virtue of the gift of it to them by the Lord, and inhabit their cities and houfes built by them. yt. 2. Thou fhalt feparate three cities for thee in the midft of thy land, 8c.) From the cities they took pofleffion of and dwelt in; and indeed from the cities of the levites, which were given to them to inhabit; three were before ordered to be fepa- land of Canaan, fee Fofb. xxx. 7,8. which thi Lord thy. God giveth en poffe/s oe which my it s often mentioned when this land is fpoken of, fo it carries in it a reafon here why this order of the Lord’s fhould be readily complied with, the whole land and all the cities of it being the gift of his to them. 4 ¥. 3. Thou foalt prepare thee a way, &e.] A road, an high way to thofe cities: on the firft of Adar, or February, the magiftrates ‘ ufed to meet and proclaimed, or ordered to be proclaimed, that the ways be repaired, particularly thofe leading to the cities of refuge; which was done by making them {mooth and plain, fo that there was not an. hill or dale to be feen; and by building bri over rivers and brooks, that he might ipe “ges had killed any one through miftake, and not be hindered, left the avenger of blood fhould overtake him and kill him*; and therefore every obftruction was removed out of the way, that there might be a clear courfe for him; and at the par- — ting of ways; or where two or more ways that he might not be at a lofs one wap way to take, refuge was written, as Farchi 2, * ther writers obferve, upon potts or pillars erected for that purpofe; fee the note on Numb. xxxv. 6, and divide the coafts of thy land which the Lord thy way of defcent, he is not to have it.
ERONOMY ay thrown tip at him) he is to. be exiled, (of to have the benefit of a city of refuge) but what is not by Some think
God giveth thee to inberit, in three parts; in each this is {poken of the wood which is cleaved, and of which was to be a city of refuge, and thofe at an equal diftance: fo ‘farchi obferves, that this was done that there might be from the beginning of the border (of the land) unto the firft city of the cities of ‘refuge, according to the meafure of a journey, that there is from ‘that to the fecond, and fo from the fecond to the third, and fo from the of refuge, not of the wood in which the iron is fixed; but the wife men fay it is to be fo underftood «; in which they are right.
¥. 6. Left the avenger of blood ptrfue the flayer, &c.] Thefe words are to be conneéted with "a: Where it is ordered to prepare the way to the cities and to divide the land into three parts;
third to the other border of the land of J/rae: of |for the convenience of the flayer to flee thither;
the fituation of thefe cities, fo as to anfwer to thofe on the other fide Jordan, fee the note on Numb. xxxv. 14. that every flayer may flee thither; to that which is neareft and’ moft convenient for him, that ‘is, who had flain a man unawares, as follows.
¥. 4. And this is the cafe of the flayer, which foall flee thither, that he may live; 8cc.] Tt was not any flayer that might have protection in thefe cities, but fuch who were thus and thus circumftanced, or whofe’cafe was as follows: whofo killeth bis neighbour ignorantly; without intention, as the Targum of Fonathan, did not defign it; but was done by him unawares: whom he bated not in time paft; had never fhown by words or deeds that he had any hatred of him or enmity to him three days ago 5 fo that if there were,no marks of hatred, or proofs of it three days before this happened, it was reckoned an accidental ‘thing, and not done on purpofe, as this phrafe is uiually interpreted; fee Ex od. Xxi. 29..
¥. 5. As when a man goeth into the wood with bis neighbour to hew wood, &c.] A wood is a place common to men, and cutting down wood a bufinefs which’any man might do; whereas a private place, where a man had no right to be, and doing twhat he had-no bufinefs with, ‘rendered a cafe fulpicious, and fuch a man was liable to be taken up when any affair happened of the kind here fpoken of; fo the Fewifh writers obfervet, ** a wood is a public place for him that hurts and him that is hurt to enter there;” both kad a right to go thither, the one as well as the other, he to whom the accident came, and he by whom it came; but they fay, a court that belongs to a mafter of a houfe (a private court) is excepted, where there is no power or liberty for him that hurts, or for him that is hurt to enter. 4dda Saul fays, What is hewing wood? It is what a man has a right to do, or is in his power; itis what is public and common, and not peculiar to any: and his band fetcheth a firoke with the ax to cut down the tree; lifts up the ax and is about to ftrike with it, in order to cut down the tree pitched upon by him or by his neighbour, or both: and the head flippeth from the helve, the head of the ax from the handle of it, or the iron from the wood *; the iron part of the ax, which is properly the head, from the wooden part, which is laid hold on by the hand: and this not being well faftened, flips and falls off as the blow is fetching, or the ftroke juft ready to be given: and lighteth upon bis neighbour, that he die, hits him in fome part as he ftands by him which proves mortal: be /ball flee unto one of thefe cities, and live; be fafe and fecure from the avenger of blood; fuch an one might have the benefit of one of thefe cities, for for fuch they were defigned; the rule with the ews is, what is done by way of defcent (#. ¢. which comes down and lights ‘upon a man, and is not levelled againft him, or left:he that was next of kin, and incenfed againtt the flayer, and determined to avenge what was done, fhould purfue after him: «while bis heart is hots by reafon of the lofs of his relation, upon which his paffions being raifed, his heart becomes inflamed with wrath and anger; which pufhes him upon an eager and hafty purfuit of the flayer, before he fits down and coolly confiders and deliberates on the affair: and overtake him, becaufe the way 15 long, and flay bim; wherefore it. was proper that every thing fhould be done to make the way to thefe cities as eafy and as fhort as it could be:
| whereas he was not worthy of death, had not committed an action deferving of it, it being done ignorantly and without notice as follows: isa/much as he bated him not in time paft, fee the note on ¥. 4.
¥.7. Wherefore I command thee, faying, thou foalt feparate three cities for thee,| This was to be done immediately, as foon as they were fettled in the land of Canaan, and eftablifhed in the pofieffion of it, the inhabitants being cut off, or driven out, of however fubdued,
¥. 8. And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coaft, 8ec.] Extend it further than it was upon ‘their firft fettlement, even carry ‘it as far as the river Zzphrates, as in the times of Solomon, x Kings iv.
‘ won 12 Sean ferrum e im ib.
21, 24. farchi interprets it of fuch an enlargerient as to give them the land of the Kewites, the Kenizites, and Kadmonites: (as he hath fworn unto thy fathers) and give thee ail the land which be promifed to give unto thy fathers: Abraham, Iaac and Facob; fee Gen. Xv. 18,19. XXVi. 3, 4. and xxviii. 13, 14. ¥.9. If thou foalt keep all thefe commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, &e.]° A phrafe often met with before, and fignifies thé putting in practice the feveral laws, moral, ceremonial and judicial, which Mafes was now making a ‘repetition of, and enjoining the obfervance of them by a divine authority: zo love the Lord thy God; which is the fource and fpring of genuine obedience to the commands of God: and to walk ever in bis ways, denoting conftancy and perfeverance in them; now all this is mentioned as the condition of the enlargement of their tcoaft, which would be the cafe if a due and conitant regard was had to the laws of God: and then fhalt thou add three cities more befides thefe three, three mote in the land of Canaan, befides the three now ordered to be feparated in it, and befides the three on the other fide of Fordan; fo that there would have been nine in all, if thefe had been ever added; but that time never came: the Jews expect the addition of thefe three cities in the days of the Meffiah ¥; but the Meffiah is already come, and all thofe cities as they were typical of him, have had their accomplifhment in him the antitype of them, of which fee the note on Numb, xxxv. 29. ¥. 10. That innocent blood be not foed, &c.] As it would be if fuch a flayer as before defcribed was killed killed by the avenger of blood, before he could get to one of thefe cities of refuge, or fuppofing that they had not been appointed, or a fufficient number of them: which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; to be enjoyed by them and their children after them, provided they did not defile it by their fins, but obferved the commands of the Lord to obey them: and fo blood be upon thee; the guilt of innocent blood crying for vengeance, as would be the cafe if fuch a man’s blood was fhed as before defcribed; it feems as if the guilt would rather affect the whole land for not having a proper provifion of 4/ylums for fuch fons, than the avenger of blood.
y. 14. Thou fhalt not remove thy neighbour’s land-mark, &c.} By which one man’s land is diftinguifhed from another; for fo to do is to injure a man’s property, and alienate his lands to the ufe of another, which muft be a very great evil, and render thofe that do it obnoxious to a curfe; ch. xxvii, 17. which they of old have fet in thine in~ Feritance which thou fhalt inberit, in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to poffe/s it; the land of Canaan: this is thought to refer to the bounds and limits fet in the land by Eleazar and Fofbua, and thofe concerned with them at the divifion of - it; when not only the tribes were bounded and diftinguifhed by certain. marks, but every man’s eftate, and the poffeffion of every family in every tribe; which though not as yet done when this law — was made, yet as it refpeéts future times, might per- be faid to be done of old, whenever there was any tranfgreffion of it, which it cannot be: fuppofed would be very quickly done; and it is a'law not only binding on the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, but all others, it being agreeable to the and le in wait light and law of nature; and which was regarded ameng the heathens, Prov. xxii. 28. and xxili. 10, ee the note on Ho/. v. ro.
y. 11. But if any man bate bis neighbour, &c.) Has conceived enmity in his heart againft him, bears him a mortal hatred, and has formed a feheme in his mind to take away his life:
for bim, knowing and expecting he will come by in fuch a way at fuch atime: and rife up againft\ him out of the place where he lay in wait, jult at the time he is pafling by:
¥. 15. One witne/s foall not rife up againft a man and fmite him mor- por any iniquity, or for any fin, in any fin that be; in’ Jinneth, &c.] Whether capital fins, or pecuniary debts; or whatfoever fins a man may be guilty of, and fleeth into one of whether fins againft. the firft or fecond table of the blood.jlaw, whether greater or lefier fins, whether in moral or civil things; the ews except only in the cafe of a woman fufpected of adultery and of beheading the heifer: at the mouth of two witneffes, or at the mouth of three witneffes foall the matter be eftablifhed; ‘either for acquittance or condemnation; and the witnefles may not, as Yarchi fays, write their teftimony in a letter, and fend it to the Sanhedrim, before;nor may an interpreter {tand between the witnefles and the judges; fee the note on ch, xvii. 6. _ ¥. 16. If a falfe witne/s rife up againft any man, In a court of judicature: to seftify againft and de- him; that which is not true of him, let it be in what cafe it will; Aben Ezra inftances in idolatry, but it holds good of any other, fentence) ¥. 17. Then both the men between whom thé con- #rover/y is, &c.] The man that bears the falfe witnefs, and the man; againft whom it is borne: Joall fiand before the Lord; as in the prefence of him, the omnifcient God, and as reprefented by judges and civil magiftrates, whofe vicegerents are; fo it feems to be explained in the next words, which are exegetical of thefe: before the priefs and the judges which foalt be in thofe days; which fhall compofe the Sanhedrim, or court of judicature; and this feems to confirm it, that by prieft and judge, in ch. xvii. 9, 12. are meant ‘but without priefts and judges; Farchi fays, this feripture {peaks of witneffes, that is, of the falfe. witnefs that teftifies wrong againft a man, and another that contradicts his teftimony, and teaches that there is no witnefs by women; and fo it is elfewhere faid, an oath of witnels is made by men, and not by women; on which it is obferved », that a woman is not fit to bear witnefs, as it is written, then both the men, &c. men and not women; and the above writer remarks further, that it teaches that they ought to bear teftimony ftanding, ‘ tally that he die, or fmite him in foul or life * fuch a part where life is in danger, and the confequence of it is that he dies:
thefe cities; for fhelter from the avenger of y. 12. Then the elders of his city foall fend and fetch him thence, &c.] The Targum of Yonathan is, ‘* the wife men of his city,” the Sanhedrim, or court of judicature, or at leaft the civil magiftrates of that city to which fuch a murderer belonged, had a power to fend to the city of refuge whither he was fled, and demand the delivering of him up to them, that his cafe might be tried them, and it might appear whether he was'a proper perfon to receive the benefit of the city of refuge or not, and if not, to pafs fentence of death &c. upon him, and fee it executed as follows: liver bim into the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die; that is, after the examination and trial of him, and when he is found guilty, and is pafled upon him, then he was to be delivered into the hands of the avenger of blood, to be the executioner of that fentence.
y.13. Thine eye foall not pity him, &c.] This is not faid to the avenger of blood, who is not to be fuppofed to have any pity or compaflion)they on fuch a perfon, but to the elders, judges, and civil magiftrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his cafe; thefe were to fhew him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever;
favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; fee Numb. xxxv. 21. dbut thou foalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Ifraél, by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punifhment for it; fee Numb. xxxv. 33, 34. “ the Targum of Jonathan is, * fhall put away thofe that fhed innocent blood out of J/rael;”’ put them away by death: shat it may go well with thee, with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magiftrates, and ~ men of it, to which the murderer adjudged to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment| of all temporal bleffings and mercies.
y. 18. And the judges fhall make diligent inquiiion, 8&c.] Into the cale before them, into the nature of the evidence and proof that each witnefs brings for or againft; fo the Targum of ‘onathan, ‘* the judges fhall interrogate the witnefs a thefe things are faid, well,” thall thoroughly examine the teftimony given, and look caretully into it: amd behold, it the witne/s be a falfe witne/s, and bath teftified falfy againft his brother, it appears plainly by full evidence that he has teftihed a falfehood ot him.
y¥. 19. Then foall ye do unto him as be bad thought to have done unto bis brother, &c.] Inflict the fame mult or punifhment on him he thought to have brought his brother under by his falfe teftimony of him; whether any pecuniary fine, or whipping and fcourging, or the lofs of a member or the value of it, or death icfelf; whether ftoning, ftrangling, burning, © or killing with the fword: though in the caie of accufing a prieft’s daughter of adultery, as ‘archi obferves, fuch were not to be burnt, as would have been her cafe if proved, but ftrangled: /o halt thou put the evil away from among you, the evil man that bears fhall hear of the punifhment infliéted on him, and fear to commit the like fin, left they fhould be punifhed in like manner.
¥. 21. And thine eye fhall not pity, &c.] -The falfe witnefs when convicted; this is direéted to the judges, who fhould not fpare fuch an one through favour or affe€tion, but pronounce a righteous fentence on him, and fee it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation: but /#fe fhall go for fe; in fuch a cafe where the life of a perfon muft have gone, if the falfhood of the teftimony had not been difcovered, the falfe witnefs mutt fuffer death; in other cafes, where a member would have been loft, or the price of it paid for, the fame penalty was to be inflicted: eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand a falfe teftimony of his brother, or the guilt of for hand, foot for foot, that is, the price of an fin which would be incurred by conniving at him. y. 20. And thofe which remain fhall hear and fear, &c.) Thofe which furvive the falfe witnefs
N this chapter rules are given to be obferved in times of war. When a°battle was near, a prieft was to addrefs the foldiers, and encourage them to fight, ¥. 1—4. then the officers were to declare who might return home, ¥. 5—g. when an enemy’s city was approached, peace was to be proclaimed on certain conditions, which, if accepted of, the inhabitants were.to be tributaries and fervants, but if not; when taken, all were to be put to the fword, excepting women, children and cattle, y. 1o—15. but thofe of the feven nations were to be utterly deftroyed, ¥. 16, 17, 18. and, during a fiege, no trees bearing fruit fit for food were to be cut down, ¥. 19, 20.
y¥. 1. When thou gocft out to battle againft thine enemies, &c ] There were two forts of war the the Lord their God, 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. and fo the Targum of Fonathan, “ for all of them fhall be reckoned as one horfe and one chariot before the Lord your God;” with whom numbers are nothing; and which adds, ‘‘ for his Word fhall be your help;” the eternal Jogos, or Word of God; fo Onkelos; and if God and his Word, his only-begotten fon, are on the fide of his people, they have nothing to fear from enemies, though ever fo many and mighty: which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; which is obferved for the encouragement of their faith and confidence in him; for he that did that for them, what is it he cannot or will not do?
¥. 2. And it foall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, &c.| When all things are preparing for it, and it feems unavoidable: that the prieft
Ifraelites were engaged in, one commanded and Joall approach, and {peak unto the people; not any another permitted, as Maimonides « diftinguithes; one was by the order and appointment of God, as againft the feven nations of Canaan; the other was voluntary and arbitrary, which was left to their own difcretion and will as they faw fit, when they were provoked or diftrefled, or were invaded by their enemies, or they faw reafon to go out againft them, and either act the offenfive ‘or defenfive} part, or both; and of each of thefe fome things are faid in this chapter: and fee/t horfes and cha riots, and a péople more than thou; the Iraelites had no horfes, and fo no chariots, their armies were all infantry; but their neighbouring nations that made war with them had a large cavalry, and multitudes of chariots, which made them very formidable; thus Shi/bak king of Egypt, in the times of Reboboam, came againtt Ferufalem with 1200 chariots and 60,000 horfemen, and people without number; and Zerah the Ethiopian, in the times of Afa, came again{t him with an hoft of 100,000 men, and 300 chariots, 2 Chron. xil. 2, 3. and xiv.
prieft, but one appointed for this fervice; who is called the anointed of war, as Farchi and Aben Ezra obferve, and concerning whom Maimonides ¢ is more particular; he fays, ‘*they appoint a prieft to fpeak to the people at the time of war, and they anoint him with the anointing oil, and he is called the anointed of war; twice the anointed of war fpeaks unto the people, once in a book at the time they go forth, before they fet in battle-array, he fays to the people, what man is there, &c. and when he has caufed his words to be heard, he returns; at another time, when they are fet in array, he fays, fear not, &c.” this man feems to be an emblem of gofpel-minifters, who are anointed with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, and whofe bufinefs it is to encourage the people of God to fight the Lord’s battles againft fin, fatan, and the world, and not to be afraid of their fpiritual enemies; directing them to take to them the whole armour of God, and to endure hardnefs as good foldiers of Chrift, to. follow him the captain of.
. be not afraid of them, becaufe of the ftrength of their cavalry, the terrible approaches of theirj their falvation, affuring them of victory through him who makes them more than conquerors, and chariots, and the number of their men - for the Lord thy God is with thee; hence, as Hezekiah fays, more would be with them than with their enemies, with whom was. an arm of flefh, but with them that their warfare is or fhortly will be accomplifhed. ¥. 3. And fhall fay unto them, bear O Ifrael, &c.} Exciting their attention to what he was about to fay, OT biG 63,2. U fay, and which, as archi obferves, was fpoken in the holy tongue, or in the Hebrew language: you approach this day unto battle againft your enemies; were marching or ready to march, preparing to engage with them, and a battle feemed near at hand: let not your hearts faint, fear not, ard do not tremble, neither be ye terrified becaufe of them; many words are made ufe of to animate them againft thofe fears which the ftrength, number, and appearance of their enemies would be apt to caufe in them. Yarchi obferves, that here are four exhortations, anfwerable to four things which the kings of the nations do (in order to inject terror into their enemies); they fhake their fhields to clath them one againft another, that hearing their noife they may be afraid of them and flee; they prance their horfes, and make them neigh, to caufe the noife of the hoofs of their horfes to be heard, they fhout with their voices, and blow with their trumpets: and accordingly thefe feveral claufes are fo interpreted in the Mifnah*; ‘and let not your hearts faint; at the neighing of the horfes, and the brightnefs of {words: fear not; at the clafhing of fhields: and do not tremble; at the found of trumpets: neither be ye terrified, at the voice of fhouting”; and no doubt but it takes in every thing that has a tendency to caufe fear, faintnefs and difmay, which they are cautioned againit.
¥. 4. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, &c.|} To battle, and therefore they had no reafon to fear and be difmayed, to be fainthearted, terrified and tremble: fear not, I am with thee, &c. If. xli. 10. this, according to the Mi/- nab‘, refpects the ark, and fo Farchi,. which was a fymbol of the divine prefence, and went with them to battle; fee Fo/b. vi. 4. 1 Sam. iv. 3, 4, 5. to fight for you againft your enemies, to fave you; to annoy and deftroy the one, and to protect and fave the other; thus far the anointed prieft. addreffed the people in an oration to this purpofe: the account Maimonides gives of it is, that ‘* when they have fet their ranks, and are near to a battle, the anointed of war ftands on an high place, and all the ranks before him, and fays to them in the holy tongue, bear, O Ifrael, &c. unto to fave you; and then another prieft under him caufes it to be heard by all the people with an high voice «; he repeated what the anointed of war had faid, and expreffed it with a loud voice that all might hear.
¥. 5. And the officers foall [peak unto the people, &c.] What thefe officers were is not eafy to fay; they feem not to be officers of the army, for they are diftinguifhed from captains of the armies, y. 9. unlefs they can be thought to be general officers; but the word for them is the fame that is ufed of fuch that attended the judges and were minifters to them, ch. xvi. 18. and perhaps they were a fort of heralds that publifhed and proclaimed what the anointed of war had faid; affirms, that what here follows was firft fpoken by him, and after that (what is faid, ¥. 3, 4.) the anointed of war fpeaks, faying, What man is there, &c. (to the end of y. 7.) thus far the anointed of war {peaks, and then an officer caufes all the people to hear it with an high voice, faying, What man is there that bath built a new houfe, and hath not dedicated it? or perfected it, as the Largum of Fonathan, not quite finifhed it, has not, as that paraphraft fays, fixed in it the door pofts, or rather perhaps he means the Mezuzah, or writing, and fo the above writer *!
r bn Non necdum fecit eam e which the Jews thought themfelves obliged to faften to the door-poits of their houfes'; lee ch. xi. 20. until this was done an houfe was not thought to be compleated; though Jarchi interprets this of inhabitation; of a man’s having built ahoufe, but has not yet dwelt init; 3 fee ch. xxviii. 30. fo Fofephus' explains it, of its not having been ufed and enjoyed by a mana full year; but there feems to be fomething more than all this in dedication; for though it does not fignify a confecration or dedication of it to holy ufes, as the dedication of the tabernacle and temple, yet there was fomething done, fome ceremony ufed at entrance into a new houfe; a good man entered into it, no doubt, with prayer and praife, as the 3oth pfalm was compofed by David at the dedication of his houfe; fee Neb. xii. 27. and perhaps it was ufual to have their friends together, and make a chearful entertainment on the occafion. Ben Melech on the place affures us, it was a cuftom to make a feaft and merriment at eating the firft meal in a new houfe: /et bim go and return to bis boufe, left he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it or perfect it, as the above Targum, or dwell in it, as well as have the pleafure of entertaining his friends in it at the firft opening of it; this was either a command enjoining a man, ‘in fuch a circumftance to return, and fo the reft that follow, or a permiffion to him, allowing him to do it if he thought fit.
¥. 6. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it, &c.\ Which he has a right to do, and it is hard for him to be deprived of it, 1 Cor. ix. 7. or hath not made it common *, according to the law in Lev. xix. 23, 24, 25. Three years the fruit of trees and fo of vines might not be eaten, in the fourth they were devoted to the Lord, and might be redeemed from the prieft, and fo made common, and on the fifth year were eaten in courfe; fo the Targums of Feru- Salem, Fonathan and Farchi interpret it: let bim alfo £0 and return unto bis houfe, left he die in the battle, and another man eat of it; or make it common, according to the above law: dben Ezra feems to have another fenfe of this paflage, deriving the
“word from another, which fignifies piping and dancing, and obferves that it was a cuftom to fing, pipe and dance in vineyards; and the Septuagint verfion is, hath not been made merry of it; though that may fignify, not having drank of the wine of it, to be made merry with it. ¥. 7. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and bath not taken ber? &c.| Home to his houfe and bedded with her; has only betrothed her, but is not properly married to her, the nuptials are not compleated; this the Fews underftand of any one betrothed to him, whether a virgin or a widow, or the wife of a deceafed brother, (yea they fay, if his brother is dead in war he returns and comes home), but not of a former wife divorced and received again™: let bim go and return unto his houfe, left be die in battle, and Aten ther man take ber, or marry her, y¥. 8. And the officers fhall {peak further uate the people, &c.} According to Maimonides” the prieft the anointed of war {poke to the end of yo 7. and which the officers repeated after him to the people aloud, as before obferved; and then after that an officer {peaks of himfelf, or in his own words, and not in thofe of the prieft, as follows; what man that is fearful, &c. and then — 5 another another officer caufes all-the people to hear it:
and they foall fay, What man is there that is fearful and faint-bearted? that has not courage to face his enemies, to whom the terrors of war, and efpecially of ‘death, are dreadful; the Targum of 7onathan adds, “ becaufe of his fin;” whofe fins ttare him in the face, and lie heavy on his con- {eience; fo that he is afraid he fhall die in battle, and in his fins, and fuffer divine vengeance; both thefe fenfes are obferved in the Mifuab’. According to R. Akiba, a fearful and faint-hearted man, is one ‘* that can’t ftand in battle-array, or behold “a drawn fword; but R. Fofe the Galilean fays, “he is one that is afraid of the tranfgreflions he *< has committed; and therefore the law joins to * this all thofe things for which a man may re- ** turn;’? as having built a new houfe, planted a vineyard, and betrothed a wife; that fo it might be thought it was on account of one or other of thefe that he returned, and not through. faintheartednefs, either becaufe of the terrors of war, or of his own contcience for his fins: let him go and return to his bouje, left bis brethren’s heart faint as well as bis heart; left by his pale looks and.
trembjing joint’, his fainting fits and fwoons, he difcourage the reft in the fame company with him, and by his example make them unfit for war alfo.
¥. 9. And it foall be when the officers have made an end of {peaking unto the people, &c.} By reciting what the anointed of war faid unto them, and by fpeeches of their own framing, to encourage to the battle; and all were difmiffed that had leave to depart, and chofe to take it: shat they shall make captains of armies. to lead on the people; on to battle; that is, either the officers fhould do this, which may feem to confirm what has been hinted, that they might be generals of the army who contftituted captains under them, ~to lead the people on to battle: unlefs this is to be underftood of the princes of J/rael, or of the king when they had one, and his minifters; for it does not appear in any inftance, that the people chofe their own officers over them, to go out before them, and lead them on to battle; or to be at the bead of them*, which the Jewifo writers underftand in a very different fenfe; not to head them, or be at the head of them, to dire&t and command them, but to keep them from deferting: their fenfe is, that the officers having difmiffed perfons in the circumftances before defcribed, and fet ftout men before them, and others behind them, (7. e. the army of the people) with iron hatchets in their hands, and every one that fought to return, they had power to cut aff his legs; fince flight is the beginning of falling before their enemies *.
y¥. 10. When thou comeft nigh unto a city to fight againft it, &c.| This is to be underftood of. an arbitrary war, as Farchi obferves; which they engaged in of themfelves, or were provoked to by their enemies; which was their own choice, and according to their own will and pleafure; and their conduct towards their enemies in it was different from that in a war with the feven nations, com- ~ manded by the Lord, and diftinguifhed from it, y. 15, 16. then proclaim peace unto it, that is, offer them terms of peace; which were that the inhabitants of it fhould renounce idolatry, and become their cributaries and fervants.
y. 11. And it fhall be, if it make thee anfwer of
peace, &c.] Comply with the terms of peace offered: and open unto thee, the gates of the city
2 ESYM UND in capite populi, Pagninus, Montanus.
and its garrifons, and deliver all into their hands: then it foall be that all the people that is found therein; fome having made their efcape before the furrender of the city: /hall be tributaries unto thee, pay a yearly tax impofed upon them, asthe Moadites fometimes did, and which was paid in lambs and rams with the wool, 2 Kings iii. 4. and they fhall Jerve thee; not as flaves, or be in continual bondage and fervitude; but upon occafion be called out to any public fervice, as joining them againft their enemies, rebuilding palaces and cities, or repairing walls of cities, and the like; and in general acknowledge their dominion over them, and their own fubjection to them, by paying an annual tribute, or fending gifts unto them; thus the Moadties, Syrians, and Edomites, became the fervants of David, 2 Sam. viii. 2, 6, 14.
¥. 12. And if it will make no peace with thee, &c.] Will not accept of terms of peace offered: but will make war againft thee, come out and fight, or prepare to defend themfelves: then thou fhalt bevege 1¢; {urround and block it up on all fides with their forces; the Fews fay only on three fides, leaving one for any to flee and make their efcape if they thought fit; fee the note on Numb. xxxi. 7.
¥.13. And when the Lord thy God bath delivered it into thine hands, &c.| When, what with preffures without, and calamities within, the city is obliged to furrender: this is not to be imputed to the methods and arts of war ufed in befieging, or to the courage and fkill of the befiegers; but to the power and providence of God fucceeding means ufed, and fending famine or peftilence among the befieged, and inclining their hearts to deliver up their city: thou fhalt fmite every male thereof with the edge of the fword, the men in it, grown perfons, as diftinguifhed from little ones in the next verfe; becaufe it was owing to thefe it was not furrendered at once, when terms. of peace were offered, y¥. 14. But the women, the little ones, and the cattle, &c.] | Thefe were to be fpared; women becaufe of the weaknefs of their fex, and fubjection to their hufbands; and little ones, which take in males as well as females, as ¥archi obferves, becaufe of their tender age; and cattle, becaufe of their infenfibility; all thefe having had no concern in holding out the fiege: and all that is in the city, even all the [poil thereof fhalt thou take unto thyfelf, gold, filver, merchandize, houfhold goods, utenfils in trade, and whatever was of any worth and value to be found in their houfes: and thou fhalt eat the {poil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath giventhee, that is, enjoy all their wealth and riches, eftates, and poffeffions; for this is not to be reftrained to things eatable only.
v.15. Thus fhalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, &c.] As all fuch were reckoned that were without the land of J/rae, even all in their neighbouring nations, the Moadites, Edomites, Ammonites, Syrians, 8c. for the: children of J/rael never went to war with any very diftant nations, unlefs they came unto them and invaded them; nor did they feek to carry their conquefts to any great diftanice, when the moft powerful and victorious, as in the days of David and Solomon: which are not of the cities of thefe nations; of thefe feven nations, as the Targum of Fouathan, the feven nations of the land of Canaan; all that were not of them were accounted foreign cities, and at a diftance.
¥.16. But of the cities of thofe people, which Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, 8cc. The cities of the feven nations, fix of which mentioned by name in the next verfe: thou fhalt Save alive nothing that breatheth, the reafon of this feverity was becaufe of their wickednefs, the capital crimes and grofs abominations they were guilty of, and for which they deferved to die; and on account whereof they were referved to this deftruétion, when the meafure of their iniquities was full, fuch as idolatry, inceft, witchcratt, foothfaying, necromancy, &c. dee Lev. xviii. 3. 24, 25,27. and: xx. 2-23. Deut. xviii. g—12.
¥. 18. That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, &c.| This is another reafon why they were to be utterly deftroyed, not only becaufe of the abominations which they committed, but to prevent the J/raelites being taught by them to do the fame; wherefore, as before obferved from Jarchi; {uch as became profelytes were fuffered to live among them, becaule there was no danger of idolatry from them, which even profelytes of the gate renounced; and though all other abominations are included, yet this is particularly refpected, as appears from the following claule: which they have done unto their gods; to the honour of whom not only many fuperftitious rites and ceremonies were performed, and idolatrous actions committed, but acts of lewdnefs, and even unnatural uncleanthe in making war againft it to take it, &c.]. Before it | will furrender 5 it holding out the fiege a confidearelrable time: the Hedrew text fays, many days‘; which the Targum of Jonathan interprets of all the feven days, to make war againft it in order to fubdue it on the fabbath-day. ‘archi obferves, that days fignify two, and many three; hence it is faid they don’t befiege cities of the Gentiles lefs than three days before the fabbath; and he alfo fays it teaches that peace is opened or proclaimed two or three days firft: thou Joalt not deftroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax againft them; that is, not” cut them down with an ax, fuch trees as were without the city, and in the power of the befiegers: what fort of trees are meant appears by what follows ¢ for thou mayeft eat of them, the fruit of them, which fhews them to be fruit-trees, and gives a reafon for not cutting them down, fince they would be ufeful in fupplying them with what was agreeable toeat: and thou shalt not cut them down to employ them ia the fiege; in building bulwarks-and batteries, and making of machines to caft out {tones, and the like, to the annoyance of the befieged; which might as well or better be made of other trees, as in the next verfe: for rhe tree of We field is man’s life; by the fruit of which, among other things, his life is fapported and maintained: but fome give a different verfion and fenfe of this claufe, for the tree of the field is man*, or is man’s’; it is his property; but this is not a fufficient reafon why it fhould not be cut down, whether the property of the befieger, in whofe hand it is, or of the they befieged, to whom it belonged: or for is the tree © of the field a mane? that has given any occafion of they being thus ufed? no; itis no caufe of the war, nor of the holding out of the fiege; and had it a voice, as ¥o/epbus § obferves, it would complain of injury done it, and apologize for itflf, Some fupply the negative, for che tree of the fields nota man, fo the Targum of Onkelos, as well as makes it a comparative form of fpeech; “ for not as a man is the tree of the field, to come out againft thee in a fiege;” the Targum of Fonathan is, * for not as to be hid from you in a fiege;” or, as fome inAben Ezra exprefs it, ** it is not as a man that it fhould flee from before thee;” it can neither annoy thee, nor get out of thy way; and therefore to lift up an ax againtt it, to cut itdown, as if it was aman, and an enemy that ftood in the way, is ridiculous and weak; tho the fenfe of the faid writer himfelfis the fame with that of our verfion; but what feems beft is to read the words, for, O Man, of the trees of the field (there is enow of them) to bring Sefore thee for a bulwarks; to make ufe of, without cutting down fruittrees: though fome underftand it metaphorically, that as the tree of the field is, fois man, or fhould be, bring forth fruit; that he may~not be cut down; fee Matt. iii. 10. Plutarch » relates, that it was forbidden the worthippers of Ofris to deftroy
¥.17. But thou halt utterly deftroy them, &c.J Men, women, and children: fome think this is to be underftood only of fuch cities which did not accept of terms of peace; for they are of opinion that Fo/bua made proclamation of peace to all the cities of Canaan, which being not complied with, he deftroyed them as they fell into his hands; and they fuppofe that the Gideonites had not heard of fuch a proclamation, and therefore were {pared; and itis certain that there were many who were fuffered to live among them, who it may be thought were allowed on their becoming profelytes, which was one of the terms of peace, as Kabab and her houfhold did, and which is the fenfe of fome of the Fewijfo writers. Farchi on the following verfe obferves, that if they repented, and became profelytes, they might be received: namely, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Febufites; one of the feven nations is here omitted, the Girga/bites, as are alfo in Ewod. xxiii. 23. Itis faid®, that ** ofbua fent three letters into the land of J/rael before went into it; in the firft, whoever would turn (and flee) might; in the fecond, whoever would make peace might; in the 3d, whoever would make war might: the Girga/bites, believing God, went to Africa, according to J/. xxxvi. 17. the land there is Africa, the Gibeonites made peace, and dwelt in the land; thirty-one kings made war, and fell:” as the Lord thy God bath commanded thee; Deut. vii. 1, 2. a man is the tree of the field,
nefs: fo fhould ye fin againft the Lord your God; a garden-trees,
fin the moft provoking to him, as the fin of idolatry was; and caufe his anger to rife to fuch a gree, as to fuffer them to be carried captive from the land he gave them to inherit; and which afterwards was the cafe, and that through learning the manners and cuftoms of thefe people; fee P/. cvi. ~ y. 20. Only the trees which thou knoweft that de- they be mot trees for meat, &c.| Which mi ht be known not only by their not having fruit upon them, but by other tokens, and even at atime of year when there was no fruit on any, which might Ad be fometimes the feafon of a fiege: thou foalt de-
34—42. ftroy and cut them down; if fo to do was of any dif- ¥..19. When thou Jfhalt befiege a city a long time, ervice to the enemy, or of any fervice to the:
follows, they had a liberty to deftroy them if they would: and thou foalt build bulwarks againft the city that maketh war, until it be fubdued; build bulwarks of the trees cut down, and raife batteries with them, or make machines and engines of the wood of them, to caft ftones into the city to annoy the inhabitants of it, in order to make them furrender, and until they doit. All this may be an emblem of the ax being to be laid to fruitlef trees in a moral and fpiritual fenfe; and of trees of righteoufnefs, laden with the fruits of righteoufnefs, the planting of the Lord, being preferved and never to be cut down or rooted up; fee Matt, iii, 10. J 1x. 3, Matt. xv.13.