ten of the twelve spies had made an ill report of the land of Canaan, (xiii. 26-33,) it is thus written: Numb. xiv. 1. "And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept that night. "2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! "3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? "4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. "5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. "6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: "7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. "8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. "9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us fear them not. "10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation, before all the children of Israel. "11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? "12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them; and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they. "13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people, in thy might, from among them;) "14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou, LORD, art among this people; that thou, LORD, art seen face to face; and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. "15 Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations, which have heard the fame of thee, will speak, saying, "16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land, which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness." Behold the situation of Israel! The whole congregation, after crying aloud and weeping all night, were murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and against God himself; and rebelliously proposing to set a captain over them, and to return to Egypt. Moses and Aaron had fallen on their faces; no doubt, weeping and praying; and Joshua and Caleb were rending their garments, running in among the people, assuring them of the exceeding goodness of the land, exhorting them to fear not, but to depend on God's favour towards them, with other comforting assurances; and imploring them not to rebel against Him: for all which kindness, the people were about to stone them; when, lo! God made bare his arm in their defence. (vv. 11, 12.) Then Moses betook himself to prayer; and the arguments, which he first advances, i. e. the exultation and triumph of the Egyptians and Canaanites, over the destruction of the Israelites; and their blasphemous imputation of God's abandonment of them to his inability and impotency; may be seen in verses 13 to 16. Like Joshua, on another occasion, (ch.vii. 9,) he was anxious, and even jealous, for the honour of God's Name. But the great, and the crowning, argument which he uses, as a ground, and even a claim, for the exercise of God's mercy towards them, and for his pardon of their many and mighty sins, is thus enforced: Omitting those two words, "the guilty," (for which there are no correspondent words in the Hebrew, and they are, therefore, put in italics;*) he pleads thus strenuously: "And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my LORD be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and" who," IN CLEARING, WILL NOT CLEAR AWAY," (i. e. not make a full end • In almost all dead languages there are ellipses: these, in our English Bible, are supplied by words, which, being not in the original, are printed in Italic, or sloping, characters: these interpolations, often necessary to the sense, are, sometimes, no improvement; and, as here, a sad perversion. of,") his people; (or, "not extirpate them root and branch:" "in punishing, will not destroy, or annihilate:" "will correct them in measure, and not leave them unpunished:") "visiting" (not in wrath but in love; or, if "in wrath, remembering mercy;" not vindictively but correctively; not hereafter but here;" not eternally but temporarily ;) "the iniquity of the fathers (in its natural effects, and not in its penal guilt,) 66 upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation," only; and that, for their profit; to deter the sons from following their fathers' wickedness, (Ezek. xviii. 14-17,) that they might "hear and fear, and do no more any such wickedness.” Deut. xiii. 11. Had Moses really said, what, in our English Bible, he is made to say, the language of his lips would have contradicted the language of his heart. He is made to ask God to pardon his people, on the ground of His having said that He would "by no means" pardon them! and to plead that, in mitigation, which would aggravate their doom! Whereas, if rendered as is done above; and understood to mean, that God will not leave his offending people altogether unpunished; but, "in love to their souls,” (Heb. xii. 6,)“ will visit their offences with the rod, and their sins with scourges; and yet not utterly take away his loving-kindness from Him," Ps. lxxxix. 33.—(i.e. from Christ, the covenanthead of his people,)—all is plain: the language of the petition agrees with the heart of the petitioner; and "the answer of God," to "the prayer of faith," is what might have been expected from such holy importunity, such "effectual fervent prayer:" (James, v. 16.) “And the LORD said, I have pardoned, according to thy word." This criticism will commend itself to scholars,* on an inspection of the original Hebrew, (together with the Latin translations, by Arias Montanus, and Pagninus, and also the English Version,) of the above texts, and of a few of the passages, quoted above in confirmation of it. The English reader will not fail to notice the marginal reading of Jer. xlvi. 28, "not utterly cut off." .7 .Exodus, xxxiv ונקה לא ינקה : Arias Mont. Et, purificando, non purificabit. Et, mundando, non mundabit. Et, mundando, non mundabo te. Engl. Vers. A.-M. & P. A.-M. .18 .Numb. xiv ונקה לא ינקה : .11 .Jer. xxx ונקה לא אנקך .28 .Jer. xlvi ונקה לא אנקך .29 .Jer. xxv ואתם הנקה תנקו לא תנקו Et, liberando, non liberabo te. Or, not utterly cut thee off. A.-M. E. Margin. P. Et vos, mundi essendo, innoxii eritis? non eritis innoxii. A. M. Et vos penitùs innoxii, &c. "And should ye be utterly unpunished? ye shall not be unpunished." E. V. .12 .Jer. xlix ואתה הוא נקה תנקה לא תנקה P. Et tu ipse, liberando, liberaberis? non liberaberis. A.-M. Et tu, immunis existendo, immunis eris? non eris immunis. "And art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? Thou shalt not go unpunished." E. V. The same verb, is rendered "unpunished," Prov. xi. 21 ; xvi. 5 xvii. 5; and xix. 5; Jer. xxv. 29. * The unlearned Reader need not be deterred, by the appearance of Hebrew and Greek, from perusing any criticism in this periodical; for, without adverting to the original, sufficient proof will be given, to enable all to see the correctness of the reasons, on which each criticism is founded. NO. II. VOL. I. E |