The story Before CHRIST 1451. hostility DEUTERONOMY. hand he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. 8 And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither against Moab. contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. "no, not so much as a foot breadth:" or, as it is in the Hebrew, "even to the treading of the sole of the foot." Bp. Kidder. 7.- he knoweth thy walking] He hath directed and prospered thee in thy travels through a dangerous wilderness. See this signification of the word "knoweth" in Ps. i. 6; xxxi. 7. Bp. Patrick. 9.- Ar] This was the principal city of the Moabites. Numb. xxi. 15. 28. It is here put for the country of the Moabites, as mount Seir in the first verse for that of the Edomites. Bp. Kidder. unto the children of Lot] Though the Moabites were now a wicked people, yet, for the sake of their pious is continued. 16¶ So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, 17 That the LORD spake unto me, saying, 18 Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day: 19 And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession. 20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims; 21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead: 22 As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day: 23 And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.) Before CHRIST 1451. 24 Rise ye up, take your jour¶ ney, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, Heb. begin, and contend with him in battle. 25 This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. possess. ancestor, God would not suffer them to be dispossessed. Bp. Patrick. 12. - as Israel did unto the land of his possession,] Moses here alludes to what the Israelites had already done, in dispossessing Sihon and Og of their respective countries: which he had before given by God's direction to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, Numb. xxxii. 33; xxxiv. 14, 15. Bp. Patrick. All these conquests of the Moabites over the Emims, and of the Edomites over the Horims, and of the Israelites themselves over the two kingdoms of the Amorites and of Bashan, are probably here noticed by Moses, to encourage the Israelites not to doubt, but The story Before CHRIST 1451. d Numb. 21. 21, 22. 26 And I sent messengers out | LORD thy God hardened his spirit, 27 Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left. 28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; 29 (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us. 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the God would in like manner enable them to conquer the 26.—I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth] So called from a city of that name, mentioned among the cities given to the Reubenites, Josh. xiii. 18. Several weighty reasons may be assigned, why Moses took this course with Sihon, who was to be destroyed. 1. That the Israelites might be sensible, that their victory over Sihon was not owing to his fearfulness and want of courage, since he was so hardy as to refuse them a passage. 2. To strike terrour by this example into the other nations which should be inclined to resist. 3. To give the Israelites a proof, that God's counsel should stand, in that Sihon hardened himself, and refused the offer of peace. Bp. Kidder. 29. (As the children of Esau &c. - - did unto me ;)] He does not mean that they granted Israel a passage through their country but that they did not refuse to sell them meat and drink, as they passed by their coasts. Bp. the Lord thy God hardened his spirit,] The Lord thy God gave him up to his own thoughts; and he put on stubborn resolutions against Israel. Bp. Hall. 31 And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land. Before CHRIST 1451. 23. 32e Then Sihon came out against e Numb. 21. us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz. 33 And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. 34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed + the + Ileb, every men, and the women, and the little city of men, ones, of every city, we left none to and little remain: and women, ones. even upon the common principles of equity, must be deemed unjust on his side, and his fate no more than he deserved. Stackhouse. 34. utterly destroyed the men, &c.] They being part of those wicked people the Amorites, whom God had condemned to utter destruction. For the Amorites came out of Canaan, and took this country from the Moabites, and the children of Ammon. Bp. Patrick. In reading the Old Testament account of the Jewish wars and the conquests in Canaan, and the terrible destruction brought upon the inhabitants thereof, we are constantly to bear in mind, that we are reading the execution of a dreadful, but just sentence, pronounced by God against the intolerable and incorrigible crimes of these nations:—that they were intended to be made an example to the whole world of God's avenging wrath against sins of such a magnitude and such a kind; sins, which if they had been suffered to continue, might have polluted the whole ancient world, and which could only be checked by the signal and publick overthrow of nations notoriously addicted to them, and so addicted, as to have incorporated them even into their religious and their publick institutions:-that the miseries, inflicted upon the nations by the invasion of the Jews, were expressly declared to be inflicted on account of their abominable sins:-that God had borne with them long : When this haughty and obstinate prince denied the Israelites the courtesy of passing through his land, God, in punishment for the irreclaimable vices of his court and kingdom, left him to take the effects of his pride and passion. Pyle. God gave him over to his own in--that He did not proceed to execute his judgments flexible humour, which was set upon violent courses; from which God did not divert him; but rather ordered things so, that his mind should be enraged and disturbed, and so unable to consider things prudently, and discern what belonged to his peace. This is the utmost that can be meant by "hardening his spirit, and making his heart obstinate:" which, as it is a sin, cannot be ascribed to God: but, as it is a punishment, might justly be inflicted by Him upon Sihon in return for his former sins. Bp. Patrick. 31.-before thee:] Into thy power. 32. Then Sihon came out against us,] Moses had sent ambassadours to the king of the Amorites with a peaceable request, that the Israelites might be permitted to pass through his land: and it does not appear, that they ever thought of forcing their way. But since, instead of acting on the defensive, which was all that in reason he should have done, Sihon placed himself at the head of his forces, and marched out to fight; the war, till their wickedness was full-that the Israelites were mere instruments in the hands of a righteous Providence for effecting the extermination of a people, whom it was necessary to make a publick example to the rest of mankind:-that this extermination which might have been accomplished by a pestilence, by fire, by earthquakes, was appointed to be done by the hands of the Israelites, as being the clearest and most intelligible method of displaying the power and righteousness of the God of Israel; his power over the pretended gods of other nations, and his righteous hatred of the crimes into which they were fallen. This is the true statement of the case. It is no forced or invented construction, but the idea of the transaction set forth in Scripture and it is an idea, which, if retained in our thoughts, may fairly, I think, reconcile us to every thing which we read in the Old Testament concerning it. Archdeacon Paley. See the note on chap. vii. 24. The story of the conquest Before CHRIST 1451. a Numb. 21. 33, &c. chap. 29.7. DEUTERONOMY. of Og king of Bashan. 35 Only the cattle we took for a | Bashan, and all his people: and we prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of smote him until none was left to him the cities which we took. 36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us: remaining. 4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 5 All these cities were fenced with 37 Only unto the land of the chil-high walls, gates, and bars; beside dren of Ammon thou camest not, nor unwalled towns a great many. unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us. HEN we turned, and went up the way to Bashan: and a Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. 2 And the LORD said unto me, Fear him not: for I will deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and thou shalt do unto 1 Numb. 21. him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 24. 8.-from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon ;] This river was the bound of their country on the south; and Hermon, which was one of the mountains of Gilead, where it joins to Libanus, was their bound on the north. Hermon, said in the next verse to be called "Sirion" by the Sidonians, is called so in Ps. xxix. 6, and joined with Lebanon: for it was as much a part of Lebanon as of Gilead: these two mountains there meeting together. Whence Jeremiah calls Gilead the head of Lebanon, chap. xxii. 6; because Lebanon begins where Gilead ends. Bp. Patrick. 11.-a bedstead of iron;] That it might be strong enough to support his gigantic and weighty body; and yet not be too cumbersome, as it might have been if made of other materials. Dr. Wells. Such bedsteads were not unusual in ancient days, though much later than this. Thucydides says, that when the Thebans took Platea, they made beds of the brass and iron they found there. And beds of silver and gold are mentioned by other authors. Bp. Patrick. Bedsteads of iron, brass, and other metals, are not 6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city. 7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. 8 And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon ; 9 (Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) 10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. 11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits Before CHRIST 1451. unusual in warm countries, as a defence against the multitude of insects. Scheuchzer. is it not in Rabbath &c.] It is probable, that either Og conveyed his iron bedstead, with other furniture of his palace, into the country of the Ammonites, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Israelites: or else the Ammonites had taken it from him in some former conquest, and kept it as a monument of their victory. Pyle. nine cubits was the length thereof, &c.] Bedsteads being, according to the common custom, made a third part longer than the persons that lie in them, Og was perhaps about six cubits high; “after the cubit of a man," that is, according to the cubit of ordinary men, which is a little more than half a yard. Bp. Patrick. Some allowance may be made for the size of a royal bed: or king Og may have been possessed with the same kind of vanity, which occupied the mind of king Alexander, when he ordered his soldiers to enlarge the size of their beds, that they might give to the Indians in succeeding ages a great idea of the prodigious stature of a Macedonian. Bp. Watson. The people of the East are extremely fond of corporeal greatness: and always consider it as a sign of the greatness of the soul, of courage, strength, and virtue. We found in Bactriana mummies of eight feet: but it is most likely, that the people bound up their dead at the greatest length, that posterity, discovering The distribution of land. CHAP. III. Moses' prayer to enter into the land. Before the breadth of it, after the cubit of a brethren the children of Israel, all Before CHRIST 12 And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount d Numb. 32. Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. 33. Josh. 13. 8, &c. 41. that are meet for the war. CHRIST 1451. + Heb. sons 19 But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know of power. that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; 20 Until the LORD have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God hath 13 And the rest of Gilead, and all 14 Jair the son of Manasseh took 17 The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast thereof, from Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, even the salt || Or, under. sea, || under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward. 18¶ And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God hath given you this land to possess it: 1 ye shall pass over armed before your the springs of f Numb. 32. 20. f their bodies, might conceive a very high opinion of their persons and actions. Sir J. Chardin. The people of the East use a kind of settle, called a duan, or divan, or sofa; consisting of boards raised from the ground, about five feet broad, and one and a half high, reaching sometimes quite round the room, sometimes only along a part of it: it is covered with a carpet, and furnished with mattresses, to sit upon cross-legged after the Turkish fashion, and with cushions placed against the wall to lean upon. They serve for beds at night. This custom may serve to illustrate the dimensions of "the bedstead" of Og, which appears to have been about fifteen feet and a half long, and six feet ten inches broad. English ideas have measured this by English bedsteads. But when we reflect, that neither the divan nor its covering is so nearly fitted to the size of the person as our bedsteads in England are, we may make, in the necessary dimensions of his "bedstead," no inconsiderable allowance for the repose of this martial prince. Fragments to Calmet. - after the cubit of a man.] The first stated measure was that mentioned in this place, "the cubit of a man;" measuring from the centre of the round bone in the elbow to the point of the middle finger. This is still the measure of all unpolished nations: but no medium or term expressive of its exact contents having been applied, writers have differed as to the precise length of this cubit. Bruce. shall ye & return every man unto his g Josh. 22. 4. possession, which I have given you. 21 And I commanded Joshua h Numb. 27. at that time, saying, Thine eyes have 18. seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. 22 Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you. 23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, 24 O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? 25 I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. i i Numb. 20. 12. 26 But the LORD was wroth with chap. 1. 37. what God is there in heaven &c.] Moses here speaks according to the language of the times, when men worshipped many gods, of several sorts: none of which, he acknowledges, were able to bring to pass such things as the Lord had done. Bp. Patrick. 25. I pray thee, let me go over, &c.] It is not unreasonable to suppose, that Moses should think the threatening of God reversible: and it must have been very desirable to him to see that land, which had been so long promised, so much expected, and so much vilified by them who had been sent from Kadesh-barnea to search the land. But besides this it may be said, that he had a desire to see especially that place, where God would choose to dwell, which the Jews affirm is meant by the " goodly mountain;" as well as the remoter parts of the promised land in which was Lebanon. Bp. Kidder. By the "goodly mountain" he most probably means, that goodly country, full of noble mountains: for thus the word "mountain" is often used, particularly in Numb. xiii. 29, where the spies say, "the Amorites dwell in the mountains ;" that is, in that 16. — half the valley,] The same Hebrew word sig-mountainous part of Canaan. Bp. Patrick. nifies both a valley, and a brook, or river: and being 26. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, VOL. I. 2 C An exhortation Before CHRIST 1451. me for your sakes, and would not hear | judgments, which I teach you, for to 27 Get thee up into the top of || Or, the hill. || Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. 28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor. Chap. IV. ver. 1. Now therefore hearken, O Israel, &c.] Moses having laid before the Israelites so long a train of Divine dispensations towards their nation, calls here upon the whole assembly, in the most earnest and serious manner, to consider what influence these things ought to have upon their conduct and practice, answerable to the great designs of such mercies and judgments: namely, that they should render them punctually obedient to the laws of God, and cautious of offending Him, either by the addition of any heathenish and superstitious rites to the services enjoined them, or by the wilful omission and neglect of any plain precept of religious worship. This being the very intent for which they were conducted to the promised land, and the absolute condition of their peaceful and happy enjoyment of it. Pyle. Before CHRIST 1451. 32. Prov. 30. 6. 2 a Ye shall not add unto the word a Chap. 12. which I command you, neither shall Josh. 1.7. ye diminish ought from it, that ye Rev. 22. 18. may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 4, &c. 3 Your eyes have seen what the 4 But ye 5 Behold, I have taught you sta- ye ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for alive &c.] A singular Providence watched over those, who did not depart from the worship of the Lord, but bewailed the apostacy of some of their brethren, Numb. xxv. 6. Hence they were preserved in such good health, that not one in so many thousands was since dead. Nor in the war with the Midianites, wherein they slew all the males, did they lose so much as one man, Numb. xxxi. 7. 49. Bp. Patrick. How decidedly does this statement justify the punishment extending to such a multitude: a circumstance to which objections are so often made. Dr. Graves. 5.- I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, &c.] Laws are generally made, when people have been well settled; and they are founded upon many contingencies, which arise from the nature of the soil, the trade, and produce of the country, and the temper, customs, and disposition of the natives and their neighbours. But the laws of Moses were given in a desert; while the people were in a forlorn state; wandering from place to place; and encountering hunger and thirst without seeing any ultimate end of their roving, Numb. xx. 2. These prescripts were designed for a religious polity, when the people should be at some particular period settled in Canaan; of which settlement human forecast could not see the least probability. For what hopes could a leader entertain of possessing a country, from which he withdrew himself, and persisted in receding for so many years? And, when at a time an attempt was made to obtain some footing, nothing ensued but repulse and disappointment. Did any lawgiver ever give directions about corn, wine, and oil in a country, that was a stranger to tillage and cultivation; or talk of tithes and firstfruits, where there was scarcely a blade of grass? It may be answered, that these ordinances were given with a view to Canaan. True; but Moses himself was not acquainted with Canaan; as is plain from the spies which were sent, and the orders they received, Numb. It was fit, at the beginning of this exhortation to obe-xiii. 18-20; and if Providence were not his guide, there dience, to require, that they should neither add to, nor take from, the Divine precepts, because God had given them his law for their rule of life, and had annexed his promises to their universal obedience to it. Bp. Kidder. 4. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are 2. Ye shall not add unto the word &c.] This prohibition preserved these books from any alteration since the time they were written. For the whole body of the people acknowledging their Divine authority, none of them dared to change any thing either by addition or diminution. Of this there is a wonderful instance in the people that came out of Assyria, in the room of the Israelites, who were transported thither: these people, on coming to inhabit the country of Samaria, having received the Law of Moses, their posterity have kept it all along to this day as uncorrupted as the Jews themselves have done; although they were their mortal enemies, and have been exposed to all the changes and revolutions that can befal a nation, during the long interval of 2400 years. Dean Allix. was little chance of his getting even a sight of it. He was in the midst of a wilderness, and so continued for near forty years. And in this place, and at this season, he gave directions about their towns and cities, and "of the stranger within their gates:" while they were in a |