Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 4 · Chapter 21
CHAP. XXI.
Verſ. 1. ANd took ſome of them priſoners] …. ſore affliction, worſe then any of thoſe outward croſſes that Iob ſuffered, whoſe captivity therefore, (as that which comprehended all the reſt;) God is ſaid to have turned, Chap. 42.10. Barbaroſſa the Turkiſh Generall, returned from Tunes, Turk. hiſt. fol. 750.towards Conſtantinople, with ſuch a multitude of poor Chriſtian captives, ſhut up ſo cloſe under hatches, among the excrements of nature, that all the way as he went, almoſt every hour, ſome of them were caſt dead over-board. The late Duke D'Alva, Grimſt. hiſt. of Netherl.Governour of Flanders, roaſted ſome of his priſoners to death, ſtarved others, and that even after quarter; ſaying, though he promiſed to give them their lives, he did not promiſe to finde them meat. In our late troubles, it was a like difficult thing, to finde among our enemies, a wicked man in their priſons, or a godly man out of them: where ſome were little better uſed, then thoſe that are taken by the American Canibals, and are eaten up alive, and by degrees, to the unutterable aggravation of their horrour and torment.
Verſ. 2. And Iſrael vowed a vow] This is the way to prevail with God, as Iacob found it, Gen. 28.36. Who is therefore called, the father of vowes. Concerning vowes, See the Note on that text, Gen. 28.20.
Verſ 3. Delivered up the Canaanites] This King Arab, heartened with his former ſucceſs, might (as Guicciardine ſaith of Charles the eight of France, Guicciard.in his expedition againſt Naples;) come into the field like thunder and lightning, but go out like a ſnuffe: more then a man at firſt, leſs then a woman at laſt.
Verſ. 4. Diſcouraged becauſe of the way] So are many in their voyage towards Heaven, which is an afflicted way, Mat. 7.14. ſtrawed with croſſes, Act. 14.22. Indeed, if men could go to heaven in a fether-bed, or paſs è coeno in coelum▪ à deliciis ad delicias, foreign.feed on manchet, tread on roſes, fly to heaven with pleaſant wings, none ſhould be ſo forward as they. But to goe through fire and through water, Pſal. 66.12. to run with p…tience, the race that is ſet before them, Heb. 12.1 and through many tribulations, to enter into Heaven, this they like not. Theotimus in Ambroſe, would rather loſe his ſight, then his ſin: Vale lumen amicum, ſaid he, when forbidden wine, as naught for his eyes. Beetles love dunghills better then oyntments; and ſwine love mud, better then a garden: ſo do ſwiniſh Epicures prefer earth to heaven, &c.
Verſ. 5. This light bread] See the Note on Chap. 11.6.
Verſ. 6. Fiery Serpents] Heb. Seraphin, from their burning heat, whereby theſe ingratefull Iſraelites, that cauſeleſly cryed out of thirſt, had ſomewhat given them to cry for. Their tongues ſo full of deadly poiſon, and ſet on fire from hell, are now parched and ſcorched with venemous heate and torments, the likeſt hell of any other. Theſe ſerpents are here called Seraphims: that old ſerpent the divell, can transforme himſelf into an Angell of light.
Verſ. 7. Pray unto the Lord] Prayer is the beſt lever at a dead lift.
Verſ. 8. Make thee a fiery ſerpent] i.e. The ſimilitude of ſuch a one; an unlikely meanes to effect ſuch a cure. Yea ſome write, that it is deadly for thoſe that are ſtung with a ſerpent, to look upon braſs. Certain it is, that this cure was not wrought by any thing in the nature of the brazen ſerpent, but by the inſtitution and ordination of God, to be alſo a type of Chriſt; a noble and notable figure of Chriſt lifted up on the croſs, Ioh. 3.16. or rather in his ordinances, Gal. 3.1. They that looked upon their ſores, and not upon the ſign, dyed for it: As thoſe that looked on the ſign, though but with one eye, though but with a ſquint eye, or but with halfe an eye, they were healed preſently: So they, that fix their eyes upon their ſins only, and not upon their Saviour, deſpaire and dye; but thoſe that look to Chriſt, being faithfull in weakneſs, though weak in faith, are ſure to be ſaved: It is, but, look up and live. Only look up, (as they did that were wounded,) weepingly, wiſhly, pittifully, cravingly: See and ſigh, look upon him whom you have pierced; let your ſins be, as ſo many Hazaels, to you; and your hearts, as ſo many Hadadrimmons, Zech. 12.10, 11.
Verſ. 14. In the book of the warrs of the Lord] This book here cited by Moſes, is now either loſt, or at leaſt latent. It was not any part of the Canon, (for God hath provided, that not one hair of that ſacred head is diminiſhed;) but as the Chronicles of England, or ſome famous Poem.
Verſ. 16 And I will give them water] Now that they murmured not, they might have any thing, Pſal. 34.10. OnelyOnly we muſt be content to wait Gods time; (Is it fit to ſend for the Prince by a poſt?) or to want that particular mercy, if God ſee it meet; being content that God be glorified, though we be not gratified. Surely if God ſaw us thus ſtudying his ſhare more then our own, we might have what we would, and God even think himſelf beholding to us; as one phraſeth it.
Verſ. 17. Then Iſrael ſang this ſong] A ſign of that Chriſtian joy, Iſai. 12.3, 4.
Verſ. 18. The Prince digged the well] Called there-hence Beer-elim, Plin.i.e. the Well of the mighty ones, Iſai. 15.8. Nunquam vilior erat annona Romae, quam cum terram colerent iidem qui remp. regerent: quaſi ganderet terra laureato vomere ſcilicet, et aratore triumphali. [With their ſtaves] Thoſe Enſignes of their honour, they made to be inſtruments of the common good. See the Epiſt. dedicat. ſet before my Notes upon Iohn.
Verſ. 22. Let me paſs] See the Note on Chap. 20.17.
Verſ. 23. And Sihon would not] He durſt not truſt them: Deut. 2.30.Men muſe as they uſe: God had alſo hardened his heart, that he might come forth, to fetch his own deſtruction. Iudgment need not go to find wicked men out, they run to meet their bane.
Verſ. 27. Wherefore they that ſpeak in proverbs] Or by-words, by way of deriſion, as Deut. 28.17. Habac. 2.6. ballad-makers, Poetaſters, that penned popular ſongs, ſuch as this was.
Verſ. 30. We have ſhot at them] Great ſwelling words of vanity, uttered by the conquering Amorites: How much better our Henry the fift, who after his victory at Agincourt, gave ſtraight order, Dan. hiſt. pag. 101.that no ballad or ſong ſhould be made or ſung, more then of thankſgiving to God, for his happy victory: and that nothing that might tend to oſtentation, or boaſting of the valiant, or cowardly act of any, ſhould be ſet forth.