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§ 38. The contexture of the words in our translation seems to have some difficulty: Whosoever toucheth the Mount, ver. 12, 13. There shall not an hand touch it. 7 yan x, it should seem that by it 12, the Mount itself is intended, and that the law is reinforced in a particular caution, that so much as a hand should not touch the Mount. But it is far more probable that by it, touch it, the person, man or beast that touched the mountain, is intended. And the words declare the manner in which the offender should be destroyed. Being made anathema, devoted, accursed by his presumptuous sin, no man was to touch him, or to lay hand on him to deliver him, lest he also should partake of his guilt. And this sense the ensuing words, with the

סקול יסקל או ירה יירה אם בהמה .series of them, evinceth

om xb ww ́o, that is, no hand shall touch it, either to save it, or to punish it, but stoning it shall be stoned, or thrusting through it shall be thrust through, whether man or beast it shall not live. Let none think by laying hand on it, to deliver it. Whence Aquila renders by jinou, he shall be slain or destroyed cum impetu et horrore, with force and terror, all being to cast stones at him, or to shoot him through with arrows, or thrust

הטעם לא יכנס אדם,him through with darts. So Aben Ezra לתפשו רק יסקלוהו הרואי ממקום מעמרם ואם רחיק יורוהו

n. The meaning is, Men shall not gather about him to take him, but those that see him, shall stone him from the place of their station. And if he be afar off, they shall shoot him through with

arrows.

§ 39. Touching the mountain, or the border, limit, or bound set unto it by God's appointment, was the sin forbidden. And the end of it, as was said, was, that they should not break through, n, to see, to gaze say we properly, to look with curiosity on the appearances of God's glory; for which cause he smote the men of Bethshemesh upon their looking into the ark, 1 Sam. vi. God intended by this prohibition to beget in the people an awe and reverence of his holy majesty as the great Law-giver; and by the terror thereof, to bring them and their posterity into that bondage in the frame of their spirit, that servile awe that was to abide upon them, until such time as he should come, who was to give liberty and boldness to his church, by dispensing to believers the spirit of adoption, and so enabling them to cry Abba, Father, and to enter with boldness into the holy place, even to the throne of grace.

$40. In case the punishment appointed were neglected by the people, God threatens to see to the execution of it himself, ver. 21. Lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish," ver. 24. "And let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them." For to make them watchful in their

duty, he lets them know that their miscarriage in this matter, by their neglect leaving to him the punishment of the transgressor, should be imputed by him to the whole people, so that he would in such a cause break forth upon them with his judgments, and many of them should be consumed to the terror and warning of the remnant.

The continuance of this prescription was from the day before the appearance of the glory of God on the Mount, until by the long sounding of the trumpet, they perceived the presence of God had left the place, ver. 13. "When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the Mount," that is, they had liberty so to do.

$ 41. Things being thus prepared, the people were brought forth to their station to attend to the law, ver. 17. "And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp for to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the Mount." This station of the people in Mount Sinai, is amongst the Jews the most illustrious thing that ever befel them. And many disputes they have about their order therein; some few things we may observe from it.

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Moses brought forth the people ban na¬ph, in occursum ipsius Dei, to meet with God himself.mpph, to meet with, or before the Word of God, saith Onkelos. “7 xw, saith Ben Uzziel, the glorious presence of God, xoyos të ☺ss, and απαύγασμα της δόξης αυτ8, the essential Word of God, the brightness of his glory, the Son of God, the Head and Law-giver of the church in all ages.

§ 42. And they stood at the nether part of the Mount. Ver. 2. it is said, 72 boj, And Israel encamped there before the Mount, in the singular number, that is in such order, saith Jarchi, that they were all as one man. And, saith . he, they were on the east side of the mountain, where also they kept their station at the giving of the law; for so he would have the word 72 to denote, though he gives no instance to confirm his opinion. But Aben Ezra expressly rejects this fancy, and that by a notable instance, where it is said, the people pitched their tents before (72) the tabernacle of the congregation round about. So that although they were round about the tabernacle, they are said to be before it, because of the special regard which they had unto it. And at this station in the wilderness, command was given to set bounds to the Mount 220, round about, ver. 12. which there had been no need of, had not the people been gathered round about the mountain.

$43. Now they generally agree, that this was the order wherein they stood: First stood the priests, mentioned expressly, ver. 22. and said there to draw near unto the Lord; that is, nearer than the rest of the people, though they also are ex

pressly forbidden to come so nigh as to touch the Mount, ver. 24. These priests were as yet the first born of all the families, before a commutation was made, and the tribe of Levi accepted in their room. Next to the priests, stood the princes or heads of the tribes, attended with the elders and officers of the people. The body of the people, or the men of Israel, as they speak, stood next to them; and behind them, the women and children. The remotest of all in this order being, as they suppose, the proselytes that adhered unto them. Thus Aben Ezra

First were the כי בתחלה היו בכורי הנגשים אל י,expressly ואחריהם ראשי שבטים הם : first-born who drew nigh to God

On, and after them were the heads of the tribes, that is the princes. pin, after them the elders.

יאחריהם

afe,,ואחריהם כל איש ישראל ; after them the officers השוטרים

ter them all the men of Israel; bon n'in, after them the children, that is, males; in Donx), after them the women; O`n O, after them the proselytes or strangers.

§ 44. All things being thus disposed, in the morning of the third day, the appearances of God's glorious presence began to be manifested, ver. 16. "And it came to pass, on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled." Ver. 18. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly." That all these things were the effects of the ministry of angels preparing the place of God's glorious presence, and attending upon him in their work, the Scripture elsewhere testifies, and we have before manifested, so that there is no need here farther to insist upon it.

§ 45. Upon this preparation for the descent of the glory of God, upon the sight of his harbingers and evidence of his coming, Moses brought forth the people on nap, to meet with God. He brought them out of the camp, which was at some farther distance, unto the bounds that by God's prescription he had set unto Mount Sinai. And Rashi on the place observes, not unfitly, that this going of the people to meet with God, argues that the glory of God came also to meet with them, as the bridegroom goeth out to meet the bride; for it was a marriage covenant into which God then took the people, whence it is said that God came from Sinai, namely to meet the people.

§ 46. The utmost of the approach of the people was to the nether part of the Mount. From this expression, the Targum of Jerusalem hath a foolish imagination, which they have also in the Talmud; namely, that Mount Sinai was plucked up by

the roots, and lifted up into the air, that the people stood under it, which Jarchi calls a Midrash, that is, though not in the signification of the word, yet in the usual application of it, an allegorical fable.

In this posture, the people trembled and were not able to keep their station, but removed from their place, ch. xx. 28. And the whole Mount quaked greatly, ver. 18. so terrible was the appearance of the majesty of God in giving out his fiery law.

In this general consternation of all, it is added, that Moses himself spake, ver. 19. and God answered him by a voice. What he spake is not declared, nor was there any occasion for his speaking, nor can any account be given why he should speak to God, when God was solemnly preparing to speak to him and the people; nor is it said, that he spake to God, but only that he spake. And it is signally added, that God answered him, bp, in, or by a voice. For my part, I doubt not but that in this general consternation that befel all the people, Moses himself being surprised with fear, spake the words recorded by our apostle, ch. xii. 21. I exceedingly fear and quake, which condition he was relieved from by the comforting voice of God, and so confirmed for the remainder of his ministry. These brief remarks being given upon the preparation for, and the manner of the giving of the law, we shall summarily consider the general nature of the law, and its sanction, in our next Exercitation.

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§ 1. What meant by the law among the Jews. § 2. The common distribution of it into moral, ceremonial and judicial, by them rejected. The ground of that distribution. § 3. 613 Precepts collected by the Jews. 4. Reasons of that number. Of these, 248 affirmative; 365 negative. 5. Twelve houses of each sort. § 6. First house of affirmatives, concerning God, and his worship, in twenty precepts. § 7. The second, concerning the temple and priesthood, in number 19. § 8. The third, concerning sacrifices, in 57 precepts. § 9. The fourth of cleanness and uncleanness, 18. § 10. The fifth of alms and tithes, in 32 precepts. § 11. § 12. The The sixth about things to be eaten, in seven commands. seventh, concerning the passover and festivals, 20. § 13. The eighth, of rule and judgment, in 13 precepts. §14. The ninth, of doctrine and truth, whose commands are 25. § 15. The tenth, concerning women and matrimony, in 12 precepts. § 16. The eleventh of criminal judgments and punishments, in eight precepts. § 17. The twelfth, of civil judg. ments, in 17 precepts. § 18. Censure of this collection. § 19. Negative precepts, in 12 families. § 20. The first family. Of false worship, in 47 prohibitions. § 21. Remarks. § 22. The second family. Of separation from the heathen. § 23. The third family. Of things sacred. § 24. The fourth family. Of sacrifices and priests. § 25. The fifth family. Of meats. § 26. The sixth family. Of fields and harvest. § 27. The seventh family. The house of doctrines. § 28. The eighth family. Of feasts. § 30. Of justice and judgment. § 29. The ninth family. The tenth family. Of chastity. § 31. The eleventh family. Of marriages. § 32. The twelfth family. Of the manner of the kingdom. 33-35. Concluding remarks.

§ 1. THE law itself, and its sanctions, are the next thing of

which our apostle makes mention in the economy of the Judaical church. By this law he especially understands the law given on mount Sinai, or partly there, and partly from the tabernacle, the type of Christ, after it was erected. The Jews by the in or law, generally understand the whole five books of Moses, as they are also called in the New Testament, and all precepts that they can gather out of any of them, they refer to the law, for which they are not to be contended with. § 2. This whole law is generally distributed into three parts. First, the moral; secondly, the ceremonial; thirdly, the judicial And indeed there is no precept part of it. no precept but may conveniently be referred to one or other of these heads, as they are usually explained. That which is commonly called the moral law, the

.28 .Exod. xxxiv דברי הברית עשרת הדברים Scripture terms

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