Thou shalt judge— i.e. "Thou shalt hereafter govern them by righteous and good laws, who were before under the government of Satan, and had nothing to guide them but some few laws and tendencies of nature, or some precepts of an old tradition which are now almost obliterated." The word תנחם tanchem, rendered govern, in the original, signifies, in a comprehensive latitude, all acts of conduct, as of a shepherd towards his sheep, leading them into their pasture; and so of God, leading and directing men into those courses which are most eminently profitable for them; of a general towards his soldiers, marshalling them and going before them, and so animating them in fighting against their enemies; and of a king, ruling and ordering his subjects, as God doth those who sincerely submit themselves to him: all which the word lead or conduct may contain in it; and that will be the fitter, because the more literal, and therefore more comprehensive rendering, and to be preferred to that of governing.

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