: "of Nun, who standeth before thee, shall go in thither; en"courage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it." The introduction of this his own rejection, and the substitution of Joshua, as the person destined by God to lead the Jews to conquer the promised land, was here peculiarly natural and useful; lest the people recollecting their former defeat, in attempting to invade that land when Moses did not accompany them, should dread a similar defeat now, when they were to be entirely deprived of him. But this awful menace of God to destroy the Jews, and raise from Moses, a nation mightier than they, is introduced on another occasion, when its introduction was indispensably necessary; when he warns that people, "Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God "hath cast out this nation before thee, saying, For my right"eousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine "heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wicked"ness 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. “Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not "this good land to possess it, for thy righteousness; for thou "art a stiff-necked people. 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 Egypt, until ye 66 came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the "Lord."+ To inculcate deeply this humiliating, but necessary truth, nothing was more conducive than to state to them, that the greatness of their rebellion had almost induced that God in whom they trusted, totally to disinherit and destroy them, and raise up another nation in their place; and therefore this circumstance is here noticed. ‡ It is observable, that on two occasions, the whole nation had united in rebelling against God, and determining to return into Egypt: the first, when they caused Aaron to set up the golden calf; the second, after the return of the spies from the promised land. And the direct narrative informs us, that on both occasions the divine menace against the Jews was accompanied with the same offer to Moses, to raise up from him a mightier nation † Ibid. ix. 4—7. * Deut. i. 34-38. Ver. 14. in their place. In reminding the people of their guilt on both these occasions, Moses mentions the great wrath of God against the Jews; but on one of them only does he notice the divine* offer so honourable to himself, while he repeatedly alludes to his offence against God, and his consequent exclusion from the promised land. Is not all this well worth our attention? In every circumstance which the legislator adds to his original narrative, or omits from it, do we not discern the feelings of nature, and the coincidence of truth? I might add different similar instances of such natural and undesigned coincidence; but I trust I have adduced enough to confirm my position, so far as relates to the general history of common events. It shall be the object of my next Lecture to evince, that similar characters pervade the accounts of the miracles which the Pentateuch contains, and connect them with the common events in one uniform and consistent narrative. * In Deut. ix. compare 14 and 25 with each other; and also Exod. xxxii. 10, and Numb. xiv. 12. LECTURE IV. The argument stated in the preceding Lecture applied to the narrative of miraculous events in the four last Books of the Pentateuch, in order to show that they are related with the same marks of truth as the common events-Instanced in the manner of referring to the delivery of the Law in Horeb-And to the punishment inflicted for the worship of Baal Peor -And to the delivery of the Decalogue--In the general manner of allusions to different Miracles-In the account of various Miracles wrought to punish opposition to the authority of Moses-Apparent contradiction as to the different statements of circumstances attending the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram-Its explanation-Inference from thence. DEUTERONOMY, xi. 2, 7. "Know ye this day, for I speak not with your children, which have not known and which have not "seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched-out "arm. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which he did." THUS directly does the book of Deuteronomy purport to be the language of an eye-witness to all the miracles recorded in the preceding history of the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, addressing a nation who were also themselves eye-witnesses to the same great acts. It is on this ground, and this ground only, the legislator claims obedience to his Laws as evidently of a divine authority. If then this character really belongs to the book of Deuteronomy; if the miracles alluded to, were really performed in the sight of Moses, who thus addresses the nation, and in the sight of the entire nation which he addresses; we shall certainly be able to find in the internal structure of this address, and in the nature of the allusions it contains, some proofs of this. We shall be able to perceive in the history of the miraculous events and the allusions to them, the same exact suitableness of the sentiment and language of Moses to the situations in which he is placed; and the same natural and undesigned coincidence between the address to the people in Deu teronomy, and the direct narrative of the preceding books, which we have before noticed in the history of the common events, and the allusions to them. We shall perceive, that the miracles and common events cannot be separated from each other, that they are all woven into one uniform, natural and consistent narrative; that they are all mentioned with the same artlessness, the same precision and particularity, the same evident consciousness of truth. I shall now state a few instances where the undesigned coincidence, the exact suitableness, which we have been noticing in the recital of the natural events of the history, are also observable in the relation of the miraculous facts and the allusions to them. We may remark then, that in the direct narrative, the miracles are related minutely and circumstantially; the time, the place, the occasion of each being wrought, are exactly specified; and such circumstances are introduced, as, when considered, prove the miraculous nature of the fact, though no argument of that kind is instituted. The miracles also are related in the exact order of time when they happened, and the common and supernatural events are exhibited in one continued, and indeed, inseparable series. Now, had the recapitulation of events been formed, for the purpose of gaining credit to a doubtful narrative of supernatural facts, we should (I presume) perceive a constant effort to dwell upon and magnify the miracles, to obviate any objections to their reality; we should find their writer accusing his countrymen of obstinate incredulity, asserting his own veracity, and appealing in proof of the facts to that veracity. But it is most evident that nothing of this appears in the book of Deuteronomy. The people are never once reproached with having doubted or disbelieved the miracles, but constantly appealed to as having seen and acknowledged them; though notwithstanding this, they did not preserve that confidence and that obedience to God, which such wonderful interpositions ought to have secured. The speaker never produces arguments to prove the miracles, but always considers them as notoriously true and unquestioned, and adduces them as decisive motives to enforce obedience to his laws. This is the only purpose for which they are introduced; and such circumstances in the history as, though not miraculous, would show the necessity of obedience, are dwelt on as particularly as the miracles themselves. 66 દ Thus the object of the three first chapters of Deuteronomy, is to assure the people of the divine assistance in the conquest of Canaan, and to convince them of the guilt of not confiding in that assistance. For this purpose the speaker alludes to the former disobedience of the people, when forty years before they had arrived at the borders of Canaan; and mentions the miracles they had previously to that time witnessed, in general terms, merely as aggravations of their guilt. "I said unto you, dread "not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God, which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that "he did in Egypt before your eyes: And in the wilderness, "where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until "ye came to this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe "the Lord your God, who went in the way before you to search you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night to show "you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day."* He then states the denunciation of God, that all the men of that generation should be cut off, and that their little ones, whom they said should be a prey, should go in to possess the promised land. He mentions the defeat of the Jews by the Amorites, when they went up presumptuously; and shows the deep impression these events made upon the minds of their fathers; by their waiting for the divine permission before they changed their march, by their not attempting the territory of the Edomites, the Moabites, or the Amorites, because God had assigned these lands as their possessions. And he here mentions a fact never before noticed, but well fitted to increase the confidence of the Jews in the divine protection; even that the nations who had inhabited these countries before the children of Esau and of Lot, had been "great and many and tall," but that the Lord "had destroyed them before these nations." He then notices the success of the Jewish arms against the kings of the Amorites and of Bashan, whom they attacked with the divine permission ; and concludes with assuring them, that Joshua was appointed by God to cause them to possess the land of their inheritance. Is not this whole exhortation natural? Is not the brief inci+ Deut. ii. 10, &c. *Deut. i. 29-33. |