Ver. 44. Chased you, as bees do— The Syriac, Onkelos, and an Arabic MS. which Bochart saw in Sweden, have it, as bees do when irritated by smoke. It is well known, that smoke is applied to drive these insects from their hives; and as then the bees, being enraged, unite, and fall with impetuosity upon those who venture thus to dislodge them, Moses draws thence an elegant comparison to express the number and vivacity of the Amorites, who came suddenly upon the Israelites, boldly purposing to dispossess them. The Psalmist makes use of a similar expression, Psalms 108:12 and profane authors have, as it were, emulously striven to imitate the metaphor. See Virg. AEn. 12: ver. 587. Q. Smyrnaeus, lib. 3: cap. 220. Lycophron. ver. 180, &c. It is also very expressive. The bee, though small, is an animal full of fire and courage: the Raucians, a people of Crete, were formerly obliged to give place to them, by yielding to them their city. AElian de Animal. lib. 17: cap. 35. When Lucullus besieged Themiscyrus, the besiegers opposed its underminers with swarms of bees; (Appian, de Bell. Mithrid.) and afterwards the same artifice was more than once renewed on similar occasions, with the like success. See Bochart Hieroz. pars 2: lib. 4 cap. 10 and Scheuchzer's Physique Sacree, tom. 4:
And destroyed you in Seir— The Amorites did not attack the Israelites in Seir, but in their own mountains, to which they had ascended. It should, therefore, be rendered, from Seir; to express, that, after the Amorites had driven the Israelites from their mountains, they pursued them flying into Seir, even to Hormah. The LXX, Vulgate, and Syr. render it from Seir.