here, in which case St. Paul also commends their charge against him was. To such vinhimself, 2 Cor. xi. 5, &c.; xii. 11, 12; dications of themselves the humblest souls which they might the better do, because all may be constrained, by the calumnies of their writings and carriage made it evident wicked men: as we see not only in St. Paul, to all men that they did not this out of vain- but our blessed Saviour, who were put upon glory, and that they were exalted above the glorying and magnifying themselves by the affectation of men's praises, and the dread malignity of their enemies (see John x. 36; of men's reproaches. 2. This might be 2 Cor. xi. 10, 23, &c.). And this is the added, as some other clauses were, by some more allowable, when men know, not only succeeding prophet, which was no disparage- that they write the truth, but that it is ment to the authority of the Holy Scrip-notorious to all that are acquainted with tures, seeing it is all written by one hand, them, and cannot be contradicted. The though divers pens be used by it. Quest. 2. holy writers also are not to be confined to How was Moses so meek, when we ofttimes our rules, being moved by the Holy Ghost read of his anger, as Exod. xi. 8; xvi. 20; to set down such things, which, if they had xxxii. 19; Lev. x. 16; Numb. xvi. 15; xx. been left to themselves, they would not have 10, 11, compared with Psal. cvi. 32, 33? mentioned. And men, who have a due Answ. 1. The meekest men upon earth are reverence to the Holy Scriptures, will look provoked sometimes, yea, oftener than Moses was. 2. True meekness doth not exclude all anger, but only such as is unjust, or immoderate, or implacable. Moses was and ought to be angry where God was offended and dishonoured, as he was in almost all the places alleged. upon this rather as the Holy Ghost's testimony concerning Moses, than Moses's testimony concerning himself. But we have to do now with a generation of men that write upon these books, not as of a Divine original, but as they do upon common authors. Ken.-32 This verse strikes almost every Bp. Patrick.-3 Now the man Moses was reader with surprise; partly on its own very meek.] This is added as the reason why account, partly from its connexion. That he passed by the affront they put upon him, Moses was meek above all men, if true, was and why God avenged it; because he was not at all likely to have been recorded by so exceeding meek and patient (or, as others himself. It is still less likely to have been translate it, so humble and lowly), that he said by one who has recorded himself as a would have been exposed to further affronts, man of great warmth. See Exod. ii. 11—14; if God had not chastised their insolence. v. 22; xi. 8; xxxii. 19, 22; Num. xi. 13; Moses also might think fit to set this down, and xvi. 15. And as to Num. xx. 10, 12; as a confutation of their charge against him, see Ps. cvi. 32, 33. But if Moses had being so far from that pride which they been in fact the meekest of men; the record imputed to him, that he did not resent of such a quality seems to have no con(though he was so very much above them) | nexion with the context here. The preceding their undutiful behaviour towards him; who, verses set forth that Miriam and Aaron had conversed immediately with God him- exalted themselves as rivals to Moses; self, and been with him in the holy mount boasting that God had spoken by them likemany days together; who sent several wise. And in the verses following God commands to Aaron, as well as to the people declares, that he revealed himself to Moses by him alone; which made such a difference more than to any other prophet. It therebetween him and all others, that, as it was fore seems necessary to consider this 3d an unaccountable arrogance in them to verse as connected with the Divine comequal themselves unto him, so he demon- munications; and to translate the words strated how far he was from being proud of thus, Now the man Moses gave forth more his superiority, by meekly bearing their haughty behaviour towards him. So little cause there is for their cavils, who from hence argue that Moses was not the author of these books, because he commends himself in them: for this is not so much a commendation, as a necessary account of himself, to show how causeless answers (from God) [so also Bp. Horsley], or was highly favoured with answers, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth-crat responsor eximius (182) præ omni homine, &c. Such is the excellent version of this place, in a thesis under the very learned Albert Schultens, in 1725. This author refers to Juchasin; where Ezra is called, responsor similis Mosi. And 'tis very remarkable, that sixteen MSS. read here, agreeably to the word in Juchasin. Spinoza (cap. viii., p. 107) quotes this verse (Num. xii. 3) as one proof, that Moses did not write the Pentateuch. So Dr. A. Clarke.-Moses-is faithful.] neeman, a prefect or superintendent. Samuel is termed, 1 Sam. ii. 35; iii. 20; David is so called, 1 Sam. xviii. 27, Neeman, and son-in-law of the king. Job xii. 20, speaks of the Neemanim as a name of Dr. A. Clarke.-I think the word is not dignity. It seems also to have been a title rightly understood;, anav, which we of respect given to ambassadors, Prov. xiii. translate meek, comes from anah, to act 17; xxv. 13. Calmet well observes that the upon, to humble, depress, afflict, and is trans- word fidelity is often used for an employ, lated so in many places in the Old Testa- office, or dignity, and refers to 1 Chron. ix. ment; and in this sense it should be under-22, 26, 31; 2 Chron. xxxi. 12, 15; xxxiv. stood here: "Now this man Moses was 12, &c. Moses was a faithful, well-tried depressed or afflicted more than any man servant in the house of God, and therefore , haadamah, of that land." And why he uses him as a familiar, and puts conwas he so? Because of that great burden fidence in him. he had to bear in the care and government of this people, and because of their ingratitude and rebellion both against God en meng -by na Ver. 8. אֲדַבֶּר־בּוֹ וְלֹא וּתְמְנַת יְהוָה יַבִּיט וּמַדּוּעַ לֹא -and himself: of this depression and afilic tion, see the fullest proof in the preceding chapter. The very power they envied was oppressive to its possessor, and was more than either of their shoulders could sustain. Ver. 6. στόμα κατὰ στόμα λαλήσω αὐτῷ ἐν εἴδει, καὶ οὐ δι' αἰνιγμάτων, καὶ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου εἶδε, καὶ διατί οὐκ ἐφοβήθητε καταλαλῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ θεράποντός μου Μωυσῆ. Au. Ter.-8 With him will I speak : jen cige καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτους. ἀκούσατε τῶν λόγων ἐὰν γένηται προφήτης ὑμῶν κυρίῳ, ἐν δράματι αὐτῷ γνωσθήσομαι, καὶ ἐν ὕπνῳ λαλήσω αὐτῷ. μου. Au. Ver.-6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in dream. Ged., Booth. If either of you prophesy, I Jehovah am wont [Ged., Am I not wont?] to make myself known to you in a vision, and speak to you in a dream. נביאכם in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? Bp. Horsley.- will I speak-shall he behold. These futures should be presents: I speak-he beholdeth. Even apparently. Houbigant.—78, lege cum Samaritano a, in visione. Sic legunt præter Arabem, Rosen.-Si quis vestrum est propheta Jova, ego ei per visionem innotescere, per somnum eum alloqui soleo. pheta vobis, i.e., inter vos, pron. affixum pro separato. Ver. 7. pro veteres omnino omnes. dicitur במראה Nam in oppositione sententiæ cum ; nec licet omitti præpositionem in parte priore oppositionis, ut omittitur aliquando in pos teriori. In dark speeches. Bp. Patrick. Or, in parables and enig, pro-matical representations, such as the ladder which Jacob saw in a dream, the boiling-pot which was shown to Jeremiah, the wall, the plumb-line, and the basket of summer fruits which Amos saw. Rosen., Per ænigmata. T, coll. Arab. 7, inflectere, obliquare, est proprie οὐχ οὕτως ὁ θεράπων μου Μωυσῆς, ἐν ὅλῳ res inflera, non recta et perspicua. Hine τῷ οἴκῳ μου πιστός ἐστι. Au. Ver.-7 My servant Moses is not so, aperto, i. e., obscure. who is faithful in all mine house. The similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Pool. The similitude of the Lord; not his face, but should behold his back parts the face or essence of God, which no man (Exod. xxxiii. 20, 23), which was a privilege can see and live, Exod. xxxiii. 20; it being granted to none but him. And thus the invisible, Col. i. 15, and never seen by man, similitude of the Lord, or his likeness, sigJohn i. 18; but some singular manifestation nifies the Lord himself (Ps. xvii. ult.), of his glorious presence, as Exod. xxxiii."When thy likeness shall awake (that is, 11, 20, &c.; xxxiv. 5, &c.; Deut. xxxiv. 10. thou thyself appear for me), I shall be satisYea, the Son of God appeared to him in a fied." human shape, which he took up for a time, that he might give him a foretaste of his future incarnation. Bp. Patrick. The similitude of the Lord shall he behold.] I am apt to think the word not should be here again repeated (as it must be in some places to make out the sense, as Prov. xxv. 27), which will make the meaning plainly this, "He shall not behold the Lord in similitudes and resemblances," as other prophets did. For the Hebrew word temunah signifies the shape of a thing represented either to the outward senses or to the imagination, not the thing itself. Therefore it would be to equal Moses with the rest of the prophets to say he should see the similitude of the Lord; for so did they. Amos, for instance, saith he "saw the Lord standing upon the altar" (ch. ix. 1), that is, some angelical appearance in a glorious shape. And Eliphaz saith, that "a spirit passed before him, the form (or aspect) whereof he could not discern;" only the temunah (we render it an image) 66 was before his eyes" (Job iv. 15, 16). But God did not thus reveal himself to Moses by but spake images and similitudes of things, Ged.-8 With him I speak mouth to mouth: evidently and not through obscure emblems he beholdeth the LORD, &c. Booth.-8 With him I am wont to speak mouth to mouth; even apparently, and not in dark speeches, so that he may clearly perceive the will of Jehovah. Why then, &c. Rosen.m noon, Figuram Dei conspicit. Cf. Ps. xvii. 15, ubi est i. q., i Omnia autem vs. 6-8, dicta, huc redeunt, Mosem Deo familiarissimum esse, hinc injuriam amico Dei illatam ab eo non inultam relictum iri. Cf. vs. 10. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰςελεύσεται. to him himself, as it goes before, mouth to mouth. Which led Maimonides into the Au. Fer.-14 And the LORD said unto opinion (which he often repeats) that when Moses, If her father had but spit in her God is said to speak to any other man, it face, should she not be ashamed seven days? was by an angel; and that he never spake let her be shut out from the camp seven to any one himself, but only to Moses. Nor days, and after that let her be received in did any man before him say that God spake to him, or that he sent him on a message unto others; but Moses was the first who had this honour (More Nevoch., par. i., cap. 63, and par. ii., cap. 39). again. She shall be received in again. So Pool, Rosen. Geddes, Booth." She shall recover." Vulg., et postea revocabitur. And so equiBat if we follow our translation, which valently all the ant. versions, including should run thus, "But the similitude of the Gr. Ven. But I cannot see that the verb Lord shall he behold," it relates to that ever signifies to return: whereas it wonderful apparition of God to him in the certainly signifies, to recover from an illness; bush (Exod. iii. 6), as Maimonides thinks, and particularly from a leprosy. See 2 Kings More Nevochim, par. i, cap. 5, where he v. 8, 6, 7. saith, "God poured upon him as much as he could contain," but especially to that revelation which God made of himself to him, when he told him that he could not see Rosen., Colligetur, i. c., recipictur in cœtum. Sie significat recipere cum qui derelictus fuerat vel neglectus, Ps. xxvii. 10, ubi ef. not. CHAP. XIII. 1. (Exod. xvii. 9), when he went to fight with Au. Ver.-1 And the LORD spake unto Amalek: whom he having overcome, Moses Moses, saying, Ged., Booth.-And Moses said to the Israelites, Ye are now come to the mount of the Amorites, which Jehovah our God hath given to us. Lo! Jehovah hath placed the land before you; go up and possess it as Jehovah, the God of your fathers, hath spoken to you; fear not, nor be dismayed. Then they drew near to Moses and said, Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land, and bring us word by what way we may go up, and into what cities we may come. And this thing was pleasing to Moses [so the Sam. and p.p. Deut. i. 20]. And Jehovah also spoke to him [Ged., for the Lord had spoken to Moses], saying. Ver. 3. looked upon it as a token that he should Gesen., A proper name (save). .m. The help of Jehovah, יְהוֹשֻׁעַ and יְהוֹשׁוּעַ significat הוֹשֵׁעַ καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς Μωυσῆς ἐρήμου Φαρὰν διὰ φωνῆς κυρίου. ἄνδρες ἀρχηγοὶ υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ οὗτοι. Au. Ver.-3 And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel. i.e., salus a Jova præstita. Ceterum hæc Bp. Horsley.-Rather thus, "And Moses Ver. 16. Jam ut lectores scirent, Josua et Hosea nominibus unum καὶ ἐπωνόμασε Μωυσῆς τὸν Αὐσὴ υἱὸν Ναυή, ̓Ιησοῦν. Au. V'er.-16 These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua. And Moses called. Ged.-Now Moses had called. Bp. Patrick. He was called by this name presently after they came out of Egypt καὶ τίς ἡ γῆ εἰς ἣν οὗτοι ἐγκάθηνται ἐπ ̓ αὐτῆς, ἢ καλή ἐστιν ἢ πονηρά. καὶ τίνες αἱ πόλεις ὡς οὗτοι κατοικοῦσιν ἐν αὐταῖς, εἰ ἐν τειχήρεσιν ἢ ἐν ἀτειχίστοις. Au. Ver.-19 And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds. Bp. Patrick. Whether in tents, or in Et quis credat, Mosen, qui exploratores strong holds.] Whether they lived in tents, mittat ad urbes Chanaan, dubitare an Chaas the Arabians did (and the Israelites while nanai habitent in urbibus, an in castris? they were in the wilderness), or in houses, Observat in loco Edm. Castellus neminem and whether they were fortified. Or rather Veterum contextum, ut nunc est, reddi(as we would say in our language), whether disse. Et Syrus quidem totum hunc de in open villages or in walled cities: for so the urbibus locum prætervehitur, ut pericuword mahanaim signifies, not tents (as we losum. Prætermittunt etiam Londinenses here translate it), but hosts or camps (Gen. hanc variam Sam. scriptionem, minime xxxii. 1), and here towns without walls, as omnium prætermittendam." the LXX interpret it; and the Vulgar, also, only inverting the order of the words, whether in walled towns, or without walls. Ged. Whether the inhabitants dwell in open or in walled cities. The question is not here of camps or tents: but of what sort were the towns, whether weal or strong, open or walled? I therefore, with Houbigant, prefer the Sam. reading Ver. 22. καὶ ἀνέβησαν κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ ἀπῆλθον ἕως Χεβρὼν, καὶ ἐκεῖ ̓Αχιμὴν, καὶ Σεσσὶ, καὶ Θελαμὶ, γενεαὶ Ἐνάχ, κ.τ.λ. Au. Ver.-22 And they ascended by the , without the preposition, although south, and came unto Hebron; where I have, with most of the antient versions, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children expressed it in my translation. None of the of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built antient translators appear to have read, seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) camps, in their copies; except Gr. Ven., which has ev σrpатопedоis. See Castell on the root; and Houbigant's excellent note on the place. And they came. Rosen., Booth. .ינאי for יבא So Bp. Patrick.-Bochartus thinks (lib. i., Canaan, cap. 1) that Anak signifies as much as the Roman name Torquatus; being like to that Gaul whom Manlius vanquished. Houb.-"Sententia hæc, quæ nihili est, And Ahiman signifies as much as, who is scripturæ vitium ut caveretur, admonebat. my brother? importing there was none to Quod vitium non habet Sam. Codex, Orat. 1, be compared with him. Sheshai he takes in quo legitur, D'YID IN D'ONDO, an infirmæ to be as much as Sixtius, viz., six cubits sint, an munitæ, ex radice 2, Syriaca high, as Goliath was. And Talmai he eademque Samaritica; cujus significatus ut derives from talam, "furrow:" as if he exempla deessent, tamen exemplum esset seemed in length to equal a furrow in the hujus loci non dubium, ubi o, munitæ, field. in oppositione est cum, infirmis; imo ex filo ipso narrationis. Nam, quomodo Ged. There is a gross solecism in the v. 18, postquam dictum est an fortis, an present Hebrew text; imbellis, subjungitur, an paucus, an multus; sic hoc v. 19, conveniebat ut, postquam The children of Anak. dictum est (terra) an bona an mala subjun- Ged. The race of Anak. I have not geretur, an infirmæ urbes, an munitæ, eodem with our English translators, rendered, “the tenore orationis utrobique servato, ut mem-children of Anak," that the reader might brum orationis prius in parte deteriori ini- not imagine that Ahiman, Sheshai, and tium haberet, posterius, in potiori; ut nempe Thalmai were the immediate sons of Anak. diceretur infirmæ antequam munita. Nam The Septuagint have, as usual, very properly per eam ordinis æquabilitatem, digitus Lec- rendered yeveai Evax, or, as Alex., Glasg., toris intenditur ad significatum infirmæ, quam- and some other MSS. better Evak with a quam antea incognitum. Dixi hanc sen-kappa. But who was Enak, or Anak? and tentiam an in castris, an in munitionibus, what sort of race were his progeny? Onk., nihili esse. Enimvero in castris dicitur de Syr., Tharg., both Arabs, rendered apurbibus. Num censebimus urbes esse in pellatively, the progeny of the giant. castris? Ludebat Lectores suos Clericus, this they were moved, no doubt, by the cum interpretaretur, an in castris agat, prefix ; which is not usually placed before addens agat, quod verbum ad populum credat proper names. The same reason induced pertinere, etsi nihil de populo in antedietis. Michaëlis to seek for an appellative meaning, Το |