before Manasseh,' his elder brother, G.xlviii.20, and whose tribe was in later times by far the strongest, in agreement with the words of the text,And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And they are the thousands of Manasseh,'though not in accordance with the statements of the second 'muster' of the people at the end of their wanderings, according to which the number of Manasseh was 52,700, N.xxvi.34, and that of Ephraim only 32,500, v.37; and yet the story represents Moses as making this muster only just before he uttered the Song. 851. They shall call the people unto the Mountain; Thus shall they offer sacrifices of righteous ness,' v.19. According to our view, the 'Mountain' here is the holy 'Mount Zion' at Jerusalem, to which, as the writer hoped, and as the Deuteronomist enjoined, all the tribes would in future days go willingly up in great numbers; though, of course, it was never supposed that the command for 'every male' to go up thrice a year would be literally obeyed. Comp. Jer.xxvi. 18, the Mountain of the House,' and especially, Jer.xxxi.23, 'Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, As 849. There is nothing very remark-land of Judah and in the cities thereof, yet they shall use this speech, in the able in the other blessings, which, as when I shall bring again their (i.e. has been said, seem to be uttered, be- Ephraim's) captivity, Jehovah bless cause something must be said of each thee, O Habitation of justice, O Mountribe, (by one who had undertaken to tain of holiness!' place a blessing in the mouth of Moses, like that ascribed to Jacob,) with some kind of reference to their past or present circumstances, and with the hope that, though now only a remnant of each tribe occupied the seat of its forefathers, yet, in God's own time, the tribe would be restored to its old locality, and flourish abundantly again, and the Blessing be fulfilled. In almost every case there is a reference to the language used in the Blessing of Jacob, G.xlix, as if the Deuteronomist was at a loss for other words, in which to speak of these tribes now carried into captivity. 850. We add some remarks on each: 'Rejoice, ZEBULUN, in thy going out, And, ISSACHAR, in thy tents,' v.18. The relations of both tribes shall be joyful and prosperous, the one 'going out,' i.e. carrying on a brisk and pleasant commerce, e.g. with the Phoenicians,(comp. G.xlix.13, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for an haven of ships, and his border shall be unto Zidon,')—and the other remaining at home, and practising comfortably agriculture and cattlebreeding in the productive land where it dwells, (comp. G.xlix.14,15, Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens; and he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant'). 852. For they shall suck the affluence of the sea, And the hidden treasures of the sand.' They shall draw profit from the sea, have gain which the sea brings to them, e.g. through commerce generally, and the special trade in fish, purple-shells, and sponges, which is still carried on. By 'treasures of the sand' the writer seems to mean 'glass,' which by the ancients was considered as something costly, (Job.xxviii.17, The gold and the crystal cannot equal it,') and which has been found by the river Belus, a little south of Akko. Between Akko and Tyre, also, the coast yielded a glassy sand, which, however, was first melted in Sidon. In Tyre there are still remains of a glass-melting-house of ancient times. 853. 'Blessed be He that enlargeth Gad! As a lion he coucheth, and teareth arm, yea, and crown,' v.20. Blessed be Jehovah, who gives this tribe a spacious territory, and lets him extend himself far and wide, (G.xlix.19, 'Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last'). Just in the same way 'Blessing' is ascribed to the God of Shem in G.ix.26, where Shem's prosperity is to be brought forward. Gad is like a lion, which has made a prey, and, couching in peaceful security, tears it asunder and devours it. 854. And he saw the firstfruits [e.g. of the Conquest] for himself, v.21. He saw for himself,' i.e. he chose, 'provided,' for himself, (as in G.xxii.8,) the firstfruits of the conquest as a possession. This was the kingdom of Sihon; Gad had the northern half of it, and in the southern also he had cities, N.xxxii.34. The Gadites seem, at the Conquest of the trans-Jordanic lands, to have been specially forward. For they appear, N.xxxii. 2,6,25,29,31, 33, at the head of the 2 tribes, who obtained that district, and they rebuilt cities not only in their own, but in the Reubenite territory, while the Reubenites confined themselves to their own land, N.xxxii.34-36. 855. For there was the portion of the leader And he came as head of the people: He did the righteousness of Jehovah, And His judgments with Israel.' Upon the above passage KNOBEL observes as follows: The firstfruits of the Hebrew Conquest be longed to the 'leader'; and, since Gad showed at the head of the tribes a special activity and bravery, he therefore laid claim to that land, which, however, was only as good as something 'laid up' for him, since the regular possession could only begin after the fulfilment of the condition laid down by Moses, N.xxxii.19. At the head of the people, as foreman, fighting in advance, Gad marched with them into Canaan, D. iii. 18, N. xxxii. 17, 20-22; Jo.i.14,iv.12, and fulfilled what Jehovah had commanded as becoming and right, as a duty towards Israel. The above explanation is not altogether satisfactory. But it is difficult, knowing so little as we do of the special history of the different tribes, to offer a better. This difficulty, however, is not at all removed by assigning the composition of the Song to Moses. 856. DAN is a young lion, to connect the oaks of Bashan,' xi.2, with the roaring of the young lions' on the banks of the Jordan, v.3. 857. NAPHTALI, be fat with favour, And full with the blessing of Jehovah! The sea (E.V. west) and the south do thou possess,' v.23. 'Blessed with children be ASHER! May he be a source of pleasure to his And dipping his foot in oil!' v.24. And as thy days thy rest (repose, secu rity)!' v.25. KNOBEL, instead of 'bars' in the above, reads 'castles, forts,' and writes:— "The Asherites lived as far as Lebanon, where mining was practised, and where they seem to have obtained metals, of which they may have made much use in strengthening their towns. And, in fact, they needed this in the midst of hostile people.' 858. In the concluding verses, v.2629, the greatness and glory of Jehovah are set forth, and the happy estate of Israel, under His protection and blessing, is described in glowing terms :— 'There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, &c.,' Ísrael then shall dwell securely, &c.,' 'Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee?' 'O people saved by Jehovah! &c.' The following passages may be compared from the Prophet Jeremiah: There is none like unto Thee, Jehovah: Thou art great, and Thy Name is great in might. Who would not fear Thee, O King of nations? For to Thee doth it appertain: Forasmuch as among all the wise of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, There is none like unto Thee.' x.6,7. In his days Judah shall be saved, And Israel shall dwell securely.' xxiii.6,xxxiii. 16. 859. KURTZ, iii.492, remarks D.xxxiii as follows: on We cannot fail to be struck with the fact, that the Blessing of Moses' does not con That springs forth from Bashan (KNOB. the plain), v.22. Dan seizes where one least expects him, falls upon the prey unawares, and tain the slightest trace of any special Messianie grasps it. There may be a reference to allusion, whereas they are so very prominent the capture of Laish, Jo.xix. 47,Ju.xviii. in that of Jacob, and, since his time, the 27; so G.xlix.17, 'Dan shall be a serpent enlarged by the prophecy of the Star out of Messianic expectations had been so greatly by the way, an adder in the path, that Jacob and the Prophet like unto Moses. biteth the horse-heels, so that his rider But this may, perhaps, account sufficiently shall fall backward.' Since the time of 'Shenir' and for the omission here. 'Hermon' were in the district of Ba-vanced so far, that it had assumed the form Jacob, the Messianic expectation had adshan. and we read, Sol.Song iv.8, 'From of a belief in one single personal Messiah. the top of Shenir and Hermon, from But from which of the families or tribes the the lions' dens, from the mountains of personal Messiah would spring was not yet known. The prophecy of Balaam, like that the leopards.' Zechariah also seems of Moses, had simply intimated that he would in G.xlix the tribe of Judah is distinguished above all the rest, as the one to which belonged the supremacy among the tribes. But there was something too indefinite in the de spring out of the midst of Israel, and from other side Jordan (near) Jericho,' or the posterity of Jacob. It is true that even by Jordan (near) Jericho,'-in each case, the word 'Jericho' being used without any governing words, N.xxi.l, xxvi. 3, 63, xxxi. 12, xxxiii. 48, 50, xxxiv. 15,xxxv.1,xxxvi.13. This suggests that the whole defining clause, 'the Pisgah that is over against Jericho,' is an insertion by the Deuteronomist. 862. D.xxxiv.4-7. scription for the belief to take root in Israel, that from this particular tribe a personal Messiah would spring. This did not take place until the time of David. It might even be said that the distinction, conferred by Jacob's Blessing upon the tribe of Judah, had fallen since then into the shade; for neither Moses, nor Aaron, nor Joshua, belonged to this tribe. CHAPTER XXIII. DEUT.XXXIV.1-12. *860. D.xxxiv. 1-3. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho; and Jehovah showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar.' Here we have signs of a later writer in the mention of Dan' (243), and 'all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah,'-where the different terms are used as well known, though the land was not yet divided. So we have unto this day,' v.6. SCOTT observes: The last chapter closed the words and writings of Moses, and this chapter must have been added by another hand; but it is uncertain whether by Joshua, or by Samuel, or by some other Prophet. Some, indeed, maintain that Moses himself wrote it by the spirit of prophecy; this, however, is not at all probable. But, by whomsoever it was written, the information must have been originally communicated by immediate revelation. Perhaps, the three last verses were added by Ezra; but all the subsequent books of Scripture assume as undoubted facts the things recorded in it. 861. These verses, v.1-3, are plainly part of the older document, in continuation of xxxii.52; and we have here the expression plains of Moab,' which is used exclusively by the older writer (523.xi), as also 'land of Gilead,' N.xxxii.1,29. In v.1, however, we have the phrase 'over against Jericho,' which occurs also in the Deuteronomistic interpolation in xxxii.49, whereas the older writer, whenever he in-. troduces a similar reference to Jericho, employs invariably the form, 'on the top of 'And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses, the servant of Jehovah, died there, in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old, when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.' This passage, again, belongs partly to the older document, though some part also is from the hand of the Deuteronomist, as is shown by the expres sion, v.5,6, land of Moab,' (525.i). Probably v.4 is his entirely, and the two insertions 'land of Moab' in v.5,6, and the rest belongs to the older document (783). 863. D.xxxiv.8,9. 'And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom: for Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as Jehovah commanded Moses.' We have here the older writer, as appears by the expression, v.8, 'plains of Moab,' (523.xi). Also the 'thirty days' of weeping correspond to those for Aaron, N.xx.29; and the phrase 'as Jehovah commanded Moses,' v.9, is constantly recurring in Exodus, Le viticus, and Numbers. 864. D.xxxiv. 10-12. Israel like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew And there arose not a Prophet since in face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.' and to all his land, and in all that mighty These words appear to belong to the Deuteronomist for these reasons:(i) v.11, signs and wonders,' D.iv.34,vi.22, vii. 19, xiii.1,2, xxvi.8, xxviii.46, xxix.3, xxxiv. | ing that the design of the burial of Moses 11, and also E.vii.3; (ii) v.12, mighty hand,' D.iii.24, iv.34, v.15, vi.21, vii.8,19, ix.26, xi.2, xxvi.8, xxxiv.12, and also E.iii.19, vi.1,1, xiii.9, xxxii.11, N.xx.20; (iii) terror,' iv.34,xi.25,xxvi.8, and also G.ix.2. 865. Upon the burial' of Moses xxxiv.6, KURTZ writes thus, iii.p.494: by the hand of Jehovah was to place him in the same category with Enoch and Elijah, to deliver him from going down into the grave like the rest of Adam's children, and to prepare for him a condition, both of body and soul, resembling that of those two men of God. It is true that Moses was not saved from death itself in the same manner as Enoch and Elijah; he really died, and his 'Moses died there,' says the scriptural ac- body was really buried; this is expressly stated count, according to the mouth-i.e. accord- in the Biblical history. But we may assume ing to the word-of God.' The Rabbins with the greatest probability, that, like them, render this at the mouth of God,' and call he was saved from corruption. Men bury the the death of Moses a death by a kiss.' Im-corpse that it may see corruption. If Jehovah, mediately afterwards it is stated that He therefore, would not suffer the body of Moses buried him in the valley in the land of Moab.' to be buried by men, it is but natural to seek Even if it were grammatically admissible to for the reason of this in the fact, that He did render the verb impersonally, (they buried not intend to leave him to corruption, but at him,' LXX,) or to take the subject from the the very time of his burial communicated verb itself, he [one] buried him,' viz. who- some virtue by His own hand, which saved ever did bury him,' the context would not the body from corruption, and prepared for allow it but would still force us to the con- the Patriarch a transition into the same state clusion that Jehovah is the subject. The of existence, into which Enoch and Elijah clause, and no man knoweth of his sepul- were admitted without either death or burial. chre unto this day,' unquestionably implies The state of existence in the ife beyond, into a peculiar mode of burial. The valley, in which Moses was introduced by the hand of which Moses was buried, must have been a Jehovah, was, probably, essentially the same depression at the top of the mountains of as that into which Enoch was taken, when he Pisgah. was translated, and Elijah, when he was carried up to heaven, though the way was not to be the same. What the way may have been we can neither describe nor imagine. We are altogether in ignorance as to what the state itself was. The most that we can do is to form some conjecture of what it was not. For example, it was not one of absolute glorification and perfection, of which Christ alone could be the firstfruits, 1Cor.xv.20,23; nor was it the dimsheol' life, into which all the other children of Adam passed. It was something between the two-a state as inconceivable as it had been hitherto unseen. From the time of the Fathers, the answer given to the question, Why should Jehovah Himself have buried Moses?' has almost invariably been this, to prevent a superstitious or idolatrous veneration of his sepulchre or his remains. But, notwithstanding all the pious feelings of the nation, and their veneration of the greatest of all the Prophets of the O.T., such a result as this was certainly not to be apprehended at the time in question. The notions which prevailed, with reference to the defiling influence of graves and of the bodies of the dead,-notions which the Law had certainly only adopted, sanctioned, and regulated, and had not been the first to introduce, were sufficiently powerful to guard against any such danger as this. Abraham's sepulchre was known to everybody. But it never entered the mind of any Israelite under the O.T. to pay idolatrous or even superstitious veneration to it, however nearly the reverence of later Jews for the person of Abraham might border upon superstition and idolatry. The remains of Jacob and Joseph were carried to Palestine, and buried there. But we cannot find the slightest ground for supposing that they were the objects of superstitious adoration. considers his view to be supported by 867. KURTZ goes on to say that he the mention in Jude, v.9, of a conflict and dispute between the Archangel Michael and the Devil respecting the body of Moses. CLEM. ALEX. ORIGEN, and DIDYMUS, he says, speak of an apocryphal book entitled the 'Ascension or Assumption of Moses,' from which Jude took this story. But this he cannot allow: the author of that from the same source-tradition,—and book and of Jude most probably drew independently of each other. In short, he considers the Epistle of Jude to be canonical and written under the guidas no one else could possibly have given. ance of the Holy Spirit,' and that the That there was something very peculiar in adoption and use of this tradition in a the burial of Moses, is sufficiently evident from the passage before us. And this is con- canonical epistle gives it all the sancfirmed in a very remarkable manner by the tion of apostolical authority,' which N.T. history of the Transfiguration, where means, in other words, that it is 'acMoses and Elias appeared with the Redeemer.credited by the Spirit of God.' When, We may see here very clearly that the O.T. account may justly be understood, as imply- therefore, it is said that He, Jehovah, 866. KURTZ then attempts to account for this strange burial. If Moses, therefore, was buried by Jehovah Himself, the reason must certainly have been, that such a burial was intended for him, 'buried him,' KURTZ understands it to mean that the Angel of Jehovah,' who was Jehovah's personal representative in all transactions with Israel in the wilderness, did so, and this 'Angel of Jehovah' he regards as identical with Michael the Archangel, and not with the Logos, as HENGSTENBERG does. In conclusion he adds The death of Moses was not like the death of the first Adam, which issued in corruption, nor was it like that of the second Adam, which was followed by a resurrection. It was rather something intermediate between the two forms of death, just as Moses himself occupied an intermediate position between the first and the second Adam,-between the head of sinful dying humanity, and the Head of humanity redeemed from sin. 868. We might embrace KURTZ's view in this quotation, if there was any ground for believing that this narrative contains an historically true account of the death and burial of Moses. But the above notes of KURTZ show to what extremities an honest mind must be driven in the attempt to recognise such a statement as infallibly true, and to realise it, as in that case we should be bound to do, in its details and conse quences. There is no greater intellectual cowardice than to shrink from contemplating the results to which any tenet fairly leads, and so to profess a loose general belief, which we shrink from analysing in particulars. CHAPTER XXIV. RESULTS OF THE EXAMINATION OF 869. WE have now completed the review of this Book, and, even if we had not previously proved the fact upon other grounds, the phenomena which we have here observed,—the contradictions, variations, and numerous indications of a more advanced state of civil and religious development,--would be sufficient to satisfy us that it must have been written in a different age from that in which the other four Books, generally, of the Pentateuch were written, and in a much later day. 870. If we now proceed to sum up the 'signs of time,' which we have observed in the course of our examina tion, we may state the conclusions to which they would lead us, as follows: (i) Deuteronomy was written after the Elohistic and Jehovistic portions of the other four Books, since reference is made throughout to matters of fact related in them, and expressly to the laws about leprosy in xxiv.8. (ii) Hence it was written after the times of Samuel and David; and this is further confirmed by the fact that the laws referring to the kingdom seem not to have been known to Samuel, 1S.viii. 6-18, nor to the later writer of Samuel's doings. xvii.14-20, with the distinct reference (iii) The mention of the kingdom in to the dangers likely to arise to the self wives,' and silver and gold,' and State from the king multiplying to himhorses,' implies that it was written after the age of Solomon; and this is confirmed by the very frequent references to the 'place which Jehovah would choose,' that is, Jerusalem and the Temple. dence of Edom carries down its com(iv) The recognition of the indepenposition to the time of their complete liberation from the control of the kings of Judah in the reign of Ahaz. Hezekiah's Reformation, when the high (v) It was written after the time of places were removed, which the former kings of Judah, even the best of them, had freely permitted. (vi) It was written after the Captivity of the Ten Tribes, in the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign; since the sorrows of that event are evidently referred to as matters which were well known, but which now were things of the past. (vii) It was written after the great spread in Judah, in Manasseh's time, of the worship of the 'Sun and Moon and the Host of Heaven.' (viii) It was written before the time of Josiah's Reformation, since the words ascribed to Huldah expressly refer to it; and, indeed, there can be little doubt that this Book, whether alone or with the other Books, was that found in the Temple by Hilkiah, and was the direct cause of that Reformation. (ix) Hence it can scarcely be doubted |