Exposition of the Whole Bible

be: heard, he muft read the laws’ to all;” Jewifh writers commonly: allot this work to. the king, or fupreme governor, who: at leaft was to read fome' parts of it; fo Yarchi fays, “ the king at firft read Deazeronomp, as it is faid in the Mi nab, he read from the beginning of Deuteronomy to ch. vi. 4. bear, O Tfrael, 8c. and then added, ch. xi. 53. then ch. xiv. 22. after that ch. xxvi. 12, then the feétion off the king, ch. xvii. 14. next the bleffings and’ the curfes, ch. xxvii, and ch. xxviii. with which he finifhed the whole feetion;” and: fowe find that Youve, the governor of the people after Mo/és, read all: his laws, ‘fof. viii. 35. and fo did: king Yofeb av the finding of the book of the law;. 2 Kings xxiii... and Ezra, Ned. viii. 3. The king received the book’from the highprieft ftanding, andireadiit fitting; but king Agrippa ftoodandiread,. for which he was praifed. y¥. 15.

fach a folemn pompons manner, made them thejof more obfervable, and raifed the greater attention to them, and tothe importance of them, otherwife they were read: in their families, and on fabbathdays in their fynagogues; fee ch. vi. 7. 47s xiii, but the death being, as every man’s is, fixed by the Lords with whom is the number of his years, monthsy days, and moments, beyond which he cannot pais; 7od xiv. 5. call Fofbua, and prefent yourselves im the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give bim a. charge this looks as if the people had been difmiffed after the above exhortations given; and now ¥ofoua was called, and Mo/es with him, to have a charge given him: and Mofes and Fofbua went and - prefented themfelves in the tabernacle of the congrega~» #o; before the Lord. Abew Ezra fays, Mofes’ 'went from the camp of J/rae/’ where he was, ‘to the camp of the /bekinah;. the Fews pretend to know in what form -they walked thither. Mojes, they fay*, went on the left hand of Fobua; and they went to the tabernacle, and the pillar of cloud deifeended and feparated between them.

And the Lord appeared in the tabernacle iw a- pillar of cloud, &c.] As he was wont to do, fee' Exod. xxxiii. 9. in which cloud there was alufap-tre, a brightnefs, a glory vifible, which fhewed that he was there’: and the pillar of the cloud flood over the door of the tabernacle, it feems to-have ap~ peared’ firft in the tabernacle, and then it came out of it, and ftoodover the door of it, near to which esand Yofbua were: the Targum of Fonathan adds, ‘© Mo/es and Jofbua ftood without;” though the former claufe; according to Noldius*, fhould be over the tabernacle, or above it, where the cloud, was wont to be.

y. 12. Gather the people together, men, and'women, and’ children, &c.) At the three grand feftivals in other years, only males were obliged to. pear; women might if they: would, but they were notbound toit; but at this time all of every age and: {ex: were’ to be fummoned! and’ affembled' together s and it is faid~, when theking read in-the book of tle law, all the people were obliged to|Mo come and‘bring their families, as it is faid Deut. xxxi. 12. gather the people, &c. and as it could not be done when it happened’ on the fabbath-day, the reading of the fection was put off to the day following: and thy jtranger that is within thy gates; not only the profelyte of righteoufnefs, but the profelyte of the gate that renounced idolatry, for his further conviction and thorough converfion to the religion.of the trueGod; or, as the Targum of Jonathan exprefies. it, that they might fee the honour and glory of the law. Theend is more fully exprefledias. follows, tbat they may hear; all'the laws. which God had given: and that they may learn; and‘ attain unto the true knowledge and right underftanding of them: end fear the Lord your God ferve and:worfhip him: internally and externally, according to:thefe laws: and objerve to do all the words of this law; fo take notice of them, as to put them in. practice;

y¥. 16. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Sc.] Out of the pillar of cloud: Sebold, thou fhalt fleep with ¢y fathers, a phrafe expreffive of death, frequently ufed both of good and bad men, which ferves) to render death eafy and familiar, and Jefs formidable; and to affure and lead into an expectation of an awaking outof it, or a refurrection from it; and this people will rife up; in their pofterity; for not till after Fofbua’s death, and the death of the jelders of J/rae/, did they revolt to idolatry, Fo. xxiv. 31. and go a whoring after the gods of the /rangers of the land, whither they go to be among/t them;, that is, after the gods of the Canaanites, who though at this time the inhabitants of the land, and reading them injyet when the children of J/rael became poffefiors it, they were the ftrangers of it; and being fuffered to: continue’ contrary to the direétions God had given to deftroy them, would be a means of drawing them into the worfhip of their idols, exprefled here by going a whoring: after them, or

15. and xv. 24. committing whoredom with them. Idolatry in

¥.13. And that their children which bave not| known any thing, &c.] Of God and’ of his law, and of their duty to God, to:their parents, and the reft’ of their fellow-creatures': may bear and learn to fear the: Lord’ your God hear the law of God, learn the meaning of it, and fo be brought up in the fear, nurture, and’ admonition of the “Lord, and ferve him tlieit creator in the days of their youth: as long as:

go over Fordan to poffe/sit, this being a means continue the fear, fervice; and worfhip of God in their pofterity, and fo of their long continuance in cripture is frequently fignified by fornication and adultery; and as foretold this was the cafe; fee Pf. cvi. 35—39. ond will forfake me; their hufband, departing from his worfhip and’ fervice: and break my covenant which I have made with them # Sizai; and now again in the plains of Moad, and which had the nature of a matrimonial’ contra&t; fee Fer, xxxi. 32: \ ye live in.the land whither ye) y. 17. Then-my anger foall be kindled againft them tolin that day, &c.] As the angerof a man is againft his wife who has treacheroufly departed from him and jealoufy, which is the rage of fuch a man, the land of Canaan, is very cruel; and much more the wrath and

¥.14. dnd the Lord faid unte Mofes, &c.]| anger Either at the fame time, or quickly after;. rather perhaps, the fame day: bebold, thy days approach that thou muft die, which does. not neceffarily imply that he had fome days to live, though but few, but that the time of his death drew nigh, his laft moments were approaching; the time of his of a jealous God, who is a confuming fire = avd I will forfake them;. withdraw his favours from. them, and his protection of them: end I will hide my face from them, take no notice of them in a providential way for good, nor hear their cries, ~ to deliver them from*evil: and they Shall be devoured; by their enemies, or by the fore judgments of

God, by famine, fword, peftiletice, and evil beafts, they and their fubftance: and maxy evils and troubles fall defal them; borh in thei own land, and in other countries, where they would be, and have carried captive: fo that they will fay in that day, are not thefe evils come npon'us, becaufe our God ts not amongft us? of which they would be fenfible by their being expofed to’ their enemies for want of his protection, and by the evils upon them through: his difpleafure, and by their being deprived of the things that came from him; but no intimation is given of their being fenfible of their fins as the tures, and not the creator; than which nothin can be more abfurd and ftupid, as well as wicked beenjand ungrateful: and provoke me; nothing being more provoking to the Lord than idolatry, it Aria king at his very nature, being, and glory: and break ary covenant; now made with them; this being foretold by the Lord, which exactly came ta pa{s in numerous inftances, proves. his precife foregood knowledge of future events, even fuch as depend on the inclinations, difpofitions, and wills of men.

caufe of all this. ¥. 21. And it fall come to pafs when many evils y. 18. I will furely bide my face in that day, &c.] Which is repeated for the certainty of it, and that it might be taken notice of; that he was the fpring and fource of all their good things, their fan and their fhield, who being withdrawn from them, they would be deprived: of every thing that was good, and be liable to all evil, and this he| would do, for all the evils which they foall bave wrought; for all the immoralities they fhould be guilty of, every tranfgreffion of his law, whether of the firft or fecond table, and efpecially idolatry: in that they are turned unto other gods; fhip and fervice of them, which of all evils would be the moft provoking to: God; and the way of {peaking fuggefts, as if all evils were included in idolatry, and f{prang from it, or were committed and troubles are befallen them, &c.} As did inthe times of the judges, in the Badylonifh captivity, and do now in their prefent exile: chat this fong fhall tefify again them as a witne/s; which fo clearly points at their fins, with all their aggravated circumftances, and defcribes fo fully their calamities, diftrefles, and punifhment for them: for it foall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their feed; which fhews that it refpects time to come, their later pofterity, whofe memory of this fong would be rubbed up by the evils that fhould come upon them: for to the wor-jtheir fins; nor is. it forgotten by them to this day, who acknowledge there are fome things in it now fulfilled or fulfilling in them: for I know their imagination which rhey go about even now, or are making; forming and framing within themfelves, with it. A there being a fecret inclination in their minds to y. 19. Now therefore write ye this fong for you.) &e.] Which was now diétated by the Lord, andj given to Mofes and Fofhua to write, which is recorded in'the following chapter: and’ teach it the children of Irael, teach them by it, inftruéting them in the meaning of it: thus it was ufual in antient titnes to write things in verfe, that they might be the more pleafingly attended’ to-and regarded, and be longer retained.in memory; and elpecially this practice was ufed with children, {till is: put it im their mouths;

it by héart, or lay it up'in their memories, and 'repeat it frequently, that it may be familiar to and not be forgotten by them: that this fong may oe awilnels for me againf? the children of Irael;. when in times to come they fhall call to mind how in this fong they were cautioned againft fuchand fins, and what they were’ threatened with fhould befal them onaccount of them, and how all'things have come to pafs exactly as foretold insit; would be a teftimony for God of his goodnefs to them, of his tender care of them, and'concern for them,, in the previous cautions he gave them; and of his foreknowledge of future events; and'ate- {timony againft them for their ingratitude andother idolatry, which were working and contriving chemes to bring it about, and fet it up 3 and'this, God; the fearcher of hearts, knew full well, and that in procefs of tithe this evil imagination would break forth into act, in an open’ and flagrant manner: before Ihave brought thee into the land which I /ware; to their fathers, to give it to thetn for an’ inheritance, as is fuggefted in a preceding verfe.

andj y. 22. Mo/fes therefore wrote this Song the fame oblige them to get day, &c.] The fame day it was dictated to him by divine infpiration; he wrote it, as Fo/epbus fays4, them, ‘© in’ Hexameter verfe, which he’ left in the holy bible’ or book (the pentateuch),. containing, as he adds, a prophecy of things future, according to which all things have been done, and are done; fuch and in’ nothing of ic Has he erred’ from the-truth;”” which is’ a very juft account of it, and worth of obfervation.: and taught it the children of Irael’; which inftruéted them in the meaning of it, directed them to'repeat it frequently, to lay it up in their memories, and often meditate upon it; as being a divine compofition, and of great importance, as'the confideration of it will make appear.

¥. 23. dnd ke gave Fofoua the fon of Nun a

Gris, charge, &c.] It may be a queftion who gave this v.20. For when I fhall. have brought them into the-land which I fware unto their fathers, &c.| To give it to’ them, and put them into the pofléffion of it, even the land of Canaan, often thus defcribed, and as it is by the following character: ¢bat floweth with milk and honey; aboundeth with all good things; fee Exod. iii. 8. and they foall have eaten and filled themfelves, and waxen fat; that is, after they have. for a confiderable time enjoyed the things’ of the land, and they abound’ with them, and increafé im them; and’ have great’ fulnefsof them: them will they turmunto other gods turnj from the Lord’ who: has brought’them into-all this plenty, from thefear, worfhip; and fervice of him, and’ turmto the worthip of idols: and fervetbem; charge, the Lord or Mojes; according to the connexion’ of the words with the preceding, it feems to'be the latter; for the immediate antecedent to the relative 4e is Mo/es, and fo the feptuagint interpreters underftand it; but then they are obliged to read fome following claufes different from the original, as inftead. of / fwear they read the Lord fware 5 and the latt claufe they read, and be fhall be with good thee 5 but Aben Ezra gives the fame fenfe without departing from the common and’ genuine reading, fuppofing that Mos gave the charge in the name, and by the authority of the Lord; his words are, ** he’ gave charge by the commandment of tlie Lord, therefore he faith, which I fware unto them but it’ feems beft to underftand this of the Lord the works of men’s hands, and at moft but crea-

himfelf, ‘fince he ordered Mofes and Fo/bua to prefent themfelves before him, that he might give latter a charge, y. 14. and the language of the following claufes beft agrees with him: and faid, be firong and of a good courage;

y. 7. and I will be with thee, fee the note on y. 8. the Targum of Jonathan is, <* my Word shall be in ¥. zt. were imagining, forming, and framing thejin their minds fomething of the fame kind, from. the time of their coming out of Egypt. unto this. time they were ‘now on the borders of Canaan 5_ fee the notes on this had all along been their character; fee ch. ites, 7; 24. and how much more after my death? When. fee the note onjhe would be no more with them to inftrué and ad-_ vilé them, to caution and reprove them, and to keep them in awe by his authority. long y. 6, 7. for thou foalt bring the children of Ijrael into the land which I fware unto them;

thy help.” ¥. 28. Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, ¥: 24. And it came to pafs when Mofes had made an end of writing the words of this law ina book, &c.] In this book of Deuteronomy, and which concluded the Pentateuch: until they were finifbed; and your officers, &c.| The heads of the tribes, the princes, and all other inferior magiftrates: that - I may fpeak thefe words in their ears not the words of the law, but of the fong which he was”

fome few verfes at the end of,chapter;

all the words of the law, and the whole five books ordered to write, and is recorded in the ae of Mofes, excepting chapter xxxiv. which were added by another hand, Jyouaor Ezra, and call heaven and earth to record againfe them; to bear witnefs of what he delivered to \ them, and to bear witnefs. againft them fhould.

¥.25. That Mofes commanded the Levites, &c.] Thefe were not the common Levites, but the priefts who were alfo Levites, to whom the law was given,

¥.26. Take this book of the law, &c.] Not}making Deuteronomy only, but the whole pentateuch: and put it in the fide of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God not in the ark, for there were nothing there but the two tables of ftone with the ten commands on them, 1 Kings viii. g. but on one fide of it: the Targum of Fonathan fays, it was “< put in a cheft (or box) on the right fide of the ark of the covenant;” which is very. probable. archi obferves, that the wifemen of J/rae/ are divided about it in the Za/mud*; fome of them fay there was a table (or ledge) that ftood out from the ark without, and there it was put; others fay it was puton the fide of the tables of the law within the ark; the former are in the right: that it may be there for a witne[s againft thee; when they fall into idolatry or any other fin, a tranfgreffion of any of they tranfgrefs the laws he gave them; and to bear witnefs that they had been faithfully cautioned, againft tranfgreffing, and had been feverely threaorjtened, and the punifhment plainly ‘pointed out that fhould be inflicted on them in cafe of difobedience, fo that they were left entirely without excufe. on ER

¥. 9. and none but they might touch the ark, go fo.near it as they are bid to do, to put the law on the fide of it; fo Aben Ezra, it follows, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord; as the priefts are {aid to do, y. g. fee the note there; for though in journeying, the Kebashites carried it, yet not until it was covered by the priefts, for they muft not touch it; as thefe muft do when they put law on the fide of it, as they are ordered in the next verfe: /aying; as follows.

y.29. For I know that after my death, &c.} Which was juft at hand, fome time after that, not immediately; this he knew by a fpirit of prothe[phecy, namely, what follows: ye wall utterly corvupt yourfelves,; their ways, works, and manners, and fo themfelves; corrupt the worthip of God by idols, and ferving them, which is the corruption chiefly intended: and turn afide from the way which I have commanded you; from the way of the commandmentsof God, which Mo/es had given them in his name, and in which they were direéted to walk; but, as here foretold, would wander and — {werve from them as they did: and evil will befal you in the /atter days; not only in the times of the judges, and in the time of the Babylonifh captivity, but in their prefent captivity, as they callit; which fhewsthat the following fong has things in it which refpect times at a great diftance, and even the prefent ones, and yet tocome: decaufe ye will do evil 7m the fight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger thro? the work of your bands; their idols, idolatry being the evil chiefly defigned, which is of all things the moft provoking to the Lord. ta the laws therein contained.

¥.27. For I know thy rebellion and thy fliff neck, gregation of Irael, &c.] Not in the hearing of the _

&c.] How rebellious they were again{ft the Lord and his laws, and how unwilling they were,to admit the yoke of his commandments to be put upon them, and fubmit to it; this he had an experience of for forty years paft: ebold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious againft the Lord; murmuring at his providences, fpeaking againft his minifters, breaking his laws, particularly being guilty of idolatry, in making andworthipping the golden calf; and even now, as

IS chapter contains the fong mentioned and referred to in the former, the preface to it, ¥. 41, 2, 3. the character of the divine and illuftrious perfon it chiefly refpects, ¥. 4. the ingratitude of the people of the Fews to him, who were a crooked and perverfe generation, aggravated by his

¥. 30. And Mofes fpake in the ears of all the con-

whole body of the people, and every individual thereof; no man could be able to fpeak to fucha numerous congregation, as that they fhould hear him; but in the hearing of their heads and reprefentatives, the elders of their tribes and officers, ordered to be gathered together for this purpofe, y. 28. the words of this fong until they were ended; which fong is recorded in the following chapter, and reaches from y. 1. to the end of ¥. 43.

having bought, made, and eftablifhed them, ¥. 5,6. and which is further aggravated by various inftances of divine goodnefs to them, firft in pre viding and referving a fuitable country for them, at the time of the divifion of the earth to the fons of — men, with the reafon of it, ¥. 7, 8, g. then by w P pf-me what the Lord did for them in the wildernefs, ¥. 10, 11, 12. after that in the land of Canaan, where they enjoyed plenty of all good things, and in the pofleffion of which they were, when the illuftrious perfon defcribed appeared among them, y. 13, 14. and then the fin of ingratitude to him, before hinted at, is fully expreffed, namely, lightly efteeming the rock of falvation, the Meffiah, ¥. 15. nor could they ftop here, but proceed to more ungodlinefs, fetting up other meffiahs and faviours, which were an abomination to the Lord, y. 16. continuing facrifices when they fhould not, which were therefore reckoned no other than facrifices to dzmons, and efpecially the fetting up of their new idol, their own righteoufnefs, was highly provoking; and by all this, they clearly fhewed they had forgot the rock the Saviour, ¥. 17, 18. wherefore, for the rejection of the Meffiah and the perfecution of his followers, they would be abhorred of God, ¥. 19. who would fhew his refentment by the rejection of them, by the calling of the Gentiles, and by bringing the nation of the Romans upon them, ¥. 20, 21. whereby utter ruin and deftruction in all its fhapes would be brought upon them, y. 22—25. and were it not for the infolence of their adverfaries, would be entirely deftroyed, being fuch a foolifh and unwife people, which appears by not obferving what the enemies of the Meffiah themfelves allow, that there is no rock like him, whom they defpifed, ¥. 26—31. which enemies are defcribed, and the vengeance referved for them pointed out, ¥. 32—35. and the fong clofed with promifes of grace and mercy to the Lord’s people, and wrath and ruin to his and their enemies, on which account all are called upon to rejoice in the latter day, ¥. 36—43. and this fong being delivered by Mojfes, the people of J/rae/ are exhorted ferioufly to attend to it, it being of the utmoft importance to them, ¥. 44—47. and the chapter is concluded with a relation of Mofes being ordered to go up to mount Nevo and die, with the reafon of it, ¥. 48—52.

yr. 1. Give ear, O ye heavens, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.| This fong is prefaced and introduced in a very grand and pompous manner, Calling on the heavens and earth to give attention; by which they themfelves may be meant, by a profopopeia, a figure frequently ufed in fcripture, when things of great moment and importance are fpoken of; and thefe are called upon to hearken, either to rebuke the ftupidity and inattention of men, or to fhew that thefe would fhed or withhold their influences, their good things, according to the obedience or difobedience of J/rael; or be-

Mofes here writes; whofe character he gives; and whofe perfon and office he vindicates again{t the

Jews, whom he accufes and brings a charge of ingratitude againft for rejeCting him, to which our

Lord feems to refer; Fobn v. 45, 46. and prophefies of their rejection, the calling of the Gentiles, the deftruction of the Jews by the Romans, and the miferies they fhould undergo, and yet fhould not be wholly extirpated out of the world, but continue a people, who in the latter days would be converted, return to their own land, and their enemies be deftroyed; which are fome of the principal things in this fong, and which niake it worthy of attention and obfervation.

¥.2. My doftrine fhall drop as the rain, my [peech all diftil as the dew, 8&c.| Which fome, as Aben zra, take to be a prayer or wifh, thatthe doétrine fpoken by him, might fall upon men like rain, and dew on the earth, penetrate into their hearts, and influence them, and produce good effeéts there;

but the words rather feem to be a prophecy of what would be: and by his doéfrine and /peech, which fignifie the fame thing, is meant, not his law, which was fiery, this cooling like rain and dew; that was like a ftorm, this as a gentle rain;

that was terrible, this defireable; that was diftreffing, this refrefhing; this no other than the gospel, the fpeech of God, the doétrine of Chrift, the. doctrine of grace, and mercy through him, and of life and falvation by him: it has its name from a word, which fignifies to receive ‘; for it was received from God by Moj/es, and by the prophets after him, by Chrift himfelf, as mediator, and by the apoftles from him, and is worthy of the accepta- tion of all: this is comparable to rain, becaufe, like that, it comes from heaven, is the gift of God, tarries not for man, but comes without any defert of man, and often without his defire; falls by divine direction in places and on perfons, as the

Lord’s will and pleafure is, and that in great plenty, with a fulnefs of fpiritual bleffings, and precious promifes; and for its effects, it cools the con-

{cience, filled with fiery wrath and indignation, moiftens and foftens the hard heart, like the dry and parched earth, refrefhes and revives the droop- ing {pirit, and makes barren fouls fruitful in grace and good works: and it is like dew, which alfo is’ from heaven, and of God, fell in the night of the, world; and as that falls in a temperate air fo this, when the ftormy difpenfation of the law was over;

and though but a {mall thing in the eyes of the world, is of great influence, the power of God unto falvation, very grateful and delightful, and of great moment and importance; hereby the love and favour of God is diffufed, the bleffings of caufe thefe are durable and lafting, and fo would ever be witnefles for God and againft his people: Gaon, as Aben Ezra obferves, by the heavens, derftands the angels, and by the earth, the men of grace difpenfed, the heavenly manna communicated, and the fpirit and his graces received: and un-jthis, like rain and dew, drops and dijtils filently, not in a noify manner as the law; infenfibly, falling the earth, the inhabitants of both worlds, which is not amifs: and by thefe words of Mo/fes are

_ meant the words of the fong, referred to in the laft verfe of the preceding chapter; here called his words, not becaufe they were of him, but becaufe they were put into his mouth, and about to be exprefied by him, not in his own name, but in the name of the Lord; and not as the words of the law, which came by him, but as the words and doétrines of the gofpel concerning Chrift, of whom! rather it fignifies hairs", and denotes, as our on perfons at an unawares, in great abundance, like the drops of rain and dew,; and effectually, working in all that believe: dew was a fymbol of doétrine with the Egyptians®: this is further illu- {trated: as the fall rain ‘upon the tender herb, and as the foowers upon the grafs; the firft of thofe words for rain, according to Farchi, has the fignification of a ftormy wind, but that feems to contradi€t the gentle dropping and diftilling of its ver~ fion, fion, the fmalnefs of the rain, being as fmall, thin, and light as hairs; and the latter word * has the fignification of millions and thoufands, there being fuch vatt numbers as thofe in a fhower of rain: the sender herb and grafs may denote the multitude of perfons, to whom the gofpel would come, and be made ufeful; and may de(cribe fenfible finners, tende rcon- - {Giences, fuch as are weak in themfelves, with whom it is, the day of fmall things, are new born babes, little children; who are jult fpringing up in grace, as among the grafs, and as willows by the watercourfes: now all this is faid by Mo/es, to recommend his doétrine, as well as what follows.

¥. 3. Bécaufe Iwill publifh the name of the Lord, &c: the ine and earth in his name, as others, but proclaim his name, even the fame thdt was proclaimed before Mojes, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. and this is to be underftood, not of Jehovah the Father, nor of Jehovah the Spirit, but of Jehovah the Son, inhabitants of the earth, efpecially the redeemed from among men, afcribe greatnefs to him, by attributin daily to him all the perfections of the Godhead: and the glory of their falvation: ben Ezra fays, Mofes refers to the heavens and the earth, or refpects them, and compares with this P/. xix. 1.

¥. 4. He is the rock, &c.] That is, Febovab is the rock, whofe name Mos propofed to publith; and our God, to whom the heavens and the earth are called upon to afcribe greatnefs, even Chritt the rock of falvation: here begins the fong; the firft word in it is very emphatical, it has a Jetter in it larger than ufual, to denote the greatnefS of this perfon, and to make it obfervable; he is sbis

Not call on his name, as fome, nor call tolor that rock*, by way of eminence, that rock and ftone of [rael, Facob prophefied of, which was typified by the rock Mofes had fmitten in the wildernefs, and which, no doubt, he knew, as the apoftie Paul did, that it was a type of Chrift, and had taught the J/raelites fo to underftand it; and there- the rock whofe work is perfect, and the rock of falvation, ¥. 4; 15. and not of any particular] name of his, unlefs any of thofe mentioned can be thought to be intended; rather his perfections fore this epithet of a ‘divine perfon would not feem trange to them, and yet is that rock the unbelievin Jews would and did ftumble at, and the rock G {falvation they lightly efteemed and rejected; the and attributes, or his gofpel, called his name, és ix. 15. though his name may fignify no other than himfelf, who is the fum and fubftance of the gofpel, and who in his perfon, office, grace, and falvation, is to be publifhed and proclaimed, openly and publickly, conftantly and faithfully, and his name only; for there is no other under heaven whereby man can be faved: afcribe ye greatne s unto our God; to Chrift, the rock of falvation, who is truly God, our God, God in our nature, God manifeft in the flefh, and who is the great God, and rock of refuge for fenfible finners to fee unto for fhelter and fafety, from the wrath and juftice of God, and from every enemy; the rock the church of God and every believér are built upon, and in which they dwell; and who is the rock of ages that will endure for ever, as the Saviour of- his people and the foundation of their faith and hope: bis work is perfec; not fo much the work of creation or of providence, which are both the works of Chrift, but that of redemption and falyation, in which there is not only a difplay of all the divine our Saviour, and therefore greatnefs is to be afcribed to him: he is great in his perfon and perfections; his works are great, thofe of creation and providence, and particularly of redemption and falvation; he is great in his offices, a great faviour, a great high-prieft, a great prophet, a great king, and the great fhepherd of the fheep:

called upon to give greatnefs to him which is his due, are the heavens and the earth, ¥. 1. both have, literally and figuratively confidered, bore a teftimony to his greatnefs; the heavens, at his birth, a wonderful ftar appeared, directing the wifemen to him; at his death the fun was darkened; at his afcenfion the heavens were opened received him, and ftill retain him; even God in heaven, by a voice from thence, bore witnefs of him as his beloved fon, in whom he was well pleafed; alfo by raifing him from the dead, declaring him to be the fon of God with power, and by exalting him at his right hand as a faviour, and by the effufion of the Spirit on his apoftles, to preach and fpread his gofpel: the angels in heaven bed greatnefs to him, by their worfhip of him when he came into the world,. by the declaration they made of him at his incarnation, and by the teftimony they bore to his refurrection, and by their fubjection to him in all things: the church below, fometimes called heaven, in the book of the Revelation afcribe all honour, glory, and greatnef§ him: the earth, the whole terraqueous globe, it have been difplayed the greatnefs of Chrift, the power and glory of his divinity; in the fea by becoming a calm at his word of command, in the by being rent at his death, and will be in both by delivering up the deadin them, atthe laft day: the perfections, but is compleat. in all its parts; the law is perfectly fulfilled, juftice is fully fatisfied a perfect righteoufnefs is wrought out, a com font pardon is procured, perfect peace is made Peal atonement of fins obtained, and the whole eae is finifhed;.and is fo perfect that nothing is wantin thofe that arelin it, or can be added to it, nor can it be Gre velled or undone again: likewife the work of buildandjing the church on.this rock is carrying on, and will be perfected when all the elect of God all given to Chrift and redeemed by his blood, fhail be Called: by grace and gathered in; when the laft of th chofen ones, and redeemed of the lamb is brou i andjin and laid in the building; when Chrift fhall deli. ver up the kingdom to the father compleat, a on God fhall be all inall,.and his church ad atk. will be in a perfeét ftate to all eternity: for all bis ways are judgment; his ways, which he himfelf ick taken and walked in; his ways of providence a according to the, beft judgment.and higheft wif, dom, and according to, the ftricteft joftice and afcri-jequity; his ways of grace towards the falvation ws his people, andthe building up his church * himfelf, the rock; all the methods he took in Sst nity and. time, were all formed according’ tothe counfel of God, and. planned with.the greateft wifdom, founded in his righteous nature pits ' cording, to covenant-compact with his father. sere tofentered into in the moft. honourable manner Ts, injin which he brought about the falvationso his» people, in_ perfect confiftence with. the jo(tiéetind: holinefs of God, and to the honour of thei and his. rocks holy law: and he has executed all his offices of pi a phet, prieft, and king, aA eae ata of pre teous manner: thé ways which he has p ' his people to walk in, and in which he leads them, are ways of truth, righteoufnefs, and holinefs; fuch proceed to more ungodlinefs, and wax worfe and worfe; gracious fouls, when they fin, are

‘are all his ordinances and commandments: @ God forry for it, repent of it, are melted for it, and of truth; fo Chrift is called, J/. Ixv. 16. fee the note there; or the true God, which alfo is his name, 1 John v. 20. and is fo called in oppofition to fictitious deities, and fuch who are only fo by name or office, but not by nature; whereas he is truly and properly God, as appears from his names and nature, from his perfections, works, and worfhip, afcribed to him: or God the truth', for he is the truth, Fobn xiv. 6. the truth of all types, promifes, and prophecies, which all have their accomplifhment in him; the fum and fubftance of all truths and doétrines, from whom they all come, and in whom they all center: or the God of faith, or faithfulnefs™; the object of faith, and the author and finifher of it; and who is faithful, as the

God-man, and mediator to him that appointed him, being entrufted with all the elect of God, with all promifes and bleffings of grace for them, with a fulnefs of grace to communicate unto them, with the glory of God in their falvation, and with their future and final happinefs; and is faithful in the difcharge of his offices of prophet, prieft, and king: without iniquity; in his nature, in his heart, in his lips, and in his life; nor was ever any committed by him: juft and right is be; juft, both as a divine perfon, and as man and mediator; a lover and doer of righteoufnefs, a worker out of righteoufnefs for his people, and the juftifier of them by it; juft and righteous, as the fervant of God, as king of faints, and judge of the whole world, right or upright, which is the character of a divine perfon, agrees with Chrift, and may denote his fincerity, uprightnefs, and faithfulnefs.

¥. 5. They have corrupted themfelves, &cc.] This and what follows may feem to be the characters of the enemies of Chrift, who lightly efteemed and rejected him, fet in a contraft with him, who were not only corrupt by nature, as all men are, but were men of corrupt minds in their tenets and principles; who corrupted the word of God by their traditions, in the times of Chrift; and were men of corrupt practices themfelves, and corrupters of others: sheir fpot is not the fpot of bis children; of the children of the divine perfon before defcribed; Chrift the rock has children, given him by his father, in whofe adoption he has a concern, and by whofe Spirit they are regenerated: thefe have their /pots; by which are meant fins,

‘and by thofe men are ftained and polluted; fo called in allufion to the fpots of animals, as leopards; or to fpots in faces and garments, through dirt and the like: by nature they are as others, and whilft in an unregenerate eftate, and indeed after converfion; though they are wafhed from their fins by the blood of Chrift, and are juftified by his righteoufnefs, and fo without fpot, yet in themfelves they are not without {pots or’ fins, as their confeffions and complaints, and all experience teftify: but the fpots or fins of wicked men are not like theirs; the children of Chrift fin through infirmity of the flefh, and the force of temptation, but wicked men through the malignity of their hearts, willingly and purpofely; what ood men do of this kind, they hate, take fhame to themfelves on account of it; but unconverted men repent not of their wickednefs, are hardened in it, and glory of it; fee the character of the ews in Chrift’s time, to which this fong’ refers, ‘YFobn vii. 44. though thefe claufes may be ‘rendered to another fenfe, more agreeable to the context, and to the Hebrew accents, as they are by fome; is ¢here any corruption in him? no», that is, is there any corruption in the _illuftrious perfon before defcribed, as without ‘iniquity, juft, and right? no, none at all in his nature divine or human; not in his divine nature, being the incorruptible God; nor in his human nature, which is entirély free from that corruption by fin, common to all that defcend from Adam by natural generation, he being conceived under the power of the Holy Ghoft; nor any in his life and converfation, being perfectly agreeable to the pure and holy law of God; nor any in his doftrines, however they may be charged by ignofant and malicious men, a proof of which follows: or bis. children are their foot?; fo the claufe may be rendered; the fpots of the Yewi/h nation, the moft wicked and vileft among them became his children; not only the loweft and meaneft of them, as to civil and’worldly things, but the more ignorant and the more wicked, even publicans and harlots; thefe, and not the righteous, he came to call and fave, and did receive; thefe were regenerated by his grace, and they believed in him; and to them gave he power to become his children: but then did they remain the wicked perfons they had been? no, they were made new creatures, they were internally fanctified, and lived holy lives ‘and converfations; a clear proof this, that there was no corruption in Chrift, nor in his do¢trine, and that he neither by his tenets nor example encouraged fin, but all the reverfe; wifdom is juftified of her children, Matt. xi. 19. but then the reft, and the far greater part of the Few7/b nation, in his time, have their character truly drawn, as follows: they are a perverfe and crooked generation, men of perverfe and crooked natures, tempers, difpofitions, ways, and works; who walked contrary to the will and law of God, and were indeed contrary to all men, 1The/- ii. 15, 16. this is the very character that is given of them, Matt. xvii. 17. AGS ii. 40. y. 6. Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolifb people and unwife? &c.| This is alfo a proper character of the ews in the times of Chrift, who are often by him called fools, Matt. xxiii. 17, 19. being very ignorant of the fcriptures, and of the prophefies in them refpecting him, fetting up their own traditions on a level ‘with the word of God, or above it; they were ignorant of the law of God, and the meaning of it; of the righteoufnefs of God, of the righteoufnefs of his nature, and of what the law required, as well as of the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and of him as a fpiritual redeemer, and of falvation by him: and a moft egregious inftance of their folly, and of want of wifdom was their ingratitude to him, in difefteeming and re- but what] jeéting him; which is what is here referred to and chriftlefs and gracelefs finners do, they love; faints meant, by ill-requiting him, though not exprefied a yeh 95 pyr, an eft ipfi corruptio?

‘do not continue in fin, but ungodly men do, and non, Cocceius, Van Till, Vivinga.

till ¥. 15. and a moft fad requital of him it was

™ Deus fidei, Vatablus, Cocceius; Deus veritatis five

TONY filii ejus macula eorum, Van Till; filii ejus labes ipforum, Cocceius,;

indeed, that he fliould conic to them, his own, in fo kind and gracious a manner, and yet be rejected by them; that he fhould become man, and yet for that reafon be charged with blafphemy for making himfelf God; horrid ingraticude to infer the one from the other; and becaufe he appeared as a fervant, difowned him as the Son of God; and becaufe he came in the likenefs of finful flefh to take away fin, they traduced him as a finner: is not be thy father that bath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and efablifoed thee? Mofes in order to aggravate this their ingratitude, rehearfes the various inftances of divine goodnefs to them, from the beginning of them as a nation; it was the Lord that was the founder of them as a nation, whofe fon, when fent unto them, was rejected by them; it was he that bought them, or redeemed them from Egyptian bondage, that made or formed them into a body politic, or civil commonwealth, that eftablifhed and fettled them in the land of Canaan: this is expreffed in general terms; particular inftances of the goodnefs of God to them are after enumerated: or if this is.to be underftood of Chritt himfelf, who was rejected by them, it is true of fome among them, in a fpiritual and evangelic fenfe, and fo by a figure, the whole is put for a part, as fometimes the part is for the whole: Chrift the everlafting Father of the world to come, had many children in the Yew nation, for whole fake he became incarnate, and whom he came to feek and to fave; and whom he dought with his precious blood, and whom, by his Spirit and Grace, he made new creatures, the children of God, kings, and priefts unto God; and effablifbed them in the faith of him and upon him, the fure foundation; or whom he fafhioned, beautified, and adorned with his righteoufnefs, and with the graces of his Spirit.

¥.7. Remember the days of old, confider the years of many generations, &c.| That went before the times of Chrift, and the Yews rejection of him, and obferve the inftances of divine goodnefs to them; as in the time of the Maccabees, whom God raifed up as deliverers of them, when oppreffed by the Syrians and others; and in the time of the Ba- of, not by perfonal application to him, but by confulting the writings of Mofes, and obterve wh is there related of him; how he was called out of — Chaldea to go into the land of Caaaanz, his feed was after to inherit; and how he had an exprels grant of that land to his pofterity, and where they might be fhewn and {ce the prophecy delivered to him of their being in Egypt, and coming out from thence; and what he knew of the Meiliah, whofe day he faw, and rejoiced ‘at, now rejected by them his offspring: shy elders, and they will tell thee; not their prefent elders who rejected the Meffiah, but thofe in ages paft; the elders of J raed, who faw the glory of the God of i/rael, and were prefent at the covenant made at Hore, Exod. xxiv. 9, 10. or rather the fons of Neab, by whom the earth was divided, to which the following verfe refers; or the ancient writers, the writers of the {eriptures: Farchi, by father, underftands the prophets, and by e/ders, the wifemen: the Targum of Jonathan is, “* read in the books of the law and *¢ they will teach you, and in the books of the pro- ** phets and they will tell you.” ¥. 8. When the moft high divided ta the nations their inheritance, 8c.) 1n the times of Neab and his fons, in the days of Pe'ezg, who had his name from thence, Gen. x. 25. the moft high, is a wellknown and proper epithet of God; the dividing of the earth to the feveral nations of it, and givin to every one their part and portion to pofiels a inherit, was the work of God; for though it was done by the fons of Noab, yet by the order, appointment, and direction of the moit high, who rules in heaven and in earth, Gen. x. 32. men might not and did not take what they pleafed, or feize on as much as they could, but each had their ~ parcel allotted and portioned out to them, by the — Lord himfelf; fo the Largum of Fonathaa, * when ** by lot the moft high divided the world to the ** people that {prung from the fons of Neab:® when be Jeparated the fons of Adam, one from.an- - other; diftinguifhed by the perfons from whom they defcended, by the tribes and nations to which they belonged, and by the countries they inhabited; for though they defcended from Noab and bylonifo captivity, how they were delivered out of his fons, they were the fons of Adam, the firft man:

it; in the times of David and Solomon, when they enjoyed great profperity; and in the times of the ‘Judges, by whom they were often faved out of the hands of their enemies; and in the times of Mofes and Jofoua, how they were led, by the one out of Egypt and through the wildernefs, and by the other into the land of Canaan; and thus might they be led on higher, to the provifion and refervation of the good land for them in the times of Noah and his fons, which they are referred to in the next verfe: and in all thefe times, days, years, and generations, they might confider what notices were given of the Meffiah, the rock of falvation, rejected by them; not only by the prophets fince the captivity of Babylon and in it; but before it by Laiah and others, and before them by David, and Solomon his fon, by Mojesand by all the prophets, from the beginning of the world; all which would ferve to aggravate their fin in refufing him: archi’s mote on the paflage is, ‘ remember—confider— «© to know what is to come; for it is in his hand ** (or power) to do you good, and caufe you to or rather, ¢he children af men, as the wicked of that generation were called, in diftinGtion from the fons of God, or his people and worthippers; and may have refpect to the feparation of them at Babel, Where their languages were confounded, and they were {cattered about, and fome went into one part of the world, ‘and fome into another, according to the appointment and direction of divine providence; fo the builders of Babel are called, and this was what befel them, Gen. xi. 5, 8, g. which

‘fenfe the above Targum confirms, ‘* when he fepa-

*¢ rated the writings, the languages of the chil- ‘* dren of men in the generation of the divifion:? he fet the bounds of the people, or nations, the feven nations of the land of Canaan; he pitched upon, and fixed the land they fhould inherit, and fettled the bounds of it, how far it fhould reach, eaft, weft, north, and fouth; according to the number of the children of Ifrael; the fenfe is, that fuch a country was meafured out and bounded, as would _ be fufficient to hold the twelve tribes of Jrael,

*s inherit the days of the Meffiah, and the world ** tocome:” afk thy father, and be will foew thee; éither their immediate parents, father for fathers, or fuch as were their feniors, or rather Abraham, their father, is meant; whom they might enquire habit it; and which, in the mean while, Was put. into the hands of Canaan and his eleven fons toe poffefs; not as their proper inheritance, but as tenants at will, until the proper heirs exifted, and were at an age, and of a fufficient number to in- when numerous, and their time was come to in-

Ch, xxxit ¥ 6,10. DEUTERONO MY. 437 herit; in which may be obferved the wife difpofition of divine providence, to put it into the hands of a people curfed of God, fo that to take it from them at any time, could not have any appearance of any injuftice in ic; and their enjoying it fo long as they did was a mercy to them, for fo long they had a reprieve: now here was an early in- {tance of the goodnefs of God to Jrael, that he fhould make fuch an early provifion of the land flowing with milk and honey for them, even before they were in being, yea, before their anceftors, Abrakam, Ifaac, and Faced exifted; as early as the days of Noah; and yet, ungrateful as they were, defpifed and fet at nought, his Son, the rock of falvation, when fent unto them: thus the heavenly inheritance, typified by the land of Canaan, was not only promifed, but prepared, provided, and referved for the fpiritual [/rael of God, the foundation of the world, from all eternity, which is appointed according to their number; there is room enough in it for them all, though) they are many; in it are many manfions for the many fons to be brought to glory.

¥. 10. He found him in a defert land, and in the wate howling wilderne/s, &c.| In this and the two following verfes, inftances-are given of the goodnefs of God to the people of J/rael, when in the wildernefs; by which is meant, either the wildernefs of the land of Egypt, as itisicalled, Ezek. xx. 36. where they were in a moftsmiferable and for-| lorn condition, in which the Lord found them, and out of which he brought them; or rather the defert of Arabia, a wafte place, where no provifions could be had; a howling wildernefs, through the blowing of the winds, the cries of wild creatures, as dragons, owls, oftriches, and the like, asthe Targum of Fonathan, Farebi, and dben Ezra, and the howling of pafiengers loft, or for want of provifions; here the Lord found rhem, and they were as acceptable to him as grapes to a traveller in a wildernefs, Hof: ix. 10. fee the note there: this is an emblem of the world, in which the {piritual [/rael are, when called by grace out of its or of an unregenerate flate, in which they are found, and out of which they are brought: the phrafe fometimes _fignifies fufficing, ‘rr find: ing with every thing fufficient; fee Numb. xi, 22. fo Onkelos renders it here; which is true of the Lord’s dealing with this people; he fupplied them with manna, the corn of heaven; angels food, and with water out of the*rock, and flefh to eat in fulnefs, yea, with raiment as. well as food; with every thing corivenient for them: fo the Lord does for his fpiritual J/rael, feeding them with his word and ordinances, cloathing them with the righteoufnefs of his fon, giving them freth fupplies of grace, and withholding no good thing from them; fo that they have enough, having all things richly to enjoy: be led him about; when he brought the people of J/rael out of Egypt, he did not lead them the neareft way to the land of Canaan, thro’ fecured;'the way of the land of the Philj/fines, but he led before! them about through the way of the wildernefs of and; the Red-/ea; and when they were cdme to the borders of the land, becatfe of their mUrmurings and difobedience, they were ordered back into the wildernefs again; nor were they fuffered to go thro’ the land of Edom when on the confines of it, which Facob) would have been a fhorter way; but they were reafon obliged to go round that land; which was very difcouraging to them, -fee Exod. xiii. 17; 18. Numb. xiv. 25. and xxi. 4. and thus the Lord, though he could if he would, bring his people at once to or, heaven; he could fanctify them at once, as well as jufttify them; he could take them the moment he for though all the world) regenerates them into his kingdom, as the thief on which) the crofs; yet this is not his ufual way: though he his) calls them out from amiong the men of the world; thus) he continues them in it, having fomething for them to do or fuffer for -his name’s fake; he indeed leads them foon into the right and plain way of falvation, and not in a round-about way of duties; yet he leads them in many round-about ways in providence, which are all right, though fometimes rough; they feem at times to be near to heaven, and then they are turned into the world ajagain; nay, the apoftle Pau/ was in heaven, and yet fent into the wildernefs of the Gentiles again, for the good of fouls and the intereft of a redeemer; however they all at laft come fafe to heaven and happinefs: the words may be rendered he /urrounded or compaffed him about, and the rather, fince leading them about feems to be by way of refentment or punifhment, whereas Mofes is enumerating inftances of goodnefs and kindnefs, as this was one; he covered them with the clouds of glory, fo the Targums of Fonathan and Ferufalem, Farchi and Aben Ezra: he protected them with his power and providence, and preferved them from erpents and {corpions, and the wild beafts of the wildernefs, as well as from all their enemies: and the Lord furrounds his fpiritual Jae! with angels, who encamp about them; with himfelf, who is a wall of fire round about them; with his power, in which they are kept as in a garrifon; and with his love, which encompafies them as a fhield: he infruGed him; he taught him the law, as the Targum of Yonathan, fo Farchi and Aben Ezra; or the decalogue, as the Ferufalem Targum, he inftructed him in the knowledge of the true God and his worfhip; in the knowledge of the Meffiah, and of his righteoufnefs, and falvation by him; for he in- {truéted him by his good Spirit, Ned. ix. 20. fo the Lord inftrnéts his fpiritual J/rael, by his Spirit, his minifters, his word and ordinances, = the

¥. 9, For the Lord’s portion is his people, is the lot of bis inberitance.| This is the why the Lord fo early provided a portion or inheritance for the children of J/rael in the land of Canaan; becaule they were his part, his portion, his inheritance, which he chofe by lot for himéelf, allotted to himfelf; whom he chofe to be his fpecial and peculiar people;

is his, he only referved a part for himfelf, he feparated from ail the reft, and confiders as portion and inheritance, fee Pf. xxxiii. 12. the fpiritual Z/rael of God, as they are his people, whom he has chofen, taken into covenant, given to Chrift, and are redeemed and faved by him; they are his part or portion, feparated by diftinguifhing grace from the reft of the world; and are the inheritance of Chrift, who is appointed heir of all things, and is an unalienable inheritance; and is obtained by lot, or rather is meafured out by rod or line;_ by the line of electing grace, by which the church and people of God. are circumfcribed, marked out, and diftinguifhed from others;.and by the line, and rule of the facred fcriptures, which are the meafure and ftandard of faith and prattice, of worfhip and difcipline to them.

knowledge of themfelves, and of himfelf in Chrift, and of Chrift and the way of life by him; and this being joined with the Lord’s leading about his people, may fuggeft that he inftruéts them by adverle’ difpenfations of providence: the word? fignifies, caufing to underitand; and God only can teach and inftruét in fuch fenfe, as to give men an underftanding of the things they are taught and inftructed in: be kept him as the apple of bis eyes in the moft careful and tender manner: the apple of the eye is an aperture in it, which lets in rays of light into the retina or chamber where the images of things are formed; this is wonderfully guarded in nature, for befides the orbit of the eye, which is ftrong and bony, and the eye-lids, which in fleep are clofed, to prevent any thing falling into the eye to difturb it; and the eye-brows, which are fringed with hair to break off the rays of light which fometimes would be too ftrong for it; befides all thefe, there are no lefs than fix tunicks or coats to keep and preferve it: and in like manner did the Lord keep and guard J/rae/, whilft paffing through the wilderneds, from fiery ferpents, feorpions, and the nations, that none might hurt, as Yarchi, and efpecially thus he keeps his piritual

Tjrael, who are parts of himfelf, one with him, near nurfing, and when its young are capable of taking care ot themfelves; or of fome fort of eagles; for

Aslianus * teftifies, that of all animals the eagle is moft affectionate to its young, and moft ftudioufly careful of them; when it fees any one coming to them, it will not fuffer them to go away unpu— nifhed, but will beat them with its wings and tear’ them with its nails: Yarehi thinks this phrafe is’

expreffive of the manner of its incubation on its young; it does not, he fays, lie heavy upon them, but lifts up herfelf, and touches them as if fhe did not toueh them; but it rather fignifies the motion fhe makes with her wings to get her young, when fledged, out of the neft, and to teach them to make ufe of their wings, as fhe does; and we are told that young eagles, when their wings are weak; will fly about their dams and learn of them to fly*; and hence it is’that young eagles whilft they are eating flucter their wings, that motion being fo natural to them, and feeing their dams do fo likewifet: this paflage feems to contradict a notion that has obtained with fome; that: an eagle only breeds one at a time; the philofopher fays ¥, the eagle lays three eggs and cafts. owt two of them; according to the verfe of Mu/feus, it lays three, cafts out two, and brings up one; and fo and dear to him; and about whom he fets guard upon guard, employs all his perfections. to fecure he fays, it commonly is the cafe: but fometimes three young ones are jeen together; and the black them, and conftantly watches over them ‘night and day, and keeps them from all evil and every enemy, and preferves them fafe to his kingdom and, glory.

y. 11. Asan eagle fiirreth up ber neft, &c.| Her young ones in it, to get themout of it: archi fays, the eagle is merciful to its young,. and does not go into its neft fuddenly,'but:firtt makes a noife, and difturbs them with her wings, ftriking them againft a tree or its branches, that fo they being awakened may be fitter to receive her: with refpect to literal Lrael, Egypt was their neft, where they were, who were then in their infant-ftate,: lay like young birds in a neft; and though it was a filthy one, and where they were confined, yet they feemed fometimes as if they did not care to come out of it; until the Lord made: ufe, of means to get them out, by the miniftry of Mofes and Aaron, by fuffering their tafk-mafters to make their bondage heavier, and by judgments’ inflicted on the Egyptians, which made them urgent upon them to depart: with refpect to. fpiritual J/rae/, their neit is a ftate of unregeneracy, in which they are at eafe, and do not care to be awakened and ftirred out of it; but the Lord, in love to them, awakens them, ftirs them up, and gets them out; by fending his minifters to aroufe them, by letting in the law into their confciences, which works a fenfe of wrath, by convincing them by his Spirit of their fin and danger, opening their eyes to fee their wretched and miferable eftate and condition, and by exerting:his almighty power, plucking them as brands out of» the burning: fluttereth over. her young; by that means to’ get them out of the neft, and teach them to fly, as well as to preferve them from the attempts of any to take rhemaway; for though fome writers reprefent the eagle as hardhearted to its young, cafting them out of the neft, when they are taken care of by the offifrage. yet eagles are more kind to their young, and careful in the nourifhment of them; and the fame fays: Pliny” 5 yea, we are told, that fometimes feven are feen in a neft*: /preadeth abroad ber wings, taketh them, beareth them on ber wings, that is, fpreads forth her wings when fhe flutters over her young to inftruct them;. or fhe does this in order to take. up her young and carry them on them: it is faid that eagles fly round their neft, and vary their fights for the inftruction of their young; and afterwards taking them on their backs, they foar with them aloft, in order to ‘try their ftrengthy fhaking them off into the air; and if they perceive them too weak to fuftain themfelves, they with furprizing dexterity fly under them again,:and receive them on their wings-to prevent their fall’; fee the note on Exed. xix. 4. thus the Lord, comparable to this creature, for his -affetion to the people of Tfrael, his care of them, and his ftrength' to bear and carry them, did bear them as on’‘eagles wings, and carried and faved them all the days of old; even Chrift the angel of Jehovah’s prefence, the rock of falvation they rejected, fee Exod. xix. 4. If. \xiii. g. and all this ina fpiritual and evangelic fenfe may be expreflive of the gracious dealings of God with his fpiritual J/raé?; teaching and enabling them to mount up with wings as eagles, to foar aloft in the exercife of faith, hope, and love, entering thereby: within the vail into the holieft of all, and living in the conftant and comfortable expectation of heaven and happinefs; and of the Lord’s taking his people up from the low eftate’in which they are, and raifing them up to near communion with -himfelf, bearing them on his’ heatt, in his hands, and on his arm, fupporting them under all their affli@ions, and carrying them’ through all their troubles and difficulties fafe to ‘eternal glory and happinefs.. risbher'® at ¥. 12. So the Lord alone did lead him, ‘land of Canaan, 6 Megat. * Suidas,

: 8&e.] Out this 4s to be vunderftood of it, when tired with of. Egypt, through the wildernefs to the

Ganaan, going before them ina pillar of fire andj cloud, though this is not to be underftood to the exclufion of the miniftry of Mofes and Aaron, by whom he led them, Pf Ixxvii. 20. it may be interpreted of the people being alone in the wildernefs when led: and there was no firange god with him; with Ifrael,; fo Aben Ezra, no idolatry among them then; to which fenfe are the Targums borious minifters of the word; for its nourifiment; and efpecially for its fweetnefs, its precious promites, and pleafant doétrines: and oil out of the fiiaty rock; that is, oil out of the olives, which grow on rocks, and thefe delight to grow on hills and mountains; hence we read of the mount of olives, fee Fob xxix. 6. and fo the Targum of Fonathan, ** and oil out of the olives and fuckers of Ferufalem and Yonathan; but it may rather fignify that the Lord alone was the leader of his people, and he had no affiftant in that work, and therefore all the glory fhould be given to him: he is the leader of his people, in a fpiritual fenfe, out of a ftate of unregeneracy, which is a ftate of darknefs and bondage; out of the ways of fin and from the paftures of their own righteoufnefs, into an open ftate of grace, which is a ftate of light and liberty; in Chrift the way, and in the paths of faith, truth, holinefs, and righteoufnefs, unto the heavenly glory, typified by the land of Canaan, the bleffings of which are next defcribed: the Fews fay z, this will be in the days of the king Meffiah;

*¢ which grow on the ftrong rocks;” this may fignify the Spirit and his graces, the unétion which comes from Chrift the holy one, and the bleffings. of grace had from him, and the gofpel and its truths; which are cheating and refrefhing, mollifying and healing,»feeding and fattening; pure and unmixed, and uleful for light, as oil is.

¥. 14. Butter of kine, &c.] Made of milk; which kine or cows give; Far¢hi {ays; this is the fat that is gathered on the top of milks he means cream, and which indeed was the butter of the antients and is here meant: milk of /heep, which they give, though not in fuch plenty as the kine, yet what is very wholefome and nourifhing: the phi+ when there will be no abominable thing in Jrae/, lofopher ° obferves; that fheep give more milk in the Lord alone fhall lead him.

proportion to. the bignefs of their bodies than cows:

y. 13. He made him to ride on the high places of the earth, &c.} Or land, the Jand of Canaan; and Pliny * fays, their milk is fweeter and more nourifhing, and the butter made of it is the fatteft:

by which are meant the towers, caftles, and fortified places init, fome of which might be built on hills and mountains; and being made to ride on them, may denote the delivery of them into their hands, their conquefts and poffeffion of them, and triumph in them; fee JA Ivili. 14. fo the Targum of ‘Jonathan paraphrafes it, ** made him to dwell *s in the towers of the land of J/racl,” thofe high walled and ftrongly fenced cities which they dreaded; this may be an emblem of the conqueft believers have of their fpiritual enemies, fin, fatan, and the world, in and through Chrift;, of their fafety and triumph in him, of their high and elevated frames of foul, when they have got above the world: and the things of it; this will be the cafe of fpiritual [/rael in every fenfe in the latter day, when the mountain of the Lord’s houfe fhall be eftablifhed on the top of the mountains: that be might: eat the increafe of the fields; the produce of them, particularly corn for bread, and which the J/raelites eat of as foon as they came into the with fat of lambs, or fat lambs, rich and delicious food: and rams of the breed of Bafhan, and Loats § a fruitful country abounding with pafturage, where rams and goats of the beft fort were fed, and the breed of them was coveted and had in the land of Canaan; the kine of Bafhaw are mentioned elfe: where, Pf. xxii. 12. Amos iv. 1. with the fat of kidneys of wheat, that is the belt wheat, the grains are plump and full; and Aber Ezra oblerves, that a grain of wheat has fome likenefs to a kidney; fee Pf, Ixxxi. 16. and cxlvii. 14. and thou didp drink the pure blood of the grape; wine which comes — from the grape, red wine, pure and unmixed, fee Gen, xl. 12. the land of Canaan was a land of vines, and abounded with good wine, ch. viii. 8. which the J/rae/ites when they came into it, drank of in common, who had only drank water in the wildernefs, and had but little flefh, and lived on manna, and now abounded with plenty of all good things; all which are obferved as inftances of divine goodnefs, and to aggravate their ingratitude

Jand of Canaan, Fofo. v. 11,.12. an emblem of the gofpel, and the truths of it; which are falutary, nourifhing, ftrengthening, reviving, and chearing, and of Chrift the bread of life; which believers by faith eat of, and feed upon and live: and be made him tofuck honey out of the rock; not water out of the rock, as fweet to them as honey, that they had in the wildernefs; but either the honey of bees that made their nefts in rocks, as a fwarm of them jn the carcafé of a lion; and fo in like manner as honey came, out of the lion, it may be faid to be fucked. out of the rock: fo Homer* fpeaks of fwarms of bees out of a hollow rock: or this was the honey of palm-trees, as 4ben Ezra obferves, forne fay, which might grow on rocks, ‘fee the ‘note on ch. viii. 8. and this is favoured by the Targum of Jonathan, which paraphrafes the words, “¢ honey from thofe fruits which grow on the “ rocks,” ‘unlefs it means honey gathered by bees from fuch fruits: the rock may typify Chrift, the honey: out-of it the gofpel, which is from -and concerning him; comparable to honey for the _manner of its production and gatherings by the in rejecting the Meffiah, they then enjoying all thefé good things, the land being alike fertile and affluent then, as appears froth J? vii. 14, 15, 21, 22: Zarchi applies this fruitfulnefs to the times of Solomon, as the butter of kine, and the kidneys of wheat, 1 Kingsiv, 22, 23. and fat of lambs, and the blood of the grape, to the times of the ten tribes, mos vi. 4—6. but this was the conftant didjfertility of the land, and lafted to the times of the Meffiah: now all thefe may be expreffive of the bleflings of grace, and the fpiritual food of the gofpel: safworth very prettily remarks, that here is both food for babes and for grown perfons) butter and milk for the one, and meat for the other, and drink for them both: the plain truths of the gofpel are like butter, foft and eafy to be taken in, and like milk, eafy of digeftion, cooling, nourifhing, fweet, and pleafant; the more fublime truths of the gofpel are meat for {trong men, figand nified by the fleth of fat lambs, rams, and goats, him' which all being ufed in facrifices were typical of Chrift; as alfo the fineft of wheat is an emblem of Ja-'him the bread of life, on whom the peat be-

_ hiever lives by faith; and the drink for both,,the

“which fignifies to behold, to fee, and fo defcribes

- 7 140 DEUTERONOMY. Ch. xxxit.y.15, 16. from him: he is the author of it, and it is to had of him, and no other; and this epithet fhows” not only his ability and ftrength to effect it, but the fecurity of it in him, which being wrought ous is an everlafting one. He is faid to be the rock of isfalvation, Fe/ourun or I/rael, he being of the Jews, railed up among them, and fent unto them, and was the faviour of fome of them adétu even of the loft fheep of the houfe of Jrael, and on account of his falvation deferving of univerfak efteem. But the Hews lightly efteemed him, had no value for him, fet this rock and ftene at nought 5 he was refufed and rejected by the builders, who is now the head of the corner; they defpifed him, mocked at him, and treated him with the utmoft contempt and difdain, yea with abhorrence; all which, and more, is fignified by the word here ufed: they traduced him as a vile and wicked perfon, and charged and treated him as fuch, fo fome render the word‘; and, as others*, they made a dead carcafs of him, they crucified and flew him; this is the crime of ingratitude hinted at in y. 6. and all between is an enumeration of inftances of divine goodnefs to this people, mentioned with a view to aggravate this unheard-of fin.

¥. 16. Lhey provoked him to jealoufy with frange gods, &c.] Or with others; the word gods is not in the text, nor were the Fews guilty of worfhipping ftrange gods or idols in the times of Chrift, nor had they been from the time of their coming out of the Babylonifh captivity; but the word, as Cocceius obferves, is ufed for another, as in Fob xix. 27. and fignifies other faviours, other meffiahs, whomt the Fews fet up when they rejected Chrift, the rock of falvation; and it is obfervable, that before the coming of Chrift, they never attempted to fet up any; but after they had rejected him, were ready to embrace every one that offered, of which one called Bar Cochab, the fon of a ftar, in allufion to Numb, xxiv. 7. is a flagrant inftance; and whom, when they found themielves deceived, they called Bar Cozba, the fon of a lye, ora lying fellow; to whom our Lord may be thought to have refpect, Fobu v. 43. and where he exprefsly calls him another. Now, not only to reject Jefus, the true Meffiah, but to fet up others in his room, falfe chrifts, was highly provoking to God, who is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another: with abominations provoked they him to an+ ger; by advancing the traditions of the elders to an equality with, and above the word of God; and by continuing facrifices, after the great facrifice was Offered up, when they ought to have ceafed; for by continuing them, it was faying Chrift was not come in the flefh, nor his facrifice offered ups it was trampling under foot the Son of God, and treating his blood and facrifice with contempt 5 paft; and the written word of God, by giving heed to the traditions of the elders, to the making Yoid and of none effect the word of God; or]afweethrift, the effential Word of God; fo the Targum which muft be an abomination to God, and highly provoking of his anger, when that facrifice was of melling favour to him; and efpecially what was abominable to him, and grievoufly provoked of Fonathan, * and left. the Word of God, who «< created them;” that Word of God which was in the beginning of all things, and by whom all things were made, and they alfo;

nefs of time was made flefh, and dwelt among men, Fobn i. 1, 25 3, 14% and lightly eftcemed the rock of bis fakeasion; the fame divine perfon, defcribed ¥. 4. and there called the rock, fee the note there; there she rock of falvation, becaufe falvation flows who in the ful-j)deed, whenever any thing is fet up in co with him, or in oppofition to him, be it what it. will, it muft be an abomination to God; becaufe it oppofes his purpofes and refolutions of faving men by Chrift alone, refleéts on his wifdom in the {cheme of falvation, flies in the face of his love, wine the blood of the grape, may fignify the love of Chrift, the gofpel and the truths of it, and the bleffings of grace, which come through the everfafting covenant.

y. 15. But Fefurun waxed fat and kicked, &c.] This is undoubtedly a name of the people of [ rael, it is to be met with only in three places more, 1n ch. xxxiii. 5,26. Jf xliv. 2. it is generally thought to céme from a word‘, which fignifies upright

.and righteous, fuch thefe people ought to have been, and fome among them were; and they generally profefied themfelves, and outwardly appeared to be upright, ju(t and righteous perfons, and were defirous of being reckoned fo; which was their charaéter in the times of Chrift, when they fejected him: others derive it from a word‘, them as feeing ones; and fuch they had been in the times of Mofes, faw extraordinary fights and wonders in Egypt, the great falvation at the Red Sea, the Lord going. before them in a pillar of cloud and fire; the manna every day falling about their tents; twice rocks fmitten, and waters flowing from them, and had often very uncommon fights of the glory of God: and in the times of Chrift, to which this fong refers, they faw him in the flefh, preaching in their fynagogues, doing miracles, riding on an afs to Yerufalem, according to one of their prophecies, and expiring on the crofs, and yet rejected him. They are faid to wax fat, enjoy great outward profperity, to abound in temporal good things, as they alfo did in {piritual privileges; enjoying, or they might have enjoyed, fuch aminiftry of the word, as never was before or fince, the miniftry of Zohn theBaprift, the forerunner of Chrift, of Chrift himfelf, and of this apoftles, yet they kicked; which may denote their difobedience to the laws of God, moral and ceremonial, fee 1 Sam. ii. 29. Neb, ix. 25, 26. and particularly the introduction of idolatry among them, which was kicking againft God, and his worfhip; firft among the ten tribes, in the times of Feroboam, and among the two tribes, more efpecially in the times of Manafeh: and this kicking was particularly vetified in Fudas’s lifting up his heel again t Chrift, and betraying him; which was not merely the fin of him only, but what the whole body of the people were involved in, fee Pf xli.. 9. Ads vii. 52: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatnefs; which is repeated and exprefied by different words, both for the certainty of it, and to denote their great affluence of good things, and fo the more to aggravate their impiety and ingratitude, next obferved: shen be forfook God which made him, the worfhip of God, as the Targum of Fonathan, giving into idolatry in times to the righteoufnefs of Chrift, Rom. x. 3. and in- him to anger and wrath, was their fetting up the idol of their own righteoufnefs, refufing to fubmit — grace and mercy, makes the death of Chrift of none effeét, advances pride in the creature, God the lye, who, fays there is no other Saviour, and is a total flight and neglect of his gofpel 5 all which muft be abominable, and dreadfully provoking tohim; fee //lxv. 5. Luke xvi. 15. fulfilled the voices of the prophets they were ignogivesjrant of in condemning him: hence they were unmindful of his perfon, his offices, his works, his benefits, and the great falvation by him; as indeed too many are that call themfelves chriftians: fome and xviii.Jobferve that the word here ufed fignifies bringing

#. forth children with pain, and fo may refpeét the

¥.17. They facrificed to devils, not to God, 8ec. Their facrifices being continued, when it was will of God they fhould ceafe, were reckoned by him not as offered to him, but to damons, and to fuch that were not Gods they being thereinjaggravation under the inftigation of jatan, and doing his lufts, Fobn viii. 44. jult as Pagans and Papifts, ping idols under the influence and direction of fatan, are faid to worfhip devils, and facrifice to them, 1 Cor. x. 20. Kev. ix. 20, and indeed fetting up their own righteoufnels was facrificing to their own net, and burning incenfe'to their own drag, toan idol, and not to God: to which may be added, that whereas they trampled under the Son of God, and did defpight to the Spirit of grace, by which Chrift caft out devils, and offered himfelf without fpot, they excluded two of the divine perfons in the deity, and fo worfhipped not the true God, Father, Son and Spirit: to geds whom they knew net, to gods that came newly up;| fuch as angels, into the worfhip of which they fell, as their writings teftify', and to which thel apoitle feems to have refpett, Col. ii. 18. whom your fathers feorcd not; paid no regard unto, put ‘truft or cvntidence in; or, as the Targum of Fonatha, “ with whom your fathers had nothing to *« do,” as they had not, with the idol of man’s righteoufnefs, but wholly looked unto and trufted in the grace and righteoufnefs of Chrift, and expected falvation alone by him: the gofpel of righteoufnefs and falvation by Chrift was preached our firft parents in Hden’s garden, which they braced and believed in; Noah was an heir, andjof preacher of the righteoufnefs of faith, that is, of the righteoufnefs of Chrift, received by faith; that righteoufnefs which was what Abraham believed in, was imputed to him for his juftifying righteoufnefs; and Yacob waited for the Meffiah the falvation of God; in fhort all the old-teftament faints were faved by the grace of Chrift, as we are, idols, the works of men’s own righteoufnefs are new deities they paid no deference to, placed |bitter forrows and fufferings of Chrift, fometimes thejexprefied by a word ', which fignifies the pains of womien in childbirth, 4s ii. 24. and called the travail of his foul, J liii. 11. and fo a further of their ingratitude, that they fhould forget him that fuffered fo much, at leaft, on worfhip-jaccount of fome of them; for, thofe he endured to bring forth, children unto God, or to gather together the children of God, fcattered abroad both in Fudea and in the whole world, Fon xi. 51, 52.

y. 19. And when the Lord faw it, &c.] The difregard of the Yews to Chrift, their forgetfulnefs footjof him, their difefteem and rejection of him; theif continuance of facrifices, when the great facrifice was offered ups; their fetting up other meffiahs and faviours, and the idol of their own righteoufnefs in oppofition to the righteoufhefs of Chrift; all which not only as the omnifcient God he faw, but took notice of, and confidered, and did not at once pafs judgment on them, at leaft did not immediately execute it, but waited fome time to fee how they would afterwards behave; for it was nolthirty years or more after the crucifixion of Chrift that the utter deftruction of the Fews came upon them: be abborred them; in his heart, defpifed them, and at laft rejected them with contempt and abhorrence, very righteoufly and in juft retaliation, fee Zech. xi. 8. as for what before obferved, fo for what follows: becaufe of the provoking of bis fons, toland of bis daughters; which is not to be underftood em-jof the Lord, being provoked to wrath, by the fins thofe who called themfelves or were called his fons and daughters; for thefe are fuch who were truly his fons and daughters, and different from thofe in the following verfe, faid to be children in whom is yo faith; thefe are no other than the difciples and followers of Chrift, that believed in him, both men and women, and fo the children of God, thejhis fons and his daughters by fpecial grace; and the provoking of them is the wrath of the enemy nojagainft them, as the fame word is ufed and ren- confidence in. dered in ¥. 27. and fhould be here, Lecaufe of wrath, y. 18. Of the rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, 8¢c.\ The fame with the rock of falvation, ¥. 15. repeated and expreffed in different words, that their wretched ingratitude might be taken notice of and obferved: begetting is afcribed to this rock, as regeneration is to Chrift, 1 2g. and was true of fome among the Jews: fome chufe to render the words, the rock of thy kindred*; being a near kinfman, a brother through his incarnation, which aggravated their nefs of him: and, haft forgotten God that formed thee; for the rock they were unmindful of and forgot is the true God and eternal life, the effential word of God, as both the Zargums of Fonathan and Yeru/alem interpret it; him the Yewi/h nation forgot; they forgot the characters given of him in the promifes and prophecies of the old teftament and therefore knew him not when he came and or indignation againft bis fons and bis daughters»; meaning the affliction, diftrefs, and perfecution of them, through the wrath of the unbelieving Jews; for after the death of Chrift they perfecuted his apoftles, they beat them and caft them into prifon, Fobnii.jand put fome to death; a perfecution was raifed againft the church at Ferufalem, in which Sau/ was concerned, who breathed out threatenings and flaughters againft the difciples of the Lord, and unmindful-jhaled men and women, the fons and daughters of God, and committed them to prifon, and perfecuted them to ftrange cities, and gave his voice to put them to death; and in the Gentile world when the gofpel was carried there, the Fews ftirred up the Gentiles every where againft the followers of Chrift, to harrafs and diftrefs them; and this the, Lord faw, and. he abhorred them for it, and rejected them.

ira in filios fuos, Pagninus; propter iram in filios fuos, Van Till; fo Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. ¢. 36.

them, &c"] ‘Now the Lord proceeds to pafs telde on the Jews for their ill treatment of his Son, and of ‘his followers 5; which refpects judgments bide my face frompnbich is not God, &c., With a falfe meffiah page fen-faftet the death of uF ts the true Meffiab,: well as man, many fa Wd mae “WS:

diéted, and were receive ‘for a time, who mere men, and deceivers; and_ their now vainly that fhould come upon, them, both fpiritual and temporal, ‘or corporal 5 the formet lies in this and expected meffiah, or whom they look for, acct ing to their own fenfe of him, is no other th the’ following” verle; and the latter in y. 22, 23, 24, 25. and this the’ Lord faid in his own heart mere _creature, and not God: or with the i ig their own righteoufnefs; which, as an idol is noth and mind) decreed and determined it within him- thing felf, and’ declared it in his word by his prophets, asjin the world, that is nothing in the bufinefs o i tification, and put in the room of i ich

Here and in other places: and ‘this firft part of the gh fentence denotes the withdrawmeént of the gracious provokes the Lord to jealoufy: they have provok me to anger with their vanities, fuch were their prefence ‘of God, and the manifeftation of his fa- Your from the people of the Jers, his diflike and contempt of them, having taken out from among them the reminant according to the eleétion of gtace, the difciples and followers of Chrifi; and the removal of the gofpel, and the ordinances of from them, the means of light and knowledge. joy. and comfort, and the giving of them up to} lindnefs and. hardnels of heart, which continues this day; they having a ‘vail of darknéfs phbrtabe upon. their hearts whilft reading thejof Books of the old teftament, which will be “done away when they turn to the Lord, and not.before; likewife this was fulfilled when ‘all the fymbols of the divine. préefence were removed, when the temple was deftroyed, and all things in it, or carried away; and this houfe, which was formerly the houfe of God, and where he dwelt;

be, or when it would be; p “but the fenfe i is, either ~ that he would caufe them and others to fee it, when he fhould bring wrath upon them to the uttermoft,; or that he would look upon it with pleafure and light, which would be an ageravation of their pu nifhment, Prov.i. 26. for they are a very froward generation, men of peryerfe fpirits, of a contrary and contradictory temper and difpofition, who pleafed not God,-and were contrary to all men; as well as contradicted and blafphemed the gofpel of Chri, were men of diftorted principles in religion, implicated and inconfiftent, they wrefting the tures to their own deftruction; and were obftinate, ftubborn, and inflexible in their notions and practices, and that to the laft, which was theip-ruin: children in whom is no faith’; for though they had faith in one God, in the {criptures of the old tefta ment as the word of God, in the law of Mo/es.Jin and ina future ftate, the refurrection of the and judgment to come; efpecially the Pharifees, the greater part of the Zews yet though they were the children of Abraham, and would be thought tol be the children of God, they had no faith in Ye the true Mefiah; him they difbelieved and rejected; ‘and as their fathers could not enter into the land of “Canaan, whofe carcafes fell in the wildernefs, of unbelief; fo thefe were caftout of the land, 19}, the Lord, becaufe of their unbelief in the jection of the Mefiah.. Aben Ezra obferves, that it ymay be interpreted. there is no men of nefs, or‘no Faithtal men among them, as in P/. xii. 1, they were a faithlefs generation, covenant-breakers, broke. their conta with God, and falfe chrifts they in vain trufted in, and fi th idol of their own righteoufnefs they fet yp, - could not make to ftand; and fuch were the traditions of their elders, they put upon an equality it with, or above the word of God; all which ftirred uP the wrath and anger of God againft them: and will move them to jealoufy with thofe which are not ¢ people: this is not to be underftood of any parandJticular nation, but of the Gentiles in general, and God’s elect among them, and of the calling of them; which would. be provoking to the Jews, as the apottle Paul has taught us to underftand it, Rom. x. 19. Thefe were not the people of Ged, or not my people, as he fays Rom. ix. 25, 26. 1 Pet. li. 10. I[n fome fenfe indeed they were his people, being chofen by him, and taken into covenant with him; was’ left defolate by for he is God not of the ews only, but of the Gentiles alfo; and thofe were given to Chriff as his people, and are his other theep which were not of the Fewifh fold; and who were redeemed by him to be a peculiar people out of every kindred, tongue, the endjpeople, and nation, all which was before their calling: yet, in another fenfe they weré not his peowhat it fhould ple +; they were without any fpiritual privileges, the word and ordinances, without the knowledgeof God and Chri, without communion with them; they were not a people near unto the Lord, he had de, not laid hold on and formed them for himfelfin regeneration and converfion; they were not reckoned the people of God, nor called fo, ‘and efpecially by the Yews, who accounted themfelves to be the only people of God; fee Eps, ii. 11, 12. 1 will provoke them to anger with a-foolifp nation, either the Ro- ~ mans in particular are meant, fo called becaufe of their grofs idolatry, to which they were addiéted, fcrip- who otherwife in their political affairs were a wife and underftanding people; to thefe Judea became a province, and were fubject to tribute; and by the exactions of the Romans, and their ill ufage of them, they were provoked to rife againft them which iffued in their ruin: or rather, the Gentile general, who might be called foolith becaufe < dead, cheir faperftition ‘and idolatry, ignorance, » and btindnefs in religious matters, and elpecially were ‘o in the account of the ews; and the elect « God among them in particular, who in their ftate us,}of unregeneracy were foolifh, as all unregenerate men are; both their principles and practices were foolifh, and they were the foolifh things of the Gen~ becaufe f/i/e world that God chofe and called: and the calandjling of them was exceedingly provoking to is le re- Jews; which was as if a man moved to jealoufy a! by the behaviour of his. wife, fhould ftrip her of faithful-fher ornaments and jewels, and reject her as | wife; and take another before her eyes of me: }eftate, and marry her, and put her ornaments on thereforejher, to which the allufion is; for the Lord being eo him; and it is. remarkable, that a little before the deftruction of Ferufalem, a voice was heard in the temple, Jet us go hence, as Fofephus relates 7: I will See what their end fhall be; their deftru&tion, called in the new teftament the end of the world; ‘of the Fewife church-ftate and common-wealth: this the Lord faid, not as ignorant.

he rejected them. moved to jealoufy by the co due of the Fewife yogi. They have moved me to jealoufy with that ination towards him, rejected th is | from being his.

e people, and ftripped them of val their privileges,

* This is the arrow of famine, Ezck. v.16, 17. the

“foom of them, and fo ied ih.

civil and religious, and too the Gentailés in, the ‘m5 -retaliation. moved them to jealouly and wra It was difpleafing to the carnal Yews to hea shale propberics of the glling of the ‘Ghats, m. %. 20..and the. firlt!

{play of gra¢e to. them was refented eyen by. be- as if burnt, Lam. v.10. Onkelos paraphrafes, it, “* inflated or fwelled with famine; which is a phrafe Fofephus * makes ufe of in deferibing the famine at the fiegeof Ferufalem. Farchi obferves, that one of their writers * interprets the words airs of bunger, becaufe he fays that a man that is famifhing and pining, his hair grows, and he becomes hairy: this judgment was notorious among the Fews, at the fiege of Ferufalem, and was very fore and dread: ful; fee ch. xxviii. 53, &c. and the notes there - and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter defiruétion; with burning fevers, peftilential ones, with the plague, the arrow of the Lord that flies by day, the peitilence that walks in darknefs, and. the deitruction that waftes at noon-day, P/. xci. 5,6. and which alfo raged at the fiege of Ferufalen, arifing from the {tench of dead bodies which lay in all parts of the city, and is one of the figns of the deftruction of it given by our Lord, Matt: xxiv. 7> 9-1 will alfo fend the teeth of beafts upon them, with the poifon of ferpents of thé duff; another of the arrows in the quiver of the Lord of hofts, or of his four judgments, and which he ufed to threaten the people ef the Fews with in cafe of difobedience, Lev. xxvi. 22. And fuch of the ews who fled to deierts, and caves and dens of the earth for thelter, could not efcape falling into the hands of wild bealts, and of meeting with poifonous ferpents that go upon their bellies, and feed on the duft of the earth; and befides, when Titus had taken Ferufalem, he difpofed of his captives fome one way and fome another; and among the reft, many were caft to the wild beafts in the theatre, as Fofepbus relates“; add to this, that both Rome pagan, and le anger of the feribes and. Pbarifees on this acount is thought by fome to be hinted at in the parable. of the two fons, Luke xv. 2, 27, 28. The Yews were offended with Chri? for eating with publicans, the Xoman.tax-gatherers, and were greatly difpleafed when he told them the kingdom of God wourtd be.taken from them, and given to another nation, Maét. ix, 10, 41. and xxi. 44, 46. Their rage. and envy were very great when the gofpel was. firft preached to the Gentiles, 4Et5 xiii. 41, 44, 45..and thereis fitch an extraordinary inftance oftheir fpite and malice to. the.Gentiles, and of their jealoufy and anger they were moved vaio» as is not to tS parallelled, 1 Zheff. i, 15,; “ 22. For a fire is kindled it mine anger, &c.] Here begins the account of temporal and corporal judgments inflicted on. the Jews for their difbeliet and rejection of the Mefich, their contempt of his gofpel, and ill treatment of his followers; arld this here refpects the deftruction of the land of 7udea in general, and the burning of the city.and temple of ‘feru/alem in particular, as the effect of the wrath and anger of God like fire kindled againft them: and fhall burn unto the loweft bell; which denotes an entire deftruction, like that of the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimflone ¥ and from heaven s which iffued in a fulphurous lake, and which fulphurous matter funk to the bottom) of the dead fea; and to that deftruction is this of the land of jfudea compared, ch. xxix. 23. and foall confume the earth with ber increafe, the udea, with the,cities and towns in it, and buildings on it, and the fruits of the earth; which were ome papal, are called beafts, Rev. xiii. 1, 11. into both whofe hands thie Jews fell, and from whom they have fuffered much 3 with which in part agrees the Targum of Jerufalem, * the teeth of the four land ofj monarchies, which are like to wild beafts, I will fend upon them; and particularly the Targum of ‘fonathan paraphrafes it, ‘* and the Greeks, who either gathered into their barns and ftorehoufes; or were growing in their fields, and vineyards, and olive-yards; all were deftroyed and confumed at or before the deftruction of Ferufalem, or quickly after it: and fet on fire the foundations of the mountains; the city of Ferufalem, as Farchi himfelf interprets it, whofe foundations were by the mountains,, according, to P/. cxxy. 2. and the temple of Ferufalem particularly was built on mount Moriah, and that as well as the city was utterly confumed by fire: and it is remarkable that when Fulian.the apoftate attempted to rebuild it, as is related even by an heathen hiftorian*, that flames of fire burft out from the foundations, and burnt the workmen; fo that he was obliged todefift from his raf underbees I will heap mifchief upon them, &c.] One calamity upon another, which are after particularly mentioned: J will /pend mine arrows upon them, God is here reprefented as an enemy to the Jews, as having bent his bow againft them like an enemy, Lam. ii. 4. and as having a quiver and that full of arrows, and as determined to draw out and {pend every one of them, in taking vengeance upon them; which arrows are his four fore judgments mentioned Ezek. xiv. 21. and expreffed in the following verfes.

& y. 24. They fhall be Burnt with hunger, 8cc.J to have interpreted it of the Romans.

¥. 25. Lhe fword without, &c.] Either without the city, the fword of the Roman army befieging it, which deftroyed all that came out or attempted to goin; or in the ftreets of the city, the {word of the {feditious, which, deftroyed multitudes amon themfelves: and terror within, within the city, on account of the fword of the Romans, and the clofe fiege they made of it; and on account of the famine and peftilence which raged in it, and the cruelty of the feditious perfons among themfelves; all thefe filled the people with horror and terror in their houfes, and even in their bed-chambers, as the word fignifies, they were not free from terrors yea, from the temple, and inward parts, and chambers of that, which may be referred to, terror came, that being in the hands of the feditious; they fallied out from thence, and ravaged the city, and filled all places with the dread of them; and many, no doubt, through fear died, as well as by the fivord and other judgments; which it is threa-

gin, the fuckling alfo, with the man of gray hairs;

none of any age or fex were fpared, even tho un- rmed; not the young man, for his flrength and romifing ufefulnefs; nor the virgin for her beauty and comelinefs; nor the fuckling for its eae!. an

tened, fhall deftroy both the young man and the vir-

force. of which. is fuch that it makes thé fkin black.

bite with their teeth like wild beafts,-I will fend upon them” but it would have been much better ~ rael as one man, that the Egyptians would fay he brought them out of Egypt for mifchief, or that ox.

was not able to bring them into the Jand Sitonaente

{peaking after the rnanner of men, as Aben Ezra obferves, expreffes his fears of the wrath of the enemy; not properly, but it denotes his precaution, provifion, and preparation he made to put a cl upon it, and a ftop to it, that he might rohae the opportunity of inftilling it into the minds of — men, that God was cruel to his people, orhad not ability to fave them from their enemies, or was unfaithful to his promifes; and therefore he did not entirely cut them off, as he could and might have done, but made a referve of them, as a ftanding proof to the contrary: left their adverfaries;

the Romans, who fought againft them, took them, have been done, but was not: moreover, to difperfe them into the feveral parts of the world, does not agree with what follows; for that inftead of making their remembrance to ceafe, would make them the more known, and the more to be bered. But the word literally taken may be ren-| » dered, J will corner them‘; drive them up into a corner, and cut them off together, or fearch for them in, and ferret them out of every corner in which they fhould get, and deftroy them all: agreeable to which is the Targum of Onkelos, «* mine anger fhall reft upon them, and I will them;” and fo ben Ezra interprets it of the deftruction of them, and obferves, that otherwife it would not agree with what follows. There may be an allufion in it tothe corner of the field, which was ordered to be left to the poor, and not reaped, Lev. xix. 9. and fo the fenfe is, I could and might have determined when the harveft of this land and people was come, or the time of wrath upon them, to cut down every corner, andleave none, no not one ftanding ftalk of corn, but make clean riddance of them: J would make the remembrance of them ceafe from among men; as of the Amalekites, Moabites, Midianites, Edomites, Chaldeans, and others, whofe names as well as nations are no more. This is what the enemies of the Yews plotted and confpired to do, Pf. Ixxxiii. 4. and what God could and might have done, but has not; the ‘ews continue to this day a diftinét people, though it is now near 1700 years fince the deftruction of their city and temple, and their difperfion in the feveral parts of the world; which is what was never known of any other people in the like circumftances, and which is a moft amazing and furprizing event; the reafons of it follow.

¥. 27. Were it not that I feared the ora of the enemy, &c.} Satan, the enemy of mankind in general, of the people of God in particular, and) efpecially of the Meffiah, the feed of the woman, and of God himfelf, whom he would dethrone, or at leaft place himfelf on an equality with him; this enemy is full of wrath, enmity, and blafphemy again{ft God, and.ftirs up all of this kind in the hearts of men, and inftigates them to perfeeute the people of God; and does all he can to obfeure the glory of God, and leffens his ownjin grief, as the word fignifies, occafioned by it: now though God has nothing to fear, either from the power and policy of the devil, being infinitely mightier and wifer than he; yet as Mo/es expreffed his concern, if God fhould cut off the people of J and carried them captive: /hould behave themfelves /trangely; alienate the glory of God from him, and give it to their ftrange gods; which the Romans were wont to do when they obtained victories, and ~ remem-jdid do fomething of this kind to Fupiter Capitoinus, when they carried the ews captive, and their trophies in triumph to Rome:. yet there was fuch an apparent hand of God in this affair, that the heathens were obliged to own it. Zitus the conqueror himfelf contefled, that ic was God that favoured him, and that it was he that brought the Fews deftroyjout of the fortreffes and faftneffes in which they — were; and that no hands of men, or machines were any thing againft fuch towers as they had ¢; and when fome neighbouring nations would have crowned him becaufe of his viCtories over the ews, he refufed it, faying, he was unworthy of it, he had not done this of himfelf, but had only lent an hand to God that was angry with them*. Gj- [cero alfo obferves*‘ the hand of God in the conqueft, A) captivity, and fervitude of the Fewi/h nation; moreover, a remnant was preferved to be to the Romans, as the Canaanites were to the I/raelites, thorns in their fides, and pricks in their eyes; to be a burden to them, a dead weight upon them, and to check their ovations and triumphs over them; for, that people conquered gave them great trouble, raifed commotions and infurrections in many places, which obliged the emperors in fucceeding reigns to come from diftant parts, and quell them, and were the occafion of vaft quantities of blood being thed; infomuch that one of their poets * withes Fudea had never been fubdued by them: likewife a number of them was preferved to prevent the growth and fpread of idolatry, and that they might bea ~ ftanding example and caution to Chriftians among the Gentiles not to give into it, when they fhou! obferve what they fuffered on the account of it, as their prophecies, extant in their facred books preferved, abundantly teftified and declared: and Jef they fhould fay, our hand is high, and the Lord bath not done all this; left any one fhould fay among the. Gentiles, as particularly deifts, left they fhould lift y up their hornon high, and fpeak with a ftiff neck and deny that ever any fuch things were done for k this people the fcriptures fpeak of, asthe miracles the land of Egypt, at the Red-/ea, andin the a andj wildernefs; and confidently affirm there never was any fuch people, and defy Chriftians to fhew them a Yew if they could: now here was a referve m of them, to bea ftanding proof of the truth of -|vine revelation againft fuch infidels; as allie