be sufficient for their security. This Rasi thinks was fulfilled in the days of Solomon (1 Kings iv. 25): but others of them think it is still to be fulfilled. Isa. xi. 10; Rev. v. 5; and as Jacob or other people: or, the Divine protection shall Israel, who is the fountain, is oft put for the children of Israel. Or, the eye (for so the Hebrew word oft signifies) of Jacob, i. e., of the people of Israel; and so the sense is, They who now only hear of the land of promise shall shortly see it, which I am not suffered to do, and shall enjoy it, which is oft signified by seeing, as Psalm iv. 6; xxvii. 13; xxxiv. 12; Eccles. ii. 1; iii. 13. The fountain of Jacob.] That is, his posterity, who flowed from him as a river from a fountain (Isa. xlviii. 1; li. 1). Cocceius thinks these words should be joined to the foregoing in this manner, "Israel shall dwell in safety alone by the fountain of Bp. Patrick.-26 Who rideth upon the Jacob," that is, by God. But though this heaven in thy help.] Who commandeth in may have some countenance from the ancient the heavens, as well as in the earth; and interpreters (as I shall observe presently), sends help and succour to thee from thence yet most go the other way; there being the by thunder, lightning, and hailstones; as like expression in Psalm lxviii. 26, Bless we read he did in many places (Psalm the Lord in the congregation, from the xviii. 8, 9, &c.; lxviii. 33-35). fountain of Israel:" or, as it is in the margin, Ye that be of the fountain of Israel;" i. e., are derived from him as your Father. "And as he that rides upon a horse, turns him this way, and that way, as he pleaseth (they are the words of Maimonides in his More Nevochim, par. i. cap. 70), so God by his Ged.-26 There is none like the Gop of power and pleasure commands the heavens; ISRAEL; who, in your aid, rideth upon the and is not fixed to them, as the soul of them heavens; and in his majesty, on the subtile (which was the foolish opinion of the Zabii), | air: 27 Humbling the gods of antiquity, but, as the rider is far more honourable and and subduing the strong of prior times. excellent than the beast on which he sits, and From before you he will expel your enemies; of a quite different species from it; so God and will say: Destroy them utterly!" is represented by this metaphor (though but 28 Thus shall Israel dwell alone in security; in a weak manner), as separate from the the posterity of Jacob in a land of corn and heavens, and of a more excellent nature, far wine for dew their heavens shall distil. transcending them, which are but the instruments he uses, to fulfil his will and pleasure." In his excellency on the sky.] Or, as it may be translated word for word, and in his magnificence, the clouds. From whence he sends such storms and tempests, as demonstrate his power. 27 Humbling the gods of antiquity, and subduing the gods of prior time.] The first part of this verse has been wonderfully misunderstood and misrendered. LXX [see above]; Vulg., Habitaculum ejus sursum, et subter brachia sempiterna; Onk., 87 1170 בשמי שמיא,.Syr . דמלקדמין ובמימריה אתעביד עלמא 27 The eternal God is thy refuge.] Or non pup 1 jam. Saad., "dwelling-place;" to whom they might pho no por dinin minin İppin u71. always betake themselves for safety, and Arab. Erp., 7 non ha mtata por never fail of it (Psalm xc. 1). In the . Gr. Ven., xwpos deov plaσews, Hebrew the words are, “The eternal God is κατωθεν δε βραχιονες αιώνος. Such a strange the habitation," or dwelling-place; from diversity of rendering seldom occurs; yet whence the Jews have framed this maxim, not one of them, I think, gives the meaning to preserve all men from having low thoughts of the original. Nor have modern interof God, as if he was contained in anything, preters been more happy. Houbigant, for "God is the place wherein the world dwells, reads ; and for ,, with and not the world the place where God Sam, and thus renders: Sursum habitat dwells." So Maimonides observes in the Deus æternus; erit deorsum fortitudo ejus place above named, out of Bereschith Rabba. sempiterna. Durell takes the preceding Underneath are the everlasting arms.] To Jeshurun (or Israel) to be the antecedent to support all those, with an unwearied power, and with Houbigant, following the and care, who commit themselves unto him. Sam. reading, renders thus: "Thou 28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone.]| art the habitation of the eternal God, and Live in quiet and peace, separate from all under his everlasting arms." Green sup poses that the pronoun affix of the second non est Deus alius ut Deus rectissimi; person has been dropt after , and that Onkelos: non est Deus ut Deus Israelis. in the last period the transcribers have Nec aliter Syrus et Saadias. Sed quo minus changed the affix of the second person into nomina in statu regiminis, sicut the third, and then renders thus: "The Deus Israelis, vertamus, vetat et Accentuum eternal God is thy refuge, and his everlast- et punctorum vocalium ratio. Quodsi enim ing arms thy support." Delgado thinks Tò cum sequenti conjungeretur, that is closely connected with the last Camez sub præfixo ♬ non posset consistere ; word in the preceding verse, and renders, sive propter articuli exclusum, sive ob "(which is) the habitation of the ancient vicinitatem toni hic constitui dicatur. Ad God, and underneath are the everlasting hæc idem nomen tali in statu Accentu conarms." I shall give yet three versions junctivo debuisset notari, quo vero quum more that of Dathe: " Perfugium est Deus destituatur, et distinctivum, Tipheha, appoantiquus, demittit brachium æternum ; situm habeat, vocem hinc distinguenthat of Michaëlis: "Wolken sind sie woh- dam, et in vocandi Casu efferendam esse nung des uhrhalten Gottes, und unten spürt liquet. Quod et Jarchi vidit, qui hæc verba man den ewigen arm;" that of Hezel: sic exposuit: scias tibi, o Jeschurun, non esse "Die wohnung des uralten Gottes; darun- instar Dei veri omnes deos gentium. Qui ter seine uralten arme." If any one of all vehitur cœlis pro auxilio tibi ferendo. Cf. these versions, ancient or modern, satisfy | Ps. xviii. 10, 11. Et qui in majestate sua the critical or uncritical reader, I am con-\nubibus, sc. vehitur, repetito ex antecetent; but they never could satisfy me. Our dentibus. Bate alone, I think, though not often so 27 Vere observat Aben-Esra, et happy, has here hit on the genuine meaning (quod ipsum olim in codice quodam h. 1. of this text. The Lord is evidently the extitisse tradunt doctores Talmudici, vid. antecedent to 2, which is the particle Lightfooti Horr. Hebr., ad Matth. v. 18), active of, humiliare, and is also esse i. q. 7, tabernaculum, tugurium, quod the particle of the verb , which, although it be not elsewhere used in Hebrew, is common in the Syr. and Ethiopic dialects, in the sense of subjicere, deprimere, &c. By is not meant Jehovah, the God of Israel, but the false gods of former times. Thus the whole verse makes a suitable and natural continuation of verse 26; without quanes, Domine, tu es refugium any alteration in the text, or constraint in nobis per omnes generationes. Et Ps. xci. 9: rendering it.-Ged. Te pee phe, Altissimum posuisti refugium tuum. Recte igitur LXX reddiderunt. Verba autem chi tron Aben-Esra sie interpretatur: et infra, subter te, o Israel, sunt brachia Numinis æterna, quæ te sustentant; brachia æterna vero sunt robustissima, quæ non fatigantur aut debilitantur: ita protectio tibi erit et perpetua, a Deo æterno, et validissima, quæ ab omni parte te tutum præstabit. Opponitur Jova diis novis populorum vicinorum. Ad voces et post Grotium notat Clericus, quum Hebræi non habeant vocem propriam, qua aternitatem exprimant, eos translatione For his heavens shall drop down the aut circumloquutione uti, et quidem Booth. 26 There is none like the God of Jeshurun; Who, for thine help, rideth on the heavens, And in his excellency on the skies. 27 The eternal God is thy refuge: And everlasting arms are thy support; And he shall drive out thy foes before thee, And shall say, Destroy them. 28 Israel shall dwell alone, in safety; dew. Rosen.-26 Hic redit vates ad benedicendum omnibus in universum Israelitis. Verba 78 LXX reddunt: ok for wσпEр о beдs тoù пyаπημévoυ; Ilieronymus: ab injuria cœli refugium præbet, utrumque enim illud nomen Ps. lxxvi. 2, ut parallelum et synonimum sibi invicem respondere. Quare verba et hoc modo sunt capienda: ita rursum refugium tibi, o Israel, est Deus æternus, quo ipso sensu in Ps. xc., qui Mosi tribuitur, initio dicitur: anteriorem partem æternitatis, si ita loqui licet, significare, vero posteriorem; cf. Mich. v. 1. Argumentum certissimum validi sui auxilii, pergit Noster, jam dedit tibi Jova: 2 TE, expulit enim jam וְיִכָּחֲשׁוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ לָךְ וְאַתָּה עַל־בְּמוֹתֵימוֹ | ex parte hostes coram te, et porro tum iibaby ab 28 In priori versus membro in diversas μακάριος σὺ Ἰσραήλ. τίς ὅμοιός σοι λαὸς partes interpretes trahit dictio spy! γ. Jarchi σωζόμενος ὑπὸ κυρίου; ὑπερασπιεῖ ὁ βοηθός nomen z significatu adspectus capit, quo σου, καὶ ἡ μάχαιρα καύχημά σου. καὶ ψεύlegitur Num. xi. 7, πέτρα γε? 1ου, adspectus σονταί σε οἱ ἐχθροί σου. καὶ σὺ ἐπὶ τὸν τράejus (Mannæ), erat instar adspectus bdellii. xnλov avтwν ÉTIẞhoŋ. Hinc serioribus Hebræis et Chaldæis, proprie secundum adspectum seu speciem, simpliciter valet in morem, sicut. Sequutus vero Jarchi est Onkelosum, qui reddit: habitent Israelitæ securi et soli secundum benedictionem qua is benedixit Jacobus, pater eorum. Recte Eodem modo Saadias: secundum dictum Jacobi. Sed pro eo sensu, quo seriores Hebræi et Chaldæi usurpare solent, hinc poni, vix est verosimile. Aben-Esra hic fontis significatu capit, et exponit: omnes qui egrediuntur e fonte Jacobi, i. e., posteri ejus, qui tanquam ex fonte largissimo prodibunt, eadem imagine, qua Israelitæ Jes. xlviii. 1 vocantur : INTER, qui ex aquis Judæ egressi Et Ps. lxviii. 27, Laudate Deum, vos qui estis e fonte Israelis; et cf. ad Num. xxiv. 7. Ceterum Mendelii fil. sunt. Au. V'er.-29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places. The sword of thy excellency. Ged., Booth.- of thy glory. Pool. The sword of thy excellency, or thy most excellent sword, i. e., thy strength and the author of all thy past or approaching victories. Rosen., Et qui est gladius eminentiæ tuæ, qui est tibi instar gladii quo te supra hostes tuos efferre potes. Shall be found liars unto thee. Or, more recte monuit, voces tam ad found liars unto thee.] deceived in all their vain hopes of saving Ver. 29. superiore corporis parte, i. e., cervice, et allusum putarunt ad morem Orientalium antiquorum, hostes devictos pedibus calcandi. Ita et Jarchi, qui confert Jos. x. 24. Ponite pedes vestros super cervices regum istorum. book of Deuteronomy originally ended with Deuteronomy; some think it was Joshua, ST Ezra was the author of the last chapter of נְבוֹ רָאשׁ הַפִּסְנָה אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי יְרֵחוֹ אֶת־כָּל־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־ and others the seventy elders, immediately וַיַּרְאֵהוּ יְהוָה after the death of Moses; adding, that the הַגִּלְעָד עַד־דָּן : 2 וְאֵת כָּל־נַפְתָּלִי the prophetic blessing upon the twelve וְאֶת־אֶרֶץ אֶפְרַיִם וּמְנַשֶׁה וְאֵת כָּל־אֶרֶץ עִיר ,like unto thee, o people saved by the Lord הַנָּגֶב וְאֶת־הַכִּכָּר בִּקְעַת יְרֵחוֹ chapter of Deuteronomy was formerly the הַתְּמָרִים עַד־צְעַר : :10 0 1 tribes: Happy art thou, O Israel! who is &c.; and that what now makes the last 1 καὶ ἀνέβη Μωυσῆς ἀπὸ ἀραβὼθ Μωαβ first of Joshua, but was removed from ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος Ναβαῦ, ἐπὶ κορυφὴν Φασγὰ ἢ ἐστιν thence and joined to the former by way of ἐπὶ προσώπου Ιεριχώ. καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ supplement. This opinion will not appear κύριος πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Γαλαὰδ ἕως Δάν. 2 καὶ unnatural if it be considered that sections πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν Νεφθαλὶ, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν and other divisions, as well as points and Ἐφραὶμ, καὶ Μανασσῆ, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν pauses, were invented long since these books Ἰούδα ἕως τῆς θαλάσσης τῆς ἐσχάτης. 3 καὶ were written; for in those early ages several τὴν ἔρημον, καὶ τὰ περίχωρα Ιεριχώ, πόλιν books were connected together, and followed φοινίκων ἕως Σηγώρ. each other on the same roll. The beginning of one book might therefore be casily transferred to the end of another, and in process of time be considered as its real conclusion, as in the case of Deuteronomy, especially Au. Ver.-1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah [or, the hill], that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto as this supplemental chapter contains an Dan, 2 And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3 And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar. account of the last transactions and death of the great author of the Pentateuch."Alexander's Heb. and English Pentateuch. This seems to be a perfectly correct view of the subject. This chapter forms a very proper commencement to the book of Joshua, for of this last chapter of Deuteronomy the 1 And Moses went up, &c. first chapter of Joshua is an evident conDr. A. Clarke.-This chapter could not finuation. If the subject be viewed in this have been written by Moses. A man cer- light it will remove every appearance of tainly cannot give an account of his own absurdity and contradiction with which, on death and burial. We may therefore con- the common mode of interpretation, it stands sider Moses's words as ending with the sadly encumbered. conclusion of the preceding chapter, as what Ged.-1 Then Moses, &c. . . . And the follows could not possibly have been written Lord shewed him the whole land, from the by himself. To suppose that he anticipated river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates, these circumstances, or that they were shown and to the farther sea [Sam.]; namely, all to him by an especial revelation, is departing the land from Gilead to Dan; 2 All the far from propriety and necessity, and involving the subject in absurdity; for God gives no prophetic intimations but such as are absolutely necessary to be made; but there is not necessity here, for the Spirit Houbigant-1 Omnem terram. Post hæc which inspired the writer of the following verba Samaritani Codices sic pergunt, à book would naturally communicate the matter fluvio Egypti, usque ad fluvium magnum, that concludes this. I believe, therefore, fluvium Euphratem, et ad mare postremum; that Deut. xxxiv. should constitute the first chapter of the book of Joshua. On this subject the following note from an intelligent Jew cannot be unacceptable to the reader. "Most commentators are of opinion that land of [LXX., Arab., and two MSS.] idemque omittunt omnia, quæ à, supra-dictis ut nunc sunt apud Codices Sam. Neque Procopius Gazæus, and others take it), who Ver. 4. Au. Ver.4 And the LORD said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed, &c. Unto Abraham, &c. So the Heb. Geddes. Unto your forefathers, Abraham, &c. Ver. 6. sionibus antiquis et codicibus adhuc collatis, - Nemo norit usque ad diem οὐκ ἠμαυρώθησαν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἐφθάρησαν τὰ χελώνια αὐτοῦ. du. Ver.-7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye; בֵּית פְּעוֹר וְלֹא־יָדַע אִישׁ אֶת־קְבְרָתוֹ עַד καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐν Γαῖ ἐγγὺς οἴκου Φογώρ. καὶ οὐκ εἶδεν οὐδεὶς τὴν ταφὴν αὐτοῦ ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης. Au. Ver.-6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And he buried him. So Pool, Patrick, and most commentators. was not dim, nor his natural force [Heb., Nor his natural force abated. Rosen-Neque fugerat vigor ejus. proprie est viride, cui non deest suus humor. Sie Latini quoque dicunt viridem senectutem. ex vetusta scriptione pro i Suff., ut Gen. xlix. 11, my pro v2, asinus ejus. LXX, erediderunt adfine esse r, maxillæ, habent enim xeλúvia labia, genæ. Sequitur illos, uti solet, Valgatus: nec dentes illius Bp. Patrick---He buried him.] This refers to the words foregoing; viz., the Lord, who commanded his angels to bury him. So Epiphanius, ένεταφίασαν οἱ "Αγγελοι, &c, Hæres. ix., p. 28, and see p. 600. Though in the Scripture active words are very often used passively, and the meaning may be only that he was buried [so Rosen, Ged.], yet there is this to be said for the other sense, that thereupon it is thought, that the contest arose between Michael the archangel and the devil (as St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, in bani i sh 10 moti sunt. Onkelos voc. contulit cum Ver. 10, 11. |