ings are: or Gag might order ir ſo for his own pleaſure, -and it 1s _ ofible wy. en do it for this reaſon, that b this ſeeming contradiQion, as well as ſome others, he might in juſt judgment d- he threatned to the Nwe, Jer. « Fog __ lay « pon. A _—_ before prophane and proud wits, and give them thad «ccaſion © JeceiPing Go be handblres, which they ſo greedily ſeek and gladly embrace ; which isthe reaſon given by ſome ofthe antients why God hath lefe ſo many difficulties in Scripture. nſw. 3. The words may be otherwiſe rendred, fom Beeroth of the children of Faakan. and from Moſerah : where the Order of the places is not obſerved, as was noted before of the order of time, wv. 1. becauſe it, wasnothing ro the purpoſe here, and becauſe that might be eaſily fetched from Numb. 33. where thoſe journeys are more particularly and exaQtly deſcribed. For the conjun&tion and, that may be here wanting, and to be ſupplied, as it is, Exod. 6. 23, 1 Sam. 4. 7. Plal. 133. 3. Is. 63. 11. Heb. 3. 11. And the prepoſition Fom is eaſily ſupplied from the foregoing words, as is moſt uſual. Nor ſeems there to be any more reaſon to render ito Moſerah, than Fom Moſerah, ſeing the Hebrew Jetter Hein the end is made a part of the proper name, and therefore is na local. e Qyeft. How is this true ? when Aaron dyed nor in Moſerab, but in Mount Hur, Numb. 33.57. Anſw. 1. Miſerah may be a diffcrent place from Moſeroth, and that may be the name of a Town or-Ree&9n in which Mount Hor was, or to which it belenged. Or, the ſam>.mounrain, in reſpe& of divers parts and oppoſite ſides of it, might betalled by divers names, here Moſerah, and there Hor. And it is pofſivle they might go ſeveral journeys, and paſs to divers Nations, and by fetching a compaſs ( which they oft did in their wilderneſs travels ) come to the other ſide of the fame Mountain. Anſ. 2. The Hebrew-Partiele, ſcham, may here note the time, and not the place of £aror's death, and may be rendred hen, as it is taken, Gen. 49.-24. Pſal. 14. 5. Eecleſ. 3.17. Zephan. 1. 14. And then is not
Scripture ; that is, abour that time, afcer a few remoyes more ; as the words, at that time, wv. 8. muſt neceſſarily he underſtood.
7 * From thenoe e they journeyed unto Gudgodah, *Num:33: and from Gudgodah to Jorbath,a land of rivers of waters. 32: 343 e Either, 1. From that place, and that either from Moſer, Jaſt mentioned : or from Bene-jaskan : for relatives many times in Scri p- ture belong to the remoter- antecedent. Or, 2. From that time : for this particle ſometimes notes not place, but time, as 2 Kings 2. 21. Iſa. 65+ 20. So the meaning is, At, or about that time, as it is verſe 8. which being conſidered, may ſerve to clear the great difficulty - diſcourſed upon the laſt verſe concerning the ſeeming contradiQion _ of this place, and Numb. 33. 31, 32.
8 Art that time f * the LORD ſeparated the tribe of *Num; 3: Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to 4 4:4: ſtand before the LORD g to miniſter unto him, and to
* 74% bleſs in his name þ unto this day.
F About that time, 7. e. when I was come down Fom the Mount, as was {aid v. 5. For theſe words manifeſtly look to that verſe, the 6. & 7. verſes being put in by way of Parentheſis, as was ſaid before. Or, if it relate to the words immediately foregoing, this may be meant of a ſecond ſeparation of them upon Aaron's Death, and having mentioned the ſeparation of Eleazar to the Office of the high Prieſt in his Father's ſtead, v. 6. he now repeats it, that the Levites who were his, as they had been his Father's Servants, were ſeparated as before, or were confirmed in their Office. g A phraſe uſed concerning the Prophets, 1 Kings 17. 1. & (8. 15. this being the poſture of Miniſters. Heace the Angels are ſaid to ſtand, 2Chron. 18.18. Luke 1.19. h Either, I. Particularly, to pronounce the ſalemn bleſſing of God upon the Congregation, which was done in God's Name, of which fee Livir.
theſe two places to be the ſame with thoſe, Numb. 33. 31. yet tke\ ourneys = divers. They went from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan. 70 Moſers, which is omitted in Numbers, and therefore here 1v pplyed C
reaſon, though now unknown tous, as the reaſons of many ſuch like
ro be raken preciſely, but with ſome Jaritude, as it is oft uſed in |
R O0O N O on TM. Chap. RX. ' 9. 23. Numb.6. 23. &c. But that work was peculiar'to the Pricſts,
{ not common to all the Levites, Or, more generally, to bleſs, Either
| x. God, 2. e. to praiſe him, which being a conſiderable part of the Levites work, 1 Chron. 16. it is not probable it wou'd be omitted
here, where their Office is ſo particularly deſcribed. Or, 2. The people, whom they did bleſs by performance of thoſe holy miniſtrati-
ons for the people, and giving thoſe inſtiuQtions to t! em, to which
God's bleſſing was promiſed and uſually given ; and this they did
in Gods Name, i. e. by command, and commiſſion from him. :
9 * Wherefore Levi hathno part nor inheritance with + yy his brethren : the LORD 5s his inhericance z, according rg: ,,. as the LORD thy God promiſed him.
; (i.e. The Lords portion, to wit, tithes and offerings, which belong to God, are given by himto the Levites for their tubſiſtence from generation to generation, as inherirances run, _
io And * I ſtayed in the mount, according to the || * Exog. firſt time, fourty days, and fourty nights : and the LORD 74 28: * hearkened unto me at that time alſo, avd the LORD F Or,
- JOormey would not deſtroy thee. ;
poſſeſs the land, which I\ware unto their fathers to give I, '7 unto them. | od:32;