two lines measured he, viz. one * to put to death (thofe obftinate few who rejected all offers of mercy); and with one full line (in the original, a line of plenitude) to keep alive; that is, to fave all those who would have fubmitted, and accepted proffered mercy, had they been fuffered.

AND this interpretation is, I think, ftrengthened by the expreffions made use of by the facred writer on this occafion. Now in the original, the word which we render the corners of Moab, might better be tranflated the princes of Moab, as the word which we render destroy (deftroy all the children of Sheth) fignifies in the original to unwall: and then the plain sense of the text will ftand thus; that this fceptre, which should arife out of Ifrael, fhould smite the princes, that is, the ruling commanding part of Moab, and unwall, that is, demolish their fenced cities, or rather their fortifications. And agreeably to this interpretation, I apprehend that David put the commanding officers, in every city that refifted, to death, and fpared the people: and it

appears

fuf

*Such ellipfes are common in the facred ftyle, and must, in many inftances, neceffarily be understood and supplied in the fame manner that I fuppofe this fhould.

ficiently

ficiently from the fubfequent part of the text, that they who fubmitted were received into mercy, and became tributary.

LET it be obferved upon this occafion, that David was a prophet, and throughly verfed in the fcriptures; and when he had there learnt, that a king was to arise out of Jacob, who fhould one day fmite and subdue Moab, it was not hard for him to difcern in the spirit of prophecy, that he himself was that king, especially after the meffage delivered to him by Nathan, from the word of the LORD. And there is no doubt but he executed the fentence denounced against Moab, in the prophecy of Balaam, in that fense in which the Spirit of GoD denounced it*, which I apprehend to be that now explained.

BUT, fuppofing David deftroyed twothirds of the Moabites on this occafion, and

* That he carefully attended to the fense of the prophecy on this occafion, may, I think, be fairly inferred both from the nature of the thing, and from the strict attention he paid to every part of the divine commands in relation to that people; for he neither diftreffed, nor contended with them in battle, unaffaulted; nor when he conquered them in battle, did he feek to violate their peace or profperity, or ftrip them of their lands: he contented him ef with fubluing and making them tributary.

faved only one-third, (for fo fome underftand the text) the feverity of this chastisement was no greater than that which God himself denounces against his own people for their fins, Zech. xiii. 8. And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, faith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off, and die, but the third fhall be left therein. And why might not the fins of the Moabites deserve this chastisement now, as thofe of the Jews did at the time referred to in this prophecy? The greatest fins the Jews ever committed against GOD, were thofe corruptions which they copied from their neighbour-nations; the most abominable of all which were practifed by the nation we are now speaking of*: and therefore there is good reafon to believe, that they now deserved the fame feverity of vengeance from the justice of GOD, which he afterwards inflicted upon his own people.

very

*Numb. XXV. Judges x. 6. 1 Kings xi. 7. 2 Kings iii. 27. Amos ii. 2. Ezra ix. I.

СНАР.

CHAP. XVI.

DAVID conquers the Syrians and Edomites. Hadadezer proved to be the Hadad of Nicolaus Damafcenus. Some Difficulties in the Sacred Text cleared.

HE next of the confederate nations

TH

in vaded by David, after the conqueft of Moab, were the Syrians of Zobah, or, as Ptolemy calls it, Zaba, (whose eastern border was the Euphrates) then under the dominion of Hadadezer fon of Rebob, who feems now to have united the feveral leffer principalities, which fubfifted there about the beginning of Saul's reign,into one monarchy*: and that he was fuch a monarch, is clearly collected from 2 Sam. x. 19. where we learn, that he had feveral kings in fubjection to him.

As Syria was a part of the earth early peopled after the flood, this nation hath

* Hadadezer is here called king of Zobah, whereas Saul's contest was with the kings of Zobah. 1 Sam. xiv. 47.

without doubt a fair claim to the honour of great antiquity; although we cannot, with certainty, carry it altogether fo high as the Arabs do, who pretend that Adam was there formed, and fhew the place of his formation, near Damafcus, together with that of Abel's murder.

Ir is, I think, agreed, that in the earlier ages of the world men were governed by the heads of families, under the name of kings; and as one of these prevailed over the reft, many principalities united made a monarchy; and monarchies have generally been eftablished, earlier or later, in proportion to the antiquity of the nation; and the veneration paid to the founder of the monarchy frequently carried his name from father to fon, and continued it down to his late pofterity. This I take to have been the case of Hadadezer; inafmuch as Nicolaus of Damafcus tells us of one Hadad king of Damafcus, who warred with David, and was defeated by him near the Euphrates, whose posterity were called by his name for ten generations

Now

*Jofephus tells us, that thisHadad aided Hadadezer against David; but forafmuch as the fcripture makes mention of no fuch man, and Nicolaus of Damafcus lays nothing of