Ver. 1. Then we turned.] How pleasant must the continuation of this holy history needs be to every good heart, out of the mouth of Moses! Methinks I see the people’s ears linked to his tongue with golden chains, as the heathens fable of their Hercules. And surely, if King Alphonsus and some others, of whom the physicians despaired, did recover health beyond all expectation, only by reading Livy, Curtius, Aventinus, &c., what may we think may be done by these wholesome words, these healing histories, if rightly regarded. Joh. Bodin., De Utilita. Histor. λογοι υγιαινοντες.
Ver. 2. Fear him not.] Though of a formidable stature. (Deuteronomy 3:11) The lion is not so fierce as he is painted, saith the Spanish proverb. God will crack the hairy scalp of his enemies. (Psalms 68:21)
Ver. 5. All those cities.] And they were threescore. How well might Moses have been styled πτολιπορθης? or, as King Demetrius was, Poliorcetes, the city taker?
Ver. 6. The men, women, and children.] The Hebrew word םיהמ, here rendered men, written with tsere, signifieth dead men: Surely every man in his best estate, or when best underlaid, is altogether vanity, Selah. (Psalms 39:5)
Ver. 11. Og, king of Bashan, remained,] sc., In Bashan; and he seems to have been of the remnant of those Rephaims, whom Chedorlaomer and his company smote in Ashteroth. (Genesis 14:5 Joshua 13:12) Is it not in Rabbath?] Kept for a monument of so mighty and massy a man. The Jews fable that he escaped in the flood by riding astride on the ark!
Ver. 13. Land of giants.] Such as are said to be in another land, in another life. For “he knoweth not that the giants are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” (Proverbs 9:18)
Ver. 16. Unto the river Jabbok.] Famous for Jacob’s wrestling with God near unto it. (Genesis 32:22)
Ver. 21. So shall the Lord.] God hath, and, therefore, God will, is a strong medium of hope, if not a demonstration of Scripture logic.
Ver. 24. What god is there?] Whether deputed or reputed?
Ver. 25. The good land.] The “glory of all lands.” (Ezekiel 20:6) Goodly mountain.] Moriah likely, whereon the temple afterwards stood.
Ver. 26. Speak no more.] Christians must be sober in prayer. (1 Peter 4:7) Socrates, a heathen, could say, We should pray for no more but this, that good things may be given us of God, who best knoweth what is best for us to receive.