vouchfafed the Ifraelites this Victory upon the holding up his Hands, He, in order to give God the Glory, and not to take the Honour to himself, built an Altar in Memory of it, and called it Jehovah Niffi, or the Lord is He who exalteth me (c); and he declared to the Ifraelites, that for this bafe Attempt against them, the Lord would war against the Amalekites from Generation to Generation (d); for This certainly must be the Meaning of the 16th Verse of the xviith Chapter of Exodus: The Hebrew Words are difficult to be translated, and I think none of the Versions exprefs clearly the Sense of them. We render the Place, For he jaid, Because the Lord hath fworn, that the Lord will have War with Amalek, &c. The Vulgar Latin Tranflation runs thus, Quia manus folii Domini, et Bellum Domini erit contra Amalek: i. e. Because the Hand of the Throne of the Lord, and the War of the Lord will be against Amalek (e): This Verfion rather shews (c) Exod. xvii. 15. (d) Exod. xvii. 16. Deut. xxv. 17, 18, 19. (e) Ecce manus fuper fedem, Bellum Domini cum Amalek, &c. Verf. Syriac. Nunc eft mihi quod jurem per Solium, quod erit Deo Bellum in Amalekitas. Verf. Arabic. Cum Juramento dictum eft hoc à Facie terribilis, cujus Majeftas eft fuper Solium Gloriæ, fore, ut committatur Prælium à Facie Domini contra Viros domus Amalech. Targum Onkelos. (ee) It has been fuggefted to me by a very learned Friend, that the two Words DJ, which in the prefent Hebrew Text Rand next to one another, might perhaps be taken by the LXX to have been originally but one Word, D, and they might derive fuch a Word from Cafah to cover, and imagine that might be rendered in fecret or covertly: But if this may be a juft Correction and Tranflation of the Text, the LXX should have rendered the Verfe to this Purpose, rather than as they have tranflated it. Because his ie. Amalek's] Hand has been covertly against you, the Lord will have War with Amalek, &c. the the Tranflators to have been at a lofs how to render the Place intelligibly, than expreffes the true Meaning of it: The LXX fay, ¿T χειρὶ κρυφαία πολεμῇ ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ Αμαλήκ, i.e. That the Lord fights [with an hidden Hand] i e. fecretly against Amalek: The Senfe here is clear and plain; but there are no Words in the Hebrew Text to answer to a quei xpupala, with an hidden hand (ee). The Hebrew Words are, Ci jad nal Ces Fab Milcamah Lahovah ba Namalek; which verbally tranflated are, Because the Hand upon the Throne of the Lord, War to the Lord against Amalek (f). The Place has evidently the following Difficulties. 1. There must be fome Words understood to fill up the Sentence. The Hand upon the Throne of the Lord war againft Amalek, must be fuppofed to be the fame as, The Hand of the Lord is upon his Throne, that there shall be War against Amalek. The Sentence must be thus tranfpofed and filled up to make it bear any Senfe. 2. In order to its bearing the Senfe which our English Version puts upon it, The Hand of the Lord is upon his Throne, must be fuppofed to fignify God has fworn, his laying his Hand upon his Throne muft import his taking an Oath: But 3. In all the old Testament, tho' the Expreffion of God's having fworn occurs almost thirty Times, yet it is not, I think, once expreffed in Words like what we here meet with, but always by the Verb [you] Shaban. The Lord hath fworn (f) The Hebrew Words are, וה מלחמה ליהוה בעמלק כס יד על כי Amalek contra Jehovah Bellum Domini Thronum fupra manus quia. is [you] Nishban Jehovah (g). The Annotators are at a lofs to afcertain the Sense of the Place; and certainly the Hebrew Words, as our prefent Copies run, are very hard to be reconciled to any Sense whatsoever, unless we admit a very unusual Expreffion for God hath fworn, not to be met with in any other Place of Scripture. As to the LXX, they might perhaps think the Place corrupted by Transcribers, and by putting in agi xpupaia instead of rendring the Hebrew Words, they rather gueffed what might make the Paffage good Senfe, than had Authority for their Tranflation. If I may be indulged the Liberty, I could conjecture what would give the Place a clear Meaning without varying much from the prefent Hebrew Text. The Reafon given in Deuteronomy why Amalek fhould be utterly deftroyed is, because He here attacked the Ifraelites: The Words of Mofes are, Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the Way-bow He met thee, and fmote the hindmost of thee, &c. Therefore it fhall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee Reft that thou fhalt blot out the Remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven: Thou shalt not forget it (b). This was the Reafon, why God determined to have War with Amalek; because He here basely affaulted the Ifraelites; and now suppose the true Reading of the Paffage before us fhould be thus: Ci fad nal Cem, jehi Milchemah La (g) Gen. xxii. 16. Judges ii. 16. 1 Sam. iii. 14. 2 Sam. iii. 9. Pfalm. cx. 4. Ifaiah xiv. 24. Ixii. 8. Amos iv. 2, (b) Deut. xxv. 17, 18, 19. &C. כס bovah be Namalek (i), which tranflated Word for Word is, Because his Hand hath been against you, the Lord will have War with Amalek, &c. The Emendation of the Text is very little: D might be easily written for 3, the Letters are fo fimilar, that the Difference is scarce perceptible: might be written for ; for the final might eafily be omitted by no very careless Tranfcriber: And this And this very small Emendation I will reftore the Text to admit an easy and clear meaning, and fuppofes Mofes to hint here the very Thing which he expreffed afterwards more copioufly, when he came to write, what he was directed to tranfmit to Pofterity upon this Occafion (k). Soon after this Victory over the Amalekites, Jethro, the Priest of Midian, Mofes's Fatherin-law, came with Zipporah his Daughter, the Wife of Moses, and her two Children, Gershom and Eliezer, into the Wilderness to the Camp at Mount Horeb (1): Mofes received him with the utmost Respect, and told him all the wonderful יד על כם יהי מלחמה ליהוה בעמלק (:) כי יד Amalek contra Jehovah Bellum crit VOS contra manus quia. cjus his Vobis, Exodus xvi. 23. In like manner 7 fignifying contra may be contra vos, or perhaps it was written hy more agreeably to the Hebrew Regimen. It may perhaps be here remarked, that Milchemah is a Noun foeminine, that I put the Verb Jehi in the Masculine Termination, contrary to true Syntax: But to this I think I may anfwer, that the Hebrew Language is not always critically exact in this particular. Vid. Capell. Crit. Sac. 1. 3. c. 16. et l. 6. c. 8. (k) Deut. xxv. 17, 18, 19. (4) Exodus xviii. I find fome Writers imagine, that Jethro's com ing to Mofes was not thus early: F. Simon fays, that Jethro feems not derful Works, which had been wrought for their Deliverance (m). Jethro full of Joy gave Praise to God for his Favours to them (n), and offered a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and invited Aaron and the Elders of Ifrael to it (). The Day after, seeing Mofes engaged all Day long in determining little Controverfies, he obferved to him, that he was fallen into a way, that would be full of Fatigue to himself, and not give a due dispatch to the Publick Business; and therefore he advised him to range the People in Classes of Thousands, Hundreds, Fifties, and Tens, and to appoint proper Officers over the feveral Claffes, and referve only Matters of Appeal and of the highest Moment to his own Decifion (p). Mofes approved of this Advice of Jethro, and according to it appointed fuch Officers as he had directed, to hear and decide the leffer Controverfies, and to difpenfe Justice under him unto the People (9). A noble Author makes the following Reflection upon Jethro's Advice here given to Mofes: He fays, that "the great Founder of Aaron not to have come till the fecond Year after the finishing of the Tabernacle, as may be proved out of Deuteronomy. The learned Father has not cited any Paffage in Deuteronomy to fupport his Opinion, and I cannot find any, which appears to me to favour it. and the Elders of Ifrael's coming to Jethro's Sacrifice, hints to me, that the Law was not yet given, nor Aaron confecrated to the Priesthood; for if it had been given, Jethro might perhaps have been admitted to Aaron's Sacrifice, but Aaron and the Ifraelites would not, I think, have partook of Jethro's, and therefore Jethro's coming to Mofes must have been just after the Victory over the Amalekites, as Joon as they came to Sinai: and to this Time, I think, the Account of Mofes, Exodus xviii. 5. does well fix it. (m) Exodus xviii. 8. (2) Exod. xviii. 9. (9) ver. 25. ver. 13.-24. (0) ver. 12. (ص) "the |