making bitter lamentation for the sins of the people
and their own.
Vet. 5. Then the Levites, Jeshua, &c.] Or, then
the Levites, even Jeshua: and Kadmiel, Bani, Ha-
shabnzah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, arid Petha-
hiah; the same as before, with a little variation of their
names, and perhaps some of them might have two
names: and said; to the men that stood and confessed
their sins, ver. c2.. stand up; for though they arc before
said to stand, yet, through shame and confusion of
face, and awe of the Divine Majesty, might be fallen
on their faces to the ground: and bless the Lord your
God for ever and ever; for all the great and good things
he had done for them, notwithstanding their sins;
and particularly for liis pardoning grace and mercy
they had teasoil to hope for: and blessed be thy glorious
name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise: the
glory of which name, nature, and perfections of his,
cannot be set forth by the highest praises of men, and
the largest ascriptions of blessing and honour to
him.
Ver. 6. Thou, even thou art Lord alane, &c.] Whose
name alone is Jehovah, tlie one only true and living
God: thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with
all their host; the airy and starry heavens, and the sun,
moon, and stars in them, and the third heaven, the
seat of God, 'angels, and saints: the earth, and all
things that are therein; men, beasts, trees, metals,
minerals, &c. the seas, and all that is t.herein ; fishes,
sea-plants, &c. see Acts iv. 24. and thou preservest
them all; they consist in thee, and are upheld in
their being by thee, Heb. i. 3. Col. i. 17. Psal.
xxxvi. 6. and the host of lteaoen worshipped thee; not
the sun, moon, and stars, only in their way, Psal.
cxlviii. 2, 3. but the angels chiefly, Heb. i. 6.
    Ver. 7. Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose
Abram, &c.] From among the Chaldeans, and out of
his father's family: and broughtest him forth out of Ur of
the Chaldees; by calling him from thence, of which
see Gen. xi. 28, 31. and xii. 1. to which may be added
what Arearea{x} on that place observes; that some
think that the sacred fire, whicli the Chaldeans wor-
shippeal, was kept in this city, from whence it was
called Ur, that being worshippeal by thenI and by the
Assyrians under the name of Ur {y}: and gavest him
the name of Abraham; which was changed when
the covenant of circumcision was given him, Gen.
xvii. 5.
    Ver. 8. And roundest his heartfaithful before thee,
&c.] A true believer in his word and promises, Gen.
xv. 6. and closely attached to the fear of him, and ob-
servance of his commands, as abundantly appeared in
the trial of him, in offering up his son, Gen. xxii. 1,
o l2. and madest a covenant with him, to give the land
of the Canaanites, the Hitrites, the Amorites, and the
Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to
giveit, I say, to his seed; not to him personally, but
to his posterity, at least including and chiefly designing
them; of which covenant see Gen. xv, 18--2l, and
hast performed thy words, for thou art righteous; in all
lIis ways and works, ihithful to his promise, a cove-
nant-keeping God, and who kept and fulfilled this co-
venant, assisting Joshua to conquer the land of Ca-
naan, and put Israel into the possession of it,
Ver. 9- And didst see the affiction af our .fathers in
Egypt, &c.] The hard bondage in which their lives
were made bitter; and was not a mere spectator of it,
but looked upon them in it with pity and compassion,
and sent them a deliverer, Exod. ii. 0.3. and iii. 7. and
heardest their cry by the Red sea; which was before
them, and the rocks on both sides of them, and the
host of Pharaoh behind, pressing upon them, when he
heard them, and wrought salvation for them, Exod.
xiv. 10, 13.
Vet. 10. And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pha-
raoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his
land, &c.] By inflicting the ten plagues upon them:
.for thou knowest that they dealt proudly against them;
behaved haughtily to them, and despised them, see
Exod. xviii. 11. so didst thou get thee a name, as it is
this day; displayed his power on Pharaoh., and his
goodness to Israel, the fame of which reached all over
the world, and continued to that day, see Exod.
ix. 16.
Ver. 11. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so
that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land,
&c.] 2'hat is, the Israelites, see Exod. xiv. 21. and
their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps ; with great
ease, and with indignation, meaning the Egyptians,
that pursued hotly after them, and were thrown into
the sea: as a stone into the mighty waters; where they
sunk and perished, see Exod. xv. 4, 10.
Vet. 12. Moreover, thou leddest them ia the day by a
cloudy pillar, &c.] The Israelites, to shelter them
from the heat of the Still in a dry and barren wilder-
ucss: and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light
in the way wherein theyshould go; through. a trackless
desert, sce Exod. xiii. 21, 22.
Vet. 13. Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai,
&c.] By some visible tokens of his presence, as a
cloud, life, smokc, &c. which must be understood con-
sistent with his omniscicnce, see .Exod. xix. 18. and
spakest with them from heaven ; the decalogue or ten
commandments, Exod. xx. 1, &c. and gavest them right
.]udgments and true laws, good statutes and command-
meats; both judicial and ceremonial, which were of
excellent use to them in their civil and ecclesiastical
polity; these were not spoken to Israel, but given to
Moses on the mount, to be delivered to them.
Ver. 14. And madest known unto them thy holy sab-
bath, &c.] Which was not made known to others, and
was peculiar to the Jewish nation, and a privilege
granted to them, to have rest corporeal and spiritual,
typical of the rest in Christ: and com.mandedst them
precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy
servant; moral, ceremonial, and judicial, such as other
nations had not, Dent. iv. 8.
Ver. 15. And gavest them bread from heaven for their
hunger, &c.] To satisfy that, meaning the manna,
Exod. xvi. 3, 4. and broughtest forth water for them out
of the roclc, for their thirst; to quench it; this was
done both quickly after they came out of the land of
Egypt, and a little before their entrance into the land
of Canaan, see Exod. xvii. 6. Numb. xx. 8, 11. and pro-


{x} Anti-barbar. Biblic. l. 3. p. 652.
{y} Fortunati Schaech. Elaeochrism. Myrothec. l. 1. c. 9. col. 44.