Deuteronomy 16
PATonly the lamb (which was properly called pesach, or passover), which was offered the fourteenth day at even, but all the paschal sacrifices which followed after, as appears by the next words [of the flock, and of the herd]. Which sacrifices were appointed for all the seven days of unleavened bread, (Numb, xviii. 17 — 19, &c) See Bochartus in his Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii. cap. 50. where he shews at large that the word passover is here a general word, comprehending the particulars after-mentioned, (p. 565, 56G.) and thus translates these words (which he justifies by inany like instances), Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, viz. of the flock and of the herd. “Which last words are added exegetically, to explain what that passover was which they were to offer unto the Lord. Such* sacrifices as were ofFered in the solemn passover of Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxx.22. andofJosiah, 2Chron.xxxv. 7 — 9. where it is apparent, that the king and the princes gave to the people, and to the priests, oxen as well as sheep, lepesachim, for the passovcr-offerings. And thus it is used in the New Testament, John xviii. 28. where it is said, the Jews would not go into the judgment-hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passever, L e. these pass&ver-offerings, which’ were holy things, of which none might eat in their defilement. In the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there.) At the sanctuary, as hath been often said, xii. 5. 11, &c. where all sacrifices were to be offered,-’ thy God.] This is to be understood as if he had said, that after they had eaten unleavened bread six days, they should conclude the solemnity upon the seventh day with a solemn assembly, or, as it is in the Hebrew, with a restraint; but still continue also on this day to eat unleavened bread. For this feast was to last seven days, and in all the fore: going books they are expressly required to eat unleavened bread seven days, (Exod. xii. 15. Levit. xxiii. 6. Numb, xxviii. 17.) A solemn asmnbly.] Which the Hebrews call atzereth; of the meaning of which see Lev. xxiii. 36. TIiou shalt do no work therein.’] Thatis,“no servile work, as it is explained Numb, xxviii. 25. but they’ might dress their meat, which the LXX. seems to mean in those words, which they add, 7tXt)v otra irotrjQi’iatTat ipvxV> save on ty suc ^ things as shall be done to preserve life. seated the lowest court of all, consisting of three judges, which tried only actions of debt, or damages done by man or beast, or defamation, &c. But in cities where there were above a hundred and twenty families, there was placed a higher court, consisting of tbree-and-twenty judges, who tried, capital causes. Josephus, indeed, differs from the Talmudists about the number, for he saith they were but seven. Both of them, it is likely, may say true, with respect to different times and places; for it cannot but be presumed that both he and they understood the state of their country in such public matters. But at the place where God chose to settle his sanctuary, unto, which all the country resorted at certain times, there was the^ supreme court of all, consisting, as the Talmudists say, of seventy persons, besides their president, who Judged all manner of causes; and none but they could judge a false prophet, or a. city fallen to idolatry. AH appeals were made to’them; hut from them there, was none, their sentence being final, (See Selden> lib, ii. de Syncdr. cap. 4.) Such, a, court; it is certain, there, was in fpture ages, whose number was according to that of the seventy ciders chosen by God himself to assist Moses in the government, and endued with the spirit of judgment to qualify them for that office, (Numb. xi. 25.) In Moses’s time they sat at the door of the tabernacle, as I observed before; andafterward at Shiloh, or wheresoever the sanctuary was, Though it maybe doubted, whether, after Moses’s death, and the death of the elders, there was a court consisting.of so many judges. Nay,, it is highly probable that this consistory itself was not constantly settled there/ according to law, till the time* of Jehoshaphat; at least, not the inferior consistories beforementioned, which,wera to besettled in every city. F6r if they were, what reason can he. giyen why: the* judges (Judg. v. 10. x, 4, xii..l4.) and Samuel should rids circuitnp and down the country to minister justice. according to the law, when the people might have had. it every day in. their several cities? And for this reason, it is likely, Jehoshaphat himself, desiring to put this law in force, first sentsome great men, who went about through all the cities of Judah, (2 Chron. xvii. 8, 9.) and then settled judges according to this law throughout all the fenced, cities of Judah, city by city, as well as in. Jerusalem, (2. Chron, ^ix. 5, 8.) Sec Mr. Thorndike, in his Rites of the Church jn a Christian State, chap* 4. p. 226. where lie observe^ that Josephus, in express terms, rendering a reason. of the. great lewdness, upon.which the war against. Benjamin followed, attributes it to this, that these courts of judgment.were not cstablishedaccording to this law, (lib,, v. Ajjtiq,. cap. 2.) But though this, I think, be. very evident, yet it is scarce credible that David, after he was set upon the throne of God in peace, did not take care to settle these courts,. as he did to regulate a great many other things. And, indeed, we find a plain intimation of it in 1 Chron. xxvi. 29. but succeeding kings, it is probable, were negligent in keeping up this constitution, till the time of Jehoshaphat, who exercised his authority to enforce the exact practice of this law. And they shalljudge the people with just judgment J] According to the rules of this Jaw. The judges, saith It. Solomon, were, to judge the people; and the officers, to con* strain them to do as the judges commanded.
Deuteronomy 16:1
OBSERVE the month ofAbib. -Which God, by a special order;‘made the beginning of their year. (See Exod. xii. 2. xiii. 4. xxxiv. 18.) And keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God.] He now begins in this chapter, to admonish them about their great feasts which they were to keep; whereby the whole nation was preserved in the worship of one only God, which Moses still pursues to press upon them. Foriri the month ofAbib the Lord thy Godbrought thee forth out of Egypt.] In memory of which the feast of the Passover was ordained.; * - By night.] For then Pharaoh pressed them to be gone) when he saw his first-born slain in the night, (Exod. xiii 29—31;) and then they immediately prepared themselves for their journey, and borrowed of the Egyptians jewels ot gold and silver, (ver. 25.)’ Insomuch that Moses calls this " a night much to be observed unto the Lord/’ and “that night of the Lord to be observed by all the children of Israel in their generations/’ (Exod. xii. 42.) though it was day-light before they began their march, as we read there, ver. 22. So that Moses bid them “remember the day when they came out of Egypt,” (Exod. xiii. 3.) which comprehends both that which is properly called day and night.
Deuteronomy 16:2
Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God. The word passover signifies here not
Deuteronomy 16:3
Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with if) That is, with the passover beforementioned. Which is a demonstration, that all. the sacrifices of the flock, and of the herds, spoken of in the foregoing verse, are comprehended under the name of passover. For with the lamb they could riot eat unleavened bread seven days, it being to be eaten presently in the evening when it was offered;. afleT which followed the seven days of unleavened bread, which could not be eaten, so long with the passover, unless passover signifies all the seven sacrifices; Sevendays thou shalt eat unleavened bread therewith.] See Exod; xii. 15. xiii. 6, 7. Even the bread of affliction.] So called> because it was i’nsipid > and also heavy upon the stomach, and not easily digested. ■ Whence it had the name of matzah, because it was* lumpish, andcould not rise as leavened broad doth. For thou earnest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste.] Wanting time to-put any leaven to their dough, (Exod.-xii. TJiat thou mayest remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the laud of Egypt all the days of thy. life.] That their affliction there, and their speedy deliverance from thence, jnightneyer be forgotten. For their eating, this bread seven.days* together every year, one would think,, could not but make great impressions on their mind; and the more to imprint the sense of God’s mercy there, the master of every family, when he brake this bread at the paschal feast, and gave every one a piece of it, said, This is the bread of affliction which your fathers did eat in the land of Egypt. So 3Iaimonides and others tell us. (See Exod. xii, 17.)
Deuteronomy 16:4
And there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee hi all thy coasts seven days.) See Exod. xii. 18 — 20. xiii. 3. 7. Neither shall there any, thing of the flesh ivhich thou sacrificest the first day at even, remain all night until the morning.] This is a plain description of the paschal lamb, which was to be eaten in the even wherein it was sacrificed, (Exod. xii. 10.) which he forbears here to call the passover (though that name properly belonged to it), because he had called other sacrifices by that name, (ver. 2.) and would not have them confounded.
Deuteronomy 16:5
Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Not at home, as they did when they first came out of Egypt, and that because it was a sacrifice; which was now required to be offered at the* sanctuary, as was said. before, (xii. 5. 11.) Ver. G. Bat at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover.] From whence Maimonides infers, that even whilst high places were allowed,. the passover could not be killed any where but at the sanctuary:- if any man did offer it in a private high place, he was beaten, as he saith in his treatise concerning the passover, cap. 1. sect 3. At even, at the going down of the stin.] Between the two evenings, concerning which see Exod. xii. 6. After the offering of the evening sacrifice, they began to kill the passover, and continued this sacrifice till sun-set. At the season that thou earnest forth out of Egypt.] Then they were preparing themselves for their journey,,and had warning to be ready, and eat the lamb with their, staves in their hands, as men going forth to travel, (Exod. xii. 11.) though they did not actually go forth till the next morning.
Deuteronomy 16:7
And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. See Exod. xii. 8, 9. And thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents.] Unto their own habitations, which are called tents, because they had no other dwellings when these words were spoken. The only” doubt is, whether he permits them to* go home the next morning after the even beforementioned,. or the morning after thewhole feast of unleavened bread was over. It seems most reasonable to expound it of the former, that if men’s occasions called them home, they were not bound to stay any longer at the place where the sanctuary was, but till they had eaten the paschal lamb; after which they might return home if they pleased. So Bochartus, who from hence proves that the most solemn days of the feast of unleavened bread were not observed like a sabbath, because* men might travel home upon the first day of unleavened bread, as the whole nation travelled out of Egypt on this* day, from Ramescs to Succoth*. yet pious people, who were able to bear so great a charge, were wont, no doubt, to stay the whole soven days before they returned home; because the first and last days of the feast w r ere great solemnities. So they did in the passover of Hezekiah and Josiah,.2 Chron. xxx. 21. xxxv. 17.. And there being special sacrifices to be offered every day during this festival (as was beforesaid), Solomon ben Virgar observes, that all the country thereabouts brought their oxen and their sheep to be sold at this time to those who came from far;, so. that the mountains round about Jerusalem were covered with them, and not a bit of grass to be seen. He adds also, that whosoever did not come up to this feast, all his goods were forfeited and converted to sacred uses,(Schebet Judah, p. 378.)
Deuteronomy 16:8
Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly unto the Lord
Deuteronomy 16:9
Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee. From the morrow after the sabbath, when they brought the sheaf of the wave-ofFering, as it is explained in Lev. xxiii. 15. (See there.) Begin to number the seven vjeeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.] For they began to cut barley at the Passover, as is manifest from hence, that Joshua passed over Jordan to enter into Canaan, in the time of harvest, (Josh, iii; 15.) and this was in the month of-Nisan, when they kept the Passover,’ as appears from Josh. v. 10. which month could not be called Abib, or the; month of new fruits, if some corn was not’then ripe, viz. barley. This Josephus confirms, lib. iii. Antiq. cap; 10. which must be understood, as Hermannus Conringius observes, (in his treatise de Initio Anni Sabbatici, &c.)of that sort of barley which was sown in autumn (as it is this day in Frisia), which required a’stronger soil than that sown in the spring,, and produced a much richer crop. See Mr. Mede’s works, p. 355. who observes how very different their, climate was from ours.
Deuteronomy 16:10
And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God. The reason of this name is given in the foregoing verse. And see Exod. xxxiv. 22. It was called also the feast of harvest. (See Exod. xxiii. 16.) With a tribute of a free-will-offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, &c] Besides those* offerings which are prescribed, Lev. xxiii. ] 7, 18. Numb. xxviii. 27, &c. The quantity is not directed, but left to every man’s piety. And whatsoever it was he brought, it was wholly given to -God, and he that brought it had no share in it; but God gave it to his priests. According as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.] Though no quantity was prescribed, yet God expected every, man should offer. proportionably to his estate; and they who had a religious sense of God’s goodness in blessing their labours, no doubt acknowledged it by a liberal tribute. v
Deuteronomy 16:11
And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, &c. This feast was made of such offerings as are mentioned, xii. 7. 17 — 19. • *,.j
Deuteronomy 16:12
And thou shalt remember that thouwast a bondman in Egypt. They are often put in mind of,this as an argument to charity, particularly towards their servants. (See xv. 15.). And thou shalt observe and do these statutes.) There was a particular reason for keeping this fe&st, because it was in remembrance of God’s giving them his law from Mount Sinai; where he speaks with them himself.
Deuteronomy 16:13
TIiou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine. This is the third great feast, at which all their males were bound to appear every year, as we read, Exod. xxiii, 16, 17. xxxiv. 22, 23. Of which he puts them in mind again, Lev. xxiii. 34 — 36. and here, ver. 16.
Deuteronomy 16:14
And thoushalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maidservant, &c. There was the like law at Athens, where king Cecrops ordained (as Macrobius tells us, lib. i. Sa~ turnal. cap. 10.) the master of every, family should, after harvest, make a feast for his servants, and eat together with them, who had taken pains with him in tilling his ground; ff delectari enim Deum hbnore servorum, contemplatu laboris,”/ or God delighted in the honour done to servants, in consideration of their labour. This, it is likely^ he learnt from Moses, for he reigned at Athens much about the same time that Israel came out of Egypt; and was the first, as Eusebius saith, who taught the Greeks to call God by the name of Zcuc, (lib. x. Prsepar. Evangel.) which we may interpret the living God. Though therein he seems to be a little mistaken. For Pausanias saith more than once (both in his Arcadica and his Attica), that Ala uvofiaatv watov irp&Toc, he was the first that called Jupiter by the name of the Most High, or Supreme. And the same we read in St. Cyril against Julian, lib. i. (See Joh. Meursius de Ler gibus Atheniensium, lib. i. cap. 9.)
Deuteronomy 16:15
Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose^. In order to which, thatitmigtitbe kept the more solemnly,, it is once more enjoined, and all the sacrifices that were to be offered in each of the seven days appointed in Numb. xxix. from ver. 12; to ver. 35. where he orders also the eighth day to be solemnly observed for a special reason. (See there.) s Because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy. increase, and in all the works of thy hands.) Thankfulness to God for blessings bestowed was the way to procure more. Therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.] In God the giver of. all good things; whom the whole nation, by the institution of this feast, were incited to bless and praise for the fruits of his bounty to them. And peace-offerings were sacrificed on purpose for this end, (xxvii. 7.) From the repetition of this command, TIiou shaltrejoice, the Jews infer, thatthough all festivals were times of joy, yet the feast of tabernacles was to be celebrated with greater joy than all the rest/. And accordingly Maimonides tells us, the whole festival was spent in music, arid dancing, and singing, night and day.
Deuteronomy 16:16
Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place, &c. This is so frequently enjoined, (see ver. 13.) because it was of the greatest consequence that they should meet as often as they could conveniently, at one and the same place, to worship the Divine Majesty; whereby the notion of tho unity of God was preserved among them. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty.] This is also frequently repeated, where the feasts themselves are’enjoined, (Exod. xviii. 15. xxxiv. 20.) And from these and the following words, That, every man should give as he 4Y Microsoft® [chap. XVI. was able, &c. came the pious custom in the beginning of our religion, that the people when they came to the Lord’s table, offered bread, and wine, and corn, and oil, and suchlike things, for the support of God’s ministers, and the relief of the poor, every one according to their ability. Which was done in acknowledgment of God as the author of life, and of all good things; for which they, in this manner, shewed their gratitude to him. And the priests, in the presence of all the people, lifted thcin up, and gave God thanks, arid beseeched him to accept thcin: and out of these, in many places, they made their agapa, or feasts of charity, for the poor. Mention is made of these oblations in the Canons ascribed to the apostles, chap. 3, 4. which, though not made by them, yet contain a great many apostolical customs. Vcr. 17. Every man shall give as hejs able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee.] It was but reasonable, that the more bountiful God had been to them,, the more liberally they should offer a grateful acknowledgment to him. For all the forenamed three feasts had relation to the fruits of the earth, which God had blessed them withal, as well as commemorated former great benefits bestowed on their. forefathers: the Passover being at the beginning of barley-harvest, Pentecost at the beginning of wheat-harvest, and the feast of tabernacles, when they had gathered in all the fruits of the earth., At which seasons all mankind were ever wont to be full of joy, and to offer sacrifices. So Aristotle tells us, (lib. viii. ad NicomaChum, cap. 2.) A<:itf>ytuat Svaitit koi <tvvo$oi
Deuteronomy 16:18
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee.) To see that ihese, and all other laws, were duly observed. Moses de Cotzi, upon these words, makes -this difference between schofetim and schoterim: that the former (viz. judges) were the senators in the several courts, who decided causes; and the other (officers) were.no more than ministers attending the court, to keep the people in order, with a staff and a whip, and to execute the decrees and orders of the judges; whom they appointed not only in the court, butin the streets, looking after weights and measures in the market, and correcting offenders. Maimonides also makes, them the same with our apparitors, or those who, in the Roman law, are called officiates, as Constantine L’Empcreur observes, p. 362. upon Cornelius Bertram (who mistookthem for a sort of judges), and in the digests executores: and in the New Testament irpatropac, exactors, Luke xii. 58. Josephus makes -them to have been public criers; and so we find them employed, xx. 8. Josh. i. 11, But then some of them, at least, seem to have been an honourable sort, like our heralds, (Josh, xxiii. 2.) and all of them were men of authority, though but young men (as Maimonides describes them), who had not attained the years and knowledge of the doctors of the law,*and therefore unfit to be judges. But the Jews place them next under their wise men, or doctors, and above their scribes and clerks, as Mr. Thorndike observes, in his Review of the Rites of the Church, p. 94. But, that they were certainly only tinder officers, and not judges, there is another argument; which is, that Solomon upon this account commends the ants, that they carefully do their business, though they have no schoter set over them, (Prov. vi. 7.) on pafi$ovxo$, or cr>yo?<wjcrr)C; to force or affright them into it. In all thy gates.] That is, in every city, as Mr. Sclden observes out of the Jewish writers, lib. vii. de Jure Nat et | Gent. cap. 5. sect. 1. where he shews they interpret it, in all the cities of Israel, both within the land and without, where Israel had any jurisdiction. Which is so true, that they had consistories wheresoever’ they were dispersed, for the determining all differences arising out of the law, though not as to the power of life and death, which was seldom granted them by their sovereigns. Thus we learn from Philo, that there was such a consistory at Alexandria; and the little chronicle, called Seder Olam Zuta, tells us of the like in Babylonia. And after the destruction of the temple, it is manifest, not only by the Jewish writings, but by-Epiphanius and others, thatHiere continued a, consistory at Tiberias for many ages, &c. (Sec Mr. Thorndike’s Rites of the Church, p. 5G, 57. and his Review of it, p. 56.) But though this -be granted, yet these words (in all thy gates) -may/suggest also the part of the city where they kept their court, which was in the gate: for there, as I observed, Gon. xxxiv. 24. all public business was transacted in the time of Abraham and Jacob, and continued so afterward. Insomuch, that the highest court in MosesV time met at the door of the tabernacle, (Numb. xi. 24.) the gate among the Hebrews being the same with forum, as I observed, among the Romans. As we see by 1 Kings vii. 1. where Elisha foretells at what low rates provision should be sold on the ^morrow in the gate of Samaria. Where it is evident there was a place so spacious, that Ahab assembled four hundred prophets there before him and king Jehoshaphat, who had, no doubt, both of them numerous attendants/(2 Kings xxii. 10.) And before this time, David, it is said, upon the news of Absalom’s death, w f ent up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; which wc may well think was the council-chamber, (2 Sam. xviii. 33.) And when Joab advised him to come down, and shew himself publicly, it is said, he rose and sat in the gate, and all the people came before him, (xix. 6.) And therefore in these cities, which were so large, there was some place, I make no question, where there were benches for the judges. Which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes.] In the cities of every tribe there was to be such a court erected, that people might have justice easily and speedily done them. And the Talmudists unanimously agree that the number of judges was proportionable to the greatness ofthe city wherein they were placed, and of the causes which they judged. Where there >yere less than a huudredand twenty families in any town or city, there was
Deuteronomy 16:19
Thou shalt not wrest judgment. See Exod. xxiii. G. Thou shall not respect persons.] Sec Lcvit -xix. 15. and Dcut. i. 17. Neither take a gift; for a gift doth blind th§ eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.] The very same is said, Exod. xxiii. 8.
Deuteronomy 16:20
That which is altogether just shall thoti follow. The words in the Hebrew are far more emphatical (as they are in the margin), Justice, justice shall thou follow. Mind nothing but the justice of the cause, and do it to all persons equally. That thou.may est. live, andinherit the landwhich theLord thy God giveth thee.] Be happy, and continue long in the land of Canaan: for nothing contributes more to the establishment of a government, than the exact and impartial administration of justice.
Deuteronomy 16:21
Thou shalt not plant thee a.grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. It is evident from this, that his great aim is to keep them from idolatry; which he still pursues, as he hath done from the beginning of his exhortation in this book. And their history teachesus, that it was very needful to inculcate this so often; for, notwithstanding all that Mouses could say, they fell immediately after Joshua’s death intq the idolatrous customs of Canaan, and could never be wholly purged from their idolatry till the captivity of Babylon. And. these words may be translated, Thou shalt not plqnt thee a grove, nor make, any wood (i. e f a wooden image) near to the altar of the Lord thy God, So the LXX. For the very word we translate grove, sometimes imports, the idol in the grove, as well as the grove itself. (See 2.Kings xxiii. 6. and Selden; de Diis Syris, Syntagma ii. cap. 2.) Certain it is, that nothing was more ancient in tbp east, than altars with groves of trees about them; which made the. place very shady and delightful in those hot countries.. They are so often joined in Scripture, that it woulcj bp tedious to number all the places, (Exod. xxxi. 13. Dcut. xii. 3., Judg. vi. 25, &c.) Cadmus is thought by some to have brought this custom into Greece, out of the east. And they planted the trees so thick, and they were so, large aud[ shady, as to make the place very (dark and solemn;. whereby a;.kiid of horror was struck into those who went into them. And they became hereby the fitter for thedevil to play hi^ prjiuks there,;. and for the practice of these obscene, an4u% cputh rites whereby he was worshipped. For the gentile custom Jiad madejtbese, pjaces prpper to, the infernal god/3, and anciently consecrated; thera a^ scpulpjires or temples for ■ their heroes. That the Israelite.^, therefore^, might pe preserved from sacrificing to the dead, and from filthy lusts (by both which they afterward polluted themselves), they are forbidden to place a grove near to God’s altar, nay, so much as any tree (as the words maybe translated); for the heathen thought there was a sacredness in trees themselves, which they dedicated to theirg9ds, and honoured several ways. (See xii..2, £.) And. therefore the JeAys,say; they might not plant trees in the court of the temple, or. in the mountain of the house (as they call it), for the ornament or beauty of God’s house. And they gave this reason for it, because it, was an idolatrous rite to plant trees near their altars, th^t the. people might there meet together. (See Selden,.]ib. ii. de Jure Nat. ct Gent, cap. 6. p- 186. and Dr. Spencer, lib. ii, cap. 16. sect; 1, 2.) And more lately, Ezekiel Spanhemius (in his most learned observations upon 4Y2