6. This includes both the country of the Philistines and Tyre, which was to the South of Sidon. There cannot be any doubt, therefore, but that the Hebrew nation, on their return from their present dispersion, will occupy the whole of this country.

7. This Mount Hor was probably part of Lebanon.

8. There were two Hamaths, one called by the Greeks, Antioch; called Hamath the Great, (Amos vi. 2,) and the other Epiphania. It is the latter that is intended in this place. Zedad was the northern boundary of the country in the prophecy of Ezekiel.

9. Hazar-enon was at the springs of Jordan.

11. These places are near Jordan, beyond which the land of Canaan did not go.

19. The names of these heads of the tribes are set down according to the order of their situations, after they got possession of the country, though it was to be divided by lot. The country to the East of Jordan was not given by lot; nor is there any mention of a divine direction for the disposal of it, though it cannot well be questioned but there was. Moses, who was directed what to do with respect to things of far less moment than this, would hardly determine by his own authority with respect to it.

XXXV. 2. No division of the country being allowed to the tribe of Levi, they had particular cities given them, and a limited space round them for their pasture-grounds, gardens and other conveniencies.

4. There is a difference of opinion about the extent of the ground allowed to the Levites beyond the walls of their cities, some reckoning three thousand cubits from the walls, and others from the extremity of the suburbs. But the most natural construction seems to be, that the measuring commenced at the walls, and that all beyond this was called suburbs, whether in pasture-ground, gardens, or built upon, all which was at the pleasure of the owners.*

for

6. Of these forty-eight cities, six were places of refuge persons guilty of involuntary homicide; and, considering the small extent of the whole country, sir were abundantly sufficient for the purpose. No person living in any part of the country could be more than a day's journey from any of them.

"Ver. 4, 5. The numbers in the second of these two verses might have amended the mistake of a scribe in the first of them, putting 1000 for 2000. However, in LXX., all the numbers are 2000,-about three quarters of a mile. They were not properly suburbs, but fields round the city." Wall, I. p. 124.

21. By the law of nature, they who receive the greatest injury by the death of any person, as the nearest relations, have a right to take their revenge on the murderer; and it was only by degrees, as Lord Kaimes has shewn, that this right was transferred from them to the civil magistrate. Here we find the avenger of blood, or the nearest relation, had a right to kill the murderer if he found him, out of the bounds prescribed by the law.

24. In all Heathen countries, temples were places of refuge for the greatest criminals, but among the Israelites every case of death was tried by proper judges; and on no pretence was a wilful murderer suffered to escape; while the inconvenience to which involuntary homicide exposed a man, would be a lesson of caution in a case of such importance to society. This was a happy medium peculiar to the Hebrew constitution.

31. In many countries, even among the Athenians, the relations of the murdered person might compound with the murderer for a sum of money; but this was not allowed to the Israelites.

34. This consideration must have had great weight with the pious Israelites. The Creator of the world, the Father of all mankind, was in a peculiar sense their God, and their civil governor, residing among them, and giving particular attention to their conduct. On this account, the greatest purity, natural and moral, (the former an emblem of the latter,) was required of them.

XXXVI. 6. It was provided, (Chap. xxvii. 7,) that daughters should inherit when there were no sons, and it is here farther provided, that such heiresses should not marry out of the tribe to which they belonged, lest the inheritance should go to another tribe; which would occasion the inconvenience of an intermixture of possessions.

DEUTERONOMY.

THIS Book had its name from its consisting, in a great measure, of the repetition of laws and injunctions contained in the former books. It was written in the last period of Moses's life, and addressed to a new generation, the offspring of those who had come out of Egypt, their fathers having died in the Wilderness. It is the address of an aged parent to his family, the affection and earnestness with which it is written making it peculiarly interesting; and to a reader of

discernment, this circumstance alone is an abundant proof of its genuineness. To my feelings, no writings have so much of what is called pathos. The exhortations of the writer are accompanied with prophetic denunciations with respect to the consequence of obeying or disregarding his injunctions; and events have abundantly verified his predictions. CHAP. I. 1. The place here [Marg.] called Suph, was probably near Jordan, abounding with flags or reeds, or something resembling them, from which the Red Sea had a similar appellation; for in the Hebrew it is called the Sea of Suph. This Paran must be different from the Wilderness of Paran, where the Israelites were before. All the places here mentioned were on the borders of the country of Moab.

2. The days of travelling were eleven, but much more time was spent in several of these places.

This verse should have been inserted after the 19th.†

4. This place probably had its name from the goddess Astarte, or Ashteroth, worshipped in it.

23. This measure of sending the spies proceeded from fear, though Moses, supposing it to have arisen from a better motive, did not disapprove of it.

29. What Moses said to the people on this occasion was not mentioned in the account of this transaction in the book of Numbers.

a

37. This anger of God against Moses was much later in the history; but the occasion of it was the murmuring of the people, which threw Moses off his guard, and led him to speak and behave improperly.

44. They pursued them in great numbers, and with much animosity, after the manner of bees.

46. They stayed in this place at least as long after this defeat as they had done before it; which shews that they had no fear of the enemy, and that these did not choose to attack them a second time.

II. 3. Though this is called a mountain, in the singular number, it means a mountainous tract of country; for such was that of the Edomites. The many days in this place, probably means all the thirty-eight years that they had spent

* See supra, p. 145. "Moses was now farther from the Red Sea than ever he was in his life before. Suph is, indeed, the word for the Red Sea, when that is spoken of; but there were several places on land of that name; and here must have been one of them, if the word be not miswritten." Wall, I. p. 125. Suph seems to have been either the flaggy coast of the Dead Sea, or, perhaps, some place so called from its vicinity to it." Geddes's Note. See Crit. Rem. pp. 414, 415. + Wall, [I. p. 125]. (P.)

in the Wilderness, after the return of the spies; for they must have been all that time in the neighbourhood of the Edomites.

9. Ar was the chief city in Moab.

10. The Emims* were of large stature, like the Anakims. 10-12. These verses Dr. Kennicott supposes to have been an interpolation, as also ver. 21 to 25, inclusive. They must have been written after the time of Moses.

12. At the time that this was written, the Israelites were in possession of all the country beyond Jordan; and so much being conquered, Moses might very well mean the whole, as in fact theirs.

15. Their dying a natural death might be called dying by the hand of the Lord, as it was predicted that they would so die. Some of them, however, did die by particular judgments, which were more immediately from the hand of God.

20. The reason of this change of the name, and the origin of the former name, are equally unknown.

22. This language was adapted to impress the Israelites with this great truth, that God is the sovereign disposer of all countries and kingdoms, though the possession of them be taken by the force or policy of man..

23. The Caphtorim were probably some of the shepherds who invaded Egypt, and were settled near Pelusium; but had left that country, and settled at Gaza, being a part of the nation that were afterwards called Philistines.

26. This is called Kedemoth in Josh. xiii. 18, and some suppose it to be the same with Jeshimon in Numb. xxi. 20. 29. Though they did not pass through the country of the Edomites, they probably trafficked with them for provisions and other commodities, giving money for them; for though the Edomites in general did not permit the Israelites to pass through their country, (see Numb. xx. 21,) the inha bitants of Mount Seir in Idumea might. ‡

30. It is evident from this, that if the Amorites beyond Jordan had allowed the Israelites to pass through their country, they would not have been molested by them. This refusal, which necessarily brought on the war, is ascribed to God, as was the obstinacy of Pharaoh, though arising only from their natural disposition.

"The word imports terrible, a name probably given them by the Moabites, because they were terrible to their neighbours. (See Calmet.)" Expos. Pent. p. 657. + See Com. and Ess. I. pp. 303, 304.

See Rosenmüller in Geddes, p. 417.

34. The destruction of all the inhabitants of the land of Canaan was particularly ordered, and these people were of the same race, and had the same idolatrous customs; so that there was the same reason for their extirpation.

37. This part of the country of the Ammonites, which lay near the river Jordan, had been conquered by the Amorites. Of this, therefore, the Israelites took possession, but not of the mountainous part of the country, which was still held by the Ammonites.

III. 4. This country must have been uncommonly populous, the whole extent of it not being more than about twelve thousand square miles. The region of Argob was afterwards called Trachonitis, of which, together with Iturea, Philip the brother of Herod was tetrarch in the time of our Saviour.

8. The other side of Jordan respects the land of Canaan, though the Israelites were not then in possession of it. It would naturally have been so called by them while they were in Egypt; and they would not easily give it any other appellation, though at that particular time it was improper. Hermon adjoined to Lebanon, in the northern extremity of the country; and Arnon was the southern boundary on that side of Jordan.

9. It is called Sirion, (Psalm xxix. 6,) and Senir, (Ezek. xxvii. 5).

11. This circumstance may have been added after the death of Moses, or this bed might, by various means of which no account can now be given, have been taken to Rabbath in the time of Moses. We cannot from the size of this bed, infer the stature of the person who made use of it. It must, no doubt, have been thought extraordinary.

14. This circumstance too might have been added by Ezra, or whoever transcribed the book by authority, for public use, after the time of Moses.

17. The sea of Galilee is called the sea of Cinereth, or Genesaret, which is the same word a little altered. It is the same with the sea of Tiberias, in our Saviour's time.

25. Here, as before, a mountain means a mountainous or hilly country, which Palestine in general is.

29. Beth-peor signifies the house, or temple, of Peor, called Baal-peor, worshipped in this place.

IV. 1. This address of Moses to the people, after the pre

+ Perhaps coffin. See Geddes, pp. 417, 418.