Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 4 · Chapter 35 – Chapter 36
CHAP. XXXV.
Verſ. 2. SƲburbs] Theſe were for paſture, pleaſure, and other Country-Commodities, not for tillage; for the Levites were to have no ſuch employment, Num. 18.20, 24.
Verſ. 6. That he may flee thither] All ſins then are not equal, as the Stoicks held; neither are all to be alike puniſhed, as by Draco's laws they were, in a manner. Thoſe laws were ſaid to be written, not with black, but with blood; becauſe they puniſhed every peccadillo almoſt with death, as idleneſs, ſtealing of potherbs, &c. Ariſtotle gives them this ſmall commendation, that they are not worth remembrance; but only for their great ſeverity.
Verſ. 7. Shall be fourty and eight cities] Thus the Levites were diſperſed throughout the land, for inſtruction of the people; ſo ought Miniſters of the Goſpel, who are fi…ly called the ſalt of the earth, that being ſprinkled up and down, may keep the reſt (as fleſh) from rotting and putriſying.
Verſ. 8. From them that have many ye ſhall give] By the equity of this proportion, the richer are bound to give more to the Miniſters maintenance, then the poorer. Let this be noted by thoſe that refuſe to give any thing to their Miniſters, becauſe they have not thoſe things, the tithes whereof the law requires for this purpoſe. See Gal: 6.6. with the Note there.
Verſ. 15. Shall be a refuge] Chriſt is our Aſylum, to whom running for refuge, when purſued by the guilt of an evill conſcience, we are ſafe; None can take us out of his hands; If we be in Chriſt the Rock, temptations, and oppoſitions as waves daſh upon us, but break themſelves.
Verſ. 16. So that he dye] Though he had no intent to kill, yet becauſe he ſhould have look't better to't, he is a murtherer, he ſmote him purpoſely and preſumptuouſly, and the man dyes of it. King James was wont to ſay, that if God did leave him to kill a man, (though beſides his intention,) he ſhould think God did not love him.
Verſ. 18. The murderer ſhall ſurely be put to death] This is jus gentium. The Turks juſtice, in this caſe, will rather cut off two innocent men, then let one offender eſcape. Cartwr. travels.The Perſians puniſh theft and man-ſlaughter ſo ſeverely, that in an age, a man ſhall hardly hear either of the one, or the other. A ſeverity fit for Italy, where they blaſpheme, oftner then ſwear; Spec. Europ. Purchas.and murther, more then revile or ſlander: (like the dogs of Congo, which, they ſay, bite, but bark not;) And no leſs fit for France; where, Les ombres des defunde fieurs de Villemor.within ten years, 6000 gentlemen have been ſlain; as it appears by the Kings pardons. Byron, Lord high-Marſhal of France, and Governour of Burgundy, ſlew a certain Judge, for putting to death a malefactor whom he had commanded to be ſpared; Epitome hiſt. Gall. pag. 275.For this he ſued for a pardon, and had it: but not long after, he turned traytor to his Prince that had pardoned him, and was juſtly executed.
Verſ. 21. He ſhall ſurely be put to death] And yet the Papiſts allow wilful murtherers, alſo, to take ſanctuary; who ſhould, as Joab was, be taken from the altar to the ſlaughter. Their hatred to Proteſtants is ſo deadly, that they hold us unworthy to live on Gods ground; fit for nothing but fire and fagot; yea they ſend us to hell without bail or main-prize, as worſe then Turks or Jews. They tell the people, that Geneva is a profeſſed Sanctuary of all roguery; that in England, the people are grown barbarous, and eat young children, that they are as black as Devils, &c.
Verſ. 23. Or with any ſtone] As at the funeral ſolemnities of Q. Anne, a ſcholar was ſlain by the fall of a letter of ſtone, thruſt down from the battlements of the Earl of Northamptons houſe, by one that was a ſpectatour.
Verſ. 25. Ʋnto the death of the high Prieſt] Becauſe he was, amongſt men, the chief god on earth, and ſo the offence did moſt directly ſtrike againſt him. Or rather, becauſe the high Prieſt was a type of Chriſt: and ſo this releaſe was a ſhadow of our freedom and redemption by the death of Chriſt.
CHAP. XXXVI.
Verſ. 1. ANd ſpake before Moſes] Who was their common Oracle to enquire of, in all doubtful caſes. Like as at Rome, C. Scipio Naſica, (whom the Senate, by way of honor, called Optimus,) had a houſe in the high-ſtreet aſſigned him, at the publike charge, quò faciliùs conſuli poſſet? that any man might go to him for counſel. And ſurely, as the Romane General never miſcarried, ſo long as he followed the advice of Polybius, his hiſtorian; ſo neither did, or could, this people do amiſs, if ruled by Moſes, who was the mouth of God, verſ. 5.
Verſ. 6. To whom they think beſt] See Gen. 24.57, 58. with the Note there.
Verſ. 7. Shall keep himſelf to the inheritance] This was an excellent law to cut off quarrels, ſtrifes, and law-ſuites, and to fruſtrates thoſe qui latrocinia intra moenia exercent, as Columella ſaid of the Lawyers of his time.
Verſ. 11. For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, &c.] The names of theſe virgins, (as one Interpreter elſewhere obſerveth) ſeem to be not without myſtery. M. Ainſworth.For, Zelophehad, by interpretation, ſignifieth, the ſhadow of fear, or of dread: his firſt daughter, Machlah, Infirmity; the ſecond, Noah, Wandering; the third, Hoglah, Turning about for joy, or Dancing; the fourth Milcah, a Queen; the fifth, Tirzah, Well pleaſing, or Acceptable. By theſe names, we may obſerve the degrees of our reviving by grace in Chriſt; for we all are born, as of the ſhadow of fear, being brought forth in ſin; and for fear of death, were all our life-time ſubject to bondage, Heb, 2.15. This begetteth infirmity, or ſickneſs, grief of heart for our eſtate. After which, Wandering abroad for help and comfort, we finde it in Chriſt, by whom our ſorrow is turned into joy. He communicates to us of his royalty, making us Kings and Prieſts unto God his Father; and we ſhall be preſented unto him glorious, and without blemiſh, Epheſ. 5.27. So the Church is beautiful as Tirz…h, Cant. 6.3.
Deo ſoli Gloria.