worship of the true God; substituting in his room the sun and moon, and host of heaven, "with that ancient inscription in Mauritania Tin 'gitana, preserved by Procopius, which declares, that the "ancient inhabitants had fled thither from the face of Joshua, the son of Nunn. But this emigration of the Gergashites may not have been universal, as their name "occurs in the list of the nations who fought against Israel, "Joshua, xxiv. 11." Yet as it occurs only this once, while the other six nations are constantly enumerated as carrying on the war, this mention of them seems a recapitulation of the nations whose land God delivered into the hand of the Jews, according to his promise, Deut. vii. 1, and Joshua, iii. 10, rather than a positive assertion of their having been perseveringly engaged in the war. If they fled at its very commencement, this accounts for their being mentioned exactly as they are, before the invasion under Joshua began, in the divine promise that the seven nations should be cast out, and in this recapitulation, but no where in the distinct history of the war; a coincidence which strongly confirms the tradition of their flight, and of the cause to which it is imputed, the warning given them by the proclamation of Joshua mentioned above. If the reader wishes to see the arguments for the milder interpretation stated more at large, he will find them in Maimonides, Cunæus, Selden, and Poli Synopsis, as quoted in this note; the Universal History, Vol. I. p. 531, note p; Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, Lib. II. cap. xii. sect ii. and iii.; Bibliotheca Biblica on Deut. xx. 10, 15 and 16; Patrick on the same texts, and on Joshua, xi. 18; also Calmet on the same texts, who states fully the reasons for both interpretations, but appears to lean to the rigorous one, as does Leydeker de Républica Hebræorum, p. 257 and 259: Le Clerc also, in his notes on Deut. xx. 10, &c. adopts the + more heaven, as well as the fire and air, and the other elements of nature: in process of time deifying their ancestors; and finally, worshipping stocks and stones and creeping things, idols the most absurd and abominable. But more rigorous interpretation; yet in a note on Joshua, xi. 18, he admits, "That if any city of the seven nations "had wished for peace, they might have had it, according "to Deut. xx. Dr. Gill agrees with Le Clerc. Vide also Dodd's Commentary on the above passages, particularly his Reflections on the Destruction of the seven Nations of Canaan, annexed to the twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy, with a citation from which I will conclude this already too long note: "Since therefore, as has been remarked, neither "David with all his power, nor Solomon, did destroy this "people, since they subsisted in the country from the days "of Moses, for upwards of four hundred and fourscore years; since they were so far subdued, as to become tri"butaries of service as well as of money; and since they "might therefore have been absolutely destroyed, because 66 conquered, and yet were kept alive; it seems to follow, "that these people were not to be absolutely cut off, men "women and children, without mercy, but only were to be destroyed as nations; and that if any submitted and be"came subject to the Jews, and relinquished their idolatry, they were not to be deprived of life. For did none of the "Jews in all this time understand the command? Did "none of their generals or successful warriors understand "that their business was to destroy all these people? Had "they no opportunity, not even when they made them "tributaries; and were Joshua, Samuel and David, such strangers to the Law?" Vide also Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, Lib. I. cap. ii. sect. ii. and Lib. III. cap. xiii. sect. iv. worship of the true God; substituting in his room the sun and moon, and host of heaven, "with that ancient inscription in Mauritania Tin"gitana, preserved by Procopius, which declares, that the "ancient inhabitants had fled thither from the face of "Joshua, the son of Nunn. But this emigration of the Gergashites may not have been universal, as their name occurs in the list of the nations who fought against Israel, "Joshua, xxiv. 11.” Yet as it occurs only this once, while the other six nations are constantly enumerated as carrying on the war, this mention of them seems a recapitulation of the nations whose land God delivered into the hand of the Jews, according to his promise, Deut. vii. 1, and Joshua, iii. 10, rather than a positive assertion of their having been perseveringly engaged in the war. If they fled at its very commencement, this accounts for their being mentioned exactly as they are, before the invasion under Joshua began, in the divine promise that the seven nations should be cast out, and in this recapitulation, but no where in the distinct history of the war; a coincidence which strongly confirms the tradition of their flight, and of the cause to which it is imputed, the warning given them by the proclamation of Joshua mentioned above. If the reader wishes to see the arguments for the milder interpretation stated more at large, he will find them in Maimonides, Cunæus, Selden, and Poli Synopsis, as quoted in this note; the Universal History, Vol. I. p. 531, note p; Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, Lib. II. cap. xii. sect ii, and iii.; Bibliotheca Biblica on Deut. xx. 10, 15 and 16; Patrick on the same texts, and on Joshua, xi. 18; also Calmet on the same texts, who states fully the reasons for both interpretations, but appears to lean to the rigorous one, as does Leydeker de Républica Hebræorum, p. 257 and 259: Le Clerc also, in his notes on Deut. xx. 10, &c. adopts the . more heaven, as well as the fire and air, and the other elements of nature: in process of time deifying their ancestors; and finally, worshipping stocks and stones and creeping things, idols the most absurd and abominable. But more rigorous interpretation; yet in a note on Joshua, xi. 18, he admits, "That if any city of the seven nations "had wished for peace, they might have had it, according "to Deut. xx." Dr. Gill agrees with Le Clerc. Vide also Dodd's Commentary on the above passages, particularly his Reflections on the, Destruction of the seven Nations of Canaan, annexed to the twentieth chapter of Deuteronomy, with a citation from which I will conclude this already too long note: "Since therefore, as has been remarked, neither "David with all his power, nor Solomon, did destroy this "people, since they subsisted in the country from the days "of Moses, for upwards of four hundred and fourscore years; since they were so far subdued, as to become tri"butaries of service as well as of money; and since they "might therefore have been absolutely destroyed, because "conquered, and yet were kept alive; it seems to follow, "that these people were not to be absolutely cut off, men "women and children, without mercy, but only were to be destroyed as nations; and that if any submitted and became subject to the Jews, and relinquished their idolatry, they were not to be'deprived of life. For did none of the "Jews in all this time understand the command? Did "none of their generals or successful warriors understand "that their business was to destroy all these people? Had "they no opportunity, not even when they made them "tributaries; and were Joshua, Samuel and David, such 66 strangers to the Law?" Vide also Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, Lib. I. cap. ii. sect. ii. and Lib. III. cap. xiii. sect. iv. But their apostacy and idolatry was not, as * some affect to consider it, a mere error of judgment, which called rather for instruction to enlighten, than punishment to correct it: No, it was connected with every vice that can degrade human nature and pollute society; the crimes which it produced are briefly but forcibly pointed out to the abhorrence of the Jews by their divine Lawgiver, as plain and notorious facts. ↑ "Inquire I not thou after the gods of these nations, saying, how did these nations serve their gods? Even so will I do likewise. Thou "shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God; "for every abomination to the Lord, which "he hateth, have they done unto their 'gods, for even their sons and their daugh"ters have they burnt in the fire to their gods." And as their idolatry thus led them to the most ferocious and unnatural cruelty which *Thus Bayle represents it; vide Warburton's Divine Legation, p. 159, and Tyndal and Bolingbroke frequently ; and the intolerant spirit of the Jewish religion is the perpetual object of Voltaire's declamatory and virulent abuse; at the same time, with his usual inconsistency, he labours as vainly to prove it tolerated idolatry. Vide Jews Letters to him, Vol. I. p. 267, compared with 287. † Deut. xii. |