_Know, &c. Reflect on the wonders of God, which you must explain to your children, who were not born, or able to discern them, when they were effected at the Red Sea, and in the punishment of the seditious, ver. 7. Hebrew, "know ye this day, for I do not address myself to your children, who know not... [ Continue Reading ]
_Day. So that none of the Egyptians have since been able to molest you._... [ Continue Reading ]
_That. Fear might stimulate them to observe God's command, lest they should be overtaken by a similar chastisement. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
Gardens. Hebrew, "where thou didst sow the seed, and water it with the foot, as a garden," by means of various machines or wheels, which were turned by the feet. (Philo) --- Solinus (ii. 22, 36,) takes notice of this inconvenience in Egypt. The country is watered only by the Nile, which overflows fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Rain, which falls in Judea, chiefly about the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes, in March and October. --- The latter rain (Hebrew malkosh,) is that which falls when the seed is just sown, though the Rabbins pretend that yore has this signification, in opposition to the Septuagint. It fell at the b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hay. Seed-grass was sown, like corn, in Palestine, as it is still in the Levant, where meadows are unknown. The hay consisted chiefly of trefoil, and was carried on beasts in long journeys, Genesis xliii. 27., and Judges xix. 19. Cattle fed commonly on straw and barley. The hay grass which grew on... [ Continue Reading ]
_You. In all this discourse, Moses attributes the fertility of the promised land to the blessing of God, and indeed it seems to be naturally far from being so luxuriant as to be able to feed so many inhabitants. Travellers inform us, that a great part is incapable of cultivation. But it is no longer... [ Continue Reading ]
_Place. Hebrew, "that they may be as frontlets between your eyes," chap. vi. 9., and Exodus xiii. 9. (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Posts. Upon one post the Jews hang boards, enclosing a piece of parchment, with the 13th to the 21st verse of this chapter; and from ver. 4. to the 9th of the 6th chapter, they hang with great solemnity upon the other post._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Earth, as long as the world shall endure. The psalmist (Psalm lxxxviii. 30,) expresses the duration of the reign of the Messias nearly in the same terms. See Baruch i. 2. (Calmet) --- If the Jews had continued faithful to God, and had submitted to the Messias, they might never have been banished fr... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER XI.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yours. The nations of Chanaan, how strong soever, should fall, and their country be lawfully possessed by the Hebrews. --- Western sea. Hebrew, "the sea of the back." The Jews speak of the different parts of the world, with respect to a man who has his face turned towards the east, Genesis xiii. 9.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Curse. Their respective effects you shall experience, according to your behaviour. (Calmet) --- God helps our free will to do good. (St. Augustine, q. 15.) (Worthington)_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Put the blessing, &c. See Deuteronomy xxvii. 12, &c., and Josue viii. 33, &c. (Challoner) --- Six tribes were to be stationed on each of these mountains, chap. xxviii. --- Garizim. Eusebius says that the Samaritans are grossly deceived, in placing this mountain in the vicinity of Sichem, instead of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Far. Hebrew, "over against Galgal, beside the plains of More, or Aluni More." Samaritan reads, "the plain of More, near Sichem," as Exodus xx. 17. (Haydock) --- This is styled the noble vale, Genesis xii. 6. (Calmet) --- The road from Jericho to the Mediterranean Sea, left these mountains on the no... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fulfil. How inconsistent must such exhortations be, if, as Protestants assert, the commandments be impossible, and "the law exacteth impossible things." (Luther in Gal. iii.) (Haydock)_... [ Continue Reading ]