is: but I cannot think it so probable. I see being put for the first, as Gen. i. 5; ii. 11; no reason to depart from the common Hag. i. 1; Mark xvi. 2. And the chief care derivation, although I think that the antients was about the first-born, who were invested have much mistaken the meaning of with singular privileges, and were types of It can hardly mean here, to be dishonoured, Christ. Or, 2. Any of them, for the words or made contemptible: for, as Michaelis are general, and so the practice may seem most justly observes, how could more than to have been, Ruth iii.; and the reason of forty lashes make a criminal more con- the law may seem to be in a great measure temptible than forty? The end of the the same, which was to keep up the disprecept is evidently to prevent an excessive tinction, as of tribes and families, that so punishment, which might prove fatal to the the Messias might be discovered by the life of the person. Without having re- family from which he was appointed to procourse, then, to Michaëlis's metaphor, I ceed, so also of inheritances, which were find in the true meaning of p, which divided among all the brethren, the firstis here not to be vilified, or seem vile; but to born having only a double portion. Have be faint, languid, exhausted. Compare the no child, Heb., no son. But son is oft put Chaldee, and the Syr. and Arab., for any child, male or female, both in Scripand you will have little doubt, I think, that ture and other authors; and therefore the this is the true meaning of in this pas- Hebrew no son is rendered no child here, as sage.-Geddes. it is in effect, Matt. xxii. 24; Mark xii. 19; Luke xx. 28. And indeed this caution was not necessary when there was a daughter, whose child might be adopted into the name Unto a

Ver. 5.

כִּי־יִשְׁבוּ אַחִים יַחְדָּו וּמֵת אַחַד מֵהֶם .and family of its grandfather וּבֵן אֵין־לוֹ לֹא־תִהְיֶה אֲשֶׁת הַמַּיִת

לוֹ

NE APP Wian
: mean shim

ἐὰν δὲ κατοικῶσιν ἀδελφοὶ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, καὶ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς ἐξ αὐτῶν, σπέρμα δὲ μὴ ᾖ αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἔσται ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἔξω ἀνδρὶ μὴ éyyíčovτi, ó ådeλøòs toû ȧvdpòs airns eloελεύσεται πρὸς αὐτὴν, καὶ λήψεται αὐτὴν ἑαυτῷ γυναῖκα, καὶ συνοικήσει αὐτῇ.

stranger, i. e., to one of another family, as brother shall go in unto her, except he was married himself, as may appear by other scriptures, and by the reason of the thing, and, as some add, from the phrase of dwelling together, to wit, in their father's family.

that word is oft used. Her husband's

Shall go in unto her.

Au. Ver.-5 If brethren dwell together, Houb., Horsley.-Shall go unto her. and one of them die, and have no child, the Veniet ad eam, seu illam conveniet, oblato wife of the dead shall not marry without ei matrimonio, non autem ingredietur ad unto a stranger: her husband's brother [or, eam, quasi matrimonio jam facto; nam next kinsman, Gen. xxxviii. 8; Ruth i. 12, legitur non et malè Sam. Codices 13, and iii. 9] shall go in unto her, and take. Nec tangitur usus matrimonii, nisi her to him to wife, and perform the duty of verbis sequentibus. Erat munus fratris, ut an husband's brother unto her.

fratris mortui uxorem adiret, eique matrimonium offeret, tum quia sic lex imperabat, tum quia virorum est ambire uxores, non feminarum viros.-Houbigant.

Ver. 6.

Pool.-Dwell together; either, 1. Strictly, in the same house or family; which is not probable. Or, 2. More largely, in the same town or city, or, at least, country [so HouThis is bigant, Patrick, Rosenmüller]. added for a relief of their consciences, that Au. Ver. The firstborn [so the Heb.]. if the next brother had removed his habita- Houb., Ged., Booth.-The firstborn son tion into remote parts, or were carried thither [Sam., Vulg.]. Non legunt 27 Græci into captivity, which God foresaw would be Interpretes tantummodo, filium. Sed their case, then the wife of the dead had Sam. Codex utrumque, 27 ¡n, filius her liberty to marry to the next kinsman primogenitus; reliqui veteres tantum 27. that lived in the same place with her. One Spirat Mosis calamum, filius primogenitus ; of them; either, 1. The first and eldest of neque tamen tanti erat vocabulum 727, ut id them, as it was practised, Gen. xxxviii. 6, Samaritani adderent, nisi et legerent; et &c., and expounded, Matt. xxii. 25; one videtur excidisse ob similitudinem litte

In his face.

Unto the Lord thy God. So all the versions except LXX, and most commentators. Houb., Horsley.— Unto Jehovah my [LXX] God.

Mendum non gestabant in suis Codicibus Græci Interpretes utpote qui vertant Tw Ɖew μov, Deo meo, legantque ", quod omnino est legendum. Id mendum vetus esse liquet ex versionibus Chaldaica et Syriaca. Sed ipsa ex vetustate mendi fons

Ged., Booth.—In his presence. Rosen.-Exspuet in facie ejus, coram eo. Michaëlis vero verbum vertendum putat aperitur. Nam, cum olim non essent litteræ ex significatione Arab. 7, bilem in ipsum et maledicta evomere potest; quod ex moribus Orientalium maximum dedecus fuisset, coram judicibus exspuere.

CHAP. XXVI. 2.

finales, facillimum fuit, ut pro, quod scriptum legeretur, iteraretur per imprudentiam littera hoc modo, ; cum præsertim his in versibus sæpe recurreret verbum, Mose populum alloquente. Ob eam vero ipsam caussam quod Moyses, ad populum sermonem habens dicat T,

Deo meo; minime vero ut idem populus sacerdoti dicat, Deo tuo, eo præsertim loco,

אלהי Deus tuus, convenit ut populus dicat אֲשֶׁר תָּבִיא מֵאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ

ubi agitur, non sacerdos, sed ipse populus הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְשַׁכֵּן

שְׁמוֹ שָׁם :

καὶ λήψῃ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀπαρχῆς τῶν καρπῶν τῆς γῆς σου, ἧς κύριος ὁ θεός σου δίδωσί σοι, καὶ ἐμβαλεῖς εἰς κάρταλλον, καὶ πορεύσῃ εἰς τὸν τόπον ὃν ἂν ἐκλέξηται κύριος ὁ θεός σου ἐπικληθῆναι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖ.

Au. Ver.-2 That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a

Deo suo gratias agens ob fruges, eo providente, natas et adultas, ex quibus primitias offerre possit. Houbigant.

Ged. There are, I doubt not, who will be of Houbigant's opinion : but his rule of congruency is a precarious criterion; and as all the copies of both texts, and all the other antient versions down to Gr. Ven. inclusively read T, I have adopted it in my translation.

Ver. 5.

וְעָנִיתָ וְאָמַרְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ basket, and shalt go unto the place which

the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

Which thou shalt bring of thy land. Houb. Quos tu ex agris tuis perceperis. Booth. Which thy land produceth. Ged.-2 Ye shall take some of the firstfruits of every kind which the earth proluceth, on the land which the LORD, &c.

To place his name there. See notes on xii. 6.

Ver. 3.

καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ἐρεῖ ἔναντι κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου. Συρίαν ἀπέβαλεν ὁ πατήρ μου, καὶ κατέβη, κ.τ.λ.

Au. Ver.-5 And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

And shalt say.

Rosen.-, Respondebis prius inter

roganti sacerdoti בָאתִי וגו'

— ἀναγγέλλω σήμερον κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ μου, ὅτι εἰσελήλυθα, κ.τ.λ.

A Syrian ready to perish.

Rosen., Ged., Booth.-"A wandering

Syrian." Aramæus errans, cum gregibus by vázya nabbi pába? *?

deserta pererrans, Nomas, erat pater meus

et descendit in Egyptum. Syrus gente,: bha pbyby oppa vpisa ven

חֲקִיו וַיהוָה הֶאֱמִירְךָ הַיּוֹם לִהְיוֹת לוֹ patria extorris, inter Cananitas pascua nullis לְעַם סְגְלָה כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר-לָךְ וְלִשְׁמֹר -non est ver אֹבֵד .certis sedibus pererrans

18

כָּל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לִתְהִלָּה וּלְשֵׁם intelliguntur, divites erant ac potentes; sed

לַיהוָה

tendum perditus, vel periturus; nam Abra

hamus, Isaacus, et Jacobus, qui hic sub 7 by Janba 19 : unisp-ba

errans, ut Ps. cxix. 176.-Rosen.

17 τὸν θεὸν εἵλου σήμερον εἶναί σου θεὸν, καὶ πορεύεσθαι ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ φυλάσσεσθαι τὰ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ κρίματα, καὶ ὑπακούειν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ. 18 καὶ κύριος εἵλατό σε σήμερον γενέσθαί σε αὐτῷ λαὸν περιούσιον, καθάπερ εἶπε φυλάττειν τὰς Toλas avrov, 19 καὶ εἶναί σε ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὡς ἐποίησέ σε ὀνομαστὸν καὶ καύχημα καὶ δοξαστὸν, εἶναί σε λαὸν ἅγιον κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ σου, καθὼς ἐλάλησε.

Dr. 4. Clarke.-4 Syrian ready to perish way by nosonba was my father.] This passage has been variously understood, both by the ancient versions and by modern commentators. The Vulgate renders it thus : Syrus persequebatur patrem meum, A Syrian persecuted my father." The Septuagint thus: Evрiav aneβαλεν ὁ πατηρ μου, 'My father abandoned Syria." The Targum thus: 1 NER '172) Laban arammaah bea leobada yath abba, “ Laban the Syrian endeavoured to destroy my father.” The Syriac : " Μy father was led out of Syria into Egypt." The Arabic: "Surely, Laban the Syrian had almost destroyed my father." The LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel: "Our his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his father Jacob went at first into Syria of commandments, and his judgments, and to Mesopotamia, and Laban sought to destroy hearken unto his voice :

him."

66

Au. Ver.-17 Thou hast avouched the

18 And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

19 And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

16-19 Bp. Horsley supposes that the proper place for these verses is between verses 9 and 10 of chap. xxix,

Rosen.-17, 18, In his vss. aliquam difficultatem parit verbum, quum enim hæc forma (Hiphil) verbi hic tantum

Father Houbigant dissents from all, and renders the original thus: Fames urgebat patrem meum, qui in Ægyptum descendit, "Famine oppressed my father, who went down into Egypt." This interpretation Houbigant gives the text, by taking the, yod from the word, arammi, which signifies an Aramite or Syrian, and joining it to T, yeabud, the future for the perfect, which is common enough in Hebrew, and which may signify constrained; and seeking for the meaning of D, aram, in the Arabic, , arama, which signifies famine, dearth, &c., he thus makes out his modo occurrat, de ea vertenda dissentiunt version, and this version he defends at large interpretes. Quidam vertunt: Vs. 17 77, in his notes. It is pretty evident, from the fecisti dicere seu spondere dominum, etc. text, that by a Syrian we are to understand Vs. 18, Dominus TNT, fecit dicere te, Jacob, so called from his long residence in effecit, ut promiseris et spoponderis. Alii Syria with his father-in-law Laban. And conferri volunt significationem Æthiopicam his being ready to perish may signify the hard usage and severe labour he had in Laban's service, by which, as his health was much impaired, so his life might have often been in imminent danger.

verbi, scire, nosse, quæ intransitiva conjugatione sit, fecit scire, docuit, professus est. Verbum apud Arabes est imperare, præcipere, et in Conj. 4 imperium sive principatum alicui concedere. Hanc notionem Dathius tribuit verbo et hinc vertit vs. 17. Jove hodie principatum concessisti, ut sit Deus tuus, ut ex voluntate ejus vitam

instituas, leges et præcepta ejus serves eique Houb.-Quos cæmento stabilies. in omnibus morem geras. Vs. 18. Ideo Ken. This plaister has generally been etiam Jova tibi hunc honorem sive principatum understood, as meant to be laid over the concedit, ut te populum suum esse declaret, stones, to give them smooth surfaces; that quemadmodum tibi promisit, ut ejus præcepta so the law might be inscribed upon that serves (coll. Deut. iv. 8). Vs. 19. Ut te plaister. But the very next words show, omnibus aliis gentibus a se conditis reddat that the words were not to be inscribed upon superiorem, ut laude, honore et gloria floreas, it, i. e., the plaister; but upon them, i. e., ut sacer sis populus Jova Dei tui, quemad- the stones. Besides if duration was not modum promisit. Eundem in modum Saa- intended; the original tables were present, dias hunc locum interpretatus est. Verum and might have been used for a single recital opus non videtur, significationem verbi of the commandments on this extraordinary ex alia lingua petere, quum illud commo- occasion. And if duration was intended; dissime verti possit asseverare, serio affir- covering the surfaces of the stones with mare; quod in linguis Orientalibus conju- plaister (notwithstanding what has been said gationes derivatæ primitivorum suorum sig- of the tenacity of the ancient plaister) seems nificationes non semper transitivas faciunt, a method very unlikely to perpetuate the sed nonnumquam eas intendunt. inscription: especially as the words are supposed to be inscribed, as soon as the plaister was laid on. The learned F. Houbigant thinks, that the words do not mean plaister for the surfaces, but cement for the sides of these stones; by which they were to be joined firmly together-camentum, quo lapides monumenti, unus ad unum, firme cohærerent. But, perhaps, the truth of the case is this. The letters on these stones were not to be sunk or hollowed out, but

18, 19, And that thou shouldest keep, &c. Ged., Booth.-18 And that if thou wilt keep all his commandments, 19 Then he will place thee above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in fame, and in honour; and that thou shalt be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as he hath spoken. CHAP. XXVII. 2.

וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר תַּעַבְרוּ אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן raised in relievo, and the stone cut from אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ around the letters. The plaister would be והקמתָ לְךָ אֲבָנִים גְדֹלוֹת וְשַׂדְתָּ אֹתָם

καὶ ἔσται ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ διαβῆτε τὸν Ἰορδάνην εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν κύριος ὁ θεός σου δίδωσί σοι, Kai σthσels σeautą dílovs μeyádovs kaì koviάσεις αὐτοὺς κονίᾳ.

Au. Ver.-2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister.

Plaister them with plaister. Patrick, Rosen., Gesen., Lee. Rosen.-Obduces eos tectorio.

then of excellent use to fill up the interstices Tof the letters: and if the plaister was white between the letters of black marble; the words would appear (according to the command, at ver. 8) very plainly-or, as in Coverdale's version (1535), manifestly and well. This hypothesis, of the letters being raised, may be strengthened by observing, that the Arabic inscriptions (perhaps all that are now extant) are in relievo. The two Arabic marbles, preserved in the University So Pool, of Oxford, are proofs of this method of engraving; which therefore might obtain formerly amongst the other Oriental nations. Selden, in his account of the Oxford marbles, mentions four, numbered 191, 192, 193, 194; which have on them Hebrew characters, and were anciently parts of some sepulchral monuments of the Jews. But, not knowing where these fragments are, I cannot say whether the letters upon them are in relievo, or the contrary.

Prof. Lee.-, m. Arab., res, quæ parieti inducitur, ut lutum, similisve res. Plastering; any kind of plaster; lime, Deut. xxvii. 2, 4; Is. xxxiii. 12; Amos ii. 1.

Bp. Patrick.-Plaister them with plaister.] That being plain and smooth, they might write what is here commanded upon them, which they could not do while they were rough and uneven.

Bp. Horsley.-Rather, "cement them with mortar." See Houbigant.

Dr. A. Clarke.-Perhaps the original should be translated, Thou shalt cement them with cement, because this was intended to be a durable monument. In similar cases it

Bp. Patrick.—I suppose he means all the laws contained in this book (not all the exhortations and historical passages), which agrees very well with this injunction, that they should write on the stones "all the words of this law."

was customary to set up a single stone, or a the words of this law to do them are particuheap, rudely put together, where no cement larly applied unto the transgressors of moral or mortar appears to have been used; and laws only, ver. 15, 16, &c. And especially because this was common, it was necessary the decalogue, which oft goes under that to give particular directions when the usual name. Compare Josh. viii. 32, &c. method was not to be followed. Some suppose that the writing was to be in relievo, and that the spaces between the letters were filled up by the mortar or cement. This is quite a possible case, as the eastern inscriptions are frequently done in this way. There is now before me a large slab of basaltes, two feet long by sixteen inches wide, on which there is an inscription in Persian, Arabic, and Tamul; in the two former the letters are all raised, the surface of the stone being dug out, but the Tamul is indented. A kind of reddish paint had been smeared over the letters to make them more apparent. Two Arabic marbles in the University of Oxford

the slab of basalt in my possession. In the

light upon the subject in question.

Kennicott contends that it was the Decalogue that was written on these stones.

This law, when thou art passed over, &c. Ged., Booth. This law; for thou art about to [Ged., since ye] pass over, that thou mayest go into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth to thee, &c.

Ver. 4.

וְהָיָה בְּעָבְרְכֶם אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּן תָּקִימוּ have the inscriptions in reliero, like those on אֶת־הָאֲבָנִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַנָּה opinion of some even this case may cast אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּהַר עֵיבָל וְשַׂדְתָּ אוֹתָם

καὶ γράψεις ἐπὶ τῶν λίθων τούτων πάντας τοὺς λόγους τοῦ νόμου τούτου, ὡς ἂν διαβῆτε τὸν Ἰορδάνην, ἡνίκα ἂν εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου δίδωσί σοι, κ.τ.λ.

Au. Ver.-3 And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

All the words of this law.

Pool.-Either, 1. All the words of this Book of Deuteronomy [so Geddes]. But that seems too large for this place. Or, 2. The blessings and curses here following [so Josephus, Rosenmüller, Dr. A. Clarke]. But they are mentioned as a different thing. Or, 3. The law properly so called, i.e., the sum and substance of the precepts or laws of Moses, especially such as were moral and general, as may be guessed from the following part of the chapter, where the curses pronounced against all that confirm not all

καὶ ἔσται ὡς ἂν διαβῆτε τὸν Ἰορδάνην, στήσετε τοὺς λίθους τούτους, οὓς ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον ἐν ὄρει Γαιβάλ, καὶ κονιάσεις

Au. Ver.-4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaister them with plaister.

In mount Ebal.

Ged., Booth.-"By mount Ebal." I think it plain from the whole context and from Joshua (viii. 33) that both the altar, and the stones on which the Deuteronomy was to be written, were erected not on the mount, but at the foot of it. Whether at the foot of mount Ebal, or of mount Gerizim, depends on another question: namely, whether the Jews or Samaritans have here corrupted the text.-Ged.

Plaister them with plaister. See notes on verse 2.

Mount Ebal. So the Heb. text which is followed by Verschuir, Seb. Rav., Rosen., Gesen., Bp. Patrick, Rutherford, Parry, and most commentators. See note of Rosenmüller below.

Bp. Patrick.-Mount Ebal.] Here the Samaritan Pentateuch hath, “in mount Gerizim;" which is a manifest corruption, to