Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 5 · Chapter 2 – Chapter 3
CHAP. II.
Verſ. 1. THen we turned] viz. When we had bought our wit, and had paid for our learning, by our late diſcomfiture.
Verſ 3. Turn you North-ward] Thus God word was their directour unto all places, and in all actions: In which reſpect, theſe hiſtorics of holy Scripture excell all humane hiſtories in the world; as is well obſerved. That which they tell us of their Dea vibilia, guiding paſſengers, &c. is a meer fiction.
Verſ. 4. Which dwell in Seir] To diſtinguiſh them from the Amalekites, Eſaus ſeed too, but devoted to deſtruction.
And they ſhall be afraid of you] Though worſe afraid then hurt. Hic rogo, non furor eſt, ne moriare, mori? We read of ſome Iewes, that at the ſack of Ieruſalem killed themſelves, leſt they ſhould be taken by the enemy.
Verſ. 5. Becauſe I have given mount Seir] Thus the Moſt High, divided to the nations their inheritance, Deut. 32.8. And a man muſt needs have ſome right to his inheritance, to his portion, Pſal. 17.14. What Ananias had, Act. 5. was his own, whileſt he had it, as Peter tells him; yet Satan had filled his heart. It is therefore a rigour, to ſay, the wicked are uſurpers of what they have, and ſhall be called to account for it. When the King gives a traitour his life, he gives him meat and drink, that may maintain his life. That Duke D' Alva, is worthily taxed for a tyrant, that ſtarved his priſoners, even after quarter; ſaying, though he promiſed to give them their lives, he did not promiſe to finde them meat. Grimſton hiſt. of Netherlands.Wicked men have both a civile title to that they have, and a title before God; who will call them to account indeed at laſt day, not for poſſeſſing what they had, but for abuſing that poſſeſſion.
Verſ. 6. Buy meat of them for money] Money anſwereth all things, ſaith Solomon, Eccleſ. 10.19. Money is the monarch of the world, ſaith another, and heares moſt maſtery. But that covetous Chaliph of Babylon, taken by Haalon brother to Mango the great Cham of Tartary, Turk. hiſt. fol. 113.and commanded to eat his fill, of that great wealth that he had heaped up together, found ere he dyed, that one mouthfull of meat was more worth then a whole houſefull of money.
Verſ. 7. For the Lord thy God hath bleſſed thee] viz. With money, to fetch thee in other commodities: It is the bleſſing of God (when all's done,) that maketh rich: without this, men do but labour in the fire, labour all night and take nothing, trouble themſelves to no purpoſe: all their endeavours, are but Arena ſine calce, ſand without lime, they will not hold together; but, like untempered morter, fall aſunder: there being a curſe upon unlawfull practices, though men be never ſo induſtrious; as you may ſee in Ieho…achi…, Ier. 22.
Verſ. 9. Becauſe I have given Ar] The royall city, ſet upon an hill. Num. 21.15, 28. God (as liberall Lord,) gives not ſome ſmall cottage or annuity, for life, to his elder ſervants, great men uſe to do,) but bountifully provides for them and theirs, to many generations. Who would not ſerve thee then, O King of nations?
Verſ. 10. Many and tall are the Anakims] And if God caſt out thoſe Emims, or terrible-ones, before the Moabites, will he not much more caſt out theſe Anakims before the Iſraelites? Nihil unquam ei negaſſe credendum eſt, Hieronym:quem ad vituli hortatur eſum.
Verſ. 12. As Iſrael did unto the land] This and ſome other parcels, ſcattered here and there, ſeem to have been added to Moſes his words, (whether by Ioſhua, or Ezra, or ſome other Prophet, it much matters not,) after the conqueſt of the land of Canaan.
Verſ. 19. Becauſe I have given it] See the Note on verſ, 5.
Verſ. 20. Zamzummims] 1. Big and boiſterous, bearing down all before them; preſumptuous wicked ones they were, and yet they called themſelves Rephaims, that is, Phiſitians, or preſervers; ſuch indeed rulers ought to be, Iſai. 3.7. The Greeks therefore call a King, foreign ab foreign medela, Cornel. a Lapid. in Iſai. 3.7.becauſe he is to be ligator vulnerum, chirurgus, & Reip. medicus, the commonwealths Surgeon and Phyſitian. But ſuch were not theſe Zamzummims, more then in name: foreign, &c. As he ſaid of his bow; thy name is life, but thy uſe is preſent death.
Verſ. 23. And the Avims which dwelt in Hazeroth] Theſe are ancient things, as it is ſaid in another caſe, 1 Chron. 4.22. ſuch, as whereof there is no record but this, extant in the world. Well might that Egyptian Prieſt ſay to Solon that wiſe man of Greece: You Greeks are very babyes; foreign, Diod. Sic.neither is there an ancient writer amongſt you.
Verſ. 26. With words of peace] So the Romans by their heralds, ſent to thoſe that oppoſed or wronged them, caduceu… & haſtam, a proffer of peace firſt: For if we Princes (ſaid our Henry the ſeventh,) ſhould take every occaſion that's offered, the world ſhould never be quiet, but wearied with continuall wars. Cuncta prius tentanda, &c.—truncatur et artus, ut liceat reliquis ſecurum vivere membris.
Verſ. 30. Had hardened his Spirit] Deus quem deſtruit, dementat, God makes fooles of thoſe, whom he intends to deſtroy.
Verſ. 37. OnelyOnly unto the land] This kindneſs theſe Ammonites in after-ages very evill requited, Am. 1.13. Ier. 49.1. dealing by them, as that monſter Michael Balbus, dealt by the Emperour Leo Armenius, whom he ſlew the ſame night that this Prince had pardoned and releaſed him.
CHAP. III.
Verſ. 1. THen we turned … How pleaſant muſt the continuation of this holy hiſtory needs be to every good heart, out of the mouth of Moſus? Methinks I ſee the peoples ears linked to his tongue, with golden chains; as the Heathens fable of their Hercules. And ſurely, if King Alphouſus, and ſome others, of whom the Phyſitians deſpaired, did recover health beyond all expectation, Joh. Bodin. de utilitat. hiſtor. foreign.only by reading Livy, Curtius, Aventinus, &c. What may we think may be done by theſe Wholſome words, theſe healing hiſtories, if rightly regarded?
Verſ. 2. Fear him not▪ Though of a formidable ſtature, verſ. 11. The Lion is not ſo fierce as he is painted, ſaith the Spaniſh proverb. God will crack the hairy ſcalp of his enemies, Pſal. 68.
Verſ. 6. The men, women, and children,] The Hebrew word, foreign; here rendred Men, written with tſere, ſignifieth, Dead men: Pſal. 39.5.Surely, every man in his beſt eſtate, or when beſt underlaid, is altogether vanity, Selah.
Verſ. 11. Remained] Sc. in Baſhan; The Jews fable, that he eſcaped in the flood, by riding aſtride on the Ark.and he ſeems to have been of the remnant of thoſe Rephaims, whom Chedorlaomer and his company ſmote in Aſhteroth, Gen. 14.5. with Ioſh. 13.12.
Is it not in Rabbah] Kept for a monument of ſo mighty and maſſie a man.
Verſ. 13. Land of Giants] Such as are ſaid to be in another land, in another life. For he knoweth not that the Giants are there, and that her gueſts are in the depths of hell, Prov. 29.18.
Verſ. 16. Ʋnto the river Jabbok.] Famous for Jacob's wreſtling with God, neer unto it, Gen. 32.22.
Verſ. 21. So ſhall the Lord] God hath, and therefore God will, is a ſtrong Medium of hope, if not a demonſtration of Scripture-Logick.
Verſ. 26. Speak no more] Chriſtians muſt be ſober in prayer, 1 Pet. 4.7.