Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 5 · Chapter 31
CHAP. XXXI.
Verſ. 2. I am an hundred and twenty, &c.] And ſo might well beſpeak them, as Auguſtus once did his army, and pacified them thereby, when they were in a mutiny; Sueton.Audite ſenem juvenes, quem j…venem ſenes and erunt.
Verſ. 6. He will not fail thee] Five times, in holy Scriptures, is this precious promiſe repeated; and Heb. 13.5. made common to all believers, with a very deep aſſeveration.
Verſ. 9. Ʋnto the Prieſts] Gods library-keepers, his depoſitaries. … [Ʋnto all the elders of Iſrael] As to the Keepers of both Tables.
Verſ. 11. Thou ſhalt read this law] Which was nevertheleſs read in their ſynagogues every Sabbath-day, Act. 15. And by this reading, at the feaſt of Tabernacles, every ſeventh year, the originall copy written by Moſes; Mr. Burton againſt Couzens.they might perceive that thoſe copyes that they had amongſt them, were right and authentick. It was ill ordered, in our engliſh bibles of the new tranſlation, that between the Printers haſte, and Correctours over-ſight, ſuch foul eſcapes have been lately committed; as Iudas printed for Ieſus, in the great Bible, Lightf. Miſcel.The Turkiſh Alcoran is written, and to be read in Arabick▪ under pain of death not to miſtake a letter, which is as eaſily done in this tongue, as in any.
Verſ. 17. And many evils and troubles] As it befell Sampſon and Saul, when God was gone: foreign, all miſeries came trooping and treading one in the heeles of another. So Ezek. 9.10, 11. God makes many removes: and as he goes out, ſome judgment comes in upon the land.
Verſ. 19. Put it in their mouths] That out of their own mouthes I may judg them: things made up in meeter, are better remembred. Before the knowledg of letters and writing, among the ancients, it was a cuſtome to ſing their laws, leſt they might forget them; uſed in the days of Ariſtotle, by the Agathyrſi, a people neer to the Scythians.
Verſ. 21. For I know their imagination] As a man that knows what rootes he hath in his garden; thought here be not a flower appeares, yet he can ſay, when the ſpring comes, this and this will come up; becauſe he knows the garden, and knows what roots are there: So the Lord knows our thoughts afarr off; becauſe he knows the principles that are within, and knows what they will do, when occaſion ſerves: he is privy to that root, that beareth gall and wormwood, Chap. 29.18.
Verſ. 26. In the ſide of the Ark] That it might be heard, and regarded, as the very law of God, though penned by Moſes. And indeed the Iewes at this day, ſhew exceeding great reſpect to the law: No man may touch it, but with the right hand, and without a kiſs of reverence; Schicard.nor carry it behinde him, but lay it next to his heart in his travell: If it but fall to the ground, they inſtitute a faſt for it, Weemſe.&c. The very Turks have ſo high an eſteem of Moſes, that if they finde any peece of his writings, (be it but a torn paper) lying on the ground, Pareus prol. in Geneſ.they preſently take it up, and kiſs it. [That it may be there for a witneſs] Hence haply the Ark was called, the Ark of the teſtimony; the law might be called the doomes day book ſuch a book there is in our common-law, ſo called, ſaith Mathew Paris, becauſe it ſpares no man.
Verſ. 29. To provoke him to anger] Which is the greateſt folly that can be, for, are we ſtronger then he? can we imagine to make our party good with him? Surely, as Ʋlyſſes his companions told him, when he would needs provoke Polydamus; foreign;
May not we much more ſay ſo to them, that will needs provoke the Lord? It is good for men, to meddle with their matches, and not contend with him that is mightier then they.