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them, I will see what their end [shall be :] for they [are] a very froward generation, children in whom [is] no faith; this was a punishment answerable to their sin: I will show my displeasure; I will let them see what a friend they have lost, and what will become of them when I forsake them, because they are children of no faith, who have broken their covenant so often that 21 they are not to be trusted. They have moved me to jealousy with [that which is] not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities; and I will move them to jealousy with [those which are] not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation; they had provoked God with vain and despicable deities, and he would vex them with a despicable 22 people, that is, the Canaanites that were left among them, For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; vehement and dreadful judgments shall come upon them, which should ruin all their enjoyments, make utter desolation of their country, even the strongest places of the land; yea, Jerusalem itself, founded on the holy mountains, was destroyed by the fire of God's wrath. 23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them; one evil shall be heaped upon another, and all his dreadful arrows should come swiftly and suddenly, till the whole quiver was exhausted; these arrows are then particularly men24 tioned. [They shall be] burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction; I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents 25 of the dust. The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling [also] with the man of gray hairs; the famine, the pestilence, and the sword, should destroy all without distinction.

1.

REFLECTIONS.

WE learn hence, that we should endeavour to cultivate

a due sense of the divine attributes. Greatness is ascribed to God, v. 3. High and honourable thoughts of him may keep us from sin, and lead us to duty, It is a delightful view that is given of him, v. 4. He is the Rock, his work is per fect; for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. All his works are perfect, but men's works are imperfect. What are all men compared with this wise, just, and faithful God! May we trust in him, and devote ourselves to him.

2. To neglect this God is the highest degree of folly and ingratitude. He bought us; he purchased us with the blood of his son; he gives us every blessing. What then does he deserve at our hands! to sin against him, and to neglect lim, is the

basest ingratitude, the greatest folly; because there is none so good, or so great as he is; he is able both to save and to destroy, 3. The hand of God is to be owned in the divisions of nations, and in fixing the abodes of men. This is not the work of chance ; we see much wisdom at present displayed in it. How very extensive his views with respect to the Canaanites and Israelites! Known to God are all his works from the beginning. This thought should make us contented with our lot, and comfort our hearts amidst the confusions of the world. All things are ordered by Providence, and tend to the good of the church.

4. The sins of God's peculiar people are greatly aggravated : The Lord abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. The more favours we have received, the more solemn obligations we are under, the more will he be displeased if we sin against him, and the more remarkable will be our punishment. Therefore, serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him with trembling.

CHAP. XXXII. 26, to the end.

The song proceeds with threatenings of punishment for their impiety, but with intimations of mercy; Moses advises the people to set their hearts to all the words of this law, and he is sent up to mount Nebo to see the promised land, and die.

26

I SAID, I would scatter them into corners, I would make

the remembrance of them to cease from among men : 27 God could easily, and might justly have done this: Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, [and] lest they should say, Our hand [is] high, and the LORD hath not done all this; lest their enemies should ascribe all the praise to their idols, and 28 attribute nothing to the Most High: For they [are] a nation void of counsel, neither [is there any] understanding in them; they are a foolish nation, who go on in a course that will end in 29 their ruin. O that they were wise, [that] they understood this, [that] they would consider their latter end! Moses feared the worst, yet earnestly wishes their reformation; that they would seriously consider where their iniquities would lead them. 30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up? He declares they might easily have escaped those calamities, if God had not been provoked to forsake them formerly, with a few they destroyed vast armies; but now, a few enemies should conquer them; for the Lord hath shut them 31 up so that they could not escape. For their rock [is] not as our

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Rock, even our enemies themselves [being] judges; they should often be brought to confess that their gods were not like 32 Jehovah. For their vine [is] of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes [are] grapes of gall, 33 their clusters [are] bitter: Their wine [is] the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Israel had been planted and cultivated like a vine, and good fruit was expected; but instead of this, their fruits and actions, like Sodom of old, were hateful to God and deadly to themselves. Some understand this of the enemies of Israel, and then the next verse fortells their 34 destruction. [Is] not this laid up in store with me, [and] sealed up among my treasures? though I seem to forget it, 35 yet I have a fixed time to execute my purpose. To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in [due] time for the day of their calamity [is] at hand; and the things that shall come upon them make haste; though they may think themselves secure, yet at an hour when 36 they think not, I will bring sudden destruction upon them. For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants; here mercy begins to dawn, and the day of deliverance shall arise; when he seeth that [their] power is gone, and [there is] none shut up, or left; when they have no hope of deliverance, but begin to despair that no garrisons or fenced cities are left them, when all seem to be quite destroyed, and 37 none able to do any thing toward their help. And he shall say, that is, he will teach his people to say to the heathen, Where [are] 38 their gods, [their] rock in whom they trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, [and] drank the wine of their drink offerings? that is, to whom ye offered the fat of your sacrifices, and on the fumes of which you suppose your deities feast. Let them rise up and help you, [and] be your protection; they should cry to those gods, but in vain. From hence they 39 were to learn, that God only could help and deliver them. See now that I, [even] I, [am] he, and [there is] no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither [is 40 there any] that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever; as sure as I live for ever, I will deliver my people, and fully avenge myself on all 41 my enemies. If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. Whetting his glittering or flaming sword imports deliberation, and a steady' 42 purpose to make terrible destruction. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh : [and that] with the blood of the slain and of the captives, of those slain in the field, and of those, who being wounded only, are taken captives; from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy, from the time that I begin to take vengeance; or rather,

as some better render it, from the head to the slave of the 43 enemy, from the king to the meanest of the people. Rejoice, O ye nations, [with] his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, [and] to his people.* The former part of the song expresses great enmity between the Jews and the Gentiles; but here Moses exults in the prospect of their becoming one people.

44

And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea, or Joshua, the son of 45 Nun. And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to 46 all Israel: And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all

the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of 47 this law. For it [is] not a vain thing for you; because it [is] your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong [your] days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it. Here Moses gives them a solemn charge to regard what he had been saying, and to teach them to their children, as the way to obtain long life here, and eternal life hereafter. Luke x. 28,

48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, he 49 renewed the order given him in chap. xxvii. 12, saying, Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, [unto] mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, that [is] over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children 50 of Israel for a possession: And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his 51 people; Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribahkadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of 52 the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before [thee;] but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel, God reminds Moses of his sin, that he might submit to the appointment more cheerfully; he tells him of Aaron who was gone before, and was a pattern of patient re signation; and promises him a sight of the good land; this was designed as a favour, and a token that he was reconciled.

Before this verse the LXX insert these words; Rejoice, ye heavens, together with him, and let all the angels of God worship him. The latter clause is exactly the words which the apostle quotes in Heb. i. 6. and, if they are in the original, they are a prediction of the exaltation of Christ, as what comes after is a plain prophecy of the calling of the gentiles, and is so applied by St. Paul. This yet remains to be fulfilled, with many other Parallel passages in the Revelations.

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REFLECTIONS.

T is much to be wished, that all men would consider their latter end, and reflect upon the consequences of their actions. It is a sign of wisdom, and the way to increase it. Especially let us look forward to the end of life, and what will await us then. While men banish the thoughts of futurity, and live like the beasts that perish, without understanding and reflection, it is no wonder there is so much wickedness in the world. The miseries of mankind are owing to want of consideration. Lam. i. 9. Jerusalem remembered not her last end, therefore she came down wonderfully: she had no comforter. Let us look forward, and consider what lies before us; that, like prudent men, foreseeing the evil we may hide ourselves.

2. Though wicked men may at present prosper, and flourish like the green bay tree, yet judgments are kept in store for them. Their wickedness is laid up for them, and it will not be lost or forgotten. Though punishment may be delayed, and the sentence may not be speedily executed, a day of reckoning will come, when the treasure will be unsealed, and God will execute vengeance on his enemies. This is true of christians who apostatize from the gospel, or who abuse it. For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. The Lord shall judge his people, Heb. x. 30. Let us, therefore, be afraid of God's judgments; for, as the apostle infers from this very consideration, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

3. The great importance of religion, should recommend it to the serious regards of all mankind; it is not a vain thing, or a light matter, or a thing of indifference, that may be either attended to or neglected; but our life is at stake. It is the only way to secure peace and happiness in the present life, and to obtain eternal felicity. This is not one of those trifles, which if a man pursue he is not the better, or if he neglect he is not the worse; it is a matter of infinite moment. Oh that men were sensible of this; that they would set their hearts to keep God's commandments; that they would make religion their chief business, and set about it with seriousness, affection, and resolution! May we then fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

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