among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall

speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

Verse 3. "The shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.”—In Lev. vii. 34, the breast and shoulder only are mentioned as the priest's portion of the peace offerings; and it is disputed whether the present is a repetition of the same precept, supplying what is there omitted (the cheeks and the maw), or a new injunction, referring not to sacrifices, but animals killed for private use. If the latter, the text should be rendered not "from those who offer a sacrifice," but "from those who slaughter animals "-a reading which the original will well bear. By "the two cheeks" we are to understand the whole head. As to the "maw," the mention of it as one of the prime parts-which it doubtless was, from being one of the priestly portions-may occasion surprise, until we recollect that this part was considered a great delicacy by the ancients. Several instances of estimation in which it was held occur in Homer. Thus, in the "Iliad," when the hecatomb was offered to pacify Apollo, after the thighs had been consumed on the altar, a feast was prepared with the remainder :

"They gave to each his portion of the maw,

Then slash'd the remnant, pierced it with the spits,
And managing with culinary skill

The roast, withdrew it with the spits again."

Here, of all the parts, the maw alone is particularly mentioned, and was distributed first of all.

8. "Patrimony.”—This probably refers to the private or personal estate of a Levite, as distinguished from his official property and dues. The Levites had no general landed inheritance, like the other tribes; but there was nothing to prevent them from purchasing houses and fields, and leaving them to their children. Thus we read that Abiathar the priest had fields of his own at Anathoth (1 Kings ii. 26); and the prophet Jeremiah, who was also a priest, purchased a field of his uncle's son (Jer. xxxii. 7, 8).

10. "That useth divination."-The arts, or pretended arts, mentioned in this and the following verse, were common among the idolatrous nations of antiquity, and were, indeed, intimately connected with idolatrous systems and rites. Hence, however futile in themselves, they necessarily involved deep offence against the very first principles of the Mosaical dispensation, which accounts for the severity with which they were treated by its laws. If the professors of these arts had been regarded merely as knaves or fools, they would doubtless still have been punished, but probably not with the same degree of severity. Such arts, at least in Europe, are now merely impositions on the credulous, and do not proceed on the same principles as when the world was full of idolatry; and they are therefore differently regarded in the present laws of Europe. Some of the Rabbins think that the word DDP (kesamim), rendered "divinations," is a general term, comprehending all the particulars subsequently specified. Thus understood, divination generally had for its object the discovery of future events, and the determination of the proceeding to be adopted on particular and important occasions. All the arts which had these objects were not only intimately connected with, but founded on, the systems of theology which were then prevalent, in which all the parts and powers of nature, and particularly the heavenly bodies, were deified-as we have shown in the notes to ch. iv. Most of the various arts of divination therefore consisted in discovering a supposed occult meaning in the various phenomena and aspects which deified Nature, in its several parts, exhibited; or in various signs and circumstances, which the deities were supposed to send or influence. There was one kind of divination which did not, like the others, pretend to any skill in the interpretation of signs and omens, but professed to presage future events from a mere internal sense or persuasion of the mind, under a particular emotion or agitation. To this class appear to belong "the consulters of Ob," mentioned in one of the following notes. But the most common derived its indications of futurity from external signs, including under this denomination the results of certain experiments and observations, arbitrarily instituted and attended with superstitious rites. It is remarkable that, between knavery on the one hand, and ignorance on the other, most of these mischievous and wicked arts have continued to survive, separately from the principles on which they were founded.

"An observer of times."-The word rendered "times" is 1 (onain), and has been variously understood, it being doubtful from what simple word it is derived. Understood as our translators have, on very good authority, rendered it, it may refer to the superstition concerning lucky and unlucky days, including also perhaps astrology, as the root of that superstition. That vain and foolish science of divination by the stars is, however, denounced more explicitly in other places. The Jews generally think that something of this nature is here forbidden. Another class of interpreters understood the word to come from (anan), a cloud; and that it refers to a well known sort of augury from the appearances assumed by the clouds in a particular part of the heavens. The analogy of the language renders this the most probable meaning, and it is adopted by Boothroyd in his new version. If we were so to understand it, we should certainly not restrict it to the appearances assumed by the clouds, but extend it to all divination from aerial appearances, which formed a prominent part in the ancient systems of divination. There is another interpretation which derives the word from (ain), an eye; and supposes that it refers to the pretended power of fascinating or bewitching by the eye. Gesenius prefers this rendering; and it is certain that this superstition is now very strong in the East, particularly in Arabia, where it is an object of prime importance with every one to guard himself and his children from the evil eye.

"An enchanter."-The word is np (menachesh), which, deprived of the prefixed, is the word for a serpent, and is therefore thought, by Bochart and others, to mean a sort of divination by serpents (poμavesía), which was very common among the ancients. This art probably arose in Egypt, where the serpent was a sacred animal. The Jews gene

rally understand it to refer to omens of good or evil, derived from the appearances and movements of animals, and from the little accidents which occur in common life. A large sense may be assigned to the word, which, as a verb, means not only to augur or divine, but, in the general sense, to perceive, discover, find out. Thus it perhaps may refer, as the Rabbins understand, to most of the non-aerial auguries they mention, and also to omens derived from the inspection of the entrails of victims offered in sacrifice, or even of human beings, as well as those from various sorts of lots. This and the last word together, we should therefore take as rather more than equivalent to what the Romans understood by "augury." Among them, it was one of the laws of the twelve tables that nothing should be undertaken without consulting the augurs, and that their advice should be exactly followed.

"A witch." (mekasshef), feminine in Exod. xxii. 18, but not so here. "Magician" would be a better rendering, and it is so given in Dan. ii. 2; or "sorcerer," as in Mal. iii. 4. It unquestionably means one who resorts to magic, sorcery, or enchantments, for a particular purpose, generally to the prejudice of some person. The Septuagint renders it by "poisoner;" probably because these sorcerers dealt much in potions, to which mighty effects were ascribed, and which were often deleterious. The Rabbins think that the punishment of death is not awarded to those who simply employed fascinations, and drew presages and omens from natural things, but only to those who did so to the prejudice of others. But they are often about the worst judges of the spirit of their own law. But Maimonides perceives that the greater evil of these arts was in their connection with idolatry-not less so the arts of sorcery than those of prognostication, as no magical work or witchcraft was performed without reference to the stars, and ultimately to the worship of stars. Every plant, animal, and metal had its ruling star; and it was with regard to such stars that various ingredients were collected and employed in magical rites. Much as the Romans were addicted to divination, they forbade the arts of sorcery, as did also various states of Greece. Plato judged that the professors of such arts ought to be punished with death, if they really possessed the powers to which they pretended. This is unquestionable, if it were proved that they had used such power to destroy the life and happiness of man. But it is another question whether they ought to be punished when they merely deceive themselves and others into the belief that they have powers which they do not possess, and when the arts, true or false, ceased to have that connection with idolatry which made them dangerous, on other grounds, in a state constituted like that of the Hebrews. Selden, in whose time the capital penalty was in this country strongly enforced against witches, thus determines the point:-"The law against witches does not prove there be any; but it punishes the malice of those people that use such means to take away men's lives-if one should profess that, by turning his hat thrice, and crying Buz, he could take away a man's life (though in truth he could do no such thing). Yet this were a just law made by the state, that whosoever should turn his hat thrice, and cry Buz, with an intention to take away a man's life, shall be put to death." This is doubtful; but we know that in many cases the pretension to the power is as dangerous as its actual possession. If a man believes that another can take away his life by spells and magic arts, and that such arts are actually employed against him, it is a known fact that the terror of his imagination will often be sufficient to destroy him. We have the rather dwelt on this point here because, while the present chapter merely directs that none of these various arts should be tolerated, the v, mekasshef (in Ex. xxii. 18), and the, ob, and T, yidoni (Lev. xx. 27), are alone condemned to death, in express terms. That the others are so, we only suppose by implication-as from the text before us, where they are mixed up in the same list with those elsewhere declared liable to capital punishment, without any marks to distinguish them as not involved in the same condemnation.

11. “A charmer.”—The phrase is the same an, chober chaber) that occurs in Psl. lviii. 5 (see the note there), "The deaf adder....which will not hearken to the voice of the charmers;" and it is therefore thought that it here also applies to those who, by means of certain words and songs of incantation, had power over serpents, scorpions, and other venemous creatures. We only know this as a species of juggling, common in the East; but it was probably, as mentioned here, a branch of magic art. Though but one kind of charming is mentioned, the sense is probably generally directed against all those charms for procuring good or averting evil, to which the Orientals are inordinately addicted, and which have a palpable and intimate connection with idolatry and superstition.

"A consulter with familiar spirits" (N NU, shoel ob), a consulter of Ob ;--one of those expressly condemned to death. The word Ob signifies a bottle or hollow vessel, as in Job xxxii. 19; and the Jewish writers usually understand it to denote a person who was master (Baal-Ob) or mistress (Baalath-Ob, as the "witch of Endor" is called) of a spirit or dæmon, which entered them and spoke in a deep hollow voice from their belly or chest, as from a bottle: that is to say, they resembled the pythonesses, or priestesses through whom Apollo was, at Delphos, thought to deliver his oracles. The priestess there received the inspiring vapour from a hole in the ground, and when sufficiently inflated poured forth her responses. Something of this kind is very probably intended. Hence most of the versions render the words by "a Pythonist," or "a consulter of Python." The damsel who had "a spirit of divination” (Acts xvi. 16) seems to have been of this class. "A wizard."--This is the (yidoni), sentenced to capital punishment in Lev. xx. 27. The word literally means wise or knowing men; and, in plainer English, seems nearly equivalent to our "cunning men." It is agreed that the word denotes generally those who, by means of magical and cabalistic arts, professed to become acquainted with future events,--to know the good or evil that awaited human life.

"Necromancer."-Literally, one that seeks to, or inquires of, the dead. The definition itself is sufficiently explanatory. Such persons, presuming that the dead had the power of revealing secrets and of foretelling the future, sought such information from them. This they did in various methods-as calling up the dead by diabolical arts-resorting to places which the shades of the departed were supposed to frequent-or sleeping in cemeteries, after certain ceremonies, to obtain the response through such dreams as might then occur. An instance of consulting the dead has been mentioned in the note to ch. xii. 23. The ancient heathen were very much addicted to this kind of superstition. In concluding these explanations on this very unpleasant subject, it may be asked whether these wicked and foolish arts were real or pretended. We can only say that they were probably in most instances pretended; but the pretension itself being calculated to work nearly as much mischief as the reality, particularly in a society so singularly constituted as that of the Hebrews, it was necessary to treat them, at least, as real evils. Further than this, it has been held, that when the systems of ancient idolatry offered to the Evil One convenient and prepared agencies through which he might operate, he did sometimes so operate, using the deluded wretches, who sought for powers beyond nature, as his tools for riveting the chains which, during many long ages, held the human mind bound in darkness and degradation. There is much in Scripture to sanction this conclusion.

In the preceding notes we have confined ourselves to an explanation of the terms which occurred. Some of the more remarkable practices connected with these abominations will be noticed hereafter, under the various passages of Scripture which refer to them.

20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

21 And thine eye shall not pity; but "life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

1 Chap. 12. 29. 2 Heb. inheritest, or possessest. 3 Exod. 21. 13. Num. 35. 10. Josh. 20. 2. 4 Heb. from yesterday the third day. 5 Heb. iron. 6 Heb. wood. 7 Heb. findeth. 8 Heb. smite him in life. 9 Heb. from yesterday the third day. 10 Chap. 12. 20. 11 Josh. 20.7. 12 Heb. in life. 13 Num. 35. 30. Chap. 17. 6. Matth. 18. 16. Johu 8. 17. 2 Cor. 13. 1. Heb. 10, 23. 14 Or, falling away. 15 Prov. 19. 5, 9. Dan. 13. 62. 10 Exod. 21. 23. Levit. 24. 20. Matth. 5. 38.

Verse 3. "Thou shalt prepare thee a way."-The Jews understand this to refer to the keeping the roads to the cities of refuge in good order, that there might be nothing to impede the flight of the manslayer; and they inform us of the manner in which this injunction was complied with. The roads, they say, were broad and level, thirty-two cubits wide at the least, and without hillocks or hollows; the surface was kept smooth and hard, and all watery places drained; and every brook and river was furnished with a good bridge. To prevent the refugee from mistaking his way, a post or stone was set up at every turning, with the word p," REFUGE," engraven upon it in large letters. Once every year, in February, the magistrates of every city were obliged to inspect the roads, to see that they were in good condition, and order such repairs as might be required. If they neglected this, and the avenger overtook the refugee in consequence, the "innocent blood" (as that of a person slain by the avenger is called in verse 10) was adjudged to lie at their door. If this statement be correct, the ancient Hebrews must have made very considerable advances in one of

the most important arts of civil life-the making of roads. The resort of the male population three times a year to Jerusalem, which would cause the expediency of good roads to be generally felt, may have contributed to the same result.

14. "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark."-Even at the present day, the limits between the lands of different persons are in general so faintly marked that they might be altered without much difficulty. Hedges, walls, and other such enclosures are not known in the East, unless as to gardens and orchards. Arable ground is always uninclosed, and the marks which distinguish one man's property from another can only be known as landmarks by a practised eye. A line of single stones at wide intervals, a small ridge of earth, or an equally small trench or gutter, form the principal classes of landmarks, so that a large cultivated plain will appear one unbroken field. Boundaries of some kind or other must have been very anciently established to prevent disputes. Moses speaks of landmarks as already in use, not directing them to be set up, but forbidding their removal. Perhaps they originated in Egypt. The annual inundation of the Nile, softening the ground and obliterating minute marks by its slimy deposit, must soon have made the cultivators feel the necessity for some means of demarcation. It is said that the science of geometry originated in the processes and calculations to which they resorted for the discovery of their property. As, however, an annual survey of this sort must have been rather tedious, they were probably not long in thinking of some standing marks which would not be affected by the inundation. These were probably stones. Homer mentions stone landmarks as ancient at the time of the Trojan war. Pallas, in her conflict with Mars, thus returned his heavy stroke upon her shield:

"She, retiring, with strong grasp upheaved

A rugged stone, black, ponderous, from the plain,
A land-mark fixed by men of ancient times,
Which hurling at the neck of stormy Mars,
She smote him. Down he fell."-COWPER.

In after times, the Greeks and Romans, to render the landmarks the more sacred, committed them to the custody of a god, Jupiter Terminalis, who was considered to be represented by the rude landmark stones, which in time came to be sometimes improved into a shapely landmark stone, terminating in a human bust and head. This sort of God was set up at Rome by Numa Pompilius, who devoted to destruction the persons and oxen of those who should disturb these consecrated landmarks. Before his time, according to Plutarch, the lands of the Romans had their extent marked by no determined limit. But landmarks had existed long before in Greece and other countries, and every where it was highly penal to remove them. We consider the following passages, from Halhed's translation of the Gentoo laws, as furnishing striking illustrations of the text: "If any person should dig up the roots of a tree planted for a landmark, it is a crime, and the magistrate shall fine him 200 puns of cowries.-If a person, by removing a landmark, fraudu lently appropriates to himself an additional piece of land, the magistrate shall take from him a fine of 540 puns of cowries, and shall give back the land to the owner.-If a person entirely breaks the dividing ridge between the tillage of any two persons, the magistrate shall fine him 108 puns of cowries.""

CHAPTER XX.

1 The priest's exhortation to encourage the people to battle. 5 The officers' proclamation who are to be dismissed from the war. 10 How to use the cities that accept or refuse the proclamation of peace. 16 What cities must be devoted. 19 Trees of man's meat must not be destroyed in the siege. WHEN thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach apd speak unto the people,

3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not 'tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;

4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

5

And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath

7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.

9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies "to lead the people.

10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

1 Heb. be tender. Heb. make haste. 8 Heb. made it common. See Levit. 19. 23. 4 Chap. 24, 5. * Judg. 7. 8. 7 Heb, to be in the head of the people.

484

• Heb. melt.

11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou 'take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

heritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) "to employ them in the siege :

20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. 10 Or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be employed in the siege. 12 Heb. it come down.

16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an in8 Josh. 8. 2. 9 Heb. spoil.

Verse 1. "Horses."-See notes on Exod. xiv. 9, and Deut. xvii. 16. "Chariots,"-See notes on Exod. xiv. 7, and Judges iv. 3.

11 Heb, to go from before thee.

2. "The priest shall approach and speak unto the people."-It was customary among most ancient nations for a priest to be present on such occasions to encourage the soldiers. It is believed by the Jews that the priest here mentioned was one set apart and anointed for the especial purpose of attending the army, to speak to the soldiers, and blow the silver trumpets (Num. x. 9); and they call him "the anointed for war." His speech, as given in verses 3 and 4, is a short and expressive harangue, admirably adapted to the occasion and the time, which, we are told, was when the men were drawn up ready for action.

5. "The officers shall speak unto the people."-This speech, like the former, was, as the Rabbins say, spoken by the priest, and merely repeated by the officers, so that it might be heard by the whole army. It is probable that, as they add, the present speech preceded the former in point of time, as the retirement of a considerable number of men, which must often have happened when this proclamation was made, would have occasioned sad confusion when the men were drawn up in battle array. It is not very clear who the officers mentioned here were, as they are distinguished in verse 9 from the military leaders, and the functions assigned them in different passages of Scripture are very multifarious. Their name is, shoterim, and seems, in a general sense, to mean overseers or superintendents. In Exod. v. 6-14, they are the "overseers" over the people at work. In Num. xi. 16, they are the persons from whom the council of seventy was taken. In Deut. i. 15, they are among the persons appointed as rulers or judges; but they were different from the judges afterwards appointed for cities, as Moses directs the Hebrews to have judges and shoterim in all their gates. (Deut. xvi. 18.) In other places we find them representing the people in the great assemblies, or when they entered into covenant with God. (Deut. xxix. 10, and xxxi. 28, Josh. viii. 33, and xxiii. 2.) In the instance before us they seem to have acted in some sort as heralds; and in 2 Chron. xxvi. 11, we meet with a shoter who seems to have occupied a post somewhat analogous to that of muster-master-general. Under the kings, the shoterim seem to have been usually taken from the tribe of Levi. Michaelis, followed by others, thinks that these functionaris kept the genealogical tables of the Hebrews, with a faithful record of births marriages, and deaths; and, as they kept the rolls of families, had, moreover, the duty of apportioning the public burdens and services on the people individually. He adds: "Among a people whose notions were completely clannish, and among whom all hereditary succession, and even all posthumous fame, depended on genealogical registers, this office must have been fully as important as that of a judge." Our version usually renders shoterim by "officers" and "scribes."

"built a new house, and hath not dedicated it."-That is, has not begun to occupy or enjoy it. On their first occupation of a new house, the Jews made a feast, which, being the first eaten there, was called the chanach, or "dedication." (See Patrick, in locum.) The word is the same as that which expresses the "dedication" of the Temple ; and although it does not here imply any consecration to holy uses, it may possibly refer to some religious solemnity of prayer and thanksgiving with which pious men were accustomed to enter on the occupation of new houses. In Nehem. xii. 27, et seq. there is an account of the ceremonies at "the dedication" of the walls of Jerusalem, which may assist our ideas on the subject. The Jews think that the exemption extended to a year from the commencement of occupaIn the East, where, generally every man is ambitious to build himself a new house according to his own fancy, and rather dislikes to repair and occupy an old one, this event is a sort of era in a man's life, which accounts for the importance here attached to it. The feeling on this subject was not peculiar to the Jews. Homer (Iliad, ii.) mentions it as a personal misfortune in the fate of Protesilaus, the first Greek killed in the Trojan war, that

tion.