Exposition of the Whole Bible

which is next to forty;” this they make out by joinin a floor where they were trod out, they ufed to ing the laft word of the preceding verfe with the firlt of this; and that this was an. ancient fenfe of the law, and cuftom uponit, appears by the execution of it on the apoftle Pax/; who was not indulged, but fuffered the extremity of it as it was then underftood, 2 Cor. xi. 24. fee the note there; moreover, that they might not exceed this number, they ufed to make a fcourge of three lafhes, fo that every ftroke they fetched with it was reckoned for three ftripes, and 13 of them made 39;_ wherefore if they added another ftroke, it would have exceeded the number of ftripes by two: Jet if be Jbould exceed, and beat him above thefe with many ftripes; they might diminith them, if a man was weak, and not able to bear them; but they might not exceed them, if a man was as ftrong as Sam- Jon, as Maimonides‘ {ays: then thy brother fhould feem vile unto thee; as if he was a beaft, and not a man, and much lefsa brother. The Targum of Fonathan is, ‘* left he be in danger, and thy brother be vile;” left he be in danger of his life, and become vile, as a dead carcafe; fo the apoftle calls dead bodies vile bodies, Phil. iii. 21, or in danger of being maimed, and becoming lame or deformed, and fo be contemptible: and this punifhment. of beating with the Yews was not reckoned according to their writers reproachful, and as fixing a brand of infamy upon a perfon; but they were ftill reckoned brethren, and reftored to their former dignities, whatfoever they poffeffed; fo Maimonides * fays, ** whoever commits a crime, and is beaten, he returns to his dignity, as it is faid, Jet thy brother be vile in thine eyes; when he is beaten, lo, he is thy brother;—an high-prieft that commits a crime, is beaten by threey (i. e.. a bench of three judges, by their order) as the reft of all the people, and he returns to his grandeur; but the head of the feffion, (or court of judicature), that commits a crime, they beat him, but he does not return to his principality, noreven return to be as one of the reft of the /anbedrim, for they afcend in holinefs, but do not defcend.”? And yet Fofephus reprefents it as a moft infamous and fcandalous punifhment, as one would think indeed it fhould be; his words are *, {peaking of the laws concerning travellers being allowed to gather grapes, and pluck ears of corn as they paffed; “ he that does contrary to thefe laws, receives forty ftripes fave,one witha public fcourge; a free man undergoes this moft filthy (or difgraceful) punifhment, becaufe for the fake of gain he reproaches his dignity.” ¥. 4. Thou foalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn, &c.] As oxen are ufed in plowing, fo likewife in treading or beating out the com; of the manner of which, fee the note on 1 Cor. ix. 9. now whilft it was thus employed, it might not be reftrained by any means from eating the corn as it had an opportunity, either by a * muzzle put over its mouth, or other ways. The Gentiles had feveral ways of reftraining their cattle from eating, whilft they thus made ule of them, to which this law is oppofed. Maimonides ‘ has collected feveral of them together, as prohibited by it; as putting a thorn into its mouth, caufing a lion to lye down by it, orcaufing its calf to lie down without, or fpreading a fkin on the top of the corn that fo it may not eat. Aizanus ® relates a very particular way of hindering oxen fromeating at fuch times, ufed in fome countries, which was this; that oxen might not eat of the ears of corn, befmear their noftrils with cows dung, which was fo difagreeable to the creature, that it would not tafte any thing though preffed with famine. This law is not to be limited to the ox only, or to this peculiar work affigned it; but, as Yarchi fays, re- {pects any fort of cattle, and whatfoever work that has food in it, none of them being be reftrained from eating whilft at work: and this law was not made for the creatures only, but for men alfo; and efpecially for the fake of minifters of the word; who for their {trength, labour, and induftry, are compared to oxen, and ought to be comfortably fupported and maintained on account of their work; for the illuftration and confirmation of which, this paflage is twice produced, 1 Cor. iX. 9, 10. 1 Tim. v. 17, 18. {ee the notes there.

¥. 5. If brethren dwell together, &c.| Not only in the fame country, province, town, or city, but in the fame houfe; fuch who had been from their youth brought up together in their fathers houfe, ” and now one of them being married, as the cafe put fuppofes, they that were unmarried might live with him, and efpecially if the father was dead; and fo may except fuch as were abroad, and in foreign countries, or at fuch a diftance that this law could not well be obferved by them; though the Targumot Jonathan, and fo Farchi, interpret it of their being united in an inheritance, all by virtue of relation having a claim to their father’s inheritance; fo that it mattered not where they dwelt, itis the relation that is regarded, and their right of inheritance; and the above Targum deferibes them as brethren on the father’s fide, and fo Farchi fays it excepts his brother on the mother’s. fide; for brethren by the mother’s fide, in cafe of inheritance, and the marrying of a brother’s wife, were not reckoned brethren, as Maimonides" oblerves;

who adds, that there is no brotherhood but on the father’s fide. Some think that when there were no brethren in a ftrict and proper fenfe, the near kinfmen, fometimes called brethren, were to do the office here enjoined, and which they conclude from the cafe of Boaz and Ruth; but Aben Ezr@ contradicts this, and fays that inftance is no proof of it, it refpecting another affair, not marriage, but redemption; and fays that brethren, abio.. lutely and ftrictly {peaking, are here meant; which is agreeable to their tradition!: and one of them die, - and have no child; fon or daughter, fon’s fon, or daughter’s fon, or daughter’s daughter, as Yarchi notes; if there were either of thefe, children or grand-children, of either fex, there was no obligation to marry a brother’s wife; fo in the cafe put to Chrift, there was no iffue, the perfon was childlefs, Matt. xxii. 24, 25. Luke xx. 28. the wife of the dead foall not marry without unto a Stranger; by whom is meant nat a Gentile, or a profelyte of the gate, or of righteoufnefs, but any meresie whatever, that was not of her hufband’s family; fhe might not marry out of the family; that is, unlefs fhe was refufed by all, the defign of the law being to fecure inheritances, and continue them in families to which they belonged: her bujband’s brother fhall go in unto ber, and take ber. wife; thatis, fuppofing him to be un. this is indeed fuppofed in the firft claufe of tl text, by dwelling with his brother; Die, rad been married, he would have dwelt with hi and family apart; befides, if this law obl married man to marry his brother’s wife, pc

would be required and eftablifhed by a law of God, which was never otherwife than permitted. This is to be underftood of thé eldeft brother, as Farchi, who is in an unmarried ftate; fo it is faid in the Mifneh’, ‘ the.command is upon the eldeft to marry his brother’s wite; if he will not, they go to all the brethren; if they will not, they return to. the eldeft, and fay to him, upon thee is the commandment, either allow the fhoe to be plucked off, or marry 3” and fuch a courfe. we find was taken among the Jews in our Lord’s time, Matt. xxii. 25, 26. and perform the duty of an hufband’s brother to ber 5 cohabit together as man and wife, in order to raife up feed to his brother, and perform all the offices and duties of an hufband ro a wife; but the marriage-folemnity was not to take place when it was agreed to, until three months or ninety days had paffed from the death of the brother, that it might be known whether fhe was with child or no by her hufband, and in fuch a cafe this law had no force; fo runs the Few canon *, “a brother’s wife may not pluck off the fhoe, nor be married until. three months;” that is, after her hufband’s deatn. ¥. 6. And it hall be that the firft-born that fhe beareth, &c.] To her hufband’s brother, now married to her: fhall fucceed in the name of his brother; the meaning is, as the Targum of Fonathan, ** he fhall rife up in the inheritance in the name of his brother;” or, as Yarchi exprefies it, “ he fhall take the inheritance of the deceafed in the goods of his father;” that is, he fhall have his part and fhare in the inheritance that the deceafed brother would have had if he had lived, which would come to him by his father: that bis name be not put out of Ifrael’; that the family be not loft in J/rae, and the inheritance belonging to it pafs to another. This law was defigned to keep families diftindt, and inheritances in them, until the Adefiah came, and that it might appear from what family he came; as he did from onein whom, as it is generally thought, this law took place: and it might have {till a more fpecial refpect to him, as “in/- worth fuggetts,; for Chrift inthe myftical fenfe may be fignified by the deceafed brother; he ftands in the relation of a brother to his people, and has all the love, friendfhip, compaffion, and condefcenfion of one; he and they are of one and the fame Father, of the fame family, and of the fame nature, and have the fame inheritance, they being coheirs with him; noris he afhamed to own the relation. This brother of theirs is deceafed; his death was according to the will of God, what ‘he himfelf agreed to, and was foretold by the prophets; for which purpofe he came into the world, and did die as to the flefh, and that for the fins of his people. Now the Yewi/h church was his. wife, by whom he had no children through the law; that church was efpoufed to him, he ftood in the relation of an hufband to her, and the in the relation of awifetohim. Very few children were brought -forth by her to him, fee J/ liv. 1, 5. Fer. iis 2. and iii. 1. and xxxi. 32. and none by the law, by which there is no regeneration, but by the gofpel, it is through that, and not the law, the fpirit and his graces come 3 or fouls are born again to Chrift, renewed and fanctified. The apoftles that furvived Chriff, and the minifters of the gofpel, are his brethren, Yobm xx. 17. and who are inftruments in begetting fouls to Chiff; and thefe are a feed raifed up unto him, and are called not after the name of the apoftles and minifters of the word, through whofe miniftry they are begotten, 1 Cor. 1. 12, 13./ and iii. 4, 5. and iv. 1s. but after Chrift; and have the name of Chriftians, or anointed ones from him, and by which means his name is, and will be continued as long as the fun endures, Mis xi. 26. Pf. \xxii. 17. ¥. 7. And the man like not to take bis brother's wife, 8cc.] The provifion here made by this law, when this was the cafe, is fuch as did not take place before it became a-law; for then Onan would have taken the advantage of it, and refufed marrying his brother’s wife, which ’tis plain was not agreeable to him, Gew, xxxviii. 9. as manydo now on one account or another. Leo of Modena' ays,

“* it was anciently accounted the more laudable thing to take her, than to releafe her; but now the corruption of the times, and the hardnefs of men’s hearts, are fuch, as that they only look after worldly ends, either of riches, or of the beauty of the woman; fo that there are very few that in this cafe will marry a brother’s widow, efpecially among the Dutch and Italian Fews, but they always releafe her:” then let his brother's wife go up to the gate; to the gate of the city, where the judges fit for public affairs; to the gate of the fanhedrim, or court of judicature, as the Targum of Fonathan; and this affair was cognizable by the bench of three. judges, and might be difpatched by them; for fo it is ‘faid™, ‘* the plucking off the thoe, and the refufal of marriage, are by three:” 7. e. three judges, which was the loweft court of judicature with the Fews: unto the elders and fay; which according to the above Targum were to be five wifemen, of which three were to be judges, and two witneffes; and fhe was to fay in the Hebrew language, in which according to the Mifnab", the was to pronounce what follows: my bu/bana’s brother refufeth to raife up unto bis brother a name in Ifrael, he will not perform the duty of my bufband’s brother; thatis, in a few words, he will not marry her. ¥. 8. Then the elders of his city foall call him, &c.] Require him to come before them, and declare his refolution, and the reafons for it;_ recite this Jaw to him, and explain the nature of it, and exhort him to comply with it, or thew reafon why he does not, at leaft to have his final refolution upon it: and fpeak unto him; talk with him upon this fubject, and give him their beft advice; and what that was, Maimonides © more particularly informs us; if it is good and advifeable to marry, they advife him to marry; but if it is better advice to pluck off the fhoe, they give it; as when fhe is young and he is old, or the is old. and he young, they advife him to allow the fhoe to be plucked off: and if he fland to it, and fay, I like not to take her; if after all the converfation, debate, and counfel between them, he is refolute; and abides by his firft determination, that he will not marry her, then the following method was to be taken. ¥. 9. Then fhall bis brother's wife come unto him in the prefence of the elders, &c.] The time and — place being appointed the evening before by three rabbins, and two witnefles, as Leo of Modena fays”; jof which the was apprized, and ordered to come fafting: 1 Yebamot,..¢,4..§.5. | |) °* Ib. §. 10. 1 Utfupra, §. 3. ™ Mifn, Sanhedrin, ¢. 1. §. 3. ® Sotah, Ca Buy, Sede ° Yebum vechalitzah, c. 4. §. 1. ® Ut fupra, §. 4.:. Vor. Il Noe gs =: ers?

ing: and: loofe bis fooe from off bis foot s his right foot, which was thus done; ‘‘ they bring him a leather fhoe,. which has a heel, but not fewed with linen (linen thread), and he puts it ori the right foot, and binds the latchet on his foot; and ftands, he and fhe in the court; he fixes his foot on the ground, and fhe fits and ftretcHes out her hand in the court, and loofes the latchet of his fhoe from off his foot, and pulls off his fhoe, and cafts it to the ground?:” this he fuffered to be done to fhew that he gave up his right to her; and he was fo ufed. by way of reproach, to fignify, that he deferved not to be reckoned among freemen, but among fervants and flaves, that went barefooted, having no.fhoes on: and in the myftical fenfe of it, as Ainfworth obferves, it {piritually fignified, that fuch as would not beget children unto Chri, (or preach his gofpel for that purpofe) it fhould be declared of them that their feet are not fhod with the preparation of the gofpel of Chriff, Eph. vi. 15. and {pit in bis face; in a way of contempt, asa token of fhame and difgrace; but the Fews/b writers generally interpret- this in a fofter manner, as if it was.not in his face, but in his prefence, upon the floor, and feen by the judges *: axd fhall an- fide: and putteth forth ber hand, and taketh bim by the fecrets; or privy parts; in Hebrew his Jhameful parts *, which through fhame are hidden, and modefty forbids to expreis in proper terms; and fuch is the purity of the Hebrew language, that no obfcene words. are ufed in it; for which reafon, among others, it is called the holy tongue. This immodeft ation was done partly out’ of affection te her hufband, to oblige his antagonift to let go his hold of him;- and partly out of malice and’ re-’ venge to him, to fpoil him, and make him unfit for generation, and therefore was to be féverely punifhed, as follows.

¥. 12. Chen thou foalt eut off ber hand, Se.) Which was to be done not by the man that ftrove with her hufband, or by any by ftander, but by the civil magiftrate or his order. This feverity was ufed to deter women from fuch an immodeft as well as injurious action, who on fuch an occafion’ are very paffionate and inconfiderate. Our Lord is thought to refer to this law, Maes. v. 30. though the Fewi/h writers interpret this not of aétual cutting off the hand, but of paying a valuable confideration, a price put upon it; fo Farchi;and Aben. Ezra compares it with the law of retaliation, eye

[wer and fay, fo foall it be done unto the man that will for eye; which they commonly underftand of pay- not build up kis brother's houfée 5 that is, in this contemptuous and fhameful manner fhall he’.be ufed.

y. 10. And bis name fhall be called in Ifrael, &c.

Not his particular and perfonal name, but his family; for it feems that not only a mark of infamy was fet upon. him for refufing to marry his brother’s widow, but upon his family alfo: the hou/e of kim that bath his fhoe loofed; which, as Leo of Modena {ays *, was repeated by her three times; and at every time the people with a loud voice anfwer and call him, one that had his fhoe loofed; and then the rvaddin tells the man, that he is at liberty now to marry whom he pleafes; andif he defires. a certificate from them of this fetting free his kinfwoman, they prefently give him one; and fhe alfo had a writing given to her by the judges certifying the fame, that fhe was free alfo to marry another; of which the following is »a fhort form or copy'..‘* In fuch or fuch a feffion (or court) fuch an one, the daughter of fuch an one, plucked off the fhoe of fuch an one, the fon of fuch an one, before us; fhe brought him before us, and the loofed the fhoe of his right foot, and fpit be- ‘fore him fpittle, which was feen by us upon the ground; and faid, So fhall it be done to the man that would not build up his brother’s houfe.’’ A larger form may be feen in Maimonides", as well as a type and copy of the matrimonial contract. From this law an high-prieft was free, Lev. xxi. 14.:and fo a king, according to the Fewyh canon ™ « y. 11. When men ftrive together one with another, &o.] Quarrel with one another, and come to blows, and ftrive for maftery, which. fhall beat, and be the beft man: and the wife of the one drawing a price for the eye, tooth, &e. loft; and who adds, if fhe don’t redeem her hand, (#. @ by a price) it muft be cut off: thine eye fhall not pity her; on account of the tendernefg of her fex, or becaufe of the plaufible excufe that might be made for her action, being done hattily and in a paffion, and out of affection to her hufband;_ but thefe confiderations were to have no place with the magiftrate, who was to order the punifhment inflicted, either in the ftrict literal fenfe, or by paying a fum of money. '

¥. 13. Thou foalt not have in thy bag divers weights, &c.| Or, a ffone and a fione’s it being ufual in thofe times and countries, to have their weights of ftone, as it was formerly with us ‘here; we itill fay, that fuch a commodity is worth fo much per fione, a ftone being of fuch a weight; now thefe were not to be different: @ great and afmell; great weights to buy with them, and fmall weights to fell with them, as the Targum of Fonathan paraphrafes it.

¥. 14. Thou fhalt not have in thine houfe divers megfures, ®c.| Or, anepbab and an ephab, which ~ was one fort of meafure in ufe with the Fews, and held above a buthel; and is put for all others, which fhould be alike, and nota great and a fmall, one to buy with, and another to fell by, as before obferved; which would be to cheat both feller and buyer in their turns; fee Amos viii. 5.

¥. 15. But thou joalt have a perfett and juft weight, a perfect and juft meafure foalt thou have, &c.] That is, full weights, and full meafures; and fuch as are alike, and every where ufed, according to the ftandard of thecountry; fee the note on Lev. xix. 36. that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; long life ebh near for to deliver ber bufband out of the hand of was always reckoned a_bleffing, and is frequently him that fmiteth him, perceiving that his antagonift has more {kill or ftrength, or both, for fighting, and is an over-match for her hufband, who is like to be much bruifed and hurt; wherefore to fave him out of the hands of the fmiters fhe makes up-to them to part them, or take her hnfband’s be that ufe falfe weights and meafures, Pf lv. 23.

promifed to obedience, and particularly long life in. theland of Canaan; which was a moft delightful and fruitful land, and which a man might with to live long in; deceitful men are threatened with not living half their days, and fuch may they: be faid to

* Hittory, uefupray Gigs ae tae Sa

¥.16. For all that do fuch things, &c.] Keep! I different weights and meafures, and make ufe of them to defraud their neighbours in buying and felling: and all that do unrighteoufly 5 what is not juft and right between man and man, in any other inftance whatever: ate an abomination unto the Lord thy God both they and their actions; he is a righteous God, and loves righteoufnefs, and hatesinjuftice of every kind. _ _|God hath given thee y. 18. How he met thee by the way, 8&c.] Not with neceffary provifions, food, and drink, which would have been but a piece of kindnefs and humanity to travellers; but met them fword in hand, in order to ftop their journey, and make them captives, at leaft to harrafs and diftrefs them: amd fmote the bindmoft of them, came upon them ina fly cowardly manner, and attacked their rear: even a/ that were feeble bebind thee; women and children, and fuch men as were weak, fickly, labouring under fome diforder, and fo lagged behind, and could not keep up with the reft; on thefe Amalek firft fell, and began his attack here: when thou waft faint and weary, with travelling, and the more fo for want of water, which was their cafe at Rephtdim, when Amalek came out againft them; which is another aggravation of their unkind ufage of them they were not to forget: and he feared not God; rael, which phoenomenon Amalek might fee, and yet did not fear; and who had done fuch wonders for I/rael in Egypt, and had brought them from thence, and had drowned Pharaoh and his hott in the Red-/ea; of which doubtlefs 4malek had heard, and yet feared not the Lord, who had done fuch ereat things.

¥. 19. Therefore it foall be, when the Lord thy reft from all thine enemies round about, &c.] Not only when they had fubdued the Canaanites, and got poffeffion of their land, but 8.;when they were clear, and free from all their neighbouring nations, Moadites, Midianites, Edomites; Ammonites, and Philiftines; wherefore it may be obferved, that this did not take place, as not immediately after the conqueft of Canaan, fo neither in the times of the judges, when they were harrafled frequently by their neighbours, and not until the times of Saué, the firft king of I/rael: in ¢be land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an isberitance to poffe/s it, the fenfe is, when they of the land given them by the Lord, as an inheritance to be enjoyed by them and theirs; and were at an entire reft from all enemies, and fo had their hands at liberty to employ againlt Amalek: that thou fhalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; that is, utterly deftroy them, fo that there fhould be none left of them any where, to put in mind that there \ever were fuch a people on earth; men; women, children, cattle of all forts, were to be deftroyed, and nothing left that belonged unto them; that it might not be faid this beaft was Amalek’s; as Farchi, and to the fame purpole A4ben Ezra; fee the order for this renewed, and the accomplifhment of it, at leaft in part, 1 Sam. xv. 2, 3, &c. thou fhalt not forget it; neither the unkindnefs of Amalek, nor this order to deftroy him. The Targum of Fonathan adds, ‘< and even in the days of the king Meffiah it fhall not be forgotten.”

¥. 17, Remember what Amalek did unto thee, &c.] The Ainalekites, how they came out againft them, and fought with them at Rephidim, Exod. xvii. by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; which was an aggravation of their cruel and inhuman action, that they not only came out again{t them unprovoked, were the aggreffors, and fell upon them as they were travelling on the road, but when they were juft come out of Hgypt, where they had been in hard bondage, and their fpirits broken, and they not ufed to war; and fo took them at all thefe difadvantages, a people that had not in the leaft injured them: were in the full poffeffion who was then in the pillar of cloud and fire with

HIS chapter treats of the bafket of firftfruits to be. brought and prefented to the * Lord, and the confeffion to be made along with it, y. 1—11. andof the declaration to be made on the third year, the year of ‘tithing, and the prayer annexed to it, ¥. 12—15. and of the covenant made in a folemn manner between God and the people of brought at barley-hatveft iti the time of the paff over, and from the two wave-loaves of wheatenflower, at wheat-harveft, at pentecoft; and from the cake of the firft of their dough; fee Lev. xxiii. 10, 17. Numb. xv. 20, 21. They were of one fort only, thefe of various kinds; though, as Farchi obferves, not all firft-fruits, or the firft of allforts of

Tfrael, ¥.16—19. fruits, were to be brought; for all were not bound {to firft-fruits, but the feven kinds only called here y. 1. And it fhall be, when thou art come in unto the land, &c.\ The land of Canaan, which they were now on the borders of, and juft entering into:| which the Lord thy God giveth thee for aninheri-\ tance; which is often mentioned, to obferve that it was not through their merits, but his gift, that they fhould enjoy the land; and the rather here to enforce the following law concerning the bafket of firft-fruits: evd poffeffe/t it, and dwelleft there in; notonly had entered into it, but got the poffeflion of it, and fettled there, This fhews, as _ archi obferves, that they were not bound to the firft-fruits till they had fubdued the land and divided it; not as foon as they were init.

¥.2. That thou fhalt take of the firft of all the fruit of the earth, &c.] This oblation of firftfruits was different from the fheaf of the firft-fruits the fruit of the earth, and are particularly mentioned in ch, viii. 8. and their manner of obferving, electing, and gathering their firft-fruits, as the ame writer notes, was this; ‘* a man goes into his field, and fees a fig forward, he bindsarufh about it for a fign, and fays, lo, this is firftfruits; and fo, if he fees a bunch of grapes, or a pomegranate, forwarder than the reft, he does the {ame,” as is obferved in the Mifnah*: which thou alt bring of thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; and the Jand being given them, and fucha fruitful one as it was, they needed not to grudge bringing the firft-fruits of it to the Lord. The quantity they were to bring is not fixed; this was \eftto their generofity; but according to tradition, they were to bring the 6oth part; fo fays Maimowides, ‘* the firft-fruits have no meafure (no fixed the wifemen, a man ought to feparate one out of fixty:” and fhalt put it in a bafket, for the more convenient carriage of them, and for the more decént oblation and waving of them together. The rich brought their firft-fruits in bafkets of filver and of gold, the poor in wicker bafkets of willows barked’. The firft fruits of the feven feveral kinds were all put together in one bafket, not into feparate ones, or into as many as there were kinds; but then, as the Jaft mentioned writer obferves*, ‘ they did not bring them mixed, but the barley (was put) beneath, or lowermoft, and the wheat over that; and the olives above that, and the dates over them, and the pomegranates over them, and the figs uppermoft in the veffel; and there was fome one thing which feparated between every kind, as leaves, and the like; and they put about the figs clufters of grapes without:” and thou foalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God Joall chufe to place his name there, which, as the event fhewed, was the city of Yeru/alem; hither from all parts of the country were the firft-fruits to be brought. All which may teach us, that we are to honour God with the firft-fruits of our increafe; that we are to be thankful in every thing, and for every thing we have; and that our mercies fhould be acknowledged publickly in the place of public worfhip; and that all our facrifices of praife fhould be offered in faith, which may be fignified by the bafket in which the firft-fruits were brought, without which we cannot pleafe God; and this being bore on the fhoulder all the while, may denote reverence of God, and a fenfe of former {tate and meafure) from the law; but from the words of pledge and earneftof the refurrestion of his peo to the Spirit of God and his grace, which ar. earneft of glory; and to the firft converts among Jews and Gentiles, in the firft times of the gofpe Ca to Chriftians in general, who are the firftofeae. of, God and of the Jamb, and to their facrifices of praife and thankfulnefs they are to offer up to God through Cérift, which are acceptable to him thro” him; and whereby they glorify him as the author of all their mercies, to whom they are to bring: their beft, and in the firft place; fee 1 Car. xv. 20, 23. Rom. vili. 23. and xi, 16. and xvi. 5. Rev. xiv. 4. Heb. xiii. 15. rer

¥.4. And the prieft fhall take the bafket out of thine hand, &c.] To wave it, as archi fays, put ting his hand under the hand of the owner, and fo waving it; andthis being waved to and fro towards the feveral corners of the earth, was an acknowledgment of the Lord being the proprietor of it: and fet it down before the altar of the Lord thy God, that it might have fome appearance of a facrifice, and be a fit emblem of the fpiritual facrifice of praife, which. is accepted upon the altar Chrifi, which fanctifies every gift.

¥. 5. And thou fhalt [peak and fay before the Lerd thy God, &c.] Speak with a loud voice, lifting up the voice, as Farchi interprets it; or anfwer *, “to the queftion the prieft will afk, faying, What is this thou haft brought? as Aben Ezra remarks; and this being faid in the tabernacle, and before the prieft of the Lord, and as in the prefence of the Lord, is reprefented as faid before him, which is as follows: a Syrian ready to perifh was my father; meaning Yacob, who though born in Canaan, his condition, as this might put the J/raelites in mind of their carrying loads in Egypt.

¥. 3. And thou fhalt go unto the prief that fhall be in thofe days, &c.| Whofe courfe and turn it would be to minifter before the Lord; though, according to the Targum of Fonathan, it was the high prieft they were to apply to on this occafion; and fo Aben Ezra obferves, that this law is obligatory all the time there is an high-prieft, as if it was not binding when there was none, and all depended on him; who in this cafe was typical of Chri/f our high-prieft, to whom we mutt bring, and by him offer up, the facrifice of praife, even the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to God for all his mercies: and fay unto him, what follows, and the bafket of firft-fruits all the while on his fhoulder*, even if aking: J profefs this day; it being done once in a year, and not twice, as archi notes: unto the Lord thy God; directing his fpeech to the prieft: that 1am come into the country which the Lord fware unto our fathers for to give us, and not only come mother was a Syrian, and his grandfather abraham | was of Chaldea a part of Syria; and Facob married two wives in Syria, and all his children were born there but Benjamin, and where he lived twenty years; and fometimes perfons are denominated, as from the place of their birth, fo from the place of their dwelling, as Chri? was called a Nazarene from Nazareth, where he dwelt, -though he was bern at Bethlebem, Matt. ii. 23. and Fether, though an Jjraelite, as Aben Ezra obferves, is called an J/bmaelite, perhaps becaufe he dwelt fome time among that people, 1 Chron. ii. 17. Now Facob might be faid to be ready to. perifh.when he fled for his life fr his brother E/az, and was poor and pennylefs when he came to Laban; fo the laft-mentioned writeri terprets this phrafe; to which may be added, that when in his fervice he was expofed to cold and heat, and had his wages frequently changed, and afterwards when obliged to flee from Laban, was pur- \{ued-by-him with an intention to do him mifchief, had not the Lord prevented him. The reafon of into it, but was in the poffeffion of it, and in the enjoyment of the fruits of it; of which the bafket of firft-fruits he had brought on his fhoulder was atoken. The natural and moral ufe of thefe firft-fruits to the J/raelites, and the bringing of them, was hereby to own and acknowledge that God was the proprietor of the land of Canaan;

to the gift of God, ‘and his goodnefg,. that joyed the land of Canaqu. So every enfib when he brings his facrifice of praife to his mercies, efpecially f{piritual ones, fra that they had it by gift from him, and that they held it of him, the firft-fruits being a fort of quitrent they brought him; and that he was faithful to his oath and _promife he had made to their fathers, and which they profeffed with great humility and thankfulnefs. The typical ufe of them was to. direct to Chrift himfelf, the firft-fruits of them that fleep in him, the firft begotten from the dead, the knowledges his loft perithing condition by of which he is fenfible; and thatin order to nify the riches of the grace of God in his fal toendear Chrift as a faviour the more, a dt humble, and make thankful: and be went di to Egypt; not dire€tly, but fome years former affli€ted circumftances; fo the Jonathan exprefies it, «* after thefe thin