diffuse formula was ever really intended | (i) In v.2, for 'It shall be when Jehovah 6 to be used. It was meant most probably to remind the pious Israelite of his duty towards the poor and the Levite; and, as before noticed, the stress is here distinctly laid upon the due employment in works of charity of the tithe of the third year, the year of tithing,' which was to be spent at home in general feasting, to which, besides all the members of the family, the needy and destitute of all kinds were to be invited. It seems as if the writer did hope that this law with respect to the tithes might be carried out, whatever might be the case with the others. CHAPTER XVII. DEUT. XXVII.1-26. 756. D.xxvii.1-8. 'And Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments, which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster. 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 Jehovah thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, hath promised thee. 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, [Sam. 'Gerizim,' LXX. 'Ebal'], and thou shalt plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto Jehovah thy God, an altar of stones; thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of Jehovah thy God of whole stones; and thou shalt offer burntofferings thereon unto Jehovah thy God; and thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before Jehovah thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law very plainly.' The Samaritan Pentateuch has a remarkable addition after E.xx.17, that is to say, immediately after the Ten Commandments. It introduces here a passage which is almost identically the same with D.xxvii.2-8, except that it has Mount Gerizim as the place, where the stones of the Law were to be set up, instead of Mount Ebal. 757. The following are the particulars, more precisely, in which the passage in Deuteronomy differs from that in the Samaritan Pentateuch after E.xx.17: thy God shall bring thee into the land of the the Deuteronomist writes, It shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.' he has added, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, a land that God hath promised thee.' floweth with milk and honey, as Jehovah thy Canaanites, whither thou goest to possess it,' (ii) In v.3, after the words of this Law,' (iii) In v.4, he has changed Mount Gerizim' into Mount Ebal,' and repeated superfluously the command, Thou shalt plaster them with plaster,' already given in v.2. (iv) He has omitted the last sentence of the Samaritan passage, and inserted it, slightly modified, in D.xi.30. 758. Upon this point, KENNICOTT writes as follows, Diss.i.p.96: It must have appeared strange, surprisingly strange, during the reader's perusal of the preceding remarks, that it is not more clearly expressed what this Law, thus to be engraved, was, that a point of so much importance should not have been, somewhere or other, very accurately noted, and very particularly circumscribed by Moses, partly for the more render this awful transaction more intellisecure direction of Joshua, and partly to gible through future ages. But all this surprise ceases-all this puzzle is unravelled-all this uncertainty is at once removed-if we allow the authority of the Samaritan Pentateuch, if we will but grant that there may have been in the Hebrew text a certain passage, which is now found in all the copies of the Samaritan Text and Version, and which is also found, exactly as in the Samaritan Pentateuch, in that Arabic version of it, in the Arabic character, which has been before mentioned, and which is a very valuable, because a very literal, version. For in E.xx, as soon as the Tenth Commandment is con cluded, we read in the Samaritan Pentateuch the five following verses-And it shall be, &c.' Here, then, according to this truly venerable copy of the Book of Moses, all is clear. The whole is perfectly regular, and in harmonious proportion. We have seen the several circumstances, concurring to render it highly probable that the Ten Commandments constituted the Law, which was to be engraved. And, as it can scarcely be conceived that such a point could have been quite omitted by Moses, it makes greatly for the honour of the Samaritan Pentateuch, to have preserved so considerable a passage. Why the ancient Jews should omit this pasthose, who mark the honour it does to Mount sage, can be a matter of no doubt at all with Gerizim. And, therefore, the same men who corrupted D.xxvii.4, have but acted with uniformity, if they have also corrupted E.xx, omitting Gerizim in the latter instance, just as honestly as they altered it in the former. That the Samaritan Text should be conin it than the Hebrew, no man of learning demned as corrupted merely for having more will maintain. Certainly, the Jews might omil, 20; as easily as the Samaritans might insert. And | phrases, vi. 3,xi.9,xxvi.9,15,xxvii.3,xxxi. I presume that it has been, and will be hereafter more fully, proved, that several whole passages, now in the Samaritan, but not in the Hebrew Pentateuch, are not interpolations in the former, but omissions in the latter. 759. In addition to the above remarks of KENNICOTT we may observe :— (i) If the Samaritans introduced the passage after E.xx.17, in order to do special honour to their sacred Mount Gerizim, they must have copied it from the passage in Deuteronomy already existing, only changing Ebal into Geri zim. (iii) The later Jews have altered in v.4 the name Gerizim, which the Deuteronomist wrote, into Ebal, and have struck out also altogether the original passage after E.xx.17. 761. Hence we can explain the origin of the expression all the words of this Law,' v.3,8, which in the context, in which they now stand, can only, as KNOBEL says, be referred— not to the blessings and curses,' nor to the 'law of Deuteronomy' only, but to the whole Mosaic Law, though the writer means only the actual prescriptions of the Law, — acnot, at the same time, all narratives, warn (ii) But in that case they would not surely have omitted the very character-cording to the Jews, 613 in number,-and istic expression, a land that floweth with milk and honey,' which occurs in the latter, v.3. (iii) There was a reason why, after the Captivity, when such hostility existed between the Jews and Samaritans, and the latter had built their opposition Temple on Mount Gerizim, the Jews should have corrupted the Text of these Scriptures, as KENNICOTT supposes. (iv) But there was no reason why any Jewish writer, living in any age before the Captivity, should not have chosen the splendid Table-Mountain of Gerizim (323), in the very centre of the land of Canaan, and visible afar off, as the site on which the stones should be set up, containing the record of God's covenant with Israel, in sight, as it were, of all the people of the land. (v) And we actually find Gerizim chosen by the Deuteronomist himself (763), as the Mount of Blessing, xxvii. 12, on which Joshua himself was to take his stand, with the principal tribes of Levi, Judah, Joseph, and Benjamin; whereas Ebal was to be the Mount of Cursing, v.13, on which the inferior tribes were to be stationed. 760. There seems, therefore, every reason to believe that KENNICOTT'S suggestion is well-founded, viz. that(i) The passage D.xxvii.2-8 has been copied by the Deuteronomist from the passage which stood originally in the Hebrew MS. after E.xx.17; (ii) He has inserted in it the phrase 'a land that floweth with milk and honey,' which is one of his favourite ings, admonitions, speeches, reasonings, &c. But to engrave on stones even the 'blessings and curses,' if by this is meant the matter in D.xxvii.15-xxviii. 68, would have required an immense amount of labour and material,- much more the whole Law of Deuteronomy, or the 613 precepts. 762. Applied, however, as the direction appears to have been in its original position, only to the Ten Commandments,' the 'ten words,' E.xxxiv.28, which are expressly called the Law, E.xxiv. 12, (not a Law,' E.V.), the phrase 'all the words of this Law' is quite intelligible. The Deuteronomist appears to have transferred the direction from the end of the Ten Commandments to the end of (what may be considered to be) his expansion of the Ten Commandments, v.1-xxvi.19, without observing that in that connection it was incongruous and impracticable, as, in fact, he never really contemplated its being actually carried out. and six to curse, and among the former to be confirmed by the expressions is placed the tribe of Levi; then, after- in xviii.6-8, already considered (720), wards, the Levites, who should be stand- which imply that, according to his ing with the other five blessing tribes, view, only some of the tribe of Levi are to pronounce the curses, and all would be likely to enter upon the the people are to say, Amen.' It is sacred office. true, these Levites' are most probably 766. Still the difficulty remains to the Priests,' whom we find so con- conceive in what way the Deuteronotinually mentioned as 'Levites' in mist meant this 'blessing' and 'cursDeuteronomy; and, as the whole pas-ing' to be conducted. I must confess sage appears to be due to one hand, we that I cannot explain the matter in may suppose that the whole tribe of any way satisfactorily, or without some Levi was to stand on Gerizim to bless, extravagant assumption as to what the while the small body of Priests were writer has omitted to state. It may be to take their place, perhaps, in such a suggested, for instance, that in v.14 it position as to command both parties, should be translated,and 'give out' the words both of blessing and of cursing. 764. Still it seems strange that the same writer should have left such a confusion in his story as now exists, setting the tribe of Levi' to bless, in v.12, and the Levites' to pronounce the curse, in v.14, without any kind of explanation. Nor is there any indication whatever of the original direction being carried out, of six tribes blessing and six cursing. And the blessings' which follow in xxviii.3-6 are not given at all in the same way as the curses. In fact, ch.xxviii begins abruptly, in such a manner, that it is impossible to say from the context who is supposed to be speaking, though from the contents we may infer that it is Moses. 765. We may suppose, however, as we have said, that the writer means the whole body of the tribe of Levi to stand with the other five tribes on the Mount of Blessing, while the Levites proper, or Priests, were to stand by the Ark in some central position,-at one end, it may be, of the long narrow valley which parted the two mountains, on the slopes of which the twelve tribes were to be stationed. This would agree with the description in Jo.viii.33: And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the Ark and on that side, before the Priests the Levites, which bare the Ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ... half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal.' This agrees, too, with the fact that the Deuteronomist speaks of Joseph as a single tribe in xxxiii.13, and it seems And the Levites shall answer, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,'as if they were first to hear the curses from the party on Mount Ebal, and then to repeat them to the whole community. But then there is no explanation of the way in which the 'blessings' were to be delivered. And it is plain that ch.xxviii passes away altogether from any formal utterance of the blessings like that of the curses, and shapes itself into a solemn address of the Lawgiver, abruptly begun without any introduction. 767. Upon the whole, it appears to me to be most probable that the writer has departed from his original intention. In xi.29 he meant the tribes to pronounce the blessings and curses, and made the arrangement for that purpose in xxvii.11-13. But he then decided to place them in the mouths of the Priests, and make the people say, Amen ;' and this he actually did with the curses. Instead of limiting himself in this way, however, with respect to the blessings, he has insensibly been carried away by his subject, and poured out his full heart in the glowing and vehement words of ch.xxviii. This chapter he has now left without any introduction or explanation, without any intimation of its connection with the matter before or after. He may have intended that the Levites should be made to utter a series of short blessings, like the curses, such as those in xxviii.3-6, which correspond almost exactly to the curses in v.16-19, so that these cannot be themselves the bless ings intended in xxvii.13. But, if so, | events, of the 600,000 warriors, and he was presently overpowered by his of substituting for them the 'elders,' own intensity of feeling, and has thus since in Jo.viii. 33, just quoted, where left us the magnificent language of this the transaction in question is described, chapter, in which blessings and curs- we are told thatings, both of the strongest kind, are mixed up together. 768. As it is plain that this whole transaction is only an ideal scene, which the author himself, apparently, has not even realised completely in his own imagination, it is hardly necessary to consider at any length the question of the physical possibility of such blessings and curses being uttered in this way, so as to be heard by the people and duly responded to. The length of the valley between the two mountains is said to be about three miles, and its breadth from 200 to 300 yards. 769. Dean STANLEY writes, Sinai and Palestine, p.237,— High above the fertile vale [of Shechem] rose the long rocky ridge of Mount Gerizim, facing the equally long and rocky range of Ebal; and he quotes also JEROME'S statement with respect to the two mountains, They are a considerable distance apart; nor would the sounds of persons blessing or cursing in turns be heard from one to the other. JEROME, accordingly, wishes to select two other mountains near Jericho. But, as Dean STANLEY observes, The positive statement, that the mountains were by the terebinths of Moreh, D.xi.30, compels us to adhere to the common view. The ceremony may have taken place on the lower spurs of the mountains, where they approach more nearly to each other. And I am informed that even from the two sum mits shepherds have been heard conversing with each other. 'All Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the Ark and on that side, before the Priests the Levites, the bearers of [E.V. ' which bare'] the Ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the stranger as he that was born among them; and half of them over against Mount Ebal; half of them over against Mount Gerizim, as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.' 771. This immense host, surely, though posted (as Dean STANLEY supposes) on the lower spurs of the mountains,' would have stretched along, we must suppose, for miles. It is common, however, to suppose a magnificent scene, where the people would be standing as above, and the 'curses' in v.15-26 would be repeated by the Levites, and heard by those standing nearest to them. These might then begin the 'Amen,' which would be swelled by the tremendous thunder of the whole congregation,' who need not be supposed to have heard the words, as they knew them beforehand. But what are the 'blessings,' to which special reference is made in the above quotation, as well as in D.xxvii.12? CHAPTER XVIII. DEUT.XXVIII.1-xxxI.30. *772. D.xxviii.1-68. This grand chapter appears to have been written by one who had already the ruin of the Ten Tribes before him, 770. Doubtless, in peculiar states of and who foreboded the same terrible the air, as when, perhaps, on a calm calamity for Judah also, if it persisted and still evening, the dews are begin- in its idolatry and wickedness. The ning to fall, shepherds may be able to nation of 'fierce countenance and strange hear and answer one another, and even tongue from afar,' v.49,50, was either to maintain, by special effort, a con- the Assyrian, if he wrote in the days of versation at considerable distances, as Hezekiah, or the Chaldee, if he wrote, the natives of Australia and Natal now as seems most probable, in the days of do. But can such an exertion of the Josiah. It will be seen, as we proceed, voice be thought of in connection with that many of the expressions here used such a solemn ceremony as this? In are used also by Jeremiah in his prothis particular case, there is no possi-phecies with reference to the Chalbility of evading the full meaning of dæans. Thus the yoke of iron,' v.48, the expression 'the whole congregation,' appears in Jer.xxviii. 14,-the 'nation as implying the great body, at all from afar,' v.49, in Jer.v.15,-'as the distress thee,' eagle flieth,' v.49, in Jer.xlviii.40, xlix. | dæans to sell them in different countries, 22, comp. iv.13, Lam.iv.19; and v.53-Joel iii.4-8, Am.i.6,9, Ez.xxvii. 13, and, "Thou shalt eat.... the flesh of thy sons among others, in Egypt, where they and of thy daughters... in the siege and in would be bondmen a second time to the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall the Egyptians, or, more probably, the famous Egyptian fleets of PharaohNecho, HEROD.ii. 159. It is not necessarily implied that there were already hostile relations with Egypt, or that danger was to be immediately dreaded from that quarter. is repeated in Jer.xix.9 'I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters their enemies shall distress them.' 773. According to the Chronicler, 2Ch.xxxiii.11, Josiah's father, Manasseh, was actually carried captive to Babylon; but this is not mentioned in the more authentic history. However, this prediction that, if they continued in their sins, the whole people with their king, v.36, would suffer at the hand of the Chaldæans the same fate as their brethren of the Ten Tribes had experienced from the Assyrians, was written, no doubt, with reference to the king then reigning, probably Manasseh, Amon, or Josiah in his early years. 774. D.xxviii.36. Jehovah shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known.' 776. On the contrary, (745-747) the Deuteronomist recognises a certain amount of friendliness on the part of the Egyptians towards Israel at the time of his writing, as he does also on the part of the Edomites. But this state of amicable relation might at any moment be disturbed; and so, in fact, we find that Josiah himself was killed by Pharaoh-Necho, 2K.xxiii.29, and his son Jehoahaz, after a reign of three months, was 'put in bands' by the King of Egypt, 'that he might not reign in Jerusalem;' and 'he put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver,' and he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt, and died there.' 777. D.xxix.4-8. "Yet Jehovah hath not given you an heart Here the writer, as in xvii.14-20, to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear represents Moses as assuming that they unto this day. And I have led you forty will 'set over' themselves a king' in years in the wilderness [see D.viii.2]: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy later days, and referring to such a pro- shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have ceeding as a very natural one, instead not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine of speaking of it as a 'rejection of Je- or strong drink; that ye might know that I am Jehovah your God. And when ye came unto hovah,' 1S.viii.7, a 'great wickedness,' this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og xii. 17. RIEHM observes, very justly: the king of Bashan, came out against us unto The writer here-very probably, at least-battle, and we smote them, and we took their sets forth the kingdom as already existing. land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the For how should Moses have come to think of Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the this, viz. that, while seeking to stimulate the half tribe of Manasseh.' people of his own time, (to whom, of course, his discourse is primarily addressed,) through threatenings of punishment, to a closer observance of the Law, he should threaten with evil a king who was first to be set over them in a far later time? 775. D.xxviii. 68. And Jehovah shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again : and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.' It is obvious that the writer has here inadvertently slid from speaking in the character of Moses in v.4, to speaking in that of Jehovah in v.5,6, and has again returned to that of Moses in v.7,8. We have a similar and yet more noticeable instance (627) in xi.14,15. The LXX appear to have perceived, and avoided, this difficulty in both these passages, by changing I into He. 778. D.xxix. 10,11. By these 'ships,' the writer may have 'Ye stand this day all of you before Jehomeant either the Phoenician merchant- vah your God; your captains of your tribes, ships,-which would carry off the He- your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your families (E.V. 'little ones') your brew slaves, purchased from the Chal-wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp, |