Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 4 · Chapter 33 – Chapter 34
CHAP. XXXIII.
Verſ. 2. ANd Moſes wrote] Moſes was primus in hiſtoria, as Martial ſaith of Saluſt.
Verſ. 4. For the Egyptians buried] As iron is very ſoft, and malleable, whiles in the fire; but ſoon after, returns to its former hardneſs: ſo was it with theſe Egyptians. Affliction meekneth men: hence affliction and meekneſſe grow upon the ſame Hebrew root.
Verſ. 29. From Mithcah] Which ſignifies ſweetneſſe.
And pitched in Chaſmonah] Which ſignifies ſwiftneſſe. We muſt alſo, when we have taſted of Gods ſweetneſs, uſe all poſſible ſwiftneſs in the wayes of holineſs: as Jacob, when he had ſeen viſions of God at Bethel, he lift up his feet, Gen. 29.1.and went on his way luſtily, like a generous horſe after a bait; or a giant after his wine; the joy of the Lord is your ſtrength, Neh. 8.
Verſ. 38. And dyed there in the fourtieth year] Nec te tua plurimaPenthe… Labentem texît pietas. — The righteous dye as well as the wicked; yea the righteous oft before the wicked: foreign, God ſends his ſervants to bed, when they have done their work; as here he did Aaron: and as within theſe few dayes, he hath done, (to mine unſpeakable loſs and grief,) my deareſt brother, and moſt faithful friend, Mr. Thomas Jackſon, that able and active inſtrument of Gods glory, (while he lived) in the work of the Miniſtery at Gloceſter; the ſad report of whoſe death, received whileſt I was writing theſe things, made the pen (almoſt) fall out of my ſingers; not for my own ſake ſo much, as for my Countrey, whereof he was, I may truly ſay, Paulin. Nolan. in vita Ambroſ.the Bul-wark and the Beauty; as Ambroſe is ſaid to have been the walls of Italy: foreign, ſaid Theodoſius. Ambroſe, whiles alive, was the only Miniſter, (to ſpeak of) that I knew in the whole Countrey: And dilexi virum, qui cum corpore ſolveretur, magis de Eccleſiarum ſtatu, juam de ſuis periculis angebatur, ſaid the ſame Emperour, of the ſame Ambroſe; I could not but love the man, for that when he dyed, his care was more for the Churches welfare, then for his own. I can ſafely ſay the ſame of the man in ſpeech, (without offence to any be it ſpoken;) and I greatly fear, leſt as the death of Ambroſe fore-ran the ruine of Italy; ſo that it bodes no good to us, that God pulls ſuch props and pillars out of our building. But this by way of digreſſion, to ſatisfie my great grief for ſo dear a friend deceaſed, as David did his, for his brother Jonathan; and made him an Epitaph, 2 Sam. 1.17.
Verſ. 52. Deſtroy all the pictures] Thoſe Balaam's blocks, thoſe excellent inſtruments of idolatry; ſuch as was the rood of Hailes, and Cockra… rood; which if it would not ſerve to make a god, yet with a pair of horns clapt on his head, might make an excellent Devil; Act. and Mon. 1340.as the Mayor of Doncaſter perſwaded the men of Cockram, who came to him, to complain of the Joyner that made it, and refuſed to pay him his money for the making of it.
Verſ. 55. Shall be pricks in your eyes] The eye is the tendereſt part, and ſoon vexed with the leaſt mote that falls into it. Theſe Jebuſites preſerved, ſhould be notorious miſchi…fs to them; as the Jeſuites, at this day, are to thoſe Chriſtian States that ha…bour them. Shall we ſuffer thoſe vipers to lodg in our boſomes, till they eat out our hearts? Sic notus Ʋlyſſes? Jeſuites, like bells, will never be well tuned, till well hanged. Among much change of houſes in forraign parts, they have two, famous for the accordance of their names; the one called the Bow at Nola, the other, the Arrow (la Fleſc…e, given them by Henry 4, whom afterwards they villanouſly ſtabbed to death,) in France. Their Apoſtate Ferrier plaid upon them, in this diſtich:
Arcum Nola dedit, dedit illis alma ſagittam
Gallia; quis funem, quem meruere, dabit!
Nola the bow, and France the ſhaft did bring;
But who ſhall help them to a hempen-ſtring?
CHAP. XXXIV.
Verſ. 2. THis is the land that ſhall fall] It is God that aſſigns us our quarters, and cuts us out our ſeveral conditions; appointing the bounds of our habitation, Act. 17. This ſhould make us reſt contented with our lot, and (having God our portion) ſay howſoever, as David did, The lines are fallen to me in a fair place, Pſal. 16.6. It is that our Father ſees fit for us.
Verſ. 3. Then your South-quarter ſhall be] Judaea was not above 200 miles long, and 50 miles broad; not neer the half of England, by much, but far more fertile, (called therefore Sumen totius orbis:) and yet England is, for good cauſe, counted the Weſtern granary, the garden of God, whoſe valleys are like Eden, whoſe hills are as Lebanon, whoſe ſprings are as Piſgah, Speeds hiſt.whoſe rivers are as Iordan, whoſe walls is the Ocean, whoſe defence is the Lord Jehovah.
Verſ. 6. The great Sea] Commonly called the Mediterranean Sea; betwixt which and the Jews, lay the Philiſtims; as now betwixt the Church and the Turk, lies the Pope and his followers; Italy being the mark that the Turk ſhoots at, Loe, a ſweet providence of God.
Verſ. 8. Ʋnto the entrance of Hamath] Called Hamath the Great, Amos 6.8. affecting, haply, to be held the greateſt Village, as the Hague in Holland doth, and remains therefore unwalled.
Verſ. 12. It ſhall be at the ſalt-Sea] That is, the Lake of Sodome, called alſo, Aſphaltites, and the dead Sea. Joſephus ſaith, that an ox having all his legs bound, will not ſink into the water of this ſea, it is ſo thick.
Verſ. 17. Eleazar the Prieſt] Pointing to the high Prieſt of the new Covenant, by whom we have entrance into the promiſed inheritance, whither he is gone before, to prepare a place for us, and hath told us, that in his Fathers houſe are many manſions, room enough.