Hard controversies are to be

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hearken.

9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:

10 And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:

11 According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall shew thee, to the right hand, nor to the left.

12 And the man that will do pre+ Heb. not to sumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.

15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.

16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.

18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:

19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do

them:

14 ¶ When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God

8. — between blood and blood,] That is, in the case of murder, whether it was wilful or accidental. "Between plea and plea;" that is, in causes depending between the plaintiff and defendant. "Between stroke and stroke;" that is, in the case of wounds inflicted by one man upon another. Bp. Kidder.

14. — I will set a king over me,] Josephus and others have with reason understood this passage to mean, not that God commanded the Israelites to make them a king, when they should be settled in Canaan: but that God intended them to keep their present government; if however they would have a king, he should be at first appointed immediately by God, who was their Supreme Governour; and that afterwards they should be indispensably obliged to elect one of the Israelitish nation, and not a Gentile. Bp. Patrick, Pyle.

-

16. — he shall not multiply horses] Lest he bring a burden upon his people; or confide in the power of his horsemen, more than in God; or which is the chief reason, given by Moses himself, lest the people should be tempted to maintain a commerce with Egypt: with which country God commanded them not to have any intercourse, at least while they should continue to be idolaters. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.

This law given to the kings of Israel, considered together with the history of the nation, forms a very

not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in

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strong presumption for the Divine original of the Law of Moses. For, supposing Moses to be a mere human legislator, like Solon or Lycurgus, what could tempt him to forbid the princes of his country the use of horses and chariots for their defence? Should such a law be proposed for France or Germany at this day, what would the world think of it? Or, supposing this law to be his own contrivance, how comes it to pass, that the event and success of things, through many ages, doth so exactly correspond with the law? That the princes prospered, and extended their dominion, over great countries, when they had neither chariots nor horses, and were ruined and undone, when they were strong in those forces? Can it be supposed, that the history of many ages which relates to the affairs not only of the princes of Israel, but of other contemporary kings, is all forged, and that merely to shew an agreement between the history and this particular law? Or, how shall we account for the conduct of the Prophets, who saw the people ruined, and instead of reproaching them with cowardice and a neglect of their necessary defence, reproach them with having been too strong, too powerful in horses and horsemen? These appearances can never be accounted for by any human contrivance, and they plainly shew that the hand of God was in this thing from the beginning to the end. Bp. Sherlock.

1 The Lord is the priests' and Levites' inheritance. 3 The priests' due. 6 The Levites' portion. 9 The abominations of the nations are to be avoided. 15 Christ the Prophet is to be heard. 20 The presumptuous prophet is to die.

THE HE priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they b 1 Cor. 9. 13. shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.

chap. 10. 9.

b

2 Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

3¶ And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

4 The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

5 For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.

6¶ And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;

7 Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.

Chap. XVIII. ver. 10. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire,] See the notes on Lev. xviii. 21;

XX. 2.

or that useth divination, &c.] In these two verses are specified various manners, in which inquisitive persons anciently sought information on subjects beyond the usual sight of men: the names given to these arts most probably denote the different modes or practices of their professors. Such arts appear to have been practised in former times; and Niebuhr mentions several kinds of occult science, still extant among the Arabs; some arising from sleight of hand; others from ecstatick enthusiasm; others as charms against evil; and lastly a science, which is, says he, "as described to me, witchcraft, or sorcery. It is said to be employed only in hurting others, wherefore those addicted to it are hated and execrated by every honest Arab." Most of the kinds of magick, specified by Moses, were probably of an injurious nature: which accounts for their being connected with the practice of making children “ pass

Levites' inheritance.

8 They shall have like portions to eat, beside + that which cometh of the t sale of his patrimony.

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+ Heb. his

9 When thou art come into the sales by the

land which the LORD thy God giv- fathers.
eth thee, thou shalt not learn to do
after the abominations of those na-
tions.

10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the c Lev. 18. 21 fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

d

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter d Lev. 20. 27. with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

e

12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13 Thou shalt be the LORD thy God.

e 1 Sam. 28.

7.

perfect with Or, upright,

or, sincere.

14 For these nations, which thou shalt || possess, hearkened unto ob- || Or, inherit. servers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

Acts 3. 22. &

15 The LORD thy God will f John 1.45. raise up unto thee a Prophet from 7.37. the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, & Let me not hear again the Exod. 20. voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

g

19.

through the fire," if we suppose such children to have been burnt alive: see the notes on Lev. xviii. 21. Such arts are forbidden with the utmost propriety, as evil in the disposition of mind which they betray; at the same time the prohibition does not imply that any efficacy attended the exercise of these arts. Script. illust. See the note on Lev. xx. 27.

13. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.] See Gen. xvii. 1. The force of the expression, "be thou perfect," in that passage, may be illustrated by comparing it with the present verse; in which, after a charge to the Israelites, not to learn the abominations of those nations, whom God should cast out before them, it is immediately added, “Thou shalt be perfect," or entire, "with the Lord thy God." Bp. Lowth.

Christ the true prophet.

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h John 1. 45. Acts 3. 22. & 7.37.

17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

than the privilege of Divine inspiration, which was absolutely necessary to Him, as the Founder of the true religion. Dean Allix.

a

18. I will raise them up a Prophet &c.] The Jews term the highest degree of inspiration, that which was afforded to Moses, and enumerate several particulars, wherein that hath the pre-eminence and advantage over all others. In consequence of this prediction, that " Prophet should arise among them like unto Moses," a general expectation of some extraordinary Prophet prevailed particularly about the time of our Saviour. The Jews then, as well as since, understood and applied this prophecy to the Messiah, the only Prophet whom they will ever allow to be as great or greater than Moses. When our Saviour had fed five thousand men, by a miracle like that of Moses, who fed the Israelites in the wilderness, then those men said, "This is of a truth that Prophet that should come into the world," John vi. 14. St. Peter and St. Stephen directly apply the prophecy to Him, Acts iii. 22, 23; vii. 37; and they may very well be justified for so doing: for He fully answers all the marks and characters which are here given of the "Prophet like unto Moses." He had immediate communication with the Deity, and God spake to Him "face to face," as He did to Moses. He performed signs and wonders," as great or greater than those of Moses. He was a "lawgiver," as well as Moses. "I will raise them up a Prophet," saith God: and the people glorified God, saying, "That a great Prophet is risen up among us," Luke vii. 16. "I will put my words in his mouth," saith God: and our Saviour saith, "I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak," John xii. 49. Bp. Newton. This Prophet like unto Moses was our Lord Jesus Christ; who was by birth a Jew, of the middle class of the people, and resembled his predecessor in personal intercourse with God, miracles, and legislation, which no other Prophet ever did, Deut. xxxiv. 10-12; and to whom God, at his transfiguration, required the world to "hearken," Matt. xvii. 5. Whence our Lord's frequent admonition to the Jewish Church, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," Matt. xii. 15, &c. addressed also by "the Spirit" to the Christian Churches of Asia Minor, Rev. iii. 22. "The lamps " of both have been extinguished for their apos

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The cities of refuge.

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1451.

22 When a prophet speaketh in Before the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

a hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou + succeedest them, and + Heb. indwellest in their cities, and in their possessest. houses;

heritest, or,

b Exod. 21. Numb. 35.10.

2 Thou shalt separate three cities 13. for thee in the midst of thy land, Josh. 20. 2.

tacy, according to the tremendous denunciation of prophecy, Rev. ii. 5. Heaven avert the omen from the "lukewarm "churches of Europe, in this their day of trial! Rev. iii. 15, 16. Dr. Hales. This prophecy is several times in the New Testament applied to our Lord: and it has often been proved, that it cannot possibly belong to any one else: for all the other Prophets were in many respects inferiour to Moses. But the passage deserves particular notice from another circumstance. There are instances of kings, both Pagan and Jewish, who were named and described, long before their birth, by those holy men, whom the Lord inspired. See Isa. xliv. 28; 1 Kings xiii. 2. But among the Prophets themselves, we find not that any one was ever foretold by an antecedent Prophet: for it became the Promised Deliverer of Israel, in this, as in all things, to have the pre-eminence. Him therefore Moses, the first and chief of the Prophets, here foreshewed as a Prophet in dignity like to himself. Archdeacon Churton.

19. And it shall come to pass, &c.] Several prophecies in the Old Testament plainly ascribe the destruction of the Jewish Church and nation, to their rejection, and putting to death, of the Messiah. To this purpose, these words of Moses are very remarkable: "It shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him:" or, 'every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people," as St. Peter explains the sense of the prophecy, Acts iii. 23. Daniel expressly assigns their sin of "cutting off the Messiah," as the cause of the destruction of their city and temple, Dan. ix. 26. And Zechariah, who lived after the people's return from their first captivity, describes the mourning of the whole nation for their sin of "piercing" or crucifying Christ, as a preparation to their general restoration, Zech. xii. 10; xiii. 1. W. Lowth.

Chap. XIX. Having sufficiently pressed upon the people the great commandment of loving God with all the heart and soul and strength, and Him alone: Moses now proceeds to remind them of other precepts belonging to the second table of the Commandments, but not in an exact method, nor without interposing some matters of a ceremonial nature. Bp. Patrick.

Ver. 2. Thou shalt separate three cities &c.] He be

Cities of refuge

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to possess it.

3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.

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9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three d Josh. 20. 7. cities more for thee, beside these

yesterday the third day.

5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the † head slippeth from the †helve, and + lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:

10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.

11 But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him + mortally that he die, and fleeth + Heb. in life. into one of these cities:

12 Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.

8 And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn

gins with the case of life and death, and charges them, as soon as they should be settled in Canaan, to set out the cities of refuge as before prescribed, Numb. xxxv. 14, 15; Deut. iv. 41; adding now, that the roads from every part of the country to these privileged places should be kept clean, level, and in good repair, for the easier and speedier flight of the unfortunate persons, who wanted their protection. Pyle.

4. And this is the case of the slayer, &c.] As murder implies the highest degree of malignity to which human depravity can ascend, so it was pursued with just rigour by the Jewish law. But the wisdom of the law, in securing a fair trial for this offence, so apt to rouse immediate revenge, and in providing asylums for those who were not guilty of deliberate murder, but of manslaughter, is so conspicuous as to have attracted the notice of the most judicious modern reasoners on criminal law. The sagacious Montesquieu observes, "These laws of Moses were perfectly wise; the man, who involuntarily killed another, was innocent, but he was obliged to be taken away from before the eyes of the relatives of the deceased; Moses therefore appointed an asylum for such unfortunate persons: great criminals deserved not a place of safety, and they had none: the criminals, who would resort to the temple from all parts, might disturb Divine service: if persons, who had committed manslaughter, had been driven out of the country, as was customary among the Greeks, there was reason to fear they would worship strange gods. All these considerations made them establish cities of refuge, where they might remain until the death of the high priest." Dr. Graves.

14¶ Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the

12.

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the elders of his city] As soon as the Hebrews began to be formed into a people, they were governed by elders," so called because in general they were persons advanced in years. When Moses returned into Egypt to promise them that God would set them at liberty, he assembled "the elders" together, Exod. iv. 29; and performed the miracles, which were the proof of his ministry, in their presence. "All the elders of Israel" came to the feast, which he made for Jethro his father in law, Exod. xviii. 12. When God thought fit to give him council to relieve him in governing that great people, "Gather unto me," said He, "seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them," Numb. xi. 16. So that they had already authority, before the law was given, and the state had taken its form. Afterwards in the Scripture, when mention is made of assemblies and publick affairs, the elders are put in the first place, and sometimes named alone. Fleury.

14. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark,] This precept is very reasonably subjoined to that of manslaughter and murder; the removing of landmarks being an occasion of great quarrels and bloodshed: and it was not to be allowed, inasmuch as it was against the constitution of their forefathers, who divided the several bounds of their inheritance by Divine direction, as is intimated in the following words. Bp. Kidder. This precept was as necessary to be observed in all other countries, as in that which was the proper inheritance of the Israelites: for, as Josephus truly observes, "They that remove the bounds of lands, are not very far from subverting all laws." Bp. Patrick.