due reverence and obedience, for conscience sake; that God may give thee a long and happy life in this thy promised land upon earth, and an eternal life, figured by the other, in that true land of rest, which is above. 17. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," &c.]-Thou shalt not entertain so much as the very first motions of unlawful desires towards aught that is thy neighbour's, &c., but shalt rest well contented with thy own. 23. "Ye shall not make with me gods of silver."]—You shall not make, in competition with me, gods of silver, &c. 24. "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen."]-Until the time of your settling, and the set residence of God in his tabernacle and temple, you shall only make your altars of earth, that may not continue: and thereon, in an homely manner, shall you offer all your sacrifices; whether those which you offer up in acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God, or those which you offer in suit of further favour or thankfulness for a favour received. XXI. 1. "Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them."]-Now these are the civil or judicial laws which thou shalt appoint for the government of the Israelites. 2. "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve : and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing."]-Howsoever thou keep a servant of the Gentiles in a perpetual bondage, yet thou shalt not have that power over an Hebrew; but in the year of liberty and intermission, which is the seventh year, thou shalt release him without any composition. 4. “If his master have given him a wife."]-If his master, upon his own liking or desire, shall allow him to marry with a foreigner, which is his maidservant. 6. " And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl: and he shall serve him for ever."]-His master shall bore through his ear to the door; whether as a reproachful mark of his perpetual servitude, or as a signification of his fastening himself unto that house, so as he will not nor may not pass from it without the liking of his master. 7. “And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do."]-Likewise if a man sell his daughter as yet under age, with intention that she should marry him that buys her, if she be dismissed, it shall be upon better conditions than an ordinary servant. 8. "If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed," &c.]-If she please not her master, so far as that he betrothes her to himself, then shall he suffer another, one of her friends, to redeem her of him; but he shall have no power to sell her to a stranger, seeing he hath deceived her expectation of marrying him. 9. "He shall deal with her after the manner of daughters."]— He shall so deal with her, in giving her to marriage, as if she had been a free woman. II. "And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money."]-But if he do not allow unto her food, raiment, and houseroom convenient for her, then shall she go out free at the time of liberty, or of such his denial, upon judgment, without any repayment of the money for which she was sold. 13. "And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand.”]—If a man have not laid wait for another, but casually, without any purpose of his, shall by God's disposition do some act which might procure the death of another. 21. "He shall not be punished: for he is his money."]-For he bought him with his money; therefore, not purposely striking him to kill him, he shall not be punished; since he is already punished in his loss. XXII. 2. "If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die."]-If a thief be found breaking into thy house by night, and be smitten in the act by thee unto death, &c. 11. "Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both."] -They shall be put to swear by the name of God, &c. 25. "If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer."]-If thou lend money to an Israelite, those especially which are poor and borrow upon need, thou shalt not take any increase for the use of it. 26. "If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge," &c.]-If thou take of thy poor neighbour any of his necessary raiment, whether for the day or night, as a pledge for money borrowed of him. 29. "Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors.”]—Of all kind of thy fruits, whether dried in their kind or strained into liquor, thou shalt pay duly thy tithes and first fruits unto God. 31. "Neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field."]-Neither shall you eat any part of that beast which was torn in pieces by any other beast, whether clean or unclean. XXIII. 1. "Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness."]-Thou shalt not give thine assistance or countenance unto a wicked man in a false testimony. 3. "Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause."] -Thou shalt not suffer the regard of poverty itself to make thee partial in a case of judgment. 7. "The innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked."]—Thou shalt not pronounce a sentence of death upon an innocent man; for if thou do, and herein deal wickedly, howsoever thou mayest escape the censure of men, yet my judgment thou shalt not escape. 8. “And thou shalt take no gift."]-Thou shalt not take any bribe, to draw thee unto partiality in any cause. 13. "And make no mention of the names of other gods."]— Ye shall not, with any approbation, so much as mention the names of other gods. 17. "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD."]-Three times in the year shall all thy men children, of sufficient age, whether bond or free, present themselves in the place of God's public service, which is his tabernacle. 18. "Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread.”]—During these solemn times of sacrificing unto me, ye shall not eat any leavened bread. 19. "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."]—Thou shalt not be so cruel in thine oblations as to seethe a kid in that milk of the dam which was given it for nourishment. 21. "For my name is in him."]—Because my power and divinity is in him. 28. "And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee."]And, that I may herein approve myself the God of hosts, I will, by small means, confound thine adversaries; for, as I afflicted the Egyptians with frogs and lice, so will I vex the Canaanites with hornets, which shall sting them to death, &c. 31. "And from the desert unto the river."]-From the wilderness of Sur unto the great river Euphrates. XXIV. 4. "And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD."] And Moses wrote all these words of the Lord, which concern either the civil government of the Jews or the ceremonies of God's service. 5. "And he sent young men of the children of Israel.”]—And he sent some chosen young men, of the firstborn of the several tribes, which offered, &c. 7. "And he took the book of the covenant, &c."]-After Moses took the book, wherein he had written that covenant betwixt God and his people in the judicial and ceremonial laws, &c. 8. "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you."]-Behold that blood, whereby the covenant made betwixt God and you is signified to be confirmed. 10. "And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness."]-And they saw some visible signs of the presence of God; and at the lower part of that brightness, there was a clear shining blue pavement, as it were of sapphire, or like to a sky when it is clear. 11., "Also they saw God, and did eat and drink."]-They saw God, in these signs of his manifestation; and yet lived in health and soundness of body. XXV. 5. "And shittim wood."]-Of a precious and durable wood, which grows not far from Sinai. 16. "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee."]-So thou shalt put into the ark the two tables of the law, which I shall give thee, as a witness of my covenant with my people. 17. "And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold."]Thou shalt make a cover for the ark of pure gold; which shall serve also as an oracle, from which God shall give answers to thee, upon all occasions. 23. "Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood."]-Now in the outward sanctuary also thou shalt make a table of costly and sweet wood, &c. 30. "And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway." And thou shalt set upon the table twelve loaves of bread, which, because they shall be ever presented before my face, are termed justly, The bread of presence. XXVI. 2. "The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits."]-The length of each curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, that so ten may be for the breadth of the roof of the tent, and nine on each side may hang down, within one cubit of the ground, &c. 7. "And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle."]-Also thou shalt make another rank of curtains, of a meaner value, namely of goats' hair woven into cloth, &c. 14. "And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins.”]—Moreover, to defend the tabernacle from weather, thou shalt make a third covering for it, of rams' skins dyed red; and a fourth yet above that, next to the weather, of badgers' skins, which are yet stronger and coarser. 23. "And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides."]-And two shalt thou make in the corners of the tabernacle, lined with other boards for more strength of carriage, on each side of the tabernacle. 26. "And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle."]—And thou shalt make five rows of bars, to go through the boards on each side of the tabernacle. 31. "And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet."]-Moreover, thou shalt make a veil for the Holy of Holies, of blue silk, &c. XXVII. 1. "And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad."]-Thou shalt make the inner part of the altar of shittim wood; the outward part whereof shall be all covered on both sides with brass. Ibid. "The altar shall be four-square."]-The altar shall be, for length and breadth, four-square. 2. "And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof."]-The four corners shall have, as it were, four horns of the same matter whereof the altar is made, upon the tops thereof. 3. "And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels."]-Vessels to carry away the ashes, and shovels to take them up. 8. "Hollow with boards shalt thou make it."]-Thou shalt make the altar hollow with boards, like unto a boarded coffer, without either bottom or cover. 9. "And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle."]-And thou shalt make a court to compass in the tabernacle. 21. "Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morn BP. HALL, VOL. III. F |