entertain what he was relating to her Shall give unto him the Throne Psal. 2. 7 8 9. Ezek. 21. 27. Dan. 7. 14. c. Vers. 33. He shall reign over the house of Jacob. This term the house of Jacob includeth First All the twelve tribes which the word Israel could not have done Secondly The Heathens and Gentiles also for of such the house and family of Jacob was full Vers. 34. Seeing I know not a man These words say the Rhemists declare that she had now vowed Virginity to God For if she might have known a man and so have had a child she would never have asked how shall this be done And Jansenius goeth yet further From these words saith he it doth not only follow that she hath vowed but this seemeth also to follow from them that her vow was approved of God See also Aquin. part 3. quaest 28. art 4. Baron in apparatu ad Annal. c. Answ. First Among the Jews marriage was not held a thing indifferent or at their own liberty to choose or refuse but a binding command and the first of the 613. as it is found ranked in the Pentateuch with the threefold Targum at Gen. 1. 28. and Paul seemeth to allude to that opinion of theirs when speaking of this subject he saith Praeceptum non habeo 1 Cor. 7. 6. Secondly Among the vows that they made to God Virginity never came in the number Jephtha's was heedless and might have been revoked as the Chaldee Paraphrast and Rabbi Solomon well conceive and David Kimchi is of a mind that he was punished for not redeeming it according to Lev. 27. Thirdly To die childless was a reproach among men Luke 1. 25. and to live unmarried was a shame to women Psal. 78. 63. Their Virgins were not praised that is were not married Now what a gulf is there between vowing perpetual Virginity and accounting it a shame dishonour and reproach Fourthly If Mary had vowed Virginity why should she marry Or when she was married why should she vow Virginity For some hold that her vow was made before her espousals and some after Fifthly It was utterly unnecessary that she should be any such a votal it was enough that she was a Virgin Sixthly It is a most improper phrase to say I know not a man and to mean I never must know him and in every place where it is used concerning Virgins why may it not be so understood as well as here Seventhly While the Romanist goeth about with this gloss to extol her Virginity he abaseth her judgment and belief For if she meant thus she inferreth that either this child must be begotten by the mixture of man which sheweth her ignorance or that he could not be begotten without which sheweth her unbelief Eighthly She uttereth not these words in diffidence as Zachary had done when he said how shall I know this but in desire to be satisfied in the mystery or the manner as she was in the matter She understood that the Angel spake of the birth of the Messias she knew that he should be born of a Virgin she perceived that she was pointed out for that Virgin and believing all this she desired to be resolved how so great a thing should come to pass Vers. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee c. The Angel satisfieth the Virgins question with a threefold answer First Instructing her in the manner of the performance Secondly Furnishing her with an example of much like nature in her Cosin Elizabeth Thirdly Confirming her from the power of God to which nothing is impossible Now whereas this unrestrained power of God was the only cause of such examples as the childing of Elizabeth and other barren women in this birth of the Virgin something more and of more extraordinariness is to be looked after In it therefore two actions are expressed to concur First The Holy Ghost his coming upon the Virgin Secondly The power of the most High overshaddowing her and two fruits or consequents of these two actions answerable to them First The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee therefore that that is born of thee shall be holy Secondly The power of the most High shall overshadow thee therefore that that is born of thee shall be called the Son of God The coming of the Holy Ghost upon her was First In the gift of Prophesie whereby she was both informed of the very instant when the conception was wrought and also more fully of the mystery of the Incarnation then before Secondly He did prepare and sanctifie so much of her flesh and blood or seed as to constitute the body of our Saviour The work was the work of the whole Trinity but ascribed more singularly to the Holy Ghost first because of the sanctifying of that seed and clearing it of original taint for sanctification is the work of the Holy Ghost Secondly For the avoiding of that dangerous consequence which might have followed among men of corrupt minds who might have opinionated if the conception of the Messias in the womb had been ascribed to the Father that the Son had had no other manner of generation of him The power of the most High His operating power supplying the want of the vigour and imbraces of the masculine Parent For to that the word overshaddow seemeth to have allusion being a modest phrase whereby the Hebrews expressed the imbraces of the man in the act of generation as Ruth 3. 9. Spread the skirt of thy garment over thine handmaid Therefore that holy thing This title and Epithet first not only sheweth the purity and immaculateness of the humane nature of Christ but also secondly it being applied to the preceding part by way of consequence as was touched before it sheweth that none ever was born thus immaculate but Christ alone because none had ever such a way and means of conception but only he Ver. 36. Thy Cosin Elizabeth hath conceived a Son As he had informed the Virgin of the birth of the Messias of her self so doth he also of the birth of his fore-runner of her Cousin Elizabeth For that he intended not barely to inform her onely that her Cousin had conceived a Child but that he heightens her thoughts to think of him as Christs forerunner may be supposed upon these observations First That he saith A Son and not a Child Secondly That such strangely born Sons were ever of some remarkable and renowned eminency Thirdly That if he had purposed only to shew her the possibility of her conceiving by the example of the power of God in other women he might have mentioned Sarah Hannah and others of those ancient ones and it had been enough Vers. 39. And Mary arose c. And went with haste into the hill Country into a City of Juda. This City was Hebron For unto the sons of Aaron Joshua gave the City of Arba which is Hebron in the hill country of Judah Josh. 21. 11. And Zacharias being a son of
could not relieve themselves Issachar Iair 22 is sluggish and unactive at home as Gen. 49. 14. yet thus active abroad in Iair 23 Tola now and in Baasha in after times 1 King 15. 27. and both in and about the same place Shechem and Samaria CHAP. X. Ver. 3 4 5. World 2797 Iair 1 Iair 2 JAIR or Jairus a Gileadite judgeth two and twenty years he was a man Iair 3 of great honour having thirty sons that were lords of thirty Cities and Iair 4 that rode upon thirty Asses of state like Judges or men of honour as Chap. Iair 5 5. 10. This is not that Jair that is mentioned by Moses as if he had spoken Iair 6 of this man and these Towns prophetically but this is one of the same family Iair 7 and of the same name as Tola that went before him is of the same name with Iair 8 the first-born of Issachar Gen. 46. 13. And whereas it is said by Moses that Iair 9 Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the small Towns of Gilead and called them Iair 10 Iair 11 Havoth Jair Numb 32. 41. Deut. 3. And whereas it is said here that Jairs Iair 12 thirty sons had thirty Cities which were called Havoth Jair it is to be understood Iair 13 that thirty of those threescore Villages that old Jair had conquered and possessed Iair 14 in the time of the first plantation of the land these sons of this Jair being Iair 15 of this line had repaired and brought Iair 16 ELY born in the sixteenth of Jair into the form of Cities and dwelt in Iair 17 Iair 18 them and yet they retained their old Iair 19 name of Havoth Jair for the honour of him that first wan and planted them Iair 20 That old Jair was the son of Segub the son of Prince Hesron by Machirs daughter Iair 21 1 Chron. 2. 22. and so by his father side of Judah and by his mothers of Iair 22 Manasseh CHAP. X. from Vers. 6. to the end JEphtah a Gileadite ariseth a Judge after Jair but there is some scruple first to be resolved and removed concerning his time and the oppression that he was raised to remove It is said vers 6 7 8. that Jair died and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and he sold them into the hands of the Philistims and that year they oppressed the children of Israel eighteen years Now the question is when these eighteen years began and whether they are to be taken for a sum of years apart from the years of the Judges or to be reckoned with them and what is meant by that expression and that year they vexed Israel Answer These eighteen years are to be reckoned together with the last eighteen years of Jair and they began with his fifth year for though he be said to have judged two and twenty years yet it is not to be so understood as if no enemy peeped up in all that time for we shall see the contrary cleared by the Judgeship of Samson but the meaning is that the Lord at the first stirred him up for a deliverer and wrought some great deliverance by him in the beginning of his time and afterward he continued a Judge and one that sought the reformation of his people but he could neither work that to keep them from Idolatry nor work their total deliverance to keep their enemies under but in his fifth year Idolatry broke out in Israel and continued to a horrid increase so in that very year that this Idolatry broke out their oppressours broke in upon them and kept them under for eighteen years and Jair could not help it but it continued so till his death so that the beginning of Vers. 6. is thus to be rendered in Chronical construction Now the children of Israel had done evil again c. This long oppression at last forceth Israel to seek the Lord and to forsake their Idolatry and the Lord findeth out Jephtah for a deliverer CHAP. XI XII to Ver. 8. World 2819 Iephtach 1 JEPHTAH judgeth six years subdueth the Ammonites sacrificeth his own Iephtach 2 daughter and destroyeth 42000 Ephraimites He was the son of Gilead Iephtach 3 by a concubine this was not that Gilead that was Machirs immediate son but Iephtach 4 one that bare the name of that old Gilead and so we observed of Tola and Iephtach 5 Jair before Jair was the chief man in one half of Gilead and Gilead in another Iephtach 6 Jephtah being expelled out of his fathers family for bastardy betaketh him to arms in the land of Tob in Syria and prospereth and thereupon his prowess being heard of he is called home again and made commander in chief in Gilead In his transactions with the King of Ammon he mentioneth three hundred years of Israels dwelling in Heshbon and Aroer c. in which sum five and thirty of the forty years in the wilderness are included in which they were hovering upon those parts although they dwelt not in them it was now three hundred and five years since their coming out of Egypt His vow concerning his daughter may be scanned in these particulars 1. That his vow in general was of persons for 1. he voweth that whatsoever should come forth of the doors of his house 2. Whatsoever should come to meet him now it is not likely nor proper to understand this of Sheep and Bullock for who can think of their coming out of his house much less of their coming to meet him 3. How poor a business was it to vow to sacrifice a Bullock or Sheep for such a victory Therefore his vow relateth to persons and so might it be translated Whosoever cometh forth 2. What would he do with his vowed person Make him a Nazarite He might vow the thing but the performance lay upon the persons own hand Dedicate him to the Sanctuary Why he might not serve there as not being a Levite Sequester him from the world He might indeed imprison him but otherwise the sequestring from the world lay upon the persons own hand still Suppose one of his married maid servants or man-servants or his own wife had met him first what would he have done with any of them Therefore I am inforced by the weighing of these and other circumstances in the Text to hold with them that hold he sacrificed his daughter indeed though I have been once of another mind And it seemeth that this was a part of the corruption of those times and was but mutato nomine a sacrifice to Molech the God of the Ammonites against whom he was now to go to sight when he maketh this vow The Sanhedrin undoubtedly was now sitting and there was the Priest-hood attending upon the Ark at Shiloh and yet is Israel now so little acquainted with the Law that neither the Sanhedrin nor the Priests can resolve Jephtah that his vow might have been redeemed Levit. 27. But they suffer her thus to be massacred
Asa 30 Omri 4 Division 49 Ahaziah 2 Chron. 22. 2. of which Asa 31 Omri 5 Division 50 when we come there Asa 32 Omri 6 Division 51 In the one and thirtieth year of Asa 33 Omri 7 Division 52 Asa Tibni is conquered and Asa 34 Omri 8 Division 53 Omri is sole King He reigneth Asa 35 Omri 9 Division 54 six years in Tirzah and then removeth Asa 36 Omri 10 Division 55 to Samaria which he had Asa 37 Omri 11 Division 56 built for Zimri had fired the Omri 12 Kings Palace at Tirza Omri is more wicked then any that went before him he maketh cursed Statutes Mich. 6. 16. Ahab 1 AHAB reigneth in the 38 Ahab 2 year of Asa 1 King 16. 29. and Asa 38 doth more wickedly then his father World 3086 Asa 39 Division 57 Omri had done He bringeth World 3087 Ahab 3 Division 58 in the Sidonian Idoll Baal into Asa 40 Division 59 request in Israel and addeth that Idolatry to the Idolatry with the golden Calves He had married a Sidonian woman Jezabell an Idolatress a Murdress World 3089 Asa 41 Ahab 1 Ahab 4 Division 60 a Witch and an Whore and it is no wonder if Ahab grew to a height of wickedness indeed Ahab 2 Ahab 5 Division 61 when he had such a father as Omri to bring him up and such a wife as Jezabell to lye in his bosom 2 CHRON. XVII all World 3091 Ahab 3 Ahab 6 Division 62 JEHOSHAPHAT in Ahab 4 Ahab 7 Division 63 the third year sendeth Ahab 5 Ahab 8 Division 64 Priests Princes and Levites Ahab 6 Ahab 9 Division 65 to teach the Law He hath Ahab 7 Ahab 10 Division 66 great tribute from the Philistims Ahab 8 Ahab 11 Division 67 and Arabians hath Ahab 9 Ahab 12 Division 68 eleven hundred thousand and Ahab 10 Ahab 13 Division 69 sixty thousand fighting men Ahab 11 Ahab 14 Division 70 and is a terror to all that were round about him But hath already made affinity with Ahab and married his Ahab 12 Ahab 15 Division 71 Son JORAM to Athaliah Ahab 13 Ahab 16 Division 72 Ahabs Daughter see Ahab 14 Ahab 17 Division 73 2 Kings 8. 18. and 11. 1. Ahab 15 Ahab 18 Division 74 for Ahazia Son to Joram Ahab 16 Ahab 19 Division 75 and Athaliah was born in the eighth year of Jehosaphats reign See 2 Kings 8. 26. 1 King 22. ver 44. to 50. World 3105 Ahab 17 Ahab 20 Ahaziah 1 Division 76 1. JORAM the son of Jehoshaphat reigneth Observe these Texts 1 King 2â— 51. Ahaziah the Son of Ahab began to raign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat King of Judah and reigneth two years And 2 King 1. 17. And Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken and Jehoram reigned in his stead in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat King of Judah And 2 King 3. 1. Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat King of Judah By these Scriptures it is most plain that both Joram the son of Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign in the seventeenth of Jehoshaphat I shall not need to make the collection it is so conspicuous in the Text for who seeth not in them that Jehoshaphats eighteenth when Joram the son of Ahab beginneth to reign is called The second year of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat Now Jehoshaphats reign was not yet expired by eight or nine years for this was in his seventeenth year and he reigned five and twenty 1 King 22. 42. Nor was Ahabs reign expired by two or three years for this was in his twentieth year and he reigned two and twenty 1 King 16. 29. But the reason that both their sons came into their thrones thus in their life time and both in this same year was because the fathers Jehoshaphat and Ahab were both ingaged in the war against the Syrians about Ramoth Gilead and while they were providing for it and carrying it on they made their sons Viceroyes and set them to reign in their stead while they were absent or imployed about that expedition we shall have occasion to observe the like of Joram the son of Jehoshaphat again afterward 1 KING XVI ver 30. to the end World 3091 Ahab 3 Ahab 6 Division 62 AHAB doth abominably Ahab 4 Ahab 7 Division 63 buildeth a Chappel and Ahab 5 Ahab 8 Division 64 an Altar to Baal in Samaria In Ahab 6 Ahab 9 Division 65 his days Hiel a man of the family Ahab 7 Ahab 10 Division 66 of Rahab living now in Bethel Ahab 8 Ahab 11 Division 67 seeing Canaanitish Idolatry Ahab 9 Ahab 12 Division 68 and Canaanitish manners come Ahab 10 Ahab 13 Division 69 on so fast he is imboldned to set Ahab 11 Ahab 14 Division 70 on to build Jericho again to make it a Canaanitish City but his eldest Son is slain in laying the foundation and his youngest son in setting up the Gates according to the curse of Joshua denounced upon such an undertaking above five hundred and thirty years before 1 King 17 18 19. In the degenerate and most wicked times of Ahab appeared the glorious piety and Prophetick spirit of Elias a seasonable reformer when times were come to the very worst He was of Jabesh Gilead he shutteth up Heaven that there is no rain for three years and six months till Baalites be destroyed and then there is rain enough He is fed by birds of prey he feedeth the Sareptane widow and becometh the first Prophet of the Gentiles He raiseth her dead Child destroyeth hundreds of false Prophets bringeth fire from Heaven and rain ere long after it Fasteth forty days and forty nights seeth the Lord where Moses had seen him accuseth Israel to him Is appointed to anoint Hazael King of Syria who should plague Israel for their Idolatry and to anoint Jehu King of Israel who should destroy the house of incorrigible Ahab and to anoint Elisha a Prophet in his stead to go on with the reformation that he had begun John Baptist was a second Elias a man in a hairy garment and leather girdle 2 King 1. 8. Matth. 3. 4. of a powerful and operative Ministry and a great reformer in corrupt times 1 KING XX XXI XXII vers 51 52 53. Ahab 12 Ahab 15 Division 71 AHAB two years together Ahab 13 Ahab 16 Division 72 hath two great Victories Ahab 14 Ahab 17 Division 73 over the Syrians but letting Ahab 15 Ahab 18 Division 74 Benhadad go he undoeth himself Ahab 16 Ahab 19 Division 75 compare the case of Saul about Agag King of Amalek 1 Sam. 15. Ahab murdereth Naboth for his Vineyard World 3105 Ahab 17 Ahab 20 Ahaziah 1 Division 76 AHAZIAH the Son of Ahab reigneth 1 KING XXII to Verse 50. and 2 CHRON. XVIII all World 3106 Ahab 18 Ahab 21 Ahaziah 2 Iehoram 1 Division 77 JEHOSHAPHAT and Ahab are now together in
the expedition against the Syrians about Ramoth Gilead this was one of the Cities of refuge Josh. 20. 8. and that consideration World 3107 Ahab 19 Ahab 22 Iehoram 2 Division 78 might ingage Jehoshaphat in this business the rather because that was a concernment of his Kingdom as well as of the Kingdom of Israel 2 KING I. all World 3106 Ahab 18 Ahab 21 Ahaziah 2 Iehoram 1 Division 77 AHAZIAH falling through a grate as he was walking on his leads catcheth his death and Jehoram his Brother succeedeth him twelve year 2 Kings 3. 1. World 3107 Ahab 19 Ahab 22 Iehoram 2 Division 78 AHAB slain at Ramoth Gilead and now as Saul sparing the Amalakites was slain by an Amalakite so Ahab sparing the Syrians is slain by them Perdere quos vult Deus dementat otherwise might Ahab have taken cautions enough for meddling in this war he had not only the warning of Micaiah the son of Imlah when he is setting forward 1 King 22. 28. nor only the guilt of Naboths blood and his own Idolatry nor only the terrible threatnings of Eliah denounced against him but he might read how hainously he had sinned in sparing Benhadad and the Syrians and accordingly might expect vengeance by the Syrians as the Prophet had told him by what the Lord had demonstrated about that matter He had called the Syrian King the man of his curse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 King 20. 42. he had therefore given Ahab two great victories over him he had not only cast down the wall of Aphek Jerecho like to make the City undefensible of the Syrians that were fled thither but had slain 27000 with the fall of it he had slain a man with a Lion as 1 King 13. 24. which refused to forward and to help to set on an admonition to him yet seeing all these things he would not see for as he had sold himself to sin so had the Lord sold him to destruction It is somewhat observable that this murderer of Naboth and sparer of Benhadad is slain at a City of refuge by Benhadads Army and by a shot made at random Compare Deut. 19. 4. His son Ahaziah dyes before him by a fatal fall inquires at the Devil when he is sick as Saul at a Witch loseth one hundred men by fire from Heaven and dieth childless Here begins vengeance on Ahabs house Compare Jeroboams twenty two years and his son Nadabs two years and their reigning together with Ahabs twenty two and Ahaziahs two These last times of Ahab the Text gives us account to reckon thus Three years he is about the business of Ramoth viz. his 20 21 22. three years before he is without war with Syria 1 King 22. 1. viz. his 19 18 17. In this space of time he murders Naboth the year before them viz. his 16. He hath great victory over Syria slayeth 100000 men and taketh Benhadad And the year before that he hath another victory over them viz. in his fifteenth 2 CHRON. XIX XX. Iehoshaphat 20 Iehoram 3 Division 79 JEHOSHAPHAT reformeth his Kingdom and setteth up Judges throughout the Land World 3109 Iehoshaphat 21 Iehoram 4 Division 80 Jehoshaphat hath a miraculous victory against Moab Ammon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the inhabitants of Mount Seir that lay upon Animon borders for the rest of Edom rebelled not yet See 2 King 8. 20. These people are elswhere called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maonites Judg. 10. 12. or Mehunims 2 Chron. 26. 7. and so should they be expressed in 1 Chron. 4. 41. And these written by name came in the days of Hezckiah King of Judah and smote their Tents and the Maonites that were found there The LXX renders it well there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here and 2 Chron. 26. 8. either by inversion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which kind of thing is very common in Scripture as Heres and Serah Josh. 24. 30. compared with Judg. 2. 9. Beta and Tibath Compare 2 Sam. 8. 8. with 1 Chron. 18. 8. Eliam and Ammiel 2 Sam. 11. 3. compared with 1 Chron. 3. 5. and abundance more that might be alleadged or because of their mixture with the Ammonites in their habitation as Midianites and Ishmaelites are all one Gen. 37. And observe how roundly the Text comes off with this inversion and how clearly it argues this cohabitation 2 Chron. 26. 7 8. And God helped Uzziah against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mahunims and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah This company that came against Jehoshaphat is said to come from beyond the Sea from Syria ver 2. now this Sea was the dead Sea as it appeareth by the words immediately following and behold they be in Hazazan-Tamar which is Engedi which lay upon the Southern point of the dead Sea Now neither that place nor these mens Country were in Syria but that in Canaan and their Country in Arabia and therefore when it said they came from Syria it is to be understood they came in the King of Syrias quarrel and upon his war which he now raised upon Jehoshaphat to be avenged on him for taking part with Ahab at Ramoth Gilead 2 KING III. 1 2 3 4 5. Iehoshaphat 20 Iehoram 3 Division 79 JEHORAM destroyed Baal out of Samaria but continueth Jeroboams golden Calves Moab rebelleth and so he loseth World 3109 Iehoshaphat 21 Iehoram 4 Division 80 a great Tribute It is like that Ahab conquered Moab when he conquered Benhadad and the two and thirty Kings with him and that the King of Moab was one of those Kings 2 CHRON. XXI ver 1 2 3 4. World 3110 Iehoshaphat 22 Iehoram 1 Iehoram 5 Division 81 JEHORAM or Joram the Son of Jehoshaphat made Viceroy again for so it is plain 2 King 8. 16. In the fift year of Joram son of Ahab King of Israel Jehoshaphat being then King of Judah Jehoram the Son of Jehosaphat King of Judah began his reign and reigned eight years in Jerusalem Now this was upon Jehoshaphats going with Joram King of Israel to war against Moab 2 King 3. 7. 9. For as Jehoshaphat when he went with Ahab to Ramoth Gilead made Joram then King in his stead till he came again as was observed before so doth he now when he goeth with Joram Ahabs son against Moab but Jehoshaphat doth never sit in the throne again for observe 1. that whereas it is said Joram reigned eight years in Jerusalem they are reckoned from this beginning as it appeareth by 2 King 8. 25. where they are ended in the twelfth of Joram the son of Ahab 2. That Jehoshaphat is called The King of Israel 2 Chron. 21. 2. for his affinity and society which Ahab and Joram the Kings of Israel had undone him and when he would not take warning upon his first miscarriage in that kind 2 Chron. 19. 2. he is sorely punished upon a
which lay so together might lye also together and threatnings and denunciations of Judgments might come as it were all in one body For it may be observed that very much of this Book that lieth before the Story of Sennacherib is threatning and terrour and the most of the Book that lieth after is comfort and promises Only upon mention and promise of Cyrus Chap. 44. 45. there is a grievous threatning of Babylon which ere long grew great Chap. 46. 47. for Cyrus was to destroy it 2 KING XXI to vers 17. 2 CHRON. XXXIII to vers 11. World 3311 Division 282 Manasseh 1 MANASSEH reigneth 55 years A very bad son of a very good Division 283 Manasseh 2 father He equalleth or rather exceedeth the very Canaanites in Division 284 Manasseh 3 abominable wickedness He is a most extream Idolater Murderer and Division 285 Manasseh 4 Conjurer Division 286 Manasseh 5 2 KING XVII from vers 24. to end Division 287 Manasseh 6 In his time the Kings of Assyria planted Samaria with a mongrel people Division 288 Manasseh 7 from divers Countries Esar-haddon was the man Ezr. 4. 2. who seemeth Division 289 Manasseh 8 also to be called Asnapper vers 10. unless the Commander in chief in Division 290 Manasseh 9 that expedition bare that name These Samaritans newly setled are devoured Division 291 Manasseh 10 with Lions as the Prophet that came from Samaria was 1 King Division 292 Manasseh 11 13. for doing contrary to the Lord. In after times they grow constant Division 293 Manasseh 12 enemies and bitter against the Jews yet cometh Josiah in the next generation Division 294 Manasseh 13 and destroyeth the relicks of Idolatry in the very midst of them Division 295 Manasseh 14 To this Plantation of the Country and Cities of Samaria with such Forreiners Division 296 Manasseh 15 may that Prophesie refer in Esay 7. vers 8. if we will count the Division 297 Manasseh 16 time from the very delivery of the Prophesie Within threescore and five Division 298 Manasseh 17 years shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people Which Prophesie being Division 299 Manasseh 18 delivered about the third or fourth year of Ahaz if we count those Division 300 Manasseh 19 sixty five years forward the end of them will fall about the four or five Division 301 Manasseh 20 and twentieth year of Manasseh And the matter so taken may be understood Division 302 Manasseh 21 in this sence That the Prophet there denounceth such a ruine Division 303 Manasseh 22 to Ephraim and Damaseus is also included in the same Prophesie and Division 304 Manasseh 23 was concluded also under the same Plantation that it should no more Division 305 Manasseh 24 be a People or Country of that name but the very name now changed Division 306 Manasseh 25 gone and rooted out We gave another gloss and date upon these words and years before namely counting them backward from the captiving of Samaria as here we count them forward from the delivery of the Prophesie the Reader may judge and take his choice The Prophesie of HABAKKUK all IN these wicked times of Manasseh lived Habakkuk and Prophesied against his wickedness and of him and Nahum may very well be understood that passage in 2 King 21. 10. The Lord spake by his servants the Prophets saying Because Manasseh the King of Judah had done these abominations c. therefore I am bringing evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle which in a manner is the very same with that in Hab. 1. 5. Behold ye and regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe though it be told you For loe I raise up the Chaldeans c. This Judgment upon Judea by the Caldeans was yet to come after some space of time as Chap. 2. 3. and this Prophet fore-armeth against it by that golden Doctrine The just shall live by faith and by fore-telling the Judgements upon Babel it self He prayeth for the preservation of Prophesie in the captivity in a forrain Land and calleth the captivity The midst of years viz. 'twixt Samuel and Christ He taketh out his own lesson that he readeth to others of living by faith and professeth in the greatest extremities and improbabilities of good yet to rejoyce in the Lord and to joy in the God of his salvation 2 CHRON. XXXIII from vers 11. to the end 2 KING XXI from vers 17. to the end Division 307 Manasseh 26 THE wickedness of Manasseh doth in time bring him into chains in Division 308 Manasseh 27 Babel they bring him to be humbled for his wickedness and that Division 309 Manasseh 28 brings him into his throne again Both his mind and his estate received a Division 310 Manasseh 29 great change and alteration in what time of his reign he was carried to Division 311 Manasseh 30 Babel and how long he continued there is undeterminable but upon his Division 312 Manasseh 31 return to Jerusalem again he maketh a great reformation and builded divers Division 313 Manasseh 32 great buildings and garrisoned the strong Cities of Judah Division 314 Manasseh 33 And now since the Assyrian Monarchy is ready to fall in the next Generation Division 315 Manasseh 34 let us look back a little upon the growth and rise of it hitherto Division 316 Manasseh 35 and upon the Syrian Kingdom which it hath a good while ago swallowed Division 317 Manasseh 36 up Damaseus the head of Syria Esay 7. 8. was extantin the days of Abraham Division 318 Manasseh 37 Gen. 15. 2. but not mentioned of any great victoriousness till the days of Division 319 Manasseh 38 David nor then the head of Syria neither for then was Syria divided into Division 320 Manasseh 39 several Kingdoms as Aram Zobah Aram beth-Rehob Aram Naharaim Division 321 Manasseh 40 and Aram Damaseus 2 Sam. 8. 3. 10. 8. The chief King among them in Division 322 Manasseh 41 those times was Hadadezer the son of Rehob King of Zobah and who Division 323 Manasseh 42 had now joyned Rehob and Zobah into one Kingdom and had also Division 324 Manasseh 43 brought Aram Naharaim or some good part of it into the same Monarchy Division 325 Manasseh 44 Compare Psal. 60. the title with 2 Sam. 8. 3. c. Rezin a servant Division 326 Manasseh 45 of his runs away from him and goes to be King of Damaseus 1 King Division 327 Manasseh 46 11. 23. then that City began to peep up and ere long to be head of all Division 328 Manasseh 47 Syria and these Kings reigned there Benhadad the son of Tabrimmon Division 329 Manasseh 48 the son of Hezion in the days of Asa 1 King 15. 18. Then Benhadad Division 330 Manasseh 49 the Son of this Benhadad in the days of Ahab 1 King 20. 134. and of Division 331 Manasseh 50 his son Joram 2 King 6. 24. Him Hazael one of his
from the time of Onias who built there a great Temple and an Altar and all the men of Egypt went thither c. And there was a great Congregation there double to the number of those that came out of Egypt Fol. 14. Of this Temple built by Onias in Egypt Josephus maketh mention Antiq. lib. 13. cap. 6. And the Talmud in Menachoth cap. 13. So that Christ being sent into Egypt was sent among his own Nation who had filled that Country The time that he was in Egypt was not above three or four months so soon the Lord smote Herod for his butchery of the Innocent Children and murtherous intent against the Lord of Life Joseph and Mary being called out of Egypt after Herods death intend for Judaea again thinking to go to Bethlehem but the fear of Archelaus and the warning of an Angel directs them into Galilee They knew not but that Christ was to be educated in Bethlehem as he was to be born there therefore they kept him there till he was two years old and durst not take him thence till fear and the warrant of an Angel dismisseth them into Egypt And when they come again from thence they can think of no other place but Bethlehem again till the like fear and warrant send them into Galilee There is none of the Evangelists that recordeth any thing concerning Christ CHRIST III from the time of his return out of Egypt till he come to be twelve years CHRIST IV old which was for the space of these years For the better understanding CHRIST V of which times let us take up some few passages in Josephus CHRIST VI Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. Herod saith he reigned 34 years from the time that CHRIST VII Antigonus was taken away and 37 years from the time that he was first declared CHRIST VIII King by the Romans CHRIST IX And again in the same Book cap. 15. In the tenth year of the reign of Archelaus CHRIST X the People not enduring his cruelty and tyranny they accused Archelaus to CHRIST XI Caesar and he banished him to Vienna And a little after Cyrenius was sent by Caesar to tax Syria and to confiscate Archelaus his Goods And lib. 18. cap. 1. Coponius was also sent with Cyrenius to be Governour of Judea And ibid. cap. 5. Coponius returning to Rome Marcus Ambibuchus becometh his Successor in that Government And after him succeeded Annius Rufus in whose time died Caesar Augustus the second Emperor of the Romans Now when Augustus died Christ was fourteen years old as appeareth from this that he was 29 years old compleat and beginning to be thirty in the fifteenth year of Tiberius the Emperor next succeeding Luke 3. 1 2. Reckon then these times that Josephus hath mentioned between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus namely the ten years of Archelaus and after them the Government of Coponius and after him Ambibuchus and after him Rufus and it will necessarily follow that when Herod slew Bethlehem Children Christ being then two years old it was the very last year of his Reign SECTION VIII LUKE Chap. II. from Ver. 40. to the end of the Chapter World 3939 Rome 765 Augustus 42 CHRIST XII Archelaus 10 CHRIST at twelve years old sheweth his Wisdom among the Doctors At the same Age had Solomon shewed his Wisdom in deciding the Controversie between the two Harlots Ignat. Martyr in Epist. ad Magnos IT is very easie to see the subsequence of this Section to that preceeding since there is nothing recorded by any of the Evangelists concerning Christ from his infancy till he began to be thirty years old but only this Story of his shewing his Wisdom at twelve years old among the Doctors of some of the three Sanhedrins that sate at the Temple for there sate one of 23 Judges in the East Gate of the Mountain of the House called the Gate Shushan Another of 23 in the Gate of Nicanor or the East Gate of the Court of Israel And the great Sanhedrin of 71 Judges that sate in the Room Gazith not far from the Altar Though Herod had slain the Sanhedrin as is related by Josephus and divers others yet was not that Court nor the judiciary thereof utterly extinguisht but revived again and continued till many years after the destruction of the City His Story about this matter is briefly thus given by the Babylon Talmud in Bava Bathra fol. 3. facie 2. Herod was a servant of the Asmonean Family he set his Eyes upon a Girl of it One day the man heard a voice from Heaven Bath Kol which said Any servant that rebelleth this year shall prosper He riseth up and slayeth all his Masters but left that Girl c. And whereas it is said Thou shalt set a King over thee from among thy brethren which as the gloss there tells us their Rabbies understood of the chiefest of thy brethren he rose up and slew all the great ones only he left Baba ben Bota to take counsel of him The gloss upon this again tells us That he slew not utterly all the great ones for he left Hillel and the Sons of Betirah remaining and Josephus relateth also that he spared Shammai to which Abraham Zaccuth addeth that Menahem and 80 gallant Men of the chief of the Nation were gone over to his service and to attend upon him So that these of themselves and by ordination of others did soon repair that breach that his Sword had made in the Sanhedrin he not resisting its erection again when he had now taken away the Men of his displeasure Hillel was President and sat so forty years and died by the Jews computation applied to the Christian account much about this twelfth year of Christ. For they say that he lived an hundred and twenty years the last forty of which he spent in the Presidency of the Sanhedrin entring upon that dignity an hundred years before the destruction of the City Menahem was at first Vicepresident with him but upon his going away to Herods service Shammai came in his room and now two as eminent and learned men sat in those two Chairs as ever had done since the first birth of traditions Hillel himself was so deserving a man that whereas in the vacancy of the Presidentship by the death of Shemaiah and Abtalion R. Judah and R. Jeshua the Sons of Betirah might have taken the Chairs they preferred Hillel as the worthier person Talm. Jerus in Pessachin fol. 33. col 1. He bred many eminent Scholars to the number of fourscore the most renowned of which by name were Jonathan ben Uzziel the Chaldee Paraphrast and Rabban Jocanan ben Zaccai both probably alive at this year of Christ and a good while after The latter was undoubtedly so for he lived to see the destruction of the City and Temple and sat President in the Sanhedrin at Jabneh afterwards And till that time also lived the Sons of Betirah mentioned before Shammai was little inferior to Hillel
in the City he caused his Scholars R. Joshua and R. Eliezer to carry him forth upon a Bier as a dead corps for a dead corps might not rest in Jerusalem all night and so he escaped and was brought to Caesar. Thus R. Nathan tells the story Avoth per. 4. This Rabban Jochanan fourty years ago when the Temple doors flew open of their own accord foresaw its ruine in that presage and accordingly applied that saying of the Prophet Zechary Open thy doors O Lebanon that the fire may devour thy Cedars Therefore when he saw the enemy now so straitly besieging the City and such forerunners of ruine apparent it is no wonder if he used all perswasion to the people to yield and to save their City as the same Author also tells us he did and if he went and gave himself up to him that he knew should be Conqueror Nor needed he any Prophetick spirit to foresee these things but the very sickly condition and distemper of the Nation might plainly enough tell him that her death could not be far off He finding favour with Caesar petitioned of him that the Sanhedrin might repair to its old place Jabneh and there settle and he obtained it Jabneh was near unto Joppa upon the Sea coast there is mention of it 2 Chron. 26. 6. Here had the Sanhedrin sitten as we have mentioned many years before the Temple fell a good part of Gamaliels time and all Rabban Simeons his son He sate President here five years and these are the men of note that sate with him Rabban Gamaliel son to Rabban Simeon that was slain at the fall of the City R. Zadok one who had spent his body with extream fasting since the Temple doors had opened of their own accord taking that for an omen of its ruine approaching R. Eliezer his son R. Judah and R. Joshua the sons of Betirah R. Eliezer ben Hyrcanus the Author of Pirke Eliezer R. Joshuah R. Eliezer ben Erech R. Ismael R. Jose R. Simeon ben Nathaniel R. Akibah and divers others who outlived Rabban Jochanan the most of them a long time They made many Decretals in his time especially about those things that had had immediate reference to the Temple as see Rosh hashanah per. 4. Shekalim per. 1 c. SECTION IV. The Sâ—nhedrin still at Iabneh Rabban Gamaliel President WHEN Rabban Jochanan died Rabban Gamaliel succeeded him in the Presidency seven years He is commonly called by the Hebrew Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rabban Gamaliel of Jabneh But for the right stating of his Presidency there two things are to be observed The first is mentioned in Babyl in Rosh hashanah fol. 31. 1 2. where all the flittings of the Sanhedrin are reckoned in the Gemara thus From the room Gazith it flitted to the Taberna in the mountain of the Temple from the Taberna into Hierusalem from Hierusalem to Jabneh from Jabneh to Osha or Usha from Osha to Shepharaam from Shepharaam to Beth Shaaraim from Beth Shaaraim to Tsipporis and from Tsipporis to Tiberias Now the marginal Gloss teacheth us how to understand these removes When the President was in any of these places saith it the Sanhedrin was with him and when he or his son went to another place it went after him It was at Jabneh in the days of Rabban Jochanan at Usha in the days of Rabban Gamaliel but they returned from Usha to Jabneh again but in the days of Rabban Simeon his son it went back again to Usha So that the time that Rabban Gamaliel sate at Jabneh instantly upon Rabban Jochanans death was not long but he went to Usha and his time at Usha was not long neither but to Jabneh again And as we are to observe thus about his time and place so there is a second thing to be taken notice about him and that is the mixture of his Presidency The Talmudists do speak oft 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of placing R. Eliezer the son of Azariah in the Presidency Tsemach David speaks it out thus R. Eliezer ben Azariah was a Priest and was exceeding rich he was made President in the room of Rabban Gamaliel but afterward they were joyned in the Presidency together which is still obscure enough but the Jerusalem Gemarists give the full story in Taanith fol. 67. col 4. in these words A certain scholar came and asked R. Joshua What is Evening Prayer He answered A thing Arbitrary The same scholar came and asked Rabban Gamaliel What is Evening Prayer And he said A bounden duty He saith to him But R. Joshua saith it is a thing Arbitrary He saith to him To morrow when I come into the Congregation stand forth and ask this question So the scholar did ask Rabban Gamaliel What is Evening Prayer He answered A bounden duty How then saith the scholar doth R. Joshua say it is a thing Arbitrary Rabban Gamaliel saith to R. Joshua Art thou he that saith it is a thing Arbitrary He answered No. He says to him Stand upon thy feet that they may bear witness against thee R. Joshua stood upon his feet whilest Rabban sate and was expounding so that all the Congregation repined at him for making him to stand so And they said to R. Hotspith the Interpreter Dismiss the people and they said to R. Zinnun the Minister say Begin and they said all Begin and stood upon their feet too And they said to him Rabban Gamaliel Against whom hath not thy mischief passed continually They went presently and made R. Eliezer ben Azaria President who was but sixteen years old but very grave R. Akibah sate by and took it ill and said It is not because he is better studied in the Law then I that he is thus prefered but because he is nobler born then I. Happy is the man who hath Ancesters to priviledge him Happy is the man that hath a nail to hang upon And what was the nail that R. Eliezer ben Azaria had He was the tenth from Ezra How many benches of scholars were there sitting there then R. Jacob bar Susi saith Fourscore besides the people that stood behind them R. Josi ben R. Bon saith Three hundred Rabban Gamaliel went presently to every one at his own home and sought to pacific him c. So that by this it appears how and why Gamaliel was outed of his Presidency namely for his pride and passion of which we might shew you other examples also but he was restored again to be partner in the dignity with R. Eliezer whom they promoted now There is exceeding much mention of this Gamaliel in the Talmuds and he is a very busie man there the Reader there meets with him as oft as with any one man whosoever He had a servant named Tobi very oft spoken of whose eye he struck out and let him go free for it when he died he much bemoaned and commended him Beraâ—â—th per. 2. halac 6. Whilest he sate at Jabneh in his curiosity for the exquisite taking
Aaron and dwelling in the hill Country of Juda it were senseless to seek for his house in any other place then Hebron This place had been excellently renowned in ancient time Here was the promise given of Isaac here was the institution of Circumcision here Abraham had his first land and David his first Crown and here lay interred the three couples Abraham and Sarah Isaac and Rebecca Jacob and Leah and as antiquity hath held Adam and Eve Now there are many reasons given by Expositors of Maries hasting hither after the Message of the Angel As either to know the truth of what was told her about Elizabeth or to congratulate and rejoyce with her or to minister to her in her great belliedness or that the Baptist in Elizabeths womb might be sanctified by the presence of Christ in hers c. But I cannot but conceive this to be the very reason indeed That she might there conceive the Messias where so many types figures and things relating to him had gone before namely in Hebron For First This suited singularly with the Harmony and Consent which God useth in his works that the promise should begin to take place by the conception of Messias even among those Patriarchs to whom the promise was first given Secondly A kind of necessity seemeth to lie upon it that this Shiloh of the Tribe of Judah and the seed of David should be conceived in a City of Juda and of David as he was to be born in another City that belonged to them both Thirdly The Evangelists so punctually describing this City seemeth rather to refer to Christ then John who being of the Priests might indifferently have been born in any of the Tribes whatsoever Only the Holy Ghost giveth us to observe this which may not be passed That John that should bring in Baptism in stead of Circumcision was born in that very place where Circumcision was first ordained in the City Hebron It is generally held indeed that the Virgin conceived in Nazaret and in the very instant of the Angels talking with her but whether there be not as much probability for this opinion as for that I refer to the equal and judicious Reader Ver. 40. And saluted Elizabeth This seemeth to have been at some distance and a wall or floor between as consider seriously on ver 42. 44. Ver. 41. The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This word is used by the LXX for Jacobs and Esaus stirring in the womb Gen. 25. 22. And the leaping of the mountains at the giving of the Law Elizabeth in ver 44. addeth The babe leaped 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not that he knew what he did when he leaped any more then they but that either this was the first time or this time was extraordinary The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth outward gesticulation or exultation as well as inward joy yea though there be no inward joy at all as Psalm 65. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the little hills shall be girded with exultation And so is it to be understood here The babe in my womb leaped with extraordinary gesticulation or exultation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie the manner of the thing done and not the cause of the doing Ver. 45. And blessed is she that believed Elizabeth in this clause seemeth to have an eye to her own husbands unbelief and the punishment that befel him for the same He a Man a Priest aged learned eminent and the message to him of more appearing possibility and Mary a Woman mean unlearned and of a private condition and the tidings to her most incredible both to nature and reason and yet she believed and he did not Ver. 48. He hath regarded the low estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used by the LXX 2 Sam. 9. 8. and Psal. 25. 16. and importeth a look of pity and compassion and not of observation of desert as the Papists would have it here For some of them render this clause thus He hath looked on mine humility with approbation and others give this gloss upon it Because of her humility she deserved to be exalted and by it she was primely disposed to conceive and bear the only begotten Son of God But first the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is said before in the LXX who must best help us to interpret it signifieth a look of another nature Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth not the vertue of humility or the lowliness of mind but the state of a low and poor condition and so is it rendred here by the Syrian Arabick Spanish French Deodates Italian Dutch and all Latines that are not wedded to the vulgar And so is it used by the LXX Gen. 16. 11. 41. 52. 1 Sam. 1. 11. and so again by the New Testament Act. 8. 33. compared with the Original in Isa. 53. 8. And so prophane and heathen Authors distinguish betwixt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the former understanding as we do here and by the latter the vertue of humility Thirdly The same word in a manner or one of the same root in ver 52. is opposed to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and inevitably beareth the sense we follow Fourthly If the Virgin spake in the sense the Romanists would have her He hath looked upon my lowliness to give it its desert she would prove to be intolerably proud in the valuing of her humility All generations shall call me blessed As Gen. 30. 13. Not only thou oh Cosin Elizabeth and the Jewish Nation that expect the Messias but even all the world and all successions of ages among the Heathen shall come to the knowledge and confession of Christ and account me blessed in the favour that I have received Ver. 51. He hath scattered the proud c. If the Virgin aim these words and those of the same tenour that follow at any particular persons as some conceive she doth and meaneth the Devils or the Pharisees or the Jews it might as well be conceived that she hath respect to the four tyrannous and persecuting Monarchies in the Book of Daniel which were now destroyed as much as to any thing else But since the very same words in a manner are to be found in the song of Hannah 1 Sam. 2. they warrant us to interpret them not so restrictively as to any one particular example but of the general and ordinary dealing of God in the world with the wicked SECTION III. S. MATTHEW CHAP. I THE a a a a a a Gen. 5. 1. Book b b b b b b It might be understood The Book of the History as generation is taken Gen. 2. 4. and 37. 2. and so it might be the title not of this Chapter only but of the whole book But since the Evangelists intention is to set down Christs alliance to the Royal line by his Father Joseph the phrase must be understood accordingly and so the Chaldee useth the very
again And from that time most properly began the Kingdom of Heaven and the new Hierusalem when that earthly Kingdom and that old City were utterly ruined §. Being as was supposed the son of Joseph which was the son of Heli. At every descent in this Genealogy the word Jesus is to be understood otherwise the first and last descents are improper and different in stile from all the rest For Joseph was not the Son of Heli but only his Son in Law and Adam was no more the Son of God than any of the other holy men that were named before The supply therefore is thus to be made to make all proper Jesus being as was supposed the Son of Joseph Jesus the Son of Heli Jesus the Son of Matthat c. Jesus the Son of Seth Jesus the Son of Adam Jesus the Son of God And the like stile of Genealogy Moses useth Gen. 36. 2. Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon where Anah is not called the daughter of Zibeon for he was a man and not a woman no more was Joseph the Son of Heli for he was only his son in Law but the word Aholibamah is to be supplied thus Aholibamah the daughter of Anah Aholibamah the daughter of Zibeon Heli or Eli for the name seemeth to be the same with his in 1 Sam. 1. 3. c. was not the natural Father of Joseph for Matthew told us plainly before that it was Jacob that begot Joseph but Heli was the Father of Mary and Father-in-Law of Joseph only Now because it is not used in Scripture to mention any women in a pedigree or to run the line from the Mother but from the Father to the Son therefore Mary is not here named at all but intimated or included when the line begins from her Father and calleth her husband his son which he was only because of her So that Luke intending to shew Christ the seed of the woman must of necessity reckon by Mary the daughter of Heli as Matthew intending to shew him the heir of the Crown of David doth reckon by Joseph the heir male apparent In comparing and laying together these men that Matthew and Luke have named in the ancestry of Joseph and Mary betwixt the returning out of the captivity and the times of our Saviour we find that every one man in the stock of Joseph did almost outlive two of those in the line of Mary the one line affording twenty descents betwixt those two periods and the other but one above half so many which easily and readily confuteth that opinion that some have strangely held that the persons in the two Genealogies have been the same men only under different names and it helpeth somewhat to settle the times between those two periods against the different miscountings of several men some stretching them longer than the eleven persons named in Matthew could stretch to live and some cutting them shorter than the twenty named in Luke could be comprehended in Ver. 27. Which was the Son of Salathiel which was the Son of Neri Neri was the natural father of Salathiel he seemeth to have been so named from the candle which the Lord reserved for David and his house 2 Chron. 21. 7. Ver. 31. Which was the Son of Nathan 2 Sam. 5. 14. 1 Chron. 3. 5. It is like that he was named after Nathan the Prophet who brought David word of the promise 2 Sam. 7. and of the cotinuance of his house which failed in the race of Solomon but continued in the race of this Nathan till the King came that was to sit on Davids Throne for ever Here again the number of persons in the Genealogy of Mary betwixt David and the captivity exceed the number in the Genealogy of Joseph in Matth. 1. Vers. 36. Which was the Son of Cainan which was the Son of Arphaxad In Moses it is said Arphaxad begat Shelah and Shelah begat Eber Gen. 10. 24. 11. 12. And so is it briefly reckoned 1 Chron. 1. 24. Shem Arphaxad Shelah without any mention of Cainan at all nor is there any memorial of such a son of Arphaxad throughout all the Old Testament nor indeed was there ever any such a man in the world at all Here therefore is an extraordinary scruple and a question of no small difficulty meeteth us where Luke found the name of this man which is not to be found elswhere in all the Bible And whether it be not an error in the Text and were not a miscarriage in the Evangelist to reckon a man for an ancestor of Christ that the world never saw or that never was upon the Earth Answer It is easie indeed to resolve where Luke found this name of Cainan and from whence he took it namely from the Greek Bible or the Septuagint which hath inserted it in those places of Moses that are alledged but when this is resolved the greater scruple is yet behind of his warrantableness so to do and of the purity of the Text where it is so done The Seventy Translatours indeed read Gen. 10. 24. thus Arphaxad begat Cainan and Cainan begat Sala and Sala begat Eber. And in Chap. 11. they say Arphaxad lived one hundred and thirty five years and begat Cainan And Cainan lived one hundred and thirty years and begat Sala and Cainan lived after he begat Sala three hundred and thirty years And from hence hath Saint Luke without controversie taken in Cainan into this Genealogy a man that never was in the world but the warrantableness of this insertion will require divers considerations to find it out As let the Reader be pleased seriously to ruminate upon these First That the Seventy Translatours did that work unwillingly and for fear For the Scripture was the Treasure of the Jews which made them more glorious than any Nation under Heaven Therefore to communicate this their riches to the Heathen whom they abominated and detested was as much against their heart as what was most So that had not the fear of the power of Ptolomy brought them to the work of the Translation more than their own good will there had been no such thing done Ptolomy Lagus the Father of Ptolomy Philadelphus for whom they translated had carried away an hundred thousand Jews captive into Egypt as saith Aristeas so that the fear and dread of that house lay upon them that they durst deny it nothing which otherwise they would most vehemently have done such a thing as this to have communicated their Scriptures to the Heathen in a vulgar Tongue Secondly The Translation then being undertaken for fear and with so ill a will that as Aristeas who was present at the work saith the Translatours were very unwilling to go for Egypt though he interpret it because loath to go from Eliazar the High Priest and that the Jews kept a mournful fast every year sorrowing for that work of the Translation It cannot be expected that the Translation will be done with any more
his brothers wife Lev. 18. 16. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brothers wife it is thy brothers nakedness Lev. 20. 21. If a man shall take his brothers wife it is an unclean thing he hath uncovered his brothers nakedness they shall be childless Whereupon Aben Ezra giveth this note That none of the unlawful marriages mentioned are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or an unclean thing but only the marrying of a brothers wife And the Jews do make this one of the thirty six offenders that deserve cuting off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that goeth in to his brothers wife Kerithuth per. 1. 3. It was still worse to marry her as he did whilest his brother Philip was alive for Philip died not till the twentieth year of Tiberius Caesar and John was imprisoned in the sixteenth or thereabout Joseph Ant. l. 18. c. 6. 4. And which was yet worse he divorced his lawful wife the daughter of Aretas King of Arabia that he might marry Herodias and he had basely violated the laws of Hospitality in coming to lodge with his brother Philip as a friend and guest and tempting and winning his wife from him Josephus giveth us the story thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Herod the Tetrarch married the daughter of Aretas and lived a good while with her But being sent for to Rome he lodged in his brother Herods house here Josephus mistaketh Herod for Phiâ—â—p And falling in love with Herodias his wife now she was the daughter of Aristobulus their brother and sister of Herod Agrippa the great Act. 12. 1. he dared to make the motion of a marriage which she imbracing they agreed that he should take her home to himself when he returned from Rome and it was also contained in the Articles of agreement that he should put away the daughter of Aretas And so he did which caused a war betwixt him and Aretas Idem ibid. cap. 7. What other evils Herod committed we cannot give so particular account of because they are rarely if at all recorded but by these two desperate facts of his in his wretched marriage and in his bloody murther of the Baptist we may well guess the temper and conversation of the tyrant a wretch strong in wickedness and strong in power and yet not spared by the Baptist but reproved and told home by him of his villanies as he deserved And here we may fitly parallel this second Elias reproving Herod and Herodias and suffering for it with the first Elias doing the like by Ahab and Jezabel Vers. 20. He shut up Iohn in prison As desperate as he was in wickedness yet the Evangelist tells us that he reverenced John and heard him gladly and did many things after his admonition Mark 6. 20. but when John comes so home to him about his abominable marriage then Herodias another Jezabel strikes in and strikes the stroke for Johns silencing for she had had a quarrel against him Mark 6. 19. seeing this his doctrine tended to her divorce Yet durst not the cruel couple for shame imprison John upon the plain terms of the proper cause of his imprisonment which was because he spake against their cursed marriage but they use another colour as Josephus relateth namely because Johns popularity was dangerous towards some insurrection or innovation He relates the story thus Herod slew John called the Baptist being a good man and one that injoyned the Jews to follow virtue and to use uprightness one towards another and devotion towards God and to knit together by Baptism c. And divers being converted to him for they were well pleased with the hearing of his words Herod fearing that this his perswasiveness with the people might tend to a revolt for they were ready to do any thing upon his counsel he thought it best to lay hold upon him and kill him before any insurrection were rather than repent too late when a change came And so was John upon this suspition of Herod sent prisoner to Machaerus castle and there killed Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 7. where he also relateth that Aretas the Father of her whom Herod had put away that he might take Herodias and Herod upon this and other quarrels having pitched a set field and battel all Herods army was cut off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And some of the Jews thought that Herods Army was destroyed by God and he most justly punished for the murder of John the Baptist. And thus hath this bright and burning lamp shone abroad till the Sun of righteousness appeared and began to eclipse him The time that he had preached and baptized had been some twenty months or thereabouts from about Easter to about November twelve-month after The time of his imprisonment was some months also above a twelvemonth namely from November or thereabout very near unto Easter twelvemonth after as will be conspicuous in the insuing progress of the story SECTION XVI St. JOHN Chap. IV. WHEN therefore a a a a a a THE Lord The Syriack useth not this expression nor the vulgar Latin but retaineth the word Jesus the Arab. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See this title given to Christ by the Evangelist in historical relation again Chap. 6. 23. 11. 2. c. the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that b b b b b b Gr. Maketh and baptizeth For the Evangelist setteth down the report made to the Pharisees in the reporters own words one or other came and told them thus Jesus maketh and baptizeth more Disciples than John Iesus made and baptized more Disciples than Iohn 2. Though Iesus himself baptized not but his Disciples 3. He left Iâ—dra and departed c c c c c c Compare Chap. 1. 43. 2. 1. again into Galilee 4. And he must needs go through d d d d d d This was the name both of the chief City and of the Country in the time of the ten Tribes residence there but now there was no City of that name at all for Sichem was now the chief City of the Samaritans as Joseph Antiq. 11. cap. 8. testifieth Here therefore it is to be understood of the Country Samaria 5. Then cometh he to a City of Samaria which is called e e e e e e Sychar It is read in some copies and by some expositors with y in the first syllable as in the Text of Chrysostome Montanus the Arabick the Ital. of Brucioli Chemnitius Grotius c. And by some with i Sichar as the Uulgar Latin Beza Deodates Ital. the Spanish French Dutch and some Greek copies which these followed Be it read whether way it will Sychar or Sichar as such changes are not strange the place and City apparently was the same with Sichem so famous in the Old Testament And that appeareth plain by this that it is said there was the portion of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph which plainly was Sichem Gen. 33. 18
19. 48. 22. Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Iacob gave to his son Ioseph 6. Now Iacobs well was there Iesus therefore being wearied with his journy sate f f f f f f Sate thus that is in a weary posture or after the manner as tired men use to sit down De Dieu taketh it only for an elegancy in the Greek which might well be omitted and accordingly the Syriack hath omitted it and not owned it at all But see it Emphatical in other places also 1 Sam. 9. 13. Samuel is come this day to the City for the people have a sacrifice in the high place and when you are come into the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you shall So find him that is newly come to Town and going to a sacrifice 1 King 2. 7. Shew kindness to the sons of Barzilla c. for So they came to me that is they came kindly to me Act. 7. 8. he gave him the covenant of circumcision and so Abraham begat Isaac that is he begat him in circumcision c. thus on the well And it was about the sixth hour 7. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesus saith unto her Give me to drink 8. For his Disciples were gone away into the City to buy meat 9. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that thou being a Iew askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria For the Iews have no dealing with the Samaritans 10. Iesus answered and said unto her If thou knowest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living water 11. The woman saith unto him Sir thou hast nothing g g g g g g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Camerarius out of Plautus Latins this Situlam Beza out of Austin Hauritorium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew Esa. 40. 15. Numb 24. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Kimchi in Michol A vessel where withal they drew water the Septuagint in the former place cited renders it Cadus and in the latter they translate the metaphorical sense It seems they brought their buckets with them to draw with as well as their vessels to carry water in unless they made the same vessel serve for both uses by letting it down to draw with a cord to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou that h h h h h h Springing or running water was called by the Hebrew living water Gen. 26. 19. Isaacs servants digged in the valley and found there a well of living water The Chaldee renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 springing water for the bubbling of the spring is like the lively beating of the heart or pulse And hence it was that this woman did so readily mistake our Saviours meaning He spake of the lively waters of grace that spring up in him that hath them to eternal life but she interpreted him according to the propriety of the language as if he had spoken only of waters out of a spring And so had Nicodemus misinterpreted another expression in the former Chapter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or living waters were taken in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a gathering of waters as Rambam evidenceth saying thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Any waters saith he are fit for the purifying of the Priests hands and feet whether living springing or running waters or waters gathered together In biath hammikdas◠per. 5. By waters gathered together he meaneth ponds or cisterns gathered of rain water or any waters that did not spring or run The Latinists also used the like expression to the Hebr. for springing or running water as in the Poet Donec me flumine vivo Abluero Virg. Aeneid 2. living water 12. Art thou greater than our Father Iacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattel 13. Iesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again 14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15. The woman saith unto him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come hither to draw 16. Iesus saith unto her Go call thy husband and come hither 17. The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesus said unto her Thou hast well said I have no husband 18. For thou hast had five husbands and he whom thou now hast is not thine husband in that saidst thou truly 19. The woman saith unto him Sir I perceive that thou art a Prophet 20. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Ierusalem is the place where men ought to worship 21. Iesus saith unto her woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Ierusalem worship the Father 22. Ye worship ye know not what we know what we worship for salvation is of the Iews 23. But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth 25. The woman saith unto him I know that Messias cometh * * * * * * These are the words of the Evangelist interpreting the word Messias to the reader and not the words of the woman interpreting it to Christ the Syriack translater hath omitted these words as not necessary to a Syrian reader which is called Christ when he is come he will tell us all things 26. Iesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am he 27. And upon this came his Disciples and marvailed that he talked with i i i i i i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The various construction of the word either with the strength of the article or without hath caused various causes to be conceived of the Disciples wondring at his talking with her Some read it without the force of the Article thus they marvailed that he talked with a woman as unfit say some and uncapable of his serious and divine discourse but others ascribe their wonder to this that he was thus entred into discourse with a strange woman alone and no company near And they that so understand it are confirmed by this because they think it was no more to be wondred at that he should talk with a Samaritan woman than it was that they should go into a Samaritan City to buy provision for why might not he as well talk with a woman as they with the men or women of whom they bought meat if her being a Samaritan were all the matter But the case was not the same for the Jews might buy meat of them and sell meat to them with whom they might
knew that the Pharisees had heard c. he departed into Galilee mean else but the same occasion For what matter was it though the Pharisees heard of the multitude of Christs Disciples never so much Why surely because he had heard that John had suffered because of the multitude of his Disciples and was shut up in prison and so might he himself be in danger if he stayed in Judea to be quarrelled by the Pharisees for the same business And let it be but considered why John and the numerousness of his Disciples should be mentioned here but that they are of concernment and have some relation to this story So that these things being well weighed together the order and texture of the story appeareth to be natural and genuine as we have laid it Only one scruple and objection may lie in the way about it and that is this why Christ should go into Galilee even into Herods mouth for there he resided if Herod had but newly imprisoned John this was to flee from one danger into another from an uncertain danger from the Pharisees who had never wronged John to a certain danger by Herod who had newly imprisoned him Answer Herods quarrel against the Baptist was not so much in regard of his doctrine as meerly a personal quarrel about Herodias and as was mentioned before for fear of innovation It is said that Herod heard John gladly and did many things according to his doctrine Mark 6. 20. and therefore there was no danger of preaching the Gospel never so near Herod if the matter of Herodias be not medled withal and many Disciples be not gathered and what our Saviour should do in those particulars his Divine Wisdom needed no instructor to inform him And as for the danger of being suspected of innovation by gathering Disciples as John was his dispersing his Disciples and his flitting from place to place would make their number the less sensible whereas Johns abode in one place caused all his Disciples to resort unto him and so their multitude was the more visible When our Saviour sees his time he collects his Disciples and is followed by the multitudes and let Herod the Fox frown and fret and plot and spare not Harmony and Explanation THE subject of the story in the first part of this Section is the first conversion of any that were aliens to the Congregation of Israel by the preaching of Christ unto the Gospel And in this story that of the Prophet Hosea seemeth to be fulfilled to the very letter Chap. 2. 15. I will give the valley of Achor for a door of hope For howsoever the maps of Canaan do most of them lay the valley of Achor and Sichem at a very great distance yet if it be observed in Josh. 7. 8. how near to the hills of blessing and cursing whereof Gerizim that lay over Sichem was one the stoning of Achan was as the current of the Text there doth carry it and how Josephus speaketh of the great valley by Samaria Ant. lib. 20. cap. 5. it will not seem improbable that the valley of Achor ran along between Gerizim and Ebal and by the City of Sichem And when our Saviour first beginneth to preach to strangers and to convert them it is in this very valley and so he makes it a door of hope of conversion of the Gentiles whereas it had been a door of despair and offence to Israel at their first entrance into the land The Style and tenour of this Section so far as it relates the story of Christs being among the Samaritans is so very agreeable to the tenor of the Prophecy of Hosea that it seemeth to speak to that all along and our Saviour to an adulterous woman here openeth many things that that parabolical husband of an adulterous wife had spoken there Compare but these places amongst others Hosâ—a John Chap. 4. Chap. 1. ver 2. Vers. 18. Chap. 3. ver 1  Chap. 2. ver 21 22 23. Vers. 35 36 37. Chap. 3. ver 4. Vers. 21. Chap. 3. ver 5. Vers. 10. Chap. 13. v. 15. Vers. 14. This very place of Sichem was the place where the very first Proselytes came in that ever came into the Church of Israel Gen. 34. 29. 35. 2 and in this story it is the first place proselyted under the Gospel Vers. 4. And he must needs go through Samaria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sath Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was the custom of the Galileans as they went to Jerusalem to the Festivals to go through the country of the Samaritans Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 5. And he that would go soonest thither must go that way and it is three days journey that way from Galilee to Jerusalem Idem in vita sua Josephus helpeth us here how to understand the word Samaria in this story in hand namely for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Country of the Samaritans and not any City of that name for there was no City called Samaria at this time for Sichem was now the chief City of the Samaritans as the same Josephus witnesseth Antiq. lib. 11. cap. 8. This Country of Samaritans lay between Judea and Galilee and he that would go from the one to the other must pass through that see Luke 9. 51 52. although there was so great a fewd between the Jews and Samaritans as we shall see by and by This way it seems grew dangerous at the last and near unpassable either because of the enmity mentioned or by reason of the many theeves and robbers wherewithal the land of Canaan abounded towards the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and by reason of the Roman Souldiers that were stragling abroad For so Maimony in Kiddush hodesh witnesseth where speaking of the messengers that used to be sent abroad through the Country to give notice of the fixing of the new Moons he tells how soon they might get to such a distance unless there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 war and rapine in the way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as there was in the way between Judaea and Galilee in the days of the wise men of the Mishneh perch 5. Vers. 5. A City of Samaria called Sichar near the parcel of ground c. The story concerning the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph is in Gen. 33. 19. 48. 22. but there is difference betwixt this name used here and that mentioned there and there is difference in the relation there between one place and another There the place is called Sichem here Sychar there in one place it is said that Jacob bought it and in another that he got it with the sword and bow Sichem is a word of much like construction as Netser is in Esa. 11. 1. Matth. 2. 23. for as that signifieth both the branch Christ and the Town Nazareth where he should arise so doth this both a portion of ground and the place or situation where it lay I have given thee saith
Jacob to Joseph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shechem echad above thy brethren that is one portion as the Chaldee Paraphrast and other Jews render it and that portion the place or portion of Sichem as the Septuagint translate it of that City there is mention in Gen. 34. and in divers other places of the Scripture and whether it took that name from Sichem the son of Hamor that ravished Dinah it is not much useful or material to look after certainly it keepeth that name all along the Scripture but only in this place for that Sychar here is the same place with Sichem the circumstance added that it was near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave his son Joseph makes the matter past denial It is a very general censure upon this word both by expositors that write upon this Chapter and others that mention the word occasionally that it is written wrong and corruptly for it should be written and read Sychem But 1. their very so saying doth shew and argue that it is generally read Sychar in all copies and are all corrupt 2. It is hard to imagin how any Scribe should so miswrite or misread as to write 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing there is so little affinity between the letters in the Greek And 3. any scribe that was a Scripture man could not easily so mistake seeing there is so frequent mention of Sichem in the Bible but of Sichar never Therefore to me it is past all doubting that the word is written and read in our copies exactly and to a letter as it was written by the Evangelist himself And it may be conceived that he wrote it as it was sometimes and it may be commonly called among the Jews The hatred and dissention between the Jews and Samaritans was exceeding bitter as shall be shewed anon and it is no strange thing if the Jews used this as a nickname for the Samaritans chief City to call it Sychar instead of Sichem The people of the Kingdom of Samaria are called the Drunkards of Ephraim Esay 28. 1. Wo to the Crown of pride the drunkards of Ephraim c. Now the word Sychar importeth and signifieth Drunkenness and it may very well be conceived that seeing the Jews abhorred the Samaritans so much as they did that they framed the name Sychem into the drunken name Sychar and in scorn called the metropolis of the Samaritans so in the disdain and scorn that they had against them So they called Beelzebub Beelzebul or the God of a dunghil for the greater detestation and so the Holy Ghost calleth Achan Acha◠1 Chron. 2. 7. to hit him home for his troubling of Israel Josh. 7. compare the changing of Sychem unto Sychar with the changing of Achan into Achar and why may we not apprehend this to be done purposely and without mistakes of transcribers as well as that Now as for the difference between the two Texts of Moses that spake of this portion of Jacobs ground the one saying that it was bought of the Hivite with mony or lambs and the other that it was won from the Amorite with his sword and bow it is best reconciled by taking both places literally and in their proper sense but to understand them of several times At Jacobs first coming unto Sichem out of Padan Aram he bought this piece of ground of the Hivite as it is storied Gen. 33. 19. whether for money or for lambs we shall not need to dispute in this place But after the slaughter of the Sichemites he was long and far distant from that place and made no use of it it not being safe for him to reside there his sons having caused him to stink to the Inhabitants of the lands and God calling him away unto other places Now what became of his land and of the City Sichem which had been emptied of its Inhabitants all this while of Jacobs absence Certainly it is more proper and probable to hold that the Inhabitants of the land would some of them usurpe and seize upon those places and that Jacob was put to recover them again by force of arms than either to think that Jacob owneth the slaughter of Sichem by his sons as his own act or to understand this portion of ground and Jacobs sword and bow allegorically as many do Vid. Targ. Onkel Jerusalami c. Vers. 6. Now Iacobs well was there c. There is mention of this well in Gen. 49. 22. where Jacob foretels that Joseph should grow exceeding fruitful by this well or at this place of Sichem As it came to pass Josh. 24. 1. 1 King 12. 1. c. Joseph is a fruitful bough or a son of fruitfulness beside the well which words are not only to be taken figuratively as resembling Joseph for fruitfulness to a tree planted besides a well which was near moisture and watering but they are to be understood even properly and literally for the very place of this well where Joseph should be chiefly seated and grow even to the dignity of a Kingdom It was not only the tradition of the Samaritans that this well was extant in Jacobs time and that his family drank of it but it was a real truth as is asserted by the Evangelist and both affirm it upon the warrant of that Text Compare this story of Christ with the woman of Samaria at the well of Sichar with the story of Abrahams servant at the well of Haran Gen. 24. Jacob at the same well Gen. 29. and Moses at a well in Midian Exod. 2. §. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans This is the speech of the Evangelist not of the woman of Samaria for it was needless for her to tell our Saviour of the distance that the Jews and Samaritans kept one from another which both the Nations knew well enough but it was necessary that the Evangelist should relate so much to us both that the womans question How is it that thou being a Jew askest water of me might be the better understood and also that the great work done by our Saviour in the conversion of so many Samaritans might be set out the more glorious by how much the hatred between the two Nations was the greater This dissention and fewd betwixt them did proceed from several causes and occasions 1. There had been a continual enmity between the Inhabitants of the two Countries Judea and Samaria even while they were both of the seed of Israel from the time of the ten Tribes revolt under Jeroboam to their captivity by Shalmanezer as is copiously set out in the book of Kings and Chronicles 2. When the ten Tribes were captived out of their land the King of Assyria planted Samaria with men of divers Nations and divers Idolatries 1 King 17. 24. c. And sent among them some of the Priests of the ten Tribes to instruct them in Religion 1 King 17. 28. Jos. Ant. lib. 9. cap. 14. And so the Country fell
Cains and his desert of punishment proportionable for Cain had slain but one man and but the body but he by his evil example had killed old and young and their very souls and therefore he maketh his complaint to his two wives that had brought him to it CHAP. V. A Chronicle of 1556 years and all the years are reckoned compleat but only Noahs five hundreth year in vers 32. Vers. 3. Seth born in Original sin the Father of all men in the new world after the flood Numb 24. 17. Vers. 23. Enoch liveth as many years as be days in a year Those that lived nearer the flood lived the longer unmarried because they would not generate many children for the water Vers. 29. Noah a comforter because in him liberty should be given to the World to eat flesh CHAP. VI. In the general corruption of the World Noah the eighth person in descent from Enoch in whose time profaneness began as 2 Pet. 2. 5. Escapeth the abominations and desolation of the times CHAP. VII VIII IX The flood the Beasts in the Ark live without enmity which sheweth how the words Gen. 3. 15. about enmity with the Serpent are to be understood the Serpent and Noah are now friends each to other this is alluded to Esay 11. 6 7. Noah is in the Ark just a compleat and exact year of the Sun but reckon'd in the Text by the Lunary Months Universal darkness all the forty days rain The door of the Ark under water The Ark draweth water eleven cubits The waters when they came to abate while they lay above the Mountains fell but one Cubit in four days but far faster afterward After their coming out of the Ark for a whole half year together Noah and his family and all the Creatures live upon provision that was still in the Ark for they came out just upon the beginning of Winter when there was neither grass corn nor fruits till another spring The forbidding to eat flesh with the blood condemneth the Doctrine of Transubstantiation CHAP. X XI Seventy Nations dispersed from Babel but not seventy Languages the fifteen named in Act. 2. were enough to confound the work and they may very well be supposed to have been the whole number Sem as he standeth in the front of the Genealogy of the new world hath neither Father nor Mother named nor beginning of days nor end of life Nahors life is shortned for Idolatry CHAP. XII Abraham at 75 years old receiveth the promise and cometh into Canaan and just so many years did Sem live after Abrahams coming thither and so might well be Melchizedeck in Chap. 14. Vers. 6 7. Abraham buildeth an Altar near if not upon Mount Gerizim the hill of blessing and vers 8. Another Altar he buildeth near unto if not upon Mount Ebal the hill of cursing Deut. 27. And so taketh possession of the land by faith in the very same place where his sons the Israelites did take possession of it indeed Josh. 8. 12. c. 30. Vers. 11. When he is ready to enter into Egypt whither famine drave him as it did his posterity afterward he is afraid of his life in regard of Sarah who being a white woman would soon be taken notice of by the Egyptians who were Blackmoors This was one main inticement to Josephs Mistress to cast an eye of lustfulness upon him because he was a white Man and she a Moor. Of the same complexion was Pharaohs daughter whom Solomon took to wife of whom that in the first and literal acceptation is to be understood which spiritually is to be applied to the Church Cant. 1. 5 6. I am black but comly and I am black because the Sun hath looked on me and that Psal. 45. 13. The Kings Daughter is all glorious within for she was a Blackmoor without Vers. 20. Pharaoh plagued for Sarah's and Abrahams sake who was an Hebrew Sheepherd giveth charge to the Egyptians making it as it were a law for time to come that they should not converse with Hebrews nor with forrain Sheepherds in any so near familiarity as to eat or drink with them which the Egyptians observed strictly ever after Gen. 42. 32. 46. 34. CHAP. XIII Abraham and Lot quarrel and part in the valley of Achor and this is at the very same time of the year that Israel came into the Land viz. in the first month of the year or Abib CHAP. XIV Noah in the blessing of his son Sem maketh him in a special manner Lord of the Land of Canaan Gen. 9. Hither therefore came Sem and built a City and called it after his own peaceable condition Salem here he reigned as a King but so quietly and retiredly as that he was a Priest also In this sequestration of the father from worldly cares and affairs Elam his eldest son and heir apparent though he were seated far distant in the East yet it concerneth him to have an eye to Canaan and how matters go there for the land by bequest of his grand-father Noah descended to him as by the Common Law This title bringeth Chedorlaomer an heir of Elam from Persia into Canaan when the five Cities of the plain rebel Into this war he taketh three partners younger brothers of the House of Sem Amraphel of Arphaxad King of Chaldea Arioch of Lâ—d King of Ellasar bordering upon Babylonia and Tidal of Assur King of Nations and late built Niniveh These four thus banded together and all children of Sem and all in claim of his land against the usurping Canaanites are resolved to march over and so they do all that Country both within Jordan and without Their first inrode is upon the Rephaims that lay most North and lay first in their way and so over run the Zuzims in Ammon Emims in Moab Horites or Hivites that were Troglodytes or dwelt in the rocky Caves of Mount Seir in Edom as Jer. 49. 10. Obad. ver 3. And all the Canaanites South-East and full South to Hazezon Tamar a point below the dead Sea There they turn in to the land of Canaan properly so called and as they had subdued all the Countries from North to South without Jordan so now they intend to do from South to North within And so they did but when they were come to Dan the North out-going of the land Abram overtaketh them and conquereth the conquerors and now he is doubly titled to the land namely by promise and by victory This Sem or Melchizedeck observeth upon his return with triumph and perceiveth that it was he and his posterity to whom the Lord had designed that Land in the prophetick spirit of Noah and had refused the heirs that were more apparent in Common Law and reason and therefore he bringeth forth bread and wine the best fruits of the land and tenders them as livery and sâ—isin of it to him whom he perceived that God had chosen and pointed out for the right heir CHAP. XV. All fear of claim
love of the people that as he was the first of all the Emperors so in a manner was he the last that shewed such mildness goodness and nobleness either to people or City Tyberius succeeded him his Wives son by nature and his by adoption a man as incomparably evil unworthy and cruel as Augustus had been glorious noble and humane And if that were true which some supposed and believed That Augustus had nominated Tiberius for his Successor that his own worth might be the better set off by the others wickedness and that he might be the better spoken of because the other was so odious this his last action was more to his dishonour than all his former and howsoever Tiberius might do him honour by his miscarriage yet did he do himself dishonour in Tyberius This wretch whose Story we are now to follow was as his own Tutor used to define him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lump of clay mingled with blood and that clay and blood mingled with as much mischievousness as it was almost possible for humane nature to contain A dissembler he was beyond all parallels and comparisons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Dion He had a disposition most single to himself For he never made shew to what he desired and he never spake as he thought what he desired he denied what he hated he pretended to he shewed anger where he loved best he pretended love where he hated most he looked sullenly on his friends chearfully on his enemies was fair spoken to those he meant to punish was most severe towards those he thought to pardon And it was his Maxim That a Princes mind must be known to no man for that by its being known many evils and inconveniences do follow but many conveniences by its being dissembled Hence did every man that medled with him come into danger and to understand or not understand his mind was alike perillous And some have been undone for agreeing to his words because they agreed not to his mind and some have been undone for agreeing to his mind because he perceived they had found his mind out And it was a thing of extreme difficulty either to consent to his words or to gainsay them when it was his custom to command one thing and to will another This dissimulation he began withal at his very first entrance to the Empire pretending great unwillingness to take it upon him and when it was urged on him past denial then pretending to take two partners with him as to share in the burden and honour but when Asinius Gallus took him at his word and bad him choose his part he took it so ill that he dogd him for it to the death The same dissimulation he took along with him when he had taken the Empire on him carrying it with all mildness and moderation as if he had been a second Augustus whereas indeed the reason was because Germanicus was alive and most dear in the peoples affection and he feared him lest he should have been preferred before him Yet did his best demeanour bewray what he was within for all his skill in dissembling and at the very best he gave just suspition that he would prove but evil He began his reign with the murder of Agrippa a man once in as high favour with Augustus as himself He went on with the murder of a poor man for a piece of wit For as a corps was carried to its interring this man came to it and whispered in the dead mans ear and being asked by the standers by what he meant he answered that he desired that dead man when he came into the other world to tell Augustus that his Legacies to the people were not yet paid This cost the poor man his life for Tiberius said he should go on that message himself and so he slew him but this got the people their Legacies It would be infinite to reckon up the murders oppressions and miscreancy committed by him in the first seventeen years of his reign or before this year that we have in hand The most remarkable were that he raised Sejanus purposely that he might help to ruine Germanicus and Drusus though they were his own adopted sons and when that was done by Sejanus he ruined Sejanus and all his friends with him We shall have mischief enough from him in those years that we are to follow him in namely from his eighteenth and forward and therefore let the story hasten thither §. 3. The year of Tiberius his reign at our Saviours death This year is determined by common consent of Historians to be his eighteenth and the matter is past all doubt if it were as certain that Christ was Baptized in the fifteenth year of Tiberius as it is certain that John began to baptize For whereas John began to baptize about the vernal Equinox and Christ was not baptized till the Autumnal beginning just then to enter upon his thirtieth year and whereas Tiberius began to reign about the 18 day of August as appeareth by the Roman Historians the fifteenth year of Tiberius in exact accounting was expired some weeks before Christ was baptized And therefore though Luke say that in the fifteenth year of Tiberius John came baptizing Luke 3. 1. yet was it in the sixteenth year of Tiberius as it seemeth before Christ came to his baptism and so should the death of our Saviour fall into Tiberius his nineteenth year But it is not safe to hang the Chronology of all succeeding times upon so small a pin as this therefore according to the universal consent and determination of all Christian writers we will take the eighteenth year of Tiberius to have been the year of Christs death resurrection and ascension and accordingly compute and reckon the times of the succeeding Emperors that we have to go through proportionate or agreeable to this beginning The Roman Consuls for this year that we have in hand were Cn Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus as is obvious to any eye that counteth the years and Consuls in the time of Tiberius §. 4. His lusts and beastiality HE had certain years before this departed out of Rome resolving never to return to it again which indeed he never did though often taking on him to come and drawing very near unto the City The pretence of his departure * * * Sutton in Tiber cap. 39. 40. was the grief that he took on him to take for the death of his two sons Germanicus aâ—d Drusus and the dedication of a Capitol at Capua and a Temple at Nola but the reasons indeed were partly in disdain of the authority of his mother Livia partly to avoid the dangers of the City * * * Tacit. Annal. lib. 6. partly to outrun the shame of his evil actions and partly that in the retiredness of the Country he might be the more freely wicked as not restrained by the publick shame This last he made good by his badness if such a thing
of Evang. at Luke 3. 36. Vers. 16. And were carried over into Sichem c. The shortness of the Language in this verse hath bred some difficulty and as Stephens speaking more than Moses in the Verse foregoing was the cause of some obscurity there so is it a cause of more in this verse for that he hath not spoken so much Moses hath told that Jacob was buried in Hebron Stephen here speaks as if he had been buried in Sichem Moses maketh Jacob the buyer of the land of Emor the father of Sichem Steven seemeth to make Abraham the buyer of it And in conclusion to make Jacob and his twelve sons to lie in one Sepulcher and Abrahams and Jacobs purchase to be but one and the same Now Stephen and Moses speak but the same thing and intend the same meaning only Stephen useth shortness of speech in relating a story which was so well known that a word was enough for a sentence and he spake in a language which had its proprieties and Idioms which those that heard him easily understood And were carried over into Sichem The Syriack and Arabick apply this only to Jacob for they read it in the singular number He was translated directly cross and contrary to Moses who telleth plainly that Jacobs burial was in Hebron Gen. 50. 13. And in Hebron Josephus would have all the sons of Jacob buried likewise Antiq. lib. 2. cap. 4. and by his report they were buried there before Joseph for that they were brought thither as they died but Josephs burial was put over till all the Nation came out of Egypt Now it is not to be imagined that Stephen a man so full of the Holy Ghost would ever have spoken a thing in which every ordinary man woman or child that heard him could so easily have confuted him as they might have done if the twelve Patriarks had been buried in Hebron much less when he spake to the Councel and to men of learning and understanding that would readily have tript him if he had faltered in so plain and common a story therefore it is past all doubting that Sichem was knownly and generally reputed the place of the Patriarks burial For as although there be mention only of Moses bringing up the bones of Joseph Exod. 13. 19. yet R. Solomon well observeth that we may learn from that very place that the bones of all the Patriarks were brought up with him so though there be mention of the burial of Joseph only in Sichem Josh. 24. 32. and no record of the burial of the rest of the twelve there yet might it very well be supposed had not Stephen asserted in that they were also buried there with him For we may prove the bringing of their bones out of Egypt yea though Stephen had not told it For 1. The same cause that moved Joseph to desire burial in the land of Canaan could not but move the other of the twelve to desire the like were it in faith in the promise or because of the interest in the Land or in hope of the resurrection all the rest had the very same principles to move them to it that Joseph had 2. The rest of the Tribes bare the same honour to their Patriarks that the Tribe of Joseph did to him and therefore if they in honour to Joseph would preserve his bones that at their removal they might be taken out of Egypt the children of therest of the Tribes would do so by their Patriarks also 3. To which might be added the kind of necessity which there was that the twelve Fathers of the Church of Israel and heirs of the Land of Canaan should have their interment in that Land and not be left in the land of bondage So likewise may there be arguments sufficient to prove that they were buried with his bones in Sichem As 1. There was no reason they should be severed in the burial who had been united in their removal 2. Josephs bones were most regardable and the same Sepulcher that served him would have best befit them 3. The convocation of all Israel by Joshua was to Sichem and there upon their possessing of the land he makes a covenant betwixt them and God and it is incomparably more probable that they should bury the bones of all the Patriarks there than in Hebron where we do not read that Joshua ever came but to destroy the City Now the reason why Stephen speaking of the burials of Jacob and his sons which were in distant and different places doth yet couch their story so close together as if they were all laid together in the same place is 1. Because treating of two numbers so unequal as twelve and one he first followeth the story of the greater number 2. He useth the singular number for the plural Sepulcher for Sepulchers which is a thing so common as that nothing is more common in the Scripture Language 3. He useth an Ellipsis or cutting off of the conjunction Va◠or And which also is exceeding common in the same Language as 1 Sam. 6. 19. Psalm 133. 3. 2 Kings 23. 8. and divers other places So that though he spake so very curt and short as he did yet to them that were well enough acquainted both with the story it self and with such Hebraisms his shortness would breed no obscurity but would they readily take him in this sense And Jacob and our Fathers died and were removed to Sichem and were laid in Sepulchers in that which Abraham bought for mony and in that that was bought from the sons of Emmor the Father of Sichem Vers. 20. And was exceeding fair Gr. Fair to God He was a goodly child supernaturally born when his mother was past the natural course of childbearing Vers. 22. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians This Steven speaketh by necessary consequence from his Princely education Vers. 23. And when he was full forty years old There are that say that Moses was forty years in Pharaohs Palace forty years in Midian and forty years in the wilderness Tauchuna in Exod. 2. Vers. 43. Ye took up the Tabernacle of Moloch c. I. In Amos the words lie thus Chap. 5. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Rabbins Kimchi and Jarchi construe in the future Tense and take it for a threatning of their punishment as much as an upbraiding of their sin as if he should have said unto them ye would not take up the Commandments of the Lords to bear them but you shall bear your Idols into captivity with you and your enemies shall lay them upon your shoulders And this might have been a very plausible and fair sense but that Steven hath taught us to construe the Verb in the time past and not in the time to come and to read it thus ye have born or taken up c. II. Now the fixing of this time when Israel took up this Idolatry is somewhat difficult It is some facilitating of the
at Ephesus 56 1 Nero. Paul at Ephesus 57 2 Paul writeth the second Epistle to Corinth And now may we in some scantling fix those Stories to their times which hung loosely before namely the choosing of the Deacons the death of Stephen conversion of Samaria and the Eunuch and conclude that they were about the beginning of the next year after Christs ascension PART II. The Roman Story § 1. Velleius Paterculus TIBERIUS keepeth himself still in the Countrey but not stil at Capreae * * * Dion sub his coss for this year he draweth near unto Rome and haunteth in some places about four miles off but cometh not at all unto the City This seemeth to be his first journey towards it that Suetonius speaketh of * * * In Liber cap. 17. when he came by water to the Gardens beside the Nanmachy or the Pool in Tiber where they used their sportting sea-fights and returned again but the cause not known The first thing mentioned of him under these Consuls both by Tacitus and Dion is his marrying forth the Daughter of Drusus which they name not and Julia and Drusilla the Daughters of Germanicus Drusilla to L. Cassius Julia to M. Vinicius This was a Son of that M. Vinicius to whom Paterculus dedicated his short and sweet Roman History And the nearness of the time would very nearly perswade that this was that very Vinicius himself but that Paterculus sheweth that his Vinicius was Consul when he wrote his book to him and that as himself and Dion agreeing with him sheweth An. V. C. 783. or the next year after our Saviours Baptism but this Vinicius Tiberius his Son in Law as Tacitus intimateth was only a Knight but a Consuls Son Howsoever in these times shone forth and flourished the excellent wit and matchless pen of that Historian an Author known to all learned men and admired by all that know him His Original was from the Campanians as himself witnesseth not very far from the beginning of his second book when he cometh to speak of the Italian war in the time of Sylla and Marius No pen is so fit to draw his pedegree and Character as his own and therefore take only his own words Neque ego verecundia domestici sanguinis gloriae dum verum refero subtraham c. Nor will I for modesty derogate any thing from the honour of mine own blood so that I speak no more than truth for much is to be attributed to the memory of Minatius Magius my great-Grandfathers Father a man of Asculum who being * * * Or grandchild Nephew to Decius Magius a renowned Prince of the Campanians and a most faithfull man was so trusty to the Romans in this war that with a Legion which he had banded Pompey took Herculaneum together with T. Didius when L. Sulla besieged and took in Consa Of whose vertues both others but especially and most plainly Q. Hortensius hath made relation in his Annals Whose Loyalty the people of Rome did fully requite by enfranchising both him and his and making two of his Sons Pretors His Grandfather was C. Velleius Master of the Engeneers to Cn. Pompey M. Brutus and Tyro a man saith he second to none in Canâ—pany whom I will not defraud of that Testimony which I would give to a stranger He at the departure of Nero Tiberius his Father out of Naples whose part he had taken for his singular friendship with him being now unweldy with age and bulk of body when he could not accompany him any longer he slew himself Of his Fathers and of his own rank and profession thus speaketh he joyntly At this time namely about the time that Augustus adopted Tiberius after I had been Field-Marshal I became a Souldier of Tiberius and being sent with him General of the Horse into Germany which Office my Father had born before for nine whole years together I was either a spectator or to my poor ability a forwarder of his most celestial designs being either a Commander or an Ambassadour And a little after In this war against the Hungarians and Dalmatians and other Nations revolted my meaness had the place of an eminent Officer For having ended my service with the Horse I was made Questor and being not yet a Senator I was equalled with the Senators And the Tribunes of the people being now designed I led a part of the. Army delivered to me by Augustus from the City to his Son And in my Questorship the lot of my Province being remitted I was sent Ambassadour from him to him again Partner in the like employments and honours he had a brother named Magius Celer Velleianus that likewise attended Tiberius in the Dalmatian war and was honoured by him in his Triumph and afterward were his Brother and he made Pretors When he wrote that abridgement of the Roman History which we now have extant he had a larger work of the same subject in hand of which he maketh mention in divers places which he calleth justum opus and justa volumina but so far hath time and fortune denyed us so promising and so promised a piece that this his abstract is come short home and miserably curtailed to our hands So do Epitomes too commonly devour the Original and pretending to ease the toil of reading larger Volumes they bring them into neglect and loss In the unhappiness of the loss of the other it was somewhat happy that so much of this is preserved as is a fragment of as excellent compacture as any is in the Roman tongue wherein sweetness and gravity eloquence and truth shortness and variety are so compacted and compounded together that it findeth few parallels either Roman or other § 2. Troubles in Rome about Usury This year there was a great disturbance in the City about Usury the too common and the too necessary evil of a Common-wealth This breed-bate had several times heretofore disturbed that State though strict and rigorous courses still were taken about it At the first the interest of mony lent was proportioned and limited only at the dispsal of the lender a measure always inconstant and often unconscionable Whereupon it was fixed at the last by the twelve Tables to an ounce in the pound which is proportionable in our English coin to a penny in the shilling Afterward by a Tribune Statute it was reduced to half an ounce and at last the trade was quite forbidden But such weeds are ever growing again though weeded out as clean as possible and so did this Partly through the covetousnes of the rich making way for their own pofit and partly through the necessities of the poor giving way to it for their own supply Gracchus now Pretor and he to whom the complaint was made at this time being much perplexed with the matter referreth it to the Senate as perplexed as himself He perplexed because of the multitude that were in danger by breach of the Law and they because they were in
exercised the pens of Christians applying it as an Embleme of the resurrection of Christ. PART II. The Affairs of the JEWS §. A commotion of the Iews caused by Pilate BEsides the tumult mentioned before caused by Pilate among the Jews about some images of Caesar Josephus hath also named another raised by the same Spleen and rancor of his against that people which because Eusebius hath placed it at this year be it recommended to the reader upon his Chronology Pilate a constant enemy to the Nation of which he was Governor sought and dogged all occasions whereby to provoke them to displeasure that the displeasure might provoke them to do something that would redound to their own disadvantage At this time he took in hand a great work of an Aquaeduct or watercourse to Jerusalem to bring the water thither from a place two hundred furlongs or five and twenty miles off as Josephus reckoneth it in one place but in another he crosseth himself and doubleth the measure to four hundred and for this purpose he took the money out of their Corban or holy treasure to expend upon this his fancy The people displeased with what was done come together by multitudes some crying out against the work and others plainly against Pilate For they of old did know his conditions that his affection was not so much to the people or to do them good by his Aquaeduct as it was to tyrannize over their consciences which were nailed to their ancient rights and rites But he suborning some of his Souldiers in the common garb and garments and they hiding clubs under their coats disposed themselves so about the multitude that they had them within them And then when the people continued still in their outrage and railing upon a signal given they fall upon them and beat without distinction all before them both those that were seditious and those that were not so that many died in the place and the rest departed away sore wounded This is the tenour of the story in Josephus in Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 4. Bell. Judaic lib. 2. cap. 14. In the allegation of which History by Baronius to omit his placing of it in the first year of Pilate about which he sheweth himself indifferent I cannot pass these two things without observing 1. That he saith that Pilate took the head of his watercourse three hundred furlongs off whereas in the Greek there is no such sum in either of the places where the story is related but in the one two hundred and in the other four 2. That whereas the Greek readeth the transition to the next story de Bell. Jud. l. 2. cap. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. At that time Agrippa the accuser of Herod went to Tiberius c. His Latin readeth it Atque ab hoc accusator Herodis Agrippa c. losing both scantling of the time which the Author hath given and Eusebius followed and seeming to bring Agrippa to Rome about this matter of Pilate In the twentieth year of Tiberius hath the same Josephus placed the death of Philip the Tetrarch although he hath named it after the entrance of Vitellius upon the Government of Syria which was in the next year but such transpositions are no strange things with him This Philip was Tetrarch of Trachonitis Gaulonitis and Batanaea he died in the City Julias and was interred with a great deal of funeral pomp His tetrarchy was added to Syria but the tributes of it were reserved within it self THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY THE Jewish and the Roman For the Year of CHRIST XXXVI And of TIBERIUS XXI Being the Year of the WORLD 3963. And of the City of ROME 788. Consuls C. Cestius Gallus M. Servilius Rufus PART I. §. Affairs of the Jews Vitellius their Friend VItellius the last years Consul at Rome is sent this year Proconsul into Syria to govern that and Judea which was incorporated into that Province A man more Honorable abroad than at his own doors renowned in his youth but ignominious in his old age brave in ruling in forain parts but base in officiousness and flattery at Rome At the time of the Passover he cometh up to Jerusalem whether induced by curiosity to see the Festival or by the opportunity of the concourse to behold the whole body of his Dominion collected in so small a compass and to disperse among them his commands or for what other cause let him keep it to himself But so well did he like his intertainment and the people that had given it him that he remitted to all the inhabitants the Toll or Impost of all the fruits bought and sold and he permitted to the Priests the keeping of the High-Priests garments which of late had been in the custody of the Romans For Hircanus the first of that name having built a Tower near unto the Temple and living in it himself and after him some of his successors he laid up there those holy garments which they only might wear as in a place most convenient both where to put them on when they came into the Temple and to put them off when they went into the City But Herod in after times seising upon that Tower and repairing it and naming it Antonia in honour of the great Antony he seised also upon the custody of those robes when he found them there and so also did Archelaus his son But the Romans deposing of Archelaus and usurping his whole Dominion if reassuming of that which they had bestowed before may be called usurpation they also as he had done kept these sacred garments under their hands Laying them up in a room under the seals of the Priests and the keepers of the Treasury and the keeper of the Tower set up a Candle there every day Seven days before any of the Feasts they were delivered out by the same Keeper and purified because they came out of heathen hands and used the first day of the Feast and restored the second and laid up as before Vitellius graciously restored the custody of them to the Priests as had been used of old But Joseph who was also called Caiaphas who should have first worn them after was removed by him from the High Priest-hood and Jonathan the son of Ananus placed in his stead And thus is one of the unjust Judges of our Saviour judged himself and the next year and by this same Vitellius we shall have the other judged also PART II. §. 1. Affairs in the Empire A rebellion in Parthia c. AT this year hath Eusebius in his Chronicle placed the Spleen of Sejanus against the Jews which was some years before and the spleen of Herod against James and Peter which was some years after and * * * In Chron. Mundi l. 8. Massaeus in his Chronicle hath placed the assumption of the Virgin Mary which was no body knows when A story first published to the world by revelation as the common cry went of it but invented indeed by
superstition backed by ease and love of Holy-days and grown into credit and intertainment by credulity and custom As unconstant to it self for time as her Sex is of whom it is divulged for there is so great difference about the time when this great wonder was done that it is no wonder if it be suspected to have been done at no time at all We will leave to rake into it till we come to find it in its place and rubrick in Eusebius who is the most likely man to follow and for the present we will divert the Readers eyes to a matter of far more truth and likelihood Phraates a King of Parthia of old had given Vonones his eldest son for an Hostage to Augustus and Augustus upon the request of the Parthians afterward had given him again unto them for their King At the first he was well accepted and well affected by them and among them as he had been desired by them but afterward he was disliked and displaced by Artabanus whom they had called in for their King in his stead This Artabanus having been kept in awe by Germanicus whilest he lived and having been a good while ago quitted and delivered of that awe by Germanicus his death and having at this present a fit opportunity for the seisure of the Kingdom of Armenia by the death of Artaxias their King he taketh upon him to place Arsaces his own eldest son in that Throne demanding withal some Treasures that Vonones had left in Syria and Cilicia and challenging the Royalty of Persia and Macedon and the old possessions of Cyrus and Alexander This was a proud scorn and defiance to the Romans and such as was not possible for their victoriousness to digest nor safe for him to offer but that he was imboldned to it by considering the Emperors old age But Sinnaces and Abdus and other Nobles of Parthia not trusting their lives and liberties to the rashness of Artabanus come secretly to Rome and commit the matter to Tiberius He upon their request and glad of opportunity to correct the insolencies of Artabanus giveth them Phraates another son of Phraates their old King who also lay for an Hostage at Rome and dispatcheth him away for his fathers Throne and the Nobles with him And thus is Artabanus in a fair way of an equal retaliation to lose his own Kingdom as he had usurped another mans As they were thus travailing homeward with this design and plot in their minds and hands Artabanus having intelligence of the matter counterplotteth again and fairly inviting Abdus under pretence of great amity to a banquet preventeth his future designs by poison and stops the haste of Sinnaces by dissimulation and gifts Phraates the new elected King the more to ingratiate himself to his Countrymen by complying with them in their manners forsaketh the Roman garb customs and diet to which he had been so long inured and betaketh himself to the Parthian which being too uncouth and hard for him especially upon a change so suddain it cost him his life as he was in Syria But this unexpected accident caused not Tiberius to forelet or neglect the opportunity so fairly begun but to follow it the more earnestly For choosing Tiridates a man of the same blood and an enemy to Artabanus he investeth him in the same right and challenge to the Parthian Crown and sendeth him away for it Writing letters withal to Mithradates the King of Iberia to invade Armenia that the distress and strait of Arsaces there might draw Artabanus thither to his relief and give Tiridates the more easie access to his Country For the better securing of Mithradates to this imployment he maketh him and his brother Pharasmenes friends between whom there had been some feud before and inciteth them both to the same service This they accordingly perform and breaking into Armenia they shortly make the King away by bribing of his servants and take the City Artaxata with their Army Artabanus upon these tidings sendeth away Orodes his other son to relieve and to revenge But Pharasmanes having joyned the Albanes and Sarmatians to his party and he and the Iberians by this union being masters of the passages they pour in Sarmatians into Armenia by multitudes through the straits of the Caspian mountains and deny passage to any that would aid the Parthian So that Orodes cometh up to Pharasmanes but can go no further and they both lie in the field so close together that Pharasmanes biddeth him battel at his own trenches which being stoutly and strangely fought between so many Nations and so differently barbarous it fortuned that the two Princes met in the heat of the sight and Pharasmanes wounded Orodes through the Helmet but could not second his blow himself being born away by his horse beyond his reach and the other was suddainly succoured and sheltered by his guard The rumor of this wound of the King by dispersion grew to a certain report of his death and that by as certain an apprehension grew to the loss of the Parthians day Nor was the rumor altogether mistaken for the wound though it were not so sodainly yet was it so surely deadly that it brought him to his end Now it is time for Artabanus to look and stir about him when he hath lost his two sons and when his two Kingdoms are near upon losing He mustereth and picketh up all the Forces his Dominions could afford and those no more neither if they were enough than the present necessity and forlorn estate of himself and Kingdoms did require What would have been the issue and where the storm of this cloud and shower of these preparations would have lighted Vitellius gave not leave and time to be determined for raising all the Legions of Syria and thereabout for Tiberius upon these troubles had made him ruler of all the East he pretended an invasion of Mesopotamia But Artabanus suspecting whither that war might bend indeed and his discontented subjects upon this conceit of the assistance of the Romans daring to shew their revolt against him which they durst not before he was forced to flee with some forlorn company into Scythia hoping that his absence might remove the hatred of the Parthians which we shall see hereafter came accordingly to pass and Vitellius without any blow struck maketh Tiridates King in his stead §. 2. Tiberius still cruel and shameless He was now got to Antium so near the City that in a day or nights space he could have or give a return to any letters For all his age which the Parthian King had despised and for all the troubles that he had caused yet remitted he nothing of his wonted rigour and savageness The Sâ—ianians were as eagerly hunted after as ever and it was no escape nor help to the accused though the crimes objected were either obsolete or feigned This caused Fulcinius Trio for that he would not stay for the formal accusations which he perceived were coming against him
her husbands promotion may not unfitly be yoaked the mother of Sex Papinius that made her own lust her sons overthrow Whether this were the Papinius that was the last years Consul or his son or some other of the same name and family it is no great matter worth inquiring but whosoever he was infortunate he was in his mother for she caused his end as she had given him his beginning She being lately divorced from her husband betook herself unto her son whom with flattery and loosness she brought to perpetrate such a thing that he could find no remedy for it when it was done but his own death The consequent argueth that the fault was incest for when he had cast himself from an high place and so ended his life his mother being accused for the occasion was banished the City for ten years till the danger of the slipperiness of her other sons youth was past and over PART II. The JEWISH Story §. 1. Preparations of war against Aretas THE terrible and bitter message of the Emperor to Vitellius against King Aretas must be obeyed though more of necessity than of any zeal of Vitellius in Herods quarrel He therefore raising what forces he accounted fitting for his own safety in the Emperors favour and for his safety with the enemy marcheth toward the seat of the war intending to lead his Army through Judea But he was diverted from this intention by the humble supplication of the Jews to the contrary who took on how contrary it was to their ancient Laws and customs to have any Images and pictures brought into their Country whereof there was great store in the Romans Arms and Banners The gentleness of the General was easily overtreated and commanding his Army another way he himself with Herod and his friends went up to Jerusalem where he offered sacrifice and removed Jonathan from the High-priesthood and placed Theophilus his brother in his stead This was saith Josephus at a feast of the Jews but he named not which and Vitellius having stayed there three days on the fourth receiveth letters concerning Tiberius his death I leave it to be weighed by the Reader whether this festival were the Passover or Pentecost For on the one hand since Tiberius died about the middle of March as the Roman Historians do generally agree it is scarce possible that the Governor of Syria and the Nations of the East should be unacquainted with it till Pentecost which was eight or nine weeks after For all the Empire must as soon as possible be sworn unto the new Prince as Vitellius upon the tidings did swear Judea and so long a time might have bred some unconvenience And yet on the contrary it is very strange that the intelligence of his death should be so quick as to get from Rome to Jerusalem between the middle of March and the middle of the Passover week Vitellius upon the tidings recalleth his Army again and disposeth and billeteth them in the several places where they had wintered for he knew not whether Caius would be of the same mind with Tiberius about the matter of Aretas and Herod you may guess how this news was brooked by the Arabian King and yet was it no other than what he looked for if he believed what he himself spake For hearing of the preparations of Vitellius against him and consulting with Wizards and Augury This Army saith he shall not come into Arabia for some of the Commanders shall die Either he that commandeth the war or he that undertaketh it or he for whom it is undertaken meaning either Tiberius Vitellius or Herod §. 2. An Omen to Agrippa in chains Such another wizardly presage of the Emperors death had Agrippa at Rome as Josephus also relateth who relateth the former For as he stood bound before the Palace leaning dejectedly upon a tree among many others that were prisoners with him an Owl came and sate in that tree to which he leaned which a Germane seeing being one of those that stood there bound he asked who he was that was in the purple and leaned there and understanding who he was he told him of his inlargement promotion to honour and prosperity and that when he should see that bird again he should die within five days after And thus will the credulity of superstition have the very birds to foretel Tiberius his end from the Phenix to the Owl The Roman Story again §. 1. Tiberius near his end TWice only did Tiberius proffer to return to the City after his departure from it but returned never The later time was not very long before his end For being come within the sight of the City upon the Appian rode this prodigy as he took it affrighted him back He had a tame Serpent which coming to feed as he used to do with his own hand he found him eaten up by Pismires upon which ominous accident being advised not to trust himself among the multitude he suddenly retired back to Campany and at Astura he fell sick From thence he removed to Circeii and thence to Misenum carrying out his infirmity so well that he abated not a whit of his former sports banquets and voluptuousness whether for dissimulation or for habitual intemperance or upon Thrasyllus his prediction let who will determine He used to mock at Physick and to scoff at those that being thirty years of age yet would ask other mens counsel what was good or hurtful for their own bodies §. 2. His choise of a successor But weakness at the last gave him warning of his end and put him in mind to think of his successor and when he did so perplexity met with such a thought For whom should he choose The son of Drusus was too young the son of Germanicus was too well beloved and Claudius was too soft should he choose the first or the last it might help to disgrace his judgment should he choose the middle he might chance to disgrace his own memory among the people and for him to look elsewhere was to disgrace the family of the Caesars Thus did he pretend a great deal of care and seriousness for the good of the Commonwealth whereas his main aim and respect was at his own credit and families honour Well something he must pretend to give countenance and credit to his care of the common good In fine his great deliberation concluded in this easie issue namely in a prayer to the Gods to design his successor and in an auspicium of his own hatching that he should be his successor that should come first in to him upon the next morning which proved to be Caius It shewed no great reality nor earnestness for the common good in him at all when so small a thing as this must sway his judgment and such a trifle be the casting voice in a matter of so great a moment His affection was more to young Tiberius his nephew but his policy reflected more upon Caius he had rather Tiberius
common in all their Authors When they cite any of the Doctors of their Schools they commonly use these words Amern rabbothenu Zicceronam libhracah in four letters thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus say our Doctors of blessed memory But when they speak of holy men in the Old Testament they usually take this Phrase Gnalau hashalom on him is peace in brief thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus when they mention Moses Solomon David or others this is the memorial they give them The Arabians have the like use in their Abbreviation of Gnalaihi alsalemo on whom is peace The words in Hebrew want a verb and so may be construed two ways On him is peace or on him be peace The learned Master Broughton hath rendered it the former way and his judgement herein shall be my Law To take it the latter way seems to relish of Popish superstition of praying for the dead which though the Jews did not directly do yet in manner they appear to do no less in one part of their Common Prayer Book called Mazkir neshamoth the remembrancer of Souls which being not very long I thought not amiss to Translate out of their Tongue into our own that the Reader may see their Jewish Popery or Popish Judaism and may bless the Creator who hath not shut us up in the same darkness CHAP. XL. Mazkir neshamoth or the Remembrancer of souls in the Iews Liturgy Printed at Venice THE Lord remember the soul or spirit of Abba Mr. N. the son of N. who is gone into his world wherefore I vow to give Alms for him that for this his soul may be bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sarah and Rebecca Rachel and Leah and with the rest of the righteous men and righteous women which be in the garden of Eden Amen The Lord remember the soul of Mrs. N. the Daughter of N. who is gone to her World Therefore I vow c. as in the other before Amen The Lord remember the soul of my father and my mother of my grandfathers and grandmothers of my uncles and aunts brethren and sisters of my cosens and consenesses whether of my fathers side or mothers side who are gone into their world Wherefore I vow c. Amen The Lord remember the soul of N. the son of N. and the souls of all my cosens and cosenesses whether on my fathers or mothers side who were put to death or slain or stabd or burnt or drowned or hanged for the sanctifying of the Name of God Therefore I will give Alms for the memory of their souls and for this let their souls be bound up in the bundle of life with the soul of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Sarah and Rebecca Rachel and Leah and with the rest of the righteous men and righteous women which are in the garden of Eden Amen Then the Priest pronounceth a blessing upon the man that is thus charitable as it followeth there in these words He that blessed our father Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses and Aaron David and Salomon he bless Rabbi N. the son of N. because he hath vowed Alms for the souls whom he hath mentioned for the honour of God and for the honour of the Law and for the honour of the day for this the Lord keep him and deliver him from all affliction and trouble and from every plague and sickness and write him and seal him for a happy life in the day of Judgment and send a blessing and prosper him in every work of his hands and all Israel his brethren and let us say Amen Thus courteous Reader hast thou seen a Popish Jew interceding for the dead have but the like patience a while and thou shalt see how they are Popish almost entirely in claiming the merits of the dead to intercede for them for thus tendeth a prayer which they use in the book called Sepher Min hagim shel col Hammedinoth c. which I have also here turned into English Do for thy praises sake Do for their sakes that loved thee that now dwell in dust For Abraham Isaac and Jacobs sake Do for Moses and Aarons sake Do for David and Salomons sake Do for Jerusalem thy holy Cities sake Do for Sion the habitation of thy glories sake Do for the desolation of thy Temples sake Do for the treading down of thine Altars sake Do for their sakes who were slain for thy holy Name Do for their sakes who have been massacred for thy sake Do for their sakes who have gone to fire or water for the hallowing of thy Name Do for sucking childrens sakes who have not sinned Do for weaned childrens sakes who have not offended Do for infants sakes who are of the house of our Doctors Do for thine own sake if not for ours Do for thine own sake and save us Tell me gentle reader 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whether doth the Jew Romanize or the Roman Judaize in his devotions This interceding by others is a shrewd sign they have both rejected the right Mediator between God and Man Christ Jesus The prophane Heathen might have read both Jew and Papist a lecture in his Contemno minutos istos Deos modo Jovem propitium habeam which I think a Christian may well English let go all Diminutive Divinities so that I may have the great Jesus Christ to propitiate for me CHAP. XLI Of the Latine Translation of Matth. 6. 1. ALms in Rabbin Hebrew are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tsedhakah righteousness which word the Syrian Translator useth Matth. 6. 1. Act. 10. 2. and in other places From this custom of speech the Roman vulgar Translateth Attendite ne justitiam vestram faciatis One English old manuscript Testament is in Lichfield Library which hath it thus after the Latine Takith hede that you do not your rightwisnes before men to be seyne of hem ellis ye shullen have no mede at your fadir that is in hevenes Other English Translation I never saw any to this sense nor any Greek copy It seems the Papist will rather Judaize for his own advantage than follow the true Greek The Septuagint in some places of the Old Testament have turned Tsedhakah Righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almsdeeds or little or to no sense As the Papists have in this place of the New Testament turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almsdeeds by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Righteousness to as little purpose In the Hebrew indeed one word is used for both Tsedhakah for Almsdeeds which properly signifies Righteousness upon what ground I know not unless it be to shew that S◠Chrysostom hath such ◠touch Alms must be given of rightly gotten good or else they are no righteousness or they are called Zadkatha in Syrian Hu ger zadek le mehwo they are called righteousness because it is right they should be given and given rightly The Fathers of the Councel of Trent speak much of the merit of Alms whom one may
victorious So he goeth with them into the City offereth at the Temple is shewed Daniels Prophesie concerning himself granteth favourable priviledges to the Jews about their Religion and so departeth b b b Vid. Iuch sol 15. It is held by some of the Jews that in the very year that Alexander came to Jerusalem Ezra Haggai Zechary and Malachi died and the Spirit of Prophesie departed from Israel which if we follow the computation of Heathen Stories is a thing of utter improbability they prolong the Persian Monarchy to so large a time but if we follow the account of Scripture it makes the improbability a great deal less as might be shewed if we were following the pursuit of Chronology And if it be questioned how it should be possible that all Heathen Stories that handle the succession of the Persian Kings should be so far wide as to double nay almost to treble the number of the Kings more than they were these three things may be produced as those that either severally or rather jointly might be the reasons of such a mistake 1. Because every one of the Persian Kings had a double nay some a treble name and this multiplicity of Names might deceive the heedless Historian into an assertion of numerousness of Persons 2. The Persian Kingdom was a double Kingdom Media and Persia the two Arms and Shoulders in Dan. II. now the King of Persia and the Viceroy of Media might be likewise misconceived in after-times for two differing Persian Monarchs 3. It was the manner of the Persian Kings when they went into the Wars to create a King to rule at home while they were absent and this might cause the accounting of so many Kings and of so long a time And so Herodotus beareth witness that c c c Herod Polymn vel lib. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the King went to War it was the Law of the Persians that he should appoint a King and so go his way on his expedition And this custom was that that made Cyrus his third year to be accounted for Artaxerxes his first though Cyrus was yet alive because he left him King at home whilest he himself went to Wars abroad Alexander dying in the flower of his Age and Victories his large Dominions obtained so suddainly by the Sword were divided as suddainly again in a manner by the Sword amongst four of his chief Commanders according as was Prophesied Dan. VIII 8. XI 4. Two of them were Seleucus Nicanor who obtained Syria and Ptolomy Lagus who obtained Egypt whose families the House of the North and the House of the South Dan. XI being ill Neigbours one to another did both of them prove ill Neighbours to Judea and through and under them the People and Temple did undergo divers varieties of fortune but most commonly the worst The Kings of these Countries are reckoned these  d d d Vid. Euseb. in Chron. Strab. Geog. l. 17. Kings of Syria d d d Vid. Euseb. in Chron. Strab. Geog. l. 17. Kings of Egypt  1 Seleucus Nicanor 32 years 1 Ptolomy Lagus 40 years 2 Antiochus Soter 19 2 Ptol. Philadelphus 18 3 Antiochus Theos 15 3 Ptol. Euergetes 26 4 Seleucus Gallinicus 20 4 Ptol. Philopator 17 5 Seleucus Ceraunos 3 5 Ptol. Epiphanes 24 6 Antiochus Magnus 31 6 Ptol. Philometor 36 7 Seleucus Philopator 12 7 Ptol. Euergetes 29 8 Antiochus Epiphanes 11 8 Ptol. Physcon 17 9 Antiochus Eupator 2 9 Ptol. Alexander 10 10 Demetrius Soter 22 10 Ptol. Lathurus 8 11 Alexander 11 11 Ptol. Dionysius 30 12 Demetrius 3 12 Cleopatra 22 13 Antiochus Sedetes 9   14 Demetrius iterum 4   15 Antiochus Grippus 12   16 Antiochus Cyzicenus 18   17 Philippus 2   SECT III. A Brief of the state of the Temple in the times of these Kings IF we were to write a Story of the City and People as we are of the Temple here were a very large field before us for exceeding much of the Story of Jerusalem and Judea hath to do with the Story of these Kings but since our confinement is to the Temple only we shall make a shorter cut because the peculiar relations that we find about that are but few in comparison of the general Story of the City and Nation a a a Ios. Ant. lib. 12. cap. 3. Seleucus Nicanor or Nicator as some do call him the first of these Kings of Syria was a great favourer of the Jewish Nation for he infranchised them in his Syrian Cities yea even in Antioch the Metropolis it self and b b b Id. in lib. Maccab. cap. 3. 2 Mac. III. 3. he bestowed benevolences upon the Temple to an exceeding liberal and magnificent value But Ptolomy Lagus King of Egypt his contemporary was as bitter to the Nation as he was favourable He having his Army in the Country took advantage one Sabbath day of the Jews strict resting on that da and pretending to come into the City to Sacrifice he surprized the City and it is like the Temple sped but indifferently with him and he carried exceeding many thousands away Captive c c c Aristâ—as Ios. ubi ante His son and successor Ptolomy Philadelphus was again as favourable to the Nation as he had been mischievous He sent for the Seventy Elders to Translate the Bible and sent exceeding great munificence to the Temple which we have had some cause to speak of before In the time of Ptolomy Euergetes the successor of Philadelphus the covetize of Onias the High Priest had provoked the displeasure of that King and was like to have brought mischief upon the place and people but that it was wisely appeased by Joseph Onias his sisters son From the time that Ptolomy Lagus had so basely surprized Jerusalem it was under homage to the Crown of Egypt till Antiochus the Great released it or changed it rather into subjection to Syria whether it were of his goodness and devotion or whether rather out of his policy to make sure the Jews to him d d d Appian in Syâ—inc in the great Wars that he had especially with the Romans he bestowed many favours upon the People and liberal Donations and Priviledges upon the Temple And particularly this Edict in its behalf That no stranger should come into the virge of the Temple prohibited which it may be first occasioned those Inscriptions upon the Pillars at the entrance into the Chel that we have spoken of that no stranger should come there upon pain of death After him succeeded Antiochus Epiphanes save only that Seleucus Philopater reigned twelve years between a Man or a Monster shall I call him Of whom and of whose cursed actings are those Prophesies in Dan. VII 21 25. VIII 10 11 12 24 25. 11. 28 c. 12. 1 c. and Ezek. XXXVIII XXXIX and who performed according to those predictions to the utmost of wickedness He
work It was seated on a high pitch and fenced with a Wall of its own And if the defendants had guarded it all days alike it had not been taken but they intermitting to stand upon their defence on Saturdays being their Sabbath on which days they do no work the Romans had opportunity on that day to batter the Wall And when they had discovered this custom of the besieged they did no great matter all the week long till Saturday came again and then they set upon them again and so at the last the Jews not resisting were suprized and subdued Great slaughter was made upon the Romans entrance to the number of twelve thousand Jews as b b b Ios. Ant. l. 14 c. 8. Josephus reckoneth and yet even whilest the Conqueror was killing as fast as he could the Priests at the Altar went on in the Service as insensibly and fearlesly by the same Authors relation as if there had been no such danger and destruction at all till the sword came to their own sides Pompey being thus victor he and divers other with him went into the Temple even into the most Holy place and saw all its glory and riches and yet was sparing of offering any violence to it but caused the place to be purged and the Service to be set a foot again But what Pompey had spared Crassus ere long seized upon plundering the Temple of exceeding much wealth as he went on his expedition into Parthia c c c Id. ibid. c. 12 That Parthian War was undertaken by him as Dion tells us more upon his covetousness than upon any other warrantable or honourable ground and he sped accordingly coming to a miserable end answerable to such principles and beginnings In the beginning of the reign of Herod which was not very long after the City and Temple was again besieged and taken by him and Sosius and the Temple in danger again to be rifled but prevented by Herod as much as he could and now Antigonus the son of Aristobulus the last of Asmonean Rulers is cut off by Antony Herod in the eighteenth year of his Reign beginneth to repair the Temple taking it down to the very foundations and raising it again in larger dimensions than it had been of before and in that form and structure that hath been observed and surveyed in the foregoing discourse About some nine or ten years after the finishing of it the Lord came to his own Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant whom they desired Mal. III. 1. being presented there by his Mother at forty days old and owned by Simeon and Anna Luke II. Twelve years after that he is at the Temple again set among the Doctors of one of the Sanhedrins either in one of their Consistories or in their Midrash and sheweth his Divine Wisdom to admiration It is needless to speak of the occurrences that befel in the Temple about Christ and his Apostles as his being on a Pinnacle of it in his temptations his whipping out buyers and sellers at his first and last Passover his constant frequenting the place whensoever he was at Jerusalem and his foretelling the destruction of it as he sat upon Mount Olivet in the face of it a little before his death The Apostles resorting thither to the Publick Service and to take opportunity of Preaching in the concourse there their healing a Creeple there and converting thousands Pauls apprehension there upon misprison of his defiling it by bringing in of Gentiles and other particulars which are at large related by the Evangelists that it is but unnecessary labour to insist upon them since any Reader may fetch them thence As for the passages there that are not mentioned in the Scripture but by Josephus and others as Pilates imbezelling the holy Treasures of the Temple upon an aquaeduct Petronius his going about to bring in Caligula's Image thither a Tumult caused there by the base irreverence of a Roman Souldier Arrippa's Sacrifices there and Anathemata Vitellius his favour to it and the people a base affront and abuse put upon the place by the Samaritanes the horrid confusions there in the time of the seditious the slaughter of one Zacharias in it and at the last the firing of it by the Romans and the utter ruine of it and the City they would require a larger Discourse than one Chapter or Paragraph will afford It may be they will come to be prosecuted to the full in another Treatise and therefore I shall but only name them here FINIS THE CONTENTS OF THE TEMPLE CHAP. I. OF the Situation of Mount Moriah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Page 1049 CHAP. II. The measure of the Floor of the Mountain of the Temple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1050 CHAP. III. The East Gate of the Mountain of the House 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shushan Gate The Prospect of Mount Olivet and part of the City before it 1052 CHAP. IV. Of the two South Gates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gates of Huldah 1054 CHAP. V. Of the West Gates Shallecheth or Coponius Parbar Asuppim 1055 Sect. 1. The Gate of Shallecheth or Coponius ibid. Sect. 2. Parbar Gate 1 Chron. 26. 18. 1056 Sect. 3. The two Gates and House of Asuppim 1057 CHAP. VI. The North Gate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tedi or Tadde 1058 CHAP. VII The Tower Antonia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1060 CHAP. VIII Cloisters along the outmost Wall within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. CHAP. IX Tabernae Shops The great Sanhedrin sitting thereabout 1062 CHAP. X. The dimensions and form of Solomons Temple And of that built by the returned out of Captivity 1064 CHAP. XI The measures and platform of the Temple as it stood in the time of our Saviour Page 1067 CHAP. XII The breadth chambers and stairs of the Temple 1070 CHAP. XIII The Porch Sect. 1. The steps up to it 1073 Sect. 2. The two pillars Iachin and Boaz. 1074 Sect. 3. Closets for the butchering instruments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1077 Sect. 4. A golden Vine in the Porch and a golden Candlestick and a golden and Marble Table 1078 CHAP. XIV The holy place Sect. 1. The Temple Door ibid. Sect. 2. The Vail 1080 Sect. 3. The holy place it self ibid. Sect. 4. The Candlestick 1081 Sect. 5. The Shewbread Table 1082 Sect. 6. The Altar of Incense 1083 CHAP. XV. The most holy place Sect. 1. The partition space 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1084 Sect. 2. The Vail 1085 Sect. 3. The most holy place it self ibid. Sect. 4. The Cherubims and Ark. 1086 CHAP. XVI The Courts of the Temple 1088 CHAP. XVII The Inclosure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chel 1089 CHAP. XVIII The Court of the Women 1090 CHAP. XIX Of the Gazophylacia or Treasuries Page 1095 CHAP. XX. The Gate of Nicanor or the East Gate of the Court. 1098 Sect. 1. A credible wonder of the brazen Gate 1111 Sect. 2. A Sanhedrin sitting in this Gate 1102 CHAP. XXI Of the Gates and Buildings in the Court Wall
the Jewish Doctors or some of their Sayings or Determinations but really was either a lye or some of their Magical Tricks p. 253 372. They affirm it supplied the place of Urim and Thummim 485 486 Bathuseans differed from other Hereticks among the Jews yet harmonized with them to oppose the Gospel and Christianity 373 Basilides an Heretick sprung from among the Jews 372 373 Basons What they were and of what use in the Temple 2048 * Bath what sort of measure 545 546 Battlements were to be made on the tops of the Jewish Houses and why 1069 * Beasts at Ephesus what 299 Beating was one sort of Jewish penalty inflicted upon Malefactors 901 902 Beds Men used to ly on them to feast and dine c. 539 Marg. Beelzebub or Belzebub or Belzebul a term taken from the Jewish Writers and what the thing 228 229 105 106 Believers this Title sometimes includes children p. 277 294. A title given to the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Believing gave admission for a whole Houshold unto Baptism the Head thereof being converted p. 294. Believing in Christ is excellently illustrated by being healed and by looking on the brazen Serpent 579 Believing the Gospel how it was above what John the baptist did propose p. 630. Why believing or faith is set after Repentance 630 Ben Cozba Ben Coziba A Pseudo Messias owned by almost all the Jews but destroyed by Titus with all his followers as also the Temple and City of Jerusalem 362 366 367 Ben Saida a blasphemous Name given to our Saviour by the Jewish Writers 228 229 Berenice Niece and Wife to Herod and after his death more familiar with her Brother Agrippa and Titus Vespasian's Son than was for her credit 321 Bethabara supposed to be the place of Israels passage over Jordan but it was rather over against Galilee than Jericho 528 529 Beth Din or The consistory of Priests transacting business in the Temple being the Counsellors thereof 914 Bethany put for the Coast of Bethany it 's not usually understood 252 Bethesday what p. 661 667. Pool of Bethesday whence it received its waters whence it had its excellent vertues 667 668 Beth Midrash or the Jewish Divinity School where their Doctors disputed of the more high and difficult matters of the Law 299 Bethsaida made a City whence it had its name 533 Binding and loosing a phrase most familiar among the Jewish Writers by which they understand their Doctors or Learned Mens teaching what was lawful and permitted or unlawful and prohibited p. 238. In this sence Christ useth it viz. doctrinally to shew what was lawful and unlawful p. 238. And so Peter practised shewing it belonged to Things and not to Persons 847 848 Birthright had many precious things wrapped up in it 15 Bishops one of the Titles of the Gospel Ministers p. 223. Not successors to the Apostles as the Popish Writers hold 787 789 Blasphemy dreadful in Simon Magus 787 Blemishes of the Priests did not exclude them from the Services of the Temple for there were several things they might do there 1093 * Bloud the not eating it expounded by the Jews 293 Bloudy Issue what 232 Bones of all the Patriarchs as well as Joseph's brought out of Egypt and buried at Sichem 781 782 Book of the wars of the Lord what 36 392 Books of Jasir of Gad of Iddo of the wars of the Lord are cited by the Old Testament as not disapproved nor approved above humane 392 Born again what 561 567 570 571 Bowing low at the going out of the Temple what 950 Boyling places within the Temple what and where placed 1092 1093 * Breaking of Bread denotes both ordinary meals and receiving the Sacrament 755 Breast-plate of the High-Priest what 724 905 Breeches of the High Priest what 905 Brethren was a Title given to the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Bridegrooms friend what 585 586 Britain or England Some remarkable things referring to its ancient state p. 328. The Language of it near a thousand years ago what 1017 * Brother offending how to be dealt with 241 Buildings in the Court Wall on the East and South side of the Temple what 1104 * Burning one sort of capital punishment among the Jews how performed 2006 * Burnt Offering or Sacrifice the matter and manner thereof in all its actions as Bringing into the Court Laying on of Hands upon the Head killing of it Fleaing it Sprinkling of the Bloud Lamb to be slain The salting the Parts of the Sacrifice before it was offered How it was laid on the fire 926 to 929 Burnt Offering The Altar of it what p. 1029. * The description of it in Scripture is very concise p. 2029. * How so many Burnt Offerings could be offered on this one Altar in so small a time p. 2029 2030. * Burying Place of Golgotha what 267 C. CABBALAH of the Jews was their unwritten Traditions c. Page 457 458 652 Cabbalists what 998 Cain and Abel were Twins born at the sametime 693 Calf Golden Calf Israels punishment for it 715 Calling of the Gentiles was a thing highly disgusted by the Jews 621 Candlestick Golden Candlestick over the Temple door described with its use p. 1078. * There was also a Golden Candlestick in the room of the holy Place its Magnitude shape and signification 1081 1082. * Called to be called a thing in Scripture is to be the thing so called 399. Marg. Calling of the Jews how p. 375. Not so Universal as some suppose 375 376 377 Calling of the Gentiles p. 314. It was a matter the Jews could never hear of with patience 621 Cana two of the Name where 541 Candlestick of Gold 720 721 Capernaum what Here Christ inhabited p. 530. whence derived and how otherwise called 439. Marg. Captain of the Temple that is of the Garrison which was there what he was 759 1060. * Castor and Pollux 322 Caesar the common Name of the Roman Emperor as Abimelech of the Philistine Kings and Pharaoh of the Egyptians 423. Marg. Cephas Peter's Name given him by Christ which was after of common use whether the same with Cepha what it signifies p. 531. The reason of Christs giving him this Name 532 Cesarea a famous place was also famous for Learned Men. p. 285. There was the Seat of the Roman Court p. 285 286. It was a City of the Jews and Greeks and an University of the Jews 321 Ceremonial Law what and how Christ fulfilled it p. 475 476. How it differs very much from the Grace and Truth of the Gospel p. 500. How far it obliged the Jews as particular Men and as Members of the Congregation of Israel p. 548 549 Chains of Peter in which he lay in Prison are supposed by the Papists to have the vertue to work Miracles to diffuse Grace to provoke to Holiness to heal Diseases to affright the Devil and to defend Christians 886 Chasing-dishes what they were and of what use in the Temple 2049 * Chaldeans took their
so long as four thousand years before Christ came to save Sinners p. 627. Why did Christ appear at that time of the World rather than any other p. 628. The Jews had dreadful Opinions about his coming p. 640 641. He healed all Diseases by his Touch but cast out Devils by his Word p. 642. The Diseases he cured were of three kinds p. 645. His Doctrines were comprised under Two Heads p. 645. He cured the Leprosie when the Priests could not yet Christ was tender of their reputation p. 648. He as God could do all things but as Messias nothing but as delegated and assisted by the Father As Son of God he hath all power in himself as Messias he hath all power put into his Hands by the Father p. 672 c. He was set up by his Father as King and Lord over all things affirmed in many places in Scripture He as God-man is Head of all Principality and Power five Reasons given for it p. 674. Further evidence of his being the Messias and how opposed therein by the Jews p. 680 681 682. His Life Doctrine and Miracles shewed him to be the Messias so did the Testimony of his Father John the Baptist and the Scriptures c. p. 682 683 684. His Resurrection and the History of it as also his eight several Apparitions after it p. 734 735. The year of his Ascention p. 738. The Age of the World at his Resurrection Death and Ascention p. 739. He was nailed to the Cross at the same time of the day that our first Parents fell viz. at twelve a Clock p. 748. At three a Clock he yielded up the Ghost then Adam received the promise p. 748. There was a general expectation of his appearance even when he did appear with the multitudes that then came to Jerusalem upon that account both Jews and Heathens then expecting him as is seen by their own Writers p. 751 752. Some things out of the Jewish Writers concerning the Judging Condemning and Executing of him p. 968. He paid his Church Duties p. 240. He was so poor as to be put to work a Miracle to get money p. 240. The Signs of his coming predicting his near approach what p. 462 463. Christ about the time of his death the scarlet List on the Scape Goats head turned not white as usually what against the Jews p. 1101. * Christians called by Suetonius Men of a new and evil Superstition or Religion so Tacitus calls their way a dangerous Superstition shewing how Nero persecuted them after Rome was fired as if they had been guilty to deliver himself from the just accusation of it p. 327 There was yet Christians in Nero's houshold p. 328. They were under Nero very bloodily and bâ—rbarously persecuted so as to move the pity of their Enemies saith Tacitus the Jews heightening that persecution against them p. 333 334. They were destroyed by Nero for a plot layed by himself against them the Heathens for real plotting against him now grown endlesly cruel p. 334. The Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch Page 871 Chronology was very exact from the Creation to Christs death but less cared for after the New Testament History was finished and why p. 777. The Heathen Chronology mistaken in numbring the Persian Kings 2066. * Church Church Duties were paid by Christ. p. 240. The Church a Title given the first Professors of the Gospel 871 Circumcision when and where instituted p. 13. It was renewed at Israels entring into Canaan as a Seal of the lease of the Land p. 40. It was not to be used under Christianity because the Jews looked upon it as an admission into the Covenant of Works p. 319. It enervated Justification by faith p. 319. It obliged to the observance of the whole Law p. 319. The reason of its Institution why it was not in the old World nor for some considerable time after the Flood that is why the Church injoyed it not of so long a time p. 464 465. When it was to cease 465. It was instituted in Hebron about the time of Easter p. 695. Circumcision and Meats made the difference between Jew and Gentile these being removed let the Gentiles into the Church p. 842. The Ends of its use and how used among others besides the Israelites p. 1007 1008 Citation or Quotation of Scripture one place of Scripture citing another doth sometimes change the words to fit the occasion 498 Cittim The name of a Man and of Italy and of part of Greece 996 City The City and Temple of Jerusalem were destroyed Anno Mundi exactly 4000. p. 487. Holy City the common and ordinary name for Jerusalem when even full of abomination and corruption Separatists may think of this p. 497. City what 647 Clean and Unclean Legal the Doctrine of them p. 30. The Priests could only pronounce not make Leapers clean 219 c. Cleopas was the same person with Alpheus p. 27. He had four Sons all Apostles 660 Clerks of the Sanhedrim what their Number and what their business 2006. * Cloak Paul's Cloak denoted his Jewish habit 3â—6 Cloister walks called Porches p. 661 668. Cloister Royal what 1061. * Closets for the Butchering Instruments and for the Priests Vestments described 1077. * Cloud the Cloud of Glory was taken away at Moses his death p. 40. And appeared again at the Sealing of the Great Prophet Christ. 710 Coat of the first Born what p. 905. And Coat of the High Priest and of the Ephod what 905 Coming of the Lord and the end coming denote the near approach of Vengeance on Jerusalem 332 333 335 338 342 343 Common or unclean what before the Flood and since 845 Community of Goods was not to level Estates but to provide for the Poor p. 278. How practised and of what extent 762 Communicating with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Communion with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Companying with others was sometimes in Sacred Things in Civil Things it was twofold 305 Confession of sins at Johns Baptism was after not before Baptism Page 456 457 Confirmation Imposition of Hands by the Apostles in all likelyhood was never used for Confirmation 788 Confusion of Tongues into what number of Languages it was divided 1009 to 1011 Consistory of Priests was called Beth-Din which transacted business in the Temple 914 Consolation of Israel Christs coming is often signified by that term 430 Conversion Repentance or Reformation was once general and wonderful 54 758 c. Conversion of Niniveh a very wonderful thing 1007 Cor what sort of Measure 545 Corus what sort of Measure 545 Corban what p. 237. The Gate Corban where and why so called 2020 2021. * Corinth something described 295 Cornelius a Roman Captain one that arived at an admirable height of Piety though not so much as a Proselite p. 285 286. Some things remarkable about his calling into the Gospel 832 c.
no disparagement either by age or war The Castle Massada is the bounds of Judea We are looking for the places not the Men. We might otherwise begin the history of the Essenes from those words Judg. I. 16. And the sons of the Kenite Moses father in Law went out of the City of Palms with the sons of Judah into the deserts of Judah From these we suppose came the Rechabites and from their stock or Example the Essenes Which if it be true we make this an argument of the ill placing of Engedi in the Maps being set too much towards the North when it ought to have been placed towards the utmost Southern coasts If the Essenes were the same with the Kenites in seat and place and the Kenites dwelt beyond Arad Southward or indeed even with Arad which is asserted in the Text alledged and if below these were Engedi which is also asserted by the Authors cited certainly then the Maps have laid it a long way distant from its own proper place too much Northward View them and think of these things To which we also add this The Southern borders of the land Ezek. XLVII 19. the very same which are mentioned Numb XXXIV and Jos. XV. are thus declared The Southern coast Southward from Tamar to the waters of Meriba in Cadesh c. But now Tamar and Engedi are the same 2 Chron. XX. 2. Nor have we any reason why we should seek another Tamar elsewhere Certainly the Chaldee Paraphrast and R. S. Iâ—râ—hi and Kimâ—hi following him have rendred Tamar in Ezekiel Jericho But upon what reason For how I beseech you was it possible that Jericho should be the bounds of the South-land when it was the utmost bounds of Judea Northward It was this without all doubt drove them to that version of the word because Jericho is called the City of Palmes and Tamar signifies a Palm since Engedi would not give place to Jericho one inch in regard of the glory of Palm-Groves Whether Tadmor 1 King IX 18. be the same with this our Tamar and whether Tadmor in the Talmudists be the same with that Tadmor we leave to the Reader to consider We produce these few things concerning it which are related by them for the sake of such consideration c c c c c c Hierâ—s Jevam. fol. 3. 2. They receive Proselytes from those of Cardya and Tadmor Rab. Abhu in the name of R. Jochanan saith The Tradition asserts that the Proselytes of Tadmor are fit to enter into the Congregation It was said a little before Haggai the Prophet taught these three lessons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rival of a daughter of a Priest may be married by a Priest The Moabites and Ammonites ought to tithe the poors tithe the seventh year And the Proselytes of Tadmor are fit to enter into the Congregation This story is recited in the Hierusalem Mishna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Nazir cap. â— hal 13. Mary of Tadmor having part of the blood sprinkled upon her whereby she was to be purified heard in that very juncture of time that her daughter was dead c. But the Babylonian calls her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Tarmod From the place Tarmud saith the Gloss. e e e e e e Bab. Schab fol. 21. 2. And Aruch in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Tarmudeans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are said by those of the Babylonian Talmud to be certain poor people who got themselves a livelihood by gathering up wood and selling it f f f f f f Hieros Taanith fol. 69. 2. R. Jochanan said Blessed is he who shall see the destruction of Tadmor For she communicated in the destruction of the first and second Temple In the destruction of the first she brought eighty thousand archers and so she did in the destruction of the second CHAP. VII Cadesh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that double Enquiry is made whether the doubling it in the Maps is well done THE Readers of the Eastern Interpreters will observe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cadesh is rendred by all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rekam or in a sound very near it In the Chaldee it is Rekam in the Syriak Rekem in the Arabic Rakim And Cadesh Barnea in Onkelos is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Jonathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from which words compared we may observe how the guttural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is melted In the Targum of Hierusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Gemarists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are two places noted by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rekam in the very bounds of the land to wit the Southern and Eastern that is a double Cadesh I. Of Cadesh or Rekam in the South part there is no doubt II. Of it in the Eastern part there is this mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a a a a See R. Nissin in Gittin cap. 1 From Rekam to the East and Rekam is as the East that is R. Nissim interpreting Rekam it self is reckoned for the East of the World that is for the land of the Heathen not for the land of Israel Behold a Rekam or a Cadesh also on the East But the Maps have feigned to themselves another Cadesh besides Barnea and this Eastern Rekam whither they think the people of Israel came in the fortieth year of their travail Numb XX. These we suppose were some of the reasons whereby the Authors of them were drawn to it I. Because Cadesh Barnea was in the desert of Paran Numb XII 16. XIV 1. But the Cadesh whither they came the fortieth year was in the desert of Zin Numb XX. 1. I answer The searchers of the land departing from Cadesh Barnea are said also to go out of the deserts of Zin Numb XIII 21. Paran was the general name of that dreadful desert Zin only one part of it II. In Cadesh Barnea they encamped many days Deut. I. 46. But in that Cadesh concerning which mention is made Numb XX. there was not provision sufficient whereby they might be sustained one day For they complain that it was a place altogether destitute of seed Figs Vines and Pomegranates Numb XX. 5. which they did not at all complain of while they remained in Cadesh Barnea I answer Omitting that wheresoever they encamped they were fed by Manna the Complaint arose among them not so much of the place it self as of the ill boding and prejudice as I may so say of the place because from the barrenness of this place they prejudged of the like barrenness of that land into which they were to enter and the Porch as it were of which was Cadesh Barnea When they came hither first now thirty eight years before Ye came to the Mountain of the Amorites saith Moses which the Lord giveth you Deut. I. 20 21. Is it so think they with themselves Does the first entrance of the land of promise promise no
furlongs that is five and twenty miles e e e e e e Georg. Sandes â—is Travails pag. 151. Ten miles from Gaza says our Countryman Sandes an eye witness and near the Sea is placed Ascalon now of no note antiently a venerable place to the Heathen for the Temple of Dagon and the festivals of Semiramis birth-day f f f f f f Diod. Sicul. lib. 19. From Gaza to Azotus Diodorus Siculus being witness are two hundred and seventy furlongs which amount to four and thirty miles Namely from Gaza to Ascalon ten miles and thence to Azotus four and twenty That is a common saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. g g g g g g R. Nissin in Gittin cap. 1. From Ascalon onward to the South is the heathen Country and Ascalon it self is reputed for a heathen Country And yet something of Ascalon was within the Land of Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Applegardens or Orchards did bound the Land of Ascalon on that coast which we have observed before h h h h h h Hieros Sheviith fol. 36. 3. And yet When R. Ismael ben R. Josi and Ben Hakkaphar were set over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the space of Ascalon that is when it was intrusted to them to judge concerning the spaces or parts of Ascalon namely what were within the land and what without c. they pronounced it clean from the authority of R. Phinchasi ben Jair who said We went down to the corn-market of Ascalon and thence we received wheat and going up into our City we washed and eat our Thruma i. e. the portion of first fruits belonging to the Priests The greatest part of the City if not the whole was esteemed under the second Temple to be without the limits of the land but some part or at least the Appleyards and the places next adjacent were within the land Mention is made of a certain Temple in Ascalon among the i i i i i i Bab. Avodah Zarah fol. 11. 2 sive more famous Temples viz. The Temple of Bel in Babylon the Temple of Nebo in Cursi of Tiratha in Mapheg of Zeripha in Ascalon and of Nishra in Arabia And there is a story of a fast enjoyned because some sign appeared of a blast of the corn in Ascalon k k k k k k Taanith cap. 3. Hal 6. The Elders went down from Hierusalem into their Cities and enjoyned a fast because so much of a blast was seen in Ascalon as the space of the mouth of an oven may contain But most famous of all is the story of the eighty women that were witches hanged by Simeon ben Shetach in one and the same day We will not think much to relate the thing in the words of the Gemarists l l l l l l Hi ros Sanhedr fol. 23. 3. Bab. Sanhedr fol. 44. 2. in Glossa When as two Disciples of the wise men in Ascalon were intent upon the study of the Law one of them at length dying had no funerals performed for him when yet a Publican dying at that time had To the Student that survived are revealed the joys of his saved companion and likewise the punishments of the damned Publican 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the learned Reader turn this clause into English unless my conjecture fail me it savours of spite and poison I should thus render it He saw Mary the daughter of Eli in the shades hung up by the kernels of the brests and when he enquired how long she was to suffer those things It was answered Until Simeon ben Shetach came to supply her place But said he For what crime It is answered Therefore because he sometime swore against his Soul and said If I shall ever become a Prince I will destroy all Wizzards But behold he is become a Prince and yet he hath not done this for eighty women that are witches lye hid in a Cave at Ascalon and kill the World Go and tell him c. He went to him therefore and related these things c. On a certain rainy day therefore having eighty young men in company with him he goes to the Cave knocks professes himself one of the bewitching Society and is let in He sees them exercising their Art For muttering certain words together one brings morsels of meat another wine another boyled flesh c. But what can you do say they Saith he I will twice utter my voice and I will bring in eighty Youths handsomly habited them selves merry and shall make you so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say to him Such we would have He utters his voice the first time and the young men put on their clean cloths free from the rains for they had carried them with them covered and safe in certain vessels for the same purpose Crying out the second time in they all come and a sign being given that each man should lift up from the Earth one woman for so their Magical power would perish he said to her which had brought the morsels Bring hither now the morsels but she brought them not Therefore said he Carry her away to the Gallows Bring wine but she brought it not Carry her also away saith he to hanging And so it was done with them all Hence is the Tradition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Simeon ben Shetach hung eighty women in Ascalon But they do not judge two persons in the same day But this he did out of the necessity of the time Where the Gloss thus He was compelled to do this because the women of Israel had very much broke out into witchcraft Therefore he made an hedge to the time and hanged them to expose the thing publickly And this in one and the same day that their kinred might no way conspire to deliver them CHAP. XV. Iabneh Iamnia THE word Jabneh is passed into Jamnia by the same change of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mem and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth as the lake Samochonitis in the Hierusalem Writers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Babylonian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pliny doth dispose the Towns here in this order Azotus the two Jamnes Joppe R. Benjamin in the order backward thus Joppah Jabneh Azotus That is Jabneh with this Author that is Jamnia with the other A remembrance of this place is in 2 Chron. XXVI 6. But the chief fame of it is for the Sanhedrin that was placed there both before the destruction of Hierusalem and after a a a a a a Juchas fol. 21. 2. Rabban Gamaliel S. Pauls Master first presided there b b b b b b Hieros Taanith fol. 65. 3. Under whom came forth that cursed form of Prayer which they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Prayer against Hereticks composed by Samuel the little who died before the destruction of the City Gamaliel died eighteen years before the Temple was destroyed and his son
XLVI The Country of Iericho and the situation of the City HERE we will borrow Josephus his Pensil a a a a a a Joseph de Bello lib. ◠cap. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jericho is seated in a Plain yet a certain barren Mountain hangs over it narrow indeed but long for it runs out Northward to the Country of Scythopolis and Southward to the Country of Sodome and the utmost coast of the Asphaltites Of this Mountain mention is made Jos. II. 22. where the two Spies sent by Josua and received by Rahab are said to conceal themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Opposite against this lyes a Mountain on the other side Jordan beginning from Julias on the North and stretched Southward as far as Somorrha which bounds the Rock of Arabia In this is a Mountain which is called the Iron Mountain reaching out as far as the land of Moab But the Country which lies between these two Mount anous places is called The Great Plain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extended from the Village Ginnaber to the lake Asphaltites in length a thousand two hundred furlongs an hundred and fifty miles in bredth an hundred and twenty furlongs fifteen miles and Jordan cuts it in the middle Hence you may understand more plainly those things that are related of the Plains of Jericho 2 Kings XXV 5. and what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Region about Jordan means Matth. III. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jericho is distant from Jerusalem an hundred and fifty furlongs eighteen miles and three quarters and from Jordan sixty furlongs seven miles and an half The space from thence to Jerusalem is desert and rocky but to Jordan and the Asphaltites more plain indeed but alike desert and barren This our Author asserts the same distance between Jericho and Jordan elsewhere in these words b b b b b b Antiq. lib. 5. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Israelites travailing forward fifty furlongs from Jordan encamped the distance of ten furlongs from Jericho that is in Gilgal in the East coast of Jericho Jos. IV. 19. But concerning the distance between Jericho and Jerusalem he does not seem to agree with his Country-men For however they according to their Hyperbolical style feign very many things to be heard from Jerusalem as far as Jericho to wit c c c c c c Tamid cap. 3 hal 8. the sound of the gate of the Temple when it was opened the sound of Migrepha or the little bell c. yet there are some of them who make it to be the distance of Ten Parsae d d d d d d Bab. Joma fol. 20. 2. 39. 2. Rabbath bar Bar Channah saith Rabbi Jochanan saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Jerusalem to Jericho were ten Parsae and yet from thence thither the voice of the high Priest in the day of expiation pronouncing the name Jehovah was heard c. The hinges of the gates of the Temple are heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as far as the eighth bound of the Sabbath that is as far as a Sabbaths days journey eight times numbred The Gloss hath these words The hinges indeed not further but the gates themselves are heard to Jericho There is an Hyperbole in their measuring of the space as well as in the rest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And that Plain burns in the Summer and by too much heat renders the air unhealthful for it is all without water except Jordan the Palms that grow in whose banks are more flourishing and more fruitful than those that grow more remote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Near Jericho is a very plentiful spring and very rich for watering and moistening the ground it riseth near the old City and Jesus the Son of Nave took it Of which Spring there is a report that in former times it did not only make the fruits of the Earth and of the Trees to decay but also the offspring of women and was universally unwholsom and harmful to all but it was changed into a better condition by Elizeus c. See 2 King II. 21. So that those waters which before were the cause of barrenness and famine did thenceforth produce fruitfulness and abundance and they have so great a vertue in their watering that whatsoever place they touch they bring on to a very speedy ripeness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they overflow the Plain seventy furlongs in length and twenty in bredth and there they nourish very fair and thick gardens of Palm-trees of divers kinds c. That place also feeds Bees and produceth Opobalsamum and Cyprinum and Myrobalanum so that one might not call it amiss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A divine Country c. Strabo speaks like things e e e e e e Strabo Geogr. lib. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Jericho is a plain cirrounded with Mountains which in some places bends to it after the manner of a Theatre A grove of Palmtrees is there with which are mixed also other garden plants a fruitful place abounding with Palmtrees for the space of an hundred furlongs all well watered and full of habitations The Royal Court and Paradice of Balsom is there c. And Pliny f f f f f f Plin. lib. 5. cap. 14. Jericho planted with Groves of Palms and well watered with springs c. Hence the City is called the City of Palmtrees Deut. XXXIV 3. and Judg. I. 16. where for that which in the Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the City of Palmtrees the Targum hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From the City Jericho which nevertheless Kimchi approves not of reckoning the City of Palmtrees to be near Hebron whom see See also the Targum upon Judg. III. 13. and Kimchi there and the Targum upon Judg. IV. 5. When you take a view of that famous fountain as it is described by Josephus thence you understand what waters of Jericho the Holy Ghost points out in Jos. XVI 1. And when you think of that most pleasant Country watered from thence let that Rabbinical story come into your mind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Gift of Jericho of five hundred cubits square granted to the sons of Hobab Moses father in Law of which see Baal Turim upon Numb X. 29. and the Rabbins upon Judg. I. CHAP. XLVII Iericho it self WE read that this City was not only wasted by Josua with fire and sword but cursed also Cursed be he before the Lord who shall rise up and build that City Jericho Jos. VI. 26. a a a a a a Hieros Sanhedr fol 29. 4. Nor was another City to be built say the Talmudists which was to be called by the name of Jericho nor was Jericho it self to be built although to be called by another name And yet I know not by what chance this City crept out of dust and rubbish lived again and
flourished and became the second City to Hierusalem The same persons which were just now cited suppose that the Restorer of it was Hiel the son of Jehosaphat to wit the same with Jechiel 2 Chron. XXI 2. b b b b b b Id. Ibidem Hiel say they was of Jehoshaphat and Jericho of Benjamin And that is a just scruple which R. David objects c c c c c c Kimchi upon 1 King 16. How it came about that the pious King Jehoshaphat should suffer such a horrid thing to be done within his Kingdom Much more how this should have been done by his son Let them dispute the business we hasten some where else That which ought not to be done being once done stands good Hiel did a cursed thing in building Jericho yet Jericho was not to be cursed being now built A little after its restauration it was made noble by the Schools of the Prophets 2 Kings II. 5. and it flourished with the rest of the Cities of Judea unto the destruction of the Nation by the Babylonians It flourished more under the second Temple so that it gave place to no City in Judea yea all gave place to it besides Jerusalem d d d d d d Strabo lib. 16 A royal Palace was in it e e e e e e Joseph Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. where Herod ended his days f f f f f f Ibid. cap. 8. an Hippodromus where the Jewish Nobility being imprisoned by him were to be slain when he expired g g g g g g Id. de Bello lib. 1. cap. ult an Amphitheatre where his Will was publickly opened and read over and sometime a Sessions of the Sanhedrin and a noble troup of those that waited in their Courses at the Temple h h h h h h Hieros Avod Zarah fol. 42. 3 The Elders sometime assembled together in the Chamber Beth-gadia in Jericho The Bath Kol went forth and said to them There are two among you who are fit to receive the Holy Ghost and Hillel is one of them They cast their eyes upon Samuel the Little as the Second Another time the Elders assembled together in a Chamber in Jafne the Bath Kol went forth and said There are two among you who are sit to receive the Holy Ghost and Samuel the Little is one of them They cast their eyes upon R. Lazar. And they rejoyced that their judgment agreed with the sentence of the Holy Ghost i i i i i i Id. Taanith fol. 67. 4. There is a Tradition that there were at Jerusalem twenty four thousand men of the Station and half a Station that is twelve thousand men at Jericho Jericho also could have produced an whole Station but because she would give place to Jerusalem she produced only the half of a Station Behold five hundred men of every Course residing at Jericho But what were they They were ready at hand to supply any courses that wanted if there were any such at Jerusalem and they took care of supplying them with necessaries who officiated at Jerusalem Hence it is the less to be wondred at if you hear of a Priest and a Levite passing along in the Parable of him that travailed between Jerusalem and Jericho Luke X. 31 32. In so famous and populous a Town there could not but be some Councel of three and twenty one at least of more remark if not more when so many of the Stations dwelling there were at hand who were fit to be employed in Government and so many to be governed k k k k k k Pesach cap. 4 hal 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The men of Jericho are famed for six things done by them in three of which the chief Councel consented to them but in the other three they consented not Those things concerning which they opposed them not were these I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They engrafted or folded together Palmtrees every day Here is need of a long Commentary and they produce one but very obscure The business of the men of Jericho was about Palmtrees which they either joyned together and mingled males with females or they ingrafted or as they commonly say inoculated the more tender sprouts of the branches into those that were older So much indulgence was granted them by the Wise-men concerning the time wherein these things are done which elsewhere would scarcely have been suffered unless as it seems the nature of the place and of the Groves of Palms required it II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They folded up the recitations of their Phylacteries that is either not speaking them out distinctly or omitting some doxologies or Prayers or pronouncing them with too shrill a voice See the Gemara and the Gloss. III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They reaped and gathered in their Sheaves before the Sheaf of first fruits was offered and this partly because of the too early ripeness of their Corn in that place and partly because their Corn grew in a very low Valley and therefore it was not accounted fit to be offered unto the Mincha or daily sacrifice See the Gloss. The three things concerning which the Wise-men consented not to them were these I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such fruits and branches also certain fruits of the Sycomine-trees which their fathers had devoted to sacred uses they alienated into common II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They eat on the Sabbath day ander the tree such fruits as fell from the tree although they were uncertain whether they had fallen on the Sabbath day or the Eve of the Sabbath for such as fell on the Sabbath were forbidden III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They granted a corner of the Garden for herbs in the same manner as a corner of the Field was granted for corn Let the description of this City and place be concluded with those words of the Talmud in the place noted in the margin l l l l l l Bab. Berach fol. 43. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do they use a certain form of prayer upon Balsome Blessed be he who hath created the oyntment of our land The Gloss is The oyntment of our land for it grows at Jericho and for its smell it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jericho and it is that Pannag of which mention is made in the book of Ezekiel Judah and the land of Israel were thy Merchants in wheat of Minnith and Pannag This I have seen in the book of Josephus ben Gorion Judge Reader CHAP. XLVIII Some Miscellaneous matters belonging to the Country about Iericho LET us begin from the last encampings of Israel beyond Jordan Numb XXXIII 29. They encamped near Jordan from Beth-Jeshimoth unto Abel Shittim a a a a a a Hieros Sheviith fol. 36. 3. Gittin fol. 43. 3. From Beth-Jeshimoth to Abel-Shittim were twelve miles It is a most received opinion among the Jews that the Tents of the Israelites in
Hebron very many things are said by very many men The City was called Hebron that is A Consociation perhaps from the Pairs there buried Abraham Isaac and Jacob and their wives Not a few believe Adam was buried there in like manner some that he was buried once and buried again e e e e e e Idem fol. 5. 1. Adam said say they after my death they will come perhaps and taking my bones will worship them but I will hide my Coffin very deep in the Earth in a Cave within a Cave It is therefore called The Cave Macpelah or the doubled Cave CHAP. L. Of the Cities of Refuge HEBRON the most eminent among them excites us to remember the rest a a a a a a Bab. Maccoth fol. 9. 2. The Rabbines deliver this Moses separated three Cities of refuge beyond Jordan and against them Josua separated three Cities in the land of Canaan And these were placed by one another just as two ranks of Vines are in a Vinyard Hebron in Judea against Bezer in the Wilderness Shechem in Mount Ephraim against Ramoth in Gilead Cadesh in Mount Nephthali against Golan in Basan And these three were so equally disposed that there was so much space from the South coast of the land of Israel to Hebron as there was from Hebron to Schechem and as much from Hebron to Shechem as from Shechem to Cadesh and as much from Shechem to Cadesh as from Cadesh to the North coast of the land b b b b b b Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 8. It was the Sanhedrins business to make the ways to those Cities convenient by enlarging them and by removing every stop against which one might either stumble or dash his foot No hillock or river was allowed to be in the way over which there was not a bridge and the way leading thither was at least two and thirty cubits broad And every double way or in the parting of the ways was written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Refuge Refuge lest he that fled thither might mistake the way c c c c c c Maccoth fol. 11. 1. The Mothers of the high Priest used to feed and cloth those that for murder were shut up in the Cities of Refuge that they might not pray for the death of their sons since the Fugitive was to be restored to his Country and Friends at the death of the high Priest but if he died before in the City of Refuge his bones were to be restored after the death of the high Priest d d d d d d Maimon in the place above The Jews dream that in the days of the Messias three other Cities are to be added to those six which are mentioned in the Holy Scripture and they to be among the Kenites the Kenezites and the Kadmonites Let them dream on e e e e e e Bab. Sanhedr fol. 18. 2. Let him that kills the high Priest by a sudden chance fly to a City of Refuge but let him never return thence Compare these words with the State of the Jews killing Christ. CHAP. LI. Beth-lehem THE Jews are very silent of this City nor do I remember that I have read any thing in them concerning it besides those things which are produced out of the Old Testament this only excepted that the a a a a a a Beracoth fol. 5. 1. Jerusalem Gemarists do confess that the Messias was born there before their times b b b b b b Just. Martyr Apol. 2. pag. 75 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bethlehem is a certain Town in the land of the Jews thirty five furlongs distant from Jerusalem and that toward the South The Father of the Ecclesiastical Annals citing these words of Eusebius c c c c c c Euseb. Eccles. hist. lib. 4. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. thus renders them in Latine d d d d d d Baron Annal. ad annum Christ. 137. Jam vero cum decimo octavo anno imperii Hadriani bellum juxta urbem Beth-lehem nuncupatam quae erat rerum omnium praesidiis munitissima neque adeo longe a Civitate Hierosolymarum sita vehementius accenderetur c. But now when in the eighteenth year of the Empire of Adrian the war was more vehemently kindled near the Town called Beth-lehem which was very well fortified with all manner of defence nor was seated far from the City of Jerusalem c. The Interpreter of Eusebius renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-thera not illy however it be not rendered according to the letter Perhaps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 crept into the word instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the carelesness of the Coppiers But by what liberty the other should render it Beth-lehem let himself see Eusebius doth certainly treat of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betar it is vulgarly written Bitter of the destruction of which the Jews relate very many things with lamentation which certainly is scarcely to be reckoned the same with Bethlehem The same Father of the Annals adds that Beth-lehem from the times of Adrian to the times of Constantine was profaned by the Temple of Adonis for the asserting of which he cites these words of Paulinus Hadrianus supposing that he should destroy the Christian Faith by offering injury to the place in the place of the Passion dedicated the Image of Jupiter and profaned Beth-lehem with the Temple of Adonis As also like words of Hierome yet he confesses the contrary seems to be in Origen against Celsus and that more true For Hadrian had no quarrel with the Christians and Christianity but with the Jews that cursedly rebelled against him CHAP. LII Betar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OF this City there is a deep silence in the Holy Scriptures but a most clamorous noise in the Talmudic Writings It is vulgarly written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Betar and rendred by Christians Bitter or Bither but I find it written in the Jerusalem Talmud pretty often in the same page a a a a a a Hieros Taanith fol. 68. 4. 69. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be read as it seems 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-Tar and casting away the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thau which is very usual in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be-Tar The House of the Inquirer Wherefore say they was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beth-Tar laid waste Because it lighted candles after the destruction of the Temple And why did it light candles Because the Councellors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at Jerusalem dwelt in the midst of the City And when they saw any going up to Jerusalem they said to him We hear of you that you are ambitious to be made a Captain or a Councellor but he answered There is no such thing in my mind We hear of you that you are about to sell your wealth But he answered Nor did this come into my mind Then would one of
See the Author of Juchasin disputing largely of this matter in the place in the margin f f f f f f Juchas fol. 71. 1. There was the Bath of Venus in Acon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 g g g g g g Avod Zarah cap. 3. hal 4. Where R. Gamaliel washing was asked by a certain Heathen whose name in the Jerusalem Mishnah is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Babylonian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proculus the son of the Philosopher What have you to do with the Bath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Venus when it is written in your Law There shall not cleave to thy hand any of the accursed thing He answered I must not answer you in the Bath Because you must not speak of the law when you stand naked When he came out therefore he said I went not into her bounds but she came into mine The Gloss is The Bath was before she was And we say not Let us make a fair Bath for Venus but let us make a fair Venus for the Bath c. A story done at Acon before R. Judah is related not unworthy to be mentioned h h h h h h Bab. Sanhedr fol. 5. 2. Rabbi came to a certain place and saw the men of that place baking their dough in uncleanness When he enquired of them why they did so they answered a certain Scholar came hither and taught us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not of those waters that bring pollution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He spake of the waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is of eggs but they thought that he spake of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of the Marshes These things we have the more willingly produced that the Reader may see that the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ain was of no sound with these examples like to which we bring elsewhere Now hear the Glosser Rabbi saw this saith he in Acon in which is Israelitic land Heathen land now he saw them standing within the limits of Israelitic land and baking their dough in uncleanness and wondred until they told him A certain Scholar came hither c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caphar Acon is very frequently mentioned by the Talmudists i i i i i i Id. Taanith fol. 21. 1. A City which produceth fifteen hundred footmen as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caphar Acon if nine dead persons be carried out thence in three days successively behold it is the Plague but if in one day or in four days then it is not the Plague And a City which produceth five hundred foot as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caphar Amiku c. Hence are the names of some Acon Rabbins as k k k k k k Ibid. fol. 7. 2. R. Tanchum the son of R. Chaia of Caphar Acon l l l l l l Juchas f. 69. 1 R. Simeon ben Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man of Caphar Acon m m m m m m Id. fol. 71. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Abba of Acon and others Weigh this story n n n n n n Hieros Gitti◠fol. 43. 3. One brought a bill of divorce to R. Ismael who said to him Whence are you He answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Caphar Samai which is in the confines of Acon Then it is needful saith he that you say it was written I being present and sealed I being present When he went out R. Illai said unto him Is not Caphar Samai of the land of Israel being nearer to Zippor than Acon And a little after The Cities which are in the borders of Zippor near to Acon and which are in the borders of Acon near to Zippor what will you do concerning them As Acon is so is Zippor CHAP. LXV Ecdippa Achzib Ios. XIX 29. Iudg. I. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Climax of the Tyrians TRavailing a a a a a a Hieros Sheviith fol. 36. 2 from Acon to Achzib on the right hand of the way Eastwardly it is clean from the notion of Heathen land and is bound to tithes and to the law of the seventh year until you are certified that it is free On the left hand of the way Westward it is unclean under the notion of Gentile land and it is free from tithes and from the law concerning the seventh year till you are certified it is bound to those things even until you come to Achzib The Gemara hath these words But the Text on which is this Commentary is this b b b b b b Sheviith cap. 6. hal 1. The three Countries namely Judea Galilee and Perea are bound to the law of the seventh year whatsoever they possessed who came up out of Babylon from the land of Israel unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chezib the Hierusalem Mishnah reads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ghezib is not fed nor tilled but whatsoever they possessed who came up out of Egypt from Chezib to the River and to Amanah is fed but not tilled from the River and from Amanah inwards is fed and tilled Of Amanah we shall speak by and by The River saith R. Solomon upon the place is the River of Egypt And Chezib c c c c c c Rambam in Demai fol. 12. 2 saith Rambam is the name of a place which divided between the land of Israel which they possessed that came up out of Babylon and that land which they possessed that came up out of Egypt Now that land which they possessed that came up out of Egypt as to the Demai or doubt of tithing is as it were without the land Hence is that in the Text on which he makes this Comment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From Chezib and beyond is free from the Demai The word Chezib and Achzib at last passed into Ecdippa according to the manner of the Syrian dialect to which it is common to change 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zain of the Hebrews into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Daleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Climax or the Ladder of the Tyrians in the Talmudists is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ladder of Tyre 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Hieros Bava Kama fol. 4. 2 Before they came to Climax of the Tyrians they forgot all The discourse is in the place cited about some Romans sent to Rabban Gamaliel to enquire of the Jewish law Of him also is this story and of the same place e e e e e e Id. Avod Zar. fol. 40. 1. When he went sometime out of Chezib one came to him to ask him of a certain vow of his He said to him who went with him Tell him that we have drunk an Italian quart of wine He saith to him Well He saith to him that asked Go with us until our Wine be allayed When they came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Ladder of the Tyrians Rabban Gamaliel came down
Id. Horasoth fol. 48. 3. Councellors and Pagans in Zippor are mentioned And also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 u u u u u u Id. Nedarim fol. 38. 4. The sons of Ketzirah or the Harvest of Zippor Zippor was distant from Tiberias as R. Benjamin tells us in his Itinerary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Twenty miles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zipporin with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zain is once writ in the Jerusalem Talmud one would suspect it to be this City x x x x x x Hieros Avod Zarah fol. 41. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When R. Akiba went to Zippor they came to him and asked Are the Jugs of the Gentiles clean A story worthy of consideration if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zipporin denote ours was R. Akibah in Zippor He died almost forty years before the University was translated thither But Schools haply were there before an University In the Talmud the story of y y y y y y Joma f. 38. 4. Megill f. 72. 1. Ben Elam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Zippor once it is written z z z z z z Horaioth fol. 47. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Zippor is thrice repeated who when the High Priest by reason of some uncleanness contracted on the day of Expiation could not perform the Office of that day he went in and officiated CHAP. LXXXIII Some places bordering upon Zippor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ieshanah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ketsarah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shihin I. IN a a a a a a Kiddushin cap. 4. hal 5. the place noted in the margin discourse is had of the legitimate Mothers of the Priests among other things it is said Let no further enquiry be made If his Father be enrolled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Catalogue of Jeshanah of Zippor The Gloss is There was a neighbour City to Zippor whose name was Jeshanah and it was customary to enrol them who were fit to judge c. So that this Jeshanah seems to be so near to Zippor that the Records of Zippor were laid up there II. b b b b b b Erachin cap. 9. hal 6. Towns fortified from the days of Joshua Old Ketsarah which belongs to Zippor and Chakrah which belongs to Gush Calab and Jodaphath the old Jotopata and Gamala c. The Gloss is Ketsarah is the name of a little City without Zippor Perhaps that which we cited above relates to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sons of Ketzirah or the Harvest of Sippor III. a a a a a a Hieros Nedaâ—im fol. 38. Sometimes a Fire happened in the Court of Josi ben Simai in Shihin and the Inhabitants of Ketsarah which belongs to Tsippor came down to quench it but he permitted them not saying Let the Exactor exact his Debt Presently a cloud gathered together above the fire and rains fell and put it out The Sabbath being finished he sent mony to every one of them d d d d d d Joseph in his own life p. 653 Josephus mentions also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Garisimes distant twenty furlongs from Zippor In like manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Id. de bell lib. 2. cap. 37. Asamon a mountain in the middle of Gaâ—ilee which lies over against Sippor CHAP. LXXXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Usha THE a a a a a a Bab. Rosh hashanab f. 31. 2 Juchas fol. 21. 2. Sanhedrin went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Jabne to Usha and from Usha to Shepharaam The Gloss is to Jabne in the days of Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai to Usha in the days of Rabban Gamaliel but they went back from Usha to Jabne but in the days of Rabban Simeon they returned We do not apprehend the reason why Rabban Gamaliel went thither whatsoever it were either some disturbance raised by the Romans or indignation that R. Eleazar ben Azariah should be President with him or some other reason certainly the abode there was but small either Gamaliel himself returning to Jabne after some time or R. Akiba who succeeded in his chair But after the War of Hadrian and the death of R. Akibah in that War when Judea was now in disturbance by the Romans Rabban Simeon the son of Gamaliel succeeding in the Presidentship after Akibah went with the Sanhedrin from Jafne to Usha nor was there ever after any return to Jafne The Talmudists remember us of very many things transacted at Usha b b b b b b Hieros Sheviith fol. 39. 2 When they intercalated the year in Usha the first day R. Ismael the son of R. Jochanan ben Brucha stood forth and said according to the words of R. Jochanan ben Nuri. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel said We were not wont to do so in Jafne On the second day Ananias the son of Josi the Galilean said according to the words of R. Akibah R. Simeon ben Gamaliel said so we were wont to do in Jafne This story is repeated in c c c c c c Rosh hash fol. 58. 3. 59. 3. Rosh hashanah and d d d d d d Nedar fol. 40. 1. Nedarim e e e e e e Hieros Châ—tubh fol. 28. 4. See also Peah fol. 15. 2. In Usha it was decreed that a man should nourish his little children that if a man make over his goods to his children he and his wife be maintained out of them c. f f f f f f Bab. Shabâ— fol. 15. 2. It was determined also in Usha concerning the burning the Truma in some doubtful cases of which see the place quoted But that we be not more tedious let this story be for a conclusion g g g g g g Id. Sanbedr fol. 14. 1. The wicked Kingdom of Rome did sometime decree a persecution against Israel namely that every one preferring any to be an Elder should be killed and that every one that was preferred should be killed and that the City in which any is preferred to Eldership should be laid waste and that the borders within which any such promotion is made should be rooted out What did Baba ben Judah do He went out and sat between two great Mountains and between two great Cities and between two Sabbath bounds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Usha and Shapharaam and ordained five Elders namely R. Meir R. Judah R. Simeon R. Josi and R. Eliezar ben Simeon Rabh Oia added also R. Nehemiah When this came to be known to their enemies he said to his Scholars fly O my sons they said to him Rabbi What will you do He said to them Behold I am cast before them as a stone which hath no movers They say That they departed not thence until they had fastned three hundred iron darts into him and had made him like a sieve CHAP. LXXXV Arbel Shezor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tarnegola the upper A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Arbel
she was now returned home from her Cozin Elizabeth See Luke 1. 56. and compare Gen. XXXVIII 24. The Masters of the Traditions assign this space to discover a thing of that nature A Woman o o o o o o Maim in Geâ—â—â—hin cap. 1. â—aâ—â—â— in Ieâ—aâ—â—â—n cap. 4. â—â—etabboth cap. 5. largely say they who is either put away from her husband or become a Widdow neither marrieth nor is espoused but after ninety days Namely that it may be known whether she be big with child or no and that distinction may be made between the offspring of the first husband and of the second In like manner a husband and wife being made proselytes are parted from one another for ninety days that judgment may be made between children begotten in holiness that is within the true Religion See 1 Cor. VII 14. and children begotten out of holiness VERS XIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But Ioseph being a just man c. THERE is no need to wrack the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 just to fetch out thence the sense of gentleness or mercy which many do for construing the clauses of the verse separately the sense will appear clear and soft enough Joseph being a just man could not would not indure an adulteress but yet not willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make her a publick example being a merciful man and loving his wife was minded to put her away privily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make her a publick Example This doth not imply death but rather publick disgrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To make her publick For it may not without reason be enquired whether she would have been brought to capital punishment if it had been true that she had conceived by adultery For although there was a Law promulged of punishing adultery with death Levit. XX. 10. Deut. XXII 22. and in this case she that was espoused would be dealt withal after the same manner as it was with her who was become a wife yet so far was that Law mollified that I say not weakned by the Law of giving a bill of Divorse Deut. XXIV 1. c. that the husband might not only pardon his adulterous wife and not compel her to appear before the Sanhedrin but scarcely could if he would put her to death For why otherwise was the bill of Divorse indulged Joseph therefore endeavours to do nothing here but what he might with the full consent both of the Law and Nation The Adulteress might be put away she that was espoused could not be put away without a bill of Divorse concerning which thus the Jewish Laws p p p p p p Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap 1 A woman is espoused three ways by mony or by a writing or by being lain with And being thus espoused though she were not yet married nor conducted into the mans house yet she is his wife And if any shall lye with her beside him he is to be punished with death by the Sanhedrin And if he himself will put her away he must have a bill of divorse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Put her away privily Let the Talmudic Tract Gittin be looked upon where they are treating of the manner of delivering a bill of Divorse to a wife to be put away among other things it might be given privately if the husband so pleased either into the womans hand or bosom two witnesses only present VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold a Virgin shall be with child THat the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Prophet denotes an untouched Virgin sufficiently appears from the sense of the place Esa. VII King Achaz there was affraid lest the enemies that were now upon him might destroy Jerusalem and utterly consume the House of David The Lord meets with this fear by a signal and most remarkable promise namely that sooner should a pure Virgin bring forth a child thaâ— the family of David perish And the promise yields a double comfort namely of Christ hereafter to be born of a Virgin and of their security from the imminent danger of the City and house of David So that although that Prophesie of a Virgins bringing forth a son should not be fulfilled till many hundreds of years after yet at that present time when the Prophesie was made Ahaz had a certain and notable sign that the house of David should be safe and secure from the danger that hung over it As much as if the Prophet had said Be not so troubled O Ahaz does it not seem an impossible thing to thee and that never will happen that a pure Virgin should become a Mother But I tell thee a pure Virgin shall bring forth a son before the House of David perish Hear this O unbelieving Jew and shew us now some remainders of the House of David or confess this Prophesie fulfilled in the Virgins bringing forth or deny that a sign was given when a sign is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is being interpreted § In what language Matthew wrote his Gospel I. All confess that the Syriac Language was the Mother Tongue to the Jewish Nation dwelling in Judea and that the Hebrew was not all understood by the common people may especially appear from two things 1. That in the Synagogues when the Law and the Prophets were read in the original Hebrew an Interpreter was always present to the Reader who rendred into the Mother Tongue that which was read that it might be understood by the common people q q q q q q Bab. Megill fol. 25 c. Massech Sopherim cap. 11. 12 c. Hence those rules of the office of an Interpreter and of some places which were not to be rendred into the Mother Tongue 2. That Jonathan the son of Uzziel a Scholar of Hillel about the time of Christs birth rendred all the Prophets that is as the Jews number them Joshua Judges Samuel the Books of the Kings Esaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and the twelve lesser Prophets into the Chaldee Language that is into a Language much more known to the people than the Hebrew and more acceptable than the Mother Tongue For if it be asked why he translated them at all and why he translated not rather into the Mother Tongue which was known to all and if it be objected concerning S. Matthew and S. Paul that writing to the Jews one his Gospel the other his Epistle to the Hebrews must have written in the Syriac Tongue if so be they wrote not in Hebrew that they might be understood by all We answer First It was not without reason that the Paraphrast Jonathan translated out of the Hebrew original into the Chaldee Tongue because this Tongue was much more known and familiar to all the people than the Hebrew The holy Text had need of an Interpreter into a more known Tongue because it was now in a Tongue not known at all to the Vulgar For none knew the
3936 762 39 9 Q. Sulpit. Camarin and C. Poppaeus Sabinus 3937 763 40 10 Pub. Corn. Dolabella and C. Iunius Silanus 3938 764 41 11 M. Aemil. Lepid. and T. Statilius Taurus 3939 765 42 12 Germanicus Caes. and C. Fonteius Capito 3940 766 43 13 L. Munatius Plancus and C. Silius Caecina 3941 767 44 14 Sext. Pomp. Sexti F. and Sext. Apuleius Sexti F. Augustus Cesar died the XIXth day of August on which day he had formerly entred upon the first Consulship b b b b b b Dion Cass. lib. 56. He lived LXXV years X months and XXVI days He bore the Empire alone from the Victory at Actium XLIV years wanting only XIII days c c c c c c Eutrop. lib. 7. Tiberius held the Empire in great slothfulness with grievous cruelty wicked covetousness and filthy lust Year of the World Of the City built Of Tiberius Of Christ Consuls 3942 768 1 15 Drusus Caes. and C. Norbanus Flaccus 3943 769 2 16 C. Statil Sisenna Taurus and Scribonius Libo 3944 770 3 17 C. Caecil Rufus and L. Pomponianus Flaccus 3945 771 4 18 Tiber. Caes. Aug. III. and Germanicus Caes. II. 3946 772 5 19 M. Iulius Silanus and L. Norban Flac. vel Balbus 3947 773 6 20 M. Valerius Messala and M. Aurel. Cotta 3948 774 7 21 Tiber. Caes. Aug. IV. and Drusus Caes. II. 3949 775 8 22 D. Haterius Agrippa and C. Sulpitius Galba 3950 776 9 23 C. Asinius Pollio and C. Antistius Veter 3951 777 10 24 Sext. Cornel. Cethegus and Visellius Varro 3952 778 11 25 M. Asinius Agrippa and Cossus Cornel. Lentulus 3953 779 12 26 Cn. Lentulus Getulicus and C. Calvisius Sabinus 3954 780 13 27 M. Licinius Crassus and P. L. Calphurnius Piso. 3955 781 14 28 Appius Iul. Silanus and P. Silvius Nerva 3956 782 15 29 C. Rubellius Geminus and C. Fusius Geminus In the early spring of this year came John baptizing In the month Tisri Christ is baptized when he had now accomplished the nine and twentieth year of his age and had now newly entred upon his thirtieth The thirtieth of Christ is to be reckoned with the sixteenth of Tiberius Of Augustus now entring upon his one and thirtieth year wherein Christ was born Dion Cassius hath moreover these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Having now compleated thrice ten years being compelled indeed to it he continued his Government and entred upon a fourth ten of years being now more easie and slothful by reason of age In this very year was the Taxation under Cyrenius of which Luke speaks Chap. II. So that if it be asked when the fifth Monarchy of the Romans arose after the dissolution of those four mentioned by Daniel An easie answer may be fetched from S. Luke who relates that in that very year wherein Christ was born Augustus laid a Tax upon the whole World III. Christ was born in the thirty fift year of the reign of Herod which we gather from the observation of these things 1. d d d d d d Ioseph Antiq. lib. 17. cap. 10. Herod reigned from that time he was first declared King by the Romans seven and thirty years 2. Between the death of Herod and the death of Augustus there was this space of time 1. e e e e e e Ios. Antiq. lib. 1â— cap 15. The ten years current of the reign of Archelaus 2. f f f f f f Id. ibid. lib. Coponius succeeds him banished into Vienna in the Presidentship of Judea 3. Marcus Ambibuchus succeeds Coponius 4. g g g g g g Id. iold cap. 3 Annius Rufus succeeds Ambibuchus during whose Presidentship Augustus dies 18. cap. 1. Since therefore only fourteen years passed from the nativity of Christ to the death of Augustus out of which sum when you shall have reckoned the ten years current of Archelaus and the times of the three Presidents we must reckon that Christ was not born but in the last years of Herod Thus we conjecture In his thirty fift Christ was born In his thirty seventh now newly begun the Wise men came presently after this was the slaying of the infants and after a few months the death of Herod IV. Christ was born about the twenty seventh year of the Presidentship of Hillel in the Sanhedrin The rise of the family of Hillel took its beginning at the decease of the Asmonean family Herod indeed succeeded in the Kingly government a family sprung from Babylon and as was believed of the stock of David For h h h h h h Hieros Taanith fol. 68. 1. a book of genealogy was found at Jerusalem which we mentioned before in which it was written that Hillel was sprung from the stock of David by his wife Abital Now Hillel went up out of Babylon to Jerusalem to enquire of the Wise men concerning some things when now after the death of Shemaia and Abtalion the two sons of Betira held the chief seats And when he who had resorted thither to learn something had taught them some things of the Passover rites which they had forgot they put him into the chair You have the full story of it in the i i i i i i Pisachâ—n fol. 33. 1. Jerusalem Talmud We mention it Chap. XXVI 1. Now Hillel went up to Jerusalem and took the Chair an hundred years before the destruction of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k Bab. Schabb. fol 15. 1. Hillel and his son Simeon and his son Gamaliel and his son Simeon bare the Government for an hundred years before the laying waste of the Temple Of those hundred years if you take away two and thirty and an half of the life of Christ and forty years as it is commonly computed coming between the death of Christ and the destruction of the City there remain the twenty seven years of Hillel before the birth of our Saviour Hillel held the government forty years So that his death happened about the twelfth or thirteenth year of Christ His son also held it after him and his grandsons in a long succession even to R. Judah the Holy The splendor and pomp of this family of Hillel had so obscured the rest of the families of Davids stock that perhaps they believed or expected the less that the Messias should spring from any of them Yea one in the Babylonian Gemara was almost perswaded that Rabbi Judah the Holy of the Hillelian family was the Messias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Sanhedr fol. 98. 2. Rabh said If Messiah be among the living our Holy Rabbi is such if among the dead Daniel was he V. Christ was born in the month Tisri somewhat answering to our September This we conclude omitting other things by computing backwards from his death For if he died in his two and thirtieth year and an half at the feast of the Passover in the month Nisan you must necessarily lay the time of
his birth in the month Tisri But that he died at that age not to make any delay by mentioning more things appears hence that he was baptized now beginning his thirtieth year and that he lived after his baptism three years and an half as the space of his publick Ministry is determined by the Angel Gabriel Dan. IX in the half of a week that is three years and an half he shall make the sacrifice to cease c. But of this hereafter This month was innobled in former times 1. For the Creation of the World Weigh well Exod. XXIII 15. Joel II. 23. 2. For the nativity of the first Fathers which the m m m m m m Hieros Rosh Hashanah fol. 56. 4. Jews assert not without reason 3. For the repairing the Tables of the Law For Moses after the third Fast of forty days comes down from the mountain a messenger of good things the tenth day of this month which was from hence appointed for the Feast of Expiation to following ages 4. For the Dedication of the Temple 1 King VIII 2. And 5. For three solemn Feasts namely that of the beginning of the year that of Expiation and that of Tabernacles From this month also was the beginning of the Jubilee VI. It is probable Christ was born at the Feast of Tabernacles 1. So it ariseth exactly to three and thirty years and an half when he died at the Feast of the Passover 2. He fulfilled the Typical equity of the Passover and Pentecost when at the Passover he offered himself for a Passover at Pentecost he bestowed the Holy Ghost from Heaven as at that time the Law had been given from Heaven At that time the first fruits of the Spirit were given by him Rom. VIII 23. when the first fruits of corn had been wont to be given Levit. XXIII 17. It had been a wonder if he had honoured the third solemnity namely the Feast of Tabernacles with no Antitype 3. The Instruction of the Feast of Tabernacles agrees excellently with the time of Christs birth For when Moses went down from the Mount on the tenth day of the month Tisri declaring that God was appeased that the people was pardoned and that the building of the holy Tabernacle was forthwith to be gone in hand with hitherto hindred by and because of the Golden Calf seeing that God now would dwell among them and forsake them no more the Israelites immediately pitch their Tents knowing they were not to depart from that place before the divine Tabernacle was finished and they set upon this work withal their strength Whence the tenth day of that month wherein Moses came down and brought this good news with him was appointed for the Feast of expiation and the fifteenth day and seven days after for the Feast of Tabernacles in memory of their dwelling in Tents in the wilderness when God dwelt in the midst of them which things with how aptly Typical an aspect they respect the Incarnation when God dwelt among men in humane flesh is plain enough 3. Weigh Zechar. XIV vers 16 17. And it shall come to pass that every one that is left of all the Nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King the Lord of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the Earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King the Lord of Hosts even upon them shall be no more rain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Bethlehem It will not be improper here to produce the Gemarists themselves openly confessing that the Messias was born now a good while ago before their times For so they write n n n n n n Hieros Beracoth fol. 5. 1. After this the children of Israel shall be converted and shall enquire after the Lord their God and David their King Hos. III. 5. Our Rabbins say That is King Messias if he be among the living his name is David or if dead David is his name R. Tanchum said Thus I prove it He sheweth mercy to David his Messiah Psal. XVIII 50. R. Josua ben Levi saith His name is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Branch Zech. III. 8. R. Judan bar Aibu saith His name is Menahem that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter And that which happened to a certain Jew as he was plowing agreeth with this business A certain Arabian travailing and hearing the Ox bellow said to the Jew at Plow O Jew loose thy Oxen and loose thy Plows for behold the Temple is laid waste The Ox bellowed the second time the Arabian saith to him O Jew Jew yoke thy Oxen and sit thy plows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For behold King Messiah is born But saith the Jew What is his name Menahem saith he And what is the name of his father Hezekiah saith the Arabian To whom the Jew but whence is He The other answered From the palace of the King of Bethlehem Judah Away he went and sold his Oxen and his Plows and became a seller of Infants swadling cloths going about from Town to Town When he came to that City Bethlehem all the women bought of him but the Mother of Menahem bought nothing He heard the voice of the women saying O thou Mother of Menahem thou Mother of Menahem carry thy son the things that are here sold. But she replied May the enemies of Israel be strangled because on the day that he was born the Temple was laid waste To whom he said But we hoped that as it was laid waste at his feet so at his feet it would be built again She saith I have no mony To whom he replied But why should this be prejudicial to him Carry him what you buy here and if you have no mony to day after some days I will come back and receive it After some days he returns to that City and saith to her How does the little infant And she said From the time you saw me last Spirits and Tempests came and snatched him away out of my hands R. Bon saith What need have we to learn from an Arabian Is it not plainly written And Lebanon shall fall before the Powerful one Esa. X. 34. And what follows after A Branch shall come out of the root of Jesse Esa. XI 1. The Babylonian Doctors yield us a confession not very unlike the former o o o o o o Avâ—doh Zarah fol. 9. 2. R. Chaninah saith After four hundred years are past from the destruction of the Temple if any one shall say to you Take to thy self for one peny a field worth a thousand pence do not take it And again After four thousand two hundred thirty and one years from the creation of the World if any shall say to you Take for a peny a field worth a thousand pence take it not The Gloss is For that is the time of Redemption and you shall be brought back
of Israel for thou art to be crowned with higher dignity for from thee shall go forth a Ruler c. And in effect to this sense unless I mistake does the Chaldee Paraphrast plainly render it whom I suspect to be present at this very Councel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou art within a little to become chief See the same sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Targum upon Psal. LXXIII 2. Hos. I. 4. c. VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Star which they saw in the East went before them IT is probable the Star had shone in the very birth night and thence forward to this very time it had disappeared The Wise men had no need of the Star to be their guide when they were going to Jerusalem a City well known but going forward thence to Bethlehem and that as it seems by night it was their guide VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Departed into Egypt EGYPT was now replenished with Jews above measure and that partly by reason of them that travailed thither under Jochanan the son of Karcah Jer. XLIII partly with them that flocked thither more latewardly to the Temple of Onias of which d d d d d d Antiq. lib. 13 cap. 6. Josephus writes and e e e e e e In Menacoth ch 13. Succah ch 5. Hieros Ioma fol. 43. 4. both Talmuds When Simeon the Just said I shall dye this year They said to him Whom therefore shall we put in thy place He answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold my son Onias is before you They made Onias therefore High Priest But his brother Simeon envyed him Onias therefore fled first into the Royal Mountain and then into Egypt and built there an Altar repeating that of the Prophet In that day there shall be an Altar to the Lord in the midst of Egypt f f f f f f Id. Succah fol. 55. 1 2. He that hath not seen the Cathedral Church of Alexandria hath never seen the Glory of Israel It was after the manner of a Court Walk double cloistred There were sometimes there so many as doubly exceeded the number of those that went out of Egypt There were seventy golden Chairs set with gems according to the number of the Seventy Elders A Wooden Pulpit also placed in the middle in which the Bishop of the Synagogue stood And when the Law was read after every benediction a sign being given by a private person waving an handkerchief they all answered Amen But they sat not confusedly and mixedly together but every artificer with the Professors of the same art So that if a stranger came he might mingle himself with the workmen of the same trade c. These did wicked Trajane destroy c. g g g g g g Succah fol. 51. 2. The Babylonian Gemara repeats almost the same things alledging these last matters after this manner They sate not confusedly but the Artificers by themselves the Silver Smiths by themselves the Braziers by themselves the Weavers by themselves c. so that if a poor stranger came in he might know his own fellow workmen and betake himself to them and thence receive sustinence for himself and family So provision was made for the poverty of Joseph and Mary while they sojourned in Egypt at Alexandria probably partly by selling the Presents of the Wise men for food and provision by the way and partly by a supply of Victuals from their Country-folks in Egypt when they had need There are some footsteps in the Talmudists of this journey of our Saviour into Egypt but so corrupted with venomous malice and blasphemy as all their Writings are that they seem only to have confessed the truth that they might have matter the more liberally to reproach him For so they speak h h h h h h Bab. Sanhedr fol. 107. 2. When Jannai the King slew the Rabbins R. Josua ben Perachiah and Jesus went away unto Alexandria in Egypt Simeon ben Shetah sent thither speaking thus From me Jerusalem the holy City to thee O Alexandria in Egypt my Sister Health My husband dwells with thee while I in the mean time sit alone Therefore he rose up and went And a little after He brought forth four hundred trumpets and anathematized Jesus And a little before that Elizaeus turned away Gehazi with both his hands and R. Josua ben Perachiah thrust away Jesus with both his hands i i i i i i Schabb. fol. 104. 2. Did not ben Satda bring inchantments out of Egypt in the cutting which was in his flesh Under the name of Ben Satda they wound our Jesus with their reproaches although the Glosser upon the place from the authority of R. Tam denies it For thus he R. Tam saith This was not Jesus of Nazareth because they say here Ben Satda was in the days of Paphus the son of Judah who was in the days of R. Akiba but Jesus was in the days of R. Josua the son of Perachiah c. VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From two years old and under IT was now two years ago or thereabouts since the Star had shone and Christ was born The reason of the tarrying of Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem was this that they believed that the Messias who according to the Prophet was born there should have been brought up no where but there also nor dared they to carry him elsewhere before they had leave so to do by an Angel from Heaven The Jewish Nation are very purblind how and whence the Messias shall arise and whence is that Nemo novit no man knows whence the Son of man is Joh. VII 27. that is from what original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It was doubted b whether k Hieros Berac fol. 5. 1. he should come from the living or from the dead Only it was confessed by all without controversie that he should first make some shew of himself from Bethlehem which the Priests and Scribes of the people assert vers 4. Hence you have Christ now in his second year at Bethlehem whether Joseph and Mary had again betaken themselves with him when they had now presented him in the Temple according to the Law being forty days old Luke II. 22. And had taken care for his education in this place and not elsewhere until he himself going forth from hence might shew himself openly the Messias if they had not been sent away some where else by permission from Heaven VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall be called a Nazarene THOSE things which are brought from Esa. XI 1. concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Netzer the Branch and those things also produced concerning Samson the Nazarite a most noble Type of Christ have their weight by no means to be despised We add that Matthew may be understood concerning the outward humble and mean condition of our Saviour And that by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazarene
An upper and an inward garment to which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answer c c c c c c Bab. Bava Mezia fol. 782. If any give a poor man a penny to buy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inward garment let him not buy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a coat nor an upper garment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d d d d d d Nidarim fol. 33. 1. He lends him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An inner garment and a Coat VERS XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile c. TO him that had some corporeal wrong done him were these five mulcts to be paid according to the reason and quality of the wrong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Bava Kama in the place above A mulct for maiming if so be the party were maimed a mulct for pain caused by the blow or wound given a mulct for the cure of the wound or blow a mulct for the reproach brought upon him and a mulct for ceasing when being wounded or beaten he kept his bed and could not follow his business To the first the first words of our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That ye resist not evil seem to relate Do not so resist or rise up against an injurious person as to require the law of retaliation against him The second and fourth the words following seem to respect viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whosoever smiteth thee so that it cause pain and shame and those words also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him that will take away thy coat To the last do these words under our hand refer and to the second certainly if some intolerable kind of service be propounded which the famous Beza asserts The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very usual among the Talmudists whereby they denote accompanying him that goes somewhere out of honour and respect reaches not the sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but is too soft and low for it It is reckoned for a duty to accompany a dead corps to the grave and a Rabbine departing somewhere Hence is that story f f f f f f Hieros Schabb. 8. 3. Germani the Servant of R. Judah Nasi willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to conduct R. Illa going away met a mad dog c. The footsteps of this civility we meet with among the Christians Tit. III. 13. John Ep. III. ver 6. Marks they were of respect love and reverence but that which was required by the Jewish Masters out of arrogance and a supercilious authority was to be done to a Rabbine as a Rabbine But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to compel to go a mile sounds harsher and speaks not so much an impulse of duty as a compulsion of violence and the Talmudists retain that very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angaria and do shew by examples not a few what it means g g g g g g Bab. Joma fol. 35. 2 It is reported of R. Eliazar ben Harsum that his Father bequeathed him a thousand Cities on the dry land and a thousand Ships on the Sea but yet he every day carrying along with him a bottle of meal upon his shoulder travayled from City to City and from Country to Country to learn the Law On a certain day his Servants met him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angariate compel him He saith to them I beseech you dismiss me that I may go and learn the Law They say to him by the life of R. Eliazar ben Harsum we will not dismiss you c. Where the Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angariah is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the service of the Governor of the City and he was here to serve himself for he was Lord of the City But they knew him not but thought him to belong to one of those his Cities for it was incumbent on them to attend on their Master Again h h h h h h Nedarim fol. 32. 1. R. Elizer saith Why was Abraham our father punished and why were his sons afflicted in Egypt two hundred and ten years 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he angariavit compelled the disciples of the Wise men to go with him as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He armed his Catechumens or his trained or instructed Gen. XIV 14. The same almost is said of King Asa. i i i i i i Sotah fol. 10. 1. Rabba asked why was Asa punished with the Gou◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he compelled the Disciples of the Wise men to go along with him as it is said And Asa gathered together all Judah none excepted c. 1 King XV. 22. We meet with mention also of Angariating cattle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k k k k k k â—ava Mâ—zia cap. 6. hal 3. An Ass is hired for a hilly journey but he that hireth him travayls in the Valley although both be of the like distance that is ten miles if the Ass dyes he who hireth him is guilty c. But if the Ass were angariated the Hirer saith to the Owner Behold Take your beast to your self c. The Gloss is If he were angariated that is if they take him for some work of the King c. You see then whither the exhortation of our Saviour tends 1. To patience under an open injury and for which there is no pretence vers 39. 2. Under an injury for which some right and equity in law is pretended ver 40. 3. Under an injury compulsion or violence patronized by the authority of a King or of those that are above us VERS XLIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt hate thine enemy HERE those poysonous Canons might be produced whereby they are trained up in eternal hatred against the Gentiles and against Israelites themselves who do not in every respect walk with them in the same traditions and rites Let this one example be instead of very many which are to be met with every where l l l l l l Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 4. The Heretical Israelites that is they of Israel that worship Idols or who transgress to provoke God also Epicurean Israelites that is Israelites who deny the Law and the Prophets are by precept to be sâ—ain if any can sâ—ay them and that openly but if not openly you may compass their death secretly and by subtilty And a little after O! ye extreme charity of the Jews towards the Gentiles But as to the Gentiles with whom we have no war and likewise to the shepherds of smaller cattel and others of that sort they do not so plot their death but it is forbidden them to deliver them from death if they are in danger of it For instance A Jew sees one of them fallen into the Sea let him by no means lift him out thence for it is written Thou shalt not rise up against the
the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VERS IX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Will he give him a stone g g g g g g De benefic lib. 2. cap. 7. HERE that of Seneca comes into my mind Verrucosus called a benefit roughly given from a hard man panem lapidosum stony bread VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you c. h h h h h h Bab. Schab fol. 31. 1. A Certain Gentile came to Shammai and said Make me a Proselyte that I may learn the whole Law standing upon one foot Shammai beat him with the staff that was in his hand He went to Hillel and he made him a Proselyte and said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is odious to thy self do it not to thy neighbour for this is the whole Law VERS XIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Broad is the way IN these words concerning the broad and narrow way our Saviour seems to allude to the rules of the Jews among their Lawyers concerning the publick and private ways With whom a private way was four cubits in bredth a publick way was sixteen cubits See the Gloss in i i i i i i Cap. 2. hal 1. Peah VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gate UNDER this phrase are very many things in religion exprest in the holy Scripture Gen. XXVIII 17. Psal. CXVIII 19 20. Mat. XVI 18 c. and also in the Jewish Writers The gate of repentance is mentioned by the Chaldee Paraphrast upon Jer. XXXIII 6. and the gate of prayers and the gate of tears k k k k k k Bab. Berac fol. 32. 2. Since the Temple was laid wast the gates of prayer were shut but the gates of tears were not shut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Straight gate seems to be the Greek rendring of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pishpesh a word very usual among the Talmudists 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Tamid cap. 1. hal 3. With a key he opened the little door and out of Beth mokad the place of the fire hearth he entreth into the Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Aruch is a little door in the midst of a great door VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In sheeps cloathing NOT so much in woollen garments as in the very skins of sheep so that outwardly they might seem sheep but inwardly they were ravening Wolves Of the ravenousness of Wolves among the Jewes take these two examples besides others m m m m m m Taanith c. 3. hal 7. The Elders proclaimed a fast in their Cities upon this occasion because the Wolves had devoured two little children beyond Jordan n n n n n n Hieros Jom tobh fol. 60. 1. More than three hundred Sheep of the sons of Judah ben Shamoe were torn by wolves VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By their fruits ye shall know them THAT is a Proverb not unlike it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o o o o o o Bab. Berac fol. 48. 1. A Gourd a Gourd is known by its branch VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As one having authority and not as the Scribes IT is said with good reason in the Verse going before that the multitude were astonished at Christs doctrin for besides his divine truth depth and convincing power they had not before heard any discoursing with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 authority that he did The Scribes borrowed credit to their doctrine from Traditions and the Fathers of them and no Sermon of any Scribe had any authority or value without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Rabbins have a Tradition or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Wise men say or some Traditional Oracle of that nature Hillel the great taught truly and as the tradition was concerning a certain thing p p p p p p Hieros Pesachin fol. 33. 1. But although he discoursed of that matter all day long 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They received not his doctrin until he said at last so I heard from Shemaia and Abtalion CHAP. VIII VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou canst make me clean THE doctrine in the law concerning Leprosy paints out very well the doctrine of sin I. It teacheth that no creature is so unclean by a touch as man Yea it may with good reason be asked whether any creature while it lived was unclean to the touch beside man That is often repeated in the Talmudists That he that takes a worm in his hand all the Waters of Jordan cannot wash him from his uncleanness that is while the worm is as yet in his hand or the Worm being cast away not until the time appoynted for such purification be expired But whether it is to be understood of a living or dead worm it is doubted not without cause since the Law treating of this matter speaketh only of those things that dyed of themselves See Levit. XI ver 31. Whosoever shall touch them when they be dead c. and ver 32. Upon whatsoever any of them when they are dead shall fall c. But whether he speaks of a living worm or a dead uncleanness followed by the touch of it for that day only For he shall be unclean saith the Law until the Evening but the carkas of a man being touched a weeks uncleanness followed See Num. XIX II. Among all the uncleannesses of men Leprosie was the greatest in as much as other uncleannesses separated the unclean person or rendred him unclean for a day or a week or a month but the leprosy perhaps for ever III. When the Leper was purified the leprosy was not healed but the poison of the disease being evaporated and the danger of the contagion gone the Leper was restored to the publick congregation Gehazi the Servant of Elisha was adjudged to perpetual leprosy and yet he was cleansed and conversed with the King 2 King VIII 5. cleansed not healed Thus under Justification and sanctification there remain still the seeds and silth of sin IV. He that was full of the leprosy was pronounced clean he that was otherwise was not Levit. XIII 12. If the leprosie shall cover the whole body from head to foot thou shalt pronounce him clean c. A law certainly to be wondred at Is he not clean till the whole body be infected and covered with the leprosy Nor shalt thou O sinner be made clean without the like condition Either acknowledg thy self all over leprous or thou shall not be cleansed VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iesus touched him IT was indeed a wonder that when the leprosie was a creeping infection the Priest when he judged of it was not hurt with the infection It cannot be passed over without observation that Aaron being bound under the same guilt with Miriam bore not the same punishment for she was touched with leprosie he not Num. XII And also that Uzziah should be confuted concerning his
goes out and so all will be discovered One of them by chance put on his sandals the wrong way for sandals were open both ways so that one might put in his foot either before or behind but he putting on his the wrong way his footsteps when he went out seemed as if he went in and so their hiding place was discovered to the enemies c. Mony therefore in the girdle and provision in the scrip were forbidden the Disciples by Christ First that they might not be careful for temporal things but resign themselves wholly to the care of Christ. Secondly they ought to live of the Gospel which he hints in the last clause of this verse The workman is worthy of his hire That therefore which he had said before Freely ye have received freely give forbad them to preach the Gospel for gain but he forbad not to take food cloathing and other necessaries for the the preaching of the Gospel Two coats and shoes are forbidden them that they might not at all affect pride or worldly pomp or to make themselves sine but rather that their habit and guise might bespeak the greatest humility VERS XI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who in it is worthy In the Talmudick language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who deserves VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shake off the dust of your feet THE Schools of the Scribes taught That the dust of Heathen land defiled by the touch f f f f f f Tosapht ad Kelim cap. 1. The dust of Syria defiles as well as the dust of other Heathen Countries g g g g g g Bab. Sanhedr fol. 12. 1. A Traditioner writer saith They bring not herbs into the land of Israel out of a Heathen land But our Rabbins have permitted it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What difference is there between these R. Jeremiah saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The care of their dust is among them The Gloss is They take care lest together with the herbs something of the dust of the Heathen land be brought which defiles in the tent and defiles the purity of the land of Israel h h h h h h Id. Schabb. fol. 15. 2. By reason of six doubts they burn the Truma The doubt of a field in which heretofore might be a Sepulchre The doubt of dust brought from a Heathen land c. Where the Gloss is this Because it may be doubted of all the dust of a Heathen land whether it were not from the sepulchre of the dead i i i i i i Gloss in Sanhear fol. 5. 2. Raâ—bi saw a certain priest standing in a part of the City Aco which part was without the bounds of the land of Israel He said to him is not that Heathen land concerning which they have determined that it is as unclean as a burying place See Pisk Tosaph k k k k k k In Sanhedr cap. 1. artic 30. Therefore that Rite of shaking the dust off the feet commanded the disciples speaks thus much Wheresoever a City of Israel shall not receive you when ye depart by shaking off the dust from your feet shew that ye esteem that City however a City of Israel for a Heathen prophane impure City and as such abhor it VERS XVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall sâ—ourge you in their Synagogues BEZA here as he does very often when he cannot explain a place suspects it For thus he writes When I neither find Synagogues elsewhere to have their names from houses of Judgment as the Hebrews speak nor that civil punishments were taken in Synagogues I suspect this place But without any cause for I. In every Synagogue there was a Civil Triumvirate that is three Magistrates who judged of matters in contest arisiâ—g within that Synagogue which we have noted before II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l l l l l l Sâ—â—hâ—dâ— cap. 1. hal 2. Scourging was by that Beneh of Three So that fivefold scourging of St. Paul 2 Cor. XI 24. was in the Synagogue that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By that Bench of Three Magistrates such as was in every Synagogue It is something obscure that is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But beware of men Of whom else should they beware But perhaps the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men may occur in that sense as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men in these forms of speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Men of the great Assembly and The Men of the House of Judgment c. But we will not contend about it VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ye shall not have gone over the Cities of Israel c. YE shall not have travailed through the Cities of Israel preaching the Gospel before the Son of man is revealed by his Resurrection Rom. 1. 4. Lay to this Acts III. 19 20. Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the times of refreshment may come for ye expect refreshment and consolation under the Messiâ—s And he may send Jesus Christ first preached to you And ver 26. To you first God raising up his son sent him to bless you c. The Epoche of the Messias is stated from the resurrection of Christ. VERS XXV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beelzebub See Chapter XII Verse 24. VERS XXVII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What ye hear in the ear WE have observed before that allusion is here made to the manner of the Schools where the Doctor whispered out of the Chair into the ear of the Interpreter and he with a loud voice repeated to the whole School that which was spoken in the ear m m m m m m Bab. Sanhedr fol. 7. 2. They said to Judah bar Nachmani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the interpreter of Resh Lachish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do you stand for his Expositor The Gloss is To tâ—ll out the Exposition to the Synagogue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he shall whisper to you We cannot here but repeat that which we produced before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Doctor whispered him in the ear in Hebrew And we cannot but suspect that that custom in the Church of Corinth which the Apostle reproves of speaking in the Synagogue in an unknown tongue were some footsteps of this Custom We read of whispering in the ear done in another sense namely to a certain woman with child which longed for the perfumed flesh n n n n n n Bab. Joâ—a fol. 82. 2. Therefore Rabbi said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Go whisper her that it is the day of expiation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They whispered to her and she was whispered that is she was satisfied and at quiet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Preach ye upon the house tops Perhaps allusion is made to that Custom o o o o o o Bab. Schabb. fol. 35. 2. when the Minister of the Synagogue on the
IV. 12. fiery trial by Christ dictating the Epistles to the twelve Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p p p p p p Rev. II. 10. Tribulation for ten days and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q q q q q q Rev. III. 10. The hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world of Christians And this is The revelation of that wicked one r r r r r r 2 Thes. II. 8. St. Paul speaks of now in lively that is in bloody colours openly declaring himself Antichrist the enemy of Christ. In that persecution James suffered at Jerusalem Peter in Babylon and Antipas at Pergamus and others as it is probable in not a few other places Hence Rev. VI. 11 12. where the state of the Jewish Nation is delivered under the type of six seals they are slain who were to be slain for the testimony of the Gospel under the fifth seal and immediately under the sixth followeth the ruine of the Nation VERS XII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The love of many shall wax cold THESE words relate to that horrid Apostasie which prevailed every where in the Jewish Churches that had received the Gospel See 2 Thes. II. 3 c. Gal. III. 2. 2 Tim. I. 15. c. VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world JErusalem was not to be destroyed before the Gospel was spread over all the World God so ordering and designing it that the World being first a Catechumen in the Doctrine of Christ might have at length an eminent and undeniable testimony of Christ presented to it when all men as many as ever heard the history of Christ should understand that dreadful wrath and severe vengeance which was poured out upon that City and Nation by which he was crucified VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The abomination of desolation THESE words relate to that passage of Daniel Chap. IX 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I would render thus In the middle of that week namely the last of the seventy he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease even until the wing or army of abominations shall make desolate c. or Even by the wing of abominations making desolate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is An army Esay VIII 8. And in that sense Luke rendred these words s s s s s s Chap. XXI 20. When you shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that readeth understand This is not spoken so much for the obscurity as for the certainty of the Prophesie as if he should say He that reads those words in Daniel let him mind well that when the army of the Prince which is to come that army of abominations shall compass round Jerusalem with a siege then most certain destruction hangs over it for saith Daniel The people of the Prince which is to come shall destroy the City c. the sanctuary c. vers 26. And the army of abominations shall make desolate even until the consummation and that which is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate Flatter not your selves therefore with vain hopes either of future victory or of the retreating of that army but provide for your selves and he that is in Judea let him fly to the Hills and places of most difficult access not into the City See how Luke clearly speaks out this sense in the twentieth verse of the one and twentieth Chapter VERS XX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That your flight be not in the Winter R. Tanchum observes a favour of God in the destruction of the first Temple that it happened in the Summer not in Winter For thus he t t t t t t Fol. 57. 2. God vouchsafed a great favour to Israel For they ought to have gone out of the land on the tenth day of the month Tebeth as he saith Son of Man mark this day for on this very day c. what then did the Lord Holy and Blessed If they shall now go out in the Winter saith he they will all dye therefore he prolonged the time to them and carried them away in Summer VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those days should be shortned GOD lengthned the time for the sake of the elect before the destruction of the City and in the destruction for their sakes he shortned it compare with these words before us the 2 of Pet. III. 9. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise c. It was certainly very hard with the Elect that were inhabitants of the City who underwent all kind of misery with the besieged where the Plague and Sword raged so violently that there were not living enough to bury the dead and the Famine was so great that a Mother eat her Son perhaps the Wife of Doeg ben Joseph of whom see such a story in Bab. Joma u u u u u u Fol. 38. 2◠And it was also hard enough with those Elect who fled to the Mountains being driven out of House living in the open Air and wanting necessaries for Food Their merciful God and Father therefore took care of them shortning the time of their misery and cutting off the reprobates with a speedier destruction least if their stroke had been longer continued the Elect should too far have partaken of their misery The Rabbins dream that God shortned the day on which wicked King Ahaz died and that ten hours least he should have been honoured with mourning w w w w w w See R. Sol on Esay XXXVIII VERS XXIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall show great signs and wonders IT is a disputable case whether the Jewish Nation were more mad with superstition in matters of Religion or with superstition in curious Arts. I. There was not a people upon Earth that studied or attributed more to dreams than they Hence 1. They often imposed fastings upon themselves to this end that they might obtain happy dreams or to get the interpretation of a dream or to divert the ill omen of a dream which we have observed at the fourteenth verse of the ninth Chapter 2. Hence their nice rules for handling of dreams such as these and the like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let one observe a good dream two and twenty years after the example of Joseph x x x x x x Beracoth fol. 14. 1. If you go to bed merry you shall have good dreams c. y y y y y y Schabb. fol. 30 2. In the Gloss. 3. Hence many took upon them the publick profession of interpreting dreams and this was reckoned among the nobler Arts. A certain old man in Bab. Beracoth z z z z z z Fol. 55. 2. relates this story There were four and twenty interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem and I having dreamed a dream went to them all every one gave a different interpretation and yet they
all came to pass c. a a a a a a Jerusal Maasar Sheâ—â— fol 5â— 2. 3. You have R. Joses ben Chelpatha R. Ismael ben R. Joses R. Lazar and R. Akiba interpreting divers dreams and many coming to them for interpretation of their dreams Nay you see there the Disciples of R. Lazar in his absence practising this art See there also many stories about this business which it would be too much here to transcribe II. There were hardly any people in the whole World that more used or were more fond of Amulets Charms Mutterings Exorcisms and all kinds of Enchantments We might here produce innumerable examples a handful shall serve us out of the harvest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b b b b b b Shabb. chap. 6. hal 6. Let not any one go abroad with his amulet on the Sabbath day unless that amulet be prescribed by an approved Physitian or unless it be an approved amulet See the Gemara Now these Amulets were either little roots hung about the necks of sick persons or what was more common bits of paper with words writ on them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby they supposed that diseases were either driven away or cured which they were all the week but were forbid to wear on the Sabbath unless with a Caution c c c c c c Jerus iâ—id fol. 8. 2. They do not say a charm over a wound on the Sabbath That also which is said over a Mandrake is forbid on the Sabbath If any one say Come and say this versicle over my Son or lay the Book of the Law upon him to make him sleep it is forbid that is on the Sabbath but on other days is usual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They used to say the Psalm of meetings that is against unlucky meetings at Jerusalem R. Judan saith Sometimes after such a meeting and sometimes when no such meeting had happned But what is the Psalm of meetings The third Psalm Lord how are my foes encreased even all the Psalm and the ninety first Psalm He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High to the ninth verse * * * * * * Ibid. col 3. There is a discourse of many things which they used to carry about with them as remedies against certain ails and of mutterings over wounds and there you may see that while they avoid the inchantments of the Amorites they have and allow their own d d d d d d Bab. Joma fol. 84. 1. You have the form of an inchantment against a mad Dog And e e e e e e Avodah Zarah fol. 12. 2. the form of inchantment against the Devil of blindness f f f f f f Hieros Schab fol. 13. 4. Avod Zarah fol. 40. 4. You have mutterings and enchantments even in the Name of Jesus See also the Bab. Sanhedr g g g g g g Fol. 101. 1. concerning these kind of mutterings III. So skilful were they in conjurings enchantments and sorceries that they wrought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great signs many villanies and more wonders We pass by those things which the sacred story relates of Simon Magus Elymas the sons of Sceva c. and Josephus of others We will only produce examples out of the Talmud a few out of many You will wonder in the entrance at these two things in order to the speaking of their magical exploits and thence you will conjecture at the very common practise of these evil arts among that people 1. That the Senior who is chosen into the Council ought to be skilled in the arts of Astrologers Juglers Diviners Sorcerers c. that he may be able to Judge of those who are guilty of the same i i i i i i Maimon Sanheâ—r Chap. 2. 2. The Masters tell us that a certain chamber was built by a Magician in the Temple it self k k k k k k Gloss. on Middoth Chap. 5. hal 3. The chamber of Happarva was built by a certain Magician whose name was Parvah by art Magick l l l l l l Hieros Sanhedr fol. 18. 3. Four and twenty of the School Rabbi intercalating the year at Lydda were killed by an evil eye that is with sorceries m m m m m m Ibid. f. 25. 4 R. Joshua outdoes a Magician in Magick and drowns him in the Sea In Bab. Taanith n n n n n n Fol. 24. several miracles are related that the Rabbins had wrought o o o o o o Hieros Sanhedr fol. 23. 3 Bab. Sanhedr fol. 44. 2. Elsewhere there is a story told of eighty women sorceresses at Ascalon who were hanged in one day by Simeon ben Shetah and the women of Israel saith the Gloss had generally fallen to the practise of Sorceries as we have mentioned before It is related of abundance of Rabbies that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 skilful in working miracles thus Abba Chelchia and r r r r r r Juchas f. 20. 1 Chanin and s s s s s s Id. fol. 56. 2. R. Chanina ben Dusa of which R. Chanina ben Dusa there is almost an infinite number of stories concerning the miracles he wrought which savour enough and too much of Magick * * * * * * See Bab. Berac f. 33. 34. And that we may not be tedious in producing examples what can we say of the fasting-Rabbies causing it to rain in effect when they pleased of which there are abundaance of stories in Taanith What can we say of the Bath kol very frequently applauding the Rabbins out of Heaven of which we have spoke before What can we say of the death or plagues foretold by the Rabbins to befal this or that man Which came to pass just according as they were foretold I rather suspect some Magick art in most of these than fiction in all IV. False Christs broke out and appeared in publick with their witchcrafts so much the frequenter and more impudent as the City and people drew nearer to its ruine because the people believed the Messias should be manifested before the destruction of the City and each of them pretended to be the Messias by these signs From the words of Isaiah t t t t t t Chap. LXVI 7. Before her pain came she was delivered of a man child the Doctors concluded That the Messias should be manifested before the destruction of the City Thus the Chaldee Paraphrast upon the place She shall be saved before her utmost extremity and her King shall be revealed before her pains of child-birth Mark that also u u u u u u Bab. Joma fol. 10. 1. The son of David will not come till the wicked Empire of the Romans shall have spread it self over all the World nine months as it is said Therefore will he give them up until the time that she which
Prophets The Book of Josua Judges Samuel Kings Jeremiah Ezekiel Esay and the twelve And a little after But since Isaiah was before both Jeremiah and Ezekiel he ought to have been set before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But since the Book of Kings ends with destruction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all Jeremy is about destruction and since Ezekiel begins with destruction and ends with comfort and all Isaiah is about comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They joyned destruction with destruction and comfort with comfort that is they placed those Books together which treat of destruction and those together which treat of comfort You have this Tradition quoted by David Kimchius in his Preface to Jeremy Whence it is very plain that Jeremy of old had the first place among the Prophets and hereby he comes to be mentioned above all the rest Mat. XVI 14. because he stood first in the volume of the Prophets therefore he is first named When therefore Matthew produceth a Text of Zacharias under the name of Jeremy he only cites the words of the Volume of the Prophets under his name who stood first in the Volume of the Prophets Of which sort is that also of our Saviour Luk. XXIV 44. All things must be fulfilled which are written of me in the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms In the Psalms that is in the Book of Hagiographa in which the Psalms were placed first VERS XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Barabbas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bar Abba a very usual name in the Talmudists R. Samuel Barabba and R. Nathan Barabba z z z z z z Hieros Moed Katon fol. 82. 1. Abba bar Abba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a a a a a a Bab. Berac fol. 18. 2. In the Jerusalem Dialect it is very often uttered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bar Ba. Simeon Bar Ba b b b b b b Taanith fol. 66. 1. R. Chaijah bar Ba c c c c c c Chagigah fol. 76. 6. c. This brings to my mind what Josephus d d d d d d De Bell. Lib. 5. Cap. 18. relates to have been done in the besieging of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When huge stones were thrown against the City by the Roman stings some persons sitting in the Towers gave the citizens warning by a sign to take heed crying out in the vulgar dialect The Son cometh that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Son of man indeed then came in the glory of his justice and his vengeance as he had often foretold to destroy that most wicked and profligate Nation VERS XIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have thou nothing to do with that just man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e e e e e e Bab. Taanith fol. 25. 2. When King Sapores went about to afflict Rabbah his mother sent to him saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have thou nothing to do with that Jew c. VERS XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When he had scourged Iesus he delivered him to be crucified SUCH was the custom of the Romans towards those that were to be crucified f f f f f f Joseph de Bell. Lib. 2. Cap. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whom after he had beaten with whips he crucified And a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be whipped before the judgment-seat and to be nailed to the Cross. VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Reed in his right hand SEE those fictions in Tanchum g g g g g g Fol. 59. 4. concerning an Angel that appear'd in the shape of Solomon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In whose hand there was a reed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And whom they struck with a reed VERS XXXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Led him away to crucifie him THESE things are delivered in Sanhedrim h h h h h h Cap. 6. Hal. 4. of one that is guilty of stoning If there be no defence found for him they lead him out to be stoned and a cryer went before saying aloud thus N. the Son of N. comes out to be stoned because he hath done so and so The Witnesses against him are N. and N. whosoever can bring any thing in his defence let him come forth and produce it On which thus the Gemara of Babylon The Tradition is that on the evening of the Passover Jesus was hanged and that a Cryer went before him for forty days making this Proclamation This man comes forth to be stoned because he dealt in sorceries and perswaded and seduced Israel whosoever knows of any defence for him let him come forth and produce it But no defence could be found therefore they hanged him on the evening of the Passover Ulla saith His case seem'd not to admit of any defence since he was a seducer and of such God hath said Thou shalt not spare him neither shalt thou conceal him Deut. XIII They led him that was to be stoned out of the City Act. VII 58. so also him that was to be crucified i i i i i i Gloss. in Bab. Sanhed fol. 42. 2. The place of stoning was without the three Camps for at Jerusalem there were three Camps namely Gods the Levites and the Peoples as it was in the encamping in the Wilderness And in every city also where there was a Council namely of twenty three the place of stoning was without the City For all cities that have walls bear a resemblance to the Camp of Israel Because Jesus was judged at a Heathen Tribunal therefore a death is inflicted on him not usual with the Jewish Council namely Crucifixion In several things the circumstances and actions belonging to his death differed from the custom of the Jews in putting persons to death 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They never judg two on the same day k k k k k k Sanhedr cap. 6. hal 4. But here besides Christ are two thieves judged 2. They never carried one that was to be hanged to hanging till near Sun-set l l l l l l Ibid. in Gemara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They stay till near Sun-set and then they pass sentence and execute him And the reason is given by the Glosser They do not perfect his judgment nor hang him in the morning lest they should neglect his burial and happen to forget themselves and the Malefactor should hang till after Sun-set but neer Sun-setting so that they may bury him out of hand But Christ was sentenced to death before noon and at noon was nailed to the Cross. For 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They first put the condemned person to death and then hanged him upon a tree But the custom of the Roman Empire is first to hang them and then to put them to death ll ll ll ll ll ll Ibid. 4. They did not openly lament for those that were led forth to be put to death but
Perizzites were IV. The Kenites V. Rephaim SECT I. It was the Land of the Hebrews before it was the Canaanites ABRAHAM is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew then only when the difference between him and the Elamites was to be decided by war And the reason of the surname is to be fetched from the thing it self which then was transacted I. The hereditary right of the Holy Land which by Divine disposal was Sems Land Elem the first born of Sem did deservedly claim nor was there any of the sons of Sem upon whom in humane judgment it was more equally and justly devolved But the Divine Counsil and Judgment had designed it another way namely that it should come to the family of Arphaxad and Heber of which family Abraham was Him therefore God strengtheneth against the Army of Elam and declares him heir by a stupendious victory which Sem himself likewise does blessing him although he had overthrown in battel his sons the Elamites born of his first born Elam For that most holy Man and a very great and noble Prophet withal acknowledged the Counsel of God whom he is so far from opposing him for the slaughter of his sons that on the contrary he blesseth the Conqueror and yields him the choisest fruits of his Land Bread and Wine not only for refreshment to him and his Soldiers but also perhaps for a sign rather of resignation and investing him with the hereditary right of it whom God by so signal a mark had shewn to be the heir Upon very good reason therefore Abraham is called Hebrew to point as it were with the finger that God would derive the inheritance of that Land from the family of Elam to the family of Heber from the first born to him that was born after which was also done afterwards with Ruben and Joseph II. It neither ought nor indeed can be passed over without observation that the Country of Pentepolis and the Countries adjacent were subjects and tributaries to Chedorlaomer King of Elam What Was there any part of the Land of Canaan subject to the King of the Persians when so many Kings and Countries lay between it and Persia No idle scruple and difficulty I assure you nor as far as I can see any otherwise to be resolved than that Elam the first born of Sem or Melchisedek by his birthright was heir of that Land which his father Sem possessed by divine right and Patent and the sons of Elam also held after him and his grandsons unto Chedorlaomer For when it is said that those Cities and Countries had served Chedorlaomer twelve years the times of his reign seem rather to be reckoned than the years of the reign of the Elamites Not that those Nations were subject to the Scepter of the Elamites twelve years only but that that year was only the twelfth of Chedorlaomer But now God translates the inheritance to the family of Heber called Hebrew before but now more particularly and more honorably since of all the families of Sem that was now most eminent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heber denotes Hebrews as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Assur denotes Assyrians in those words of Balaam Numb XXIV 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And shall afflict Assur and shall afflict Heber It is a dream of some body among the Rabbins That * * * * * * Shem tobh in Psal. XLVIII when the whole Land was divided among the seventy Nations at the confusion of Tongues the Land of Canaan came to none therefore the Canaanites betook themselves thither and being found not only empty but conferred by lot upon none they usurped it for their own But what then shall we say of Melchizedek whom now all acknowledge for Sem Which is more probable that he intruded among the Canaanites now inhabiting the Land or that they intruded upon him Was not that Land hereditary to him and his rather than usurped by wrong and intrusion And did not he by the direction of the Spirit of God betake himself thither rather than either that he wandring about uncertainly lighted upon that Land by chance or acted by a Spirit of ambition or usurpation violently possessed himself of it For my part I scarcely believe either that the Canaanites went thither before the confusion of Tongues or that Sem at that time was not there but that he had long and fully inhabited the Land of Canaan as it was afterwards called before the entrance of the Canaanites into it and that by the privilege of a Divine Grant which had destin'd him and his posterity hither and that afterwards the Canaanites crept in here and were first subjects to the family of Sem whose first born was Elam but at length shook off the yoke When therefore all those original Nations from the Confusion of Tongues pertook of their names immediately from the fathers of their stock as the Assyrians from Assur the Elamites from Elam c. the same we must hold of the Hebrew Nation namely that it from that time was called Hebrew from Heber and that it was called the Land of the Hebrews before it was called the Land of the Canaanites For I can neither think that the stock of the Hebrews had no name for almost three hundred years after the Confusion of Tongues until the passing of Abraham out of Chaldea found a name for it which some would have nor methinks is it agreeable that Abraham was therefore called Hebrew because travailing out of Chaldea into the Land of Canaan he passed Euphrates when upon the same reason both Canaan himself and the Fathers of all the Western Nations almost should be called Hebrews for they passed over Euphrates travailing out of Chaldea And when the Patriarch Joseph himself is called by his Mistress a Hebrew servant Gen. XXXIX 17. and so called by the servants of Pharaoh Chap. XLI 12. and when he saith of himself that he was stollen away out of the Land of the Hebrews Gen. XL. 15. it is scarcely probable that that whole Land was known to other Countries under that name only for one family now dwelling there and that family a stranger a travailer and living in danger from the Inhabitants but rather that it was known by that name from antient ages even before it was called The Land of the Canaanites Nor if we should raise a contest against that opinion which asserts that the Language of the Canaanites and the Hebrews was one and the same would that argument any whit move us that the Towns and Cities of the Canaanites bore names which were also Hebrew for those their Hebrew names they might receive from Sem Heber and their children before they were places of the Canaanites Heber lived when the Tongues were confounded and the Nations scattered and when none denied that the sons of Heber were Hebrews yea who would deny that that Land was the Land of Heber By what reason should not they and that Nation take their name from him
to the Spainyards c c c c c c Comment de Bell. Civil lib. ◠Did ye not consider if I were overthrown that the people of Rome have ten Legions which could not only resist you but pull down even Heaven it self What then is the power of more than twelve Legions of Angels VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Told it in the Country TOLD it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fields But to whom What To them that laboured or that travailed in the fields So Chap. VI. 36. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they may go away into the fields round about and buy themselves bread From whom I pray should they buy in the fields And vers 56. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And wheresoever he entred into Towns or fields they laid the sick in the streets or markets What streets or markets are there in the fields Rabba saith That food made of meal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that dwell in the fields in which they mingle much meal over it they give thanks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Gloss are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inhabitants of the Villages And the Aruch saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are private men who dwell in the fields that is in houses scattered here and there and not built together in one place as it is in Towns and Cities VERS XV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his right mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Firm or sound of understanding in Talmudic speech VERS XXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My little daughter HN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for she was twelve years old vers 42. A d d d d d d Maimon in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 2. daughter from her birth day until she is twelva years old compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called little or a little maid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But when she is full twelve years old and one day over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she is called a young Woman VERS XXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And had suffered many things of many Physicians AND it is no wonder for see what various and manifold kinds of Medicines are prescribed to a woman labouring under a flux e e e e e e Bab. Schabb. fol. 110. R. Jochanan saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bring or Take of Gum of Alaxandria the weight of a Zuzee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And of Alum the weight of a Zuzee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And of Crocus Hortensis the weight of a Zuzee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let these be bruised together and be given in Wine to the Woman that hath an issue of blood c. But if this does not benefit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take of Persian Onions thrice three logs boile them in Wine and then give it her to drink and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arise from thy flux But if this does not prevail 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Set her in a place where two ways meet and let her hold a cup of Wine in her hand and let somebody come behind her and affright her and say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arise from thy flux But if that do no good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take a handful of Cummin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a handful of Crocus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And a handful of Foenum Graecum Let these be boyled in Wine and give them her to drink and say Arise from thy flux But if these do not benefit other Doses and others still are prescribed in number Ten or more which see if you please in the place cited Among them I cannot omit this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them dig seven ditches in which let them burn some cuttings of such Vines as are not circumcised that is that are not yet four years old And let her take in her hand a cup of Wine And let them lead her away from this ditch and make her sit down over that And let them remove her from that and make her sit down over another And in every removal you must say to her Arise from thy flux c. VERS XXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The fountain of her blood was dried up OF the fountain of the blood or of the flux called by the Hebrews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See the places in the margin f f f f f f Niddah cap. 2. hal 4. Maimon In Issur biah cap. 5. 6 Where also it is treated of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The greater profluvious woman and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The lesser The former title you may well bestow upon this woman who had laboured under a flux for twelve years VERS XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Talitha Kumi RAbbi Jochanan saith We remember when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Boys and Girls of sixteen and seventeen years old played in the Streets and no body was offended with them Where the Gloss is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tali and Talitha is a boy and a girle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Damsel I say unto thee Arise Talitha Kumi signifies only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maid arise How comes that clause then I say unto thee to be inserted I. You may recollect here and perhaps not without profit that which was alledged before namely that it was customary among the Jews when they applied Physick to the Profluvious woman they said Arise from thy flux which very probably they used in other diseases also II. Christ said nothing else than what sounded all one with Maid arise but in the pronouncing and uttering those words that authority and commanding power shined forth that they sounded no less than if he had said Maid I say to thee or I command thee Arise They said Arise from thy disease that is I wish thou wouldst arise but Christ saith Maid Arise that is I command thee Arise VERS XLIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He commanded that something should be given her to eat NOT as she was alive only and now in good health but as she was in a most perfect state of health and hungry The son of Rabban Gamaliel was sick He sent therefore two Scholars of the wise Men to R. Chaninah ben Dusa into his City He saith to them Wait for me until I go up into the upper chamber he went up into the upper chamber and came down again and said I am sure that the son of Rabban Gamaliel is freed from his disease The same hour he asked for food CHAP. VI. VERS III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Is not this the Carpenter AMONG other things to be performed by the Father for his Son this was one to bring him up in some Art or Trade a a a a a a Tosaph◠in Kiddush cap. 1 It is incumbent on the Father to circumcise his Son to redeem him to teach him the Law and to teach him some occupation R. Judah saith Whosoever teacheth not his Son to do some work is as if he taught him
esercito de figlioli de Israel che sono de Chenahanei in fino a Zarphath i transferiti di Jerusalem che Sono in Zarphath c. Whether too warily or too unwarily he hath thus done let him look to that himself The Greek hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephratha with which the Arabian Interpreter agrees But the Syriack with the Targumist Spain The vulgar Bosphorus confusedly besides that it makes the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radical Letter And yet Nobilius hath this passage St. Jerom tells us the other Interpreters agreed with the Hebrew word Sepharad which he rendered Bosphorus If he means that all agreed in acknowledging the word Sepharad he tells us no news but who agreed with his word Bosphorus I must confess Sepharad is not a place so obvious as Zarephath nor can any thing be offered in it but conjecture only and if I might be allowed my guess I would look for Sepharad in Edom rather than in Spain and that because Obadiah prophesies against the Edomites properly so called Whereas therefore he tells us That the Captivity of Israel in Sarepta of the Phenicians shall possess the Land of the Canaanities It is probable he means by the Captivity in Sepharad those Captives in Edom who shall possess the Cities of the South The Zarphathani or Sareptani were of the North the Sepharadeni of the South amongst the a a a a a a Hom. Odyss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whom you may rightly call the Troglodyte Arabs saith Strabo b b b b b b Strab. lib. 1. That is probably the Horims in Mount Seir for I suspect Horim by ill use might form it self into Eremb If we consider that the Jews do generally by Edom understand the Roman Empire and indeed all the Christian Nations in the West we shall easily perceive why they fix these places Zarephath and Sepharad so far from Palestine For Obadiah prophesying against the Edomites properly so called the Jews change the scene and persons according to the vulgar construction of Edom which they had received amongst themselves SECT III. The situation of Sarepta a a a a a a Plin. lib. 5. cap. 19. INDE à Tyro Euhydra ac Sarepta Ornithon oppida Et Sidon artifex vitri◠Thebarumque Baeotiarum parens From Tyre is Euhydra and Sarepta and Ornithon certain Towns so called Sidon where Glass is made and from whence sprung the Beotian Thebes Borchard A Tyro ad tres leucas admodum breves c. About three very short leagues from Tyre the River Eleutherus runs into the Sea About two leagues from that River is Sarepta About two leagues from Sarepta is Sidon Sarepta at this time doth not consist of above eight Houses though the ruines do still say it was once a brave Town Some would have Zarephath signifie as much as a place of melting from boiling and melting metals but especially Glass b b b b b b Strabo lib. 16. Between Acon and Tyre there is a shoare all spread over with little hillocks of sand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that bears a glassey sand the Glass indeed is not cast here but being carried to Sidon there it is made fusile c. CHAP. III. NAIN Luk. VII 11. I. Concerning Naim near Tabor shewn to strangers II. Concerning Nain in Iosephus and the Rabbins III. The Greek Version of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eugannim SECT I. Concerning Naim near Tabor shewn to strangers IN the Alexandrian Copy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ijon is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nain 1 Kings XV. 20. In the Roman it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ain So Hazar-Enan Numb XXXIV 9. in the Roman Copy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arsenain in the Alexandrian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asernain neither of them agrees with our Nain For it is very absurd to conceive that our Saviour ever was at Hazar-Enan the utmost borders of the Land toward Syria nor can we suppose him in Ijon that seeming to be according to the order of the places as they are ranked in the Text above quoted either beyond Dan or in the extreamest borders of the Land on that side As to our Nain Borchard saith thus A Nazareth duabus leucis c. Two leagues from Nazareth not much above one from Mount Tabor Southward is Mount Hermon the less on the North side of which is the City Nain at whose Gates Jesus recovered a Widows Son from death as we read Luke VII So also Breidenbach So some Tables as to the situation of Hermon near Tabor and the situation of Naim near Hermon I am well enough satisfied that they should place Naim in the Tribe of Issachar if there be no mistake among them as to Mount Tabor For whereas Tabor is indeed the very utmost border of Issachar Northward Jos. XIX 22. a a a a a a Joseph Antiq. lib. 5. cap. 1. It must needs be that what is beyond that Southward a league or two should be reckoned within that Tribe But I much suspect the Tabor mentioned by them and that which is now shewn to Travellers is not the true Tabor nor do I much question but that Hermon of which they talk is made out of a mistake and misconstruction of Psal. LXXXIX 12. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name My scruple as to Mount Tabor ariseth hence because that Tabor which is shewn to strangers as our Country-man Biddulph and another acquaintance of mine own who were on the top of it do describe it does not at all agree with the description Josephus gives us of the true Mount Tabor Our Country-man tells us It is an hill not very steep nor very high nor very large but a round beautiful hill c. On the contrary Joseph de excid lib. 4. cap. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mount Tabor is in height thirty furlongs very difficult of ascent on the North-side the top is a great plain of about six and twenty furlongs The Persian Interpreter instead of Nain hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nabelis that is Neapolis which is also Sychem but for what reason I know not Nor do I suppose that it was conceived by any one Expositor that the Widow's Son whom Christ raised from death was a Samaritan he was indeed upon the borders of Samaria but at a great distance from Sychar SECT II. Concerning the Nain in Iosephus and the Rabbins THE a a a a a a Sect. 98. Darshanim Expositors upon Beresh rabb speak of a certain place called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naim upon this occasion Issachar is a bony or strong Ass Gen. XLIX 14. It is spoken of Issachar's Country For as an Ass is low before and behind and high in the middle so is it in the Tribe of Issachar it is a Valley here and a Valley there and hilly otherwhere it couches between two borders These are the two valleys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
only asks How shall this be c Doubtless she took the Prophecy in its proper sense as speaking of a Virgin untoucht She knew nothing then nor probably any part of the Nation at that time so much as once thought of that sense by which the Jews have now for a great while disguised that place and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 II. Give me leave for their sakes in whose hands the book is not to transcribe some few things out of that noble Author Morney a a a a a a De Verit. Christ. Relig. cap. 28. which he quotes concerning this grand mystery from the Jews themselves b b b b b b Moses Haddarson in Psa LXXXV Truth shall spring out of the earth R. Jotten saith he notes upon this place That it is not said truth shall be born but shall spring out because the Generation and Nativity of the Messiah is not to be as other creatures in the world but shall be begot without Carnal Copulation and therefore no one hath mentioned his Father as who must be hid from the knowledge of men till himself shall come and reveal him And upon Genes Ye have said saith the Lord we are Orphans bereaved of our Father such an one shall your redeemer be whom I shall give you So upon Zachary Behold my servant whose name is of the branch And out of Psal. CX Thou art a Priest after the order of Melchizedech He saith R. Berachiah delivers the same things And R. Simeon Ben Jochai upon Genes more plainly viz. That the Spirit by the impulse of a mighty power shall come forth of the Womb though shut up that will become a mighty Prince the King Messiah So he VERS XXXVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hath also conceived a Son in her old age THE Angel teaches to what purpose it was that Women either barren before or considerably stricken in years should be enabled to conceive and bring forth viz. to make way for the easier belief of the Conception of a Virgin If they either beside or beyond nature conceive a Child this may be some ground of belief that a Virgin contrary to Nature may do so too So Abraham by Faith saw Christ's day as born of a pure Virgin in the birth of his own Son Isaac of his old and barren Wife Sarah VERS XXXIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. She went into the hill Country c. THAT is to Hebron Jos. XXI 11. For though it is true indeed the Priests after the return from Babylon were not all disposed and placed in all those very same dwellings they had possest before the Captivity yet is it probable that Zachary who was of the seed of Aaron being here said to dwell in the hill Country of Judah might have his House in Hebron which is more peculiarly said to be the City of Aaron's off-spring VERS XLI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Babe leaped in her Womb. SO the Seventy Gen. XXV 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Children leaped in her womb Psal. CXIV 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mountains skipped That which is added by Elizabeth Vers. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The babe leaped in the womb for joy signifies the manner of the thing not the cause q. d. it leaped with vehement exultation For John while he was an Embryo in the Womb knew no more what was then done than Jacob and Esau when they were in Rebecca's Womb knew what was determined concerning them a a a a a a Hieros Sotah fol. 2. 3. At the Red Sea even the infants sung in the wombs of their Mothers as it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. LXVIII where the Targum to the same sense Exalt the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye infants in the bowels of your Mothers of the seed of Israel Let them enjoy their Hyperboles Questionless Elizabeth had learnt from her Husband that the Child she went with was designed as the fore-runner of the Messiah but she did not yet know of what sort of Woman the Messiah must be born till this leaping of the infant in her womb became some token to her VERS LVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abode with her three Months A Space of time very well known amongst the Doctors defined by them to know whether a Woman be with Child or no. Which I have already observed upon Matth. I. a a a a a a Iâ—â—â—moth fol. 33 2. 34. â— 35. 1 c. VERS LIX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And they called it c. I. THE Circumciser said a a a a a a Schabb. fol. 137. 2. Blessed be the Lord our God who hath sanctified us by his precepts and hath given us the Law of Circumcision The Father of the infant said who hath sanctified us by his precepts and hath commanded us to enter the Child into the Covenant of Abraham our Father But where was Zachary's tongue for this service II. God at the same time instituted Circumcision and changed the names of Abraham and Sarah hence the custom of giving names to their Children at the time of their Circumcision III. Amongst the several accounts why this or that name was given to the Sons this was one that chiefly obtained viz. for the honour of some person whom they esteemed they gave the Child his name Which seems to have guided them in this case here when Zachary himself being dumb could not make his mind known to them Mahli the Son of Mushi hath the name of Mahli given him who was his Uncle the Brother of Mushi his Father 1 Chron. XXIII 21 23. b b b b b b Cholin fol. 47. 2. R. Nathan said I once went to the Islands of the Sea and there came to me a Woman whose first born had died by Circumcision so also her second Son She brought the third to me I bad her wait a little till the blood might asswage She waited a little and then Circumcised him and he lived They called him therefore by my name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nathan of Babylon See also Jerusalem Jevamoth c c c c c c Fol. 7. 4. d d d d d d â—ab Jevam. fol. 105. 1. There was a certain Family at Jerusalem that were wont to die about the eighteenth year of their age They made the matter known to R. Johanan ben Zacchai who said perhaps you are of Elie's Lineage concerning whom it is said The increase of thine House shall die in the flower of their age Go ye and be diligent in the study of the Law and ye shall live They went and gave diligent heed to the Law and lived They called themselves therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Family of Johanan after his name It is disputed in the same Tract e e e e e e Fol. 24. 1. whether the Son begot by a Brother's raising up seed to his Brother should not be called after the
vengeance upon the Jews the enemies of this Gospel But in the Jewish Schools this was their conceit of him that when he came he should cut off all those Nations that obeyed not his i. e. the Jewish Law redeeming Israel from the Gentile yoke establishing a Kingdom and Age amongst them that should be crowned with all kind of delights whatever In this they were miserably deceived that they thought the Gentiles were first to be destroyed by him and then that he himself would reign amongst the Israelites Which in truth fell out just contrary he was first to overthrow Israel and then to reign amongst the Gentiles It is easie to conceive in what sense the Pharisees propounded that question when the Kingdom of God should come that is when all those glorious things should be accomplished which they expected from the Messias and consequently we may as well conceive from the contexture of his discourse in what sense our Saviour made his reply You enquire when the Messias will come His coming will be as in the days of Noah and as in the days of Lot For as when Noah entred the Ark the world perisht by a deluge and as when Lot went out of Sodom those five Cities were overthrown so shall it be in the day when the Son of Man shall be revealed So that it is evident he speaks of the Kingdom of God in that sense as it signifies that dreadful revenge he would e're long take of that provoking Nation and City of the Jews The Kingdom of God will come when Jerusalem shall be made like Sodom vers 29. when it shall be made a Carkass v. 37. It is plain to every eye that the cutting off of that place and Nation is emphatically called his Kingdom and his coming in glory Nor indeed without reason For before he wasted the City and subverted that Nation he had subdued all Nations under the Empire and obedience of the Gospel according to what he foretold i i i i i i Matt. XXIV 14. That the Gospel of the Kingdom should be preached in all the world and then should the end of Jerusalem come And when he had obtained his dominion amongst the Gentiles what then remained toward the consummation of his Kingdom and Victories but to cut off his Enemies the Jews who would not that he should rule over them Of this Kingdom of God he speaks in this place not answering according to that vain apprehension the Pharisee had when he propounded the question but according to the thing its self and the truth of it There are two things he saith of this Kingdom 1. That it comes not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with observation Not but that it might be seen and conspicuous but that they would not see and observe it Which security and supineness of theirs he both foretells and taxeth in other places once and again 2. He further tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Kingdom of God is within you you are the scene of these triumphs And whereas your expectancies are of that kind that you say behold here a token of the Messias in the subduing of such a Nation and behold there in the sudbuing of another they will be all in vain for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is within you Within and upon your own Nation that these things must be done I would lay the emphasis in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you when commonly it is laid in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within Besides those things which follow vers 22. do very much confirm it that Christ speaks of the Kingdom of God in that sense wherein we have supposed it they are spoken to his Disciples that the days will come wherein they shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man but shall not see it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The days of the Son of Man in the Jewish stile are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the days of the Messias days wherein they promise themselves nothing but pleasing prosperous and gay enjoyments and questionless the Pharisees put this question under this notion only But our Saviour so applies the terms of the question to the truth and to his own purpose that they signifie little else but vengeance and wrath and affliction And it was so far from it that the Jews should see their expected pleasures that the Disciples themselves should see nothing but affliction though under another notion CHAP. XVIII VERS I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And not to faint THE discourse is continued still and this Parable hath its connection with the Chap. XVII concerning Christ's coming to avenge himself upon Jerusalem Which if we keep our eye upon it may help us to an easier understanding of some more obscure passages that occurr in the application of this Parable And to this doth the expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to faint seem to have relation viz. that they might not suffer their hopes and courage to languish and droop upon the prospect of some afflictions they were likely to grapple with but that they would give themselves to continual prayer VERS II. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There was a certain judge c. IF the scene of this Parabolical History must be supposed to have been amongst the Jews then there would some questions arise upon it 1. Whether this Judge were any way distinguisht from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Elder or Presbyter For the Doctors are forced to such a distinction from those words in Deut. XXI 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Elders and Judges a a a a a a Hieros Sotah fol. 23. 2. If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Judge be the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Elder which the Babylonian Sotah b b b b b b Fol. 44. 2. approve of then might it be enquired whether it was lawful for one Elder to sit in judgment which the Sanhedrin deny c c c c c c Cap. 1. But I let these things pass The Parable propounded is of that rank or order that commonly amongst them the Jews had the title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and usually ended in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is when it is argued from the less to the greater If that judge the wickedest of men being overcome by the endless importunity of the Widow judged her cause will not a just merciful and good God appear for his own much more who continually solicite him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Who feared not God c. How widely distant is this wretch from the character of a just Judge d d d d d d Maimon Sanhedr cap. 1. Although in the Triumviral Court all things are not expected there which are requisite in the Sanhedrin yet is it necessary that in every one of that Court there should be this seven fold qualification Prudence gentleness piety hatred of Mammon love of truth that
these were Angels that brought this Stone So he gave the Elders the Money for which the Angels had bargained with him In truth I should easilier incline to believe this Story than that of Loretto because there is some reason to apprehend this R. Chaninah no other than Haninah ben Dusa a notorious Magcian i i i i i i Juchasin fol. 57. 1. Unless you will also say that the Chappel at Loretto took that jaunt by the help of Magick k k k k k k In Bemidbar Rabba fol. 257. A huge Stone of its own accord takes a skip from the Land of Israel and stops up the Mouth of the Den in Babylon where Daniel and the Lyons lay But so much for Tales SECT II. The situation of Nazareth THE situation of Nazareth according to Borchard Breidenbach and Saligniac ought to be measured and determined from Mount Thabor For so they unanimously A Nazareth duabus leucis contra orientem est Mons Thabor From Nazareth two leagues Eastward is Mount Tabor Nor is there any cause why with respect to that Region of Galilee in which they place this City we should dissent from them seeing there are others of the same opinion Now the Mount Tabor was in the very confines that divided Issachar from Zabulon Jos. XIX 22. And the coast i. e. of Issachar reacheth to Tabor and Shahazimath But what coast should this be Northor South The North coast saith Josephus l l l l l l Antiqu. lib. 5. cap. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Manassites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. next to Manasseh is Issachar having for its bounds of longitude Mount Carmel and the River Jordan and of latitude Mount Tabor That is The latitude of Issachar is from Manasseh to Mount Tabor as Josephus plainly makes out in that place Mount Tabor therefore lay as it were in the midst betwixt the Coasts of Samaria and upper Galilee Having on this side Issachar toward Samaria and on that side Zabulon toward the aforesaid Galilee Josephus m m m m m m Lib. de bell 4. cap. 6. describes Mount Tabor where these things seem something obscure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have already seen where Scythopolis lay and where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the great plain near Scythopolis But what should that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great Plain be that lyeth so behind Tabor toward the North that Tabor should be betwixt it and Scythopolis Is not Zabulon so called in Josephus yea and Issachar too at least a great part of it if we consult the same Josephus n n n n n n Lib. 3. cap. 4. So that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Scythopolis or Manasseh is distinctly called by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The great Plain of Samaria o o o o o o Ibid. lib. 2. cap. 21. And the lower Galilee is described by the Talmudists by this character that it produceth Sycamines which the upper Galilee doth not p p p p p p Shevith cap. IX hal 2. Now the Sycamine Trees were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the vale 1 King X. 27. And hence seems to arise the distinction between the upper and the lower Galilee the lower so called because more plain and Champaigne the upper because more Hilly and Mountanous I am deceived if the upper Galilee be not sometimes by way of Emphasis called Galilee nor without cause whenas the lower might be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the great plain So Cana hath the adjunct of Cana of Galilee perhaps that it might distinguish that Cana which bounds both the Galilees of which more in its proper place That passage which we meet with in our Evangelist Chap. IV. 43 44. He departed from thence from Samaria and went into Galilee for Jesus himself testified that a Prophet hath no honour in his Country It looks this way that is he would not go into Nazareth but into Galilee viz. the upper and so came to Cana. Nazareth therefore was in the lower Galilee in the very confines of Issachar and Zabulon and is commonly received within Zabulon its self being distant sixteen miles or more from Capernaum for from Capernaum Mount Tabor is distant ten miles or thereabouts SECT III. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ben Nezer I Am not abundantly satisfied in the common writing of the word Nazareth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much less that Nazarenus should be expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when the sacred Amanuenses write it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I can hardly suppress a just indignation when I read what the Jews scribble about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ben Nezer q q q q q q Chetubb fol. 51. 2. The Rabbins have a Tradition Those that are taken out of the Kingdom behold they are properly Captives but those that are taken by Thieves they are not to be called Captives The Tradition is to be distinguished 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to Kingdom and Kingdom there is no difficulty That is as to Kingdoms which are equal But between the Kingdom of Ahashuerus and the Kingdom of Ben Nezer there is Between Thieves and Thieves there is no difficulty but between ben Nezer and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Thieves of the world viz. common Thieves there is There in Palestine Ben Nezer is called a King Here in Babylon he is called a Robber 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gloss. Ben Nezer was a Thief and took Cities and ruled over them and became the Captain of Robbers It is very suspicious to what purpose they have invented that name for the most infamous Robber to call him the Son of Nezer By those very Letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they write the City Nazareth Read on and the suspition will encrease r r r r r r Beresh rabb sect 76. I considered the horns and behold there came up among them another little horn Dan. VII 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is Ben Nezer Aruch quoteth this passage under the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this manner There came up among them another little horn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Kingdom of the Cuthites Now what they meant by the Kingdom of the Cuthites may be conjectured from s s s s s s Midras Schir fol. 17. 2. The Winter is past Cant. II. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is the Kingdom of the Cuthites And a little after The time is coming when the Kingdom of Cuth shall be destroyed and the Kingdom of Heaven shall be revealed It is easie imagining what they would point at by the Kingdom of the Cuthites the Christians no doubt unless they will pretend to some Samaritan Kingdom And if so it is as obvious whom they design by Ben Nezer Let them shew whence came the name of the Tetrarchy of the Nazarens in Celosyria Of which Pliny t
to prove it When therefore there was so vehement and universal an expectation of the coming and reign of the Messiah amongst the Jews and when some token and indication of these times might appear to Nicodemus in the miracles that Christ had wrought our Saviour instructs him by what way and means he may be made apt and capable for seeing and entring into this Kingdom and enjoying the benefits and advantages of Messiah's days For II. The Jews had conceited that it was enough for them to have been of the seed of Abraham or the stock of Israel to make them fit subjects for the Kingdom of Heaven and the happiness that should accrue to them from the days of the Messiah Hence that passage h h h h h h Sanhedr fol. 90. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a part allotted to all Israel in the world to come That is in the participation of the Messiah But whence comes it that universal Israel claim such a part meerly because they are Israelites i. e. Meerly because they come of the stock and lineage of Israel Our Saviour sets himself against this error of theirs and teacheth that it is not enough for them to be the Children of Abraham or the Stock of Israel to give them any title to or interest in the Messiah but they must further be born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above they must claim it by an Heavenly not an Earthly birth These words of his seem to fall in and bear the same kind of sense with those of John Baptist Think not to say we have Abraham for our Father III. The Jews acknowledged in order to Proselytisme some kind of regeneration or new-birth absolutely necessary but then this was very slightly and easily attainable i i i i i i Jevamoth fol. 62. 1. 92 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any one become a Proselyte he is like a Child new born But in what sense is he so k k k k k k Maimoâ— Issurâ—i biaâ— câ—p 14. The Gentile that is made a Proselyte and the servant that is made free behold he is like a Child new born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all those relations he had whiles either Gentile or Servant they now cease from being so By the Law it is lawful for a Gentile to marry his Mother or the Sister of his Mother if they are Proselyted to the Jewish Religion But the wise men have forbidden this lest it should be said we go downward from a greater degree of sanctity to a less and that which was forbidden yesterday is allowable to day Compare this with 1 Cor. V. 1. Christ teaches another kind of new birth requisite for those that partake of the Kingdom of the Messiah beyond what they have either as Israelites or Proselytes viz. that they should be born from above or by a celestial generation which only makes them capable of the Kingdom of Heaven VERS IV. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can he enter the second time into his Mother's Womb THE common opinion of the Jews about the qualification of an Israelite qua Israelite still sticks in the mind of this Pharisee and although our Saviour useth that term which in the Jewish Language plainly enough intimates the necessity of being born from Heaven yet cannot he easily get off from his first prejudice about the Israelitish Generation Whereas the Israelites as they are Israelites have a right to be admitted into the Kingdom of the Messiah do you therefore mean by this expression of yours that it is necessary for any to enter a second time into his Mother's Womb that he may be an Israelite anew He knew and acknowledged as we have already said that there must be a sort of a new-birth in those that come over to the Jewish Religion but he never dreamt of any new proselytism requisite in one that had been born an Israelite He could not therefore conceive the manner of a new birth that he should be made an Israelite anew unless it were by entring into the Mother's Womb a second time which to him seemed an impossible thing VERS V. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit HE tells him that the Jew himself cannot be admitted into the Kingdom of the Messiah unless he first strip himself of his Judaism by Baptism and then put off his carnal and put on a spiritual state That by water here is meant Baptism I make no doubt nor do I much less question but our Saviour goes on from thence to the second Article of the Evangelical Doctrine And as he had taught that toward the participation of the benefits to be had by the Messiah it is of little or of no value for a man to be born of the seed of Abraham or to be originally an Israelite unless he was also born 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from above so he now further teacheth him that this admission is not to be obtained but by an absolute renunciation of Judaism and being Baptized into the profession of the Gospel For the tenor of Christian Baptism runs point blank against Judaism The Jewish Religion taught justification by works but Evangelical Baptism obliged to Repentance and alarum'd the sinner to look elsewhere for remission of sins so that to a Jew Baptism was indispensibly necessary in order to his admission into the Kingdom of the Messiah that by that Baptism of his he might wholly divest himself of his Jewish state VERS X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Art thou a Master of Israel l l l l l l Echa rabbathi fol. 66. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Art thou a wise man in Israel It was the answer of a Boy to R. Joshua when he asked him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is the shortest way to the City The Boy answered this is the shortest way though it is the longest and that is the longest way though it is the shortest R. Joshua took that way which was the shortest though the longest When he came very near the City he found Gardens and places of pleasure hedged in so that he could go no further He returned therefore to the Boy and said to him my Son is this the shortest way to the City The Boy answered art thou a wise man in Israel did I not thus say to thee That is the shortest way though the longest c. VERS XIV 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent c. THE Jews dote horribly about this noble mystery There are those in Bemidbar rabba m m m m m m Sect. 19. that think that the Brazen Serpent was not affixed to a pole but thrown up into the Air by Moses and there to have settled without any other support n n n n n n Baal Turim in Numb XXI Moses put up the Serpent for 〈…〉 sign as he that
more than these might it not have been enough to have said as well as these For what reason had he to expect that Peter should love him more than the rest did especially more than St. John whom Christ himself had so loved and who had stuck so close to him Christ seems therefore to reflect upon Peter's late confidence not without some kind of severity and reproof q. d. Thou saidst O Simon a little while ago that thou wouldst never forsake me no not though all the other Disciples should thou didst profess beyond all the rest that thou wouldst rather dye than deny me thou wouldst follow me to prison to death nay lay down thy own life for me What saist thou now Simon Doest thou yet love me more than these If thou thinkest thou art provided and canst hazard thy life for me feed my sheep and for my sake do thou expose thy life yea and lay it down for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feed my Lambs If there be any thing in that threefold repetition feed feed feed we may most fitly apply it to the threefold object of St. Peters Ministry viz. the Gentiles the Jews and the Israelites of the ten Tribes I. To him were committed by his Lord the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Matth. XVI that he might open the door of Faith and the Gospel to the Gentiles which he did in his preaching it to Cornelius II. In sharing out the work of Preaching the Gospel amongst the three Ministers of of the Circumcision his lot fell amongst the Jews in Babylon James his lot was amongst the Jews in Palestine and Syria And John's amongst the Hellenists in Asia III. Now amongst the Jews in Babylon were mixed the Israelites of the ten Tribes and to them did the Gospel come by the ministry of St. Peter as I have shewn more at large in another Trearise To this therefore have the words of our Saviour a plain reference namely putting Peter in mind that whereas he had with so much confidence and assurance of himself made such professions of love and constancy beyond the other Disciples pretending to a wonderful resolution of laying down his very life in that behalf that he would now shew his zeal and courage in feeding the sheep of Christ. Thou canst not Simon lay down thy life for me as thou didst once promise for I have my self laid down my own life and taken it up again Feed thou my sheep therefore and be ready to lay down thy life for them when it shall come to be required of thee So that what is here said does not so much point out Peter's Primacy as his danger nor so much the priviledge as the bond of his Office and his Martyrdom At last for that our Saviour had this meaning with him is plain because immediately after this he tells him by what death he should glorifie God vers 18. VERS XXII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If I will that he tarry till he come TILL I come that is till I come to destroy the City and Nation of the Jews As to this kind of phrase take a few instances Our Saviour saith Matth. XVI 28. There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his Kindom Which must not be understood of his coming to the Last Judgment for there was not one standing there that could live till that time nor ought it to be understood of the Resurrection as some would have it for probably not only some but in a manner all that stood there lived till that time His coming therefore in this place must be understood of his coming to take vengeance against those enemies of his which would not have him to rule over them Luke XIX 12 27. Perhaps it will nor repent him that reads the Holy Scriptures to observe these few things I. That the destruction of Jerusalem and the whole Jewish state is described as if the whole frame of this world were to be dissolved Nor is it strange when God destroyed his Habitation and City places once so dear to him with so direful and sad an overthrow his own people whom he accounted of as much or more than the whole world beside by so dreadful and amazing Plagues Matth. XXIV 29 30. The Sun shall be darkned c. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man c. which yet are said to fall out within that Generation vers 34. 2 Pet. III. 10. The Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat c. Compare with this Deut. XXXII 22. Heb. XII 26. and observe that by Elements are understood the Mosaick Elements Gal. IV. 9. Coloss. II. 20. and you will not doubt that St. Peter speaks only of the Conflagration of Jerusalem the destruction of the Nation and the abolishing the dispensation of Moses Revel VI. 12 13. The Sun became black as sackcloth of hair c. and the Heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together c. Where if we take notice of the foregoing Plagues by which according to the most frequent threatnings he destroyed that people viz. the Sword vers 4. Famine vers 5 6. and the Plague vers 8. Withal comparing those words They say to the Mountains fall on us and cover us with Luke XXIII 30. it will sufficiently appear that by those phrases is understood the dreadful judgment and overthrow of that Nation and City With these also agrees that of Jerem. IV. from vers 22. to 28. and clearly enough explains this phrase To this appertain those and other such expressions as we meet with 1 Cor. X. 11. On us the ends of the world are come and 1 Pet. IV. 7. The end of all things is at hand II. With reference to this and under this notion the times immediately preceding this ruine are called the last days and the last times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the last times of the Jewish City Nation Oeconomy This manner of speaking frequently occurs which let our St. John himself interpret 1 Joh. II. 13. There are many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time and that this Nation is upon the very verge of destruction whenas it hath already arrived at the utmost pitch of Infidelity Apostacy and wickedness III. With the same reference it is that the times and state of things immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem are called a New Creation New Heavens and a New Earth Isai. LXV 17. Behold I create a New Heaven and a New Earth When should that be Read the whole Chapter and you will find the Jews rejected and cut off and from that time is that New Creation of the Evangelical world among the Gentiles Compare 2 Cor. V. 17. and Revel XXI 1 2. where the old Jerusalem being cut off and destroyed a new one succeeds and New Heavens and a New Earth are created 2 Pet. III. 13. We according
allude to the customs yea not seldom to the Traditions of their own Country whence one might the rather suspect an allusion in this place also Such a kind of Version is that seeing we are discoursing about scourging Prov. XXVII 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thou shouldst beat a fool with stripes in the midst of the Sanhedrin instead of Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar FINIS HORAE Hebraicae Talmudicae HEBREW AND TALMUDIC EXERCITATIONS UPON THE First Epistle of St. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS TO Which is added a DISCOURSE concerning what BIBLES were used to be Read in the Religious Assemblies of the JEWS By JOHN LIGHTFOOT D. D. late Master of Katharine-Hall in the University of CAMBRIDGE LONDON Printed by William Rawlins for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCLXXXIV TO THE Right HONORABLE and LEARNED Sir William Morice K t. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY of STATE AND ONE OF HIS MAJESTIES MOST HONORABLE PRIVY COUNCIL RIGHT HONORABLE ALL that I have done in this Work may well seem a continued Solecism When I have with so unskilful a hand attempted to explain so abstruse an Epistle and handled things so difficult in so brief a manner and lastly in daring to dedicate these so impolished papers to a person of such Iudgment and Learning And what account shall I give of these things I know indeed that among those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passages hard to be understood which are in S. Pauls Epistles 2 Pet. III. 16. this First to the Corinthians claims no small share an Epistle behind none for the variety of the things handled and for the difficulty of the style wherewith they are handled above all Things these are to be trembled at but alluring withal and provoking a mind greedy of the knowledge of Holy Scriptures so much the more to the study of them by how much they are the more difficult So that it was neither arrogance nor rashness that I imployed my self in these obscurities but a studious mind breathing after the knowledge of the Scriptures and something restless when in difficult places it knew not where to fix What fruit I have reaped I say not any thing of but this that I repent not of my pains for I have in some measure satisfied my self but whether I shall do others is not in my power to judge I hope it will not give offence upon this account that if I mistake I mistake only in Historical matters as most of those things are that here create difficulty where there is no fear of dashing upon the Analogy of Faith or the Doctrine of the Church That I presume Right Honorable to lay these my rude thoughts before your Learned Eyes is not boldness but Duty Gratitude and Obligation I know well enough such is my meanness that I am not able to invent or frame any thing that may be worthy of that great Learning wherewith you are so signally endowed But it is your Goodness with which you are as much endowed that I and these my papers have to do with They approach to pay their respects to it and to render you all the thanks that possibly I can for that Favour Assistance and Batâ—onage that your Honour vouchsafed to aid and comfort me with when I and my affairs lay under adversity and hazzard You Great Sir came in to my succour and when I was wholly a stranger to you and you to me yet you generously afforded me your helping hand and that of your own accord unasked and with an earnest diligence care and affection Oh! How much am I endebted to that kindness of yours and wherewith shall I requite it Let this issue of my Studies whatever it be serve as a Monument of my Vows and having your Great Name inscribed upon it let it live and glory and testifie to all the World the Obedience Duty and Gratitude that I owe you Being Right Honorable Your most Humble and most Obliged Servant JOHN LIGHTFOOT From Catharine Hall Cambr. Commencement Eve Iuly 4. 1664. OF CORINTH IT SELF CORINTH was seated in an Isthmus by the space of five miles parting the Egean Sea from the Jonian joyning Greece to Peloponnesus by a strait passage a a a a a a Pomp. Mela lib. 2. cap. 3. In b b b b b b Solin cap. 13 the Isthmus was the Temple of Neptune and the Isthmian Games every five years for this cause instituted as is said because the Coasts of Peloponnesus are washed with five Bays These Plays broke off by Cypselus the Tyrant the Corinthians restored again to their antient solemnity in the forty ninth Olympiad The c c c c c c Plin. lib. 4. cap. 4. Strab. lib. 8. Bounds of the straits of the Isthmus on this side is Lechaeae and Cenchraeae on the other The Haven of Cenchraeae serves for the Traffick of Asia that of Lechaeae for the Traffick of Italy The Haven of Cenchraeae was distant from the City LXX furlongs The Lechaean Port lay under the City King Demetrius The Dictator Caesar C. The Prince and Domitius Nero endeavoured to cut through the straits with a navigable Channel but unsuccesfully d d d d d d Mela in the place before Corinth from that high Tower which they call Acrocorinthus beholds both Seas e e e e e e Euseb. in Chron. That City heretofore called Ephyra was built By Sisyphus in that time when Othniel was Captain and Judge of the Hebrews f f f f f f Diod. Sicul. lib. 19. Hence the Tower Sisyphium at Corinth from the name of the Founder g g g g g g Euseb. in the place before From the coming down of the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus the City was under Kings for a long series then under yearly Princes h h h h h h Herodot lib. 5. cap. 42. afterwards under Cypselus usurping the Government and after him under Periander his son and after a long space of time i i i i i i Strab. in the place before under Philip. Whose endeavours the Corinthians aided and so despised the Romans for him that some presumed to cast dirt upon their Ambassadors as they passed by their houses For which crime and other wicked deeds an Army was sent thither by the Romans and Corinth overthrown by L. Mummius When l l l l l l Dion Cass. lib. 43. it had a long time lain forsaken it was rebuilt by Julius Cesar who built Carthage also at the same time and into both anciently splendid and famous Cities he brought down Colonies of the Romans especially of such as were Libertins m m m m m m Strab. in the place before They when they had begun to remove the rubbish and had withal digged up graves they found very many works made of baked Earth and not a few of brass the workmanship of which they so admired that there
and all destroyed before Christ came in the flesh as is apparently to be observed there They were the Babylonian Mede-Persian Grecian and Syro-Grecian and after them rose the fift this of the Roman And which is observable and which may be observed out of Roman Records It began most properly to be a Monarchy that very year that our Saviour was born as might be shewed out of Dion c. if material and so Christ and this Roman Beast born and brought forth at the very same time Well the Devil gave his Seat and Power to this Beast this City If you look for any thing but Devilishness and mischief from it you look for Grapes of Thorns and Figs of Thistles True there was in the beginning of the Gospel a flock of Christ there holy and their Faith famous Rom. I. 8. but poor men they were underlings and of no power We speak of Rome in its pomp and power acting in its authority and dominion as it ruled over all the World and as it was invested in the Authority and Seat of the Dragon himself And why did the Devil give his Seat and Power and great Authority to it You may easily guess for what viz. that it should be an enemy to that and them to whom he himself was chiefly an Enemy Christ and his Gospel and his People We cannot say that Rome conquered Nations and subdued Kingdoms by the power of the Dragon so properly as that Rome fought against Christ and his Gospel and People by the power of the Dragon And this was the very end why the Dragon gave him his Seat and Power And that City hath done that work for her Lord and Master the Dragon as faithfully zealously constantly as the Dragon himself could have done For indeed the spirit of the Dragon hath all along acted her and been in her The first cast of her office for her Master and which shews what she would do all along for him was that she murthered Christ himself the Lord of life I said before that it is not said of the Monarchies before that the Dragon gave his power and his seat and great authority to them nor indeed could it so properly be said of them as of Rome For the Dragon had something for Rome to do which they did not could not viz. to murther the Saviour of the World the Lord of Glory In Rev. XI 8. where mention is made of the witnesses Prophesying and being martyred it is said Their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified When you hear of the City where our Lord was crucified you will think of Jerusalem but when you hear of the great City this Apostle teaches us to look at Rome And who can but observe that which our Saviour himself saith concerning himself Luke XVIII 32 33. The Son of man shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated and spitted on And they shall scourge him and put him to death Who was it that so spitefully entreated and put to death the Son of God The Gentiles And who those Gentiles The Evangelists tells you who Pilate the Roman Governor and the Roman Souldiers and that by the Authority and Tyranny of Rome and in the cause of Rome that would have no King but Cesar. There were two Nations that had a hand in the conspiracy of Christs murther the Jew and the Roman and whether of them deeper in the murther The Evangelists tell and the Jews themselves tell that the Roman must do it or it could not be done Joh. XVIII 31. Pilate said unto them Take ye him and judge him according to your Law the Jews therefore said unto him It is not lawful for us to put any man to death Therefore thou must do it or it will not be done And he did it And now as Hannibals father brought him to an Altar and engaged him in an oath to be an enemy to Rome so let me bring your thoughts to Christs cross and engage your hearts in such another enmity Christian it was Rome that murthered thy Saviour and need I to say any more As oft as you read repeat the History of our Saviours bitter passion remember Rome for it was Rome that caused him so to suffer and Pontius Pilate brought him to it by the Authority of Rome And the very frame of the Article in the Creed Suffered under Pontius Pilate hints you to observe and remember such a thing For if it had meant to intimate Christs sufferings only it had been enough to have said He suffered without saying any more but when he saith He suffered under Pontius Pilate it calls you to think of that Power and Tyranny by which he suffered viz. the Power and Tyranny of Rome which Pontius Pilate the Roman Governor acted and exercised And here let us argue with a Romanist according to the cue of his own Logick He saith Peter was at Rome c. Ergo. We argue likewise Pilate was at Jerusalem c. Ergo. Here was a sad beginning and that which speaks plainly why it was that the Devil made Rome his Deputy and invested it in his Seat and Power viz. that it might murther his great enemy the Lord Christ. And this was but too plain a prognostick what it would do to the members of Christ in succeeding generations which how it did there are so many thousand stories written in blood that I need not to mention them I might begin with the Ten Persecutions raised by the Heathen Emperors against the Professors of Christ and his Gospel wherein so many thousand poor Christians were destroyed with the most exquisite torments that could be invented and whereby that City and Empire shewed how zealously it wrought for its Master and would not spare the dry tree when it had cut down the green would not spare Christ in his members who had so little spared him himself in his own person But a Papist will say True indeed Heathen Rome was even as you say but Papal Rome is of another kind of temper It is the Church of Christ the Mother Church the chief of Churches It was Babylon and Sodom and Egypt in the Heathen Emperors time and the seat of the Devil but under the Popes it is Jerusalem Sion and the City of God I should ask him that pleads thus one question and ere ever I should turn Romanist I I. would be resolved of but I doubt the infallible chair it self is not able to resolve it and that is this Whence it is that since the Jew that had a hand in murthering Christ hath laid under a curse ever since and hath been utterly cast off of God for it and is like to be to the end how comes it to pass that the Roman that had a hand as deep in that horrid act if not deeper should be so blessed as to be the only people and
the most power of godliness There is a form and a power of godliness and as much difference between them as between a picture taken to the Life and the live person of whom the picture is taken A form of godliness is like an apparition of a dead person that carries the resemblance of him when he was alive but it is but an empty airy Phantasm an apparition no substance but the power of godliness is that that is substantial and hath life in it a living Religion a fruitful Religion a Religion with power as it is 2 Tim. I. 7. God hath given us not the Spirit of fear but of power I cannot but observe that in 1 Tim. IV. 8. the distinction betwixt bodily exercise and godliness Bodily exercise profiteth little but godliness is profitable to all things By bodily exercise he means strictness or austerity used upon the body upon a Religious account much fasting watching lying hard faring hard and even severity upon a mans self The Papists will tell you brave stories of such persons and brag of the stupendious austerity of their Saints Hermits Anchorits Cloisterers how hard they faired how they watched how hard they lay what cold what heat they endured whereas when all is done all that may prove a clean distinct thing from godliness and may prove but little profitable I might speak at large what godliness is as distinct from this what the power of godliness is as distinct from the form and wherein true Religiousness shews forth the power of godliness but I will give you only the Apostles brief description of all Jam. I. 27. Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and the Widdows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the World True Religion is that that brings forth the fruits of charity and purity The power of godliness is that that appears in charity and purity to visit the Fatherless and Widdows and to keep unspotted from the World Need I much discourse to shew what a sad cheat Satan puts on them that he deceives to be enemies to the power of godliness If time would permit I might reckon by particulars First Is it not a base cheat of Satan to make men his drudges and deputies to vent his spleen In the Fable the Fox uses the Cats foot to take the apple out of the fire Satan puts such mens fingers into the fire to serve his own turn Sometimes wicked men are instruments in the hand of God to punish the wicked and God when he hath done with the rod throws it into the fire but to be an instrument in the hand of the Devil to persecute godly men is a dreadful cheat of the Devil to bring men to it and if that rod scape fire you might say There is no God Secondly T is a base cheat to bring men to account it godliness to hate godliness to do God service by doing him disservice to cheat men even out of their wits to think it Religion to hate persecute and destroy those that will not be as irreligious ceremonial profane and evil as themselves An old trick that began in Cain 1 Joh. III. 12. and hath been in fashion too much in all time Thirdly To deceive men that profess the Gospel to persecute the Gospel is to cheat men to the very height of iniquity Some think this carries a great smatch of the sin against the Holy Ghost Certainly it will be hard for you to name a greater impiety Error in Religion is sad and lamentable corruption in manners is sinful and deplorable but to persecute and hate the power of godliness breaths the very breath and lungs of the Devil A SERMON PREACHED AT ELY Novemb. V. MDCLXXII 2 PET II. 15. Who have forsaken the right way and are gone astray following the way of Balaam the son of Bozor who loved the wages of unrighteousness THE last days of Jerusalem are charactered in Scripture in one regard the best of times in another the worst The best in regard of the dealing of God the worst in regard of the dealing of men For I. As to the dealing of God In the last days of that City for so is that expression to be understood most commonly when we meet with mention of the last days God sent his Son Heb. I. 2. In the last days of that City God poured down his Spirit Act. II. 17. In the last days of that City was the mountain of the Lords house exalted above the mountains and many Nations flowed unto it Es. II. 2. And in a word in the last days of that City were accomplished all the great things that God promised concerning Christ the coming of the Gospel and calling of the Gentiles The happiest times that ever came in regard of Gods actings II. But in regard of the actings of men the most unhappy and wretched For in those last days were perillous times 2 Tim. III. 1. In those last times there were those that departed from the faith 1 Tim. IV. 1. In those last times were Mockers 2 Pet. III. 2. And in a word in those last times were many Antichrists 1 John II. 18. By which saith the Apostle we know that they are the last times And hence the generation of those times are pictur'd so black and ugly all along the New Testament An evil and adulterous generation Mat. XII 39. An untoward generation Act. II. 40. A generation of vipers Mat. XXIII 33. And in a word a generation that no man can speak out their wickedness for so the Prophet means Esay LIII 8. Who shall declare his generation Meaning the wickedness of the generation wherein Christ lived The men the Apostle speaks of in the words of the Text are the worst of that generation as that generation was the worst of all before it That the very dregs of time and these the very dregs of those dregs In so much that if you would give forth a lot to find out the wickedest generation of men and the wickedest men of the generation that had been from the beginning of the world till those times that generation and those men would be taken How these men are pictured at large in their proper ugly colours and complection in those places in the Epistles to Timothy in the Epistle of Jude and this Chapter all along you may read at leisure What their Character is in the words that are before us gives a fair conjecture what they are in their full description and the words speak them bad and bad again though they say no more of them They have forsaken the right way and are gone astray c. They are gone out of the right way and have betaken them to the wrong and have chosen even the worst of wrong ways the way of Balaam Of him and of his actings you have the story in Numb XX and forwards and the Apostle gives a very fair Epitome of it here in a very few
You have mention of her armies Dan. IX ult but with this brand upon them that they are called The abominable army that maketh desolate there styled by their Vulgar Latine as in Matth. XXIV the abomination of desolation But thirdly That which tops up all is that she is called Babylon in this Book of the Revelations and described there as she is For that by Babylon is meant Rome the Romanists themselves will readily grant you if you will grant them the distinction of Rome Pagan and Christian Imperial and Pontifical And the last verse of Chap. XVII puts the matter out of all doubt where it says that the Woman the scarlet Whore which thou sawest is the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth Upon which every one that is acquainted with the Rome-history must needs conclude that no City can there be understood like the City Rome Now it is a very improper inquest to look for the new Jerusalem in a place that must perish for ever to look for the holy City among the abominable armies and to look for Sion the City of God in Babylon that Mother of Harlots and abominations of the Earth Secondly Whereas old Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation incurred so great a curse and guilt for the murther of the Lord of life as we all know it did it requireth very cogent arguments to prove that Rome that had a hand as deep in that murther should obtain so great a blessing and happiness on the contrary as to be the only Church in the World and the Mother of all Churches There is no Christian but knoweth how deep a hand Jerusalem had in that horrid fact and he knoweth but little that knoweth not that Pontius Pilate was Deputy for Rome there and how deeply also he was ingaged in it as her Deputy And so much be spoken concerning the very Place and how unlikely it is to find the new Jerusalem there How improper it is to imagine that that should be the City of God of which God himself in his Word speaks not one good Word but evil to imagine that he should choose that of all Cities for his dearest spouse that of all Cities had the deepest hand in the murther of his dear Son II. Concerning their Church and Religion If these men that pretend to lead men to the new Jerusalem and lead them to Rome would but speak out and plain and tell them that they will lead them to the old Jerusalem and so lead them to Rome they speak something likely For what is the Church and Religion of Rome but in a manner that of old Jerusalem translated out of Judaick into Roman and transplanted out of Palestina into Italy And there is hardly an easier or a clearer way to discover that she is not the new Jerusalem then by comparing her with the old as God doth most clearly discover the Jerusalem then being Ezek. XXIII by comparing her with Samaria and Sodom divers hours would scarce serve to observe the parallel in all particulars and punctually to compare the Transcript with the Original I shall only and briefly hint two things to you to that purpose And First Let me begin with that distinction that the Jews have in their writings once and again of the Mosaick Law and the Judaick Law or the Law of Moses and the Law of the Jews And they will tell you such and such things are transgressions of the Mosaick Law and such and such are transgressions of the Judaick Law And as they themselves do make the distinction so they themselves did cause the distinction What they mean by the Mosaick Law we all understand and by their Judaick Law they mean their Traditional Law which they call the Law unwritten While they kept to the Law of Moses for a rule of faith and life as they did under the first Temple they did well in point of Doctrine and no heresie and heterodoxy tainted them but when they received and drank in Traditions as they did under the second Temple they drank in their own bane and poison There is in Scripture frequent mention of the last days and the last times by which is meant most commonly the last days of old Jerusalem and of the Jewish oeconomy when they were now drawing toward their dissolution But from what date or time to begin her last days may be some question If you date them from the time she first received and entertained her traditions you do but fit the calculation to the nature of the thing calculated For then did she fall into the consumption and disease that brought her to her grave then did she catch that infection and plague that never left her but grew upon her till it made her breath her last in a fatal end Traditions spoiled her Religion and brought her to worship God in vain teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men Matth. XV. 9. Traditions spoiled her manners and trained her up in a vain conversation received by tradition from the Fathers 1 Pet. I. 18. In a word Traditions as they made the Law so they made the Gospel of no effect and the doctrine of Christ the death of Christ the belief in Christ to be but needless business and things to no purpose Nay Traditions leavened them to hate the Gospel to murther Christ and to persecute his Disciples For by the principles of their Traditions they could do no less than all these Now surely Jerusalem that is above is above this infection and the new holy City certainly brought no such infection from Heaven nor was tainted with this contagion which was the death of the old as a Priest in Israel could hardly be infected with Leprosie But you may see the tokens upon the Church of Rome very thick traditions upon traditions some of so like stamp to those of old Jerusalem that you can hardly know them asunder but all of the like effect and consequence that they make the Gospel of none effect as those did the Law and causing men to worship God in vain while they are taught for Doctrines the commandments of men How great a part of their Religion is nothing else but the commandments of men and other Traditions and how great a part of their Church is built upon nothing else The very chief corner stone in all their fabrick is of no better substance and solidity viz. that S. Peter was Bishop there and there was martyred when the Scripture and reason gives a far fairer probability that he was Apostle to the circumcision in Babylonia and there ended his days Secondly You would hardly think that there was a worse brood in the old Jerusalem than those that we have spoken of the men so infected with the Plague and with a Frenzy with it of traditions And yet I can name you a worse and that was those that had forsaken their Judaism and entertained and embraced the Gospel but at last apostatized from it and revolted to their old
Judaism again to their old Mosaick rites which sometime had been right but now antiquated and to their traditional principles which had never been right but now least of all to have been embraced and to a deadly hatred and persecution of the Gospel that they once professed How the Apostles speak of and against this Apostasie in their Epistles I need not tell you he that runs may read it But he that stands still and reads presely will find that they find The Antichrist that then was in that Apostasie I say the Antichrist that then was For the Scripture gives a hint of a twofold Antichrist one in the Epistles and the other in this Book of the Revelation one that was in those times and the other that was to be afterwards one among the Jews that had embraced the Gospel and the other among the Gentiles which should embrace it And if you will let the unbelieving Jew to be one part of the Antichrist that then was the Apostatized Jew was much more Many Antichrists in those times as this our Apostle tells us 1 Joh. II. 18. but those were they especially of whom he speaks immediately after They went out from us but they were not of us And the like character do these Apostates carry in other places in the Epistles in terms equivalent Now therefore the nearest way to discover the Antichrist that was to be in after times among the Gentiles is by observing his likeness and similitude to the former viz. in apostatizing from the pure and sincere profession of the Gospel to Judaism or to Mosaick manner of worship and Judaick principles and Religion Which how the Church of Rome hath done it would require a long time to compare in all particulars but it will require a far longer time for her to clear her self from that just accusation How near doth she come to Judaism in the doctrine of Justification how near in the doctrine of opus operatum How near in the doctrine of expiation by bare Confession How near in the doctrine of the value of Traditions And one for all how near in turning all Religion into Ceremony Their present year of Jubilee is it not Mosaick And were you there at it and saw the manner of their devotions their formal Services and Ceremonious Worship would you not think you were in the old Jerusalem among the Scribes and Pharisees rather than in the the new where the true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth So that when we departed from the Church of Rome we did but the same thing that the Apostles Disciples and other holy converts of the Jewish Nation did they forsook Judaism to embrace the purity of the Gospel And so did we And in the way that they call Heresie we worship God If I have trespassed too much upon your patience by so prolix a discourse upon so unpleasing a subject I must crave your pardon We enquiring after the new Jerusalem where we might find it come to the place where your ways parted and one went right and the other wrong The wrong way is the broader pleasanter and more trodden and not a few that stand in it and cry This is the right way and no other It is good to give warning it is needful to take warning that we be not misled that the men and the way do not deceive us And having thus far observed where the new Jerusalem is not to be found let us now look where it is And first we must not expect to find it in any one particular place as you might have done the old Jerusalem but it is dispersed here and there abroad in the World It is the Catholick Church as we are taught in our Creed and it is not in one only but in this and that and the other Nation When the new Jerusalem is to be measured in Zach. II. an Angel bids O run after yonder young man that is to measure it and tell him that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a City without walls for the multitude of men and cattel that shall be therein It is a City unlimited and therefore not to be bounded within this or that compass We may use this Paradox of it That it is a fluid and yet a fixed body nay fixed because fluid that is it is moving sometime into one place sometime into another and therefore it shall never fade or perish The Jews accused S. Stephen of Heresie and blasphemy because he said that the Church and Religion should not alway be pinned to that City and Temple but taken away In his answer he sheweth that the Church and Religion is a Pilgrim one while in one place another while in another in Mesopotamia in Charran in Canaan in Egypt And our own observation may tell us that when it failed in Egypt and Israel followed the Idols and manners of that Land as Ezek. XX. that then God found himself a Church in the family of Job and his three friends The saying of our Saviour may suffice for this The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a people that shall bring forth the fruits of it And this is that that makes it fixed or never failing because when it decayeth in one place it groweth in another And that promise of our Saviour will ever maintain it in life and being Upon this rock will I build my Church of the Gospel and the gates of Hell shall never prevail against it as they have done against the Church of the Jews In Matth. XXIV when Christ foretels of the desolation of that City Church and Nation that their Sun and Moon and Stars Religion and Church and State should be darkned and fall and come to nothing and they should then see the Son of man whom they would never own coming in a thick cloud and storm of vengeance against them it might be questioned where then will God have a Church when that is gone He gives an answer That the Son of man should send his Angels or Ministers with the sound of a trumpet the trumpet of the Gospel and gather him a Church from all the corners under Heaven To which may not improperly be applied that Heb. XII 22. Ye are come to an innumerable company of Angels God will never want his Church but if it be not in one place it will be in another Secondly There is an invisible Church as well as a visible Pauls Jerusalem which is above and out of sight as well as Ezekiels Jerusalem pitched here below There is commonly some invisible Church within the visible as Ezekiels wheel within a wheel But there is sometimes an invisible Church where there is none visible as those seven thousand men in the days of Elias when he could not discern one The Apostle speaking of the new Jerusalem that we are speaking of in that place of the Epistle to the Hebrews before alledged among other things saith Ye are not come to the Mount that might
children to him and observe that Solomon went after Milcom or Molec and built high places to Molec and how little short that does come of Jephtha's sacrificing his daughter And yet I doubt not of Solomons salvation for I doubt not of his repentance Secondly That it was now too common in Israel to worship Molec Now observe Judg. X. 6. The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served Baaliâ— and Ashtoreth and the gods of Syria Zidon Moab the children of Ammon and the Philistins and forsook the Lord and served him not An evil case were the people in when they were generally so idolatrous and so variously idolatrous Now among others observe that they served the God of the Ammonites which was Molec So that it was no strange thing with them to offer such barbarous and bloody sacrifices as their own children That you may guess that the corruption of the times might suggest to Jephtha the fancy of offering some such sacrifice of Man or Woman to God the rather since Thirdly That he was now going to fight against the children of Ammon who offered their children to their God Molec And it seems he thought he should speed better against Ammon who offered their children to Molec if he vowed and offered such another sacrifice to God We observed before that nothing could come out of the doors of his house to meet him that could be fit to be sacrificed by any warrant or allowance of God not his dog nor his servant and therefore that his words cannot but be conjunctive Whatsoever meets me shall be the Lords and I will offer it up And that the strictness of his Vow as he conceived it did put him on to the strictness of his performance It had been the part of the Priest and of the great Councel of the Kingdom to have prevented such a fact as this The Priests lips they should have preserved knowledge they should have taught him better and the great Councel that should have preserved righteousness and good order should have taken care against such an action But the Nation it seems was so overgrown with ignorance and idolatry and particularly with the serving of the Idol Molec that such a thing as this proved no regret at all to them The poor girle his daughter begged two months respit that she might go upon the Mountains and bewail her Virginity She might have hoped that in all that time some rescue might have come to her either the Counsel of the Priests or the authority of the State interposing with her Father But all was so out of tune and overgrown with Idolatry as may be seen in that Text I cited before Chap. X. that Jephtha that was too much led away with the evil example of the times is not at all restrained but rather encouraged by the negligence of those that should have directed and ordered better And to one that doth more narrowly search into the Bible I may recommend this observation to his examination That in the time of the Judges the High Priesthood was lost out of the line of the sons of Eleazar into the line of the sons of Ithamar from one family of Aarons to another And whether it might not be because the then High Priest did not better demean himself about this very matter let him seriously consider I am unwilling to charge Jephtha too heavily nor lay such a fact to his charge but I have given you the opinion of the greatest men of note that have written laying it to his charge and I have given you some reasons that might induce and move them to it But I dare say none of them that have so held but they thought that he had repentance proportionable to this miscarriage And so no doubt had Gedeon in setting up his Ephod in his City which caused all Israel to go awhoring after it And so repented Solomon after his building of Altars to Molec and so did Manasseh after his offering of his sons to Molec And such repentance of Jephtha I doubt not but the Aposte had an eye to when he reckons him among the faithful and those that died in the Faith I shall fix only upon one Observation which fairly offers it self unto us take we the story one way or other that he sacrificed his Daughter or only devoted her to perpetual Virginity viz. What care prudence and piety men had need to use about making of Vows Do you not think that Jephtha would have born witness to this when he found himself caught in the trap of his Vow and his daughter fallen into it which he little meant Could he not wish he had had more care in the making of his Vow when the keeping of it must prove so bitter Did not rashness go before his care when he vowed and considered not what might be the issue Did not his eagerness go before his prudence when he vowed some body but he knew not whom And did not his zeal go before his piety when he vows but violence to some or other on whomsoever it lights viz. either to sacrifice them or otherwise to devote them though against their will When he rends his garment upon his daughters meeting him and cries out that she was one that troubled him it might have been answered him as Elias did Ahab No I am not he that troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house No Jephtha it is not thy daughter that troubles thee but it is thy Vow that troubles thee that was made with no more consideration If more care prudence and piety had been there thy present grief and perplexity had not been here I name these three most deservedly and upon very good reason For as a Vow is a bond or cord whereby a man binds himself so these are as a threefold cord twisted to make up such a bond These are so essential to the constitution of a right and lawful Vow that let any of them be absent there will be a sad maim there Let Care be absent the Vow will be rash let Prudence be absent it will be impertinent and let Piety be absent it will be wicked and ungodly A Vow is a bond that binds the Soul and so the Scripture calls it Numb XXX 3. If a woman shall Vow a Vow to bind her Soul with a bond And a man had need to be prudent and careful how he binds his Soul It is a tender piece take heed the bond sit right lest it gall and fret it Take heed the bond be not such as to bind hand and foot and to cast into utter darkness What else think you was those forty mens Vow that bound themselves by an oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul Had not these men fettered their own Souls for utter darkness by the bond of their Vow Now because we have before us a remarkable case of a Vow let us a little consider of that subject and what
Pag. 366 Abila Lysaniae so called because it had been a City in the Tetrarchy of Lysanias was in Câ—lo-Syria and had Longit. 68. 40. Lat. 33. 40. according to Ptolomy v. II. p. 367 Abilene was a Province in Syria and so called from the City of Abila This word soundeth so near to the word Havilab Gen. 10. 7. that it may well be supposed to have descended from it and the name of the place from that son of Chush that with his Brethren plant â— in Arabia or thereabout v. I. p. 452 453 Abel-bethmaachah a Town in the Upper Galilee not far from Dan or Caesarea v. I. p. 623. v. II. p. 367 Abel-meholah in Manasseh on this side Jordan 1 King 4. 12. ten miles from Bethshan where dwelt Elisha the Prophet Hieron v. II. p. 367 Abel-shittim where the Israelites pitch'd their Tents immediately before and not as is in the English after they pass'd the River Jordan This place Josephus calls Abila and saith is in Peraea threescore Furlongs or seven Miles and half from Jordan and say the Jews from Beth-Jeshimoth twelve Miles v. II. p. 46 367. Acharabon a Rock in the Upper Galilee Josephus v. II. p. 57 Achor Valley so called from Achan who is also called Achar 1 Chron. 27. because he troubled Israel Josh. 7. The Maps of Canaan do most of them lay this Valley and Sichem at a great distance but if it be observed it s not improbable that the Valley runs betwixt Gerizim and Ebal Josephus speaks of the Great Valley of Samaria Vol. I. Pag. 596 Achzib vid. Chezib Acrabatena Acrabatta A Mountainous Region North of Samaria and say the Jews a days journy from Jerusalem v. II. p. 16 50 52 320. Adam a City in Peraea over against Jericho a little removed from Jordan was the Center where the Waters of Jordan parted and the Station of the Ark Psal. 88. 60. It was twelve Miles say the Jews from Zaretan vid. Zaretan v. I. p. 40. v. II. p. 82. Adiabene the same with Habor 2 Kings 17. 6. say the Talmudists a Country of noted fame in Assyria and so called from the River Adiab v. II. p. 800 801 Adida There were several places of that name as Adida in the Valley Adida in the Mountain under which lay the Plains of Judea Adida in Galilee before the Great Plain perhaps the same with Adida in Sephel Adida not far from Jordan as we have it in Josephus v. II. p. 326 327 Ador. A City of Idumea Joseph v. II. p. 4. Adullam Cave whither David betook himself when he escaped from Gath and where he composed the 142 Psalm it was in the Tribe of Judah Hieron v. II. p. 57 Aenon Vide Enon Ai Hai In the Tribe of Benjamin on the East of Bethel Gen. 12. 8. Josh. 8 9 c. and not far from Bethaven v. II. p. 20 Aiath within the jurisdiction of Juda and in the Tribe Benjamin lying betwixt Samaria and Jerusalem Isa. 10. v. I. p. 104 Aila Elath in the utmost Borders of Palestine joyned to the South Desert and the Red Sea whence Men Sail out of Egypt into India and thence into Egypt where was the Roman Legion called Decima saith St. Hieron and was under the disposition of the Duke of Palestine saith the Notitia but it should rather seem that it was Elath in the South of Juda the other being far distant where there was a Duke of Arabia in which Elath at the Red Sea was as well as of Palestine v. II p. 320 Alexandria or Amon-Min-Na a City in Egypt at the Canobick Mouth of the River Nilus where was in after-ages a vast number of the Jews where they had many Synagogues with a Cathedral in which were seventy Stalls as they report and afterward a Temple built by Onias It s probable that Joseph and Mary came hither with our Saviour v. I. p. 205. v. II. p. 111 681 Alsadamus A Hill under which lived the Trachonite-Arabians Joseph v. II. p. 364 Amalek near the Wilderness of Zin 'twixt Edom and Egypt v. I. p. 27 63. Amanah Vid. Hor and Kirmion Ammaus Vid. Chamath Ammon A Country East of Jordan the chief City of which was Rabbah v. I. p. 62 63. Amorites Mountain Deut. 1. 19 20. took its beginning from Kadesh-Barnea the Southern Border of the Land of Israel and ran forward into Judea beyond Hebron the name only changed into The Hill-Country of Judea So much mistaken are Adricomius and others that bring it almost from the Red Sea v. II. p. 11 12 Ampeloessa A City near to Libanus and a Decapolitan Plin. v. I. p. 314 Anthedon A Town betwixt Rhinocorura and Gaza Plin. v. II. p. 10 Anti-Libanus Vid. Libanus Antioch There are two Cities of that name the one in Pisidia a Province of the Lesser Asia otherwise called Caesarea the other in Syria once the Head of the Syro-Graecian Empire afterward the Seat of the Roman Governor There the Disciples of Christ were first call'd Christians Of old it was called Hamath but afterward Antioch from Antiochus as bloody a Persecutor of the Church and Truth as ever Israel had Vol. I. Pag. 286. v. II. p. 688 Antipatris Act. 23. 31. is called by some Capharsalama by Josephus Capharzaba but when rebuilt by Herod was named Antipatris in memory of his Father Antipater It was situated in the best Plain of his Kingdom rich in Springs and Woods and was from Joppa 150 Furlongs that is eighteen miles in the way from Jerusasalem to the West part of Galilee and far from the place that is usually assigned to it in the Maps which is in the middle of Samaria The Jews oppose Antipatris and Gebath that is East and West as the Sacred Writings do Dan and Beersheba North and South Ptolomy makes it to be Long. 66. 20. Lat. 32. 0. v. I. p. 55 56. v. II. p. 372 Apamia There were say the Jews two Apamia's one the Upper and another the Lower In one were Jews of pure Blood in the other not And between them was the space of 4000 Paces Apamia saith Pliny was in Coelo-Syria and had the River Marsyas running betwixt It was otherwise called Sepham and was the utmost Coast of the Land of Israel North and North-East v. II. p. 328 496 505 800 Apamia Sea Is said by the Jews to be one of the seven Seas that compass the Land of Israel and which the Talmudists say is the Sea of Chamats making Chamats and Apamia convertible but that is a mistake Vid. Chamats v. II. p. 5 63 328 Apheck There are three Cities of that name in Scripture one in the Tribe of Aser Josh. 19. 30. the other in Juda 1 Sam. 4. 1 c. the third in Syria 1 Kings 20. 30. the Wall of which last fell upon the Syrians and killed 27000. v. I. p. 83 Appii Forum A place in Italy about 50 miles from Rome and in the way thence to Rhegium v. I. p. 322 Ar A City in Moab situated upon the
v. II. p. 50 295 Telithon A City in Moab Josephus v. II. p. 316 Tetrarchy not a fourth part of a Kingdom for Syria had seventeen c. but rather a Principality that was in the fourth rank of Excellency in the Roman Empire as Emperors Proconsuls Kings Tetrarchs Vol. I. Pag. 452 Thebais in Egypt was famous for Myrobalanum Pliny v. II. p. 352 Thessalonica A City in Macâ—donia v. I. p. 295 Tiberias City in the Lower Galilee formerly called Rakkath Josh. 19. 35. but named Tiberias by Herod in honor of Tiberius The Ground of it was before a Burying-place but pleasant having the Lake of Genesareth as a Wall on one side and a little from Jordan being at the Efflux of that from the Lake and not in the middle of the Shore of the Lake as the Maps It grew to be the prime City of Galilee and indeed of all Israel having thirteen Synagogues and an Academy Here was collected the Talmud and here was the tenth and last Session of the Sanhedrim It was from Scythopolis fifteen miles from Hippo three from Gadara six from Zipporis eight or nine It was famous for its Medicinal Waters v. I. p. 368 369. v. II. p. 56 57 67 68 69 72 308 515 Tigris River where it riseth and runs slower was called Diglitus where swifter and lower Tygris v. II. p. 800 Timnath or Thamna one in Judea and another of Samson in Dan. There was also a third called Timnath-Serah Josh. 24. 30. in Mount Ephraim where Joshua was buried v. II. p. 373 Tiphsah not far from Tirzah where Menahem exercised great severity 2 Kings 15. 16. v. I. p. 99 Tirathala A Village near Gerizim where the Jews met an Impostor amongst the Samaritans Simon Magus as like as any that promised to shew them Holy Vessels which Moses with his own hand had hid in Gerizim v. I. p. 818 Tirzah 1 Kings 14. 17. perhaps the same with Shechem v. I. p. 78 Toshab A City from whence Elijah was called the Tishbite as say the Targums which is far fetched perhaps rather from Toshbi which denotes no other than a Converter to which Malach. 4. 5. seems to have alluded v. II. p. 382 383 Tres Tabernae Acts 28. 15. in Italy three and thirty miles from Rome and betwixt that and Appii Forum v. I. p. 3â—2 Trachonitis was a Province and Tetrarchy or rather part of a Tetrarchy in Syria anciently called Argob or Regab being North of Peraea and East of Batanea And was so called saith Tyrius from Dragons or secret lurking-places which were so called which this Country did abound in the Inhabitants living upon Robbery or it might be so called from Tracbones which saith Strabo were two Mountains beyond Damascus and might be so called from the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies weariness in regard of the difficulty of passing them v. I. p. 453. v. II. p. 81 316 361 364 366 Troas Acts 20. 6. in Lesser Asia and in the way from Ephesus to Macedonia v. I. p. 316. Troglodytes were a People that dwelt in Caverns and Holes and were both of the North of the Land of Israel and the South Pliny saith Troglodytis had excellent Myrobalanum v. II. p. 352 366 Tsok was the Rock from whence the Goat Azazel was cast it was near Beth-horon twelve miles from Jerusalem v. II. p. 50 Tyre There were divers Towns called by the name of Tsur or Tyre because built in a Rocky place As 1. The noble Mart of Phoenicia which had Bounds with old Tyre nineteen miles about and extended its Territories South as far as Ptolemais and gave name to the Tyro-Sidonia which reach'd as far as Caesarea-Philippi and Chabul 2. There was a Tyre which was between Arabia and Judaea beyond Jordan and Josephus joyns Tyrians with Gadarens c. 3. There was another in Chabul v. II. p. 10 58 59 312 322 369. V. VAlley of Salt near Edom Psal. 60. Tit. Vol. I. Pag. 63 Ur A City of the Chaldees Gen. 11. 28. v. I. p. 11. Usha or Osha A City over-against Sepharaam from which it was a double Sabbath-days journey Here the Sanhedrim sat v. I. p. 365 368. v. II. p. 76 Uz The Country of Job so called from Uz the Son of Nahor Gen. 22. 21. v. I. p. 23 Z. ZAbulon Tribe was North of Issachar It s Latitude was North and South and contained about â—ight miles It s length was East and West fromward the Sea of Genesareth not including it to Carmel and the Great Sea v. I. p. 21. v. II. p. 58 66 Zalmon Judg. 9. 48. A Mountain or some Tract in a Mountain near Sychem Vol. II. Pag. 310 Vid. Dalmanutha Zalmonah The Five and thirtieth Mansion of the Israelites in the Wilderness It signifies the place of the Image because of the Brazen Serpent It was called also Maaleh Acrabbim or the coming up of Scorpions Josh. 15. 3. v. I. p. 36 Zarah A City of Moab Josephus v. II. p. 316 Zared Valley or Brook between Jie-Abarim and Arnon v. I. p. 36 Zarephath Vid. Sarepta Zaretan or Zartanah in Manasseh in the Plain of Jordan not far from Bethshan and twelve miles from Adam betwixt which the Waters were divided Vol. II. Pag. 82 637 Zeboim One of the Cities destroyed with Sodom South of Lasha and North of Adma on the North Point of the Lake v. II. p. 296 There was a Mountain also of that name v. II. p. 51 226 Zedekiah's or Zodekath's Dens or Caves not a few miles in measure v. II. p. 88 294 366 Zemarites were Canaanites and by the Targums are called Chamatsi and they think them so called because they labored in Wooll v. II. p. 328 Zephath A Town in Upper Galilee Vol. II. Pag. 77 Zer neighbor to Ziddim Vid. Ziddim Zeriphin Gardens near Jerusalem v. II. p. 52. Zeugma The East-bound of Syria on Euphrates Vid. Syria Ziddim Josh. 19. 35. otherwise called Caphar-Chittaia a Fortified City not far from Tiberias or Magdala v. II. p. 71 Ziglag in the South of Judah 1 Sam. 30. 1. v. I. p. 59 Zin Wilderness Num. 34. 4. so called from the Mountain Zin or Mountainous Tract as that was called from the Groves of Palms It was part of the Wilderness of Paran and the South bound of the Land It had in it Metallick Mines v. I. p. 27. v. II. p. 8 88 325 Ziph Desert in Judah v. I. p. 57. v. II. p. 295 Zipporis so called because situated on an Hill or Kitron Judg. 1. 29. the biggest City in Galilee and for sixteen miles round pleasantly situated It was from Tiberias twenty miles from Chippar twelve and in the middle between Caphar-Uthni and Caphar-Hananiah which were thirty miles asunder It was the ninth place where the Sanhedrim sat v. I. p. 368. v. II. p. 58 74 249 515 Zoan Numb 13. 22. the best Country of Egypt v. II. p. 46 Zoar Gen. 19. 20. in Moab Long. 67. 20. Lat. 30. 30. Four miles from Sodom on the South end of
to fiction and fabulous stories p. 1142. Four causes from whence these fictions proceed p. 1142 1143. Pious fraud is one cause of the falsities of this sort of History 1143 Holiness of a place computed to the foundation when the superstructure was gone 540 Holy Ghost how he went away from the Jews and when he returned p. 561. The Holy Ghost in his extraordinary Gifts and Tongues could only be communicated by the Apostles 680 Honey Wild Honey God gave the people of Israel a Land flowing with Milk and Honey Honey not from Bees but from Palm and Figtrees vast quantities p. 297 298. Honey from Figs fallen on the ground so thick as to be up to the ankles 297 325 Hosannah what p. 223 224. It was sung by the Children in the Temple 225 Houses among the Jews the lower Rooms entred by the Door the upper Rooms on the outside 334 Humane Inventions less dangerous to be brought into Divine Worship under the Jewish Law than under the Gospel and why 1038 Humane Learning is exceeding useful nay exceeding needful to the expounding of Scripture p. 1033. Two objections of those that deny this proposition answered 1034 Hyperbolus used for a litigious Fellow 459 Hypocrisie is hiding iniquity with its punishment 236 Hyssop several sorts of it and one with stalks like Canes or Reeds 617 I. JABNEH and Jamnia the same famous for an University and the Sanhedrim sitting there Page 15 16 Jacob why God wrestled with him and sought to kill him 1066 Jambres and Jannes who and whence the Names 1185 1186 Idolatry set up by the Jews only before their Captivity into Babilon p. 1113. It is an abominable and senseless wickedness p. 1312 1313. How God is jealous against Idolatry p. 1314 1315. Baal changed in the Names of Men into Bosheth which signifies shame in detestation of Idolatry Page 1315 Idols among the Jews it was held Religion to reproach Idols p. 188. The most ignominious Name given Idols was Zebul i. e. Dung or Dung-hill p. 188 189. The worst Idol or Devil was the Prime p. 189. Idols how rendred by the Lexicographers They are figments of humane mistake p. 763. Some Jews held that Idols might be bowed unto or worshiped 763 Idumea Jewish Idumea what 4 Idumea or the Land of Edom is not the same in the New Testament with that in the Old being swallowed up under the Name of Arabia but under the New Testament it was got into Judea 290 292 to 297 Jealous God what it signifies and why God is so called 1313 1314 Jealous Jealousie Zeal and Zealous are comprehended under the same word in the Hebrew what they are 1314 Jechonias who and what is said concerning him 98 99 Jeptha Gedeon and Sampson their failings p. 1215. Jephtha's vow how to be understood whether he did or did not sacrifice his Daughter 1215 to 1218 Jeremy put for Zachary in the Gospel is no fault but a thing known and received by the Jews 265 Jericho the Country of it and the situation of the City with its distance from Jerusalem p. 43 44. It was after rebuilt the next City to Jerusalem for grandure rare Schools and a Royal Palace The Men of Jericho famed for six things p. 44 45. Some Miscellanious matters belonging to the Country about Jericho 46 Jerusalem once called Salem being compounded of Jireh and Salem and why Under what Latitude It was holy above other Cities there were no Gardens in it c. p. 20 to 22. The parts of Jerusalem p. 22 to 24. It had in it Acra Bezetha and Millo p. 24. It had many Hills in it p. 22. Memorable places in it were the several Streets the ascent to the Temple some Courts Pools Stones c. p. 34 35. The Streets of Jerusalem were swept every day and Money found there in the time of Feasts were called Tenths or Tithes so also what was found at any time p. 303. The reason of the destruction of Jerusalem gathered out of the Jewish Writers and out of the Scriptures p. 468 c. The destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State is described as if the whole frame of the World was to be dissolved p. 626 1073 1074 c. The destruction and conflagration of Jerusalem was an assurance of the judgment to come p. 1104 1119. It was set forth in Scripture in terms seeming to mean the last Judgment p. 1104. The last days of Jerusalem are characterized in one regard for the best in another for the worst of times p. 1179. New Jerusalem what it is not and what it is and where to be found 1197 1198 Jeshana a City just by Zippor 75 Jesus Christ Christ is added to Jesus in numberless places of the New Testament to shew that Christ was the true Saviour and that Jesus was the true Messias p. 96. Jesus Christ is called the Son of David a common term in the New Testament and Talmudick Writings for the true Messias p. 96 97. Jesus of Nazareth mentioned in the Talmud p. 476. Why Jesus was more opposed than John the Baptist with the reason of it p. 653. The Testimony concerning Jesus found in Josephus not proved to be the writing of Josephus yet proved from Scripture to be true concerning Jesus p. 653 654. Jesus the true Messias some testimonies of his being so p. 740. The false Logick of those who are for no Rulers or Magistrates over them but King Jesus refuted 1060 Jew a Jew was not to have an inward Conversation or Friendship with a Gentile Page 751 Jewish Nation whether as to the more general part of it it was not rejected and blinded before Christ came into the World p. 709. The Jewish State the destruction of it is described as if the whole frame of the World was to be dissolved 626 Jews how far lawful or unlawful for them to eat of the victuals of the Samaritans p. 538. Their Mother Tongue was the Chaldee Language from their return out of Babilon p. 545. Their cruelty p. 663. It was very great destroying two hundred and twenty thousand Greeks and Romans at one time feeding on their flesh eating their bowels besmearing themselves with their blood and covering themselves with their skins c. p. 686 c. They also in Egypt and Cyprus destroyed two hundred and forty thousand Men in a most Barbarous manner p. 686 687. The Jews fasted on the second and fifth days in the week whether imitated by Christians p. 685. They were not to be beholden to the Heathen p. 764. Jews and Hellenists distinguished with the reason of the distinction p. 798. The Jews themselves expected that the Messias should raign amongst them a thousand years p. 1057. They thought the Law was to restrain and bind the outward Action only not regarding the inward thought p. 1097. Jews and Romanists how they may be said to be yoak-fellows p. 1110. They were permitted by the Romans their Governors to live by their own Laws and Religion p. 752 1111. How they
year at which he was born as we have done into the year it self or the time of the world heretofore The year of the world as we observed then was 3928. The year of Augustus is neither so necessary to seek nor so easie to find partly because there is some difference among Historians about the number of the years of his Reign and partly because there may be some about the year of Tiberius in which Christ was Baptized from which we should count backward For though it be said that John came Baptizing in his fifteenth year Luk. 3. 1. yet may it be questionable whether he Baptized Christ in that year or no But not to swarve from the most common consent of Roman Historians that say that Augustus Reigned six and fifty years and of Christians that hold that Christ was baptized in the fifteenth of Tiberius then may it be readily concluded that he was born in the forty second of Augustus The time of the year at which he was born hath been much mistaken being concluded upon at the latter end of December This mistake did first arise by another for it being misunderstood that Zacharias was the High Priest and that he was in Sancto Sanctorum on the expiation day when the Angel Gabriel appeared unto him they could do no less then conclude that John was born in the middle of Summer and Christ in the middle of Winter A time very unfit for people to travail to their several Cities to be taxed but far more unfit for Shepherds to lye abroad in the fields all night For finding out therefore the true and right time of his Nativity these things are to be taken into consideration First That the time that Christ lived here upon the earth was two and thirty years and a half exactly And so long did David reign in Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5. 4 5. This time was divided into two unequal parts twenty nine years compleat he spent as a private man before he was baptized for it is said he began to be thirty or was entring upon this thirtieth at his Baptism Luke 3. 23. And three years and an half from his Baptism to his death This sum was precisely told of by the Angel Gabriel Dan. 9. 27. In half that week shall he cause sacrifice and oblation to cease And is plainly parcelled out by Passovers and other circumstances of time Matth. 4. 2. Joh. 1. 29. 35. 44. 2. 1. 13. 5. 1. 6. 4. 13. 1. Secondly That the time of Christs death was at Easter or their Passover as is most plain by all the Evangelists Thirdly That he living just two and thirty years and a half and dying at Easter it must needs follow that he was born about the middle of the month Tisri which answereth to part of our September And it is not only probable but also necessary if he lived thirty two years and a half exactly that then as he died upon the fifteenth day of the month Abib or at the Passover so that he was born about the fifteenth day of Tisri at the Feast of Tabernacles a month and a Feast that had been exceedingly renowned in ancient times In this month the World had begun and sin had entred into it In this month were all the Fathers born before the Flood as the Jews aver and reason confirms it From this month began the circle of the year from the Creation to the redemption out of Egypt From this month began the typical year of Jubile in the ages after And in this month were the three famous Feasts of Trumpets of Expiation and of Tabernacles And like glorious things may be observed upon the Feast of Tabernacles it self At that very time did Israel fall upon the making of the Tabernacle in the wilderness Exod. 35. At this very time was the consecration of the Temple 1 King 1. 8 2. And at this very time was our Saviour born and began to carry the Tabernacle of his flesh and at this very time was he Baptized and began the Ministery of the Gospel So that here appeareth one addition more to the present misery and subjection of the Jews at the time of this tax that not only they must leave all their occasions to wait upon their own taxing and promote their own bondage but that they must neglect a main part of the service of God the Feast of Expiation and the Feast of Tabernacles as Zech. 14. 16 17. to attend the Conqueror and their own thraldom And now it being considered that John the Baptist was but half a year older then our Saviour it will be observable how the four points of the year as it may be so said were renowned with their conception and nativity John conceived at the Summer Solstice and our Saviour at the Winter John born at the vernal Equinox and our Saviour at the Autumnal §. And wrapped him in swadling cloaths This passage is one ground-work whereupon Expositors conclude that Christ was born without pain to his mother for that she performed the Midwives part her self and none to help her A second is this That he was born without his Mothers pain because he was conceived without her pleasure A third Argument may be fetched from the blessing of propagation given to our first Parents in the Garden And a fourth from the example of the delivery of the Hebrew women in Egypt For first When God gave this blessing to Adam and Eve in their innocency increase and multiply Gen. 1. 28. it inabled them to beget children agreeable to their own perfection that is holy righteous and without any symptoms or consequents of sin either in themselves or in the mothers But they never begat any child thus because of their sudden fall What did this first blessing then utterly fail and never take effect in its proper sense and full extent Could such emphatical words of God to man in innocency fall to the ground without performance No they took place in the second Adam who was born according to the full extent and intent of that blessing to our innocent parents in perfect holiness and righteousness and without pain to his mother Secondly If the Hebrew women in Egypt had so quick and easie a delivery as that they were not like to other women much more may we think the travail and delivery of the Virgin to have been quick lively miraculous and painless as Esa. 66. 7. Before her pain came she was delivered of a man child §. Because there was no room for them in the Inn. At the return out of Babylon the children of Bethlehem were a hundred twenty three persons Ezra 2. 21. Now that being four hundred and fifty years past and somewhat above to what a multitude might the stock or breed of that City be grown by this time of Christs birth This multitude pressing together to their own City according to the Emperors edict the weakest go to the walls and Joseph and Mary are excluded
out of the Inn and thus the free-woman and her Son are cast out of doors as the bond-woman and her Son had been Gen. 21. Vers. 8. And there were Shepherds c. The Patriarchs to whom Christ was more especially promised were of this vocation Gen. 47. 3. especially Abraham and David to whom the promise was more clearly made peculiarly David who was feeding Sheep near to Bethlehem when he was taken a Father and type of Christ 1 Sam. 16. 11 12. And it doth illustrate the exactness of the performance the more and doth Harmonize with the giving of it the better when to Shepherds it is first revealed as to Shepherds it was first promised Compare this with the Visions of Jacob and Moses with their flocks Gen. 31. 10. Exod. 3. 3. and of Sampsons mother in the field §. Keeping watch over the flock by night Greek Keeping the watches of the night For the night was divided by the Jews into four watches of three hours a piece The first or beginning of watches is mentioned Lam. 2. 19. The second and third Luke 12. 38. The fourth Matth. 14. 25. this was called also the morning watch Exod. 14. 24. Howbeit the Talmud from Judg. 7. 19. divideth it only into three Be it the one or the other these Shepherds it seemeth observed such an order as that they watched by course while others slept or not to take it so very strictly they lay now in the fields and watched their flocks all night which had been in a manner impossible to have done in the deep of winter at which time our Kalendar hath placed Christs Nativity Vers. 9. The glory of the Lord shone c. That is an exceeding great glory for so do the Hebrews heighten their expressions as Cedars of the Lord that is goodly Cedars Such an exceeding great glory shone about Paul Act. 26. 13. That at noon day this in the dead of the night Vers. 13. A multitude of the Heavenly host c. It might not unproperly be rendred The multitude as importing that all the Quire of Angels or the whole multitude of that Celestial Militia was now knit together in a consort for the praises and acknowledgment of Christ according to that of the Apostle Heb. 1. 6. When he bringeth in the first-begotten into the world he saith And let all the Angels of God worship him And thus as all the Angels sang at the beginning of the old World or at the Creation Job 38. 7. So do they at the beginning of the new and of the redemption Angels are called the Heavenly host 1 King 22. 19. Joh. 25. 3. And in this sense Rab. Menahem understandeth Gen. 2. 1. Thus were the Heavens and the Earth finished and all their Host that is saith he the Angels whose Creation Moses nameth not elsewhere Vers. 14. Glory to God in the Highest c. The last words of this verse the Vulgar Latine readeth to men of good will contrary to the Syrian Arabick and to the ancient Greek Copies as appeareth by Greg. Nazianzen Orat. 42. Andreas Jerusolomitanus in Orat. de Salutatione Angeli c. The whole Verse is but one Proposition or Axiom in which the last clause of all is the subject and the two former are predicated of it And it lieth in this sense The good will of God to men shewed in the Incarnation of our Saviour when God himself disdained not to take the nature of man is glory to him in the Highest and is peace upon the Earth And that this is the genuine and proper meaning and posture of the words may be observed First By the conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And put between Glory to God and Peace on Earth and none between them and good will And secondly the very sense and matter it self inforceth this construction For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beareth the same sense here that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth Matth. 3. 17. 17. 5. of Gods good-will or well-pleasedness with men Now secondly this well-pleasedness of his with men was expressed and evidenced at this time in the birth of our Saviour in that God had assumed the nature of men and it had never been so cleared and demonstrated before So that thirdly the birth of Christ being the occasion of the Angels singing this song the good will of God towards men revealed in this his birth must needs be the subject of their Song And then fourthly the other two things expressed in the two other clauses glory on High and peace on Earth must needs be understood as Predicates seeing that being laid to this expression of God of his good will towards men they are but as fruits and consequences of it And this reading and construction how facil and plain is it in comparison of these intricacies and obscurities that those readings bring with them that either break the verse into three distinct axioms or into two or that read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Genitive case or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Dative as may be seen in Expositors Now how the good-will and well-pleasedness of God towards men exhibited and shewed in the incarnation and birth of our Saviour did glorifie God in the highest in all his attributes of wisdom truth justice power mercy c. And how it wrought peace on earth betwixt man and himself and man and Angels and man and man and man and his own conscience might be shewed at large if we were common-placing in stead of commenting Ver. 21. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising c. It was necessary that Christ should be circumcised that he might both bear the badge of a child of Abraham and have upon him an obligation to the keeping of the Law For he that was circumcised was a debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. Ver. 22. And when the days of her purification c. At forty days old Levit. 12. 1 2 3 4. the Lord cometh to his own Temple and by an old man and an old woman is proclaimed both to young and old that expected redemption Herod had heard no tidings of him as yet by the Wismen for otherwise this had been an opportunity for him to have put in practice his bloody and malicious intent Mary is purified according to the custom of the Law although she had contracted no pollution by her childing and bringing forth partly that Christ in nothing might be wanting to the Law and partly that this might be an occasion for the first publick declaration of him by Simeon and Anna. Ver. 25. A man whose name was Simeon This Simeon seemeth to be he whom the Jewish Authors name for the son of Hillel and who was the first that bare the title of Rabban the highest title that was given to their Doctors and which was given but to seven of them Hillel was the famous head or principal of that School that is so renowned in the Jewish Authors by the name of Beth
from above but from the Temple as Isa. 66. 6. And this can hardly be denied to have been one of their Bath Kol voices And if we will believe the Jewish Authors in every place where they give examples of this their Bath Kol it will appear rather to be such a voice as came to Samuel which was so far from a perpendicular descending voice that he could not distinguish whether it were the call of Eli. Secondly Because whereas the Jews repute their Bath Kol both the last and the lowest kind of divine Revelation among them this kind of a voice from Heaven was both most ancient as Gen. 21. 17. 22. 11. and also most honourable Exod. 20. 22. Deut. 4. 33 36. §. From Heaven The opinion that these words were spoken by an Angel deputed by God for that purpose which some do hold is not only improper but also dangerous improper because it crosseth a plain and facile Text and dangerous because it bringeth a created Angel into a kind of equality and compartnership with the sacred Trinity For First Why should there be any surmise of such an Angel uttering these words unless it might be thought that God could not utter them himself Secondly As Paul saith To which of the Angels said God at any time Thou art my Son So may it be said much more which of the Angels ever durst or might call Christ his Son Thirdly Peter speaking of the Parallel or like voice to this which was uttered at our Saviours transfiguration he saith it came from the excellent glory which doubtless sheweth more than from an Angel 2 Pet. 1. 17. Matth. 3. Ver. 17. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased In Mark and Luke it is Thou art my beloved Son c. whereas Matthew expresseth it This is which though it shew some difference yet is it not material nor doth the difference breed so much difficulty as it doth satisfaction to the Reader and fulness to the story For the two Evangelists first named relate it as spoken to Christ for the sealing of his person and in answer to his prayer but the other expresseth it only as spoken of Christ and not to him but pointing him out to the notice of John Now this whole speech is taken from 2 Sam. 7. 14. Psal. 89. 26 27. and Isa. 42. 1. and when it is uttered again from Heaven at our Saviours transfiguration this addition Hear him is put to it Matth. 17. 5. Luke 9. 35. sealing him then for the great Prophet of his Church whom all must hear Deut. 18. 15. as it sealeth him now for the high Priest of his Church being now to enter into his Ministry Luke 3. ver 23. And Iesus himself began to be about thirty years of age Agreeable to this age of Christ when he began his Ministery was the age of the Priests when they entred their Office Numb 4. 3. the age of Joseph when he came to promotion Gen. 41. 46. and the age of David when he began to Reign 2 Sam. 5. 4. Now how this is to be understood is some controversie Some there are that take it thus that Jesus was now fully and perfectly thirty Others thus that he now began or drew on to be full thirty and so preaching three years and six months that he died at thirty three years old and an half But this interpretation the phrase used by the Evangelist and the common and ordinary manner of the Scriptures reckoning of the ages of men and of other things doth sufficiently contradict For First In that Luke saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was baptized beginning to be as it were thirty the word beginning to be denieth his being thirty compleat and the word as it were denieth his drawing upon thirty compleat likewise For if he were full thirty then he began not to be so and if he were drawing on to full thirty then was he not drawing to as it were thirty but to thirty indeed By the phrase therefore is to be understood that he was now nine and twenty years of age compleat and just now entring upon his thirtieth and this the Evangelist hinteth so clearly that it needeth not much confirmation For that he was in his thirty current and not compleated is plain by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were thirty that is thirty years old after a certain reckoning and that he was but now entring upon this his thirty current is as plain by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he began but to be so To which also secondly may be added the common and current use of Scripture in reckoning of ages either of men or beasts to account the year which they are now passing for a year of their age be it never so newly or lately begun Examples of this it is needless to give the thing is so usual and obvious to every eye So that now to take up the times of the world and of our Saviour according to this computation they result to this First That since he was born in the year of the World 3928. stilo veteri but newly begun he was baptized in the year of the World 3957. but newly begun by the same stile likewise Secondly That since he was born in Tisri he was also baptized in Tisri Thirdly That since his last residence in Bethlehem to his first appearing publickly in the work of the Gospel were full seven and twenty years all which time he had lived either in Nazareth the Town of his Mother or in Capernaum the Town of his supposed Father and so his birth in Bethlehem is utterly grown out of the thoughts and observation of the people Fourthly That he hath now three years and a half to labour in the Gospel from his Baptism to his crucifying Rabbi Janna said Three years and a half the glory of God stood upon Mount Olivet and preached saying Seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Midr. Tillin Fifthly That he lived but two and thirty years and an half and that his thirtieth year was the first year of his preaching and not the last year of his private life Compare the date of Davids reign in Hierusalem 1 Chron. 29. 27. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years Seven years reigned he in Hebron and thirty three years reigned he in Heirusalem Exactly Seven years and six months reigned he in Hebron 2 Sam. 5. 5. and then thirty and two years and six moneths reigned he in Hierusalem Sixthly That if Hierusalem were destroyed exactly forty years after our Saviours death as it is apparent it was both in Christian and Heathen Stories then that destruction of it befel just in the four thousand year of the world and so as the Temple of Solomon had been finished Anno mundi exactly 3000 so in Anno mundi exactly 4000. both the City and the Temple that then was was destroyed never to be repaired or rebuilt
Theudas whose Sect had begun before that of Judas Vers. 41. That they were counted worthy Or That they had obtained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeming to interpret the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so common among the Rabbins which soundeth to that sense and so is it not only most easily but so it must be most commonly rendred in them And of the very same sense is the Latine word Mereri when it is applied to man with reference to good generally in the Fathers As when it is said that the Virgin Mary meruit esse mater redemptoris she obtained to be the mother of the redeemer not she deserved Mary Magdalen Audire meruit Fides tua te salvam fecit she obtained to hear it said Thy faith hath saved thee and a thousand such examples might be given which too many thousands interpreting by the word merit wrest an harmless word to their own destruction R. Solomon speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meritum volucrium the priviledge of birds and some fathers speaking of our obtaining Gods favour and salvation and the like express it sine merito nostro meruimus we have obtained it without our merit PART II. The ROMAN Story §. 1. The state of the City hitherto THE City Rome was built by Romulus in the year of the World 3175. in the fifteenth year of Amaziah King of Judah and in the first year of Jeroboam the second the King of Israel It had stood from the time of its first foundation to this year in which it put the Lord of life to death seven hundred fourscore and five years And had undergone and passed thorough two different and diverse kinds of government and was now but lately entred upon a third The first was under Kings for 243 years and the foundation of this government as of the City it self was laid in the blood of Remus shed by his brother Romulus who was the founder of the City The second was under Consuls 467 years from the expulsion of Tarquin the last King to the Consulship of Hirtius and Pansa which was the year that Augustus began to rule with Antony and Lepidus This change of the government was likewise founded in blood as the former had been namely of Lucrece Aruns and Brutus and in the extirpation of Tarquins house A third manner of government had the City and Empire now begun upon and had been under it threescore and two years namely a monarchy again but the name only changed from a King to an Emperor And the foundation of this change was also laid in blood as the other had been namely in the death of Julius Caesar Antony and Cleopatra The carriage of Tarquin the last of the Kings had brought the City into an opinion that Monarchy was an enemy to Liberty And the growth and flourishing of that State under another manner of government had so confirmed this opinion that they were sooner put out of their Liberty than out of belief of that Position Brutus and Collatinus who were the expellers of Tarquin and of Monarchy with him had found out a government likely enough in all humane judgment to heal all these mischiefs and miscarriages that Monarchical Tyranny did bring upon them when they appointed two supreme Governors in stead of one and their Power and Rule to be but annual in stead of for life The success was agreeable to the policy and so happily and prosperously did the State grow under these rulers and some others mixt as occasion urged that to offer to reduce it to Monarchy again was infallibly held to be to reduce it to slavery and Julius Caesar found how deeply grounded this opinion was in the heart of a Roman by the loss of his life they supposing his affecting the Empire single aimed at the loss of their Liberties Augustus his Nephew and adopted son though he had before his eyes in Julius his death a clear and convincing Lecture how dangerous and desperate an attempt it was to affect the monarchy yet did he dare it but managing his desires and designs with so much discretion and noislesness that the government was gotten into his hands alone and the Empire slipt into a monarchical subjection even before it was aware Tacitus hath described this strange transition to this purpose After that Brutus and Cassius being slain there was now no publick hostility Pompey was crushed at Sicily and Lepidus being stripped of his power and Antony slain there remained now no commander on Julius his party but only Caesar he laying down the name of Triumvir and bearing himself as Consul and as content with the Tribunate for the defense of the Commons when he had won the Souldiers with gifts the people with provision and all men with the sweetness of peace he began to get up by degrees and to draw to himself the power of the Senate Magistrates and Law no man gainsaying him For the fiercest persons were either dispatcht in the armies or by banishment the rest of the Nobles by how much the more they were the readier for vassallage by so much the more they were preferred with wealth and honours and being thus inriched by these innovations they desired rather the safe and present condition than the ancient and dangerous Nor did the Provinces refuse this state of things they having the rule of the Senate and people in suspition because of the quarrellings of the great ones and the avarice of the Magistrates the Laws affording no relief but themselves destroyed by power prowling or money Thus did the very posture of things as it were conspire with the desires of Augustus to bring the Roman state into a Monarchy and himself to be the Monarch the decrees and determination of Heaven having so ordered that here should begin a fifth Monarchy after the destruction of the four Dan. 2. 7. which should equal all the four in power pomp and cruelty and should be the continual persecutor of the Church of the Christians as they had been of the Church of the Jews And thus doth the Gospel and the State that should persecute it in a manner arise at once and Christ and Antichrist after a sort are born together §. 2. The qualities of Tiberius the present Emperor his damnable dissimulation Augustus as he had got the sole government into his hands by a great deal of wisdom and daring so did he keep it with the same wisdom and as much moderation He sat Emperor for the space of four and forty years honoured and beloved and died desired and lamented though he had thus impropriated as it was conceived the whole liberty of the Empire into his own hand Now whether it were the native gentleness and goodness of the Emperor that kept him in such a sweetness and moderation or whether it were some policy mingled with it as knowing it not to be safe to be too busie and rigid so near the change he so demeaned himself for the benefit of the City and