Exposition of the Whole Bible

nations do; but the true fenfe feems to be, that the land that fell to-this tribe, and on which they trod, fhould yield much iron and brafs; mel, @ mountain on the borders of it, brafs taken, as fays Hefychius, and Zidon is by Homer? faid to abound with brafs, which belonged to this tribe; and Sarepta, another city in it, had its name from }¥, which fignifies to melt, from the melting of thefe metals in it, fee Deut. viii. 9. though fome Fewifh writers take the fenfe to be, that the land of Afher was fo ftrongly fortified as if it had been enclofed with walls of brafs and iron, or the gates of its cities were fhut up with bolts bars of iron and brafs, as archi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech obferve 5 fo the Aradic: and as thy day fo fhall shy frength be;

youth; which is the fenfe of the Latin Vulgate verfion, and all the Zargums, fuch were the vigour and ftrength of Mofes himfelf, ch. xxxiv. 7. fo may denote a renewal of youth, like that of eagles; and in a fpiritual fenfe, a revival of the graces of the Spirit of God, as to the exercife of them, and an increafe of fpiritual ftrength, fo that the inward man is renewed day by day; and may and where they ate fafe from avenging juttice, the wrath of God, the condemnation of the law, everas in Car-jlafting ruin and deftruétion, or the fecond death 3 wasjor their manjfion, or dwelling place*; which he has been in all generations, as Moj/és alfo fays, Pf xc. 1, 2. Such is Cérift to his people, who dwelt fecretly inhim from everlafting, being chofen in him, and given to him; and openly in converfion, where they dwell as ina {trong hold, fafely, quietly, comfortably, and pleafantly: and underneath are thé everlafting arms; that is, of God, which are the {upport of his people, and their protection, fafety, and and fecurity; fuch as the arms of his everlafting love, which encircle them, and compafs them about asa fhield; his everlafting covenant, which the fame in old age, asinjis immoveable, and in which they ever remain 5 eternal redemption and falvation,; wrought out by Chriz, which fecures them from deftruction; and andleverlafting power, by which they are kept and pre~ ferved as in a garrifon; and everlafting confolation, which flows from all this: and fo the arms of Chriff, or his almighty power, are under the world, to uphold it in being; and under his church, to fupport it, on whofe fhoulders the government of alfo denote fuch 4 meafure of ftrength given, as is proportioned to the events that daily befal, or to the fervices and fufferings men are called unto; fee 1 Cor. x. 13..-2 Cor. iv. 16. and xii. 9, 10.

yx. 26. There is none like unto the God of Fefurun, &c.] Or J/rael, as all the three Targums; for this is one of the names of the people of J/rae/; fee itis; and under particular believers, whom he carries in his arms, embraces in his bofom, bears them up under all their afflictions and temptations, trials and exercifes; nor will he ever fuffer them to drop out of his arms, or to be plucked from thence: and be foall thruft out the enemy from before thee; the Canaanites out of the land of Canaan, to make the note on ch. xxxii. 15. and the Lord was their God in. a fpecial fenfe, having chofen, redeemed them, and made a covenant with them; and there is no God like him for the perfections of his nature, his purity and holinefs, his goodnefs, wifdom, room for J/rae/, which he was juft about to do, and quickly did. In like manner, Cérift. thrufts out Satan and the {piritual enemies of his people, whom to difpoffefs is a work of mighty power; and not only fo, but gives orders to deftroy them, and power, works of nature, providence, and grace, done by him; and for the bleffings of goodnefs, temporal and fpiritual, he beftows on men. ing particularly bleffed, the whole body of the people are pronounced happy, is enlarged on in this and the following verfes: who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in bis excellency on the fky; which he has the fovereign rule and difpofal of, andcanand does difpofe of all the artillery therein, as illuftrious proofs of his glory and excellency, and for the help of his people, and the deftruction of their enemies; as when he fent forth hail, thunderings, and lightenings, upon the Egyptians, and frightened them;.and caft down hail-ftones upon the Canaanites, and flew many of them; and when the ftars in their courfe fought againit Siera; fee Pf. Ixviii. 4, 33, ay. 27. The eternal God is thy refuge, &c.] God iseternal, from everlafting to everlafting; the antient of days, before all things, and all time; which is, and was, and is to come: the fame is true of Chrift, who is the everlafting Father, or Father of eternity, the true God, and eternal life; as appears from his nature, having the whole fulnefs, all the perfections of deity in him; from his office, as mediator, in which he was fet up from everlafting; from his concern in eternal election, in the everlafting covenant, all things out of nothing: his people, the whom finners, faithfulnefs, 8c. and for the wonderful|does deftroy them, and makes his people more than conquerors over them: and fhall fay, deftroy them; the Canaanites; to do which the people of Jrael

¥. 28. Lrael then fhall dwell in fafety alone, &c. and whofe happinefs|The Canaanites being thruft

Jfrael put into the poffeffion of it, fhould dwell in fafety, or confidently’, without fear of enemies, though furrounded with them on all hands; and though alone, a feparate people, diftin& from all others their neighbours round about them; fee Numb, xxiii. 9. So the fpiritual J/rae/ dwell in the eternal God, their manfion, or dwelling-place; in Chrift, their rock; and ina ftrong city, the church, where they are in the utmoft fafety. God is all around them; Cérift is their refuge, {trong-hold, and tower; the holy Spirit in the midft of them is mighty; angels are their guardians, and the church their ftrong city, whofe walls and bulwarks are falvation: here they dwell confidently and fecurely; though they have fometimes their fears, they have no juft reafon for them; and when faith is in exercife, are free from them, cafting all their care on the Lord, and having confidence in him; where they are alone, not folitary; all the three divine perfons dwell with them, and alfo angels and faints their fellow-citizens; but independent of others, having large provifions in Chri/?, in the covenant, and in the houfe of God; and are a feparate and diand in the creation of|ftiné& people now, and will be to alleternity; fee and he is the refuge of|the note on Numb. xxiii. 9. the fountain of Facob antitype of the cities of refuge, to|fhall be upon a Jand of corn and wine; that is, the under a fenfe of fin, flee for refuge;| J/raelites that {pring from Facod, as ftreams of ter froma fountain; fee J/. xlviii. 1. thefe fhall be or dwell upon the land of Canaan, a land abounding with corn and wine, and all good things, ch. viii. 7, 8,9. or iz or by the fountain of Facob™ x in a.well-watered land, there they fhould dwell. So the fpiritual J/rae/ of God dwell in and by Céri f, the fountain of gardens, the well of living waters, of life and falvation, in whom ail fulnefs of grace dwells for their fupply: or the eye: of Facob" is or fhall be on a land, &c. that is, the J/raelites had their eye on the good land of Canaan, and would quickly not only be in fight, but in poffeffion of it. Every true J/raelite has a {piritual eye, which is the eye of faith, the evidence of things not feen, which looks to and upon that better country, the land afar off, heaven andeternal bleffings; and in the faith, hope, and view of eter-. nal happinefs: who is like unto thee? for an intereft in the favour of God, fora fhare in the blef-— fings of goodnefs, for a good God, a good land, and. good laws; for wifdom and knowledge, for riches and honour, for holinefs and happinefs: @ people faved by the Lord, redeemed by. him out of Egypt, preferved in the wildernefs; faved from many dangers and enemies, and now brought near to the land of Canaan. The Targum of Fonathan. is, ‘* faved or redeemed in the name of the Word of the Lord;” by whom the fpiritual I/rael of God are redeemed from.-al] their fins, from the curfes ofthe law, andout of the hand of all their enemies; and. are and will be compleatly faved in foul and body, with an everlafting falvation: the happinefs, and expects and waits for the full enjoy- /hield of thy belp; that is, the Lord, by whom they ment of it: alfo his heavens fhall drop down dew;

the heavens over the land of Canaan fhould-drop } are faved; he is the fhield that proteéts them; the fhield of faith and of falvation, which faith lays down dew upon it, and make it fruitful to bring Mhold on and makes ufe of for its defence, and forth corn and wine, -which was ‘facod’s bleffing, Gen. xxvii. 28. ‘Thus the Lord in the heavens drops down the dew of grace, and the bleffings of it, upon his people, which.make them revive as the corh; and grow as the vine; and Chri/t’s heavenly. minifters drop the dew of gofpel-doctrine upon them, to the great refrefhment of them, ch. xxxil. 3. Sof. xiv. 5, 6, 7. _¥. 29. Happy art thou, O Ifrael, &c.) This is the conclufion of the blefling on J/rae/ fammed up in afew words; they having God to be their God, and having’ fo many good things promifed them, and.in fight of them; being now got through the wildernefs, and on the borders of the land of Canaan;-as allfuch mutt be happy, »whofe covenant- God is the Lord; fince they muft be beloved of him, chofen by him, and bleffed with all fpiritual

= to the top of Pi/gab, where he was fhewn the whole land of Canaan, y. 1—4. of his death, burial, and age, ¥. 5, 6, 7. of J/rae/’s mourning for him, and the time of it, y. 8. of his fucceflor Fo hua,

Yweg. and of the character of Mo/es, to whom no prophet was to be comparéd, y¥. 10—12.

ys 1. And Mofes went up from the plains of

who is the help of his people in all times of trouble: and who is the fword of thy excellency; to deftroy their enemies, and whereby they would be raifed to. that excellency and glory they were in the land of Canaan: and thine enemies foall be found lars unto thee; who threatened what they would do unto them, but were not able; or,/ball lie. unto thee °, be in fuch dread and fear as to tell lies to fave themfelves, and pretend to be what they were not, as the Gibeonites did, of whom archi interprets this paflage: and thou fhalt tread upon their high places; be poffeffed of their cities and fortreffes, built on an eminence; fee ch. xxxii. 13. all the three Zargums, and fo Farchi, interpret it, of treading on the necks of their kings, which was fulfilled, Fo, x. 24.

HIS chapter informs us of Mofes going up,fhewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan; the

Word of the Lord, as the Yargum of Fonathan, who appeared to him in the bufh,: fent him to Egypt, wrought miracles by him there, led him and the people of J/rael through the Red-/ea and wildernefs, and brought them to the place where they now were; and though the eye of Mo/es was not become dim, as was ufual at fuch an age he was of, yet it can hardly be thought it fhould be

Moab, &c.] Where the J/raelites had lain encamped for fome timey and where Mofes had repeated to them the law, and all that is contained in this book of Deuteronomy, and after he had read to them the fong in ch. 32. and had blefled the feveral. tribes, as in the preceding chapter: at the command of God he went up from hence, wmto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pifgab, that is over-againft Fericho; Nebo was one of the mountains of Avarim, which formed a ridge of them, and Pi/gab was the higheft point of Nedo, and this was over-again{t Fericho on the other fide Fordan, fee ch. xxxili. 49. hither Mo/es went, to the top of this, high mountain, for aught appears, without any fupport or help, his natural force not being abated, though 120 years old; and hither he feems to have gone alone, though Fo/ephus? and the Samaritan chronicle +fay, Lleazer, Fofbua, and the elders of Jrael accompanied him: and the Lord fo ftrong as to take, a diftinét view of the whole land of Canaan, to the utmoft borders of it: no doubt but his natural fight was wonderfully ftrengthened and increafed by the Lord, by whom he was directed firft to behold the land of Gilead — on that fide of Yordan where he was, and which was the poffeffion of the two tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manaffh; and then he was directed to look forward to the land of Ca- #aan beyond Jordan, to the northern part. of it; for Daz is not the tribe of Dan, but.a city of that name, formerly Le/hem, which the Danites took, and lay the fartheft north of the land, hence the phrafe from Dam to Beerfbeba, fee Fob. xix, 47. this city is fo called by anticipation: 4ben Ezra thinks Fo/oua wrote this verfe. 2, a fpirit of prophecy; and it is very likely the whole chapter was written by him, and not the eight laft verfes only, — as fay the Fewifh writers: this view Mo/es had of

the good land a little, before ‘his death, may be; an emblem of that ‘fight, believers have by faith, of the heavenly glory, and which fometimes is the cleareft when near to death; this fight they have not in the plains of AMoad, in the low eltate of nature, but in an exalted ftate of grace, upon and from off the rock of Chrift, in the mountain of the church of God, the word and ordinances being often the means of it; it is a fight by faith, and is of the Lord, which he gives, ftrengthens, increafes, and fometimes grants more fully a little Word of the Lord, as. the Fera/alem Targum, has ving fhewn him all the land of Canaan:, this is the /aad which I fware unto Abrabam, unto Ifaac, and unto Facob, faying, I will give it unto thy feed; to dbraham, Gen. xv. 18. to Ifaac, Gen. xxvi. 3, to Facob, Gen. xxviii. 13. I bave caufed thee to fee it with thine eyes; not only had indulged him with a general view of it, but had ftrengthened his eyes fight, that he had a full, clear, and diftin& fight andjof it: det thou /halt not go over thither; which he had faid more than once before, and abides by it, before death.’.. and this becaufe of the behaviour of Mo/es at the

¥. 2. And.all Naphtali, &c.] Which lay in}waters the northern part of the Jand, and where was Galilee of the Gentiles, and fo he had a fight of all that country moft frequented by the Meffiah when come, fee Matt, iv. 13, 14,15. and the land of Epbrain and Manaffeh, which lay in the midland part of the country: aud all the land of Fudab; which lay to the fouth: wato, the utmoft fea; the Mediterranean ea, which was the weftern boundary of the land, called the hinder fea, Zech. xiv. 8. and might as well be fo rendered here, for the fame word is ufed: Farchi would have it read, not hinder fea, but the latter day; for, he fays, the Lord fhewed to Mofes all that fhould happen to J rael until the refurrection of the dead; and fo the Largum of Fonathan paraphrafes the above paflages, and obferves that the Lord fhewed Mo/es the mighty deeds of Fephtha of Gilead, and the victories of Samfon, who was of the tribe of Daz; the idolatries of that tribe, and Sam/on the faviour that fhould fpring from them; Dedorab and Barak and the princes of the houle of Naphtali, Fofbua the fon of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, that fhould fight with and flay the kings of Canaan; and Gideon the fon of Foajb, of the tribe of Manaffeb, that fhould fight with Midian and Amalek, and the kings of J/rae/, and the kingdom of the houfe of Fudah, the king of the fouth, that fhould join the king of the north to deftroy the inhabitants of the earth; and even the deftruction of Armillus or antichrift, and the war of Gog and Magog, and the great affliClion Michael fhall fave from.

¥. 3. And the fouth, &c.] The fouthern part of the land, even all of it; and having fhewn him that, he is direéted eaftward to take.a view of the plain of the valley of Fericho, which lay before him, a delightful plain; fee Fob. v. 10. the city of palm-trees; fo Fericho was called, becaufe of the multitude of palm-trees which grew there, and which Yo/epbus not only teftifies', who fpeaks of it as a plain planted with palm-trees, and from whence comes; but feveral heathen writers: Pliny fays*, Fericho was fet with palm-trees; Diodorus Siculus ‘ fpeaks of the country about Yericho as abounding with palm-trees, and ina certain valley, meaning the vale or plains of ericho, is produced which is called balfam; fo Strabo fays", Fericho is a plain furrounded with mountains abounding with palm-trees, where there is a plantation of palmtrees, with other fruit-trees the fpace of a hundred furlongs: auto Zoar; near the falt fea; fee of Meribab, Numb, xx. 12. fee Deut. iii, 25, 26, 27.

¥. 5. So Mojfes the fervant of the Lord died there, in the land of Moab, &c.] Which formerly belonged to Moab, and was taken from them by Si+ 4on king of the Amorites, and now in the poffeffion of Ifrael: here on a mountain in this land Mo/es died; and yet contrary to the exprefs words of this text, fome ¥ewi/b writers affirm™, that hedied not, /but was tranflated to heaven, where he minifters; yea, that he was an angel and could not die: but it thejis clear he did die, even though a fervant of the Lord, as he was, and a faithful one; but fuch die -|as well as others, Zech. i. 5. there is a faying of /fome * Jews, ‘* Mo/es died, and who fhall not die?” n0 man can promife himfelf immortality here, when fuch great and good men die: the Targum of Yonathan fays, he died on the feventh of Adar or February, on which day he was born; and it is the general opinion of the Few writers’, that he died on the feventh of that month, in the middle of the day, and that it was a fabbath-day: though, as Aben Ezra obferves*, fome fay he died on the firft of Adar; and Fo/ephus* is exprefs for it, that it was at the new moon, or firft day of the months alljand with this agrees the calculation of bifhop Uher.”: according to the word of the Lord; according'to the prophecy of the Lord, and according to a command of his, that he fhould go up to the above- {aid mountain and die, Numb, xxvii. 12, 13. Deut.. xxxii. 49, 50. or, as the Targum of Ferufalem, according to the decree of the Lord; as the death of every man is, both with refpect to time and place, and manner of it: it is appointed for men once to die, Heb. ix. 27. becaufe it is in the original text, according to the mouth of the Lord‘; hence fome Fewifh writers, as Farchi particularly, interpret it, of his dying by a kifs of his mouth, with ftrong expreffions and intimations of his love to him, Cawf. i. 2. and no doubt but he did die fatisfied balfamjof the love of God to him, enjoying his prefence, and having faith and hope of everlafting life and falvation; but the true fenfe is, he died according to the will of God, not of any difeafe, or thro” the infirmities of age, but by the immediate order thatjand call of God out of this life. y: 6. And be buried him, &c.] Aben Ezra fays, he buried himfelf, going into a cave on the top of the mount, where he expired, and fo where he died his grave was; but though he died on the mount, he was buried in a valley: archi and fo

Gen. xix, 22. other Fewi/h writers * fay, the Lord buried him; it w. 4. And the Lord faid unto him, &c.] The may be by the miniftry of angels: an Arabic wri-

in the ‘plains of Moab 30 days, &c.]) ‘According both to Fo/epbus ® and the Samaritan chronicle*, ~ they cried and wept in a very vehement manner; when‘ he fignified to them his approaching death, and took his leave of them; and when he was dead they mourned for him in a public manner, the fpace’ of time here mentioned, the time of mourning for his brother Aaron, Numb, xx. 29. 0 the days of weeping and mourning for Mofes were ended; on the eighth of Nifen or March, as fays the Targum of Fonathan, and on the ninth they prepared their veffels and their cattle for a march, and on the tenth.paffed over Yordan, and on the wteenth'the manna ceafed, according to the faid paraphrafe.. ¥. 9. And Fofoua the fon of Nun was full of the Jpivit of wifdom, &c.} The fucceffor of Mofes, and who by the. fpirit of wifdom on him, was abundantly qualified for the government of the people of //rae/, in which he was a type of Chrift, on whom the Spirit of wifdom and underftanding is faid to reft, Jf xi. 2. for Mofes had laid bis hands’ upon him; which was a fymbol of the government being committed to him, and devolving upon him after his death, and expreffive of prayer tor him, that he might be fitted for it, of which aétion fee Numb. xxvii. 23. and the children of Ifrael bearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Mojfes; or by the hand of Mofes; they’ received’ him and owned him as their fupreme governor un=" der God, and yielded a chearful obedience to his commands, as the Lord by Mofes commanded’ them to do, and as they promifed; fee Fo. i. 16, 17, 18. 2" y¥. 10, And there arofe not a prophet fince in Ifrael like unto Mofes, &c.} Not in the times of Fofoua, who wrote this’ chapter, at leaft the laft eight verfes, as fay the Fews°s nor to the times of’ Samuel, whom others take to be the writer of them; nor to the times of Ezra, as others; nor even throughout the whole old teitament-difpenfation to the times of Chrift, the great prophet, like’ - to Mofes, that was to arife; and the Meffiah is by the Fews, owned, as by Maimonides *, to be equal to him, and by others, to be above him: it isa well-known faying of theirs*, that ‘* the Meffiah “¢ -fhall be exalted above Abraham, and extolled *¢ above Mo/es, and made higher than the mini- *¢ ftring angels;” but as to all other prophets he excels them, and therefore they call him the prince, mafter, and father of the prophets, and fay, that all prophefied from the fountain of his prophecy *: the difference between him and them is obferved by Maimonides*, to lie in many things; as that they prophefied by a dream or vifion, but he awake and feeing; they prophefied by the means of an angel, and faw what they did in parables and dark fayings; but Mofes not by means of an angel, but the Lord fpake to him face to face; they trembled and aftonifhed, but not fo Mofées; they could not prophefy when they would, buthe at any time, nor -did he need to difpofe and prepare his mind for it; fome of which will not hold good, efpecially the laft; the inftances in which he real exceeded them follow: whom the Lord knew face ter fays4, -he was buried by angels: it is very probable he was buried by Michael, and who is no other than the archangel or head of principalities and powers, our Lord Jefus Chrift, ‘fora reafon that will be hereafter fuggefted, fee Fud. y. 9. in a valley in the land of Moab over-againft Baal- Peor; where {tood a temple dedicated) to’ the ido

Peor, fee ch. iii. 29. but no man knoweth of bis fepulcbre unto this day, to the time'when Fofbua wrote this; or as others think Samuel: if Mo fes is the fame with the Ofris of the Egyptians, ‘as fome think’ ©, it may be obferved, that his teh is faid to be'unknown to the Lgyptians, as Diodorus Siculus* and Strabo® both affirm, and the grave of Mofes is unknowa, even ‘unto this our day; for though no longer ago than in the year 1655. in the month’of Ofober, it’ was pretended to ‘be found by fome Maronite fhepherds on mount Nebo, with this infeription on it in Hebrew letters, Mofes the fervant of the lord; but this ftory was ¢onfuted by Fecomas a learned Few, who proved it to’ be the grave of another Mofés *, whom Wagenfeil conjectures, was Mo/es Maimonides’; but fome think the whole {tory is an impofition: the reafon'why the grave of Mofes was kept a fecret, was, as Ben Ger; fom faugeetts, left becaufe of his miracles, fucceeding generations fhould make a god of him and worfhip him, as it feems a fort of hereticks called Melchifedecians did *: the death and burial of Mo es were-an emblem of the weaknefs and infufficiency of the law of Mo/es,: and the works of it, to bring any into the heavenly Canaan; and of the law being dead, and believers dead to that through the body of Chrift, and of the entire abrogation and abolition of it by Chrift, according’ to the will of God,.as a covenant of works, as'to the curfe and condemnation of it, and juftification by it; who is Michael the archangel, and is the end of the law for righteoufnefs; he abolifhed it in ‘his flefh, nailed it to his crofs, carried it to his grave and left it there; the rites and ceremonies of it’ are to be no more received, nor is it to be fought after for righteoufnefs and life, being dead and buried, Rom. vil. 6.

y. 7. And Mofes was 120 years old when be died, &c.] Which age of his may be divided into three equal periods, forty years in Pharacb’s court, forty years in Midian, and forty in the care and government of J/rae/, in Egypt and in the wildernefs; fo long he lived, though the common age of man in his time, was but threefcore years and ten, P/. xc. 10. and what is moft extraordinary is; is eyes were not dim, as J/aac’s were, and men at fuch an age and under, generally be: nor bis natural force abated, neither the vigour of his mind: nor the ftrength of his body; his intellectuals’ were not decayed, his memory and judgment; nor was his body feeble, and his countenance wan’; his moi ture, was not fled', as it may be rendered, his -radic¢al moifture; he did not look withered and wrinkled, but plump and fleek, as if he was a young man in the prime of his days: this may denote the continued ufe of the ceremonial law then to direét to Chrift, and the force of the moral Jaw as in the hands of Chrift, requiring obedience and conformity to it, as

¥. 8. And the children of Irael wept for Mofes to face; owned, took notice of, and familiarly converfed with face to face, as a man with his

friend; none were permitted to fuch familiarity'forty with God as he; fee Numb. xii. 6, 7,-8. xxxili, at. the Jergums of fonathan and Ferufalem paraphrafé-it, “* whom the Word of the Lord years; or efpecially in the quantity of them, Exod.,he working more than all the reft put together: Manafeh Ben Ifrael.*, has collected all that the prophets wrought, or were. wrought for their “fakes,

% «knew. |) SS ©. fand they came to 74; but thofe that were wrought y. a1. In all the figns and the wonders which the Lord feat him todo, &c.| ‘The fame Targums alfoj paraphrafe here, ** which the Word of the Lord ** fent him to do$” for he it was that appeared him in the bufh, and fent him to Egypt to work miracles, which he did by him: iz the land of( Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all. bis fervants, and to all bis land;*to whom they were vifible, and who were all affected by them more or lefs: this refpects chiefly the ten plagues inflifted on the Egyptians: the Fews obferve that the fuperexcellency of Mo/es to the reft of the prophets, lay chiefly in his fuperior degree of prophecy rather than in miracles, and not fo much in the nature or the quality of the miracles; the ftopping of the fun by Yo/oua, and the raifing of the dead to life by Hijab and Elifpa being greater than his; but either in the dutation of them, as the manna which continued near by Mojes or on his account make 76 but whether this is a juft account. I will not fay.

y. 12, And in all that mighty band, &c.} In tolall done by his hand, which he ftretched out over the fea and divided, to make a paflage through it for the Jraclites, and with his rod in it {mote the rocks, and waters gufhed out for them: and in all that great terror which Mofes fhewed in the fight of a// [/rael,; meaning either the terror the Egyptians were ftruck with by him, in the fight of all J/- rae/, when he publickly and-before them wrought the wonders he did in the land of Ham which often threw them into a panic, efpecially the thunders and lightning, the three days darknefs, and the flaying of their firft-born; fee P/. Ixxviii. 12, 49, 50, 51. andcv. 38. or the terror the J/raelites were in at the giving and, receiving of the law, Exod. xix. 16. and xx. 18,19, 20.

4 phets into former. and latter; “the firft of the former pro-

\ phets is Yo/hua, -or Sepher Fofoua, the book of Fofhua,

W% as it is commonly called in

CONF | Gree the Hebrew copies; the Syriac weet + “* Fofbua, the fon of Nux, the “© difciple of Mo/es:” in the Arabic verfion it is reckoned a book of the Fudges, which adds, ‘* the

<< firft among the judges of the children of J rael

“ was Fo/bua, the fon of Nun, the 28th from Adam, “< who reigned over J/rael after the prophet Moj es.”

This book bears the name of 7o/hua, either becaufe it is concerning him, his actions and exploits in the land of Canaan, or becaufe it was written by him, or both; tho’ fome afcribe it to Hzra, and others to J/aiah, but it muft have been written before the times of 4bab, as appears from 1 Kings xvi. 34. and even before the times of.David; as-is clear from ch. xv. 69. compared with 2 Sam. v. 6. for though mention is made in it of the mountains of fudab and of I/rael, from whence fome have concluded, that the writer muft have lived after the times of Reboboam, in whofe days the kingdom was divided; yet we find the diftinétion of J/rael and Fudab took place before, even in the times of David.and A aph,

Pf. \xxvi. 1. It is moft likely, that this book was written by Fo/hua himfelf, as the ews in their Ta - mud * affert; and indeed, who more fit for it than himfelf? and if written or put together by another, it is moft probable that it was taken out of his diary, annals or memoirs; and though there are fome things recorded in it, which were done after his death, thefe might be inferted under a divine direction and influence by Eleazar, or Phinebas, or Samuel, to each of whom fome afcribe the writing of this book, juft as Yo/bua is fuppofed to add fome verfes concerning Mo/es at the end of the Pentateuch: however, be it wrote by whom it may, there is no doubt to be made of the divine infpiration and authenticity of it by us chriftians, fince fome hiftories recorded in it are taken from it, or referred to in Heb. xi. 30, 31. and the promife made to Fofoua is quoted, and applied to every believer, ch. xiii. 6. and the apoftle James refers to the cafe of Rabab, her character and condué& in it, Fam. ii. 25. The fubject-matter of this book is Fofoua’s taking upon him the government of viding it to them by lot, which Mo/fes might infcription is, ** the book of the children of J/rae/, after the death of Mofes, by a divine commiffion, exhortation and encouragement given him to engage in war with the Canaanites, his conquefts of them, the divifion of the land of Canaan to the children of J/rae/, and their fettlement in it. Itis of great ufe not only to give us the geography of the land of Canaan, and the hiftory of the church of God, from the death of Mofes to the times of the Fudges; but fhews the exact fulfilment of prophecy, and the faithfulnefs of God to his promifes in giving the land of Canaan to I/rael, according to thofe made to their fathers, and the juftice of God in punifhing the Canaanites for their abominable fins, as had been foretold; and the wonderful care of God, and his love to the people of J/rael in preferving and protecting them, and in fettling them in fuch a good land, notwithftanding all their murmurings, ingratitude, and unbelief in the wildernefs; and may ferve to lead us to Chrift, whofe type Fo/hua was in the whole affair here’ related: his name has the fignification of the falvation of the Lord in it; and he is by the Greek writers, and fo in the New Teftament, called Fe/us, a faviour, Aas vii. 45. Hebd. iv. 8. and as they agree in their name, fo they do in their ftate,, condition and charaéter; Fofoua was a fervant of Mo/es, Chrift was made under the law, and became fubject to it, both moral and ceremonial; and alfo in their office, Fo bua was the governor of J/rael, and the commander of their forces, for which he was well qualified with wifdom, courage and integrity; Chrift is king of faints, the leader and commander of the people, who has fought their battles for them, being abundantly qualified, having the {pirit of wifdom, counfel, might, and of the fear of the Lord refting on him. ‘ofbua was a type of Chrift in various actions of his; in leading ‘the people through the river Yordan, an emblem either of baptifm, or of affiictions, or of death itfelf, in which Chrift is with his people, and carries them through; in faving Rabab and her family, fo Chrift faves the worft and chief of finners; in receiving the Gibeonites, who fubmitted to him, as Chrift does all that come to him; in his conqueft of the feveral kings of the Canaanites, fo Chrift has conquered — all the fpiritual enemies of his people, fin, fatan and the world; in bringing and fettling the people of J/rael in the land of Canaan, their reft, and dinot do;

ine TpiEP ay etka SSH S0 in-whom they obtain the inh Slory, by; fot, a8 by MAQELRRY, Hey, FURY. falas tion and eternal life, and. not, by the works of the lay: |. This book. contaigs, an, bitory of folhua,, af his government, his aéts and deeds, from the death of Mofes to his own 3 how’ ong, that was is not. certain; the Fewib chronologers > obferve, thatthe A: LAID SU SiN iia ~ oR time of his principality we: fad not..in the texts thougli they © fay he fucceéded, Mofes when. he.was 82 years of age, and. governed J/rael 28 years Expolemus*, at heathen Writer, fays 30 years, Chri- {tian writers. commonly make his reign.to, be 27 eye ee BM) VINA S > oe. 2 f. years ©, but an Arabic writer Atretches it further nal, reft hereafter; iran of the eavenly

Af OSES. being dead,“ the Lord direéts and eh-

“courdges*Jofbua to take the command of the children of U/rael, and go over Fordan with them, ahd take:pofleffion of the Jand ‘of Canagu, and divide it to them; ‘giving him gracious promiles and {trong affurahces of his, preience, and fome good advice.with refpect to his cohduat, y.-1—g.. upon which Yepia orders the people to be ready in three io the no cafe of, con{cience.with Fofoua, to go and take people in the 7gth yearsofF hispages, yahd tioned oF but it feems more, probable, sthatilie was 93 years, of. age when Mofes died, who-lived taibevan 110, 40, that only. 17.years, intervened, sbetween the death, of the,.one and, of ithe other 3) fevemmycars /goua was,.in. fubduing,the. land, andey or years more Pe, taken up, in dividing, it, to\ the people, and-fettling them, init, and in the government:of them,; after which Elegzen, might irule «tem=years more, whofe death is mentioned init \40 indeed the book may, be reckoned,, anyhiftory-of 2 zyears, though fa/bug lived. only 4 7,.0f then.>>T be Ghro& nicle,to; which the, Samaritans give the:name of the, book. of Joua,.i3.aSpurious work; aniepis tome of which, Hortinger.® hasicompiledy, and:ttaat: latedyout of the 4rabic.exemplar into Latin odve

As this Jandjwas. a, typeof heaven, dily agreed to do, and promifed obedience to him and eternal life, »which. is, the.free gift of God thro” Chritt, pafling over the river of Jorday to.its.may bean emblem: of the paflage through death to,the heavenly ftate; both of the death of. Chrift,, the antitypical“7a/aua, who pafled. through it; asya,:furety to make fatisfaction. for fin, and, as’ a, fore runner to fet an.example, to fanctify. death, to,open. a way into. the -holieft of. holies,.and.prepare.a iplace for his people; and of,the death of,the-faints,, which, is neceflary to, their, enjoyment °of perfec reft and happinefs. heclen ren ods an. bacacn}il | 3s. Every place thatthe, fole of your fect foall, before, it ‘is connected ‘with;" and indeed it feems to be the. laft chapter of ‘the ‘book of Dewteronomy, which tréats of the death of Mo/es; and Fofbua being the penman of the Jaft eight verfes of that chapter, as fay the Talmudifis', and of this book, ds hasbeen’ ieen, having wrote them, he goes on with the hiftory of his own affairs in ftri€t connexion with that account, beginning where that ended; ‘namely, at the death of Mo/es,. racter here given is the fervant of the Lord; faithful -one” he was in all things belonging to, it, and in whatfoever was‘enjoined him by the Lord, fee Deut. xxxiv. 5. and if came to pafs that.ihe Lord Spake unio Fifbua the fon’.of Nun, Mofés’s either in’a dream, or Vifion, or by an articulate voice out“of the fanctuaty? of Fofbua’s defcent and relation, fee Exod. xxxiii.. 11. and of his office under Mofes, not as‘a menial fervant, but a minifter of ftate; fee Exod. xxiv. 13. “Jaying as follows. — 2. Mofes my fervant is dead, &c.)

faid not for the information of Fofoua, but to lead onto, and thew the caufe and ‘reafon’ of what “he was about to fay to him: now therefore arife,’ go over this Fordan; near'to which the whole body of ‘read upon, &¢.|.; That, is, inthe land, of Canaain,s, that have I given unto vou,.as.I faid, unto Mojes,s: in Deut. xi. 24, fee.the note. there,s, though the: ews extend this to all without. theJand fabdued, by them, and even to.all the, countries they now. tread on, and are exiles. in;~but the.limits, of what. the Lord gave them are fixed in the next: vere. »j4 y.4, From the. wilderae/s,, &c, ],..,The wilders; whofe cha- nefs of Kadefh and Sin, on the border of Edom; in: “and alithe fouth-eaft corner, as Farchi {ays, fee Numb: xxxiv. 3. and this Lebanon;,which though on.the other fide Jordan, and, at..a confiderable;diftances, \being the northern border, of the land towards. Sy= minifter ia,’ might be feen afar offs or,it isexprefied, becaufe it was \a well known ‘place, as Kimehi, ree, marks; even unto the great. river, tke river. Eupbrafes; which was the eaftern border.of the, land, iand to which it reached in the. times of. Sclomon, whofe dominion extended thither,)1 Kings iv, 246 Which wasaccording te Farch:, this was its breadth.from fouth to north: all-the land of the Hittites;.who though, only one OF the. feven nations. of Canaan, are. put for the reft, and the rather mentioned, becauife.as their name “fignifies,. they, were very formidable, days to go ‘along with him, y.,10, 41. and particularly addreffés” the “Reubenifes and Gadites, and half tribe ‘of Manéfeb, and puts-them in. mind of what Mojes had ordered, and they had promifed, to go along, with. their ‘brethren, and affift them. in conquering the land, y. 12—1i5. which they rea- and after”, ‘the book begins as ‘if fomething went the pedple of J/rae! were, “and very probably were in fight of it: thou; and all this people, ‘which were very numerous, 600,000 men ‘or more, befides a great number of women and children,"and no boats