thus ufed by Mofes (x): The King of Egypt faid unto them, Wherefore do ye, Mofes and Aaron, [taprinu æth banam mimmanashaiv (a)] let the People, or fet them free from their Works. From this Senfe the Word was eafily applied to express the Freedom or Liberty that People had on Holy-days, or came to fignify in general to keep Holy-day, and we find it thus ufed in Judges v. 2. for a true Tranflation of that Verse would be, Praife the Lord in [or at] keeping the Feafts, [or Holy-days] of Ifrael (b): To thefe the People willingly offered themselves (c): They came [bebithnaddeb nam] (d), every one as his Spirit made him willing (e), i. e. every one without Compulfion, juft as his Inclination led him, and they behaved at them with the fame Freedom; for we must not imagine, that the public Games of any Nation were at firft under the Regulations which time introduced; but rather, they were a fort of voluntary Meetings, where Authority of Magiftrates and Subjection of Inferiors were laid afide; and every one headed a Party, or acted his Part, or took his Place to fee the Diverfion as it happened, or as his Fancy led him: And in an high Scene of fuch Diverfion Mofes found his People, [ci pa

(x) Exod. v. 4.

.Heb. Text .תפריעו את העם ממעשיו (4) בפרע פרעות בישראל The Hebrew words are (2)

בהתנדב עם .Text Heb (2)

Ifrael in ferias feriando in.

(c) Judges v. 2. (e) This is the Signification of the Verb 171: It is thus ujed Exodus xxxv. 21. 29. where the People came woluntarily to make their Offerings, every one giving, without any exaction, just what bis Inclination led him to.

ran

ran bua] (f); for they were keeping high Holyday, and at full Liberty: The Expreffion is remarkable: It is not [ci paran], which had been enough to exprefs, that they were at Liberty, or keeping Holy-day, but [ci paran bua (g)]: In the Hebrew Tongue the use of this Pronoun [Hua] has fometimes a Peculiarity, which I think has not been taken notice of: Generally it fignifies no more than THIS or THAT, or HE or THE emphatically; but it is fometimes used to denote a Perfon's doing a thing, of his own Head, as we fay in English, or without regard to the Direction of any other. Thus in the Cafe of Balaam, when God had allowed him to go with the Meffengers of Balak, if they came in the Morning to call him (b), because he was more hafty than he ought to have been, and went to them, instead of staying until they should come to him (), it was faid of him, not [ci halak], that he went, but [ci bolek bua (k) i. e. that he went of his own Head, or without being called: And thus in the Plural Number [bem] is ufed in xcv Pfalm: We tranflate the Place, It is a People that do err in their Hearts (); but the Hebrew Words exprefs more: In his Heart had been [belibbo (m)] or [bilbabo (n)]: In their Hearts had been [bilbabam (0)], or [belibbam (p)]; but the

Words here used are [lebab hem] which fuggeft, that People erred in Heart, from acting of their own Heads; from purfuing their own Ways, or following their own Imaginations; for this was the perpetual Crime of the Ifraelites, and this was what the Pfalmift here intended, as appears by the clofe of the Verfe, for they have not known my Ways. And thus the Word [Hua] is here ufed in the Paffage before us: The People [paran bua] were at loose Hand, under no Command or Controul Diftinctions and Authority were laid afide, and every one at the Games was his own Man, and confequently the Camp must have been in no Condition of being called to Order and a Pofture of Defence, if a fudden Exigence had required it.

From what I have faid about the use of the Word [Paran] it is easy to fee, what the Verse I am treating of expreffes to us, namely, 1. That the People were upon no Guard; in no Pofture of Defence; under no Direction or Command of their proper Officers; but were scattered up and down the Plain at their Games, as their Fancy led them. And this the LXX took to be the meaning of the Place, and accordingly tranflate it, 'Idav Maüσῆς τὸν λαὸν, ὅτι διεσκέδασαι (s), i. e. Mofes Jeeing the People to be scattered, or difperjed. They were in no formed Body to be able to make Head against an Enemy; and 2. They

(s) Exodus xxxii. 26.

were

The

were free of their Armour, or unarmed, naked in this Senfe, not cloathed to defend themfelves against any Violence that might be offered to them (t). This was the Condition in which Mofes found them expofed to their Shame (a), or in a fhameful manner amongst their Enemies: And certainly Aaron's Conduct was very inconfiderate in this particular; for their Enemies were not far diftant. Amalekites had not long before attacked them (b). And what might have been the Fate of the whole People, if any confiderable Attempt had been now made, when they were fo unguarded, that a small Body of Men, fuch as Mofes here appointed from amongst the Levites, might go in and out (bb) from Gate to Gate of the Camp, and without Difficulty kill as many as they would of them?

(t) The Word Paran, as I have obferved, primarily fignifies, to free or fet at Liberty, and from hence by an eafy Metaphor it denotes to free our felves from, or put off any Dress which we bad upon us. Thus (Paran Rofh) to free the Head is the Expreffion for the High Prieft's putting off the Attire he wore upon his Head, Levit. xxi. 10. and like wife for Womens putting off their Head-dreffes, Numb. v. 18. And this ufe of the Word intimates to us, whence St. Paul took an Expreffion in his Epistle to the Cor rinthians. The Woman, he fays, ought to have Power on her Head, he means ought to be covered; for to have the Head free, under no Refraint, Authority, Power, is the Hebrew Expreffion for being uncovered, and therefore not to have the Head free, Εξεσίαν ἔχειν ἐπὶ δ κεφαλῆς. I Cor. xi. 10. to have Power on the Head may denote the contrary, or to be covered. Apoftle feems to have put an Hebrew Idiom into Greek Wards, which, unless we confider what a like Expreffion in Hebrew would fuggeft to us, do not at firft fight exprefs very clearly, what he intended by them. (a) Exodus xxxii. 25. (b) Exodus (bb) Exodus xxii. 27.

xvii,

The

13

Some

Some learned Writers have wandred far from what Mofes intended here to hint to us, by taking the Expreffion of the Peoples being naked in too ftrict a Senfe, as if the People were indeed literally fo, when Mofes came to them. Monccius imagines, that Aaron had ftripped them of their cloaths; but the Reafons he gives for the doing it are very whimfical: He fuppofes, that the Persons who had been guilty of the Idolatry, had a Tumor upon their Groin, occafioned by their drinking of the Water, into which Mofes had ftrowed the Powder of the Idol (c), and that Aaron had ftripped them, either, i, to prevent an Increafe of their Infection, or, 2, to difcover to Mofes, who were guilty, and who were innocent, or 3, to caufe the innocent to feparate from the guilty, that they might efcape their Punishment. But the whole of this Fancy is without Foundation. It is like a Whim of fome of the Fathers, who imagined, that the Beards of thofe who drank of the Water abovementioned, turned Yellow. Bochart mentions a Verfion made in the XIIIth Century, wherein the 27th Verfe of this Chapter of Exodus is thus rendred. Slay ye every one his Brother, his Friend, his Neighbour, even all those who have golden Beards. And the Glofs upon the Text adds, that those who worshipped the Calf, had their Beards turned into a gold Colour; for the Powder ftuck to the

te) Vid Pol. Synopf. Critic. in loc.