Gesen., Rosen.-Sub radicibus Pisga. prays that he may see in general the good

Proprie sunt effusiones, hinc, montium radices, quia ad eas largi rivi effunduntur. Cf. ad Num. xxi. 15.—Rosen.

land that is beyond Jordan, and then particularly the goodly mountains of it, and especially that famous mount of Lebanon, which was so celebrated for its tall and large cedars, and other trees and excellent

plants. See Psal. xxix. 5; civ. 16; Isa.

Ged. Those fertile mountains. Rosen.-Regionem montanam illam ferδιαβὰς οὖν ὄψομαι τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθὴν tilissimam. In Oriente enim regiones monταύτην τὴν οὖσαν πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, τὸ ὄρος tange, fontibus rivisque irrigure, admodum τοῦτο τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸν ̓Αντιλίβανον. fertiles et amoenæ sunt (vid. ad i. 1).

Hic Au. Ver.-25 I pray thee, let me go vero intelligit Moses montana, quæ ad over, and see the good land that is beyond Libanum porriguntur, Galilæam, regionem Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. fertilissimam.

For as

Ver. 29.

καὶ ἐνεκαθήμεθα ἐν νάπῃ σύνεγγυς οἴκου Þoyúp.

Au. Ver.-29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.

Pool. That goodly mountain, or, that blessed mountain, which the Jews not improbably understand of that mountain on which the temple was to be built. Moses desired and determined to prepare an habitation for God, Exod. xv. 2, and knew very well that God would choose a certain place for his habitation, and to put his name Rosen. Consedimusque in Gai, e regione there, Deut. xii. 5; so he also knew that it Beth-Peoris. quod proprie vallem denomanner both of the true wor- tat, ut, hic ut Num. xxi. 20 infra iv. 46, shippers of God and of idolaters to worship et xxxiv. 6, procul dubio est nomen protheir God in high places, and particularly prium loci, cujus situs Num. xxi. 20 dethat Abraham did worship God in the mount scribitur.

was the

of Moriah, Gen. xxii. 2, and therefore did

CHAP. IV. 1.

either reasonably conjecture that God would Au. Ver.-1 Now therefore hearken, O choose some certain mountain for the place Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgeof his habitation, or possibly understood by ments, which I teach you, for to do them, revelation that in that very mount of Moriah, where Abraham performed that eminent and glorious act of worship, there also the children of Abraham should have their place of| constant and settled worship. This he seems to call that mountain, emphatically and eminently, that which was much in Moses's thoughts, though not in his eye, and the blessed (as the Hebrew tob oft signifies) or the goodly mountain. Or, the mountain may be here put for the mountainous countries [so Patrick, Rosen., Ged., Booth.], as that word is oft used, as Gen. Xxxvi. 9; Num. xiii. 29; xxiii. 7; Deut. i. 7; Josh. x. 6; xi. 16, 21, &c. And it is known that a great part of the glory and beauty and profit of this country lay in its hills or mountains. See Deut. xi. 11; xxxiii. 15. And that goodly mountain may by an enallage of the number be put for those goodly mountains in Canaan, which were many. Thus also he proceeds gradually in this desire and description, and

that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

Pool, Patrick.-The statutes; the laws God. The judgments; the laws concerning which concern the worship and service of hend both tables, and the whole law of God. your duties to men. So these two compreHearken, for to do them.

Booth. So hearken,-as to do them. Rosen.-, Observando, i. e., ita ut observetis, seu: sed observetis.

Ver. 2.

Au. Ver.-2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Which I command you.

Ged., Booth.-Which I this day [Sam., LXX] command you, &c.

Bp. Patrick.-Ye shall not add unto the

seem reasonable to conclude from hence, that they were prohibited to add any constitutions as a hedge and fence to the law; or as an explication of it, when the sense was doubtful (see Mr. Thorndike, in his Rites of the Church in a Christian State, p. 180, &c.) Ver. 6.

word which I command you, neither shall ye as the forenamed Chaskuni notes, it does not diminish ought from it.] This is thought by some to signify, that they should not make the least alteration in the laws he had given them, about the rites of Divine worship, and abstinence from several meats, and such like things; which were distinctive marks, whereby they were separated from other nations to be a peculiar people to him. Thus Chaskuni interprets these words, "Thou shalt not add fear, upon the fear of the blessed God." That is, any other worship to the

Au. Ver.-Understanding.
Ged., Booth.-Prudence, prudent.
Ver. 7.

כִּי מִי־גּוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ אֱלֹהִים,Divine worship prescribed by these laws קְרֹבִים אֵלָיו כַּיְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ בְּכָל־קָרְאֵנוּ -nor diminish that worship: which interpre

tation seems to be warranted, by what follows: "Your eyes have seen what the Lord thy God did, because of Baal-Peor." But in the words before going (which introduce these), judgments being mentioned as well as statutes, there must be a larger sense of this injunction, which relates to all the laws of God: and the meaning seems to be, Ye shall not transgress any of these precepts, either by doing anything contrary to them, which was to add; or omitting anything which they required, which was to diminish. Thus Grotius interprets it, upon 2 Cor. xi.

24.

Addere ad legem est facere quod lex vetat, diminuere est omittere quod lex jubet. But which way soever we take it, nothing is more certain than that this prohibition preserved these books from any alteration, since the time they were written: for the whole body of the people acknowledging their Divine authority, none of them dared to change anything, either by addition or diminution. Of which there is a wonderful instance in the people that came out of Assyria (in the room of the Israelites, who were transported thither), to inhabit the country of Samaria; who receiving this law, their posterity have kept it all along to this day, as uncorrupted as the Jews themselves have done; although they were their mortal enemies, and have been exposed to all the changes and revolutions that can befall a nation during the interval of two thousand and four hundred years. Thus the most learned Dr. Alix observes, in his Reflections upon the last Four Books of Moses, p. 111. And I do not see, why the perfection of the Scripture, without the oral law of the Jews, should not be thought to be established by these words, as another learned person (J. Wagensei) understands them, in his Confut. Carminis Lipmanni, p. 585. Yet,

ὅτι ποῖον ἔθνος μέγα, ᾧ ἐστιν αὐτῷ θεὸς ἐγγίζων αὐτοῖς, ὡς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐν πᾶσιν οἷς ἐὰν αὐτὸν ἐπικαλεσώμεθα;

Au. Ver.-7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

Who hath God, &c. So LXX, Chald., Syr., Arab., Pool.

Rosen., Ged., Booth.-Whose gods are so nigh to it, &c.

Ver. 8.

Au. Ver.-8 And what nation is there so

great, that hath statutes and judgments so
righteous as all this law, which I set before
you this day?

Statutes and judgments. See notes on ver. 1.
Righteous.

Bp. Patrick.-Maimonides observes, that the word addikim, which we translate righteous, signifies as much as equal and proportionate: such, saith he, were all these laws of God; in which there was no excess,

by the prescription of long pilgrimages, or severe fastings; nor any defect which might open the window to any vice, or make them careless in the practice of virtue (More Nevochim, par. ii., cap. 39).

Ver. 9.

Au. Ver.-9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons.

Booth. Only take heed to yourselves, and diligently watch over yourselves, all the days of your lives, lest ye forget, &c.

Ver. 11.

Au. Ver.-11 And ye came near and

καὶ μὴ ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ἰδὼν τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας, καὶ πάντα τὸν κόσμον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, πλανηθεὶς προσκυνήσῃς αὐτοῖς, καὶ λατρεύσῃς αὐτοῖς, ἃ ἀπένειμε κύριος ὁ θεός σου αὐτὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι τοῖς ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.

23 — γλυπτ ὸν ὁμοίωμα πάντων ὧν συνέταξέ σοι κύριος ὁ θεός σου.

Au. Ver.-23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

23, 25, A graven image, (or) the likeness, &c.

Ged., Booth.--Carved idols, of any likeness, &c.

23 Which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.

. תמונת כל אשר .Booth

Au. Ver.-19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided [or, imparted] unto all nations under the whole heaven. Driven. So Bp. Patrick, Gesen., Lee. Pool.-Driven to worship them, i. e., strongly inclined, and in a manner constrained. Or, shouldest be driven or thrust, Houbigant conto wit, out of the way of the Lord, (as it is tends never signifies to prohibit, as the more fully expressed, Deut. xiii. 5,) or be Vulgate reads. Neque vertere licet, de seduced, or led aside, as silly sheep easily quibus præcepit tibi Dominus cum non are, and worship them. Or, shouldest be significet de quibus, sine altero pronomine cast down, or throw down thyself and subsequente, puta sic, on my new, que worship them, i. e., worship them by falling præcepit ea, vel de quibus præceptum fecit. down before them. Itaque aut in mutandum; aut, Which the Lord thy God hath divided unto post 2, legendum, secundum omnia qua...Et alterutrum facile omissum fuerit Bp. Patrick. The sense is very plain, prope, quod antecedit. Significat vero that all nations under heaven have then, imaginem ullius rei, sine ullo adbenefit of the sun, moon, and stars, as well dito: etsi Clericus putabat deesse verbun as the Jews; who were therefore to worship him alone, who is the Lord of them all, and hath made them to be ministers unto us.

all nations.

Ged.-Lest, &c., ye be induced to adore and worship these, to the worship of which the LORD, your GoD, hath abandoned all the other peoples, under the whole heavens.

727, rei, aut quid simile. Nam sæpe in fine sie adhibetur solitarie, ut habeat omnem rem; itaque eadem forma recurrit versu 25.” --Houb.

Ver. 27.

Au. Ter. And the Lord.
Ged., Booth.--For Jehovah.

בְּזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו וַיּוֹצִאֲךָ בְפָנָיו בְּכֹחוֹ voice of God speaking out of the midst of

the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

31 Or hath God assayed to go and take' him a nation from the midst of another, nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD

fathers, therefore he chose their seed after
them, and brought thee out in his sight
with his mighty power out of Egypt;
After them. So the Sam. and most com-

mentators.

pects that these concluding verses have been added to the text by some later hand.

Houb.-Conjectabat Edm. Calmet, hæc quæ sequuntur fuisse in librum Mosis interpolata, ea scilicet de caussa, quod conseHeb., Rosen. After him. 7, quentiam non habent cum rebus supradictis, Et elegit semen ejus post eum. Sed quum neque cum infra dicendis. Et difficile est Pluralis præcedat, scribendum fuerat credere Mosen, cum sermonem ad populum Cs, quod legitur in textu Samar., a se habitum vel scriberet, vel scribi curaret, et plurimi interpp. vett. exprimunt. Verum sermonis seriem abrupisse, ut hæc memonon dubium est, quod codices Masorethici raret, quæ de urbibus refugii hic attexuntur. exhibent esse genuinum. In mente habuit Credibilius est schedas quasdam sacras ex Moses proavorum Hebræorum unum præci- publicis Commentariis hunc in locum fuisse puum, Abrahamum vel Jacobum; unde allatas, quia in consequentia temporum bona constructione excidit. hæc collocabantur. Idem vere dixeris de versibus 44 et 45, qui tituli quidam videntur esse schedarum, quæ sacrorum voluminum pars olim fuissent.

In his sight.

Bp. Horsley. Rather, "In his Own person." See Exod. xxxiii. 14, 15; 2 Sam.

xvii. 11.

Rosen.-41-13, Quæ tribus his vss. afRosen. In facie sua, i. e., ipsemet. LXX feruntur de urbibus refugii, loco alieno huc non exprimunt. Vulgatus posuit præcedens; | illata sunt. Dificile enim est credere, ita et Arabs Erpenii. Onkelos: in verbo Mosen, quum sermonem ad populum a se suo. Syrus et Saadias exprimunt Hebraicum.

du. Ter. 41 Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sun rising;

42 That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:

43 Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

41 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

15 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt.

Booth.-41 Houbigant, after Calmet, sus

habitum vel scriberet, vel scribi curaret, ea
adjecisse, quæ cum exhortationibus supe-
rioribus nihil plane commune habent. Num.
XXXV. 14 constituerat Moses, esse tres urbes
asyli ad orientem Jordanis deligendas, sed

quænam eæ esse deberent, tunc nondum
decreverat. Illa quum postea designatæ
Cur
essent, earum nomina hic recensentur.
autem hoc potissimo loco, nec inter leges
alias in hoc libro comprehensas esse causam
probabilem afferre non habeo.

and the statutes, and the judgments.] As the
Bp. Patrick.-45 These are the testimonies,
next chapter contains the law, that is, the
ten commandments, which Moses set before
them; so, in several following chapters (after
new carnest exhortations to obedience), he
represents to them the rest of God's will,
comprehended under these three words,
testimonies, statutes, and judgments: some
of which belonged to the Divine service,
others to their civil governments, and the
rest to ceremonial observations, for the
better security and preservation of both the
former.

Rosen.-15 rv, Testificationes, obtestationes, edicta, ut vi. 17, 20.

45 Statutes and judgments. See notes on
Lev. xviii. 1, 5.
Ver. 46.
Au. Ter.-On this side.
Deut. i. 1.

See notes on

Ver. 48, 49.

Au. Ver.-48 From Aroer, which is by