Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 25. A tree; (lignum) or piece of wood, which had the natural property here ascribed to it. Sirach 38:4. Calmet.—Though we can hardly suppose, that all the collection of waters would be thus rendered sweet, unless God had given it a miraculous efficacy. Bible.—It foreshewed the virtue of the cross. Theodoret ix. 26.—Him, Moses, and the people of Israel, of which he was now the sole head or king. Bible.—God proved on this occasion the disposition of the Hebrews to enter into the alliance, of which he proposes to them the heads, v. seq. Josue 24:25, makes use of nearly the same words. God begins to take upon himself the administration of the republic, appointing the forms of judicature. Jeremiah 7:22. What regarded sacrifices, was given upon occasion of their idolatry. D.