5 (return) [ This rock is there at this day, as the travelers agree; and
must be the same that was there in the days of Moses, as being too large
to be brought thither by our modern carriages.]
6 (return) [ Note here, that the small book of the principal laws of
Moses is ever said to be laid up in the holy house itself; but the
larger Pentateuch, as here, some where within the limits of the temple
and its courts only. See Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect. 17.]
7 (return) [ This eminent circumstance, that while Moses's hands were
lift up towards heaven, the Israelites prevailed, and while they were
let down towards the earth, the Amalekites prevailed, seems to me the
earliest intimation we have of the proper posture, used of old, in
solemn prayer, which was the stretching out of the hands [and eyes]
towards heaven, as other passages of the Old and New Testament inform
us. Nay, by the way, this posture seemed to have continued in the
Christian church, till the clergy, instead of learning their prayers by
heart, read them out of a book, which is in a great measure inconsistent
with such an elevated posture, and which seems to me to have been only a
later practice, introduced under the corrupt state of the church; though
the constant use of divine forms of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving,
appears to me to have been the practice of God's people, patriarchs,
Jews, and Christians, in all the past ages.]
8 (return) [ This manner of electing the judges and officers of the
Israelites by the testimonies and suffrages of the people, before they
were ordained by God, or by Moses, deserves to be carefully noted,
because it was the pattern of the like manner of the choice and
ordination of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, in the Christian
church.]
9 (return) [ Since this mountain, Sinai, is here said to be the highest
of all the mountains that are in that country, it must be that now
called St. Katherine's, which is one-third higher than that within a
mile of it, now called Sinai, as Mons. Thevenot informs us, Travels,
Part I. ch. 23. p. 168. The other name of it, Horeb, is never used by
Josephus, and perhaps was its name among the Egyptians only, whence the
Israelites were lately come, as Sinai was its name among the Arabians,
Canaanites, and other nations. Accordingly when [1 Kings 9:8: the
Scripture says that Elijah came to Horeb, the mount of God, Josephus
justly says, Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 13. sect. 7, that he came to the
mountain called Sinai: and Jerome, here cited by Dr. Hudson, says, that
he took this mountain to have two names, Sinai and Choreb. De Nomin.
Heb. p. 427.]
10 (return) [ Of this and another like superstitious notion of the
Pharisees, which Josephus complied with, see the note on Antiq. B. II.
ch. 12. sect. 4.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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