The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 520

dislinguishorl from tho person by whom it µ<T' ahoii: Vnlgate, In rlex/em Pju, jgne"' wo.s insortod in this pince. lex; 'l'argum or Onkelo~, "Writt,·n by his Ver. 2.-And he said. Hore begin tbe right he.n<I, frnm the mirlat of tho flro, 1t law words of Moses. He commcncos by depict- gave he to ns;" Syriac, "With myrirvls r,f ing the mo.josty of Johovo.h ns he o.ppea.red to his saints at his right han,l. He gave to Isro.el when he co.me to mnko the covono.nt them, an,\ olso caused o.11 pcnplca to Jovo with them ond give them his Law. The them." The best Hebrew manuscripts hnve Lord oame from Sinai, and rose np from Beir ni~N ae one word. The Mnsorctie, note is, unto them, otc. Seir is the mountain land "The Chatiph is one worrl, and the K'ri of Edom to the eo.st of Sino.i. Mount Po.ran two." 'l'he word n,;;N la l,eat explainer\ ae is probo.bly the range of lofty hills which a compounrl of 21~, fire, and N,;;, an Ara- form the southern boundary of the promised maic word signifying to throw or dart; tho lond to the north of the desert of Et-Tih. Syriac f,..a, or the Hebrew ,.,J'., havin 6 tho These plo.ces are not mentioned ns scenes of different manifestations of the Di vine eame signification, so that the meaning glory, but ne indico.ting the extent to is "fire-dartings: " from his right hand which the one manifesto.tic,n given at went rays of fire like arrows shot forth Sinai reached. The light of the Divine (cf. Hab. iii. 4; Exorl. xix. 16). To them; glory that rested on Sino.i wo.s reflected also i.e. to the Israelites, to whom this manifesta- from the mountains of Seir nnd Po.ran (cf. tion was vouchsafed. Hnb. iii. 3; Judg. v. 4). He came with ten Ver. 3.-Yea, he loved the people. The thoneands of saints; rather, he came from proper rendering is, he loveth people., (u'T.?i/). ten thousands of holy ones; liternlly, out from '.fhis is generally understood of the tribes myriads of holiness; i.e. "from hie celestial of Israel; but some would understand it of seat, where myriads of angels surround hi3 nations in general, on the ground tbat snch throne " (Rosenmiiller). The rendering is the proper meaning of the word, as in "with," though that of the Targum, LXX., eh. xxxii. 8 and other places. A reference to and Vulgate, cannot be reto.ined; nor does nations at large, however, would seem Scripture represent God as attended by incongruous here; and the use of the word angels when he comes forth to manifest his in relation to Israel in such passag-es 113 glory to men. They are represented as Gen. xxviii. 3; Judg. v. H; Isa. iii. 1:-l; surrounding his throne in heaven (l Kings Hos. x. 14; Zech. xi. 10, justifies the xxii. 19; Job i. 6; Dan. vii. 10), as his taking it so here. All his· saints are in thy servants awailing his behest, and his host hand. The people of Israel are here called that do his pleasure (Gen. xxviii. 12; xxxii. God's saints, or holy ones, because they were 2, 3; Ps. ciii. 21) ; and God is represented chosen by n.nd consecrated to him. It is ae dwelling in the midst of them (Pa. lxvili. not probable, as some suggest, that the 17). Hence he fa ropresented here as angels are here intended. The change coming forth from among them to manifest from the third person to the second is not himself to bis people. A fiery law. There uncommon in Hebrew poetry ( cf. eh. xxxii. is a various reading here; instead of n:i rzi~, 15; Ps. xlix. H, etc.). They sat down at fire of law, many codices have nirziN in one thy feet. The verb rendered "sat down" here word, and this is supported by the Samaritan (1.,11~_) is found only iu this passage, and text and other authorities, and is accepted is of uncerto.in meaning. Kimchi ex- -by most critics and interpreters. It is o. plains it n.s "they united or ass,ml,le<l fatal objection to the textual reading that together to folloio thy steps;" Knobel mnkes n:i is not a Semitic word, but one of Persian it "they wandered at thy feet," an,\ under- origin, brought by the Jews from Babylonia, stands it of Israel's followio:; the lead of nnd found only in the post-exilian books Jehovah it>. the wilderness, when the ark of (Esth. i. 8, 19; ii. 8, 12; iii. 8, 14; iv. 11, the covenant preceded them in their march; 15; Ezra vii. 12, 21; viii. 36; Dun. ii. 9, Gesenius and Fiirst, "they lie down at thy 13, 15; vi. 5, 9, 13, 16); e.nd in them as feet." This last is accepted by Keil, auu applied to the Law of God only by heRthens. seems to h11ve most in its favour. Every It is, tilerefore, altogether improb11ble that one shall receive of thy words. Somo this word should be found in o.ny Hebrew render here, they rise up at thy words; but writing anterior to tho Captivity. Besides, though the verb Ni,J is sometimes useJ in- what is tile sense of n:i Iii~, supposing ni to tro.nsiti vely, it is properly an active verb, mean " law" ? The words cannot be ren- aud there seems no reason why it shouh\ dered, ae in the Authorized Version, by not bo so regarded here: erery one receit-es "fiery law;" they oan only be rendered by [the singular, ~~:, used distributively] thy "a fire, n law," or "a fire of lnw," and what wurds. eithClr or these may mean it is not eC1sy to Ver. 4.-Moses here, iJentifying himsclr see. Tho nncient versions vnry here very with the people, uses the third persou, and coneideraLl,r: LXX., tK a.{,~v ""Tov il')l')l•.\o, includes himself among tho,e to whom tho 530 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [clI. XX:UU, 1-29,