Ver. 21, 22. Then the children of Reuben, &c.—answered—The Lord God of gods, &c.— No sooner had Phinehas ended his discourse, than the president of the congregation of the two tribes and a half, to remove the suspicions that had been entertained of their faith, takes up the conference, and begins by calling God to witness the purity of their intentions. "The Lord God of gods," they begin; in which their design is first to shew, that they worshipped no other God than Him, whom their fathers had worshipped, that great Being, who, infinitely exalted above all the creatures, is the first and original cause of every thing that exists: after which, in a noble emotion of zeal, they immediately repeat the same appellation; the Lord God of gods: which flows as it were from an ardent desire to wash off the reproach that Phinehas had just cast upon them; and is a mark of the sincerity wherewith they dared to call God to witness their fidelity in his service. These lively and emphatical modes of expression are common to all languages.
If in transgression against the Lord, save us not this day— In proportion as the apologist for the Israelites of Gilead proceeds in his discourse, he speaks with more fire; displaying a soul, touched with the most sensible concern at the heavy reproach cast upon his fellow-citizens. He calls on the Deity to testify their integrity; he repeatedly invokes the Most High, and still this is not sufficient; waving, therefore, his address to Phinehas and the deputies his companions, he lifts up his voice to God immediately, and cries out with great emphasis, "O Lord, protect us not, if guilty of that revolt whereof our brethren have suspected us!" Perhaps this is one of those soft-ened expressions, which have in reality more energy than one would at first imagine: as if he had said, "May heaven punish us on the spot, if we entertained the design charged upon us."