the Prophecy on what occasion or for what reason I know not One saith it was done in imitation of the superstition of the Jews and to conclude the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that all might end in good words or words of a good sound The superstition of the Jews w ch he mentions is this that whereas the last words here and smite the Earth with a curse sound harsh in their ears and seem to bode evil that they might conclude with something more pleasing they repeat the words going before again after them viz. Behold I will send you Eliah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadfull day of the Lord and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers or at least some of them so as still to leave out the last harsh words which conclude with a curse The like do they do in some other Books for the same reason as at the end of Isaiah and of Ecclesiastes and the Lamentations in which after the last verse they repeat again the verse going before it And for warning thereof casting the initial letters of the names of these Books viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I T K K into an artificial word so as to be a signal or memorial of them I standing for Isaiah T for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tereasher i. e. the twelve minor Prophets of which Malachi is the last and the first K for Kinoth i. e. Lamentations the second for Koheleth i. e. Ecclesiastes they usually write or print that signal together with the words w ch they would have to be repeated all or some of them How ancient this custom was among them I know not it savors of the humor of those of ancient times among them who said to Gods Prophets prophecy not unto us right things speak unto us smooth things Isaiah XXX 10 They seem to think that the putting away from them the mention of the evil day that they might go on in their sins in security should secure them from it so inverting and frustrating to themselves Gods gracious method who that they might not perish in their security caused those words in the last place to be inculcated to them that so they might sink deep into them and work in them repentance whereby alone the evil mentioned might be prevented whereas their refusing to give that attention to them would pull it on them to their unavoidable destruction as in the example of these here spoken to it manifestly came to pass so as to be for caution to all in like kind As for the present place some are of opinion that the Jews do here repeat those words Behold I send you Eliah e. to strengthen themselves in their opinion and hope that the Messiah is not yet come but is to come If so or out of what respect soever they do it we have from the Messiah himself what to oppose to them and adde to what they would conclude with viz. But I say unto you Elias is come already and they knew him not but did unto him whatsoever they listed The Messiah also is already come and they would not know him neither but rejected him and despitefully used him for which their obstinacy that great and terrible day of the Lord is also come upon them and he hath smitten the Earth i. e. them and their Land with such a curse so terrible a destruction as makes good all that is here spoken and shews that not one word of this Prophecy is fallen to the ground but hath had its full accomplishment on them so that now they remain an ensample to all others that shall despise or neglect the means of grace offered to them as they did and putting far away the evil day will not whiles God gives them space know the things which belong unto their peace nor think of the time of their visitation For how shall any that reject the counsel of God against themselves as they did any People or Nation but expect to be smitten with the like curse as they were even in this World how shall the just God which spared not that his chosen Nation his once peculiar People the Seed of Abraham his friend spare others guilty in the like kind So that though these words were fulfilled in that destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation the People then peculiarly spoken to and intended yet may all others see in them what may concern them also even in this World But if it should so please God that any obstinately wicked and impenitent People should escape the like judgement in this World yet besides that prime and literal meaning of the words already as we said fulfilled on them we cannot but by them be put in mind of that more great and terrible day of the Lord and look on it as by this typified the judgement of which none either whole Nations or particular persons that ever lived shall escape and which shall unawares seize not on any one Land only but on the whole Earth and all therein yea and the Heavens too with greater terror then that by which this concerning the Jews is here v. 1. or elsewhere described or can by any words be expressed Wherefore seeing what God hath done and being thereby warned and by his word certainly assured what he will do what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness as S. Peter will teach us to infer looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God All those admonitions to the Jews and all Gods methods toward them for preparing them for that day of his coming here mentioned equally concern us in respect of that other day of his coming by it typified and it will be necessary for us to apply them to our own concerns and to make use of them to our selves without expecting of another Elias to be sent to forewarn and convert us We have not promise of any and it would be to no purpose to have any We have Moses and the Prophets we have the admonitions of John Baptist and Christ himself and the example of the miscarriage of the Jews for not hearkning to them and if we will not hear and be warned by these neither will we be perswaded if Elias or John Baptist should rise from the dead or Christ should come again in the flesh among us to convert us Sufficient to us to make us to prepare our selves for what we are certainly to expect or leave us without excuse are those admonitions of his extending to all Generations Watch therefore for you know not what hour your Lord doth come Matt. XXIV 42 and again v. 44. Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh There is no generation which can assure themselves but that in it may be made good as to that other day
A COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHECY OF MALACHI By EDWARD POCOCK D. D. Canon of Christ-Church and Regius Professor of the Hebrew Tongue in the Vniversity of OXFORD OXFORD Printed at the THEATER M.DC.LXXVII To the Right Reverend Father in God THOMAS LORD BISHOP Of EXETER MY LORD AMONGST the encouragements which I have had to proceed in explaining some of the lesser Prophets have been your Lordships perswasions which deservedly ought to have with me the force of commands The same have given me boldness to recommend this part of that Work to your Lordships Patronage by whose countenancing of it others will be encouraged to look into it with hopes of receiving some benefit by it That which is presented to your hands is an Exposition on Malachi the last of the Prophets as in order so in time and even for that reason by me chosen to fix my thoughts on before others because nearest therefore in conjunction with the Gospell to which it leads us by the hand and delivers us over for that begins where he ends so that from that looking back according to our Saviours own direction to search the Scriptures of the old Testament which testify of him for confirmation of the new and to see how what in this is recorded as done was in that foretold as to be done we presently light on those things concerning Christ and his forerunner John the Baptist with report of which the Gospell begins so clearly set down by this last of the Prophets as that we cannot but admire that the Jews of those times did not at the appearance of them in their offices without more adoe confess That what Malachi prophesied was now come to pass and acknowledge That both Elias the Lords Messenger whom he would send to prepare the way before him and the Lord of the Temple whom they sought even the Messenger of the Covenant whom they delighted in they that were to come were come and they were to look for no other And no less is it to be wondred that their posterity should even to this day continue in the like obstinacy and shut their eies against these manifest truths notwithstanding they have long since seen fully executed on their Nation all those heavy things which in this Prophecy also were denounced against such as should not embrace them Yet do they taking no notice of these things perversly still stand out and seek all waies by false glosses absurd misinterpretations and misapplications of these Prophecies so long since fulfilled as if they were things yet to come to elude them and deceive themselves and their posterity Their cavils I have endeavoured as God hath enabled me to remove and so by asserting the place for Christs Birth designed by Micah and the time for his coming by Malachi to clear the way for the better understanding of all such other Prophecies as foretold of other things in and by him to be fulfilled and by the exact accomplishment of which the Gospell proves him to be the CHRIST These I thought convenient therefore to begin with as the Gospell doth as preceding in execution divers others that were before them uttered The due fulfilling of these and the nature of them being vindicated from the Glosses of the Jews the other will be better understood and such cavils also as are brought in the expounding of them be easier removed the being and coming of him whom they concern being established What I have done in this kind or any other which may conduce to the true meaning of this Prophet I must humbly submit to the judgement of your Lordship and others Whatever the Work be I desire it may be a testimony of my dutiful respects and gratitude to your Lordship in many years enjoiment of whose love and friendship I have been formerly happy and now more in that I see that the change of your Lordships condition to an higher degree of dignity in the Church hath nothing altered your affections of which I have real proof in your Lordships favor shewed to some of mine for my sake Long may your Lordship continue in health and happiness to be an instrument of promoting Gods glory and the good of the Church So are the hearty prayers of MY LORD Your Lordships most humble Servant EDWARD POCOCK A COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHECY of the PROPHET MALACHI CHAP. I. VERS 1. The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi THE burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi Whereas there is nothing elsewhere spoken of this Prophet in Canonical Scripture it hath given occasion of several conjectures concerning him His name being interpreted signifying my Angel or my Messenger hath made some to think that he was an Angel appearing in form of a man for the delivery of Gods Message to the People of that time But this opinion by some ancient Christians of great authority entertain'd is by others that followed deservedly rejected as having no solid grounds If any will make any inference from the derivation of the name he may rather think him design'd as a man of holy Angelical qualities or in office resembling an Angel rather then a natural Angel A man therefore he is taken to be but who is that man An ancient Jewish Doctor would make him the same with Mordecai but having no ground for it is not by others followed That wherein more of them agree and among them the Chalde Paraphrast also is that he was the same with Esdras to which divers Christians also seem to encline But the Arguments brought to prove it on examination are no way convincing and therefore the truer and more probable opinion is that he was a distinct Prophet call'd by this name Malachi a name well agreeing to and attesting his function as a Prophet sent by God in his message He prophesied after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity and the rebuilding of the Temple and was the last of the Prophets that God sent to them leaving them for the future to expect the coming of Christ and to long after it for farther manifestation of his will Of Christ and his forerunner John Baptist he most evidently prophesied and till their coming God left them for directions to the Law of Moses Chap. IV. 4 The Authority of his Prophecy is asserted in the New Testament where it is cited Matth. XI 10 Mark I. 2 Luk. I. 16 and VII 27 Rom. IX 13 and elsewhere The Tradition of the Jews is that Prophecy remained among them 40 years under the second Temple in which time Haggai and Zachary and Malachi prophesied of which Malachi was the last and so his Prophecy concludes the Books of the Prophets it ends with the Promise of him with the history of whom the Gospel begins viz. John the Baptist and his preaching Repentance His Prophecy is here called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Massa The burden of the word of the Lord by which name
viz. I gave them i. e. life and peace to him for or because of the fear with which he feared me Having taken notice of this difference that we may the better judge of it and see farther into the meaning of the words it will not be amiss to look also what others who follow neither of these waies say There be therefore who likewise supply the word for but in another sense then ours and those who agree with ours do rendring not for the fear but for a fear not as if the Promises of the Covenant for life and peace followed on that fear but as if that Covenant were to effect and produce fear Though they both concur in this that fear and reverence of God and his Name and a right performance of worship to him is a necessary condition for obtaining and receiving those benefits and priviledges by vertue of Gods Covenant to be expected A learned Jew hath on these words this Note which because his Book was never yet printed we shall more at large set down My Covenant was with him of life and peace c. that is I covenanted with them to give to them as a reward of their obedience to me life in this World and security or safety from evils or if you will say happiness in this World and happiness in the World to come which is true peace and some say the meaning is I have made a Covenant with them concerning or with such Precepts or Commands by which they shall receive or shall be received or obtained life and peace And what he saith and I gave them to him fear is said in respect to those Precepts that he should fear to transgress them or to let slip the receiving of them And others say that what he saith and I gave them is meant of Israel viz. I gave them to be governed by him that they should reverence him and fear him Then saith he he proceeds and saith that he did so viz. as I commanded him which is that which he saith and he feared me c. thus he Then concluding This is spoken of those ancient righteous men who bare the office of the High Priests exciting those who in those times bare it that they should imitate or be like them by their diligence in their obedience and a good conversation R. Salomo Jarchi thus expounds the words And I gave them to him fear that he should receive them in or with fear and so he did And he feared me c. which words may suggest to us another rendring viz. My Covenant was with him of life and peace that I would give them to him in or with or on fear viz. if he should fear me for so I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vaettenem may be rendred that I would give them as the conjunction Va is sometimes rendred by that see Psal. LI. 16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veettenah that I should give it as in the Margin of our Bible The same Author thinks this here to respect that Covenant which was made with Phinehas inasmuch as it is said of him Numb the XXV 12 Behold I give unto him my Covenant of peace though to his posterity also it was intailed as there follows And he shall have it and his Seed after him And there be some of the Jews that look upon it as more signally made good to him in that his life was prolonged to him above three hundred years as they gather from that he was alive in that time when the War was between the Israelites and Benjamites described Judg. XX. where ver 28. it is said And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it i. e. the Ark in those daies which from the place which that Story hath in that Book being the last Transaction recorded in it they conclude to have been the space of above three hundred years after the first mention of Phinehas And this some Christian Interpreters also mention with some seeming assent But a learned Jew but even now cited viz. R. Tanchum in his Commentary on the book of Judges looks on this conclusion concerning the length of Phinehas his life from these words as very groundless and thinks that very passage that Phinehas was then there to be an evident proof that that transaction though placed last in that Book yet was before several others things therein put before it and not long after the Israelites entring into the promised Land Probably by the Penman of that Book set down where it is as a story by it self and not having dependance on others that he might not interrupt the series and connexion of the History The same also he saies to be done in that story of the Danites and Micah Judg. XVIII both he thinks to have been before that of Jephti and that the like also may be observed in other places where the Penmen of the Books of Scripture for reasons best known to themselves and to avoid interruption in what they were about placed such things after others in their writing which were done before them The opinion likewise of others who say that Phinehas lived yet longer and was Eliah he there confutes as very absurd And in Aaron this may be said to be fulfilled who lived an hundred and twenty and three years Numb XXXIII 39 But it will not concern our present purpose to examine such things sufficient it will be to us from the present words to be instructed that God did to those comprehended under the name of Levi as well as others as Aaron Eleazar and Phinehas make good on his part his Covenant to them of life and peace and all conducible to their prosperity and happiness in the best manner and still would to as many as should keep Covenant in fearing reverencing and obeying him as those their Ancestors did If these now find it to be otherwise with them it is from their own not his breach of Covenant by which they fondly expected to have him bound up to them while they would wickedly break it and deal falsly in it towards him A late very learned man gives this exposition of the words that whereas they literally are My Covenant was with him of life and peace and I gave them to him fear c. the sense is to be made up by supplying either and viz. And I gave them to him and fear or else with viz. And I gave them to him with fear that the sense may be My Covenant was with him or I made a Covenant with him of life and peace And as I promised them by Covenant to him so I gave them to him nor gave I them alone to him but also my fear or them with my fear and so follows and he feared me This he prefers before those rendrings above mentioned either and I gave them to him for a fear or for the fear wherewith he feared me Thus we having set down how
place be understood the thing is known and manifest and therefore both Munster and the Tigurin Latin Version instead of what ours render neither shall your Vine cast her fruit before the time in the Field c. translate it neither shall he i. e. the devourer make your Vine barren or unfruitful to you in the Field and to that doth that Exposition of Abarbinel which we have seen seem to encline The Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Teshaccel is of that form as that it signifies sometimes to cause to make abortive to deprive of and the like in an active sense as Deut. XXXII 25 The sword c. shall destroy or bereave and Ezek XIV 15 If I cause noisom beasts to pass through the Land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veshiccelattah and they spoil it or bereave it And in the same sense Hos. IX 12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shiccaltim I will bereave them to omit other examples And sometimes again in an absolute sense viz. to be abortive to be deprived of or cast fruit before it be perfect as Gen. XXXI 31 Thy Ewes and thy she-Goats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo shiccelu have not cast their young or been abortive and Job XXI 10 Their Cow calveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Velo teshaccel and casteth not her Calf Those therefore mentioned take the Verb in the former signification ours and most others both Jewish and Christian Expositors in the latter to which we the more incline because otherwise here will be a change of the Gender in the Verb speaking of the same thing for that in the word destroy is masculine but here is feminine so that they seem one to agree with the first Noun Locust which is of the masculine Gender and the other with Vine in the feminine however such change of Genders may be admitted and seeing though the Locusts destroy not the Vines yet there may be other means as Blasts or Blights and hurtfull Winds and like causes whether from within or without which may make them loose or cast their fruit before it comes to maturity even after a great shew and likelyhood of plenty from hurt by all such causes whether from such devouring creatures or any other means God here promiseth to secure them upon their turning to him and to give them both the encrease of the Earth and fruit of the Vine and so all necessary things in such plenty and perfection that all Nations seeing Gods great goodness shewed unto them shall call them blessed For ye saith he shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Erets chephets a delightsome Land or Land of delight or desire worthy to be desired saith the Vulgar i. e. as some will a Land that men would desire to live in So R. Tanchum a Land to be desired and chosen for its pleasantness and excellency to the same sense that it is said which is the glory of all Lands Ezek. XX. 6 15. Others with Abarbinel understand it a Land of desire or well pleasing to God i. e. such as he takes delight in and shews extraordinary respect and favour to both to the People and the Land as Aben Ezra as he saith elsewhere of Zion that she should be called Hephzibah Isa. LXII 4 i. e. my delight is in her because saith he the Lord delighteth in thee and the comparing that place with this seems to make for this Exposition and it will be well illustrated by what is said Deut. XI 12 a Land which the Lord thy God careth for or seeketh the eyes of the Lord thy God are alwaies upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year viz. to give it its rain in due season the first rain to make it spring up and the latter rain to bring it to perfection and so to preserve the fruits of the Earth that they might gather in their corn and their wine and their oyl v. 14. which is the same care and the same blessing that is here promised This Exposition the Syriack follows rendring it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ar'o detzebyoni A Land of my delight good will or pleasure i. e. to which I bear good will or have good liking to The Chalde likewise taketh it in rendring And all Nations shall praise you because you dwell in the Land of the House of my Majestatick presence and do therein my pleasure He suggests therein a double meaning or respect to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chephets as first that they or their Land should be called a Land of delight or good will because God delighted to dwell in it and secondly because the Inhabitants thereof did the good pleasure of God and delighted to do his will and therefore he delighted in them and to do good to them as appeared by his extraordinary blessings poured out upon them more then on other People which they should all acknowledge and call them blessed for it so saith the Lord of Hosts of all the Hosts of Heaven and Earth who hath power and command of all and therefore so shall it certainly be as he saith 13 ¶ Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord yet ye say What have we spoken so much against thee 14 Ye have said It is vain to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts 15 And now we call the proud happy yea they that work wickedness are set up yea they that tempt God are even delivered 16 ¶ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name Your words have been stout against me saith the Lord. These words may be coupled with the former as if they were a complaint of the Jews stubbornness that though God had reproved them for their sins such as have been expressed and by some judgements warned them of his displeasure for them and likewise had invited them to repentance and promised upon their repentance to remove those judgements and turn the curse with which he had cursed them into a blessing yet this was so far from working in them repentance that they grew more and more insolent and instead of acknowledging their faults and ill deserts proceeded in speaking against him and his justice as if he inflicted on them worse then they deserved not accepting of any service from them and mean while seemed to favor those that were notoriously wicked and tempted him and despised him and so set at nought what by the Prophets was spoken to them for their good Wherefore he proceeds farther to reprove them and mind them of the ill consequents of such their ill behavior which shall be occasion of more heavy judgements and final destruction as between this and the end of the Chapter he shews Or we need not
for explication of the sense more words which because his Book is not printed nor common it will not be amiss to give or the meaning of them which is That the meaning of these words together in connexion with the former is Ye have or shall have assurance of his love to you and providence over you when you see that you your selves are returned to your own Land and have power of building and inhabiting it but they have not power to do the like but they build and I throw down and ye therefore praise or shall praise and magnify my name for it saying The Lord shall be magnified on the border of Israel that is his greatness shall be alwaies manifest upon or over you or else it may be supplied thus The Lord shall be magnified who protecteth the border of Israel or the like Or the meaning is said to be It would have become you that you should so do and have continued so to do viz. to have taken due notice of this and to have said The Lord be magnified c. but you have done the contrary as in what follows is declared Or saith he in the opinion of some the words from the border of Israel are to be joined with and ye as if it were thus to be construed And you that reside on or dwell in the border of Israel shall say The Lord be magnified Thus he which we the rather take notice of because it will arm us against what another Jew saith that this may be interpreted And your eies shall see the destruction of Edom in the end of daies or the last daies and then ye shall say The Lord be magnified from the border of Israel that is to say In all the World shall his name be magnified according to what is said Then will I turn to the People a pure language that they may call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent Zeph. III. 9 He seems to look upon this Prophecy as not yet fulfilled but hereafter to be fulfilled by the utter destruction of Edom which certainly hath been long since destroyed and setling Israel again in their Land They willingly catch at any thing whereby to cherish themselves in their fond error of expecting a Messiah yet to come who shall restore to Israel a temporal Kingdom and subdue under them all their Enemies and cut off those whom they please to call Edom by which name we have shewed whom they mean He runs in this the same way that Abarbinol doth Yet here Abarbinel though he promise to himself a farther fulfilling of it in that way yet could not but confess it to be already fulfilled viz. under the second Temple and that restitution of Israel from their Babylonish captivity and the destruction of Edom in those times and therefore saith Perhaps this Promise was spoken concerning both times viz. that so long since past and that which they expect yet to come The Verbs being in the Text in the future Tense as of what was then to come will not advantage those who would make that use thereof as if it were yet to be expected for though their eies had already seen Edom subdued and their Mountains laid wast yet there was there that which they were farther to see and admire viz. that the Edomites should again strive to recover themselves and rebuild their wast as Israel had done theirs but through the continued indignation of the Lord upon them should never be able to do it What we read The Lord will be magnified some read Great is or be the Lord the Lord doth magnify himself over or upon the border of Israel viz. by taking especial care of it Your eies shall see from the border of Israel and you shall say The Lord doth magnify himself The Chalde expounds it And ye shall say Let the Glory of God be multiplied for he hath enlarged the border of Israel which some well like of and so it will well agree with what Drusius observes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meal properly to signify beyond but these small differences make no great alteration in the sense and scope The inference from what hath been said is plainly this That seeing God had in thus declaring his peculiar love to them above others whom he might for the same respects they also being the seed of Abraham have made objects of his love as well as them certainly they ought to have requited him with more then ordinary love and testified it by their obedience to him which seeing they did not they are justly reproveable To shew the justness of his reproof of them and aggravate the unreasonableness of their ingratitude and perverse behaviour towards him he in the following words proceeds farther to explain his benefits and relations that he stands in to them for which tokens of his love to them they ought also to have shewed such respects to him as those relations required but did not He adds therefore 6 ¶ A son honoureth his father and a servant his master If then I be a father where is mine honour and if I be a master where is my fear saith the Lord of hosts unto you O Priests that despise my Name and ye say Wherein have we despised thy Name A son honoreth his Father and a servant his Master c. God had all along shewed such fatherly love to Israel and paternal care over them above all other Nations that they could not but acknowledge him their Father not only by a common right as he is Father of all as Creator of all but by a peculiar right as having adopted them unto a greater priviledge and nigher relation of sonship then others and so had he by his peculiar guidance and protection direction and government of them shewed himself a Lord and Master to them that they could not deny him by a particular right of title to be so to them This they could not they would not deny but rather so challenge him to themselves in these respects as if he were not so at all to other Nations either a Father or Master to them The word If therefore doth not put or suppose it as a thing which they doubted or such as in words they would deny but such as while with their mouths they confessed or could not but confess they did not in their deeds make good but rather contradicted for if they did look on him as a Father why did they not then duly honor him or if as a master why did they not then reverence and fear him and so includes a reprehension of them for not attesting to their outward profession by their respective behaviour but by that shewed their heart not to be right with him For a son honoureth his Father and a servant his Master It is their duty so to do and they transgress not only their duty but the ordinary custom they who do not so are unnatural sons
And so accordingly do they differently give their Expositions of the whole as some that the Lord will cut off both the man that transgressed in this kind and also his abettors and defendors though he would seek to expiate his fault by gifts and Sacrifices offered to the Lord by himself or others Others that he would cut off from him either himself that looked after such women or from him that defended him those sons begotten of them yea though he offered gifts c. A lâ—te very learned man having considered the different Expositions of others gives thus his own opinion that in this verse is threatned punishment to those that were guilty of that treacherous dealing in the precedent verse mentioned viz. that God would cut off from them 1. Such who should watch for or over them in or with praiers and admonitions 2. Such as should answer them when they should ask concerning the Law 3. Him that should offer to God such Sacrifices as they brought So that together he may be understood to threaten the Priests spoken of in the former verses of the Chapter that they should be removed from their office and likewise all the People spoken of in the verse immediatly foregoing that they should be deprived of their Priests But to me there seems no more facile or perspicuous Exposition then that given by that learned Jew at first mentioned agreeable likewise to what others of the same Nation give viz. that he will destroy to or from them or they shall be destroyed or perish so that there shall be none left among them to whom shall pertain or agree any of those Epithets that import life such as are waking and answering as if this were a proverbial kind of expression to denote as much as any living soul as if he should say I will cut off every living soul so that there shall be none in his house that may call or answer none at all living And this imprecation or menace saith he comprehends the transgressors in this kind of all Israel as he saith first out of the Tabernacles of Jacob and then particularly applieth it to such of the Priests as did so saying and him that offereth an offering to the Lord of hosts or and of him that offereth viz. out of the habitations both of the common People of Israel or the Laïty and also of the Priests which last Exposition comes nigh to what the Greek hath from or out of the Tabernacles of Jacob and from or out of those that bring an offering to the Lord Almighty although in the rendring the words immediatly preceding they be very wide from any yet mentioned rendring untill he be brought down which some ascribe to the reading it differently from what is now read in the Hebrew But whether so or that they did it by way of Interpretation as we before said of others thinking it a proverbial Speech and that to be the importance of it which they set down though noâ— in a litteral rendring it will not concern us to enquire our business chiefly being to see what meaning the Hebrew Text as now read which we doubt not to be the true and incorrupted reading will naturally bear and to adjust with it our English Translation and sometimes as occasion gives others also from it as now read derived Out of the Tabernacles of Jacob. The Chalde Paraphrase rendreth Out of the Cities of Jacob. From the ancient and frequent use of living in Tents or Tabernacles in those Countries and the long custom of their Ancestors of living in such was the word afterwards used for any habitations Cities or Houses in w ch they dwelt and sometimes for the Congregation oâ— Company of the People themselves that dwelt together in them So that by cutting off these sinners out of the Tabernacles of Jacob may be understood the extirpating them out of the Land the dwellings or the Congregation of Israel Some thinking this spoken more particularly of the Priests or Levites think by this expression to be meant the casting them out of the Temple or from the Altar so that they should not be admitted or suffered any more to serve there But this seems to be too narrow a restriction of this menace only to the Priests which as appears out of the foregoing verse is denounced against all Judah and Israel And though it appear out of the forecited books of Ezra and Nehemiah that some of the Priests were guilty in this kind by taking strange wives yet was the sin more general and so the punishment menaced seems extended to all of all sorts that had so done whether Priests or Lay-People By some the word Tabernacles is thought used to put them in mind of their unsetled condition 13 And this have ye done againe covering the Altar of the Lord with tears with weeping and with crying out insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more or receiveth it with good will at your hand And this have ye done againe Againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shenith secondly or a second time or in the second place or this second thing so that he seems proceeding in his reproof to tax them of a second crime added to a former The former to which this now to be spoken of is second is by diverse taken to be that in the foregoing Chapter and the beginning of this taxed their offering to God illegal Sacrifices and in illegal manner and shewing contempt of his Altar and want of due regard to his service Others look on this as called second in respect to that spoken of vers 11. viz. their profaning the holiness of the Lord by marrying the daughters of strange Gods idolatrous wives to which though the sins after spoken of have respect and be of the same kind yet it is another additional degree of it an heightning and doubling of it so that the word againe or secondly may well be referred to it And it will not much matter which of the two opinions be followed But the Greek and such as follow them here as the printed Arabick render the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shenith much differently from both viz. things which I hated taking it seems this word to be of the same signification with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sane in the 16. verse which signifies hating and is a different Root The fault with which they are taxed is that they covered the Altar of the Lord with tears with weeping and crying out c. which by the generality of the Jewish and most of Christian Expositors is understood of the effect of their treacherous dealing with their lawful Israelitish wives whom by either dismissing them to take others or by taking with them strange women to whom they shewed more respect love and kindness then to them and with them dealt unkindly and otherwise then they ought depriving them of what was due to
there and others both here and there give it For here he would have the words rendred as continued with the former and part of what those blasphemers before mentioned said viz. that then they that feared the Lord were destroyed from another signification that the same root hath and is used in as in other places according to him and some others So in II Chron. XXII 10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vattedabber and she destroyed all the Seed Royal and from it is the Noun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deber which signifies the plague or such destructive sickness so that according to him the sense is that when the presumptuous sinners that work wickedness are set up and though they tempt God by exposing themselves to the greatest dangers are yet delivered then at that very time they that fear the Lord perish are cut off and destroyed one together with another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 el to being here the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Im with or are by evil accidents intangling them made destructive and causes of perdition one to another as if the hand of God were upon them to confound and destroy them Thus far he would have the words of those that spake against Gods Justice to reach and then the following words the Lord hearkned c. to be an answer from the Prophet to them as if he should say to them Know and consider that to all this that you say God hearkneth and heareth it and that both the righteousness of the righteous and the wickedness of the wicked are as manifest before him as if all were written in a book of remembrance that it might remain many daies till the time of due recompence and reward c. And the same way of Exposition with him doth Arias Montanus follow and gives it as his own conjecture or opinion probably having seen Abarbinel else he would scarce have fallen in so fully with him here as he doth in many other places without mentioning him in Expositions singular to them and this he commends as most agreeable to the words but I see no reason to be of his opinion but choose rather to follow that interpretation which our Translation with the most both of Jews and Christians gives not making these first words a part of those stout words which the wicked spake against God but a declaration of the behaviour of those that feared God and the following of the good consequence thereon So R. D. Kimchi perspicuously expounds them and the following The former words were the saying of those who did not understand the waies of the Lord and his Judgements and when those that feared the Lord heard those words from those men who denyed the Providence of God over these things below they spake one with another and multiplyed or often repeated those words and argued the matter till they found by their understanding that all his waies are judgement that he is a God of truth and without iniquity And the Lord hearkned i. e. God blessed for ever attended to their words and gave them their reward for this And a book of remembrance was written before him a proverbial expression according to the language of men among whom Kings write a book of memorials for there is no forgetfulness with God according to what is said blot me out of thy Book Exod. XXXII 32 and every one that shall be found written in the book Dan. XII 2 These words of his we have set down at large because they give exactly that notion concerning the distinction of the words from the former and the signification of the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nidbaru which our Translators choose to follow And it is that wherein most both Jewish and Christian Expositors do well agree as likewise in what is meant by what he saith and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a book of remembrance was written viz. that the Lord took due notice of what was said both by bad and good say some which though it be true that he doth so yet here more particularly it seems to be referred to the good and kept it in perpetual remembrance in the register of his memory if we may so speak as certainly as if it were written in a book according to the custome of men who note down in writing or cause to be registred such things as they would not forget but be sure to call to mind and shew that they took due notice of as meet occasion and opportunity should serve to reward those that had done them any service or deserved well or whom they had a mind to do good to Of Gods book and things being written in it there is we know often mention in the Scriptures besides those places which Kimchi recites both in the Old and New Testament and every where is much alike to be understood viz. that the things spoken of are as surely known and had in remembrance with him as if they were written down before him And so where the books are said to be opened it is the making manifest his knowledge of those things by his passing sentence on men accordingly for good or bad see Dan. VII 10 and Revel XX. 12 and Isa. LXV 6 The book of remembrance is here said to be written for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name viz. to give them assurance that their faithfulness to him however he did not presently reward them openly for it yet was duly taken notice of by him and in due time he would make it known by his distinguishing them from the wicked and his great care of them to preserve them from those heavy judgements and that destruction which should seize on the others as will appear in the following words But before we pass to them we may take notice of what is by some observed concerning the signification or force of that word which is rendred and that thought upon his Name viz. that it imports not a bare thinking of but a due esteem and awful regard of so as with all care to avoid all things that may tend to the dishonor of it constantly to endeavor so to walk as beseems such who profess to know God and to serve him as alwaies in his presence and with respect to him and fear of him Those saith Kimchi are meant who alwaies think of or meditate in the waies of the Lord and the knowledge of his God-head for his Name is himself and he himself is his Name Aben Ezra understands it of the wise in heart who know the secret or the mystery of the glorious awfull Name He seems to allude to what is said Psal. XXV 14 the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him R. Tanchum saith that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Choshebe rendred that thought on imports or includes honoring and magnifying according to the use of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chashub for one in dignity and high