which was the whole breadth of the Oracle Their two inward wings touched each other and the two ends of their outward wings touched the wall of the house Under their two inward wings stood Moses's Ark and Cherubims These Cherubims were so made as the parts of them might be taken asunder See 2 Chron. 3.10 and they were the most splendid ornament of the whole Temple and carried away as 't is probable by the rapacious Babylonians at the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar 1 King 6. from 23. to 29. 2 Chron. 3. from 10. to the 14. These four Cherubims in the 1 Chron. 28.18 are likened to a Chariot of four wheels whereon the Divine Majesty did sit or ride and uttered intelligibly his Sacred Oracles See Psal 99.1 Thirdly Besides the Ark and these glorious Cherubims it appears from Heb. 9.4 that within the Holy of Holies was placed Aaron's Rod that budded and the pot of Manna * See the Apostolical History on Heb. 9.4 Numb 17.10 and the Golden Censer of Aaron Lastly In the time of Moses there was also the Book of the Law call'd by some Deuteronomion laid on the side of the Ark see Deut. 31.26 But whither it was placed there in Solomon's days we do not yet we find in Josiah's reign when the Temple was purged the Book of the Law was found in the Temple by Hilkiah the Priest though no express mention is made that it was found in the Oracle So that by the side of the Ark or before the Testimony in Solomon's Temple were placed as it seems the pot of Manna Aaron's Rod the Golden Censer and the Book of the Law as they had formerly been in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle 4. Of the Vessels in the Priests Court 1. There we find the Altar of Brass which was twenty cubits in length twenty in breadth and ten in height 2 Chron. 4.1 It s situation was before the Porch whereon the Sacrifices were daily offered to God 2 Chron. 8.12 As for the Sacrifices we read of many instruments that were used about them as flesh-hooks of Gold 1 Chron. 28.17 also pots shovels and basons of bright brass 1 King 7.45 2. The next vessel to be considered was the molten Sea a most rare and admirable piece of solid brass cast in the clay ground in the plains of Jordan It was five cubits high and ten over from side to side being round and thirty cubits in compass containing two thousand baths * A Bath contained about 8 gallons 4 baths made a barrel so that there were usually put into this Sea 500 barrels of water and if filled up to the brim it would contain 750. namely as they usually filled it for ordinary use but if it had been filled up to the brim it would then contain three thousand viz. a third part more 1 King 7.23.26 2 Chron. 4.5 therefore 't was called a Sea for the largeness thereof It 's brim was wrought about with Lilly-work under the brim thereof were brazen knobs round about resembling the heads of oxen These were cast together with the vessel It stood upon twelve brazen oxen which by four several Threes respected the four quarters of the world The use of this vessel was for the Priests to wash in 2 Chron. 4.6 10. that is by water derived to them by a pipe and cock out of it they did wash their hands and feet for that they did wash their whole bodies in it seems not very probable (a) See Mr. Lee pag. 86 'T is like the Gibeonites or Nethinims whose office it was to be drawers of water for the Congregation Josh 9.27 did out of the fountain of Siloam or pool of Bethesda hard by fill this Sea and furnished all other Lavatories with water about the Temple 3. In this Court also were placed ten lavers appointed for the washing of the Sacrifices in the Tabernacle there were none of these that single laver made by Moses for the Priests service answering only to the molten Sea These lavers of brass contained forty haths apiece each set op his basis with wheels for their more convenient removal if need were though generally their station was five on the one side and five on the other in the Court of the Priests and East of the covered Temple they were adorn'd with brazen borders engraven with Lions Oxen Cherubims and Palm-trees had pillars and wheels and other curiosities which we cannot well here describe 1 King 7. from v. 27 to 40. 5. Of the Furniture Utensils and Chambers in the outward Court In the outward Court or Court of Israel many no doubt were the utensils there used Tremellius thinks the brazen scaffold made by Solomon for himself to stand and pray upon 2 Chron. 6.12 13. with the Kings pillar was placed in this Court. Also Pulpits and Desks wherein the Priests expounded the Law to the people The Chambers in the outward Courts were severally imployed for sundry uses as for laying up of Tythes First-fruits Wood Salt and other requisites for the Sacrifices Of Salt a mass was spent in the Temple seeing no Offering was acceptable without it Mark 9.49 Some rooms 't is like were imployed to contain the Musical Instruments whereof thirteen sorts are mentioned and explained by Mr. Fuller Ch. 10. Book 3. In other Chambers undoubtedly the standards of all measures were carefully kept for we find that the inferiour Levites among other services had a superintendency over all manner of measures and sizes 1 Chron. 23.29 It belonged to their office to set out the pars quota the exact quantity of the meal oyl and wine that was to be used in their several sacrifices therefore they were highly concerned to be skilful in measures 'T is likely that the Book of the description of the land into several parts by lot as being of publick concernment and use was preserved in some room of the Temple See Josh 18.9 Some Chambers 't is like were for lodgings for the Priests and Levites that attendded on the holy service in the Temple and others for refectories and rooms wherein the Priests had their repast or hallowed food as on shew-bread c. which though shifted but once a week by Gods command Lev. 24.8 yet by his Providence was doubtless preserved that it lost nothing of its goodness There was also as it seems an Armory in the Temple furnished with weapons to guard the Treasure there kept David provided Spears and Bucklers and Shields for that purpose and Joash by the assistance of those weapons recovered the Crown Many other Vtensils were added to the Temple after Solomon's death by succeeding Kings as occasion did require as particularly that Chest which in the reign of King Jehoash was made by Jehoiada to receive the peoples free offerings for the repair of the Temple A Chest with an hole in the lid thereof 2 King 12.9 In after ages it was called Corban which signifies sometimes the gift it self sometimes the vessel
inferiour Priests were afterwards admitted as appears Luke 1. when he had dressed and trimmed the Lamps of the golden Candlestick in the Morning (c) Manè mundabantur vesperi accendebantur Vatab. and made them ready to be lighted again at Night to burn sweet Incense upon this Altar and when he lighted the Lamps at Night to burn Incense again upon it (d) Luke 1.9 10. when Zachary burned Incense in the Temple the whole multitude were without at prayer while the Incense was ascending possibly to intimate to them how God's people should daily and constantly pray unto the Lord and that the prayers of his faithful people are very acceptable unto him while Jesus Christ doth incense them by his Merits and Intercession And this Ordinance was to be perpetually observed by (e) The Incense seems to be burnt in Chasing-dishes upon this Altar Numb 29.7 them in their Generations while that Dispensation lasted Further they were injoyned to offer no strange Incense thereon that is made of any other materials than what is injoyned vers 34 35 c. where the Ingredients are prescribed to be sweet Spices with pure Frankincense beaten small and mixed together and to be applied by the Priest only to this holy use and no other They were not to make any like to it to smell to or for their own private use Whosoever should contemptuously offend against this Ordinance are threatn'd to be cut off by Divine Vengeance And Aaron once a year as High Priest viz. on the great day of Expiation on the tenth day of the seventh month see Levit. 16.18 was appointed to put the bloud of the Sin-Offering upon the Horns of this Altar to make Expiation for such Errours and Failings as might have been committed in the administration about it And this Rite was to be religiously observed by them in their Generations till Christ the Substance of these Ceremonial shadows should appear Exod. 30. from 1. to 11. and from vers 34. to the end 7ly He gives Directions concerning framing the Tabernacle Now the Tabernacle taken in the largest sense contained two parts one that was covered which was properly called the Tabernacle and one that was open viz. the Court belonging thereunto Concerning the first these Directions are given It was to be 30 Cubits long accounting a Cubit a Yard ten Cubits high and ten broad The walls of it were to be 20 boards of Shittim-wood gilt all over standing upright each a Cubit and half in breadth so that the breadth of the boards joyned together made the length of the Tabernacle the height thereof being the length of the boards that is ten Cubits and the breadth thereof of the same proportion Each board was to have two Tenons fastned in silver Sockets or moveable Footstalls having hollow Mortaises for the Tenons of the boards to fall into These boards were also to have gilded Bars of the same wood running along their breadth in an even proportion through golden Rings to strengthen their Conjunction And these boards were to be as the walls of it But the Tabernacle it self was to consist of curious Curtains of fine twined Linnen Blue Purple and Scarlet with Cherubims curiously embroidered in them representing the Ministry of Angels in the Church and a three-fold Covering over it one of Goats hair spun and woven into Stuff possibly like our Chamlet another of Ram Skins died red a third of Badgers Skins This covered Tabernacle was to consist of two parts The one to be called the Holy of Holies at the upper end of it taking up ten Cubits or one third part of it In this were to be placed the Ark with the two Tables of the Law in it and by the Ark the Pot of Manna before the Testimony Exod. 16.33 34. and Aarons Rod Numb 17.10 and the golden Censer Levit. 16.12 * See Apost Hist on Heb. 9.4 And the Book of the Law (f) This seems to be the Book that was found in Josiah's time and to be lost in the days of wicked Manesseh and Amon The matters of that Book when read to Josiah and the people seemed so strange unto them as if no Copy of it at all or wondrous rare had been extant among them in the outside of the Ark Deut. 31.26 that is the whole Law Writings and inspired Books of Moses Into this Holy of Holies none but the High Priest and He but once a year was to enter Levit. 16. The other part of the Sanctuary was called the Holy containing 20 Cubits In this was to be placed the Altar of Incense on the right side whereof was to stand the golden Candlestick and on the left the Table of Shew-bread Into this part of the Sanctuary the ordinary Priests were to enter and there to Minister These two parts were to be divided by a Veil to be made of Blue Purple and Scarlet with embroidered Cherubims and 't was to be a partition between the Holy and Holy of Holies and this was the inner Veil There was also an hanging to be made for a door or entrance into the Tabernacle or holy Place to be made of Blue Purple and Scarlet and hung on Pillars of Shittim-wood overlaid with Gold which was to be the outward Veil Exod. 26. whole Chapter And so much of the covered Tabernacle now for the outward Court belonging thereunto It was to be in length an 100 Cubits and in breadth 50 and to be inclosed with Hangings of fine twined Linnen hung upon Pillars of Shittim-wood five Cubits high and filleted with Silver and set in Sockets of Brass and moveable Footstalls And for the Gate of this Court Eastward was to be an Hanging of 20 Cubits of Blue Purple and Scarlet and fine twined Linnen wrought with Needle-work and to be hung on four Pillars 8ly Concerning the Altar of Burnt-Offering which was to be made of Shittim-wood five Cubits long and five broad and so to be four square and three Cubits high It was to have Horns or little Pyramids on the four Corners thereof to which they were to bind their Sacrifices see Psal 118.27 They were to make for it a Grate of Net-work all of Brass with four brasen Rings in the corners thereof to take it out upon occasion It was to be overlaid with Brass to defend it against the heat of the fire the widness and length being such that the fire might be kept within the compass of the Grate which was to be set even to the midst of it They were also to make several Instruments belonging to this Altar as Panns to receive ashes Shovels Basons Flesh-hooks Fire-panns all of Brass * There was no Iron to be used about the Tabernacle and Staves of Shittim-wood overlaid with brass to be put into the Rings on the sides of the Altar to bear it withall And it was to be made hollow with boards without either bottom or cover according to the Pattern shewed to Moses in the Mount Exod. 27. from 1. to
ei authoritatem coram populo Conciliet and I will be with thee Moses now commands the Priests the Sons of Levi to put this Book of the Law which he had written in some safe Repository or Chest on the outside of the Ark where was the Pot of Manna and Aaron's Rod see Heb. 9.4 Indeed in the Ark it self were only the two Tables 1 Kings 8.9 but on the outside of it and by it was this Volume of the Law to be kept This Book was many years after found in the Treasury of the Temple in Josiah's Reign 2 Kings 22.8 2 Chron. 34.14 and therefore it seems it had been removed from the Ark and kept elsewhere wherein seeing they transgressed the directions that God here gave to the Priests no marvel if this precious Treasure was for some years lost and not looked after Moses having commanded them to place this Book on the outside of the Ark He said to them O Israel if thou art disobedient this Book shall be a witness against thee wherein thou art sufficiently warned to the contrary and shewed the Judgments that will thereupon insue But alas I know thy rebellious Disposition and thy stiff Neck Ye have been rebellious against the Lord while I was with you how much more will ye be so when I am dead Gather therefore unto me all the Elders of your Tribes and your Officers that I may speak unto them and call Heaven and Earth to witness against them For I know that after my death you will corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you and evil will befal you in the latter days because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and thereby provoke Him to anger The Elders and Officers of the people being met Moses spake in the ears of all the Congregation of Israel the words of this following Song Ch. XXXII Give Ear O ye Heavens * See Isa 1.2 and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth He beginneth this Prophetical Song with a Rhetorical Scheme calling the Heavens and Earth and all the Creatures in them to be witnesses of his word the more to affect the hearts of the people to reprove their hardness and to excite their attention I wish says He my Doctrine which I have received from God might so fall upon your hearts as the sweet and gentle Showers and fruitful Dew falleth upon the Herbs and Flowers and Grass of the Earth and causeth them to spring forth and flourish Isa 55.10 Hear therefore for I will now publish unto you the Name of the Lord that is his glorious Excellencies viz. his infinite Power Wisdom and Goodness and therefore see that ye ascribe Greatness and Majesty to Him and that ye magnifie Him as ye ought to do saying Thine O Jehovah is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory 1 Chron. 29.11 and that ye attend to what is spoken with all humility and lay it to heart and yield Obedience thereunto Know ye therefore that God is the Rock * In times of danger men use to fly to Rocks to shelter themselves 1 Sam. 13.6 He is an All-sufficient stable and sure Refuge for all those that fly to Him neither is there any sure Shelter any where else but in Him His Work is perfect for all his ways are Judgment All his Works are perfect (z) Even in those works of God that seem to have some imperfection in them as Children that are born blind or lame c. yet as they are acts of Providence there is a perfection of Wisdom Holiness and Justice in them and there is nothing at all in them for which God can justly be blamed and without any blemish there is no defect or fault to be found in any of them All his ways are Judgment his dealings with his people have been always right and just He is a God of truth and without Iniquity just and right is He. But as for this people they have corrupted themselves by their Idolatry their spot is not the spot of his Children for it proceedeth not of weakness and infirmity to which all are subject but of wilfulness and perverseness and an impenitent heart They are a perverse and crooked Generation for both their hearts and ways are evil and turned aside from the right Rule of Gods Law Do you thus requite the Lord O foolish people and unwise Is not God thy Father that made thee Is not He thy Father that hath bought thee that is ransomed and brought thee forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and the power of Miracles Hath not He made thee his people and established thee by Covenant to continue so if thou art not wanting to thy self and thy duty Remember the days of old and consider the years of many Generations ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee how God when by his Providence He disposed the several Nations that came out of the Loins of Adam into several parts of the Earth allotting to one Nation one Country and another to another did then set the bounds of the people according to the number of the Children of Israel that is did then chuse the Children of Israel to be his peculiar people and Inheritance and where they were there it might be said was his people and where their bounds ended there was the end and utmost bound of his people and the bounds of the Heathen then began and according to his secret purpose he gave and allotted to the Canaanites such bounds and limits as he knew would serve for the number of the Israelites For the Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his Inheritance that is the Israelites are that portion of Mankind whom he was pleased to make his peculiar people they are his Inheritance and therefore dear to Him as Inheritances use to be to men which are divided to them by lot and they were to acknowledge no other Lord over them but Himself and they and their Children after them were to be His successively He found them in a desart Land in a wast howling Wilderness inhabited only by wild howling Beasts of Prey He found them there in desperate danger but came in seasonably to their succour when they were ready to perish He led them about he instructed them both by his Word and Works by his Spirit and the several Dispensations of his Providence He kept them as the apple of his eye with tender care and love As an Eagle stirreth up her nest that is awaketh her brood or young ones in her nest rousing them up with the Cry that she maketh to signifie to them that she intends to teach them to fly and spreading abroad her wings taketh them up and beareth them thereon so did the Lord carry Israel towards Canaan leading them Himself thither and there was no strange god with him that is no strange God had any hand in
Stobaeus that is shewed them the duty of a King towards his Subjects and of his Subjects towards him and these fundamental Laws of the Kingdom he wrote in a Book (d) Hic liber periit cum multis aliis and laid it up before the Lord that is before the Ark or in the Tabernacle for the sure preservation of it and to intimate that God would take care of thâ—se Laws to uphold and maintain them and to punish those that should violate or break them These things being done Samuel dismissed this great Assembly and Saul went to Gibeah his own City and there went with him a band of men (e) Quos scil divinus spiritus ad obsequium illud novo Regi exhibendum impulit such whose hearts God had touched and moved to think it fit that they should attend him and as a Royal guard wait upon him and conduct him in his return home But all the people were not so well pleased with this Election though it plainly appeared to be of God there were some rude and wretched fellows Sons of Belial that despised him and look d upon him as a person unfit to be King and unlikely to govern them well and defend them against their enemies as a King should do whereupon they refused to bring him any presents (f) That was the custom of those times as is noted concerning Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 17.5 see Mat. 2.11 sine muneribus Reges orientis adiâ—i non solebant as it seems the rest of the people did to testifie their subjection and that they did acknowledg him to be their King But Saul held his peace not seeming to take notice (g) Novum imperium inchoantibus utilis clementiae fama ait Tacitus of their unworthy carriage towards him but seeking to win them by lenity and love 1 Sam. Ch. 10. from v. 17. to the end SECT CLXII NAhash King of the Ammonites now came up and besieged Jabesh-Gilead a City without Jordan this attempt had been brewing against the Israelites before they desired a King and was in great part the occasion of it as appears Ch. 12.12 And now possibly it was the more hastened by Nahash because of the report that was brought to him that the Israelites had shaken off the Government of Samuel and had chosen a King to reign over them at which some of them were discontent and would not accept him 'T is like the Ammonites made the ground of their present quarrel the old pretence and claim which they laid to the land of Gilead in which Jabesh stood see Judg. 11.13 which now they hop'd to recover and revenge the shameful overthrow which Jephtah then gave them The men of Jabesh-Gilead being now in extream fear and not trusting in the Providence of God as they ought to have done and contrary to Gods command who had forbidden them to make any Covenant with the accursed Nations they desire Nabash to make a Covenant with them and to take them under his protection as his Confederates and they would pay him Tribute and serve him Nahash proudly and tyrannically answers them that on this condition only he would make a Covenant with them namely if he might have liberty to put out their right eyes Hereby he intended it seems to disable them from War for with their Shields they covered their left eyes and therefore if their right eyes were put out what service of war could they be fit for as also to fix a reproach upon all Israel For the accepting such base conditions would be a perpetual disgrace to all the people of whom it would be said that they were so base a people that they would buy their peace and lives upon any terms yea it would be a reproach to the God of Israel as if he could not help his people in their distresses or would not do it The Elders of Jabesh-Gilead desire seven days respite to send unto their brethren for help in which time if they were not relieved they promise to come out unto him and to yield themselves to be disposed of at his pleasure Nahash being puft up with a vain opinion of his own strength and thinking it impossible that their brethren in that time either could or durst come to relieve them yields to their desire and by this means through his own arrogancy and folly he brought ruin and destruction upon himself and his people And God by his alwise Providence made this a means that Jabesh-Gilead should be delivered by the hands of Saul whose valour and magnanimity being in this atchievement so much displayed the hearts of the people were hereby more inclined to receive him for their King The men of Jabesh-Gilead having therefore liberty granted them to send to their Brethren their Messengers came first to Gibeah where Saul and Samuel now were to acquaint them with the extream streights they were in that so they might speedily send into all the Coasts of Israel for help When the people of Gibeah heard these doleful tidings they lift up their voices and wept Saul though elected King yet being returned to his own house betook himself as it seems to his former private Country-life expecting till God should please to give him an opportunity by some eminent action to shew himself worthy to be their King Coming home therefore out of the fields after his Herd he perceived the people all in an uproar crying out and wringing their hands and tearing their hair and expressing the bitterest lamentation Being extreamly surpriz'd at it he asks what was the matter they tell him the sad tidings that were brought to them concerning Jabesh-Gilead At the hearing of this the Spirit of God came upon him that is the spirit of fortitude and courage and magnanimity and zeal for his Countrys defence and though he was before very patient in his own cause when certain Sons of Belial scorned and despised him and easily passed it over as we have seen Ch. 10.27 yet now his anger was highly kindled and he was impatient of the wrong that was done to the Lord and his people by the Ammonites Taking therefore a yoke of Oxen and hewing them in pieces he sent the pieces to the several Tribes of Israel in imitation of the Levite Judg. 19.29 who did thus cut his Concubine in pieces and sent them to the several Tribes to stir up their indignation And because he was not as yet generally received as King he uses not only his own name but Samuel's also and by his messengers gives the people to understand that whosoever did not come forth and join with them in this expedition against the Ammonites their Oxen should be so served And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people and so moved and inclined their hearts that they readily came forth and joined with Saul and Samuel in this undertaking And when they were come together in the Territories of Bezek Saul numbred them and the Children of Israel were three hundred
vers 11 12. 15ly He forbids all fraud in buying and selling and commands that they should not have divers Weights and Measures to wit great ones to buy with and small ones to sell with or great ones to shew to the Officers when they come to view and try their Weights and Measures and less to sell their Wares by They are commanded to do just things that so their days may be lengthened in the Land which the Lord giveth them For all that do such things and deal unrighteously are an abomination to the Lord from vers 13. to 17. 16ly He puts them in mind of executing what God had declared against Amalek who smote the hindmost and feeblest of them when they came out of Egypt see Sect. 11. of Ch. 4. which was a great act of inhumanity and cruelty to seek to hurt them that had been lately so horribly oppressed in Egypt and it was a sign the Amalekites feared not God who had so visibly owned that people and so in fighting against the Israelites they fought against God Himself Therefore when they were peaceably setled in the Land which God intended to give them they should blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under Heaven This Judgment God appointed Saul to execute 1 Sam. 15.2 3. but he failed in the performance of it as we may see vers 9. Afterwards God stirred up the Simeonites in Hezekiah's days to do it who smote the rest of the Amalekites 1 Chron. 4.42 43. And what befel Haman and his Sons is largely related in the third Chapter of the Book of Esther from vers 17. to the end Chap. XXVI 17ly He gives directions that when they were come into the Land of Canaan every man should every year bring a Basket of his first-fruits at the Feast of Tabernacles Exod. 23.16 to the Priest to be by Him presented to the Lord as an acknowledgment that the Lord had freely given them this Land as He had promised to their Fathers and that of Him they still held it and therefore to Him as Lord in Chief by way of Tribute they brought these first-fruits testifying also thereby that to him they owed the yearly fruitfulness of their Land And when the Priest hath set down the Basket before the Altar the Offerer shall make this solemn Profession Our Ancestor Jacob was forced to fly into Syria and in respect of his long abode and continuance there with his Uncle Laban he may well be call'd a Syrian though born in the Land of Canaan There he was near lost and ready to perish by reason of the wrongs he received from his hard Father-in-law When he returned thence into the Land of Canaan after a few years by extremity of Famine he was constrain'd to remove into Egypt and there sojourned with a few who afterwards became a great mighty and populous Nation Then the Egyptians evil intreated us and laid upon us hard Bondage but when we cried unto the Lord He looked down with pity upon our Affliction and Labour and Oppression And brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty Hand and an out-stretched Arm and with great terribleness and with Signs and Wonders and hath brought us into this good Land flowing with Milk and Honey And behold I have brought to thee the first-fruits of the Land which thou O Lord hast given me Then leaving his Basket before the Altar for the use of the Priest who with the rest of his Brethren was afterwards to eat of them all first-fruits by Gods appointment appertaining to them Deut. 18.4 and humbly worshipping the Lord He shall depart and after he hath thus testified his thankfulness and done this Service he shall go and feast with the Levites and Strangers upon the Peace-Offerings He had brought thither even as they used to do at all other Feasts rejoycing in every good thing which the Lord hath given them see Deut. 16.11 15. from vers 1. to 12. 18ly He comes now to shew what profession and prayer that man was to make that paid his third years Tythes In the two first years after the Sabbatical year there were only two Tythes to be separated from their Estates The first for the Levites the second to be spent in their Journeys to Jerusalem and in holy feasting there before the Lord. But in the third year they were to separate a third Tythe which was for the Poor in the places where they dwelt The first of these Tythes was wholly the Levites * Out of this the Levitâ—s paid a tenth part again to the Priests Numb 18.24 to 29. Neh. 10.37 38. portion and therefore often called the Lords Inheritance the second or the price of it was to be carried up by the Owners to the Lords dwelling-place and there spent in holy feasting before the Lord but this third Tythe †Therefore this third year was peculiarly call'd the year of Tything because this year they separated three Tythes from their Increase one more than in other years The first was the Levites yearly livelihood the second was to be expended in their Journey to Jerusalem and feasting before the Lord there The third was to be laid up for the Poor see Deut. 14.28 was to be laid up in some publick place in the Towns and Cities where they dwelt and was not only for the use of the Levites but also of the Stranger Fatherless and Widdow as is said vers 12. that they might eat also within their Gates and be filled He that paid this third years Tythe was to make such a profession as this O Lord I have brought away the hallowed things out of my house and have given them to the Levites the Stranger the Fatherless and the Widow according to thy Commandments I have not transgressed thy Commandments nor forgotten them I have not eaten thereof in my mourning that is in my greatest wants and necessities and when I was in the greatest straits I have not ventured to supply my self from them Neither has it caused any mourning * Scil. pressus dolorâ— luctu quod tantum deberem auferre bonis meis aliis elargiri Jansen or repining in me that I was bound to part with so much of my Increase to the Poor Neither have I taken ought thereof for any unclean use that is for any use besides that for which they were appointed nor given ought thereof for the dead that is for the burying of the dead or to be provisions for a Funeral Feast †Non expendi in rem Funebrem Pompum vel Convivium de quo Jer. 16.7 Ezek. 24.17 Hos 9.4 Having made this solemn Protestation that He had not failed in paying his Tythes exactly according to the Law He was then to add this Prayer Lord look down from thy holy Habitation from Heaven and bless thy people Israel and this Land which thou hast given us as thou swearest to our Fathers from vers 12. to 18. 19ly He exhorts them to observe all
things be when will our Posterity by their Rebellions thus provoke God and bring such heavy Judgments on themselves and the Land I answer That is only known to God Himself secret things belong to Him but things revealed belong to us and our Children and therefore we may safely conclude That if they do thus provoke God then all this Misery and Calamity will certainly befal them except by true and timely repentance and turning unto God they prevent this ruine This says He God hath revealed and what he hath revealed it becomes us and our Câ—â—ldren always to consider and lay to heart that we may not provoke Him by transgressing any of his Commandments Ch. XXXI Moses now calling the people together He tells them He was at this time an 120 years old and therefore by the course of Nature it could not be expected that he should be able much longer to go in and out before them and to lead and govern them as before he had done And besides the Lord had told him He should not go over Jordan However he bids them be of good courage for the Lord Himself would go before them and by the Conduct of his Servant Joshua would subdue their Enemies for them as he had already done Sihon and Og Kings of the Amorites and they should destroy them as he had commanded and therefore he bids them not to be afraid of them for the Lord would go along with them and would not fail them nor forsake them Then he addresses his Speech to Joshua and in the sight of them all bids him be strong and of a good courage trusting in Gods Providence and Assistance who would not fail him nor forsake him He tells him He must lead the people over into Canaan and cause them to inherit it Then Moses having put into writing (x) Videtur Scripsisse tuâ—â— Deuteronomium tum Canticum sequens antequam ea populo pronunciaret this Law that is this Book of Deuteronomy he delivered it solemnly unto the Priests who upon some extraordinary occasions did carry the Ark as well as the Levites see Joshua 3.17 Josh 6.12 and unto all the Elders of Israel thereby giving them to understand that they were the men to whom it did especially belong to see that this Original Copy of the Law were safely kept and that the Laws therein commanded were duly observed both by themselves and the people And Moses commanded the Priests to read this Book this Original Copy of the Law every seventh year which was the year of Release among the people at the Feast of Tabernacles 'T is like some part of the Book of the Law was read among them by the Levites every Sabbath-day see Acts 15.21 and 't is like the people had Copies of the Law for their own private use in the reading whereof they did daily exercise themselves (y) If this were required of their Kings Ch. 17 18 19. much more may we think it was required of them But yet once in seven years God would have this Book to be read by the Priests from the beginning to the end among the people both that it might make the deeper impression on them and cause them to fear the Lord their God and to observe and do all the words of this Law and that it might appear to them that those Copies of the Law which they had among them and were read to them every Sabbath-day did agree with this Original Copy which Moses had given them And God appointed this to be done in the year of Release because then they had most liberty to mind and attend that Service the Land lying that year at rest themselves being freed from the danger of having their Debts exacted of them It was also an holy year the Sabbath of years and so the fitter for this extraordinary duty And it was appointed to be done at the Feast of Tabernacles because all Israel used then to appear before the Lord. For though the Males only were bound to appear at the three solemn Feasts Exod. 23.17 yet at this Feast it seems they carried their Wives and Children and the Strangers within their Gates along with them as appears vers 12. Neh. 8.3 And hereby their Children who had not seen the Wonders and Miracles that God had wrought for them as their Fathers had done might by hearing this Original Book of the Law read openly among them learn to fear the Lord their God and to serve him faithfully as long as they lived Then the Lord tells Moses That the day of his death did now approach and therefore he should call Joshua and they two should present themselves before Him in the Tabernacle of the Congregation that there he might give Joshua his Charge They accordingly went to the Tabernacle and the Pillar of Cloud stood over the door of it and the Lord said unto Moses Behold thou shalt lie down to sleep in the dust as did thy Fathers but I know that after thy death this people will go a whoring after the gods of the Canaanites and will forsake me and break my Covenant Then my anger will be kindled against them and I will forsake them and hide my Face from them and withdraw my Favour Blessing and Help and then they shall be devoured by their Enemies as by wild Beasts and many evils and troubles shall befal them so that they will say in that day Are not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us The Lord therefore commands Moses to write this following Song set down in the next Chapter containing a Prophesie of their falling off from God and his just Judgment upon them for it And the Lord was pleased to give it to them in the form of a Song that it might be the better remembred by them and might work more upon their affections and the Israelites were to learn it and sing it that in time to come when they should so provoke God by their sins as is there set forth and God should thereupon punish them with those very evils that are there foretold this Song as out of their own mouths might be a Witness for God against them viz. that He had given them sufficient warning and yet notwithstanding by their willful and hainous Provocations they had brought these Miseries on themselves For says the Lord I know their secret Imaginations and the base apostatizing thoughts and purposes which some of them already have in their hearts even now before I have brought them into the Land which I sware unto their Fathers to give them see Amos 5.25 and Acts 7.43 and I do foresee what they will do hereafter Moses accordingly wrote this Song the same day and taught it the Children of Israel God then gives Joshua his Charge saying to him Be strong and of a good courage for thou shalt bring this people into the Land of Canaan V. 23. Hoc loco primum alloquitur Dominus Joshuam ut
a deadly hatred as appears Joh. 4. 9. the main difference between them in point of Religion is briefly and clearly stated in those words of the woman of Samaria to our Saviour Our Fathers viz. Samaritans worshipped in this mountain viz. Gerizim but ye Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship Joh. 4.20 And observable it is that whereas Moses appointed an Altar to be built on Mount Ebal which Joshua accordingly afterwards erected in that place Josh 8.30 Yet the Samaritan Penteteuch maketh the same to be built on Mount Gerizim in the very place where afterwards this mock-temple stood to gain thereto the greater reputation of holiness and so they wilfully depraved the original vide Samarit Pentet in Deut. 27.4 But if besides the five Books of Moses these Samaritans had received the Books of the Prophets their testimony would have overthrown their cause for the Psalmist says expresly Psal 78. 67. He refused the Tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the Tribe of Ephraim but chose the Tribe of Judah the mount Sion which he loved But to return this Temple on mount Gerizim Antiochus Epiphanes afterwards turned into the Temple of Jupiter who is celebrated for hospitality and it was destroyed something before the time of our Saviour by John Hircanus after it had stood above two hundred years But though the Temple was taken away yet the mountain remained still in which the Samaritans continued their adoration and false worship Here Ends the Reigns of the KINGS of ISRAEL Kings of Judah The first King of Judah REHOBOAM SOlomon being dead some of the Heads and Officers of Israel immediately sent into Egypt for Jeroboam to come to them and it seems they contriv'd among themselves that before they would Crown Rehoboam King they would petition him to be eased of the Taxes his Father in the latter part of his reign had imposed on them For though he made not the Israelites bondmen Ch. 9.22 yet we read of large provisions that were gathered in the land to maintain the royalty of his Court Ch. 4.7 22 23. and of levies made for his buildings Ch. 9.15 and in his declining age especially when he was carried away by his Idolatrous wives and concubines undoubtedly heavier Taxes were laid on the people and it may be Hadad's and Rezons enmity against him might also occasion some impositions These Taxes they resolved to be eased of before they admitted him to the Government And it seems they met at Sechem a City in the Tribe of Ephraim to consult of these matters and from thence sent to Rehoboam that there they were convened to Crown him Rehoboam accordingly going thither Jeroboam and the heads of the people came to him and spake to him saying Thy Father made our yoke grievous now therefore we pray thee ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy Father and his heavy yoke that he put upon us and we will serve thee Rehoboam took three days time to consider of the matter of their petition in which alone he shewed himself wise Solomon's Son and during that time he consulted first with the old men that had been Counsellors and servants to his Father and askt them what answer he should return to the people They told him if he would be kind to them and please them for this once and yield to them and speak good words to them they would be his servants and obedient subjects for ever but if he did otherwise they would be in danger to revolt from him Rehoboam liked not their advice and therefore advised with the younger men that had been brought up with him and now attended on him and they told him that this people were not to be pleased or humoured but to be ratled and rigorously dealt with and therefore advised him to tell them that if they complained of his fathers taxes and impositions he would give them more cause to complain of his They should find that his little finger would be thicker than his Fathers loyns If his Fathers yoke that he laid upon them was heavy he would add to their yoke If his Father chastis'd them with whips he would chastise them with scorpions This is the answer they advise him to give them Accordingly on the third day Jeroboam and the heads of the people coming again to him he forsaking the counsel of the old men answered them roughly according to the words which the young men had put into his mouth Thus Rehoboam regarded not the desire and petition of the people but utterly rejected it for the thing was of the Lord who with-held the spirit of wisdom and counsel from him else he might easily have discerned what the event would be and gave him over to be misled by rash and evil counsellors and thereupon alienated the hearts of the people from him intending thereby to perform the word that he spake by Ahijah the Shilonite concerning Jeroboam This sharp and rigorous answer of the King gave such a general distaste to the people that they would no longer stay to advise upon it but ten of the twelve Tribes unanimously manifested a present and peremptory resolution to fall off from him and muttered after this manner What portion say they have we in David * See the like speech of Sheba 2 Sam. 20.1 to which possibly they allude that is What good can we expect from Davids stock or what inheritance have we in the Son of Jesse What advantage or profit can we expect from any of his posterity To your Tents †Because they of old dwelt in Tents this phrase is still continued in use among them O Israel let us no longer stay here to make our selves slaves to this Tyrant but every man look to his own house and out of our own Tribes let us choose us a King and look thou to thy own house Rehoboam who art descended of David and make much of thy own Tribe for beyond their bounds thy Kingdom is not like to extend We are resolved to take care of our selves and to choose a King from among our own Tribes Rehoboam seeing the people in such a mutiny and distemper he sends Adoram who was over the Tribute to pacifie them hoping no doubt but they would reverence so venerable an old man as he was who was not much short of an hundred years of age having enjoyed that office above sixty years viz. from the midst of David's reign see 2 Sam. 20.24 and all Solomon's until now But he being one of those who they thought promoted the laying of Impositions upon the people the very sight of him did so enrage them that in a mutinous and outragious manner they fell upon him and stoned him to death Upon this Rehoboam thought it high time for him to be gone and therefore speedily getting into his Chariot he fled to Jerusalem Things being now come to this desperate pass immediately ten Tribes fell off from Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam the