_THE PROPHETICAL AND HISTORICAL SONG OF MOSES, CONCERNING THE BENEFITS CONFERRED UPON ISRAEL BY GOD, THE UNGRATEFUL AND REBELLIOUS DISPOSITION OF THAT PEOPLE, AND THE VENGEANCE HEREAFTER TO BE TAKEN UPON THEM: GOD COMMANDS MOSES TO GO UP INTO MOUNT NEBO, THAT HE MAY DIE THERE._ _Before Christ 1451... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _GIVE EAR, O YE HEAVENS_— Nothing can be more elegant and magnificent than the exordium of this divine ode: its whole disposition and form is regular, easy, and accommodated to the nature of the argument, in an order nearly historical. It contains a great variety of important matter: the t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _MY DOCTRINE SHALL DROP AS THE RAIN_— That is, As the rain which falls upon the earth is ordained to fertilize and nourish the plants and animals, so the heavenly doctrine, proceeding from God himself, is proper to open the understanding, soften the heart, and produce the most happy fruits... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 3. _BECAUSE I WILL PUBLISH THE NAME OF THE LORD_— Houbigant renders it, _Whilst I shall celebrate the name of the Lord;_ which seems to be right. Moses's subject is the celebration of the great Jehovah; and to this great subject he calls the heavens and the earth to be attentive: at the same... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _HE IS THE ROCK_— Houbigant translates thus: _Creatoris perfecta sunt opera; the Creator's work is perfect._ We interpret הצור _hatzur,_ says he, _of the Creator:_ for the word is derived in this place from צור _tzur,_ to _form,_ to _effect;_ as פעלו _paalo, his work,_ demonstrates; not fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 5. _THEY HAVE CORRUPTED THEMSELVES,_ &C.— _Is there corruption in Him? no: but of his children the spot is theirs._ Dr. Waterland. Houbigant renders it: They are corrupt: they are not his children: They are blotted: a wicked, and perverse generation. In which version he follows the Samaritan... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 8, 9. _WHEN THE MOST HIGH DIVIDED,_ &C.— Bochart gives the words this simple meaning: "God so distributed the bounds and settlements of the several people and nations, as to reserve in his counsel such a part of the earth for the Israelites, as he knew would be a sufficient inheritance, a com... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 10. _HE FOUND HIM IN A DESART LAND,_ &C. _HE LED HIM ABOUT,_ &C.— _He sustained him,_ &c. _He compassed him about,_ &c. Houbigant renders this, after the Samaritan: He sustain'd them in a desart land: He made him fat in a dry and sandy place: He was present with him; he took care of him: He k... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 11, 12. _AS AN EAGLE STIRRETH UP HER NEST,_ &C.— Moses, in this and the following verse, elegantly describes the paternal tenderness of God towards the Israelites: _Like an eagle, which stirreth up her nest;_ for so it is in the original, where, by a figure usual in all languages, the _nest_... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _HE MADE HIM RIDE ON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH_— We may observe, that the verbs in this, as well as in the preceding verses, are all in the future. The meaning of the clause, He will make him ride on the high places of the land, is fully explained by that which follows in apposition wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 14. _AND GOATS, WITH THE FAT OF KIDNEYS OF WHEAT_— _And goats, with the fat of kidneys, and with wheat._ Waterland and Le Clerc. Houbigant renders it, _and goats with the marrow of the seed of wheat;_ deriving the word כליות _kelaioth,_ from the Arabic כלאר _kelar,_ to _germinate;_ a _germ_ o... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _BUT JESHURUN WAXED FAT, AND KICKED_— See the note on ver. 5. Israel is called _Jeshurun_ both here and in chap. Deuteronomy 33:5; Deuteronomy 33:26 and Isaiah 15:2. The word may be derived either from _jeshur, righteousness,_ because they were a people professing righteousness, or govern... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 17. _THEY SACRIFICED UNTO DEVILS_— The original word rendered _devils,_ is שׁדים _shedim,_ concerning the import of which etymologists are much divided. Some think it imports _destroyers,_ as the devil is called a _destroyer,_ Revelation 9:11. Others think it is of the same import with _Sirim... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 18. _OF THE ROCK THAT BEGAT THEE_— Who is not immediately sensible of the impropriety of this allusion? All the other versions agree with Houbigant in reading, _Of the_ God, or Creator, _who begat thee._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19. _WHEN THE LORD SAW IT, HE ABHORRED THEM,_ &C.— This might be rendered more emphatically and nearer to the Hebrew, _and the Lord saw, and through indignation rejected his sons and daughters._ Moses still speaks in the prophetic style: the daughters are here particularly mentioned, because... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 20. _I WILL SEE WHAT THEIR END SHALL BE_— See on ver. 29. Houbigant renders it, _and I will see what shall happen to them._ When the Lord says, _they are children in whom is no faith,_ it is meant, that they had so often provoked God by breaking his covenant, that they were not to be confided... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 21. _I WILL MOVE THEM TO JEALOUSY WITH THOSE WHICH ARE NOT A PEOPLE_— Nothing can be more glowing and alarming than the terrible denunciations delivered in the subsequent verses against the rebellious and idolatrous Israelites. God threatens to repay their frequent revolts from him in their o... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 22. _FOR A FIRE IS KINDLED IN MINE ANGER_— _For a fire will break forth through my nostrils._ Schult. 56. 59. It might be rendered _Certainly a fire,_ &c. These strong and figurative expressions announce the dreadful calamities which Providence would inflict upon the land of Judea, and seem t... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 23-25. _I WILL SPEND MINE ARROWS UPON THEM_— The judgments of God, enumerated in these verses, are often compared to _arrows._ Job 6:4.Psalms 38:2; Psalms 91:5. So Homer describes the pestilence in the Grecian camp, under the image of a deadly arrow, shot at the Greeks by Apollo; Iliad 1: ver... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 27. _WERE IT NOT THAT I FEARED,_ &C— Houbigant observes, that the original word גור _gur,_ does not so properly denote _fear,_ as _caution;_ for the meaning is, _were it not that I took care lest:_ and therefore I render it, says he, _sed deterrent me hostes ipsorum; but their enemies deter,_... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 28. _FOR THEY ARE A NATION VOID OF COUNSEL_— This verse connects very properly with the 26th, and the meaning is, _I said I would scatter them,_ &c. _were it not for the sake of mine honour; for_ they justly deserve such a punishment, as _they are a nation void of counsel,_ &c. To have a clea... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 29. _O THAT THEY WERE WISE—THAT THEY WOULD CONSIDER THEIR LATTER END!_— The word for _their latter end,_ is the same here as in the 20th verse; אחריתם _acharitam,_ very properly rendered by Houbigant, _novissima sua; their latter times,_ in which sense the other versions agree. The meaning is... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 30-33. _HOW SHOULD ONE CHASE A THOUSAND_— i.e. Would they but wisely reflect, and be moved by the terror of these punishments upon their posterity, to a different conduct, how flourishing should be their estate at home, how victorious their arms abroad! The sacred writer adds, how certainly s... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 34. _IS NOT THIS LAID UP IN STORE WITH ME_— We have here a remarkable instance of that change of persons of which we spoke in the note on ver. 5. From the 29th to the 33rd verse, Moses speaks in his own person: here again the Lord is introduced as speaking; and this and the next verse contain... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 36. _FOR THE LORD SHALL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE_— Houbigant renders this verse, _For the Lord will give judgment to his people, and in his servants he will comfort himself;_ words, says he, which cannot belong to the Jewish nation, concerning whom it was just said, that _the day of their ruin is at... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 39. _SEE NOW THAT I, EVEN I, AM HE_— As the great design of the separation of the Israelites from the rest of the world was, to preserve the knowledge of the true God; so, the end of all the divine chastisements upon Israel was, to shew them the folly and wickedness of idolatry, and to convin... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 40. _FOR I LIFT UP MY HAND TO HEAVEN,_ &C.— If this verse is to be understood in connection with the foregoing, the meaning is, "For it is mine, and mine alone, (contrary to all those base idols, and false gods, whose vanity you approve,) to lift up my hand to heaven, i.e. in the most solemn... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 42. _I WILL MAKE MINE ARROWS DRUNK WITH BLOOD,_ &C.— Houbigant very justly observes, that the order is here transposed. He translates it, _my sword shall devour flesh: I will make mine arrows drunk with blood; with the blood of the slain and of the captives, with the flesh of the impious and... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 43. _REJOICE, O YE NATIONS, WITH HIS PEOPLE_— St. Paul, in quoting this passage, Romans 15:10 agrees with the LXX in adding the word _with,_ which is not in the Hebrew; and from that quotation we are directed to consider this passage as a prediction of the bringing in of the Gentiles to share... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 46. _AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, SET YOUR HEARTS UNTO ALL THE WORDS_— Having concluded his prophetical ode, Moses addresses himself anew to the Israelites in a pathetic exhortation, to weigh and remember well the contents of that divine speech, and to improve it by carefully and sincerely observin... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 48. _AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,_ &C.— Concerning the death of Moses, see chap. 34: REFLECTIONS.—Moses and Joshua, in different congregations of the people, solemnly rehearse the words of this song: as Joshua is shortly to supply Moses's place, they must bear the same word, and witness the... [ Continue Reading ]