Deuteronomy 32

Maimonides takes the first words of this verse, He is the Rock, to signify the first principle, and the efficient cause of all things without himself. For so the word Rock is used, when God bids the children of Israel look to the rock ont of ivhich they were hewn, (Isa. li. 1.) that is, to Abraham their father, from whom they were. descended. And so he thinks it signifies, ver. 18. of this chapter, Of the Rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful, i. e. of God, the author of their being. And again, ver. 30* their Rock (t. e. the Lord) sold them. (See More Ncvochim, par. i. cap. 1G.) And then by the next “words, his way is perfect, he thinks is ineaht, that as he is the creator of all tilings, so there is no defect or superfluity in his works. For he takes these words to be the same with those, Gen. i. 31. God saw every thing that he hadmade, and, behold, it was very good. (Sec there, par. ii; cap. 28. and par. iii. cap. 25.) And as his Avorks of creation are most perfect, so are his works of providence; for he governs the world Avith the greatest judgment and justice. So he seems to understand the next words, (par. iii. cap. 17.) all his ways are judgment. We are ignorant of the methods and reasons of his judgments, yet no injustice or iniquity is to be ascribed to him. But all the evil and all the good that bcfals any man, or the whole church, proceeds from the just and equal judgment of God. And more largely, cap. 49. " Our narrow minds cannot apprehend either the perfection of his works, of the equity of his judgments; for we apprehend his admirable works only by parts, whether we look upon the bodies of animals, or the celestial spheres: and in like manner we apprehend but a little of his judgments; for that of which we are ignorant in both, is far more than that which we know of either.” I conclude this with the words of the author of Scpher Cosri, (par. iii. sect. 11.) €i He that believes “this, that all God’s works are perfect, and his ways judgment, will always lead a sweet and pleasant life; all afflictions will be made light to him, nay, he will rejoice that his iniquities are hereby alleviated, and that he shall one day be rewarded for his patience; which he teaches men by his example, and thereby justifies the judgments of God.” With respect to which, I suppose, the Jews now begin the prayer which they make at the burial of their dead, with this verse of Moses’s song. Which prayer they call tzidduck haddin, i. e. just judgment, as Leo Modena observes, in his History of the present Jews, par. v. chap. 8.

Deuteronomy 32:1

\jrlVE ear, O ye heavens, and Itcill speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. He calls angels irif wi www’ I v-V CHAP, XXXI I.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. and men to bear witness (xxx. 19.) that the Israelites had been admonished of their duty, and warned of their danger; and this, not by words of his own invention, but which were put into his mouth by the Spirit of God* Or (after an elegant form of speech) he calls upon all insensible creatures, every where, to listen to him, that he might awaken the Israelites out of their stupidity, or upbraid them as a people that had ears to hear, and would not hear him. And, as some of themselves have observed, he may be thought to intimate hereby, that if they would not hearken and keep his precepts, the heavens were forbidden to g^vfe them rain, and the earth to bring forth fruit. The gloss also of the Jerusalem Targum is not amiss, that Moses, being shortly to die, calls the heavens and the earth, which endure through all ages, to be witnesses against them when he was gone. But the following observation is too curious: That Isaiah, when he prophesied, u e. being far remote from the heavens, and near to the earth, calls upon the heavens to hear, and the earth to give ear, or attend: whereas Moses, quite contrary, approaching now very near to the heavens, calls upon them to Attend or give ear, and, being ia spirit remote from the earth, bids it hear, ixA T D this is the blessing.’] As Jacob blessed his children, at his departure out of the world, when God had begun to fulfil the promise to Abraham, of giving him a numerous offspring; so Moses having seen them vastly increased,, and ready to enter upon the land promised to them, (Gen. xv. 18, &c.) takes his farewell of them, with a blessing pronounced upon the people in general, and upon each tribe in particular. Which is in part prophetical, as the blessing of Jacob was, and delivered in the prophetic style, which hath some difficulty and obscurity in it; on purpose, perhaps, to excite their diligent study to inquire into the meaning. (See Gen. xlix. 1. 3.) WJierewith Moses, the man of God.] Or, the prophet of the Lord, as Onkelos translates it: for prophets are called men of God in the holy books, (1 Sam. ix. G — 8. 1 Kings xiii. 1. 1 Tim. vi. 11. 2 Tim. iii. 17. 2 Pet. i. 21.) because, in the exercise of their sacred function, they did not deliver their own sense, nor the sense of other men, but the mind and will of God who spake by them. Blessed the children of Israel before his death.’] Before ho went up into Mount Abarim to die, (xxxii. 49.) he prayed* God to bless them; and also foretold their future state and condition. Such had been the ancient custom among the holy patriarchs (aswc learn from the example of Jacob)^ to admonish their posterity upon their dying beds of such things as they thought* most imported them: for then they could not but be thought to speak raost sincerely; and their words were apt to be entertained with greater respect, and preserved in mind with greater care. Moses therefore, their deliverer* leader,, and lawgiver, concludes his life ia the same manner; and it is very likely deposited these dying words with them in jvriting.

Deuteronomy 32:2

My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew. Or, Let my doctrine drop, &c. For this seems to be a prayer, that his words, Avhich were sent from heaven to them, might sink into their hearts, and soften them, as the drops of rain and the dew do the earth, and produce such fruits of obedience as might make them happy. As the small rainupon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.] The aforesaid Targum thus paraphrases this whole verse: Let the doctrine of my law be as sweet upon the children of Israel as the rain; and the word of my mouth be received by them as the delectable dew: let it be as gentle showers ref resiling the grass, and as the drops of the latter rain, descending and watering the blades of corn in the month of March. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai.] And, in the first place, he endeavours to make them sensible of what God had done already for them: and the chief of all hi^ benefits being the revelation of his mind and will to. them/he commemorates that as a common blessing to them, all, before he begins to speak in particular to each tribe:. for that is meant by the Lord came from Sinai; where heappeared in a most particular manner, and from thence promulgated his law with the greatest solemnity, (Exod. xx.) And* thus the gentiles took an unwonted brightness in any place to be a token of the’EmfavHa, appearance, ox advent, of some of their gods in that place. As also a great commotion in any place, they took for another token of it. See the illustrious Spanhemius, in his annotations upon Callimachus’s hymn to Apollo, ver. 7. which they seem to have learnt from this appearance of God on Mount Sinai, and the quaking of that mountain, when God appeared on it., . And rose up from Seir unto them, and shone forth from Mount Paran.] There is no difficulty in the foregoing words, it being evident that God came down on Mount Sinai, and thence delivered his commands to the Israelites, and espoused them for his people. But how he rose up from Seir unto them, the country of Edom, and shone from Paran, the country of Ishmael, is not so easy to understand. The Jews, indeed, who are wont to solve all difficulties, by inventing what they please, are not troubled to give an account of these words; which signify, they fancy, lhat the Divine Glory first resided upon Mount Seir, where God propounded his law to the children of Esau; but they would not have it, because they found these words in it, “Thou, shalt not kill;” he went, therefore, to Paran, and offered it to the children of Ishmael, but they refused it also, because they found these words in it, “Thou shalt not steal f so he came to Sinai, and gave it to the Israelites, who said, " AH the words which the Lord hath said will we do,’ Exod. xxiv. 3. Thus the Jerusalem Targum, and Pirke Eliezcr, and some other more ancient authors, with this addition, that he offered the law to all the nations of the world, but they rejected it, because it was written, " Thou shalt have none other gods but me.” But this looks so like a fable; that some of themselves are ashamed of it, and have given a better sense of the words, though I cannot say the true one. For thus Abraham Pcritsol expounds them, The true law came out of Sinai to the Israelites, by which the Edomiteswere so enlightened, that God might be said to rise up to them also: and afterward the. celestial influence shone out of this lata to the Ishmaelites, wlio were the better for it. JY\ius Const. I/Empcreur reports his sensfc in his Annotations upon Bava-kama,. cap. 4, sect. 3. where he endeavours, to make out a plainer sense of these words, in this manner: Though the mountain of. Paranwas nigher to- Sinai than Seir was, and first occurred to those that went out of Egypt; yet there was, great reason to mention Seir before it,because Moses had respect to the orderof their journeys,, and hot to the site of the places. And their journeys were so directed by Divine Providence, that, fetching a long; circuit, forward and backward, they shouldcome to Canaan. In all which turnings and windingsthcy were riiarvellously preserved and provided for,, by the same, good Providence- Microsoft® [CHAP. XXXIII; which conducted them. Of this Moses here makes a thankful commemoration, how he led them from Mount Sinai to the hordcrs of the land of Canaan, towards Mount Scir, as is expressly noted by Moses, (compare Dcut. i. 19. with ii. 1. and Numb. xx. 14.) From whence, by reason of their infidelity, they were led back again towards the Red Sea, and encamped in the extremity of the wilderness, (Numb. xxxiii. 35.) whcrcPtolcmy places Paran: (though there was another part of it called Paran, near Kadcsh, Numb. xiii. 3. 27.) and from thence they were led back again in a long circuit to the cast part of the land of Canaan. This may be one reason why these two places arc mentioned together with Sinai, that God, who there appeared to them, was with them all the time they wandered about in the wilderness, till ho brought them to the borders of Canaan, where they now were. And another may be, because in Mount Scir the brazen serpent was erected by God’s order, for the cure of such as were bitten by serpents, when they looked on it; which was an illustrious type of our blessed Saviour, and the salvation wrought by him, (Numb. xx. 4. 9.) And in the desert* to which Paran gave the name (because it overlooked the whole, though very large), they received the joyful news that they should march into Canaan: or, as 1). Cbytraeus understands it, in the wilderness of Paran the seventy elders received the Spirit, to make them assistants unto Moses in the government, (Numb. x. 12. xi. 24, &c.) And here, I may add, Moses repeated his law to them, (Dcut. i. 1. 5.) who seems, in this verse, to follow a metaphor borrowed from the sun, which first illuminates the air, and then rises, and then sprcadsabroad his beams; as God by degrees declared his presence with his people, whithersoever they went, first at Mount Sinai, then at Seir, and, last of all, here in the wilderness of Paran.. But it must be acknowledged, that these words may be; interpreted in a moTe simple manner, they being but a farther amplification of what was said in the first words, the Lord came from Sinai. When at the same timie he rose tip front Seir, and shone forth from Mount Paran. For these* mountains were,vcry near one to another; or rather, parts of one and the same ridge of mountains, as Con. Pellicanus here observes; and is more clearly made out by a very learned man among ourselves, (Dr. Hydc,.in his excellent notes on Abraham Pcritsol, Itinera Mundi, p. 73.) for Tcman (which is the same with Paran, Habak. iii. 3.)\vas: near to Edom, whose chief city was Bozrah, (Amos i. 12;) as that was near to Sinai. The ignorance of the Mahometans is much to be pitied, who out of this place imagine they have found as good an authority for the Alcoran, as there is for the law of Moses, and for the gospel of Christ. For thus they interpret these words, God gave the daw from Sinai, and the.gospel from Seir (which they would have to be the same’with Galilee/ which our Saviour much frequented), and the Alcoranfrom Mount Paran; which they fancy is a mountain not far from Mecca. (Seo Dr. Pocock upon Greg. Abulfaraji, p. 183., and Guadagnolus llcsp. pro Rclig. Christiana.) But thc> last words of this verso, for them, arc sufficient to confute these conceits; for they plainly shew, that the whole verse; speaks of the people of Israel. And he came with ten thousand of saints.] Or, as our Mr. Mcdc thinks it should be translated, with his holy ten: thousands, or myriads; that is,, attendedwith an innumerable company of angels, who waited on him at the giving of the law..Sec Psal. lxviii. 7. Dan vii. 10. of which Enoch, perhaps, prophesied in part, Jud* 14, 15. And froni hchce it may be thought, that notion of the Jewish doctors, followed by St. Stephen and St. Paul, that the law was given by angels, had its beginning; (Mcdc, book ii. p. 437.) that is, they attended upon God, as his ministers, when hfc himself gave the law. From his right hand.] With which we arc wont to deliver things to other persons. Went a fiery law for them.] For the law of Moses was given out of the midst of fire, and therefore called afire of law, astho words arc in the Hebrew, (Exod. xix. 16. 18. Dcut. iv. 11, 12. v. 22—24.) The cabalists (as Ilcuchlin observes) fancy that God wrote the law in a globo of fire, and sent it to them. But the Jerusalem Targum is more sober, which thus expounds it, He stretched his right hand out of the midst of flames of fire, and gave tht law unto his people. And Onkelos still better, The law written with his right hand he gave us out of the midst of fire. Or, as Campeg. Vitringa would have this latter part of the verse trans-> latcd, On his right hand afire, and out of the fire a law for them. The meaning being, that God came to Mount Sinai with that fire; for, in Scripture, to be on the right hand of any one, is to accompany him,(lib.-ii. Obscrv. Sacr.cap.4.) By the conclusion of this verse it is apparent, that tho former part of it belongs entirely to God’s mercy unto tho children of Israel, upon w T hom he bestowed his law, in most illustrious tokens of his presence. Which makes it highly probable, that his “rising up from Seir upon “them, and shining from Mount Paran,” belongs’ to the same matter; that is, the cloud wherein he descended on Sinai, with a vast host of angels, extended itself so far, as to cover th£ neighbouring mountains of Scir and Paran.‘Though the | meaning may bo, as I have shewn, that ho continued his presence with’ them after they went from Sinai, through all their journeys r in the wilderness of Scir and P&ran, till they came to the pla<ie whefc they now were. Vcr; 3. Yea, he loved the people.] All this was the effect of his love and* kindness to the people of Israel, whom he owned for his son, and his first-born, (Exod. iv. 22.) and * therefore in a tender manner brought them out of Egypt,* (Exod. xix. 4;) that he might instruct them in his laws. * All his saints are in thy hand.] Whereby he made them a holy nation, (as it there follows in-Exod. xix. 5.) whom lie took into his special care and most gracious protection; as this phrase signifies in many placed, (Numb’, iv.28. 33.) And Onkelos refers it to the mighty pOwcr whereby ha brought them out of -Egypt’: -but it may have respect to* God’s preservation and support of them, when he gave the’ law in such a terrible manncr,-that Moses himself quaked, and yet none of them received any harm. As for the change of. the person from-his to thy; it is very frequent in this language, particularly in Dan. ix. 4. And they sat doivn at thy feet.] The first word (which wc translate sat doivn) being no’ where* else found but here and lsa. i. 5. where it plainly hath another sense; hath occasioned various interpretationsof this sentence; But most agree in this of Sol. Jarchi, that as scholars sat at the feet of their master round about. him, while he taught them their lesson, so the people encompassed the mount where God was, and heard his law, which he thence deli-?‘I & V-X CHAP. XXXIII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. vered. Bnt it is a question, whether there was such a custom of scholars in. those days; and the people did not sit, but stood at the foot of the mount, (Exod. xx. 18.) Therefore Onkelos understands this of their sitting down, or pitching their tents, where the glorious cloud that led them rested, (Numb. x. 12. 33.) Every one shall receive of thy word.] This still is commonly referred to the, people’s receiving the law. But Onkelos thijiks it hath respect to their journeys.“at the commandment of the Lord/’ (Numb. x. 13.) For so he interprets it, They went forward, according to thy word* And. so the, Jerusalem Targum expounds these and the foregoing wordi; Behold, they were led, and came to the. foot of his cloud, and went forward and rested, according to the command of his v:ord. It takes in alsp the other sense of the word tncchu (as it signifies smiting in Isa. i. 5.) in this manner,, Though he inflicted many chastisements upon them, yet they did not cease, nor desist from the doctrine of the law.

Deuteronomy 32:3

Because I will publish the name of the Lord. For my song shall be concerning the Lord of heaven and earth, whose glorious perfections I will proclaim; which make him the sole object of your worship. Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.] Acknowledge therefore the infinite power of our God; and his sovereign dominion over all; and give honour and service to nono besides him. These three first verses seem to be the prefacie to the song; and now follows the song itself; which Josephus calls Uoinaw i^afievQov, a poem in hexameter verse, (lib. ir. Antiq. cap. 8.)

Deuteronomy 32:4

He is the Rock. Always endures, and never dianges; so that in him we may find at all times a sure refuge. His ivork is perfect.] Whatsoever he undertakes, he perfects and completes it. For all his ways are judgment.] He cloth nothing without the greatest reason, and according to the rules of the exactest justice. A God of truth.] Who is faithful to his promises. And without iniquity.] And never deceives or wrongs any man. Just and right is he.] Nor will he punish any man without a cause, or more than he deserves. 3Ioses commanded us a Jaw*] He commanded them to observe that law which God had given them, when he was about to depart from them. This he did in this very book, (i. 3. v. 1. vi. 1. viii, 1, &c.) He speaks of himself in the third person, which is very usual throughout all this book..,,. > Even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.] As; a peculiar blessing which God had bestowed on them, and on their posterity, above all other nations in the world, (Deut. iv. 8.) who, as they had not this law given to them, so they were not bound to observe it; as the Jews them? selves conclude from this very place. Nor did they force any body to embrace this law, when they made a conquest of a neighbouring country, but left them to their liberty, provided they would become proselytes of the.gate; thatis, forsake idolatry, and keep the common precepts enjoined to all mankind. Thus Maimonides interprets the word inheritance. (See Schickard, in his Jus Rcgium, cap. 5. Theor. 17- and Grotius, dc Jure Belli et Pacis, lib., it cap. 1. sect. 16.) The author of Etz-Haehajim, a MS. highly valued by the famous Wagenseil, saith, That when a child began to speak> the father was bound to teach him this verse. In which, instead of riWO hereditary, some of the Jews read /1DDND espoused; as if the law were espoused to the Jewish nation. (See Wagenseil on Sota, p. 5L9. 520.)

Deuteronomy 32:5

They have corrupted themselves, &c. I know not how to justify this translation, nor that in the margin, He hath corrupted himself. Maimonides translates them better; making these words a question, and the next words in answer to them, in this manner: Hid lie (i. e. God, the Rock before spoken’ of) do him any hurt? For the Hebrew word scecheth, with lamed after it, signifies to hurt, or destroy, Numb, xxxii. 15. 1 Sam. xxiii. 10. (as Joh. Cocccius observes, in his Ultima Mosis, sect; 701.) And so the meaning is, Is God to blame for the evils that befall him? i. e. Israel. Unto which the answer follows in the next words, which we thus translate — Tiieir spot is not the spot of his children.] In the Hebrew, the first word of this sentence is lo, i.e. not, or?to. Which the accent tipcha (as they call it) under it, shews is not to be joined with the words that follow (banau mitmam), hut taken by itself, being a denial of the foregoing question. And these words arc thus to be translated, No, [chap. XXXII. his children are their blot; L e. all the evil that befalls them is the fruit of their children’s wickedness. And so theso words nrc in effect the same with those of Solomon, Prov. xix. " The foolishness of man pcrvcrtcth his way, and his heart fretteth against the Lord:* he complains of God, when the fault is in himself. (See More Nevochim, par. iii. cap. 12.) Onkclos translates it thus: They corrupted to themselves, not to him, children that served idols; i. e. as Paulus Fagius observes, They hurt themselves, not God, when, leaving him the true God, they turned to idols; for the word corrupt is commonly used in Scripture, where it speaks of the sin of idolatry. The Jerusalem paraphrast aims at the same sense. They are a perverse and crooked generation.] The whole body of them arc untoward and untractablo, walking contrary to God in all their ways; for there being a gemination (as they speak) of a syllable in the latter of these words (pethalthol), it increases the sense, and makes it the same with the superlative degree among us, importing the highest obliquity imaginable. And these words were never more exactly fulfilled than in the days of our blessed Saviour, who calls them a wicked and adulterous, a faithless and perverse generation, (Matt. xvi. 4. xvii. 17.) And in the days of the apostles, who call them’Atwoucj ah absurd kind of people, (2 Thess. iii. 3.) tvho pleased not God, and were contrary to all men, (1 Thess. ii. 15.) Ver. G. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise?] He upbraids them with their senseless folly and fonl ingratitude y which in the following words he demonstrates, by representing the obligations he had laid upon them. Is not he thy father.] Having adopted them in a peculiar manner to be his children, above all other people. Who hath bought thee?] When he rescued them from the slavery of Egypt. Hath not hemade thee.] Advanced them (for so the word asa is translated, 1 Sam. xii. G.) to be a great and mighty people. (See Psal. c. 3.) And established thee?] By settling them in excellent order, under the government of most wise and righteous laws. (See the fourth chapter of this book, ver. 7,8.). And lie was king in Jeshurniu] Or, for he was king, that is, under God, the supreme ruler and governor of Israel; and therefore in his name, and by his authority, required them to observe these laws. Which plainly shews him to have had the supreme power in all things, both civil and sacred. Which is excellently expressed by our Mr. Thorudike, in his Review of the Rites of the Church, &c. p. 68. where he observes, " That the Israelites, being made a free people by the act of God bringing..them out of Egypt* and entitling them to the land of Canaan, upon the covenant ofthelaw, had Moses not only for their prophet and their priest (for by him Aaron and his successors were put into the priesthood, the tabernacle and all belonging to it consecrated), but also for their king, their lawgiver, their judge, and commander-in-chief of their forces, under God, if not rather God by Moses, For we find, that, after Moses’s decease, cither God by some extraordinary.signification of his will and pleasure, stirred up some man in his stead for the time; or, if there was none such, ruled their proceedings himself, by urim and thummin answering their demands* and directing what to do, and what course to follow, in all the, public affairs that concerned the state of that people. Whereupon, when they required Samuel to make them a king, he declared it was not Samuel, but himself, whom they. had rejected: because they had rejected him whom God had immediately set over them in his own stead, by whose death the power returned to God, as at the be- " ginning.” Concerning the word Jeshurun,. see xxxii. 15. and Selden, lib. ii. de Synedr. cap. 2. n. 2. When the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.] To renew their covenant with God, and to receive his last commands. (See xxix. 1, 2, 9, 10.xxxi.28,29.)- Ver. G. Let Reuben live, and not die, and let not his men be feiv.] In the. last clause of this verse, we repeat the word?zo£ (which is.wanting in the Hebrew) without any necessity: for.the words may be thus translated exactly, let Reuben live; and not die, though his men be few. Which seems to be a confirmation of the prophecy of Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 4.) that he should not excel, and yet should live, andnot perish; that is, be in some measure a flourishing tribe>, though not so numerous as some others. (See there.) And possibly it may be here suggested, that though they passed armed over Jordan before their brethren to settle them there, (according to their engagement, Numb, xxxii. 27, Josh. iv. 12, 13.) yet none of them should perish, but both they, and their wives, and children, that stayed behind them, should be all preserved. *

Deuteronomy 32:7

Remember the days of old. Look back as far as you aro able. Consider the years of many generations.] Consult the most ancient records; which would inform them how God chose their father Abraham long ago, and promised to.bless his posterity, as he did Isaac and Jacob in a most eminent manner; and sent Joseph by a wonderful providence into Egypt to preserve them from starving, &c. Ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.] All this is to express the same thing, that they should advise with those that knew more than themselves; and particularly with old men (as the word may be understood which wo translate elders), who, by the benefit of their great age, had heard and seen more than others, and could tell them how God had dealt with them, ever since he brought them by a wonderful power out of the land of Egypt. And this is the blessing of Judah.] As much as to say, Judah shall be remarkably blessed. For these words [this, is the blessing] are used of none of the rest of thetribes, qither of Reuben, which went before, or the others that follow after. Here is no mention made of Simeon (who was next to Reuben), because that tribe was included in Judah, with whom their possessions were mixed, (Josh. xix..l.) and therefore they Avent together to make expeditions, (Judg* i. 3.) Judah also is here put before Levi, because it was to be the royal tribe, according to the prophecy of Jacob; which Moses was assured God would fulfil, and therefore prays as follows: And he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah. Grant his petition, when lie calls for help against his enemies. So On-, kelos paraphrases it, Hear his prayer when. he. goes forth to xvar. And bring him unto his people.] Return him home in peace unto his people; as the same Onkelos expounds it. Let his hands be sufficient for him.] To avenge him of his enemies, as he also explains it. And be thou a help to him from his enemies.] Suffer them not to prevail over him, but give him the victory, when he fights with them. So the JerusalemTarguin paraphrases these two last passages; Let his hands exercise revenge upon his enemies in battles, and, do thou support and. sustain him against those that hate him. This was notoriously fulfilled in this tribe, which was the most valiant and successful of all other. For in all their wars this tribe was the principal; and the safety of all the rest seems to have depended upon this. (Sec Judg. i. 1, 2, &c.

Deuteronomy 32:8

When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance. Ho directs them still to look farther back, and they would find that long before Abraham’s time God had them in his thoughts, even when he divided the earth among the sons of Noah and their posterity after the flood, (Gen. x. 5. 25. 32.) Wkm he separated the sons of Adam.] Or, the sons of men; who were one people, till he scattered them into several parts of the earth, and separated them into divers nations, by confounding their language, (Gen. xi. 8, 9.) He set the bounds of the people, according to the number of the children of Israel.] He had then the children of Israel in his mind, before they were a nation; andmadesuch a ^distribution to other people (particularly to the seven nations of Canaan), within such bounds and limits, as that there might be sufficient room for so numerous a people as the Israelites, when they came to take possession of that country. How the LXX. came to translate these words thus, He appointed the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels, it is hard to say. Bochartus hath made the best conjecture about it (which was hinted by De Muis before him), lib. i. Phaleg. cap. 15. that they had a bad copy before them, which left out the three first letters of Israel; and so they read Baneel, the children of God, meaning the Israelites. Instead of which some transcribers put the angels of God, because they are sometimes called his sons. Which led the ancient Greek fathers, who followed this translation, into great difficulties: and it grew a common opinion, that every nation was under the government of an angel; which seems to.be the meaning also of the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xvii. 17. And many others fancying that God divided the nations according to the number of the children of Israel, when they came into Egypt, which was just seventy, they thence gather there were just so many distinct nations, and so many several languages; which is a conceit of some of the Jews, as Sir. Seldcn observes, lib. ii. de Synedr. cap. 9. But Bo-* chart, in the place abovenamed, hath given the plain and simple meaning of this place in these words: " God so distributed the earth among the several people that were therein, that he reserved, or in his counsel designed, such a part of the earth for the Israelites, who w T cre then unborn, as he knew would afford a commodious habitation to a most numerous nation.”

Deuteronomy 32:9

For the Lord’s portion is his people. And not satisfied with this kindness, he chose them alone, out of nil other nations, to be under his special care, and to enjoy singular privileges, which none other had; and therefore they are called his peculiar treasure, (Exod. xix. 5.) This Origen maintains to be true against all the cavils of Cclsus, lib. v. p. 250. edit. Cantabr. where he shews how beneficial their laws were; and that they were taught so early to know God, to believe the immortality of the soul, and rewards and punishments in the life to come, as demonstrated they were distinguished from all other people whatsoever. (See p. 260.) Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.] This is the same thing repeated in other words; alluding to the manner of measuring and dividing lands by cords, as the word in the Hebrew is, which we translate lot. (See Psal. xvi. G. and chap. 4. of this book, ver. 20.)

Deuteronomy 32:10

He found him in a desert land. There he first took the Israelites to be his peculiar people; for so the word we translate found frequently signifies. As in Psal. %* V« U J CHAP. XXXII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. cxvi. 3. the pains of hell gat hold upon me; where in the Hebrew the words axe, found me. And in the New Testament, (Rom. iv. 1.) Wliat shall we say then, that Abraham our father Jutth found? that is, attained. In the waste howling wilderness.] Desolate and void of all sustenance; where nothing was to be heard but the howlings and yellings of wild beasts, (Deut. viii-15.) He led him about.] Conducted the Israelites from place to place, (Numb, xxxiii. 1, 2, &c.) He instructed him.’] Gave them his laws, (Exod. xx. 1, 2, &c. xxxiv. I. 10, &c.) He kept him as the apple of his eye.] Protected and defended them from all dangers with extraordinary care; for there is nothing of which we are more tender than the sight of our eyes; which God hath guarded by several coats and humours, and eye-lids fenced with hairs, to preserve it from hurt. Unto which B. Levi ben Gersom thinks these words allude. They provoked him to jealousy.] Made him extremely angry with them. For so jealousy is described as the rage of a man, Prov. vi. 34. With strange gods.] Whom they fell in love withal, and worshipped. This was the ground of his jealousy, their falseness to God, who had espoused them to himself. And the Hebrew word zar (strange) we sometimes translate another, (Job xix. 27.) So that a strange god and another god are the very same, (Psal. Ixxxi. 9. Exod. xx. 3.) Therefore God saith he will not give his glory to another, (Isa. xlii. 8.) and that their sorrows shall be multiplied.that hasten after another god, (Psal. xvi. 4.) With abominatio7t$ provoked they him to anger.] I take this to be a repetition of the same thing, their idols being called abominations, because God exceedingly hates them, (vii. 25. 1 Kings xi. 5.) Though R. Solomon and Abarbinel, by abominations, here understand those filthy mixtures forbidden in Lev. xviii. with witchcrafts, and suchlike Wickedness. And Abarbinel refers the first part of this verse to tho times under the first temple, when they worshipped the sun, moon, and stars; and tho latter part irff l/f wwwJ CHAP. XXXII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. of it to the times under tlie second temple, when, though they were free from idolatry, they were corrupted with other abominable filthiness.

Deuteronomy 32:11

As an eagle stirreth’ttp her nest, &,c. Eagles are observed to have a most tender affection to their young ones; who are here meant by her nest, as Bochartus observes (it being a common figure used by other authors, to put continens pro contento), whom she provokes to fly (which is meant by stirring up her nest) by fluttering over them with her wings stretched out. Upon which she’ takes them while they are so weak and feeble that they fail in their attempt to fly, and supporteth them till they recover strength to commit themselves unto the air. See Hicrozoicon, par. ii. lib. ii. cap. 3. and I. G. Vossius de Orig. et Progr. Idolol. lib. iii. cap. 77. where he observes, that this kindness to her young ones is chiefly found in the black eagle; though something of it be seen in others; which may be the reason they lay but a few eggs, because they arc not able to educate many young ones with such tender care.

Deuteronomy 32:12

So the Lord alone did lead him. Numb. xiv. •14. This is an exact resemblance of God’s tender care of his people Israel. Whom he solicited, by Moses and Aaron, to aspire after their liberty, when they were oppressed in Egypt; just as an eagle excites her young ones, when they lie drowsy in the filth of their nest, to fly away. And as the eagle flutters over them, with her wings spread abroad, so God by his Spirit moved the Israelites to be obedient to their deliverers out of Egypt. For Moses uses the very same word, when he speaks of the Spirit of God moving upon the waters, Gen. i. 2. And as the eagle carries her fainting young ones on her wings, so God supported them when they were weary, and upheld them in dangerous ways. Insomuch, that he is said to carry them in his arms, as a father doth his child, (Deut. i. 31. Hosea i.l. 3.) See Bochartus in the place abovenamed, cap. 4. And. there teas no strange god with him.] To help or assist him: but by his almighty power alone they were protected and preserved. Which made their sin the more heinous, in sacrificing to other gods, (ver. 17.) as if they had been their benefactors.

Deuteronomy 32:13

He made him ride On the high places of the earth. Brought the Israelites in a triumphant manner to possess a noble country, full of lofty and very fruitful mountains, which were in Canaan, where they lived deliriously. So to ride signifies, as Bochartus thinks, laute et opipare viverc. Which he justifies by that place in Hosea,;x. 11. 1 will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods; that is, saith he, the people of Israel lived in pleasure, when Judah lived laboriously, (par. i. Hierozoic. lib. i. cap. 41.) But to ride signifies, also, to subdue and conquer; which may be the meaning here, Psal. xiv. 4. Ixvi. 12. and to have dominion and rule, as Maimonides interprets it, in his More Nevochim, par. i. cap. 70. In which sense ijt is said of God himself, in the next chapter of this hook, He rideth upon the heavens for thy help, ver. 26. And he rideth upon Araboth the highest heavens, (Psal. Ixviii. 4.) That he might eat the increase of the field.] Abundance of corn and fruit. And he made him to suck honey out of the rock.] Wild honey; which was esteemed an excellent food in tliat country, and was sometimes found upon the ground, sometimes in the hollow part of trees, and sometimes in the clefts of rocks, as Bochartus observes out of good authors, (Hierozoicon, par. ii. lib. iv. cap. 15.) This rock-honey seems to be spoken of as the best of this kind, being joined with the finest wheat, Psal. Ixxxj. ult. And oil out of the flinty rock.] No part of this country being barren, but affording something or other for their sus-. tenance; though’ some say that the olive-tree thrives best in rocky places. Columella himself observes, that it doth not delight either in low places or in high, but " magis modicos clivos amat," but rather loves the sides of moderatelyrising hills, (lib. vi. cap. G.) And D. Chytraeus notes, that as the most generous wine is produced upon the Rhine, below Mentz, out of the hardest flints; " sic oleae locis petrosis sterilibus non infelicitcr proveniunt;" so olive-trees grow prosperously in stony andbarrenplaces,(tom..p.l73.)

Deuteronomy 32:14

Butter of kine. The use of butter was very ancient among the Hebrews, though lately known to the Greeks, (as I observed upon Gen. xviii. 8.) and it was accounted an excellent food. And milk of sheep.] Which the Scripture often mentions, (Isa. vii. 21, 22. 1 Cor. ix. 1. 7.) And under the word tzon, as hath been often observed, goats also are comprehended; whose milk likewise is mentioned, Proy. xxvii. 27. Aristotle mentions both, and so doth Columella, and a great many others, in Bochart’s Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. ii.cap, 45, whero he proves that they made butter of these milks, as well as of cows. With the fat of lambs.] Well fed. For carim properly signifies pasture sheep, as the same Bochart there observes, (cap. 43.) And rams of the breed ofBashan.] A country famous for excellent pasture; being €uJ3otoc koL tvavSrjg, &c. as St. Cyril calls it. (See Numb, xxxii. 1. 4.) And goats.] Of the breed of that country. With the fat of kidneys of ivheat.].Thc Hebrews call the best of every kind of thing by the name of the fat. And the kidneys of wheat signify large and plump corn, affording great plenty of flour. Cajetau thinks it signifies wheat as big as a kidney; or rather, having that shape,, as our kidney-beans have. And thou shalt drink the pure blood of the grapes.] Most generous red wine; very clear and bright. So Achil. Tatius, lib. ii. calls wine at/aa fiorpvuv. Jiaimonides, in his More Nevochim, par. ii. cap. 47. takes all the expressions in this verse to be metaphorical, signifying (as Onkelos allegorizes them) the possession of Microsoft® [chap, xxxir. all their enemies’ cities and goods, after they bad poured out their blood like water on the ground. Vcr. 15. Jeshunm waxed fat.] Grew rich, saith Onkelos and the Jerusalem Targum. And kicked.] Against him who fed him so plentifully and deliciously. It seems to bo a metaphor taken from oxen, who, being stirred up with a goad to labour, lift up their heels and kick against him who pricks them forward. So did the Israelites when they were urged and pressed to their duty by tho prophets; not only despised, but evil-entreated thciri. Why Israel is called Jeshunm is not easy to resolve. Jo. Cocceius (in his Ultima Mosis, sect. 973.) derives it from Shur, which signifies to see, behold, or descry. From whence, in the future tense and the plural number, comes Jeshuru, which, by the addition of nun parogogicum, as they speak, makes Jeshurun, that is, The people who had the vision of God. I know nothing more simple, nor more probable than this; which highly aggravated their sin, who, having God so nigh unto them, (iv. 7.) and their elders hiving had a sight of him, (Exod. xxiv. 10.)M r ere so ungrateful as to rebel against him, and worship other gods. Some refer this kicking to their revolt from the house of David; when Jeroboam, to preserve his new kingdom, set up the golden calves, to prevent the return of the people to their old master, by going up to Jerusalem to worship. Thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art cor vcred with fatness.] This variety of expressions is used to signify how exceeding bountifully God had provided for them; and withal, how very wanton and insolent they were grown, as cattle fed in a fat pasture are wont to be. The words with fatness (after covered) arc not in the Hebrew, but are well supplied out of other places, particularly Psal. xvii.10. Then he forsook God.] The Jerusalem Targum here hath it, They forsook the Word dfGod. Which made him.] Advanced them from a desert where he found them, (ver. G. 10.) into a very rich and plentiful country. This was the lamentable effect of their plethora, or fulness; unto which we are all too prone, as an excellent person of our own hath long ago observed. “Even such as seem most upright (saith he) when they wax fat, spurn with the heel, and cast away the memory of their misery, and of God’s former mercy, behind their backs. And what was the reason that the Israelites waxed thus full and fat? Only because they did not use that exercise which God had appointed to keep them under, and preserve their hearts from being lifted up: (Deut. viii. 11, &c.)’ Take heed to thyself, lest when thou hast eaten, and filled thyself, &.c. then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt/ &c. The daily and lively representation, or re-, cognition of their condition there, should have been as usual to them as their meat and drink, yea, as it were, their thanksgiving before and after meats,” as our Dr. Jackson speaks, book xi. on tho Creed; chap. 34. And Maimonides himself, mentioning those very words, " Lest when thou hast eaten, and filled thyself," &c. very well observes, that to prevent pride and apostacy, which grow out of great plenty, God commanded them to offer their first-fruits before him every year, with a solemn confession, how poor they were in the beginning, and then raised by God to be a mighty people, (Deut. xxvi. 5, G, Sec.) For which end the Passover was instituted, " That they might remember the day when they came forth out of Egypt ail the days of their life/’ (Deut. xvi. 3.) See JMorc Nevoch. par. ii. cap. 39. And lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation.] As there was a progress in their insolent forgetfulness of God, oxpressed in three phrases, which may signify three degrees of their stupidity (waxen fat, grown thick, and covered - with fatness), so some observe as many degrees of their rebellion: first, they kicked against God, i. e. threw off the yoke of his laws, and refused to observe them; secondly, they forsook God, and fell into idolatry; and, lastly, they lightly esteemed the Rock of their salvation. Where the Hebrew word nibbel signifies more than a light esteem; for, if it come from nebelah, a dead carcass (as some think it doth), it denotes the greatest abhorrence, nothing being so much abominated among the Jews as a dead carcass, the touching of which was the highest pollution. And thus J. Cocceius and Campeg. Vitringa understand it; who observe that this was never so fulfilled as in their behaviour towards our Lord Christ, who was indeed the Rock of their salvation, and so vilely used by them, as if he had been the most loathsome man upon earth. So Vitringa expounds these words, (in his Observ. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. 9. p. 173.) " instar flagitii tractavit rupem salutis sure." For this is a word used by God himself, when he would express his utter detestation of Nineveh, and his dealing with her according to her abominable wickedness, Nahum iii. G. " I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile," &c. and when he speaks of the. disgrace he would put upon his own temple, Jer. xiv. 21. The LXX. indeed simply expound the word aviarr), he departed; but the last words they expound ct7ro rov Otov awrfjpoc avrov, from God his Saviotir, as Onkelos also, his most mighty Redeemer. Which, in the most eminent sense, is the Lord Jesus; for none brought such salvation to them, and wrought such a redemption for them, as he did; who is " the stone which God laid in Sion/’&c. (Isa. xxviii. 3G.) But instead of flying to him, as men in danger do to a rock, or strong fortress, they not only rejected him, but abused and put the highest indignities upon him.

Deuteronomy 32:17

They sacrificed to devils, and not to God. The Hebrew r word schedim, which we translate devils^ imports as much as destroyers; (as the devil is called, in the book of Revelation, ix. 11.) evil spirits delighting in mischief, and leading those that worship them into perdition. Though some think they are called schedim ironically, by way of scorn, the true God being Schaddai, the.Omnipotent, and All-sufficient; and these called, by way of mockery, comkterfeit gods, who had no power to help their worshippers, nor were sufficient to preserve themselves. Either of these accounts of the word is better than that of Manasseh ben Israel, who derives it from TXW a field, because they frequent desert places. But then they should have been called sedim, not schedim, as he must needs know, who was a great master in the Hebrew learning. The LXX. cell them here $atp6vta, and so doth the apostle, 1 Cor. x. 19. because the demons led men into the impiety of worshipping other gods, either themselves or other beings, which they persuaded simple people had some divinity in them; and that not only the stars, but even beasts here upon the earth, nay, onions and garlic, which they did not take to be gods, but things by which, as intermediate causes, their gods w T ere pleased or offended with them, and therefore worshipped them. - To gods whom they knew not.] Or, as the words may be translated, gods that knew not them, that is, had never bestowed any benefits upon them: for, as it follows, they were new gods, never before heard of by their an* cestors. New gods, that newly came up.] Such as Jeroboam’s calves, invented out of his own brain; and the gods of other nations, Moloch and Baal, which were new to the Israelites, and had not been known among them; for the demon gods were of no great antiquity: Bel, or Baal (as he is called in the Chaldee dialect), the first king of Babel after Nimrod, being the first that ever was deified (as Mr. Mede observes), or reputed a god after his death; whence all other demons were called Baalim, as all the Roman emperors were called Caesars, from the first emperor of that name. (See p. 776.) Besides which the heathens had another higher sort of demons, which had never been linked to a mortal body, viz. those we call angels, who the Israelites were taught to be but ministers unto their God, and therefore not to be worshipped. Wltom your fathers feared not.] That is, did not worship. This was a great aggravation of their guilt, that when they would have other objects of worship, they did not Teturn unto those whom their ancestors had reverenced (the Teraplum, for instance, which were the gods of Laban and Rachel), for whose worship they might have pretended tradition; but chose gods whom their forefathers were not acquainted withal; which was a token of a strange proneness to idolatry. And Maimonides, mentioning this verse, observes, that they worshipped not only things that had a being, but mere imaginations: for which he quotes these words of the book Siphri: " It was not enough that they worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, and celestial signs, but they worshipped their shadow." (More Ncvochim, par. iii. cap. 4G.)

Deuteronomy 32:18

Of the Rock that begat thee. God, the author of thy being. See ver. 4. Thou art unmindful.] Being wholly intent to idols, which they themselves have made. And hast forgotten God that formed thee.] Into a kingdom of priests, making them his peculiar people, (Exod. xix.5, 6.)

Deuteronomy 32:19

And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them. Cast them off as they had done him. Because of the provoking of his sons and of his dauglh* ters.] For* so they were till they corrupted themselves, and thereby highly incensed him against them: for nothing can be so provoking as the rebellion of children against a most indulgent parent. Maimonides translates it, By reason of his angdr against his sons and his daughters, More Nevochim, par. i. cap. 36. w r here he observes, we never find the word caas (which is hero. used, signifying indignation), in Scripture, applied to God, but only when it speaks of idolatry.

Deuteronomy 32:20

And he said. Resolved. I will hide my face from them.] See xxxi. 17, IS. I will see wliat their end shall be.] Not cease my judgments till I have brought the sorest calamities upon them, and made an end of thenr, that is, of their polity and government. For they are a very froward generation.] Incorrigibly wicked. Children in whom there is no faith.] Who had broken their covenant with him (xxxi. 16.) so often, that they were not to be trusted, when they made profession of repentance. The book of Judges, and, indeed, their whole history, testifies to the truth of this.

Deuteronomy 32:21

Tliey have moved me to jealousy. See ver. 16. With that which is not God.] By worshipping God’s creatures, or the work of their own hands. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities.] The same thing, in other words; all the gods of the nations, whom the Israelites imitated, being mere vanities (or things of nought, as the Jerusalem Targum hath it), as hath been often observed. And I will move them to jealousy.] He threatens to be even with them, and serve them in their kind. lffith those that are not a people.] Who either were not a nation in being at this time, or so obscure, base, and ignoble, that they were not worthy the name of a nation. The Jews interpret it to the Chaldeans; whom God Taised up on a sudden, when nohody would believe it, (Habak. i. 5, 6, &c.)to be a terrible scourge to them. (See Isa. xxiii. 13.) And I will provoke them to anger tvith a foolish nation.] The Jews thought all nations so, except themselves. And, in one sense, all the gentiles were really so: for nothing was more foolish than to worship creatures meaner than themselves, (Jer. x. 8.) The apostle applies this unto the bestowing the blessing of the Messiah, whom the Jews refused, upon the gentile world, (Rom. x. 19.) which strangely enraged the Jews; as we see, when our Saviour first mentioned it, Matt. xxi. 43, 44, &c. and when St. Paul did but speak of going to preach unto them, Acts xxii. 21, 22. and see IThess. ii. 15, 16. And through all ages since it hath made them gnash their teeth to sec so many nations subject unto our Saviour, and honour him as God, whom they rejected as the vilest of men. Microsoft® 3G [chap. XXXII. Vcr. 22. For afire is kindled in mine anger.) Great and sore calamities are compared to fire in Scripture, (Ezek. xxx. 8.) which God here threatens to send upon them, as the woful effects of his heavy displeasure. And shall bum unto the lowest hell.] Never ccaso till they have destroyed them. For hell and destruction seem to ho the same, (Prov. xv. 11.) And therefore the lowest hell signifies the depth of misery. And shall consume the earth with Iwr increase.] Make an litter desolation in the country, (Isa. i. 7.) And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.] Subvert the strongest fortresses, which were accounted impregnable. Such as Jerusalem (which ltasi thinks is here meant), in whose last destruction this was perfectly fulfilled, as it was in part at the first, (2 Kings xxv. 9.) For Titus himself, as Josephus relates, (lib. vii. do Bello Judaico, cap. 43.) observing tho vast height of the walls, the bigness of every’ stone, tho exact order wherein they were laid and compacted, &c. cried out— God was with us in this war, he drove the Jews from these munitions, iirti x"/^c t* twv av- SptoTTuyv, t) /urj^avai, rl vpbc rovrovc tovc nvpyovc Svvavrai: for what could men’s hands or machines do against such toivers? r Which calls to mind what is related, not only by St. Chrysostom, Sozomcn, Socrates, but by Ammianus Marcellinus himself, a heathen historian (lib. xxiii. beginning), how that when Julian, the apostate, ordered the temple of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, terrible globes of fire burst out, prope fundamenta, from the very foundations, which overturned all, burnt the workmen, and mado the place so inaccessible, that. they desisted from the attempt. The certainty of this hath extorted tho. same confession from the Jews themselves (David Ganz, in his Tzeraach David, and R. Gedaliah, in Schal. Hakkabala), though they pretend thq building went on and was finished, but after many years overthrown by an earthquake. Vcr. 23. I will Jteap mischiefs upon them.] Which shall miserably oppress and crush them. And spend all my arrows, upon (hem.] His judgments and plagues are often compared to arrows shot at them, (Psal. vii. 12, 13. xxxviii. 2. xci. 5.) And ho speaks in the language of an archer, who shoots till he hath emptied his quiver, and hath not one arrow left.

Deuteronomy 32:24

They shall be burnt with hunger. This verse and the next explain what he means by arrows, which are here enumerated. And, first, he threatens a famine, with which he saith they should be burnt; cither because these judgments are compared to fire, ver. 22. or because extreme hunger parches the inward parts, and makes the visage as black as a coal,as Jeremiah speaks, Lament, iv.8. And devoured with burning heat.] With fevers, and calentures, as they arc called in hot countries. And with bitter destruction.] With the pestilence; which he calls bitter, because it was incurable. And I will send the teeth of wild beasts upon thee.] This was another of the sore judgments, which God threatened to their disobedience. (Sec Lev. xxvi. 22.) Upon which Maimonides observed, that magicians were wont to promise them, by their arts, to free their cities, fields, and plantations from lions and serpents, and such-like hurtful creatures; unto whose power God delivered them, because they forsook him, and followed idolaters and magicians, (More Nevoch. par. iii. cap. 37.) 111th the poison of serpents of the dnst.] Whose bitings were deadly. And they were exposed to them, as well as to wild beasts, when they were forced to fly into wildernesses, and hide themselves in dens and caves; where some of them could not avoid being devoured by wild beasts, and bitten by serpents, which lay lurking in those holes. So Cocccius, in his Ultima Mosis, sect. 1271. where he notes also, that this was fulfilled in part when they were thrown by the Romans to wild beasts in the theatres, as Josephus relates, lib. vi. de Bello Judaico, cap. 1G. 20.

Deuteronomy 32:25

The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy. They could no where bo safe; for in the field the sword of their enemies cut them off; and at home they did not think themselves secure in their closest chamber, but died with fear, or made away themselves, lest they should fall into tho hands of those that sought to destroy them. (See Lament, i. 20.) Or, perhaps, by the terror tuithin, may be meant famine and pestilence, (Ezek. vii. 15.) Both the young man and the virgin, the suckling, with the man of grey hairs.] He threatens to deliver them into such merciless hands, as would spare none, nor make any difference of sex or of age. This Huetius refers to the last destruction of Jerusalem, in his Dcmonstr. Evang. propos, ix. cap. 173. and Abarbinel also confesses it was then fulfilled.

Deuteronomy 32:26

I said. i. e. Resolved. I would scatter them into corners; I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men.] Utterly destroy them, so that not one of them should be found; and if any remained they should skulk, and not dare to appear among men.

Deuteronomy 32:27

Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy. He that is omnipotent is not capable of fearing any thing: but he speaks in our language, and gives this reason why he did not make them cease to be a nation, because he would not have their enemies insult, and grow outrageous in their insolent language, even against himself. Of which we find an instance, Isa. xxxvii. 28, 29. Lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely.] Ascribe all this to their false gods (as Cocceius understands it), which are called strange gods, (ver. 1G.) And lest they should say, Our hand is high.] Imagine their own power and valour had destroyed the Jews; as both the Assyrians and Chaldeans boasted. (Isa. x. 7, 8, &c. Habak. i. 15, 1G.) And the Lord hath not done all this.] And attribute nothing to the Most High in all the business. Certain it is, the wickedness of the Jews was so, exceeding great, that their final extirpation had been accomplished many generations before it came to pass, had the Lord been only just, and respected nothing but their deserts, whom he very often preserved when they might have been justly destroyed, for such reasons as he himself here gives; that his glory might not be impeached among the nations, but they might sec by the strange deliverances and restorations of the Jews, that " their God was a God of gods," most worthy to be honoured by all the world, as he himself speaks below, ver. 3G. So. Dr. Jackson well observes, book i. on the Creed, chap. 22. sect. 4. The marginal translation of this last clause is also agreeable to the Hebrew, Our high hand, and not the Lord, hath done all this. To prevent which wrong construction of Microsoft ® CHAP. XXXII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. God’sjudgments upon them, he took such a time for the execution of them (as Conradus Pellicanus well observes), when the world began to be better instructed by the com r ing of Christ. So that Titus himself said, as I noted before; that it was God, and not the hands of the Romans, that destroyed them. (Sec xxix. 24. and this chapter, ver. 22.)

Deuteronomy 32:28

For they are a nation void of counsel. The Hebrew word abad (which is commonly translated perish, and here we translate void) signifies, in the Ethiopia language, is foolish or mad, as Job Ludolphus observes in his excellent history of that country. Which makes it probable this was the ancient sense of the word among the Hebrews, and gives the best account of this place, which may be thus translated, They are a nation foolish in their counsel. Whose counsels led them to such courses as utterly undid them; and ^yhen they seemed most wise they madly ruined themselves. And thus those words of Jeremiah may be best translated, " The heart of the king is foolish/’ (iv, 9.) Neither is there any understanding in them.’] They did not understand what was good for themselves; but imprudently chose that which did them mischief. Some refer this to the enemies of the Jews before spoken of: but that seems not so agreeable to what follows, which relates to the same persons, and most likely expresses God*s compassion towards the senseless Jews. Huetius applies this to their stupid blindness at their last destruction; which they were so far from preventing, that they drew it upon themselves, as Josephus shews. (See xxviii. 28, 29.)

Deuteronomy 32:29

Oh that they were wise,. So as seriously to consider God’s dealing with them exactly, according to what he foretold them. That they understood this, &c] Or, as it may be translated, Tlien would they understand this, they would consider their latter end. They would soon perceive the hand of God in all that is befallen them; and that if they do not change their course, they will, in the conclusion, be utterly undone.

Deuteronomy 32:30

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight?. Whence should such an amazing change proceed? that the Israelites, who formerly with a handful of men put vast armies to flight, (Lev. xxvi. 8.) should now, though never so numerous, be beaten by one or two of their enemies, fleeing when none pursues them? (Lev. xxvi. 17. 36, 37. Deut. xxviii. 25.) Except their Rock had sold them.] A little consideration was sufficient to make them understand, that this had been impossible if they had not forsaken their God; who thereupon delivered them up to the will of their enemies. For by their Rock is meant God; and his selling them is his quitting his interest in them, and giving them up to be slaves to those that hated them. And the Lord had shut them up.] So that they could not escape the hands of their enemies.

Deuteronomy 32:31

For their rock is not as our Rock. None of the gods of the heathen (whom he calls their rock, because they relied on them for safety) have such power as he that gave us our being. So Maimonides interprets the word tznr, the spring and fountain of all things. Our enemies themselves being judges:] Who were often forced to acknowledge his overruling power and providence, controlling all their designs. As the Egyptians vol. 11. confessed, Exod. xiv. 2. 6. and Balaam, Numb, xxiii. 19.- 22. and the Philistines, 1 Sara. iy. 7, 8. and the king of Babylon, Dan. iii. 29.

Deuteronomy 32:32

For their vine is the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah. I suppose he speaks here of the Israelites, (giving an account why their enemies so shame* fully chased them, ver. 30.) who are compared io a vine, which God brought out of Egypt, and planted in Canaan, (Psalm lxxx. 8.) And the prophet afterward calls them the plant of his pleasure, (Isa. v. 7.) Which was an ancient resemblance, as appears, by this place; where he represents them as such a degenerate people, that they were as bad (nay, worse, as the marginal translation is) as the Sodomites, or the people of Gomorrah: and therefore deserved (ver. 26.) to be utterly destroyed, as they were. (See Isa> i. 10. Jer. ii. 21.) * Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.] These words represent their actions (called fruit in Scripture) to be so wicked that they were not to be endured. And so Josephus describes them before their last destruction, lib. vi. de Bello Judaico, cap. tilt, where he saith, if the Romans had delayed to fall upon such a wicked peo* pie, he thinks either the earth would have opened its mouth and swallowed them up, or a flood drowned their city, or thunder and lightning from heaven destroyed it, as it did Sodom. IIoXv yap twv Tavra iraSovrwv rj/wyicc yeveav aScwripav, for they were a more atheistical generation than they who suffered such things. And again, (lib. vii. cap. 30.) he saith, that the time when they were destroyed was so fruitful in all manner of wickedness among the Jews, wc fir\llv KaiciagtpyQv a7rpaicrov KctTaXnreiv, that there was no one work of wickedness that was not committed; nor can one imagine any thing so bad that they did not do; endeavouring publicly, as well as privately, to excel one another both in intpiety towards God and injustice to their neighbours.

Deuteronomy 32:33

Their wine is the poison of dragons. This still represents their fruit, that is, their works, to be most pernicious, beingcompared to the poison of dragons. Many authors, indeed, say that dragons have no poison in them (as B. Chytroeus and others observe); but as the Hebrew word thaanim signifies any kind of serpent, so it is certain that the dragons of Afric and Arabia had a deadly poison in them, though those of Greece had not; as the famous Bochartus shews at large, in his Hierozoicon, par. ii. lib. iii. cap. 14. Who also observes, in another place, that the Hebrew word rosch signifying both the head and also poison; the poison of serpents lies partly in their gall, partly in their teeth, and partly in a little bladder under their * tongue, (par. i. lib. i. cap. 4.) And the cruel venom of asps.] The poison of asps is called cruel, because it is accounted the acutest of all other^’ instantly penetrating into the vital parts. Whence the proverb §ijy/xa a<nrilwv, the biting of asps, for an incurable wound. For they who are bitten with an asp seldom escape with their life; as Aristotle, Pliny, and a great many other authors observe, in Bochart. par. ii. lib. iii. cap. 5.

Deuteronomy 32:34

Is not this. That is, the vengeance he is going to speak of in the following verses. For this particle hu often refers to what comes after, not to what goes before, as Cocccius observes. Laid up in store with me.] To be produced in due time. Sealed up among my treasures?] He speaks of itas a Microsoft® [chap, xxxk matter determined or decreed, as deeds are which aro signed and scaled, though not presently executed, but kept safely in a cabinet. And the meaning of this verse is, that though he do not speedily punish evil-doers, it is not because he doth not observe them, or forgets what they do; for ho hath prefixed a time to reckon with them, as will appear in the issue.

Deuteronomy 32:35

To me belongeth vengeance and recompence. As the supreme Lord, Governor, and Judge of the world, whose office it is to punish offenders. It is evident the apostle, alleging theso words, (Rom. xii. 19.) Ipol «*§fio)<nc, Vengeance is wine (or to me belongeth vengeance), exactly follows the Hebrew text, and not the present LXX. which render these words, lv v^p^ €k&ici)<hwc avra7ro8w<rw, in the day of vengeance I will recompense. Their feet shall slide.] Though they think themselves unmoveably fixed in their dominion, they shall certainly fall. In due time.’] Not so soon, perhaps, as men may expect; but when the great Judgo of the world sees it most seasonable. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.] When they little thought of it, and prided themselves in their prosperity, God suddenly brought down the Chaldeans, who had been the great instruments of plaguing the Jews, (Isa. xlvii. 7—10, &c. Jer. 1. 35. 27. 31. li. G. 8.) And so shall the plagues of Babylon the great " come in one day. In one hour her great riches shall come to nought," (Rev. xviii.

Deuteronomy 32:36

>For the Lord shall judge his people. Plead their cause, as the Scripture elsewhere speaks, (Jer. 1. 34.) and deliver them from the oppression of their enemies; as this phrase is often used in the book of Psalms, (vii. 8, x. 18.) And repent himself for his servants.] Have mercy upon them (as the Vulgar truly expresses the sense), and turn his hand, which punishes them, upon their enemies. (See Jer. L20.li.24.) When he sees that their poiuer is gone.] That they are not able to help themselves. That is the due time or season, beforementioned, for God to interpose, when the enemies of his people think themselves irresistible, there being none able to oppose them. And there is none shut up, or left.] Some refer this to persons, and others to tilings; and either way it signifies their condition to be so forlorn, that they could do nothing, either by men or by money, for their deliverance. J. Forsterns translates these words, enstoditum ant neglectum, i. e. precious or vile. By which wonderful deliverance and restoration, when they were so totally destitute of all help, all the world was given to understand that there is no God like unto the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32:37

And he shall say. Or, It shall be said.. Wliere are their gods, their rock in tuhom they trusted?] It is dubious whether these words be directed to the Jews, or to the gentiles who had oppressed them. It seems most agreeable to take them as a reproach to the enemies of the Jews, who had long bragged of the power of their gods, and ascribed all their success to them, (ver. 27.) who now could not deliver them in their distress.

Deuteronomy 32:38

Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the nine of their drink-offerings. For the samo rites were used among the gentiles as among the Jews; who offered all the fat upon the altar, and there poured out the wine which accompanied the meat-offering, &c. (Sec Numb xv.) Tho LXX. refer this to the worshippers themselves, and translate it thus (agreeably enough to the Hebrew), Tliefat of whose sacrifices ye ate, and draiik the wine of their drink-offerings. And Onkelos to the same purpose. Let them rise up and help yon, and be your protection.] From the calamity which w r as unavoidably coming upon them, (Isa. xlvi. 1, 2. 7. Jer. li. 17, 18.)

Deuteronomy 32:39

See notu. Open your eyes now at last, and be convinced, by your sad experience, of your error. That I, even I, am he.] That it is I, and none but I, who have made these changes in the world: first making you instruments in punishing my pebple; and now inflicting the like punishments upon you, (Jer. li. 24, 25. 49.) The words in the Hebrew being, I, Iani he,, the author of the Old Nitzacon was sensible that we Christians might hence observe, that there arc two who are here called God, tho Father and the Son. And therefore takes care to inform his reader, that there are not two first principles of things. AVhich, as no Christian is so foolish as to affirm, so their own authors have acknowledged more persons than one, here called God. Thus Jonathan, in his paraphrase, plainly supposes another person in the Divinity, whom he calls the Word, when he thus explains this verse; When the Word of the Lord shall reveal himself to redeem his people, he shall say to all people, I am he that have been, and am, and shall be, (see Rev. i. 8.) and by my Word kill and make alive. I smote the people of Israel, and I will heal them in the end of the days. Which makes these w r ords a plain prophecy of the Messiah, and him to be God. And so the Jerusalem Targum: See, that I noro am he in my Word, and there is no god besides me: I am he who kill the living in this world, and raise the dead in the world to come, &c. And there is no god tvith me.] As I have no superior, so neither have I any equal. I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal.’] If I please to destroy any people for their sins, none can hinder me; and if any repent and implore my mercy, I restore them to perfect safety. K. Isaac, in his Chissuk Emuna, (par. i. cap. G. sect. 20.) alleges these words as a prophecy of the resurrection of the dead in the days of the Messiah. And in another place, (cap. 10.) he alleges them as an effectual confutation of those ancient heretics who imagined two sn-. preme powers; one of them, the author of all good; and the other, the author of all evil (which I observed upon Lev. xvi. to have been a very ancient opinion): for there could not be, they fancied, the same care which had an influence upon both. To remove which false conceit, God declares, I kill, as well as make alive, &c. And for the same reason he saith, in Isa. xlv. 7. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I the Lord do all these things. Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand] Nor can any reverse the judgment that I pass upon men. •

Deuteronomy 32:40

For I lift tip my hand to heaven. Swear solemnly to do what follows; viz. be revenged on his enemies, as well as deliver his people. Thus Abraham anciently sware, Gen. xiv. 22. And when God promised to bring the Israelites uito Canaan, he is said to lift up his hand, (Exod. Microsoft® CHA?. XXXII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY. vi. 8. Kehem. ix. 15.) From whence some think the word promittere is derived, signifying to engage by stretching out the hand: and that from thence sprang the custom of stretching out, and lifting up their hand, when they sware. WhieM the gentiles practised, as those known words of Virgil inform us, ^Erieid. xii. " Suspicions coelum tenditque ad sydera dextram." When God therefore is said to lift up his hand to heaven, the meaning is, he swears by himself; as it here follows. And say, I live for ever J] As sure as I live.

Deuteronomy 32:41

If I whet my glittering sword. Make all things ready for the execution of my judgments. And my hand take hold of judgment.’] I begin to punish. Iivillrender vengeance to mine enemies.] None shall stop my proceedings, to be fully avenged of them. And ivill reward them that hate me.] For, as Jeremiah speaks, li. 56. Tlie Lord God of recompences will surety requite. For it is the vengeance of the Lord: (as he speaks in the foregoing chapter concerning Babylon, 1. 15.) Take vengeance upon her;, as she hath done, dottnto Iter.

Deuteronomy 32:42

I ivill make mine arrows drunk tvith blood, and my sicord shall devour flesh. Make an exceeding great slaughter, (Isa. xxxiv. 5, 6.) With the blood of the slain, and of the captives.] This signifies none should be spared: for they should be killed who were taken captive, as well as tliose who fell-in the battle. From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.] How the Hebrew word paroth comes to signify revenges, I am not able to give an account; but in that sense we take it both here and in Judges v. 2. The word para* from whence it seems to be derived, signifies to make bare, or naked. And so the Vulgar Latin here understands it; and thence Joh. Forsterus hath given a probable sense of theso \vords (taking rosch, which we translate beginning, for the. head, as it properly signifies, or the king), in this manner, Because of the baring (i. e: making bare) of the head by the enemy; that is, the taking away of the kingdom and priesthood from Israel. The LXX. translate it a™ tc^aXyjc apx6vt(i)v l\0oh)v,from the head of the princes of the enemies* Which is a sense very agreeable, if we could find any word in the Hebrew like to paroth that signifies princes or rulers. But I think there is a more simple sense may be given of these words than any of the forementioned,- only by supposing the particle lamed to be omitted (as in many othefplaces) before paroth, which is this, From the king to the slave of the enemies. For they were wont to shave their captives, as every one knows, by way of contempt and, scorn. Which is the reason God threatens baldness so often to the Israelites by his prophets, when he was so angry with them, that he gave them up to be slaves.- Next to this is the translation of Onkelos, I will take away (those, words he adds) tlie crowns from thehead of the enemy. Which was the making the king’s head bare. ♦,;. This universal slaughter is most notably expressed’by Jeremiah, 1. 35—37. 43. And some think thisprophecy will be then most amply fulfilled,.when the Jews shall becalled, and niade members of the church of Christ. (See Dr. Jackson, book xi. on the Creed, chap. 12.) < •■

Deuteronomy 32:43

Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people. Here the particle eth is omitted before ammo, as I supposed, in tlie foregoing words, lamed to be before ^ paroth. Which made the Vulgar>anslate these words, O ye nations, praise his people. But the LXX. discerned the true sense, and translate it as wo do: the apostle having justified their translation in Rom. xv. 10. where lie expresses this, word for word, as they do, zb(f>pav%tiTz c’Svi; fizra row \aov airov, Rejoice ye gentiles with his people. But it must here be noted, that before these, words the LXX. have some other, which are very remarkable, EixppavSriTz ovpavolajxa avrtj>, koI irpoa- Kvvr<jaTU)vav avTt$ iravitg ayr/ikot Qtov, Rejoice ye heavens to-) gether with him, and let all the angels of God worship him, (and then follows, rejoice ye. gentiles with his people), which: are not in the Hebrew, nor in the Chaldee, and yet the. latter clause of them, Trgo<TKvvr<Tarb)<jav airy iravrtg ayyeAot Geou, let all the angels of God worship him; are the very words of the apostle, Heb. i. 6. which seem to have been» taken from hence out of the LXX.. for they are no where else tobe found in the Scripture. The margin, indeed, of our Bibles refers us to Psal. xevii, 7. But there the words: of the LXX. are otherwise, itgoatcvvnaaTz tivrtp irdvrtg ay-! ytXoi airov, worship Mm all ye his angels;.which are in.the second person; whereas here, and in the apostle, the wordsare in the third. We may therefore suppose rather, that the LXX. from ancient tradition among the Jews, added these words,, before they translated this verse, to declare unto what time the fulfilling of them should principally be-, long. For Psalm xcvii. seems to be but a descant (as Dr., Jackson’s words are) upon this part of Moses’s song; from, whence* the Jews might learn the scope of it. And accordingly the apostle uses the words of the LXX. here in. this; place, rather than those of the Psalmist; because he would have the Hebrews understand and consider, that MosreS’ himself had predicted the exaltation of the Son of God/ as* the Psalmist afterward expounded him. > « ■ •’ Jt There is, another translation of these words of Moses/ which is very agreeable to the apostle in Rom.xv. 10; Re* joice ye nations, who are his people;.- (See ver. 21. of thisr chapter.) Either way, this i^ a plain prophecy.of the gen-^ tiles becoming one body with the people of Israel. And! thus Kimchi himself translates it, Sing ye. gentiles, who are): his people: which began to be! fulfilled after. our Saviour Vascension to the throne of his glory in tlie. heavens, when’ all the angels of God worshipped him. Hitherto Moses* had supposed,* in this song, great enmity between themr and that sometimes they had plagued Israel sorely; assxV others, God rendered to them according to what they had done unto his people. But now, he breaks out into a rapture of joy, to think.that they should one day be reconciled, and made one people of God.: And the LXX.- thus, understanding it, might well preface to their translation of this verse, with the words now mentioned, Rejoice ye heavens together with him. For if there be joy in heaven, as Proeopius Gazaens well glosses, at. the repentanceof one sinner, how much more for the salvation of the whole: world, by destroying the devil’s tyranny? Which being to* be performed, by the advancement of the Son of God into the heavens, the next words might well be added, Let all the angels of God worship him. Which they had always* done (the same Procopius observes) as: their God who created “them; but now they praise and extol his humanity, exalted at the right hand of God.* ■-, t > -^;’•€>//; For he will avenge the blood of his servant?.] These words seem to express some of the motives that should per- Microsoft® [chap. XXXII. suade the gentiles to become oho body with the Jews (for such the apostles and all the first converts were), God’s punishing all those who shed the blood of his servants; as tho Christian martyrs are called in the book of the Revelation. In which confidence the LXX. add another sentence before these words, jccu Ivtaxvadrwaav avrt$ Ttavrzs viol GfoD, and let all the sons of God be strong in him. And mil render vengeance to his adversaries.’] To all such as oppose this blessed union; and first to the Jews, who set themselves against it more than any others (being mad at tho apostles for preaching to the gentiles), and then to the Romans, who persecuted all those who embraced Christianity. And will be merciful unto his land.] This cannot be meant of the land of Israel, which was no longer God’s land than any other, but of the whole earth (as Conrad. Pellicanus well explains it), in which that one people of God dwells, reduced (as he speaks) in the whole multitude of the faithful into one catholic church. For they all acknowledge, from the greatest to the least, that one only Omnipotent God, with no less devotion and affection, than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses did. And unto his people J] The wholo world that believe in Christ, and are his faithful servants; whose blood he will avenge, (Rev. xix. 2.) and then set up his tabernacle with men, and dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and hq will be their God; (Rev. xx. 3.) which I mention, because this part of the prophecy reaches unto the last times, and is not yet all fulfilled. Thus this famous song concludes, which, as the Jews reckon, consists of seventy verses, each of which contains two distinct and entire sentences, and, as they fancy, is a compendium of the whole law of Moses. Nay, some of them (such arc the idle conceits of this nation) think this hymn is so perfect a prophecy, that it contains in it the names of all the men in the world; which they undertake to find, and, by that versicle where it is, to tell what fortune he, whose name they seek, shall have in the world. Thus, instead of observing seriously what Moses foretold would certainly bofal themselves, their superstition and hardness of hea,rt have led them to vain conjectures concerning other men. See Jo. Wagenseil upon Sota, p. 164, &c. where be saith a Jew undertook to shew him his name in this song, which fell out in a verse that signified prosperity to, him. And since him Martinus Mauritius, in his book De Sortitionc Hebrasorum, cap. 1G. sect. 3 — 5.

Deuteronomy 32:44

And Moses came, and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people. The very same that is said before he spake this song, (xxxi. 30.) and is now repeated at the conclusion of it, to express his fidelity in his office to the very last. He and Hoshea the son of Nun.) Who was now his assistant in this work, as he was designed to be Ins successor after his death. He is commonly called Joshua,. but Oshca was his name at the first, (Numb. xiii. 8.)

Deuteronomy 32:45

And Moses made an end of speakingall these words to all Israel. When he had made an end of speaking them, then ho. added what folio ws.,

Deuteronomy 32:46

And he said tmto them y Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day. Apply your minda to press upon yourselves the observation of all these things. For tliis expression is a little more than letting Diaitized bv them be in their heart, (vi. 6.) ot laying them tip in their heart, (xi. 18.) For they were so to retain the remembrance of them, as to attend unto them, and consider them. Which ye shall command your children to observe to rfofj This necessary duty of instructing their children is often pressed, (iv. 10. vi. 7. xi. 19.) because without this care their religion would soon be lost; but, by this means, might be preserved and propagated to all generations. All the words of this law.] Which they might be certain was delivered by God to Moses; there being as many witnesses of God’s presence with him, as there w T crcmen in their nation. But he had seen so many instances of their unbelief, that he uses all the ways, mariners, and forms (as Pellicanus observes), that he could think of, to urge them to obedience: by delivering them tables of their laws written by God himself, by books, by pillars, by blessings, cursings, obtestations, threatenings, long exhortations, songs, phylacteries, and other ceremonies, &c. which he continued to do as long as he had breath, and w r as able to speak, that they, and their posterity, might be happy.

Deuteronomy 32:47

For it is not a vain thing for you. You shall not employ your diligence in this matter unprofitably. The Jews upon these words have founded a maxim, which Maimonides often mentions, " That every precept hath its end and use; which (though they do not appear to us) are grounded upon strong causes and reasons.” (More Nevochim, par. iii. cap. 26. and 50.) The design, for instance* of many ceremonial laws cannot now be fully discerned, because they w T ere instituted directly contrary to the idolatrous rites of the Zabii; which are long since utterly abolished, and but imperfectly recorded in those ancient authors that speak of them. Because it is your life.] The means to make you a happy people. Here are two benefits, saith R* Isaac, which arc promised by the observation of this law; a spiritual and a corporal. The spiritual in these words, and the corporal in the next, ye shall prolong your days, &c. And he puts the spiritual first, though,, among all corporal blessings, this of long life be the chief, (ChissukEmuna, par. i. cap. IS.) And through this thing.] By teaching your children to observe to do all that is commanded in this law. You shall prolong your days in the land whither you goover Jordan to possess it.] Have the great blessing of a long life in all manner of happiness, which your posterity shall enjoy for many generations in the land of Canaan. By which it appears, that nothing else but contempt of this law could have ejected them out of this country.

Deuteronomy 32:48

And the Lord spake unto Moses, that selfsame, day. Immediately after he had ended the foregoing song, and given them this admonition at the couclusion of it.

Deuteronomy 32:49

Get tliee tip into this mountain Aharim. Which ho had pointed him unto beforehand told him what he doth now, (Numb.xxvii. 12.) Unto Mount Nebo.] Abarim was a ridge of hills, whercoCNebo was one. (See there upon Is T umb. xxvii. 2.) Which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho.] This is a mare particular description of the site of this mountain than he gave before in the book of Numbers. Behold, the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession.] Which ho might easily do from the highest part of the mountain called Pisgah,. (Dcut. iii. 27.) Microsoft® CHAP. XXXIII.] UPON DEUTERONOMY.

Deuteronomy 32:50

And die in the mount whither thou goest up. After he had taken a view of the land every way. And be gathered unto thy people.] To Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This signifies, saith R. Isaac, that he should be associated and joined to the souls of the just, who are called his people. For the people of Moses were not buried in Mount Abarim; and therefore he doth not speak of gathering his body to their bodies, but of his soul to their souls. (Chissuk Emuna, par. i. cap; 11.) As Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people.] See Numb. xx. 24. 28. xxxiii. 38.

Deuteronomy 32:51

Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel, &c. Rebelled against his commandment, as he speaks, Numb, xxvii. 14., Because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israeli] Numb. xx. 12. xxvii. 14.

Deuteronomy 32:52

Yet thou shalt see the land before thee. He had earnestly begged of God that he might go over Jordan; but he denied him that favour, (Dent. i. 37. iii. 25. 27.) yet he was pleased to mitigate his punishment, by letting him enjoy a sight of that good country into which he might not enter. But thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.] By which the Israelites should have learnt, that as Moses left them short of the promised land, and could not bring them into the possession of it;’ so his law did not contain a perfect revelation of God’s will,* but they were to expect something beyond it.’ CHAP, xxxnr.