during the time we are not informed. He was now probably waiting for Moses at some distance from the top of the mountain, and upon his reappearance addressed him as follows. As they shouted;' Targ. Jon. when they shouted with the joy of jubilee before the calf.'--' Noise of war;' the same phrase in the original is rendered, Jer. 50. 22. sound of battle.' It is not the voice, &c.' Heb. 'it is no voice of the crying of strength (or prowess), and it is no voice of the crying of weakness.'--' That sing;' i. e. that sing in alternate or responsive strains, one choir answering another, as the original properly implies.

What is Moses said to have done as he drew near the camp? v. 19.

Was this merely from the prompting of personal indignation, or the result of a divine impulse upon his mind?

Probably the latter; intimating that the covenant was now broken, all its blessings forfeited, and its penalties incurred.

What is Moses elsewhere said to have done in connection with this transaction? Deut. 9. 18.

What did he do after entering the camp, and with what design? v. 20.

'Ground it to power.' The original denotes any mode of comminuting or reducing to small particles a hard substance, whether by filing, grating, or grinding. As it was previously melted and run perhaps into thin plates, it could be pulverized without much difficulty. As to the design of Moses in compelling the people to drink of the gold strewed upon the waters round about the camp, it is not certain that any thing more was intended by it than to express in this manner his contempt of the idol, together with his abhorrence of the crime, and to remind them that 'the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways;' or in other words, that they had rendered themselves liable to feel in their own persons the bitter consequences of their rebellion. It was, however, the opinion of some of the

Jewish commentators, adopted by Lightfoot, that this drink had an effect similar to that of the waters of jealousy, Num. 5. 27. causing such a swelling of the bodies of those who drank as betrayed their guilt, and marked them out as victims to the avenging sword of the Levites, v. 27.

How did Moses remonstrate with Aaron on his conduct, and what did the latter say in his own defence? v. 21-24.

'Brought upon them;' Heb. brought upon him,' col. sing. That they are set on mischief; Heb. that he is in evil;' i. e. that he lieth in evil or in sin. In like manner the apostle says, 1 John, 5. 19. The whole world lieth in wickedness (in evil;)' a phrase equivalent to being very evil, as when it is said, Ps. 33. 4. (Heb.) his words are in truth,' the meaning is, that his words are pre-eminently true and faithful. Gr. Thou knowest the violent force of this people.'

What is elsewhere said of the light in which God viewed the conduct of Aaron on this occasion? Deut. 9. 20.

Into what condition is Aaron said to have brought the people, and how is the language to be understood? v. 25.

"Were naked;' i. e. not so much denuded of their garments or ornaments as deprived by their impious act of the favorable presence and protection of Heaven, which was their glory and their strength, so that they now stood as naked unarmed men liable to be surprised and put to flight by the weakest enemy. As the import, however, of the original word is not settled with absolute precision, it may be that it more properly denotes a dissipated, dissolute, disorderly state, in which the people had thrown off discipline and restraint, and given themselves up to every excess of revelling and riot. Thus the Gr. ' were dissipated, for Aaron had dissipated them.' Parkhurst renders it to break loose, or start aside, as from the true religion and worship; parallel to which he says is the usage of the term, Prov. 29. 18. Where there is no vision the people perish ;'

rather, 'the people break away or apostatize,' or as the Vulg. renders, will be dissipated. So, 2 Chron. 27. 19. For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel; for he made Judah naked;' Gr. ' because he utterly apostatized from the Lord. Amongst their enemies;' Heb. ' amongst their risers-up.'-- Unto their shame ;' or,' unto their infamy;' i. e. when the report of their foul revolt should spread abroad.

What proclamation did Moses issue while standing in the gate of the camp, what was its effect, and what charge did he give to those assembled? v. 26, 27.

'Stood in the gate;' i. e. the place of public judgment.'Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me.' Heb. 'Whosoever is for the Lord-to me!'-the verb 'come being omitted through the impassioned earnestness of the speaker. All the sons of Levi.' This can hardly be understood literally, as it is clearly implied, Deut. 33. 9. that some of the Levites were slain, and consequently that some of them were involved in the guilt of this transaction. By'all' therefore we are to understand, perhaps, that all who did assemble were sons of Levi, and that of them there was a very large number. From gate to gate, &c.' This is probably to be understood as a commission to slay every one whom they should meet in the open places of the camp, let him be relation, friend, or neighbor, while they were not required to enter into any of the tents, inasmuch as those who were sensible of the divine displeasure might be presumed to be there employed in secret in bemoaning the iniquity of their brethren.

What is said of the obedience of the children of Levi, and what was Moses' subsequent address to them? v. 28, 29.

'For Moses had said,' &c. This discloses the reason of the zeal and alacrity of the Levites in this trying service. They had been informed by Moses that the inflicting of vengeance on their guilty brethren would be a service so acceptable to God that they would by performing it secure his blessing' by becoming confirmed in the sacerdotal

office, and should bythis act, as it were, consecrate' and initiate themselves unto God as by an offering of sacrifice. Accordingly it is said to the same purpose, Deut. 33. 8-10. And of Levi he said, Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be with thy holy one, &c. who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor know his own children; for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altars.' This act of obedience was a kind of inauguration of the tribe into their holy office. They thus wiped away as it were the stain which adhered to the escutcheon of their tribe from the conduct of their father Levi, who had wielded his sword unto sin in the affair of the Shechemites, Gen. 34. 25. in consequence of which he lost the blessing which would otherwise have been conferred upon him, and which the faithful and devoted conduct of his sons on this occasion may be said to have regained.

What did Moses say, and what purpose did he announce on the morrow? v. 30.

What was his prayer to the Most High, and what answer did he obtain? v. 31-34.

'Returned ;' i. e. to some part of the mount, where he tells us, Deut. 9. 18, 19, he fell down before the Lord as at the first forty days and forty nights; neither did he eat bread or drink water, because of their sins, for he was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure of the Lord against them.-'If thou wilt forgive;' an imperfect sentence, such as frequently occurs in the Heb. idiom in prayers and petitions, whether addressed to God or men, and properly supplied in the Gr. 'if thou wilt forgive them the sin, forgive them.'' Blot me out of thy book;' called Ps. 69. 29. book of the living;' Phil. 4. 3. The 'book of life;' Ezek. 13. 9. the writing of the house of Israel.' The meaning is, let my name be no more in the number of those whom thou hast destined to live; let me die with my people. For as the phrase, Is. 4. 3. 'to be written with the living,' signifies to be preserved alive while others die, so to be

blotted out of the book of the living is tantamount to being taken out of life while others survive. There is no intimation in these words of any secret book of the divine decrees, or of any thing involving the question of Moses' final salvation or perdition. He simply expressed the wish rather to die than to witness the destruction of his people. The phraselogy is in allusion, perhaps, to the custom of having the names of a community enrolled in a register, and whenever one died, of erasing his name from the number. But this is not absolutely certain. Whosoever hath sinned against me,' &c. This seems intended to declare a general rule of proceeding in the divine government, in which an assurance is given that the innocent shall not be confounded with the guilty, but that punishment should fall where it was justly due, and nowhere else.-'Nevertheless I will visit ;' i. e. when I have occasion to visit them in judgment for other offences, I will remember their sin on this occasion, and increase their punishment on ac count of it.

What intimation have we that this threatening was made good? v. 35.

And the Lord plagued ;' i. e. in the subsequent scourges and calamities which they suffered, the Lord had an eye to their aggravated wickedness on this occasion.-' Because they made,' &c. i. e. they caused or procured to be made; a phraseology of very frequent occurrence. Thus, Acts, 1. 18. Judas is said to have purchased a field, which in fact, was purchased by the priests, but it is attributed to Judas because his receiving and then returning the inoney, was the occasion of its being bought.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

What command is the Lord said, in the commencement of this chapter, to have given to Moses, and what does he add respecting their guidance thither? v. 1-3.

'Depart and go up hence.' As the ensuing history makes it