S ll .\J /v S i IV. VjH Af. 2 .
dwelling place for you on earth, and a provifion for a feafon. And A dam
learned words of grayer from his L ord , and G od turned unto him, for he is
eafy to be reconciled and merciful. We faid, Get ye all down from hence •
hereafter (hall there come unto you a direftion from me *, and whoever fhall foil
low my direction, on them fhall no fear come, neither fhall they be grieved;
but they who fhall be unbelievers, and accufe our figns „ of falfehood, they
fhall be the companions of bell fire, therein fhall they remain for ever. O
children of Is r a e l ', remember my favour wherewith I have favoured you; and
perform your covenant with me, and I will perform my covenant with you; and
revere me : and believe in the revelation which I have fent down, confirming
that which is with you, and be not the firft who believe not therein, neither
exchange my figns for a fmall price ; and fear me. Cloath not the truth with
vanity, neither conceal the truth againft your own knowledge'; obferve the
ftated times of prayer, and pay your legal alms, and bow down yourfelves with
thole who bow down. Will ye command men to do juftice, and forget your
■ own fouls ? yet ye read the book of the law: do ye not therefore uhderftand ?
Ask help with perfeverance and prayer; this indeed is grievous, unlefs to the
humble, who ferioujly think they fhall meet their L ord, and that to him they
fhall return. O children of I sr a e l , remember my favour wherewith I have
favoured you, and that I have preferred you above all nations: dread the day
wherein one foul fhall not make fatisfeCtion for another foul, neither fhall any
interceffion be accepted from them, nor fhall any compenfation be received,
neither fhall they be helped. Remember when we delivered you from the people
of P haraoh, who grievoufly opprefied you, they flew your male children,
and let your females live: therein was a great trial from your L ord. And
when we divided'the fea for you and delivered you, and drowned P haraoh’s
people while ye looked on And when we treated with M oses forty nights;
then ye took theealf ' for your G O D, and did evil; yet afterwards we forgave
you,
a A direElion front me] G od here promiles
Adam that his will Ihould be revealed to him and
his pofterity; which promife the Mohammedans
believe was fulfilled at feveral times by the mi-
niftry of feveral prophets, from Adam hinifelf
who was the firft, to Mohammed, who was the
laft. The number of books revealed unto Adam
they fay was ten 1.
b Signs.] This word has various fignifications
in the Koran ; fometimes, as in this palfage, it
iignifies divine revelation, o r fir ip ture in general;
fometimes the verfes of the Koran ip particular;
and at other times vifible miracles. But the fenfe
Is ealily diftiriguiflied by the context.
* The Jews are here called upon, to receive
the Koran, as verifying and confirming the Pentateuch,
particularly with refpeft to the unity of
God and the million of Mohammed7,. And they
are exhorted not to conceal the paflages of their
law, which bear witnefs to thofe truths, nor to
corrupt them by publilhing falfe copies of the
Pentateuch, for which the writers were but poorly
paid?.
4 Seethe ftory of Mofes and Pharaoh more
particularly related chap. vii. &xx. &c..
* The calf.] The perfon who call this calf, the
Mohammedans fay was (not Aaron but) alSameri,
one of the principal men among the children <?f
Ifrael, fome of whofe defendants it is pretended
ftill inhabit an iflandof that name in theArabian
gulf4 . It was made of the rings.* and bracelets
'of gold, filver, and other materials, which the
Ifraelites had borrowed of the Egyptians; for
Aaron, who commanded in his brothers abfence,
having ordered dl Sameri to colleft thofe ornaments
from the people, who carried <5n a wicked
commerce with them, and to keep them to-
t .gether
C h a p - & A t K O R A N . 7
you, tbafc pefsdyesfture ye might give thanks. And when we gave M oses the
book of the law,, and the diftin£tion between good and evil, that peradyenture
ye might be: directed. And when Mqses laid unto his people, O nay people,
verily ye have injured. yoUF own fouls, by your taking the calffor your Go Di
therefore be turned unto, your Creator, and flay thofe among you who have been
guilty of that crime ‘ ; this, wifi be better for you in the fight of your Creator:
and thereupon he turned unto you, for he is eafy to be reconciled, and merciful.
And when ye faid, 0 Moses, we will not believe thee, untill we fee God
manifeftly; therefore a pwifoment came upon you, while ye looked on'; then
we raifed you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might
give thanks b. And we caufed clouds to overfhadow you, and manna and
quails'.to, defcend upon you, ftuying, Eat of the good things which we have
given you for food.-: and they injured not- us, hut injured, their own foul?.
And when we faid,. Enter into this city *, and eat of the proviftonf thereof
plentifully as ye will; arjd enter the gate worfhipping, and fay, Forgivenefs ' 1
we will , pardon, you .yoUr fins, and give increafe unto, the well-doers. But
the ungodly changed the expreflion into another f, different from what had
been fpoken unto them ; and we fent down upon the ungodly indignation
from heavenE, becaufe they had tranfgrefled. And when Moses afked:
drink.
gether till, the return of Mofes j a} Sameri un-
derftanding the - founder’s art, put them altogether
into a furnace, to melt them down into one
mafs, which came out in thp form of a calf1.
The Ifraelites, accuftomed to the Egyptian idolatry,
paying a religious worlhip to this image, al
Sameri. went farther, and took fome duft from
the footfteps of the horfe of the angel Gabriel,
who marched at the head of the people, aijd threw
it into, the mouth, of the calf, which immediately
began to low, and became animated a- Z t for
fuch was the virtue of that duft 3. One writer
lays that all the Ifraelites. adored this calf, except
only 12 goo4.
a And flay, the guilty] In this particular, the
narration agrees with that’of Mofes, -who ordered
the Levites to. flay every man his brother * :
but the fcripture fays, there fetl\ of the people that
day about 3000 (the vulgate fays 23000)1 men 6 1
whereas the commentators of the Koran make
the number of the flam, to amount to 70000;
and add, that Go d fent a dark cloud which hin-
dred them from feeing one another, left the fight
Ihould move thofe who executed the fentence to
compaffion *. -
6 The perfons here meant, are faid *^o have
been feventy men, who were made choice of by
Mofes, and heard the voice of Go d talking with
him. But not being fatisfied with that, they demanded
to fee G od ; whereupon they were all.
ftruck dead by lightning, and on Mofes's inters
ceffion reftoped to life ®.
c The eaftern writers fay, thefe quails were
of a peculiar kind, to be found np where but in-
Taman, from whence they were brought by a
fouth wind in great numbers to the Ifraelites
camp in the defart 9> The Arabs call thefe birds
Salwd, which is plainly the fame with the Hebrew
Salwim, and fay they have no bones, but
are eaten whole 1 °.;
d This city] Some commentators fuppofe it to
be Jericho ; others, Jerufalem.
1 Forgivenefs /] The Arabic word is Hittaton
which fome take to fignify that profeffion of the
unity of God, fo frequently ufed by the Mohammedans,
La ildba.illa'llaho, There, is no god but
GcJd.
f Changed the exprejjion into another] According
to Jallalo ddin, inftead of Hittaton, they
cried Habbat f i Jhairat, i. e. a grain• in an ear'
of barley; and in ridicule of the divine command
to enter the city in an humble pofture,
they indecently crept in upon their breech.
8 Indignation from heaven] A peftilencc which*
carried off- near. 70000 of them.11 _ s
1 See Exod. xxxii. 24.
650. 4 Abu’lfeda.
Ismael Ebn aLi. 9
1 Jallalo’ddjn*.
a Koran, c. 7. 3 Jallalo’ddin, V. D’Herbelot B'ibl. orient.
* Exodr. xxxii. 26, 27. 6 Ibid. 2%f 7 Jallalo’ddin, &f<v
See Pfaim \xxvw. 26* 19 V. D’H erbel-ot Bibl. orient, p. 477»