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a Kenite in Judg. i. 16; and as he is also called a Midianite, it would seem that the Kenites were a branch of the Cushite Midianites, who, in the time of Abraham, were in Canaan, but afterwards migrated southward from thence. This is sufficient to account for their not being mentioned. Jethro's clan seems to have returned to Canaan in the train of the Israelites, and to have settled in the lot of Judah (see the above-cited text, also the note on Numb. xxiv. 21). In time, however, we find them living among the Amalekites, from whom Saul, out of remembrance of the ancient connection, warned them to depart when he contemplated the destruction of their then protectors (1 Sam. xvi. 6). They had probably left the Israelites on account of their being involved in the oppressions with which the Hebrews were, in the time of the Judges, punished for their frequent idolatries. It would seem, from 1 Sam. xxvii. 10, that the Kenites after this re-attached themselves to Judah, for we see that David, when with Achish the Philistine king, an enemy of Israel, thought to recommend himself by pretending that he had made an assault against the south of Judah...and against the south of the Kenites;" when he had really attacked the Amalekites, the enemies of Judah, with whom the Kenites had lately been connected. Had the Kenites not rejoined the Israelites, it could have been no satisfaction to Achish to learn that they had been molested. This is the last we know of them. They were most probably carried into captivity by the Assyrians, as Balaam foretold (Numb. xxiv: 22).

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— " Hittites," &c.—All these small nations are called generally “Canaanites,” as being descended from Canaan, the son of Ham: while, at the same time, one branch of the family retained the same denomination as a patronymic, as in the present list. Thus all the seven were" Canaanites," in a general sense, and one of them in a particular sense. With reference to the restricted sense, as the Canaanites are mentioned as being settled on the sea-coast (Numb. xiii. 29). and as the name is in Scripture used to denote merchants generally, and is particularly applied to the merchants of Tyre (compare Isa. xxiii. 8, and Ezek. xvii. 4), it is possible that the distinction was assumed by the branch of Canaan's family descended from his eldest son, Sidon, the father of the enterprising commercial people called Phoenicians in profane history. This is confirmed by the fact that Canaan was the domestic name of this people, as appears by Phoenician medals, on which the word “Canaan” (yɔɔ) is found. Nothing can be more natural than that the eldest branch of Canaan's family should have assumed the prerogative of being called by his name. It will really obviate many difficulties to suppose that the name "Canaanite," in the restricted sense, means the descendants of Sidon in general, and to understand that the term Sidonians does not in Scripture denote all Sidon's descendants, but only those occupying the city and district of Sidon. So far as distinct from the Sidonians, we may understand them as occupying the coast between theirs and that of the Philistines. They had also some inland territory, reaching, it would seem, from the coast in question nearly to the Jordan (Deut. xi. 30). As to the Hittites, they were descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan, and seem to have resided in the southern part of the Promised Land, about Hebron, and were "the people of the land, even the children of Heth," with whom Abraham treated about a sepulchre for Sarah. (Gen. xxiii.) Esau married two wives of this nation; and from their situation they seem in general to have been well known to the patriarchs.

"Girgashites.”—The whole of the seven nations are mentioned only in three lists; in ten others, only six are mentioned; and in nine of the ten cases, the omitted name is that of the Girgashites; in the remaining case, where these are mentioned, the Hivites are omitted: from which facts, taken together, Dr. Wells infers that the Girgashites were probably a very small nation, and as such are most frequently either wholly omitted or comprehended under some other name, probably either that of the Hivites or Perizzites. As to the Girgashites themselves, their name is thought to be found in that of the Gergesenes, mentioned in Matt. viii. 28, as being on the eastern side of the sea of Tiberias; and it has therefore been assumed that the Girgashites resided in that part of the country. To this there are only two objections: one is, that the word read "Gergesenes" in Matt. is "Gadarenes" in Mark and Luke, and in many copies of Matthew, and, in modern versions, is admitted as the true reading; and the other is, that Joshua expressly places the Girgashites with the other nations on the west of Jordan (Josh. xxiv. 11); but what part of the country they there occupied, we have no materials which enable us to determine with any precision.

The "Amorites 29 were descended from the fourth son of Canaan. Their territory beyond Jordan had already been conquered, but their original settlements in Canaan remained to be acquired; as they afterwards were, and given to Judah. They seem to have been the most considerable of the Canaanitish nations, and are sometimes put for the whole. The cis-Jordanic Amorites are described in Numb. xiii. 29, and Josh. xi. 3, as occupying the mountainous parts of Canaan, but which parts of all the mountainous country they respectively occupied is not there intimated; but, from other passages, it would seem that they occupied the hill country to the west of the Dead Sea and part of the Jordana position which facilitated their encroachment upon the territories of the Moabites and Ammonites, from which they were only separated by the Jordan,

"Canaanites" are noticed above.

“Perizzites.”—Canaan had no son from whom this name could be derived, and it is not easy to determine to which of the families of Canaan this people belonged. The word probably is not a patronymic, but a name expressing situation or manner of life. The word (perazoth) means villages or unwalled places, as distinguished from walled towns (as in Est. ix. 19, Ezek. xxxviii. 11), and hence, the inhabitants of such towns: it includes also the idea of dispersion, instead of compact residence, as in cities; whence-as we learn from Josh. xi. 3, xvii. 15, 16, that the Perizzites dwelt in the hilly country-we may infer that such persons who lived not in cities and towns, but dispersed in the woods and mountains, and other comparatively unfrequented parts, were mentioned generally under this name to whatever tribe they belonged. A people thus circumstanced must at all times be difficult to subdue, whence perhaps it was that they seem to have maintained their independence till the time of Solomon, when they were rendered tributary. "Hivites."-This is the tribe not mentioned in the grant to Abraham. The people are thought to be the same as the Avims, described in ch. ii. 23, and formerly occupying the south-west of Canaan, and who were driven out by the Caphtorim, or Philistines. This supposition seems well enough to account for the dispersed manner in which they appear to have lived in the land in the time of Joshua. We see some in the centre of Canaan, for the Gibeonites are repeatedly called Hivites (Josh. ix. 7; xi. 19). We also learn from Judges iii. 3, that "the Hivites dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath," from which, as compared with Josh. xi. 3, where mention is made of "the Hivite under Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpeh," we may infer that their principal settlement was in the north-eastern part of the country, in and near that part of Lebanon which was called Mount Hermon, in the most extensive of the senses which we have explained in a previous note.

“Jebusites.”—This people, descended from the third son of Canaan, occupied Jerusalem and the surrounding district. They seem to have been a warlike people, from the length of time they were able to maintain their post, although their city was in the lot of the brave tribe of Benjamin, and bordered on the very powerful one of Judah. It seems from Judges i. 8, that Jerusalem was taken by Judah and burnt with fire; but it must have been afterwards rebuilt, as in verse 21, it is said, "the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the

Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day." But in ch. xix. 11, 12, Jerusalem seems to be spoken of as principally, if not wholly, occupied by the Jebusites, "the city of a stranger," where the Levite for that reason did not like to take up his night's lodging. From all this we may infer that "the stronghold of Zion," as distinguished from the city, was never taken by the Israelites, and that the possession of it gave the Jebusites the command of the city till the time of David, when they were expelled from the stronghold, and that monarch made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom.

2. "Utterly destroy them.”—For some remarks on this war of extermination, see the notes on ch. xx.

3. Neither...make marriages with them."-Lest the wife or husband of a strange nation should seduce the husband or wife to the worship of idols, and bring up the children in idolatry. The Scripture itself does in the sequel afford forcible examples of the importance and necessity of this injunction. Solomon is one of these unhappy instances: "Fair idolatresses

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The Rabbins extend this and many other of these rules to all other heathen nations, besides the seven particularly specified. They differ on the point whether marriage with proselytes was permitted; but those who deny that it was lawful, permit marriages with the children of proselytes. We should think the law did not intend to interdict such marriages. A man might marry his proselyte captive taken in war, and we have instances of other marriages_with proselytes, as that of Salmon with Rahab the woman of Jericho; and that of the son of Naomi, and afterwards Boaz, with Ruth, the Moabitish damsel-both of which marriages are the more remarkable as the sons they produced were among the progenitors of David, and ultimately of our Lord.

15. "The evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest."-Probably the plague and leprosy are particularly meant. These are to this day pre-eminently Egyptian diseases. As the priests of Isis in Egypt were wont to threaten the people who neglected her worship with the grievous diseases which are common in that country, the learned Spencer conjectures that, by opposition, exemption from such diseases is here promised to those who kept themselves pure from the idolatries of Egypt. The passage is, however, obviously intended to apply to all idolatry, whether Egyptian or not.

22. "Lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.”—The Targum of Jonathan explains this by saying that if the Canaanites were at once destroyed, great numbers of them would be left unburied which would invite the beasts of prey into the country to feed on their carcases. It is however quite sufficient to know that if the country were too suddenly thinned of its inhabitants, much of the land must be left desolate, and would naturally soon be overrun with wild beasts. This is actually the case in the present thinly peopled condition of Palestine, and of other countries of Western Asia, which once teemed with inhabitants, towns, and cultivation, but through which wild animals, injurious to man or to vegetation, now roam almost unmolested.

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25. "Thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them."-This probably refers not only to the ornaments of precious metal, as chains and bracelets, which might be upon idolatrous statues, but also to the gold and silver with which such statues were sometimes overlaid. Some of the Jews interpreted this not to mean that statues of massive metal might not be melted down for use, since the phrase on them" is used. But the literal bearing of other precepts, and the proceeding of Moses with the golden calf, give no sanction to this interpretation. Since the captivity, however, it has not been the disposition of the Jews to interpret this or any other statute with too great latitude, but rather the contrary. They understood this and the following verse in the strictest sense as forbidding them to apply to any use whatever any thing which had, however remotely, belonged to an idol or to idolatrous service.

CHAPTER VIII.

An exhortation to obedience in regard of God's dealing with them.

ALL the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD Sware unto your fathers.

2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth 'not live by bread only,

Matth. 4. 4. Luke 4. 4.

but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

6 Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

7 For the LORD thy God bringeth thee. into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;

8 A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

9 A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron,

2 Neh. 9. 21. 3 Heb. of olive-tree of oil.

and out of whose hills thou mayest dig | there was no water; who brought thee forth brass.

10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

11 Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:

12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;

13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;

14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where

water out of the rock of flint ;

16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

18 But thou shalt remember the LORD

thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.

20 As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

4 Chap. 6. 11, 12. 5 Num. 20. 11. 6 Exod. 16. 15.

Verse 4." Thy raiment waxed not old."-See the note on ch. xxix. 5.

7. "A good land."-This it certainly was. The description here given would be considered even by an European as evidence of its claims to that distinction; while the circumstances enumerated are of such infinite importance in the East, that they would give to an Oriental the most vivid impression of fertility and excellence. We must consider how long the Israelites had wandered in the hot sandy wilderness, before we can enter into the feelings with which they must have heard this description of the land they were destined to inherit. Travellers are sometimes disposed to regard as somewhat overcharged the accounts which the sacred writers give of this country; but they do not sufficiently consider for how many ages this land has remained comparatively desolate and forsaken, or make allowance for the change which must thus have been produced in its appearance. In a country condemned to desolation we cannot fairly look for the characteristics of its prosperous state: yet even now enough remains to enable us to discover without difficulty that this fine country was not surpassed in beauty and exuberant production by any country of Western Asia, nor perhaps any where equalled, unless in some parts of Syria and Asia Minor.

"A land of brooks of water, &c."-This is placed first, as the most important circumstance in an Oriental country, in which the value of water is incalculable. This is a fact of which the Israelites in their desert wanderings must have been rendered deeply sensible: and only one who has travelled in the East, and knows practically the astonishing difference between a watered and unwatered country, can enter into the full force of this foremost characteristic of the Promised Land. The reader who looks at a general map will see at one glance that there is no country in Western Asia more liberally intersected with streams of water. The benefit of these streams is incalculable, although, as is the case in those regions with all streams of no considerable magnitude, they are rather winter torrents than rivers. Most of them are completely dried up in the summer, and the very few which then retain a thread of water present an appearance remarkably contrasted with that which their rapid and full stream bears when swollen by rains and melted snows. The principal streams and lakes of the country have been or will be separately noticed.

8. "A land of wheat, and barley."-That this was the case there is ample evidence in Scripture. Densely populated as the country ultimately became, and various as were its productions, it not only furnished corn enough for its own inhabitants, but had a surplus which they disposed of to the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon, who themselves paid too much attention to commerce and the arts to take much interest in agriculture. It is to be regretted that we do not know whether the corn was supplied to them merely for their own use or for exportation also. The latter, which is very probable, would still more show the great productiveness of the country in grain (see Ezek. xxvii. 7; and Acts xii. 20). Even at present much corn is annually exported from Jaffa to Constantinople. The large surplus produce is indicated by many other circumstances, among which we may mention Solomon's contract with the king of Tyre for the building of the Temple, by which the Hebrew king was to pay the Phoenician annually 20,000 measures of wheat for food to his household (1 Kings v. 11), with the like quantity, besides an equal number of measures of barley, to the Tyrian hewers that cut wood in Lebanon. Returns of sixty and a hundred fold to the cultivator seem in the Scriptures to be mentioned as not unusual (see Gen, xxvi. 12; and Matt. xiii. 8); and even now wherever wheat is sown, if rain does not fail, it richly repays the cultivator, growing to the height of a man. But the thinness of the population, the disturbed state of the country, and the oppression to which the cultivator is exposed from the Turk on the one hand, and the Arab on the other, concur to prevent the remaining capabilities of this naturally rich soil from being fairly tested in this or any other branch of agriculture.

Vines.”—Probably the vines of Palestine are so frequently mentioned to point out a favourable point of difference between that country and Egypt, where vines were few and confined to a limited district. This is probably true in other instances, in which the products in which Egypt was deficient are particularly dwelt upon. The intention to institute a comparison between the two countries is expressly avowed in ch. xi. We have already mentioned the vines

both of Egypt and Canaan, and particulars concerning the vineyards and wines of the latter country will hereafter come under our notice. It only now requires to be remarked, that at present vine-growing is even more neglected than the other branches of culture for which the country was anciently celebrated. The Mohammedans, from religious motives, do not encourage vineyards for any other purpose than supplying grapes for eating. These are peculiarly excellent; but the wines, as might be expected, do not now support their ancient fame. Those made in the southern parts of the country are particularly indifferent; but the wines of the north, and especially of Lebanon, where the manufacture is less discouraged, we should judge equal to almost any wine of the Levant which we ever tasted.

"Fig trees."-These are still very common in Palestine and often grow to a very large size. Their fruit is of a very superior description. It is well known that the best figs consumed in this country come from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean; and those of Palestine are certainly not inferior to any produced on that line of coast. "The figs," says Joliffe, "are larger, and less insipid, than those of Europe:" and the same traveller confirms the testimony of others, in saying, "All the fruits are excellent in their kind; there is not, indeed, any great variety, but such as there are surpass in richness any that I have elsewhere met with." (Letters from Palestine,' vol. i. p. 181.)

"Pomegranates."-The pomegranate also remains very common in Palestine and Syria, and is now not less esteemed than it evidently was in these very early times. It formed one of the only three fruits which the spies brought as favourable specimens of the produce of the country. The abundant and agreeably acid juice which the fruit affords gives it every where a very high place in the estimation of the orientals. It is not only eaten with great zest in its natural state, but its inspissated juice forms a most agreeable and refreshing beverage in those countries where sherbets prepared with the juice of fruits form the most delicious of the drinks in which the people are allowed to indulge. "Oil olive."-The Turks being fortunately quite sensible of the worth of olives and olive oil, the tree continues to be extensively cultivated, and Palestine may still be called a land of olives. The hardiness and longevity of the tree may also have contributed to its preservation. Besides the regularly cultivated olive grounds in Judæa and Galilee, clumps of several thousand trees occur frequently and are doubtless the remains of ancient plantations. The olives and olive oil of Palestine remain to this day equal to any in the Levant. We shall see in the sequel that there was an enormous consumption of olive oil in Palestine; but great as it was, the produce was so abundant as to leave a considerable surplus for exportation. Solomon gave 20,000 baths of oil yearly to the Tyrian hewers of timber in Lebanon (1 Chron. ii. 10), and, as it would appear, an equal quantity to the king of Tyre himself (1 Kings v. 11). It appears too that the Jews traded with their oil in the great mart of Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 17), and even sent it to Egypt (Hos. xii. 1). From this as well as from the actual condition of the two countries, we should infer that olive oil is here and elsewhere mentioned, partly with the view of contrasting the products of Canaan with the deficiencies of Egypt, of which this was, to a considerable extent, one.

9. "A land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass."-For "brass," read "copper," there being no such thing in nature as a brass mine. The statement undoubtedly refers to mines. There is no conclusive evidence in Scripture that the Hebrews ever worked mines of either iron or copper; but the existence of iron in the mountains of Lebanon has been satisfactorily ascertained, particularly in the part occupied by the Druses. Report says that there was anciently a copper mine near Aleppo (which is however not exactly in Palestine), which Volney thinks must long since have been abandoned. The same traveller was informed by the Druses that they had found a mine affording lead and silver; but that as such a discovery would have proved the ruin of the district, by attracting the attention of the Turks, they speedily obliterated every trace of its appearance.

CHAPTER IX.

Moses dissuadeth them from the opinion of their own righteousness, by rehearsing their several rebellions.

HEAR, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,

2 A people great and tall, 'the children of the Ánakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!

3 Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess

1 Num. 13. 28.

this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.

7 Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.

2 Chap. 4. 24. Heb. 12. 29.

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9 When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:

10 And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

12 And the LORD said unto me, 'Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

8 Exod. 24. 18, and 34. 28.

14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: : ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.

17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.

4 Exod. 31. 18. 5 Exod. 32. 7.

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