Deuteronomy 4:43

4:41-49 Here is the introduction to another discourse, or sermon, Moses preached to Israel, which we have in the following chapters. He sets the law before them, as the rule they were to work by, the way they were to walk in. He sets it before them, as the glass in which they were to see their natural face, that, looking into this perfect law of liberty, they might continue therein. These are the laws, given when Israel was newly come out of Egypt; and they were now repeated. Moses gave these laws in charge, while they encamped over against Beth-peor, an idol place of the Moabites. Their present triumphs were a powerful argument for obedience. And we should understand our own situation as sinners, and the nature of that gracious covenant to which we are invited. Therein greater things are shown to us than ever Israel saw from mount Sinai; greater mercies are given to us than they experienced in the wilderness, or in Canaan. One speaks to us, who is of infinitely greater dignity than Moses; who bare our sins upon the cross; and pleads with us by His dying love.

In Joshua 20:8 , it is added "upon the plain"; this perhaps was the wilderness of Moab, in the plains of it, the same with Bozrah, see Jeremiah 48:24 and in the Apocrypha:"Hereupon Judas and his host turned suddenly by the way of the wilderness unto Bosora; and when he had won the city, he slew all the males with the edge of the sword, and took all their spoils, and burned the city with fire,'' (1 Maccabees 5:28)it was in the plain country of the Reubenites, or lay in that part of the country which was allotted to them, and which they gave to the Levites, 1 Chronicles 6:78, and Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites; it lay in that part of Mount Gilead, and among the cities of it, which fell to the share of the tribe of Gad, and was by them given to the Levites, 1 Chronicles 6:80, this city is frequently in Scripture called Ramothgilead; see 1 Kings 4:13. and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites, or "Gaulon", as the Septuagint, and from hence the country round about was called Gaulanitis; all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, was given to the half tribe of Manasseh, and out of it this city was given by them to the Levites, 1 Chronicles 6:71, and appointed a city of refuge: now as these cities were typical of Christ, there may be something observed in the names of them as agreeing with him. "Bezer" signifies "a fortified place"; Christ is the fortress, mountain, and place of defence for his people, and strong hold to which the prisoners of hope turn, the strong tower whither the righteous run

Verse 43. - Names of the cities set apart. Bezer ; LXX. βοσόρ ; one of the cities of the plain or table-land of the Amorites, on the east of Jordan ( Deuteronomy 3:10 ; Joshua 20:8 ), afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Reuben ( Joshua 21:36 ). It is probably the Bosor of I Macc. 5:36; it has not been identified with any existing locality, but the ruined heaps of Burazin to the east of Hesban, or those of Berza in the same district, may mark its site. Ramoth in Gilead ; probably the same as Ramoth-mizpeh ( Joshua 13:26 ); it lay to the northwest of Philadelphia (Rabba or Rabbath-Ammon, hod . Amman), on the Jabbok (' Onom .,' s . v ." Rammoth" and " Remmoth" ); a Levitical city in the tribe of Gad ( Joshua 21:38 ), hod . Es Salt, six hours from Amman (Von Raumer, Porter). Golan in Bashan . Eusebius identifies this with Gaulon, a very large village in Batanaea, from which the surrounding region had its name, viz. Gaulonitis, hod. Jolan ('Onom.,' s . v . " Gau- lon "); it was a Levitical city in the tribe of Manasseh ( Joshua 21:27 ; 1 Chronicles 6:71 ); it has not been identified. Deuteronomy 4:43

In the plain country - literally, "in the land of the Mishor." The word means a level tract of land; but when used ( Deuteronomy 3:10 ; Joshua 13:9 , etc.) with the article, seems to be the proper name for the smooth downs of Moab, which reach from the Jordan eastward of Jericho far into the Desert of Arabia, and which form a striking contrast alike to the rugged country west of the river, and to the higher and remarkable districts belonging to Bashan northward. Bezer is, with little certainty, identified with Bostra, or (1 Macc. 5:36) Bosor. Golan gave the name of Gaulonitis to a district of some extent east of the sea of Galilee and north of the Hieromax; but the exact site of the city if uncertain.

43 . Bezer ] Beṣer ; described, as here, in Joshua 20:8 ; and in Joshua 21:36 along with Yahaṣ, Ḳedemoth, and Mepha‘ath. The name also occurs on the Moabite stone, line 27. No modern equivalent has been recovered. The meaning of the name is the general one of wall or fence . Ramoth in Gilead ] Joshua 20:8 ; Joshua 21:38 (with Maḥanaim), Ramoth of Gilead, 1 Kings 4:13 , etc. It has been variously identified with Es-Salṭ (because of the military and administrative importance of this site, and the statement of Eusebius and Jerome that Ramoth Gilead lay 15 Roman miles W. of Philadelphia = Rabbath-‘Ammon), and with the ruins called el-Jal‘ûd, 6 miles N. of es-Salṭ. The Biblical data, however, imply a site N. of the Jabboḳ. Some have fixed on Jerash, but a site still further N. seems necessary. There Gadara (because it must always have been a fortress of importance, debateable between Israel and Aram, and because it is not otherwise mentioned in the O.T.) and Remtheh (both because of its position and its name) seem most suitable. Salḥad has been suggested, but it lies too far E., and its own name was too well known. See further HGHL 587 f., G. A. Cooke in Driver’s Deuteronomy (3rd ed.), Add. p. xx; Cheyne, E. B. 4014 ff. Golan ] Joshua 20:8 ; Joshua 21:27 . The Γαυλάνη of Josephus (XIII.

Ant. xv. 3; 1 B.J. iv. 4, 8) was in Eusebius’ time ‘a very large village in Batanea.’ To-day the name Jaulân corresponds to the Γαυλανῖτις of the Greek period, E. of the Lake of Galilee and between the Yarmûk and Ḥermon. Schumacher identifies the town with the modern Saḥem-el-Jaulan, 17 miles E. of the Lake. See HGHL 444 n. 2, 536, 553.

Selection of Three Cities of Refuge for Unintentional Manslayers on the East of the Jordan. - The account of this appointment of the cities of refuge in the conquered land on the east of the Jordan is inserted between the first and second addresses of Moses, in all probability for no other reason than because Moses set apart the cities at that time according to the command of God in Numbers 35:6 , Numbers 35:14 , not only to give the land on that side its full consecration, and thoroughly confirm the possession of the two Amoritish kingdoms on the other side of the Jordan, but also to give the people in this punctual observance of the duty devolving upon it an example for their imitation in the conscientious observance of the commandments of the Lord, which he was now about to lay before the nation. The assertion that this section neither stood after Num, nor really belongs there, has a little foundation as the statement that its contents are at variance with the precepts in Deuteronomy 19 . "Toward the sunrising" is introduced as a more precise definition; היּרדּן עבר, like מזרחה in Numbers 32:19 and Numbers 34:15 . On the contents of Deuteronomy 4:42 , comp. Numbers 35:15 . The three towns that were set apart were Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. "Bezer in the steppe, (namely) in the land of the level" (The Amoritish table-land: Deuteronomy 3:10 ).