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עמד5975 וימדד4058 ארץ776 ראה7200 ויתר5425 גוים1471 ויתפצצו6327 הררי2042 עד5703 שׁחו7817 גבעות1389 עולם5769 הליכות1979 עולם׃5769

Ex 15:17; 21:31 Nu 34:1-29 De 32:8 Ac 17:26

Verse 6. He stood, and measured the earth] �ra erets, the land; he divided the promised land among the twelve tribes. This is the allusion; and this the prophet had in his eye. God not only made a general assignment of the land to the Hebrews; but he even divided it into such portions as the different families required. Here were both power and condescension. When a conqueror had subdued a country, he divided it among his soldiers. Among the Romans, those among whom the conquered lands were divided were termed beneficiary; and the lands beneficia, as being held on the beneficence of the sovereign.

He beheld, and drove asunder the nations] The nations of Canaan, the Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, &c., and all who opposed his people. Even his look dispersed them.

The everlasting mountains were scattered] Or, broken asunder. This may refer to the convulsions on Mount Sinai; and to the earth quake which announced the descent of the Most High. See Exod. xix. 18. "God occupied the summit of the eternal Mount Sinai; and led his people over the eternal mountains of Arabia Petraea; and this sense is preferable to the figurative one, that his ways or doings are predetermined front everlasting."-Newcome.

The epithets d[ ad, and �lw[ olam, eternal, and everlasting, are applied to mountains and immense rocks, because no other parts of nature are less subject to decay or change, than these immense masses of earth and stone, and that almost indestructible stone, granite, out of which Sinai appears to be formed. A piece of the beautiful granite of this mountain now lies before me. This is a figurative description of the passage of the Israelites through the deserts of Arabia, over mountains, rocks, and through the trackless wilderness; over and through which God, by his power and providence, gave them a safe passage.

The following beautiful piece from the Fragments of AEschylus will illustrate the preceding description, and please the learned reader. cwrize qnhtwn ton qeon, kai mh dokei omoion autw sarkinon kaqestanai� oukoisqa d� auton� pote men wv pur fainetai aplaston ormh� pote d� udwr, pote de gnofov. kai qhrsin autov ginetai paremferhv, anemw, nefei te, kastraph, bronth, broch.

�uphretei d� autw qalassa, kai petrai, kai pasa phgh, c� udatov susthmata� tremei d� orh kai gaia kai pelwriov buqov qalasshv, kwrewn uyov mega, otan epibleyh gorgon omma despotou.

AESCHYLI Fragm.

Confound not God with man; nor madly deem His form is mortal, and of flesh like thine. Thou know'st him not. Sometimes like fire he glows In wrath severe; sometimes as water flows; In brooding darkness now his power conceals And then in brutes that mighty power reveals. In clouds tempestuous we the Godhead find; He mounts the storm, and rides the winged wind; In vivid lightninys flashes from on high; In rattling thunders rends the lowering sky; Fountains and rivers, seas and floods obey, And ocean's deep abyss yields to his sway; The mountains tremble, and the hills sink down, Crumbled to dust by the Almighty's frown. When God unfolds the terrors of his eye, All things with horror quake, and in confusion lie. J. B. B. CLARKE.

Ver. 6. He stood and measured the earth , etc.] This alludes to the ark of the Lord, the symbol of his presence, standing and abiding at Gilgal for the space of fourteen years, while the land of Canaan was subdued by Joshua; and then measured out by him, and divided by lot, as an inheritance to the children of Israel, according to the direction and appointment of the Lord, ( Joshua 13:1-33) etc.: here it may have respect to the mission of the apostles into the various parts of the world, and the distribution of it among them; some being sent into one part, and some into another, called their particular line and measure, ( 2 Corinthians 10:14-16) some into India, others into Ethiopia; some into Asia, and others into Europe; by which means the Gospel was preached everywhere, and great part of the world became Christians: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations ; with a look of his he made them give way; he drove the Canaanites out of the land, and separated them from one another, and scattered them about, to make room for his people Israel, ( Psalm 78:55): and the everlasting mountains were scattered ; or, �were broken� f129 : the perpetual hills did bow ; the mountains and hills that were from the beginning of the creation, that were settled upon their bases, and never moved, now trembled, shook, and bowed, as Sinai and others did, at the presence of the God of Israel; (see Judges 5:5 Psalm 68:8,16) or rather, figuratively, these may design the kingdoms and states, kings and princes, greater and lesser, belonging to the land of Canaan, which were shaken, moved, and taken by the Israelites, and brought into subjection to them; and in like manner kings and kingdoms, comparable to mountains and hills, through the preaching of the Gospel, and the power of Christ attending it, were brought to yield unto him, at the downfall of Paganism in the Roman empire: this is signified by every mountain and island being moved out of their places, and kings and great men calling to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, ( Revelation 6:14-17): his ways [are] everlasting ; and what he has done in ages past he can do again; his power, his wisdom, and his grace, are unchangeably the same; and all he does in time, every step he takes, is according to his counsels, purposes, and decrees in eternity, which infallibly come to pass; nor can he be hindered and frustrated in the execution of them; as he has begun, he will go on; as he has set up his kingdom in the world, he will support and maintain it; and though there are many obstructions and remoras in the way of it, he will go on, and remove them, until he has thoroughly established it, and brought it to its highest glory, which he has designed; all mountains and hills are nothing before him; he can soon make them a plain; (see Revelation 11:15,17): or, �the ways of the world are his�; the world is under his government, and all things in it subject to his providence; he can rule and overrule all things for his own glory, and the good of his interest, and he will do it; everything is subject to his control, and under his direction; not a step can be taken without his will. This the prophet observes along with the above things, to encourage the faith and expectation of the saints, that the work of the Lord will be revived, and his kingdom and interest promoted and established in the world; though there may, and will, be many difficulties and distresses previous to it.

עמד5975 וימדד4058 ארץ776 ראה7200 ויתר5425 גוים1471 ויתפצצו6327 הררי2042 עד5703 שׁחו7817 גבעות1389 עולם5769 הליכות1979 עולם׃5769